Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
hallelujah well everybody get your bibles out this morning i hope you brought it and hope you're ready to dig into it a little bit amen praise god well i think the lord i'm pretty sure he's spoke to me last night about continuing on with what we've been looking at about the the gifts of the holy spirit because really the last couple of weeks we had new testament prophets and the gift of prophecy and we kind of delved into that issue this morning but we need to look at the other gifts as well just so we're clear on it and you know i know i've taught on this in the past probably several years ago but you know we have new people in our church and plus i don't believe anybody gets something one time out of you know gets it the first time not not usually anyway but we're going to continue talking about the gifts but before we get into the nine gifts of the holy spirit and look at those in a little more depth i want to read we're going to start in the book of acts this morning acts chapter 2 because you can't really talk about the gifts of the holy spirit without talking about the baptism of the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues um you know i find it amazing again that there are people out there that actually try to talk about the gifts of the holy spirit they try to talk about the holy spirit or the power of the holy spirit and yet they want to avoid the tongues issue altogether on the baptism issue but let's just say this for the for for all those who may listen to this podcast in this recording later and for those of us here let's just understand one thing the bible didn't avoid the subject god didn't avoid the subject jesus didn't avoid the subject in his teaching and the apostles didn't avoid the subject the baptism of the holy spirit is a very important aspect to the christian walk now let me just say this and and be upfront with this because you start talking about this you know there's a crazy denomination out there that believes unless you speak in tongues you are not saved and let me just state again for the record that i don't believe that at all that salvation is one issue and the baptism of the holy spirit is another issue now of course that just deals with the problem that you hear coming out out there that well when i got saved i got the holy spirit well okay you can say that and then in part that's true but just because you have some money does that make you a rich man hey so you can have twenty dollars in your pocket or you can have twenty thousand dollars in your pocket you understand so here's the deal salvation is wonderful and by faith the holy spirit comes in us
when we exercise faith and when we repent and when jesus really becomes lord and we have the born-again experience the bible is clear the holy spirit if you are truly saved the holy spirit comes in you and regenerates your dead spirit and makes you alive and washes your sins away takes the blood of jesus applies the blood of jesus to your sins into your life and washes your sins away and the bible calls it regeneration calls it rebirth being born again there's a supernatural experience and that's why you feel it that's why there's no such thing as being born again without knowing it if you're born again you had an experience with god you had a meeting with jesus christ in the holy spirit and you you know you're saved if you doubt your salvation or you never had an experience where you knew that the holy spirit came upon you when you believed in jesus and accepted jesus or when you repented see there's a lot of people i believe that are not saved because they think well i believe in jesus and i go to church and i try to be a good person but they've never had the supernatural experience of being born again and so um it's sad because it's more than just believing remember what what jesus said repent and believe the gospel i think a lot of people a lot of church goers a lot of people who are christian in name only that haven't really been changed on the inside are that way because they've never decided to repent turn from their sins and turn from their own self-willed plans and truly make jesus lord of their lives the day you truly decide to turn from sin to turn from your own plans to turn from your own ways the moment you truly make jesus lord and invite him into your life and confess him as lord there should be a supernatural encounter with god or something is wrong either you don't understand it or either you're not truly letting go of all your sin all your idols in all your own ways see i almost posted this on facebook yesterday because it just came in my mind in my heart you are really not ever truly born again or saved until you decide to give up sin and to give up being the lord of your own life and you turn to jesus christ and you have faith in his blood and you have faith in his resurrection from the dead and you understand that his blood will wash you but that you must take up your cross and follow him from that point on see we've had a false gospel that says just believe just believe and do what you want no that is a false gospel and i don't care who preaches it it is a false gospel and i don't care if it's baptist methodist presbyterian charismatic pentecostals roman catholic i don't care
who preaches it if they tell you just believe and that's all you got to do and of course the word believe in the bible in the greek is a whole lot different than the english idea of what believe is anyway right but i just say that because listen i believe when you're truly born again you have an encounter and an infilling of the holy spirit but i'm not the one nor are the pentecostals or the charismatics we're not the ones who said after the disciples were born again when jesus appeared to him and said receive the holy spirit in john 20 i'm not the one who said to them go to jerusalem and wait for the promise of the father personally taught by him trained by him they got to see everything he said everything he did they saw how he prayed they saw how he healed the sick they saw how he raised the dead they heard all of his teachings in private they got explanations of teachings that the crowds didn't get these are guys who were mentored and discipled by god in the flesh the true messiah the only way to heaven the greatest teacher of all time they spent three years with him yet after he dies on the cross and he raises it up from the dead after that he tells them he breathed on them in john 20 he breathed out and said receive the holy spirit i believe that's when they were regenerated they had the born-again experience that we talk about and we know that it happened with the people on the road to emmaus because as jesus walked with them and explained to them about how christ should suffer and rise from the dead and they began to understand the prophets and understand the gospel and that the messiah had to die and suffer first and be raised from the dead as they understood the gospel and then jesus broke the bread and their eyes were opened it says they said these words in luke 24 did not our hearts burn within us as he talked with us by they were being born again as they were hearing the gospel from jesus and didn't even know it was jesus the born-again experience is a natural encounter with god through faith in jesus through a touch that you will feel inside of you from the holy ghost but after that god tells these men personally trained by jesus personally taught breathed on receive the holy spirit from jesus he says go to jerus and wait for the promise of the father for you will be baptized in the holy ghost not many days hence right see classic pentecostal belief where
