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.
Appreciate that word this morning.
Amen. Kids can be dismissed if they
hadn't already any classes and good to be in the House of the
Lord today. I got AI got about 40 minutes to
preach a 2 hour message, so I got to get rolling.
How many is ready for the word? I declare to you what I preached
today. It's taken a lifetime to learn.
Half a lifetime. I guess I'm over the hill now.
I really don't know where I'm at, do y'all?
I feel young, I do young things and then I hurt like crazy and
then I go in there this morning to put some eye drops in my
eyes. I'm thinking about the eye drops
and I go in there because you know, the green grass is
growing. My eyes were itching and and I
grab a bottle of nose spray and I turn it up and I squirt in my
eye. Y'all don't do stuff like that
do you? Huh.
I was thinking about all these scriptures I got to relate to
you this morning and keep it in all chronological order where
you can understand it, which I don't believe helps us
understanding a lot. Others preach.
Amen. But so many today are
speculating. I imagine across the churches
today we're preaching on. I don't know the difference
between Iraq and Iran. I study in time, prophecy some.
I have an idea of what's going on, but you know, it seems every
year, you know, I remember Y2K was going to wipe us out.
It was going to kill us all. Every world was going to crash.
I remember COVID, I remember a lot of things in my lifetime
that was going to wipe us out. And guess what?
God's children are still standing.
The church is still strong, but I cannot changed the end result.
Every message that preachers speculate and preach on, God has
a will. God has a purpose.
God has a plan. Ultimately, evil be destroyed.
A new Jerusalem will fall down out of the sky and be set up on
this earth. And I want to be part of it, but
I tend to focus more on the here and now and what I can do.
I can't. I can't help what goes on in the
Middle East. I can't help what goes on in the
United States of America, but I can change where I'm at.
I can change. I can't change the things that
come my way, the circumstances of life.
Anybody figured that one out yet?
But I can change how I respond to them.
I can change how the enemy effects my life.
And in trials on the job around people, I can't equip myself by
putting on the whole armor of God.
Come on somebody and, and quench in the fiery darts that the
enemy fires at me every day. I can do that.
And God's got gifts that I can receive to equip myself.
He's got that. So I got to quit being ignorant.
And I titled this and I, I preached on this back in 2012.
I was a little younger then, but I titled it.
I'm going to add to it a lot. You know, it's just, it's, it's
cool to go back and see how much you've added and grown since you
preached it the first time and things you found out.
You know, I, I feel for Christians that never find any
new things out. They think that they were saved
and baptized and plopped into Pew and that's about the extent
of their walk. Hello, I've preached pretty
much, you know, I, I had my old preacher tell me one time he
said, man, everything's been preached.
If it's in that book, somebody's preached it.
You can almost count on it. He said, use what you want to
use a mine, I'll use what I want to use a yours because it all
comes from God. But yet as preacher, sometimes
we try to dig in, find new things and and many times we
miss what's already there in first Corinthians chapter 12 and
verse one, would you stand in the reading of the word?
How many want to be equipped? How many know that in this Bible
that we read the modern day church.
I mean, we just spent probably 10,000 on a new baptistry and I
I begin to read baptism is very important, but Jesus never
baptized his disciples did he got baptized.
So we know it is an important, but Jesus didn't preach on it
very much. Hello.
He said a man must be born again.
Jesus knew if you're born again, you would you would get
baptized, right? You would want to do the right
thing. He didn't focus on that.
He focused on the root probably. He said a man to enter the
Kingdom of heaven must be baptized.
Well, that'd be good. That would be great.
All I got to do is get dunked and I'm going to heaven.
That ain't what Jesus said. That ain't what John the Baptist
said. He said repent, for the Kingdom
of heaven is near and to get to heaven, a man must be born
again. And many people are.
They pray the sinner's prayer, they walk the aisle and they
have gotten water baptized. And then they're trying to fight
a fight that's already been won. And we are engaged in spiritual
warfare that we are not equipped to battle.
Anybody ever tried it without being equipped?
Many are trying it today. There's those here that are
trying it today because I don't have the spiritual walk figured
out. Hello.
So what did the Apostle Paul say about this?
Going to talk about spiritual gifts this morning.
And it's the very thing that Satan tries to keep the body of
Christ confused about. And I titled this back in 2012.
The the inability say that with me, the inability I am enable.
There's a lot of Christians that are enable to resolve unresolved
issues concerning spiritual gifts.
Can I say that again, that's a lot a lot of Christians are
enable. They have the inability, they're
not able to resolve the unresolved concerning spiritual
gifts. And I'm going to bring this on
home, the church and the denominations in the United
States of America. We learned last Wednesday night
there's 45 to 47,000 denominations that think they
got it right, but very few of them operate in the gifts,
right. Very few of them want the gifts.
They want their little setting. They want to be happy with their
few on the Pew and they want to just come to church and feel
good about the way they lived their life that week and get a
little tingle down the spine and maybe a little tear.
But that's not what the apostle Paul describes.
This Christian walk ass. Let's look at what he said and
I'm going to come back to 12:00. I'm going to be all over the
place. But he said in in first
Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 1, he says now concerning
spiritual gifts, brother, I do not want you to be ignorant.
