Same Sermon, Different Power — How the Holy Spirit Changes Everything

Billy Graham preached the same sermon twice in one day. Same words, same man — completely different result. The only thing that changed was an encounter with the Holy Spirit in a small room hours before. That is what this episode is about: the kind of power that cannot be manufactured, and the four things that position you to walk in more of it.

In this episode:
• Authority, gifting, faith, and consecration — the power equation and what each one actually means
• Why authority is rooted in identity and what it looks like to live as a co-heir with Christ
• How to grow in the gifts of the spirit without being afraid to fail
• The difference between gifting and fruit — and why that distinction matters right now in the church
• Why a faithless prayer over a UPS driver named Eddie still led to a miraculous healing
• What it means that the faith you needed yesterday is not the faith you need today
• Consecration leads to visitation — and every revival in history backs it up

SPONSOR
This series is brought to you with the support of Logos Bible Software — the tool all three of us use when studying Scripture. Whether you want to go deeper in a passage, explore word studies, or dive into commentaries, Logos puts everything in one place. You can try it free for 60 days through our partner link below.

📖 Try Logos free for 60 days: https://logos.com/biblestudypdcst

Hosted by:
Pastor Darren Rouanzoin — https://www.instagram.com/darrenr
Angela Halili — https://www.instagram.com/angelahalili
Ally Yost — https://www.instagram.com/ally_yost

#BibleStudy #HolySpirit #ChristianPodcast #Faith #Revival #Jesus #BibleStudyPodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Are we ready? Are we gonna change that?

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:04

How to grow the power. I've got I've got some stuff. Hi. Hey, I'm Darren. Welcome to Bible Study Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Yeah. Hi guys, I'm Ang. I'm Allie. It's a joy.

SPEAKER_05 0:27

We're so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Thanks for having me again.

SPEAKER_05 0:29

You're doing awesome.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Can I ask you a question on your podcast? Do you feel awkward in your intro?

SPEAKER_05 0:35

Can you do your intro for us?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Yeah, yeah. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Christ with Coffee and Ice. I am your host, Ally Oast, and it's a joy and honor to be here. You're pro. She's good at it.

SPEAKER_05 0:48

I'm just sitting watching you guys do your thing and you're like, She's like a pro pro, though. Yeah, you can't do it.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

And you've got that personality. You're so inviting. You've got it all.

SPEAKER_05 0:56

You just do it by yourself. You just talk and talk to the camera. Drop some bombs.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

Deep spiritual bombs.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah. Truly. You know, she really leads like a generation of girls to Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 1:10

Really? I'm learning all this.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yes, she does. I've heard.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

Yeah, I've heard all about it. And you have a book coming out.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Yeah, yeah, she does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17

And you get like.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

You mentioned me. Yes, you're in it. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 1:21

Yeah. I talk about my friends in it. That's good. Yeah. Do you change their names?

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Um, no.

SPEAKER_05 1:27

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

I changed the names of people in from my past because there are like a couple things I talk about, not airing out like anyone's dirty laundry, but just like throwing in like a name of a guy, and I'm like, we're just gonna name this guy Joe. Kyle. Yeah, right. Oh, it's always a Kyle. Or apparently Josh. Sorry, sorry, Kyle. Yeah, right. Poor Kyle.

SPEAKER_05 1:47

Josh. It's always Josh.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Yeah. Well, no. Oh no, because Jesus' name is Joe.

SPEAKER_05 1:54

Yeah, the podcast world is weird. It's new to me. So, and like the the fact that you guys do what you do is just I don't even know what is fancies. I have no no, I have like I have like anti-Pastor Darren pages for sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

No, that's a fan page. That's a different way. That is such a getting fan energy. Yeah, they take a lot of time out of their day to analyze, watch you, they're a fan.

SPEAKER_05 2:15

For sure. No, I don't have any of that. I'm not like that. I'm just a local church pastor putting my head down, building the church.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Wearing black five-fold ministry, apostolic, wearing black every day.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

That's right. I got a uniform.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

That's been the hardest part of you for this podcast is you don't wear anything other than black. You wore a jean jacket last episode, and that was shocking. Right? You're doing great.

SPEAKER_05 2:37

And then I changed my shoes. I brought a different pair of birds.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

I wear a uniform. It's it's easier on my life. It's good. So many other decisions to make. It's good. You know?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

It's good.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

Well, today is gonna be wildly educational.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

I'm shocked.

SPEAKER_05 2:55

And I'm gonna do my best to like create space for questions or whatever. Yeah, but I I want to talk about a practical way to grow in the power of the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

I'm in for that.

SPEAKER_05 3:07

Okay. Everything.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

If I don't walk out of this episode right now, I'm feeling more empowered. Yes. Let's do it. All right.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

I want to start with the story. I use this when I talk sometimes because it's from Stephen Olford's journal. So Stephen Olford was a famous preacher from Wales, and he writes in his journal this experience he has with Billy Graham when Billy Graham first came out to preach in Wales. So this is from his journal. Um, according to Olford, Billy Graham was ordinary and not the kind of preaching that the Welsh people were used to. So Billy gave an invitation and he says a few people responded. Nothing remarkable, nothing hinted that Billy would have this great future as an evangelist. Stephen Olford was himself an evangelist, he was a fiery preacher and a man who was already known for carrying the power of God. And Billy Graham would go on to write that Stephen Olford was a man who was the most influential in his ministry.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 4:10

Okay, so here's what happened. They hang out. Billy preaches at this chapel, no great response. Ulford's like, okay, it's fine. The next day it says the two of them slipped away, no crowds, no microphones, just a little tiny room, and they prayed together, they worshiped together, and they cried out to God. And Billy suddenly surrendered his life fully to God. And Olford wrote, All heaven broke loose in that dreary little room. It was like Jacob laying hold of God and crying out, Lord, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. When the spirit of God fell on Billy, Billy leapt up, shouting, I have it. He should say, I have him, not in it. I'm filled, I'm filled. This is the turning point of my life. This will revolutionize my ministry. That night, Olford writes, Billy gets up to preach at a Baptist church. And he writes, When he rose to preach, he was a man absolutely anointed. The power of God fell. People surged to the front before the invitation was given. The aisles were jammed packed and practically everyone rushed forward. And according to Olford, Billy preached the same sermon at both gatherings. Same sermon, same word, same Billy, different kind of power.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

So wow. Is power and anointing the same thing?

