The Prophetic Architecture of Pentecost

In this powerful and transformative message, we journey into the book of Acts to explore the Day of Pentecost—the moment when the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers and forever changed the course of human history. What began as a group gathered together in prayer became the birth of the New Testament Church, marked by fire, power, boldness, and the manifest presence of God.

This sermon dives deep into the significance of Pentecost and the promise Jesus gave to His disciples before ascending into heaven: that they would be clothed with power from on high. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, ordinary men and women were transformed into bold witnesses carrying the Gospel with authority, signs, and supernatural power.

Pentecost was not merely a historical event—it was the beginning of a Spirit-filled movement that continues today. The same Holy Spirit who filled the upper room is still empowering believers to preach the Gospel, walk in holiness, operate in spiritual gifts, and live transformed lives.

In a generation marked by spiritual dryness and compromise, God is still seeking a people who desire His presence above all else. The Church was never meant to function without the Holy Spirit. Pentecost reminds us that true Christianity is not merely intellectual belief—it is a life empowered by the Spirit of God.

🔥 Welcome to Houston International Revival Church (H.I.R.C.)!
We are a Spirit-led, Kingdom-driven church equipping believers to walk in truth, power, and the authority of Jesus Christ to impact every sphere of life. 🌍🔥

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello, and welcome to Living Truth, the teaching ministry of Joseph Castillo. We encourage you to listen to today's message over and over again so that the Word of God will be in your spirit. Be a blessing. Share it with your friends. And we pray that you'll be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We also invite you to visit us online at www.anispage.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Amen. Today is Pentecost Sunday. So we will uh get a little bit today into the mystery of Pentecost and what this holiday means, amen. But let's take a moment before we get into this and just celebrate the Holy Spirit's coming to the earth on this day. Pentecost, penta means five, and it or it actually means fifty fifty. Pentecost means the fifty day, which in the old testament was Shabbat, the holiday of Shabbat. So we'll look at that a little bit later today. But Pentecost is 50 days after the Passover. So 50 days after the Passover was Shabbat or Pentecost, and that's the day that God chose to pour out his spirit. So we'll we'll we'll we'll look at why he chose this day, but let's celebrate the day that the Holy Spirit came to the earth to fill man and to really change humanity as we know it, change the whole world when the Holy Spirit came. It was great that Jesus came, he had to come and he had to die for us. But he said, It's more beneficial that I go because I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit and He's gonna be in you, He's gonna be with you, He's gonna be in you. So Jesus physically was only able to be with X amount of people for you know a lifespan, but the Holy Spirit He would send in his place, and he would be here for all eternity, and he would fill all people that come to him. Men, women, boy, girl, not just priests and kings, but the Holy Spirit would come and dwell everybody, and that completely changed world history, completely changed religion and faith as we know it, completely change the landscape of humanity. So this is one of the most significant holidays of the Christian church, amen. So let's uh thank God for sending the Holy Spirit, thank Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit, and let's uh worship the Holy Ghost and unknown tongues and just pray in the Spirit and welcome the Holy Ghost to fill this church, to fill this service and to fill our lives, amen. Praise you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for sending the Holy Ghost. Oh, Ramatala Bashaba Shakata la bash, thank you, Jesus, for sending the Holy Ghost. Thank you for sending the Holy Ghost for writing your laws in our hearts, hallelujah, for filling us with your spirit, giving us Father God, hallelujah, divine intelligence, giving us divine leading, giving us divine power and divine life, for giving us a new heart and a new spirit by the Holy Ghost. Thank you for baptizing us with fire. Thank you for filling us with the Holy Spirit. Thank you for regenerating our spirit, man, and sending down your fire to baptize us and giving us power from on high. Lando Boshindelebekinda Baba Dadabashata. Rando Boshinda Nadavanda Dadabashete debesiti. Rindavashinda Lava Kura Bashinda Nanadaboshondo Dodoshinda Davasata. Randa da Dadabashinda Laboshindele Beshinda Bositi. Ramadanabashanda da Dadadabashanda Nanadabakura da Dadanabashata. Rambakashatanabashakata Nadabashata. Rabba Kashakata Nanabashakata Naboshutu. Rammanon Dobufa Kandiribi Shibadoboroboshibanaba Hassan Dada Bede. Hendele name shinda na ladabando boshende besete. Rando bushinda la la nabashatanaboshete. Rando bo koshete, lebi king do bo shatanabanda. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. When you pray in tongues, you testify of the great works of God. You recount in the heavenly language the works of God, the miraculous things he's done, how he's created the worlds, how he's saved us, how he's redeemed his people, how he's kept his promises. Throughout the generations, when you pray in tongues, you you repeat the testimonies of God, you declare the great works of his handiworks in the Holy Ghost. That's what the Bible says. They spoke in tongues and they declared the wondrous works of God, and people heard them in their own language, declaring the works of God. Hallelujah. You're speaking about the Passover, you're speaking about the deliverance in Egypt, you're speaking about how we split the Red Sea, you're speaking about how He created the world. Hallelujah. You're speaking about the great and wondrous things he's done throughout the Bible, how he rose the dead, how he healed the