 Good morning family, can we all stand together this morning and put our hands together for the Lord to bring Him praise and to bring Him honor and glory. Amen. It's on our Savior this morning, church. Singing faith. And welcome to Calvary Chapel Chino Valley. We're so happy to have you here with us. And we're excited to tell you about some of the great events that are coming soon. Our annual Men's Conference is coming up on Saturday, June 3rd. The theme is Fighting Faith, taken from the Book of Nehemiah. Joining Pastor David will be guest speaker, senior pastor, Ken Graves from Calvary Chapel, Bangor, Maine, and NFL Hall of Fame offensive linemen, Anthony Muñoz. Tickets for the event and a steak breakfast are available for purchase. The kids' ministry is a great place to get involved here at the church, from preparing crafts in the resource room to sharing God's word in the classroom to setting up special events. You can be part of a ministry that seeks to pour out God's love to the kids. Our next servant training is taking place this upcoming Sunday, June 4th, during 2nd service in room 405. Register today and we'll see you there. The men's ministry offers a Bible study and support group to address the issue of sexual sin and the powerful hold it has on many men. If you have struggled with this in the past or are currently struggling, we invite you to sign up at the first day of class on Monday, June 5th, in the mini chapel at 7 p.m. The cost is $20 and includes materials for the 12-week class. Our women's ministry is offering a confidential Bible study and support group called Under His Wings. The group is designed to support, encourage, and equip women who are affected by their husband's involvement in pornography or other areas of infidelity. This 12-week class will meet on Mondays at 7 p.m. starting June 5th and is just $15 to join. If you're dating, engaged, or married, save the dates for our couples' conference, August 11th through 12th. To kick off the conference, join us for a fun date night on Friday with Christian illusionist, Danny Ray. Then join us on Saturday for some inspirational messages from our guest speakers that will include Pastor Sandy Adams from Calvary Chapel Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Jason and Christy Duff from the Garden Fellowship in Bermuda Dunes. This is a great opportunity to invest in your relationship and grow together as a couple. Whether you're visiting for the first time or have made Cheena Valley your home, we're blessed to have you here with us. These are just a few of our upcoming events, classes, and opportunities to get involved. You can sign up for any of our events or call us as happening through our website at CalvaryCCV.org or by visiting the Events tab on our church app. Thank you for worshiping with us today. As we get ready for our Bible study, don't forget to place your cell phone on silent and help us limit distractions by staying seated until service is over. Thank you for being with us, and we hope to see you again soon. Have a blessed week. Good morning, church family, and want to say welcome to Calvary Chapel Cheena Valley. If this is your first time, I want to welcome those who are joining us online this morning and those who are sitting in the patio. This is the time of our service where we worship the Lord through our tithes and offerings, but before we do that, just want to give a couple of announcements on Friday. Friday evening, our Cheena Valley Christian Academy hosted a graduation, and I just want to give a shout out to the graduating seniors that graduated Friday night from our homeschool. I think there's a picture, maybe not. The one on the far, you're right, didn't graduate, so don't get that fooled. But I want to give a shout out to them and congratulations to you graduating seniors. God bless you. For Memorial Day, tomorrow's Memorial Day as we're celebrating Memorial Day weekend, the office will be closed and we'll resume office hours on Tuesday at 9 a.m. Just a reminder for those who may be going out for lunch after second service or leave your car here, the gates will be closing at 3 p.m. today. It will be a long weekend without your car if you happen to leave it here. So just a heads up, and then even in addition to that, the Young Adults Ministry will continue to meet here on campus at 730 in the banquet hall during Memorial Day, tomorrow. As mentioned in our videos, today is the last day to purchase your breakfast tickets for the men's conference, which will be this Saturday. So if you're looking to purchase a breakfast ticket, today's the last day. You can actually go to the gazebo or you can register online. T-shirts will be available the day of the conference for purchase on a first come first serve basis. Let me see what else about our men's conference we have. Our breakfast will begin serving at 8 a.m. and then worship here in the sanctuary will begin at 9 a.m. So if you haven't purchased your breakfast ticket you're wanting to. Today's the last day. Conference access will be available up until that morning. And the last number that I received on Friday is that we already have 614 breakfast tickets sold. So if you're going to purchase your breakfast tickets, you better get them quickly. You know, as we worship the Lord through our tithes and offerings, Psalm 107 says, Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. And this morning we have the privilege of giving thanks to the Lord through our giving, which is an act of worship. And so there are different ways that we're able to give to the Lord this morning. You guys, we are freeing the buckets this morning. So as we worship the Lord through our giving, we have there are multiple ways that we're able to give to the Lord this morning. In a few moments as we have another worship song, the ushers will be passing out Agape buckets for you to give your gifts to the Lord. For those that are watching online on Facebook and YouTube, there's a link in the chat box that opens up a page to give. For those that are watching on our mobile app, you can actually see the Give button on the right hand corner. For those who want to give electronically, we have a kiosk. We have the Agape boxes out in the foyer. But this morning we have multiple ways that we're able to worship the Lord through our giving. So what we'll do is pray for the offering. The ushers will come down, and we'll be able to worship the Lord through our giving. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that we're able to give back to you everything that you've given to us. And so Lord, we're so thankful this morning that we're able to worship you. We just give this time over to you. And so Lord, as we give unto you, may you be glorified and honored. Lord, we lift up our pastor as he brings forth the message. Lord, may his words be anointed and that our lives will be transformed through your word and through your spirit. So Lord, we love you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Really quick, you guys, I forgot to mention. If you want to bring in your gifts during the week to worship the Lord you're able to, or you can mail it to 12205 North Pipeline Avenue in the thunderous and tremendous city of Chino. God bless you guys. John, that was awesome. Can we all stand together, family? This nation will ever really be blessed, Father, and we ask that we would, as the body of your spirit, we lift up this nation to you, Lord. We thank you for the memory of those who gave up their lives, yielded their lives, Lord, so that we might have a peaceful Sunday and even have a barbecue on a Monday. We ask, Lord, that you would just, even now, just remind us, and as we're about to look at your word, that you would teach us. Draw us yourself in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn to your neighbor and say, God bless you. I'm glad you're here. If you'd like, you can open your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. I'm going to take you a few verses there as we continue. And we're about to conclude our series in Mark, even though we finished the actual book. We're going to be adding a couple of things to it. As you're opening your Bible, we do have a Memorial Day tribute video that we're going to play. So if you could dim the lights and play that, please. Odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the founding fathers, grave and gray hair, but most of them were boys when they died and they gave up two lives, the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. We owe them a debt we can never repay. All we can do is remember them and what they did and why they had to be brave for us. My father was in the Navy and he was off the coast of Japan. The United States Army military forces were about to invade and he was on deck and he said to me one day, he said, you know, it was total blackout, there were no lights on anywhere. He said, we're there just in the harbor. And he said, I heard a sound of an airplane. He said, I thought that it had to be one of ours. Who would come into the harbor when the Pacific Fleet was there? He said, but it wasn't one of ours. He said it was one of the small planes that carried torpedoes. He said, I heard the sound of the torpedo when it hit the water and it came directly towards the USS Pennsylvania, which is the ship my father served on. He said, and it hit where the munitions are. He said, the entire ship, the tonnage and something like that is remarkably heavy. He said, but it lifted the whole ship into the air. It lifted, he said, and then it settled. And then with tears, my father, who was a very unemotional man in terms of showing his emotions, my father teared up for just a moment. He said, a lot of good boys died that day. I've never forgotten that when my father said that a lot of good boys died that day and teared up. So let us never forget the sacrifices that were made so that you and I could be here right now in church. And let us not forget because I think that those who have yielded up their lives would want us to have a barbecue, would want us to be with our family. That's why they died is so that we would be free to do that. Let us never forget. And Memorial Day is really for remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I still remain very grateful to our service members who took the time out of their lives to serve this country so that we could have freedom. And so though I can't say thank you to those who hear, because they're dead, we remember I still say thank you for those who served and are with us still. Thank you for making it possible through the Lord obviously for us to be here. We thank you also. I want to share with you today out of Acts chapter 2 as you've opened up your Bible. I would remind you by the way that we do have a Monday 7.30 Bible study for the young adults. It is going to be on tomorrow Memorial Day, just reminding you. But as we went through the Gospel of Mark and we basically have finally concluded it, I wanted to add certain things and I'm going to add two more studies as kind of like the addendum if you will. And so today I'm going to be looking at chapter 2 verses 1 through 13 here in the Book of Acts to speak concerning the promise, the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus had given. We're looking at the birth of the church and as already been mentioned it is Pentecost Sunday today. Pentecost Sunday is excuse me, it's been called the birthday of the body of Christ, the birthday of the church. It's the day of Pentecost and we're going to be looking at that today and we're going to be looking at how the Holy Spirit baptized 120 who were waiting for the promise to be fulfilled, the promise that the Lord Jesus Christ had given. And so we'll be looking at the promise fulfilled and so beginning at verse 1 I'll read to verse 4 and we'll get into our study basically as I normally do giving you some information to fill in so that we know where we're at as we go through this passage and then picking up and looking at verses 1 through 13 but we'll begin with verse 1 reading to verse 4, Acts chapter 2 when the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So when we were last together we looked at Jesus as he was commissioning his men they were to go into the entire world and they were to make disciples they were to evangelize they were to convert, they were to teach those who came to faith in Christ that's what they were to do. You see the way that new believers would reveal their faith would be that they would obey or be demonstrating obedience to the things that they were learning they would obey the teachings that were God's word would reveal the reality that they actually had been saved by being taught and obeying the Word of God they were going to grow, they were going to grow spiritually. Now how could these believers take the gospel throughout the world? How could they be enabled to accomplish this kind of task to leave the borders of a country that more than likely the majority of them had never even left and yet to go into the whole known world of salvation and as mentioned they did it without satellite they did it without social media or TV or radio, they did it without printed materials, but how could they do it and how did they do it? Now these are people who had been touched by God they had had a powerful experience with him, they'd been saved