Say that with me. Brother, I do not want you to
look at your neighbors that I want you to stop being ignorant
about this thing. There's nine of them and I can't
even name nine of them. How can I receive something that
I cannot name? Right?
So we're ignorant of spiritual gifts.
We don't know what they mean. The, the, the modern day church
when they say spiritual gift, they say, oh, they're going to
pray in tongues. It's so much more.
Oh, they're going to heal somebody.
It's so much more. Oh, they're going to discern
something. It's so much more.
Somebody's going to give a word of prophecy.
No, it's so much more. Hey man, and I want to look at
what Jesus said about this. Will you help me today
concerning spiritual gifts? I do not want you to be
ignorant. Father, we come to you today.
We thank you for your word. You think.
We thank you that it's real. We thank you that it's life
giving. We thank you for the abundance
of mercy and grace that we feel in this place.
We pray today that the gifts would fall upon us spiritually,
physically, financially, mentally and every aspect of our
life. God as we as we bring our spirit
in total surrender to you today I ask for the anointing to
preach the gospel one more time. In Jesus name we ask and pray.
Amen. So see, if we're ignorant
discovering 1's spiritual gifts, it really shouldn't be as
difficult of a process as we make it.
But I find that many people don't want any gifts.
I don't know why. I know preaching the gospel, I
need them all. But it's probably due to a lack
of knowledge. The apostle Paul said it.
He said it's due to a lack of knowledge because we're
ignorant. When Jesus spoke of it, people
got real ignorant. They started throwing religion.
You can't throw religion at something spiritual.
It will bounce off. Can I say that again?
You cannot throw religion at spiritual.
It will bounce off John chapter 16, Jesus explain this and I'm
going to try to cover this the way it is in Scripture.
Holy Ghost, help me that you can understand it that it will
simplify the gifts of the Spirit in your life that you would
reach. That is my goal today for
something deeper than what you have.
How many need something deeper than what they have today?
Amen. Well, God's way deeper than you
can ever get, so don't ever think you can arrive, but I want
something deeper than what I have today.
Amen. And in John chapter 16, and
Jesus says these things in verse one, I have spoken to you that
you should not be made to stumble.
They will put you out of the synagogue.
And the time is coming that whoever kills you will think
that He offers God a service. We're seeing that.
And these things they will do to you because they have not known
the Father nor me. But these things I have told you
that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of
them. Maybe it's not happening right
here around us, but it's happening in the world.
There's there was 50 some odd thousand I think was the number
killed in another country this year for preaching and and
speaking the name of Jesus. But these things he said I did
not say to you at the beginning because I was with you.
We could Fast forward that and he could say these things you
did not receive at salvation because because you wasn't ready
for the meat of the word. Amen.
I've never seen so many Christians today that get saved
and accept the blood of Jesus for for the forgiveness of their
sins. And then they think they're
automatically up here and have everything.
So what did Jesus say? He says, but I'm fixing to go
away to him who sent me and none of you asked me where you were.
Where, where am I going? I've told you I'm going away,
and none of you seem to be too concerned about that.
But because I have said these things to you, Saul has filled
your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it is to your advantage you have to get this Scripture
to get the rest of the gifts and everything else about it.
I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.
For if I do not go away. OK, now wait a minute.
The greatest thing that had ever happened to planet earth was
Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary and the grace that was
supplied in the Atonement, right?
That was the greatest thing. But Jesus said it's fixing to
get better if I go away. Man, I bet they were scratching
their heads. But he said I'm going to go away
to heaven. You've already prayed the
sinner's prayer. Many of you have been water
baptized. You have seen me raise the dead,
you've seen me heal the sick, you've seen me do it.
But now that I'm going away, there's something that's going
to come to you. And God's children don't
understand that today. They do not understand that you
can go to church after church to hear the message that I'm
preaching to you today. And I'm going to tell you, you
won't hear it very much. You might hear portions of it,
but I'm going to lay it all out. He says that I have to go away
and it's to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go
away, the helper will not come to you.
Why was the cross so important to Jesus?
Why did he look He could look beyond the cross.
He could even look beyond the old borrowed tomb.
Maybe you're in a tomb this morning and the doors and the
and the and the stone is rolled against the door and it seems
there's no way out. Do like Jesus did look beyond
the tomb. A man he said, I'm going to die.
I'm going to lay my my life down for you, but in three days I'm
going to pick it up again. I'm going to go to hell and get
keys to death, hell and the grave.
And then I'm going to go away. And there's a lot more fixing to
happen. He said for a fact, if I do not
go away, the helper will not come.
Jesus makes a transition here. He's telling you that it's not
my job to help you. It was my job to forgive you and
die for you. But we cried all these sins to
Jesus. We confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us. But he says here, if I depart, I
will send him. And Jesus wasn't talking about
himself. But here's where we get real
confused because he's God the Father, he's God the Son, he's
God the Holy Spirit. Quit getting confused.
I just explained it. He's God the Father, he's God
the Son, he's God the Holy Spirit.
He's three and one, right? He's 3 and 1.
Nothing confusing about that to me, but a lot of people are very
confused about it. For if I do not go away, the
helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him
to you. Here's where it gets good.
