Power
by Raymond Sloan
May 23, 2021 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church (Chattanooga, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:37-40

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/raymond-sloan--power
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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thank you singers and musicians thank you to all the sunday school staff to our workers our volunteers video and lighting and sound everybody that's involved thank you so much you can be seated on this sunday afternoon i'm so appreciative of all the help and all the work that goes into having church amen again to our guests those online thank you so much for joining us today so good to see all of your faces out here in the year of 18 and 30 a young engineer from new york had the opportunity to put his invention to the test from the city of baltimore to the ohio river was a 12 mile distance had been laid with a track that would somehow support and guide a moving rail system the idea was from one of the actual signers of the declaration of independence his name was charles carroll trade now of course and this new nation was very important getting materials from the port and supplies from the port to the inside of the nation was a very very great challenge once they had used horse-drawn carts but the space was limited the work was grueling on both men and horses and the weight limit was very very limited as well so in 1830 this engineer his name was peter cooper he developed a steam locomotive that would become the very first of many generations of trains to be used it would move men and materials from one coast actually in its future it would move them all the way across this great continent of the united states of america it was a noble venture it came at a time when the world was picking up the pace and settlement and growth was was happening stabilization and in all of the states and the territories was taking place would be a short time from that day that the train industry would change the entire landscape of the united states of america we still in fact here in chattanooga we see the great venture how it was played out here in our fair city somebody say the chattanooga choo choo what started out as a simple but very complex setup would again and again face challenges for the need that arose at that time once the industry demand increased so would the design and the method on how to move materials and men from one place to the other they would add cars they would add weight they would add various things so the need arose many many times across this particular platform of industry to where the train would require more power in 1901 a young man named ransom e olds produced a single cylinder steam engine that powered a horse-drawn cart for up to almost 30 miles per hour his design was one of many that would follow from the european and international automobile industries but olds in his design he was attempting to make a way that horses would no longer be needed to move people and materials across open roads of cities of course the history would dictate that there were many trials there were many tests that would ultimately bring who we know as henry ford onto the scene and and his mass production of the model t and the model a would of course become part of the way that america was established in its growth of families in cities so many were attempting to develop and design ways to move people around to move cargo around the city and the countryside that roads began to pop up all over the place more and more as the miles of passable roads came there was evidence that it was going to have to be an increase of speed and they were going to have to change the way that they move things around so as with the train industry the automobile industry catapulted itself into the one of the industries that shifted into a gear and into a momentum to where all of the engineers and design folk decided we simply need more power couple of brothers one named orville and one named wilbur wright if you will they were set on the possibilities of moving an object through the air they had witnessed birds in flight they had witnessed different ways that birds would hold them suspend themselves in the air and those two men decided there has to be a way that we can do this so they had made several prototypes they had made several models and they they tried in ohio the city where they were from but there needed to be more lift and in order to get this motorized craft into the air wind was an issue they contacted the weather office in washington dc and they discovered that in the state of north carolina there was actually natural wind currents that would happen on the coastline so then they upped and they brought their particular manufacturing all of their test site to the city of kitty hawk in north carolina that was the place that they began to work they designed they they endlessly worked and they tried and they tried and they kept launching these crafts and they would crash and burn only to find out that after many many attempts they were able to fly for the first time a distance of 150 feet kind of like a glider but with a motor y'all stay with pastor today it's pentecost sunday so many had tried and died if you will but these brothers indeed they knew that somehow some way they could overcome the gravity and the dragon they couldn't get enough lift to lift up this structure into the air and so it was that after many tries that this 150 foot that caused them to go down the the sand cover beaches of kitty hawk lo and behold they decided that they had figured out how to fly but again time would unfold and allow them to come to the understanding that there's only one way