This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, highlighting the need for genuine power in our lives rather than relying on money or music. It encourages believers to ask, believe, and have faith when seeking God's blessings, focusing on honoring God and seeking His glory above all else. The message underscores the significance of emptying ourselves of wrong desires, motives, and attachments to fully receive God's Spirit.

Let's turn to Psalm 91. We were looking at verses 14 to 16. And we saw three conditions there, the first is that we love the Lord, second that we know his name, and we already saw those two. The third thing mentioned is, he will call upon me. And let me repeat, there are some wonderful promises here, let me repeat them, I will deliver him, I will set him on high, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him, I will honor him, I will satisfy him with a long life, and I will let him see my salvation. This is in line with what we have been considering since yesterday, that God honors those who honor him. These are various ways in which God honors those who honor him. So we want to look at this third condition, he will call upon me. One of the things that the Bible teaches is, that if we do not ask, we do not have. See this verse, in James chapter 4 verse 2, the last part, you do not have because you do not ask. And the next verse, you ask and still don't receive because you ask with wrong motives. So there are two reasons why we don't get what God wants us to have, mentioned here. One, because we don't ask, and the other is because we ask with wrong motives. In the earlier chapter of James chapter 1, he gives us a third reason, and that is, if you ask, it says in James 1 verse 6, that when you ask, you must ask in faith. And if you don't ask in faith, verse 7, then again you get nothing. So there are three reasons James mentions, why we don't get from the Lord, one, we don't ask, we don't believe that God will give it to us. Just think of these three reasons. Is it possible that God wanted to give you something, but you never got it because you never asked Him for it? And is it possible that even when you asked, you still didn't get because God saw your motive was wrong? That means, your motive was to promote yourself and to get something important for yourself. Whereas if you had sought the glory of God, you may have got it. And thirdly, do you think there could be a number of things that you didn't get from God, because when you asked, you didn't believe that He'd give it to you? In the Acts of the Apostles, what is the first thing we find that the Apostles are seeking God for? They gathered together to pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Today we talk about the church. We say, the church in Hubli. The first church was in Jerusalem. And do you know how that church started? That wasn't a very big church. There were only 120 people in it. And I think that's a good size for a church. Where there are 120 adults and perhaps a number of children. And when it becomes more than that, it's good to make it two churches. But the most important thing, how did that church in Jerusalem start? It was not because they believed in some doctrine. Yeah, they believed in many good doctrines. But they believed in those doctrines even before the church started. I mean, if you ask them, they were praying there for 10 days. They were calling upon the Lord, like we read in Psalm 91. For 10 days. And if you had asked them before the 10 days, check all the doctrines they believed. Do you believe you are a sinner? Do you believe Christ died for your sins? Do you believe that Christ rose up from the dead? Yes. Do you believe He ascended to heaven? Yeah. Do you believe He is coming back to judge people? Do you believe God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Do you believe God cleanses every sin in the blood of Christ? Every doctrine that we check with people when they come to our church, they already believed. But they were still not a church. You know when they became a church? When they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Not 5 or 10 of them. All 120. Boy, what a church that was. I would have loved to be in a church like that, where all 120 have got the real baptism in the Holy Spirit. I would have loved to be in a church like that, where all 120 have got the real baptism in the Holy Spirit. They didn't come together to listen to some great preacher from America who has come to preach to them. They didn't come together to listen to some great preacher from America who has come to preach to them. Nobody laid hands on anybody. There was no music to make people feel emotional. There was no preacher coaching them how to speak in tongues. There was no preacher coaching them how to speak in tongues. It was 100% the work of the Holy Spirit. They had such tremendous power. Peter got up and preached for about 10-15 minutes and 3,000 people got converted. Acts chapter 2, and the last sentence in verse 47, and the Lord added to that number every day those who were being saved. They didn't go around trying to grab people from the Jewish synagogues to come and join us. They stood there as a church on fire for God. Those who wanted to come came. The Lord brought them. They stood there as a church on fire for God. At that time, other people came and joined them. The first thing they prayed for and called upon the Lord for was for the power of the Holy Spirit. That's how the church was born. That's how the church was born. I believe that's how we should also pray. I don't know if all of you have prayed for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you don't have it. Secondly, you may have prayed for it for your own selfish reasons. I believe that a lot of people are praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit for their own selfish reasons. They want to become a great preacher. Or they want to get some excitement they can testify about. They are not praying saying, Lord, you are not being glorified in my life. I want you to be glorified in my life. If that was their prayer, maybe they would have received it long ago. I want to encourage you to pray like that. Lord, I don't want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit because I want to testify to other people. Just tell other people that I also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't care what other people think. I want a fire in my life which I don't have. See, that's what these people prayed for. They said, Lord, we need power in our life. See, going back to this verse, those who honor me, I will honor. If you have discovered in these days that you are not honoring God in your life, If you have discovered in these days that you are not honoring God in your life, If you are not honoring God in your thoughts, in your house, in your work, If you say, Lord, I have only one desire, that I might honor you in my life, I want to honor you in my life. In everything, my thoughts, which nobody sees but you, must honor you. The words I speak at home, in the office, in the bus, when things go wrong, the words I speak must always honor you. Even when things go wrong in my life, the words I speak must honor you. But they are not honoring you right now, Lord. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit because I want to live a life that honors you. Do you think God will answer you? Do you believe that God will honor you? Do you believe that God will honor you as much as He loves Peter, James, and John who were praying there in Acts chapter 1? God will love you as much as He loves them. Why won't He do for you what He did for Peter? If I call upon Him, I'm praying with the right motive that I want to honor Him. What's the third thing? I pray with faith. I believe that He will answer me. I remember when I started praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a young man of 23 years old. I didn't know much about it. I did not have a single person who was like a spiritual father to correct me or instruct me. I had to seek God on my own. When I said Lord, I don't want any counterfeit in my life. I want a genuine baptism in the Holy Spirit. If it takes 10 years, I'll wait 10 years. I don't want to just believe I got something when I didn't really get anything. I'm willing to believe. I'm not asking for any feelings. I didn't have any feelings when I was sure my sins were forgiven. I'm not seeking for any feelings now. But I want a real genuine experience. If you pray like that, I can tell you your life will be changed. Because it changed my life. I want to tell you something else. There were older people praying here for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, like Mary who was probably 50-55 years old. Mother of Jesus. She was between 50-55 years by then. And there were young people. John, who was 30 years old. The oldest of the apostles was Peter, 33. None of the apostles were older than 33. They were all young people praying. There were young sisters there. Young brothers, I'm sure a lot of young people there, 25, 27, 28 years old. Just like many of you. I don't believe there were many old people there. There may have been a few like Mary's age, but not many. Most of the people who followed Jesus were younger people. The older people just despised him and wanted to kill him. The older people just despised him and wanted to kill him. That was a great encouragement to young people like you. The first church on the day of Pentecost was mostly comprised of young people. The first church on the day of Pentecost was mostly comprised of young people. I believe there were 100-120 young people. There may have been about 20 people older than that. They were young people who were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they shook Jerusalem. They didn't have influence. They didn't have money. They didn't have great musicians. They didn't have money to hire big stadiums to have meetings. But they shook Jerusalem and shook the world. Not because they were large in number. You can look at all the big Christian meetings today and say we can't do all that. We don't have the money to hire a stadium. And all the lakhs of rupees it costs to do the advertisement. And we don't have great musicians and choir and all those things. And we don't have any rich people to finance all these expenses. Then you must be just like those apostles on the day of Pentecost. You are just like them. They didn't have any of these things. No musicians, no money. And not only that, the whole city was against them. Imagine if the whole city was against you. And they wanted to kill you because they have already killed your leader. These were the people who were praying. And that's how the church was born. The church was born in the midst of opposition. The church was not born with a lot of Christian television programs. The church was not born with a lot of people asking people to give money, money, money for God's work. Personally, I am absolutely convinced that money and music have replaced the power of the Holy Spirit in today's Christianity. That's why I decided long ago in my life. I will never depend on money, I will never depend on music. I am never bothered whether the music is good or bad. I am never bothered whether we have money or no money. I see in Acts chapter 2, they didn't have money, they didn't have music. No money, no music. We have to change our way of thinking, otherwise the way of thinking of this Christian world will change our way of thinking. I find many people in our churches are influenced by what is happening in Christianity around them. I