The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit – Part 8 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

  Praise the Lord friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’re with us today. Did you know what? If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are a candidate for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is a baptism of power, it is a baptism of fire, but it also, when you receive the Holy Spirit, he leads you into gifts of power and revelation. You don’t wanna miss this message. Friends, it’s great to have you with us. And so happy to have Barbara. We’re talking about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Barbara, you know, you and I were both raised in traditional churches, and our churches said that they believed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But in all reality, we didn’t hear very much of the Holy Spirit. We might have heard a little bit about the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but we didn’t hear about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We didn’t hear about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You actually were in a church where when you were a young child, seven or eight years old, the pastor got up and read verses from the book of Acts about speaking in tongues and said it was of the devil. What was your experience?

 

  Well, as you mentioned, we were in a church, and I can remember sitting there on the wooden pew and this pastor getting up and talking about the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues with the evidence of speaking in tongues, but then taught against it and preached against it. My first reaction was, I was surprised he wasn’t struck by lightning. I remember looking up because we had always been taught, you know, woe to you if you add or take away anything from this word, from the Bible.

 

  Well Revelation says that, 22.

 

  You know, woe to you. And so that was my first experience of God’s grace. He was not struck by lightning and the ground didn’t open him up. But another thing, you know, we’re made up of three parts. We have a spirit, and my spirit just leaped for joy. I just thought, praise God. If that’s in the Bible, that’s for me and I want it.

 

  Hallelujah. It’s so important that we listen to the Holy Spirit instead of some carnal religious teachers. See some people think carnality can only be in worldly things, but when people actually are legalistic, right, and don’t really believe the scriptures, that is carnal too. So, you know, in Romans chapter five, when we get saved, we go from the reign of sin and death to the reign of grace and righteousness by the faith of Jesus. Faith in Jesus and the faith of Jesus. But it also, it tells us how to live in the next three chapters of Romans. In Romans six it says we’re dead to sin, right? That’s that worldly carnality. So we are dead to sin. But Romans seven, it says we’re dead to legalism, and we’re dead to the law. And just like sin will kill you and it’s deadly, legalism will kill you.

 

  Legalism and religions tends to suck the joy and the life right out of the room. But I also wanna bring something out ’cause a lot of times people are always blaming somebody, blaming the church, blaming a pastor, blaming, you know, a traveling minister or blaming their boss or blaming, they just play the blame game. But I just look at it. That day I didn’t look at that, oh, that church or that pastor or that minister ruined my life. Sometimes people don’t have, just because they don’t have that revelation of something yet, it doesn’t have to stunt my growth. I can read the Bible for myself and continue to go forward and just pray for that person that someday they’ll have a revelation too, but not, you know, just fall apart because, you know, somebody was just not operating in grace and faith, but in, like you said, law or legalism. That I can pray for ’em and move on and not be held back because of someone else’s ignorance.

 

  Yeah, and I love something that you said, you can read the Bible for yourself. You know, in the dark ages what happened, they actually took the scriptures out the hand of the people. But when Martin Luther got ahold of the truth and they begin to get the Bible printed and back into the hands of the people, if you’ll study where the scriptures were printed and went into different nations, new inventions, new different things sprung forth. But in the dark ages, mankind actually went backwards. Things went backwards because the Bible actually says the entrance of the word gives light and gives understanding to the simple. We’re gonna go ahead and we’re gonna talk. We’ve been talking about how the Holy Spirit gives gifts and how they’re gifts of power, but we’re gonna move in and talk about how the Holy Spirit not only gives gifts of power, there are gifts of revelation, and we need to have supernatural revelation from the spirit of God so that we can accomplish what God’s called us to accomplish. So in Acts chapter 11 Barbara, if you wanna read verse 27 through verse 30, talking about revelation.

