0:19 I want you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians in chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and reading from verse 19 0:39 Corinthians 1 reading from verse 19. For the son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, by me and Sylvanus and Timothy, was not yes and 0:56 no, but is yes in him. For as many as are the promises of God, in him they are yes. Therefore also through him is our amen to the glory of God through us. 1:15 Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God who also sealed us and gave us the spirit in our hearts as a pledge. You have a margin. It says a down payment. 1:33 But I call God as witness to my soul and spare you. I did not come again to Corinth. Not not that we lord it over your faith but our workers with you for your joy. For in your faith you are standing firm. I hope that 1:52 we see that every promise like the Sunday school song goes. Every promise in the book is mine. Every chapter, every verse, every line. I hope that's how it's been in our lives. When we read God's word and each 2:10 week when we look at a promise, look at a command, [clears throat] I hope we believe it like it like it says here that all the promises of God as many as are the promises of God. In him they are yes. Therefore also through 2:27 him is our amen to the glory of God. And if we believe God's promise that every promise is yes, God does not vacasillate. He doesn't say one thing and do something else. What he has promised, he's faithful to fulfill. 2:44 I know that's been my experience through all the years that I've sought to follow Jesus that every promise is true to his word and it's yes and amen. 3:01 and we say amen in faith to all that God has promised us. I hope that's how we read God's word. I hope that's how God speaks to us and assures us, comforts us, and encourages us. And if we do that, then every promise we 3:21 benefit from. We profit from what God has promised. In Hebrews in chapter 4 verse 2, it says that indeed we have had good news preached to us just as they also as the people in the wilderness. But the word 3:40 they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard or like it says in the margin with those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest. You know the story there. 3:59 God had promised to take them into the land that he had planned for them. They went through trials and difficulties and God did many mighty works among them. But in spite of all that they saw, they didn't believe God. uh when they came to the border of the 4:17 land and God asked them to go in they rather believe the majority ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra rather than Joshua and caleb who said 4:29 we can conquer what you see these giants will be our food but the people believe the majority like it always happens. So the word the word they heard the promise that God the had given them did not profit them because it was not united by faith. And 4:47 it's so important that every if every promise in the book is mine if every promise that God has made for my life on this earth if it's not united by faith it will not profit me. No matter how much I may memorize it, I 5:04 might uh try to recall it in times of trial and difficulty, if I don't have faith in my heart, it will not profit me. Says as many as the promises of God which we just read, in him they are yes. Therefore also through him is our amen 5:22 to the glory of God. I believe Lord what you promised you will do it. That settles it. And that should be our attitude to every trial, to every difficulty, every problem that we face on this earth. Jesus himself, he calls 5:38 himself the amen. You read that in Revelation in chapter 3. He's writing to the church, the the leader in the church of Leodosia. And he addresses himself as this. He says the amen, the faithful and true witness, 5:57 the amen that Jesus is there at the right hand of the father, not only interceding for you and me, but also to say amen to everything by faith. I claim all the promises that God has made. If God says sin shall not have dominion 6:14 over you, I say amen to that. And Jesus says amen to that. That really has blessed my heart to see that that he is the amen. He's there not only to intercede for you and me at the right hand of the father. He's there to 6:27 say amen to every promise that I by faith claim and believe. Then the word prophets me. And Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, a word that I always 6:45 like to remind ourselves that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and good that we examine our lives. How much of this gospel do we really believe? Do we believe we we say we believe the new 7:05 covenant? We we say we believe all that is preached in CFC. How much do we really believe what Peter said here when you know he preached about Jesus in verse 36 he said this Jesus whom you crucified and verse 37 it says when they heard 7:23 this they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles brethren what shall we do? Peter said to them, "Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your 7:39 sins." Most believers stop there. If you look at that verse, there's a semicolon there. I don't know how many of us has stopped in the middle of verse 38. 