This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking the Holy Spirit with a sincere heart, surrendering all areas of our lives to God, and being open to His transformative work. It highlights the need to yield every room in our hearts to Jesus, seek Him earnestly, and believe in His eagerness to fill us with His Spirit. The speaker encourages a deep commitment to Christ's lordship, a continuous walk with God, and a hunger for a consistent life filled with the Holy Spirit.

When we seek for anything, any promise of God, it's very important that we don't seek for it because we hurt somebody's testimony. A testimony can only confirm what is written in the Word of God. And anyone who seeks any experience with God on the basis of a testimony is either going to go astray or be confused. And that is the main reason why I find a lot of people are confused concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They read somebody's testimony, they've heard testimonies, they have seen how people behave when they claim to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, they try to act like that, and the whole thing just is confusion. And it's mainly because most Christians are too lazy to study the scriptures to see what God has promised them. And they live on a diet of testimonies, hearing different messages, never searching the scriptures to see whether God has promised them something. And then I know somebody who told me, brother Jack, 40 years I've been seeking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I don't know what God has in store. I know he was from a Pentecostal church. He was looking for something which he had heard in testimonies. Now if you want to avoid all that frustration, I would recommend that you go to the Bible and see for yourself from scripture. Like the Bereans, even when the Apostle Paul preached, they searched the scriptures. And remember, they didn't have a Bible at home those days. I've often wondered, you know, when we read in Acts 17, they searched the scriptures, we get the idea they went home and looked at their Bibles, but they never had any Bibles. They had to go to the synagogue and ask some rabbi to read out something from a scroll. There was no concordance, but they searched the scriptures to see whether this wonderful thing Paul was preaching was true or not. So I'm not surprised that God met with them and called them more noble than others in Acts 17. Let me show you that verse in case you're not familiar with it. It's a very important verse, Acts 17. It compares two groups of believers. Verse 11 of Acts 17, Paul and Silas went to Berea, verse 10. In verse 11, these Bereans were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica. Now it's wonderful if the Holy Spirit tells me I'm more noble-minded than another person, another believer. And if the Holy Spirit can say that you are more noble-minded than another believer, boy, that's a pretty good certificate to get. Why? Because first of all, they received the word with great eagerness. And secondly, they examined the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so and therefore many of them believed. It was not just a blind thing. First of all, there was a tremendous eagerness and openness to receive scripture, which means they're willing to get rid of all their traditions. There are many, many traditions for and against the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And to receive God's word with eagerness indicates they were willing to throw aside all their traditions in order to receive God's word. There was a hunger and a thirst. And God always pours water on the dry ground, on thirsty, you know, when a land is dry, it's like crying out for water. And when there is a thirst, remember Jesus said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. And out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And so they were eager. And then they searched the scriptures to see, is it really like that? I mean, Paul's a great preacher, but we can't rely on Paul's word. Does God's word say that? So if you know that God's word says that for you and you can claim it from God, it's like if a postman has got a money order, you've got to make sure it's in your name. Otherwise, it's no use. You get a check and it's not in your name. It's not for you, maybe for somebody else. So there are promises that God gave Israel. They're not for me. I don't go trying to claim them. I want to know what are the promises God made for me, then I can claim them. There are many things like God promises Israel, I'll give you a land on earth, the land of Canaan. I don't want any part of the land of Canaan. It's not for me. So what does the scripture say in relation to the baptism in the Holy Spirit? First of all, let me say that the first promise in the Bible is Matthew 121. You shall call his name Jesus. You need to understand the meaning of the name Jesus first. Why? Because he's the Savior and baptizer in the Holy Spirit. So the main problem with the vast majority of Christians, please believe me, and I've seen Christians for 50 years. It's so elementary. They haven't understood the meaning of the name Jesus. They pray in Jesus' name without knowing what it means. They gather in Jesus' name thinking Jesus is in their midst without even knowing what it means. And it's almost as though they couldn't care less what the name of Jesus means. It's like a magic mantra, like these Hare Krishna people keep on repeating a chant and the Buddhists keep repeating a chant. For Christians, many people who pray in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, it's a chant and it accomplishes as little as chanting in the name of any other God. And prayers are not answered. And they say, well, maybe Christians have got so used to their prayers not being answered that they think it's like a lottery. When somebody says his prayer was answered, he's the lucky guy who won the lottery. But I don't happen to be among that lucky crowd who gets the lottery. Jesus didn't say that one in a thousand people will get their prayers answered. He says, if you pray in my name, you'll get it. But you've got to understand what that name is. That name is Matthew 121. You shall call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins, not he will forgive their sins like it is commonly preached. We call Jesus savior, but we act as though he's only forgiver. Have you ever heard of anybody calling Jesus the forgiver? No, they call him savior, but they don't even know what savior means. It's plain, simple