Baptizer with the Holy Spirit

How many of you are thankful for the Holy Spirit? Yes, that’s right. We need the Lord, and we need to be able to hear His voice. And by far most often that comes by the leading and the speaking of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of us. And our job is really to keep our hearts in a place of humility and surrender to the Lord, to be in a place where we can hear Him.

A lot of people — we get into a situation, or we face a difficult time, or we have questions or doubts, and we’re like, “I can’t hear God. I can’t hear God.” Because our heart isn’t positioned. It’s not Him who moved. It’s us who oftentimes move. It’s our heart. It’s the posture and the approach. But when we walk with the Lord and we keep our heart humble before Him and we are obedient to do things His way, guess what? You are going to be led by the Spirit. You’re going to hear His voice.

And so my encouragement to you is, if you’re like, “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard God speak to me” — listen, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and they know Me.” So this isn’t some special thing that some Christians can do and some can’t, or just pastors can do. No, He’s talking about sheep. If you’re a sheep, go “baa.” No, don’t do that. Right? If you’re a sheep, He will speak to you, and our job is to have a heart that follows Him and is surrendered to Him. Amen.

We’re talking about the names of God, and I’ll adjust this a little bit just so we can make sure that we respect everybody’s time this morning. But the name that we’re going to be talking about is the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. Jesus, the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. And I think it’s just a timely word, a timely declaration, a timely desire that we would be people who desire not to just live on our own strength, but to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And so I’m just going to pray one more time. Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, we just open our hearts and we say, Lord, speak to us. Speak to Your people. Teach us Your Word. Open our eyes. Open our ears, that we would hear You, that we would see You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the last days

I want to read out of Acts chapter 2, verse 17. And if you have your Bibles, you can turn to the book of Acts. We’re going to be in there for most of this. I’ll be moving around, but if you have your Bibles, turn to Acts starting at chapter 2, verse 17. And this is Peter after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus had died. He had been raised to life. He taught the disciples and the people for forty days. He walked with them, teaching them the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And He ascends into heaven, and He says, “I want you to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father that I will send to you, and I’m going to pour out My Spirit.” And this is what Peter says. The Holy Spirit gets poured out, people start speaking in heavenly languages, and people are like, “What is going on?” And how many of you know God is not a God of chaos? He’s a God of order.

And so He speaks through Peter, one of the disciples that followed Jesus. And he stands up and he says, “This is what the prophet Joel was talking about.” Now, Joel was proclaiming the word of the Lord. This was the Lord speaking this. He says, “This is what Joel was saying.” This is what the Lord is saying: “It shall come to pass in the last days” — everybody say “last days” — “It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.”

How many of you know this was two thousand years ago when the Holy Spirit was poured out into the church? It was a gift that was given to us, and we’re going to talk about that. But how many of you know if those were the last days, we are definitely in the last days? Amen. How many of you know, just as Scripture says, just as He ascended into heaven, He is going to descend back to the earth, and He’s going to take those who are His with Him? Amen. Jesus is coming again. We don’t know the time. We don’t know the hour. All that we know is Scripture says you need to be ready, because He comes like a thief in the night. Like lightning He will come. Amen.

And so we need to be ready. But the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to be prepared and to operate and to function in these last days. And so we need the filling of the Holy Spirit. Somebody say amen.

And so I want to look at Luke 3:16. You don’t need to turn there, but this is John the Baptist speaking. And it says that “John answered, saying to all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I’” — everybody say “Jesus” — “‘One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” We’re talking about the names of God, and today we’re talking about the name Jesus, the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit.

What Jesus talked about the night before He died

Now, the night before Jesus died — how many of you know He knew He was going to give His life? And if you know that this is your last day on earth, you’re probably going to talk about some important things. And one of the things that He talked about more than anything else was, “I’m going to give you the Holy Spirit. I’m going to pour out My Holy Spirit.” And He talked about how the Holy Spirit is a Helper. He talked about how the Holy Spirit will teach you all things. How many of you need to be taught some things? Yeah.

He talked about how the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all the things that Jesus has taught you. You know, I think sometimes we read Scripture and we’re like, “I don’t even necessarily remember what I read this morning.” But how many of you know you don’t necessarily remember what you ate for breakfast yesterday, but it did its job? In the same way, when you are in the Word and you are sincerely trying to take that in as food for the soul, there will come a time where you’re going to face something and you’re like, “Wait a minute. I remember the Lord said something about this.” And He’s going to speak to you in that moment. How many of you know that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you and reminding you what Jesus has taught you? Amen. He will bring to remembrance all the things that Jesus has taught us.

