Gifted! - Lesson 4: The Baptism & Filling of the Holy Spirit

I've had a wonderful but busy day. I started it off this morning with talking with a friend of ours with just a, I didn't even know they had this going on, but a problem in their family. So I'm trying to get all the information, praying with them, all this kind of stuff, did that. There's doorbell rings, and there's these men at the front door that I don't know why they're there, but they've got a truck and got a big box thing on the back, and they've said we've come to put a varnish over your front door. And so I'm like, well hold on just a second, and I text Kathy because I know nothing about it. And she's the one that keeps up with all that, by the way, at our house. I don't. She's the busy one doing that. And then she said, oh yeah, that's right, I forgot. So I had to say okay, and then let them clean it up. And I had to hang around while, you know, you varnish, it doesn't dry like immediately. So I had to hang around with the door open. And then I leave from there and come here and have a man stop by that just needed some biblical advice and as well as some business advice on just what God's doing and got through with that. And I had another phone call from someone that, a pastor out of state that was having some demonic stuff at his church, and he says, you know, he said, man, I need help. And so I spent about an hour with him on the phone, prayed with him. So then I got to working on tonight's lesson, how about that? And so anyway, I was ready, but just wanted to make sure I put it down like I felt like we needed to go the direction we needed to go. And let me tell you what I am really trying to, I'm going to go again. I'm going to go over each of the gifts. But here's what I want you more than anything. I want you more than worrying about what gifts or what.

I want you to hunger and long and desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit more than you desire your next meal. I want you to just go in and watch what God wants to do through you. And so that's my goal and my heartbeat. But I also know that, man, I've talked about it before. There's just a lot of confusion that's out there. In fact, I've told you this story, I think last fall, but whenever we think about the work of the Holy Spirit in our life, I've told you that back in 1998, I went to our church. I was not on staff. I wasn't in ministry. I was a computer guy. But God just put on me a burden to seek revival. So I went to our church, similar to this, it wasn't this one, but it was in Oklahoma. I went to the altar to start praying for revival, and that was where you've heard me tell the story about where God said, quit praying for the people on the back row, the lost people on the back rows. The way I just said it to me, because that's kind of the way we think a lot of times when you're on the back row. I'm not saying you all are lost, by the way. But this is what he said. You've heard me say this. He said, draw an 18 inch circle, get in that circle, and pray for revival to come in that circle and don't pray anywhere else until it comes there. And man, God began to just transform me, began to expose in me the lies that I was believing, but also the deception in the ways that I would live. God doesn't just, as the Bible says, God doesn't just so look at our actions as he looks at our motives. Our actions are important, but he looks at the motives. He goes back into our hearts, man, and just says, I want to show you how messed up you

really are. And when he starts doing that, all of a sudden, man, he starts exposing things that are just unfun. And I went through that, and then just, you know, God began to do all kind of things. I've told you so many stories along the way, and then I told you about what happened. We, you know, we left there, went to Tennessee. From there we went to Alabama, and then I started in the seminary, I guess you'd say. And I was in 1995. I'd already fasted, gone on many fasts, 14 days and 21 days and 10 days and all them kind of things for years. But on July the 10th of 1995, I started my first 40-day fast. And long story short, in that, God began to not only transform me, but he was readying me for something he wanted to do. Now, let me say this. I was already, I already had a prayer language, I'd already dealt in the demonic, I'd already seen people be healed. But I was... still hungry for more. I just have found that, you know, when I was in sixth grade, I was pretty good in math, but I had never at one time taken algebra. Now, whenever I got in junior high, I took algebra. And man, I was pretty good in algebra, but I had never yet taken trigonometry. And I took trigonometry, and I was pretty good in trigonometry. In fact, whenever we moved to Atlanta, and I went to my first math class, the teacher said, I think you've already done everything we're doing in trig. And I went through the books, and yeah, I've done all that. I already know that stuff. And so he wound up teaching me calculus in a free class. So I went back, I went out of school, went back to class to do that. Went and got a, you know, math degree and all that kind of stuff. What I'm saying is when I took abstract algebra as a junior in college, it was similar to the algebra I took in seventh grade, but it was not close to the same. Does that make sense? I was still the same person, but I had grown and matured and developed and studied and learned. And spiritually, God wants to do that. We are growing and maturing spiritually. And so in

