So if I could have us look up a couple of scripture passages if you’re game. And everybody said, amen. Amen. Amen. So somebody wanna look up Psalm 29 verse seven and someone look up Zephaniah chapter three verse nine. And this is gonna be a little longer one. This will be Luke chapter 11 verses one to 13. Then Luke 12, 49 to 50.

Then Luke 24, 49. How’d I do? Did y’all get all those? Okay. Anybody wanna do Psalm 29 seven? I’m sorry. Okay. Zephaniah three nine.

Okay. What else did I say? Oh, Luke 11, one to 13. That’s a long one. Luke 11, one to 13. Then Luke 12, 49 to 50. And then Luke 24, 49. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

That’s 29, that’s 27 nine. Oops. (Audience Laughing) That was okay. That was actually pretty good. So 27 nine? Yeah. Okay, well, sorry about that. Oh, this is good too.

Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not abandon me or forsake me, God of my salvation. Was that it? No. Maybe I got it all wrong. (Audience Laughing) 27 nine.

29, 29. 27 nine, that was good. How about 29, did you do 29 seven? I did 29 something. What a pair. Okay, 29 seven? Yeah. Let’s try that one.

It’s a little so good. It’s supposed to sound something like this. Go ahead. (Audience Laughing) I’m afraid to. The voice of the Lord divides flames of fire. Yes. The voice of the Lord divides flames of fire. That’s supposed to be pointing where to, do you think?

Pentecost with the rushing driving wind and all those tongues of fire that the voice of the Lord divides those flames of fire. So that’s a prophetic word that’s talking about something that’s gonna happen at the Psalmist’s Rees. I thought that was pretty cool. Zephaniah three nine, who’s got that one? Know for sure that I will then enable the nations to give thee acceptable praise. All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray and will worship him in unison. So again, that was one of those words that was given. They begin, the church began to see that that was a prophetic word of what was going to happen.

So there’s something that happens at Pentecost that is a reversal. What was a reversal that happened at Pentecost? Tower of Babel. Tower of Babel was reversed. So all of a sudden people can hear and understand what the Lord’s saying and they can hear it in their own words and so it’s all of this and so it’s kind of looking forward to something that’s pretty cool. Now this one’s a little bit longer that I think the next one was Luke 11, one to 13, right? Got that one? Luke 11, once Jesus was in a certain place praying, as he finished one of his disciples came to him and said, Lord teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.

Jesus said, this is how you should pray. Father, may your name be kept Holy, may your kingdom come soon. Give us each day the food we need and forgive us all sins as we forgive those who sinned against us and don’t let us yield to temptation. Then teaching them more about prayer, he used this story. Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, a friend of mine has just arrived for a visit and I have nothing for him to eat. And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, don’t bother me, the door is locked for the night and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you but I tell you this, though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

And so I tell you, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Your fathers, you fathers, if your children ask you for a fish, do you give them a snake? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Isn’t that amazing? I remember the first time I came across that passage, it just absolutely blew me away. Because, you know, in the other synoptics, Jesus talks about the teaching of the our father but Luke has this way of connecting something that is so profound that he’s talking about those who are parents or grandparents or uncles or aunts or have the responsibility of raising someone, whatever. If you know how to do something that’s good for the other, if somewhere within you, you know what that good is, then obviously Jesus is making some kind of a connection. If we know how to do that, then the Father knows how to do that on our behalf, right? So how much more would the Father desire to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? I just think that just blows me away, the very fact of the things that we could be asking for. Father, what is it that you want me to be asking you for?

What is it that you want me to ask you for? And at least in this particular passage, and I hope that it doesn’t sound like I’m taking it so much out of context, that it trumps anything else. I don’t want you to hear it that way, but to be able to hear the fact that there can be many things throughout our day, and maybe already some of you this morning have been asking the Lord for something, which is wonderful, right? To come before him. But to consider the fact that Jesus is saying something when the disciples ask him, teach us how to pray, and teach us how and what to ask for. He says if you will understand the good gifts that you desire to give to others, if that’s something that has begun to grow within you, that you find yourself being not so much self-centered, but you find yourself becoming a little bit more other-centered, you’re more aware of things going on around you, and then in the very midst of that to say, how much does the Father want to give to you the Holy Spirit for anyone who asks? Now again, I’m talking to the choir, but I take a passage like that, and I think that wonderful passage, Psalm 37, verse four, take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Take delight in the Lord.

