In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that the promise of the Holy Spirit is for everyone, including those in Bangalore and beyond. He highlights the example of Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit multiple times in the book of Acts, showing that one can be filled with the Holy Spirit more than once. The preacher urges the audience to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, promising that they will also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He uses the analogy of charging a mobile phone to emphasize the importance of staying connected to God through the Holy Spirit.

Let's bow before God and prepare our hearts to receive His word, be open to what He has to share with us. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes and wait before Him. We want to be still, O God our Father, and to know that You are our Father in Heaven. We want to know You better. We want to be open to the ministry of Your Holy Spirit. We pray that You will confirm Your word with signs following in our lives, in our churches. Be exalted, O Lord, be exalted. We wait upon You, Father in Heaven. As we open our beings to You, Lord, we want Your gentle, gracious spirit to move upon us and speak to our hearts according to our need. We pray that everyone will be blessed and no one will go away without being blessed. So this can only be the work of Your spirit, give us the prophetic word from above according to our need, Lord. We humble ourselves, God Almighty, it's Your good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Show us what You want us to do. We want to respond to You wholeheartedly. We want to open our hands, empty our hands of everything else and receive all that You have for us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Be seated, please. So in this third and final Bible study, we are going to look at the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. So once we do that, what we have done is really had a unique Bible study of almost every reference to the Holy Spirit in the entire Bible. And of course that can be words to you or it can challenge you to seek for the power that these men whom we read of experienced. Okay we turn to the Acts of the Apostles first of all and look at Acts chapter 1 and verse 1 and 2. We have often spoken about verse 1 in the church where we said that the earlier account which is the Gospel of Luke refers to all that Jesus began to do and to teach. So the Gospel of Luke describes what Jesus began to do and to teach. The implication is that the Acts of the Apostles tells us what Jesus continued to do and to teach through His spiritual body. The Gospel of Luke describes what Jesus began to do and to teach through His physical body and the Acts of the Apostles describes what Jesus continued to do and teach through His spiritual body which was the church. So that's how we need to understand the very first verse. And we have also seen through the years that this is one of the big differences between Babylon and Jerusalem. A very simple difference. In Jerusalem we never teach what we have not practiced. We first do and then teach. In every area we cannot teach about overcoming sin if we have not overcome sin. We cannot tell other people to do what we haven't done ourselves. It's a great temptation, particularly for those who preach God's Word, to teach what they have not practiced. And particularly you can be an elder brother in a church and it's very easy to begin to say all types of things and urge other people to do what you have never done yourself. And the moment you go in that direction, the devil will blind your eyes and it will be Babylon, Babylon, Babylon all the way till you wake up and repent and come back. We must make a decision in our life. If I have nothing to say, I would rather keep quiet. But I will never, never teach what I have not done. I will never preach what I have not done. I want to tell you that is what changed my life. 29 years ago I took a decision that in no area would I preach or teach what I have not done. And if you don't hear me speaking on certain subjects, you know the reason. I have no experience in those subjects. Somebody else in the body of Christ has to teach that. But I hope he does it first and then teaches. Because I can only teach what I have done. And that's the reason why I don't tell people to go to North India and be missionary there. Do you know that almost every single Indian mission organization, everyone, the best of them, the mission leaders live in the comfort of South India and tell their missionaries to go to some remote village in North India. And the mission leaders live in some nice town or city in South India, get their children educated in good schools and good colleges and tell the missionaries to go to North India and to send their children to boarding school. This is hypocrisy. We don't do it because we don't teach what we don't practice. It has to be done. It has to be done by somebody living there. Not by somebody living in comfort and telling other people to go and live in discomfort. This is just one area. We cannot tell people to give if we have not given. We cannot tell people to do anything. You follow this rule, my brother, sister, you'll build Jerusalem. You don't follow this rule. It says in Matthew 23, the Pharisees taught but did not do. That's Babylon. Exact opposite. But here it says that in the very next verse, Acts 1-2, it speaks about the Holy Spirit. Until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. So, have you noticed something there? That even after Jesus' resurrection, He still, as a man, was dependent on the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, after His resurrection, He gave instructions. You see, one would think, okay, during the days of His flesh, He was limited. But now He's resurrected, He's got a glorified body. Why does He need the Holy Spirit now? He's forever a man. And He voluntarily chose that position of helplessness as a man. And this should really challenge us. The very first mention of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles is about how Jesus ministered after His resurrection with a glorified body, which could move through space and time, and move through walls, and completely without limitation, no longer tempted by sin, when He wanted to teach His apostles. He still was dependent on the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the arrogance of people today? Maybe it's those sitting here, who think that with a non-resurrection body, we are going to serve God without the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the height of arrogance. And that is why for so many years, I have told brothers, please do not speak beyond your maturity. Please, please, please, please. I say your maturity may be 15 minutes. I know brothers whose maturity is about 10 minutes, who will speak for 45 minutes. In whose power are they speaking? Arrogant people. Jesus spoke after His resurrection with the power of the Holy Spirit. These people get up and waste people's time and bore people. Please meditate on Acts chapter 1 verse 2 and see the humility of Jesus Christ. He gave instructions to His apostles after His resurrection by the Holy Spirit. If that verse does not challenge you to humble yourself, I don't believe the Holy Spirit will ever be able to humble any of you. It humbles me. It humbles me to recognize my limitation. I tell you, I have never had to tell any brother, Brother, in our churches you have spoken too little. You should have spoken more. But so many brothers I have to say, you are speaking too long brother. It's way beyond your maturity. And when you speak way beyond your maturity, it's not the Holy Spirit. You are just repeating yourself, repeating yourself, wasting people's time and complete arrogance to think that, and the things people get up and say. Scolding people, yelling at people. Absolutely no fear of God, no fear of the Holy Spirit. Where do they need the Holy Spirit? Many of our preachers are more like politicians. They don't need the Holy Spirit. I really believe many of you dear brothers who preach the word, who give instructions to others, please see how Jesus gave instructions. Please see how Jesus gave instructions after His resurrection. Shall I say that a hundred times? Please see how Jesus gave instructions to His apostles after His resurrection. In humble dependence on the Holy Spirit. That's the very first mention of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. You know, we don't meditate on scripture. I tell you, I am absolutely, I feel like weeping sometimes, when I think of brothers, who are supposed to be shepherding churches, who don't read and meditate on God's word. Tragic. May God have mercy on us as a churches. May God have mercy on us elders, that we shall fall on our face before God and ask His forgiveness. For all our arrogance, to think that we can serve God, without humble dependence on the Holy Spirit, every minute. Every minute you stand in the pulpit, in your local church, in your home church, anywhere in the world, I'll give you a little advice. Lean helplessly upon the Holy Spirit, and when He tells you to keep quiet, keep quiet, and sit down. Even if you have spoken only three minutes, sit down. And the Holy Spirit will honor you for obedience. Jesus never dared, to give instructions, without the Holy Spirit. I hope from today onwards, you who share God's word, will never dare, to give instructions to others, without humble dependence on the Holy Spirit. Ok. That's the