to overcome the obstacle of distance and that is we simply need more power with all of these examples of the train and the automobile and the airplane it causes us to realize that in 2021 it was in those meager beginnings of just those three examples of how things would change and the next thing you know is rockets would come on the scene and jet engines would be manufactured in vessels that could go across the ocean each one of them had their challenges and their failures their disappointments and their exciting moments but they all finally had to come to a point where they realized if we're ever going to get faster if we're ever going to go further we have to have more power power was the great obstacle that they had to overcome because as the inventions grew the weight of it grew the determination of it grew yet they were determined within themselves somehow if we could get enough power we could make this thing happen power simple definition the time rate of doing work everybody say work look back at your neighbor and say work look to somebody and say that's not a curse word in many ways as humans we have desire to explore we have desired to design and to invent we have wanted to solve and we have wanted to try things it is within the nature of humanity even in our 2021 system and technology of living we have the smarts we have the ability to make anything happen we can take science we can take math we can take motion we can take physics we can take concepts of movement and with a little bit of microcomputer put into it anything is possible of course they all have their limits depending on the amount of power that they have i know that here we are in our generation we are now on the edge if you will stepping into the place of what has become known in the science world as artificial intelligence something that i i know a very little about but yet i walk in that room because everything i know is fake sorry okay i'll keep going with the information this is a simple work of how it works artificial infra intelligence it takes information that's received and with repetitive motion and movement the information is then stored and it is accessed and brought back within nanoseconds so it's not like a computer is really that smart it is simply noticing that with this movement it memorizes that and then it even given any time it could say okay now go this way and it simply is the computer remembering that thing it's called artificial because the more movement and the more structure and the more that it has this information the database grows now it almost seems like it does it effortlessly i'm here today telling you in this generation we have now cars that can drive without a driver we have airplanes that can fly and drop bombs to just level whole cities without a pilot we have seafaring vessels that can go from point a to point b and i'll have anybody on board to take care of it i'm telling you that just a few hundred plus years ago all of these inventions were coming about and now we're living in a society where you can basically do it without anybody because all of this information and data has been stored and repetition is the same there's a reason that the scientists and the engineer out there they look and they wonder and they scratch their heads if we had enough power we could continuously run data and we could come up with a solution once and for all and we could remove all of the doubt and fear and we could somehow make the world a smart living place does anybody know what a smartphone is how smart is it as smart as the information it has access to hang on to pastor for a moment power energy it is the key to getting anything done so with all of the history that we have access to and with all the information that we can draw from hear it it only makes sense that with this science comes knowledge and with this science and knowledge it is then the dna of humanity to want to know more and to do more and to access more well it only makes sense that if one thing is happening in the natural world there must be something happening in the supernatural world i am under the understanding in the way that the spirit of god moves within humanity is that the more we understand and the more information that you and i get about who god is then the more that we understand and the more we can grasp the reality of what god's plan is for you and for me i know that the spiritual side of humanity says i'm not really sure how faith works but i know that it works i'm not really really understanding of why that i can sit next to somebody every service and worship with them god will come in and touch my life but for some reason they don't appear to be touched i don't understand it i don't know why my family can live in this realm in another family that was raised on the same street yet goes down a different path what i do know is this the more that i want to understand about god sister renee i can put that information in here and it will settle within here and when i get into the word of the lord and when i get into the experiences that i personally have had and that elders who have gone before me have had i can begin to deduce and come to a place to realize lord if you can heal a one time you can heal two times if you can be in a fiery furnace with the three men you can be with me in the midst of the fire wherever i am why because i realize and know the information that has been put in here is looking and searching for answers now i've come on a pentecost sunday and i've come to tell somebody as much as an aeroplane as much as an automobile and as much as a train needs power you and i in today's society you better know that if you don't have power you're not going to make it jesus came into this world so that