they desired to see other people come to a relationship with God also it was God's love that was compelling them for that somebody said it was the apostle's sense of the love of Christ that Christ had shown to him and to all men that was acting as a motivating power directing every action to the good of others and restraining Paul from every self-seeking purpose so he had said the love of Christ compels me and it was God's love that motivated him and as well as others so the command to go and the command to love others was compelling but that wasn't enough how would they be able to be his witnesses in a world in a world that rejected Jesus Christ how can you be a witness in a world that crucified him now they had recently abandoned him and they had fled these are people who had walked with Christ for over three years these disciples and as they had walked with him they had learned his ways they had learned his words they had been empowered by him temporarily as they went out and did works themselves they had spent all of this time with him they had been mentored by him and yet when it came down to it as we remember they had all forsaken him and they had all fled only one of them remained somewhat faithful to him and that was John and even John himself had initially forsaken him and fled with the others so what's going to be the difference what's going to make the difference they've been taught all of these things they've been even semi-commissioned if you will remember in John the Gospel of John how Jesus had breathed on them and said receive you the Holy Spirit they'd already had a pre-commissioning if you will a pre-empowerment and yet how were they going to go out into the entire world and preach a gospel to a world that rejects and even crucifies the one who comes to them there were witnesses there were witnesses of his works there were witnesses of his teachings there were witnesses of his resurrection they were to go out they were to preach Bible truth they were to reveal that Jesus Christ was the subject and fulfillment of prophecy as it related to Messiah it was Jesus who had fulfilled what was written in the law and the prophets and the Psalms and as they went they were going to encounter spiritual and they were going to encounter physical obstacles how were they going to be able to do this how are they going to be able to go out into a Christ rejecting world a world that was already set up to reject him and yet fulfill the commission that Jesus gave to him well they're going to be enabled to do that by the power of the Holy Spirit again we're looking at chapter 2 here in the book of Acts now in chapter 1 in verses 4 and 5 Jesus had commanded his men to wait for the promise of the father in chapter 1 of the book of Acts that says being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you have heard from me for John truly baptized you with water you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now Jesus had already commanded them to wait when he said wait for this promise the word wait means simply to await an event and in this case it speaks of waiting for the Spirit to fall upon them they were to wait because God was going to fulfill this promise and I mentioned to you that the word promise is an announcement of divine assurance for good one commentator said this word promise is used only of the promises of God God speaks for the thing promise and thus signifies a gift graciously given and not something that was secured by negotiation later in the book of Acts the apostle Peter speaks of this promise and yet he speaks of it as being a gift even as this brother had just stated it signifies a gift graciously given in Acts 2.38 he had said repented be baptized every one of you Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 10.45 the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also so the sending of the Holy Spirit is God's assurance for good for those whom he loves and it is a gift that is graciously given to the one who repents and believes now God had given this promise various times Joel 2 28 and 29 afterward I will pour out my spirit on all people your sons and daughters will prophesy your old men will dream dreams your young men will see visions even on my men servants and maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days Ezekiel 36 27 I will put my spirit within you cause you to walk in my statutes you will keep my judgments and do them Jesus made reference to these promises as he ministered to his men in John 15 26 when the helper comes whom I shall send to you from the father the spirit of truth proceeds from the father he will testify of me you see in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would descend perform his work but afterward he would depart in 1 Samuel 16 14 it says that the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul in Judges 16 verse 20 when Delilah was there with with Samson it says that Delilah called Samson the Philistines are upon you he awoke from his sleep and thought I'll go out as before and shake myself free he did not know that the Lord had left him that's why David in Psalm 51 verse 11 said cast me not away from your presence take not your Holy Spirit from me in the Old Testament the spirit would descend remain and then would depart and his promise was the spirit would remain with them and would be in them in John 14 16 he said I'll pray the Father he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever so in Acts chapter 1 Jesus had told them in verses 7 and 8 that they would go forth as his witnesses he had said in verse 7 it is not for you to know times which the Father has put in his own authority you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem in all Judea Samaria and to the end of the earth you will be witnesses to me you'll be witnesses of my resurrection you'll be witnesses that I am the Savior you'll be witnesses that I am the judge but even as a judge I will grant forgiveness these are the things you are going to be witnessing and so God desires to communicate to man and he intends to do so through us so being his witness requires power and our lives are evidence of his presence and that's why Jesus is sending his Holy Spirit that promise that he made is fulfilled it's fulfilled on Pentecost now in verse 1 it says in chapter 2 when the day Pentecost had fully come they were all with one accord in one place Pentecost is the second of three great Jewish feasts there are two other great feasts the feasts of Passover and the feasts of Tabernacles and it took place 10 days after Jesus's ascension 50 days after his resurrection in the Old Testament the festival of Pentecost commemorates various