Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24477 - We Need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit - Acts 19:1-7

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#24477 - We Need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit - Acts 19:1-7 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Acts chapter
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19. Acts chapter 19.
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I've entitled this Bible study. We need the baptism of the Holy
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Spirit. We need the baptism of the Holy
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Spirit. You need the power of the Holy
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Spirit in your life. You're not going to make it
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without the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, and we learned
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this many, many times in our studies so far.
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We were introduced to the power of the Holy Spirit back in Acts
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chapter 2. Remember Jesus, if you want to
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go there, you can hold your places in Acts 19 and come back
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with me to Acts chapter one or actually Acts chapter one and
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verse four at the beginning of the book where we were taught
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being assembled together with them.
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He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for
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the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me.
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For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized
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with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
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And what would the baptism do? Verse eight, chapter one, you
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shall receive power. That's the Greek word dunamis.
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A lot of Bible teachers like to compare this to dynamite, but I
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would rather use the English word dynamic, the dynamic power
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of the Holy Spirit because I don't think the Spirit of God is
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going to create chaos like an explosion.
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The because God's not the author of confusion, but rather he's
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going to give us a dynamic unexplainable power to
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accomplish all that God desires for our lives.
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So you're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
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upon you. And mark that word if you
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haven't already upon it's the Greek preposition EPI.
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And we're going to look at a lot of scriptures today and a lot of
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different Greek words that the New Testament was written in
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Greek and then we're reading it in the English.
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So we're going to look at a few words that are very important
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for our study today. This is one of them.
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And it says, you shall be witnesses to me.
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Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth.
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This is how the book of Acts opens up.
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The book of Acts opens up with Jesus saying, look, I want you
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to wait in Jerusalem. And when you just wait because
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there's a promise, and when you receive the promise, you're
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going to be different people and you're going to go around the
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world and you're going to be used greatly by me.
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But you got to wait before you go.
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You need to wait. And I think that's even a word
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from the Lord for some of you, that God has you in a place of
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waiting and you need to wait. You need to wait upon the Lord.
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And so here, if you were told to wait in the 1st century, Jesus
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is ascending into heaven, He tells you to wait.
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It would open up a lot of different questions, like we'll
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wait for what and how will we know and what will happen
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exactly? What are we waiting for, where
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we're supposed to wait? I mean, Jerusalem is a big city
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and on and on the list can go. But it's almost like Jesus in
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his simplicity and just a small amount of words.
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It's like, you know, wait in Jerusalem, you're going to
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receive power and you'll know. When you know, it'll be obvious.
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And that's what happens in Acts chapter 2.
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In Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes
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upon these faithful 120 believers, followers of Jesus
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Christ. They receive an anointing or
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what Jesus called. And this is where we get the
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phrase baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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Baptism is just a transliteration of the Greek
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word baptizo. They didn't choose another
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English word for it. They just transliterated it into
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a where we could pronounce baptism.
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The word baptizo just means to be completely submerged.
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And when we go out to the reservoir and you're going to be
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water baptized or you are watching water baptism, you will
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find that we're going to take you all the way under the water.
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And depending on how much sin you have, we're going to leave
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you down there for a while and then bring you back up.
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But we're going to bring you back up.
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You're going to go down because you know, going under the water
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symbolizes being buried with Christ.
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It all has significance and meaning.
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To baptize means to go under. It was a word that was used in
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the common day, Koine Greek of the day.
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They would use the word baptizo for many definitions, but one of
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them was to take a white cloth and to put it into, let's say,
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purple dye. They would take that white cloth
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cloth and completely submerge it in the purple dye and it would
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come back purple. It would be changed.
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And so here, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a phrase we get
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from Jesus himself. It's important as we begin here
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because this is a controversial topic.
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Unfortunately, one thing that Christians have a tendency to be
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really good at is argue about things that take away the
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significance of actually what you're arguing about.
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South Christians love to argue about things.
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They love to go back and forth, and I don't believe this and I
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don't believe that, you know, and I'm Speaking of secondary
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things, things that don't matter when it comes to your salvation,
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but things that, you know, you could even disagree on them.
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I'm not saying we won't have disagreements over different
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things that are secondary, but to spend your whole life arguing
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about them, it's just unnecessary.
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And so I've taught you over the years and I'll teach you again
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that whenever you hear the church arguing about something,
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try to step out of the argument and get to the root of what
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Jesus really wanted to teach you there.
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So don't jump in and go, I've got an opinion too.
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OK, We set your opinion aside and open yourself up to the
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teaching of God's word and see if God doesn't minister to you
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behind the argument. Because I think the world has
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seen the church argue enough. I, I think the world has seen
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the church argue about secondary like if, if there's one thing
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the church is known for today is how good we argue and
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unfortunately, maybe kick our, you know, kick believers when
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they fall, kick them while they're down and, and such.
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But God is doing a new work in these days and the breakthrough
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in the darkness that's necessary, even as it was in the
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1st century is the agape love of God.
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The world doesn't have that. It doesn't exist in our culture.
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It only exists among true believers.
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Did you know that you have a unique role in this world?
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And the uniqueness of your role is to display the agape love of
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God, to live with the fruit of the Spirit that God produces in
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you. And today we learn that we need
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the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We're we're studying the book of
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Acts, learning our history. This is the foundation of our
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church, this church right here in Aurora.
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The book of Acts is the foundation of this church.
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It precedes me moving here 25 years ago.
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It precedes this property when it was just land.
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It precedes the 60 or 70 years or 50 years of of our little
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movement of the Jesus people. It goes back and back and back.
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The history of our church goes back to the book of Acts.
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And we would do well to pay attention to the book of Acts.
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You know, post COVID, we were coming out just sensing where
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the flavour of our church was and what we needed and, and how
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God would have me to lead our church.
