Fire - Elements Of The Holy Spirit - Pastor Matthew Anderson (Ellsworth Campus)

[00:00:00] Welcome to the C3 Church Sermon Podcast. We pray that this content uplifts you, encourages you, and challenges you to walking in a life full of belonging and becoming. Belonging to the family of God and becoming all that He has created you to be. Now let's dive into today's message together.

[00:00:21] We've been in a series on the Holy Spirit, elements of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the hardest, if you will, person of God to understand. Because He absolutely has always been spirit form.

[00:00:38] And so we as humans, we understand people by a body. If you see somebody, you see their face, their body, you know who they are. And that's a human recognition and our senses discern, well, that's so-and-so.

[00:00:56] Jesus is much easier to understand because we see Him in the Scriptures. The Scriptures described who Jesus was. He was, Jesus of Nazareth. He was a carpenter's son. And we read about Jesus. And there's even been pictures that humans have attempted to draw because we know that Jesus was human like us, correct?

[00:01:17] So we grab hold of that. It's easy to pray to Jesus. It's easy to understand. And the Father, we understand we all have an earthly father. Last I checked, somebody said amen? And so the Father God, Father in creation, we understand God our Father. But the one that as Christians, we have a hard time recognizing is the Holy Spirit.

[00:01:45] It's so important, though, if you're going to have a functioning faith that the Bible teaches that you understand the person of the Holy Spirit. The person of the Holy Spirit. We believe in one God manifest in three distinct personhoods of Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen?

[00:02:09] And we understand that from the beginning of time. We see that forming where in Genesis, God said, let us make man in our own image. He was talking about a plurality. And the word there in the Hebrew is Elohim, which is a name that has plurality to it. So we understand Father, Son, and Holy Spirit hear it as the nature of God.

[00:02:35] So when you say God, you're talking Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That's why the Nicene Creed is so powerful because it uses the word same substance. So there's only one God, substance, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So when you say, God, would you help me? You're saying, Father, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, the Son of God, help me.

[00:03:04] Isn't that powerful? So understand that in Revelation. And it's hard for us. There's a number of things in the Bible that you have to accept by faith. One is eternity. Turn to your neighbor and say eternity. It's hard for me to understand that something that never ends because we're in time where there's a beginning and end. But with God, there's no beginning or end. Now think about that all afternoon and you'll come back and say, Pastor Matt, I'm still thinking.

[00:03:33] Because we're creatures of time. So we have to accept eternity, hear it, by faith. Our minds fritz out. Our minds, they come to an end. So eternity is something we accept by faith. Another dimension of the scripture we accept by faith that we can't understand is the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary. The virgin birth. It's a miracle.

[00:04:03] Turn to your neighbor and say, it's a miracle. So we as Christians, we accept that God knows more than us and has ways that are higher than us. If we don't, then we're God. So we accept that by faith. And then that third dimension that we accept by faith is the Godhead of Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. How God is three yet one.

[00:04:28] We can't completely understand it, but we accept it knowing that it's powerful and it's a divine truth. And there's other hints of it too. When you get married, there's two, but yet they become what? One flesh. Right? Distinct and separate, but one. So there's that concept and that divine truth in the scripture. And so this whole series has been about the Holy Spirit.

[00:04:57] And we've entitled it Elements of the Holy Spirit. And I would say attributes. Turn to your neighbor and say attributes. Right? A person has attributes. Just as you have attributes, I have attributes. You might not know this about me if you don't know me close. One of my attributes is I like to laugh a lot. Just ask Pastor Angel.

[00:05:24] Sometimes she's like, would you be a little bit more serious? Yes. Yes. Yes. And I pulled dad jokes out as often as I can. One of mine that I had two weeks ago, I thought this was a pretty good joke. I said, I'm having to warm up to the idea of iced coffee. And my family just looks at one another and is like, here he goes again.

[00:05:55] And they all laugh at me because I laugh at my own jokes. And you know what I tell them? Because they always are like, you're the only one laughing. You're the only one laughing. You're the only one laughing. You know what I tell them? I say, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think it's funny. So I'm going to laugh. Thank you. Thank you. Come on, somebody. That's my amen section right there. But this is so powerful. I said all that because I want you to grab hold of this.

[00:06:24] The person of the Holy Spirit, just like you and I have attributes, he has attributes. He has distinctions that's important for us to recognize. I've had people over the years say, man, when I come to C3 Church, when I came to hear you preach, you were talking right to me. It's like the message. Did you follow me around all week, Pastor Matt? I'm like, no, I was trying to follow myself around.