very first verse. Now we go to verse 5. I told you that every book in the New Testament, the first five books, begins with the promise of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Here it is. Jesus said, John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized in the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. And then He said, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, verse 8, you shall receive power, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth. Now this is a very important verse, for a number of reasons. Because this is the one verse, that tells us, what is the mark, of the Holy Spirit coming upon us. A lot of people, are arguing back and forth, back and forth. It's like the argument about, in what name, should we baptize people. Acts of the Apostles, it says, they are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. But Matthew 28, verse 20 says, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I say, ok. Supposing there is some confusion, let's say, in an earthly situation. Supposing there is some confusion in your mind. Say you are working, let's take an example. You are working in a company, and the boss of the company, the CEO, that is like the top man, the chief executive officer, has given all of you workers, some clear instructions. I want all of you to do this. All of you heard it. That's Matthew 28, 20. The CEO has said, now, as you go out to do these things, you hear, that some of the workers are doing it like this. That is what you read in the Acts of the Apostles, how they baptize people. What are you going to do now? You tell me what you will do in the company. If you have a doubt, which will you follow? What these people did, or what your CEO said? I know what I will do. It is simple common sense. I will do what my CEO told me. That's why I baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And I am reading in the Acts of the Apostles, these people did it in a certain way. Okay. That is between them and God. I know what my Master has told me to do. It's very clear. And one day I will discover that what these people did was exactly what the Master told them. The only thing, the full detail is not there. I believe they baptize in the name of the Father and the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. That's how we do it. There we bring the name of Jesus Christ into it. I am using that as an example. So here, now the question is, what is the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit? Again, we have what the CEO said, and we have what is described has happened to different Apostles. Which instruction are you going to go by? To me it is crystal clear. I go by what the Master said. When the Holy Spirit has come upon me, I will receive power. Not tongues, not healing, not prophecy. Power. It's just like when I received Jesus as my Savior, I got forgiveness. I received power. And those people waited in the upper room, and if you had gone to any of them and said, Hey, what are you fellows waiting for? We are waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon us. How will you know when the Holy Spirit has come upon us? Well, our Master said we will receive power. Not one of those 120 people would have said tongues. Not one. That is all today's teaching in so many groups, and you see how those groups have gone astray. Because they don't go by the CEO's instructions, they go by some other thing which is exciting them, and that's exactly how the devil wants them to go. Why not follow what the Master said? A lot of people say they respect the Bible, but they don't seem to have any respect for the teaching of Jesus Christ. Because most of these churches, they don't have people who teach the Bible simply and straightforward as it's written there. And so, here is what Jesus said. And if you had asked them, How will you know when you will receive power? They would have said, I don't know. But definitely we will know. I don't know how he will convince us, but we will know it. And I believe this. If you go to Jesus in the same simplicity that those early apostles waited to receive power, you will also receive power, and you will know it. How he convinces you is up to him. How did he convince you that your sins were forgiven? Don't you think he can convince you that you will receive power? He may give you tongues, he may give you healing, he may give you a prophecy, he may give you 10,000 gifts, that's fine. But you will receive power. Power to fulfill your particular task in the body of Christ. If a hand is paralyzed, when it gets power, it doesn't become an eye, it becomes a hand. And when the eye is paralyzed, it gets power, it becomes an eye. So don't think that if you get power, you will be able to preach like me. No. That's crazy. That's like saying the hand will suddenly get power to become an eye or a tongue. No. If you are a mother, and you are filled with the Holy Spirit, what will you be? You will be a first-class, spirit-filled mother. Thank God, not a preacher. When I am filled with the Spirit, I will not be a mother, I will be a preacher. Can you understand that at least? Well, same with you. Your particular function in the body of Christ. This is where so many people are frustrated because they go into the... disobey the 10th commandment. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's ministry. They are coveting somebody else's ministry. They want to have somebody else's ministry. What for? Only to get honor. And that's how a lot of people destroy themselves. You must covet for power, for your ministry in the body of Christ, whatever that is. When I started preaching, I said, I don't want to preach like anybody. Because I am not here supposed to imitate any preacher I have heard in my life. I am supposed to be myself. And I want to look at Jesus and the word of God and see how He preached and I don't want to imitate the Americans or Indians or anybody. Be yourself, be yourself. Let the Holy Spirit come upon you and give you power to fulfill your ministry, your special ministry in the body of Christ. The other thing I want you to notice is that when the Holy Spirit comes upon people, it is to give them power to be witnesses. Not bear witness. Do you know the difference between being a witness and bearing witness? Bearing witness is with our mouth like in a court. Being a witness is by my life and my words. So you shall receive power to be, not bear, be. Be includes your life and your words. A witness, first of all, in Jerusalem. Now a lot of people, as soon as they get power from the Holy Spirit, they like to be a witness in the outermost parts of the earth first. No. There are so many things in this verse. Start in Jerusalem, which means where you are living right now. Your hometown and your home. Be filled with the Spirit and be a first class husband and a first class father and a first class mother and a first class wife. That's Jerusalem. Then go to the next circle in your local church and then a bigger circle in your hometown and then a bigger circle outside that. I remember when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, first in 1963, I first began to be a witness in my hometown. I was in Cochin, in the streets. So, always begin. And then, you know, I went through a period of backsliding and came back and God filled me with the Spirit again. And then in 1975, again we started in our hometown in Bangalore. He kept us there for years before we moved out to other places. So it's always in a concentric circles beginning with, and there again a lot of people disobey the 10th commandment. They are not witnesses in their hometown but they want to be witnesses in some other place. They are not a good testimony in their hometown but they want to be a witness in some other place. They haven't built a church in their hometown. They want to go and build a church somewhere else. It's all crazy. Come back to Acts 1.8. So all of that is in Acts 1.8. Now we go to Acts 2.4. In Acts 2.4, it says, the fulfillment of that, that the Holy Spirit filled them and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. As we read on, you know, nobody needed to translate that, nobody needed to interpret it. They just spoke in tongues. Later on in Corinthians, it says, if you speak in tongues in a meeting, it must be interpreted. But in the day of Pentecost, they didn't need to interpret it because everybody understood in their own mother tongue. There are rare occurrences like that that have happened through church history. That happened for the first time on the day of Pentecost. In order to, you know, start building Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the opposite of Babylon. Babylon began at the Tower of Babel where everybody had one language and God split it up into many languages. That is the beginning of Babylon. Now in Jerusalem, the beginning of Jerusalem, God took many languages and made all of them here when these people spoke in one language. It is the opposite of the Tower of Babel. God was now building Jerusalem. That's the significance of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost. It's very simple. And the other thing I want you to notice here is a very, very important statement. Have you read Acts chapter 2 verse 4? Can you tell me, a very simple question, who spoke with unknown tongues? Was it the people or the Holy Spirit? Please read there. Who? They. They spoke in unknown tongues. Now a lot of people are waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak in unknown tongues through them. He will never speak. It never