The power of the Holy Ghost

THE GHOST; WEEK 2

THE GHOST; WEEK 2

The power of the Holy Ghost

Today we are talking about God in Spirit form. He’s often called the

Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit. The word from the Old Testament

translated as ‘Spirit’ is the word ‘ruwach’ which means a wind, a

breath, a violent exhalation.

In the New Testament, the Greek word translated as ‘Spirit’ is the

word ‘pneuma’ which means a current of air, a blast of breathe, and a

strong breeze.

The Holy Spirit is like the wind of God. Sometimes he comes as a

gentle breeze, other times he is a mighty, rushing wind of power.

Today, I want to talk to you about the power of the Holy Spirit. In

the Old Testament, we see the power of the Spirit working in countless

different ways. The Holy Spirit one time gave Joseph skill to rule

over Egypt. The Spirit gave Joshua military power. One time the Spirit

gave two unknown men the power to work in their crafts. The Holy

Spirit gave words to prophets to speak prophetically over God’s

people. One time, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and gave him

power to lead the Abiezrites into battle. In Judges Chapter 14:6, as

hard as it is to believe, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson in

power, so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as he might

have torn a young goat. shows the words of Samuel to

Saul; “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power and you will

prophesy with them and you will be changed into a different person.”

The New Testament sees the power of the Holy Spirit everywhere; in

fact, Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke

Chapter 1, when Mary wondered how this would be, she asked a question;

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” And

the Angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power

of the most high will overshadow you.” When Jesus gave his life for

our sins on the cross, the Bible says the Son of God was raised from

the dead, again, by the power of the Holy Spirit; he is Jesus Christ

our Lord. Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, he promised his followers

that he would send them a gift; the gift of the Holy Spirit. He said,

“And now, I will send the Holy Spirit just as my Father promised, but

stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with

power from Heaven. That same powerful Spirit is available to all who

believe in Jesus today; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

If you have your Bibles with you today, let’s open them up to the Book

of Acts. Acts, Chapter 1, we are in a series called, ‘The Ghost’; as

we are looking at the power of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. As

you are getting your Bibles out; all of our locations, I’m curious,

how many of you that are Christians, those of you who are Christians,

how many of you would say; “I know someone who is a Christian that

seems to have more Spiritual power than I do?” How many of you would say, “I know someone like that?” Yeah, a lot of us do. Sometimes you

will see other people and they seem to have just a little bit more of

something than you do spiritually. Like when they pray, their prayers

sound so powerful, you are thinking maybe if I were God, I would

answer their prayers, they just sound powerful! Others, you may be in

a conversation with them and they can just kind of quote Bible verses

and they seem to know a Bible verse for everything; you’re like, “How

do they do that?” Or, when something happens and something goes wrong,

they are not shaken; they seem to have this real, deep Spiritual

assurance. You are wondering, how is it that they seem to have more

power than I do? The answer could be that they have more ‘power’ than

you do. In reality, I believe there are many people who are more

surrendered to the ‘power’ that is available by God, through the Holy

Spirit than others. I will explain it this way: When we moved into our

house several years ago, it was an older home that had tons that

needed to be remodeled and redone. One thing they had railroad ties

all over the outside of the house, they were about 30 years old, they

were falling apart. I decided to get rid of them, so I called my

buddy, Mark Dawson, I call him ‘Mad dog’. He came over, we put on our

work gloves, we got our shovels and we attacked these old railroad

ties. We did totally fine, until we got to the retaining wall made of

railroad ties, that were buried about 4 feet into the ground, with

just the top portion even visible. So, we took our shovels and went

after this as hard as we could. Three hours later, with our hands

bleeding, and our little arms shaking, we had not even gotten 1

railroad tie out from the long wall. We were frustrated, my cell phone

rang; I picked it up. It was another buddy, he said; “Hey Groesh, what

are you doing?” I said, “We are trying to dig these stupid railroad

ties out!” And he said, “Don’t you remember, I have got a Bobcat?” I

paused to thank God in Heaven, for my good friend! He said, “I will be

over there in no time at all!” And then, in no time at all, and sure

enough, within 45 minutes, he unloaded this tractor on steroids that

had these forks at the beginning. He pulled right up to these railroad

ties and drove the forks in there and lifted them out of the ground!

