#239 - Right on the Edge: Pursuing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Transcript

0:08

You're listening to Al Pastor, the show that helps you love God, love your neighbor and eat more tacos.

I'm your host, Pastor Brian, welcome to the show.

Hey, friends, I want to welcome you to today's podcast.

0:24

It's a beautiful, beautiful Sunday afternoon.

I have in studio with me Memo memo you want to greet everybody.

What's up guys?

It's been a.

While it has been a while, we're trying to think it was.

Last time we did it, we were in my office, right?

Yeah, in the basement.

Yeah, now you're in the actual home studio, which is pretty.

0:43

It's coming together.

I still have more things I want to do.

Maybe we'll take a picture and post it.

I want to start doing that for each episode.

So beautiful Sunday.

Do you like this weather?

Oh I love it.

It's my favorite.

I love the gloomy overcast.

Oh, I know, I know, I know.

And I, we went up to Black Bear Diner after church and up there at that, the Tohono outlets saw it, man, it was like you could see the snow right up there at the base of the Grapevine.

1:10

And it's like the mountains were so crisp and clear.

Oh, I love it.

It was awesome.

It was cool.

Well, what we're going to do in today's episode is we want to follow up on this topic of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So I asked Memo if he would hop on and maybe we'll go over a few questions and offer some encouragement.

1:33

I know that for those of you that are not part of our Assembly of God, we've been walking through the book of Acts and today we we are.

Our theme for this sermon was Acts chapter 2, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

That's what was preached on in our service.

1:49

And then of course, a call for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and several people came forward.

And it's hard to tell sometimes those who receive and those who don't.

So number one, I want to encourage those that maybe didn't receive and came forward.

2:07

And so Memo, you were you were one person that came forward.

Like I felt like you were right on the edge, right.

Yeah, that's.

What I felt.

Like like I, I, I think I said something to you.

It's sort of like you're, I don't.

When I was little here in Arvin, they used to have a high dive.

2:23

I don't know if they had it when you were growing up.

Did you ever go to the Arvin Pool?

Yeah, I think they got rid of it though, right?

Before, Oh well, that high dive I was, I was like, I was little little buff kid.

I was a little chubby kid.

I'd go to the edge of that high dive bed and I wouldn't go.

2:39

But you had a line behind you, right?

And then there was like, I remember the first few times I turned around and I have to walk back down in shame because I didn't want to jump, you know what I mean?

But I remember the first time I jumped and then after that you couldn't get me off that thing.

Like it was like, Oh, that's so cool.

2:56

And so sometimes that's what happens to people.

It's like you're right on the edge and your toes hanging off and and and it's like go and and to be more specific, we're talking about with the baptism of the Holy Spirit he brings with with that experience is the gift of speaking in other tongues.

3:17

So that's what we're talking about today.

So you were you were right on the edge.

So tell tell us, man, what was going through your heart?

What was going through your head all?

Right, let's see.

I've I've tried to do it a long time ago, I don't even remember, but I was not in the best place, but I was trying to get baptized in the Holy Spirit and I remember just feeling the, the pains in my stomach and stuff.

3:40

I felt like I was really close.

And this time I went in with the it's that mine is just thanking God for everything.

And, and I noticed that the most, the more times like I started saying thank you Jesus.

I just kept saying thank you, Jesus for everything because I'm so unworthy, you know, and he's still using me.

3:59

And whenever I started thinking like thanking him and just thinking about his greatness, his goodness, that's when I started feeling like it's like the chills.

And then I started just uttering, but I couldn't.

4:16

I didn't know what to say.

Like my mouth didn't want to move, but I could feel like my my inside jump and, you know, wanting to make noise, but my mouth had nothing to say.

Though I don't know if you remember Pastor, I was just like.

Just.

4:33

Like it felt like I was fighting it but my mom just didn't want to say anything but everything enemy did.

Would it have helped if I would have punched you in the stomach?

No.

You've been like.

Honestly.

Huh.

