Pentecost 2024
Pastor Gail Stathis Prayer

If you would, would you open your Bibles to Joel, it’s in the Old Testament. Joel 2:28, “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Amen.
I’m going to invite you just to welcome someone this morning, and say, ‘Holy Spirit, You are welcome in our presence.’
I was gone for, wow, a little over 2 weeks, and it’s good to be back. You never know who you’re going to see in Church in August, I mean in the summer. I don’t want to rush the year any more than it already is. But that should excite you. Who am I going to see today? It’s good to see each one of you today. Amen. Today let’s believe, as we worship the Lord. Oh, that He will be so blessed, to move among us in an amazing way, Amen. We are so thankful for the amazing grace of the Lord.

Farewell to the Sandas Family.

You may be seated for a moment. Today, we’re going to say goodbye to a family. We love them very much. The Sandas family, they have to leave because of special situations. But I keep telling myself, what I think, doesn’t look so good, He’s going to turn it into something really good. So, Martin is going to come and share with us, this morning. Thank you.

Martin Testimony

Good morning, everyone. Very good to worship together. I was sitting in the back there, with my kids there and I was thinking, of course to see my wife and my daughter worshipping, and the whole worship team. You know, worshipping in an extended family like this is such a blessing. I was also very blessed to see that the drummer, wow, the heart that you have, God bless you, in the name of Jesus, because that beat that you have, the heartbeat, is from heaven. Bring it on.
But the whole Church, I was thinking, yeah, the beautiful worship that you bring, it’s unique and it’s touching people. That was my first thought and I don’t have to say that, and to encourage you guys to continue in that heart of worship.
So, we as a family, we have one week left, after nine years being here, it’s with a heavy heart, but at the same time we know that this is to be continued and Greece is not the end for us. We will still have things to do in Greece, I think. And, yes, I just wanted to share a short testimony from our time here. It’s many things that you can say. For me personally, God was speaking, for us as a family, certain things as we were moving here, and as I mentioned earlier at some meeting we had upstairs here, but one thing that God was speaking about, that I would see refugees, being transformed into missionaries, workers in the Kingdom of God.
Refugees, you know, people that are living on the side (in the margins) where they don’t really fit in. Those people are on my heart. Maybe, that’s why I was a special education teacher, when I see those who don’t fit in sometimes. And I also had like some kind of a habit, every new season in my life, I wanted to ask the Lord for some words, what are You wanting to do, what is the thing that I can join into Your work, for this season of time? I think that’s a very good habit to have, wherever you are in life to know what is the Word of God for this season I’m in right now. What is that it’s saying so that I if I’m low here, I’m still, you know, carried by that word. So, this one Word was that I will be able to see refugees that we meet, coming to Europe, that go through this transformation, or understanding that they are not just refugees, being victims of some circumstances, but they will come to the understanding that they are called to serve in the Kingdom of God.
So, looking back, nine years, I can say that four people today, that have had that transformation. Praise to the Lord. It’s not because of my greatness at all, but it’s the Word of God, and I trusted His Word. That’s the testimony I wanted to share with you and thank you so much for the love and yeah, the kindness that you showed to our family.

Pastor Gail.

I’m going to ask all of the family to come forward. Evy and Leto, I would like you to come up as I’m going to pray for this family. This church has a heart for the nations. Let’s just pray, all of us, reach your hands out, and all of you can come to the front if you want. Let’s just pray an anointing over them that wherever God sends them. In the name of The Lord, Lord, we thank You for the Sandas family. We pray a holy anointing that only comes from heaven, that oh Lord, for the days ahead, the years, the weeks, the hours God, every moment will be so precious Lord, You will pour into them Lord, the power of Your presence, Lord. God give them fresh revelation, God, of the next season. Lord, we pray for Caleb and Rebekah and this new, this next generation, God. Lord, prepare them God, oh Lord to be in time Lord, oh God, harvesters in the fields of the world, for You oh Lord. We pray, for Elise and Martin, continue to use them God, for greater things are yet ahead, in the name of the Lord. We put no limits on You, God, but for this family, we declare God, more of You, oh Lord, more of You Holy Spirit, more of heaven, oh Hallelujah. In the name of the Lord, we thank You.

