Joel 2:28-32 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: [29] And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. [30] And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. [32] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
Acts 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 part of the earth.
It should be every Sunday, and really every day of the year, but Pentecost Sunday is set apart among all Full Gospel churches as the day that we celebrate and give honor to the coming of the Holy Spirit to live in, and upon, and through the life of the believer.
Every Evangelical Church should be celebrating the day of Pentecost even if they don't believe in speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit and signs and wonders and miracles.
They should celebrate his coming just for the simple fact that without him they could never be saved. Because no man comes to the father except the spirit draws him.
I don't have one bit of animosity toward any organization that doesn't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. And doesn't believe in miracles or signs and wonders, or the operation and the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit.
I don't have one bit of animosity or hostility toward them, I only have the feeling of sadness for them, because they are missing such a great dimension of Fellowship and Ministry and Power that is available to them through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
I am certainly not insinuating that someone does not have the Holy Spirit, because they have not been baptized with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
It is clearly revealed in the scriptures that the only way an individual can be born again is to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we know that the new life, and the new birth of the believer can only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit.
But there is so much more Beyond the Simple indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus met the woman at the well he spoke to her of a well of Living Water, and he said that well of Living Water would be within her, and it would spring up into everlasting life.
That is salvation. Salvation puts a well within us that ministers to our personal life, that we can draw from personally. Isaiah calls it the wells of salvation.
But there is a another level beyond salvation from sin and a personal well, for personal benefit.
There is what Jesus said would be a river, or I should actually say river's plural, of Living Waters that would flow out of the innermost being of the spirit filled believer.
I love the fact that we are celebrating on this day, the coming of the Holy Spirit to live in and live his life through his children.
As I said earlier, every Evangelical Church should express their gratitude for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In fact every Church that claims to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and redeemed from the power of sin, through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, should be expressing their thankfulness and their gratitude for the mighty Holy Spirit.
Because the simple truth is this... if you take the Holy Spirit out of the Gospel, there is no gospel.
Remember gospel means good news. But if you take the Holy Spirit and his ministry and his operation out of the Gospel there is no good news.
You say Pastor can you clarify that? I believe so.Here is what I'm saying... If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible there's no Prophet's and there's no prophecy, because all Prophets prophesied by the Holy Spirit, and their prophecies were inspired by the Holy spirit.
If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible no one ever gets saved, because no one can come to the father except the Spirit draws him.
And if you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible no one could ever be saved, because the only way Jesus could raise from the dead was by the power of the Holy Spirit. And if there's no Holy Spirit, then Jesus didn't rise from the dead, and if Jesus didn't raise from the dead, no one is saved from their sins.
And if there's no Holy Spirit, there's no anointing, and if there's no anointing, there's no power to destroy the yokes of the devil, because it's the anointing that destroys the yoke. According to Isaiah 10:27
And if you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible, there's no power to cast out Devils or heal the sick.
If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible, it's just another book like Gone With the Wind or War and Peace.
If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible there's no conviction of sin, and there's no revelation, because he is the spirit of revelation.
And if you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible there's no such thing as faith, and without faith it's impossible to please God.
If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible you have to erase the dividing and crossing of the red Sea. And you have to put the water back in the rock, and you have put the walls of Jericho back up, and you have to put the 3 Hebrew boys back in the furnace where they are burned to a crisp, and Daniel back in the Lions den where he becomes a midnight snack.
Are you seeing what I'm saying? Every miracle that has ever happened whether Old Testament or New Testament, has been the work and the operation of the Holy Spirit.
If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible, you have to give the leper back his leprosy, and the seeing man his blindness, and the walking man his lameness.
And you have give Mary Magdalene her 7 devils back.
You have to take the stars out of the sky, because the Bible says... By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and the host of them by the breath of his mouth Ps 33:6 The breath of God is the Holy Spirit.
If you take the Holy Spirit out of the Bible ...
You have to give back every sickness and disease that Jesus healed, and every devil that he cast out, because the Bible tells us clearly that the way Jesus healed the sick, and cast out devils, and cleansed the lepers and raised the dead was because he was anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Lu 4:18 -19 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach Deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set it Liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And then acts 10:38 says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
I don't know what all that means to you, but to me it means... I need the Holy Spirit.
And it means that I want the Holy Spirit. I want his presence and I want his power. I want that anointing upon my life.
When Jesus spoke these last words to his disciples, he knew he was leaving planet earth, and he knew these disciples, and all disciples to come, needed the same power that he had, and he knew the power source in his life was the Holy Spirit. That's why he told them "tarry until ye be endued with power from on high".
But we have to understand that when we talk about the Holy Spirit we are not just speaking of a power or a force or energy, but we are speaking about a person who has power. And the more intimate our fellowship with him becomes, the more of his power he will share with us.
A life filled with the Holy Spirit is marked by deep love for His person, a hunger for His presence, a dependence on His power, the experience of His benefits, and the manifestation of His transforming work.
Every believer needs to cultivate a deep love for the Holy Spirit as a person, honoring His presence, yielding to His voice, and delighting in His fellowship.
Our text says, Acts 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 part of the earth.
What kind of power? Number one, power to witness, power to testify. Next power to cast out devils and destroy the works of the devil. The power of the Gifts of the Spirit, miracles signs and wonders.
This is what we should be contending for every day. It's not a life reserved only for super Christians, As a matter of fact it really is basic Christianity 101.
