Power to be a Witness

I wanna turn your attention to the second part of Luke's gospel in the book of Acts. Acts chapter one, a portion of scripture I know you're familiar with, but I want us to look at it again today, beginning with verse one. In my first book, I told you theophilus about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the 40 days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised as I told you before, John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? Jesus replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

After saying this, these were Jesus' final words while he was here on this earth. He was taken up into a cloud while they were watching and they could no longer see him as they strained to see him rising into heaven. Two white robed men suddenly stood among them. Men of Galilee, they said. Why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return. Do you believe that this morning? From heaven in the same way you saw him go.

And so this morning, I want to preach to you from something the Lord has been preaching to me for the past 11 months. He gave this word to me in the most unlikely of places in a military base, right outside of Washington, D.C. The Lord spoke these words to me. You have power to be a witness. God bless you, you can be seated.

Now I realize that I'm one of few Yankees in the room. I'm a stranger to most of you, but one of the things that I want you to know about me is that I'm a mom. That is my favorite job. I have a lot of jobs right now, but that's my favorite job. And it happens to be what I believe the most important job in my life is being a mother to Emma, Audrey, and Ava, who are all teenagers now. Please pray for me right now. But it has never been easy for me to leave my girls at home. I want to be with them. I want them to be where I am.

And I remember the first time I left my three daughters with my husband for the weekend. It was a time of great testing and trial. My babies looked at me as I said goodbye like, wait what? You're leaving us with him? Does he even know what he's doing? And the answer was absolutely not. But they were very young at the time. And honestly, I was half backslidden because I hadn't been in a service for years. And so I said, you know what? Ladies' conference is coming up. This is the opportunity for the sake of everybody. I'm going to ladies' conference and I'm gonna pray back through. And God's gonna help me get my act together. And so I left them with the right reverend Tom Ellis. And I left him with copious direction. Careful instruction. I had considered every crisis, every possibility, every need was addressed. Because at that time he was busy preaching youth camp, saving the world. And I was home in the trenches with our babies. And so I had to tell him, Tom you gotta feed him. They need to go to bed before you do. There's gonna be things they ask you to do. Please don't let them do it. If I wouldn't let them do it, you probably shouldn't let them do it. There's more of them than you. So you just need to be prepared and follow these careful directions.

And so you can imagine over the years, the dad fails that have happened while I have been away. Even now I expect to go home and uncover something, some illegal activity that happened that my girls talked him into in my absence.

See I care so much that when I leave, I leave careful instruction. This instinct, this compulsion that we as humans have is very natural. We do this in a variety of ways, not just in parenting, but maybe you're a teacher and you leave notes for a substitute. I did that before I left. Maybe you are a boss and you leave instruction for the company, for your employees. While you're away, this is what to expect. And this is what needs to happen. And this is what you need to do what needs to be done while I'm gone.

This is also a sobering part of life that when we say our final goodbyes to people that we love, we think of those important things. Those things we want them to know and if possible those things they want us to know before they leave.

And so this morning I feel pressed to point us back to what Jesus said to his family, to his disciples before he leaves. Think with me that final instruction. Carried the weight of the world. It carried everything that Jesus had paid such a high price for. When he looked into those faces of those precious people and told them, this is the final thing you need to know before I leave you.

But I have to tell you before I get to what the Lord sent me to tell you, I want you to know that I know I'm preaching to Pentecostals. I'm thankful that we believe the same message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and that most of us have received that baptism of the Holy Ghost that Jesus told them about with such urgency and said, don't leave until you receive this gift and pastoring over the years with my husband. I've taught a lot of Bible studies and I've had a lot of questions where people have asked me, Christen, is it really necessary to receive the Holy Ghost? Do I have to do that? To which I humbly ask, why wouldn't you want a gift? Why wouldn't you want to surrender your body and your mouth to the God who made you? The Bible says like any good parent, he knows how to give good gifts to us and the Holy Ghost is no exception to that. The supernatural power of God, my friends, lives inside of you wherever you go, whatever you're doing. So it's nothing to be afraid of but the enemy is sure afraid if you have it and you unleash its power in your life.

I've been told, Christen, Jesus never talked about the Holy Ghost. Clearly he did, we just read a passage but that's not the only passage where Jesus talks about the Holy Ghost. There was a man who came to him at night an elite religious leader by the name of Nicodemus. He came under a cover of darkness. My dad called him Nick at night and he asked Jesus, what is it about you? Why are you so different? What is this movement that you're starting? And Jesus told Nicodemus what he told them that day on the Mount of Olives, you must be born of water and of the Spirit.