Pastor Gail main message

We are going to talk for a just a few minutes today about Pentecost. There are very few events that have affected modern Church history, perhaps Martin Luther and the reformation, but besides that, there was a great revival called the Azuza Street revival, 1900 – 1909. It ushered in or brought into the world, a worldwide renewal of Pentecost, and I don’t have the exact numbers right now, but among Evangelical communities, people who believe in salvation and we do basics, that the Pentecostal, Charismatic section of the Evangelicals, is the fastest growing section or group of Evangelicals.
A few years ago, the number was 75 million, people who say that they have a Charismatic or Pentecostal experience with the Lord. Many of you may even know that it has even come to the Catholic Church, people who believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I remember as a young, young girl, remember I’m 39 forever, I remember hearing in 1975, I heard this on television, they had a service at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, and at that moment, Pope Paul gave his approval of the Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church. And I remember seeing on television, at this Catholic Service, thousands begin to sing and speak in a heavenly language. It was amazing.
I remember one time, pastor Brian came back from England, at least 15,000 at the gathering pastor Brian was at; most of them were Anglicans that were there, priests. He called me and I saw on a report of the thousands that were singing and speaking in a heavenly language.
I believe that we have been in a bit of a dry season for a while. The Holy Spirit works in many ways besides a heavenly language. He gives us discernment, or wisdom. He supernaturally causes people to have dreams, and understand things. I think some people have a very supernatural gift of being peace makers. The Holy Spirit is not limited in what He can do.
But that presence of the Holy Spirit, where if people were passing us by and we were worshipping, where we are so caught up in the presence of the Lord, that they would think that we were not sane. They would think that there was something wrong with us, that’s OK. How old are you Ole, are you four? How old is he, Kata? Five. I see him always, I was one year older than he is, and when I received salvation, and I received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I was one year older than this little guy, when the Lord called me to be a missionary, Amen.
Anybody else ever had an experience like that? Well, I did! So, I get excited about when I, I love Ole, but I get excited, we’re in the dry time, but when the wind is going to blow again. The rains are going to come again. I’m going to tell you a few stories and then we’ll go into the Scriptures in a moment. I remember where I got saved, where I met the Holy Spirit and Jesus, some years before that, the people in the neighborhood called the fire department to come, because they thought our church building was on fire, because they saw flames coming out of the building. This is recorded. There was nothing that was happening inside, except the presence of God.
One night I was there, and there was a woman that I had known since I had been saved, she had been diagnosed with cancer, she had a few days to live possibly. They were going to operate on the following Monday. They allowed her to come out of the hospital over the weekend. That Sunday, while I was in service, now this is back in the day when we didn’t have air conditioning in the churches, we were kind of poor, and the doors were open, and all of a sudden, the doors slammed shut and I saw myself, as they slammed shut, a huge like blue ball came into the building and people fell on their faces on the floor, crying and weeping and just calling on the Lord. They said that we were there till after midnight, just like that.
The woman went to the hospital, the following day, it was Monday, and they did the examinations, to make sure that she was ready for the surgery, completely healed! Everything was gone. But you see, these are just a few experiences I’m telling you about. The Lord, when we say Holy Spirit, You are welcome here, the Lord is looking for people where this will be the cry of their heart at all times. Holy Spirit, You are welcome to move as You desire.
Turn with me, if you have your Bibles, they won’t be on the overhead, because we want you to get used to read your own Bibles again. If you don’t have your own Bible, there are some on the chairs. Acts 2. Let’s back up to Acts 1:4,5, these are the words of Jesus, the so-called red letters, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Now we go to Acts 2:1-6, now this is a few days later, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.” Go down to Acts2:12,13, “Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’”