It was beautiful! I mean, it was just gorgeous! He threw them

violently on the side and I just paused to worship God in Heaven!

Within moments, they were all out of the ground! I’m still thankful

today, because in he had not come along, Mad Dog and I would still

probably be there with our gloves on and our shovel, fighting this

impossible task!

Christians today all over the world put on their little work gloves,

and they take out their shovels, and they say; “We are going to live

the Christian life!” And in their own strength, they strive and fight

and battle and don’t get very far. Why? Because they are trying to

live the Christian life in their own strength, when there is a far

greater power available. The Bible says this, and this is amazing; “To

those of you who believe in Christ, you have access to the very same

Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the grave.” You can be filled with

the powerful Spirit of God and you have the ability to live a supernatural life in a very natural world; and yet, so many put their

gloves on and grab their shovels and struggle without the power

available through the Holy Spirit. Acts Chapter 1; the context: Jesus

had already died on the cross, he rose from the grave, he was with his

disciples having a conversation with them, before he would ascend into

Heaven. Here’s how the conversation went; : On one occasion,

while Jesus was eating with the disciples, he gave them this command;

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father has promised,

which you heard me speak about.” What do you think that gift was? It

was the what? It was the Holy Spirit. We studied last weekend, in John

14, when Jesus said; “I am going to go away and send a gift to you and

this is going to be better than if I were with you, this is going to

be the Holy Spirit.” He goes on to say in verse 5; “For John,” and he

is referring to John the Baptist, “For John, baptize with water, but

in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Now, what

does this mean? Well, the Greek word translated as ‘baptized’ is the

word ‘baptizo’ and this word means to immerse. That is why, when we

baptize you, we immerse you, we dunk you in water. For those of you

who were really, really bad and really sinful, we dunk you and we

leave you in the water for longer! We want to see some bubbles come

up, baby! We want to wash those sins away and then you explode up!

This is what Jesus said, he didn’t just say, you are going to be

filled with the Holy Spirit; but no, “You are going to be baptizo.”

You are going to be filled, overwhelm, overcome. You are going to be

immersed in this powerful Holy Spirit. What’s going to happen to you

when this takes place? Verse 8, he says; “But you will receive power.”

Everybody say power, say it again...power! He said, “You will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” Now, what will you be able

to do? He said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea,

and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When the Holy Spirit

comes and baptizes you, you will receive ‘power’. This word, ‘power’

comes from the Greek word, ‘dunamis’. We get our word dynamite, from

the word dunamis. It means a force, it means a miraculous power. If

you are taking notes, it means the explosive power of God. When the

Holy Spirit comes upon you, it will baptize you; you will have

dunamis, the explosive power of God. Then he says to his disciples,

“You are going to be empowered by the Spirit to take my message into

all the world.” You may say, “Well, what’s the big deal about that?”

You have to remember exactly who Jesus was talking to. He was talking

to his disciples, who for the last 3 years, couldn’t get much right.

Never 1 time did Jesus say to his disciples, “Man you guys have such

great faith, I can’t even believe I am here with you!” Over and over

again, he said, “Don’t you guys get it? You are with me and yet you

still have such little faith!” Peter, the kind of ring leader; he

said, “Jesus, I am with you all the time, I will never leave you!” And

then, right before the cross, 3 times, Peter denies Jesus! At the

cross, after Jesus had already said, “I am going to give my life,”

only 1 of the 12 showed up, John; the others were hiding, cowering in

fear! Jesus died, rose from the grave and where were his fearless

disciples when he returned? Locked in a little room, scared to death of the Jewish authorities! Jesus comes in, says “I am here!” They

don’t believe it, the women had told us, but we still didn’t believe!

