There is a message and it's a message that follows everything that the Lord is doing today. God has not called us to be a religious system. He has called us to be his church. Amen. He has called us to be his church. Jesus said unto Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I believe that. I believe that. He's told us that he has given us authority. He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy. Did you hear that? He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy. And it's interesting, because I want to just highlight this as we get going today, and put your seat belts on, but as we get going today, In Luke chapter 10, it says, the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. And then he says, behold, I give you, this is Luke 10, 19. Behold, I give unto you power. And the word power there is the word, and this is important, it's exousia. In the Greek, it means authority, okay? Because we're gonna see the word power again used. But he says, behold, I give you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions And serpents, don't apply snakes, it means in the original language, it means malicious entities. Malicious entities, persons or demons or Satan. I give you, and I want you to see this, authority. Not strength, authority. Everybody know the difference here. The word power, there's authority. Now, he goes on and he says, and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, that is a different word. That is the word dunamis. And so it's talking about what the enemy has is strength like dynamite. That's where you get the word dynamite. All of the strength of the enemy I have given you authority over it. Do everybody understand that? He hasn't given us the strength or the dynamite over it. He has given us the authority over it. And that authority will overcome. Butch has been in the military. How many of you have been in the military? There's several of you that have been in the military. It doesn't matter how big the commander is. It matters how much authority he carries. It doesn't matter how strong you are, it matters the authority that you are under. And what you need to recognize, you folks that have been in the military can see this clearly, is that there's a difference between being strong and there's a difference between having authority. What God is saying, I have given you authority over demons. I have given you, what does, I'll tell you what. Man, this excites me. You know, I'll tell you what, it doesn't matter how big you are, you salute your commander. You salute your commander. It doesn't matter how strong that demon is. It's not based on how strong I am. It's the authority that I carry, and I didn't give it to myself. It has been given to me by the Lord. And that authority, it rests in you. You do not have to be a... Well, there's no way I'll ever be as strong as the devil or strong as... No, you never will. You can hit the nail on the head. But you have authority from God over their power. Man. Let's not forget, you know what Satan's biggest temptation is? To get you to think that he has the control over you. When you come to realize that God has given you the authority over him, it's not you that will flee, it's him that will flee. Amen? That's why it says submit unto God, and resists the devil, and he will flee. Why? Not because of how strong you are. Anybody says, man, the devil's afraid of me because of how strong I am. Guess what? You're about ready to be overcome by the enemy. Because he is not afraid of how strong you are. But he submits to you and your authority that God has given you in Christ. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I was reading this morning, and this is what I was going to play for you. It was a devotion that I shared this morning, but I'll give you a synopsis of this. I was reading in the Gospel of Luke, and I came against, not against, but came into the passages from Luke chapter one that really talked about the Holy Ghost. And I think that sometimes we miss this. And I'm gonna share with you something today. That anytime the Holy Ghost is present, there's power. Every single time. There is something that will be made manifest. It's not just saying you have it, religiously. The Holy Ghost comes, there will be manifestation. Every single time in scripture. I want to show you this just from the gospel of Luke right here. It says for he this is a the angel talking to Zechariah and Elizabeth letting them be made aware of this he says for he shall talking about John the Baptist Shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from the womb We know that the empowerment upon John the Baptist and how John the Baptist was used was because he had received the Holy Ghost even from the womb. Right, that's what it says. And then we go down to the 16th and 17th chapter. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord That is a promise that was given to Elizabeth and Zacharias regarding John the Baptist before he was born and They were told that he would be filled with the Holy Ghost in the womb and that power was going to rest upon him that he is able he's going to go forth and he is going to turn the children of Israel back to the Lord and It goes on to say he was going in the power of Elias or Elijah And he is going to prepare the way of the Lord and that be the coming of Jesus Christ why because he was filled with the Holy Ghost and this is before them the outpouring of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost and He's just saying he's going to be filled with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is going to empower John the Baptist. How many of you, as you read through scripture, you see exactly, that's exactly what happened. Okay, and there's some people that say that a Baptist don't get the Holy Ghost. Well this one did All right well anyhow it goes on and it says in Luke 135 and the angel Answered her and said unto her the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee talking about Mary the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power Listen the power this look at this in your word Luke 135 if you got it open your Bibles the power of the highest Shall overshadow thee why because the Holy Ghost is gonna come upon me What's gonna come upon thee the power of the highest? Okay, that's what he told Mary Okay, and this is this is Gabriel the angel Gabriel the power of the highest is going to come upon thee Therefore also the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Why because the Holy Ghost is coming and he's going to imp The power of God is going to be manifested through you and you're gonna give birth to the Son of God We're all familiar with that passage, right and Luke, going down to Luke 141, all of these are from Luke, the first chapter. Because I didn't have time to go to other chapters in my broadcast this morning. But it goes, and it came to pass that when Elizabeth, who is Elizabeth? She's the mother of whom? John the Baptist. When Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, The babe, who is the babe? John the Baptist, leaped in her womb. And listen to this, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. That's what it says, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and it wasn't just, and then she said, thank you. No. She was filled, and the power of God was manifested through Elizabeth. And she spoke with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Why? Because the Holy Ghost came upon her. And where the Holy Ghost comes upon you, there's power that will manifest through you. She began to prophesy She began to prophesy that the that the child within the womb of Mary was the Son of God Why because the Holy Ghost now, let's look at Luke 167 and His father Zacharias whose father John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied Okay, we won't look into the prophecy, but all I wanna tell you is this. When the Holy Ghost comes upon you, power, he comes with dunamis. He comes, he not only gives you authority, he gives you dunamis or power from on high. You know how often, right? Every single time. Every single time. There's people that say, well, they try to separate the power of God from the presence of God. They try to separate the power of the Holy Ghost from salvation. Or they try to link the two together. I want you to know when the Holy Ghost comes, there will always be a manifestation. You will see that throughout the scripture. When the Holy Ghost came, they began to speak with other tongues, it says in Acts 2.4. When the Holy Ghost came, they began to prophesy. When the Holy Ghost came, they began to, Mary was impregnated by God, right? Wherever the Holy Ghost comes, there will be power. Guess what? That is available to you. That is, you can invite the Holy Ghost into your life. It's not just gonna be a feel good. He's going to empower you. Now here, let me bring to you this. I think the key here is, The key to hermeneutics, hermeneutics is the accurate study of scripture, terminologies and words. And I know that Esther's father and mother were trained in hermeneutics. And hermeneutics is the means of how to interpret scripture or how to study it in accord with scripture. And then the word exegesis, exegesis it's called, is how you apply that hermeneutics to a portion of scripture. The exegesis is what you discover, hermeneutics is the tools that you use. Okay, everybody with me on that? Hermeneutically, we need to understand what the word is saying about this, and it's not just in this particular case, but how the Bible interprets itself. Jesus said there this to his disciples, and this is after his resurrection. After the resurrection of Jesus, before the ascension, And I'm going to clarify my terms here. Jesus rose from the dead. We all know that. We also know that Jesus ministered to people for about 40 days upon the earth. Then he experienced what is called the ascension and that is when he ascended to be with the Father in glory Are you with me on that everybody everybody know what I'm talking about? Jesus talked to his disciples in between the two After his resurrection before his ascension and as they were gathered together in Luke 24 49 he told them this They had already known Jesus. They had already known what it was like to be saved They already know what it was like to be empowered when Jesus gave him power He said tarry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with the power from on high Luke 24 49 acts as you jump into acts it confirms the fulfillment of that promise and Because why did they need to be filled with the power from on high? Because you're gonna be witnesses for me in all the world. And you can't do it in your own strength. You