Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus this morning. It was a beautiful day, yesterday, wasn't it?
I don't know, maybe this week is like what Ezekiel was talking about there back in the Old Testament. Remember when he talked about this river flowing out from under the throne of heaven? And he went so far and he was in to his ankles, and then he went so far and he was in up to knees, and then he went so far and he was in up to his waist, and then he was swimming! Do it, Lord, do it.
Let's stand for a word of prayer. Can we do that? Lord we love you this morning. We come to you in Jesus' name. We thank you for loving us. We don't really understand it, but we thank you that you do, you love us. Father, we come to you this morning because we have no where else to go. We come to you this morning because we don't have anything to say. If you don't give us something to say, Lord, we know. We come to you this morning because without you we can do nothing, and so we pray that you will again this morning, and throughout the day, anoint this day with your presence. Anoint this preacher with your anointing, Lord, with your message for the day. Anoint the ears of our heart, Lord, the eyes of our understanding this day. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
All right, this morning's message was supposed to be yesterday's message, and yesterday's morning was supposed to be this morning's message, but the Lord changed my direction, and switched those directions around, and I wasn't sure if I undserstood why, but after the message last evening I understood why. All of that just fit together so beautifully.
And so, this morning I want to speak on the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and New Testament reality. What is the effect of the anointing of the Holy Ghost in a bleiever's life? The prophet Samuel was speaking prophetically to Saul during the time he was to be anointed king. He said these words to Saul. He said, "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shall prophesy and shall be turned into another man,". That's powerfull. The Spirit of the Lord is going to come upon you, Saul, and you will prophesy, and you shall be turned into another man. That puts the whole thing in a nutshell, doesn't it?
The one hundred and twenty in the upper room, [and] the apostles, I'm sure that they could say those very words. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, the Spirit of the Lord came upon us, and we prophesied and we were turned into another man. Before that, they had dull apprehensions of the truce that Jesus was speaking to them. Before that, they had a weak vision, seeing very dimly the things that Christ was trying to describe to them that would happen in the future. Before that, they were a feeble bunch, with a feeble faith. Before that, they were weak in their brotherly love one for another, and thier resolutions were short lived. They were fearfull, they were doubters, they were running scared, and I think we could probably say just to describe just an overall description of them... I mean, they were very scincere. These were the men that had enough insight to see way beyond those Pharasies who knew their Bibles inside and out. They had enough insight to say, "we have found the Messiah". They were full of religious zeal. They were seeking the highest that they knew. They were not evil, wicked men, but they were moving in the natural rather than in the spiritual. I think that's a good description. They had open hearts, they had found the Messiah, they had forsaken all, they treasured His word, but yet they moved in the realm of the natural so much of the time. That's a good description of them. Maybe it's a good description of us also. We are here, we love to be here, we love the Word, we're exited about what's happening here, but if we give an overall evaluation of our day-to-day life, we move in the natural, rather than the spiritual, most of the time. I mean, Peter was so bold when Christ began to prophesy to them, and tell them that He was going to go to the cross, and shed His blood, which would be the redemption of all mankind. Peter was so much in the natural and so out of tune in the spiritual that Christ had to say to him, "Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou savorest not the things that be of God, but savorest the things that be of men,". Interesting, interesting. They moved in the realm of the natural so much of the time, but after Pentecost, they were changed into another man. Peter was changed into another man after Pentecost. They began to move in the real of the spirit. Their character was transformed. They were different men. Their words became quick and powerfull, life changing words. Their words cut to the heart.
Imagine, just a little bit with me this morning, the day after Pentecost. Yesterday was a busy day, Peter was busy all day long. There was a lot going on during the day of the Pentecost. I'm not sure how many people he baptized himself, but I'm sure when he laid his head down to go to sleep, at the end of that day, the day of Pentecost, he was very weary in body. He woke up the next morning, he heard the Lord speaking in him, "Good morning, Peter,". With the ears of his heart he heard the voice of His Savoir the Lord Jesus Christ who told him, "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, Peter. I will come to you,". That was the day after Pentecost. Imagine when they all got together, and began to share,
"I'm just so different, I'm just so different!"
"I am, too! I mean the Lord is just speaking inside of my heart!"
"It's that same way with me!"
"Oh, praise God, this is wonderful!"
"Yes, it is! I wonder what it all means?"
"I do too!"
