the power and potential of Pentecost. This is Pentecost Sunday, and we want to put feet to our faith. You know, when you think of the power of wind, Many here have answers from Netherlands, and Netherlands, they often say God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland. And to a large extent, that's true in that so much of it's reclaimed from the sea. And the windmills are not always to pull up water from the ground, but to move the water along. And the power of the wind provides a lot of electricity and keeps the land often from being drowned. You've all heard of the A little boy who had to go and put his finger in the dike when there was a leak while his sister ran for help. Well, I think so often we think of the forces of the world that's trying to come in and we're putting up dikes trying to keep the world out. And here we are with our fingers and maybe all of our fingers in different leaks and our knees and our elbows and our... forehead and there's leaks coming everywhere and winds help coming but in fact I'd like to suggest it's the reverse. The world is seeking to put up dikes against the light of God, against the living waters of Christ, against the fire of the Holy Spirit and they are trying to stop the cracks in the dike as the word of God is getting out into their world and so there'd be disasters and Dutch history, when the dikes are broken and the waters are flooded and destroying huge amounts of homes, the devastation is huge. The dikes are needed because the power of water is very powerful. And they've got all kinds of imaginative systems. It's quite strange driving in the Netherlands when the sea's up there and you're down here on the road. And to be in many parts of the Netherlands, you're under sea level. And I think that's why they've got such tremendous systems to keep the water out and to protect the Netherlands from going underwater. But the world is building up all kinds of dykes. And now there's new bills you can see like the Bella Bill to interfere with homeschooling and parents' control of education, keep Christianity away from the children. They've got the hate speech bill that they're trying to keep out the gospel because something like Jesus is the way the truth and life is considered hate speech. They're those who hate the truth, and so they're trying to call the truth hate speech. And so we've got the hate speech bill right now. All kinds of dykes being built, all kinds of systems being built to try and keep people from hearing the truth of God's word. But gravity is more powerful, and the power of water, the power of light, not all doctors can put out a single light. At the ascension, when the Lord commanded his followers to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, he also promised, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. John the Baptist was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight. John was a voice, Jesus is the word. John said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But one who is coming after me who is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. I trust many of us here have been baptized in water as a confession of our faith, buried with Christ in baptism, died to old life, raised with newness of life in Christ, that we have a testament that we've been born again. And we should be baptized in water, that's good. But how much more important to know that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire? His winnowing fan is in his hand, John said, and he will thoroughly clean out the threshing floor. He will gather his wheat in a barn. He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Now, fire is a powerful force, and it's a tremendous danger. Our missions have known the danger and devastation of fire. I was working the fire brigade to put myself through theological college and fires destroy factories, homes, records. We had a devastating fire at the main mission years ago and in 20 minutes the entire auditorium was destroyed. There was a fire here in 2009 when the main homes was destroyed. And you know how devastating fire can be. We ought to speak about a baptism of fire. And in the military, a lot of training is designed to prepare people for that first encounter when this flying piece of metal and the natural human reaction when you come under fire the first time is to freeze, like a rabbit in the headlights, just paralyzed. And when you can feel the metal passing by you, that baptism of fire often causes people's knees to turn to jelly and your heart to fail you and your brain to freeze, which is why in the South African infantry they did a lot of live fire training. They'd be throwing thunder flashes and kinds of grenades around while you were crawling through the mud. They'd have Vickers machine guns fixed on tripods, firing over your heads while you're crawling under the barbed wire. Now, of course, their goal was to miss. They weren't trying to hit you. But the life exercises was to try and get people used to the idea of metal flying over your heads and whizzing past you and hearing that thud into the tree or into the wall or into the ground that you would not paralyze when this happens in real life. A baptism of fire. It also is true that many people, when it comes to public speaking, freeze up. In fact, famous people like Dr. David Livingston froze in the pulpit. The first time David Livingston was called to make a sermon, he froze in the pulpit, couldn't even bring out the greeting. He totally fled the pulpit without saying a word. And the London missionary said, he mocked on, this man can never be a missionary. And they were about to strike him off the list of candidates. Praise God, there was a wiser person in London, Mishri Saadi Committee, who said, let's give him another chance. And David Livingston passed the second baptism of fire test well. The point is, we all have a concept of what it means to be baptized with fire. But the Lord baptizes us with fire, with the fire of the Holy Spirit. It's an intense purging, purifying. And if you've ever been burned, you know how painful it can be, even if you've just burned your tongue with very hot tea, or if you touched a stove that was still hot. Fire is something that is not to be played around with, it is serious. Gospel being proclaimed by John is that the