He will guide you into all truth. Everybody say “all truth.” Everybody thinks they know the truth, right? But how many of you know He knows all truth? That’s right. We see what we believe and perceive as truth, and sometimes it’s right and sometimes it’s not. But how many of you know what we can really stand on is His Word, which is eternal, which is unchanging? It is everlasting. Jesus said there will not be one jot or tittle that will pass away from the Holy Scripture. So we can build our lives on it. It’s what we can be anchored to. It’s what we can be tethered to. And the Holy Spirit will do this. He will guide you into all truth.

Yes. Now let me tell you what that means. Your heart might have to change on some things. There might be things that you thought were okay that are not okay to the Lord. There are ways of talking — you might have habits. But how many of you know the Lord wants to clean up your life? Yes. And He wants to do that so that you can walk with Him, so that He can lead you, so that you stay in that position of being led by the Lord into all the promises of God. And so these are the types of things that Jesus was talking about the night before He died.

Born again and filled with the Spirit

And so I want to talk just a little bit, because I think there’s a little bit of a misconception: “Well, yeah, I’ve given my life to the Lord. I’m born again. I’ve said the sinner’s prayer, right? I said it in faith, and so I’m filled with the Holy Spirit.” I want to just kind of point out in Scripture that, according to Scripture, there is this separate occurrence of being filled with the Spirit and the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Okay? There is a difference between the Holy Spirit’s residence in you and being able to see the Holy Spirit’s work on the outside of you. Do you guys see what I’m saying? And so there’s the difference between being born again and being filled with the Spirit. And I want to just briefly show you how those two compare.

And so on the day that Jesus was raised from the dead — He’s raised to life and He reveals Himself to His disciples — Scripture says that He breathed on them and He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Now, if Jesus had just told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” He could have been referring to something in the future. But how many of you know He breathed on them, and something was happening in that moment, right? Just as God created man, right? He created man out of dust and formed him. It wasn’t until God breathed into him the breath of life that he came to life.

In the same way, Jesus came, and He had defeated death. He had defeated the powers of sin and darkness. And He’s coming, and now what? He’s breathing life into them. And so when Jesus was breathing into them, it was this breath of being born again. But again, being born again is not the same thing as being filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is when the evidence of the Holy Spirit can be seen from the outside.

And so Jesus breathed on them, and I believe that this is the first instance of people being born again — what we would say saved, or born again — where what was dead inside, your spirit, which was dead inside because of sin, is now born again and raised to life with Him. Okay? And so this is the first instance of being born again, where the Holy Spirit is living inside of them.

Now listen to Acts. If you’re in Acts, go to Acts chapter 1, starting at verse 3. This is the same day when Jesus gave the Great Commission to make disciples. It says Jesus “also presented Himself alive after His suffering.” How many of you know Jesus suffered? How many of you know God became man to die? Yes. That’s amazing. He suffered for you. “He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” So He was walking with them for forty days after He had been raised to life, teaching them the things of the kingdom of God.

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” Well, it was forty days since Jesus had breathed on His disciples. But now notice He’s commanding them not to depart from Jerusalem until they are filled with the Holy Spirit. And so we can see that Jesus is referring to something that has yet to happen. He’s talking about a different and distinct occurrence of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And notice what He says in verse 8. He says, “And you will receive power” — everybody say “power” — “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Well, we see the fulfillment of this promise if we go to Acts 2:1. It says, “When the Day of Pentecost” — Pentecost means fifty; this was fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, and He had ascended into heaven already at this point — it says, “When the Day of Pentecost had 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 the whole house where they were sitting.” Everybody say, “Fill this house, Lord Jesus.” “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

I want us to notice something, and I think this is important, because I think we just go through life and we just say, “Well, God is with me.” And He is. Somebody say amen. But not recognizing that there is something available to us at all times, and it’s called being filled with the Holy Spirit. And here it is: there are these believers — Jesus had ascended into heaven, and so they were being obedient. They said, “Okay, well, we can’t leave Jerusalem until we receive the promise from the Father.” So what do they do? They begin to pray. That’s a good thing to do. They begin to pray. And they’re not just praying separately. They’re saying, “No, we are in one accord, in united prayer, and we are praying for the promise of the Father to come.”

And as they prayed, as the believers were gathered, we see there is this separate, distinct occurrence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. These were all believers gathered in one place. These were some of the same believers that Jesus had breathed on, and they were born again. But here He’s saying, “Wait. Don’t go out and just tell a story. Don’t just go out and try to do good things for Me. No, you need the Holy Spirit. You need something called power, and I will give it to you, but you must ask, and you will receive.”

