The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit – Part 4 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

  Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in to the broadcast today. We’re gonna be sharing from Acts 19, where Paul laid hands on the Ephesian elders, and they received the Holy Spirit, and they spoke with tongues, and they prophesied, but it did not end there. God has more for you, and if you get filled with the Holy Ghost, He’ll lead you into those things that He has for you. Blessings. Friends, we’re so glad that you’re here today. I am so happy to have Barbara. We’ve been teaching all week on “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” and we begin by talking from Acts 1 and Acts 2 about the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit and how Jesus told them in Acts 1, also in Luke 24, to tarry in Jerusalem until they received power from on high, until they were endued or clothed with power from on high. But then after they received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, which was 50 days after His resurrection. So this is about 10 days after Jesus told them, right, to tarry in Jerusalem. They received the Holy Spirit. There’s people that have tarried for years to receive the Holy Spirit, and you don’t have to tarry it all.

 

  That’s right, the good news is you can receive that free gift right now 

 

  Because it’s already been poured out, it’s already here. In the Book of Acts, and I’m telling you the truth, in Acts 8, the Samaritans received the word of God. And when Philip and John, after the Samaritans believed on Jesus and were baptized, the leadership of the church in Jerusalem heard about it. So they sent Peter and John down there and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So this is a secondary gift from the initial gift of salvation. The only qualification that you have to meet to receive this gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is you must be born again. You must believe on Jesus as your Savior. But if you believe on Jesus as your Savior, then you can go ahead and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then we read in Acts 10 how the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit. This was supernatural. Cornelius was an Italian guy, right, and he prayed and he gave alms to God. But he was praying about 9:00 AM, I think it was the third hour of the day. And he had this vision of an angel coming and telling him to go over to Joppa and ask for a man named Peter at Simon the Tanner’s house by the seaside. So he was to send men. So the next day, early in the morning, he sent men down to to Joppa, and they found Simon the Tanner’s house. And they said, “Is there a man named Peter staying here?” They said, “Yeah.” At the same time Peter was up and he was fasting and praying. At noon, he was on the roof, and as he came down, he’s probably hungry. And it said, arise Peter killing. I’m sure there were pork chops, bacon, ham, all these good things that Jews couldn’t eat. Catfish, shrimp. Peter said, “No, I’m a good Jew. I’ve never done this, I’ve never eaten things.” This happens three times. After the third time, the sheet’s caught up to heaven, and the Holy Spirit says, “Peter, there are three men that are seeking you. Go down and go with them and don’t doubt anything.” This is how he was led to go to preach to the Gentiles. So he goes with them to the town to where Cornelius is, to Cornelius’s house. Cornelius has gathered his family and friends around because this was so supernatural. And Peter preaches to them, Jesus, as he’s preaching, they believe on Jesus, and the Holy Spirit falls on them, and they begin to speak in other tongues. They did not tarry. They believed Jesus had received the baptism of Holy Spirit. And then in Acts 19 we’re gonna read today how the elders at Ephesus received the Holy Spirit. These were John’s disciples, and they had been baptized with John’s baptism, but they had not been yet baptized as Christian believers. So, well, let’s read the story. Barbara, I want you to read Acts 19, begin just reading in Verse 1 and just read on down through about Verse 6, but you can stop anywhere you want to and comment.

 

  Okay, so praise God. This is Acts, again, 19:1 6. It said it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, “Into what, then, were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him, who would come after him that is on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse 6 goes on to tell us this. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

 

  Amen, so 

 

  They hadn’t heard.

 

  They hadn’t heard of the Holy Ghost. I mean, that’s like the church that I grew up in. I mean, we said that we believed in the Holy Spirit, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I think about almost every church, there’s a couple of churches that don’t really claim that, but almost every true Christian Church believes in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. and they said, “Well, man, we haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit.” He said, “Well, what were you baptized with?” They said, “John’s baptism.” So they baptized them in the name of Jesus, right, because John baptized a baptism under repentance, but they baptized them. When we get baptized in the name of Jesus, that’s really talking about identification.

