We rejoice that God has made such tremendous
provision for our life on earth.
Paul speaks in one passage in 2 Corinthians
2.14 that God always led him in
triumph.
There was never a moment when Paul was
living in defeat.
I don't believe that is God's will for
us.
We may go through it for a period,
perhaps for a long period, to teach us
our own inability, to humble us, to make
us compassionate towards others who fail, because naturally
we are so hard.
But it's not God's will that we should
be living in failure forever.
It's God's will that we should walk in
triumph.
For the Bible says in 1 John 2
.6, he who says he abides in him
must walk as he walked.
I think it was John Wesley who said
that when he first read that, or when
the truth of that came home to his
heart, that he could walk as Jesus walked,
it thrilled him that a mere human could
walk as Jesus walked.
Many look at that verse as something which
is so demanding.
John Wesley looked at that as a thrilling
possibility.
We can look at it in two different
ways.
The law could never help us to do
that.
Jesus came that he might open a way
for us to walk as he walked on
earth.
For Christ did not come on earth merely
to die for our sins, but he lived
on earth for thirty-three years to demonstrate
to this world how God wanted man to
walk.
And yesterday we were considering repentance, grace, and
God as a Father.
Today I want to talk about the Holy
Spirit, God's gift to us.
And I want to turn, first of all,
to Matthew 1.
I don't know if you know what the
first two promises in the New Testament are.
The first one is here in Matthew 1
.21. It's the very first promise in the
New Testament, something that was not possible under
the old covenant.
He shall save his people from their sins,
not he shall forgive their sins.
That David could thank the Lord for in
Psalm 103, a thousand years before Christ came
to earth.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives
all thine iniquities.
This is more than that.
He shall save his people from their sins.
Not just forgive us for our sins, but
save us from our sins, which is far
more than forgiveness.
That's what we thought about a little yesterday.
Sin shall not have dominion over you, because
you're not under law, but under grace.
He not only forgives, he saves.
Many when they think, when they say, I'm
saved, they only talk about being saved from
the guilt of sin, or from the wrath
of God, or from hellfire.
There is another salvation which makes that word
complete in its meaning, and that is salvation
from the power of sin.
When it says here, he shall save his
people from their sins, it means he's going
to save us from our anger, and from
our lust, and from our jealousy, and from
our immorality, and from our impurity, and from
our passions that are sinful, etc.
The second promise in the New Testament is
also a distinctive New Covenant promise.
It's in Matthew chapter 3, verse 11.
It's good for us to know the first
two promises in the New Testament.
As you know, there were so many things,
three-quarters of the Bible is the Old
Testament.
You go through the whole Old Testament, and
then you come to the pages of Matthew,
and the New Covenant begins with two wonderful
promises.
One, he shall save his people from their
sins, and second, the last part of verse,
Matthew 3, verse 11, he shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Now, it's not surprising that these two promises
with which the New Testament begins have been
the points of greatest controversy throughout the history
of Christendom.
First, the teaching of victory over sin, of
overcoming sin, is hardly ever preached these days.
The devil has blinded the minds of people
so they don't see this truth, and then
the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit and the devil has made
that such a tremendous point of controversy.
He's got one group of people who've gone
to such an extreme, a fanatical extreme, I
would say, majoring on minors, and missing out
the main purpose of the baptism in the
Holy Spirit, and then going into many controversies,
and never questioning whether all these are manifestations
of the Holy Spirit.
And then he's got others who see all
this and react against it, and go to
the other extreme, and who are scared of
the Holy Spirit altogether.
Now, which group do you think the devil's
happy with?
Both of them.
He's perfectly happy whether you fall over the
cliff this side, or fall over the cliff
this side, so long as you go to
the bottom.
He's not bothered which side you fall over.
Many years ago, the Lord said to me,
don't let your life be a reaction to
the extremes that you see in some Christians.
I want to say the same word to
you.
In any area, there are extreme teachings on
holiness, like the eradication of the flesh, and
things like that, which are not true.
We have sin in us till our dying
day.
It'll never be eradicated.
We shall be like Him only when we
see Him.
But we can overcome, and progressively get more
and more light on our sin.
It's like climbing a mountain, becoming like Jesus.
It's like climbing a mountain.
I reach the top when Christ comes again,
but I don't have to be down at
bottom level all my life.
I can keep going up.
He who has this hope in him, 1
John 3.3, purifies himself as he is
pure.
So we are to become purer and purer
and purer, from one degree of glory to
another.
It's not just one step from here all
the way to the top, but it's one
degree of glory to another, it says in
2 Corinthians 3.18. It's the same with
the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
As I've understood it, there are different degrees
of fullness.
When a person comes to Christ initially, he
can be filled with the Holy Spirit.
But his capacity is like a little cup,
that's all.
And that's full.
You can't make it more than full.
Then after a little while, it becomes a
little bigger, its capacity.
It can be filled again.
Then its capacity becomes like a bucket, it
can be filled again.
Or like a tub, it can be filled
again.
Then like a little pond, it can be
filled again.
Then like a river, that can be filled.
Then like Jesus said, many rivers.
All starts with a little cup.
So the newborn believer can be filled with
the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul, at the end of his
life, was filled with the Holy Spirit.
There's a vast difference between the two fullnesses.
One is the fullness of the cup, the
other is the fullness of many rivers.
And the thing that increases our capacity is
if we take up the cross and follow
Jesus every day.
And I believe the greatest lack in charismatic
Pentecostal Christianity today is a lack of the
preaching of the way of the cross.
That's why the capacity doesn't increase, and twenty
-five years later you're still the same size.
And sometimes even that's got holes in it,
and there's nothing left inside.
It's all leaked out.
That's a tragedy.
But that doesn't mean that there's no such
thing as being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Just because some people had a counterfeit, as
I said, nobody counterfeits a brown paper.
It's only valuable things that are counterfeited.
And if there's anything that's been counterfeited in
Christendom today more than anything else, it's the
baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts
of the Holy Spirit.
So I presume Satan must consider them extremely
valuable to counterfeit it so much so that
some people are satisfied with the counterfeit, and
some people react against that altogether and don't
have anything.
But the fact still remains that these were
the first two promises in the New Testament.
He shall save his people from their sins,
and he shall baptize you with the Holy
Spirit.
It's not a man who's going to save
me from my sins, it's Jesus Christ.
It's not a man who's going to baptize
me in the Holy Spirit, it's Jesus Christ.
It's not a doctrine that's going to save
me from my sins, it's Jesus Christ.
It's not a doctrine that's going to baptize
me in the Holy Spirit, it's Jesus Christ.
And when I'm not afraid of Jesus, I
may be afraid and scared of a doctrine,
but I'm not afraid of Jesus.
He's the friend of sinners.
I'm not afraid to come to Him to
save me from all my sin.
He won't lead me to extremes.
Jesus Christ was the most balanced person that
ever walked on this earth.
There was not a speck of impurity in
Him.
There was not a speck of bitterness or
hatred in Him.
It was pure love, it was holiness, it
was humility.
He was saturated with it.
I'm not afraid of Him.
And to me, Jesus Christ is the perfect
example of the Spirit-filled life.
When I'm filled with the Spirit, if I'm
filled really with the Holy Spirit, I'll be
like Him.
Are you scared of that?
You want to be like Him?
It's impossible to be like Him without being
filled with the Holy Spirit.
A lot of Christians are in a self
-improvement program.
They come to church, they hear a lot
of good things and a lot of, I
want to tell you something, Another thing which
is true in both anti-charismatic and charismatic
Christianity is the teaching of psychology.
There's a lot of human psychology being preached
from pulpits today, which is not from the
Bible.
It's closer to New Age teaching than the
Word of God.
