[0:00] Lord, we thank you for your presence. Lord, we just pray that you would fill us with your spirit, Lord, as this song was. Lord, just touch us tonight. Help us to have an open heart, Lord.
[0:10] Help us to hear your truth, to hear your word, Lord. Yes, God, just minister to us tonight, Father. And just give Brother Phil, Lord, anoint him with your spirit, Lord, as he shares.
[0:23] We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. May we see you. Brother Phil. Good evening.
[0:49] Good evening. Good evening.
[1:00] Good to be here. Thank you, Enos, for leading those songs. I want to preach.
[1:16] I don't think I've preached this here, but if I did, I'm going to preach it again. I may have. I don't remember what I preached here before. So somehow this message just really came to my heart.
[1:29] And I think, Brother Enos, you just really confirmed what the Lord laid at my heart. Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?
[1:45] That's a scripture. That's a question that Paul asked some believers. Believers. He said, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?
[2:02] And Tony, I liked what you said. You were quoting that black preacher. What did he say?
[2:14] He just said that he doesn't allow the culture to dictate what the Bible teaches. Okay. Okay. So I would just say, and I don't want to say this proudly or anything, but I want to say it humbly.
[2:31] Don't allow our Anabaptist culture to dictate what the Bible says. And there's awesome things, awesome truths that are believed and lived out in the Anabaptist culture.
[2:53] But where what we've been taught out of the Anabaptist culture or whatever, where that doesn't line up with the Word of God, we choose to believe the Word of God.
[3:08] The Word of God is true, eternal. It's forever settled in heaven. It cannot be altered. It cannot change. And something, I know we know this with our heads, but.
[3:23] The whole aspect, the whole teaching of the Holy Spirit has been, it's scary in a way to a lot of people.
[3:33] It's scary because it's been so, there's so much falseness. It's been so misused. It's been so misinterpreted.
[3:44] But anything that is true, Satan is going to try to take it off the rails somehow and bring some negativity, falseness to get people not to believe the truth.
[4:04] And so, I just plead with us tonight. I don't understand all of this. I don't know it perfectly. I don't know how to teach it perfectly. I'm not claiming that at all.
[4:17] But I want to look, I have, I want to look at, let's just look at scriptures and let's look at this, this subject, this, this teaching about the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God.
[4:33] And if at the end you, you think of scriptures that somehow contradict or whatever, I'm, I'm not offended at all to be challenged.
[4:45] If you're thinking or whatever, your, your belief is different. I'm not saying mine is a hundred percent accurate. I don't, I don't know how we judge that all, you know, all the time.
[4:57] But I do know what the Word of God says. And I, I just trust that tonight we can just with an open heart before God, just look at the Word of God and see what the Word of God says.
[5:14] Let's just, let's just pray again. Father, in the name of Jesus, we just pray that you would come. We, we've already sang that you are here and by faith we receive that, we accept that, we bless you for being willing to be in our midst, Father.
[5:32] Just a small group of people, Father, on this earth and all of the things going on throughout the whole world. And yet you've promised that where two or three are gathered, you're willing to be there, not just willing, you're longing to be there with us.
[5:48] And we believe that, we receive that tonight, Father, that you are here and that your Spirit is here. And Father, you want to teach us, you want to instruct us, you want to guide us into all truth.
[6:02] And I thank you that you provided that for us. Lord, bless me, help me tonight to not speak my own opinions and ideas.
[6:17] But Father, help your Word to be illuminated to our hearts tonight in a beautiful way for the glory and the honor of your great name.
[6:30] And I just ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. Okay, let's start looking at some Scripture.
[6:43] I hope you, I hope you have, I hope you have your Bibles. Kind of hope you don't have phones, but if you do follow on the phone.
[6:54] But let's turn to, let's turn to Mark chapter one. I just want to, these are just very fundamental, yeah, just very fundamental Scriptures that speak about receiving the Spirit and specifically the baptism of the Spirit.
[7:20] And one thing I have on the top here, I know when I preach this before, is I'm not satisfied with the theology of the Holy Spirit.
[7:38] I'm not interested just to get our thinking right. What's important for the church, and I mentioned this last night, about that, you know, God's, Christ, before Christ comes back, there's going to be a reformation, there's going to be a restoration.
[7:59] Things are going to, at least the beginning of things are going to, according to Acts 3 that we read, things are going to be restored. And I believe that Christ is doing that.
[8:14] I believe the Holy Spirit is doing that in a measure. And I don't know, God's, you know, when I think of that, I think, you know, maybe the last year or two or the last five years before Christ comes, but in God's eyes, maybe since maybe the last hundred years He's been restoring.
