Frank Bailey: It's coming. Somebody just asked me a good question, what exactly is a workshop? And I don't really know.

I just know we're going to deal with this topic here that they asked me to deal with. And we've had a lot to soak in today. There's been a lot given to you.

And I want to give you some useful information. And I may get a little interaction from you as we go, just to keep it on a little bit different level. But I believe what we're going to look at is probably fairly familiar.

Probably every Christian, if you've been saved for any time at all, you probably realize that we have a need. We need to be used by the Holy Spirit. That is, we're dependent upon Him in every area.

But I want to give you just something that, just some food for thought. Something to give you a little bit of thought in a practical sense that maybe come at it from just a little bit different angle than what you're used to. Just before we begin, let's go ahead and have a word of prayer.

Lord, thank you again for an opportunity to look at your word. And Lord, we pray you'd give real direction. Use these few moments.

And Lord, may it be something that we could walk out of here and use in a practical way. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.

So we want to be equipped or prepared for spiritual emergencies. Now, to say a spiritual emergency, let me give you a couple of biblical illustrations. If you want to turn over to Acts chapter 4, I'm just going to pull a few different things here and you'll see where it ties in.

But notice in Acts chapter 4, Peter and John have been to the temple. They have seen a lame man beside the temple, and he, of course, has been healed. And Peter preaches this tremendous sermon right in the temple.

Now, that upsets greatly the people that put Jesus to death, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They do not want any recognition going to these disciples. But all of this is new.

The resurrection of Jesus is fairly new. So the Pharisees, not knowing exactly how to react, they give the disciples probably one of the most easy times that they'll have from this point on. But they do warn Peter and John.

They speak to them and they warn them. Now look at verse 5, if you would. It says, It came to pass on the morrow that their rulers and elders and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power or by what name have you done this? Now you notice in verse 8, then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost. Now what Peter has here is a spiritual emergency.

He was already doing the work of God. You understand he was preaching in the temple. He's already, you wouldn't say that Peter here was not a spirit filled Christian.

You wouldn't say that Peter was not right with God or not walking with the Lord. But here an unexpected emergency comes up. The first blank is an interrogation.

He's being interrogated. He didn't expect to be interrogated. Do you know this can come up in your life as well, perhaps not to the point of you risking your life, but you know the Bible says to be ready to give an answer.

Sometimes people are going to ask you a question. What about this? And they may not even be asking in a sense of looking for information, but it's an opportunity for you to speak up for the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, sometimes people fear giving the gospel because they think, what if somebody asked me a question that I can't answer? What if somebody asked me where Cain got his wife? What am I going to tell them?

Or what if somebody asked me something and I don't know how to answer it? Well, now here we have Peter being asked a question. He did not know how he was going to answer it.

You remember what Jesus told his disciples? He said, look, don't even premeditate what you're going to answer. He said, just be ready and I'm going to give you the words to say.

So here is a spiritual emergency.

And you'll notice in verse 8, Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he has made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that this man stand before you whole.

So the first thing he does, he meets this spiritual emergency, And he exalts Jesus and tells them who he is. And he says such a bold statement. I mean, he tells these men basically that if they don't receive the very Jesus that they crucified, they're going to die and go to hell.

Now, these are men that can take his life. These are men that had Jesus crucified. They could have Peter crucified.

It says down in verse 13, When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that had been with Jesus. That is, they heard the preaching of Peter and John. And as they listened, they didn't say it to one another, but they thought to themselves, that sounds just like Jesus used to sound.

When I used to hear Jesus preach, I used to feel uncomfortable. I used to get uneasy. I used to not want Him around because I knew I wasn't right.

They say this to Peter and John. It says, when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people, for all the men glorified God for that which was done. So they told them when they finished, they said, now listen, we're going to let you by this time, but if you preach any more in the name of Jesus, we're going to beat you.

Well, now they go back with that message to the disciples. They gather them and they say, look, they figured out what we're doing. They know we're going to preach the gospel.

