Peter Tan-Chi - Experience The Power of God's Spirit
Our topic today is so exciting because it has to do with the importance of not only knowing God's will, but doing God's will. If I asked you how many of you truly desire to do God's will, raise your hands. You will know God's will only if you desire to do His will. But I tell you this: It 's one thing to know God's will. It's another thing to do it. It's another thing to want to do God's will. One thing, having the ability to do God's will is another thing. They are different. You can have the will to do God's will, but you don't have the ability. The good news today is this: I want to share with you how you can not only know God's will, but also have the power to do His will. This is precious to me: not only knowing, but doing, and having the power to do the will of God.
I think about one of the people who came to us, this guy had been addicted to pornography, and he wanted to get away from pornography, and he just couldn't, and he was honest. You see, it's one thing to know God's will, but it's another thing to have the ability to do it. There was another woman who was in an immoral relationship. She wanted to give up, but she couldn't. Until she encountered the power of Lord Jesus. So a lot of us need supernatural power because the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible, so today I'm going to do a quick recap of what we've been studying, last Sunday we talked about Acts Chapter 18, we talked about Apollos and the others in Corinth.
Do you remember what we said last Sunday? Corinth, this Sunday we're going to be talking about Acts 18, in Ephesus, so today you're going to learn about the special significance of this particular place, Ephesus. How did the church in Ephesus begin? Do you know how it started? Let's read together: Experience the power of the Holy Spirit. Tell the person next to you: Experience the power of the Holy Spirit. Again, tell the person next to you: Experience the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's read together: The preface to this sermon, read together: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Note: You are my witnesses. Look at God's timing. I didn't realize that. This is the verse to memorize this week. You will learn two things from this verse.
First, God wants you to experience His power. We have an amazing God. Not only does He want me to do His will, He gives me the power to do His will. In this verse, you will also discover what is God's will for you. What is God's will? Read together: When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power. Everyone read: You are to be my witnesses, so God wants you and me to be His witnesses, but we need His power. So today's outline is simple: Ladies and gentlemen, just one point, what is it? Experience the power of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 19, you'll see three main branches. The first branch is they need power to live like Christ, and you need the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is important. Without the Holy Spirit, you cannot live like Jesus.
Second, you'll find that you need the Holy Spirit to understand the Word of God, and third, you need the Holy Spirit to overcome evil, so you'll find that in Acts 19, but just remember one point, what's the point? Experience the power of the Holy Spirit. are you ready? OK, let's get started! Acts chapter 19 verse 1, read together: While Apollos was in Corinth, you discussed this last week, while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus. So; I met some disciples there. I hope you know something about this city called Ephesus. It was the capital of the Roman Empire's province in Asia Minor. So this place was very wealthy. It was a center of trade. It was a part of the Roman government.
The center, but most importantly, it's also the center of superstition, the center of witchcraft, the center of demons, and in this place you'll notice that the largest temple in the world was built in Ephesus, which I'll talk about next week. This question, and you know now, Ephesus is a very important city. Then Paul found some disciples. Now when you see the word disciples, don't automatically think they were Christians. Why? In the Bible, there are disciples of John, disciples of Jesus, and disciples of the Pharisees, so a disciple is just a learner and a follower. Do you understand? So he found some disciples who were sincere. You know why? See what Paul asked them? Read it together: He asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed"?
Has anyone ever asked you this question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Why ask this question? We're not quite sure why, but many scholars theorize something like this: Paul looked at this group of people, and they seemed to be acting like Christians, acting like devout believers, but they just didn't feel God's presence in their lives. Now, there is no joy, no peace, no matter what the reason, so he asked them: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Because when you believe, you should have the Holy Spirit. How did they respond? They said to him, "No, I have never heard of the Holy Spirit being given". So what kind of disciples were these people? Then Paul asked them another question: So, with what baptism were you baptized? They replied: They were baptized by John.
