tonight and speak to the hearts of those that have come out on Sunday night
because they want to hear preaching, they want to hear the word of God, they want
to sing the great songs of the faith, they want to be with other believers of
like faith dear God and I just pray that you would bless the service tonight
and help it to be all that we hope it will be dear God and that you would
speak to our hearts and meet with us tonight in Jesus name I
pray amen.
Now this is a great story in the bible Acts chapter 10 deals with the subject
of Cornelius and he gets saved in the story but
there's so many great things that I want to point out the first thing I want to
show you and I'm going to get into the main topic of the message
but look if you would at verse number 43 of Acts chapter 10 and all through the
book of Acts you'll see this all through the bible you'll see this
and it doesn't take a genius to figure this out but the bible says to him
give all the prophets a witness now that's not even what I'm talking about
but by the way every old testament book in the bible is pointing to Jesus Christ
according to that verse right there to him give all the prophets witness
that through his name whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins. Boy isn't the gospel simple isn't it clear
what salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing minus
nothing but look at the next verse while peter yet spake these words the
holy ghost fell on all them which heard
the word and the bible says and they of the circumcision which believed were
astonished as many as came with peter because that on the gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the holy ghost for they heard
them speak with tongues and magnify god then answered peter can any man forbid
water that these should not be baptized which have received the holy ghost as
well as we and he commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the lord then prayed they him to tarry certain days
look at acts chapter 11 I'm just laying the foundation for the sermon
look at verse number 13 this is where he's recounting the same
story and he showed us how he had seen an angel
in his house corneas that is which stood and said to him send men to
japa and call for simon whose surname is peter
who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved
look what is it that got people saved the word of god you see that
he said that he'll tell thee words words whereby thou and all thy house shall be
saved don't tell me the word of god doesn't save
you know the big prominent preacher dr jack stop and him in indiana he's been
preaching this stuff that you don't need the word of god to get saved
that's what he preaches he said recently he said in a sermon
you could get saved he said i could get somebody saved with the niv
with a catholic bible or i could get somebody saved with the instructions on
the back of a tissue box that's what he said on sunday night a
few weeks ago that's blasphemy my friend that's wicked and ungodly
when i was there at his church he got up and said
that he could get somebody saved with an niv a catholic bible a jehovah witness
bible he said i could get somebody saved with
a reader's digest magazine that's what he said and that's why i'm
not there that's why i left but i'm going to tell you something
we're living in a day where the foundations are being destroyed of what
we believe in and i could show you right now more
verses in the bible that say that the word of god saves you
than that say jesus saves you i mean seriously
that i could show you more verses in the bible that say the word of god will save
you than a verse that says jesus saves and we
know jesus saves because jesus is the word and i can show
you both of those many times but the word of god saves you
he says he'll speak words unto you whereby thou
and all thy house shall be saved and so it's very clear throughout the bible you
know i'm not going to be late at that point
because i've preached whole sermons on that subject
but look at the next verse the bible says and as i began to speak
the holy ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning
then remember thy the word of the lord how that he said john adee baptized with
water but you shall be baptized with the holy
ghost you see this is a reference to what
happened to them at the beginning well what are we talking about
well what we're talking about the holy ghost fell on them at the beginning
is in acts chapter number one i'm sorry act chapter number two
turn if you would to act chapter one and i'm going to show you this
now there's a subject throughout the entire bible that's that's talked about
many times and it's actually spoken of hundreds of
times more than i was looking through it today and
more than a hundred times i counted just in my brief
going over this this afternoon just finishing up my sermon
and i went over and i saw over a hundred times
where the bible talked about the holy spirit coming upon someone
the holy ghost coming upon someone the holy spirit falling upon someone
i saw it over a hundred times in the bible this is a great theme throughout
the bible throughout the old testament and throughout the new testament
now if you would look at acts chapter one verse number four and i'm going to
teach you something that a lot of people don't
understand about this it's very simple in the bible but
there's so much false teaching out there look if you would at acts chapter one
verse four and being assembled together with them
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem
but wait for the promise of the father which said he
ye have heard of me for john truly baptized with water
but you shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence
and then look at verse number eight it says but you shall receive power
after that the holy ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria
and unto the uttermost part of the earth now notice that word at the end of
verse number four it says but wait for the promise of the father
now has the power of the holy ghost come upon them as of yet no he's saying
wait he's saying it hasn't happened yet you
need to wait not until you receive until you're in dude with power from on high
until you receive the promise of the father
turn back if you would just a few pages to john chapter 20
and we'll see something completely different look at john chapter 20
john chapter number 20 verse number 19 the bible says
then the same day at evening being the first day of the week
when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
jews came jesus and stood in the midst and
saith unto them peace be unto you and when he had so said he showed unto
them his hands and his side then were the disciples glad when they
saw the lord then said jesus to them again
peace be unto you as my father had sent me even so send iu
and when he had said this he breathed on them
and said and sayeth unto them receive ye the holy ghost whosoever sins you
remit they are remitted unto them and whoso
ever sins you retain they are retained so
in this passage we see that jesus christ stands in his resurrected body with the
disciples the 11 that are there i mean i'm sorry 10 that are there because
thomas was not there and he breathed on them and said receive
ye the holy ghost now at that point they
received the holy ghost they were indwelled by the holy spirit for the
first time i'm laying the foundation but turn back to john 7
same book of the bible flip back to john chapter 7
and i'll show you what i'm talking about john chapter number seven
and look if you would at verse number 37 of john 7 the bible reads