English. To be saved from something is different from being forgiven something. If I get angry and I ask the Lord to forgive me, he forgives me. It doesn't mean I'm saved from anger because tomorrow I get angry again. If I lust with my eyes and I ask the Lord to forgive me, he forgives me, but tomorrow I do it again. If I have got a bitter spirit and I ask the Lord to forgive me for that, he forgives me, but tomorrow I get bitter against somebody again. I've not been saved. I've been forgiven. What have I been saved from? Well, people say I've been saved from hell. Well, Jesus doesn't say anywhere Jesus came to save us from hell. Be like the barians and search the scriptures and see if there's a single verse in the whole New Testament that Jesus came to save us from hell. That is what the preachers have told you. You believe it for so many years because you don't check the scriptures. I was like that for many years and I was thoroughly defeated, miserable, discouraged, every imaginable thing. I became such a backslider just listening to what preachers said that I almost quit the ministry until I decided to go to the Word of God like the barians and that's what changed my life. I want to encourage all of you. I mean, there's no excuse for you're not knowing scripture because you can read and you've got a Bible in your own language. And instead of reading storybooks and the newspapers and television so much, spend a little time in the coming days searching God's Word. And it doesn't matter if you're not baptized in the Holy Spirit today. The important thing is to get a genuine experience based on God's Word and His promise to you. So I only want to lay a foundation. First of all, dear brothers and sisters, please understand the name Jesus means being saved, one who comes to save us from our sin. So what does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus? Means praying in the name of one who's come to save me from my sin. I want to be saved from all my sin. Then I can ask him for so many things and I get it. But if you don't want to be saved from your sin, then you're not praying in the name of Jesus. You're praying in, I don't know, some other name. Could be another Jesus who only forgives sins. It says in 2 Corinthians 11 about another Jesus. That is a Jesus who forgives sins but doesn't save from sin. It's not in the Bible. It's some other Jesus. You pray in that name, I'm not surprised you don't get an answer. Well, you say sometimes you got an answer. Well, that's the type of hidden luck, hidden miss and hidden, sometimes you get it, luck method, which even, you know, Hindus and Muslims pray and they say they got an answer to prayer. Is your prayer any more effective than the prayer of a non-Christian for anything you pray for, for your children, for your family, for anything? That's an important question. The second thing is when people say they gather in the name of Jesus, what is that? The name of one who came to save us from sin. And here's a whole lot of people who call themselves a church, but they have no interest in being saved from sin. They're not gathered in the name of Jesus. Some other Jesus. And that's why you have fight and strife and quarreling and all types of things in those churches. So the number one promise in the New Testament, the number one thing which the Lord wants us to learn is that the name Jesus means being saved from sin. He came to save us from our sins. So make that your number one aim, brothers and sisters. Think of the number of people, crowds who go for a healing meeting to be healed from their sicknesses. How many people will go for a meeting where you are told that we can help you to be saved from your sin? That shows how little interest even Christians will have in being saved from sin. And I would say that if you're really serious about your Christian life, one of the first things you need to learn is that sin is more serious than sickness. Begin there. Lord, any sin I have in my life is worse than cancer and AIDS. Now you won't hear that in other churches, but you'll hear it here. I'll tell you why. Nobody has gone to hell because they got cancer. Nobody went to hell because they got AIDS. There are a lot of people in heaven who had cancer and AIDS on earth, but a lot of people have gone to hell because of sin. In fact, everybody, because of pride and hypocrisy and anger and bitterness and internet pornography and all that, that's why they go to hell, not because of sickness. Now, which is more serious, physical death or hell? All of us will say hell. But what is it that takes people to hell? Sin. So the first desire we must have must be a passionate longing to be free from all sin in our life. Begin there. Whereas most people who are seeking for a baptism in the Holy Spirit are seeking for some experience or be able to testify to something that they've joined some club. Okay, then we can move on to the second promise in the New Testament. The second promise in the New Testament is Matthew 3.11, where John the Baptist said, Jesus, his name is Jesus. He will baptize you. I baptize you with water, but he was coming after me, mightier than I. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. It's a tremendous thing to be set on fire by God. When God sets you on fire, nobody can quench it. If you produce a fire yourself, after some time it dies out. The next thing I want you to learn, also which most Christians don't know, is the meaning of the word baptism. Baptism sounds sort of a mystical word. People say about, oh, baptism of fire. Whereas if I use an ordinary word like dip, that doesn't sound so mystical or religious, but that's the meaning of baptism. Baptism is not an Indian English word. It's a Greek word and people have got a mystical understanding of it because they've transferred it into English and people think of it as something great. It means being immersed. That's all it means. And if the original translators had been bold enough to translate it exactly, they would have said immersed. They would never have used the word baptism. They used the word baptism only because they wanted to please King James, who said he'd chop off their heads if they went against church traditions. So, immersion. So think of being immersed in water. When we are immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we go in and come out testifying that we are buried and risen with Christ. In the same way, we are to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. John says, I can immerse you in water, but only he