And they said, if we preach any more in the name of Jesus, that we can expect to be beaten. They were threatened. So the second spiritual emergency here is a threatening.

There is actually a threat on their life, a threat on their safety, a threat on their comfort and security. That's a spiritual emergency. Now, in this particular instance, they go to prayer.

When they go to prayer, and we could read through this prayer, but it comes down, if you look in verse 31, it says, When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Now, we know at least two men that are in this company.

Does anybody have any idea what two men we are confident are included in verse 31? It has to be at least the two men that were interrogated. Who were they?

Peter and John. We know they were there. Who was it that spoke on the day of Pentecost?

Peter did. Now, was Peter filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost? Okay, but in verse 31, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.

So why is it that he was filled on the day of Pentecost And God says now he's filled again Just food for thought We're going to answer it before we're done But just think about that Here's a spiritual emergency They're being threatened And God comes through Look over at chapter 7 Now in chapter 7 Stephen is preaching Stephen preaches this sermon to the nation They resist the Holy Ghost And if you'll notice down in verse 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the

heart.

They gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Now, when they picked the deacons in chapter 6, Stephen was one of the deacons.

What were some qualifications of a deacon? Does anybody remember a couple of the qualifications? Well, in chapter 6, that wasn't later on.

They talked about that in Timothy. But in chapter 6, Does anybody remember? You've got to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He said, look out some men of honest report filled with the Holy Ghost. Stephen was one of those deacons. He was a man filled with the Holy Ghost.

But now, the Bible says, when this spiritual emergency came up, and this is an emergency of martyrdom, he's actually facing martyrdom, and he's full of the Holy Ghost. Just a subtle difference. One more passage.

Look at chapter 13. Look at verse 6. Now this is Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey.

When they had gone through the Isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Barhesus, which was the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. But Elemas, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, which stood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.

Now this is the emergency of opposition. Now you can face opposition today. You may not have faced martyrdom like Stephen, but no doubt you could be threatened.

Undoubtedly, you could have someone ask you questions you're not expecting, and no question you could be opposed. You can face opposition. Those are spiritual emergencies.

You can find other ones. Spiritual emergencies are constituted in a way, and I'll show you another verse in a moment, but let me ask you this question. This is obvious.

What is the thing that tied together every one of those spiritual emergencies we just read? What was the one central thing that was identical in all of them? Spirit filling.

There's no question about it. So, before we even get going into it, what is essential for me to be equipped for a spiritual emergency? It's got to be the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Now, what constitutes a spiritual emergency? What is it that makes it happen? Look at John 6.63.

Now, I'm going to turn you to a lot of these passages just because I want you to see them. I want you to turn. We're going to turn to some other ones in a moment.

I want you to see those so they'll stick with you. John 6.63, Jesus just got through giving a sermon that there's no way these people could possibly understand in their flesh. And he says in verse 6.63, It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.

Now, that verse does not say the flesh profits little. It doesn't say that it's not much good. It says the flesh profits nothing.

I remember being in a fellow's house one day. We were discussing some things about the ministry. He was a layman, and he was helping us with something that we did.

And good, godly man, loved the Lord, wasn't a preacher. But we were there in his house talking, and he got a knock on his door that interrupted our business that we were trying to transact. So he was just going to go, whoever it was, just see what it was.

And it was a salesman. A man was selling pots and pans at the door. So he just wanted to get rid of him.

And he just courteously said, well, look, sir, I'll tell you what. My wife does all the cooking. I don't know the difference between a pot and a pan.

So if you'll just come back later when she's home, she'll help you with it. I mean, just basically trying to close the door and get rid of him. Well, the guy was so talented, had such a great personality, he talked to this man that I'm dealing with for probably five to seven minutes, kept him at the door.

And instead of him being irritated and shutting the door on him, he basically said, you know, let's make this appointment. Why don't you come back and so forth? And they set it up.