 

  That’s right.

 

  When you study the scripture in the New Testament, there are actually three baptisms of believers. And Paul actually says in, or Peter says, in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized and every one of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sin, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” He goes on to say this in Verse 39. “For this promise, speaking of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to you and to your children, and to as many as the Lord shall call, as many as are far off that, man, if you’re saved, you are called into salvation.” Jesus called everyone into salvation at the Cross. You’ve gotta answer the call and believe on Jesus. But if you answer that call and believe on Jesus, you are a candidate as a believer in Jesus for the baptism, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, when you look at Acts 2:38, closely, he says, “Repent.” The Bible talks about in Hebrews 6, the foundational doctrines of the church in the first few verses, and the first one is repentance towards God and faith towards Jesus. That’s talking about salvation. So he says, “Number one, you need to get saved. After you get saved, you need to get baptized.” Mark 16 says, “He that believed it then is baptized shall be saved.” So the first baptism, when you’re saved, you’re baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. That’s 1 Corinthians 12:13. Then, when you’re water baptized, you’re baptized by another believer into water. That’s talking about identification. If you read the first few verses of Romans 6, explain that we identify with Christ’s death and resurrection, we’re dead to sin in alive to God. But then the third baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John the Apostle, right? The disciple of Jesus said there’s one coming after me who is mightier than me, whose shoes I’m not even worthy to bear, and he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire.

 

  Amen.

 

  Hallelujah. So to understand the difference between those three baptisms of believers, you say, “Number one, what are we being baptized into? Number two, who is doing the baptism?” So at salvation, we’re being baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. That’s salvation. At water baptism, we’re being baptized by another believer into water. And in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we’re being baptized by Jesus in the Holy Spirit. Now, in the Book of Acts, when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues. That is the initial physical evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues. It happened in Acts 2, it happened in Acts 10, and it happened in Acts 19. You know some people believe what they believe no matter what the Bible says?

 

  Right.

 

  And we need to get our doctrine from the scriptures.

 

  Amen.

 

  This scripture was given for doctrine. That’s what Timothy says. I think it’s 2 Timothy 3:16. But anyway, when they heard about this, right, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. And then Paul in Verse 6, Acts 19:6, where Barbara read, Paul laid his hands on them, and the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spoke in tons, but they didn’t stop there. They prophesied. See, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is like a doorway into the rest of the manifestations of the spirit.

 

  That’s right.

 

  Do you know what? I’ve operated in the word of wisdom, you’ve operated in the word of wisdom. That’s a specific word of God’s wisdom about the future, right, that’s only revealed by the Spirit. The word of knowledge is as you operate often in the word of knowledge in the area of divine healing. It’s a specific word of God’s knowledge about something that’s in existence in the present or the past. And it’s revealed by the Holy Spirit. You’ve operated a lot in discerning of spirits to discern the presence or activity of a spirit, whether it’s good evil, Aaron, our son, is really strong in the gift of the discerning of spirits. I’ve operated some in the gift of the discerning of spirits. Now, I don’t turn them on and I don’t operate in and off. I don’t operate in these things all the time, but I’ve operated in them. I’ve operated in the gift of faith and the working of miracles. I’ve seen people raise from the dead. You’ve seen people raise from the dead. We’ve seen amazing miracles in the realm of divine healing.

 

  Amen.

 

  I remember one woman that her grandson asked me to pray for, and I prayed for this grandma years ago, walking down the hallway before church on a Wednesday evening. And the spirit of God came on her. Her husband told me she got hot and stayed hot for two weeks. She was on 13 or 14 prescription medications.

 

  That’s correct.

