Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast.
You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.
We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the
cross. Now let's join the service.
Do you believe you have the authority that Jesus has given
you? What a wonderful song we should
be singing that undefeated. He's given me the authority.
I speak and miracles start breaking out.
Man, if we really got a hold of that, we'd be speaking a whole
lot more, wouldn't we, brother? We'd be shouting.
We're sitting in the heavenly place undefeated.
And we may say, well, I feel like I'm a little defeated, but
you're not. You're not defeated.
The enemy wants you to think you're defeated, but you are not
defeated, Miss Jennifer. You're not defeated.
You're not. You're a child of the Most High
God. He's given you authority from
God to speak the word over situations.
That's right. Open your mouth, speak it out.
And this has nothing to do with what I'm going to be telling
talking to you all about. It's just, that's such a
wonderful song, man. I love it.
He's our champion and he gives. That's why we're called More
than conquerors, because he's fought the battle and he just
gives us a prize. It's so good.
It's so good that God just gives
us authority and He's our champion.
Praise God. Wow, everybody all right?
Loving this cold weather. It's almost Thanksgiving, right?
It's felt like I was driving here and I thought, what?
It's kind of chilly. It might be time to light the
fireplace. I just turned it off.
So anyway, so much for all of that.
God is good all the time. Yes, He is.
And He never fails us. Never fails us.
And I'm going to be talking tonight about, I hope this
doesn't put you all to sleep. In fact, I hope you get your
knife and fork out and chew a little tonight.
So what we're going to do is chew a little.
So we're going to talk about a holiday that's coming up and
it's not Mother's Day. Who knows?
It's not a holiday really, but who knows what's coming up after
Mother's Day. Stop.
Nope. Pentecost Sunday.
Pentecost Sunday on the 24th. This.
Don't go. Oh, don't you do that.
Pentecost Sunday. We were really should celebrate
Pentecost Sunday a whole lot more than what?
I mean, we don't even give it a a a mention usually.
Yeah, I don't even give it a thought.
Nothing. It's just in fact, I had to look
on my calendar and thought, well, when is it, You know, I
added it up, looked on Google, Google told me, OK, I got it.
Now just to make sure, we want to talk about Pentecost Sunday
and a little bit about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Holy
Ghost. So I will say both Holy Ghost
and Holy Spirit. That's just 'cause I can, I'm
old, I can say those things, but I'm going to, I'm going to do a
little trivia real quick and get this out of the way.
Because usually this is a big question, which is an
aggravating question, but it's a big question that a lot of
people talk about when you start talking about Pentecost and the
Upper Room and everything. Do you know what the question is
that everybody ask? How long were they in the Upper
Room? Do y'all know?
No, you don't know. I'm going to make this real
easy. OK, here we go.
Jesus showed himself. He was in the grave.
What, 3 days? He showed himself.
How many days after that? 40 days.
So that's 43 days Pentecost, which is the feast of harvest.
It's the feast of weeks, it's the feast of the first fruits,
and it's Pentecost, feast of Pentecost.
That happens 50 days after Passover.
When was Jesus crucified? Passover, 3 days, 40 days.
That's 43 days. Passover happens on the 50th
day. How many days were they in the
upper room? The seven days?
Exactly 7 days. What does 7 mean?
Complete. Perfect.
That's God's number. You think that's a coincidence?
Do you think they just happen to be in there for seven complete
days? Not at not, not, not at all.
God does not do anything by chance.
It's not a mystery. The Holy Ghost is not a mystery.
Pentecost is not a mystery. He explains it to us in the
Scripture if we take time to dig a little, get your knife and
fork out and dig a little. But the Holy Ghost is not a
mystery. None of that is.
God didn't intend it to be a mystery for us to not to be able
to figure it out. But we have to dig a little.
So I want to give you lots of scripture and you can take this
for what it's worth. But we discovered they were in
enough room. How many days?
Perfect number means complete number.
So we're going to look at that in just a minute.
But Luke 1113 and I've got all my scripture written down.
So I'll if you want to turn to it or write it down, I'll give
you a second. It says, if then though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask Him? So the holy our, our heavenly
Father is going to give us a gift.
Wow. What gift is he going to give
his children? The Holy Spirit?
Are you one of his children? Amen, everybody.
Yes. Is he just going to give it to
certain children? He don't play favorites, right?
So he does not play favorites. So acts of 1 and 13 if you will.
