Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
And we want to welcome everyone this morning, the Fire and Grace Church, those of you here, those of you watching and listening, praise be to God. I'm going to tackle a subject this morning that's really misunderstood, I think, in the body of Christ. It has to be, and I've heard so many different things about this topic over the years. But, you know, this is really kind of a continuation of last week, talking about, you know, the storms of fear and doubt and talking about stepping out of the boat, you know, stepping out of the boat into the miraculous of God. And how much of the church just absolutely refuses to step out of the boat. They're quite satisfied to sit in the safety and security or relative safety and security of the boat and not step out there on the storming waters with Jesus to see the miraculous, to see the powerful things that God wants to do. And so I want to talk to you today a little bit about, I've entitled this, the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit, but I could also call this communing with the Holy Spirit. You kind of have this wide spectrum, I mean, what I'm kind of giving you is what we should be doing, communing, cooperating, partnering with the Holy Spirit, versus blaspheming resisting, quenching, grieving the Holy Spirit. We're going to look at all of this today, and we're going to look at the Bible. So we can start with the PowerPoint here. We're going to go first to John chapter 16. Again, we've entitled this today, Blaspheming the Holy Spirit. There's an artist illustration of the day of Pentecost when the Bible says the Holy Spirit came. The promise of Jesus, I will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And on the day of Pentecost, 120 disciples were in the upper room, not just the 12 apostles, but 120 were in the upper room. And the Bible says the Holy Spirit came, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. It said he came like a rushing mighty wind. He filled all the house where they were sitting, cloven tongues like as a fire set upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them other tongues. Now this is the Bible, yet we've got people who call themselves Christians that fight this, resist this, and blaspheme this operation of the Holy Spirit. We're going to talk about that today, because frankly, I'm going to be honest. I think I've been far too nice. I've been far too nice with the so-called Christians who blaspheme the Holy Spirit. So we're going to look at what Jesus called, not what Pastor Dean called, but we're going
to look at what Jesus called, blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Now I want you to turn. I know I said, John, hold your spot there. We can go ahead and... Well, we can go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13 first, and let's just look at this word first, communion. Everything when you say communion, you're talking about taking the elements, the bread and the wine and having the Lord suffer, but it's much more than that, much more than just the bread and the wine. Now let's read this here. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 13, 10 through 14. Here's what it says, therefore, Paul said, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction. Finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss, all the saints salute you. Now look at the verse 14 here, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. How many of you have read that and just skip right over that? How many of you have ever stopped and looked at this word? What does it mean? I mean, we will talk about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and we talk about the love of God, but do we talk about the communion with the Holy Spirit? Now as I'm going to talk about the Holy Spirit today, I want you to understand that I do believe in the Trinity. I've been accused lately that I'm a heretic concerning the Trinity. Now, I just don't take the unscriptural definition that's used that God's three persons are three different people. He is one God and has three very distinct parts of Him. And those very distinct parts are very important. It's very clear that we make a distinction that there are three very distinct aspects to God. He is a triune God. That is just fact. But, you know, again, this same individual I'm going to be discussing today called me a heretic because I don't give the traditional fourth century church doctrine statement of person. And you know that this issue anyway was hotly debated within the church. Many good Christian brothers and sisters who accept the deity of Jesus Christ that Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily debated hotly. This issue of the nature of God is a triune being and how that works and what that means and all of this. But I think you're clearly within orthodoxy and biblical to say God is one. Does it not say in Deuteronomy, Here O Israel, the Lord thy God is one. There is no other. Isaiah said the Lord Yahweh is one.
There is no other God beside Him. Right? There is no other Savior beside Him. So you have to deal with one God. Galatians says He is the fullness, Jesus Christ, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Fullness, not the right hand as been said, not just the Son. That's one title. But He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Very distinct, different parts, but one God, not three different people. And by the way, in describing the triune nature of God, let's just go ahead and get this out here. In describing the triune nature of God, the word persons, three persons, is not used in the Scripture. I dare anybody to show me that one. It's kind of like the word rapture is not used either. There's a lot of words that aren't used. Oh, but anyway, and then it's funny, I got accused too. I actually happened to see yesterday that I got accused of the video where I was teaching this for two hours and going through the Scriptures on it from taking the video down. I said, oh, he took the video down. He knows he's in there. The video is still there. These people will just lie. I mean, they will just lie to you. And you know what? If you got a lie, you're the one with the agenda, not me. Liars have their part in the lake of fire anyway, so you better stop the line. Well, let's look at this word communion of the Holy Spirit. It's a simple word here, kononia. We've all heard it. I hope you can see this. We're going to read down. This is the Strong's Greek dictionary. Here it talks about partnership, participation, social intercourse, benefaction, communicate or communication, fellowship. I mean, you see this word. It's pretty awesome. Fellowship, association, community. I love the fact that it says communicate, partnership, participation. I mean, here Paul is saying to the Corinthians, I pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. That's good. I pray that the love of God be with you. That's good. But I also pray that the communion, the partnership, the communication that you can have with the Holy Spirit, that that's in your life as well. Communication. Folks, what does communication mean? If me and you, Marlene, are communicating, is it just me talking or are we talking together? That's right. If we're communicating, I am talking and listening, right? I'm listening to you talk to me and you're listening to me talk to you. That's communication. It's never, ever God wanted this relationship with him to be one way where he's silent,
where he only speaks through the Scriptures. He doesn't have any interaction with us. I can't even tell you the truth. Fathom Christians who would believe that nonsense. That somehow the Holy Spirit is going to be in you. You're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit and there's going to be no communication, interaction, or supernatural things going on in your life. Except you got saved. You were born again. That's it. It all ends there. He's supernatural enough to regenerate you, wash your sins away, make your dead spirit alive to God, but nothing else can happen. That's modern Christianity for you. That's the Baptist and the Methodist and the Presbyterians and the Lutheran. Pretty much stops in salvation. Your communion, fellowship, participation, communication with the Holy Spirit. Let's look at the word communion. This is just the definition here in the, just Google the definition. And it's interesting. The sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level. Isn't that interesting? And of course, it talks about the service of Christian worship which the bread and the wine are consecrated and shared and the Lord's Supper. But that's not what we're talking about today. He's talking about the communion of the Holy Spirit, not the communion of bread and wine. He's talking about the communion with the Holy Spirit. So he talks about, again, let's read that. The sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental and spiritual level. We should have an exchange of thoughts and feelings with the Holy Spirit when we spend time with Him. When we spend time in prayer, when we spend time fasting and seeking His face, when we spend time in worship, singing and worshiping God, when we get in our private time, reading the Scriptures, talking to Him about what we're reading, there should be an exchange of thought and feelings. Intimacy with the Lord is what I'm talking about. Now, do you think that you can have that with the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus Christ? Do you think you can have that kind of relationship, that kind of communion and partnership and relationship if you're at the same time resisting, quenching, opposing, grieving, and even blaspheming? No, that can't happen, right? Let's keep going.
