Joyfully Walking in the Power of God's Holy Spirit

Well, that was very fine special music. It's amazing how few people can make such a big sound. It was truly inspiring. I appreciate Mr. Whitlark's extra work that he puts into directing the choir as well. And I know it's a lot of work for everyone to practice and to sound as good as you all do. So, thank you very much. Brethren, God tells us in His Word that we're all to become like little children if we are to receive entrance into His glorious eternal kingdom.

What did He mean by that? I'm sure we've heard messages about little children. Certainly, humility is one of the lessons God wants us to learn from little children. We are to be humble people, certainly realizing our dependence upon God. Looking to Him as one of the vital lessons He wants us to learn by considering little children.

Little children are so dependent upon their parents. Infants and toddlers are completely dependent upon their parents. We should also depend upon God and Christ for our very lives each day. We do depend upon them. Every breath of air that we breathe is because God allows that and gives us life. But in regard to little children, what about joyfulness? What about sheer excitement? What about enthusiasm?

Have you ever thought about the importance of being joyful and excited about life, excited about your calling, and thrilled to know that God and His Son Jesus Christ is a reason we are to become like little children? Don't little children really get excited about some little things? It's always exciting to me to be around children. I like to be around kids. I draw strength from children. They just energize me to some degree and I really enjoy children. They have so much enthusiasm. They're so single-minded and wholehearted. What about a little child when he has his mind on something? It's pretty hard to deter them, isn't it, at times? They can be absolutely tenacious in accomplishing something that they put their little hearts and minds on.

Now, I submit to you that we as adults should be more joyful. I believe we should be more single-minded in our approach to life. And if we are, we will learn to utilize God's Spirit in our lives more effectively. That's the important message about the day of Pentecost, that we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us to strengthen us, to empower us. We will truly learn to walk in the power of the Spirit of God Most High if we will just learn to become like a little child in that sense, to be single-minded, to keep our eyes on the goal, to have that vision that we always need to have, to be filled with excitement and enthusiasm for God and His way of life.

Now, I'm going to show you a very short video here in just a moment. It's a video of a young child's very first steps. And I don't know how many times we actually get to catch the very first steps that our children take. Usually, it's unexpected, and they walk, and you missed it. But in this case, this was actually our daughter. It was actually the other grandmother, not my wife Barbara, but on the other side of the family. They taped this as it happened. So this is my grandson Xander. I do have a little special interest in this video.

He was just a little over a year old at the time, and it's his very first steps. So as you view this video, I would like you to ask yourself, why did Xander pick this time to walk? Why did he pick this time to walk? Why was this time so special and so different from all the other times? I know his parents tried to get him to walk. Why was this time different from the other times that he no doubt himself thought about and considered walking?

But he didn't. In this video, you'll see two first cousins. You'll see my grandson Xander and another of his first cousins. The older one is going to jump on a couch, and he screams out the word, ICE CREAM! I'm not sure why, but I guess he likes ice cream. They were having a great time. They had the cushions down on the floor, and then the older boy is going to jump from the couch onto the cushions while yelling, ICE CREAM!

Then Xander is going to squeal with delight, and he's going to take his first steps. So let's watch it at this point. I don't know that he even realized he had walked, but he did walk, and we have it on tape. So why do you think he walked this particular time? And why had he not walked before this at other times? Well, I have my own assumptions. I'm making my own conclusions here. I think it was because he was so joyful about what was happening.

He was having so much fun with his cousin. They were just playing together, and he was single-minded enjoying his cousin and all the fun. His cousin had jumped off the couch, onto the couches. He was yelling, ICE CREAM! I don't know if he thought there was ice cream over there or what.

But regardless, he walked over there for the very first time. So he was joyful, he was single-minded, and I believe he forgot his fears. He forgot that he couldn't walk. He forgot that he had never walked before. So I think there are a couple lessons in that. Certainly for us adults, being grateful and being thankful for our calling is really the starting point for using God's Spirit to grow and overcome, to walk in the power of His Spirit more faithfully and more effectively.

So are you filled with joy because of your calling? It really is something that we need to stir up that fruit of God's Spirit, the fruit of joy. God wants us to be joyful people. He doesn't want us to allow the problems in this world to drag us down so badly that we don't get an awful lot of joy out of the world. Yes, it's a bad world, but boy, we have a lot to be grateful for, don't we? We have a lot to be thankful for, and we really do need to produce the fruit of joy in our lives.

