Sermon

When the Spirit Moves: From Genesis to Pentecost

Southwest Apostolic Church

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  1. Welcome to the Southwest Apostolic Church podcast.

  2. This podcast is brought to you by the Southwest Apostolic Church,

  3. located at 3161 South Rowena Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, 46241.

  4. The podcast will feature preaching

  5. from our pastor and from other ministers, so we hope you enjoy it.

  6. Without further ado, let's get right into it. God bless.

  7. This is Bible study night, and we're going to start at the very first book of

  8. the Bible and the very first verse. Amen.

  9. Genesis 1-1. You know, you can take one verse of the Bible now, and let's read it first.

  10. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void,

  11. and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

  12. And I'd like to talk tonight about the Spirit of God.

  13. Amen. Would you pray with me one more time? Jesus, help us tonight with your Word.

  14. Help us bring it out like you want it to be, and we ask you to do it in Jesus'

  15. name. Amen. You may be seated.

  16. We're going to talk about the the Spirit of God. The Bible says God is a Spirit.

  17. God is holy. So God is a Holy Spirit.

  18. God is holy. God is a Spirit. And what we're talking about tonight,

  19. all Christendom out there believe in the Spirit of God. Okay?

  20. I mean, it's just a thing. Everybody believes it. Now, there's differences about it.

  21. The differences would be when you receive it and things like that.

  22. But everybody believes what I'm talking about tonight, the Spirit of God.

  23. And in this verse, these first two verses are encompassed.

  24. You can see the whole work of God. You can see what you have here is without

  25. form, without void and darkness and upon the face of the deep.

  26. And then you have this moving of the Spirit of God. And then God begins to speak.

  27. After you have the emptiness, void. Now, when you read the scripture,

  28. especially the Old Testament, they have a way of not repeating themselves.

  29. Like that first verse says, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the

  30. earth. And then the second verse amplifies that.

  31. Then it starts giving you the description of it. So that's what we have.

  32. But in this verse, we see emptiness, void, darkness.

  33. And then we see a move of the Spirit of God. God hovering over the face of the deep.

  34. And then after the Spirit of God moves, God begins to talk.

  35. And when God begins to talk, things begin to happen. Amen. Amen.

  36. Amen. So that's what we have. Let's see, where do I want to go here?

  37. In the Old Testament, let's go to the Old Testament first.

  38. The very beginning, of course, God, in the very beginning, God created heaven

  39. and earth and the Spirit moved. So we have this thing called the Spirit of God.

  40. We have a term called anointed, moved on by the Spirit of God.

  41. If you read in the book of Judges, you had Gideon, you had Samson, you had Othinel.

  42. These were judges. And you can

  43. read where the Bible says that they were moved on by the Spirit of God.

  44. God is, I don't want to say complicated, but it's, what's the word I do want? Help me out, Ruthie.

  45. God is complex. He's simple, but he's complex at the same time.

  46. So when we talk about the Spirit of God, you're just talking about God working.

  47. When you say the Spirit of God, usually they'll say the Spirit of God moved

  48. on somebody, and they prophesied. You know about Samson.

  49. They would try to tie him up, and the Bible says the Spirit of God would move

  50. on Samson, and he'd bust the ropes or whatever, and he'd have the victory.

  51. All right. But so that's in the Old Testament.

  52. You read, they even prophesied, the Bible says, that Saul was moved on by the

  53. Spirit of God with the prophets, and he prophesied.

  54. I'm not sure what was going on there, but if you read that, it's pretty interesting.

  55. But then let's look at Joel in the prophets. Let's look at Joel.

  56. Oh, well, no, wait a minute. Let's don't go there yet. Go to Ezekiel. Let's go there.

  57. Ezekiel. So you have in the Old Testament, you have a lot about moving God and

  58. you have a lot about the moving of God.

  59. And you have people that were moved on by God. The Spirit of God anointed them.

  60. David was anointed. That was the symbolic, how they anointed kings.

  61. And they anointed them with oil. That was a symbol of the Spirit of God.

  62. And after David was anointed with the oil, the Spirit of God was with him.

  63. But I want to look at something.

  64. Let's go to Ezekiel. Let's go to 11.

  65. Ezekiel 11. Now, this is the Old Testament, and this is a prophecy,

  66. okay? This is the Old Testament.