1995, that happened. I was in, went into my last year of seminary. And in January of 1996, Kathy and I went for a week to, I've told you this, to a revival that was going on in Brownsville, at Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida. God had just sat down and I'd always wanted to be where revival was happening. And so we just took a week's vacation, but I was still in school. In fact, I was in, I was taking Hebrew, third year of Hebrew. Hebrew is readings in Genesis. So I brought my Hebrew Bible and cause I thought, man, I still got to study. I can't not study. Even though I'm missing a week of class, I had to keep up. And while I was there, I've told you what happened in this, I know, but man, it's amazing service. At the end of the service, Kathy and I stood around waiting to be prayed over. Man, we want, I wanted more. I want whatever God has, I want it. You know, that's me. And, and sure enough, the pastor John Kilpatrick was praying for people and he walked past me and all he did was do that. And when he did, I just, he didn't touch me. He didn't come any closer than I am to you. But I fell out in the spirit, which I can't say many times in a Baptist church, but at my age, you know, I'm going to say it. I don't fully understand it. I've taught before what I think it is, what I believe is happening. I know when I went down that my Bible, Hebrew Bible I had in my hand fell just like this and I fell on the ground and I've told you what happened. I, you know, the Holy Spirit, while I was down there, I felt like he was crushing my chest. And I told him, I said, man, I couldn't talk, but my mind, I knew what I was going on. I was very coherent. And I said, man, I feel like I'm being crushed here. And the spirit of God said, leave me alone. I'm pressing my word into your heart. And I got up, I couldn't hardly walk, but Kathy had to drive us from there. And, but I'm telling you, I had a greater anointing than I had before. I'm not telling you we need to be fallen out in the spirit. But what I'm telling you is where you are spiritually is not still not where God wants to take you. Where we are, don't be satisfied. You know, it's kind of like whenever people say they're going to climb Mount Everest, many of them might make it to the level one and then it gets tough. And so they just want to stay there. But God says, I'm ready to take you into new places, into fresh places. And so whenever we talk about the gifts of the spirit, I want you to be ready for God to do exceeding and abundant beyond anything you could even ask or think. That's what our hope is. That's what we're desiring. And so

as we step into this, I know this, that I learned this, that the Lord wants His anointing to be ever increasing in His children. He is not satisfied with yesterday's manna. He's ready to do more in our lives. So as I say that, I just, again, what is the goal of the class that we're in, what I'm trying to teach? It's to help believers understand and unleash the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our fallen world for the building up of the body of Christ. God wants to do more. He's ready to do more. But the more that He does is not simply the gifts of the spirit. It's also the breaking of the old man. It's also death to self in a deeper and richer way. It's God's wanting to do these things. So tonight, what I want to do is I want us to go in and just begin to look at some things as we're talking about. In fact, I've titled it the baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit. And what I want to do is I just want to try to help us along the way. And what I'm hoping is that when we come to the end of it, that we're going to see a divine convergence take place. Because the Holy Spirit came to unify, not to divide. Any division you see primarily comes from two sources. It comes first of all from lost people that are claiming to be Christians. That's one. The Bible talks about that. But secondly, it comes from false teaching that breeds division. We just need to know that. So as we come to it, that's what I'm hoping, is that we can walk in this together. So the first thing I want us to look at, and I think I have your outline there, I'm just calling it the divine promise. The divine promise. The Bible talks about the fact that God made a promise. And we see that promise being spelled out for us in the New Testament regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's what I'm saying here. I use the word of, but it's the word, and we'll look at it in more detail in just a minute. But let me just give you some of the passages. First time, let me say this, it was first spoken in all four of the Gospels by John the Baptist. And this is, let me just give them to you real quick. In Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, he said, this is John the Baptist speaking, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. So he says, he, so he's talking about he will. Mark 1.8 says, I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Luke chapter 3 verse 16, John answered them all saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming.

The strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And then the fourth one is found in John chapter 1 verse 33. It says, I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. So whenever we look at that, we see something going on here that's coming, a promise that's being made. The next two times we see it occur is found, the first one is found in Acts chapter 1 spoken by Jesus verses 4 through 5. It says, and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father. Where's the promise? Which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And then we go down to Acts chapter 11 as Peter is recounting what Jesus told them. And you find it in Acts chapter 11 verse 16. It says, and he remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptizes with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now here's the thing I want you to see, is that what this phrase is clearly saying to us right here, now for those of you that are about to think I'm saying something you don't like, just hang with me, all right? I'm not to the end of it yet. This is what it's saying. In these passages, Jesus is the baptizer. That make sense? That's what it's saying. So the first thing we're seeing here is that God has made a divine promise that people are going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit through Jesus. Jesus is going to baptize believers with the Holy Spirit. The next thing I want us to look at is what I'm just calling a supernatural power. He talks about a supernatural power. Look what it says in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. He says, but you will receive power when? When the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. What is Jesus saying here? And here's what I want to… I'm about… don't let the enemy confuse you here, but I want to share some things with you because it's going to be important for us to understand. Here's the question, were the disciples already saved? Thank you, guys. I know you're going, oh man, I hate to say yes or no and him go, what in the world? point me out, ridiculed, public. But yes, how do we know that? Well, listen to whenever Jesus was washing the disciples' feet. You remember that? And he came to Peter. You remember