things it commemorates for example God giving the law to Israel on Mount Sinai through Moses and it also is celebrated when the first fruits of the harvest are offered it's joyful as the people remember God's goodness towards them and because it's celebrated at that time of the year travel to celebrate would be much easier that meant it would attract the largest number of pilgrims from foreign lands on Pentecost there was an estimate that on this particular Pentecost that there were as many as 3 million people who were there in the city of Jerusalem and so that gives them the greatest opportunity to reach people there'd be more people than normal and it's on that particular day that the church is birthed now as we go through this we're going to notice three basic things one is we're going to notice the attitude of the 120 disciples because they're united awaiting for the promise and secondly we're going to see the giving of the Holy Spirit which fulfills the Father's promise and then third we're going to see the effect on the lives of believers as well as non-believers again at verse 1 it said the day of Pentecost had had fully come and they were with one accord so 10 days have passed Jesus has ascended into heaven Jesus had told them wait that's what they're doing I want you to notice something with me as they're waiting they're in an attitude of anticipation in unity they're awaiting all expecting to receive God's promise they're in one place and they're in one accord and that's when the promise is fulfilled in chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 it tells us there are around 120 and that's what they're doing they're continuing in one accord in prayer and supplication their hearts are set on one thing they're waiting to receive the promise I want you to notice there was a unified spirit of anticipation as they're waiting on the Lord they've put aside self-seeking they're waiting on God to fulfill his promise now as you've read your Bible you know that that isn't always the way it's been especially with the 12 now the 11 at this point they've already substituted or replaced Judas who fell so once again the number is 12 but it wasn't always the case in the ministry of Jesus with his men they weren't always united selflessly as long as they operated in the flesh they were totally united Jesus had commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem until they received power and they were praying they were waiting with anticipation because they wanted to receive his promise and there were three things that contributed to the reception of this promise and these three things contribute to us receiving the same kind of promise one of the things you see is that they're obedient they're not to depart from Jerusalem and they obeyed a second thing we see is their unity they're no longer selflessly a rather selfishly seeking personal benefit and then you see expectation they were hungry and thirsting for the Lord and as they're there in prayer and they're united in one spirit that's when the church was baptized that's when the church came into existence in the way that it is today it says in verse 2 suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind it filled the whole house where they were sitting there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance one of the things that we as the church today remember and I want to develop this with you this is really I hope it makes some sense to you is that if there's anything we need today in this last day is a refreshing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives if there's anything we need that's what we the church need today when I gave my heart to Christ as a brand new believer how would I know theology or doctrine or anything like that how could I possibly I didn't know anything and I can still remember I was in a front room I hadn't been a Christian more than a few weeks at the most maybe a month or less and there was somebody who was seated on to my right in this little front room we would go to Bible study at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and then we would return to a house that one of my friends was renting and we'd have what we used to call an afterglow I didn't even know that term at that time either but we would sit there with five ten kids maybe more none older than 22 at the max we're all like 18, 19, 20, 21 younger people and we would just sit there and we'd pray and we would sing and we would talk about what the Lord was doing in our lives that was very normal for us and I wanted more of the Holy Spirit I wanted God to work more in my life I was brand new in Christ I didn't want to go back to the world as I had been living for so long and all of that and I remember I was seated and I was looking at this guy who's leaning against the wall and he was very quietly speaking some language I'd never heard before and I turned to a guy who was seated next to me and I said what's he doing? and he said oh he was baptized in the Holy Spirit tonight and he's speaking in tongues that's what we're looking at today I said really what is that he says it's a prayer language that God gives to you and want to praise really that's first I'd never heard of something like that and so somebody comes and sits next to me after this guy had gotten up and walked away and this person I'll never forget it looks over there and says what's he doing I said oh he was baptized in the Holy Spirit today and he's speaking in tongues like I was some expert and so the guy looks at me he goes oh really what language is that I said I don't know I think it's Hebrew I had no clue what was taking place all I know is that when I saw that God had filled him I wanted that and I should probably point to a second thing I wanted God to move in my life like every person I knew at that time who had gotten saved we didn't want Jesus and the world you know what I'm saying we didn't want Jesus in our old life I didn't want Jesus and the wine I used to drink I didn't want Jesus in the marijuana I used to smoke I didn't want Jesus in the relationships I used to have I didn't want that anymore that was gone that's the old life that's all dead to me what I want is more of him and so when I saw this and I knew that without his power I wouldn't be able to live and I saw this kid there I said whatever it is you did for him that's what I want in my life I want your power and as I consider this if there's anything that the church is lacking today it's spirit filled power here's the thing I was thinking this morning might as well try it out with you see if it makes any sense sometimes my thoughts are only my thoughts they don't translate well to others