pentecostal church classic pentecostal belief is that there are two these are two separate events salvation baptism the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues now why do people why do we you know people say well i can be baptized in the holy spirit i don't speak in tongues no you can't you can be touched by the holy spirit you can be anointed by the holy spirit you can be in field to do certain things by the holy spirit but the baptism of the holy spirit is a unique experience just like being saved just like you know being healed by jesus is a unique experience if you have cancer or something some disease and you're healed by jesus that's an experience with the holy ghost power okay the baptism of the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues is an experience that all believers can have and should and actually it is the beginning not that god can't talk supernaturally and speak supernaturally to any believer at any time but it is really the baptism the holy spirit is kind of the gateway into a whole lot more right how do i put it it's kind of like the difference between you know going to your faucet your in your kitchen and getting a glass of water but then finding a path to an artesian well right thank god for the cup of water but an artesian well is better a continual source of pure clean water that's the holy spirit baptism god gives you a glass of water when you get saved of the holy ghost to get you going but he said there will be in you john 7 there will be in you a river of living water listen the people of god are supposed to be so filled with the holy spirit that something is flowing up and out of them and the first evidence of that ought to be the gift of tongues now how can we say that well let me just say this acts chapter 2 when jesus told them to go to jerusalem to wait for the promise of the father 120 went i love this people say it was just for the 12 apostles but isn't it interesting that a hundred and twenty people were in the upper room in acts chapter two let's read it i know i'm giving you a lot i hope you're writing these down verse one and when the day of pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire and it set upon each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance now they had a unique experience in the
sense that you know it has been seen in church history since about the actual appearance of the the fire the holy ghost fire appearing over people's heads and even over churches at times these things have happened but it says here that they were baptized in the holy spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance so what jesus was talking about you will be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence ten days after jesus said that they're in the upper room 120 are praying and they were all filled or baptized in the holy spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance right then years later of course in acts 10 let's go to acts 10. we know between here paul was filled with the holy spirit a lot of people say well see it doesn't say paul spoke with tongues there in in acts chapter 9 when ananias prayed for him and he was filled with the holy spirit but it's funny that later on we find out that paul definitely spoke in tongues because he said i speak in tongues more than all of you right so i believe that's when the apostle paul was baptized in the holy spirit the bible way right remember it's either the bible way or the baptist way it's either the bible way or the methodist way it's either the bible way or the catholic way as christians it's supposed to be the bible way right acts chapter 10 we're going to turn back to chapter 2 so just keep your finger on that but acts chapter 10 the holy spirit moves on peter gives him a vision he goes to cornelius's household now cornelius was an unsaved man he was an unsaved gentile he was a centurion he's a roman soldier but an angel appears to him because he's a man seeking after god trying to find god right so what happens god sends peter to go preach the gospel in acts chapter 10 we won't read the whole thing but at the end he starts preaching the gospel of jesus to them look at verse 34 says then peter opened his mouth and said of a truth i perceive that god is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him the word which god sent unto the children of israel preaching peace by jesus christ he is lord of all that word i say know you which was published throughout all judea and began from galilee after the baptism which john preached how god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy ghost and with power who went about doing good healing all that were oppressed of the devil for god was with him and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the jews and in jerusalem whom they slew and hanged on a tree him god raised up the third
day and showed him openly not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of god even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead and he commanded us to preach unto people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of god to be the judge of the quick and the dead and to him all the prophets witness or to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth trust and cling to relies on and stays constant in that profession in him shall receive remission or forgiveness of sins and while peter yet spake these words now he's preaching the gospel isn't he simple the messiah came the messiah died for sins he rose from the dead he's preaching a simple gospel and he says while peter yet spake these words the holy ghost fell on them now no fire we don't see a manifestation of fire this time doesn't mean it wasn't there but we don't see it but he says the holy ghost fell on them and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with peter because on the gentiles also was poured out the gift the gift somebody say the gift oh come on now don't make me dance pentecostal jig this morning see there's a difference between the gift and the gifts you hear me you hear what i'm saying some people think well tongues is the least of the gifts who told you that well i got news for you if you believe that lie the least shall be first right the least of these is the greatest the gift let me tell you what the gift the gift of the holy spirit is when you are baptized filled with the holy spirit began to speak with other times that's the gift with me i hope we're good here we got all kinds of things going on so we got the baptism the holy spirit all right let's keep reading while peter yet spoke these words the holy ghost fell on all them which heard the word and they have the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with peter because that on the gentiles also was poured out the gift of the holy ghost how did they know well it says here for or we know it because they heard them speak with tongues and magnify god then answered peter can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized he's talking about in the water baptism which have received the holy ghost as well as we isn't that amazing so the whole church 120 in the beginning baptized in the holy spirit speak with other tongues the gift the baptism of the holy spirit