  67. Let's see, Daniel, and then Ezekiel. Let's see, which ones?

  68. Ezekiel, there we All right, Ezekiel, let's go 11.

  69. But then we read about something here in the prophets, okay,

  70. that's very interesting. He's talking to Israel, and he's talking to them in

  71. context back in that day.

  72. But this prophecy, of course, extends further.

  73. 11, verse 16, he says.

  74. Therefore, he's telling the prophet what to say, Thus saith the Lord God Almighty,

  75. Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered

  76. them among the countries,

  77. yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

  78. Therefore, says the Lord God, I will gather you from the people and assemble

  79. you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you

  80. the land of Israel, and they shall come thither, and they shall take away that.

  81. Okay, let's just drop to verse 19.

  82. I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you,

  83. and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, out of their flesh,

  84. and will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes,

  85. Keep mine ordinances and do them, and they shall be my people,

  86. and I will be their God. Flip on over to chapter 36.

  87. All right. So we see God is saying, not only is my spirit going to move and

  88. be with people, but he's going to do something on the inside.

  89. He's going to do something in the innermost parts of our heart.

  90. How many knows we need God in our innermost parts? Amen. man.

  91. We don't need just God moving on us on the outside. We need God moving on us on the inside.

  92. Amen. All right. 36 and 24. He says like this.

  93. 24. For I will take them from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries

  94. and will bring you unto your own land.

  95. You see, this goes way back to the Old Testament.

  96. But how many knows there was no Israel until 1948.

  97. You saw that those who are alive have seen that prophecy come to fulfillment.

  98. There was no nation of Israel for 2,000 years.

  99. After Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans and Israel was dispersed, there was no Israel.

  100. I mean, there were Jewish people, but there was no Israel. But the Lord had

  101. already said something in His Word, and He said, I will take you from among

  102. the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring unto you, you unto your own land.

  103. Then will, now listen to this, this happened, well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

  104. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your

  105. filthiness and from your idols, and I will cleanse you.

  106. A new heart also will I give you,

  107. and a new spirit will I put within you,

  108. and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart

  109. of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes

  110. and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.

  111. All right. Now let's go to John, the third chapter.

  112. Talking about the Spirit of God moving in our lives.

  113. So we see the Spirit of God moved in the Old Testament.

  114. He worked in people's lives. Then we see these prophecies where he begins to

  115. talk, and he says, I'm going to do something greater than that.

  116. I'm going to put my Spirit in you, and I'm going to take out that old stony

  117. heart, that old mean person, and make you a new person.

  118. Aren't you glad about that? Amen.

  119. Amen. So, and when we talk about the Holy Ghost, I've got that written down, too.

  120. Ghost is just an old English word for spirit. So that just means Holy Ghost

  121. just means Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.

  122. All right, so let's look at John, the third chapter.

  123. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This is fundamental, but it's good to go over it.

  124. Got some new people, others that might want to hear it. So we need to explain some things.

  125. Sometimes it's good to know what you believe and why.

  126. So Jesus is, the Bible says there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

  127. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou

  128. art a teacher that comes from God.

  129. For no man can do these miracles, what thou doest, except God be with him.

  130. Now, it's interesting, Jesus, when he talks, he talks so different sometimes.

  131. Nicodemus made his statement, and then Jesus begins to talk.

  132. It's like he didn't even hear what he said.

  133. It's like, I don't know if Nicodemus was trying to flatter him or what,

  134. but it didn't work because Jesus went right into what he felt like saying.

  135. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily I, verily I say unto thee,

  136. except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

  137. So, and Nicodemus, he stuns Nicodemus a little bit.

  138. And Nicodemus said, well, how can a man be born when he's old?

  139. Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?

  140. That's a good question, right?

  141. Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water

  142. and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

  143. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

  144. Marvel not, I say, you must be born again. So he lets them, and then they go on to say,

  145. well, I don't want to stop there, but he goes on to say in a minute,

  146. but he's something else, but he said, Nicodemus, there's a natural birth and

  147. there's a spiritual birth.

  148. And then he says, the wind blows where it lists us. That means where it wants to.

  149. And thou hearest the sound thereof, but you can't tell whether it comes or whether it goes.

  150. Anybody ever been out and the wind blows and the leaves are out of a little

  151. and you hear the sound of the wind, the wind's blowing, but you don't know where it comes from.