can immerse you in the Holy Spirit. And that's why it's useless going to any man to be immersed in the Holy Spirit, because no man is the immerser in the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only one. And I would say the same thing that John the Baptist said, I can immerse you in water, but go to Jesus if you want to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Now, God may use a man to immerse me in water, and God may use people to lead me into immersion in the Holy Spirit, but it's Jesus. Always it's Jesus. And if our eyes are not on Jesus, and we think there's some mystical way that some man can lay hands on our head and we get something, we're mistaken. The apostles, the early apostles, seem to have been given by the Lord a special anointing or gift to be able to lay hands on people that they receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Because you read in the Acts of the Apostles, only the apostles who did it. There was a man called Philip who went to Samaria and preached, and then Peter and John had to come and pray. Why couldn't Philip do it? Wasn't he a believer? He immersed them in water. And he said, that's it. Peter and John came and led them into receiving the Holy Spirit. And Paul, but you never find anyone else in the Acts of the Apostles doing it, unless God specifically led someone. There's a case of Ananias going up to Philip, Paul, God specifically told him. So it's very important to understand all this because there's so much confusion. I believe a lot, let me tell you that a lot of people I have met in charismatic churches who claim to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, most of it is fake. I don't see a change in their life. I don't see an anointing. Charismatic Pentecostal preachers are as boring and as dead as any other preacher. And there are Baptists who don't talk about baptism in the Holy Spirit or sometimes more God-fearing than a lot of Pentecostal preachers. So if you have watched Pentecostal assembly, seen Pentecostal people, heard a lot of charismatic stuff, and you got that in the back of your mind, you can have a wrong understanding of what baptism in the Holy Spirit is. That's why I say you got to go to the scriptures and see in scriptures. And one of the wonderful things you see in scripture is God has not made it so plain that it's like a mathematical formula. Sometimes we wish it could be like that. You know, like you study mathematics, it's also exact. 2 plus 2 is always 4 and 3 plus 3 is always 6. But when it comes to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to me, John chapter 3 is a great verse. It's one of the first times, one of the first times that Jesus spoke about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And he said in John chapter 3 in verse 8, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Not so is the Holy Spirit. I saw some people read it, which is another example of people carelessly reading the scriptures. They read it as though it says the wind blows where it lists and the Holy Spirit also blows where it lists. Hang on, just read again carefully. Read the Bible slowly like I always say. Not so is the Holy Spirit. So is everyone born of the Holy Spirit. That means I can be like the wind blowing one way and you can be like the wind blowing another way. That's what it means if you are born of the Spirit. And the Spirit may lead me in one way and lead you another way. And we can have the same experience and it doesn't look externally as if it's the same thing. What I learned from that is that God can give different experiences to different people. On the day of Pentecost, 120 people, you know, the standard teaching in many Pentecostal churches is if you want to experience a genuine experience, you must have it like they had it the first time. But do you know how they had it the first time? They not only spoke in tongues, their tongues were languages that 17 nations could understand. I've never heard anybody speak like that. And there was a tongue of fire on top of everybody's head. And there was a mighty rushing wind. But people have eliminated all this and just get somebody to babble and say that's how it was in the first time. And I tell you, God says, if you want to be deceived, go ahead and be deceived. If you prefer the testimony of some Pentecostal preacher rather than the Word of God, then you deserve to be deceived. I do not accept that. I accept God's Word. The wind blows where it lists. And all those 120 people were born of the Spirit. And they had tongues of fire on them. And they spoke in languages without any translation or interpretation. 17 nations understood it in their own language. And there was a mighty rushing wind. Another time we read in Acts chapter four, that the place was shaken where they were filled with the Holy Spirit. So it was all different. There was no rushing wind. There was no fire at that time. And let me show you these passages. Acts chapter two, first of all. Acts chapter two, it says here verse three. A lot of people start with verse four. It doesn't start with verse four. It is verse three. Verse two, first of all, rather. A rushing wind, tongues of fire, verse three, speaking in tongues, verse four. Now, if you go to any Pentecostal assembly, they'll only refer to verse four. They say, what is the sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Acts two, four. They say, what about verse two and three? Yeah, there's a dishonesty there. And when you're dishonest, God allows you to be deceived. And the interesting thing is that when they stood and spoke, it says they all unheard in their own language. Verse 11, last part, they said there were 17 nations mentioned there. And they said, hey, we hear them speaking in our own language. Tongue means language, the mighty deeds of God. Now, those people hadn't learned those languages. But when they spoke in those languages, these people heard in their language, which Peter and James and John had never learned. 