Pentecost Continually
by Kevin Allen
May 24, 2026 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Luke 24:49, Acts 2, Acts 2:2-4, Acts 2:37, Acts 2:38-39, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Ephesians 1:13, Philippians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Titus 2:11, Hebrews 2:3, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Colossians 2:18, 1 John 2:3-5, 1 John 4:13, Revelation 20:15, 1 John 1:8-10, Luke 13:3, Acts 17:30, Mark 16:16, Acts 19:3-5, Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 19:5, Acts 4:12, Colossians 3:17, Acts 22:16, Titus 3:5, Colossians 2:12, Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:9, Acts 2:2-4, Acts 10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--pentecost-continually
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Happy Pentecost Sunday. We are celebrating today Pentecost Sunday and for some Pentecost is simply a date on the calendar. For others it's remembered as the birthday of the church. And both of these things are true. Pentecost is much more to do with not just a historical event we look back on but it's celebrating a promise kept. It's celebrating God fulfilling his plan of salvation for humanity. I don't know about you but that brings me joy. That I have a God who keeps his word. Are you thankful for that? >> >> He's not far and distant away. He's close and near and he's a God who keeps his word. The word Pentecost means 50th referring to the Jewish feast held 50 days after Passover. It was during the life of Jesus Jerusalem would have been crowded with worshippers that gathered to celebrate this time of celebration after the Passover but God had a greater thing in mind than just celebrating another festival. There was something bigger at play. Just weeks earlier Jesus had been crucified at the Passover and he had risen from the grave. He had spent 40 days with his disciples continuing to pour into them and tell them things about the kingdom of God and how important it was for them to live out the life that he had called them to live but before ascending to heaven he gave them one final instruction.

We can read about it in Luke chapter 24 >> >> verse 49. He says, "Behold, I send the promise of my father upon you but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high." And so they waited. What started out as about 500 it dwindled down to 120 that actually made the trip to Jerusalem and they gathered together in that upper room. >> >> They begin to pray. They begin to seek. They begin to be unified in their worship and the experience that was there in Acts chapter 2 reads this way. "And when the day of Pentecost had fully come." Everybody say Pentecost. I want you to know this was not the first day of Pentecost. But there was something special about this one. I love how it's worded. It says when it had fully come. There had been Pentecost before. But something was happening in this recorded event that was there and suddenly, verse number two says, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the house where they were sitting and there appeared in them divided tongues as of a fire and set upon each of them and they were all Everybody say all. Filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. All. >> >> It wasn't just for one or two.

It was for everybody who gathered together unified worshipping God as they began to get focus off of themselves >> >> and onto the one who said go and tarry until the power comes upon you and he kept his word. This wasn't just a random emotion. This wasn't just religious excitement. This was the fulfillment of prophecy for the prophet Joel had declared centuries earlier, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. There's that word again. Nobody is exempt. If you want it, if you desire it, if you can get in unity and alignment, then it's for you, too. How about that? >> >> Nobody's excluded. It's for all and on Pentecost morning God kept his promise, but Pentecost is not only about out pouring of his spirit. It's about the revelation of salvation because when the crowd saw and heard what was happening, they began to ask a very important question. As Peter was standing up trying his best to answer what was going on and began to explain to them who Jesus really was and what had actually taken place. As they were listening to these words as he preached that first foundational message of the New Testament church, they were pricked in their heart and it said in verse number 37 Acts 2, "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" That's a great question.

I like what I'm hearing. It's making an impact in my life and it's causing me to ask some questions. I want to know what it is I got to do so that I can be a part of what's going on here. And Peter answered and said, "This is that." Woo! This is that. I want you to know what we're doing here today is this is that. That same experience that they had in Acts chapter 2 is still going on today in 2026. It has not lost any of its power or ability. Our God still keeps his word and his promise. And if you have not yet experienced this, I want you to know it's a good day to be in the house of God because HE IS STILL POURING OUT his spirit ON ALL FLESH, AND IT IS FOR ALL. IT IS FOR ALL. IT IS FOR EVERYONE who wants it. Today is your day. Peter preached the first apostolic salvation message in Acts chapter 2 when he said 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. For the promise is unto you and your children and all that are far off." There's that word again, all. All, it's not just for one or two. It wasn't just for Acts chapter 2.

It's for today. It's for right now. It's for 2026. It's for 1800 last cast this pipe for Center Point Apostolic. It's for the city of Murfreesboro, for the state of Tennessee, for our country, for our nation, for the world. IT'S STILL AVAILABLE TO ALL. >> >> TODAY, WE DO NOT CELEBRATE Pentecost because of something happened supernaturally over 2,000 years ago. No, no, no, no, no, no. We celebrate Pentecost because the same God who poured out his spirit then is still pouring out his spirit now. Still pouring it out. That's what you felt as we were singing songs of worship and praise. The word of God says he inhabits the praises of his people. He comes down and habitates. He comes down and houses. He comes down and tabernacles among us. No longer is that presence simply something in a tabernacle in the wilderness. Not only is it something that it just was in a temple that was made by men's hands, but after Calvary after the day of Pentecost, he said, "No longer do I want to be in a building." Ooh, he said, "Brother Freeman, I want to be in you." I want to be in you. How good is our God that we're not separated? He wants to be in us. He wants to tabernacle in us. I don't know about you, but that makes me excited. There's something special about me and something special about you that he says, "I want to be there with you every day of your life, every moment, every trial, every tribulation, every moment of joy and excitement.

