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"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." — Acts 1:8
"If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever." — John 14:15–16
He abides. He abides with me. I'm rejoicing night and day as I walk the narrow way, for the Comforter abides with me.
We are continuing Pentecost today. My desire in this service is that those of you who have not received the gift of the Holy Ghost — who have not spoken in tongues — would be able to believe God for the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus is now saying that this Holy Ghost is going to be a Comforter, and he will abide with you. I want to talk to you this afternoon on the subject: The Holy Spirit — the Paraklētos.
Father, I need you right now. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable. Give us a word that would change lives. Let burdens be removed, yokes be destroyed, in the name of Yeshua the Christ, the Son of the living God. Amen.
Jesus spoke about the importance of us having the Holy Ghost. "You shall receive power." The Bible says that word means dunamis — that's force, that's might — "after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you." And one of the things that the Holy Ghost will do is empower you to be a witness.
Last time I preached the message, "I'm a Witness," and last week preaching in South London my message was not just "The Witness" but "Witness Protection." Because when you have the Holy Ghost, you are under witness protection.
In the book of John, Jesus is having an intimate conversation with his disciples. It is known as the farewell. It is before he is about to die. He's talking to his disciples and preparing them for his death.
It is a very traumatic time for them. These were people who, for three years, had abandoned everything — abandoned their careers — and followed Jesus. The teaching they received focused on them becoming people they called "the people of the way," which today we translate as Christians.
You've got to understand how traumatic it must have been, because Jesus is now telling them, "I'm going to leave you." And it's not just the subject of leaving that traumatized them — he's saying, "I'm going to be crucified." In fact, they didn't want to hear that.
If you're honest about relationship — if somebody's telling you they're leaving you after you've engaged with them for so long, and your whole life revolved around this person — can you understand the trauma the disciples were dealing with? To be crucified in those days sounded like you're a criminal, and he's trying to prepare them for his death.
Touch someone and say, "It's traumatic."
A lot to do with Christianity hits us in the place of trauma. Jesus spoke about suffering in a way these people were not used to. When they saw Jesus and realized he was the Messiah, there was a theology that Jesus was coming to set up a new kingdom. They were expecting him to overthrow the Roman government which was controlling everything.
Imagine you have this picture of a man — what he's going to do — and then he says, "By the way, I'm going to die. Not only am I going to die, I'm going to be crucified."
As he begins to speak to them, he wants to make sure they continue in what he has taught them. He wants to use the word obedience, but he uses a prefix before it. He says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
He uses love as the basis, because most of us don't like rules. Most of us don't like commandments. Most of us don't like people telling us what to do. He is telling them, "I want you to obey my commandments, and you will do it if you love me."
A lot of times we're very pushy as human beings. We want to bully people to do things. But I've found out:
Touch your neighbor and say, "Love is the answer."
Being a bully is not the answer. Being controlling is not the answer. If you have love, you can get a lot of people to do a lot of things. That is why Paul writes about love — if you don't have love, you're a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. I don't care how much tongues you have. In the book of Corinthians they could speak in tongues: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels..." — but all of this spirituality is not real if you don't have love.
Some of us have forgotten how to love people. I know you've gone through trauma, but if you want to get the better of people, let love come out of your spirit.
Some of the people who complain that they don't find love — they're not lovable. We tell everybody, "Oh, they don't love me. That one don't like me." But how many people do you like? How many times do you go out of your way to show love to somebody else?
Love is more than talk. It's an action.
Someone called me this week and said, "37 years of marriage — we need to write a book." And I said, "That's the challenge, because I can write a book, but the book might not relate to you, because you're not in my marriage." Marriage is compatible. Sometimes God will put you with somebody, and you ask God, "Why am I with him? Why am I with her?"
Because love is more than talk. Love is an action. Love is something you make up in your mind to do. That's why when you go to the altar and make a vow to marry someone, they say:
"For better, for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."
Some of you want to get married and you don't know what it's about. Pastor Penny chose to love me with all of my faults — with all these ideas I have that I put her through. Sometimes she asks, "Are you going to buy a yacht?" I said, "Where did that come from?" She said, "Because there are things you're talking about I've never heard you talk about." She's trying to measure me and trying to measure my love.
We make a choice to love each other. God did not love you because you were great. There's nothing about you that made God say, "I have to love him." No — "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten..." God loved you in spite of. And that's how you need to love other people. You have areas of your life that are not perfect, but God loved you in spite of. You've got to learn to love people the same way.
