Jude 1:17-25 (KJV)
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Anyone who reads through the New Testament cannot ignore the supernatural events that take place whenever the gospel is preached and experienced. Something happened in this new religion (if you want to call it that) which made it different from anything else known to man.
Actually, the worst thing that has ever happened to the whole body of faith and belief in Jesus Christ is that it became a religion. It was never meant to be this way. Jesus said, “But ye shall received power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Acts 1:8. The preponderance of Christian believers today think that the Holy Ghost may be real but the power is not. They think that the early church needed it back then, but we do not need it today.
I submit to you today that the Holy Ghost has never lost a single iota of power over the 2000 years since it was poured out on the church! When someone receives the Holy Ghost, they still receive the power. They get whatever they got on the Day of Pentecost!
Power that makes you come alive!
John 3:3-5 (KJV)
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Titus 3:5 (KJV)
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
You’re going to have a better life when you get the Holy Ghost baptism. You get a new perspective on life, a new reason to life, a power that you never had before. (Mary Klever).
Power that lives within you!
1 Corinthians 6:18-19 (KJV)
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
No matter how weak, immature, imperfect you are, you still have the Holy Ghost indwelling. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me!” The valley may scare the tar out of you, but it won’t scare the Holy Ghost out of you!
2 Timothy 1:6-7 (KJV)
6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
3. Power that seals the deal!
Ephesians 1:13-14 (KJV)
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Seal: Closes it up; makes it secure in a legal sense.
Also, it is an official emblem; ownership likeness (wax seal, gold seal)
It is settled: My sin is remitted and my sonship is secure!
This week I listened to an audio clip of a man who objected to the scriptural experience of speaking in tongues. He said it was nothing but babbling and gibberish. I don’t understand how it was okay for the early believers to speak in tongues, but it is just nonsense when we do it today.
I would like for him to be here in a chapel service or at an altar service when God fills a little child with the Holy Ghost. A child who has never been taught what to expect begins to speak fluently, even forcefully, in tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance.
Why does God want you to speak in tongues when you receive the Holy Ghost? He knows you are going to be challenged. He knows the devil is going to lie to you and say you don’t have the Spirit of God. You are going to remember your experience and rebut the claims of Satan. Not only that, you can enter into the spirit of prayer and start praying in the Holy Ghost as is says in our text from the book of Jude!
4. Power that fills you up!
Acts 2:4 (KJV)
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Ephesians 5:18 (KJV)
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Difference between indwelling and infilling: You are indwelt when you receive the Holy Ghost; you determine whether or not you are infilled!
Possession is for Assurance
Filling is for Service
5. Power that makes you live and serve right!
Romans 8:1-2 (KJV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
We have two natures: flesh and spirit. The believer, though he is still in the flesh, lives after the Spirit.
Romans 8:12-13 (KJV)
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
The Holy Ghost is not just an experience…it is a way of life!
We may not be perfect, but our standard is not imperfection!
What gives us the everyday power to live a Christ-like life? It is the power of the Holy Ghost!
Galatians 5:16-25
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
6. Power that lights up your way!
Romans 8:14 (KJV)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
The early church was completely under the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
It is like the difference between a smart bomb and a dumb bomb. A “dumb bomb” is a bomb with explosive material and a detonator, dropped from an airplane (such as the B-2 bomber). The bomb is considered “dumb” because it simply falls to the ground without actively steering itself. Needless to say, it’s some feat hitting a target precisely with this type of weapon. A bomber might have to drop dozens, or even hundreds of dumb bombs to take out a target effectively.
“Smart bombs,” by contrast, control their fall precisely in order to hit a designated target dead on.
The control system and adjustable fins give the bomb a way to steer itself as it glides through the air. While the bomb is “in flight,” the sensor tracks the target on the ground. The sensor system feeds the control system the position of the target, and the controlling system steers the bomb toward the target.
The control system sends a message to adjust the flight fins. As a result, the bomb turns in that direction. This adjustment process continues until the smart bomb reaches its target, and the fuze mechanism sets off the explosive. Smart bombs generally have proximity fuzes, which set off the explosive just before the bomb reaches the target, or impact fuzes, which set off the explosive when the bomb actually hits something.
Smart Bomb Basics
A smart bomb is essentially an ordinary dumb bomb with an electronic sensor system a built-in control system (an onboard computer) a set of adjustable flight fins a battery
When a plane drops a smart bomb, the bomb becomes a particularly heavy glider. It doesn’t have any propulsion system of its own, like a missile does, but it does have forward velocity (by virtue of being dropped from a speeding plane). It also has flight fins that generate lift and stabilize its flight path.
When you get the Holy Ghost, you are not a dumb bomb! You are a smart bomb! You are under power so that you can deliver power!
7. Power that brings the divine anointing!
1 John 2:26-27 (KJV)
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Acts 1:8 (KJV)
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Ezekiel 1:15-21 (KJV)
15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
Picture a huge wagon wheel, because that’s what they had in Ezekiel’s day. There is a big outer wheel that rolls along on the ground. What keeps the outer wheel in place? Spokes. The spokes are attached from the outer wheel back to an inner wheel called the hub. Without the hub, the outer wheel would collapse. The power to operate, the power to function depends upon staying attached to the hub.
Jesus is the hub. He is the wheel in the middle of the wheel! I have power through the Spirit of Christ in my life.