SPEAKER_05 5:32

It can be, yeah. Well, let's just use what's used here. This is we're talking about the power that comes from the Holy Spirit. So in Acts 1.8, Jesus says, you will receive power. That word is dunymus, when the Holy Spirit comes on you, right? To be my witnesses. So what we have to recognize is that the promise is that there will be this power that comes upon us from the Holy Spirit. It's not just like, oh, we have this warm fuzzy and we move on. No, the power to do things. The word power is the spirit's capacity within you to do the things that Jesus did.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Wow, this is what reckoning. Boldness.

SPEAKER_05 6:07

The spirit gives you boldness. That's in Acts. Like the Spirit gives them boldness to what? To proclaim the name of Jesus in the midst of opposition. So in my experience as a church leader, I've learned that you can build in the flesh. Like you can build through strategy and strength in the flesh. And then it has to be sustained by the flesh. But what I've also learned is what is built in the spirit will be sustained by the Holy Spirit. And so what I'm after is this understanding of how do we grow in power. Now, before I define this thing, because I want to break it up, I just want to make a case. And I love doing this, I love framing this for people because for me, there is an assumption that I have. Like, what does the Bible say? And in John chapter 14, if you want to go to John 14, I want to just make this case for all y'all listeners out there. John chapter 14, it goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Just letting you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

What do you do when you say go to John and someone goes to the beginning of the Bible?

SPEAKER_05 7:05

They're looking at a table of contents. I go, I'm so glad you have your Bible with us today.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 7:09

And I'll go, okay, go to the middle. All right, where are you at? Turn right. Yeah. You know, if you get to Romans, you went too far. John 14, 12. You ready for this passage? I don't think you're ready. Verse 12. Very truly, you're still, I'll wait for you, actually. So sorry. It's okay. No, you're going to be able to do that. You can hear my book flipping in the background, y'all. Pages in the wind.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Here we go.

SPEAKER_05 7:27

There's Allie, pro podcaster. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I'm going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Okay. So here's a question. Ready? Do you believe that the words of Jesus are true?

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yes, I do. Because he's a truther.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

He's a truther. He is the truth, right? And the spirit is the spirit of truth. So the question for people listening is do you believe that the words of Jesus are true? Okay, yes. Do you believe they're true for you today?

SPEAKER_02 8:15

I should at all times.

SPEAKER_05 8:16

So are you willing to surrender your you know belief systems to say, yeah, I believe that Jesus' words are true? Okay, yes. Yes, yes. So with that statement, now he says, You will do even greater things than I have been doing. Now there's some theology debate here, right? Yes, please. What do you mean by greater?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Because greater could mean more, more, greater quality.

SPEAKER_05 8:41

Yeah, greater quantity. Because there's there's the spirit comes, there's we'll do more works, great, greater quantity.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Or like more.

SPEAKER_05 8:47

Or greater quality.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Right.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Quality or quantity.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

So would you agree at the minimum, whether it's quality or quantity, it's at least the works he had been doing up until that point?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:59

His works. Okay. So just to qualify that, according to John's gospel, here are the things, the signs that he performed up until that point. He turned water into wine. He healed some the official son who was sick from a distance. He healed a paralyzed man. Uh, he fed 5,000 people, he walked on water, he healed a man born blind, and he raised Lazarus from the dead.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Where does it say in the Bible? Someone said it in the Bible, where they said that if they had recorded all of what Jesus did. John says it. It was Johnny. Too many books.

SPEAKER_05 9:28

Yeah, John at the end. There'd be too many books. It would take all the books.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Although even that puts it into perspective of like, even the things that are documented in the Bible, that is not, those aren't the only things.

SPEAKER_05 9:39

They are not the only works. So greater than him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

And John is saying.

SPEAKER_05 9:43

Yeah. So we know in Matthew that there's these summary statements where everyone he prayed for was healed. The entire region was healed of demons they were if they were possessed or sickness, illness. There's like categorically, there's so many act things that happen. We just have a limited amount. And in John's gospel, those are, let's just say, just John's gospel, at least the quality of raising the dead.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Right. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 10:08

You will do that. That's what he says.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 10:11

So you will do at a minimum the works.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

The same works.

SPEAKER_05 10:14

How the same way he did. Yeah. Which is what? Through the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 10:19

Like John makes the case, Matthew makes the case, Luke makes the case, Mark makes the case, Acts makes the case. Jesus did what he did by the power of the Holy Spirit. So that now that here comes the question. Then how do you grow in the power of the Holy Spirit?

SPEAKER_04 10:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:32

So that you will be faithful to the words that are true for today. That's good. To do the things that Jesus said you will do.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

But can I ask you what you think of the verbiage there in that passage where it says you will do greater? What do you think that means?

SPEAKER_05 10:45

I I don't know if there's a greater qualitative miracle than raising the dead.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

That's about as far. That's a right.

SPEAKER_05 10:52

So if we're going to talk about quality, like if you died and then you prayed for someone and they came back to life, what more could you do?

unknown 10:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:00

Like defeating death is a big one for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

I'd say it's like the epitome. It's the end. It's it, that was the cross. That was the end.

SPEAKER_05 11:06

Yeah. So, so, and so that that's a big one. I've not prayed for someone who's come back to life. I've prayed for lots of people to come back to life because I've been at death bedside table, you know, bedside as people died. And that hasn't been there. That hasn't happened yet. But I still pray. I still pray. I pray that they live while they're dying. And then I pray that they would come back to life. And then I officiate their memorial service and uh and bring casserole dishes to their grieving friends and family. So, but the the point I'm getting at is okay, biblical, we made the case. We should we should grow in the power of the Holy Spirit, right? So, therefore, how then do we grow? This is what I would like to present. This is so right. So, this there's a a thing that uh a guy named Jordan Sang, he's a vineyard pastor from Honolulu. He has a book called Miracle Work, great book, deeply theological. He's also pastoral. He comes up with uh what I would say is is the best option out there. It's true in my life. I wouldn't say that I would say, as a disclaimer, the danger of presenting this is people think that if you do these things, it equals what I'm getting at. But I want to present his power equation as a possibility of a framework to think about growing in power. Is that all right? So he says this authority plus gifting plus gift, I'm sorry, plus faith plus consecration equals power. So I'll say it again. Authority plus gifting plus faith plus consecration equals power. So I want to break down what that looks like. That's my job. This is a systematic approach through the sounds pretty unstoppable, right? So if you grow in authority and gifting and faith and consecration, that you will see evidence of the power of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit through your life.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 12:46

Right? Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Yeah, yes, that's great.

