Jentezen Franklin - A Wind From Elsewhere
I want you to look with me in John 3:8. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes". So is every one who is born of the spirit. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it, listen to this, but you cannot tell where it comes from. I wanna begin today by telling you a true story from an article that came from Los Angeles, California, some years ago. They were having a tremendous problem with pollution and smog. Actually, a big cloud, it looked like, had covered the whole city. You would look up, and it would be hard to see the sunshine, even though the sun was shining, because there was so much smog. So much pollution over the city of Los Angeles.
And so they knew that they had to do something, and so they called a special commission of experts on the environment. And they spent a lotta money and brought in some of the world-famous people who knew what to do to try to relieve the pollution and the environment of all of these toxic clouds and gases that seemed to be just getting thicker and thicker over the city of Los Angeles. They did an extensive study on what Los Angeles could do about the pollution problem. So finally, after several weeks - and this was all in a major newspaper there. And they called everybody together, and they said the panel has done all of the study that they need to do, and they're ready to make an announcement of how they can solve this pollution problem.
So they called a press conference. The mayor was there. The press was there. The city officials were there. And the man got up, and he said I know that you have come today to hear the solution for all that we're facing as a city. He said, ladies and gentlemen, I'm embarrassed to give you this report. I realize that you have paid a large sum of money for this report. I probably should shroud my findings, but I've always tried to be honest. Therefore, honestly, I submit to you - and this is his quote. There is no solution for your pollution problem. And then the article said that the man, this expert - after saying that, after stunning everyone there, he paused for a moment. And almost as an afterthought, he said these words. He said what we really need is a wind from elsewhere to sweep down through this city, and blow the pollution out to sea, and give us a brand new beginning.
The expert said there is no solution for your pollution problem. The only thing that can fix this problem, according to that expert, was a wind from elsewhere. The problem is so bad. The roads are so crowded. The toxic emissions from the cars are so great that there is no human remedy. There's nothing we can do to fix this problem. The only solution is a wind from elsewhere. When the Old Testament in your Bible ended, God went silent. He refused to speak. It was a dark time. It was a time when the land was filled with violence, The worship was polluted. The priesthood was polluted. The sacrifices, God said, are polluted. There was corruption in the priesthood and the ministry. The temple was polluted. The pollution of sin had filled the land. It had filled the nation. It had filled the people and their families. And God said I will not accept your sacrifice and your worship. It seemed as though there was no solution for the sin pollution.
Something happened one day. There was no solution for the problem of sin. It was almost like there was a need for a wind from elsewhere to come and blow away the pollution. Blow away the sin. Blow away the corruption and the darkness. Blow away the sickness, and the disease, and the heartache, and the brokenness of mankind. And that's when the Bible said in Acts 2, after Jesus died and rose again, He commanded His disciples to go to the Upper Room. And Acts 2 opens like this. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, there came - they were there in one mind and in one accord, and there came a sound from Heaven. Listen now. As a mighty rushing wind. It filled all the place where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire. It set upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance.
A wind came down from elsewhere. There came a sound from Heaven as a mighty rushing wind. That wind cleansed everything. It took all of the pollution of sin and took it out into a sea of forgetfulness. It took the shame. It took the guilt. It took the condemnation. That's why men like Simon Peter, who were cursing and denying God - suddenly, when the wind from elsewhere breathed on them in the Upper Room, they spilled out into the streets, and they boldly proclaimed the power of Jesus Christ. They said the sinless Son of God whom you crucified - God has raised Him from the dead. And in the name of Jesus, you can be saved.
I'm telling you today that what the world needs as we face this pandemic, what the world needs as we face racism, and hatred, and violence in the streets, what the world needs - it's like there is no solution to the pollution of sin. People are addicted like they've never been addicted. People are fearful like they've never been fearful. People are at a place of hopelessness, and suicide, and giving up, and they've lost everything. And many have lost their jobs by the tens of millions. And we don't have a government that can fix it. We don't have a leader that can fix it. We don't have a doctor that can fix it. Thank God for all that anybody's doing to try to help the world, but listen. What we really need is a wind from elsewhere to fill the church, and fill the earth, and take the pollution of sin.
