Right now, I am going to preach a sermon.

Those of you who it is now your nap time, you may assume the position.

Even just being in the presence of the Lord is a good thing. We're in a series called Drench, and this is an impact series about the Book of. Thank you. Fantastic. We're going to cover a whole chapter today.

Say amen. Say, oh, me. Okay. All right. We're going to do it.

Did a whole chapter in church today. Praise God. Heavens, Heavens and earth. We've been talking about heavens and earth for a long time because we are a place. We are individually and corporately especially.

We are a place where people encounter heaven. It's amazing. People walk in this place. They get touched, they get delivered, they get set free, they get healed. It's so awesome.

Because the corporate anointing is a liberal manifestation of God's presence and power. Amen. Amen. So we are. That's what we're here for.

We're not here to get to heaven. We are here because we have learned the good news and good news. Good news is always past tense. Say it's past tense. When you turn on the tv, they're not prophesying the future.

They're talking about what happened today. And good news is what's already happened. And the good news of what's already happened is you're forgiven, you're healed, and you're free. And you have an open access to heaven. God's favor is liberally pouring upon you.

There's a river gushing out of your belly because of what Jesus did. The good news is the kingdom of God is within your reach. You are powerful, you are mighty. You are glorious. You're above and never below.

That's the good news. And it's already done. The good news is, and come to Jesus and then do your best. Behave him. Do all you can.

I mean, struggle. Die daily for him. Oh, that's not good news. The good news is that Jesus died with me. Jesus gave his life for me.

Jesus lived for me. Jesus made a way for me. The good news is done because it's finished. It already happened. Hallelujah.

2nd Corinthians 4, 6. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Stephen. We talked about Stephen for a couple weeks. But Stephen glowed with heaven.

Stephen face was on fire with the glory of God. Stephen showed them a God they had never met through a human Face, your face is a, is a theological instrument. Your faith. Your face is a vehicle through which heaven speaks to creation. Your faith face brings transformation to everything around you.

Stephen announced that two things would change. He announced that the location of God changed. He doesn't dwell in temples made with stones. He's going to dwell where living stones come together. He's going to dwell where people have been made alive with the power and presence of God.

He will dwell in living stones. These man made temples, they're going to blow up. But he will live in the hearts of men and women and he will express himself corporately through a called out body of people together. Peter said this is done. And that freaked them out because the temple was everything to them.

But then he also said how we relate to God, the ways of Moses, the rules, the regulations, they're finished. We're not going to do that anymore. You're going to live out an abiding relationship with the presence of God. He's going to live in you. He's going to abide in you.

You can live a life led by the spirit, where you're not trying to obey outer laws, but got the life of the spirit of God living in you, leading you and guiding you. So the location changed and the whole worship system changed. And man, did they ever get upset because they took away all their toys. Are you still with me? Are you still with me?

You were created to mirror heaven's realities on earth. You behold what you behold. You worship. I mean, I can tell what you're looking at, man. Stop looking at the past.

Stop looking at failure. You're, you're. It's demon worship is what it is. Because the devil throws that in your face. And the devil, I would suggest to you that you should focus on your past miserable life.

Oh, okay. You are literally. That's a doctrine of devils. Your past is gone. Behold, I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus.

All things passed away. All things have become new. So don't let the devil do that. If he tries to, just stop it. And if you bring up your past, I will kick you because it's done.

Who the sun set free is free most of the time. You're free all the time. All the time. Amen. Amen.

So what you behold is what you worship. Are you beholding him? Are you beholding him? You have open, free access to the face of God every moment in your life. Not because of what you do, but because of what he's done.

Religion is do, do, do. The kingdom is done, done, done. Doo doo smells. Done. Done does not.

When you reflect God rightly, creation responds correctly, literally. Your face can change the world. And Stephen's face shone like the good news, shone like the sun, shone like the revelation of the face of Christ who he was looking at. The Gospel delivers you into God's unfailing unveiled approval. Amen.

Turn to your neighbor. Say, you are approved of. 100% approved of. There's nothing in you that God does not approve of. Because Christ in you is the hope of glory.

There's nothing about you that God does not approve of. He's absolutely nuts about you. He would not join himself to something evil and broken, but he's joined himself to you. Why? Because he has made you holy.

Blameless and absolutely holy in His. His sight. In his sight. Who did it? He did it.

Any holy people here today? Are there any holy people here today? Perfectly righteous in every way? Yes. That's what you must behold.