salvation could be provided for humanity his blood sacrifice would certainly change all of the past the present and the future if you understand the basic bible fundamentals you know that jesus came he lived as a human walking in shoe leather for a mere 33 years not a long time not a long time but in that span of time notice how much that he released information experience the word and power into the people that were gathered around him the supernatural abilities he could heal them with a word he could raise the dead with a command he could change the heart of a human just merely looking into their eyes his voice carried authority hear it he touched and changed anybody and everybody that he came in contact with why because jesus was indeed god's word made flesh dwelling among us hmm the purpose and the plan of his coming to earth was to set the examples for you and i to understand that final sacrifice would be needed you and i need a savior jesus is that savior for us but as we live and as we move from one generation to another there are so many things that say the same and so many things that change jesus knew this all too well the only way for the spiritual man to move forward and overcome with all the junk and all the things that are in the human life is you and i would need power but ye shall receive power acts tells us in chapter number one verse number eight after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and in all judea in samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth everybody say power power everybody say power in the original wording it simply means hear this this translation of power to be able to have power because humans have a desire they want to discover they want to know things they want to have information the way that luke penned this statement that jesus made to those who were following after him on that day once jesus looked at them standing there that day and said you're going to receive the ability to have power and when the ability to have power comes to you you need to wrap your arms around it allow it to become part of who you are let it settle within you teach things to your children let the next generation know about the power let them realize if they're ever going to make it to heaven it's not going to be because of themselves but it's going to be because power they're going to need something that lifts them above the same old same old of the earth and the flesh that they walk in and what they're going to need is a supernatural authority and power that comes to them to establish them on the roads they walk the places they go the things they do i've come today in 2021 i rise to this podium to tell somebody without the power of the holy ghost you're not gonna make it you're gonna wash out this world is gonna topple over you you've gotta have power to get through this thing to get out of this thing i wish somebody would shout i need the power you need power now more than ever before and when the day sister's day she read earlier acts two and one of pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there come a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance understand the heavens opened on that day and a spiritual fire from on high blew into that room why because he knew humanity's gonna want to know but they won't know it on themselves they're gonna need power on this pentecost sunday 2021 the promise is still the promise the power still moves please listen the preacher for just a moment everything else that i've mentioned to you the trains the planes and the automobiles if you don't recharge those batteries if you don't figure out how to put fuel in that thing it will stop on the track on the road and will be useless but there's something very interesting brother ethan about the holy ghost power the holy ghost power says i can feel you it can abide in you and the only thing you'll have to do is be aware every day that it's in you listen to pastor through all of the difficulties and the trials and all the junk that you find yourself going through in your day-to-day life understand where i'm coming from 99.9 of those issues and problems that you face they are brought upon you because you have refused the power to work in your life i promise you if you get sick in your body god is still a healer but it's not dependent on his ability to heal you it's on it's all dependent on his ability to say you've got the power for the healing to transpire what he wants to know is would you love him sick or would you gotta be well to love him what he wants to know is will you shout and dance in the bad times like you do when you're on the mountain why because the power doesn't stop what stops is your ability to trust the power funniest thing happens with my little bee truck out the parking lot about once a week i gotta pull over and put fuel in it run out of gas a few times and you'll remember real well and i just say lord jesus what if i were the same and i were simply depending on what little bit of strength and power i could get in my spirit like my little trucks doing here what i'm saying to you i had this conversation 30 minutes ago standing here talking to josh said brother josh i've said this a hundred times from this podium or others like it my grandparents went to church a hundred thousand times a week at least anybody had parents or grandparents who went to church all the time yeah you remember that all right for these young kids that means a lot that means seven videos that means a binge of about 14 series of that that's how long they went to come on all these kids like oh i got that because i watched 17 shows okay oh lord don't get me sidetracked and then my parents came by after them sunday morning sunday night wednesday night and friday