Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire. Class is now in session. Michael Brown, so glad we could spend this time together as we do our best to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong in the Lord.
We are listeners supported, viewers supported, so stand with us however you're able so that we can reach more and more people with the good news. Alright, we are now class number two in getting to know the Holy Spirit, getting to know the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 13, verses two and three. Acts 13, two and three. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, so this is Barnabas, Saul, and then some of the apostolic leaders, teachers, different ones. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Now, we don't know exactly how the Holy Spirit spoke. It could have been through a prophetic word and it was recognized, confirmed by the others, yes, this is the Lord. So someone just spoke up and says, I hear the Lord saying this or however they phrased it or the Holy Spirit says and they spoke the words. It could be they heard it internally. Some of them heard it internally. Or someone spoke it and the other said, I was hearing the exact same thing. I was talking to two major ministry leaders today working together in the same organization and they told me part of their history I knew nothing about.
And if I mentioned one of the names, you'd know them immediately around the world. But tell me their history when they were teenagers together working at a fast food joint as teenagers really praying and seeking the Lord that God spoke something to them one day. They were both praying. They were both praying. And one of them said, God just spoke something to me.
Three things. And the other said, God just spoke to me. They said, okay, you go first. And they spoke to three things and they were pretty outlandish, really quite outlandish, especially for teenagers working at a fast food joint. They weren't having a prayer meeting at the fast food joint. I'm just giving you the context of their lives.
They were not well-known ministers of the gospel. The one shares the three things. The other is weeping. Those are the exact same three things God spoke to me. So that's happened. I don't know if you've ever had this experience with giving money. You hear a special project. There's a major need.
Hurricane relief. Or this has happened and we need to get funds to our missionary in this country. And pastors say, just pray, no pressure. But if the Lord lays something on your heart, give it. And you know, maybe me as the husband, I'm sensing something.
And oh, that seems like a lot of money. And I go tell Nancy, yeah, I got the same amount. The Holy Spirit can speak in that way. But whether it was through a prophetic word, it's probably the most likely that one of them spoke prophetically and the others recognized, yes, that was the Lord.
That was the Lord. The key thing I want to emphasize is that the Holy Spirit has a voice. The Holy Spirit has a voice. He speaks. The Holy Spirit speaks.
You say, well, why do you refer to the Spirit as He? In the Old Testament, Ruach Elohim, Ruach is actually feminine. The word happens to be feminine. It's the word also for wind or breath. Just like pneuma in the New Testament can mean spirit or wind or breath. But in the New Testament, Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to in neuter, which means not having a male or female aspect or designation, I should say.
Or sometimes as male. So I only referred to He. The Holy Spirit has a voice.
He has a voice. Something because God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit and is referred to throughout scripture as He. But we understand God transcends gender. That human beings, male and female, are created in His image. So God transcends gender.
These are just ways that we refer to Him. The key point, the Holy Spirit has a voice. The Holy Spirit speaks. Whether you simply believe He spoke in biblical days through the prophets whether you believe He continues to speak today, that's something we'll explore in the scriptures.
But please understand that. The Holy Spirit is not just a force, a power, a something, a feeling. The Holy Spirit has a voice. In the book of Acts, there are over 50, five zero, over 50 references to the Holy Spirit. You take that out of the book of Acts. The book of Acts is no longer the book of Acts. And throughout the book of Acts, He's speaking, He's leading, He's working, He's acting, He's doing. It is the the book of the Acts of the apostles but it's really the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles.
I want you to consider something. No human beings on the planet had ever been better trained than the 12 apostles. So Judas falls away.
So the 11. They had been with Jesus for over three years. He mentored them. He sent them out.
He corrected them. He loved them. He trained them. He guided them. He set an example. No one was ever better trained than them. They saw him die. They saw him rise. Then, post-resurrection, Luke 24, he opens their minds so they can understand the scriptures.
Wow! Opens their minds so they can understand the scriptures. I would have loved to sat there. I mean there are many things I would have loved to see in the ministry of Jesus but that conversation Wow!
