The Person Who Is Empowered By The Holy Spirit Pt.2

Raul Ries: I want the power in my life to overcome sin, so I can share my faith with others, so that people can see a transformation in my life, that I'm not playing games with anybody because I believe in what God says in His Word. You'll never contradict me. I will believe until the day I die. Why? The Holy Spirit is at work in my life.
Guest (Male): I am falling, I am falling in love, I am falling in love, I am falling in love, I am falling in love with you. Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today's lesson continues our focus on living life led by God's Spirit, and it's good to have you with us. As we think about the daily testimony of our words and actions, Raul will challenge us to leave worldly ways behind in obedience to the Holy Spirit's conviction. You'll find that when you fully and humbly submit to God, He'll enable you to accomplish mighty things in His name. Today's lesson is part two of our study, "The Person Who Is Empowered By The Holy Spirit." In Acts chapter 19, here's Raul Ries.
Raul Ries: I want to make sure we understand God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father sent His Son, and the Son came and gave Himself for us. Then He died, He rose again, and what did He do? He sent the Holy Spirit. The triunity of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. When Jesus departed, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost. What's incredible is that in chapter one, in verse four, He says when He was eating with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift of promise. I told you before, John baptized with water, but in a few days from now, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. I'm not a Christian. I've been witnessed to by someone, or read something, or heard something. All of a sudden, I begin to feel this guilt in my life that I didn't have before, never had in my life. Then, all of a sudden, you begin to see that something's happening in your life. You can't do the things or say the things that you did before. If they were evil, you can't do them anymore. You feel now that God is beginning to speak to you directly. He wants a change in your life. Change is good. We come to a place where God changes you. For example, you're going to come to know the Lord. So, He's with you. Now you're convicted, and now you say, "Okay, Lord, I'm ready." So, then He's with you. Now you accept Him, and He comes into your life. Now He comes into your life, He takes possession of your life. But He still gives you a will, my will. We want to make sure we do His will, not my will. When I say my will, I have the freedom to sin or not to sin. You do what you want to do, and then we blame it on somebody else. Husbands do that with their wives, wives with their husbands, children, employees, employers—always blaming somebody. But if you step back as a child of God and you take responsibility for your actions, it's different. Lord, I did it. I meant it. I'm sorry. Then God sees your heart. But if you're making excuses in your life, He can't empower you the way He wants to empower you to use you as a Christian. Paul, John, and all these guys learned that. That's why Jesus came in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He came, the four Gospels, to give us the Gospel. Once the Gospel was given, salvation came. Through salvation comes the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, when I look backwards, the Holy Spirit has been here for 2,000 years. When people tell me, "I'm a Christian," then I have to watch your life to see if the Holy Spirit dominates your life. That's the way to know. Anybody can say, "I'm a Christian," and do whatever they want to do. But a real Christian has conviction. When you're separated as a young person or as an older person, God has a road for you to follow. In the book of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, He says there's a straight road and there's a road that goes in every way. Which road are you following? The road to heaven is very narrow, very straight, and very few people find it. But the way to hell is very broad, and many go there. The Scriptures speak for themselves. Jesus spoke that in the Sermon on the Mount. So, for me and for you, where do I want to end up with my life, whether I'm young or old? What do I want in my life? Young guys, young women, you want a husband, you want a wife? How have you prayed about it? How many kids, or how many teenagers, let me say a young adult, have gotten a woman pregnant, a girl pregnant? Then they say, "Well, I'm not going to be responsible, I'll get an abortion." I'm not going to get an abortion, I'll have the baby. So they have the baby, and then the guy's nowhere to be found. He's with somebody else now. You have to have discernment through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit plays a big part in my life. God the Father sent, He was here, He died, He rose, He left, but He sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is with us. If you're not a Christian here today, the Holy Spirit's not in your life. You don't have the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us very plainly when somebody is not a Christian, their father's the devil. But when we come to know Christ, Christ is our Savior, our Lord, our Master, and our God. So there's a difference. When you're not a believer, you come to a service like this and you're hearing the Word of God and you're sitting there, hoping to get it over with so you can leave real fast. But then, sometimes you'll be sitting there, you come to visit, and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit begins to convict you. You go, "Man, I'll never come back," and you leave. You'll never be the same, I don't care where you go. The Holy Spirit is after you. When He rules my life, I submit to Him. Lord, it's not my will anymore, it's Your will. I'm seeking first the kingdom of God, Your righteousness, and