in the last day that great day of the feast jesus stood and cried
saying if any man first let him come unto me and drink
he that believeth on me as the scripture hath said
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water
but this spakey of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive
for the holy ghost was not yet given because that jesus was not yet glorified
okay so you see that in john 7 the holy ghost was not yet
given then we get to john 20 jesus meets with
his disciples in the upper room he breeds on them and says receive he
the holy ghost now he's died he's been buried he's risen again he's
been glorified and so he breeds on them and now they
have received the holy ghost now all throughout the new testament
you'll see talk about the holy spirit dwelling in you
right you've seen that uh christ is in you the bible says
uh know ye not that the spirit of christ dwelleth in you except you be
reprobate he said that the holy spirit is in you
all throughout the bible if you're a believer the moment you get saved the
holy spirit lives inside you now before jesus was glorified
that was not the case and so the disciples
before jesus was glorified did not have the holy spirit living inside of them
but after jesus was glorified he breathed on them and said receive the
holy ghost now they were indwelled by the holy spirit
and every person who's ever gotten saved since then
immediately upon salvation was indwelled by the holy spirit
look if you would at luke chapter 20 24 luke 24 and we'll see the exact same
passage the exact same story about jesus in the
upper room from a different perspective in the book of luke
look at luke 24 and verse number 40 yeah let's start in
verse number 40 for sake of time the bible says and when he had thus
spoken he showed them his hands and his feet
and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered he said unto them
have you hear any meat and they gave him a piece of a boiled fish and of a
honeycomb and he took it and did eat before them
and he said unto them these are the words which i spake unto you while i was
yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the law of moses and in the prophets
and in the psalms concerning me look at the next verse then
opened he their understanding that they might understand
the scriptures now look if you would back
at verse number 27 and beginning at moses and all the
prophets he expounded unto them all the scriptures
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself again notice that all
the old testament scriptures talked about jesus according to this
and look at this in verse 31 and their eyes were opened and they knew him and
he vanished out of their sight see in this passage where it says that
jesus was with them in the upper room it says he opened their understanding so
they can understand the scriptures well we know from the book of john that
in this exact same conversation was when he breathed on them and said
receive ye the holy ghost these two things happen at the same time
they were indwelled by the holy spirit and now all of a sudden they can
understand the bible he explains it to them they say wow i
never saw that before i never understood that i mean
you've explained it to me before i mean the whole time you were here on this
earth with us for three and a half years a lot of times you you bought this up
and we didn't understand it but now that i'm indwelled by the holy spirit
now my understanding has been opened it's like scales have fallen off my
eyes and now i can see and understand the bible
uh for sake of time i can't turn there but later in the book of galatians it
talks about an unsaved person who's reading the bible it's like they
have a veil over their face just like moses had a veil when he came
down from the mountain and they they can't understand the bible
but when they believe on christ the bible says the veil is removed
now they can understand the bible why because the holy spirit
indwells them now the indwelling of the holy spirit is
completely different from the holy ghost upon you
those are two totally different things now no one
was ever indwelled permanently by the holy spirit
before jesus was glorified he was not yet given
no one was temporarily indwelled by the holy spirit before jesus was
glorified a lot of pastors will mistakenly teach
that in the old testament the holy spirit was temporary and in the new
testament the holy spirit is permanent that is not
true the holy spirit's indwelling didn't exist before john chapter 7 and
it existed after john 20 and it has only ever been
permanent it only will be permanent once the holy spirit dwells in you that's
it you're sealed unto the day of redemption the bible says
talking about the rapture when you're going to be a brand new creature before
god but the holy ghost upon you
is a theme that you can find in the old testament
you can follow it all the way through the old testament about a hundred times
then you get into the new testament and you'll see the same thing
nothing changes from the old testament to the new testament
in regard to the external not the internal indwelling of the holy spirit
but the external having the holy ghost upon you let me illustrate this to you
look if you would at judges chapter three actually don't turn to judge i
have to hurry there's so much material in this message
i pushed the print button on my sermon and just pages just kept coming out i
was thinking the sermon's a little too long
but skip if you would to first samuel chapter 10
first samuel chapter number 10 verse 9 this is such a huge subject i was
already just trimming out great scriptures that i wanted to show on
this subject but there's just so much to talk about
and i wanted to make some application and do some preaching also
but let me explain to you while you're turning to first samuel 10
three words that are used in the bible the first one
is in the old testament okay there's a word spirit
holy spirit or spirit of god now all throughout the whole testament
the words holy spirit and spirit of god are used
now sometimes it's a lowercase s sometimes it's an uppercase s
whether it's a lowercase or an uppercase s does not tell you in the old testament
whether it's talking about god sometimes it'll be talking about god's
spirit and use a lowercase s sometimes it'll use an uppercase s just
depending on the grammar of the sentence but in the old testament the word spirit
is used but when you get into the new testament
there are now three words used to describe that one
word all throughout the old testament is just one word spirit
holy spirit spirit of god you get in the new testament there's three words
one is a lowercase s spirit now if you're reading the new testament in the
king james bible every time it's lowercase it's not god
it's man's spirit all all the way through the new testament if it's a
lowercase s it's not talking about god's spirit
if it's an uppercase s it's always god's spirit
and then there's another word that's introduced in the new testament the word
is ghost not used at all in the old testament
but the word ghost is used in the new testament about the
holy spirit the holy ghost of god now just i'm trying to explain this in a
way that's easy to understand but the word spirit means breath now
inspiration have you ever heard that word inspired to inspire means to breathe
air into your lungs to expire means to breathe air out of
your lungs now the word spirit comes from that word of inspiring
air breathing and then there's another word ghost
which is the exhale word like a gust of wind coming out of your
