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Experience the life-changing messages from the Church of God’s annual Winterfest youth gathering. These are the sermons, moments, and voices that have shaped generations of young believers — now available anytime, anywhere.
Speaker 1: There we go, that's a little better.
Speaker 1: Hey, while you make the transition,
Speaker 1: I do wanna take a moment and just say thank you so much
Speaker 1: for the opportunity to be back here
Speaker 1: at Northeast Winterfest.
Speaker 1: Bishop Bender, they keep having me, man.
Speaker 1: They keep letting me come back.
Speaker 1: So even, Bishop Smith, even when I get gray in my beard,
Speaker 1: they're like, hey, bring that guy back, bring him back.
Speaker 1: So for those of you that are new
Speaker 1: to Northeast Winterfest this year,
Speaker 1: and we've not had the privilege yet to meet,
Speaker 1: my name is JC Worley.
Speaker 1: My family and I, we pastor a great church
Speaker 1: Go Church, the broadcast campus is located in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: We've got a couple other campuses, and what God is doing at Go Church is awesome.
Speaker 1: How about this?
Speaker 1: Last year in 2024 at Go Church, we saw 1,786 people accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: But I want to say thank you to the leadership here of not only Northeast and the steering committee.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for inviting me to come back,
Speaker 1: but also these moments of revival and these Winterfests are happening all over the country.
Speaker 1: And I'm so proud and thankful to be a part of a denomination, the Church of God,
Speaker 1: that believes in our sons and daughters.
Speaker 1: Come on, can I get an amen?
Speaker 1: That invests time and resources and all of the requirements that it takes to pull off weekends like this.
Speaker 1: And so to our International Youth Director, Brian Jan, and his wife, Kathy, I want to say thank you.
Speaker 1: again to this particular steering committee. Thank you so much for letting me be a part here. And
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be here. I actually, for what it's worth, I asked to preach on a Saturday morning.
Speaker 1: I wanted this moment. I know it's a tough moment. I know a few of you got very little sleep. And
Speaker 1: some of you, when you don't get sleep, you get angry. Come on, where are you at? You're in a bad
Speaker 1: mood. Jesus touch them all. Come on, there you go. Hey, I also look in the back of the room. We've got
Speaker 1: our Lee University booth that's back there. I want to say to every high school student, make sure you
Speaker 1: stop by and you talk to CJ. He's there at the Lee booth. I'm a proud Lee alum. I met my wife,
Speaker 1: Kimberly, at Lee University. I tell everybody this. God is my witness. The two greatest decisions I've
Speaker 1: ever made in my life, yes to Jesus. Come on, Christians. And yes to going to Lee University.
Speaker 1: Everything good in my life today is because of those two decisions,
Speaker 1: yes to Jesus and yes to Lee.
Speaker 1: And so I just want to invite all of you high schoolers, stop by.
Speaker 1: They're giving away scholarships.
Speaker 1: Come on now.
Speaker 1: So swing by there.
Speaker 1: Make sure you check out what God is doing at Lee,
Speaker 1: and we'd love for you to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: I got a picture of my family.
Speaker 1: They don't always get to travel with me,
Speaker 1: so I just wanted you to see a little photo of my family.
Speaker 1: Come on now.
Speaker 1: If you've ever wondered, is God a God of miracles?
Speaker 1: Look at how ugly I am, and look at how pretty my wife is.
Speaker 1: Come on now.
Speaker 1: And every married man that married up, give me a good amen right there.
Speaker 1: I know yesterday was Valentine's.
Speaker 1: We're trying to get some brownie points.
Speaker 1: My wife Kimberly and I, I told you this a moment ago, we met at Lee University.
Speaker 1: I was a senior.
Speaker 1: She was a freshman.
Speaker 1: We went on one date, and I told her I loved her, and I wanted to marry her.
Speaker 1: One date.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget what she said back to me.
Speaker 1: She looked me square in my eyes, and she said,
Speaker 1: My daddy warned me about guys just like you.
Speaker 1: this past October we celebrated 20 years being married come on now 20 years
Speaker 1: uh then on the the far end of the photo is our little girl London Grace she'll be 10 years old
Speaker 1: next month and she's spoiled rotten uh I don't I don't think I'm raising her well because I just
Speaker 1: give her everything that she wants I told London the other day she crawled up on my lap she was
Speaker 1: sitting on my lap. I said, London, you better marry a very rich man because I have spoiled you.
Speaker 1: And so, but she's the princess of our house. And then all the way on the opposite end is our son
Speaker 1: Lakeland. As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, Lake, we call him Lake, Lake has been at every
Speaker 1: Northeast Winterfest that I've preached at all the way back to when he was really small. I don't,
Speaker 1: we got to go back in the archives, but a number of years ago, I did a sermon on Naaman where I
Speaker 1: dipped myself seven times in water. Was anybody here that year? Okay, we got a photo of Lake when
Speaker 1: he was so small, right off the side of the stage, just looking at me thinking, what is my daddy
Speaker 1: doing baptizing himself in that water on that stage? Now, he's traveled with me two years in a row from
Speaker 1: Atlanta to Buffalo to be at Northeast Winterfest, and he's here today. I'm actually going to invite
Speaker 1: Lake to come out. He just turned 15 years old, and so Lake, he's going to come, and I've asked him to
Speaker 1: pray over you all this morning. Can we do that? Now, I know you just made your way back to your
Speaker 1: seat, but just out of reverence for the presence of the Lord, will you stand with us? And then I
Speaker 1: want Lake, the young lion, come on. Lake's going to preach his own Northeast Winterfest one day in
Speaker 1: Jesus' name. So now I know what you're thinking. How's he so tall? He's 15. I believe I'm his real
Speaker 1: daddy. I think I am. I told my wife, baby, if something happened, just tell me. I'm going to
Speaker 1: love you anyway. We'll work through it. But Lake, I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of who you are
Speaker 1: as a young man. One of the greatest gifts of my life is to be your dad. Lake and I went to Florida
Speaker 1: youth camp this past summer. I invited Lake to travel with me. And it was very last minute that
Speaker 1: he said yes to the invitation. As a matter of fact, I was flying out the next day and Lake said,
Speaker 1: I think I want to go. It's a big commitment for somebody that's in high school. And Lake's an
Speaker 1: athlete. He plays football and lacrosse. Lake is missing three lacrosse games this weekend because
Speaker 1: he wanted to be here at Northeast Winterfest with you all. It's a big decision. The first three games
Speaker 1: of the season, which is going to be a challenge for him to get playing time. So you got to get
Speaker 1: doing the work, bud. But we went to Florida Youth Camp last summer together. At Florida Youth Camp
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night, there was an opportunity for students to respond to the baptism of the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. That same moment will happen here in about 40
Speaker 1: minutes. I watched as my son Lake got out of his seat and walked to the front of that youth camp
Speaker 1: conference center, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, received the gift of tongues,
Speaker 1: come on somebody, and was called into full-time ministry. Come on, isn't that awesome?