You know those conversations went on the day after Pentecost. Maybe they dropped down on their knees together and started praying, "Oh, Lord, now we understand what you were talking about, Lord! We don't know what we're doing. Lead us, oh God. Oh, please help us to know that to do. Give us your guidance Lord. thank you that you didn't leave us comfortless; you didn't leave us as an orphan, but you did come unto us,". You know Him, he is with you, but He shall be in you.
Now do you think that the Lord Jesus was giving those apostles a doctrinal teaching when He said those words to them, or do you think he was trying to help them to understand that they would have a totally different experience after that day. How many of you think he was giving him a doctrinal statement? Good. Now it is a doctrinal statement, don't misunderstand me. It is a doctrinal statement, but that is not all it is. "He dwelleth with you and He shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you,". Just picture that. He's been with them for three and a half years. Every problem they had, they just went and said, "Lord what should we do?". It was all cared for. Every question they had, they just went to Him and said, "Well Lord, we don't understand this, could you explain it?", and He gave them the answer. Every situation that they faced: "We have all of these people who need to eat, we don't know what to do with them," He took care of it. But now they were standing on the Mount of Olives and he just disappeared out of their sight. But now it's the day after Pentecost and they understand. He didn't leave us comfortless.
What is the affect of the anointing of the Holy Ghost in the life of the believers? That He, God, would raise up, by that anointing, holy people, with holy hearts, living holy lives, filled with holy character, who walk with a Holy God, and speak holy words, that are anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Brethren, that is what the anointing of the Holy Ghost is all about. That is what it's all about. That is what is in the longing heart of God for his people. God is an awesome, Holy God. One half-a-second glimpse of this Holy God that we've been talking about all week long... one half of a second glimpse of Him would bring every one of us down on our face in utter abandonment, and it's the longing of the heart of God that his great name would be sanctified among the heathen by the way that His people move and live and breathe and act and speak in this world around us. That's the longing of his heart, and it was the joy that was set before the Lord Jesus as He despised the shame and endured the cross. Don't you think for a minute, brethren, that Jesus went through all of that so that He could buy a one-way ticket to heaven for you and me. He didn't go through all of that so that we could live our own selfish lives all of our days, and end up in glory for all of eternity after that. Brethren, that's not what Jesus went to the cross for. He went to the cross that he might raise up, through the anointing that was poured out because of that cross, a holy people anointed with the holy ghost, speaking holy words. We all know that, that's nothing new to us. That's not a new revelation, but it's good for us to consider again and again. To explain the whole plan of God in a very simple nutshell: that anointing was given to make us like Jesus, and you can spend the rest of your life figuring out what all of that means, Amen? To make us a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that show forth the praises or the virtues of him who hat called us out of darkens and into His marvelous light. That is what the anointing of the Holy Spirit is all about, brethren, to cause us to glorify God. To cause us to love God with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength. To turn our hearts away from selfishness, to love our neighbors as yourself. This is what the anointing of the Holy Spirit is all about. That we henceforth no longer live unto ourselves but unto Him.
As I see the baptism of the Holy Spirit I see a twofold purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Number one, to empower us to be New Testament Christians, emphasizing the "be" there, and number two, to empower us to do exploits in building God's kingdom while we are here upon this earth. That combination, brothers, is pretty powerful when you put the two together. To be New Testament Christians, doing exploits of kingdom building while we are here upon this earth. That is what the anointing is all about.
Brethren, new covenant reality comes through, and by, the overwhelming presence of the living God coming upon us and abiding. Think about that. New covenant comes through, and by, our being overwhelmed by the presence of the living God and abiding in that presence. That's the only way it comes.
Consider this morning Christ the Anointed One. I told you earlier this week that we would come back to that word. I want to consider Christ the Anointed One this morning. He is the mediator of the New Testament. He is the mediator of the new covenant. He through the anointing, mediates, dispenses, [and] gives forth the reality of the new covenant in our hearts and our lives. That's where it comes from. He is the mediator. Just like in the natural, this natural world we live in, there is a mediator of the will. When someone dies, there is an executor that has been appointed, that executor is the one who mediates the will to those who are written in the will. He dispenses to those the things that are written in the will, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the anointed one, he gives the mediator the dispenser of that which was written in the will. He mediates the reality of the new covenant.