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I, I, I felt like he was speaking to me to go to two
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books of beginnings, like we're going to start over again and
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two books of beginnings. So midweek we went through and
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started at the very, very beginning in Genesis.
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And let's just find out where we came from and all the
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foundational doctrines of the church.
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It was amazing. We're in the book of Exodus now.
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And then the other book was here in Acts that we chose for the
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weekend, the book of Acts. Who are we as a church and what
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does God have for us? We, we didn't make this up.
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We don't want to be a part of a church that man has made.
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I mean, we are watching this more and more of, of churches
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that men have made have been undone by their very hands.
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We don't want to be a church that's built on man or man's
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personality or anything that has to do with man.
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We want to be a part of the real church that Jesus is building.
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Can I get an Amen for that? I was setting you up for that.
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I want to be a part of the church that Jesus is building.
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Because the gates of hell will not prevail against the true
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church. And that's why we're in the book
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of Acts, because there are so many ideas that get thrown out
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at pastors and leaders today. Hey, lead your church with them.
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Whatever's the new trend and whatever the new thing is and
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whatever the new book is and whatever the new study guide is
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and whatever. And I've been around long enough
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to see all these winds of doctrine and all these weird
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ways of doing church come and go.
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And even some of them are trying to come into our church, and we
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say no thanks. We just want the simple teaching
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of the Word, the vibrant presence of the Holy Spirit.
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And then we'll get to see what God wants to do.
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We're not going to find out what man wants to do.
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We want to see what God wants to do.
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That's our desire. Of course, none of us hit it
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perfectly. Our church isn't perfect.
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You're listening in another state, another country, another
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world, in another part of the world.
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I know your church isn't perfect, but we want to be as
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close to abiding in Christ as often as possible so that He can
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lead us and He can guide us. Because one of the things that
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we learn is that God is able to reach the World through ordinary
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people, ordinary people, regular people, simple people.
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He can use those that might be well educated and might have a
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lot of experience. That's not exclusive.
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You remember when Paul wrote to to the Corinthians, he said not
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many wise. He didn't say not any.
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And he says not many noble. He didn't say not any.
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So it's not that there aren't some wise and some well educated
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and just that it's not that. It's just like, and when all is
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said and done, I mean, we bring all that we have to the Lord and
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what do we have to begin with? But anything that he gave us,
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everything that we have came from him.
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We all came into this world the same way, naked and screaming
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did you know that? That's how we came in.
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What happened put me back in, you know, it's like what's going
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on? We all came in the same way.
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All that we have, including life, has come from the Lord.
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What do you have that hasn't come from God?
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Because this culture like ingrains.
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I've worked really hard and I all sleepless nights and I've
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studied real hard, but OK, where did you get the brain to study
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so hard and and where did you get the desire and the drive and
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where did you discern how God made you?
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It all came from the Lord and the theme of acts is the Spirit
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of God working through the word of God in the people of God.
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He reached the 1st century believers that 120 that Jesus
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breathed the Holy Spirit into the Spirit came into these
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believers at the end of God John's gospel.
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Now he tells them stay in Jerusalem because this is what
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you need. You're not going to be able to
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do anything without the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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It's not going to work. It's not going to happen.
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And that's the model we see unfolding throughout the book of
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Acts. God empowering believers with
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the Holy Spirit in dude on from upon high, going from city to
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city, country to country around the world with the gospel.
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Pick up with me now in verse one of chapter 19.
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And it happened when Apollos was at Corinth that Paul having
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passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus and
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finding some disciples. He said to them, did you receive
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the Holy Spirit when you believed?
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And they said to him, we have not so much as heard whether
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there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, And what?
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Into what then were you baptized?
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So they said into John's baptism.
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Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with the baptism of
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repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him
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who would come after him, that is on Christ Jesus.
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When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord
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Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on
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them, the Holy Spirit came upon them.
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There's that word again. It's the Greek word EP.
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The Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and
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prophesied. Now the men were about 12 in
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all. Now you'll remember earlier in
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chapter 18 and verse 21, Notice with me, Paul had told these few
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believers in Ephesus that he would come back if he could.
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And he said this in verse 21. He took leave of them saying, I
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must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but
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I'll return again to you, God willing.
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And he sailed from Ephesus. So he had to leave.
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He wanted to keep the, he wanted to keep the feast.
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He wanted to be there for worship.
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He says, I'll be back if I can, if God allows it.
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Because remember, Paul knows what it's like to want to go to
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Asia, which is where Ephesus is, and have the door closed twice.
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So he wanted to go back, But as we learned in our study last
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time, he just left it with the Lord.
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And that's a lesson you need to learn.
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I know there's a lot of things you want to do, a lot of things
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you want to accomplish. There's a lot that you have
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planned, five year plans, 10 year plans, desires, all of
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that. And those are great and grand as
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you choose to glorify God. But listen, you've got to leave
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it in the Lord's hands. It may happen, it may not
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happen. God may open that door for you.
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He may close that door, open doors, bless or closed doors.
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Blessed be the name of our Lord. You got to look to him either
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way, God willing. In this case, God was willing.
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I like that. I like when when my my will
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lines up with God's will, it's like a man, I want to be back.
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I hope God lets me. And then he's and God says, go
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for it. Like, yes, that is so good.
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So there he comes back and he meets these disciples, this
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these disciples. And he asked them a very
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interesting question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit
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when you believed? This is the key question in the
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whole text. How we answer this question will
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determine the whole flavor of this section, this paragraph.
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Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
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And there's basically 22 options here that we have before us.
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Option number one is Paul asking them if they're really saved.
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Is that what he's asking them? Is he asking them some technical
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theological question that when you were saved and when you
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heard John, when you heard the gospel, did you really receive
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the the Holy Spirit when you believed?