 

  Praise God said in these days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them named Agabus stood up and showed by the spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

 

  So they got revelation by the spirit of God that there was gonna be a famine. So what they did was they, the church got prepared for it. You know, there’s a lot of people, and there’s a lot of false prophecy actually in this area. I have seen abuse by people in the ministry talking about all these terrible things that are gonna happen financially to the United States, so on, and people have been prophesying some of these things for 50 years, and it doesn’t come to pass. And the only people that get wealthy are the people that preach these lies. And I’m just calling it what it is. But I believe God’s hand is on the United States of America. About 90% of the missionary activity in the world is supported from the United States of America. Now, that doesn’t mean that I believe that it’s always gonna be good, because I believe actually if you read Revelation 18, it talks about mystery Babylon in Revelation 17, which is a false religious system. But then it talks about Babylon the great, and it talks about a fault financial system, and it talks about a major economic crash. I believe personally that that happens after Jesus Christ comes for his church. But I do not live in fear. And it really bothers me because a lot of times churches buy this, people buy this hook, line, and sinker and they’re so afraid to take any risk that it really limits their growth. And you have to take risks to get ahead in life. And so I’ve just been calling this stuff what it is. In fact I had a friend, I considered him a good friend, got mad at me because I wouldn’t endorse, you know, his book because it had this thing about this. But I actually believe, yeah, there’s a coming at time, but listen, I’m gonna keep believing Jesus for right now. And I have been very aggressive and God has blessed us personally, and God has blessed our ministry and our church, praise God. So I believe we can still move forward. And if we have wisdom like Joseph, even though a famine may come, see God told them there’s gonna be famine. But Joseph, because he had insight from God made Pharaoh the richest man on the planet, and it protected the people of God. And the word of God actually went forward from that. So I believe yeah, there may be some difficult times, but we can have wisdom from God and be blessed through it, rather than just go hide in fear like the rest of the world. So anyway, you know, they got wisdom from God. Now, it Bible also talks about Agabus in Revelation, or Acts chapter 21. So we’re gonna read in Acts chapter 21, verse eight, and this is later, but it says the next day we were, Paul’s company departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven and abode with him. So here’s Philip the evangelist, praise God. He was one of the seven chosen in Acts chapter six as a deacon. But here God calls him an evangelist. And it says in Acts chapter eight that Philip did great signs and wonders among the people. And when they saw the demons come out and heard, heard the demons come out and saw the miracles he did, they gave heed to the word he spoke. And there was great joy in that city. Many were saved, many were baptized. And later the apostles from Jerusalem came and laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. This same man, Philip had four daughters, virgins who did prophesize. So this is one of the gifts of the spirit. And as we tarried, there are many days there came from Judea, certain prophet named Agabus. This is the same Agabus talked about in Acts chapter 11. And when he was come to us, he took Paul’s girdle, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own hands and feet and said thus says the Holy Ghost shall, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him to the hands of the Gentiles. And so Paul, you know, the people were upset, but Paul said no, I’m bound to do what God’s called me to do, and I am not gonna live in fear. So it’s so important when people give different words and different things that we know what God wants us to do, and don’t let fear be the motivation, but let faith in God be our true motivation.

 

  Amen, that’s good.

 

  So they had revelation, they had the word of wisdom, which is specific words of God’s wisdom about the future that are not known naturally. They had the word of knowledge, that’s a specific word of God’s knowledge. That’s about a fact that’s in existence, that’s not, maybe not, it’s not known naturally right? And they had the discerning of spirits. They could discern that presence or activity of a spirit, whether they’re good or evil. Now if we go back to Acts chapter 14, in Acts chapter 14 we also see not only did they have gifts of revelation, but again, they operated in gifts of power. And so they had been preaching, Paul was on a missionary journey in Acts 13, and it says in verse 49 that the word, in fact why don’t you read Barbara Acts 13 verse 49 to 52. The word of the Lord was published throughout all that region. Go ahead and read the rest of that.