We should have tried that, no?

4:49

No, I'm laughing because I know exactly what you were going through.

I, I remember very, very similar and you'd be surprised that same experience for everybody.

Now for those of you, those of you that are listening, I don't want anyone to think that that everybody's experience is different.

5:09

God is a wonderful God.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made that I have seen God baptize people in the Holy Spirit with a lot of struggle.

We call like you're wrestling with God because you got to like, you know, let go.

And I, this is kind of funny because I, when I was baptized, I remember I would go down several times to, to get prayed for, right?

5:31

Because it, it wasn't happening.

And I remember one time there were some older ladies in the church.

And please don't misunderstand me.

They had every good intention I had.

I remember I had one lady, she kept hitting the bottom of my chin like literally like hitting.

And she's like, let go, let go.

5:47

And then I had another lady rubbing my belly and she's like, hold on, baby, hold on.

And I'm like, am I supposed to let go?

I was supposed to hold, You know what I mean?

I have no clue.

And I'm like, like, I couldn't catch my breath and I'm like gagging, almost like choking up because.

And so I remember those times because it was like wrestling with God.

6:06

And, and I look back on it and it's funny, but that's part of the process.

I think that's the point is there is, and I can't make a theology out of this and I can't explain it away or anything like that.

What God does is absolutely supernatural when he does this.

6:23

And I, I think part of it is your pursuit, OK?

Is, is God is saying, are you going to seek me?

Are you going to be persistent?

And I and I think that there is great value in that process.

6:40

And for me, my answer was yes.

I was so determined and and I shared this, I shared this behind the pulpit and I'm going to say it again.

I thought something was wrong with me why I wasn't receiving.

I thought I always would look for a reason.

Maybe, maybe, maybe I hadn't done something right, or maybe I still had some sin that was going on that I'm unaware of, which is kind of crazy, which here's the thing, we've always got sin.

7:08

We got to get under the blood.

I would repent and cry out to God.

So was there any of that going through your head at all?

Yeah, for sure.

I was asking the Holy Spirit to search my heart to see if there's anything I was holding on to.

I was hindering it or something.

Yeah, because that's what I was like.

7:25

I want to give you everything, but what is it like, what's in the way?

I, I don't know, you know?

And I that's, I felt like that's what was holding me back or something.

Like tell me.

Is I going to fix it?

You know, like that's what I was going through my head.

And the answer to that is yes, yes, and yes.

7:45

What I mean is, is not that you're holding back, it's just God wants you to pursue Him diligently in a way maybe that you haven't before.

I want to bring this back into what we've been reading.

Think about the disciples.

8:00

Jesus told them, I want you to stay and wait.

They it was 10 days, man, 10 days that they were waiting.

They were, they probably were wondering like, because they didn't know.

They didn't know it was going to be on the day of Pentecost, right?

Like what do you mean wait a month, a week, right?

8:18

We're always like, I don't want to wait.

So I encourage you, Memo, to be persistent, to be tenacious, to be audacious in your pursuit.

And we will create opportunities and spaces and God has a way of, of, of bringing this to pass.

8:37

So not only you, but also I'm going to personally send this podcast to some of those that I know that we're down at the altar as well.

The other thing too is, is this is a great relief for me because it doesn't matter #1 you need people that that can help pray for you.

8:54

If you notice, we had some of the most precious ladies down in the front that were praying, right?

We, we had, they were down there.

And if you're listening, I love you.

I'm so proud of you guys are our blessing to my life.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying.

9:10

But it's not about somebody just laying it.

Can the Holy Spirit, he can come or like in the Bible fall upon you, come upon you, baptize you, feel you.

All these terms are interchangeable.

Sometimes it was with the lane on of hands.

Other times it was just like, boom, he just fell.

9:26

And Jesus, there's the point.

Jesus is the baptizer.

He's the one that does is not us.

It's not us.

And in that same token, it's not about us either.

If we've been born again and if we've given God total and complete control of our lives and we've repented and we are pursuing him.

