This sermon emphasizes the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, moving from a place of defeat and discouragement to experiencing the fullness of joy and blessings that God has purchased for us on the cross. It highlights the need to thirst for a deeper relationship with God, believe in His promises, and allow rivers of living water to flow from our innermost being, transforming our lives and making us a blessing to others.

I want to share with you today concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. There was a time in my life when I was born again, but I defeated Christian. Frequently discouraged, and not able to overcome sin. And I never knew what Jesus had purchased for me on the cross. I thought it was only forgiveness of sins, and heaven when I die. And I'm thankful that I discovered there's a lot more than that, that I could have here on this earth before I die. There are a lot of Christians who are just happy with the fact that my sins are forgiven. That they'll go to heaven when they die. But if we do not live on this earth the way God wants us to, even if you do get to heaven when you die, you're going to have a lot of regrets there. Because in that day, when you see Jesus face to face, you will discover what you have not discovered on this earth till now. And that is the extent to which Jesus loved you. And the tremendous extent of His sacrifice. And how deeply He suffered, so that He could purchase eternal life for us. And when we see that, and we see how cold and calculating we were in our giving ourselves to God, I think many, many believers are going to have a lot of regrets. And will wish, Lord, give me one more chance to live for you on this earth. But you can't get another chance when Christ has come back. This is the only life in which we can express our gratitude to Christ for what He's done for us. About 20 years ago I was riding my motorcycle in India. And I was going across a railway crossing when it hit me. And I got thrown down on the rails and I was unconscious. But somebody picked me up and God saved me from a serious accident. And when I came back to consciousness, I said, Lord, I have not finished saying thank you to you for what you did for me on the cross. I was saved when I was 19 years old. And by that time, I had already served the Lord for about 34 years. That was nearly 20 years ago. I said, Lord, I have not finished saying thank you to you for dying for me on the cross. Give me a few more years on earth to say thank you. Not thank you with words. Words are cheap. It's easy. Words are easy to speak. Even money is cheap. When you earn plenty of money to give a little bit for God's work, that costs us nothing. We can satisfy ourselves that we've given a little bit of time, a little bit of money to God. And that's because we haven't seen the greatness of Christ's love and sacrifice for us. And so, I through the years, as I've sought to serve the Lord, it is not for some reward. And so, I through the years, as I've sought to serve the Lord, it is not for some reward. When I think of how much Jesus sacrificed for me on the cross, I feel that I still haven't said thank you enough with my life. What about you? When you see what Christ paid for us, you'll find that the attractions of the world don't pull you so much anymore. It's like, you know, if a young man finds a very attractive girl, nobody else is attractive to him after that. Or a girl finds a very wonderful young man, no other man is attractive to her after that. Why do you find the world so attractive? Why do you find bad movies and television programs so attractive? It's because, I'll tell you the truth, it's because you haven't found Jesus as attractive. Most Christians are in that condition. It was like that once for me too. So, I'm not throwing stones at anybody. Jesus said, He who is without sin, throw the first stone. There was a time I myself have failed, so how can I throw stones at anybody else who's failing today? There was a time I myself have failed, so how can I throw stones at anybody else who's failing today? But I can tell you that I found a higher way that changed my life completely. About 38 years ago, God baptized me in the Holy Spirit and fire. And it was not the cheap counterfeit that so many people experience today. It was a genuine thing that changed the whole direction of my life. So, I want to share a few things with you concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit from the Gospel of John. In John's Gospel, Jesus spoke three times about water as a picture of the Holy Spirit. You know, Jesus very often used pictures to illustrate truth. He spoke about salt and light. And He spoke many parables. He spoke about water and fire. And the breadth of God. Let's turn to John chapter 3. I see in John's Gospel that he spoke about three steps in life in the Holy Spirit. Number one is John 3 verse 5. