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(Go To Meeting)
Durrell Brown—May 24, 2024
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I am going to apologize in advance for the brevity of the message. God is willing to pour out on us a double portion of His Holy Spirit IF we have the faith and the determination to qualify for it.
Let's turn first to Acts 2. We are now 22 days out from the Day of Pentecost. We have been examining ourselves since the time of the days of Unleavened Bread and preparing ourselves—through examining ourselves—to qualify for more of the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, which He gives to those of us who obey Him.
How far have we come in qualifying for the outpouring of a full measure of the Holy Spirit of God?
We are just 22 days now out from the Day of Pentecost. We understand that the Holy Spirit came in power as God's people were assembled waiting for the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit and it did come in great power.
Let's see how that power, when it did come, emboldened and empowered God's people in a mighty way.
Acts 2:1: "And when the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was being fulfilled, they were all with one accord in the same place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a powerful wind, and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…" (vs 1-4).
Can we confess and testify that we have truly been filled with the Holy Spirit?
I can reflect on my baptism. I was baptized in 1964, I think it was. You have to bear with me, I'm in my 87th year of life and one of the difficulties I'm having now is my memory. I was baptized at Bricket Wood; I think it was in 1964. I had just had hands laid on me for the receipt of God's Holy Spirit. I'd never heard much about the Holy Spirit and its power in the churches I grew up in.
But I understood enough to know that it was a powerful force that came from God that empowered you to live righteously and Holy, and please the living God.
I had just been baptized, and Dr. Ray—who was the Vice Chancellor there at Ambassador College, Bricket Wood—laid hands on me for the receipt of God's Holy Spirit. I had never seen that done before.
In all of the churches I had attended, they baptized you, but there was never a laying on the hands of God's Holy Spirit for the receipt of God's Holy Spirit.
I remember clearly, he baptized me in that big tub, and that was the largest bathtub I'd ever seen there in the hall at Bricket Wood on the second floor. Some of you old timers who spent time at Bricket Wood would know about that. I sat up as he brought me up from the water, and he laid hands on me and asked God to fill me with His Holy Spirit before I had time to think one evil thought.
I was really stunned by a prayer like that for the receipt of the Holy Spirit. But it wasn't very long after that process, and I had dried off and changed my clothes that I realized, finally realized the impact of having received God's Holy Spirit.
I came down and was dressed, and he was asking me questions so he could fill out my membership card and put me into the file as a baptized member in the Church of God.
He realized I spoke American English, and he wanted to know why was I in London? Why was I at Bricket Wood? I told him I was in the Air Force, the military, and I saw the look on his face that this was not a good thing to be a part of. He was astounded that he didn't ask me that question ahead of time.
I realized that something might be wrong with me being in the military. I told him, 'You don't have to worry about the military, sir. I am going to be taking early discharge.'
This was late September, and they were trying to get the college campus in Bricket Wood ready for operation. They were going to open that October. I told him that 'I'm planning to be in the first class when the college opened.' And he said, 'Oh, you must not have read our articles on the race question.
I said, 'What race question?' And he says, 'I'll have to go over that with you.' The up-shot of the matter was I hadn't heard enough, although I had been listening to the broadcast for some nine months, taking the Plain Truth and all of this. I had no idea that as a black, I could not attend Ambassador College.
Immediately I started having carnal thoughts, and somehow I heard a voice telling me, 'calm down, just calm down and listen to what he has to say.' I realized that the laying on hands for the receipt of God's Holy Spirit really worked, because I had never had that kind of power imparted to me to calm down and listen to the Word of God and be moved by it to accept what God's Word said.
So, my first experience with the receipt of the Holy Spirit inspired me to understand that there is a power that God gives to all of us who believe to the point of being baptized that will empower you to be grown into the kind of person that God can bring into His Kingdom.
Acts 2:1: "And when the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was being fulfilled, they were all with one accord in the same place…. [this is the empowerment of God's Holy Spirit] …And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a powerful wind, and filled the whole house where they were sitting" (vs 1-2).
Amazing physical move of the Holy Spirit that got the attention!
Verse 3: "And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…" (vs 3-4).
Here we are 22 days into waiting for the Day of Pentecost, which will be June the 16th. Here we are having come through the days of Unleavened Bread, put sin out of our lives, having understood where we have fallen short and what we need to change and improve.
How much time more time we need to spend in prayer and Bible study and really yielding ourselves to the empowerment of Holy Spirit. We're waiting and hoping that we have sufficiently overcome and gain enough momentum to carry us on through the rest of this year and the finishing of the rest of the Holy Days in the fall.
Verse 2: "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a powerful wind, and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…" (vs 2-4).
What evidence can we have that we're truly filled with the Holy Spirit?
"…and they began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the words to proclaim. Now, there were many Jews who were sojourning in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when word of this went out, the multitude came together and were confounded, because each one heard them speaking in his own language" (vs 4-6). This is the power of the Holy Spirit!
Verse 7: "And they were all amazed, and marveled, saying to one another, 'Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that we hear each one in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those who inhabit Mesopotamia, and Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, both Phrygia…(vs 7-10)—and all of these cities.
There were people there who were observant of the seven annual Holy Days and were there for this Pentecost.