Now turn to John 16. If you held your place, you ought to be there. John 16. And I know I've taught this before, though I'm approaching it a little different this morning, but how important it is. You know, I love the story, and while you're turning there, I'm just going to share this. You know, I love the story of Samuel and the prophet when he was young, you know, and how his mother so wanted a child, and she couldn't have a child, and she cried out and cried out and sought God. And finally, God granted her her prayer, and she had promised to dedicate that child fully to the Lord. And she finally, she raises Samuel till about 12 years old and then takes him to the temple and says to the high priest, here, he's for the service of the Lord. And what's beautiful, we know that Samuel was called to be a prophet by God. A prophet in the Old Testament, a prophet was pretty much, they were the ones that had this fellowship with the Holy Spirit. They're the ones that would hear his voice and understand what he was saying and showing them. They would hear the word of the Lord. They would see the visions and dreams. They would have that interaction with God, and then they would tell other people. And what's beautiful in that story of Samuel, Samuel was dedicated to the Lord from birth, and then he's in the temple serving. And it says that, you know, it said he did not yet know the Lord though. What was he talking about? He did not yet know the voice of the Lord. And so, one night, Samuel's going to bed and he hears the Lord, Samuel. He thinks he lies, the high priest, he runs to Eli. You called me, no, I didn't. This happened several times, and finally, the backslidden old priest finally figures out, you know what? God's talking to this young man. And he says, go back, and this time say, speak, Lord, my servant here. Now, you think about that. That began one of the most beautiful relationships you see between God and a man. Samuel, it said, in fact, he had such a relationship with God that it said none of his words ever fell to the ground. He walked with God. He heard God. He listened to God. He talked to God. He interceded for the nation, for the King. He did what God told him to do. Even at times, you know, I remember when he goes to anoint David. He goes to anoint David. He sees all his brothers and he sees Eliab, the eldest, you know, the firstborn, the tallest, the strongest, the most handsome. He says, surely that's the Lord's anointed. The Lord said no. I mean, even old Samuel, the prophet said, was thinking in the natural. But again, he's listening to the Holy Spirit. He has this interaction. He's listening. He's sensitive. He has this.
No, he can hear the Lord saying, no, no, no, no, son. That's not it. Oh, how we need that. You think if Samuel had that in the Old Testament, the Bible says we have in the New Testament, we have a better covenant with better promises. They had to go through the blood of bulls and goats and lambs. We go through the blood of God Himself in the flesh, the blood of Jesus Christ. Don't tell me we can't all. And in fact, God says in Hebrews 10 that it is through the blood of Jesus that we can all enter into the Holy of Holies, experience the very manifest presence of God, see His glory, feel His glory, experience Him, and have a communion with Him. That's what, to me, what's so beautiful about the New Covenant. Jesus just opened the door for everybody. Whosoever will. Come on in. Commune with the Lord. Fellowship. Converse. Communicate. Let me tell you, there's nothing better. Nothing better in this life. Nothing. And there will be nothing better in the next life than to sit down with the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, Yahweh, Elohim, the Lord Jesus Christ, to sit down with Him and let Him talk to you and you feel His presence and His peace and His love and His joy and you hear what He's saying. Well, what's so beautiful? We can have that now. And we've been robbed by churches and doctrines of men and traditions of men. See, I thank God years ago when I came back to the Lord at 19. I did not let any man, any teacher, any pastor, any rabbi, or anybody else rob from what I was simply reading of what this book was telling me you can have. See, this book right here, this is what we're saying, here's what you can have, son. Here's what you can... Let's read it. John 16. Of course, you know, the doctrines of men, the dead teachers, the ones who are all talk but no do. Right? They'll tell you, oh, this was only for the 12 apostles. Of course, it's ridiculous. Because remember, it was just for the 12.
Why did God bother with those 120 in the upper room? Why did God bother years later after Pentecost with those 12 disciples in Ephesus? Why did He bother baptizing them in the Holy Spirit and giving them the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy? Why did He bother? Why did He say in Acts 2, in the last days, I will pour out My Spirit and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions and dream dreams. He's talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the interaction, the communion of the Holy Spirit. I believe we've only begun to see what's going to be poured out on us as the days get darker in the days ahead. And He's going to pour His Spirit in and upon people who are hungry and thirsty and want Him. Not on people resisting. Not on people doubting. Not on people speaking again. I'm telling you, they're just empty shells out there. Empty shell. You know, it's funny. You take a big old seashell, it's empty. There's nothing in there. As you put it up to here, it does make a sound. You hear a sound, but there's nothing there. That's most of these Christians. They hear a sound, but there's nothing. They're empty. They really hate the things of God, the true things. Oh, no, I love Jesus, but I don't want anything about the Holy Spirit. You say, well, yes, what? Who you sound like? Out of the Pharisees, we want the Messiah, but this guy running around, healing on the Sabbath, and casting out demons. He's doing that like it was about. We want the Messiah, but we don't want the supernatural. Oh, no. Back to Sadducees. He didn't even believe in it. The Pharisees believed in it, but had none of it. Isn't that interesting? John 16, verse 7. Jesus said this. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more, of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. And then Jesus says, I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Now, think about this. Jesus, this is the end. This is the end. This is right before the crucifixion. And Jesus, I have many things to say to you, but you can't bear them. You can't receive it right now. When is he going to say them?
