The Breath of God

You have your Bibles, I turn your attention to the book of Acts chapter 17, and we begin reading in verse 23. Acts chapter 17 and verse 23. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly or unawaredly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is worship with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things. And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation that they should seek the Lord. If happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. I'd like to speak tonight for a few moments in this keynote address on this subject which is the theme of this week, the breath of God, the breath of God. God bless you, you may be seated and thank you for standing.

As Paul approached the opportunity to minister in Athens, the seat of learning and higher education in that day, he took some extra time to visit the Acropolis, an area that sat high above the city and was filled with temples to false gods. It's still there today and it's one of the biggest tourist spots of Athens, Greece. As he observed the inscriptions to all of these gods, he saw one that was designated to the unknown God. Just in case they had missed one, they put an altar up to the unknown God. Paul saw that he knew what his message would be on Mars Hill. Mars Hill is a smaller hill adjacent to the Acropolis where different interesting speakers would come and address the Epicureans and the Stoics, the philosophers and the educators of that time. The Epicureans did not believe in the afterlife. They believed everything ended at death, so get as much out of this life as possible. They were the ancient version of modern existentialism. Their philosophy is eat, drink, and be married. For tomorrow we die. The Stoics, on the other hand, believed that everything was a deity. They were pantheistic, fatalists. Everything is a God and whatever is going to happen is going to happen. Paul came to town talking about Jesus being resurrected from the dead. They looked down on him. They called him an idle babbler, which being interpreted from the Greek literally means seed picker, like he was a country bumpkin coming with some strange ideas. But they were intrigued by his message. So they hauled him before the Aeropagus, which was the Athenian court of philosophers. This court included at least 30 men that were the supreme judges of Athens. Paul took this opportunity to preach about the life of God, the breath of God. He said, let me tell you about this unknown God. You already have a temple built to him. I want to tell you who that unknown God is. His name is Jesus, and he rose from the dead.

Both of these groups struggled with the notion that God is life. One group thought that there was nothing after the grave and man sort of charted his own course. The other group thought everything was a God, but it was a lifeless God or a stoic God, which is where we get the word stoic from. Paul made the case that God was a God of life. He is a living, breathing God. I'm glad today that I know who that living, breathing God is. His name is Jesus, and he is alive and well. He said, in fact, everything that you see around you, that is alive. It came from the breath of God. He quoted their own prophets and philosophers. He used their teachers to make the point, for in him we live and move and have our being. A certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the God hit his life under gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. He was appealing to the stoics when he said, if we are the offspring of God, then why would God be made of silver or gold? We're his offspring. We're not made of silver or gold. We've got breath and we're the offspring of God. So our God has breath. If we're alive, God is alive. And if we have breath, he has breath.

In fact, he says, creation proves this, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord. Here's why we have breath. Here's why you have breath. Here's why we are alive tonight, that we would seek after him. We're not stoic. We're not idols. We're not made of stone. We are living, breathing creatures of a God who is alive and continues to breathe upon humanity. Why do we seek after the Lord? If happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, he's appealing to the Epicureans here. There's something more than just the pursuit of pleasure in this life. The breath that we have in our lungs is more than just for this existence. It is a path to pursue this living, breathing God. He's saying that the breath that we have as living creatures not only proves the existence of a living God, but it gives us the purpose to seek after this God. We can't know him. We can't find him. We have the breath of God in our lungs. This breath is a treasure map to find the one true living God. Use this breath to find him.

That's why we find him through worship. Let everything, that hath breath, praise the Lord. Oh my friend, when you come together in the house of God and you join your voices with others and you declare the glory and the greatness of God, you are finding that God by using your breath. We find him through prayer, that they should seek the Lord. If happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, we find him through the word because the word was made flesh, living, breathing flesh, and dwelt among us. You see, you gotta understand that one of the many revelations that Paul had about Jesus was the fact that he will breathe on us more than just once in this life. He breathes on us more than just when he created you. He continues to breathe upon those that seek after him and there's something supernatural that takes place when the breath of God comes on a man or a woman that says, I desire you. I am hungry for you. I want your breath. I want your annoyance. I want your spirit.