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 1: Lake, I want you to pray for us.
Speaker 1: Take your hands, palms up towards heaven,
Speaker 1: as if somebody were putting a gift in your hand.
Speaker 1: All right, Lake, pray for us today.
Speaker 2: Dear Lord, we thank you for just this opportunity to come and praise you
Speaker 2: and glorify your name, Lord, at Northeast Winterfest this year, Lord.
Speaker 2: We pray that you would just touch the hearts of all of us here, Lord,
Speaker 2: that you would just open our hearts and open our minds just to receive your word today.
Speaker 2: Lord, I pray that you would just touch every one of the students here,
Speaker 2: no matter what they walk through, Lord.
Speaker 3: Because you defeat
Speaker 2: every battle, no matter what the battle is, Lord.
Speaker 2: And you can defeat any battle, Lord.
Speaker 2: So we pray that you would just touch the hearts of all of us, Lord.
Speaker 2: That you would just open our hearts, Lord, and fill us with your Holy Spirit, Lord.
Speaker 2: And that you would just continue to fill us, not only while we're here, but as we go out, wherever we go after we're here, Lord.
Speaker 2: And we pray that all of this in your name, amen.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: Come on and give Jesus some praise.
Speaker 1: All right, turn to two or three people and say, I want a gift today.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and tell them that.
Speaker 1: I want a gift today. As a matter of fact, speaking of gifts, you can grab a seat. I don't want there
Speaker 1: to be chaos in the room. I don't anticipate that this would be a large number, but is there anybody
Speaker 1: at Northeast Winterfest that today, Saturday, February 15th, it is your birthday. Today
Speaker 1: is your birthday. Is there somebody's birthday? Come on up here. Come here. I got a gift for
Speaker 1: anybody else's birthday. Is it your birthday too? Come here, Bishop. Hey, give it up for these two
Speaker 1: right here. Bishop Benda, somebody yell out his name. What's his name? I love it. Ready? Here we go.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday. Bishop, here you go. Happy birthday. God bless you. Big finish.
Speaker 1: Come on and wish him a happy birthday. I got you a gift. Man, I love gifts. You know,
Speaker 1: the Bible talks about that it is more blessed to give than it is to, but I sure like to receive
Speaker 1: some gifts. I love at my birthday or Christmas time when there are packages that have my name on
Speaker 1: them. Now I am a terrible gift giver and it's not what the reason that you think it is. I actually
Speaker 1: give really good gifts, but I can't hold on to the gift. So I'll buy something for Kimberly, my wife,
Speaker 1: or I'll buy something for the kids.
Speaker 1: And then I can't wait for the moment to give it to them
Speaker 1: on Christmas or their birthday
Speaker 1: or any other special occasion.
Speaker 1: I give every gift prematurely.
Speaker 1: I love to give gifts, but I also love to receive gifts.
Speaker 1: Now I'm a pastor, a full-time pastor,
Speaker 1: so I don't make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: Come on, pastors.
Speaker 1: So I could only afford two Winterfest t-shirts.
Speaker 1: So I don't have gifts for everybody today.
Speaker 1: But here is the message.
Speaker 1: God is a good gift giver.
Speaker 1: And God gives gifts generously.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I want you to think about this really quick and then put a bookmark in it.
Speaker 1: Here on this earth, what is the greatest gift that you've ever been given?
Speaker 1: Think about it and bookmark it.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you a story at the end of the sermon about one of the greatest gifts that I've ever been given while I've been alive here on planet earth.
Speaker 1: But even in our ability as human beings to give the greatest gift, it fails in comparison to the good gifts that God gives us.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in Matthew chapter 7, one verse of scripture here, that if you then, though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children,
Speaker 1: then how much more will your Father in heaven give?
Speaker 1: On the count of three, shout these two words, good gifts, one, two, three.
Speaker 1: to those who ask him. God is a good gift giver, and God has a lot of gifts that he wants to give
Speaker 1: his children. Much like me as a father, I want to give gifts to my kids, even though my life and my
Speaker 1: heart can be sinful, and I've got this sin nature within me. God's ability to give gifts are so much
Speaker 1: greater than my ability to give the greatest gift. As a matter of fact, I'll only talk about two gifts
Speaker 1: this morning, and the first one I'll fly through, the second one I'll sit on for a moment, because
Speaker 1: Pastor Mo preached this gift last night. The single greatest gift that God offers every single one of
Speaker 1: us is the gift of eternal life. This is salvation. This is what Pastor, come on, Pastor Mo, he's a
Speaker 1: machine, isn't he? I love that guy. He's a good friend. He's on the north side of Atlanta. I'm on
Speaker 1: the south side of Atlanta, so we always talk about how we're just going to let revival happen all over
Speaker 1: Atlanta. Come on now. We got a little team thing going. He talked about the gift of salvation,
Speaker 1: how the Bible teaches us that the wages of our sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing about salvation. Salvation requires repentance, confession, and accepting
Speaker 1: Jesus as Lord and Savior. Salvation is not the moment that you walked into the church that you
Speaker 1: attend right now. Salvation is not your Winterfest registration. Salvation is the moment that you fall
Speaker 1: on your face before the Lord and you realize that without Jesus you were lost and dying and on your
Speaker 1: way to hell. But thanks be to God that he sent his one and only begotten son so that whosoever would
Speaker 1: believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting eternal life. I need like 200 Christians that are
Speaker 1: thankful for heaven to give Jesus some praise. Come on now. The gift of eternal life stands on its own.