Why Jesus wants us filled

And so why does Jesus want us to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Listen, He’s the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. He’s the one that does this. In fact, the evidence of being filled with the Spirit is proof that Jesus is on the throne. You want proof that Jesus is alive and sitting on the throne? The proof is this: the Lord will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And when He does, you will be filled with power.

The reason Jesus wants us to be filled with the Spirit is this: because Jesus was filled with the Spirit. Jesus said, “The works that I do you will do also; and greater works than these you will do, because I go to My Father.” He said, “It’s better for you that I leave. It’s better for you that I go and don’t just stay here with you.” I don’t know about you, but I would kind of like to walk with Jesus on this earth. That’d be really cool. Yes. And Jesus is saying, “No, no, you don’t understand. It’s to your advantage that I leave, because I’m going to send a Helper, the Holy Spirit.”

What a gift the Lord has given us. I think we way underplay this way too often. The Lord is saying, “I will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and you will be witnesses of Me in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But don’t go until you are filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen. Luke 3:21 says this. This is talking about when Jesus was baptized. He came to the River Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. It says, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized in water; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’”

I want you to know that being filled with the Holy Spirit is proof that the Lord is pleased with you in Christ Jesus. Somebody needed to hear that. Yeah. “The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’”

Now, Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age. I want you to notice that Jesus began His earthly ministry after the Holy Spirit had come upon Him. His ministry didn’t start before this baptism moment. He was on this earth. He was being raised by parents. He was learning about the ways of the Father. He was reading Scripture. But before He could go and be ministering to people, healing the sick, raising the dead — they were talking about the Son of God — He first had to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had to come upon Him, which happened at this baptism.

Chapter 4:1 says, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit.” So what is Jesus now? He’s filled with the Holy Spirit. When did Jesus get filled with the Holy Spirit? After He was baptized in water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. “Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” Now, we know He was tempted for forty days and forty nights by Satan. Okay? But notice what it says in verse 14. After that temptation, and after He successfully overcame those temptations, verse 14 says, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit.”

Let me ask you: why does Jesus, the Son of God, need to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Isn’t He God? Why does Jesus need to be filled? Here’s why. Philippians 2:7 says this: Jesus “made Himself of no reputation.” That word means He emptied Himself. When Jesus came to earth to die as a man, He literally became man. That means He gave up His omniscience, meaning He did not know all things. He couldn’t just know what somebody on the other side of the world was thinking about. He didn’t know what was happening on the other side of the world. He had emptied Himself of that.

He was no longer omnipotent, which means He couldn’t just walk around as a baby or as a child bopping people on the head saying, “You’re healed. You’re healed. You’re healed. You get a healing. You get it.” No, He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t be omnipresent, meaning He couldn’t be everywhere at once. He didn’t teleport. Okay? He was man. He emptied Himself of His divine nature and became man. He was God, but He emptied Himself. Jesus is our example of what it looks like to do ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit. How many of you know if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, we need the Holy Spirit? Amen. And so Jesus literally came down to be like us, to be human. He’s God, but now He’s human too.

Jesus wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit because Jesus commanded His disciples to wait and to be filled. We just read this. I’m just going to read it quickly. “Being assembled together with them, He commanded them” — this is before He ascended into heaven. How many of you know a commandment is different than a suggestion? Yeah. “He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’”

You see, Jesus had already breathed on them forty days prior. He breathed on them and He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” But Jesus is very clearly saying through Scripture, “Listen, don’t just leave it at that.” Maybe you have said a salvation prayer. Maybe you’ve given your life to the Lord, but maybe you’ve never asked for the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit. And I think Jesus’ heart is saying, “Don’t just leave it at salvation. You’ve received Me. You’ve made Me the Lord of your life. That’s great.” Somebody say amen. That’s great. That’s the best thing, right? That’s amazing.

Oh, but there’s something so good that the Lord has also given. He’s saying, “I’m not just going to leave you to do a task that is impossible.” How many of you know, as Pastor Suzie was just sharing, when you look at the world and you look at the situation, you’re like, “There’s just no way this can get fixed. There’s nothing one person can do.” Even if we were to collectively raise our voice, we raise our voice in different ways, and there’s no unity in it. We need the Lord. And so the Lord is saying, “No, call to Me. Let Me fill you with My Spirit.” Jesus is saying, “You need the Holy Spirit, because then you can do ministry the way that I did it.”

