Be Spirit Equipped: The Spirit of Counsel

we're going to get right to the word of the lord tonight from isaiah chapter 11 and last wednesday i began this lesson and you probably received a lesson sheet along with the email that you received about tonight's plans and so if you want to follow along we'll be picking up it'll be on the second side of the lesson sheet where we will eventually start from isaiah chapter 11 and beginning with verse 1 and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots and the spirit of the lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the lord my heart and spirit and attention has been drawn to this section for the past couple of weeks and

i know that there is a message that god is delivering to apc and to others so we started last wednesday night i continued on somewhat on sunday but there the working of the spirit just directed us some other directions in both of those services and so there is more and i just feel a very great intensity in my spirit to deliver this specifically for our apc family but really it applies to everyone and anyone the things that god wants us to do and what's to give to us because the spirit of the lord does rest upon us i think we have more equipping than we really realize or that we give ourselves and god credit for but there is a great equipping and you know and i know and certainly the lord knows that in this day and time we need the holy ghost we

need that spirit that isaiah wrote about resting upon us and it does rest upon us and when we have the spirit and when we have his word god works in our lives and he works so accurately in fact with pin point accuracy it's evident in these verses of scripture as he predicts about the messiah that's going to be born and what we know is it was 700 years later when that birth took place from the time when isaiah first wrote these words that we are reading and in particular when you study through this verse he uses the terms about a rod and then about a stem and about a branch and that particular word branch is the word from which the name nazareth the city that jesus grew up in his hometown is derived so even even in a very subtle way very accurately isaiah

predicts to us and prophesies for our knowledge even the area where jesus was going to be grow up in he was born in bethlehem but grew up in nazareth it's the pinpoint accuracy that deserves our attention his word and his spirit are so accurate as they work in our lives we can trust that accuracy of the lord here's what i mean so many times we we don't understand why do we feel to pray for a certain person why uh does that person come to our mind through the day or in a time of prayer uh why is it that a certain verse of scripture leaps out to us as we read it and we we dwell on it and i would encourage you uh i've been trying to practice this myself in bible study sometimes i'm wanting to get through the particular reading that i'm

assigned to for that day and then i'll just maybe more uh interested in in completion than i am from absorption of what god has to say that there but if he pauses you take that pause and uh listen for the voice of the lord and maybe it might mean a little more research so as you feel directed to read a certain section of scripture that's part of the pinpoint accuracy of the spirit resting in our lives and the accuracy of his word wanting to work in our life i've experienced it with this particular bible study and message i don't know why even still to this very point in time all of why the lord has directed with his pinpoint accuracy i do know that he wants to deliver these things into our hearts and lives that much i know and if that's the total reason

then that's why we're walking through these messages and through these verses god is working with pinpoint accuracy even in this message here tonight what this prophecy that i read in just a few moments ago what that means to us and for us is that what the spirit did for the messiah the anointed one god does want to do for you and i he wants to give us these blessings that we're going to study from here tonight he wants to fill you he wants to anoint you with his pinpoint accuracy the with the gifts and the attributes of the spirit he wants his spirit to rest or remain heavy upon your life and by the word heavy here's what i mean it will be definite there will be no doubt about it to you or to others there will be people who will say i do

not know what is different about them what they are sensing is the spirit of the holy ghost resting upon you why does why do people come to you maybe at work or family members or in your community in in the world that you work and live in why do they come to you in particular when there is a need in their life for their family it's because of that heaviness that sense that definiteness there is an unmistakable difference about you and your life thankfully it's because of the spirit of the lord it's nothing that we have attained to it's nothing that that we can take credit for totally only that we have allowed to work the lord let the lord work through our life in verse 2 he talks about and the spirit of the lord shall rest upon him the spirit of the almighty

god not a secondary not a lesser god not a subordinate spirit but the spirit of the almighty god and he uses that promised word shall right here the holy ghost is meant for every individual and i want to stop right here and and just speak to anyone watching who has not yet received the baptism of the holy ghost this promise god wants you to have it we must have it and he wants to give it to you you you need not wonder if it's for me god meant you when he made this promise and other promises if you will have faith if you will repent if you will be baptized in the name of the lord jesus christ those are things that you can do those are things that each of us that's our part to do and our gate that we have to walk