If you behold anything else, you're opening the door for the devil to mess with your world. And you did it. The devil didn't make you do it. You did it. You agreed with the devil instead of God's opinion of you.

And you know what sin is. Sin is agreeing with the opinion of the devil. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What is the glory of God? It's his opinion of you.

And his opinion of you is, I approve you. I love you. I'm nuts about you. Is anybody hearing this at all? Anybody?

I. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. We've said it before. We said it before, but you know what? I said it before, but it's still good news. The same glory that the Father has for his Son is the same that he has for you.

The same approach, the same way he would look at his Son and go, jesus, I'm nuts about you. He would turn to you and go, oh, not so much. No. You see the absolute same approval that he has for Jesus. He has for you the same face that is on Jesus.

And it's not through Jesus. It's you. He's not looking at through Jesus to you. I feel better because he sees me through the filter of Jesus because I don't want him to really see me. No, he really sees you.

And he doesn't see a mess. He doesn't see trash. He doesn't see a broken life. He sees someone that's been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. Amen.

You were designed as his image bearer to be able to reflect his approval on your face. To redeem creation. All right, here's another face. You ready for this face? There's a face.

Does anybody know who that is? Does anybody know who it is? Come on, throw it out. Tell me. Ludwig van.

Ludwig von Beethoven. That's right. That's who that is. That's who it is. I show you his face.

Because tragically, Beethoven, when he moved into his 20s, he began to lose his hearing. Now, here's a guy who's so brilliant with music, brilliant at creating musical pieces, and he starts losing his hearing. Can you imagine? And by the time he was 40, he was almost completely deaf. But at the age of 40 or older than 40, he wrote one of the most beautiful pieces called his Ninth Symphony.

A beautiful, beautiful piece. I mean, it runs. If you listen to it or went to hear it, it would take almost 75 minutes to play. But because his hearing was gone, he took his piano and he cut the legs off and put it right on the floor. And he would lay on the floor with his ear on the piano and his ear feeling the vibrations.

And so he couldn't hear anything. But because he tied himself with the resonance of what was going on, he didn't allow not hearing to affect him. He. He put a demand on some other senses, some other aspects of his life. And he wrote that beautiful symphony while he was deaf.

You know, the first time it was performed, he led it. And he stood with his back to the congregation, his back to the audience, and he led the whole symphony. He led it all for over an hour. And he couldn't hear a thing. He couldn't hear the audience.

And when he was done and tap, tap. And he was done. And everybody. They're putting their instruments down. He's still facing everybody, looking at them, but he couldn't hear from behind them, the place erupted.

The place went nuts. The place was just. That was awesome. And then he turned around and he saw these people just going crazy. And he went, wow.

You know, here was somebody who had an incredible tragedy in their life, but they didn't let the tragedy shut them down. They found a way to overcome that and do something completely brilliant, even in the face of an obstacle and something that was trying and hard. Is anybody here going through something? We all. We're going through stuff.

I'm going through stuff. But the thing is, I'm going through it. I'm not building a tent. I'm not going to stay there. We're going to go through it for the glory of God.

All right, Acts Chapter eight. We're going to do a whole chapter. Amen. And just in faith, right now, say, yes, bring it. Bring it, Pastor.

Bring it. Are you Ready? Acts, chapter 8. 1, verse 1. At that time, great persecution.

Say, great persecution. This is a horrible time. And it was great. It arose against the church. They just stoned Stephen and killed him.

And Saul was there. And Saul, he was standing there, and this is he. He saw what happened, and he said, this is good. His name was Saul. Next week we're going to talk about how God hit him so hard he knocked the S off his name and added a P and called him Paul.

So we're going to talk about that. There's a great persecution arose against the church that was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered. Say scattered. The word scattered is the word you use when you take a bag of seed and you begin to scatter it in a field.

So the great thing is, persecution came. But what the persecution did was it took the seed out of the barn and it took it into the whole known world. So the great persecution caused a scattering throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. And except the apostles, they kind of stayed home. And the devout men, they carried Stephen to his burial and they made a great lamb.

There was great persecution. There was a great scattering. There was great lamentation over Stephen. You know, sometimes you got disappointments in your life. Lament over it greatly, but then let it go.

Let it go. Let it go. It was a horrible, horrible tragedy. What you're going through, I would never minimize. But whatever you're going through, God will bring you through and you'll triumph over it, and you'll make that a platform for you to give a testimony.

They made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. You go, look up that word havoc. He literally. He disturbed, he kicked apart, he tore up.

It was a riot. It was an absolute, total mess. He went after the believers. He went after everything. He entered every house, say, every house.