7:57 God brought us to a place where we said no. We are not satisfied with the forgiveness of sins. We believe God has more for us. We believe that God has promised much more. And every promise is yes and amen. As many as the promises of 8:13 God. And Peter says here, "And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." I want to speak to us this morning on the promise of the Holy Spirit. It's a promise that God has made to us. If you have 8:32 repented of your sins and confessed them to God first and to others to whom you have sinned against. If you've if you've hurt somebody, done evil or harm that you go to that person and ask their forgiveness. If you have borrowed 8:49 money and it not returned it, you go and return it. Somebody asked wrote the other day and said 20 [clears throat] years ago together with three others I cheated my company of lacks of rupees. What should I do? The company closed 9:08 down. I don't know where my boss is. And I wrote to this person and I said, "You pray that you can find out where your boss is or where his family is and see what that you can what means you can 9:27 return that money. Ask for the bank account and return the money even if it's in in installments because this person wanted to get right with God. She wanted to put everything right. And if you don't succeed in that, then 9:45 look for somebody who is poor and without them knowing, not give the whole amount, but give small amounts of that money that you have cheated that company off, but pray and ask God to lead you to that boss wherever he is or to his family members 10:02 and return that money. That is repentance. not just said now I have I have repented I've confessed my sin to God and God has forgiven me. No, when they asked when they came to be baptized by John the Baptist and they asked him, "What shall 10:17 we do?" The soldiers asked him, "What shall we do?" John had something to say to them. [clears throat] Don't take money by force. The tax collectors when they came, what shall we do? He has something to say to them. And 10:31 so that's how we must seek to live our life. When we begin that we have a good foundation, our repentance is not shallow. What shall I do? If I've stolen money, I've cheated my company, return it. You've heard brother 10:48 Zach say that, you know, once uh he bought a whole lot of train tickets, money that had to go back to the government and then just tore it up, destroyed it. So many ways that we can make restitution. That is repentance. 11:04 And that's our repentance must go deep. And Jesus said, "The man who dug deep and hit rock and then built." And I hope that every one of us here have done that. That we have dug dug deep and hit rock and built upon that foundation. 11:21 That where we had to make restitution, where we had to humble ourselves and go and ask for forgiveness, we've done that. Repent, John Peter said, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Baptism 11:35 doesn't take away your sin, but baptism is is a sign that you have repented and put everything right in your life. And then he says you you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In verse 39, he says, "The promise is for you and your 11:53 children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself." And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation, escape from this 12:10 perverse generation." And the only way that you and I can escape from this perverse generation is to believe this promise, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. If we have repented, put everything right in our life, made 12:25 restitution, don't stop there, my dear brothers and sisters. I don't know how many of you sitting here listening to these words have stopped in the middle of verse 38 and you're not gone on. You're happy that you repented, you're born again, 12:41 you're baptized, you come to the meetings, you even break bread, but you've not gone further to receive the gift, not just the gift of forgiveness of sins, but the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is what God did with us 44 years 12:58 ago and brought us to this place in a church that did not preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit that did not believe in it and said no you receive the Holy Spirit at conversion but when we looked at God's word we looked at the promises 13:11 and we looked at this promise we saw that we have to believe this promise first if I'm to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit I'm to believe God's promise every promise as many as the are the promis promise of of God, they are yes 13:26 and amen. And if God says he will give us the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is yes. And Jesus is there saying amen. That's my gift to you. And I want to ask many of us, how many of us believe that promise? If you believe it, how as much 13:44 as you ask for forgiveness of sins, how much are you asking God if you've not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit? I've met people sitting here for years and years who are born again, who have a clear testimony, who know that they have 14:00 repented, but when I ask them, "Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?" They're blank. I'm glad sometimes when I get an answer and said from somebody says, "Yes." I have the assurance that I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit. 14:14 And I want to ask you my dear brothers and sisters, how many of you sitting here this morning have believed this promise. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's your birthright. I've said to many of us, you will live like a beggar. 14:33 If you're coming to this church, I met somebody who says they know the Lord for 20 years, but never ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. was in a church for 14 years that never preached about it. I was in a church before I came to Bangalore that never 14:51 preached the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I've testified to that that I was baptized in the Holy Spirit few months after my baptism water baptism on the roof of that brethren assembly. Then in the Baptist church they didn't 15:05 preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It's not Pentecostalism. Don't get turned up turned off by what you see among Pentecostals. There is the reality. That's a promise that God has given to us. You will receive, you shall 15:21 receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And I want to ask all of us, my brothers and sisters, because this is God's promise to us. Isaiah prophesied before that, you know, when when the Holy Spirit was poured out in that same 15:35 chapter and Peter quoted from from the prophecy of Joel, the promise that God gave through Joel, it shall be in the last days. Verse 17, God says, Acts 2:17, that I'll pour forth of my spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your 15:51 daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams, even on my born slaves, both men and women. I will in those days pour forth of my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will grant 16:06 wonders in the sky above, and signs of on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come and it shall be that 16:19 everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That is the prophecy that Joel gave. That is the promise that God gave through Joel. And Isaiah in chapter 44, if you will turn there, Isaiah chapter 44, God says then verse 16:35 three says, "I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I'll pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. It's not just for me. God says that Peter said, "This promise is for you." 16:54 Verse 39 of Acts chapter 2, "This promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself." And God said that through Joel. God said that, promised that through Isaiah. He 17:12 says, "I'll pour out my spirit on your children." Do you want that, my brothers and sisters? Or is you say, "No, you know, they have to find God somewhere the other." Do you really want to see God's promise fulfilled not just in your life, but in 17:27 your children that God pours out your spirit? I want to see it not just on my children, but on my grandchildren that God will pour out like it says there. Turn back to Isaiah 44. Beautiful promise that God gives. Said, "I'll pour 17:42 out my spirit on your offspring, your children, my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up among the grass like poppplers by streams of water." This one will say, "I am the Lord's." You want your children to say 17:55 that I am the Lord. I belong to Jesus. That in school and in college and when they go to work, they can they can test I am the Lord's. They can testify. I will stand for the Lord. And that one will call on the name of Jacob, you 18:10 know, your name, the father's name, and another will write on his hand belonging to the Lord. Do you want that for your children, for your grandchildren and your great grandchildren, even if you don't live to see them? and will name 18:28 put your name there Israel's name with honor that your children can name your name fathers with honor my dad was a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit my dad lived for Jesus my dad was an 18:47 upright man was a godly man he never compromised will name your name with honor I hope fathers and grandfathers that that's what you seek for for your children. God is doing that in these last days. But if we don't believe the promises, 19:07 how do we expect our children to believe them? If we don't live a life that will test not just you know not just having a date and some experience and I speak in tongues but the way I live my life in my home my relationship with my partner my 19:25 relationship with my children that will testify whether the spirit of God has come upon me whether I've really believed the promises of God whether I've really said yes whether I've been immersed in the Holy Spirit and fire. 19:42 That is God's gift to every one of you who belong to the family of God. Don't go on living till you seek God, my brothers and sisters, for an assurance. Lord, I don't have the assurance. But you have promised, you promised to give me the 20:00 Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit. You've given me the gift of the forgiveness of sins. Give me the gift of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I cannot live this life without the power of the Holy Spirit. I cannot be bold. I'm a coward. 