but I was thinking you know there has been such a such a an emphasis on miracles you know the Holy Spirit power I believe obviously in a God of miracles of course we do but sometimes people think that God only manifests himself through certain things I think that the greatest work of the Holy Spirit that has been in my life isn't simply the gifts I thank God for them but they are gifts the greatest thing that the Holy Spirit has done in my life has helped me to walk straight with God on a daily basis there's anything that people are lacking today lacking in the ability or the willingness or the awareness that it takes the Holy Spirit to help us to live each day at a time it's not that I want to go I wish that I could go into hospitals and pray for miracles and healings I wish I could but I also know that God wants to work in me as a man how have I walked with the Lord these years it's through the power of the Holy Spirit you need it to you need God's powerful Holy Spirit in you not just so that you can see miracles performed or operating the gifts of the Spirit and all of that but so that you can walk a life live a life that people can see and say there's something different about you and that comes through your willingness to obey that comes through your heart of unity with other believers and that comes through an expectation and as this is taking place the promise is being fulfilled here in verses 2 through 4 and notice it says that there's a sound of a rushing mighty wind and it's heard it literally speaks of the roar of a powerful gust of wind like a mighty and a violent wind storm now the term mighty wind has at least two images in the Bible wind can be used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit that is a symbol that Jesus used when he was speaking to a man named Nicodemus Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus in John 3 and it says in John 3 5 through 8 that Jesus answered I tell you the truth no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he's born of water and of the Spirit flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit you should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again and he went on to say the wind blows wherever it pleases you hear it sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the Spirit the wind blows wherever it pleases and so it's a symbol of the Holy Spirit wind and also it's used as a symbol of the breath of life all the way in the first book of the Bible Genesis 2 verse 7 it says the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being so it speaks as a symbol of the breath of life and that would reveal that the Holy Spirit brought divine power and life to the 120 well verse 3 says that there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them tongues of fire this is a visible phenomenon illustrating what is happening they literally saw fire in the shape of a tongue resting on each of them now in John the Baptist ministry John had spoken of what Jesus would do in Matthew 311 John had said I baptize you with water for repentance but after me will come one who is more powerful than I whose sandals I am not fit to carry he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire John's baptism was one that was outwardly revealing repentance from sin but Jesus' baptism is of the Spirit inwardly purifying and giving power now Jesus' Holy Spirit baptized baptism will inflame them with love for God and love for others and the baptism will bestow spiritual gifts and propel believers to live holy lives now in this particular passage fire speaks of at least two things one it demonstrates that the Lord is present like in Exodus chapter 3 verse 2 there the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it didn't burn up so it speaks of the presence of the Lord but also it speaks of purification for service. Isaiah 6 verses 6 and 7 one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand which he'd taken with tongs from the altar and with it he touched my mouth and said see this has touched your lips your guilt has taken away your sin is atoned for so the fire represents that the Lord is present and he's purifying and the Spirit is coming upon obedient expectant believers and he's purging them so the Spirit produces a holy disciple one who was set apart from sin and evil and it's a reminder and a demonstration that we can only live a holy life through the power of the Holy Spirit that's why Paul in Galatians 5 16 said walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh so the tongues of fire resting on each of them symbolizes ministry there to take this gospel out to a world that has a variety of languages and preach to them they were to use their language to unify in opposition to the world and a declaration of what God intends to do you see at the tower of Babel God confounded languages at that time there was one language in the whole world but they had used their unity to oppose God they had sought direction from the stars they rejected God when you read the story of the tower of Babel when I was a kid I used to think of the tower of Babel and this way I thought well because my mom would share Bible stories with me on occasion and she talked about the tower of Babel and I had thought the tower was a tower that they were trying to reach heaven because the Bible says it may reach unto heaven and so my mom thought at that time again mama was not taught scripture she just wanted to read it to me when she could so I thought that it was a scripture said they reach unto heaven but later on as I got saved and began to receive Bible studies and do studies I learned that this tower in Babel that was spoken of was not intended to be some ignorant if you will people with lacking understanding thinking that they could build some stairway to heaven but what it was was it's called a ziggurat a ziggurat is an astrological tower and what they had done is they had built a tower to chart the movement of the stars so that the heavens would continue to direct them but they chose nature over the God who created the heavens and through their unity of language they were able to in opposition to God seek other ways to discover their future and as a result God confounded their language in Genesis 11 8 and 9 it says that the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth and they stopped building the city that is why it was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the earth and so they had unified in opposition to God the language but in the giving of tongues God is now giving them the opportunity to preach the gospel to unify them in relationship to God notice in verse 3 how it says one sat upon each of them