The Act of Faith, the Power of the Promise, and the Evidence of the Outpouring

John 20:19-23

 The Apostles Commissioned

¹⁹ Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

²¹ So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” ²² And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Acts 1: 4-5

The Holy Spirit Promised

⁴ And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; ⁵ for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts1:8

 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Today we are preparing for the water baptism, tonight we are not gathering around a swimming pool; we are gathering around a testimony. We are about to watch people take an act of faith and publicly declare, “The life I once lived does not own me anymore. I belong to Jesus Christ.”

Jesus said in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Then the Bible says that Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” I cannot read those words without remembering Genesis, when God breathed into Adam and man became a living being. I cannot read them without hearing Ezekiel prophesying to the breath until a valley full of dead bones became a living army. And now the resurrected Jesus is breathing upon His disciples. Resurrection breath is entering a people who are about to be sent into the world.

But Jesus was not finished. Before He ascended, He told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father. He said, “John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). Then He said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8).

And then came Pentecost.

Acts 2 says suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind. The house was filled. Fire appeared. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. What Jesus had promised was now being poured out.

Look at the progression:

Jesus breathed.

Jesus promised.

The disciples waited.

Heaven poured.

And the church went.

That is why I want to preach about the act of faith, the power of the promise, and the evidence of the outpouring.

Romans 6:1-11 (NKJV)

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Water baptism is an act of faith. Romans 6 says that we are buried with Christ through baptism into death, and just as Christ was raised from the dead, we should walk in newness of life. When you go underneath this water tonight, you are declaring, “The old life has been buried with Christ.” When you come back out of this water, you are declaring, “I have been raised to walk in a new life.”

There is no magic in this water. Jesus is the Savior. His blood cleanses us from sin. But baptism is not meaningless either. Baptism is obedient faith with its work clothes on. It is an inward faith making a public declaration: “I have decided to follow Jesus.”

But I don’t want you merely to come out of the water wet. I want you to understand that there is a Promise for you the believer.

Peter stood on the Day of Pentecost and said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,” and then declared, “you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off” (Acts 2:38–39).

That has been gripping my heart: “The promise is to you and to your children.”

Something has been happening in my own heart. Since the open-door dream, I have felt my faith lifting. There has been something rising inside me that I can only describe as a gift of faith. I have found myself crying tears before the Lord—not tears of defeat, but tears coming from a heart that is beginning to believe God for something greater.

And my heart keeps crying for this generation.

Lord, don’t let us merely tell them about what You did in our generation. Do it in theirs.

Don’t let us only tell them about the fire our fathers carried. Let them carry fire.

Don’t let us only tell them how we prayed. Teach them to pray is heaven’s command.

Don’t let us tell them only about the Holy Spirit. Let them know Him as we know Him.

Don’t let them have to live on yesterday’s oil, yesterday’s testimony, yesterday’s encounter, or somebody else’s relationship with God. The promise is unto them too.

I am beginning to believe God for a generation that doesn’t just hear about Pentecost but experiences Pentecost; a generation that doesn’t merely know the language of church but knows the voice of God; a generation that doesn’t merely watch somebody else worship but falls upon its own face before Jesus.

Something in my spirit is crying, “Lord, breathe on them.”

You breathed into Adam, and dirt became a living man. You breathed upon the disciples, and then You sent them. You breathed into the valley in Ezekiel, and dead bones became an exceeding great army.

Lord, breathe on this generation. Breath is coming from Kairos to Kronos.

Some people may look at them and see dry bones. They may see broken homes, addiction, confusion, rejection, anger, and young people who have never had anybody believe in them. But Ezekiel teaches me that when God breathes into something, you cannot judge its future by what it looked like while it was lying in the valley.

• I am crying for a generation that will live.
• I am crying for sons and daughters who will prophesy.
• I am crying for young men who will see visions and old men who will dream dreams.
• I am crying for servants and handmaidens upon whom God will pour out His Spirit.

Because Peter didn’t say, “This promise belonged to us.”

He said, “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off” (Acts 2:39).

And when the Holy Spirit is poured out, there ought to be evidence. Acts 2 certainly gives us supernatural utterance as the Spirit gives utterance, but the chapter does not end with tongues. The people who received the Spirit became a witnessing people, a praying people, a giving people, a worshiping people, and a people devoted to the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship. The outpouring changed how they talked, how they lived, how they loved, and how they carried Jesus into their world.

So tonight, don’t stop at the water.

Go into the water in faith. Come out standing upon the Promise. And walk away carrying the evidence that Jesus Christ has changed your life.

The act of faith says, “I belong to Jesus.”

The power of the Promise says, “You shall receive power.”

The evidence of the outpouring says, “Now go be My witnesses.”

Jesus breathed upon them in John 20.

Jesus promised them power in Acts 1.

Jesus poured out His Spirit in Acts 2.

“And then He sent a Spirit-filled church into a dying world.”

And tonight my prayer is bigger than, “Lord, give us a good baptism service.”

My prayer is:

“Lord, give us a generation.”

Give us their hearts. Give us their lives. Give us their gifts. Give us their voices. Give us their futures. Let sons and daughters rise from these waters knowing that they belong completely to Jesus Christ.

I don’t want to die with a full horn.

I don’t want to carry to the grave what God intended me to pour into somebody else.

Let the oil keep walking.

Let what God put upon one generation be poured into another—not so they become copies of us, but so they become everything God called them to be.

Tonight somebody is going under this water.

But when they come back up, I want heaven and hell to hear the declaration:

“My old life is buried. Jesus Christ is Lord. I belong to Him. The Promise is for me. Holy Spirit, fill me and Jesus, send me.”

Because this generation does not just need another church service.

They need the breath.
They need the Promise.
They need the fire.
They need Jesus.

And my heart is crying:

“Lord, breathe on them again.”