Jesus, there is a lot of difference between
the teaching of Jesus on faith and the
teaching of positive thinking.
It's not the same.
Don't confuse it.
There's a lot of healings going on today,
which are psychological tricks.
It's not healing from Jesus.
There are many people who are frightened, who
are made to be afraid by people who
say, don't blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.
Don't question that, which you see there, because
that may be from the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says, don't, if you blaspheme against
the Holy Spirit, you won't be forgiven.
And people are afraid of that verse, and
don't question anything.
People have told me that.
And I say that it is also written,
Beloved, believe not every spirit, 1 John 4
.1, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God.
So I don't believe that we should just
walk into a meeting and not question anything.
If you don't question anything, you're pretty sure
of getting a counterfeit.
Any meeting I go to, I want to
test the spirits.
It says that in 1 John 4.1.
Is this according to God's word?
Is this in line with the spirit of
Christ?
This man who is speaking, is he drawing
me to himself, or is he drawing me
to Christ?
Is he drawing me to his testimony, or
is he drawing me to the word of
God?
These are good questions to ask ourselves whenever
we go to any meeting.
Is that teaching founded in God's word, or
is it something so similar, but the teaching
of psychology?
Yeah, I believe we need to ask these
questions.
What is the word baptism?
Baptism is not an English word.
It's unfortunate that in 1611, when they translated
the King James Version, they did not translate
the Greek word baptizo, and transliterated it as
baptism or baptizing, so that it wouldn't cause
confusion in those churches which practice infant baptism.
But baptizo and baptism just means immerse.
That's all it means in the Greek.
Go into all the world and make disciples
and immerse them, in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If those people who translated the scriptures, these
scriptures, had translated like that, there would have
been tremendous confusion in the church, and more
light and truth.
But they were told not to confuse and
disturb existing traditions, so they were very clever.
They translated it as baptism, which nobody knew
what it meant.
The same with baptizing the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean?
It will immerse you in the Holy Spirit.
The Bible speaks of a river flowing from
the throne of God in Revelation chapter 22.
He said, I saw a river, pure as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God, and
it flowed down from the throne of God
on the day of Pentecost into Jerusalem, on
a hundred and twenty people who were waiting
there.
And can you imagine when a river falls,
it's like the Niagara Falls.
And when you stand under the Niagara Falls,
you get immersed.
That's baptism.
That's immersion, standing under the river of God
that flows from heaven, saturating and drenching me
through and through.
That is the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
And it's also called here a baptism of
fire, because that's from the Old Testament symbol
of the pillar of cloud and fire that
came down from heaven.
That was a huge pillar of fire that
came and rested on the tabernacle in Israel,
the Shekinah Glory.
And that tabernacle is a picture of God
tabernacling with men.
It's a picture of Jesus Christ.
John 1.14 in the original Greek says,
And the Word was made flesh and tabernacled
in our midst, dwelt in our midst.
And it's also a picture of you and
me, for our body is the temple of
the Holy Spirit.
We are the tabernacle of God.
And the distinctive feature of that Old Testament
tabernacle was not its pattern.
The pattern is described in Exodus, chapters 25
to 40, and anybody can make a tabernacle
like that, even today.
The Philistines could have made a tabernacle exactly
like that.
But there's one thing in that tabernacle they
could not have duplicated, and that was this
pillar of fire.
How do you produce that?
That's the distinctive mark of that tabernacle.
And that's the distinctive mark of the child
of God, and that's the distinctive mark of
the Church.
This spirit of fire dwelling in our life,
purifying everything, burning with glory, bringing the presence
of God, bringing a reverence and a fear
of God into the midst of God's people.
I believe we need that more than anything
else in all of our churches, whether we're
charismatic or anti-charismatic or neutral.
What we need is that pillar of fire.
And when God was angry with His people,
that pillar of fire departed.
It says, Ezekiel saw the glory departing step
by step by step over the threshold and
finally leaving.
That's what's often happened to Christian churches that
were once filled with genuine experience and power
of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, they moved off into other extremes, they
played the fool with sin, and the glory
departed.
It's happened to Christians, it's happened to churches.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was like
the wind.
Man born of the Spirit is like the
wind.
You can hear its sound, but you can't
control it.
You can't explain it, and I find it's
like that.
We can't dictate to the Holy Spirit how
He should work.
Many people think that the Holy Spirit should
work in only one particular way.
You know what Jesus said in Nicodemus, The
wind blows where it lists, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence
it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is everyone who is born of the
Spirit, John 3.8. So the Holy Spirit
is like wind.
When we read in the book of Job,
in chapter 38, then the Lord answered Job
out of the whirlwind.
So does God speak out of the whirlwind?
He certainly does.
But we read in Job chapter 1 that
there was another whirlwind.
Job 1.19, a great wind from the
wilderness came and smote the four corners of
the house where Job's children were living, and
that smote them and killed all of them.
Where did that whirlwind come from?
From the devil.
So is every whirlwind from heaven?
From God?
No.
Is every movement that we see in a
church from God?
Not necessarily.
There are whirlwinds from the devil, and there
are whirlwinds from God.
We need discernment to know where this one
came from.
God speaks through a whirlwind, and we also
read in 1 Kings chapter 19, that when
Elijah was all by himself in the mount,
it says here, there was a mighty strong
wind, 1 Kings 19.11, that rent the
mountains and break in pieces the rocks.
But the Lord was not in the whirlwinds.
Don't think that every mighty storm that rents
the mountains and mighty powerful preaching of people
who march up and down the platform is
necessarily from God.
The Lord may not be in it at
all.
And after the wind and earthquake, the Lord
was not in an earthquake.
And after the earthquake of fire, the Lord
was not in the fire.
There was a fire in the book of
Job chapter 1 that came from heaven.
Elijah brought fire down from heaven on Mount
Carmel, and Satan brought fire down from heaven
in Job chapter 1 that burnt up Job's
property.
Don't think that every fire is from the
Holy Spirit.
There was a fire.
The Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, a still, small voice,
a gentle voice, and the Lord was in
that.
You see, some people have locked up the
Holy Spirit in a box that He can
only work in a certain way.
He won't stay in the box.
They think it's only if there's fire and
thunder and shouting and banging the table and
all that.
That's the Holy Spirit.
It's not necessarily.
He could speak in a gentle, still, small
voice that cuts deep into our heart, exposes
our sin, cleanses us, encourages us, lifts our
spirit, and sends us home rejoicing.
And it could come in a still, small
voice.
Very often it does.
So I mention that so that we don't
get confused by all the teaching that's going
on in the world today about the baptism
in the Holy Spirit.
But I do want to mention this fact.
If you're a careful student of the New
Testament, you would have noticed.
In the beginning of the first five books
of the New Testament, you notice this promise.
I showed you in Matthew 3.11. I
want to show it to you again in
Mark 1, verse 8.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
There it is.
At the beginning of the first gospel, at
the beginning of the second gospel, at the
beginning of the third gospel, Luke chapter 3,
verse 16, the last part, he shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
And at the beginning of the fourth gospel,
John chapter 1, verse 33, the last part,
the same as he which baptizes with the
Holy Ghost, the beginning of every gospel, it
begins with this promise, and then the beginning
of the Acts of the Apostles, where Jesus
himself said to his disciples, Acts of the
Apostles, chapter 1, verse 5, John truly baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.
What shall we do with a promise given
at the beginning of the first five books
of the New Testament?
Surely it must be important.
I don't see any other promise mentioned so
frequently at the beginning of the books of
the Bible.
And if I were in Satan's place, I
certainly would make this a point of controversy,
so that people go to one extreme and
counterfeits, or go to the other extreme and
ignore it altogether.
That's exactly what he's done.