[8:32] You know, we think in total different terms than the eternal God does, where a day with Him is, a thousand years with Him is like one day.
[8:44] So, you know, did He start the restoration from the Reformation? I don't, I have no idea.
[8:54] Did He start the restoration from when it was in the early 1900s, when God started to moving in a powerful way by pouring out His Spirit and great revivals, not only in America, but in other Europe, other parts of the world.
[9:13] There was great outpourings of the Spirit that the church had hardly ever seen since way, way back in the early days of the church. I don't know when this is.
[9:25] But the Bible says that Christ will be retained. Peter said this, Christ will be retained until the beginning of the restoration of all things, and then He will come from heaven.
[9:43] So, to me, it is very important to look very objectively and truthfully at our own lives personally and at the church and say, what are areas that need to be restored?
[10:01] Because those things, I believe, without a doubt, what needs to be restored will begin to be restored before the coming of Jesus Christ.
[10:13] And I believe one of them, one of the most obvious to me, is the true work and function of the Holy Spirit in His people and in the church.
[10:26] I believe prayer, the proper place that God would have prayer to be among His people and in His church. God said, my house shall be called a house of prayer, not a house of preaching or a house of fellowship or a house of, you know, whatever.
[10:45] There's a primary focus that God has for His people on prayer. And He says, my house will be called a house of prayer. I believe, and I'm just going to go over, I went over a few of them last night, but I believe that there's going to be a restoration of the true honor and lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of the believer, where we honor the authority of God in our own lives, in the lives of families, and in the church of Jesus Christ.
[11:20] Those are things that have been broken down. We read at the end there last night about, in Isaiah 61, about the raising up of the foundations and the waste places that have been broken from generations past.
[11:35] And I think God is looking for a people that are just humble, faithful people that will stand and believe His Word and say, God, all of these things, this was your idea, and use us to come back to and live out what you have planned and what you have purposed.
[12:00] And there's, you know, I'm sure there's many other areas that are, I believe, that are going to be restored in the church. And to me, if that wouldn't be true, what would be the point of me going around preaching?
[12:20] If we're going to end up in the last days, right at the coming of Christ, we're going to end up just what we have here, then let's just kind of hold on and get in a bunker somewhere and try to hang on until the end.
[12:40] But I believe God is doing something, and I believe God is going to do something. He's going to do it with the people that believe Him and trust Him and obey Him.
[12:53] And that gives me hope. It gives me excitement to keep preaching, to keep believing, to keep walking with people that are looking and expecting.
[13:08] And no, even, you know, last night I asked, all of us know that, yeah, do we need a greater work in our personal lives? Yes, we do.
[13:19] But that's who God is. He's a God that works. He's a God that moves. He's a God that changes us. He's a God that comes upon us and convicts us and conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ.
[13:35] So there can be a great faith and a hope and excitement in these last days because I don't know if God's going to revive America, I don't know if there's going to be any other awakening or anything in America spiritually, some of the great awakenings from the past.
[13:59] I have no idea. But I believe He's going to awaken His church. I believe He's going to stir the hearts that are toward Him and after Him.
[14:10] I believe He's going to stir them deeply. And just light, I want to look at that song we sang. One thing I want to thank you, I don't ever remember hearing that song that Joe's dad wrote until I came here.
[14:28] And I completely love that song. I love that song. And went back and we actually learned it in the church in Trinidad.
[14:42] But I want to look at the words, some of the words. Somehow your dad, he experienced something, he knew something.
[14:54] There was something deep happening in your dad, Joe. He knew what it was to have that fire burning in his heart. And that fire that burns, that is the presence of Christ and His Holy Spirit in our lives, that will burn out and take care of the lukewarmness and just the seeking for the easy life that many times we seek after.
[15:28] I was, just couldn't believe how much of what was in that song is in my notes today.
[15:39] And I never thought, I never thought of that song at all in regards to this. So anyhow, before, I'll get too sidetracked here, but let's just look at some of these scriptures.
[15:52] Mark 1, 8. And I know that you, I know that we all know these scriptures. But, this is John the Baptist speaking here.
[16:05] And it says, I indeed have baptized you with water, but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Acts 1, 5.
[16:21] And you might have questions, and I don't know, maybe I should open it up at the end. If you have questions, I am, I'm, I'm totally fine with honest questions.
[16:36] But I want to try to just go through this and explain a little bit what I believe the scripture teaches about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, receiving the Holy Spirit.