they know it because they're baptized in the holy spirit peter goes the first revival meaning to the gentiles he preaches a simple gospel and i love what the lord does he doesn't even give an altar call there's no altar call the holy spirit just came in the room and they all started speaking in tongues and guess what he knew they hadn't they're all saved my god if the holy spirit the holy spirit came in and baptized them in the holy spirit you know why because they were already believing what what peter was saying when you believe the gospel when you truly believe it when you truly in your heart say i'm surrendering to the lord jesus christ i believe he died on the cross for my sins he rose from the dead he is the messiah he is god i'm giving my life to him you may not say well but when you make that decision there's going to be a change in you and the holy ghost can come on you you can be baptized in the holy spirit the moment you're saved the moment you believe you don't have to wait boom it hit them immediately right but then we have acts 19. let's do another one right now there's a reason i'm doing this he said that we knew that they were saved we knew that they were baptized in the holy spirit they received the gift of the holy spirit just like we did why would it be any different pardon me for a second some of my former baptists up here why would it be any different if god on the day of pentecost says this is how i'm birthing my church then years later mind you he begins to to open the door of the gospel to the gentiles and the first revival it they baptized all of them everybody there baptizing the holy spirit began to speak in tongues when did god change i don't get it and that's what i just don't get it god didn't change the pattern now let's go in this is before tears before we see in the bible the ministry of paul right paul's kind of just getting started matter of fact this may have been the time period that paul was in the wilderness in the deserts of arabia we don't know but there was a little period there that paul was out doing his thing he comes back and then we fast forward years later after this i wrote it down one time figured it up one time i can't remember now how many years later but acts chapter 19. let's read it y'all don't mind doing that we've done this before but setting something up here acts 19 verses 1 he says and it came to pass that while apollos was at corinth paul having passed through the upper coast
came to ephesus and finding certain disciples and he said unto them simple question have you received the holy ghost since you believed now do you know that there's some crazy theologians out there and seminary professors and pastors of churches that'll say oh these guys weren't saved yet paul is that have you received the holy ghost since you believed the word believed there is means to have faith in jesus christ have you received though well we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghost they didn't know anything now granted here maybe i sound a little harsh sometimes about this thing i know there are people out there that are just ignorant they just don't know i guess i get ill with the religious ones who keep this knowledge from those who don't know people who should know the bible who are who say they know the bible or who have those diplomas on the wall from those bible schools should not keep this from the people they're going to give an account for it too but he said this we have not so much as heard whether he said unto what then were you baptized and they said unto john's baptism what was john's baptism water baptism right then paul said verily john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance saying to the people which they they should believe on him which should come after him and that is on christ jesus when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus and when paul had laid his hands upon them the holy ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied and all the men were about 12. folks there's the new testament church being birthed in jerusalem being birthed in the house of the gentiles in in the house of cornelius the centurion and then we see a missionary church of church of ephesus in greece asia being born and ephesus became a great church and how did it start 12 men baptized in the holy ghost now look what it says about them it says paul laid his hands on them the holy ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied notice that you see tongues first then all of a sudden the gift of prophecy starts working in them pretty quick too right listen to me if you're hungry and this is for those listening to to these messages if you're hungry for the gifts of the holy spirit you cannot ignore
the importance of the baptism of the holy spirit and the beginning of the gift of tongues in your life jesus was very clear in mark 16 15-20 when he gave the great commission in mark go into all the world preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth that is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned these signs shall follow them that believe first thing he said in my name they will cast out demons and then he said they shall speak with new tongues folks that's what jesus taught isaiah 28 11. it was prophesied in the old testament writer you turned there i'm just going to quote it isaiah 28 11 for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speaking of god speak to this people yet they would not hear it isn't it sad that most of the church will not hear they shut their ears they don't want to hear about to be baptized in the holy spirit you have to yield and begin to speak with other tongues as the spirit gives you utter if you want to move into the power realm guess what i love it because god always takes the foolish things to confound the wise he always takes base things he said not many noble men are going to handle these things it is a humble did not jesus say that's why i love the thing of tongues what do babies do little ones that can't talk yet they they try they babble you can't understand them they know what they're saying but you don't know right right and did not jesus say unless he took a little child he said unless you come to me as a little child so many people stumble over this because their pride can't accept it i feel sorry for them because folks just let me tell you there's an artesian well of the holy of the spirit called the baptism of the holy spirit that enables you to pray when you don't have the words to say it says romans 8 the holy spirit will give you the groanings not be uttered in intelligent speech how many times you run out of the words to say here's what god said in the isaiah 28 prophecy of the gift of tongues he said this is the rest and the refreshing
how many christians need that rest spiritual rest and refreshing yet it says they would not hear it let me tell you something you cannot delve into the gifts of the holy spirit or the power of god too much and ignore the baptism of the holy spirit and it gives with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and the doorway what i even call the doorway gift into that river amen now granted are there wacky pentecostals and charismatics out there who speak in tongues when they shouldn't and and they speak in tongues but they still live in adultery and for fornication and and all kind of insanity and get into visualization and eastern meditation and and yes there are wacky what i love what david copeland calls them cereal heads flakes and nuts that have no discernment they have no uh they've they you know god blessed them with something as a young christian and then they got stupid and they they're immature they don't know how to to operate in the gifts they don't know when they should yield and that's why you know last week we read the scripture first john i mean first corinthians 14 it says the spirit of the prophet subject to the prophet sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut even if god reveals something to you just because god reveals something to you or does it doesn't mean you always have to be talking right sometimes god reveals this is the hardest thing for for prophetic people that are beginning to operate in the prophetic gifts it's hard to know it's one thing to hear it's another thing to know when you should hear and let me just say this it's another thing to hear something and to begin to put your own add your own interpretation and your own ideas to it just say what god said don't add to it don't take from it don't try to understand if you don't it to doing on fully unders sometimes god's just way out ahead of us imagine that and sometimes he wants to speak things that's ahead of us it's ahead of where we understand it's ahead of where the person understands but and you know if it's from god in the days ahead it'll prove itself out and i go wow that was the lord speaking right so we see that now go back to acts chapter 2.
