 Paul the Apostle is perhaps one of the most influential figures in all of church history, and we're going to look at the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Paul the Apostle. And as we look at Paul the Apostle's friendship with the Holy Spirit, we're going to see truths that we can apply to our life. I believe that as you watch this, bondages are going to be broken. In fact, even now, I believe that heaviness is beginning to lift off of God's people. Write it in the comments. Welcome Holy Spirit. Write that right now. Let that be your prayer. Don't just write it as a comment that you put out there just because you feel like you're participating in a live stream. But write that comment because it's a declaration of faith. Let it be a prayer that you're praying publicly to welcome the work of the Holy Spirit. Welcome Holy Spirit, whether you're watching live or on the replay. Now, something very interesting in Paul the Apostle's life occurred when he was young, very young. And we can actually see this happening in the book of Acts, in a very popular narrative. It was at the stoning of Stephen the martyr. Many believers are unaware of the fact that Paul the Apostle in his younger years was a witness to the stoning of Stephen the martyr. Now watch this. Acts chapter 7, I'm going to read verses 51 through 60. You stubborn people, you are heathen at heart. And this is Stephen speaking to the religious leaders. You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors did and so do you. Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute. They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the righteous one, the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. So now Stephen the martyr is speaking words that are beginning to pierce their hearts. They're being convicted because he's talking about the fact that not only did they persecute the prophets of old, generationally speaking, but they now rejected the Messiah. Now, the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered, he was very adamant about that. Now verse 53, you deliberately disobeyed God's law even though you received it from the hands of angels. Verse 54, the Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen's accusation and they shook their fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. By the way, when looking at this particular portion of Scripture, it's interesting to note that this is the only time that we see Jesus standing at God's right hand rather than sitting at God's right hand. And some say this has to do with the fact that he was welcoming Stephen the martyr or celebrating Stephen the martyr or standing in fondness of Stephen the martyr. There's various different interpretations of that, but it's interesting nonetheless. Verse 56, and he told them, look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. They put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him, verse 58 now, and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. So now, they're killing Stephen the martyr because he called them on the fact that they crucified the Messiah and that they also persecuted and martyred the prophets of old and many of God's servants from times past. Now they dragged them out of the city to began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats, watch this now, and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. So here we see that Paul the apostle at a young age witnessed the murdering of Stephen the martyr. Verse 59, as they stone him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. He found to his knees shouting don't charge them with this sin and with that he died. Now you have to imagine Paul the apostle as a young man witnessing something like this. Whether he admitted it or not, whether he was willing to acknowledge it at that time or not, it must have been that this made some kind of impression on Saul who would later become Paul. I mean, think about the fact that Stephen's words were so piercing to the heart that the leaders of the time, the religious leaders in this day and age began to stone him. They reacted in rage. They were overcome with emotion. They placed their hands over their ears and began to shout. They were tormented by the truth that Stephen the martyr was speaking. And so they kill Stephen and it's done right there in front of Saul. But before they kill him, they lay their coats at the feet of Saul. In other words, he was the one watching the coats while the religious leaders were murdering Stephen. Think about the impact that must have had. So he witnessed this prayer, Lord, don't charge them with this sin and with that he died. Now this must have done something internally. Something had to have happened in this moment. The glory of God was present. The scripture talks about being blessed when others persecute us because the glorious spirit, in that case, rests on us. When we are persecuted for our faith, it attracts the weightiness of the spirit of glory. That's why those who've endured much for the cause of Christ often carry this weight of glory that you can sense when they walk into a room. And so now Saul is seeing one of God's servants being stoned. And this profoundly impacts them. Again, whether he was willing to admit it or not, whether he recognized that something had occurred, it would have been impossible to witness something so deeply spiritual, so sacred, so glorious, so heavenly, so otherworldly, and not be impacted by this. And I really do believe that this is where the Holy Spirit first began to work on this young man named Saul. This is where the Holy Spirit first began to show him the difference. And right there, displayed before him, Saul was able to see the violence of religious extremism, the violence of religious ideology, the anger and the rage that comes about as a result of legalism. And he was able to witness this in comparison to the love of the Holy Spirit. I can't help but think of that verse, Romans 5-5. But the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. That means that it's the Holy Spirit who fills us with love. It was the Holy Spirit who in that very moment filled Stephen the martyr with such love that he declared, Lord, don't charge them with this sin. In other words, he was interceding for people in the very moment that they were stoning him to death. And Saul was able to witness the coming together of these two worlds, the ugliness of religion and the beauty of life in the Spirit. The violence of legalism and the peace that comes from knowing the precious Holy Ghost. I think something marked him. Something marked him in the spirit realm that day. And this was the beginning of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Saul. Now, we fast forward sometime later, we find him again in Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9, go there now, look at verse number one. Acts chapter 9, verse number one. What I just read was from Acts chapter 7. I read verses 51-60. And now I want you to turn to Acts chapter 9, verses 1-19. You know, when you watch these live streams, whether you're watching live or on the replay, I want you to recognize that we are studying the Scripture together. And so I would encourage you to take notes, to have a Bible out, to make sure that you're participating actively in the study of God's Word. Let's go now, read verse number one. Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the way he found there. And back then, Christianity was called the way. So it's only been in modern times that we've developed this term, Christianity or Christians. But in the earliest years of the church, they called it the way. This was the way that they follow. You know, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And this actually could be a reference to the entryway of the tabernacle, which was also called the way. But anyway, we look here that Saul was so passionate about what he believed to be the truth. He was so angry because people were upsetting the religious system with the gospel message that he now made it his pursuit to destroy them, to kill them. And the Bible says that he was eager to kill the Lord's followers. He didn't just think it was right. He didn't just agree with it. And I'm sure at the time, there were people who debated the idea of murdering those who were preaching the gospel. Some probably said, well, you know, just let it be. And if it's of God, it will succeed. If it's not, it will fail. There were probably those who said, well, it's definitely not of God, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. We probably shouldn't kill them. And he was all the way on the extremist view of not only is this not of God, not only is this a problem, but it's such a problem that we need to kill these people. That's how eager he was about his own way. That's how passionate he was. And here very early on, we see, of course, that Saul was overcome with religious thinking. Now, when I talk about religious thinking, it's very difficult to communicate what that means, because we so often misunderstand and misuse that word. And I would say we misunderstand that word precisely because we misuse that word. You see, whenever somebody doesn't agree with us when we're debating scripture, we just call them religious. Whenever someone insists on holiness, we call them religious. Whenever someone insists on biblical accuracy, we say, religious. But these terms aren't exactly accurate in that use. We don't call people religious as an insult. And again, I think we do this sometimes in the flesh. When someone's not in our minds, humbling themselves to believe like we believe, we say, oh, you're religious. Or when somebody's being too strict on a conviction that we don't necessarily share, we say, oh, you're being too religious. And again, that's not exactly accurate. So religious has kind of just become a Christian insult, something that we use to label people that we don't want to argue with anymore or that we're getting annoyed by or who we think are maybe taking some things to the extreme that don't necessarily need to be taken to the extreme. But biblically speaking, a religious mindset is simply a mindset of legalism. What is legalism? Legalism is simply man's attempt to accomplish what only God can. Man's attempt to accomplish, I should add, in his own strength what only God can. And so in salvation, it would be somebody thinking they have to work to earn their salvation when it comes to God's favor. It would have to do with somebody who thinks they have to live in a certain code in order to obtain God's favor. Of course, we understand sin destroys, sin has consequences. But if you live your whole life thinking that it's a points based system, wondering if God is pleased with you from moment to moment and constantly thinking that your last mistake was the one that finally did you in, then you might be under the power of legalism. In fact, if you live a life constantly questioning your salvation, you probably are under the power of legalism. That is biblically speaking, what legalism actually is. Legalism is not just an insult that we throw out to other people with whom we disagree or who won't bend their mindset to see the scripture like we see it. Again, that's what we do in conversation. We argue, argue, argue. If we can't convince the other person, well, you're just religious. Or if somebody comes along and spoils the fund on a deeply held belief that many Christians have and they say, well, that might not be biblical, guys. We tell them, well, you're just being religious. I'd rather keep man's tradition than conform my views to the scripture, especially since I've held these views for such a long time. That is not religious. What's religious is when we try to acquire by our own strength and our own power with our own ability, what only God can do and give. We try to become what we can only become through God's power, but through our own strength. And so this is the mindset that Saul is operating under. You see, the gospel was in direct contradiction to what he had been taught. He had been taught that you must have strict adherence to the law and that if you didn't have strict adherence to the law, you were rejected by God. But the gospel said that Christ fulfilled the law, that Christ stands in perfection. And when you believe the gospel, you stand in Christ. And it was just something that was so different than what he had been used to hearing and teaching for such a long time that it angered him to the point that he had to go out and persecute these people. And he wanted to kill them. So this is the spirit in which he's coming. This is the mindset under which he's operating. And so the Bible says in verse two, he requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus asking for the cooperation and the arrest of any followers of the way he found there. He wanted to bring them, both men and women, back to Jerusalem in chains. As he was approaching Damascus, I love this, on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. I'm wondering, by the way, if Saul possibly witnessed that light that was shining from heaven when Stephen the martyr was killed, I'm wondering if perhaps he recognized this light from possibly having seen it when he saw God's servant being stoned. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You see, Saul thought that the Lord was on his side, or that God was on his side, I should say. He didn't have the revelation yet that Jesus was the Messiah. He thought he was on God's side. He thought he was doing right. He thought he was speaking truth. And all the while he was persecuting the Son of the living God. Now, I love this in verse five. Watch this. Who are you, Lord? I love that Saul doesn't know who he is, but there's such an authority about the presence of Jesus that he calls him Lord. So he has no clue who this is. Who are you? But he calls him Lord because there was such a regal persona about Jesus. There was such an air of royalty. There was such a weight of authority on the person of Jesus that when that light began to shine in Saul's face and he heard this voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? That even though he didn't know who he was, he knew enough to call him Lord. And that's the power of the sense of his presence. Saul asked, and the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now, get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. Verse seven, this is key. The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone's voice but saw no one. That's important. We'll get to that in a moment. Verse eight, Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. So here in the Spirit, we see something happening. We see that he's beginning to gain his spiritual sight while at the same time losing his physical sight. This, by the way, is why some speculate that Paul the Apostle later had problems with his eyesight. They say it could possibly have been a leftover effect from this encounter where he was blinded. Could be we know that the healing presence of Jesus is there. We know that God's presence brings healing, but then we also know that the glory, the physical manifestation of glory to this degree, can cause some issues. But whatever you believe about that, let me know in the comments section. What do you think? Is that possible that this was one of the reasons why maybe Paul the Apostle later had problems with his eyesight? It's not a central issue to our faith, but it is worth discussing. It's interesting. Let me know. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus because he's blind now. Verse nine, he remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. Now, there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. I know this is not the one who gave or lied about giving all the money to the church. The Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Ananias. Yes, Lord, he replied. The Lord said, go over to Straight Street to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I love it. So Saul had already begun to develop a prayer life here. Verse 12, I have shown him in a vision of a man named Ananias coming and laying hands on him so he can see again. Verse 12 shows us by the way that when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit knows how to connect us with like-minded people. You see, I believe in divine connection and I believe in divine disconnection. The Holy Spirit is going to bring you around the right people at the right time. And here's the other reality. If someone is not right for you, if people are speaking evil of you behind your back, if others are not sincere, then the Holy Spirit is going to chase them out of your life. You ever go through a season where people just suddenly out of the blue, there's maybe no particular instance that you can point to that caused this, but out of the blue, people just stop talking to you. Have you ever had that where your living life is normal and suddenly your friends begin to become irritated by your very presence? Suddenly the people that you were around just stop calling, they stop communicating, they stop attempting to connect with you. Now in those instances, you can't always point to a specific occurrence that maybe caused this. You're not able to note a moment in your mind where you can look and say, ah, that was the moment that caused them to disconnect. But regardless, you're noticing that they're beginning to drift away from you. Could it be that this is divine disconnection? Could it be that the Holy Spirit is moving people out of your life so he can move the right people in? Could it be that the Holy Spirit is arranging for the proper connections and relationships? Here in verse 12, the Bible says, I have shown him in a vision, a man named Ananias, coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again. So they both had visions of each other. The Holy Spirit spoke to Ananias about Saul and he spoke to Saul about Ananias and this is how the Holy Spirit works. He's going to bring you the right people. Pastor, he's going to bring the right people to your church. I sense right now there are some leaders in ministry that need to hear this. You know, the Scripture declares that if they go out from among us, they were never really of us in the first place and that the fact that they left is proof that they were never really a part of us, nor should they have been. Sometimes you have to just release people and let the Holy Spirit remove them from your life. And sometimes you have to obey the instruction of the Holy Spirit. Actually, I should say, you should always obey the instruction of the Holy Spirit, but rather sometimes that instruction is that we ought to connect with certain people. Now, here's what's interesting. Look at verse 13. Ananias says, But Lord exclaimed Ananias, I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man is doing. I'm telling you right now, this is going to liberate some of you, this verse right here. But Lord exclaimed Ananias, I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. So here we see that Ananias heard about Saul's past and he had heard about the things that he had done. Verse 14. And he is authorized by the leading priest to arrest everyone who calls upon your name. Verse 15. But the