Encountering God’s Presence Together

Oh, what an honor! Stay—stay on your feet if you’re already standing. If you’re not, why don’t you stand up? Come on. Thank you, Jesus—we get to do this. Ah, do you guys love to pray?

This has got to be the happiest place on planet Earth, amen? When the saints get to come together, we get to celebrate the almost-too-good-to-be-true news—but it is true. Jesus did die on the cross. Jesus did resurrect from the dead. And the Bible does say that He died for you while you were yet still a sinner.

Scarcely for a righteous man would one give his own life, but the Bible describes that while we were still sinners, Christ gave His life for us. If that’s not worth rejoicing, I don’t know what is. Amen? Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Boldness in Evangelism

Come on, look at your neighbor real quick and tell them, “You look better with a smile on your face.” I’m telling you, this has got to be what should be on our face at all times if we believe the Gospel—the good news that…

Nothing Can Separate Us From His Love

…nothing, God—thank you! Nothing can separate us from your love—not life, nor death, nor angel, nor principality, nor pestilence, or wars, or rumors of wars. No demon in hell—nothing can separate us from your love, God. Thank you, God.

You who begun a good work in us, you’ll finish it until the end. Lord, your Word says you’re the author and the finisher of our faith. Your Word says, God, that you are like the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after the one. You’re never going to let us go. No one can snatch us out of your hand. We are secure in you.

God, thank you for your Word that builds faith. Lord, thank you. Your Word says that when we gather in your name, there you are in our midst. You’re here—and right now we acknowledge the presence of the Living God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God who split the sea for Moses and the children of Israel—is here right now.

Faith for Miracles and Healing Today

Lord, we thank you. You’re the same one who raised Lazarus from the dead, and you’ve not left us alone, but you’ve sent to us your Holy Spirit, who is with us now. And your Word says, because you’ve gone to the Father, greater works will we do. Because you’ve gone, greater things will we see because you have sent to us the Helper—Holy Spirit. Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Boldness in Evangelism

We acknowledge your presence in this place right now, Lord. We thank you for the gifts of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for workings of miracles—deaf ears opening, blind eyes opening. God, cancer dissolving, tumors dissolving—God, we thank you.

We curse every cancerous cell present in the room, and we command it to die in Jesus’ name. Even as the Word says—whatever we would speak—life and death is in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat of its fruit. And we can speak death to cancer and it will die. Just as Jesus spoke death to the fig tree, we speak death to cancer right now in Jesus’ mighty name. Tumors dissolve in Jesus’ name.

By His Stripes, We Are Healed

Lord, we thank you, Lord, for your Word that tells us there’s been provision in your body for our healing. Even as we took communion and we’ve discussed Isaiah 53:

“You were wounded for our transgressions. You were bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon you, and by your stripes we are healed.”

Lord, if anyone is in need of healing in this place, let their body receive what you paid for in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen, amen, amen!

Come on—before you have a seat, go ahead and check your bodies out. If you needed healing for anything, check it out. See if you’re already healed. And if you are, just begin to wave your hands so that we can give glory to God and say, “Thank you.”

Faith is an Action: Receiving Healing in Real-Time

If you already noticed that you’re healing at any point in the service tonight—or this morning (I think it’s still morning)—that you’re healed, just—

How many people know you don’t have to wait till somebody lays hands on you to be healed? Like sometimes, when the Word is being preached, it causes faith to come into your heart. And I tell people: the moment you feel faith, take your healing—fast. Like, don’t wait. Just start to do something you couldn’t do. Do something, because faith is an action.

Faith is a substance—it’s not passive. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It has evidence. And so oftentimes, there’s an action that’s attached to faith. So I can always tell how much faith is in the room by how much movement I see—especially in a healing meeting. Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Boldness in Evangelism

Because you’ll be teaching on healing, you’ll be teaching the principles of the Kingdom of God, about the name of Jesus that brings healing—or whatever the case may be—and people will be sitting there and they’ll be doing this… and they’ll be moving, and people will be getting up and bending down and touching their toe. They’ll be trying to do stuff that’s impossible for them to do because they have faith.