[16:48] Acts 1, 5. Jesus said this then, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.
[17:06] And we know that Jesus said that right before He was ascended on high, up to the Father there. Okay, I just have some questions here.
[17:20] Is the baptism with the Spirit the same as being born again? Does it happen all at one time? Is it, and these are just common questions.
[17:32] Is it the same thing? Is it, is it a, does it happen at a different time? Is it a different work? I want to try to answer some of these questions tonight. Don't we receive, the question is asked, don't we receive the Spirit at the new birth?
[17:52] So then what is this thing about receiving the Spirit since you believed or the baptism of the Spirit? Is the Spirit's work in my salvation the same as His work in bringing the fullness of God and empowering us for service?
[18:17] Okay, let's, let's turn to Acts 19 and I'll just read the, I'll just read the, where I took that, the title of my message.
[18:36] Acts 19, 1 to 6. It came to pass that while the apostles were at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast came into Ephesus and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
[18:51] And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, unto, unto what then were you baptized?
[19:03] And they said unto John's baptism, which was a baptism of repentance. Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the, oh, it says that here, baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on Him that should come after Him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
[19:19] When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
[19:31] And all the men were about twelve. Acts 8, 12 to 17. But when they believed, this is, this is when Philip went to Samaria.
[19:51] But when they believed, Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God. Okay, one thing I, I don't want to take a lot of time with this because I want to get to the main part of my message.
[20:03] passage. We know that when Paul met them, somehow, it says they were believers, and I think it says they were disciples, but they were somehow baptized only under John's baptism.
[20:19] So, you know, I'm not sure what all that was about or whatever. Paul baptized them in the name of Jesus and then prayed for them.
[20:29] The Holy Spirit fell on them. Here, Philip did preach in Jesus' name and they did believe the, the, the, the, they did believe in Christ.
[20:42] Again, read here and try to, I know, I know I'm not a, necessarily a good Bible teacher, but try to follow along in the scripture and follow along with my thoughts if, if, if you would.
[20:57] But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Christ, Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself also believed when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and the signs that were done.
[21:18] Read on here. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
[21:32] For as yet he was fallen upon none of them only that they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. I think that's as far as I'll read there.
[21:46] And then chapter 9. Verse 15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way.
[22:01] And this is, the Lord showed Ananias when he was praying for Saul which was later, which was called Paul. The Lord said unto him, Go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
[22:24] And Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
[22:41] That was Paul's experience. Let me just pick up a few others in Luke chapter 24.
[22:53] And I guess my question is, or maybe your question is, do we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit when we're truly born again?
[23:07] I want to try to answer that. That's why I read these. Obviously, what we read so far, the people were believers, they were born again, but they didn't.
[23:23] Later on, then they received the Holy Spirit. So let me just answer that. I personally believe that it is possible to be born again and to be filled with the Holy, baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit as almost a simultaneous or experience.
[23:47] I think that would be, it would take a lot of confusion out of some of these, of this subject if that was the faith that we would have and the confidence that we would have in the work of Jesus Christ in us that right after, and I think this is what God had planned, has planned, right after we were born again, we were also, right thereafter, we were also baptized with His Spirit.
[24:22] In Luke 24, verse 52 and 53, and they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with where, no, that isn't, oh yeah, okay, it is, came to pass while He blessed them, He was, well let me read 15, He led them out as far as Bethany and He lifted up His hands and blessed them and He came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.
[25:01] And the reason I read that is that's obvious at this point that the disciples were born again believers. They were worshiping God, Christ revealed Himself, they believed now in the cross, they believed in the resurrection.
[25:18] in John 20, verse 19, verse 19, verse 19, verse 19, verse 19, verse 19, 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, then came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
[25:44] And when He had said so, He showed unto them His hands and His side, and they were, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said unto them, Peace be unto you, as my Father has sent me, even so send I you.
[25:58] And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
[26:11] So obviously the disciples were, they were believers, they had received, I believe this scripture brings out the fact that Jesus breathed on them and they had received the Spirit of God unto salvation.
[26:32] There's no one that can be born again without having, receiving the Spirit of God in their life. So let's, that's, I think the scripture is very clear.
[26:47] You have to receive the Holy Spirit in your life to be born again. But is that the same as being baptized in the Holy Spirit?
[27:00] That's the question. And then Acts 2, 1 to 4, we know this, but I'll just read this quickly.
[27:13] So Jesus had breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. And then after He was ascended, well, when He ascended, He told them to go to Terry in Jerusalem.
