Are you ignorant about spiritual gifts?

Let's go to First Corinthians, chapter 12, one verse only, verse 1, which is the desire of the Holy Spirit for you, for me, for our church, the desire of the Holy Spirit expressed through the voice of the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul tells us, and the Holy Spirit tells us: "I do not want, brothers, - and that brother is you, put your name there - I do not want, Congregation León de Judá, I do not want, believers, Christians, I do not want ignorant about spiritual gifts..."

God does not want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts and that is my message this afternoon. I want you to take that. God does not want you to be childish about the depths of the spirit. Rather, God wants us to know the elements of the Christian life, the nutrients, the science of life deep in the spirit. God wants us to be well informed, educated about the things that provide for a powerful and spirit-filled life.

Paul is speaking here of the spiritual elements, the matters of the spirit. The word that is translated 'spiritual gifts' I personally think does not do justice to the complexity of what Paul is saying, the word in the original Greek, and it is one word is neumaticon. Say everyone pneumaticon. They are all experts in Greek now. And the translators of the scripture in both English and Spanish and other languages, I suspect, translated that, in light of the context of what follows, as 'spiritual gifts,' but really the original idea is – part of speech, by the way. specific is the plural neuter genitive meaning possession.

I do not want you to be ignorant of things of the spirit and matters of the spirit. It is more comprehensive than just the gifts of the spirit. Paul is talking about everything that refers to the deeper life of the spirit. God does not want you to be ignorant about those things.

From the context of chapter 12, we understand that here it is largely about the gifts, the operation, the move of the Holy Spirit. That is, Paul is not talking about the Christian life in general but about a specific area and it is the deepest life of the spirit, the supernatural manifestations, that supernatural, mysterious dimension of the Christian experience. And so he goes into a series of elements that lead him to First Corinthians 12, 13, and 14.

Remember that the Bible was not written in chapters and verses, that was a thing for convenience, many centuries later. Actually, that's all reasoning. He begins to talk about spiritual gifts and then he talks about the spirit that manifests the gifts is one, they are not different gods, a God of tongue, a God of this, a God of that, as we have today. in Santeria, of the rain, another of the lovers who are deceived and rejected, another of those who aspire to have lovers, etc., as if each one were a different God. He says, no, no, it's all one spirit.

Not only that, but it also says there is a unity that we have to have, the greater and lesser gifts, we have to tolerate each other, we are one body. In chapter 13 he talks about how love is more important than any gift. In 14 he teaches that the gifts have to be manifested wisely, soberly, with understanding and in consideration of others around you.

That is, he is talking about all those mysteries and all those things that have to do with the administration and the handling and the processing of the gifts and the mysteries of the spirit in the life of the believer. And he says, God does not want, I do not want you to be ignorant about science, we could say, about the Holy Spirit.

The word ignorant, translated into Spanish is agnoeo. Wow, looks like I woke up in a spirit of scholarship. It means, in fact, ag is like ab is a prefix that means lacking, noeo is nosis, knowledge. I do not want you to lack knowledge about things of the spirit. God wants to give you all the information, all the doctrine, all the teaching you need about...

And the Bible attaches great importance to it, the Lord attaches great importance to us not being immature because there are many immature Christians who love God but do not have a deeper knowledge of things of the spirit, they are innocent, they are like children.

Look, for example, at what it says in Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 12, about this kind of ignorance. It does not mean that these Christians are badly behaved, immoral, no, they are simply like children and do not know... and there are many children in churches, including this one. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, just to make you understand that there are deeper dimensions to the life of the spirit.

In verse 5:13 of Hebrews it says, “And everyone who partakes of milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness because he is a child, but solid food – those mysteries, those deeper teachings – is for those who by use , that is to say, by exercise, by experience, by contact with things of the spirit and mysteries, have the senses exercised in the discernment of good and evil.”

God does not want you to be childish, that you stay in the first grade, in the second grade. God wants you to go to high school and after you go to university, that you study physics of the spirit and calculus of the spirit, that you go into the depths of the spirit.