through but if we will do those things the promise is you shall you will receive the holy ghost i've got several scriptures here and i um second peter chapter three and verse nine he's not slack concerning his promises of course about the holy ghost acts 2 and 39 the promise is under you and your children and to all that are far off and as many as the lord our god shall call there will be somebody watching this that needs that message tonight the holy ghost is for you god is for you and with you and he wants you to know i've got other promises listed here and i will not read them all but you just go through scripture yourself second corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20 acts 2 and 38 and 39 that i just read all of these hold the promise that god

wants to give to you his presence in the same way the requirements are essential and absolute and definite the promise is just as definite god said i want the spirit to rest upon you and in the old testament isaiah didn't know all that he was writing about he did not have the full revelation he didn't understand it all but thank god he obeyed that's back to what i was talking about a while ago go ahead and obey when the spirit directs go ahead and obey when the spirit directs you in a certain manner and the scripture here says that it is gonna rest upon you that means it's gonna be settled that means it's gonna abide the holy ghost doesn't come upon us when we come through these church doors and then it leaves us when we exit the property you know you've already felt

the presence of god today in various places that you are you're feeling the presence of god now as we read his word and talk about him and preach about him he's the same yesterday today and forever and that spirit wants to rest and attend to us permanently not a come and go the scripture does say in acts 2 it sat upon each of them there is an abiding presence of the lord and now because that spirit of the lord abides upon us he will give us our gift to us certain characteristics and isaiah's listing talks about the spirit of wisdom and understanding and we previously taught and preached about those tonight i want to pick up and again this is on the second side of your lesson sheet if you are following the spirit of counsel the spirit of counsel folks decisions you and i

make every day are crucial brother ron mullings preaches a message and you could probably find it out there on the internet it's entitled decisions you didn't know you were making we have had that message here by brother mullings we make decisions on a particular day at a particular time but the effects of that decision impact and alter many days beyond that one day of decision decisions we make every day are crucial and that's why the spirit of counsel is so important if you and i will allow him church if you will allow his spirit the holy ghost to guide you sometimes that guiding is knowingly sometimes it's unknowingly we don't realize that it's god or his spirit that is helping us or directing us we will be able to make the best and the right decision that is needed the spirit of counsel when you

look at this particular word and and what isaiah meant and what the holy ghost really meant it's an equipping to be able to give counsel or to give advice in other words to form and present a plan how many times have we had folks come to us for advice or counsel maybe in your family if you're a family leader or a peer or a sibling or anyone a friend comes and and they need they need a plan but the spirit of counsel from the holy ghost can give us a god-sanctioned plan in other words here's what you can and should do the spirit of god intends to help us in our everyday living now let me say and you understand that there are some things god also gave us the gift of common sense so there's some things we don't need to pray about there's

some things that it doesn't matter what probably the god what color kleenexes you get some of those things i'm not talking about that kind of counsel i'm talking about crucial decisions in your life to be able to form the right conclusions and also this spirit of counsel has to do with being able to deal with people and life situations we need this in life we need it in our families we need it in business employment and financial matters we need it as leaders in order to counsel and give good advice we need clarity of purpose the holy ghost provides that we can't go into any kind of counseling session or any kind of advice giving without a clear knowledge of purpose in other here's what i mean by that seeing the purpose what purpose god's purpose the one that he intends the holy ghost can

help us to know and see that his word can help us the purpose that a person should fulfill god will help us now we don't know when we're counseling somebody or when we're advising our children or our friends we don't know all the details of their past life we cannot see the future but god knows those details and god knows the future and he doesn't even need to equip us with all of the details that we are dealing with but he can lead us to give the right word of counsel and the right word of advice that that person there's a purpose for every life and just think about this this is how important and how weighty counsel is the person that we are counseling god has a purpose for their life and anything we say to them in any way we influence them can