SPEAKER_05 12:48

You guys are like, wow. All right, I'm talking to you two. Here we go. So I'm gonna break down each word. And if you guys have questions, let's go. Let's first start with authority. So the authority, we've talked about this, it's not the same as power. Authority is the spirit-given right to act on God's behalf. So Jesus gives his disciples authority and power to do the things he was doing in Mark chapter six and in Matthew's gospel. And then he does that in Matthew 28, the Great Commission. He gives us authority been given to him from heaven and on earth, and he gives us that authority and power. And then when we receive the Holy Spirit, we can grow in authority. So we know that Jesus has the right to do these things, to cast out demons, to heal the sick. But authority is uh our right, our spirit-given right to act on be on his behalf. Authority is rooted in a couple of things, it's rooted in identity, and uh Rob Reimer will say it's expanded through intimacy and it's released through obedience. So you grow in authority. Yeah, if you grow in authority through anchoring your identity and who you really are, and it expands through ongoing intimacy with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and it will always be released through acts of faith, through through obedience to the Lord. So you will expand your right to act on God's behalf and you'll see power increase when you do it, the more you recognize those things in your life.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Can you just really quick explain to us how do you truly short form version root your identity in Christ?

SPEAKER_05 14:22

I mean, this is a big one. So rooted identity is recognizing, like first of all, scripture, it says that we are sons and daughters seated with Christ, which seated means a position of authority. So in Ephesians 2, 6, so our authority begins when our identity is accepted as adopted sons and daughters of God. So it will say in Romans that we are co-heirs with Christ. Co-heirs.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

I don't get that. Okay, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:48

So the best way I can describe it is this like I don't, this is a flawed illustration. I'm gonna do my best. So imagine you have roommates and you're working at Starbucks and you're barely getting by and you're working 40 hours a week for minimum wage and you're barely paying rent, you're you're you know, barely affording food. Uh, every decision is under the uh the weight of lacking, not having enough. And so your time is flawed or limited and all that stuff, like the tension. Do you feel the tension of that? And then all of a sudden you get something in the mail that your lost uncle that you never knew died and gave you$10 billion, and you are inheriting a$10 billion estate. And it's legal, it's authorized, it's a lawyer statement. You are the legal, legally inheriting$10 billion. What would that do for the weight that you feel not affording rent? What would that do for waking up at 4 a.m. for that shift at Starbucks? How would that change the way you interacted in the world with your roommates with divvying out money to pay, you know, splitting the cost of electricity? Like knowing, like, first of all, having access to a$10 billion state, would it change how you felt?

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Absolutely. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 15:54

Would it change?

SPEAKER_03 15:56

Showing up in rooms feeling lighter, yeah, happier.

SPEAKER_05 15:58

Right? Like, would you still work at Starbucks? Yeah. Probably not.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:03

Now, most of us have access legally to that inheritance, but we keep working and we keep living as though we've never inherited what God's already given us. That's identity experience, in my opinion. That's where you're you're living as a co-heir.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

You're living secure in Christ.

SPEAKER_05 16:21

Yeah, you're more than a conqueror. Yes. You are you are uh uh your your past has been buried with Christ, right? Your your old self has been buried with Christ and crucified on the cross, and now you're living with him in the present, preparing, you know, in in the inheritance that God has given you. Like that's that is what it means to live out of my identity. So if you live from that, you live with authority. Let me let me say it another way. My children never question they're gonna have food morning, noon, and night, and snacks in between. There's never a question. Yeah, they don't have to work for it, they don't have to earn it, they live with the freedom that mom and dad are gonna take care of it. Yeah, that's that's secured identity, right? So that becomes it becomes functional, right? So when you're living in insecurity, when you're living in fear, when you're living in self-doubt, when you're living with a perspective that God is not pleased with you and you have to do all this stuff to prove it, you're not living out of identity, therefore you're not living in authority.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Wow, wow, wow.

SPEAKER_05 17:14

So that journey of authority requires a rooted identity, it requires you to operate in intimacy. So the closer you are with Jesus, the closer you understand that your prayers will be shaped by his prayers for you in those moments. So intimacy has a part with this. Does that does that make sense? Yes, very much. So um, so I could talk about authority for a while, but I want to jump in because there's quite a few things. But the other element I see is you can grow in power when you begin to operate out of gifting, right? The Lord empowers gifting. Now I want to say we don't need gifts from the Holy Spirit to do the things that Jesus did. Can I say that? Like we don't need to be anointed evangelists to share our faith with coworkers, like we don't need to be brilliant teachers to share the gospel with someone in our life. Like that that's just obedience.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Maybe you can just describe to people, yeah, what the difference between because we're all called to evangelize, we're all called to teach and and all the gifts, but then some people have a specific gift on their life.

