As we come to the Word of God on this first Sunday in December, we find ourselves in a season of waiting. Traditionally known as Advent, it reminds us of the deep ache of a promise that has not yet fully arrived, the longing of people who know God has spoken but have not yet seen the fullness of what he promised.

This was Israel’s experience for centuries as they waited for the Messiah. Generations were born, lived, and died while families prayed and believed that one day God would break in and deliver them. Yet when Jesus finally came, he did not arrive with thunder, lightning, or visible power. He came quietly, in a manger, in humility, wrapped in love.

But his first Advent, his first coming, was not the end of the story. The same Jesus who came as Immanuel, God with us, later stood with his disciples and said:

“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” (Acts 1:4-5).

At that moment, Jesus was still physically with them; he had not yet ascended, but he pointed them to something more. He pointed them to a moment when God would not only be with them but also be in them. Before Jesus returned to the Father, he told them to wait, because the promise of the Father would change everything.

This season of Advent, these weeks before Christmas, remind us of our waiting for his coming. At the same time, the day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of their waiting. What we read in Acts chapter 1 becomes a bridge between the manger and the upper room, between Christmas and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Today I want to talk about that “line” between God with us and God in us.

The story of his coming does not end at the manger. Bethlehem is not the finish line; it is the starting line. That little baby in the manger grows up, lives a sinless life, dies on a cross, rises from the dead, and splits our calendar in two before doing something that changes how we live forever.

John’s gospel tells us that on the evening of his resurrection, the disciples were hiding behind locked doors, confused and afraid. The one who had been laid in the tomb suddenly stood among them. John says:

“He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22).

Just as God breathed life into Adam, Jesus breathed new life into his followers. This was their new birth, their salvation. This was Immanuel, God with us, becoming God in us. Yet even after he breathed on them, Jesus told them something that sounded like Advent. He told them there was more.

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised… For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5).

That is Advent language. Wait for the gift. Make room for what the Father has promised.

We understand Advent as the season of waiting before Christmas, when God gave his Son. But there is also the promise that God would give his Spirit. That promise stands between them like a line, a holy invitation to open our hearts to everything God wants to pour into our lives.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 2:

“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” (Acts 2:1-4).

Notice how the scenes connect. The disciples already believed in Jesus. He had already breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Yet he still told them to wait, because there was more. This is the line, the holy separation where the old gives way to the new. In Bethlehem, there was a baby wrapped in cloths. In Jerusalem, the believers are wrapped in fire. In Bethlehem, they discovered God with us. In the upper room he became God in us. You could say that in Bethlehem the love of God entered the world, and at Pentecost the love of God was poured out into their hearts.

This is what the baptism in the Holy Spirit truly is. It is not just goosebumps or a passing feeling. It is a powerful baptism into the love of God. The Bible says:

“God is love” (1 John 4:16).

The Bible also says that:

“God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5).

To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be immersed in his presence and his love until your life becomes one with him in such a way that people begin to see Jesus in you.

Let me bring it closer to home. When you dip a cookie into a glass of milk, the cookie soaks up the milk, and the milk gets on the cookie. Or when you want to freshen up a room, you might go to Lowe’s and buy a can of paint. You bring it home, open it, and dip a wooden stir stick down into the paint. When you pull out the stick, you are still holding the same stick in your hand, but what you see has changed, because it has been immersed and covered.

Church, this is what God desires for us in this season, not just a visit or a holiday moment, but that we would be so immersed in his love through the Holy Spirit that when people observe our lives, they see Jesus. He wants the love that became flesh in Bethlehem to flow out of us in our homes, in our families, in our workplaces, and in our everyday interactions, so that through our lives the Holy Spirit can whisper to the world, “I am love.”

There may be some of you here in this room, or watching online, who have been in church, heard sermons, and even quoted Scripture, but deep down you feel like you do not really know who God is. The apostle Paul said:

“If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

And so, it’s possible to believe and yet still be lacking something. For some of you, maybe the cry of your heart this Advent is, “Holy Spirit, I need you to reveal yourself to me.” And if so, that is the spirit of Advent. It is the sound of a heart that is waiting, longing, and making room for the Savior.

You wanted to know who he is, and the Bible says,

“God is love” (1 John 4:16).

In fact, he keeps saying it in many different ways. I sent my Son because I love you. I poured out my Spirit because I love you. I long to baptize you in the Holy Spirit so you can be saturated in my love and carry that love into a broken world.

That is the message of Advent. That is the message of Christmas. That is the message of Pentecost. If God is love, then to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with love. To walk in the Spirit is to walk in love. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be immersed in his love. That is so important because Christmas is not always easy.

For some, this is a joyful season. For others, it is painful. There may be empty chairs at the table that remind you of someone you miss. There may be strained relationships that surface again. There can be pressure to perform, to provide, and to smile when your heart feels heavy and burdened.

In that kind of season, God is not just giving us a memory of something that happened long ago in Bethlehem. He is offering a present-tense baptism into his love so that we can walk through this time with something supernatural inside. The Bible calls it the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians chapter 5 says:

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Isn’t that everything we need in this season? Love when you are stretched thin and tempers rise. Joy when life feels more like a burden than a celebration. Peace in packed schedules and noisy moments. Patience when plans fall apart and everything seems to take twice as long. Kindness in daily interactions that need the touch of God’s grace. Goodness in the choices you make every day. Faithfulness as you stay committed to God, to your calling, and to the people he has entrusted to you. Gentleness when someone simply needs to feel the softness of God’s love through you. Self-control when old temptations or habits try to creep back in.