And so thank God for preachers who still preach that same message that Jesus taught Nicodemus that night. Jesus told his disciples about it in John 14 when he was telling them, gonna be gone for a while. Don't worry, I'm leaving you with what you need. The gift of the Holy Ghost is gonna be your helper. It's gonna be your advocate. It's gonna be your teacher, everything you need while I'm gone. This gift is for those things. And so my friends, when Peter got up on the day of Pentecost, he wasn't winging it. He wasn't making up that sermon. He was putting together what the prophet Joel had said and what David had prophesied. And he preached that powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost. It had such an impact on that audience that day that they said, men and brethren, what should we do? It pierced them to their core. The power of the gospel that was being preached that day. And Peter told them what your pastor tells you, you must repent. You must be baptized in the name of Jesus. You must be filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promises to you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. I'm so thankful for this way. I'm so thankful for this truth. It's life changing to whosoever will. And so I just have to assure you that I believe in what we teach.

One of the most powerful experiences of my life, God answered a prayer. I prayed before my babies were born. I was there when they spoke in tongues. I got to see that miraculous power of God. My youngest was just a tiny thing in the power of God. Filled her little body as she was filled with the Holy Ghost. I'm so thankful that now I get to preach in my home church the same thing that my granddad preached and my grandmother preached so proudly and powerfully and my daddy preached.

But my assignment today is to make sure that we as the church understand the purpose of the power that Jesus said we would receive. You see context is everything. Parents of teenagers know this. Parents of children know this that when they get in trouble it is their inclination to leave out important information about what actually happened at school, why the teacher's wrath was unleashed. They forget to give you the context of what they did. And so it's very important when we're studying the scriptures to understand what is happening around these teachings. What is the context for Jesus's promise of the Holy Ghost? Because the implications as far as the scripture is concerned are eternal. We have to get this right.

Imagine with me what it would have been like to be on the mountain side with Jesus that day. Some of them had traveled with him for months maybe even years. Some of them had witnessed his death. Some of them only heard about it. They weren't there. But the heartbroken reality that their master, their teacher was no longer there. And then they see him again. He rises again. Surely they're putting together everything that he had been telling them for years. And now he's leaving. Surely Jesus picked up on the emotion of that moment, him looking at him, realizing he really is leaving. They're hanging on to every word.

And so Jesus says, stay in Jerusalem and don't leave until you've received the gift that I've been telling you. But you see, Jesus gives them the reason why they should stay. But he also gives them the reason why they need this gift. He gives them the purpose for the power that accompanies this amazing promise. And this morning, I think in these last days, we as the church must preach and understand not just the need for the power, but the reason for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Please understand, I do not say this boastfully or critically. I believe that this context for Jesus' final words to his followers provide you and I with much needed clarity and much needed comfort in these last days. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses to all the earth. That means everywhere we go, everything we do, Jesus has given us power in those environments to be a witness.

And so, Winds Conference 2024, God sent me to tell you it is a time to shift our thinking because Jesus is coming very soon. And we need a complete understanding of this precious gift that is asked for as many as the Lord our God shall call.

That word for power that Jesus used, many of you probably know this is the Greek word dunamis. It's where we get our word dynamite, hallelujah. I love that. That word means strength, power, ability, power for performing miracles. We like that and I'm sure you've heard your pastor preach and it's a powerful understanding. But my friends, it means much more than just the miraculous. It also refers to moral power and excellence of soul. We believe in the power to heal. We believe in the power of prayer. We believe in spiritual boldness and authority. It was Jesus who said, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Praise God for it, but that's not all the power is for. Spirit's power in leading in us is not limited my friends to a church context. I love it. I remember being drunk in the Holy Ghost as a child. I experienced the ministry of Brother Lee Stone King and I was changed by that ministry. But the power isn't just for those life altering goose bump inducing moments and we have to understand that because time is of the essence. Because if we don't, we will not be able to be witnesses to the way that Jesus told his disciples that they would be. We love that Holy Ghost power. We believe in it. We celebrate it and we absolutely should. But that dunamis power that Jesus was talking about isn't just referred to on the day of Pentecost. It's not even just limited to the book of Acts, but 120 times in the New Testament, this word dunamis is used.

