The Power of the Holy Ghost

Morning. It's great to be in the house of the Lord today, is it not? Amen. This is the day the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Amen. Praise God. I'm going to share some things today, but it's not um if I get into some stories. It's not to brag. It's just to explain some stuff that I hope will be a blessing to you. Everybody say amen. Amen. I'm going to need a little bit louder amen than that. And we've been at General Conference all week.

It's been a great time. But u I had a man that went to our church and he was a professor at college and he said one day what woke him up was when his chalk hit the floor. Can you imagine? Oh my. But I feel the presence of the Lord in this place. Amen. Let's go to the book of Acts, chapter 4. We're going to start with verse 18. And while you're turning there, I'm going to kind of tell you the story. It's of course about this miracle.

And Peter and John are arrested. And you see them come before the council. And the council comes to this conclusion. What shall we do with this man? Because it is a notable miracle. we can't fight what happened. And so that tells a little bit about the spirit of what was transpiring and and maybe a little bit about uh what it was in the spirit of that day and we'll find that we fight similar spirits today. But John uh pardon me, Acts chapter 4 verse 18.

And they called them and commanded them not to speak or at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." And so when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified God for that which was done.

Amen. The parallel passage of this particular portion of scripture is found in Psalms chapter 2 and explains the spirit of what was going on there. Psalms 2 says, "Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointing, saying, Let us break their bands aunderder, and cast away their cords from us. He that siteth in the heavens shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision." Everybody say amen.

Praise God. And so there is a a a spirit of the thing that we fight. Amen. And you go down through this this thing. And I I call it it's a spirit of independence that begins to come and it comes sometimes out of first a hurt. And it's um it's a lie, but it's a hurt. in that why did not God choose choose me? This was Cain's issue. Why did he took it personally? It wasn't that God did not like Cain or God rejected Cain. What God did was to reject his offering.

And so you find in Genesis 4:7, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted. And if thou doest well, doeth not well, sin lith at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and he shall rule over thee." And so if you do well, it's going to happen. I have a friend who was talking to one of the um leaders in Islam and he was talking and the man asked him a question in a in an honest tone about why he feels like the Christians and the and the Jews don't accept accept him.

And he said, "Well, let me let's go back to Ishmael. Ishmael believe means that God will hear." He says, "So if you cry out to God, God will hear you." It doesn't matter what we think. It doesn't matter. But this spirit comes into it. And a lot of times the spirit we face is a spirit of people feeling like they have been rejected. All right. So that helps us a little bit there. I'll come back to that point in in just a little bit. Amen. Brother Carden last week was talking about the church.

And when we look at the church, we see that God lays out examples. So we we have Abraham the patriarch and his altar became an example of the tabernacle. And the tabernacle, an example of the church, and the church becomes example of the thousand years of peace. And it's all about government. Unto us a son is born. Unto us a child is given. and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall beful counselor of the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace and of the increase of his government.

It's about government. It's always been about government. And so when Jesus came, he wasn't criticizing the law. He wrote the law. He was criticizing the way they were handling the law. He was criticizing that. But if we're not careful when he comes again, he's going to criticize the way we whether we became the example of the church that he intended it to be. The tabernacle had become something he didn't intend it to be. And so when he comes again, if we're not careful, the church isn't going to represent something that he intended it to be because the church is an example of the government during the thousand years of peace.

Everybody say amen. You see the see the logic there of one represents the next one. And so that gives us an idea of how we need to function in this present world is that as brother Carter was talking about last week, there is this central of the church. There's this central place of the church. And from that central place of the church that gives us authority to go to our homes, to our communities, to our workplaces. We take that provision, the word, the provision, the spirit of God, the presence of God into our communities as representatives of the church.

Amen. That's where the authority comes from is the local thing. I I believe that ultimately uh the city hall is not the center of the community. The church is the center of the community. Everybody say amen. That's where the authority comes from. Somebody amen. You with me? I'm kind of moving fast so I can get through to the this next part. But you see, that's where the authority comes from. That's where we get where what we need to go back to our communities and be the light that's there.

In 1948 when the Jews returned to Israel, it was wilderness. this year and I think this is something of spiritual thing. They had their highest wheat crop ever in a desert. Well, it represents the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. It's what causes Israel's the land there to blossom to produce. There's basically a harvest in every season in Israel. What causes it to produce is the Jews living in Israel. if the Jews don't live there, it doesn't produce. When they turn uh the area of Gaza over to Palestine, there was enough agriculture there for them to support their entire community.

