When we continue our series in The Book of Acts. If you have your Bibles, would you open them and turn with me to Acts? Chapter Two, we're going to be in verses one through 13 this morning. And it's, it's amazing how the Holy Spirit plans things out. You know, before I knew that I was going to be in this passage where the Holy Spirit comes to the early church, just as Jesus had promised, there was a trip on the calendar, a trip for me to be able to go with Mississippi Baptist eight or so other pastors from the state of Mississippi on a vision journey to Los Angeles, California, and the Lord was already working in and through that. And the goal of this vision journey was to specifically see where the Lord is calling First Baptist Church Byron to partner. Where is the Lord wanting us to set our feet for the next several years with our national ministry partners? You see my goal for the church is that we will have a couple local partners. Our food pantry will always be what we would consider a local partner, even though it comes from us. So we started, this is something local that we do. We're feeding 100 plus families a month. So go to where the Lord is working and be a part of it. The Lord's working right there. We want to find us another local ministry partner, be it a women's shelter, a men's shelter, or something along those lines. Um, maybe the Lord opens up another door. Those are just thoughts and everything. So working through those process of letting the Lord identify those partners to us, we want to find an international partner, somewhere overseas where the Lord is working and calling us to be of US financial missions, money that we have, and have plenty of it to be able to bless other missionaries, as you have done for decades and decades, or whether it's boots on the ground, us sending short term mission teams to serve some capacity overseas, whatever that may look like in the context of our culture and congregation here at first, Baptist Byron, but this was an idol there for us as a church family to do some good, to partner with these North American Mission Board church planners and missionaries on the ground, not specifically for for fire recovery efforts that that was part of it. This trip was on on the calendar long before the fires in California took place. So this is just an advantage, an added opportunity for us to do something else. And so I spent this last the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in California with with others, pastors from around the state and North American Mission Board church planters from from California, that that are currently in California. And one is originally from South Carolina. One is from Franklin, Tennessee. One is from Birmingham, Alabama. So they're not specific to Los Angeles, California, but the Lord has called them there to plant a church, to plant the seeds of the gospel. And so the the goal in going for me was that you know Mississippi Baptist foot, it all but $400 of the bill, and because of your giving to our church, through your tithes and offerings, we were able to pay the $400 to supplement me to go, which is a lot cheaper than me saying, hey, I need five or 10 people to raise money and go to Los Angeles, and all of a sudden you get out there and, yeah, we can't do that. There's nothing for us to do that would have been a little bit of a waste. So praise God for Mississippi Baptist and for your. Giving for us to be able to do this, to identify whether or not this is a good fit for our church or not. We will work through that as we're as I meet with our missions committee and our deacons to talk through some of the things that I think we can do and some of the things that I said, you know this, this may not be a good fit for us in this area, but there are opportunities for us to be there. And so I tell that to say the Lord was working in and through this situation, long before Brian ever knew that he was going to be preaching for Max. Chapter Two, see, Jesus had been promising. When I leave you, I will send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is going to be your helper, and he's going to equip you and send you to do the work of building the kingdom of God. He's going to help you do what I've been helping you do. And that is exactly what I experienced this past week was the Holy Spirit coming and showing me that Los Angeles, California, according to the news, is not a lost cause. The Lord is alive, and God is on His throne. And he is just as active in working in the lives of the churches in Southern California as he is in the churches in Byram in Jackson, Mississippi. And when we open up today's scripture to Acts. Chapter Two, these first 13 verses, we're I'm not going to get down into the nitty gritty. You know, we can have a good discussion of whether or not speaking in tongues is still applicable in churches today, specifically the American church. I have my opinion on that. You may have your opinion on that, and that's fine, but there, there's, there's no reason for us to to hone in on speaking in tongues, because speaking in tongues has nothing to do with salvation and the gospel call that we have as a church to get the Message off of these pews and out those doors, be it in Byron, Los Angeles, New Guinea Dominican Republic. Are you filling the blank across the street from your house? Speaking in Tongues has nothing to do with that. That was that was a gift that the Holy Spirit was equipping them to do the ministry in that context. So in Acts chapter two, we get to this point, and we see that finally, the promise that Jesus has told them about has arrived. So let's read these 13 verses, if you will, stand with me as we honor God by the reading of His Holy Word, Acts chapter two, verses one through 13. And when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as fire appeared on them and rested on each one of them, and they were all all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men of every nation under heaven, and as this sound, and at this sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished. Saying, are not all these who are speaking Galileans. And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language, parthenians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, farigia and Pamphylia, Egypt and all parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Christians, Arabians, We hear them telling in our own language, the mighty works of God and