It’s the central point, after the resurrection, of New Testament Christians. Too many of us remain at the cross, we stay at the cross; we might make it to the empty tomb, but the tomb is empty. We need to reach Pentecost. Jesus said, ‘Wait, you will receive the promise.’ I love that. Acts 2:1 says, “The day of Pentecost came,” it had come. Jesus told His followers, pray and wait, it’s going to come. They had no idea what that meant, even though, Pentecost is an Old Testament celebration, festival.
There are three main festivals, in the Jewish calendar. Pentecost was the harvest; they were celebrating harvest. I love the perfect timing of the Spirit. Acts 2 tells us the city was filled with people. But 120 were waiting as Jesus told them. They were waiting for something that God would do. And they weren’t just waiting and complaining. I don’t picture them as saying, ‘I’ve lost hope, it’s never going to come.’ I think somehow, they believed the Lord so much, His promises so much, that they didn’t let doubt and fear come in. Instead, they moved in obedience, and I believe it was miraculous obedience. Because they had just been with Jesus; they had just seen Him. They knew He was alive. They had seen Jesus. They had been in His presence. So, because of that, there must have been something in their hearts, that the One who lives forever, they wanted to believe that He was going to give them something more.
Had is ever happened to you? You’ve been in His presence, and you feel like, ‘I’ve just seen Jesus. I know He’s alive. I’ve just seen Jesus.’ Oh, Hallelujah. There’s no doubt or fear; He’s alive. I know, I know, I may not see it, but I know, He’s going to do, He’s getting ready, to do something that I’ve been waiting for. I’ve seen Jesus! Hallelujah. Wow. He’s alive! The world may be in trouble, but God’s not. Listen, He’s in control. And He has said to us, ‘Draw near to Me, and I’ll draw near to you.’ And He has promised, that He will send to us, signs, wonders, miracles, He will send you, His healings; He will send amazing things, if we will get in His presence, and obey what He tells us to do. And that is wait for the Holy Spirit to fill us, with the very presence of heaven. Because, we are His temple, and He wants us to move, with His presence.
What does the Bible say? On that day when the Holy Spirit came, 3000 people came to know Jesus and were filled with the Spirit. And it wasn’t for them alone. It was that they would be witnesses, witnesses. You know, stop and think about it, when if we have everybody here, that still lives in Greece and if we all come together at the same time, Brian and I were talking about this, we’d be about 120 people. That doesn’t seem like, when you look around the room, that’s not really a large group. I think that’s in Greece. But if we all obeyed the Lord, to really pray, to take time, to just give it all to the Lord. If we prayed united, if the presence of God meant more to us than anything else, I believe, we would begin to see, the Lord move in our midst in miraculous ways.
Pentecost 120, they obeyed, but they probably some of they may have wondered why they had to wait right here. Jesus didn’t explain to them why. Sometimes we want to know why too much. He just told them what to do, and when they obeyed what He told them to do it worked. We’ve got to get to the place where we do what God tells us to do, by faith. I don’t understand Lord. But I will wait on You.
I think a lot of us are in that place in our lives, where we want God to give us all the directions, you know, like on the box, do this and this and this, put the butter in 3 table spoons, put in a cup of water in, we want explicit directions. But the Lord says we live by faith. I have called my people to know Me through prayer. I don’t know if all of them were still in the upper room, if the Spirit of the Lord fell on all the 120, that doesn’t matter, if they were all there right at that moment; maybe somebody went out to grab a falafel or something, a souvlaki you know. Yeah, you never know. I don’t think they were fasting; it doesn’t say they were fasting all those days. So, that doesn’t necessarily matter, what matters is that they had determined to be there together, to pray. The important thing is, the day came that they had been waiting for. And when it came, they were ready for it, because they’d been waiting for it.