Once he dies and ascends, say, well, oh, maybe he said it all in that 40 days. Well, then, what is he talking about right here? When he says, how be it? When he, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall it unto you. So here, Jesus is not talking about, when he says, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. The context is, when I send the Comforter, when I send the Spirit of truth, when I send the Holy Spirit, when did the Holy Spirit come to the church on the day of Pentecost? So that's what Jesus is talking about. I have many things to say to you, but he's going to say, will you be listed? You say, oh, that was just for the 12th, so they could write the Scriptures. No, last time I checked Acts 2, right after the day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and he preaches and he says, this is that, which was promised, prophesied by the prophet Joel, right? Talking about this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this, the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gifts of healing and working in miracles, this baptism of fire. He says this, he goes on down in the chapter after he says, men and brother, when he preaches to the crowd of 3,000 and they say, men and brother, what shall we do? And Peter says what? Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for this promise is unto you and to your children and to all them that are afar off, even as many as our Lord shall call. That's pretty clear to me, but then we have men come along, teachers, preachers, pastors, seminary professors. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. This gift of the Holy Ghost stuff is not for you. Once the Bible was completed, that was it. Once the New Testament canon, that's, that's, that's it. As I've said so many times, where, where, where in the Bible can I find a scripture that gives me direction to leave Washington, D.C. and come to Auburn, Alabama, Opelike, Alabama and start a church
being led by the Holy Spirit. Where, give me the scripture, somebody, Dean Odell, go to your hometown and start a church in 2009. So how did, I asked one guy, I had a preacher down in Florida, you know what I'm talking about, preacher down in Florida arguing this with me. And he was talking about, you know, he had just taken, at that time, he had just taken the pastorate of this church. I think he'd been a youth pastor or something like that. And he had just taken the pastor. So he said, God doesn't speak anymore. The Holy Spirit gives no, there's no more. The scripture was finished. I'm gonna deal with that in a second. But once the New Testament was done, that was it. Then I asked him, I said, well, then how do you know that you're in the will of God to take the pastorate position of this church? How do you know? Guess what? That means you just decided on your own. How do you know the Holy Spirit, it was the will of God for you to be the pastor of such and such church in Miami? How do you know? You know, he looked a bit befuddled for a few minutes. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, exactly, exactly. See, if Christians were led by the Holy Spirit, things would be a lot better. A lot more things would get done. God's will would get done. More off. More powerful. I love it here though. It says he shall speak. He shall speak. Let's keep going here. Now, here's the first thing he says. We're gonna look at the word where it says resisting the Holy Spirit. Just gonna look at a few phrases this morning that's used in the Bible. You know, the Calvinists will say you can't resist the Holy Spirit. Irresistible grave. You can't resist God. Yeah, what does the Bible say? You know, the anointed Holy Ghost filled Deacon by the name of Stephen who was doing great miracles among the people. Huh, wait a minute. He wasn't one of the apostles, was he? No, he wasn't. He says he's a man of faith, man of power, doing great miracles. And finally, they trump up some charges on him and pull him before the Sanhedrin. And what does he preach is a great message. Acts chapter seven is a great sermon
that we get most of all of it. But what does he say right now? He tells these Pharisees. Now remember, this is the same group of guys that saw Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons, die on the cross. They pushed Pilate to crucify him. This is the same bunch of guys that thought they knew the scriptures and they knew the Bible better than everybody else. And he says to him, Stephen, anointed, filled Holy Ghost, tongue-talking, miracle-working believer says, you stiffen it. And uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did. So do you. You see that? Resist. Of course, this ended bad for him. What I love, they begin to stone him and he just, the man who had communion with the Holy Spirit and not religion, said, I see heaven open and the Son of God standing at the right hand of the majesty, William. Oh, heaven open, I see heaven. You know, that's what the prophets would say. Ezekiel opens this book, I saw heaven open. And as they're stoning him to death, he said, Lord, don't let this sin be laid to the top. That's someone in communion with the Holy Spirit like that. But he didn't, he didn't hold back. He said, you stiffen that. Can you imagine saying to a Jew, a Jewish religious leader, you're uncircumcised in heart and ears. You know what I'm saying? You're not even in covenant with God at all, but you think you are. See, true preachers sometimes sound a little rough. They said, you resist. Now, let's look at the word resist here. You resist the Holy Spirit. What does this mean here? The word resists. And say, pepo, pepto, whatever. I don't even know. It says to fall upon, run against, be adverse, oppose, strive again. Down here, including its alternates, says to oppose or to resist. The word oppose means to disapprove of, attempt to prevent, especially by argument, actively resist, refuse to comply, resist. Think about it. The whole time, these guys, Jesus, can you imagine the crowd
and them see him test demons out of a child and they get, the child gets healed. And they even acknowledged that he truly raised Lazarus from the dead and said, we got to get rid of him and Lazarus. But so stiffly, so self-governed by their own pride and their own agenda, they just refused. No, he's not the Messiah. All of his miracles, all of his power, all of his work. He's doing it. Demon. He's a magician. He's a sorcerer. Crucify. Give us Barabbin. Church is no different. Like this little twit, Noel Hadley. Noel J. Hadley. He's just written his third article, second and third article, now attacking, saying that, the Pentecostal outpouring of the early late 19, I mean late 1800s, early 1900s, saying that that was demonic of the mystery school. He doesn't even know what he's talking about. And then he wants to bring up, he wants to bring up some scandal that happened between Charles Parham and Seymour. I mean, do you really want me to start bringing up the Baptist scandal going on? There's never been a scandal in the Baptist church. No, the heads of the Southern Baptist Convention just had to resign over an inappropriate relationship. Shall we? I mean, goodness, we can find scandals in every realm, every facet of the church as we know it. That doesn't mean you attribute the gifts of the Holy Spirit to being demonic, yet he takes that leap, blasting, he's blasting. I'll prove it to you in a second. Just using him as an illustration. He's just one of many, really. John MacArthur is another one. I mean, these guys get hateful and angry as you talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues. Oh boy. I put it on Facebook yesterday