need the power of God in your life because where the Holy Spirit is, he's gonna bring power. What is the promise from on high? We find out in Acts that it was the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. And the reason why we call ourselves or are called by some as Pentecostals, the word Pentecost does not imply the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The word Pentecost refers to a feast of harvest in the Old Testament. It just so happened as they were gathered at Pentecost, which is approximately 50 days after Passover, that the Holy Ghost was outpoured according to God's promise. And it says, they were in the upper room, and they all began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. Why? Because the power came. Are you with me on this? And why we refer to ourselves as Pentecostal or whatever is because we're reflecting back on the Feast of Pentecost when the power came. Okay, you with me on that? That's just a little history for you. But the whole point here is this, is that God wants us to be powerful for his kingdom. He wants us to be anointed with his presence. There's too many people, I think, today that are trying to hide in the church instead of being the church to a world. And going forth with the power of God, and instead of cowering, oh no, look how dark the world's getting, we're saying, hey, we're going forth as light, and we're going to shine forth God's light in the darkness. And we are going to be the overcomers. We're not going to be the overcome. Amen? We need to take up the sword of the spirit, the word of God, and we need to be empowered by God knowing this, that we're gonna make a difference. The lie of the enemy is to get you to cower and to think that he has the victory. He's deceived many, there's no doubt about it. He's deceived many, but he doesn't have to deceive you. Your light will always make darkness flee. Darkness has never put light out, but light has always chased darkness away Okay Now I want to talk to you because the Lord's been ministering to me and I think he's just can he confirms his word with size signs and wonders I believe that and He's been ministering to me Through the fact that these signs shall follow them that believe How many of you say that's me? I believe These signs shall follow them that belief and you're gonna say well these signs aren't following me. Well, then you don't believe Because he doesn't say these signs might follow those that believe Or they possibly will follow those that believe or they'll follow some that believe He says these signs shall follow them that belief Right Okay. Now we read We read this in mark 16 He said unto them, he's talking to his disciples, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. Any questions? Any debate there? I mean, Jesus made it pretty clear, didn't he? Okay, if we go and we bring the gospel to the world, which we're supposed to do, he that believes and is baptized, in other words, there's a difference between believing and baptizing. I want to give you a clear illustration here, real clear. There's a difference between believing and committing yourself to. Believing means accepting, being baptized means you're committing to that truth. Are you with me on this? There's a difference, you know, you believe that Adolf Hitler, Gary, do you believe that Adolf Hitler existed and he taught principles of Nazism? He believes it. Are you an active Nazi? No. Okay. There's a difference, isn't there? There's a difference between believing and committing yourself to, right? There's a whole lot of people. You can stand probably outside of a supermarket and ask, do you believe in God? And I'll tell you, I imagine a majority of people are going to say yes. But then you ask yourself, have you committed your whole life to serving God? Those same people that said yes aren't going to say yes. There's a difference. There's a difference between believing and being baptized, amen? So that's why it connects the two. There's a difference between just acknowledging and committing yourself to, right? So he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. In other words, it's not just believing, it's believing and committing yourself to, you're going to be saved. He that believeth not shall be what? Okay, I didn't write that. But that's what the word says, right? I'm not gonna let the world water it down. It says that. There's only one way to salvation, and that is believing and being baptized, or believing and committing yourself to Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you're gonna be damned. Any questions? Does it say that? Okay. Well, then he goes on and he says this. And maybe some of the versions of your Bible have questioned these verses. If they do, I would encourage you to get a different Bible. But it says in 17, starting in verse 17, and these signs shall, what does shall mean? Will. These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name, they shall cast out devils. What's that mean? Okay, so does that mean that if we believe, we have the authority? And there's some people, man, I just can't do it. Well, you know why? Because you don't believe. If you believe, you will receive. If you believe, you will go forth with authority right now, and devils will flee. But you need to believe. If you doubt, I don't know if the devil's gonna leave or not Go