night four went to church anybody else remember that come on don't don't be embarrassed come on we were called holy rollers we were called crazy folk we used in church all the time but now midweek service we're doing in people's homes and if you can get there we're glad you do if not we understand because you're probably very very busy but some won't even come to sunday school you decide that church is enough and in this hour and 40 minutes there's 30 or 20 minutes that you're in church out of seven days i wonder where is power coming from because if you're thinking for a moment that your battery is strong enough to hold that charge i come to tell you the devil is a liar and the devil's trying to tell you that oh if you can just show up to the house of god that's all you gotta do friend that ain't true the devil shows up at the house of god yet he ain't making it to heaven you better know that you know every chance i get to get in the presence of god that's where i'm gonna be why because i gotta have power in my life and i got the power set through the holy ghost i got the power by loving and loving and loving him and blessing his name i'm not waiting on somebody else to plug me into the wall and say give him a couple hours he'll recharge no i don't know what i'm gonna need when i walk out this door right now pastor you're meddling yeah trying to get your soul to heaven trying to get you to realize your priorities this is pentecost sunday this is the day the lord gave us to understand heaven will not be an accident for anyone you will not simply show up there how did i get here it's gonna be because you dug it out i know i'm weary in body but i gotta get to church i know that i got issues in my mind but i got to get to the prayer room i realized there's a mess going on in my job but you're going to find me at the foot of the cross i don't care what the world says they didn't give it to me they're not going to take it from me i've come to receive from god i've come to give to him jesus helped me today my watch is blowing up right now you may know why it's asking are you having a heart attack when's the last time yours went off pastor you're doing you let me tell you something if you're gonna make heaven it's because you receive power and that power of the spirit is what picks you up and gets you there if you're hoping that your boss is going to understand or you're hoping the bank's going to get their mind wrapped around it it ain't going to happen it is not going to happen you're going to have to establish who you are and if it comes down to it look him in the eye and say but i love you but i got to be in church well man you got a word no i got to be in church why because i got little ones behind me that are going to need to know what it's like and if you're not doing it now they'll never do it then don't lie to yourself and think that it'll happen because it won't it won't they don't teach us at school will you shut this off they don't teach it at school whatever you do make sure you make it to you does any of your teachers kids tell you that any of your bosses at work tell you go to church that's where you need to be now if he's working for me i would and i made sure you get there with all the sweat and all the junk that you drag with you i might not even care if you got home to clean up brother i want you in the house of the lord because then babies need to know what it's like then babies need to understand the principles they need to know when mom and dad's in church this is business this is heaven and hell they don't need to think they come here and play and just sacrif pass the time they need to know and babies are yours yeah they need to know why is daddy out of why is mama doing that because hey daddy just does that you better know daddy does it because if daddy ain't doing it there's somebody out there with a big hollywood budget that's going to pour into them and if they can get them sidetracked and they can get them pulled into something else then ah the enemy sits back with his arm across listen to pastor a moment it's pentecost sunday i've come to tell you you've got the power to be an overcomer you've got the power to be victorious you've got the power to live your life according to god's way you've got the power to make a difference in this world you know i'm watching the clock we're okay sit down please you know a long time ago again i'm waxing eloquent because i'm getting older and i can do that but listen to me carefully there were times when we prayed in the classroom then it went to a moment of silence you may remember that transition i remember in elementary school even in the high school all of my teachers had a bible on their desk and i would watch sometimes the teacher up there while we were doing assignments reading the bible pastor you're crazy you're right you're right yeah i am but i remember when it finally went to a moment of silence and then the teachers would say we're going to pray and somebody would lift their hand not knowing what they were doing what they were thinking they're supposed to be silent i may not want to pray then shut up and sit there i've had those arguments as a parent told my kids at school that they can't sing those songs in here jesus loves me this i know and i'm sitting there sitting on the mission field that's no that's against the law y'all can't do that and all the teachers and parents are sitting there going and this lady said no my child came home singing jesus loves me this no i don't believe in none of that i don't want her to get it the principal poor thing she's standing up there just trying to appease everybody well pastor don't know no better i said hey well i got a question whoa question uh yes um yeah i've got two kids