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Or is he referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit that
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is given to believers that are already saved?
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That those are the two questions because that's where the
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dividing line is when it comes to this text.
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There are two sides in the argument.
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Just in case you ever walk into this argument.
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There are two sides to this argument and and there are
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technical terms. I'll give them to you probably
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never use them, but you should know them.
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There are two technical terms to describe the different positions
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on the present work of the Holy Spirit today And camp #1 if you
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want to use that, group number one will be considered
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cessationists and group number two would be considered
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continuationists. And it I know there are
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difficult words we don't use very much, but just pull the
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root word out of each. Cessationists believe that some,
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and there's always debate on which, but on some gifts are not
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available to believers today, that the Holy Spirit doesn't
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work today like he worked in the New Testament in the book of
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Acts, and they would eliminate a lot of the signed gifts.
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And again, there's even debates on what gifts exist.
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Cessationist, I went through this in depth when we were
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looking at this text earlier, someone came up after previous
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service and said, where are those studies?
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They're in on the app under the heading of Ceres.
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So if you're looking on the app under the heading of Ceres, the
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Holy Spirit, I did, I don't know, there's probably 20 Bible
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studies to give you an understanding of who the Holy
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Spirit is, how he operates, how the Holy Spirit fits in the
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Trinity, person, the Holy Spirit is God, third person, a part of
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the Godhead. I went through all of that.
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So we're not going to, we don't have time suffice to go through
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20 Bible studies in our remaining time, but they're
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available to you verse by verse on all of them.
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So one side is cessationist, the other side continuationist.
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And the continuationist, if you just pull out the word continue,
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a continuationist, believes that the Holy Spirit works today just
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like he did in the book of Acts. If you're wondering, you are in
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a church that is a continuationist church.
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We believe that the Holy Spirit still operates today, just like
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he did in the book of Acts. We believe that God the Holy
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Spirit can do what he wants, when he wants, through whoever
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he wants, just like he did in the in the 1st century.
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We are continuationists. That's our theological
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perspective and we choose not to argue about it.
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We choose not to get into a debate about it.
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We respect other viewpoints, but we are continuationists.
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We believe that the gifts are available today, all of them,
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those that are listed in the in the Scriptures and and the Holy
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Spirit moving in our life. Although the gifts are available
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today, we believe there is a more excellent way that all
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believers should be living in that we shouldn't be living for
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the gifts. We should be living for the
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giver of the gifts, and the most excellent way to live your life
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is not to focus on the gifts, but to walk in God's agape love.
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And that's our that's a very simple summary of a very complex
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topic. So how you answer this question
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is going to determine how you handle this text.
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Is he talking to unbelievers and saying are you saved?
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Or is he talking to believers? And have you experienced the
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baptism of the Holy Spirit like it was mentioned in the very
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beginning of the book of Acts? We hold to the second view.
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We would say that these are believers that Paul already knew
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that when you're born again, when you're born again, that you
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receive the Holy Spirit. Paul's taught that throughout
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his letters. If you're taking notes, let me
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just give you a few things. We have learned from Paul's
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teachings inspired by the Holy Spirit that he himself knows
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about the Holy Spirit. Number one, we learn from the
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Bible that the Holy Spirit is who regenerates us when we are
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born again. It's because of the Holy Spirit,
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the Scripture, Titus chapter 3, verse four and five.
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But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward
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man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have
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done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the
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washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
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Paul knew about the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
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Secondly, Paul also knew about the indwelling of the Holy
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Spirit. He indwells the holy.
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He indwells the believer. He wrote this to the
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Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 3,
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verse 16. Do you not know that you are the
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temple of God, that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
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He knew that. He knew the teachings of Jesus
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in John 14 about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
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Thirdly, Paul also knew the teachings of the sealing of our
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salvation by the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit seals us
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just like the ancient seals that would be sent on a scroll or a
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letter. It would mark that letter as the
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official document of the one that sent it.
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And the seal of the Holy Spirit is the marking in your life that
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you are officially saved and will be saved until the end.
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Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30 And do not grieve the Holy
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Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of
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redemption. Paul also knew when he asked
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this question that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our
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salvation. Second Corinthians chapter 5
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verse 5. Now he who has prepared us for
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this very thing as God, who has also given us the Spirit of as a
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guarantee. So why do you think Paul asked
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this? Well, I believe he asked this
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because of something that was visible.
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I believe he asked this because he saw in them or didn't see in
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them evidences of a fruitful life.
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I believe that he came across these 12 and noticed an outward
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lack of enthusiasm or a lack of fervency or a lack of excitement
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or a lack of love for the things of God.
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Maybe there was no real passion in their life similar to what
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you saw what we saw in Luke chapter 24.
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Remember you have these believers leaving, coming home
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from Jerusalem on the way on the road to Emmaus and Jesus shows
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up to minister to them. But how are they described that
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they're just walking around. Haven't, you know, they're very
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discouraged as they're talking to Jesus.
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They're believers, but they're bummed out, lacking fervency.
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And so in studying this, in finding, trying to find a real
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concise understanding of the two viewpoints, here's viewpoint #1
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and I quote, these twelve were disciples, but not of Jesus.
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They were disciples of John the Baptist.
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They only knew what Apollos taught them, the baptism of
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repentance leading up to the coming Messiah.
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In their belief. They were still looking for the
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one that was coming. When Paul came to town, he
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recognized this, clarified the gospel for them, and immediately
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baptized them in their new found faith and Messiah who had come.
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End Quote. I find that an interesting view,
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but it's not entirely faithful to the text because if you go
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back to chapter 18, when you look at chapter 18, let's
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consider Apollos here in verse 24, it says a certain Jew named
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Apollos born in Alexandria was an eloquent man, mighty in the
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Scriptures. He came to Ephesus.