 

  And within two weeks, she was off all of them but one.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  And that wasn’t me. That was the Holy Ghost. Praise God. The Holy Ghost came on her. That was the working of a miracle. That was gifts of healings, gifts of power, gift of… I’ve operated in specific gifts of healings. I know in certain areas when I pray for people, there’s a good chance that they’re gonna get healed because I know there’s a specific gift of healing that works. That word in the Greek in 1 Corinthians 12 is gifts of healings. Both are plural. So there’s more than one gift of healing. One person said there may be as many as 39 ’cause Jesus took 39 stripes on his back. They say there are 39 causes for root causes for sickness. Now, that may be different with medical knowledge today, but this was taught years ago by a person called Dr. Lilian B. Yeomans. So she had a great book on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So I’ve operated in the gift of prophecy, which is to speak unto people.

 

  That’s right.

 

  And you’ve operated in that. Exhortation, edification, and comfort, according to 1 Corinthians 12:3. The simple gift of prophecy has no revelation. I’ve also operated in the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues the last Sunday we had church. Deborah Clingenpeel she’s a pastor, she’s our daughter in law, Heather’s mom from Shelbyville, Tennessee was here in service with us, and I gave a tongue. It really wasn’t that loud, but she got up and gave up interpretation of tongues.

 

  Yeah, it’s powerful. It’s awesome.

 

  And it really fit with the message. It really fit with what was happening. The Holy Spirit doesn’t do anything. It’s not edifying, it’s not decent and in order.

 

  Amen. In order.

 

  Praise God.

 

  [Barbara] That’s awesome.

 

  And so all of these gifts, these manifestations, but generally, in the church you grew up, did you ever see any tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles, healings?

 

  Not when I was younger, but we talked about both of us when we were 13 and 14,

 

  When we got in a spirit filled church.

 

  Correct.

 

  In a church that teaches this. I never saw… I grew up in a traditional church. I never saw one person healed, I never saw one person have a miracle, but we’ve seen many miracles. We’ve seen people raised from the dead, we’ve seen many miracles of healing. I prayed earlier this year for a young man, he’s 40 years old. He’s my cousin’s son. And he had a blood clot that went to his brain. And the doctor said that he’d been in the hospital for a number of days. Over a week before I came, the doctor said he’ll be a vegetable or he’ll die. They said, “No hope.” And my cousin Rhonda had a vision of me coming in and praying for him. It scared her because she goes to a kind of non charismatic charismatic church. But she felt like that he was gonna be raised up and God wanted me to come pray for him. So she called me, she called her sister, who’s a pastor in this church I grew up in. Her sister said, “If God wants you to do that, you better do it.” The pastor’s a traditional church, right? And so she called my other cousins and got my phone number, called me on Saturday morning early. I drove to Denver, went to Anschutz Hospital. There was another man there, he walked out of the room when I walked in. We anointed him with oil, I gave some testimonies. I prayed for him. I told him before sometimes people are healed immediately, sometimes it’s a period of time. And nothing was happening. And we prayed, and I prayed, I was there. We anointed him with oil, prayed over him in the name of the Lord. I was there 30 or probably 45 minutes. And then I walked out, but man, you talk about a sincere mama. My cousin Rhonda is a sincere woman of God. But later that day, he moved his finger and the doctor said, “It’s a miracle.”

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  It’s a miracle.

 

  That’s powerful.

 

  And did you know he came from moving his finger, to moving his body, to walking with a walker, to walking without a walker, to going to rehab, to going to home, to going into the office several days a week. And it’s a miracle of God. I am here to tell you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

  That’s right.

 

  That Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to fulfill his ministry. And we need the Holy Spirit to fulfill what God’s called us to do on here.

 

  That’s it.

 

  Every believer needs the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So you call in today if you haven’t received it, and you receive the baptism Holy of the Spirit. Amen. Praise God. So we’re gonna take a short break. We’re gonna come back after this break and we’re gonna be sharing more about what happened after they received the Holy Spirit in these Ephesian elders, praise God, of John the Baptist. They were saved. They got water baptized, now they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But that wasn’t the end. That was only the beginning. God has more for you, so stay tuned. Blessings. 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.

 

  The church is the best thing that has ever happened to the world. I’m so thankful for the church. I’m so thankful for the global body of believers. I’m so thankful for local church bodies like this. I love the local church because Jesus loves the local church. This is the thing that is holding our country together.

