0:00 I just got this picture of a an incense rising up before the throne of God in the midst of our trials. I say that to encourage you that God is uh a God who longs and ex is excited to see that we respond with praise in the midst of our 0:17 trials. That's the the most beautiful way to live. Uh let's get right into the message that I believe the Lord has laid on my heart today. I think it is the last uh in the series I have been teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And as you 0:34 know, we began with uh thinking about how it what is it that leads us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. First of all, there must be a desperate hunger kind I gave you that example of Bartmius, the blind man who didn't mind 0:53 being embarrassed. He didn't mind making a fool of himself because he was desperate. And I believe this with all of our all of my heart that it's those who are willing to be made a fool of in the eyes of the world. Those who are 1:08 such at such an end of themselves that they don't have any dignity to stand on. They don't have any more pretense or showiness to say, "Well, what will people think if I just lose it because I'm so desperate before God?" But those 1:22 are the ones who will get it. Those are the ones who will receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. You know, I wonder if there were other blind men that Jesus walked by who thought, uh, I don't want to be an embarrassment to the people 1:35 around me and didn't get healed. Jesus looked for those who were so desperate and hungry for him and believed that he could do it and he did mighty works in them. So, it must start with that hunger. And then a couple of messages 1:49 for the two messages after that I preached on how that must be followed by an awareness of the holiness of God. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, there must be a passionate desire for holiness in our lives. If I 2:03 want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I'm content with speaking to my wife rudely every now and then, lusting with my eyes every now and then, loving money a little bit here and there, seeking a little bit of the world. If that's what 2:15 I really want, I can cry and cry and cut myself with knives like the prophets of Baal did and do all kinds of magic as it were, hoping that God will give me his grace. And he will not because he sees because like I said, God will not pour 2:33 his Holy Spirit into a contaminated vessel. Now, it's not that we have to clean ourselves, but he says, "If you will allow me to rid you of that, I will I will take it away. I will remove it." Remember, we looked at those verses in 2:48 Jeremiah and Ezekiel where God said, "This is the promise in the new covenant. You don't have to try to do it on your own strength. I will do it. I will put a heart of flesh in you. I'LL TAKE AWAY THAT HEART OF stone and I'll 3:02 put a heart of flesh in you where I can write my laws on your heart. It will become your very nature where you won't have to try to be a Christian and put on a show and dress it up because of who is watching but you will have God's nature, 3:17 Christ nature within. So there must be an awareness of God's holiness and a reverence for the holy things of God. I I there must be a bed that is holy for the Holy Spirit to come and occupy. There must be a room that is holy, that 3:32 has been prepared, that has been cleaned of unholiness and anything that's off the world. Now, I'd like to go on to look at why we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some of you may even wonder why why are we speaking about this? Is 3:48 it so important? There are denominations in this world that deny that that believe that the work of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit have seized since the word of God came, since the written word of God. They deny that 4:05 that the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit like they received on the day of Pentecost is something for us today. You'll hear that. In fact, I think a vast majority of churches in this country believe that. believe that 4:19 that uh it's called cessationism where the gifts have seized because there's no need for them. It's it's complete heresy. You won't find that backed up in God's word at all. And I don't mean that to point fingers at other godly men who 4:33 believe that. But I just don't see any foundation for that in the word of God. We must be absolutely certain of this fact that God wants to fill us with the Holy Spirit. He wants to give us power in our inner man and he wants to give us 4:46 gifts that we can use for the building up of the body of Christ. That is very much needed in our in our day today. So we must understand why we ought to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As I as I've said and I think in every one of 5:00 these messages that I've been preaching, it is my belief, my utmost belief that God's desire for us as a church is that every single one of us from the youngest to the oldest, from the youngest, whether it's age or in terms of 5:16 maturity, how long you've been a Christian, if you were born again this morning, I believe with all of my heart that God's desire for you is to fill you with his Holy Spirit, for you to be genuinely baptized. ed in the Holy 5:28 Spirit. As much as I would tell you if you're born again, you must take baptism in water. That's a part of our salvation work. You read that and accordingly and this I'm so glad that I was taught this at a young age that while I was being 5:42 baptized in in water to pray this, Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit in the same way that you Lord Jesus yourself were. You can read about it at the age of 30, but we'll look at that some more. what different aspects of being filled 5:55 with the Holy Spirit. And let me say this at the very outset. When I speak about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I speak and I find a lack of words. I find that it's a mystery. I find that in preaching, there can be a desire to put 6:10 a box even in my earnest desire for this for for me to experience this myself and for every one of you to experience it yourself. It is the greatest danger would be for me to try to draw a box and to describe the Holy Spirit and the 6:25 fullness of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit that way. And the Holy Spirit just comes and blows it out of the water. I find every time every time I try to draw a little box, he shows me another aspect of himself in 6:36 scripture that just blows that out of the water. And so, I'm not trying to give you a a formula. I'm not trying to give you a method by which you can be filled with the Holy Spirit because I don't see that in scripture. But what I 6:48 do see is this. Ephesians 5:18, be being filled with the Holy Spirit. And so we'll I just want to say that as a preface. Please don't expect or think that the the messages I've been preaching or even what I will preach today is in any way some kind of formula 7:06 that you can go and say, "Okay, God, I heard the formula in the church meeting today. Here it is. Now you ought to give me the Holy Spirit." No, that's not how it works. Why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit? First of all, in 7:17 Matthew chapter 3, we see this contrast between the ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus. And I think one of the reasons that many people do not earnestly seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit is because they haven't 7:31 understood the difference between the ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus Christ. It's very clear here. Now, John himself tells us the difference. See, John the Baptist came preaching repentance. He preached 7:45 repentance from sin. He said repent for the kingdom of heaven. Heaven is at hand. That means what? You who are living in sin, turn from your wicked ways and turn to God. Yet he says this verse 11. Matthew chapter 3 11. As for me, these are the 8:02 words of John the Baptist. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance. I am preaching a message of repentance. And sadly, as I look around at the majority of of Christians today and the majority of churches today, the majority 8:19 of them are simply emphasizing repentance. Now, that's a good thing. The ministry of Jesus could not have happened if the ministry of John the Baptist hadn't come first. John was the preparer. He had to prepare the way for 8:33 Jesus to come. And that preparation was the way of repentance. So we cannot experience the fullness of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the ministry that he has towards us as his church unless it begins with this baptism in water that 8:47 that John preached. Now we don't we we're not baptized in John anymore because the Holy Spirit has come and the apostles as we see baptized uh new converts in the name of the father, the son, the lord Jesus Christ and the holy 9:00 spirit. You see that example and where for example Apollos was only baptized in the baptism of John, they showed him this newness baptism in Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But look at what John himself says. John was one of 9:14 the humblest men that lived on the face of the earth. I believe that uh in the old covenant at least because he had this recognition. He was the one that said, "I must decrease and he must increase." Imagine if you were a a 9:28 mighty minister, you were a preacher, a prophet, and God was using you in an amazing way, but he showed you, "This is the limit of what I have for you, and you must be one who supports another ministry." I wish we had more of that in 9:42 the new covenant. John the Baptist got it in the old covenant. this ministry of supporting this ministry of like Barnabas had encouraging others even though Barnabas never really got to write scripture like we that we know of 9:55 at least his name is not associated with the great names of Paul and Peter and all that this was just little of Barnabas but I believe in heaven we will see what a mighty purpose he fulfilled in encouraging others in being a support 10:10 when Paul was new to the church he came and brought Paul in and paved the way, this way of paving. So, but John the Baptist recognized that his job was to pave the way for Jesus. And he says, "I baptize you with water for repentance. I 10:25 will show you how to be born again. I will show you how to find repentance. But that important word, but that I think again many Christians have missed. But he who is coming, which is Jesus, after me, is mightier than I, and I am 10:42 not fit to remove his sandals, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Here he contrasts this baptism in water with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In fact, he uses this expression to say, I am not even fit to remove his 10:58 sandals. That as I understand it is an is a is an expression as if to say I am so little compared to how great he is that I'm not even worthy to take his sandals off. I mean somebody who is who comes and takes the sandals off you 11:15 think well that's a lowly person that's a servant. John says I am even lower than that. My ministry, the ministry of this repentance and baptism in water compared to what Jesus has come to bring is that is that greatness. There's a vast 11:33 difference between the ministry of John and the ministry of Jesus which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His winnowing fork is in his hand. Verse 12. and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor and he will gather his 11:47 wheat into the barn but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So I would put it this way. One of the first reasons I believe why we must be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Why we must seek for the fullness of the Holy Spirit 12:00 is because Jesus has come to bring us a complete salvation. A complete salvation that extends beyond mere repentance. mere just turning from your sins, mere just saying, "Okay, I said the prayer, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. It's 12:16 over. Now, let me go on and live the way I want." No, this is the contrast between the ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus, between the ministry of repentance and baptism in water compared to the ministry of what I 12:30 would call sanctification through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit has come. God wants to fill us with the Holy Spirit so that those of us who have been baptized in water, and I hope all of you are who 12:42 have been who are born again, as far as I know, those at least those of you that are part of the local church, if you're born again, you must be baptized in water. What we call believer's baptism. That baptism that comes out of 12:53 recognizing I am born again. Because many of you, not in my case it wasn't the case, but many of you grew up in environments where you were just dunked in water or sprinkled with water when you were children according to the 13:06 practice of the church denomination that you were part of. And that meant nothing because what is you know what is a it's like having a birthday party if the child is not even born. You know what's the point of having a birthday party? 13:18 Well, once the child is born, guess what? Now we can have the birthday party. It's meaningful. And so those who have been born again, truly born again, and have made that choice, must be baptized. That's that celebration. That 13:31 is the appeal to God for a clear conscience like Peter says. But for those who have been born, who are born again and baptized, there is a call. There is a way that we've been reading of the foundation on of Jesus Christ and 13:44 the structure that that Phil's been preaching about. This is that way. And in order to walk this new and living way, in order to go along this narrow way, I need the fullness of the Holy Spirit, I need this baptism that Jesus 13:58 calls to give me. Otherwise, I will spend my entire life stuck at the starting line. And I think it's sad reality that many Christians are stuck at the starting line. Or maybe they've gone a few paces, but they're not running as if to win. They're not 14:14 thriving in their life. They're not overcoming. They're not pressing on. They're not taking down fortresses of Satan. They're not taking down the gates of hell. This is the ministry that Jesus came to give us where the gates of hell 14:28 I am going to the city of the devil that is supposed to be mine and he's been living there. And you know what I mean by that? Some area in your life, maybe there's a habit in your life, maybe there's a a way of speaking to others 14:41 that you have or