Angel's & Demon's Curiosity | Rev Mark Brown

well praise the lord everybody it feels good to be in the house of the lord with the family of god there's nothing greater than the family of god amen you may be seated it is a delight it is a privilege it is honor to be with you here this evening and the next few days and i know you're probably nervous too got your defense mechanisms up stranger danger in the room you don't know me i don't know you but we know the same god and he is good and his mercy endures forever and can't help but feel a sense of purpose destiny something seismic that the lord wants to do this week not because of you not because of me but because god we only love him because he first loved and god loves you so much that he wants to do something here this week i give honor to this church to your pastor the ministry team you all have been so kind to allow my wife and i be here over the next couple days we are on a little journey a walk together and maybe i'll share some more details but i'll just let you know a few things up front i don't know if you have a picture of my family i uh always like to introduce my family wherever i go that's my wife jordan she is a up that's not my wife that's my that's my wife jordan she's a licensed minister of the gospel if you all really sense of the holy ghost she'd be preaching not me but you're kind of sensitive to the holy ghost so that's good but she is powerful she is powerful we've uh this past december we've been married 17 years got married when we were 10 and um i say this everywhere i go and i say it every time without vain repetition south dakota planning a church we started 16 years ago it's been hard it's been difficult not from south dakota from chicagoland area and we moved out to south dakota to start a work and it was very difficult the first half of that season very dark very much a struggle but i never forget the near audible voice of god as he spoke to me one time in prayer and he said if it was not for your wife's covering you'd be in hell right now and so i give honor to my wife and if you're here and you're single ready to mingle one of the most important decisions you're ever going to make aside from serving the lord is who you are going to serve the lord with and if you are here and you are married and if you are in the ministry you'd be wise to stop treating your wife as an accessory she is not an accessory she is an ally in ministry and if one could put a thousand to flight what would happen if a husband and wife got equally yoked in ministry you could put 10 000 to flight i want to encourage you to get your marriage on that right track spiritually speaking my son noah they had that other picture he is going to be 12 uh may 16th so that's right around the corner he's going to be in the youth group so that's kind of a weird feeling another picture of my daughter grace she's nine years old i love her very much and the third one eden she is six years old and we are blessed beyond measure and thank you so much for allowing my family to be here thank you thank you how many love the lord happy mother's day happy mother's day to everybody that is here and uh what a powerful service this morning and uh if you missed it well you need to go back i'm sure they archive stuff but i was i got two pages full of notes from pastor and pastor's wife it was absolutely fantastic and if you are a guest uh here today and you're you're looking for a church a good church is f hard to find these days a lot of shysters out there a lot of crooks a lot of twisted people a lot of corruption going on you ought to be very picky in particular where you're going to fellowship but if you're church shopping hip and hop and flip and flop and it's time to best be stopping this is a good church to be a part of it's a good church if you feel that way you ought to clap your hands this is a good church when i begin to hear his passion for children and for mothers this is a great place to raise a family and family of god amen even on mother's day people can get the holy ghost even on mother's day you hear about the holy ghost someone say the holy ghost you ever feel like every apostolic church service you go into there's always something about the holy ghost you know it it it could be mother's day and they're talking about the holy ghost somehow offering time our ushers come forward oh i feel the holy ghost you know we're going through announcements all saying like man i feel the holy ghost does ever seem like we make a big deal about the holy ghost do we make a big enough deal about the holy ghost do we over emphasize the holy ghost holy ghost it's kind of a big deal kind of a major thing you know jesus when he started off his ministry he started teaching on the holy ghost in john chapter three he's having a conversation with a man that begins to give him some compliments and jesus just cuts to the chase and says look you want to get to heaven you need to be born again what does it mean to be born again you must be born of water and to be born of the spirit if you want to see or enter into the kingdom of god he didn't just start off his ministry talk about the holy ghost in the middle of his ministry he talked about the holy ghost john chapter 7 verses 37 through 39 he begins to talk about wells of living water springing up out of your belly but it says this spa key of the holy ghost but it was not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified see people can feel the holy ghost but they've never been filled with the holy ghost until jesus died was buried and rose again on the third day and then after jesus rose again on the third day he was with the apostles for 40 days talking about the things concerning the kingdom of god we read in mark chapter 16 the end of his ministry what is jesus talking about the holy ghost luke 24 he says you need to go to jerusalem and tarry until you be endued with power from on high mark chapter 16 verse 16 on down he begins that he that believeth and is baptized shall be he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe they shall speak with new tongues jesus started his ministry talking about the holy ghost in the middle of his ministry he talked about the holy ghost and at the end of his ministry he talked about the holy ghost i believe it is imperative for us in the beginning of starting a church to talk about the holy ghost in the middle of the season of where we are as a church to talk about the holy ghost and before jesus comes back when this thing concludes we ought to be talking about the holy ghost i i i've already heard it before well we always need to reaffirm these things because we cannot continue what we do not communicate it is important for us to continually reiterate and resound the p that certain sound of who we are and what our dna is someone say the holy ghost peter started off the church talking about the holy ghost the apostle paul talked about the holiest so if they made a big deal about it should we make a big deal about it they sung that song ain't no grave gonna hold me down and you you you can be tied up and connected with with uh the richest the most elite people virgin galactic and and uh tesla and have all these fancy equipment that can get you out into the outer stratosphere but that cannot take you to the third heaven you can get to the first seven you get to the second heaven but you cannot get to the third heaven but by see paul said it like this in romans 8 9-11 if any man have not the spirit of christ he's what if you do not have the spirit it says you are not his that sounds like the holy ghost is a big deal why is it such a big deal because no matter how hard you or i try to get to heaven we cannot you can go back or you can wind up you can flap your wings you can run you can jump but gravity is going to take you down but it is the holy ghost the bible says jesus the only way he got up out of that grave the spirit quickened or made him alive and the same