Healing Is Part of Salvation

And sometimes you don’t know how much you’ve been healed until you do something you couldn’t do before. Does that make sense?

And so, at any point this morning that you begin to feel the power of God on you—and you need healing in your body—realize this: this is part of salvation. Come on—do you understand?

Salvation isn’t just that you get your sins forgiven and get to go to heaven. That’s part of the salvation message, but it isn’t the whole message. Come on—otherwise, just one drop of the blood of Jesus, as He was sweating in the garden, would have been good enough to forgive all the sins of the world. Do you understand that?

One drop of the blood of Jesus is the innocent blood shed necessary for the whole world to be forgiven. And yet, He was marred beyond recognition. They literally beat Him to where you couldn’t even recognize Him. They lashed Him 39 times from the top of His neck to the bottom of His ankles, to the point where His back was like hamburger. And all of that was for our healing—for our peace.

The Fullness of Salvation: Healed, Saved, and Delivered

Come on—we have such a good God. We don’t understand the totality of it all, but the word salvation is sozo—healed, saved, and delivered. There’s a deliverance in the salvation message.

When you receive Jesus, you don’t just get your sins forgiven so you can go to heaven. You receive the grace that’s released to be free of everything that’s bound you.

In other words, you no longer are bound to sin. Amen? You don’t have to be addicted to porn. You don’t have to be addicted to alcohol or drugs. You don’t actually have to be a greedy person. You actually get to be dead to sin.

According to the Word, you reckon yourself dead to sin. I’m not—I don’t have to be subject to the fear of poverty and the fear of lack, because He provides for me according to His riches and glory. I’m a child of God. I’m not alone. I’m not like an orphan in the world. I have a God who has everything and provides for me. Amen?

The Gospel Is Good News for Today

Come on—this is the whole message of the Gospel that we get to preach. We get to preach this Gospel. Amen?

It’s like—man, it’s going to make you happy. I like preaching the second service. This is fun—make me feel like I’m preaching in the South in a minute! [Laughter]

You know, I guess so. Thank you, Jesus. Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Boldness in Evangelism

But I tell you what, man, I get so excited. I got to take my daughter to Brazil with me this year. I get to travel 130–140 days a year all around the world. Last year, I went to Brazil five times. The year before that, I went six times.

I work with Global Awakening—Dr. Randy Clark. Some of you probably have been on a trip with us. Has anyone in here been on a trip with Global Awakening to Brazil before or somewhere else? Just raise your hand.

Only two of you? Oh my gosh—you guys got to get born again! Yeah—oh, here’s my invite.

Miracles Are for You: Partnering With God Globally

We have a thing called international mission trips—it’s an IMT department of Global Awakening. God used Randy Clark, who was born in this area, as you guys would know, to ignite revival in Toronto and all around the world.

We love to take people to Brazil—which is what Randy says is “the land of my anointing,” you know? Where—you know, you’re going to…

It’s one thing to believe that tumors can dissolve, that dead people are resurrected, that people get out of wheelchairs—all that kind of stuff. It’s one thing to believe it here. It’s another thing when a tumor dissolves under your own hand.

How many people think that’s going to help your faith a little bit?

And it’s not just going to help your faith in Brazil—it’s going to help your faith when you come back and you pray for somebody who has the same cancer as they did there, and you realize: He’s the same in Brazil as He is here. Amen?

Faith is Personal and Generational

And so, I would encourage you to pray about coming on a trip with us sometime this next year. We go on multiple trips a year. But this past year, my daughter had a dream of coming to Brazil with me, and she just turned 14. So I took her with me.