Thomas, who heard from the other 10 that he was back, and still saw

him, said; “I still don’t believe!” Until he touched the scars, and

Jesus looked at these very ordinary men and said, “You will have power

to take this message all over the world. And here we are at this

moment, declaring the Lordship of Christ in churches around the world.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit came upon very ordinary people and gave

them the power to take this message all over the world. That same

powerful Spirit is available today to all who believe! Take off your

little gloves, put down your little shovel, stop doing the Christian

life in your own limited strength and surrender to the unlimited power

of the Holy Spirit. Next week, we are going to talk about the power of

the Spirit in Spiritual gifts, or the gifts of the Spirit. We are

going to spend the whole week talking about that.

This week, though, I want to show you 4 distinct qualities that the

power of the Holy Spirit wants to give to all believers. The first

one, if you are taking notes, write this down. The Holy Spirit gives

you the power to share Christ boldly. The Holy Spirit wants to give

you the power to share Christ boldly. Look at the words of Paul, 1

Corinthians 2, verses 4 and 5; he said this, “My message and my

preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, (I am not the best

speaker around) but, my message came with the demonstration of the

Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but

instead on God’s power.” He said, I am not the most eloquent speaker

around, but when you saw me show up, the power of the Holy Spirit was

there. And quite honestly, that is what I rely on every single week. I

believe with everything in me, that I am not the best, the smartest by

far, but God can take my words and by the power of the Holy Spirit

customize them in a way that would speak directly into your life. That

is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to communicate the

message of Christ in a life-transforming way. In fact, when I was a

young preacher, I was scared to death, 22-23 years-of-age, trying to

preach. Afterwards, this older lady came up to me one time and she

said, “Young man, that sermon wasn’t half bad!” I said, “Thank you!” I

tried to be humble, I said, “It was actually all the Holy Spirit.” She

said, “Young man, if it was all the Holy Spirit it would have been

really good! I said it wasn’t half bad!” Probably a lot of truth to

that! If you have ever felt maybe uncomfortable, under qualified, not

good enough to share your faith; there is nobody that understands

better than I do! I was terrified to talk about who Jesus was. In

fact, this is crazy, but as a young preacher, in the church world, we

call what happens at the end, there is different names, they call it

the ‘alter call’; it’s kind of the old phrase, or, ‘the invitation’,

at the end of the time. I used to preach, and I was so bad at that

part, I would always hand it off and have someone else do it! All the

time! I was scared to death to invite people to follow Christ! I

tried; no one ever did, ever! So, I just assumed, I am horrible at

this! So, one day, a church member came up, named Jeri ___, and he of the Jewish authorities! Jesus comes in, says “I am here!” They don’t believe it, the women had told us, but we still didn’t believe! Thomas, who heard from the other 10 that he was back, and still saw him, said; “I still don’t believe!” Until he touched the scars, and Jesus looked at these very ordinary men and said, “You will have power to take this message all over the world. And here we are at this moment, declaring the Lordship of Christ in churches around the world. Why? Because the Holy Spirit came upon very ordinary people and gave them the power to take this message all over the world. That same powerful Spirit is available today to all who believe! Take off your little gloves, put down your little shovel, stop doing the Christian life in your own limited strength and surrender to the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit. Next week, we are going to talk about the power of the Spirit in Spiritual gifts, or the gifts of the Spirit. We are going to spend the whole week talking about that. This week, though, I want to show you 4 distinct qualities that the power of the Holy Spirit wants to give to all believers. The first one, if you are taking notes, write this down. The Holy Spirit gives you the power to share Christ boldly. The Holy Spirit wants to give you the power to share Christ boldly. Look at the words of Paul, 1 Corinthians 2, verses 4 and 5; he said this, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, (I am not the best speaker around) but, my message came with the demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but instead on God’s power.” He said, I am not the most eloquent speaker around, but when you saw me show up, the power of the Holy Spirit was there. And quite honestly, that is what I rely on every single week. I believe with everything in me, that I am not the best, the smartest by far, but God can take my words and by the power of the Holy Spirit customize them in a way that would speak directly into your life. That is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to communicate the message of Christ in a life-transforming way. In fact, when I was a young preacher, I was scared to death, 22-23 years-of-age, trying to preach. Afterwards, this older lady came up to me one time and she said, “Young man, that sermon wasn’t half bad!” I said, “Thank you!” I tried to be humble, I said, “It was actually all the Holy Spirit.” She said, “Young man, if it was all the Holy Spirit it would have been really good! I said it wasn’t half bad!” Probably a lot of truth to that! If you have ever felt maybe uncomfortable, under qualified, not good enough to share your faith; there is nobody that understands better than I do! I was terrified to talk about who Jesus was. In fact, this is crazy, but as a young preacher, in the church world, we call what happens at the end, there is different names, they call it the ‘alter call’; it’s kind of the old phrase, or, ‘the invitation’, at the end of the time. I used to preach, and I was so bad at that part, I would always hand it off and have someone else do it! All the time! I was scared to death to invite people to follow Christ! I tried; no one ever did, ever! So, I just assumed, I am horrible at this! So, one day, a church member came up, named Jeri ___, and he

