By My Spirit, Saith the Lord
The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Power
The Holy Ghost is the Power of God
The church may be Principled but do we have Power?
Ezekiel 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
“Hand of the Lord upon me”: This means taught, led, guided, protected, empowered, & enlightened
“Carried out in the Spirit”: If we are going to see the glory of God revealed, we are going to have to “”get out of the flesh and into the spirit””.
This is why we don’t see more of the Glory and Power of God; this is why we “fail” to experience more of the Demonstration & Manifestation of the Power and Presence of the Holy Ghost.
It’s because God does his work by the Power of the Holy Spirit and the only way to participate with him is to get into the spirit. It’s not by might nor by power but by my Spirit sayeth the Lord.
The spirit is not just a feeling or even God moving inside of you: “The Spirit” is speaking of the realm the dimension the environment of God.
John said: I was in the Spirit on the Lords day: When John was in the Spirit, he began to see the glory of God, he saw the Lord with feet like brass as though they had been burned in a furnace.
He saw his eyes as though they burned with fire.
He saw the throne, he saw and heard the angels, he saw the four and twenty elders, he saw the altar of God. And to see what John saw:
We have to be where he was, “In The Spirit”.
Ezekiel was in the Spirit: Ez 2:1-7 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up, and I will speak to you.” As he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me, stood me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel. They are people from a nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have rebelled against me to this day. I am sending you to these defiant and stubborn children. Tell them, ‘This is what the Almighty says.' Whether these rebellious people listen or not, they will realize that a prophet has been among them. Son of man, don't be afraid of them or the things they say. Don't be afraid, even though thorns and thistles are around you and you live among scorpions. Don't let the things they say frighten you. Don't be terrified in their presence, even though they are rebellious people. Speak my words to them whether they listen or not, because they are rebellious.
Ezekiel 3:4-9 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel, and speak my words to them. I am not sending you to people whose language is hard to understand or difficult to speak. I am sending you to Israel. I am not sending you to nations whose language is hard to understand, difficult to speak, or whose words you cannot understand. If I send you to those nations, they will certainly listen to you. But the people of Israel will refuse to listen to you because they refuse to listen to me. All the people of Israel are very stubborn and hardheaded. Yet, I will make you as stubborn and as hardheaded as they are.
I will make you as hard as a diamond, harder than stone. Don't be afraid or terrified in their presence, even though they are rebellious.”
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not insinuating that we all walk around seeing angels everywhere, hearing voices and trumpets and things like that, and that if you’re not experiencing that then you’re not spiritual.
(“””No””” I’m not saying that at all)
What I’m saying is,,,, that to experience the operation of the Spirit, we must be “full” of the Spirit and Walking in the Spirit. In other words: The realm of the Glory of God’s Presence must become more important to us than this flesh.
Healing, Deliverance, Miracles, Signs & Wonders all emanate from the Glory Realm, or I could simplify it by saying (The Kingdom Realm).
All supernatural activity of the Spirit of God belongs to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said that the power to destroy the works of the devil and to cast out devils, are a direct result of the Kingdom of God, “””being present”””.
Mt 12:28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
“””The Kingdom is the Principle”””
“””The Spirit of God is the Power”””
We may have the principle. We may talk about the kingdom, sing about the kingdom, preach and teach about the kingdom, but principle is not enough. Principle won’t heal the sick, Principle won’t deliver the bound and the oppressed, and Principle won’t set the captives free. Principle is important: Principle is the foundation on which we stand, principle stabilizes and holds us firm.
Principle is truth, But “Just” the Knowledge of truth,, is not enough. You can know all the truth about healing and yet, stay sick all of your life.
You can know all the truth about salvation, and still go to an eternal hell. You must receive……
The Kingdom of God is both: Principle & Power
1Co 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 1Th 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, “Not in principle or truth only” but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,,,
Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jude knew by the Spirit that the time would come when the body of Christ would slip into a state of complacency and begin to settle into a powerless faith, a faith without substance, a faith that consisted only of words, ideas, and philosophies. This is a head faith and It’s a dead faith, it’s a faith that nods it’s head, that the bible is true,
but never presses in to experience it personally.
James 2:20 ….faith without works is dead. Everything the bible says is ours is ours,,,,
Ours, by right of inheritance, but even though you hold the title deed to a property, you’ll never benefit from it, until you take possession of it.
God has Willed his Power to the Church, it’s our Inheritance, the Power of the Holy Spirit, Signs, Wonders, Miracles, Healing, Deliverance, Visions, Dreams, Supernatural Visitations, and Manifestations, Demonstrations and Activities of the Power of God, “in us and through us.”
But the majority of the Church World is satisfied with “just” the Principle, “just” satisfied to know it’s true, “just” happy to know that it’s there, and that it belongs to us,, but not “OWNING IT”.