9:49

So thank you.

Thank you ladies, you know who you are.

I'll just, I'll, I'll say your name.

So we had Connie Mangram, Connie Lopez, we had Janie, we had Paula.

And thank you.

Thank you for helping us to pray.

So for those of you that I'm also sending this to, I encourage you.

10:09

Let's let's continue, continue to pursue and ask God and we're going to even in our next prayer meeting, I will announce that we're going to have first Wednesday prayer, not this Wednesday, but the Wednesday after, you know, hey, that's a great opportunity.

And maybe Sundays, you know, from going forward, like, hey, come down, let's seek the Lord because he can do it anywhere.

10:30

Really, really any any any other thoughts?

Any other questions?

Not questions, but I kind of want him to give it to me when I'm alone.

Be honest.

He can.

Yeah, he can, man.

He's I've, I can't.

10:45

I can't tell you how many different people he can do it.

He and here's.

Oh, I'm glad you brought that up.

Sometimes what can happen during an altar call, and I'm aware of this.

So this is a real thing.

It's almost like you're put on the spot, right?

Like you're there and there's some pressure and it's like, oh, what do I do?

11:06

And then it's also like, well, what if it doesn't happen?

Doesn't matter it God is God.

So sometimes God, God has done it.

When people get out, get along, all the sudden they just pray in tongues or they're in there.

I've had people like laid back in their recliner just worshiping the Lord and the Holy Spirit would come upon them and then they would come and say I received.

11:27

And God does it so many different ways.

So many different ways.

I have a friend.

He said that he was in the he's been, he was praying about it and he was in his bathroom, just in the shower, just worshipping, having a little concert.

And that's whenever he said he felt like a mighty wind and and that's when he got the gift of tongues.

11:48

You know, I have, it was so cool when he told me that.

I was like, that's like the best way ever.

Wow, wow.

Oh, I'm, I'm just looking back.

I, I remember I was in a there, there was, there's an old, old, I call him a prayer warrior.

12:05

You don't know who he is.

He is, but you can tell he's serious by his name.

His name was Obadiah.

Oh wow.

This guy's old man, and I'm telling you like this man was so sensitive, like to the Holy Spirit, every time he would start talking about God, he would weep like it.

12:20

He was a preacher too, but he was an old, old retired preacher and I used to, I call it curl up next to him every time he would go to pray because I'm like, I would watch him and I would, he'd get down to the altar and that it was like he had a direct connect to God.

12:36

He would like, like this guy's really talking to God.

So I'd go down, I'd, I'd go down and I'd pray next to him and I'm like, I don't even know what to do, but I but that's how that's how I learned.

It's so this on this particular day, I had been asking God over and over.

12:52

I'm like, Lord, please.

And so it was a it was a prayer meeting.

I came in early and I was vacuuming the church like back and forth.

And man, I honestly was almost kind of mad with God.

And it sounds silly at the time.

13:07

I think it's silly now.

I'm not, I don't think it's silly for people, but to be mad at God.

But I'm like, man, you won't even give this to me.

What's what's going on?

And this I no exaggeration, the side door was open in the church at where we were.

13:24

And as I'm vacuuming, I see this, I see Obadiah by Obadiah driving up and his mouth is moving.

He was already praying in tongues as he drives up and he hits the curb and his head went back and it was like he woke up.

He walks through the side door praying in tongues.

13:42

I was, my jaw was like, what in the world?

And he came in and it was like he's like shaking.

And he was like power.

And we when we started praying, there was like 3 or 4 of us there.

All of the sudden I, it was just, it was so incredible, so, so incredible.

14:03

I just, it was like it was literally rivers of living water flowing out of my, my belly, my bosom.

And it was so cool.

And here's what's funny.

I was struggling and I was striving the whole time.

14:20

You remember it today in the sermon.

I, I had the Bible.

I had that old Bible I've got in there.

Well, I wrote down the day I was saved.