  152. You don't know where it's going. You can't see it, but you can hear it.

  153. Everybody say hear it. That's very important.

  154. You can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. So, now listen to this.

  155. I'm in the Bible now. so is everyone that is born of the spirit.

  156. Okay. There's a natural birth. There's a spiritual birth.

  157. And it's just like it is in the natural. When that baby is born,

  158. what happens before a baby's born?

  159. When my oldest boy was getting ready to be born, I can remember it.

  160. Ruthie woke me up said, it's time to go. And I said, how do you know?

  161. I didn't want to get up. How do you know? She said, my water broke.

  162. My water broke. That means water has come out of that womb and it's time for that baby to be born.

  163. So we go to hospital and we're there about all night. And then.

  164. She tells this story everywhere that she was about ready to,

  165. we had to go to, it was Wishard back then.

  166. I wasn't working. We didn't have any money. And we went to Wishard and she didn't

  167. have her own real good, you know, own personal doctor. She didn't have a personal doctor.

  168. And so we was dealing with whoever they assigned to her. Well,

  169. it was shift change right around eight o'clock in the morning or so.

  170. And she said, go find me a doctor.

  171. So this baby's coming out. She didn't even get an epidural or nothing.

  172. She said, this baby's coming. So I just do what any good husband would do.

  173. I walk through the door and look this way and look that way and said, I can't find one.

  174. You mean you can't find a doctor? This is a hospital. There's got to be a doctor in here somewhere.

  175. Because women are real calm when that baby's about to be born. You know that.

  176. They're real calm. But anyway, when that baby's born, you know what they're looking for.

  177. Of course, you take them out and they're wiping them out and they're wiping

  178. their eyes and they're cleaning them off and everything. But they're looking for something.

  179. Somebody tell me what they're looking for. Waiting on that sound, aren't they?

  180. Why? When that baby does that, everything's all right. When they stick that

  181. thing in and get that stuff out of their throat and, and,

  182. And then when that baby, he's alive. Amen.

  183. As it is in the natural, so it is in the spirit. Okay.

  184. There is a new birth. There's a natural birth and there is a new spiritual birth.

  185. And that birth that Jesus said is water and the spirit.

  186. And of course, we know that water is, we go through the water and baptism and

  187. the birth of the Spirit is when you receive the Holy Ghost.

  188. Now, let's go to John 14.

  189. We'll go over real quick.

  190. Okay. I was just thinking and wrote all this down.

  191. I got verse 14. Let's see.

  192. Verse 14, chapter 14, verse 16.

  193. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he

  194. may abide with you forever.

  195. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him

  196. not. Now listen to what he says here.

  197. It seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him for he dwelleth with you.

  198. Who was dwelling with them right there? Who was talking to him?

  199. Jesus. He said, he's dwelling with you, but he said, he shall be what? in you.

  200. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come again.

  201. I will come to you. And yet a little while the world seeth me no more,

  202. but you see me because I live, ye shall live also.

  203. And then the next verse is a very theological statement.

  204. He says, And in that day, at that time, you'll know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in.

  205. Going to know about God. God's going to be in you. I'm going to be in you.

  206. Okay. And now that's pretty heavy stuff. And you have to really understand all

  207. that. You have to really break it down.

  208. But I want you to know that. So Jesus was telling them that he's getting ready

  209. to leave in the night. You know, he's getting ready to die. He was getting ready to sin.

  210. And he lets him know, don't let your heart be troubled in the very first part of the chapter.

  211. And then he says, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a

  212. place for you, if it wasn't true, I wouldn't tell you that so, but I will come again.

  213. All right. So now let's go to, now

  214. let's go look at Joel back in the Old Testament again and book of Joel.

  215. Now we talked about the old, we talked about in Ezekiel where the Lord talked

  216. about being in them and et cetera.

  217. Okay. This Bible's too much stuff in it.

  218. Daniel, Jonah, Joel 2 is where we want to go.

  219. Joel 2 and verse, let's see, 28.

  220. We're talking about the Holy Ghost tonight. We're talking about the Spirit of

  221. God, talking about God moving in our lives and the work of God and what God

  222. wants to do for every man, woman, boy, and girl. I believe that. 28.

  223. Is that what I said? Let me look again, Joel 2, 28.

  224. And let's see. And it shall come to pass afterward.

  225. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

  226. Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

  227. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days I will pour out of my spirit.

  228. All right, now let's Let's go to Luke 24, Matthew, Mark, Luke 24.

  229. We're talking about this promise.

  230. Jesus, well, that's what I'm getting ready to read. Let me tell you what I'm

  231. reading here. Luke 24. This is a Bible study.