all these things will be added unto me. That's Christianity. So here we are today. I want to know what God wants in my life. Lord, what do you want in my life? Remember in chapter 19, verse one through seven here, 12 men came. Paul asked them, "Hey, what are you guys doing? What do you want?" They're talking, and I'll begin with verse one so you get the whole story again. And it happened that Apollos was in Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. He says, finding some disciples there, he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" Literally, notice: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit having believed?" That's in the original, "having believed." They already believed. And they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." If you haven't heard of the Holy Spirit, what are you saved into? Then, of course, you go back to John the Baptist. John the Baptist baptizes them, but they haven't received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit hasn't been given yet when Jesus was on this world. He promised it. But when Jesus left, He left the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is looked at in the book of Acts chapter one, verse four and five, chapter eight: "You will become witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world will be witnesses." Why? Because of the Holy Spirit. What is He going to do? He's going to give me power to tell people about Jesus. I'm a Christian. He's with me, He's in me, I need the uponic experience in my life. I don't want to lose the opportunity of me telling my mom, my dad, my brother, sister, friends about Jesus. I want to make sure they come to know Him. A lot of times when we don't have the power of the Holy Spirit, we can't do that. But when the Holy Spirit burns in your heart, you've got to do it. You've got to do it because you see that person going to hell, and I don't want anybody to go to hell. Here Paul the apostle is sharing verse two again: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there's a Holy Spirit." Then he said to them, "Into then what were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." John baptized us. Notice, of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Jesus who had come after him, that is on Jesus Christ. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit, here's the word again, came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about 12 in all. The Holy Spirit baptized. They began to speak in tongues. The tongues we shared about, the tongues is not a message; tongues is glorifying, worshipping the Lord. Lord, You're so thankful, I love You, I praise You. It's glorifying God. But the problem is a lot of times people don't have the uponic experience. You'll go to heaven if you have the "within," no problem, you're a Christian. But man, I want more than that. I want the power in my life to overcome sin, so I can share my faith with others, so that people can see a transformation in my life, that I'm not playing games with anybody because I believe in what God says in His Word. You'll never contradict me. I will believe until the day I die. Why? The Holy Spirit is at work in my life.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources to help you walk in the strength and abundance of the Holy Spirit. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk every Tuesday on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel. Now, back to more with Raul Ries.
Raul Ries: As I was going through the Scripture, what kind of person does God use? Number one: one that has a clean heart. My heart has to be clean. Number two: I'm in submission to the will of God, not my will, His will. Thirdly: to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, where now I can say Jesus is my Lord and my Savior. He's my God. Lord, I love You. I praise You. When we go back to the Scriptures, where Jesus promised the Holy Spirit when He was here in the Gospel of John, listen to what He says in chapter seven, thirty-seven through thirty-nine: "On that day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Jesus would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. He's preparing them. He's saying, "You guys, the future is going to be incredible. You're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit." I love it. John 14:16 through 18: "And I will pray to the Father, He will give you another helper, another Paracletos, the Holy Spirit, to assist, that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you, within. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." But the helper, the Paracletos, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. So here we are, learning, prophecy being fulfilled in our lives, the Holy Spirit. In John 15:26, John says that when the Holy Spirit, when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of who? Of me, Jesus. He's going to testify of Jesus. Then I love John 16:7 through 15. Listen carefully. "Nevertheless," Jesus says, "I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, the Holy Spirit, will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me, unbelief. Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more. Of judgment because the ruler, the devil, of this world is judged." I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak. He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, because of this, I say that He will take of mine and declare it to you, to you and me. The Holy Spirit. Jesus commands. He sees what's going to happen when He dies. It's already been planned out in eternity: God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He knows that one day the Father's going to send Him. He's going to come, He's going to teach, He's going to preach, He's going to heal, He's going to be crucified, He's going to die, He's going to leave, He's going to come back. Jesus, the one we've accepted, the one that has given us eternal life. In Acts 2:38 and 39, Peter said to them, those that have come to hear the message, "Repent, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." So here we are, as far and far and far, still to come, the Holy Spirit when you come to know Him as your Lord and Savior, when you repent. He comes into your life, He baptizes you with power. Then He warns us also in First Corinthians chapter five, and verse nine through 11. Listen carefully. Paul says, "I wrote to you Christians in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet certainly, I didn't mean with sexually immoral people of this world." He's not talking about non-believers. He's talking about believers that are in sin. He says that not means sexually immoral people of this world, or with covetous, extortioners, idolaters, since then you need to go out of the world. "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone who is named a Christian, a brother or sister, who is sexually immoral, covetous, idolater, reviler, a drunkard, extortioner, not even have lunch or dinner or breakfast with that person." Jesus said that in His Word. First Corinthians, next chapter, chapter six, verse nine through 11: "Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived." The Holy Spirit is our convictor, right? "Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." Listen: "And such were some of you." Why are you going back again to those things? "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God." The Spirit of God brought us to that place where He wanted us to be. In Ephesians chapter five, in verse three through six: "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be named among you as Christians. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, dirty jokes, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Disobedience. In Galatians chapter five, verse 19 to 21: "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, drugs, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, wild parties, and the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as also I told you in times past." I'm reminding you again. I told you in Ephesians, I told you in Corinthians, and on and on, he says. "I told you before in times past, that those who practice such things, those who are practicing such things, will not inherit the kingdom of God." I didn't make the rules. These are God's rules in His Word through the Holy Spirit. That's why He gave us the Holy Spirit, so we get convicted. If you're not a Christian, you're going to do whatever you want to do. There's no conviction. I wasn't convicted of things I did when I was not a Christian, but when I started getting convicted by the Holy Spirit, I had to change. I couldn't go back to my old life. I have a new life, and within this new life, I'm going to be in eternity one day. All those people from the first century, of Sodom and Gomorrah to Noah's day, we're going to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, those that are living and walking in the Holy Spirit. That's why Paul in Ephesians chapter six, verse 10 through 18, he writes about the armor of God. With the Holy Spirit, I put on the armor of God. I have a helmet, I have a shield, I have a sword, I have a breastplate, I have the whole armor. So when I fight the enemy, he can't defeat me. I defeat him with the Word of God, my sword. I defeat him. The Word of God is what keeps me, God's Word. So powerful when I use the Word of God in my life. I ask God to continue to use my life. I want to do that. I think of how God, not only through His Son Jesus Christ, but the way He's done it for each one of us individually. I don't know what you're going through today. I don't know what your problem may be. I don't know how you've been walking with the Lord. But time is short. The Lord can come in a thousand years, but your time is short, my time is short. You can die any day, young or old. Some of you young people that are here, you may have 50 more years, 60 more years. You don't know that. I want to make sure my life, that I'm walking with God, that I'm being obedient to the Word of God. That the Lord is using my life, and the Lord wants to use your life. But are you willing to submit? Are you willing to surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ? When the Holy Spirit comes upon me and works through my life, He gets the glory because it's only Him that that can happen. Only through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Guest (Male): If you're feeling convicted about sinful compromises or worldly habits you've allowed to creep into your life, we encourage you to acknowledge that before the Lord with a repentant heart. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was part two of our lesson, "The Person Who Is Empowered By The Holy Spirit." To get the complete study, just call us at 800-634-9165 and we'll send you a copy for a donation of five dollars or more. For more insight into what it looks like to follow the voice of the Holy Spirit, we'd like to tell you about Raul's seven-part series, "Filled, Empowered, and Equipped." It's available on CD and USB. Every lesson in this series provides more clarity about the identity and the role of the Trinity's third member, inspiring you to set aside your own personal agenda to walk in righteous, Spirit-led paths. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's seven-message study titled "Filled, Empowered, and Equipped." We'll send you the CD set for 20 dollars or the flash drive for 11 dollars. That's 800-634-9165, or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765. This ministry with Raul Ries is fully listener-supported, and your partnership is crucial to this ministry. Every contribution is tax-deductible. Thanks again for making us a part of your day today, and join us again next time as we continue our study of the Holy Spirit with wonderful assurance of His resurrection power in our lives. These mortal bodies won't last forever, but God's Spirit gives us the hope and promise of eternity in heaven.