Be Filled With The Spirit

In fact, I feel it plays right into the word I feel like God has for us. Ephesians chapter five have a very, very powerful word for us today.

I'm not one who has very much fear in my life. It's never been something I've dealt with on a regular basis. I i have fears that will come, I think, that are natural fears, but as far as being a person or an individual who has lived with constant fear, that s that's never been my life. I'm aware that events unfolding in our world — if you are a person who pays attention to those things and are aware of scriptures, I think we all realize that the end is near. Don't play church. It's not the time to — that's the time to be sleeping. If ever there was a time to be sure that we were doing our pre-flight check, it would be now. Yeah, it would be now. I'm a firm believer you should just live like God's coming back any minute and you'll be okay. It's easy to get lulled to sleep in our world, easy to be intoxicated with Babylon, but I want you to know things are lining up, child of God. Things are lining up, and events can change quickly.

Last Sunday was such an amazing service. We've seen 15 people baptized last Sunday in Jesus' name. Today we've already had four people have been baptized in Jesus' name, and I believe there's a couple more that are lined up. It's just a good day. But as I was thinking about and praying about direction today, I wanna — if I've ever preached an apostolic message, I'm to preach one today.

Ephesians 5:11: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of these things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore he says: Awake, O you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine, which is dispensation, but be filled with the Spirit." And I want to preach: be filled with the Spirit.

God, I thank you for your mercy and your grace, your goodness and your spirit. Thank you for what you've already set in motion for this service today. God, I set myself aside. I'm your servant, Lord. Use me as your — as your will. Use me, it's your pleasure today, to deliver your anointed word to your church. In Jesus' name we pray, and amen. Before you see to, turn to somebody and say, "Be filled with the Spirit." You may be seated.

I have a new book recommendation for us. Last month we we did the book of prayer, Brother Ken Gurley. This month I have a book for us called Fast Forward by Josh Herring. I I just — I know this, I know this in me: a lot of what we're feeling and seeing and going on the last few Sundays around here is because we've been praying, but I'm ready to shake it up a little bit. I think we need to put a little fasting with that prayer and see what happens with that. So these books will be for sale in the in the four year on your way out. I feel like to pick up a copy — there out there, I believe, for 15 — and get you one. I encourage you to read it along with us as a church.

I want to talk to us today about God's desire for everyone to be Spirit-filled. We are an apostolic church. Now, some may view what we do and they may try to put the title of of charismatic on us, but i m I'm not a fan of that terminology. I do not have time today to go on all the reasons why we are an apostolic church. Matter of fact, I'm going to be a little bit more specific: we are an apostolic Pentecostal church. And what that means is that we believe in the teaching and the preaching of the apostles' doctrine. We do not get caught up in mainstream Christianity, which has developed over the centuries and is often called orthodox Christianity. Our goal is to always go back to the New Testament teaching that was there — the apostles: what did they say, what did they do, how did they teach, how did they receive the instruction from God? I feel like that's a great place to start. And because of that, we are termed an apostolic Pentecostal church. We are an apostolic church. We grow apostolic families. That's what we're about. That's our vision. That's what we rally behind.

And be apostolic Pentecostal means that we embrace, we emphasize, what took place there in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. What did the apostles do when the New Testament church started? Because we believe in the experience of Pentecost. We believe in an outpouring of God's Spirit. Not only did it happen then, but it is alive and well for us today. Today, that outpouring is still alive for us today. We believe the message that Peter preached in Acts 2, when he was asked the question, "What do we have to do to be saved?" is the salvation message. We believe that receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is done today just like it was done in Acts chapter 2. And we also believe that there is special significance about speaking in other tongues. In the book of Acts chapter 2, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. They were all filled. There wasn't one that was left out. There wasn't anybody on the sidelines saying, "Hey, I didn't get that." They were — oh, that's what the Word of God said. It said they were all filled. And we still believe that that feeling is taking place today, today, today.

Now, there are some individuals who believe that speaking in tongues is taboo, some that believe that speaking in tongues was simply what was a — in addition to what was taking place since Paul was writing to the church at Corinth in First Corinthians chapter 14. But I'm here to tell you that what was listed in Corinthians 14 is now what happened in Acts chapter 2. It was not just manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. What took place in Acts 2 was the infilling of the Holy Ghost. What took place in Acts chapter 2 is they were all filled with his Spirit. And because of this, and because we see that speaking in tongues took place several times throughout the book of Acts and by many other scripture references which I will go through today, I unapologetically tell you — I'm going to use a whole lot of scripture today, because what I believe is based out of the Word of God.

John chapter 3, verse number 8: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Mark 16, verse 16: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And those signs will follow those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues." James chapter 3 — and you gotta love Brother James. He he doesn't sugarcoat anything. He comes right at you, tells us that the taming of the tongue is something that only God can do. He uses it in reference as a governor of the ship.