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. These are not two separate births of water and Spirit. He is referring to water as a picture of the Holy Spirit. So, the first ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life is to bring us to new birth. And that's called being born of the Holy Spirit. Now, I've come through the years to discover that we cannot assume that even in a good church like this, everybody is born of the Holy Spirit. There are, particularly if you were born in a Christian family, you know, you come to church from childhood, and all the truths are known to you. And you may not have experienced a radical birth in your life. It's very important to know that. To be born of the Holy Spirit. See, I was born in an orthodox Christian family, but a very God-fearing family where my father taught us about the new birth. I never got out of bed any day without praying. I mean, I only prayed the Lord's Prayer, Our Father who art in Heaven, but I prayed that every morning before I got out of bed. Every Sunday I went to church. I never robbed a bank. I never killed anyone. I never committed adultery. I never cheated in my examinations. I lived a fairly decent life, but I was not born of the Holy Spirit. I was for namesake a Christian, a good external life, but not born again. And it took me 19 years before I was really born of the Holy Spirit. And it took me 19 years before I was really born of the Holy Spirit. So I know from my experience that you can be a very good, upright person, going to church every Sunday like I did, and not be born of God. And it's those who live good lives who are in greater danger than the murderers and the thieves. You remember Jesus told the Pharisees, you people claim to be healthy, so that you don't need a doctor, I won't come for you. I'll come for the sick, the sinners. It's the sick people who need a doctor. I remember in one church, I was speaking to some nominal Christians after the meeting. And they were regular church goers. I said, I'll tell you why you are not born again. Because you are coming to Christ as a Christian. And Jesus Christ never died for Christians. He won't accept you if you come as a Christian. They were shocked. Jesus Christ never died for Christians, and who did He die for? I said, He died for sinners. You come to Christ as a sinner, you'll be forgiven. You come to Him as a Christian, He'll say, I didn't die for you. You claim to be alright, then you don't need a doctor. It's the sick who need a doctor. You remember the two thieves who hung on either side of the cross? Both were equally evil, equally guilty. Why did one go to heaven and the other go to hell? There was only one difference between them. One man said, get me down from the cross. In other words, I'm not so guilty to be crucified. That was the meaning, I don't deserve to be crucified, get me down from here. Whereas the other thief said, I deserve this. That was the only difference. And we'll discover when Christ comes back, that it's those who have come to Him, acknowledging that they are good for nothing sinners, that get into God's kingdom. And one way that you know that you're a good for nothing sinner is this, you don't despise anybody else. If you look at someone else and say, I'm not such a bad sinner like him, I want to tell you, you'll never be born again. Jesus told a story once of a righteous man in a temple praying and saying, God, I'm not like that sinner over there. You read about that in Luke 18. And that sinner, Jesus said, went home justified and saved. Because, he did not compare himself with anybody else. He just looked at himself and said, I'm a sinner oh God, be merciful to me. The Pharisee compared himself with others. When a Christian compares himself with others and says, I'm better than that person. He's not going to be justified by God. Jesus Christ did not come for the righteous, He came for sinners. And all of us, if you came to Christ as a good person, you're probably not even saved today. Let me give you the example of the Apostle Paul, who's held up to us in the New Testament as an example. I say that because, apart from Jesus, Paul was the only man who said, follow me. Jesus said, follow me, a number of times. In 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. There's so much written about Paul in the New Testament because God wants us to see in him an example. He was a very upright man. From childhood. Do you know what his testimony was? Even when he was not converted. Let me read that to you in Acts 23 verse 1. He told the Jewish council that was judging him one day, He said in Acts 23 verse 1, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God right up to this day. And when he said that, he was probably 57, 58 years old. For the first 30 years he was not even converted. And now for the more than 25 years he'd been converted. But he says, from the beginning of my life I've lived with a good conscience. That was his testimony. How many of us can say we've lived with a good conscience from the day we were born? Hardly anybody. But what did Paul think about himself? He says in 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, I am the greatest sinner in the whole world. I am the chiefest of all the sinners. Look at this thing that looks contradictory to each other. On one hand, I've lived my life with a good conscience till today. On the other hand, but when I stand before God, I see myself as the greatest sinner in the whole world. When he stood before men, he could say, I've lived with a very good conscience. When he stood before God, all his righteousness melted away. And he saw himself as the greatest sinner in the world. Let me share something with you, my dear brothers and sisters. If you have never once in your life felt never once that you were the greatest sinner in the world, I doubt whether you really know God. I've felt like that many times. The closer you get to God, where