mouth and so though that's where those two words etymologically came from in
in the english language they came from a word that means to inhale
and to exhale all throughout the new testament when you see the word spirit
it's talking about more of an inward manifestation
of the holy spirit when you see the word ghost it's talking about
something of a more external manifestation so you'll notice this
every time you see verse about the power of god you know the power of the holy
ghost the holy ghost came upon them and they
preached and everything that's going to be the word ghost
but when you see a word like be filled with the spirit
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that's an
internal work that the holy spirit's doing inside of you
like when the bible says trying to think i just had
the example on the tip of my tongue where it says
what was it i don't know oh yeah the fruit of the spirit i'm sorry
blanked out there for a second the fruit of the spirit love joy
peace look those are internal workings of the holy spirit not as much an
external that you can see well look if you would at first samuel
chapter number 10 and while you're looking there i'll read
you a few verses actually but i'm sorry i'll read you a few first
and the spirit of the lord came upon him judges 310
and he helped israel and went out to war and the lord delivered
kushan rishitham king of mesopotamia into his hand judges 634
but the spirit of the lord came upon gideon and he blew a trumpet
and abi ezer was gathered after him uh judges 11 29
then the spirit of the lord came upon jephthah and he passed over gilead and
menashe and passed over misbe of gilead so these men are being uh having the
holy ghost come upon them and they're preaching they're rallying
troops behind them they're getting people excited about
doing something they're leading great battles to a war
then we get to judges 14 we get into the story of samson i'll just read this
and the spirit of the lord came mightily upon him
and he rent him as he would have rent a kid this is where he faces that lion and
just rips it in half like it was nothing the bible says
samson did verse 19 in the same chapter and the spirit of the lord came upon him
and he went down to ashkelon and slew 30 men of them and then again in verse
14 of chapter 15 it says and when he came unto lehi
the philistine shouted against him and the spirit of the lord came mightily
upon him and the cords that were upon his arms
became as flax that was burned with fire in his hands the bands loose from off
his hands so there's a few examples i mean of the hundred or so that i found
of the holy spirit coming upon men in the old testament
but look if you would at first samuel 10 where we are in verse number nine
this is the story of king saul and this is not
more vividly given as an example in the entire bible than with saul
but look if you would have verse number nine and it was so that when he had
turned his back to go from samuel god gave him another heart and all
those signs came to pass that day and when they came thither to the hill
behold a company of prophets met him and the spirit of god came upon him
and he prophesied among them he's preaching that's what the word prophesy
means in the bible and it came to pass when all that knew
him before time saw that behold he prophesied among the prophets then the
people said one to another what is this that has come unto the son
of kish is saul also among the prophets so wow saul is
has the holy spirit come mightily upon him he's turned into another man the
bible says he begins to preach with power
and everyone who knew him before is shocked and surprised says wow
this is saul the son of kish is he also among the prophets
but flip over to verse number two chapter number 11
first samuel chapter 11 look at verse six then samuel took the horn of i'm
sorry wrong verse and the spirit of god came upon saul when he heard these
tidings and his anger was kindled greatly and he
took a yoke of oxen and hewed them in pieces
and sent them throughout all the coasts of israel by the hands of messengers
saying whosoever come about forth after saul
and after samuel so shall it be done unto his oxen
and the fear of the lord fell on the people and they came out with one
consent so here's a powerful man a powerful
leader a very energetic man he's filled with
power by god to do something great for god
but now look at verse number 13 of chapter 16 first samuel 16
and we'll watch as the spirit of the lord departs from saul
look at first samuel 16 13 then samuel took the horn of oil and
anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the
spirit of the lord came upon david from that day forward so samuel rose
up and went to raima but the spirit of the lord departed
from saul and an evil spirit from the lord
troubled him so we see that the holy spirit
upon saul departed he no longer had the power of god resting upon him
he no longer was filled with power like he was before because the holy spirit
had come away from him now david had the holy spirit come upon him at the same
time but can we in the new testament lose the
indwelling of the holy spirit absolutely not
that's that's the earnest of our redemption the bible says
we're sealed with the holy spirit under the day of salvation
that's the first fruits of our inheritance the bible says
the holy spirit living inside of us but there is
a temporary manifestation of the holy ghost upon you
that can leave and come and go just like it did in the old testament i'll prove
it to you in the bible here and again i'm skipping a lot of my
sermon but look if you would at first samuel 19 now
remember when we were in chapter 10 and 11
boy saul had the holy spirit upon him filled with power
then we got into chapter 16 he lost his power the holy spirit departed from him
but now look at chapter 19 verse number let's see
skip forward a little bit here
let's look at verse number 23 and this is talking about saul i'm
skipping some of it but and he went thither to nihoth and rhema this is
saul and the spirit of god was upon him also
so now the spirit of god is upon saul again you see that
spirit of god was upon him also and he went on and prophesied
until he came to nihoth and rhema and he stripped off his clothes also and
prophesied before samuel in like manner and laid down naked all that day and all
that night wherefore they say is saul also among
the prophets now flip over to the book of psalms
look at psalms and chapter number 51 psalm 51 so do you see how saul had the
holy spirit come upon him again after he had lost his power after the
holy spirit had departed from him the holy spirit came upon him again just
a few chapters later and he preached in another great sermon
and he prophesied again look at psalm 51 famous passage this is
david after he had sinned with bashiba and he's repented of his of his sin of
sinning with that shiba and he's basically pouring out his heart to god
telling them that he's sorry look if you would at verse number 10
created me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit within me
cast me not away from thy presence and watch this and take
not thy holy spirit from me restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
and uphold me with thy free spirit then will i teach transgressors thy ways
and sinners shall be converted unto thee so you see he didn't say restore to me
my salvation because you can't lose your salvation he
just said restore to me the joy of thy salvation he says i'm saved but
i've lost the joy of salvation because i've been in sin and
i'm going to tell you so every time you're in sin
the joy of your salvation goes out the window you want to have joy in the