He said in Acts 17, this is the God that giveth life, breath, and all things. He said, in him, we live, move, and have our being. Live, move, and have our being. Life, breath, all things. Live, move, and have our being. Life is what happens in creation. God breathes on us and we become a living being. Genesis 2, 7, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. That's life. Breath is what happens when God breathes on us a second time. It is an anointing. It is an unction. It is a spiritual breath to move and to flow and to speak. In fact, John 2022 says, referring to Jesus. And when he said this, he breathed on them and said it to them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. I'm glad the Lord breathed on us one more time and filled us with His spirit. The first breath of God is creation as unity and demonstration. God took Ezekiel to a valley of skeletons and asked him a rhetorical question. Can these bones live? Ezekiel said, now I know I'm still God. The Lord said, prophesy to him. Speak the word. Ezekiel 37, 7 says, so I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. There was a noise. And behold, a shaking. And the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld low the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them above.

But there was no breath in them. The first declaration of Ezekiel was unity. Bones coming together and demonstration as they begin to move. But the scripture said, there was no breath in them. So God said to Ezekiel, prophesy again. Speak it again. Declare it again. Say to the wind, I say to the Lord God, come from the forewinds, O breath, and breathe upon these that are slain, that they may live. And the breath came into them and they lived and they lived and they stood up upon their feet and exceeded great army. I believe that it's an exceeding great army that's in this house that knows what it is to have the breath of God. Breathe one more time. God doesn't just breathe on you when you're born. He keeps breathing on you. He gave you life when you were born. But when you were born again, He gave you breath. That's life more abundantly. That's anointing. That's power. That's the Holy Spirit. And the wind never stops. I said the wind never stops. We come to this winds conference in 2025 to seek the God that lives. The breath of God is beckoning us. We do not approach God as a stoic. We have breath. We have a praise. We do not approach God as an epicurean. We believe that one day the trumpet of God shall sound. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. And as long as we have life, we can seek Him. This is why the enemy wants to take your life. Because if he can take your life, he can stop your pursuit of God.

I have some friends that are here tonight, James and Estefan, and she was talking to me the other day on the phone and telling me their story. And I was so moved by it, I invited them to come tonight. Because recently they had their two year old son fall into a swimming pool and remain lifeless in that pool for almost 10 minutes. In fact, there's even video footage of it that proves it. He was there playing with a little duck. Caretaker didn't realize that he had slipped out in the back door and was in the pool and he had that little duck over there. He was trying to play with that duck. He was sort of chasing that duck around. You can see the timestamp on the bottom there. It's 8-2-7-0-7-0-8-0-9 AM in the morning. But he threw the duck out a little further and he couldn't quite get to it. So now he's trying to make his way out to the duck. But he's only two years old. He can't swim. It's 8-2-6-50 AM. The next part of this footage from their surveillance camera shows him lying lifeless in the pool. It's 8-35-25 AM. And there he is, lifeless in the pool, laying there all the breath gone out of his lungs. He's in the water. And then when you go to the next timestamp, you'll see as the father comes out and realizes that that's his son and pulls him up out of the water. Notice it's 8-45-20-21-22. That means there's video proof of a boy who was in a swimming pool lifeless for almost 10 minutes. But can I tell you that this young boy is here tonight and he is alive and well?

James, Safiq, come up here. Bring him up here with you. You're not supposed to survive if you haven't had breath for 10 minutes. But I got a gun that can breathe on you again. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for breathing him. Here's what you gotta understand about this boy. He's three years old now. But here's what you gotta understand. This mom didn't know what I was gonna preach about tonight. But she said he shouldn't even have been born. He was a miracle. But she said whenever he was born, the Lord spoke to her and said, name him [name redacted]. And she said, I wanna name him [name redacted]. I want him to have a Bible name because he's a miracle. And she said the middle name was gonna be [name redacted]. But the family said there's nobody in the family named [name redacted]. Her sister said don't name him [name redacted]. Name him [name redacted]. That way we'll call him [name redacted]. [name redacted] be his middle name. And she said okay. But when she went to bed that night, the Lord spoke to her and said no, no. I want [name redacted] to be his first name. So she said I'm naming him [name redacted]. I don't think that's my accident. Cause it was Ezekiel that God gave the prophecy to. And I believe that the Lord breathed on this boy one more time. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be alive. But he's here. You know why? Because God is a God that will not only give us life, but he'll give us breath and an anointing and a second chance. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. God bless you. Come on put your hands together for this family. Would you thank them?