When he has come, he will convict the world of sin.
You know, when you do wrong and you feel it, that's not Jesus,
that's the Holy Spirit, right? He said when he comes, he's
going to convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment and of sin because they do not believe in me or
righteousness, because I go to the Father and you see me no
more of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.
And he says I still have many say many things to say to you,
but you cannot bear them. Now, how many is ready to bear
them? However, when He, the Spirit of
Truth, has come, He will guide. This is why people don't want
the Spirit is because it begins to guide you into all truth.
That's where change takes place. He will not speak on his own
authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He
will tell you things to come. Boy, that'd be cool, wouldn't
it? He will glorify me, for He will
take of what it what is mine. Imagine He's taken from what
Jesus has, and He's declared it to you.
All things that the Father has are mine.
Therefore I said that he will take of mine and he will declare
it to you. Isn't that awesome?
And then when the end we we go on up in Scripture.
When he left the disciples, he did something that that was
really unique. He had already told them this
was going to happen and he said, now I'm leaving you.
And he said receive the Holy Ghost, receive it.
Wait a minute. The disciples were saved, They
were baptized, and that's all you need.
Why did he blow upon them the mighty rushing wind of the Holy
Spirit? And he said, receive the Holy
Spirit. What happens after?
Don't worry. I don't care what happens after
that. I just want it.
Hey, man, I don't care how I talk.
I don't care how I walk. I just want that truth in me,
right? It does.
The rest doesn't matter because he just took the truth, the
counselor, the helper and he took of what is God the Father's
because he's sitting at the right hand and he dropped it
down on me right And then in Acts chapter 1 in verse four, he
told him go to Jerusalem. Adam blew up on you.
You received it, but now you're going to act in it and you're
going to respond to what the Holy Spirit does when it came in
Acts chapter 1 as a mighty rushing wind and set up on them
as cloven tongues of fire, and everybody's still astonished at
the tongues of fire, but yet they believe in salvation.
Well, the greatest saving gospel grace that was ever preached was
right after that Peter that had denied, stood and preached, and
thousands were saved. The Holy Spirit had came, and
many say it with me have been ignorant ever since.
See seven times Paul uses this phrase.
Do not say it with me. Be ignorant.
And three of those seven really effective.
Some of them are about Jerusalem, some of them are
about end times. But three things that the
apostle Paul warned the first Corinthians 12 it was regarding
spiritual gifts #1 which we need.
And the other one that Paul referred to I want to pull out
this morning was First Thessalonians 4 and 13.
It was regarding death and in second Peter three and eight, it
was guarding God's respect his his perspective on time.
So, so spiritual gifts, death and time are very important.
This word ignorant, it comes from chigaha, Hebrew word, which
means an act done in ignorance. It could be accidental.
We didn't mean to do it, but we didn't know any better.
Christians don't mean to deny the Holy Spirit, but many don't
know any better because they have not been taught.
Do you have proof of this pastor?
There's a church in Lakewood, Texas.
A man named Joel Osteen pastors it.
His dad, John Osteen, his, his father started it.
And John Osteen tells a story. And I know a man that knew him
personally that attended his church when it was in a feed
store, like we started here and, and he grew it into what it
really is today. But, but it was based upon this.
He was a Southern Baptist preacher.
He had been to the convention. He had learned everything they
taught him and he preached the gospel for 30 years.
I got books in here. If anybody wants them, they're
about 30 pages. And it will really help you
because I can't tell you what it's like to preach and serve
God without the Holy Ghost. I've never done it.
I received received it at 17 years old after I was saved at a
young age and I have not operated without it since.
But it's cool to hear a man that preached the gospel for 30
something years and he said I love those people.
I love those people and I could go to name in the churches now
that don't operate in the guilts of the Spirit.
They're mainstream denominational churches.
I'm not going to name them all because I would miss most of
them, but they do not operate in the gifts of the Spirit.
He said that I love those people.
They had taught me everything they knew.
But he said after 30 years of preaching from the pulpit with a
mic in my hand, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and
with evidence of speaking in an unknown tongue.
And he said my life has never been the same.
And he wrote this book of hindrances to not receiving the
Holy Spirit because we were ignorant to it.
So let's roll on with this. But see, there's a lack of
knowledge. Paul faced this as we go to Acts
chapter 19, verse one through 6, and I'm going to paraphrase, you
can read it at home, but Paul was passing through the upper
regions of Ephesus and he come up on some disciple that that
word really got me. They said, he's some disciples
of Christ. And Paul walks up and he he
says, hey, you're a disciple. I see that you know Jesus, I see
that you've been baptized. But he said, what I want to
know, did you receive the Holy Ghost?
He said, have you received the Holy Spirit?
This is what the Apostle Paul that we claim all of his
writings, that the church claims all of his writings, and we love
some of them, but we seem to leave this one out.
He said, I know you're saved, I know you're baptized.
That's two. But he said, have you received
since you believed? Why don't you let scratch in
their head, have you received since you believed?
Say you've been forgiven, but have you received?
I've been forgiven, but have I received?
And he asked these people, He said, they said, Oh yeah, we
received John's baptism. They thought up what their works
had done. And he said, and he asked him,
he said, what baptism were you baptized in?