The man was supposed to come back and talk to his wife about pots and pans. And when he walked back, he laughed because he knew, I mean, you know, I couldn't get rid of the guy. I talked to him for seven minutes.

Sorry to hold you up. He said, but that guy is a great salesman. He said, I've never met a guy like that.

He just really, he got my attention and held me there and so forth. He says, you know, if we could get a guy like that saved and get him out soul winning, man, he'd make a great soul winner. Now, you know what?

That seems logical, but it's not biblical. Do you realize his salesmanship wouldn't help him one bit in winning a soul to Christ? Because the flesh profits nothing.

Now, God can use whatever talent He might have, but God could also use whatever weakness He might have. You know what constitutes a spiritual emergency? It is any time that I have to do anything for God because my flesh can't do it.

In other words, when God calls upon me and in His providence puts me in a position that I am really to be a mouthpiece for Him, because really that's the spiritual emergency. Now, it might come out in different ways, but really the emergency is here God has providentially put me in a position that I'm to speak for Him. I'm to be a testimony for Him.

In every one of those instances in Acts, they had to say something for God. Now, not every one of them had a person kneel down and pray the sinner's prayer and get saved, but they always gave a testimony for Christ, and they didn't know it was coming. Now, that happened in the book of Acts, but I can tell you this.

If you walk with the Lord, those spiritual emergencies are going to arise, And you don't know when they're going to arise. You don't know when God is going to put you in a position to have to speak for him and say something for him to the glory of God. So it's important to understand how I can be ready for this.

Now, this again, this is the part that perhaps is more familiar. If the flesh profits nothing, then obviously it's the spirit that's the emphasis. So turn over, if you would, to chapter 14 of the book of John.

now in John 14 Jesus is now telling his disciples that he's going to leave don't let your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house in many mansions you know I go to prepare a place for you he says I'm coming again but I'm going to leave for a certain amount of time I'm going away but he gives them the greatest promise to understand that though I'm gone there's something very significant going to happen.

Look down, if you would, to verse 12. Verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. Now, he's talking here to his disciples.

He is prophesying that the works that he does, they will do. Somebody give me a thought, an example, or what do you think he means by the works that he did? What would they include?

I heard somebody whisper it. His miracles, right? He had done some just absolutely unbelievable miracles.

That was his works. That's what he's referring to. Now, can anybody think about this?

If this was a prophecy that these disciples were going to do greater or would do the works that he did, when did that get fulfilled? At Pentecost, Okay, and then specifically, name an instance when it got fulfilled. Can somebody think of just one instance when this was fulfilled?

Okay, there you go. Peter and John healed the lame man at the temple. You can go right through the book of Acts.

Paul raises a guy from the dead. I mean, there's just instance after instance. The works that Jesus did, they did them as confirmation that Jesus was still working.

Now, how many people have ever done the works that Jesus did? Anybody ever done those miracles and so forth? Okay, go join the charismatic church.

But anyway, we don't expect to fulfill that prophecy. He was speaking to his disciples. But that wasn't his point.

His point was something deeper. He was saying, look, the works that I do, sure, you're going to do them. You're going to confirm it.

I'm going to keep working. You'll do that. But look at the second part.

But greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father. Now, who is that promise made to if you read the verse? All you got to do is look at the verse.

Those that believe. Okay, the disciples believed. They qualified.

But it wasn't just the disciples. It was those that believe. Now, we have to look into the Bible and see the prophecy fulfilled to know that it was just the disciples that did the first part.

But then we also see that the second part is open for me to receive that promise. I can do greater works than Jesus did. Now, can you imagine the disciples listening to that?

Jesus said, look, you've seen me raise the dead. You've seen me heal lepers. You've seen me cast out demons.

You've seen me turn water into wine, etc. All these things. He said, the works that I do, can you do also?

They've got to think, man, you've got to be kidding, Jesus. We're going to do what you did. But then he said, and greater works than these shall you do.

Now, nobody's going to perform a greater miracle than Jesus performed. You don't find any record of the disciples doing more spectacular miracles. He had to mean something else.