said, “Craig, why don’t you ever do the invitation at the end?” I said, “Well, I’ve done it like about 10 times, and I’m over 10 and I am horrible at it and I am just not any good.” He said, “I believe that the Spirit brought me here to pray for you and ask the Holy Spirit to give you power to do that well.” He said, “Do you mind if I pray for you?” I said, “Sure, you can pray for me, but ain’t nothing gonna happen!” Okay, how’s that faith for a preacher? Okay, so Jeri, regular church member guy, put his hands on me and prayed. Now, I don’t know why, I can’t explain this, I don’t understand it; but, you can read in the Bible, there is something that happens with the laying on of hands. You see, over and over again in the Bible, when a godly person lays hands on someone else and prays. There is something that takes place in the Spirit world that I just can’t explain. He laid hands on me and he prayed. Now, sometimes when people pray, you’ll feel something, other times, you won’t feel anything. Bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what you feel, it matters what God does. But, on that particular moment, I did very much feel the presence of the Holy Spirit; and Jeri prayed, “God, give Craig the ability to do this well, to reach thousands of people!” Thousands, well I would like one! And so, the very next time I taught, I stood up before 40 people there, and I knew almost all of them. Most of them had been a Christian longer than I have been alive! I mean, this is stupid, I am going to do this and there are 40 people who are already Christians, and I just closed my eyes and I just said, “Okay, give me the words” and I just started. And then, in front of 40 people, everybody looking, if you are not following Jesus, and you know it, and I went through the deal, I said, just turn from your sins and stand up publicly. There were 8 people out of 40 that stood up in this group to follow Christ, and I’ve never backed down since; because, the Holy Spirit gives me power to share Christ and he will give you that same power if you will trust him. You watch, this week, you will be in a conversation, those of you that are believers, and you will feel prompted. This person needs God and you’ve got an opening, and you might hesitate. Follow the prompting of the Spirit. You may say, “But I don’t know what to say.” You just do it and you watch what happens. You will be in the middle of a place and you will get this missile from Heaven, that boom, lands in your head, and you’ll be quoting this Bible verse that you didn’t even know that you knew! You’ll go look it up later just to make sure it’s in there! And it will be, because the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say! You may come to a point where you are just like, “Do you mind if I pray for you?” And you are like going, “Oh no! I’m no good at prayers! Every time I pray, I’m like, “Dear 6 pound 8 ounce baby Jesus!” Don’t pray like that! Don’t pray like that! And you think, “I’m just not a good prayer!” And the next thing you know, you are praying and all of a sudden this prayer comes out of nowhere and you’ve got faith for it and what is that? That is the Holy Spirit coming upon you, a regular person, in power to give you the power to share Christ boldly! You can access that very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, he is available to you, and he will come upon you in power when you trust him. Number one: he will give you power to share Christ boldly.