spirit that quickened and made a life his mortal body is the same spirit that's going to take this carcass out of that ground into that third heaven somebody shout the holy ghost someone say holy ghost anyone remember when you got the holy ghost how many were were a young adult when he got the holy ghost how many were a teenager when he got the holy ghost look around how many were 10 years or younger raise your hand oh wow stand up if you were 10 years old or younger when you got the holy ghost wow i give honor to all the children's ministers all the sunday school teachers i give you on your labor is not in vain it's invested that's a good portion of this church stood up i'll never forget when i got the holy ghost i was nine years old it was a revival service and i slept through the whole thing now this is the rest where god gives the weary to rest and i had a sunday tradition and that was to sleep under the pew and do not wake me up until church is over meaning when the altar call is over i don't want to be up for none of it i just want to sleep well someone woke me up so my alarm clock signaled to me that it was time to go outside in the playground and the parking lot and run around it was exciting in south side chicago we had gunshots there someone got shot in our church people get run over in our car parking lot cars get stolen every week so that's where us kids played you guys have a nice playground our concrete jungle was a little different in the south side but someone woke me up and they say guess what i'm like what like your brother's getting the holy ghost my little brother i'm like you woke me up for that and i watched my little brother praying to get the holy ghost and there's all these people around him because the only way someone get the holy ghost it's like a ten to one ratio one person can get the holy ghost only if ten people basically dog pile them so they're dog pie my little brother and they're all taking turns you know spitting all over him building up his covet immunities and while this was going on the uh finally i knew when he got the holy ghost because basically there's like an implosion that takes place and the ten that are basically like tackling him fall off of him and fall out and everyone's rejoicing except for me i was ticked off it's like that little jerk because i already knew what was gonna happen we had this thing growing up called sibling rivalry anyone know anyone had brothers sisters siblings in the house and sibling rivalry we always had a competition who's going to be first who's the strongest we never had a contest for who's the smartest it was a three-way tie we was all dumb but we were competitive and he got the holy ghost and he's two years younger than me seven years old and i knew the moment church was over and we got out in the parking lot and stepped into our pink astro minivan i don't know why my father bought a pink minivan this is how we rolled in the hood and i knew the moment he closed that sliding door he was going to open his fat mouth and say i'm not the holy ghost you did it i got the holy ghost he did it and i began to plan out what was going to happen the moment that sucker opened his mouth i was going to throat punch him as hard as i could i was going to open up that minivan door and i was going to jump out and run away from home and live on the train tracks the rest of my life i had it all figured out at nine years old and so as this is going on through my warped little mind sitting in the pew watching my brother enjoy the joy of the lord while i was absent of it i began to think man he got the holy ghost i want the holy ghost and if he can get the holy ghost i know how evil he is i can get the holy ghost and all of a sudden my emotions shifted and i begin to just begin to think on the lord and think about i want the holy ghost and something began to shift inside of me and i began to pray and i began to repent of all the evil feelings and premeditated actions i had towards my little brother and in that moment of repentance and desire to receive the holy ghost all of a sudden their ten to one ratio happened to me and they prayed for me and i got the holy ghost and at the end of that service we got into our pink minivan and that door closed mom and dad got in my brother and i looked at each other then we looked to the front of the van and we said happy mother's day we both got the holy ghost exactly 29 years ago on mother's day so god can do something in this place tonight on mother's day come on someone say the holy ghost you know i haven't always served the lord i got the holy ghost at a young age but i did backslide i was sixth grade middle school everything changed i caved into peer pressure and from middle school to my senior year in high school i lived in a backslidden state now my parents they still drug my carcass to church i never had a choice i had a drug problem they drug me to church they drug me to prayer they drug me to youth group and i had no choice they paid the bills i did it and they made sure i knew it and so i prayed through when i was in 18 just before graduating and i my mind i i think a lot it doesn't mean it's very productive but i do think a lot and i remember as i prayed through i i had some decisions to make because i've been waiting for the moment to turn 18 and get out of the house and live life my way and our home checkout was at 18. you don't live in the basement you just get out and so that's what i was gonna do and so we we uh when i am at this moment where i'm about to leave home i got some decisions i got to make and i start thinking as i pray through like you know i don't want to waste my life i don't want to give my life to something that is not real i don't want to be a part of a cult i don't want to be a part of something legalistic i don't want to be a part of something when there are thousands of religions out there and i've only got one shot at this thing called life and i want to give my life to something that matters and so though i prayed through and i got renewed i still had a lot of questions about what i'm about to do to be a part of this pentecostal movement because i i realized this i had a lot of doubt about my nine-year-old experience i was thankful to get the holy ghost at nine years old but i began to think you know did i really get the holy ghost or was i just mimicking what i heard around me did i really get the holy ghost or i give into some emotional frenzy where i begin to just speak some sort of gibberish am i just imitating my surrounding am i just a product of my environment real questions that have went through my mind and before i give myself back over it is i want to make sure i'm a part of something that is real so i did what anybody ought to do and that is to search the scriptures for yourself to talk to god for yourself i thank god for pastor i thank god for church but somewhere along the way you've got to get this thing called personal revelation personal understanding you do not want to just reciprocate or regurgitate what everyone else is doing and so i begin to look at things and and i begin to look at this doctrine called the holy ghost someone say the holy ghost there's a lot of opinions about the holy ghost there's a lot of teachings about the holy ghost what is it that you believe about the holy ghost you know some people say that this holy ghost is speaking in tungsten is of the devil some people say that it's just gibberish you're just making words up some people say you know it did exist at the beginning in the bible days but it no longer exists today it ceased in the book of acts with the apostles anyone ever heard any of these things all you first need to do when you hear any idea persuasion or opinion is you need to go back to the book and when you begin to read the book of acts chapter 2 it says explicitly when they received the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues that other people from other nations understood them