In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of accepting Jesus and being born again in order to enjoy a fulfilling life. He also highlights the need to repent and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the anointing of God's power. The preacher shares a story about a man named Old Billy who was convicted of his backslidden state and began seeking God's mercy. Through prayer and the influence of a preacher, Old Billy was converted and experienced a transformation in his life. The sermon concludes with a reminder that everyone, regardless of their occupation or lifestyle, needs to be saved and follow God's commandments.

The prophet Isaiah said, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Heavenly Father, I pray that you'd guide us today. Holy Spirit, I yield myself to you. I pray that you'd anoint my tongue to speak, and our ears to hear what you have to say for us today. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I'm really excited about what God is doing in these days. I see a lot of opportunity for ministry. I believe God's getting us to a position where maybe we might pray for a change. Instead of we've got all kinds of programs and gimmicks, God's gonna bring us around and teach us how to pray. These are exciting days. One of the things that's so missing today in our lives is the Holy Spirit. You see, Jesus Christ, if He is in your life, you will have the person of the Holy Spirit be in the Lord of your life. He'll be leading you and directing you and guiding you. He'll be filling you with joy. That'll be one of the characteristics. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with Jesus. You know, the Bible says that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. We've got a lot of things wrong in our mind and our way of thinking. But He says it's righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. All three of these things are produced by the Holy Spirit. One of the reasons we don't have much righteousness in our nation and in our churches, in our homes, is because the Holy Spirit is not predominant. You see, if He is preeminent, predominant and preeminent, in our life or in the life of the church, He will produce these three things. He'll produce the spirit of holiness and joy. These three things, the spirit of holiness, joy, and peace will be there in the body of Christ. It'll be in your life. You know, the Bible says in Acts 10.38 that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him. God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. When we get saved, we receive the Holy Spirit, but we need the anointing power of the Holy Spirit upon our life. Many may not believe this. And you can tell who doesn't believe it because they won't have the anointing power of the Spirit of God in their life. Do you know the Holy Spirit? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit right now? Do you know Jesus? You said, oh yeah, I know Jesus. But do you know the Holy Spirit? See, He's the one that's going to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have joy? The Bible says in Luke 11.13, How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? He is given to us as a gift. For instance, let me ask you this. Is the Holy Spirit producing in your life practical things like joy? Do you feel alone? John 14.16, Jesus said, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. How can you be alone and experience loneliness if you are fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit? Do you feel like you don't know much? Well, how about John 14.26 where He said, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. How about power? Do you lack power? In Acts 1.8, But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. How about, do you lack love? Well, the Holy Spirit produces love. Romans 5.5, The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. You know, maybe we ought to turn over to Romans 5. Because that's quite a passage, if I could get there fast enough. Romans 5.5 tells us that not only will the Holy Spirit produce the love of God in our hearts, but He's also going to produce the conviction that we need in order to get saved. One of the reasons we don't see many people getting saved is because they don't see the convicting power of the Spirit of God in their lives. Going on in Romans 5.6, He says, Right after He says that the Holy Ghost will be given unto us, He says, For when ye were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Not only so, now get this, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. There's joy because of the reconciliation. There's joy in the life. That's how the world was turned upside down because they could see Jesus in their lives. Jesus was produced in their lives by the Holy Spirit. And they had joy. You know, I want to take some time today and just share with you the story of Billy Bray. He was an old Methodist back in the 1800s. Born in 1794 and lived up to 1868. Billy Bray, a man filled with the Holy Spirit of God. I'll share a little bit with you about him and then I'll go back and share with you what he was like before he got saved. How miserable he was and then after he got saved, how happy he was. You see, what's missing today, we've got all kinds of programs, we've got everything you can imagine, but what's missing is the person of the Holy Spirit being the Lord of the individual believer's life. Do you have joy? If you do, you have Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit producing the life of Jesus in your life. Now, Billy Bray, he was considered an eccentric, spirit-filled Christian. He was considered that by his friends. And he's even been considered to be one of the most joyful Christians that ever lived. How's that for a testimony about a man's life? I've got a little storybook called The Life and Ministry of Billy Bray from the Christian Hall of Fame series by Ed Rees. I'll just share some things with you today, just so you get something in your mind. Have you seen a spirit-filled person lately? Oh yeah, yeah, I've