says anywhere in the Bible the Holy Spirit spoke. When it says the Holy Spirit spoke through them the word of God, I mean if you believe the Holy Spirit speaking through me, who is doing the speaking? The Holy Spirit is not moving my tongue like demon possessed people. Do you know the difference between demon possession and spirit filling? Here it is. When a demon possesses a person, I have seen them, they don't have control over their tongue. The demon begins to speak. They can't stop. And when somebody, some people testify I began to speak in tongues, I couldn't stop, then it was definitely a demon. When the Holy Spirit, He doesn't speak through you. You speak. As the Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit did not speak. The Spirit gave them utterance. They spoke. That is how tongues is. I speak and the Spirit gives me utterance. And if you are waiting for the Spirit to speak, you can wait forever. He will never speak. And that's the confusion some people have. They are waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak. Supposing I stand up here and say Lord, you have given me the gift of teaching, now you have got to speak through me. I keep my mouth open and say, okay, speak. I will be standing like this, forever. And that's how some people are waiting to speak in tongues. They will be waiting forever. Lord, speak through me. What's going to happen? Nothing is going to happen. They were filled with the Spirit and they spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance. And just like when I am teaching, if I am anointed with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit gives me utterance. But I do the speaking. I hope you recognize that. That's the difference between demon possession and spirit filling. Because the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. The fruit of demon possession is total loss of self-control. There are demon possessed people who have a thing called automatic writing. Their hand begins to write things. They have no control over themselves. You have seen these demon possessed people who throw themselves on the ground and fling themselves. They have no control. They tear their clothes and that is demon possession. But the Holy Spirit filling is total self-control. In fact, when you are filled with the Spirit, you have more control over your life than you had before. So when a man says, I couldn't stop speaking in tongues, I say, that was a demon. Or it was you yourself. It's certainly not the Holy Spirit. Supposing I get up here to teach and I say, listen, I don't know when I'll stop. Maybe tomorrow morning. Because I am under the control of the Spirit. Then it's not the Spirit. If I don't know when to stop, it must be a demon. The spirit of the prophets, 1 Corinthians 14 says, is subject to the prophets. It's a very important principle to understand. People ask me, do you mean to say, you can speak in tongues whenever you want and stop whenever you want? I say, okay, I'll answer that question. Do you believe I can start speaking at 6.20? Because the singing finishes at 6.20. And finish when I want? Is it up to me? It's 100% up to me. It's exactly the same with speaking in tongues. It's a gift God gives you and you exercise it. What is the difference between the gift of speaking in tongues and prophesying? Both are a gift of the Holy Spirit. Both are under your control. Every gift of the Holy Spirit that God gives, He gives it to us. We exercise it. We can abuse it. I can abuse my gift of prophesying to make money for myself or honor for myself. You can abuse any gift of the Holy Spirit but it's under my control. If we understand this simple principle, we realize that a lot of people are not speaking in tongues because when the Spirit gives them utterance, they don't speak. The Spirit gives them utterance but they don't speak. They keep quiet. They are waiting for the Holy Spirit to move their tongue. He'll never move your tongue because He's not a demon. Please understand this. If it confuses you even more, forget it. It was meant to liberate you. That means, what I mean in very simple words is, when your heart is filled, particularly when you are all alone before God and something is bubbling up in your heart and you feel like expressing yourself to God, just let go and speak. As the Spirit gives you utterance, speak to God, your Father. He understands and you'll find over a period of time the pressure in your heart is relieved. As you speak in a language you can't understand. What is language? Language is just a combination of syllables. Syllable. You understand that? That's it. It's a combination of different syllables. Whether you speak in Hindi or Tamil or Malayalam, it's all syllables put together. And that speaking in tongues is the same thing. As the Spirit gives utterance, you speak to God, you say, I don't understand a thing. I've spoken in 29 years in tongues and I've never understood a single thing so far. But my spirit is edified. Don't hold back. I'm not asking you to create it. I'm saying when the Spirit gives you utterance, don't hold it in. Don't put the cork and plug the bottle. Take it out. And pour out. That's what these people did. They spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance. Okay. We go now to Acts 2, verse 33. Here it tells us what the coming of the Holy Spirit signified on the day of Pentecost. I want to say one more thing. This is the only time. This is the only time, the day of Pentecost, when people had to wait to receive the Holy Spirit. They had to wait for 10 days. They had a tarrying meeting for 10 days. They didn't know it would be 10 days. Jesus only said, wait until. So as far as they were concerned, they were waiting until. They thought it would be 2 days, 3 days, 4 days. They didn't know. Finally it was 10 days. Now we know it was 10 days. After this instance, I am sorry to surprise you, but there is not a single instance, not a single instance in the Bible of any tarrying meeting for the Holy Spirit. I mean, Pentecostals may do it. I don't know why they do it. But there is no instance in the whole Bible. Please show it to me. I follow the Bible. This is my only foundation. If a Pentecostal tradition is your foundation, then you must give freedom to the Roman Catholics to follow their tradition also as a foundation. A lot of people are following the Bible plus human tradition. It may be Roman Catholic tradition. It may be charismatic tradition. It may be brethren tradition. It may be Pentecostal tradition. We have only the Bible plus no tradition. And that is why I say, I never see in the Bible a single instance of anybody waiting, having a tarrying meeting for the Holy Spirit. Tarrying for what? The Holy Spirit has already come. But then why do we need to wait? You need to wait because your hands are not empty. That's another thing. But you can go to 10,000 tarrying meetings and your hands are still full. You'll never get it. But you can be alone at home and empty your hands and the Holy Spirit is already there. The baptizer is there. So please remember this and don't be deceived. I humbly request all of you. I plead with you. Don't ever believe these traditions if somebody can't show it to you from Scripture. There are a lot of things many of us believe which are not found anywhere in the Bible. And here is one of them. Okay. Acts chapter 2 verse 33 tells us the coming of the Holy Spirit proved what did it prove? That Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father. You know, it's something like this. You see somebody off in a train and he waves out in the train and then he disappears and you're standing on the platform and he's gone. And then a few days later couple of days later you get a telegram from Delhi. A riot. Okay. Same thing happened. Jesus went up to heaven. They said bye-bye. Then he disappeared. It's exactly like this train journey. And 10 days later they got a telegram. A riot. What is the telegram? The Holy Spirit. That's what it means. The Holy Spirit came and said Hey fellas! Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. That is what the coming of the Holy Spirit was. That's what it says here. Having been exalted to the right hand of the Father and received the promise He has poured out this. I know He's there. So the power of the Holy Spirit is very intimately linked with Jesus at the right hand of the Father. Don't ever forget that. It's got nothing to do with earthly prosperity or health or any of these things. It's got to do with Jesus at the right hand of the Father and the Holy Spirit has come to equip me to do what He is planning from the right hand of the Father. And that's why if you want the power of the Holy Spirit you must recognize that it will link you directly to the right hand of the Father. It's like a hotline. You know what a hotline is? A hotline is a telephone where you don't have to dial anything. You go straight up there to the other person. That's called a hotline. So the Holy Spirit is like a hotline that takes me directly to the right hand of the Father. It links me to Jesus, my Advocate. It teaches me that Jesus, my Advocate is there at the right hand of the Father. It tells me that Jesus from the right hand of the Father is planning a program for His work on the earth and He wants me to have a part in it. And I say, sure. Lord, that's why You baptized me in the Holy Spirit. What is that plan? My ambitions are gone. I had other ambitions before I was born again. Ambitions for something in the world and lot of things. But now the Holy Spirit comes, it links me to the