It's all gone. And not necessarily because of bombs. It's all gone. It doesn't produce unless the juice left there. Somebody say amen. So understand what I'm saying is your world, your community, your family, your workplace should thrive because you live there. Everybody say amen. It should thrive because you live there. A few years ago in 2008, how many remember how bad the economy was in 2008? My first sermon that that January, I asked the church a question. Whose economy do you live in? Do you live in the American economy or do you live in God's economy?

There was a spirit of unity that came in and I could feel the shift in people's faith that they shifted into we're going to trust God's economy. Now, it's a rural community and so when I say this, it was the more than the majority of the church. In the first six weeks of 2008, 23 families received significant raises, promotions, increases. I think that was a God thing. I don't think that just happens all the time or every time you you you say it, but what it did was it caused a shift.

We had people coming up to our people in parking lots and offering them jobs. Just random things, things that that could not have been. One man was a a coner, wasn't even an employee, and they hired him to be fire chief over top of the nuclear power plant. He tripled his income. There was all kinds of things just happening like that just but but when you come to a conclusion that wait a minute here I am the funnel by which the blessings of God come from my local church to my street.

Body say amen. How many believe that this morning? Amen. You make a difference. We're a city that sits upon a hill that cannot be hid. We make a difference. Praise the Lord. Brother Shatwell was sitting in a restaurant in his hometown and um he was listening and he said, "I don't think they realized who I was or what they were there, but they were talking about how his church was trying to take over." He said, "We don't get any involved in politics. I don't go to council meetings.

I don't do any politician type of stuff, but there was this feeling of authority and power that the people in the community recognized and felt. And and yes, he was a very powerful man of God. But we look and see, wait a minute here. Sometimes people don't like you, not because you're mean or unkind or you got a frown on your face. Please don't do that in public. I was in Salt Lake City yesterday and they they were wrapping up our conference with their conference and I determined as I walked down the road that I was going to make every single one of them smile back at me.

They were not as having as much fun as I was. But we look at that and say, "Wait a minute. God's trying to do something. God's trying to do something through you. We don't have to go on spiritual offense in destroying Satan and devils and all that stuff because the Bible says that he has already won the war. So, our posture with Satan is defensive. Everybody say amen. I'm trying to make sure you're all with me here this morning. Our posture is defensive. Amen. One time I my father I was quite young.

We were just married and we were I was at the church with my dad and he was telling a story about this pastor. He took this church. It was a beautiful church. Bills were paid. Things were seemed to be nice. The church was pleasant. Uh they all got along well. It seemed like he couldn't understand why they had gone through so many pastors. Well, he started going to the sanctuary and praying. And as he would go into the sanctuary and pray, he would hear doors slam where there weren't any doors.

And he started to reach out. He started to reach out and to to some people to find out what was going on. And finally, the silver minister said, "Here's what's happening. Satan is telling you he shut the doors to to the community." He said, "You've got to pray through that." And so he did. He He got to pray through that. He said, "One day I heard the doors open and footsteps walking out." And that changed everything. Well, about that time, my wife called and she said, "I it was winter time and it's Cleveland.

It's cold." How many know you don't know cold like that unless you've lived up there. It's a damp cold. None of this dry heat or dry cold stuff. It's it's damp. It's brutal. And she came out of the shower and every door of the house was open. I said, "Oh, not today. It's a defensive posture." So, I came home. She told me later. said, "You should have explained what you were doing." But she came home and I was a little bit angry because Satan didn't mess with my house.

And so I just begin to pray, cast out devils, make sure there was nothing there. But all of that, I still didn't feel good about the situation. Now, you may not want to try this, but there was about five bars within walking distance of my house. I don't know why, but that's what it was. One of them was called the Last Stand Saloon. I started with that one. Satan, you mess with my house and we mess with yours. I command that bar to be shut down.

And I begin to name every single one of them and command them to be shut down. And you know, within 30 days, the health department was my friend and shut every single one of those bars down. I'm just I'm I'm just talking to you this morning because some that's a defensive posture. I didn't go after them. They came after me. Our offensive posture is peace. It's a government of peace. It's a ruling of peace. It's a place of power. Peace in Hebrew doesn't mean just the absence of war because God knows they've never had that.