There is a lot of ignorance as I say, in the Christian world in this area. People who believe that it is only a matter of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, of having good doctrine, good teaching, of behaving well, of attending church, of giving an offering or a tithe, of serving the Lord, and convert life Christian as in something mechanical and external. But God wants us to live a deeper life, to be divers of the spirit and to go into a deeper level. Do you understand what I mean?

That you be part of those things more, that you do not stay in the rudiments, do not stay eating corn flakes with milk, but that you put a good piece of plantain, your tortilla with refried beans and your pupusa too and all those things, to enter into the deepest things of the spirit. Do not stay only in the most superficial.

I think that is what he is saying here, because I have observed this, much of the ineffectiveness and spiritual poverty of many Christians is due to the fact that they are ignorant about that deeper dimension of the Christian life, how it works. the power of God. I think that's why there are so many Christians as I say circumstantial, so many Christians when they go through a test they disappear, they let themselves fall, so many Christians that the devil fights them as he pleases, sets all kinds of traps for him, they quickly deflate , they are there one day, not another day, etc., they do not know about the mysteries of the deep Christian life, they fall under all kinds of bad doctrine.

I believe that in part it is because they have not had an experience with that depth of the life of the spirit. And Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant about these things. And one of those things is, brothers, that the deep Christian life is a power life. Amen. Can. It is not just knowledge, it is not behavior, it is having energy not yours but God's within you. Says one of the books of the Old Testament, it is not with a sword or with an army, but with my spirit, says the Lord. Amen.

How many times do we sing that chorus but we don't understand what we are saying. There is an extra power that is required, it is as if they changed the engine and they put the engine of a war tank on you. It is the power of the spirit within you. We are not supposed to live in our own strength, but in the strength of the spirit within us.

That power mentality pervades everything in the New Testament. Let's just go to one verse, for example, First Corinthians 4:20, the Apostle Paul says:

“…For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power…”

That is, read there, in doctrine, teaching, a lot of talk, but in power. In the long run what scares the devil is whether you have power or not. It's not how much doctrine, you can tell him about the depths of the virgin and this and the other, but he says, no, where is the power? Where is the authority?

Remember the sons of Eseba? There was a demoniac and they say, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, we rebuke you. And the spirit said, "Well, I know Paul and I know Jesus but who are you?" it fell on top of her and ripped her clothes off and they all ran out naked. Because the devil only respects the power, the authority of God within you.

There is another verse later I refer you, look up First Corinthians 4:20 as well, where Paul says the same thing. Power, after all.

What are some of those additional elements? What are some of those elements that are kind of encapsulated in that idea of the neumaticom, the deepest things of the spirit? For example, I believe that spiritual warfare is one, I just pointed out. The person who is filled with the Holy Spirit and who lives a supernatural life knows that there are demons, there are evil spirits in the world and that person has received good teaching and the power of God allows them to have authority and victory over the power of the devil who wants to create depression in your life, create problems in your marriage, your finances, in your children.

The Holy Spirit-filled Christian knows how to deal with these things, because he knows there is a power. Paul said, because our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against evil spirits that move in the air. So, the Christian of power and depth knows.

That is one area that you have to know a little about, what happens when the devil comes into your life to do harm. What happens when you meet a person afflicted by a demon? What are you going to do in that case?

Another area, fasting, prayer: the person who lives in the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit knows that prayer, fasting, is a source of power that we have to pray for, that we have to cover the lives of our children. , our family, our day in prayer. We have to fast to seek more of God's grace and power in our lives.

The Lord Jesus Christ said, there are spirits that only come out with fasting and prayer. And the Lord himself was a man of prayer, a being of prayer. The Christian who does not pray cries. If you do not live a life of prayer and search for the power of God through prayer, you are going to have problems, you are going to be weak. Adoration is important, that is why when we come to the house of the Lord we dedicate time to worship. Don't waste that glorious opportunity that you have every time you come to church.

