Intro: Jesus commanded his followers to wait for the promise of the Father, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They waited until Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit was outpoured. Some people have waited for months, even years to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, thinking they were being scriptural! Christian, you don't need to wait any longer. It's time for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
People are bored with dead dry formal, traditional religion. People are tired of coming to church dry and leaving dry, coming depressed and leaving depressed, coming to church empty and leaving empty. The missing link in traditional Christianity is the Baptism in the Holy Ghost!
If we ever hope to see the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy which is our text, it's time to four things:
1. It's time to stop being deceived.
2. It's time to retrieve.
3. It's time to believe.
4. It's time to receive!
I. IT'S TIME TO STOP BEING DECEIVED!
A. It's time to stop being deceived by two extremes of false teaching about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
1. That it was only for the 1st century church.
2. That unless you speak in other tongues you are not saved.
B. It's time to stop being deceived by the devil who wants to keep you from being filled with the Spirit.
1. By putting fear in your heart.
2. By telling you to put it off, removing your hunger and thirst.
II. IT'S TIME TO RETRIEVE!
In Luke 15, Jesus told the parable of the woman who lost a coin. He said she swept and cleaned the house until she found it. And when she found it she called her friends and said, "Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost!" That's the way it is with Pentecostals, we want the world to come and rejoice with us; a part of the Christian experience had been lost in the church, but at the turn of the century it was found and we rejoice and worship in the freedom of the Spirit!
A. It's time to retrieve the biblical teaching of the initial, physical evidence of speaking with other tongues when one is baptized in the Holy Spirit.
1. It is the biblical precedent.
2. Why tongues? James said, the tongue no man can tame! It is the most unruly member of the body. God chose the sign of tongues because it represents total surrender and because it is by the tongue that we witness of Christ.
B. It's time to retrieve real, Holy Ghost anointed manifestations of worship!
1. We Pentecostal commit sin when we quench the Spirit.
2. If we would all allow God to manifest His power through us in worship, we would be changed forever!
III. IT'S TIME TO BELIEVE!
If we want to always be a Pentecostal church, it is time to believe for a fresh Pentecostal outpouring. If we want to see people healed, it's time to believe that they will be healed. If we want to see people baptized in the Holy Spirit it's time to pray and lay hands on them and believe that God will fill them with the Holy Ghost.
A. It's time to believe in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit because it was prophesied by Isaiah, Joel, John the Baptist, and others!
B. It's time to believe in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised it.
IV. IT'S TIME TO RECEIVE!
These are the last days of which Joel prophesied! These are the days of Pentecost! These are the days when the church needs the power of the Holy Spirit. It is time to receive the Holy Ghost!
A. It's time to receive the power to witness
B. It's time to receive the anointing to do greater works than Christ.
