AMA: Is Being "Slain in the Spirit" Real? - Pastor Mike Houck | May 31, 2026

So we've received a number of um uh submissions, questions for the Ask Me Anything series, and um how that generally goes is David will receive those questions and then he'll write out a list.

Then he'll pick all of the ones that he wants um to answer, and then he leaves the rest uh for me to uh go through.

And um, and so um I chose this one is being slain in the spirit real.

You know, one of the great things about this ask me anything series is uh, first of all, that you're asking questions and we're answering questions that that uh of uh material and information that you want to know about.

But the second great thing is that it forces us as pastors to look into some things that we may have just kind of taken for granted over the years and and uh typically wouldn't deal with that subject matter.

And so I spent a couple of days reading uh both sides, you know, and investigating both sides of the opinion on being slain with a spirit.

And so I want to share with you what I found, um, also share with you uh personal experience that I had, and then um let you draw your own conclusions, but give you some guidance with regard to drawing those conclusions.

And then uh we are going to also answer the question: are we to rebuke Satan directly or ask God to bind him?

So we're gonna deal with those two questions uh this morning.

So, first of all, we need to define what it means to be slain in the spirit.

Um, sociologist Margaret Paloma has defined slaying in the spirit as the power of the Holy Spirit so filling a person with a heightened inner awareness that the body's energy fades away and the person collapses to the floor.

I don't know.

Has anyone ever been in a church service where they saw that happen?

A couple of people.

Okay.

Um yeah, so typically what happens in the modern um uh definition or the modern experience of being slain in the spirit is typically in a Pentecostal or charismatic church.

And uh the pastor might invite people to come forward, or they may not even come forward, they may stand where they are.

And so um usually it's through the uh the touch of another person, or maybe he'll say a word like fire or something like that.

And a person who um is um supposedly overcome by the Holy Spirit will will fall to the ground, and there's some varying responses to that.

Um some will uh just fall to the ground and weep, some will fall to the ground and they may roll around, and um and that's actually where the uh title Holy Roller came from.

Uh because um in the 70s, people would uh fall to the ground, and even earlier than that, they would fall to the ground and they would roll around and they would roll down the aisles and so on.

And there has been extreme um extreme instances of personal behavior uh with this uh thing known as being slain in the spirit.

Um, I won't get into a lot of that.

Uh I don't want to uh stir up any more uh controversy or uh suspicion or questions uh than necessary.

But there are some biblical examples of being slain in the spirit.

And if you were to investigate and ask that question, is being slain in the spirit real, or what is being slain in the spirit, you would find that both sides, those opposed to it and those in favor of it, would quote these scriptures.

They would quote the same scriptures to make their case of either being for it or being against it.

So let's look at just a few of the biblical examples of uh being slain in the spirit.

The first one comes to us uh in the New Testament, John 18, 4 through 6.

It says, And then Jesus, knowing all that would happen, this is when he is in the garden and he's about to be arrested, um then Jesus, knowing all that would happen, came forward and said to them, those who had come to arrest him, Whom do you seek?

And they answered, Jesus of Nazareth.

And Jesus said to them, I am he.

Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them, and when Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and they fell to the ground.

Um let me just share with you as I give you each of these scriptures an observation.

You can write the observation in the space below if you wish, but in this instance of being slain in the spirit or being slain by the power of God, these were not friends of God.

They were not friends of Jesus.

Um it wasn't that the Holy Spirit was revealing himself to them in a positive way.

Um they came to arrest Jesus, they came as enemies of Jesus Christ.

Uh they came and we know they came with the intention of finding him guilty and crucifying him of heresy.

But yet at the very utterance of him saying, I am he, and we know that that uh comes that's all throughout scripture where Jesus identifies himself as the I am, the great I am, when he says, I am he, uh they all just step back and fall to the ground and um and essentially would qualify as uh to the definition of being slain in the spirit that differs from the modern uh experience uh that we see of being slain in the spirit, where someone comes forward to receive a touch uh from God and uh or the Holy Spirit, and they are slain in the spirit, and God makes himself known to them.