SPEAKER_05 18:25

So I would say my experience in give it in growing in the gifts of the spirit, which I'll read the text in a second, I would say that the Spirit of God gives gifts in response to the missional need of the moment.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Yes. Great.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

So like I used to sit in my room in journal, Lord just gave me the gift of prophecy, right? Like gave me the gift of teaching. And you you think that the Lord is gonna activate in your quiet spirit place something that's designed to be given away out of God's benevolent generosity to others. Gifts are all the gifts are for to be given away, except for speaking in tongues and edification. That's the only gift that you're personally edified by.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 19:07

All the other gifts listed, like why don't I read it? First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7 through 11. 1 Corinthians. So go to Romans, go right. What is it? First Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 7. I'll go actually, we'll start at verse 4. It says, There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service. Ministry is the word Diocineas, but the same Lord, there are different kinds of working, that's energizing activities. But in all of them, in everyone, it is the same God at work. So there's three things. There, there's different kinds of gifts that's enabled, enduring abilities is the is the Greek word. Different kinds of service, different ministries, and different kinds of workings, energizing activities. Now, to each one is the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. So the spirit equips people uh for the common good. To one, there is given the spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same spirit, to another, faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing and then one uh by the that one spirit, to another, miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he distributes them to each one just as he determines. So amazing. He determines yes, a person, right? Yeah, so there's these enabling activities, enduring abilities. There's different so there's there's a various perspective on this. I'm not gonna go through this, would take forever to talk through, but but the gifts of the spirit are given by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of the common good. So it's in context of the local church. So that there's gifts given by the spirit for the local church, for the purpose of building up the local church. And he'll go on to say, like, prophecy is for building, equipping, encouraging, comforting, strengthening the church. That's the framework. So, in other words, they're like tools that you have access to for building and constructing the body of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

So good. I love that. I love that the needs of his church, he meets the needs and everything is outward. That's why you can't ever take pride in any of your gifts or talents. Because guess what? They're not from you, and they're not for you. All right. Like you're not, yeah, it's not about you. It's not right. So cool.

SPEAKER_05 21:40

So I so I first I said first, you don't need gifts to grow, to do the things that Jesus did. Like I love the story of Philip and Acts because one's one second he's he's empowered by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit to wait on tables for widows. And then in Acts eight, when persecution breaks out, he goes to Samaria, a city in Samaria, and he casts out demons, heals the sick, and proclaims the gospel. And it says like he in the word is herald. So he it's a title. He's a proclaimer of the gospel. And so you have like a hospitality volunteer one minute, then a gospel city evangelist the next, right? And did he have like those gifts of proclaiming the gospel when he's waiting on tables? Maybe. But what was needed in the church to build up the church was somebody who would serve for it.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

So good. So you're never above the lowest position.

SPEAKER_05 22:31

Absolutely. But I think in maturity in Christ, you realize like the spirit will enable gifts for the need of the moment, but you can grow in the gifts. Yeah. Right? You can grow. And so I would say this is how I'd frame growing in the gifts. One, ask for the gifts of the spirit. So I would ask boldly for the things of the spirit. Paul will say to desire the gifts, especially to prophesy. And he makes a whole case for what prophecy represents. But you should be talking to the Holy Spirit and asking. And then as you minister to other people in prayer gatherings, when you give your life away, you use those gifts for others. Because so the second part, ask boldly, wait on them, practice them. Like in the language in First Corinthians, some of the some of the language of an enduring ability is some people are good at communicating. Does that mean they're equipped by the Holy Spirit for teaching? No. But can they be? Yes. Can they grow in that? Absolutely. When I started teaching, I didn't, I had no, there wasn't a gift.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 23:30

There wasn't even a desire. But now, 18 years later, there is, you know, an enduring ability, meaning there's been a partnership with God in the role of teaching and the gifting of teaching and an empowerment of teaching to become a teacher. I don't, you know, I've just been able to do that. That's the case for everything. I have a friend, John, who leads all of our prayer ministry and deliverance ministry. John is a ninja in the things of the Holy Spirit. Well, he prophesies and has words of knowledge, and his story is absolutely amazing. He's the one that received prayer in our church, the first person to like really encounter the Holy Spirit at the Garden Church that changed our whole, our whole ministry. Like it was his testimony. And now I see what God gave him back in 2010 is what he's giving away all the time in our prayer trainings, in our prayer ministry. So there's gifting he has that he's practiced and become, you know, a black belt in.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

We have to do a whole series on like how to grow and prophetics. You guys are so funny. You're already like, we need to do a series on it.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

Are we remembering them though? I've written them down. I have a doc.

SPEAKER_05 24:38

I have a word doc. See, I guess it's like 52 things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

And you're like, we're gonna do a series on that. So what if how do you how do you know? Maybe you don't want to take it here, but like, how do you know that you have been anointed to preach and you're not just a good communicator?

SPEAKER_05 24:53

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Cool.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

I I don't just go.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Just go.

SPEAKER_05 24:58

I would say, like, in okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Like, how do you know someone is operating out of like you don't fleshly gifting?

SPEAKER_05 25:04

Yes, you don't. Well, I mean, those who have oil can tell.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Yeah, I agree with that.

SPEAKER_05 25:09

Like you can tell when someone's a really good communicator and there's someone that who's carrying oil, like who's carrying the spirit. Like, problem is most of the church today, I'm saying this while leading the church, doesn't know the difference between great communication and someone dripping with oil. Wow. So the closer you are to the things of the spirit, the closer you are to Jesus and the spirit and his heart, I think the closer you will to understand and discern what's going on. Like, but you can have great content and no power. Like what we like, that's good. Good content doesn't set captives free.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Wow. It's the oil, it's the power of the spirit.

SPEAKER_05 25:42

It's the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is what we're after growing in the spirit. So you can grow in the gifts. So if like a perfect example, I wanted to grow in the ministry of healing. So how do you do that? Oh Lord, give me the gifts of healing. No, you pray for the sick.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 25:57

So my friends and I, we created like a rule in 2015. Every time we see someone with crutches or like braces on their knees or whatever, a wheelchair, we would pray on the streets. And we prayed for a lot. I prayed for a lot. And we're talking we're not together, we're just as you go. Yeah. Pray for lots of people. Most of them didn't get healed, but a lot of them did get healed. Like the first real encounter was this. I think I shared it on this podcast, but Eddie, the UPS driver.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Yeah. No, you only shared at church. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:25

So Eddie, so here's the story. I'm like in the zone of like sharing words, learning how to prophesy, learning how to do. So I was in the supermarket with my wife. Ezra was like not even a year old. He's in a stroller. And I'm getting groceries. I have a car. Alex has the stroller. And I see a woman who's pregnant, and I have this word of knowledge. I'm like, I'm going to share an encouraging word. And I said this word about her being missing her mom and blah, blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff about being a new mom. And she's, and then she's like, no, this is my like fourth or fifth kid. And her mom comes around. She's like, I love my mom. And everything I said was wrong. And I was like, uh, so I was like, oh, thanks, God bless you. Like, take the thing and left. I literally left the supermarket.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

That's everyone's biggest fear. Right.

