Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
[Music] we declare you are the king of kings and the lord of lords we declare god that you're worthy to be worshipped and you're worthy to be obeyed and honored you're worthy to be feared and and reverenced god you're worthy lord that we should tremble at your word that we should respect your laws and your ways and that we should obey your word and your spirit as you lead us god you're worthy god you are the creator you made us and not we ourselves lord we are bought with a price lord we could not redeem ourselves and you died on the cross and shed your precious blood that we might be redeemed and then you rose from the dead to seal it to show us that there is the only way to everlasting life there is the only way to to spiritual power and and freedom and deliverance is through the blood and the resurrection of jesus christ we thank you lord because you are worthy lord all heaven declares that you are worthy that you are holy holy holy that you are the only one worthy is the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world you are the only one worthy that you god took on flesh died upon a cross and rose from the dead for us to wash our sins away so that we could have a chance to know you and to make it to heaven and spend eternity with you lord we know that life down here is temporary everything we see is temporary yet god why do we cling to it [Music] lord we cling even to things that are destructive lord help us get our eyes off of this world and the things in this world and lay hold upon you fully god i really believe you're looking your eyes lord your word says the eyes of the lord run to and fro through the whole earth seeking to find people that you can show yourself strong on their behalf [Music] man lord let that sink down because you want to show yourself strong on our behalf jesus jesus god our pride stands in the way sometimes our sins of lust our sins of laziness and neglect of you help us to just keep praying for him just talk to him for a minute in your own
words that he would help me what if this world holds you jesus but i want to remind you guys of something you know the bible says that in the church he said there should be when we come together tongues and interpretation that should be a regular thing and that tongues and interpretation according to first corinthians 14 is the equivalent to the gift of prophecy operating and so the gift of prophecy is operated this morning through tongues and interpretation and last week and i and i want to say this even if even a couple of months ago i remember patrick was sitting right there and god used him and to give a warning and i want to say this i remember these things and i remember even when we were in the building in opalica what god has been saying and it's interesting at different times and through different means is he's been saying follow me follow my word follow my spirit and i'm going to give you i'm going to give you the glory and the revival and a move of god that you long for this is this is what he's saying and i just want to say as the pastor of this church i you know the bible says let the prophet speak let the others judge and i have judged so far that every time there's been a gift whether it was jonathan operating or patrick or last week with kevin or with jared that it's been from the lord each time and that's that's a blessing to have i hadn't had to correct anything or say that what in the spirit of god or anything like that i'm just saying that that's the spirit of god and i know that's what he's saying the same word came forth last week and what's interesting is both times last week the tongue and the interpretation confirmed what i was going to preach on this week the tongue interpretation confirmed what i was going to preach on the part where he said we have got to follow god learn to follow his word and his voice and he will do the thing and that's what i want to talk about this morning i want to get into a little bit about being led by the spirit of god and it's not always as easy as you think and it doesn't always look like what you think but god willing as the spirit of god leads me i've been looking at in these last few weeks about getting on the gifts of the spirit and things but we may be starting part one here i don't know how this is going to start but being led by the spirit of god so let's let's establish this in the word real quick that the holy spirit of god wants to speak to you amen does the bible teach that and then are we are we to um how are we to judge those things and discern those things but i just want to say this i i want you
to the grasp behold just write this verse down because this is not really right now part of the message but this verse is in second chronicles and it's in 16 second chronicles 16 and verse 9 and i just felt real strongly as we were ending worship there but the eyes of the lord says run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him but we ought to let that sink down ii chronicles 16 verse 9. matter of fact i guess it kind of does go with what we're doing because think about this you guys and i know sometimes i preach kind of hard on on things and deal with sin and and purity of heart and in in those matters and but i want you to know that there the flip side of that coin the flip side of that coin is that the grace and the mercy and the love of god really does want to manifest to show himself strong through some people that have even been screw-ups you know what i'm saying that have even been sinning and compromising in in god's heart is to show himself strong he's looking for people think about that god wants to show off through you god wants to show off his glory he wants to show off his power he wants to show off what it means to have a a transformed life what it means to be saved from sin not saved so you can sin what it means to be truly truly having a pure heart and a pure mind what it means to to truly be free from sexual addictions and bondages what it means listen this world out there wants to see they want to see god showing himself strong through some people and god wants to do it that's the good news but what does he say here his eyes are constantly looking for people he can show himself strong through whose heart what is perfect toward him doesn't mean a perfect person but whose heart is perfect means the heart that wants god and wants god's will and wants god's purity and holiness and honor more than anything else the heart that longs to hear from god and to follow god david was known as the man after god's own heart not because he was a perfect man we know that he blew it in some big ways okay but he was known as the man after god's own heart because deep within him he longed for the presence of god he longed for the honor of god he longed for the purity of of heart and mind he longed for holiness in his own life even though he didn't always accomplish it he longed