Lord said, Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings as well as to the people of Israel. Now, this is incredible right here because this shows us that even when other people remember your past, even when other people speak ill of you, the Holy Spirit will validate you to his servants. I want to say that again. Even when other people speak ill of you, even when other people are busy bringing up your past that you've repented from, the Holy Spirit will validate you to those who belong to him. That is a powerful truth and there's great comfort in knowing that. That even when others come against you, even when people are speaking things that may or may not be true, hey, even when they say things about you that are true but that are repented of, even then the Holy Spirit says, No, that's my servant. And he begins to convict people in this way. I remember I had an interaction with the pastor one time and this pastor's son comes into the house. Well, the pastor and I are talking and the pastor begins to discuss, you know, just some personal business. They probably should not have been talking about this in front of me, but the pastor begins to ask the son, you know, are you okay? What's going on with you? And I guess it was just like an ongoing issue in their home. I'm not quite sure. But then the son got really offended. He says, Why are you talking about me in front of this guy? He pointed at me, this guy. Why are you talking about me in front of this guy? And, you know, he wasn't necessarily rude to me, but he was a little rude to me, kind of taking it out on me for what the pastor was trying to do. So that was a little bit of back and forth between the pastor and his son, the pastor and his son, and a few shots were fired at me. If I can word it that way, not literal ones, don't worry. This guy was just kind of, you know, very passive aggressively insulting me because I would just so happen to be sitting there at the time. So he leaves the room and, you know, I think it was about a week later. I'm back at the pastor's house again. We're talking. The son comes in and he comes up to me and I give him great credit for this. And he apologizes to me. He says, You know, my dad has several different people in here and I do that a lot. I admit and he was just very humble, very gracious and he had regretted that he had been so rude. But then he told me, he says, he says, I know you're a man of God because the moment I left the room, I was just filled with the heavy conviction. And he said he just couldn't get it out of his mind that he had been a little bit rude to me and that the Holy Spirit was really weighing on his heart with conviction. And so the Holy Spirit validated. I didn't ask where I didn't even mind. I was, I was over it the moment the man left the room. But the Holy Spirit validated me because he loves me. Think about the fact that the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus spoke to Saul and said, Why are you persecuting me? Think about the fact that when Ananias and Sapphira, again a different Ananias, lied to the apostle that he said, Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? This means that when other people insult you, when they lie to you, when they speak ill of you, the Holy Spirit takes it personal. When people insult you, they're insulting the Holy Spirit. When people gossip about you, they're gossiping about the Lord himself. That's how he takes it. Now, of course, this doesn't mean that we should never receive correction. This doesn't mean that people shouldn't be able to question some strange doctrines that we might bring out. This doesn't mean that we're above correction, above debate. This just means that when people slander you in an ungodly, unloving way, that the Holy Spirit takes that personal. But then we see here that the connection between Ananias and Saul was established by the Holy Spirit, that there was a divine connection that began to transpire simply because they both obeyed his voice. When you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, here's another truth we glean from this text. When you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, you attract others who themselves are obedient to the Holy Spirit. I'm going to say that again. When you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, when you live such a life that you're walking in obedience to the Holy Spirit, you attract others who themselves are walking in obedience to the Holy Spirit. And this is why it's so important that we follow his leading. Now, it's amazing to me that Saul had just repented. Like, this is fresh. This is three days of repentance. And already the Holy Spirit is being dismissive of his past. Think about that. It's been three days since he's been persecuting the church, murdering Christians. He's been terrorizing the church. And after three days of repentance, already the Holy Spirit's defending him. The Holy Spirit saying, no, that's my servant. Why? Because of his transformed nature. Because he's a new creation now. Now, watch this. Verse 15, But the Lord said, Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my gospel to the Gentiles, to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. Watch this. Verse 16, And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. Verse 17, So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, Watch this now. Brother Saul. So he's already a Christian. At this point, Saul is already a believer. How do we know this? Because Ananias calls him brother. Romans chapter 8, verse 9 makes it clear that we are not children of God. We don't belong to him unless we're born again believers who have the Holy Spirit. Read Romans 8. Only born again believers are children of God. And therefore only born again believers can be referred to as spiritual siblings. And thus by Ananias referring to Saul as brother Saul, we see that at this point he's already born again. The Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me. Now, watch this so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, wait a minute. When is the Holy Spirit received? Again, Romans chapter 8 makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is received at salvation. The book of Ephesians makes a very great case for the fact that the Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation. Now, this is when Saul received the Holy Spirit at salvation. At his conversion, he's