  232. And this, how many knows with the Bible, you have to, well, that's another scripture

  233. I could turn to, but Luke 24, 49, it says this.

  234. Well, I've got to go to 44. And he said unto them, These are the words which

  235. I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,

  236. which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.

  237. Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.

  238. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer

  239. and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of

  240. sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem,

  241. ye are witnesses of these things, and behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you.

  242. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.

  243. Now flip on over, go to Acts the first chapter now. All right.

  244. Pardon me? Never mind. Acts 1, 4. Send me a text.

  245. This is these two verses. Luke 24 and Acts 1 are together.

  246. It's just another writing of the same happening.

  247. And he, being assembled together with them, commanded them, they should not

  248. depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,

  249. which saith he, ye have heard of me.

  250. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.

  251. And when they would come together, they asked of him, Lord, will you restore

  252. at this time the kingdom to Israel?

  253. And he lets them know that's not what he was talking about.

  254. It's not for you to know the times or the seasons, but he said,

  255. you shall receive power.

  256. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto

  257. me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

  258. So flip over to Acts chapter 2.

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  259. We need the Spirit of God moving in our midst.

  260. You can't do anything without the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God makes all the difference.

  261. Now, and we are what they call us Pentecostal because we believe in a moving

  262. of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. Amen.

  263. We believe, does anybody believe that tonight? God absolutely works in our lives.

  264. He comes to indwell in us, and it is a born-again experience that's for anybody,

  265. whosoever will, the Bible says. Amen. man.

  266. But so now verse chapter two, when the day of Pentecost, that's why they call us Pentecostals. Okay.

  267. That was a Jewish feast day. The 50th day after the resurrection was come.

  268. They were all with one accord in one place. Remember he told them to go to Jerusalem

  269. and stay there until you receive the promise. I told you about it.

  270. I told you what was coming. I told you I was going to send a comforter.

  271. I told you I was going to be with you. I'm telling you, go there and stay.

  272. So they were all there. If you read in chapter one, there was 120 in this upper

  273. room, married, the mother of Jesus was there. The disciples were there.

  274. So now, but when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place.

  275. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,

  276. and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

  277. Now, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,

  278. and it set upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,

  279. and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

  280. Tongues just means language, okay?

  281. So they all started, and there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews,

  282. devout men out of every nation under heaven.

  283. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded

  284. because every man heard them speak in his own language.

  285. And they were all amazed and marveled and said to one another,

  286. these guys are all, who are these guys?

  287. They're just talking in our language. These are all Galileans.

  288. And how do we hear every man in our own language where we were born?

  289. And it goes on and lists some different countries.

  290. And others, then they accused them of being drunk. Now, that's interesting.

  291. That first part of that chapter, I'm not sure, from verse 2,

  292. when it talked about the rushing mighty wind, and then it talks about cloven tongues like as a fire.

  293. You see pictures of little fire things on top of their heads,

  294. you know, and some of these pictures like if they're in the upper.

  295. I'm not sure that's what it's telling us.

  296. I think what that is describing, How many has ever been around when the Spirit of God come in the room?

  297. Anybody ever been around when the Spirit of God? You'll hear some noise. It'll be noisy.

  298. And if you don't like noise, you don't want to go to heaven because it's going to be noisy up there.

  299. Music.

  300. Praise the Lord. Worthy is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

  301. If you don't like noise, you don't want to go to heaven, praise the Lord. Okay.

  302. But so it's explained. So the spirit of God, in other words,

  303. and they were filled with the Holy Ghost.

  304. So they were filled with the Holy Ghost. And what happens to me in my mind is

  305. that their tongues start flickering and the Holy Ghost comes on them and they

  306. begin to speak in another language.

  307. And that's a description of the power of God coming in the room.

  308. And they all began to speak in tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance, okay?

  309. Now, and then everybody that heard it said, well, they're drunk.

  310. Now, let me say this. When the Holy Ghost moves, there's something going on.

  311. Anybody ever been around any people drunk before?

  312. Nobody in here has never been drunk. Y'all too good for that, I'm sure.

  313. But you know what happens when people are drunk? They stagger around.

  314. They might be singing a song, you know, Danny boy, you know,

  315. they might bust out with something, you know, you never know what song somebody's

  316. going to bust out and they're staggering around and, and they're getting loud.