for it he hungered and thirsted for god he he wanted to teach transgressors and sinners the ways of god i mean he had this burning passion for god and so listen i know those of us in here we've stumbled listen this thing about following god and being led by the spirit you're not always going to do it perfectly i'm not going to always do it perfectly but the thing about it is is your heart perfect toward god do you do you get up and say i'm going to still go after god when i don't understand or when it doesn't work out the way i want it to work out this is something that i was going to get into this morning as we get in the scriptures about this maybe i don't even know exactly how we're going to do it but but it doesn't always you know even being led by god even even when god leads you into something sometimes doesn't always look like what you thought it was going to look like do you still trust when you don't understand do you still trust and believe that you're hearing even when it doesn't make sense to you you know sometimes we get in our mind listen we live in a society that is so success mind focused and you know what they've fallen into the trap of what timothy paul told timothy not to fall into and that is that gain is godliness that somehow if you're successful at everything you do that that means god's with you no sometimes god has led you right into a place where it doesn't work remember god led the children of israel out of egypt right into a dead end a sea in front of them they couldn't cross mountains on both sides that they couldn't cross and the most powerful army in the world behind them who was determined to kill them not a good place right right where god put them though and what's interesting is god could have killed pharaoh's army before they left egypt god could have split the red sea before the egyptian army got there but no what does he do he takes his the the representation of his presence with them the cloud and the fire and he sets it between them and the little gap they had in that range that mountain range and he lets them stay there all night long while an east wind blows to park and see god get a part to see instantly why did he do that why does god do some of the things he does the way he doesn't because you know why he's testing most of the time he's testing our hearts to see what we're going to do now why you say why does god test our hearts he knows what we're going to do the test is really not for him
it's for us we need to know what our heart is really about the bible says in jeremiah 17 10 it says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it y'all look that one up let's go ahead and look it up remember we're talking about the heart that's perfect toward him when he say the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked you know all these songs talk about listening to your heart follow your heart no no your heart will mislead you even the christian heart can be misled you don't follow your own heart you follow the word of god and the leading of the spirit of god and that's why it's so important to learn to discern between what is my own heart's desire and what is god's desire right boy those two things right there you know we've had christianity a version of christianity teach that that that your heart's desire is always what god will he wants you to have your heart's desire not all the time that's ridiculous isn't it yeah if god answered all of our prayers the way we prayed them if he answered everything just said yes to everything we'd be in one heap of mess trouble because we couldn't handle it right god knows he's leading us sometimes in the difficult situation remember this remember when when god gave you know i mean how much more could god have led moses the burning bush spoke to him i am that i am you're going to go to egypt you're going to set my people free i'm going to give you well they're not going to believe me well i'll give you a sign throw your rod down it'll turn into a serpent pick it up it'll turn back put your hand inside your wisdom it'll turn leprous put it back in and it'll be healed and and and so you know what he he gives him even some power what's the first thing that happens he goes to egypt let my people go pharaoh goes no as a matter of fact tell them to start making bricks without we're not giving them straw anymore they got to go things got worse moses goes back to god says i did what you told me i did what you told me and what you didn't deliver this people at all god goes you don't understand my plan my plan is i'm gonna i'm testing them and i'm testing you and i'm going to let pharaoh harden his heart to the point that i get to destroy the whole country which is really what god wanted to do god see here's the thing we got to understand about the things that god reveals he only reveals sometimes a little bit a little bit and you've got to trust that little bit
what did paul say he said i what i know in part i prophesy in part i see through a glass darkly but i thank god for the part amen we're not supposed to see it all if we if we saw it all would it be faith would it take any faith to walk this walk out no but the bible says in second corinthians what 5 7 we walk by faith and not by sight can't always go by what it appears why did the children of israel get in trouble in the wilderness they'd start complaining because of what it appeared like and god would be like don't you understand my presence is with you i'm leading you even into the wilderness and this is the thing we need to understand about being led by the spirit of god one of the first places he leads you is into the wilderness he'll deliver you from egypt brother with great signs and wonders and they'll take you right into a wilderness does that does that mean that the favor of god's not on you anymore no matter fact most of the time it's a sign the favor of god is on you because anybody that's a child of god and not illegitimate or as the king james says a bastard is going to be disciplined so discipline from god and testing and trial in a wilderness is really a good thing it means god loves you where did jesus right after jesus was baptized in the holy spirit baptized in jordan baptized where does it say the spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil to spend 40 days without eating without any human contact in a miserable dry place and the devil hounded him and listen if the temptati if jesus couldn't have been tempted then the temptation wasn't real if he couldn't have fallen if he couldn't have messed up if he couldn't have given in to it remember the mystery of godliness that he was fully man and fully god the man's side of him for the temptation to be legitimate had to be the possibility had to be there hey how many of you would like to hang out in the desert for 40 days with no food with the devil doesn't sound like a vacation i'd want to have right 40 days that's six weeks almost think about that wilderness