right hand of the Father and my ambitions of all now got to do with headquarters. My headquarters is there now. It's a wonderful life. It's like getting a walkie-talkie to headquarters. And you know these police walkie-talkies, there's not always calling them. Sometimes the walkie-talkie is calling somebody else. Sometimes it may be them. They got to be alert. They got to have it on all the time. But we're linked to headquarters and from the right hand of the Father is sent the Holy Spirit and this brings me in direct connection with the right hand of the Father which nobody until now, until this point could ever experience. It's a wonderful thing to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. And your walkie-talkie can die out, you know that. Keep it charged so that you can hear every time you charge your mobile, you say, Oh, I got to charge my other mobile also to be in touch with the right hand of the Father. Remember that next time you charge your mobile phone. Oh, I got to charge my other mobile phone. Can I hear something? You say, Well, I charged it 25 years ago. You charged your mobile phone 25 years ago? Brother, are you crazy or what? No wonder it's dead. Message, message, message. Nothing being received here. Charge it. Stir up! Paul told Timothy, the fire that God put in you, which you received through the laying on of my hands. Okay, we go to verse 38. Peter said to these people, Repent, each one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you shall also receive the same gift of the Holy Spirit. What we received just now, you 3000 fellows who are repenting, repent first of all. Get, turn away from all your sins. Turn away from your love for the world. That's the meaning of repentance. You want the gift of the Holy Spirit? About turn from the world and from sin and living for yourself and cleanse your heart with the forgiveness of sins. Be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and die symbolically there to yourself, your old man and receive the forgiveness of sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit because your vessel will be clean. God can't put a vessel, God can't put the Holy Spirit in an unclean vessel. That's why he says, you got to get all your sins forgiven. You got to repent of every sin. You keep some secret sins here and there in the corner of your vessel and say, God fill me with the Holy Spirit. How in the world can he send the Holy Spirit into a dirty vessel where you got some sin that you don't want to get rid of. You got some grudge against somebody you don't want to get rid of. You got some bitterness against somebody you don't want to get rid of. Keep it. You'll never get the Holy Spirit. You'll get some counterfeit. Maybe you'll speak in tongues. Demons speak in tongues too. Or you can produce it yourself. It's one of the most easily imitated gifts of the Holy Spirit. One of the most easily imitated gifts of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. You can't preach an anointed message so easily. Try preaching an anointed message. It's difficult. Very difficult. You can preach sermons. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can preach sermons. But to preach an anointed message, to imitate that is extremely difficult. But to speak in tongues, imitate that is very easy. It's the easiest thing in the world and a lot of people are doing it. But if you want the power of the Holy Spirit you got to cleanse your vessel. Repent and receive the forgiveness of sins. Turn from everything that you know right now to be displeasing to God in your life. Turn from everything that you know that is other than God. Let God have supreme place in your heart. Jesus said we got to love God with all our heart. Is there any part of your heart where you don't love God? Where you love somebody else? Where you love something else? Get rid of that love and love God with all your heart. That's repentance. Repentance means turning to God from idols. An idol is something that takes the place of God in my heart. I want to ask you. Do you have something that takes the place of God in your heart? Your job? Your someone you love? Your money or something? Sorry, you can't. Your vessel is not clean. You are not fit to receive the Holy Spirit. It's so easy. Say Lord, I want you to take possession of all my heart. I don't want to have any ambition. I'm not saying you shouldn't do a job. But don't let that be your ambition. Jesus was a carpenter but his life was not in the carpentry shop. His life was in his father. A lot of people they do an earthly job but their life is in that job. Oh, I've seen a lot of believers. Their life is in their job. When their job dies, they die. But, I mean die means in the sense that they lose, they get discouraged, they lose all interest. Because their life was in their job. No, we must love God with all our heart. That's repentance. And say Lord, forgive me, cleanse me from all those other desires. And then I receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so easily. As soon as the vessel is clean, emptied of everything, nature hates the vacuum. The Holy Spirit fills us because the promise, verse 39, do you know your name is here? How many of you saw your name in verse 39? See it today. Do you know your name is in the Bible? Verse 39, the promise is for you, your children, and for all those far off in Bangalore, and everywhere, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself. Are you one of those? And your name is there. The promise is for you. Who said you can't receive the promise of the Holy Spirit? Who says you can't receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? It's written here, it's for you. Open your heart and receive. Chapter 4, verse 8. I want you to see something here. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, verse 4. We saw that. In Acts 4, verse 8, we read that Peter was again filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh! So that teaches us, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit a second time. They were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, verse 4. Now in Acts 4, verse 8, he's filled with the Holy Spirit a second time. And in Acts 4, verse 31, when they all prayed, including Peter, he was filled with the Holy Spirit a third time. So there it is. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is not something that you have once for all. Peter got it again, and a little later again, and I'm sure a little later again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. And that's how it must be with us. Repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit. Again and again. Particularly when some new ministry challenge comes up before us. Got to be filled with the Holy Spirit again. And then another day comes up, and this is the day the Lord has made a new ministry challenge. Again, filled with the Holy Spirit. Seek it. Okay. We go to chapter 5. It's possible for a person to tell a lie to the Holy Spirit. Verse 3. When we tell a lie to the Holy Spirit, Satan fills our heart. A heart that is once filled with the Holy Spirit can be filled with Satan. Ananias, perhaps he was one of those 3000 on the day of Pentecost, who took baptism, who received the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit. A few days later, while Peter was being repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit, Ananias' heart is filled with Satan. Can a man's heart be filled with Satan, who was a few days ago filled with the Holy Spirit? That's what it says here. Why has Satan filled your heart to tell a lie to the Holy Spirit? It's a serious warning. How did Satan fill his heart? Jesus said Satan is a liar from the beginning. He told a lie to Adam and Eve. You will not die if you eat this fruit. That is the first lie. He is a liar from the beginning, Jesus said. And when we tell a lie, particularly in the church, Satan fills our heart. How did Ananias tell a lie? Do you know that he never opened his mouth? You can tell a lie without opening your mouth. Ananias, filled with the Holy Spirit, now sits with his wife and decides, let us deceive the church. Let us take advantage of our church membership, get the benefits of church membership, but we won't be as radical and as wholehearted as the others. But we will stand in the line and in the queue, pretending that we are also equally wholehearted. And that was a lie. It was a lie. And he died. And little later on, his wife was also filled with the Holy Spirit, now is again filled with the devil, and she also dies. Only because of hypocrisy. Not because they didn't give their money. God doesn't want anybody's money. Not because they didn't sell their land. Peter told him very clearly, listen, when the land was not sold, verse 4, it was yours. After it was sold, it was still yours. God did not want it. Before you sold it, God did not want your money. After you sold it, that's yours. You could have come to Peter and said, Peter, we sold the property for one lakh, but we decided, my wife and I, we want to give only 50,000. How many people give 50,000 when they have sold their property for one lakh? I have never heard of anybody. 