  317. Hey, Johnny, how you doing? And so something was going on in that room when

  318. the Holy Ghost was poured out.

  319. I'll tell you what I'd like to see. I'd like to see a.

  320. Music.

  321. Laughing and carrying on because that's when God moves, it moves people.

  322. Now, let me say, God can come in like the dew the Bible talks about,

  323. but most of the time when the Holy Ghost really moves, it's like the sound of a rushing mighty wind.

  324. If you've ever heard congregations moving and singing under the power of God,

  325. I want to hear and see a move of the Spirit of God because without it,

  326. we're formless, we're void, and we're in darkness.

  327. Nothing. We have nothing without it. Just like at the very beginning of the

  328. Bible, there was nothing.

  329. It was without form and void and emptiness.

  330. And that's the way it is in people's life without the Spirit of God.

  331. They go through life empty. They go through life with no purpose.

  332. But I'm here to tell you, the Holy Ghost has come to help people and give them

  333. purpose and be their comforter and take them along life's journey and be with them.

  334. I will be with you. Amen.

  335. So the question you ask is, they said, these men are full of new wine. They're drunk.

  336. And Peter, standing up with the 11, began to preach to them people,

  337. the first Christian message, the very first Christian sermon,

  338. Peter stands up to preach, okay?

  339. Now, he says, these guys aren't drunk, as you suppose, seeing it's just the third hour of the day.

  340. It's just about only nine o'clock in the morning or so.

  341. Amen. It's just early in the morning. Amen.

  342. About nine o'clock in the morning, so it's only, these guys aren't drunk.

  343. But listen now, if you got a Bible, look at that verse 16.

  344. This is that, which was spoken by the prophet Joel.

  345. We read Joel where he said, and Peter quotes it, The last day,

  346. saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

  347. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions,

  348. and your old men shall dream dreams.

  349. And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my

  350. spirit, and they shall prophesy.

  351. Now, here's what I'm telling you. Peter stood up and looked at that crowd of people.

  352. Now, he directly tied what had happened to those people in that upper room.

  353. He directly tied that to what the prophet prophesied years before.

  354. He said, this is just exactly God doing what He said He would do.

  355. God is pouring out His Spirit.

  356. You have just witnessed the very first outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

  357. And the men and the women in the upper room began to speak with other languages

  358. as the Spirit of God gave them utterance.

  359. Music.

  360. They thought they were drunk, But Peter said, this is that this is what God

  361. has been promising all these years. Hallelujah.

  362. This is the thing that you can have. It's for you and for your children, too. Amen. Amen.

  363. And he preaches to them. And then they and when he preaches to them about Jesus

  364. and they say that they get convicted and.

  365. What shall we do? What do we have to do now to make this right?

  366. We crucified the Lord, and that's the famous verse, Acts 2, 38.

  367. Repent, Peter told them, and be baptized, every one of you,

  368. in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive

  369. the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children

  370. and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

  371. I'm glad he's still pouring out the Holy Ghost.

  372. I said, I'm glad he's still pouring out. The Spirit of God is still being poured out today.

  373. Man. All right. And many other words did he testify and exhort saying,

  374. save yourself from this untoward generation.

  375. And the Bible says that 3,000 people were added to the church that day.

  376. That tells me that 3,000 people were baptized that day.

  377. And that tells me that 3,000 people receive the Holy Ghost, because the Bible

  378. would not tell us they were added to the church unless they did what Peter told

  379. them to do, unless it happened what God said would happen. Amen?

  380. And it goes on. Later on, they were 5,000 added. All right.

  381. Then let's go to, let's see. Where do I want to go next?

  382. Acts, what time is it? Okay. Acts the eighth chapter.

  383. Oh, now, so what are you saying, Brother Young? I'm saying the Holy Spirit of God is for everyone.

  384. I'm saying that God has promised it from the very beginning in the Old Testament.

  385. I'm telling us that we can have something greater than just God moving on us.

  386. We can have something greater than God just being around us.

  387. We can have God in us.

  388. I said you can have God in you. Amen.

  389. The beautiful experience, the beautiful Holy Ghost experience.

  390. It's wonderful. Can anybody say it's wonderful?

  391. And it's real. It's just as real.

  392. I can tell you 40, see, how many years ago? 43.

  393. 43 years ago, I was 24 years old. I was doing pills. I was doing anything and everything.