This is why Jesus told his disciples to wait. You cannot produce that fruit by trying harder. It grows only by remaining in the One who came at Christmas and who poured out the Spirit at Pentecost. They needed more than knowledge of his birth. They needed power from on high, his Spirit working in them and flowing through them.

In John chapter 4, when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, he said:

“Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

He was talking about salvation, the new birth. When you give your life to Jesus, a spring begins to flow inside you. Eternal life takes up residence in your heart.

But later, in John chapter 7, Jesus stood in the temple courts and said:

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37-38).

Do you see the difference? In John chapter 4, he describes a spring of water within you that satisfies your thirst. In John chapter 7, he speaks of streams of living water flowing out of you to bless others. The spring represents eternal life. The streams represent Spirit-empowered ministry. The spring satisfies you. The streams refresh everyone around you. The baptism in the Holy Spirit takes believers who have a spring within and turns them into people with streams of living water flowing out.

Picture a family gathered around the tree on Christmas morning. Wrapped boxes sit there with names on them. At some point, you stop admiring the wrapping and start opening the gifts. The Bible teaches that righteousness is a gift. You cannot earn it or deserve it. God wrapped it in the blood of Jesus and placed it before you. The Bible says:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Yet many people continue to live under guilt and shame, never opening what God has already given. They leave the gift sitting there, still wrapped with the bow on top. They believe that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, but they struggle to believe that he sees them as clean, forgiven, and accepted in Christ. The gift has already been given. The blood has already been shed. Sin has already been atoned for. God says, “This is yours in Christ.” The Bible says:

“To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

Now take it up another level. The Holy Spirit is also called a gift. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached and said:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

God not only gives his Son. He gives his Spirit. He not only gives his righteousness. He gives his power. He not only saves us. He equips us to be his witnesses.

Sadly, many believers who love Jesus and are headed for heaven have never opened themselves to the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives. It is as if they are standing in front of a Christmas tree surrounded by gifts and never removing the wrapping.

Today, God is inviting us to stop standing at a distance. He is inviting us not just to look at the tree, but to open the gifts. Not just to admire Bethlehem, but to receive everything Jesus paid for. Not just to remember Immanuel, God with us, but to pray, “Holy Spirit, be God in me and through me.” Jesus made this promise:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8).

Power to love when you feel empty. Power to forgive when you want revenge. Power to stay clean when your flesh wants to get dirty. Power to speak hope when others are speaking fear. Power to be a witness, walking into rooms this Christmas season, carrying the atmosphere of heaven.

Maybe this Advent, you are thinking, “I do not know if I can do another year like this. I love God, but I feel like I am running on empty.” You are exactly the kind of person this season is for. Advent is a season of waiting. It is for the hungry, the tired, and the weary. It is for the one who knows they cannot live this Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Immanuel, God with us, the Christ in the manger, did not come so we would try harder. He came to transform us. He did not come only to fix our circumstances. He came to change our hearts. He did not come just to get us to heaven one day, but so that heaven could get into us.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).

So what does God with us look like in real life, between work and family and shopping, as we wait for Christmas? For me, it looks like waking up and praying something like this. “Good morning, Holy Spirit. Thank you for being in my life. Help me stay close to you today. Help me walk in step with you. If I start to drift, pull me back. Lead me in paths of righteousness. Help me love like Jesus. Let patience and kindness flow from me. Keep filling me again and again with your fullness.”

When there is a moment to pray for someone, when a person needs encouragement, when the Spirit nudges your heart, those are the moments when the streams begin to flow out of you instead of remaining just a spring within.

Every believer who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior has the Holy Spirit living inside. But not every believer walks in the fullness of his power and love. In the book of Acts, the believers were filled, and then they were filled again. The same disciples who received the Holy Spirit on the evening of the resurrection were baptized in the Holy Spirit fifty days later. Not long after that, Peter and John were arrested by the religious leaders. When they were released, they gathered with the church to pray, and the Bible says:

“The place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).

God is not offended when we ask for more. He is honored by our faith and our desire to walk more closely with him. Jesus said that if earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children:

“How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13).

Is that not what this season is about? Children asking and the Father giving. Hearts open and heaven responding. We are not begging a reluctant God. We are receiving from a generous Father.

Christmas is God with us. Pentecost is God in us and upon us. Advent is God inviting us to open our hearts wide to everything he intended when he sent his Son and poured out his Spirit. So I encourage you in this season to open your heart and make room for him, allowing the streams of living water to flow from within you.

As we conclude this message, I believe God is calling us to two simple but powerful responses.

First, some of you need to receive the gift of salvation, that spring of water welling up to eternal life. You may know about Jesus. You may know the Christmas story and be familiar with church. But you do not have the inner witness that you are born again or the peace of knowing that your sins are forgiven. Today, you can receive that gift. You do not earn it. You simply turn from your sin and open your heart to Jesus.

The Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Second, many of you who already know Jesus need to ask him for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, the streams of living water, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the power to be witnesses. Some of you have wrestled with this topic. Some of you have been confused or even hurt by the misuse of spiritual gifts. It happened in the Bible, and it still happens today. We have all seen or heard things that made us cautious.

But this Advent is a good time to lay down the arguments and the fears, to open your Bible and your heart, and to pray, “Lord, if you sent the Holy Spirit as a gift, I want everything you have for me. Baptize me in the Holy Spirit. Fill me with your love. Let those streams of living water flow.”

Graphics, notes, and commentary from LifeChurch, Ministry Pass, PC Study Bible, Preaching Library, and Sermon Central. Scripture from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.