Feast of Miracles

Because today is the anniversary of the founding of the Church of God. We know that by not only history, but by the Scriptures. The founding of the Church of God by Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost. We know that even from 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 8, where Paul is actually writing in 56 AD to the Church of Corinth, and mentions the Peace to Pentecost and how he is there. So this was a New Testament teaching that they were coming together, and it was an anniversary on the Feast of Pentecost for when the Holy Spirit was given at 31 AD. We also know in 60 AD the book of Acts, Luke, is writing how the New Testament Church was keeping the Feast of Pentecost. But today I want to look at a different aspect of the Feast of Pentecost. There are so many things you can cover. I want to do something today that has been in the works for the last few weeks. Because the last few weeks we looked at the power of positive thinking. We looked at the power of being positive in our lives, and how God not only expects it, he wants it. And how it is necessary for us to have faith, for us to use the power of the Holy Spirit. We also looked at the power of faith just yesterday and the week before. But today we will continue in that same vein. We have the power to be positive. We have the power to have faith. But today we want to show the power of God's Holy Spirit. It may be in us, but it's only a down payment. It's only a down payment for what will come later. It's a down payment for us to use, to see how we use it. The Scriptures tell us the Holy Spirit is a gift. It's mentioned as a gift. It's also mentioned as a power. It's mentioned as a helper. Do you view it that way? Do you view the Holy Spirit that way? There's nothing numinous about the Holy Spirit. God explains it. There's nothing vague about it. But we do not always think of it as a gift. Perhaps you received a gift that you opened but never really used. Like maybe we used to in Tennessee, you might get a gift of a sweater. And there were some hideous sweaters that no one would want to wear in public. So you really didn't use that gift. Or perhaps I remember when my wife and I got married. We received gifts at our wedding. And I would look down even a year later and there was something under our kitchen or something somebody bought us that she never really opened. She opened the gift but didn't open the box. Because we really didn't have any use for it. Is that how perhaps you might have viewed the Holy Spirit? That it was something that you opened at one time. It was something that was given to you. But over the years it was just not used very much.

Or how about the power? Have we really used the power of the Holy Spirit? Any of you men ever use a jackhammer? No, I'm sure Mike has. Yes, yes. Okay, Wayne has too. Lewis has. If you've ever used a jackhammer, the first time you used it you realize there's a lot more power there than I thought. And usually your greatest fear was letting it jump over and take off half your foot. And so you really had to put your mind and your whole body into using a jackhammer. The Holy Spirit is something like that. It's very powerful. And a lot of people, they do not use it. They don't use it properly. They don't feed it. They don't grow. Finally, it's called a helper. How often do we call for help? How often do we ask God to help us use this Holy Spirit? How often do we cry out to God to help us with our problems every day? The situations that come up. The Holy Spirit is mentioned in the book of Acts more than 50 times. It's interesting because Pentecost itself in Greek means 50th. Because it takes place 50 days after the Passover Sabbath. You find that in Leviticus 23, 15-16.

And some have asked, well, I don't understand because why do we keep it on this Sunday when some Jewish friends I know, they kept it last week.

And they count 52. Well, I don't want to go into a pure doctrine sermon today, but it is 50 days from the counting of the Sabbath after the Passover. The Pharisees at the time of Christ actually kept Pentecost on 50 days from the first day of Unleavened Bread or after Passover. But the Sadducees who were in control of the temple and had been for 300 years, the Sadducees, as the followers of the Sadducees even today, keep the Feast of Pentecost. And you can look this up, read it in all historical accounts. They keep it 50 days from the Sabbath during the middle of the spring Holy Days. 50 days, tomorrow after the Sabbath, says which is Sunday. That's why we keep it on Sunday. That's when the First Testament Church kept it. You can even find that in history also. But it's interesting because it correlates with when Christ was resurrected that Saturday evening at sunset.

And when He ascended to His Father the next morning, which would have been the Wave Chief offering, being He was called, and He's called that many times in the New Testament, the first of the first fruits. Just like that barley that was waved before God as acceptance, so Jesus Christ was. But if there's any questions about it, you can ask me about that later. It's pretty simple. Most people do not, but other people do have questions.