But we look and see it's really peace in the Hebrew sense is to live in the fullness of the promises of God. It's a place of wholeness. It's a place of prosperity. It's a place that God moves and God blesses. And so when they greet each other in with the word shalom, they're not just saying, "Hey, have a great day." They're saying, "Find that wholeness that is in Christ Jesus." Not in Christ Jesus, but in their terms, but in our terms. Find that wholeness. Find that place of provision.

Find that place of hope. Find that place of security. It's much bigger than just the absence of arguments or absence of war. It's a place of God's provision. It's all the promises he made for them in the promised land. In the early 1800s, there was a problem in Ireland. There was a problem in Ireland and um there was a great famine. And so after a couple of years of this potato famine, the Irish left and came to to the United States. And one of the largest populations settled in the north part of St.

Louis. How many knew this story? It was they came from most of them came from the county of Kerry. And so this northern part of this northern part of uh St. Louis began to be known as the Kerry Patch. How many knew anybody knew this history about it? But long a long time there was this man who was serving the community there and eventually those Irish people elected him king. How many's heard of Dennis Sheham? They elected him king. Not not with an army, not by force, just with his kindness.

and and he would uh history tells us that he was a grower. He was just um not not necessarily a wealthy man. Uh most of the Irish were not in in that time period because they had come from such a place of poverty but and they really weren't welcomed by the rest of the community here in St. Louis. But they had this king who would look out for him and go to the weddings and go to the funerals and he plant in the St. Patty's Day parade and and uh planned the July 4th fireworks and and he just became this larger than-l life character in the community and they named him King.

You see there's a a a unique part that I've looked at for years about Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is one of the places and ye shall receive which is the word dunamis from which we get the word dynamite. But if you look there and you have to understand something about this and um when you look at like a Greek or a Hebrew um dictionary so to speak in English it'll give three different definitions of the word. But in Hebrew and Greek there's the same in that the word means all of those definitions.

Not just one at a time. It means all of them. And one of the definitions of dunamis is the influence that a wealthy man has in a community. The influence that a wealthy man has in the community. So, if we're full of the Holy Ghost, God's going to give us some influence in our community. He's going to give us some influence. We're going to have Oh, friend, if you only knew. fueling you. One of our ladies at at headquarters was telling us the other day that she was at a multi-denominational conference and they were talking about uh the body of Christ and they said, "What we need now more than ever is we need the apostolic to stand up and be the head of the body." And she began to lament into the microphone, "Where are you apostolic?

I was at a multi-denominational conference just a couple weeks ago in Orlando and uh they had these these tables and people would come and I I was as I was walking toward the table I was saying God give give make sure the person I sit with today is is the person you want me to talk to. And this man came and sat down and he was he was Menanite and somebody came and sat down beside him and I had tried to start talking to him and he says he said he said I'm I'm sorry I have something in common with this man.

I want to talk to him a little bit. And I was like oh not today and I just begin to pray about it. Well pretty soon that other man clammed up And I began to talk to him because I'm going to find a way. I'm going to find a way. That's why I drove for Uber is I'm going to find a way. I'm going to find a way to turn that conversation, especially on the freeway. I learned they don't get out on the freeway. I'm going to find a way to turn that conversation to about God.

I'm going to find a way. And so there he was. He was sitting there and tears down his face and he's talking about his his daughter being ill and and and these different things. He says, "The thing about you Pentecostals," he says, "I don't know what it is, BUT WHEN YOU PRAY, people get healed. Where are we?" Sometimes it's it's more uh I don't know about you, but I can't make God do a miracle. I I I'm not really good at twisting his arm. He's going to do what he's going to do.

Amen. But I have a job to do. I'm his hands. I'm his feet. I'm his mouthpiece. I take the words of life to my community. I take the words of life to where I work. I take the And I've invited everybody there and they won't come to church with me. I work at headquarters. >> >> But they call it prolighting there. I don't know what the deal is. But but when you look at this, what's the deal? What's going on? The words I speak, they're words of life.

The words of life. Praise God. I had a Friday night I had just had a marvelous moment with a veteran missionary, Brother McFarland. And uh we he got into this talking about the words of life that God is that life and that he breathed into Adam the breath of life. Now, um, you have to understand if you get two Jews in the room, you have three opinions. So, you have to know who to listen to and who who who there's there's all kinds of I I forget how many different cultures of of Jews there are just in Israel.