Sometimes I look sadly, brothers, that there are many people worshiping and having an experience with the Lord and they do not open their mouths, they are holding onto the front seat with all the fiber of their hearts and they do not move a finger. Brothers, start using your mouth, start worshiping the Lord. Don't waste that opportunity. Even if you think you're out of tune, don't worry when you get to heaven you're singing like Michael Jackson or better as Gory Tembún or like someone else. When they get there the Lord has changed it into stereo, hi-fi or whatever, sing as you can, worship the Lord, don't worry. Worship the Lord. Worship at home, take time to worship, devotionals, God likes to be worshiped.

And worship has incredible power to break mountains, to do terrible things. Do you know how the ministry of the Apostle Paul began? Look it up in Acts chapter 3, it's one of my favorite passages. He says that there were in the city Apostles and prophets and men of God, they met one day to pray in a house, and there while they prayed and adored the Lord, he says, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, "Separate for me Paul and Barnabas for the work that I have destined for him,” and from there began the most anointed ministry in all of history. Two thirds of the New Testament was written by the Apostle Paul.

The theology of the church, God used to establish it through this man. In a time of adoration and prayer to the Lord, where the spirit is there is adoration, there is a space where God can do powerful things. The mature Christian, the Christian who is not ignorant of the things of the spirit, understands the importance of worship. And that is that we take time. There are many people who come to church and ask themselves, “And why do these people take 40 minutes, 35 minutes to pray? Wow, two choruses is more than enough. God already knows that these people believe in him.” No. It has to be seasoned well, the meat has to be in there for a long time, and yet many of us need even more time. Worship is important.

There is a passage that I like, Elisha, when he was in the desert and some kings who were lost and were dying of thirst came - I don't know what Elisha was doing, but they found him there in the desert. Maybe he was praying. The thing is that he comes to Elisha and they tell him, "We need your help, prophesy to us, what can we do?" It says that Eliseo called a player, an anointed musician, and told him, “Sing me a couple of choruses by Marcos Witt.” God is here…and then he began to season and then the word of God came forth and he prophesied to them.

Why did a man as anointed as Elisha need prior worship? Because many times the truth is that you are so involved in life that you need to change the channel, right? There are times when I am in an airport, for example, airports are one of the most demonized places in the entire world, there are all kinds of spiritual germs crossing everywhere and many times I sincerely go to a conference or something, and I say, Lord , if I had to preach to you here right now because there is a terrorist attack, I would have to find a place first to heal a little so that... I hope not but it's like one is so involved in that powerful space, announcements, shouts, screens, the nervousness of the plane and all these things that make one feel out of touch. And then what you need is to go back and be in the spirit and that's where you can worship the Lord, declare the presence of God, and then you come back. Because we are a total entity, we are body, mind, spirit, emotions, will, memories, all together, all, intellect, all mixed there.

Do you believe that there is a Department of the intellect, a Department of the will, a Department of emotion, a Department of the body, a Department of the spirit? And you open a door, okay, I want a little bit of spirit and you close it and then a little bit… No. You are a whole. God made you an integral being and if your emotions and your intellect are affected, it will affect your spirit, then you have to unify everything. That is why worship is so important in the believer's life.

When you come to church prepare your spirit, declare the glory of the Lord. The spirits are confused and bound and weakened when there is a people that worships the Lord. I could give you many examples of this. All these things, spiritual warfare, fasting, aggressive prayer, adoration, the use of gifts, there are many times that one is not sure what to pray. The word says that the spirit can pray with unspeakable groans. You can pray in tongues. If you are so confused, so anxious, so chaotic in your mind that you don't even have the presence of mind and coherence to pray in Spanish, start speaking in tongues. Pray in tongues. Take whatever it is, a language... don't worry, God will interpret it correctly.

You know that many people have a problem with languages and you know that ultimately I don't have time to go into the mysteries of linguistics, which is the science of language, but according to me I can really understand languages, any language, any language. word, it's just like a container for energy. You say pot and you can say it in French, Spanish, Chinese, whatever, and the word doesn't matter so much as that it registers in your mind and… yes or no? You say father, and that word for one person may mean something good and for another he wants to run away from the word because he had so many bad experiences with his father. So, the word is not so much what matters but the energy that is inside. The word is, what I would call, a somatization of internal energy. Wow, write me that quickly!

