Converted Heart Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Dr. Darryl A. Burton Sr.: Welcome to Converted Heart Church. Whether you're joining us for the first time or are a valued member of our community, we're delighted to have you with us today. As we continue to navigate through these challenging times, we believe that every person who enters our virtual doors is guided by the Lord. Though we may be apart physically, we greet you with a smile and embrace you with a virtual hug. On behalf of our pastor, Dr. Darryl, and First Lady Burton, and the entire Converted Heart family, we joyfully welcome you into our spiritual home. We are Christ-centered, preaching messages of love and hope; community-minded, being aware of the needs of the community; cultivating relationships, partnering with businesses who have the same vision; and caring hearts, connecting the heart of God with the heart of the people. Thank you for being with us. We're thrilled to have you here and look forward to sharing this journey of faith and fellowship with you. Please enjoy the service.

He said, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." I am grateful to be with you on this day after being away for a whole week in San Diego for the first time. The Lord, on that four and a half, almost five-hour flight going and coming, I thank God for traveling mercies. Once you get in that plane, you are on that plane. It's not, "Oh, I don't want to go." No, you're on it. They said the doors have been locked and secured. All passengers are accounted for. Every seat is accounted for. When you get on that plane, you're on it. I thank God for being on it with us.

I love the opportunities that the Lord extends to me and to all of us. I'm just grateful for everything that the Lord continues to do in my life, even through the struggles, even through the disappointments, even through the trials and tribulations. I serve a faithful God. It's only going to be me standing by myself. I'm going to be standing with the Lord. The Word of God comes from us today. Our call to worship, I should say, is Psalm 100. I'm ready to shout for the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His. We are the people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name, for the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Let me go ahead and let us know that our Apostles' Creed is our affirmation of faith. Church, what is it that we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The third day, He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From this, He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let me get out of your way so Reverend Kim can come and lead us into worship and praise on this morning. God bless you.

Reverend Kim: Praise the Lord everybody. Hallelujah. When I think about the goodness of Jesus and all that He has done for us, my soul cries out, "Hallelujah," and I thank God for saving us. Amen. Because if you know like I know, we are not in this alone. We are not called to be in anything alone. Amen. Hallelujah. We're going to ask you to put your hands together for this right here.

Dr. Darryl A. Burton Sr.: Let us pray. Thank You, Lord God, for sending Your Holy Spirit. Fill us with Your power and live inside of us. Lord God, we come before Your presence today with thanksgiving in our hearts. We thank You for last night's lying down and this morning's rising up. We thank You, Lord God, that when we woke up this morning, we were still clothed and in our right mind. Thank You, Lord God, for the health and strength You've given us in these bodies to continue to do Your work and Your will.

We ask, Lord God, before we go any further in this worship, that You forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We have not been as You have called us to be. We have been selfish. Lord God, we have only thought about ourselves, our needs, and our wants. So we ask that You forgive us. Look beyond our faults and see our needs. We ask, Lord God, as You will be so gentle with us, to place us on Your divine operating table and create in us a clean heart and renew in us a right spirit.

Father God, we thank You for these, Your people, who have gathered in this place on today. Thank You, Lord God, for their sacrifice. Thank You for their willingness to be here with us to assemble in this place, Lord God, not forsaking Your presence but coming into Your presence in this time to worship You on today. Thank You. We thank You, Lord God, for this wonderful opportunity to call upon Your name today, for Lord God, we need You. We need You, Lord God, in our government. We need You, Lord God, in our community. We need You, Lord God, in our churches. And yes, Lord God, we need You in our homes.

Lord God, You know what's happening all around this whole wide world in which we live. We ask Your blessings upon our military, Lord God, that's overseas. Bless those, Lord God, who are making decisions. We pray that our political leaders will be humble enough to fall on their knees and ask, "What must I do to be saved?" Oh, Lord God, we pray that they will call upon Your name and ask for forgiveness of their sins.

Father God, Your Word says, "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, then You will hear from heaven, heal our land, and forgive us of our sins." So we thank You, Lord God, for You are a forgiving God, You're a loving God, You're a merciful God. And so we thank You, Lord God, for allowing us to come just for a few moments today to praise and to worship You.