We did multiple meetings. We saw over—I want to say—over a thousand people get saved in 10 days. Woo! Amazing. Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Boldness in Evangelism

But one young lady—she came up. She was 16 years old. She came up to me in a prayer line. My daughter was beside me. And this young girl had a tumor the size of a small lime—right where her thyroid would be. It was protruding out of her neck. You could see it. It wasn’t like you had to wonder if the tumor was there—you could see the tumor protruding out of her neck.

She was crying, asking for prayer. She had been through all kinds of stuff—doctor’s appointments, spent boatloads of money trying to deal with this—and they couldn’t do anything about it.

Forgiveness Precedes Healing

So I went to go pray for her, and the Lord gave me a word of knowledge: she needed to forgive an abuser that she had. And so I whispered it in her ear, and I talked to her about Matthew chapter 6—that God has given us this commandment. It’s not a suggestion—to forgive those who sinned against us.

And it’s not because He’s saying what they did was right. He’s saying He doesn’t want us to remain victims for the rest of our life. See, as long as you withhold forgiveness from somebody who’s done something legitimately wrong to you, you remain a victim of what they’ve done to you. But the moment you choose to take the power back is the moment you choose to forgive them.

And the reason you can do that is because Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. And even though we didn’t deserve it, He did it. And so we follow in His example, release forgiveness to them, and we release them to the Lord to be the judge. He’s the one who is justice.

Miraculous Healing in Front of Witnesses

Say “Amen.” He’s the one who brings justice, not me. He doesn’t create us to carry the weight of that. We were created to receive love and to give it away. Amen?

And so when you do that, you take the power back. You’re no longer a victim—you’re an overcomer. Somebody say, “Overcomer.”

So I told her, “You need to forgive. The Lord wants to release you. You need to forgive this person.” And as I’m doing that, I put her hands above her head like a fist—I’ll tell people to do that, it’s a prophetic act. I said, “I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit to come and show you who these people are.”

And she begins to whisper their name and release forgiveness, releasing, releasing—her fists like a bird—just releasing them to the Lord. Tears flying down her face.

And I felt the presence of God so strong, I didn’t even have to pray. Because I looked down at her neck, and I didn’t see the tumor anymore. I said, “Hey, why don’t you look for that tumor? See if it’s still there.” Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Boldness in Evangelism

She went like this—my daughter is right beside me—she went like this and just started weeping, because the tumor had completely disappeared on the spot.

Miracles That Build Faith—For Parents and Children Alike

My daughter—I thought she was going to pass out. I mean, she had seen some miracles, but that was one of the first ones that was like a notifiable, undeniable—this is not “I gotta trust the person that something happened.” I saw it with my own eyes.

How many people want to see that? Come on!

This is something that’s normal. This is normative—not just in Brazil. We see this all over the place.

You know, in the second service, my message would be a little bit different. If you weren’t here in the first service, you can listen to that one and get a different message. How about that?

And all of you who are double dipping—congratulations! You get two messages. It’s great.

A Call to Be Baptized in the Holy Spirit

I was feeling, even in the first service—I just didn’t get to it—I got to have fun telling a different testimony, and it took all my time. But I was feeling like God wants to really baptize a lot of people in the Holy Spirit this morning.

Some of you—I know—probably already, having a pastor named Chad Everett, I’m sure you’ve had an experience with the Holy Spirit before. But how many people know it’s not just meant to be a one-time experience?

In Acts chapter 2—you know, Jesus resurrected from the dead, walks through the wall, and—I think it was Thomas who said, “I’m not going to believe unless I put my hand in His side or in the wounds of His hand.”

Jesus, in His mercy, steps through the wall and says, “Hey Thomas, come on. Come on over here. Put your hands here.”

Not Just Doubting Thomas—Faith and Identity in Christ

You know, people call him “Doubting Thomas,” which aggravates me—because he’s not just Doubting Thomas.

Actually, if you look earlier in the Gospels, Jesus is going to go back into Jerusalem where they just tried to kill Him and stone Him, and He’s going back. And the disciples said, “Hey, they just tried to kill Him there.”

