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I want to speak to you this morning
about demonstration of the spirit and of power.
You've just seen it.
Please go to 1 Corinthians, 2nd chapter.
2nd chapter, 1 Corinthians, first five verses.
And I, brethren, when I came to you,
this is Paul speaking, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among
you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and
in fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the spirit and of power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God.
Holy Spirit, I need you.
We need you.
And I ask you to come now with
anointing from the throne room.
Give us ears to hear and speak life
to us this morning, we pray.
We acknowledge our need to have a voice
that is under your authority and ears to
hear what the spirit would say to us.
In Christ's name I pray.
Amen.
When I read through Paul's letter to the
Corinthians, starting in the first chapter and first
verse and go right through, when you get
to chapter two, you stop suddenly and you
have to ponder these words.
He speaks of demonstration of the Holy Spirit
and of power.
Now, folks, we have people running all over
the world for such things.
They want to see what they have believed
would be a demonstration and manifestation of the
Holy Ghost and of power.
People want to hear and see power.
They want manifestations.
And when they speak of manifestations, it's usually
something emotional.
When you study through 1st and 2nd Corinthians,
you don't find anything emotional.
When people talk about a demonstration of the
power of the Holy Ghost, if you look
through it, where is it in Corinthians?
You will not find any emotional experience.
You will not find people being slain by
the spirit.
You see, when I was a young pastor,
when I was a young evangelist, that was
my prayer.
Lord, do for me what you did for
the Apostle Paul.
Give me such a powerful message.
Give me such a broken heart that when
I stand up, there will be manifestations and
demonstrations.
I want to see people fall on their
face.
I want to see them run to the
altar.
I want to see you manifest.
Let that power of the Holy Ghost so
come upon me when I preach that nobody
can walk out.
And I want to see people slain by
the spirit of God, not by just laying
out of hands, but I want to see
them convicted of their sins.
And I want a demonstration.
I want a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
But what is the manifestation of the Holy
Spirit?
Where is it in Paul's ministry to the
Corinthians?
You don't find it in Corinth.
Search everywhere through 1st and 2nd Corinthians, you
will not find some demonstration.
What you do see and hear in Paul's
meetings and hear in his messages is what
the world calls foolishness.
He preaches a very practical message.
He preaches on ordinary subjects of everyday life.
You find him speaking.
In fact, the Bible says he preached long.
He preached till midnight.
And on one occasion in Troas, he's preaching
into the wee hours of the morning, and
a young man by the name Eutychus falls
from the third floor.
He's sitting at the window and falls out,
evidently fell asleep during Paul's preaching.
And Paul had to go down and resurrect
him from the dead.
It doesn't sound like a manifestation of the
Holy Spirit.
It doesn't sound like some great powerful meeting.
You hear him preach about carnality, strife, marriage,
love, fornication, widows, dress, divorce, order in the
church, giving, tithing.
Here's a man with no charisma.
Here's a man with no commanding voice.
Here's a man who they accused of being
unattractive in his appearance and also that his
preaching was abominable or despicable.
In other words, what they were saying about
Paul in the very words, Paul said he
came to them in fear and a trembling.
He stood before the people before he preached
and doing his preaching.
He said, I came with fear and trembling.
And I've been told that my bodily presence
is weak and my speech is contemptible.
In other words, people were saying about Paul,
you're not a very good preacher and you're
not you don't have any charisma and you're
not very attractive.
He's such a plain looking man.
All kinds of things that were thrown at
Paul, the apostle.
So where's the demonstration of the Holy Spirit
and the power?
Some many months ago, I don't know how
long ago I was talking to Pastor Carter
about my messages to pastors when I travel
to conferences.
And he said, Pastor Dave, don't worry about
your message because you are the message.
You are the message when you be.
It is what you are, what you're becoming.
In other words, when a man or woman
becomes more like Christ, that becomes the message,
becomes the testimony.
And I've never forgotten that.
And I've been focused on that.
And I believe that with all my heart.
And that's what where we're heading in this
message.
But Paul was saying is simply this.
The message you hear from me is showing
forth a work that Holy Spirit has done.
If my words have any power, if they
have any authority, it's the work.
I am a demonstration.
I am an example.
I'm a pattern of what God can do
to take a man without charisma, take a
man without a commanding voice, take a man
with a vile sinner such as I and
do something with him.
He said, I'm the miracle.
You can marvel at what God has done.
He's not proud at all, but he's saying,
I know who I am in Christ.
I know what Jesus has done for me.
And I know how the Holy Spirit has
been working on my life, trying to produce
the life of Christ.
And he said, I've been in a fight.