And you'll find that the more you understand about the Jewish religion and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as we went into in various sermons, of how the Sadducees were the actual ones over the Temple. They had control at that time, and the Pharisees was another sect of the Jews who tried to find fault in everything. And they actually were appointed.

The Sadducees were actually kicked out of their reign of the Temple and over the authority of the Jewish nation at the time at around 55 AD. And they were then instituted, and they put their understanding of their oral laws in effect. But it wasn't. But a few short years, 10 to 15 years later, that of course... The Roman government could not get along with the set rulers, and they tried to kick the Romans out. And you had the destruction of the Temple. But I don't want to go into that as much today as I want to talk about God at the time, 1,983 years ago, at 31 AD. Matter of fact, it was June 17, 31 AD.

God was about to give His greatest gift besides His son to mankind in Mass. For the very first time, what day would He have chosen? He chose a high Sabbath, seven high Sabbaths, in the entire year for God that He lays out for His people to worship. It's the day He knew His people would be gathered to worship on that day, those who followed Jesus Christ. Fifty-five days before the Pentecost, June 17, 31 AD, in Acts 2, Christ said, It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

But if I depart, and I think this is the interesting part from John 16 or 7, I will send Him or it to you. So Christ had to leave because He said, if I do not leave, it cannot come. Christ sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that day. It was His Father's Holy Spirit. It was His Father's gift. It was His Father's power. His Father's help. His Father's very essence. Christ returned from this earthly human being that He was to the actual throne of God to sit down on the right hand.

And He asked that He may be glorified as He was once glorified with His Father. But there is a miracle about to happen because a part of God, the very essence, spiritual essence of God was going to become available to humans, to us pathetic little weak humans. Then why else, without that, were we made in His image? A dog was not made in His image. But that is why we are called His greatest creation. That is why our little brains, only about 3 to 4 percent of this brain is being used now.

Why would that be? Unless there is something bigger planned down the road. Or did God just make a mistake? Well, I don't know why He made that brain so big. I could have made it that small. But He didn't. The essence, as I talk about essence of God, Webster's definition, is the real nature in which something consists. The most important element. It also says an immaterial spirit. That's what the spirit is. Can't see it.

It's compared to the wind. It's even compared to breath. Jesus tried to describe it to Nicodemus. I'd like to look at it in the book of Acts, Acts 1. As Jesus Christ is trying to tell them before Pentecost, before that great feast of Pentecost, what's going to happen to them? In verse 4, Acts 1, it says, 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 with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, Lord, Will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? They were looking for Him to come back and restore this kingdom. And here, you'd already promised Him that you would set over. Each of you will set over one of the tribes. They're going, Sounds great, God! Let's get it on. We're ready. Even though we don't have your Holy Spirit yet, even though we were just a little over a month away from denying you and walking away from you, we understand now.

We get it on. Because they thought they did. They thought they understood. And you know, when we first received God's Holy Spirit, we think we have got a lot of things clear in our heads, too. But then we find out more and more as the months and years go by how much more we have to learn from God's Holy Word, and just how powerful it is.

In verse 7, and He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons. It's amazing how many people today want to know. Is it ready yet? You know, is Christ coming back? Wait a minute. What's the signs?

Wait a minute. There's those blood moons. Wait a minute. Something over here has happened. People look all over the world wanting to find out, just like they did. When are you going to return? And He says, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

It's God's call. He'll make the call at just the right time. We just have to make sure we have our sights, like I talked about yesterday, on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And then verse 8 gives Him this incredible prophecy. But you shall receive power, give that power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You see, He wasn't just talking to them.

He was talking to His disciples, as He talked about in John 15, 16, and 17, of how those who would follow would follow along and preach this Gospel. It's one of the things that we do. It's why our booklets are free. It's why we make them available. It's why we go up and down, one side to the other, in the Caribbean, in Africa, South America, all the various places that we go to preach this Gospel.

So you shall receive power. And so we know, as we heard in the sermonette, we heard yesterday in the sermonette also, there were 120 gathered. Now you would think Jesus Christ would look and go, wait a minute, I was here three and a half years, God in the flesh, preached all these fabulous, fantastic sermons, and thousands upon thousands and thousands and thousands of people showed up, and I fed at least ten thousand at one time.

