Valley Gospel
A Pentecostal church experience.
Valley Gospel
Holy Ghost Power
Are you living in a "used to" Christianity? Perhaps you've heard stories about how the power of God once fell in mighty ways, how healings happened, and how believers were transformed by supernatural encounters—but all of it feels like ancient history rather than present reality.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit represents God's ongoing gift to His church—not a historical footnote, but a living, powerful experience available to every believer today. Like a master musician who can transform random, discordant notes into a beautiful sonata, the Holy Spirit takes our chaotic, broken lives and creates something magnificent when we receive His fullness.
This teaching explores the scriptural foundation for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, tracing its roots through both Old and New Testaments. While all believers receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, Scripture clearly establishes a distinct, subsequent experience that Jesus Himself emphasized in His final commands before ascending to heaven. This wasn't a suggestion but a direct order: "Wait in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high."
The baptism brings two essential elements into the believer's life: power and purity. The rushing mighty wind represents the supernatural empowerment that energizes our witness and ministry, while the tongues of fire symbolize the purifying work that separates the spiritual from the carnal. Without this experience, we may know Christian terminology and practice religious rituals, but we'll lack the authentic spiritual life that transforms us and impacts others.
Don't settle for going through religious motions or living on stories of what God used to do. His Spirit is still moving today, offering every believer the opportunity to experience His fullness, speak in unknown tongues, and receive supernatural power for effective ministry. Ask today for this precious gift that Jesus promised to all who follow Him.
But not because of you, but because he is good and you will not have room to receive Him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Pennsylvania. Our sole mission is to present the living truth of a risen Lord Jesus Christ to a remnant church and a lost world.
Speaker 2:So let's go into the service recorded live at Valley Gospel Church.
Speaker 3:If you are. Let me rephrase if you were a fan of late night television, if you were a fan of late-night television. Now it seems to be nothing more than anti-Christian rhetoric and political commentary. Years before Jay Leno and Dave Letterman, before Johnny Carson. That's as far back as most of you probably go. But there was a forerunner to the Tonight Show.
Speaker 3:Anybody tell me who it is? Jack Parr. He had a musical director. His name was Jose Melis.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you recall, but he would invite Jack Parr to the piano. He had this command of the keyboard and he would invite Jack Parr to go over to the piano and strike ten notes Random notes, notes, random notes. And Jose Meles would take those ten notes that made this ugly awful sound and he would turn them into a sonata, coming back over and over again to those ten notes. He made something beautiful out of this discord that was so awful and so terrible.
Speaker 3:Christy, let's go to work when our lives are out of tune. Christy, let's go to work when our lives are out of tune, when our life is in turmoil, immersed in confusion, oppression. God, the Holy Ghost, puts his fingers, puts his arms around us, puts his fingers on the keyboard and turns it into something beautiful, something that was getting worse with every note or with every issue that we face. He made a beautiful piece of music. We're able to receive this gift, that Holy Spirit indwelling through the baptism in the Holy Ghost. That's where it begins. So if you have your Bibles now I know you have your Bibles, whether it be electronic or pages turn with Chrissy, please, to the book of Luke, luke 11. Luke 11, whenever you get there, would you please stand? We'll begin with the fifth verse 5 through 13.
Speaker 2:And he said unto them which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him. Friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him and for me. And he, from within, shall answer and say trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of him, his in in in opportunity, he will rise and give him many, as he needs.
Speaker 2:And I say unto you ask and it shall be given. You Seek and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you, for everyone who seeks, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to to him who knocks, it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you who is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he, for a fish, give a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him an egg containing a scorpion? If, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to ask who ask him?