When's the last time you had somebody enter your house just because you're a believer and throw all your stuff around and throw you out and threaten you and accuse you? What we did to Stephen, I'll do to you. I mean, this is great havoc. This is great persecution. Dragging off men and women and committing them to prison.

Therefore, those who were scattered, say scattered. Therefore, those who were scattered cowered in fear and dread and went and hid in the hills, went up north, bought a generator and said, we're getting out of here. The whole world's going to hell in a hand basket. But Martha, we're going to buy those rations offline and we're going to have 100 years worth of food. You and me in the woods, and nobody will touch us.

Glory to God. The stupid thing is, is you can find sites like that online so that if the persecution comes, you can run to the woods, go hang out where nobody will find you. Hide away with your food rations that, by the way, they will last a thousand years. I don't know what's in them, but they'll never, never go bad. They're on sale this week.

If you buy 2500 cans, you'll get 10 free. Lord, help the church. Deliver us from nonsense made havoc of. The church threw people in prison. Therefore everyone who scattered.

Look what it says. Everyone who scattered, what they do. They went everywhere preaching the word. They did not hide their head in the sand. They did not run away when persecution came.

They went everywhere preaching the word. Can I get an amen? Amen. Preaching the word. Look.

First observation. Turn. Back. Turn. The grace of God turns setbacks into launch pads.

Settle down. The grace of God turns setbacks in the launch pads. You know? Apparent eagle. Apparent eagle.

When it's time for the eagles to fly and leave the nest and get on with it, it says that they remove. They used to put nice soft things in for the eaglets and you know, it was like nice cushy stuff. But all of a sudden mom starts taking away your pillows, starts taking away the covers. Suddenly the pillows are gone from the couch and disconnected. My Xbox.

Hey, what's going on around here? What's with mom? Oh, I don't know. Just having a day. I don't know.

But suddenly everything has shifted in their little world. And then all of a sudden mom comes over, picks up the little Eaglet and to the edge of the cliff. And.

Mom's lost her mind. But you know what? At the same time, mom is flying right alongside and mom comes and catches you up, takes you back up again. You go, oh, thank God, Mom, I thought you'd lost it. It's so good to be back where I belong.

It's so good.

And you repeat the process until suddenly I can fly.

You know, sometimes you get in a situation where it is God disturbing your situation. And the church in Acts, it was a beautiful church. They had miracles. They. They were healed, they were blessed.

It says they were one heart, they were one soul. And in here, aren't we having fun? Woo. Love going to church. Woo hoo.

Jesus, lover of My soul.

People at work are so mean to me. But in church. Woo. Jesus.

The reason we come here is just to talk about how amazing God is. Talk about all the triumphs we had all week, talk about how God showed up in my life every day. And then we go do it again. Manifest the good. Because you know what?

Every single setback is a launchpad for you to manifest God's goodness and grace. Nelson Mandela. You remember Nelson Mandela? He stood up for the rights of people against apartheid in South Africa. And he got thrown in jail for years and years and years.

But he said, difficulties break some men, but make others. You know, difficulties bring it. Oh, God. Did you just pray that?

Lord? I know that no. There's not a circumstance or situation that I will not walk through. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me when I'm around my enemies. You set a table for me in the midst of my enemies.

I am there in that place, Lord, and I'm bringing your glory everywhere I go. See, you know what? If you're in the middle of a setback, it's not a setback. It's a launch pad for God's glory to be manifest in your life.

Now, here's. Here's Saul. Saul. It's like he's coming to a fire. It's on fire.

It's a beautiful fire. And it's good. But he starts kicking it, booting it and kicking it all over the place. But the thing is, if you stomp recklessly on a fire, you're going to cause an incredible outbreak. And what he did was he caused those sparks to go all over the place.

And that was the will of God. Those people thought this was just a nice, beautiful thing that God's doing with us. Not a beautiful thing he's doing with us. He's doing it with us because the call is, go into the whole world, to Judea, to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Go.

So this is a whole world thing. So sometimes God's got to give us a kick to get us manifesting his purposes in our lives. So he recklessly kicked that fire apart. But trust me, whatever you're going through right now, don't look at it as a problem. Look at a platform for you to manifest God's goodness.

Then Philip. Now, Philip's just one of those deacons, one of those seven guys, a friend of Stephen. And I mean, Stephen died. He's like, oh, my friend Stephen. Oh, my goodness, he got booted out of Jerusalem.