hearing them praise god in their own tongue so that that eradicates the idea that speaking in tongues is just gibberish that is just made up mumbling because the book says it's legit the bible also says they heard them speak the wonderful works of god you don't speak the wonderful works of god under the inspiration of the devil so when people say speaking in tongues is of the devil why was it when they spoke in other tongues they were worshiping god magnifying god and first corinthians chapter 12 says no man can say jesus christ is lord but by the holy ghost so that idea that opinion that doctrine is erroneous and then some people say well it's no longer for today it ceased in the apostles day well jesus when he spoke in mark chapter 16 he said he that believeth and is baptized these signs shall follow he was not speaking explicitly to the apostles he was speaking to the people anyone that believes and is baptized anyone that believes they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover anyone that believes they shall speak with new tongues not only that but the apostle peter in the book of acts when they ask what is this speaking in tongues all about he says in the last days saith the lord i will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh so he explained to over 3 000 people in that moment that this outpouring of the holy ghost will last till the last days and people will be baptized this same way until the return of the lord jesus christ and there's more people today across the planet speaking in tongues than there ever has been at any other point in history so i'm like check check check check okay but there was one doctrine i struggled with and that was do you have to speak in other tongues because there is a teaching that okay and this has become more common because so many people speak with tongues across this planet and people are more acquainted and more aware of this phenomenon called the holy ghost but the teaching is from first corinthians chapter 12 that not everybody speaks in tongues that has the holy ghost you go to chapter 12 verses 8 through 10 it begins to speak about what we call the nine gifts of the spirit that people that receive the holy ghost not all have all those gifts and so i would have discussed you with people and they say see mark you can have the holy ghost and you don't have to have the gifts of healing well that makes sense see you can have the holy ghost and not have the working of miracles okay i see that see you can have the holy ghost and not have a word of wisdom i know that you can have the holy ghost to not have a word of knowledge okay you can have the holy ghost and not have the gift of prophecy yeah i agree with you so you can have the holy ghost to not have the gift of interpretation yeah sure you betcha now don't you know you can have the holy ghost and never speak in tongues i see what you're saying and that would mess with my head but all of a sudden it began to dawn on me when you apply that logic you got to apply it to all nine gifts so are you telling me you can have the holy ghost and not have faith i thought faith is essential ephesians 2 8 for by grace through faith are you saved hebrews 11 6 but without it's impossible to please god faith is essential so how can you have the holy ghost and you don't have to have faith or is it talking about a different kind of faith see there's a prayer of faith there's the word of faith there's the measure of faith there's the gift of faith these are all teachings throughout the epistles talking about different types of faith that we find in the scripture but you have to have faith to be saved just like it says in the nine gifts of the spirit it says there are diverse is this okay for bible study on the first night i believe it's important we lay some groundwork if anything's going to work and so it says there are diverse kinds of tongues paul goes on to expel this in first corinthians chapter 14 and verse 2. he says he that speaks in an unknown tongue doesn't speak to man he speaks to god then in verse 4 it says he that speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak unto god but he's edifying self and then the next verse verse 5 says he that speaks in an unknown tongue he speaks to the church and prays that it may be interpreted there's a speaking there's a kind of tongue that's upward a kind of tongue that's inward and there's a kind of tongue that's outward there's diverse kinds of tongues but there is only one baptism of the spirit paul said by one spirit have you been baptized into this body there's only one way somebody could ever receive the gift of the holy ghost and it's the same way every single time see the apostle peter in acts chapter 2 they begin to see this speaking in tongues phenomenon people had questions and some people begin to mock and insult and attack it even and they'd be asked what is what is this what's going on they're drunk and you know what peter does he does something very interesting to me he begins to quote and recite from joel chapter 2 to expound the phenomenon speak in other tongues you know what i would do if i was peter i would have went to a scripture with low-hanging fruit isaiah 28 11. for with stammering lips and another tongue will i speak to this that's what paul did in first corinthians 14 22 paul used that verse to explain the baptism of the holy ghost he says this speaking in other tongues is a sign not to them that believe because he that believeth and is baptized these signs shall follow but to him that believes not paul says this is the sign the purpose of receiving the holy ghost speaking in other tongues but peter he goes to joel chapter 2 verse 28 and he says look you want to know what tongues is all about it's called the pouring out of the spirit and any time god's spirit pours out it is accompanied with this very sign somebody say the holy ghost be okay on bible study night i i i i remember one time i'm from south dakota now and uh i have some friends in north dakota and there was church camp going on up there my friend was preaching and there was this boy that came forty nine year old boy adorable little guy and if you saw him you would immediately recognize that his his health condition is not normal he's got a a disease and i might be saying it wrong hurler's disease and if you saw him you would immediately recognize something's different and he was just the most innocent cute little kid and i remember praying with him so many times when he would come to the altar and pray to receive the holy ghost and i just felt for him and i'm like man this kid's so adorable i don't know why god's not giving the holy ghost you know and uh he really doesn't even have anything to repent of he's so cute he's just a nice kid what's the worst thing he's done never misplaced a bible trading card probably not a sin in his life but he kept praying for the holy ghost and one service my friend was preaching and then my friend came forth a little nine-year-old boy and he starts praying and he ends up getting the holy ghost and he's jumping up and down speaking in other tongues and all of a sudden some of his friends come around this little girl leans in and she was in awe as she heard him speak in tongues and she runs back and goes and gets her mother and her mother comes by this little nine-year-old boy and they are blown away by what they hear so she runs to go get and goes gets the husband and the husband comes and they hear him speaking in other tongues and they're wide-eyed because they're from haiti and they speak creole and they heard this little nine-year-old boy in north dakota worshiping god jumping up and down saying the enemy is under my feet the enemy is under my feet i share all of that to tell you this tonight what you are a part of is not a cult what you are a part of is not gibberish you are not brainwashed you're not a part of some cultic frenzy this is that which was spoken by the prophet joel in the last