Lord Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He couldn't think of a better term to describe what the Lord does when he puts his Holy Spirit with us, purging, purifying, bringing conviction of sin, having us burn away the dross. Have you been baptized with fire? For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12 verse 29 describes God as a consuming fire. And many times in the Bible we read about the fire of God. When the Lord made his covenant with Abraham, he revealed himself as a burning torch. Read that in Genesis 15. When God revealed himself in the burning bush, he was revealed as like a fire. The bush was aflame, but it was not consumed. And that was when Moses first heard the name of God, I am that I am, Yahweh. Take off your sandals, the place where you're standing is holy ground. Many Presbyterian churches in the world today use the burning bush as their symbol, emphasizing the holiness of God. The children of Israel were led through the wilderness by the presence of God, manifested by a pillar of cloud by day, and by a pillar of fire by night. You can imagine how practical that would be. In the desert, you want shade by day, and you want warmth by night. The desert can be very cold at night. I've been to Sarah at night, and it's freezing cold sometimes at night. You can't believe after you've been boiling with sweat during the day that you can freeze so much, that there can be such extremes at the same place. But you would want to be close to the fire in the middle of a desert at night. You'd want to be under the shade of the cloud by day. When King David built an altar to the Lord, when he offered sacrifices, when he called on the Lord, God answered him from heaven by sending fire upon the altar. Read about this in 1 Chronicles 21. When David's son Solomon had finished building the temple and was praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering that was offered on the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The prophet Elijah challenged the false prophets of Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel. They would each build an altar that each lay on wood and a sacrifice, and the God who answers by fire, he is the true God. The hundreds of false prophets called on Baal, they danced, they cried aloud, they cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed. But there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention, there was no fire. And then it came to pass at the time of the evening sacrifice. that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and I've done all these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you are turning their hearts back to you again. Then the fire fell and it consumed the sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and it evaporated the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw this fire coming down from heaven, they fell in their faces. They cried out, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. When Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord enthroned in heaven, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken. And he said, woe to me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. This is the natural reaction. Somebody experiences the presence of God, they can understand their own sinfulness. And the amount of testimonies I've heard that indicate people have not encountered the living God. Bizarre testimonies. I remember being at a youth conference in Colorado, hearing a whole lot of testimonies of young people, a whole evening of testimonies. And it was disturbing for many reasons. One reason was how many of these Christian children spoke of coming from dysfunctional families, broken homes. I never knew my father. My father abandoned us. I hated my father. This sort of thing. Terrible kinds of testimonies. But one testimony particularly stood out to me. A girl who said, you know, her parents are so judgmental. They don't want her to, and so legalistic, they don't want her to wear earrings. They don't want her to have a nose ring. She's not even allowed to have a belly ring. They don't want her to have tattoos. And she is so distressed because her parents are so harsh and so judgmental. And then she had an experience. She saw the Lord Jesus himself. He appeared to her that night and said, You don't need to change a thing. I love you just the way you are. Now, could that be the living God? You don't need to change a thing. In the Bible, whenever people encountered the living God, or even just an angel, a messenger of God, they felt their sinfulness. They fell on their faces. Even when John, the apostle John, who was closer to Jesus than anyone else. He was the one disciple who could lie at the Last Supper with his head on the shoulder of the Lord Jesus. He was that close to Jesus. When John the Apostle encountered the risen Lord Jesus, he fell on his face like a dead man. Even when a person encounters an angel, the first thing they have to be told is do not be afraid because it's the most natural thing. If you encounter an angel of God who has tremendous power, you'd be afraid. When you encounter God himself, you should be even more afraid. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. A person who does not fear God is not wise, is not intelligent, doesn't seem to understand the most basic thing. God is holy, we are not. God is our eternal judge. He will determine whether we live or die. He determines how we die, when we die. God has all power. He is all-knowing. He is everywhere present. When people say, God knows my heart, why does that encourage them? God knowing your heart should intimidate you, should be terrifying to think God knows the perversity, the weakness, the wickedness of my heart. A person who thinks God knows my heart and thinks that somehow is going to justify him, as though their heart is pure and wonderful, and their emotions are always good. Such a person does not know God. When a person encounters God, or even a messenger of God, the first result is fear. And that is an understandable reaction. Then one of the seraphim, one of the angels, flew to me, having in his hands a live coal, which is taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged. Have you ever picked up a live coal? It's still red with embers from the fire. I remember when we had to iron using irons that you had to put coals in. We took coals with tongs and put them in our iron so that we could iron some things. And that was hot. If you ever touched it with your hand, you would have serious burns. Can you imagine your lips, which are so sensitive, being touched by a live coal from a fire, a red-hot coal? Now, this is just symbolic of the experience of being purged of our sin, of being purified, of being prepared for God's service, is often painful. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And I said, here am I, Lord, send me. Have you heard the Lord? Have you a vision of the holiness of God? Have you ever really understood the holiness of God? Do you have an understanding of the depravity of man? Amazing how many people you meet today and you ask, how are you? And they answer, I'm good. Or I'm very good. And we can say to them, but Jesus said no one is good except God alone. Do you repent of your own sinfulness? When Moses encountered God at the burning bush, he felt his inadequacy and his sinfulness. When Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, he recognized that he was a man of unclean lips and he dwelt amongst people of unclean lips. Even the apostle John fell on his face like a dead man before the vision of the risen Lord. Do you repent of your own sinfulness? If you've seen any vision of God, if you have any understanding of the God of the Bible, you should. have as the most natural reaction repentance. God have mercy on me, a sinner. Have you experienced the power of God purging your sin? Have you experienced that burning hot like a red hot poker going in to your innermost motives and dealing with the sin in your heart and life? Have you heard the call of the Lord? Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Have you answered, here am I Lord, send me. All too often, the answer these days is, here am I, Lord, send my sister. Do you know, it's a statistical fact. 85% of the missionaries in the world today are women. And praise God for every one of them. But where are the men? Why are the men absent without leave? Why are the men fleeing from the fight? Here am I, Lord, send me, should be our response. When the Lord Jesus commanded his followers that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, he promised power from on high. When the Lord commissioned his followers to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, he promised, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. The church was born in the fires of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one place of one accord. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven of a rushing, mighty wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, which sat on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. When the Sanhedrin threatened the disciples severely that from now on they no longer speak to any man in this name, Peter and John answered, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge, for we cannot but speak of the things which we have seen and heard. We must obey God rather than man. The disciples were united in prayer. Now look at their threats and grant your servants that with all boldness we may speak your word. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word of God with boldness. One of the fruits of the Spirit is boldness. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they proclaimed God's word with boldness. And how we need it these days, as we've got government legislation being passed, trying to intimidate parents and teachers in terms of education, trying to intimidate evangelists in terms of the so-called hate speech bill, that we mustn't offend somebody, and much of the gospel can offend people. When you tell people actually you're a sinner, you're not a good person, no one is good except God alone, that can offend some people. When you read some passages of scripture about the people that God condemns to hell and how we must all stand before Almighty God and give an account of our lives, that may offend some people. And today we've got legislation that's been signed into law, which I'm sure is going to be challenged and I doubt will stand the test of being constitutional. I'm sure that it may be struck down, but even if it is not, we cannot be intimidated. We must obey God rather than man. If you've been filled with the Holy Spirit, you know how to proclaim God's word with boldness. Saul, the persecutor of the church, encountered the Lord Jesus in a blinding flash of light. which shone around him from heaven. He fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Jesus revealed himself as bright as the sun. And you know, we cannot look at the sun. And just recently when I was in America, they were having this total lunar, total solar eclipse. The moon was coming in front of the sun and At daytime, complete darkness, and people are so stunned, but you have to warn people, don't try and look at the sun. You can go blind trying to look at the sun. The sun is so brilliant, you can't look at that intensity of light and survive. Your sight cannot survive undamaged. Paul was struck blind when he saw the Lord Jesus as the blinding shaft of light, when he saw Jesus in his light. God is love, but he's also light. We mustn't forget that. The angels aren't singing love, love, love, they're singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Holiness, light is the essence of who God is. Saul the persecutor became Paul the missionary, the apostle, the evangelist of Christ. Later the apostle Paul wrote, do not put out the Holy Spirit's fire, do not quench the Holy Spirit's fire. You can imagine if you pour water over a fire, that's quenching the fire. You throw water over the fire to make sure that none of the embers are alive to start a fire, to rekindle the fire. And some people quench the fire of the Holy Spirit with a frivolous and jovial attitude and with maybe lack of respect, lack of fear of God. People can try and put out the fire of enthusiasm of a new convert. New Christians are so eager to do what the Bible says, and there's older Christians who often quench their fire. I remember as a new Christian reading in the Bible, if you read that somebody has something against you, leave your gift at the altar, go and be reconciled