GYC 2009: unASHAMED

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Mark Finley:  Empowered by the Spirit

Mark Finley

When the Spirit Falls

Receiving the Spirit

Strange Fire on Church Altars

Pentecost Repeated Part 1

Pentecost Repeated Part 2

End Time Symbols of the Spirit

Now this afternoon, we're talking about the true and counterfeit gift of the Spirit.

But I wanna introduce you to a friend of mine who's had a dramatic encounter with God and the Holy Spirit transformed his life.

And Will, I've got the mic on, so you're gonna have to, we don't have a handheld, so you're gonna have to stand pretty close to me.

I was partying and drinking and doing a lot of drugs.

Okay, Partying, drinking, a lot of drugs 2 years ago.

About a year ago something happened in your life.

My mother had invited me to go to Discoveries 08.

Now the first night you came was rather interesting.

What was the state you were in when she brought you to the meeting the first night?

Well, that Friday, the night before, I had drank about 18 beers.

And I came to church pretty hungover, smelling like alcohol.

So Will walked into the meeting, down at Orlando, he was hungover.

He came to my evangelistic meeting and his mother kind of dragged him there.

But what happened in your heart, Will, the first night?

I went up front and I gave my life to God that night.

And in that commitment, what happened as far as your habits are concerned?

I quit drinking that night and I quit smoking that night.

November 7th made me my first year sober.

And God has changed my life so much in that last year.

And what doors have opened for you during the last year?

Well, I was, first of all, I was unemployed.

I still was able to get money for alcohol.

Got me a job working in Florida Hospital where I talk to the patients and I pray with them on a daily basis.

They share their testimonies with me and I share my testimony with them.

I'm just doing so many different things for God.

Sid Roth What is the difference in your mental state and the difference in the peace of mind you have now, What were you looking for in alcohol that you did not find, that you discovered in Christ?

I really can't remember 10 years, you know, because I smoked for 10 years and I drank for 8.

And I really can't remember everything, but I know it was dark, it was cloudy.

But when I was baptized in November, my vision and my memories and just the love that God has for me just appeared in me and I was able to just like see again and feel the love that God has for me, you know, and I feel reborn.

Here is a young man that walks into our evangelistic meetings hungover, but yet through that besottered mind, the Holy Spirit touches him, changes him, remakes him, and he's out there now working at Florida Hospital witnessing for Jesus.

As we start today, let's have a prayer for Will and a prayer that God's Spirit will continue to move.

You brought him in off the streets and you transformed his life by your Holy Spirit.

Here he is sharing his testimony with others and we thank you for that, Jesus.

We know that your life-changing power is real.

Now I pray thee that you'd bless Will, continue to open doors before him to serve you, and during this meeting this afternoon, give us a glimpse of your glory and your power.

When you go out and work for Jesus and the Holy Spirit works in your life You see life The lives changed for God's glory.

I was giving a Bible study back in Tennessee.

We were, the little log cabin was off the main road.

We had gone up a dirt road and week after week for months I had been in what we call back in 1 of the Tennessee hollers.

Now, if you're from Tennessee, you know what I'm talking about.

All right, back in those hollers, you know, you go back in there and you wonder if anybody lives there and you keep going back and back further.

And I was in this log cabin, dirt floor, and giving Bible studies.

I've been giving studies to this family for a number of months and 1 day a man walked in and the first words out of his mouth were, praise the Lord, I'm healed.

Then he said again, praise the Lord, I'm healed.

Now all the time he was smoking a big cigar.

Praise the Lord, I'm healed with his big cigar.

This was many years ago when I was young in those days and not quite as diplomatic.

So I looked at the big cigar man and I said to the big cigar man, yeah big cigar man, but what about your cigar?

And as he smoked the big cigar he said, praise the Lord, I'm healed of lung cancer.

Praise the Lord, I'm healed of lung cancer.

And I said, tell me your story, big cigar man.

So as he smoked his cigar, he said, About 6 months ago, I went to the doctor.

I was having trouble with my lungs and trouble breathing.

The doctor took an x-ray and they found a spot in my lung.

I have just gone back to the doctor now, and he took the x-ray, the lung is clear, and I am healed, praise the Lord.

And I said to the big cigar man, I was not too diplomatic, I said, but sir, what about the big cigar?

And this is what he said to me, young man.

Now you can know this was a number of years ago.

Young man, if you have enough faith, you can smoke as many cigars as you want and cancer will never touch you.

If you have enough faith, you can smoke as many cigars as you want and cancer will never touch you.

Is faith believing that if I have cancer and I believe hard enough, I will be healed?

Is faith believing that if I don't have enough income and I pray hard enough and I believe hard enough that I'm gonna find 10, 000 in the mail tomorrow?

Is faith a good luck charm that enables me to do whatever I want, believing that God is a cosmic Santa Claus, is going to give me the gift I need and that I desire.

Faith, in fact, in the Bible, is so important.

And incidentally, faith and the Holy Spirit are closely aligned.

We're talking about true and false manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

So we begin by looking at faith for a moment.

Faith, and I'm so glad that so many of you brought your Bibles, that you're taking notes, that you're underlining.

Series

Mark Finley: Empowered by the Spirit

Strange Fire on Church Altars

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

ECYC 2011 Seminar: Problem Solved with Some Eyesalve

False Revival

41m

Mark Finley: Empowered by the Spirit

Receiving the Spirit

1h

Renewing of the Mind

50m

Winning Postmodern Souls to Christ

Provactive Challenges and Real Opportunities

51m

Personal Encounters with Jesus

4. The Secret Christian: Nicodemus

50m

Christ in You: The Hope of Glory

1h

Urgency

48m

Christopher Camacho: Science of Salvation

Science of Salvation, Session 1 (Part 2)

1h

SWYC 2007 Plenary Sessions

Revelation’s Sanctuary Pattern

51m

The Holy Spirit

Filled by the Spirit

53m

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Neophyte and the Great Controversy

05-The Neophyte and The Great Controversy, Part 5

1h

Praying for Rain

39m

Sound Doctrine