Consider these words: The Bible speaks of spiritual warfare. In Ephesians chapter 6 it speaks of spiritual mindedness. In Romans chapter 8 it speaks of a spiritual walk. The Bible speaks about spiritual weapons in Second Corinthians chapter 10, and spiritual gifts in first Corinthians chapter 12. The Bible speaks of spiritual fruit in Galatians chapter 5, and spiritual armor in Ephesians chapter 6, and it speaks of a glorious spiritual ministry in Second Corinthians chapter 3. Now all of these things are only reality in a believer's life if they are overwhelmed with the presence of the Living God. Those spiritual realities, they don't mean very much at all if we are not going to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. None of these can happen without the anointing, brethren, it makes no sense at all. They're far away somewhere. These are only far away concepts if we are not filled with the spirit of God. I guess the burden that I have this morning is simply this: Here we have this New Testament, and all of the beautiful things that are written in it. But what does to do for us if we're not going to walk in the anointing of the Spirit of God? What does it do for us? The New Testament becomes a book full of dreams, that's all. It becomes a book of heavy reminders of unreality in our lives. It can e a book if discouragement as we look again, and again, and again, and see, "I'm not there, I'm not there, I'm not there, and I'm not there. No, I'm not there. Hey, I read those words, but I don't know what spiritual weapons are in reality. I read about the armor, but I don't understand what it means in reality. I see those words in the Bible, 'spiritual ministry', but what is spiritual ministry?" The New Testament becomes a book full of dreams to us.
Just a few thoughts and meditations from the heart of a pastor. My heart is soaring in the lofty revelations of the New Testament. I'm thrilled with the New Testament. When I read in the New Testament, is exists my heart. I see, and I want to say, and I want to tell, and I want to preach, and I do.
God began to lay all of these things on my heart. I don't know if I can tell you when, but I began to give them to the people, week after week, after week, not in condemnation but to lay them out and say to the brothers and the sisters and say, "Brothers, this is it! Look at it! Look what the Bible says! Look what the New Testament says! Let's go for this! Let's go for this kind of life! Come on, let's go!" But all the while doing that and saying those words, as the weeks and months go by and turn into years, it takes a while to get through, realizing [that] so many of the people, they do not live anywhere near this. They don't life anywhere near this, and if you're a minister in this room, you know that's the way it is. You know it. Slowly it downed upon me as I prayed. You know, when you minister to your people, and you know you're giving them solid meat, good stuff, things that could change their life, and you don't see them changing. You know, you have to then say, "What's wrong, here? Is there something wrong with me?" And I'm sure that there's something wrong with me. But slowly it dawned upon me as I prayed about it (I pray about it much), these people can't do this stuff. They've never been empowered by the Holy Ghost. They don't do this stuff. Oh, I'm getting up on there Sunday morning, waxing eloquent out of Ephesians chapter 3, strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man. You know, the revelation, the spirit of revelation of the knowledge of Jesus, and all of those lofty things that are in the New Testament, and I would finish my sermon, and go sit own and everybody just sat there, and they didn't even say anything. At first I thought, "Hey, maybe I didn't do that right. No one's saying anything. I try to figure it out, but I think I figured it out. They're just sitting there thinking, "Oh! I am no where near that! I have nothing to say! I'm just going to sit here. It began to dawn upon me: These people can't do this. They've never been empowered with the Holy Spirit! They've never been overwhelmed with the Spirit of the Living God. They've never been strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man (Ephesians chapter 3, [verse] 16). They don't know the reality of Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith. They are not comprehending the breadth and the depth and the lengths and the height. They do not know the experiential knowledge of the love of Christ which passes knowledge and can't be explained! They need the Holy Ghost to make it a reality, and, brothers, so do you. To make it a reality, you kneed the Holy Ghost. You ministers, you preachers, you know what I'm talking about. You know it's that way. If at all, in the sincerity of your heart you've examined the reality and so many that are in the flock, [you will know] they just hardly know anything about all of this.
