The Principles of Power | Part 2

Does the Holy Spirit live in you?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. God wants you to live with power. God doesn't want you just simply to have the Holy Spirit in you as some residing person. He wants that power to be released in your heart and in your life.

That brings up an interesting question. For a long time in my early ministry, I was endeavoring to make myself somehow worthy to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I had the idea that if I could be good enough, if I could pray long enough, if I could make myself worthy enough, then perhaps God would fill me.

Do you know I had it completely, totally backward? Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truths simply stated by Adrian Rogers. The day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two marked the birth of the church and the burst of the Holy flame that is the Holy Spirit. In part one of today's message, we learned about what happens when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. We also learned that the Holy Spirit is a power to be released.

If you have your Bible, turn to Acts chapter two, as Adrian Rogers concludes this insightful lesson on the principles of power. A woman had taken a course in first aid. She was so thrilled that she had taken this first aid course because when she went back to her study group, they were having testimonials. She said, let me tell you what happened to me. Out in front of my very own home, there was a horrible automobile accident. An elderly man driving an automobile lost control, went over the curbing, hit head on to an oak tree. He was thrown out of the automobile onto the ground. His head was crushed like an egg shell. He was pumping out his life's blood on the asphalt.

It was terrible, horrible. But she said, I was the first one on the scene. I remembered my first aid.

I remembered if I would put my head between my knees, I would not faint. That's the way the church is today. In a world of sorrow and pain and anguish and trouble, going around with its head between its knees saying, I'm so glad I'm a Christian, it makes me feel so good, so wonderful in this day and in this age. Friend, listen, God has anointed us and God has empowered us to rescue the perishing and care for the dying, to lift up the fallen one, the weak or the erring one, to tell them of Jesus who is mighty to save. We don't need to be going around moaning and groaning and talking about living in the last days as if God were dead. Now, God has a purpose and a power for His church in these days. The Lord Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. There has never been a greater day, a greater age to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ than this day and this age.

Now, what I want to talk to you today about is the principles of power. When Acts chapter 2, I want you to begin reading with me, verse 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it set upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, remember last we talked about the fact that Jesus had promised, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. They were to tarry in Jerusalem. They were to wait for the fulfillment of the cross, the coming of the power.

And this is when it happened. This is the day of Pentecost. Having said all of that, I want to give you three principles of power, okay? Three principles of power, and I pray God that He'll write these upon your heart. We're talking now about the dear, precious Holy Spirit of God. Number one, the Holy Spirit is a promise to be received.

Have you got that? He is a promise to be received. Now, in this same chapter, let's go over about to verse 37. Peter had preached a sermon, a wonderful, anointed, Christ-filled sermon, and there was conviction there. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. Now, that's Holy Spirit conviction that does that. And said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what must we do?

Now, they are unsaved. Men and brethren, what shall we do? I hope you'll be asking that question if you've not been saved.

What should I do? Here's what God says to you, the same thing that Peter said to those people so long ago. Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, he didn't say you will receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost. He's not here talking about tongues or miracles or signs or visions, helps, governments. No, you will receive the Holy Ghost Himself.

He is the gift. You will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a promise to be received. Now, Jesus told the disciples to tarry until they were endued with power from on high.

We don't need to tarry. The Holy Spirit has already come. He has come. We don't need to say, oh, God, send your Spirit. He has sent His Spirit.

That would be like praying, oh, God, send Jesus to die on the cross. No, He has died on the cross. Calvary is an accomplished fact.

Pentecost is an accomplished fact. What we need now to do is to receive the promise. Now, let me tell you something. If you are a Christian, if you are truly saved, you've already received that promise. You say, well, I don't feel it.

I'm going to tell you something. You can be a Baptist and be lost. You can attend these worship services and be lost. But you cannot be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit in you.

That's what makes you a Christian. When Peter said, repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus for the mission of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, he didn't say you might. He said you shall. And the very word shall here is a very positive word.

It literally means once and for all. If you repented of your sins, you did receive the Holy Spirit of God. Now, are you listening to me? If you repented of your sins, you did receive the Holy Spirit of God. As a matter of fact, the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, listen to this, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you don't belong to Jesus.

That's what the Word of God says, Romans 8 verse 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Now, God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the child of God.

What is this witness? How do I know that I have the Holy Spirit of God? Well, I don't know that I have the Holy Spirit of God because of some emotional feeling. Emotions come and go.

I've told you many times, your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature. Salvation is the deepest work of God. God doesn't do the deepest work and the shallowest part. The Holy Spirit is the one who communicates the things of God. Your human spirit is the instrument of spiritual knowledge.

