Pastor Ray…
Good morning. On purpose I don’t have an exact plan for today. I know He does. I have just a few scriptures to go over and a couple things about them.
Scripture focus…
(17) May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
(18) That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
(19) [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience];…
We need to for sure experience Him, His presence. It’s like that with a lot of things. We can know some things but when we really, truly experience it, what a difference.
…that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! Ephesians 3:17–19 (AMPC)
We are after it. That is what we want.
Remember how Kenneth Hagin declared over the Church, “Nothing will be the way it should be unless it’s founded in prayer.” Thank You, Father, that this church some 40 years ago was founded on prayer.
(18) Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
(19) Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
(20) Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be). Matthew 28:18–20 (AMPC)
The presence of God, He is never going to leave us. And He has told us that we have authority.
(8) But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth. Acts 1:8 (AMPC)
The disciples had received the commission, but they hadn’t received the power until they got in that upper room. And I know there were more than 120 of them in the beginning. I have always wondered, whatever happened to those other ones that just left. Also, the ones that left Jesus when He was talking about drinking His blood and eating His flesh. But we are not leaving. We are staying with Jesus.
(4) And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words]. Acts 2:4
You have the great commission and the power (fire). What an absolute privilege to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That He would want to do that, trust us to do that…
His power is for a purpose. He clothes us with His power and it is the evidence of being filled with God. It’s for miracles, signs, wonders, supernatural happenings but it’s also for endurance. There is more to endurance than “I am just going to keep going, endure.” There is more to it than natural strength but supernatural strength. It brings endurance to keep being filled with the Holy Ghost!
Many people after years and years, because of warfare (what the enemy is doing) tend to be down a bit as far as being filled the way we were at the beginning. If you just recall the time when you were first baptized in the Holy Spirit (Awhh). It’s all we could think about. We want to have that endurance in these days we are living in.
I think all of these things, receiving the commission and power from above. They are designed to give the world witness to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, His love, walking in love. No matter what anyone says or what we might think they are saying, just stay on the love walk. Stay in it. Stay serving. Stay giving. Stay praying. Hallelujah.
Today, it’s our privilege and honor to welcome again that precious power of the Holy Spirit to do what the Word says, “be being filled” with the Holy Spirit. And you know when we are filled, we will speak. We will do things we would not normally do. We’ll say things that we didn’t even know we had those things to say. It is Holy Spirit given presence and power, the anointing for these days, these hours. We need it. We want it. We desire more.
If we are not totally on fire, we want to be set on total fire – absolute holy fire from heaven that people would see us and see Him. Hallelujah. Gory. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Lord.
The Word says that we will do things like He did but greater because He want back to heaven, left us with the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, we welcome Your presence, all of Your presence.
Pastor Tim led us singing Holy Spirit You Are Welcome in This Place
Pastor Ray…
What stuck out to me while Pastor Tim was singing was “to be flooded with His presence.”
In the natural, “flooded” has to do with water. But we are asking to be flooded, overflowing the banks of our hearts, to be overflowing with Him.
Here are some definitions I found online of Flooded:
“Arrive in overwhelming amounts or quantities”
“Completely fill or suffuse”
“Overwhelm or swamp with large amounts or quantities”
“Overflowing its banks”
That’s what we need. That’s what we want. We are not able to do it without You, Holy Spirit.
I pray for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, for overflowing power of the Holy Spirit! Oh! Holy Spirit, come! Let Your glory! Let Your power! Let Your majesty and worth flood the earth!
Pastor Tim led us singing Flood the Earth
Pastor Ray…
I keep seeing a picture of the earth – the whole earth. The Bible makes it clear the glory of God will cover the whole earth. Let’s begin to see new upper room meetings, church after church. Many of the churches have never entered into the fullness of the power and cried out for more!
We need more! We want more! There has to be more! There is more! Fresh baptisms of the Holy Ghost with fire! Hallelujah!
Pastor Tim led us singing for more
Pastor Ray…
I see little fires all over the earth. You know it doesn’t take that many people in a church that are on fire to set the whole church on fire (ha, ha, ha) Hallelujah!
Our pastors are on fire! There is a fire burning that will never go down! Pastors, churches, ministries, your ministries, your realm, your call – fire! Fire! Holy Ghost fire! We acknowledge our need for more! Our desire for more! Flood the earth with Your presence. Sweep over the earth with Your Spirit!
