string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

Sermons

← back to list

Aug 17, 2025

The Day It All Changed | Spirit, Power & The Church

The Day It All Changed | Spirit, Power & The Church

Passage: Acts 2:1-12

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Spirit, Power & The Church

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: what does acts 2 mean for us today, how does the holy spirit empower believers, how to trust god’s timing and wait well, what really happened at pentecost, sermon on being filled with the holy spirit, how to walk in the power of the holy spirit, what it means to live a spirit-led life

When the Holy Spirit filled the believers at Pentecost, it marked the beginning of a new way to live—one led by the presence and power of God from within. This message explores Acts 2 and what it means to be Spirit-filled today. Learn how to wait on God’s timing, walk in confidence, and trust the Spirit to lead you in your decisions and direction.

Morning, Church. Thank you for being here today. I kind of wish you were in the last service. I baptized a family of five all at the same time and on this side of the baptism, we had them all in there at the same time. The little girl was just floating down to her eyes the whole time and it just showed me that I'm really not in control of anything in this place, but it was good. Hey. For all of you guys that wished me happy birthday last week, man, thank you so much. Man, I'm just telling you this, I got to live the dream day in a pastor's life last week. I got to preach three times, take a fat Sunday afternoon nap. Can I get an amen to that? I got a great ribeye for dinner, some cake, some family time, and it was a great day. So thank you, thank you, thank you for saying that last week.

Also, one more public service announcement is this. For those of you that have just started serving here at Burn Hickory, man, thank you guys. Thank you. Let me tell you this. You are making a difference. You might not have seen it today in that fourth grader, but you are making a difference in their lives. We want to tell you thank you for that. And listen, we need more of you. All right? We need more of you. And I've already talked to God and he said yes. All right? So go ahead. I'm just kidding about that last part kind of, but we need you in there. All right.

Well, hey. Let's jump into the message. This is week three in a series in the Book of Acts. If you're new, don't worry about it. We'll get you caught up. And in this series we're looking at the Spirit of God, the power of God, and the church. All right? We're kind of looking at what those things mean in our lives for the glory of God. All right? That's what we've been doing. Now this morning's text, I'm going to go ahead and give you a little bit of a heads-up. This morning's text is one of those texts that probably was one of the most awkward moments in the disciples' lives. All right? Probably one of the most awkward moments to which I say bring it on. Why? Because if you know me, you know that I love a good awkward moment. I just love it. Do I have any friends in the room that you kind of love an awkward moment?

I'm the guy that when something happens ... And listen, 30 years of ministry, there's been a lot of awkward moments. When something happens that's awkward, I love to sit in it for a few minutes, but I also love that there are a couple of different kinds of people in awkward moments. First of all, there's the peacekeeper in the awkward moment where they almost pretend like nothing happens and they just want to keep the peace. Second of all in the awkward moment is the fixer, right? This is the person that just wants to fix the moment, knowing that you can't fix all awkward moments. Sometimes you just got to laugh them off and move on. And third of all in the awkward moments is kind of what the role that I play a lot of times, and I'm maturing in this, all right? There it is, is I like to egg it on. All right? Just a little bit more to soak in the moment of the awkwardness.

Well, listen. This morning's moment in scripture is one of those awkward moments and it's actually one of the moments that a lot of personalities come out and it's one of those moments in scripture that has actually been divisive over history, but it's so powerful on this end, but it's so unifying on this end. And it's one of those moments for the church and for us individually that changes everything. In fact, the title of this whole message is, "That changes everything," and I want you to remember that line. So if you've got a copy of scripture today, I want you to go ahead and turn with me to Acts 2. All right? Acts 2 is where we're going to land today if you got that copy of scripture. Let me catch you up on what is happening.

Jesus has risen from the grave, he has walked 40 days with the disciples and done so many amazing, amazing miracles and so many proofs to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is who he said he was. The disciples at this moment in their life, they're really just a little bit along for the journey. They're just following after him and listening to his instructions. And in chapter one, we looked at this two weeks ago, chapter one, just before Jesus ascends to the Father, he tells his disciples, "You guys need to just wait. You need to wait on the Holy Spirit because he is coming. And he's going to change you, he's going to empower you, and I know you going to walk in him."