A gift for every believer

Jesus wants us to be filled with the Spirit because this gift is intended for every believer. Everybody say this: “The Holy Spirit has come for me. The Holy Spirit wants to fill my life.” This is intended for every believer. Throughout the book of Acts, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they helped others to be filled. So not only should we be filled, we should be filling other people too. We should be telling people about the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:14 — this is after Philip preached Christ to Samaria. They had received salvation through Jesus. But notice what it says: “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them.”

So again, we see two different, distinct events. There’s this thing called salvation, being born again, where the Holy Spirit comes inside of you. But there is this other thing where the Holy Spirit comes upon you, or you’re baptized with or filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them. So can we see there are two different things here? And I think too often we just leave it there. In fact, too often the church leaves it there, right?

One of the things that we do when we baptize people in water: when they come out of the water, they are emptied and washed of their sin. What is the first thing we do? We lay hands on them and we say, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Listen, you’re going to be filled with something. The question is, who or what? Yeah. I don’t know about you, but we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That’s right.

It says they had received the word of God, but the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them. “They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” So notice, when the apostles heard that they were saved, they weren’t satisfied. And how many of you know, if they weren’t satisfied, we should not be satisfied until every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit? We should not back down from praying for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Many of you know people who say they’re Christians. And I think a valid question is, what does your walk with Jesus look like? What are you hearing? What has He spoken to you? Because a lot of people say they’re Christians, and it’s a sidestep of just saying, “Yeah, I’m good,” right? And I think a valid question is, have you heard about the gift of the Holy Spirit? That because Jesus has ascended into heaven, not only are you saved, but the Lord can actually empower you to do the things He’s called you to do — to lay hands on the sick, to pray for people, to be bold witnesses, right? He’s given you these gifts. Have you had that? I think that’s a valid question to ask someone. I don’t think we should just settle back and settle for people being saved. We want to see people saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Power, boldness, language, and perfect prayers

And so we know there are benefits of the Holy Spirit. We talked about how you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. We know that one of the benefits is boldness. Scripture says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Everybody say “boldness.” Another benefit of being filled with the Spirit is spiritual language. It says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. A benefit of being filled with the Spirit is wisdom. Everybody say “wisdom.” I need wisdom.

A benefit of being filled with the Spirit is perfect intercession, meaning perfect prayers. Romans 8:26–27 says, “Likewise, the Spirit helps in our weakness.” Does anybody ever feel weak? “For we do not know what we should pray.” I don’t know about you, but there are times where I go into my room and I get on my knees and I begin to pray, and I’m like, “I don’t even know where to start. I’ve prayed about that. I’ve prayed about this.” But the Holy Spirit has been given, because Scripture says when you pray in the Spirit, you are praying the perfect will of God.

I don’t know about you, but every believer has the ability to pray perfect prayers, and it is by the Holy Spirit. It says the Spirit helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know what we should pray, “but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

First John 5:14 says this: “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” In other words, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit and you are praying in your spiritual language, you are praying perfect prayers from heaven. Somebody say amen.

And Paul talks about this. Paul says, “When I pray in the Spirit, I actually don’t know what I’m praying.” Because how many of you know you’re not praying with your mind? You’re praying with your spirit. And the Holy Spirit is telling your spirit what to pray and how to pray. And you’re praying in this unknown language. And Paul’s like, “I don’t actually know what I’m praying. So what do I do? I ask for the interpretation of what I’m praying, and I pray with my understanding as well.”

Some of the most powerful times of prayer that I’ve had are when I just begin to give thanks — because we should always start there — and I begin to pray in the Spirit. And as I’m praying in the Spirit, the Lord begins to show me things, or people, or situations. And when He does, and I sense it in my spirit as those things come, I then begin to pray with my understanding. And then when I’m done praying with my understanding, I go back to praying in the Spirit. And then what does the Lord do? He shows me something else, and I begin to pray over that situation or that person. How many of you know that is how we pray perfect prayers, right? Because we’re praying according to the will of the Father. And when we pray according to the will of the Father, not only does He hear us, we can be assured that we will have what we ask for.

A benefit of the Holy Spirit is spiritual warfare and all kinds of prayer. Ephesians 6 says, “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” and pray in the Spirit. He’s talking to a church, and he’s saying, “I’m telling you all, you should be praying in the Spirit. You should be praying in the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit with all kinds of prayers and with all kinds of requests.” When we’re talking about spiritual warfare, don’t go into spiritual warfare without the power of the Holy Spirit. But when you pray in the Spirit, you are using your weaponry with perfect prayers.