 

  I love how in my translation it says and the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women, and the chief men of the city raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region, but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

 

  So they were persecuted for preaching the word, but they just shook the dust off their feet. If somebody doesn’t receive what you have to say, just shake the dust off your feet. Keep a smile on your face. They were filled with the Holy Ghost and joy. And keep moving into the destiny that God has for you. Now, in Acts 14 at Iconium, they were in the synagogue and it says in verse two that the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. So, you know, some religious people stir up other people and cause them to be evilly affected. I’ve had that happen.

 

  That’s interesting. In mine, in the new King James version, it says poisoned their minds, which is the same bit.

 

  Yeah, some people poison other people’s minds and we just don’t need this stuff happening. And if you’re involved in it, you need to get right with God. You’re gonna pay, there’s a day you’re gonna give an account of your life. So he says in verse three, long time, therefore, they abode speaking boldly in the Lord who gave testimony to the word of his grace. The Lord gave testimony to the word of his grace, where great grace is preached, great powers released, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. I get that from Acts 43. But here’s Acts 14:3 says kind of the same thing. And so the multitude of the city it says, was divided and held part with the Jews and part with the apostles. And there was assault made of the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to use them spitefully and to stone them. So they were talking about stoning Paul and his friends. So the disciples were aware of this and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and the region that lies round about. And there they preached the gospel. So you know what, we’re almost in time for a break, so we’re gonna go ahead and take a break, but we’re gonna come back and we’re gonna talk about when the true gospel is preached, what happens, praise God. And there are good things that happen when the true gospel is preached. So stay tuned. We’ll be back right after this break. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. And I want to tell you about a very special offer today. And this week we are offering Absolute Victory in Christ, my book on salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and believing the word, for a donation of any amount. Plus, we’re offering our teaching on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in audio or video download free of charge, blessings.

 

  It says some brought forth 30, some 60, some a hundred fold, I believe a hundred fold ground. That’s the ground is talking about our heart. The word is talking about the seed. How many of you know the seed is consistent? The word is consistent, but our heart is what changes. In fact, your heart is producing a harvest. If you don’t like the harvest you’re getting, you gotta change the seed you’re allowing to remain in your heart.

 

  Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. I said, we’re gonna come back and talk about what happens when you preach the true gospel. So Barbara, I want you to read here in Acts chapter 14, verse six through verse 10.

 

  Okay, awesome. And so they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia and to the surrounding region. And they were preaching the gospel there. And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet, was sitting a cripple from his mother’s womb who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed. And with a loud voice, and said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet. And he leaped and walked.

 

  Amen, praise God. So, you know here’s something that’s amazing. Some people think well, these gifts didn’t go to the next generation. But you know what, Paul was persecuting the church and in Acts chapter three, there was this lame man healed, and Peter, and he was lame from his mother’s womb. Here is another person that was a cripple from his mother’s womb when Paul was, you know, persecuting the church. And now Paul has taken, you know, the lead. And Paul got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. And now he begins to move forward in power. And it says, this man had never walked. And as Paul was preaching Jesus, as Paul was preaching the grace of God, Paul saw that this man had faith to be healed. And he spoke a word to him and said stand upright on your feet. And he leaped and walked.

 

  You know, you’re talking about the power of gifts and revelation and I love this teaching on the Holy Spirit. And it was a number of years ago when we were in our first location or our other location on Elkton. I don’t know if you remember this, but a gentleman came to church who was from another city. I believe he was here visiting his daughter. And so he was a visitor, wasn’t part of our church, but the Lord just put it on my heart, a very specific word. And I got up there and I shared the word. I said, somebody is dealing with a tumor in their brain. It’s like pea size. And I said exactly where it was. And at that time, no one came up. And so normally we just don’t just keep going on and on. But at the end of the service, I got up again. I felt like the Lord said, say it one more time. And then the Lord gave me more specific details. And so again I delivered the word, there’s somebody here today, you’re dealing with a tumor in your brain. It’s here, and then the Lord told me it was a gentleman, a man, and then the Lord even told me his age. And so after, after that he came up for prayer. And so it is powerful.