And he said, I've had victory.
And I know my battles are not over.
I have not yet arrived.
I still fight great battles.
But I know who I am in Jesus
Christ.
And Paul was the demonstration of the Holy
Ghost and power.
He was a manifestation of what God can
do in a man or woman's heart who
is fully yielded to the purposes of God,
who hunger and thirst after his righteousness.
He could say, say what you want about
me.
Tell me my preaching is not comparable to
Apollos.
Tell me that I am not smooth.
Tell me that I am not attractive.
So be it.
But he said, I can tell you one
thing.
I speak with authority.
My words don't fall to the ground because
there's something behind what I speak.
God is teaching me how to live what
I preach.
And he comes now saying, I will not
back off.
I'm taking a stand right here now.
He said, I don't care how many preachers
you have.
I've got to tell you that I speak
the word with power.
I didn't come to you with the wisdom
of man.
I didn't come to you with philosophy or
psychology.
I came to you with the mind of
God.
I came to you and I spoke a
simple, direct message to your heart.
When I spoke about marriage, it touched your
heart.
When I spoke about giving, it touched your
heart.
Because my words don't fall to the ground.
That was not a boast.
That's something that you ought to be able
to say if you are committed to go
all the way with Jesus, no matter what
the cost.
And Paul looks around him at the church
and he sees ministers and he sees believers
comparing themselves one with another.
He sees them competing.
He sees and hears them boasting.
And he said, I'm not going down the
line of any other man.
He uses the very word, I'm not going
down the line.
I'm not going to get into his sphere.
He has a sphere of ministry.
And he's saying, I don't want that duplicated
because many of these spheres of ministry are
now being produced only to be duplicated.
He said, I'm not a duplication.
I will not borrow another man's message.
I'll not bother any other man.
And I'm not going to compare myself with
anybody else.
And saints, you can get in trouble when
you try to compare your spirituality with somebody
else because it'll bring condemnation to your life.
It'll condemn you because you'll see so many.
The enemy allow you to see things.
And some of those that you measure yourself
with, you don't know the battle, the struggle
they go through anyhow.
But Paul, the apostle, sees all of this
competition.
He sees this boasting.
He sees so many people going after ministries.
And Paul says, no, that's not for me.
I'm not going down that line.
I'm not going to buy into that sphere.
I get letters and e-mails almost every
day when the packages of letters are sent
to me.
And last night I was reading through some.
And the heart cry of so many Christians,
they say our church is so confused.
Everything that is coming along comes into our
church.
Paul looks at all of this confusion.
And he says, no, that's not for me.
I'm not going to follow and duplicate any
others.
Folks, you have to get your own experience
with God.
You have to have your own prayer life.
You have to have your own voice from
God, that inner knowing from God.
You can't get it from listening to preaching.
Even you can't get it from anywhere but
being shut in with God by yourself and
saying, Lord, whatever it costs, whatever the price,
I want to know your voice.
I want to know your ways.
Paul says, I do not come to you
with an argument.
I don't come to you with a method.
I come to you with having been with
God.
And I have a message that is uniquely
mine.
God's Holy Ghost is dealing with me, working
within my sphere.
I don't have to look outside of that
sphere or outside of my calling.
I stay in that calling.
Jesus had a very narrow sphere, a very
narrow circle, very small circle.
When the man came and said, Would you
divide my inheritance?
He said, That's none of my business.
And he would never go.
They wanted him to go to other parts
of the world, and he would not go.
He was in this sphere.
He said, I know my calling.
This present society is sin sick.
This present society is stressed out.
This present society is crying for answers.
Answers.
They want a word from God.
They're sick and tired of all of the
hype.
They're sick and tired of the entertainment in
church.
They're sick and tired of all the new
methods.
And we hear this heart cry in our
mailing list.
You hear it all over the world now.
There's a cry even in the world, even
in the world.
There's a cry.
There's a need for answers.
I've got to have answers.
And they're not going to listen.
The world is not going to listen till
they stand eye to eye and toe to
toe with those who are demonstration of the
Holy Ghost that work in them and the
power of the Holy Ghost until they hear
a sound, till they hear a word with
power and authority.
I'm not talking about just preachers preaching from
the pulpit.
I'm talking about the authority God wants to
give you in your household, on your job,
wherever it may be.
And I'll tell you the path, show you
the path of that in just a moment.
In 1 Corinthians, the first chapter, verse 4,
verse 16, Paul says, Wherefore, I beseech you,
be followers of me.
And then Paul went on to say, I'm
sending Timothy to you.
He's speaking to the Corinthian church.
