Zac Poonen emphasizes the necessity of laying everything on the altar to experience a Spirit-filled life, drawing parallels between the Israelites' journey from Egypt to Canaan and the Christian's journey towards spiritual victory. He explains that the two baptisms the Israelites underwent symbolize salvation and the immersion in the Holy Spirit, which is meant to lead believers into a life of victory over sin. Poonen warns against seeking the Holy Spirit for mere experiences, urging believers to trust God fully and to confront the 'giants' of sin in their lives with faith. He highlights that true victory comes from recognizing our position in Christ and actively engaging in the battle against the flesh, rather than living in a state of religious complacency. Ultimately, he calls for a continuous surrender to God, encouraging believers to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in their daily lives.

What he wanted from man. Some of them we are familiar with like the Israelites being delivered from Egypt through the blood of the Lamb. It's a picture of our salvation through the blood of Christ. And it says in 1 Corinthians in chapter 10 that after they came out of Egypt they had two baptisms. I don't know if they have noticed that. And that's something which many Christians haven't given much thought to. They had two immersions. After they put the blood on the door posts and they were saved by the blood of the Lamb. It says in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 2 they were all baptized into Moses which is in the cloud and in the sea. Now Moses is a picture of Christ who delivers us out of Egypt. Pharaoh is a picture of Satan. And the Lamb is of course a picture of Christ slain for our sins. But what is this baptism in the sea and in the cloud? The rest of it we are familiar with. They ate the same spiritual food which is God's word. They drank the same spiritual drink which is the Holy Spirit. Baptism when they went into the Red Sea and out. It was a picture of our water baptism. You know the whole nation of Israel went into the Red Sea and came out. And that's how we are dipped in water and immersed to testify that the old man was crucified and buried. And now we come out of the water. But then when they came out of the water we read that a cloud from heaven came down upon them and they were immersed in that cloud. And that is a picture of the immersion in the Holy Spirit. It's also pictured there in the Old Testament. And that cloud became a fire at night. And that is why the immersion in the Holy Spirit is called an immersion in fire. Baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. But the point I want you to see is why did God send that cloud? Was it just to give them a thrilling experience? See unfortunately a lot of people who are seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit today are seeking for an experience. They heard somebody else's testimony and they felt hey I'd like to have that experience. It's like a child seeing somebody eat ice cream and say I'd like to eat that ice cream too. Many many people who are seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit are basing it on some testimony they heard of somebody they got some exciting thing they had, some vision or physical experience or tongues or something like that and say I'd like to have that. You know the Bible says you ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. So some people don't receive because they don't ask. You don't have because you don't ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives. So what was the purpose of this cloud which called here a baptism in the cloud? The purpose was to lead them step by step by step into the promised land of Canaan. And Canaan is not heaven. You know there are many songs we have sung. A lot of our hymns have got a wrong theology. They speak about crossing the river Jordan a river of death and entering into heaven and they picture our whole life on earth like a wilderness journey we finish our wilderness journey and then die which is a river Jordan and come into Canaan which is heaven. But there are no giants to be killed in heaven. So how could that be Canaan? So obviously that's wrong theology. No, the wandering in the wilderness is a picture of a life of legalism. A life under the law where you don't have victory over sin but you're very religious. You come out of Egypt but you're wandering around in a barren land. It's not God's will for us. In fact that 40 year wandering was not God's will. Two year wandering was okay. They came after two years. We don't come necessarily into the life of victory the day we are converted. But we read that two years after they left Egypt the Holy Spirit led them, led them, led them, led them, led them, came. Two years later they came to the river Jordan. And the Lord said, Go in and possess the land. And they sent the spies and the spies came back and said, No, the land is wonderful. This life of victory is wonderful. But we can't. It's not for us. We can't overcome these giants of anger and lust and bitterness and jealousy and unforgiving spirit and all these giants. They have been ruled us for so long. How will we ever overcome? And God was so angry with them. The Holy Spirit, the picture in that cloud had led them right up to the borders of the land of victory. And they turned back. So wandering in the wilderness was a punishment. Okay, you fellows will not walk in the victory that I call you to. Then you can live your life of religiosity and legalism for the rest of your life. And that's how a lot of Christians are living. They find a satisfaction in their religious activities. They go to church, they read the Bible, they go through all the rituals, their family prayer and everything else. But they're living defeated. They're wandering in the wilderness. That's not God's will. The whole purpose of that baptism in cloud was to lead them to the borders of the promised land. So remember this, that Old Testament picture is so beautiful. That the Holy Spirit has come to lead us into a life of victory. Why was God angry with them? Because they said the giants