Now this is when they after the ascension, Jesus says y'all go
to the upper room and he says when they had entered they went
up into the upper room where they were staying.
Peter James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew,
Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and
Judas the son of James. How many is that 11 math class?
That's 11. So why is there 11 Judas
Iscariot killed himself right OK so these all I know the Lord was
from or Paul must have been somebody was from Texas.
These all continued in one accord in prayer and
supplication with do you see that with the women, Mary, the
mother of Jesus and his brothers, brothers, brothers.
Acts chapter 2 verse one says when the day of Pentecost was
fully come, seven, they were in one accord in one place and
suddenly, suddenly the day of Pentecost, the first fruits, the
feast of the harvest, the feast of weeks, whatever they wanted
to call it, that's what it was. Pentecost celebrated 50 days
after the Passover. Actually, that is 7 weeks are 7
Sabbaths and one day, OK, their Sabbath is on a Saturday, so
that's 7 Sabbaths and one day. That is why, in case anybody
ever asks you and people do, why do you worship on Sunday?
It's because that's the day when Jesus rose from the grave and
that's the day that Pentecost fell.
So the Lord does these things for us.
He shows us these things. Nothing is a secret.
Now why do they call it the Feast of Weeks?
Turn with me to Deuteronomy 16, verse 9, and we're going to read
through verse 11. Now this might take an extra
sharp knife to get through, but here we go.
It says you shall count 7 weeks for yourself.
Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you began to put
the sickle to the to the grain. Now that's important.
Underline that when you begin to put the sickle to the grain,
then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with
tribute to a of a free will offering from your hand, which
you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.
You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons
and your daughters and your male servants and your female
servants and the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger
and the fatherless and the widow who are among you.
Underline this at the place where the Lord your God chooses
to make his abide. That means his name abide.
It says his temple. OK, it's good.
Pentecost is not only the celebration of the new harvest,
it's also associated later on with the giving of the Torah at
Mount Sinai or giving of the Word of God.
These pieces all fit together. Why is that important?
It's because Jesus is the Word. We are all filled with the Word,
OK? Pentecost celebration was all
inclusive. You just, we just read.
Everyone was invited to take part of all of this.
This feasting. The Jews, the adopted people,
their servants, their slaves, the bond, the free.
Everybody was invited. Everybody brought their first
fruits of their harvest. OK, who's the first fruit of the
resurrection? Jesus.
He's the first fruit, the day of Pentecost was the first fruit of
the harvest of God. Now the last part of Deuteronomy
16, I told you to underline it says the place where the Lord
your God chooses to make his name live.
OK, abide. So what happened on Pentecost,
Not just the Speaking of tongues.
I don't want anybody to say, oh, they all spoke in tongues.
I don't want. That's not what we're going to
go for. God sent the Holy Spirit to not
just be with us, as Jesus said, but to be in US.
God makes his abode, his name, live in us.
That's why we be called Christians.
We are Jesus followers. We are known by his name.
OK, so on the day of Pentecost that that all took place just
bam like that, you know, God just puts it all there.
So not only did the people speak in tongues in the different
languages, different languages, but God sent his Spirit to be in
us, not to just be long side of us, but although he is.
But to appreciate the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we need to
understand what Luke was talking about in 11 Luke 1113.
And most people think of a gift as material.
When you say I want to give a gift, they all think it's
material. Well, God's going to give you a
gift. Well, oh, I'm going to get a new
mansion or I'm going to get a new car.
Not that's not what he's talking about Jesus teaching about the
Holy Ghost. He refers to the Holy Ghost as a
gift from God. He asked if any man, any one of
them, would give their child something bad if their child was
asking for food. Would you give your child
something that was harmful to them?
No, you wouldn't. So what makes you think the
Father would? He wouldn't.
The point is that if a natural father could would never
consider doing this, how much more would our heavenly Father
give what is good to his children?
Referring to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit is the most important gift you can receive
after salvation. That's the most important gift
that you'll ever get after you've received your salvation.
And the Holy Spirit plays a part and active part in that also.
So what does the Holy Ghost do? Well, everybody speaks in
tongues. No, He's your helper.
He's he. He keeps us straight.
He's a fact. He helps us to be effective in
our witnessing. He helps us to give boldness in
our witnessing. He helps us in our prayers.
You know, he, He provides our guidance when we don't know what
to do. Lord, I don't know what to do.
I don't know where to go. What is going on.