And yet now, only 120 of you? Only 120? Why was that number significant?

There's a reason. Because it didn't stay 120 by the end of the day. But it started with 120. See, 120 was the exact number required by Jewish law for a council in any city to make Matthias's election not only official, but legal. It required 120 for there to have an organization, a business, as they might say, formed.

A legitimate church was formed with 120 people. The exact number. Not by coincidence. But would you call that a miracle? A new spiritual organization, a new church was being formed that day. Not only in God's eyes, but it was also formed in the eyes of man.

We go to Chapter 2 of Acts, which is covered a lot by Orlando yesterday. But I'd like to look at a couple things as we see that first day, powerful day, when the Holy Spirit was given in Mass to 120 people.

And there was 120 people in Acts 2, verses 1-4. 120 people with one mindset in one place on one certain day.

That's one of the reasons we keep it. We follow what Christ's Church kept in the Apostolic Age. Verse 2, it says, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, this Holy Spirit. There was a sound from heaven. That was a miracle. It didn't come from the coast. The sound came from heaven. Supernatural.

It says, like, as a rushing, mighty wind. A rushing, mighty wind is natural. That's why it wasn't. It's as. So we could try to understand what it was like as a mighty wind, which is supernatural. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Nowhere else.

Verse 3, it says, It's interesting. It appeared to them. There wasn't fire. Okay? It was a vision. It was a miracle. And they spoke and divided tongues as fire, not real fire. And they were speaking in tongues, supernatural. We have two in the back. And they speak Spanish. We have those who speak Samara-Mak, right? Other people may be able to speak other languages, or maybe some speak French. You speak French? Yeah, you do now. You better.

Most of us do good to speak English. But here, there was a miracle. Supernaturally, the 120 started speaking in other tongues. And it said the spirits gave them utterance. It was a miracle. Not something learned. It just happened. Verse 5 says, Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred, the multitude came together. They were confused. Because everyone heard them speak in his own language. There were many. People who spoke multiple languages as Aramaic was the language of the time. But people also spoke Hebrew, also spoke Latin, Greek. Even the Parthians, they say, spoke a different dialect.

But they all heard. They were perplexed. I want to cover something. Hopefully I will have time. I think I will. Because some of us, well, wait a minute. They spoke in these tongues, and there's even a Pentecostal movement. Pentecostal churches around the world that will even be meeting today. And they will have all these people going, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or they will have people falling down, yelling, screaming. This supposed Holy Spirit enters them. And they are led by the Spirit.

So I wanted to explain that a little bit, without getting too detailed. Because I'm pulling this all out, basically my head, from study. But I think it's important to understand that the actual word, tongues, they're actually are...

It's from the Greek word glasa, G-L-O-S-S-A. And it actually does mean tongue. It also has another meaning of languages. But there's also a third meaning that was used back at that time, especially in the Greek.

And it was a phenomenon found in pagan, Hellenistic religions.

Where it was called, aesthetic speaking.

And Luke would have known all about this.

And it was broken speech patterns in a religious type ecstasy.

At that time, if you want to read more about it, you want to study it, you can study it just like I have. If you're taught, you find out so much from the Oracle of Delphi. All you have to do is type that in and you'll find a dozen different explanations of it that explain real fast. What exactly and where exactly this Pentecostal type religious service came from.

Because if you could go to Corinth, just outside of Corinth now, just outside of Athens, you can go to the city of Delphi. And at the time, for about 400 years, it started with a man with a couple goats. And as he was taking care of his goats, he noticed that his goats went over to this flat area of rocks, the kind of stony area. And his goats started acting crazy. And he's going, what's wrong with these goats? Because they were jumping around and just, you know, crazy. So he goes over there and there's some type of air, gas coming out of the ground. And it gives you, it gave those goats kind of this euphoric feeling that's high. And so he goes over and he acts, almost puts you in a trance, gets you really excited. So what happens? He tells other people who also come. And within a few years, they have actually set up a religion, as now the Greeks have come in and said, well, that's where Apollo came down and slew the great python. So they actually set up this temple, the temple of Apollos, over this area. And so they decided that they would have a lady, a young lady, first it was Virgin, who would sit over this as they had actual chairs and temple built around it. And when this stuff came out of the air, she would go over and breathe it. And then she would tell everyone what the gods were saying.