maybe there's a way of speaking to your husband or your wife or your children or maybe there are demands you make of others. or maybe there's a way you judge others OR OR WHATEVER IT MIGHT BE. THAT'S A CITY that you should 14:52 be occupying that Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit should be occupying in your marriage or in your home or in your church life. But it's not the case. And if you are seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit and you are full of the Holy 15:05 Spirit, you will go to that gate UNASHAMED AND SAY, "DEVIL, THAT territory is mine." And before that, you will go to God and say, "God, you promised me that territory." You know that it was true. I showed you this I think in Joshua that God told the people 15:18 of Israel every place on which the sole of your foot treads is yours. All you got to do is just step there. Think about that parents for us as children. Are we exercising that kind of authority? Because for me when when I 15:34 had a child when God gave me even one child that at that moment that was an area in which my foot had trod and the promise that God has been opening my eyes to see is that now is your land. You cannot allow the devil to have any 15:48 say in in that area at all because I've given you that promise. Now what is it in your life? Are there areas in your land that you're in in this land, the promised land, that you're afraid to to walk onto because of giants that are 16:02 there? But God says, "You put your foot there and you stand in front of that giant and I and ask me to fill you with power and see if I don't bring that giant down." And the Israelites occupied the land of Canaan. Now, the sad thing 16:14 was they didn't fully occupied. I've been reading through the book of Joshua and Judges recently, and it's a sad story that they allowed some of these enemies to remain. And that's the sad thing that's happening in Christians too 16:25 as well. They think, "Well, that's just how I've always been. That's a part of my nature. That's just how I talk. That's just how my parents talk. That's just how my grandparents talk. That's just me." And the and the Lord will put 16:35 his finger on and says, "No, that's that might be you, but it's not Christ." And the and the land of Canaan is full of Christ and empty of me. Empty of anything of my flesh. There is nothing of Santo in the promised land. And 16:48 that's why I seek to decrease. That's why like Paul I say it is not I who live but Christ lives in me. And in increasing measure as God shows me more and more of my of this land that he has given me that he's called me to live. I 17:03 say Lord that area is still Santosh living there. When you shake Santosh up to a certain point he will come out. He hides himself pretty well but every now and then the pressure gets so much or the shaking gets to be so much that he 17:17 rears his ugly head. talking about myself now and you can apply it to your own life and I say Lord that shouldn't be that shouldn't be that ever in any situation does this selfish selfcentered nature rear its ugly head give me grace 17:33 fill me with the Holy Spirit it's a complete salvation it's much more than just standing at the starting line thinking well thank you Lord that you forgave my sins that would be like the Israelites standing you know at one 17:46 point they crossed the Jordan and they officially enter the promised land and they could have gone to the promises says well Lord you gave us the promised land here we are we are in the promised land but there were the giants the 17:57 giants were still to be defeated the cities of Jericho and other kings and other cities that they had to take down THEY HAD TO OCCUPY THE ENTIRE land let's not just stand at the on the other side of the river Jordan having gone through 18:10 that baptism and having gone through that repentance and say well thank you Lord you brought me into the promised land when all these giants are still there re wreaking havoc in my life, rearing their ugly heads every once in a 18:23 while. I'm not satisfied with that life. I'm what I I will not be satisfied until I accomplish that for which Christ laid a hold of me. And I know very clearly I'm seeing more and more these days why Christ laid a hold of me to make me like 18:38 him fully completely. He took laid a hold of me by the shoulder and says I want you to be like me so that there's nothing of you left. So a complete salvation and this happens through sanctification and this is that removal 18:51 of the chaff and the gathering of the wheat. You see this two-fold process removal of chaff, gathering of wheat. This is what Jesus through his holy spirit must be doing in our lives. I ask you to look back on the last week. Dear 19:05 brothers, dear sisters, dear friends, has there been this process? Are there things that the Holy Spirit has gathered? He's gathering wheat, good things, good habits, Christ likeness, areas in which he is making you more 19:18 like Christ. He's gathering that and storing it to be revealed in eternity when he comes back. Uh likewise, are there other things that he is removing? Have there been things in your life over the last week or the last month or 19:31 whatever period of time that the Lord has put his finger on says that's chaff. If you really want this complete salvation, you have to allow me to sift it. and his this winnowing fork. I've never used one, but I imagine it as 19:43 something that allows this winnower to separate the wheat from the chaff. And this is what the Holy Spirit has come to do. This is why we must be filled with the Holy Spirit because without it, we will continue with this wheat and be 19:56 satisfied with it and all this other chaff that's there with it. And the and and I don't know what the outcome of such a life is. A bunch of wheat and a bunch of chaff. I don't know. I I think the Bible calls that lukewarmness. And I 20:12 know this that Jesus said out of of of those who are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. I find I mean, imagine it like this. If I ate a bunch of wheat with chaff mixed into it, that would be like eating, you know, chaff can't be 20:25 cooked. The wheat can be cooked, but I imagine that chaff can't be cooked. And so, let's say you managed to bake a loaf of bread, but in this bread is wheat that's been baked, but also some stones in there and some other stuff that you 20:36 can't digest. And if you put that in your mouth, I'm going to spit the whole thing out. I'm not going to try to pick apart the the which part is bread and which part is chaff. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEALT WITH A LONG time ago. I should 20:48 have allowed the Holy Spirit to deal with me back when it was wheat and chaff so that he could winnow it and separate it and bake his loaf of bread out of that wheat. And the Lord is convicting me in my own life and saying, "Will you 21:01 allow me? Will you allow me to put my my finger on those things?" Now, I don't think chaff is necessarily sinful things. I'm finding in my own life, see, I'm done with sin. I don't want to have anything to do with sin. When I do sin, 21:14 what what I mean by, please understand, when I say I'm done with sin, I don't mean I don't sin, but I'm done with desiring sin. I don't want to keep any sin in my life. If the Lord shows me sin, I want to repent of it immediately 21:24 and forsake it. But the chaff is something else. These are good things that I like to bring along in my life along with the wheat that is Jesus Christ and the things of God and running as if to win and pursuing godliness with 21:37 all of my heart. But along the way, the devil wouldn't mind if I can if he can sneak in a little bit of this cha knowing this that that will one day lead me into a waning devotion for Jesus where my passion for Jesus is waning 21:51 because of this chaft that's coming along. No longer am I eating healthy because every bite I take has got some weed and some chaff in it. And so I believe with all of my heart, at least for me, and maybe you can relate to 22:02 that, chaff is those things. I don't know what I I don't want to list examples necessarily, but maybe I will. How about Facebook? You spend more time on Facebook. How about sports? How about television? How about um reading the 22:15 news and keeping up on the political going on? You know that all of those things can be chaff. There may not be anything inherently sinful in those things. I mean, it's exciting to think about who's going to be the next 22:26 president in this debate and who said what and how he had to apologize or he didn't apologize and all this stuff that's going on. It can capture our attention. WHAT IS the world going to look like? What is this country going to 22:36 look like two years from now? Yeah, I have a passing interest in it and I'm I'm keenly aware of it, but that's I'm not never going to allow that to be gathered in along with the wheats. I'm never I don't ever want to allow that to 22:49 be something that captivates my affections or captivates my mind or captivates my emotions where I'm now starting to make DECISIONS BASED ON THAT. THAT'S THE danger that I will start acting based on this chaff that has come along. Let the Holy Spirit 23:04 bring his winnowing fork and separate the wheat from the chaff. In John chapter 16 where he talks about the Holy Spirit, I'll show you this verse. John 16 verse9 beginning in verse 8 actually he shows us clearly the 23:21 ministry of the Holy Spirit John 16:8 he begins by saying and he that is the Holy Spirit when he comes and remember this the Holy Spirit is always referred to as a person it's not 23:41 an it it's not a thing and we tend to think of its and things because it's a spirit. We are we don't often recognize that we are spiritual beings. We think of us as physical beings. I can relate to Jesus as a person because I know that 23:56 he was once a person. He is a person. He's still Jesus, the son of God, the son of man, and he has a resurrected body. Um so, uh I can relate to Jesus that way. When I think of seeing Jesus, I don't think of seeing some mystical 24:09 form. I know he will have a body. I know that I will be able to see the nail prints in his hands like he showed Thomas after he was raised up. And in the same way, there is a personness personhood to the Holy Spirit that 24:23 sometimes it's easy for us to miss because it's the Holy Spirit. I've never seen the Holy Spirit necessarily manifest in flesh. Oh yes, but I have. If you allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit and others are allowing 24:36 themselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that is the person of the Holy Spirit manifest in flesh. Now, he's got a body. In the same way that the Holy Spirit first came and and dwelt in the body of Jesus, he had a form. Now, it's 24:50 not that the Holy Spirit has another form that it's going to be another man that looks like Jesus. Now, it's you and I, men and women, filled with the Holy Spirit whose body is the temple. Temple just means the abodding, the the the 25:02 abode, the the place where the Holy Spirit can dwell. This is God's desire. Why he wants to fill us with the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit wants to dwell in another body just like he did in Jesus. So when he comes, this person 25:16 comes and dwells in you, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. And then he goes on to explain what that means. Concerning sin, first of all, because they do not believe in me. And I believe 25:28 that means for me what happens when I'm filled with the Holy Spirit is that I'm convicted in my life on a dayby-day basis what things Jesus would not do. If I'm about to say something, about to speak in a certain way, if I'm filled 25:44 with the Holy Spirit, immediately I get that that prick in my conscience that says Jesus wouldn't do that. And if you call yourself one who is filled with the Holy Spirit, one in whom the spirit, that same spirit that dwelt in Jesus is 25:57 now dwelling, then you cannot speak that. You cannot do that. You cannot buy that. See, a lot of people think that having been set free from the old covenant, we are freed from laws. I'll tell you this. You know, if you thought 26:11 God, if people thought God tried to control their lives under the old covenant, they were like, I can't wait to be done with this God who just wants to control my life, won't allow me to kill, won't allow me to commit adultery, 26:22 won't allow me to do this, won't allow me to do that, won't allow me to worship idols, such a controlling God. Well, guess what? I am thankful that I have come to see that it is in my best interest to allow the Holy Spirit to 26:33 control me. The Holy Spirit controls me even more now under the new covenant than he ever did under the old covenant. This is his desire, but he won't grab it. He won't come and thrust himself down your throat and says, "I'm going to 26:46 control you." Demons do that. That's why we don't It's not called Holy Spirit possession. He doesn't come and grab you and says, "I'm going to possess you now." That's what demons do. Demon possession. Demons possess bodies 27:00 because they have this lust, this craving. But the Holy Spirit knocks on the door and he says, "Will you let me in?" And then you let him in. And then he'll say, "Now I'm going to knock on that bedroom door." Then he'll then 27:10 he'll knock on your uh your study where the computer is and your laptop is and your phone is. Then he'll knock on that uh that other area, your library, what books you have, what movies you have. He'll knock on your entertainment room. 27:22 He'll knock on the back door and see what's in your yard. This is what the Holy Spirit will do gently. And at any point you and I face the opportunity to say, "That's it. No, you can't go there. that door is locked. I'm not not going 27:34 to allow you to do that. That relationship I want to have or that that uh unhealthy thing that I'm not going to let you go there because I mean, isn't it good enough, HOLY SPIRIT? AREN'T YOU HAPPY ENOUGH THAT I've given you five 27:45 out of the six rooms? No, he's not happy with that. He's not happy with 99.99%. And because 99.99% wheat with 0001% chaff is not God's goal for our lives. And my des my 28:03 determination is to press on to find out any more of this chaft that's there. Any more of this way of speaking, a way of treating others, way of thinking about others, expectations, jealousy, envy, love of money, love of this world, 28:17 anything that is chaff. Now, I could lay down a bunch of rules and we'll go back to the old covenant if I tell you what's the chaff in your life. But what I can do instead, what I will do instead is urge you and