Luke 24, verse 49, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples before He ascended to heaven. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from Many years ago, a great preacher made this statement concerning the Holy Spirit. Pentecost has never been repeated, but neither has it been withdrawn. Pentecost has never been repeated, but neither has it been withdrawn. In other words, this is still the age of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is that gift of God to His church that was purchased by Christ at Calvary. Some significant words on this matter were spoken by the Lord in John's Gospel, chapter 7. If you care to turn there, you'll see from verse 37, the Bible says, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. In this context, the Saviour was not just referring to the person of the Spirit, though it is true that the Holy Spirit is a person. And that the Holy Spirit is a person is a doctrine clearly spelled out in Scripture. The Holy Ghost is not merely an influence. He is the third person of the adorable Trinity. And we recall the words of the Lord Jesus concerning the Holy Spirit, especially once again in the Gospel of John. Let me refer you to a couple of Scriptures there in chapter 14, in chapter 15, and in chapter 16. John chapter 14 from verse 16. He says, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him. For He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And then look at verse 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." Chapter 15 of John, verse 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." And then finally in chapter 16, verses 13 and 14, "'Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you." You'll notice that over and over again, the Lord uses the personal pronoun, He. The person of the Spirit. talking about his works and about his words. He shall speak. He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. He shall testify of me. And so on. Now, as we go into the book of Acts, we discover that this person is at work in the church and its witness. And once again, his true personality is clearly revealed. For example, in Acts chapter 5, we read the story of Ananias and Sapphira, his wife. They were guilty of lying, not only to the church, but to the Holy Spirit, because people were bringing all their possessions that they had sold. They were leaving it all on the altar for use in the Lord's work. And Ananias and Sapphira pretended to do that, They sold a possession, it tells us in Acts 5 verse 1. But then verse 2 says, kept back part of the price. And his wife also being privy to it. She knew all about it. So they're pretending to bring it all, but they're only bringing a part. And they brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But notice verse 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie? to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the lamb. Why has it remained? Was it not thine own? After it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Two things there. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is divine. Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Verse 3 says, Satan hath filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. When you lie to the Holy Ghost, you're lying to God. But the second thing is, you don't lie to an influence. You lie to a person. And this personality of the Spirit is emphasized again in verse 9 of Acts 5. How is it that you've agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? And as we go to Acts chapter 13, when there was an assembly of the church there, there were a group of men, and the Lord was going to choose out servants from among those men to be the first foreign missionaries. And it tells us in Acts 13 verse 2 that as these men ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them." Here are the words of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost said the Holy Spirit is a person. Now, every true believer in Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That is to say, he lives in them. The Holy Spirit actually takes up residence in your body when you come to Christ. Our bodies are His shrine. Our bodies are His temple. That's the word that's used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. If we read there, 1 Corinthians 3, verses 16 and 17, we note these words, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." And that's why you should look after your body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And by the way, there are two words in the New Testament for temple. Chiron and Naos. There are different words. The one word refers to the temple and all of its precincts and the outer buildings and the courtyard. Naos actually refers to the inner sanctum. It refers to what was known in the tabernacle as the holiest of all. The holy of holies. And that puts a different complexion on this scripture, does it not? Know ye not that ye are the temple, the holy of holies of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? How humbling is that? The Holy Spirit indwells the believer. He lives in us. Our bodies are His temple. But while we can emphasize quite rightly the person of the Spirit, we have to also think about what the Bible refers to as the power of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit. Individually, the Bible in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18 speaks of the infilling of the Christian by the Spirit. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And the word be filled with the Spirit is actually a phrase that is in the present continuous tense in the Greek. It means keep on constantly, continuously being filled with the Spirit. But there's as well as this infilling of the Christian individually by the Spirit, the outpouring on the church collectively of the Spirit. And it is this, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, that I want to speak about for a time today. The power of the Holy Ghost. Look at the words of Christ again. Luke chapter 24, 49, This power of the Holy Ghost is what I want to refer to today. First of all, let us notice here a power that is required. A power that is required. Now we could do very well without the Holy Spirit. That is to say outwardly we could. Lots of churches do it. Lots of ministers do it. The Holy Spirit is persona non grata in those places. But they have their services. They sing their hymns, they bow their heads in prayer, they have a sermon of sorts at least, usually. But it's not. It's not that which the Holy Spirit is involved with at all. There's no power there. But there are people and there are churches that can go on very well for years on end without the power of the Holy Ghost. They can function very well, thank you very much, without the outpouring of the Spirit. But I want to tell you this morning, this is a power that is required, if anything is to be done, for the glory of God and for eternity. We need the Holy Spirit to be poured out in power in our day. And I'm not talking about some charismatic nonsense. I'm not talking about some Something that is spurious. Something that is false. But something that is frankly the greatest necessity of the church in every age. I'm certain that you'll agree with me if you look around and open your eyes that we're living in days of lawlessness and apostasy. What does the word apostasy mean? It literally means departure from the truth. Apostasy. Departure from the truth. Going away from the truth. There's much evidence of that in our day, is there not? So much of today's religion is man-centered. It's all about, look at me. It's all about the preacher, the figurehead. Some of these TV personalities. Some of these mega church pastors. It's all about them. They give their names to their ministries. They have a following. And everything about what they do, it seems, is man-centered. That would include the music. In a lot of churches today, what you have is an entertainment show. It takes up most of the service and there might be a kind of an epilogue at the end. It's all about what men can do. It's all about what they think they can do rather. It's all about programs and smart ideas and trendy marketing and advertising. The church is not a business. The church is not out to try to promote itself. in a way in which many in our entrepreneurial society do. That's not the job of the church, is to try to appear hip and trendy to the outside world or to appeal to some of the basest of motives in people's hearts. That whole health and wealth gospel, it's not gospel at all. but the idea that God wants you to be wealthy and God wants you to be healthy. It's unscriptural. It's completely false. And the Holy Spirit has got nothing to do with that. But we need the Spirit. I need the Spirit to come and to move in power and in blessing to do what we are not capable of doing. To do what we cannot, frankly, do. It's a power that is required. We require this Spirit for a number of reasons. We require the power of the Spirit to raise again a standard of righteousness. Now, I don't believe that moralizing in your preaching will accomplish what needs to be accomplished. I think some have fallen into that trap. They think that if they can just get people to conform to certain outward standards, rules and regulations, that that would be holiness and that would be righteousness. It's not. There's no doubt as you look at Scripture, there are things that are clearly outlined there that you should do and you shouldn't do. There are other things that you can draw from Scripture by inference that you should do and shouldn't do. The Lord doesn't always spell it out in book, chapter and verse. There's not always a thou shalt and thou shalt not for things that God wants us to do and not do. For example, the Bible says that we are to abstain from all appearance of evil. Now you can fill in the blanks for yourself, I'm sure. You're to avoid foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in perdition, Paul said to Timothy. There's a lot of things that we can fill in the blanks for ourselves. Frankly, God is a God of rules and regulations in many respects. The Ten Commandments is a case in point and everything that can be brought out of that. But listen, moralizing will not produce righteousness. Do you know that many of the cults have rules for their followers? Outward things to which they must conform in order to be part of the cult. You take the so-called Church of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons. They have rules. They have regulations for their missionaries. They're not allowed to drink tea or coffee. I guess that's one of the things they're not allowed to do. But they have various things that they must and must not do to conform to the rules of the organization. Islam. The Muslim religion is another case in point. Islam is big on outward morality, at least by profession. And their adherence will conform to certain standards of behaviour. We see this with the whole issue of the burqa in many cases and certainly the covering of a woman's hair after a certain age. Remember