this baptism unified and equipped them to work on one task and that was proclaiming the message of the gospel each one was receiving power because God desires to use them equally and I made a notation for myself here there is no superstar there is no very special disciple they were all to take the gospel out it says in verse 4 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance so they were all filled that fulfills the promise Jesus had made in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 but also in John 16 verse 7 where he had said I tell you the truth it's to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the comforter will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you and so they were there waiting prayerful in anticipation for God to move and they were all filled that word filled means to be abundantly supplied they were completely filled it was the overflowing presence of God now Jesus had said in John 7 37 and 38 if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said streams of living water will flow from within him and so the Holy Spirit is abundantly flowing upon them again they were waiting obediently in expectation in unity they were not making lots of noise I'm going to say something here about that they weren't begging they were waiting for the promise again when I was first saved you know the way I used to go to parties I began to go to revivals into church and it wasn't always a Calvary Chapel thing if there was something taking place in a church my friends and I would load up our cars and off we'd go and I've said this before there was a quote unquote revival one of our friends actually came and said man there's a revival going on in Long Beach we got into our car and off we went because we wanted more of God I'll never forget this I went into this very it was a small building there couldn't have been 60 to 80 people there all together and it was an African-American church but it had a white evangelist and this white evangelist was he had a drum up there at the base of the platform and he had this like this this pompadour hairdo and he just I don't know as it was up there he would get all excited and then he'd come off the platform and he'd start pounding on the drums then he'd go back I'd never seen anything like this and so I'm thinking this is kind of clean fun what do I know I'm like three weeks old in Christ some lady raises her hand and says in my church we marched around the church behind the flag and so they had a little church flag a Christian flag and before you know it we're all marching around this church we've never done anything like this well sober and so as I was happening the evangelists are saying everybody if you want more of the Holy Spirit well I want as much of God as I could get right come up here and pray I still remember there's a little they had like a they called it the tarrying bench in the front you were the tarry on the spirit and so I went there with a group of people in the front here and I'm praying and we have to kneel they said kneel now you need to know my background I was a Catholic and these people were Protestants and I saw them starting it was so long it was like 30, 35, 40 minutes that they're kneeling and I thought I can out kneel any Protestant any day so I still remember just kneeling through the whole time true story I'm not kidding and and he said now ask God and so we're all raising our voice oh God oh God fill us oh God we need you we did that for a long time and nothing happened and now he wants us to go up and give a testimony I've never been in front of a church in my life let alone giving a testimony and I can't lie nothing happened what am I going to say and I still remember standing in line and I still remember waiting to go and speak and I'm thinking I can't lie I'm a Christian now what do I do because people are saying oh heaven open I saw a dove and they're saying all of this garbage and I'm thinking nothing happened to me at all I'll never forget standing behind the microphone and all these people are sitting there looking at me and I said as I looked at them I can't put into words what I just went through that's what I said it was true I can't put into words and then you see the other people going yeah it didn't happen to us either you had you had that look going between us they waited expectantly in unity and prayerfully they didn't sweat, they didn't scream they didn't run around, they didn't follow behind a flag they just waited and that's how it works guys God had made a promise an assurance for divine good Jesus said wait you shall receive power with his promise he doesn't go back on his word you wait you tarry in Jerusalem until you be imbued from on high you wait so they're in this place called an upper room it could very well be the place that they had celebrated communion and they're in this upper room and they just wait in on the Lord there's 120 of them and they're praying and seeking God their hearts are united when the church is born and what happens notice verse 4 again it says they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance now in mark 1617 Jesus had said concerning believers that they shall speak new tongues the word tongues is in this is the English translation of the Greek word glasa glasa speaks of a language in this particular case it's an unlearned language somebody said that tongues is a spiritual gift from God that is supernaturally acquired and is therefore an unlearned language it may be of human origin an existing dialect or a heavenly dialect referred to as the tongues of angels the language is one of praise to God and is directed to God and not to men tongues is a language of praise and worship that gives glory to God now if you look at verse 11 it says there we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God so they were praising God and they were giving him glory later on when Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 14 16 and 17 he said if you're praising God with your spirit how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say amen to your thanksgiving since he does not know what you're saying you may be giving thanks well enough but the other man is not edified so it's a language of giving praise and glory to God and notice in verse 4 it says as the spirit gave utterance the spirit did not take over their vocal cords the spirit inspires their speech now as this is taking place verse 5 there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews devout men from every nation under heaven and when this sound occurred they came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language and they were all amazed and marveled saying