Bless us, Lord God. Bless those who may be hurting today with an affliction, some trial, some tribulation, some physical ailment. Bless those who are hurting, Lord God, due to loss of loved ones. We lift up our dear Sister Sharon Rollerson this morning. Lord God, we call her name before You today, asking that You would comfort her and give her peace in the midst of her loss that she experienced just a few days ago. Father God, we ask that You bless all of those who are going through some issue of life. For Lord God, we know that You are able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than what we can think or ask. So we thank You this morning as we come before You with a humble heart and a humble spirit to pray and call upon Your name, to pray to seek You, to pray to ask that You would strengthen us, to pray that You would give us foresight and insight, a spirit of discernment that we may know Your will and know how You're moving among us and through us and with us.

Bless, Lord God, this worship experience today as we go higher in worship. Be with us, Lord God, that our hearts may be open and attentive to Your Word today. This is Your servant's prayer we lift up before You in the wonderful name of Jesus. Let every heart say, "Amen and amen." Hallelujah.

Our scripture lesson today, my brothers and sisters, is coming from Acts, chapter 2, starting at the first verse of the NIV. Word of God, it says, "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

We have a few announcements for you on today, and then we'll have the sermonic selection, and then we'll have the preached Word. Amen. We want to remind you on today that we have our Monday Matters of the Heart with Dr. Darryl on our YouTube channel tomorrow at 8:00 PM. Then on Wednesday at 8:00 PM, we have our Journey Through the Word Bible study. So come and join us if you would want to go deeper in learning biblical truths and learning how to apply those biblical truths to your life today. Amen. And then on Thursday, you can catch me on my Facebook page at 7:00 AM where I do a Thankful Thursday prayer. I just simply come on and pray for about 15 minutes and call out names and situations before the Lord. And then on Friday, our corporate prayer time is where all of us can gather together and pray at 7:00 PM. The number is 605-313-5682 with the access code of 785-343 pound. Again, that number is 605-313-5682 with the access code of 785-343 pound.

Just some things that you need to know about the month of June. We will be having our CME General Conference. It will be held in Dallas, Texas. I am a delegate to that conference, so I will be there for those days. We will make sure that we accommodate you on that Sunday, which is the 14th, for a worship experience here at Converted Heart. So please keep the conference in prayer because this is where we elect our presiding prelates, our new bishops who are running for the office or who have aspirations to become bishops of the CME Church. This is where we will elect them. The general conference is something that happens every four years, and so we are at that point of having new bishops, new general secretaries of different offices and different categories of the church. And then we have Judicial Council people that help govern the body of Christ here in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Those persons are running for these various offices. So if nothing else, if you can't make it, please be in prayer. Please pray for us while we are praying for our future leaders of our great church.

And then on June 29th through July 3rd, you do have an opportunity to engage in our annual conference at the Hilton Landing in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia. So we'll have a new bishop because our presiding prelate, Bishop James B. Walker, will be leaving us because he has served his 12 years with us, and he'll be leaving us to go to another particular region of our denomination to fulfill his final four years of being a bishop. He is not at the age of retirement. Retirement is 73 turning 74 years of age. And so he'll be retiring at his next appointment, but his next appointment cannot be here because of the policies and the procedures of our book of discipline that requires a bishop to stay in a particular district for 12 years. He has lived out and led us for 12 years. So I want to give—let's give him a hand for his leadership. To the lady Delores Walker, for their leadership of 12 years in the Seventh Episcopal Region, which encompasses the Carolina churches in the South and North Carolina and the New York-Washington churches in this area as well. So I want to thank Bishop Walker for the opportunity. Because of him, that's why we are here today. It was him that said yes when I gave him the call that the Lord had called me to plant Converted Heart. It was him that said yes. I'm so grateful to God for his leadership, his financial support, and his prayers for this ministry.

We have been around for 11 years, and my sister here would know that. She was with us in our launch service and has been blessing us, and we're glad to be here still to do the work that God has called us to do. We want to welcome officially Sister Linette, our pianist. Let's welcome her on today. She will be with us on fourth Sundays. She has agreed to come and serve in this capacity to give us some music. We still have Brother Corey on first, second, third, and fifth Sundays. Don't worry, he has not left us, but we're grateful to have Sister Linette, as I mentioned briefly a few moments ago. She has supported this ministry from day one, and I'm eternally grateful for your love and your service to the Lord and to this congregation.