50%? I mean, most people don't even give 10%. Where is the question of 50%? Today Ananias would be one of the wholehearted believers in a church. Supposing he had said, we decided just to give 50%. Peter would have said, that's fine Ananias, I am glad you are honest about it. Not pretending like, not pretending that you are giving everything. We really appreciate your honesty. Thank you very much. God bless you. May his spirit fill you. He would have gone away from that queue as a spirit filled man. Instead of that, he never left the queue. He died right there because he pretended that he was wholehearted, radical, disciple, just like all the others sitting in the church and he was not. I want to say to you, the first sin that God judged in the early church was hypocrisy. A man filled with the spirit, God filled with Satan because he was a hypocrite. Now, the reason was, because Ananias was in a very fiery church. It's very dangerous to be in a powerful church. There are many advantages in being in a powerful church. You get a powerful word of God. You get powerful conferences, powerful meetings. But there is a danger if you are a hypocrite. Very great danger that God can punish you very severely because you hurt so much and to whom much is given, much will be required. Whereas, if you had sat in some dead denominational church, you would have lived comfortably. If Ananias had been in the church in Corinth, he might have been an elder in the church in Corinth because all the other fellows were much worse than him. His mistake was, he came and joined this Jerusalem church which was on fire for God. And I say, if you are not serious about being on fire for God, I would recommend that you go and join some half-hearted church. Don't say, Oh brother, we hear these powerful messages here. You are in greater danger. Unless you are willing to be wholehearted, radical yourself. And I have seen that happen to people here who have come here and not been wholehearted, tried to play the fool and God has exposed them and removed them. It can happen again. Okay. Now we go to Acts chapter 5 and verse 9 where Peter tells to Sapphira, Why have you tried to test the Spirit of God? Not just tell lies to Holy Spirit, but let me test. Let me see whether these people in this church will find out that I am not wholehearted. You want to test the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit will expose you pretty soon. See there are warnings in Scripture. Acts 5.32 we read that We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. You know when we preach, there are two witnesses. We and the Holy Spirit. That's the only way we should preach. We are witnesses and so is the Holy Spirit. That means when I get up to say something, the Holy Spirit must back up my words and tell the people, Listen to that. That's from God. And every one of us who preaches God's Word should have this testimony that we read in Acts 5.32 that what we say the Holy Spirit backs up to our hearers and say, Listen to that. That's from God. And we also read the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him. Now we read in chapter 6. In chapter 6 we read of a time when the people were complaining that some widows were not getting enough food. And Peter said, That's fine. Then we must find somebody to distribute this food. And you know, serving the food, make sure that the food is distributed equally to the widows. What type of people do we need? We need people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. You mean you need people filled with the Holy Spirit to distribute food? That's right. Every ministry in the New Testament church has to be done by people filled with the Holy Spirit. See Acts 6, verse 3. From among yourselves, select seven men who got a good testimony, filled with the Holy Spirit, and put them in charge of this task of distributing food. That's really amazing. That for the most ordinary tasks in the church, we need people filled with the Holy Spirit. It's not just for the preachers. Okay. We go to chapter 7, verse 55. When Stephen was being stoned to death, he was already full of the Spirit. Before, you know, they selected Stephen, we read in Acts 6, verse 8, full of the Holy Spirit. But he was filled with the Holy Spirit the second time here when he was being persecuted and being stoned to death. As they threw the stones at him, verse 55, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And I remember reading these verses to try and find out what are the marks of a man filled with the Holy Spirit that I can learn from Stephen's life. One, he gazes intently into heaven. A spirit-filled man gazes into heaven. He is not gazing on earth. His gaze is in heaven. Second, a spirit-filled man sees the glory of God. He is not interested in his own glory or his own honor. Third, a spirit-filled man sees Jesus. He doesn't see men. He sees Jesus. He doesn't see his persecutors. He doesn't see human beings. Primarily, he sees Jesus at the right hand of God. Fourth, a spirit-filled man testifies to what he has seen. Verse 56, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. And then, further, a spirit-filled man, when he is persecuted, he calls out to the Lord. He prays to God. He says, Lord Jesus, you received my spirit. And, finally, a spirit-filled man prays to God and says, forgive these people who are hurting me. So there are a number of things we see there. The marks of a spirit-filled man. He gazes intently into heaven, sees the glory of God, sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God, testifies to what he has seen, communicates to God when he is being persecuted, and prays for his persecutors. Those are the seven things there. In chapter 8, we go to verse 15 and 19. This is the second instance where we read of people who are born again, who receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit a little later. Philip did not have the ability to lead people into the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He could lead them to being new-born again and to water baptism. Well, there are some preachers like that today. They'll lead you to new birth and to water baptism. So Philip, they believed Philip and they were baptized. Acts 8, verse 12. But, they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. Because it says here in verse 16, the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. That's all. So, when the apostles heard this, they sent Peter and John, verse 15, who came and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Some days later, they were first born again. They were baptized. Certainly, Philip would not baptize them if they were not born again. So, sometimes, a little crook like Simon the Magician can get through. That can happen even today. But most of them were born again. They were baptized and some days later, they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon, we don't know, it doesn't say here they spoke in tongues, but something happened. I don't know what it was. Because it says in verse 18, Simon saw that they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Something happened there that Simon could see. So, there was some manifestation. I don't know what it was. Now, Philip, in the midst of this tremendous revival, we see in verse 29, the Spirit said to Philip, Lord spoke to Philip, first of all in verse 26, leave this revival and go to Gaza. It's amazing how these earlier servants of God were sensitive. The Holy Spirit would say to them, now leave this place and go there. And he'd go there. And the Holy Spirit said to him, you see that fellow in that chariot? Go and join that chariot. And he went and joined that chariot. And there was a fellow all ready to be saved. You know, this is a ministry that of the Holy Spirit that we should covet. When I was a young Christian, I saw different servants of God and who were serving the Lord in India. And I saw one or two who seemed to go under the leading of the Spirit. And wherever they went, there was fruit. They'd go somewhere, there'd be fruit, there'd be a church there. Then they'd go somewhere else, there'd be fruit there and there was a church there. And then they'd go somewhere else, there'd be fruit there and there was a church there. And I said, this is wonderful. This is the best way to serve the Lord. Instead of just going wherever we feel like, to wait and let the Spirit say, go there. Because, you know, God, the world is like a huge vineyard. And we don't know where the fruit is ripe. If you go by your own leading, you may go and sit under a tree where it takes ten years for that fruit to become ripe and you wait there ten years for the ripe fruit to become ripe. But if you listen to the Master of the vineyard, the Holy Spirit, He'll say, go there. And you go there and the fruit is just about ready to fall. And you go with your basket and you catch it. And you got a whole lot of fruit. And the Spirit says, okay, now go there. And you go there and there's another place where the fruit is ready to fall. And Lord, what about this place? No, that'll take another ten years. Don't go there yet. In this ten years, you can go to 25 other places. Isn't that a good way to serve the Lord? When you listen to the Holy Spirit and don't go just where somebody tells you, come, somebody tells you, please come here, brother. And you listen to the Holy Spirit. This is the way. This is how New Testament churches are built. This is how these apostles lived. They listened to the Spirit. Go there. Go here. And wherever they went, fruit was ready. You read later on in chapter 10. The Lord told Peter, go there. They went, Cornelius, whole family, fruit was just ready to fall into their basket. Very few people serve the Lord like that today. Because we depend so much on our intelligence. We depend so much on other people inviting us. And we depend more on the voice of men than the voice of God. And that is why there is so much of fruitless labor in Christendom today. So