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The man had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
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So he doesn't have a complete, he doesn't lack understanding
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Jesus as Messiah. So if Apollos was the one that
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was teaching or someone like him, it notice Apollos, he had a
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limited, he had limitations in his teaching, but then notice
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what happened. God brings Aquila and Priscilla
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to him. It says that he was fervent in
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spirit, verse 25. He spoke and taught accurately
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the things of the Lord, even though he knew the baptism of
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John. So there was more to be
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clarified, and that's where Aquila and Priscilla came in
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verse 26. When they heard him, they took
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him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
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So they kind of sealed as we're learning in Bible study, many
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times in Bible study as as the pastor is teaching, you're
22:46
getting something and now you're laying a little more accurately
22:49
and you're like, oh, I never saw it that way before or I didn't
22:51
fully understand it that way before.
22:53
That's what happened with him as we see this husband and wife
22:56
teaching team. And then verse 27, when he
22:59
desired to cross to a Ki, which is going back to the area of
23:03
Corinth, the brethren wrote, that's an interesting phrase
23:08
that tells us that there were brethren in in Ephesus before
23:12
Paul comes back. So there are real believers
23:14
there. They're not fake believers or
23:17
half believers or there's real believers in Ephesus.
23:20
So whether Apollos or Priscilla Aquila, whoever taught them,
23:23
there's brethren there. They wrote the letter he took
23:26
off to Corinth. And then verse one of chapter
23:28
19, Apollos is in Corinth, then Paul's coming back to Ephesus
23:32
and that's where he meets them. So I don't know that that is
23:34
really a good way of looking at this text because whoever taught
23:38
them there's brethren in Ephesus and I believe these 12 are a
23:41
part of that brethren. The 2nd viewpoint is that Paul
23:44
met these 12 Christians and I quote and discerned there was
23:47
something missing in their relationship to Jesus Christ.
23:50
Yes, they were believers, but something just wasn't there.
23:54
Maybe they were discouraged, defeated, downcast, but like the
23:58
road to on the road to Emmaus, they there was a discernment by
24:02
Paul that they lack the fullness of the Spirit.
24:06
So Paul comes alongside of them and he is growing in the truths
24:11
of the gospel and revealing the fullness of their Savior Jesus
24:15
Christ. And notice he felt it necessary
24:20
to mark this time to water baptize them that this would be
24:24
the moment that it all comes together and he lays hands on
24:28
them. Verse 6 and the evidence
24:32
outwardly like we saw in Pentecost with tongues and
24:34
prophecies speaking forth the word of God took place more for
24:38
them than for anyone else. Just an evidence of man, OK,
24:43
because you know, sometimes you miss things and then somebody
24:45
explains it to them and then you're afraid of keeping missing
24:47
things and keeping missing things.
24:49
And here's a confirmation that God gave to them uniquely in
24:53
their own personal journey and walk that says, hey, here you
24:56
are. There's twelve of them there.
24:58
There's no doubt whatsoever now that they are completely born
25:02
again in their hearts and our hearts.
25:04
No doubt. This also happened, by the way,
25:08
again, putting a lot of scriptures together back in Acts
25:11
chapter 8 in Samaria where you see, go back to Acts with me
25:15
chapter 8 verse 14, since we're already there.
25:19
Acts chapter 8, verse 14, Philip's coming into Samaria,
25:25
There's great joy, there's healings.
25:27
Amazing what's happening in verse 12, it says and when they
25:32
believe this is Acts chapter 8, Philip as he preached these
25:35
things concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ.
25:39
Both men and women were baptized.
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That, my friends, is the definition of salvation.
25:44
These people are saved at this moment right here.
25:47
Simon himself believed when he was baptized and he continued
25:50
with Philip and was amazing the miracles and signs which were
25:53
done. And it's interesting, Simon is
25:55
separate from this. And we went in, we went into
25:59
Simon and how he's separate from these people.
26:01
But when we study this. But look at 14 now.
26:05
Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria
26:08
had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to
26:11
them, who when they had come down, prayed for them that they
26:14
might receive the Holy Spirit. Now who is going to receive the
26:18
Holy Spirit? Those that just received the
26:21
Holy Spirit, the ones that are saved.
26:24
So here and now they heard about what's going on.
26:26
They sent them down, they laid hands on them, and they received
26:29
the Holy Spirit. What experience did they have
26:32
with the Holy Spirit? Well, it says right there in
26:35
verse 16. For as yet He had fallen upon
26:39
none of them. This is the baptism of the Holy
26:42
Spirit. You see it in the beginning of
26:44
Acts. You see it here in chapter 8,
26:46
and now you see it in Ephesus because God's about ready to do
26:48
something amazing in Ephesus. Like this is, this is going to
26:53
be a breakthrough of the demonic strongholds of Ephesus.
26:57
And it started with this little meeting with 12 people.
27:00
It reminds me of of what God's doing in Aurora right now when
27:03
we first moved here and it was just a small gathering of
27:06
people. It's just very, very small.
27:08
And we opened our home and started a Bible study.
27:10
We had as many as five people show up and as many as zero.
27:14
How's that? And you're like, where did Marie
27:16
go? You know, like what happened?
27:18
No, it's zero people from the neighborhood.
27:20
And we're just like, what is the Lord going to do?
27:21
What is the Lord going to do? Well, God had a plan for Aurora.
27:24
Let me tell you, he had a plan through this little church.
27:27
There's little five that five group of five people that that
27:31
group that moved from God had a plan.
27:33
But before he works out his plan, he works on the person.
27:37
Did you know that? He's like, oh Lord, I don't
27:40
know. I don't know if you want me to.
27:41
I don't know if I want to be using it or no.
27:42
You do want to be used. And you got to allow him to work
27:46
through you. And before he works through you,
27:49
you know what he's going to do. He's going to work on you.