sick, hallelujah. You're recanting them in the in the unknown language, in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because when your spirit hears that, even though your mind don't know the language, when your spirit hears that, your spirit receives faith hearing the testimonies of God. That's why Jews says, Beloved, build up yourselves on the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, because you testify of the great works of God, bringing the spirit of faith into your inner man, which does not even understand what you're speaking intelligently, but the spirit understands. The spirit knows. That's why you can start off weak in flesh, weak in the spirit. Weak, dead, dead head, meat head, you know. But as you pray in the spirit, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, all of a sudden you become excited. All of a sudden you become alive. All of a sudden you become energized because you're speaking the works of God and the Holy Ghost. Ranto mosheke ne beshete besete. Lata mashoko moshete mesete. Repa patu moshikiti lilibishata mosete. Repe ke shekete nebeshete besete. Rappa papakashata bokoshete. Rapakashikiti dana baba bababasata. Randa bashakata la lana. Randa bashana bashana bashana basata. Hundelana loboshana no boshete na bashana basata. You guys too. You guys pray in tongues too. Halala boshete da bone boshete. Rambadanabashinda bashana da nabashana da namando no boschete. Rabakashiti did mashokoto lomoshete le meshetene mesete. Ramba kashakatala da nabashatanabasata. Rabakashatala da nabashatanabasata. Romoshikin de lele meshitile na mantonoboshete. Ramoboshete nintamondo boshitile masenede. Ramba kashikin de leme shukonomo fupraki sete lede boda. Nandile me kin de boshondo da boshinda nawakanda nabasiti. Romo koshoto no da daboshada da da da da bashata. The enemy hates when you speak in tongues. The enemy hates when the church speaks in tongues. The enemy tries to demonize religious people and tell them you shouldn't speak in tongues without an interpreter. The enemy tries to demonize you and saying you shouldn't uh pray in tongues. Who do you think you are? You're not that spiritual. Look at your faults, look at your failures, uh, look at you know how your week has been. The enemy will try and discredit you and pull you back from praying in the Holy Ghost. Because praying in the Holy Ghost testifies of the works of God, it builds up your faith, it lays the track for your future, it lays hold of promises, it intercedes on your behalf and on the behalf of others. It brings the presence of God, it brings the hand of God, it brings the miracles of God. Robakashetele shakata nanaboshete. Ramba dabashiki no roboshita namasoto. Rababana mashana na namashata nana boshodobosoto. Oh, rana boshine nebashete ne boshonada na bashata. Rananabashine ne boshonana nana banana bashana na basata. Rabakashatanabashata la bashata. Oh, Randana bashatana labokondo na loboshitile mesite. Rebeckisheti la mambu rubufu Rabakandini de Besete. Robachendu lumushide luma satanabana. Randalama shanalamandura boshiki bilibi fiki ribi ki robosiki nina motorubusete. Rebe ki shatunu lobahashakatan basata. Rabashakatanaba shakatana la bocuna na basete. Rabandono no colon no shondono no shonolo bosenede. Ringa amushunaba ma hiki le no basete. Ringanamashutomasati le meshite. Ramba la mashutunabanana la meshitinema hundo sinibede. Emende, en elemende, ring in a mashinele leme mesiki lile mashitile la handobo bosete re mikishitele mesete. Hidinamoshun no no shite. Randoboshutonobosete. Hallelujah. The Holy Ghost says that when you pray in the spirit, you yield, you yield his scepter of righteousness, you yield his royal scepter, you extend his scepter as Moses extended his rod across the Red Sea, and the powers of God moved and blew the waters apart that they walked across on dry ground. When you pray in the Holy Spirit, you yield the scepter of God, the emerald scepter of his rulership, of his reign, of his power and his glory. Hallelujah. Jameis and Jambries trying to replicate the miracles of God by waving their wand. But God gives us a scepter, hallelujah, a royal scepter of rulership, because we are seated with him in heavenly places. We are kings, a nation of kings made unto God kings, and we rule with the scepter of God, and by the Holy Ghost, we waive that scepter, we yield the scepter of righteousness, we yield the scepter of power, we yield the scepter of glory in the spiritual realm. And this earthly realm is controlled by the spiritual realm. This earthy realm manifests what the spiritual realm is conquering, what is winning, what is victorious, what is evident, what is most powerful in the physical, in the spiritual realm is what's evident in the physical realm. So when you yield through the Holy Ghost, praying in the Holy Ghost, your scepter of righteousness, you're releasing the power of God, you're executing the judgments of God, you're yielding the authority that God has given you as a king and as a priest. Lenoboshete, Ren the Meshine Lemeshete, In the Meshina Boshonaboshete. Hallelujah. Don't be intimidated to take your authority in God. Don't be intimidated to take on your authority in God. Don't be intimidated to take on your righteousness in God. Don't be intimidated to take on your authority in God. Put on your robe of righteousness. Put on your robe of righteousness. Wave your scepter of divine power and authority with God. Co airs with God. Co-heirs with Christ. Shida na da nama shanda da loboshida da dada boshete. Ring in the dileli bishida bokurama shida da damashanda da na boshete lebesete. Rando boshina da dada bashakata la laboshete. Rabba shokolo loboshete. Robo shokoto na la bashakata la bashete. Randa bashakanda de la boshete. Randekin doboshekele la bashokoto na basata. Randa ma shandana boshikindidubufu reba casoto boshete. Rike nide ba shokoto no boshekete debesete. Rambiki shikindana makundo do boshekete debesete leboshete. Rando bosheda labakoda na bashida na daboko sete. Ropapati na makundo nobo sheneda bocosata rabo shila na boco soto. The people from all around looked and said, These people are mad, they're drunk. Babbling, in a language they don't know. But Peter said, No, we are not drunk as you suppose, seeing it is only