direct them away from or direct them toward that purpose the spirits leading will always stay within the boundaries of god's word if there is something that speaks to your thoughts or and a spirit or anything else and if it's outside the boundaries of god's word you will be able to recognize that that is not the presence and the spirit that is to rest upon us sometimes we counsel and somebody's going through a certain particular challenge or trial or blessing there's a purpose for that particular situation and if we can have a clarity of purpose that the holy ghost can give to us and and i found myself thinking and maybe as i describe this you're saying oh pastor that's way beyond me i will admit there are many things that all of us have handled that are way beyond us but i'm talking about a

spirit that is beyond us and a god is a who is able to take us beyond ourselves not for our glory not for our benefit but so that he would be glorified and then we and others can be helped somebody going through a particular situation what does god intend by allowing that situation what good can come and i'll just stop here and say i don't think we should always feel pressured to have words and have the answer sometimes just our presence being there but yet on the other hand we should stay open and allow the spirit and if we are in a spiritual vein and we have been talking to the lord this is why it's so important every day for prayer and every day to read the word of the lord because they're going to come situations personal ones that we need to deal

with and then the lie in the lives and situations of others and we need to know what good can come from this challenge what good can come from this trial or even what good does god intend from that blessing and the spirit can and does give to us and it provides this clarity of purpose so many times in scripture god is referred to as a counselor and i think i put several verses there uh in the notes he's referred to as our counselor in so many places i i really what caught my attention again this morning is in psalm 33 10 and 11 the lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to naught not only does he have his own counsel but he can bring to nothing the council of someone or something that is trying to work against his will and his plan he

maketh the devices of the people of none effect he said in verse 10 but verse 11 of psalm 33 says the counsel of the lord stands forever if you get direction from god that stands forever the word that you have spoken to somebody that came from the holy ghost and based on the word of the lord that is going to stand no matter what else is going on around that person or that situation so we need that spirit of counsel and he is the great counselors counselor i thought about as i was reading about that particular attribute of the spirit there's been times sitting back in that office during a counseling session and after the person or the couple or the persons would leave i sat back in my chair and i would just sit back and say where did that come from i had

not pre-thought it i had not been able to study about it because sometimes as you know in those kind of situations things get sprung on us and a question comes or a situation that we didn't see coming has hit that family or that person where did that come from we know where it's kind of a rhetorical question isn't it we know where it came from the lord came in as the counselor to help you and i who are trying to counsel somebody looking out for their best brothers and sisters i i just ask you i ask everyone viewing this pray for one another pray for others get a burden carry one another's burdens bear one another's burdens and as we pray for them god will give us a sensitivity not only to him but to those and the needs in their lives and so i

remember another particular time the very first time that we were called to go to st louis university to speak to some post-graduate students they already had a college degree and they were going on for a master's degree and the the professor his name was gary he picked up one of our brochures this is the pinpoint accuracy of god our choir and we did a little outreach down at siouxlard market down there in the inner city wasn't far from our previous church location and so we were the choir was up there singing in that little pavilion and and we were handing out flyers in fact i think i remember the the color because professor gary showed it to me a yellow flyer that was there and it advertised about the church and here was this university professor down there shopping at soulard like a lot of

us still like to do and down there in the inner city if you thought you were going to touch post-graduate students you wouldn't have thought that that would be the place where god would plant the seed but sure enough he did and so he called and contacted used the number that was on the little uh promotion there and called the church office and asked if we could come down and speak to that class he wanted his class to hear about all different kind of religions and pentecost would be one of them and so we went down i took brother fred bradley with me and brother george vassell and we went down to talk to these students they were seated in a circle in the room and i never will forget the pressure i felt even i had my computer out there at the office and

preparing and i remember stopping and thinking oh my how this this is not going to work i am not i do not have a postgraduate degree i am not a professor and uh i'm i'm just a preacher just a preacher just a preacher yeah when you have the holy ghost when you have the spirit of god he can take you beyond yourself and you may feel i'm just a member or i'm just a mom or i'm just a dad or i'm just an uncle or i'm just a son or i'm just a daughter but if god speaks to you something yield to that let it that god use you and he may use you through any one of these attributes but it might be through here's a plan here's some knowledge that you can receive and so we began to give uh the presentation and