Well, as Jesus is saying this, he's able to actually return to the Father. But just before that, he leaves us with a thesis statement in the Book of Acts and we're going to read it. I don't know about every week, but a lot of weeks has had Acts 1:8. And Jesus says to his disciples this, you just saw it in the bumper. He says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Now the disciples heard this command from Jesus loud and clear. And so now that Jesus is gone, they're moving from the mountain, a Sabbath they walk, they're moving back into Jerusalem. And last week, we talked about them operating and loving and worshiping even in those powerful moments of being overwhelmed.

But now they are back in Jerusalem and now they are thinking that Jesus said the Holy Spirit is coming and the Holy Spirit is going to be there when we get there. This is kind of what's in the mindset of the disciples. Well, the hours seem like days. The day seems like a week. The week moves even farther after Jesus told them this. And now at the beginning of Acts 2, they're wondering how long is this going to take? Well, this morning's text comes 10 days after Jesus ascends back to the Father. He ascends to the Father. And what have the disciples been doing? They've been waiting, to which I would ask you this question: Have you ever had to wait on anything? Have you ever had to wait?

Here's what I know about me and what I know about you because I've been in enough restaurants with a lot of you guys, right? We hate to wait. We hate to wait on anything, right? Waiting is terrible. And the disciples at this point in their journey have been waiting for 10 days on the Holy Spirit to come. And so you know what they're thinking in their mind. Let's get into it for a minute. They're going, "What, God? What in the world are you waiting on?" Well, I'm glad you asked that because I want to tell you what I think they're waiting on. In these 10 days of between Jesus ascending to the Father and the Holy Spirit coming, these 10 days actually lead us to the 50th day after the Passover Festival. Now I know you know this, but let me review this. You've got the Passover, one of the biggest Jewish holidays of the year, and then you've got another Jewish holiday that we call Pentecost. All right? Pentecost.

Now Pentecost is not a New Testament holiday that just sprung up that we're going to read about here in the text. Pentecost is a Jewish festival that from this point backwards for 1,600 years, the Jews had gathered to celebrate the presence of God and the harvest, the covenant of God and God showing up in a mighty, mighty way. So now we find ourselves 50 days after the Passover. That's where Pentecost comes from. And now all the Jews from all over the world have gathered together like they've done every single year to celebrate the current harvest, yes, but to really and truly celebrate these big moments of breakthrough where God either established his covenant or spoke to or led his people, especially in the life of a man named Moses.

Now if you go back into the Old Testament, the three times that God broke through in Moses' life and showed him something big and showed us something big was number one, when God called Moses through the burning bush, right? You remember that in Deuteronomy, right? That was the calling of his life. The second one was with the fire by day. Remember that? It was all of the Israelites. When the fire moved, they moved. And the third event in Moses' life where God showed up big was the day that he went up the mountain and the fire of God fell down on the mountain. God rained a loud boom and he spoke the covenant, right? The 10 Commandments. He gave them the first five books of the Bible and God actually calls his people out to give them the law and to give them hope on this mountain.

So for 1,600 years now, I want you to put these pieces together, the disciples are in the upper room, right? The people are coming into town, pouring into town to celebrate this day of celebration. It was the most celebrated travel day of the year. The weather was good, they had just had a harvest, the farmers had money, and people were gathering. They were pouring into Jerusalem, person after person, thousand upon thousand. And all of this is leading to this moment that we're about to look at right here. Disciples are in the upper room, the people are pouring in, they're waiting on the Spirit, and watch what happens in Acts 2. Here it is. Here's what it says. It says, "When the day of Pentecost came, they were together in one place."

Now stop that. The disciples are where? They're up in this upper room. We've talked about it for the last couple of weeks. Same upper room they had the Lord's Supper. Same upper room that Jesus appeared to them a couple times. The disciples are there. Mary and Martha are there. The 120 others are there and what are they doing? They've been worshiping. They've been calling on the name of God. They've been praying, studying the word of God. They're waiting, but they're not sulking. All right? I just kind of need to put that out there. In fact, I want you to write this principle down as a reminder about waiting. "Gather, worship, praise, and pray," here it is, "especially in the times of waiting."

You see, many of us think waiting is this game where we just kind of veg out and kind of go to a flatline zero, nothing. But the disciples are showing us that even in those moments of waiting, these are the things that we should be doing. We still should be together. We still should be worshiping and praising and praying and studying scripture. Why? Because God hears us in those moments. In fact, watch what happens after this in verse two, it says this. It's says, "Suddenly." Say that with me on three. One, two, three.