[27:26] And then, how long was Pentecost after the ascension? After the resurrection?
[27:40] Wasn't it 50 days after the resurrection? Or was that after the Day of Atonement? I should have looked that up. I don't know. 50 days.
[28:03] And when the Day of Pentecost was 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 all the house where they were sitting.
[28:14] And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as fire. And it sat, upon each of them. And when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and so on.
[28:29] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak. Okay. There are two ways that we live as Christians.
[28:44] The one is that we experience something of the work and operation of the Holy Spirit. And again, if you have not experienced any of the work, the drawing, or the operation of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, I don't know how, it's impossible for you to be born again.
[29:07] Because the Spirit is an agent in us receiving the life of Christ. and He makes, He bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God.
[29:23] That's the work of the Holy Spirit. To verify to us and to give us the confidence in God and in the work of God in our lives that we do have Christ in our life.
[29:37] That we have been born and become new by the work of God, by the Spirit of God, yeah, by the Spirit of God and the work of the blood and all of, you know, the work of Christ in our lives.
[29:54] So, okay, the one way we experience something of the work and the operation of the Holy Spirit, yet we do not receive Him as they experienced Him at Pentecost, or the Spirit that comes in His fullness upon us as the personal indwelling presence or guest that has come to abide permanently in the heart.
[30:22] So, again, I want to clarify that. If you're born again, you have received the work of the Spirit, but not necessarily in the way that He has just come to live in you forever.
[30:37] and you're just, you're just, that's just so real to you. The other way that we live, and as Christians, as believers, is the abundant life in which the Holy Spirit's indwelling is known and the joy and the power of what God has brought to us in Christ are facts of personal experience and not only just something we know in our head.
[31:04] there's two primary ways that the Holy Spirit works in us or in man. His first work is to prepare us in which He simply acts on us.
[31:20] He convicts us from the outside. Something, we feel something of the Spirit. We know that something's not right in our lives. We know that we're not right with God.
[31:30] That's the work of the Spirit working on us. But it does not yet take up His home within us, though leading us to conversion and faith and drawing us to what's right and holy.
[31:45] And again, the second is a further and a deeper part of His work. When we receive Him as the abiding presence and person, the indwelling person whom He has given whom we have given the right to take and assume responsibilities for our whole inner being, working in it both to will and to do of His good pleasure as the Scripture says.
[32:16] This is what He has been provided for us in the new covenant, that He would work in us, that He would be the abiding person in our life that we're very aware of and have experienced.
[32:32] In the one experience, we have received a measure of His work and presence in our lives and can testify to His working, drawing, convicting in our lives.
[32:46] In the other experience, we know the Holy Spirit has us and is able to do as He wills in and through us. And this is an aspect that I felt like the Lord opened up to me in kind of a new thought in the whole thing of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[33:16] Sometimes we think of it only in terms of we receive more of Him. and, you know, I think it talks about being filled.
[33:29] I think there is a measure that I think that is a certain truth. But I think the other truth that we maybe fail to see in the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that we come to a place that He now has us.
[33:46] That He, we, we are in His hands. and when I seen it in that light, I don't know, it just, I just, it just opened up to me.
[34:03] There's many, there's many times people have, have testimonies of having been baptized of the Holy Spirit and I think they've received an experience from the Spirit, they've received maybe an emotional experience and maybe, maybe a spiritual experience.
[34:23] But if you see the fruit of it in a month or two, it's like, does the Spirit have them? Is He doing what, is He able to do what He wants to do with their lives?
[34:40] And I think that's a, there's a measure of something there in the whole teaching of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that we've missed.
[34:57] When we receive the baptism, the filling of the Spirit, there should be this element that the, we have yielded our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit like we never had before.
[35:13] That He is now in charge, He has come to live in me. He has come to live Christ's life out in my life, through my life. Again, I wrote here in my notes and I don't even, maybe this isn't even right theology, I don't know.
[35:34] I guess you can challenge it. But when we receive new birth, we have the Holy Spirit. When we, when we are baptized in the Spirit, He has us.
[35:46] We have given ourselves over into His hands. And He, He has our life to live out according to His pleasure, according to the will of God, and to conform us to the image of Christ.
[36:05] in John 14, 17. Even the Spirit of truth, this is Jesus, verse 16, but I will pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter.
[36:23] Christ had been their comfort for three and a half years as they walked with Him and just been with Him all that time. But He says, He was telling them He's leaving, He's going to give them another comforter, that He may abide with you forever.
[36:39] Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him. Look at the wording here.