Lord, He'll guide you. He will direct you.
And if you start to go through the wrong door, He will slam
that door in your face sometimes.
And then if you decide to open that door anyway, then that's on
you. But the Holy Spirit will guide
us. He draws us to Jesus.
Jesus said nobody comes to me except the Spirit draws him.
Those are the words of Jesus. I've I've got it written down
here somewhere and I'm always getting out of my notes.
But he lives in us. He is not limited to time or
space, just like God is not limited to time or space.
That's just like when we, you know, the Lord says 1000 years
is a day and a day is 1000 years.
It's nothing to God. Time or space makes no
difference to God, makes no difference to Jesus, makes no
difference to the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost is not a the
it's not an it, it's a he, God the Father, God the Son, God the
Holy Ghost, our Holy Spirit, whichever you prefer to call
him. He is also the last
manifestation of God on this earth.
That's important to understand. The Holy Ghost is the last
manifestation of God on this earth.
Now when Scripture says that to blasphemy the Holy Ghost is an
unpardonable sin, right, it doesn't mean that the Holy Ghost
is higher than God. That's not saying, oh, though
you can talk bad about God, but you can't talk bad about the
Holy Ghost. Not come on folks.
The Holy Spirit is the last manifestation of God on this
earth. God the Creator created
everything, all of this great stuff for us.
God his Son came and died for us so that we can have a way to
heaven. God sent the Holy Spirit.
He sent him to live in US and to lead us and guide us.
And so the Holy Spirit is the last, so, so that blasphemy, and
I've had a lot of people worry about this is not just speaking
against something, it is an intentional rejection of the
Holy Spirit. Thereby, it's an intentional
rejection of God. So if the Holy Spirit is the
last manifestation of God on this earth, the thing that draws
you to Jesus for your salvation, then you reject it.
I don't want it. No, I'm do my own thing.
I'm going to do my own thing. And the Holy Ghost is wooing you
and drawing you and blocking you every way.
And you keep jumping over those roadblocks and you keep just
ignoring Him. That's the last opportunity you
will have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Is that making any sense? So He is the last manifestation
of God on this earth. So when you blasphemy or you
rebel, or you defy or you reject the Holy Spirit's drawing,
you're rejecting God Himself. And if you die in your sin, then
that's on you, not on God. Because God so loved us.
He didn't just love us, He loved us so much that He gave his Son
to die for us. He loved us that He knows our
very parts before we're even born, even in the secret places.
He knows us that intimately. He knows what I'm thinking
before I think it. That's how intimate God is with
us. So you know, when, when we
reject Him and you die in your sin, then you die in your sin,
not God's fault, not at all. The Holy Ghost shows us, brings
us to salvation by persuading us, enabling us to respond to to
God's grace. And I said John 6 and 44 is the
Scripture. I was going to say no one comes
to Jesus unless the Father draws him.
How does the Father draw him? Through the Holy Ghost?
OK, That's how we're drawn to Jesus.
Anybody come to Jesus? Because you decided one day
you're just going to change your life.
Make up your mind. I'm just going to.
I'm going to do it. I'm going to try out what these
people have got going on. I don't think so.
I think that sitting in a service somewhere or listening
to a song somewhere or hearing somebody give their testimony
somewhere and the Spirit of God was drawing you and you thought
I got to have some of that. I want that what that's about.
And the Spirit of God is wooing you and drawing you and loving
you and drawing you. That's when you come down to the
altar and you cry out to God and say, God, I'm a Sinner.
Not because you think you're a Sinner, but because the Holy
Ghost shows you you're a Sinner. OK, I, I, I want this to sink
in. I want y'all to see this, the
importance of the Holy Spirit of God.
It makes believers new creatures in Christ.
He also seals us unto the he's sealing us for salvation.
Let me, Ephesians 4 and 30, I want y'all to look at this.
Let me get a drink. And do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed for the day of
redemption. What's that day?
What's the day of redemption? It's the day that we may not be
around anymore. He has sealed us.
We have a seal of the Holy Spirit on your head.
If you're a child of the most high God and you've been saved
and you filled with the Holy Spirit of God, you have a seal
on your forehead. God can see it, His angels can
see it. Remember, if we're going to go
way back to the revelation part of it, God says tells the angels
to you can hurt the everything except the grass, the trees and
those who have my seal upon their forehead.