Suddenly.

"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." Man, I love this. Why? I love the fact that verse two starts with suddenly after we just saw. You say, "What do you mean by that?" Well, we just saw that for 10 days, these guys basically had to sit around and be together and pray and call on the name of the Lord, watching the time pass. But now suddenly, watch what God does, God shows up. He shows up. What does God do? Out of nowhere, out of nowhere really at a time when nobody thought he was going to do it, God moves. But listen to me, Church. Isn't that how God works? Isn't it how he works so many times in our lives? Out of nowhere, he showed up. Isn't this how most of our faith stories go, right? We were far from God. We wanted nothing to do with God. We were struggling with the things in life. And then all of a sudden, something happens.

Now that's something for you. It might've been that she, that girl, invited you to the pizza party deal and you went because she was pretty. Amen? That thing for you might've been that somebody was praying for you and something happened in your life and you found yourself in a church. You found yourself in front of the only Christian you knew. That thing for you might've been that you prayed for her or you prayed for him for so long, you had almost given up and God suddenly does something. Listen to me. Don't give up because God is the God of suddenly.

Come on. Come on.

He's the God that we don't know when he's going to work.

Yes, sir.

We don't know how he's going to work. But suddenly, what happened? God pressed in, he moved here, and watch what it says. He shows up big time. "Suddenly a sound like a violent wind." Now I'm convinced that they would've used the word, "Suddenly a sound like a freight train," but that wasn't invented yet. But it kind of gives you that mental picture, right? "Suddenly this sound like a tornado," if you would, "hits the room." Now don't picture wind in your mind there was no wind. I don't know why growing up reading this, I always thought there was a bunch of wind. Maybe it blew the disciples out into the streets. There was no wind. It says like a wind. In other words, there was a violent sound is what the scripture is saying. A booming noise, a booming present. But also notice what the Bible doesn't say here because I think this is important as well.

The Bible doesn't say that in the midst of their worship, in the midst of waiting, in the midst of their prayer, that God was kind of hiding behind the closet and just whispering to them. That's not what God says here, right? "Hey, remember me?" No, no, no. That's not what God does here. God, out of nowhere with a booming presence, shows up on the scene, which I love. Why? Because I've told you this before. Let me be honest with you for a second. I'm so sick of the populist view that we serve a weak and puny God.

Come on, teacher.

I'm sick of this idea that we don't serve a mighty God because we do. We serve a mighty God that at any moment, at any time, and at any place, he can, with his booming presence, rain down on a spot ...

Yes, sir.

In your life and in my life. Was does the hymn say? "What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before him. Heaven and earth adore him. What a mighty God." We don't serve a little God with flowing locks and a skirt with toothpick arms. That's not him. We have a mighty God and he shows up right here in power. And what happens? They listen. They listen. In fact, keep going in the text. They listen. Watch this. They're listening. Verse three, though, it says this, "They saw." So now they've gone from their listening to something boom in their presence. And now what's happening now? Their other sense they're beginning to see. Watch this, "What seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and it came down to rest on each of them. And all of them," here's where I want you to stop right here, "And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."

Now in your mind, just like I told you not to think that there was this wind rushing, get this idea in your mind that there was this human tongue that was floating above them because that's not what it is. All right? Not what it is. Get that out of your head. In fact, there's not just one tongue. There's many tongues that have now, from God, divided off amongst them. Think of flickering flames, if you would, like the screen behind me. Think of little bitty moving flames that now have rained from God, separated over them, and into them in this moment, which is powerful just in reading that. But when you put that together with the pieces of why they were in Jerusalem ... Stay with me because I know you can do this. You're Bible A+ honors students. It is even more powerful. Why do you say that, Matt?

Well, remember what they were celebrating? They were celebrating Pentecost. Remember, they were filling the streets celebrating this time of God's presence. God giving them the law. God giving them guidance. God giving them the harvest. They were celebrating a time that God's power and presence fell into a people group and guided them in the wilderness, fell onto a mountain, and gave his power and his presence and his covenant. And remember where they were? They were in a place that they were at the temple celebrating a place that God's presence and fire rained over the place. His presence and fire from all of the sacrifices every morning and every night, and especially on the Day of Atonement, burned up the celebration, feast, and the sacrifices and they were at a place where God's covenant rested inside of a box, the same ones that Moses had written in this place at this moment. This is when God rains down on them and fulfills the promise that the Holy Spirit is no longer an "out there" thing. It is now "on and in us" thing.