[36:51] You know this Spirit, for He dwelleth with you, and He shall be in you. So, there's just a dual work there in function of the Holy Spirit.
[37:08] The Spirit that is with us, but then also, the Spirit was already with the disciples, but now He is going to be in them. The Spirit, what the Spirit of God wants is to have free access in our lives that He can do as He wills through us.
[37:36] Let's look at a couple other scriptures in Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. verse 22, in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God.
[38:00] This dwelling place, this abode of God in us, this eternal abode of God in us, by and through His Holy Spirit.
[38:15] 1 Corinthians 3.16, I'll just look at a couple of these, but could look at some more. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
[38:34] 1 John 3, the Scriptures that bring out the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God that it's real.
[38:47] We know it's real. We know He's there. Like I was saying last night, there's times that we need to, we don't have the feeling of it, but by faith, we know.
[38:58] We know that He is there. We know that we have touched Him and He has touched us. He that, verse 24 in 1 John 3, He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him and He in Him and hereby know we that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us.
[39:18] And then 2 Timothy 1, I'll just read that one yet. verse 14. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
[39:39] It's so important that we know that we can honestly say, yes, I know that the Holy Spirit dwells in me.
[39:49] because that's the promise of the new covenant. It's the only way the new covenant can work fully that we can live in the fullness of what God has and live free from sin and live unto God the way He wants us to.
[40:10] The reality of God's Spirit dwelling in us brings this truth that it is His place, it is His home, it is His abode. That He has been given rights to our lives.
[40:31] That He brings the Lordship of Jesus to our innermost being. He is now the rightful occupier of this vessel. And that's just a glorious truth and why one of the reasons it's so important that we can answer this question, yes, I have received the Holy Spirit since I believe.
[40:57] Is Christ going to dwell in a vessel the way that or the Spirit occupy a vessel where this is His home, this is His dwelling place?
[41:12] if He's just given a back room or the spare bedroom or a little bit of recognition somewhere. That's not what He's come to do.
[41:23] He's come to take over our lives. He's come to bring us into the fullness of all that God has promised and provided for us through Jesus Christ.
[41:38] And if He's going to live in this home, then He must have the right to this vessel, to this life, to tell me how to live, to help me understand through the Scripture how I'm supposed to live, how I'm supposed to be.
[41:58] there's an aspect of the baptism of the Holy Spirit where we give over the ownership and the right to govern our own lives the way we want to, to the governance and the ownership of Jesus Christ as Lord and His Holy Spirit.
[42:22] I believe when that happens in your life, then the Holy Spirit, you by faith have said, I don't want to, I can't run my own life anymore.
[42:37] I can't walk in victory by myself. I can't live this Christian life out in the power of my own might and just what I was taught through my mind and through the church and whatever.
[42:52] God has provided in the Holy Spirit, one that would come and dwell in us and say, this, I will take your body, I will take your life, yourself, and I will make it my life.
[43:09] I will make it where I live, where, I will make it where I dwell. I will make it my abode and out of that then, we become an instrument and a vessel for God through the Holy Spirit.
[43:24] the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit are not something we do, and I think we try to do this at times, I know I have, it's not something we do because we have Him.
[43:47] so, okay, I know I have the Spirit, so I should, I try to bear fruit.
[43:58] I try to operate in a gift. Well, I have the Spirit, so why can't I prophesy? I have the Spirit, so why can't I maybe try a tongue here and there?
[44:13] that needs to come, whatever comes out of our life needs to come because He has us, and we have given Him the freedom to work through our lives according to what He desires and what He has planned for our lives.
[44:37] I remember, Dan, I'm sure you do too, back in Virginia.
[44:50] Were you there? Yeah, you would have been there, and the Spirit fell there. Were you there? Yeah. And I remember after that there was a lot of pressure on us by others and pressure we put on ourselves to try to operate in the gifts.
[45:07] And I remember how, I remember how, I don't know, it just didn't go.
[45:18] I mean, we were like, okay, you were filled with the Spirit, now prophesy or do something, you know, you should be doing something. And it's like, yeah, yeah, we were filled, we should be doing it, and we tried to do something, we tried this, and it didn't go anywhere.
[45:37] And I just, somehow when I seen this, God wants to do, the Spirit wants to bring forth His gifts and His fruit in our lives because He possesses us, because He has us.
[46:00] the pressure is not to try to function in the gifts. The pressure or the, I don't know, pressure isn't the right word, but it's just the word I wrote down.
[46:16] The responsibility, maybe I should say, is for us to be at a place of complete yieldedness and trust to allow His Spirit to do what He wills and wants in our lives.