We’re in a time and season right now, where the Lord is looking for people, I believe we’re part of those people. That we begin, ‘Lord, I’m not hungry enough for you.’ First begin to pray that, ‘Lord, make me hungrier, make me hungrier.’ Do you know that God’s plans are not designed around your personal life? We want to fit God into our personal life and plan, but God is saying, ‘My plan is bigger than your personal life.’ I advise you to be part of a plan that is eternal. It’s huge, ginormous. And it says that if we get on His plan, our personal lives, will become something made by God, in every way. Our part is to simply trust and obey. Help us Lord
Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” We’ll stop right there. I want to ask you this morning, ‘Do you feel the power of the Holy Spirit moving in your life?’ Oh, I love it; I see a headshake, yes, that’s exciting! What security! Sometimes, I see question marks on peoples’ faces. I do too, I sense the power of the Lord saying, I’m getting ready to use you, in ways you’ve never been used before. If we lose connection, with the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we get into trouble. Every time our worries and problems become bigger than the presence of God, we lose our way.
Look at what it says after ‘Power’, it says, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It specifically says ‘to the ends of the earth.’ When Christians tell me they have no idea what their calling is on their lives, all you have to do is read this right here. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His power and presence. Then you become a harvester, you reap souls, your witness.
I almost done. I want you to stay with me for a second. I have a prayer language; I speak in tongues; we don’t overemphasize that in this church. But we believe in it. And we believe very much, that you should ask the Holy Spirit to fill you as He desires. So, I’m going to say something that might seem a little strange to you. Acts 2 we read a verse, that said, ‘that when some of the people saw them speaking in tongues, they mocked them.’ They made fun of them. The Lord is inviting us, on an adventure, that looks a little bit different than other adventures in the world.
We begin to move with the presence of the Holy Spirit, there might be people that think you’re crazy, you don’t know what you’re doing. Are you deceived? Can that be of God? How you ever seen someone so overwhelmed in the Spirit? I’ve seen it in this church, long time ago. So full of the love of God, that their hands were just raised, and they were dancing all around the church. Speaking in a heavenly language; glorifying God. It’s amazing! Because, you know what happens? You don’t care what other people think. You don’t care, you’re worshipping God! The Holy Spirit wants to glorify God the Father and God the Son to us.
English, Greek, Danish, Hungarian, and all these other languages, they’re nice, but to speak in a heavenly language and the Holy Spirit, directly through you is talking to God, Hallelujah. It’s so amazing. And, yes, I believe the Lord does things in order. So, in our church we believe that. But the Bible says, “Suddenly, a sound like a blowing wind, came in to the house where they were sitting, and tongues that looked like fire sat on each one of them.”
I can see us all now, ‘Did you see that big wind? Ah. What are those funny things on your head? Well, that’s interesting. Yeah. What’s that strange language you’re saying? I wonder, if that’s what we want, to package the Holy Spirit, in a way that was comfortable for us. Maybe, sometimes, the Lord wants to come into our midst, Hallelujah, and suddenly be a mighty wind, to blow, to begin to sweep over us, amen, till we know surely, the presence of the Lord is here. It is a holy place, yes, a holy place. Oh God, have Your way. How could you just sit still and be bored, in that kind of presence?
Oh Lord, I want more of You. And not just the wind, a powerful wind. It says tongues of fire, it looked like fire – on you and on you and on you. And it sat on them. The fire the very presence of God. Hallelujah. That alone, if you saw nothing else but that, and you begin to tell somebody, ‘Guess what happened in our church today?’ People will think you’re crazy. If you go to some restaurant, and have lunch today – don’t go, stay in church. Let’s pretend, and you start talking, if you could talk, because you’re so full of the presence of the Lord, and people at other tables heard you talking, they would think, ‘Those people are crazy!’