And the Holy Spirit of God speaks to your human spirit that you belong to God. It is not an emotional feeling. It is an awareness. You say, Pastor, I'm not sure of the difference. If you have it, you know the difference.

If you have it, you know the difference. If you don't have it, I don't know I could explain it to you. But when you get saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes into you. I mean, how else could Jesus come into you? Could He in His physical body come into you? How else could Jesus come into you apart from the Holy Spirit? You see, Christ is in you. How is Christ in you?

Through the Holy Spirit. Now, we're talking about three principles of power. Number one is the Holy Spirit is a promise to be received. The promise is unto you, to your children, those that are far off, and as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Got it? Okay, now listen. Here's the second principle. Not only is the Holy Spirit a promise to be received, but the Holy Spirit is a power to be released.

Remember Acts chapter 1, verse 8? Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Now, what kind of power is this? Is this physical power? No. Economic power? No. Political power?

No. It is spiritual power. Now, actually, it's the word we get our word dynamite from. You shall receive dunamis. A dynamic will be in you. I would be a fool, an absolute sheer fool, to attempt to preach without the anointing the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is power. As you open your Bible, you see the Spirit of God moving in power.

When there was a chaos back in Genesis chapter 1, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep, and that chaos became a cosmos. There was a little virgin girl whose name was Mary. The Spirit of God moved upon Mary, and Mary becomes with child, the Christ child, because of the power of the Spirit of God.

You read in the Bible about a grave where a man named Jesus is lying, and the Spirit of God moves into that grave, and Jesus is raised from the dead by the Spirit of God. And now you see Simon Peter. I want you to look, if you will, in verse 14. We're in chapter 2. Look in verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken unto my voice. Wait a minute.

Just a minute. Is this the Peter who cowered in front of a little girl? Is this the same man?

Notice the transformation. He's not denying Jesus now. He's not swearing and saying, I never knew the man. But to the contrary, he stands up and says, Listen to me. Hearken unto me. Look in verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him. There is a power that has moved upon this man. Now God wants you to live with power. God doesn't want you just simply to have the Holy Spirit in you as some residing person. He wants that power to be released in your heart and in your life. That brings up an interesting question. For a long time in my early ministry, I was endeavoring to make myself somehow worthy to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I had the idea that if I could be good enough, if I could pray long enough, if I could make myself worthy enough, then perhaps God would fill me. Do you know I had it backward?

Completely totally backward. You know, sometimes if you go to the bank and you need a loan, the bankers start talking to you and make you fill out all these forms. And if you can prove that you don't need any money, then he'll loan you some.

Isn't that right? I mean, I used to think, God, if I could just prove to you I don't need this power, maybe you'll give it to me. If I could live holy, if I could be pure, if I could win enough souls, then maybe you'd give it to me. I wouldn't need it then. One of the greatest things I have ever learned in my life is this, that holiness is not the way to Christ, Christ is the way to holiness.

Oh, if you could only understand this. That doesn't mean that you can come wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit with your hands full of sin. No, Peter said, don't do that. But don't think that you can earn anything from God. This is a gift like your salvation.

Do you understand that? Quit trying to make yourself worthy. You're not worthy. You're not worthy of salvation. You're not worthy of anything.

What do you have that you've not received? That's what the apostle Paul says. The Holy Spirit of God is a promise to be received.

Then He is a power to be released. Why are we so pathetic? Why are there so many of us in this building and we're doing so little?

I'll tell you why. We've not allowed the Holy Spirit of God to do what He wants to do in our hearts and in our lives. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me. On the day of Pentecost, 5,000 people got saved, 120 witnesses, 5,000 saved in one day. Today in modern church, 5,000 people can't win 120 in a year.

What's the difference? Well the difference is we're trying to do it in our own rather than depending upon the Holy Spirit of God. All right. The Holy Spirit of God is a power to be released. Got it?

Okay. Now, here's the third thing. The Holy Spirit, a promise to be received, a power to be released. Now the Holy Spirit is a person to be recognized.

A person to be recognized. On the day of Pentecost, they saw all of this and they said, what does all this mean? Well look at verse 12. They were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others mocking said, these men are full of new wine.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. How could they be drunk? It's only nine in the morning.

These are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.

And on my servants and on my handmaidens will I pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. Now, Peter, what is all this? How, how is all this happening?

Well, I want to tell you how it happened. We all went to seminary. We were in seminary for three and a half years.