And so later on they found out that for about 50 years they kept virgins until all of a sudden one didn't stay a virgin. And they had a problem, so then they made a rule. That no woman under the age of 50 could become the or the priestess, spokeswoman for the gods. And so then people would come from all around because there was something magical. But then it got so big that the priestess would stand there and people would come up and ask questions and she would go over to the split in the rock, look down, and then she would start yelling about and screaming and flailing and yelling out these words that no one could understand. So then they needed, of course, priests to help tell what she was saying for all these people who were coming in and paying all this money so that they could have a god tell them what to plant that year. Or even generals would come and say, should I fight this war? Will I win? They would pay all this money.

She would go into her gyrations, her yelling, and ahhhh! And they would be able to interpret it. And they would say, this is what you needed to do. It was so famous that they even set up a game there every year, a Delphi, Olympic-type games, except a lot of it was even competition for music. So it took on a life of its own that even Alexander the Great came all the way to see what the Oracle of Delphi would tell him about conquering the world.

And it existed all the way through Roman time. The priests and priestesses still made their money, and people would come from all around to have that wild person tell them what they needed to do. And so some people have even confused that with what happened here.

The 31 AD has nothing to do with it, but you'll see also why Paul even addresses the Corinthians. They get the 15th, 16th chapter about these same things that are going on.

But I want to come down to Acts 2 and verse 14. As Peter is standing up with the 11, he raised his voice and said to them, men of Judea, and all of Jerusalem, let it be known to you and heed these words. But of course, as of yesterday, the people thought he was drunk. But here it was only 9 o'clock in the morning.

But in verse 16, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, is what Peter was saying that day, because Peter knew this was a foretaste. What they were going to see was a foretaste of Joel's prophecy in Joel 2. As Joel said, it shall come to pass in the last days, the very last days. It says, God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesize. Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my men serving and my mates serving, I will pour out my spirit in those days. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesize. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness as we look into the sixth seal in the book of Revelation. Just before, as it says, the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. One last grasp by God. Peter was trying to explain to them that this was a foretaste. Like so many of God's prophecies, they're dual. Like the abomination of desolation that took place, that will take place again. The dual prophecy of the God's sons and daughters, first pictured by Pentecost and the first fruits. And the others pictured by the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

But then Peter, this man who had denied Christ, looked back and he was giving this sermon. And he said, men of Israel, hear these words in verse 22. Jesus of Nazareth, the man attested by God to you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did through him. In your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, and you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. Peter was no longer shying back. He was letting them have it.

See, from what we can tell you, there were thousands of men that Peter was talking to that day.

And then he says in verse 29, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he who is both dead and buried in his tomb is with us this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne.

Verse 36, he said, therefore, let all the house of Israel know surely that God has made this Jesus Christ whom you crucify, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter, and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?

They realized after this amazing sermon, what they had done, that they had been a part to say, crucify, crucify, crucify, or give us Barabbas, free Barabbas. They were a part of this. They got worked up into a frenzy. Verse 38, Peter said to them, you want to know what to do? Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Powerful words. This is something that Jews, especially Pharisees, especially Sadducees, especially leaders, they didn't have to repent.

They thought their race was good enough. They were Jews. They were better. They didn't need to repent. They were from their father, Abraham. But here, they saw a different Peter. They heard a different Peter that day.

Verse 39, for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord or God will call, He's showing, I'm going to turn this loose on everybody. I'm going to give people a chance all over the world, and your sons and your daughters.

Verse 40, and with many other words, He testified and exhorted them, saying, Be safe from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received His word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers.

Many wonders were done. Three thousand added to the church that day. And you see, just a few days later, another five thousand were added. As a matter of fact, one historian said, within the first year of the church, grow from Pentecost, over 20,000 people were in that first church in Jerusalem.

Of course, we know persecution came so after. They began to split off to various places.