SPEAKER_05 27:06

Yeah. So you the point number three, don't be afraid to fail. Yeah. How do you grow in the gifts? Like, ask for practice it. Don't be afraid to fail. Yeah. And so I got it wrong. And I text my wife, like, I'm I left. Like, good luck. And that same day. So, like, when that happens, your faith just drops. But that same day, Eddie, I didn't know who he was, UPS driver knocks on the door. He's got like big bracket things and like bandages around his arms and knees. And the rule is I have to pray for him. So I like open the door halfway and he gives me the package. He's about to leave. I'm like, hey, uh, what happened? And he's like, I am going on disability. It's going into the busy season. I can't do this. I have so much pain in my arms and legs. I'm like, oh, that's crazy. Can I pray for you? He's like, yeah. Half open door. I prayed this prayer.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Was he a believer or?

SPEAKER_05 27:54

Not not at that point. He was he was backslidden. He said, So I go, this is my prayer. There's zero faith. Jesus, heal my friend. Amen. Close the door.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Heal my friend.

SPEAKER_05 28:07

Like, no, no prayer.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

And you you said that the door was not even fully open.

SPEAKER_05 28:13

Because I I just don't, I'm doing it out of obedience, not out of faith. Wow. Doing it out of obedience, not faith. About a month later, Eddie comes into our office, which was in the same neighborhood that I lived, and he's like, Darren. And he's got none of the stuff on. He's like, your prayer healed me. I'm like, what prayer? Jesus healed my friend. Close the door.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

You're like, that lame prayer?

SPEAKER_05 28:31

Yeah, that lame, no faith prayer. Faithless prayer. Because God will use anything.

SPEAKER_03 28:35

He's so He literally is like, I'm the boss.

SPEAKER_05 28:38

It's not about you. Yeah. It's not about your faith. It's about obedience.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Well, okay, so but can I ask you a question on that? So are you saying that our faith doesn't affect the prayer whatsoever? Because scripture says that the prayers of a righteous person avail much. So a person It does matter. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 28:54

I'll talk about faith in one second.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:56

But in that situation, clearly my faith didn't heal him.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Totally. God was doing something else. And the Lord wasn't going to let that stop.

SPEAKER_05 29:03

And I've prayed for hundreds of people that haven't been healed. I've prayed for thousands at this point, thousands and thousands, thousands of people that haven't been healed. I've prayed for hundreds that have been healed. Like I have seen so many every single week at our staff, we have miracle stories of healing, of things happening that don't make sense apart from the work of God. We do it out of obedience, not because we feel like it, we do it out of faith because we know God will do it. That story is no faith, but that got God made a point. Obedience will go far away. And so I also want to say, so how do you grow in the gifts? Practicing them, failing at them. The last thing is to remember that, you know, gifts are almost always situational. So what do I mean by that? People will come forward in our church for prayer, and we have an environment where we expect people to hear from the Lord. We go, and I can't tell you how many people will have a stranger pray for them and have words of knowledge and prophecy and healing because the prayer person just expected and anticipated God to show up in prayer. Wow. Like I can't tell you how many people I prayed for, and I knew things that I shouldn't know, but I've just I've learned that God is the one who wants to pray, bless this person because the environment is love. So what do I mean by that? Like I might not be all always operating in words of knowledge. Totally. But I believe like this is a terrible illustration, but the spirit of God is like a golf bag. Do you guys golf?

unknown 30:24

No.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

I've heard of it though.

SPEAKER_05 30:26

Okay, so golfing? I've golfed, I've golfed with your yeah, I've golfed with your friend. With your friend. Yeah. He we and I have had a lot of golf. So if you ask him, what's the greatest golf club in your bag? He would say, Well, it depends on where you are on the course. Right. Like you want a driver if you're teen off. If you're in the bunker, you want a sandwich. If you're on the green, you want to putt, you want to putt, you want a putter. And so, like, the Spirit of God will give gifts based on the situation. So you might not be equipped in healing, but somebody might need to be healed. Yeah. You might not be like be ready to give a prophetic word that will encourage the life out of somebody into somebody.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:02

And he will give you prophecy, you know, and bring life into that person.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

So good. Can I see what you're doing? God just needs you to be his hands and feet. Yeah. He just needs a body. Just be able to do it.

SPEAKER_05 31:10

Be open, be available, and be willing to fail and look like a fool because when you get it right, like it gives glory to God.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

It does.

SPEAKER_05 31:18

It changes lives.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

I don't know if you want to talk about like prophetic gifting today or if you want to do a whole episode, but I do have a question because is there somewhat of a responsibility? There's a great responsibility when you're releasing like a word of knowledge. Would you say that? I don't know, is there a level of responsibility to like, yes, you want to mess up, but that could that make things complicated for someone and then even turn them off from the field?

SPEAKER_05 31:44

Great question. So in our context, garden, we have all this param, all these parameters around healthy ministry and the power of the spirit.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Right.

SPEAKER_05 31:53

Like, first of all, we never say thus saith the Lord. Right. We never say we don't prophesy dates or mates. It's how we train. We train everyone in this. If you go through our prayer training, you you get trained in this. We should just do the prayer training here. The other thing is, like, the context of words of knowledge and prophecy from a stage is being corrected right now. I believe there's a space for it. But everything I'm talking about can happen with a coworker or with somebody that you're praying for on like in the in a ministry context, like the ministry time at a church. When we pray, put a hand on a shoulder, we pray. I always say, I have this sense I could be wrong. I have this sense I could be wrong. I always say, hey, I have this sense I could be wrong. And then after I'm done, like when I share it, I'm like, I'll say, does that resonate with you? Yes. Then I'll pray.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:43

Does it resonate with you? No. And I'm like, hey, don't be nice. Like, don't try to make sense of what I just shared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

And be like, oh maybe.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

Like, don't be nice. Tell me the truth. Oh, yes, it does resonate. No, it I don't really know. Okay, great. Just dismiss it. And then I'll keep praying.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:56

That's how you avoid chaos. Because the like the elevation of the prophet and prophecy. People will make it happen.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 33:05

They'll try to make like this. Is why I'm like, don't prophesy destiny.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

You said the most profound thing I've ever heard, and it stuck with me, and I'm going to pretend like I made it up. You said the test scripture says the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. If it doesn't lead to Jesus, it's not prophetic.