What a miserable way to go to Church, Sunday by Sunday, by Sunday, hearing all of these lofty things lifting up before your eyes, and going home, not being able to live in the reality of any of it. It's kind of miserable, isn't it? When instead we should be going home thrilled! "Praise God for the reality that is in the New Testament! Praise God for the reality of the New Covenant. Praise God we listened to the reading of the will again, this morning, and I found out I was richer than I ever thought I was! Praise God I've Got I've got money in my pocket! I went to Church Sunday morning and now my pockets are full. I found out I had so much more wealth than I thought I did,". But dear brothers, it's not wealth just because it's written in this Book. It's only wealth after you've been to the bank and picked up the check. If it's only wealth that's in this Book, that's a miserable way to live, standing outside the bank, looking inside of all of the money stacked up inside of there, living in poverty, not knowing how you're going to take the next step that you're supposed to take in your New Testament life, and you're looking inside the door of the bank and all of the money stacked in there, but the door's locked and you can't get any of it! What a miserable way to be a New Testament Christian! But if that's reality in may many people's lives (they're just kind of gazing in there, "Oh, that's beautiful. My, yes. Look at all of it! Wow, that's glorious, but we can't get it"). Dear brothers, these things are made real in the life of the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit and there's no other way, no other way!
Here are the words of the New Testament, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me,". Isn't that a beautiful verse? Wouldn't that be a beautiful life, to walk through life in the reality of that? "I am crucified through Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me, the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,". Do you know what that verse means, brethren? That's talking about the spiritual revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ! It's talking about a spiritual revealing of Christ and His glory, and His majesty, and His character, and His beauty being imparted to my heart and my life, but it won't be imparted if I don't see it, and I won't see it if I don't live in the umption of the Holy Ghost. It's just some nice story, otherwise. Just some nice story about a nice man.
Listen to the words of the New Testament, "Changed from glory to glory,". Oh, you want to be changed this morning, brethren? You want to be changed? "Changed from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord,". See these verses? They're the New Testament! We read them all of the time! God wants them to be a reality to us. That verse, if I understand that verse at all, what that verse is saying to me is this: That I should be living in the umption of the Holy Ghost, and under that umption, I should open up this Bible with an open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord in the pages of this book. And as I gaze by the Sprits on the glory of the Lord in the pages in this book, I am changed into this very image. Isn't that a right interpretation of those verses? You [might] say, "Well, brother Denny, you're going way over head today,". I may be going over our heads, but this is normal New Testament Christianity, and if it's going over our head we need to come to grips with he fact that we're anemic. I mean, we sing the song, "Oh, us all to be like Thee blessed Redeemer, oh to be like Thee,". That song doesn't become a reality in our life. We aren't changed in the image of Christ if we aren't going to live in the power of the Spirit of the Living God. And that's why men can go for twenty years, and still there's not much about them. Twenty years? Why? Well, they read their Bible, they go to Church, you know, all of that stuff, but there's not abiding anointing in their life, and because there isn't, they don't much imparted as the weeks go by and the years go by. They stay relatively the same.
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,". That is the power to do God's will. Beautiful verse, that verse speaks victory. That verse speaks of being more than conquerors, Amen? Where the Spirit of the Lord is, we are more than conquerors. Christ in you, the hope of glory. See these verses. Oh listen, I could do this for a long time, I mean my heart is full of all of these verses, I've been reveling in the revelation of the new covenenant, but, how about it? Theological statement, or living reality? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul says, "It is a history that has been hidden from the foundation of the world, but now it's being revealed in these last days, through His holy apostles and prophets,". A mystery. Christ can live in you, and that is the hope of glory. You want your one-way ticket to heaven in your back pocket? That's how you keep that one way ticket in your back pocket. Christ living in me, in reality, the hope of glory. "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you...", (That word "dwell" means habitate. It doesn't mean visit every now and then.) "...dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. How is the resurrection going to take place? By his spirit that dwelleth in you." Christ in you, in reality, is the hope of glory. That's the reality of the hope of the resurrection. "It is God that worketh in you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure,". Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure,"! What a beautiful way to live! With God living inside of me, motivating me, inspiring me, empowering me, leading me to be motivated to want to do, and empower me to do His good pleasure. That's beautiful! I can handle that kind of Christian life, how about you? Amen! Lord, I'll vote for that one! "Dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God", and I could just go on, and on, and on. There are so many of them. It's the reading of the will, brethren! It's what Jesus bought and paid for by His death, and through the resurrection. It's the will and testament of Jesus Christ.