Verse 12: "And they were all amazed and greatly perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?' But others were mocking and saying, 'They are full of new wine.' Then Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them: 'Men, Jews, and all those of you who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. For these are not drunken as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: "'And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says God, 'that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams'"'"(vs 12-17). I dream a lot of dreams now; so I know that is true!
Verse 18: "And even upon My servants and upon My handmaids will I pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapors of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (vs 18-21).
We have been called and chosen, and been given God's Holy Spirit. To what extent are we filled with it?
Galatians 3:27: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
We have been imbued and empowered and filled with God's Holy Spirit, which gives us the ability now to be grown into the kind of beings that God will save and bring into His Kingdom.
Our job is to continue this process of growing and being filled. We see that it is possible when we see what God has done to be truly filled with the Holy Spirit of God. What will that look like to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
It is evident—when we are able to get the victory over sins and are growing to the fullness of the measure of Jesus Christ—to see:
- the blessings
- the deliverances
- the growth
- the light that is given us
- the ability to deal with all of the trials, temptations, problems and things that come upon us
The God we serve is a merciful God. He is loving, kind and generous! It is through the power of His Holy Spirit that He is going to grow us into the fullness and the measure of Jesus Christ! Here we are 20 days out from Pentecost. How well have you done:
- in the putting out sin?
- growing in more grace and in knowledge?
- in patience and love?
- in the particular attitude that we as Christians should have:
- toward the world?
- toward our neighbors?
- toward what God is doing in His Church?
- and where we fit in?
We see that it is possible to have a double portion of His Holy Spirit and that appears to be what happened on the Day of Pentecost. There was a double portion of God's Spirit poured out!
Are you in position to handle that kind of power?
Isaiah 60:1[transcriber's correction]: "Arise, shine; for your Light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you, for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the LORD shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you. And the Gentiles shall come to your Light, and kings to the brightness of Your rising. 'Lift up your eyes all around, and see. All of them gather themselves together; they come to you. Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall throb and swell for joy; because the abundance of the sea shall turn to you, the wealth of the Gentiles will come to you'" (vs 1-5).
We see that God's Spirit is preparing us for the Kingdom of God to administer those who will be called and chosen during the Millennium and the White Throne Judgment.
God's Spirit is growing us into beings like His Holy Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God's is preparing us to be just like Jesus Christ so that we can grow and increase His Kingdom under Christ; not only during the Millennium, but also the White Throne Judgment.
The Holy Spirit is being poured out on us now, as God's people, as the firstfruits of His creatures who have the Firstfruit of the Spirit of God.
We have the empowerment now IF we continue in what we've been doing for the first 22 days of our moving and growing after having been strengthened and empowered from the putting out of sin during the days of Unleavened Bread.
Moving on now to June 16th for the actual celebration of the Day of Pentecost. The God we serve is a merciful and loving God. He has sent us and given us His Holy Spirit to empower us to grow into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ!
- How far have we come?
- What evidence do we have that we are actually growing and increasing in our knowledge of how to be salt and light in this world and fulfill our responsibility?
Fulfilling our responsibility as the firstfruits of His creatures who have received the first empowerment of His Holy Spirit.
What is amazing about this to me is God has chosen the weak of the world, those who needed a head start. God has called us and is preparing us to rule throughout eternity with Him expressing His love and mercy for those of us who are not the great of this world.
We have come to a point of putting sin out of our lives. The momentum of the days of Unleavened Bread, moving us through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to a time when we will be the salt and light for what God is going to be finishing soon.
We will be the examples and the light that will finish the three and a half years of witnessing to the world, empowered by God's Holy Spirit. Producing the kind of fruit that will qualify us to rule and grow the Millennial group that God allows to be alive and grow into multitudes during the Millennium.
They shall qualify, we will help them qualify and they will be, along with us, helping those billions who will be coming up in the second resurrection. To be grown through a Pentecost experience, of being filled with God's Holy Spirit. To be brought into the Kingdom of God to begin the new process that we have learned that is going to happen.
- God is a loving and kind God!
- God is!
In Him we move and have being!
- He is the ultimate reality!
- He has a great awesome plan; we are part of it!
He has brought us to this point where 22 days into the coming of the Day of Pentecost. Celebrating the outpouring of his Holy Spirit and growing us into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.
I trust, brethren, as we move forward, we are finishing our earthly existence, finishing the work that Christ left us to do until He comes, when we are raised on the Day of Pentecost to assist Him in the wonderful world tomorrow.
I trust we gather—from what God has intended from the beginning—that He is a loving God, and that we have been called to participate in the most awesome thing that can be imagined: being grown into spirit beings through being filled with his Holy Spirit!
With our effort, and His empowerment to be grown into the kinds of beings that He can make immortal, and use throughout eternity.
As we move toward this Day of Pentecost, that we all will continue to examine ourselves, and make sure that we are truly are filled with God's Holy Spirit.
Continue the momentum that we've gathered through these days of Unleavened Bread!
Scriptural References:
- Acts 2:1-10, 12-21
- Galatians 3:27-28
- Isaiah 60:1-5
DB:bo/po
Transcribed: 7/21/24
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