Some of you are bullying people, controlling people, trying to get stuff done — and the reason it's not getting done is because you will not put love in front of it. My wife can get me to do anything when she starts loving me. Once love is in the way of what you're trying to accomplish, you will accomplish much more, because love suffers long, and is kind.
Jesus says, "I will pray the Father, and he will give unto you..." The King James says "the Comforter." Another translation says "a Helper." Notice what it says: "I will send another Comforter."
"I have already been the person who has comforted you, but I'm sending another Comforter."
That word in the Greek means "the one of the same kind." I'm not sending you anything different. I'm sending you of the same kind. He's not me, but he is me.
He uses the word allos — meaning "the same kind." Jesus indicates that the Holy Spirit will provide the exact same type of comfort and guidance.
The Greek word is Paraklētos. The word has several meanings:
Our Bibles are written from an agricultural and a legal perspective. These are statements you would hear in that setting.
So Jesus says, "I am going to send the Paraklētos to come alongside the journey that you're taking." The Holy Ghost is going to be your Advocate. Things you would have to confront, you won't personally have to confront, because the Paraklētos says, "I will deal with the situation for you."
The Holy Spirit is called to come beside you on your journey of faith. And one of the problems you're dealing with is that you are on your journey without the Holy Spirit. There are things you will not be able to accomplish until you have the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life.
One of the problems in the body of Christ is that we have good services, good communication, good preaching, and good singing — but we don't take time for people to understand that you cannot make this journey without the Holy Ghost. Some of the things you're dealing with, you're dealing with because you have been doing it on your own.
"But I'm sending you someone just like me," Jesus said.
I'm into the value of words. Most of our English language comes out of Greek and Latin. The problem with English is when we hear one word, it's very flat in its interpretation. When I say "the Comforter," you might have just one mindset. But Paraklētos means more than someone helping me — it means someone fighting for me, someone advocating my position. It's like a courtroom, and you have somebody there who knows the situation.
A lot of you have people talking on your behalf, but they don't know the situation. When they don't know the situation, they can't defend you properly. But the Holy Spirit says:
"I'll be there. I know the situation. I know you. I know what you're going through. I know what you've been through. And I know what the devil is planning."
You cannot continue without the Holy Spirit in your life. There's warfare you're going through, battles you will not win unless you have the Holy Spirit. The Bible says he will guide you into all truth and bring all things to your remembrance.
Look at your neighbor and say, "He's right next to me right now."
There are people who have tried to stop you. The moment you are on God's side, all the enemies of the demonic world will try to fight you. But as long as you've got the Holy Spirit coming alongside you:
My secret to success is the Holy Spirit. The text says, "I will send the Comforter, the Paraklētos, and he will abide with you." That means you can't pull this Holy Spirit away from me. You can have all your juju, all your pictures, all your altars, burn all your candles — as long as I've got the Holy Spirit next to me, whatever the enemy is planning, I'll be able to see it.
Look at somebody and say, "I'm indestructible."
If you ever understood who you are when you have the Holy Spirit, you are indestructible. There are people who don't understand how you keep going. They haven't been through half of what you've been through and they've fallen apart. But some of us keep going, and we don't even understand how. It's the Holy Spirit. Some of you should have lost your mind. But the reason you're here is the Holy Spirit. Sometimes you don't feel like coming to church, but when you push yourself, it's the Holy Spirit that pushed you. The devil doesn't know what to do with you because there's power inside of you.
The Holy Spirit represents God. He was in the beginning with God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Then the Word took on flesh.
The Bible tells us at the beginning of Genesis, the ruach, the Spirit of the Lord, moved upon the face of the waters, and then God said, "Let there be." God does not speak until ruach comes — until atmosphere changes.
When God turns up, atmosphere changes. Acts chapter 2:
"There came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire."
You will not have tongues unless atmosphere changes. Some of you are going to be filled with the Holy Ghost today, and before we call you up for prayer we need to make sure the atmosphere is conducive.
"When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were in one accord in one place." — Acts 2:1
Atmosphere must change.
He is not abstract. He's not a force. He is not "the force." He is a person. He has an intellect. He has emotion. We don't call him "it." We call him a person. He is indwelling — living in us. The Bible calls him the Spirit of Truth. He has active power — power to empower us to do things we naturally can't do on our own.