That's the seal of the Holy Spirit of God, sealed until the
day of redemption. Now, one hindrance, or as I call
it, an excuse for people who do not receive the baptism of the
Holy Ghost, it's because they've mistaken it that the experience
is not for everybody. Do you think that the Holy Ghost
came on the day of Pentecost was a coincidence?
No, God doesn't do anything coincidental.
It was right in line with God's plan.
Why? Because on that day all nations,
men and women, children, boys and girls, bond and free, were
gathered together. That was not a coincidence, OK?
The city was full of visitors, all from all different lands,
all different nations. The city was there.
Everyone was invited to the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast
of the Harvest or the Feast of the Week.
So whatever they wanted to call that, it was all four of those
names. It's got four names.
Actually, we know it as Pentecost and the Feast of the
First Fruits, you know. So everybody was invited.
They were bringing their offering.
It was a big deal. Everybody was there.
So in the upper Room there was more than just 11 people.
How many know who, how many people was in the Upper room?
Oh guys, a 120, a 120 were in the upper Room.
Out of 500 there was 500 people that Jesus said 500 Jesus
talking to him. He says y'all go to the upper
room and wait for the promise. Out of 500 a 120 went and they
were in the upper room and they were, they didn't know.
Do you think they knew what they were waiting on?
They just knew they were waiting on the promise of from God, the
the gift from God. They knew that they were waiting
on that. And so the Holy Spirit was
poured out on everybody who was gathered to their waiting on the
gift of God. They didn't know what to expect.
All they knew there was that suddenly a fire and a wind came
and they were all covered with a tongue of fire.
Acts 2, one through 12. We're going to read that whole
thing. Ready when the day of Pentecost
had fully come, they were all with 1 accord in one place.
They were all there together, just like we're here together
right now, worshipping God. Our minds should be upon the
Lord. That's what their minds were
upon their minds was what is God going to do?
How is going to God? You know Jesus and Can you
imagine all the thoughts they could have been having?
Think about it. And the Lord said, Go, wait.
So we're going to go, wait. And suddenly when the time was
fully come, there came a sound of heaven as a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and
one set upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy
Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as a spirit gave
them utterance. And there were dwelling in
Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and
we're confused because everyone heard them speak in his own
language. They weren't just speaking
Hebrew, they were speaking in everyone's language that they
and when they were all amazed and marvel saying to one
another, look, are not all of these speak Galileans unlearned?
They're just unlearned people. They don't know my language.
And how is it that we hear each in our own tongue in which we
were born? Parisians and Medes and the
Lemolites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judah, Cappadocia,
Pontus, Asia, I don't know. And all these other places,
Egypt and parts of Libya and adjoining serene visitors from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Christians and Arabs, We hear
them speaking in our own language the wonderful works of
God. OK, they knew what they were
saying, so they were all amazed and perplexed in saying one
another. What could this mean next?
Scripture just says that they were thinking they were drunk.
Then Peter stands up in verse 14.
Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, the one who wanted
to cut somebody's ear off, the one who was ready to fight at
the drop of the one who won. Well, I'm just going to go back
to fishing. You know when Jesus, I'm just
going to go back and fish. Peter that Peter stood up and
preached. He preached from Joel chapter 2
what was going to happen and what happened next.
Glad you asked. Verse 37 of chapter 2.
Now when they heard this, they, the people who were outside of
the upper room, not in the upper room, but outside of the upper
room, they didn't have doors and windows and air conditioning,
OK? So it was all open.
When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to
Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what
shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent
and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remissions of sin, and you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is to you.
Underline this. If you don't have this
underline, underline it anyway, for it is to you and your
children and all to those that are far off, as many as the Lord
our God will call. With which many words he
testified and exhorted them, saying, be saved from this
perverse generation. Then those who gladly received
His word were baptized that day. About 3000 souls were added in
one day in just a few hours from 120 people to 3120 people with
just one person preaching. What what happened if that all
got up and started preaching to these people and telling them
about God and what all of this meant.
And this is his gift from God, and he's going to change us and
he's going to, you know, do all of this stuff that I've just
already told you that the Holy Spirit's going to do for us.
Now, who is the gift of the Holy Ghost?
Who is this Holy Ghost? Joel 2 and 28.
You all know this. I know you do.
It shall come to pass afterward that I want you to listen to
this and underline it if you can, that I will pour out my
spirit on all flesh. Who's speaking here of God
through his prophet. He's saying I will pour out my
spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters
shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young
men shall see visions. And also my manservants and my
maidservants, I will pour out my spirit.
