Brian's Sermons

Scripture: Acts 2:17-21 In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. A prominent mzungu went to Builders Warehouse and asked for a chainsaw. The salesman took a chain saw from the shelf and commented that it was their “newest model, with the latest in technology, guaranteed to cut ten cords of firewood a day.” The customer thought that sounded pretty good, so he bought it right away.          The next day the customer returned, lo...

Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  3  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  4  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Ever since the Holy Spirit Encounter, we have been talking a lot about the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, he felt that the empowerment of the Holy Spirit was important enough that he told his disciples to wait there for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. He never told them “go out and do your best. Take your best shot.” He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost was a celebrati...

Acts 1:1-11 Last week we met up in Kabangwe for the Holy Spirit Encounter. Pastor Blake worked hard to help you understand that the Holy Spirit is calling Christians to lead in ministry, to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to this church, to your neighborhood, through Matero, throughout Lusaka, all over Zambia, and to the world. Some of you stood up and accepted the challenge and the mandate; you are going to be God’s witnesses. This is what is happening in the first part of the book of Acts. Just a little background before we get into the message today. I did not know this until I was in seminary, but the book of Acts isn’t its own book. It’s the second volume of a two-volume work. Does anyone know what the first volume is? We know it as the Gospel according to Luke. Each is the size of a standard scroll, but together they make up a whole. So when scholars talk about these two books of the Bible, they regularly call them together Luke-Acts. Anyway, in the second scroll, st...