And because of these things, we are classified as apostolic Pentecostal. We still believe in the plan of salvation, that it is the death, burial, and resurrection: repentance, baptism in Jesus' name, and an infinite of the Holy Ghost, evidence and speaking of other tongues. This is for everybody. This is for everybody. This is for everybody.

Today, you don't have to be excluded. You don't have to be the exception to the rule. This is for you. The church started this way. It didn't start and diminish into something else. It is still what God intends for his church to experience every day.

Now, please understand my heart today. I want to say this in a right way. I i don't want anyone here to feel that I'm denying what many people have experienced all over this earth — good people that that love God and that are dedicated to serving God. And I'm not discounting that what they have is real. They they profess with their mouth that that God is doing the work on them, and I have no doubt that God is doing a work in their life, and and I believe that God has set them on a path. I simply encourage them to keep walking. Keep walking with him. Whatever you do, don't stop until you get the full experience of salvation in your life.

I don't pretend that I'm any better than anybody else. I just know this: that we are all at different areas in our stage, in our walk with God. I don't want to plateau. I don't want to stop. Just because I've been filled with this Spirit and us and I have spoken tongues doesn't mean that I have have have finished my race. I'm still here breathing. I'm still here moving. I'm still here walking. There's a whole lot more that God has for me to do, and I keep searching and I keep digging. But what I have discovered, without any doubt, reservation, or hesitation inside of me, is that what I have experienced was exactly what they experienced in Acts chapter 2 when the church started, and that it's still something that God desires to do to those who are hungry and searching after him. When I got God, God changed me. I wasn't the same. It wasn't just an emotional feeling, but so much inside of me has changed and continues to change each and every day of my life.

Don't stop until you get what they got on the day of Pentecost, because I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, there's more than just believing. No matter how old you are, how young you are, God desires to fill you with his Spirit. It's the best thing that could ever happen to you. Jesus Christ wants you to live in fullness, not just to have a moment, not just to have a memory. I'm thankful for the memories and I'm thankful for the moments, but I'm also thankful that I'm still experiencing the Spirit and feeling inside of me. I'm thankful that I m still have an opportunity to know God's Spirit is there. I don't just feel it, but when I speak in tongues it's activating that Holy Ghost inside of me. It's my pre-flight check to know that I'm where I need to be, and that Spirit moves in me. Be filled with the Spirit. Look at your neighbor and say that again: be filled with a Spirit.

Now, this begins with an understanding and a conception of the word. You have to have heard the word and believe the gospel. Matter of fact, you have to have been drawn by him. That's what the Word of God says. You didn't accidentally stumble in here today, but God is always drawing. You can't come to him except the Spirit draws you. That's what the Word of God says. He is constantly pulling for you and I. And understanding that his desire is that we all come to this experience, when we come in and we believe the gospel, we believe the word is being preached, we have been conceived and that we are in utero. But we don't stop simply there. We have to come all the way to the birth of the Spirit in you.

That's why you'll hear apostolic Pentecostals talk about the new birth experience, about being born again. Going back to John, when Nicodemus went to Jesus and was asking what he had to do, and Jesus explaining that you must be born again — you have to be born of the water and of the Spirit. It's multifaceted here. You can't just go part of the way. You need to go all the way. Otherwise it's not a complete birth process. Something happens and changes if you don't go all the way.

Think about when a baby is born. Think about that process. What's the first thing that a baby does when it's born? It takes in a deep breath and then it gives out a sound. There's a cry that comes out. When that bird — that's how you know the baby's been born. In fact, when there is no sound, people get nervous. People get a little on edge. My wife worked nursery NICU for 16 years, and she'll tell you it can get tense, and there can be things that can go wrong during that birthing process. But what they're looking for is for that baby to make a cry, because when it makes a cry, that means that there is air inside the lungs that is now passing across the vocal cords, letting you know that life is well in that moment.

That same thing happens when you come into a relationship with him and he fills you with his Spirit. That Spirit filled in you will then for come out of you. There will be a sound that comes along with it. You cannot make sound without air. The Spirit manifesting itself in you — and I'm looking forward to that experience taking place here today in this room. When the Holy Ghost comes, the Holy Ghost fills your spirit. That Holy Ghost down inside you begins to fill you up. It'll fill you up through your spirit, soul, and body and take on a new character. Not only does the Spirit change you, but the Holy Ghost changes the atmosphere everywhere you go. When you are a Spirit-filled individual, everywhere you go, that Spirit goes with you. Everyone you encounter encounters that Spirit with you. When you walk into the room, the atmosphere changes, because the Spirit of God is flowing out of you. The power of this Spirit I'm preaching today is God's means of changing the world.