Being grateful and being thankful to God for our calling goes a long way in having that joy. I know the Hoosier family had a very tough week, last couple of weeks, last couple of months. I mean, it's been very hard with Tina as sick as she's been, but I know it was God working in them through the power of His Spirit that helped them to be able to do as well as they've done through all of this.

It's God giving them strength and helping them and being able to have some joy, even in the midst of some very heavy trials. I know that's true for all of us because we all go through various trials at times. Life's hard, and it can be hard for all of us. People are sick. Mrs. Cotton Game, as you know, has been ill. Thankfully, she's making good progress, and she's able to recognize her family after brain surgery. So that's great, and we're grateful for that.

But this week, last week, one of my best friends was killed. He was a little younger than I am, and we were hunting buddies in Oklahoma. We've known each other for about 17 or 18 years, at least, or 19 years. We even hunted together last fall, and Gerald Eins was killed just last week. So life is hard. It's very difficult. It was an accident that he was involved in at work.

So life can really bring us down, but God's Spirit can also help us have the joy that only God can give us at times like this. So we do need to truly be filled with joy because of our calling and to know that God's kingdom is in the future. And there's a better time. I'm going to see Gerald Eins again. I'm going to see him. He's going to live again. His daughter, who's only 15 or 16, is going to see him again. His wife is going to see him again. His family is going to see him again.

So that gives us some joy, even in the grief. So we all need to try to forget ourselves and our trials and troubles as much as we can and become joyful in the power of God's Holy Spirit today on this day of Pentecost. Let's allow God's Spirit to help us walk more faithfully in His Spirit. So Pentecost is a very special day. It's a day rich in meaning for a variety of reasons.

And again, we should be joyful and excited about each one of these special aspects and meanings of the day of Pentecost. So I'd like to go through five different aspects or five meanings of this day, this day of Pentecost, and what it should mean to us and how we can draw joy and have excitement about God's truth and His way of life in greater ways.

So first of all, the first aspect in regard to Pentecost is that in the Old Testament, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost was a joyous celebration of the greater spring wheat harvest that occurred seven weeks after Passover. There was an early harvest, a barley harvest, by offering the first fruits of the barley harvest, the wave sheath on the Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. The Israelites expressed their thanksgiving to God for His bountiful provisions. God was providing an abundance to the children of Israel. They were grateful for this. So they had a feast, a feast of Pentecost, that God initiated, that God wanted them to look to Him as He provided sustenance for them, as He blessed them, as He gave them rain in due season, as they were walking with Him, He would bless them.

Of course, when they strayed from God, then there were curses that followed as well. We do reap what we sow, and it has been that way since time began. So the Israelites did express their thanksgiving to God for all that He had provided for them on the day of Pentecost. God provides abundantly for His people. He did back then, and He does today.

We're all very, very blessed to live in this country, to have the blessings of Abraham, to enjoy those blessings here at this time. It is a difficult time. It's a hard life, as I've mentioned already. But God is continuing to bless us in many, many wonderful ways. In this country, we enjoy the blessings, again, that God promised to the patriarch Abraham.

What tremendous abundance of wonderful food and rich blessings here in this country that we enjoy. And that's true with all of the descendants of Abraham around the world where they are. God has blessed them greatly because of the faithfulness of Abraham.

Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. And that's why we are being blessed today in many, many ways. Of course, this greater spring harvest around Pentecost, pictured by celebrating Pentecost, is also symbolic of a great initial harvest into God's kingdom at Christ's return, the blessing of the first fruits of God. Christ is the firstborn, the first fruit in that sense, the initial first fruit from the dead. He is the wave-sheaf offering that took place during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Fifty days later, the Holy Spirit was given, and the Holy Spirit dwells with the first fruits of the initial larger spring harvest. Again, the very first fruits of God. We know the Feast of Tabernacles pictures a greater harvest to come in the last great day. They picture a greater harvest. But this is a very, very important harvest for you and me, this initial spring harvest. In Romans 8, 29, it talks about how Christ is the firstborn among many brethren.

In Colossians chapter 1, verse 18, it says that Christ is the head of the body. He's the head of the church, who is the beginning, again, the firstborn of the dead. In the sense, yes, he has the preeminence, but he was the first to be changed from human being to spirit. So Christ is the firstborn of the dead. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 20 through 23, Christ has risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have slept.

That's 1 Corinthians. Let's go there and read that together. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 20 through 23. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 20 through 23. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, those who have died. They weighed in their graves because Christ was crucified. He paid the penalty for our sins. He was resurrected. He is now at the right hand of God. So they await a resurrection to come out of their graves.