the ninth hour of the day. But this is that which was prophesied by the prophet Joel that in the last days I'll pour out my spirit upon your sons and your daughters, that your old man shall dream dreams, and your young men shall have visions, and upon my handservants and upon my mayservants I shall pour out my flesh. An outpouring of the Holy Ghost was only upon kings and priests and prophets during certain seasons and for certain moments. But on this day, two thousand years ago, 50 days after the Passover crucifixion and resurrection of our Christ, Jesus tag-teamed the Father and sent the Holy Ghost to the earth. Hallelujah! And the Holy Ghost was poured out upon all flesh. The book of Acts says, To as many as God would call afar off. Peter said, For this promise is unto you and to your children, and to as many as the Lord God shall ever call. This promise is an eternal promise to the end of the age. Somebody say amen. Say to the end of the age, amen. The Holy Spirit's not passed away, He's not left, He's not unnecessary because we have 66 books in the Bible, but to the end of the age, the Holy Ghost is filling, baptizing, and empowering the church worldwide. Amen. Amen. What is Pentecost? The mystery of Pentecost. Think about the last time you got an invitation while they prepare the slides. Think about the last time that you got an invitation that you were really excited about. Not that, you know, hey, we're having a multi-level marketing meeting on Thursday that you just you leave unread for four days, you know. Or something you really got excited about. Well, God has been sending invitations to his people for centuries. Every feast, every sacrifice, every appointed time, God was saying, mark your calendar. Something is coming. And all of the Old Testament feasts, we'll look at some of them. All of the Old Testament feasts, there's several seven major feasts, right? Uh I'll list off several of them. There's Passover or Pishak, right? Then there's the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then there's First Fruits, then there's Pentecost, or Old Testament was called Shavot, then there's the Feast of Trumpets, which is called Rosh Hashanah, then Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and then Tabernacles, or Sukkor. So there's seven major feasts, and we're gonna see where God lays out three in Exodus chapter uh 19 or 20. We'll look at that in a moment. But these were all God saying, mark your calendar because something is coming, something is going to happen, amen. The feast of trumpets is that that feast that he established to announce the return of Christ, amen. So when that return of Christ happens, the trumpets will be blown, Christ will return, amen, and will be at the end of the age. But some of these have already been fulfilled. The Passover was fulfilled, Jesus was the Passover lamb, and then Pentecost was fulfilled. He was saying to them to mark their calendar back in Exodus, because this one specific day he circled in heaven before the foundation of the earth. But if you don't know what Pentecost was, you won't really understand what it became. I must take a look here at Exodus twenty-three verses fourteen through seventeen. Exodus twenty-three verses fourteen through seventeen. Father, we thank you for this teaching and preaching of the word. We ask you to anoint me and these lips are clear to speak for the word with excellency, accuracy, and truth. Speak to my mind, speak to my lips, anoint my vocal cords, anoint our ears to hear, and our hearts to understand, and our eyes to see. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let's look at chapter 23 and verses 14 through 17. He says, Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in a year. Three times you shall keep a feast unto me in a year. So I read to you the broader feasts, which include these three, and I read to you a few more.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

So these feasts here are listed in this verse here. So three times you shall keep a feast unto me in a year. 15 is number one. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Say unleavened. Why? Because leaven always represents sin. Leaven in the Bible represents sin. That's why when we take the Passover here, it's always unleavened bread because Jesus was sinless, right? So unleavened bread was leavened, always represented sin. Jesus said, Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. It represents sin. He says, You shall eat the unleavened bread for seven days as I command thee, and the time appointed in the month of Habib. For in it thou camest out from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty. So that's the first feast, the feast of unleavened bread. Can you say with me, feast of unleavened bread? Amen. Okay. Now he gives him the next one, verse 16. And the feast of the harvest. Say harvest. This is shavot. He's this is Shavot, Pentecost, okay. And the feast of the harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field. And then lastly, he says, the feast of the ingathering, and which is the end of the year. The feast of the ingathering, which is the end of the year. So here we have this the these three feasts: Passover, Pentecost, and the end gathering. The ingathering we also know as the Feast of Tabernacles. It's the Feast of Tabernacles. If you read to the Bible, you'll see they would build little tabernacles, and they would do this in remembrance of when they were in the wilderness, and they would live out in the tabernacles and and so forth. And this was a this was a uh God marking the calendar of the time that he would come and he would live among us. Amen. At his return, he would come and live among us. So we have this shavot here being the second feast listed, which was the feast of the harvest. Can you say harvest? The feast of the harvest. So on Passover he died and he rose again, and then 50 days later would be the harvest feast. Every Jewish man was required to be in Jerusalem at that time. That's why you see in Acts 2 that they were all around and from all different nations of the world speaking different languages, because it was required to be in Jerusalem for the feast of the harvest. God wasn't just picking a day, he