Speaker 1: Listen, if you're taking notes, write this down or at least put it in your heart.
Speaker 1: You don't get any other gift that God has for you until you first receive the gift of salvation.
Speaker 1: And too often, people want to bypass this gift, hoping to get all of the other good gifts that God has for them,
Speaker 1: but all of the other gifts are contingent upon the gift of eternal life.
Speaker 1: One of the great challenges that I see with people is this, and Pastor Mo talked about this last night.
Speaker 1: People want Jesus to be their Savior, but they want to be their own Lord.
Speaker 1: Jesus, save me from my sin.
Speaker 1: Save me from the penalty of sin.
Speaker 1: Save me from the consequences of sin.
Speaker 1: Save me from eternal damnation.
Speaker 1: Save me from hell.
Speaker 1: But I want to be my own Lord.
Speaker 1: I want to do my own thing my own way.
Speaker 1: And listen to me right now.
Speaker 1: Jesus is your Savior and he has to be your Lord.
Speaker 1: Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1: Paul told the church at Ephesus, watch this.
Speaker 1: Basically, there's nothing you can do to earn this gift.
Speaker 1: it's a free gift. Jesus climbed up on that cross at Calvary and when he shed his innocent blood
Speaker 1: he had you, you on his mind. And Paul told the church at Ephesus he says for it is by grace
Speaker 1: that you have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves. You can't earn salvation.
Speaker 1: You can't work for salvation. You can't read your Bible enough times from Genesis to Revelation
Speaker 1: for salvation. You can't do enough humanitarian effort or volunteer hours to be saved. The only
Speaker 1: way that you can receive this gift of eternal life is to open up your mouth and declare Jesus as
Speaker 1: Savior and Lord. Repent of your sin and say, okay, now I want the gift of salvation. And every other
Speaker 1: gift is contingent upon that gift. Was it not awesome to watch hundreds of students respond last
Speaker 1: night to salvation? Don't ever let that get old. You know, one of the reasons that I believe God
Speaker 1: has allowed the ministry of Go Church to see so many people saved is because I never preach a
Speaker 1: sermon without a call to receive the gift of eternal life. A few Sundays ago, I stood before
Speaker 1: our congregation and said, I'm believing that in the next five years at Go Church, we'll see 5,000
Speaker 1: people get saved. The greatest decision you could ever make is to receive the gift of eternal life.
Speaker 1: The problem, though, is that for many Christians, they don't realize that that's not the end-all,
Speaker 1: be-all. That that is the hope of eternal glory in heaven with Jesus, and we are promised to never
Speaker 1: die and to spend eternity with him in heaven. But listen, last time I checked, bad grammar,
Speaker 1: good preaching, you ain't dead yet. You're alive right now. Now you may feel dead from a lack of
Speaker 1: sleep, but there is blood flowing through your body right now. There is oxygen in your lungs right now.
Speaker 1: You got a heartbeat right now. So while the gift of eternal life gives us the security of heaven,
Speaker 1: what about now? And God says, while you're alive on the earth, I've got another really good gift.
Speaker 1: And that's the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: I don't think that many students realize how important it is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: I actually think a part of that is because there's a lot of confusion around who the Holy Spirit is.
Speaker 1: So for most of us, we understand that he is God our Father and he is God the Son.
Speaker 1: At least there's movies about Jesus and pictures about Jesus.
Speaker 1: And it always baffles my mind, how did they get a picture of Jesus?
Speaker 1: Some of you will get that joke at lunch.
Speaker 1: Come on now, tough crowd.
Speaker 1: We understand God the Father and God the Son because we at least have some images of that,
Speaker 1: but very few people know about the power and the person of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: This is what I want to talk about for the next few minutes.
Speaker 1: Watch this.
Speaker 1: In Acts chapter number one, this is the resurrected Jesus talking to the disciples.
Speaker 1: Jesus had already gone to the cross on Friday.
Speaker 1: He had already taken our place.
Speaker 1: We deserve death on that cross, but Jesus willingly took our place.
Speaker 1: He took the nails in his hand and the crown of thorns on his head.
Speaker 1: They pierced his side, and he breathed his last breath on that cross at Calvary.
Speaker 1: And the moment that he breathed his last breath, he cried out to his Father in heaven,
Speaker 1: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Speaker 1: They took his lifeless body down from the cross.
Speaker 1: They buried him in a borrowed tomb.
Speaker 1: three days later, come on, you heard this last night, up from the grave, Jesus arose. And when
Speaker 1: he came back to life, he started making appearances to the people, to the masses. On one of these
Speaker 1: occasions, and a few different perspectives within the gospel, Jesus was talking to the disciples.
Speaker 1: And here is what Jesus said before he ascended to heaven, which is where Jesus is at right now.
Speaker 1: The Bible says Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and he's praying for you and me.
Speaker 1: It's awesome, isn't it? So before he ascended to heaven, he said to his disciples in Acts 1,
Speaker 1: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the what? Come on, students, wait for the what?
Speaker 1: But wait for the gift that my father promised, which you heard me speak about.
Speaker 1: Now, I want you to see this right here. For John baptized with water, but in a few days,
Speaker 1: you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Now, I don't have time.
Speaker 1: I've got 20-something minutes on the clock here
Speaker 1: to jump into the deep end of the theological discussion
Speaker 1: about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: So I need pastors, youth pastors, small group leaders,
Speaker 1: Sunday school teachers.
Speaker 1: You've got to teach your young people
Speaker 1: about the power and the person of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Before you clap, let me say this.
Speaker 1: I told Pastor Mo this morning
Speaker 1: when he was getting to head to the airport.
Speaker 1: Mo, last night you preached the most important sermon
Speaker 1: that anybody could ever hear,
Speaker 1: that God loves you unconditionally.