SPEAKER_05 33:22

That's right. Like I would like to say tone matters. How you say what you say matters. The framework for the prophetic gifting in the New Testament church is it's designed to encourage, to edify, and to strengthen the church. Yeah. So you filter the word. I can't, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

I can't believe there's even a version of it that's not.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

Well, I have people come to me and be like, hey, the Lord told me this. And it's like, that is not true. Like, I was with some some pastors and they prophesied and it was a discouragement. And I was like, I don't, I don't think this is, and like it, I it didn't feel right with me. And I was like, I was really moved by like, I feel like you're projecting. This isn't prophecy.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

This is what I want to talk about too. There's so and that's I think why, because our audience is probably not trained in the prophetic and hasn't been to a ministry re ministry school or anything. And so how do you suggest people don't because I see this all the time, especially like in our lane where a lot of us are kind of new believers and you get so excited and you want to operate out of gifting, and I love it, you should take risks. But the one thing I see the most is people projecting their own experiences all the time onto someone and calling it prophetic. Like I see that more than anything.

SPEAKER_05 34:40

Yeah, I would so I have so many things to say about this. One and high emotion and like let's let's first of all normalize prophecy, normalize signs and wonders, normalize healing, normalize words of knowledge, let's normalize the activity of the spirit. That should happen. Number two, let's be so accountable for our words when we were claiming something. Like, I don't claim anything as prophecy. Like, I I have had lots of crazy prophetic words from the Lord, and I will I will hold them with such um fear and trembling. Like they're not like I have a word and then I share it. In fact, I have a friend who are prophets, like in the charismatic world, and some of them are famous, and they would say of the words they share, they share 20% of the words they get from the Lord. Like true prophetic people are going to sit with the Lord, and most of the words and insights that you get are for intercession, not for delivery.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Right. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 35:43

So good. And so I would just so normalize it, hold it with fear. When you're praying for people, when you're giving words of knowledge or prophecy, be humble. Yeah, be gentle. Like it shouldn't be a circus. The signs don't point to you, the signs don't point to the work you're doing. They should point to Jesus and they should glorify him.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

And they should push people into their destiny in Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 36:10

They should push people to Jesus. And let's get rid of destiny. What's your destiny? To be crucified.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

It's good.

SPEAKER_05 36:15

Like to, I'm sorry, to pick up your cross and follow him, to be hidden in Christ. That's your destiny. Great.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Right. Someone once prophesied over me that I'd get a G-Wagon. I'm being so serious. Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_05 36:27

I've driven my friend, let me drive his G Wagon for a little bit, and he he was out of town for a month, and I wouldn't drive. This is a true story. I wouldn't drive it because I was like, what will people think? And then he emails, he texts me, just drive it, just drive it, just drive. I'm like, no, no, no. And then he emails me. Hey, there it has to charge for 60 minutes. You have to drive it for 60 minutes. There's something like an update. So I drive it, and the Lord is like wrecking me about my approval of man. Like, while I'm driving this crazy G-Wagon, it was absolutely ridiculous. And like tearing down like this image, I don't want people to see me a certain way. Like, and it was like fear of man. It was truly fear of man. But I it had like it had a massage chair, like suddenly, like I was like, this is no, I don't have it, I can't afford a G Wag, I can have a pastor. But yeah, I why would you prophesy that? Who cares?

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Silly, yeah. What does that do?

SPEAKER_05 37:11

How does that bring you closer to Jesus?

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Yeah. Well, and I will say, like, I guess I kind of have a mini question in this too. Like, obviously, prophecy, sorry, we're really going off topic, just a quick um, prophecy shouldn't be condemning, like you said, but also it says in scripture that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, right? And so if somebody could come to you prophetically and being like, hey, I feel this caution sign from the Lord, is there a way to like warn people? Like it might not be like, oh my gosh, this is, but like if this happens, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_05 37:42

Well, let's so it's hard because we're we're now getting in the gift. So I would say, let's say prophecy should encourage, right? Strengthen and lift up.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:50

A word of knowledge about sin is different.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 37:52

So, and but then let's do this. Like, I had a friend who I had three dreams that he was having an affair. And I confronted him after two, he denied it. I confronted him after three, he told me he was having an affair.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 38:08

That's crazy. What was that? That was the kindness of the Lord leading him to repentance.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:13

And I mean, that's crazy though. Like, I haven't had a lot of those moments. Like, that's that's a really like that's a and I've had friends that had had similar experiences with other people. That that's where like the spiritual gift, like there's something going to draw people into correction and healing. Clearly, like Nathan and David, there's a prophet prophecy about Davidson with Bathsheba. He had a prophetic word, it led him to repentance, right? That's something else going on, and I don't see that in the context of that, but gifts can be used in that way. Okay. In covenant community. In covenant community. Like I have friends that call me out. You should have friends that call me out. They might have a sense from the Lord and they will call me out.

SPEAKER_03 38:52

Okay. That's different than prophecy. That's just a word of knowledge.

SPEAKER_05 38:55

Yeah, and that's walking in the in the spirit.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:57

So now we're breaking down the mechanics, but we can do that another time. Yeah, sure. I want to talk about growing in power.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Good.