The second uh scripture, biblical example, is at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

This comes to us out of Acts chapter 26.

Acts 26 · chapter mention

Paul's giving an explanation to King Agrippa as to his conversion, and uh he's saying that, you know, he was, as you know, he was on the road to Damascus.

He was on his way uh to arrest and to persecute Christians, and he was essentially arrested by the Holy Spirit.

Uh, the Holy Spirit confronted him, Jesus Christ confronted him, and all that were with him fell to the ground.

We know that Paul was blinded, and the uh the Spirit of God called to him and said that I will show you how much you will suffer for my name.

And essentially uh Paul was converted and um and he was uh commissioned uh to become the uh thirteenth apostle, if you will.

Paul here was not seeking a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but yet God chose to show him his power in this instance.

And then Revelation 1, 17 through 18.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one.

I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have taken, I have the keys of death and Hades.

This is the Apostle John writing of his experience uh when he received the revelation of Jesus Christ, he fell to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit, under the power of Jesus Christ.

When I say um the power of the Holy Spirit, I am I'm speaking of uh the Trinity, I'm I'm speaking of God, I'm speaking of Jesus Christ, I am speaking of the Holy Spirit because they are three in one, they are the same uh same being.

In these two instances, it was the manifestation of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit that caused uh them to fall to the ground.

This experience was a private experience.

That's the observation here.

There wasn't a church filled with people, there wasn't music, there wasn't uh worship, there wasn't any of that that was taking place.

John writes in Revelation that on the Lord's day, on a Sunday, I was in the spirit.

He was in the spirit, and uh Jesus revealed himself to him, and when he beheld who Jesus was, he fell to the ground.

And then we have one from the Old Testament uh from Ezekiel, and it's like the appearance of the bow, the rainbow, uh that is in the clouds on the day of rain.

So was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God, and when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Ezekiel saw a vision, a vision of God, uh, this bright light, he was overcome by the power of God, and he fell to the ground.

Again, uh this was a private experience.

And then we have another one, uh much less pleasant.

Um, and Peter said to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

And she said, Yes, for so much.

But Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord?

Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.

And immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.

And when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out, and they buried her beside her husband, and great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

So if you're not familiar with this story, there was a man by the name of Ananias and his wife Sapphira.

And back in that day, um in the book of Acts, it is recorded that all these new believers began to sell some of their possessions and bring it to the church so that the church could expand.

Now, they weren't commanded to do that, they just did that out of their love and devotion for the church and the in the goodness of their heart.

And so perhaps Ananias and Sapphira saw that other people were doing that, and maybe they were a little jealous and said, Oh, well, we can do that.

Uh, we want to be recognized as giving a huge gift to the church.

And so what they did was they sold a field, and then under the pretense of giving all of the money from the sale to the church, they essentially uh lied.

They they kept some of the money for themselves and gave the rest to the church.

Now, it wasn't that God said they had to give all of the money, they could have decided, hey, we're gonna give half of the money from the sale, or we're gonna give a tenth, or we're gonna give, but what they said was, and they they probably wanted the recognition and the glory for their gift, we have given all of the money from the sale, and essentially they lied to God, and so Ananias came in, the man came in first, and when Peter asked him, um, is this all the money from the sale?

He said yes.

And Peter confronted him, why have you chosen to lie to the Holy Spirit?

And he fell down dead.

I mean, that's that's the true definition of being slain in the spirit.

Uh, he wasn't getting up again.

And then a little while later, his wife came in and Peter asked, and she didn't know about her husband being dead.

Peter asked her the same thing.

Is this all of the money that you have that you received from the sale of the field?

And she said yes.

And you have the record there in your notes of what happened.

She was also overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit, and she was made dead.

There are other uh examples in Scripture of people coming under the power of God, falling to the ground, uh, but we don't have time for those uh today.

The observation here is that they were slain for their deception.

And the per, you say, well, well, would God really do that today?

Um, I don't know whether he would or not.