17 different nations and all of them were speaking like that. And it was amazing. And when it comes to the Acts chapter four, you read there, first of all, Acts two, four, you saw they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And then Acts chapter four, and you read in verse eight, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit again. The second time, this is a number of days after the day of Pentecost. And then we read a little later in Acts chapter four, they were praying together in verse 31. And when they prayed, the place was shaken and Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit again a third time. So what we learned from that is there is no such thing as a once for all being filled with the Holy Spirit, even with Peter. And I'm sure he had many more experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit subsequently. This is another thing which hardly anybody talks about. Haven't you heard people of charismatic Pentecostal denomination ask you, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? When did it happen? If I say today, today, you mean you just received it? No, many years ago and again today. And last time yesterday, before that day, before yesterday. That's confusing to Pentecostals charismatic, but they got a date. What about Peter? If you asked him, when were you filled with the Holy Spirit? What would he say? He'd say many times. See, that's very, very important to understand this. If you go to scripture, that's how it is. And then when you come to Acts chapter 10, you find that Cornelius received the Holy Spirit. And it says here, Acts chapter 10, verse 44, before Peter finished his message, while Peter was still speaking. That means, imagine this, while Peter is preaching, suddenly the Spirit fell upon those who were listening and they began speaking in tongues. And verse 46, an exalting God. So it wasn't just some babbling, they were just babbling. How would Peter know it was exalting God? So what I want to say is then nobody laid hands on them. There was no rushing wind. There was no fire and there were no other nations to understand what they were saying. It's very different. Then you go to another example in Acts chapter 19. Here were people who, Paul came to Ephesus and he met some disciples, verse 1, and he said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed or did you just believe? And he said, no, we haven't even heard whether there's a Holy Spirit. He said, how can you say you haven't heard of the Holy Spirit? How do you get baptized? Don't you get baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? See, that question itself indicates that Paul did not believe in the baptism of Jesus Holy. He said, when they said, we haven't heard about the Holy Spirit, then he said, into what were you baptized? Because Paul knew that anyone who's baptized would definitely have the name of the Holy Spirit because they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And he said, they said the baptism of John. He said, John baptized with baptism, telling the one who's to believe in him who's coming, that is Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. That means they were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. And then after their baptism, now, I don't believe that Paul would have baptized anybody who was unconverted. No, he didn't do that. After they were baptized, it says Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. Now, another example from Acts chapter 8, where it says Philip preached the gospel in Samaria, and there was a lot of miracles and healings. And then many people were baptized. It says in verse 12, Acts 8, 12, they believed Philip and they were baptized. They were immersed in water. And when the apostles, verse 14, heard that, Peter and John, they sent Peter and John. Now, these guys were saved and baptized, born again and baptized. Then they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen on any of them. They were simply baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. And we don't know what exactly happened, but Simon saw something. In verse 18, it says. Now, there is, I have to say, there's a certain mystery about all this. After studying this subject for more than 45 years, I have to say it's a mystery to me. How the Holy Spirit works and operates is so different in different people. And when I look at the experience of many people around me, you know, Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit's come upon you, you'll receive power. And he didn't say you'll receive power to overcome sin. He said, you'll receive power and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth. Acts 1.8, you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth. Now, I want to be honest here. I have met a lot of brethren people, Baptist people, who are tremendous evangelists, go out into remote places where others don't go, preach the gospel. They don't preach like a Pentecostal baptism in the Holy Spirit. I mean, the most famous example is Billy Graham. He's a Baptist, never preaches baptism in the Holy Spirit. And I find I have more respect for him than for all these tongue speaking evangelists on television who are only interested in making money. Does a baptism in the Holy Spirit make a man a bigger lover of money? There's something wrong there. There's a lot of emotionalism that confuses people concerning the power of the Holy Spirit. So I must say that I don't have the full answer to it, but it's possible that God sees a man's heart and not his theology and meets with him according to the need of his heart, even if his theology is wrong. Someone like Mother Teresa, whose theology of salvation is all wrong, I believe, the Roman Catholic teaching. But I believe with all my heart, I'll see her in heaven. I have more assurance that I'll see her in heaven than some people I see in CFC. We've got our theology right, but she had a heart right, a heart that turned from sin, wanted to please Jesus and live for him and love God with all her heart and love others as herself. So what I'm trying to say from all that is your heart is more important than your understanding. So when you listen to me, it's your understanding that's trying to analyze all this. It doesn't matter if your understanding is wrong. It doesn't matter if you cannot explain the baptism in the Holy Spirit. See, I can show you all these verses, but in the early days, that was, I mean, Peter didn't get up with a Bible and say, let me show you Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 8. No, there was no Acts written until many years later. And even when it was written for 1,400 years, nobody had a Bible. How did people receive the Holy Spirit here and there without checking up with Acts 2 verse 4 and Acts 8? I think a lot of people through the years who had a genuine anointing and fullness of the Holy Spirit without ever having a Bible in their home. And today, when so many people have a Bible and quote the Bible, you have all these counterfeits. That proves to me one thing. Today, a lot of people have got accurate