SPEAKER_05 39:02

So we grow in authority, we grow in gifting. So you can, you can so so let me just say this. Like when I talk about gifting, I have a couple friends who, when someone needs healing, I will find my friends that pray for healing because they are gifted in healing. That's they've grown in the gift of healing.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:19

Like I have friends that are like unlock, like if you want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I'll send you to these friends. Because for whatever reason, when they pray, people encounter God in tangible ways. Like I have friends who are really good at deliverance ministry. Like it's insane. So they have grown in the gifts of the spirit for those particular things. And I, you know, as like a mechanic, I'll send you to them to get that fixed. So you can grow in the gifts, right? You don't need them to do the things of Jesus, but it they're helpful. Yeah. And you can grow in all of them. The third piece is authority plus gifting plus faith. So faith is, we talked about this on Sunday. I did a whole thing on faith, but authority and gifts without faith become dormant. So although you don't authority and gifts without faith become dormant in your life. So what do I mean? So faith requires you to step out of your comfort zone, comfort zone to pray bold prayers and risk failure in order to see God show up.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 40:21

So just so I prayed for Eddie out of obedience. I didn't have faith, but out of obedience helped me walk this out. But when you walk into a room with faith, like God's gonna heal, there's something catalytic about that. So authority and gifting kind of comes into the setting when there's faith. So faith is not this idea, it's not this intellectual belief that, oh, God can do. It's putting your confidence, your reliance in. It's it's standing in the reality of what you know is true. It's dynamic, right? So we activate something when we live from a place of faith.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

I just don't want to talk about gifts anymore. But I I but the I imagine that there are so many prophets and people who pray for healing who don't even have a relationship with Jesus anymore. Maybe they did at first, they used to love Jesus, and now the gift has become the God. And I wonder, can people still operate out of gifting without with like being in active disobedience to God?

SPEAKER_05 41:18

I mean, clearly this is the case. We are witnessing YouTubers expose people who have used platforms, prophecies, uh, spiritual authority to abuse, to to lie, to use uh data on Facebook to say that they're prophesying. I mean, and then not just that, but like sexual abuse while operating in the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit. So gifting is not the same thing as fruit of the spirit.

SPEAKER_04 41:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:49

And God gives gifts, like they give enduring ability, like communicators, like we can have preachers building massive churches while they're having affairs. Like, so gift can be gift, gifting is an anointing from the Holy Spirit. It can be a skill that's been developed, it can be the charisma of a personality. They're all kind of connected, so I'm not totally so that that can be still used while living in sin.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Totally. Okay. I like that you said gifting and fruit is different.

SPEAKER_05 42:18

Gifting and fruit are different, and we'll get the next one is consecration. So the next plus consecration. Yeah, keep going. So, like, you know, uh, like I don't know, man. I I just think my personal journey has been teaching required a lot of faith in the beginning. Yeah, like a courage, trust for God to show up. Praying for people when I was learning the things of the spirit required so much faith and obedience. Like I just, I was like, all right, God, you have to do it. Like I needed him to do it, and I would do it out of discipline, and it took a lot of faith. Today, I don't need a lot of faith to preach. I don't need, it's not like this thing I have to overcome, God. It's it's something that's been developed. I have skill, like the there's there's this thing, uh, but God is calling me to have faith in other things. So what I like to say is when you grow in faith, think of it this way: whatever you needed yesterday for faith is not the kind of faith you need for today.

SPEAKER_04 43:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 43:13

And the faith you need for tomorrow will not be the kind of faith you have today.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 43:18

And you it will cause you to grow. Like if you look at Joshua, I love this story. Joshua three, they're about to cross into the promised land and they camp out outside of the Jordan and they consecrate themselves. God says, because tomorrow you'll see the Lord do amazing things. And then the command is step into the water, go step into the water, and then the Jordan will part. Now, if you're paying attention, you'll be like, okay, time out. Moses didn't have to step into the water, he just touched the water with his staff. And I think that's a really important thing.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

Wow. So good, Darren.

SPEAKER_05 43:49

Because they had Saul 40 years earlier, Moses part the sea with a staff. They had seen it, they had they they sing songs about it and tell stories about that. Delivery moment, that deliverance moment. But the faith they needed was to get wet. They needed to the act to get into the water and trust the God that could part C's with a staff is now asking you now to remain obedient to his word and to get your ankles in the water. Because faith you had yesterday is not the faith you need today.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

That's right. There was something very special on that. I just want you to know that was so profound.

SPEAKER_05 44:28

Yeah, I think that's that is always the journey. So, like, so what I see in with peers is like you get to a point where you no longer need faith and you don't you don't risk anymore. Wow, like you've arise arrived as a preacher, so you stop preaching, like you stop doing new things, you stop risking like all like I just think like faith is spelled. This is what John Wembry used to say faith is spelled R-I-S-K. So if you're in a place where you want to see God move, you have to step out and risk. Yeah, that's how you grow. Is that good?

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Yeah, so growth equals risk.

SPEAKER_05 45:01

Try growing in the power of the spirit, authority plus gifting plus faith. And the last thing, I think, is consecration. So I think power flows to set apart vessels, and this is a big one for me because clearly God will use donkeys, he will still anoint for whatever reason sinners like us, and he will still use pastors who are corrupt. But I think consecration in this age for Gen Z in this moment in the church is we need to stop being compromised and live for God. So consecration is being set apart, it's being holy and and choosing to live in a way that you are used and capable of being used by God. One of my mentors, Pastor Bill at our church, he says holiness is simply usefulness for the kingdom of God. So it's being the kind of vessel that can be used.

SPEAKER_02 46:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:01

Right? It's it's getting rid of the disorder in your life. And the reality is, I think, power leaks from us when our lives are divided.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Wow, how so divided?

SPEAKER_05 46:14

Well, you can't really pray for God to heal the sick while you're feeding on pornography. That's wow. Right. You can't expect the kingdom authority in you when you're compromising your integrity. You can't expect the authority of the kingdom to flow through you when you're compromising your authority at the workplace. Or like every time you flirt with sin, you're living with this dual spiritual life.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

I heard someone describe it one time as like if you have a basket of authority, like division, disunity, sin, there will be leaks in your basket and you'll have this leaky basket, and all the authority just pours out from the bottom.

SPEAKER_05 46:51

And if we talked about authority, we can grow in authority by acts of obedience. So every time you resist compromise or temptation, it's saying you're stepping into obedience. That's good. Every time you're tempted to do something and you don't, you're living out a rebellious act of obedience in the kingdom and disobedience to the kingdom of darkness. And that's where we need to say, which means that every temptation to disobey is also an opportunity to obey and grow in the power. Every time we we choose to resist temptation, we can grow in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that will always be a moving target in our life.

