Amplifying Your Spiritual Journey: Exploring the Power of the Holy Spirit with Don Carpenter

Get ready to amplify your spiritual journey as we walk the path of enlightenment with seasoned minister, Don Carpenter. With over six decades of ministerial wisdom, Don unpacks the enriching power of the Holy Spirit and the crucial role of spiritual gifts in our Christian walk. He imparts thought-provoking insights drawn from the Good Book, highlighting the last teachings of Jesus, the significant Feast of Pentecost, and the controversial speaking in tongues. 

Buckle up as we explore the Book of Acts together, punctuating these sacred teachings with Don's personal convictions and experiences. He provides a nuanced interpretation of passages from Acts Chapter 10 and 19, detailing the transformative role of the Holy Spirit in spiritual growth. It's a powerful conversation that's bound to deepen your understanding and rekindle your passion for your spiritual walk. So, if you're seeking to augment your spiritual life, tune in and let Don Carpenter be your guiding light.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Music. There came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind. It sounded like this powerful hurricane, this wind. It was just like it was just an in rush. And they're looking, they don't know where this wind is coming from, like, oftentimes, when God begins to move by his spirit, we especially if we're not used to it, and what's happening? Sometimes people, I've seen people run when God starts to move or whatever. But here these people, these 120, were expecting and they were waiting. And God moves still the same way today. When he gives us a promise, when he gives us a word, he exp.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Hello, my name's Don Carpenter. I have been in the ministry for well over 60 years, bible college president for many years. I travel internationally, speak at conferences and churches, and God has blessed me with good health and life. But what I would like to share with you today are some truths that have helped shape my life, have helped me to stay steadfast and steady, helped me to be effective, and these are things I want to share with you today, because God wants you to be equipped. And to be equipped, we need to be Holy Spirit filled. Key thought Holy Spirit filled. We may think, well, why is that necessary? Or can't I just do it on my own, or Well?

Speaker 1: 2:21

We're followers of Jesus and in the book of Acts, the first chapter, this is recorded when Jesus was assembled with his disciples, he said to them, he said he commanded them and this is in verse four that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he you have heard of me For John, truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And he also says this regarding the Holy Spirit. He says but you shall receive power. What kind of power? This is spiritual power. You're going to receive power and be effective and be effective. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, all Judea, samaria, and onto the other, most part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Now, this was the very last thing that Jesus talked about, that he taught. It was so critical, so important. And we're thinking, well, why would Jesus speak with that? The very last thing Like, why? I myself believe that, god, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. God equips us with gifts, many gifts, but I'm thinking of spiritual gifts. That's recorded in 1 Corinthians 12, things like faith, discerning, a spirit, word of wisdom, healing, gives this on to men. And so what happened was the disciples said let's meet together because there was a feast coming up. It was called the Feast of Pentecost. And they decided to meet together in this room.

Speaker 1: 4:49

Bible refers to it as an upper room in Acts, chapter 2, and it says that they were all accorded in this room. They didn't know what was really going to, how it was going to happen. All that they knew was that Jesus said you need to be filled with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, and that was nearly 2,000 years ago. It's the same thing for today. Nothing has changed in this respect. We believers still need to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Speaker 1: 5:33

So off they go, they gather up into this room, according to Acts, chapter 2. They're there for 10 days, 120 people, and suddenly I like how it says that in verse 2 of Acts 2, suddenly he expects us to wait. And while we are waiting, we are expecting God to make it possible. So here they are, they're gathered in the upper room, and I just wanted to picture this. It says that when this noise came, they began to speak with other tongues. What happened was there was like tongues of fire came down and sat over each person in this room. This was a manifestation of God's power and, by the way, the manifestations of God's power happen very often today and it says that this tongue of fire sat upon each of them. Now, I don't know if they felt heat or I don't know the physical feeling that they may have had, but I do know this. Something happened and as the Spirit of God came upon them, the Bible said they spoke with tongues.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Okay, see, people will say how do you know when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, like some? There's all kinds of teachings and people talk and say things. Some say, well, you're, you're filled, you get the Holy Ghost and you're filled when you're saved. But I believe and I teach that it's a something which we wait for. It's like a second experience, if you will. It's something that, when it happens to you, there's no doubt. But what happened was the sign that we had was that they spoke in tongues.

