All right, you may be seated. In the Corinthian letter, 14th chapter, the Apostle Paul
writes, if therefore the whole church be come together into
one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those
that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say you are mad?
But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not,
or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all,
and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling
down on his face, he will worship God and report
that God is in you of a truth. Next month, we will be celebrating
our birthday here at Grace Gospel Fellowship. I think we'll be
39 years old. Something ought to happen this
morning. Something that only God can do.
I wonder, are you expecting something to happen this morning? Are you
expecting God in the person of the Holy Spirit to be here in
power? I too am expecting that. How sad it would be if no one
is converted today. It's a sad day. Every Lord's Day, we ought to
come here, gathered together, expecting God to deliver someone
from their chains and bondage. and how sad it is to this preacher
if that doesn't happen. Of course, we can't see the hearts
of men and women, and the Spirit of God may take you out of here
to your home and continue to do His work in your life, but
we'd sure like to see open confessions of faith in Jesus Christ. I personally get weary of preaching
the message of Paul without the results of Paul. Wonder if this is a church that
this generation will listen to knowing that we speak from heaven. That ought to be our reputation. That church, literally, there's
something very powerful happening there. Last week, I spoke to
you about the epidemic, the heroin epidemic, and that there was
only one power greater than that, and that's the power of God.
And today, just think about this. There are hell-bound men and
women sitting in here that will hear my voice, but if my voice
is the only voice you hear, you will leave here none the better.
But if in the providence of God through my voice, the Holy Spirit
of God speaks to you in quickening power, you will leave here a
new person in Christ Jesus. The passages that Joe has read
in your hearing today are very precious to me from the book
of Romans. This ought to describe us as a church, as a congregation. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing. That's where you ought to be
today. Fill with all joy and peace in
believing the gospel, that you may abound in hope. Not just
have a hope, but you're abounding in hope. how wonderful it is
to get up every morning with a good hope, hope that is steadfast
and sure. And the apostle says here in
the Romans 15, the 13th verse, you be filled with all joy and
peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power
of the Holy Ghost. And that's what I want to speak
to you about today, our urgent need, of the Holy Ghost. Verse 19 says, through mighty
signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. Mighty
signs and wonders. I'm often asked because I am,
you've never heard me speak in tongues, I never have. I don't
know about all that for me personally, never have. But I have seen signs
and wonders. I do believe in signs and wonders.
You're sitting in a building that's a wonder. If you'd have
seen it four or five years ago, you'd know this is a wonder.
And then when you contemplate, well, how did all that happen
with all you poor people who attend here, us poor people? You say, God had to do that. You're sitting in a building
with a few million dollars invested, and I don't see a person in here
that gave the first mill, but here we are. And it just keeps
getting gooder as far as God blessing us. In October, we're going to dedicate
our 50th house. We called it the old flea house.
It was full of fleas. It was the filthiest house I've
ever seen. Now it's probably the most beautiful house on Moreland
Street. Just an outstanding place. You
say, well, all of those are physical things. I know that. But then
look around you in here. What a mess you are. And you got this messed up hillbilly
preacher that screams and yells and wears a suit and tie every
Sunday. You know, that's not the norm.
You ought to wear jeans. I mean, we're a weird bunch of
people. We're not exactly in the norm
of religion. But what a power is manifested
here. I could tell some mighty powerful
stories looking across this congregation. I've seen many of you in jail. I've been there when the judge
says, you can go to Grayson as a Hope or you can go to Jackson
prison. I've seen God bring you out.
I've seen God deliver you from the power of drugs. Some of you
were so stinking pious and religious that people could hardly stand
to be around you. And you found out you were the
chief of sinners and needed a savior. That's the power of the Spirit
of God. I was going through, as I do
many, many times, thinking over the years, over 50 years, And
I found this text that I preach from, Romans 15, 13, and 19,
40 some years ago. And this is my
notes from 40 some years ago. So it'll be a fresh message today
because this is the new notes, but the same message. And I said to myself this week
as I looked over these notes that I preached in that little
Bryantsville Baptist Church many, many years ago, and the questions
are still pertinent. I said, wonder if this is a church
that this generation will listen to knowing we speak from heaven. When an unbelieving drug addict,
hopeless person comes in and meets with us on Sunday mornings,
something ought to happen to him or her. And something will
happen if the Holy Spirit is here in power. We desperately
need the Holy Spirit here. Some of you here today will not
be here in three months. You're gonna get over your heroin
addiction or crack addiction or alcoholism and you're ready
to go. You've already prayed on it.