Thomas says, “Hey, let’s go back with Him, and we’ll die with Him.”

Why don’t we call Thomas the disciple who was willing to die for Jesus? That’s just my thought.

Why do we define people by their worst moment rather than their best moment?

The Bible doesn’t call Sarah the one who laughed at Jesus. In Hebrews—in the book of faith—it says she was the one who believed God. Come on!

I’m telling you—you should be really glad that God doesn’t define us by our moments of unbelief, but He defines us by who we really are in Christ. Amen?

The Power of the Holy Spirit: In and Upon You

Man, I got distracted there for a minute. What was I saying before that?

It’s Holy Spirit—yeah, anyway.

Yeah, I feel like God wants to baptize this group in the power of the Holy Spirit.

You know, we know—when Jesus walked through the wall, that’s what it was. He walks through the wall, He walks up to them, says, “Thomas, put your hand to me.” And then they’re all afraid, and He says, “Peace be unto you. Receive the Holy Spirit.”

He breathes on them. So there’s this first encounter with the Holy Spirit after Jesus has resurrected from the dead.

Okay, we also know before that, in Luke 10, He sends them out two by two. Jesus had already laid hands on them and sent them out, right? So there was a laying on of hands—an impartation that happened. And then He sent the 70 out. Right?

So that happened.

The Difference Between the Spirit Within and Upon

Then we know this experience happened where Jesus resurrected from the dead, walks through the wall—“Peace be unto you”—they receive the Holy Spirit.

Okay, but still He tells them, “Wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

So there’s a difference between the Holy Spirit coming in you—He’s in you for your sake—but He comes upon you for their sake.

He said, “Don’t go and preach the gospel until the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And when He comes on you, you shall receive power to be witnesses. You shall receive power, and you shall be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem and all around the world.”

This is Acts chapter 1—I think verse 8, if you’re looking for where that says that.

Acts 2: When the Fire Fell

And then, so they’re waiting—and then in Acts chapter 2, there’s a fulfillment of this promise.

We know they’re praying together. The Holy Spirit fills them. They begin to have tongues of fire—they see tongues of fire—and they’re testifying of the glory of God.

And people are like, “They’re drunk!” Which means they were acting like they were drunk, or there was something about their behavior that resembled drunk people.

They weren’t just saying, “They’re drunk,” because they were being real nice and like—you know—one little tear coming down.

There was some kind of resemblance to a crazy party, drunk people happening.

Which—if you think Holy Spirit is just in your box and He’s a gentleman—I got news for you. The Holy Spirit’s never been a gentleman. The Holy Spirit’s always been God.

He’s never been in your box. He’s never going to be in your box.

The Holy Spirit Will Break Your Box

And if you think He’s in your box—He’ll explode your box. You know what I’m saying?

So if you’re going to invite the Holy Spirit into your life, you’re saying, “I’m not going to be Lord anymore. You’re going to be Lord. I don’t get control of anything—my body, my emotion, my thought—nothing. I’m saying, God, be God of my life. I’m saying, everything is Yours.”

If you want to approach the Holy Spirit in a correct way, you’re approaching Him as the Spirit of God—the Spirit of holiness—and you’re saying, “My life for Your glory.”

You don’t get to hold anything back. That’s not how it works.

Fire always falls on acceptable sacrifice. It doesn’t fall on every sacrifice.

The prophets of Baal cut themselves. They fasted all day. They threw dirt on themselves—and the fire never fell on their sacrifice.

What Brings the Fire of God

The fire falls on acceptable sacrifice. And the only acceptable sacrifice to God is your whole life laid down in love.

It’s when you’re fully surrendering in your heart—then it’s His good pleasure to pour out His fire on you. Amen?

Acts chapter 2—Holy Spirit pours out on them, they look like they’re drunk. And Peter stands up and says, “Hey, these guys aren’t drunk as you suppose.”