I wanna read to you from Acts chapter four verse 31. After this the meeting place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they preached the word of God with boldness. All the believers were united in heart and mind and they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and God's great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people. Think about that because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. I read this to highlight to you that this power did not just shake the place where they were praying. This power did not just enable them to preach the word of God with great boldness, but great grace, great unity and great generosity resulted from the power of the Holy Ghost in that meeting that day. You and I have been given power my friends at Wins Conference to live and walk in the spirit of God. This power is not just to be used in the gifts of the spirit, but it is also to produce the fruit of the spirit. Jesus said it would be by love that the world would know that you and I are His. And so I believe that the Apostolic Church is uniquely positioned in these final days to show the world the love of God and the power of God in a way no one else is.

See, we see this exemplified in the life of a powerful leader of the New Testament Church named Stephen. Acts chapter six verse eight says, Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, dudamus power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. What we know about Stephen was that he was an influential leader in the early church, but it was not just because of the miracles that he did. The Bible, Dr. Luke is specific to let us know that Stephen was full of grace and power. Peter describes Jesus' ministry in a similar way in Acts chapter 10 verse 38 when he says, you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, Jesus went around doing good. And healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with them. And so Jesus is our ultimate example today that the power is not just for good church on Sunday. It isn't just for miracles. The power of God in your life is for doing good in the earth. Oh, help us Lord. You see the difference the Holy Spirit has made in us is given so that its power makes a difference everywhere that we go. We were filled with the spirit of God to be a witness in every environment and every circumstance. And this aligns with a key principle in the New Testament that if every gift of God to us and work of God in us is not exclusively for us.

Think about the terminology that the Bible uses the fruit of the spirit. Fruit is not for the tree. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, all the wonderful things God's got going on in your life is meant to be shared with other people. That's the purpose of the fruit of the spirit in your life of the spirit. We get tripped up on this a lot. It's not to exalt the individual who is being used in that gift. It is God's gift in you as a believer and you are the one that is supposed to give it to God's church because the gifts of the spirit for the building up of God's church, not an individual today.

So I said that to say the spirit's work in our lives is to empower our witness, our influence, our ability to shine his light in the world. All power that is entrusted to us as apostolic Pentecostals full of the Holy Ghost is to leave the walls of our church. Pentecost was to be more than just an experience for those people. It was not just a one day collective phenomenon. Pentecost was never meant to stay in the upper room or even just in Jerusalem or house to house. The power of God moved on them that day and then the power of God sent them that day. Jesus knew what would happen in Jerusalem. He knew it would be an explosion. The birthday of the church was incredible. It was epic. Thousands of people filled with the Holy Ghost. Incredible signs and wonders happening among them. And Jesus let them know, don't you stay there. This power is given to you to be sent. So his plan is the same for us at Wynn's conference as it was that day in Jerusalem when the Holy Ghost was poured out for the first time that it would be throughout Judea, in Samaria to the ends of the earth.

And so I think we're guilty and I'm as guilty as anybody as a lifelong member of this great movement. We're guilty of zoning out on that ripple effect of the outpouring of God's Spirit. We think, well, I'm not called the missions, but you are called. All of us are called to make disciples and to be a witness wherever we go. And this doesn't just apply to your pastor. It doesn't just apply to those incredible families that accept the call of God to go to a foreign field. Jesus died to save us and give us his Spirit so that others can have what we have. Pentecost is not just an experience, my friends. It is a calling of God on your life to be a witness. You will be witnesses, Jesus said. Jesus was telling them in those final words that what he needed them to do, they could not do without the power of his Spirit upon their lives.

So today I humbly submit to you that the Spirit is not just to make you feel good, although it certainly does. Its power isn't limited to a shout down or prayer meeting. The devil wants you to believe that, but its power and demonstration is not even exclusive to a conference setting like this or an arena full of young people at North American Youth Congress. The power of the Holy Ghost is just as real. On a bummer of a Tuesday, as it is on a blow out service when your pastor didn't even get to preach the word. Spirit of God is the same. So in these last days, as I hasten, the church has got to stop playing defense only. The church is not meant to isolate you and I from people who need Jesus, who need the transformation of the power of the Holy Ghost in their lives, which is God's will for every person.

Hear me today, what God has been working in my life so intensely in these last few years. Now is not the time to get in a spiritual bunker. Jesus did not say, hold the fort till I come. I think if we're honest, we're asking the same questions the disciples did that day. When will you return? When will you restore power to us? When will you make everything right? When will you make the bad guys pay? When will the wicked get their due? But at top of mind the last few years, hasn't it? Not the only one. Jesus' answer to them is his answer to us. It's not for you to know. I've determined it, but it's not yours to know. But what I want you to know is, you will receive power. And you will be witnesses to me. It's God's will then, and it's God's will now. Hallelujah.