information, but they don't have a heart that hungers and thirsts for God. They don't have a heart to be saved from all sin in their life. They don't have a heart to be a witness for Christ. I want to ask you something. Jesus said here, you will receive power, Acts 1.8. Let's just go to that verse. When the Holy Spirit come upon you, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the outermost parts of the earth. That's the last statement he made. After he said these things, verse nine, he was lifted up and he went. You know, that was the last thing he said before he left the earth. The last words of Jesus were, the remotest parts of the earth, be my witness. Now, many of you have come here seeking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I want to ask you an honest question. How many of you have come seeking for the, saying you want the baptism in the Holy Spirit because you want to be a witness for Christ, even in the remotest part of the earth? I don't know if all of you have come for that reason. Say, no, no, no, Lord, I'm not particularly interested in going to the remotest part of the earth. I like, you know, I've heard people testify something happened when they prayed and somebody laid hands on them. They got excited and that's what I want. Well, I want to say, I want to say it to you, tell you honestly, you're going to be disappointed and you'll be disappointed all your life. God honors those who honor him. And the more you give to the Lord, the more you receive from him. It's like that. Give and it shall be given to you in abundance, overflowing. And the people in the Christian life who get the most, whose lives are overflowing, are the ones who give their life to the Lord. I'm not, whenever, unfortunately, when people talk about giving the only thing of money, there are a lot of things in our life which are far more important than money. God's not a beggar. Now, we're about the only church that preaches that. God's not a beggar. He doesn't ask you for money. Can you imagine a king going around asking people for money? God's a king of kings. I'll tell you, he doesn't want your money. You can keep your rotten old money to yourself. God's work will go on without your money. It went on before you came to the earth. It'll go on even after you and I are gone. But there's something more important that he wants. He wants your life, your heart. And if you love your money, keep it to yourself. God doesn't want it. But when you give, the Lord says, are you willing to give all of your heart to me? I've sometimes used this example. Every example is limited. But think of it like this. Think of your heart as having, let's say, a number of rooms. I don't know how many. In one of those rooms, you have a desperate desire to have all the guilt of your past life removed. Now, many people are not even bothered about that. They've got that heart, that room in their heart, but they're not bothered. But you wanted it. And you said, Lord Jesus, come into that room and remove the guilt. Clean up that room and put your light there in that dark room. And Jesus came in and removed the guilt. And the light of God has come into that room. And when you ask Jesus to come into your heart, do you know that Jesus has got a body and he's in heaven? How can he come into your heart? Only through his spirit. When I ask Jesus to come into my heart, who is coming in? Who is actually coming to dwell in? The spirit of Christ. See this verse in Romans 8, 11. If anyone doesn't have the spirit of Christ, sorry, Romans 8, 9, the last part, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he doesn't even belong to him. Romans 8, verse 9. If anyone doesn't have the spirit of Christ, brother, you don't belong to Jesus at all. One more verse. Further down in Romans 8, in verse 15, you received a spirit that cries out, Abba, Father. And the spirit testifies that we are the children of God. Do you have a feeling in your heart that God is your father? Not because you heard it from the pulpit, but in your heart, you feel, hey, I've got a dad up in heaven. Well, you can't have that unless the spirit has come inside and done that. But there are other rooms in your heart. Most Christians have just asked Jesus to come into one area of their life, remove the guilt. Now, here's another dark room in your heart, all the things you watch on television. Do you really want Jesus to come in and clean up that room and put the light into that room and control you so that he's got the remote in his hand and he's determining what you watch and what you don't watch? I think most Christians would say no. God says, okay, keep the remote in your hand and watch what you like. But that room will be dark. It will never be filled with light until you give the remote into Jesus' hand and say, Lord, you tell me which program to watch. There's another room we can say is the room of all the books we read. Are you willing to let Jesus throw away some of those books and say, you must never read this again? No. You say, no, Lord, I want to choose some of these things. I say, okay, the Lord says let that room remain dark. And there's another room where your computer room, where the things you watch and spend your time on the computer, it may not always, it could be dirty stuff and it could be wasting time stuff. There are two types of things in computer. One is dirty stuff and the other is wasting time stuff. And the Lord says, will you let me control that mouse from now on and determine when to turn off and turn on the computer? You say, no, no, no, no, don't interfere in all that. Just forgive my sins. The Lord says, okay, that room is dark. Here's another room where I, where's my money room, where I got to keep my accounts and there's so many things. And the Lord says, do you want me to come in there and tell you to be totally righteous with money, never do anything wrong with money, never sign a false statement and get money, never cheat anybody, pay back all your debts and don't waste your money on unnecessary things. Let me control how you spend your money that you don't buy unnecessary things, which you don't need, et cetera, et cetera. And say, no, Lord, I don't want you to come and control my life like that. The Lord says, okay, I stand at the door and knock, you don't open the door, that room remains dark. Are you born again? Yes. Are you filled or immersed in the spirit? No, you don't want to be. It's like asking somebody to come and deliver food to your house. And when he comes with the food, you don't open the