Uh, but the church was a new movement.

This this this thing called Christianity, or this thing in scripture that is recorded as the way was a new movement.

And whenever there's a new movement of any kind, there's always an attraction to it.

And so I believe this occurred, and it says that the news of this spread, and there was great fear, so that people would take this seriously.

Uh, this wasn't just uh, you know, something to do because it was in, it was popular, it was new.

Um they they needed to take this seriously, and so lying to the Holy Spirit and to the church uh was punishable in this case uh by death.

They were slain in the spirit.

Now, throughout recorded history, um there have been instances of people uh being slain.

So if those of you that are familiar with some of the church uh fathers, uh some of the great revivalists, evangelists, uh even of the 19th and 20th century, John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, uh all recorded instances of people falling during their ministries.

During the second great awakening of the early 19th century, Peter Cartwright and Charles G.

Finney also recorded similar behavior.

It gained prominence in 1906, as did the uh charismatic movement in what is known as the Sousa Street Revival.

You can Google that, look that up, and get some information about that and what was happening.

And that kind of gave birth to the modern charismatic and Pentecostal movement that we have uh today.

I want you to understand that the phrase being slain in the spirit does not exist in the Bible, but yet that's not a reason uh for us to discount it or to accept it, either way.

It's just not mentioned, much like the word rapture is not mentioned in the Bible, the word uh divinity uh or trinity, rather, is not mentioned in the Bible.

Um, so just because it's not mentioned in the Bible does not uh negate it or uh support it either way.

The Bible is silent on that phrase.

The phrase actually uh became popular in the 1920s and then again in the 1970s uh with the Jesus movement and some of the um uh some of the Pentecostal uh happenings uh that were taking place.

Catherine Kuhlman, uh who was a an evangelist and and a faith claimed a faith healer, uh, she used uh that phrase.

Uh many of your um televangelists, uh particularly in the charismatic realm, uh, will use this experience.

I want you to understand this there is no biblical teaching, mandate, or example of the modern practice of being slain in the spirit.

There is no record of it.

And and what we see today, where a pastor or an evangelist would call people forward, um, and you you can, if you want, you can probably uh see videos of it on YouTube uh where a pastor would uh touch them, they would fall backward, and there would be people to catch them, and they would be uh under the power of the Holy Spirit.

I'm I'm being very careful um not to be pro or con uh with regard to this, but just to teach you uh what the Bible has to say.

And so um uh so there's there's no there's no command in scripture at all.

Um the phrase doesn't exist, there's no command, there's no real example of what we see as the modern day um practice of being slain in the spirit.

So therefore, the Bible neither condemns it or condones it.

It's just silent on the matter, and arguments and silence are very difficult to support either way.

However, there are great differences of opinion regarding this practice.

Some say that it is a genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that uh that it is genuine, call people forward, they fall to the ground, it will also be accompanied by people maybe speaking prophecies, speaking in tongues, uh that kind of uh activity.

Um it uh and so you will find people on either side of the aisle and sometimes extreme sides of the aisle having varying opinions.

Some will say that it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and like speaking in tongues, it is necessary to prove that you have been filled with the Holy Spirit.

Um, then there are others that will say it is emotional uh manipulation, uh, spiritual manipulation, it is actually of the devil.

Those are the two extremes, and you will find um articles to support both of those opinions.

Um I want you to understand though that as with any Christian experience, any Christian experience, um it can be faked or counterfeited.

It can be faked or counterfeited.

Any Christian experience.

So for example, there, you know, um in some churches, and I I used to give them, I I don't uh give them much anymore, but altar calls uh where people would come forward to the altar to to receive Christ.

Um many churches still do it.

There's nothing wrong with it.

Um again, there's also no biblical mandate for an altar call.

Uh, you know, you some people you would talk to them and they would tell you that it's in scripture.

That's the way Jesus used to do it.

No, it is something that gained popularity in the 40s.

Um, and it was, you know, an altar call.

Um, nothing wrong with it.

I and I'll just leave it that.