Speaker 1: It's the single most important message you could ever hear.
Speaker 1: And I said, but I've got the second most important one,
Speaker 1: that you need to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Now, I don't have time to go deep.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to put cookies on the bottom shelf this morning,
Speaker 1: But right here in Acts 1, you need to see this, that the gift of salvation, John baptizing in water, is a separate experience from being baptized in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: These are two different gifts.
Speaker 1: John baptized with water.
Speaker 1: And those of you that accepted Jesus last night, your very next step is to be baptized in water.
Speaker 1: That outward expression of the inward decision.
Speaker 1: But then Jesus says, but I want you to wait because there is another gift.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but if God has more gifts for JC, I want all of the gifts.
Speaker 1: Can I get 100 people to say amen to that?
Speaker 1: Look at this word, baptized.
Speaker 1: John baptized.
Speaker 1: Jesus says in a few days you'll be baptized.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to try to impress you with like Greek words and all that.
Speaker 1: I'm about to give you a pretty simple illustration and image because I want you to understand the importance.
Speaker 1: We get our English word baptized from the Greek word baptizo.
Speaker 1: And that word literally means to immerse.
Speaker 1: It means to submerge.
Speaker 1: It means to go all in.
Speaker 1: I'm not being critical of other denominations or other faith movements.
Speaker 1: but I wrestle with those religious organizations that only allow the practice of getting sprinkled
Speaker 1: in water baptism or going halfway. Everywhere in the gospel, we see a call for sons and daughters
Speaker 1: to be completely immersed, to be so totally submerged. That's why whenever you get baptized,
Speaker 1: we don't sprinkle you with a little bit of water. We don't squirt you with a water gun. We put you
Speaker 1: all the way in, all the way down. And depending on how much sin you have, we leave some of you in the
Speaker 1: water a little bit longer. Come on now. That's a joke. This Greek word, baptizo, is actually a
Speaker 1: culinary word. It's a cooking word. They use this word, baptizo, whenever they were talking about
Speaker 1: items that they would cook. Here it is, a simple illustration. Some of you are going to love it.
Speaker 1: Others of you are going to hate it. Let's talk about pickles.
Speaker 1: How many of you love pickles?
Speaker 1: Come on, where are my pickle lovers at?
Speaker 1: How many of you like, the worst thing you could do to a cucumber is turn it into a pickle?
Speaker 1: Come on, where?
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 1: What is the process of turning a cucumber into a pickle?
Speaker 1: They don't sprinkle or spray the cucumber with vinegar and seasoning.
Speaker 1: They take the cucumber.
Speaker 1: Don't make me preach about pickles on a Saturday morning at Northeast Winterfest.
Speaker 1: But they take a cucumber and they submerge it.
Speaker 1: They immerse it all the way totally in whatever, you know, solvent or vinegar or brine that they make.
Speaker 1: So that the longer the cucumber is submerged in that thing or immersed in that thing, by the time you take the cucumber out, it is not what it used to be.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like it used to look.
Speaker 1: It doesn't act like it used to act.
Speaker 1: It doesn't taste like it used to taste.
Speaker 1: I got about 50 people on a Saturday morning
Speaker 1: helping me preach this.
Speaker 1: And this is the idea of your walk with Christ.
Speaker 1: Enough playing games.
Speaker 1: Enough going through the motions.
Speaker 1: Enough riding the fence.
Speaker 1: God is calling us to go all the way in.
Speaker 1: Don't just get saved and leave it at that.
Speaker 1: Say, God, if there's another gift,
Speaker 1: I want the other gift and watch this.
Speaker 1: And God says, I want to baptize you
Speaker 1: in the Holy Ghost and fire.
Speaker 1: I need every Pentecostal person in the room.
Speaker 1: Holy Ghost filled, tongue talking, devil stomping, Bible believing Christian.
Speaker 1: Give Jesus some praise.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 1: I'm being careful because I love people and I love the church.
Speaker 1: But we've got too many Christians and too many churches that they only preach part of the message.
Speaker 1: People don't want to talk about the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: We don't want the Holy Spirit to move.
Speaker 1: Listen to me.
Speaker 1: The most important gift you can ever receive is the gift of salvation.
Speaker 1: But while you are alive on this earth, you need a power that is greater than your own power.
Speaker 1: You can't make it without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: You can't make it without being baptized in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: So there are three types of people in this room this morning,
Speaker 1: whenever it comes to the topic of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: There are those who are confident.
Speaker 1: Another word that I would use there is comfortable.
Speaker 1: you're confident and comfortable with the Holy Spirit because you have experience with the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit. You've experienced the power and the person of the Holy Spirit in your own life.
Speaker 1: Or you're confident and comfortable because you grew up in a church, come on Church of God people,
Speaker 1: where they allow God to be God all by himself. Holy Spirit moves. So you're confident about the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. You don't know him just intellectually. You know the Holy Spirit experientially.
Speaker 1: But then there are those of you that are curious. You don't understand it all. Sometimes it feels a
Speaker 1: little strange. For some of you, you got on a smelly church van and you drove all the way to
Speaker 1: Northeast Winterfest here in Buffalo, and this is the first time some of you have ever seen the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit move. For some of you, it's the first time you've ever seen people lift their hands or lift
Speaker 1: their voice in worship. For some of you, it's the first time you've ever heard somebody pray in an
Speaker 1: unknown language. For some of you, it's the first time you've ever seen people lay down and weep
Speaker 1: before the Lord or laugh before the Lord. And you know what you're thinking, I don't understand it,
Speaker 1: but hmm. Listen to me real quick. Every young person, look at me right now. Come on.
Speaker 1: Don't you ever let the enemy tell you that your questions, that your questions are not necessary.
Speaker 1: Great questions lead to great faith.
Speaker 1: Let the curiosity take over.
Speaker 1: Lay down any skepticism, any doubt, and say, God, I may not understand it all.
Speaker 1: And here's something from somebody that's got a little bit of life to them, and you never will.