And so then I'm going to put, I'm going to write down the day I was baptized.

And when I wrote down the date, my jaw dropped because I was like, let me do the math here.

14:37

I've been saved 40 days prior on the dot and I didn't even know.

I'm like, I don't even know what I'm like, but that sounds cool to me. 40 days.

I'll take it.

Like maybe could have been 50.

I have no clue, but I was like 40 days.

So I start asking around.

They're like, well, 40s, like a number of purification, God's completeness, all this stuff.

14:55

And I'm like, this whole time I was sitting there like fighting and wrestling and crying out to God.

And he's just like, man, I'm purifying you all along the way.

And so, yeah, I've still got it in there, man.

It was, it was what a blessing.

15:13

What a blessing.

So will you keep pursuing and seeking and knocking?

Amen.

I want those of you to know who are listening, if you've got any, if you got any questions, if you've got any, any thoughts whatsoever.

15:29

Sometimes I can be disconnected.

To give you an idea, like, you know, even as I preach for me, I'm trying to preach the what we call the textbook version of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

What I mean by that is I went lit like, no joke.

15:44

That was what we call textbook.

I gave you, I gave us every, we call it the five proofs, all 5 instances in Acts.

And and so sometimes I think I'm like, well, people just just need to see it.

But sometimes they're just simple, like, oh, if this says they spoke in tongues and let's go, let's roll.

16:03

Let's you know, it's not that complicated, right?

I want to do that too.

All right, so lots of other things that we can talk about in future episodes on the topic of not only tongues, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We talk about the gifts of the Spirit, prophetic gifts, all of that kind of stuff.

16:22

Any closing remarks or thoughts memo.

I'm going to speak in tongues pretty soon.

I'm going to.

I have no doubt.

God, so good.

I felt right there, right there and just lights are fire in me, you know?

Well, you said you're going to go to Dick's Sporting Goods, right?

16:38

Yeah.

Then find you a good pair of swim trunks.

That way you can jump off that diving board, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I do.

I do remember you telling me that you're like, you're right there, just.

Drunk.

Go.

Go Yeah.

I wanted to too but it's like my mouth was not correlating with it.

16:56

That's all right.

There's that scripture in Isaiah was stammering lips and another tongue.

I shall speak to these people.

So there's there is an idea of what we call stammering lips a picture, right?

Like it's like your mouths moving and nothing comes out.

17:11

There's also another example in the Bible of I don't know if you remember this or not, but Samuels mother, her name is Hannah.

She's in the temple and she's prayed.

Her lips are moving and the priest comes up to her and thought she was crazy, right?

17:28

I know she wasn't speaking in tongues.

Don't, don't, don't send the heresy hunters after me.

But something was going on there, right?

Like he, she moved.

She, I think, I think the Lord was moving on the inside of her and she just couldn't articulate or vocalize what was going on.

17:44

There's also a sense of Romans chapter 8, verses 26 and 27 that talks about which is some people debate this, but I don't, I don't even care.

But it, it talks about that the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

18:04

So some there's like, there's something like groaning, right?

Like, yeah.

That's what it felt like.

And that is, think of it like a conception like you're, you're about to birth that baby out man.

So.

Yeah, you probably heard it, but I was like, Oh yeah.

18:21

So if I was so weird, like I was groaning words but I couldn't, Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So I pray, I praise the Lord.

It sound might sound strange because you'll be like, well, I didn't receive.

I it doesn't matter.

I'm praising the Lord because by faith you will and I'm believing that.

18:38

Same for everyone else who has asked as well.

So well, thank you so much for tuning in.

Thank you memo for being on the pod.

And next episode I'm going to be covering Acts chapter 3 verses one through 10.

I will have another special guest, but won't be posting that until probably late Tuesday night.

18:57

I'm going to I'm going to take my day.

I'm going to take a little day to I need to rest some.

So thanks for tuning in.

We'll see you on the next episode.

Thank you for listening to Al Pastor with Brian Overturf.

19:16

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19:32

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