days saith god i will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh come on somebody lift up your voice and shout the holy ghost this is real this is real i would not be here today if this was not real i wanted to get out of that home because my parents would drug me to church i wanted to get out and enjoy the season of sin because i was tired of being forced to go to church and i lived in a ungodly manner out when i was out of our home i would run away i would go to the party i would go to the club but when god got a hold of me i wanted to apprehend that which apprehended me and you've got to get a hold of this like right now i can leave this place i can smoke as much dope i can drink as much as i want i can live lasciviousness but i choose to be here today as for me and my house i want someone say the holy ghost i i'm going to try to i mean i should pay attention what time it is it's 707 on our way to heaven we okay hallelujah here here's the way my mind works i i have to when i read the bible i don't understand very much and so i got to be very i got to use my imagination and immerse myself into the story to understand something so i put myself in the apostles flip-flops i i put myself in people's scenes situations to try to gain an understanding and i'm there's some people i can relate to better than others i get i get peter you know speaking before you think through something and you all send you foot foot mouth syndrome there's other people i don't get what it'd be like i don't know what it'd be like to be zacchaeus am i going too fast sorry i wasn't much of a tree climber i don't know why you're laughing i do thank god i give honor to the pulpit committee that made an appropriate size pulpit for me today god bless you and five more children but i have put myself in virtually everybody's shoes in the bible to try to understand something then one day it dawned on me there's a couple characters i never thought of what it would be like to be them and that was angels and demons what would it be like to be an angel and what would it be like to be a demon what goes through their mind what's their brain waves like that's what i just want to talk about for the next few moments and i'm done about angels and demons curiosity what goes through the mind of an angel what goes through the mind of a devil of a demon and so this first category we speak of today is angels someone say angels angels are messengers of god they are real we don't worship angels we don't pray to angels and there's warning about you giving too much credence to angels where you think you're so spiritual you know and now you gotta be careful until angel's stories come out and i believe in angels and if you've had an experience with angels i want you to bring all of your stories of angels to brother zach hammond and he loves to hear stories about angel experiences so bring all of them after service to him he'll be right there but no matter how spiritual you think you get it says if you're talking to angels and they speak to you any other doctrine other any other gospel than what has been preached you let him be a curse paul says in galatians 1 8 and 1 9 he repeats it he retweets himself he says this is the way it is so you got to be very careful when it comes to the angelic world they are they are perfect they are holy they were created by god they are messengers of god they are ministers of flaming fire for the heirs of salvation they are very much real but what would it be like to be an angel some of the girls in the house i already know whatever but is is there a chair everybody stands up here is her chair i can borrow good man right there yeah let's give nolan a big hand angels get to do what we hope to do one day the bible says in revelation 4 2 immediately i was in the spirit behold a throne was set in heaven and one sat on that throne when you get to heaven there will be one throne there will be one king there will not be musical chairs taking turns who's going to be worshipped the king of kings and the lord of lords sits on that throne and to that king every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess the bible says no man has seen god and lived but angels do right now what we hope to do one day and that is to see god in his fullness and still exist and they worship around that throne you know sometimes we can get aggravated with styles of worship you know those 7-eleven songs seven words sung over and over and over again on and on and on and on it goes when this song stops no one really knows your love never fails it never runs out and i would get irritated but i realize when we get to heaven there's a song and it doesn't have a lot of words to it there's only really one redundant word over and over again holy holy holy is the lord god almighty holy look it's going to take all of eternity and then some to expound on how great our god's holiness is holiness is not weakness holiness is not a hurdle holiness is powerful holy holy holy is the lord god almighty what would ever distract an angel from this seeing god in his fullness seeing the great i am the great creator holy holy holy i take us to first peter chapter 1 verse 12 unto whom it was revealed not unto themselves but unto us someone say us they minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel someone say the gospel unto you with the holy ghost there's no gospel without the holy ghost the holy ghost sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into they get to see god and sing holy holy holy i don't want to do anything but worship god i don't want to do anything but to fall on his feet i can't wait to get to heaven i don't know what goes through your mind i hope you get to see grandma there i know there's questions i want to ask peter i want to ask noah noah why didn't you swat the mosquito there's lots of questions i have but all of that can wait at some other part of eternity the first one i want to see is the one that bled and died for me i want to cast my crown there but the bible says these perfect angels worshipping a perfect god they all of a sudden as they're saying holy holy holy holy what's this holy ghost michael come here gabriel check this out look at that look at this holy ghost experience in maryville look at this holy ghost focus of a revival for three weeks look at that see see angels get to be around god but they've never been filled with god look i don't know what it's like to be perfect angels know what it's like to be perfect but they do not get to have the song of redemption they don't get to have the one who sits on the throne sit on the throne of your heart i'm telling you if you've been baptized with the gift of the holy ghost you got an experience that the angels desire to look into if you are here today and you've never received the holy ghost there's an opportunity for you that the angels wish they were you someone shout the holy ghost but then there's the other side of the spectrum demons what goes through a demon's mind now some of you boys don't have to think very hard am i going too fast what would it be like to be a devil he is a force to be reckoned with i know we've been given power dominion authority over the enemy but the best day in your flesh you'll get whooped every time it's very important that we understand corinthians 2 11 that we ought not to be ignorant concerning the devices the enemies uses against the people of god second corinthians 11 14 even says that don't even marvel about this fact that the devil he could transform himself into an angel of light he's a liar he's the father of it he come to steal to kill and to destroy what goes through his mind is he sees the kingdom of god and anyone pursuing that kingdom of god and he's going out as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and he looks at you he looks at the kingdom of god and all that goes through his mind is steal kill destroy steal kill destroy what would ever distract the devil from his obsession