home You're not the one Because it's only those who believe that will be able to do this Are you with me on that? You need to believe you need to have that confidence that the promises of God are real and true today Just as much as they ever were and devils will flee again, not because of you and But because of the authority that you have, I guess this little ball goes on here. Okay, let's go on here and look at this these signs shall follow and believe they shall cast off devils. They will speak with new tongues Why because they believe well, I don't believe that okay Don't expect it Amen The only way that it's going to happen to you you need to believe Because these signs shall follow them that believe well, I don't believe that. Okay, don't expect it. I don't believe God heals today Okay, be sick Don't believe God saves today. Okay be lost It's only those that believe that receive That's the way God set it up. These signs shall follow those right Helen that believe Then he goes on and he says They shall take up serpents Now this is important because I you know what we need to recognize The serpents the word serpents there means malicious person or devil Militia everybody this is not this is not an advocate Anybody that goes out and is involved in snake handling they're missing. They're not using hermeneutics on this They're not understanding the syntax or nor the meaning of the word. It's not telling you to go out and play with snakes Are you with me on this? John you're gonna have to stop doing that Okay, no I'm kidding you this this is this basically means dealing with malicious or evil Amen and So he we're going to take up serpents. We're gonna have authority over that Well, man, that person is so evil. The people are so evil. Okay, take authority over it Oh man, there's so much darkness around me. Okay, shine the light, go forth. You need to recognize you have authority. The greatest trick of the enemy is to get you to believe you don't have the authority. If you know you have the authority, it is darkness that will flee and not you. They're controlled by the enemy, the devil's after me. Okay, take authority over that in the name of Jesus. What's going to happen take up serpents. You're going to deal with the malicious. You're going to deal with the evil. Why because you believe You believe right? We've just said we're believers There's some people well, I believe but I only selectively believe You know one of the things that we call ourselves ray. It's full gospel You know why because we believe it all Or at least that's what we mandate. We believe it all. We believe. So we're gonna go forth and we're gonna be victorious for the kingdom of God. If there's a devil out there, we're gonna take authority over it. If there's evil out there, we're gonna take authority over that. We will not be overcome. We are overcomers. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It goes on and says, They shall drink any deadly thing and it shall not hurt them. That's not telling you to go out and guzzle strychnine. When it's talking about that, it's talking about the fact that as you are going forth in the power of God, there is not a demon in hell, there's not a snake in the bush, there is nothing that can hurt you because you're going forth in the power of God. There's nothing, there's nothing that will impede you. Paul knew this. You know, when he was gathering up the sticks and a poisonous viper latched onto his hand, all of the natives, they thought, well, man, maybe this guy was some kind of a criminal. And you know, although he escaped the shipwreck, all of a sudden, now justice is gonna be done and he's gonna die. You know, Paul shook it off into the fire. I think he said, where do you want me to put the sticks? You know, in other words, he didn't look at it as anything that could stop it. He knew that there was nothing in this world that can ever impede me from fulfilling the will of God as I'm in obedience to him and walking in his spirit. Do you believe that? If you believe it, you will receive that. That doesn't mean you're not going to have problems when you walk outside of the will of God But when you're walking in the will of God He he said and he said he goes on they shall lay hands on the sick And they shall recover If you want me to pray for your sickness, I'm not gonna beg God to heal you I'm going to believe God's going to According to his word. I'm going to believe it. I I'm going to believe it and I'll tell you what I plan on matter what? Manifestations I see I plan on standing on the Word of God And believing because it's only those that believe and I believe that I believe that I've even laid hands on myself and And I said, God, I'm believing in your healing. I'm believing. It's those that believe that receive, and it's also those that believe that will be vehicles of God's healing power. All this is to glorify him. We don't possess it in ourselves. We didn't give ourselves that authority. It is only in connection with God, right? But we need to believe and he said these signs shall follow them that believe they shall recruit They shall recover and that so then after the Lord has spoken of them spoken to him. He had given me this thing He told them to tarry in Jerusalem. They needed the power from on high and Because these signs are gonna follow those that believe you know when he