Speaker 1: I don't understand it all, but God, if there is more of you out there, I want all of you.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, come on and give them some praise.
Speaker 1: But then there's the cautious.
Speaker 1: There are those that are like, oh, no, never.
Speaker 1: I'm going to share with you here in the next few minutes, hopefully, what will encourage those who are confident and comfortable,
Speaker 1: but challenge those who are curious and cautious about the second greatest gift that God wants to give to you.
Speaker 1: the gift of the Holy Spirit. In order to do that, I want to talk about two wild misconceptions about
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. There's a lot of them, but for time, I'm going to give you two. The first
Speaker 1: misconception about the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit is an it. Remember when you were
Speaker 1: growing up, and if I'm the only one in the room, this is going to be super awkward, but remember
Speaker 1: when you were growing up and you didn't have a lot of friends, so you had like imaginary friends?
Speaker 1: That never happened to me.
Speaker 1: I just knew it happened to some of y'all.
Speaker 1: I never had an imaginary friend.
Speaker 1: I had real friends.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we treat the Holy Spirit like he's just an imaginary friend.
Speaker 1: This is just an it.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is not an it.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is he.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is the third person of God in the Trinity.
Speaker 1: He is God the Father.
Speaker 1: He is God the Son.
Speaker 1: He is God the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And as long as you treat the Holy Spirit as an it, as an imaginary friend, as long as you treat him
Speaker 1: as an it and you don't treat him as a person, you'll never know him personally. Paul says this,
Speaker 1: I love his prayer. He says, I pray that you have intimate friendship with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, now I don't have it all figured out and I'm still in the process of sanctification.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all have arrived and you've been saved and sanctified.
Speaker 1: I'm still in the process of sanctification.
Speaker 1: Here's what that means.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be holy, but sometimes I'm still a little hood.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody.
Speaker 1: Pray for me.
Speaker 1: Don't play with me.
Speaker 1: I will pray for you, but I'll also cut you.
Speaker 1: Come on, can I get 100 people that know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1: But here's what I know about the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: is that the Holy Spirit is a friend,
Speaker 1: that I have an opportunity to relate to the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: every single day.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is not an it.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is he, is he.
Speaker 1: So the question should never be, what is the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 1: The question should be, who is the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 1: And the Holy Spirit is God, God the Father,
Speaker 1: God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: The second misconception about the Holy Spirit is,
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is just weird.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you about the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: there is nothing weird about the Holy Spirit now there are some weird people
Speaker 1: come on I look at my next and say I honestly think he's talking about you right now go ahead
Speaker 1: and tell them like there are some weird people who claim that they are operating in the gift of the
Speaker 1: spirit but it's not the gift of the spirit they're operating in but it's some kind of spirit it's
Speaker 1: weird I don't get it and I don't understand it but the only person that's about to be offended is the
Speaker 1: person that's doing what you shouldn't be doing. You ever been to a church service where somebody
Speaker 1: is operating in the Holy Spirit, but everybody is watching them? All eyes are on them doing
Speaker 1: whatever it is they say the Holy Spirit is calling them to do. Here's a great litmus test of is that
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit or is that somebody's flesh that desires attention for themselves? When it's a
Speaker 1: genuine, authentic move of the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Spirit is moving, when the Shekinah glory
Speaker 1: of God falls on a people or on a place, everything the Holy Spirit does, listen to me, draws attention
Speaker 1: unto himself. God gets the glory. God gets the honor. God gets the praise. Anytime somebody's
Speaker 1: acting out in a way where they get the attention or they get the recognition or they get the applause,
Speaker 1: That is not the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: That is man or man.
Speaker 1: Come on and give me an amen right there.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is not weird.
Speaker 1: He's not weird.
Speaker 1: The gift of tongues is not weird.
Speaker 1: Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean you get to label it.
Speaker 1: If God didn't want us to be given the power and the gift of the tongue,
Speaker 1: then he would have chose other gifts, which there are other gifts.
Speaker 1: But just because you're cautious or curious doesn't mean you're allowed to label something about who God is.
Speaker 1: God is a good gift giver.
Speaker 1: And every gift that God gives us is good.
Speaker 1: And amen.
Speaker 1: Come on and give Jesus some praise.
Speaker 1: So here's what I'm trying to say to you.
Speaker 1: Watch this.
Speaker 1: Is this okay for a Saturday morning?
Speaker 1: Here's what I'm trying to say to you.
Speaker 1: The more you learn about who the Holy Spirit is, you won't run from him.
Speaker 1: You'll run to him.
Speaker 1: You know, when I read the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament,
Speaker 1: I see a variety of symbols that are used to describe the power and the presence and the person of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: So here's something that will encourage you as you're diving into Bible reading.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes when you read about fire in the Bible, fire is a representation of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: The dove is a representation of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Water is a representation of the Holy Spirit's power and presence.
Speaker 1: Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And here's one, wind.
Speaker 1: Let me talk to you about this one area of illustration when it comes to the person and the power of the Holy Spirit, wind.
Speaker 1: On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were in the upper room,
Speaker 1: the Bible says that suddenly there was a sound like the blowing of a violent what?
Speaker 1: Wind.
Speaker 1: It came from heaven and this wind filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Speaker 1: Go to verse 4.
Speaker 1: and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: and they began to speak in other tongues
Speaker 1: as the Spirit gave them the utterance.
Speaker 1: The scripture here, translation says,
Speaker 1: the Spirit enabled them.
Speaker 1: Why would God use a property such as wind
Speaker 1: to describe the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 1: Well, in the Old Testament,
Speaker 1: there's a Hebrew word for spirit
Speaker 1: and that word is ruach.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the proper way
Speaker 1: that you say that Hebrew word,
Speaker 1: But I do know that more accurately, whenever you talk about the Ruach, which is when God breathed his spirit into man and man became a living being, it sounds more like this.
Speaker 1: Ruach.
Speaker 1: The breath of God.
Speaker 1: The spirit of God.
Speaker 1: Ruach.
Speaker 1: In the New Testament, right here in Acts on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the Greek word there is pneuma.
Speaker 1: So in the Old Testament, Ruach means a blast of breath.