i take us to the book of acts chapter 8 i'm not going to read all the verses but you can write them down it's found in verses 9 through 19 where you can read verses 1-19 but it's very important that you see the story that unfolds here there is a preacher named philip that goes to the city of samaria and he begins to preach jesus someone say jesus he preached jesus to these people and all of a sudden they begin to receive the message they believe they believe the word of god in verse 8 it says there was great joy in that city someone say great joy this is very important for us to see this city had great joy when they heard the message of the gospel you go on reading here the bible says one of the people there was a man named simon in verse 9. he used sorcery he was a demonic man a sorcerer and all people in verse 10 would listen to simon the sorcerer and they looked at him as a man that had great power of god and to him they gave regard because of a long time he bewitched them and deceived them with sorceries but all of a sudden philip comes and he's preaching the things concerning the kingdom of god the name of jesus men and women are baptized and simon in verse 13 he believes also and he gets baptized and he's just in awe and wonder of what is going on he's watching because he did a lot of the same stuff but he did it under the guise of darkness and deception and here comes another joker doing it in truth and light and he's like wow i've never seen it done from this angle before look at all this power interesting wow okay okay and he's wondering he's following but look at verse 14. 14 samaria receives the word of god the bible when you read the preceding verses they believe they receive the word of god people are healed demons are cast out of people people are baptized and there's great joy in the city so why does philip need any help because boy is rocking it out they're having a move of god if you heard a report of miracles signs and wonders people coming out of wheelchairs people that were angry and bitter now have great joy people that wanted nothing to do with church are now baptized in jesus name most people would draw the conclusion especially in modern day christianity that's a spirit-filled church but look what happens with peter and john here they send for peter and john verse 14 why they pray for these people that they might receive the holy ghost wait wait they need to receive the holy ghost they believed they were baptized they had miracle signs and wonders demons came out of them they came out of wheelchairs and they have great joy isn't that one of the fruits of the spirit what do you mean they don't have the holy ghost it says clearly in verse 16 the holy ghost was fallen upon none of them they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus but they laid hands on them and they received the holy ghost see your holy ghost experience is separate from your belief experience if you're here today and as i began to talk about speaking in tongues and you got kind of uncomfortable or you thought that's weird or you've not heard that before you're thinking i've never received that experience before but i love god and and i i believe i have the spirit of god and he he delivered me from drugs he delivered me from alcohol i don't argue anything that you have stated about feeling the presence of god god setting you free from drugs or substance abuse god given you great joy but listen you can have great joy and still not have the great gift called the holy ghost that's what we just read in scripture and the bible says in verse 17 after they laid hands on them and they received the holy ghost verse 18 simon saw them receive the holy ghost and he offered money well it doesn't say tongues does it well peter never mentioned tongues either in acts chapter 2. he basically explained to them this phenomenon of tongues is that which was spoken by the prophet joel this is the spirit pouring out in the last days and you got to ask yourself when simon saw them get the holy ghost and he pulled out money what did he see did he see this he saw something he never seen before in his life a man that operated in the supernatural in the dark side and he saw something he says give me this power look if you're here today i'm not mocking you or insulting you if you have never spoken tongues i'm just letting you know about an experience that you can't have look feeling the present it's like this bottle of water if i was to pour this on my head i feel that now i'm filled with it two different things and if you think it feels good on the outside just wait till you get it on the inside it's like rivers of living water flowing out of your belly i promise you as you walk through this weary desert land you want to feel god at times but what you need for the desert is to drink from the well of living water come on somebody shout the holy gho lift up your voice come on lift up your voice church if you got that holy ghost experience be renewed there's about to be an experience here tonight that you get to taste and see that the lord he is good in the name of jesus clap your hands to the lord can ever go through the mind of a devil steal kill destroy steal kill destroy steal what's this holy ghost that demonic force saw something he never saw before and pulled out money said give me this power this is powerful this baptism of the holy ghost is powerful the same devil then is the same devil now and we're not fighting a new battle it's the same battle the devil knows the power that this church has and he knows the power that this church has and every church will face its seasons where the devil will pull out his pocketbook and offer you money for the power that you have he'll cut you a deal and say come on maryville if you want to really grow if you really want to have revival stop putting so much emphasis on the holy ghost why don't you tone down this thing called the holy ghost how about you just speak in tongues at home why don't you just speak in tongues in a whisper to yourself you don't want this church to not be user friendly i'm telling you there's a real battle in the apostolic realms right now where the devil is trying to pressure people to grow by giving them a pie out but the bible says in proverbs 23 23 i will buy this truth and sell it not i will not remove the ancient landmarks which my fathers have said this is non-negotiable this is not to be removed i can honestly say i know nothing about you all i know very little about your pastor other i met him one other time about a two second conversation is it i don't know anything about you but i do i i do know what i feel in the spirit i do i am persuaded that something seismic is about to come but there will be pressure that is accompanied with it for you to try to act more professional to try to have everything all neat and tucked and proper to try to accommodate your guests i think we need to do everything we can to accommodate our guests but you ought not to cave to the pressure look i'm no different than you i'm flesh and blood i know what it feels like pastor comes that pulpit he's grunting we gotta get more people bless god come on we need to fill this place i don't know if he preaches like that you're like okay yes pastor and you want to bring your guests you're kind of nervous because every church has a few weird people i know what i like south side chicago it seemed like the weird outnumbered the good sometimes and you want to bring your friend but you're like man you got you got to give them like all the pregame warm up you might see some things you know and you come to church and you sit your friends with you and you're just hoping sister shanae ain't there because she's she's wild and you're looking like she's not here we're gonna have a good church but also you hear the back door closed you look at sister shane and they open up the first song you're nervous and it's amazing grace and you're like ah nobody acts crazy with