We were the best teacher. And besides that, we are all holy men. And besides that, we've been praying for ten days in a prayer meeting. That's why it's all happening.

No. Peter refused to take credit for what was happening. There was a person that was recognized there, and that was the Holy Spirit of God. What does this mean?

Peter says, I'll tell you what it means. It means the Holy Spirit is working. Do you know one of the things that kills some churches? When God starts working, people start taking credit for it.

When we start taking credit for what God does, friend, it stops. What is there about this church or any church that you cannot explain apart from the Holy Spirit of God? Same thing in witnessing. I hear people say something.

It's kind of silly to me. They say, well, I know that I don't share Jesus, but I just want people to see my life. I just hope by my life they'll want to be saved.

Come up close and I'll tell you something. They're not saved by your life. They're saved by His death. And if you live the life without giving Him the glory, you are taking praise under false pretenses. You ought to say the way that this can be explained is there is a person, His name is Jesus, who has changed my life. And the way that you can explain any church that is being moved and working is, oh, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. The Holy Spirit of God is a person to be recognized. And God says, I'll not share my glory with another. We need to be constantly, constantly recognizing, giving God the praise and the glory for what He is doing. Now, when you have this kind of a service, there are three things that will happen.

I want to tell you what these three things are. Look in verse 12. There are some who will be amazed. There will be amazement. You know, I want this church to be an amazement to people.

I want my life to be an amazement to people. There will be amazement. God didn't call us to be amusing, but amazing. There will be amazement.

But there will be also amusement. Look in verse 13. Others, mocking, said, these men are full of new wine. When's the last time anybody ever accused you of being drunk because of your faith? I mean, why, when's the last time that you were so different? Somebody said, there's something possessing that person.

You know, a person filled with wine, his walk has changed, his talk has changed, his very demeanor has changed. But they mocked them. They laughed at them. When we begin to amaze some, we're going to amuse others. They're going to look at us. They're going to call us all kinds of names, fools, freaks, fanatics, and nuts.

We are nuts, but we're fastened to a good boat. There will be amazement. There will be amusement. But I'll tell you a third thing there will be.

There will be acknowledgment. Look, if you will, in verse 41 of this same chapter. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls.

They're going to be those who are going to acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? I'm asking you, are you consciously, conspicuously filled with the Spirit of God? If not, you're not just missing a blessing. You're guilty of rebellion and sin.

I'm not talking about wildfire. I'm talking about spiritual reality without which we will not reach this world. Aren't you tired of playing church? To those of you who are not certain of your salvation, have you repented? Have you put your sins on Jesus, or are you still carrying them?

Men and brethren, what must we do? Repent. When you repent, you turn from sin to Jesus. I'm not asking that you're a church member. Is Christ real to you? If you died right now, would you go to heaven?

Are you certain of it? I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And in this prayer, you can ask Jesus Christ to save you. Now, it's the prayer I'm leading, but it won't do any good if it's my prayer. It has to be your prayer. Would you pray like this?

Dear God, should I just speak to him out of your heart? Dear God, I am a sinner, and I'm lost, and I need to be saved, and I want to be saved. Jesus, you died to save me, and you promised to save me if I would trust you.

I do trust you. This moment, now, right now, I receive you into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin.

Cleanse me. Save me, Lord Jesus. Pray it in faith.

Did you ask him? Then pray this way. Thank you for doing it, Jesus.

I receive it by faith, and that settles it. You're now my Lord, my Savior, my God, and my friend. Lord Jesus, I will not be ashamed of you. I will make it public if you just give me the strength, and I'll do it today. In your name I pray.

Amen. And if today you've prayed to receive Jesus Christ, we would love to celebrate with you. Please go to our Find God's Love page on our website, lwf.org slash radio. You'll find answers right there you may need about your newfound faith. Again, click Find God's Love when you go to lwf.org slash radio.

Welcome to God's Forever Family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, The Principles of Power. This message is also part of the insightful series, Living Supernaturally. For the complete collection, all 13 powerful messages, call that number, 877-LOVEGOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio. Or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You can also purchase our new Bible studies much like this message in our online store.

You can find that at lwf.org slash radio. Are you consciously conspicuously filled with the Spirit of God? If not, you're not just missing a blessing.

There may be an element of rebellion and sin in your life. Consider your faith today. Meditate on these principles of power and join us next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's a brief note from our website talking about the ministry of Adrian Rogers. What a dynamic preacher and teacher of the word. I've been listening to his sermons for more than 25 years and received something every time I listen.

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