Speaker 1: Ruach.
Speaker 1: In the New Testament, pneuma means a blowing wind, a blast of air.
Speaker 1: Why would God use wind as a symbolism of the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you one reason.
Speaker 1: Because the property of wind is powerful.
Speaker 1: God wants you to know that the gift that he's offering to all of you
Speaker 1: that have already received the gift of eternal life is a powerful gift.
Speaker 1: And I think we would all agree that wind is powerful.
Speaker 1: Wind has the power to be productive, but wind also has the power to be destructive.
Speaker 1: Wind has the power to create energy.
Speaker 1: Wind has the power to sail ships across the ocean.
Speaker 1: On my way from Atlanta to Buffalo, we took a Delta flight,
Speaker 1: and when we landed, I had to use the bathroom.
Speaker 1: I went into the restroom and washed my hands, and they had those Dyson hand dryers.
Speaker 1: Those things were so powerful.
Speaker 1: It ripped the skin off my hand, man.
Speaker 1: But you also know that wind has the power to tear things down.
Speaker 1: I grew up in South Florida.
Speaker 1: I'm from Tampa.
Speaker 1: Come on, anybody from Florida, where are you at?
Speaker 1: All right, a few of you.
Speaker 1: You know what they say, T-A-M-P-A, Bombay.
Speaker 1: If you ain't headed south, you're headed the wrong way.
Speaker 1: Tampa, that's where I'm from.
Speaker 1: Growing up in South Florida, we know about tornadoes.
Speaker 1: We know about hurricanes.
Speaker 1: I've watched them as they have created force,
Speaker 1: and we had time to prepare for the destruction that was ahead.
Speaker 1: But I've also seen tornadoes pop up out of nowhere
Speaker 1: with no time to plan, no time to take shelter and safety.
Speaker 1: And here's the reality about the property of wind being powerful.
Speaker 1: You need the power of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: to not only produce some things in your life
Speaker 1: that you can't produce on your own power,
Speaker 1: but you also need the power of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: to tear down and destroy some things in your life
Speaker 1: that you can't overcome on your own power.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense to anybody?
Speaker 1: The same power that raised up the lifeless body of Jesus
Speaker 1: on the third day in that tomb
Speaker 1: is the same power of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: that is available to every single one of you this morning.
Speaker 1: God says, I've got a gift for you.
Speaker 1: And this gift is a powerful gift.
Speaker 1: And you need the power of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: because you don't have the power to go through life on your own strength.
Speaker 1: Every single one of us.
Speaker 1: I'm not speaking this over you.
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about life.
Speaker 1: Every single one of us goes through hard times.
Speaker 1: Every single one of us face moments of grief and difficulty.
Speaker 1: There is not one of us, JC included, that doesn't struggle with the flesh
Speaker 1: and the temptation of sin.
Speaker 1: And God says, in order to face the challenges of life,
Speaker 1: in order to face the issues of life,
Speaker 1: in order to face the pain of life,
Speaker 1: in order to face the temptation
Speaker 1: that the enemy throws at us in this life,
Speaker 1: in order to become all that I've destined for you to become,
Speaker 1: in order to fulfill the great commission,
Speaker 1: which is the preaching of the gospel
Speaker 1: to the ends of the earth,
Speaker 1: you need a power greater than your own power.
Speaker 1: And God says, I'm not going to give you a junior power.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the same power that lifted Jesus up from the grave.
Speaker 1: And I need every believer to give Jesus the highest praise.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 1: The Bible says this.
Speaker 1: I'm almost done.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story.
Speaker 1: Acts chapter 1a.
Speaker 1: And you will receive power.
Speaker 1: That Greek word for power there is the word dunamis.
Speaker 1: It's where we get our English word.
Speaker 1: Dynamite.
Speaker 1: this is why when people are baptized in the Holy Spirit you can almost see that moment come on them
Speaker 1: when you're watching and you shouldn't be watching but if you've ever watched a person encounter
Speaker 1: the power of the Holy Spirit they don't leave their body but something transformational happens
Speaker 1: in the moment when I was a kid I was an idiot and then I grew up and I'm still an idiot
Speaker 1: But I remember when I was a kid laying in my bed, I stuck my finger in the light socket just to see how it felt.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you real quick, it didn't feel good.
Speaker 1: But there was a bolt of energy that entered my finger that I could feel not only in the tip of my finger, but all the way down to my big white toe.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody.
Speaker 1: And the power that I felt, it was electric.
Speaker 1: And this is the same, almost the same kind of power that you feel when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because you need power greater than your own.
Speaker 1: I'm getting older, so my memory's not as good as it used to be.
Speaker 1: But I think I gave you this exact same thought last Winterfest last year.
Speaker 1: On my own, I am powerless.
Speaker 1: powerless over you fill in the blank. If you try to face whatever it is you walk through
Speaker 1: in this life on your own, you are powerless. You'll constantly find yourself in discouragement
Speaker 1: and depression and defeat because you're trying to face an issue on your own power.
Speaker 1: And you can't do it on your own strength. But when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: But now you have the victory over that very thing.
Speaker 1: Is anybody with me?
Speaker 1: Do you hear the word that I'm trying to preach to you today?
Speaker 1: Because you're hours away.
Speaker 1: You've got tonight and tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1: You're hours away from going back home.
Speaker 1: What will you do then?
Speaker 1: When there is no worship team leading you in morning or evening worship.
Speaker 1: When there is no pastor preaching with passion about the gift of salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: what will you do then when the temptation feels overwhelming
Speaker 1: or the news is so destructive and damaging that you feel like you can't breathe?
Speaker 1: What's going to happen in those moments when you go back to reality
Speaker 1: and we don't have our youth pastors there every moment or our close group of friends,
Speaker 1: It's just you.
Speaker 1: And in that moment, you hear every lie of the enemy.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, the enemy has never told you one truth,
Speaker 1: but God has never told you one lie.