It says he's wise, he's more subtle than
everything God has created in Genesis 3.
But we're not ignorant of Satan's schemes, Paul
said, and I'm not going to be made
a fool of by Satan.
To me the answer is this.
How is it with Jesus?
People try to argue about the Holy Spirit
from logic.
Don't we have the Holy Spirit when we
are born again?
We certainly do.
Then what do you mean by being baptized
in the Holy Spirit?
I say, brother, I can't explain it.
There are many things about the Trinity I
cannot explain.
How can three be one?
I don't know.
If I could explain it, God would be
a man just like me.
The fact that I can't explain it proves
that it must be true.
Don't you think there are a few things
we as human beings understand which dogs can't
understand?
Have you ever tried explaining multiplication to a
dog?
Try it.
Try and teach a dog that one multiplied
by one multiplied by one, that's three ones,
is one.
Is it true?
That three ones are one?
One multiplied by one multiplied by one equals
one.
And even if you can teach addition to
a dog by putting three bones there, one
plus one plus one is three, you got
him really confused when you say one into
one into one is one.
Why?
But that twelve-year-old dog can't understand
what my seven-year-old son can understand.
How's that?
Because that's a human being and that's a
dog.
You got to be a human being to
understand multiplication.
You got to be God to understand the
Trinity.
You got to be God to explain all
the workings of the Holy Spirit, and I'm
not.
I don't understand.
I only believe what God's Word says.
So I don't try to explain and logically
try to explain to people because I can't.
I would have to twist scriptures to suit
my theology and I don't want to do
that.
I found that God meets with those who
have a need in their heart, not with
those who want a clear understanding in their
minds.
Bible says, trust in the Lord with all
your heart and don't lean on to your
understanding.
I thank God for that verse in Proverbs
3, 5.
When it comes to things in the world,
mathematics, science, my intellect is more reliable than
my heart.
But when it comes to the things of
God, my heart is more reliable than my
understanding.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and don't lean to your understanding.
Use it, but don't lean upon it.
I use my understanding when I study the
scriptures.
And I say, Lord, the things here in
my understanding God grasps.
And I trust my heart where the Spirit
witnesses with my spirit what is right.
And when I'm confused, I find that the
best thing to do is to look at
the life of Jesus.
You know, people are confused about this being
born of the Spirit and anointed with the
Spirit.
I say, let's look at Jesus.
He's the Word made flesh.
And to me that means that He's the
dictionary.
See, when I read an English book and
I come across a word I don't understand,
I take an English dictionary and I turn
over to that word and I understand its
meaning.
When I come to the scriptures, the New
Testament particularly, and I come to a truth
which I can't understand, I turn to the
Word made flesh.
That's my dictionary.
And I say, Lord, let me look at
your life and see how this doctrine worked
in your life.
And I get the answer.
And just like in an English dictionary, you
can hear a word, you don't know the
meaning of it, and you think it means
this, because all your life you believed it
meant that, and you turn to the English
dictionary and you discover the dictionary says something
else.
What will you believe?
Will you believe what you've always believed, maybe
what your father believed that that word meant?
Or will you believe what the dictionary says?
I'm sure all of us will believe what
the dictionary says.
Now, this is the same here.
We've all had a certain tradition where we
have believed certain things about the Holy Spirit.
I had it too.
But I turned to the dictionary.
I turned to the Word made flesh.
And I say, Lord, if it's like that
in your life, I'm willing to set aside
every opinion I had, because that could be
prejudiced, and see, believe the truth today.
It's exactly like looking at an English dictionary.
And if I see the truth in Christ,
and I turn away from it, the chances
are I'll be deceived all my life.
So when it comes to the Holy Spirit,
what do I see in the life of
Jesus?
I see he was born of the Holy
Spirit.
The Spirit came upon Mary, and he was
born of the Holy Spirit.
And then I see at the age of
thirty, the Spirit coming upon him.
What's that?
He was anointed.
All my logic is confused.
Doesn't matter.
I want to follow Jesus.
I don't want to follow my logic.
That one who was born of the Spirit,
was later on anointed by the Spirit.
And he never dared.
He never dared to go into the ministry
his father had for him, without being anointed
with the Spirit.
Even though he was born of the Spirit.
Why?
Is it because he didn't know the Scriptures?
He knew the Scriptures at the age of
twelve.
Better than anyone in Israel.
If it was just knowledge of the Scriptures,
he could have gone out preaching at the
age of twelve.
And many people think today, well what we
need is the knowledge of the Scriptures.
I agree.
But I also say that's not enough.
I spent years studying the Scriptures, and I
discovered that's not enough.
Was it, is the important requirement living a
holy life?
He lived a holy life for thirty years.
He'd never sinned.
If there was anyone qualified to serve God
with a holy life, it was Jesus.
Do we need to have a holy life
to serve God?
Sure.
But that wasn't enough for Jesus, and can't
be enough for me.
What did Jesus have?
Knowledge of the Scriptures.
Holy life.
But he still needed to be anointed with
the Spirit.
Do I have knowledge of the Scriptures?
Good.
Do I have a holy life?
Good.
I still need to be anointed with the
Spirit.
But you say, I'm born of the Spirit.
So was Jesus.
You say, I know the Scriptures.
So was Jesus.
You say, I've lived a holy life.
So was Jesus.
He still needed the anointing of the Holy
Spirit.
That's my dictionary.
Are you willing to admit that perhaps your
understanding could have been wrong for many years?
A day came in my life when I
was willing to admit it, and it changed
my life.
But some people, when they hear that, they
can be such slaves to their prejudice, that
they'd rather live in their prison, which they've
made for themselves all their life, than ever
come out of it, into the glorious liberty
of the revelation of the Word of God.
But that choice is yours.
I can't force you there.
But, if you have a little hunger in
your heart this morning, and if you have
a little thirst, then I believe God has
something to say to us.
You know, the other thing is, a lot
of people get into controversy over terminology.
We can get into controversy over terminology about
becoming a child of God.
Here's one brother who says, I was converted.
Here's another brother who says, I accepted Jesus
as my Savior.
Here's a third one who says, I was
born again.
Here's a fourth one who says, I became
a child of God.
Four different experiences?
No.
All had exactly the same.
But they expressed it in different ways.
And I, for one, am not going to
get into an argument over terminology.
You can take a vegetable, probably called by
a hundred different names in a hundred different
countries, but it's the same vegetable.
I'm not going to argue about names.
It's the same thing, brother.
What are we arguing about?
Words?
Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6,
he says, be careful about all these people
who get into arguments about words.
Arguments.
He calls it, 1 Timothy 6.4, stripes
of words.
That's the expression, 1 Timothy 6.4. Stripes
about words.
And he says, stay away from that.
Get away from all that.
Perverse disputings of men, of corrupt minds.
I don't want to have anything to do
with that.
I want reality.
Call it whatever you will.
I want to be converted, if that's what
you call it.
Somebody else says, you got to accept the
Lord.
Yeah, I want that.
It's the same thing.
Another fellow says, you must be born again.
Yeah, I want that.
It's the same thing.
I was born again, I was converted, I
accepted the Lord, I became a child of
God.
It wasn't four experiences, it was one.
Different people expressing it in different ways.
So somebody says, baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Somebody says, being filled with the Spirit.
Somebody says, anointed in the Spirit.
Brother, call it what you like.
But Jesus said, and this is what I
want.
John chapter 7, verse 37 to 39.
This is the verse I went to.
In the last day, that great day of
the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If
any man, ooh, praise God for that.
Any man or any woman, thirst.
What's the requirement?
Not understanding, thirst.
You can have understanding and no thirst.
You won't get it.
You don't qualify.
If any man thirst, let him come to
me.
Who said anybody could come to Jesus?
Anybody cannot.