Take the violence, take the domestic violence, take the racism, take the hate, take the sickness and the disease out, and give us a brand new beginning. I want you to know today that we all know people who have been addicted to drugs. Maybe you're watching me right now, and you've got an addiction in your life. Or you've got a child on drugs, or they've become an alcoholic, and you're wringing your hands. You don't know what to do. You're watching them, day after day, just destroy themself. Commit suicide on the installment plan by drinking more, and more, and more. And car wrecks, and arrests, and DUI's, and drug addictions. Deeper, deeper, deeper into that dark place they go. And there is no cure. You've tried programs. You've tried everything, but you can't fix it. There's no cure. There's no answer. There's no solution. There's no help. What you need is a wind from elsewhere.
There are potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions, watching me who were drug addicts. Who were alcoholics. Who had an addiction to porn. An addiction to some horrible thing that was destroying your life. And the only thing that could change you is one day you got in a good Holy Ghost service, and there came a wind from elsewhere. And it took away the sin. It took away the addiction. It took away that old nature. It took away that old thinking. It took away the shame, and the guilt, and the condemnation. And it made you feel so high that you had never had a high like that. The world and the drugs couldn't get you that high. That's the high that only Jesus gives when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit and you receive the wind from elsewhere. We need that wind that sweeps away our old thinking. Our old way. Behold, all things become new.
When that wind from elsewhere fills your life, it cleanses your heart. It cleanses your spirit. It cleanses and blows away all of those thoughts that have plagued your mind, and it gives you that peace. It knocks all of the religion and starch out of you, and suddenly you get goosebumps on top of your goosebumps. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? It makes you so glad you're alive. Oh, we need it. We cannot turn to other substitutes and think that we can get what only the Holy Spirit can give us. And listen to me. Every once in a while, I just wanna say God, take me back to Pentecost. It's time for a Pentecostal pandemic. It's time for God to infect a new set of believers on the Day of Pentecost and this thing begin to spread like crazy.
That's what happened in Acts 2. A hundred and twenty got it. They went outside, and they preached, and 3.000 were added to their number. So now the number of the Pentecostal pandemic is going up. It's gone from - here goes the curve. It's going up. From 120 to 3.120. Then you move over into Acts 4, and there's a man laying at the Gate Beautiful. He's lame since his birth, and he gets healed. And when he gets healed in the name of Jesus - ‘cause that's what - the name is what healed him. The power that's in that name. And the Bible said that 5.000 were added to the church. Look out. The curve is going up on the Pentecostal pandemic. And then the Bible said that it filled all of Jerusalem. All of the city was filled with joy. And then the world. The world was turned upside down. They that have turned the world upside down.
You know what happened? It got out. And I want you to know that you're not safe from this Pentecostal pandemic right where you are in your home. For this promise is unto you, and it's unto your children. And it's unto as many as the Lord our God shall call. I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh. Sometimes we used to sing a song in the church called "Give Me That Old-Time Religion". I want that old-time religion that goes all the way back to the Book of Acts. I'm sorry. I'm a little hungry for more than just another little thing on church online. Wouldn't it be something God would use this moment to pour out His spirit and that we would all be refilled with the Holy Ghost?
We would be so filled with the spirit of God that we're praying in the Holy Ghost in our homes, and praying in the spirit, and walking the floors, and laying hands on our children and our grandchildren, and they're receiving the promise of the spirit. We must receive a wind from elsewhere ‘cause we don't have the answers anymore. When this wind from elsewhere comes, it makes you wanna pray. Makes you wanna worship. Makes you wanna read your Bible, and live right, and treat people right. Sometimes we just can't go any further until we say Lord, set me free. Lord, I need a cleansing. I need the pollution in my mind, in my soul, in my heart - I've just let too much stuff get in. Send a wind from elsewhere and take it to the sea for forgetfulness, And Lord, fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit.
Somebody asked me one time - they said Pastor Jentezen, they said - do you believe once saved, always saved? I said I am. I can't answer for you, but I am. I don't have nothing else to go back to. Once saved, always saved. But I tell you what I don't believe in. Once filled, always filled. I don't believe just because you were filled with the power of the Holy Ghost at some experience in your life and you prayed in tongues as the spirit gave you the utterance that you stay filled. I think you have to have refillings of the power of the Holy Spirit.
How long has it been since you prayed in the spirit? How long has it been since tears streamed down your face in adoration and praise to Jesus? How long has it been since you felt conviction and something in you that said Lord, I wanna be more like you? Send a wind from elsewhere and take everything in me. God wants, while He has us quarantined, to turn us into another man. Turn us into another woman. Take all of those things that are pollution in our life, Lord, and send them away with a wind from elsewhere. Sometimes you just need a fresh touch of God.