See, this is not just the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, but it's the Feast of Miracles. And so many miracles happened that day. I hope you'll read the entire second chapter. You'll see that. All people on earth today, you, me, it's a miracle. It's a miracle that we're here. That our minds are open, we understand that this is a holy day. We understand that God has called us out as first fruits. That small group of late spring harvest.

Because the world's not ready yet. Because He wants everyone to have a chance.

It's a miracle that we understand it. It's a miracle people understand the Sabbath. It's a miracle people understand the holy days. It's a miracle we understand and have faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We look and we ask for more of His Holy Spirit. We all feel we could use more of His Holy Spirit. Right? But you see, He knows how much we can use. How much we will use. He gives us the Holy Spirit in measure, unlike Jesus Christ, who had it without measure. And we see Stephen before he died, he said he was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. And God gave him vision.

The actual throne of God.

But you see, there is power. There is power in the Holy Spirit that most of us are not prepared to use yet. He wants a suit.

Remember about faith in the mustard seed? Jonathan handed out the little piece of mustard seed. If you had faith that large, you could move mountains. You see, the Holy Spirit is supernatural.

So anything supernatural has control over the natural. Because the supernatural created the natural.

But the story after story of people, young and old, that were given more than they can handle.

As I mentioned earlier, just think about it. Are you ready? Would you be ready to heal people?

By just walking by in your shadow cast for them? That's what happened to Peter.

It's the power of the Holy Spirit.

Could you handle it?

Would you have such a following? Because you would go down and you'd go through the hospital when we saw Maledius. I could walk in every room and just touch them and they would be healed. Every single one of those people. Wouldn't you love to have that? Wouldn't that be a gift of the Spirit you would love to have?

I'd put faith out of business.

Put the nurses and doctors out of business.

If I could handle it, God would give it to me. But I can't.

But He is waiting for people.

Who can handle more of His Holy Spirit. So that you can do miracles. That's what we've been called to do. We're miracle workers in training.

I think of the stories of people today. We can look around and say, well, we would handle things different. If I had money and power and fame, it wouldn't get to me. I would give more money. I would do all these things.

You look at the child actors. This is an example of Macaulay Caulkins, a little boy that was in some movie. Home Alone. Earned millions of dollars. Now he got into drugs. Now he has some type of rock band. Slept on the streets. Everything else. Parents went through his money, he said, and sued them. We know the story of Lindsay Lohan. The child actress now has grown and rested for cocaine, DUIs, and all kinds of problems. We look at River Phoenix, a movie that I saw as a stand-by me many years ago. A little boy in the movie, grows up, has a cocaine or some type of drug overdose outside of a bar with his brother. He's only like 20, 21 years old. Look at the sports stars.

Look at the examples today of those who have everything fame, money, power, prestige. An example of Mike Tyson. Most of you know Mike Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight fighters that ever lived before his time. And the time Mike Tyson came on the scene up until a few years ago, he earned $400 million, boxing.

Now last year he's $27 million in debt. He doesn't know how he's going to pay for it. Mark Brunell was a quarterback. He played for two or three different teams for about seven or eight years before he retired. His body was kind of shot. He earned $50 billion. Two years later, he's $25 million in debt.

Perhaps you remember the story of Lynn Bias, one of the great basketball players from the University of Maryland. It was the number two draft pick in 1986, picked by the Boston Celtics.

A tremendous athlete. He was going to be playing with Larry Bird and the championship team, so they figured this was the future. Two days later, for the very first time in a dorm room, he kept his body in really good shape. Didn't drink, didn't carry on, but because he signed a million dollar contract the day before, he tried cocaine for the first time.

He died of a heart attack that morning, six o'clock in the morning. Never played a down. Never played a one-minute professional basketball. Our lottery winners that were mentioned, William Budd Post, one of the first guys to win the lottery, won $16 million a year later. Here's $1 million in debt. He went through it all. Right now, he lives on $450 a month in food stamps. In 1998, Gerald Muswaggin won $10 million in a lottery. A very young guy, still living at home. $10 million sent for life. But in seven years, he blew it all, drinking and partying. Had nothing to show for it. He hung himself in his parents' garage. And then there's Andrew Whitaker. One of the biggest stories. He won $100 million. He took home. He won more than that, but he took the lump sum. $114 million.