Speaker 3:Sorry. I believe the outpouring that we are expecting, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit and of course we all know we talked about it before service a little bit this morning that it would actually be preceded by a falling away and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit I believe it's God's sovereign move to meet the satanic challenge of this day, to prepare his bride for his soon return. All over this crazy mixed up world, in all of the confusion, the word of God assures us and tells us very plainly that God, the Holy Ghost, is at the keyboard, he's got his arms around you and everything in the end will be okay. The last sound in this world will not be a scream, it will not be a whimper or a cry of pain. The last sound will be the trumpet of victory, hallelujah. It will be a shout of praise that God has won and always wins. And I'll use, for a subject this morning, kind of a misnomer, but if you've been in Pentecost at all over the last 30 years, you've heard this phrase Holy Ghost power, amen, holy Ghost power. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning with thankful hearts. Lord, we are expectant to hear from you, to see you, to fill your presence, lord, we acknowledge our shortcomings, our inadequacies and we recognize our complete and total dependence on you. We know we can't worship, I can't preach, we cannot minister without the anointing of your spirit and Lord. I ask that, anointing of your spirit and Lord, I ask that anointing this morning, open our hearts, our minds, our spirit to start a new blaze that we might be spirit-filled believers, anointed unto your service. It is in the name of your precious son. We ask, in Jesus' name, amen, amen, please, amen, please be seated, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 3:You and I, every believer, are first and foremost identified as Christian, right Christian, saved into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, rescued from being lost and undone. Wow, and look, if you're not sure that you're a Christian, we can rectify all that at the end. We can rectify that this morning. But being characterized as a Christian is not just believing that the man, jesus Christ, is God. It's more than that. It's not only accepting the good news that 20 centuries ago, jesus absorbed our sin on the cross of Golgotha and paid for our redemption. That's all true, but it's more than that. You see, when we practice only the historical and traditional act of worship. And what do I mean by that?
Speaker 3:When we confine our walk to pastors, evangelists, ministries of the past, and maybe we say, oh, wow, that preacher, billy Graham, my goodness what he accomplished. Or this preacher, or that apostle Paul, what he was able to accomplish just shook that snake off in the fire, with no harm coming to him. And we think, maybe, you know, it's too bad, that doesn't happen today. It's too bad that doesn't happen today. A rattlesnake bite, a viper bite today would kill you and nothing you can do about that. Or maybe, a bit closer to home, we talk about our mother's church and say, oh, how the power would fall Somewhere where an acquaintance went to church. Oh wow, did they have a move of the Holy Spirit? And if you remember, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we get stuck in Euston. Right, we can Euston. We used to have healings. We used to see the power of God. We used to see the power of God. We used to see God answer prayer. In all of this we minimize what Jesus wants to do in us today, through what he wants to accomplish through us and with us right now, and he does so through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3:It is in the here and now that we're going to address in this teaching sermon, whatever you want to call it and how the church of the living God should be much more than a use to gospel, that we should be more than a use to Christian. It's about what's happening with us and in us this moment, today. It's look, it's an intensely individual communion with the king of kings and the lord of lords. It's not communal, it's intensely individual our relationship with Jesus to Christ, the lord of lords, in our daily life, our relationship with Jesus, the Christ, the Lord of Lords, in our daily life. Are we willing to let him be the Lord of Lords? Each one of us in here should be able to testify right now to a supernatural presence in your life that enlivens you, that leads you, that directs you, that empowers you to live the will of God. Each of us here should be experiencing the indwelling presence that enables us to receive that special joy. Remember what joy is. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, a godly love, a communion with our God, without depending on our limited vocabulary, our limited understanding. It's the baptism of fire and power. It is the baptism in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 3:Now, this emphasis on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It's not new, amen. It didn't just start at Azusa in 1906. It didn't start when the assemblies of God were convened. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit was on the day of Pentecost, 2,000 years ago. That's where it started. Amen. It was planned, it was logical, it was purposed. It was planned, it was logical, it was purposed Not only by God, the Father, but by Jesus, his Son. It's the culmination of a revealed truth about the Holy Spirit and it's found in the Old Testament. We don't pay attention to what it said in the Old Testament regarding this baptism of power. Yeah, it was not very often and it was only to select individuals, but it absolutely happened.
Speaker 3:Turn back to Exodus, please. I just want to show you, because you hear all this all the time, that well, there really was no Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. This is in addition to the Holy Spirit in Genesis, hovering over the face of the deep, over the water, at creation, before creation. But listen to this Exodus 31. And there's two here, really quick Exodus 31 and 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uriah, the son of Hurin, the tribe of Judah, and I you hear this I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge in an all manner of workmanship. There's a companion verse to this in Exodus 35 and 30. We won't turn there, but it's this usual reference to the Holy Spirit In the Old Testament. Was the Spirit of God or His Spirit and, as we mentioned, it was the Holy Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep in Genesis. But the verse we just read is about craftsmen empowered and baptized in the Holy Ghost in order to build this intricate tabernacle, given the skills and abilities and the wherewithal, the wisdom, the knowledge in order to do this. Actually, the very first recording of someone being filled with the Holy Spirit is that the Old Testament prophets who spoke for God, who spoke from God, were filled with the Spirit when they spoke, when they were moved by the Spirit of God.