Now Paul was wondering: Are these people true believers? But they are sincere. Paul explained, and everyone read: What John performed was a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. Paul began to explain to this group of sincere believers, but they were not yet complete believers because they had only heard of John, so Paul said: John's baptism, John's teachings are as follows: First, you can read it in Luke 3 The chapter reads, John's teaching is: Luke 3:3 So he came to the country around the Jordan River and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. You see, this is very radical, and you know why? The Jews believed that only if you brought an animal to sacrifice in the temple could you be forgiven of your sins. For them, it's all about religion, it's all about ritual.
John came, forgiveness of sins was possible, and as long as you truly repented, you had to repent in order to experience forgiveness of sins. Wow! No wonder when John was preaching, he focused on repentance, Luke 3:8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not say in your heart: We have Abraham as our ancestor. Don't rely on your religion, because you are a Jew and you need to repent. So John's teaching is: turn away from sin, and then you turn to the Messiah who is coming, but they have no idea who the Messiah is, but John will soon find out who the Messiah is. Coming Messiah, what do I mean? Look at John chapter 1 verses 35-37. On another day John was standing with two disciples.
Please note that although the same word is used - disciples, they are not followers of Jesus yet. They are disciples of John. When he saw Jesus walking, he said: Behold, this is the Lamb of God! When the two disciples heard his words, they followed Jesus. Do you see what's going on here? John's mission was to tell people to repent, turn from their sins, and turn to the coming Messiah, Jesus. That was John's message, as Paul explained to them, and the Bible tells us that when they heard this, read: Acts 19:5-7 And they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So here we have the first re-baptisms, they're being baptized again because the first baptism doesn't quite count, they don't know Jesus, like a lot of us do, when you're born, when you're a child, a lot of people Been baptized.
But you have no idea why you were baptized, and the same goes for these people, they were taught by John, they were baptized, I want to repent, I agree with John, but now Paul is saying you need to know something about the Messiah, the Messiah Isaiah was Jesus, who died and rose again. When they understood this, they believed in Jesus. That's the idea here: They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying, about twelve people in all. Please note, there is something unique and strange here. You know why I say it is strange? Look at this sequence, they were baptized, then Paul laid hands on them, then they received the Holy Spirit, then they spoke in tongues, then they started prophesying, what happened?
If you don't know how to interpret the Bible, you're going to misuse this verse, and that's why I want to teach you, this is very important, you have to know the difference between a descriptive passage and a prescriptive passage. What is a descriptive paragraph? Descriptive paragraphs simply describe what happened, while prescriptive paragraphs specifically teach what should happen. Let me give you an example. There are many descriptive passages in the Bible. Many people...
I remember when they had not been believers for a long time, they came to me after reading the Bible: Peter! I can have more than one wife, that's okay. I said: Why? Look at David, David had more than one wife, and the Bible says he was very pleasing to God, and I say... those are called descriptive passages, and these passages describe David's life. Another man came to me and said, wow, I can be like Solomon, because Solomon had seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines, look! It doesn't matter. Sorry, sir, this is what is called a descriptive passage. A descriptive passage describes what is happening. A prescriptive passage is different. It dictates your behavior.
For example, in the letter to Timothy, many new The epistle of the covenant is doctrinal, Be the husband of one woman only. Where do you find this? 1 Timothy Chapter 3. In other words, you have to understand what is descriptive? What is prescriptive? "Acts", much of it is narrative, telling a story and telling us what happened. For example, in the book of Acts, there is no fixed pattern regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Why? It is a narrative that tells us what God has done. What did God do in the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament? God introduced the Holy Spirit, and in the book of Acts, the first time the Holy Spirit was poured out to the Jews, so look what happened, there was no laying on of hands, everyone was speaking in tongues, proving that it was the Holy Spirit, so these were languages, not noise, to prove that they have the Holy Spirit.
Supernatural languages, but it is possible to understand these languages, Ilocano, Visaya, but if you are in those parts of the world, that is the local language. There was a sound of wind like fire, and they were baptized. The next outpouring of the Holy Spirit was on the Gentiles in Acts 10. Remember Gentiles and Jews were not meant to mix. God wanted to communicate something. Speaking of the Kingdom of God, all of you. gather together. So what did God do? He sent Peter to preach without the laying on of hands. What happened? They all spoke in tongues and were baptized. The other time is in Acts 19. Who were these people? Ephesians, who are these people? Imperfect knowledge, John's disciples, these were sincere Old Testament believers who followed John's teachings, but imperfectly.