door. This is the problem with so many Christians. They want to be filled with the spirit without allowing the Lord to come into many, many rooms in their life. How can he fill the rooms with light if you don't let him in? Is it possible? Jesus is the light of the world. He's willing to come into every room and fill it with light. But if you don't want him and then say, Lord, fill me, fill me, fill me. Because you feel that if you let him give him full control, he'll mess up your life. Your life won't be. What about your time room? How do you spend your time? Do you want the Lord to determine how you spend your time? God's given you health. What are you going to use it for? You say, use it for me. God's given you a house. What are you going to use it for? Whatever God, you know, Jesus said, you've got to give up everything you have. You want everything God has. Let me show you John 17. The secret of Jesus' life was here, John 17 and verse 10. It's a wonderful word, John 17, 10. I believe this is how people can be filled with the Holy Spirit because his spirit is the greatest gift God can give us. He gave his son on the cross 2000 years ago. He gave the spirit on the day of Pentecost to all who will open their lives to him. He never forces anyone, but this is the principle. Jesus says to the father, all things that are mine are thine, and all things that are thine are mine. And therefore it says about Jesus that God gives him the Holy Spirit without measure. I'm not surprised because he said, father, there's no room in my life, which is not open to you. Everything is yours. I mean, he was so completely committed to the father that if one day he didn't have time to eat, he said, forget food. The father wanted me to do something. I'll forget about my food. When was the last time you felt you should do something for God and you didn't have time to eat food? I see some people in CFC who won't even take one day's leave without pay to come for a conference because they want to go on a vacation. You think such people are going to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Brother, forget it. You've got your own interest in life and you want God to give you his spirit for what? You do not have because you ask with wrong motives. There is no partiality with God. You know, there are many, many believers, even in CFC and in other churches I've been to. I look at them and say, boy, if only they were filled with the Holy Spirit, what a difference it would have made in their life. I've heard preachers and I say, oh God, if only this guy was filled with the Holy Spirit, he knows so much of the word, but he's dry as a bone because he's not filled with the Holy Spirit. There's something, you know, when there's a fire, you can sense it. There's light, there's warmth, the light speaks of purity, the fire and the warmth speaks of love. That's what the Holy Spirit does. And there are others you meet, believers who are all so technically correct and everything they say is correct according to the book and according to doctrine. There's no, you don't feel you've touched life. You don't feel you've touched you don't feel you've touched God. And I, even in some of these churches I travel around, I say, boy, I feel sometimes, it's not written like that, but I feel that, you know, that passage we read in Acts 19 where Paul went to Ephesus and he says he met these 12 disciples. I wonder whether he went to one of their meetings. He went to one of their meetings and he saw all this knowledge that they were sharing with one another. He said, hey, did you guys get ever filled with the Holy Spirit? There's something missing here. That's exactly how I felt in so many meetings I've been to. Did you guys ever seek God to be filled with the Holy Spirit? There's something missing. The Holy Spirit is like a touch of heaven. You remember how the disciples, now I'm not saying we'll be preachers. No, no, no, no, no. God calls you to preach, you preach, but otherwise there'll be a touch of heaven about your life. I've met people who are not preachers, but there's a radiance about their life because the Spirit of God has filled them. Preaching is not their gift, but there's something. There'll be a radiance and a power when the Spirit of God fills us. So dear brothers, I hope, I mean, all I sought to do today is create in you a hunger and a thirst. If I've done that, I've succeeded because that'll drive you to God. It'll drive you on your knees to seek God and say, Lord, I want you to meet with me at any cost. Then I want to just say this in closing in Luke chapter 11 and verse 13. Let's start at verse 11, maybe at verse 9. It's the words of Jesus concerning the gift of the Holy Spirit, verse 9. It is concerning the gift of the Holy Spirit because it's a paragraph from 9 to 13. And in verse 13, he tells us what we are to ask for. The last part of verse 13, the Holy Spirit. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Keep that in mind when you read verse 9. So I say to you, ask. It'll be given to you. Seek. You will find. Knock. It'll be open to you. How should you knock? That he explained in the previous two or three verses. Verse 5, a man comes at midnight and says, lend me three loaves. He goes to his neighbor and knocks, and the guy doesn't open. And he says, I tell you, he keeps on knocking. And it's because of his persistence. Verse 8, he'll give him as much as he needs because of his persistence. And that persistence is the mark of faith. Knock. So I say to you, verse 9, ask like this man asked. Knock like this man asked. Knock. Seek like this man sought. And you'll find. Because everyone who asks like this man knocked to his neighbor, receives. What about all those other people who casually ask? They don't receive. But everyone who asks like this man asks. You see, you've got to read it in the context of the story of this man who went to his neighbor's house and kept on knocking, knocking, knocking. You see, I'm not going to leave here until you give me what I want for, what I come for. And everyone who seeks finds. And to him who knocks like this, it will be open. That's Jesus' promise. Or the Bible's a lie, and Jesus never existed. Otherwise, it's true. I found it to be true. Now, he says one more thing. Supposing one of your fathers, his son asks him for fish. Will he give him a snake? If you ask for the Holy Spirit, is God going to give you some evil spirit? A snake? No. If he asks him for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? Scorpions and snakes are pictures of evil