because it's true. Aside from salvation, being born again through the blood of Jesus, the devil hates, in second, to that, the devil absolutely hates any talk, preaching, or faith in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit and especially the gift of tongues. Because guess what? You know what? He hates the gift of tongues so bad because that actually is the gift that helps you in prayer. It helps you in prayer, strengthens your spirit, man. And through tongues and interpretation actually begins to teach you how to listen and hear the voice of God, be led by the Spirit. The devil hates the gift of the Holy Spirit, especially the gifts of tongues. And this hatred you see, and let me tell you what, anyone who goes out of their way to resist, oppose, fight against, prevent, argue again, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the communion of the Holy Spirit between believers, between God and His believers, His sons and daughters, anybody that goes out of their way to do that is under the influence of Satan. Just like the Pharisees. The Pharisees. Jesus told them, your scriptures you think, search those scriptures, Pharisees, in them you think you have eternal life. These people, these little scholars out there, these little self-made scholars, I don't care how many degrees they have beside their name. And I'm talking about theological degrees. If they resist, oppose, argue, deny, reject, diminish in anyone the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifesting and operating within true believers in Jesus Christ. They are under the panic influence. They are a tool of the devil. Now, of course, are there counterfeit supernatural manifestations? Absolutely. There's always been. Always. Go all the way back to Egypt. Moses had his rod. The Egyptian magicians had their rod. Moses throws his down. It turns into a serpent. The Egyptian magicians throw their rods down. They turn into a serpent. This battle has always been going on. I'm not afraid of the counterfeit out there. I want to take the real power of God,
gifts of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to take the real and just like Moses' serpent devoured there. That's the power we have. But you can't have that power if you deny it, don't believe it, resist it, speak against it, argue against it, make stupid theological arguments like, done away with. Where do you get that stuff? Oh, I know where you got it from. Other resistive. I'll show you that all their arguments are are just terrible. They're just ludicrous. They are not biblical. But let's go on here. Let's go to the next thing. First Thessalonians. Chapter 5. Verse 16. Then we saw in Acts 7 about resisting the Holy Spirit, opposing, fighting again, arguing again. How can a Christian do that? You know what I'm saying? We sing that song a minute ago. Those of you that that came in watching us, you didn't get to hear that song, but we were singing that song. More. We want more of your spirit, more of your power. How could you say no? No, thanks, God. I got I'm good. I'm good. I got my dead church and my Bible. It's all a need. Or I've got my, you know, I've got my RV and a keyboard. That's all I got. No fruit, Mike. Let's look at this. First Thessalonians 5, 16 through 25. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil and the very God of peace. Sanctify you wholly or completely. And I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it. Brother and pray for us. Let's go back up. Let's look at this. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesied. Quench not the spirit. So let's look at what quench means here. This is the Greek definition for quench and the Google definition. Let's just look at it. This sebeneumae or however you say this word means to extinguish quench of fire or things on fire to be quench to go out to quench to suppress stifle of the divine influence. The Strong's definition simply says to extinguish to go out to quit. The word quench here really is the what we're looking at is the second definition of this word to extinguish a fire.
All right. So Paul tells us here very clearly by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit not to extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit. Now think about the term he uses here. Remember on the day of Pentecost and before that really in Acts 1 Jesus said you know and John we could go back to the Gospels and you see John the Baptist say there's one coming after me he's going to baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire. I baptize you in water but there's one coming he's going to baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire. And so on the day of Pentecost God let it be seen just kind of like the burning bush he let that Moses see it. But on the day of Pentecost when the gift of tongues supernatural tongue came into the church and the gift of prophecy when the infilling, the fullness, the total immersion and overflow of the Holy Spirit came to the church it came with the sign or a fire. It is distinct. He says quench not don't extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit. Tongues of fire. Oh, isn't that interesting? In fact, you go to 1 Corinthians 14 and what does he say? Forbid not. He ends the chapter with forbid not to speak with tongues mean don't tell anyone that this is not for today or try to dissuade them or hinder them in any way. So I think he's saying the same thing here. And then he he goes on and he says despise not prophesying. Well, if you look this up here I hear the word despise. Here it is again to make no of no account to despise utterly to be seen to be contemptible to you least esteem to set it not as if it is nothing. And of course, the word despise here in Google field contempt or deep repugnant for I know so-called Christian believers like Noel Hadley who cannot stand the idea that the gift of prophecy is really real and work. He's mocked me because I operate in the gift of prophecy sometimes. So he's a mocker, a scoffer and a blast. And yet people still know you're so wise. But they do this to these Bible school professors. And John MacArthur. Oh, John, I got to have your study Bible. I got to have your book Charismatic Chaos. So I know that all of these things that's happening