He meant greater in its importance. More important works. You see, to heal somebody physically, that's great.

But there's something greater you're going to do because I go into my Father. The greater work is now He is going to come in and use us to be His mouthpiece. People are going to be saved as a result of my going back to the Father.

Now the Holy Spirit can come. Now he makes it more clear as the chapter goes on. You look down and see in verse 16.

I'll pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Now I don't want to belabor this because I know this is fairly familiar to you. But the Bible, Jesus obviously promised us the Holy Spirit.

We could go through promise after promise. Luke 11, 13, if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him? Acts chapter 1, verse 8, but you shall receive power.

After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be a witness unto me. Right here in this chapter, in verse 26, the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. See, again and again, Jesus, after intimating His leaving, promised the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Now, we know that if the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, we must have the Holy Spirit to accomplish anything. We've got to have that promise to be effective. Now, a promise is only as good as the person who made it.

So who made the promise? Jesus did. All I've got to do is appropriate it.

Now, you know that you don't have to beg and tarry and plead and fast and hope and pray through and work to get the Holy Spirit. He already lives inside of you. He lives inside of every believer.

However, if I will simply by faith appropriate the promise of God, He not only can live in me, I believe He can come upon me and fill me for power. Now, with that in mind, laying down that foundation, I think you're probably with me. You understand that's not completely new.

Let's look at this last part here, the distinction of a spiritual emergency. Now, I want to lay the foundation. I've got down a couple of references, but let's begin in Acts chapter 1.

And you'll see what I mean by the distinction, I think, in just a moment. In Acts chapter 1, the promise is reiterated. You look down in verse 4.

Being assembled together with them, commanded them, they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. And what is the promise of the Father? The Holy Spirit.

Which saith he, you have heard of me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. He said, John told you this. It was prophesied.

I reminded you of it. You're going to be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Now, does anybody know when that's fulfilled?

When are they baptized with the Holy Ghost? Not many days hence. On what?

Pentecost, exactly. So in Acts chapter 2 verse 4, as we would expect, when the day of Pentecost was fully come in verse 4, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues. Now I'm not going to spend time on why those terms change.

That's not my point. But no question in Acts chapter 2 verse 4, this gets fulfilled. It takes place.

Now, without turning over there, just to save us just a little bit of time, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18, which is the other reference that I have down here, says, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now here we have a command from God to be filled with the Spirit. Let's think about for a moment what that verse means.

It says, be not drunk with wine. When a person gets drunk, there's nothing humorous about it. It's a terrible thing.

But what is humorous sometimes is to see how people lose control. Now, it's not funny because they got drunk. I mean, it's wicked.

It's terrible. But you've got to admit sometimes a person, they just make an utter fool of themselves when they get drunk. Why?

Because they do things they would not ordinarily do. They lose control. They don't have control of themselves.

I remember witnessing this couple one time. And the man and the woman would argue with one another. I went to see them several times, and they would argue one another about who was the worst.

See, if I would witness to the man, and he would act like he was responding and talking to me about the Bible, the woman would come in to just make sure that I knew that he smokes crack, and he does a lot of bad stuff. Well, then he'd spout back at her, yeah, well, you do this, this, and this.

So one day, I'm in there witnessing to the guy, and the man was beginning to talk to me, and she comes in and starts getting on him about smoking crack. And he says, well, you know, you drink liquor, you're drunk right now. Well, she was.

But she said, I have you know I am very, very sober. You know, she… And she couldn't control how she talked.

So it made it obvious. It was clear. When I looked at her, I didn't have to ask her.

I knew she was drunk because she wanted to fool me, but she couldn't fool me. Now, why did God say, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit? He didn't mean that's the only sin you commit.

He was using that to say, not that it's ever right to be drunk with wine. In fact, he says, don't do it. He says, but kind of in the way that a person gets drunk and they lose control.

Don't just lose control. Be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Be filled by the Holy Spirit.