what was happening? Listen to what it says in John 13, beginning in verse 8. It says, Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus said to him, if I do not wash your feet, you have no share with me. Does that mean he's going to lose his salvation? No, listen to what it says. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, the one who, listen to this, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but he is completely clean and you are clean. But not every one of you, notice what he's saying here, for he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, not all of you are clean. Later on, what does it mean whenever he says that we're clean? Well, in the Old Testament language, it's talking about having become a follower of God, becoming one who's following God, a believer, if you will. You go on down. He goes on from there. Listen to what he said in John chapter 20 verses 21 and 22. This is before he ascended. This was also before Pentecost in John chapter 20 verses 21 and 22. It says, Jesus said to them again, peace be with you as the father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. What in the world? You mean just stop there and that would be the end of it? No. Let me help you what's happening. You see it throughout the Old Testament, how the Holy Spirit comes upon people, primarily upon kings, comes upon prophets, comes upon those that he is using in ministry-type ways. You find it throughout. You see it all over. You remember whenever David had sinned, whenever he had an affair with Bathsheba and then wound up murdering her husband? You're right? Or, wasn't you right? Anyway, murdering her husband. What? Which one? Okay. Was he right? I can't remember. Psalm 51 verse 11. Listen to what David cried out. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Saying he had the Holy Spirit. Jesus even said, whenever he was referring to Psalm 103, he said, and what was David saying when he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say, and he quotes him. And so you see that there is something going on here. But the Bible says something different took place at Pentecost. Something uniquely different from what had happened before. And you hear it in Acts chapter 2, beginning of verse 16. It says, and this is Peter talking, it says, but this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be, God declares that I will pour out my spirit. Now here's the difference. On all flesh. And your sons and your daughters

shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. There was a unique difference that was taking place. Suddenly it wasn't God on a few people, but it was the Holy Spirit dwelling in and flowing through all believers. Does that make sense? That's what happened. That's the power. That's why the Bible can tell us in James 5 that Elijah was a man just like the rest of us, but he prayed fervently that it wouldn't rain. And for three and a half years it didn't rain. And then he prayed that it would and it did. And notice what he said in that. He said, he was just like us. But he had the power of God on him. Like we have on us. Does that make sense? And so there is a power, unique power that God has given to us. The Bible tells us that this power is upon the believers. In Mark chapter 2, it says, Chapter 16, listen to what it says, beginning in verse 16, it says, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned, and these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name they will cast out demons, and they will speak in new tongues, and they will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them, and they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. Now listen, for any scholar here that might know this, if you go back to the earliest manuscripts, you don't find that statement in the very earliest manuscripts, but let me tell you what you do know, it was in the early enough manuscripts, we don't know if Mark actually wrote it or not, I don't know, I believe that he did, but we do know this, that it was what the practice was of the early church, whether we like it or not, it's what was going on in the early church, so we need to know that, we need to see that there is a power that God has for us, and so just write this down, every believer carries the power of God's kingdom through the indwelling Holy Spirit, every believer. Same spirit that raised Jesus' dead body from the grave dwells in you. You know one of the problems that I see in humanity, especially in the western culture, is this incredibly low view of humanity, a view that is so low of humanity that it's okay to abort babies, a view that is so low that whenever we see animals being extinct it's always, well these evil humans are the problem, well if humans could just get out