all of these Pentecostals and Charismatic they're all a bunch of coop. But yet you believe what Calvin. Oh, one day. One day soon. We're going to tell the whole truth about Don Calvin. The whole ugly, miserable truth about all of his demonic doctrines that came from Gnosticism and Augustine and everything else. Man has no free will. Man cannot resist God. All this stupid nonsense. His entire denominations and seminaries they believe all this stuff. They believe all this stuff that's just totally unscriptural. And then they don't talk about hearing the voice of God. Don't talk about communion with the Holy Spirit. Don't talk about communication. Two-way communication. See, we just heard that demon speak up. Was that woman on the view? Joy, whatever her name is. You know, Mike Pence or somebody was talking about or somebody saw my Christians hearing Jesus speaking. Go, you know, it's one thing to talk to Jesus, she said. It's another thing if Jesus is talking to you. Basically, if you think you're hearing Jesus talk to you, you're insane. Now, of course, she had to come back and apologize because she talked. But black for that one. It's funny. She probably goes to fortune tellers and New Age gurus and listens to them channel their spirits. But you Christians, if you dare believe the Lord can speak to you by his Holy Spirit, you're crazy. Now, let's look at the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. We're going to go by what Jesus said. Matthew chapter 12. I'm not going to go by what Pastor Dean says. We're not going to go by what any commentary says. We're going to go by what how Jesus defined it and what the word means itself. Okay, so let's go to Matthew 12. Let's see. Yep, actually, I'm going to actually turn there myself. See, it's a very dangerous thing. Very dangerous. It's one thing to resist the Holy Spirit. How to ignore it. Maybe we can make the argument the Pharisees were ignorant, right? Okay, they were not born again. So we can say the poor Pharisees that Stephen was talking to, they were just ignorant. They weren't born again. So, you know, of course, they're going to resist the Holy Spirit because they weren't saved. Okay. But then Paul writing to Christian,
the Church of Thessalonica, don't quench the Holy Spirit, Christian. Don't put out the Holy Spirit fire. How would you do that? Sin, unbelief. How about saying, not for us? I think that would qualify. All right. And of course, in Ephesians 4, he says, in the midst of talking about, actually, Ephesians 4, he talks about the ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. And then he goes on down and he talks about, you know, stop living in sin. And he says, grieve not the Holy Spirit. He's talking to Christians there. I mean, you can grieve the Holy Spirit. If you want to keep sinning, you want to live in sin. You want to be a liar. You want to be a thief. You want to be a fornicator. You want to be a hypocrite. You want to be an adult. You're going to grieve, cause him sorrow and pain. What that word means. But here, Jesus said something far more serious. And I'm going to tell you, Paul made this statement before we talk about blasphemy. If you read 1st Timothy, Chapter 1, Paul said this about himself. He said, I was a blasphemer. He said, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Meaning Paul was saying, I blasphemed God before I was saved. I blasphemed Jesus. I blasphemed the Messiah. I blasphemed the whole Christian thing. I blasphemed, but I did it ignorantly in unbelief. I didn't know what I was talking about. But when I, you know, but I obtained mercy because of that, but then Jesus, so Jesus is talking about something else. He's not talking about unbelievers here when he's talking about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Can I just tell you? The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, only someone with knowledge can. Only someone who's experienced salvation can do. Let me show you. Now he warns them. You better watch it out. Well, let's read. We're going to start from verse 22 here. Then was brought unto him, Jesus, one brought unto Jesus, rather, brought unto him, one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him in so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, He's not this, the Son of David. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beals above, the Prince of the Devil. And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beals above cast out devils,
by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is coming to you. Or else how could one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me. And he that gathers not with me scattereth abroad. Now listen to verse 31 and 32. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of man, that is Jesus, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Speaketh again! Oh my! Now Jesus was talking about he that speaks against the Holy Ghost. And then he gives you a clue. How were they speaking against the Holy Ghost? Jesus cast the demons out of a boy and he was healed. And they said he's doing it by the power of Satan, by Beelzebub. In the Old Testament it was Beelzebub. Beel. The Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the evil spirit. That's how Jesus is doing it. Jesus said, you know what? People are going to speak against me and they're going to find forgiveness. People are going to do all kinds of things toward me. But if they do it toward the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven not in this world or in the world now. Can I ask you a question? How are you in heaven with unforgiven hands? Speak again. Let's look at the word blast them. Just look at the definition of it. Blasphemy, slander, detraction, speech, injurious to another's good name, impious, reproachful speech, injurious to divine majesty, vilification against God, blasphemy, evil speaking, railing. Google says, abusively despairing speech or writing. Oh my. Speaking against the Holy Spirit. Now, you know, here's what's amazing. I'm going to turn to this in a minute. But here's a book. I don't know if everybody
can see this or not. Maybe I'll walk a little closer. This is a book called The Holy Spirit and Power. It includes 10 timeless messages from the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley. Can you see it? There you go. Great book. It's just 10 of his transcribed sermon in the 1700s. What I found amazing about the great Methodist preacher, John Wesley, on page 111 in Chapter 7 of this book, he asked the question. He's talking about the gifts of all of these. Did the spiritual gifts cease after the apostolic age? Now, think about the ministry of John Wesley began after somewhere right after around 1735. All right. When he actually, you know, a lot of people don't know this, you know, he was more holy than most Christians are now before he was saved. And he and his brother and Whitfield created the Holy Club at Oxford. They were trying to be holy in their own strength, and that didn't save them. And then he thinks he's a Christian and he comes, he travels all the way from England. Think about back then in 1735, all the way from England, he comes to the territory now called Georgia, the state of Georgia, to be a missionary to the American Indians here. He fails so miserably to win anybody to Jesus and to do anything good as a missionary. He goes back home as a miserable failure. And then he visits the Alders Gate prayer meeting and history is made once he understands that he must be born again, that he must trust Jesus Christ justification by faith. He hears that. He's there reading, I think, Luther commentary on Romans. But anyway, he says he believes and he understands even though he was trying to be good, he had not truly fully just trusted the blood of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus for his righteousness and for his salvation. And at that moment he said he felt his heart strangely warm, he was born again. And then this man got full of the Holy Spirit. And this man blazed the trail of truth and revival in England and in the American colony. All right, and this is what he said. He said claims that the miraculous powers and gifts of the Holy Spirit ended with the apostles is canceled by the testimonies of the early church fathers. Where is the proof that they were wrong? Who is to say that they were either fools or scoundrels?