christian life live a life that's pleasing to god do
what god wants you to do but you see here again
david was very cognizant of the fact he realized that although the holy ghost
had come upon him in first sanio 16 he says i know that i'm
in danger of losing the presence and power of god on
my life where the holy ghost is upon me in great
power he says i'm afraid of losing i said oh god take not thy holy spirit
from me
now look that is something people say well that's old testament
no don't you know we get so carried away sometimes cutting up the bible
you know these people they they take this verse where it says rightly
dividing the word of truth and they just run with it
and they divide up the bible this is talking to you this is talking to you
this is talking look this is all talking to me
i mean it's so ridiculous they'll say you talk to them about the book of
hebrews and you know i love the book of hebrews
and so i'll start talking to somebody they say oh it's written to the jews
it's not for us it's written to the hebrews oh what about james book of
james uh james it says in verse number one to the
12 tribes which are scattered abroad greeting
james is written to the jews and i just want to say to them
okay well you want to tell me about the book of romans i'm not a roman
you know what it's only written to the romans i get uh don't
titus no i'm not titus titus has been dead for a long time don't tell me what
the book of titus says i'm steven anderson i'm not titus don't
tell me about timothy i mean see how dumb that is
all right book of galatians you gotta be from galatia that's how stupid it is but
they'll they just single out and say these books for the jews and
and that doesn't apply to you and i guess the old book of psalms doesn't
apply to me because the old testament look this is a an appropriate statement
that could be made in the new testament by a new testament believer
take not by holy spirit from me not the indwelling of the holy spirit the holy
spirit will live inside of you but you can't lose the holy ghost upon
you just like saul could it's the same thing
look i'll show you in the new testament look if you would at acts chapter number
let me find my place here
look at that chapter 10 where we just were actually that's what
that's where we'll start but there are many places throughout the new testament
you see this but look at that chapter 10 verse 44 where we started
while peter yet spake these words the holy ghost
fell on all them which heard the word you see that
and then look in the next chapter chapter 11
verse 15 and as i began to speak the holy ghost
fell on them as on us at the beginning flip back to acts chapter 2
and we'll find out how it was when it fell on them at the beginning
acts chapter 2
the bible says in acts chapter 2 and in verse number 4
and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other
tongues as the spirit gave them utterance now you
have to understand that this is what's referred to as the fact that they were
baptized by the holy spirit now let me ask you something if you're
baptized by water is the water on the outside or is it on
the inside of your body i mean it's on the it's on the outside
right i mean if you're immersed in water the word baptist
i mean if somebody dunks me underwater water is on my outside not on my inside
and so that's why jesus said yes i breathed on you and said receive the
holy ghost yes you have the holy spirit living
inside of you but not until you're a dude with power from on high
will you have the holy ghost upon you and he said john truly baptized with
water but you shall be baptized with the holy ghost
not many days hence and that's exactly what happens
that's why i look at verse number two it says and suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they
were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as a fire and look at the next words and it sat
upon each of them so you see how the holy spirit is
upon them they're being baptized with the holy ghost
externally look if you would at verse number
16 but this is that which was spoken by the prophet joel
this is acts 2 16 and it shall come to pass in the last day sayeth the lord
i will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh you see that the holy spirit
is coming upon them look at acts chapter 19 and i had to
just i'm just going through a quick list
here of verses there's a lot that say the same thing so i'm just showing you
a few different ways that it's worded a few different examples
look at acts chapter 19 and look if you would at verse number
acts 19 6 the bible says and when paul had laid his hands upon them the holy
ghost came on them and they spake with tongues
and prophesied of course spake with tongues we we know
what that means talking about speaking in a foreign language
we saw that in act chapter 2 anybody who has half a brain and reads the bible
understands that or anybody who's saved i should say because
people that are unsaved or deceived it's not their fault
because they just need to get saved and then the holy spirit will open their
eyes about these things but notice the exact same result
remember what happened when saul the holy spirit came upon him he prophesied
what happened when the holy spirit came upon these people read it it says
the holy ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied
it's the exact same thing and you'll see it all throughout the new testament
you'll see the holy ghost come upon jesus when he's baptized
you'll see the holy spirit upon simian when he's in the temple waiting
for the newborn baby of jesus to be brought to the temple
on the eighth day he says i have though he said he had the holy spirit upon him
and he said i've been waiting to see the salvation of the lord
and he says here he is he says now i can die because i just wanted to see jesus
christ be born he's a very old man simian that waited in the temple to see
that happen but look if you would in the old
testament at isaiah 61 1 i'm just going to show you
a few more scriptures isaiah 61 1
and the reason i'm taking the time to go through this is because
almost anybody that i've ever talked to doesn't understand this
and so they get really strange ideas about the holy spirit
and they they're confused about it and some of them think it's a spooky thing
and and other people have this idea that it
was a temporary indwelling of the holy spirit that people had in the old
testament and now we have the permanent indwelling
but god did not replace the holy spirit upon you
the holy spirit upon you is still available all he did was
add to it the indwelling which was not something that was ever had in the old
testament by anyone now look if you would at isaiah 61 1
and there are many examples in the book of isaiah i picked this one
the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord hath anointed me
to preach good tidings unto the meek he has sent me to bind up the broken
hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound and in luke chapter 4
i'll just read it for you this verse is quoted by jesus the spirit of the lord
is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor let me tell you something the holy
spirit's power in the old testament was to preach was to prophesy was to
preach the gospel was to fight the battles that god had for
and in the new testament he says but you shall receive power
after that the holy ghost has come upon you
and he shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and in judia
and in samaria and unto the outermost part of the earth do you see that it's