I hear the voice of my father say, Jesus isn't coming back for a church limping along till the rapture. He would say, Jesus isn't gonna return for a church on life support, but he's coming back for a glorious church. Because we're full of the holy goats. Pentecost is not for survival. It's for revival. And I think in the last few years, we've kind of retreated, because we're trying to survive. Because we just wanna know, God, when are you coming? Get us out of here. It's bad. It's getting worse. It's probably gonna get worse. Jesus, once you and I to know what he told those amazing people then, I've given you everything you need. That whatever environment, whatever trial, whatever's going on in the world, you shall be a witness in all the earth.

And so this is why the enemy works overtime. That if he can't keep the gift from you, then he will distract you and deceive you and make you fearful to the point that the power of God is shut down inside of you. I think Satan understands the power of the spirit better than we do sometimes. That's why he opposes its work in your life so much.

Jesus said, I'll give you power. Why? To tread on surface. I'm in environments right now where people ask me, Chaplain Ellis, what denomination are you? And I say, I'm a Pentecostal. Brother Elms, you know what I'm gonna say? They say, do you have snakes in your church? I have any snakes in my church? That's not what Jesus was saying. Go be stupid in my name. No, tread does not mean stomp out the devil because you're freaked out because he has some kind of authority in your life and you are just reacting to his opposition in your life. But that word tread means to advance. Ghost is for you to move forward in your life, for you to propel the work of God in the earth, forward to advance his kingdom in this world. And so the church has gotta stop just playing defense. We can play offense because we have the power of the Holy Ghost inside of us.

See, Jesus knew that the harvest would not be the problem. Matthew nine, Jesus said the harvest is great. See, the enemy wants you to believe that no one wants what you have. And since he's the father of lies, he can't tell you the truth. Jesus said a lot of people want what you have. The problem is the workers, the witnesses on assignment are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest and ask him to send more. That's what this message is about today.

See, the light shines brightest in the darkness. See, the enemy has worked really hard in the last four years to overwhelm the church by the darkness. He's afraid of the light that's in you.

As I come to my conclusion, when we think about the apostle Paul, his impact, his influence, his work and writings and travel, there is nobody quite like him. What we also know about that mighty man of God is that he faced many trials, many hard things. He was imprisoned. He suffered greatly for the gospel. He even had this thorn in the flesh that the panel spoke of so well the other day. And I feel pressed to turn your attention to that passage again in 2 Corinthians 12 verse seven. Even though I've received such wonderful revelations from God, to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh. Messenger from Satan detourmet me and keep me from becoming proud. And three different times I begged the Lord to take it away and each time he said, is all you need, my power, that word is dunamis. Dynamite power of the Holy Ghost, Paul. Works best in weakness. And so now I'm glad to boast about my weakness so that of Christ can work through me. That's why Paul in the most horrible circumstance was a witness to prison guards and kings, people in high positions. Think about the jailer in Acts 16. Paul and Silas were in prison. The power of the Holy Ghost shook that place and that jailer's life was changed by the witness of God in their lives.

I have to read you just a couple more portions before I make my alter appeal. In Ephesians three, Paul says, I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. I'm gonna skip down to verse 20. Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty dunamis within you and I to accomplish infinitely more than we ask. That's why Paul could write words to the church and fill up high from a prison cell. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens. I have the power to be a witness on my darkest day. The greatest trial of my life or the greatest opportunity I will ever have. Holy Ghost's purpose in my life is the same to be a witness.

You know it's one thing to understand something in the word of God and to think about a powerful individual like Paul and visualize that. But it's another thing for it to be humanized and somebody that is just like you and I. My dad was a dynamic man of God and I can think of no better person to be my last illustration to try to communicate with the Lord wants you to understand today.

My dad was a dynamic preacher of the gospel. He reminded me of Joseph everywhere he went, everything he did was blessed by the hand of God and the people that were around him were blessed because he was in the room. Pastored an amazing church in Cincinnati, a Bible quiz coach, sat on multiple boards, UGST, global missions, there's a picture of him here on the platform at General Conference. He helped lead the mission service for many years. An incredible leader, a man of influence in our movement in a variety of ways and ways few people have been.

But what I understand as his saint and his daughter is that the power of the Holy Ghost in my dad's life was not limited to a national stage. It wasn't even limited to that pulpit he preached from most Sundays in Springdale, Ohio. The power of God in my dad's life affected our community in a great, great way. My dad was of FBI chaplain, my dad was a police chaplain because he believed that he was called to be a witness outside of the church walls. And so he pursued those opportunities and committed to them with all his heart. And the fruit of that was undeniable.

