Joseph Prince - Baptism Of The Holy Spirit

The Bible says, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". You know, if we don't go around saying that, "I wish I had more faith or stronger faith," the Bible says faith comes. When you don't have faith, faith comes. How does faith come? Faith comes by hearing and hearing, and the idea there is hearing continuously, hearing and hearing and hearing the Word of God. So right now as you sit back, relax, and receive the Word of God, faith cometh. Faith cometh to you, amen? And if you are strong in faith already, you can always get stronger, amen? Praise the Lord.

So it's important that we are always growing in faith. The Apostle Paul one time addressed it like this: "Your exceeding growing faith". As he was addressing the believers in Thessalonica, he says, "Your exceedingly growing faith". That's beautiful. I want that kind of faith. I want my faith to grow exceedingly, praise the Lord. There's something about faith that makes God, you know, just look through a crowd and zero in on the very one that has faith. When you have faith, you attract God's attention. Yes, amen.

You know, the crowd pressed on Jesus, they're thronging him, but a touch of faith on the very extremity, the hem of his garment, caused him to stop and turn around to look for the one who had faith. And then this is what he said to her who was suffering from a disease for a long time, Jesus says, "Your faith has made you well". And if you read carefully, the Bible says that that woman, "When she heard of Jesus," that's how her faith came. Jesus says, "Your faith," telling the woman, "Your faith made you well". But how did she have faith? Well, the Bible says she heard of Jesus. When she heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind to touch the hem of his garment, for she keep on saying to herself, "If I touch his clothes, I shall be made whole".

Now the same thing for us. Every time we come to receive the Word of God, let's believe. Let's believe as we receive the Word of God, amen. And don't forget, the Lord Jesus is the Word of God incarnate. And when you receive the written Word, you are receiving Jesus in his Word. Sometimes I like to pray like this before I open up the Word of God. I will just say, in my private study, I'll just say, "Lord, I come to you now in your Word". And that's how we come to the Lord Jesus, in his Word, amen, as well as also in prayer when you say, "Lord Jesus, I come to you". But there's a way of coming to the Lord Jesus where the Word comes alive. And you just tell the Lord, "Lord, I come to you in your Word".

You know, the Bible says the Lord expounded things concerning himself in the scriptures, amen, in the Emmaus walk with the two disciples. The Holy Spirit loves to just expound in all the scriptures, things concerning the Lord Jesus. Because that verse, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," the word there, "Word of God" is actually the Word of Christ, "rhématos Christou," the Word of Christ, the Word concerning Christ. Every time you talk about Jesus, faith comes. Every time you hear someone share about Jesus, faith comes. And if you want faith to come to a loved one's heart, you want faith to come in someone you are ministering to, don't just rush to pray for them, all right, just share the Word of Christ with them, amen, talk about Jesus. "Let's talk about Jesus, The King of kings is he. The Lord of Lords supreme, Through all eternity. He's the Great I Am, The way, the truth, The life, the door, Let's talk about Jesus more and more".

Yes, let's talk about Jesus more and more, and faith will come to needy hearts, amen, and they will receive from the Lord. Praise the Lord. The Bible says, "How shall they hear without a preacher"? This hearing is not a hearing of like, you know some people say, "I hear the Lord in my heart speaking to me. And, you know, that's how I receive faith, that's how I have strong faith". My friend, I know the Lord speaks to us today and that's how the Bible says, "My sheep hear my voice". He speaks to us on the inside. And when you hear that Word, faith does come. Of course, every time you hear the Word of Jesus, faith comes. When the Holy Spirit whispers in your heart, fears depart and faith arise for sure. There's no doubt about that. But friend, the context of faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.

If you keep on reading it says, "How shall they hear without a preacher"? So, the context of faith coming by hearing that Word there is through a preacher. As long, you know, that preacher is anointed of the Holy Spirit, then we need to listen to the Word of God through the mouth of a preacher. But even then, every time you come to the Word of God hearing that Word in the mouth of a preacher, you pray and tell the Lord, "Lord Jesus, let me hear your Word, your Word in season for me". So many times, you know, sometimes I don't plan to share some things and, you know, we call it, like, rabbit trails. I'll be saying something that I didn't plan for in my study for the preaching, but during the preaching, because the Lord will cause me to say some things, he'll put words in my mouth.

And later on invariably we always receive a testimony of someone who said, "Pastor Prince, I'm so glad you mentioned that word". And that word I didn't plan for or an illustration that I didn't premeditate on, but it came out while I was preaching and that was a word that that person needs. So, the Lord knows. So, you know, don't put your trust in any preacher, but put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He can speak through the preacher. Remember, even if the preacher is not altogether there sometimes, the Lord can override that. He's sovereign. Remember Caiaphas, he was the high priest of that year. And the Bible says he actually prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. He prophesied that, and the Bible says he prophesied that because he was the high priest of that year. So, the Lord will put his prophecy in his mouth, just like he put in Balaam's mouth and Balaam was a backslider, right, definitely not a man of God. And yet, he prophesied the Word of God.

So, of course, we want anointed preachers. We want preachers that are baptized in the Holy Spirit, amen, who preaches not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, yes. But God can still sometimes use a preacher. So, we look beyond the preacher to Jesus. Will you do that every time you come to God's Word, amen? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Now, we covered about how we are in times of darkness, and we can literally, literally see the world engulfed in this darkness at this time. And I'm not just referring to the pandemic. I'm referring to the fact that everywhere around us, we can see, for example, in the area of the family, there are all kinds of attacks on the household. We see men of influence around the world saying things like, "The marriage institution is out of date". There's all kinds of attack and onslaught to pervert or to destroy family relationships.

You know, and people say things like, "It takes an entire village to raise a child". If it's a true village, you know, the context of where it came from, I respect that. But today, you know, parents is what God has ordained to raise children. My friend, the father and the mother are anointed by the Lord to raise children. We don't need a village. We don't need anyone else outside to influence our children, amen. Days are dark. All kinds of attacks are coming upon the family. "You don't have to be married no more, all right, you just have to live together to find out more whether you are meant for each other". And usually, it's doomed to failure. Usually it ends up in a bad way. And usually, usually ends up in a bad way, okay, most of the time, and the statistics prove that out.