For since by man came death, by man, speaking of Christ, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward, those who are Christ at his coming, those who have died in Christ, and those who are alive in Christ. For they will be changed into spirit beings at that time.

The dead will rise. Those who are alive will be changed into spirit. So Christ is risen from the dead. He has become the first fruits of those who are in the grave and those who are awaiting his return, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. So this spring harvest is something to rejoice about. We should rejoice that we have been called out. We are a part of that initial spring harvest.

We should rejoice and joyfully walk in these blessings and always keep them uppermost in our minds through all of our trials, through all of our hardships. We should always go back to the fact that we have been called now to represent God, to serve Him and to serve His people, and to rise when Christ comes back.

That's something to get excited about. That is something to have sheer excitement about. So we learn to walk in the Spirit. Just as our little Zander learned to walk out of sheer excitement and just doing it. We have to do the same thing. We learn to walk in the Spirit. We become single-minded as we look to God's Kingdom, as we have the vision of God's Kingdom.

So that is the first aspect, the aspect of the early spring harvest. Secondly, many believe that the Ten Commandments were actually given by God on the Day of Pentecost. That's according to Jewish tradition, the law was given on Pentecost. The Bible doesn't specifically say that, but the chronology of the Bible does seem to indicate it. If you look at everything that's written and how things transpired from the time of the Exodus, from coming out of Egypt and to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, it is, I believe, very likely that it was the Day of Pentecost when God's law was given.

God told Pharaoh, let my people go that they might worship me. One very important aspect of worshipping God is by keeping His law. The Israelites were let out of Egypt so they might worship God. The Midrash, which is a rabbinical commentary on the scripture, says that God thundered out the law on Mount Sinai in 70 languages on the Day of Pentecost. I don't know how true that is, but that's what the Midrash says, that in 70 languages on the Day of Pentecost that all nations might know that one day in the future it would also apply to them.

And God is going to call all people eventually. It will go out to all nations. Israel was God's chosen nation to eventually show His way to all peoples. Let's go to Leviticus 23, where it talks about the Feast of Pentecost. Leviticus 23. He shall waive the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf on the day after the Sabbath. He's talking about the day after the Sabbath during the days of 11 bread.

The wave sheaf offering shall be given. It shall be waived. After the Sabbath, the priest shall waive it. And you shall offer on that day when you waive the sheaf a male lamb of the first year without blemish. Obviously symbolic of Jesus Christ. And then if we drop down to verse 15, and you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

Seven Sabbaths, 49 days. And then count the next day, the 50th day, to the day after the seventh Sabbath. So obviously it would fall on a Sunday. To the day after the seventh Sabbath, then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. And you shall bring from your dwelling two wave lows of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the eternal.

Now we know, well, let's go down to verse 22 as well and read it. Well, let's read verse 20. Well, verse 22 talks about reaping the harvest of your land. And you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleanings from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. And that's the kind of God that we serve. He looks after everyone. He looks after the poor. He looks after the stranger. And he wants us to do the same thing. We are to share our abundance with others. Now in Matthew, chapter 5, it speaks of Christ who says, Think not that I have come to do away with the law.

And yet that's what so many people do think. That Christ did come to do away with the Father's law, which is obviously totally false. In Matthew, chapter 5, verse 17, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. To keep those commandments, to set an example, to show us the way, to magnify them, to make them more honorable, to show that we ought not just live by the letter of the law, but we should go beyond that and learn to live by the Spirit of God's law.

For, Assurely I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, and they were intent on the letter of the law, he says we have to go beyond the letter, he says if your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes or the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

In Romans 7 verse 12, Paul says the law is holy, and just and good. Many people claim that Paul preaches doing away with the law, but how could anyone preach away with the law when he says it's holy? It's sanctified, it's set apart, it's just, and it's good. Clearly Paul supports the keeping of the laws of God, and if we love God, we will keep His commandments. So we should rejoice and be single-minded as we stir up the Spirit of God in us and learn to walk in God's law more faithfully.

You should determine that you will walk more faithfully in the coming year than you've ever walked before. That you will strive to be more faithful, more righteous, more led by God's Spirit, more single-minded in your purpose as you walk toward God's kingdom. So again, the second aspect that we've just covered is that the law was likely given, or very likely given, on the Day of Pentecost.

And even if it wasn't, it's still throughout the Bible that we are to keep God's law and walk in His law. Now, a third aspect in regard to the Day of Pentecost is that Christ sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Jesus Christ went to the Father after He was resurrected, after He was three days and three nights in the grave, went to the Father and He sent the Holy Spirit, as He promised He would on the Day of Pentecost.