They said John's baptism. Jesus.
Paul said this, that John truly baptized with a baptism.
Say it with me of repentance. And then it goes on to say that
Paul laid hands upon them. Go home and read today in Acts
19 and they received the Holy Spirit and they begin to speak
in unknown tongues. Paul laved hands on save people.
So that's a big flag for me that there's more than just being
saved in this Christian walk. Not saying it's not enough, but
there's days that you're down, there's days that you don't know
which way to turn. There's there's jobs, there's
careers, there's things that Christians get hung up on and
and try to control their self simply because we're ignorant
concerning the gifts of the Spirit in first Corinthians
chapter 2, nine and six. Let's read this.
I'm going to slow down more read.
I may not finish this today, but first Corinthians chapter 2,
verse 9 through 16 it says, but as it has written, I has not
seen nor ear heard. See the church is good at
thinking they've seen it all seen in the miracles of God.
Boy, I thought I've seen it all before that got to tell me to do
something. I'd do it and he'd just blow the
socks off. Hey man, he just do something
great, something powerful in my life or someone else's life.
I look around, I see miracles everywhere of God, eyes not seen
nor ear heard, nor is it entered into the heart of man.
The things which God has prepared for those who love him.
What did Jesus say we would do if we loved him?
He said you'll keep my commandments.
Didn't say you cast out demons because you love him.
He said if you love me you'll keep my commandments.
I'll cast the demons out right. Let's go on to that next verse.
But y'all ain't getting this this morning.
Y'all want to dive in? You ought to be just like a kid
after a pacifier this morning. But God has revealed them to us
through a dignified preacher sitting in the Pew.
He's he's revealed them to us through Bible studies.
He's revealed them through us, through the everybody wants to
order a pamphlet and let's get something to teach out of where
we have a curriculum to go by. I had old preacher tell me that
one time he said I quit order them after 15 years of ministry
because every seven years they repeat.
It's the same thing. Every church doctrine, every
Sunday school book, the sacred cow, I call it, it repeats after
seven years going to teach the same thing.
Why not let God something do? He said I got a new thing for
you today. My mercies and blessings are
fresh every day, but God has revealed them through US.
Say we're looking for it everywhere else.
Besides through the Spirit, we're looking to conquer this
fleshly walk every other way. By a book that Rick Warren
wrote, By a book that Joel Osteen wrote.
And that will not do it. It will only happen by the
Spirit. I think I'll write a book about
the Spirit. Amen.
Through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all
things. Whoa.
I like that. It searches it well.
It's going to get deep. The spirit searches all things.
The hatefulness that's inside of you.
The unforgiveness that's inside of you and you can't if the
Spirit searches you and you hold on to it, guess what happens?
This Holy Spirit that I'm talking about operating in this
morning, it just skips right over you because God says he's
not willing to give me that. So I can't show him things to
come. I can't give him everything.
Yes, he may be saved, but he's got what do we call them hang
ups or we go to the counselor and let the counselor tell us
it's OK to have it and and no, it ain't OK.
I don't do counseling. People figured out I will, but
it comes from the word. I don't tell you it's OK to do.
I set across from a guy counseling one time and the Holy
Ghost told me he said ask him how much he's spending on weed a
week. He's whining about not having a
car. I didn't know the man that come
to church twice. We sit right back there, but I
know the voice of my God. He said ask him how much he's
spending on. I said God, is that you?
He said yes it's me and I said how much you spending on weed a
week? He looked at his wife and she
looked at him and I said what about cigarettes?
How much you spending on cigarettes?
And we added it up. I handed it to him.
I said you could be driving a brand new one so don't wind the
God. It's not God, it's the weed who?
But it's OK, it's natural. Still taking your money, still
keeping you from being what God wants you to be.
Had somebody one time called me and said, preacher, do you think
you're closer to God when you're high?
Because I'm witnessing to this lady and she said happened,
didn't it? I just feel closer to God when
I'm high. I said, well, I guess you're in
a spirit world, but it's not That's what I told you, what I
said. It's not the Holy Spirit.
I got to get back on this for the spirit searches all things I
like that towards the Bible said all things my little hang ups
how I respond to my wife and I just squirted nose spray in my
eye and she's asked me if I put clothes in the hamper.
That's all things I'm not worried about the clothes when I
done squirted this vape venom, whatever that stuff that what is
it called Vicks in my the burning stuff in my eyeball.
I'm not worried about no clothe boy.
I said oh Lord help me why because the spirit searches all
things he goes on and says yes, the deep things of God.
I like it. Church don't know any.
Most churches, they don't know anything about the deep things
of God. I preached one time.
I was preaching about pay, one of the 1st.
I'll never forget the first time I really preached in the church
behind a pulpit which God had been getting ready for years
before. I preached the way worse people
than church people. And that's pretty bad.
I don't know that they were worse now that I've been in
church a while. I used to think that, but but I
was. I was preaching about praying
and crying the same prayers over and over, never getting them
answered. And you might be praying out of
the will of God. You might need to change your
direction and not pray for that thing anymore.