to them. Then you can go and worship God. And so I immediately went out. I was just 17 years old in a youth group, and I knew there were some people that had a problem with me. I went over and this one individual said to me, you don't know anything, do you? If you'd been in the church as long as we had, you'd know you're not meant to actually do what these scripture verses tell you to do. How's that for quenching the fire? When you've been in church as long as we have, you know, we daughters of deacons and sons of deacons here, we know what's going on. You're not actually meant to do what the Bible tells you to do. When I was called up to go and do my military service in the army, I had some auntie in our church come up to me and say, when you go to the army, you will backslide, but don't worry, God will forgive you, and when you leave the army, you can carry on following the Lord. Now, how's that for an older Christian seeking to encourage younger Christians to stand up for the Lord? My time in the army was a wonderful time of Bible study, prayer, and evangelism, out of which our mission grew. And yet you think there's somebody suggesting, just backslide and be quiet and live as a defeated, carnal Christian during your time in the army. What kind of older Christian is that? You'll backslide, but don't worry, God will forgive you and you can continue to serve the Lord when you leave the army. That's quenching the spirit. Do not put out the Holy Spirit's fire. The apostle John had a vision of the Lord Jesus while he was in exile on the Mediterranean island of Patmos. I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And John had the vision of the Lord Jesus standing in the midst of seven lampstands. His eyes were a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace. His voice is the sound of many waters. They can see John is struggling to describe what he's seeing. He's using inadequate terminology from a human language. A voice like a trumpet. His eyes like flaming fire. His feet like fine brass refined in a furnace. Voice like the sound of many waters, like a waterfall. He's struggling to communicate just the living, risen Lord Jesus. No wonder he fell on his face as a dead man. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth came a double-edged sword, sharp double-edged sword. His countenance was like the sun, shining in all its strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. This is the Lord Jesus. No wonder people should respond in fear and trembling when they encounter the living God. He laid his right hand on me and said to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I'm he who lives and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And now the keys of Hades and of death. We should be in awe and wonder when we encounter the risen Christ in the scriptures or in our devotions. Have you experienced the baptism of fire? Do you know what it's like to be baptized by the Lord Jesus with fire? Have you seen a vision of the holiness of God? Do you know what it's like to be led of the Lord? The Spirit made me go to be guided by the Lord. Have you experienced his anointing? Have you been purged and purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit? Oswald Chambers, in his My Atmosphere's Highest book wrote, the Holy Spirit must anoint for the work. Fire me. Nothing but the fire of the most Holy Spirit of God can make the offering holy and unblameable and acceptable. Andrew Murray, the South African Dutch Foreign Minister wrote, The one thing needful for the church and the one thing which above all others men ought everywhere to seek for, with one accord, with their whole heart, is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. The most important thing for us is to be filled by God's Holy Spirit. The great Baptist prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, wrote, oh God, send us the Holy Spirit. Give us both the breath of spiritual life and the fire of unconquerable zeal. You are God, answer us by fire, we pray you. Answer us by both wind and by fire. Then they will see that you are God indeed. The kingdom comes not, the work is flagging. Oh, that you would send the wind and the fire. And you will do this when you see us of one accord, all believing, all expecting, all prepared by prayer. Like John the Baptist, his mission was to prepare the way for the Lord, fill every valley, level every mountain, make the crooked path straight, prepare the way for the Lord. The reformer of Geneva, John Colvin, described the church as the fellowship of the flaming heart. His symbol was a heart aflame in the hand of God. Is your heart aflame? Are you in the hand of God? His motto was promptly and sincerely in the service of my God. Are you on fire for Jesus? We used to speak about on-fire Christians. I don't hear that terminology much these days, but when I was converted in the 1970s, that was a common phrase. Christians are on fire for Jesus, and we should be on fire for Jesus. In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus revealed to the apostle John words of rebuke for the church of Laodicea. I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. You know, Cold water can be very refreshing. Hot tea can be very refreshing. But who wants lukewarm anything? Lukewarm soup is obnoxious, lukewarm tea is obnoxious. Lukewarm water isn't that refreshing, like drinking radiator water, not that nice. The Lord would rather it be either hot or cold. But to be lukewarm, because you're lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. That's what the scripture says in the Greek. The Lord says, I'll vomit you out of my mouth. That's considered so ugly that many modern translations use words like, I will spew you out of my mouth. But in fact, the word is vomit. What the Lord is saying that lukewarm Christians make him sick. Let us be hot or cold, but not lukewarm, not half-hearted. What do we need to repent of? We need to repent of the half-hearted, worldly, superficial, materialistic, lethargic, self-centered, apathetic, cowardly, yellow-bellied, spineless, cheap grace, and easily believable. We need to repent of being even jellyfish, filleted of spine. How many Christians call themselves evangelicals, but they won't stand for anything. They're like jellyfish. They're not evangelicals, they're