In those days, who's the gift for God's people?
You call yourself a child of God.
It's for you. It's not a mystery.
It's not something spooky like so many have made it into.
Man has really messed up a lot of stuff about the Bible
sometimes. That revival spread to Samaria
and including the House of Cornelius and Joppa.
Gentile's house. He was a gentile.
He wasn't even Jew Gentile. Thank God for that.
Then they went to Ephesus, and the physical evidence of
receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost is speaking in
tongues. While speaking in tongues is
symbolic of you yielding yourself to God, here I am Lord
and God. A sign of receiving the Holy
Ghost is speaking in tongues. Is that the only purpose for
receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost is that I can speak
in tongues? No, not at all.
There's much, much more. Because the speaking in tongues
did what? It got their attention.
It got the attention of all those people that were in that
town on that day celebrating, probably party in a little bit.
It got their attention. How do we hear this?
What do it's like when you're sitting in the service and the
preachers preaching right in your face?
He's got your number. That's the Holy Spirit, not the
preacher. That's the Holy Spirit of God
saying, you say this, you say this, you say this, and that.
God has put you in a right spot to hear what He wants his man or
woman to say, right? So that's what's going on here.
The fruit of the Spirit is speaking in tongues.
No, it's love and it's joy and it's peace and it's
long-suffering and it's kindness and it's goodness.
It's faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law. You can't be criticized for
that. And those who are in Christ have
crucified the flesh with his passions and desires.
The Holy Ghost will help you crucify your flesh.
He will. If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. Let us the verse 26.
Let us not become conceited. I'll say it again.
This is, I'm sorry, this is Galatians 5 and 26.
I skipped that part, didn't I? Galatians 5 and 26 right here
says let us not become conceited.
Provoking one another to envying one another.
What do you mean conceited? I can speak in tongues and I've
never heard you speak a word. I go to this church because we
speak in tongues and you don't go to a church that speaks in
tongues. Let us not, God told us.
Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, you know
to envy. Man, I wish I could do this like
Brother Lance could do it. I don't.
Yep. And Yep, not me.
God knows me. It goes on in verse Galatians 6.
It goes on to tell us that we're supposed to restore those who
have fallen. Oh man, only through the Holy
Ghost can we love somebody who has done us wrong.
You cannot love somebody in your own flesh that has done you
wrong 'cause our flesh wants to just get up and punch somebody
that oh, I'm sorry, that's just my flesh, right?
Y'alls don't want to do that. Sisters on Sunday night know who
I am. But it's only through the Holy
Spirit that we can love somebody that has done us wrong or
somebody who doesn't like us. You know, we can believe.
As believers, we walk in the Spirit.
As we walk in the Spirit, same Holy Ghost, as we walk in the
Spirit, we step by step, our life, our actions, our attitude
will be transformed by the Holy Ghost, by the Holy Spirit.
You cannot do it on your own. The Holy Spirit, he can be seen
in our lives by the way we relate to other people and by
the way we relate to God. Oh, he can be seen in our lives
by the way we relate to God. We're not supposed to take God
casual, Not at all. And the Holy Spirit of God will
tell you that. Now you can brush it off and you
can quit hear it, that kind of thing.
But God is not to be taken casual.
Yeah. Most Christians have learned
it's not easy to keep the old nature under control.
Has everybody learned that? That's why the Holy Ghost helps
us, helps believers to live a life that does not give into the
sinful nature 'cause our spirit wants to go and do stuff that
the Lord says don't go do. Everybody has a battle.
The Holy Spirit of God, that's why.
Who? That's the one that's saying
don't do that, don't go there. That's the Holy Spirit of God
living inside of you. You can reject him, you can push
him away and you can do your own thing because he's a gentleman.
He is not going to interfere, you know.
But a spirit filled life is marked by boldness to tell
others about God, about Jesus. It's marked by unity.
This church has great unity. I love it.
And compassion, great compassion that means you, you feel when
others hurt, you feel it. You're there for them.
You have compassion upon them. Living in the Spirit is also
characterized by a powerful ministry.
And as I wrote that down, I've written this three days, you
know, I read it, write it, rewrote it, make notes in the
pair. I do that all the time.