Without proof, no one can. He said proceed to the testimony of Justin Martyr. Now let me pull this up right here. Let me, before I read that, let me show you this little, I'm reading a great book. This is going to be in our school here. This is called The Ancient Church Fathers. Wonderful book. This is going to be one of our textbooks here when we get to church history. But he has a diagram here. I don't know if you can see it. He has a little diagram of kind of how the faith was passed on. You get a little idea. But he shows us here like who discipled who? Like Peter, Paul, and John discipled Clement of Rome. John had two main disciples though, Polycarp and Ignatius. And Polycarp discipled Justin Martyr. Okay. And you can see, and you can go down. I mean, this is all church history confirmed by the writing that we have of these early church fathers. Some of them say, well, what about, what if some of the early church fathers were counterfeited? Well, when the early church fathers were fighting against Gnosticism and Roman Catholic stuff and all that, you can pretty well trust it. And again, again, we'll get into how we know it's all documented. But anyway, Polycarp, John, direct disciple. Polycarp took over at Ephesus after John died. And then Polycarp discipled Justin Martyr. We're talking about how Christianity continues, right? So, John Wesley, quoting church history, in which he was a scholar, says, you want to say that the gifts of the Holy Spirit stopped after the Apostle. He said, wrong, according to church history. Wrong. And might I say, the Catholic Church didn't come in until 313 A.D. under Constantine. So you can't say, oh, no, no, this is just Catholic Church corruption. No, no, no. They're not even in existence here. So, Justin Martyr, he said, proceed to the testimony of Justin Martyr, who wrote about 50 years after the Apostles. He wrote, there are prophetic gifts among us even until now. You may see with us both women and men having gifts from the Spirit of God. He particularly insisted upon casting out devils as the gift that everyone might see with his own eye. Irenaeus, you look at this little chart, you see, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, then he discipled Irenaeus. Irenaeus wrote a volume, massive volume, called Against Heresy. And he was fighting against the heretics, the Gnostic heretic. All right. He said, Irenaeus, who wrote somewhat later,
affirms that all who were truly disciples of Jesus wrought miracles in his name. Some cast out devils, others had visions, or the knowledge of the future events, others healed the sick. And as to the raising the dead, he declares it to have been frequently performed on necessary occasions by great fasting and the joint supplication of the church. And then he said this, we quote, this is Irenaeus, one of the great fathers and just apostles of the church. He said, we hear many, says he, speaking with all kinds of tongues and expounding the mysteries of God. Oh, you want to talk about the racist Charles Parham in 1906 and seven and say, tongues is of the devil. It's from the mystery school. What about Justin Martyr? An Irenaeus. Oh, and it goes on. And this is a sermon John Wesley preached. Let's see. He says, they talked about casting out demons all the time. The resurrection of the dead. Let me let me just jump. We jump over here. There's just I mean, there's so much good stuff. I could really just about healing of the sick. Where were we here? Oh, he just he talks about them talking about them having, you know, prophecies. Curtullian talking about it continuing into the 200s and 300. So what I'm getting at the gifts of healing and he and he lists them here. John Wesley list. He said, these are the things that continued in the church after the apostles and he's talking about in the late 1st century, 2nd century, 3rd century. He says, casting out devils speaking with new tongues, escaping dangers in which otherwise they might have perished. Healing the sick prophecy foretelling things to come. Visions divine dreams and discerning of spirit. John Wesley. And I mean, and let me let me just go to something else because I quoted this. Let's everybody turn because I'm going to quote John Wesley here again. Everybody turn to 1 Corinthians 13. Let's just deal with this once and for all right here. 1 Corinthians 13.
Don't shout me down when I'm preaching good. I'm Pentecostal and unashamed. I speak in tongues and cast out devils in Jesus name. That'd be a good song. Hey, I'm on to something here. I prophesy. You know, I'll give you one while you're turning there. Everybody turn in there. Here's what's cool. Well, I'm not going to say it. Can't because it might it'll give away because I know somebody's listening and it'll give away their gift. I'll tell you about it later. Just we have to wait till after Father's Day. Come. My Father's Day gift. I know what it is, but we can't let your dad keep walking. So he might figure it out. He's a smart guy. All right. Let's read this. I tend to know what my father's day is going to figure out my anniversary gift because that's what I want, babe. All right. This one's really cool, though, because it's the fulfillment of a prophecy. It's just amazing. Bible prophecy stuff, man. All right. All right. Here we go. Here we go. All right. 1 Corinthians 13. Let's just read it. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. It says it's two kinds. The known tongues and languages of men. The unknown languages of heaven. He said, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity. I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity or love in action. I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity. It profiteth me nothing. Charity suffers long and is a kind. Charity envieth not. So on and so forth. Now let's jump on down. Verse 8. He says, charity or love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Now all those have semicolons there. Things of thought continue. He says, whether they be prophecies, eventually they fail. Whether they be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. He says, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child and I stood as a child and thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then when? What is he talking about? Face to face. Now I know in part. Then when I see Jesus face to face. What he's talking about. So I'm going to show you this, the context of this.