When Ezekiel prophesied the second time the wind came, there was an unction. Oh you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live. That second wind is breath. It is restoration. It's the wind of God in the upper room. It restores life. It renews hope. It triggers speech.

When my 16 year old daughter Sophia was born, her lungs would not open up. And they put her in intensive care. They put her in a NICU unit and they hooked her up to an incubation machine to try to help her lungs to open up. And they said they should open up momentarily. But after the first day and the first night they didn't open up. And then the second day and the second night. By the third day I said to my wife, I've got to go home and I get to get ahold of God. Because I got to have the Lord do a miracle. They said if her lungs don't open up, we're gonna have to take her and bring her to the Children's Hospital in Orlando where they're specialists. But oh, we begin to pray. I went home that night and I began to call upon the Lord. And I began to say, Lord, I know that you gave us Sophia as a gift from heaven. And I believe, Lord, that you're the giver of life and all creation. And I said, Lord, I want you to touch her and open up those lungs. And the Lord told me at 2.15 a.m. He said I will breathe on her one more time. The next morning we went to the hospital room. My wife was still in the hospital room. And they said the doctors are gonna come in in a few minutes. And when the doctors came in, we were gonna receive the report of whether or not she was gonna have to be transferred to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. And as they came in, they said, there's nothing to worry about. Her lungs have opened up and she is living and breathing like any other normal child. I said, doctor, when did it happen? He said, I'll have to review the notes and get back with you. He reviewed the notes and came back into the hospital. And he said there with my wife and I present, he said the doctors put note that at 2.15 a.m. she began to breathe again. I wanna say this, because I feel a prophetic voice in the Holy Ghost that is speaking to this congregation. Can I tell you that when the Lord reached out to me, can I tell you that when the Lord restores life, it's not just to bring you back to a place of existence. I believe [name redacted] will grow up to be a man of God and to speak the word of truth. I believe there's an anointing of this generation to speak the word of God.

David ends in the book of Psalms with this statement, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. It wasn't a question, it was a command. God will be praised. If we choose to stay silent, then creation itself will take our place. Even the rock will cry out in his praise. As long as there is breath in your body, you not only have a reason, but you have a responsibility to praise. God didn't just breathe a life into us, He breathed purpose into our existence. Genesis 2.7 says that the Lord God formed man from the dust to the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The Hebrew word for breath here is ruah, meaning wind, spirit or the very breath of God. It's not just air moving through your lungs, ladies and gentlemen, it's the breath of God moving through you. When God breathed into Adam, he didn't just give him life, he gave himself. That divine breath was his spirit imparted into humanity. From the very beginning, breath has been a sign of his presence. A reminder that he is not just the giver of life, but the very sustainer of it, hallelujah.

The same ruah, that same divine wind shows up again in Acts 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. The same God who breathed into Adam, breathed again into his church. The Holy Ghost is that wind, the breath of God that fills us again and again and again. You wake up every day and breathe without thinking about it, but yet in every inhale God is with you. It's a reminder that he has not given up hope on you, he has not given up on you, hallelujah. You don't have to tell your lungs to move, they just do. But that simple invisible rhythm is proof that God is still with you. But with that gift comes a responsibility. If God has given you his breath, what you do with that breath matters. You are called to use it, to glorify him, to speak life. Every word we speak, every song we sing, every prayer we pray, it's all part of how we steward the breath. He's entrusted to us. If breath is God's gift to us, then praise is our gift and our duty to him. Even when your breath feels heavy, when it feels short, when it feels weaker fading, you still use that to glorify the one who gave it. Because when we praise our gift, our glory becomes more than survival, it becomes worship. Our size becomes songs, our cries become prayers, our words become declarations of faith. As long as you have breath, you not only have a reason, but a responsibility. If you are breathing, you are blessed. If you are breathing, you are chosen. If you are breathing, there is still hope. You are still called, and you are still responsible to praise. So let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Come on, you wanna lift up your voice now? Would you use your breath? And would you declare the glory of God? Yolomosate, yolomosate, Ramahaya. Jesus. There is an anointing on this generation to speak the word. But this is that that was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days. Sayeth God that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. The second breath is with a mandate to speak after that the Holy Ghost or Holy Breath of God will come upon you. You shall receive power, what kind of power? Power to be a witness. Power to speak. Use the breath of God and declare the word of God.