It is to convert into a body and into something material an energy that is inside. Why do you cry when you are sad? Why do you laugh when you are happy? Because you are like packing with the physical what you are feeling inside, because human beings need to externalize what we feel inside, but in reality what matters is not what you are saying but what you feel inside. That is why you can say anything and that interpreter par excellence that is God, who knows all languages, will know what you are saying, even if you say what you say.

Don't worry so much about what you're saying. Talk to God and open your mouth. Many people do not understand this secret of languages, that God is the maximum interpreter, the one who is going to take what you are saying and he is going to turn it into an understandable language for him. So open your mouth and sanctify what you're saying and believe that it comes from God. And talk. I think that this is the problem with many people, they are so entangled, looking for 5 legs for the cat, this is not so difficult. Open your mouth and I will fill it, says the word of the Lord. And if you don't say it, you should say it. I think so, there is a verse that says so.

So tongues have power. It says that speech in the spirit speaks directly to God. It's like they plugged your cable directly into the Lord over your intellect, and you're speaking a spirit-to-spirit language. Glory to the Lord. If that is only what you learn today, you can go home happy, it was worth the visit.

I also believe that this of the mysteries of the spirit also refers to learning to think in a spiritual, supernatural way of faith. He knows that the way God reasons is not the way man reasons. Do you know that the way a person filled with the Holy Spirit reasons is not the way an ordinary Christian reasons?

One of the things that I see, that many of the reasonings of the spirit are contrary to reason, but it is not that they are contrary, it is that they are so reasonable that they go above reason. It is a reasonable reason in the extreme. It is the reason of God that is so complex that it seems crazy. The word also says, the madness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.

Many times there are things that God tells you that will seem crazy. But I believe that Christians tend to reason like this, whoever exalts himself will be humiliated, whoever humbles himself will be exalted. When you give to the Lord beyond your strength, God gives you more, and you don't lack but you have plenty. When you praise the Lord in great weakness and pain that serves as a power for victory to come in your life. When you confess the goodness and power of God, when you feel that not even the lilies come back to you, that has power, because you are doing it in the spirit and not in the flesh and it is more powerful than a declaration that comes from the emotions, when everything's fine. That's why we sing, praise God when things go well for you, how good it is. But if you praise him among your brokenness, that holy Christ is glorified within you. When you sing that, understand that you are reasoning in a form of the spirit.

One of the most powerful things, brothers, and the most counterintuitive in the history of humanity is the cross. The cross, something horrible, ugly, terrible, pure torture. The Lord Jesus bound, nailed, impotent, says the Bible who defeated principalities and powers. Hallelujah! And he won the definitive victory for all humanity on the cross of Calvary. Seemingly defeated, he defeated the powers of the devil.

Paul says, when I am weak then I am strong. God told Paul, “Paul, stop praying for me to take the sting out of you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Learn to move in weakness of spirit. If you are weak welcome to the club, more power you will have if you move in the power of the spirit.

I was talking to the brothers this morning, they said, "Look, when I woke up this morning I don't know what I had... and I still have it, a virus that I don't know what it is but it's as if the electricity in my body had been cut off." Have you felt like this at times? I feel a little feverish, that's how I feel right now when I'm here. and I said, “Well, Lord…” but you know what? I reason this way, I would have had every right to say, I am going to stay at home, I am going to call one of the pastors to preach, but I have learned to reason in the spirit, because many times when I have The most inadequate state to preach is when God has most blessed preaching, at least, that is what I have thought.

And I have already learned that if I feel discouraged, if I fought with my wife because she didn't make me a good breakfast on Sunday before coming to church and I don't feel anointed, if I said something or thought something bad along the way, I don't I'm going to let that stop me from standing up and declaring the virtues of the Lord and speaking the word of God because it's not me, it's the power of God within me. And then one learns to move. When you are weak many times is when you are strongest. When you are going through problems is when perhaps God most wants you to adore and praise him. When you believe that God is a thousand miles away from your life is perhaps when he is charging you to take you to a new level of life in the spirit.