in this school i looked over at that well-meaning parent and i said i need you to show me in your book where it says that my kids cannot pray and sing songs in this school i'll wait go ahead she said well i don't have it in writing i got mine in writing you're teaching to pray at home and in the school where's yours i said don't you let her parents get up in here and try to embarrass everybody this school is founded on prayer you signed that when you sign the document this is a christian school and the poor principal up there she's standing looking at me and i'm saying if you'll show me i'll wait go get the document where it's written that i can't sing those songs i can't pray in school and i stood there and i looked and all the other parents began to look at her and look at me and after about two minutes of silence i said in other words you're trying to push your stuff on this school that ain't gonna happen the reason my kids are in this school is because they pray if you don't like it pull your child out and go put them in one of them heathen schools and let them be destroyed and she looked up at me the principal went i didn't know what to say i said ask me i'm the one i stand up to any day because it's not written they're assuming so many things listen to me you could be on your job tomorrow and the holy ghost anointing hits you why because you're full of power and your co-workers say i don't like that you need to be quiet then challenge it come on you pray to your god i'll pray to mine come on is there any spirit of the prophet in the house that'll say i will call on the name of the lord god you can tear down the altar you can put your flesh on it but i'll set it back up i'll soak it with water i'll dig a ditch and in 50 plus words the fire of god will fall on the job if it can happen then it can happen now stay with me come on brother herb to the piano make him think i'm done acts chapter 2 when they heard this they were pricked in their heart said unto peter and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do y'all with me y'all know this ain't never been said or done before don't you yeah pete we're with you bro go get em okay all right peter said unto them y'all with me repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the lord our god shall call and with many other words did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation i can see peter on that day brother tyler standing up there hey hear it you better repent you better be baptized and oh brother james behind him preach give it to him and by the end he's out here saying you need to know the fire that fell in that room is about to fall on this street and it's going to turn the world upside down why because you shall receive power after the holy ghost comes upon you made a train that would run on steam and every time they tried it it would fail it would slow down because they were out of power they made an automobile that would hand crank you realize you can get in a car right now that runs on a battery how fast is the tesla it's like zero to sixty in half a second you can get a ship and go across the whole ocean never refuel you can get an airplane now you can get 700 people on an airplane and fly anywhere in the world and we think it common but you let one of them run out of power and it'll crash to the ground and kill everybody in it around it what do you think is going to happen to you if you're not full of the power of the holy ghost listen friend that's why every day he admonishes you get up and pray that's why every day he tells you spend quiet time with me in your prayer closet because what we talk about in that time it's going to be demonstrated to the whole world that's right come on it's foolish it almost doesn't make sense for you to take out of your budget 10 20 30 and give it to the things of god what else could you do with that five thousand ten thousand or twenty thousand dollars that you give i tell you what you do you'll go broke why because if god's hand is not in it you will not have the blessing of it multiplying and coming back time and time again but if you'll learn the power of giving you want to know why that on sundays we stand up and we pray that giving affirmation is because some of us are learning that if we'll simply give it will be given it will submit it's going to be unfolded come on you got lost loved ones you got backslidden kids don't give up on them now you stay in the altar even if they're afraid of the altar because one of these days the power of the holy ghost can reach to them in the darkest moment and can snatch them up and put them on the right road and one more time the power can move in their life stand with me all across the room power power holy ghost power it's pentecost sunday now more than ever before we need the power we need the power listen to me carefully i'm not going to meddle i'm not wax political none of that let me tell you something this world that we're living in would have us to believe that all hope is lost and everything that people are losing you hear the preacher all the stuff that people are having turn loose up has no ability to sustain life nor to keep people moving forward it is frivolous it doesn't matter for those of you who don't know it there was such a thing as life without a cell phone let me show you something anybody in this room under the sound of my voice have a bible that's not on an electronic device lift it to heaven it's here with you as high as you can get it lift it up high as you can get it would you guys be comfortable enough to come to this altar with that bible please we're gonna show some people some things that's been forgotten and lost come on make a line and face the audience please turn around face the audience y'all