So what did God do? He asked Paul to re-evangelize them, baptize them again, lay hands on them, and when the Holy Spirit came, they spoke in tongues. Why am I bringing this up? Because many people use this verse to prove that you need someone to lay hands on you in order to receive the Holy Spirit. They use a narrative passage to demonstrate a doctrine: If you can't speak in tongues, something is wrong. They use this narrative. My friends, I want to teach you this: Narrative is different from prescriptive. In the CCF church, we don't want superficial Christians. We want you to know the Word of God deeply. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. What example can you give? Let me tell you, for example, this is an example of what I just read to you.
Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. Have you noticed? There was no laying on of hands, and then what happened? The Bible tells us: For they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God. You see, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is a language, Then Peter answered and said, Everyone read: Who can forbid the baptizing of water to these, since they have received the Holy Spirit? Have you noticed? They received the Holy Spirit first, even before they were baptized. ah! There is no fixed pattern. Just like us. And commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
So what's my point? Narrative paragraphs tell us what is happening. But today, after reading the entire book of Acts, and reading the New Testament, you can now begin to understand that the correct order is to believe first and then to be baptized. When you believe, you have the Holy Spirit. What is my evidence? Let's look at doctrinal statements. Let's read together: Romans 8:8-9 And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. There are two kinds of people here today, those who are in the flesh and those who are not in the flesh. How do you know? Read the next verse: Yet ye are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. According to the Bible, according to doctrine, who is a Christian? Biblically, look at this verse.
Who is a Christian? If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Can you see now why this is so important? Some of you are like the believers in Ephesus. You go to church all the time, but there is no transformation in your life. Is it possible that you mean your heart, but don't have the Spirit of God in your life? Is it possible that you have religion, but you don't have the Holy Spirit of God, you don't have joy, you don't have fire, there's something missing, I think that's a good question. If I ask you today, do you have the Holy Spirit in your heart? Can others see Christ in us? This is a vital question, and let me repeat it, if I look at your life, and you look at my life, and your family looks at your life, can they see the Spirit of Christ? Can they see the Holy Spirit in your life? Is there a life transformation? Has anything changed? If not, you have to ask yourself: why not?
Maybe all I have is religion, think about it. You have no desire to pray, to fast, and that has no appeal to you. All I have to ask you is: why not? You need the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life. Without the Holy Spirit, it's all just legalism. You won't have that power. It's a struggle. So Paul told the Ephesians, he wrote to the Ephesians, let's read this doctrine. Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also believed, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, in whom you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now Paul says, when you believe... after you have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and since you believe in Him... the day you believe, the moment you believe, judging from the passage here, you Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
In other words, Paul was surprised. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Why can't I see the credentials? Now he writes to them, The day you believe the gospel, the good news about the death and resurrection of Jesus, in other words, repentance is good news, forgiveness is good news, but faith in Jesus is also good news, when you believe the full gospel, the Bible Say: You will have the Holy Spirit. Look at the next verse, Ephesians 1:14 This Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of God's people to the praise of his glory. Now let me rephrase this word, the Holy Spirit was given as a deposit, literally a deposit. So what does deposit mean? The deposit is a guarantee that the balance will be paid in due course. The Bible tells you: When you come to Jesus by faith, God promises you: He will give you a deposit, and that deposit is the Holy Spirit. Everything He promises will happen.
Just like I want to buy a property, just like I want to buy a property in installments, I will tell the seller: Can I give you a deposit first? 10% or 20%, I'll pay the balance. Do you know why you need a deposit? Because what is the deposit? It is proof that you will pay the balance. God is telling you, My children, to prove to you that you are going to heaven and that your inheritance will be yours, I want to give you a deposit. The deposit that God gives you and me is the Holy Spirit, so once you understand that, the Holy Spirit brings you assurance of salvation. Because that's a deposit. And heaven, your reward in heaven, all the rest is guaranteed to follow, what's the deposit? It is the Holy Spirit. Having said that, you now need to understand the difference between the following terms: the guaranteed payment of the Holy Spirit, the presence, abiding and infilling of the Holy Spirit.