And then being filled with the Spirit builds yourself up. Jude verse 20 says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” You know, someone in our church used to watch our children when they were growing up, and she would always refer to praying in the Spirit as powering up — that it’s literally like charging your battery. “We’re just going to spend a few minutes, and we’re just going to start praying in the Spirit.” And so they would begin to just pray in the Spirit.

Faith like a child

Let me tell you, I’m very thankful that I received my spiritual language when I was very young. I think I was five years old. And I remember I was at church with my father, and he was praying in the Spirit, and he was on his knees, and I was like, “What are you doing?” And he says, “I’m praying in the Spirit.” And he said, “Do you want to pray in the Spirit?” And I said, “Yeah.” And so he prayed for me, and he said, “All right, let’s pray in the Spirit.” And so I began to pray in the Spirit.

There is something about the faith of a child — it is so much easier to receive the things of God. I think it just has a way of hardening our hearts and our minds to the point where we talk ourselves out of the things that God wants to do in our lives. And we say, “Well, I guess that’s just not for me.” But I need you to know that this is for every believer. That’s right. And this is something that He gives to those who ask. Yeah. And it does require faith. It does require you to step out.

I know there’s someone in my family who was advanced in age — I don’t know how else to say that. They weren’t old; they’re just not kids anymore. And they had never received their spiritual language. They had always prayed for their spiritual language, but there was something in them — “I never actually just started. I would just ask and then do nothing.” And so they were praying, and they felt like the Lord said, “Just start speaking French.” And they’re like, “I don’t know French.” “Just start speaking French.” And so they started, and all of a sudden the spiritual language started flowing out. There’s something about moving before you see the result. You know what I’m saying? And by the way, she didn’t speak French at all. She didn’t stay there. It was a move of the Spirit, and they received their spiritual language.

This is something that’s available, and it’s something that is necessary, because listen: darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness the people. And we need the Lord. I said we need the Lord, and we need the Holy Spirit, because we need to be guided into the right things. The world will say one thing, and it can be totally contradictory to the heart of the Lord. We need to know what the Lord is saying. We need to know what the Lord is doing. We need to move in faith to lay hands on the sick, right?

You might see someone at your workplace, and they’re sick and they’re struggling physically, and the Lord will drop something in you that says, “I want you to pray for that person.” What do I do when that happens? I begin to pray in the Spirit, because I don’t always know how to even pray for that healing. So I begin to pray in the Spirit, and then as I pray, the Lord starts giving me scriptures that I’ve read, and He starts saying, “I want you to pray over this thing in their body,” right? “I want you to pray for wisdom in this situation.” You begin to pray as the Lord leads. This is so vital. This is such an opportunity.

Fill me fresh

And so what I’m going to ask is that we stand together, and we’re going to close our time. But if you’re here today — by the way, being filled with the Spirit is not a one-and-done. I’m going to say it again: being filled with the Spirit is not one-and-done. Yeah. You can be filled with the Spirit one day and then totally not be filled with the Spirit the next day by choosing to do things your own way. Amen. We need to constantly be filled. Amen.

And so if you’re here today, and maybe you’ve given your life to the Lord, I’m just going to invite that we all lift our hands and just ask the Lord for a fresh filling of the Spirit. Lord Jesus, we call on You, Lord, and we thank You, Lord, that You are the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. Lord, we ask today for a fresh filling of Your Spirit.

Just begin to ask Him in your own words. Just say, “Fill me fresh, Lord. Fill me afresh with Your Spirit, Lord. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, Lord. We want to receive the power, the boldness, the wisdom, Lord, the spiritual language, Lord. Lord, we want to be led by Your Spirit. Lord, we thank You for the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit.”

And so, Lord, Your Word says — You said — “Ask, and you will receive.” And so, Lord, we know that when we ask, we have already received it. Lord, it is finished. It is done. And so, Lord, we will walk in faith, knowing that You not only have residence in us, but that You are going to work mightily through us as we go from this place, Lord Jesus, to see Your kingdom come, to see Your will be done, Lord, to see lives changed.

Lord, there are people in our lives that are facing difficult situations. There are people in our lives who have significant doubts about who You are and what You have said. And Lord, You will speak through us as we are filled by the Spirit, to break the chains of those who are in bondage, Lord, to break the heavy yoke and the weight that people carry. Lord, we ask for a fresh filling of Your Spirit, because we need You. We want You. And we ask for more of You in the mighty name of Jesus. We receive, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.