I'm sending Timothy to you who shall bring
you into remembrance of my ways, which be
in Christ, as I teach every man in
every church.
What are the ways of Paul?
Paul said, I'm sending Timothy to you, and
he's going to remind you of all my
ways.
He's going to remind you what I teach
every man in every church.
Everywhere I go, I have this message.
And he says, follow me now.
If you're going to follow Paul's ways, he's
asking the Corinthian church.
I'm going to send Timothy.
He knows the way that I have taken.
He knows what I've been through and he
knows the cost.
Now, I'm going to send him to you
and I'm going to have him remind you
of all my ways, everything that I teach
and have been teaching you.
He said, and as he comes to remind
you, I want you to follow me.
Now, where is that going to lead you
if you're going to follow the ways of
Paul, the apostle, which leads to the full
revelation of Jesus, a fuller revelation of Jesus
Christ?
Where does that take you?
For we are made, Paul said, we're made
a spectacle unto the world and to angels
and to men.
Chapter four, verse nine.
Spectacle here in the original Greek is theater.
We are made and he's speaking of God.
We are made by God as a spectacle,
a theater.
You're on stage, folks.
When you commit yourself to following Jesus Christ
fully and you want to become an example,
you want to be a testimony in this
last day.
You look at the sin and corruption around
you.
You see it trying to creep into your
own life and you say, no, I take
a stand.
I want to be a testimony.
If everything around me is failing, if nobody
else stands up, I'm going to stand for
Christ.
And when that determination is over, you're not
backstage anymore.
This is a worldwide stage.
And the scripture says that and Paul, the
apostle, says very clearly, we are made a
spectacle.
In other words, is this great theater?
And you're called to step out on stage.
And the Bible says that this this spectacle
is before Prince before the world, which represents
the principalities and powers of darkness and angels
and all men.
And in the audience, folks, you can believe
that you're on stage.
You're in a spectacle.
And when you say and when you say
I'm not backstage anymore, I want God to
use my want to be a testimony.
All of these things I'm going through.
And the Lord says, come and you are.
In fact, here's the script right here.
Every word has been written by the heavenly
father.
The script of this great spectacle is right
here.
It warns you, you read the script and
it tells you what you're in for when
you step on stage.
And the moment you make a commitment.
The moment you said, I've had enough of
softness, I've had enough of lethargy, I've had
enough.
God, whatever the cost, I want to be
your word.
I want to be your voice.
I want to be a testimony.
To my family, to those on the job,
I want to be a testimony.
I want to speak life.
I want the Holy Ghost upon my life.
Then you are going to go before the
world as a spectacle.
And here's the script.
All others will be strong and you're going
to be the weak one.
In fact, you're going to play the fool.
You're going to play the fool.
Paul said, we are fools for Christ.
And the script goes like this.
No, all others will be strong, but you
are going to be weak.
Others are going to be honored.
You're going to be despised.
You're going to experience hunger, thirst, nakedness, and
you're going to be pounded in the face.
In other words, buffeted.
You must stand before the whole world and
these things are going to happen to you.
Those who talk about a materialistic heaven talk
about how there is no suffering.
There's no pain.
Never attracts the devil's attention.
The devil and all hell.
Those are bit players.
Those people, they don't attract the devil.
The devil is in the audience.
The devil goes to this spectacle.
Attracts the powers of hell and darkness to
be arrayed against you because you have made
a commitment.
You stepped from behind stage and you went
out.
You stepped outside the backstage and said, no,
Lord, I'm going with you.
And the Lord said, this is the path.
This is the way.
This is how you become a demonstration of
the Holy Ghost and His power.
You're going to go through this.
You're going to play the fool.
Only a fool would want to go Paul's
way.
And there are many have read the script
and said, that's not for me.
All I want is heaven.
I'm just going to hold on, do my
best to get to heaven.
I don't want to go to hell.
We are made by God as a spectacle.
You would experience all of these things.
Paul said you will bless while others revile
you.
You will endure persecution.
You will be slandered.
But you will entreat.
You will be made as the filth or
scum of the world, off scouring the dregs
of all things.
Then Paul's got the audacity to say, follow
me.
Follow me.
If you see a demonstration, Paul says, of
the spirit and a power in me.
Let me tell you how it came about.
Let me tell you the path.
You're going to be tested as no other
man or woman.
You're going to go through these things.
It's all in the script.
You're going to go through it and you're
going to suffer.
And the world's going to watch how you
react.
In spirit, in motive.
How you react when everything comes against you.
How you react.
Is the love of Christ exemplified?
Is there a sweetness?
Is there saying, oh, Holy Ghost, hold me.