Please understand me. Oftentimes I think we — and and when we read about the fall in the Word of God that took place in Genesis, when Adam and Eve messed up — we think that God had to come up with a plan B, and that plan B is what you and I experienced today. That is not true. That is false. There has never been a plan B. There's just been God's plan. He's had the plan from the beginning. I'm going to explain in a little bit more detail for you, but I need you to know that just because man messed up, it did not derail God's plan. He had a plan. He has always had a plan. He's not set back scratching his head. He wasn't caught off guard in a moment saying, "Oh no, they messed up, they ate the fruit." He already had a plan in place for whenever it was that man messed up. He had in his mind what he wanted as a special relationship with you and I. It's not a back-up plan. Being filled with the Holy Ghost was God's plan from the very beginning of time, because when you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you are indwelled with the Spirit of God himself. And in that moment you become in — in a relationship special with him. When you are filled with a Spirit, you're brought into union with God. And this was his plan from the beginning. From the start, God was going to fill us with his Spirit. It has always been his plan.

Adam, before the bite, theoretically had not sinned, but when he bit, he did take a bite and sin entered in. But before the bite, I need you to know Genesis 2 and 7 says this: "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." He became a living soul, but he was not full of the Holy Ghost. He became a living soul, but he was not full of the Holy Ghost. In this moment, there was still a process that was going to take place. Again, this isn't God's plan B. This is what God's plan has always been. Adam's spirit was a living soul, but it was not fully full, if I could say it that way. It was not complete. God had intended from the start to fill Adam and Eve completely with the Holy Ghost, because, understanding this, the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the victorious Christ. It is the Spirit of the incarnate Christ. It is the Spirit of Jesus himself. That part had not taken place yet. There was already in his mind a lamb that was going to be slain from the foundation of the earth, and in the garden that had not taken place yet. They were alive. They were living spirit, but they were not Spirit-filled. Are you okay? You know, okay, I told you I was going to preach apostolic today.

Look at this. John chapter 14, verse 15: "If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever." Okay, there's a helper coming. Verse 17: "The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you" — yeah, he's speaking to you — "and we ll be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you." Wait a minute. Who's coming? Who's coming? How many people are in this story right now? Don't get confused, because he says he's dwelling with you — yeah, and he's talking to you — but he's going to be in you. "I'm not going to leave you as an orphan. I will come to you." He's explaining himself. I don't know — "I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. And that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."

Colossians 1:27: "To them God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery to the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." What do we sing about him being our hope? Because he's our hope. Why do we worship and praise Jesus? Because he's our hope. He's our — he's our everything. It was Jesus's prayer that we be one in him, as God and Christ are one. The whole purpose of Jesus Christ coming to earth in the first place is that, while he was one with God, that through him we could become one with God also. Jesus came, and the Spirit of God filled the body with his Spirit. He was fully man and fully God. Now, he was not a robot, okay? He he He was fully filled with God's Spirit.

First Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified at due time." Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and by coming in the flesh and being the indwelling of the Spirit of God in flesh, he made it possible that you and I can be at one with him. Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. Therefore, at the finished work at Calvary, we can become one with God.

John 1 and 1 says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He's explaining his process, and that you cannot separate God from his Word. It's an impossibility. You cannot do it. That's why, when you read about the Word of God, you have to understand that everything is true or it's all false. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then verse 14 says: "And the Word was made flesh." What was made flesh? God was made flesh. How was God made flesh? Did he leave heaven and come down here? He's an omniscient, omnipotent God. He can be all everywhere he needs to be, and he's all-powerful everywhere he is. And maybe you have a hard time getting your mind wrapped around how he could be in two places at one time, but for God that's no big deal. It's not a hard process for him.

And where oftentimes people struggle is when they say — I've heard this question before: "Well, who was Jesus praying to in the garden?" That's easy. The problem lies in understanding Jesus the man and Jesus is God. I can explain it real easy to you. When he's open and blinded eyes, he is God. When it says that he was hungry, he was man. I mean, does God get hungry? Do you think God gets hungry? We get hungry because we're flesh, but God doesn't get hungry. It says he was tired. Does God get tired? Do you think God's up there yawning right now? No, he doesn't get tired. He's God. See, to understand: he put in place a plan that the only way I can bridge the gap between where they are and where I am is I have to go to them. They can never be good enough. They could never be good enough. We could never be good enough. Even even the best one of us in this room — we we all all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what the Word of God says: all have sinned. I mean, turn your neighbor: that means you. Yeah, sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

But Jesus, he comes fully man, fully God, born of woman, born of woman, but he was there and dwelt with that Spirit from the beginning, and showed us that with that Spirit we have the ability to live an overcoming life. With that Spirit — that's why we need that Spirit in us — is that Spirit gives us the opportunity to be guided and to be led, that when I come up against something that I don't know what to do, if I'll tune into the Spirit inside of me, it'll give me direction. It'll show me the way of escape that comes with every temptation. It gives me the ability to have staying power. It gives me the ability to not get caught up and ensnared with the traps and the trials that come in this world. It allows me to put — to lay aside those sins which so easily beset me in my life. All of that is possible with that Spirit. That's why God came in flesh.