My friend, you know, God has ordained marriage as between one man and one woman, and they come together, and the Bible says they become one flesh. And from that union comes children that God has blessed. And God's desire is to bless the children. In Isaiah 44, verse 3 it says here, "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring," that's your children, "and my blessing on your descendants". Notice that God wants to pour out his Spirit on our children and his blessing on our descendants. All our children and our children's children, they will spring up. See what happens when God's Spirit comes on them, when his blessing comes on our seed, on our descendants, they will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.

Hey, that reminds me of Psalms 1, amen. Psalms 1 says that "he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season. His leaf will not wither". Leaves are a type of healing. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations, the Bible says. So, his leaf will not fail, and whatever he doeth shall prosper, whatever he doeth shall prosper. Praise God. Your children will be like trees planted by the waters, isn't it wonderful, when God's Spirit comes on them.

We know we are in times of darkness, but Isaiah 60 tells us, and once again, it's like I can't let go of this scripture because God keep on speaking to me from here that we are in these times already. "Arise, shine; For your light has come"! But God's message is always a message of hope in the midst of the darkness, amen? "Arise, shine, For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you". You know, it cannot be, some people say that this is a time of the millennium when Jesus rules, and then the glory of the Lord will be seen upon us, will rise upon us.

My friend, this is not the millennium, because during the millennium, there is no darkness. Jesus rules. Hallelujah, amen. And there's no darkness when he rules. But in this time of darkness, notice there's a time of darkness, not just darkness, but deep darkness upon the people, gross darkness, in the King James version, upon all the people. During this time, the Bible says, "The Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you". And the Bible says, "The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising". These are VIPs that will be saved in the last days, and why will they be saved? Because they are coming to your light. The light is coming through you, friend. "And kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar".

Now there's a divine hint here that God's gonna bring all the backsliding sons and daughters of God from the north, from the south, from the east, from the west, amen. "From afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you". Now, the sea is also a picture of the nations of the world, the peoples of the world. The abundance of the sea, when they are seen corporately, when they're seen in terms of masses, God always calls them by the type of the sea, a sea, like "the sea is in turmoil, the sea is not at rest," referring to sinners. So here, "Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you".

I'm telling you, church, there's gonna be a worldwide evangelism, a worldwide revival, and nations, many nations, will see salvation among its people. And that's why I believe all my heart that in the last days, there's gonna be the greatest revival the world has ever seen. And notice, "Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you". However you want to interpret those wealth, I leave it to you. All right, but the Bible says during the darkness when the Lord arises upon us and his glory is seen upon us, not only will there be evangelism, but the wealth of the Gentiles will come to the church, and this is what God says. So during this time, what is God's emphasis?

Now, remember this, there are no chapter divisions in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, okay? They're all written on scrolls. And if you look at the verse prior to verse 1, "Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you". If you see the word "arise, shine," you notice that God is telling us to arise and shine because he has just told us something. He has spoken something to us. So forget about the chapter division. Let's look at the last verse of the previous chapter. And this is what it says, "'As for Me,' says the LORD, 'this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants,' says the LORD, 'from this time and forevermore. Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you".

So you see the context there because God says, "This is my covenant". It's a covenant that God is making with us. "My Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, fathers and mothers, will not depart from your mouth". Notice, it will not depart from your mouth first, and then, nor from the mouth of your descendants, your children. "'Nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants,' says the Lord, 'from this time and forevermore.'" See, God is saying, "I'm making a covenant with you, and this is a covenant when I take away all your sins". The verse before that bears that out. It's quoted by Paul in the book of Romans. "In the day when I take away their sins, when I remove their sins". And here, God is saying that we arise and shine "because of my covenant to put my Spirit upon you and upon your children, and upon your children's children".

Friend, the promise of the new covenant is actually the Holy Spirit. God promised the Holy Spirit. And here in this covenant after he takes away our sins, the Holy Spirit comes. Praise the Lord. And he comes on us, and he has words that God puts in our mouth. Yes, it can be words of scripture, but I believe the context here is really praying in the Spirit, speaking in the Spirit. Hallelujah. The Apostle Paul says, "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all". How did Peter know that, and all those of the circumcision, the Jews that followed him, how did they know that the house of Cornelius had received the Holy Spirit?

If you look at Acts 10, it says here, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision," which are the Jews, "who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also". They were astonished because why? The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the Word, all those who were in Cornelius's house, all of them who gathered. Cornelius gathered a lot of Roman friends of his. They gathered together in that house of Cornelius. He's a Roman centurion. Okay, this is the first incident in the Bible of Gentiles being saved. Hallelujah. Peter was there. He was summoned to come to Cornelius's house, and the Bible says the angel that appeared to Cornelius, the Roman centurion, actually the angel did not preach to Cornelius. The angel actually said, "Go send man to a place here, and you'll find a man called Peter. Bring him over, and he will tell you words whereby you'll be saved, you and your household will be saved".

Now that's very interesting because the angel, angels are not commissioned by God to preach the gospel, why? Because these angels, these are God's angels. They were never saved. These are not sinners, amen. God has given us the privilege. Once we were sinners, now we are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the ones that God has commissioned. He has not commissioned angels, and that's why the angel appeared to Cornelius. It could have been very easy, isn't it, for Cornelius to believe when the angel preached the gospel. How much more, right, an angel, right? But instead of that, God told him to send messengers to fetch for Peter, "And Peter will tell you words by which you and your household will be saved". So sure enough, Peter came and Peter preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. And Peter came to the point where he says, "To him all the prophets bear witness that those who believe in him receive forgiveness of sins". While he spoke these words.

You see, the Holy Spirit loves it when we preach that through Jesus, you receive forgiveness of sins. Today we have added all kinds of, you know, qualifications to sinners. We have made it difficult for them to be saved. And then for anyone who preached the same thing, just a matter of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ like Peter did, we'll come to them and say, "You know what, you are making the Bible so simple, or you're making the gospel, we believe that this is greasy grace and sloppy agape". No, friend, don't malign the beauty and the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus did all the work at the cross.

The Father, you know, sacrificed his Son with great love for us, amen. It's at a great cost. It's at a great cost. And Jesus suffered. Jesus endured all kinds of untold agonies at the cross, and he bore our sins. He did it all. That's why simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not cheap. It's all purchased, and what a price, at what great cost. And yet for us, we receive by believing. Friend, don't add to it. God doesn't want your payment. To add your payment to it means God's payment is not enough. "I have to add my good works. I have to add my devotion. I have to add," whatever you want to add. You cannot add to the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen. It's solely by grace through faith that you are saved. Hallelujah.