I want to experience ALL THOSE THINGS JUST WITH YOU." WHAT A GOD. What a God we serve. This leads us to the focus of our message today. I'm simply going to talk about Pentecost and salvation. Everybody say salvation. What I want to do today is I want to be a little bit old school Pentecostal on Pentecost Sunday. Is that all right? I think I got half of the scriptures in the Bible in my message today. Y'all pray for Patrick back there. I apologize to him in advance. I said, "Sorry, Patrick, I got a bunch I'm going to be very I'm going to be very bishop to preach today. We're going to go to the word of God." >> >> What a good day to go in the word of God, right? I want to I don't want to bring you what Kevin has to say. I want to bring you what the word of God has to say for us today. We're going to talk about salvation, Pentecost and salvation. So, let's start. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and 10. Look at your neighbor and say, "Hang on." For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. Everybody say salvation. Not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Ephesians 1 and 13, in whom also you trusted after you have heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your There's that word again, salvation, in whom we also offered that you believe you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.

Philippians 2 and 12, Wherefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own >> salvation. with fear and trembling. 1 Thessalonians 5:9, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but under our obtain by the Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11, for the grace of God bringeth which hath appeared unto all men. Hebrews 2 and 3, one more time. How shall we escape if we neglect so great which first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him. We live in a world that is very subjective. A culture and a society that says that it's up for you and determined for you to figure out how things are and what they really mean. We we've reached a point to where there is no absolute truth. Everything is flexible and in flux and everything has the ability to be transformed or turned into something based off of what we feel it ought to be in our moment of frustration or joy or sorrow. Salvation, however, is not meant to be that way. Everybody becomes an authority in our world today unto themselves. And as you heard me say many, many times, it's dangerous to base eternal salvations on our feelings alone. I know I repeat myself a lot, but here's the deal. I have to say it a lot of times before you guys finally grab a hold of it.

About the time I'm sick of saying it, you start to say to yourself, I think he's saying something about feelings. I am. I'm back to that again. Yes, I'm back to that subject matter today because it is such a prominent thing in our society today. We're basing eternal destinations on how we feel. When there's nothing in the word of God about how you feel. Frankly, it doesn't care about how you feel. It's already determined and set. And what I want to do today is bring this to you as a foundation that you can build your life on. When you board an airplane, I don't go in there saying, I feel like I'm going to fly today. You know? I don't want to know the pilot just feels like he's going to keep it in the air. I think I got this today. I don't know about you. I don't want to hear those words out of the guy flying the plane. I want him to be by the book. I want him to do those flight checks. I want to hear him. It makes me happy when I walk in and they're going check check. Yeah, you keep check double check. I don't want to just think you you're feeling it's going to be. I want to know that we know that we know it's okay. That's me. Maybe you're willing to take a chance.

That's not me. Check it out. Go by the book. Our eternal destiny is also too important to trust to just feelings. I think we ought to be by the book. I think we ought to go by the book. How about you? >> >> I don't want to make I don't want to reach the end and say, "Well, you know, I felt like I had it all together." Brother remember, I don't want to do that. I want to know that I know that I know. Even if I don't like it, even if it seems to go contrary to how I feel in the moment, I'm not going to base in my eternal salvation off of my feelings. I want to go by the book. Anybody want to be in the book today? Salvation is very important. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone about God and they say, "I just don't see it like that, you know, my interpretation is just as valid as you. We can we just have to agree to disagree." How does that work? Again, I'll go back to the pilot. I'm not going to get in argument with anyone how he flies the plane. I don't think you have to turn that button. In my opinion, I want all the switches on. If it's there, why would it not be on? Turn it on. I don't care if you think we need it right now.

I think we need it. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't think that plays in it comes to salvation. I just don't. That's not how the apostles in the church felt about it at all. 2 Peter 1:20, knowing this first, knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. Ooh. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God speak as they were moved on by the Holy Ghost. A little modern translation says, "It's not up to your opinion." It's settled. It's the forever settled word of God. It has stood the test of time. It doesn't need you to defend it. It has done real good job all by itself. IT IS STILL, EVEN THOUGH THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL thing out there, the best-selling book that has ever been written ever. Always is. Sells more copies every year. It is a true one and only best-seller. I don't have to defend it. I just have to live it. I just have to apply it to my life. John outlived all the other apostles and witnessed both the growth of the church, the growing pains of the New Testament start and as the first century unfolded and alongside a powerful revival and expansion, he also watched doctrinal errors that begin to creep into the church. One movement John confronted was Gnosticism. The term Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge.