to one another look are not all these who speak Galileans and how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born Parthians and Medes and Elamites those dwelling in Mesopotamia Judea and Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Egypt parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene visitors from Rome Jews and proselytes Cretans and Arabs and Ontarians and Chinowins I'm sorry we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another whatever could this mean others mocking said wine they're drunk and notice again there were people in the area who had come to celebrate Pentecost they were from every nation they either had heard the sound of the wind or they heard the voices of the disciples as they had poured out into the street and it confused them notice verse 6 everyone is understanding what's being said in their own language it says in verse 8 there's around 16 nations and regions that are represented here and they said in verse 11 again we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God so they heard God being praised and God being given glory and they're amazed and perplexed what is this it's interesting how some were amazed and perplexed but others began to mock that's what happens when the spirit of the Lord moves by the way is people who will see God doing something in somebody's life can eventually or sometimes quickly begin to mock that to say oh this is nonsense you Christians are so I don't know there's something wrong with you you guys don't think right and they can mock you and when this took place they're just seeing this they're hearing the sound and they're not really listening to what's being said so they begin to say oh they're filled with new wine they've just gone to the bar they're drunk that's all this is and they begin to mock them so instead of arguing with those who are mocking notice with me it says that Peter began to speak to those who were inquisitive in verse 14 it simply says Peter standing up with the 11 raised his voice and said to them men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and heed my words they're not drunk and it's always requires a spiritual explanation when God does something we should have a scripture that we're able or several that we're able to say this is the reason and this is how this happened and that's what the apostle Peter did so instead of arguing with those who are mocking which a lot of times we waste our time trying to argue people into faith instead of arguing with the mockers Peter concentrated on the ones who were curious that's what you should do too by the way some of us have friends and family members or neighbors or whomever co-workers who constantly are mocking I would encourage you if you've already given them a testimony shared with them a scripture or whatever and they keep on mocking just to leave them alone leave them in the hands of the Lord because you don't want to continue doing that when there may be somebody else that's listening who really wants to get out with the Lord themselves concentrate on the people who are most open and leave the others in the hands of the Lord and that's basically what he does and he gives a biblical answer to their spiritual question he's letting them know they're not drunk these people are disciples under the spirit of influence and under the Holy Spirit's influence they're beginning to speak and what they're doing is they're speaking concerning the wonderful works of God concentrate on those who are open don't waste your time arguing with those who don't want to hear I've had people approach me in the past and they'll ask a question they don't do this anymore but they did it earlier and they would approach me and at first they would ask a question and I'd always been willing to try and answer it so I would begin and then they'd want to they'd want to argue and then I discovered that they were just wanting to fight they were just wanting to argue with me and so I developed something that I began to do I didn't have to do it more than a few times but people would walk up and they would do that especially when the church is younger and all and I was a younger man and they would say I want to ask you a question and I would say fine but let me ask you one first okay are you willing to listen to the answer or are you here just to argue with me well I said no I'd say you know I want to be fully respectful to you I want to know if you want an answer because if you want an answer I'll give you the answer but if you want to argue I'm not going to do that I don't argue I'm not going to argue so do you want an answer or do you want an argument and a lot of times they just shut it down well you don't and then I'm blamed for being an idiot or whatever and they walk away which is okay they're going to do that later on so I didn't waste my time answering something they weren't interested in you don't waste your time with people who aren't interested you don't keep throwing God's word out to people who are trampling on it in this case the apostle Peter being filled with the spirit spoke to the ones who were inquisitive do you want to know what God has done are you interested let me tell you this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel who said in the last days and he begins a quote out of Joel chapter 2 this is what Jesus promised the power of the Holy Spirit and so these people who had hidden these people who are afraid of Jewish authorities these people who had forsaken Christ are now filled with the spirit they already had been instructed through the word of God Jesus had shared with them they knew they'd already spent time with them they were aware Jesus had already been preparing them but they were lacking something that they needed and that was the power of the Holy Spirit they needed to be filled from head to toe they needed to have the gifts that would be used in them they needed to have the anointing that they might be able to preach they had the understanding but through the spirit they grew in a deeper understanding a deeper depth of the things of God and they were able to take those things out and share them with people and that's exactly what they did from these people who ran and hid from the authorities they became people who took this out to the world people who had never really been beyond the borders of the nation of Israel are now traveling to other places going to other lands bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who would listen and they did it successfully and they did it through the power of the Holy Spirit so today on Pentecost Sunday we need to realize what God wants to do in us we need to reawaken to the power