Then one learns to move, not in his own flesh, not in his own strength, not according to his experience, not according to his holiness and this is not a license to misbehave, it is grace, grace, grace. It is the power of God in your life. If you are afraid to stand up and give a testimony, do not be afraid, and even if your knees are shaking and you do not know what to say, the Lord will put something in your mouth. I always say that I have never come down from a pulpit feeling ashamed, God has always provided, always, even at the very beginning of my ministry.

If God calls you to witness to someone, witness to him even if your teeth are ringing. Speak in the Lord, in the power of the spirit, because the Christian does not reason according to reason, but according to the reason of the spirit. All these things are mysteries, they are neumaticon, they are things of the spirit, they are deeper teachings. The Lord does not want you to be ignorant about these judo and spiritual karate techniques. He wants you to understand these things. When the devil comes around and sees your black belt, he says, oh, I'm not messing with this person, forget it. This is a Papaupa of the spirit, as we say in good Dominican.

So, he wants you to be filled with spirit and for your life to be a connected life of power. And the Bible says, how do you get that power? How does one learn to reason with that dimension of the spirit? Well, it is through the filling and baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't know any other way. It is the instrument that God has chosen. I know that it is something very deep and complex but do not let yourself complicate life too much.

What did the Lord Jesus Christ say in Acts chapter 1, verses 7 and 8?

“… And he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has put in sole authority, – because the disciples asked him, “Lord, are you going to establish Israel when you come.” The Lord told him, “Look, stop with that theological nonsense, that is not what you need now, you are going to go preach the Gospel outside, worry about this, first you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”

What does the Lord mean? When you've already had that Pentecostal experience, that baptism of the spirit. And who was the Lord speaking to? Was it to people who did not know Jesus Christ? No, these people years walking with the Son of God. Would you be an evangelical if you spend 3 years with Jesus Christ walking every day and being instructed by him? Of course. You know the Lord. But he said, no, no they're still missing something. Do not leave Jerusalem until you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and then you can be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

There is something, brothers and sisters, that you need, that I need every day to be filled more and more with the Holy Spirit. You have to solve that once and for all and that is why we are doing these days of the spirit, because I would like that in the name of the Lord all our church come the day that if you ask any member of León de Judá come out there, if there is a journalist out there, listen to me there they preach that all Christians have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Have you been full? Of course. how dare you ask me that? I attended a day of the spirit and there I was filled and I confess that yes, etc. and right there he preaches the 4 spiritual laws, converts him and continues walking like Philip.

One sees the impact of the anointing of the Holy Spirit on these disciples that when they crucified Jesus they were all… they made like mice when they turn on the light, they got into the little holes in the wall, they couldn't be found anywhere, they left Jesus alone, they believed... look at the disciples on their way to Emmaus, we thought that he was the one who was going to bring salvation to Israel. The Lord was upset with them. Now what happens when you are filled with the Holy Spirit? Peter, the one who had denied Jesus a few days ago, stands up and says, "Men of Israel, you crucified the Son of God, repent." And he preached a sermon and 5,000 were converted there in one fell swoop. Glory to the Lord.

There was a change. And those people revolutionized all of Jerusalem. Before people didn't even know that there were evangelicals in Jerusalem, now they call you, you who upset the whole earth and the whole world. Because the person filled with the Holy Spirit many times breaks dishes and everything else and causes a problem for the pastor, but they are people who have something different, because they are not a paragon of virtues either. It's not that the Holy Spirit makes you a plaster saint, no. Do not cuquear me there because the flesh and all the wounds that many of my brothers filled with the Holy Spirit have given me through the years come out. But I can tell you one thing, that they are passionate people, sealed and the devil does not know how to get a hand on them, because they know who they have believed in and they speak, sometimes with nonsense, but they speak and say and preach the Gospel and love the word and adore Mr. Yes or no? It's that they have something, it's a seal. It is the experience of the Holy Spirit.