of the way, and yet the Bible says that you have been divinely created in the image of your creator. The Bible has a high view of humanity, every human is precious to God, it's the reality. I say that because in the church, sadly, we have an incredibly low view of the work of the Holy Spirit through the believer. When God has an incredibly high view of who you are in Christ, I mean even if you may not feel like it, the Bible says that you are a child of God, right? As a believer. I'd say that's a pretty high view. And so we need to see that, we need to know that that power dwells in us. Now let me get this next, and what I'm trying to do here, so I'm trying to do this the right way okay, how in the world, and I'm just going to say it this way, did we come to this idea that I'm not saying it's right or wrong, hold with me, that a person receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit after being saved. Now I'm going to show you, okay, I'm very, let me tell you, I have very many charismatic friends that I'm very close to, alright, and I'm all in the middle of wanting God to move more in my life too. So how did the church have this? Well first of all they were having experiences, especially in the early 1900s at places like Azusa Street, there were powerful moves of God, and they began to say, where do we see this in the Bible? Well here's what they began to see and began to learn. So I just call it a biblical pattern. Because people who believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit are trying to follow the Scripture, so don't hear me wrong as I'm talking and sharing, and I get it, in fact I've told you before, I am okay if you want to use that term, but I want to show you why I kind of veer from it. It's not because I haven't experienced what's going on, I want to try to share it with you okay. Acts chapter 2 verse 4 says and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began

to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. If you go on down, you go to Acts chapter 8, and you remember whenever Philip went to Samaria and you see what it says there, beginning in verse 14, it says, now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, what did they say? So Philip had gone, and powerful signs were done through Philip. And people were coming to the Lord and being baptized and all this, and it says, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for they had not yet, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. This is where you may have heard of Pentecostal belief that we are saved first in the name of the Lord Jesus, and then after that, this is where it comes from. They're not trying to be unbiblical. This is, they're trying to follow, and I understand that, I mean, I'm sympathetic to that. I want to try to follow the Bible too. Let's go on. Whenever you get to, whenever Peter went to Cornelius' house in Acts chapter 10, look at what it says. It says, beginning in verse 44 through 46, it says, while Peter was still saying these things, in other words, he's sharing the gospel with them, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, and the believers from among the circumcised who had come, so in other words, the Jews who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles, for they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, and he went on and said some things, who are we to not, you know, baptize them, and so they did. And then we go on, and you come into Acts 19, and you see where Paul goes to Ephesus, and he meets some, and they're called disciples. And whenever he meets them, listen to what the exchange was, beginning in verse 2. And he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what baptism were you, into what were you baptized? And they said, into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with a, with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Lord, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 of them. So do you see there's, if you're just reading the Bible, there seems to be a pattern. But what is the pattern? I mean, what is the pattern that's being shown to us here? And here's what is believed by many, is that, well, the pattern is that you get saved, and then you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit subsequent to that. Does that make sense? And it does sound like that. I mean, it does seem like that whenever you read the pattern. And then, as, as many Pentecostals have, and then they're friends of mine, okay? I mean, I've, I've listened to them, I've heard them, is they say, well, here's what happens is that, because they, because it does say Jesus baptized first in the Holy Spirit. It does say that, those other ones. And so here's what is, is kind of taught, and, and I am not arguing, I'm just trying to help you. If you grew up in it, it'll, you'll hear I'm, I'm very sympathetic to it, I'm not. I just want to share with you why I, I don't follow, follow it the same way, with that term, how about that, that phrase, baptism in the Holy Spirit, is they say, well, what the Bible teaches is that Jesus first baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, and then later the Holy Spirit baptizes us. Have you ever heard that?

Probably have. It's, it's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Let me read verse, it's verse 13, let me read what the New American Standard, how the New American Standard translates it. It says this, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jew, neither, whether Jew or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the idea is, and again, it, it makes, and believe me, I really wish that it was that way. because I have experienced this thing that would help me make a lot more sense of it, to say, well, and it would also help me regarding the fact that there's a lot of people claiming to be saved that are living like the world. Because then I'm like, well, if they're living like the world, then, man, they just need the baptism, man. Then the power of God is going to be released. But the problem is, is what this actually says here. Because whenever you read, and I didn't put it on the screens, okay, but when you read the first six that I gave you, those out of the Gospels, and it says, be baptized, and it said with the Holy Spirit, the word, the key word in the whole thing is the word with. And here's the word. It's the Greek word en, is the way we would look at it, e-n, pronounced en. And the word can be translated in three ways, in, with, or by. And it's usually translated based on context, based on, so it's going to be baptized, and then you look at the Spirit, so the word Spirit, well, it happens to be in the dative, so it's going to be en, with, by, and it's a form, anyway, you don't need to know that. So that's the wording that's used in the first six, but when we come to the one I just shared with you out of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 13, the question is, is it the same there, or is it different? And the reality is, it's exactly the same as the other six. It's worded different. In other words, instead of saying the Holy Spirit, it says, it says, for what I read