of God's Holy Spirit we are aware of how dark things are we need to seek God for His power we need to repent of anything that keeps us from receiving from the Lord and we should hunger and desire the things that God would have for us and by faith we should ask that He baptize us with His Spirit that He would work within us so that we could be used what is it that gave to me as a young believer the ability to speak with confidence the power of the Holy Spirit an absolute belief that the gospel is true a belief that there is a heaven and an awareness that there is a hell and knowing that my mom and my dad and my brother and my sisters would go to hell if they didn't come to faith in Christ and from some wild-eyed barefooted dirty feet hippy by the power of the Holy Spirit God did a work of transformation in me that was so incredible that my father came to faith in Christ that my mother came to faith in Christ that my sister Madeleine on the day I got saved after sharing with her what Jesus had done my sister Madeleine put her head on her pillow that night and said whatever you did for my brother please do it for me and for the last many years I've been asking God to work in me so that I could help others to see him Jesus said this I'll close with this scripture, Luke 11, 13 if you then though you're evil know how to give good gifts to your children much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him I don't want to be a dirty vessel so I confess my sin my dad I have a coffee cup that my dad used to drink his coffee from I actually broke the first one he had this is another one and I was a little boy my dad would drink coffee in the morning in my parents room it was their room we weren't allowed in it except by permission and we would knock on the door on a Saturday or a Sunday morning and they would say you may enter no they'd say come on in and I'd walk in and I still remember as a little boy I was about six years old my dad said son go get me a cup of coffee my dad drank his coffee black he had a little shirt go get my coffee and that was a holy task so I went into the kitchen I got his coffee cup I poured the coffee in it and I very carefully so I didn't spill a drop of it came and handed it to him and my dad started to drink it and spit it out and it turns out my mom had taken a paper you know paper towel or whatever had stuffed it in it with coffee grounds and so when he drank it he spit out coffee grounds and oh you know so I I failed at my holy duty but I never forgot that you don't pour the spirit into a dirty vessel that vessel should be clean how does that vessel get cleaned through confession Lord forgive me my sins and cleanse me I know that I knew that I've already been washed and cleansed but Lord repentance is a daily thing and confession is a daily thing because I'm not perfect therefore I need your help every day Father cleanse me but Lord fill this vessel with your presence may your Holy Spirit not only dwell in me but empower me Lord and I want your power I want to be able to stand for you I want to be able to serve you I want to be an influence for you I want my children to know you I want my wife to have a strong walk with you Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit give me the power because in this dark world it's easy to stumble so Lord fill me with your presence and as I look at this passage and I see these waiting in anticipation a holy expectation in prayer and unity the Holy Spirit baptized and brought them into the unity one another and then they're going to be sent out to do a work to reach the world for Jesus Christ how much the church needs that today guys and I pray that you have asked God to fill you I pray that you would say God there's nothing more important than reaching somebody for the kingdom use me for that Lord wash me and cleanse me and Lord I've gotten kind of like I don't know I can float down the stream of unbelief with others Lord I don't want to I want to go against that I need you and I need your power and the Holy Spirit is awaiting I think to work within us because in these dark days we are the ones who can bring light may God fill us with this presence and use us for His glory Lord I ask that you would work in us and through us and use us for this Lord I ask that you would just awaken us in these last days the work that you want to do and Lord as dark as they may be the light always shine most bright when it is dark and the dark cannot overcome the light so I ask that you would work within us Lord and use us and we want to be hungry for you Lord we are so distracted by so many things but we need you so I ask that you would just as our hearts are open that you would come upon us and this Pentecost Sunday and use us for your glory and even as our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed there may be some right now in this room we need to get right with the Lord and you need prayer would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at Father you see these hands and you know the reason why these hands are being raised to you I ask that by your spirit you would just right now Lord just make them aware of forgiveness fill them with your presence Lord fill out of Christ that you would wash them so that they would be able to leave this place Lord refreshed in you use them for your glory from this day on as they open up to you and for this we are grateful and we thank you bless you Lord you can put your hands down there may be some right now that need a touch from the Lord for a healing in your body and if you would like prayer would you raise your hand and let me pray for you Father you are the God who heals we're simply asking that you would and may your Holy Spirit just reach down Lord and touch those whose hands are in faith being raised to you Lord I pray that you would be glorified by touching their body Lord and bringing healing and we ask this Lord that it might give glory to you and we thank you and bless you thank you Lord you can put your hands down Jesus I ask that as we spend this next few days Lord just walk with us as we serve you we lift these things to you now in Jesus name amen amen let's all stand amen have a great weekend guys may the Lord bless you Lord I ask that you would work in us through us and use us for your glory give us opportunity to share your goodness with others and Lord even as we have other opportunities to gather in fellowship and prayer and in Bible study I ask that you would just draw us to do that thanks now in Jesus name amen amen God bless you announcement for the guys if you ordered your t-shirt for the conference it's here go pick up your t-shirt at the gazebo guys God bless you family