Fill me with your love.
Let me be an example to those around
me.
Let me not blow my lid.
Let me not turn away to anxiousness and
to fear.
Oh, God.
I need the Holy Spirit.
Folks, you can't do it without the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Paul said, I don't write these things to
frighten you.
Oh, boy.
He knew that once you set foot on
stage, the Holy Spirit will come upon you.
He knows that you're going to experience the
revelation and power of Christ like you've never
known because you've taken the step to stand
up before the whole world beyond display.
You see, those that are eased in Zion
don't need the Holy Ghost.
Why would you need the Holy Ghost to
sit on a rocker?
Why would you need the Holy Ghost just
to do your own thing?
Paul's word to soft Christians and soft preachers
would be just that.
The kingdom of God is not in word,
but in power.
I'm telling you, saints, what you're going through
now, you are on stage.
You're in a spectacle and you are the
spectacle.
And angels watch in amazement and wonder.
And if angels pray, I'm sure as God
let them make it, you're faithful.
And there's a cloud of witnesses.
The Bible said we're foreseeing.
We also are compassed about with a great
cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the
sin that this so easily beset us and
let us run with patience.
The race or the spectacle set before us.
You're being watched.
Everybody on your job is watching you.
Your family is watching you.
The church is watching you.
God's watching you because God's trying to produce
in you and in me a true manifestation,
a true demonstration of the work of the
Holy Spirit and his power.
You know, there are a lot of times
it gets so painful that you want to
just walk off stage and say enough of
this spectacle.
You just want to walk off stage.
That's what David said.
Oh, I just wish I had wings of
a bird and I'd fly off to some
quiet island.
That island doesn't exist.
There's no such place because as my brother
Don preached, wherever you go, there you are.
I know I'm on stage.
Not this stage.
I know I'm on a stage.
That stage is that whole circle, the whole
sphere of those who know you and see
you walk with you, live with you, talk
with you.
You know, the thing that comforts me.
Other times, if any preacher or any teacher
tells you that they often or at least
occasionally don't feel like just walking off stage
and say, that's enough.
I've had enough.
I can't handle this.
Then they're not being honest with you.
I'm telling you on a straight out.
There are times that I've said I've never
ever thought of quitting on Jesus.
But, Lord, I don't need this.
I don't want this anymore.
And the Lord says, I'm doing something in
you.
You are on stage, my friend, my beloved
son.
You're on stage.
And you see, there's intermissions in this great
spectacle.
That's prayer time.
That's when you go backstage and you're all
alone.
You see, the director of this is our
heavenly father.
It is our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know the director of this spectacle.
And we come backstage and get alone with
him.
And he puts his hand on the shoulder.
This is what I picture.
At least this is for me.
I hope it's for you.
You're tired and weary and saying, I just
don't want to go back on stage.
And the Lord puts his hand on your
shoulder and says, you're doing fine.
I'm doing fine?
I'm wanting to quit.
The Lord said, no, no, no, you're not
going to quit.
I've got something going here.
I've got something at work in you.
I'm making you a demonstration of the Holy
Ghost and my power.
You go back out there.
I'm going to breathe life into you.
I'm with you.
All the angels.
That's what Paul said.
The angels, the whole world and all of
mankind are watching.
The spectacle is before them.
And for some of you now, and this
is not a long message.
I'm going to be finished in just a
few minutes.
The Holy Spirit is saying to you, you're
all right.
You're doing fine.
But get back out there because it's going
to get a little harder.
Lord, you just said I'm doing fine.
That doesn't sound.
Is that in the script?
Yeah, it's all there.
It's there in Galatians.
It's there right through.
I wrote it.
I told you to read the script.
So I've been surprised because you haven't been
reading the script.
You weren't prepared.
Oh, but I know the director.
And I know that he's here to comfort
you this morning.
It's saying, get back in the battle.
Don't be afraid.
And one of these days he says, Oh,
by the way, when curtain call comes, when
the curtain comes down, remember, we've got a
feast.
You come into my house.
And all all of those.
All of those who have been in this
in this spectacle from the very from the
cross on and all through history.
He said, we're going to have a celebration.
We're going to be there, folks.
That's why we endure because of the joy
set before us.
Looking forward to that day when we stand
before Christ.
Not a long message, but that's it.
Think it's the Holy Spirit in a simple
way, trying to encourage you.
Hold on.
Keep moving on.
You're doing all right.
I'm with you.
The devil's not going to bring you down.
You're going to bring it up.
Will you stand, please?
I don't have any word from the Lord
about how to conduct this invitation now.