So here, Peter said to them, when Peter came, you know, he had a long sermon he preached. But when he came to this point, at what point of the sermon did the Holy Spirit fall on them? "Well, Pastor, at the altar call, during the altar call". No, there was no altar call in this instance. Peter was still preaching. When he came to the point he says, "To him all the prophets bear witness that through him everyone who believes will receive remission of sins, forgiveness of sins," the Holy Spirit fell. And it says this, "While he spoke these words, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the Word. And those of the circumcision". And I just can't let this go.

You know, the Holy Spirit fell is the word "embrace". Same word is used in the Greek for the prodigal son's father embracing the prodigal son. He embraced him, the same word, "fell". The Holy Spirit gave them all a bear hug, embraced all of them with love. Praise the Lord. And the Holy Spirit fell upon all of them who heard the Word. What Word? While Peter is still speaking these words, the words are forgiveness of sins. Notice when he talked about Jesus being the Messiah of Israel in the beginning in the first part of his sermon, the Holy Spirit didn't fall. When he said that famous verse in his sermon, you know, Acts 10:38 where it says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, the Holy Spirit didn't fall. Wonderful as that is, praise the Lord, but at the point where the Holy Spirit loved these words.

While Peter was speaking these words, what words? "Through Jesus you receive the forgiveness of sins". Oh, hallelujah, the Holy Spirit loved those words. And friend, you can grieve the Holy Spirit. You can also please the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit so pleased by that while Peter was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit didn't wait for him to give an altar call. The Holy Spirit came, fell on them, embraced them. "And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also". So up to that point, they always felt like, you know, the things of God is only for the Jews. It's not for the Gentiles. Okay, the Gentiles, they are outside the commonwealth of Israel, outside the promises God made to the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So they're outside, and they have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Remember in Acts 2? So and this is Acts 10.

So, they were surprised, they were shocked. This is the first time it happened that the Gentiles, the non-Jews, were receiving the Holy Spirit. But the question is this: How did they know that they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit? And the word "gift" here, by the way, the gift of the Holy Spirit, keep that in mind, is the word "dorea". We'll come to that afterwards. It's the word "dorea," the gift of the Holy Spirit. When it comes to the person of the Holy Spirit, all right, the word used is "dorea," the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not referring to the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. It's referring to the person. He is the gift, the Holy Spirit is the gift. So how did they know that the Gentiles had received the gift of the Holy Spirit? How did they know? Because they were astonished. There must be something physical, something plain to see for them to be astonished and to confirm to them that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit.

Well, keep on reading. The Bible says, "For they," for means because, "they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God". That's how they knew. They heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Today, we have compromised on this and we'll say, "Well, you know what? People can receive the Holy Spirit, and they don't have to speak in tongues". Well, you don't have to, friend, it's a privilege; you get to. You don't have to, you get to, amen. And not only that, actually Jesus actually said to the disciples in Acts 1 he's actually says, "Do not go out just yet. Tarry in the city of Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father".

Notice this phrase, "The promise of the Father" in Acts 1, "And being assembled together with them, Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father". Notice the phrase, "the promise," that means what? There was one promise. The promise means the definite article, one and only. Now, God gave many promises to Israel in the Old Testament. There were many promises, but they all knew about the promise of God, the promise of the Father. And time and time again, through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and different ones, Haggai, God promised that he was gonna pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, the prophet Joel. And this is all under that one term, the definite article, "The promise of the Father". They all knew it's the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul says, "The reason Christ redeemed us from the curse," listen carefully, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, as it is it written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, that we might receive," what? "The promise of the Spirit to faith". So all the blessings of God culminates in this definite article, "The promise of the Father". So Jesus said to them, and he didn't have to elaborate, "You guys know what is the promise of the Father, right"? It seems like all the Jewish people knew, and they were waiting for it. So Jesus says, "Stay in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father," which he said, "You have heard from me". And see, they knew it, the Holy Spirit's gonna come. "For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be 6 baptized with," or in the Greek in, "the Holy Spirit not many days from now. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now".

Now friend, I just want to say this that there are those who believe that, you know, once you are saved, you are ready baptized in the Holy Spirit. No friend, listen, what you are saved, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You cannot be saved without the Holy Spirit, amen. So once you are saved, you are born-again, you are born of the Spirit. That's how you're born again. So the Holy Spirit is there in you, but it's one thing for him to be there in you, it's another thing for you to be in him, baptized in him, immersed in him. The word "baptized in the Holy Spirit," you see, it's one thing for me to take a glass of water and I drink it, right, and the water is now in me. It's another thing for me to jump into the swimming pool, now I'm in the pool, I'm in the water, immersed, submerged.

The Greek word immersed, "baptizo," baptized. I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit. I'm immersed in the Holy Spirit. All that he is, I'm in him. Praise the Lord. And that verse in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is always used out of its context because the whole thing there is telling you about the one body of Christ, and we have different members. So it's telling you how, it's talking about being born again actually. It's not talking about baptism in the Holy Spirit. Notice this, it says, "For by one Spirit are we baptized into one body". So notice, it is different from what Jesus said here. "John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit," right? So Jesus is saying you, the subject, right?

Now let's say, this is Jesus, all right? This finger here is Jesus, this is you, and this is the Holy Spirit. He, Jesus, will baptize you in the Holy Spirit, whereas in 1 Corinthians, that verse says, "By the Spirit, by the Spirit are we baptized into Jesus, the one body. For by one Spirit are we baptized into one body". So that verse is not referring to this baptism of the Holy Spirit. We need to understand that to be very clear. You know, it's one thing to be born again, it's another thing to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus says when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you'll be endued with power. You shall receive power. Let's keep on reading here. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you".

Now, it's totally different from being born again and being indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Let me say this again. Once you are born again, you have the Holy Spirit for sure. You cannot be born again without the Holy Spirit. But to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience that God wants all of us to have. It's a baptism of power. You shall receive power, and you shall be witnesses. Notice doesn't say, "You shall do witnessing". Yes, doing witnessing is part of it but more than that, when you receive the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you shall be witnesses. All that you are, amen, all that you say, praise the Lord, there will be a glory of the Lord being released just by your person because of the Holy Spirit's indwelling.