Jude warned us to “not” accept that powerless message, and not be deceived, and to contend for the original faith that the early church had which was a vital living faith that produced Power, The
Miraculous Signs Wonders Healing Deliverance
I am thankful for the Word of Faith movement:
But the truth is: If we “can’t” Manifest it and Demonstrate it, “then we don’t really have it”,
we just have a Profession, and there’s a big difference between Profession and Possession.
Jesus said: When He cast out devils,,, it was “Principle and Power” It was Word and Power.
Paul said: The Kingdom is “not” in word only.
Wherever the Kingdom of God is Truly Present, there “is” Manifestation of Power that Produces.
Ro 14:17 the kingdom of God isn’t meat & drink; but righteousness, peace & joy in the Holy Ghost.
God believes that His Kingdom in you, is greater than all the sickness, and disease, and bondage and oppression,, that is around you.
Jesus said: Lu 17:21 Behold The Kingdom of God is in you. Jn 4:4 says: Ye are of God and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
VS. 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded:
as I prophesied, there was a noise, and a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
Vs 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
Notice: 1. I Prophesied “Principle, Word, Truth”
Good things happened, the bones came together, things got shook up, there was noise, sinews and flesh came upon them and skin covered them.
But there was “”no breath in them””….
In other words: Principle, Truth and Knowledge, did some good things, it brought them together,
it shook some stuff off and made them look good.
But there was no breath: They were still dead, pretty, but dead, all put together, but dead, smelling good, but dead, looking good, but dead.
Had on a suit and tie, but dead, had their favorite pew, but dead, sang in the choir, but dead, payed their tithes, but dead, Principled, but dead,
Knowledgeable, but dead, Churchy, but dead.
The devil is not afraid of Pretty, he doesn’t care how many scriptures you can quote, he doesn’t care how programmed we are, he doesn’t care that we got all dressed up and we smell good.
None of that bothers him,, because Dead is still Dead. You can have the biggest church in town and be dead. You can have the best praise and worship leaders in the country and be dead.
You can have the most eloquent preacher in the country and be dead. You can have all the doctrines of the church memorized and still be dead. If all we have is Principle, we’re dead.
If I teach on the gifts of the Spirit for 6 weeks,
and never have a Manifestation, we’re just dead.
If I teach on Divine Healing and nobody gets healed, we’re still dead. If I preach and teach about the Power of the Holy Ghost and no one gets baptized, refilled, or on fire, we’re still dead.
When the Kingdom of God is Present: There is Manifestation, Lu 5:17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Power Heals !!!
That’s the Kingdom: Principle and Power
(He was Teaching) = The Word = Principle
(The Power of the Lord was Present to Heal).
There was Principle in the valley and had done some good (But there was still no life).
We need the Power and Presence of God.
Eze 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. Praise God !!!!!!
That’s where we are: Come Holy Spirit “Come in Power, Demonstration, and Manifestation.
Heal the Sick, Deliver the Bound and Oppressed, Set the Captives Free, Break every Yoke, Destroy every Bondage, every Habit, every Addiction, Cause the Lame to Walk, the Blind to See, Open Deaf Ears, Work Miracles, Signs and Wonders.
Send the Fire and Baptize us with Power.
vs10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
I prophesy, Today, that this is what is coming to Bethel, a Mighty Wind of God, that will Shake Us ALL, and many that have been satisfied, just to have principle, are not going to be satisfied anymore: And they’re going to “cry out” for the Power of God, the Breath and Wind of God,
The Power of the Holy Ghost, The Anointing !!!
Ac 1:8 But ye shall receive Power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth… He said Power, Power is Action, Power Changes Things, Power Heals, Power Delivers, Power to Do the Work of God.
Mk 16:17-18 These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Lu 10:19 Behold, I give unto you Power…
Power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over “all” the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. “POWER”
I feel in my spirit that this is the Word for the church Today, “POWER”. It was the Power that filled the upper room and filled 120 disciples, and set upon them with tongues of fire. There had to be more to Ezekiel’s message than words, There had to be Power. It was Power that raised those bones to life and it’s Power that will bring our church to life,,, the Power of the Holy Ghost.
I believe God is stirring this church right now:
I believe there is a hunger coming back to some of you for an Apostolic Anointing and Apostolic Power,, like The Apostles had in the book of Acts.
And I believe that we are going to see a Revival of The supernatural Power of God,, in this church.
And I’m praying that it will start right here and right now with Me and with You.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;
By My Spirit, Saith the Lord
Special thanks to a great man of God and a wonderful friend, Pastor Terry Sisney.
My name is William Poovey, and I pastor at Bethel Church in Olar, SC. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a lot of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
William Poovey