that song so you're safe but you didn't know sister shanae that was the first song she heard in the apostolic church you know why guests come they're looking for something they have yet to find and you have that very power in this room you don't need to apologize for it you don't need to cover it up or shield it you don't need to put any pillow on it let your praise your sound let the sound of the redeemed say so come on we ought to lift our voice and be unashamed of the power of the holy ghost look it don't take rocket science to figure out that you all do things in excellence okay i've never seen i don't know what this big like band-aid thing is it's amazing i mean there are no wires on the stage the church back home we're tripping over wires everywhere you know this is amazing it's beautiful we're blessed i would i was i i hope i have time to interact with with pastor this week i want to ask the story behind the pictures that he showed this morning oh my goodness this church hasn't always been like this it's got roots it was just a field one day with just roots and the thistles were growing all over somebody had to dig out to work somebody had to pull up the weeds somebody had to have a vision somebody had to have a dream somebody had to be obedient to their heavenly vision thank god for spiritual authority that was not disobedient to that heavenly vision but we're all flesh and eventually people i'm not i'm not attacking this church i'm just speaking in generalization eventually this becomes the thing that everybody pursues and wants to have in their church and they're building and they think this is what brings the results and this is what brings the power and this is what produces a revival and i thank god for the excellency of singing that was here the skill that was on the keyboard but don't you ever forget that if you're gonna practice for an hour i hope you got that much prayer to back you up because this is not a work of the flesh this is not a work of a gifting that you have this is not by might this is not by power this is by the spirit of god i thank god for everything that's here there's all these buttons and detonators and thank god for these instruments i think probably cost more than my house and i got to be careful but you can do all your guitar souls you want but this will not save a crackhead this is not going to put that marriage back together this is not going to be the recipe of a breakthrough i thank god for godly worship i thank god for excellent skilled music but this is a spirit church this is a spirit church this is a holy ghost church somebody shout the holy ghost somebody shout the holy ghost somebody shot god help us to know help us never to forget this is a work of the spirit would you lift your hands would you lift your voice foreign someone say the holy ghost serious so serious is the holy ghost that jesus said it's the only sin that cannot be forgiven you can mock the work of his flesh but don't you dare mock the work of his spirit i don't come here with a battle axe to grind i get nervous when people start mimicking tongues and i'm not saying you blasphemed the holy ghost that's the that's a big deal and we're gonna use that as a a tool a joke to lean on to make other people giggle by mimicking tongues be careful here's what's crazy to me you got say this is the world this is where we live you got heaven above you got hell beneath angels and demons curiosity focused on this moment right here right now and we sit in first apostolic church sometimes something's wrong think about that angels desiring to look into it demons offering money for it and we can sit in a service after service unmoved by the holy ghost god restore a reverence to the church for the holy ghost god return a sense of awe to the power of the holy ghost in this church god i thank you for every baptized spirit believer in this room but i pray god that there would be a renewing of an awe and wonder of what this church has our confidence will not come from our edifice our confidence will not come from our organization our confidence comes from the lord our confidence is in the spirit our confidence is in you jesus someone say the holy ghost so powerful is the holy ghost but the irony of it all the conundrum if you will is paul says the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet meaning that if we are in service right now and all of a sudden there's a roar of people speaking in tongues and the minister says i want to say something and he's supposed to speak and people keep out praising him someone's getting their blessing in tongues over here you have the ability to stop and the bible says you should when instruction's being given don't get mad at the preacher if he says hey i need you quiet for just a moment he's not killing the spirit he's trying to work in the spirit and you need to respect that you're not possessed when you got the holy ghost if you can't stop and you fight the ministry when they're trying to give direction then it might be another spirit on you think about that so the spirit of the prophet the most powerful force called the holy ghost and you can silence it says in thessalonians 5 19 quench not the spirit you know why because you can quench the spirit you ever you ever get in your car on the way home you're with your friends or your wife and it's quiet you're kind of like hey hey babe did it feel like a church in the altar like something something like something else was supposed to happen that's it i don't know why i switched accents but i did you know why you felt that way because something else was supposed to happen but we all have our ritual in our routine at a certain time at a certain moment we're done we're checked out and we leave do we understand what we're checking out from and what we're excusing ourselves from but this holy ghost is powerful the bible says it's the spirit that helps our infirmities and all of a sudden we can begin to pray we don't know how to pray but the spirit itself begins to make intercessions inside of us the bible says paul said i thank god i speak with tongues more than y'all he went on to say forbid not to speak with other tongues jude 1 20 he says beloved building up yourselves and your most holy faith praying in the holy ghost god wants to do two things here today one he wants to feel people that have not been filled with the holy ghost tonight he wants to fill you with the holy ghost the other thing he wants to do is those that have had doubt in their mind whether their experience was real or not god wants to confirm that you indeed sir you indeed ma'am did receive the holy ghost when you are nine years old you did receive the holy ghost when you were 13 years old and god wants to make himself shown alive by many infallible proofs this very night would you lift your hands would you lift your voice come on would you begin to pray begin to pray i'm gonna give some instruction i don't know what your culture here is but if you need the holy ghost you have never spoken in other tongues and you want to be baptized with the holy ghost regardless of your age i want your toes touching this front step if you need to if nobody comes nobody comes but if you want the holy ghost i want your toes touching that first step i want your toes to come on is there anyone else in this room i want your toes touching that front step i'll give you some time i'm not in a rush if you got to go you can go but if you want the holy ghost i want you to come i want your toes touching we're going to pray in just a moment come on angels are looking into this right now and devils are fighting this right now angels are looking at this moment right now church and devils were trying to fight it god is going to let that fire fall come on anyone else any age come on up i'll give you another 60 seconds we give some instruction listen i need a couple altar workers i would like one person per person i want you to stand in front of them not behind