Moses, just speak to the rock and waters will gush forth. You don't need to strike it, just speak. Just speak the word. Now's not the time to be quiet. You were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this. Speak the word and our people will be saved. Jonah, preach the word and Nineveh will be saved. Daniel, speak the word, prophesy in this heated land. What doth sayeth the Lord? Young adults, just speak the word to this generation. Speak the truth, declare the name. You have the breath of God. He has breathed on you, not once. But twice, if you have breath praise him because the day demands your voice. If you have breath, teach a Bible study. If you use your first breath of life, he will give you the second breath of salvation. And if you use the second breath of salvation, he will breathe on you again with a third breath. Paul said, in him is life, breath and all things. In him we live and move and have our being. All things, our being, our identity, our essence, our purpose. The third breath is the impartation. The first breath is the demonstration. And the second breath is that that we know of as the anointing of God upon our life. But that third breath is the impartation. It's the gifting, it's the calling. It is without repentance. It goes beyond the grave. They made the mistake of putting the bones of Elisha in an open grave. Those bones were still hot with anointing. They were still simmering with power. Later the guys who did the burying were in a hurry. They just dumped some other corpse on top of Elisha's bones, which was a big mistake because when they did those bones, as soon as they touched Elisha's bones, they sprung to life and jumped up out of the grave. Can you imagine their reaction when they just dumped dry dead bones into an open grave and the guy comes springing up out of that grave? You know why? Because God had breathed on him, Elisha, at the point of creation. Then he breathed on him again when Elijah called him to serve. He did that diligently. And then when the mantle fell, as Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire, God breathed on Elisha and gave him a double portion. That was the impartation. That's why Elisha could pray for you and you would be healed or raised from the dead. At one point he breathed his breath into a young dead boy and that boy came back to life because he had the breath of God in his lungs. So when they put him in the grave, that third breath was still percolating.

I feel like Paul today on Mount, on Mars Hill, I wanna declare that this thing doesn't end. When we go to the grave, there's something that goes beyond the grave. This Wins Conference is built on those four wins of demonstration, unity, restoration, and impartation. Life is demonstration. Breath is restoration and all things is impartation. You are not just another planet, our human on this planet that's breathing air. You have the breath of God.

Where's Windsor vials? Where's she at? Come up here, Winter. This anointed vessel of God. This is one of the most talented young ladies. She's in demand all over the country to come and to sing. What you may not know about, Winter is that when she was just a young girl, two or three years old, there was a big anniversary service taking place at the Elms's and she, like [name redacted], slipped out the back door without anybody knowing. She told me her story not long ago. She said there was a little ball that our dog played with and I was playing with that little ball and it went into the pool. And she said, when it went into the pool, I went into the pool after it, but she couldn't swim. Nobody knew she was back there. She tried to go into that water and she tried to get that ball and she just laid motionless for, I don't know how long in that swimming pool. But she told me something that just stood out. She said, I remember seeing my hair floating on that pool. And I said, from like down below, you can remember in your mind's eye, seeing that she goes, no, I was up above it and I was looking down. I've had friends that have had those outer body experiences as the spirit begins to lift and a body begins to depart. There was that moment right there where life is fleeting. And she said, I remember looking down and she said my hair was floating on that pool. And then all of a sudden, Grandpa Elms come crashing with shoes and everything else on into the water. And then in just a moment, Sister Elms come crashing in and they picked her up out of that pool and they breathed into her one more time, the breath of life and restored her one more time.

Can I tell you that God will breathe on you again and not just give you life? And not just give you breath. But when the Lord breathes on you one more time, he doesn't just bring you back to where you were before. He brings an anointing. He brings an anointing. There's a gifting that comes with that. There's a calling that comes with that. Those of you that are in this building tonight, God's breathed on you. You're a living, breathing creature. He breathed on you in creation. He breathed on you again when you received the Holy Ghost. But you know what we're at tonight? We're saying, God, we want you to breathe on us. We want there to be an impartation. We want it to be in our innermost being. This is who we are. This is what we believe. We will seek after him. I invite you to come right now for where you're standing. And would you come down to this altar? And would you lift your hands? And would you say, Lord, I'm ready for that gift, Inna? I'm ready for that call, Inna? I want purpose.