Embracing the Transformative Power of the Holy Spirit

"We're a people of grace and grace is not a theological concept grace is that is a divine energy it's the power of Almighty God to change your life." [00:00:00] (12 seconds)


"I saw that brother approaching and I had a word of knowledge you know we've I definitely had some I don't want to publicize the enemy but we've had some interference in this conference and you know when leaders get sick pastor Jeff's not able to be here tonight because he became quite ill. And this afternoon, I had a bit of a physical attack. And after a while, Elaine just started praying for me. And as she prayed, it lifted off of me about 90 % of it. Amazing, isn't it? When you actually pray, you do everything. But there's a great book I read a few years ago called Don't Just Stand There, Pray Something. And it was a great book. But I was sitting here, and the Lord brought me back to, it was a night in October 1980, actually. And we had just started our church, planted this church in Northeastern England on a university campus. And we were three or four weeks old as a congregation." [00:00:39] (75 seconds)


"And we had great expectations for this meeting. Well, he arrived, and two things happened. The power went out, and he said, he was in his 60s, he said, I think I'm about to have a heart attack. And we were just kids, you know. The two elders I had appointed were 22 years old, and the rest were a bit, were younger. Everybody else was younger than that, except I was a little bit older, but not much. And we got past that. Brother John began to speak. He gave a great message." [00:02:03] (36 seconds)


"message and then he began to move in some extraordinary words of knowledge and he was with him and another brother that I sat under both of their ministries at that time I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it since and but there was no response he probably gave out nine or ten very specific words no response nothing and then he just sat down and pointed to me and I've never felt so I don't think up until that point I ever felt so lost and hopeless and not knowing what to do and I just got up and I started to talk that's one thing I can do I started to talk about the person I'm going to talk about tonight the Holy Spirit and whatever I said after a while people started getting up out of their seats it was the people responding to the words of knowledge they began to come forward get healed and that night we saw the beginning of a visitation of the Holy Spirit we saw large numbers of conversions miracles and churches planted around the world out of that small group of students you can still go back there you can still go back there to the Bible and you can still go back there to the Bible and you can Today, Durham, England, they just acquired a second building on their campus." [00:02:38] (93 seconds)


"You know, God, but we knew there was interference from the enemy. And I want to say this. When the enemy starts to throw the kitchen sink, you know that God is about to do something special. That's really the point of what I'm saying right here. It doesn't count on my time. I'm paying no attention. Pastor Joe can't do anything because he's not in the building. Love you, Pastor Joe." [00:04:12] (29 seconds)


"He is God on earth. And that's why the enemy tries to marginalize the role of the Holy Spirit. He tries to get Christians arguing more about what the Spirit does and doesn't do and so on than actually moving out in the Spirit. Because in marginalizing and eliminating and saying, no, the Holy Spirit doesn't do that anymore. He did that back then, and he doesn't do it now. Because if the enemy succeeds in diminishing the role of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, remember, is God on earth." [00:07:57] (35 seconds)


"He is God on earth. The Father and the Son are seated in the heavenlies, but the Holy Spirit is God on earth. And some people, I think, believe in the Holy Spirit only to make themselves Trinitarians rather than Binitarians. He fills out. He fills out a doctrinal space that needs to be filled out. But do we really believe? Some people believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible. And I believe in the Word of God as much as anybody does. But the Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And by the way, without the Holy Spirit, you will never understand the Word of God." [00:08:31] (43 seconds)


"The Holy Spirit makes His appearance at the beginning of the Bible. I'm trying to give you an overview, right? The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Holy Spirit did not just show up at Pentecost. The Spirit was the creative power by which God began to bring shape and order out of chaos. The Son is the agent by which God created the world, Colossians 1 and 16, but the Holy Spirit is the agent by which God gave it shape and form." [00:10:27] (37 seconds)


"The work of the Spirit continues in Genesis as God speaks words into the creation, and out of which comes the world pictured in Genesis chapter 1, culminating in the creation of humanity. And it says here in Genesis 2 verse 7, then the Lord formed the man of dust from the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath. Ruach is the Hebrew word. Of life, and the man became a living creature. And Psalm 104 says, when you send forth your spirit, ruach, same word, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. The Holy Spirit has a continuous, created, when it says he breathed into his nostrils the ruach of life, was that physical breath or the Spirit? It was both, right? Because you can't separate the two." [00:11:04] (52 seconds)


"Now, in the Old Testament, I'm giving you this overview really quick. The Holy Spirit operated in all sorts of different ways. This may not even have occurred to you. The Spirit, it says, was in Joseph. To enable him to interpret dreams and rise to the heights of wisdom, which changed the course of history, by the way. It says the Spirit filled a man called Bezalel to enable him to produce incredible artistic creations, Exodus 31 and 3. The Spirit came upon Balaam to prophesy, Numbers 24. The Spirit came upon Othniel, Judges chapter 3, and Samson, Judges 14, to lead them to victory. The Spirit served Samson. In Judges 13, to the same end, the Spirit spoke through David, 2 Samuel 23, to prophesy. The Spirit rests." [00:12:14] (52 seconds)