Gnostics claim special revelation beyond scriptures. Ooh. Nothing new under the sun, right? I've ran into a few folks that have a little extra biblical knowledge. Little revelation, you know, they got caught up in a bean dream one night. All of a sudden they come out with a new way in which God decided that we ought to be saved. It goes a little bit controversial to the scriptures and how it's laid out. You know, they things like praying to angels. I had one person and this has been many, many years ago, talking to me, they pray to their guardian angel every day. I remember when they said that I in my mind I'm like, "What is wrong with you?" Why would you pray to a guardian angel? Why would you do that? Why would you pray to the one who's not in charge when you can pray directly to the one who is in charge? >> >> Why would you go to the that's lesser? Who does that? I mean, you go into Starbucks and your drink is wrong and you demand a manager. >> >> Your order gets messed up at Chili's, I want to see the manager. But you want to pray to your guardian angel. No, I want to talk to the big guy. I want to talk to the king of kings and lord of lords. I want to talk to the one who holds my tomorrows in his That's the one I want to refer to.

I'm going to bypass the angel. I'm glad they're there, but I'm not going to talk to you. I want to talk to the one who has the ability to make a decision. Woo! Isn't that novel? Mhm. Only works for you and your premiere. I know. I know. I know. I know. Paul warned the Colossians church about this kind of thinking. Because according to what was going on there, you were not truly spiritual unless you possessed a so-called secret knowledge. There's not a secret sauce with the Lord. Yeah. He didn't have a special recipe that's there that's hidden. He was pretty straightforward and we're going to get into that what he laid out for you and I. Colossians 2 and 18. It says this, "Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delegating humanity in the worship of angels." There we go. "Taking his stand on visions he has seen inflating it without cause by his fleshly mind." His fleshly mind. You got to be careful cuz this old brain up here comes up with all kind of things that don't balance out in the word of God. They feel real good when I say it out loud, but it doesn't get me anywhere. I'm not going to stake my life and eternity on those things. I'm sorry. I'm just not. I Maybe this is just me, but I doubt I'm alone in this room where I have been caught up on that I was feeling really confident about something and only be only realize it was wrong.

I'm sorry, leave me by myself. I'll still say I know that there are others in this room who had real strong feelings about something and you end up finding out it was just flat wrong. Yeah. Thank you for being honest. I got one honest soul up here. Rest of y'all the altar time is going to come in a few minutes. The Gnostics often look down at the apostles and Bible-based believers parading and priding themselves in possessing a deeper spiritual insight. I'm going to tell you right now, you can't get any deeper than this. I'm going to tell you that this book sheds a whole lot of light on commentary. A lot of those theologians you can realize just how far off base they are if you'll just get in the word of God. And I'm going to say this way, if you don't have an understanding of the word of God, why would you go anywhere else? Start here first. Start here first. Here. This is a great place to start. And then once you get some knowledge, then you can go up from that point forward because what you're going to realize is there's things here that are forever settled that sometimes when you read some commentaries you're like, "That don't sound right." Because it's not right. It goes contrary to the settled word. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you and I are going to be judged according to, not a commentary.

Not a feeling, not a blog post, not a social media post, but right here. My feelings don't matter. The word of God matters. This is what I'm going to go by. This is what we need to live by. Why would we have any other authority in our life besides this? Apostolic worship is emotional. I know and a lot of people tell you say that you guys are the sensationalist and emotionalist and all those things. Look, you're a human being. I don't know how you can be pulled away from your emotion. But I'm not going to be led by my emotions. I'm not going to be led by my feelings. I'm going to be led by the word. So even though we may get emotional here when we feel the presence of God, I don't know how you can be in his presence and not be emotional. Just being honest with you. Some emotion, joy, happiness, like I and sometimes it leaks out our eyes. Sometimes it gets in our hands and our feet, you know, we're not being disrespectful. We're just all of a sudden overwhelmed by the goodness of God. I don't know about you, but I don't know how you come in contact with the King of kings and Lord of lords and it doesn't move you. I don't know how that's possible. >> >> And when you get moved by somebody running a pigskin across a certain line or getting a you know, a golf shot that goes in or finding that one pair of shoes for $20 off, you get emotional.

But the savior of the world passes you by and you Oh my. Oh my, it's Pentecost Sunday. I know I'm feeling a little bit of my oats up here right now. God's trying to tell us something that why would you be caught up in the temporary when the eternal is here present? >> >> Our openness to spiritual experiences must never make us vulnerable to spiritual novelty. We must remain firmly rooted as Bible-based people. Amen. Amen. Amen. John uses several plays on words in his epistles to illustrate this point about real spiritual knowledge always involves obeying the word of God. We read this in his epistle, 1 John chapter 2 verse number 3, and hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Not if we follow our opinions. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar. Liar, liar, pants on fire. And the truth is not in him, but whosoever keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him. Chapter 4 verse 13, here hereby know that we do dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit. Simply put, there's something that we can do so that we can know that we are saved. First of all, it's keeping his commandments in the word of God. How do you say you love him if you don't keep his commandments?