You know, we have no glory, we have no light to give, and it's the glory of the Lord that the Holy Spirit sheds, that people see. They need to see the brightness of our rising. They need to see the glory of the Lord upon us and this is how it happens, that the Holy Spirit will put words in our mouth. We call it tongues. Praise the Lord. And this is what the devil is so afraid of because the devil will try to say, "You know, the those who speak in tongues, they are weird, all right, weird. They don't understand what they're saying". And the devil want you to stop speaking in tongues because he cannot decipher your tongues.

And there are those who say, "Well, those who speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost, they are speaking in known languages". Not to them, they are speaking in languages that is not their mother tongue. They are speaking another language. Granted, they are speaking in tongues where you are speaking in a known language somewhere in this world, but it's not something that you've studied, something that you grew up on, something that you know. It's supernatural language. Praise God. But also praying in tongues can be the tongues of man or angels. Notice that. In 1 Corinthians 13 it tells us, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels".

So tongues of men of angels. All right, the Bible says when you speak in tongues, howbeit in the Spirit he speaks mysteries. When you're talking about mysteries, you know, the rapture is a mystery that's now revealed. The church is a mystery that's now revealed. So there are mysteries that the apostle Paul is preaching. The apostle Paul has been appointed by God to unveil the mysteries by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he did that in all his writings in the New Testament. We are learning the mysteries. What is mystery again? We have shared the word musterion in the Greek. Mystery mean something that was hidden in the Old Testament, but it's now revealed. So the Bible says when you pray in the Spirit, you are speaking mysteries.

Now many a times, I'll tell you this, after a season of praying in tongues when I pray in the Spirit, I feel like I'm a cold, I'm feeling cold and I'm feeling, you know, cold spiritually. I feel lukewarm and I don't want to be there, I need the fresh baptism of fire, I need a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit, I'll just pray, and I pray and I pray. And many a times, you know, I don't feel anything in my emotions. It is not something of the emotions, although it can produce emotions that are tranquil, that are peaceful, but don't look for emotions, amen. So during that time when I pray in the Spirit, it can be like long season. It can be one day, the whole day, two days. It can be a few days of praying and feeling nothing.

And then all of a sudden, I find that when I pray for the people who are sick, they are healed. I find that when I open the Bible, all right, I look at the Bible and all of a sudden, it's no more like veiled. It's no more a hidden saying. It's like it comes out at me, and I see clearly, all right? So, it's like it's the experience of many people. After a bout of praying in the Spirit when they open up the Bible, it's like the words just jump out at them. They are able to decipher, receive, the revelation therein. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Why? Because when you're praying in tongues in the Spirit, notice not in your head because when you pray in an unknown tongue, Paul says, "When I pray in the unknown tongue, my spirit prays, my understanding is unfruitful".

And you know, let me just say this, you don't want your mind to mess it up. Many a times our mind mess it up. We pray and then our minds start going into a different direction, and we start praying for things that is not the real problem of the heart of the matter. But when you pray for your child, for example, you pray in tongues. Say, "Lord, I do not know what is going on with my 15-year-old, but you know, Lord". And you start praying in the Spirit you keep on praying until you feel like a release, right? Keep on praying, keep on praying. You know, the Holy Spirit knows exactly what is troubling that boy. He knows exactly the situation, and he knows the prayer to give you. But if you pray in English alone, it's limited. I'm not saying don't pray in English. I pray in English as well, and you need to pray in English as well. But praise God, the Bible says this order, what then? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding.

So do both. Praise the Lord. And many a times, you'll find that when you pray in English, your understanding, you'll find that your prayer becomes more flowing, more to the heart of the matter. You are zeroing into the heart of the matter. Maybe you are praying in the Spirit, "I pray for my 15-year-old boy that, Lord, you'll remove this sense of loneliness that has come upon him. Even though he's with his friends, even though he's with his family, the devil has attacked him with this spirit of loneliness, this spirit of feeling cut off from other people. I pray that you will just envelop his heart in your embrace, in your love, and I pray, Lord, you'll grant him the grace".

And the Holy Spirit is praying all this for your son, and you don't even know it when you're praying in tongues. Praise the Lord. But many a times after you stop for a while and you pray in English, amen, you may even pray for the very situation that the Holy Spirit just prayed through, amen. And if you don't know what to pray in English, amen, keep on praying in the Spirit. Praise the Lord. But you will come to a place where you will pray in English and your prayer in English becomes more flowing, more zeroing into the situation, amen. And even when you pray in English, you'll find that God gives you the solution. Most 12 of my messages that I've preached, I'll tell you this, didn't come from a time of just study, all right?

Let me say this, I do receive, you know, from my study and from the Word, but it's when I'm on my knees praying, praying for the coming Sunday, praying for the rhema Word, but as I'm praying, somewhere during my prayer, I pray for a number of things and all that, of course. You know but somewhere in the prayer, the Holy Spirit brings up the Word that I need for that week, amen. And I love that Word because it is full of life. When the Holy Spirit brings it up, it's full of life. I see it, right, but it takes days to break it down, amen, to unpack it. And once you see it, man, I'm telling you, you're excited because you know that just as you are excited receiving that Word, the people will be excited to receive that Word as well. Praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus. And they will receive. Hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus.

So we pray in the Spirit. Sometimes people say, "Well, the apostle Paul actually, you know, he prayed, he encouraged us not to pray in tongues in public, in the church especially". Now we're talking about the church as the normal church coming together physically. But listen carefully, many a times when you quote that verse, we quote it out of context. It does not start that way. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 18, Paul says, "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church". Now remember that, I repeat, "Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding," why? "So 13 that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue". Paul's saying, "If I speak in tongues throughout the church service, nobody will understand me".

Hey church, if I stand on here and I pray in tongues, none of you will understand the sermon, amen, or I speak in tongues, no one will understand. If I'm preaching in tongues, no one will understand, right? So that's what Paul is saying. His emphasis is, "Yet in the church". But many a time people who use this verse will not quote the verse before that. The verse before that says, "I think my God I speak with tongues more than you all". When he says, "more than you all," he was writing to the Corinthian Christians, and the Corinthian Christians were radical about praying in tongues. And that's what he had to correct them because they were praying in tongues, yelling in tongues, you know, screaming in tongues, and that's out of order.

