This is Church Week 7 | Signs of Suddenly

Intro Announcements

Mike and Sonya’s group | June 10, 7PM | Sign up in lobby to get more info

Midweek Prayer | Wednesday at 7PM

Suddenly Season

Acts 2:1–2 NLT

1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

Big Idea: Sometimes God’s suddenly’s are preceded by seasons of seeming silence—but don’t mistake pause for absence.

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Paula Dean’s in Pigeon Forge

So much good food…

I was stuffed

And then she brought out the ooey gooey butter cake!

As good as what I ate was…when I found out there was something more…the something more is why I’ve gone back multiple times since then!

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If you’ve accepted Jesus…I have good news…there is more

We have received a measure of the Holy Spirit at salvation…but being baptized in the Spirit is when he goes from a guest to the host

Guests ask permission…hosts move the furniture

The day of Pentecost was the day that the more was released on the earth…TODAY ON PENTECOST SUNDAY THAT’S WHAT WE CELEBRATE!

I want to look at the context of that release

1. A Shrinking Season

Over the last several weeks we have trudged through the first chapter of Acts.

We have seen a group of people who have received teaching concerning the kingdom of God.

They have been given a promise from the Father

They have gone back to Jerusalem to wait on the promise that Jesus told them was coming.

This is arguably the biggest moment in the history of mankind that is about to take place.

But it doesn’t start with fireworks…it starts with a shrinking room.

From 500 eyewitnesses to 120 faithful ones.

We tend to believe that major moments are climactic in nature.

Things build up to the big moment.

But in the case of the upper room experience…Things actually shrank down to the big moment.

We almost never attribute the diminishing to the divine.

If something is lessening in my life…it must be an attack of the enemy.

But John gives us a different perspective.

John 3:30 NLT

30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Don’t allow the enemy to convince you that your shrinking forfeits your suddenly.

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It’s been a pattern

Gideon saw the same thing: 32,000 warriors → 300 (Judges 7).

God trimmed the ranks so no one could boast. Revival isn’t built on size. It’s built on surrender

When you’re believing for more but seeing less

When prayers go unanswered, or influence declines…

“Don’t confuse decrease with defeat. There’s development in the diminishing.”

✍️ Faith holds steady in the shrinking. ✍️ Faith stays planted when it’s not popular. ✍️ Revival starts with the remnant, not the masses.

2. A Submissive Spirit

Acts 1:14 NLT

14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

There has always been a formula for being filled.

Prayer is the key to experiencing a deeper level of the presence of God.

If you are looking for the baptism of the Holy Spirit…

It doesn’t come as a result of the right worship music

It doesn’t come because you get in the room where your favorite pastor is preaching.

It happens when we are willing to submit to God’s plan and give ourselves to prayer.

When they went into the upper room and gave themselves to prayer…GOD MET WITH THEM

There has always been a formula for being filled: Submission + Prayer = Power

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The frustrating timeline of prayer

We would all love it if this formula gave instantaneous results.

Have you ever prayed for your kids and said…how do you feel.

I FEEL COMPLETELY THE SAME AS I DID FIVE MINUTES AGO WHEN YOU PRAYED!

Prayer works faithfully…but it doesn’t work fast.

We all like to read quickly through Acts chapter one and get directly to the payoff of Acts two

There were ten days of uneventful prayer meeting that preceded the moment that the Spirit was poured out.

It would have been easy to walk away in the waiting seasons

🧠 What will you miss if you quit in the quiet?

FOMO isn’t always bad…

FOMO will keep you faithful

I can’t quit because I don’t know what’s on the other side of my persistence.

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Don’t miss the context of unity

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was contextualized by a group of people given to prayer…and commited to unity.

Revival doesn’t happen in the soil of division.

Because revival always produces growth

MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION CANCEL ONE ANOTHER OUT.

Unity is the runway for the Spirit’s arrival.

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3. A Supernatural Sound

Acts 2:1–4 NLT

1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

You remember that they’ve been in this prayer meeting for ten days.

There has only been three things at work up to this point

A PROMISE

SOME PRAYER

THEIR PERSISTENCE

Day one they prayed and nothing happened…day two…day three…day four

I love that the word suddenly is used because suddenly means out of nowhere.

God doesn’t move fast…but he does move suddenly.

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What happened suddenly was a sound.

Finally on day ten…A SOUND SHIFTED THE ATMOSPHERE!

Before the fire fell…they heard something.

Sound came before sight.

Romans 10:17 NLT

17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

In the kingdom you’re gonna hear it before you see it!

How long can you walk on a word?

Just like Elijah in 1 Kings 18—

“I hear the sound of abundance of rain.”

Sometimes God changes what you hear before He changes what you see.

The first thing to shift in the upper room was what they heard.

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It’s For Everybody

Acts 2:4 NLT

4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

Suddenly seasons are not limited to the ones who have always been close.

The suddenly season that resulted in the filling of the Holy Spirit.

It filled the apostles

It also filled the people who would never lead a meeting

It filled men, women, children,

IT FILLED THE WHOLE HOUSE

The suddenly move of God is an all inclusive invitation to experience the power of the promise.

4. A Surprising Spread

Acts 2:5–12 NLT

5 At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. 7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

What started in a room…changed the world.

Pentecost has never been about exciting moments…it’s been about exponential movements.

While I’m thankful for moves of God where I feel something significant.

What I feel is intended to endue me with power so I can go and take territory from the enemy.

God isn’t filling you to entertain you…He’s filling you to empower you.

When you get baptized in the Holy Spirit…

Your marriage should never be the same

Your parenting should never be the same

Your investment strategies should never be the same

Your business should never be the same

Your cubical section should never be the same.

The same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is intended to “quicken” our mortal bodies so that we can further the kingdom.

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This wasn’t the event…this was the template

Today we celebrate that this wasn’t a moment we remember but a presence we invite

The baptism in the Holy Spirit wasn’t only in this upper room thousands of years ago…but today you can be filled.

You receive the promise the same way you receive the savior…by faith!