spirits. And that's a fear a lot of people have. Oh, I don't know what spirit I'll get. Well, if you go to some of these meetings where they stir people up, I agree. You don't know what spirit you'll get. But if you're down in your own room and me seeking the Lord on your own, I mean, God filled me with the Holy Spirit in my room. God filled my wife with the Holy Spirit just in her room. I know people like that. And if you being evil, you evil fathers, no, not many of you are fathers. Think of how you will give good gifts to your children. The word gift means what? Gift means it is free. If I give you a Bible and you pay me one rupee for it, it's not a gift. How much more will your heavenly father give? It's a gift. This man, when he went to his neighbor's house, the neighbor did not ask him to pay up for the food he gave. No, it's free. It's free. The gift of the Holy Spirit is free. But growing in the Christian life, there may be a price, but the gift of the Holy Spirit is free. Say, Lord, I believe that you are better than any earthly father. I want to surrender every area of my life to you. And I want you to come and occupy every room in my heart to the best I know how. And if there is some room, Lord, which I have not yielded to you, please show it to me. I'll open it up immediately. I will not hold back. Have you asked forgiveness from all those you have hurt? Or you locked up that room and say, no, no, no, I'm not going to do that because that person has got to come and ask me first. But you'll be waiting another hundred years to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you that. Have you forgiven everybody? Have you asked forgiveness from people you have hurt? Have you humbled yourself? Humbling ourselves is like going to the lowest place. Water always flows to the lowest place first. The Holy Spirit flows down to the humblest person always. The proud people remain high and dry. Humble yourself, brother, sister. God gives his grace to the humble. The spirit of grace is poured on the humble and those who are willing to humble themselves. I don't mean artificially humble themselves, but to say, Lord, I don't want to ever think I'm better than anybody else. I'm willing to ask forgiveness from anybody, forgive everyone. I don't want a single area of my life not yielded to you. I want every area of my life to be completely yielded to you and show me anything which is not yielded. I can tell you something. If the Lord says that he will give you the Holy Spirit when you ask him, he'll give. He's not a liar. You must believe that. And don't say, God, I have asked you so many times, like many people say, why haven't you given me? Ask yourself if there's some room where Jesus has been knocking for a long time and you haven't opened it, instead of blaming God like Adam. Don't blame God. Get rid of that. I'll tell you something. Here's a definition of faith I have come to. Faith is to believe that God is more eager to give you what he has promised than you are to receive. You got it? Faith is to believe that God is more eager to give you all that he has promised than you are to receive. And if you get the idea that I am very eager and God is not eager, then you're full of unbelief. Many of you are eager. Can you believe today that God is more eager to give you if only you will? But he's a gentleman. If you don't open the door, he won't break the door and come in. No. I remember a man who was seeking God for the power of the Holy Spirit over 100 years ago. He was a great preacher. And he heard of people like D.L. Moody and all who were filled with the Holy Spirit. And the preaching was transformed. And he wanted it. And he surrendered. He knelt down and he surrendered everything, everything, everything, everything to God and said, Lord, why haven't you filled me? He felt a voice telling him, there's one thing you have not surrendered, your desire to be a famous preacher. Give it up. And he realized that he was seeking God for the power of the Holy Spirit to become a powerful person so that everybody in the church would admire him. You know, that can be with you too. That you want the power of the Holy Spirit because you can testify about it or other people will see you something or you'll become a great preacher. And he surrendered. God filled him with the Holy Spirit. God told him to leave his job, quit that church and go and join William Booth in the Salvation Army in England. So he left America and came to England. This great famous preacher from a pulpit in America, William Booth treats everybody the same. He said, you join the Salvation Army. Okay. The next one year, you're going to go down to the basement and clean everybody's boots and polish them. That's your job. That's what he did after he was filled with the Holy Spirit. But he went on from there to be one of the greatest preachers in the Salvation Army. And sometimes we think that God's delaying. He's not delaying. There's a door you're kept locked. Ask God to show it to you. He is more eager to fill you. Something will happen in your life. I'll tell you that. One last verse. 1 Samuel chapter 10. Claim this. Say, Lord, make it true in my life. You're standing at the door and knocking. I'm opening every door to you. 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 6. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you shall prophesy and you will be changed into another man. I'll tell you honestly from my experience, when God fills you with the Holy Spirit, you will be changed into another person. You will not be the same old person. But you have to live in that. If you don't live in that, you can go back and become worse. The Bible says, if you know the way of righteousness and afterwards you turn from it, it'd be like a dog who turns back to its own vomit. It's better that such a person never knew the way of righteousness at all. 2 Peter 2. So think of a commitment you're going to make to Christ now, which is like getting married. You know how we tell people who want to get married, don't be in a hurry to marry this person. Are you sure you want to give up your name and take this person's name? You want to leave your job and home and everything and go and live with this person? You want to completely give up all your ambitions in life and go with this person? Think about it. Don't be in a hurry. See, that's how I say when it comes to total commitment to Christ's Lordship. Don't play the fool with God. Don't say, I want to get married today and tomorrow back out and say, no, I changed my