He says, but then shall I know even as I am known. So let's look at this. The detractors, the cessationists, the ones who say the gift sees. Use this verse. This is their passage they use. This is the only one they got. That's it, right? But what they say is that when it says when that which is perfect has come. Let me put that verse up there. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part shall be done away. So they what they say. Now they just make this up, right? I had that pastor in Florida tell me exactly this right here. And I've seen this over and over and over again. John MacArthur study Bible. It's in fact, in my Hebrew Greek study Bible, that's the commentaries by some Baptist do, okay? But here's what the Bible said. Now, what they say is that which is perfect come when the Scriptures, the New Testament was canonized, you know, Matthew to Revelation. When that was put together, that is perfect. And that was that which is perfect has come. Now, I'm not arguing. I believe the Scriptures are inspired. The New Testament is clearly inspired by God, infallible, inerrant. It is God's perfect revelation to us. But is that what this is talking about? Because we have to take the word by how it's defined, how it's used, and the context in which it is. Or else we're not being intellectually honest. We're not being hermeneutically correct. My Baptist brethren, because the word perfect here is clearly referring to Jesus and not the Scripture. Nowhere does this passage say this is that it's the Scriptures. There's no hint. There's no illusion to it. There's nothing. It's not alluded to. It's not hinted at. But what in the past where it says, but that when we see him face to face, when Jesus comes, there'll be no more need for tongue or prophecy or vision or dream. You won't have to be led by the Spirit because you will be with Him. Amen? See, I don't need. Let's just say the gifts of the Spirit are like a telephone. My wife's at home. I'm at church. And we can communicate through the telephone. But when we're face to face, do I need the telephone? Simple, isn't it? Well, get this. John Wesley in the 1700s, a Bible scholar, a great man of God, said this,
in a letter to Dr. Conyers Middleton, January 4th, 1749, he says this, it was a response to a published criticism of the gifts of the Spirit by Middleton. And Wesley wrote in his journal, I soon saw what occasion that good man had given to the enemies of God to blaspheme and that Dr. Middleton, in particular, had largely used that work in order to overthrow the Christian system. While Wesley's letter was directly an answer to Middleton's criticism, it provides the modern Christian with adequate answers to the criticism of the gifts today. One such theory argues, tongues, prophecy, and knowledge have passed away because the perfect has come. That perfect is said to be the New Testament. All of Wesley's ancient authority cited in this letter wrote after the books of the New Testament written, Justin, Irenaeus, Fertullian, Cyprian, Origen, all gave lists of the New Testament books in their writings. From this, it is evident that the gifts continued in the church after the New Testament books were written and used in the church. Additionally, it is currently taught that demonology, concepts of the devil and demons came into Judaism after the Babylonian exile from contact with Persian religion. The use of such terms and concepts is excused as the way Jesus and his contemporaries described mental and emotional problems in a pre-scientific era. Wesley quickly saw through this argument, if there were no demons and no devil, Jesus would either be a fool or a fraud. So, Wesley contended and showed by church history, by the writings of the church fathers into the first century, into the second century, into the third century, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit continued. And this, this theologian here, Dr. Ken Johnson, concurred with that. And then I checked, I spent hours up here yesterday checking their sources, checking the actual sources, the actual writing. So, the gifts continued. So, let me give you a little idea here and I'm just going to throw this up because I wrote a book called Tongues of Fire, talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a little booklet that's on our website. And I wrote this in 2007. My wife did a great job editing it and we just decided to put it in a PDF and make it free to anybody it wanted. Well, in this, of course, I looked up this word perfect and the Greek word for perfect in this passage is the Greek word telios, which means the perfect state of all things to be ushered in
by the return of Christ from heaven. That's what this word means. And that is the definition, the exact word for word definition in the Thayer's lexicon. So, I get this, how these guys, these Bible school professors, educated pastors, how do they look this word perfect up in the Greek lexicons that says this word is talking about the perfect state of all things when Christ returns, when Jesus Christ returns and makes all things new, when we see Him face to face, how can they use that to say it's the Scriptures when the New Testament is complete? And then how do you say that knowledge has passed away? Knowledge? I think knowledge has passed away for some of them. This is not complicated, but you know what it is? True New Testament Christianity, where you step out of the boat into the miraculous realm is not easy because the devil opposes that with all of his might. He hates the power of God being demonstrated in the earth, in the church, in your life. He's fine with you accepting a dead, empty shell of Christianity, but He cannot stand the thought of you having actual power in your prayer life. You actually hearing and discerning the voice and leading of God, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, doing something supernatural. He cannot stand the thought of that. So He fights it and He raises up people like the little hippie from the West Coast. He's scared of it. And I could go through over and over. They talked about it. People were healed. People were speaking for centuries. Wesley talks about it in that same chapter. I couldn't read the whole chapter. He talks about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit in the French Huguenot. It didn't start. No, let me inform you. Since you think you're so smart, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit didn't start with the troublesome character named Charles Poth.
No, it started on the day of Pentecost and asked after two. It continued when Peter went to the household of Cornelius. And everybody that heard the Gospel and belief were baptized in the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and prophesied. Oh, and it continued when Paul went to Ephesus and found certain disciples and said, have you received the Holy Ghost, since you believe? And he said he laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Oh, oh, oh. And it continued in the Corinthians and the Church of Ephesus. In fact, some of the Church Fathers in here, Ignatius, Parley-Carp, Irenaeus talked about how there were churches in their day in the second century. Said they came behind in no gift. They had all the gifts operating. The gift of tongues. And they talked about the gift of tongues were not just known languages that they were languages as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4 that no man knows. That we speak mysteries to God. You want to call that of the devil, demonic, Bible? Let me tell you something, son. Been preaching this Gospel, Holy Ghost-filled, tongue-talking for many years. And I've seen many people saved through the anointing and power of the Spirit upon this meeting. I'm talking about truly born again saved because of the power of the Holy Ghost through messages that I didn't know what to preach until I prayed in tongues and the Holy Spirit gave me the interpretation of those tongues and told me exactly what to preach. And then people got saved. Don't tell me it's of the devil, you devil. Get behind me, Satan. You oppose the Holy Spirit. You blaspheme the Holy Spirit. You better be careful out there, you YouTube-blogging people. You don't get to talk against what's in God's Word and what some people in the church understand to be absolutely true from God's Word and have experience. Don't talk about things you don't know and don't teach about things and try to leave places. You won't go. Never spoken tongues and you're going to tell me how it's supposed to work or not work. What are you talking about? Ridiculous. I'm going to tell you what, one of the most powerful, blessed things you can do when you're at your wits end and you don't know what to do and you don't know what the will of God is, one of the most powerful things you can do
is pray in tongues. Pray in the Spirit, Paul called. Pray in the Spirit. I don't know. Pray in it. Sometimes I prayed in the Spirit for an hour until the peace of God came and the presence of God came and I had just a download from the Lord of His wisdom what to do in this situation. It shows me, I think it's a tool God's given us to not lean on our own strength. I'm going to tell you how many times I don't know what to preach, I don't know what to teach, I don't know what to counsel somebody, I don't know what to say. I ask Him and then I've had Him tell me, Son, have you forgotten to pray in the Spirit to build up your faith? That's what Jude's had. I mean, you guys know, y'all got some bad disfriends, call it babbling. Demonic babbling. Oh, geez. Better tread carefully. See, the problem is, when you resist the Holy Spirit and you quench the Holy Spirit, you'll eventually blast Him. Better stop. Better stop while you can. Well, I don't know about it. It keeps you massive. What do you call blasphemy in the Holy Spirit? Speaking again. Careful, careful. Oh, no, no, no. Holy Spirit doesn't heal people anymore. Holy Spirit doesn't give people gift of tongues anymore. Holy Spirit doesn't give people discernment anymore. Holy Spirit doesn't give people prophecies anymore. Oh, you're speaking again. I hope you're not saved. You might find mercy. You're a Christian. You're in dangerous territory. Y'all learn anything? I want to say this to those out there watching. This is our church, y'all know. If you've never been baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking another tongue, that's not just for some.