20:13 Basically, we're all cowards. I want to stand for you in these last days. No matter what happens, no matter what laws are brought in this country, Lord, I want to stand for you. And we cannot stand. I want to say to you, my brothers 20:26 and sisters in Jesus name. Can we cannot stand without the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter says with you know go back to in Acts 2:40 with many other words he solemnly testified kept on exalting them saying escape from this perverse 20:44 generation how shall I escape and the Holy Spirit comes upon me like he came upon the apostles as tongues of fire and I know at once because my speech changes the way I speak to my wife the way I speak to others changes it doesn't happen 21:01 overnight but changes and they will see it. That is what God wants for every one of us. Not just us coming to the meetings, my brothers and sisters, not just reading the Bible and praying every day, not just fasting, but 21:17 to really believe the promise of God that he has given me the gift of the Holy Spirit. You look at 2 Corinthians and chapter 1 verse 21. It says that he who establishes us with 21:33 you in Christ and anointed us is God who also sealed us and gave us the spirit in our hearts as [snorts] a pledge as a down payment. God has given us his promises so that we believe them by faith. We receive them. 21:53 And Peter says that they are exceedingly great and precious promises. Second Peter chapter 1, you read that there. Exceedingly great and precious promises whereby we become partakers of the divine nature. [clears throat] 22:08 In the Living Bible, it says he's put his brand upon us. paraphrasing uh 2 Corinthians 1:21, he's put his brand upon us, his mark of ownership and given us his holy spirit in our hearts as guarantee that we belong to him and as first installment 22:28 of all that he's going to give us. He's made a down payment. It's like you buying a piece of property or buying a house or buying something and you put a down payment. It's yours because you put a down payment. And God has put a down 22:43 payment on our lives. And there's more to come. He's given us the Holy Spirit as a down payment as a pledge. There's more to come. He will give us more of himself. He He will give us everything. So God has made a down payment upon your 22:59 life and mine. And if you have not received this down payment, you're a beggar. I want to say that to you. You're living like a beggar. an impoverished life, struggling, striving, trying to overcome when God has made provision for us 23:16 through Jesus by giving us the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "When I go back, I will send another helper like myself who will come alongside you to help you." Have you received that helper? Dear brothers and sisters, have you 23:32 received the one like Jesus was here on the earth? He's not just a power, a force, or an influence. He's a person. The third person of the trinity. He's right here in our midst. The third person of the trinity. Has he come 23:46 alongside you? Or you only experience his presence when you come to the meetings on Sunday or wherever else you go for a meeting? know that he can come alongside you every day 24 by7 and be go with you to your office and to your 24:03 workplace and be with you as you drive on the road. He comes alongside us to help us. That is the helper. That is the gift that God has given the Holy Spirit. The message Bible paraphrases it very beautifully. He says, "Whatever God has 24:19 promised gets stamped with the yes of Jesus in him." This is what we preach and pray the great amen. God's yes and our yes together gloriously evident. God affirms 24:37 us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his yes within us. By his spirit, he has stamped us with his eternal pledge, a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete. That is what God has done. He has made a down payment. When we give give when he 24:56 gives us the Holy Spirit, there's more to come. The work that he begins in us, he will continue. And that is why we need the Holy Spirit. And it says in in 1 Thessalonians in chapter 3:13, it says, "So that he may 25:13 establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." God is the one who establishes [clears throat] us. That's what we read in 2 Corinthians. Paul said, "Our message to 25:30 you is not yes and no. It is yes." And as many as the promises of God, they are yes. And God has established us. The one who establishes us, puts us on a solid foundation is God through Jesus Christ. And I hope that we are established. 