Okay, they were praying, talking to one another in tongues all the time. They even like when they were led in prayer, they were praying in tongues. And people who come who are not saved, the unlearned, people who were not taught, you know, they think that you are mad, right? And Paul is saying, "Hey, listen, guys, I think my God I speak with tongues more than you all". Now that sounds like Paul was really radical about praying in tongues. He must have been praying in tongues from one city to another city, riding on his camel, he'll be going, he'll be praying in tongues, he'll be praying in tongues, edifying himself, amen, unpacking the mysteries on the inside of him, amen. And God begins to give him revelation after revelation. Praise the Lord.

As he washes his teeth, I don't know what they use in those days and all that, may be charcoal, you know? And as he sit down for dinner or as he sleeps, as he rises up, amen, he's praying in tongues to sleep. And he's rising up, the first thing he does, he prays in the Spirit. Hallelujah. For him to say, "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all". So that yet in the church, Paul says, "When I come, I've had my seasons of praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues. When I come into the church, I only have to speak five words with my understanding, and you know what? The power is there". Why? Because in another place it says, "You know, I speak 10,000 words in a tongue," use the 10,000 words example, he will only have to speak five words in English, and the power will be there.

This is something that God wants to pour upon your children, and they are never too young to be introduced to the Holy Spirit. They are never too young to be introduced to the Holy Spirit. You know, Justin my son received the Holy Spirit when he was about five years old. My daughter also around the same time, when she was about four to five. And I prayed for them, and I told them that this is the Holy Spirit. This is the gift of Jesus to you. Will you want to receive it? Amen. Now, they got saved at that very early age as well. The moment they believed on Jesus Christ, 15 they are ready for the Holy Spirit, and I prayed for them.

And once in a while, when Jessica was small, and Justin also, not too long ago, I'll catch them muttering with their lips. Even Jessica when she was playing, you know, with her toys. And Justin told me himself that in school one time he was feeling like he was in a situation whereby it was a bit stressful and a bit difficult for him. I said, "What did you do"? He said, "I began to pray in tongues softly". I said, "Do you feel like on the inside of you like there's are all these knots becoming unfurled, all right? They all open up"? He says, "Yes, exactly. I pray in tongues, and I feel strong," he said. And, you know, both my children were introduced to the Holy Spirit at a young age.

Now, I can release them to the Holy Spirit, listen, because I know this, the Holy Spirit will teach them all truths. He will teach them all things and guide them into all truths, what I cannot. You see, I can say something to them, but it's the Holy Spirit that gives that influence. It's the Holy Spirit that inspires them, impresses on them, amen, and teaches them from within. And the Bible says, all your children, the promise in Isaiah 54 right after Isaiah 53 the work of Jesus in Isaiah 53, because of that, the promise in Isaiah 54 says, "All your children's children shall be taught of the Lord".

Now, not taught concerning the Lord. It is not like a father teaching a child concerning the Lord. That's important, okay, but here this verse is not saying that. The 16 verse is saying all your children shall be taught of the Lord. That means the Lord himself will teach them directly and great, oh, great shall be the peace, the shalom, the well-being, even the wholeness, physically, of your children, spirit, soul, and body. Hallelujah. Great, not just shalom, but a bit, a dab of shalom. No, no, no. Great shall be the shalom, and shalom is not just peace in your heart. It's not just for your emotions, but it's also body. That's how the Jews interpret it, amen.

The Hebrew, all right, you ask them abut shalom, they will tell you nothing missing, nothing broken. That's how they define it, amen. Complete wholeness: spirit, soul, and body. For friends, many a times we separate ourselves and we think that what we feel does not affect us bodily. No, friend, just like when you suffer physically, when your body suffers pain and all that, your emotions also suffer. By the same token, it's the other way around as well. When you are suffering emotionally, when you are depressed, it can have a strong repercussion or effect upon your body. The Bible says: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine". And the word "medicine" there literally is healing medicine.

So a merry heart does good. So when you have a merry heart, you are cheerful, amen. "A merry heart does good like medicine". And this medicine has no side effects. You cannot overdose on this medicine, amen? The more cheerful you are, the Bible says: "The joy of the LORD is your strength," hallelujah, and that strength there is not just spiritual strength. It's used also for physical strength throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, it's used for physical strength as well, praise the Lord. So joy of the Lord is your strength. A cheerful heart, praise God. But the Bible says: "A broken spirit dries the bones". It causes arthritis, drying of the bones, and what causes it? A spirit of sadness. The Bible says: "By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken".

You see, your emotions affect your spirit as well, amen? The spirit is broken. But a cheerful heart, "a merry heart does good like medicine," hallelujah. Praise the Lord. "A broken spirit dries the bones". "A broken spirit dries the bones". That's physical. So, your depression can affect your body, amen. So let's be cheerful, praise the Lord. You know, the Bible talks about family relationships, and you know which writings of Paul, which letter of Paul, where he elucidates most thoroughly on family relationships?

The book of Ephesians, and the book of Ephesians is considered by scholars, all right, as one of the most, in fact, if not the most spiritual book of all the books that Paul has written. It unveils to us the wealth of the church, the riches of his grace, hallelujah. Even chapter 1, it tells you the riches of his grace by which, according to the riches of his grace we have been forgiven, we have received forgiveness of our sins, and how God planned all this from the beginning, all that is unveiled to us in the very first chapter of Ephesians. But in the book of Ephesians, we also have family relationships in chapter 5. In between, it tells you that not only you died with Christ, when he died on that cross, you were raised from the dead with Christ, and then you were made to sit with Christ in heavenly places. "Having raised us together," it says, "he made us to sit together in heavenly places at his right hand".

So why is this important before it comes to family relationships? You need to understand this: the Christian position, the Christian posture, is not like the world's teachings on family relationships, how to have a successful family, how to have good marriage and all that because they teach in terms of techniques and methods. God's way is that you need to come higher, you need to know where you are. In fact, you are the highest position in the universe, praise the Lord, you are seated in Christ, amen. You are with Christ in that position. Now, you're heavenly, you're a heavenly being. Now, from that position, you step, almost like you step down into the earthly relationships.