People always want to throw out the verse in first Corinthians. Do all speak with tongues? Does it say they can't? No, it's just making a statement and asking questions. Do all Christians do it? No, absolutely. And they never will. Does that mean it's not for all? No, that's not what it says. See, we can't add to it and take from it. Paul said, I wish you all spoke with tongues. Jesus said, these signs shall follow them to believe in my name. They shall cast out devils and they shall speak with new tongues. Word, new, interesting word. Things never known before. Not just known languages, but new ones. Never known. Never experienced. So this gift, this is something you've got to... Before you... I have people all the time say, well, I pray. And I didn't get it, so I just moved on. You know, the old Pentecostal. And I'm talking about before they were Pentecost. When they heard this truth, they would lay hold of God. They would get with God about it until they were filmed. They didn't give up when it didn't happen in a day. In fact, they used to have entire services where they had called people to the altar for them to tarry. You know what tarry means? Wait. Because what did Jesus say? You guys go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. I mean, don't do anything. Think about it. He trained these apostles for three years. He trained them. And then, you know, he's given them the anointing. He's given them the command. He's given them the authority. You go preach the gospel to the world, but then he says, but wait. Before you go do everything I told you to do about preaching the gospel to the entire world, go to Jerusalem and wait for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Now, he didn't tell them it'd be 10 days. They didn't know it was going to be 10 days. But think about it. How many Christians could go to a prayer meeting for 10 days and wait? Most people can't go to prayer meeting for one hour, but they went to a prayer meeting for 10 days and waited until they were filled. That shows hunger. That shows patience. That shows determination. That shows I'm not leaving until I get something from God. You got to be. You got to want this thing. You got to want more. You got to be willing to wait. You got to be willing to see. You got to be willing to fast. Do you spend any time? I mean, we know this brother who wrote this book about the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. He didn't know what else to do. God called him to the full-time ministry, told him to leave his job. He didn't know what to do. You know what he started doing? Praying in tongues eight hours a day. Do you know what happened? He did this for days on end.
And finally, he went to a church meeting and guess what? Holy Spirit gifts started working in him. Pray for that one. Pray for that one. This one right here. People started getting healed in the church where they didn't teach healing. Uh oh. Uh oh. Troublemaker in the house. That's because the man prayed in tongues eight hours a day until the Holy Spirit filled him and strengthened him and built his faith. How many of us would do something like? How many of us would get in our prayer time and say, you know what, Lord? I prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I prayed for the gifts of tongues so I can have this ability to pray in the Spirit and worship in the Spirit. I prayed for but I hadn't received it. Are you giving up? Are you quitting? How many of you are going to say, you know what, Pastor Dean, I hear what you're saying. I don't care what it takes. I'm going to seek this infilling, empowering from heaven until I get it. I will not take no for an answer because God's not saying no. But he wants to see. Are you hungry? Are you willing? I have a feeling that had it been 30 days, had it been two months. Oh yeah, I'm sure they would have still, you know, ate food once in a while and gone to the bathroom. I'm not saying that. But they were not going to go try to do the work of the ministry or do anything until they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Oh, but I got that at salvation, really. They were already saved and yet they were waiting for something more. I mean, I'm going to tell you something. I can't see anything more New Testament and more needful. Two things I see absolutely critical and needful in the church. The church to understand repentance and faith and the gospel of Jesus Christ, redemption, the blood at home, and then to understand the need for the power of the Holy Spirit. And they go hand in hand. Oh, I love the gospel, brother. I'm a gospel man of God. That Holy Spirit stuff. I don't, don't think. Wow. Okay, buddy. You got something I've never, I'm telling you, 31 years, 31 years, 31 years.
And I'm still cannot fathom. I'm going to tell you, man, they're dropping like flies out there. The pastor, Kevin sent me an article. Albert, was it Albert Mohler? Wasn't he the president of the Southern Baptist convention at one point or something like that? One of the big Baptist leave. He wrote an article, the wrath of God falling on the Southern Baptist church. He said there is an avalanche. That's his work. An avalanche of pastors being exposed for sexual misconduct. Say, hmm, oh yeah, it's happened to Pentecostals. It's happened. But usually, let me tell you where this usually happens to people when they get away from the word of God in something. When Pentecostals get off on prosperity, money, fame, they're going down the tube. When these Baptist preachers fight against the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit for years, is it any wonder they end up falling? I'm going to tell you right now, I need the power of the Holy Spirit so I don't fall. I could just keep preaching. I got to quit. I've already preached too long. Y'all should have said that. Let's think. Let's do that song. That morse. If it'll work. I think we need to make this our prayer before we leave today. And for those watching, quit letting megachurches and pastors and Bible school teachers and commentaries talk you out of what God has for you. Just read the New Testament. If you read the New Testament, you shut out the Baptist theology, the Presbyterian theology, the Lutheran theology. You just shut all that out. You just read the New Testament. Let me tell you the conclusion you're going to come up with. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues, healing, miracles, casting out demons. It's for everybody that wants it. That'll believe it. That'll step out of the boat. Not just for Pastor Dean, not just for the apostles.
Let's sing this. Father, we make that our prayer today now that we want more. Lord, even if we're baptized in the Holy Spirit, even if we have the gift of tongues, the health of prayer, worship, in your session, Lord, I ask you, Lord, to give us more. We need your Lord. We need you to fill us. Lord, we see the book of Acts. They will constantly pray for more to be received and to be filled and overflowed. If all of anybody here today or those watching this haven't been baptized in the Holy Spirit according to the biblical one, Acts 2, Acts 10. I'm praying that that will take place in their life and that they will lay hold upon and they will pursue you until they receive. So they're operating, flowing, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They will not settle. They will not just say, okay, I'm good. So I pray this today for everyone here those watching Jesus.