acts chapter 2. i don't know how the theologians get around this they say that tongues and prophecy and the gifts of the holy spirit miracle ceased after the completion of the bible or they say it ceased after the apostles all that foolish theology i mean i just gave you several passages of scripture right isaiah mark 16 1st corinthians 14 we went through acts 2 acts 10 acts 19 i gave you all this scripture and they got one that they twist and use incorrectly to try to say that the gifts of the holy spirit are done away with we covered that last week but think about that they got one that they take out of context and twist i just gave you entire chapters almost right i'm telling you this is this is from god this is what god wants in your life as a christian be filled with the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues pray in tongues when you're in your prayer life when you don't have the words anymore when you need a rest in a refreshing pray in tongues sing in tongues pray and ask god to give you the interpretation then you start prophesying remember that says they were baptized and spoken other tongues and began to prophesy in acts 19. it's the doorway it's the gateway you know they call marijuana the gateway drug right you want to gateway into the supernatural having a supernatural prayer life having a supernatural hearing from god life you better receive the baptism of the holy spirit humbly like a little child and begin to speak with other tongues i'm going to use that gift that he's given you in your prayer time and your worship time and god will start moving in your life in greater dimensions i'm amazed that there are pentecostal churches who don't even teach this anymore they need to take the name pentecostal charismatic spirit-filled all that needs to come off of don't don't tell me your spirit feel you don't even talk about it you're ashamed the gifts don't operate in your sunday morning services you're ashamed of the gifts of the holy spirit don't call yourself pentecostal or charismatic know what you are well i'm gonna say i was gonna say something i shouldn't right there acts chapter 2. after peter peter starts preaching after this baptism because people were saying they were drunk
and boy i'm going to tell you i've been so filled with the holy spirit sometimes it was hard to walk i've been so filled with the holy spirit preaching sometimes that i feel drunk as a skunk i've had to hold on to podiums one time i was speaking to a men's group at first baptist church in dublin georgia in 1996 and the holy spirit came on me so strong i had to hold on to the podium or i would have fallen to the ground under the glory of the holy ghost the glory of god it was awesome i've had people when i remember what i was preaching and this is during i guess around 2000 you know and going to the brownsville revival let me tell you an anointing from the from god would get on you and go to that revival and come back and i remember going to uh the prison i used to go to tuttwaller prison once a month that's the women's prison here in alabama it's the only one state prison death row i mean they even have women on death row there i visited women on death row but i also used to go to ventress correctional facility down in south central south alabama down there bullitt county area and uh but i remember at the women's prison they had a chapel there still i'm sure they still do pretty big i mean seat about 150 and some some nights i'd go there and we had it on sunday nights and it'd be packed i mean just just hard to even walk around in there but i had um women assistant chaplains that you know some of them were worked with the chaplain of the you know of the prison but i remember we would give altar call i mean women just be you know because you know it's easy why it's easy to preach in prison anybody in there and say i'm innocent and i used to tell them and the men and the women don't come up to me and tell me i'm innocent no here's what happened if you got put in here for something you didn't do there were 10 times before you just didn't get caught so don't even talk to me about i don't want to hear it you're all guilty of sin i'm guilty of sin i i'm just lucky i didn't end up in here i could have i says i don't want to hear it so nobody could sit there and go you know i'm a good person when you're dressed in those little uniforms everybody's in those little wheels right and the tears would roll but i remember those ladies who get up with me and i'd start after we give altar call and lead people to repentance and accept jesus and and tears the whole altar area be filled up with people and tears be run down their face and start praying for them and i mean their glory and anointing of god would get so strong people be hitting the floor and i remember the assistant chaplains
telling me i can't even walk with you i'm drunk i can't even i'm staggering i'm gonna fall down i'd say just sit down go sit down right there let's go the anointing i'm gonna tell you i'm be honest with you i'm kind of feeling that right now the glory of god is here and it's just there's nothing better you know i used to when i was a teenager and in college i used to drink didn't i billy rather heavily but this this this kind carries no guilt and no hangover and can actually help get people saved healed and delivered from demons and that good news amen but the people around thought they were drunk and it wasn't just because they were talking in tongues i'm sure they were just the joy of the lord there's nothing wrong with that i remember them see i remember being at the brownsville revival and seeing them carry people out because the glory of god was on them so heavy you and you people think that silly i remember one time i got hit i got hit by the by the presence and the glory of the holy spirit the lord hit me and i hit the floor and i don't go down i don't do courtesy drops i don't just fall when somebody prays for me i remember steve hill went to pray for me one time the evangelist that was leading the revival there he never got he never got within 10 feet of me he just started walking toward me holy spirit hit me i hit the ground but there was one night i hit the floor and the presence of god was heavy and and powerful and i mean i was enjoying the presence of god and i started to get up because god wasn't holding me there but i the presence of god and i remember the lord said these words to me i'm starting to get up he said why don't you just stay here for a minute just stay for a while i said okay lord so i just laid in the floor let me tell you what happened the longer i laid there in the glory and the presence of god on the floor of that church the heavier and thicker his glory got on me to the point now here's what's interesting the word glory speaking of god's glory in hebrew is cabal you know what it means heavy it felt like that god laid a warm blanket of peace on me and it got heavier and heavier it didn't hurt it was the most wonderful secure feeling in the world and i laid there and the longer now here's why the longer i laid there the drunker in the holy spirit i became now i wasn't acting goofy i wasn't praying i wasn't talking i wasn't saying anything but after a while about 45 minutes passed i couldn't get up