Just give it to God. And that's a guy come down the
aisle. I was filling in for my pastor
and he come down the aisle. He's sitting at the back.
I'd never seen him. And he come up to me.
He said, I'm going to pray for you.
You're a young preacher. I said, yes, Sir.
And I need I wasn't. I mean, in my 30s, I'd preach
probably more sermons than he'd set to, just not in the church
setting. I was like, my God, I don't know
if I want part of these people. He said, I'm going to pray for
you. I said, please do I need it?
He said no, you told these people tonight not to pray.
He said I pray and it was astronomical amount, 2 or 300
times a day. I said, well we're supposed to
pray without ceasing. I just said not for the same
thing. And he began to lay me out of
prayer how he thought I should pray.
I said, let me tell you something.
I said I don't pray that much, I ain't got that much time.
But I said if you'll just pray in the Holy Ghost and give God
your prayer language, you ain't going to have to pray near as
much as what you telling me. He walked off.
See, God searches the deep things.
I called my pastor. I said, hey, you had me fill in.
I didn't run one off first message.
I preached behind a pulpit. He said, what'd you tell him?
I said, I told him, pray in the Holy Ghost, you won't have to
pray as much. He said that's the truth, don't
worry about it. He said, OK, but God searches
the deep things of God, the deep things.
But when we're not willing to get into the deep things of God,
guess what happens? Go to Hebrews chapter, Chapter 9
and 14. We back up.
I'm just going to quote Ephesians 429 here.
It says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit, but we grieve the Holy
Spirit when we don't give him everything.
God wants it all. Hebrews 9 and 14.
It says, how much more than will the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our conscience from the acts that lead to death so that
we may serve a living God? Isn't that powerful?
We need a cleansing this morning.
So can we? We?
We can receive and operate in the gifts of the Spirit.
See, most believers today, they don't operate in the gifts of
the Spirit because the body of Christ is confused or misled.
We live in ignorance to knowledge of the Holy Spirit.
We're hung up on how God the Father's God the Son and how
he's the Holy Spirit, how he's a triune Godhead.
So many are hung up on all of that.
I don't understand how I can lay down at night and five to six
hours later it's a beautiful, bright day.
I don't understand that. I've read up on it.
I still don't understand it. I don't understand that this
time of the year, the sun just a few weeks ago was sitting over
here to the left side of my driveway at the end of the day,
and now it's slowly moving this way and it's right over here.
I don't understand it, but I can assure you, unless the Lord
returns today, it will happen again in the morning.
I don't understand that. I just know what's going to
happen. Why can't we take this in our
spiritual life? All right, I'm going to get on
my message now. Y'all ready?
Why do people not, it's an age-old question.
Why do people not operate in the gifts of the Spirit?
Why do pastors, and I know a bunch of them, most of them
don't operate in the gifts of the Spirit.
I was talking to 1 the other day.
They take the the the most famous movie right now that's in
the world and try to relate it to somebody because they've
their congregations watch the movie.
So they ought to understand where the sermons going.
Is that backwards? I said just give him.
I said give him Jesus. I ain't got to.
If I got to give you a movie of the world to make you understand
this Bible, it will not work because light and darkness has
to flee. But why don't people get that
write this down. This is a this is a heavy Ravi
here back to first Corinthians chapter 112 and one Why don't
people operate in the gifts of the spirit If you had to answer
that question well, we get real dignified theologians really
mess it up. Can I tell you the reason people
don't operate in the gifts of the spirit.
There are nine of them and the reason they don't you ready for
this, they don't have it. You can't operate in that.
What you do not have, you can't do it.
Most can't name 9 gifts of the Spirit, much less operate in
them. They were provided.
We've already learned this morning when were the gifts?
He said I send it on high. I LED captivity captive and I
gave good gifts to men. So if God gave it, what happens?
I don't have to pray it down from heaven.
I've got to receive it. I've got to receive it.
When we raise our hands, we're always like this.
I'll never forget one time I heard a preacher said, turn them
over and receive it. When I turn my hands over and I
receive it and I let God search the deep inner parts of it, He
says I've got somebody I can work here with because they're
not trying to hide anything and and they're not going to go out
and make my gifts look stupid and ignorant in the world.
So I can bestow some things upon them and I can do something with
them. But many are trying to receive
or operate in the gifts of the Spirit without ever receiving
the Holy Spirit. Right?
Because maybe you was knelt down somewhere and there was a river
of living water that begin to flow within you.
You know, when you begin to feel like something crazy is going to
happen in my life, God's going to make me get rid of some
things and change some things. Just go ahead and do it because
He's fixing to elevate you to a new level and you can receive
the gift. But see, he says now concerning
spiritual gifts, brother, I do not want you to be ignorant.
Let's go to that next verse. We're going to read a little
bit. You know that you were Gentiles
carried away by dumb idols. However you were led.
The church is carried away today by the idol of the church by the
next business meeting. Not what God's going to do, but
what we can do, right? The church is so LED away by
that. He says, you know that you were
Gentiles LED away. Let's go to that next verse and
he says, therefore I make known to you that no one speaking this
is really fixing to get good right here that no one speaking
by the Spirit of God speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus
accursed. Well, this got me when I read
this this week and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by
the Holy Spirit. But we have a lot of Christians
walking around saying I don't have the Holy Spirit.