So what does it mean to take delight in the Lord? Well, Lord, what does it mean to ask for more or for a deeper release or deeper understanding or deeper revelation of what it means to have the presence of the Holy Spirit operating? I mean, on the one hand, you look at this and go, it’s a charismatic Episcopal church. We know all of that, right? We know all of that through and through. We know all of that in regards to how the gifts operate. We know how to do that in the marketplace. It’s a part and parcel of our life.

So I had an experience this morning. It’s a confession. Bless me, congregation, for I have sinned. So yesterday was a long day for us. Maybe yesterday was a long day for some of you. A lot of travel and part of the process of being away had come down with a bug. And any rate, the weather where we were at in California and Idaho was, in my estimation, spectacular. It was just wonderful.

Flew back into Birmingham. It was cloudy and rainy. And didn’t feel the best. Was tired and woke up this morning and was, we picked up Zoey last night, which was a real highlight. And anyway, took care of her. And I’ve got some worship using on and praising. And I’m just thinking, Lord, I don’t know what you want to do today. And I’m very aware of this moody, kind of pitty attitude.

And it’s just this, yeah. And I’m thinking about that and I’m thinking, Lord, I’m not gonna go there. I’m not gonna go there. And I was aware of that. And I thought, you know, and I just said, Lord, what is going on? Where’s this coming from? And this is what I heard him say. You didn’t get it from me.

(Audience Laughing) And I did exactly what you just did. Is I just started laughing. You didn’t get it from me. You didn’t get it from me. See, that was a game changer. That was all of a sudden it’s like, okay, you’re right, I didn’t get it from you. It was all that I was just, to all of a sudden to realize the Lord is inviting, he was inviting me. And if that speaks to anybody in any particular situation, it’s like he’s inviting us, if that ever resonates with you, to agree with him, where he’s at, what he feels, what he sees, what he says, to agree with that.

Not with this others. Does that make any sense to you? See, to me, that’s another way of saying, Father, pour out again your Holy Spirit. Because you know how to give that which is good. You know how to do that which is good. So it’s just that ongoing revelation. And we have said this so many times, but that is really a lot how, at least on one level, to be in Christ’s works. And I don’t even like putting in that kind of terminology, but Christ in you, desiring to manifest his presence by you participating in who he is, the Lord of your life.

And to recognize maybe at any particular moment where you are in that, and to be honest with it, right? And maybe in the very midst of being honest with it, maybe the Lord is giving an invitation to say, how about if you join with me where I am? Which makes me kind of interesting, a couple of those passages that you were in, that were wrong, but right. See, I don’t know what you thought about any of those prophetic words that anybody received this morning, but for some who were getting those, it sounded to me like there was a lot of encouragement. A lot of encouragement, maybe part of what was going on today as the Lord is recognizing and looking at us and saying, you need a little bit of encouragement today to believe for the more. Amen? So what was it the next one, Luke? What was it, Luke 12, 49 to 50, was that it?

Yeah. (Audience Member Speaking Faintly) Luke 12, 49 and 50 says, “I came to cast fire on the earth “and would that it were already kindled. “I have a baptism to be baptized with, “and how great is my distress until it is accomplished.” Now I know that you may not get that from that actual word, but if you go back and you look at it, you look what preceded it, what follows it, and you look at that, that again is a specific reference to what Jesus was referring to, is Pentecost. That’s what he’s referring to. I have this passion to light this fire on the earth, and I’m in anguish until it occurs. It’s pointing to Pentecost. I didn’t give you this one, but I want to go to real quick to John 7, 37 to 39. Can somebody go to that passage for me?

Chapter 7, 37 to 39, and please don’t do what Barb did. (Audience Laughing) On the last day of the peace, the greatest day Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, “and let the one who believes in me drink.” Just as the scripture says, “For within him will flow rivers of living water.” Now he said this about the spirit, for those who believed in him were going to receive, for the spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Again, I just love that passage. I don’t know if any of you do. It’s the whole idea of the Lord saying, “If anyone thirst, let him come to me, “and there’ll be rivers of living water “that will gush forth out of you.” What did he say to the Samaritan woman? If you drink, what will happen? You’ll have fountains. Now he’s saying rivers.

It’s like he wants to give more. He says to her, “You’ll have a fountain “that will start to well up within you.” Jesus is now even going more and saying, “There’ll be rivers that’s going to well up within you “with the desire of what it is that he wants to give.” I just think that’s really cool. I think I gave you another passage, didn’t I? Oh yeah, Luke 2449. Who’s got that one? I am going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. Amen. So obviously he was referring to the Holy Spirit.