25:48 We're not tossed to and fro, you know, is this the right way? Is am I in the right place? Is this the right doctrine? I hope we are not tossed to and fro. That we are established in the faith. And the only way it can happen is 26:03 when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. And trials and difficulties we go through also help to establish us. We read that in one Peter chapter 5 verse 10. Says, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who 26:19 called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. after you have suffered for a little while may look a long time but the purpose of that 26:36 suffering is that God would establish you and me he would confirm strengthen and establish us. So God is the one who establishes us in Christ and and he does through his holy spirit and it says that 26:53 that God himself anoints us. God himself anoints us with the holy spirit. We are established. We are anointed by God. And we have heard if you've been coming to this church that we can receive that anointing. Jesus was anointed because he 27:11 loved righteousness and hated sin, hated unrighteousness. And God anointed him with the oil of gladness above our companions. So if I'm not willing to give up sin, if I'm not willing to hate sin in every form, I can never be anointed 27:30 by God. God is the one who anoints us. And you've heard me many times quote that word in 2 Corinthians in chapter 3 that whenever a man turns to the Lord. If we turn to the Lord 2 Corinthians and chapter 3 18 a word that I often often 27:49 think about even many times during the day whenever a man whenever a woman turns to the Lord that means I'm turning away from something else. I'm turning away from sin. I'm turning away from myself and looking inside myself. Whenever a man or 28:07 a woman turns to the Lord or a boy or a girl turns to the Lord, he says the Lord is a spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. When we turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. We see all things from God's point of view. I see that 28:25 situation, that problem, that difficulty, that [clears throat] that issue with my boss. I see it from God's point of view. But I can never not I can never see it from God's point of view. If I don't turn away, turn away 28:40 from sin and turn away from self-pity and turn away from looking inside myself and condemning myself. I turn to the Lord. The veil is taken away. I begin to see things from God's point of view. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there's 28:56 liberty. I am free from bondage. I don't have to be bound by that situation or by that problem or by that difficulty somebody's giving me. Turn to the Lord. My brothers and sisters, in these days, I believe more and more we should be turning to the 29:14 Lord. Turning away from sin and turning to the Holy Spirit. But I cannot turn to him if you have not if you not believed the promise. If you have not asked him, ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. If you've not asked for 29:29 the gift, you can never turn to him. There has to be an asking first. You have to believe first and then ask, "Lord, I need the Holy Spirit." And he'll always be there with you through all that we have to go through on this 29:43 earth. And Jesus was anointed because he turned away from sin. He loved righteousness. He hated iniquity. God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his companions. That is the price of the anointing. I must be willing to turn 30:01 away from sin. Turn away from everything else that separate separates me from God. Turn away from everything else that [clears throat] leads me away from simple pure devotion to Christ. that Jesus and Jesus alone is my first love 30:18 and that's the price we have to be willing to pay. I noticed I one of my an old Bible of mine that I am I I read much from because I made many mark in that's a Bible I I marked uh made many markings many times God spoke to me and 30:37 I was interested to see you know this verse that the price of the anointing that's what I wrote against that that Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness because he hated sin and love righteousness. And I wrote there 182 1975, 30:56 18th February 1975. And I thought back and that was the time that God met with us. January 1975 in that Baptist church in August 1975, the church was born 31:15 through the Holy Spirit. And I really thank God. Thank God they helped me to pay that price. It was a price that had to be paid. We were thrown out of the church. I had only the roof over my head. But I had God with me. I had the Holy Spirit 31:34 with me. And my wife was with me. We had two children at that time. I never regret it. My brothers and sisters, are we willing to pay the price? It's not just having a good experience. It's not just writing a date in my Bible. But 31:53 are we willing to pay the price to hate sin, to love righteousness? God will anoint us with an anointing above our companions. Psalm 23:es 5 and 6, it says, "You prepare a table before me in the 32:10 presence of my enemies." I hope you're not thinking of flesh and blood enemies. The enemies of my flesh, the lusts of my flesh. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my 32:25 cup overflows. And another thing that the anointing does for us, the anointing breaks the yoke in our lives. If the devil has put a yoke upon you, if you are all the time looking into yourself, if you're all the 32:43 time trying to follow and live the Christian life in a legalistic way, it's a yoke. That is not the yoke of Jesus. When the disciples had to go down to Jerusalem to get counsel because there were those who saying, "You got to be circumcised if you're 33:01 going to be a Christian." and they had to get counsel and the apostles there said it's not lawful for us to put a yoke which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear and I want to ask ourselves this morning 33:19 do you put a yoke upon your partner which he's not able to bear you have great expectations you make such demands things have to be done in a particular way. Do you make sisters? Do you make such a demand? You put a yoke on your husband 33:38 that he's not able to bear. Think of it, my brothers and sisters. The yoke of Jesus is easy. We make life easy for one another. Make life easy for our children. Do you put a yoke upon your children? They're not 33:56 able to bear. The apostles decided that they will not put such a yoke. And here's a lovely word in Isaiah 10:27. I've held on to. And this is God's will for us as the church. This is God's will for every one of us who is anointed by 34:15 God. Isaiah 10:27. But it comes out in the King James version. But you can read it there in the whatever version he has. shall come about in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and 34:31 his yoke from off thy neck. And this is a word that has always blessed my heart. And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. Just listening to what I just said about putting a yoke upon your partner, upon your children, and saying, "I'm going to 34:48 do something about it." You'll not succeed. The anointing, the anointing will break that yoke first of all in your own life. [clears throat] And the yoke that you put upon your wife's life, your partner, upon your children, 35:05 and upon those who live with you is the anointing. God anoints us, my brothers and sisters. God anoints us. No man can give us that anointing. And I pray that you will seek God. That you to be anointed in such a way that 35:24 [clears throat] the yoke, whatever yoke which is not the yoke of Jesus is broken in your life first and then you can break it in the life of your partner that you stop putting a yoke upon her. You stop putting a yoke upon him and 35:37 upon your children and upon your brothers and sisters. Jesus said, "Come to me and learn." We heard that brother Danny and that what I hardly have heard him but he got up and it blessed my heart to hear him said that you know Jesus said we have to 35:56 teach everything that he commanded that was the great commission that he gave the apostles but I like what he said there's something that we can't be taught we have to learn we have to learn humility and gentleness from Jesus 36:14 thank you for that. It stuck with me. I can't be taught humility and gentleness. I have to learn it. I have to learn it from Jesus. I have to come alongside him. He said, "Come, learn the unforced rhythms of grace." That's what the message Bible 36:31 paraphrases that come to me all you are weary and heavy laden. All you religious people who are trying and striving, come to me. I will give you rest. My yoke is easy. take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. I 36:48 don't put burdens upon you. That is what the anointing does, my brothers and sisters. It breaks every other yoke which is not the yoke of Jesus. And I pray this morning that you will decide to ask and let God anoint you so that 37:05 the yoke in your life first is broken that you can break it in the lives of those who live with you 24 by7. your home will become a heaven on earth. I believe that with all my heart. Don't put God to the test. You know, 37:21 Acts 15:10, I was referring to that. Now, therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? We have believed we are saved through 37:37 the grace of our Lord Jesus. That's what God asks us. Why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of your wife or your husband or your children a yoke which is not my yoke destroy it. Let the spirit of God, let 37:59 the anointing destroy it, my brothers and sisters, and let God put his seal of ownership upon us. And finally, you know what we have just seen, God has sealed us and he gives us the spirit in our hearts as a pledge of down payment 38:15 that there's more to come and that is God's will for each one of us. God has sent his spirit into the world. Like I said, he's the third person of the Trinity who was in the world like Jesus. The second person of the Trinity 38:29 was in the world 2,000 years ago. Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is in the world. He's in our midst. He's in the church. We want to give him his proper place. That's what we decided 44 years ago. We wanted to give the Holy 38:43 Spirit his proper place. The church was born. And I pray to God that he will always have his proper place in our church and in each one of our lives. Jesus said that he was sending the spirit into the world. when he comes into the world, it 38:59 says in John 16:8-11. John 16:8-11, when he comes into the world, he said he'll conict convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. That's what he's doing today. Concerning sin because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness 39:17 because I go to the father and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. Praise God. Hallelujah. Because the Holy Spirit has come into the world and when he comes into our hearts, when he comes upon us, the ruler 39:34 of this world has been judged. I don't fear him. The