It's just that we don't practice that often here.

If I felt that God was asking me to ask people to come forward, I most certainly would do it.

Uh, but most often we just have people sit where they are, raise their hand, or stand if they want to uh receive Christ or want to receive prayer.

We might call people forward to be prayed for on occasion, but again, that is all uh determined by how we feel the Holy Spirit um is leading us.

So people can come forward and make it look like to everyone out there that they want to receive Jesus, that it's this is a genuine experience.

Um but depending on their heart, uh it could be faked.

I mean, they could they could walk forward and they could go through the motions of praying and um and actually have nothing really happen because they weren't sincere.

Um we've had people baptized.

Uh they they're baptized because they have this idea I need to be baptized to get into heaven.

And so they're baptized in the church, and then we never see them again because you know they think that they've taken care of it.

Any Christian experience can be counterfeited.

That's the devil's main goal is to deceive and to um counterfeit and fake Christian experiences.

So, can people come forward and uh to be slain in the spirit and fall down under their own power and roll around and moan and carry on and have it be fake?

Absolutely.

Can people um come forward and experience the power of God, which makes them fall to the ground and have it be a genuine experience?

Absolutely.

I have my doubts though in the these um large church services where the masses all come forward um to receive the Holy Spirit and everybody falls down.

Um I have my doubts about those experiences, whether they're all sincere, whether they're all genuine.

I've had charismatic pastors tell me that in the majority of those situations, he believes that it is fake.

I had a pastor tell me of an incident in Fulton, I won't tell you who, um, but a number of years ago, probably 20 years ago, they decided they were gonna have a big tent revival and they were gonna bring in an evangelist.

And um so he went and he noticed that certain people, every every night of the, they had set meetings for seven days, every night, some of the same people would be supposedly slain in the spirit.

Uh, they would begin to sway, they'd begin to shake, they'd, you know, whatever, and then they would fall to the ground.

And as a pastor, he looked and he thought, that's just odd that that would happen to the same person every night.

And so I think it was like a Thursday night.

Um, I did go to uh one of the meetings, um, but but I didn't go to all of them.

But, anyways, on this particular Thursday, I was not there.

This same woman who would come stand at the front of the church during during their singing experience, you know, waving her hands and whatever, she'd begin to shake, she'd begin to rock back and forth, and then she would fall to the ground.

Um on this particular night, as they began their singing, it was uh it was a hot summer evening, you know, when the humidity is really high, and all of a sudden the skies opened up and there was a tremendous thunderstorm.

And within minutes, there was water, standing water on the ground in the tent.

And it was muddy, it became real muddy.

And she came and she was dressed all in white.

And so the pastor said, Okay, he's standing in the back, and he said, Let's see what happens tonight.

And so during the music, she began to shake, she began to rock back and forth, raise her hands, whatever.

And he said, Weeble wobbled, but she did not fall down.

She did not want to get her white dress dirty, and so he said, This was his conclusion.

I didn't see it.

He said, I knew at that moment that it that she was faking that experience.

Was she?

I don't know.

That's that was his his take on it.

Um any any Christian experience can be counterfeited and can be uh faked.

Matthew 24, 24, it says, for false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

And so, yeah, there are people who claim to be pastors, ministers, evangelists, whatever, um, usually associated, not always, but usually associated with prosperity gospel, prosperity movement, um, who are insincere.

And a lot of that stuff is fake.

There are also experiences that are genuine.

Let me uh let me take a risk here and uh and share an experience that I had.

So I've shared this with some of you.

A number of years ago, um the churches in the Fulton area would get together on a Sunday evening and they would hold a church service, and they would hold it in a different church each month.

And the the idea was that a um the pastor would offer his building, but he wouldn't be the speaker.

They'd have another pastor speak, or someone come in from out of town and speak, and they would just do this once a month.

And I would meet with these gentlemen and pray, and most of them were Pentecostal or Charismatic, um, from charismatic churches.

And but I would meet with them and pray um on a Monday morning uh for um we'd we'd meet for prayer and then we'd go to breakfast together.