filled with the Spirit. So what does he mean by filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, this is the baptism of power. And I have teachings on this particular difference on my channel. You can look at my teachings on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Make sure you subscribe while you're at it. But I have teachings on the difference between receiving the Holy Spirit at salvation and experiencing the baptism with the Holy Spirit as the secondary experience. The believer has the Holy Spirit from the time that they are saved. But this secondary baptism is something entirely different. This was, by the way, I believe, for ministry in Saul's case. Verse 18, instantly something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Verse 19, afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. So the Holy Spirit had already been received. Now, remember I told you that on the road to Damascus that the certain individuals who were with him, the men who were with Saul, were speechless because they heard the sound of someone's voice but didn't see anyone. Only Saul was able to see Jesus. But the people who were with them saw or heard only a disembodied voice. Here's what John chapter 16, verses 13 through 15 says, How be it when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself. But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. Again, this is John 16. I'm reading verse 13. And he will show you things to come. Verse 14, He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. In other words, the Holy Spirit's job, one of the Holy Spirit's roles, I should say, is to reveal Jesus to you and I. That's one of the works of the Holy Spirit. He glorifies Jesus. He points to Jesus. He shares truths that were given to us from Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes Jesus real. Now, I know that when I say that phrase, people instantly get upset. Brother, Jesus is real whether the Holy Spirit reveals him to us or not. And I get that. I understand what you're saying. We know Jesus is always real. What I'm saying is the Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to us. Like, think about, for example, and this is just an analogy. For example, let's say that those who live in the United States of America, we aren't always aware of the kind of suffering that goes on around the world. We kind of are aware in the back of our mind somewhere that suffering happens on a very large scale. And I'm not saying that people don't suffer in the United States, but it's definitely true that people don't suffer in the United States in the same ways that people in other nations suffer. That's a fact. I mean, we have to realize that we have work to do in this world. And we have to be aware, for the sake of compassion, of our fellow brothers and sisters suffering. But you see, it's not until somebody leaves a nation where there are certain liberties and they go to another nation where there's really intense suffering unlike in their own nation. It's not until that moment that that suffering becomes real. It's not until they actually witness, for example, martyrdom. It's not until they witness people actually being killed because of the expression of their faith that it becomes real to them. It was always real, but it wasn't real to them. They didn't realize just what was happening. They didn't realize. They didn't process quite all the way through the fact that this is something that's happening in the world all around us constantly. And so in the same way, we know that Jesus is real. We understand that He is God. We understand that He is eternal. We understand His presence is everywhere at all times, but it's not until you have the Holy Ghost. Listen to me now. It's not until the Holy Spirit begins to reveal that Jesus becomes real to you. I wrote about this first in my book in 2016, by the way. I wrote about this in a book called Carriers of the Glory. And in that book, I talked about the fact that the Holy Spirit vivifies the Savior. He intensifies the reality of Christ. And I wrote, He makes Jesus real. That's what the Holy Spirit does. And here we see a perfect example of that. The men who were there could not see Jesus. They only heard a voice. And because they could not see Jesus, they didn't experience the same thing that Saul did, but it was by the Holy Spirit that Saul was able to see Jesus. Now, this is where it begins to get even more interesting. I mean, this is already interesting, and you can already tell. Again, whenever I talk about the Holy Spirit, it stirs something in me. I can't quite explain that. Okay. Now, we see that the Holy Spirit was the one who revealed Jesus to Saul, and we see that the people who were around him weren't able to witness the same thing He was because the Holy Spirit hadn't revealed that yet to them. Now, watch this. Watch this. Watch this. We just read in Acts chapter 9, verses 1-19, about the conversion of Saul. And of course, we understand that God begins to work in his life. But watch this. Watch this. Now, watch this. Reading verse 19 again. Afterward, he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem, Saul stayed with the unbelievers in Damascus for a few days. Verse 20. And immediately, he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, he is indeed the Son of God. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He's on his way to persecute Christians. He wants to murder them. He's going to kill them, arrest them. He's against the church. He's anti-Christ. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to him. The Holy Spirit connects him with Ananias. The Holy Spirit connects him with his purpose. The Holy Spirit empowers him for ministry. And then after three days of being blind, after meeting with Ananias, this is just a matter of days. And immediately, he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, he is the Son of God. All who heard him. Watch this. And he wasn't just preaching. He was preaching good. Watch this. All who heard him were amazed. Isn't this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus' followers in Jerusalem, they asked? And didn't he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests? Saul's preaching became more and more powerful. And the Jews in Damascus, watch this now. The Jews in Damascus couldn't refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while, some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him. But Saul was told about their plot. So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall. So he makes an escape. But watch this, now watch this. People were unable to argue with him. They couldn't refute what he was saying. Now what happened here exactly? We know that the Word becomes alive when the Holy Spirit begins to minister. You see, if you just read the Scripture on your own, then Scripture is information. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, that information becomes revelation. And revelation always brings transformation. Watch this now. In John 14-26, we see that the Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of everything that Jesus has told you. But watch this now. The Holy Spirit takes the Word that Saul had already learned. So Saul, who is a Pharisee, who knows the Old Testament, who knows the Scripture, who has memorized the truths of the Scripture. He has it all in here in his mind. And the Holy Spirit, when Saul encounters the power of God, breathes on that Word in him. That's how the Word and Spirit work in our lives. When we receive the Word, we are giving the Holy Spirit the substance with which he can shape the image of Jesus in our lives. When we read the Scripture, we are giving the Holy Spirit building materials with which he can work on our spiritual lives. So then, when Saul had this encounter with God, everything suddenly about what he had memorized began to make sense. It's kind of like this. You ever read a really good book? And in the last chapter of that book, as you're reading, the plot is revealed or the plot twist comes out or the ending reveals some truth that maybe threads together all of the different stories from throughout the book that you're reading. And suddenly, once you know that truth, your mind goes back through all the chapters and everything starts to make sense. Or, as in another analogy, maybe you're watching a movie and the plot twist at the end of the movie makes you go, hold on, hold on, hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait. And then you rewind it and you go back and you start watching scenes and you go, oh, I didn't see that before, but that makes sense now. Oh, now I know why that person acted that way. It's the big reveal. And that big reveal always begins to provide more details in hindsight. And as you begin to look back, you start to notice things that you missed before. This is exactly what happened to Saul when he looks back at the scriptures that he had memorized, when he looks back at the truths that he had known, that that entire Old Testament that was committed to his heart that he had studied, that he had known. Suddenly, when the Holy Spirit breathes on that, it makes sense. That's why, let's go back and read, the scripture begins to tell us that when he's preaching in the synagogues, he was saying, he is indeed the Son of God. And again, we see it here that they could not refute what he was saying. So, you know, I think it's interesting when people begin to criticize those who commit the scripture to memory or those who want to study God's word. Look, let me tell you something. You should study the Bible and you should know the Bible better than you've known it ever in your life. You should know the Bible better every year that goes by. Don't compete with others. Compete with yourself. Every year that goes by, you should know the Bible better than the version of yourself from the previous year. Why? Because that is how we build our spiritual lives. In part, the Holy Spirit works with the word and begins to transform us according to that word. Far too many people criticize the scripture as if it's some barrier to the Holy Spirit. I can't tell you how many times I've taught accurately on certain things in regards to the supernatural and people say, well, now you're just being religious, or that's all head knowledge, or you have the scripture I have experienced, and really what they're saying is that they trust their opinion more than God's. The scripture is not the opposite of the spirit. The scripture does not work in contradiction to the flow of the Holy Spirit. I think sometimes we have this mindset and it's on full display when we say things like, wow, that service was so powerful, she didn't even preach, or he didn't even get into the Word. He just started prophesying. He just started praying for the sake. He or she just started casting out devils. Those are all wonderful things, but why do we pretend as if the Word is getting in the way of those things? When you read the scripture, when you minister the Word, that becomes the foundation upon which the Holy Spirit moves. That becomes the substance with which the Holy Spirit works. That's how he creates faith in the heart. When the Word is spoken, the Spirit breathes on it, and then faith is created. If I preach on healing, that Word ministers faith to an individual for their healing, and the Holy Spirit works with that faith. Same thing is true of prophecy and deliverance, and the gifts of the Spirit and holiness you minister on truths, and the Word of God produces faith for what it promises, and the Holy Spirit works with that faith. No, the Word of God is not a contradiction to the flow of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is the foundation of the move of the Holy Spirit, and so we see it here, that Saul has committed to his mind and heart the Word, and then the Spirit breathes on it, and suddenly he goes, Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is Lord, and he believes it to such a degree now that he immediately begins declaring it, and then as he begins to declare it, people can't refute him. That's the Holy Spirit. I like to say that revelation is knowledge set on fire by the Holy Spirit. Now let's look at something else in the life of Saul. Oh, one more verse I'll read to you here. 1 Corinthians 2.14, But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them, and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Don't even try to be understood by people who aren't spiritual. Now I'm going to talk to you here for a second about how Paul was persecuted, but counted it all joy. But before I do that, make sure please to leave a like on this video. If you're enjoying this teaching, that like, believe it or not, will help to spread this teaching even further. I'm not even quite sure how that works, to be honest with you, but I do know that when you leave a like on the video, YouTube and Facebook do something with it, and it spreads it even further. So that actually works. That's how you can do your part to help spread this teaching. And then also, if you're watching on Facebook, follow us, and if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to subscribe to the channel so that you don't miss any of the content that comes out regularly. I don't even know, I think we do like daily reels and two live streams and one teaching every single week. There's just constant, constant content, and I know you'll love it because it's Christ-centered, Bible-based Spirit Field. Now let's look at a portion of Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23 through 30. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, 23 through 30. Are they servants of Christ? And this is Paul being forced into the place where he has to boast about his accomplishments because others are basically questioning his authority as an apostle. Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more. I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number and faced death again and again. Let's just be honest. If anybody in certain nations were even just whipped for preaching the gospel, it would make national news. If there was a video of someone being whipped because they were tied up and whipped because they were preaching the gospel. If that happened even once, that would go viral or I hope it would. But here we see Paul is saying, I've been whipped times without number. I faced death again and again. Five different times, five different times. The Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced dangers in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my filling that weakness? Who has led astray and I do not burn with anger? If I must boast, I would boast rather about the things that show how weak I am. Now, I'm going to say something that might upset some of you, but let's just bring this into perspective here. If that was some of us, we would be saying, help me, I'm under a curse. If that happened to some of you, many of you would be saying, I'm under spiritual attacks, something is wrong. I think that we as believers have to realize that the Bible very clearly tells us, our Lord clearly tells us, in this world, you're have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world, the Scripture says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, many. But the Lord delivers them out of all of them. Sometimes life is just life, especially when we see a series of chaotic events in our lives. You know, I had someone still a package off my porch and then the next day I got a flat tire and then the next day I was late for work and I just know it's spiritual attack and I'm thinking, okay, maybe it could be or maybe it's just life. And we get all entangled in this worry, this fear, who's putting word curses on me? How's the enemy attacking me? And we obsess about everything that's going wrong and we almost get angry at God for it. God, why are you allowing this? Why are you allowing that? Why didn't you do what I wanted you to do? Forgetting that we are the servants and here Paul the apostle is boasting about it. Did Paul the apostle write, this is how I know I'm cursed? This is how I, you know, I've been shipwrecked, I've been beaten, I've been whipped, I've been stoned, I've been adrift at sea, so I know I'm under spiritual attack. Or does he just recognize that sometimes life throws these things at you, especially when you're delivering a message that's so controversial as he was? Now I'm not saying we never are attacked. Of course we can be attacked, but we give far too much credit to the enemy and in doing so we come under this weight of fear and paranoia, you know, fretting and pacing about the house. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? There's a curse on me. There's an attack against me. Do what Paul did. In all these things he was, he was at peace. Whatever happens in this world, we can have peace. Three times shipwrecked. If that was any one of us, if that was any one of us, it would be on YouTube and it would be a video. I was in, you know, three shipwrecks, someone with their hands over their face on the thumbnail, lost at sea, he would say. People would click. What happened? What's happened to the church? What are we doing? I mean, what do we think this is? And why do we respond to chaos, to trials, to tragedy? Why are we surprised? Doesn't the Bible say that when trials come to consider it an opportunity for joy because it can be the testing of your faith, which will mature your faith? What do we do? We get angry with God. We see the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Paul the apostle, especially in the fact that even in the worst of circumstances, he never saw himself as a victim. He didn't give the enemy credit. Oh, you know, the devil's really beating me up. Oh, you know, the devil's really winning. No, he said, even in these things, I'm victorious. Why? Because of the love of God. Galatians 5, 22 through 24 says this, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Now, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. We see all of that in Paul the apostle. Think about the fact that even in his suffering, he's burning with anger over those who are led astray in the church. That's love. Think about the fact that even though there are people abandoning him, even though people are betraying him, that he counts it all joy, that he finds joy in doing the work of ministry. Chaos all around him, peace, perfect peace. Kind of a man does this. Now, with Jesus, sometimes we say things like, oh, well, that's Jesus. Of course, Jesus was perfect, but Paul was just a man. Paul was just a man who was just surrendered to the Holy Ghost. Stop panicking over your problems. Stop glorifying the power of the enemy just because there's a little bit of chaos. Sometimes, please, someone needs to hear this. Sometimes that's just life. Sometimes that's just the way things happen. Of course, there's spiritual attack, but why do we panic when these things are occurring in our lives? And if it is the enemy, think about this. If it is the enemy, why do we give them that satisfaction of responding in a way where we imagine ourselves defeated? No, what did he have? Peace, peace, peace. Perfect peace. He kept a level head. Oh, Lord, help me with that. I pray I