Listen to pastor: God does not take away our personality or our spirit when he comes into us, but he simply fulfills what he had placed in us from the very beginning. When you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, you start becoming fully alive in that moment. All of your gifts, all of your talents, all of your abilities begin to wake up and start becoming alive, because the Spirit that spoke you into existence is now living inside of you in this moment. And now you can become what you never could on your own. Your abilities, your talents, everything you have, by that Spirit now living in you, has the ability to come to his fullness. When you receive the Holy Ghost, it's possible. It's like blowing up a balloon: all of a sudden everything coming inside, he begins to come alive.

That's why he gives you the Holy Ghost: so that the indwelling becomes uh the the process by which you fully uh become — does — what you were designed to be. The very nature of God begins to flow out of you. And not only does it flow out of you, but as that nature flows out of you, it draws others into him. Everywhere you go, you become a unique

description of God. Everywhere you go, you represent him. I said this a few minutes ago: when you go, he goes — if you're filled with his Spirit. Wherever you go, he goes. It doesn't matter how dark he gets. It doesn't matter how desperate the situation. He's there with you. You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to fear. If you're a Holy Ghost bloodball child of the King, with his Spirit alive and well in you, what do you fear of man? You don't need to be letting the headlines bother you. You don't need to be letting all this stuff get inside of your mind, causing you to live in some kind of a fear.

Listen to me. I don't mean to speak against anybody who's doing this, but look: it's a fool's errand to think that you can properly prepare yourself for what's to come. If you're going to spend time and effort on anything, you better have yourself prayed up, filled up, being ready that any moment he's going to come back. What's this foolishness of a bunch of stockpiling and putting all this stuff up? That's just bumpkins. You're just wasting time. Are you a child of the King? My King, my God, owns it all, and he's my provider. And if I need it, he'll make a way for it. If it's a hard time, he knows I need a hard time anytime you do that stuff. "Well, am I just supposed to sit around, Pastor Kevin, and just let life happen to me?" No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just asking you: where you putting your hope and trust? Are you putting in your abilities, or you're putting it in in your neighbor's abilities? Are you putting it in in our government? Where are you putting it at? My hope is in him. My hope is in him. And I'm telling you, I'm on the first boat out. You can stay around here if you want to. You can take your chances on making it through the other side. Not me. I'm going to tell you right now: you can't make it now — how you think you're going to make it when the Spirit of God has gone out of this place? I don't care what Hollywood says. I don't care how it's depicted. I don't care what them TV preachers tell you. You better be in the Word and you better be ready. This ain't a time to play patty cake with Jesus.

I told you I was gonna preach apple stock today. I'm unapologetic in what I'm preaching, because my spirit senses the hour and the day that we're living in. It's not time to be sitting on the sidelines. It's not a time to be taking matters in your own end. It's time for you to get serious about living for God. It's time for you to understand he could come back at any moment. How much worse does it have to get for you to understand we're at the end?

When we come in, you and I, with his Spirit, we represent the unique description of God. We represent him and his Spirit flowing out of us. We we represent and manifest his glory and his character. You and I do this as his Spirit moves through us. We all represent different facets and character qualities of who he is. And as we get together and worship God — why it's so important that we do that in the Spirit. We don't just — we don't do it to just have an emotional experience. There's a lot of churches today — boy, I'm feeling my oats — there's a lot of churches today that just want to have an emotional experience. They just want you to feel good, throw a few songs out there, and preach you happy. I'm not trying to preach you happy. I'm trying to preach you to heaven. If you're looking for happy, you're in the wrong church. If you're looking for happy, just feel good, I'm not your guy. Go find somebody else. But if you want somebody to be unapologetic preaching the truth and the Word, to tell you we're in the last days: stop playing church, be the church. Stop messing around. Spirit-filled individual, be sure you're ready every time for what God has for you.