can you handle the wilderness when there appears to be no food no water would they start doing complain now realizing you know what god will bring the food in the water but he'll bring it when he gets ready again sometimes god waits find out how much we're complaining how much we'll whine and murmur and see what we will try to take into our own hands to do this being led by the spirit of god is not always easy let's turn turn turn to well let's lay a foundation for first go go to john 16 real quick the secret let me let me tell you this you want to know the secret of of walking in the power of god the secret to walking in the power of god is very simple be close enough [Music] to god to be able to hear what he's telling you to do and then do it wow simple isn't it be close enough to god that you can hear what he say and then do it now let's just lay this premise out here about hearing the voice of god and being led by the spirit the bible is the foundation of this the bible is the dictionary to anything that happens in the spirit world anything you hear in the spirit world anything you see anything you experience the bible's the dictionary what does that mean the bible defines what it is if it's from the devil the bible will define that it is from the the devil if it is from god it will the bible itself will define the holy spirit of god will never speak to you show you or direct you to do anything that that contradicts or goes against any principle in the word of god so let's just get that straight and the number one way that the holy spirit of god speaks to his people is through the bible itself through illuminating scriptures or illuminating a story and then god giving you understanding how it applies to your life right now how many of you ever had that happened to you where god just took a story in the bible that you've read maybe 15 times and all of a sudden the holy spirit illuminates it and you re and he shows you how that this the pattern of what is going on in
that story fits what's going on in your life exactly that's the number one way god will speak to you and let me say this if you won't obey what's already written down in the bible that you can see why do you think god's going to speak to you and give you a vision or a word of knowledge or let you hear his voice or anything like that not going to happen okay now he may through the prayers of some saints somewhere who's praying for you if you're not listening to god's word and you're starting to get off god may want give you a booming voice or a booming correction but that's mercy but i'm talking about the act of being led by god on a daily basis or being led into what his his plan for your life this is not easy but you can't god wants us to hear his voice and he wants us to be led by the spirit let's just look at this all right just lay a quick foundation john 16 verse 13 let's look at this he tells them even though they have the the scriptures he says here how be it when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not what speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak says the holy spirit will speak to you and look at what he says one of the things he said and he will show you things to come oh look at that the holy spirit will come when the holy spirit comes he will speak that's a big difference between what he has already spoken in the scriptures god will speak okay he says he will show you things to come he will glorify me the holy spirit will always exalt and lift up jesus as lord savior and god he will always magnify jesus he will always point you to jesus the holy spirit will not point you to mary amen the holy spirit will not point you to anything but the truth of god's word and point you to jesus he will glorify me look what he says about about he'll glorify me and says he will receive of mine and show it unto you now here's what's beautiful receive what's jesus he will receive of mine show it unto you guess what jesus knows everything going on you he knows everything going on your life he knows everything going on in your life jesus the bible says ever lives to make intercession for us he's always praying for us right he knows where you hurt he knows where you're tempted he knows where you're struggling he knows what the day he knows everything
here's what's beautiful jesus has all this knowledge he knows everything and he says he will take of mine and show it unto you show you things you need to know sometimes you'll show you things about other people you need to know but he'll take that knowledge that omni omniscient knowledge that knows everything and he can take it and show it to you isn't that awesome so the holy spirit will come he will take up mine and show it to you who man how many of you want to see things that's that's in jesus heart right now that belong to jesus see that's the good stuff it's not just about what we shouldn't do it's about what we get to do right it's a good thing listen i'll tell you this it's a good thing when you hear not when you try to do it when you try to do it not going to happen but when you hear as i did one time a long time ago i heard the voice of jesus say tell this woman who was in a wheelchair who had not walked in two years who had crippling arthritis and could not walk tell her i said for her to rise up and walk and i told her i said mary elizabeth i said jesus told me to tell you that he said not me he said for you to rise up and walk and she got up and walked see it's a big difference between what you think you can do and when you hear from him that's a good thing isn't it she's still walking to this day i think that transformed her life did that bring honor to anybody but jesus right if i could do it when i wanted to do it i'd go down to the hospital and i'd go down to the you know i'd go and run through that's i can't do that but when jesus says to do it see when stuff happens is when you're close enough to hear what he is saying and what he wants to do and then you do it now it took some faith to step out and do that it gets scary sometimes out there on that water with jesus but that's where stuff happens being led by the spirit sometimes difficult sometimes scary but it's where the power is it's where people's lives are changed and guess what all of us can do this now let's let's back up go to john 10 real quick just laying a foundation here john 10. everybody ought to know this one john 10 verse 27.