Of course you have to grow, there are many additional things, that's why Paul writes in First Corinthians, it's not just having gifts, do you also have your love? Do you have the fruit of the Holy Spirit? How do you treat your brother? Don't come telling me that you speak in tongues over there and that you had an experience with an angel that appeared to you in a cave and then when you get home you are mistreating your wife and children who don't want to see you even in paint. Paul says, no, it is a totality of experience. There are many things to learn, it is all a totality. The Bible says, I don't want you to be a child in things of the spirit.

There are many Pentecostals who also have other things to learn about the spirit, it is a totality. So, it is important the Lord tells them, do not leave Jerusalem. When they are baptized, their life is completely changed and they are filled with the power of God. Because God does not want us to be ignorant.

One last… say glory to God, Hallelujah! Thank you pastor. Let's go to the Book of Acts in chapter 19. I don't know how many of you remember last Sunday we saw another passage about the Samaritans, remember that it says, when the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received Jesus, they sent Peter and John to lay hands on them and to be filled with the Holy Spirit, recognizing that one may have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, but may still lack a deeper, more intense experience of life in the Holy Spirit.

Look here what happens with these men, in Acts chapter 19, verse 1. Listen to this episode in the life and ministry of the Apostle, it says that:

“…It happened that while Apollos was in Corinth – by the way, Apollos was also another who needed a tune up about the Holy Spirit, he knew about God, he was preaching, he was a highly educated man, but two humble people came, Priscilla and Aquila, they were a missionary couple, simple-hearted people, not highly educated, but they had had an experience with the Holy Spirit. And they listened one day to Apollos, a young believer, but very highly educated. He was a Greek who had a phd in theology and philosophy who had met Christ and Apollos didn't wait, he started handing out tracts and preaching the Gospel in the streets and Priscilla and Aquila listened to him and said, "Wow, this man has something special, but his preaching is missing something.” I think that what was missing was anointing, it was missing that I don't know what, how to eat it, but something that was there that was missing.

Because that is what happens, when a person does not have that supernatural experience with the spirit, they can have a lot of pity, a lot of love for God, many things, but you know that there is something, a component, by the way they express themselves, by the way on which they reason the Christian life, they lack something additional. One says, wow, if that person had that other component they would be a spiritual giant. Because it's not about you being nothing and doing nothing. No, it's how much you could do if you had that filling of the Holy Spirit.

They heard Apollos preaching and they said, this man, wow, tremendous, he could be a great man of God, they called him aside. He says that they asked him about his faith and then they discovered that he only knew the baptism of John and they told him about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then although he does not say so, but I imagine that they laid hands on him, he came out full of the Holy Spirit and moment Apollos begins to emerge on the pages of scripture.

By the way, he became almost like the level of the Apostle Paul, he was known, that's why Paul later talks about him in another way, later on. That's extra, but Acts 19 says:

“…It happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul after touring the upper regions came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples – meaning that disciples of Christ, believers, not who did not know the Lord, knew something of Jesus Christ – finding to certain disciples he said, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" That question is very revealing because Paul is admitting there that one can believe in Christ but not have the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Yes or no? that's simple.

“…Did you receive the spirit? – And now when he talks about receiving the Holy Spirit, he means receiving that filling, that power, that impartation, that baptism of the Holy Spirit. – And they said to him, – What do you eat that with? It says here in verse 2 – They said, “We haven't even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.”

You know, my brother, that there are people in the Kingdom of God who don't know about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, they don't know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they don't know about the gifts, they don't know about spiritual warfare. You have been told that this was in ancient times. They are like children.