So he went. So Philip went down and he went down to the city of Samaria. Say Samaria. What do we know about Samaria? We know the Jews never went through Samaria.

They would avoid Samaria with everything in them. If you were on a desert island and you had no water and there was a Samaritan guy with you had all kinds of water, you wouldn't drink his water. But if his dog had a cup of water, you would rather drink from the dog bowl. If you've got a friend, a Samaritan friend with water that could save your life, you'd say, no, because I won't touch that. But you'd drink from a dog bowl rather than receive anything from them.

And that's true. That is exactly true. That's how they felt about Samaritans. But what I love about God is that the first group that's going to come into this experience of the new creation are the people that we don't understand, we're not sure about, or don't quite work with my little belief system. He went down to Samaritan.

What did he do? He preached to Christ, to them and the multitudes with one accord. This is so amazing. Listen to this. He preached Jesus Christ.

He preached the anointed. What? He preached the anointing, came upon a man. Jesus was a man from heaven. He manifest God to us.

He demonstrated the kingdom to us. He preached Christ to them. And listen. Multitudes in one accord, heeded the things that were spoken by Philippians, hearing and seeing the miracles. Ha.

That's why I wanted to have Kaylee come here and stand up. Because you know what? There's miracles here. There's more. There's.

There's another one. I wanted to share today, but she's not here. I'll get her next time. But there's miracles happen in this house all the time, man. We got this Chinese couple from Markham.

She got invited to come one day with her two daughters and she was riddled with cancer. She came up just at the prayer time after, and she got healed of cancer. Every few weeks she shows up. Next time she does, I'm going to bring her up. But it's going to be a party.

We literally every Sunday when she's here, we have to wait and kick them out because they won't leave. She literally looks around, goes, where's everybody going? There's no place I'd rather be. And she cannot believe it. And she's always jumping and just go.

And she cannot believe it. Now, she came back a couple Weeks ago and brought her husband with her. And she said, you don't understand. We were separated. We didn't want anything to do with each other.

But I got healed, went to the doctors. My daughters saw it. My daughters told my dad, their dad, everything that happened to their mom. He came and visited and God healed our marriage. And she brought him.

And he was standing beside her. She was like. And he was beside her, going, both wondering, where'd everybody go?

It's a good thing when you're set free. It's a good thing when God touches your life and he heals your body and he heals your relationships and he changes your world. Well, Philip went to Samaria and he preached Christ and multitudes with one accord, heeded the things that were spoken to Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits. Crying with a loud voice, Amen. How many don't want to have a good old demon kicking out meeting?

Amen. Glory to God. Spitting and puking and vomiting and shaking. Man, those are the good days, eh? I might have scared somebody with that.

But good old days came out of those who were possessed. And many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy. Say great joy. I mean, multitudes believed, and there was great joy in the city.

Listen, we are here to create great joy in the city of London. We are one guy, Philip, one guy went to Samaria and preached Jesus and manifested the kingdom to them. And the whole city came to Christ. And the whole city experienced great joy.

Only in the book of Acts, Pastor, not today. Today. Today we think it's all garbage down here. And Jesus, get us out of this place. Jesus, get us out of this.

Quickly, quickly, quickly. Come. Get me out of this place. Get me out of this place. That's rubbish.

You were in this place to bring transformation. He did not say grumble and whine until I come. He said, occupy until I come. We are not here. We are here to take over.

We are here to dispel every principality of darkness and manifest God until there is great joy in the city. But there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city. And he astonished people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great. His opinion of himself was. I'm pretty awesome.

That was his depiction of himself, claiming that he was someone great to whom they gave great heed from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. So this guy, Simon the sorcerer, he was called the great power of God. So this guy had incredible authority over that region. He was like a demonic stronghold of witchcraft and sorcery over there. But there was tangible stuff, there was real stuff that happened.

And these people literally called him the great power of God. And they hated him because he astonished them with the sorceries for a long time. But when they believe, Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God. What's the kingdom of God? There's a new king in town.

The kingdom of God is here. That means that whatever's been trying to rob you of strength and health and life, it's no longer in charge. You're not subject to that anymore. Jesus is the Lord of all and you have been set free. That's still true today.

We should not in any way be limited by the powers of darkness. We are free. But this guy was a major stronghold in Samaria and they astonished the people. But Philip, one guy walks into the city and this sorcerer guy, he's there. The great power of God, he's there, but he walks and he preaches the kingdom of God and say and say, Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, two different things.