27:52
He's going to chip away and he's going to add and subtract.
27:55
He's going to use pain and problems and difficulty.
27:59
It's all nothing is wasted by God.
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Did you know that every day of your life God is making you into
28:05
the woman and into the man that He wants you to be?
28:08
And here these 12 men would be the foundation of all.
28:12
And the other brethren that are already there in Ephesus are
28:15
going to be the foundation of all that God wants to do there.
28:19
Here are these disciples, followers that are asked, did
28:24
you receive the Holy Spirit? I don't believe He was asking
28:27
them about their salvation. I believe He was asking about
28:30
their empowerment and they said in verse two, we haven't even
28:34
heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.
28:36
And so we have to ask the next question.
28:38
Is it possible to be a born again believer and lack in your
28:41
understanding of the Scriptures? Yes or no?
28:44
Of course, everybody starts out that way.
28:48
Everybody here that was born again, whether you were saved as
28:51
a kiddo in a Christian home or you were saved from the streets
28:56
responding to a gospel invitation, no matter where you
29:00
came from, there was so much for you to learn.
29:03
You did not get saved with total knowledge.
29:07
You didn't know everything. Some of you didn't even know you
29:10
responded to the gospel. I know I'm a Sinner and I need
29:12
forgiveness, but nobody laid out to you 20 Bible studies on the
29:16
Holy Spirit to understand it. It's going to take some time.
29:20
It's going to take some time to learn the things of God.
29:23
It's going to take some time to learn the Scriptures.
29:25
I mean, I think of some of you when you were born again, you
29:27
hadn't even read the Bible before.
29:29
Imagine that. Never read the Bible for some of
29:32
you. And I comes to mind because this
29:33
was me when I was born again, I didn't even own a Bible and I
29:39
had a lot to learn. So the idea that you have
29:41
believers here that had no, had not heard about the Holy Spirit,
29:46
that that's not unusual. That's not unusual at all to
29:50
say, well, I was born again. I've been walking with the Lord
29:52
for 10 years and pastor, I'm telling you right now, I've been
29:55
born again. I've been in a church my whole
29:57
life and you are the 1st man to ever tell me about the baptism
30:00
of the Holy Spirit. OK, this was the day God wanted
30:04
you to learn about it. It's OK, God has everything in
30:07
perfect timing for you. And so the idea like, well, you
30:11
know, I have so much to learn. I know, so do I Do.
30:14
You know, you could spend your whole life studying in the Bible
30:16
till your last breath. So you're 110 years old, you
30:19
know, and you spent your whole life studying the Bible and you
30:23
still have things to learn. The only time you'll know at
30:26
all, if you want to use that phrase is when you shed this
30:29
earthly body and you wake up in the presence of the Lord.
30:32
The Bible says that we will know even as we're known.
30:35
That's when we understand all things from Christ's
30:38
perspective. But it's not today, so don't let
30:41
that throw you. Of course, the fact that they're
30:43
believers and they haven't heard about the Holy Spirit, OK,
30:47
that's not unusual. Not only that, we also have to
30:50
ask the question, is it possible?
30:53
Is it possible to be a saved, born again, Spirit filled
30:57
Christian and still find yourself lacking in power to do
31:01
the work of the ministry? Yes, I see it all the time.
31:07
It is so common and what that the phrase you might hear
31:11
pastors or me use isn't not necessarily all the time
31:15
mentioning the baptism Holy Spirit.
31:16
Here's what you might hear. It's exactly what Paul wrote in
31:19
Galatians chapter 3, verse three.
31:21
Are you so foolish that you would begin in the Spirit and
31:25
try to perfect in the flesh? I see it all the time where men
31:30
and women want to accomplish the will of God in the arm of human
31:34
ingenuity, human education, human.
31:37
I mean, why would churches, you know, fall for all the trendy
31:40
nonsense if they weren't looking for some human way to save their
31:45
church or some human way to lead their church instead of just
31:49
waiting in Jerusalem and receive the power?
31:54
The Lord wants to lead his church.
31:56
The Lord wants to help His people and we have to have it in
31:59
the right order. We've seen and learned in the
32:02
course of our studies together how essential the Holy Spirit is
32:06
to our relationship with Jesus. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be
32:10
our helper or our comforter. Or you might have heard it
32:13
referred to as the Greek word, our paracletos, the one who
32:17
comes alongside to help us. In John chapter 14 and verse 16
32:22
it says, and I will pray the Father, and he'll give you
32:24
another helper, that He will abide with you forever.
32:30
We learned that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our teacher.
32:34
He said in John 16 verse 13. However, when He, the Spirit of
32:38
truth has come, He will guide you into all truth.
32:41
For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears
32:44
He will speak and He will tell you the things to come.
32:47
He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare
32:51
it to you. The Holy Spirit is our source of
32:53
daily power. Acts chapter one, verse 8, when
32:57
the Spirit of God comes upon us. Now, I do believe that the Bible
33:01
teaches us to expect and to receive and to ask for the
33:06
baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught it.
33:09
It's practice in the book of Acts, and it's clarified and
33:13
enhanced in its teaching throughout the epistles.
33:17
It's a very important relationship you and I are to
33:20
have with the Holy Spirit. By the way, again, note takers,
33:23
in the Bible, there are three primary relationships that a
33:26
person can have with the Holy Spirit.
33:28
Three ways. And it comes to us from the
33:31
Greek words used to describe him #1 if you're taking notes, the
33:36
Holy Spirit is in the world today convicting the world of
33:40
their sin. So of the six 7-8 billion, I
33:43
didn't check the number late of the billions of people on the
33:46
earth now and the billions that came before and if there are
33:50
more still to come. This is the work of the Holy
33:53
Spirit with every single human being on the planet before and
33:57
after the convicting work, the conviction of sin.