Imagine, if an angel would come down from heaven and live with us for a month. If you're a student, the angel goes to school with you, all right? And can you imagine what kind of attitude the angel would have? If the angel hears profanity, he's like...you know? He is grieved, and yet in everything that he does, there is such a dignity, not a holier-than-thou attitude, but a dignity, a glory, a beauty. The moral beauty, and the moral excellence can be seen in him. Because why? He's a heavenly being. He came from heaven. So as we look at someone who comes from heaven, how would he be like in terms of his moral character, in terms of his relationships with others? Well, that's what you are. The Bible says, start with that position. You're a heavenly being. You are seated in heavenly places in Christ, and from there, it's like you come down to your earthly relationships, towards your spouse, towards your children, amen.

See, when you know you have the wealth, amen, of Ephesians 1, then comes the walk. You cannot have the walk without the wealth. You must understand the wealth that's found in chapter 1 of Ephesians, and then you come to the walk, where it tells you in the middle portion of Ephesians, "Walk worthy of the Lord, of the high calling". How can we do that unless we know what we have, who we are, amen, like Jesus. He knew the Father had given all things into his hand. He knew where he came from, he knew where he was going. Then he rose up from supper and washed the disciples' feet. That act, that act that seems so lowly, right, if somebody else would do it, it will appear servile, but when the Lord of glory, knowing who he is, knowing what he has, he steps down and he washes the disciples' feet. There's glory, hallelujah. That's the kind of glory that God wants you to bring into your marriage, into your parenting, into your family life, amen? Praise the Lord.

So we start there, amen? We start with we are complete in Christ and then walk out the completeness. We don't start like this. A lot of people, when they reason, they reason from earth towards heaven, all right? Towards God. God wants us to reason from heaven earthward, amen? From heaven to earth. We don't reason from men to God. We reason from God's perspective to men, praise the Lord. And if you understand that, you understand that the new covenant is totally different from the Old Testament. A lot of people, they feel comfortable living in the Old Testament, all right, living under the law, because it tells you what to do in every other area. But living as a heavenly being transcends the morality of the law in the Old Testament; why? Because it gives you the heavenly, you know, it's not like you don't wanna commit adultery.

You feel like, you know, you feel an icky or ucky, it's like, it's not your nature; why? You are from heaven, praise the Lord. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. The thought of stealing, you know, doesn't even come into your mind; why? Because you are rich, fully supplied, amen, by the Lord. "The Lord is your shepherd; you shall not want," praise the Lord. You are in him, amen. Praise the Lord, all things are yours, hallelujah. And then when you look at the other people, you don't have to covet what they have. In fact, you celebrate what they have, praise the Lord. There's no need for coveting. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. And in fact, you give. In fact, in the Ten Commandments, there's no giving, right? But living like a heavenly being, you're giving all the time, you're giving all the time, you're giving all the time. So that even the righteousness of the law of the Old Testament is fulfilled, not by you, but in you as you walk after the Spirit, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Friend, this is what the Lord wants us to walk in, especially now, during this time that we are in. Ensure that your family's baptized in the Holy Spirit. Many of you joined us this past two years, during the pandemic, okay, but you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now, again, I repeat, it's one thing to be saved. If you look at John 20, you find that the disciples, okay, by this time, there's only 11 of them. Judas hung himself, okay? And they had Jesus in their midst on the very same day. The same evening that Jesus rose from the dead, right, that same evening on the same day, okay, Jesus appeared to them in their midst. And Jesus said to them, "Peace be unto you". And then, right after he said that, the Bible says he breathed on them. He said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit".

Now, do you believe the disciples then received the Holy Spirit? Of course. How can Jesus just say, "Receive the Holy Spirit," and it's a figurative speech? No, he breathed on them, literally. He breathed on them and he said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit". That is the time, I believe, the disciples were born again. They were saved. Then you say, "Pastor Prince, weren't they saved before when they walked with Jesus and through every valley, every hamlet, every village, they walk in"? No, no, during that time, they were disciples. They were followers of Jesus, like you would have a disciple of a rabbi. They followed Jesus but they were not born again. How can they be born again when Jesus has not yet died, has not shed his blood, has not been raised from the dead? So they were disciples, nonetheless, followers of Jesus, but I believe they were born again on the evening of the Resurrection Day, when Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit".

Now they have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, but notice, he's indwelling them but it is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The same disciples on the Day of Pentecost, in fact, Jesus told them before he ascended to heaven, Jesus told them in Acts 1, "Stay". We read that just now. "Stay in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high for he shall baptize you," Jesus said. John said, "He," referring to himself, "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit," right? He told them to wait for the promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit. Now, I thought they received the Holy Spirit. So, obviously, it's two different experience, praise God. They were born again in John 20. In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came, they were all baptized. They were all born again already. All the 120 in the Upper Room were all saved. They were all indwelt by the Holy Spirit already, but on the Day of Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now, what was the first prototype, you see, the first of anything is something for us to learn. Like, the law of first mention in the Bible. The Bible mention a certain subject for the first time, all right, there it is in its embryo form, in its seed form, for all the other mention of that word or that subject in the Bible. It will open up, but based on the things that we learn in the law of the first mention. In the law of the first mention, there's always something for us to learn that we can use, right, to guide us in the mention of the same subject throughout the Bible, okay? So we see that the very first baptism of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, which I believe is the birthday of the church, amen?

Now, the disciples, when Jesus was raised from the dead, he was raised on the Feast of Firstfruits on Resurrection Day. The Jews call it the Feast of Firstfruits, right? And it was on the same day the disciples were born again. They received the Holy Spirit in the sense of he indwelled them. But 50 days after that, on the Day of Pentecost, they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, hallelujah, hallelujah. Now, not only do they have, like I illustrated just now, the Holy Spirit's in me, but now I'm in the Holy Spirit. They were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and that's the first mention, so let's look at the first mention and how do we know that they were baptized, they were filled with the Holy Spirit? The Bible tells us: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit".

Now, he could have stopped there, right? But no, he goes on to say: "And began to speak". Who spoke? The Holy Spirit spoke? No, they spoke. A lot of people misunderstand. When we talk about praying in tongues, they will say things like, "Well, I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak through me. I'm waiting for the...", no, no, read carefully. It doesn't say, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues". Doesn't say that; it says, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance". So the Holy Spirit gives you the utterance, but you have to say it out. You have to pray it out. You have to let those words come out of your mouth. Many a time, you pray for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and they are waiting. They are waiting.