Well you're contradicting the Bible because it says that you
can't even say that Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit.
So what is he saying here? True confession of Jesus is Lord
requires the Holy Spirit because a true confession see our human
nature resistant while anyone can physically say the words or
walk down in the baptistry. Hello.
But genuine spiritual conviction that Jesus is Lord and He is
sovereign only comes through the Holy Spirit and it intervening
in our life. It serves as a true marker
because the Holy Spirit will lead us by faith.
It will lead us by faith and not false confession.
So Jesus is Lord. It's a heartfelt, saving faith
in Christ authority. I like that.
Not not vulnerable to sin, but when you start being led by the
Spirit, there's only one way that you will not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. What is it to walk in the
spirit? So it's pretty important if
there's only one way that's mentioned in the Bible that you
will not fulfill the lust of the flesh that this doesn't mean
sexual sins and sexual lust, lust of the world, lust of the
things there in the the craziness about just getting
caught up and in what house to build what picture to hang, what
tractor you need what see all that's all that becomes idols in
our lives. You don't think that can
interfere with your peace and your joy, huh?
You don't think it can affect where you work?
The vehicle you want to drive affects the job you're going to
have. The job you have affects the
vehicle you drive, right? And we get caught up in it.
And then the how much money we make affects the house that we
really want to build and still enjoy the place that God's
already blessed. I'm preaching to some people
now. So then when you begin to do
that and Satan pulls you in that direction, he automatically puts
enmity within your within your relationship, right?
And then when there's enmity in your relationship, you have just
stepped out of the Spirit, hear it and you're walking in a
direction that is away from God, right?
I envy the older people. They had to go outside to to go
to the bathroom. They couldn't flip the light on,
but they did not have the distractions that we have.
If you wanted to Brother Lee, years ago, you could.
I know he would testify. He post some great things on
Facebook. He sends me some stuff.
I don't have Facebook, but he probably uses a tool to witness
most of the time, right? But but, you know, you think
back years ago, you'd probably come in and it was a whole lot
easier. Hey, here's one right here.
Let me look at it. I ain't going to tell what's on
it, but it's right there. We got this slicker zipped up
good. And it's right here that T VS
right there, Netflix and my God, which way do I go?
You ever find yourself trying to watch the watch the Facebook on
here and then watch the TV too and you're just there ain't no
room for the spirit. How could you hear from God and
I'm not preaching against all that, but there has if you're
going to walk in the spirit, they going to have to come a
time and my God, it's in the church house.
We got Bibles. I know you like your phone, but
I'll buy you the best Bible you want if you put your phone up.
That's how I get my scripture. That's OK.
I just ain't for me. It's different when I go back
and I look at an old trial. I had a man, when I go back
through here and what my wife life's going through now, and I
can look back in that old Bible. I can remember one time when the
doctor walked in, said we'd never had children and I got
grandchildren. Now I can look back.
See my phone won't tell me that, but this living word of God,
it'll tell me that. Talking about what am I talking
about? Walking in the Spirit, Walking
in the Spirit. We don't have the gifts of the
Spirit because we don't walk in the Spirit.
Let me get back to this. They don't have the gift #2
haven't received the indwelling, Know about the Holy Spirit, but
haven't seen the indwelling, haven't received the indwelling
of it. It's not really dwelling within
us because see, I found the Holy Spirit to be my.
This is the heaviest revelation you could ever get.
I'm not talking about I'm not arguing with Baptist and
Methodist about using your losing your salvation.
I hope and pray to God you can't.
But the Bible says different. It talks about names being
blotted out of the book of life. Hebrews 10/26 says if we go on
sinning after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains A sacrifice. If them scriptures weren't in
there, I might could jump on board with that, but they're in
there. And if we going to preach the
Bible, we got to preach it all right.
So here's the deal. The Holy Spirit doesn't keep.
We have a portion of it at salvation, but it doesn't keep
dwelling within us and leading and guiding us when we refuse to
let it in the area of our life. Hello and it doesn't you know
what we're good at naming these sins.
Well, I've quit this and this and this and this and it and
it's on and on and on because that's you know that's a great
thing that you quit that. But I quit looking behind and
press forward toward the upper call of Christ Jesus because I'm
trying to get you to way beyond that that you're not even
thinking of those things is that you're proud you're not doing
and you're not missing those things anymore because you're
looking to the upward call. This will change your life.
But when I refuse to do that, guess what?
The Holy Spirit leaves, He'll go find somebody that he can work
through that's willing to receive that gift, that's
willing to not sit around and say, well, I did that years ago,
but I'm doing it every day and I'm operating in it and I'm
using it right. So what are the gifts of the
Spirit? A word of wisdom, wisdom that
comes. Can I add to that from the
Bible, from his word? We're all good at giving wisdom.
Go to the coffee shop. A lot of wisdom and some of it's
good. A young man should go to the
coffee shop. My son's 30 years old almost,
and he said, I'm just now starting to realize that the
older people, when you look at him, they really did something.