them i want you to stand you could come to this altar or stand like a step or two above them please if you're gonna be an ultra worker i want you to stand on one of the steps in front of the person you're gonna pray with just gonna give some instruction this is just a lesson for all of us i think can be helpful for you if you're going to pray for someone this is not a doctrine but it is helpful if you you ask them for their name if you don't know them ask their name so if you're going to pray with someone i want you to ask their name introduce yourselves okay and then the next question is can i pray with you be okay if i pray with you ask them get their permission permission is huge they're already scared out of their mind nervous whatever it doesn't have to be about the holy spirit's about anything just think about your time going to a church you've never been to before it's weird it's absolutely weird what we do is weird and then we know what they're here to pray for because we just gave clear instruction but when you do pray for someone don't assume you're praying for the same thing they're praying for ask them hey what can i help pray with you for and they may say something about their dog about their grandma i remember one time i taught on the holy ghost in the service and i gave this instruction then i went down to pray with someone i asked their name i asked i could pray with them and and and uh the lady said that the girl said she needed prayer for her mom her mom's in prison and this other lady started yelling saying no she needs a holy ghost and i go we're going to pray for her mother in prison we started praying for her mother in prison and all of a sudden the girl opened up god began to move and then we were able to move into the vein of the holy ghost and she got the holy ghost it's good to work with people we do some crazy stuff in the altar without thinking it's not weird for you to ask for permission to ask and introduce yourself to somebody and to agree on what you're going to pray for but we're going to pray together in just a moment i want to open this up to the next group if you're here and you need to be renewed with the holy ghost you need that sweet assurance i want you to come forward i want you to come forward it might be one person might be know people but there's someone in this room that there's there is doubt in this room i want you to know what you're a part of is so real it's so real you're not a part of a cult you're not a part of some gibberish you're not a part of some emotional frenzy this is real this is that which was spoken by the prophet joel and god is going to renew you in the holy ghost today next thing we're going to do when we pray in just a moment we're going to together as a congregation we're going to ask for forgiveness and this is how i do it when i'm given instruction for a altar call when we're praying repentance i ask people to put their hands just right on their heart or on their chest when they're asking for forgiveness and when you believe you are forgiven then lift your hands what that does for the altar worker and the people around you praying it's communication of where you're at in your prayer right now i feel like i'm not forgiven because i'm not but now you're saying i'm forgiven and god's ready to fill you with the holy ghost and if you're here today you don't need to pray 30 minutes to be forgiven you know how fast forgiveness is it's been clocked at the speed of confession just like that first john 1 9 if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us all of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that very moment you sincerely repent and ask god for forgiveness he will forgive you and forgiveness is not a feeling forgiveness is a fact god will forgive you let god be true and every man a liar but everyone here that needs to pray to be filled and refuel with the holy ghost in just a moment we're going to ask god to forgive us and you got to use your voice here's how you will never get the holy ghost open your mouth the word confess means to bring thoughts into words you think of this bottle if you want this to be filled it's got to be opened it's got to be emptied then it can be filled you got to open empty receive open empty receive open empty receive that's how this works this is not complicated god is about to fill you with the holy ghost after we begin to pray for the holy ghost after five ten minutes and if you've not received the holy ghost i want to encourage the altar worker to just pause with the person you're praying say okay let's put your hands down how you feeling what's going through your mind what's going through your mind ask questions and most times people that struggle to get the holy ghost after five or ten minutes this is not every time but this is a high majority of times i pray with people the holy ghost very analytical thinkers and they're afraid they're they're afraid they're gonna mess it up like you're gonna blaspheme the holy ghost i feel the holy ghost right now god loves you so much he wants you to have the holy ghost more than you want the holy ghost and you got to trust him with your voice and trust that he won't let you fall and don't worry about how you sound this is a safe place there is not a single person in this room that will mock you or insult you we're going to celebrate with you church we need people that are going to pray in this moment to lift your voice you need to begin to pray in the spirit the other thing the group that's in this room that needs to be a part of this altar call it's been a while since you've lifted up your voice praying in the spirit well you got to combat that spirit that's trying to suppress you and keep your voice silent there's power in the release of the voice and there's got to be a sound released in this room are you guys ready to pray are we ready to receive the holy ghost another let me give one more piece of instruction before i forget when somebody gets the holy ghost and you see them you got to pray with them with your eyes open if you're praying them to receive the holy ghost because you got to see you got to see and you got to listen we don't need 30 people screaming in one person's ear one to two people around that one person praying is enough in the mouth of one or two witnesses let every word be established and let one person lead them this will help create an atmosphere where people can receive the holy ghost and when they get the holy ghost after they pray in the spirit widow for a while celebrate and when you finish talk to them how do you feel let them see what they say did you hear yourself receive the holy ghost people feel weird about this i don't i'm okay with saying you got the holy ghost did you hear that you got the holy ghost because immediately the enemy is going to plant doubt in their mind this idea of waiting for them to claim it is a difficult thing because the moment they walk out their flesh and the enemy will attack them they need a saint of god to say i heard you brother i heard you sister you got it isn't this real isn't this awesome re-solidify that moment in their spirit so they don't have to live in 20 years of doubt and regret whether there be any holy ghost are you ready church i need prayer warriors back there to come forward i need you to extend your hands and begin to pray i would like us as a congregation to put our hands on our hearts and begin to ask god to forgive us of our sins are you ready jesus i'm sorry for my sins i'm sorry god i am not perfect i've made mistakes i have sinned god i've said things i should not have said i've watched things that i should not have watched i listen to things that i should not have listened to god i committed acts that i should not have committed god forgive me for lying forgive me for stealing forgive me for committing adultery forgive me a fornication forgive me of wrath forgive me of a spirit of jealousy forgive me god for hating forgive me for