He only invited those who thirsted.
Come to me those who are weary and
heavy laden.
That's not anybody.
A lot of people are not weary and
heavy laden.
They are quite satisfied.
He didn't say, come to me all of
you who are satisfied.
No.
Those who are satisfied cannot come.
Are you satisfied with your Christian experience?
Sit where you are.
The Lord is not inviting you.
He is inviting those who are weary and
heavy laden.
Those who are sick and tired of their
defeated life.
Those who are sick and tired of their
dry ministry.
I was.
I was sick and tired of my dry
ministry.
Sick and tired of my defeated life.
Weary and heavy laden.
Not sick and tired of some denomination or
group.
I remember one man came to us and
said, Brother Zach, Yeah, I've also not been
happy with this Pentecostal church.
And I'm leaving it and I want to
join you.
I said, Brother, If you're sick and tired
of a Pentecostal church, You come to us
after a few months, You'll get sick and
tired of us too.
Because we're a bunch of imperfect people too.
We're not perfect.
But I said, if you're sick and tired
of yourself, Ooh, come and join us.
Because we're a bunch of people who are
sick and tired of ourselves.
We're sick and tired of our defeated life.
We're sick and tired of our dry, unanointed
ministry.
And we're seeking God.
We're not sick and tired of each other.
We're sick and tired of ourselves.
And Jesus said, Come to me, all those
who are weary and heavy laden.
Means come to me, Those who are sick
and tired of themselves.
Not sick and tired of this group, Or
the other group, Or this church, Or that
church, Or this doctrine, Or that doctrine.
But those who are sick and tired of
their defeated life.
The dryness and emptiness of their ministry.
The strife in their homes.
The dryness in that church.
People are sick and tired of that and
say, Lord, I'm coming to you.
I have problems in my life.
I have problems in my home.
I have problems in bringing up my children.
I'm not sick and tired of anybody else.
I'm just sick and tired of myself.
I've been a failure in my life.
I've been a failure as a father.
Maybe you say, I've been a failure as
a mother.
The Lord says, come.
All such people are welcome.
I decided years ago, That I was not
going to build a church of people who
were sick and tired of other groups.
But only those who are sick and tired
of themselves.
Not even people who are sick and tired
of their wives.
Or their husbands.
But people who are sick and tired of
themselves.
Not even people who are sick and tired
of their children.
All these children.
Brother, please go to some other church.
We're gathering people who are sick and tired
of themselves.
Not children who are sick and tired of
their parents.
But those who are sick and tired of
themselves.
Come to me, all those who are weary
and heavy laden.
I will give you rest.
If any man thirst.
Let him come to me.
Not to a church.
Not to a preacher.
Not to somebody to lay hands on them.
Jesus says, come to me.
He's the only baptizer in the Holy Spirit.
Let him come to me.
And if you thirst.
If you're honest.
You can come to him.
When I looked at my life.
Those early years.
My ministry was like a hand pump.
We have many places in India where there's
no water.
They dig a well into the ground and
put a hand pump about.
Pump and pump.
And sometimes very little water inside.
A few trickles of water come out.
And that was my life.
Struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle.
Few drops come out.
Sometimes it's dry.
Yeah, I was thirsty.
I said, Lord, here it says that.
Rivers of living water shall flow.
From his innermost being.
As the scripture has said.
And the qualification is he that believeth on
me.
It's not just for the apostles.
It's not just for some prophets.
It's not for evangelists.
It's for mothers.
With many children.
It's for young people.
It's for 12 year olds.
And 70 year olds.
Anyone who believes.
He who believes on me.
As the scripture has said.
Out of his belly.
From his innermost being.
Shall flow.
Not just a cup.
Not a bigger cup.
Not a bucket.
Rivers.
Not one river.
One river this way.
Blessing people everywhere they go.
Those rivers flow.
You know.
If you study the history of these ancient
civilizations.
Where they congregated.
Maybe from the tower of Babel.
They got scattered in the different parts of
the earth.
And you notice one thing.
They always gathered round where there was a
river.
You know why?
Because they couldn't sustain life without water.
They always congregated round the rivers.
And that's how it is.
Where the rivers are flowing.
People will congregate.
People will travel hundreds of miles.
To listen to a man who's got something
to say.
And you can be that man.
If a river flows out of your life.
They'll congregate there.
That's how it is.
That's how Jesus said it should be.
Out of his innermost being.
Shall flow rivers of living water.
I want to turn now to the.
Places where Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit.
You know.
Just before he went up to heaven.
Just before he went to the cross.
On that last night.
At the last supper.
He opened up.
About the Holy Spirit.
Things he had never said to his disciples
earlier.
You read Matthew 5, 6 and 7.
The Sermon on the Mount.
Not one word about the Holy Spirit.
Amazing.
You read all the teaching of Jesus.
He spoke about humility.
He spoke about faith.
He spoke about so many things.
Not one word about the Holy Spirit.
But when it came to that last night.
He spoke so much.
He said, I'm going now.
And you people are feeling insecure.
You don't have to feel insecure.
I'm not going to leave you orphans.
I'm going to send another comforter.
I've been a comforter for you until now.
I'm going to send another comforter.
Just like me.
John chapter 14.
And verse 16.
This is the first time.
Jesus is speaking about.
The coming of the Holy Spirit.
The very first time.
He mentioned rivers of living water.
As we saw in John 7.
But he didn't mention the Holy Spirit.
But here he makes it clear.
He says, I'm going.
And I will pray.
Verse 16, John 14.
The Father and he shall give you another
comforter.
Helper.
One who comes alongside.
That he may abide with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth.
Whom the world cannot receive.
Verse 18, I will not leave you.
Comfortless.
Or I will not leave you orphans.
As the margin says.
Right now I'm with you.
And you're insecure.
Because I'm going away.
But I won't leave you orphans.
I will send the Holy Spirit.
And that will remove all insecurity from your
life.
Orphans are insecure.
Think how secure your children are at home.
How peacefully they sleep at night.
Because they're not orphans.
They've got a dad and mom.
To take care of their needs.
They're at rest.
Think if there was no money in your
house.
Your bank account is empty.
And you don't know where the breakfast is
going to come from tomorrow morning.
And to top it all you've been sacked
from your job.
You don't know where you're going to get
a job tomorrow.
And maybe your landlord has asked you to
vacate your house as well.
You toss and turn and toss and turn
and toss and turn in your bed at
night.
But you go and look at your five
year old and he's fast asleep.
He's not bothered.
Because there's no breakfast.
No job.
No house.
You wake him up.
And say, don't you know?
There's no food in the house.
We've got to vacate this house.
There's no job.
He'll say, go and tell dad.
Turn over and sleep.
That's rest.
I will not leave you orphans.
But orphans.
Think if that child was an orphan.
No father and mother.
And he's being turned out of the house.
There are orphans in India who live on
the streets.
Insecure.
They had to pick food from the trash
can.
Isn't it wonderful that Jesus said?
I will not leave you orphans.
You don't have to go around picking food
from the trash can.
Spiritual food.
I'll give you the best.
I'll make you sit at my table.
I praise God for that.
I don't have to go to the trash
cans.
The spiritual trash cans.
A lot of churches today are like trash
cans.
What do they get there?
Garbage.
I thank God that Jesus has not left
me an orphan.
He makes me sit at his table.
He gives me the very best.
And when I read his word, he feeds
me.
The fatted calf.
Not what the pigs eat.
That's how it is.
He will not leave us orphans, he said.
And how is it we are not going
to be orphans?
He said, I'll give you.
The spirit will come.
That's the answer.
The Holy Spirit will come.
And I will not be an orphan anymore.
Don't you want this Holy Spirit?
Don't you want this one who will bring
you to rest?