After I've written it, I rewrite it and then I make notes in the
sidebars. So I just did this today, the
notes and the sidebars that you're going to get here in a
minute. But living in the Spirit is
characterized by power. And when I say powerful
ministry, I'm not talking about preaching, singing, playing an
instrument. I'm talk about the boldness to
talk to your family, to talk to somebody else, the boldness to
say, where do you go to church? Do you?
I don't have a church. Well, let me tell you about our
church. Well, I don't want to offend
anybody. The Holy Spirit will give you
the boldness and once you step out and do it once and twice,
the next time it's not a big deal.
You just ask. You just start talking to him
and the Spirit of God will give you the right words to say.
He really will. You know, so when we talk about
a ministry, we're not just talking about the the three or
whatever it is, you know, I'm talking about the boldness to
talk to our families and to other people and someone you
really don't know. You know, we can't keep all of
this to ourselves because we will be held accountable, OK?
We cannot keep God's word to ourselves and the Spirit of God
will unction you anything. I want you to go talk to that
person. No, God, I'm busy.
I got, I got to go. I want you to go.
I want you to go here. I, I don't have no business
going over there. Lord, I don't want you know I'm
go there. He will unction you.
That's a ministry, people talking to people and you will
be held accountable when you stand before God could be
somebody's blood on your hands. And I hate to say that folks,
but it's the word. Is it not the word.
You be held accountable. Somebody's blood could be on
your hands. You could have told that person,
don't go there, come with me. They may be going out.
I'm going to go get drunk. I'm going to go do this and I'm
going to go do that. No, come, come with me.
Just come to my house and let's let's talk.
Let's you don't have to say come to church right away.
Just come. Let's be friends and the Holy
Spirit will unction you and He will talk to you.
That's a ministry to be able to talk to people.
And when the Lord tells you to do it, you better do it.
He works in us, in our attitudes, in our actions.
He's a comforter, He's a counsellor.
He comes alongside of us. I heard Jerry say that a minute
ago. He comes alongside of us.
He guides us through unfamiliar territory.
He helps us find secure footing. And I love this, even though I
wrote it down. He helps us to find secure
footing, and then he reaches back and helps us come along.
Can you get that picture? He's in here.
Take that step. Go there.
Go there and you're back here and you're going.
I'm scared. I'm scared.
And he says, here, come on, come on.
That's what the Holy Spirit of God does for us.
I love that. Isn't that a beautiful picture
of how he, he grabs, he reaches back to encourage us that you
can make this, you can do this. That's what he does.
Ephesians 5 and 15. I'm getting warmed up here
y'all. It says, see that you walk
cautiously, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time,
because the days are evil. Wow, wherefore be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of God is?
Or how can I understand what the will of God is?
The Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit will give you
understanding in his Word. And the next time you're asking,
you want to know how many people were in the upper room?
120 You want to know how many days they were in the upper
room? 7 Don't you look at somebody and
go so you know he will give you understanding of the Word and he
will help you. Now I'm almost done.
I just got a page and a half and it's all scripture.
So first Corinthians 14. What about tongues?
What's all that? Tongues.
You know, I'm not against tongues.
I speak in tongues, OK? I pray in tongues.
I'm not saying don't. I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying when you seek God, don't seek tongues.
Does that make sense? Seek God, seek God, seek the
Holy Spirit and he'll give you what you need.
Some of y'all are quiet and it scares me.
It's 14 and one it says pursue love and desire spiritual gifts,
but especially that you may prophecy prophecy.
Oh hear you people. Thus saith the Lord, prophecy
means to speak forth the message of God.
Speak forth, deliver God's word to people, to comfort them, to
strengthen them, to encourage them.
OK, prophecy means to speak God's words to somebody.
Doesn't mean you have to wear sackcloth and stand on the
streets and speak God's word. Prophecy speaking forth God's
word. For he who speaks in tongues
does not speak to men, but to God, for no one understands him.
However, in the Spirit he speaks mysteries, but he who prophecies
speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
Now I thought edification. What's that going?
What edification? It is the same thing.
It means to instruct somebody, to improve somebody, to
strengthen somebody. Same thing as I just said, to
edify them, give them understanding, give them
instructions, he says, and come. He who speaks in a tongue
edifies himself. But he who prophecies edifies
the Church. I wish you all spoke with
tongues, but even more than that you prophesied.
For he who prophesizes greater than he who speaks with tongues,
unless indeed he interprets that the Church may receive
edification. But now, brethren, if I come to
you speaking with tongues that I shall profit you, what shall I
profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by
knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching?