seen a spirit-filled person. Uh-huh, yeah. My friend, if you see a spirit-filled person, you see Jesus in that life, living through that life. That's what you see. But Billy Bray, he had a radiant joy, he had persuasive preaching, he had a charming wit, they said about him, that made him famous. He was just so full of life. I have one friend that was so full of Jesus, so full of the Holy Spirit, they ran him out of the college he taught in, the Bible college. They got jealous, they couldn't stand it. Assassinated him. I've shared with you about him before. But Billy, he was so filled with Jesus, he would just jump around, just literally dance for joy. And some denounced his dancing and shouting, but he'd just say, Mary and David danced before the Lord. He healed a cripple of Listeria, and they leaped, they walked and praised God. Now, we're not talking about the type of dancing that the world, the devil produces. We're talking about just leaping for joy. He didn't have any rhythmic stuff to it. Just so excited about God. And he said, they walked and praised God. He said, I can't help praising God. And he'd say, as I go along the street, I lift up one foot, and it seems to say, Glory! And I lift the other, and it seems to say, Amen! And so they keep on like that all the time I'm walking. When his wife died, Billy jumped about the room with ecstasy, and he's exclaiming, Bless the Lord! My dear Joey has gone up with the bright ones. My dear Joey has gone up with the shining angels. Glory! Glory! Glory! He believed Christians ought to rejoice in affliction, as few men did. You say, that's weird. No, that's a Holy Spirit filled man. That may be weird to you, and that may seem weird in your church, because there's no Spirit filled people around. That's why I'm sharing this with you, so you can get in your mind how joyful a person can be. And you may seem strange, but no, that's to be the norm. When it came time for him to die, the doctor told him he was gone. And Billy said, Glory! Glory be to God! I shall soon be in heaven. And he said, when I get up there, shall I give them your compliments, Doc? And tell them that you'll be coming too? You know what? That doctor was tremendously touched. And he went on. What? Me fear death? Me lost? Why, my Savior conquered death, and if I was to go down to hell, I would shout, Glory! Glory to my blessed Jesus, until I made the bottomless pit ring again, and their miserable old Satan would say, Billy, Billy, this is no place for thee. Get thee back. Then up to heaven I should go, shouting, Glory! Glory! Praise the Lord. His dying word as he fell asleep was, Glory! When Billy met people, he often urged them to say, Amen. And if they didn't do it, he wasn't satisfied with that kind of experience. The first thing he inquired when he'd meet somebody, he'd ask them about their soul. And if he got an assuring answer, he'd shout for joy. He'd shout for joy when he heard of souls being saved anywhere. He'd sometimes pick people up and carry them around for joy. He picked up several ministers and carried them about this way. And when he became very happy in some meetings, he'd go over and grab a preacher and just hug him and carry him around. You know, a lot of people criticized old Billy for that. But he was just full of Jesus. He was born there in England, and he was a son of a Methodist mining convert. And he died when his children were quite young. And so Billy went over and lived with his grandfather until he was 17 years of age. Now, here's a little bit about him. He got into a wicked life. He lived a very wicked life. And during these younger years, he worked in this mine, and he became bound to the habits of smoking and drinking and crousing around and all that kind of stuff. And one time he was even fired from his employment. His life was so bad. His behavior was so bad. And he left his grandfather. And he went on and he drank. And he lived in lasciviousness. And he got into trouble. One night, he and a companion were coming home, and they were so drunk they got on a big old horse, and the horse bucked them off about killed them both. They lived a wild life, just barely escaping from death. Once he was nearly killed in a mine. He was running out just before the thing caved in. And so he finally got married in 1814. He became more confirmed in his drinking habits. And his wife had to drag him away from the beer shops night after night. And once he left with a wheelbarrow to go for coal, and he didn't come back. She went down and found the wheelbarrow there in front of the beer shop. So she went down and got the coal herself. And Billy just kept on drinking. That's the kind of life that we live without Christ. But his conscience began to bother him. You ever had that happen to you? His conscience began to bother him. It began to torment him. He began to have dreams. They began to terrify him. Then he began to... He was afraid to go to sleep. He was afraid if he went to sleep, he'd wake up in hell. You have any fear like that? Maybe it's a real fear. Maybe you need to get saved. Maybe you need to get to Jesus. Get born again. Get your sins under the blood. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Get the anointing of the power of God on your life so you live free and enjoy life. You can't enjoy it without Jesus. Playing church doesn't get that joy. Playing all those games. After a period of time, someone handed him a book. It was John Bunyan's book, Visions of Heaven and Hell. And the vivid presentations of the lost roused Bray's anxiety up. It didn't help him out much. He was just getting more concerned. And his back-slidden wife was beginning at this time to remember her joy and peace that she'd had when she was walking with the Lord. And, oh, Billy. A voice came out to him. Oh, Billy, no tongue can tell what they enjoy who serve the Lord. She told him that. And so he considered kneeling to pray before his wife, but he was too ashamed. So one night he got out of bed and he fell on his knees and he prayed for mercy. And he said, the more I prayed, the more I felt to pray. And he said, I wrestled for deliverance from guilt of sin day and night, at work and at home. He was under conviction. And his friends began to get on to him for all the noise he was making. He was roaring, he was groaning. He said, you'd roar too if you felt my load. And roar I will until I get it off. And that's all he'd say to him. And no more drunkenness. He quit his drinking. No more oaths. He quit his swearing. No more shame. Just one cry. What must I do to be saved? And one day, soon after he got home, he went straight to his room and he was determined he wasn't going to rest until he was delivered. And he prayed, Lord, Thou hast said, they that ask shall receive and they that seek shall find and they that knock shall have the door opened. And I have faith to believe it. And that instant the Lord made him happy. And he said, I shouted for joy. I praised Him with my whole heart for what He had done. They said I was a mad man, but what they really meant, I was a glad man. And glory be to God, I have been glad ever since. And so he was born again. And that was in November of 1823. He was 29 years old. And within a week, his wife recovered her lost joy at a service at Hicks Mills Chapel. And she was the first to yield to the holy entreaties. And many more followed. Let me share a little bit more with you about his life. There was a branch of Methodists known as the Bryonites. They were followers of an evangelical preacher called William O'Brien. And they eventually became known as Bible Christians, if you know a little bit of history about this, as Bible Christians because of their habit, now get this, of carrying their Bibles under their arms. And so O'Brie, I believe he identified with these folks. He got him a Bible and he toted it under his arms too. And he went about to win souls. And one story about old Billy that could describe him, after he got saved, he said he was walking one day over a hill near where he lived when the Lord told him he would get all the souls that dwell upon this mountain. And after eight hours in the mine, he devoted himself to people whom he had coveted. He visited them constantly. He read to them. He talked to them. He prayed to them about Jesus. He just visited with them all the time until every one of them on that mountain was brought to Jesus and the promise was fulfilled. Have you got any kind of zeal like that for the Lord? Oh, Billy, he was burning for Jesus because he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Lord had given him every soul on that hill. And he told the Lord what had happened and he began to wish the mountain would become larger. He said, Lord, I wish this mountain was larger. And so you know what they did? They built a church school on that mountain. And they built a new parsonage. And he went to hear the new parson speak. And he went away very disappointed. And he says he reckoned he should have more trouble with the new parson than with all the lot of him beside, all the other people. And he went on to pray that he might be permitted to go and speak to the clergyman whom he felt was the only unconverted soul on the mountain. Now he had an unconverted soul on the mountain. And so the preacher continued on preaching. There was no salvation for anybody. He said no salvation for anybody out of the church of England except by some unrevealed and unconventional mercy that the sacraments along were able to save that besides these nothing was needful. Didn't need to be born again by the blood of the Lamb was what he was preaching. Stirred Billy up. One member of the church that was a good friend of the clergyman got very sick and in his distress he sent for a Methodist. Could you do that today? Would you send for a Methodist? Who promptly led him to the Lord. He rose from his bed and walked around the room praising God about the time that listen the distinguished church father walked in. Here comes the preacher. The minister saw what was happening. He left bewildered musing that one of his best members had been led astray by those wretched dissenters. Now though something happened. He went away and he was miserable because he had seen what the Holy Spirit was doing and now the Holy Spirit began to convict him. You see one of the reasons people can come into our churches and leave without conviction is because they do not see the Holy Spirit in our lives. So now he's under conviction. He visited a godly clergyman which troubled him only more for he was told if you had been converted yourself you would have rejoiced in the man's salvation and would have praised God with him. You'll never do any good in your parish until you are converted yourself. You see when the Spirit of God is after you he doesn't let you go. And some of you may be running from God just as this preacher was. See it doesn't matter who you are. You can be a Sunday school teacher. You can be a preacher. You can be a miner. You can be an auto mechanic. You can be a doctor or lawyer. You can just be a grocer. Whoever you are you all need to be saved. We all get saved the same way and that's through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You come and you repent of your sins. Acknowledge that you are a sinner. Only the Holy Spirit has to bring the conviction into your life that you do it. Just to pray the prayer won't get it done. You have to realize that you have broken God's law. You are a sinner. You know a lot of people say they believe in the Ten Commandments. Well you hold the Ten Commandments up and the Ten Commandments will show you that you are a lawbreaker. Well the Bible says that the lawbreakers go to hell so you've got a problem. Thou shalt not commit adultery. You sit there mister and you look in your TV at those girls that aren't dressed very decent and you commit adultery. You lost in your heart. You broke one of the commandments. It doesn't matter if you're a preacher or a bartender. You need to be saved. So the next Sunday as the Reverend W. Haslam preached on What Think Ye of Christ he was