how consistent the bible is he says the holy spirit comes upon
people in all throughout the old testament the
holy spirit comes upon people in the four gospels jesus simian others the
holy spirit comes upon people in acts chapter one
the holy spirit comes upon people in acts chapter two
the holy spirit is upon people in acts chapter four
the holy ghost is upon people in acts chapter 10 and 11
the holy spirit is upon people in acts chapter 19
and when the holy ghost comes upon them they preach the gospel
do you see that why is this such an important subject
why is it so important to understand that the holy ghost of god
coming upon you is not a thing of the past but it's a thing of the present
well we need to have a christianity that's filled with power
we live in a day of powerless christianity
the bible says of the last days that perilous times will come
men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous bolsters proud blasphemers
traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god
and he says having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof
from such turn away he said if somebody denies the power of christianity
they deny the power of the holy spirit he says turn away from them
don't even mess with them you don't have time for them because i'm going to tell
you something the holy spirit's power is necessary for
you to be a soul winner the holy spirit's power is necessary for
you to preach a sermon the holy spirit's power is necessary for
you to preach the gospel from door to door
it's not something that you can do in the flesh that's why an unsaved person
cannot win anyone to the lord they can't they reproduce after their own
kind they're not a believer they're not a
good fruit so they can't produce good fruit
and so the power of god is necessary to win people the lord
all throughout the bible i mean i can't understand this dispensationalism
it's stupid it's dumb i mean i think about how retarded this is
to say well that was back then it's like okay well we got the holy spirit upon
people in the old testament then we have the holy spirit upon people
while jesus is on this earth then we have the holy spirit upon people
after jesus has died and buried and rose again
then we have the holy spirit upon people like decades later
in acts chapter 19 but supposedly now it's over
and you say no that's just for the apostles look these were not apostles
these people just got saved in acts chapter 19
the apostles were people that were saved under the ministry of jesus christ
they were with actually under the ministry of john the baptist and jesus
christ they were baptized by john the baptist
and they saw jesus rose from the dead these people weren't even saved
these people got saved in acts 19 which is decades later
they got saved and the holy spirit of god came upon them
and here i am decades later and i'm saying to god
oh god put the holy spirit power on me hundreds of years later so i can get up
and preach the gospel with power so i can go knock on doors and be filled
with power what's the point of being filled with the holy spirit well i
looked at i looked at some verse in the old
testament where god talks about what the purpose is look at mica chapter
three mica chapter three right toward the end
of the old testament in the in the minor prophets there
mica chapter three
you see sometimes we've been so pushed away from anything that's
supernatural because the charismatics you know have kind of ruined it for us
the pentecostals because they're so crazy and so weird and they're a bunch
of you know uh cuckoos with their uh jabbering and
tongues and slobbering on themselves and laughing hysterically
benny hen slapping people on the forehead and and uh why they fall out
and you know he's preaching and somebody's playing an organ while he's
preaching honey would you step over the organ
please you know and this kind of stuff where he they play an organ while he
preaches and people are falling on the ground and
oh but you know what i'm going to tell you
god did you know that we serve an actual supernatural god that performs miracles
i mean did you know that god has power did you know that god can do anything
did you know that god can put the holy ghost upon you
and you can preach and win people to christ and you can see
the power of god in your life right now in 2006 did you know that
did you know that it's not just for a bunch of charismatic uh weirdos
that are just about money on tv did you know that the power of god
is available for you why so you can make money
so you can heal people no to preach the gospel
to the poor is what the bible says but look at here look here's another reason
why why a pastor or preacher needs to be filled with the holy spirit look at mica
three five thus saith the lord concerning the
prophets that make my people err that bite with
their teeth and cry peace and he that putteth not into their
mouths they even prepare war against him therefore night shall be
unto you that you shall not have a vision
this is mica three six and it shall be dark unto you
that you shall not divine and the sun shall go down over the prophets
and the day shall be dark over them then shall the seers
seer is another word for profit then shall the seers be ashamed
and the diviners confounded yea they shall all cover their lips for there's
no answer of god but truly i am full of power
by the spirit of the lord and of judgment and of might to declare unto
jacob his transgressions unto israel his sin
he's saying the other preachers they're ashamed
they can't get anything from god they're getting no answer from god
they're afraid to stand up and preach against anything
all they preach about is peace is what the bible says they just say peace
but if somebody's not putting into their mouth it says that's who they fight with
it's a kind of a play on words there but then he says
they they they're ashamed they don't get an answer from god
but he says not me i am filled with power to show israel his sins
he said i'm not i'm going to preach on sin why
because i know what god has said i've got an answer from god right here
and so i can stand up with power and show them their sins
you see the spirit-filled preacher is the preacher who preaches on sin
the spirit-filled soul winner is the person who wins people to christ
the spirit-filled christian is the one who opens his mouth
boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel the spirit-filled
preacher is the one who makes it manifest who makes it plain
salvation by grace through faith and people can understand it
and people can be regenerated by the spirit of god
the bible says not by works of righteousness which we have done
but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the holy ghost see who does the saving
the holy ghost the holy spirit of god now if you have the holy ghost
upon you god puts his holy spirit upon you that's where you're going to have
the power of god in your life where you see people that say man i give
the gospel to people all the time nobody ever gets saved this is what you
need you need the power of god you need the
holy ghost upon you the bible says in luke chapter 11
verse 13 if you then be evil know how to give good
gifts under your children he says how much more shall
the father i'm quoting it loosely i don't have it memorized but
i mean let me let me turn there i don't like to do that i don't have something
memorized i don't like the quote or wrong but let me read it for you real
quick luke chapter 11 only take me a second to get there it
says if you then be evil know how to give good gifts under your children