And winning, and four years later, they were all gone. All $114 million. Bring this up because it's nothing new. It's been going on for a very long time. Power not under control.

Where fame, prestige, and beauty takes you. Like you turned back to Ezekiel 28. God saw this many years ago. Thousands of years ago. And he didn't want to see it again.

Ezekiel 28, verse 17, he talks about Lucifer. Lucifer had it all. He says in verse 14, You were the anointed carob who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. That means he was up there with God.

He was the most beautiful of all the angels. He had it all. And God gave him such incredible power.

But he said, by the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within. And you sinned.

Because it's so different from verse 15. He said, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created. Perfect, given everything. Verse 17, Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. That was Lucifer.

God gives us an example of talents. He used to read the parable of talents. Most of you know that, where he gives so many talents. And talents are a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.

And he wants to see what we're going to do with it. He wants to see, the whole parable tells us about investment. How do we invest it? How are we investing the Holy Spirit? Are we putting it on a shelf? What do we return back to God when he needs it? Because he says he comes and gives it to this talent that I gave you. The Holy Spirit.

I don't have any interest. I didn't gain any.

He gives this Holy Spirit because he invests it in us. That's what it's all about. It's an investment.

We were talking just the other day, Mary and I, down in the sitting area with this older gentleman and his wife. Very successful. Very wealthy.

And when she asked him, and I asked him about different things growing up, he brings it all back to one man. One man, the head of a bank, that helped him.

This man believed in him and invested in him. Gave him contracts to get every... to open so many doors to him. He invested in him. The man's success because of it. God invests in each one here, His Holy Spirit.

Because he's going to want the return later on down the road. He's going to want us, brethren, to be able to perform a lot of miracles and to be there. When his son returns to set up the kingdom of God on this earth and reign for a thousand years and then beyond. There was this TV show, TV series, or movies called Mission Impossible. You've probably seen it. I have to wonder sometimes if God doesn't look at me and sometimes say, Boy, that's Mission Impossible. Because I give him so much, he has access to so much, and yet he just uses very little. I want to do more.

But it's not me that's holding up God's work. It's not me that's holding back God's Spirit. I mean, it's not him, it's me. I'm holding him up. I can do more. When my life centers around this book, when every day it's a must that I read from his book, I'm filled with this Word. When every day I must pray. Not just wants to get it over with. But pray because of that connection. Pray that he stirs up that Spirit, that he gives me more, but not more than I can handle.

So we've been granted power on loan from God. That's what this is. That's what the Holy Spirit is. Power on loan from God. Pentecost 31 A.D. When 120 people all gathered together and one accord all came together, and God poured out that Spirit, this Spirit on all 120, you can imagine the mindset of sin. Can you imagine the screen? Can you imagine the anger?

Because it said, your days are not enough.

There are new sons of God that are going to be raised up. The same ones that I have told you, you would be able to serve. Now they will rule the entire universe with them.

Humans would be brought to divine stature. Humans would be brought to the divine nature. Humans would be gods and the family of God.

And all the angels would not only be judged by them, but will be serving them for eternity.

Are we preparing these bodies to use more of God's Holy Spirit? Do we look at them as clean and pure vessels that we need to have cleaned every day by the blood of Jesus Christ? Do we need to make sure that we get the bad stuff out so that the good stuff, more of His Holy Spirit, can take up more space in our vessel?

I want more. I need more. We all need more. We can all use more.

Let's be inspired today, like God's people were in 1983 years ago. Let's start expecting more miracles in our lives.

Let's be positive like the 120 that gathered in one quarter. Rather than let's enjoy the miracle of God giving His Spirit to corrupt man and raising Him to divine.

Isn't that amazing? It makes you wonder why He puts His Spirit in us.

It's because He has a plan. He's not doing it to say, oh, let's see what happens. Christ, let's just see what happens.

It's because there's a plan for eternity. We're involved.

And the only thing special about us is we're called first fruits.