The kingdom of God is an absolute objective reality. But for that subjectively to be brought into manifestation, you have to use the name of Jesus. I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Because when you speak the name of Jesus, that kingdom comes in full force. Not because you're a good boy or a good girl.

It comes in full force because by faith you believe what God has said and you loose his kingdom where you are and it'll make you a good boy and a good girl. It'll work in your life and cause beautiful things. Even the stuff that you can't overcome. Holy Spirit. Kingdoms here, kingdoms here, kingdoms here, kingdom's here.

None of that stuff reigns in my life. I am dead to sin. Who is dead to sin here today? Every one of you are dead to sin. I have a preacher friend who had a 110 pound American Staffordshire pit bull.

That's a big. I didn't know they grew that big. But he had one that was big and it was a good dog. But one day that dog bit a child. And the people were so upset about this dog that the Humane Society came, knocked on his door and said, that dog is not going to bite anyone ever again.

He says, I know I'm looking for ways and things I can do and maybe some other trainers. We want to find a way that this will never happen again. They said, no, we're telling you that dog will never bite, never bite again. You know why? We're going to euthanize your dog.

He quiet for three weeks. But you know what? The dog never bit anybody again. You know why? Because dead dogs don't bite.

Let me turn a corner, because that was a sad story. Let me turn the corner. You ready? Dead people don't sin. Are there any dead people here today?

Dead people. People don't sin. And if you got something going on in your life, you just need to speak over yourself. I am dead to that. Because dead people don't sin.

That the wages of sin is death. So Jesus did not die for you or as you. He died with you. He died, you died. He was buried.

You were buried. He was raised. You were raised. He's seated on high. You're seated on high.

He is dead to sin. You are dead to sin. What do you do if you successfully sin after the pastor said you're dead to sin? You say, I'm dead to sin, but I just sinned. What do I say?

I say I'm dead to sin. And you keep repeating that until you get it in your thick skull once and for all. Because dead dogs don't bite. If you're biting, it's because something is still manifesting itself in your noggin here that is twisted and messed up that you need to get renewed. Because the truth is, you died with Christ and you are alive with Christ.

You were a slave to sin, and now you are a slave to righteousness. A slave to righteousness. That's the Bible language. You. Who am I?

I'm a slave to righteousness. Can't even help myself. Wake up every day, just write stuff going, pulsing through my head. The life of God. What about sin?

I'm dead to sin. There may be the odd time in your life where you actually do something completely out of your nature. That didn't change your nature. That didn't even change that you're dead to sin. You are still dead to sin, but you successfully did something stupid.

Stop it. Okay.

You're welcome. Amen.

I gotta get through this. Say, get through this, Pastor. All right. The kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, and both men and women were baptized. Grace loves honoring outcasts.

Next big factor. Ready? Grace loves God, loves honoring outcasts. He went to Samaritans. He went to the brokenness place.

He went to this place. He even loves sorcerers. Grace will even take a sorcerer, a complete demon worshiper, a complete pagan, and grace will turn that around. And grace loves taking absolute nonsense and making it right in the sight Of God.

I'll wait until you're finished cheering, you know? All right, all right. But he, Jesus, needed to go through Samaria. John 4. 4.

The disciples, like, what are we doing this for? But Jesus needed to go through Samaria. You need to go through Samaria. There's joy. There's great joy on the other side of your inner transformation.

That's a good line right there. I just wrote it this morning. There's great joy on the other side of your inner transformation. Who's on your wrong people list? Who's on your wrong people list?

Who. Who's on your wrong people list? Because that's where God goes, Jesus. I need to go through Samaria. Who's on your wrong people list?

Who's on your wrong people list? God loves honoring outcasts. And there's nobody. There's nobody. There's no great big usher angel.

Who. Who checks the guest list goes, oh, God. You didn't want to invite them, did you? Did you hear? There's nobody checking out God's guest list.

Everybody is invited. He died for the sins of the whole world. Are you guys okay? Sometimes people tell me they're quiet because they're listening. Is that true?

Well, stop it then. Simon himself also believed. The source were believed. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip. And he was amazed.

The guy who amazed everybody for years is now amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done now. When the apostles who were in Jerusalem heard what was going on in Samaria, that they received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. And who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For yet he had not fallen upon. He had fallen upon none of them.

For yet he had fallen upon none. Say none of them. Okay. They believed and they were water baptized. They heard the gospel.

They're full of joy. And not one of them had received the Holy Spirit. Has anybody got a question? You should have a question. What?

Well, if they were believers, they should have had the Spirit, right? Like they believe they were baptized and they should have had the Spirit, right? None of them had yet received the Holy Spirit. They had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then hands were laid on them.