[46:28] this place of brokenness, humility, surrender, having allowed the work of the cross to bring about the death in my will and wants is part of the crisis experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[46:49] I tell you, the Spirit of God will never fall where the cross of Jesus Christ is not doing its work. and bringing to death everything that we want and we want to see in our opinions and all of that.
[47:15] Again, the work of the cross, I think it's in the school of Christ. Clendenin says that the Spirit always works by the cross and always through the cross and he always works back to the cross.
[47:36] If the Spirit of God, I want to just ask you some questions here. If the Spirit of God would want to prophesy tonight here, would there be a vessel that would be humble enough and yielded enough to just stand up and prophesy?
[48:04] It's just a question that I felt like the Lord asked me personally, and I ask it to you. if the Spirit of God would want to bring a message in tongues and an interpretation in tongues, would there be anyone yielded enough and humble enough and broken enough to do that?
[48:34] That you would stand up and give a message in tongues, just somehow by faith, because the Spirit of God so possesses your life. If the Spirit of God don't want tongues, and this is where the Pentecostal, some of them, the circles and the charismatic, if the Spirit of God has no interest in bringing a message in tongues, would there be people there that would not give a message in tongues, because the Spirit of God didn't want it.
[49:15] Do you understand what I'm saying? Is the Spirit of God, does He possess our lives to such a point that we can just sit and be quiet when He has nothing to say?
[49:31] And we're totally good with that, because we just sense that the Spirit is not saying, He has nothing to say through, maybe through me or through you.
[49:57] In the baptism and the filling with God's Spirit, there's an invitation from us to Him that says, come and take my life, come and possess me for your glory, come use me exactly how you want to use me.
[50:16] I believe that is an awesome truth and reality to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Come, Lord, take over, come and possess this life for your eternal glory.
[50:44] In the baptism with the Spirit, unlimited access is given. We are done. We get out of the way and let God's Spirit have control of our life.
[50:55] And I just ask you again, have you received the Holy Spirit in your life in that way? Where you just say, God, everything I've done, everything I touch, I make a mess of.
[51:12] I give my life simply to you. You control. You take over. You direct my life. It's one thing to have, well, let me read Ephesians 3, and I know we know this good.
[51:29] Ephesians 3, 19. And to know the love of God.
[51:47] Now, this isn't the one I wanted, but to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. How is that?
[51:57] I was looking for the one in 518. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
[52:19] How do you not get drunk? He's given a command here.
[52:33] Be not drunk. And be not drunk with wine. wine. How do you, how do we obey that?
[52:47] By not drinking. By not drinking too much wine. You know, if somebody, if someone came in here tonight drunk, we're like, there's something, why did you come to church drunk?
[53:09] I mean, praise God, if a sinner walked in here drunk and found the Lord, that's totally fine. But we would know right away, we would know that's wrong because this is a command of God.
[53:25] But it's the same command, it's the same imperative that says, be filled with the Spirit. And we take fairly seriously, I think, I hope, the negative command.
[53:47] But how much does it alarm us if we gather together and our lives are not full of the Holy Spirit when he gave the command to be filled with God?
[54:00] Be filled. That's an action on our part. Be filled. Don't be drunk so you don't. If you want to get drunk, then drink wine.
[54:13] How do you get drunk? By drinking too much wine. How do you get filled with the Spirit? He says, be filled. It's not just automatic just because we're believers that we're filled with the Spirit.
[54:28] Otherwise, Paul would have never said, be filled. You take some responsibility in this. This is a command I'm giving you.
[54:40] A positive command to be filled with the Spirit. The command is in the present ongoing tense.
[54:53] The command is in the command. And I think this is another area where maybe years ago, those of us that have believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I believe this is an area where we have not followed, and I've not followed, just to be totally honest, the command of God, the command of Christ.
[55:32] Because we have, the tendency is to make everything on having the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and then not walking in that foley or not going on to just continually be filled.
[55:50] Because we've made that experience like the pinnacle, and now we have got that. I mean, isn't that somewhat true, James, Dan, some of you that have walked in this for years?
[56:05] And people maybe look at our lives, people look at my life, and where is the reality of being filled constantly?
[56:17] And what does that mean? Maybe at the beginning of the day, again, so much of this, we've made it an emotional experience.
[56:31] Maybe at the beginning of the day, just renew this thing. It's like, I don't want to run my life today. I don't want to do my own will today.