[00:06:56] Because the Holy Spirit is the spirit of revelation and wisdom. So when he's in the house, he brings things to our heart and our spirit that are individually sealing to what you need this morning. Isn't that powerful? It's an attribute of the person of the Holy Spirit. The presence of God as the Bible describes him. And other people have said, well, I feel like crying.

[00:07:25] I'm like, there's been people saying, man, I'm having a hard time coming because when I come to church, I want to cry all the time. That's actually been said numerous times. Why is that? It's because your heart is dry. The world has been rough on you. And you come in here and the presence of God is here. And it's a healing balm. You know, it's the kind of love that says God loves me so much.

[00:07:50] My only response is to get worked up here because I sense my heart and my spirit sense the love of God. You're feeling the love of God. You can't see him just like the wind. One of the elements of the Holy Spirit or personalities is wind, which where you can't see him, but you feel him. That was the first element we talked about. And last week it was water. And today is fire. Everyone say fire.

[00:08:19] Luke chapter three and verse 16 says this. Jesus, John answered their question by saying, I baptize you with water, but someone is coming soon who is greater than I. And that was Jesus.

[00:08:44] So much greater that I'm not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. So John was saying, I'm going to do something natural in the natural realm that I can do.

[00:09:06] But there's someone coming after me that's greater than I, that's more than I, and he's going to baptize you supernaturally. He's going to do something in you and on you that is supernatural in nature. He's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Everybody say, and with fire. All right, hold on to your seat as we go this morning.

[00:09:37] How many like fire here? How many here are fireflies? I am. In fact, one time in my youth, I was with another young fella. How many know that young fellas in their youth can do some pretty stupid things? It's always sometimes more energy than wisdom. And we had started a fire to burn some stuff. We didn't realize how dry it was. And then all of a sudden the fire got out of hand. And unfortunately, we had to call the fire department.

[00:10:08] Fire is a unique, very unique element. Fire can do things that nothing else can do. I think one of the reasons I like fire is it just, if you need something destroyed, it'll just destroy it. You get the fire hot enough and it'll destroy anything. Right? Fire is amazing. It's amazing that the Holy Spirit, the Bible tries to break it down so our human minds can understand.

[00:10:36] He tries to break it down for us so that we understand in a natural way too, and spiritual way, tying it together. And he describes the Holy Spirit as fire. The Holy Spirit and fire. Has anybody here ever gotten burned? Has anybody ever not gotten burned? So everyone has experienced the flame too hot or touched a burner or touched a pan. I mean, oh, that'll leave a mark.

[00:11:04] I'm going to remember that when you got burned, you'll never forget when you got burnt. Fire has an effect on whatever it touches. One more time. Fire has an effect on whatever it touches. This is the reason in the Scriptures, likens the person of the Holy Spirit to fire. Fire. Fire changes whatever it touches.

[00:11:34] We need the fire of God. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit. Because there's things in your life you can't change and I can't change, but the Holy Spirit can. The fire of the Holy Spirit can change your life. He wants to change your life. He wants to burn off addiction. He wants to burn off things that you don't want there, that you can't control, that you have no ability to conquer. Yet the Holy Spirit says, let me give you a hand.

[00:12:02] I can burn that right out of your life. Fire burns wood. Fire purifies gold. It heats iron up enough to be shaped. Fire boils a pot of water. Fire changes whatever it touches.

[00:12:31] The fire of the Holy Spirit changes our spiritual nature. The fire of the Holy Spirit changes our spiritual nature. One of the things I think we have to be careful of in our faith in modern day Christianity is reducing our faith down to simply knowing the right things.

[00:13:01] I'll be the first to tell you as a pastor that right teaching and doctrine of the scripture matters. Knowing what we believe matters. Living a godly life matters. But Christianity was never, everybody say never, intended to be lived without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

[00:13:24] You can know what the Bible says and still be missing the fire. It's like an engine that's all ready to roll but has no gasoline. That's what a lot of Christianity is today. It's the form of or an engine, but there's no gas or fire to power that engine.

[00:13:46] You can know what the Bible says and still be missing the fire. You can know you're supposed to live or how you're supposed to live and still be missing the power to live it. You can have information without transformation. You can have doctrine without demonstration. You can have structure without life and you can have religion without fire.