converted even as he began to preach. And the story is told that that day many were saved in the church. Meanwhile, now listen, Old Billy, he'd been praying and he felt compelled to visit the preacher. So he went and knocked on the door and Bray said, Bless the Lord. And after a brief introduction Old Bray countered with Are you converted, kind sir? Let me get it back to you straight. When he opened the door the preacher said, Bless the Lord. And Bray said, Are you converted, kind sir? Actually he said, Converted, kind sir? And with an eager look to which the new convert said, Yes, thank God I am. Now what do you think Old Bray did? Old Billy, he was filled with delight. He threw his arms around him grabbed him, hugged him and carried him around the room shouting, Glory! Glory! The parson's converted! The parson's converted! Glory be to God! And the clergyman had no choice but to be submissive and took his right around the room until finally Old Billy sat him down. Now listen, the story goes on that in walked the pastor's wife and then he said, Be the missus converted? Yes, thank God! was the gentle answer. And the story said he was too fatigued he might have grabbed her and toted her around the room. But he said, Oh, I'd be so happy, I can hardly live. And they had breakfast and Bray shared his testimony how he'd prayed for that mountain that he might come to speak to them and now they were the Lord's. And you know what he did? They were eating breakfast and he stopped. And he said, Be in there some maids in the house, mum? He said, He was told there were. And then he said, Be they converted too? For they do live upon my mountain. Yes, was the reply. They all knelt together in the fruitful ministry of Haslam commenced. What a man of God! Do you know a man that's filled with the Spirit of God? He was sincere, he was kind, he was welcomed everywhere. Any visitor there, they loved to go hear Old Billy. His style was simple. He seldom took a text. He would make some simple comment upon the opening hymn or relay the striking incident and interweaved an address that appealed to the congregation. And the congregation was spellbound. He wasn't trained in theological jargon. He didn't go to the seminaries. No, he had all he needed. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you filled with self? Are you filled with lust and sin and greed and anger and bitterness? You see, the Holy Spirit produces love and joy and peace and kindness. You can't drum that stuff up. I can't drum it up. You can't go down to Wal-Mart or K-Mart and buy you some Holy Spirit full of love and power and joy and peace. You can't go buy that. He's a person and He produces it in your life. Brave is just a simple person. That's all I am, just a simple man. I'm common. I'm not fancy. I don't have fancy talk. But I don't need it. All I need is Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit living His life through me. What do you need? That's what I mean. Is Jesus all you need? Is He all you want? Then you're going to have to deal with the person of the Holy Spirit. There's more about His life. It goes on and on. You know, His preaching, they said, was effectual because He prayed much. So when we're talking about the Holy Spirit, do you lack love? Well, you lack the Holy Spirit living in your life. You may really not even be saved. How about this? Do you feel unsure of your salvation? The Bible says in Ephesians 1.13 that after that ye believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. That definition of seal means to stamp like a private mark for security or preservation. Maybe the devil's robbed you of your joy of the Lord and that you have not believed the Scriptures that says that you're sealed by the Spirit of God. The Bible says in Ephesians 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. That's how long the seal holds until Jesus comes back down. He's coming again. He's going to come down and get all of those that are His. How is He going to know those that are His? He's going to see that the Spirit of God is the seal and they'll be His. No problem. How about your prayer life? Is it without power? Jude 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. You see, there's no power in your prayer life unless you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're praying with the Holy Spirit. How about, do you have strife in your church? Philippians 2.1 talks about fellowship of the Spirit. 2.3 says Let nothing be done through strife. Where does strife come from? All it takes is someone in the church or someone's trying to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit. All it takes is one. Maybe several. And you're going to have strife in the church. The Holy Spirit does not produce strife. But the flesh will and the devil will if you let him. And when the Holy Spirit's there, he will convict of sin. If sinners can be comfortable in your fellowship, then let me tell you this, and I say it kindly to you, my friend. The Holy Spirit is not in control of your fellowship. When He is in control, He will not let that go on. You remember the story about Ananias and Sapphira, how the church was so pure and holy and they tried to pull one over on the Holy Spirit? Peter said, you haven't lied to men, you've lied to God. Both times in that passage he said they lied to the Holy Spirit and they lied to God. You see, the Holy Spirit is God. He's a person. Have you been lying to Him? Have you been trying to fool Him? If you're born again, you're saved, you can't. He lives there with you. Has He been convicting you, speaking to you about things in your life? Where are you at? Are you free? Heavenly Father, I pray that You would accomplish that which You want today through Your Word. I pray that we would be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit even now. We thank You for meeting with us. And we thank You that Jesus Christ is all we need. And we thank You that through the person of the Holy Spirit You will bring us to the point to where He's all we want. In Jesus' name, Amen.