all were amazed and protect a perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? But others mocking saying they are filled with the new wine our most gracious and loving. Heavenly Father who has sent us the Holy Spirit to convict, to lead, to guide and direct us. May this verse speak and leap off the pages at us and convict us that you have given us, each one of us as believers, a capability to get out of this church and to share the gospel message with the lost and the hurting that we can pray, that we can go, that we can do and we can give according to the blessings that you have given each and every one of us. Please help us to be amazed at everything that you have done, and we claim that you are going to do in this city, in this nation and in this world, we ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen, you may be seated. I have three significant things that I want to call your attention to that happen in these passages, these 13 verses that we read three significant things that happened in these 13 verses that paved the way for the church to do remarkable things, to deploy people to do Kingdom work and church family. That's what I'm calling us to do today, because that hasn't changed. What I'm about to tell you today from these 13 verses is no different than what was going on in the early church in Acts chapter two. And let me tell you, what, if you are willing to put your comfort aside to reach the lost, to build relationships with people that don't look like you, that don't make as much money as you, or even make more money than you, people that don't smell like you, people that aren't as sharp as you, people that may have to spend hours on A Saturday in a food pantry line. If you are willing to build relationships and get out of your comfort zone to reach people who are not like you, then you are going to do well, following the Holy Spirit. And so these three things, they are simple, they are to the point. And they are three things that we have got to remember to keep our keep check in our lives as well. Number one, from the very top of chapter two, they were together. They were together. You know, the importance of being here on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, when we have activities, Wednesday nights, as we have Bible study, having your children in activities, in the church, being together. Do you know the importance of that? It's because you can't do it alone. You as a parent and a grandparent, and I know I'm when I say that I'm probably speaking to a minority in this room, but you as a parent and a grandparent, have a high calling in your life to teach and train your children and grandchildren about who Jesus Christ is, that that's that's the highest calling that you will ever have as a parent or a grandparent. You as a church member, on the other hand, are called to come alongside these parents and grandparents and equip them and help them and strengthen them. You see, it's important that that we are all together. It was important that they were all together. Jesus had issued a command to them to go, but to wait until he sent the Holy Spirit. And they followed his command, and they were in one place together at the same time, and you're going to see in and out through Acts. They they leave, they come back. They leave, they come back. Because one of the biggest things that they realized is they could not do ministry gathered when we are together, strengthening takes place as iron sharpens iron, so as does one Man sharpen another. You know, some of my greatest opportunities in recent years has been sitting around the table in what I would call discipleship groups with three or four other men talking about passages that we have read the previous week. We've all read the same thing. So so this afternoon. The some of us are going to go over to Richard Hodges house. We've got a little small discipleship group that we're doing that with, and we've we've read the the Bible reading plan that you have. We've read all of that together, and then we're going to meet together this afternoon at four o'clock to discuss that. And you know what? I'm going to pull out some stuff from my reading that they didn't. They're going to pull out stuff from their reading. I didn't, but we're going to be sharpening one another and holding each other accountable to making sure we're in God's word all week, all that we're memorizing Scripture that we're praying for one another, and at two o'clock in the morning, if something one of us needs prayer from another one, we know that we can pick up the phone and call the other person. That's what it means to be together and and the early church knew that they were together. And so the desire of the heart of these church planters in Los Angeles, California, is to gather people to not only share the message of the gospel with them which which is the most important, but to disciple them together, to send them out. Can you imagine if the three or four church planners that I met with this past week did all of that, but they never set out the people that they baptized and trained. The job would never get done. Church, there are 4.5 million people in Los Angeles proper, not county proper, 4.5 million people. Do you know what the what the residential rate is. The census rate for the state of Mississippi is 3.5 million. There are 1 million more people in Los Angeles proper than there are in the state of Mississippi. And if you have three pastors, three church planters in the state of Mississippi, trying to do the reaching of the gospel and telling people about Jesus Christ. How long do you think that's going to take, at least until Jesus comes back? But Imma tell you what they're going to be. People dying every single day, going to hell, because those three pastors can't reach them by themselves. It takes an army. It takes the church being who God has called the church to be. So they gather together for equipping, for training, to learn. Okay, this is how we share our faith. This is how we love one another. This is how we do what Jesus told us to do. That's what we do during these times. And if you're missing out on our church gatherings, you're missing out. No wonder it's so hard for a lot of us to share our faith, to have gospel conversations with people. Yes, it makes you nervous, even if you're the most qualified, even if you're Billy Graham, it may. I'm sure Billy Graham got nervous every time you know, the the