[00:14:15] Paul actually warned about this in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 5. It says at the end of time that people will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. The King James Version says it rejects the power thereof that could make them godly. And the scripture gives us a warning.

[00:14:45] It says stay away from Christians who are Christian in name only. They're an act, but their inside really has not been changed. Come on, somebody. Having a form of godliness, the King James Version says, but denying its power. A form, but no power. I'm speaking for me.

[00:15:11] I don't want a Christianity that simply teaches me how to behave better. And that's why it's a turnoff to so many people. I don't want a Christianity that just simply gives me principles for having a better marriage, which is great. Or raising better kids, which is great. Or managing my money or controlling my temper and being a nicer person. All those things matter. But listen, Jesus didn't come just to make bad people better.

[00:15:40] He came to make dead people alive. And you can't do that with just information. We need the power of God. I love this verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 20. It says, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

[00:16:02] So you ought to leave a Holy Spirit-filled church or a setting like this and saying, wow, I felt something in that service. It wasn't just emotion. It was something deeper that affected your spirit. Can I have an amen? Amen. It had a profound effect on you. The kingdom of God is not in word, but it's in power.

[00:16:29] There's an aspect of God, and that's why we're preaching this series, that we desperately need the Holy Spirit. Understand, Jesus didn't leave his disciples to say, okay, I'm going away. Now you guys figure it out. But no, in Luke, he told them, I'm sending the promise of the Father upon you. And now I need you to tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. I love that passage there, Luke 24, 49.

[00:16:57] At the end of it says, you are endued or equipped with power from on high. See, Christianity is hopeless without the equipping. Christianity is hopeless without the undoing of the Holy Spirit. Can I have a witness this morning? It's impossible unless God does that work in our heart. Think about this story here of Jesus telling those who had followed him, they had walked with Jesus. They had heard Jesus teach. Now that's pretty close proximity, isn't it?

[00:17:27] Someone said, well, if I could just see Jesus, well, that would be great. But you still need the Holy Spirit because the early disciples, they saw Jesus. They walked with Jesus. They even watched him do miracles. They knew he had risen from the dead. But Jesus still told them, wait, don't go into ministry yet. Stay in Jerusalem until you're equipped with power from on high. They needed, we could say, a heavenly equipping.

[00:17:55] Then in Acts, and we've quoted this verse so often over the years, Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and then you will be witnesses unto me. Then we get to Acts 2, the next chapter in that book, which is the start of the first church. They were together, they were waiting, and they were praying. There's something really important and special about coming together.

[00:18:24] So you did really well by coming together this morning. I think heaven is going to be like Sunday morning. They were together. They're waiting, and they're praying. That's what heaven will be. We'll be together all the time. We'll never have to take a bathroom break. We'll never get hungry. It's going to be different. Our eyes, we have a hard time understanding it right now, but it's going to be glorious.

[00:18:50] And I think when the Holy Spirit moves, the Bible says we sit together in heavenly places when we come together like this. And what you're experiencing this morning is a bit of what heaven is going to be like. But then it'll be in full. They were together. They were waiting. They were praying. That's why some people are like, I don't understand what people say. Oh, I wish this service would get over. Most of the people around C3 say, let's have a longer service because we're so enjoying the praise and worship. We're so enjoying the encouraging of his word.

[00:19:25] That's a sign of good health. The sign of bad church is when everyone can't wait to get out because they're just there doing their time. And uh-oh, preachers preach for 20 minutes. If you don't hurry up, I'm out. Uh-oh. Somebody say, uh-oh. Not sure that's the way God wants it. They were waiting. They were praying. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. How? Like a rushing mighty wind.

[00:19:56] So they're trying to, the writer is trying to describe. It was like this holy wind, this presence that came and everybody sensed it. Come on, somebody. How many have ever been in a room like we were this morning? And it's like, we're not in Kansas anymore, but something is happening in this room. I sense it in my spirit. That's the person of the Holy Spirit that come to be with us. Amen. And you might say, well, Pastor Matt, I have the Holy Spirit with me all the time. Yes, you do.

[00:20:25] But the Bible teaches that there's an extra measure of his presence when we come together. Amen. You have to fight that thing that says, oh, I don't need to come together. Oh, yes, you do. God moves in a special way when God's people come together. The room was filled. And then in Acts 2, if you'll look with me, 3 and 4, Acts chapter 2, 3 and 4, listen to this.