I wish I'd have been at that press conference in Los Angeles. I was thinking about it. I would have interrupted it. I'm that crazy. And I would have suggested, you need to go down to Azusa Street. Do you know that Azusa - 312 Azusa Street, there was a black man who had a small house on Azusa Street. Los Angeles, California. And God filled him with the Holy Spirit. He had one eye. He was very humble. And he started having services in his house. Hello? And while he was having services in his house, so many people came and were healed and filled with the power of the Holy Ghost that the porch caved in.
And when the porch of his house caved in, he had a barn in the back. And he went back, and they moved the revival that broke out, and people from all over the world, and every major denomination - every spirit-filled Pentecostal church have their roots in that outpouring of the spirit on Azusa Street. And I'd loved to have interrupted that press conference and said, I know you don't have a solution for the pollution problem of Los Angeles. But sir, can I suggest to you that you go down to Azusa Street? Because there was a wind that came from elsewhere that filled that city, and it changed the world, and it changed that city.
And I'm telling you today that what happened there - that wind from elsewhere can clean up the pollution of Los Angeles. And I'm not talking about just the world and this virus, but I'm talking about the pollution that sin brings. I believe that we can see a wind from elsewhere that sweeps the gangs out, and sweeps the drugs out, and it cleans us up, and it gives us a brand new beginning. I thought about how that in Ezekiel 37, God showed Ezekiel some dry bones. The Bible said that they were scattered in the valley. Dry bones. And then God asked the prophet a question. Can these bones live?
Well, we're looking at this situation. The economies of the world are in ruins. Can these bones live? The churches are empty. I'm looking at 3.000-plus theater seats, and not one person in any of them. Can these bones live? Can your ministry live? Can your business live again? Will your business ever be able to come back again? Will you ever see your ministry doing what it was doing and more? And notice what his answer was. He gave a very political answer. He said Lord, thou knowest. He didn't say yes. He didn't say no. That's how you answer if you're a politician. Lord, thou knowest.
Watch this. Ezekiel said prophesy to the wind, God said. And say come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe upon these that are slain that they may live. Listen to me. They were dry, they were dead bones, and they were divided bones. That sounds like the church. That sounds like the body of Christ. That sounds like our nations. They're dry, they're dead, and they're divided. Here in America, we watched a horrible, horrible thing happen in one of our cities as a man - I don't know any other way to describe it, but the man died a brutal, horrible death, and it looks like it was nothing but an act of brutal racism. And our nation is torn to pieces, and we're dry, and we're dead, and we're divided.
So should we just give up? What in the world is going on? Many of you are questioning everything right now. You don't know if you'll ever get your job back. You don't know what's gonna happen. You're afraid. What are we gonna do? There is no solution. Yes, there is. He said prophesy to the wind. Come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe upon these that are slain that they may live. And the Bible said the dry bones stood - listen to this. Stood up on their feet. Boy, I heard the Lord say to me, you may think that you can never get back on your feet again. But when the wind from elsewhere comes, He comes to get you back on your feet.
There's a wind from elsewhere that can get you back on your feet. It can get your business back on its feet. I don't care how low you've been knocked. I don't care how hard you've hit. I don't care how sad things are right now. There is a wind from elsewhere called the Holy Spirit, and He can get you on your feet again. And you can smile again, and you can have faith again, and you can see victory again. And God is going to send that wind from elsewhere into your life. You're not listening to me by chance. The Lord gave me one last thought.
In Numbers 11:31. And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought the quails from the sea. And they fell into the camp, two cubits. Knee-deep. That's knee-deep. Two cubits is up to your knees. A wind from elsewhere - when God's people had a need, when God's people needed food, when God's people needed provision, the wind from elsewhere knew where the quail were, went out and grabbed those quail, caught them up in the current of a wind from elsewhere, and dropped them into the camp of the Israelites out in the middle of a desert. They didn't have no way to get their need met except a wind from elsewhere bring in the provision. And God did it. And He didn't just do it. He did it knee-deep. Quail up to the knees.
Why don't we just say God, I can't go another day. I need the wind from elsewhere to sweep away all of this that's not like Jesus. All of this in me. Any and all pollution, I want it taken away. Blow it out to the sea of forgetfulness to remember it no more. Give me a brand new start. Lord, send the wind from elsewhere to somebody's home. To somebody's family. To somebody's grief. To somebody's sorrow. To somebody's depression. To somebody's addiction. Send the wind from elsewhere, o, God, and sweep it out.