and i'm laying there and and and then i couldn't speak and you think well that's weird now remember zechariah the the of uh elizabeth remember when he didn't believe the angel gabriel about john he said you will not be able to speak right so i'm in there i can't talk well the church service is coming to an end everybody's starting to leave i can't get up and i'm thinking i came there with a group of people i think if they don't come over here and pick me up i'm just going to be here and you know what i was fine with that i said they turn the lights off i just sleep here i didn't care the glory of god the presence of god and you know i would leave those meetings and go preach and just see people just get saved and delivered and healed and just the power of this listen this is what we need y'all it's time to break out of all what's the word i'm looking for it's time to break out of just all what's the what's the word i'm looking for holding back just yeah just timidity just hesitancy just you know it's time to dive on in it's time to sit down it's you know listen there are some people that have been baptized in the holy spirit speak with tongues and don't understand the power that god has given you in prayer and i'll pray in tongues for two or three minutes and don't understand the power pray in tongues for an hour and see what happens kenneth hagin i remember and i don't care if people don't like kenneth hagin kenneth hagin was a man of god kenneth hagin said that there were times he would pray in tongues for six seven eight hours he would pray in tongues while he was praying in tongues and for for most of his ministry he was a traveling preacher and so he'd be in different churches to do meetings and he would travel he said sometimes he'd pray in tongues for eight hours and then god would give him the interpretation or give him a vision and show him everything that would happen in the service show he would show him certain people that would come in and tell him you're going to pray for this one to be healed of cancer this one's going to come in with a demon spirit you're going to cast that out of them he would see the service before it happened and the exact people he saw in the vision while he's praying in tongues would come into the building and he would just he said i would just do what i saw myself do in the vision he said people get saved people got healed people got delivered from demon spirits he said things broke off of people they've been bound up with for for their whole lives there is power in the gifts of the holy spirit amen but the gift the experience the gateway into more is the baptism the holy spirit praying in tongues speaking in tongues
having a prayer life a devotional life a worship life that's in tongues as well as in your known language you want to know what diverse kinds of tongues mean diverse kinds of tongues means there's one for private and there's one for public and they get it confused right i'm gonna tell you if if if our church becomes a church that prays and intercedes in tongues a lot and gets filled with the holy ghost and starts getting annoying and starts getting a little drunk sometimes in the holy ghost i'm not talking about acting like a fool i'm talking about just getting the glory on you we will see revival because i'm going to tell you it'll make us a praying church some of you how many of you just be honest or struggle in your prayer life oh you think pastor dean struck yes i think sometimes i just hit walls i'm i'm i'm going to tell you so honestly the last few days i've just hit these walls in prayer and i know it's time for me to fast fasting helps break through those walls but i know i'm not training tons enough i need to go up in the woods and just pray in times for two or three hours amen i love what paul told timothy neglect not the gift that is in you what do you think he was talking about the gift and then he uses the stir up the gift of god stir up that means it's on you that means it's something you can do and i'll just say this i i don't understand why but out of the nine gifts of the holy spirit and i think it's because well it may be just because tongues is also for your prayer life but the gift of tongues once god gives it to you he gives it to you to use whenever you desire in prayer in worship the other gifts are as he wills you can't control them i don't control the gift of prophecy or word of knowledge or any of those things if you can control those then something's wrong but i think because and this is my belief because first corinthians 14 is pretty clear paul said i will pray in the spirit and i will i will pray with my understanding also it was a choice it was something that god said once i've given you this gift
to use as you need it's personal as well as public amen i'm gonna tell you god's happy about this day right i feel it i feel his presence on it he wanted us to be reminded now let's look at this we've looked at the gift of tongues and i'll just say if you're not baptized in the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues let me just explain something to you the holy spirit you may go in your prayer closet you may come in a church service and get prayed for and the holy spirit will come on you remember it says in in acts 19 said paul laid his hands on them the holy spirit came upon them and said but they spoke in tongues you've got to get this the holy spirit can come on you many times and desires to give you the baptism of the holy spirit here trey here's the baptism holy spirit oh wait see here it is take it now didn't you you had to do something right now here's how you do it this is what most people they can't get hold of once you know it's the holy spirit on you you he's not going to make you move your mouth your tongue your vocal cords he's not going to force you the holy spirit doesn't force you yield you take a step of faith you begin to speak not in english or your known language and it says the holy spirit will begin to give you utterance it'll break the dam of that river i use this analogy all the time or this comparison about the baptism of the holy spirit with peter stepping out of the boat jesus was walking on the water and he said these words he said lord if it's you bid me or invite me to come out there with you and the lord said come on so it was testing lord jesus if this is you i want to come out there with you that's how the lord said come on now what would happen if peter would have never stood up in that boat and stepped over the side of the boat would he ever have walked on the water no the things of the spirit the supernatural is not the holy spirit doing it all for us like the calvinists want to believe it is a co-laboring with christ now guess what god doesn't have to he chooses to let us be co-laborers with him i love what it says in mark 16 when he says the lord working with them he works with us he wants us to be involved it's just like faith helping me with the wood can i do it by
myself yes but you know why i love for her to go with me and i let her help me pick up the wood and put it in the wheelbarrow and do those things that we do it you know why well first of all she's learning work responsibility helping but you know what i just let her do it because i enjoy her being with me so see i could do it all god could do it all but he just enjoys letting you help let me help he likes doing it together amen that's what the gifts of the holy spirit about that's what the power is about that's why he lets us have these things he gets joy out of it i mean every dad knows this every mom the little girls that want to cook in the kitchen with them you can do the pie or the cake or the cupcakes by yourself but it's about being together it's about teaching right you're teaching them but you're also having fellowship with him that's what that's what that's what god's about he wants to teach us and he wants to be with us that's good stuff isn't it now let's just finish this real quick let's look at these i'm gonna give you some quick go to first corinthians 12. well oh i told you acts two didn't i we didn't look at some let's look at this for the naysayers out there don't know how they get around this one then we're gonna go to act uh first corinthians 12 and we're gonna finish for the day but acts chapter 2 for the naysayers that say this is not for the for today after peter preaches about jesus and whom they slew and hang on a tree and they kill the prince of life and he's preaching this and all these thousands of people in front of him got convicted verse 37 well verse 36 we'll read this he says therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly that god hath made that same jesus whom you have crucified both lord and christ messiah now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto peter and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do then peter said to them repent turn from your sin change the way you live reform the way you live metamorpho i love that word where we get metamorphosis completely change imagine that a preacher saying you gotta completely change right change your ways and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost for the promise the promise what's he talking about what they just received the gift of the