Speaker 1: It's in that moment,
Speaker 1: whenever you're faced against whatever it is
Speaker 1: that you're going through,
Speaker 1: that you can rest assured
Speaker 1: that your name has been written in the Lamb's book of life
Speaker 1: and that no matter what this world throws at you,
Speaker 1: it fails in comparison to the eternal glory
Speaker 1: that's waiting for us one day.
Speaker 1: And then you can also take this to the bank,
Speaker 1: that if you receive the power of the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: you have the power over victory
Speaker 1: of whatever it is that you're walking through.
Speaker 1: You can make it by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: I need 150 people to give Jesus the highest praise.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 1: One quick story.
Speaker 1: Come to the keys.
Speaker 1: The greatest gift.
Speaker 1: I ever got. I told you I grew up in Tampa, which is partly true. I was born in Tampa,
Speaker 1: but my family lived in a rural part of the area in Plant City, Florida.
Speaker 1: We lived on a farm. My brother today is still a strawberry farmer.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of land, and in some seasons we had different animals, but that's where we grew up.
Speaker 1: We lived on this long, windy dirt road just outside of Plant City.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a subdivision, but there were a few houses on that road.
Speaker 1: I remember as a child having a few friends that lived on that same dirt road.
Speaker 1: Feet Sway Road is where I grew up.
Speaker 1: Some of you that are older now and you've grown and moved,
Speaker 1: you know what I'll say when I talk about when you go back to your childhood home.
Speaker 1: and you think you remember what it's going to be like,
Speaker 1: but now as a grownup, you realize,
Speaker 1: man, how did we live in that little house?
Speaker 1: And then you realize as you grow and mature in life
Speaker 1: and you face your own responsibilities,
Speaker 1: how did mama help us kids to even make it?
Speaker 1: How did our family work the way they did?
Speaker 1: And I'm not being critical of my family.
Speaker 1: I never knew we were poor.
Speaker 1: I never knew that we were poor.
Speaker 1: I never knew that we struggled to the level that we struggled.
Speaker 1: All I knew was when I was eight years old, Christmas was coming, and I wanted a bike.
Speaker 1: All the other kids on Feetsway Road, they were getting a bicycle.
Speaker 1: And man, I wanted a bike so very bad.
Speaker 1: I remember months leading up to Christmas, I was making sure that I was on my very best behavior.
Speaker 1: I was going to clean my room, take out the trash, do all the responsibilities, be respectful to my mom and dad.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. No, sir. No, ma'am.
Speaker 1: I was going to make sure that me and my siblings didn't fight.
Speaker 1: I wanted a bike.
Speaker 1: And I knew.
Speaker 1: I knew this about my father then, and I know it to be true now,
Speaker 1: that my dad and my mom would do whatever they could to provide for me,
Speaker 1: maybe not everything that I wanted, but certainly everything that I needed.
Speaker 1: I got up on that Christmas morning, and I remember when my little feet hit the ground.
Speaker 1: I got up early.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know where you are with the idea of the magic of Christmas and gifts and Santa and all that.
Speaker 1: The real meaning of Christmas is Christ.
Speaker 1: But there is an awe and wonder about Christmas.
Speaker 1: And I remember as a kid getting up from my bedroom.
Speaker 1: And I remember, I couldn't remember it now.
Speaker 1: It felt like that house was huge, but it's so small.
Speaker 1: And I ran through the living room.
Speaker 1: I got down one step into, in Florida, they call it like a sunroom.
Speaker 1: And there was our Christmas tree.
Speaker 1: And around that Christmas tree were a few gifts.
Speaker 1: They were all wrapped in packages or bags with bows.
Speaker 1: And I noticed the gifts, but my eyes couldn't help but just float around, where's this bike?
Speaker 1: All I wanted was a bike.
Speaker 1: So me and my sister, we sat down on the ground and mom and dad began to give us the gifts.
Speaker 1: And we opened up every single gift.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to be honest, I was very disappointed.
Speaker 1: Because I had opened up everything that my parents had gave me and there wasn't a bike.
Speaker 1: So my mom said something like, son, are you okay?
Speaker 1: Did you have a good Christmas?
Speaker 1: And I lied.
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1: And I was disappointed.
Speaker 1: My mom then began to proceed to clean up everything,
Speaker 1: to trick me into believing that this was it, that it was over.
Speaker 1: So we're picking up all the trash and we're putting it in the trash bag.
Speaker 1: And I remember it vividly, watching my dad walk to the sliding glass door.
Speaker 1: and he looked at me and he said son
Speaker 1: there's one more gift
Speaker 1: guys I lost my mind
Speaker 1: I lost my mind
Speaker 1: I knew all right I'm getting a bite
Speaker 1: he made me close my eyes he put his big strong hand
Speaker 1: over my face little did I know that a few years later
Speaker 1: he'd have a massive heart attack and die
Speaker 1: he put his hands over my face
Speaker 1: I can hear his voice
Speaker 1: even still
Speaker 1: follow me JC
Speaker 1: he led me outside
Speaker 1: you know in Florida
Speaker 1: where I grew up you didn't get snow on Christmas
Speaker 1: you got sun and sand
Speaker 1: so I could feel the sun shining down,
Speaker 1: beating on my forehead, sweat started to build up.
Speaker 1: And he said, I'm gonna count to three.
Speaker 1: And when I count to three, son,
Speaker 1: I want you to open your eyes.
Speaker 1: One, two, three.
Speaker 1: Students, I opened up my eyes
Speaker 1: and there in the front yard of our home
Speaker 1: was the most amazing, most spectacular,
Speaker 1: the most magnificent blue I had ever seen
Speaker 1: with a seat that was white with a lightning bolt on it.
Speaker 1: I opened my eyes and there in front of me was a go-kart.
Speaker 1: How many of you know what a go-kart is?
Speaker 1: Reem!
Speaker 1: I remember I walked around.
Speaker 1: what is this? My dad said, son, it's a go-kart. I was so curious.