thought of being ridiculed and and and made fun of for who you are, that's a real thing. But we gotta be faithful. Gotta be faithful, and that happens together right here in settings like this, in Sunday school settings. And I tell you, I told, I told Miss Bama this morning. I told a couple people this week, Miss Bama price, Miss Billy probably they always apologize to me, because I wish we could come on Sunday mornings, but we go home after Sunday school and we watch on live stream. And I said, you know, if you have one hour to give us on Sunday mornings, give that hour to a Sunday School hour, because you're going to grow so much more during that hour than you are going to listen to singing songs and one man speaking. Because in Sunday school, you're all gathered around the word open and you have multiple people speaking into that you're going to grow and sharpen your faith so much more during that hour. So don't, don't apologize. Now that doesn't give you a pass to miss church, but you you can give us two hours, but there are people if you can only give us one hour, Sunday school, small group, Bible study, is where that needs to take place. That's That's where community is built, and that's where the sharpening happens. So number one, they were together. The second thing that we see as we read these verses that that was just such a strong hold for them to be able to be deployed, was this, they were filled. So as you come and you stay, we're together, and we're worshiping together, and we're sharpening one another in Bible study and God's word, you're going to be filled if you allow the Holy Spirit to fill you. These people in the upper room, as the Holy Spirit comes, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit began to be. Give them the gift of speaking in tongues. Now, like I said, we're not going to, we're not going to get into the weeds on all of that, but imagine, you don't have to. Imagine, if you're a believer, the Lord has given you a gift. He's given you the opportunity and a talent to go and share the Gospel. Now, that doesn't mean that everyone of us are equipped to go and knock on a door and share the gospel in that capacity. Some of you are equipped to be prayer warriors. Some of you are equipped to give financially to things like that, to help support you know, if we end up sending and mobilizing teams. You're going to have the opportunity to fill in to some of those teams prayer and financial giving, because I tell you what, it's expensive to fly. And so if we want to see the gospel, leave Mississippi and trickle out to places like Los Los Angeles or the Dominican Republic, or wherever the Lord leads us to go, we're going to have to have people helping financially fulfill those and we are a very giving church and and if you continue to give 10% to our undesignated offering, that 10% is divided out into missions and ministry in so many different ways, 6% of our budget, and I want to get that number up in the next few years, to 10% but 6% of our budget, our budget is roughly $530,000 6% of that goes to the cooperative program. The cooperative program is the funds that goes to fund missionaries, foreign, domestic and things like that. Another 3% of our budget goes to church and community missions. You imagine if all of you took your tithe, your 10% let's just say your your 10% is of your income is$500 a month, and you decided, I'm going to take that $500 and I'm not going to just give it to the budget and let let the church disperse it the way that the finance And the deacons and the church has voted to disperse it. But I want $75 of my $500 to go to, you know, media equipment. I want another $100 to go to, you know, buying fill in the blank with what you're involved with in this church. The church could not operate, as a matter of fact, in January. And this isn't a sermon on tithing, by the way, but it's applicable. In January, we saw our income be $29,000 where it's typically upwards of $40,000 now that's typical across the board. With churches everywhere, January is usually a shortfall. But don't forsake giving church, because when, when we're not giving and we're not tithing, the church cannot do ministry. We cannot do missions, someone is going to suffer, and I'm a recipient of your tithes and offerings. I know that, but I would much rather see these missionaries in the cooperative program thrive, because I know the Lord's going to provide for my family. You guys are good for me. Someone just said they brought me some chicken spaghetti this past week, and I wasn't there, and I'm I'm a little upset with that, but, but I know the Lord is going to provide and feed my family. But don't forsake giving 10% or above to your church and Watch God work. You want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You want to see God work in ways that only he can work, give, give, give. And when it hurts, give some more, because God will make a way. I promise you, God will make a way. So let's be filled. They were filled. They allowed the Holy Spirit to fill them, and with that feeling came the confidence that they could go out and get the job done. Are you confident that you can get the job done if you were to walk out these doors right now? Are you confident that the Holy Spirit is going to empower you to do what only He can do? If not, you need to learn a little bit more about who our God is and who the Holy Spirit is, because he can do anything. He can give you the confidence, the words to say and you know what, there are going to be people that ridicule ridicule you, that that laugh at you and say, I can't believe you. Believe that that's okay. You've done your job. It's not your job to convince them. Them, it's your job to plant the seed. It's not your job to convince them. It's your job to plant the seed. And so the Holy Spirit is going to fill you and make a way for you to do what He is calling you to do. But we gotta be together. We gotta sharpen one another. We gotta let the Holy Spirit fill us. And then lastly, we gotta be amazed. We've got to be amazed because, you see, God is going to do some pretty awesome things. He already has. We had eight people make a profession of faith during revival, and most of those were people from already in this church. So if you can imagine, if you reach the people in this community who are unchurched, who don't have a relationship with Jesus, and they start coming into this church, and they hear the Gospel presented