[56:43] I invite you, Holy Spirit, you have come to dwell in me. I invite you to direct me today. I invite you to guide my life today. I invite you to just continue to reveal Jesus to me today, even when I'm working and doing the mundane things of life.
[57:03] Just renewing the, you might not have any feeling or anything other than you've again, renewed your commitment to let the Spirit of God possess you and live his life through you as a believer.
[57:27] Again, as a command here, what is our attitude towards this? And how are we supposed to process this? Okay, let me just finish up here.
[57:43] Again, it's one thing to have experienced this for a time. It's another thing to continue to walk this way. We have walked in this need to be renewed in this.
[57:55] The baptism is the initial reality of this transaction where we are opening our hearts and our lives for him to come in and take over.
[58:06] The baptism of the Holy Spirit, I think, is just simply that initial transaction that we say, Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.
[58:21] Come and take over. Where we say, this is your life, this is your home, we are the guests. We're not looking for a certain emotional experience or manifestation, but for a spiritual transaction.
[58:36] there's people that have had the baptism of the Holy Spirit that had very little emotional manifestations at all, but there was a spiritual transaction, and that's what Christ is looking for.
[58:52] Spiritually, from your heart, you give your life, and Jesus receives that, and the Spirit receives that and says, yes, I'm welcome here, I'm welcome to live out my life through you, and there's a spiritual transaction, and that is something that's real.
[59:08] If it isn't a spiritual transaction, whatever the emotional part of it is has very little value. It has to be a spiritual transaction take place in our lives.
[59:19] Okay, let me close with Revelations chapter 1. I just want to look at this part, because again, this is, Wilmer Shank talked about this in the song we sang earlier.
[59:41] I'm not going to read, maybe I'll start in verse 20.
[59:53] Maybe I'll just read, maybe I'll just read verse 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
[60:14] Now let's go to chapter 4. What are these candlesticks? What does some of this mean? I mean, it says that the candlesticks are the churches, but a candle is there to have fire on it, to have a burning on it.
[60:33] In chapter 4, verse 5, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunders and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
[60:48] And I read that because one of the things that I see in my own life and I see it in the church.
[61:05] When the reality of the Spirit of God possessing us and using us and living in us, when the reality of a full surrender to the Spirit of God is not there, there's a coldness, there's a lukewarmness comes in, and there's a lack of fire, there's a lack of passion for Christ and the things of Christ, and we see that gets shifted to passions for, whether it's career or pleasures or so many things, so many Christians running after so many things, maybe it's even a passion for just some kind of an emotional experience, just running, trying to run to the latest fads or whatever, where somehow you get some kind of an emotional lift or adrenaline lift or whatever, so-called spiritually.
[62:07] One thing that must mark the true church of Jesus Christ is a passion and a fire burning in our hearts for Jesus Christ and for His kingdom.
[62:21] And that comes, that light that's on that candlestick, that fire that's burning on the candlestick, I believe is a type and the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the church.
[62:41] We've experienced, some of some of us, just the consuming fire in the early days that we had revival and being filled with the Spirit, the consuming passion and fire that filled our lives.
[63:07] When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I don't know if I ever shared my testimony, I'm not going to take time to share my own testimony with that. I had a crew of guys, we did mason work, I had a bunch of black guys working for me.
[63:28] We had a circus on the job almost every day. I loved those black guys. They were the craziest guys.
[63:38] they all had crazy nicknames. And when we worked, I mean, even the worldly crews were like, you are the craziest guy.
[63:50] You guys have more fun on the job than I've ever seen a crew. You know, we just, that's just how we were.
[64:02] And it didn't make the most business sense to hire all these black guys, but somehow I just love these guys and I love to work with them and teach them. And, but anyhow, when we, when I got filled with the spirit, went to work the next day, and all of that chatter and funny stuff and jokes and stuff going on, man, something inside of me, I just started getting heavier and heavier.
[64:38] And I was, all of a sudden, it's like, I've got to go be alone with Jesus. And I just left the guys and went out in the woods and just got down in the middle of the trees and just started crying out, worshiping God, praising Him, weeping before God, because He was so real to me.
[65:02] there was such a fire burning in me. I came back and the guys kind of looked at me like, what happened to you?
[65:14] I mean, I don't know that any of them asked me, but they could just see there was something. And after a while, I don't know how many times that day, I just, I just had to go out in the woods and be alone with God.
[65:26] And there was just such a burning. And I'm not saying all of our experiences are the same. I don't know, but that's how it was for me.
[65:36] And you can ask my wife. I didn't try to fast, but I was so, I felt so full and satisfied spiritually that I couldn't hardly eat.