Speaker 3:I know I'm getting a little off base here, but prophecy we hear a lot about the prophetic and prophecy is speaking on behalf of God. It's evident throughout the Old Testament. On behalf of God. It's evident throughout the Old Testament. Sometimes messages came almost silently in thoughts, dreams, visions. At other times it came powerfully filled with emotion, filled with shouting. You know, nowadays we're told yeah, we don't need to shout anymore in church, we have microphones now. Yeah, we don't need to shout anymore in church, we have microphones now. Sometimes in the Old Testament it was quiet, sometimes it was with shouts. In each case, prophetic speech, prophetic utterances, is the unique sign that the Holy Ghost has come to anoint people and direct them in God's ministry.
Speaker 3:Now, prophecy is all about telling you good things and you're going to hit the jackpot and you're going to do this and God's providing you with a job and Swedish meatballs and everything else you want. He's going to give it all to you. Problem is in the Old Testament that didn't happen. That didn't happen. Prophets came and said you're all going to die. This is going to be really bad. Better, hang on you. Better right your ship. This is going to be bad. Hang on you. Better write your ship. This is gonna be bad. Acts 2 I gave you that one, teddy.
Speaker 3:Acts 2 and 15, for these are not drunken as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now, you remember I had a message a month or so ago called this, is that from that scripture Peter decisively connects the Pentecostal event with Joel's Old Testament prophecy. Right, both are. Holy Spirit led, I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. Amen, even on my servants and I love and I think I made the point a few weeks ago or whenever that on my servants and my handmaids I will pour out my spirit Of that day. He took the two classes of people, women and slaves, and said that's who I'm going to use. That's who I'm going to use in those days when I pour out my spirit. If the fact that Peter repeats Joel's prophecy in a way maybe that's not found in Joel's Hebrew text when you study it out. He says I will pour out of my spirit in those days and they will prophesy. It's a direct statement they will prophesy.
Speaker 3:The view of both testaments is the coming of the Holy Ghost, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and it's indicated by prophetic speech also employed by the Holy Spirit. Same spirit, the initial prophetic speech in Acts is speaking with other tongues. It was prophetically speaking in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it's speaking with other tongues and how many of you know that? Actually, with the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues, and we'll get into that a little bit but tongues plus interpretation equals prophecy. So that's how we receive prophecy today, not that it's confined to just that, but it's how the prophetic is realized with the church. Prophetic is realized with the church.
Speaker 3:Now, the Israelites in the Old Testament they weren't used to a move of God's Spirit. As I said, it was very limited. It was limited to temple builders. It was for a time in David's life, but very limited. Only a select few prophets, kings, judges experienced the infilling of God's Spirit. Peter tells them this is the prophecy of Joel. This is that A God-given gift in the New Testament, not just for a chosen few, but for everyone who calls themselves a Christian, all believers.
Speaker 3:And let me say this before we move on Biblical theology is a unification of the entire Word of God, old and New Testament. When we build a theology based on a couple of scriptures or a single scripture, it's probably wrong, it's probably not of God. It is a unified. Look at all of Scripture and progressive and unified, because God reveals his truth from Genesis to Revelation. That's what he does. He doesn't confine it to the book of Romans. It's from Genesis to Revelation.
Speaker 3:An example is why? Why don't you and I, why don't we follow the Levitical law today? Why don't we keep? Why don't we keep the dietary laws and shot it out? Why do we eat shrimp when it tells us in the Old Testament, don't eat any shellfish, don't eat any lobster. Why do you and I have a pork chop occasionally? What? How come? I heard it. Ah, jesus fulfilled the law. He didn't abolish it, he fulfilled it. So you can eat a pork chop. No, that's not the reason. But why don't we perform animal sacrifices anymore? Same reason On Easter we learned that Jesus went to the cross and became the perfect sacrifice. He became the lamb led to slaughter. Amen, are you following? Are you following this?