this is a beautiful scripture here my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me now here's what's interesting about this the word here in this passage is a present tense greek verb okay and the word follow is a present tense greek verb now let me give you the definition of a present tense greek verb in case you don't know that a present tense greek verb is this it means an ongoing action that is continuous and taking place in the present it's going on now and it's going to keep going on and he says my sheep the ones that have really been born again the ones that have been transformed the ones that have repented of their sin the ones that have made me lord of their lives that i that truly they are my sheep hear my voice right now and continuously and they follow me right now and continuously if you ever stop hearing his voice through the bible through church through your own relationship with him you don't stay a sheep you become a goat we get on that later but this is where he says my sheep what hear my voice follow me these are the ones jesus i give to them eternal life now let's see if we can prove that somewhere else about hearing being led by the spirit turn to romans 8 real quick romans 8. romans 8. now this i'm not going to take time to read the whole chapter and break all this down but he talks about those who are after the flesh and those who are after the spirit how many of you know let's just get down how many of you know what it means to be after the flesh or after the spirit if you're after the flesh the bible says that you will be more mindful more consumed more after the things of the flesh than you are the things of the spirit and and paul puts it here very plainly let's let's just look at this where he says verse 5 romans 8 5 he says for they that are after the flesh do what do mind the things of the flesh now that's a present tense greek word too there means that it's continually on their mind the things of the flesh what are the things of the flesh adultery fornication drunkenness pride anger wrath witchcraft they do mind the things it's always on their mind that's what's on their mind you you can know where somebody is by
what you know you can define your own christian life what rules my mind what is my mind on what is my mind on more than than anything else so they that are after the flesh do mind or keep their mind continually on things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit on the things of the spirit of god wow what are the things of the spirit of god righteousness holiness purity the bible the glory of jesus the blood of jesus the power of jesus the will of god for my life you see what i'm saying it's real simple what is your mind after what does your mind stay on all right now let's go on down look what he says verse 13 13-14 very important here for if you live after the flesh you shall die he's talking about eternally here too but if you now look at this if you threw the spirit through the spirit you ought to lie through the spirit if you through the spirit do mortify or kill the deeds of the body you will live through the spirit we're going to talk about that just remember that term through the spirit for as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons and daughters of god it's going to scare you to death right do you want to be a son or daughter of god right one of the proofs or the evidences of that that you're led by the spirit you're led by the flesh you're led by the spirit the sons of god the daughters of god led by the spirit is am i reading anything that's not in the bible anybody right so to be led by the spirit through the spirit you through the spirit you kill the deeds of the body through the spirit okay let's put it this way if you're close to god if you're close enough to god to hear and be led by the spirit that means you've kind of dealt with some things right that's why you can say if you through the spirit the flesh wants to go over here and do this but you say no i'm going to pray and then i'm going to do this you have through the spirit mortify that deed of the body and now you're in a place where you can hear and be lit by the spirit of god right all right now let's look at something let's look at just one example all right of being led by the spirit of god go to acts chapter 9. the reason i'm going to use this is because this was after the death and
resurrection of jesus this was after the day of pentecost and this guy wasn't an apostle so we're going to have just a regular old what we would call look christian layman god use it in a powerful way all right let's look at this here's this little guy ananias over here we read it last week about saul who became the apostle paul getting saved but let's read this verse 10 9-10 and there was a certain disciple at damascus named ananias to him said or the lord spoke to him in a vision ananias and he said behold i am here lord they're having a conversation aren't they now why does it say in a vision because it means that god wouldn't literally physically standing from seeing him like you see me right it was by the holy spirit in a vision whether it be in a closed vision in his mind or an open vision but the bottom line is god was speaking to him and said the lord said to him look at this look at these directions here verse 11 and the lord said to him arise go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of judas for one called saul of tarsus for behold he is praying and he has seen in a vision a man named ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight and then the lord and then ananias argues with and the lord and ananias answered lord i have heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to the saints at jerusalem and he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call upon thy name but the lord said go your way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel for i will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake and of course ananias obeyed the lord pretty specific directions right ananias just a regular guy any regular christian can hear from the lord and get very specific direction maybe not just for going to pray for a brother but how about for your life whether you should buy that house who you supposed to marry one day what type of ministry you're supposed to be in where you're supposed to go to church all kinds of stuff important stuff right very important stuff why don't we hear more why don't we hear more
we can i've even asked god this and and listen i want to say this and just up front even though i believe god speaks by his still small voice i believe in visions and dreams and prophetic words and tongues and interpret everybody knows that but i also know that it's not going to happen every day god doesn't want it to happen every day anybody that's having visions and words every single day i would be careful about that person especially if they are seem to be initiating a lot of them themselves okay i'd be very careful sometimes i go a whole week i don't hear a thing but i still pray still fast still read the bible [Music] still pray in tongues whether i hear anything it's not about that again we always walk by faith first not by sight but god does want to speak and reveal things because he wants a people led by the spirit two things walk by faith when it's dry and dark and confusing but then when god speaks or shows you something boldly obey amen all right now let's look at some things go to acts chapter 16. what's the first way god speaks i've told you number one you don't stick to that your house will crumble it's happening right now in the church world people are getting off into all kind of spiritual experiences meditating having these experiences saying they they're experiencing god and they're having uh visions and words but they don't adhere to the bible and they say oh the bible we don't really need it i'm telling you they're off in la la land their ship is at sea and it has no engine and it has no rudder they're drifting and will be destroyed the word of god is your only anchor it is the only foundation it is the only brother you got for the spiritual world everything that happened listen any voice you hear any word you hear any vision you have i don't care if an angel appears to you i don't care what kind of vis everything you take and must be judged according to the word of god and sometimes you need to take to other people and let it be judged and discerned okay