And so I did that for a period of time.

And when I could or when I felt uh the need, I would go to their um Sunday evening services.

And on occasion, I even preached at a couple.

I went to this particular particular church on a Sunday evening, and uh they had the pastor speak, and it was a it was a good message.

Um and I won't bore you with all of the details, we don't have time to discuss all of the details, but about uh as towards the end of the service, they called they said we want all of the pastors to come forward to the front and to minister to people within the church.

And so all of the pastors got up and went forward, and I sat in my seat.

And because I wasn't familiar with their practices, and and quite honestly, I wasn't necessarily comfortable with what was going to be asked of me to do.

However, one of the pastors said, Well, I see a pastor, Pastor Mike Halk, you're sitting back there, you need to come forward.

So I didn't want to embarrass him, I didn't want to defy him, so I came forward and I whispered to him.

I said, Um, I I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I'm just gonna stand off to the side and pray while you do your thing, while all this goes on.

Um, I don't want to be a distraction.

I uh I'm just gonna stand over here and pray.

And so that's what I did.

I stood off to the side, and there was as in a typical uh charismatic church service, it it got a little chaotic.

People were shouting and jumping, and there were people falling and rolling around on the ground, people speaking in tongues.

There it it the whole thing was there.

But I I just so I just stood off to the side, and and my prayer was simple, and I just kept repeating this prayer.

Uh, I mean, I would change it up and add a few different words, but the gist of what I was praying was, Lord, I am uncomfortable in this situation.

I pray that I would not be a distraction, nor would I be deceived.

Um, I pray that you would protect me from deception.

However, God, if there is something that you want to teach me, um, I am willing to accept it.

That was my prayer.

And I just stood off to the side.

There were pastors that were laying hands on people and praying for people and uh praying prayers of healing and all of that, and and I just stood off to the side and just prayed that prayer repeatedly.

Just I did I just wanted to be respectful of what was happening there.

At one point, a woman came forward and she knelt down in front of me, and I I was really uncomfortable because I didn't know what her expectation of me was.

Did she want me to pray for her?

Did she want me to talk to her?

Whatever.

I'm gonna fast forward through this.

If you want more details, I'd be happy to share that with you.

Um but in essence, I just stood there and I just prayed.

And I could hear her pray and I could hear her sing, and I just, but I just stood there.

I didn't, I didn't touch her, I didn't, and I just, Lord, you know, again, I pray that I might not be deceived, but if there's something you want to show me, um, I am open to it.

And she stood up at one point, and all she did was reach out and touch me on the cheek, very gently, touch me on the cheek, and I will tell you that I fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

I did, and I just curled up in the fetal position and I wept.

That's that experience was humbling, it was wonderful and completely terrifying all at the same time.

Um, and so I don't know how long I was down there, but I could sense the presence of God, which is again a both both a very wonderful and terrifying experience.

Um and I'll just leave it at that.

And then I remember standing up and wiping my eyes, and everybody in the place was looking at me.

Um I remember as I left that one of the pastor's wives came up to me and she said, uh, wasn't that wonderful?

And I said, Yes, yes, it was.

She said, Don't you wish that would happen every day?

And I said, No, no, I don't.

Um, I went home, I told my wife, which was another interesting story, and um, but I was a physical and emotional wreck for the entire week.

I would just sit in a chair and I would just begin to weep.

And it I was completely exhausted from that experience.

I didn't tell anybody other than my wife and a couple of people about that experience for a number of years.

I didn't even tell the church, I didn't tell this church for a number of years that it happened for a couple of reasons.

One, I didn't want anybody to assume that because it happened to me that I'm super spiritual, because I assure you that I am not.

Secondly, I I knew the congregation that I had at the time, and there would be people in there that would run after that experience.

They would go seeking to, you know, like, oh, I need I need to I need to experience this.

Um let me just say this to you.

No, you don't need to experience it.

If God chooses um to do that with you, um that's wonderful.

But you do not need to seek that experience.