 

  Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. I heard this word in the break. Miracles, miracles, miracles. God has miracles and they’re on the way. So I wanna invite you, praise God, to Charis Christian Center to come, to attend services with us. Praise God, we’ve had people, as Barbara’s gave in words. On our TV broadcast, we’ve had people get healed to call in. They’re so excited. And they said, “That is just what I had. I believed that I received it.” We have people receive miracles sometimes when our prayer ministers pray for them. We have people watch online and receive miracles. Our online services, our broadcast, we broadcast Sunday mornings, Wednesday, Sunday mornings at 8:30, at 10:30 Mountain Time, currently Wednesday evening, 7:00 PM. We’ve had people receive miracles, and we have lots and lots of people that come to church and receive miracles.

 

  Recently on a Sunday, we had someone share their healing testimony, and it was powerful. Because I know that you went to the hospital and prayed for this person. They were there, they ran just a few tests. But basically, the doctor said “You’re full of cancer. It might’ve started here, but you have cancer, and we give you three weeks to live. And in the meantime, though, we can try X, Y, Z.” And they just said, “No, thank you.” I’m not even gonna do that. I’m just gonna believe God.

 

  She’s a great woman of faith in our church. Ginny Patchett.

 

  Yeah. This woman came to church shortly after she was dismissed from the hospital. And there sometimes are signs when someone is full of cancer. And her stomach, I remember just stuck out because 

 

  Looked like she was pregnant.

 

  Because she was full of cancer. But it was just a very short period of time, and she continued to come to church. And how she even got the strength and energy to do that, it is just supernatural. But she kept coming to church and believing God. And we just saw that go down and go down and get smaller and smaller.

 

  Honey, she was gray and her countenance turned back pink, and she came in a few weeks ago and her son was here. And I said, “Well, she’s running around like a light bulb and she’s healed.” And he said, “Yes, she is.”

 

  Praise God.

 

  And then she came this last Sunday and her daughter told me, I didn’t even say anything, her daughter told me, “Mom is healed,” praise God. And so I got her up… I was preaching actually from Acts 14 and Acts 19, some of these scriptures. And you know what, Judy got up and testified, and it’s powerful. And we I have seen miracles for over 40 years. I’ve been preaching the gospel this year for 43 years.

 

  Things that are just supernatural 

 

  Pastoring for 35 years.

 

  Unexplainable.

 

  Yeah, and we have seen miracles where people… We had a woman in, Kit Carson. They gave her less than six months to live. She had been to Mayo Clinic, and praise God, she was healed supernaturally. We prayed for her. She came back to the doctors at Colorado Springs. This was in 1990, and she’s still alive and well today. They gave her a lesson, six months to live at Mayo Clinic. Said, “There’s nothing that we can do.” And praise God, she came, and we laid hands on her, and prayed for her, gave her the scripture from Psalm 118:17, “I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” Told her to believe that speak at every day. Gave her some other scriptures to believe and speak every day. And two weeks after that, she was up here in Colorado Springs getting a checkup, and they said, “Where did you go and get that cancer frozen?” She said, “I haven’t been anywhere. I’ve only been to church and they prayed for me.” Well, she’s healed this… They gave her six months in 1990. Hallelujah, and here over 30 years later, she is alive and healthy 

 

  Amen.

 

  And strong and well.

 

  That’s exciting.

 

  Praise God. We had a young man in our church. They told him that he would die young, the little boy. And when he was 10 years old, he had been in our church for several years. He said, “You know what? God healed Pastor Lawson. When he’s a little bit boy, I believe God’s gonna heal me.” He couldn’t eat all these things. He got up one morning and it just came to him. And he told his mother, “I’m healed.” He was on like 10 or 11 medications a day if it was a good day, and he said, “I’m not taking anymore, I’m healed.” He had a gluten disorder where he couldn’t eat gluten. He ate a whole box of teddy grams and he’s a little old kid. Hallelujah. They took him to Chipotle. He ate a whole Chipotle burrito. He didn’t have any problem. If he would’ve done that before God healed him, he would’ve fell over dead.