the spirit world is a dangerous place god wants us operating in it but at his direction but everything out there that's supernatural and that's spiritual is not god even listen even healings not all healings and miracles are from god and we as a church right now especially the charismatic pentecost church better get a hold of that pretty quick that not everything that's supernatural is of god and that's why we've got to be discerning it and that's why i want to go to the second thing here real quick first is the word the second thing well i really had already talked about the still small voice of god but we'll get to that in a second but this thing we've got to listen to more than anything else and what we'll just call this is the witness of the spirit on the inside of you boy this is important yo the witness of the spirit inside of you what we're going to call this is the red light green light okay the bible literally calls it the umpire what does an umpire do in them but when somebody slides in home and it's a close play what do they call it say for the umpire calls it safe or out right colossians just write this verse down real quick because we're not going to turn there because you're in acts 16. i want you to hold that but colossians 3 15 anybody quote that for me jonathan ought to be able to because i know your former pastor taught you this colossians 3 15 this is what it says and let the peace of god rule your heart amen let the peace of god rule your heart you know what that means the peace of god not the peace of the world listen you guys you can take an antidepressant and feel peace after about the fourth beer you can feel peace that's not the peace of god all right you get what i'm saying i mean i hate to be blunt but there are false pieces but i'm talking about the peace of god what is the peace of god there how many of you know or felt at times the presence of god wash over you everybody experience that i mean that's one of the signs about what it is to be born again right that's what god always let you know that is the peace of god so when it says let means you have to do something let the peace of god rule the greek word therefore rule means
umpire call the situation safe or out now i'm going to explain this and i'm going to show you what paul did here and this this will protect you and guide you through a lot of things if you'll learn to listen to this okay but there are times on right here in your heart right here in your spirit and i'm talking about not just a spiritual thing but i'm talking about you will feel it physically almost right here you will feel the warmth or the peace or the presence of god wash over you about a situation or a person or whatever or you can feel this terrible oppression and gripping and almost i feel sometimes a tightening in my chest and it feels heavy and it feels dark and it feels oppressive and strange and and i just want to tell you that i call is the being grieved in the spirit when the spirit inside you you know the holy spirit in your spirit is saying this is dangerous this is not from me this you better beware it's a warning mechanism anybody ever felt that what i'm talking about right in here okay these this this right here will protect you from many stuff because listen there is there are things out there especially in the church world that appear like they're right they sound right it looks okay to the eye and it sounds okay but if you're listening you'll know if it's the spirit of god or not whether it be a minister or a prophet or a meeting you go to you'll know whether somebody you should date or not you know i mean you'll know if you're close enough to listen let's look at paul here real quick acts chapter 16. this is after paul been saved going out and planting churches pretty awesome stuff going on could show you where he got led by the spirit another place but we're going to skip down to verse 16. very important here and it came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel possessed where the spirit of divination met us which brought her masters much gang by sue saying the same followed paul and us and cried saying these men are servants of the most high god which show unto us the way of salvation and this she did many days but paul being grieved turned and said to the spirit i command thee in the name of jesus christ to come out of her and he came out that same hour and of course when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone they caught paul and silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers now i want you to see this right here this woman now of course this is luke
writing the book of acts long after this had happened right i mean just a number of years but he's writing the story but what we need to understand is that paul when this woman came up at first if he would have discerned immediately that she was possessed with a spirit of divination that she was a witch a fortune teller he wouldn't have had anything to do he would have let her follow them many days see this is where i want to tell you some of these people are so deceptive and remember what came out of her mouth was the absolute truth [Music] it was not watered down it was not anything weird you could not go by what she said because she said the truth these men are servants of the most high god which show us the way of salvation is there anything wrong in that but she had a spirit of divination and do you know what she was doing she was trying to join herself to paul and silas and to their company so that she could get in and defile the saints of god and maybe hinder paul or maybe even try to trip paul up and make him stumble in sin okay but it said she did this many days she appeared to be an ally she appeared to be for them but on the inside it said paul being greed finally his spirit on the inside guess something is wrong with this girl i know what's coming out of her mouth sounds right something's wrong and then all of a sudden it hit him she has a spirit of divination she's prophesying she's given a word of knowledge that she couldn't have known any other way but by supernatural revelation not from god though the demonic realm can tell stuff to people and they can know it without having ever met you let's say what you have for breakfast this morning cereal cheerios all right a fortune teller could come up and the demon can tell them you know what jared had cheerios for basically and just say hey jared you had cheerios for that's true but the source of that now listen there's a lot of prophets in the charismatic church world that that's what they're operating under it's a spirit of divination you guys gotta and i'm gonna tell you if you let them prophesy over you and you let them lay hands on you you're picking up a demon you're getting defiled by this is the way it is now you you guys have been taught how to get rid of that stuff and get rid of it but sometimes you don't get rid of it for a few days and cause you a lot of trouble believe me i've experienced it