34:01
How will you ever know with absolute clarity, how will you
34:05
ever know your separation from God unless God revealed it to
34:09
you? So he does.
34:11
He reveals it to you through the Holy Spirit, through the
34:14
teaching of God's Word, through a friend, through mom, through
34:17
dad, to tell you the truth about your sin.
34:20
I know it's uncomfortable and I know it's hard to receive, but
34:26
it's the truth. The truth is, is that we've all
34:29
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
34:32
Sin. It's a Bible word.
34:34
It's a Bible word to reflect our imperfection or our unholiness.
34:39
It reflects a teaching, a truth that none of us are perfect.
34:45
So, so maybe in the language of our everyday life, we'll just
34:48
say like, I'm not perfect, I'm not perfect.
34:50
And we're like, we all know you're not perfect.
34:51
I make mistakes, I make mistakes.
34:53
I know. So if you make one mistake in
34:55
your life, then you'll never be perfect ever the rest of your
34:58
life. You can't.
35:00
You've made one mistake. And so when it comes to God, sin
35:04
is far more. It's the worst mistake you can
35:06
make. It's far more than just, oh,
35:09
I'm, you know, I stumbled and I fell and I have made a little
35:11
mistake. No, sin is an unholy,
35:15
unrighteous act toward a holy and righteous God.
35:19
And all it takes is one folks, although we have way more than
35:23
one. You know that, right?
35:25
If you don't ask the person next to you am IA Sinner and they're
35:27
going to say, you bet you are, especially if they know you.
35:31
It's like, man, what kind of church is this?
35:33
A church is going to tell you the truth.
35:36
We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
35:38
And the Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
35:43
The wages of sin is death. If you've been to a memorial
35:47
service recently, then you've been reminded of that truth
35:53
because all of us will die in earthly death because all of us
35:57
have been touched and tainted by sin.
35:59
That's the wage. But it's even worse than that.
36:02
It's not just physical death. The wages of sin is also
36:06
spiritual death. Spiritual death.
36:09
It's the separation. That's really what death is.
36:12
It's separation. Physical death is the separation
36:15
of the spirit and the soul from the human body.
36:19
Spiritual death is the separation of the resurrected
36:22
body, spirit, and soul from God for all of eternity.
36:25
We often refer to that as living life in hell, a real place.
36:31
Actually, hell is being thrown into at the end of the Book of
36:34
Revelation into the Lake of Fire.
36:36
So hell is even worse. If you can think of a worse
36:38
place than hell, that's where eternity will be spent.
36:43
And you go, oh come on pastors, a bunch of fairy tales and a
36:48
bunch of made-up things. Really.
36:51
Well, what what do you have in its place?
36:53
What kind of what's your philosophy of life?
36:55
Well, you know, I just live and party and we'll die tomorrow.
37:00
How's that working out for you? Living a life of emptiness,
37:04
living a life of broken relationships, living a life
37:08
with no hope? I mean, what kind of hope is
37:09
that? Your hope is not in the
37:11
afterlife. Your hope is the next party, the
37:13
next bottle, the next joint, the next line, whatever it is you're
37:17
into. What kind of life is that?
37:19
Well, you know, I, I just don't believe in God.
37:21
I'm an atheist. Really.
37:22
You're an atheist? So you don't believe in God, who
37:26
you say doesn't exist. So who don't you believe in?
37:31
Well, God, what you say doesn't exist.
37:34
Ah, I know, I know, I know. No, you know God exists because
37:38
God put eternity in your heart. You know that intrinsically, you
37:42
push it down, stuff it down. Well, you know, I believe and
37:44
you fill in the blanks of what your philosophy is.
37:48
And here's the reality, because maybe your philosophy is
37:51
thinking of this. Maybe your philosophy is, well,
37:52
you know, pastor, I just believe in all roads lead to God.
37:55
Ah, now you're getting close. I believe that too.
37:59
I believe all roads lead to God. And I know some of you, honey,
38:02
get out of this church. I can't believe.
38:04
Get out of this. No, no, hear me out.
38:06
I believe all roads lead to God, but not all roads lead to
38:11
salvation because all of us are going to face God.
38:14
So it doesn't matter what Rd. you take, if you want to use
38:16
that terminology, you're going to face God and you're going to
38:19
give account for your life. And really what you're going to
38:22
give account to is what have you done with my son Jesus Christ?
38:25
I mean if every Rd. mattered and they're all equal and every
38:28
religion is equal and every man made religion is equal.
38:30
If they're all equal then answer me this.
38:35
Why did Jesus Christ die on the cross?
38:39
Why was he buried in a tomb? Why is and was he resurrected?
38:47
And why are you sitting in a room filled or listening on the
38:50
radio or watching online somewhere to a room filled or
38:54
your room or your front room filled with people who love
38:58
Christ and have devoted themselves?
39:00
You know how it started? With the convicting work of the
39:03
Holy Spirit. You responded to what God has
39:06
done. He's always first.
39:09
You and I are the responders #2 The second relationship we can
39:12
have with the Holy Spirit is as believers.
39:15
When you and I are born again, the Holy Spirit comes into us,
39:20
in US. Jesus said, and I forgot to
39:22
mention the scripture in John 14 for the convicting work.
39:25
John 14 verse 17, The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
39:29
receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows him.
39:32
But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
39:38
So He makes a distinction between the two.
39:41
For the inexperience. Every believer receives the Holy
39:43
Spirit, the converting work of the Holy Spirit, where as Jesus
39:48
said, he will be in you. As Paul, we learn, the Spirit
39:50
teaches us, He seals us, He empowers, He empowers us from
39:54
the inside, He leads us, He guides us, He teaches us.