said these signs are gonna follow those that believe He didn't say these signs are gonna follow you disciples. These signs are gonna follow you because you're apostles He didn't say these these things are gonna follow you because cessation hasn't yet occurred You with me on this you know what a cessationist is I believe the power of God the gifts of the Spirit have all ceased and Thus called cessationist. We're not cessationists. We believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What he's done, he's always going to do. And we believe that he's going to empower us. He says, them that believe are going to receive. Amen? Them that believe are going to receive. He told his disciples, they could have said, well, I don't think we need to tarry in Jerusalem. Let's just go out and do this on our own. They would have failed. If you go out and try to do it on your own, you will fail. But if you are empowered of the Holy Ghost, you will, these things will follow you. He goes, and then after he had told him, he was received up into heaven, the ascension, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, listen, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Do you believe that? I believe it. I believe it. I believe that God's going to confirm his word when we stand on his truth. It's not for our glory. I'm not interested in personal exaltation or personal recognition. What I'm interested in is seeing the power of God move in a great way. When I talk about the ethanol pouring, I believe that we can. I know that Pensacola, several years ago, Brownsville Assembly of God, there was a great revival that took place. I know in Smithville, Missouri, there was a great revival that took place. I know in Azusa, California, there were some great revivals and great outpourings of the Holy Spirit that took place. God is not confined to geography. You do not have to go geographically to find the outpouring. but you need to put into place those things that invite the power of God. For New Hope Fellowship to receive the outpouring of God, we need to put into practice the things that God says and invites his presence in a powerful way. Amen? We have prayer on Wednesday night. Come and join us. Why? Because we believe that we're not just going through a formal religious act, we're connecting with God. We have Bible study. Before church on Sundays you're invited to come why we believe that God's Word He's told us to study it to show ourselves approved unto him. Amen We believe that and then we need to build up our faith. It says faith faith is the is a Sometimes the word belief in faith are used interchangeably if we were draw a distinction between the two Faith is acknowledging the truth, or belief is acknowledging the truth, faith is activating that truth in your life. Okay, if we're gonna draw a distinction. Belief, acknowledging the truth, faith, activating that truth in your life. And so I believe that as we increase our belief in the power of God, in the manifestation of God, we're gonna experience it. What did Jesus say when he healed many people? He said, according to your faith, let it be unto you. The woman that had the issue of blood for 12 years, do you remember her? She wasted her money on all the doctors. And then she said, if only I can touch the hem of Jesus's garment, I would be healed, right? He came by, she reached out, and she touched the hem of his garment. Jesus recognized that the virtue had gone out of him, and he turned around, and he said, who touched me? There was a great crowd, and many of his disciples wondered, well, what do you mean, who touched you? You've been touched by a whole lot of people. He says, I know the virtue has gone out of me. I know the virtuous have gone out of me. And so the woman came forward and she said, she acknowledged the fact it was me. I'm the one that touched you and I'm the one that was healed. You know what Jesus said to her? He said, your faith has made you whole. I don't know, I think some people miss that. He said, your faith has made you whole. What was it she had belief? She reached out and touched the Lord she received Even though she had spent all of her money on all of these physicians 12 years of blood issue of blood was immediately quenched What did Jesus say? He said he said I have chosen to heal you. He didn't say that He said this you look it up for yourself. Your faith has made you whole And I'll tell you we need to walk in the power of God, believing in the power of God. We do not have to cower. We do not have to be fearful. We will not be overcome. We will overcome. Amen. We will not be overcome with darkness. Darkness will be dissipated because we believe. And I really want to motivate you. And there was a healer years ago, or used in healing, he was a man, and you can research him, it was back at the turn of the century, called A.A. Allen. Anybody ever hear of A.A. Allen? Anyhow, he was utilized, and also you know that Oral Roberts, we have Oral Roberts University today, in his early ministry, he basically was considered a healer, or people would come to him to receive healing. But A.A. Allen said something, and I just wanna quote him. He said I am NOT a healer, but I am a believer. I Am NOT a healer, but I am a believer That's where I'm at too. I can't heal you But I believe I Believe that God can use me to lay hands on you and you