It's it's a divided place. But he said, you know, he said, 'When these Jews, he How many's ever seen them rocking and praying? Well, if you listen to the carnal folks, there's another reason. But if you listen to the Jews that really uh really have a deep relationship with God. They tell you what's happening is they're speaking these words of life and it's bringing the presence of God to them. So, as they speak the words of life, they they don't feel like they should stay in his presence.

So they bob over and they speak the words of life and God's presence comes and they bob over here and he speaks the word of life and God's presence come and they just keep bobbing and weaving while they're praying as the presence of God comes because of the words they speak. He said, "Brother Thompson," he said, "What I do?" He said, he's 81 years old now. He said, "My pastor's 40." He said, "I come every service with a pad of paper and I take notes." He said, "I can read Greek and Hebrew." His pastor said, "What do you do in taking notes?" He said, "Here's what I do." He said, "I write down what you say and then I go find a restaurant." Folks, it's not about the quality of service.

It's not about the quality of food. It's about the people. He said some I'll be sitting there in the restaurant and somebody will come sit beside me and I'll say you know what my pastor said and I'll pull out that sheet of paper and I'll read it to them because what I'm doing is I'm taking the church to my community. I'm taking the words of life to my community. I'm taking the from the source to where I live because I'm a representative of that church. I'm a representative of what God is doing there.

And I take those words. They weren't just for me. They were for my community. They were for my family. They were for my workplace. They were for my school. They were for everywhere I go this week. Those words of life as I speak to them, as I take them to the community, they're going to change things. They're absolutely going to change things. Hallelujah. Do I have anybody at least 50% committed? They're going to change things. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What a thought. How can you change your community?

What would happen if you started speaking words of life more than you already do in your community? Oh, there's going to be resistance. There's going to be resistance. But God's going to move. God's going to move. We first became pastor, we had this little building. It was actually a one room schoolhouse that got moved to that location. It was just a tiny place, but um we had a couple of kids and we kind of started a little Christian school. It wasn't maybe I don't know if we even started with a dozen students.

It was just a small place and but we had an issue in the neighborhood. Um the people across the street we owned half their drive and they were trying to take it by eminent domain and it just it was I I don't we said they could use it but they just I don't know what their point was but they saw that happening and the church had grown. It was Sunday morning and other services. We we had well outgrown the building and become and and so it was easy for them to go around the neighborhood and get things stirred up.

And they called city council and said they're operating a school and all this stuff. So they sent me a a letter, a cease and desist. And my argument was we're already a church. We could do what? And uh I wrote a letter back to the mayor and uh very kind letter expressing, you know, good things and you know, we want to comply with the laws and different things like that. And it finally came to our um hearing in front of the the the city. And that night as I drove to that council meeting, it had snowed.

Oh, it had snowed about eight inches on the road. And I was looking and counting the the car tracks to see how many people were heading that direction. And it looked like there was hardly any people. And I was just thanking God that he sent us snow and no one was going to show up at the council meeting and we were going to have a good time. But then I got there and there was no place to park. I I mean there was no place to park and so I had to park out a long way and and I start walking up toward the city hall there and my attorney come out and he had this worried worried look on his face and I thought, "Oh, this is not good.

This is not good. This is not good at all." And we get there and the only place, of course, it's kind of like church. The only if you get there late, the only place is up front. And so he's got me by the arm and we walk all the way up front. We sit down and these people are openly talking against us. They have no care in the room in the world that I'm sitting right there. No care at all. I mean, they're just they're just railing on us.

And um I said, "Oh God, oh Lord, help us, Jesus." And then the door opened and here comes the counsel. And they see the room and they feel the spirit in the room and you can just see the the life fall out of their face. You know what I mean? They're just like, "Oh, this is going to be a horrible night." And they come in and and the room is in an uproar. And they you get everybody quiet. didn't even hit the gavvel and he said before we start anything in this proceeding tonight I have a letter from the mayor and he begins to read a letter from the mayor about how the community appreciates our church appreciates what we're doing and they're not going to shut us down you see there's an influence.

It some of you knew me when I was young because of my wife at Gateway and I was not who I am today. I was socially awkward more so than now. Skinny as a rail. Um just I I look back and If you only know but somehow the Holy Ghost had given us influence. Somehow the Holy Ghost had given us influence. That attorney jumped up and said, "We withdraw our petition." Grabbed me by the arm. And as the as the newspaper and TV cameras were going off, flashing in my face, I was trying to smile so you didn't look like like it was a prison mug shot as we headed toward the door to get out of there because that crowd was not happy.