You're totally over your addiction and you're ready to go find a
job in California. Some of you won't be here. Some
of you have been around here a long time. There are people
here this morning who've been here 39 years because of a love of the gospel and because of the power of the
Holy Spirit. The only spirit that can deal
with this heroine spirit is the Holy Spirit. May God manifest
Himself to you today. May God deliver you from those
chains of addiction that bind you today. Listen with both your
ears today. And may it get out in Pontiac.
If you don't want to get saved, don't get near that church, because
God's over there. God's in there preaching. God's
in there praying. God's in there singing. God's
over there. That ought to be the reputation
we have. when a Pharisee who's been trained
to put a little money in the plate and sit comes in here,
but he meets up with a power that turns him inside out, lets
him see himself to be a sinner in need of a Savior, that his
little sprinkling holy water on his head isn't going to take
him to heaven. that drinking a little grape
juice and taking unleavened bread or being immersed in that pool
is not going to take you to heaven. Something, someone, a power greater
than yourself must work in you and bring you to faith in Jesus
Christ. What happens in a congregation
where the Spirit of the Living God is active? Here's what happens. The Holy Spirit penetrates the
human spirit and gets inside of a man or woman and stabs them
with the truth. Have you ever been stabbed with
the truth? I mean, it was like a knife piercing
your heart. You saw your sinnership. You'd
been wandering around in that cellar of life for a long, long
time. Some of you are so blind that
you have that cellar door in your life. I mean, you act like
it's not there. When we were building the house
we're in now, Dan Gross and others helped us build that house 30
some years ago. The city of Troy said, you can't
have an upstairs attic. Well, we'd already made an upstairs
attic. The inspector said, he might
have been a little crooked, he said, just put a piece of drywall
over where that attic door is. And you know, when he came through
there, he didn't even look at that. He just acted like that
wasn't there. Some of you are living your life
like you don't have a cellar. What the Spirit of God will do
is take you down in that cellar. And when He takes you down there,
He flips on the lights. Oh, and there are some creeping,
crawling things down there. Spider webs, traps set. When the lights come on and you
see your... Have you ever seen yourself to
be a sinner? Only the Holy Spirit can make
a sinner. If you're a sinner, I got some
great news for you. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners like you. Now, all you nice people this
morning are in the wrong place. There are plenty of religious
places today that would just make you feel very comfortable
because you've kept all the rules that they have. You don't roller
skate or, you know, A lot of things you don't do, but deep
down in that cellar room, when the lights come on, you find
out what you are. And the first thing you realize
is, I need a Redeemer. I need a Savior. I need the power
of the blood of Christ. I'm a mess. The Holy Spirit penetrates the
human spirit. And the secrets, as Paul said
in the Corinthian letter, the secrets of your heart are made
manifest. The secrets of your heart. There
are none so blind as those who cannot see. And some of you sitting
in here today are, I'm not a sinner. I'm not a sinner. Two or three
more months over at Grace Centers and I'm out of here. I'm getting
my weight back. I'm ready to go. No. You came
in a mess and you're still a mess. And the only hope for you is
for the Spirit of God. May He be here today. May He
speak to you today. May something happen on the inside
of you that only God can do called regeneration. May that happen.