Why, I just don't know. I don't know, Pastor Kevin. I don't think those things are all relevant in 2026. Really? Really? Wow, that's interesting. I didn't realize that God had delegated that authority to you. I missed that when I was reading. Missed it when he said, you know, when Caleb Pierce shows up, he gets to write the chance. No, I don't to see anybody in this room's name written down there said, "Follow my commands unless they say." I didn't really even see that there was an option anywhere that was there. He just simply said, "If you love me, if you love me, you will I don't know about you, but I don't think we have to have commentary for that. I think that's pretty straightforward. I don't feel like I got to dive into the Greek or the Hebrew. I feel like I got that one on my myself, don't you? Keep his commandments. Every person who's born with a spiritual account before God, and because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, that count is immediately marked stained by sin. Now, you can get mad about it, you know? And I frankly there's been a couple of times I've thought about that. I'm like, "You bunch of jerks in the garden messed it all up for the rest of us. I mean, you had it all set up right there. You just, you know, living free and just enjoying everything.

And there was one thing, really one thing. He said, "Well, you enjoy all of it. Be accountable to all this and tend all these things and take care of all this. There's this one tree that I want you to bother it." And where did they go? To the one place he said, "Don't go." I don't know about you, but that makes me mad. I'm like, "How selfish of you?" Until I realize how selfish I am, too. How that nature is in me as well. It's there. We've been stained by sin. When it comes to sin, we really only have two choices. We can ignore it and just say, "I hope for the best in the afterlife." Some people have that attitude. You know, I'm just going to try to do the best thing I can right now, and I'm just going to I'm just going to hope God grades on the curve. Well, after all, he's a god of love. And if he loves, then again, we got a lot of your feeling caught up in that. I think we got to be really really careful with it. I'm not trying to be dismissive of whatever it is you may have been taught, but I would encourage you, since he's given us his word, why would you read it? Why would you not read it? My wife's got this car. It's a nice car and the little thing popped up on the thing and it said, "Check engine oil." So, I did what any good Southern boy would do.

I go out there and pop the hood and I'm going to get the dipstick out and I'm going to check the oil. David Clark didn't You know there's no dipstick in that car? There's a dipstick looking for the dipstick. >> >> So, I had to get the owner's manual out. I'm like, "How do I get Michael, I'm like, "What in the world What Who doesn't have a I mean, for as long as I've been making vehicles, there's a dipstick, right?" No, I had to go to the computer and let the computer tell me how much oil was in the car. Yeah, I had to go to the manual because I couldn't figure it out on my own. Now, if we trust the manual in the car, but you don't trust the manual to the author of life has given you. >> >> I don't know. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to plow down your row right now. You have all faith in the world that you can jump on YouTube and learn how to can food, how to make you a pair of rabbit slippers, how you can garden, yeah, how you can repair, how you can find the dipstick that doesn't exist. We got all that faith in the world, but you don't have faith that the author of life gave you. What are you going to do? You can play on the curve or you can confront it now while mercy's still available.

And not deciding is a decision. Turn to Revelation 20:15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. I don't know about you, but that's a real good one I would have marked in my Bible. I don't want to figure out what book they're talking about. Cuz I don't know about you, but like a fire doesn't sound fun. 1 John 1:8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, everybody say confess. He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So then the question is not whether or not we have sinned. The question is what are you going to do about your sin? Remember I'm talking about Pentecost and salvation today. John teaches us that sin must be addressed God's way. Through obedience to his commands and through the work of his spirit in our lives, which leads us to the defining question because if you've been here long enough, you know that Pastor Kevin always brings you questions. Cuz we grow by asking questions. What are God's commands regarding salvation? Don't you think we should know that? And here's the deal. I'm going to ask I'm going to ask it even maybe a better way.

What are all of God's commands regarding questions? Cuz what I have seen in my day and again I come to you with humility and say I mean to offend no one. I just bring you the word of God today and I want you to process the word of God on your own. But I feel like we have to be aware that there's more than one verse about salvation. And one verse does not negate another verse. Cuz all scripture is given. Everybody say all. So be leery about anybody who builds their theology on a verse when we have all the Bible. I don't know about you, but I feel like I want to make sure I know what all the requirements are. Not just part. I don't know anybody besides you and me been guilty of not reading the disclaimers, just getting to the end and signing it? And then wonder why something shows up on your door one day? I didn't ask for this. Well, sure, you signed off on it on the disclaimer. No. Again, it's worth See, probably one of the biggest things you'll ever do in life is buy a house. Anybody been to a closing before? Yeah, now, everybody remember going to a closing before they got became digital? Yeah, when they used to back a truck up there with that book of papers. And you had you walked out of your closing with your arm cramped up like this from signing your name.