are stronger than God. And when you say that your anger and your lust is too strong for Almighty God to overcome with the power of the Holy Spirit, you're insulting God in exactly the same way as those Israelites did when they came to the borders of the promised land. That means this God who delivered them from Pharaoh and the Egyptians who were the greatest military power in the world was found it too difficult to overcome these Canaanites who were an inferior group of people. So that's why faith is so important. You know a little earlier in the morning session, Phil read that verse in Hebrews 4 and verse 2 where he said, they could not enter because they lacked faith. It's referring to those Israelites who came to the borders of the promised land. Why couldn't they enter? Not because God was not able to take them in. They didn't believe. They looked at the enemies and they looked at their muscles. No, we can't defeat them. Joshua and Caleb, they looked at their enemies. They didn't look at their muscles. They looked at God. That's the difference. When they looked at the Canaanites, some of them were 9 feet tall, and they looked at themselves, they saw themselves as grasshoppers. That's the expression they used in Numbers 13. We saw ourselves as grasshoppers. Joshua and Caleb looked at the giants and looked at God and saw the giants as grasshoppers. That's the difference. So you can look at the sins that have enslaved you for so many years and look at your own determination, the New Year resolutions you made, all the desire and all that. You say, I tried, but these giants are too strong. That's exactly what those 10 spies said. And 600,000 people agreed with them. Do you know out of 600,000 men, only 2 people entered the land of victory? I would say, among 600,000 believers I've met, about 2 people believe in real victory over sin. It's the same today. The rest are wandering in the wilderness, satisfied, when they shouldn't be satisfied. I remember, I used to weep at night on my pillow, saying, Lord, I had a dirty thought today. I was angry today. Have you ever wept on your pillow for that? Are you desperate? God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Do you mourn when you slip up in your thoughts? I tell you, if you do that, you'd get into victory in 6 months. But, if you allow, you say, well, it doesn't matter. It's okay. And the devil's given you so many excuses. No, you'll always be like that. You remember the anger your dad had. You got the same genes. Well, you know, there's a lot of rubbish the devil tells us like that. There's a thing called, going around charismatic circles, called generational curse. Some of the biggest rubbish I've ever heard. Generation curse. What do you mean generation curse? There was a time when I was in a tree called Adam. I had a lot of generational curses. All the way from Adam. Leave alone my ancestors. But one day, I was born again. The Holy Spirit cut me off and planted, grafted me into another tree called Christ. What generational curse have I got now? I can't understand all these people who teach that your forefathers worshipped idols or forefathers did some witchcraft and all. Let them do it. I've cut off from them. I am now in Christ. It's very important to understand our position in Christ. So if your father had anger, your grandfather had anger, you don't have to have it. That's the good news by the way. Or any other habit they had. You don't have to have it. You don't have to be a sex slave, like your ancestors were. No, I don't care what they did. I don't care how much immorality, how much divorce. It's in your family. You don't have to continue it into your generation. You're born again. You're a new person. It's a totally new creation in Christ. We're not part of that old creation. So, what is this land of Canaan? I've tried to think, Lord, what is the land of Canaan, a picture of? Where the Holy Spirit seeks to lead. You know, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this baptism in cloud, led them to Canaan. I said, what is the land of Canaan today? And I see the land of Canaan is my human body, which is somewhat shaped like the land of Canaan, if you see it in a map. That's just incidental. But this land of Canaan has been ruled by many giants. Many, many giants have ruled this land when this land should belong to God from Dan to Beersheba, or from head to foot as they say. It's meant to be ruled by God. But who's ruling it? Many Canaanites, powerful giants, have ruled it from the day I was born. And I'm redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I'm baptized in water. The cloud has come upon me. But the giants are still ruling Canaan. It's so real, so true to the condition of Christendom today. Because Christians don't have the faith to say, in the name of the Lord, I'm gonna go in and slay these giants. There's a lot of confusion in holiness teaching among many groups. Because they have not understood the difference between the old man and the flesh. I don't know how many of you know the distinction. The old man and the flesh are not the same. Romans chapter 6 says, verse 6, your old man was crucified with Christ. God did it. God did it before I was born. You say, how could God do it before I was born? Well, how could Christ take my sins, which I'm committing in the 21st century, before I was born? With God there is no past, present and future. You know that. He says, I am that I am. Not I was or I will be. I am. He lives in the present. What's happening in the 21st century happened in God's mind millions of years ago. I was in God's mind before the angels were created. And so were you. Your name was written in the book of life then. So, it is very easy for God to take all the sins I ever committed in my whole life and put them on Christ 2,000 years ago. We can understand that. In the same way, He took me and put me in Christ 2,000 years ago. And I died with Him. Now, the Lord says, all you've got to do is now accept it. Accept it that your old man I have condemned on the cross as useless. Don't try to repair it. Throw it away. And I accept that God killed my old man on the cross. I