So Paul wrote to the Ephesians, there is a difference between indwelling and filling. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit occurs at the time of salvation. When you believe in Jesus by faith, you are saved. The filling of the Holy Spirit is another matter. It requires complete surrender. You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you by faith. You are also filled with the Holy Spirit by faith. You ask by faith. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is eternal, while the filling of the Holy Spirit is moment by moment. That is what most people don't understand. This is why our CCF church will give you a gift. We have prepared a booklet called "The Holy Spirit" booklet. It will be given to all of you, but with the following conditions: The first condition is that you want to know how to be controlled and filled with the Holy Spirit.
As you leave our chapel today, there's a free copy for everyone, just on your own initiative, and if you don't care about being filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit, don't get a free copy. You know why? We are selling this at 20 pesos per copy. If this is a blessing to you, I hope you will buy a few copies and share them with your friends. It is all about the Holy Spirit. I want to share this with all the disciples. The small group leaders spoke, and all the disciple leaders, we put together a video that was all about the teachings of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, all of that is in the video. I hope that all group leaders will teach your group members about the Holy Spirit. This is very important. What do you need to experience? Speak louder! Experience the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Many Christians live a mediocre, anemic Christian life. No joy, no peace, no excitement. So you just come here every Sunday and have become A ritual, that is not God's plan for you to experience His life. So you need Him - the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us, in Acts 19, after making sure they had the Holy Spirit, what did the Apostle Paul do next? Acts 19:8 Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly, and for three months he debated and persuaded the people about the kingdom of God. In other words, the Christian life is not about blind faith. The Christian life is reasonable and logical. He teaches them about the kingdom of God based on the Bible. Why? Read the next verse: Acts 19:9. But it came to pass that some of them were hardened in their hearts and unbelief, and began to slander the word in public.
So Paul left them, and separated his disciples from them, and began to reason daily in the school of Tyrannus. What did Paul do? The Christian life is not just about experience, you need the Holy Spirit, praise God! But you also need the Word of God, you need the truth. How did he do it? The Spirit of God plus the Word of God, the truth, helps people grow, and that's what He does, He starts teaching them, but the truth is, some people have hardened hearts and don't believe. Notice how you develop a hardened heart. Heart? Let me teach you: I'm going to teach you something bad today. What it takes to have a hard heart is when you learn something from God. God tells you to do something and you Don't do it. Let me repeat, when you allow compromise to occur in your life, if you know what is right but don't act on it, you will develop a hard heart.
In Filipino, you become desensitized, and that's why a lot of people, after a while, don't get excited about worship, about studying the Bible. You know why? Because insensitivity develops gradually. Let me ask you a question, if you don't obey what you already know, why would God reveal Himself to you and reveal more truth to you? If you don't obey the truths you already know, why would God allow Himself to be more truly present in your life? That, my friends, is the greatest challenge facing God's people. Don't let yourself become hardened. If you keep coming here every Sunday, but you're living in sin, you're compromising, God asks you to forgive others, and you don't, and you're bitter, God is telling you. You are doing the wrong thing and you need to repent, but you refuse. Eventually you lose interest, you lose your fire, you become hardened, and that's what happened here.
Paul was a very wise discipler. What did Paul do? He took his disciples and argued with them every day. He made them leave the synagogue and go to a school, the Tyrannus Academy. Bible scholars tell us: He would meet with them from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. These are very unique times and let me tell you why. The Ephesians had a long nap. They stopped working at 11 a.m. and rested until four p.m. So what do people do? They sleep. What did Paul do? He taught the Bible. So he gathered these disciples together, and he taught them from 11 o'clock to 4 o'clock, every day. What does Paul do every morning? He makes tents. He's a self-sufficient businessman. What does he do at night? He would work, but the key is that He taught these people amazing truths.
Why do you need God's Word? The Bible tells us that everyone reads: 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. How many of you believe the Bible? Is it the word of God? Please raise your hand. Lift it higher! How many of you read the Bible regularly? Please raise your hand. Lift it higher! You know, Pastor Jim, we've come a long way. Lift it higher, lift it higher! Put your hands up! Lift it higher! Those of you who read the Bible regularly now, lift up! Now some of you haven't read the Bible, and I want to ask you why, if you believe the Bible is the Word of God, but you're not reading it, why? Is this a good question for us? If you believe that the Bible is the word of God, but you don't want to read the Bible, then there are only two possibilities.