to you in the New American Standard, it says, for by one Spirit, the word that's translated by is en, in Spirit. It's the same, everything is the same, baptized is the same. And so here, another translation of it that's been given to us that, you know, we might be able to look at is, is what, the way it says it in the ESV translation, is it says it this way, for in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. So what Paul is saying here is the very same thing that has been said before. Does that make sense? I'm not trying to argue that people aren't baptized in the Holy Spirit. I'm trying to say that the phrase, it's, for me, it's a semantic issue, is that the term, that, that phrase, baptism in the Holy Spirit, is not the right verbiage. But I am not discounting the experience. I'm not discounting what actually, because I've had it happen. I'm just trying to say it's why I use the term, I say, empowered by the Spirit. I say things like that, because as I've said before, the Scripture tells us clearly that when a person is saved, in fact, the term itself, and I don't know if I put this in your notes or not, yeah, I'm going to say it in a minute, but, but the term itself means to be baptized with the Spirit, means that Jesus, literally means Jesus takes and plunges us into the body of Christ. Meaning the Holy Spirit, you've got it, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. And this is why I told you last week why I think the problem is a salvation issue. If we believe somebody can just accept Jesus and they're going to heaven, I strongly disagree with that. On the cross, Jesus accepted us. Salvation is when we, we repent of our sin and give him our life. And even though you may still live worldly for a while, I promise you the Holy Spirit isn't going to let you stay that way. And so, so there is a, there is this issue here. And so, so go back to the pattern, what, then why is the pattern in Acts? Well, the pattern is there because Luke, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write

it. We… we sometimes miss the overwhelming shock of Christianity, especially in the first century, because here's what Jesus said again in Acts 1.8. He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses first where? Jerusalem. Where did they first receive the baptism? Where did they first have a divine experience where the Holy Spirit came in them and they began to speak in tongues? Jerusalem, Acts 2, verse 4. Then Judea. Who else was there? The 3,000 that were saved. All of them. What happened? They had the same experience. But you have to understand that in first century, the Jews had one way they lived, and the Gentiles had another way they lived. The Romans followed one way, and so there was always this, well, the Christians that are Jewish are kind of up here, but everybody else, man, you're just, okay, we're going to let you in on the coattails. And God says, I have torn down the dividing wall. But how do you tell a first century person that, hey, the Romans have same access to the God of the Jews as the Jews do? Well, you go to Acts chapter 8, and what happens there? The despised Samaritans. Philip goes there to those despised Samaritans. Obviously, they can't have the Holy Spirit like the Jews do, but oh my goodness. Peter and John lay hands on them, what happens? The pattern of the access, full access, equal access. It doesn't matter race or gender or social status. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you have an education or if you can't read or write. God says, I am opening a way to humanity to come to me on equal terms. The ground at the foot of the cross is level. Does that make sense? And so he had to show that the Holy Spirit had to demonstrate this. So whenever Peter and John see it happen, they're going, oh my goodness, even the Samaritans. And then go to Acts chapter 10. What do you have there? You have Cornelius. Who was he? He was a Gentile. He was the first one that Peter shares the gospel with. How did he even go to share the gospel? He wasn't going there. The Jews were avoiding him. How did it happen? Well, an angel came to Cornelius and said, hey, go get the apostle Peter. He's over at Simon the Tanner's house. Get him to come to your house. Well, Peter would have never gone there because he was a Jew. A Jew never entered into a Gentile's home. He would never have entered into one of your homes. Wouldn't have entered into my home. He was, can't do that. You're an unclean Gentile. Even after he had the Holy Spirit in him. And so what happens? He has this vision and God says, don't call unclean what I make clean. So he goes and he gets there and he's nervous and other Jews are going, oh my gosh, I can't

believe we're in here. And he starts just trying to share the gospel because he's sharing. And all of a sudden, I mean, it wasn't like they did anything. All of a sudden, man, the Holy Spirit came down. They all experienced what the Jews did in Acts chapter two. Does that make sense? Now, all of a sudden you've got, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. And now we're moving out into the Gentile world and we come to Acts chapter 19 and we go to Ephesus and it's, I mean, Ephesus is in present day Turkey. I mean, way away from all the others. And the same thing happens. Why is this a big deal? Well, I'll just say it this way. This belief that all humanity, whoever gives their life to the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a new creation. We fall, all of us, we come under one true living God. For the Romans, all the other gods are not gods. That's why the first century church, the Romans called the Christians atheists because we did not believe in their gods. It's why persecution broke out because we were saying, Hey, the slave girl can be filled with the Holy Spirit just like the King. Does that make sense? That's the pattern of Acts, because God is saying, what I brought as division in Genesis chapter 11 at the Tower of Babel, I divided the people because they were trying to unite by worshiping and following false gods. I divided all the people, and in Acts chapter 2, I'm bringing all the people together. That, that's what that pattern means. So as we look at it, it really helps us understand what happens. So I want to do this, yeah, I can do it quick, I think. So on the back of your outline, I've given you three things, three different sections if you will. And I've titled them, on the far left, I've titled it Biblical Exegesis. On the far right, I've titled it Supernatural Experience. And in the middle, I've just titled it Holy Spirit Empowered. What I'm… I want to help you where my heart is, okay, here. I have a lot of dear, dear, dear friends that don't believe in the term Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but want to walk in the fullness of the Spirit.