Amen.

This is what happens at Pentecost. This is why it's the day that changes everything. Here's the deal. It had never happened like this before. From this point looking backwards, they were celebrating an event. They were celebrating a moment. They were celebrating a big presence of God that was out there. Stay with me. Stay with me. Now listen to this. They are celebrating a moment where God's presence is in here.

Amen.

See, that's the difference. That's what separates us from the Old Testament. That's what separates us as people that no longer worry that the Holy Spirit is not bouncing in and out of us because once it reigns in us, it is sealed inside of us.

Come on.

In fact, I want you to write this principle down. "God's presence at this moment was no longer to be celebrated for falling on a place because it is now falling into his people."

Amen, amen.

And his people is you and his people is me. If you've given your life to Jesus, here's the good news this morning is that his presence and power is in you. Church, this changed everything. This changed everything. And now God is in us. And Jesus, this promise that he made to us in Acts 1:8, it has happened. This promise of John 14, 15 and 16 in that upper room, movement that he had, is now happening. The Holy Spirit is the person that makes us the Christian. The cleansing and purifying and power-giving Spirit is now in you. But do we operate like that or do we still operate that we just need a place, we just need a moment, and we hope that he shows up? Listen, God is in us and this is the gift of this moment. So what happens? What happens in the moment? I'm glad you asked.

Because what happened in the moment is these guys through the filling of the Holy Spirit ... That's the main point of this, right? Filling of the Holy Spirit. These guys were then given this gift that they can now speak into the people that were there the languages that they brought with them. Actually, you say, "Matt, why is it that God did this whole language thing?" Well, I think first of all it was an incredible way to live out the prophecy of what Jesus said would happen in Acts 1:8. Acts 1:8, "You will be my witnesses," you can't be a witness without speaking it out of your mouth, "in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, in Samaria," which by the way, that was the people that they all hated, but there were still witnesses to them, "and to the ends of the earth." This is a great way for them to now live that Acts 1:8 lifestyle out, as well as for every person that was gathered together on their doorstep to now hear the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ being spoken in their heart language.

That's what happens, but let me pause here for a second and just say this about the Bible and especially about the Book of Acts. In the Bible, there is what the Bible would call prescriptive language. Prescriptive language is the commands of God. It's the things that we should do in God. It's the things that he tells us to do. But then there's also descriptive language and that's the things where he's just describing what he did. Now there's prescriptive language in this event here saying that we need to be as witnesses and we need to live out the power of the Spirit.

But there's also descriptive language when it comes to the idea of speaking in other languages right here. Could that happen again today? Could that happen in this place? Absolutely, it could happen. In fact, you start reading missionary stories and it's happening all over the world where people are able to understand languages. People are able to walk into villages they'd never been and communicate in languages they've never had before. But is it normative for the church? No. All right? It's just not normative. That's what it means right here. But I want you to keep reading and see what actually happens.

Look at verse four. It says this, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven." In other words, Luke says, "Hey. From every spot I can think of, everywhere I know of, there was somebody there." Now think with me. This may have never been on your radar before. How amazing is it that the first time that the gospel is preached post-Jesus under the power of the Holy Spirit, catch this, every single nation was present?

Wow.

How powerful is it? What a display of God that basically just looked at the disciples and said, "Hey, it would've been great for you guys to go out on the streets, win a couple people here and there. That would've been fabulous." But how cool is it right here that we serve a God that went, "Just wait a minute. Just wait a minute. Just wait a minute and watch what I'm going to do because I'm going to show you how much every person, how much every nation, how much every tribe, how much every tongue is in my scope and I love them," and God wants them to know that he is king? And I got news for you, Church. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not some American gift to the world. It's not some gift to the world that we give them. It's for everybody.

The gospel of Jesus Christ would say there's no room in the gospel for any kind of hate, for any kind of racism, and for any kind of exclusivism at all. This seems to plague so many people. What does God show us here? He loves all people, all places, all nations, all tongues, all under his banner and his Spirit. And God has called every single one of us to have this primary source of our identity as being his children first. You want to celebrate your heritage? Hey, that's great. You go celebrate it. You want to celebrate where you're from or what your background is or what your skin tone may be? Hey, that is fine. But you never do that in expense of number one. You are a child of God.