Speaker 1: What's a go-kart? And he said, well, this is a go-kart. I said, how does it work? And he said,
Speaker 1: well, you've got to crank the engine and then you get strapped down into the seat. You put the
Speaker 1: helmet on and then you just, you press down on the pedal and you, you drive and you go. I'll never
Speaker 1: forget it. I looked at my dad as I, I searched around this go-kart and I said, but dad, I wanted
Speaker 1: a bike. And he got down on one knee, eye level with his boy. And he said, I know you wanted a bike
Speaker 1: and I know every other boy on this road is getting a bike.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking this over you.
Speaker 1: Don't miss it.
Speaker 1: He said, but you're not like everybody else.
Speaker 1: You're different.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, I got on that go-kart.
Speaker 1: I had no flipping idea what I was doing.
Speaker 1: I could hear my mama even now.
Speaker 1: My dad's name was Don.
Speaker 1: Donnie's going to kill himself.
Speaker 1: Donnie's going to die.
Speaker 1: I'm in the front yard.
Speaker 1: ring, ring, ring, ring.
Speaker 1: Man, and then finally I got confident enough.
Speaker 1: I said, can I take it on the dirt road?
Speaker 1: And my daddy was like, have at it, boy.
Speaker 1: Man, I opened that thing up.
Speaker 1: I mean, at full speed, guys.
Speaker 1: I'm doing like six and a half miles an hour.
Speaker 1: And I mean, this thing is like, ring, ring, ring.
Speaker 1: I mean, my hair, if I didn't have that helmet on,
Speaker 1: my pretty little hair would be flowing.
Speaker 1: And I'm driving down this dirt road.
Speaker 1: I look back, all the dust is flying in the air.
Speaker 1: And about 150 yards away, I saw four boys pedaling towards me on their bicycle.
Speaker 1: Now, I don't know if you believe in the Holy Spirit like I've been preaching about,
Speaker 1: but the Holy Ghost took over the steering wheel in that moment.
Speaker 1: I pressed that gas as far down as I could.
Speaker 1: I got up to seven and a half miles an hour.
Speaker 1: I'm screaming towards them as they're pedaling towards me.
Speaker 1: And at the right time, at the exact moment, I slammed on the brakes, I turned the steering wheel, and dust flew up all over the boys.
Speaker 1: Sup?
Speaker 1: Sup?
Speaker 1: These boys, they got off their bike.
Speaker 1: They put their kickstands down.
Speaker 1: And they walked around me in the go-kart.
Speaker 1: no way
Speaker 1: what is this
Speaker 1: I said fellas
Speaker 1: to go cart
Speaker 1: one of the boys said
Speaker 1: who gave you that
Speaker 1: my daddy gave it to me
Speaker 1: listen to me
Speaker 1: here is the issue
Speaker 1: we've got too many Christians
Speaker 1: content with peddling through life
Speaker 1: going through the motions
Speaker 1: you think you're getting somewhere
Speaker 1: and you are but it's taking you a long time
Speaker 1: when God says hey
Speaker 1: I've got a better gift
Speaker 1: you may not know that you needed it
Speaker 1: and you didn't even realize that you wanted it
Speaker 1: but if you'll trust me
Speaker 1: because you're not like anybody else
Speaker 1: you can trade in the bicycle of Christianity
Speaker 1: for something that's got power
Speaker 1: power
Speaker 1: to do supernatural things
Speaker 1: Jesus' name, stand with me all across this auditorium.
Speaker 1: Watch, they're gonna sing one song.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, you're welcome here.
Speaker 1: Here's the way you experience the baptism
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, and I'm gonna walk off the stage.
Speaker 1: Right here, you have to remove all barriers.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 1: You can never be given the gift of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: as long as there is unconfessed sin in your life.
Speaker 1: You gotta remove that barrier.
Speaker 1: Another barrier, that could be the skepticism, the fear of the unknown.
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: Remove all barriers and just walk.
Speaker 1: In a moment, I'll say, come to the front if you want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And you say, you know what?
Speaker 1: I don't understand at all.
Speaker 1: I don't get it all.
Speaker 1: But God, if you got another gift for me, why would I say no?
Speaker 1: If I've been riding a bike and you give me the keys to a go-kart, I'm all in.
Speaker 1: Then as you begin to pray, you've got to open up your mouth.
Speaker 1: This is a big deal.
Speaker 1: I've done winter fests.
Speaker 1: I've done youth camps.
Speaker 1: And I've seen kids just come and just stand there.
Speaker 1: No, you've got to open your heart.
Speaker 1: You have to open your mouth and say, I want the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: I want to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Listen, here's why you have to say it.
Speaker 1: Because this is a prayer that only you can pray.
Speaker 1: your mama can't pray it for you
Speaker 1: your pastor can't pray it for you
Speaker 1: the church preacher can't pray it for you
Speaker 1: you have to open your heart
Speaker 1: open your mouth and request
Speaker 1: the gift I want to be
Speaker 1: baptized in the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: and then you receive them by faith
Speaker 1: okay I receive you Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit close your eyes for a moment
Speaker 1: lift your hands all around this room
Speaker 1: 30 seconds before we say move
Speaker 1: I worship you Jesus come on even now begin to
Speaker 1: confess some sin to the Lord come on
Speaker 1: lay it down God I give you that sin that secret hey secret sin is still sin
Speaker 1: I lay it down I accept you as my Lord and Savior
Speaker 1: I lay that wall down that thing that's been keeping me some of you you're not all in with
Speaker 1: Jesus yet you want Jesus to be Savior but you still want to be Lord Lord I'm laying that's been
Speaker 1: a wall. I'm laying that down. Winterfest 2025, I'm going all in with you. So I'm asking you,
Speaker 1: help me with my insecurity, with my doubt, with my skepticism, my lack of faith. In this moment,
Speaker 1: Lord, if there is another gift, I want it. Now I ask you, Lord God, fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Fill me with the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: Don't let that word ghost weird you out.
Speaker 1: There's actually not a perfect word to describe the Spirit of God.
Speaker 1: So man just tried to give language to help us try to have some degree of understanding.
Speaker 1: There's nothing weird about Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: I just want your power in my life.
Speaker 1: I want to rest on your power and not my own.
Speaker 1: And now today, I receive you by faith.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's sing for a moment.