Speaker 3:In the old Testament it prophesied a coming spirit, that the Holy Spirit would come. But that theme is enlarged in the new Testament by the spirit-filled ministry of Jesus on this earth At Pentecost, which had nothing to do with Pentecostal, amen. It was a feast 50 days after Passover. But the spirit comes in all power to all people, just like Jesus paid the price for all sin at the cross, past, present and future. Luke writes about his coming. Paul writes about the Spirit-filled life after you and I are baptized in the Holy Ghost, and it seems that there is no contradiction. They actually complement and complete each other.
Speaker 3:Glory, the very essence of Pentecost is the recognition that, while being saved, being converted, accepting the Lord, becoming a Christian, however you want to phrase it while that salvation experience is precious, above all and it is accepting the Lord is paramount in our lives, it does not exhaust God's supply. And so many of us stop there, we get saved and we call that ooh, I got it, I have that, or I don't know, maybe we, you know. I'm really concerned, and I've been been concerned for the last couple of weeks god's just inundated me with this that there are too many people that don't know if they're saved, that aren't sure. Maybe they were grandfathered in or they'd just been hanging around the church for so long they assume they're saved. It doesn't exhaust God's supply of what is available to the believer. All believers have the Holy Spirit. That's true.
Speaker 3:The teaching that says at salvation you got all the Holy Ghost you're ever going to get, and so just forget about that baptism. It doesn't hold up to the test. It doesn't hold up to the word of God. Yes, we do receive the Holy Spirit at salvation. It's through the Holy Ghost that we are saved. No man cometh unto God lest the Holy Spirit at salvation. It's through the Holy Ghost that we are saved. No man cometh unto God lest the Holy Spirit draws him. Yet the constant hunger that Christians have we sang it this morning for more of Jesus, more of his glory, more of his power, more of his spirit in us. Jesus, more of his glory, more of his power, more of his spirit in us. It's inexhaustible. Inexhaustible that it recognizes another life-changing experience available to every believer. That's what we're talking about this morning the baptism in the Holy Spirit morning.
Speaker 3:The baptism in the Holy Spirit, acts 2, 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord, in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing and mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues. As the Spirit gave them utterance, all were filled. Harry Leftwich, the art teacher at Springdale High School, in his last days on this earth made that poster for our new church in Harmerville. All were filled with the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah, the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.
Speaker 3:It's not an end in itself, it's not. How can I put this? It's not what we seek, amen. But it's a means to an end. It's an open door to a spirit-filled life. It opens that door. I remember a sermon that Teddy preached years ago about coming to the sheep gate. But you got to go through. Coming to the gate isn't enough. You got to go through, you got to push on.
Speaker 3:In Ephesians 5, the ideal is to be continually, continually filled, not once, not okay, I spoke in tongues once, 28 years ago. I'm done. It's to be continually filled. It's to be continually filled. Now.
Speaker 3:We absolutely teach and believe that the baptism, the evidence of the baptism, is speaking with other tongues, and that's a particularly empowering event, if you recall when that happened. Acts 1 and 8 says but that ye shall receive power After that. The Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me. So we know that the baptism is for service to our king. We get the power so that we can witness, so that we can be witnesses in Judea and Jerusalem and to the uttermost parts of the earth. But for that change in us to progress, it requires power. It requires power, holy Ghost power. Being baptized in the Holy Ghost provides that surge of supernatural power. That's what does it. When our lifeless spirit is charged up, when the lights come on glory and the power's flowing, we're plugged in, we're turned on and we're moving forward. Come hell or high water, we're moving forward. Come hell or high water, we're going forward.
Speaker 3:Any tool, michael, without the addition of power you can drag a lawn boy all across your front yard and unless you start that engine, nothing happens. You're barely making a wheel mark, if that, in fact, it gets harder to pull. But with the addition of power it does the job it's supposed to do Just the same as believers with the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Without that power, we may look the part, we may look good, we may act right, but we're dead. We're dead. We're church playing, but we're dead. We're hymn singing, but we're dead. We're thumping the Bible, but we're dead. Hallelujah, we have all the appearance, all the tools, we even have the language, the Christianese, but we're dead.