when we were in Scotland, there were some ethnic peoples there and some of the young girls that used to go around, you'd see them all of a sudden they were wearing a scarf on their head all the time because they'd reached puberty, they'd reached that age where they were now considered to be an older female so that they would have to wear this to conform with their religion. But conforming to certain standards of behaviour is not What constitutes holiness of heart and life? Holiness is a matter of the heart that then manifests itself outwardly. And that's the order. Jesus didn't say only the heart is important and not the outside. I've heard people say that. Oh, you know, man looks in the outward appearance, God only looks in the heart. That is not true. The Bible does not say God only looks at the heart. The Bible in the verse in question, 1 Samuel 16, is talking about a decision that was being made about a future king that was based only on outward considerations. And Samuel thought, well, he's taller than the rest, he's more good looking than the rest, it must be him. And the Lord said, no, David is the one. Why? Because the Lord saith not as man saith. All that men can see is the outward. But the Lord doesn't just look on the outward appearance. The Lord looks in the heart. But the Bible doesn't say He only looks at the heart. Because He also looks at the outward appearance. We should never forget that. If that wasn't true, everybody would go about naked. And the Lord wouldn't worry about it or be concerned about that. But that's not the case. The Lord Jesus didn't say cleanse only the inside of the cup and the platter. He said cleanse first that which is within that the outside of them also may be clean. That's the order. Inward cleansing so that there's an outward manifestation of that in the life. True holiness. But listen, only the Spirit of God can produce the changes that are needed in individual lives and in society as a whole. Listen to the words of the prophet in Isaiah 59, verse 19. This is the way he puts it. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun. And it's these words. Isaiah 59, 19, When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And surely we're living in days when the enemy has come in like a flood, like a tsunami of wickedness that has flooded over our nations. The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. You see, the moral decay and the blatant wickedness of our age cannot be countered by anything other than his power outpoured. If we're trusting in politicians to change our society, we're looking in the wrong direction. We need the Spirit to come in power to raise again a standard of righteousness Righteousness exalteth a nation. Sin is a reproach to any people. The Spirit of God must work. But there's another reason. We need His power to resist the opposition of men. Now, when you stand up for truth, there are those who will be against you. That's the way it is. Or as we used to say, aginye. There are people who will be against you if you stand for this book. In fact, sometimes I think when you produce the Bible, it wouldn't provoke any greater of a reaction if you were to bring out a rattlesnake. That's how people are today. You know it's true. You've only to quote the Bible and you can hear the snarl, the fangs start to come out and they get really, really nasty. People don't like to hear what God has to say in His Word. There's opposition that will come upon you because of righteousness. Isn't that what Paul said? Yea, all that will live godly shall suffer persecution. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. He wrote that to Timothy. But remember what the Lord said to the disciples back there in Matthew chapter 10. These are interesting words. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Verse 17, But beware of men. I used to think it was interesting when you go around certain people's homes that would have a gate, and on the front of the gate it said, Beware of the dog. I remember one time that we went to give out literature back in Scotland, it was an outreach we were doing in another town, and I went to this door, there was no beware of the dog sign, but it was one of these glass panel doors, and I was about to lift the thing to put this leaflet through, and all I heard was, ROAR! I don't know if it was a Doberman or what it was, but I'm telling you, I got out of there really quickly, really fast. Beware of the dog! Look! Beware of men! That's what Jesus said. Be on the lookout for them. Why? For they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues. Imagine, in a religious place, in a place of worship, they would whip people. And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought higher what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." The Holy Spirit indwelling the believer, giving him power to resist the opposition of men. I want to tell you, you'll never stand for a moment against the persecuting spirit of the age, without the Spirit of the Lord fortifying you, you'll never stand. I don't know about you, but I've often read the stories of martyrs being burnt to the stake and people being taken out and killed for the Lord. And I think to myself, would I do that? I mean, if it really came to the bit. If it really came right down to that. For standing for Christ, if you don't renounce your faith right now, we're going to take you out and tie you to a piece of wood, and we're going to set all these things on fire and burn you to death. What would you do? Well, I can only tell you that it's by God's grace that you would stand. Notice how the apostles stood up to the opposition of the wicked. In the book of Acts, that we've already referred to, in chapter 4 of that book, and verse number 31, The Bible says, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Now this was in the context of a threatening that was made against them. You can read chapter 4, the earlier part. And so they took it to the Lord in prayer, And they said in verse 29 of Acts 4, And now, Lord, behold their threatenings. Look at what they are threatening to do, Lord. And grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy Word. And that's what happened. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit came upon them and they spake the Word of God with boldness. Nobody was making them afraid in those circumstances. because the boldness and courage given to them by the Holy Spirit. That's what we need. You know, sometimes today, somebody will look sideways at a Christian and they melt away into the background. They're afraid. We should have boldness, but we're only going to have that boldness as the Lord gives it to us. And remember this, these who were persecuted in the book of Acts could rejoice in the midst of their persecution for this reason. Acts chapter 5 and verse 41, they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. They never stopped. Because the Lord gave them boldness. Think about this. We're not going to fear men. if we have the spirit of the fear of the Lord. In Isaiah 11, verse 2, there is a prophecy concerning Christ, who is that rod of the stem of Jesse. He is that branch that would grow out of his roots. It says there, Isaiah 11, verse 2, "...and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him." The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Listen, if we feared the Lord more, we would fear men less. That's the way it is. Micah could talk about this, the minor prophet Micah, in chapter 3 and in verse 8. He said, but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. He wasn't afraid to rebuke wickedness because he was full of the Spirit of the Lord. When He gives us power, valor or courage, we will have a warrior spirit. Why do we need the power of the Spirit? To raise again a standard of righteousness. To resist the opposition of men. But we also need His power to reject the deceptions of the age. Oh, the deceptions that are out there. And the deceivers with those deceptions that are out there. The Lord in His Word warned us about these things. In fact, He talked about the latter days in Matthew chapter 24. And he said in verse 24, For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. If it were possible. The deception is so great as to take in those that are the Lord's chosen ones. Now folks, let me tell you, many are totally deceived today. Totally deceived. While there are others, even Christians, and they are deceived in a measure, to some degree, taken in by deceivers and their teachings. That's why they support them. That's why they send their money to them. That's why they can't see through them. You look at what goes on in the religious world today under the guise of the Spirit's work. We're to be sober and we are to watch. And whenever Paul called the elders of Ephesus together when he was at Malta, we read about that in Acts chapter 20, he had some very serious words to speak to them. Called them together. He was going to be going away. And he said from verse 28 of Acts 20, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, look at yourselves first, and to all the flock, that's the people of God, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, the word is bishops, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Why? For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." You know when wolves come in among the flock? When the shepherd is not watching. When the shepherd is not nearby. When the sheep are vulnerable, the wolves come and they rend the flock. And he goes on to say, also of your own selves shall men arise from your own number speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. That's the devil working from the inside to destroy the work. And then he says this, Therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn every one night and day with tears. Oh, we're to be watchful. Because there are so many deceivers and so many deceptions. And for this we require the Spirit of wisdom. The wisdom of the Spirit of God. Discernment. I remember hearing one of our pastors who is now retired, Reverend Ivan Foster, saying, when there is a fullness of deception, we require the fullness of the Holy Ghost. When there is a fullness of deception, we require the fullness of the Holy Ghost. If you turn to the book of Ezekiel, I want to show you something there. In Ezekiel chapter 8, the Lord took His servant in the Spirit, He put His hand upon him, and He showed him this vision. It's all described for us here. He told him to lift up his eyes and to look. And He would show him, even at the gate of the altar, Great abominations that the house of Israel committed there. You can see it there in verse 6 of Ezekiel 8. He said, Furthermore unto me, son of man, sayest thou what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, he's talking about idolatry, false worship, that I should go far off from my sanctuary, but turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he gives them this vision down in verse 10 of idols portrayed upon the wall, creeping things and abominable beasts. And right on