much of waste of time sitting under a tree, waiting for it to become ripe. During which period that 25 other trees, which are already ripe in the vineyard. What am I trying to say? It's not just for preachers and apostles. Philip went to one person. He didn't build a church. He just was led to one person and that person got saved. But through that person, a whole church came in Ethiopia later on. And God can lead you to one person. If you say, Lord, I want to be led by the Holy Spirit in my life. I want my life to be fruitful. Lord, I want my walkie-talkie to be on. I want the walkie-talkie to be charged every day. My mobile to be charged. And I want to hear you. And when you say, go there, I want to go. Or maybe sovereignly, without even my hearing, unconsciously I am led. And there. You know, I love that statement of Abraham's servant, when he went looking for a girl in Mesopotamia. How in the world can he go to Mesopotamia, some strange country, and within less than 24 hours, within a few minutes, find the right girl. I mean, when you see the amount of effort people make today to find the right girl and to find the right boy. It is really amazing how that fellow got it in a few minutes. And you know what he says. It is a beautiful expression he says in Genesis 24. I being in the way the Lord led me. Beautiful. I just was there and the Lord led me and lo and behold, right in front of me came Rebecca. It is almost like Adam and Eve. Led by the Spirit. I said, boy, what a way to live. What a way to live. Whether it is to find a wife or a husband or build a church or anything. Or witness to an Ethiopian eunuch or anything. I being in the way the Lord led me. Of course the man went with prayer. Oh God, I am helpless. How in the world can I go to Mesopotamia and find one girl for my Master? It is such an impossible task. He must have been praying all that one month along that long journey. I don't know. I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to do it. Lord, I have landed up now in Mesopotamia. I don't know what to do. I am helpless, Lord. It is very good to be helpless. Please lead me. Happens in no time. It is wonderful to be led by the Spirit in different different things like this. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. Okay. And then when the ministry is over, it says the Holy Spirit took him back and the eunuch didn't see him anymore. Verse 39. It is good after we have served somebody that the Holy Spirit takes us away and let him keep his connection with the Lord. Verse 39. And not with us primarily. Beautiful. And then we read in chapter 9 about Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit. He was saved on the road to Damascus. He saw the Lord and he was born again. And he became blind and 3 days later he was fasting and praying for 3 days. 3 days later Acts 9, 17 Ananias came and laid hands on him and said, Be filled with the Holy Spirit. So he was saved 3 days later. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit. It didn't always happen at the same time. And then of course the well-known instance in chapter 10 where we read of Peter again praying as I said on the rooftop and the Holy Spirit saying, Go. And he went. And he was there ready to pick up the fruit that was ripe in Cornelius' house. And when he went there and he preached and do you know what he preached about? He preached about Jesus being anointed with the Holy Spirit. That was his message to Cornelius. In verse 38. Cornelius, let me tell you about Jesus who was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. And God was with him. And he went about doing good. So I see that when I am anointed with the Holy Spirit like Jesus I will have power. God will be with me. And I'll go around doing good. And I'll go around setting people free who are bound by Satan. You know all around you are people who are bound by Satan. And God wants to anoint you. Send you to those people. Do good to them. And set them free from their depression, their gloom, their bondage, their sin. You can do it. Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit and you can be anointed with the Holy Spirit to do the same thing. And Cornelius heard all this and lo and behold, the same Holy Spirit fell upon him. In verse 44. While Peter was talking about Jesus being anointed with the Holy Spirit Cornelius' heart was so ready the Holy Spirit fell on him. And he began to speak in tongues. Verse 46. Ok. Now we go to chapter 11. We find one of those unique and rare gifts of the Holy Spirit of foretelling prophecy. There's a type of prophecy which is foretelling the future. It's very rare. But we see an instance of it here in the New Testament in Agabus. He's about the only person we read in the entire Acts of the Apostles who had this particular gift of prophecy of foretelling the future. It was not the common gift of prophecy mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14. Here it is saying the Holy Spirit says there's going to be a great famine. Acts 11.28. And he predicted it long before it happened. And it took place in the reign of Claudius. Now what I want you to notice is Agabus here foretold and later on once he took Paul's girdle in Acts 21 and said the Holy Spirit says this man will be abound in Jerusalem. I don't have time to show you. Read that in Acts 21. In both cases I want you to notice one thing. These are the only two instances in the Acts of the Apostles where there's foretelling prophecy. This is what is going to happen in the future. And I want you to notice one thing in both cases. Agabus did not tell them therefore you must do this. There is no direction in prophecy in the New Testament. In the Old Testament prophecy was directed. Thus said the Lord. You king. Do this. Go and fight against that enemy. That's how the prophet spoke in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament even where there's foretelling there's no direction as to what you should do. No direction. There's going to be a famine. Full stop. So Agabus, what are we supposed to do? That's not for me to say. My duty is only to tell you what's going to happen. What are you supposed to do? Seek God. You got the Holy Spirit. Seek God. And they sought God. And God said to them, send some money to those fellows. Your believers there. And so they collected money and sent it. The same way later on in Acts 21 we read that Agabus said this man is going to be bound in Jerusalem. So if Paul were to go to Agabus So Agabus, are you telling me not to go to Jerusalem? No, no, no, no, no, no. I will never tell people what to do. My duty is only to tell you this is what's going to happen. You got the Holy Spirit. Find out yourself. Do you see the evil? The evil of pastors and preachers who tell you what to do, whom to marry, where to go. This is evil. It is insulting the Holy Spirit in you. Agabus never did that. He was a mature man. There were immature people. I want you to see that in Acts 21. There were immature people in Acts 21 who told Paul in verse 4 who kept telling Paul, don't set foot in Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord, don't set foot in Jerusalem. But when Agabus came in Acts 21, 10, 11, he never said don't set foot in Jerusalem. He just said this is what the Holy Spirit says. The other people said, oh verse 12, please don't go there. But Paul said, what do you mean? I'm going to go. Was Paul right? Or were these immature believers right? Paul was right. Because when he went to Jerusalem, we read that the Lord stood by him there and said to him, we read that in the next chapter, Paul, as you have borne witness for me here, you will also bear witness for me in Rome. He was in the will of God. If he had listened to those believers who said thus said the Lord, he would have missed the will of God. Agabus was a mature prophet. He told the future, but he never told Paul what to do. I want to say to you, older brothers, don't try to run other people's lives. Don't try to tell them what to do. Be a mature person like Agabus. If you've got some advice to give, give it. But leave it to them to decide whom they should marry, where they should go, what they should do. I'm terribly disturbed when I hear people telling other people what they should do. Now, if you're in charge of a church, naturally you have to run the church and tell people what to do in that church. I'm talking about their personal lives. Don't tell them whether they should go to Jerusalem or not, whether they should go to the Gulf or not. That's not my business. All these false prophets, and there are plenty of them around in this country, who are doing such things. I want to show you another thing in Acts chapter 13 of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in verse 2. It says here that the Holy Spirit spoke when a group of people were ministering to the Lord and fasting. Acts 13.2 As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul. I don't know how many days they fasted, but they fasted and waited on the Lord. You know, fasting is something which indicates to God, Lord I'm really serious about this. This is not a trivial thing for me, I'm pretty serious about this. And I'm really seeking you God, please show me your will in this. And as they waited on the Lord and worshipped Him and fasted, maybe after a couple of days, they heard the voice of the Spirit saying, Separate me Barnabas Barnabas and Saul for the ministry. Barnabas and Saul were right there among the five of them as they were waiting on the Lord. Ah, everybody felt Barnabas and Saul who are supposed to go as our