so the second thing really that you need to see here is this witness of the spirit and this not witness of the spirit now i mentioned a minute ago god will speak and let me let me talk about god's still small voice for a minute okay we're not going to be able to cover all this this morning but i just wanted you to get a few of these the still small voice what i'm talking about is god will speak now can god speak to us sometimes in an audible voice where you hear him with your physical ears as well as just your spiritual ears yes you can but it is rare that god will ever speak in an audible voice it is just one of the rarest forms he can and sometimes he will he even did it over jesus people heard him this is my beloved son whom i am well pleased every now and then but primarily to us it's going to be like elijah the still small voice and what i mean by that is you don't hear it like you hear me right now with sound waves but god overrides your thoughts and the noise inside of you and speaks to you okay and he will speak and and that's when you know that's when sometimes you wonder was that god or was that me and that's when you got to be careful sometimes and judge what you're hearing but once you've heard you've got to take a stand that's from god i believe that's from god write it down check it out but after you get accustomed to some time learning to witness that that's the holy spirit and most of the time when god speaks like that he will accustom it with a witness not all the time but most of the time it will be accompanied rather with a witness of the holy spirit but again this is difficult sometimes the subtlety the quietness of it but i'm going to tell you how [Music] to make it better and this is kind of what i want to to close with something god's been speaking to me this week it is imperative the kind of the fourth way that god's gonna speak to you is through tongues and interpretation in your private prayer life and this gets starts getting into the gifts but but i just i want to talk to you because paul said you can turn to first corinthians 14. and this is something that i've already seen start to to move in powerful ways here first corinthians 14. this will be your homeworks to read this chapter read chapters 12 13 and 14 this week and kind of meditate on
okay but verse we'll just look at verse one he says follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts but rather that you may prophesy for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto god for no man understanded them how be it though in the spirit he speaks mysteries but he that prophesied speaketh to edification unto men rather to edification exhortation and comfort now he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies himself that means builds himself up charges himself up like a battery but he that prophesied edited by the church he said i would i would that you all spake with tongues but rather that you prophesied for greater is he that prophesied than he that speaketh with tongues except he interpret that he that the church may receive edifying that's why i said earlier about tongues with interpretation is equivalent to the gift of prophecy but i want you to skip down and look at this verse 13. wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret pray that he may interpret right for if i pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful what is it then i will pray with the spirit i will pray with the understanding also i will sing with the spirit i will sing with the understanding also so i wanted you to see this here where paul said that he that prays in an unknown tongue should pray that he may interpret the bible says that the gift of tongues is diverse kinds of tongues okay that means there are tongues of men and tongues of angels that means that there are times when people are speaking in tongues that it literally is a heavenly language that's never been spoken upon the earth that no one knows but god himself okay now there are times that god can give you a tongue and maybe a language you didn't learn let's say i never learned russian but god could use me to speak russian to someone but usually in a service like today it's not a known language it's the heavenly language and it's not a translation it's an interpretation there's a difference okay but there's when he says diverse kinds of things there's another thing there's a tone for the public service of god a worship service but all christians not all christians will operate in that will be led to give a public tone like i did this morning but all can be baptized in the holy spirit and have the gift of tongues for their private prayer life and again that's why it says there are differences of administrations differences of operations all those things all right but the same spirit diverse kinds of tongues it's very interesting okay but what i want to say is this something god has been dealing with me about this week it says here that he that prays in
tongues edifies himself right i just want to say this if you're baptized in the holy spirit and have received your prayer language the gift of tongues and you're not using that in your prayer time and i'm talking about significantly praying in tongues 30 minutes at a time sometimes an hour at a time i'm going to tell you right now you are missing out on one of the ways that god is going to help you move into the spirit world and move into hearing his voice and building up yourself last sunday well last no not this saturday but a week ago i was having i'd noticed i'd been having trouble through the week praying and i was like lord what's wrong with me i mean it was just like i had no desire to pray and it's like when i went and tried to pray and my normal prayer you know and i always did pray in tongues a little bit you know from maybe a few minutes right and i noticed that i just would come and i would start praying and i would you know talk and i just felt dry anybody okay all right and here's what the lord told me i remember watching uh watching a video not too long ago of kenneth hagin he talked about there were times that he would pray in tongues for eight hours straight and then he would go to a service and the power of god just hit okay why then i read then um nancy's mom gave her a book about a guy that when he got called to the ministry didn't know what to do but god told him quit your job he didn't know what to do he said but he decided he was going to if he was a worker eight-hour job he was going to go with god he didn't know what to do so he was gonna go pray for eight hours a day he said by the time he prayed for everybody and every missionary and everything he knew in english he said he'd been there about 15 minutes and he'd made a commitment to pray for eight hours so you know what he said he started praying in tongues and he prayed in tongues praying time he's praying he did that for two months prayed in tongues eight hours a day for two months he said he didn't feel a thing he didn't realize though what was going on the bible says he that prays an unknown tongue edifies himself charges himself up like a battery builds himself up it says in jude 20 it says pray in the holy spirit so that you can build your faith up right we're going to talk we're going to get into this but i want to tell you he said he prayed in tongues for two months eight hours a day he said he finally some some woman heard that he'd been doing this and invited him to this little pentecostal holiness church meeting he said he walked in there and he said this guy that was preaching was as dead as it could be but he said he was so happy to be out of his prayer closet because he had been sick of looking at that carpet that was a day for two months he was just happy to be somewhere else right