being a brawler forgive me god for smiting that person god forgive me for lord being the way that i've been i am sorry for my sin and i ask that you create inside of me a clean heart i pray that you renew a right spirit within me purge me wash me cleanse me come on if you believe god's forgiven you lift up your hands and open up your mouth if you believe he has forgiven you lift up your hands in a spirit of expectation to receive the holy ghost that's it church come on begin to pray for your dear brothers and sisters right now turn this into an altar turn this into an altar begin to intercede this is a city-wide revival this is a city-wide revival right here this is the epicenter rakatasa merocoto that's it you're not going to mess up don't fear don't fear speak out by faith do not fear lift up your voice and let the holy ghost flow you don't have to fear you don't have to overthink you don't have to be afraid receive it receive ye the holy ghost in the name of jesus i pray you open up the windows of heaven roll back the roof of his church and i pray god that there would be a waterfall i pray there be a torrential rain i pray there be a downpour of the holy ghost all these precious saints that's it come on that's the holy ghost come on it's the holy ghost this is real this is real it's for you come on don't be afraid yes yes that's beautiful that's beautiful rejoice in the god of your salvation rejoice in the car of your salvation come on church lift your voice lift your voice that's it come on go after it god's doing it god's doing it god's doing it angels desire to look into this moment right now come on we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses foreign oh if i can have your attention we're going to pause for a moment we're not we're not done everyone that's praying i need you to stop for just a moment i want you to listen we're working as a body we're working as a family first question has there anyone that has received the holy ghost for the very first time tonight if you have i want you to come up here i'm not going to embarrass you i promise is there anyone else anyone real else it real it's real this is real this is real i want to say a couple things we're going to pray for another flow of the holy ghost the bible helps you to understand what you're about to receive the bible says in isaiah 28 verse 11 for with stammering lips and another tongue will i speak to this people god gives you a hint when you're like right there so when you your lip starts like you're like stammering i'm not mocking tongues i'm acting like i'm cold because it's very similar when that lips quivering your teeth are cloudy you almost like stumble that's the point your flesh wants to try to adjust and take control but that's the point you need to surrender and let sound out you don't have to fear about messing up i'm not talking about fake in tongues i'm against it and i don't scream tongues in people's ears to force them to try to mimic me i'm against all of that i'm telling this is real this is real this is real we don't need to fake and work something up but i will say this because i do know by experience that there are times when you seek the holy ghost and you do not get it and you leave discouraged and i want to address that real quick you can't find experiences in the new testament where people typically get it the first time the apostles mary the mother of jesus didn't get it the first time he said go and pray till you get it day one they didn't get it day two they didn't get it day three they didn't get it day four they didn't get it day five they didn't get you see what i'm saying but everyone that kept seeking it got it you know why because it's a promise the apostle paul he didn't get it on day one he didn't get it on day two he didn't get it on day three cornelius he didn't get it on day one he didn't get it on day two he didn't get it on day three so there can be um insurmountable amount of doubt saying why even try i've done this before keep seeking keep seeking because god is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him but you do have to push yourself each moment in the altar is a moment for you to learn from i got this far now i'm going to get a little further next time and i got that for now i'm going to get a little further that time i want to encourage you i just kind of walked and i observed some people praying and there's a few like god wants your voice he just wants your voice and i'm not mocking or insulting anybody but god just wants you to open fully and you're i'm not i'm not saying you are not but you gotta trust this don't fear messing up give him your voice and god's gonna feel it but i believe there's gonna be a surge in this moment that we need this church to come together as voices in unison and when there's an atmosphere of the holy ghost and there is a sound of faith that comes across this room i want you to lift everyone that needs a holy ghost i want you to lift your hands and to lift your voice and open your mouth and begin to worship god you don't have to beg him you don't have to say oh please please please oh god please please just say hallelujah i love you hallelujah i praise you hallelujah i worship you god you're good i love you jesus i love you jesus has the holy ghost is here right now the holy ghost is here right now come on church come on be a channel be a vessel be a conduit right now and let it flow let it flow god loves you and he is going to give you the holy ghost right now receive the holy ghost by faith right now you uh so foreign um uh oh know upon the profession of your faith and in obedience to god's holy word i now baptize you in the name of the lord jesus christ for the remission of all of your sins and thank god you just got filled with the holy ghost in the name of jesus foreign um jesus foreign m let me just say a couple of things in closing cures i turn over the service to your pastor i don't know the culture here i'm not familiar with you all but i do want to encourage some people that i've prayed with that i know that you've been seeking for years or for at least i think there's one or two over a year the number of people that i've seen struggled to get the holy ghost back in south dakota i've encouraged him to not just pray for the holy ghost on sunday but every day in their home and it has blown my mind how the high majority of them got the holy ghost at home so don't put what you're pursuing on pause for sunday i'm not saying that's what you are doing but if that be the case you can get the holy ghost at home there's one man i worked with he got the holy ghost on the way driving home after i i talked to him like we were praying and and uh pursuing the holy spirit got baptized and uh he just stopped he goes man this is i just i feel weird praying in front of people i go that's all right i go you pray on the way home you gotta give you the holy ghost he called me like 10 minutes later he had a pull over in his truck and he got the hole he goes and he was in front of like some bar or something he he just pulled over just receiving the holy ghost another man i was praying with he felt weird about praying in public he struggled i still think it's important for us to pray together in public but i understand there's some people that they're just different and this man he went to work after we prayed in the morning together and he went as he was a farmer he went to a silo and he's just praying in the silo waiting for the harvest to come in little did he know that he was gonna be the first fruits he got filled with the holy ghost praying in the silo so don't just pray here pray every day pray everywhere and god can give you the holy ghost i i'm excited for these next few i'm excited for what god has done tonight i'm telling you god's got more that's going to begin to unfold these next couple days i love you pastor i don't know if you want to close or whoever but thank you for allowing me to be here god bless you