You started off the first three times being real pretty. By the 800th time, you're just like You weren't reading it. I'll tell you that. There may be one person in this place, God help you, that read every page. You obviously didn't have anything to do that day. But something more important than even buying a house is where your eternal soul will rest. I want to read all the paperwork. I want to make sure that I checked every box that needed to be checked, that I dotted every I and I crossed every T, because this is not something I'm willing to miss out on because I didn't do my due diligence. In fact, I think the word of God says, "Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling." In other words, you need to make sure that you are diving in and understanding. So, let's look at what command number one is. Luke 13:3, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Acts 17:30, "In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent." Repentance is a decision to serve God that causes us to live in a different way. Repentance, in fact, to truly repent, I heard it explained this way just a few weeks ago and it was really powerful to me. In biblical times when armies would go in and take over a city, and they would take captive the inhabitants that they didn't kill there.

As they marched them out, as they became their slaves, they would burn the cities to the ground. They watched their homes and everything burn. They leveled them all out. Now, you think, "Why would they spend all the effort they got the people?" Well, that was it was about a mindset. They knew they picked up on this. If they knew they had absolutely nothing to go back to, they wouldn't be tempted to escape. And the term is where we get the term repentance from. Is that we destroy what had us captive. The mistakes that we're made to the point that we say, "I'm never going back." God, forgive me. Forgive me to the point that I can erase that so that I know I'm not tempted to go back and repeat the mistake. That's the mindset. So, to truly repent is to have a mindset change in our life. Not just I'm sorry I got caught. Well, that's our world today, right? The only time we ever say I'm sorry is because when someone caught us. We're not really sorry what we were doing necessarily. We're sorry somebody caught us doing it. That's a big difference. That's not repentance. That's not what biblical godly repentance is. Godly repentance is saying, "God, forgive me. I don't know it's a 180. I was going this direction, now I'm going this direction. I don't want to go back that way again." To truly repent.

After I repent, I am forgiven and allowed to go to the next step. Command number two, be baptized. Mark 16:16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned." Bishop used to say, "What kind of bee do you want to be? A saved bee or a damned bee?" That was for you, Bishop. I pick the saved version, don't you? Amen. Believing in is a beginning point. I want to say this. I say this respectfully. Please listen to me. I know I'm going slow on purpose. Believing is the beginning point. Believing is the beginning point. There's more to living for God than just believing. Did you know that the difference between believers and unbelievers is action? I like here's what I could say. I could come to you right now and I'm going to Please listen. This is a joke, okay? I could say out loud, "Hey guys, the building's on fire." And you look around and you see smoke and flames coming out there. Now, the difference between you believing is whether or not you get up and leave. If you were to sit there and go, "Yeah, it's kind of cool." Kind of cool. In fact, the first time we ever had haze in our service, a bunch of you thought the building was on fire. You all started texting the town booth. Started texting me saying, "Hey, there's smoke in the building." Then we had a big theological debate between the difference between smoke and haze.

Some of you spent more time on that than salvation. Four common misconceptions concerning baptism. First, I was baptized by a church, am I baptized? Is that correct? The Bible teaches that people that can be rebaptized if they've been baptized in Jesus' name. Acts chapter 19, verse number three. And he said unto them, "Into what were you baptized?" So, they said unto John's baptism. Now, this John is the same John that Jesus said, "Among men born of women, there's none greater than him." This is the guy that baptized Jesus. I don't know about you, but if you baptized Jesus, that's a pretty cool deal to put on your resume. I baptized the Messiah. Okay? Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance saying of the people that they should believe on him which come after him, that is on Christ." Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now, these people were already baptized by the guy that baptized Jesus. Then why did they get rebaptized? >> >> Cuz evidently how you get baptized matters. Paul says it matters. Second time the second thing that comes up sometimes say I was baptized as an infant, so my baptism is this correct? Well, sprinkling of water on babies or adults is not the way of baptism that was done. First of all, the actual definition of the word baptizo means immersion or to be submerged or to bring under.

You got to go down. You don't bury somebody by throwing a little dirt on their face and walking away. You dig a hole, put them in the ground. That's how the burials take place. This is the same way and action the plan of salvation of death, burial, and resurrection. The burial part is to be submerged, to go under. Historical references and we can go the World Book Encyclopedia says the early church practice immersion or submersion in water. The Catholic Bible Encyclopedia says immersion in the oldest method was employed by submersion. Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, Martin Luther preferred immersion as the one of the true original practices. Encyclopedia Dictionary of the Bible says it is evident that the action was performed by baptizing was done by immersion. So third, the baptizing in the titles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit goes, "Am I baptized? Is this correct?" The only formula biblically that is for baptism is in the name of Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:19, the verse that is there, it says, "Go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost." What is the name? This is Matthew's account. It's the last command Jesus gave his disciples before he ascended to heaven. It was written in AD 62 after the church had been baptized in the Jesus name for 30 years.