reckon myself dead. I testified to it in baptism. That is the old man. That is a picture of Pharaoh's army. Who killed Pharaoh's army? God. Where did He kill them? In the Red Sea. What is the Red Sea a picture of? Baptism in water. So, in baptism in water, just like I'm testifying that Pharaoh's army was buried, I'm saying my old man was buried. It's so exact, the Old Testament. The Bible is a very simple book. If you don't listen to the theologians, just read it yourself, you'll be alright. But, when it came to Canaan, God didn't kill one Canaanite giant. Canaan's giants are a picture of the lusts of the flesh. Who had to kill them? The Israelites had to kill them. In the power of God, of course. The God who could make the sun stand still for 24 hours, who would do anything to help His people kill the Canaanites. So, I see a difference between Pharaoh's army, those soldiers and the Canaanite soldiers. The Pharaoh's soldiers are a picture of the old man buried. Canaanite soldiers are a picture of the flesh, which we have to kill. Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. That's my old man. Galatians 5.24, says we crucify the flesh with its lusts. That means we kill the Canaanite soldiers. Where do they live? In the land of Canaan. I have to kill the Canaanite soldiers in the power of the Holy Spirit. So, what is the difference between the old man and the flesh? The old man is the mind that wants to sin. That's how we were when we were unconverted. When people come to me for baptism, I don't ask them, will you sin again? Because nobody can answer that. I mean, if you ask me, will you sin again? I say, well, I don't want to, but I can't say, I will never sin again. But I ask them another question, do you want to sin again? If I were to ask all of you sitting here, do you want to sin again? And you say, no. That's the proof, you are born again. Christ has put a desire in you never to sin again. Do you want to sin even once? No. You may fall, but you don't want to. That want to is the old man. Want to sin. That's been killed by Christ on the cross, and I was born again, I bury it, and I'm testifying in baptism, I don't want to sin again. But when I come up out of the waters of baptism, the flesh is still very active. The flesh are these lusts, you know, like, to use another illustration, like a gang of robbers that wants to get into my heart. And in the olden days, before I was converted, I had an unfaithful servant inside my heart, called the old man who always opened the door. And when the thieves came and said, we've come to rob you, the old man said, come right in. Take what you want, I want to take your purity, I want to take your joy, I want to take your peace. Come right in, take it all away. And that's how we got robbed. But now, after I'm converted, that old servant, God's got rid of that old servant, He killed him. And there's a new servant inside, called the new man. But are the robbers still hale and hearty? Oh yes, the robbers are still hale and hearty. See, that's the difference between the new man and the flesh. The flesh is still alive. The robbers still come knocking at the door. Haven't you found that? After you got baptized, the robbers still came knocking at the door of your heart? In fact, they knock harder, right? And more robbers come along. We get tempted. Jesus was baptized, and what's the next thing that happened to him? He was tempted. So the flesh is very active. Comes knocking, but, now there's a new man inside, who does not want to open the door. The new man's attitude is, I don't want to sin. Then how does a believer sin? If the new man doesn't eat properly, doesn't take enough exercise, he's weak, no matter how hard he tries to keep the door shut, he can't. The robbers come right in. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to be strong continuously, so that we crucify the flesh with his affections and lust. Once one by one we kill these robbers, or like the giants of Canaan, we kill them. It's a very accurate picture. Now which giant can you kill? You can only kill the giant you see. A giant comes up in front of you, in the name of Jesus, you go against that giant and kill him. But have you got rid of all the giants? No. In the hills and the rocks of Canaan, there are many other giants whom you have not seen. All of us have got a lot of unconscious sin in us. But as you occupy more and more of Canaan's territory, you will discover, God will make those giants come out of their holes, and then you'll be able to kill them. That is spiritual progress, where we discover more and more sin, which was once unconscious for us, becoming conscious. And then we get rid of it. You know, there are a lot of things which we don't consider sin, but which are still the giants of Canaan. There is an example I frequently use, which illustrates it. I was visiting a home once, of a very God-fearing family, and I spent one hour there, and we talked for one hour, and the lady of the house spoke for 54 minutes, I spoke for about 4 minutes, and the husband spoke for about 2 minutes. Now we didn't talk sinful things, it's just that somebody dominated the conversation. We didn't gossip, but this dear sister was so full of herself, she felt she had a lot to teach everybody, and she didn't realize that her whole attitude was un-Christ-like. I never said anything. Years later, I went to that same home, and it was completely different. You know, how did she get light on it? If you walk in the light, God gives you light. That when you sit, when you dominate a conversation so much, that you hardly give other people a chance to talk, you can't call it sin, but it could be un-Christ-like. But it's unconscious for that person, and so he's not guilty. But if he walks in the light, he'll get light on it. This is a giant of Canaan that needs to be killed. It's just one example. There are many other things like that. I remember once, God giving me light on something. There was a young brother, who we helped a lot in our home. You know, when churches meet in our home, he used to always stay with us. But then as he grew up, and he got a job, and he went away, and he lost