Now, what that tells me is that in my Christian life, I am commanded to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. That is, he ought to be in charge. That verse in Ephesians 5.18 is a continual action.

Be being filled. It ought to happen all the time. There's never a time that I can legitimately as a Christian not be filled with the Spirit.

And yet in the book of Acts we see where they were filled multiple times. And I think there's a reason for that. The filling of the Spirit that you see in Ephesians 5.18 I think is when we produce the fruit of the Spirit.

We produce the love, the joy, the peace. We have the long-suffering and patience. And, you know, we see that in our life.

That is the Christian life being lived out, Jesus living through me and revealing himself to the world daily. It ought to happen on a daily basis all the time. So what is the difference between that and a spiritual emergency?

Why am I not already, because as a spirit-filled Christian, why wouldn't I already be prepared for a spiritual emergency? What is the difference? Well, it really is a very subtle difference.

And you've got to be careful when you look at this that you're not making a distinction in who it is that is empowering you. It is one spirit. He fills you continually as a Christian.

But then it is also true that he does something special for the spiritual emergency. Now, the practical side of this, I think you'll see as we go. But I want to show you how we come to this conclusion.

Now, we're just going to do a little Bible study together. Because this hit me one day when I was reading through. It just kind of started me thinking and searching.

I was reading through the book of Luke. Now, look back to chapter 1 of the book of Luke. Somebody tell me who the author of the book of Acts was.

Luke. Okay. And not that you want to be over obvious, but who wrote the book of Luke?

Okay, Matthew, right? Okay. Luke chapter 1.

Look back, if you would, just let's say in verse 67. Here's a good example. Said his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost.

Now Luke talks about here Zacharias being filled with the Holy Ghost. You technically here are dealing in a transitional period between the Old Testament and the New. Pentecost has not come.

But this man is filled with the Holy Ghost. Now this field is a little different. I went back and I looked and I saw that this one was a point in time action.

It took place, boom. and it also is a different word fulfilled than you find in Ephesians 5.18. Now I'll tell you something about synonyms in the New Testament.

If you go back and look in Greek, sometimes synonyms are there because one author had a different background than another author. The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, but he used them in his vocabularies. So sometimes you'll read the synonyms and you may think you've got a point.

You may think, oh boy, this is a little subtle difference in these words, but then the same person will use it in another place another way. So I thought, well, maybe that's the reason. You know, here's a different word, but maybe that's just because this was Luke's vocabulary.

So I want to see what this word means. Now, I got the word there transliterated for you on your paper, but that's the word for fill that Luke uses most of the time. Most of the time when he talks about being filled, he uses that word.

Turn over to chapter 4, verse 28. See how it's used here. It says they were all in the synagogue.

They heard these things and noticed they were filled with wrath. Turn over to chapter 6. Verse 11.

It says they were filled with madness and communed with one another what they might do to Jesus. You look over and we won't turn there, but in Acts 5.17, the Pharisees were filled with indignation. Now, that tells me that this word, and I just picked out three.

There's many instances of it. When Luke uses it, he uses it in such a way that these people were taken over by wrath, by indignation. Another place they were filled with envy.

Now, when they did that, they were ready to kill Jesus. So when these men got filled, in the sense that Luke uses this term, they did something they would not ordinarily do. You know, when a person gets filled with wrath, that's a sin.

But you know they do things they wouldn't normally do. If they didn't get filled with wrath, they wouldn't punch a guy in the nose. If they weren't filled with wrath, they wouldn't maybe pull out a gun and shoot somebody.

So they do something here that is unusual. They respond in a way that is not normal because they've been filled. They've been overcome by something.

Now that's not positive. But can you see how that would be positive if I become overcome by the Holy Spirit? You see, I do something I would not normally do when I'm filled by the Holy Spirit.

So the two differences are between Ephesians 5.18 and what Luke says. The differences is the word is pimpling me here and it's a point in time action. It did not continue.