Notice—he didn’t say they weren’t drunk. He said they’re not drunk as you suppose they are.

See, because they were full of the Holy Spirit.

There’s a difference between being drunk in the natural on alcohol and being drunk in the Holy Spirit.

But one of them is the real thing, and the other one is the counterfeit thing.

The Counterfeit and the Real

How many people know that the devil only ever counterfeits? He’s a liar. He’s a liar from the beginning.

He takes what God intends, and he counterfeits it. He perverts it. He gives you the wrong version.

To be drunk on wine and alcohol is the wrong version of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

It’s why the Bible says, “Don’t be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit, singing spiritual songs to one another.”

Come on!

This is why the Bible says John the Baptist never drank wine or strong drink, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. Come on!

You can get so full of the Holy Spirit, you get bold, you get courageous.

Holy Spirit Boldness vs. Liquid Courage

You know, you can get drunk on wine and strong drink and bourbon or whatever the case—I know how that is, because I grew up not in the church. Some of you did too, and you know what I’m talking about. Don’t act like you don’t!

This liquid courage—you go into the bar, and you know that girl over there? She’s a 10. She’s out of my league. I don’t stand a chance with her—I know it.

She’s out of my league, you know? And she’s got a boyfriend that looks like The Rock anyway. He’s got muscles upon muscles. You know, I can’t—I… he looks like Chad, you know? I can’t do anything about it.

You ain’t going to do nothing about it. You know you can’t.

But then—you have a few drinks, liquid courage, and all of a sudden you Brad Pitt. All of a sudden, you Mike Tyson.

Real Power Comes From the Spirit

What’s going to happen, though, is you’re going to get knocked out—because it’s also the spirit of stupid.

See, that’s the difference between the fake and the real.

The fake drunk? You’re going to get a hangover, feel bad, and regret everything you did the night before.

But when you get filled with the Holy Spirit—it makes you bold. It makes people do stuff that they wouldn’t otherwise do because they’re full of the Holy Spirit. He makes them courageous.

Make sense?

And so here’s Peter. He gets full of the Holy Spirit.

Now remember—Peter was just afraid of Campfire Girl a few chapters earlier.

Campfire Girl comes up to him like, “Hey, you were with the Nazarene.”

He’s like, “No, I don’t know the man.”

The Transformation of Peter

He denies Jesus.

She’s like, “Nah, I know you were with Jesus—you were with the Nazarene.”

He said, “No, I was not. I was not with the man.”

Then, “Nah, I know you. You got the accent like those fishermen. You were with Jesus.”

And he starts cussing and denies Jesus a third time. The rooster crows—we know the story.

He weeps bitterly because he realizes Jesus’ prophecy came true.

Remember, Peter was like, “I’ll die for you. All these other little sissies—they’re going to fall away, but not me. I’ll die for you.”

And Peter meant it, by the way.

We know that because in the Garden of Gethsemane, he steps forward with a dagger and chops the guy’s ear off.

He was willing to fight—but he thought Jesus was coming to be a conquering Messiah.

Offense and Unbelief: Hidden Obstacles to Faith

And Jesus rebukes Peter and says, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” He picks the man’s ear back up and puts it back on the side of his head.

Here’s my belief—I’m reading into the Scriptures, I just want to say that. It’s not necessarily pulling it from the Scriptures. You do with this whatever you want.

But I’m looking at that and I’m thinking—Peter got offended at Jesus in that moment.

I don’t think Peter denied Jesus because he was afraid to fight and die—or else he wouldn’t have ever stepped forward with the dagger.

I think Peter, in that moment, got offended at Jesus.

I think unbelief and offense are sisters—they’re attached to each other.

Offense Blocks the Move of God

And the reason I believe that is because John the Baptist witnessed to Jesus from the womb. Even in the womb, he leaps, and his mother Elizabeth says, “Who am I that the mother of my Lord would enter in? When you entered in, the baby in my womb leapt.”