touch with us, and he even left our church, and went somewhere else. I said, that's all fine. But I found he never kept in touch with us, never was grateful for all the many years when we helped him. And one day I was thinking about that. This guy is so ungrateful. And the Lord said to me, the problem was with you. I said, Lord, with me, what did I do? I mean, we helped this person. And then I got some light on myself. The Lord said, when you help this person, you should have done it as unto me, and not as unto that person. In as much as you do it to the least of these, my brothers, you've done it unto me. And so I realized that when I help a person, and I do it as unto that person, then I'm disappointed when he doesn't express his gratitude to me. But if I do it as unto the Lord, then the Lord will say thank you to me one day. I got a little light on myself. Now, I didn't even think that that was an unchrist-like attitude. I mean, have you ever thought about it being unchrist-like, that when you do something good to some person, you expect the person to say thank you to you? I got light on it myself. It was a giant of Canaan that needed to be killed. So, I'm just giving you a couple of examples how the Holy Spirit leads us. The Holy Spirit has come to lead us deeper and deeper and deeper, to make us from glory to glory more and more Christ-like. That's his goal. God wants to populate heaven with people who are like Jesus. And that's why he's working on us, and that's why he allows us to be tempted and to face all types of situations, so that you can react in a Christ-like way. You can look at somebody who treats you badly and say, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Now, when Jesus, when you kill a man on a cross, can you say that the man doesn't know what he's doing? How could Jesus say, Father, they don't know what they're doing when they were killing him? What he meant was, they don't realize what a serious thing they're doing by crucifying the Son of God. And many people who hurt you, harm you, speak evil about you, behind your back, they don't realize that they are harming a child of God. They're touching the apple of God's eye. They don't know it. If they knew it, they wouldn't dare to touch you. They wouldn't dare to speak against you. But they don't know it. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know how serious it is, the crime they're committing, by hurting me, harming me. You remember when Saul of Tarsus was going to Damascus. He heard this voice from heaven saying, why are you persecuting me? Saul looked up and said, persecuting you? Who are you? I'm Jesus. How could I persecute you? That is the day when Paul began to get light on the fact that there's a body on earth which is the body of Jesus. And if you touch the body, the head feels it in heaven immediately. And the head says, hey, why are you hurting me? You know, that was a new revelation, the truth of the body of Christ. Even Peter didn't get it. God gave that revelation to Paul. So, there are little, little areas like this where God, the Holy Spirit, gives us light. So, I want to ask you, many of you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to ask you, why do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Do you want to get more and more light on the many areas in your life which are unchrist-like? Where God wants, do you want God to bring out those giants from the holes of Canaan so that you can slay them, so that Christ can rule? I mean, God's will is, this is my longing, that from head to foot, Christ will rule every thought. The Bible speaks about bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ in 2 Corinthians 10. That means bringing every giant under Christ. There's a time we read Joshua got the kings and told the Israelite leaders under the neck of these kings to bring every thought down and foot on them and say, hey, you're going to obey Christ from now on. Your thoughts wandering around my mind, you're going to be under the rule of Christ. This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit giving us. It's a wonderful journey. There's a lovely translation of Proverbs 14, 14 in the Living Bible which says, the godly man's life is exciting. I can honestly say that. As I say, I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm not a salesperson. I'm not trying to sell Christ. I'm not trying to get you to respond to this gospel even. I'm just telling you the truth that my life is really exciting. Ever since I discovered that the Holy Spirit has come to show me all the areas in my life which are un-Christ-like and to make it like Christ. He shows me and then he makes it. It's like a surgeon who says, here's the x-ray, here's the scan, you got a cancer, that's not the end of the news, I'm going to remove it and removes it and makes me healthy. Isn't that wonderful? And as we discover more and more areas in our life, then our whole life becomes more and more Christ-like. We become more gracious, we become more humble, we become more loving, we become more pure we become healthier, we sleep better at night, we are physically fit. So many by-products of holiness. It's a wonderful life. We can stay free from debt, we don't have financial worries, we may not become millionaires but we have enough to eat and drink and our children grow up in the same way and seek to live godly lives. What more do you want? God desires the very best for his children. He is a loving father. One of the great truths that Jesus tried to emphasize to his disciples continuously was God is a loving father and everything he wants to give you is for your good. Every commandment he's given in scripture is for your good and he said in connection with that in Luke 11, 13 If you being evil fathers know how to give good gifts to your children I want you to listen to this verse if you got a bible just look at it because there is something interesting here. If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father now the point I want you to notice here is he is your heavenly father already. Now if he had said how much more will God give the Holy Spirit then of course we can say he is talking to unbelievers there. He is talking to God's children. How much more will your heavenly father that means you are already a child of God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Now are you all confused in your theology? You need to be. So we can get out of this rut of theology and terminology and say Lord I don't understand this but you are my father I want the Holy Spirit. I tell you I've never been able to work out the theology of the Holy Spirit in all these years. I don't attempt it. I don't try to lock him up in a little theological box and say you got to sit there. No. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is like the wind. It blows where it lists where it wants. You can hear it but you can't sort of control it. Have you tried putting the wind inside a box? No you can't. So I don't try to understand this. And I say Lord I know that when I'm born again it's through the operation of the Holy Spirit and I'm not trying to figure out have I received is he in me and all this type of theological stuff. I know I need the power of the Holy Spirit. So I'm seeking you Lord. You're my father. How much more? How much more? You fathers and mothers let me ask you. You who are fathers and mothers. If your children came to you and asked you for something desperately which they needed. Dad I'm hungry can you give me a little bread? Or I'm thirsty dad can you please give me a glass of water? How many of you would turn them away? Or I'm sick dad can you give me some medicine? How many of you would turn your son or daughter away? Not one. Are you trying to say that you're a better father than God? A better mother than God? That's blasphemy. Jesus said when he said you being evil he didn't say some of you are evil. Why did he say we are all evil fathers? Are you an evil father? I don't think so. Are you an evil mother? Do you know but compared to God the best of us are evil. Jesus said only God is good. It's something like saying the light of the stars is so dim from earth that it disappears in the light of the sun. And when the sun rises in the sky it looks as if there are no stars at all. That's the meaning of this verse. You being evil you got no light at all compared to the love of the heavenly father. God's love is so great that the best earthly father and mother in the world is evil compared to God. How much Jesus tried to emphasize that God is such a good father he cannot refuse you what he knows you need. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? You know when your little child comes to you he's not trying to analyze the physiology of how does my body get hungry? He's not interested in that. That's like theology. How does a body get hungry? He's hungry. He's thirsty. And he wants something to satisfy. Come to God like that. Say Lord I can't analyze all this. I don't understand it all but I want you. I want all of you in my life. I want the Holy Spirit to come and fill me from head to foot. I want this body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. This land of Canaan is to be ruled by God from head to foot. It's not to be ruled by any giant of Canaan. From head to foot it's to be ruled by God. I want God to take over this body that was created for him. It wasn't created for the giants of Canaan. It wasn't created for lust. It was not created for the devil. It was created for God. Adam handed it over to the devil and so we're born of that race but now we can come back and give our bodies back to the one who it was created for. I remember hearing a story about he was an American doctor. It's a true story. I think he lived in the end of the 19th century in the time of D.L. Moody and all. You know in those days there was a lot of preaching about the baptism in the Holy Spirit in relation to power. This doctor's name was Walter Wilson. He's written a book called The Romance of a Doctor's Visits. A God-fearing man. He once went to a meeting where he heard the preachers preach on Romans 12 verse 1. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God in other words in view of all that God has done for you. The beautiful gospel is described in chapters 1 to 11 and then he says now in view of this wonderful gospel what are you going to do? In view of the mercies of God I beseech you brethren present your body a living sacrifice to God holy and acceptable in His sight which is your reasonable service. In the Old Testament there were many offerings described in Leviticus. Some of them are sin offerings where a man brought a a lamb or a bird as an offering for his sin and the blood was shed. But there was another offering in those offerings which had nothing to do with sin. It's described in the first chapter of Leviticus and it's called a burnt offering. Now some of you may not have read Leviticus much but that burnt offering is very interesting about the burnt offering. They brought a bullock and you could not lay the whole bullock on the altar. You had to cut it. First of all the priest had to check that it was without blemish and then it had to be cut piece by piece by piece by piece by piece and placed on the altar in pieces and when all the pieces of the burnt offering were put on the altar the fire would fall. A picture of the fire of the Holy Spirit. But what is this cutting the bullock and putting it piece by piece? Present your body a living sacrifice. In other words don't say to God Lord here is my body cut it up. Lord here is my tongue I want it to be used entirely for you from now on. Here are my eyes I want this to be used entirely for you. Here are my hands here is my mind piece by piece it's all yours Lord. Anyway coming back to the story Walter Wilson was listening to this preacher and this preacher was preaching on Romans chapter 12 I beseech you brethren present your bodies a living sacrifice to God and the preacher said God is a trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit and the Son Jesus Christ has already got a body he doesn't need yours. Who is which person of the trinity is on earth today? It's the Holy Spirit. He needs a body and that's your body. So he said Romans 12.1 is asking you to