It happened, boom, a point in time. Now, when you go to the book of Acts, Luke again uses this term. We're not in a transitional period anymore.

You get into Acts, Acts 2.4, that's the same passage. Every one of these that we looked at earlier in the spiritual emergencies, that word was used. So the thought came to me, maybe that is just Luke's vocabulary.

Now the tense would be significant, but I thought, you know, maybe that word is just a complete synonym with the other term that is plerao. That's Paul's word in Ephesians 5. Plerao means to fill or to fulfill.

Now that idea of fulfill, if you look down to Philippians 2.2, this is a good example of it. And by the way, if you want to find out what a word means, Alexa can get you started. But the best way to find out what it means is see how it's used in the Bible.

Go back and see how God used it. Get some examples and it can help you to see what it means. Notice in verse 2, the word fulfill.

Fulfill ye my joy. In other words, make up the shortness in it. Complete it.

That's the exact same word in Ephesians 5.18. You could also look to Romans 15, 13. It's used in a similar way to fulfill something.

Now, how does that fit in? Ephesians 5, 18. Be filled with the Spirit.

And if it means fulfill, what it basically means is I ought to live my life in a way that I am being fulfilled by the Holy Ghost. That is, the Spirit quickens, the flesh profits nothing. When I go to prayer, I ought to be effective in prayer because I'm fulfilled.

The Holy Ghost makes up my inadequacies. If I'm to have a testimony, that is, I'm trying to live a life of victory and be able to live a life that is exemplary, I can't do it. So where I come short, the Holy Spirit can fulfill that.

It's not technically a spiritual emergency. It is a daily occurrence that I live on that plane of being fulfilled by the Holy Ghost, which, by the way, is a command. That means I could depend upon Him and believe God to consistently do that.

however as I am being fulfilled along the way one of these spiritual emergencies come up now how do I know I can justify this difference well the thing that I looked at as I was studying as I was looking at these things I said you know I wonder if Luke ever uses Paul's term you know did Luke even know this word could Luke use the word plerao could he have used it in Acts 2.4 and Acts 4.31 and other places?

I mean, the Holy Ghost, of course, wrote the Bible, and he put down exactly what he wanted. I believe every word is significant. So Luke could have put another word.

He could have used that word, but the Holy Spirit chose him to use the other one. So it's interesting that Luke does know Paul's word. But where he uses it confirms what we're trying to explain here.

Look, first of all, I'll tell you what. Look to Acts 13. Let's just go to Acts 13.

Now, do you remember we read a passage in here earlier in Acts chapter 13 and verse, oh, it was like 6, where Paul, and notice verse 9, Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost. That's pimply me. Go to the end of the chapter and go down to verse 52.

the disciples had just been basically persecuted. It's over with. And it says the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.

Now that word filled is Paul's word plerao. It also is in the continual action that we talked about before. Now I said that Ephesians 5.18 to be filled with the Holy Spirit is God fulfilling me to do something that I can't do in myself, making up the difference.

Here the Luke now, not Paul, but Luke writes this in verse 52. The disciples were going through a tough time, and God filled them with joy and filled them with the Holy Ghost continually. This is explaining not a spiritual emergency.

This is explaining what the disciples typically did daily, how they lived their life. They lived their life filled with joy and filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, here's the conclusion, the practical thought.

What I can expect from God, and the reason I show you this is so you can claim this. This is God's promise. This is God, a fine-tuning, a promise from God.

We know the Holy Spirit is anxious to use us. We know that we're helpless without Him. If you don't know that, you need to know it.

You can't accomplish anything. Hey, if you've got people at your school that you're burdened about giving the gospel to, if you've got neighbors that you look at and you think, man, I need to reach them for Jesus, If you're anxious to be one that would go out and be a mouthpiece for God, you can't do it without God's help. You need a definite endowment with power from on high.

Now, on the day of Pentecost, the disciples were looking for that. Jesus said, They had to see that definite endowment with power. Now, there's no reason I can't expect an endowment with power from on high.