First, you do not have the Spirit of God and have no life. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter Chapter 2: Desire for the pure Spiritual milk. To desire the pure spiritual milk, you must desire the Word of God as much as you desire the milk, so that you can grow. Babies drink milk because babies have life. But if the baby is sick, he will not drink milk. So there are only two possibilities. First, the baby is dead and has no life. Second, the baby is sick and has no appetite. Now I don't know which situation you are in. Spiritual death or spiritual sickness? But the good news is: you need the Holy Spirit. Can I tell you why? Let us read this passage together, if... Let us read it together: 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 If we are deceived by the gospel... The Bible says that if you cannot understand the gospel, you cannot understand the Bible, you are deceived.
In Filipino, it is a veil, which you cannot see, and which covers those who are perishing. Obviously, there are two kinds of people in this chapel today, those who are perishing and those who are being saved. What are the credentials? Let's continue. Why is the Bible so boring to some people? Because they don't understand. Why don't they understand? Everyone read: The god of this world has blinded the minds of these unbelievers, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ will not shine on them. In other words, you cannot understand, you are blind, and that is why you are not interested. You can only be interested by the grace of God, if you have the Spirit of God in you. So the Bible is very clear, let's read it together: John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things.
So there was a time in my life, and I want to be honest with you, when I read the Bible, I just wanted to sleep, and I had absolutely zero desire, no desire, to study the Bible, and one day, I met Jesus in person, and He opened This desire to read the Bible came to me the day I personally met Jesus in a very intimate way. Now I read the Bible as much as I can. Why? Because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives you desire, power, and understanding. Don't live a Christian life without the Holy Spirit. It's impossible, and that's why many of us are spiritually weak, because you're living the Christian life in your own strength, you've never fully surrendered your life to the Holy Spirit, you don't understand.
So why do we need the Holy Spirit? First, you need power to live the Christian life. Second, you need ability to understand the Bible, and that's what's going on here. Can I tell you what happened in Ephesus? Acts 19:10 This continued for two years, until everyone who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord. How did those living in Asia hear about Jesus? Very simply, the apostle Paul understood how to make disciples. To make disciples, you connect them to the Holy Spirit. Make sure they have the Holy Spirit. Second, you make sure they learn the Word of God, so the Word of God plus the Spirit of God equals transformation. That's exactly what happened, it's amazing!
This lasted for two years. Paul taught the truth in the school of Tyrannus for two years! My friend, if you want to grow in the Lord, you don't just rely on experience. It's wonderful to experience the truth. The filling of the Spirit, the joy, the fruit, it's wonderful, but you need to balance it with the truth, the Word of God. Otherwise, you'll have problems. Are we clear? I remember this girl attending our Bible study, and she received the Holy Spirit, and she kept going to Bible study, and then one day she... I don't know what was going on in her life, she told her boyfriend, and I didn't even know her She had a boyfriend, and she told her boyfriend: We can't live together anymore. The boyfriend said: Why not? She said: The Bible, God's word says so. Her boyfriend was angry. Her boyfriend said: Do you have another boyfriend? The girl said: Yes. Who is your boyfriend? Jesus. I can't compete with Jesus.
The girl had to take a step of faith. She knew she was giving up on the relationship, knowing it was her source of income because her boyfriend was the one sponsoring her. The only problem with her boyfriend is that her boyfriend is already married. She is a mistress. She said: This is contrary to the Bible. Years later, I discovered this girl... She had taken a step of faith by the grace of God and had become very successful financially, and she was now a partner in a security agency. If she had not acted by faith, this would never have happened to her. Do the right things by the power of the Holy Spirit. So my friend, you need the Holy Spirit. Praise God! Acts 19:11-12 God did some extraordinary miracles through Paul's hands; some even took handkerchiefs or aprons from Paul's body and put them on the sick, and the illnesses left them, and the evil spirits went out. Oh my gosh, the Bible says "extraordinary wonders," and I think miracles are extraordinary in and of themselves, but the biblical writers were trying to make a point that if you want to do God's work powerfully, you need God's spirit.