[65:47] I'd sit at the table, I'd take a bite or two and I'd just push it away. I couldn't eat. Just like, I mean, I wasn't hungry.
[65:58] I was full and I was working. I mean, I was, I was working hard doing Mason work. And I know God, I know God withdraws some of that.
[66:13] Like you said, we still have to walk by faith. It's still a walk of faith, not feelings. But it lit a fire in me. that, and I, that I want, it isn't totally extinguished, but I know I haven't maintained it like I should.
[66:36] But church, the thing that should define us as God's people is a passion and a fire burning in us for God and his kingdom, for the things of God, instead of how big we can grow our businesses and all of the other things that end up taking over our lives.
[66:58] when the light and the fire goes off of the candlestick, I believe that candlestick is removed.
[67:25] the thing that the sign, and I know many times it's, you know, I know tongues was there at the initial, at Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit, but the sign was a cloven tongue of fire.
[67:47] A cloven tongue of fire. It was, was the sign of Pentecost, and that, it, yeah, there was tongues too, but I think we've made tongues the whole sign, or the whole Pentecostal movement, but that, that fire burning in the, burning in the Spirit, that, just that passion after God, that, that God wants to sustain us through whatever we go through in life, because that fire was, fell on the altar, that, that fire, that flame is lit deep within us somehow, and I know sometimes it seems very dim, but when God starts moving again, when we, you know, at times we get alone with God, all of a sudden that, there's just that burning there again, God, I want this passion for you, I, I read, I read this in a book I was reading a year ago or two, and I wrote it down,
[68:48] I just want to read it here in closing, this was Samuel Chadwick, how many have heard of him? This was back, he was actually a teacher of Leonard Ravenhill, Leonard Ravenhill, he was an old man, Leonard Ravenhill went to his school over in England, he was an old man of God that was passionate, this was before, so don't write this all, this was before any of the Pentecostal movements or the, or any of the charismatic movements, this is what he said, the supreme need of the church is fire, the one persistent prayer of them that cry and sigh for the fiery baptism of Pentecost, I think he wrote this maybe in the late 1800s, the baptism of the spirit is the baptism of fire, spirit-filled souls are ablaze for
[69:53] God, they love with a love that glows, they believe with a faith that kindles, they serve with a devotion that consumes, they hate sin with a fierceness that burns, he also said, the sign of a Christian church is not a crucifix, but fire, the token of the divine presence is the fire of the Holy Ghost, when we pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are praying that God will send through our nature, this searching, scorching flame, that it may burn up, that it may burn up in the heart and life, whatever is earthly and sinful.
[70:45] That's an evidence, that is what I mean, that is what comes out of a true baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[70:57] and I just encourage us to seek that, seek that in your life. maybe I'll just close with just offering us to surrender ourselves to God for his spirit to take over.
[71:30] Maybe you know you're born again, but you've never thought of it as, Lord, I give you my whole being for you to take over this being and for you to work your work through my being.
[71:44] And maybe you have, but it's something, again, we can constantly, maybe you have been filled, are you filled tonight?
[71:55] Are we filled tonight, even if we have been filled before? I want to just read what Dwight wrote. I just thought it was just so awesome.
[72:10] Lord, light the great fires of your love in my soul. Oh, kindle those burnings divine, and let your great spirit flow freely within to witness that Jesus is mine.
[72:25] O wonderful, wonderful Jesus, my Lord. O wonderful Savior divine. O wonderful, wonderful Jesus, my friend, the dearest that I may call mine.
[72:40] O fill me and use me and bless me, I pray, and grace all my life with your love that I may breathe humbly and boldly the truth that blazes your glory above.
[72:55] I just thought, wow, just thought that was so incredible how Dwight, or Dwight? Wilmer.
[73:07] I'm sorry, there's a Dwight back in Colorado. Wilmer, he knew something of that burning in it, and I think, I believe as an old man, what I've seen in your dad, there's still a flame in his life because that flame one day was lit by the Holy Spirit coming upon him.
[73:33] I don't know what his experience is, I don't know what his theology is, but when I meet a man like that, you sense that there is a fire burning in his heart, even today yet.
[73:45] I believe, and that is, to me, that is one of the great truths and realities of being filled with the Spirit of God. Do you have that?
[74:02] Do you have that burning, that passion? Do you get excited about the things of God? Or is it just, are you just going through life as a Christian?
[74:12] God? So I want to, why don't we just stand and just open ourselves to the Lord tonight? God you need to you and you you