Speaker 1: 8:03

Now, tongues is controversial. People say, well, who needs tongues and what good does that do? And some people say, well, you know all kinds of things they say, but did you know that tongues is also a gift, of one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit? So I always find it interesting when people think, well, I don't like this gift, I think that I like just the gift of healing and maybe I'll take the gift of faith and possibly discerning of spirits. Like it's interesting how people say, well, this is what we're going to get, but the Bible tells us that God gives it to us, those gifts to us, as he wills and without trying to get into this too much here, some people say, well, tongues, I only speak in tongues if I have a gift. That is, when we use tongues to God speaks to the church when we're gathered. It's a gift that we use in the body, but when we are seeking God for the Holy Spirit, tongues is a signal. It's a sign, it's evidence that there's an overflow of the Holy Spirit coming into our lives.

Speaker 1: 9:32

I thought it was quite interesting when we look into this in Acts, chapter 10, and I'm turning there right now and in Acts, chapter 10, verse 46,. Here's something. Verse 46, it says this was they were out preaching, peter was, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. They're not in the upper room, okay, they're in another section of the region. And it says in verse 46, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God. And what happens is in verse 45, the Holy Spirit was poured out and people gathered, heard this.

Speaker 1: 10:31

So Peter saying he's reporting back to the elders in Jerusalem and he says can anybody forbid water? That they should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well, as we See, it was so important and everybody's saying, yeah, yeah, let's bring them into the body, let's just see. We want to keep moving forward. God's doing great things and that's the important thing. When you grow. This program is called Equip the Saints and you will find that your Christian walk when you first come into the kingdom. It's you know. People think, well, I got it all at once. You have now been born and you're brought in and you're going to grow and I'm going to help you with this. They heard them speak with tongues and that was confirmation to Peter that they had received the Holy Ghost.

Speaker 1: 11:39

So why change the criteria? Why change it? Well, some people say, well, I don't know if I want to speak like that and I don't know if it's necessary. That's what God ordained. And the problem that we can run into if we start picking and choosing how we're going to do it, like what we're going to accept and what we're going to reject. To me, to me to think that I am going to reject any portion of the Word of God. I would consider that problematic.

Speaker 1: 12:26

I would consider that, as a believer, if I didn't accept what God wants me to have, there's a reason why God wants us to have the Holy Ghost. We've got a great commission. The great commission is yes, we're going to take the gospel to the entire world, and the great commission is that we're going to minister the kingdom of God. There's going to be signs following. Many great and wonderful things happen when we're out there ministering in our lives.

Speaker 1: 13:07

Now, that was the second time. There's another report. If we would look into Acts, chapter 19 and verse 6, something is happening here. Paul and Apollos were at Corinth and while they're here, I'm just reading here out of a reading here out of verse 6, acts 19,. When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with tongues in prophesy. It doesn't say they spake with tongues or prophesy, and do you notice something here? So how do we get the Holy Spirit to wait and pray in our rooms or seek it somewhere?

Speaker 1: 14:08

I teach and I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit would come through the laying on of hands of the ministers, the preachers, god's ministers, the Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. And when they lay their hands on you, you're desirous, you're hungry for the Holy Spirit and you want the Holy Ghost. You want to have the gifts, you want to move with the power, and I would be seeking out, I would be seeking a minister who would pray for me. I would have them lay their hands upon me, upon my head or shoulders, wherever they do it. I'll take your hand, lay their hands on you and I would ask that God would give me the Holy Spirit and I would be satisfied that, I would be convinced that I got the real thing. Now I have found in my life that when you ask God for this and you get it, it's not going to be something different, it's going to be the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 15:37

And Can I take? I'm going to take you to one more verse here. I'm going to take you to over into the book of Hebrews. I want to read you something here in Hebrews, chapter 4, that I think is quite critical and crucial in Anything that we're going to receive from or we're going to Carry out God's command. This is very important here. You know what it says, verse one he says let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of Entering into his rest and I take that rest as coming and being at peace and centering, settling into what I'm convinced God wants.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Any of you should seem to come short of it. In other words, you looked for it, you didn't get it. You try it a couple of times, you quit or you just don't bother anymore. Everything it did, whatever you need from God, he said, for on to us was the gospel preached, as well as on to them. But the word preached, thank God, for preachers. The word preach did not profit them, didn't do them any good, not the reason it didn't do them any good, not being mixed with faith and them that heard it.

Speaker 1: 17:16

And when you hear the word and you get excited about it and you're thinking, yeah, that's for me, that's what I want, this is what I, this is what I feel is lacking in my life, for example, being filled with Holy Spirit. Mix it with faith. In other words, have faith that it's for you, have faith is going to happen to you, have faith that you're going to be a wonderful carrier of the Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. I Would like to minister to you and pray for you right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you for this precious one that's listened and with us today. I pray that the word that has been ministered, that it will be accepted, that In one accord, my listener and I, and I'm believing that you're going to minister strength and to these people right now, in Jesus name, be filled with the Spirit. Amen. Thank you for listening. Glad you tuned in and we'll catch you next time.