present your body so that the Holy Spirit can have your body just like the second person of the trinity came in a human body now the third person of the trinity can come and fill your body and this gripped Walter Wilson he realized that because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross his body had been purchased by the blood of Christ you know it's like if somebody has bought your house paid the money fully you have no right to go back to that house anymore you have no right to tell him what color to paint it supposing he decides to paint it all black you can't go and question him he bought it and in the same way he realized, Dr. Wilson realized that God, Jesus had bought his body he went back from that meeting and he lay down on the floor and he said Lord, I don't remember his exact words but his eyes were opened and he said Lord, I present my body to you you can take my eyes you can blind them if you like do whatever you like it's your body from now on and he went like that piece by piece take this body and afflict it with cancer or send it as a missionary to Tibet it's up to you you can send it to Greenland or whatever you like it's not my body from head to foot Lord, I mean it I give it to you fill me with the Holy Spirit he was filled with the Holy Spirit when the last piece of the ox was laid on the altar the fire fell do you wonder why the fire is not fallen in your life I remember he went out from there he got up and went out into a fantastic ministry he was not a full time worker or preacher he was a medical doctor and he went around treating people and multitudes he brought to Christ on an individual basis he was not a preacher people like Dale Moody are filled with the Holy Spirit they preach people like him was bringing individuals to Christ our ministries are different we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the fire will fall when you have laid everything on the altar I remember hearing of a a man who lived in Boston years ago and again it was in the 19th century I think he was a pastor of one of the large churches in Boston and he wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit and he began to seek God in prayer and he yielded everything as far as he knew Lord everything is yours but somehow he never experienced the power of God and he said Lord what is the reason and the Lord said you are seeking for my power because you want to become a famous preacher that was one thing he had not laid on the altar the desire for the honor of men and the Lord said are you willing to appear as a failure in the eyes of others if that is the way I choose for you he said yes Lord I don't care let men think I am a failure and he was filled with the Holy Spirit he left that church and went and joined William Booth who was the founder of the Salvation Army in England this great preacher famous pastor went and joined he heard William Booth he heard the converts and the prostitutes he said I want to do that type of work for my savior he went there and William Booth was a wise man he said you want to join the Salvation Army ok the first thing you got to do for the next year or so you got to just polish everybody's boots that's all you got to do you are not going to preach anything over here so that's all he did what a failure he looked in the eyes of men he grew up to be one of the greatest leaders of the Salvation Army in those days a man who preached holiness and lived it I want to say brothers and sisters sometimes we think why isn't God answering my prayer is there some part of the bullet that you haven't placed on the altar or maybe you placed it on the altar and you got a hand on it you haven't let go do you know when God blessed Abraham when he took the most precious thing he had in his life and offered it up to God he would have gladly offered 10,000 sheep and God said no I want your son it's not because God wanted his son to be killed God wanted to see who is more precious in your life Abraham me or your son I believe there is something that we need to always ask ourselves and it's not something you can do once for all I remember way back in the beginning of my life I surrendered all to Christ but I found through the years I'm giving you my testimony I'm ashamed of it sometimes I would take something back and that wouldn't be a fire and I had to repent and go back before God I remember reading the testimony of Charles Finney who used to say that there were times when he felt the power had gone from his life and he had to go and seek God for a fresh immersion of the Holy Spirit we need it continuously we need to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit we need to thirst for it we need to lay everything on the altar and say Lord it's yours think of your in the world one of the most precious things that people value is money people value money even more than their bodies or their health a lot of people ruin their health to make more money ok let's look at the example of money as an illustration supposing you had a lot of money and you want to invest it in a way that you'll get some good returns from it you're not very sharp at business or investment supposing there was somebody whom you could trust totally who could say listen give it to me and I'll give you 30% returns every year or 100% returns you'd say boy you mean to say I can double my money in a year sure it'll become four times in two years and you can trust him wouldn't you give all of your money to him or would you give only a part of it if you give only a part of it what you're saying is well I'm not too sure I can't trust you fully I better keep something back for myself just in case you dupe me and cheat me and walk off with that money right that's exactly what we're saying to God when we give part of our life to him I say Lord I can't trust all of my future with you I don't know what you'll do with it do you see how unbelief is the greatest insult it's like slapping God in the face it's like saying I don't trust you faith is the way we honor God the Bible says Abraham honored God by believing that God was able to do what he had promised he glorified God and that's