representatives. I tell you, we need to come back to those days. We need to come back to those days. Elders need to come together to fast and pray and seek guidance for the future. We used to do it much in the early days when we used to meet in Bangalore. We sort of slipped up on that now. We need to come back to that where we fast and pray for guidance for the future. We don't have to do it all the time, they didn't do it all the time but at certain special times particularly if there's some confusion concerning what is the direction this church should go next. Certain special times. This is a special time. And if your church is going through a crisis, confusion and the devil is seriously attacking it and some confusion, that's the time the elders need to come together and fast and pray and say, Lord, what do we do next? And as you wait on the Lord, the Spirit will say what you should do next. But if you are too lazy to do that, you'll just go by reason and say, you know, we think we should do this. Okay, go ahead. It won't be the voice of the Spirit. It will only bring more confusion in your church. It's good at times of crisis to fast and pray. And then, when they got that clear, they sent Saul and Barnabas, and what a beautiful expression. Verse 4, they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. Boy, that really challenges me. I say, Lord, wherever I go, I want to be sent by the Holy Spirit. Then I know there'll definitely be some result from my work. Otherwise, it'll be no better than a tourist going from one place to another. And then, further, we don't have time to look at everything that speaks about continuously being filled with the Holy Spirit in verse 52 of the same chapter. When they were persecuted, it says they were continually filled with the Holy Spirit. It's a good expression. We need to have that in our life always. Another place we read in Acts chapter 16. Again, Paul and Silas this time, were waiting on the Lord. And as they were waiting on the Lord as to where they should go, Acts 16, verse 6. It says the Holy Spirit said, don't go to Asia. Don't go to Asia. They were planning to go to Asia and the Holy Spirit, how do we know when the Holy Spirit is saying, don't go? It's a very wonderful verse I want to give you. Romans 8, verse 6. Romans 8, verse 6 says, the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. When the Holy Spirit is leading you, you'll have an upsurge of life as you think about that course of action and peace. Maybe you are considering marriage to somebody. And you can have an upsurge of life if you have sincerely given everything up to the Lord. If you are just madly in love with somebody, you'll have a plenty of upsurge of adrenaline and everything else which you think is the Holy Spirit. It's not the Holy Spirit. Don't mix up adrenaline with the Holy Spirit. A lot of worldly people have got adrenaline coming up when they think of somebody. Ah, God is leading me. You've got to be very careful. But if you have surrendered everything to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm not interested in this, that or the other. I want your will. The Holy Spirit will guide you very clearly by an upsurge of life and peace or by a sort of a drying up feeling and disturbance. That's the opposite of life and peace and then you know that's not the Holy Spirit. When you are considering a job, when you are considering marriage, when you are considering a ministry, when you are considering anything that you are considering and you are seeking the mind of the Lord and you are waiting on Him, particularly if you are fasting and praying and seeking God and especially if you have surrendered everything to God and say, Lord, this and the opposite are both equally okay for me. I don't say it has to be this. I'm willing to accept. You are saying no. I'm willing to get a red light or a green light. It's up to you. If you are really giving up your own will, you can be pretty sure that that upsurge of life and peace is an indication of the mind of the Spirit and the drying up feeling and disturbance is an indication that that's not the will of the Spirit. It's also possible when you consider marriage, if you are attracted by a person's salary, oh, there can be a lot of adrenaline coming up again. But there you are not attracted by a person's godliness but by his salary or his good looks or a girl's good looks. You won't find the will of God there. But if you are willing to say, Lord, these things are not important to me. I want your will in my life. I want you in my life and I'm not looking for money or position. Then this upsurge of life and peace is an indication of God's will and the drying up and the disturbance is an indication that that's not God's will. Now we come to Acts chapter 19 and verse 2. Paul came to a meeting where he found some disciples in Ephesus, verse 1. And I think he went to one of their meetings and when he sat in their meeting, he said, hey, it's a pretty dead meeting here. All heavy, boring people praying in a sleepy way and getting up and testifying in a half-dead way. And when Paul said, hey, did you fellas by the way receive the Holy Spirit? Did you guys get baptized in the Holy Spirit? I mean, I just got I feel there's death in this meeting. Did you guys receive the Holy Spirit? He said, what do you mean Holy Spirit? We never heard of that. Ah, that's why this meeting was so dead. No wonder, I was right. You guys need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and your meeting won't be like this anymore. Really? Yeah. And then they opened themselves up to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I wonder what Paul would say if he came to one of our church meetings. What would he say if he sat in your church meeting one day? Would he have to say, hey, you preacher, have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit right now? I wonder whether he'd have to say that. And he prayed for them. And it says they were filled with the Holy Spirit in verse 6. And the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying after they were baptized. They were first baptized in verse 5. That means they were already believers. Then only Paul baptized them. Paul would not baptize unbelievers. They were born again. They were baptized as believers. And then after that they received the Holy Spirit. Some people say as soon as you're born again, everything happens. Well, it didn't happen here. Okay. I want you to see another thing in Acts chapter 20, verse 28 for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in elders. An elder brother needs to know that he's been appointed as an elder by the Holy Spirit. It says Paul said to them, it says Paul who appointed them, but Paul was led by the Spirit and he told them do you know, Acts 20, 28 the Holy Spirit has made you overseers and elders. Your CEO is the Holy Spirit. He's your managing director. You are answerable to the Holy Spirit. Not to me, Paul says. You're answerable to the Holy Spirit every day as to how you're running your church. You're like a branch manager of this mighty organization called the Kingdom of God. And the Holy Spirit's appointed you and said, you're the elders, both of you. You've got to manage that local branch. You're answerable to me, the Holy Spirit says. Tell me how are you running your church? How are things going there? Don't worry about brother Zach, you answer me the Holy Spirit says. You need to recognize that answerability to the Holy Spirit for your task there in your local church. So those are the references to the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. Now in the Epistles, there are many references to the Holy Spirit. We won't have time to go through all of them because there are so many of them. But I would encourage you, it's very easy, take a concordance and look for the word Spirit and study it through all the references in the Epistles from Romans chapter 1 to Revelation chapter 22. It finally ends in Revelation 22, almost the last verse. The Spirit and the Bride say come. And almost the first verse in Romans chapter 1 where, it's very interesting, the first reference to the Spirit in the Epistles, the very first reference to the Spirit in the Epistles is in Romans 1-4 where he's called the Spirit of Holiness significant that the very first reference to the Holy Spirit he's called the Spirit of Holiness. That's what we need. The second reference to the Holy Spirit he's called the Spirit of Love Romans 5-5. That's the other thing we need. A heart, Romans 5-5 into which the Holy Spirit has been poured out and that's flooded my heart with love fervent love for God and fervent love for one another. When many people say what is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit? They say, see in Acts 2-4 they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues. I say see Romans 5-5 they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they were filled with love. So which are you going to choose? Why do you choose one or the other? Why not choose both? Why not choose Romans 5-5 where when the Holy Spirit fills our heart our heart is filled with fervent love for God the whole heart is filled with love for God and the whole heart is filled with love for others so that we want to share with them what God has done for us and we may also speak in tongues that's fine, I've got nothing against that but the danger is when you have Acts 2-4 without Romans 5-5 all the problem in Christendom is because of that so it's good that we have a verse like Romans 5-5 Romans 8 verse 2 is another