There's a spirit in our world today. There's a spirit that is that is inside of the Christian church that is saying: just comply, just get along. We're all wanting to go to heaven, and I believe that. I think everybody's wanting to go to heaven. I do. I'm not believing they're not sincere. But I'm going to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, a life of obedience is what he's called you to, not a life of convenience. It's a life of obedience, not convenience. It it it Obedience is better than sacrifice. That's what the Word says. It s It's better to come and be obedient. See, when we all get together in worship — that's where I was going; I had to come back and bring in my bearings — when we all come down here and we begin to worship together — and as we stand, as as we're singing and we're worshiping God — stand up with me. As we begin to worship God, I'm gonna pray. Sister Daddy, stand up for me just a sec, if you don't mind. As we begin to worship God, here's what happens, okay? The angels look over and they see what's going on. The Bible tells us this. They again they begin to peer into where we are and what we're facing, and they're trying to get their head wrapped around it. But you know what they see? They see the face of God. And you'll be seated. It says we are worshiping together in the Spirit. See, this is something that the angels, they, they don't get to experience. They, they don't get to be filled with his Spirit. They don't have an option. They were not given the choice. It was worship God or, boom, you're out of here. But he gave you and I the freedom of choice to choose to love him. And when we choose to love him and we're filled with his Spirit and we begin to worship together — Brother Moore, you and I — and all of a sudden that Spirit starts flowing, we start speaking in tongues, the Holy Ghost starts breaking out, the angels look over from the portal of heaven, says, "Oh my, look what's going on. I see the face of God down there." You and I, we're like a mosaic picture pieced together, because there's a piece that he put in you that's different than the peace he put in me. It's the character qualities and the talents and the abilities that you have that I don't have. But when we come together, we represent the body of Christ.

Second Corinthians 4:6: "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." There's there s so much to go — like, I got so many notes, I'm never going to finish this sermon.

Moses asked, "I want to see you." The only one the scripture says he revealed himself face to face. But but the conversation goes this way: "i wanna I wanna see you." "God, I can't show you my faith, but I'll put my hand on you. I'll put you in the cleft of a rock and I'll put my hand over you." If you know the story in the scriptures: Moses, the the guy who led him out of Egypt; Moses, the the the one who who was there as the as the spokesperson, represented — because God heard their cry in Egypt. Moses had a special relationship with God, and he said, "I want to see your face." And God's explaining to Moses, "i can t I can't do that." I know I've scratched my head for a little bit, thinking, well, why couldn't you just show them your face? I mean, why couldn't you reveal it to him? Now, this is my belief, and

I feel strongly about this: that day, when he put him in the cleft of the rock and he walked by him and he said, "I'll remove my hand and you can see my hinder parts," I believe what Moses was able to see was from the beginning of of man up until that point, because he was able to write Genesis, next to this, Leviticus, Numbers, in Deuteronomy. He was able to gather the story of man because he could see behind. But then it hit me: "I can't show you my face, because it doesn't exist yet." That scripture — put that up there again for me, Debbie — ii Corinthians: "Give the light of knowledge of glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." He was telling Moses, "I can't show you that, because it doesn't exist yet." But on Mount Transfiguration, who showed up? Moses was there. And God said, "I couldn't show you then, because he wasn't there yet, but I can show you now, because he's right there."

When we come together in the Holy Ghost, we form the picture of God. God fills us with his Spirit so that he can make us one with him. Ephesians 1:9: "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth." This has been his plan from the beginning. And therefore it's important that we must be filled with his Spirit, because you cannot be reconciled, you cannot be brought into union. You have to be in sync with him, and the only way we sync up is when we are filled with his Spirit. That's how we sink. God takes us then and uses us to reach the world around us.

Acts 1: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon you." But what was the power for? What was the power for? To be a witness. And I'm going to get onto you apostolics in the room: that Holy Ghost sitting for you to speak in tongues — now, that's a representation that the Spirit's in you, in the same way that the stone was rolled away from the tomb to represent something had changed inside. Chew on that. That Spirit that spirit is not there for you to speak in tongues. It's for you to do what? I'm going to take a step further: that Spirit's not in there for you just to cast out demons. But what's the Spirit there for? These are red-lettered words. It's for you to be a witness. It's for you to take what he put in you and let it let it let it manifest inside of you, so that you become fully alive. You become what he intended you to be. He created you, formed you, knit you together in your mother's womb. He put everything in you that he one day wanted to pull out of you. How is he gonna pull it out of you? He was gonna fill you with his Spirit, and that Spirit was going to activate you. It was that activation code that was going to bring those ministries to fruition in your life.

To think there's any other reason for that Spirit is to miss it. It's not just your get-out-of-hell card. The word atonement — William Tyndale actually made this word up when he was translating. You get bored later, you can Google it up and read the story. He made a word up. It didn't even exist. It's at one minute — at one with what? At one with God. That Spirit to make that atonement with you. In several passages in the Bible, the word atonement is used, and this and its meaning is being made one with God. That's what the Holy Ghost came to do.

