Touré Roberts - Getting Back to Center

I want to draw your attention to Acts chapter 1, specifically verses 4 and 5. I want to talk today from the subject «Getting Back to Center.» 2016 is interesting; it is a leap year, and I’m sure we all know what a leap year is. A leap year is a year where February has an additional day. Normally, February has 28 days, but in a leap year, it has 29 days. The reason a day is added to the calendar is that, naturally, because of the imperfection of the calendar and its inability to fully define the astronomical cycles, things drift. Due to man’s imperfection in accurately predicting astronomy, we know we have 365 or 366 days, but even that isn’t perfect. So, in an effort to try to keep up, we leap because we have drifted behind. I want someone to start catching this: we have to leap because we have drifted off course. A leap year, therefore, is man’s effort to try to bring things back into alignment. Because of human imperfection, we go off course. Since 2016 is a leap year, it allows 2017 to be an alignment year. I believe, prophetically for you, that this can be fixed. I’m sorry; I’m just being organic. Please forgive me later. I genuinely believe for some of you—listen, I’m not judging you, but you need to hear this—I wouldn’t have this message if it weren’t true for you, at least a little bit. God wants to bring you back to center. You might say, «Well, Pastor, no, I’m good.» I hear you—you might feel good, but alignment is something you have to pursue. You and I do not find alignment and then organically and naturally stay there. We are much like the calendar; we will drift a little. I want to show you something in the text. I’m tempted to just tell you what it says and not read it and keep in my flow, but let’s just see what happens. There are two texts I want to show you. One text is Acts 1:4-5, which describes after Jesus has been raised from the dead; he returns to his disciples and tells them there is a great destiny on their lives and that they will do great things in his name. All that is wonderful, and it’s all going to happen. The Spirit of God is going to come on you and fall on you. Jesus is talking to his disciples, telling them he’s going to use them mightily. But he instructs them not to depart from Jerusalem; he needs them to be at the center of their faith. If they are not in the center of their faith, it can’t happen for them. You know the story: they go to the upper room, and in Acts 2:1, it says, «And they were all in one place.» They were in the right place. Then it says the Spirit of God came down upon them. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Where did the sound come to fill? The house they were sitting in, which was in Jerusalem. They stayed in Jerusalem; they were obedient; they were in one place, and something happened in the place God told them to stay. That place was Jerusalem, which was the center of their faith. Are we tracking? The Spirit came, and there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. We can talk about that later. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. These were languages, not gibberish; these were literally known languages. The Spirit gave them utterance. In verse 5, it says, «And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under Heaven.» The reason they were there was because of a feast—Pentecost, a holiday. During all Jewish holidays, one would have to return to Jerusalem. It was almost as if God commanded this because he knows that as we get busy with life and with our calling, sometimes in purpose and destiny, we still need to come home from time to time. Jews from every nation were there, and it says that when this sound occurred… What sound? Remember those who God said to stay in Jerusalem? You’re going to be endowed with power. Remember those who were there?