he said the next thing he knew he looked over at this woman that was sitting next to him this old woman he said and he saw through her god gave me a vision he saw her hip all mangled and everything and he didn't know she had walked in with the cane because he got there late and her hip was all mingled he said is there something wrong with your right hip and she said yeah she goes i have terrible arthritis and they're going to have to replace it or i can't i'm not going to be able to walk anymore he said he said he just ignored the guy preach he went over and he grabbed her legs and he pulled him out you notice one leg was sick that leg happened to be like six inches shorter than the other he said he just started praying and he said the next thing he they the the ushers were coming to remove him he said all of a sudden the main usher got up there is it that leg popped grew out right in front of the usher that was about to throw him out her hip was completely healed and she got up dancing around the place okay and before you knew it the word of that got out and people were coming and getting healed left and right left and right left and right let me let me just explain to you we are missing out if you're not praying in tongues and let me tell you what i did last saturday i went up to my my prayer room up there some of you know where it is and i went up there and i started to pray and i couldn't pray and i said and then it hit me the lord was like why don't you just trust me you're leaning to your own understanding pray in tongues two hours i want i prayed in tongues for two solid hours didn't feel anything now listen your mind you can still pray in english in your mind while you're praying in tongues you know that you keep your mind focused i would pray for you guys while in english in my mind while i'm praying in tongues with my mouth but i want to tell you i directly attribute the last two weeks of the tongues and interpretation coming forth in the service the gifts starting to work from praying in tongues also there was several other little breakthroughs that have been happening i noticed that when i sat down to write i've been working on this thing i sat down to write it was coming out easier i was like man now listen to me you guys and you especially if you haven't received this yet it's this is not to condemn you this is to make you hungry okay every christian can receive this and you will don't you worry and anybody else that has it i don't know i don't know who has and who hasn't really but i want to tell you seek this this is something that if you haven't been received the baptism the holy spirit and the gift of other tongues we're going to get into this more i preached on this before you and taught
on this before y'all came okay this is not about trying to make anybody feel inferior that doesn't i'm just telling you even christians see this is what the bad thing is they're christians who've had this gift for years and don't use it they ought to be ashamed of themselves all right and even me the lord said i have been i have not used this gift to build myself up and let me tell you what else happened you know what else i noticed after praying and i did it like i prayed in tongues a lot the next week and there was one day nearly the whole day okay i'm just gonna be straight up it was like it was like another realm walking in for a while stuff that would normally bother me didn't bother me you strengthen yourself again this is in the bible you guys and here if you read first corinthians 14 you'll find out something paul was not telling them not to pray in tongues he was telling them in the church service everybody's not supposed to speak in tongues he said in the church service let it be two or three at the most but somebody better interpret he was regulating the worship service he wasn't regulating your private prayer life and that's why he went on to say i speak in tongues now this church was excited about speaking in tongues corinthians were right he said but i speak in tongues more than all of you what does that say to the value to the importance of the believer taking time to pray in the spirit and trust that you're praying the perfect will of god that you're praying mysteries that you're building up your spirit man that you're strengthening your spirit man that you're building up your faith and i want to say this too that the baptism in the holy spirit and praying in other tongues is the doorway into the rest of the gifts of the spirit it is the beginning of the gift i've heard baptist and methodists and different traditional say well tongues even if they'll acknowledge it's not of the devil they'll say tongues is the least of the gifts you know what i tell them to that i said it doesn't say that in the bible but the bible says that the least will be first amen that god will take that which is the base and the weakest and the most foolish and he'll use that to confound the world right tongues is a gift from god it's powerful we haven't even barely tapped into the power that can be released now again again i'm not saying this is the cure-all to everything but i want to tell you this much it is part of the package to get the job done all things being equal yeah you got to repent of sin you got to have a pure heart you got to be after god you got to be in the word but listen in your prayer life you should have you as much as you pray in english you should be praying in tongues
if you do this mark this down i promise you this if this church becomes a church that prays in the spirit a lot you will see god start moving we will break through listen i believe this more than anything i believe we will break through in some areas against satan and again and and for other people's lives i believe we will break through if we will pray this is part of your prayer life and if you're dry and struggling in prayer and listen you may decide i'm going to pray in tongues for an hour today i'm going to set this hour and i'm going to pray in tongues and you may feel nothing but how many of you know that you've got to plow the ground and you've got to sow the seed if you're ever going to reap a harvest you sow in faith not by feelings you will see you will reap so and i want to tell you if you do this here's what you're going to find if you pray in tongues and build up your spirit you're going to find that temptation isn't quite as hard to deal with you're going to find also that all of a sudden you're going to be around people and then boom the other gifts of the spirit operate out in public all of a sudden you'll be working beside somebody and you know you'll have a word of knowledge what's going on in their life and you can tell them do you want see god i i'm almost ashamed i've known this for 22 years and wasn't doing it as much as i should you want to start hearing from god pray in tongues pray that you'll interpret you'll start here you know what i went up yesterday and started praying in tongues and the moment i did god started speaking to me i mean i heard him loud and clear and you know what he told me i'll tell you i'll just share this with you he basically told me that i'm about he said i'm about to show you things to come like you've never had i mean i know that the prophetic gift what he was saying is i'm going to start showing you what's coming many of you want to know how many i think that's a pretty good thing to know you know that was something to me he's like i'm going to start showing you some things that are coming before they hit now he's done this in the past but it's like you see this is the part of the scripture you know some of the things