Who will reveal the Father to you?
Who will meet your needs?
Who will water your garden?
So that it isn't dry, but green.
Why should anyone be scared of this?
The same as Jesus.
Another comforter.
He didn't say a comforter.
I'll give you another comforter.
Another means there was one before that.
Who was that?
That was Jesus.
And he says, exactly like me.
You know, I sometimes thought when I was
younger, a little child.
Boy, it would have been wonderful if I
had lived in Palestine.
In those days when Jesus was walking around.
If I could have been among those apostles.
And walked with him.
My cup would have been full.
And the Lord said to me.
That's exactly what you can have.
When you have the Holy Spirit.
Praise God.
Another comforter.
It's just like having Jesus with me all
the time.
I'm not surprised that the devil has made
this a point of controversy.
He will teach you all things.
John 14, 26.
He will bring all things to your remembrance.
Whatever I have said to you.
I thank God for the Holy Spirit.
Who teaches me.
When I come to his word.
Things I don't understand.
Who brings to my remembrance.
The things I read in his word years
ago.
In the time of my need.
You know how you may have.
Kept the medicine on your shelf.
And then in the time of need.
You remember, there it is.
That's the thing that will heal this sickness.
That's how the Holy Spirit has brought to
my mind.
Scriptures that I read 20, 30 years ago.
Which exactly answer my need right now.
He will bring to your remembrance.
What I have said to you.
It's wonderful to have the Holy Spirit.
This is what Jesus said.
John 14, 26.
And he said.
About giving the comforter.
I want you to notice this.
Which I didn't myself notice for a long
time.
You know in the Old Testament.
Keeping the commandments.
Was on the principle of the carrot and
the stick.
You know the meaning of the carrot and
the stick.
When you want a donkey to move forward.
Donkeys can be quite stubborn like we are.
You put a carrot in front of it.
And you keep pulling.
You put a stick in front of.
Over the donkey's head.
And hang a carrot in front of him.
And he reaches out to that carrot.
And every time he moves towards the carrot.
It's moving forward.
That's how they make donkeys move.
Anyway.
That's the principle of reward.
You follow.
I'll give you a carrot.
The other is the stick.
If you don't follow.
I'll give you a whack.
And you have to move.
That's how we bring up our children.
Because they are under law.
I'll give you a chocolate.
I'll get you a bicycle.
If you do this.
And they do it.
That's the reward.
The carrot.
And the other is the stick.
If you don't do it.
Well.
I've got a stick.
These are the only two ways.
We can get children to obey.
The carrot and the stick.
It's the only two ways.
You can get donkeys to obey as well.
The carrot and the stick.
It's the only way.
God could get Israel to obey under the
Old Testament.
If you obey me.
I'll bless you.
That's the carrot.
Deuteronomy 28.
And the latter part of Deuteronomy 28.
If you don't obey me.
I'll give you the stick.
Okay.
They obey.
And it was always that.
And anyone who's obeying God.
For reward.
Or a fear of punishment.
Obeying God and the carrot and stick principle.
That's the law.
How do you know you're under the law?
One way is this.
You obey God.
For reward.
You type.
Because you think you'll be blessed.
Oh.
I will open the windows of heaven.
Bring your types into the storehouse.
And I will open the windows of heaven.
And pour you out a blessing.
Which you will not have room to receive.
People forget that that's in the Old Testament.
It's in Malachi chapter 3.
And they say.
Oh.
I want to type.
What for?
Because I want the carrot.
It's not New Testament Christianity.
What if God said.
I'll give you nothing.
Would you still give to God?
I say.
Sure.
I say.
Lord.
You gave me everything on Calvary.
What do I want more than that?
No.
Don't serve God for a carrot.
The other.
If you serve God.
And if you do the right things.
Because you're afraid God will punish you.
Again.
You're under law.
That's the state.
But Jesus said.
Something quite different.
Here in John 14.
In verse 15.
He said.
If you love me.
Keep my commandments.
Not if you want a carrot.
Or you're afraid of the stake.
No.
Forget those.
That's the law.
It's gone.
We are under grace now.
If you love me.
Keep my commandments.
If you don't love me.
Forget it.
Go and do something else.
If you love me.
Keep my commandments.
You say.
Lord.
I love you.
I want to keep my commandments.
But they're so difficult.
How in the world.
Stop lusting with my eyes.
How in the world.
Can I control my tongue.
That I never get angry.
With other people.
And give them a piece of my mind.
How in the world.
Can I keep my heart pure.
How in the world.
Can my yes always be yes.
And my no always be no.
Always speak the truth.
It is impossible.
In every command I look.
How in the world.
Can I be free from the love of
money.
When I'm handling it everyday.
And I know.
And he says.
In the next verse.
Yeah.
There's a solution for that.
I'll pray the father.
And he'll give you a.
A strengthener.
Comforter means a strengthener.
See in the middle of that word.
F.O.R.T. In comforter.
You know what F.O.R.T. means.
Strength.
Comforter.
Strengthener.
I'll give you.
Someone who will come and.
Help you.
And then you'll be able to overcome the
lust of the eyes.
And then you'll be able to control your
tongue.
And then you'll be break free from the
love of money.
It was spoken in the context of.
Someone who loved Jesus.
Verse 15.
And wanted to keep his commandments.
And found it.
Unable to do so.
And the Lord says.
I'll give you a helper.
I wish people had.
Remembered that.
In relation to the Holy Spirit.
Then I want to show you another verse.
In John chapter 15.
In verse 26.
And Jesus said.
When the Comforter has come.
Whom I will send to you from the
Father.
Even the Spirit of Truth.
He shall testify of me.
See the Holy Spirit hasn't come here.
To teach us a doctrine.
He's come to testify of Jesus Christ.
Please remember that.
And I love that.
Because.
I say.
When a man is filled with the Spirit.
He'll lift up Jesus.
He won't lift up himself.
He won't lift up his experience.
He won't lift up the gifts.
He'll lift up Jesus.
That's the way you know.
Spiritful man.
He shall testify of me.
And.
You also.
Verse 27.
Shall bear witness.
I love this.
You shall bear witness.
And the Holy Spirit shall bear witness.
And the way I understand it is.
The Holy Spirit helps me to be a
witness.
Jesus said.
When the Holy Spirit's come upon you.
You shall receive power.
Acts 1.8. And you shall be witnesses
unto me.
In Jerusalem.
That's your home.
Judea.
Your immediate locality in your local church.
Samaria.
Surrounding districts.
And the outermost parts of the earth.
It's got to start at home.
If the Holy Spirit doesn't help you at
home.
Please don't export that doctrine outside your home.
If it doesn't work at home.
It won't work anywhere.
I'll tell you that.
If your vacuum cleaner doesn't work at home.
You think it's going to work somewhere else?
If the gospel doesn't work in your home.
You think it's going to work somewhere else?
In Jerusalem first.
Then Judea.
Samaria.
The outermost parts of the earth.
But we got to be his witnesses.
His witnesses.
And.
Here.
It says.
I'm going to bear witness.
And the Holy Spirit's going to bear witness.
And then there's going to be a spark.
Have you ever tried this?
Putting two electric wires together.
You can't get a spark with one.
Never.
You put two together and there's a spark.
That's how it is.
And that's what I pray for.
Whenever I preach.
I say Lord.
I want to speak.
Testify of Jesus.
And the Holy Spirit testifies Jesus.
And says listen to that.
That's from God.
There's a spark.
And that's how we're supposed to witness.
And if you try to do it all
alone.
Everything you say may be correct.
But there won't be a fire.
You need the Holy Spirit backing you up.
In everything that you say.
You shall testify of me.
And he shall testify of me.
The Holy Spirit's not going to do it
alone.