I would say if you're discouraged and you
when I mentioned this about walking off stage
or Lord, I've had enough.
If you're overwhelmed, if you've been this past
week, especially you said, Pastor Dave, I am
I am absolutely overwhelmed.
I am going through the struggle of my
life.
I've been through many battles, but this is
the mother of all battles for me.
You can come.
We'll pray with you.
But if I do it, let's just pray
with you at your seat.
You don't have to come because we wouldn't
even have room in the annex.
We wouldn't have room.
Let me just open these orders for those
who have grown cold in your heart toward
the Lord, which means actually, Lord, I don't
want to be in this spectacle.
I don't want to be a part of
this.
So you just drifted and you're not where
you should be with Christ at all.
And you came here this morning.
And when that happens, I have to tell
you, when when that happens, when you back
away and you would begin to withdraw and
not living in faith and victory.
All hell breaks loose.
Life gets so burdened, it gets so overwhelming.
It's difficult enough for the true believer.
But for those who who have backed away
and are drifting, I'm inviting you to step
out of your seat boldly.
If you don't know Christ, I want you
to come up in the balcony, come down
the stairs on either side and come down
the aisle.
And in the annex, also, you can go
to the lobby and come down here and
meet me here in the main auditorium.
The ushers will show you how to get
here and we'll pray with you.
If you've grown cold or you backslidden or
you don't know Christ, we're limited to that.
Please, wherever you're at upstairs here, you come
as a spirit draws you on the way
into the church this morning.
I was speaking to my wife, Teresa, and
the scripture the Lord gave me is from
Isaiah.
I think it's around the 40th, 41st chapter,
which is comforting my people.
And the Lord spoke clearly to my heart.
This would be a day of great comfort
for those that are struggling in the battle.
You perhaps even feel like you're losing the
battle, but you see, that's a lie.
If Christ is in you, you're not losing
the battle.
You're in a storm, but you're not losing
the battle, you see, because the battle is
already won.
You already are the victor if Christ is
in you.
And he has promised and he has staked
his very name on bringing you and I
through.
If we have an honest heart for him,
he has staked his very name and reputation
on bringing us through across the finish line
that he himself has already crossed.
And, of course, we are in him, so
therefore we're already seated with him in heavenly
places at the right hand of God.
Exciting today.
Exciting.
Yes, this is a difficult hour, and there's
no indication it's going to get any easier.
But there's a sustaining power of God that's
in you and in me that will carry
us through the deepest, darkest valleys and battles
that we have to face.
We're going to go through, folks, and we're
going to come out the other side.
And one day this will just all be
history, all of where we are today and
what we're experiencing and having to go through.
It's just a vapor, James says.
It's going to be here for a while,
then it's going to be gone.
And then forever we're going to be home.
We're going to be with the Lord.
There's going to be no sorrow, no sighing,
no tears, no struggle, no disease, no sickness.
What a day that is going to be.
Till then, Jesus promises by the power of
the Holy Spirit to keep you.
He promises.
You can't hear it any more clearly than
you've heard it today.
This is a phenomenal word today.
Get this tape.
Make sure you keep it and listen to
it again.
Now, Father, I thank you.
God, we thank you from the depths of
our heart today.
Lord, that in the midst of what we
have to go through, that you are our
sustaining strength.
You are faithful.
Lord, even when you come back, it says
in Revelation, you have a name written on
you, faithful and true.
Lord, you cannot be anything other than what
you are.
And every word you've spoken to us is
yea and amen.
And you will keep us in the middle
of the battle.
You will keep us at our post.
You will teach us how to walk in
rank with you, O God.
You will keep us in unity with your
sovereign purpose for every life.
And Jesus, when this is played out, your
name above all will be held in lights
and glorified for all of eternity.
The sustainer of our souls.
God, we thank you so much from the
very, very depths of our heart.
Now pray with me, those that have come
to the altar.
Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me.
I'm asking you today to teach my heart
to respond to your love, that I may
trust you, that I may lay down any
grievance that I may have in my heart
against you.
Lord, you are faithful to me.
You have kept me and you will keep
me.
And I'm asking you today to put a
passion for you, for truth and for your
work in my heart.
Give me faith.
Increase my faith that I may trust you
to bring me through every struggle and every
trial with a song of praise in my
mouth and a confidence in you that cannot
be taken away.
It cannot be shaken.
And when everything else is shaken, because of
your life in me, I will still stand.
And having done all, I will stand when
it is all over.
And I will give glory to your name
because it's all about you.
And I thank you from the depths of
my heart in Jesus mighty name.
Now give him praise.
Give him thanks today.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the message.