In other words, Paul is saying, I can come here and I can speak
in tongues, but you're not going to know what I'm saying.
You're not going to understand. So I'm not edifying you.
I'm not instructing you, I'm not building you up.
I'm just look, you're looking at me like a calf at a new gate.
What's this? You know, that's what he's he.
Like I said, he's from Texas. Verse 13.
Skip down to verse 13. Therefore, let him who speaks in
tongues pray that he may interpret, For if I pray in a
tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
What is the conclusion then? This is Paul.
I will pray with the Spirit, and I will also pray with
understanding. When you don't know how to pray,
the Spirit will pray through you.
He will pray for you and there's been a many a time, Lord, I
don't know what to say. And the next thing I know, the
Spirit of the Lord takes over and He's praying through me for
the situation. I know what the situation is and
it's just me and God and He's praying 'cause I don't know even
know how I mean. All I can think is kill him.
Lord no. So you know, that's, that's,
that's what he prays through US and that's scripture, guys,
that's scripture. I just didn't print it out for
you. But the Spirit of God, when you
don't know how to pray, the Spirit will pray for you with
groanings and murmurings. Sometimes all I can do and I
have done it before, it's just moan and groan and weep and cry
and go God, I don't know how to say I don't know what you're
doing. I don't know what's happening
now but he does and he's listening to my heart through
the Holy Ghost. OK that's what's happening.
It says where was I otherwise if you bless if you bless with the
Spirit and how will he is verse 16.
He who occupies the place of the uninformed, say Amen at your
giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you're
saying. 17 for you indeed give thanks well, but the other is
not edified. You may be having a good high on
time, but nobody's understanding a word.
And I got a story about that. I guess I'll stop right here at
verse 18 and I'm going to pick it back up.
Before I was born, which was a long time ago, my grandpa was a
preacher. And back in those days they did
little churches. They had no screens, they had no
windows, They might have even been in a brush Arbor, I don't
know. But they were in Oklahoma and
grandpa was preaching in the spirit of God came upon him and
he preached a whole message in tongues, which to the people
that was there they go. However, there was a car parked
out alongside the road and after the service was over, the people
in the car came up and said, how did you know how to speak our
language? And he said I didn't.
And he said I'm full blood Cherokee and you were speaking
perfect Cherokee. God can do that.
The Holy Spirit can do that.
Hallelujah, he can do that. So verse 17 is where I left off
right for you indeed give thanks well, but the others is not
edified. 18I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you
also. So Paul was a little bragging
here. Yet in the church I would rather
speak 5 words with my understanding that I may teach
others also than 10,000 in a tongue.
Brethren, do not be children in understanding, however, in
malice be babies, but in understanding be mature.
In other words, if you're hating on somebody, you're being a
baby. So let's be mature with our
understanding from God and the law.
It is written when men of other tongues and other lips.
I will speak to these people, and yet for all that they will
not hear me. They don't hear, says the Lord.
Therefore tongues are a sign. Oh, listen to this.
Therefore, tongues are assigned not to those who believe, but to
the unbelievers. Those people in that car sitting
on the side of the road got saved that night.
Now, I don't know the other people in the church, They
probably saw that, saw what was happening, so they were edified,
glorified Hallelujah too. But prophesying is not for
unbelievers, but for those who believe.
So when we're speaking forth the word of God and I'm doing
teaching like I'm doing now and speaking the word of God to
people, unbeliever could be sitting here in the service.
And unless the Holy Spirit is drawing them to us, not going to
get it. But the Holy Spirit can move in
such a way and he can He can touch that unbeliever person and
he can draw that unbeliever. The I know when I got saved, I
have no clue what the message was about.
I don't know if y'all do it. My experience when I got saved,
I don't know what the preacher said.
I couldn't tell you. All I know is that.
And then the music started playing and I'm going, I don't
know what song they sang. All I knew is I had to get up on
my feet and I raised my hands and the next thing I knew I was
talking in tongues. Just that quick.
He took a bad girl, drug addict, alcoholic and whatever, and
later something different, just like that, just like that.
So the Holy Spirit can do that. If he did it for me, he can
certainly do it for anybody else.
He can do that. That's what he wants to do.
So what happened on the day of Pentecost?
Unbelievers from all over the nation's heard unlearned people
praising God in their language. They were drawn by the Spirit
because they weren't just saying ABC and alphabet and somebody
else's language. They were worshipping God.