They were once young like me. They once could do the things I
could do. I used to just look at him as
old people. He told us that the other night
I said don't forget it. I used could whoop you easy Word
of wisdom. I'm going to name these and I'm
going to move on to something a word of knowledge, faith.
How many need a word of wisdom? How many need a word of
knowledge? How many need faith?
How many need gifts of healing? How many need working of
miracles? How many need prophecies?
How many need discernings, different kinds of tongues and
interpretation of tongues. That is the 9 gifts of the
Spirit, and most don't have because they haven't received
indwelling. So number one, they don't have
it. They haven't received indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. It's not always indwelling
within them. And I like this one right here.
Number three, you may not be as spiritual.
Can I say this as you think, Galatians 6 and one?
Let's read it. You may not be as spiritual as
you think. Brethren, if a man is overtaken
in any trespasses, you who are spiritual restore such a one in
a spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself least, you
also be tempted. Let's go to verse 2 and 3.
Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if anyone thinks this is the verse I really wanted.
Thanks. Himself to be something.
When he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Can I say this? Christians are really good at
that, really good at telling people.
I had a new saying I made-up a few years ago.
Beware when someone walks up and says I'm a Christian.
If they have to tell you there's probably something stirring
there, they should be living it. For if anyone thinks himself to
be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself.
And then it goes on to say, let each one examine his own work.
See the things that come out of some people, Christians, the
doubt, the fear. Spiritual people produce
spiritual gifts. The longer we refuse to obey
what we know to be true, the longer we stay in darkness
concerning spiritual gifts. The fourth thing we've seen this
in churches lacking the right motive for why we serve God,
lacking the right motive. You ever ask yourself that
question, why am I serving God? What would be the most popular
survey says what would be the most popular answer?
Probably if I if I took a mic and went in Buffalo Wild Wings
over here at Commerce and he First off, you'd say are you
serving God? If yes, then why?
Most would say I don't want to go to hell, right.
I, I mean, I guess I, I remember time of my life.
That was why I did it for protection when I was rodeoing
professionally, but lacking the right motive to serve God.
See, all gifts are worth nothing if us Christians don't exhibit
love. We're just a clanging symbol.
The Bible says go home and read Matthew 20 verse one through 11.
I'm going to move on so I can finish this number 5.
This is a real good one. Unresolved root problems in our
personal life. Wow.
See, I have to resolve the problems in my personal.
I can, I can paint up and I can hide some things, but God still
knows. I'll never forget it.
It could come to the point in my life one time I was like, it
don't matter what everybody else knows.
It's what God knows. How do you back that in
Scripture? Let's go to Romans chapter 12,
Romans chapter 12, verse 3. It says, For I say through the
grace given me to everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Whereas we have many members in one body, but all members do not
have the same function. So we being many, are one body
in Christ, and individual members of one another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is
given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us say it with
me. Prophecy.
If proportioned to our faith, our ministry, let us use it in
our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, He
who exhorts in exhortation, He who gilds with liberty, He who
leads with diligence, He who shows mercy with cheerfulness,
let love be without hypocrisy. But when we if you identify,
write this down. Lord, give me this.
Identify someone with an unresolved root problem and more
than likely you'll be identifying someone who resists
the suggestion that he or she has a problem.
Right, So true. Because they realize, you know,
most, most people that are addicted to things, they had to
1st realize I am that. That's not who Christ made me,
but that's what I've become. That's what I've made of it.
And we have to step out from that place and realize it could
be generational curses. It could be, it could be all the
kinds of things. But the truth is it really
doesn't matter what it is. I've got to take the authority.
I've got to operate in the gifts of the spirit of the working of
miracles and the casting out of demons and all those things to
get it out of my life, right? It doesn't matter where I got
it. When I walk around with the flu,
you know, I hear people say, well, I went over there and I
got, I really don't care where I got it.
That's not important. I went well.
Well, if I hadn't went over, I wouldn't be still sick.
So let's quit talking about where you got it.
Let's talk about how to get well, right.
But we get hung up on where we got it.
Get hung up on what? God's got the sixth thing,
spirit of unforgiveness. When we have unforgiveness.
Jesus thought pretty seriously about that, didn't he?
He said if we have aught against our brother when we pray, He
does what? He does not hear our prayers, He
does not hear our prayers. So we can't have unforgiveness
in our life. You can go home and read in
Romans 12. We're already there.
We'll read it. Verse 17 it says repay no one
evil for evil. It's hard to do, isn't it?
Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
If it's possible, as much as depends on you.
I can't worry about whatever, though.
They did this well, he says it depends on me how I return it.
Right? But we're focused on what
somebody else did. Live peaceably with all men.
Men. It's hard to do.
Beloved, do not avenge yourself. Y'all don't get down this
morning. We've all fallen short of this.
But we need to keep reaching right?
It should excite us. Beloved, do not avenge
yourselves, but rather give place to wrath.
For it is written, vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is
hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a
drink. For in so you reap, you heap
coals of fire upon his head. It really hurts them When you
repay evil, You want to repay evil with good, you're really
hurting them. But I challenge you.
Reach for these things, the gifts of the Spirit.
We need them, but see so many have unresolved problems in
their own personal life. But it says in Romans 8 and
three, for by grace it was given me that I say to everyone of
you, do not think of yourselves more highly.