wonderful verse which speaks about the law of the Spirit. We don't need to speak much about that because I've mentioned that before. The law of the Spirit is not a list of commandments it is a life it is the life of Jesus Christ it's different, we've already discussed that, we don't need to but what I want you to notice is in the Holy Spirit is mentioned 12 times in Romans chapter 8, in just that one chapter if you want to understand life in the Spirit, read Romans chapter 8 12 times the Holy Spirit is mentioned, it speaks about the Holy Spirit, let me just mention a few things the Holy Spirit giving us peace in guidance verse 6 and the Holy Spirit verse 11 reviving our dead bodies, the Holy Spirit helping us to put to death the deeds of the body in the way of the cross, verse 13 the Holy Spirit leading us making us sons of God and the Holy Spirit telling us in our heart verse 16 that we are God's children and the Holy Spirit praying from within us in verse 23 and groaning within us verse 26 etc ok Romans 14, 17 tells us that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God go together now we have to confess and acknowledge we have not seen that and I'll tell you a lot of these fellows who go around claiming that they have seen it on television and in pulpits platforms I don't believe they have seen it either a lot of them are just psychological tricks and psychosomatic healings where invisible things disappear and all that this is completely different this is supernatural signs and wonders and I think we don't see it because we don't have more faith perhaps we need to seek God more that God will confirm His word in the land of India, it's been my prayer for a long time, that this land of India, God will confirm His word once again with signs and wonders done in the name of Jesus that this heathen land of ours will know that Jesus Christ is Lord. I want to invite you my brother to pray that everyday Lord, you're in India, I'm an Indian, my heart is for India and I pray that so frequently, Lord confirm Your word with signs and wonders in this land that the heathen will know that Jesus Christ is Lord we don't want this powerless Christianity we want something far more than we have seen, I'm not satisfied with the measure of anointing I have experienced in my life, I long for far far more than I have experienced I hope you have a longing and I'll tell you another thing, I say Lord you don't have to do it through me you've already given me the gift of teaching give this gift to somebody else do it through other people, it's my honest prayer, but I want to see it do it through some other church if you like it doesn't have to be through our church, if you don't find faith in our church, fine, do it through somebody else, but let this land know that Jesus Christ is Lord, I hope we'll have a burden for that you know Paul had such a burden, he said right across from Jerusalem to Illyricum, verse 19, I preach the gospel of Christ now I really believe that's the only way we can preach the gospel of Christ I don't have time to lead you through all the references, there are many many references in 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians, 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews James, 1 Peter, 1 John Jude, Revelation, all the way up to the last chapter but let me tell you something about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our body ok, it's just a sample 1 Corinthians chapter 6 because we have a body we have to serve God in this body this body can be afflicted with sickness and the question is is the Holy Spirit is he only interested in our spirit or is he interested in our physical body definitely Jesus taught us to pray give us this day our daily bread for our physical body which means Lord give me a job where I can earn my living and get bread for my body help my children to get an education so that they can get a job and earn bread for their body God is interested in our body it says in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19 your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit this body these fingers these eyes these ears this tongue this body with its sexual desire with its desire for food with its desire for sleep with all the other desires in this body is a temple of the Holy Spirit of God who has come to dwell inside never forget that this body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and this body is a member of Jesus Christ it says here in verse 15 your body is a member of Jesus Christ and verse 13 beautiful last part of verse 13 if your body is given totally to the Lord the Lord will give himself totally for your body I love that verse the body for the Lord verse 13 last part the Lord for the body how is the Lord for the body? through the Holy Spirit so isn't that good to say Lord I want my body totally for you I don't want to do anything else with this body I want to use this body 100% to do your will on earth the body for the Lord and the Lord says the Lord for your body great that the life of Jesus I can have a taste of it in this earthly body healing is a taste of resurrection life resurrection life is a huge tank full of life God gives me a little teaspoon from it, a foretaste that's called healing a little taste through the Holy Spirit you know we can have a taste it says in Hebrews chapter 6 that we can taste the powers of the age to come it's a beautiful verse Hebrew 6.5 being made partakers of the Holy Spirit Hebrews 6.4 and in verse 5 thereby tasting the power of this future age that means tasting not getting it fully I won't get a resurrection body fully but I can taste resurrection life that's called healing I say Lord can I get a taste of that future resurrection life in my body when I'm sick yes are you sick physically first of all is your body for the Lord or for gossip and backbiting then the Lord is for your body if your body is not for the Lord if you don't control your tongue, you speak evil you keep grudges, you lust with your eyes the body is for the lust then the Lord is not for the body but if your body is for the Lord at least from today you have repented say Lord help me, I want my body to be fully for you the Lord will be even for your body it's wonderful life in the Holy Spirit really wonderful what a life body, soul and spirit completely possessed filled, not possessed filled with the Holy Spirit under the Holy Spirit's control isn't it great to give your life to this wonderful Holy Spirit that we have studied all throughout scripture let's respond to Him let's stand up let's bow our heads close our eyes and I want to encourage you my brother, sister, whatever your need is anointing supernatural gifts gifts to serve other people healing in your body listening to the voice of the Spirit the Holy Spirit is just the same today as He was 2000 years ago for those early apostles let's not limit Him by our unbelief or by our lack of yieldedness Spirit of God come down upon us fill us with the Holy Spirit O God our Father Spirit of our Father Spirit of Jesus Christ our Saviour come upon us O Lord give us power in our inner being in our spirit in our intellect in our emotions in our body strengthen our will to resist temptation to live for you to build your church to expand your kingdom let the heathen know that Jesus Christ is Lord in India in the power of signs and wonders done by the Holy Spirit revive us Lord revive us send a fire into our hearts that will never stop burning till your will is done in India hear us we pray Heavenly Father hear us Heavenly Father we pray be glorified in our lives my brother sister let's cry out to Him all of us let's raise our voice and call out to Him with our hearts ask Him to pour His Holy Spirit upon you to fill you with the Holy Spirit to set you on fire to live for Him repent of your past sins confess your sins cleanse them in the blood of Christ give your body to the Lord completely ask Him to heal your sickness ask Him to give you power in your life boldness to be a witness for Jesus thank you Lord there is nothing impossible with God Heavenly Father Jesus the baptizer in the Holy Spirit is here Jesus the baptizer in the Holy Spirit is here He is looking for clean vessels empty vessels clean vessels every sin confessed and forsaken empty vessels empty vessels every ambition and love forsaken to fill to overflowing and overflowing that will touch your body touch your mind touch your emotions touch your spirit change you into another man and make you a blessing to many others in the days to come this is the purpose with which He brought you out of your mother's womb He planned this for you when you were in your mother's womb that you might be filled with the Holy Spirit don't frustrate don't grieve the Holy Spirit don't quench the Holy Spirit respond to Him Heavenly Father thank you thank you Lord thank you thank you for the gentleness of the Spirit as He moves in our midst lead us on Lord lead us on from one degree of glory to another and dear brother, sister if you find your heart filled to overflowing praise God as the Spirit gives you utterance now or later don't quench the Holy Spirit give praise to your Heavenly Father thank you Father thank you Jesus don't doubt God He'll do more for you than you can ask or think don't doubt Him cast off that unbelief and trust Him cast off that wretched heart of unbelief say God you will do this for me because my heart is right with you I desire only you Lord Jesus there is nothing I desire on earth but you I know you will grant me my heart's desire thank you Lord thank you Jesus