  394. And I knew about Pentecost because I had been around it when I was a child. You all know my story.

  395. And the Lord began to deal with me. Let me say, if God's working in your life

  396. and dealing with you, get everything you can get from God.

  397. Because the Bible says today is the day of salvation.

  398. Harden not your heart. And let

  399. me say, no man comes to Jesus except the Spirit of the Father draws him.

  400. So if God's drawing you, get everything you can get. Don't back up on God.

  401. Just dive in, get everything you can get from God, because that is the time to get it.

  402. The Bible says way back in the Old Testament, the Lord told the people,

  403. he said, my spirit won't always strive with man.

  404. That's what got me. When I was 24 years old, laying on the couch,

  405. and one day I'm laying on the couch.

  406. I don't know if I'd been smoking pot or whatever, but whatever I was doing,

  407. I remembered that scripture that said, my spirit won't always strive with man.

  408. And that went cold chills went down my back. And it wasn't just a few days later,

  409. a few weeks later, maybe where Larry Spall come knocking on my door and asking

  410. me if I wanted to go to church. And I said, no.

  411. And I said, no. He said, come on. I said, no. He said, come on. I said, no.

  412. It was Easter. You know, Sunday was going to be Easter. And he said, come on.

  413. I said, I don't have no clothes. He went and called his mom and his mom said she'd wash my clothes.

  414. And I was driving in the car. You've heard me say this before.

  415. I'm driving in the car. I said, can I smoke in your car? He said,

  416. yeah, you can smoke in my car.

  417. He said, can't smoke when I get to my dad's. His dad was the pastor.

  418. I said, I wouldn't think of it. So I'm smoking in the car and it dawned on me.

  419. I am so glad these thoughts came to my mind.

  420. I don't know why they did. I don't know why. But I'm driving in that car,

  421. smoking that cigarette, watching the smoke go out the window.

  422. And I said, you know what? You know, I was talking to myself.

  423. Well, maybe this is more than just somebody inviting me to church.

  424. This is God working in my life. Maybe this is what I'm supposed to do in life.

  425. I'm not doing nothing else.

  426. Just doing pills and quaaludes and reds and blues and greenies,

  427. meanie greenies and drinking and running around and carrying on all hours of the night.

  428. Maybe this is God dealing with

  429. me. Maybe it's not just him knocking on my door. Maybe God is using him.

  430. And I thought about that.

  431. And I went to church that Sunday morning and the pastor got up and he started

  432. preaching about the resurrection. He started preaching about Peter 50 days later, which was Pentecost.

  433. We just read it and he got his handkerchief out and he said,

  434. repent, you know, and, and he was, I know he was flipping that right between

  435. my eyes because I thought to myself, I know I need to, I know what I've been doing.

  436. You know, that's what we, that's the attitude we need to have when we come to God.

  437. God, deal with me, God. A lot of people, oh, boy, they should have been here

  438. to hear that message. They get the pitchfork out and throw it over their shoulder.

  439. Boy, that's a good message for Ralphie. He should have been here.

  440. But I didn't do that. When he was saying, repent, you know what I was doing?

  441. I know I need to. I know what I've been doing.

  442. And two weeks, a few weeks later, about two weeks, my sister,

  443. cousin, cousin, sister, Teresa, came over with her boyfriend and they got the

  444. tie stick out. And they rolled it up, and they started smoking it,

  445. and they started coming around the room. And I said, I don't want none.

  446. I'm going to church. It was about, I don't know, 6.30, and Larry was going to

  447. pick me up about 7 or so. And I said, I don't want none. That's all right.

  448. And they didn't listen to me. They just kept rolling it up and lit it up, and here it come.

  449. And how many knows? It didn't get past me. Praise the Lord.

  450. And so I smoked a little bit of Thai stick, and, you know, and they left.

  451. And then condemnation set in.

  452. And I thought, oh, I'm getting ready to go to church, man.

  453. God, whoa, what's going on here? God, I want to tell you, when God moves on you, it's real.

  454. When God talks to you, God deals with you, it's real. It's real.

  455. You lay in your bed and you think about it.

  456. You think about God. You think about what you should do.

  457. You think about where you should go. You think about God.

  458. God, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to be, Lord?

  459. You're doing, and you're praying.

  460. You know what that is? That's not just you. That's God working on you.

  461. I said, that's God working in your life. that's God drawing you.

  462. Amen. You're saying, oh God, I'm going to tell you what to do.

  463. Just reach out and say, God, fill me with the Holy Ghost, Lord.

  464. Fill me with your spirit, God.

  465. Give me everything I've got, everything you've got for me, Lord.

  466. I don't want to miss out on anything.

  467. I want to yield to you, God. I want it all, Lord. I want everything you got.

  468. Go to church and riding in Larry's car. And he says, now, if you sit with me, I sit on the front row.

  469. So I sit right on the front row. And you've heard me tell this,

  470. but I'm telling it again.