This is my dad, this is my favorite picture of my dad because it sums up his life and legacy so well. Number one, he loves Cincinnati, he's a Bengals fan. The truest, most devoted fan they ever had, he called them his bungles when they lost and that was often. But he loved his city, he loved his community. In this picture he's at an event we do for our community every year, it's a fall festival of sorts. And you can't see but beside him is my daughter Ava, he's holding her hand, walking her around that event. And in his hand is a book about life groups because we were getting ready to start life groups. But that's why I love that picture of all the pictures I have of him all over the world. That's my favorite because that's who my dad was. Full of the Holy Ghost, full of God's power, that dunamis, miraculous, excellence of soul power, wherever he went, whoever he talked to. And I think that the greatest fruit of my dad's life that is evident in his legacy is that the amount of people that came to his memorial that were from the community exceeded anything we could ever imagine. I met people I had never seen before in my life who thanked me for sharing my dad, telling me my dad prayed for their dad when he was waiting for a transplant. Your dad gave me money when I lost my job. Your dad came and prayed for my little girl when she was in the Innecu. On and on, total strangers. Telling me whether they realized it or not the power of a witness.

But even more than that, and I feel strongly to share this aspect too. My dad spent the last few months of his life in a small hospital room in Indianapolis, Indiana. My dad was very, very sick the last 10 years of his life. He was waiting on a heart transplant that never came. So I watched that great man of God who could preach the house down, whose life touched thousands of people, suffer in his body in ways that honestly, I did not know was possible. That was a very hard thing. But I stand today as a witness that that deutymous power was at St. Vincent Hospital, in that room, in that horrible, challenging, heartbreaking environment. Because there were days, my family and I, we rotated, my dad was never alone when he was in hospital. And I remember days where people I had never seen before would come in and say, Pastor Pazley, I have been waiting for weeks to take care of you. Nurses and doctors and hospital administrators coming in, I just have to meet this pastor from Cincinnati that I have heard so much. How about possible, when you can't get up from your bed anymore, let's deutymous power. Because God gave my dad power to be a witness in every environment.

And you are no different than he. It's what the Lord told Zachariah, it's not by might. It's not by power, it's by my spirit. And even when I am suffering, that even when I am broken, and I don't get to be on the platform anymore, baby God opens a door for you to serve in your community. And no one else knows. You'll never see me post about the amazing doors God has opened for me because I'm not allowed to do it and I'm thankful for that. Because that's not the point. When God opens doors for you, it's not for a post, it's not for a like, it's for the purpose of his power for you to be a witness.

So today, I wanna lead you into prayers and I invite you to stand with me, then so kind. You are in a season of suffering in your life. I'm gonna invite you to come to this altar and maybe it's not just you that's going through a trial but someone you love, I'm a witness, it impacts you very, very deeply. One of the hardest things that you will do as a child of God is endure suffering. Because we believe in dunamis power. But sometimes God doesn't heal us, he gives us the power to endure and he gives us the power to be a witness, even in those times.

And then my second appeal today, those of you who feel just the call of God on your life, I think for most of us, when we feel that we don't really understand it, we can't identify what it is and what I'm telling you today is what Jesus said is very simple, it's what you're called to do, to be a witness. So don't limit the influence of the Holy Ghost in your life to what you're feeling in these amazing, dynamic services. Sweet, but what God is doing in you is for what he's getting ready to send you to do.

And so if you would just pray with me now, God, we love you and surrender to your mighty power in this moment, God, your word is so convicting, your word is so challenging for us to understand maybe how we have been deceived. We've been deceived into thinking and being reluctant about your power in our lives that maybe it's just to build us up when we're in your house, it's just to make us feel good and to shout around and to please you in that way. But God, you knew when you looked at those precious individuals that day that they would need the power of the Holy Ghost and you knew why they would need it because you were sending them to be a witness in all the earth. And so God, I pray that that revelation would strengthen your church right now, God that you would anoint our minds to hear and receive it to live it out, God. Whatever way you choose, whatever door you open, God, whatever crisis we're facing right now, we believe in the dutomous power of the Holy Ghost inside of us to tread, to advance, to move forward, the kingdom of God and the will of God and the work of God in our community and in our world. And so help us now, I pray Lord, that your word would heal those who are suffering, that they would feel that dynamic power of God resting on them even in their weakened state, even in their confusion, God, in their chaos, in their discouragement, the power of the Holy Ghost is for them. Anoint their witness, God, whatever environment, whatever child, whatever door you open, God, let your witness be powerful just as you intended because you're coming back for a mighty church.