was actually packing the room. Does that make sense? He wasn't just picking a day, he was packing the room. Hallelujah. So the Greek word Pentecost, as I said earlier, means 50th, because it fell 50 days after the Passover. Now I want you to keep in mind that when after the resurrection, the disciples gathered together and they prayed in the upper room, and they were praying there day and night for the Holy Spirit to come. And I have to say, 50 days is quite a long time. They have people have work, they have school, they have you know obligations, but for 50 days they laid aside everything in their life to seek God for the Holy Ghost. And boy, did he show up. Amen. So this is observed on two levels, this Shabbot, okay? First was the agricultural. So it was the first fruits of the wheat harvest, the celebration of the completion of the grain harvest. And we can look at this in Leviticus 23. Let's look at Leviticus 23. This is the first part of it. It's the wheat harvest. As you know, anytime somebody has a vision of fields of wheat, it always speaks of the harvest of souls. So God always typifies the harvest of mankind and the harvest of souls to wheat. But we see here it gives a direct correlation in Leviticus 23, verse 15 through 21. It says, and you shall count unto you from the morrow, after the Sabbath, from the day that you were brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall it be complete. So that's 49 days, right? Even unto the morrow, after the seventh Sabbath, you shall number fifty days, and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord, and you shall bring out of your habitations, say two, two wave loaves of two tenth deals. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with what? With the leaven. So the other feast they had to have unleavened bread. But here he said, I want you to come out and celebrate the the harvest with two loaves, and these loaves, I want you to put leaven in them. Say, put it in there. What does leaven represent? Sin. So we're gonna find a mystery here. Why is God saying, for the harvest, I want you to have two loaves, and I want you to have sin in there? Quite interesting. We're gonna understand what Passover means when we understand how we celebrated it here. He said, You're gonna have fine flour and baked together with leaven. They are the first fruits unto the Lord. The leaven bread, the two loaves are the first fruits of the Lord. What is God prophesying about? What is he speaking to? Amen. Leaven throughout scripture is sin. Every offering in the Bible, God commanded no leaven except for this one. Isn't that interesting? God commanded the leaven loaves on this specific day. Now picture a redeemed people, not accepted because they're pure, but accepted because of the sacrifice of what God did for them. That's what this is picturing. These two loaves, the harvest of God, are not accepted as an offering to God because they're sinless. Amen. But because the sin was paid for through the Passover of Jesus Christ. So God is picturing here in the two loaves of leavened bread that he would redeem a people who are who are full of sin and wicked, and he will accept them to himself during this manifestation of God's provision for them. Does that make sense? He didn't wait for you to get the leaven out before he saved you. You see, in the Old Testament, you had to live a certain way. And the funny thing is, the law was given on Mount Sinai, we're gonna look at Mount Sinai in a minute, but the law was given, the New Testament says to point out to the fact that we can't do it. The entire purpose of the law was to put to give us rules that we cannot fulfill. They tried for thousands of years, they tried to fulfill all the law and all the prophets, and they failed and they failed and they failed and they failed. But you always, in this system of rules and holiness and laws of moral code, that they would always fail, you always have this pressure to be tend like you are not failing them. So you have what you have is these people that love God, following God, secretly not fulfilling all the law, but pretending that they do. That's what that's what it bred. Does it make sense? So they're all pretending like they do, you know, and then of course there are those who just turned to Baal and worship Moloch, and you have those that totally rejected God and just went to idols. But then you have the faithful, as faithful as they can be, that were true enough just hypocrites because they couldn't fulfill the law. Paul said the law was given to us so that we could not do it. That we we couldn't fulfill the law. You understand that? God said, Don't covet your neighbor's wife, don't covet your neighbor's cow, don't even take the name of God away. Honor thy parents, and God knows we that you know we couldn't do all that. Amen. And he says, if you broke one, you broke all ten. So the whole law was given to us to show us how bad we are and how much we need a savior, how, how, how impossible it is for us to be holy as he is. But he said, I'm gonna let y'all try. I'm gonna let y'all try and fall on your face and feel guilty, and then some of you fake it, amen. Amen. Because what he ultimately was gonna do, he wasn't gonna wait for us to get the leaven out, he was gonna accept you as the leavened loaf. Amen. Through the offering. So, the two, why two loaves, though? What is prophetic in verse 17 about these two loaves? The revelation of the two loaves is the Jew and the Gentile. You got it, amen? The Jew and the Gentile, amen. That they would become, as Paul said, one new man, the Jew and the Gentile together coming before the Lord. Two different people, two different histories, but both sinners. One of them was given the law to show that they they couldn't fulfill it. Amen. And the others just went throughout history, but they're brought together, presented two separate loaves, but as one offering to God, amen. And Acts two is the beginning of that multi-ethnic loaf being baked by the fire of the spirit, the fire baking these loaves, amen. He wasn't just saving individuals on Acts chapter two, he was baking one loaf out of every nation among heaven. Amen. Let's take a look at the historical context here in Mount Sinai. Exodus. You go back to Exodus here. Exodus twenty-three.