I told you that I recently went to a meeting, I promise I'll end with this, very excited, people... I think that everyone who was there with me all had at least a PhD or a Thd, and it was an exquisite place, a exquisite sanctuary and a service orchestrated with such high sophistication and aesthetic sophistication, a pianist who had to have come out of a great music university, a conservatory, tremendous. Two women who sang several solos and sang like angels but in all that glorious service that was very high level and all over the city, I never heard the mention of the word Jesus. And a service that was supposed to be for comfort and to remember the power of God to heal, there was no mention of any of that. It all happened in just aesthetically pleasing expressions, a lovely sermon, but I could have read it in Time Magazine or Readers Digest or some book of secular poetry. I said, wow, what a waste of time! How much could have been done in this context to point out the power of God to heal souls, to heal hearts, to restore, but there was none of that. because? Because there is no such deeper teaching of the spirit. It is believed that if you talk about the Great Creator with G and C, that spirit that created the universe and that is in Pluto and Jupiter, that is enough. When the Bible says that there is no name given to men through which we can be saved but through the man Jesus Christ. And that in the power of Jesus when it is mentioned the demons tremble and there is healing in the name of Jesus. That simply pointing out the name of Christ is a balm to the troubled soul and that perhaps you cannot say much but if you have the power of God there is an energy that will come out of you and you will communicate something healing to someone, and you are not going to waste time on superfluous things and that is why you need to know, because we are like that many times.

I wonder if there I ask many of those people, "Do you know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" They will say, what is that? no, that was a long time ago, and that was when the canon, they would have given me a theological dissertation. But the power is not there unfortunately. There are other things, good intentions, I am sure that God loves these people and they will probably go to heaven because they claim Jesus in some way. I don't know. But the truth is that it was a waste because they don't know neumaticon, they don't know about those deeper things.

I believe that in this time in history where the devil has been given more freedom to move with more power than ever in human history, people are needed sealed with the Holy Spirit, people are needed with an experience of the word of God , a supernatural experience, that they know that they know, that they know, and perhaps they can't explain why, but that doesn't matter. They know in their hearts, they have something, a seal, a presence, a substance, an essence, that is the presence of the Holy Spirit within them. And those people the devil is going to have a lot of difficulty in neutralizing or seducing them or getting them into heresy. And in this time, my brother, my sister, we cannot afford not to have something, that experience.

It is very complex, it has many problematic dimensions, but one thing I know exists, it is real, you cannot know the word if you do not understand that part. Seek it, ask the Lord to clarify it, be hungry and thirsty, cry out to the Lord and the Lord will answer, it will quench your thirst, it will quench your hunger.

The word says, if you ask the Father for bread, he will not give you a stone, if you ask for the Holy Spirit, the Lord will give it to you. What happens is that we don't seek enough, we don't ask enough, we don't need enough, but if you need it, he will come and talk to you. That's all I can tell you. These people were touched by the Apostle Paul, he says that they only knew about the baptism of John, they told him, but he says that then when Paul explained them more clearly, in verse 5, he says,

"... When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied..."

Glory to the name of the Lord. We have to seek that experience more and more in our lives. Many of us, if I were to ask you right now and I said, “Brother, sister, the Holy Spirit doesn't want you to be ignorant about the deeper things of the spirit, and one of them is, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? ? Have you had a run-in with the Holy Spirit? Can you truly say yes, I am sure?"

It is as if I ask someone, "Have you believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?" He says, "well, I'm not sure, I'm thinking about it, I'll see, I think so because they told me that if I do this..." No, you have to say, "Of course, I have believed, it's more I can tell the date, the day, the hour and the minute that I believed.”

I believe that this is also the case with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You have to know, if you don't know I encourage you to search, I am willing to do everything on my part. As I have told you, it has been painful for me to have to skip the services at 9 o'clock and I have done it with fear and trembling for many reasons, it is long to explain. But I have believed that if I glorify God and the Holy Spirit, the Lord will bless our church and I am already seeing it. Somehow God is going to take care of it, God is going to replace the deficit somehow, because we are doing what we have to do. First the Kingdom of God and his justice, all other things come in addition.

Again, reasoning of the spirit, contrary to human reason. Stand up. Take a moment. Cry out to the Lord, cry out to the Lord. I encourage you, you can resolve the controversy of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in a moment if you want and believe. All you need is to believe the Lord.

I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost I think I had received it a while ago but I was always looking, I wasn't…I was always looking for the next anointed person to lay hands on me and one day when I was starting this church in the South End , before we moved to Cambridge, I arrived at the sanctuary, it was a tiny sanctuary that they had allowed us for a few days, and it was there at the Emmanuel Gospel Center, there was no one, no one had arrived, that is why it is so important to arrive on time sometimes. I had a great thirst for the Lord, God was doing something very powerful in my life and I arrived, there was no one, and I said I am going to stop looking for people to pray for me.