Speaking of signs and wonders, why is this important? Let me tell you why this is important in Acts. Let's read it together. 2 Corinthians 12:12 I manifested the credentials of an apostle among you with all longsuffering, by signs, wonders, and miracles. Why do we need signs, wonders, and miracles? Because they were questioning Paul's authority. They were saying: You are a fake apostle. God used signs and wonders to confirm Paul's authority. Be careful now, when people start selling you handkerchiefs: come and buy this handkerchief! Ten bucks, if you have a fever, if you have pneumonia, it will go away. Have you ever seen people do this? That's called folly, my friend, the power is not in the handkerchief, the power is not in the apron, the manifestation of power is God at work, so be careful.
Don't start a business based on something like, ten dollars ten dollars ten dollars you buy this, sleep with this, my friend, there's a lot of stupid stuff going on. The power is in God. Please note the importance of signs and wonders in the New Testament. Let us read it together. Hebrews 2:4 God testified with them through signs and wonders and manifold miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. People ask me: Is this still happening today? My answer is yes. But you cannot force miracles, miracles are done by God. I've been to so many countries, so many places, and you hear a lot of this in Africa, in the communist countries of the third world, because God has to show His power, and the Bible tells us: This is a God.
An example of the demonstration of power, Acts 19:13 At that time, some of the Jews who were going about, chanting curses to drive out demons, took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus on those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying: I believe in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. Order you to come out! Those who did this were the seven sons of Sceva, the chief priest of the Jews. The evil spirit answered them: I know Jesus, and I know Paul. But who are you? Now imagine these people think you can do magic by using this formula: I command you to leave in the name of Jesus Christ! My friend, Christianity is not about witchcraft. It is not about taking names and going through rituals to reveal the power of God. It is about a personal relationship with Jesus.
In this story, there are seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish chief priest, who are religious people. Not only that, they had children, and they were casting out demons. The evil spirit answered and said to them... Look here, seven sons to one man, and the voice (of the devil) came out: I know Jesus, and I know Paul. But who are you? Do you know what happened? Acts 19:16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, and overcame two of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. Friends, if you don't have Jesus, you have no power over evil spirits. Don't think that you can use rituals, magic, and spells to no avail. You will say: Will something like this happen again today? Yes. I asked one of our pastors to share his experience with you, and let's welcome Pastor Manny.
You know, the danger for Christians today is that you go to extremes. One extreme is that we deny the reality of demons, which is very common in the West. We blame everything on mental problems, psychological and physical problems. And then there's the other extreme. The other extreme is you see demons everywhere, and if your wife is complaining - oh! Devil, devil! Every problem you see - the devil! devil! devil! No, no, no, you have to know, in the Christian life, the truth is: Demons are real, aren't they? I wish they could attack us, but not every problem you have is from the devil. Sometimes it's your own fault, you're not eating right, you're not exercising, so don't blame the devil. A lot of times we blame the devil for everything. I even know some people who are chasing the "sugar spirit" away.
Just go to extremes. These are the enemies of Christians, you need to know: Know that we have the following enemies: The World – Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world. What do you mean? world? Social media, television, your friends, the values of your school, the values of the world, the most important thing is money. Friends, do not be conformed to this world. flesh. Galatians 5:16-17 Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The word lust can be translated as physical lust. Lust and desire are not bad things in themselves. God gives us desires. Sexual desire comes from God and there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with longing for love. But sin has corrupted you, that's why you need to practice self-control, so don't blame everything on the devil, he gets too much credit.
But the reality is this: Satan is real. Let's read it together: Ephesians 6:12. He wrote to the Ephesians. The apostle Paul wrote specifically to the Ephesians. Let's read it together: Because Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Please note that the Bible is so specific. Paul knows that we are not fighting against people, not your wife, not your children, not your boss. Behind all of this are principalities, powers, demonic forces at work, to fight against the forces that govern this dark world. I praise God for Manny's testimony. I have a lot of my own story, but I wanted to share it with him because this power over evil is with you too, you don't necessarily need a Manny Pastor, you don't necessarily need us.