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Amen. When you get there, say amen.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Let's do Exodus nineteen, actually. Nineteen, sorry. Exodus nineteen and twenty. Sinai and the upper room. The timing of Israel leaving Egypt and arriving to Sinai, that was actually 50 days after Passover. So they had the Passover, they took the blood, they put it over the doorpost. This is what we mean when we say Passover. When the Jews took the blood in Egypt and they put it over the doorpost, and the death angel passed over their house so that their firstborn would not die. So that was the Passover. That night, Pharaoh's son died, he goes berserk, he throws all the Jews out, and 50 days later they arrive at Sinai. Well, what happens at Sinai? By the time of Jesus, Shavot was the anniversary. When Jesus was here, Pentecost Shabbot, that was the anniversary that God spoke from the mountain. That's what that holiday was about. They were celebrating that God spoke from Mount Sinai. So Sinai is the historical significance of Passover. And the disciples, they weren't just sitting in the upper room on a random Tuesday. They were actually sitting there on the anniversary that God spoke from the mountain. That was the purpose of Shavuot. And he was about to speak again, but this time he wasn't going to speak from outside of them, but he was going to speak from a fire on the inside of them. You see the difference? Amen. So here's where it gets good. Sinai and the upper room parallel. We have it up here. Sinai, Exodus 19, God descends in fire. Acts chapter 2, cloven tongues of fire falls on the individuals. In Acts, Exodus 19, there is a rush and mighty wind. Amen. Well, excuse me, that's in Acts 2. But in Exodus, we see the storm and the lightning and the clouds. We see the mighty storm of God. And in Acts 2, we see the we see the rushing mighty wind. Amen. Then in Exodus, the mountain trembles. And the Bible says in Acts 2 that the house was shook. Hallelujah. I don't know if you guys ever felt the shaking. Hallelujah. But I I felt the shaking of God in some services. Amen. The house was shaken by the fire of God. And in Exodus 19, the people heard God's voice as a trumpet. And in Acts 19, the crowds hear God's voice in their own language, but through the people. And Exodus 19, God puts the law on tablets of stone. But according to Jeremiah 31, 33, let's take a look at that, Jeremiah 31, 33.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

So he's contrasting the future covenant that he's going to make with the covenant that he made in Sinai, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Amen. Go back. He put the law in their hearts. Then we see in Exodus that Aaron makes a false cow. I taught you guys on this a few uh several months back. They make a golden calf, and Aaron commands the people to worship the calf and have a feast into the calf and so forth. So God comes down in Exodus. The Levites decide to follow God, the others don't, and God kills 3,000 people in the book of Exodus for worshiping the false God and for choosing to rebel. He kills 3,000 people. Amen. For breaking the covenant. But in Acts chapter 2, how many people does it say get saved? It says about 3,000 came to the Lord. It was the redemption from Sinai. When the law came outwardly that they could not fulfill, and they rebelled, 3,000 died. Now the law would come inwardly, and he would write his law in their hearts, and 3,000 people, Acts 2 41, are saved. So what's God saying through the calendar? It's not a coincidence, but it's a callback. God was saying, You remember what happened on this day. Let me show you what this was going to point to. The difference is this at Sinai, the law came down on stone, but at Pentecost it would come down on flesh. Amen. The same God, the same fire, the same wind, but a different target. Hallelujah. The target that God was intending all along, waiting for the set time for Messiah to come. So there were three prophetic voices that called this shot here. One was Jeremiah 31. He said, I'll put my law in them and I'll write it on their hearts. The Torah in Sinai was external, glorious, but it couldn't transform the inner man. Amen. The spirit is the new covenant in living form. That's why you'll find oftentimes when people get spirit-filled, you hear, I hear this testimony all the time, and maybe you've experienced it. When you start to pray things or say things that you didn't know was in the Bible. And then somebody might tell you, like, oh, well, yeah, that's because the Bible, the Bible says that. And you're like, oh, that's in the Bible? And you're like, yeah, that's in the Bible. I said, well, I didn't know that. People find themselves dreaming of verses that they didn't know were in the Bible. They find themselves praying verses that they didn't know was in the Bible because they're babes in the Lord, they're new, but they're filled with the Holy Spirit. It's evidence, that's the evidence that the Word of God is written in our hearts. Amen. Has anybody had that experience before? I've I've seen it dozens of dozens and dozens of times. I know you've had that experience. You said something on the yeah, what's the Bible says? Oh, really? Amen. I I see it all the time. All the time. Amen. I'm sure you probably had a lot of times. Amen. You have to think longer back from you were saved. Yeah. Amen. Where people know scriptures that don't even know it's a scripture. They say, well, you know what? You know, no, and like, yeah, that's in the that's what the exact what the Bible says. Oh, really? Yeah. It's evidence that the law is written in our hearts. The spirit is written in our hearts. Amen. So he says, I'll write my spirit in your heart. The spirit is the new covenant in living form. So the law was like a coach who draws up the play perfectly on the board and just watches you fail to execute it. Amen. Amen. He points to the board, it's right there, and you aren't doing it. But the spirit says, I'm going to come in you and I'm going to help you accomplish it. Let's look at Ezekiel now. Ezekiel thirty-six. Ezekiel thirty-six echoes the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Ezekiel thirty six, twenty-six and twenty-seven. When you get this, Amen. All right, this is what it says. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them. I grew up in the kingdom hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, a dead religion. And in this dead religion, we had all the commandments of God, and nobody was following them. It was a big thing, you know, amongst the youth there, because we knew the youth were all, you know, not living up to it, let's just say, right? And uh every once in a while would leak out, or someone would get disfellowshipped or whatever, because we find out their sins or whatever. But I it was just so hard to live it that it was just a mess, total mess for all of us. Because we're all could you imagine? You you guys have the Holy Spirit, but could you imagine trying to live this Christian life without the Holy Spirit? That's what the Muslims are doing. They're trying to live this religious life without the Holy Spirit and the Jehovah's Witnesses and the more, you know, they're they're trying to live this religious life without the Holy Spirit. So it was, it was literally impossible, as it has been for thousands of years, right? And I just pretty much, you know, kind of got disfellowshipped because they caught me drinking and swearing, and I got kind of disfellowshipped, and I wasn't gonna make no attempt to try and be a good Jehovah's Witness because I knew that I was bad. And then when the Christian missionary shared the gospel with me, I said, Yeah, no, I believe in God. Yeah, no, I mean 100%. I believe in God. I said, but I'm just, you know, I can't live it. I'm a sinner, you know, and I can't live it. And they and they and they laughed at me because they understand what we understand, right? So they laughed, they're like, no, that's this is the point of the cross, you know, but we didn't understand that because we were in this Jehovah's Witness religion. And he I said, look, I I can't live up to all the rules and the laws. And he said, Let's make a deal. He said, God will accept you just as you are, you don't have to change anything. I said, really? I said, perfect. You know, I shook his hand, I said it's a deal, you know. So I prayed with him, and I didn't know that being born again was gonna do this. That it was gonna write the law in my heart, and he was gonna cause me to walk in his statues. So I I pray with him, I get saved, I get so excited, I go upstairs and tell everyone about Jesus, and uh, and then I go back to my normal lifestyle. And and this was we were in drug rehab at the time, so we weren't allowed to listen to cassettes, CDs, whatever. Uh, we weren't allowed to listen to that stuff, especially the cassettes that I had had explicit material, swear words and stuff, right? And gangster rap, right? So they had my cassettes locked in the office of the counselor on this on the unit that we were on in drug rehab. It was we were living in inpatient rehab. So at night, I snuck out of my room because we had a lady named Peggy. She was an old white lady named Peggy, and she would always fall asleep. She was the hall guard. So while she'd fall asleep, people would be hopping rooms and doing different things, you know. And Peggy just sit in the hallway sleeping, you know. So I picked, I tippy toed out when Peggy was sleeping, and with uh uh uh uh paper clip, I picked the lock of the office. I went in there and I stole my cassette tapes, my rap tapes. And then I went to my bed at night and I'm listening to my rap music at night, you know. And and I would do that, and after after I prayed with that guy, I just didn't feel right about it anymore. And nobody, my I didn't have any Bible study or nothing. I just didn't feel right about it. So I waited till she was asleep the next night. I tippy-toeed across the hallway again, picked the lock, and I put my cassette back. I didn't tell on myself, I just put the cassette back and locked the door and tippy-toeed back. But these changes began to happen on the inside of me. Later on, I did something else I'm not supposed to do. I won't say because the kids are here, but later on, I found myself doing something else I'm not supposed to do. And I told on myself. I, you know, had to meet my therapist, went to my therapist, and I say, listen, I just got to get something off my chest. Well, I didn't care at all. There was nothing on my chest before I was saved. Like, I just like, you know, I could just do whatever lie, cheat, steal. I there was zero conscience of guilt, no remorse, nothing. Amen. I had no remorse. Maybe I was a psychopath, I don't know, you know, or sociopath, whatever they call them. I could shoot at somebody, have zero remorse. I mean, of course, they were they deserve it. They were gang, they were opposing gang members shooting at us, you know. But I had no remorse for beating somebody up, jumping somebody, shooting at somebody, stealing, lying. I had zero remorse. That's why I was trying to tell the pastor, was preaching to me. I said, No, I'm really bad. God won't accept me. I'm bad and I love it, you know. And uh, but now all of a sudden I started having remorse. And so, what would have been a success, stealing something, doing something else, would have been a success to me to get away with something. I was very proud of how successful I was. I was proud of what a good thief I was. My mom would give me $20 or $10, and she'd say, go get bread, milk, and eggs. And I would take pride in keeping the $20 so I could buy some weed or beer, and I would steal the bread, the milk, and the eggs. And people would ask me, like, how do you steal a carton of eggs? I used to have, I used to have a coat with, and I just ripped the seam with a coat, you know, and I could put a carton of eggs in there. So the bottom seam would hold it, but the inside I put it in there, and the milk, I just kind of hold it, and I would just steal all kinds of things. My sister would give me 50 bucks for makeup, and I would steal all the makeup for her. Just I keep the 50 bucks, you know. And I was just, I was proud. I was really proud of myself. And when we were on our eighth grade trip, I was going to DC for our eighth grade trip, and we