Come on, teacher.

Because that's what unifies us and that's the message that we see in this moment right here. Why? Because God is in the business of unifying and redeeming his people and we should be about that mission as spirit-filled believers. This is what we're seeing in the text. In fact, keep going. Watch what it says. It says, "When they heard this sound," they, this is the people that were out, not in the room, "a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken." Man, I love this verse seven, "Utterly amazed," oh, I'd be amazed too, "they asked, 'Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?'" What's happening here? The people that were on the outside of this room heard the booming presence of God. That's what we're seeing in the deal. And what happens? They come to find out what is happening and they walk into this place and they're like, "Wait a minute. Those are Galileans." And Galileans get a bad rap. They must have had a heck of an accent, right?

They're like, "Wait, those are Galileans. That's just that little po-dunk town on the north side of that lake that's up there, right?" I mean, it's a great farming town, a great fishing town. They even had a rock quarry evidently, right? All of that was cool, but it's not exactly the hotbed of academia. That's what they're saying. And these people are looking at this and going, "Hey, how did these guys learn all these languages all of a sudden?" to which God is like, "They didn't. They didn't." In fact, the best scholars that are out there would say there was somewhere between 19 and 21 languages represented at Jerusalem at this moment. How did it happen? Did they learn all these languages real fast that morning? No. Maybe during that 10 days, they got on Duolingo, right? No, right? God gave them the ability in the moment to give him glory. Listen to me, Church. That's what the Spirit does.

Yes.

That's what he does in you. That's what he does in me when I come to him like this. "Hey, God. I just need you to move." And I love the fact that this thing is like nothing that these little farmers and fishermen were like, "We don't know where this is coming from, but we know the one that has given it to us." So many nations that were out there. In fact, look at it because Luke loves details. Watch what he does. He gives us all the nations. I had to practice these this week. So watch this. Here's what it says. It says, "Then how is it," verse eight, "that each of us hears them in our native tongues?" I love that. They're walking up and this guy from Egypt is like, "Hey, that's my language," right? He's walking up and he's hearing it.

Watch this, "Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia. Phrygia," that's my favorite one, "and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretes and Arabs." Watch what they said, "We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?'" You know what happens when we begin to live in the Spirit? People begin to look at us. They say something's different, they know something's different, they know something else is up, and they begin to look at us and go, "Whoa. Something's up with that person." Let me give you a little bit of a point that's not in your notes. If nobody's asking what's different about you and what's up in your life, you might not be walking in the Spirit.

So what's happening? The crowd. The crowd doesn't understand what's going on. They hear a sound. Now they're hearing their languages. The crowds are like, "Hey, are you hearing that?" Now everybody spoke Greek at this time. It was Koinonia, the common Greek. The Romans did that to the whole area, right? But now everybody is hearing someone speak to them in their native language and they're all praising God. This Jesus thing that was this little bitty groups thing right here in Jerusalem, maybe around the little lake and around the area, is now being expanded out of the small, little, local thing and now it's a global thing. It's a "for everybody" thing. The Spirit is opening it up for everybody. But even when this powerful moment happens, I want you to notice something. There's some people that just don't get it.

Listen, even when you're walking in the Spirit, there are some people that aren't going to get it and that's not on you. Your role is to walk in the Spirit and proclaim the message of Jesus. That's your role, not to make them get it. In fact, that's how it always is. It's how it was here. Watch this in verse 13. It says this, "Some," even after all this, a noise, a language, these guys busting out. "Some, however, made fun of them and said," I love this line, "'They have had too much wine.'" Right? Well, it sounds like Friday at the girls deal, right? What did they say? They're like, "Hey." This is in the morning, by the way. They're like, "Hey. Those Galileans, they start early." I mean, that's what they're saying right here, right?

Now I want you to put up a little pause right there in the text because we don't have time to go any farther in the text. We're going to go next week. So listen, you need to be here next week. This is where we're going to pick it up next week. But what happens? Through the power of God falling on this place, the disciples begin to preach the gospel. The power of the Holy Spirit falls on the whole area. Peter preaches the first Christian message, which by the way, that's where we're going next week. The church starts to boom. It goes from 120 people to 3,000 people because of what God is doing in this place. Now that is what happens in the event. And I get it. In most churches. We would pray and go home, but y'all are extra Bible people, okay? All right? You're extra.