[00:20:54] 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. Did you see that? Fire. Fire. It's not accidental imagery, brothers and sisters.

[00:21:16] Throughout the Bible, fire, write this down, fire represents the manifest presence and activity of God. Fire represents, in the Bible, the manifest presence and activity of God. Yes, God is omniscient, which means he's everywhere. But there's another level of him, of his manifest presence. There's a different level.

[00:21:49] It represents, fire represents presence and activity of God. Notice this, just a little biblical history. God, in fire, God is fire. God meets Moses, how? In a burning bush. God leads Israel, how? With a pillar of fire. God descends upon Mount Sinai to deliver the Ten Commandments, if you will, as in fire. Fire falls upon the sacrifice when the sacrifice was done properly.

[00:22:19] Finally, Isaiah encounters the fire from the altar. And then on the day of Pentecost, fire finally falls on people. Isn't that profound? That's the fulfillment of Joel 2.28 that says, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Everybody is going to experience the fire. Isn't that powerful?

[00:22:49] Something has changed. The fire just isn't on the Mount Sinai anymore. It's just not in the tabernacle anymore. And it's just not on the altar. But now in Acts, at the start of the first church, the fire is on the people. Just as Joel is prophesied in Joel 2.28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. So write this down.

[00:23:16] The Holy Spirit is not an optional part of Christianity. I heard a message years ago by a favorite pastor of mine, the Forgotten One, about the Holy Spirit. He is God. We need him. We need his presence. We need his power. We need the fire.

[00:23:43] Fire does something that nothing else will. You cannot encounter the fire and remain unaffected. You get close enough to fire and something is going to happen. As I said earlier, fire changes whatever it touches.

[00:24:06] So I want to give you four things that the fire does to us as believers or as an unbeliever becoming a believer. Number one, the fire awakens us. The Holy Spirit fire awakens us. You can't come into contact with fire and remain indifferent.

[00:24:35] Fire gets your attention. How many have ever seen smoke and went driving looking for the fire? Or you see a huge fire and you got to find out what's going on. Fire gets your attention. 2 Timothy 1.6. Fire has a way of stirring what has become cold. It says, this is why I remind you to fan the flames. Everyone say, fan the flames.

[00:25:04] The spiritual in the flames. The spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. Fan the flames. There are things that God has put inside of us as believers that can become neglected. Our passion for God can wane. Our hunger for God can wane.

[00:25:31] Our vision for the things of God can become blurry. Prayer can just become routine. Worship can become routine. Even church can become routine. How many are glad we're not a routine church? Praise the Lord. Amen. How many are glad we sang that song, the two songs at the end of our set,

[00:25:58] we kept singing them to allow the Holy Spirit space to move. Sometimes what we need isn't just more information, but we need the fire stirred and again in our hearts. I like that verse in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 19. It says, don't stifle the Holy Spirit. The King James Version uses the word,

[00:26:27] don't quench the Holy Spirit. Man, we want the fire burning. We want to step out in faith to believe. If God is calling us, let's do it. If God is calling you to lift your hands to worship God, that's just saying don't quench. If you feel an urgency, it says, you know, in a worship service, there was a little bit inside of me that wanted to lift my hands to the Lord. Maybe you're brand new here. Or maybe you've come a couple months and you're,

[00:26:56] it's like, I really want to lift my hands, Pastor Matt. I'm telling you, lift your hands. I'm not ordering you. I'm suggesting to you. Because there's a release that says, God, I surrender and I'm open. What we don't understand in American Christianity is the spirit has a physical effect on us. We like to, we're smart. We think we're smart in America. Boy, we're really smart, aren't we these times? Just read the internet, read the news, watch the news.

[00:27:26] You see how smart we are. But there's a response. And it's like the woman calling Jesus to heal her. It's blind, like blind Bart saying, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me. See, when I, last week when I preached, I said, be a first responder. When I sense the Holy Spirit, I'm in Lord. I need your touch. Right? Right? And our hard, calloused heart says, I'm not going to lift my hands.