Let me let me back that up with scripture.

In Matthew 12, 38 through 40, the Pharisees are speaking to Jesus, and it says, And then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.

But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

This these people were coming and they were saying, Jesus, we need to see some kind of miracle.

We need to see some manifestation of the power of God in you.

Show us a sign.

And Jesus' response was, you know, you're a wicked and adulterous generation.

There are people who claim to be Christians who, for lack of a better term, uh become emotional junkies.

They're constantly chasing an emotional experience.

It's it's similar, and and Jesus described it like this He says, You're an adulterous generation.

In other words, you're not satisfied with the relationship that I have given you, so you need so what you're doing is you're going and you're whoring yourself out to every experience that you can get.

And there are people that do that, and they feel like unless something euphoric, something um uh super spiritual happens, they haven't encountered God, and that is a lie from hell.

Um, you don't need to chase after that.

And Jesus says to them, the only sign that you're gonna get is that like Jonah, I'm gonna spend three days in the belly of the earth and I will be resurrected, that's the sign.

And friends, that ought to be enough.

That ought to be enough for you.

So just because you hear that there's some great commotion uh going on in some church, and there's all all the, you know, all the bells and whistles and the smoke and the mirrors and the fantastic worship and all of this stuff.

And I'm not necessarily saying that it's bad, but what I am saying is don't go chasing after those things.

Because in all instances, that is not God.

We have this idea that we we need to feel something um very emotional in order to say that we have been with God.

Not necessarily.

People will say, you know, that they they will go to church and and there'll be all this music, and and you know how it is, because you know what?

You can go to a non-Christian concert of an artist that you liked, and you can get carried away emotionally, and they have nothing to say about God.

That's a similar experience.

You can also go to a Christian uh church and they can worship and they can get you wound up with all the music and all the activity and all the energy in the building.

It may be God and it may not.

When I have encountered the power of the Holy Spirit, my reaction probably 99% of the time has been to weep, has been to cry.

Um I don't necessarily like doing that, but that's what happens.

You're not gonna see me often raise my hands, you know, get the shakes and the jitters and all of that.

Um, that has not been my experience with God.

But yeah, I know that I have a relationship with God.

So I tell you about my experience, and so again, uh going back to that, I was an emotional wreck for the week.

And I actually went to one of my Pentecostal friends, one of the one of the pastors that I really trusted.

Oh, as a side note, um, there was a charismatic pastor, Assemblies of God pastor, who was there in the building, and he was greatly concerned that my that I had faked my experience uh because I was a Baptist, and Baptists don't get slain in the Spirit.

So apparently the Holy Spirit doesn't have the power to slay a Baptist.

So you're all good, okay?

You're you're good.

Um, but he wanted to convene, he actually wanted to convene an inquiry of the pastors to discuss what happened.

His second problem was that I was supposedly slain by the touch of a woman, and that bothered him.

And then I remember my Pentecostal friend saying to him, Are you for real?

You are you really want to have a meeting about this?

And then he said, I doubt that it would happen to him because it has never happened to me.

And somehow he assumed that he was more worthy of that experience than I was.

That's another issue.

However, so I finally went to my pastor that my pastor friend and I said, I I need to talk to you.

And he said, What what's what's the problem?

I said, I don't know what to do with this experience that I had.

I said, I don't know.

I said, I know I experienced it, but I don't know what to do with it.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it.

I don't know if there's something, you know, am I supposed to change the way I teach?

Am I supposed to embrace the Pentecostal movement?

What I don't know.

So he said, Well, let me ask you a question.

He said, What right now, what's the biggest takeaway from your experience?

And I said, I I responded with this.

I said, I realize that I am in no place to judge how the Holy Spirit chooses to manifest himself.

And he said, bingo.

I said, What do you mean?

He goes, That's it.

That's it.

That's that's the lesson you need to learn.

So I say that.

So can you be skeptical?

Yeah.

Um is it genuine?

Yes.

I also want to caution you that if you have experiences, and some people will have spiritual experiences that may be difficult to define or to explain or whatever.