even jellyfish. We need doctrinal steel in our backbones, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Our God whom we serve is able to save us, and he will. But even if he doesn't, we will not bow before your idols, nor will we serve your gods. We need Holy Spirit fire in our hearts. We should not be cold, we should not be half-hearted, we should not be lukewarm. We should be on fire for Christ. Jeremiah 23 verse 29, is not thy word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces? God's word is like a fire, and it is like a hammer that can shatter the rocks in pieces. Ezekiel saw the fire of God. Daniel described God's eyes like a fire. Hosea described God's coming inferno. Joel wrote of God's fiery presence. Obadiah spoke of the fire of God in the middle of his people. Micah saw the mountains melt like wax before the fire of God. Can you imagine mountains melting like wax? That's what the presence of God can do. Nahum foresaw the day of God's fiery judgment. And Zephaniah saw the fire of the Lord's holy jealousy. Zechariah saw God's burning presence like a blazing wall. with his glory revealed within. Malachi spoke of God's refining fire to purge, to purify, and to strengthen his people. When they met with the Lord on the road to Emmaus, the disciples declared, did not our hearts burn within us when he talked to us on the road, when he opened the scripture to us? When we read the scripture, and we are conscious of the presence of God, and we are seeking for God to speak to us, our hearts should burn with fire. There's a natural response to the word of God. Have you heard the word of God? Has your heart burned within you like fire? The Lord God required that in his tabernacle, a fire should always be burning on the altar, it shall never go out. Now we are now the temple of God, and we should have a fire that never goes out. The abiding, Praise to God. Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. This is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. The perpetual flame was to communicate God's presence, God's purifying presence, his penetrating presence, his powerful presence with his people. Jesus taught his followers, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put under a basket. They put on lampstands. That gives light to all to in the house. Now when we think of the light of the world, don't think of some fluorescent light or some incandescent light bulb or some LED light. That's modern. A torch or a light in the scripture was a flame, either a small flame on a candle or a torch, like a stick with oil rags wrapped around it on flame. That was a torch in the Bible. So when the Lord speaks about, let your light shine, it's speaking about fire. There was no electricity back then. Let your light so shine before men. You can't have any light without fire, without heat, without enthusiasm. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. Even the people who hate what you stand for should admire the fact that you are consistently true and faithful to God. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This Jesus spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, which those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. But since the Lord has been raised from the dead, since his ascension and the day of Pentecost, we are called to be filled with the Spirit. We're called to receive God's Holy Spirit and to be channels of God's Holy Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit. Three of the greatest natural forces in the world are fire, wind, and water. And these three forces wield something of the power of our Creator. Fire, wind, and water. On the day of Pentecost, the fire of God, the wind of the Holy Spirit, and the living waters of Jesus Christ moved in great power, and a church was born. And because of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we do not need to trust in our own abilities, but in His power alone. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So our God we shall do valiantly, it is he who will turn down our enemies. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Greater is he who is in me than him who is in the world. Nothing that God has commanded us to do is impossible. As you read in the book of Acts, the Lord went up, the Holy Spirit came down, and the disciples went out. A handful of disciples in an upper room went out and they changed the world. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Missionary to China Hudson Taylor wrote, the power given is not a gift from the Holy Spirit. He himself is the power. He himself is the gift. Today the Holy Spirit is as truly available, as mighty in power as he was on the day of Pentecost. Yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ the same. God does not change. His power available at Pentecost is available today as well. Do you know what it is like to have the fire of God's word burn within you? You should. Do you know what it's like to have the wind of the Holy Spirit lead and guide you? And to just, to be able to look back in awe and think how God guided you to that person at that time, with that word of counsel that was needed that made the difference in this person's life. That God guided you at that point when, even how Uncle Lolo described being led, middle of the night to go on the road to see someone, he found the person broken down the side of the road, needing his help at that moment. Do you know what it's like to be guided like that? Do the living waters of Christ flow from your heart. Living waters can bring life to the desert. That Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints, the width and the length, the breadth and the height, to know the love of God that passes all knowledge. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever, amen. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but we need to hunger and thirst after righteousness to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Today is Day of Pentecost. How wonderful if we can experience the power of the Holy Spirit ourselves in this day. And lift up your eyes, look at the fields. They're really ripe for harvest. There's a great commission to be fulfilled. Christ's last command must be our first concern. But to do this effectively, we need the power of the Holy Spirit.