[00:27:56] I'm just going to sit here. I would rather be comfortable than touched. Well, what are we going to get to? I'd rather be touched than comfortable. I'd rather jump in the river of the Holy Spirit. I'd rather be a fool for Christ than a fool for the devil. I'd rather be in all the way for Jesus than in in this world or cool or whatever it is to be. And so I've determined in my heart, man, when the Holy Spirit's moving, I'm going to move. That's why some of you are like, you know, Pastor Matt, you just, you get on fire

[00:28:26] and like you just go there preaching. It's because I've always tried to practice. I want to be a first responder. If God is leading, let's get after it. Come on, somebody. Amen. If there's an open heaven, we need it. Man, let's not put it on idle when we can put the pedal to the metal. If you're old school like me and like, come Holy Spirit, let's have a movement of the Holy Spirit. We need lives changed. I need stuff burned out of my life. You need stuff burned out of your life.

[00:28:54] Don't come in here and act like you have everything together. And we like to, you know, make ourselves look like, oh, I had a great week. How are you doing? I'm doing great. And if you really were honest with me and the Holy Spirit, you're like, man, this week was tough. I went through this or this happened or whatever. And so when, and I know, I know it's well for us to put on a positive attitude and I'm all about that. But listen, at some point we have to open up. Somebody say, open up and let the Holy Spirit fill us.

[00:29:23] Come on, open up and let the Holy Spirit. I've got a bad habit. Sometimes I like to cross my arms and when I'm counseling or talking to people, it's a relaxed position for me. But what I've heard is when you close your arms like this, it means you're kind of shut off. So I try and keep them open. And so brothers and sisters, when we're in the house of God with God's people, let's have an open posture like, Holy Spirit, come and fill the house. Come and fill me, Lord. Here I am.

[00:29:54] Amen. As I like that old song. Here I am, Lord. Here I am. I give all myself to you. Lord, here I am. Here I am, Lord. Here I am. Let your Spirit move through me. Here I am. Sing it with me.

[00:30:21] Here I am, Lord. Here I am. Here I am. I give all myself to you, Lord. Here I am. Here I am.

[00:30:46] Lord, here I am. Let your Spirit move through me. Here I am. One more time. One more time. Here I am.

[00:31:12] Here I am. Here I am. I give all myself to you, Lord. Here I am. Here I am.

[00:31:42] Your Spirit move through me. Let me make just a little bit of a pivot. Angel, would you jump on the keyboard? Can you do that for me? And I want you to stand with me this morning.

[00:32:12] When I was a young man, I had this sense all week, and I guess the Lord wanted me to put it right here in this message, but I couldn't get away from this thought. When I was a young fella, I felt called to preach, and so I went off to Bible college.

[00:32:43] And there was a church we all went to that was one of the sponsoring churches of the Bible college. It was a very large church, over 1,000 people, maybe 1,500. And behind the platform was a massive platform, was prayer rooms.

[00:33:10] And I was a broke college student, Bible college student, which when I say broke, I mean broke. I was working and going to Bible college all at one time, trying to make a car payment, insurance on my car, pay my school bill, my tuition. It was a battle.

[00:33:45] I was always tired because I would fall asleep reading my books because we'd have like four books we had to read, and the instructors would give us books that were like 400 pages. I'd be like, how am I going to read? I got like 1,200 pages to read here. I'm working. I'm trying hard. I'll have to prepare my heart to do something for the Lord. And I'll forget on Sunday mornings, it's like the Lord had put this on my heart.

[00:34:14] I would get to church early. Come on, somebody. I would be so tired. I'd have to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and put my tie in because we wore suits back in those days. So I'd put a nice tie on and sharp suit. But I remember going into that prayer room and giving my heart to the Lord.

[00:34:43] And there were so many challenges in my life at that time. But there was something so sacred about that Sunday morning where I would kneel down before the Lord amongst other believers and just offer myself to the Lord and offer the coming service to the Lord.

[00:35:06] And it's like when I think of that time with the Lord, everything in my being is excited and blessed and thankful. And I feel like that is what Sunday morning is for us as believers. It's like it's that space of heaven. Come on, somebody. Where we're with God and we're with God's people.

[00:35:36] And something is sealed in our hearts that forever changes us. So when someone says to you, well, I heard you're going to church now. And their mind, they just think that you're trying to change your life or something of that nature. They don't know that you've been fired up by the Holy Spirit.

[00:36:02] And then you tell them, well, if you come to my church, the service may be an hour and a half and they almost pass out. Like, how could that be? It's because they don't know the fire. They don't know God, the Holy Spirit. Are you hearing me, church? But when you know the Holy Spirit and you sense his divine empowerment and his divine love,

[00:36:31] you want more where that comes from. You want as much as you can get. It's not just a little dabble, do you? It's like, Holy Spirit, pour your spirit upon us afresh. Hallelujah. So it's real simple. The Holy Spirit wants access to your life. It's that simple. And you determine the access of the Holy Spirit.

