5/28/23 SERMON ONLY

"What Is Pentecost?" (How to Start a Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit, 7)

Misty Creek Community Church

How to Start a Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit, pt.6
Empowered by the Spirit, Part 2 
1 Corinthians 12:1-12

Imagine a church where everyone understands his own gifting as well as the giftings of the other believers they serve with.  Imagine understanding the gifts given to your children and spouse.  Imagine being able to recognize these gifts in new believers and helping them grow into them. We talk about "every member in ministry" but how can this happen without an understanding of these gifts and how to "minister" using these gifts. Sunday, we will look at the three broad categories of gifts. Then we'll explore the operation of these gifts. From last week’s message, I hope you have a general familiarity with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Will you open your heart and mind to receive the gifts that God wants to give you?
• The discerning gifts are words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and discernment of spirits.
• The declarative gifts are prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
• The dynamic gifts are faith, gifts of healings, and working of miracles.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen

How to Start A Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit, Pt.5
Empowered by the Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:1-12
Before we can go any further with this teaching series about the Holy Spirit, let me warn you, you will undergo transformation. That does not mean that you will become weird, charismatic, or Pentecostal.  Did you know that three different sets of gifts are given in the Bible? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each gave a set of gifts for the fullest functioning of The Body of Christ, the Church. Each believer in the Church has been given a unique assortment of these gifts for the advancement of the Kingdom of God on the earth and for maximum fulfillment of God's call for each individual believer. Imagine a church where everyone understands his own gifting as well as the gifting’s of the other believers they serve with.  Imagine understanding the gifts given to your family... to your children and spouse.  Imagine being able to recognize these gifts in new believers and helping them grow into them. We talk about "every member in ministry" but how can this happen without an understanding of these gifts and how to "minister" using these gifts? This Sunday, we will take a look at the “gifts” of the Holy Spirit.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen

How to Start A Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit, Pt. 4
Unconditional Surrender  
John 16:5-16
This month we will celebrate the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven and the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In this sermon series we are learning that God came in all his glory and power when he sent the Holy Spirit. And when you accept Jesus into your heart, you also accept the Holy Spirit. One of the goals in this series is for you to fully utilize one of God's greatest gifts. The question today is will you surrender unconditionally to live with the full power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit? 
This power is still the guarantee of what God can do. If the children of God were to unite each day to wait on his promises, there would be no limit to what God could do for them and through them. I believe that the greatest desire of the Holy Spirit and of the Father is for Christ to be glorified in you. I pray this also will be your greatest desire. Many years ago, it dawned on me that the most important spiritual exercise of each day is to pray that God will send the Holy Spirit to us for our daily crisis and needs. Without the Spirit, we can neither please God nor support others. Our prayers must have their own origin in God, the highest source of power, if they are to raise our lives to fulfill God's purpose. If the Holy Spirit prays through us, as human channels, our prayers will rise again to God, who is their source, and will be answered by the divine working in ourselves and in others. Our life depends chiefly on the quality of our prayers and not on the quantity. When you pray therefore, ask your heavenly Father to again give you the Holy Spirit today. He longs to do it.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen

How to Start A Fire Part 3: Receive the Holy Spirit
Baptism of the Holy Spirit 
Luke 3:15-22
The heavens are breaking open. Breaking wide open. Can you hear the voice of God? Imagine with me that we are part of the crowd, gathered around the Jordan River, witnessing the baptism of Jesus. Witnessing the heavens opening… We’re expectant…filled with great expectations of what might be happening. We’ve been following John the Baptist, this wild and woolly prophet who promises us better days ahead. Who assures us that God is with us and we will be saved. We’re tired of the government…the government who uses violence and militarism against its own people; abuses us with taxes; discriminates based on religious belief.
We are in desperate need of salvation….not some kind of salvation that only comes to us when we die, but salvation in the here and the now…some hope that we can be saved from tyranny and oppression and find a new way of life. So, we are attracted to John the Baptist, and hope that he might be the one to save us. But he surprises us, by announcing that he is not the Messiah…no someone more powerful than he is coming, and this person won’t baptize us with water, but with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit? We don’t even know what that means. We can see and touch this water—we bathe in it and drink from it–but we can’t even conceive of the Spirit. We can’t see or smell or taste or touch the spirit of God. How can we be baptized with it? And he will also baptize with fire…what on earth could that mean? And who, we wonder, could be greater than John?
The word "Baptism" is a transliteration of the Greek word BAPTIZO which means to immerse. In 1 Corinthians 2:13 Paul says, we have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body.” The next step for a new believer is water baptism. This Sunday, we will gather at the river and witness God’s claim on those being baptized.  For those who have been baptized you will have a chance to remember your baptism. And for those who have never been immersed, you will have the opportunity to remember your baptism through immersion. Ephesians 4:5 says there is one Lord one faith and one Baptism. One Lord 3 persons = Trinity, likewise, one baptism 3 distinct forms.
The Holy Spirit baptizes us in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 12:13 teaches us that it is the Holy Spirit who baptizes us into Jesus. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us, and when we repent and believe in Jesus we are saved.
The disciples baptize us in water. Romans 6:3–4 says that when we are water baptized, we are buried with Him into His death. Our old life is put away when we get water baptized. After salvation, a believer makes a conscious decision to get water baptized.
Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. All four gospels (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33) confirm how Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live our new life in Christ.
Scripture confirms all three baptisms. 1 John 5:7–8 shows that the blood (salvation), water (baptism), and Spirit (baptism in the Holy Spirit) are all in one agreement. Acts 2:38 tells us to repent (salvation), be baptized (water baptism), and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (baptism in the Holy Spirit). Five years later in Acts 8:12–17, people are told to believe, and then they were water baptized. Afterward Peter and John prayed that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Twenty-five years later, in Acts 19, the same pattern of all three baptisms occurred. 
Father, thank you for the three baptisms in scripture. Thank you for the gift of salvation and water baptism. Thank you for baptizing us in the Holy Spirit so we can be empowered to live a victorious life. Allow the Holy Spirit to work through us with his grace and gifts. In Jesus name, Amen.  
-Grace and Peace,
Stephen

How to Start A Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit
Is the Holy Spirit a Person? 
Romans 8:26–28; Ephesians 4:25–32
The Holy Spirit has a distinct personality. As the third person of the Trinity, He has a soul. He has the mind of God, He knows the will of God, and He has God’s emotions. The Holy Spirit is a person, and He has a mind. If you don’t see the Holy Spirit as a person, then you won’t develop a personal relationship with Him. A person has a personality and a mind. The Holy Spirit helps us think what God thinks, desire what God desires, and feel what God feels. John 16:13 says that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth.
The Holy Spirit knows everything, lives inside of you, and is committed to being your teacher. He has a soul. If you would like to know God’s will, get to know the Holy Spirit. We know the general will of God from the Bible, but we can know the specific will of God when we hear His voice. Romans 8:26–27 says that when we don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit can help us because He knows the mind and will of God. Jesus came so we could have a personal relationship with God. The way we know God’s will is to get to know the Holy Spirit.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen

How to Start A Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit
John 14:16–17, 25–26, 15:26, 16:7, 12–13
This Sunday, we begin a new six-week sermon series
How to Start a Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit
The most misunderstood person in the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. Many people don’t know how to interact with the Holy Spirit or what His presence offers us. In this six-week series, How to Start a Fire: Receive the Holy Spirit , Pastor Stephen Streett explains that the Holy Spirit’s chief desire is for relationship—to offer us the encouragement and guidance of a trusted friend. He will move beyond religious tradition and cultural misconceptions to clarify what the Holy Spirit promises to do in your life. With examples and powerful testimonies, this series will encourage you and challenge the way you interact with the Holy Spirit.

Serving With Joy,
Stephen

Goodbye is Not the End
John 20:1-18  
 
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single act in history that separates Christianity from every other religion, every other philosophy, and every belief system.
 
We find, like those at the tomb, that what looks like an ending is actually a beginning. Life is about endings and beginnings. Life is a succession of losses. Do you think God doesn’t know that? Do you feel like God cannot relate? Look at Jesus as he ate at the table with those who would betray and abandon him—ending; facing death, a redemptive death but an unjust death—ending; feeling the strength and life and breath leave his body at the place of the skull, Golgotha—ending.
In our lives there are many Good Fridays. You could probably make a list of the Good Fridays in your own life right now. Days when you have felt forsaken; days when strength and life and breath seem to be leaving your body. Days when you were betrayed, and you wrestled with forgiveness. And yet, Easter reminds us of what looks like an ending is actually a beginning. Through the resurrection, Christ has conquered death and He holds the keys of heaven and hell.
 
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming!                 
Grace and Peace, Stephen

"I Will Rise"

Sermon from the 2023 Easter Sunrise Service at Misty Creek Community Church.

Senior Pastor: Stephen Streett

"Words From The Cross"

Sermon message from Good Friday 2023 at Misty Creek Community Church.

Senior Pastor: Stephen Streett

Worship Pastor: Doug Allen