This is the in-Christ experience in the live of a believer that we are talking about here. The in-Christ experience in the live of a believer. You know all of those verses in he Bible, "in Him", "In whom", "in Christ". This is the in-Christ experience in he life of a believer. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the in-Christ experience in the life of a believer. That's it. To be in Christ is to be in the anointing. To be in the anointing is to be in Christ. Why? He is the anointed. That's what His name means. He is the anointed. He is anointed now, brethren, He is anointed now. To be in the anointing is to be in Christ. We are the body of the Anointed One. Can I say it that way? That's right, isn't it? "Now ye are the body of Christ in members in particular," Paul says. Ye are the body of the Anointed One. You can stay on that verse for about two weeks. Ye are the body of the Anointed One. Or, let me say, "Are you the body of the Anointed One?". He has no hands but our hands. He has no body to live out His glorious holiness through, but our bodies. Are you the body of the Anointed One? These are good questions to consider this morning. These are good questions. I mean, it changes things quite a bit. We can't sit in here this morning and say, "Yeah, the worldly Church out there, I mean, its apostate. And they're this, and they're that, and they're worldly, and they're departing,". We can't sit here this morning and throw any stones, brethren.
I thought about it this morning. I thought about the dear charismatic people and the charismatic movement all around the United States as I was meditating on all of this, and their interpretation on what we've been speaking about of this week is, you know, you go to an altar, and you have this ecstatic experience, and like I said yesterday, I'm not saying that all of that is wrong. There is a reality there in some, but with so many of them, it is an emotional ecstatic experience that they go through on Sunday morning, and they live in unreality the rest of the week long. But the greatest burden of that is that they're so utterly deceived that they think that because they have that ecstatic experience on Sunday morning... "HEY! PRAISE GOD! BLAH, BLAH!" I mean, you meet some of those people and they hit right between the eyes as soon as they meet you. "HEY! DO YOU SPEAK IN TOUNGES? WELL, I'VE GOT SOMETHING YOU DON'T HAVE!" And I have to tell myself, "What a deception. No reality. No blessing. No holiness. No victory. None of these beautiful things that we've been speaking about, but yet this puffed up idea in their mind that because they had a babbling experience at the altar call and everyone "got with it in the Lord", that they are the spiritual elite upon the earth. My heart just broke for them. My heart just broke this morning. I thought, "Lord, so deceived,".
Then I thought about this: we have ours too, you know. If we're living in the natural, then we have our own natural interpretation of the remnamant, you know, "We're the remnant, oh, we look different, and we this, and we that", but if we don't have the anointing on our hearts and our lives, we'd better shut our mouth, too. Our day of embarrassment is coming. It's coming, [I] promise. If we live in unreality and just keep pumping this thing up, and you know, "Get your coverings on", and all of these things, and the umption of the Holy Ghost isn't there. Our embarrassing day is coming, [I] promise.
Are ye the body of the Anointed One? These are probing questions this morning. Probing questions. These are deep realities we're speaking about, brethren. Realities, you begin to see them rising up out of the book of Hebrews if you read it about thirty times. You know the book of Hebrews? You know, our High Priests are more excellent priests with the mediator of the new covenanant, a spiritual priesthood? The minister of the heavenly sanctuary? That's our Christ. The ministry of the heavenly sanctuary. Have you been into the throne room lately? Don't you know you have a minister of the heavenly sanctuary? We have our Aaron, bless God! We have Him! Paul said to the Hebrews, "There are many, many things I would like to speak to you concerning these things, but you are dull of hearing", ("you cannot hear them, you cannot hear them.").
Dear brothers, what I'm speaking about here is not a New Testament option. This is a New Testament imperative. It is not an option. Sometimes, somehow, I think that we have gotten that in our mind. "Oh well, the preachers must. They need to be anointed. Yes, they need to be men of God, they're our preachers,". No, this is a New Testament imperative for every child of God. I think we skipped the book of Acts and moved ran into the epistles, and we're miserably stumbling around in there, trying to figure out what this Christian life is all about. We skipped the book of Acts, brethren, and the New Testament is just kind of a phase to us. We bounce around in there, and try over here. "That's not the way," so [you] try over this way. We're just bouncing around in there, and we've skipped the book of Acts. We cannot simply go our way living a carnal subnormal Christian life anymore. We can't do it. It's time to have Judgment Day early.
Have you been immersed in the overwhelming presence of the Living God since ye believed? Remember I told you the other day that interesting little bit of information about the word Christ. Sixty times in the gospels. Five hundred timed from Pentecost onward. Christ, the Anointed, all through the New Testament five hundred times. That phrase is used in the New Testament from Pentecost onward five hundred times: The Anointed! Yes the people of God are not anointed! How can this be?
Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost for His earthly ministry. Luke chapter 3, Mathew chapter 3, but Christ is also anointed with the Holy Ghost for His heavenly ministry.
Turn to Acts 2. Hold your place there, and turn to Psalm 133 for a moment.
Psalm 133 says, "Behold, how good, and how pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity. And may I put it into the New Testament context, that for brethren to dwell together in the unity of the spirit. The word behold means "Stop, an gaze upon that."
Verse 2, "It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirt of his garment,". You get that picture? Aaron was anointed with the precious ointment. They poured it on his head, and I think it's very clear just from looking at that scripture that they didn't do it like this. What do you think? They dumped it on him, and it went down onto his head, and went down his head, and went down over his beard, and stared dripping down off of his beard, and started landing on his shoulders, and flowed and ran down all the way to the hem of his garment. Get the picture?
How let's look at the heavenly Aaron for a moment. Acts chapter 2, verse 33. Peter must have got this in the spirit of revelation, because I know he did didn't study for that sermon that he preached on the day of Pentecost. He didn't meditate on that one ahead of time, but in his explanation to all of these people that are trying to figure out what is going on [and] why these men, these women, these one hundred and twenty that came out of the upper room seem like they're drunk in the middle of they day, speaking all kinds of languages and all these people from all different countries form all over the known world are hearing these words in their own language. Peter stands up to try to explain to them what's going on, and of course he begins by telling them "this is that which is spoken by the prophet Joel..." and he quotes the verses there out of the book of Joel. Then he goes on to preach about Christ, the Christ. And he says in verse 32, "This Jesus hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses, therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost." Received? Same word. Same thing, Received, baptized, filled, fallen upon, all of those are the same word. Jesus received the promise of the Holy Ghost, and He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Now just picture our heavenly Aaron. He's been to the cross, He despised the shame, He shed His blood for the sins of humanity, He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, He died for you and I, they laid Him in the grave, three days later he came up from the grave, He was raised form the dead according to the Spirit of Holiness, He walked with them for forty days, then He ascended back up to the Father, and only told them, "Wait for the promise of the Father," it's coming. So, the head of the body is in heaven, and the Father pours the oil upon the head of the son in heaven. And the oil runs down over His head, down upon His beard, and it begins to drip down upon the rest of His body. "And suddenly, there was the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost," and the body of Christ was baptized with the Holy Ghost. That is the Christ which is mentioned five hundred times from Pentecost to the end of the Bible.
Yesterday we finished our meeting encouraging you in a waiting, believing, faith filled expectancy. Remember, I warned you that you can get off and go into extremes and all of that, and I encouraged you yesterday that this whole matter is a matter of faith. It is the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the promise of the Father. And may I say today, it's already given; Leave it! The Christ is anointed; Believe it, receive it! By grace through faith, it's done! And I say that, having said everything that I said yesterday, having agreed with everything that brother Manny said last night [that], yes, we need to be clean, yes, our heart needs to be yielded if we're going to move in the flow of the anointing of the Christ. It's absurd to think that we could if we're full of selfishness, but if our heart as we sit here today is clear... I'm not saying you have to be a perfect person. You just have to have your heart clear, and your will yielded ("God, anything."). Brother, it's yours. It's there. It's here. It's a reality, but like everything else in the Christian life, if you don't believe it, you won't enter in. A waiting, believing, faith filled expectancy. Do you believe it? Amen. We're really accountable now, aren't we? I mean, the Lord is just saying to each one of us this morning...
Let's kneel together for prayer. Can we do that?
"He is here, Hallelujah, He is here, Amen,
"He is here, is here, Holy, Holy, I will bless His name again,
"He is here, listen closely, hear him calling out your name,
"He is here, you can touch Him, you will never be the same."
Ah, brethren, do you believe that little song this morning? "He is here, you can touch Him,". By faith, by grace through faith, you can touch Him. I want you to pray this little prayer this morning if your heart clear. If it is not, I plead with you. Let it go. But if you heart is clear, I want you to pray this prayer with me, "My dear Heavenly Father, I am your son. I know that you love me. My heart is clear, washed in the precious blood of you son. My will is yielded. I'll do anything you say. My dear Father, I am Your son. By faith this morning, fill me with Your Spirit, Lord. I receive the anointing which is already given. By faith, I receive the anointing, and I thank You for it, Father, In Jesus' name, Amen.