and communicated to them in a fresh, new, understandable, biblical way. Can you imagine how many salvations there will be? You just think we had revival a few weeks ago. Watch and see what God is going to do, and you will be amazed. This past week, I'm sitting at this place, right off of Colorado Boulevard. And one of the, one of the men that's with us. His name is David Williams. He's the associational director for Lincoln County Baptist Association. And David looks down, and he picks up this penny, this very Penny. So this penny came all the way from Colorado Boulevard. Alright, I had just eaten some really spicy chicken, and that's what I get for criticizing Californians for not I had eaten something that I said, Oh, their food's so bland. And then I ate a piece of this chicken. I'm like, whoo. Lord have mercy, God. Can you turn this into some water? I'm a little thirsty, but David reaches down and he picks up this penny, and he's he shares with our group. He says, Guys, everywhere I go, Mississippi, Lincoln County, California. A couple weeks, he will be in Uganda, Africa, everywhere I go, if I see a coin, Penny, I pick it up and I put it in my pocket, no matter what it looks like. You see this? This Penny was minted in 1993 it's legal currency. I got Abraham Lincoln's picture on one side, and God, we trust liberty on the backside. It's got the Lincoln Memorial. Eplorables, you know our our national motto, United States of America. And then one cent, how many of you would have just passed over that penny. It's not worth my time to bend down and pick up a penny, right? And in the sense of monetariness, probably not. But here's what I want to challenge you to do, as David challenged us pastors, every time you see a penny, whether it is sparkling fresh out of the mint, tarnished or even bent and broken, pick it up, not for luck, not for good vibes or anything like that, but identify this penny as Jesus would identify a life, no matter what this penny looks like on the outside, no matter where this penny was found, it still has the same value of every other Penny. And so do these people, the people within 12345, mile radius of our church that we're going to work hard to reach and build relationships with so that we may have an opportunity to share the gospel with them. We don't just go up and and share the God. Let me tell you about Jesus. Now, you know, build a relationship with someone first if you want to speak that kind of truth into their life. But we're going to view every single person that we meet as this penny, tarnished old we don't think it's worth anything, but it is, and so we're going to pick it up and let me tell you how this story goes. The next day, we were on skip. Skid Row. Anybody ever heard of Skid Row? Skid Row is in California, Los Angeles. Kind of downtown area. It's a tent city. You go up and down the street, tent after tent after tent after tent, homeless and just about every single person that's on that street is strung out on drugs. They they've put chemicals into their body to make them feel good, and now they can't, they can't break it. They can't break away from it. And so as we're on skid row, the moment we pull up, we see a drug dealer chasing another gentleman trying to get his money, and the man that he was chasing was was screaming, I mean, loud, shrill screams. He He jumped over the hood of a car that was in front of us, not one of ours dented the hood, and he's chasing him around with with a blunt object. Can't imagine what would have happened if he had called up to him. He wanted his money, not more money, drugs. And then as we go to park, we passed this man who is just evermore. He's got one of those oyster shell Styrofoam crates that put to go food in, and it's empty, and he is have just having a conversation, very evil, demonic sounding. Let me tell you, if you if you don't believe in the presence of demons, go to Skid Row, you'll find them. And so he's kicking it and having this conversation that none of us can understand. We go inside. I get up on the mission place where we were visiting had six floors, and on the sixth floor was roof access. So we got out there, and I sent a sent this video to the deacons and to the church staff. But all of a sudden, this man is just he is. He's fighting air, nothing else around him. He's fighting and for us, we didn't see anything. But for him, he's battling an act of Satan. But as we're walking into this building in the middle of the nasty i The urinated fecal matter. Streets of Skid Row was Penny. David saw it. I didn't see it. And David reached down and picked it up, and he reminded us that every life has value in the eyes of Jesus Christ, our Lord, church family, we we may not make it out to California. Our prayers can. But as we work through this, Los Angeles may not be something that the Lord is calling us to do, but your pastor's eyes were open this past week that there, that there are people in the shadow of our cross who are battling drugs and addition addiction and separation from Jesus Christ, just like those people in California, just like those people on skid row and every single person's life matters, no matter how broken, no matter how tarnished, no matter how they smell or look or what they put into their body, they matter, and your pastor is going to reach them as best as he can through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you can follow me if you want to, but just like Joan of Arc said when she told the general, I'm going to lead 3000 troops over this hill to conquer. He said, Not a man will follow you. And she looked at him and said, I won't be looking to see if anybody's following me. I'm going we. We have a job to do and and my commitment to you is that I'm going to do it, and I hope that you will be right behind me, our arms length, hand in hand as we reach people. Because I will be honest with you, I don't care if another person ever joined. Brings this church in membership, but I do care how many people we lead to faith in Jesus Christ, and I do care how many people we put into those baptismal waters, and I do care how many of those people we turn into disciples who can go out and reach a different culture that that US white folks can't reach? It takes everybody, and we've got a job to do. So Acts two, tells us the Holy Spirit has come, and you and I have a helper. Now, will you leverage what He has given you to go and do what He is calling you to do? You?