how much more shall your heavenly father now who are we talking to people that
are saved or unsaved saved he says how much more shall your
heavenly father if you didn't be evil know how to give
good gifts under your children how much more shall your heavenly father
give the holy spirit to them that ask him you see that
now number one we're talking before jesus is glorified this is luke 11
but it doesn't matter because it doesn't change it's the same thing
he's talking to born again christians saying if you then be evil know how to
give good gifts under your children how much more shall the father he said
give the holy spirit unto them that ask him
when was the last time you asked for the power of the holy spirit
to come upon you when was the last time you prayed
oh god give me power to preach the gospel
god give me power to be a soul winner oh god give me power
to be the soul winner that i need to be that's what god's saying here
he's saying you have to ask him to give you
the holy spirit not the indwelling but the holy spirit upon you being filled
with the holy spirit but you see the problem is you say well
why is it that why is that i don't really hear this
kind of preaching very much or why is it that i don't really hear about this
subject and why is it that i don't have a lot of
power in my life and don't get me wrong about this i'm
not talking about some feeling that you get where
you start tingling and and all of a sudden you just kind of feel it you know
tingling all over and you know all of a sudden you see a light
and an angel appears that's not what i'm talking about
i'm talking about look it takes power to get people saved
if you think that getting people saved is like talking people into something
like a used car salesman you're wrong and if you've been a soul
winner if you've got out so and you know that that's wrong
and i'm going to tell you something i spent years of my life
giving people the gospel without them getting saved
and they would not get saved for one reason
because i did not have the holy spirit upon me
why because i'm going to tell you an attribute about the holy spirit that you
can probably guess from his name he's the holy spirit holy
spirit holy spirit and a holy spirit does not rest upon
an unholy christian if you live an unholy life if you walk in the flesh
and you walk after the old man and walk in sin
the holy spirit will not rest upon you you say man i i i just i never give the
gospel to anybody you know why is because you're number
one you're in the flesh and number two the holy ghost power is
not resting upon you you say well how do you know how do you
know i'm not filled with the spirit how do you know that i don't have the holy
spirit upon me i'll tell you how i know because you're
not a soul winner and if you're not a soul winner
you don't have the holy spirit upon you period and i'm going to tell you
something you want to see people saved you must have the holy ghost upon you
second corinthians 4 7 my favorite soul winning verse
but we have this treasure talking about the gospel but we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be
of god and not of us he says we're an earthen vessel i mean
we're we're a we're not perfect i mean we're just a
humble vessel that has faults and it's not a
gold or something it's like pottery is what we are but god can put his
holy ghost upon us that the excellency of the power may be
of god and not of us you see the bible says i'm not
ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto
salvation to the jew first to everyone that
believeth how could i leave out my favorite phrase in that verse
to everyone that believeth to the jew first and also to the greek
i'm going to tell you something it takes power to get people saved
you can't just walk up to somebody just explain them the gospel
and just expect them to get saved yeah it's not going to work you can tell
them and you can prove it to them from the bible
it's not a math problem it won't work you cannot get people saved like that
you must have power that's why the tissue box method of soul winning is not
going to work that's why the reader's digest magazine
will not work because there's no power in the niv there's no power in the
roman catholic bible tonight there's no power in the tissue box tonight
there's power in the word of god the power is in the gospel
the power is in god's word the bible says that
god's word the voice of the lord maketh the hinds to calf the voice of the lord
breaketh the rock in pieces the voice of the lord is what's power
the voice of the lord is this book right here the bible you get the word of god
you have the holy spirit of god inside of you and then you have the power of
the holy ghost resting upon you that's when you're going to see people
saved now you say well i don't know if i'm to
that level yet you know i'm just kind of a beginner in
my christianity i'm not sure i'm to this level of having
the holy spirit upon me i'm not even gonna mess with that
you know i'm hey i'm just trying to do the basics you know i'm just trying to
you know be faithful to church and get rid of some of the sin in my life and
do some basics look in acts chapter 19 the bible says
the people got saved in the next verse the holy spirit came upon them look at
acts chapter 10 where we started while he yet spake these words the holy
ghost came upon them that heard the word is
what the bible says see i came through the word of god being
preached and the holy spirit came upon them right then and there
and so this is not something for a mature christian it's not something for
a preacher this is for every born again believer
that's why he said in the book of joel in the days will come saith the lord
when i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy
your old men shall see visions and your young men shall see dreams
so dream dreams and so god says it's for men
it's for women he said women should be prophets women should be prophesying all
throughout the bible you have female prophets now they're not standing up and
preaching like joyce myer but they're soul winning they're
prophesying and so the bible says sons daughters young men old men he says
it's for everybody he says i am going to pour out my spirit
in the last days now correct me if i'm wrong but we're
living in the last days right now he says in the last days i'll pour out
my spirit upon all flesh your young men shall see drink your
young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams
and look you say well it's for the jews oh really because
in uh act separate 10 where we just read everybody who's listening to the gentile
every single person was italian every single person was european
it's not for the jews the holy ghost came upon the gentiles
and they of the circumcision they were dispensationalists and they said
what they said wow they marveled they've received the gift of the holy spirit
just like we have we're jews they're gentiles god says in
christ says neither jew nor gentile he says there's neither male nor female
he says i know preferential treatment in the new testament there's no
preferential treatment for the jews he said jew and gentile he said to the
jew first and also the greek he says for there is no difference for
the same lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him
for there is no difference between the jew and the greek romans 1012
look there's no difference between the jew and the greek the holy spirit's
power is available to you today you say well
i understand that the power of god's available now that now that i've seen
that from the bible i see that the holy spirit's
power is there and i see that you know some people even had it right away