You know, God doesn't want you to be passive. When you are passive, you can actually yield yourself unwittingly to an evil spirit, all right? Don't let your mind be passive. Don't let your being be passive, amen? All right, so be active, praise the Lord. When the Holy Spirit comes on you, God always waits, you know, the evil spirit, when it possesses you, it controls you, it drives you, it makes you do things you don't want to do, makes you imagine and think things that you don't want to think. It makes you, you know, even say things that you don't want to say. It makes you feel things that you don't want to feel. And it drives you. It's always drive, drive, drive. Bible says: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God".

The Holy Spirit leads you, amen. How do you lead a child? By the hand, amen? For him, he leads us by the heart. He leads us to that peace or the absence of peace. He never drives you. He doesn't drive you. Doesn't push you against your will. God respects your free choice. Hey, friend, if God does not respect our free choice, the whole world today will be saved then. God will just say, "My power is on you," and God forces you by his power. Who can withstand his power, amen? In fact, God would have stopped Adam from partaking of that fruit. The moment Adam was about to sin, and he was about to stretch his hand to get that fruit, God could have stopped him by his almighty power. Can God do it? Yes, but he wouldn't be respecting our free choice, which he gave to us, amen? The free choice is something that God respects but, remember, always remember this: The result of your choice, you cannot change it. And I like to say it like this: You put your finger in the fire.

You say, "I can choose to put my finger in the fire". You can, but you cannot choose not to be burned. All right, the result of your choice, you cannot control. Go where it says: "The wages of sin is death". And that's why you see death. God never meant for man to die. God meant for man to live forever. God didn't create Adam and Eve for them to die. But God did tell them, "There's a consequence if you choose the wrong tree". And that's the reason why God put that tree right in the center of the garden. If everything is good around us and God says, "You have free choice," all right? How do you exercise the free choice if everything is good? No, free choice and your love for the Lord is only seen when God puts something in the center which God himself planted, the Bible says, just like all the other plants and trees that he had planted, right?

God spoke, and that's how he planted it, amen? But the tree was from him. It's not from the devil, and yet God says, "It's not good for men". God says, "To show that you recognize my sovereignty, amen, over you, to recognize that you are but a created being, amen, and your life is a life of dependence on me, a life of obedience to me". so that's your life, okay? But instead, man rebelled against God. Now, you can only rebel if there's a choice, so God allowed that tree to be there so there's a choice, but man chose the wrong thing but he cannot choose the effects. And the effects came: spiritual death, leading to physical death, amen, sickness, disease, all that came about because of man's fall.

Today, when you look at the world, it's a fallen world we live in. God never meant for hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and all that, earthquakes, no, no, no, no. That's not in God's plan. Never, never. God is a good God. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights". It's a fallen earth that we are in, and all that God can do, if man is continuing in his rebellion, continue, all right, in his willful ways against God, he just have to lift his hand of protection, and there you go. But the Hebrew idiom, the Hebrew way of expressing many a times, they will attribute to God as if he did it directly, when actually, even in the original language there, is that God allowed.

Robert Youngs of the Young's Concord of the Bible, he says that in places where it says as if God made something bad happen, actually, it's not in the causative tense, but in the permissive tense. God only have to lift his finger and that's it. So God allowed man. You see, friend, you choose. When you pray for the Holy Spirit, after that you start speaking, all right, speak first and then the Holy Spirit gives you the utterance. Now you're flowing in the language of the Holy Spirit, praise God, that Satan cannot wire-trap, he cannot disrupt your prayer, he cannot stop it from coming to pass because he doesn't understand what you're praying, amen. So when you start to speak in tongues, you start to speak, amen, like the things of God, only when the priests who carried the ark at the River Jordan, only when their foot touched the River Jordan, God split that river. Not until the priests took a step of faith, until they step, then God split that River Jordan, okay?

So the same thing. You've got to speak. They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, hallelujah, amen. We're gonna pray for you at the end of this service, and I want you to receive this. I just wanna encourage you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you have not yet experienced this. If you have experienced this somewhere in the past, all you need to do is just to start praying in the Spirit again. In the same book of Ephesians, chapter 5, before he talks about family relationships, wives, husbands, amen, children, he talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Let's look at this verse: "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord".

Now, this word here, "be filled with the Spirit," is, in the Greek, is in the present passive, not active, but passive voice imperative. In other words, allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit constantly, amen. How do you do that? Be being filled, be being, present tense, filled. Allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit, constantly. How do you do that? Comma, next verse tells you, "speaking". Now, this speaking is in the present active voice. In other words, your part, the active part, is to start speaking every time, you know, in a day when you feel down, when you feel, you know, blah, you know, or you feel you're under attack, amen, or you feel like you need God's intervention in something, amen? You can pray that prayer. Praise the Lord. You can just start to speak, and these are psalms, hymns. Notice that? That gives you a cheerful heart, amen? A cheerful heart, a happy heart, a merry heart, praise the Lord, amen. And spiritual song. That's in tongues.

Paul says, "I'll pray their understanding and I'll pray with the Spirit," amen. Very clear, the context there is talking about praying in tongues, amen. Start speaking, amen. Everyone that receive the baptism of Holy Spirit in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, if you look carefully, all right, you find that they receive, and then they start speaking in tongues. It's a subsequent experience. Paul, one time, passed through a city, the city of Ephesus, and he found some disciples. These are people that believe on Jesus, and he said to them, you know, sometimes you look at people and you can tell, like, you know, there's no joy, they're depressed, there's no moral fortitude. There's no light shining from their lives, amen. They are defeated. And you look at them and you're wondering.

And so Paul must have wondered like that, I assume, by looking at the disciples, and they're true disciples, and he said to them, "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed"? And they said, "We have never heard that there's a Holy Spirit". Then Paul says, "Then how were you baptized"? Answered, "We were baptized in the baptism of John". Now, the Bible says they were disciples of Jesus, disciples. They were saved. So when Paul laid hands on them, the Bible says they began to speak with tongues and prophesied. So one time Paul said, "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed"? So obviously, there's something physical, something that he can sense that these are believers but they're not victorious. And then he says to them, and when he prayed for them to receive, they started speaking in tongues and prophesying. Both are divinely inspired utterance, amen?