encourage you and 28:29 strengthen you and point you to seek for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. SO THAT WHEN YOU'RE BY YOURSELF, you don't need a preacher to tell you whether you can or cannot do that. You don't need some other law book that tells you, well, if 28:41 you do this, you'll be excommunicated. You don't need any of that because you've got the Holy Spirit within you convicting you. Jesus wouldn't do that. Do you want to do that? Do you want this complete salvation that Jesus offers you 28:52 and you will have the happiest life on this earth and in eternity? So convicting us of sin first of all anything that Jesus wouldn't do. Then he convicts us of righteousness which is you know the Christian life is not just 29:04 about not doing things. Unfortunately many Christians make that well Lord I didn't didn't commit murder, didn't commit adultery, didn't do this, didn't do that, didn't do that, did that another thing here I am take me to 29:14 heaven. No, it says uh flee youthful lust and pursue righteousness. There must be that pursuit. If all I'm content with saying is that I've been I'm no longer doing those bad things that I used to do, then I I think in a 29:31 matter of time I will end up doing those things. If I don't have a goal, if I'm not pursuing righteousness and I'm just sitting here idle, having been cleansed of all those things, having been forgiven of all those things, I will end 29:43 up in that same situation, those that same position again. The example of that is the man who was that Jesus told about a parable about who once was possessed by demons and he got set free from them and the demons were sent out and he 29:57 cleaned his house and did nothing else. He had an empty house. Yes, it was better than the uh previous than the day before when the demon possessed him. He woke up one morning and he had been set free. It's a clean house. But then you 30:11 know what he did? He didn't do anything. That's the problem. He sat there with his clean house relishing the fact and and and and at ease over the fact that no longer am I possessed with that evil thing anymore. That evil thing has been 30:24 removed. But it was clean. You know what Jesus said happened? That demon went and brought seven more and came back and possessed this empty house that was nice and clean and prepared for him and him and his seven buddies. And Jesus says 30:37 the latter condition was worse. Do you know it's possible what I take from that parable? It is possible for Jesus to do a work of cleansing in my life to cleanse me from certain things and for me because of how I react and respond to 30:50 that to end up in a worse condition. You can read about it in Hebrews 6. I don't have time to tell you where to show you maybe another time but where the condition of those who once received the truth but then rejected it but that says 31:05 no you can't do that you you can't ask me to give that up Holy Spirit I I'm not going to change that area of my life no matter how often and how fervently the Holy Spirit puts his finger on that door and knocks on it and knocks on it and 31:18 knocks on it. You know what will happen one day? One day I believe after knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking I will become deaf to the knocking of the Holy Spirit and he will slowly recede. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Do not 31:32 quench the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to quench the Holy Spirit? It means when the Holy Spirit wants to light a fire in some area of my life and burn up that chaff. I say, "No, don't burn that up. I LIKE THAT CHAFF TOO MUCH. QUENCH 31:43 IT. QUENCH IT QUICK. QUICK, QUICK. I'M GOING TO LOSE THAT THAT THING THAT I LOVE SO MUCH." Quench the Holy Spirit. Do not quench the Holy Spirit. So righteousness is that which Jesus did do. Now I'm not I think I used to say 31:57 what Jesus would do. And I found this very interesting thing in my life that I imagined a lot of things that Jesus would do. You know I could say ah sure Jesus would do that. I remember once a guy uh you know told me he tried to 32:09 convince me that if Jesus were here he would smoke cigarettes. He he'd be okay with it because he was a rebel. Something like that. And I I didn't really follow his logic. But you know, I think that if you really use your 32:19 intellect for the wrong reasons, you can justify anything. You can justify Jesus would do this. Sure, he would. You know, because it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that he didn't do that. So why not? Unless we are filled with the Holy 32:30 Spirit. Unless we are clearly hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will imagine a lot of things that Jesus would do. Let me give you another example that's not as extreme. I think a lot of people are building churches today, 32:42 imagining that that is the church that Jesus is building. Imagining that that's how Jesus would want them to build, speaking as they claim as the mouthpieces of God when they're really not. It's another Jesus that they are 32:55 the mouthpiece of. Paul warned about this all the way back in in the first century. He told the church in Corenth, "This is another Jesus. There is another Jesus who would do those things that your flesh is really set on." Yes, you 33:08 can call his name Jesus, but it's another Jesus. But the Jesus Christ who is the only source of salvation who is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit will come if we allow him and fill us with his holy spirit and he will say I know 33:20 others will convince you that Jesus is like that but that's another Jesus the real Jesus that's me this is what I would do. So, not only the things that I would not do, not only do do I avoid sin and stay away from the things that would 33:33 hinder me, not only do I get rid of the chaff, I also gather the wheat. I'm also in the business of gathering wheat. If I get to the end of my life and say, "Well, God, look, there's no chaff, but there's no wheat either. What good is 33:45 that?" I'm going to be hungry. And I don't know again what the outcome of that life is. But this is the two-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit. removing the chaff, gathering the wheat, removing anything that Jesus would not do and 33:57 making me guiding me to do those specific things that Jesus would do. Which means what? It is more than just if somebody does you harm, it's more than not doing evil in return. Right? If somebody does me harm, I can avoid sin 34:15 by not doing evil to them. I can say, "Well, okay, they did this to me. They said this to me, said this about me. At least I didn't speak evil to them. Well, that's a start. That's the conviction of sin. Jesus wouldn't speak in return 34:27 evil. Do not return evil for evil, he says in Romans 12. But you know what the rest of the verse goes on to say? How are we going to overcome it? See, if I if I if I refuse to return evil with evil, the evil is still present. I I 34:39 haven't at least I haven't multiplied it by returning evil for evil. But then he says in Romans 12, the way I'm going to overcome it and establish, this is the proactive ministry of the Holy Spirit where not only am I not allowing the 34:51 devil to come and occupy territory that I'm already in, now I'm going into his territory and saying, "I'M GOING TO TAKE THAT