======================================================================== I HEAR THE SOUND OF RUSTLING by Annie Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon focuses on the powerful impact of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the church, drawing parallels to the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. It emphasizes the need for individual and collective revival through the baptism of the Spirit, leading to a transformed and united body of believers ready to combat spiritual battles. The sermon highlights the importance of prayer, unity, forgiveness, and the imminent return of Jesus as key themes inspired by the song's message. Topics: "Holy Spirit Empowerment", "Revival and Unity in the Church" Scripture References: Acts 2:1, Ezekiel 37:1, Psalm 41:1, Joel 2:28, Ephesians 4:3, 1 Corinthians 12:12, Matthew 18:19, Malachi 4:5, Revelation 22:20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon focuses on the powerful impact of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the church, drawing parallels to the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. It emphasizes the need for individual and collective revival through the baptism of the Spirit, leading to a transformed and united body of believers ready to combat spiritual battles. The sermon highlights the importance of prayer, unity, forgiveness, and the imminent return of Jesus as key themes inspired by the song's message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The song which we are going to sing is one of my favorite songs. It's a newer song. It was written, I think, in 1979 by a man called Ronnie Wilson. I think it was sung in Ireland, if I remember correct. And the first line of the song goes, I hear the sound of rustling in the leaves of the trees. That reminds us of Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured on the disciples and those who are waiting in that place. Jesus had asked disciples to wait till the Holy Spirit was poured on them. So they waited and in the time of prayer, they heard suddenly there was a sound that came from heaven, a noise like a violent rushing wind. You find that in Acts 2. And the whole house where they were sitting, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. You can read about that when you get time. So this song reminds me of the time when the Holy Spirit was poured on the church. But it speaks of the time when it can happen in our days too, when the Holy Spirit, we heard about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, following, we should ask for the baptism of the Spirit in our individual lives. And we'd ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. But this is an experience which we all can experience. Can you imagine all of us who are sitting here, 50, 70, or how many people are here and we are praying and then we feel that we hear the sound of rustling in the leaves. And then the Holy Spirit is poured on us and we are changed instead of individual, as we heard 120 pieces of metal, the fire burns and we are infused and become one strong, mighty army ready to fight against Satan. That's what the words of the song is, if you have the words there. When the Holy Spirit is poured on us, the church, instead of being a sleepy, lazy church, it becomes revived. We wake up and there's prayer in our lives. We wake up from our knees, we get up from our knees and there's prayer. In Ezekiel, it says about dry bones coming to life and becoming a mighty army. That's a picture of what can happen when the Holy Spirit is poured on the church. And that's what the song inspires us to pray for the Holy Spirit to fall on us, not only as individuals, but as a group of people, our church is revived. And not only our church here in NCCF, many churches all over the world face that experience, that revival. And there's only one message, the day of Jesus is drawing near. That is our message. Jesus, our King, is coming soon. And that's our calling. We can unite together and share that burden. And the second verse says, the body of Christ, the church all over the world is expectantly waiting for the promise of the Father to fall. And in the Ezekiel, I think it says that watchmen call out, exhort us to prepare. And all of us who are in the church respond to that call. Lord, pour your spirit upon me, pour your spirit upon each one of us, so that we'll be a body, a body of Christ, one body. And the wise men and the scoffers are put to shame. They're dumb, they say, what's happening? We have no explanation for this. And third verse, it says about a mighty army rising up after the Holy Spirit is poured on us. And even the demons see that, and they fear. They fear because the time is up. The coming of the Lord is near. And the church children of the Lord hear that commission and say, we are going to love and serve our God. We are going to serve one another. There won't be any division. There won't be any jealousy, nothing, no partiality, nothing between us, among us. And the perfect work of Jesus has begun. Now the chorus, that was the thing that spoke to me. And the chorus, I'll tell you a testimony behind that song. I didn't know the song, but months back, my children Sandeep and Santosh were asking me to share in the meetings sometimes. And I'm from a brethren background where women don't speak in church. And also I thought, I may have a tendency to go beyond my boundary. I might say things which God doesn't want me to speak. I may get puffed up or I might say, give people the wrong impression. So many mights might have been coming to my mind. So I was very reluctant to speak. So I kept putting it off. Then my brother, I have a brother who's very close to me and we share. His name is Alex. We share whatever we face every day. We pray together. We pray for each other. And every time he calls on the phone, we try to pray together over the phone. And we've encouraged each other and kept each other awake, alert to the promptings of the spirit. So he sent me the song. I had never heard it before. But when I read this chorus, that's my tongue will be the pen of a ready writer. That's a verse in Psalm 41 verse 1. What the father gives me, I'll sing or I'll speak. I only want to be his breath. I only want to glorify the king. So I said, Lord, that's all I want to do. I don't want to speak something which doesn't, which you're not happy about. You gave me the breath. You gave me life. And every day I live is because of you, because you've given me breath and life. And you poured your Holy Spirit in