So John the Baptist was witnessing to Jesus since he’d been in his mom’s belly.

He gets out—we know he’s the one who says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

He says, “Don’t follow me—follow Him. I’ve got to decrease, He’s got to increase. I’m not even worthy to unstrap His sandal.”

He says all this stuff about Jesus. He says, “Whoever I saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove—that’s the one.” He testifies.

This is John the Baptist—the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, according to Jesus.

John the Baptist and the Test of Offense

And yet, when he goes to jail, he sends the boys—he says, “Hey, go ask Jesus if He’s the one or not.”

You guys remember this story? I don’t have time to go through all the Scriptures—you can find it yourself.

We’ve got Google these days, and even—you got Grok on X, which I recommend over Google. But you can Google these Scriptures if you don’t believe me and go find them—they’re all over there.

But John the Baptist sends the boys and says, “Hey, go ask Him if He’s the one.”

And Jesus responds, “Go tell John—the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not offended at Me.”

Isn’t it interesting?

You see it again in Nazareth—Jesus comes in, and you know, He’s doing miracles all over the place. He goes home, and He can’t do but only a few healings—and it says because they were offended at Him.

Their unbelief and offense are attached.

Confronting the Sin of Unbelief and Apathy

We’ve got to start dealing with unbelief as though it’s actually a sin—and not an acceptable sin.

And we’ve got to start dealing with offense for what it is—it’s like cancer to the spirit. We’ve got to chop it off. We can’t deal with it. We can’t keep it on us. We’ve got to cut offense. Amen?

But Peter denies Jesus—he’s denying Jesus three times.

He gets filled with the Holy Spirit, and all of a sudden, he stands up in front of everybody and says, “You killed Jesus. You’re the one who did it.” And he preaches this bold message—and 3,000 people get saved.

What happened to Peter in between?

He’s filled with the Holy Spirit.

Next chapter—at the Gate Beautiful—a guy’s paralyzed. We just talked about this story. Peter lifts him up at the Gate Beautiful.

Faith in Action: Boldness Is the Evidence

Think about that. He didn’t just say something or pray a petitionary prayer—“God, help me.” He says, “I don’t got money, but what I do have—in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.”

And it says he pulled him to his feet. Say “action.” Say “action.”
[Music playing]

Faith is an action.

He pulls him to his feet, and it says immediately strength went into his ankles, and he began to run and jump and praise the Lord.

They began to worship Peter and John. They’re bowing down—“These guys must come down like Zeus and all these Greek gods!”

And Peter says, “Hey, why do you look at us as though by our own power we made this man well? It was faith in the name—come on—the name of Jesus that made this man well.”

And he preaches the gospel again—and 5,000 more people are saved.

The Boldness of the Spirit and the Call to Be Witnesses

Say “Boldness.” Bold.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, it will make you bold as a lion.

“The righteous are as bold as a lion”—that’s what Proverbs says.

And see, the Spirit of holiness comes upon us—because He is God.

Colossians 1 says that God is a Spirit, and He’s invisible—but the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen in the person of Jesus Christ.

So if you want to know what God’s like, you’ve got to look at Jesus. Jesus is what God looks like with flesh and blood.

But He’s still a Spirit. And spirits are invisible.

So Jesus said, “I’m going away to the Father—it’s to your advantage. Because if I go away, I’ll send to you the Holy Spirit.”

No one says that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is Your Advantage

It’s actually better for you that the Holy Spirit comes and is with you than even Jesus being with you—according to Jesus Himself.

How many people believe Jesus is the truth? He can’t lie at all.

And He told you—it’s better that He goes away, because if He does, He’s going to send us the Holy Spirit.

This is why Jesus told me years ago—He said, “If you start taking advantage of your advantage, then we’ll see Jesus get His full reward.”

It’s the Holy Spirit.

He’s the best evangelist. He’s the best miracle worker. He’s the best at deliverance. He’s the best. Amen?