The only difference is I do not have to wait 10 days. They had to wait for the day of Pentecost. The promise had not come.

But once that promise comes, I can't expect it. However, I don't know when I need it. You see, I have to be filled with the Spirit daily.

I have to walk with God with confidence in Him, making sure I don't quench the Holy Spirit, making sure that I don't grieve the Holy Spirit, and when I do, making sure I confess and get that right, Because I've got to live daily a Spirit-filled life. You know, I can recognize whether I am. If I don't have the fruit of the Spirit, obviously I'm not filled with the Spirit.

But that's a continual action every day. God, how I need to trust you, please fill me today and let me be a testimony for you. However, when the spiritual emergency arises, here I am talking to somebody about baseball or football or talking about the latest thing that I'm doing in school, and all of a sudden there's an opportunity for a witness to come around, and you get a chance to give this person the gospel, there's a spiritual emergency.

Do you realize that if you have confidence in God and trust this promise, that God will give you a definite endowment with power from on high to be effective in witnessing to that person? Now, I'll tell you what, that's an encouragement to me. Because I am not responsible to save them.

I'm not responsible to convict them. I'm not even responsible really to know how to witness to them, except to have something prepared to give them. But I can expect God to endow me with power from on high.

Now, I believe a spirit-filled Christian is effective in his testimony anyway. Your testimony as a spirit-filled, be-being-filled Christian is going to be effective. But God is going to give a spirit-filled Christian opportunities to have an emergency.

Now, I use the word emergency in just a sense, for lack of a better term. Opportunities to witness are going to come up. If you're a preacher boy, or if you are called to preach, or you're thinking about the ministry and you think God's…

I'm going to tell you, you won't be effective in the ministry until you learn something about God's power in your life. You need a definite endowment with power. But it's not something that you just put in your hip pocket.

You see, I remember thinking to myself when I was a young preacher boy and I was beginning to grasp this truth. The thought came to me is I get up a good message. I'm going to prepare this thing, and then I'm going to ask God to empower my message.

I'm going to ask God. It was almost like, okay, the Holy Spirit's here in my toolbox and I'm going to take Him out and I'm going to use Him to make this message powerful. Almost to the point that I said, man, I can just, if I can just get a message ready and I can put the Holy Spirit on it, boy, it's going to just do something.

That's backwards. The Holy Spirit is not there for me to use. I'm supposed to be in the toolbox for Him to use.

You see, I yield myself to Him. Sure, he may use me to prepare a message, but I've got to be in a position where God can fit me to the spiritual emergency, to put me in a position to be used of God. Do you know every one of us could have a tremendous impact in soul winning if we would put our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit?

You know, that's really what he wants to do. The Holy Spirit, you go to the book of Acts, and what was his work? You know, we could call Acts the works or the Acts, not of the apostles, but the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

What did he do? He used these men to get out the gospel. Yes, the Holy Spirit wants you to, or God wants you to live a spirit-filled life.

He wants you to have a good testimony, walk with Him, be and so forth. But he wants you to be a soul winner. And if you're going to be a soul winner, you can't just do it with a good plan and a good salesmanship and a good thought.

It is absolutely essential that you would grasp this promise and rest in it to be endued with power from on high and to be filled with the Holy Ghost. So I hope you'll take from this just a practical exhortation to trust God for His power and ask God to give you spiritual emergencies so you can be used of Him. Let's have a word of prayer.

Lord, we're thankful for the opportunity we have to look at this tremendous truth. And Lord, I pray it wouldn't be something cloudy. I pray I wouldn't make it more confusing and more complex than it is.

It's so simple. We just need to claim the promise of God and expect you to use us. Lord, I pray for every one of these young people as well as older people that are here that need to have a testimony for Christ and need to reveal Jesus to the world.

You need to do it through them, by your Spirit. But then, Lord, when these opportunities come up for us to give the gospel, would you give us that special endowment that we might be used to give you glory? In Jesus' name, amen.