  471. They were singing and I'm feeling bad. And the little guy on one shoulder is

  472. going, you're high as a kite and you really should get out of here.

  473. And I'm going, yeah, you're right.

  474. But the other guy was going, son, today is the day.

  475. That Holy Spirit was moving and said, you better hit that altar, boy.

  476. You might not always have this chance. You better get with it.

  477. This is God dealing with you. And I'm agreeing with him. And then the other

  478. guy said, you're just high. You need to get out of here. These people's crazy.

  479. And I'm agreeing with him.

  480. And then I'm agreeing with the other guy. You need to hit that altar, boy.

  481. It's time. God's dealing with me. It's time. It's time to get right with God.

  482. Yeah, these people's crazy. I know, I know, I know. And the pastor got up to sing.

  483. They were singing. And they said, And they were singing, Jesus, I love you.

  484. Yes, I do. I really love you. And they started to quit singing.

  485. And I got scared. And I said, Lord, if this is you, you let them keep singing.

  486. Jesus, I love you. Oh, man.

  487. So I'm sitting there on the front row. And they're still singing a while. And I'm doing my thing.

  488. Yeah, I need to get over. I got that. Let me say, when you start moving for

  489. God, the devil don't want to let go. The devil don't want to let go easy.

  490. The only thing, you know what? You can overcome the devil just by saying,

  491. I'm going on anyway, devil. Just might as well back up.

  492. Just obey the Lord. Just obey the Lord. Obey the Spirit of God. Let God do what he wants.

  493. Doesn't matter what it sounds like. Doesn't matter what it looks like.

  494. Just let God do what God wants to do.

  495. So I said, Lord, if this is really you.

  496. Jesus, I love you. Yes, I do. I really love you. And the pastor got up,

  497. and he laid his Bible down, and they were getting ready to quit singing.

  498. I said, oh, God, if this is you, let them keep singing, and I'll go to the altar.

  499. Said, let's sing it again. Hallelujah.

  500. 43 years ago, I hit that altar right up there and I raised my hands and I started

  501. praying and I didn't care what it sounded like.

  502. And somebody said, that's it. Just let it go. So whatever I was saying, I didn't know.

  503. I just let it go. And it was like somebody opened the top and opened the bottom.

  504. It was out with the old and in with the new. Hallelujah.

  505. It was like fire shut up in my bones.

  506. Amen. That's been 43 years ago, and somebody said it gets sweeter and sweeter

  507. as the days go by. I wouldn't trade my Holy Ghost for nothing in this world. Amen. Hallelujah.

  508. The Spirit of God wants to move in our hearts. Amen.

  509. That is the promise, And that promise, as Peter said, for you,

  510. for your children, and as many as the Lord our God, all that are far off.

  511. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

  512. And you can read in the book of Acts. I've got it written down, but I'll quit.

  513. Acts 8, Philip went down to the Samaritans. They got baptized in Jesus' name.

  514. That's the way you need to be baptized. Somebody say amen. And they got baptized.

  515. And the Bible says they didn't, hadn't received the Holy Ghost.

  516. Peter and John heard about what was happening down there.

  517. Peter and John came down and Peter and John laid hands on them.

  518. And the Bible says they received the Holy Ghost. It didn't say they spoke in

  519. tongues, but Simon the sorcerer said, give me power that I could give people the Holy Ghost.

  520. When he saw them receive the Holy Ghost, he wanted to buy that power.

  521. And Peter got upset with him. That tells me that when they got the Holy Ghost,

  522. Philip saw, I mean, Simon the sorcerer saw something happen.

  523. Somebody say, man, that's exactly. All right.

  524. And then you go over to the 10th chapter of the book of Acts,

  525. when Peter was at a friend's house in Joppa, and there was a man named Cornelius.

  526. He was a righteous man, a just man, Italian man in the army.

  527. And he offered to be prayed to God always.

  528. He gave money, and an angel came and said, You need to send for Peter one Simon

  529. who's over in Joppa, and he'll come and tell you what you need to do.