Let us remember our sick and shut-in that are among us, and certainly, let us be celebrating our birthday celebrants in the month of May, Brother Michael and Brother Eddie. Let's give them a hand. I believe Brother Eddie turned 87 on Friday. 87 years young, still looking good, still walking around, still wanting to get out there and work in the yard with me when I do yard work. He still wants to do those things. So he's with us, and we're grateful to God for his presence in our home and we're just looking forward to seeing how God's going to continue to bless him. And then Brother Mike, one of our newest members of our church, him and his wife Valerie Baker. I always want to say Butler for some reason, but Michael and Valerie Baker. We love them. They have been here on Sunday School. We thank them for their commitment to want to learn and be part of Sunday School and Bible study and of course worship service. Amen.

And so we want you to know that we love you. We love all of you. We do have some offering envelopes in the back for those who wish to give. You all know how we do here. You just put your money in the envelope, put it in the box, and we'll take it after service is over. And then for those who are watching, I want to thank those watching on our YouTube channel and Lifesource.com and listening on Onepace.com. Those platforms, we're grateful to be on those. If you'd like to give, you can just simply take out your mobile device and text the word "give" to 240-269-5193. It should come up on your screen very shortly. Text the word "give" to 240-269-5193. So let me say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your act of kindness of giving unto the Lord as the Lord has blessed you. Amen. The Bible says in Luke, chapter 2, that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. So if you give cheerfully, the Lord smiles upon that. Don't give grudgingly. If you give grudgingly, just hold it. Give it to somebody else. I want you to give cheerfully because the Lord has given us everything we have. Every job you have had, every job you have now, the clothes you have on your back, the house that you live in, the Lord has made it possible for you to have what you have. So we should honor the Lord just on that alone. Because guess what? The Lord doesn't need your ten dollars. He doesn't need your hundred dollars. He doesn't need it. But He wants to see how faithful you are with what He has given you. So we want to continue to honor the Lord in that way.

Amen. Let me say one last thing. Tomorrow we celebrate Memorial Day, and I found it fascinating as I was doing some research a few days ago that there were some women who were known as the WASP. Did you all know that? I've got it right here on the pastoral thoughts on today. These women—I'm going to give you just a brief overview—they were known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP. And so during World War II, these women—the sister named Jackie or Jacqueline Cochran wrote to the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1939 and said, "Hey, wouldn't it be a good idea if we had women pilots in non-combat missions?" These women did everything that the men did except go on the front line and fight. And so I thought that was fascinating. So I want you all to maybe do a little research on those women when you have some free time. But they were members of WASP who became trained pilots who tested aircraft, trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during World War II. Despite various members of the Air Force being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing. And then after the war was over again, this particular group of women serving in that capacity came to an end. But I thought that was fascinating. That's a little bit of history that I did not know. And it's always good when we see our women who are doing tremendous things in our community. I always like to take a moment to honor them because often they are missing the recognition that most of our women sometimes don't get because of the things they do to help hold everything together. Amen.

Just a little tidbit in our pastoral thoughts on today. Let me move out the way and allow Reverend Kim to come and lead us into our sermonic selection, and then after that, we'll have the preached Word of God. Amen.

Reverend Kim: This is a song that we all know. Praise Him. Glory in all things. God is our rock, hope of salvation. Hallelujah.

Dr. Darryl A. Burton Sr.: Let us pray. Dear Lord God, thank You. Thank You for another day. Thank You for grace and for Your mercy. Thank You that we are here, Lord God, in one place on one accord to hear Your Word. So speak now to Your servant. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be found acceptable unto You. You are my rock and my redeemer. Open hearts now, Lord God, that this Word, Your Word, fall on fertile soil. Bless now, Lord God, and keep us. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.

I want to thank Reverend Kim and Sister Linette for leading us in worship on this morning. I also want to thank my son. He's over here working. He may not be looking like he's working, but he's working, y'all. I want to thank Aaron for being with us on today. And then I thank those who are joining us on Lifesource.com and Onepace.com and of course those who are on our YouTube channel. We just thank you for being with us.