We have, and I say this respectfully, I really please this is not meant to make anybody be frustrated. I'm simply asking you. We have no example at all in the Bible where anybody was ever baptized any other way than in Jesus' name. It's not there. It doesn't exist. So, I'm asking you. If nobody was ever baptized in the Bible any other way than Jesus' name, why would we baptize any other way than in Jesus' name? Why would we do that? I think that question's a valid question to ask if I have no example of it. Furthermore, no one's no one's ever proven that point. And but the Bible says this, Acts 2:38, "Be baptized everyone in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 8:16, "They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 19:5, "They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 4:12, "For there is no other name given among men whereby you must be saved." Colossians 3:17, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of Now, did you notice that word all? Whatever you do in all or deed. I think that kind of covers baptism, don't you? Historical references again because I know you like the history side. History supports this. Again, I go back to the Catholic Encyclopedia. The Jesus' name baptism formula was changed to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost later on in the 2nd century.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, "It must be acknowledged that the threefold formula of Matthew 28:19 does not appear to have been used by the primitive church, but rather in the name of Jesus or Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus was used." Britannica Encyclopedia, "Baptisms was changed from the name of Jesus to the words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the 2nd century." Canon Encyclopedia of Religion, "The early church baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus up until the 2nd century." Why would we change from doing what the ones who walked with them did? If they seen it firsthand, why would we choose a different method? I know I went it from preaching to teaching, but I want you to know this is important for us to get. It's Pentecost Sunday. We're talking about salvation. We need to settle these issues. And if maybe you take issue with that, I would love to meet with you and we can have a conversation and I love to discuss this, but I would encourage you to do study on your own and just ask the question, if I don't have a biblical example to go off of. Again, salvation requires more than just a verse. The Bible does not contradict itself. It doesn't. I would encourage you to go back and I'll leave you with this little nugget. Matthew 28:19 is not a verse that Apostolics run away from.

I embrace it. I embrace it. I embrace it number one because it's the word of God. But number two, I think it's a wonderful oneness verse of scripture. Cuz there is only one name. Is there the name of the Father is Jesus. Name of the Son is Jesus. Name of the Holy Spirit is Jesus. It's all in Jesus. It's all in Jesus. It's all in him. >> >> The fullness of the Godhead, it's all in him. When you come to that revelation, it will change your life. Fourth, the most common misconception, baptism is for church membership. Baptism is not for church membership. The word of God does not support that. Respectfully, I mean that. I'm not not to hurt anybody's feelings in any other religion or denomination, but the Bible doesn't support it for membership. It says it's for remission of sins. Don't make it something it was never intended to be. This is not a denominational thing. This is a word of God thing. There's not going to be sects and denominations and sections off when we get to heaven that the Pentecostals are over here and the Church of Christ is over here and the Methodists. No, no, no, it's just going to be those that go that are following after Jesus Christ. They're just one. One. One. So, I'm not drawing lines amongst denominational lines. I'm saying to get down into the word of God.

What does the word say? It says baptism is for one reason, remission of sin. Acts 22:16. And now while tarriest thou, arise and be baptized, wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Titus 3:5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Colossians 2:12, for you were buried with Christ when you were baptized, and with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted in the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead. Acts 2:38, then Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Bible translation uses the word forgiveness and remissions often times interchangeably. Many years ago, when I'm not far, I'm going to I'm going to close in just a couple minutes. Cuz I feel like God wants to pour out his spirit today in this place. Chastity and I had been married, I don't know, it's probably less than 5 years. >> >> We had moved into our first house over here off DeJarnette right by the Oakland High School and we were so proud of that place and we had gotten a little bit better financially positioned and we took advantage of a nice income tax return that we had from Uncle Sam and we bought a new dining room table and chairs.

Do you remember that? We were so proud of that. And for whatever reason in our mind we decided that the chairs we were going to get, they had a cream colored cushion built into the chair. Remember this? We still have those chairs. Still at our dining room table. No, it's been re- recovered. But you remember we had the young adults over with and David Johnson, God love him. We hadn't had we hadn't had that table and chairs, I don't even know if we had it 2 weeks. I mean, it still smelled like furniture store in our house. We come over there and we had group and we were grilling on the back deck and we're taking the food inside and we had it all set out on the table for everybody to go by and he gets his bratwurst first on his bun and he moves around the table and bumps his arm and when he does that brat, the big old greasy nasty brat falls right on the cushion chair. I look over at Chastity and she is automatically repenting because I know what she was thinking. And he felt sorry. He did. He picked it up. He's like, "Hey, guys, I'm so sorry. We're trying to dab the grease up. We're trying But it's already been done. Bratwurst grease there on the white cushion. And we forgave David. I forgave pretty quickly. Chastity took her a week or two.

We forgave him. But for years that stain was on that cushion. Every time we'd have company, we would remember we'd reposition the chair. We'd always put it down so nobody can see it, you know, cuz you know, hide hide the bad, right? You know, throw everything else in that one closet and tell nobody they can never open that door and be sure you get the grease stain put away. Now, what remission matters is see when you ask God to forgive you First John says he's faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You're forgiven. Now, you may not forgive you, but he's forgiving you. But the reason repentance and baptism go together is because the baptism is for the remission of sins. The remission of sins would have been if David Johnson would have hired some professional cleaners to come over our house and steam clean that cushion so that when we walked in that grease stain was gone. That's what happens in the baptism of waters. Is you've been forgiven but the stain is gone. That's why it's important that you're baptized for the remission of sins, not for membership to this church, but for the remission of sins. Forgiveness addresses the offense, but remission removes the stain. Repentance brings forgiveness. Baptism in Jesus' name brings remission. God does not simply forgive sins, he removes stains. But then the final command about salvation has to do with living a spirit-filled life.