It was to empower His people with spiritual gifts, enabling them to do the work that was sung about from the choir, to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world as a witness to all nations. Now, there was great power in the early New Testament Church after the Holy Spirit was poured out on that Day of Pentecost. The New Testament Church began. The Church was established. The Book of Acts bears testimony to many miraculous healings. We don't have time to go through those healings, but that would be something that you ought to do most every Pentecost is consider the power of God's Spirit.

Even a very shadow of Peter walking by, certain ones resulted in their healing. God poured out the lame man walked, a man who was lame from the womb. He walked that very day when Peter and John told him to rise up and walk. Take up your bed and walk. And he did it. That's the power of God's Spirit. So God's Spirit was poured out in a miraculous way in the New Testament Church, the early Church. Many thousands of disciples were baptized within a very short time after the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. It was the birthday, the beginning of the New Testament Church, and God was acting in a powerful way so that people would know where He was, where He was working, where His Church was.

So those disciples being called of God then and now will be the spiritual firstfruits of God's spiritual early harvest. Christ's disciples are to fulfill the commission of preaching the gospel. We had the same commission today as the disciples were given back then.

We're to go to all the world and to preach the gospel and to every creature, to every living being, person, human being, and do our best to fulfill the commission that God has given us. We are to go to all nations. We are to make disciples of all nations as much as we possibly can, and we should continue to pray that God will pour out His Spirit in greater measure in the days ahead. I believe He will.

Mr. Kubik mentioned that himself not long ago in a letter that he sent us about the belief that He has that God is going to pour out His Spirit in greater ways before Christ returns. We don't know when that's going to take place, but that's something that we should be praying for fervently and asking God to send His Son back. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Send your Son back to this earth. We desperately need Him and send greater power in your church that we might get this gospel message out to the whole world. It is very likely that God's Spirit will once again be poured out upon His servants.

There will be greater power within the church of God in the days ahead. The spiritual firstfruits we know are going to rule with Christ as kings and priests. We're in training now to rule with Christ. So it is important how we live each day of our life. It is important the example that we set with everyone we come in contact with, that it's a godly example that we represent Christ, that we are ambassadors for Christ and for the kingdom of God.

In Acts 2, let's go there on this day of Pentecost. Acts 2. Acts 2, verse 1, 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 a fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. It was a gift of language. It was so people could understand in various languages what God was inspiring. So it was quite miraculous. And Peter, who had denied Christ three times, a little more than 50 days prior to this, was now preaching powerfully Jesus Christ.

Listen to what he says. Men of Israel, verse 22, Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, by wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, you have crucified and you have put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

Verse 29, Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you that the patriarch David, he's both dead and buried. His tomb is with us. He's not in heaven, like so many people believe today. He was speaking the truth to these people, and he was doing it powerfully. And it says they were pricked in their hearts as they realized that they were responsible for having killed the Messiah, for having offered up Jesus Christ.

Peter said to them in verse 38, 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. And God's Spirit was poured out, and 3,000 were added that day. God was working powerfully in the church at that time. The Holy Spirit will empower God's people. It has empowered us in many ways. We are to be producing the fruit of God's Spirit. Many of you have been doing this for years and years.

You've been faithful for 20, for 30, for 40, for 50, even 60 years. That's not an easy task in today's society, to stay faithful, to continue to produce the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. That is God working in you. That's God doing the work and allowing you and helping you through all of this. So that's exciting. These are gifts that God has given us to enable us to do His work, to pray faithfully, to fast, to pull together, to be unified, and to do God's work, and to never give up.

I believe that God is pleased with His people. And not that we're perfect. We're not perfect. We fall short. But I believe that God is pleased to see a people. When I look through the Bible, I'm hard put to find a group of people more dedicated and more committed than God's Church today. I don't see that. When I look at you, I see a dedicated people who are really striving to obey God, who want to serve Him, who have a heart to serve Him.

I mean, the people of old were they any more righteous than us? I don't think so. They were human beings, too. They had frailties. They had problems. So I would encourage you to keep up the good work and stay faithful to God and allow His Spirit to dwell in you and to work in you in greater ways, producing the fruit of love, of joy, of peace, of long suffering, of kindness and goodness, of faithfulness, of self-control, of meekness, of humility.