DOWN." This is proactive Christian living. This is how we thrive. It says, "Overcome evil with good." When somebody 35:06 curses you, bless them. When somebody speaks evil of you, pray for them. Pray for them like you would for your own daughter. Pray for them with that ferveny and say, "Lord, teach me what it means to pray." Now, I'm not trying, 35:18 excuse me, I'm not trying to preach a fantastical life that's an ideology and not really able to live. I'm pressing on and I'm experiencing this little by little. It is a standard that is possible to live. If Jesus could do it, 35:32 if Jesus gave us the command to do it, it meant that he did it in his own life and he asked us to do it. And he says, I will fill you with my Holy Spirit so that you can convicting us of sin and righteousness. And then he says another 35:45 reason why I see we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The second point is justice over our adversary because he says judgment concerning judgment in John 16:1 because the ruler of this world has been judged. The ruler of this 35:59 world has been judged. That means that I have authority over Satan. And I think it's sad that many Christians are living their Christian lives lacking the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And as a result, the devil is able to wreak havoc 36:12 in their lives. The de devil is able to hold them in anxiety and worry and u unrest and fear. If there's even a little bit of fear in my life, if there's even a little bit of worry or anxiety in my life, this is how I take 36:26 it. It means that I haven't really been filled enough with the Holy Spirit to see that the ruler of this world has been judged. If the ruler of this world has been judged, that means that everything under the domain of that 36:38 ruler. You know who the ruler of the world is? It's the devil. One day Jesus will come and take it all back. But until then, he has allowed the devil actually not he. We gave the rulership of this world to the devil when we in 36:50 the garden of Eden ate out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We handed the rulership of this world to the devil. Now Jesus is calling us out. That's why he says love not the world because the world is passing away. One 37:02 day this ruler and the world that he is a part of will pass away and Jesus will establish his kingdom again. But if we don't see that the ruler of this world has been judged, then circumstances in this world will hold us 37:16 in fear, anxiety, even for example sickness like the sicknesses we have been dealing with. I think if we really see that the ruler of this world has been judged, I will respond with such faith and such confidence that it 37:29 doesn't matter what I'm going through. Now, I'm not saying that God will heal us overnight or that none of us will ever get sick or anything like that. I'm not preaching a health and wealth gospel. Please understand that. But I'm 37:39 preaching a health and wealth gospel that dwells in the heavenlies where my spirit is healthy and wealthy. Why? Because the ruler of this world has been judged. Now, let him ravage my body. Let him ravage any Let him take my 37:51 possessions. Let him take anything of this earth BECAUSE IT IS JUDGED ANYWAY. This world has been judged. I am not going to allow my spirit to live in a state that's not healthy and wealthy. That's my goal in the midst of these 38:04 trials that we face. Recognizing that the ruler of this world has been judged. If that is really true now, if I'm not filled with the Holy Spirit, not not seeking to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit, I'll go on with this 38:16 uncertainty. Is this going to win or is am I going to win? Is this situation going to win in my life or is Jesus going to win? I'm not sure. I'm a little I don't know. Is God really going to work it all out? But if I've seen 38:28 clearly because I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, the ruler of this world has been judged. And you know, sometimes I like to tell the devil, "Devil, you're judged with a smile on my face in the midst of my trial, in the midst of my 38:39 perplexity." Why? Because he hates to hear it. And it strengthens my faith to speak that which I believe in my heart and confess it with my mouth. And I say, I know that it doesn't look like there's an answer anytime soon, but I believe it 38:51 with all of my heart. You're a judged enemy. You're a judged adversary, devil. You know, I used to have a little sticker in my bedroom years ago. I might even still have it somewhere that said, "The next time the devil reminds you of 39:04 your past, you remind him of his future. He's judged." I mean, you know where he's going. Read it in the book of Revelation, the last two chapters. You see his outcome. And he doesn't want you to remind him of it. But you know what 39:15 it'll do for you? It's a fact. That's exactly what's going to happen. But you know what it'll do for you and I? It'll strengthen our faith. We won't allow him to hold us in bondage. The example I'd like to show you there is in Luke 39:26 chapter 18 where Jesus told a parable of a a woman. And it's interesting that he used a widow. A widow in those days was the most helpless person you could think of because in those days under that culture they depended on their husbands for 39:40 sustenance. And if she didn't even have children, she had nobody to fight. If she didn't have an adult male in the home to fight her battles for her, she was pretty much helpless. And Jesus picks that example to say, "You could be 39:53 the most helpless person. You could be the most sick. You could be the most needy. You could be the poorest. For you, this is the message." Luke 18:1 Jesus was telling them a parable to show them that at all times in sickness and 40:09 in uh joy no matter what you're going through in times of need and in times of plenty at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. And so he said in let me give you a story that will help highlight this. In a certain city there 40:23 was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. He was an evil judge. He didn't care for God. He didn't care for man. He feared nobody. Which means what? You couldn't even expect justice out of him. That's what that means. He 40:36 didn't he didn't he didn't fear any man. Didn't fear any god. He was going to do whatever he wanted to do. If he didn't feel like giving you justice today, he wouldn't. And this widow was under the control of this judge. She was dependent 40:47 on him. This evil, unrighteous, wicked judge was the one who got to have say in her situation. Are you in a situation like that where you're helpless? Well, you can't do anything to change the situation. Maybe you're sick and you 41:01 think, "Well, I can't do anything. I'm doing everything I can, trying to feed them healthy, fighting at THIS, FIGHTING THAT, BUT I'M HELPLESS." For you, this is this is God's word. For us, this is God's word. There was a widow in that 41:11 same city. And she kept coming to him, to this judge, saying, "Give me legal protection from my adversary, from my opponent." For a while, he was unwilling because he didn't care that she was a widow. He had no he didn't even have an 41:27 a compassionate bone in him. It didn't matter that there she was crying and pleading in front of him. He says, "I could care