our calling say Lord I'm willing to stake my entire future on you I remember when I was started serving the Lord I left my job 42 years ago I was working in the Navy and I'd worked for 8 years and I took all my savings that I saved in 8 years and gave it all away for God's work so that I could start serving the Lord with zero in my bank account and I don't regret it God gave me back not a hundred times but a thousand times what I gave up but I didn't do it because I wanted anything back I said Lord you gave everything for me and what I discovered was that you can't out give God God will never be in debt to any man do you believe that that whatever you give to him he'll give you back but one of the desires I had at that time was I said Lord I read in your word I was 26 years old I read in your word that if you seek God's kingdom and his righteousness first everything that you need will be added to you in such a way that you'll never have to be anxious for any earthly need of yours at that time I was single and then I got married and we had a child we were extremely poor we couldn't even afford to rent a house for ourselves we lived in a small little room and I said Lord I want to prove to you I want to prove that that word is true that if I put God first and seek his kingdom and his righteousness in a poor country like India where there's no social security where you have to pay for your children's education where you have to pay for every medical bill where you have to pay for everything and the government gives nothing there are no food stamps there's nothing and I want to prove and we don't have rich believers whom I know that will help me if I'm in need I want to prove that you are the same today as Jesus said 2000 years ago in a poor country and I wanted the end of my life that people who know every detail of my life and my life story should be able to say there's no explanation for this man's life except that he must be having a father in heaven who cares for him and I want to say that I proved it but I went beyond that I said Lord maybe I was just lucky but I want to prove it that it works for everybody so I say I want to see it proved in the lives of poor people who are poorer than me in the villages of India I want to see people who live free from debt who are satisfied with whatever they get if it's one meal a day, one meal a day God will prosper them later on but they're satisfied be content with what you have and now after many years I can say I proved it in the lives of many other people I've seen people who don't have a car, don't have a scooter don't even have a bicycle who walk to church but who've learned to be filled with the Holy Spirit who've learned to put God first I'm deeply thankful for such believers who I'm humbled when I fellowship with them I learn so much from them I learn I get revelation when they speak it's not just that they get revelation from me what I want to say is will you take that challenge in your own life will you you know very often the reason for our hesitating to lay something on the altar is I say hey what if God lets me down I better have a backup arrangement just in case this whole thing doesn't work and that hesitation is what prevents us from experiencing God's power you know remember when the Lord told Peter who was on the boat saying come out of the boat and walk on the water and if Peter had come out on the water and kept on holding on one hand to the boat he would never have experienced that supernatural power of overcoming gravity and walking on the water he just let go he didn't care what the other disciples said hey hang on be careful Peter nobody's ever walked on the water don't try it he just stepped out because Jesus had told him and people like that have experiences which other people can only read about but it can be yours if you say Lord I'm not asking you to do something stupid some people sometimes do things that God never asked them to do I'm not asking you to drop everything and go off to China or Africa tomorrow no I'm saying surrender everything to God if God calls you to work in a store here or to do your business here and you go off as a missionary to Africa you'll be disobeying God the important thing is not to do something sacrificial where you get the honor of men no forget it it's to do the will of God for your life Lord what is your will for my life I want to fulfill that and I lay everything on the altar I believe this is the secret of the fire of God the Holy Spirit coming and filling us and we need to do it all the time we need to make sure that there's nothing we've placed on the altar that we take back Lord it's yours I've had to do that numerous times and every time you get a something new precious lay it on the altar I remember when I left the Navy as I said I had nothing but a few years later my dad sold his old house and gave me a share of it and I could buy a little house to live in and I was scared I said Lord I never in my life thought I don't want a house but I got a house to live in now is this going to be an idol in my life I wasn't excited I tell you honestly I was scared because I knew that the anointing of God is more important than any earthly property or anything and I said Lord please don't let this be an idol in my life I mean if this is going to rob me 1% of your anointing burn it up take it away I don't want it let some fire destroy my house and let me one day turn the corner and see my wife and children standing outside and the fire burning my house and I tell you honestly this is the truth I expected to see that sometimes when I turned the corner towards the road towards my house for 6 months I expected my house to go up in flames any day but it didn't I still have it and God said ok you have laid your Isaac on the altar you can have it back but I tell you you know what happened to me that house meant nothing to me it doesn't mean anything to me today God lets us have a lot of things but you should not you should not have it you shouldn't possess it you can have it but you shouldn't possess it that's how we keep the power of the Holy Spirit always upon us I find the same thing