See, to understand this gives me the perspective that that that me and God make a majority. When i m When I'm hooked up with him, there's nothing I'm facing that can beat me. Oh, I wish somebody believed that. I see so many people — I see specifically, I see so many apostolic Pentecostals walk around with their head down, looking like they're beat up. I don't understand that. I've never understood that. The Spirit of the living God that got him up out of that tomb is alive and well. When you — what possibly could you face that has the power to beat you? Nothing. Only you can be defeated by you. We've been made one. We're a majority. I'm preaching to people in this room: God desires that you're filled with the Spirit, that you receive the Holy Ghost, and you allow that Spirit to make you fully who he wants you to be. Who he wants you to be. Who he wants you to be. Who he wants you to be — not what you want to be, not what you have dreamed up on your own, but what he wants you to be.

God receives back in praise what we have received in grace. That's why he pours out grace on us, and he receives back grace in glory. When we are filled with his Spirit today at Center Point, God is receiving glory. When we activate that Spirit inside of us and worship him, the devil can't stop it. He loses every time. God has put himself in you, that you can be victorious.

So how does it work? I know a lot of people ask this question, and this is good. Yo, can I can i go down two gears and teach for just a second? The Spirit of God comes into you when you yield to his Spirit. You have to yield. It's a gift. It's called the gift of the Holy Ghost. You don't beg for a gift — that's not a gift. You don t You don't buy a gift — that's not a gift. A gift is given. It's a gift. The only way you get it is you yield to the fact somebody's given you the gift. To receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, you have to yield to his Spirit that's moving. You must yield.

If you come up to the altar area here in our church, there's going to be music playing. Now, do you have to have music playing to receive the Holy Ghost? No. No, you do not. You do not need that. But we see in scripture where the Spirit of God is soothed and drawn and attracted to music, and that evil spirits are driven away and bothered by that music. In the same way, there is music that uplifts the flesh, and the spirits are repelled and drawn there too. God creating music for this purpose — that's why we have altar music during alter time, because it helps the spirit yield. But you — your part is to believe that God's desire is for you to be saved. Not that you earn your way in — you can't earn your way in — but that he has already paid the price for you, and that you simply have to receive what he did. That's the gospel message, as simple as I can make it: he died for you because you were a sinner, and the gift is freely there if you'll simply receive and say, "God, I need it. Will you give it?" And you can receive the gift that is there. There's no expirations.

When you come into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, you belong to him for a lifetime. That's why it's important that people understand the reason that they're baptized. We'we re not big on having baptismal services around here. It's funny I say that, because so many people getting baptized last few Sundays. But, but I'm not a big fan of mass baptismal services. Please don't hate me. Please, I'm not trying to be mean. But if someone doesn't understand why they're being baptized — you're coming into a covenant relationship with him in those baptismal waters, and that covenant comes with regard, with obligations and responsibility on your side too, that you will you will hold up your

end of the bargain. When you get baptized — that's, as I said last Sunday, that's the marriage ceremony, because you take on the name that is there, and and and and you begin to walk with him in that moment.

Second Peter 2:21 says: "For it have been better for him not to have known the way of righteousness, than, to have known it, and turned from the holy commandment delivered to them." It's better you didn't know. It's what the Word of God says. Backsliders are still under covenant, even though they're a covenant breaker. They're still under the covenant. That's why we go to great lengths to make sure you understand. And if you baptize somebody without them fully understanding, you almost have to hate that person, because they're brought into that covenant relationship.

Then, see, we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection. We believe in repentance and baptism, receiving the infill of the Holy Ghost. And, but this doesn't happen until you open up and allow and yield your spirit. That's why we come now. We pray with you. We'll tell you this: let's let God's presence be on you. We'll pray with you. Oftentimes people will raise their hand. I don't care what country you're in. I don't care what language you speak. If, if someone comes up to you like this, you automatically feel that they are surrendering. It's the universal sign. So there's no surprise that when people are in the altar and we say, "Raise your hands and praise God," I'm surrendering in this moment. I'm surrendering — what? I'm surrendering my will in that moment, God, to the will that you have for my life, to your purpose for me. Not my purpose, not my plan, but your plan. I'm surrendering to you in that moment. We have to yield. That's how the Spirit comes.

Man cannot give you the Holy Ghost. I wish I could. I'd line you all up here and I'd hand it out, but I can't. It's not mine to give. Even when I lay my hands on you, or one of the ministry lays their hands on you, pray for you, we're not giving you anything. There's nothing special about my hand. It's just a hand. But it's signaling the transference of what's in me over to you, that God let it be. You don't have to have any hands laid on you to receive the Holy Ghost. You don't have to have any music playing. But you do have to yield your spirit. He will not force himself on you. He is a perfect gentleman. That's why oftentimes we see that children receive the Holy Ghost so much easier. They don't have all these preconceived notions, and they're so trustworthy. You just say, "God wants to fill you with this Spirit," they're like, "Okay," raise your hand, praise God, and boom.