hold your bible up hold them up y'all get a good look at this there you go oh pastor that's silly no it's not this word right here better be a lamp to your feet lighting your pathway this word right here better be a sword in your hand as you wield it against the enemy one of these days this written word may be all that you have all your electronics might go by the wayside because it runs out of power but the word of god never runs out of power you can preach it on any corner you can say it in any school you can take it to any job the word of god is the power so friend of mine on this pentecost sunday i wonder if the church would have you chairs and come to an altar and simply lift hands unto jesus and decide oh god i need your power now more than ever before this altar is open right now where'd you come come on would you come if you've got your word you keep it here you keep it lifted up this is the promise this is the potential this is the word this is the authority it is on this scripture you shall receive power that's right come on it's time to pray in the house of the lord that's right pray open your mouth show these youngins how to pray let's try lift your voice lift your voice we're in the name there's power in the name there's power in the name there's power in the name that's right come on there's power in the blood of jesus the name of jesus come on love him come on saint love the lord come on worship the name of jesus magnify the name above every name the name of jesus that's right that tried the name of jesus mom and dad pray now pray now come on grandparents pray now the yes of god the promises of god the promises of god the promises of god they're in the word jesus jesus i love you lord i love you jesus i believe in jesus jesus would you go pray with somebody close to you come on reach out to somebody close to your lord bless my brother today lord anoint my testicle let your word lord be revealed to them wherever they are lord come on that's right pray with somebody worthy is the lamb that's right come on get a hold of somebody pray with them come on pray with them jesus oh that's right come on there is i come to love you jesus oh that's i'd right you come on the healers in the house the waymakers in the house the deliverers in the house salvation is here the name of jesus that's right that's right are you thankful for the word today give the lord praise for the power of the word i love you jesus oh listen carefully please i love all of you i do i love you and i realize that sometimes listen carefully with from my heart i realized that sometimes you can feel like man this is just tough because because i'm trying and it's just not enough or i'm fighting and it's just difficult and and i wish i could just do it listen to me if it were an issue with one person those things are easy to address agreed but when the spirit of the lord is speaking to the body it speaks to all of us to me first but guys i i oft times never really understood as a child while my pastor was very very diligent looking me in the eye and saying that's gonna be that's gonna you better and you that's why and i was like man he's attacking me or whatever you know what he was doing he was exercising his authority to say no one else is going to say anything to him and as pastor as parent to your children sometimes you've got to be the one that says that's not going to help you now please know church listen carefully do not mistake nor mistranslate my silence for acceptance because if there are things that you're doing and pastors not coming to you specifically saying stop or whatever you and yourself are gonna think well he said nothing so i must be okay and that's not true you better know that the spirit will work far faster than i can ever and if you cop an attitude or you caught the thought that well that who do they then what you've already just established and your spirit began to bloom in that but tim i've never really understood why brother ted it was hard on me because he was because i needed to be hard on i needed to be that but i'll never forget when i called him on the phone ethan brother tedrick living in oklahoma lord called me to preach last night brother tedrick he could barely breathe that doesn't surprise me brother i am i said why he said because everything i was doing i was doing so that god could speak to you and you could hear i never understood that until that moment and then years later my wife and i have kids and i looked at him and said buddy to be honest with you this hurts me more than it does you never got that either did you until after the discipline and i sat down in my bedroom and i wept and said lord i would never hurt the one i love but i love him too much to let the world hurt him and i'd beat down any devil in hell that tried to get to him grab a hand to somebody come on we're gonna pray it's pentecost sunday today's a celebration of worship because why because there's power power get a hold of somebody right now pray for them lord anoint my brother and my sister today you have such great things in store for them you are working lord of work that only you can do jesus only you can make it happen i pray for them i ask god your hand upon them i ask the word of the lord to be powerful in them lord anoint my brother and my sister god you know the battle they're going to face when they walk out the door but i pray strength into them right now and help us in this hour lord to realize it is not by might nor power but your spirit that makes the difference as we go our separate ways today let us stay connected through the spirit anoint every heart and every family lord jesus we're gonna love and honor you through all things we're gonna thank you and bless your name in jesus name we pray