but i still just don't feel like i'm there well look
this is a command from god this isn't something that's optional
to have the holy spirit's power upon you this is what he says be not drunk with
wine we're in his excess but be filled with the spirit
that's not optional he says just as much as i don't want you to get drunk
just as much as i don't want you to be at the bar tonight he says i want you to
be filled with the holy spirit
you say why is it that you preach pastor anderson
you preach like advanced stuff like you don't preach
boy if we could just get you to come sunday morning
that'd be great that'd be such a blessing hey you know
whatever you're willing to do you know i mean if you hey if you can read four
verses a day read four verses a day just as long as
you're reading the bible and and uh if you can just if you can
just read four verses and uh and if you can just pray before you go
to sleep that'd be great look i'm preaching the high standard of
christianity because that's the way the bible reads
and if you read through the bible you won't find this
lame christianity where somebody just comes to church once a week and just
kind of does their time and they don't they
they might give the gospel to somebody once in a blue moon and get all excited
about it you know once every three years or something
that's not the christianity that you read about in the bible read the book of
acts and show me that kind of lame christianity
read the book of acts and show me the kind of christianity that just kind of
goes about your daily life and then you come by on sunday you come by on
wednesday you come by on soul winning and you put
on the new man for a little while that's not the christianity i read about
the christianity that i read about is a daily christianity it's a
powerful christianity it's a christianity where the holy spirit
comes upon you in mighty power it's a christianity
where you're filled with the holy spirit it consumes you
soul winning the holy ghost of god he he fills you
and consumes you and dominates your life
because you're filled because his power is upon you
that's the difference that's what i'm talking about that's what i'm preaching
about that's why i'm preaching the high
standards that's why i'm not preaching the
the preschool sermon on sunday morning for the visitors
for the new convert hey the new convert needs to be filled with the holy spirit
hey the new convert needs the holy ghost to come upon him hey the new
convert needs to be out soul winning this week
hey the new convert is ready right now to be filled with the spirit
he's ready right now to preach the gospel he's ready right now to be a
soul winner that's what the bible teaches and the
longer that he waits to become a soul winner the less likely he is to ever be
a soul winner the less longer he waits to be filled
with the holy spirit the less likely he's ever going to be
filled with the holy spirit period i mean it's something that the
sooner you can get somebody on fire for god
the sooner you can reach them and say we're going all out for god this church
this church is just gung-ho get on board with us
we're going to win souls we're going to preach hard the sooner you can get him
into that boy the better he's going to turn out for
god and you can just keep him like that the whole way through
but trying to get one of these backslidden christians
and trying to you know try and you know you know wake them up again and try hey
you know hey come on let's go it's like what's
wrong with you they don't understand because they're
not filled with the holy spirit because the spirit of the lord is departed from
them and there are churches where the spirit of the lord has departed
and there are pastors where the spirit of the lord has departed from them
you say they still say well they were saved they're still saved but the holy
spirit's departed from them and now they get up and preach
and there's no power all of a sudden they don't seem to be able to hit on the
sin like they used to be able to all of a sudden they don't name the
specific sins like they used to all of a sudden they're not filled with power
all of a sudden they they start going weak on the gospel all of a sudden it's
not clear what they're preaching to the gospel they're not making it manifest
they're not open their mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel
all of a sudden they're not out so winning like they used to be because the
spirit of the lord has departed so let me ask you tonight has has the
spirit of the lord come upon you after that you believed that's that's
the question that's asked in acts chapter 19 there let me let me turn
there and i'll read it for you exactly act
chapter 19
he said unto them have you received the holy ghost since you believed
did you hear that have you received the holy ghost since you believed
he says has the holy spirit come upon you
after that you believed do you have the power of god on your life
he says are you filled with the holy spirit
and they said we don't even know whether there be a holy spirit you know they
weren't even saved and he talked and he found out they weren't even saved
but i just love his attitude he runs into some believers he doesn't even know
he says oh you're saved how you believe on jesus christ have you received the
holy ghost are you filled with the holy ghost are
you on fire for god like we are do you preach the gospel like we do are
you filled with power like samson was are you filled with the
holy ghost like gideon was are you filled with the holy spirit like
so was do you have the holy ghost resting upon you like david did do you
have the holy spirit upon you like the man in the bible who preached
the gospel head are you filled with power like mica
because otherwise we don't have time for you that's what he's saying
he's the apostle paul he's a man who started church after church after church
he's a man who won soul after soul after soul
he's one of the greatest christians who ever lived that's why when he runs into
somebody he wants to know one question are you
a hundred percent sold out for god filled with the holy ghost
do you live a christian life characterized by power
or do you deny the power thereof because you're so unholy
because you watch so much television because you're so liberal
because you're so lame that you don't have the power of god
so you deny that it's available to anybody because you don't have it
because you are not right with god because that's what it is there's those
that are right with god and say yes there is a power god
and i'm going to be holy i'm going to get rid of the sin like david said i
got to get rid of the sin of the holy spirit's going to depart from me like it
apart from saul he says saul sinned two major sins
god holy spirit's gone david said i sinned a grievous sin i'm
afraid the holy spirit's going to be gone
look you think you can stand in the holy spirit's not going to be gone
and again you'll still be indwelled by the holy spirit i'm talking about the
power i'm talking about the holy ghost upon
you you think you can just live a life of sin
and have the holy spirit upon you you're wrong don't you want to get people saved
don't you want to be used greatly by god don't you want to have the power of god
then you must clean up your life provide a holy vessel for god and then
you have to get on your knees and say oh god would you please endue me
with power from on high god i don't want to go soul winning in
the flesh last night when i was out soul winning
i went i went to that area that up on broadway that we went to that one time