Thessalonians 5:23: "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I need you to know: the Spirit that God fills you with gives the utterance. It's not you. It's not your mind. You don't have to think words. You don't have to go to class and learn how to speak in tongues. If anybody tries that, that's that s not right. That's the Spirit gives the utterance. It's his. You yield, and God says, basically, is, "I'm gonna borrow your vocal cords for a minute." The Spirit moves on you and you yield your spirit and you let go. And I'll be honest with you: you get excited. People say, "Well, I don't — you abstock, y all just y'all just — y'all always on a 10 all the time." Well, first of all, our God's awesome. Second of all, you don't know where he found me. If you could have seen me before, you'd understand now how good my God has been to me. So I'm going to worship him and excite. Thirdly, though, when that Spirit begins to well up inside of me, it's like that river of life flowing out. I don't know how to stop it. I don't know how to be any other way, because when he moves, I have to move.

Genesis 2 and 7 — we're familiar: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust the ground, and breathing his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." See, the Spirit of God demands to have more than just your spirit. You know, okay, I'm getting ready to end. I know probably I've got a few y'all looking at your watch. I don't even — one time, it's 12:57, in case you need to know. I'm trying to take away any false about receiving the Holy Ghost, okay? It's his Spirit. It's for you. It's for everybody.

When you feel — you have to yield yourself. But, but look: he's wanting more than just your spirit, just your soul. And in Genesis — I just read you the scripture — that he breathed on him and man became a living soul. But what's the difference between my spirit and my soul? The spirit of man is the life God breathed into him. It is our very deepest, most primal part of of who we are. And in in in in in who we are — and but the soul is our conscience and my being. It s It's being aware of where I am in that moment. My soul is who I am, my being, my conscious, my awareness of myself. So when the Holy Ghost comes into my spirit, it does not want to stay there, because it doesn't want to be the the unconscious controller of my life. But the Spirit wants to flow up into my conscious mind — not just a primal part of who I am. It wants to become a part of of how I think. It wants to become a part of how I process, how I view what's going on around me, the filter by which I think life's thoughts.

Too many that I know have the Holy Ghost deep down, but they can shout and they can dance and and they can speak in tongues, but they walk out of the sanctuary and go right back to doing all the crazy stuff in their life they shouldn't be doing. And plea — please go with me just a minute. I'm not saying they don't have the Holy Ghost, but they have not fully become full in him, because it doesn't just stop in that primal part. I mean, I've seen people come into services — and you you if you've been around the apostolic church at all, you've seen them come in, and within a few minutes of feeling guilt and condemnation, they can throw their hands up and think they can repent. And God hears that prayer, and God fills them with the Holy Ghost before they even baptize — fills them with the Holy Ghost. They get baptized in Jesus' name. But I've seen so many people that become what I consider just spiritual junkies. They come in for that feeling. They've just replaced a high feeling in the world with a high feeling in the presence of God. But he doesn't want to stay — am I okay? You guys okay? He doesn't want to stay in just that primal part of who you are, but it's supposed to make its way all the way up into your mind, to permeate your very conscience, so that when you think, you no longer think the way you used to think.

Let me tell you: when I got the Holy Ghost, it started to change in me. I don't view things the same way. Stuff that I had a whole a lot of high value when I was living in the world, I don't think anything of that stuff anymore. Even Paul said the stuff that I thought was good, it's just filthy rags. What was going on? That Holy Ghost inside of him has changed his mind and how he processes things. I don't look at stuff the same. I don't care if you aim me or not. I'm still preaching truth right now. He wants to flow spirit, soul, and body, and rewrite the

patterns of your thoughts and your habits and your actions. That doesn't mean we don't deal with flesh sometimes. Come on. And say, "You need to pray that spirit out of somebody." Why? They ain't his spirit — that's flesh. I can't pray the flesh out of somebody. It's just a sack of bones there. How does that work? Where I'm going with this is: you need to allow that Spirit, that infilling Spirit, to continue to work in you until you become the finished product he desires. And here's a clue: it doesn't happen until you get there. But between here and there, I'm being worked on every day, and you should be working on every day. And that's what's very frustrating, is when I see so many people who I know are full of God's Spirit, but they're not allowing that Spirit to become fully full inside of them, because they plateau. You show me in the Word of God where you plateau. Show me. You show me where you should be the same today as you were five years ago. Show me. No, we're on a walk with him. We're moving constantly. In fact, you've heard me say this before, if you've been around here any length of time: you're never stagnant. You're either moving forward or backwards. And the only way you move forward is you're allowing yourself, your conscience, to work to push you forward every day.

I'm wrapping. The musicians come, because I'll keep preaching. I got about five more pages of notes and you guys will die. So musicians, come. God's desire is this. Toria, in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, I'm going to want to wrap this up, but I know your desires to fill somebody with your Spirit today. Your desires to do a work. God, only you give that out. Only you, only you, only you. God's desires for everybody to be filled with his Spirit. His desires to have your spirit, your soul, and your body. Too many people, too many apostolics, have the mindset of being filled is just receiving blessings and shoutings and goosebumps. Some of the greatest shouters in the world that I've seen are some of the worst Christians I've ever met.