About a few weeks ago, I preached a sermon that was entitled "Don't Move Without the Power." Do y'all remember that sermon? Yeah, I highlighted that Jesus instructed His disciples after His resurrection to wait for the Holy Spirit. In Acts, chapter 1, verse 7, Jesus said, "It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That's what I was talking about when I preached from that particular text in Acts, chapter 1: "Don't Move Without the Power."

And so this morning as we have fallen into Acts, chapter 2 from our reading, I'd like to read it one more time if I could. Very powerful text and we're familiar with this text, but it says here: "When the day of Pentecost came," that's today, "they were all together in one place and suddenly," somebody say suddenly, "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." For y'all who don't know, they were in the upper room. They were up on the second floor in probably classroom number 22. That's where they were. They were up in the upper room in classroom number 22. They were in this room, and the house was filled with the wind that came from heaven. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came and rested on each of them. Just imagine that if you will. All of them were filled, not just a few of us. Somebody say all. All were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

And so from that reading today, I'd like to title this text and this sermon with the topic "Baptized by the Fire." Baptized by the fire. Anybody here ever been baptized? Yeah, this is a different type of baptism, y'all. Baptized by the fire.

On January 7th, 2025, a little over a year ago, a highly destructive wildfire began in Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County, California. The wildfire grew and destroyed a large area of the Topanga, the Malibu area, before it was fully contained on January 31st, 2025. One of a series of wildfires in Southern California was driven by an extremely powerful Santa Ana winds. It spread up 37 square miles, killed 12 people, and destroyed 6,837 structures, making it the tenth deadliest and third most destructive California wildfire on record and most destructive to occur in the history of the city of Los Angeles. The entire community watched helplessly as the wildfire swept through neighborhoods. The fire moved rapidly, consuming dead brush, reshaping landscapes, and leaving behind evidence that nothing in its path remained unchanged.

This was indeed a destructive fire. However, some fire experts will tell you something interesting—that not all fires are destructive. Some controlled fires are intentional. They clear the way of what is dead, unhealthy, and overgrown so that new life can emerge. Certain seeds in nature will not even open unless they are exposed to intense heat. The fire becomes a very thing that activates its growth. This is what I have just given us this morning—is to help us understand the passage in Acts, chapter 2. We have heard the story, but to provide some context to the text on this morning, the disciples have gathered in the upper room. They are in classroom number 22. And they are fearful, uncertain, hidden behind locked doors. They fear that their lives were at stake in light of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. They live in fear, Sister Valerie, they live with uncertainty. But a part of them live with an expected hope of what Jesus promised to send them, and that was the Holy Spirit. Are y'all praying with me this morning?

These uneducated brothers from Galilee had no clue who or what the Holy Spirit was. But what Jesus said was, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you." That should encourage us on this morning, that despite who we are, where we came from, and what we have been through, Jesus promised that power would come upon us when the Holy Spirit comes on us. Don't miss that. God's power.

Let me help us on this morning if I could. The Holy Spirit was more than just feeling good for the time and making you feel good for the moment. The Holy Spirit was more than helping you see a clear path forward. Experiencing an emotional high and seeing a clear path forward can be done without the Holy Spirit's assistance. But the manifestation of the Holy Spirit was for the sole purpose of empowering Jesus' disciples—you and I—for the ministry of witnessing to God's people. Witnessing means participating in the process of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I cannot be secret saints in our secret closets. We've got to come out of our closets and let somebody know that Jesus is Lord and that He is coming back again. Are y'all praying with me? We've got to come out of our closets and not be afraid, because the Bible says that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. We're more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

We do know that we are here to participate. Where the text says that when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, like we are on this morning, meaning that they were all on one accord in the same room behind locked doors, filled with uncertainty but still hopeful of the promise. This is where I want to make my first observation on this morning, and that is: God's power still comes to waiting and dependent people. God's power still comes—turn to your neighbor and tell them, "God's power still comes to waiting and dependent people." Yes, it does.

The disciples were gathered together, waiting in obedience, when the Spirit arrived. They had no clue as to when the Holy Spirit would show up, but they were waiting. They had no full understanding of the Holy Spirit and how it was going to arrive, but they were waiting. They had limited knowledge of who the Holy Spirit was, but they were waiting. Let me not rush past the point about waiting, because they were waiting in obedience to Jesus' instructions. "Wait here in Jerusalem," Jesus said. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes." Listen, before there was power, there had to be surrender. Before there was preaching, there had to be somebody pointing. Before there was a movement, there was waiting.