The Holy Spirit using the truth. One thing I do try to do is to
be very blunt. with regard to what the scripture
says about us, all have sinned and missed the mark. I guarantee
you, I don't care who you are or what position you hold in
life, you are a sinner. You have transgressed the law
of God. And when the Spirit of God comes,
you can't alibi anymore. You know what an alibi is. It's
like when we call on you to drop and you test dirty and you go,
there's something wrong with that test. There's something
wrong with that test. I'm telling you, I haven't used
and I'm telling you. How old was that test? And you
are so good at alibying. And then for all of you religious
people, I don't want to leave you out. I got some news for
you. You cover the dung with urine. You're so squeaky religious that
nobody can get close to you. You're so good. You're a Catholic,
a Methodist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian. You've been there. After all,
you paid for most of the brick in the building. Bill Davis used to say to me,
Bill was one of our major donors and came to know Christ at 80
some years old. We'd be out on the golf course
on Thursday morning. I'd play golf with him. I'm a
horrible golfer. One day he asked me, Pastor,
do you play golf? I said, oh, I'm horrible at golf. That's great. I want to take
you golfing with me. So on Thursday morning, we'd
play golf. And he was a big contributor. And Bill would say to me out
there on the golf course, I'm a good person, Arne Pastor. I'd
go, no, you're a no good for nothing, sorry, rascal. You need
a savior. And it wasn't until he was on
his deathbed that his cleaning lady led him to Jesus Christ
in Beaumont Hospital. But here's what Bill said to
me on his deathbed. He said, Pastor, I'm glad you're
here. And you know, I want my funeral
to be in the bar. He called this the bar. I want
it to be in that bar building. I said, yes. He said, but there's
something I want to tell you. He's laying there in the bed
with 30 days left to live. He said, you know what you tell
me on the golf course? I said, well, I tell you a lot
on the golf course. He said, you know about being
a sinner and no good. I said, I do, I do know, I've
told you that. He said, what you didn't know
is my cleaning lady has been telling me that for 29 years,
that I need Jesus. And she came up here last night
and led me to Christ and I trusted Christ. Isn't that something? I'm talking about the work of
the Holy Spirit. You say, Pastor, that sounds kind of ghostly and
scary to me. No, it's the most wonderful thing
in the world. In fact, nothing's going to happen
here if the Spirit of God is not here. I have no magic wand. I've never, well, a few people
have told me. I met a person in Lancaster,
Kentucky. I had five radio programs back
then, and this was one of them on a Sunday morning. I got there
at 8.30 and was getting ready, pulled up to the radio station,
and there was a guy that was shot drunk. I mean, he was just
shot drunk, and he staggered up to me and he goes, I just
want to tell you, you saved me. I said, you look like one of
my converts. I haven't saved anybody. And
if I did, it won't be long until they'll show I didn't do a very
good job. The Holy Spirit, using truth,
will bring out of the closet those skeletons that have been
so nicely covered up that even the people that buried them had
forgotten them. Remember when the Lord brought
your attention to your need of a Savior, and you began to think
about all of the mess? All of the mess. I mean, it was
overwhelming. Things clearly that maybe you
hadn't done in years, and you'd put them in that closet, but
the Spirit of God came and brought you out of the closets, so to
speak, and you saw all of those things. You thought they didn't
even exist. You thought they were gone. They
happened years ago. No, still there. You need a Savior. You need a Redeemer. Those things
that are deep in men's hearts that keep them hostile to the
cross of Christ are made manifest. Some of you are still running.
You're not going to admit your sinnership. You're not going
to admit it on your own. There needs to be a powerful
work of the Spirit of God. Wouldn't it be something if He
was here today in power? And way back there, you're hiding
back there or up there in the balcony somewhere, you're hiding,
you've camouflaged yourself really good. And the Spirit of God expose
you and bring you to faith in Christ. There's no hope outside
of this. There's no hope. Outside of the Holy Spirit, that's
why I keep preaching. People often say, you know, what
are you doing over there anyway? I'm preaching to people who are
hopeless outside of the Holy Spirit. My hope is not in men.
My hope is not in me. My hope is not in my seminary
training. My hope is not in my voice or
my mannerisms of preaching. My hope is in the Lord that he
will be here today. And that's my only hope. You
know, for 50-some years now, this has been my hope, that somewhere,
someday, after planting and nurturing and tilling, there will be a
New Testament church that God has invaded. When people talk about, Pastor,
are you going to retire? When are you going to retire?