I was looking at some scripture passages that I had up there and I realized that there’s about 50 that I have. And obviously we can’t go through all of those within the next couple of minutes. So, which is more important? The incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension or the session, which is also referred to as Pentecost. Which of those five is most important? They’re all important. Can’t be. Yeah, they’re all important.

They’re all important? So they’re all important, right? So you talk about the Paschal mystery. So the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, the ascension and Pentecost. So when we talk about as Christians, we can talk about our experience or our encounter or our life in Christ with an understanding of how those things fit. Is that fair? What if I were just to suggest to you, and maybe there would mean to take more time to expand this, but what if I were to suggest to you that the first four, the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension were done for you. Were done for you.

Jesus set aside his divinity to take on the fullness of our humanity to absorb all of that which needs to be redeemed. And everything he redeemed, he healed, right? Then he took all of that, and it was crucified on the cross. He was died, buried, rose and ascended. All of that was done for you. Fair? He did that for you. He became incarnate for you.

He was crucified for you. He rose from the dead for you. He ascended into heaven for you. I see a couple of people kind of going, I’m not sure. And maybe there’s not time to dialogue with that. What if I were to suggest to you that Pentecost was not only done for you, but it was to be done in you. It’s to be done in you. And the desire that the Lord has to continue to say, it is my longing, my desire to pour out the fullness of the Holy Spirit of which I have promised.

John the Baptist spoke about it. Jesus spoke about it. Jesus says before it happens, he says, I don’t want you to do anything, anything until the Holy Spirit comes. And then after he comes, you’re going to be filled with this presence that I want to give to you, which is of me to be able to recognize that all that happened for you will be more perfectly actualized when Pentecost happens. The incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, will be actualized because of the very presence of the Holy Spirit within you actualizing that reality. I mean, isn’t it fascinating when we are baptized, we’re talked about being baptized and we received the Holy Spirit. But what if part of the Christian life is a progressive life? In other words, we begin to apprehend more of what it was and what it was actually done for us.

Remember Mark Twain had said this. He said, my dad was the stupidest man I’d ever met in my life until I got the age of 18. And then I realized he wasn’t so stupid. And the only, you know, just the way that Mark Twain can say those kinds of things in such a way, it’s like he began to realize that what his dad had done for him, right? Everybody get that? So what if aspect of our Christian life is recognizing that it’s a progressive life that we begin to apprehend more of what it is that’s been done for us. When we have people come up here in a church that we are so familiar with this, the operating of the prophetic, or Tim’s with either a prophetic word or a word of knowledge, and I don’t know that it becomes so necessary that we divide all of that exactly what that was, but that word for you, Teresa, about the pain. But to look at all that, how is it that we’re able to do that through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, right?

And the more and more we are aware of carrying that reality then we recognize that it’s normal Christianity to be able to do this. It’s normal Christianity for me to be dealing with the recognizing, okay, the old man’s dead, the old man’s dead, I’m not gonna pay attention to that, Skippy, get out of here! And then all of a sudden in the very midst of recognizing, Lord, what’s going on? And where does this come from? He said, “You didn’t get it from me. You didn’t get it from me.” That’s a tremendous gift of what the Lord wants to continue to manifest in our life, manifest His presence so that we can say things like, man, when He says this in the Last Supper discourse, I’m telling you these things so that you will have my peace and my peace. We’ll be complete in you. I’m telling you these things so that you will have my joy and your joy will be complete.

I’m telling you these things so that you will be able to remember what I told you. I’m telling you these things so that you will be able to walk in the truth that I’ve given to you that will set you free. I’m telling you these things because it will help you not to stumble. Those are phrases that He uses in the Last Supper discourse about I’m telling you all these things so that you will have truth and peace and joy and being able to remember and not stumble. That’s that presence and you carry that. And to be able to recognize there has to be some degree of joy in that. So I don’t know what anybody’s day was like today. I don’t know if anybody came with the blas, but here’s like an invitation to you to say, what if you decided that the Lord wanted to take that from you and give you His presence?

(Audience Member Speaking Faintly) That makes sense? I mean, when it says things like, cast all your cares upon the Lord because He cares for you. Where is that, by the way? Which book of the Bible? Good, 1 Peter chapter five, yeah. So there’s something about that word of the Lord that becomes alive for us that we begin to recognize its presence through the power of the Holy Spirit can go a long ways to begin to set us free. Amen? Amen.