 

  It’s amazing the gifts of the spirit. That was the operation of the word of knowledge. And you know, and a lot of times that’s how the Holy Spirit works. He gives you one bit of revelation, but as you, as you press in, he’ll give you more revelation about the situation. So Paul spoke, and this man got healed. He leaped and walked. And when the people saw in verse 11 what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice in the speech of Lycaonia and said the gods are coming down to us. And then they’re like, no, no, no, don’t worship us. You worship Jesus. But the result of this, there was so many people coming to Christ, the religious people got jealous and they, you know, attacked Paul for preaching the gospel. And they, they dragged him out of the city and they stoned him and left him for dead. But you know what, you’re not out till you’re out. And so it says this in verse 19, there came certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people. And having stoned Paul dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. How be it as the disciples stood around about him, he rose up and came into the city. And the next day departed with Barnabas. You know what, it’s not over till it’s over. You’re not done till you’re done. And you need to keep listening to the Holy Ghost. And when they preached the gospel in that city and taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. So they just kept going, they just kept preaching. And the gospel kept going forward.

 

  I like how it says, strengthening the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue.

 

  Amen.

 

  As it went on, so praise God.

 

  You know, we need to keep strengthening disciples, discipline students of Jesus. We need to keep strengthening believers in Jesus. We need to keep strengthening the church. We need to keep helping people, you know, fulfill their God given calling.

 

  Amen.

 

  And don’t let fear overtake you. You know, as we go forward, not only did they continue in revelation and power, but let’s look at this in Acts chapter 16. In Acts chapter 16, verse six through verse 10, it said, when they had gone throughout Phrygia in the region of Galatia, they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Now, this is really unique because later you’re reading Acts chapter 19, that the word went into all Asia as Paul was teaching in Ephesus for two years. But at this time, the Holy Ghost told them no. And I know, man, you need to know when the Holy Ghost says no, he means no.

 

  Well, and it goes on in verse seven, how the Spirit did not permit them.

 

  Yeah, and so they were come to Mizzah, they talked about going to Bithynia. So, you know, Paul was on fire. The disciples were on fire with God, and they were going to go do somewhere and do something, but the Spirit suffered them not. Now this is different than the Holy Ghost just saying. Sometimes the Holy Ghost says no. And if he says no, he means no, you do what he says. But sometimes you just have a check and you need to learn to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 says, as many as are led by the spirit of God, there are sons of God. But you get a check, you just have something on the inside. You just don’t have peace.

 

  Well, there’s been a couple of instances, and it’s only happened twice where the Lord has spoken to me or you could say spoken to us, and it was just a no. And the second time that happened, it just like reverberated through my very soul, like no. You know, don’t do it. And I believe these things are warnings from the the Lord.

 

  Yes. And so after that, they passed by Mizzah and came down to Troas. and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. And there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed. Paul saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. So, you know, the Holy Ghost said don’t go to Asia. And then they were talking about going to Bithynia and they just had a check in their spirits like, no, that’s not what you’re supposed to do. They just didn’t have that peace about it. But then he had this vision and somebody from Macedonia said hey, come over here. And after they’d seen the vision, it says in verse 10, immediately we endeavored to go to Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel. Now you would think with that kind of direction, that they were gonna go there and have a great revival. And that many, many people, thousands of people were going to come to Christ. But you know, they got over there and they only got one woman and her house saved. Lydia, and she got converted and baptized, and you know then there was this demon possessed girl. She was operating in evil spirits.

 

  Or familiar spirits.