The book of Acts is a record of the birth of the New Testament church, we should should have grown up at least a little bit in 2,000 years.
But it won't happen automatically, you have to get hungry for it, and you have to reach for it, press for it, pursue, and chase after it.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirsty after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
This is not some hyped up weird experience that a few eccentric religious people have. This is given for the benefit of every born again believer. If you have been saved by the blood of Jesus you should be pursuing the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The first thing the apostle Paul asked new believers was... Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
That question should be asked in every church... Have you received the Holy Ghost since you got saved, since you believed on Jesus to save you from your sins?
They said... We have never heard of such a thing as the Holy Ghost, and Paul laid his hands on them, and the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with other tongues and prophesied.
The Bible says the promise of this baptism is for you, and your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:39
This is not a one trip to the altar lifetime fix-all, but this is an invitation to go deeper with the Holy Spirit. Deeper in relationship, so we can go higher with him in manifestation of His power and glory.
My life changed forever the day I was baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues, but it has been a life of learning how to cultivate and nurture a relationship with him.
This Holy Spirit baptism is exactly what it sounds like. It is going under in the river of God's presence, and yielding and submitting to to his power in your life. And letting him fill you until it overflows in tongues of glory.
I don't know where you're at on the scale of spiritual life and power, but I can tell you this... The Holy Spirit will put you at 10 or over.
Tarry ye in Jerusalem until you are endued, with power from on high.
I need you to know this, the Holy Spirit is not a bully, he will not just come busting in to your life knocking everything over. He must be invited, and then you must yield to him.
However I do need to tell you that when you invite him to come in to your life, and to come upon you, and you yield to him, you will probably get more than you bargained for. Because he's the God of abundance, the God of overflow, the God of more than enough, as a matter of fact, he's the God of too much.
Friends, he is so awesome and so powerful, He has to turn the power down just to get close to us. There is not a human body on this planet that could contain the full unfiltered measure of the power of God.
Even at the lowest power setting, we can't stand up when he comes close. That's why people fall, or we sometimes call it, get slain in the Spirit.
Jesus said, you will receive power from on high. First God wants to touch us with his power, then he wants to fill us with his power. Then he wants us to become channels that his power flows through, and vessels that carry the anointing of his presence and his power.
How did they know when they received this power? It was because there is nothing on earth like it. Not drugs, not alcohol, not sex, not chocolate. There is nothing on earth or of this earth, that compares to the mighty Holy Spirit.
He's from another world, and when he comes he brings that world, and that kingdom with him.
When the Holy Spirit came he announced his arrival, there was a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind, then visible tongues of fire 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 the utterance.
Immediately when the Holy Spirit fell on them, they knew they had been touched by a power not of this world.
And this power doesn't come just to touch you, he comes to live in you, and flow through you.
Every blood washed born again child of God needs the Holy Ghost. You say pastor I already received the Holy Ghost and I speak in tongues already. Then you need more.
It doesn't matter how much you have, you need more.
More power, more glory, more anointing, more grace, more love, more wisdom, more mercy.
Power from on high! Life I the power of the Holy Spirit.
A Spirit filled life produces fruit. You say oh yes, the fruit of the Spirit... love joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
Yes, but there's also other fruit of a Spirit filled life. There's signs and wonders, and miracles, and gifts of the Spirit, there's healing and deliverance, and a trail of lives touched by the power of God.
The Bible says, signs will follow the believers.
Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; [18] 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.
Signs will follow the believers who have received power from on high.
Signs will follow believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Signs the will follow those who are on fire for God.
The only way to get the fire of God is to have a relationship with God. Not a long distance relationship, but one of connection and companionship. Then he will manifest himself to us and through us.
We know that God is everywhere, but he is not manifested everywhere. If you want God to manifest himself you have to create something that gets his attention, and that draws him to you.
"You have to give him a landing strip"
Let's say the Holy Spirit is a plane loaded with every good thing your heart could desire, and he's circling around in the sky, and you're down on the ground saying, I want that, I want that. And the pilot is saying, I want to give this to you, but you have to give me a place to land.
That's what the Holy Spirit is saying... You have to show me you really want this. If you want the fire, you've got to put some wood on the altar.
Listen friends, somebody is going to get it. Somebody is going to get the glory and the presence and the power.
Somebody is going to show God that they are really hungry, and somebody is going to build a landing strip, and somebody is going to put the wood on the fire.
The only question is... who will it be?
The answer is very simple, whoever reaches for him. Whoever is willing to put the effort into building an altar and putting the wood on it. Whoever is willing to build him a landing strip.
In the Bible there were 3 kings who went off into the wilderness and found themselves in a dry barren place, without water they were sure to die.
In desparation they called for the Prophet Elisha who instructed them... If you want water, you are going to have to fill this valley full of ditches.
In other words, you have to prepare a place for the water.You have to do more than just say you're thirsty, you have to praise, you have to read your Bible, you have to pray, you have to give, you have to fast, you have to worship.
You have to show God you're hungry, and show God you're thirsty.
They dug the ditches, and in the morning the water came rushing into the middle of the desert, and filled everyone of those ditches.
Come on now, lift your hands and tell him... I'm ready to receive. I'm ready to put some wood on the altar, I'm ready to build a landing strip, and I'm willing to dig some ditches.
Friend the truth is, there is no price too high to receive this power from on high.