Today's church, my brothers and sisters, often values activity over dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We rush into ministry with branding, with plans, with talents, but the book of Acts reminds us that the spiritual effectiveness cannot exist apart from the spiritual empowerment. Let me say that again to make sense to you on this morning. The book of Acts reminds us that the spiritual effectiveness cannot exist apart from the spiritual empowerment. In other words, we have to have the Holy Spirit to do the things that God has called us to do. Somebody need to say amen.

You—some of you—will agree with me that the church does not need more performances. The church does not need more—we need more of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us. You are not going to see me swing from no chandelier. You're not going to see me jump from any balcony. I'm not going to perform to you. I'm not going to hurt myself trying to do none of that. But give me a Word. Give me a Word from the Lord, and I will preach to you what God thus says the Lord. With the strength of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to preach the Word to you in season and out of season. When I'm up, when I don't want to preach, but when I'm down and don't want to preach, I'm going to preach the Word to you in season and out of season.

The strength of the Holy Spirit is where we're going to walk by faith and not by sight. Anybody walking by faith on this morning? With the strength of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to keep on looking to the Lord, for He is the author and the finisher of my faith. With the strength of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to pray and believe that all things are possible to those who believe. Many believers are exhausted because they are trying to accomplish spiritual work with human strength. Did you hear what I just said? Many of us are exhausted because we're trying to accomplish the spiritual work that God has called us to do with our own human strength. I know y'all get on me for doing a lot, Sister Sharon is not here, she would probably shout, "Hallelujah" and "Amen," because she knows that I'm always doing a lot. But what you fail to understand, my brothers and sisters, is that my strength comes from the Holy Spirit. That as God speaks to me and as God enables me, He's going to give me and give you what we need to do the work that God has called us to do.

Acts, chapter 2 reminds us that ministry without the Spirit becomes mechanical, but ministry empowered by the Spirit becomes transformational. Oh yeah, I love that. I love that. That the Spirit, without the Spirit, it just becomes just you going through the motion. But when you have the Spirit inside of you, when you have the Spirit working inside you, there's a transformation that begins to happen. There's a newness that begins to happen. Your walk becomes a little different. Your talk becomes a little different. How you treat each other becomes a little different. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has grabbed you. He has put His hands on you. And now your life becomes transformed because of what God is doing in your life through the Holy Spirit. You are baptized by fire.

My second observation. Not only does God see the power—God's power still comes to waiting and dependent people—but my next observation is that Holy Spirit creates unity across divisions. The Holy Spirit creates unity across division. Somebody say unity. How did this occur? The text says that suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house and it came and rested on each of them. Here it is. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came and rested on each of them. The fire of the Holy Spirit baptized them. This was not water baptism. This was a Holy Spirit himself baptizing these believers.

And if you keep reading down around verse 13, the people thought that they were drunk because the Holy Spirit had come on them. Oh no, the Holy Spirit fell upon them and caused them to speak in other tongues, the Bible says. The miracle was not merely speaking in tongues; that was part of what the Holy Spirit was doing. It's deeper than that. Turn to your neighbor and tell them, "It's deeper than that." The deeper miracle was that people from different cultures and backgrounds and religions and regions were united by a single message about Christ. The Spirit breaks barriers: ethnic barriers, social barriers, language barriers, generational barriers—all these barriers were being broken. Why? Because the Holy Spirit had come and fell upon these brothers in the upper room. Genesis 6, amen, is where man created a tower, a tower of Babel they called it, because they wanted to reach God. But God scattered the people and caused their language barriers to divide humanity. But on Pentecost, come on somebody, on Pentecost, the Spirit used language to unite humanity around Jesus Christ.

Yes, the modern church live in a fragmented world filled with political division, racial tension, denominational separation. But in Acts, chapter 2, the challenge of the church to become spirit-filled community is where unity is rooted not in sameness, but in Christ. I hope it's in Christ. I love—it should be about Christ. I'm different from you, my brothers and sisters, and you are different from me. But what should unite us is our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. What should unite us is our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Why? Because you're different from me and I'm different from you. You don't like ice cream like I like ice cream. Come on somebody. You don't like pizza like I like pizza. You have what you like and I have what I like. But when we come into this place called the Converted Heart CME Church, when we come into those doors and come in to worship, what we come in on one accord to do is worship and give God some praise and glorify His name. We come in united in our relationship with Christ. If you don't love me, that's your problem. Amen. Because I love God. And if you're here, that must mean that you love God too. And then we can be on one accord with that thought in mind.