so of course the best the best evidence is an experience the best evidence is somebody's personal experience they can argue with an argument but it's hard to argue with an experience and so brother fred bradley began to tell about how god began to work in his life because he had thoughts and plans of taking his own life in fact had went down into a sporting goods store i believe it was and he had shopped for the weapon that he would would use he was eventually contacted a friend from up up north and that friend witnessed to brother fred and of course the rest of the story is brother fred was in service this past sunday again after all i think it was somewhere in the mid 90s when god dealt with his life well he began to tell this testimony and you could see the

attention of these students riveted on this man him and george got more more attention than i got and that was the right thing to happen you know i was worried about all my notes and worried about all that stuff but when that experience began to be given and when that that relationship with god began to be described and then george vassell begins to give his testimony and i remember witnessing at both fred and george gave their testimony those students as i looked around and i saw tears in that post-graduate classroom what was that that was the spirit of god it was resting you know perhaps i was all worried about i can get anointed behind an apc pulpit but i don't know about that anointing in that classroom but it happened it happened we ended up having prayer during that that time and the presence

of god just settled in because it was more than tears george talked about picking up little children he gave his own testimony of how god delivered him and his father had prayed for him and his father had descended from uh armenian descent and and come over to this country and and prayed for that boy charlie's boy charge and god god touched his life and those of us who were part of the apc family who knew him know what a great testimony he was but tears began to stream down those students faces as fred gave that testimony of god's rescue god god wants to rescue somebody tonight no matter how deep you are in despair no matter how how far you feel like you have gone and how far gone the situation is oh god brother fred if you're watching right now i want you to

agree in prayer for somebody that may be in a similar situation just like you were oh god and so when they heard how god can rescue when both of those been told about the rescuing power of the spirit and the great thing about their testimony is it rested it resided it remained upon them brother fred as i said still continues to serve the lord and he himself has come through a great tragedy and a great trial over the last several months in the loss of his son but i saw him worship god on this past sunday morning god used him in the gifts of the spirit this sunday morning why because the spirit wants to rest upon you and if god can do that for a man's going through a tragedy he can keep him keep you and remain in your life and upon you

anything through anything that you go through he wants to do it and he is doing it right now so we continue the class after that prayer time out of that prayer time i kind of thought everything was wrapped up and we opened it for questions and there was there was one it was a a young woman most of these folks were either in their mid-20s and then on up in the 30s and 40s uh years of it 40 years of age and there was a young woman there a student and she said after she witnessed and heard their testimony and the presence and the power of god was there in that in that room and in that classroom here's what she said she lifted her hand and they will forget it she was seated right over there in that circle she said well she says

i just want to tell you i just want to tell you she said i went to one of these pentecostal churches out in kansas city she didn't name it i don't know if it was united pentecostal church whatever or whatever but she said i went to one of these services and she said all i can say is it felt like fire went through my body and i tell you everybody's eyes bugged out and i felt the fire of god those students i think they felt it when she said it i felt the fire of god come into that place and and that's when i realized god is no respecter of places or persons and here what i was all worried about in preparation and wanted the right advice and the right counsel god had already taken care of all of that now i needed to

do my part i needed to prepare and we had a good preparation there that would try to as thoroughly as possible present pentecosta but i'm gonna tell you there's nothing to match the spirit of counsel and the spirit of the lord that gives the advice and can touch the heart and if you're dealing with somebody to give them counsel you can't force them nobody can force them into a decision nobody can force anyone into a different lifestyle but we can pray for them we can touch them through the power of god and that young woman that was a witness that day she had the witness several weeks before in her visit to that church but in that moment in that classroom there was the power and the presence of almighty god he wants to rest upon you and i i'm going to ask you i'm

getting ready to conclude right now but the presence of god he wants to do this for you i feel like in particular some things that god wants to do today and i'm going to ask everybody that's viewing to pray with me and if you're in one of these neat areas i'm getting ready to mention just open your life open your life and be receptive but if you need the baptism of the holy ghost if you need to receive the baptism of his spirit if you need to have that spirit rest upon and in your life it's for you you you believe in god you have a faith in him that's the first step repent of anything that you know of that may have been a violation of god in his word and repentance means not only to talk about it and to say it before