39:57
The Holy Spirit is real and active in our lives, which leads
40:01
us to the third relationship that we can have with the Holy
40:04
Spirit and that is the upon experience or the EPI EPI.
40:09
This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
40:11
This is where the Holy Spirit conforms you.
40:14
Into the image of Christ you have convicting, converting and
40:18
conforming. And so the then he said, well,
40:21
is there, is there such a thing as a second blessing?
40:23
Yes, I believe in the second blessing and a third blessing
40:26
and a fifth blessing and 1000 blessing that God loves you so
40:30
much that he will empower you for all that he has in store for
40:35
you, which is where our friends that disagree with us.
40:38
This is why we'd invite you in a little bit closer and and away
40:41
from argumentation and a little bit closer because sometimes all
40:44
we're dealing with is not a theological divide as much as a
40:48
semantic divide. So maybe baptism of the Holy
40:51
Spirit discomforts you, although it came from Jesus, he's the one
40:55
that used the phrase, it came from it.
40:57
But perhaps the way you were raised or the church you were
40:59
raised it or the theology that you were taught, it makes you
41:02
uncomfortable and I respect that.
41:04
So let's consider this. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
41:07
18, Paul says don't be drunk with wine, but instead be filled
41:12
with the Holy Spirit. So perhaps baptism is not for
41:16
you. Maybe you just need to be filled
41:18
and you need to ask the Lord to fill you afresh.
41:20
I need a filling of the Holy Spirit because over time, you
41:23
know what I find out, I find that I leak and I need to be
41:28
refilled and refilled and refilled.
41:29
Remember what Jesus said he talked about out of the
41:32
abundance of your heart will flow what rivers of living
41:37
water. You know what he was Speaking of
41:39
the Holy Spirit, which remind, you know, you think, OK, how can
41:44
I have the Spirit in me and I still need because, Pastor, are
41:47
you saying to me that when I was saved that I didn't get all of
41:51
the Holy Spirit? There's still more like like God
41:53
gives the Spirit in measure and a little bit here, a little bit
41:56
here. No, no, no, that's not what I'm
41:57
saying at all. When you were born again, you
42:00
received the fullness of the Holy Spirit indwelling in you.
42:04
You received the fullness the Spirit God all you received all
42:09
of the Spirit. But what perhaps didn't happen
42:12
is that you did not give all of yourself to the Holy Spirit.
42:17
Perhaps that's an area of your life where you have not
42:20
surrendered to Him in yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit.
42:24
Think of it this way. You had some 9095° days.
42:27
You're out mowing the lawn or at least watching your neighbor mow
42:29
the lawn. And it's hot and it's sweaty and
42:32
it's long day. All you.
42:34
It's the day you chose for yard work, but it's the hottest of
42:37
hot days. You finish everything.
42:39
You're famished and and you don't want a soda and you don't
42:42
want lemonade and you don't want a Big Mac.
42:44
You want a glass of water, ice, cold water, and so you go in,
42:48
you get yourself a glass of water and you begin.
42:51
It's the kind of heat and exhaustion that you have As
42:53
you're drinking it in, you actually feel it filling you.
42:56
You just feel. It's like, oh, this is so good
42:59
and so refreshing. I needed this.
43:01
You get another one. You feel, and you're just
43:03
feeling so good and you're filled.
43:05
Think of taking in the water as receiving the Holy Spirit
43:09
inside, but then you know there's more water available to
43:14
you. It's in the backyard in your
43:15
swimming pool. So you decide, hey, I'm it was
43:19
hot, it was hard day. I've already feel refreshed
43:21
because the water is in me. But I think I can feel a little
43:24
bit more refreshed if I go outside and I jump into the
43:29
pool. So there you are filled with
43:31
water and you're jumping into the pool now surrounded with
43:35
water. And I know the illustration
43:38
lacks a little bit because we're talking about a holy God, but
43:40
stick with me. The reality of taking in and
43:44
then being completely covered. You want them both, I'm sure.
43:48
And you're jumping into the pool.
43:49
You're not drinking it in. That's not the water to drink.
43:51
Amen. You don't drink it in.
43:53
You're not getting in any more of the Holy Spirit inside of
43:55
you. No, you're giving yourself
43:57
completely to water for refreshment.
44:01
Isn't that awesome? And that's what the guy, that's
44:03
what the Lord wants from you. He wants you to give yourself
44:06
completely to Him. I mean, think about it.
44:08
I know people are listening to me right now.
44:09
You've been walking with the Lord for 10 years and you are no
44:12
more mature than the first day. Why?
44:16
Well, you know, Pastor, I'm, I'm born again.
44:17
I believe you. I believe you.
44:19
And, and I, I, I have seen some of the fruit of the Spirit in my
44:22
life. I know I've seen some too.
44:24
And, and I, you know, Pastor, I, I the reason I haven't grown in
44:27
10 years. No, no, let me tell you, you
44:28
don't need to explain to me. I'll tell you why you have not
44:31
yielded yourself to the Holy Spirit.
44:35
You have not. What?
44:36
Why are you, why are you still dealing with the same things
44:38
over and over again in your marriage?
44:40
And almost always the spouse will go because of him, because
44:44
of her. But you need to learn to use the
44:47
phrase because of me. God wants to save your marriage.
44:52
He wants to deliver you from addiction.
44:56
He wants to empower you to reach this city.
44:59
He doesn't want you just to be a moral, you know, good little
45:03
boy, good little girl that goes to church.
45:05
He wants you to live in power. He wants you to live in
45:08
strength. He wants you to have his
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confidence. He wants you to walk in faith
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and you and I, we cannot do this on our own.
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Time will not permit to tell you the story specifically of how
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God saved my marriage and my family, not merely because I was
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born again. He had more, He had more.