When are you going to do this? When are you going to slow down? I
think to myself, when my dream comes true, when my dream comes
true, I'll be about ready to go to heaven. In fact, it'll
be a little heaven on earth when the Holy Spirit is here in such
power that while I'm preaching, we have Holy Spirit interruptions
with somebody shouting, He did it! I've been born again, I've been
regenerated, I've been given life, me, the sinner. If I could
just live a few days where we didn't have to sing 40 stanzas
just as I am to try to get some people to confess faith in Christ,
if they just pop out of their seats while I'm preaching, wouldn't
that be something? That's what happened in the book
of Acts. You know, I've had that happen a couple times. I was
over at Maple Grove Baptist Church out near Romeo Point way back,
wasn't even married then, just a preacher kid. And people were converted one
night right while I was preaching. I hardly knew what to do. Most
likely, some of us in here, if you jump up and say, I just came
to faith in Christ. I trusted Christ. Oh, what a
wonder that Jesus saved me. Out in the darkness, no light
could I see. He put his great arm under. Oh,
and wonder of wonders, he saved even me. I want to tell you all,
I've been saved by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus Christ is
my Lord and Savior. Wouldn't that be something? We
might get to thinking this was real. You know, that's what happened
on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit confronting men
with the truth of Jesus Christ. And Acts 2.37 says, Now when
they heard this, they were stabbed. Christ was made real. Is it real
to you? You know, some of you are wrestling
with so many things that happened in your past. You know, I grew
up in a nice little Baptist church where we didn't roller skate
and we didn't dance and we didn't play cards. I mean, it was a
miserable life. We didn't do much of anything,
but we were Baptists. I mean, we were Baptists, and
some people believed that only real, real Baptists were going
to be in the Bride of Christ. Where was the joy that Paul talked
about in Romans 15? Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing. I mean, this is something exciting,
this is something wonderful. Some of you in here, see, what
I was going to say about that Baptist part is I know some of
you, you know, holding hands while you roller skate with a
person of the opposite sex is not too big a sin to you. Oh,
what we're dealing with here is men and women who have been
molested by their brother. by their uncle, by their sister. I mean, we're dealing with folks
who have wounds and scars and have turned to the false gods
because they cannot live with what's happened to them. But
oh, when the Comforter comes, when the Holy Spirit of God,
when the Paraclete comes, and quickens and gives life, and
causes you to see that all of your mess of the past, your mama
didn't love you, your dad didn't love you, you had a mess, I mean,
your life, and then some of you church people, you think things
like that don't go on in church? Look at what's happening and
being exposed with the Catholic Church now. And what's going
on, not just for a few months, but years and years and years. The world is a mess and men and
women are depraved. And the only hope, and what a
hope it is, is in Jesus Christ. He can heal your broken heart.
Say, well, I just don't think I will ever have joy and peace
and hope. Oh, you can if the Spirit of
God works on you. He will give you all of that. The Bible says that in the book
of Acts, when they heard the gospel and were stabbed in their
heart, they cried, men and brethren, what shall we do? In the Bible,
no one ever got saved except they were begging someone to
tell them. It's true. In our religious zeal, this is
absolutely true, in our religious zeal we have whittled the claims
of God in Christ down to where the human mind can accept the
gospel and go on to hell. That's true. You know what I
just said? It's possible for you to get in a church, become
all religious, and attend almost every Sunday, and go on to hell,
because you've never had a supernatural, powerful work of the Spirit of
God which brought you out of darkness, turned you inside out,
and let you see yourself as you really are, and that your only
hope was in a substitute, a Redeemer, a Savior, a propitiation who
was able to pay your sin debt and set you free. Some of you
are still wrestling with all kinds of false guilt and condemnation
about what happened to you when you were a kid. When Jesus comes
in power and forgiveness, all of that is washed away. Though
your sins be as many, He makes you whitest snow. There's no
condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. You know why
I don't preach and put you on a guilt trip? Because it's all
a lie. There's no hope or joy in that.