Number 2: He will give you power when you are weak. This is gonna

speak to some of you. He will give you power when you are weak. Romans

8:26 says, “In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us in our

weakness.” Now, how does he help us? Too many ways to count; one of

the ways is, he prays for us. Watch this, the Bible says, “We don’t

know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for

us with groans that words cannot express.” The Holy Spirit prays for

us when we are weak. Here is the deal. Many of you have got your

gloves on, got your shovel, where you are weak is where God’s Spirit

is made perfect. I will give you an example. I’ve got a work-out

buddy, John; we’ve worked out together for about 17 years. We haven’t

gotten any more muscular, I don’t know what we are doing wrong! We

still go to the gym, and one time, we were doing chest exercises and

we decided to do a burn-out set. That is where you put on light weight

at the end of the work out and you just exhaust your muscles until

they are totally fatigued. We put on some light weight and I got on

the bench press underneath and decided to do 20 reps, and so, I did 10

easily and then I hit this wall. Boom, it got hard all of a sudden,

and he was like, “Come on, 10 more, come on!” I’m doing it, and my

arms are shaken and my little boobies are on fire baby, fire, booby

fire! And he’s going, “Come on, there’s more in you!” And I’m like 14,

15, and he’s positioned kind of helping me, kind of doing this, and at

15, I just let go! He didn’t even notice and he kind of kept doing

this, 16, 17! I did the last 5 without even touching the bar! It was

awesome! In a real sense, that is a picture of what the Holy Spirit

does! When we get to the end of our strength, the Holy Spirit is

strong where we can not be strong and he can do that for you! He helps

us and gives us power in our weakness. I will give you a random

example. When I grew up, I did well in school; but, only because I

studied like crazy. I tested really high in math, science, all these

things. When it came to reading comprehension, I was like as low as I

could get. Reading was so difficult, I promise you, I did not read an

entire book all the way through high school! You can ask my mom! I

couldn’t do it, I would read, my mind, I would read and my mind,

boring! I just couldn’t do it! It created a real problem. I faked my

way through college. When I went to seminary in my mid twenties, I was

working as a full time pastor, working 50 hours a week or more and

commuting an hour-and-a half one way to go to school, and was studying

90 hours of graduate-level work in a 3 year period, while working full

time. Here’s the challenge, in this seminary, honest to goodness in

most classes, we had to read a book per week, per class. I was dead!

Okay, I couldn’t do this! I read the verse; the Holy Spirit will help

you in your weakness, and I said okay, I don’t know if this is going

to work or not, but I am a weak reader. Holy Spirit, help me! My wife

will tell you, my mom will tell you, who used to buy me tutoring to

help me to be a better reader; it never worked. At that moment,

something changed and all of a sudden, I went from being able to being

unable to read, to having almost a photographic memory. I studied a little bit about speed reading, and all of a sudden, God as my

witness, I can read a whole book in 30-45 minutes, and I can remember

almost all of it. Sometimes people say, “Well, why don’t you use more

notes when you are preaching?” Baby, I’ve got notes on top of notes!

I’ve just read them, and I’m preaching through them, I can see them in

my mind and just preach right through them; because I can remember it

is a supernatural gift that was not there for 25 years, and now it’s

one of the most valuable tools I have in ministry. I can write fast,

read fast and make the kill and move on and absorb this information.

That was something the Holy Spirit did for me in my weakness and I

believe with everything in me that wherever you are weak today, the

Holy Spirit can be strong. You may be a parent and you are going, “I

don’t know what to do with these kids, they are too much!” The Holy

Spirit can give you wisdom; ask him, ask him! You may have a

presentation coming up at work and you are like, “I am the worst in

front of people, I panic, I freeze, my voice will shake, my heart! Ask

the Holy Spirit, and where you are weak, he can be strong. You may

have a sin in your life that you just cannot overcome and you have

been taking the little shovel and you have been working, I just can’t,

I just, ahhh! The Holy Spirit of God can give you power where you are

weak. Call on him!

Look at what the Bible says, I love this; , this

was Paul and he was complaining about this thorn, “God, take it away,

take it away, take it away!” And here is what God says; “My grace is

sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,

therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that

Christ’s power may rest on me. For where I am weak, then I am strong.”

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that will give you power to share

Christ boldly. He will give you power where you are weak.