  530. So the long story short, the men go get Peter. Peter comes back to the.

  531. House. And Cornelius has all of his friends and relatives there.

  532. And he said, the Lord told me to send for you. You're going to tell me what I need to do.

  533. Peter began to preach. The Bible says Peter began to preach to that crowd.

  534. And as he began to preach, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word.

  535. All right. So then the Bible says those that were with Peter,

  536. there were three man that came with Peter, they were astonished because the

  537. Holy Ghost was poured out on these Gentiles.

  538. And they said, because, or they heard them speak with other tongues.

  539. They knew they received the Holy Ghost because they heard them speaking in tongues

  540. just like they did on the day of Pentecost.

  541. All right. All right.

  542. So Acts 19, Paul is at the upper coast. He's going through.

  543. He meets certain disciples. The disciples, he says, Paul asked him a very important question.

  544. He said, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?

  545. And they said, we don't know anything about the Holy Ghost. Tell us about it.

  546. And he said, under then, how then were you baptized?

  547. And they said, we were baptized under John's baptism. and Paul begins to preach to them.

  548. And he said, John preached that you should believe on one who was to come after him.

  549. And Paul laid his hands on them. And the Bible says there were 12 disciples

  550. and Paul laid his hands on them and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and

  551. began to speak in tongues as the Spirit of God gave them utterance.

  552. 99 out of 99 people that received the Holy Ghost are going to speak in tongues, ladies and gentlemen.

  553. That is the initial evidence of receiving the Spirit of God.

  554. You don't pray for tongues. You just pray for the Spirit. But that's what happens.

  555. God, and I ain't got time to get into it. The Bible says that the tongue is

  556. an unruly member and set on fire from hell.

  557. Gets your tongue, he's got you. When he controls your tongue,

  558. that means you're totally surrendered.

  559. James, in the book of James, said, aren't great big ships guided by just one

  560. little helm at the back of the ship?

  561. He said, don't we tame horses by putting bridles in their mouth?

  562. He said, but you can't tame a man's tongue.

  563. You can try, but you can't. There's only one that can tame a man's time.

  564. And his name is Jesus. Amen.

  565. Amen. So what am I saying? I'm saying the Holy Ghost is for whosoever will.

  566. I'm telling you to reach for God and ask God to fill you with his spirit.

  567. Amen. Because it is a part of the born again experience. And it's for everybody

  568. that wants it. They can have it.

  569. Amen. Anybody that wants it can have it. Let's stand tonight.

  570. Thank you for being here. And it goes on. I could go on talking about the Holy Spirit of God.

  571. The Corinthians, in the book of Corinthians, they had so much trouble with tongue.

  572. They just got buckwild in the Holy Ghost.

  573. They must have been getting crazy at Corinthians because Paul had to calm them down.

  574. He said, now, wait a minute. You all come in here talking in tongues.

  575. You guys are just getting buckwild.

  576. So there had to be some tongue talking going on, Brother Breeden.

  577. Amen. And he told him, he said, now, when you come, he said,

  578. just prophesy, just talk about the goodness of God.

  579. He said, because people come in and see you act like that, they're going to think you're crazy.

  580. Not that you can't, not that there's not a time for the Holy Ghost to move,

  581. but they must have been really getting wild if Paul had to tone them down.

  582. And Paul, you know what he said? He said, quench not the Holy Spirit.

  583. And he said, forbid not to speak with tongues. You know what Paul said?

  584. The apostle Paul said, I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all do.

  585. It's how come it's so quiet in here? I'm in the Bible.

  586. Somebody say, somebody's waiting on the Holy Ghost to fall on them.

  587. That's what it is, praise the Lord.

  588. So the Holy Ghost is for whosoever will, and we want God to move with his spirit.

  589. From the children upstairs, from the front to the back, we want to be just like

  590. in the book of Genesis, where it's darkness and void and emptiness.

  591. We want God's spirit to move in somebody's life and fill them with his spirit

  592. and bring light and joy and peace into their lives. Can somebody say amen to that?

  593. Amen. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you tonight.

  594. Thank you for listening to our podcast. Southwest Apostolic Church is a place of refuge.

  595. If we can help you, we'd be glad to do it. Pastor's cell number, 317-469-3100.

  596. If we can help you, we'd be glad to do it. God bless.