Speaker 3:But when you plug us into the power, when you plug a Christian into the power, and the power's on and the Holy Ghost is in control, there's a change. There's a change Not just good to look at anymore, not carrying the right credentials or the right book, amen, but set to work, set to do what thus saith the Lord, put in motion. We're efficient. We do what is intended, that God intended for us to do. We have become that dynamo, that dunamis that the Bible talks about when it talks about the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3:All believers are entitled to, every believer, every believer is entitled to and should expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father according to the command of Jesus. Look, this was the normal experience in the first century church church. When it comes to power, for living and for service to the Lord. This experience is subsequent to salvation, not that it can be at salvation, but is subsequent. In other words, the only requirement to receiving the baptism is that we are saved, that we are born again. That's it and it's distinct. If it wasn't, there would be no reference in Acts 8, acts 10, acts 11, acts 15, acts 19,. All talk about this distinct experience after believers were saved. Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed Glory?
Speaker 3:As I said, we believe and teach that this baptism is always accompanied by speaking with other tongues, as the Spirit of God gives the utterance and I bring that. I'm not gonna spend all the message talking about tongues, but I bring that forward only because that's the rub, that's the issue when you talk to your Baptist friend and most of your so-called Pentecostal friends. That's the rub. I think I shared with you a couple of weeks ago that a fellow Pentecostal minister said that they don't practice speaking in other tongues or allow it in their church because God would never want you to sound inarticulate or stupid. And I explained to him oh, you mean like making mud balls out of spit and putting it in a guy's eyes. Is that the kind of foolish we're talking about? Hallelujah?
Speaker 3:But the speaking in tongues in this instance is the same in essence to the gifts, to the gift of tongues mentioned in the nine gifts of the spirit, but different in purpose and use. There are at least 10, and I think we did them in a bible study 10 uses for tongues and the first being the initial physical evidence that you have received the indwelling, the infilling, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, being baptized. The second might be, when we speak in tongues in a service, that when we enter and let me put that a little differently when we interrupt the service with a message in tongues, that always needs to be accompanied by an interpretation, otherwise we can dismiss it as not being of God. But don't misunderstand, that's not speaking in tongues during praise or worship or in your prayer, as we go to prayer and you're praying in the spirit. That doesn't need an interpretation and sometimes it can even sound repetitious to you when you vocalize it, when you say it, but that's a sign for unbelievers. Amen. The other, the message in tongues and the interpretation is prophetic and that becomes for the edification of your fellow believers to build themselves up. Amen, amen.
Speaker 3:Both are the same operation, or both are the same operation, or both are the same Holy Spirit, different operation. One must be interpreted. The other is worship and praise unto God. All right, I'm sensing the Lord changing some things here. God's greatest gift to the world is by far salvation, but his greatest gift to the church is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the greatest gift to the church is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and there are so many today that simply don't believe in the baptism or contradict its meaning, or say it's out of order, or others credit speaking in tongues to the devil.
Speaker 3:Many religious leaders in today's modern church simply don't believe its relevance or importance. In other words, when I told you about the associate that I had, the pastor that I talked to and said God would never make you look foolish by speaking in other tongues, more concerned about our appearance, more concerned with how we look than how God looks, and if we feel that it's not relevant or important to us today and you know what I said so many times really doesn't matter what we feel or what we believe. What you believe doesn't alter the truth. Amen. No matter how hard you believe it, you can believe tongues aren't real, the baptism only. It doesn't matter what you believe, because the truth is still the truth. It doesn't change Now.
Speaker 3:If it's God's greatest gift to the church, as I've proclaimed confidently, why are so few that call themselves Christian? Why are so few accepting of the baptism in the Holy Ghost, of the baptism in the Holy Ghost? And I'd like to explain, with the help of God, why the believers should earnestly seek and faithfully expect Jesus to baptize. Incidentally, that's who the baptizer in the Holy Ghost is none other than Jesus Christ. He baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and believers today unfortunately wonder what the importance of this phenomenon is, why we need it, and let me try to explain. First of all, it's scriptural.
Speaker 3:Jesus's last words before he ascended into heaven, after the resurrection, were that his disciples, which meant the original 11, as well as all those who were present at the time. At his ascension, he told them don't depart Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father. I know you guys want to preach. I know you guys want to go and start churches, and don't do it until you receive power. Wait in Jerusalem. That's Acts 1 and 4. And here's the important part it wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a. It would be better for you. It was a command Don't leave until you receive the baptism of power. Wait in Jerusalem, acts 1 and 8 said. But they would receive that power In order to minister, to witness, to preach, to teach.