The truth is, the Spirit of God is called the Comforter, and
when He comes, that's what He does. He points you to Jesus
Christ, where you see, His name shall be called Jesus, for He
shall save His people from their sins. How glorious is that truth. I wish we would quit giving the
outside world the idea that we're We're all so pious. I want the world to know. Come
in here, we have a gospel for sinners. I want Pontiac to know. I often think about my past years
as a young pastor. I have waited for revival and
for a God invasion for years. And I don't know, I do believe
this, and I'm not going to get into politics, but I believe
this. Sometimes I scratch my head with
regard to what our president says and does. But I do know
this, as weird as it is, I suspect God's doing something in this
country. I suspect we're having some kind of... For years, I
would preach, God is a stranger in America. It looks like there's
not going to be any kind of turning back. And I felt under so many
laws that said, you couldn't get into politics from the pulpit,
and you couldn't do this, and you couldn't do that. And I wasn't
into politics, but I'm into God invasions. for God coming into America again
and making this nation strong and safe again for my grandkids,
the Spirit of God. We've got to have a Holy Spirit
invasion. I wonder who I'm talking to today.
I don't know. I don't know. I'm talking to
somebody. Somebody here, and I think that
you're hearing me. You know, I would love to live
a month when men were conscious that Jesus Christ was alive.
I mean, do you believe He's alive?
I mean, really, do you believe He's alive? You believe He's
at the right hand of God? Do you? I mean, I'm not talking
about you being Methodist or Baptist or Catholic. I'm talking
about, is He in your heart, in your daily life? He lives! You ask me how I know he lives?
He lives within my heart. I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. You
know what salvation is? Salvation is where an old rebel
sweetly bows at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoices
that Christ is on God's throne. I said, well, pastor, you're
saying things today. I've been in church all my life.
I never heard those things. Oh, I know that. I know most
churches today, I understand that. I understand that, that
most churches today, if the Holy Spirit were to die, would go
right on having their little services and never miss him.
I realized that today. I can't live on that stuff. I've
been around religion all my life. I want a Holy Spirit invasion.
Well, Pastor, it sounds like you're going kind of charismatic. No, I'm just telling you what
the Bible says, that the Holy Spirit brings joy and peace and
hope in here. And without joy and peace and
hope in here, we can't be too effective out there. In the morning,
tomorrow, you're going to meet a lot of sad people at work,
play, wherever you are, people that are down, people that need to see your
smile and joy. What are you so happy about? How come you have such hope?
Well, I'll tell you why. Because everything is working
for my good. Everything is working for my good and for God's glory. Well, now I'm going to preach
my sermon. The power of the church outside,
that which she is to be upon the world for the gathering out
of God's elect from among men, is also attributed to the Holy
Spirit. What happens out there has a
lot to do with what happens in here. Say, if you've been addicted
to heroin, or whatever you're addicted to, and suddenly you're
not, Suddenly you hate what you once
loved and love what you once hated. And your old friends kind
of scratch their head like this. Oh, you went over there and got
religion, did you? I'm not real comfortable hanging
out with you, but you sure have changed. Something happened. What has happened to you? Brother
Barnard used to tell this story. I love to hear him tell it. There
was a banker in Texas and he was just a hellraiser type of
guy, but a very successful president of a bank. He had a secretary
named Mary. She had been his secretary for
over 30 years. One day, and the banker got saved,
come to know Christ, and Mary was sitting in his office one
day and he was dictating to her, and the banker looked up, big tears were rolling down Mary's
cheeks, and the banker said, Mary, what's
wrong? And she said to him, There's nothing wrong. I'm just
wondering what has happened to you. You're such a kind man now. And what had happened is he had
been born of the Spirit of God, regenerated. You know, if we're
going to have power in Pontiac, Things are happening in this
city. But my dream has been that this local church would be used
of God, like the church in the book of Acts, to turn the city
upside down. The city, years ago, was doing
its best to turn us upside down. But wouldn't it be something?