Number 3: He will give you power to have hope in a hopeless world.

This thought, and this scripture for many of you, it will be life

today. Let the Spirit speak directly to you. ; Paul said,

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in

him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy

Spirit.” Let’s look at that again, “....so that you may overflow with

hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

So many people today have very limited hope. If this water represented

hope, this is about all the hope that a lot of people have. They are

not overflowing with hope, they have very limited hope. For example,

if we put our hope in anything besides God, our hope is going to be

limited. If we put our hope in ourselves, we have limited hope. If we

put our hope in other people, again, our hope is limited. If we put

our hope in our circumstances, our circumstances will only take us so

far. Our hope is limited, because it is not put in an unlimited God.

The good news is though, if you put your hope in God, he can cause you

to overflow with hope by t he power of the Holy Spirit. If you are

hurting today, if you are afraid, put your hope in God, and let him overflow in your life with joy and hope by the spirit. Let’s say that

you lose your job, continue to put your hope in God, and he will be

your provider. If you find out that someone you love is sick, continue

to put your hope in God and let the Holy Spirit be your healer. If you

find yourself worried about tomorrow, put your hope in God and let the

Holy Spirit be your comforter. If you lose someone you love, as much

as it hurts, we don’t have to grieve like those who have no hope. We

can put our hope in God and the promise of the resurrection and glory

eternally in Heaven. If you are hurting today, put your hope in God.

Those who hope in anything else have a limited hope. But, Scripture

says this; “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as

you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of

the Holy Spirit.”

If you are hurting today, I pray that that verse becomes so real to

you, that even though you don’t see anything that you can have hope

in, that you can overflow in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Put

your hope in God.

The fourth thing that I want to show you today is unquestionably the

most important. And that is, if you are taking notes, the Holy Spirit

will give you the power to experience all the fullness of God. Some of

you may be saying, “What does that mean?” Here is what I have noticed;

in our church and in our country, I believe so many people have

reduced Christianity down to the lowest common denominators.

Basically, Christianity for so many people today is, “Yeah, I believe

in God, yeah, I did the Jesus pray thing, check the box there, maybe

got baptized, I joined a church, I read the Bible every now and then,

and then maybe kind of a lot, sort of and I try to be a good person.”

When you look at the lives of so many Christians, what you see is

something that really doesn’t look much different than the rest of the

world. Still hurting, still addicted, still filled with worries, still

broke, still struggling, still struggling in marriages, no real faith,

no real victory. Why? Why? No power, no power. So many people today

don’t really understand who God is and what he has for you. “The Holy

Spirit will give you power to experience all the fullness of God.”

Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus, and I pray this prayer for

our church family. He prayed this: “I pray that out of his glorious

riches, God may strengthen you with power...” (Now, where does this

power come from? Power through the Spirit.) “..in your inner being so

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” I pray that you,

being rooted and established in love, may have power. Why? Because you

need this power; “That you may have power together with all the saints

to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love

of Christ, and to know that this love surpasses the knowledge that you

may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” If you have

ever wondered, “Is there more to Christianity? There has got to be

more than doing the big-bad stuff and trying to do some good stuff.”

The answer is yes, there is! So much more! There is the reality of the constant presence of God through the Holy Spirit that you can have

with you, this peace that surpasses all human ability to understand

that you can manifest the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self

control; that you can be led by the Spirit and walk by faith and not

by sight, that you can have a joy unspeakable, that you can have a

supernatural strength. That you can be rooted and established in the

very secure love of Christ and you can live a supernatural life in

this very natural world. You can never do it by your own strength, but

there is another power that is available to you. Call on him and watch

the Holy Spirit fill you, strengthen you, comfort you, guide you,

counsel you and be your intercessor, as he empowers you to live the

life that you are incapable of living on your own; one that will bring

glory and honor to God in Heaven.