stopped at this truck stop where they have all these knick-knacks. And if you guys ever drove to DC, you might have been at the same stop because it's like a major stop going into DC. It's a bus station with bathrooms and knick-knacks and a restaurant there. A lot of people stopped there. So when I went there, I stole souvenirs for my grandmother, for my aunts, for my mother, for my sister. I stole souvenirs for the family. All the other kids were buying souvenirs for the family. I stole souvenirs for the family. And so this is before I was saved, obviously. But now I get out of drug rehab. I'm get out of, you know, there. I'm living on my own, going to Living Word, going to church, Pastor What's his church? And they announce the first year of my my getting out and going to church. I'm 18 years old. And they announce we're going on a men's, it's called um Promise Keepers. I don't know if you remember Promise Keepers. There's gonna be a million men on DC that are gonna repent for the nation, and we're gonna go and pray and repent for the nation. And so I said, Oh, well, that'd be cool. I'd like to go to DC, sign me up. So I get signed up and I'm on the bus with the whole church, and I'm a baby Christian, just got saved, you know. And I'm on the bus and we stop at the same stop that we stopped when I was in eighth grade, four years earlier, and we're at the same stop, and now I'm saved. So I'm there and I'm just I just the Holy Spirit's all over me. And I say, you know what? I need to speak to the manager. So the manager comes out and I says, Sir, I want to let you know I came here uh four years ago when I was 13, four or five years ago when I was 13, and I stole probably three, four hundred dollars worth of knickknacks, souvenirs, uh, you know, globes of DC and all kinds of stuff. And I said, But now I'm saved. I got born again, I gave my life to Christ, and I'm with my church group, and we're going to the DC for promise keepers, and I want to pay you back. You know, can I pay you back, you know, for what I stole? And the manager starts to cry. He starts crying. He said, You know what, young man? He said, You just paid me. He said, You just paid me. He said, Go and God bless you. Amen. What happened from being believing in God, believing his commandments, but having zero conscience of guilt and shame, even though I knew the Bible, I was I was a pretty good Jehovah's Witness. I knew a lot of the verses, and I used to go knock on doors, door to door. I used to give speeches in the kingdom hall, but I couldn't live it. You know what happened from there? And from February 21st, 1996, what happened was the law came in my heart that he would cause he would cause me to walk in his statutes, amen. The law demanded obedience, but provided no power for it. Amen. But the spirit of God produces what the law could only command. That's not a religion, that's a relationship. Amen. Oh man, I actually I wanted to talk about the Jubilee. Uh I don't want to preach on Pentecost next week because it's not Pentecost, but well, let's let's just briefly, Joel chapter two. The old covenant, the spirit came upon just prophets, priests, and kings. I said that several times earlier today, amen. But Joel said in the New Testament, on the book of Acts, chapter two, it came upon everybody. Peter didn't just stand up and preach a good sermon, he stood up and said, This is that, which Joel said, what we've been waiting for, the thing that your fathers had hoped for. This is that. But what I want to end on today is why 50? We talked about the 50 days from the Passover in Egypt unto arriving at Mount Sinai, and we talked about that significance, but why did God choose 50? Why did God allow them to land in Sinai on the 50th? Why would the 50th day be significant prophetically to God? We're talking about the mystery of Pentecost, Penta, the 50th. What did 50th mean? Well, in Leviticus 25, it says, every 50th year shall be a Jubilee. During a Jubilee, all the debts were canceled, slaves were freed from their captivity, land that was taken through debt was returned to the original owner. Every 50 years, liberty was proclaimed in Israel. It was the reset button every 50 years. Too bad we don't do that now. And you tried your best. Now you're 50 years old and you're in student debt and you're in this and that, you're back on your house, but praise God, it's the Jubilee. Hallelujah. Reset, hallelujah. Somebody say reset. God instituted this reset. Amen. The 50th day was the Jubilee. So this great Jubilee arrived. And when Jesus Christ died, our debts were paid at Calvary. Now applied by the Holy Ghost in the human hearts. Captives are set free at the Jubilee, but it's not once every 50 years. Now it's every time that somebody comes to him. It's permanent for whoever calls on his name. Amen. God picked the 50th day because he was making a declaration. The debt is canceled, the captive is free. And this is not done now every 50 years, but is done forever. Amen. Last thing, God picked the 50th day, Pentecost in Jerusalem because it was full there. He packed the room. Acts 19, excuse me, 2, 9, and 11. Every Jews from every nation under tongue and under heaven, the Parthians, the Mes, the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Arabians were all present because they're required by the feast calendar. So God built his own audience. 