As we seen there in Acts 2 and for all of the apostolic Pentecostals in the room, we like we got to be careful because we get really ramped up when he say in Acts 2. And I love Acts chapter 2, right? There's not a theologian that will argue with you where the New Testament church started. Go anywhere. Go to Vanderbilt University theological department and talk to them and ask the question, "Where did the New Testament church Where was Where did it start?" Acts chapter 2. That's where the church started. So, the verse of scripture that I already read to you about how they were all in one place in one accord Acts 2 and suddenly there came a sound from heaven. That's where the church started, that infilling right there. What I love about this, and I've said this many times, is if you go through scripture and you study out, God has always signified with fire where he wanted to dwell. He gave Moses the instructions for the tabernacle. Man, we have so much information on the tabernacle. And then once they got it all put together, they get all the badger skins out and they they've made all of the furniture pieces and they've set everything up and they've got the fence around the tabernacle and then it says they made the sacrifice and then God's fire descended from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.

And it said it pillar of fire by day, cloud by night. They followed after those things. God was signifying, "This is where my presence lives." And then they drifted away and got themselves in trouble, right? Because this is what humanity does. They drifted away from God and then we get to the day and age when David's wanting to build a temple, but David didn't get to do it, but Solomon his son does. Solomon builds a temple and they have thousands and thousands and thousands around. Have you sacrificed a thousand different things? You That's I think you you've worshipped that day. They've got that on there and then what happened? What happened when they said that simple little prayer? What happened in that moment? Fire fell. Cuz God had signified, "Look, I was in the tent, but now I'm going to be in the building." My presence dwells here. Now, most of you see where this is going because in Acts chapter 2 it says, "Cloven tongues as of a fire set up on each and every one of their heads." He was signaling again, "This is where I want to live." This is where I want to live. That's why I started off this sermon talking about today how wonderful it is that he decided it was you and me that he wanted to live in. It wasn't a building. It wasn't a tent. It wasn't some piece of furniture, but it's in us that he wants to live.

And that's what part of the salvation process is understanding that God wants to fill you with his spirit. That same spirit that got him out of the grave, that same overcoming power that he had that allowed him to go but now to hell and take back the keys. Gives you and I the ability because when he left hell, he said, "Look, my kids are coming." And when they knock on the door, as we sang about today, you give them what they ask for. I felt some resistance there. I'm still in the word. The gates of hell shall not prevail against thee. That fence isn't for you. That fence is hell trying to keep you out. I'm telling you, the enemy is scared of someone who's obedient to the word of God. That's why he's going to try to convince you to do anything but be obedient. Cuz when you bring yourself into obedience to where when you keep his commands, when you're full of his spirit, hell's afraid. When I look through the scriptures and I see that God's desire is to tabernacle among us and then musicians can come. I'm going to end this today. I want you to know there is no greater life than to live a life spirit filled. For those who think it's emotion, I challenge you today. I challenge you today to just be honest for a minute. To just be honest and ask yourself the question.

What if a spirit filled life is truly what God's called us to live? Not just an experience, not just a coming in and saying I believe in God. There's something more than believing. There's something that's beyond the belief. But what if it he truly is wanting to tabernacle with you? What if he wants to walk with you every day? What if he really wants to give you that overcoming power, that life changing power to live inside of you? What would that feel like? And then how would you know? Let me ask you this question. So this cuz I again we can get in deep in this and I'm for the second time I'm not going to get deep. I'm just going to ask you to think with me for just a minute. We know by reading Acts chapter 2 that they know they had the Holy Ghost because they heard them speak with tongues. They spilled out of that upper room and a lot of people that were around there said, "Man, these guys are drunk." Peter stands up with the other 11 says, "He's not drunk as you suppose, but this that you hear is that the prophet talked about. I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh." Let me ask you a question. If we were not meant to speak with tongues because some say that tongues is just for spreading the gospel.

This is just for missionaries. I beg to differ with you. I have been on foreign fields. And I it's one thing when you're sitting here and you hear somebody speak in tongues beside you cuz majority of the time you don't know what they're saying. They don't know what they're saying. This isn't a taught language. >> >> But I have been on foreign fields with people who don't know one word of English and prayed with someone they received the Holy Ghost and they start speaking English. How? How does that happen? But my question for you is this. If Jesus who had all power, had all authority in heaven and earth, okay? When I want to ask you a question. I'm going this is a sincere question. I really want you to think about if he had all power in heaven and earth, right? That's what the word says. He could do what he wanted to do. Why >> >> did he have to roll the stone away from the tomb? Cuz we know he walked through the walls of the disciples, right? When Thomas was saying, "Well, unless I can put my finger in his side and his handprints, I'm not going to believe." And then it says, you know, he just kind of comes into the room. Which I love. I love when he just walks into the room with me. But let me ask you the question, why the stone rolled away?