[00:37:04] Isaiah experienced this. And this leads to me to the second point. And we're going to go quick here because we want to sing this song and have some altar time here. But the fire purifies. Everyone say the fire purifies. Isaiah 6, verse 5. Woe is me, for I'm undone because I'm a man of unclean lips.

[00:37:32] Then one of the seraphims flew to me, having his hand, verse 7 of live coal. And he touched my mouth with it. Everyone say he touched my mouth. Woo! How many know our mouths need touching? See, that's a sign that the fire has touched you. Something comes out of your mouth.

[00:38:01] It's a mouth thing. You feel an unworthiness, but then the Holy Spirit begins to purify you. And the same person that cursed God now begins to praise God. The same person that had a hard time saying, I love Jesus and I'm born again and I'm going to follow Jesus in my life. Now you're purified because the fire of God has touched your heart.

[00:38:30] It's not that you're wanting to make a change. Well, maybe you want to make a change. But you need the fire of God to truly make that change in you for you to be changed. The fire touches the unclean places in our life. He touches it to change. Malachi chapter 3, verses 2 through 3 says, For he's like a refiner's fire. He will sit as a refiner and purify a purifier of silver.

[00:39:01] Didn't destroy it, but it purifies it. He doesn't destroy us, but he purifies us. He makes us the best version that we can be. Come on, somebody. He takes a bad attitude and gives me a good attitude. He takes my hate and makes me love. He takes my bitterness and makes me forgiving. He takes my frown and gives me a smile. Welcome the Holy Spirit into our presence and into our lives. Amen?

[00:39:31] The fire transforms us. It's three. The gospel is transformation. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18 says, But we all beholding as in a mirror the glory of God are being transformed. Everyone say that with me. I'm being transformed. Day by day. Into the image of Jesus. It's the Spirit of God.

[00:40:01] Notice who does the transforming. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The person of God. The Spirit of God. Amen. Hallelujah. So it changes us. He changes us. He makes us different. Changes us from the inside out. Changes our thinking. Changes our reactions. Changes my heart. Gives me a deep conviction. He changes what I pursue and what my priorities are. He changes my life. Come on, somebody.

[00:40:29] Fire changes who I am becoming. And lastly, the fire empowers us. You know, someone asked me one time, Pastor Matt, do you run out of things to preach? And I'm like, I answered very quickly, Nope, I never have. I've preached every Sunday. I can count on two hands how many times I haven't preached on a Sunday in the last 30 years.

[00:41:01] I remember one old pastor. I was filling in for him on Sunday nights back when we had Sunday night service. He was a cool old dude. He was a World War II vet. And he asked me to preach for him on Sunday nights because he had bone spurs in his heel. And he was one of the, he was a Marine that helped in the Philippines during World War II. He was an interesting old guy. I loved him. But he said, Pastor, Brother Matt, can you preach for me on Sunday night? I can't.

[00:41:30] And he said, this assistant I have, I went and asked him to preach for me. And you know what he said to me? He said, there's just nothing on the burner. So it's become a joke between my dad and I. You got anything on the burner? There's just nothing on the burner. But you see, when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, there's always a fire burning. There's always something moving.

[00:42:00] So even if I haven't had a grand thought, I've walked up here and said, well, Holy Spirit, fill me. And you do something that I can't do. And I'm telling you right now, just like living water, the Holy Spirit is an unlimited supply. It's not preaching. It's not me preaching. It's simply us being vessels of the Holy Spirit. That's why Peter and John, that temple, and they were healing the guy. And they said, don't look on us. We don't have it.

[00:42:27] But such as we have, we're going to give you in the name of Jesus Christ. Rise up and walk. We're simple vessels of the Holy Spirit. Amen? Come on, would you lift your hands right now? Be purified. Be cleansed. Be empowered. Only the fire can do that. First, awaken me.

[00:42:56] Awaken me, Holy Spirit. Awaken my heart. Awaken my spirit. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. Thank you for joining us today. We pray you feel encouraged and equipped as you continue in your faith journey. Please like, comment, and subscribe, and share this with somebody who you believe needs to hear this message. We can't wait to connect with you again next week.

[00:43:26] Now let's show the world what it looks like to belong and become to the family of God. And then, if you feel the world who you believe in your faith journey, please be a little bit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.