And I'm not supposed to do it alone.
Have you understood that?
Even Jesus.
Didn't dare.
To go into the ministry.
Before he was anointed with the Holy Spirit.
What difference did the anointing of the Holy
Spirit make in Jesus' life?
Was he holier when he was 31?
Compared to what he was when he was
29?
He was anointed when he was about 30.
That's why I asked that.
No.
He was just as holy when he was
12, 25, 29.
As he was when he was 31, 32,
33.
His holiness was the same.
He overcame sin when he was 25.
He overcame sin when he was 32.
Did he know more of the Bible?
He knew the Bible when he was 12.
And he knew the Bible when he was
32.
What was the thing that changed in his
life when he was anointed with the Holy
Spirit?
His ministry changed.
He had never cast out a demon for
30 years.
Now he cast out demons.
And he says, if I cast out demons
by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom
of God has come unto you.
That's what he said.
He never healed the sick before that.
He never prophesied.
He never preached before that.
He never dared to serve.
He could live without the anointing of the
Holy Spirit.
But he did not dare to serve without
the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
You shall bear witness and the Holy Spirit
shall bear witness.
John chapter 16 we read.
And verse 13.
The Holy Spirit of truth will guide you
into all the truth.
There's a lot in that.
To show me all the truth in the
scriptures and about myself.
Do you want to know all the truth
about yourself?
Do you want to know how selfish you
are?
Do you want to know how proud you
are?
The Holy Spirit is like these guided tours,
you know.
There are guided tours of Israel.
They show you this place, that place, the
other place.
The Holy Spirit will take you through a
guided tour of your flesh.
And say, this is the zoo where the
lions roar at other people.
And this is the palace where the king
sits.
Lording it over others.
And we discover many areas of our life.
Where we harm others, hurt others.
It's a guided tour.
He'll guide you into all the truth.
I praise God for that ministry of the
Holy Spirit.
That's shown me so many rotten things in
my flesh.
That I can cleanse myself, like it says
in 2 Corinthians 7.1. From all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit.
Get rid of the lions from the zoo.
And get rid of the kings from the
thrones.
And be like Jesus.
The Holy Spirit will lead you into all
the truth.
And He shall glorify me, verse 14.
He shall receive of mine and will show
it unto you.
That's the other thing He does.
He shows me the truth about myself.
And then He shows me Jesus.
And says, this is how Jesus is.
And I say, Lord, I'm the chief of
sinners.
I'm less than the least of all the
saints.
But I see Jesus.
And He'll make me like Him.
I believe that's the greatest ministry of the
Holy Spirit.
And that's why I'm not afraid.
Because the Holy Spirit has come to make
me like Christ.
To me, the verse that describes the ministry
of the Holy Spirit.
More than any other verse in all the
scriptures.
For myself.
Is in 2 Corinthians 3.18. 2 Corinthians
3.18. It says, we all with an
open face.
Beholding as in a glass.
A glass means a mirror.
Beholding as in a mirror.
And the mirror is God's word.
We read that in James chapter 1.
I think it's verse 21 to 25.
Somewhere there.
He who beholds his natural face in a
mirror.
Looks into the law of liberty.
This is the law of liberty.
God's word.
We behold as in a mirror.
What do we behold?
Not a doctrine.
Not a teaching.
This mirror.
The New Testament especially has been given to
us.
To see the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
That's what it says here.
So I look into the mirror.
And I see the glory of Jesus.
I don't see the glory of Jesus anywhere
else.
It's not in visions and trances and all
that.
That I see the glory of Jesus.
It's in God's word.
If I read God's word.
Meditate on it.
The Holy Spirit will show me the glory
of Jesus Christ.
In this word.
He will take of the things of Christ
and show it unto me.
He will show me the humility of Jesus.
He will show me the love and compassion
of Jesus.
The goodness of Jesus.
He will show me the purity of Jesus.
From his word.
He will show me the glory of Jesus.
Full of grace and truth.
And then.
It says we are changed.
That's the second thing.
We're changed into that likeness.
Praise God.
That same glory.
He wants to give to me.
And from one degree.
It doesn't happen all of a sudden.
It doesn't happen in one night.
It takes a whole lifetime.
From glory to glory.
By the spirit of the Lord.
That is it.
By the spirit of the Lord.
And when I allow the Holy Spirit to
guide me into all the truth.
To take of the things of Christ.
And show them to me.
The next thing he does is if I
want it.
He changes me.
I cannot change myself.
I cannot get rid of these lusts that
have ruled my life.
But by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I can put them to death.
How did Joshua and Caleb kill the giants
in Canaan?
Not because they were muscular.
They were 80 years old.
But they brought the giants down by the
power of God.
That's why the Holy Spirit has come.
So these verses teach us a lot.
I want to show you another verse in
2 Corinthians chapter 11.
Where Paul says.
If he that comes to you.
2 Corinthians chapter 11.
Verse 4.
If someone comes to you and preaches another
Jesus.
Than the one we preached.
Is there another Jesus than the one preached
in the gospel?
Sure.
There's plenty of it in Christendom today.
It's another Jesus.
Or if you receive another spirit.
Is it possible to receive another spirit?
Sure.
I think lots of people in the world
today are receiving another spirit.
Not the Holy Spirit.
And we must be careful.
That's why I say.
Be alert.
Jesus said that.
Be alert.
There are many deceiving spirits operating in the
world.
So it's easy to receive another spirit.
Or another gospel.
Is there another gospel being preached in the
world today?
Sure.
In Christendom.
Another Jesus.
Another spirit.
Another gospel.
And he says.
I'm afraid.
I fear.
Verse 3.
Now if you ask me.
Why has God allowed all these deceiving spirits
to produce another Jesus.
Another spirit.
Another gospel in Christendom.
I say.
I don't know the answer.
But I think one reason is.
He wants to sift out among those who
say they are Christians.
Those who are sincere.
From those who are not sincere.
Those who will follow his word.
And those who will follow their feelings.
Those who are seeking their own.
And those who are seeking the glory of
God.
God is in the business of sifting.
And that sifting takes place.
It's happening today in Christendom.
And it's not enough that our doctrines are
right.
When you listen to a man for years.
For 25 years.
In our church in Bangalore in India.
I've told the brothers and sisters there.
Whenever you listen to a man.
Don't just listen to his doctrine.
Listen to his spirit.
Try and gauge his spirit.
And then you'll never go astray.
See if it is the spirit of Christ.
Is he a lover of money?
He cannot be a servant of God.
Impossible.
I read a little booklet.
It's only a little 10 page booklet.
That was written in the 2nd century.
It's one of the earliest writings.
After the Bible.
It's called the teaching of the apostles to
the Gentiles.
And one of the things they mentioned.
You see remember in those days in the
2nd century.
People didn't have a new testament.
I mean the new testament was written.
But there were very few copies of Paul's
letter to the Galatians and Ephesians.
And there were thousands of Christians who didn't
have a new testament.
And how could you protect people from wrong
doctrine.
And even with a new testament it's so
difficult.
Can you imagine how difficult it was in
those days.
There were no printed Bibles.
Nobody had an old testament in their home.
There were no printed Bibles in those days.
And it was all by word of mouth.
It was so difficult to protect people from
false preachers.
From people who took advantage of them.
And there were a lot of people roaming
around those days in the 2nd century.
Claiming that we are servants of God.
We are prophets.
We are anointed by the Holy Spirit.
And the apostles had laid down some instructions
before they died.
And this is what they said.
It interested me what they said in that
letter.
In that little small little booklet.
If someone comes to you.
Claiming to be a servant of God.
And asks you for your money.
He is a false prophet.
He asks you for your money.
To support him.
He is a false prophet.
If people had followed those instructions in 20th
century.