What was it for? It was a sign that something on the inside had changed. Now, here's the deal about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Here's the truth. The Bible doesn't tell us how much we're supposed to speak in tongues. It doesn't say you're supposed to do it every day. I try my best when I pray to push through to the spirit because I don't know you. It's like that safety check before you get on the airplane. I just want to know that I know. But it doesn't say you have to. >> >> It doesn't say you have to pray long prayers in tongues. It doesn't say you have to get behind pulpits and speak in tongues. It doesn't say that. And there's no indicator for that. Again, I'm going to say I'm going to stay in the Bible. It just says the initial sign that they received the Holy Ghost. Another Another place in the in Acts 10, it says they heard them they knew that they had received the Holy Ghost as well as we because they heard them speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues, ladies and gentlemen, is not the Holy Ghost. It's not. It's the sign. It's the initial sign. It's something on the inside has changed. It's not meant for those around you. The Holy Ghost is meant for you. Cuz it's a language that you were not taught, that you don't know.

It's a sign that something on the inside has changed. Because here's what's going to happen is we have these moments we've all had them where we feel God move. They're like powerful, strong movements. And then we leave, we go get in the car, and we drive away, and all of a sudden little doubt starts chirping. That wasn't real. You were just emotional. You were just caught up. You were just That wasn't real. But when you've heard yourself When you've heard yourself nobody can take that away. You can look at the enemy and you can say, "I know what you're trying to say to me, but I heard me." That's why when I'm praying with someone I want to I want to get down when they receive the Holy Ghost. And this one of the best things in the world watching somebody get the Holy Ghost. I love it. The rumors get a front row seat every week to see it happen. It is the best. It never gets old. It never ever ever gets old. But I always ask them, "Did you hear yourself?" And if they say no, I say, "Well, let's pray some more." Cuz I know it's important that they hear themselves speak in tongues. Now, again, I'm sure in this room there's someone that may be a little bit upset with me, and I want you to know right now I'm not intending to be controversial today.

So, I'm going to ask for forgiveness if I've upset you. Please forgive me. I'm not saying that your mom or your grandma wasn't right. I'm not saying anything. I just encourage you. I would just really really prayerfully respectfully ask you to go to the word of God and see I guys I gave you a flyover about salvation today. We would be here for a few more hours if we did a deep dive. And if that's something you're interested in, I would love to do that with you. But as I bring this to a close today, I can't think of a better day >> >> to be filled with the spirit than Pentecost Sunday. >> >> I think you're a better day. So we're going to pray and here's what I feel. I felt this in prayer this morning. This God in such a sweet way was talking to me. I feel him. I feel him now right now. Here's what I know is when and when I bring to you truth, God does the rest. I'm released to this. I just brought you the word of God. And I hope you receive it today. But as I get ready to pray this final prayer, I want you to just maybe allow him to guide you. Maybe instead of being resistant for just a moment, maybe you just in our closing time of prayer before we come to altar, you just say God, is there something that I'm allowing my feelings to keep me from?

That I'm allowing my opinion to keep me from? Cuz God is this really real? If it is, let me experience it today. Cuz I feel with every fiber in me that he will answer that prayer. >> >> He will answer that prayer. So if you're comfortable with this, I'm just going to ask you to close your eyes right now if you're comfortable. Maybe just bow your heads. If you are a spirit-filled child of God, I'm going to ask you to be really sensitive right now. Let God use you in this moment. Would you help me pray? Jesus, >> >> Lord, I've done my best to try to bring your truth out today and present it in a way, Lord God, that I felt like you wanted me to. Lord, I pray in this moment that you would just take over the rest of this service. That we could be spirit-led in all that we do. God, your word tells us unless you draw unless you draw us, we can't come. We were drawn by your spirit. So, I pray right now that your spirit would do some drawing. God, bring us to a place and an understanding that there is so much more to you than we ever really really realize. >> >> I pray that you would open some minds to understand them. That you desire to fill them with your spirit today. >> >> Give them a boldness.

Give them courage to make a step. To reach out to you in a way maybe they've never done before. >> >> God, I also know that there are needs in this house today. So, I pray, Lord God, for the miracles and signs and wonders to move in this service on Pentecost Sunday. >> >> Lord, do what you do best. Take the broken mess of our life and make it something beautiful as only you can. In Jesus' name. This altar is open. I invite you to come. If you don't know him as Lord and Savior, I invite you to come so that we can pray with you. If you have a need for a touch in your body, if you have a need for a relationship to be mended, if you have a need for >> >> God to intervene on some circumstance or situation in your life, I invite you to come. I invite you to come. I invite you to come and let God begin to work on you in this place. It's prayer time, church.