Remember how Peter came out of that upper room empowered. Jesus commissioned him but first sent him to that upper room. We all have an upper room. We are in an upper room right now! We may be standing in the natural, on a floor but we have an upper room experience that is continual. We didn’t just get it to go and continually go and go without “more.” But we’ve been given opportunities. It’s up to us.
We can. We will. We want to get up in that upper room and get filled every single day! Hallelujah! So that when we lay hands on the sick and say, “be healed in Jesus’ name,” the power will go through us because we’ve been set on fire, because we’ve experienced the Holy Ghost and His fire and those that are reaching out, will be changed.
Peter came out of that room speaking. And here in Acts 2, he is speaking, warning, reproving, and encouraging the people to be saved from this crooked, perverse, unjust generation. Does that sound familiar?
(41) Therefore, those who accepted and welcomed his message were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.
In one day, through one man baptized in the upper room, set on fire!
(42) And they (the 3,000) steadfastly persevered (they were set on fire), devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord’s Supper] and prayers. Acts 2:41–42 (AMPC)
They just kept on praising! That’s what the Bible said. They kept praising God for His glory, for His favor. That’s us! We will keep on! That’s our theme song! We’re never going to sit down or be still. Except of course, we can be still in knowing Him. But I am talking about what we have been called to bring to the earth! Hallelujah!
But just before that, some people made a joke of the people who were on fire, beginning to speak in other tongues. There will always be those that make a joke of it, be disrespectful. That’s not us.
(14) But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: You Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let this be [explained] to you so that you will know and understand; listen closely to what I have to say.
(15) For these men are not drunk, as you imagine, for it is [only] the third hour (about 9:00 a.m.) of the day;
(16) But [instead] this is [the beginning of] what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
(17) And it shall come to pass in the last days…
I am reminded of Kenneth Hagin. In so many of his prophecies, that would be in there, “And it shall all come to pass.” When would that be? that would be now. These are the last of the last days. We are in them. Our sons, our daughters, they will be dreaming dreams, visions. They will speak with other tongues. They will be so full of the fire of God—our children, our children’s children, and their children too! On down and throughout their lives, prophesying and declaring “This is the way it will be, saith the Lord!” Hallelujah!
It’s not all about us. It’s about others. And like Pastor Mac has said, “Power is for His purpose.” His purposes. He’s got the plan. He put those plans within us, and we have a destiny.
I just keep seeing this… for those of you that are tuning in this morning, whatever the name of the church is that you go to, see your pastors high, lifted up, on fire. See your pastors. I don’t know who they are or what church it is that you go to, but we must… it’s God’s will that we… if we don’t pray over our pastors, that’s a sin. I am telling you. That is so negligent.
Here at this church, we lift up Pastor Mac and Lynne. Pray over them the blood of Jesus. You do it too. You pray over your pastors. I want to see services that keep on going. I want to see the suddenlies happen. It was one way and “Bang!” suddenly something happened and the people couldn’t leave.
You know how it was in the garden when they came looking for Jesus. He said, “Here Am I.” And they all fell under the power, just because of His Words. I read it again this morning. They were laid out by the authority and the power.
Pastors, we hold them up. We cover them with the precious holy blood of the Lamb this morning. No weapon formed against them or their families will prosper! Not any, nadda, not one! But whatever they put their hands unto, whatever vision that was planted in their hearts, these things shall come to pass now in these last days, God declares! And we declare it this morning.
We get behind our pastors. We speak words of life over them. We speak words of encouragement concerning them. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Father. Some things are mysteries. Let’s pray on those a little bit, still concerning pastors. (tongues)
Hindrances and blockages be gone. We speak fresh fire, filling, overflowing! Fall fresh! Pour out Your Spirit!
Pastor Tim led us singing I Have the Authority
Pastor Ray…
We have been given authority, power to declare that forth and see it come to pass. When we sing that song, I can’t see every day not being better, no matter what it looks like in the natural. We are not bound by the natural. We are supernatural, Holy Ghost beings! Hallelujah!
Thank You, Lord. Pressing on. We have endurance. That power has brought endurance to us to stay being filled and pressing on. Hallelujah! Amen!