We would have been saved from a lot
of false prophets.
And a lot of wastage of Christian money.
If people would listen to that today.
When they watch television.
And listen to those evangelists.
Two things would happen.
Those deceivers would not be able to survive.
And you would have a little more money
to give.
To what is genuinely God's worth.
But do you think people listen?
Listen to the spirit of the man.
You find Jesus standing up and saying.
Give me your money.
Send me a check for so much.
No.
How in the world are believers deceived by
all this?
It is another spirit.
Listen to a man's spirit.
Is he trying to lord it over you?
Is he trying to get authority over your
life?
Is he taking away the connection between you
and the head Jesus Christ?
That's another spirit.
The Holy Spirit is glorifying Christ.
But this fellow is glorifying himself.
He is glorifying his organization.
He is not leading you to Christ like
the Holy Spirit does.
He is leading you to himself.
That's not spirit of Christ.
He is leading you to experiences.
Not to Christ.
And when people follow that.
You know what happens?
You know when people don't listen to the
truth of God.
Three times in Romans chapter 1.
It says God gave them up.
God gave them up.
You notice that in Romans chapter 1.
Romans chapter 1 it says.
Three times.
Verse 24.
God gave them over.
God gave them up to the uncleanness of
their minds.
Verse 26.
For this cause God gave them up to
vile affections.
And again in the middle of verse 28.
God gave them over.
Three times.
Romans chapter 1 describes this downward step.
They did not receive the truth of God.
And so God gave them up.
And then again God gave them up.
They changed the truth of God into a
lie.
Verse 25.
They corrupted the truth of God.
God gave them up.
And then they gave up the truth of
God.
God gave them up some more.
If you don't love the truth.
You will find you are going downward, downward,
downward.
And I have seen that.
Today in a lot of things that have
happened in some parts of the charismatic movement.
Where you find they started out with one
thing.
And then they wanted another experience.
And they went to another thing.
Each time it looks as though they go
into something baser and baser.
And today you have people barking like dogs.
And saying that's the Holy Spirit.
People falling in the ground.
Kicking their legs.
And laughing.
And saying it's the Holy Spirit.
Do you see how they become so blind?
There are ladies lifting up their legs as
assistant pastors.
And anointing people with their left legs.
I have seen it in a video myself.
It's not second hand.
This is what's happening.
It's to me.
It's a clear indication of what I see
here.
God gave them up.
And they have gone down there now.
It didn't start like that.
They didn't love the truth.
They loved money.
They didn't glorify Christ.
They glorified themselves.
They drew people to themselves instead of to
Christ.
They built up their organizations instead of building
the church of Jesus Christ.
They spent more time fighting for their doctrines
instead of fighting the devil.
What happens when you do such things?
It's another spirit.
It's not the spirit of Jesus Christ.
Jesus received money too.
Luke chapter 8 verse 3 says certain rich
women supported Jesus and his apostles.
But he was so faithful with that money.
Because it was God's money.
That he did not even use that money
to rent a room in an inn to
sleep.
He slept in the open.
He had no place to lay his head.
Didn't he have enough money to rent a
room in an inn?
Money given for God's work?
He wouldn't use it.
He used it to buy very simple food.
Sleep outside.
There was no need for a room in
an inn.
He could sleep outside.
That's how he lived.
What do we see today?
People give money.
And see how these people use it.
To travel around in their private jet planes.
And to buy houses and lands for themselves.
And there are so many dumb believers who
just keep giving.
This is how deception has come in.
And very often it's done in the name
of the Holy Spirit.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
It's all a deception.
Be warned.
But don't let your life be a reaction
against all that.
That you dump everything about the Holy Spirit
and live your dry life.
Because that's not the answer either.
I remember 37 years ago.
When I was seeking God for the baptism
in the Holy Spirit.
I was born again.
I was baptized in water.
And I was seeking God for power.
I said, Lord.
I know the word.
I'm baptized in water.
But I don't have power in my life.
There are no rivers flowing through my life.
And I didn't know what to do.
I was a young Christian.
23 years old.
And people said to me to go to
some Pentecostal church.
And I went there.
And I heard such a lot of noise.
And to me it was like confusion.
It's exactly like what it says in 1
Corinthians 14.
If you all speak in tongues, won't they
say you're mad?
It sounded like that.
And I came away from there.
And I said, Lord.
I don't want that.
But I do want what Peter, James and
John got on the day of Pentecost.
That I want.
The real thing.
A real baptism of power.
That changed Peter from one who was afraid
of a maidservant.
To witness to her.
Denied Christ before her twice.
Thrice finally.
And changed him into such a bold man
that he could point to the whole Sanhedrin.
The Jewish leaders and the high priests and
say, you crucified Christ.
And didn't bother him anymore whether he was
jailed or beaten or anything.
He became a bold witness for Jesus.
And I said, Lord.
I want that.
And when Peter and Paul spoke when they
were filled with the Spirit.
Rivers flowed out from them.
I said, Lord.
I want that.
I just don't want noise.
I thank God.
That I did not react against that and
turn away to my dry life and say
it's all wrong.
It was wrong.
That was counterfeit.
I sought for the genuine.
And God met with me.
And it changed my life.
And my ministry.
And it says here in 1 Corinthians 14.
That we must do something.
There's something we must covet.
Earnestly.
We're not to covet money.
You know that.
There was a commandment in the Old Testament.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
We're not to covet our neighbor's wife.
Or our neighbor's property.
Or our neighbor's wealth.
We're not to covet money generally.
We must be satisfied, content.
With what we have.
But do you know that the New Testament
says you are to covet something.
Don't covet this but covet this.
It's not enough that you say I don't
covet my neighbor's wife.
But do you covet what the Word of
God says you should covet?
I saw here in 1 Corinthians 12.31.
Covet earnestly the best gifts.
And I found I hadn't done that.
And chapter 14 verse 1.
Follow after charity.
That's love.
And desire spiritual gifts.
But rather that you may prophesy.
And there I was urged.
To covet.
To prophesy.
Now prophesy.
As soon as people hear the word prophecy.
They've got only one meaning in their heads.
Because again they don't read the scriptures carefully.
And that is foretelling the future.
Well that's true.
That's what the Old Testament prophets did.
Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the Messiah.
Micah prophesied about the birth of Jesus.
And the Old Testament prophets.
A lot of them spoke about the future.
But here we don't have to go far
to understand what this means.
Here it's not talking about foretelling the future.
The Holy Spirit through Paul explains.
I'll explain what I mean by prophecy.
Just hang on.
Verse 3.
He who prophesies.
Speaketh unto men.
To edification.
Exhortation.
And comfort.
Not foretelling the future at all.
What is prophecy?
If you're willing to get rid of all
the concepts.
You have in your mind and allow.
Yourself to be poured into the mold of
scripture.
Instead of pouring scripture into the mold of
your prejudices.
Then change your opinion.
This is what prophecy means in the New
Testament.
It is to speak to men.
To edify them.
That means to build them up.
It is to speak to men.
To exhort them.
That's to challenge them.
To rebuke them.
To correct them.
And to speak to men.
To comfort them.
Encourage them.
Console them.
What you're hearing right now is prophecy.
What you heard yesterday was prophecy.
Don't think prophecy is lifting up your hand.
Closing your eyes.
And then a funny voice.
Saying something for one minute.
Thus said the Lord.
That's not prophecy.
That's all pretense.
Covet to prophesy.
God is my witness.
That for more than 35 years.
I have done that.
I did it yesterday.
I did it today.
What?
Covet to prophesy.
You don't get it.
Unless you ask God for it.
Now of course that depends on whether God
has called you to a public ministry.
But I feel sorry for all those people
who have been called to a public ministry
of God's word.
Who do not covet to prophesy.