These are the things that God's most interested in. God is not oftentimes working miraculously, but trust me, He knows what's going on down here. He sees what you are doing day to day. He sees that you are surrendering yourself to Him more fully. And I have to believe that that's pleasing to God and that God is encouraged to see a people that have not allowed the gates of hell to prevail against it.

So that third point again is that God gives us His Spirit. Much more could be said. You know, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles. Some of them, I mean, still a small number of people, comparatively. Some Gentiles, some Jews were called out throughout the ages. A small group of people have been called out. God says that you are the temple of the living God. That's in 2 Corinthians 6, 16. You are the temple of the living God. God dwells in you.

You are His temple. That's where He comes. He comes to the temple. You worship Him. Rejoice and joyfully walk as Christ walked. Follow His example in all things. Dedicate yourself more fully. Surrupt the Spirit of God in you daily and be encouraged that God is with you, that God's Spirit dwells in you, and you are the temple of the living God.

He dwells in you. The fourth aspect of the Feast of Pentecost is that it does celebrate the beginning of Christ's ministry as our High Priest in heaven. Think about that for a moment. Jesus Christ ascended to heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit back. Fifty days later, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell on His people. Christ is now making intercession for His people. He intercedes on our behalf. He is very consistent. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. He is always there for us. He is our High Priest in heaven.

The Feast of Pentecost in a way celebrates the beginning of that ministry as our High Priest in heaven. Let's go to Hebrews 7. It talks about there being a change in the priesthood. Christ is now at the right hand of the Father. Christ intercedes on behalf of His Church.

He may not be working in miraculous ways in many cases, not healing a lot of people instantly, although sometimes He does. There are instances of that happening. But it's more a silent...He's there. He knows about us. And He's, I believe, pleased for the most part. So let's go to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 does speak about Melchizedek, the King of righteousness who was the one who became Christ. He says, but he, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. That is the promise.

Christ always lives to make intercession for you and me. When you sin, know that God is there for you. Admit your sin. Confess your sin. Go to God, ask for forgiveness, and know that He's going to forgive you. Then get up and go do better. That's what God wants us to do.

He wants us to just keep on striving to become like Him, not become discouraged, but to get up and do better. Sure, we should strive never to sin. But in the flesh, there will be times it's going to happen. Admit it when it's happened.

Don't hide from it. Don't try to deny it. Just admit your weakness, your frailty, your shortcomings. Don't make excuses for them. Admit them. Go before God and ask for forgiveness. Christ is there to intercede for you. He ever lives to make intercession for you. In 2 Corinthians 5 or 7, it talks about how we must learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

We need to walk in faith. We need to stop being so worried about everything and concerned and anxious. Just know that God is here for us and that we need to be stirring up God's Spirit within us and have faith that that's happening on a daily basis. So we do need to learn to walk more by faith and not by sight.

Let's get excited about our calling, excited about the fact that we're a part of God's Church today. We may be living in the very last days. Some of us may live until the return of Jesus Christ. We don't know if that's going to happen. I would say it's likely that some of the youngest among us will still be alive when Christ returns. Nevertheless, we're drawing closer and closer to the return of Christ. When we are faithful, oftentimes when God is silent, it makes even more of an impact with God. Some people seek for a sign. The Bible is our sign. It's our instruction manual. It tells us that Christ is real, that He's at the right hand of God, that He loves us, that He'll never leave us, He'll never forsake us.

We don't have to have visible signs. We don't have to have miracles right now. We're going to stay faithful regardless. I believe God will pour out His Spirit in greater ways. I believe we will see miraculous healings in the future.

I have faith that that's going to happen. I believe it will happen. In the meantime, we show our faithfulness by not worrying about it and not being concerned about it. Rejoice and walk faithfully, knowing that Christ is there for us. He intercedes. He forgives our sins. And we have been made right before God. So the Feast of Pentecost celebrates the beginning of that ministry. Christ's ministry as our High Priest in heaven, making intercession for us, allowing our sins to be forgiven. Christ had to come and die for us first. He lived that perfect life. He laid it down for us. He now lives at the right hand of God.

The last point, number five, another aspect of this Feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is still doing a mighty work today in the lives of those God is now calling and will call in the future. I think it's miraculous that we've hung in as well as we have. I give God credit for that. I've seen so many who have not, who have gone by the wayside, who haven't stayed faithful through thick and through thin. So I'm encouraged by the fact that we have as many people as we do here on the day of Pentecost, spending all day worshipping God and keeping the day of Pentecost together.

