Wind And Fire

Wind and Fire

Introduction...

Praise God Church!

God is Good Amen!?!

(Praise reports- God is so good that...)

God is so good that over 2000 years ago Jesus was born of a virgin into this world to be

Emmanuel which is interpreted God With us. Amen?

And He is so good that He gave his life on Calvary so that we might be saved. Amen?

Jesus is so good that He conquered death and rose from the grave on the third day. Amen?

And after appearing to many of his disciples for 40 days

He led a few of them out to the Mount of Olives near Bethany and

It was there that Jesus ascended into heaven. Amen?

How many know that in the same place where his feet left the ground, Jesus will return one day to

put his foot upon this earth once more?

He left this earth as victor and conqueror of death, hell and the grave,

and He will return soon as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

His power and majesty will be so great that when the foot of the Creator touches the Mt. of Olives

that He created, that mountain will split in two.

And how many know that right now Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father,

as our advocate against all the accusations of our enemy, Satan. Amen?

Praise God! Who says we can’t all agree on something?

Turn to Luke 24:49

How many came expecting and ready to receive tonight?

Good, because tonight, Church, is a night for greater expectations.

Tonight we need to be expecting the windows of Heaven to open up and pour out a blessing, Church!

But not just any blessing, Church!

A promise!

The importance of this blessing...

In order for us to understand the importance of this blessing or promise, Church

we have to know what Jesus had to say about it.

Let’s take a closer look back at the ascension of Jesus, Church.

Just moments before Jesus began to rise from the earth He had something very important to say to

the disciples that stood there.

After calming the fears of the disciples and opening the scriptures to their understanding, Jesus told

the disciples the reason that He was crucified;

the reason that He had suffered, bled and died was for a single purpose – That men could be saved

from sin. Amen?

In Luk 24:47 Jesus told His disciples... that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

It was a wake-up call to the disciples. They had a work to do, a message to share, and it was time

for them to get busy.

Jesus had commisioned them just like He has commisioned each and every one of us to harvest souls

for the Kingdom.

But as important as their mission was, and ours still is, we must note that Jesus delayed their work

for a little while.

Jesus went through all the trouble to come to earth and take on the form of flesh that men could see

God’s love in person. Amen?

He made that first step to bridging the gap between a Holy God and sinful men, so that man could

believe on him and be saved. Amen?

– but then He stopped the church from spreading the word.

Listen to this Church.

He was crucified; taking upon Him the weight of sin for the whole world,

so that we could be victorious over sin through His shed blood

– but then He delayed the message of forgiveness of sin for a little while.

Jesus was buried and lay in the grave,

then resurrected on the third day,

so that he could destroy the power of death, hell and the grave,

for the purpose of giving you and I, and all men and women, eternal life

– yet he delayed the preaching of the gospel to anyone for a while.

Why would Jesus go through all of that, only to tell his church to wait for a while before spreading

the word

Before winning souls that Jesus knew were hanging in the balance?

In those few days of delay, how many lost souls would leave this world without Jesus when they

could have been reached with the gospel?

What was so important for us that would cause Jesus to stop the preaching of the gospel even for a

few days?

There had to be some all-important business that was absolutely necessary before the church could

accomplish its mission to spread the gospel!

In Luke 24:49 Jesus gave us the reason for the wait,

He said "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."