less. I don't fear you. I don't fear man. I don't fear God." For a while he was unwilling. But 41:38 afterward he said to himself, "Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection. Otherwise, by continually coming, she will wear me out." and she persisted and persisted and persisted 41:53 and got it. Look at what the Lord said. Hear what the unrighteous judge said. Now, will not God bring about justice for his elect who cried to him day and night, and will he delay long over them? 42:11 I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? See, this is it. This is what God is looking for. A faith that that doesn't lose heart. A persevering 42:27 faith where I keep having faith where I ask God to bring power into that circumstance. Where I ask God to change me in that circumstance, where I ask God to bring healing, where I ask God to bring the fullness of Christ in that 42:40 situation. And I keep on asking until I get the answer. Praying until something happens. You know the it's easy to remember. P U S H push. It stands for pray until something happens. This is what the the widow did. You know, if 42:59 she's if she had got tired after 10 days and says, "Man, it's been 10 days." See, we're not told in the story how long. Maybe it was 10 years. But she prayed until she got the answer. Now, Jesus says, "This is the kind of 43:12 faith I'm looking for. Faith that prays until something happens. prays until God moves in that situation. What are you praying for? Is there a circumstance that you feel helpless about? Is there a circumstance that you're not sure about? 43:25 Pray, my dear brother, dear sister, get on. Let's get on our knees and pray. That's why I believe we're a church that's moving into a a phase as a church where we're going to be praying more. And I pray that that'll be true not only 43:36 in our gatherings, not only in our bimonthly prayer meetings, but at homes that we will be men and women, husbands and wives, AND CHILDREN OF PRAYER. WHY? BECAUSE WE WANT GOD TO DO SOMETHING. I'M not just praying when something bad 43:48 happens. I'm praying when things ARE GOOD. WHY? BECAUSE I know there's more. There are territories in my life that the devil still has control of that I that he shouldn't. I'm going to pray until one more city is taken down in my 43:59 life. I'm going to pray then tomorrow until another city is taken down. I'm going to pray until another giant is felt. Pray until something happens. This is God's will for us. That's why I put on there, if you quit asking, it means 44:13 it's not valuable to you. Why did the widow not quit asking until her prayer was answered? Because she didn't have another option. See, our problem is we have other options. If Jesus doesn't come through, I have plan B. And God in 44:27 his mercy, I believe, will pull out plan B's from our lives because he comes and he's when he comes down to this earth, he's looking for faith. He's going to pull the rug out under you because you've gotten cozy on that rug. And he 44:38 wants you to stand on the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ. where if Jesus does not come through, YOU WILL FAIL. LET ME ASK YOU, my dear friends, are you living that way? That if if all of this is not true, if Jesus is really 44:51 none of this is true, I'm just we just invented it like many atheists believe. How can you believe that hocus pocus stuff? If that's really the case, then I'm doomed because I've put all my eggs into this basket. I've put all my hope 45:02 into Jesus Christ. He is my only hope. If he doesn't come through, MAN, I DON'T KNOW WHAT eternity I'm GOING TO HAVE. I'M LIVING THAT WAY. But you know what? I know he will come through. And it's the most exciting life to live that way 45:13 where all my eggs are in Jesus basket and he will come through. This is faith. Anything else is just a pretense of faith. When when the son of man comes, will he find people who said, "Yes, Lord, I knew you would come through for 45:27 me." There he is. The crown of life is waiting for those who love is appearing that way. Not, "Oh, Jesus, if you tar too long, I've got enough savings in my bank account. I can rely on that. I've got a good job. I've got a degree. I've 45:38 got my family. you know, we're pretty good, God. That's all right, Jesus. If you don't come through, it's okay. I'll continue to live like the rest of this world. That's the danger that Christians can fall into. I believe that we can 45:49 resort to that getting by life where I have a plan B that I'm falling back on. The problem with plan B is we never really experience plan A. And we receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit when we thrust ourselves completely into God and 46:02 says, "God, this is it. You have all of me and if you don't come through, that's it. Just take my life. It's over. Thank God it's not. And finally, we are God wants to why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit is that we 46:15 may be witnesses of Jesus Christ. Let me show you another parable in Lukeap 11. That verse in Acts 1. God Jesus said, "Go into Jerusalem and tarry until that which is promised is sent and you will be my witnesses." What does it mean to 46:30 be Jesus witnesses? It means that there is an outflow whether it's by my life but also by my words and by the the things I do by people observing my life and my words. Be my witnesses. In Luke 11, we see another parable that Jesus 46:45 says about praying for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 11:5, he said to them, suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend, lend me three loaves. Let me set the context. Here I 47:00 am in my house. It's late at night and a visitor showed up. This buddy of mine showed up unannounced. I didn't know he was going to come. I ate the last bit of meal that was left in my house. Fed my children. They're in bed. My wife's 47:11 sleeping. And I hear the knock on the door. Knock knock knock. Who's there? My buddy, man. And he's hungry and his family's with him and he's got a lot of kids and I got to feed him AND I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO GIVE HIM AND I KNOW 47:23 THEY NEED it and I know that they are desperate for something to eat. I say, "Ah, but I've got a neighbor." So this I go to my neighbor and he says,"Friend, lend me three loaves." Verse 6, "For a friend of mine has come to me from a 47:35 journey and I have nothing to set before him." And from inside this neighbor answers and says, "Do not bother me. The door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed. I'm already in my PJs. My children are already in 47:49 bed and I I cannot get up and give you anything. I mean, you mean I got to go look in the fridge and find something for you? You should have figured it out, man. Why are you bothering me now? Don't bother me. It's late. It's after 47:59 midnight. Verse 8, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend. Even what what Jesus is saying here is that even a good friend will probably not do that. He'll say, "Man, just leave me alone. Come 48:14 back in the morning. Let them just put him to bed hungry. They'll wake up hungry. We can feed him in the morning." Even if he won't do it to him because he's his friend, yet because of his persistence, because this me who's standing at my 48:26 neighbor's door is not going to leave until I get my three