Say hands. Hands. Your hands. Your hands are a living portal for the kingdom of God. Where you put your hands, heaven engages and is released.

In that situation, they laid their hands on them and they received. Say received. They did not achieve. They did not check enough boxes. They did not tarry long enough or fast and pray they just simply had hands laid on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

And Simon saw. I put bang in there, say bang, bang. Does anybody know why bang is in there? I'll tell you in a minute. Then Simon saw bang.

That through the laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Spirit was given. And when he saw that, he offered them money. He offered them money. Now if I told you there's a pack of wolves after you and they're just ferocious, haven't eaten for 10 months and they are hungry for you, they're coming and you gotta fight them off with your bare hands. How many think that would be a great story.

But what if I told you, you know what? There is a pack of wolves. But I'm gonna give you the most amazing new shotgun. That just one bang, it just obliterates the whole bunch of them and they'll be gone. How many want the shotgun?

Only three people. Well, I don't see any wolves. Well you should see some wolves. Because the devil roams around like a roaring lion trying to find people he can devour. You know what the devil comes for one reason.

To rob, to steal, to kill and to destroy. There's a lot of times there's things going on in your life that's not God. But you got to use your shotgun to knock the snot out of them. You got to apply the blood of Jesus. You got to declare some things by faith and you got to say that's enough.

You got to say I'm a child of God and you can't touch me. He wants to know if you really believe that. But you know something? When you get baptized in the Holy Spirit, something happens. Like if I took.

That's a weird analogy. I know, I know. It's okay, stay with me. If I took a big shotgun and I went, when I blew it at that wall, that wall would change. That wall would change.

If I did it to this wall, that wall would change. Now Simon the sorcerer hung around a bunch of people. He saw the miracles. They all got baptized in water. They're following Philip and listening to his teachings.

But then the apostles, apostles came down and laid hands on people and bang. Suddenly, not the miracles and turning to Jesus and not even the word suddenly, something just happened that the sorcerer says now that I would pay for. Why is he saying that? Because he saw something so powerful and so tangible. He said, I would love to be able to lay hands on people like that and see transformation.

Now I've got a book outside and it's $400. But there's 10 principles that if you apply to your life, you can lay hands on people, too.

Rubbish. There's people merchandising, the anointing today. He wanted to merchandise it. He wanted to merchandise the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted to merchandise the anointing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

He wanted to be able to give it away. He wanted to have something where I have the power to touch people. And he was still stuck in the sorcery mindset where I still want to be the big guy in town. But I tell you, a real encounter with God will bust your ego. But you'll go to a charismatic conference and get it right back.

This seminar, this book, these five ways. There's a lot of people not walking in the power that they already have because they think they haven't earned it. They think they haven't paid enough. Are you okay? This is actually really, really important stuff right here.

If you don't get it, don't worry about it. Go back to sleep. All right? Acts, chapter 19, verse 2. Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believe that was Peter?

Peter showed up in Ephesus. There's a bunch of believers there, and he's hanging out with them. And you know what he saw? They had no shotgun. They had no power.

Because it says, when the Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power. And you know what the power is? It's the same word where we get the word dynamite. You either got it or you don't. But when they laid their hands on them, something happened.

And he saw that people who did not have power were suddenly manifesting power. And he said that I would pay for. I'm bringing big attention to that because I want you to know there's something different. You can be brought into the body of Christ by the Spirit of God, born into the family of God, baptized in water. But you're not fully initiated unless you're baptized.

Baptized in the Holy Ghost.

And we had one young lady a couple Wednesday nights ago. We were reading Romans 8, where it says, you know, in that spiritual language, you know, it says, with groanings and utterings that can't even be uttered. And I just went.

And then she went, what's with the goobly goobley guck? What the heck is that? And I said, well, let me give you some. And we prayed for her with the whole Bible. She hijacked the whole Bible study, but we all took time to turn around to Jordan and to pray for her.

And I said, it's a Gift, Jordan. And I'm gonna lay hands on you. I'm gonna lay hands on you. I lay hands on you, and you're gonna receive a gift from God, and it'll change your life forever. Now, will you speak in tongues?

I hope so. Because you should. Because speaking in tongues is a gift. That's a believer's gift. And you should.

But it's not the sign. But it is a sign, and I want you to speak in tongues. But the Holy Spirit is a gift. It's not something you get because performance. You get it because you asked for it.