Wouldn't you be suspect? I wonder if you're suspect. Why
would God place us in the old sanctum saloon, the old clutch
cargo nightclub. Why would God put us here? Hmm,
wonder if He's got a plan. Wonder if He's going to take
us nobodies and turn the first, second, third
wealthiest county seat in the United States upside down. Wonder
if the economic comeback has anything to do with little old
Grace Centers of Hope and Grace Gospel Fellowship downtown. Wonder if 50 houses being changed
from drug houses to Christ houses. Wonder if, wonder, hey, I'm about
to get excited here. Wonder, just, hey, hey, hey,
wonder. Wonder if God's in what's happening
here. I wonder, I just wonder. I'm defeated, you're defeated
in self-efforts, but God is never defeated. He's sovereign, He's
mighty, He's able, and I trust Him and believe Him. I feel like I've made a mess
of what I wanted to say. I struggled all week with this,
so I was suspect that God was going to be in it. I got it figured
this way. I don't know where you are or
who you are, but you're sitting in here, I don't even know your
name. But God has your name written
in His book. You didn't even know He had your
name written in His book. And now you're suspect. Hey,
I didn't come over there to get saved. I came over there to get
a little fat on my bones and didn't have any place to stay.
I didn't even know it was a, you had to go to church. God set a trap for you. And when
you were a foff, when you were way out there using, His eye
is on the sparrow, and He was watching over you and directing
your life. And here you are this morning,
and you've got goosebumps right now, and you're thinking, He's
talking to me. He's read my mail. He knows the
Spirit of God is doing something inside of me. It'd be awful if
you'd just jump and say, it's me, pastor. You got me. You know, we're such cons, and
I don't know why the Lord's bringing this to mind, but used to back
in the day over there, somebody missed church, I would be suspect
that they were using. I'm still kind of that way. That's
why, don't sit in the same place if you don't want me to miss
you, because I'll say, you know, the guy who wore glasses and
had orange hair, he wasn't there Sunday. Anyway, we had a guy
working for us, And he missed two Sundays. And I said to him
on this particular Monday, I called his name and I said, I want you
to go drop. And he looked right at me, he was a shift leader.
I said, I can't believe you're
asking me to drop. I said, you know, when you get
through crying, go do your thing in the cup. He looked right at
me and went like this, you got me, I'm dirty. You see, I know
I got your number. I got your number. And I know
this, only the Holy Spirit can change you. It's not gonna take
the cups. It's going to take the Holy Spirit
of God to change you. It's not gonna be a little one
year program over here. It's gonna be the Holy Spirit
doing something in you. A powerful move of the Spirit
of God. You know, I look around here
and we have 300 or 400 people here today. God keeps bringing
new people in. Some of you moms and dads now
that, you know, you didn't go to church much, but you lost
your son or daughter to the crack man or to heroin or whatever.
Now you're coming in. It was all a trap. It was God's way of getting you
under the gospel. Mom and Dad, not only does your
daughter or son need the power of the Holy Spirit, but you need
the power of the Holy Spirit to regenerate you. We're all such a mess and only
the Spirit of God can fix it. I wonder today if he's spoken
to somebody, in your heart, in your soul, you've seen yourself
a sinner, and you just know this one thing, I know I'm a sinner
and nothing at all, but I'm going to trust Jesus Christ to be my
all in all. I know there is sufficiency in
Christ. I want that joy and that peace
and that hope that the Spirit of God brings. I want a little
heaven on the way to heaven. You know, I see so many sad people. Every day I see so many sad people. You don't have that joy. You
don't have that hope. You can leave here today, though
you have wallowed in the stables of sin, you can leave here today
saying this, I know I'm His. I don't know why He would even
look my way, but I know I'm His. I know He loves me. I know it
for sure. I know he died in my stead, in
my room. I know my sins are paid for.
I know that what happened in my past, I don't have to live
under that kind of condemnation and judgment. We talk to people
around here all the time who say things like this, you know,
I just can't get past. I can't get past this, I feel,
I understand that. And it does need to be dealt
with. The whole sexual thing is such
a mess in our country. Just a mess, in and out of the
church. People living like animals. People molesting their kids,
all kinds of just mess. And then on top of that, our
churches have got so churchy that we don't talk about it.
So people like you sitting here today who have hid your sexual
abuse for years and years and years, you can't talk to anybody
about it because you don't think anybody understands it because
the church doesn't mention it. The church tries to cover everything
up, not the spirit of God. He'll put your head in your belly
button and let you see all that stuff and then take your head
out and have you look away to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Let's stand together and praise
our God. Would you confess Him today?
I don't know what your problem is, but I know the Holy Spirit
is greater than whatever your problem is. I do know that.