I think that's the worst thing we can do in ministry.
Be dignified. You know, I say, I've said it
many times and I still I thought I might get out from under this
feeling. The longer I preach the gospel,
the more knowledge that the Holy Spirit revealed to me.
But see the greatest deception in the world?
What is the greatest decept? What cause sin?
I'm beginning to think on this. The greatest deception in the
world was when the serpent deceived.
Eve was nothing wrong with what happened, She was just deceived
about the way that it was told to do it.
What happened? The first sin that was not the
first sin, that the first sin was committed in heaven.
What happened? Satan deceived himself because
he is the accuser of the brother.
He is the deceiver. He was leading worship singing
in heaven's glorful band and he said I can be as him.
So that tells me the greatest deception is self deception.
Whether you're thinking yourself too lowly that I could never get
to hear, that's deception. Or you think you're so high that
you could never fall. That's deception.
As I said, identify someone with an unresolved root problem, and
more than likely you'll be identifying someone who resists
the suggestion that we have the problem.
But I'm telling the church has the problem receiving the gifts
of the Spirit. If we have discernment, use it.
If we have prophecy, use it. If it's praying in an unknown
tongue, don't worry about what your neighbor thinks, use it.
Hey, man, if it's healing, use it.
I ain't never healed. Anybody have ever prayed for
anybody he ever took the anointing of oil and played on
their head and prayed for him and see, you may have the gift.
It may be lying inside of you like a roaring lion wanting out.
But yet when we keep deceiving ourself, I've said it many times
in my life, I feel like I'm one step away from being the worst
thing the that that could ever walk on the face of the earth.
I'm one step away if I ever lay this mic down, if I ever quit
praying. And, and that's the way I feel
all the lives we change, all the things we do.
I still feel I'm one step away because I can turn and go the
other way so fast if I if I let myself.
Y'all know some of y'all are like that.
Self deception sets you in some bad ground for the enemy to
bring this destruction. We can't think of ourself that
way. Ever knew someone that thought
they were God's gift to women? I had this buddy boy.
He'd walk in, just make a dummy of his self.
Pretty soon I'll be talking to the girl he's won't talk to and
I didn't do nothing because I just didn't act stupid, right?
Or maybe she likes short guys, I don't know.
She didn't like how he was acting but he would blow up and
try to act and do these things. Usually when someone thinks
they're God's gift to women are usually not.
Women recognize that men think women are dumb.
They're not dumb. They're very smart.
The smartest creatures got. Let me back up.
The smartest, not a creature. The smartest thing.
The smartest being man. Y'all are hard on me.
You know how many words I've probably said this morning and I
messed up once and that's all y'all gonna remember is I called
a woman a creature. Have you ever knew someone that
thought they were God's gift to the pulpit but never operated in
the gift man? They had the knowledge they
could rattle scriptures off faster than anybody, but they
knew nothing about the Spirit. Knew nothing about the Spirit.
All gifts that are mentioned here are not mentioned until
write this down. This is very important.
Romans 1 and 11. Go read that.
I don't know if I'm in 12. Yeah.
Here we go. Let's let's read this in
closing. But all these gifts mentioned
here are not mentioned until the moral conflicts that are
mentioned here in Romans are dealt with.
Moral conflicts. What?
Destroyed all the empires of the world and America's taking the
blueprint and putting it right up on them.
Idolatry, sexual immorality, lust of the flesh.
The Roman Empire fell, Egypt fail, Israel fell.
We look at all these things, but I want you to read this in
closing Romans chapter 12. This is the main key to
receiving the gift of the Spirit.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
But it's easier to say I'm just an old Sinner saved by grace and
we are. That is a true statement.
But it's an ignorant statement because God did save you from
your sin and he did pour grace upon you, but he never meant for
you to stay there struggling with that He says and do not be
conformed to this world. Man, I get tears in my eyes
every time I read this because I see the church conforming to the
world. But be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is as you stand
your feet, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. Cain and Abel brought all
brought things to God, right? They brought things.
Each one had something to bring to them, but one God rejected.
So I challenge you, reach for these gifts.
Deal with yourself, let the Holy Spirit begin to come into your
life. And I'm going to get back into
some of this. I got a whole nother list here
of of unresolved root problems that I close with.
So y'all remember that I might go there next week.
But you know, a lot of not receiving the gifts of the
Spirit is because we eject, we reject authority, we reject the
authority. God has authority over us.
He created us. The church even has a problem
with moral purity. We have to preach it sins.
OK, that you're OK, that you're OK.
There's a lack of commitment. You're not going to receive
these and problems with worldliness.
That's a whole nother message. I'm going to close, but aren't
you thankful for the gifts of the Spirit today?
Don't you need them? Don't you want to grow in them?
Now you got something, you know, you come here thinking you was
an OK Christian and I'm not saying you're not OK, but I'm
saying you're not using all that God's giving you, right?
I got to discern some things. But you know, the easiest way to
do it is just let the word of God as you bow your head,
release all authority to him. God.
As we do that, as the song plays, how many would say God?
I release authority to you today and simply say Word of God
speak. Thanks for listening to the
Cross Powered 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.