And so this is what I want to do this morning. I want to not only show you what happened in the story, but I want to give you some things that this event shows us as now believers in Jesus that are filled with the Spirit that we should now have as a part of our core doctrine and teaching. Here's why. Because I think sometimes when we read these stories, we're like, "Oh, that was great for back then." I want to show you what it does in us right now. So I want to give you four Holy Spirit walkaways this morning in the next nine minutes and 56 seconds. Here we go. Here's number one. All right? Here it is. Number one, here's what the disciples would say. They would say this: Trust in God's timing because it's always perfect. Boy, that one stung, didn't it? That one stung, didn't it? Why does it thing so much? Because I get it. Some of you're walking through some things right now in your life that it just seems like God has hit the pause button.

But let me tell you something the disciples are showing us right here: Trust in his timing. Trust in his timing. Trust in his movement. Think about these disciples. They'd seen the power of God. They'd seen the resurrection. They were the best of the best. They could have been used by God. They had actually performed miracles. More than anything, they wanted God to move through them, but Jesus told them to their faces, "You're just going to need to wait. Just wait." Actually, in Acts 1:4, "Do not leave Jerusalem," he said, "but," what? "Wait for the gift my father promised." So for 10 days they waited, they met, they waited, they worshiped, they waited, they got into scripture. Why? Because God's timing is always better than our timing. Sometimes, listen, Church, we just have to wait. And I get it. We live in an instant society, but we need to wait. You know what this is showing us right here? Sometimes the trust factor is in the waiting, that God's power is greater than our power.

Listen to what David says about waiting. He says this in Psalm 40. He says, "I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and he heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock. He gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." And watch the result of his waiting. It's the last sentence. "Many we'll see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him."

Amen.

Listen, this is a guy that didn't know the Holy Spirit like we know the Holy Spirit and he's telling us sometimes you just need to wait. Could God have come on day one? Yeah. Could he have come on day 30? Yeah. Could he have come on day 49? Yeah, but he didn't? Why? Because he wanted to wait till this moment to launch the gospel, to launch it not only for Jerusalem, but so he could launch it to a people that could disperse it all over the literal known world with a new covenant, with a new message for God, with a new harvest of God, and with a new power that is in us. Man, I love this. Sometimes you just need to wait. But let me give you a little caveat about waiting.

Yes, we wait on God, but when God says move, listen closely to me, you better move. When God says move, you need to move. When it comes to making a move for God, when it comes to serving God, when it comes to living out your Christian priorities for God, when it comes to living for the kingdom, when it comes to giving our resources and serving inside of a church, listen, you need to do this. Listen, maybe nobody's ever told you this. Assume the yes is there and allow God to pull you back. Listen, if it's written in scripture, you don't need to pray about it. The yes is already there. If the command has already been given to you from God, listen, you don't have to pray about it. Assume the yes and pull back when he says, "Wait." Oh, man, I've heard so many people go, "Well, just let me pray about that." I'm like, "Brother, you don't need to pray about that. God told you already." "Well, let me pray about ..." "No, no, no, no, no. The command is there."

Number one: Trust in his timing. Number two, here it is, it's simple: Stand in God's promises and not our strength. Oh, American Church, come on. One of the hardest things about leading you guys is that you're very good at everything. One of the coolest things about speaking in Kenya every time I'm there is they have nothing and they're desperate for God to move in their life. They have no strength left. The disciples could have moved in their strength. They could have went out into the streets whenever they wanted to. They could have proclaimed the message. In fact, they were really good at it. They were really incredibly good at it. But God said, "Wait." But listen, we don't have to wait. Why? Because given us his power and his promises. And now can I tell you? The goal for our lives is just to walk in them. It's to say, "Yes, Lord. Here I am." You can do it, but I can't.

Let me tell you one of the best prayers that in just a few minutes that some of you just need to pray to God. "Hey, God, I know I can't. I know I can't and it hurts me to say that out loud because I've always been taught, 'Never say you can't,' but God, you can and I'm walking in that promise." In fact, I love this. Out of Amos 4, this is God talking. He said, "He who forms the mountains, he who creates the wind. He who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth," watch this, "the Lord Almighty is his name." And now, Church, here it is. He's living in you. He's living in you. And now our role is just to walk in those promises. This is how Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ."