Opening up the Hebrew Bible because I've been engaged with the Jewish community, rabbis, and for over 50 years interacting and sharing the good news and opening up the Hebrew Bible to point to Jesus Yeshua. So they're ready to go. They've been trained.
They've been with them three and a half years. They've learned from their mistakes. They've gone out in the field and done the work. They've seen them die. They've seen them rise.
They got better than any seminary training. Their minds opened by the master himself as he explains the Word. Then he says, no, don't go yet.
Don't go yet. You need to be endued with power. You need to be endued with power, the power of the Spirit. Now you might say, yeah, Dr. Brown, that's the power we all receive the moment we're born again. And Pentecostals think it's something subsequent to that, the baptism in the Spirit, but that's the power we all receive the moment we're born again.
I'm not even going to debate that issue. I'm simply saying we need the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of God. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of God. Paul, right into the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 2, has been through a lot of hardship before he gets to Corinth in Acts 18. There's riots in Thessalonica in the previous chapter. Chapter before that, he and Silas are severely flogged and thrown in prison.
A couple chapters before that, he's stoned basically to death. So he comes into Corinth, which was a very worldly city and an accommodating city. He said, I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. My speech and preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit's power. 1 Corinthians 2. So that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but the power of God. So we need the Holy Spirit in our lives. Whether you believe that the days of miracles that we saw in the book of Acts are still the norm today or not, not debating that now. Whether you believe that tongues and prophecy are for today or not, not debating that. Simply saying that the Apostles needed the Holy Spirit. If Peter preaching in the book of Acts to everyone receiving is told, you'll receive the promise of the Spirit.
The Spirit is important. The Holy Spirit is important in our lives. And the Holy Spirit has a voice. He speaks clearly enough to where we can stake our lives on it. Either in speaking through the prophets in the Bible that we stake our lives in those words, or speaking to us and leading us today.
Some of the biggest, most major decisions I've ever made in my entire life were made based on hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit in my own life. He has a voice. He speaks. And what's interesting is the book of Revelation, John turns to see the voice of the Holy Spirit. The voice that was speaking. But by and large, I don't believe the prophets heard an audible voice.
You say, what? Okay, so John 1, Revelation 1, John hears it. He turns to see the voice.
Think of that. To see the voice. Meaning to see the one from whom the voice is coming and sees the risen Jesus.
Overwhelmed by that. And we know, for example, Samuel is a boy. When the Lord starts speaking to him, he's asleep. He hears, Samuel, Samuel, Shmuel, Shmuel. The high priest, you called me?
No. Three different times, you called me? So he heard a voice. But I believe that in many cases, the prophets heard an internal voice, an inner voice. Isaiah, chapter 50, verses four and five.
Isaiah 50, verses four and five. Wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious.
I have not turned away. Now think of this. If you hear an audible voice, Michael, Michael, Joseph, Joseph, Mary, Mary, you hear an audible voice. You're not being trained to hear that voice. You just hear it. But if it's an inner voice, you have to be trained to hear it. If you hear an audible voice, that's just, okay, someone who called me. But to hear an inner voice in your ear requires training. I believe that the Lord would speak to the prophets, and others would not hear the voice. So either they heard the audible voice and others different, or the prophets heard something in their inner ear.
And here's what I just want to stress. God is a boy. God is able to communicate in ways inside of us that we know that we know. Or any of you under heavy conviction of sin before you were saved, and you felt like you were going to die if you didn't get right with God. Or maybe you've been living in sin in your own life as a believer, and the Holy Spirit's convicting you, and you feel like you're going to lose your mind unless you bring about change. It's the Holy Spirit working inside of us. The point is we don't need to hear an audible voice. We don't need to hear an audible voice of God speak. But I've heard the Spirit speak to me many, many times over the years, over the decades, because the Holy Spirit has a voice. Isaiah 22 14, the Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing. Literally, in my ears he's revealed this. So it was revealed in Isaiah's hearing.
And I believe if we learn to walk in greater harmony and fellowship with God, we will hear the Spirit's voice even more clearly. Alright, we'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement. We'll be right back after this important announcement.