And she asked for the Holy Spirit. She told me driving home, she was wrecked for a few hours. She was just messed up. Says, I don't even know how to explain it, but my life was just so messed up. Is your life still messed up, Jordan?

Am I telling the truth? Stand up and face the crowd.

Wave at everybody. Say, hi. All right. Just now, she's sitting on the front row, not like some of you people. It's.

You keep creeping further back. I wonder what's going on in your life. I don't know.

Oh, my goodness. I just erased my whole PowerPoint. I don't even know how I did that. Oh, I'm back. Say.

Say. Oh, sorry. I need to know where. I was. There I was.

All right, let me say this here. And the Spirit must. The Spirit in you must rise upon you. All right. The Spirit in you must rise upon you.

That you have the Spirit in you isn't going to change your world. You need the Spirit to rise upon you. That's why in Isaiah 6, he says, arise and shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Better translation is, the glory has come and it's gushing forth from within you. Is a better translation.

There's something in you that needs to get out of you. And the baptism of the Holy Spirit is what looses the power of God in your world. It's the dynamite of the kingdom. And that's how Philip went. Philip went with the dynamite of the kingdom, and all of Samaria heard the message, and the whole city was moving in great joy.

Bill Johnson said, the Holy Spirit is in me for my sake, but he comes upon me for the sake of others. So the inward experience must become visible. Can I get an amen? All right. So give me this power also, that anyone in whom I lay my hands may receive it.

But Peter said, your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased. You thought that the anointing could be purchased. You thought it came through going to four conferences. You thought if I just get this book. This book, this book.

And memorize five pages. You thought it could somehow be earned or achieved through some nonsense. This. It's the gift of God. I'm going to have a book, put it out front and it's going to be free.

It's going to be a 500 pages and on every page it's going to say, it's the gift of God. Buy 100 of them and give them to all your neighbors. What would happen if we actually believe that? Give me this power. Give it to me.

You thought it was. You thought. You thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are poisoned by the bitterness bounded by iniquity. And then Simon answered, said, pray the Lord for me that none of these things would come upon me, that you have spoken upon me. So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem. Are you ready? Another observation.

How many have been waiting for this one? Grace delivers and secures your identity. And I really do believe that this sorcerer had an identity issue. And now I've embraced all this and I've received your message and done that. But I was the cool kid in class and now you guys are doing stuff that's way out of my league.

But if I could get my hands on this, I could be the cool guy again. You getting the anointing is not so you can show off or be some spiritual wonder kid. The anointing is for you to serve others in humility. Wow, this is really good teaching. Hey, hey.

This. This is. This is good stuff, Pastor. Thank you. Pastor John Stott said the gospel dethrones pride.

Not to humiliate, but to heal. Let me read that again. The gospel dethrones pride. Not to humiliate, but to heal. But we love superstars in, in North America.

We love the. The big ministries. When they come to town, I'll get healed. How stupid is that? Jesus already came.

Your healing is a finished result of the cross. Your healing is yours now by legal right. All you have to do is say thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. So grace will deliver you from the counterfeit and impart to you the very real thing. First John 4:4. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Philip, a man just like you went down to Samaria and turned the whole place upside down.

And that's how the glory of God in the book of Acts just began to move. They took the anointed one. Everywhere they went. They preached the kingdom of God and they invoked the name of Jesus. And transformation took place everywhere they went.

I wish that would happen here.

I don't know why we make it so hard. I don't know why we. You know, we need to. We need to do more to make God show up. Like what?

He's here.

He's here. All you got to say is, hey, Holy Ghost, I will never leave you or forsake you. If God is for you, who can be against you? Nothing can separate you from my love for you. You.

Even if you're in a dead service, I am still in a dead service with my very real life. And I can move even in a dead service, because I am God.

Thank you, Jesus. All right, all right. The. My wife is holding the time clock. She's waving at me in Jesus name first John 4, 4 greater she that's in you.

All right, we're going to wrap it up. You ready? Say wrap it up. Preaching the gospel. Some were pretty expressive there.

Some people, I've never heard an amen from before just said, wrap it up. Okay, thank you for that affirmation. Preaching the gospel in many villages. I mean, then they went back, and on the way home, they preached in many villages. Now an angel, the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is desert. And Philip said, I rebuke you. I'm having a massive service here. I just transformed a city. It's full of joy.

A great stronghold is just bowed to the power of Jesus. And I'm living in the midst of a glorious move of God. I will not go to the desert. I am a five star ministry. The glory of God.

Hallelujah, Philip. An amazing meeting. Transformed a whole city. And the angel of the Lord said, go to the desert. The desert.