i've often even though i've taught on i've wondered about like stir up the gifts of god within you how do you do that man one of the main ways you do it the gift god's given you the only gift that you can operate at will as a born-again christian is once he baptizes the holy spirit he's given you that you can pray in tongues when you want to that's the only gift that he's given you to operate at will but it's the tool to build you up that's why he gave it to you that way i'm gonna give them something that they can have whenever they want to build themselves up to strengthen themselves spiritually and begin flowing in the other things that doesn't mean you can just pray in tongues and never fast again okay that doesn't mean you can just pray in tongues and never pray in english again you need to pray in english okay in your language that doesn't mean you can pray in tongues and don't go to church anymore you get what i'm saying doesn't mean you can pray in tongues and still you know peek at the pornography right no all things being equal we add and increase this you'll see god change some things in your life amen if you haven't been baptized in the holy spirit write this down if you have not been baptized the holy spirit and and and the gift of other times acts chapter 2 2 well 1 2 10 19. first corinthians 12 13 and 14 and listen if you haven't listen listen some people in back in the old pentecostal days it was called terry you know but there were people that would i mean it became their life's mission until they were filled with the holy spirit we have taken this for granted but this is an important and powerful thing about the baptism of the spirit now do you have to be baptized in the holy spirit speak in tongues to go to heaven no i've made that very clear i've taught that it's already on cd no i don't believe i don't believe you're an inferior christian i know there are a lot of christians who do not speak in tongues who live holy lives who god still leads to do things they don't really recognize it a lot of times but they're holy they love god they're saved they're on their way to heaven so i'm not saying that you're i know i mean because i know a lot of tongue talking pentecostals that are in fornication and pornography and pride and idolatry and all kinds of stuff so so it doesn't it doesn't make you superior to speak in tongues but that's why i'm saying if your life is right with god
god's given something to help us strengthen us spiritually and operate in the power of god so let's use this set aside some time this week to say i'm going to pray in tongues 30 minutes straight without stop i'm going to pray in tongues for an hour i'm going to pray in terms 30 minutes today but when i get to the weekend on saturday i'm gonna pray in tongues for two hours watch what god starts doing i remember when i did this in my early days i prayed until i would go out and pray in my prayer house i had out in the country i would go out there and pray for hours and man that's that's when people were getting out of wheelchairs and deaf people were getting healed amen and i'm sitting back going the other day i was i see i've been asking god you know this how you ask god in your heart things like through you might two or three times in a week you you're not really praying about it but all of a sudden you ask god you know i was on the inside it was like i hadn't seen something like that in a while finally answered me because you're not praying in tongues and building up your spirit man so you can hear me to be able to do this scary stuff it's scary man i mean when the gift of faith operates on you and we're going to talk about the gifts but the gift of faith like the guy i remember praying for the satanist and he wasn't satan's name was mitch and i remember he said he had a crack sternum i think i've told you all this but he had a crack sternum and and you know he said it wouldn't heal and he'd been to the doctor and he had all this stuff that he couldn't it just would never heal so i said well you believe jesus will heal you and he goes i don't know he was he was a satanist i said well i believe jesus will heal you and i mean the gift of faith just come i just knew it and i laid hands on him and i prayed for him and then i punched him right in the chest just like that smacked him pretty hard too he was like you know it scared him at first he goes i'm healed i'm healed but man the gift of faith not operating on you better not do that you know what i'm saying the proof of it was the guy was healed and gave his life to jesus after that right right you know there's some people say well i'm gonna hit jonathan in the chest because pastor dean had somebody said no you don't do that you know what i'm saying so we're going to talk about about the other gifts but but you guys anybody see one of the things like last week kevin had told me before the service that that he'd been getting up and praying before he would go to work or like five o'clock in the morning getting up and spending time with god well you know what that did that got him ready that's the first time he's ever operated in the gift of interpretation or basically prophecy in the service and he's just like it fired him up
you see what i'm saying he he sowed some time with god and you read things all right let's pray thank you jesus lord thank you god i pray this this day this this morning that you will just let your truths get down in our hearts that we may hear more that we may discern more that we may flow in your power more and got anyone in here that has not been received the baptism the holy spirit and the gift of lord we just pray that they'll receive lord whether it's in church one sunday morning or whether it's in their private prayer closet wherever it i just pray that it'd be real that it be the infilling of the holy ghost the baptism of the holy ghost the the gift of tongues bursting forth flowing out of them like a river that they know for sure they weren't manipulated into it or talked into it but they were filled with the holy ghost and lord those of us who have been filled stir us to obey your word and to step out in faith and to quit leaning to our own understanding all the time and just do what your word says to do and that you'll build us up in our most holy faith praying in the holy ghost and you'll release us into the gifts of the spirit father we pray that this morning in jesus name [Music] amen [Music] [Music] jesus jesus reigns in this place praise jesus shine upon us tonight showers [Music] freedom comes in you lord jesus jesus it's not about the music lord it's about
you jesus come and fall upon us lord fall upon us lord bring your freedom bring your freedom songs of love and deliverance and hope showers surround us tonight the enemy is fleeing seven ways [Music] where the spirit of the lord is [Music] where the spirit of the lord we don't have to fear anymore we don't have to fight anymore because there is freedom [Music] so tonight lord we lift our eyes to jesus there is freedom we lift our eyes to jesus showers there is
oh jesus showers whatever you struggle with tonight there is freedom [Applause] there is freedom nobody's looking at you tonight nobody's looking at you tonight the eyes of the lord are moving to and fro throughout the earth seeking a heart that's completely his jesus you reign in this place [Music] the showers of mercy and there is freedom [Music] freedom reigns in this [Music] of mercy and grace [Music] falling on every face [Music] there is freedom [Music] you