Things are changed dramatically for the better. Your life has been changed dramatically, has it not? I know mine has. Mine has been richly blessed because I dedicated my life 40-plus years ago to this calling. I don't shrink back from that. I'm more excited today than I've ever been about God's truth and my calling. It means more to me now than it ever has. It's meant everything to me my whole life. I know that's the way you are.

So I have to believe God is pleased with that. I have to think that God is very pleased. He may not say a whole lot. He may not give us too many pats on the back, although He's probably given us a lot more pats in the back than we even realize. We are all witnesses of the power of God's Spirit in our lives. As puny as we are, just think where we would be without the Spirit of God dwelling in us. We sure wouldn't be here on the day of Pentecost, keeping this day.

The Holy Spirit has revealed God's truth to us. It has opened the Scriptures to us. It has enlightened us with God's wonderful plan of salvation. It's given us meaning and purpose in life. It has empowered us to hang in there through thick, through thin, through every trial that could possibly come. Every day, Christ's true followers should seek the empowering of the Holy Spirit to prepare them to rule and to reign with Christ at His return.

God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. God has granted His Spirit because you have yielded yourself, you've submitted yourself to God, and you're striving to obey Him. You are obeying Him. Not perfectly, but you are obeying Him. God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him, and He works in mighty ways in those who obey Him.

So we should continue to obey God and keep His commandments. Let us not become weary and well-doing. Some people become weary and well-doing, and then they drift away. Maybe they drift into various types of sins, or they become lethargic and lackadaisical. They start coming to church. They start just falling away step by step. Let us not allow that to happen. Remember, God's Spirit is a Spirit not of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

As it says in Romans 5, we should glory in our tribulations. Let's go there. Romans chapter 5. We are going to have tribulations because we're the called out ones. Christ suffered. We will suffer because we're the called out ones. Romans chapter 5 verse 3. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that was given to us. So we have the love of God in our hearts through the power of His Spirit that God has given us.

Let's go to one last scripture in Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 17. The book of Ephesians chapter 3 verse 17. We'll read through verse 20. Well, let's start in verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we all do. We bow before God the Father hopefully every day.

In prayer we go to God, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. None of us would be here without God, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. We have God's Spirit dwelling in us, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be fulfilled with all the fullness of God, to have God's Spirit fill you up.

See, God is going to pour out His power in us. This is not in vain. There is a day coming when you will be astounded. You will be astounded by what God is going to do in you and what He is going to do in other people that you may think puny and insignificant, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, with the power of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever.

That's talking about this generation here today and up until Christ returns throughout all generations, God's Spirit will work in His people. Believe in the power of God's Holy Spirit. Have faith and trust God. Be single-minded in purpose. Be excited about your calling and the fact that there are others who have the same calling, that we're here together as God's people. It's good to spend time with one another, to encourage each other, to draw strings from each other. So let's be careful not to grumble and complain in the future, because that just drags us down.

Be more positive. Remember, God tells us to think on those things that are pure and right and good and lovely. Those are the things that we need to think about. Not that we hide our eyes to problems, because we have to face the problems that come along as well, because there are deceitful workers as well, the Scripture tells us. So we have to be on guard. We must not be foolish.

But for the most part, we are to be positive people who look to God's power and His might. And we dwell on those things that are right, that are good, that are pure, that are lovely. And we deal with things as they come up, but we don't create problems ourselves. We want to be part of the solution.

So I would encourage you to consider these aspects of the day of Pentecost. We've talked about five of them. I'm not going to go back and summarize them. You can always listen to this again if you want. But there are five important meanings and aspects of God's day of Pentecost, the Feast of First Fruits, the Feast of Harvest. We're the early harvest, the spring harvest. We should rejoice and be exceedingly glad that God has called us out and given us His Spirit, that has enabled us to be where we are today.

So let God and Christ, by the power of His Spirit, walk in you, rejoicing God's Spirit as it empowers you to grow and to overcome, and to continue steadfast in the faith that was once delivered to you.

So, brethren, let us truly rejoice in this day of Pentecost, this Feast of First Fruits, for Christ is truly the firstborn of many brethren. We, too, are called to be a part of the very first fruits of God. Yes, at conversion, God gave us His Spirit. He gave us His Holy Spirit. We are to be different. We are to be far different. We have God's Spirit dwelling in us. We're called to be in the first resurrection when Christ returns. We will be in that first resurrection. A better resurrection. So let us forever be faithful to our calling, and let us continue to walk joyfully and powerfully in the Spirit of God Almighty.

So let us walk joyfully as little children. Let's watch this video one more time and consider how excited these kids are. Just