So he arose and went. And behold, a man from Ethiopia. Gosh, Lord, Come on. I minister to crowds. The desert.

Come on. Could you come to our church? Well, I only come if you give me this much money. Well, our church is a desert. Would you come?

The Holy Spirit told us to invite you. I go to crowds, just crowds, because I'm awesome. That's what I told the people in Jamaica when they invited me last week.

I know this is silly. This is silly, Pastor. Go to the desert. So he rose and he went. He saw a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury and who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

He came to Jerusalem to worship and he was returning. And he's sitting in his chariot and he's reading Isaiah. The prophet. Then the spirit of the Lord told Philip, go there. Take over the chariot.

Run, quick, hurry up. Run. Take with over the chariot. So Philip ran to him and he heard him reading the prophet of Isaiah. And he said, do you understand what you're reading?

And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up with him and sit with him in his chariot. And the place in scripture where he was reading this, it said he was led like asleep to thaughter. He was a lamb before the sheer silence. So he opened not his mouth.

In his humiliation, his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation for his life was taken from the earth? And he's going, who's this talking about? Because he's reading from the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 53, it says, he himself took our sins.

He took our iniquities by his stripes. We are healed. This person restored lives. I've just been to Jerusalem and I've left empty. I've left and I got nothing.

Here I am in a desert. I went hoping that this was real, but I got nothing. And now here he is reading the scriptures on a road, saying, somebody help me. And God knew what was going on. So he took the superstar preacher from Samaria and he took him to the desert for one person.

For one person. For one person.

The place in the scripture. Let me go on to. So the eunuch, I don't know where we there? So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I asked you of whom does it talk about? And then what did he do?

Philip says he preached Jesus to him. Say, Jesus, don't talk about your rubbish and nonsense. Preach Jesus to people. Jesus saves Jesus. He preached Jesus.

Now, as they went down the road, they came to water in. Eunuch said, hey, there's some water. What hinders me from getting baptized? Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Yes. So he commanded the chariot to stand still. Both Philip and the eunuch went down in the water and he baptized him. Now, when they came up out of the water.

Boom. Next slide. Grace rushes into the desert place. I love that, don't you? I would be annoyed if I got taken from the great revival I've been praying for all my life.

And then all of a sudden, I go to one guy in the desert. Praise God for the specificity of God, that he knows where every single person is and he wants to reach everybody from the crowd to an individual. Philip isn't chasing opportunity. He's simply following the presence of God, the Spirit. FF Bruce said the Spirit choreographed salvation with masterful detail.

I love that, don't you? The spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went away rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azatoth, 30 miles away. He baptizes the Galveston. Whoop.

Guy said, where'd Philip go? Philip's not there. But he was full of joy, got back in his chariot. He went home. He went home to Africa.

And church history tells us that this guy, because of his place and influence with the queen of Ethiopia and Africa, this guy was an open door to the gospel touching the the whole African continent. And that was because Philip obeyed and he left the crowd and he went to the one. Went to the one. The Spirit of Lord caught Philip away, and he was found at Azotas. And passing through there, he preached in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

So he was here in Samaria. He went down to the desert. Then the Spirit picked him up and took him over to Azotas. And then he went all the way up the coast to Caesarea, preaching to everybody. This all began with his best friend getting killed and stoned.

He just buried his best friend. He got his house torn apart. And Saul was kicking everybody out of town and ruthlessly, savagely coming against the church. So what did he do? He went and he preached Jesus to Samaria.

And then he followed the presence of God on a complete journey. And this is the whole outpouring. One more thing. Grace outpaces religious devils. Grace outpaces religious devils.

Acts shows a gospel that leaps over human barriers of bigotry and offense and all manner of nonsense sense. We won't hang out with Sumerians. We won't hang out with Fill in the blank.

But grace and the gospel leaps over human barriers and outruns human categories. That's by Michael Green. It's a great quote, Philip. One person took the good news to the uttermost parts of the earth. Last slide.

Are you ready? Come on. Stand up. Up. Stand up.

On your feet. Last slide. Nudge the person who's sleeping beside you. They're resting in the glory? Dreaming about miracles.

Roast beef dinners at the fireside. Ready? Here it is. Last one. What looked like the end of the church was actually a launch party for the mission to the nations.

Acts 8 is the wind of the Spirit going global by scattering sea all over the world they were scattered and everywhere they were scattered, they preached the word of God. Everywhere they were scattered, they declared the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus. From riot to revival, that's the.