have watched Christianity for 47 years, which is much longer than all of you. I have refused to be influenced by all these things I see around me. I keep going back to the word of God and I see only one thing, they had the power of the Holy Spirit. But they were not at all interested in money. If they had music, they would use it. If they didn't have music, they couldn't care less for that. But they prayed and prayed for the power of the Holy Spirit. They were locked up, beaten. See this example in Acts chapter 4. We read here that the apostles we read here were locked up in prison in Acts chapter 4. Verse 3. And then they brought them out to ask them a question. In verse 18. And they said you got to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. And they said we can't stop. We have to speak what we have heard. Verse 20. You think we should listen to you? Verse 19 or listen to God? They were ready to go to jail. In fact they went to jail many times. They went to jail many times. When they were released. Verse 23. What did they do? They went to the church. See these people are threatening us again. What shall we do? Shall we contact Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea? They helped us last time. Shall we use their influence? Because they were influential people. We are not bothered about Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea. We are not trying to see if there are some Christians who are in big offices who can help us. They said we will pray. Like it says in Psalm 91. He will call upon me and I will honour him. When you are in a difficult situation. Who you turn to shows where your faith is. In the old testament there were times when Israel had a difficult situation they would go to some idol. When Israel was in a difficult situation they would go to some idol. God would make fun of them through his prophets. Go to your idol. Let's see how much he can help you. In the same way we can have idols in our life. Maybe depend on our resources or on some human being. God says ok. You are depending on that. Go ahead. God is so honoured when like these apostles we turn to him and say Lord you help us. I want you young people to learn from a very young age. When we are in trouble call upon the Lord. That's what they did here. Together they prayed with unity to the Lord. With one accord it says in verse 24. Wherever God finds people in unity praying together for his help he always answers. What did God answer? How did God answer? Verse 31 He filled them with the Holy Spirit all over again. That is always God's way of answering. That is always God's way of answering. He said God save us and don't send us to jail again. We are ready to go to jail. He said please teach us without fear. In the name of Jesus God filled them with the Holy Spirit. I believe we need to pray such a prayer in our time also. I don't mean all these fake, counterfeit signs and wonders that are being done on platforms today by all types of preachers. I am talking about real manifestation of God's power. Where people recognize Jesus Christ as Lord. These type of things you can fool a few people. There are people who pray to these Roman Catholic shrines also. There are people who pray to these Roman Catholic shrines also. I prayed to this statue of Mary and I got a miracle. I prayed to this infant Jesus statue and I got a miracle. Somebody says I prayed to Tirupati and I got a miracle from there. Somebody says I turned to Mecca and I prayed there and I got a miracle from there. Which religion doesn't say that? All religions say all this. I am not fooled by all these things. Christians say it and other religions people also say it. These people there was such a genuine manifestation of power. It was not a counterfeit. I believe that India really needs to see it. We haven't seen it yet. Here and there sometimes God has moved in great power. It's been my prayer that God would show that power once again in India. I was reading about a very godly lady in Maharashtra called Pandita Ramabai. She was a Hindu convert who accepted the Lord. She had a little orphanage in a place near Pune called Kedgaon where she cared for these helpless women, young girls who had child marriages and the boy died and she became a widow at the age of six. So these child widows who were all rejected by society people who were illiterate and poor all these Marathi speaking people in that area she gathered these poor girls together and prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is way back about 100 years ago and God mightily answered. Pandita Ramabai was a highly educated lady. She knew English and Hebrew and Greek and all that. These are all poor Marathi speaking girls. One day the fire of God fell upon them and she heard some of these people speaking in tongues in English, good English. And in Hebrew which she understood. And I heard one girl, they thought she was actually on fire. They tried to pour water to quench the fire. Those sinful women they really were a flaming light for Jesus Christ. See, God doesn't choose. If there was no music, there was no money there. They had the power of the Holy Spirit. Those are the type of things I look for. I'm not looking for all these big platforms with American preachers with big lights and lot of money. I haven't seen in big meetings in big meetings people spending a lot of money. It's all more like the film stars. That preacher comes in a helicopter. I'm not interested in that. These type of things which you just heard, that's the real thing. You just heard, I like this type of preaching. If you want that, you need to shut your ears and eyes to what you see in Christendom today. And come back to what we see in the Acts of the Apostles. Lord, I want the genuine power of God in my life. And we need to gather together people who are