I have a lot of other dear, dear friends that believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and want to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Both wanting to walk in the gifts, both wanting to experience the power, both doing it, both. And yet, a term has oftentimes brought a dividing wall in the church, and it's sad. And so what I want to help… let's converge those, and I want to show you kind of what I'm thinking and what I'm trying to say, I hope it helps. So the first on the… I'm going to start with Biblical Exegesis, and the first question is this, that a person… Now when I talk about… You know what exegesis is? You probably don't. It is… It's taking the Scripture, and what does the Scripture actually say? We're going to exegete the Scripture. We're going to… We're going to take it apart, and what does this verse actually say? What are these words actually saying? Within the context, within the fullness, what is it saying? And Biblical scholars work pretty hard on that, both charismatic and non-charismatic, work hard on wanting to get what the Scripture says right. And so the question is, what does the Bible say? And so again, as I was saying a while ago, exegetically, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, that's what I said. It occurs at conversion when a believer is plunged into the body of Christ. That's when it occurs, and I said that earlier. But let me tell you the danger about just focusing on Biblical exegesis alone. Here's the danger. You see it. It is ad nausea in America, is this reality, and that is Biblical knowledge. The danger is having Biblical knowledge without corresponding supernatural power.

It is as though they say, well, you know, the Bible doesn't teach baptism in the Holy Spirit that way, therefore, I don't have to walk in those gifts. Or therefore, I can create a theology that they don't actually exist anymore. Or therefore, it's just an option. Does that make sense? That's the foolishness of just going that way, saying, well, what does the Bible say? Well, it doesn't say baptism in the Holy Spirit is that, therefore, what these guys are doing is wrong. Well, it's not. The term may not be exactly right, but the experience is real. Does that make sense? For those of you who have trouble with that, listen, that is the world, the scholarly world that I have lived in, and have oftentimes just simply – I've learned it this way, it's what I did, did it all the way back before I went to seminary, through seminary, and still today, is I just don't argue. I have found rather than arguing, how about just praying and letting the power of God be released? And, you know, one of those guys receives a healing and they don't care about the baptism or not the baptism, they want that. They want the power. I had a guy this afternoon call me, pastor of a Baptist church. Exegetically, he doesn't believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second thing, that that term is not there. But he wants the power of God, and he called me up because I had gone to his church back some time ago and taught on spiritual warfare. And he called me and said, I'm blaming you. I said, what? And he's had a demonic encounter. And he said, man, I don't know, I know it's demonic, I don't know what to do. Can you help me?

So I just told him what to do and prayed with him and prayed that the Holy Spirit would gift him with a discerning of spirits and the Holy Spirit would gift him with wisdom and knowledge. What are those? They're the gifts of the Spirit. He believes in them. He walks in them. He wants to. Does that make sense? So I've been around that group a lot, and there is a certain amount of sympathy that I have, especially when some charismatics go the other side. And let me go to the other side. Supernatural experience, and here's kind of the question. What does the Spirit do? And so, man, they're wanting those supernatural experiences. I want them. They have great experiences in Christ. Man, do it. Listen, I have been around some certain scholars that whenever I talk about having mighty experiences in Christ, they almost take that as a negative, and it's because they're wrong. Jesus wants us to experience the power of God through our life. He wants that. And so we need to know that. But here's what we have to also come to and at least look at it. In fact, let me just say this. The supernatural experiences are basically being produced are the signs and wonders of God's kingdom, okay? So that's kind of what I'm talking about there. But here's a danger on this side, and I have run into this as much as I've run into the problem on the other.