We need to covet that the anointing of
God will be upon us.
To prophesy.
It's not only for prophesy.
It is to build the body of Christ.
You see we are different members.
It says in 1 Corinthians 12.
One is the hand.
One is the tongue.
One is the eye.
One is the body.
The ear.
The leg.
So on.
So to be filled with the spirit doesn't
mean prophesy only.
It doesn't mean evangelism.
If you are a mother.
You need to be a spirit filled mother.
If you are a father.
You need to be a spirit filled father.
If you are a helper in the church.
You need to be a spirit filled helper.
If you are called just to share an
occasional word.
That needs to be spirit filled.
If you are called to be a teacher.
You need to be a spirit filled teacher.
See to me.
I could use this illustration.
If my right hand is paralyzed.
Let's say my whole right side is paralyzed.
My eye.
My ear.
My hand.
My right leg.
This whole right side of my body is
paralyzed.
Are they still members of my body?
Yes they are.
Are you a member of the body of
Christ?
Yes you may be.
But are you a useful member of the
body of Christ?
Is this a useful hand right now?
No.
It's a passenger in the body.
It's useless.
Is this leg a useful member now that
it's paralyzed?
No.
It's a useless member.
It's a member but a useless member.
Is this eye a member of the body?
Yes.
But it's useless now because it's paralyzed.
I can't see through it.
This right side is paralyzed.
Lots of believers are like this.
Oh yeah.
They are members of the body of Christ.
They have communion with us.
They break bread together.
But what are they lacking?
Power.
And when power comes into this hand, it
suddenly becomes useful.
It doesn't become a member of the body
of Christ, of that body.
It was always a member of the body
but now it got power.
And when this eye gets power, it doesn't
become a hand.
It becomes a better eye.
And when the ear gets power, it doesn't
become an eye or a hand.
It just becomes a better ear.
And if you're a mother and you get
filled with the Holy Spirit, you won't be
an evangelist.
You'll be a better mother.
And if you're an evangelist and you get
filled with the Spirit, you'll be a better
evangelist.
And if you're a teacher and you get
filled with the Spirit, you'll be a better
teacher.
That's how it is.
Yeah, that's God's way.
You begin to...
The Holy Spirit shows us things in the
Scriptures that we never saw before.
That's what happened to me.
I began to see things in God's Word
that I'd never seen before.
I began to understand it.
The Spirit of Revelation began to open up
things in the Scriptures.
What did Jesus have?
I feel the great lack in Christendom, the
great problem in Christendom is the lack of
balance.
The fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of
the Spirit.
I see two groups in Christendom.
There are people who say the fruit of
the Spirit.
Brother, that's what we need.
I agree.
There is another group that says the gifts
of the Spirit.
That's what we need.
I agree.
Let's go to the dictionary.
What did Jesus have?
The fruit of the Spirit or the gifts
of the Spirit?
What did He have?
Both.
So I get my answer from my dictionary.
What should I have?
Both.
I need love.
I need to be filled with love so
that I never have an atom of bitterness
against a single human being.
I need to be filled with joy so
that I can rejoice in the Lord always,
all the time.
Not just most of the time.
I need to be filled with the Spirit
for that.
I need peace so that I don't live
in anxiety and tension and create quarrels wherever
I go.
You know some people wherever they go, they
create a quarrel.
They need to be filled with the Spirit
of peace.
Long-suffering.
Oh, what a need there is in our
homes, with our children, with our partners and
with difficult neighbors and difficult people at work.
Long-suffering.
We need to be filled with the Spirit.
Gentleness.
What a need.
We are such harsh people.
We need the Spirit of gentleness.
Goodness.
We are basically evil.
We need to be filled with the Spirit
of goodness.
Faithfulness.
Meekness.
Temperance or self-control.
What a need there is for self-control.
To be filled with the Spirit is to
be filled with the Spirit of self-control.
When a man says, I got filled with
the Spirit and I got thrown down and
I couldn't control myself, I say that must
have been another spirit because the Holy Spirit
gives us self-control.
I can control myself.
Do we need these fruits of the Spirit?
Sure.
Now what about the gifts of the Spirit?
Yeah, we need them.
The difference is that as a believer, I
need all the fruits of the Spirit in
my life, but God won't give me all
the gifts of the Spirit.
The hand doesn't become suddenly the whole body.
It will always be a hand.
I'm not an evangelist.
God never gave me that gift.
He gave me the gift of expounding God's
Word.
So when it comes to evangelism, I let
the evangelist do the job.
We work together.
There are different ministries in the body of
Christ.
But the Holy Spirit has come to make
us like Jesus.
To draw people to Jesus.
Let me say a word about speaking in
tongues because there is a lot of controversy
concerning that.
Let's look at Scripture.
1 Corinthians 13, it says, If I speak
with the tongues of men and angels, and
I have not charity or love, I am
like a sounding brass.
That's the first thing we must remember.
Love is greater than speaking in tongues.
Love is greater.
It is the greatest, it says in verse
13.
In verse 8, it says, The time will
come when tongues will cease, knowledge will cease,
prophecies will fail.
1 Corinthians 38, prophecies will fail, tongues will
cease, knowledge will vanish away.
When that which is perfect is come, verse
10, that which is in part shall be
done away.
A time will come when there will be
no more prophecies, prophesying that we spoke about
just now.
There won't be any more prophesying.
There won't be any more tongues.
There won't be any more knowledge.
It's easy to find out whether tongues have
ceased or not.
Has prophesying ceased?
Is there no more need for speaking to
people to edification, exaltation and comfort?
Oh sure, it will cease when we get
to heaven.
There won't be any preaching in heaven.
Has knowledge ceased?
Bible knowledge, scientific knowledge, any type of knowledge?
No, we've got plenty of Bible knowledge.
If prophesying and knowledge have not ceased, then
obviously tongues have not ceased either.
Because the perfect has not yet come.
I want to be honest with Scripture.
That's what I did 37 years ago when
I was studying Scripture.
I grew up in a church which believed
the tongues of the devil.
When I went honestly with Scripture, I said,
I don't have it, but it's there according
to Scripture.
Then I began to seek God further.
In chapter 14 it says in verse 4,
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.
So we see there that there is an
edification that comes through speaking in tongues.
Not for other people, but for the man
who speaks in tongues.
Then I saw further, verse 5, I wish
I would that you all speak with tongues,
which is the clearest verse in the New
Testament that teaches that everybody did not speak
in tongues.
Even in Paul's time.
Because if everybody did, he would not have
said that.
I would that you all spoke with tongues
means many people didn't.
So I found in searching Scripture honestly, I
couldn't agree with the charismatics and I couldn't
agree with the anti-charismatics.
I found there is a much more balanced
position in Scripture.
And here were people fighting each other.
If they came to Scripture, they come to
a more balanced position.
Everybody didn't speak in tongues.
If there was tongues, God in His great
wisdom would give it to some and He
didn't give it to others.
Perhaps the others didn't need it.
Fine.
Then I saw further, Paul said in verse
18, 1 Corinthians 14, I thank my God
I speak with tongues more than you all.
So obviously, it was not something he was
ashamed of or embarrassed to talk about.
He said, I thank God I speak with
tongues more than you all.
But he said, the next thing in verse
19, but when I come in the church,
I won't speak in tongues.
I'd rather speak five words.
Five words in English is better than 10
,000 words in a tongue.
It's true.
So that's to me the balanced understanding of
Scripture on this subject.
Tongues in my life is like a little
finger.
God gave it to me 25 years ago.
I use it never in public, in private.
I don't make it 12 feet long like
a lot of people do, making a nuisance
of themselves wherever they go.
If you had a little finger 12 feet
long, you'd be a nuisance wherever you go.