holy ghost you've got to remember this is the same day this is the same few hours he's sitting there and he's going you will receive if you repent and you believe in the lord jesus christ and you turn to him you turn from your sin and you turn to him then you shall receive you'll be able to receive the gift of the holy ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the lord our god shall call and yet we got denominations bible schools smart preachers men who should have knowledge women who should have knowledge and but they'll say no tongues cease prophecy cease miracles ceased the baptism the holy spirit the gift of tongues that all ceased they deny the holy spirit they deny doing so listen to me i know this is tough but they are rejecting and denying the scriptures they are resisting the holy ghost they are quenching the holy spirit and they are robbing christians and robbing the church of power needed power in prayer needed power to set the captives free needed power to get people saved they couldn't be doing the devil's work more effectively than resisting and quenching the gifts of the holy spirit in the church oh boy this is to you this gift to you to your children to all that are far off in the future even as many as the lord shall call guess what that means he was saying very clearly under the inspiration of the holy spirit this is for everyone that will ever come to jesus in the future who's on the lord's side amen that's what it's about y'all now i know do i love my brothers and sisters who reject this truth of course can i fellowship with them can i love on them yes will i yield or compromise or back away will i worry about offending them with the truth no i just look at i'm sorry but you're wrong you're wrong you're empty you're powerless you need this
jesus said it the apostles said it the holy ghost says it in holy inspired scripture so i'm not budget right first corinthians 12. and we'll stop if you're taking notes you better be able to write fast first corinthians 12. first one now remember we've dealt with the gift the gateway into the river the baptism of the holy spirit evidence speaking of tongues but then he gives us he talks about nine gifts of the holy spirit i'm gonna give you brief definitions of these okay because the word of knowledge is not just knowledge doesn't mean you just learn something okay it's different it's a supernatural we're talking about the gifts of the holy spirit they're all supernatural so the first thing you need to know there's nine gifts okay there's nine gifts and they're in three categories there are three gifts of the holy spirit that say something that would be the gift of prophecy the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues three gifts that say something i'll try to go slow i see some of you right how many of you know that we need supernatural utterance or supernatural power to speak right paul prayed for the anointing of the holy spirit the power he said pray that i may have utterance meaning pray that i may speak by inspiration of the holy spirit supernaturally so the gift of prophecy the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues are supernatural utterances supernatural speaking as god's speaking through you working through you being that co-laborer in speaking okay then there are three gifts that reveal something uncover expose reveal god is about revealing revealing secrets revealing things that are hidden the three gifts that would that are revelation gifts or reveal things the word of knowledge the word of wisdom
and discerning of spirits and we're gonna i'm gonna go back through these in just a second just giving you this will help you remember and it also helps you understand what they do the gifts that say something supernaturally gifts that reveal something supernaturally and then there are three gifts that do something the gifts of healing the gifts of the work of the miracles and the gift of faith see the gift of faith the bible says clearly in james without faith without works or actions are dead being alone so the gift of the holy ghost the gifts of the holy spirit in doing something supernatural thing the gifts of healing get people healed the gift of the working of miracles works a miracle now a healing can be a miracle sometimes if it happens instantaneously but the idea of a good idea of a miracle happening is like when they were building the you know they were having to expand the college there in elijah's school of the prophets and they borrowed an axe head and the axe head came off a handle and fell in the water he goes oh lord it's it the axe head you know it was borrowed and elijah elisha rather goes over there and prays and the axe head floats to the top of the water that's a miracle that's not a healing so there's a difference how many of you know this though that the bible jesus said that casting out a demon was a miracle did you know that he says no man can do a miracle lightly in my name he was talking about casting out a demon so casting out a demon is is in the category of a mirror okay um seeing a broke bone instantly healed is a miracle it's not it's kind of a miracle and a healing together but when it's so instant right now let's let's just work back through these for a second because a lot of people just read over this they have no idea what it means what these things mean all right first of all we've already talked about the gift of prophecy the gift of prophecy is a supernatural inspired utterance from god that can foretell future events okay are y'all with me everybody taking good notes all right so prophecy inspired utterance in a known language in your known language inspired by the holy spirit that encourages exhorts calls people near to jesus can reveal
events in before they happen okay that's prophecy tongues is simply a good definition of tongues is a supernatural utterance from the holy spirit in an unknown language or heavenly language or language you have not learned sometimes god can use you've never learned chinese and sometimes you speak chinese through you if need be that's a supernatural manifestation of the gift of tongues but primarily most of the time when paul said i pray in tongues and unknown tongue that the powers of darkness they don't know what you're saying he did he said my understanding is unfruitful right so tongues is a supernatural utterance in an unknown language to you primarily heavenly language tongues of men and of angels as the bible talks about right interpretation of tongues is simply a supernatural surge or inspiration to say [Music] to interpret what's been said in tongues and let me just say this it's not translation it's interpretation that's different for instance you may have a short tongue may sound like it's only two sentences but the interpretation may be a paragraph because it's not a translation word for word sound for sound syllable for syllable it is an interpretation of what the holy spirit is communicating that's why it's called the gift of interpretation now the gift of interpretation can also work not just with tongues but dreams and visions okay joseph we see that operating with joseph and with daniel the gift to be able to understand what god was saying through a dream right now so those are your gifts that say something and remember these are all supernatural what we call supernatural surges of power you don't walk around and do these things all day every day in your normal life but all of a sudden the holy spirit come on you surge supernatural surge of power to do something boom powerful at that moment all right let's look at the the gifts that reveal something a word of knowledge now knowledge means an understanding gained by experience or a knowing what's interesting is these can be facts a supernatural knowing of facts about a person a church a situation that happened in the past or going on in the present