And that is the longing for supernatural power without corresponding biblical guidance. I've told you this. One of the dangers is whenever you have the gifts of the Spirit flowing, a danger can be is that you think, well, anything supernatural is the Holy Spirit, and it's not. I've said this many times, I'm going to say it again, that I've just learned this. Everywhere God's moving, Satan's moving. We need to know that. We need to understand that. The Bible talks about that. And in fact, listen to what, again, I've read these before, but let me read them again. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 3 through 4, Paul is talking to a group that are working and functioning in the gifts. Spirit filled, baptized in the Spirit, whatever you want to call it, man. They're all in. And listen to what he says. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. And then how can it happen? For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received. Did you hear what he said? A person with the Holy Spirit can receive a different spirit also? Just a thought. Or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. In that context, he goes on down and talks about these false teachers. And in verses 13 through 15, look at what he says. He says, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, look what he says, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond with their deeds. So what I'm saying is, it is why I have pushed and I continue to push and will always push. Spend time in God's Word. You don't have to be able to read the Greek and the Hebrew, but I promise you, you need to read in the power of the Holy Spirit and ask Him to guide you into all the truth. Spend time in God's Word because here's what I've found. Believers who spend time in God's Word, whenever comes, and even if they are, I mean, good and even flashy and even a great communicator, there's something in their spirit that just says, hmm, I don't know about that, you know. It just does, and that's good. But listen, if you're just seeking a supernatural experience and you're not at the same time spending time in God's Word and diving in and asking the Holy Spirit, what's going on here? Man, you are fodder for the enemy. He is ready to take you out. And so we need to see that there is a danger there as we do that. So then, what am I saying? It just brings us into this place in the middle, and I just call it again, Holy Spirit empowered. And here's where I hope you will go, is this question, what does the Bible say the Holy Spirit does in and through believers? What does the Bible say that the Holy Spirit does in and through believers? And it's why I just go and say, God, speak, your servant's listening. I want to know what you say. I want you to guide me, Holy Spirit, into all the truth. Even whenever sometimes I've had in my life, I've had a supernatural encounter experience, and I don't immediately say, oh, man, look what the Holy Spirit does. I go to the Scripture and say, God, help me. As the Puritans said back in the 1600s, I cry out, more light.

Give me more light. Let me see. And God is faithful, and He will protect us. But what's the danger here? And let me just give it to you here. The danger is a refusal to daily surrender to and comply with the Holy Spirit. That's the danger. The danger is that we just reach places where we refuse. Did everybody get that? Okay. Can you put that back up? There's a lot of words on there. Sorry about that. Yeah, if we can put that back up, that'd be great. I don't know if they can or not. Is it there? Okay, there it is. So it's a refusal to daily surrender to and comply with the Holy Spirit. So you surrender to Him, but then you're saying, I'm complying with whatever you say. However you lead, I'm in. I put my yes on the table. And so what I'm trying to say is, I believe, and I will say this, this is the exciting thing to me, is I have watched both sides, if you will, converge in powerful ways. I also have seen hostility on the fringes of both sides. Both have it. But here in this place, and we're all different, we're going to come different at it, but what I find here is a unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, that we're all growing together and going together. So let me give you this last real quick. Man, I've got to get done real quick.

And I just call it this, a ready presence. I'll give it to you fast, hot and fast. A ready presence is the last one. Is that in your outline? Yes? Yes. Good, okay. Psalm 46, verse 1 says this, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble in times of need. Some of you may have. I just want you to listen to how the Holy Spirit is that ready present, ever ready present help. You find that after Acts chapter 2, Peter and John are arrested and they're taken before the religious leaders and they're told to never speak about Jesus again. And in this moment, these two uneducated people, but people having the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Listen to what the Bible says happens in Acts chapter 4, verse 8. It says, then Peter, look at what it says, filled with the Spirit. Do you remember what the verbiage was in Acts 2, 4? And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. Here again, he is filled again, filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, rulers and people of the elders. And he goes on and talks about that. You find that there. And then they go back, Peter and John go back and they get back with the church and the church begins to pray. And as the church begins to pray in Acts 4, verse 31, it says that when they had prayed The place which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And then what happened?