So here in Ephesians, Paul is exhorting them by the Spirit to allow themself "to be filled with the Spirit," how? "Speaking". That's the active part. Your part is to speak, speak in tongues, sing spiritual songs, sing psalms, sings hymns, amen, in a cheerful heart. Praise the Lord. And then, three verses after that, he starts to exhort in family relationships. What does that tell us? And book of Ephesians, when it talks about family relationship, is the most exhaustive compared to all his writings. It tells you, you need the filling and the constant infilling of the Holy Spirit before you can flow successfully in family relationships, amen.

In closing, let's look at 2 Timothy 1. It says here: "Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God," friend, stir up the gift of God, "which is in you through the laying on of my hands". The word, "gift of God," here, some people say that, "Well, this is the Holy Spirit". It's not the Holy Spirit. When it refers to the person of the Holy Spirit, the word used is always dorea. Like I mentioned just now, all right, in Cornelius's house, they realized that they received the dorea of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit. But here, it's not dorea. It is the word "charisma," and charisma is used in 1 Corinthians 12 to describe the gifts of the Holy Spirit, amen. The gift of the word of wisdom, the gift of healing, and all these words, gifts, is the word "charisma," is grace gift.

And grace gift literally, charisma, if you study it, it means, gift that has no merit of your own. It's not because I deserve it that this gift flows. No, no, no, amen? It's paid for by Jesus, praise the Lord, at the cross. In fact, Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly," what? "Shall flow rivers of living water". Rivers of living water. "This he spoke of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit was not yet given," why? "Because Jesus was not yet glorified". But now that Jesus is glorified, praise the Lord, we keep on being filled and that rivers of living water flows out of us. And we stir it up. It says, "Stir it up". How do you stir up? The word "stir up" is actually "fan into flame". Fan into flame, amen, like you are barbecuing or something like that. You take a fan and you fan it, you fan the little kindling up into flames, amen? You flame it, praise God, hallelujah, amen. And the fire comes alive, praise the Lord, amen.

So that charisma is there, lying dormant, amen. Maybe it's just a kindling right now. Fan into flame, Paul says. You do that part. You fan into flame. He's not saying fan the Holy Spirit. Fan the gift. And there's only one gift that they can start initiating. The other gifts, the gifts of the word of wisdom, amen, the gift of working of miracles, all that cannot be fanned, except for this one gift. You fan into flame the gift of God. And then you stirred all this rivers up. "For God," notice "For" is tied up with the previous verse: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind". So notice that the way we stir it up, the spirit of power, love, and sound mind, is by stirring up the gift of God, and the only gift that you can operate at will is the gift of tongues, amen? That we received when we get baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that gift lights up all the other gifts.

Look at this picture here of the Menorah. This is a nine-branch Menorah and you know how many gifts of the Holy Spirit are mentioned in the Bible? Nine. How many fruit of the Spirit is mentioned in the Bible? Nine. Okay, so the Jewish people calls this the Hanukkah candle, Hanukkah Menorah, but do you notice, if you ask them they will tell you they use the center shaft, the center one, okay, the middle one, and that's called the servant lamp. They pick that up and they light the rest with it. I believe that speaks of praying in tongues. When you pray in tongues, you will light up all the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your life, amen. Praise the Lord.

I wanna share with you real quick about an article that appeared in "The New York Times" on 7 November, 2006, under the title, "A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in Tongues": "Contrary to what may be a", I'm just extracting a part of it, a portion of it. "Contrary to what may be a common perception, studies suggest that people who speak in tongues rarely suffer from mental problems". Ha, ha, whoa. "People who speak in tongues rarely suffer from mental problems. A recent study of nearly 1000 evangelical Christians in England found that those who engage in the practice were more emotionally stable than those who did not".

So, friend, here we have Scripture testimony of that. Stir up, fan into flame, that charisma, the praying in tongues. Fan into flame. And what's gonna happen? The spirit of fear will go, amen, and instead you have rivers of power, love, and sound mind. Oh, amen, amen. We all need that every day, not just love but power. You can love someone but have no power, amen, to bring a divine intervention into that area through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. That's the power part, praise God. And the love, and the sound mind. How we all need sound mind, praise the Lord?

Let me pray for you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you have not yet received it, praise the Lord, amen. Stand to your feet right now wherever you are. Now, Jesus says when a child asks the father for bread, will the father give him a stone? Okay, you ask for fish, will he give you a snake? Of course not. "How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him"? That means, don't be afraid you'll get a snake, you'll get an evil spirit. When you ask the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you will not receive any other spirit. Let me pray this for you right now. Stand to your feet, hallelujah, amen. Remember this: it's a gift. A gift is just to be received by faith, amen? So if that is you, wherever you are right now, lift your hands, amen, and say this after me:

Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for your promise that you will baptize me with the Holy Spirit and with power. So right now, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Father God, baptize me with the Holy Spirit to overflowing in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit right now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, friend, he's on you now, praise the Lord. Don't struggle, relax, amen, and start to speak by faith, praise the Lord. The Holy Spirit won't possess you to the point of make you. He won't make you do anything, amen? You've got to cooperate. Start speaking in tongues, praise the Lord. Oh yes, go on, go on, praise the Lord. You see, you can stop, you can start, amen. It's all within your will, okay? It is not something that is forced on you. It is at your will, okay? You can stop, you can start again. You can sing in tongues. Stop.

If you pray like this all day long, those rivers of power, love, and sound mind will flow through you, and you're also making intercession to God, amen, for things that you don't even know of, amen, but the Holy Spirit knows and he knows exactly what the need is, and he knows exactly how to supply. Praise the Lord. If you have never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, pray this prayer with me right now. Say:

Heavenly Father, I thank you Christ died on the cross for my sins and you raised him from the dead, and I thank you that right now I am the righteousness of God in Christ because Jesus Christ is my Lord. All my sins are forgiven, remitted from my life. Thank you, Father, and right now fill me and baptize me with your Holy Spirit to overflowing in the name of Jesus, amen.

Receive you the Holy Spirit as well, in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen, amen. You can pray in tongues anytime. Start doing it. The more you do it, it's like a stream, a trickle of water first, and then becoming a stream, then become like a river and a torrential river like Jesus said shall flow out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, amen. Stand to your feet, church. Praise the Lord.

This coming week may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said, "Amen".