 

  He didn’t experience any side effects, so 

 

  None. He’s completely healed.

 

  He was healed.

 

  By the power of God. His mama asked him, “What would you do if you had $1 million?” He said, “I would build a church and I would support world missions,” praise God. And praise God, he is a good young man. Praise God for miracles. Praise God for the power of God.

 

  Amen.

 

  This isn’t just for… This is for whoever will believe it.

 

  That’s right.

 

  Now, as we read on down here in Acts 19, when Paul laid his hand there, it says in Verse 7, there were about 12 men. But Paul went in there in Ephesus, and it says in Verse 8 he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months disputing and persuading things concerning the kingdom of God. And when the people with different opinions were hardened and believed not bespoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the School of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years so that all that dwelled in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Greeks and Jews. This is powerful. In Act 16, Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. But now, he continues for over two years teaching and preaching the word in Ephesus, and everybody in Asia heard the word of God because people were coming through Ephesus and going to Asia and preaching the gospel. Whatever the Holy Ghost tells you, you just need to obey him.

 

  That’s right.

 

  Because he’s got the plan and he knows how to get the job done.

 

  That’s right.

 

  It says in Verse 11 and 12, “And God brought special miracles.” Do you know I believe there are special miracles? Special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick, handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them. Man, it’s the same thing that happened in Acts 8 when Philip preached the gospel. Now, Paul was preaching that. Paul wasn’t even saved in Acts 8. Hallelujah, but demons came out and sick people got healed. And you know what? There were some Vagabond Jews that talks about after this, and they went and tried to cast devils out of people. And they said, “In the name that Jesus,” who Paul preaches. And the demons said, “Paul, we know, and Jesus we know, but we don’t know you. Who are you?” And those demons came out of them, and leaped on them, and they left naked and wounded. Man, if you don’t know Jesus, you better not be trying to cast out devils. You get yourself in a mess you don’t want to be in. But what happened as a result of that, many people believed, and came, and showed their deeds that says in Verse 18. Many of them who used curious arts, they were involved in witchcraft, brought their books together and burned them before all men. My dad had a pile of pornography about a foot thick when I was a kid. I read some of that before I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. But when I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, I took my dad’s pornography out, a whole box of it. I did not ask permission. I put it in the 55 gallon fire barrel. I poured gas on it and I burnt it. And I have never had a problem with pornography since God delivered me. And you know what? If God will deliver me, God will deliver you. Amen? Praise God, you just need to receive the Holy Ghost and receive the power of God. And they counted the price, 50,000 pieces of silver. That’s five or $10 million in today’s money. Man, if you’re operating in all this garbage pornography, lesbian and gay, God loves you. Literature perverted stuff.

 

  Or just witchcraft as you’re talking about.

 

  Witchcraft. You know what?

 

  Witchcraft.

 

  You shouldn’t be involved in witchcraft whatsoever. I don’t let anybody read my palms. I don’t read “Harry Potter” books. I don’t watch witchcraft movies. Listen, I don’t celebrate Halloween. I don’t do any of that stuff. I am not giving the devil any space in my life. But notice what the word of God says. “So mightily grew the word of God and prevail the word of God.”

 

  I like that.

 

  We’ll grow and prevail.

 

  Pray real quick, Barbara.

 

  Well, dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you and we praise you. We thank you for everyone watching that they are blessed, they are not cursed. I just thank you Lord for healing them. We stand with them and command pain to go and for that healing right now in wisdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

  We’re giving my book out for any donation to anybody in the United States of America that calls and request it for any donation this week. So we want you to receive the word of God. Blessings, and thanks for watching.

 

  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 2 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 because 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.

 

  Thanks for watching “Grace for Today.” This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719 418 4000. Or to partner online, go to charischristiancenter.com/give. You can write us at PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on “Grace for Today.”