god and you can do that right where you are or at any point at any time it also means to then do an about face with your life and your intentions your purposes and your actions to go away from anything that violated god in his word and begin to walk toward god in alignment with his word and you can be baptized in the name of jesus christ that can happen anywhere it's it's by immersion in the name of jesus as you believe in his name and then keep your life open after you repent after you have faith and repent it could happen at any time people have received the holy ghost before they were even water baptized they received it when they went down into the tank and come up and they were speaking in other tongues they received it a day after or weeks

after god wants to give it and we're never it's it's never about god when are you ready for me to receive the spirit he is always ready it's us who must become ready god wants to give someone his spirit in fact in this instruction uh perhaps there's a member of apc or a saint of god or an apostolic believer who already has the holy ghost maybe you could just convey some of this to somebody that you've been talking about or some talking with or somebody that's been on your heart and in your mind to instruct them that god wants it it's his promise all throughout the scripture to you your children all that are far off and then i really feel like that we need to pray for others in the midst of challenge an intercessory prayer that we can pray for them and then

god can open up a way where we would be able to speak with them and speak to them to help them to give them counsel and give them advice oh so many people need need they need a word from god they need a word from god and i want us to pray to be that voice to be able to give that word then leave yourself open to receive any of these gifts these giftings of god but in particular those that we have covered tonight the promise of the holy ghost and the spirit of counsel the spirit of counsel i'm going to ask you if you would would you stand together if that's possible and several of you are probably with your family members just open your heart we need to be open for the lord to rest upon us we need to be don't be

ashamed don't be ashamed in fact god wants to do something right now he wants to there's a reason somebody's coming to your mind he wants to give somebody a key word he wants to give somebody a particular point he wants to give somebody insight right now you do lord you do let's pray lord i want to thank you for the great gift of the holy ghost i pray for anyone and everyone who would need it tonight i pray for a refilling and infilling to all of us who already have it oh yes and then any one lord that has never never received the fulfillment god you've already promised it it's not about them having to wait on a promise you have already given the promise i pray that you would help them to prepare their hearts help them o lord to obey any instructions that

they previously received including in tonight's message and then lord help them to leave their hearts open to receive what you want to give them in the baptism of the holy ghost lead them o lord direct them i pray hallelujah and then i pray for those who are going through deep challenges right now and i pray for those of us who are being called upon to help them god give us a word of counsel for our children give us the word of counsel for our spouse give us the word of counsel for our brothers and sisters other family members oh god give us a word of counsel oh god it's it's it's not necessarily your booming voice although you can do it but you want to speak to our thoughts right now you're giving somebody a word you're giving somebody a voice you're giving somebody a

prompting and i pray that you would help us to have the courage to exercise the might to speak the word to give the counsel o lord let your anointing flow in lives right now let your anointing that's in church pray go ahead guest join in prayer let it flow right where you are your spirit oh god to touch us your spirit to touch us oh lord oh god i thank you i thank you jesus i thank you jesus i thank you jesus would you just let this spirit settle yes we are coming near the end of our service tonight but god's god's presence is lingering god's presence is here he's right where you are he's right upon you he's doing what isaiah prophesied he would do thousands of years ago he prophesied now it's happening again and it will happen over and over and over

again i know lord but this is our moment this is our time and i pray as you talk to us i pray as you speak to us names and situations god help us to rightfully handle whatever information you convey to us help us now lord i thank you tonight i thank you tonight lord i thank you let's thank him again we started by thanking him for his presence let's thank him some more here lord i want to thank you jesus i want to thank you oh lord you know exactly what we need and while these this service has not been in situations and an atmosphere that we're normally in as far as all being able to gather into a building nonetheless nonetheless you're real it's powerful it's powerful i thank you o lord lead us to people help us to be sensitive god and i

pray that you would even move upon those who need to ask and need to request for counsel and advice perhaps they're requesting from you that you're gonna choose to use a vessel you're gonna choose to use a believer to speak into their life help us all to be sensitive to that those who need that counsel and those who are needed to give that counsel i thank you o lord i thank you today i thank you today i thank you today