mind. It's much more serious than getting married to a man, to get married to Christ. Say, Lord, many of you we have, I believe many of you sincerely gave yourself to Christ many years ago, but you're like a wife who will not allow her husband into certain areas of her life. Sorry, that's private. Well, in earthly marriages, it may be necessary to keep some things private, but not in a heavenly marriage. There can be no privacy between Jesus and you. He has to invade every area of your life. And that's how he fills us with his Holy Spirit. Let's bow our heads before God. I think what we need is a little time of silence to believe, first of all, that when you were a sinner, when you were an enemy of God, God sent his son to die for you. And if he gave his son when you were an enemy and a sinner, how much more? He will give everything else. He will not withhold any good thing. Believe that. He will not withhold any good thing. Why does he ask us to seek? He wants to see whether we're really serious. He wants to see whether it's when we seek him earnestly, we discover a whole lot of rooms in our life that are locked up. So do we have to wait for the Holy Spirit? Yes, but the waiting is not on God's part. The waiting is God is waiting for us to open the rooms. That's why a lot of people have to wait. Some people may have to wait one day. Some people may have to wait 10 years. It depends on how long they take to open up the rooms in their heart. You can't ask God to come and fill something in your life if you don't open the door because he's not like an evil spirit who just possesses you whether you like it or not. He says, I stand at the door and knock. I believe one of the most important verses in relation to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I stand at the door of another room in your life and I knock. You open the door, I'll come in. And you alone know the areas of your life where you have not yielded, areas of your life where pride reigns. Maybe some of you had a genuine experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, but it's all leaked out of you. You've got nothing left now. You know what you need to ask God now is to, Lord, help lead me to a consistent life where I'm always filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just some experience, but a continuous walk with God. If you've got a longing for that, Jesus says, if any man thirsts, let him come to me. Don't come to a man. Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. He can immerse you again and again and again like he did Peter. And many people ask, how will I know? How did you know your sins were forgiven? The Holy Spirit gave you a witness. How did you know God was your father? The Holy Spirit gave you a witness. Ask this Holy Spirit to give you a witness that he's filled your heart with himself. That Jesus has fulfilled that second promise, immersed you in the Holy Spirit. And in the days to come, you will see habits changing, desires coming, and a freshness which you never knew before. Oh, brother, sister, seek him for that. Yield everything and say, Lord, I'm sick and tired of a dry, defeated, depressed life. I've sought after many things on earth, but I've had enough of that. None of those things have brought satisfaction. Maybe some of you have to say, Lord, I remember once upon a time, I sought you with a lot of earnestness, but that seems to have gone. God, please bring me back to that. Bring me back to that where I can seek you, Lord. Bring me back to that, Lord. God is a good God. Remember that? He will not withhold any good thing from those who walk upright. If you walk honestly before him, you never withhold anything from him. Lord, I believe you're more eager to fill me with the Holy Spirit than I am to be filled. And if there's any area in my life which is not yielded, Lord, show me. You can have the key right now. It's yours. All things that are mine will be yours. And all things that are yours can be mine. You know, brothers and sisters, without any feeling, if you can just take a step of faith and say, Lord, to the best of my knowledge, I have yielded everything to you. I have opened every area of my life to you. And if there is something not yielded, you open it up as soon as you show it to me. But Lord, all that I have is yours. I mean it. And I want to open my heart to you, Lord Jesus. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. I believe you're here, Lord. I want to be saved from my sin. I want to be saved from myself. I want you to come and fill every area of my heart, every room with your Holy Spirit. I open myself to you. I believe as I pray that you hear me. Thank you. When you pray, believe that you receive and you shall have. How wonderful to believe. I believe the Holy Spirit's moving right now. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. You are so good. And I know there are people who are open to you, Lord. And I know that as their hearts are open to you, you're filling them right now. Thank you. Change them into another man, another woman. Their lives will never be the same anymore. Thank you, Lord. I trust you. We want to thank you for all that you did. We believe that you'll never withhold any good thing from us. We are your children. God, you're our heavenly dad. You'll never withhold anything good from us. Thank you. Thank you. Give us the gifts we need to serve you in the days to come. We want to open ourselves to you, Lord, to have the gifts to serve the body, to build the body, not to exalt ourselves, but to pour ourselves out for the building of your church for which you gave your life. Yes, Lord, that's why we need the gifts. We can't serve you with human abilities. Give us supernatural gifts, Lord, each according to our need and the place that you have given us in the body. Lord, we long for that. We long for the gift of being able to encourage and challenge one another, the gift of prophecy to encourage and challenge one another. Give us that gift, Lord, that as we speak words, the encouragement and challenging and building up of others. Thank you. We cannot explain the moving of the Holy Spirit. It's different in every one, but I have a deep sense in my heart that Jesus, our Lord, has heard our prayer, that our heavenly Father has opened the windows of heaven. I certainly feel like that about my own life. I want to thank God myself, and I pray that all of you will have that spirit of thankfulness to God. He's able to do more than you can ask or think. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.