The Bible says very clearly that if we ask the Lord he will give us the Holy Spirit, I am going to resolve this right now. We're going to end this controversy here and I'm going to stop looking for the next anointed one and this and that, “Lord, fill me with your spirit,” I knelt down, looked around to make sure no one was there, “Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit, I receive it, I believe,” and I opened my mouth. There was no electricity, there was no little angel that appeared in front of me, I simply believed that if I asked the Lord, I opened my mouth and began to speak a complex language that I use to this day for my moments of need , and I spoke in tongues. And God began to move in my life. It had already started to move before but this was something that accelerated the whole process. And look at me here 30 plus years later serving the Lord.

I remember I looked a lot like Apollos, in the sense of a lot of intellect, a lot of study. I remember one time when I was at home, in the kitchen, my mother... I was talking to someone and I was in my Marxist, revolutionary time, I was at Harvard, and I was saying that Marx and all this kind of thing, and with a very strange theology, because he was still like Apollos, a linguist, some terrible errors. My mom, who was listening to the conversation in another room, came out of there like a lioness, "What are you saying?" And he did so and corrected me, he scolded me and I had to keep quiet. She wasn't a great educator or anything like that, but she corrected me, told me two or three things, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. And now I recognize that everything she told me was absolutely true. I didn't know what he was talking about.

Lots of arguments, lots of intellect but no experience with the power of God. She had the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She had the power of God in her. A simple woman, but when she heard that nonsense I was saying, she turned like a lioness and called me to chapter right away. Glory to God for those people who have and who know they have.

I ask the Lord that we all be like this in this church, brothers, that the least be like David, as the word says, that the least make a legion of demons flee, and the greatest, you know, conquer a whole nation.

Let's start looking for more. I promise you in the Lord, I warn you, I exhort you in the name of the Lord, do not settle for a mediocre, average, conventional life. My brothers, do not waste your time or God's time. Seek the filling of the Holy Spirit in your life. Sanctify your life. Read the word. Worship the Lord. Serve the Lord. Move despite physical or emotional weakness in your life, do not wait for depression to go away to serve the Lord, serve the Lord in depression and one day you will say, "But where did he go?"

You have to live in the spirit. Raise your hand right now and again ask for fresh anointing. The Lord gives, gives you what you need. And I beg you, go home, if you are ashamed here in public, lock yourself in your room, kneel down, ask the Holy Spirit to baptize you and fill you up and believe that in the life of the spirit there are no favorites, there are no generals and privates. If you cry, the Lord will hear you. The Lord, if you have a contrite and humiliated heart, he will listen to you. Ask the Lord to give you the filling of the spirit. Come to revival services. Knock doors. Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you, says the Lord.

He who asks receives, he who seeks finds, he who knocks will be opened, says the Lord. believe. believe. Live that life of believing God. You have a license from the Holy Spirit to cry out, preach, anoint, pray for healing, head off demons, interpret scripture, live a powerful life. God gives you everything you need, what happens is that some believe and others do not believe. That is the difference.

I encourage you in the name of the Lord, do not take away your emotions, in the name of Jesus I unleash a spirit of courage in the name of Jesus in this town. I declare in the name of Christ that eyes are opened, minds are freed, hearts are open and porous for God's anointing to penetrate.

Father, I declare a spirit of understanding, wisdom, knowledge, upon your people now, Lord. Uncover your children's eyes. Uncovers the mind and spirit. All spiritual torpor, Lord, we conjure up in him in the name of Jesus. And Father, we give you this church. Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Holy Spirit we cry out to you. We don't have the answer but you do, Lord. We don't have the power, but you do, Lord. I know that you are going to do something great in the midst of your people and we commit ourselves as a congregation to stop playing with you, Father. forgive us. Son of God, receive this call from the Lord and if you have your hand raised, raise it a little higher, if you don't, raise them, and believe that the Lord right now unleashes a spirit of power, grace, wisdom, anointing, consecration, filling of the spirit.