it's a word of knowledge meaning it's not a whole sentence of knowledge something you get what i'm saying it's a revelation for instance i give you not an unders uh uh an understanding of the word of knowledge um i had a lady one time this is when i pastored church in montgomery she was visiting from atlanta i had never seen her before she was visiting family she looked us up on the internet she came to church i'd never seen her before in my life right so i preach don't even remember what i preached on that sunday morning but she came forward in the altar called i just kind of gave an altar call for christians that just wanted a touch from god or needed refreshing and she came forward and i laid hands on her the moment i laid hands on her i saw a vision of her standing in the aisle of a grocery store and the lord begins to speak to me and tells me to tell her don't tell her not to be afraid but to go ahead and share the gospel with people even in the grocery store right and i told her what i saw she just i just i in this is a lot of times i don't know i just see tears start rolling down i thought well it must be the lord right there so after the servers you know she tells me she said two things she said i've been asking god where are the men of god where are the prophets of god that hear from god are there any that hear from god anymore she said i've been asking that she said where are the gifts of the holy spirit she said but also she said just this week i took a job in a grocery store as one of those people who stand in the aisle and let you taste stuff and she said i've been having people come up to take the samples and there are people at times come up and i feel like i'm supposed to talk to them but i've been afraid to witness to them and she said i've been wondering lord should i should i go ahead and witness to and it's exactly what i saw and what i told her that was a word of knowledge now it came in a vision form but it also came in words of what to tell her about something going on in her life right then and in the past you see what i'm saying and it confirmed to her it gave her clear direction and a clear answer to a question so it revealed to me supernaturally revealed to me what she was doing where she was at what and got me what she needed to hear to encourage her to step out and share the gospel at work right so that's a word of knowledge word of wisdom is a little different a word of wisdom is a supernatural revelation of god's wisdom and about his will
let's see here let me just say the same story that i just told you really had a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom and see this is something you got to understand sometimes the gifts will work two two three together at a time because what i told her me seeing her in the grocery store was a word of knowledge that was a supernatural revelation of what she was doing right of her life the word of wisdom was yes the will of god is for you to go ahead and prophesy or go ahead and preach the gospel to people that come up to you you see the difference sometimes the word of wisdom can come to you and you just have a knowing or a revelation of what you should do in a situation you can you you'll say i don't know how i know but i just know this is what to do a lot of people a lot of christians have that happen to them more than they realize i know that husbands a lot of times and wives you need to listen to me on this you know i know we got some crazies out here on the internet talking about women and men in the home husbands and wives are equal leaders now that's baloney yeah bible's very clear the husband is the head of the wife and the head of the family wives there's a lot of wives that there's a reason there's a lot of troubles you is this that wives tend to think and it's a temptation from the devil it's a flesh temptation that women have i'm sorry but it is me and we have our own issues but women are tempted to try to control when they're supposed to submit especially in a marriage and this is what causes friction okay now doesn't mean i'm not i'm not this this doesn't mean again this doesn't mean men run over and don't listen to their wives about it that's not what i'm saying you should have a mutual relationship and then you you get what i'm saying but bottom line is they're going to be times that decisions have to be made and there's not going to be agreement on how to handle them and that's why you can't to have two heads a two-headed varmint is a freak of nature right freak but now we have a new term a freak of nature okay but when there's that point there's a lot of times that husbands don't it cannot make sense you could just it just drops down in you it's just like i just know what to do in this situation now again none of these things will contradict what's already written in the bible it will not ever lead you to do anything immoral unethical sinful but sometimes you need to know what to do should we go here should we not go here should we buy this should we not
buy this should i take this job or this job all these things and that and the lord have just dropped down you're just the reveal you just know happened to you just recently that's really what that was it was a word of wisdom right so where are we discerning of spirits discerning the word discerning in the greek means both to see and perceive things now let's just break it down discerning means perceiving or seeing spirits oh boy this one that makes our baptist folks nervous right they say uh he sees a demon behind every tree no they're not behind trees they're on your shoulder and in your ears and all over your church [Music] they're not behind trees and bushes they have no reason to be there they're talking to you and manipulating you and lying to you and deceiving you and keeping you from the baptism in the holy spirit that's where demons are but the gifted discerning of spirits is god to reveal to you in a situation what spirit or spirits are working this is where you have discernment of is the holy spirit working in a person or a church or a situation or is it an evil spirit working now sometimes this is just a matter of perception you just perceive it in your spirit you just discern it in your spirit it's not something you see visually but because the word means both perceiving and seeing there are times you will see in the spirit realm evil spirits or angelic spirits that might be working or an evil spirit that may work i'll give you an example many many years ago back in the late 80s when i helped a girl in satanism come to the lord me and my brother one stupid night the ozark mountains made a stupid decision motorcycle broke down in front of the high priest occult bookstore in the middle of the little town in the ozark mountains and we were camping on the other side at a campsite miles away there was a the main road went around and took about 10 miles but there was a cut through road through the mountain that was probably about three or four miles it's night time these people have threatened my life to kill me tried a couple of times mind you and failed god has mercy sometimes on the foolish the stupid because i say hey al let's just walk through this road well i won't go into everything that