down this chapter, he sees women who are weeping for Tammuz, verse 14, a false god. And he just goes on talking about these abominations. But the point that I want you to see here is that God showed the prophet Ezekiel the extent of the apostasy in his land when he was in the Spirit. He saw all of this in the Spirit. Folks, we require the Spirit of God to show us the evils of the apostasy of our day and give us a hatred for it. Some people seem to think it's no big deal when evangelical preachers say nice things about the Pope. It's no big deal when Billy Graham, one of the greatest ecumenical evangelists in history, who filled up the ranks of the Church of Rome more than any other man in living memory, when evangelical men stand up and say he was a great man and a gospel preacher. It's so sad. And it's God's Spirit alone that will enable us to raise the alarm to God's people about things like that. But it's not popular. It's not popular. Oh, you don't want to make people think that you're extreme. You don't want people to think that you're a man of controversy. We want people to think our minister's a nice guy. Well, I think he's a nice guy, but then it's not my thinking that's important. I'm not interested in being a nice guy. I want to be a faithful And we should pray that the Lord would give preachers today, especially preachers, courage to stand for what is right, whatever other men are saying. We need the Spirit. We need this power of the Spirit as well to reap a harvest among souls. I'm not depending on my eloquence or my words or the notes that I print out or the things that I think I can say by way of persuasive arguments to produce a harvest among souls. If I'm looking to myself, I'm looking in the wrong direction. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3. I want you to see what the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest preachers who ever lived, was depending on. I mean, if Paul couldn't depend on eloquence, nobody could. If you were depending on education, Paul would be at the top of the tree. He was a man who did great things for God. But notice what he said. 1 Corinthians 3. From verse 5, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth anything. That's himself. I have planted. He says, neither is he that planteth anything. I'm a nothing. Neither he that watereth. Apollos watered. He's a nothing as well. But God that giveth the increase. God that giveth the increase. If anything is to happen, God will make it happen. And men and women, this is really the story of what took place in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 2, there were about 3,000 people who were saved. That's what the Bible says. Now, how did that happen? It happened when men preached in the power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God did that work. Again, we read Acts chapter 4, and where they prayed and the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the Word of God with boldness. But it goes on from there. It says, "...and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul." In verse 33, "...and with great Power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. With great power, they gave witness of the resurrection. There was dynamism. There was power in their preaching. This happened with Peter in the household of Cornelius. Not only was he filled with this Spirit, but when he was preaching, the Bible says, when he spake these words, Acts 10.44, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word. Who was it that brought about the results? It was this Spirit. of the living God. That's a recurring theme, by the way, in the New Testament, even in the epistles of Paul. When he was writing to the Thessalonians and talked about how they came to be Christians, he said in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. That's what happened. They preached, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1, verse 12, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. I want you to know that souls are not won by mere human persuasion. They are not won by clever argumentation. They are one as the Spirit of God works through the preached Word in men's hearts. And Paul talked about that, didn't he, to the Corinthians as well? 1 Corinthians chapter 2 from verse 3. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Well, if that's Paul, there's not much hope for the rest of us. If we're depending on our own flesh. I was with you in weakness. and as a weak, ordinary vessel, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And the same thought he had in mind when he wrote 2 Corinthians 3. In verses 5 and 6, listen to this, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. Paul was a truly humble servant. He didn't think he was all that. He didn't think he was a big cheese or a big shot. No, we don't think we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. who also have made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. That's what Paul was depending on. And folks, if we're ever to see souls won to Jesus, it must be by the power of the Spirit poured out upon the Word that is proclaimed. We cannot do what needs to be done. There is a power that is required. That's my first point, and the time is nearly gone. I'll mention the other two. There's a promise that is recorded. The Lord has given His promise to the church concerning the power of the Spirit of God. Thank God for that. We don't have to say, well, we need the power of the Spirit, but we can't have it. There's a promise. He's rightly called