Today I want to share with you: You need the power of the Holy Spirit. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you have no power. So the question is: Do you have the Holy Spirit? The Bible is clear: James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, everyone read: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The devil has no power - if you have Christ in you, but without Christ, you can chant all these verses: In the name of Jesus Christ... nothing will happen, okay? How do you resist the devil? This is the most important thing I want you to learn today. 2 Corinthians 10:3,5 For although we walk in the flesh, we do not fight according to the flesh. You do not fight the devil according to your flesh and blood. Everyone read: Breaking down every scheme and every high thing that exalts oneself against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought of man into obedience to Christ.
In other words, the battle is in the mind. Understand that the battle is in your mind, wrong ideas about God, wrong ideas about life, and that's how the devil controls you. Let me tell you: Wrong thoughts will produce wrong emotions and wrong behaviors. If you think God doesn't love you, why should you follow Him? If you think God doesn't care about you, why should you follow Him? So the devil's trick is to attack your mind and give you wrong thinking, and you are a product of the way you think. The only way the devil can control you is by controlling your thoughts, so pay attention to what you are thinking. You must think every thought... The Bible is very clear: Everyone read: And he takes every thought of man into obedience to Christ.
This is why I memorize scripture. That's why I read the Bible. Whenever I have any unbiblical thought, like I want to attack someone because that person deserves to be punished, that's not from God, it's from the devil, so pay attention to what you're thinking. The Bible tells us, Acts 19:17-18 Everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, knew this and feared it: From that time on, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Many who have believed will come and confess their deeds. Have you noticed the power of God's Spirit and God's Word? It changes people. The Bible says: These people believed and experienced the Holy Spirit. What happened to them? They kept coming to confess and tell what they had done. Friends, repentance is only possible because of the Holy Spirit. You need to change.
I remember the story of this guy, at a meeting in Chicago where Billy Graham was speaking, he walked up and he came to Christ, but he was a member of the Mafia, he was a member of the Mafia, and he was excited , he went to the pastor, and he said: Pastor, since you have Christian doctors and Christian dentists, is it possible that there are Christian gangsters? Dear friend, coming to Jesus means you let go... You need to let go of something in order to continue to follow Jesus. You can't do that without the Holy Spirit. So look at the next verse. The next verse is beautiful. The next verse tells us: Many people who practiced witchcraft also brought books and piled them up in public and burned them. They are willing to abandon the past and burn it in front of everyone. They calculated the price of the books and found that the total was fifty thousand pieces of silver. That's equivalent to 30 million pesos, and based on what it was worth back then, what is it roughly worth now? Billions!
What I mean is: they're willing to burn it, they're willing to burn their past and just let it go because they're following Jesus. Everyone reads: The word of the Lord prospered greatly and prevailed, that is all. Do you know God wants to use you? Do you believe that God is powerful? Do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit? But in order to experience His power, listen: You need His life in you. You need the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible. You need the Holy Spirit to overcome the evil one. But God wants to use you. I remember this story, it was a story I just heard about someone this week, last week to be exact. He has been walking with the Lord, and he has learned to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Some time ago, he was in East Africa, delivering money and goods to poor Christians in East Africa, but three government officials gave them a hard time, and these people refused to allow them. Going in, they entered the country, but these people wouldn't allow them to enter certain villages. So they had an executive committee meeting, and the leader said: You know what? It's useless for us to discuss anything here. You all go home. Go back to your hotel. We'll meet at six o'clock tonight. Then you tell me: What does God tell you to do, how to help the poor?
So the man went back to his hotel room and he listened to the Holy Spirit. He felt a strong move in his heart: Go jogging. So he put on his shorts, and he started jogging, and he jogged all the way downtown. There was a basketball game there, and there were a lot of people watching, and he liked basketball. He was watching there, and suddenly a black man looked at him, you come over! Do you play basketball? Yes. Did you play well? He said: Not bad. He was a member of a first-class college basketball team, and first-class means the highest level, so he was a good player. He said: OK! You play for us!