the seraphims who never sinned cover their faces and say, Holy, Holy, Holy. Isaiah, who was the greatest prophet of his time, said, I am a man of unclean lips. The trouble with a lot of people who say they are born again today is they have never seen their sin, first of all. They compare themselves with others and say, Well, I'm better than them. They compare themselves with other Christians or other friends and they say, I'm not so bad as them. And their parents or somebody says to them, Ask Jesus to come into your heart. And maybe you said those words, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. But what has changed? If you are honest, probably hardly anything has changed in your life. And then your parents urge you to get baptized and you get baptized in water. You don't seem to experience the change that real new birth can bring. Let me show you what the Bible says about new birth. 2 Corinthians 5 Verse 17 2 Corinthians 5, 17 The man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and new things have come. Now, first of all, when we are born into the world, we are in Adam. That's the old creation. And when we come into Christ, it's a new creation. What is the difference between the old creation and the new creation? How do we know that the Holy Spirit has taken us out of Adam and put us into Christ? It's a radical thing to be taken out of Adam and put into Christ. That's what we are testifying to in the waters of baptism. If I were to use an illustration, it's our whole attitude to sin changes. That's what happens in a new creation. We don't get a new body. We don't get a new face. We don't get a new intelligence. But it says, something old has passed away and something new has come. What is the old that has passed away? When we are born again. When we are born of the Holy Spirit. The old attitude to sin has gone. And a new attitude to sin has come. That's what Romans 6 calls the old man. The old man that's crucified is the old attitude to sin. The new man is the new attitude to sin. See, for example, I can take an illustration from the animal kingdom. Think of the attitude that a pig has to dirt and muck. A pig just seems to love dirt and muck and is not bothered if it's eating all that filth and all dirty all over. But look at a cat. A cat never likes to be dirty. Have you seen cats always licking themselves and making themselves clean? It's not the result of instruction. It's nature. It's nature. When a mother pig gets little baby pigs a mother pig a mother pig doesn't have to teach the baby pigs, Hey, remember you gotta be dirty. You must love dirt. No, you don't have to teach a baby pig to love to be dirty. It just loves dirty. It's just nature. And when a cat has got little kittens he doesn't have to teach his kittens Now listen, you are cats. You must always keep yourself clean. It's not instruction. It's nature. It's nature. A cat does not have to teach his kittens to be clean. A pig does not have to teach his little piglets to be dirty. The children of Adam don't have to teach their children to tell lies. The children of Adam don't have to teach their children to be sinners. Who taught your children to tell lies? I'm sure you didn't teach them. Who taught your children to fight with each other? Who taught your children to be disobedient to parents? It's not instruction. It's like that pig. Nature. New bird to use that illustration is like this cat's nature coming inside the pig. Very often our better we live a better life just because we hear so many things in the church. Very often we live a better life just because we hear so many things in the church. It doesn't seem to come from nature. It comes from instruction. Dear brothers and sisters, have you got a new nature? Has the Holy Spirit come and brought you to birth? Has the Lord taken away the old heart and put a new heart there within you? We can never do this ourselves. Who can change the nature of a pig into the nature of a cat? Only Almighty God. This is the new bird. I know that's what happened to me. I was born again at the age of nineteen and a half. I suddenly found a new attitude to sin. A new attitude to the things of the world. A new attitude to watching dirty movies and any type of movies that I was watching before. Nobody had to tell me you shouldn't be going and watching all those filthy movies. You know, just like the cat didn't have to tell the kittens keep yourself clean. Something within me you know, made me hate that. And I knew I was born again. I'm not saying I didn't fall. Yeah, I fell. I fell a number of times. Into sin. But, it was a different reaction when I fell. See like, you can't say a cat will never fall into dirty water. Cats can also fall into dirty water. But the difference between a cat falling into the muck and a pig falling into the muck is this. The pig just stays there and enjoys it. The cat jumps out and licks itself clean. So, I'm not saying that a believer will never fall into sin. Yeah, believers fall too. But their reaction will be immediate. Do you find when you fall into sin a reaction immediate that you want to turn away from it and cleanse yourself? Or do you fall into sin and enjoy it for half an hour and then decide to come out? Or do you fall into sin and enjoy it for half an hour and then decide to come out? And the pig can also come out after enjoying the dirt for half an hour. But a cat will not stay in that muck even one