SPEAKER_04 47:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 47:27

Right. So when you come into faith, there's like obvious things. You're like, I was living as a pagan. These things are no longer appropriate in the Christian life. So those are obvious things. But then you become a Christian and you realize those big things are no longer the issue. It's subtle, it's small, like micro habits.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:44

Like put putting your phone by your bed might be the Lord might say, Hey, for this season, put your phone away and spend more time with me. Yeah. And that micro decision leads to greater consecration. And in scripture, I just want to say across the board, consecration leads to visitation.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

Wow. I'm deleting Instagram.

SPEAKER_05 48:04

So consecration will lead to greater visitation. This is from my boy Simon Ponziby. He makes this note. There we go, Simon. You're you're in your lot.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Does he know you?

SPEAKER_05 48:13

Yeah, he knows me. Oh, cool. We've we've talked a bunch, but but he's he he makes the case like the tabernacle, they consecrate before the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord comes. They consecrate the temple, the glory of the Lord comes. Wow. Uh when Acts 19, so I love the story. There's a Nazirite vow in the Old Testament. Numbers, is this too much? Am I just jumping? Sorry, I feel like I geek out. I love the Bible. I can't help it. But there's this vow in in Numbers that talks about like a special vow you can take, and it's the Nazirite vow where you don't eat, drink wine, has to do with like holiness and set apartness. You don't cut your hair, you can't touch a corpse. It's all Samson's one, Samuel's one, John the Baptist's one. But you know, at the end, so there's all these things that you do, which represents covenantal faithfulness for Israel. And when you finish the vow, you you make like a ridiculous amount of sacrifices. It's like a bull, a lamb, a grain offering, and then you shave your head and you offer your hair as incense to the Lord of like devotion. And so it's like a serious thing. You're like, I'm really living out of faithful consecration to the Lord. Well, you get to the New Testament and it says in Acts 18 at the end, before before Paul goes into Ephesus, which is, by the way, the most effective ministry place he has is Ephesus, right? Becomes the epicenter of Christianity for hundreds of years after. It says that Paul shaves his head to finish a vow. What vow? The Nazarite vow. So he he comes off of a season of like extra consecration. And then the next place that he visited was Ephesus, where he asked the 12 disciples, Have you received the Holy Spirit? We didn't know there was a Holy Spirit. It received the Holy Spirit. Two and a half years later, there's absolute revival and riot in Ephesus because of the kingdom of God breaking out.

SPEAKER_04 49:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 49:58

Consecration leads to visitation.

unknown 50:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 50:02

I'm just dropping lots of content.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

I feel so inspired right now to like stop watching TV. I don't even watch a lot of TV, but like turn it into religion. No, not into religion, but just like really, really, really making more space for God.

SPEAKER_05 50:15

Absolutely. That's exactly it. What are the microhabits right now that might be filling you, distracting you, occupying places in your soul that Jesus can redeem with that time and space in your life to fill with his presence and desire and love and joy?

SPEAKER_00 50:32

I got a couple things.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

That's so good.

SPEAKER_05 50:34

So because it says they were full of the Holy Spirit. And we just talked about this on Sunday. Like Stephen was full of grace and power, the Holy Spirit, faith and wisdom. What are we full of?

SPEAKER_00 50:44

So good.

SPEAKER_05 50:45

Scrolling, entertainment, not baloney.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Not baloney.

SPEAKER_05 50:49

Full of baloney.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

Oh, I can't be full of baloney. Lots of scripture, hopefully.

SPEAKER_05 50:52

I feel like I talked this whole time. You guys haven't even said anything.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

We're learning. We're so cute. And I'm not even gonna try and be like, oh, let me share something I know. Like, no, please. We're here for the comedic room.

SPEAKER_05 51:06

All of this, all of this, all of these, this is just a framework to think about growing in power. Power to be released in the things of the Holy Spirit. Like, I have studied this for so long. Like, I just want to close with like D. L. Moody had two elderly women that prayed over him. He already had a massive ministry, but two elderly women prayed over him and he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Wow. And it changed his ministry forever. John Wesley, his heart was strangely warmed. He was already a Christian, already a believer, but his heart was strangely warmed hearing the Romans being read, and it changed his life forever. Jonathan Edwards had an encounter in the woods that changed his entire ministry. All these people have experienced revival. Charles Finney was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was a lawyer and he was filled with uh uh filled with the Holy Spirit and he became a preacher and changed uh in 1821, became a revivalist. Evan Roberts, part of the Welsh revival that started out of him, he experienced the Holy Spirit and became a revivalist. Like all of the histories, all the all the moments in history where God did something extraordinary, came from individuals who encountered the Holy Spirit and asked God for more of his presence. And they were filled with his power and it changed history, it changed the world. And I say, Lord, do it again.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

Do it again, Lord.

SPEAKER_05 52:23

Take ordinary people who say, I'll give up Instagram, I'll give up this thing, I'll give up that. I want more of you. I'm open and like they're filled with this power, and then they're released into the world. We're waiting for those people right now for God to pour out his spirit right now on people because we want more power. Do it again.

SPEAKER_00 52:36

Yes, that's it. So good. That's good. Praise God.

SPEAKER_05 52:40

Why not now?

SPEAKER_00 52:40

Why not now? Guys, you know what to do. We are going to pray. I uh I also do this actually as well. If I see anyone on crutches or in a wheelchair or like physically, you can tell that they're sick. We are all going to pray for the sick. Yeah. Pray for healing. Pray for anybody that you see on the street or wherever you are. Yeah. Just risk and pray. Pray, pray, pray.

SPEAKER_05 53:03

Do it gently and generously. Yes. And watch what God does.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

Yeah. And read the Bible. Comments. Let's go. Let's go. Keep reading scripture. Yeah. We're all in this together. Al, we love you so much. Thanks for having me, guys. You are the best. Thank you. I love your Bob. You like my Bob? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:20

I was like, what's the Bob?

SPEAKER_01 53:21

What's up? Not the person. This is a thing. Not a person.

SPEAKER_03 53:24

Bob is a person.

SPEAKER_05 53:25

It's the hair.

SPEAKER_03 53:27

It's just short hair.

SPEAKER_05 53:29

Short hair.

SPEAKER_03 53:29

Short hair is Bob. He said, oh, so Bob is the style of it. It's okay. Anyway, guys, thanks for the same for the moment.