When he comes upon us, you turn into another man or another woman. What I could not do in the natural, when God's power comes upon me, I have the power to do.
I have problems with people who tell me they have the Holy Spirit and they can't stop lying. Because if you have the Holy Spirit, you have the Spirit of Truth. Some of us need to tell people when they're lying, "You ain't got the Spirit of Truth." There is a benefit when the Holy Ghost comes upon you — you naturally speak truth.
When you've got the Holy Ghost, you have the fruit of the Spirit.
Look at your neighbor: "I have the ability to knock somebody out. I have the ability to cuss somebody out. But because I have the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit that controls my temper, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of peace, the Spirit of joy..."
The music doesn't give me joy. I like the music and the singers, but they don't give me joy. Joy has to come from the Spirit of God. Some of us are going through hell right now, but the joy of the Lord is our strength. When you see us praising God, I'm not praising him because the music sounds good. I'm praising him because he put joy in my spirit, joy in my soul. Even when all hell's breaking loose, I've got joy in my soul. I've got a praise coming out of my mouth.
Pull your neighbor and say, "That's why I shout like I do. That's why I praise like I do. It's because of the Spirit of God that lives inside of me."
The Paraklētos comes and walks beside me. Every trap the enemy sets has to fall apart, because what my flesh doesn't know, my spirit will find out.
Some folks want to come to you, but they want to come in front of you. They want to control you. The Holy Spirit is a real gentleman. If you don't want to live right, he isn't forcing you. He will convict you, but it's for you to respond.
The Holy Spirit is not trying to come in front. He's not trying to come behind. He says, "I'm going to come alongside you."
If he was behind you, it's a different posture. When somebody comes beside you, it means we're on the same path.
Maybe you're fighting some battles and they seem to get more and more intense. Could it be that you're doing it by yourself, when you're supposed to invite the Holy Spirit?
I grew up classical Pentecostal, and one of the things they taught us is that one of the signs of being filled with the Holy Ghost is that they heard them speak in tongues. I still believe tongues is one of the evidences, but it's not the only one — because the devil can speak in tongues. But you are supposed to receive power. You're supposed to have a boldness.
In a lot of our churches, we need to get back to helping people receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. A lot of people are relying on preachers rather than the Holy Spirit. That's why our altar calls are packed — because we're teaching people to rely on man instead of the Holy Spirit.
But he's a Paraklētos. He's supposed to come alongside you:
But the Holy Spirit says, "I will come alongside you, and I will deal with what you're dealing with."
All of you who are not filled with the Holy Ghost — you've never spoken in tongues, you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost — would you come? Ministers, elders, come. I need your help.
Do not allow the enemy to make you feel embarrassed. It's a gift. If somebody gives you a gift, what do you do? You receive it.
The Bible says they were calling on the name of Jesus. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
Let your power come down. Let your Spirit come down. Let breakthrough come down in the name of Jesus.
For everyone at the front who wants to receive the Holy Spirit — he's a gift. It's not going to happen if your mouth is closed. You have to open your mouth and call on his name — Jesus. That gift belongs to you. God promised you that gift because you have professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It's a gift that comes without any conditions, but that you ask.
Post yourself in a place of praise, thanking Jesus for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, pour out your Spirit on your people now, as they call out to you.
For those online — in your kitchen, wherever you are — you can receive the Holy Spirit as well. This is not a time to be self-conscious. You don't want to leave here without the Holy Ghost. Lift your hands and tell God that you are surrendered totally.
Jesus, your people need to be filled. They want to receive the gift. Lord, you promised them. You said, "When I leave, the Holy Spirit will come. I'm sending another Comforter. Without the gift of the Holy Spirit, you won't be able to do what you need to do." So Father, pour out your power. Holy Ghost, fill up your people. I release tongues. I release the natural tongue to speak the heavenly language. We release the stammering tongue of the Holy Spirit. We release the angelic language. Holy Spirit, we come against every hindrance, every blockage. This is a gift you have promised.
For those in the congregation feeling depleted and empty — you need a refilling. You can receive a top-up of the Holy Spirit right now.
Those of you who didn't get filled today — don't worry. The Holy Ghost is here. The power of God is here. I challenge you to go home, get on your knees before God, and say:
"Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, I need you."
It is the gift.
And if there's anybody here who is not saved — not born again — who says, "Preacher, I have not accepted the Lord as my personal Savior" — I'd like to pray with you.