the promised Holy Ghost. Oh, the thousands, and I mean thousands of times that I heard that in my lifetime. I take the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost to fill me to the uttermost. I take, thank God He undertakes for me, the promised Holy Ghost. He is promised. Look at the words of our text, Luke 24, 49. Did you see those words? Behold, I send the promise of the Father upon you. That was the Father's promise to Christ in the covenant that He would send His Spirit unto His church. The Comforter has been promised in power. Jesus said in Luke 11 verse 13, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? And the corresponding words, same incident, same writer as well, from Luke 24, 49, they're found in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me." These are words that meant something to those who heard them, and they should mean something to us in our day as well. The promise of power has never been withdrawn. Folks, we can take God at His Word. We can trust Him for an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, changing hearts, and yes, even changing our society. We look around us and our hearts melt. Our hearts sink. And we think, look at the state of our nation. Look at the state of our world. It's all done. It's all over. The devil's in charge. But I want you to know that's not true. That is not true. Because something happens when true revival comes. I'm thankful for the church history that I have read and been cradled in. And it's filled with examples of those periods of power that we refer to as great awakenings or revival times. The promise of the blessing of the Spirit may still be known among men, even right here in this country. Revival can come. May the Lord send it for His glory. The promise that is recorded. And then the third point. A provision that is requested. See, this is what we've talked about, the power that's required. There's a promise that's recorded, but we have to plead that promise. There's work for us to do at the throne of grace. This provision is requested. The Lord mentioned a condition or a command here, didn't He? In the case of the original disciples, they were to tarry at Jerusalem until the Spirit was poured out. There was a set time for the Spirit of God to come in His fullness of power. Now, we know that was the beginning of something. That was the inauguration of the New Testament church. But we're living in the age of the Spirit now from that time. We don't need to wait for that time to come when His power might become available. But it's also true that as they waited before God in prayer before the Spirit came, we must as Christians also wait upon God for revival, blessing and for the outpouring. Prayer changes things and how we need to pray. There are set times for God to favour Zion, His church, with special blessing. And I'm not one of those who believes that we can extort that blessing from God. That we can, by something that we do, create conditions whereby He's obliged to give us revival? That's Phineism. Charles Phinney used to teach that nonsense. That it was just like growing crops in the field. You plough the soil, you put in the seed, and then it all comes to fruition at the harvest. What he forgot to talk about was the influences of heaven that are needed. Forgot to talk about the sunshine, and the rain, and the snow, and the things that must come down from heaven to bring about a crop. Because there's plenty of farmers who will tell you, I ploughed the fields, I have sowed the seed, and at the harvest time, I got virtually nothing. Because it was a bad year. We didn't get the rain that we needed. There was a drought. We didn't have the sunshine that we needed. It was too cold. No, we need the influences of heaven. This nonsense that it's as though God could give something to the church that they could have by doing something themselves. The church could have revival anytime it wished, as long as God's conditions were met. It's a falsehood. It's a falsehood. However, There's a balance here as well. And as Matthew Henry stated, while we cannot make the wind to blow, we can sure set our sails in prayer to catch the wind when it does blow. And how we need to pray. That's what happened with the disciples. They did what the Lord told them to do. Acts chapter 1 finds them there in the prayer room. There they were, abiding. Verse 13 says, When they were come in, they went up into an upper room where a bode, both Peter and so on, they were there waiting on God. In Acts chapter 2, what happened in verse 2, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. They weren't hanging from the lampshades or the chandeliers. They weren't running about like idiots. They were sitting. sitting, tarrying when the Spirit came. Again, Luke 11, 13, to them that ask Him. Folks, we already have the Spirit, yet we must pray for His blessing to come upon us. And I'm speaking to myself as well. We must redouble our efforts in prayer. Lord, come and visit Thy church. We talked about this when we were preaching from Psalm 80. Behold and visit this vine. That's a prayer. It's a prayer. Are we praying for the Lord to come? Are we praying for the Lord to change things? Jude verse 20 speaks about ye beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Ghost. The Lord is able to give times of refreshing from His presence. Let us then wait upon Him in prayer that He might do so for His own glory. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. Oh, may we soon know what it is to be endued with power from on high.