3,000 were saved on the first day. There was no Twitter, there was no Instagram, there was no podcast, there was no Calendly, there was no Evite. Amen. But God packed the room. Hallelujah. Back to their languages, back to their countries, back to their people. God used the Jewish calendar to build his own distribution network. You thought he just got lucky with the timing. No, but God pre-planned that. Amen. He was already thinking about the nations before the disciples even knew what was happening to them. Amen. The first fruits, the wheat harvest, shavot. Acts chapter 2 is what? It's the first fruits of humanity, Jews and Gentiles with leaven. Just like that guy said to me, You don't have to change anything. God will accept you with the leaven. I said, Oh, praise God. I didn't know the Holy Spirit would be working the leaven out of me for the next 40 years. Amen. Amen. That's how He works. He works the leaven out of us. Romans 8.23. Believers received the Spirit as the first fruits. Do we have that in Romans 8.23? This is the exact wording. Yeah, here it is. Romans 8.23. Paul says, We receive the Spirit as the first fruits. The day of Pentecost was Shavot, the day of the first fruits. Amen. The down payment and full redemption was given that day. Amen. It was a foretaste of what's coming. The harvest didn't end at Pentecost, it began at Pentecost. The first fruits that fell in Acts chapter 2 is the beginning of the harvest that's still in the field. Now God is looking for laborers who will carry that fire to the rest of the harvest field. The harvest is ripe. Souls are ready to be one. Amen. The same spirit that fell in the upper room now lives in us. And I don't mean us as in every person who calls himself a Christian. I mean us here in this church. You're all spirit-filled. Amen. He didn't come as a feeling, but he came as a person, the person of the Holy Spirit. The third part of the Trinity took permanent residence in our tabernacles. We are the tabernacles of God. Amen. He came to write the law in our hearts to cause us, to give us the strength, to live out his statutes. He came to make you a loaf. Jew and Gentile, both presented before God as one people. Not Jews are more favored than you, but we're both presented to God as one people. Amen. The question isn't whether the Holy Spirit is real. The question is, are is the church letting him do what he came to do? Amen. Or do they despise the Holy Spirit? You know, there's so many churches that despise the Holy Spirit with demonic hatred. They don't realize that they're inspired by demons. Amen. The Spirit of the Living God wants to live on the inside of us. Amen. Let's stand to our feet here. I'm close.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:41

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:46

I hope you all have new insight today on what this holiday means. The history it's rooted in, the revelation it's rooted in. Amen. And the glorious Jubilee that the Spirit of God gives us. Amen. I declare a Jubilee in Christ. Amen. Debts paid, sins forgiven, freedom from the curse, sickness, disease, lack, poverty. Amen. Oppression. Our jubilee. Christ is our jubilee. We could enter that jubilee at any time. Amen. Amen. Today we could enter the Jubilee at any time and see the miraculous. Hallelujah. Thank you, Holy Ghost, that we are part of that leavened bread brought before the Father with Israel, that second loaf that's become one offering to you. And that Father, as that offering has been raised to you, you respond with fire. To put that fire of the Holy Ghost in us to cause us to walk in your statues, to give us the power and the strength to live right, to live in the laws of God, and to carry this fire to those that we come encounter with, that we contact, that we know that we meet, that we connect with, that we can bring the fire of the Holy Ghost into their lives, and they can be filled and baptized with the Holy Ghost and power. Father, we thank you for this Pentecost Sunday. We celebrate the coming of the fire of God on Mount Sinai and the coming of the fire of God onto the church. Hallelujah! That's given us victory and given us, Father God, the fire to propel us through every line of the enemy's defense, over every opposition, over every trial, over every resistance, over every apathy, that the fire of God burns us and propels us through it. Hallelujah. And Father, we thank you that the fire is tangible, that the fire is catchable, hallelujah. And we thank you that we are on fire, setting on fire those around us in the name of Jesus. And we give you praise and thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Give yourselves a hand clap, hallelujah. We had to stop the recording at that point, but you might be listening right now and you say, Pastor Joey, I wanted to pray that prayer. If I was there, I would have prayed with you. I'd like to pray right now, as a matter of fact. I'd like to give my life to Jesus Christ. I would like to have God in my life, and I'd like to know Jesus is my Savior and my Lord and surrender my life to Him. You know, repentance means to turn away from your way of doing things and to turn to God's way. We've done things our own way, like they used to say in Alcoholics Not Amiss and Narcotics Not Amiss. When I did the 12 steps, they said, your best decisions and your best ways of thinking and your best ways to handle life have gotten you to this situation. And now is time to trust a higher power. Well, there is no higher power than the God of all the earth. His name is Jehovah, and he sent his son Jesus to die for you, and through him you can turn from your way of doing things to his way, and his way is the right way because he made you, and he made you for a purpose, and he knows exactly what you need to pull out your potential to forgive you of your sins, deliver you from the things that keep you away from God in a sin and death cycle. And if you'd open up your heart to him right now, together with me, God can begin a new work in your life. So just pray with me wherever you're at, whether you're driving your car, whether you're at home, wherever you are, just pray with me and repeat after me. Say, Father, I come to you now. In the name of Jesus. I ask you to forgive me. Forgive me of my sins. Wash me in the blood of Jesus. I believe that your son died for my sins. And on the third day, he was raised from the dead. From this day forward, I belong to you. In Jesus' name, amen. You prayed that prayer. I'd like you to contact me, and we can send you some more resources and materials that can help you start this new life because this is the first day of the rest of your life. Email me at Joe at nationsabroad.com or email the church at nfcontact at gmail.com. And we'd love to speak with you and just correspond with you and put you on the right path. Maybe help you find some local churches there online or something, or maybe we know some pastors there that can follow up with you and help teach you the word of God. Thank you for listening and feel free to download the other podcasts and just feed on the word of God.