seeking for power. You know how the devil seeks to neutralize the church and spoil it? There are many ways. One of the ways is by getting people to join the church who are not really interested in the fire of the Holy Spirit. And if the elders in a church are not very watchful, all types of half-hearted people will come and influence everybody. And ultimately, the whole church is corrupt. Two, three women will come who are just gossipers and backbiters sent by the devil to destroy the church. They will come and gossip, gossip, backbite, gossip, gossip, backbite and corrupt all the women and send a few half-hearted brothers into the church. Or people will come who only want money. All they want is to ask people to give them loans and money. And there will be stupid believers who will give them money. There will be no revival there. Because all these people come in, they are not interested in God. They are not interested in the part of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, their doctrine is all correct. They come for the conferences. But you got to discern how many of these people are really interested in living a holy life. How many of these people are interested in being separated from the world and living for God? Those are the only people we want in the church. The rest can go. I have said that for 30 years. I have so many denominations. Why don't you go and sit there? Why waste our time? There are so many denominations. Why don't you go and sit there? If they had 1,000 people there on the day of Pentecost, half-hearted people sitting around before the day of Pentecost, for those 10 days, they wouldn't have prayed. They would have sat and discussed and argued and nothing would have happened even in 100 days. But they were very careful. People like Peter and all didn't just allow any Tom, Dick and Harry to come and sit there. It was not a social service club there. Social service clubs, there are so many other places they can go there. They came to seek for the power of God so that they can influence their city for God. They came together to seek God for power. John the Baptist had said when Jesus comes, he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. They wanted that. And they came together to pray for that. They knew it's not easy. They knew that God would test them to sift out all the people who are not interested. God is always testing people. We take this example in 2nd Kings chapter 2. 2nd Kings chapter 2. We read there about Elijah and Elisha. And we read here that Elijah told Elisha in verse 2 You stay here in Gilgal because I am going to Bethel. They were in a place called Gilgal verse 1. Elijah told Elisha you stay here. I am going to Bethel. Elisha said sorry, I am not going to listen to you. Imagine telling a senior prophet I am not going to listen to you. I am not going to leave you. I am going to come with you. So they came to Bethel. And there Elijah told Elijah you stay here verse 4, I am going to Jericho. Elijah said sorry, I am not going to stay here. I am going to come with you. Then they came to Jericho. Elijah told him in verse 6 Elijah said Elisha you stay here. I am going to Jordan. He said no, I am not going to stay. I am going to come with you. And they went through the river Jordan. Elijah divided the waters verse 8 and the waters parted and he walked across just like the Egyptians. Just like Israel came out of Egypt. And then they came to the other side of the river. Then Elijah asked Elisha Why are you sticking to me like this? Elijah had already told Elisha the Lord has told me I am going up today. So Elisha knew his master is going away. What do you think Elisha wanted? You see here when some missionaries go away from some mission compound You know that is how it has been everywhere in India. Missionaries will come and they will set up like the Basil mission compound they will set up a mission compound in different places and then the time comes for them to go. And some people will cling close to them and say what do you want? Please make me the director when you go. Or give me your bungalow your house when you go. Those are the things many people in India wanted when the missionaries left. And they got it. A lot of Indian people have made a lot of money in the name of Jesus Christ just like the money changers in the temple. I have seen that all across India. But Elisha did not ask for all that. I don't want any of those things Elijah. I want a double portion verse 9 of your spirit to be upon me. Elijah I know the secret of your life was not money or music. Elijah I know the secret of your life was not money or music. You had no money and you couldn't sing. But I saw the secret of your life you had a power in your life. I want double of that in my life. What did Elijah say? If he was one of today's American preachers or Indian preachers he would have said, come here I will lay hands on you it's easy. And they would place their empty hands on the fellow's empty head and they think they will get something. Nothing happens. But that's not what Elijah said. Elijah said that's a very hard thing you have asked. I don't know whether you will get it I can't give it to you. Verse 10 it's a very hard thing you have asked. I am not just going to lay my empty hands on your head and say you got it. If God gives it to you you will get it. It has to come from heaven. You know Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only one who can baptize the Holy Spirit. I can baptize you in water. That's no problem, I can do that. But baptism in the Holy Spirit I can't do that. You have to go to Jesus. Can I say that to you also? You want baptism in water? I can do that for you. But baptism in the Holy Spirit Go to the baptizer. Jesus. He is the only one whom God the Father has appointed to baptize people in the