loaves. That's what the neighbor that's what causes the neighbor to finally open the door and says, "I hate you, man. I know you're not going to leave, so I have to get up 48:38 out of bed and get you the food." This is what Jesus is looking for. That mentality that will stand at his gates. Not that Jesus wants to tease us. Not that our father wants to be like a mean friend who doesn't want to give us our 48:49 needs. No. But he wants to see that persistence, that desperate hunger that he says, "Lord, I'm standing here. I'm going to wait here." You know, I I remember seeing pictures of food being distributed in starved countries in 49:02 Africa in Central Africa where there's real famine. And I saw long lines, pictures of long lines of people waiting in line sometimes overnight. I mean people will wait camp out overnight if you know they say the first 50 Black 49:18 Friday you know people stand out overnight because you can get this at a good deal that's nothing because if you don't get it I mean that that's not life and death but put yourself in the shoes of somebody who hasn't eaten in a few 49:29 months and they hear that the food truck's coming to that other town and I say I'll walk if it's 50 miles I'm going to walk because that is my only hope if I don't walk those 50 miles and stand there on my feet in the hot sun and the 49:40 cold AT NIGHT I WILL NOT This is the mentality that Jesus is looking for in coming to him says, "Father, you must give me for what? For somebody else." See, this is not a man. This is a man who has already eaten. He's had his fill and he's ready to go 49:57 to bed. But he says, "I have a burden for that friend of mine." You know, this really convicted me again last yesterday when I was thinking about this parable. I don't know that I have come to God with that kind of a burden for somebody 50:10 else. Oh, I've come to him like that for me. Oh, God, I have this back. I have this other problem and people are treating me wrong and all this stuff for me me. That's not what Jesus is talking about. He's talking about being his 50:22 witnesses. And for that, I need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I say, "Lord, make me such a man such and let make us such a church that we stand in front of your gates and we go through any inconvenience will stay on our knees 50:32 and implore you and beg YOU FOR TO GIVE US FOOD THAT WE CAN FEED A HUNGRY town of Loveland and the hungry state of Colorado and this hung hungry country we live in that you will use us as a church to proclaim the messages on the internet 50:45 AND SEND OUT THE WORD." LORD, I need it with that level of persistence and I'll stand here and says, Lord, until you make me a bold witness. Now, brothers and sisters, when we ask you to share and and and give God's word 51:00 here periodically, when we ask you to come and with with a heart full of giving to the Wednesday Bible studies, we ask you to come with a heart full of prayer to the Saturday prayer meetings. Do you know why? is because we ought to 51:12 be this kind of a church that's going before God and says, "Lord, I'm not satisfied that you're going to take me to heaven. I KNOW YOU ARE, but there's a WORLD AROUND ME THAT'S NOT GOING TO GO THERE. AND I'M GOING TO STAND HERE and 51:22 implore YOU AND BEG YOU FOR food that you can give me. Give me the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. GIVE ME BOLDNESS. GIVE ME A prophetic word that when I stand here and speak, PEOPLE ARE TOUCHED. PEOPLE ARE CHANGED." And that's just not for 51:33 Phil and me. This is for every single one of us. This is for you children. You can pray that prayer that when you stand up and and recite your memory verse or share a little bit at the end of the message that it's prophetic that the 51:44 Holy Spirit comes and stirs up somebody online because they're hearing you at the age of four reciting your verse and it it it it's life. It's the word of life. Do we want to be such a church? I believe we do. I want to be such a man. 51:57 I want to be such a husband. I want to be such a father. I want to be such an elder that is coming to God and says, "LORD, I KNOW I I'M FED. I KNOW YOU'RE DOING wonderful things in my life, in my home, but there's this need. There's 52:08 this family in our church. There's this neighbor of mine. There's this relative of MINE THAT IS STRUGGLING, that is in need, and they're unable to see you. Will you give me bread, and I'll stand here, Lord, and bang on your door until 52:19 you give me that bread. Such people will get. Jesus says at the end verse 10, "Everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be open." Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a 52:38 fish, he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he's asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will you? If you being evil, if that neighbor of yours being evil will still get up and give you that food 52:51 because of your persistence, how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to those who ask him? How much more will the heavenly father, your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them who ask me? I want to ask him. I 53:07 want to show you one more verse in Joel chapter 1. Read in the con in the context of these messages I preached on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and seeking God for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Read the book of Joel 53:17 sometime. I read it again over the last few weeks. Joel one, it's a very short book, three chapters. But you know, this is the book that Paul, I mean, Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost when the outpouring came and they were wondering, 53:30 these Jews who knew the book of Joel didn't know that this was the outpouring that was promised. I want to show you one verse here in the book of Joel that that stood out to me. It's chapter 2:1 18. See, you can read that in Joel chapter 1, there's 53:44 why does God want to Why does God fill us? It's because first of all, there's utter devastation. The locust came and destroyed the land. And then they repented. He says, "If you'll come to me, turn your heart more. Rend your 53:55 heart." He says, "Not your clothes." See, I think many Christians are renting their clothes, feeling sorry they got caught. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm a hypocrite. Blah, BLAH, BLAH. NO, REND YOUR HEART even before you get caught. 54:05 Rend your heart. And then he says, "You'll no longer be put to shame." And look at this verse. This is the one I wanted to show you. Uh Joel 2:18. Then the Lord will be zealous for his land. The Lord will be zealous for his 54:21 land. This is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That the Lord COMES AND TAKES OVER. I don't have to try to be zealous. I don't have to try to manufacture a PASSION FOR GOD. THE PASSION that Jesus had on this earth, 54:32 the passion of our almighty God is now DWELLING IN ME. GOD himself will be zealous for this land. God himself will be zealous for your marriage. God himself will be zealous zealous for your home. God himself will be zealous for 54:46 this church. Zealous for this town of Loveland, zealous for this these areas we live in. I want that. I want the zeal of God to flow through me. That's why I'm seeking God to fill me with his Holy Spirit. And may we be such a church. 54:59 Amen.