Listen, standing in God's promises might look a little bit different than some of you think it is. You know how to stand in his promise? You keep doing what the disciples are doing. You meet together, you worship, you pray, and you lift up the name of God. Number one, trust in God's timing. Number two, stand in the promises of God. And number three, here it is: Walk in confidence that the Holy Spirit has you. Oh, man. If we could just do this, if we could just rise to the level of confidence of who we are that God has already told us we are, man, it would change our decisions. If we could walk in the confidence to realize who we are and what we possess, that God has already spoken over us, oh, it would change this place.

Pause for a second and just think about this. If you've given your life to Jesus, he has not only redeemed you for your past, but he has placed himself in you. The maker of the universe is in you. So what in the mess does it matter what that neighbor thinks, what that person at school thinks when I'm walking in the Spirit? Acts 2:4, "All of them," and this is for you that have given your life to Jesus, "were filled with the Spirit." So what we're going to see next week in 14 through 41 is what we see in the rest of this book. Over 45 times, we see the Spirit move and the disciples fall, the Spirit move and the disciples fall. Why? Because God was in them. And listen, he's in every single believer. And God, 1 John 4, is greater than anything that anyone else can offer us.

And do you realize what advantage we have over these people? We no longer have to walk into a city to hope that we can get some second-hand encounter with God. We have the presence of God in us and our role is to walk in it. And God's role is to constantly fill us and constantly fill us and his promises always happen. And therefore, 1 Timothy 1:7, it says this, "For the Spirit of God does not make us timid, but gives us power," oh, I love it, "love, and self-discipline." Listen. This power is available to us. He's given it to us. And he's called us not to walk in pride, but to walk in confidence that no matter what this world throws at us now, no matter what this world offers us, no matter what this world puts in front of us, that I now have the confidence that the Holy Spirit is inside me.

You're like, "Man, why do you keep saying that?" Because I don't think we get it. Because if we did get it, it would shape our decisions. If we did get it, it would give us confidence in times needing confidence. If we did get it, it would give us the ability to run away from the things that the world dangles in front of us. If we did get it, it would lead us out of that despair that for so long that we've been living in, that I can now walk not in pride, but in confidence that he has me and his promises are true, which leads me to the last one. I trust in his timing. I stand in his presence. I walk in his confidence.

Here's the last walkaway I just want to give you. Just allow the Holy Spirit to lead you. Allow him to lead you. You say, "Man, what does that even mean? I hear that all the time in church. Allow him to lead me. How?" Number one: Where scripture speaks, walk. It's pretty easy. That's the first one. Number two: How does the Holy Spirit lead you? Surrender all of you to all of him. Number three: Do everything you can to limit the distractions that are trying to pull you away. And number four: Just tell him right now, "Hey, Lord. My yes is there." That's how it leads you.

Oh, Church. What a day it would be for us to walk in. I realize some of you grew up in churches where you didn't talk about the Spirit a whole lot. And some of you, this is kind of week three you're beginning to wonder, "Matt, are we turning Pentecostal?" No. But listen, the Spirit is what gives us power, the Spirit is what reaches down in us when we have nothing left, the Spirit is what seals us for eternity, and the Spirit is what gives us the ability to speak on behalf of the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. But let me ask you this as we close: Are you living for him?

 

Follow Along with the Message

The Day It All Changed

 

August 17, 2025

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 2:1
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

PRINCIPLE: Gather, worship, praise, and pray especially in the hard times of .

Acts 2:2

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:3–4
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

PRINCIPLE: God’s presence was no longer to be celebrated for falling on a place because it is now fallen into .

Acts 2:4–5

4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

Acts 2:6–7

6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?”

Acts 2:8–12

8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Acts 2:13
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
4 Holy spirit walkaway challenges

1. Trust in God’s , because it’s always perfect.

Acts 1:4

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.”

Psalm 40:1–3

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

2. Stand in God’s promises and not our .

Amos 4:13

He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals His thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth – the Lord God Almighty is His name.

2 Corinthians 1:20

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.

 

3. Walk in the that the Holy Spirit has you.

Acts 2:4

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

2 Timothy 1:7

"For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

4. Allow the Holy Spirit to you.

Take the Next Step »

Additional Notes

 

Email (To Send Copy of Notes)