Holy Spirit, would you fill us, would you touch us, would you move

freely in this place; would you empower ordinary Christians to live an

extraordinary Spirit-filled life. Would you rule and reign. Help us to

overcome our flesh and surrender fully to your power, that we may

please you and live for you in every way. All of our locations, as you

are praying, those of you that would say, “I am a believer

unquestionably, but I am not living with this power; I believe it’s

real, and I want it. If there is more of God and he has more for me, I

want it. Fill me, baptize me, and reveal to me everything. I am weak,

I need your strength, I am not good at sharing my faith, I need your

power. I am hurting, I need your hope. I know God, but not completely.

Holy Spirit, give me everything that God wants me to have.” If that is

you, would you lift your hands high right now, just lift them up. God,

I thank you for so many people who are hungry for more of you. Holy

Spirit do what only you can do. I pray God that you would fill us,

baptize us, and change us. May we be immersed in the power of your

Spirit, Lord help us to be weak, so that your strength would be made

perfect. I pray for those who have people they love and they don’t

know how to share their faith; come upon them God boldly. Come upon

them boldly by the power of your Spirit. God, for those who are

hurting; give them a supernatural hope that is overflowing by the

power of your Spirit. At this moment, Holy Spirit, comfort them. At

this moment may they experience you; at this moment may they

experience you. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would break strongholds

and addictions. God, even those who have very practical struggles, I

pray that you would be strong where they are weak. We ask that your

Holy Spirit would reveal to us just who you are, how much you love us

and what really matters; that we may enjoy the fullness of God through

your love empowered by your Spirit. Now, Holy Spirit I ask that you

would draw people to yourself today.

As you are praying at all of our locations, there are those of you

today; supernaturally something is happening at this moment. You are

feeling drawn to God. Some of you, you are church folks, you are

church people, you’ve grown up around the church, but you are recognizing, you know what, I kind of know the right answers, but I am

not really sure I know the one who really knows the answers. I may

have trusted in churchianity and religion, but I don’t know that I

really know God. That was me, that was me, that was me! And God drew

me by the power of the Spirit and revealed who he really was through

Christ. Some of you, that’s you; you recognize today you don’t truly

know him. Others of you, you are not church people, but something is

happening. You are being drawn to God today. Your friends may think

that is weird. You don’t truly understand it, but that is the power of

the Holy Spirit revealing your need for God. Today, you may recognize,

you are apart from God and you want to be with God. Today, you are

simply going to call on his name through the name of Jesus, the One

who lived, shed His blood, died and rose again so you could be

forgiven, so you could be transformed. That is why you are here. It is

no accident, it is by the divine purpose of God, and the Holy Spirit

is drawing you and you have got a choice; you can accept him or you

can reject him today, the choice is yours. The Holy Spirit is calling

you, there are those of you who are going to say, “Yes, all of my

life, every bit of it, God I surrender to you through your Son Jesus,

forgive me of my sins and change me and he will. You will be

transformed and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and you will

never be the same.

All of our locations, that’s you today; call on the name of Jesus to

save you and make you new. If that is you, would you lift your hands

high right now, would you lift them high? All over the place, just

lift them up and I just want to acknowledge you; both of you here and

both hands there. Others of you, right over here as well, back here.

Leave your hands up for a minute; I want to look you in the eyes.

Those of you at church on line, right below me, click right now; I am

surrendering my life to Christ. Right there as well, all three of you

back here in this section. Over here in this section, right over here

and right here as well. Others of you, right back over there, I am

calling on him, right there as well. I need him, take over Jesus,

forgive me, and transform me, right here, and right over here in the

middle section. Holy Spirit, continue to draw people, step across the

line of faith right now, others of you who would say, “Me too!” In the

presence of God, as he is drawing you. Right here, right back over

there; others of you, right back over here, praise God for you. Pray

with those around you, everybody aloud, right back over here, right

back over there, everybody together praying. “Heavenly Father, take

all of my life, save me from my sins. I believe Jesus died for me and

he rose again, so I could live for him. Fill me with your Spirit, make

me brand new, and empower me to live a life only for you. Thank you

for new life, now take all of mine, in Jesus name I pray.” All of our

campuses, would you thank Him, would you welcome those today who were

born into the family of God!