i went to that area on broadway and i said god
i can't win people the lord i can't get these people saved i can't do anything
i said god without you i can do nothing this is exactly what i said sitting in
my car when i pulled up to the street i said without you i can do nothing i can
of mine own self do nothing you know i was quoting the bible to him
i can of mine own self do nothing i said we have this treasure in earth and
vessels that the excellency of the power may be
of god and not of us and i said oh god fill me with power
and i got out of the car and i and i started to walk down one street and i
looked at my map that i had where i was marking off the streets
and i said you know i don't have this street marked off
but i said i think i might have done it and maybe i just forgot to mark it off
so i said i'm gonna go to this street instead so i went to a different street
you know knock doors knock doors knock doors and finally i got to a door
well i walked into a man and i thought this guy's not gonna listen to the
gospel this guy's gonna send me away right now
and i said give me five minutes five minutes let me give you the gospel and
you know what he said okay sure i gave him the gospel i went through with him
and way longer than five minutes you know he just kept wanting to talk to me
i went through it with him and went through with him clearly he got saved
he believed on jesus christ there's power there
don't tell me there's not power when people get saved don't tell me
that it didn't take power for all the people who contributed to these
173 people that have been saved in 2006 so far
don't tell me that because i can show you other churches where 173 people
did not get saved or 16 people did not get baptized i
can show you them because they don't have power
and that doesn't come from just some kind of a
a smooth program or it comes from power if we're going to have twice as many
people saved and baptized next year it's going to take the power of god
god's going to have to do it we cannot do it in the flesh and so that
means you can't walk in the flesh you got to walk after the spirit and
that means you can't live after the flesh
a sinful fleshly life you got to live in the spirit
that means you've got to be filled with the spirit it means that you've got to
let the word of christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom
speaking to yourselves and psalms and hymns and spirits of songs he says the
word of god filling you i'm going to equivalent he said
he said it's equivalent to being filled with the holy spirit
he says the word of god's got to be dominating in your life
you got to have sin out of your life and you've got to ask me
for power if you think about the famous verses proverbs 3 5 and 6
in all it says trust in the lord with all thine heart
and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways
acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths you know what that means to
acknowledge him that's what i did last night when i was
going out soul winning and i said god you know i didn't just go out and say
i'm going to do this i'm just going to go get this done
first thing i did is i acknowledged god and i said god let me just remind you
and remind myself that i'm nothing that i can do nothing that i can't do this on
my own i'm powerless and last night before i
even got to that point in my prayer i was just confessing some of my sins to
god i said god this is what i've done it's a
sin i said this is my sin this is my sin and
i'm sorry but god i can't do this by myself i
can't do anything about myself i'm wasting my time
i might as well do something else but i said god would you fill me
with power and i acknowledged the fact that it's all him
and it's not me at all nothing about me it's all god
and when i acknowledged god he directed my paths and he said actually i want you
over on this street this is what i want you to be and this is
who i want you to talk to and i i went to that door just by chance
but see god was leading me and i got to that door somebody got saved
power that's what i'm talking about power don't don't come up to me after
the service and tell me how it's for the jews because i know better
god's not some kind of a racist up in heaven who's saying
it's just for the jews you were born of the wrong race
pastor anderson to have power to get up and preach like mica preached
you're not born of the holy lineage look
the bible says that i've been grafted in and that i'm a child of abraham
it says my father's abraham everyone who has faith
of abraham are the sons of abraham that's what the bible says so abraham's
my father john the baptist said god's able of
these stones to raise up children unto abraham
i am sitting here you're looking at an israelite right now
don't tell me that i'm not a spiritual seed of abraham
god said your seed will be like the stars of the heaven in multitude he said
it'll be like the sand of the sea there's a physical earthly seed and then
there's a spiritual heavenly seed of all that would believe on
him he's the father of all that believe on jesus christ
according to romans chapter 4 and so yes the power of god is
available to me to you don't deny the power of god get in the
bible and read it get on your knees and beg god for power
pray for the power of god pray for the holy spirit to come upon you
pray for boldness paul throughout the new testament he's saying
i'm praying for boldness and he says pray for me for boldness
he says philippians pray for me that i'll have boldness efeasians in chapter
number six he says pray for me that i'll have
boldness because paul is constantly saying i need
to be asking god for boldness and where does boldness
come from acts 431 and when they had prayed the
place was shaken where they were assembled together
and they were all filled with the holy ghost and they spake the word of god with
boldness he said the way that i'm going to have
boldness is to have the holy spirit upon me
and the holy spirit upon me is the only way
that i'm going to have the power to preach a sermon behind a pulpit
yes in my case to preach the gospel to every creature
in everybody's case and so the power that you need in your life to overcome
sin the power that you need in your life to
preach a great sermon the power that you need in your life to be a soul winner
the power that you need in your life to be a leader remember those people at the
beginning of the sermon that rallied the people to their cause
the power that you need to rally people and get them to come to church with you
and get them on board with soul winning with
you the power that you need is the power of the holy ghost upon you
let's pray and power heads father thank you so much for the promises of god and
i thank you so much that i'm not some kind of a uh step a red-headed
stepchild of god in the year 2006 where i can't have any
power i can't see anything great happen i just have to live in this uh by the
skin of my teeth uh in 2006 just holding out to the end
waiting for the trumpet to sound no i'm here
in 2006 with the promise of god that i could have the power of god
to be a soul winner to be a witness to preach the gospel boldly
to have power in my life and the power of god upon me father please help us
never to deny the power of christianity just because we're too
unholy to have a holy spirit rest upon us but
dear god help us to rise to a new level of holiness
help us to put off the old man which is which is you know according to
corruptible lusts and help us to put on the new man which
is created in holiness and righteousness dear god and help us
to pray for power and help us to