happened but needless to say some of those evil people showed up to do us harm and as we were walking and we we were i mean in the middle of nowhere a road big ditches on the side of the road and trees and darkness and people were coming to kill us growling hideous evil people i just won't go into it but they were in the woods and they were following us and we could hear them and we knew they were going to try to kill us and at that moment i saw one of them i didn't know it i saw on my right my brother's walking on my left he saw them on the left and i knew oh lord so i said a little prayer and all of a sudden i saw four angels two in the front of us two behind us they weren't walking with us they were floating about four feet off the ground but they were around us at four corners when i saw that i'm like we're gonna be fine i said go hallelujah praise the lord hallelujah and sure enough we walk on for several miles nothing they don't come out they don't attack us they don't do anything and the next thing we know a few i'm about a mile later a park ranger comes by and picks us up takes us where we need to go unharmed there's been times i've seen evil spirits i remember helping her one time they were coming to kill her on halloween and so i was babysitting this former high priestess in training and i was babysitting her and i was watching her and of course she had been delivered at a time and she was about where far away is where nancy is right there and i'm watching her and it's about midnight and they're doing their hocus pocus and curses and sending their demons and doing all that stuff and you can feel it's just crushing i had one of my friends there i wasn't alone with her by the way another christian minister with me and all of a sudden i'm watching her she didn't realize i'm watching her and i watch her eyes dart over i guess would be to her left so i just followed her eyes and when i followed her eyes i saw about a four foot i could see through him but i could see him about a four foot little demon with horns jumping up and down and taunting her trying to scare her and i just said out loud i bind you and i command you to go in jesus name and disappear she goes how did you see that because she was used to seeing spirits by because of being in witchcraft and occultism i said
the lord enabled me to see it i don't walk around being able to see them but there are times god will let you see in the spirit realm what's going on a good biblical example of this is elisha and the servant remember and he comes out and he sees the army of the syrians all around in second kings he sees all the armies of the syrians and and the the servant is panicking he's going whoa oh lord what are we going to do they're here to get us a whole army and elijah just goes lord open the boy's eyes let him see boom god opens his eyes discerning of spirits lets him see the whole mountain filled with angels and chariots ready to fight you see there's more with us than with them all right there's been time a lady came up to a meeting we were doing over in georgia beautiful singing voice gifted singing voice but the devil was trying to steal it from her and i remember she walked up for prayer and i remember seeing my eyes are open and but i could see it but i could see through it a huge demonic claw with fingernails like this long dug into her throat and i could see the arm about this long and it was like purplish and this huge claw stuck in her throat right there just discerning the spirits i saw it commanded it to loose her i don't know what happened what happened there but she began singing again i know that right i could tell you many stories of discerning of spirits um paul had it in acts chapter 16 the woman that followed them many days and said these are men and servants of the most high god which show us the way of salvation she did it many days but it said paul was grieved in his spirit that means in his spirit he perceived finally though she's saying the right words there is a bad evil spirit with her and he he bound the spirit of divination he discerned it was a spirit of divination and there are kinds of spirits different kinds of spirits evil spirits and you can discern what spirit is working all right i gotta hurry up i know let's go all right so that's discerning of spirits word of knowledge word of wisdom reveal something all right last ones gift of faith gifts of healing gift of working to miracles those are pretty much self-explanatory except for i want let me unders help you understand faith the gift of faith for a christian we already have faith bible is clear god's dealt with every man the measure of faith if you're born again you have faith you walk in faith you live in faith so what this must mean something else when it's talking about a gift of the holy spirit is one of those supernatural surges i'll just put it this way it's it's it's a turbo boost of faith it's nitrous oxide button in the car for
faith it takes you beyond your normal realm of faith for example i meet a guy old mike pitts on internet he's been a church led him to the lord years ago but when i led him to the lord he came to my house with my cousin i led them both to to jesus they got saved sitting at the dining room table right but he had just broken his hand i mean just broke his hand been to the doctor they put a splint on it he didn't even have a cast yet he just had a splint but he he had x-rays it was fractured it was broken it was slowing so he said something about his hand hurting i said well jesus can heal you i said you believe jesus can heal you and he said yeah now the difference in faith and believing jesus can heal you is believing jesus will heal you right now i said well do you believe jesus will heal you right now he said yeah i believe it i said all right then i'm gonna pray for you i said take that thing off i said i'm gonna pray for you and this is a supernatural surge of faith comes i don't ex i don't encourage you to do this unless you know that you're having the gift of faith operating at that moment but when i pray for him this surge of faith came over me and i know he's healed and i grab his hand and squeeze it with all my might he freaked he about jumped out of his skin but i got a hold of him so he can't jump too high right but i mean first the shot look because he expected pain but then the the second shot came in his eyes it's gone and he started doing his hand or anything it's healed he instantly healed i can't tell you how many times that's happened one guy had a fractured sternum that would never heal so i said i'm gonna pray for you guys and heal you he said okay i said you believe it he should have said yeah he said yeah i said okay in jesus name lord heal the sternum punched him in the stern now not hard like i'd try to knock somebody out but i hit him pretty good you know those men can take it i give him a little punch a little marine punch right just a little stick enough to jar him a little bit he was like it's gone normally he said they would put him in the floor in agony completely healed and he was a satanist by the way jesus was just showing him i love you i love you anyway son right supernatural surge of faith and sometimes it's just sometimes it's just to obey god in something something god's telling you do something kind of radical and you just you just know i can do it i can step out and do it right and of course miracles and healing everybody we understand that laying
hands on the sick praying for them someone with the gift all christians the bible says these signs will follow them that believe the lay hands on the sick they shall recover all christians pray for the sick remember but remember my illustration just because you have some money doesn't mean you're a rich man right someone with the gifts of healing will be able to will actually see more people heal than your average christian just praying for praying for somebody okay so it's supernatural it's beyond so do we have it all right let's pray i know i've kept you a long time but let's pray i want you to understand this stuff i want you to know the more you know about it the more you'll recognize when the holy spirit spirit's trying to get you to move in these realms and you'll yield and flow and work with it amen all right let's pray heavenly father we thank you that you have not left us alone you sent the holy spirit to live and dwell in us to work through us and for us to be co-laborers with the spirit of christ jesus in us the holy spirit in us to flow in the gifts of the spirit to be baptized in the holy spirit to pray and intercede and worship in tongues to have interpretation of tongues to have all those things got all those nine gifts we went through in first corinthians lord i ask you to bless your people here bless those listening well everyone that listens that they would not let someone in a church or a pastor or a theologian or somebody rob them of going deeper of moving on in normal christianity that's to be spirit-filled spirit-led and powerful lord help us keep going help us go on further i ask you to bless your people with this and put a hunger and thirst in all of us for more in jesus name amen