to be healed. I'm not the healer. I'm a believer Amen, that's where we need to be and that's what we need to believe. Amen, and And I believe these things are going to happen. These things are going to be evidenced. There's people that say these are the last days. And I'll tell you, if they're not, they sure look a whole lot like them. But you know what? I believe God. There's going to be darkness. I mean, you don't have to look far for darkness. Did you know the world went through a period called the Dark Ages? I mean, they tried to totally eradicate the Bible. They tried to lift up humanism. Humanism during the Renaissance period was being focused on and uplifted. I mean, there was always been great periods of darkness. There was persecution being done. There was, what was it called? Not indulgences, but... Basically tortures. They tortured people because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Esther, your parents were, were they Wycliffe translators? What happened to John Wycliffe? Okay, and I believe, if I'm correct, he was burned at the stake. John Wycliffe. There's been darkness. Okay, so we're not talking about anything new. There's been darkness. We recognize there is darkness. Darkness is increasing, but you know what? I believe light is increasing too. I believe that there are going to be people in the church that are going to say, okay, darkness, there may be darkness out there, but it's not going to overcome me and I am going to overcome it. We're going to reach out into the darkness and lead individuals to the light Amen, and and we need to recognize that we don't have to run from darkness We need to take authority over it recognizing God has given us that authority Hallelujah Okay I'm excited about these things. I'm excited about the fact that God is doing miracles. I know that, my goodness, he does miracles in my life all the time. I know he does in yours as well. Sometimes we just don't recognize them. And if we just stop and think, and we say, man, I don't know how this worked out, but man, it worked out. All my prayer requests of yesterday are just memories of God's intervention and touch. You know, it's just, how many of you have ever been in this, in the condition, Rick? Have you ever been in that condition where you say, man, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this one? And you know what? You look back and you say, man, I'm out of it. I mean, I thought of that maybe five years ago, six years ago, maybe yesterday. How am I ever going to get out of this? You're not in it. God provided away you're here today. God's provided away. Guess what? He's the same God He's gonna continue to provide away even those things that actually seem overwhelming if you trusted him you're gonna get out of it He's gonna lift you above it. Well, I'll never be able to overcome that that's a lie from the pit of hell That is a lie from the pit of hell. There is nothing that will overcome you and have hold on you Jesus will set you free and victory is in the Lord. Amen. I I believe I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. There's sometimes I try to pull, you know, have you ever pulled the old age card out? Anybody ever do that? You say, you know, I used to do that when I was younger. I wish I could still do that. I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not going to do that anymore. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If God wants me to do it, I'm going to do it. You know, I was trying to get my son. We were playing disc golf. There's a disc basket on our property, Bobby and I's property that kids bought me. I don't use it, but it's there. Anyhow, there's a disc there. So we were using it. And of course, my son, you know, he's good at it. I threw the disc over the fence. And so it's in the neighbor's yard. And I'm trying to get him to go over and get it. And he said, no, there's dogs over there. I'm not going to go over there. So you know what? I was about ready to pull the old age carrot. Hey, wait a second. I just turned 65. I'm 65 years old. Nope. I wasn't going to do it. I'm going to do it. I threw it over there. I'm going to go get it. I hopped the fence. Went over there. I survived. Here I am today. But you know what? I'm not going to do that. I'm not claiming that I can run as fast as when I was 19 years of age. But I am claiming this. The same God that supported me when I was 19, the same God that supported me when I'm 65. Whatever He's called me to do, I'll be able to do it. And I'm not going to make excuses. I'm not going to say I don't have the intelligence, I don't have the wisdom, I don't have the strength, I don't have the power. I never did. He has it. He has it. And He is the one that will empower me. He is the one that will strengthen me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Amen? A word of encouragement to you today and just the fact that God wants us to be powerful for His kingdom. He hasn't just saved us to be religious. He has saved us to be warriors. There's too many people in the church that are wimps. God has not called you to be a wimp. He's called you to be a warrior. And it's time for you to quit cowering and running away and start facing evil and seeing evil run because of the authority that God has given you. Amen. I believe that God, you're going to gain ground for the kingdom. Amen. Praise.