Are we embarrassed or ashamed of acting in a way that the world would not accept as normal? No, Lord, I need You. How much do we need Him? We need Him to fill all of us completely. Every little corner of us. And you know what I love about this? It wasn’t just one or two that were filled and empowered by the presence of God. They were all filled, they were all empowered. Hallelujah. By the fire and the presence and the power of God. And it wasn’t just to stay in the upper room. Or it wasn’t just to go stand out there with 3000 people. Wow, we had a good conference today. It wasn’t a conference! It was God changing the world! And it started with 120 people. Jumped to 3000, and from the 3000 it later began to move to whole known world at that time. Hallelujah.
We read at the beginning of church today, we’re almost done here. I would love to stay here all day and all of you who don’t have the Holy Spirit, just to pray for you to get filled with His presence. But I know, you’re dying to eat my macaroni and cheese. But we have to get so hungry for God. Joel 2, we read that at the beginning, but read Acts 2:17-18 right now. This is Joel’s version from the Old Testament. We’re going back before Jesus came. Acts 2:17-18, “‘In the last days, (I believe that we’re living 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.”
But the people in the crowd, many of them thought that they were drunk, these people that had been filled with the Spirit. What does this mean? These people are drunk? God works in ways we don’t always understand. Rather than think negative about it, when we don’t understand it, maybe God is saying to us, ‘You may not always understand.’ Maybe some Sunday’s you should just begin to sing in tongues. Worship the Lord. Just do that. Maybe one Sunday, while we’re worshipping, the Lord will say to Judy, ‘Go over and just tell Cielo, you love her,’ she needs to hear that, and you obey. You get up and do it during service.
We’ve got to quit being embarrassed and putting God in a box. Let’s let Him out of the cage. He’s the Lion of Judah, the Holy Spirit, I mean, He wants to roar, He wants to move the Holy Spirit through us today. The people thought they had drunk too much wine, because they were acting in a way that they didn’t understand, they didn’t like. The way we act, may not always be OK with the world. But the Lord is looking for people, who will say to Him, ‘Oh God, You’ve got me, all of me, my heart, my actions, my spirit, my mind, and Lord I choose to obey You, rather than love the world.’
The world is waiting for people, and I think one of the reasons why cults are growing, crazy religion, because they see these people and these religions, obeying a false God. But they obey. But our God, He invites us. He says, ‘I’m here.’ In false religions, if you don’t do all the do, do, dos, you don’t get blessed, or you might not even get saved. But the Lord God almighty, He says to us, ‘Follow Me’ and guess what? Sometimes, you might fail Him, but keep following Him. Because, the One who is alive, is in you, and He wants to do through you, things that will change the world you touch. Amen.
And people, it’s time to be bold and courageous. You might not be as loud as me or as outgoing as I am, it’s not about that. Not at all. It’s about, ‘I’m here. Fill me; use me; I’m Yours, I’m Yours because I’ve seen Jesus, and I know He’s alive. And I know He has sent the Holy Spirit to enable me to do things that point to eternity.’ We are His witnesses, and people are looking for something that will bring them peace and joy. And do you know what? It might be us acting just a little bit crazy, and why in the world would you do that? It’s because, I’m crazy in love with Jesus. Can I tell you about Him?
Do you love Jesus today? What did He say to us? ‘Wait for Me, I’m getting ready to send you a promise.’ He’s going to fill you with power and My presence, Jesus said that. And guess what? Jesus never fails, on His promises. Welcome Holy Spirit, You bring the Word of life in my life, that changes those around me. It’s not just for you, it’s for you and your children, and for those who are far off. It’s that this world will know there is a Savior.
You are free to go upstairs, but if you have not received the Holy Spirit, if you don’t think that He has ever worked in your life, He’s just a name, well, He’s the third person of the Trinity and He witnesses about Jesus to us. He’s here, today He wants to be in you to fill you with power.
So, Father we just release the people for the lunch today. But if there is someone here today, Lord, that really would like to have more of you, they’ve never had the presence of the Holy Spirit, and they really Lord, they just want to obey You and be filled with Your presence. Lord, let it be today.