 

  Yeah well, she would read people’s palms, so on and so forth, give words, but it wasn’t, she had supernatural direction, but it came not from God, from the devil. And so Paul, she followed Paul and the people with him and said, these men are of God. And after a while, it just grieved Paul. And so he cast the devil out of her. And when he cast the devil out of her, she couldn’t read any, she couldn’t operate in those spirits anymore. And her masters were using her to get money. So they got mad and got to stirred up the city against Paul and Barnabas and they beat them and threw them in prison. So, you know, that’s not what you expect when you’re talking about going one place and you have a check in. The Holy Ghost says, don’t go this place. And then you get this vision and say come over here. And all you do is get one woman in her house saved. But do you know that you never know that one seed, how that’s gonna change a life?

 

  That’s right.

 

  And you know, you and I spent, we started out after I graduated from Bible school in 1988 and went to Kit Carson. It’s a town of 300 in a county of 2200 that covers 2,400 square miles. There’s less than one person per square mile in that county. But God raised up in our church, Carrie Nordquist, who is now Carrie Pickett, and now she is the director of Charis Bible College all over the world, and affecting thousands and thousands of people.

 

  Amen.

 

  Did you know Lydia? It looked like they didn’t have a lot of results, but her house became a church and it grew and prospered and affected that whole area.

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  So you gotta realize, you know what, sometimes it may not look like you’re doing a lot, but you obey God because God has a better plan than you do any day of the week.

 

  And that’s true.

 

  Praise God. And so they, they took Paul, they took Silas, they beat them, they threw ’em in jail. And it says at midnight, they prayed and sang praises. This is Acts 16, verse 25 to God. And the prisoners heard them. You know, most of us would be licking our wounds. We’d say, what have I ever done, why God, but not Paul. They were praying, they were singing praises to God. You know Jesus said if people persecute you, you rejoice that you’re worthy to suffer from my name. And you know what? When that, when they prayed and sang praises to God, God sent an earthquake. The chains fell off of them, the stocks fell off of them. The gates of the prison opened and they walked out unharmed.

 

  I like how it says in 26, suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken immediately. All the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loose. So that’s, that’s huge.

 

  And so then Paul and Silas, they went, and the prison keeper, because he didn’t run away. You know, if they would’ve ran away, the prison keeper would’ve been killed. But Paul and Silas, this man came to him and said, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved in your house. This is a word for somebody today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved in your house. And if you have never believed on Jesus, I invite you right now to believe on Jesus as your savior. We have prayer ministers here who are ready to receive your calls, to pray for you, praise God to minister to you. And if you pray and receive Jesus as your savior, call in. We have a book and we’re offering it today and this week for an offering of any amount if you live in the continental or in the United States of America, praise God. And also, you can go to our website and we have this teaching in audio and video. We literally have hundreds of hours of teaching and we make these teachings available absolutely free of charge. Amen. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for those who are watching me. And if you have never received Jesus, I want you to pray with me right now. Say, heavenly Father, I come to you right now in Jesus’ name. I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that he died for my sins. And Father God, I believe that you raised him from the dead and made him Lord. Jesus, I will live for you as you give me the strength, in your name I pray, amen. Barbara, give ’em a quick word before we go.

 

  Well, hallelujah. Love how the Bible says whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

  Praise God. So if you want to call in, we have our prayer ministers. They’re available to pray for you, to minister to you. If you want this great offer on this book, you just give us a call. We’d love to hear from you. If you wanna partner with us and help us take this message of God’s grace and faith in Jesus to the world, give us a call today. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks so much, and God bless you.

 

  Every born again believer should be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded his disciples not to depart from Jerusalem until they had received power from on high. If the Acts two church needed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we still need it today. We’d like to bless you with the digital copy of the teaching, the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a $25 value free of charge. Download it today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Save the date for our Women’s Rejoice conference. February 8th through 10th, 2024.

 

  My house and everywhere I walk there is bright glory and light shining ’cause God is with me. This is gonna be a lot of fun. I’ve also invited you this year.

 

  We’re gonna have our very good friend Cathy Duplantis here with us sharing at our Women’s Rejoice Conference.

 

  It’s time to rejoice.

 

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