And continue to speak the Word of God with boldness. When a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, a boldness begins to be released. And I know that probably all of you have had that experience at times. Let me go on. How do they walk in this? Let me give you this one, just one more of that. Acts chapter 7, verse 55. Remember whenever Stephen was being stoned, the first Christian martyr? The Bible says this in verse 55 of Acts 7, but he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. How do we walk in this? I could have picked a hundred verses, but Galatians 2.20, Paul says this, I've been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. This is how it happens. We walk in this. This is that daily surrender. This is that daily surrender and complying with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians chapter 5, what does he tell us? He says, don't get drunk with wine, for that's debauchery or the loss of limits, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that be filled is be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's an ongoing activity. What happens when a person is filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, it says, addressing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. By the way, spiritual songs, the Greek word is glossolalia. It's tongues in many ways. Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then as I told you last week, how does it happen? It happens like this. Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you'd prophesy. If you need to go pick up a kid, I understand, can I have five more minutes, tell you a quick story and I'll be done. Because I want to tell you, I want to give you another verse. Sunday night, I had gotten home, I was at the house, my phone rings, and it was a dear friend of mine named Brian Whitaker. And Brian is a pastor in Queens, New York City. And he talks just like it. I mean, whenever I've eaten with him, I mean, he's like this, brother David. And it's amazing. And he's awesome. And he got radically saved and just is an amazing man of God. Anyway, long story short, he's in his probably early 50s. He and his wife, Gracie, I just love them to death. But he, God called him in the ministry. He was in the, I don't know what you'd call it, the electrician's union of New York City. And had been doing that for years of his whole life. And he left all of that because he felt God's call to preach. So anyway, he's pastoring a church and he'll call me every so often. And I'm kind of his, as he calls me, he says, you're my spiritual father. And I just kind of helping him, you know, answer questions and mentor him in difficult times. And so he called and said, brother David, I got a question. I don't know what to do and I need your help. And I said, okay. Now he doesn't know that I am finishing up a book that I've written on spiritual warfare and talked about that. We've talked about a lot of other things.

But he said, man, we had something happened to church. Matter of fact, I'm going to send you the portion of our Facebook live because I want you to watch it. And so what happened? He was at their church. They just had worship. It ended. And he, Brian says, okay, we have any prayer requests. And it's a small church. And one person said it is. So they had them stand up and people around them laid hands on him, on her and prayed over her. Another guy prayed, did the same. And in the back was a lady and I'm going to call her Ellie. Okay. Just give her a name. That's not her name, but she raised her hand and she needed prayer. And she was pretty heavy about what was going on. Anyway, Brian goes back, lays hands on her. And so if you can picture this, he's behind her. She's right here. He's over here. And then their worship leader is right here. And then another lady in their church came up here and they began praying over Ellie. And as Brian prayed first and then the worship guy prayed, and then the other lady began to pray. And in the middle of her praying, the lady, I mean, it's, I've seen the video. She just starts, I mean, like wailing and hollering and it was definitely not of this world. And so Brian said, Brother David, I, he says, and you just have to know a New Yorker.

Man, I don't know if demons still do stuff like that, but it sure seemed like, and I said, well, they do. And, and then he said, he started telling me, so I watched it and we talked about it. I called him back and we started talking. And here's what I'm going to tell you. want to encourage you with. He wasn't for sure what was happening. But you can hear him in the background as she's wailing. You can hear him barely, you can barely hear him, you have to really turn it up. And he's saying, in the name of Jesus, you are not welcome in this place. In the name of Jesus. Here's what he said. Brother David, he said, I went back and listened to it. I don't know why I was saying that. I have never said that before. And I said, well Brian, I can tell you why you were saying it. Because as the pastor of the church, you have spiritual authority over those people. And the Holy Spirit gave you utterance. Because what happened after this went on about 45 seconds, and then suddenly the woman who's doing all that says, stop it! And she calms back down. Now let me give you a verse and we'll be done. Mark chapter 13 verse 11. This is what I gave him Sunday night. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say. But say whatever is given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now guys, we're not necessarily going to be taking trial, being persecuted in that way. But I promise you, in the spirit world, we're all on trial. Because the enemy is discerning whether you really believe what you really believe. Do you really believe it? And what I'm saying to you is this. I want to encourage you with this. You may not know all the ins and outs of it, but I promise you in the moment when you go to pray over somebody for healing or for anything, you know, asking God for a word, the Holy Spirit in you will give you words. And you've had that happen, I know. Okay? Let's pray together. Father, thank you that you are for us and not against us. Thank you Lord that what you have and want to do through your children is so much more than we could ever even imagine. That you would blow us away if we were to actually, actually see it. But I pray Father right now for each one of us, that we would every day, I pray tomorrow, the next day, on every day, you would remind us to lay ourselves down, to surrender to your work, and to comply with the Spirit. And then Holy Spirit, I pray that you would gift us with every spiritual

gift that you want to release so that you can encourage and help others around us, even tomorrow, even Friday, even this weekend and beyond. And for some that are going to be going places on spring break, I pray that right now you would give them just divine encounters to minister the grace that you've given to them. And I pray that you would give to us and to the lives of others. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. For more information visit www.fema.org