This guy called a timeout, and he told one of his team members: You're out! You, come on! You fight. And then he goes out there and he wins because he plays really well. And they won. Then after the game, the black man said: You come to the championship game at ten o'clock tomorrow! The man said: I won't be able to come through tomorrow, I have to solve a problem. What problem? ! You know, we have this stuff, we have this money, and we want to help the poor people in this village, but they won't let us... who are they? Three officials. So he said their names. One of them was me and he said no problem. If you come tomorrow and you win, I will let you in.
Isn't God amazing? You know why? What are the odds here? What is the probability that this person jogs to a place where a government official likes to play basketball ? The black man called this man and said: Come and fight! How likely is this? You see, friends, God is real. Just learn to listen to Him. My most recent experience was this week when I was on a plane flying from San Francisco to the Philippines. In the middle of the night I was urged by the Holy Spirit, and He said, share the gospel with the flight attendants because they were all together, you know, in the middle of the night I got up, I went to the bathroom, and then I went back, but then the Holy Spirit said: Why are you going back? Do you see these people? They're sitting around, not doing anything. They're just talking, and you go and share the gospel.
The Holy Spirit urged me. OK. So I met them and, long story short, I said: Do you really want to know how to be sure you have eternal life? So I introduced them to the gospel. But for the first time... I rarely have this experience, I saw these adults and cried. How could a flight attendant cry in the middle of the night? By simply presenting the gospel of Jesus, unless it's the Holy Spirit at work. I truly experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not me, it's the power of the Holy Spirit. I was just a tool, so long story short, I praised God and they all prayed and accepted Christ. Friends, God wants to use you, but are you willing to be used? But I want to ask all of you, if God has spoken to you today and you haven't had any experience, and you feel like the Holy Spirit is not real in your life, and you haven't experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, You don't have the ability. You have religion, but you don't have the power. You are willing to experience His power. I am happy for you to respond to God. Are you willing?
So let's keep our heads down. As you bow your heads, I want to ask you, if God is speaking to you, and you're not sure if you have the Holy Spirit, you want to make sure you have the Holy Spirit. I want to pray for you, could you please raise your hand? Lift up, you know you are in bondage, something is wrong in your life, and you want to be freed, I want to pray for you first, can you please raise your hands? Is there anyone else? God is speaking to you, God is saying: You know what? You need to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and you need to surrender your life. You've been living in hypocrisy, and all you've had for so long is religion, and when you bow your head and raise your hands, I want you to pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, here I am, I'm not even sure if I have the Holy Spirit, I'm not looking To true conversion, I had religion, but Lord, I had no joy. Lord Jesus, I come to you with humility. Please change me. Please come into my heart and be my Lord and my Savior. Lord Jesus, I accept your gift by faith today, which is the Holy Spirit. Please take over my life.
While you still have your heads down, I want you to stand up if you want to meet Jesus personally. Yes, stand up. This is between you and Jesus, and you want to be serious about the Lord, and you raise your hands, please stand up! Yes, stand up. You who just said that prayer, please stand up too. When God speaks to you, another voice tells you: Don't surrender, my friend, listen to the Holy Spirit. So surrender your life, and when you stand up, I want you to be willing to surrender everything to Jesus. Others can stand up too.
So everyone else, please stand up too! do you know? At this moment, your entire future will be rewritten. I'm asking you to be willing to surrender your past, and somehow God's Holy Spirit isn't working in your life because you're holding on to something, and God says you need to surrender this, and I'm asking you to tell Pastor, he's praying for you, whatever that thing is, you tell him, you tell that pastor or leader, it could be a sin, a relationship, whatever it is. You say, "Lord, please help me, I want to get out of this", and you have to make a decision and be willing to burn that bridge to sin.
Our Father God in heaven, I now bring the entire CCF church, the chapters, and today All of us here are entrusted to you. May you speak to all of us. Please comfort us through your Holy Spirit. You love us and you are by our side. You want to help us and you want to give us victory. But Father, it is we who have been hindering you because we are against us. We are reluctant to let go of our sins. Please help us to increase our confidence and make us willing to surrender everything. May you bless everyone. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen! Amen!