It's a feast of miracles, brother. It's a miracle you're here. It's a miracle God called you. It's a miracle that God plans to use you for eternity.

Let's have the faith of this small ragtag, 120 people. But when you look, think about it. He gathered 120 in that room that day. And just think about it. We talked about it during the Bible study one time. Brethren, that's 120 all-stars. Think about who was there. Disciples. Mary. Christ's brothers.

Nicodemus. Joseph-Era Matheia. Name after name after name. Of those when Christ's time were there. He was ready to use them.

Let's use the gift. Let's unwrap it.

Let's ask God to start stirring up that spirit in us.

So that we not only use the spirit to overcome the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, as John says, but that we use it to raise ourselves up to where He wants us to be.

See, it's not us getting there. It's Him raising us up. And He can do that through His Holy Spirit.

And that's where iron sharpens iron. Where we come in here each week. We come in each Sabbath day. And we're talking about what? Our passion. What did you read this week?

What stirred you up? What did you read this week? That's using His Spirit. It's feeding that spirit.

One last scripture as we close. Because we need to unleash the power that is in us. I'd like you to turn to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3.

Verse 16, you've probably read this 17. Many times. I have.

Verse 16 says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

You. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy. Which temple? You are.

Everybody agree there? Talks about us? Yes?

It's bigger than that. See, I have to understand in the Greek. In the Greek, the you is plural. It's plural. This isn't talking about it. It's an individual. He's talking about the churches. The church is a whole. He's telling the Corinthian church, You are the temple of God. It's plural. He's talking to the church.

Rather than he's talking to us as his church in Fort Lauderdale. And you know why? To be honest, he expects a lot more of us out of us than what we're doing. He expects a lot more out of me and he expects a lot more out of you.

He expects us to start stirring up and using the Holy Spirit. He's expecting some miracles.

I don't want to let him down. He gave up his son so that I could perform some miracles. He gave up his son so that I could have faith and move mountains.

Let's remember and hold dear the very essence of God. That is the Holy Spirit. See, that essence makes us holy. What a blessing! What a miracle! We can have that spirit. There's nothing... I had a man one time.

That he was a minister for a long time.

Then he had some problems and he dropped out of the ministry. He was an alcoholic.

And he wrote an article, and I remember being shocked by him because I always respected him. I respected him just as much when he removed himself from the ministry. You're called to a higher standard. And I respected him when he stepped aside, but then he wrote something that's my lasting impression of him because I haven't read or seen anything or heard anything from him since. Then he wrote in this article that he was all in for an alcoholic synonymous, which I've had their books, studied their stuff, worked with people, been through their good organization.

But he made the statement of how great AA was and how there are some things that the Holy Spirit just cannot fix. That man has no faith. There's nothing that the Holy Spirit, this whole world was created by the Holy Spirit. There's nothing in your life you cannot overcome. Alcohol, pornography, all types of abuse, temper, just look at the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5, 22, love, joy, peace, goodness. Those are what's going to come out of the Holy Spirit. Those are what's going to come out of you every day, all the time. If we just stir it up, that's what he wants us to do. And I am your pastor. You should expect love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, self-control. But it doesn't come easy. It's a job. It's a job for you, it's a job for me, with the rewards. To put it lightly, they're out of this world. They're being a God and living for eternity. So let's enjoy, brethren, let's enjoy the rest of the Feast of Miracles, this Feast of Pentecost, as we share food, as people came together, come together today to share food, share fellowship, to share our dreams, to share those scriptures. Next week we have the opportunity of having one or two of our young people come up during services and quote a scripture, a memorized scripture or two that they've been working on. I never had the chance to start when I was small, obeying God's ways, His Sabbath, and His holy days, and everything about it. We have the opportunity to set an example for our young people here. We have an example to set an example for each other, that we can be the kind of church. It doesn't matter how big we are, but we're in this thing together. Because we are, brethren, we are the body. We are the body of the bride of Christ. What a wonderful gift that is. That's a miracle in itself. That God would want us, all the little flaws, all the little problems we have, He still calls us. Because He's not done. He's putting together His team. He's putting together His family. And the key is using God's Holy Spirit. Let's enjoy the rest of the Feast of Pentecost.