Don't change your theology based on your experience.

Your experience has to align itself with scripture.

No matter, you know, I know of people who have supposedly died and seen great lights and all of this stuff and everything.

And all of a sudden, they have a new understanding of what the scripture has to say, but it's not what scripture says.

So they allow their experience, whatever it may have been.

Um I mean, it for all I know, it could have been a drug-induced experience.

They experienced the high from something, and but it was supernatural.

And so now they formed their theology based on that experience.

That's a very dangerous thing.

Very dangerous.

Always go to scripture.

Um, anyways, let me let me, I probably uh stirred up enough questions and trouble.

So, what is the sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

There's a number of folks that will tell you that you have to speak in tongues, you have to be slain in the spirit, all of that stuff to um to know that you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let me let me try to define for you what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Okay, when we are saved, the scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit enters into us, it becomes our guide, um it becomes our teacher, it becomes our instructor, it it rebukes us, it leads us.

So you have listen to me carefully.

At the moment of salvation, you have as much of the Holy Spirit as you need.

You don't need to go chasing after something, you have as much of the Holy Spirit as you need.

Now, listen carefully.

There are times when we will be overcome by the Holy Spirit.

There are times when we will sense the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It is not that we are getting more of the Holy Spirit, it's that the Holy Spirit is getting more of us.

It is that through our Bible reading, through our prayer, through our obedience, through our entering into different situations where we are uncomfortable, where we feel as though we aren't qualified to deal with those things.

It's not that the Holy Spirit says, Oh, I'm going to give you more of me.

It's that the Holy Spirit puts you in that position so that you allow the Holy Spirit more of you.

Most of us, if we're honest, if we were to think of our our our life, our spiritual life as a house, let's be real honest, there are rooms that we're very comfortable in our house allowing the Holy Spirit to come into.

But and and it's, you know, when you have guests in your house, there are places where you allow your guests to go.

But I'm sure there, if you know, if you're a human, there are also rooms and places in your house and on your property where you don't want anybody to go because it's not kept up.

It's full of clutter, it's full of dirt, or whatever.

There are reasons why you don't allow people in there.

The same is true spiritually.

There are rooms that we're very comfortable allowing the Holy Spirit to come into, but then there's that closet that's filled with junk from things from our past that we don't want to get rid of.

And we honestly just hope it hope that the Holy Spirit doesn't look in that door.

Am I connecting with you?

Are you you agreeing with me on that?

Yeah.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is you allowing the Holy Spirit into to have access to those places where before you have said, I'd rather you not go there.

It's not that you get more of the Holy Spirit, it's that the Holy Spirit gains access to more of you.

All right.

Um, so what is the what is the proof of the Holy Spirit?

Galatians 5, 22 through 24.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

So you look at that list of things there, the fruit of the Spirit, and you see if that is manifest in your life.

If it is, there is evidence that the Holy Spirit is in you.

If some of them you say, Yeah, I got that covered, you know, I'm I I'm I'm kind and I'm good and I'm I'm faithful, but I'm not really patient and I don't feel peace.

It's just that you need to let the Holy Spirit have more of you.

All right.

Let me quickly address this question.

I'll move through it quickly.

Are we to rebuke Satan directly or ask God to bind him?

Let me say it to this to you.

And yeah, I challenge you to look and to show me that I am wrong.

Don't just take my word for it if if you feel differently.

But there is no place in Scripture instructing us to rebuke or bind Satan.

No place where we where we are commanded to do that.

Jude 1.9 says to us, uh, but the archangel, the top angel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses.

He did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke you.

In other words, the archangel did not feel qualified to take on the devil on his own.

Instead, he said, The Lord rebuke you.

So that should be an example to us.

You know, um, people say things well-meaning.

I remember um, you know, one guy one time saying when I was a kid, I remember, and I thought it was kind of funny what he said, but he said, Oh, because we were out cutting firewood and we were having difficulty because things weren't working right and whatever.