As I hurry to my close on this morning, I said that God's power comes to waiting and dependent people. And then I said on number two that the Holy Spirit creates unity across divisions. Third and finally, spirit-filled people become bold witnesses. Yes. Spirit-filled, somebody say spirit-filled. Spirit-filled—I'm talking about some spirit-filled people. You become bold witnesses for Jesus Christ. The text started with the disciples locked behind the locked doors. But the Holy Spirit came on the scene. And Acts, chapter 2 tells us that Peter—the same Peter who denied Jesus three times—stepped up in verse number 14 and raised his voice to the crowd, explaining that they had witnessed. He explained to the crowd who had seen them and thought that they were drunk. And Peter began to preach a sermon from the book of Joel, the Bible says. How in the last days, God was going to pour out His spirit upon all flesh. Young men will see visions and old men are going to dream dreams. Come on somebody. How the sun is going to turn to darkness and the moon to blood. And if you read down a little further, Peter around verse 39 says, like many preachers since, Peter said that if you repent and be baptized, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be forgiven of their sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you repent and call on the name of the Lord, the Bible says that you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When Peter went from hiding behind locked doors and standing among a crowd proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, how was he able to do that? I'm glad that you asked me on this morning. He was able to do it, Sister Linette, because he was baptized by the fire of the Holy Spirit. And when you are baptized by the fire, you have courage to deal with fearful people. You have clarity to deal with confused people. Amen.

The question is not whether the Spirit still has power; the question is whether the church still desires to be filled with that power. Because the church today does not merely need larger platforms; it needs greater boldness. God is calling for greater boldness in each of us on today. Because when you leave out of these doors on today, don't go back into your secret closets of your house. He wants you to go out on the street and let somebody know that Jesus is Lord. Let somebody know that you were a sinner and that God could save you from your sins. Let somebody know that God has prepared and is preparing a place for you, that where He is, you will be also.

Because the church today does not need larger platforms. We don't need all of these other things and these tricks and these all these things that people do. We just need to have a boldness for Jesus Christ in our life. Many Christians are intimidated by culture, silence themselves in public spaces, and reduce faith to a private belief. But in Acts, chapter 2, it reminds us that the Holy Spirit empowers believers to stand for Christ with truth, passion, and courage. The world does not need Christians who are merely loud; it needs Christians who are spirit-filled, publicly compassionate, publicly courageous, and publicly authentic. Why? Because boldness grows when faith is practiced publicly.

The same fire that fell in Acts, chapter 2 still empowers believers today. Now more than ever before, the Lord is looking for bold brothers and sisters. Any bold brothers and sisters in the house on today? Anybody bold enough to let the world know that Jesus is Lord and that He is coming back again? Anybody bold enough to let the world know that we need and that they need a savior who died for them? He went to the cross on Friday, but early one Sunday morning, He got up with all power in His hand.

Who are baptized now by the Holy Spirit? Anybody baptized today by the Holy Spirit, only the fire that comes from on high? I just came by today to let you know that the Holy Spirit will baptize us with the fire. But you got to be ready and you got to be willing to go the distance because Jesus went the distance for us, did He not? He went the distance for us. He went all the way to the cross for us. And that's the reason why we can be bold enough to let somebody know today that Jesus is Lord and that He's coming back again. He wants us to be baptized with the fire. When the fire gets a hold of you, it won't let you go. When the fire gets a hold of you, it's not going to let you go. The fire won't let you go when the fire gets a hold—are y'all listening to me this morning? When the fire gets a hold of you, it won't let you go, because it has something for you to do, to be the man and woman that God has called you to be.

Come on, let's give God some praise for this Word. Baptized by the fire, which is the Holy Spirit, on this Pentecost Sunday. What a great Sunday for those of us who don't know Jesus in the pardon of our sins to come, because the doors of the church are open at this time.

Let us pray our benediction at this time. Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Let the people of God say, "Amen." Come on, give God some praise. Thank you for being here. God bless you. Until we meet again, God bless you.