second. I don't want to bring condemnation to anybody here. But I have come through the years to see that many who claim to be born again are not really born again. And the fundamental reason is they have not come to the Lord as dirty, filthy sinners in the beginning. They have not turned from their sin to God. You know, when the Apostle Paul preached the gospel we read in Acts chapter 20 and verse 21 Acts 20 and verse 21 that there were two things he preached as necessary. One was repentance and the other was faith. Repentance and faith are the two things God has joined together in the preaching of the gospel. But most evangelists and preachers have separated what God has joined together. Today, there is very little preaching on repentance. There is a lot of preaching on faith. If you don't believe me, just listen to any of these television preachers. Or listen to all these videos of these mega churches. What are those preachers preaching? Mostly psychology. But they don't preach against sin. They don't tell you that anger is a sin. They don't tell you that lusting after a woman is a sin. They don't tell you that seeking the honor of men is an insult to God and it's a sin. They won't tell you that cheating on your taxes is a sin. They won't tell you that telling a lie is a sin. They won't tell you that pride is one of the worst sins. That spiritual pride will make you a Pharisee. They won't tell you that hypocrisy pretending to be more spiritual than you are is a terrible sin. They won't tell you that the love of money is a sin. They won't tell you what the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. There are a lot of verses like this which are in the New Testament which are not preached today. And so, a lot of Christians don't know what sin is. I preached against sin in my own church in India for 37 years. And I'll never stop preaching on it until Jesus comes. And there are people who come to our church who said, Brother Zach, I never knew what sin was until I came here. Jesus said in Luke 24 verse 47 Luke 24 verse 47 That in every nation on the face of the earth the message that must be preached is first repentance and then the forgiveness of sins. In every nation I hear hardly anybody preaching that in India So I say, Lord, I want to do it because your word says so. So dear brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit will do a wonderful work if I turn from sin and say, Lord, I want to be holy. I'm a sinner. Forgive me my sin. You know, when you see what Jesus suffered on the cross, you really begin to hate sin. Jesus who could carry the universe on his shoulders found the weight of my sin heavier than the universe. It was not the weight of the universe that crushed him on the cross, it was my sin. And the more I meditated on that, the more I hated sin. So that's the first ministry of the Holy Spirit. When we are born of water, we get like a cup of water. You know, the psalmist says, I lift up the cup of salvation. We are born of the Holy Spirit. The second time Jesus spoke about water is in John chapter 4. He told the woman of Samaria, verse 13, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. Verse 14, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst. But the water I give him will be like a well of water springing up to eternal life. So now the cup of water becomes a well of water. I start out holding up my cup of salvation and the Spirit of God fills it. I'm born again. I'm saved. But He doesn't want me to remain a cup. He wants to expand my capacity so that this cup becomes a well. God wants to lead us one step higher. And when I have a well, one proof that I got the well is this. He said it there. You will never thirst again for all the water that this world can give you. There are so many pleasures and entertainments the world can give you. Most of that is controlled by the God of this world, the devil. How many of you know that the entire movie industry of Hollywood is controlled by the devil? A lot of politics is controlled by the devil. A lot of businesses are controlled by Satan. Unrighteousness and crookedness and evil in all these areas. The whole purpose of all this is for the devil to draw Christians away from God. Those of you who watch all these movies, you find at the end of it you are drawn a little closer to God? Or do you find a thirst to watch another movie? That's what Jesus said. Whoever drinks this water will thirst again for another. But whoever drinks of the water I give him will never thirst again for that. The devil is out to weaken believers in some way or the other. And he's done that with pastors and preachers and with every girl. Do you know the number of young people sitting in Christian churches who are slaves to internet pornography? Married people who watch pornography secretly on their computer and now on their cell phones but they are Christians, they sing in the church. What a work the devil has done. The Bible says in 1 John 2, 6 if you call us as Christians we must walk as Jesus walked. Why do we find ourselves thirsty again and again for things we know are not drawing us closer to God? We don't have a well of water. You know you drink a cup of water you thirst again. But if you have a well in your house like a spring that's springing up all the time it's always satisfying your thirst. It's a picture of such joy. You know man was created for joy. Man was not created by God to be gloomy and discouraged and depressed. Man was created to have joy. But not the joy that the world gives. Let me read to you Psalm 16 in verse 11. Psalm 16 verse 11 Lord thou wilt make known to me the path of life. Now in thy presence there is fullness of joy. There is a spring of living water in your presence. In God's presence there is fullness of joy. I want to say that again. In God's presence there is fullness of joy. Not a few drops fullness of joy. You know what I get from that verse. Meditate on scripture. Don't read a verse and jump to the next verse. Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. We don't read the word day and night but we can meditate day and night on it. I can read one verse in the morning In thy presence there is fullness of joy. I can meditate on that verse for the whole day. Even when I am not reading the Bible. In your presence there is fullness of joy. I'll tell you what I got from it. Listen. Whenever I am not full of joy I am not in God's presence. Did you get that? You may think you are in God's presence but if you are in God's presence there is fullness of joy. Why are you gloomy? Depressed? Discouraged? Condemning yourself? In a bad mood? Why are you so upset with your husband or wife? Why are you so upset with your husband or wife? The Bible has one answer. You are not at that moment in God's presence. So, for me this has been a test. How do I know I am in God's presence? For many years I did not know. But as I meditated on this verse I found the answer. The Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is joy. The kingdom of God is righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit. It says that in Romans 14.17 When Jesus said seek the kingdom of God first He is saying seek righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit first. That's what He meant. To seek the kingdom of God first does not mean to go out and be a missionary. Because the kingdom of God is defined in Romans 14.17 as righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. They could not have it in the Old Testament. They could only have a kingdom of earth in Canaan. But after the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit they could find this joy in the Holy Spirit. We read in the Acts of the Apostles when the Apostles were beaten, imprisoned and they were released they came out with joy in their hearts. Nothing could take away their joy. The Apostle Paul when his hands were in chains and his feet were in stocks he was praising the Lord in the Philippian jail. They were in God's presence. You can be in God's presence in a jail. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord. And again I say rejoice. Do you know where Paul wrote that letter to the Philippians? He was lying in a Roman dungeon called a jail. See the Roman jails were not like the prisons in Australia, air conditioned and all that. It was a pit with cockroaches and rats and mosquitoes all over. And in that condition he writes Brothers rejoice in the Lord always. Why? Because in that prison he was in God's presence. That is the well of water that springs up no matter where you are. This is the real fullness of the Holy Spirit. A joy that nothing can take away. Jesus said that in John 16 Your joy no one can take away from you. I praise the Lord for that. That God has given me that joy described in John 16.22 A joy that no one can take away from me. If I dwell in God's presence. So I want to encourage all of you from now on Make this the test. How do you know you are in God's presence? You will have a fullness of joy. Not just a few drops. A well of water springing up all the time. You know how these springs are? You don't have to pump them. It just comes up, comes up, comes up out of the earth all the time. It's more than a well. It's springing up all the time. A spring of joy. Dear brothers and sisters This is what Jesus purchased for us on the cross with His blood. For so many years in my life after being born again the devil robbed me of this. For so many years after being born again the devil robbed me of this. It's like your father leaving a billion dollars for you and some crooked lawyer cheating you of your inheritance. Imagine if your father worked hard and earned a billion dollars and wrote it all for you in his will. Will you allow some crooked lawyer to cheat you of that inheritance? Do you know what Jesus purchased for you on the cross? A life where I can always dwell in God's presence. This is the meaning of the veil being rent in the most holy place when Jesus died. In the Old Testament tabernacle there was a most holy place where God dwelt. And also in the temple. But there was this thick veil teaching man that you cannot go into God's presence. That's why they could not rejoice always in the Old Testament. That's why there's no verse in the Old Testament which says rejoice in the Lord always. Such a verse could only be written after the veil was rent. That's why even the great prophet Elijah got depressed after fire came down from heaven. Immediately after the fire came down from heaven. The very next day. You would have thought Elijah should be full of joy. But he was so depressed the very next day. He said Lord I'm fed up of my life take it away. What a great prophet he was. But the veil was not rent. He could not dwell in God's presence. But today the veil has been rent. I'm not a greater prophet than Elijah. But I've got