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And whenever I say that, I always feel like an infomercial.
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And there's more, but God was starting to work in changing and
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regenerating me, but He had still much more and empowering
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me and helping me and saving things and relationships in my
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life that I could have never saved on my own.
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That's the work that God wants to do with you.
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Let me show you one more scripture and then we're going
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to have to head out. The worship team can come up
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now. Luke Chapter 11.
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Luke Chapter 11. So don't leave.
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Don't leave yet. I want, I want to give you a
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chance to receive the Holy Spirit today, believers.
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I want to give you a chance to be born again today unbelievers.
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I want to give you a chance to be empowered and be filled with
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the Holy Spirit and to receive it and here you got to
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understand this. It's so good Chapter 11 verse 11
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so good. You got to see it in your own
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Bible because it's so powerful. Jesus simple, simple, simple
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teaching. Simple.
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He says if and answer the question with me loud and so
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everybody can hear online and on on the radio.
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Answer what you think the question is if Jesus was asking
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you today, if a son asks for bread from any father among you,
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will he give him a stone? No.
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OK, you guys can do better than that.
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Will he give him a stone? No.
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If I ask for a fish, will he give him instead a serpent
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instead of a fish? No.
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Will he ask for an egg? Will he offer him a scorpion?
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No. I mean, it's so simple.
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Nobody does that. I mean, unless you're a horrible
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dad, like horrible, horrible. We need to to mandatory report
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you. That's how bad you are.
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Nobody does this. Nobody gives their kid a
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scorpion when they're hungry. Nobody gives their kid a snake
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when they're hungry. Nobody gives their kid a stone.
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Eat this rock. No, because even in our own
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humanity, we have a human love for our kids.
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They're hungry. You're going to feed them.
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We've spent our whole life taking care of our kids.
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Notice with that in mind now No, no Jesus leading in on he says
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if you then church being evil don't let that word throw you.
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It's a poor translation here. It just it's better to say if
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you being apart from God like you're not God basically is what
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he's saying. If you being evil know how to
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get good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly
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Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
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You can ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit just like you would
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ask your dad for food, just like you would come and go.
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I'm hungry. Can you feed me?
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Oh, yeah. Here, here.
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Take this scorpion. Tell me how it goes.
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Take this stone as you hear their teeth breaking.
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Take this snake. Nobody does that.
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And you know what? Your heavenly Father is so much
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better than every dad in the house today.
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He's the best dad of the house. He says.
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You come to him and ask the Holy Spirit, how much more will he
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give to you, the Holy Spirit? So today, if you're here and you
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say, Ed, this is it. This is it.
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God has spoken to me, I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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Would you just stand to your feet?
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I want to pray for you. I want to help you.
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Just stand up and say I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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I understand what you said, pastor.
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This is what I want. This is what I need.
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Even if you again, you might be in a different theological camp.
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OK, that's fine. Like just think, do you want
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more? You need more.
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It's not about the argument and it's not about the the the sense
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of man. I'm going to do this on my own.
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This is the power of God. Anyone else that would say this
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is what I need? I need it for my singleness.
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I need it for my marriage. I need it for that addiction to
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pornography or to lying. I need it for the anxiety and
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the worry I live with. I need power because I want to
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see our city change and I want to see our state change.
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And if the change that you want to see will not come with human
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methods, do you understand that? It will not come politically, It
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will not come through human reasoning.
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The change that you want to see in your home and your marriage
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and your family only comes through the Holy Spirit.
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That's it. Anyone else the work of God in
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your life today, Those of you that are in a good place sitting
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right now and you're like, OK, baptism of the Holy Spirit is a
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one time thing and you're in a good place where you're just
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sensing this call is not for you.
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I want you to put your eye on someone standing like a laser
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focused someone near you. There's quite a few people
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standing, far more standing than sitting.
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So you're going to have to pay attention to this.
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But look at someone right now. Get your eye on them and now get
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up and go to them and lay hands on them.
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We're going to do what the Bible says.
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We're going to lay hands on one another as a church.
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And if nobody's laying hands on you, then you move and lay hands
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and just like get together, don't be left alone, get
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together. This is the body of Christ.
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This is the work of His Holy Spirit.
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This is his desire for your life.
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This is what he wants to do. And there's, this is what I want
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you to do #1 those of you guys, they're laying on hands.
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I want you to pray for the person.
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Maybe God give you a word or a scripture or something from your
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DeVos today #2 the person that's standing, you need to ask.
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So say it out loud. I know you could do it in your
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heart, but you need to ask God, give me this.
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I need the baptism. I want the power, and just ask
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Him. And then I'm going to pray.
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So those three things, and we're all going to pray together.
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And I just want you to know millions of people are praying
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to God right now, and He hears them all.
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So don't worry about it. So you'll hear a lot of praying
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in the room. You'll hear a lot of voices.
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It's OK, God can sort it all out because He hears your voice
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singular. You ready?
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So begin, ask, pray, and I'll pray for you.
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Go ahead. Right now, out loud, out loud.
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The room should be filled with noise right now.
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Just let the Lord minister to you.
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Father, I thank you for the overwhelming work of your spirit
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this weekend that you are doing something, You are baptizing,
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you are changing, You are Lord, by faith.
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We claim the marriage is here. We want the prodigals.
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We claim them to come home. We love them and care for them.
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Let them feel our love. Today.
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We pray for our unsaved friends and family and our kids.
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We pray for our bosses and our employees.
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We pray God, for the pain in the room.
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We pray for the diagnosis, for the treatment, for the the
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victories in the room. Lord, we pray that you would
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answer the call to receive the Spirit today.
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Because just like fathers taking care of their kids, God you take
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care of your kids. Bless your church and bless
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Calvary that we might be used greatly in this community in
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Jesus name. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
52:24
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.