devil can get no power over you, over your family, over anything of yours if the anointing is upon your life, my brothers and sisters. And one last thing, Jesus said, he will glorify me. 39:51 John 16:14, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will glorify me for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the father has are mine. Therefore, I say that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you. The Bible 40:06 will become a new book. The promises of God will will come out in something that you see. Is this what God promised? I say yes. And Jesus is there who says amen to it. That is God's will for us. I pray that every one of us here this 40:25 morning will be established, anointed and sealed by God and that you will receive the Holy Spirit. You've never asked, never believed the promise and received what God has planned for you. that you don't live in this world like a 40:43 beggar, that you live like a king, you live like a queen, that we live above any circumstance that may come into our lives. And the only way is to let the Holy Spirit come upon you, change you, make you into a different man, into a 40:58 different woman. He will do it. All you have to do is just ask him. Amen. In relation to what we heard today, I was thinking of verses in Psalm 62. Psalm 62:es 11 and 12. In the margin if you read it, it reads 41:21 like this. One thing God has spoken and these two things I heard. It says once God has spoken, twice I have heard this. But in the margin and this is this is what spoke to me. God spoke once but I heard two things clearly. 41:39 number one that power belongs to God and number two that loving kindness is thine O Lord and every time God speaks something to us if we can clearly hear these two things God doesn't have to say the same thing 41:58 many times when he speaks once I hear these two things that power belongs to you power belongs to you and you are full of love and on the basis of that that's how you are speaking 42:15 and if God gives us a commandment the power belongs to him to fulfill that commandment to do that commandment and if God gives us a promise the power belongs to him to make that promise true in our life 42:33 to see that the power belongs to him very often I come to God saying, "God, okay, you've worked in me. You've put this desire in me. And I know that you love me. That's why you've called me. I somehow have to get the strength to do what it takes. I 42:51 I cannot. Power belongs to God. And everything that I have ever done is because he has given me that power." And just just to realize that that power belongs to him. And to hear that every time he speaks along with his love that 43:07 you know that power must flow and he will give it. He is giving it. He He's promised he's speaking to us because he's willing to give us that power. Yeah. The I I was thinking of this verse that says Zechariah 4:6, it's not by 43:21 might nor by power but by thy spirit. It's not by anything else that we consider power. It's not by intellectual power, soul power, money power, personality, willpower. No, it's by the Holy Spirit. And to, you know, turn to the Lord like 43:40 that knowing that he loves me so much that he's offering me this this power that I need to live the sort of life that he wants me to. Recently, I went to very recently I went to Jog Falls and it's been raining a lot over there in that area. Jo Falls is the 43:56 second highest waterfall in India. U just I was just standing in front of the waterfall the water rushing down pouring in torance and I was thinking about this verse power belongs to God. See there are two things you need there. 44:14 One is you need rain. If you go to Joke Falls like you know in the summer you'll be like you know what is what's the big deal? No, like you go to Joke Falls right now, you you'll see something. Without the Holy Spirit, there's there's 44:28 nothing. There is nothing. You'll wonder what what were you what were people talking about? But that's because you've not allowed the Holy Spirit, you know, to reign to give you that fullness. But here's the other thing. Joke Falls is 44:42 joke falls because, you know, there's a height and the power is really felt at that lowest point. And you know I was just just watching the waterfall and there are some portions that you know are kind of escaping right the waterfall is there 44:57 the rock is here but the power is felt at that lowest point and really in my life it's at that lowest point when I see that there is no way I can live this Christian life without God without his go without his 45:16 help without his power and that power belongs to him and he's willing to give it to me. Those are the moments that God has met with me whenever I've been full satisfied thinking I can achieve it on my own. You know, it's it's been it's 45:30 been sad. It's been pathetic. But God is faithful to re renew my hope in him and bring him bring me back to that point. [snorts] I was thinking of what what Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20. As many as are the promises of God, 45:45 through him is our amen or it it shall be so. Why do I say it shall be so? Because I know that the power belongs to him and that he loves me so much. And and