Holy Spirit and fire. I went to him and I got it from him. My wife went to him and got it from him. She didn't get it from me. You have to go to him. And if you see me when I am gone you will get it, otherwise you won't get it. I can't say. That's what I say to people. I don't know whether you will get it or not. I don't know whether you will get it or not. You can. You can get a double portion of my Spirit. Whether you get it or not I don't know. That depends on your heart. What God sees in your heart. What your motives are. Whether you love him with all your heart. Whether you are willing to forsake everything to serve him and live for him. Whether you care for the opinions of men or the opinions of God. And whether you will seek him with all your heart. Then you will find him. I say the same thing that Elijah said. I don't know. It's a very hard thing. But you can get it if you if God gives it to you and he sees your heart he will give it to you. And you know what happened? He got it. And if you study the life of Elijah you see he did double the miracles that Elijah did. Exactly what he asked he got. If Elijah raised one man from the dead Elijah raised two people from the dead. You know it teaches us one thing God honors those who ask and pay. You know Elijah was not interested in money once Naaman came and gave him money he said I don't want it. Go away from here. He only wanted to glorify God. And I will tell you this if your only desire is to glorify God he will give you a double portion of his Holy Spirit. It's all a question of whether you are ready to receive. People sometimes ask me why do you have to wait? We don't have to wait like those apostles on the day for the day of Pentecost because they had to wait because the day of Pentecost had not yet come. Now we don't have to wait but still people have to wait for one reason. They are not ready. That means God says I want to give it to you. You are not ready. It's like supposing a little child comes to the mother with a dirty cup full of muck. Say a glass full of rubbish and stones and all that. He says mummy give me some milk. Mum says sure go and clean your glass and bring it here. And she throws away one or two stones and says still there is a lot of muck there. Give me some milk. Mum says throw away the rubbish and then come. The child throws away one more stone and says give me. Why does the child have to wait and wait and wait and wait? Is it because the mother is not willing to give milk? No, the cup is not clean. It's not empty. That's why you have to wait. God says I am more eager to fill you with the Holy Spirit than you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe this with all my heart. After hearing this message how many of you are eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit? I will tell you God is a hundred times more eager than you to fill you with the Holy Spirit. That is faith. Let me define faith for you. Faith is to believe that God is more eager to bless me than I am to be blessed. Faith is to believe that God is more eager to bless you than you are to be blessed. If you don't believe that then you don't have faith. I believe that God is more eager to bless me than I am to be blessed. If you don't believe that then you don't have faith. You won't get anything. You must believe. You are more eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit than you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But you have to empty your cup. Wrong desires Wrong motives Areas where you have not humbled yourself Things you have to set right Things you are still attached to Earthly ambitions, goals What a lot of muck there is there. Please give me some milk. He says, no, go empty the glass. Empty the glass. Give me some milk. But as the mother says, you have to empty the cup. Elijah was testing Elisha. Are you happy with this much? Elisha said, no. A little more. Are you happy with this much? No. I still want more. Go further. Are you happy with this much? No. One more point. Are you happy with this much? No. That's what the Lord is asking you. Are you happy with what you've got in your Christian life? Your sins are all forgiven. You're going to heaven. You're in a good church. You have good conferences. Many people say, Lord, that's enough. That's all you'll get. People like Elisha said, No. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I want a double portion. All these things are good, but I'm not satisfied. Those are the ones who get God's best. Let's pray. I want to encourage you young people to believe. God will meet with you. Don't be deceived by the Christendom you see around you. Don't follow after all those things they are following after. Every single one of you, there is one thing you need, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. Don't come to me because I can't give it to you. Go to Jesus, the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. I did not go to any man. I went to Jesus. Oh my brother, sister, don't waste your life. Look at the things on earth that you pursue. Pursue the baptism in the Holy Spirit with much greater zeal and earnestness. That's how the church was born on the day of Pentecost. Not with doctrine or preaching or music or money. It was the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's seek God for that. Especially young people, that's what you need. You need to be like a bush that is set on fire by God. Heavenly Father, let your power be upon us. As we cry to you, we pray that you'll pour out your spirit upon us. Change our lives. Let there be a burning light for thee in this city. Do it Lord. Even if it's only a few people. That you'll raise up such a band of brothers and sisters. Those who are on fire for God. They will never lose that fire. Till the day you come. We pray in Jesus' name.