I mean, serious. It's not just about shouting, dancing — there's nothing wrong with that — but is it affecting a change in you? Are you growing? Are you deeper? Listen to me, ladies and gentlemen. I'i m closing this service out. I I don't know what tomorrow holds. I don't know what what what what Putin's gonna do. I don't know if China decides to get in and take back Taiwan. I don't i don t know how long the Ukrainian resistance is gonna last. I don t I don't know. God hasn't spoke that to me. I don't know how long inflation is going to keep going up. I don't know. I don't know the answer to this question. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.

His name is Jesus, and he has filled me with his Spirit. And when things get a little bit worrisome in my mind, I find a place to pray, and I activate that Spirit that's inside of me, and all of a sudden a peace comes over me that passes human understanding. And even though I don't have the answers, I find myself letting the worry go, for I know he will take care of me, and I trust in that.

If you really want to be apostolic Pentecostal, if you really want to be Christian, then you have to do more than just shout on Sunday. You have to live a Spirit-filled life every day, every day. If you've been filled with the Spirit of God, then I ask you this question: when's the last time you activated that Spirit?

So you get on a plane, and they get you in your seats — which is funny now in this world we live in, the the lunacy of all this stuff. You know, you got to be six feet apart, and they set you six inches apart, and as soon as you stand up you got to be six feet apart again. You've been together for four hours. I mean, are you kidding me? Sorry, sidetrack. If you don't check where you are — the flight attendant gets up and says — you know, we know the spill, if you've flown anyway — like, pull out the card in front of you. If masks fall down, air pressure comes in, put your mask on first before you put somebody beside you. This is a seat belt. I mean, i mean do we really have to have that explanation? But what are they doing? These are the exits. X's — closest exit could be behind you. What what did what are they doing to you? What's the point of it? What's the point of the pre-flight check? Is when it goes bad, you know what to do. It doesn't do a whole lot of good when the plane's going down for them to go like, "Hey, let's talk about seat belts." Yeah, if they never told you that the mask was supposed to fall down and it just fell down — I've heard the horror stories about when that's happened. In fact, Perry, my father-in-law's, travel a lot — when they just fall out, you talk about finding out where everybody is right there with their relationship with God. Just let the mask fall down. Everybody is a believer in that moment.

But I'm here to tell you: that's not the time to check. It's every day. That's why in my morning time, i I'll be sure — the old timers called about, they said you need it, you need to pray through. Pray through to what? Pray through till you speak in tongues, so that you know that Spirit is still there, it's still moving. It's your pre-flight check. It's a way for you to say, "Okay, okay, all right, God, I'm here. I'm here." Are you saying, Pastor Kevin had to speak in tongues every day? I'm not telling you any of that. I'm just telling you, that's what I do, because when it comes to eternity, I'm not willing to take a chance. It's on you if you want to.

It's on you. I'm not saying that in a flippant way. I'm just saying I have delivered my spirit, that in the day and age we live in right now, I wouldn't take a chance. I wouldn't take a chance. Now, am I perfect? No. I guarantee you before I get home today I'm gonna be mad at somebody driving out there, because they're idiots everywhere. But this is how I live. I'm i m a real — I'm transparent. Is this me? I am just me. I know my wife, she gets — "You don't have to say all that." I don't know how to be any other way. I'm just me. But when I catch myself yelling at one of those idiots, I then asked God to forgive me. Why? Because I was wrong, and I don't want to take a chance. I don't want to take a chance. It's not worth — it's not worth one moment of of just sheer stupidity to lose eternity. When heaven by using me — if you're comfortable about your heads — Jesus, I love you. I'm thankful for what you're doing this place. Got, to know your desires that we're all filled with your Spirit. I know I've preached a long time, God, but that does not negate you still want to do work. It's your Spirit that draws. Lord, I pray that Spirit be moved right now, Lord, that you would draw men and women to you, God, that we would make sure that we were in need to be, God, that we wouldn't lose sight of what's going on around us, the fact that you're still here and you're still drawing, you're still working, you're still doing. I pray, God, we be mindful of where we spend our time, what we're watching, what we're digesting, what we're putting in the — God, it doesn't keep us from where it is you want us to become. Let your Spirit be alive and well. Feel somebody today, in Jesus' name.

Church, it's altered time. I think it'd be good if we all did a little pre-flight check right now. This altar is open. I invite you to come. If you need the Holy Ghost, I invite you to come up here. If you need that Spirit, let us pray for you. Let us pray for you, that God will fill you today. It's prayer time, church.