And I was with my dad, I was a young kid, and this fellow said, So what we're gonna do is we're gonna chase the devil up the tree and we're gonna cut the tree down, as though that was gonna fix everything.

I laughed.

I thought that was kind of funny, uh, but really it's kind of ignorant.

Um, we we we do not have any power in ourselves over the devil.

Um, so number two, we have no power or authority over Satan.

Number three, um when we are no uh we are no match for Satan.

Think of it this way.

If Satan in the presence of God could disobey God and deceive one-third of the angels in being cast to earth, um where do you think you would stand against him?

I mean, these were angelic beings who had seen God, who had been in the presence of God, and yet Satan was able to deceive a third of them into following him.

You and I do not stand a chance.

We are no we are no match for Satan.

To bring it down to an earthly level, uh Luke 22 through thir uh 22, 30 through 32, Jesus is speaking to Peter, Simon, Simon, Peter.

He says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you that you may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we have a better response from Peter.

And it says, And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night.

For it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered, but after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.

Peter answered him, Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.

Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

And Peter said to him, Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.

And all the disciples said the same.

And for those of us who are familiar with the story, we know that later on uh Peter did deny knowing Jesus uh three times.

So a couple of things here.

Number one, um, I want you to notice that Satan has demanded to have you.

In other words, or some say Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.

Um so understand this that any encounter with Satan, any experience with Satan, any difficult time that you might attribute to Satan uh can only be done with God allowing it.

And we see that happen um here with Peter.

Um Satan has asked the Sifiud.

We see it with Job in the Old Testament.

Um Satan was in the presence of God, and um and so he said, Hey, let me uh let me test your servant Job and show you that the only reason he serves you is because of all the blessings you've given him.

And there are other evidences of scripture.

So, first of all, Satan has to get permission from God.

Secondly, the Bible teaches us that Jesus is our intercessor.

In other words, he prays for us.

And so um so uh Jesus said to Peter, I have prayed for you that you may that your faith may not fail.

And then later on that same evening, it recorded in Matthew, he says, uh Jesus says to them, You're gonna fall away on economy.

You're you're you're all gonna abandon me.

Peter in his arrogance said, you know what, they may, they may fall away, but I never will.

In other words, he thought himself to be spiritually superior than everybody else.

I'll never fall into that temptation.

I'll never do that.

I'll never.

And oftentimes when we say things like that, we find ourselves exactly in that situation.

So he thought himself to be better than he was.

He thought himself to be more spiritual than he was.

I would never do this.

As a matter of fact, I'm willing to go to the cross.

I'm willing to die with you if need be.

And he overestimated his spirituality.

And yet Satan had his way and he denied Jesus three times.

James tells us what we are supposed to do in those situations.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

What's the first thing you do?

You don't talk to the devil.

The first thing you do, you talk to God.

You submit yourself to God in all situations.

Then you resist the devil and he will uh flee from you.

And let me just share this with you that the the Satan will be bound, but he won't be bound by humans.

Um war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

And by the dragon, he's talking about Satan, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven, and the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

That is the fall of Satan from heaven.

And then later on in Revelation chapter 20, it says, And then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, Michael the archangel, coming down from heaven, holding in his his hand the key to the bottomless pit and the great chain.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and he threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.

So let me just close with this.

There is no there is no command in Scripture for us to take on the devil on our own.

Uh, we are not to bind him, uh, we are not to rebuke him.

The only rebuking that we can do is through the name of Jesus Christ.

Uh, but before you begin to take that on as a ministry, I would just ask you to submit uh to Jesus.

Submit to God in all areas of your life, and the devil will uh flee from you.

Um don't go pursuing all that supernatural stuff, the excitement of it, whatever.

Um not disrespect the devil, and I don't mean that in a you know respect in a positive way, uh just understand that he is powerful, that he is real.

But secondly, he is or thirdly, he is defeated.

And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, um Satan is defeated and Jesus has it all taken care of.

So you don't really need to worry about it because you're on the winning side and Jesus is taking care of it.

Amen.

Amen.