when I get some unexpected money either in the work I do or in some other way I'm scared I'll tell you honestly I'm scared how many of you are scared when you get some extra money you didn't anticipate getting suddenly your business prospers I say Lord please stand by me now I'm scared whether this thing this abundance which is way beyond what I need will make me lose even a little bit of the anointing let me lose it let me lose it there are times when I've lost a lot of money and I've asked the Lord Lord why did you do it I'm answering your prayer you prayed that I would take away the love of money from your heart and I'm doing it I say thank you Lord do it till the end of my life I haven't finished learning my lessons I've got a lot more to learn I know that in this land of Canaan there are still some I haven't spotted yet but I've decided to kill them as soon as I see them this is the purpose of the leading of the Holy Spirit let me show you a verse in Romans chapter 8 it's a wonderful verse all of us like to be led by the Holy Spirit ok here it speaks about being led by the Holy Spirit in Romans 8.14 I'll close with this Romans 8.14 it says all those who are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God I told you this baptism of the cloud a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was to lead them the Holy Spirit has come to lead us I just got to follow so as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God have you heard people saying the Spirit led me a very common expression particularly in charismatic circles Spirit led me to do this, Spirit led me to do this and I saw some vision and I saw an angel and a lot of it is imagination many of them got a very fertile imagination don't believe all that they say they are not telling lies it's just a wild imagination that's all I mean some of them are very sincere but they don't give allowance for the wildness of their imagination some of them just had dreams which they thought were real ok but what is it in the context of scripture what is the leading of the Holy Spirit always read a text in its context ok let's read verse 13 if you are living according to the flesh brethren this is talking about brethren in verse 12 brethren verse 12 we are not under obligation to the flesh to live according I owe nothing to the flesh what's the flesh done for me only made my life miserable because if you live according to the flesh brethren you will die how many people preach that today that brethren can die spiritually but if now listen to this this is the leading of the spirit that's spoken of in the next verse if by the Holy Spirit you put to death these giants of Canaan the things in your body that come forth because the next word is because for all who are led by the Holy Spirit in this way are the sons of God to be a child of God all I need is to receive Christ as many as received him to them he gave the authority to be the children of God now how does this child of God become a mature son of God there's a difference between you become a child of God when you leave Egypt you become a son of God when you enter Canaan the Holy Spirit leads us to put to death the deeds of the body the things coming out of our body these giants put them to death those who are led by the spirit in this way they are the mature sons of God so I've shown you so that we don't live like the low level of children always selfishly fighting for our rights and you see how children behave a lot of Christians behave like that fighting for their rights, getting upset getting into bad moods and all that we're going to finish with all that we're going to become mature like Jesus the thing that challenged me about bad moods was I saw that Jesus never had a bad mood in his life ever no matter what people did to him and it says in 1 John chapter 2 verse 6 as Jesus walked and I said Lord I believe that I want to believe you Lord that I will never be in a bad mood any time of my life morning, noon or night 365 days a year and 366 days in a leap year I'm not going to be in a bad mood because Jesus walked like that and Jesus is the perfect example of being filled with the Holy Spirit today there's all this rubbish of people falling down and kicking their legs in the air can you picture Jesus lying down here and kicking his legs in the air by any stretch of my imagination I can't imagine that or lying down and laughing like a mad man or barking like a dog and all the rubbish that goes on today in the name of the Holy Spirit it's blasphemy to even mention Holy Spirit in relation to all that I see an example of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ I see how he lived maybe I can't preach sermons but I can do good maybe you can't preach sermons can you do good to somebody the Holy Spirit filled Jesus he went about doing good to people he helped people who were oppressed by the devil to be free from that we are surrounded all around us by people who are oppressed by the devil God wants us to help them dear brothers and sisters seek with all your heart lay everything on the altar filled with the Holy Spirit of God every day of my life it's the best life you can ever live let's pray this is not a word to your mind but to your heart it's not like a school lecture where you go to understand it in your mind it doesn't matter if you understood it or not it doesn't even matter if you remember it if it's created a hunger in your heart for God and for his power and to yield everything to him so that your life might count for Christ before you leave this earth then respond to that tug in your heart from God and say Lord I really want to be that I want to lay everything on the altar I want your best in my life I don't want any of my cultural hang-ups or theological hang-ups from my church tradition to hold me back I want your best fill me Lord make me a spirit filled Christian every day of my life till I see you face to face thank you Father you are more eager to do that for us than any earthly father is willing to give bread to his children we believe that we come to you with faith trusting you thank you help our unbelief we pray in Jesus name Amen