Speaker 3:Let me put it in regular terms when a person leaves this earth the final time and we've all experienced that and they call you close and impart some final words to you, some final things. It can be really important to family members, right? The last thing that someone said to you, what's been said, and it's important, I know. For me personally, I'll hold on to those things until my last breath. What my dad said, what my mother said, if that person happens to request or command something that we should do, wouldn't we do our best to carry that out? But if Christ, being the creator of the world, who spoke light into existence, who was crucified for our sin and rose from the dead the third day, commanded something, it's not just meant to be heard by those few that were there, it's meant to be heard by all who would follow him in the future. His last words were about the baptism in the Holy Ghost. His last words, the evidence speaking with other tongues.
Speaker 3:Secondly, you and I and I know this is going to sound hard, but you and I cannot really know Christ as we should without the baptism in the Holy Ghost. You just can't. That's the connection that he made. That's why he was so vehement about not leaving Jerusalem. We cannot properly witness unto Jesus or for him without the baptism. You know we can learn all the Christian rituals, all the religion, even speak Christianese, as I said, know the language. But Christ will never be made completely real, nor can we make him real to those we're trying to talk to, to those we're witnessing to, without the Holy Spirit Can't do it.
Speaker 3:Thirdly, the mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit is meant to equip us for service. You know every message. The last two months rise up, time for us to get moving, time to get out. This is get ready. Jesus is. It equips us. The mighty baptism equips us for service. He said it'd give us power which is inherently in his domain and only in his domain. In other words, we can't be imparted power from someone else. It's his business, it's his power. This power is miracle, working power, which means that we're filled with the Holy Ghost. We can turn this world upside down. You can turn those that resisted you, that have resisted you for years. You can bring them in through the power of the Holy Ghost. If we are not, our service for the Lord will be much less than what he intended.
Speaker 3:There are and I'll hurry, there are five major symbols pertaining to the Holy Spirit, and we're just going to look at a couple of them. We already read Acts 2, 1 through 4. But the two that we find here after that, the Holy Ghost, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one place, one accord, when suddenly there came a sound from heaven. A mighty rushing wind filled all the house where they were sitting. The two symbols are power and purity. Power and purity probably the most important or prominent aspect of the holy ghost, as that, 120 waited in the upper room and I have my own theory about that that it's alluded to that there were much more that saw him ascent, heard his command to not leave Jerusalem, but after hanging around in Jerusalem, in that upper room or thereabouts, they started to do this yeah, I've got a flock, I got to feed, I've got chores, I've got to get back to the wife and kids, I've got things. And it started to dwindle down, and maybe what started as 500 dwindled down to 120, in one accord.
Speaker 3:It was the Feast of Pentecost, celebrated on 50 days after Passover, in one place, praying together, when all of a sudden, without warning, there came the sound of a rushing and mighty wind that filled all the house. The Greek implies that it actually filled the whole community, this sound. Don't know if there was actually an accompanying wind that they felt, but the sound of the wind filled the whole community. The Holy Ghost was coming on the scene and he was coming on the scene and he was coming in a whole new dimension, different from the Old Testament, this second greatest happening in all of human history, the first being Christ atoning death at Calvary. God breathed on his disciples and he gave life to the church and he gave life to the church. He gave life to the church.
Speaker 3:You look, you remember, in the Old Testament, regardless of the prophets telling people, this is bad, this is going wrong, you've got to serve the Lord, people didn't pay any attention. Israel spent all their time in some idol worship, or I mean that's why they were always in so much trouble. Without the Holy Spirit there can be no life. There is no life. It doesn't matter what your church does or how many good works we do, what the name is on our door, without the Holy Ghost there can be no life. That scripture tells us that there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire. Like as a fire, and it's clear. It never happened before, but it was the fulfillment of the prophecy of John the Baptist in Matthew 3. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, amen.