he's speaking this if we read it in context, we'll see that you know just 46:01 before that in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 8 and 9, he says, "I don't want you to be unaware, brethren, of the affliction that came to us where we were burdened excessively beyond our strength. We despared even of life. We had the 46:15 sentence of death within ourselves so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. And he delivered us. Verse 10. And he will deliver us. Well, I have not gone through anything like the afflictions that Paul has gone 46:32 through. But God is teaching me the same thing again and again. No matter what I go through, it's when I come to the end of my strength. When I realize and God is helping me to be quicker and quicker to realize that power belongs to him and 46:47 loving kindness is is his and on that basis he's saying listen I've tried this tested this many times and no matter what happens to me God will deliver me and that's the power of God he's offering you as well. Yeah, this you know who who is this 47:06 promise to and and what is the so Ephesians chapter 1 19 and 20 where God is describing his power. He says the exceeding greatness of his power. May may the eyes of your heart be open to see the exceeding greatness of 47:25 his power. Who is it for towards those who believe? And he said this is in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead. So that resurrection power is what God points to 47:42 is saying that's the power that I'm talking about. That's the power. It's the exceeding greatness of power. And no matter what we think brothers of ourselves when we look at God and we realize that this is the power that he's 47:58 talking about. It's the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That resurrection power. That's the power that he's talking about that he wants to offer us. And that's what it means to me to come to that lowest point where I say, "I'm not 48:14 going to deliver myself. I have no power of my own." As Jesus, you know, put himself in God's hands. God raised him up with that mighty power. I looked through the Bible. There are at least 15 times in the Bible where God 48:30 talks about a mighty hand or, you know, using great power. God with great power and an outstretched arm. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but at least 15 times all over the Bible, it says with a mighty hand and with an outstretched 48:45 arm. With great power and with an outstretched arm. And what do we think of, brothers and sisters, when we think about an outstretched arm? Whose arms do we think of that were outstretched for our sake? That place Calvary where where Jesus was 49:05 standing lying there on the cross helpless for our sakes. That is the place of power. That is the place that God wants to bring us to because that is where he will raise us up, give us a resurrection life. His power is is there for us, is meant for us at 49:24 that place. Yeah, this promise is for you and for your children and all who are far off as many as our Lord will call to himself. So when we hear the Lord calling us to him to turn our eyes away from ourselves 49:40 and to say Lord you are calling me and this word that you have power belongs to you and you're speaking this word in love and you are able to do it. You're able to do it do everything. I I don't have to feel anything. If there's a next 49:55 step I need to take, God will give me that power. He will deliver me and he will lead me step by step. If there's something the Lord wants me to do, then I can do it. I can do it. It's it's as simple as that because the power is not 50:11 from me. It is from him. It belongs to him and he loves me. Yeah. I was thinking of the word in Isaiah 55:7 specifically for for myself. Isaiah 55:7 where brother was talking about the cost 50:29 of the anointing says let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. There may be some of us or some portions of our life which are wicked where we have to forsake a certain way of doing 50:47 things. But for many of us, for most of my life, if I think about my problem, it's my thoughts that I need to forsake. See, he talks about an unrighteous man. So, the contrast is a righteous man. A 51:06 righteous man lives by faith. So all of these thoughts that I think where you know a dependence of God is not in the picture maybe anxious thoughts maybe proud thoughts maybe selfish thoughts may may just be clever thoughts clever thoughts 51:24 you're trying to solve a problem but you don't see how much you need God and that God is there and anything that is worth doing you know must be done out of our relationship with God and God is calling ing us to righteousness. He's 51:39 saying, "Come, turn to me." You know, let's do it together. Come. Yeah. In in Jo Falls, they've blocked off the way. There's a way that goes down to the, you know, foot of the waterfall. People who used to go there earlier say it was like really good. You 51:53 could go there. They blocked it off. You can't go there now. But God wants us to come there to that place where we will know his power and feel the fullness of his love and know that he is able to solve every problem in our life. This is 52:07 how he wants us to live. Amen.