me. That's the breath you've given me. I only want to be your breath. I only want to glorify the king. And that was my testimony about the song. And there was another, there's another testimony which I want to share, which the song reminds me of. I'll tell you briefly. It happened many years ago. It has nothing to do with me, but God gave me the honor and the privilege of being there when it happened. It's so precious and so sacred that I want to say this experience with all humility, giving glory to God. It happened many years ago. I was working in a leprosy hospital in Maharashtra. And, you know, I want to tell you a little bit about leprosy hospitals. Those days, leprosy hospitals were not just hospitals. We treat people who come suffering with leprosy and we go to the villages where there are pockets of leprosy and we diagnose and bring them there. But this hospital was not just a hospital. It was a home where people would come and those who didn't have anybody to take care of them, we take care of them. And leprosy is such a deadly disease, leaving deformities. So many people didn't want their relatives who had leprosy back in their home. If it was a mother or mother-in-law who had leprosy, they'd be relieved if that person was sent off to some faraway place and never heard of, and nobody knows where they are and they live there and they die there. You can picture it almost like AIDS or even COVID. If somebody has COVID, we isolate them and then they die in that hospital or nursing home and we can't even attend the funeral. And leprosy is something like that, but it's not so. It was a disgusting type of disease where people didn't want to tell anyone my relative had leprosy. So there were a lot of old people in that leprosy home where I was working and they were left there and they would be there for many years. Sometimes somebody would come with some gift for them and even if they got a gift, they'd share it with everybody who's living in that home, the ladies who are there. So people would be there for many years. So when I was working there, I decided that I would go every Sunday. Every other day was busy for me, but every Sunday I'd go to that women's ward and talk to the women patients who were there, sing some songs with them because they'd be so happy to get a visit from someone. So I used to go there and then there was a teacher there. In this leprosy hospital, there'll be children of patients. They'd have a school, they'd have a farm, poultry farm, because people wouldn't even go to the town to buy because they say, oh, leprosy, we don't want to have any dealings with them. So this village had its own farm, cultivation, poultry, everything. So there were teachers there in that school. So one of the teachers came with me and we'd go to the ward and we would sing with the patients and we would talk to them. So one Sunday afternoon, this teacher and I, we went to them and I don't remember what exactly I used to speak. It's so like a short testimony, but the time of singing and many of them couldn't sing because the disease would affect their throat. They couldn't sing well, but it was a good time, all of us gathered together. So that particular Sunday, I remember, I gave a short message and that sister teacher, she translated for me and I said, okay, let's pray as usual. So we bowed down. We were all sitting on the floor, no chairs. It was like one large room. We're sitting on the floor and we started praying. There was a moment of pause, just waiting. And while we were waiting, I heard a sniffle. Somewhere in one end of the room, somebody started crying, one of the ladies. Then I thought, okay, I lifted my head, didn't want them to see who I was looking at. One of those ladies went to the other end of the room and she hugged another lady there and she started sobbing and saying, my dear sister, I'm really sorry I didn't talk to you for so long. The people were there for so many years. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you for so long. Will you please forgive me? And that one said, no, I'm the one who had to ask forgiveness. Will you forgive me? And both started hugging and crying. Then after some, another one from another end of the room went to someone else. The same thing, apologizing, crying, hugging, sobbing. And another part, somebody else did the same. You can imagine after a few minutes, the whole room was filled with ladies hugging, crying, sobbing, and asking forgiveness, setting things right. And I was so amazed sitting there. I felt like this day of Pentecost. I said, Lord, I'm witnessing such a wonderful thing happening here today. It's too wonderful. It's a foretaste of heaven on earth. If you could do that in this church, I know these people deserve it because they are so poor. They cast out of society. Nobody wants them. That's why I'm not surprised that you let this thing happen, this revival happen in this room. And I am given the privilege of seeing this happen. And I thought, Lord, this is what we need in our churches. And that revived me. It was like a foretaste of heaven. And I have that memory of it in my heart. And every time I think of it, I'm revived and say, Lord, what a wonderful savior you are. You think of needy people and you pour your spirit on needy people like us. We had a foretaste of that in the early years in CFC when we used to meet in our home. We'd have a day of fasting and prayer, and we would feel the presence of God so powerfully in our midst that we didn't want to end the meeting. We thought we'd end at lunchtime, but it would be evening by the time the meeting would be over. Singing, praising God, message, prayer, one after the other. It was like that in those early years. And often, many times, the Lord gave me glimpses of that wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It's not like the day of Pentecost, but it's a mini Pentecost, which can happen in churches, many churches. And if many churches are revived like that, can you imagine from here and there a mighty army rising to declare the coming of the Lord? Yes, our Lord is coming soon. The dry bones have to respond to the new birth. Our children have to be revived. Our children have to come to know the Lord in a mighty and powerful way. That's the testimony of this song, and now we'll sing this song. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/haeXmm3j1Es.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/annie-poonen/i-hear-the-sound-of-rustling/ ========================================================================