a greater Savior than he had. I'm not living in the Old Covenant with the veil closing up the most holy place. I'm living in the New Covenant. Jesus has made a way into the most holy place. And I can have this continuous joy everyday 24-7. I'm not telling you a lie. God has changed my life when He filled me with the Holy Spirit. Joy is one of the clearest marks, fullness of joy, one of the clearest marks of being filled with the Holy Spirit. In the Acts we read the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. A Spirit filled person is never a gloomy depressed person. A person filled with the Holy Spirit is never a depressed person. It's bubbling up. Joy in our heart because our sins are forgiven. The devil was defeated on the cross. I remember in the early days how frequently I used to be discouraged. But it went out of my life right when God filled me with the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying I'm not tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. The Apostle Paul was tempted. He says in 2nd Corinthians, we're tempted but we don't lose our courage. And now when the temptation comes to me to be discouraged or gloomy. I say well Lord my sins are forgiven. When so many things around me may be going wrong and I'm facing different trials or maybe I made some mistake and lost a lot of money. What should I do? Get discouraged? I say Lord my sins are forgiven. The devil was defeated on the cross 2,000 years ago. God is still on the throne ruling the universe. Greater is He that's in me than anyone is in the world. Christ is coming back to take me. Christ is coming back to take me. Well all the main things are ok. Some minor problems let them be there. And I keep on praying in tongues until the discouragement goes. That's what Paul says. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. It's been a wonderful life for me since God filled me with the Holy Spirit. Then number three. The third place where Jesus speaks about water. John chapter 7 and verse 37 and 38. We start with a cup of water then it becomes a well of water a spring of water and now it becomes rivers of living water. Verse 37 If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me it's all dependent on faith. It doesn't say he who believes in me will get a new car or a new house. But rivers of living water will flow from his innermost being. That means multitudes of people can be blessed through my life. So many of us are very shy and timid. I was like that when I was first born again. I was afraid to stand before people. I could never stand up and speak to people. But I said Lord I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus said when the Spirit of God has come upon you you will be my witnesses. Because Jesus said when the Spirit of God has come upon you you will be my witnesses. It doesn't say when the Spirit of God has come upon you you will have to try to be my witnesses. It's almost automatic. When the Spirit of God has come upon you you will be my witnesses. It's almost automatic. It's like saying when you put on the switch the light comes on. You don't have to coax that bulb to burn. When the power comes in the lights come on. When the power comes in the lights come on. And that's what I found. That God could make my life the shy, timid person God could make my life a blessing to other people. Only by being filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's why I feel a lot of people who claim to be filled with the Spirit I say, what type of Spirit did you get? It should be rivers of living water. You know, a well a spring can just satisfy myself. But imagine a river flowing out blessing thousands of people. Do you believe God can use you for that? To be a blessing to thousands of people? What's the condition? Only two things. Number one Anyone thirst? I want to ask you a question. After the little bit that you have heard today Do you find a thirst in you that says, Lord I want this life. When I was a young Christian most of the preachers I heard were not filled with the Holy Spirit. And even some of the Pentecostal preachers who said they were filled with the Spirit I didn't feel there was any fullness of the Holy Spirit in them. Most of them loved money more than they loved God. But I met a few here and there. When I heard them I could say this is a Spirit filled man. It was like rivers coming out of his life. Satisfying my thirst and creating a thirst in me. Are you thirsty? Do you long for this life that Jesus purchased for you on the cross? That's the first condition. And the second condition verse 38, believe in Him. Do you believe God will do it for such a useless person like you? God met with me when I was in the depths of defeat. Defeated, hypocritical Instead of sending me to hell He filled me with the Holy Spirit. To teach me one thing that God does not give the Holy Spirit to those who deserve Him. I did not deserve Him. None of us deserve Him. God gives the Spirit to those who need Him. And boy, I really needed Him. Do you feel you need Him today? You feel you don't deserve Him? You're not good enough? Dear brother, sister, you'll never be good enough. Even in a hundred years you will not be good enough to deserve the Holy Spirit. But if you need Him and you see your need and you're thirsty and you believe that if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children how much more your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. I want to say one more thing. There's a difference between the Holy Spirit coming upon people in the Old Covenant and in the New Covenant. The Holy Spirit came upon Moses, Gideon, David so many people in the Old Covenant. And even Samson. And they blessed thousands. But it was something like this. First thing, this is your your inner life. Your heart. There's a veil on top of it. That's how it was in the Old Testament. And when the Spirit was poured upon people it never went inside them. It flowed from over them and blessed millions of people. Because there was a veil between soul and spirit. That was symbolized by the veil in the tabernacle. When Jesus died that veil was torn and removed. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit could come to the innermost being and fill the innermost being and then flow out to millions of people. That's the difference between the Old Covenant fullness and the New Covenant fullness. That's why Samson could bless people so many ways but his heart was full of adultery. It was not from the innermost being. That's why David could kill Goliath but he could not overcome his own lust when he saw Bathsheba. That's why Moses could bring water out of the rock but he couldn't obey God and he missed out going into the land of Canaan. That's why Elijah could bring fire down from Heaven but inside he was full of depression and discouragement. But in the New Covenant the promises John 7.38 from the innermost being the rivers will flow because the veil has been rent. So today when you hear a preacher who's been a blessing to thousands then you discover he's been living in adultery. He's an Old Covenant preacher. He never knew the New Covenant. It didn't come from his innermost being. Did God use it? Of course God used it like He used Samson and like He used a lot of Old Testament people. But there's a difference in the way He used Jesus. Jesus ministry came out of His life. Paul's ministry came out of His life. Paul you couldn't imagine Paul preaching to people and then finding that he was living in adultery. Why do these things happen in Christendom today? people haven't understood the renting of the veil and the New Covenant. They're not thirsting for waters to come from the innermost being. They're thirsting for that Old Testament type of blessing. Lord make me a blessing to thousands. My first prayer is not make me a blessing to thousands. My first prayer is Lord give me a pure heart. The pure in heart will see God. Blessed are the pure in heart they will see God. My heart must be pure from all impurity. All bitterness against people. Completely free from the love of money. Free from seeking the honor of men. Free from filthy lusts. Free from the desire to feed my eyes on filth. Free from the desire to express my anger to others. Jesus said out of the heart comes all the filthy things. Jesus said out of the heart comes all the filthy things. What a wonderful gospel it is that Jesus can cleanse our heart and from our innermost being pure rivers of life can flow. I want to say to you what the Apostle Paul said on the day of Pentecost. This is what he said. Acts 2 38. Repent. You can receive forgiveness of sins. You can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And listen to this. Verse 39. The promise is for you. The promise is for your children. I have four sons. I pray God will fill them with the Holy Spirit. I don't pray they'll be great in the world. I pray God will fill them with the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you. For your children. And for as many as the Lord our God shall call. It says there in any part of the world. He has called you. My dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you in Jesus' name. Don't frustrate the grace of God. Take hold of your inheritance. Pray Lord. I remember what I prayed. I said Lord, I don't care how long it takes, I want a genuine fullness of the Holy Spirit in my life. You call yourself Pentecostals. The Pentecostal movement brought a great message into the world. A hundred years ago is the message of being filled with the Holy Spirit. But through the years that message has got compromised. And the shell and the doctrine is there. The reality is missing in many Pentecostal churches. I was not born in a Pentecostal church. I went to Jesus. I went to Jesus. And I said, Lord, you are the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Give me a genuine fullness. I want to encourage all of you to enter in. This is the promised land flowing with milk and honey. Enter in and possess the land. Let's stand up and pray to God. A while ahead is about in prayer. Let's pray. I believe with all my heart God loves you and He has spoken to you. He didn't speak to you to condemn you. He is saying, my son, my daughter, come up higher. Come to a higher life than you have ever experienced so far. There is no partiality with God. What He has done for others, He will do for you. What He did for the Apostle Paul, He will do for you and me. Do you have a thirst for that? Then ask Him in faith. Say, Lord, I will not rest until you bless me with this. I want the real thing. I don't want any counterfeit. Heavenly Father, it's so difficult, Lord, to speak about this wonderful subject. Father, I have tried my best, but only Your Holy Spirit can take the message home. Take it home, Lord, and bring fruit, we pray. I ask in Jesus' name.