Speaker 3:This speaks of the purity of the Holy Spirit as he begins to separate the wheat, the wheat, the spirit-filled Christian from the chaff. The flesh, the flesh, amen. Look, his first name says it all. Holy, holy. Can't get around that Holy Ghost. He separates the spirit man from the flesh. That's his job. The spirit man from the flesh, that's his job. And he makes us who we are. Without the flesh, the unrighteousness, the lust for gain, the unfaithfulness, the lack of character, that's all the flesh. That's all the flesh, that's all the flesh Present in a Christian. It's the Holy Ghost that separates that Hallelujah, christianity and flesh, a Christian operating in the flesh, that's religion, that's just religion. But the spirit-filled person exhibits fruit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faithfulness, temperance, meekness. When we are filled with the spirit, look, we're not our old selves under a new name. Just because we're spirit-filled Christians, we're not our old self anymore. We're not the same old people disguised as Christians or born again. And let me make another quick point Born again is not a sect of Christianity, it's not a denomination. You hear people say that all the time that, oh, he's a born-again Christian, like it's a particular denomination.
Speaker 3:Jesus was speaking to every child of God, to everyone called by his name. Call yourself Baptist, methodist, lutheran, episcopalian or Pentecostal, jesus said you must be born again, being born again of incorruptible seed. What does that suggest? It suggests change, change, a new beginning, a metamorphosis, that caterpillar butterfly thing, right, a change. But that change requires power. Being baptized in the Holy Ghost provides that supernatural power to exercise that change in our life. Our dead spirit's charged up, the lights come on, the power's flowing. Okay, I'm hurrying. Can I finish please? I realize it's late.
Speaker 3:St John John, 18., 18 and 15. And Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest and went in with Jesus in the palace of the high priest, but Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which the palace of the high priest, but Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest and spake unto her, that kept the door and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter Art, not thou one of this man's disciples? He said I am not. And the servant and the officer stood there who had made a fire of coals for it was cold and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.
Speaker 3:We see in that verse, important verse, peter. Peter knew Jesus well. He walked with him. He heard him preach and teach, saw him perform miracles, heal the sick, raise the dead, walked with him, never apart from him, for three and a half years. This same Peter was in constant communion with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, god manifesting the flesh, for over three years. And here we read that he denies he even knew him. At one point he even questions Jesus' resurrection.
Speaker 4:Thank you for listening to this week's podcast point. He even questions Jesus' resurrection.
Speaker 1:I was lost in shame, could not get past my blame till he called my name. I'm so glad he changed me. Darkness held me down, but Jesus pulled me out. I'm no longer bound. I'm so new creation in Christ, the oldest, coldest lie. I live by faith, not by sight. There is a new name written down in glory, and it's mine. Fine, yes, it's fine, because I've met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. There is a new name written down in glory, hallelujah, and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. Yes, lord, I've met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. Had left me blind, but Jesus opened my eyes. Now I can see the light. I'm so glad he changed me. Now I'm walking free, I've got the victory and it's all over me. I'm so glad he changed me. See, I'm a new creation in Christ. The old has gone. There's no life. I live by faith, not by sight. Hallelujah, there is a new name written down in glory, and it's mine. Yes, it's mine. I've met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. There is a new name written down in glory, and it's mine. Yes, it's mine. Yes, it's mine, because I've met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. There is a new name written down in glory and it's mine. Yes, it's mine. Yes, it's mine, because I met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. There is a new name written down in glory and it's mine. Yes, it's mine, because I met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. There is a new name written down in glory and it's mine. Yes, it's mine, yes, it's mine.
Speaker 1:I've met the author of my story and he's mine. Yes, he's mine. Yes, lord, thank you, jesus, jesus, jesus is mine, jesus is mine. Everywhere I go, everywhere I'll be, jesus is mine. Oh, jesus is mine, jesus is mine. Everywhere I go, everywhere I'll be, jesus is mine. Sing it again Jesus is mine. Sing it again Jesus is mine, jesus is mine. Everywhere I go, everywhere I be, jesus is mine. Sing it again Jesus is mine. Sing it again Jesus is mine, jesus is mine. Everywhere I go, everywhere I be, jesus is mine. Sing it again Jesus is mine. Say it again Jesus is mine. Yes, lord, jesus is mine. Everywhere I go, everywhere I be, jesus is mine, is is. Yes, he's mine. There is a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, yes, it's mine. I've met the author of my story and he's mine, yes, he's mine. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Come on now. Jesus is mine. Jesus is mine. Everywhere I go, everywhere I'll be, jesus is mine. Jesus is mine, jesus is mine.