It says they were glorifying God, giving God glory and
speaking wonders of God. And they heard that in their
language. And they go, what?
What? These people don't know my
language, so they, well, let's go check this out.
And they did. And then Peter stood up and then
he prophesied. He spoke, spoke forth the word
of God and they said, what do we need to do to be saved, Repent
and be baptized? 3000 people were baptized that
day. Day one, the harvest had begun.
That's why I wanted you to mark all of that stuff is the harvest
began on that day. The word of God started
spreading like never before on the day of Pentecost.
Was it a coincidence? No, it was not a coincidence.
God had a plan. God did it, and he is moving on
us today. Oh, that we would just start.
Lord, what do you want me to say?
Lord, where do you want me to go?
God, how do you want me to pray? Holy Spirit direct my path, but
we don't do that do we got our own agenda.
I'm going to Walmart and I'm not talking to anybody and I'm going
home unless God puts somebody in your path and you go hey, how
you doing? I'm good.
You guys says go back and talk to him.
No, go back and talk to him. OK, how you doing and you talk
and you pick up A and you have to start a conversation and you
don't know what that person, God may say pray for them, but God,
I'm in Walmart, people will be seeing me.
Pray for them. That's what I was.
If I was God, I would sound like that.
Pray for them. That's what the Holy Spirit does
for us. That's what he does for us.
And like I said, it is the last manifestation on this earth that
God is going to have after this. There is no other manifestation
of God until Jesus comes in the clouds.
So if you reject the Holy Spirit of God and you've thought, well,
I don't want the Holy Ghost. I don't want the Holy Ghost
because I see some weird people. And honey, I have seen some
weird people too, but that's not necessarily the Holy Ghost.
I'll just say that right there, not necessarily the Holy Spirit.
When you can walk into a whole church and everybody's jumping
and hopping and nobody's, you don't know what's going on, and
then you leave just as lost as you were when you came.
That is not of God. I'll say that there they were
drawn by the Spirit. Two more verses, verse 23.
Therefore, if the whole church comes together in one place and
I'll speak with tongues, and there's none in those who are
uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of
your mind? What did I just say?
These people crazy, but if all prophecy and an unbeliever
uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by everybody, he is
convinced by all and thus the secrets of his heart are
revealed and so falling down on his face, he will worship God
and report that God is truly among us.
I hope this helps. I hope you are not offended by.
I worry about that Lord, I struggle.
I don't want to give this message.
There might be somebody in there that, you know, thinks I'm
against the Holy Ghost. No, I'm not, but I'm not just
for tongues either. I believe in speaking in
tongues. I do.
I do myself. I pray for people I don't know
what to pray for and I lay hands on and the next thing you know,
I'm praying in tongues. If there's a message given out,
do y'all remember? And I'll, I'll quit here in a
minute. Do y'all remember back in the
day when the church was going on and it was a song playing and
all of a sudden there was a holy hush fall over?
Everybody got quite just everybody.
Nobody told them to. And the next thing you knew, a
message in tongues came out. And then the next thing you
knew, somebody interpreted that tongue, but they knew that that
was from God. A holy hush.
When are we going to get hungry for more of that?
Pastor and I was talking Sunday morning about it.
We used to sit in the service. You couldn't sit in the service
if you were lost and undone without God.
You couldn't sit in the service where you just this is over.
You had one or two choices. You either went to the altar and
got saved or you left a Sinner. There was a drawing even for
children. There was a drawing for little
children. Maybe we need to start praying
and saying, God, send your Spirit to us again.
Send us your Holy Spirit, Lord. Help us, Lord, so that your
spirit will draw those who are longing for you.
Draw those that don't know you like we know Him, and next thing
you know, we're going to have a church full of people who are
saying I need Jesus and they're going to be getting saved.
Wouldn't that be awesome? Last time we, you know, you,
you, your church. Church is usually grown these
days by somebody leaving another church.
I'm going to leave this church and we'll come to that church
'cause I don't like that church. And then we come to this church
and I don't like this church. So they go to the next church.
But there's no drawing for this Sinner.
I long to see a Sinner saved. Thanks for listening to the
Cross Power Church podcast. May you know that true hope,
peace, and salvation can only be found in Jesus.
If you're near Campbell, TX, we would love for you to join us in
person. You can find service times at
crosspowerchurch.com.