But I'm going to tell you, God can give you favor. God can give you increase. It's the power of the Holy Ghost. It's not a clever argument. It's the power of the Holy Ghost. It's the power of the Holy Ghost. It's the power of the Holy Ghost. It will give us influence in our communities in a way that we can turn things around. I think we can stop crime in our communities. How many remember the three ladies that got released out of the basement, that guy's house in Cleveland?

You remember that? Yeah. We started praying. Cleveland's a dark place. A lot of serial killers like Jeffrey Dmer were born there. And we started praying. We're going to change your community. We're change what's happening. I was holding a six o'clock prayer call. We'd have 30, 40, 50 people get on that prayer call every morning that I prayed the same prayer. But I would pray and I'd go and read the newspaper online probably, but you know what I mean. Read the news and find out who got delivered that week, that day.

I felt like Isuza Street all over again because every day human traffickers would take their victims through Cleveland and they would get freed after day after day after day after day after day because the Holy Ghost can affect your community. The Holy Ghost can affect your community. This is our job. What would it be if the church governed this area in peace? I'm not saying it's doesn't. I'm just trying to inspire a little bit more. You understand what I'm saying? What if we became the example more than we ever have been before about governing in peace?

I speak peace to your neighborhood. I speak peace to your family. I speak peace to your home. I speak peace to your job, your workplace. I speak peace to every everything around you. I speak peace. I I I think we're going to change. We can change our communities. We can turn things upside down. We can have that influence THAT GOD'S CALLED US TO HAVE. OH, there's going to be signs, miracles, and wonders. And we will not stop speaking these wonderful words of life. But we can take what God gives us here, the power of what God is here.

I love this church. I love the power that I feel here. I love what God is doing in this community. But what if we just took and grabbed hold of that and said, "It's not just enough to experience it on Sunday. My neighbors have to experience it, too. My workplace has to experience it, TOO. EVERYBODY AROUND ME HAS got to experience it. They've got to walk in the provision just because I live in that neighborhood just because I live in that neighborhood. I was working before I be went full-time.

I was working in this in this business and for years we were increasing sales increasing year after year. It grew u the years I was there almost 10 times and then I left and the sales plateaued. I I didn't wish that on, but I became peculiarly aware that God was blessing them because I was there. You're not a nobody. You're a child of the king. You walk in his presence. You're an ambassador of this great thing God calls his church. All along the way, there's going to be miracles.

There's going to be signs and wonders. You know, you don't have to knock people on the ground. My dad worked for Ford for many years starting the church. This man came up and sat down to him one day in the workplace and said, "My back is killing me. I don't know what to do." And my dad said, "You know, we're in a men's plant and, you know, I'm not going to, you know, knock him in the forehead and slam him to the floor and spit and holler." He just touched him.

Bob Smith said, "When your dad touched me, all the pain left my body." He just touched me and said, "In Jesus name, there's going to be miracles. There's going to be moments, but our offensive weapon is peace. Our offensive weapon is peace. Can we stand here today? I wonder if there's anybody that would speak some words of life over their neighborhood, over their family, over their workplace. I bless thee in the name of the Lord. May God provide you everything you need. May healing come to your heart and to your mind.

I'm just asking a question today. Could we raise our hands and begin to just bless I bless I bless your homes. I bless the street you live on. I bless your neighbor. They're not your enemy. They don't understand why God's blessed you so much and why they live in such a desperate place. But speak words of peace. Extend that ministry of reconciliation right now. Oh God, let the love of God flow through us. Let the love of God, let the peace of God flow through us, into our communities, into our workplace.

Oh God, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, Hallelujah. Oh Lord my God. Oh Lord Jesus. Amen. They don't hate you. They just don't understand why you have what they want. Carry it to them. Bridge the difference. Bridge the gap. Pray for them. Bless them. Bless them. Change the world. Hallelujah. Let's just give the Lord a hand clap of praise for what he's doing.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Well, you all have been a wonderful crowd today. Thank you. Amen. God is good, isn't he? How many know he blesses? How many know that your life is different because you serve God? Hallelujah. How many know you have things that you don't wouldn't have if if you didn't serve him? You you've had doors open for you that you don't you wouldn't have had if you weren't serving him. Hallelujah. He's a great God.

Amen. We're going to take a break and then join in worship. Hallelujah. How many love the Lord this morning? God bless you.