could have a level head like that. Times of chaos. You want to know how you demonstrate your faith sometimes? Just calm down. That is a demonstration of faith sometimes. Calm down. Relax. He's got you. And so Paul faces all of these things, and he speaks these things glorying in them. He's saying, this is what I'm boasting in my weakness because in that weakness, God is strong. I sense such a heavy conviction right now. He was imprisoned, by the way, when he held a worship service. Go to Acts chapter 16. I'll read verses 22 to 31. A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas in the city. And this is, by the way, after he cast an evil spirit out of a girl who was operating in witchcraft, a psychic spirit. And so people got mad because when he cast that spirit out of her, there went their money. And the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. So the jailer put them in the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stalks. Now watch this. I mean, who does this? I mean, if you, okay, if you or I found ourselves in this situation, let's just be real. And I'm going to put myself right in there, okay? Because I have not arrived. I don't even think I'm even close to the standard of Paul the apostle yet. We're all trying to be like Jesus. He says, follow me as I follow Christ. Thank God, because at least it's somewhat obtainable or attainable. And I say that partially jokingly, of course, the work of the Holy Spirit can do anything in our lives. But I want to be like this. I want to be like this because I know myself. If I was arrested and Steve probably knows this too. Steve, if I was arrested, I'd probably be threatening legal action. Like, I don't know, let's say I was arrested, you know, even if it was just held for a couple of days, I would threaten legal action. I would be angry, and then I would get mad at God, probably. Or at least I would fight to not be mad at God. My flesh, I should say, would fight to not be mad. I would fight it. We're not going to get mad at God. I'm just being honest with you, okay? You may have arrived somewhere spiritually. I haven't. It's possible you have, but I'm telling you where I'm at. If this happened to me, I'm preaching the gospel, someone takes me and I have time away from my daughter, time away from my wife. I'm sitting there. I'm going to be going, man, I'm just, I'm not happy about this. I'm not happy. Someone's going to pay for this. Someone's going to lose their job over this. I would start, you know, my ego, start making threats in my mind. Okay, I'm going to use the weight that the platform God gave me to get people to lose their jobs. That's just my pride that would probably creep up because I'd be so scared and emotional. And then I would fight the urge to blame God. God, I'm over here doing your will. Why would you let this happen? What did he do? Look at verse 25. Look at verse 25. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Wow. You know, we read this story and we hear this red aloud, and we just kind of picture like a nice Bible cartoon setting. A couple guys sitting in a prison singing. Oh, what a wonderful story. No, they were in a prison. Probably cold. They were very uncomfortable, I'm sure. I'm positive they didn't eat anything good. And I'm positive they probably didn't quite know when exactly they'd be getting out. What does this say? Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. The other prisoners were listening. That's a testimony right there. You know, when you begin to sing in the prison, when you begin to praise in the prison, other people see that. That's a work of the Holy Spirit in you. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundations. Think about walking with God in such a way that when you praise, it literally shakes buildings and causes you to be free. All the doors immediately flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off. The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself. The reason he did this is because, well, my authority figures are going to kill me anyway because I let the prisoners go. Verse 28, Paul shouted at him, Stop. Don't kill yourself. We are all here. The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. Now, this guy who locked him up, who probably when he was overseeing the prison, had a sense of superiority. You know, these are prisoners. These men are lesser than. I'm the night watch. And these are just a bunch of criminals. And he probably looked down on them. And now, because of the work of the Holy Spirit and Paul's life, he is trembling. He is trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They replied, Well, even the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with everyone in your house. What a beautiful story. But how many of us would have just run out the moment it was open? Paul had such compassion, he stopped to consider this man. Well, the Lord opened the door, so I left. Paul had the compassion because he saw a soul. I mean, think about that. Wouldn't you and I assume God caused an earthquake, flung the doors open, broke off the chains? I'm out of here. Except that's not what he did. Probably had every right to. No one would have blamed him. But even in this moment, he stops and he sees a soul. A soul that needs to be saved. And this compassion causes him to stay in minister instead of leave to certain freedom. How many of you would have given this man an attitude? The night watch in that situation. Just questions. Questions for us to consider. Though his body was imprisoned, in his heart he was free. I received a letter from the Philippine Islands. There was a teenage boy who was riding to me from a prison in the Philippines. He told me that they were able to watch our program sometimes. I don't know how exactly he was able to do that, but there's a group of them in the prison that were able to watch me on the screen, whatever screen they were able to get hold of. I don't know all the logistics, but that's what he told me. And he said that, he had a long sentence. I don't recall if he told me that it was decades long or life long, but whatever the case was, he was either never getting out or when he did get out he'd be an old man. He was writing to me about the despair in his heart about how just hopeless he had felt. And then he's watching the broadcast. He hears the gospel, gives his life to the Lord. And this is what this guy writes to me. He told me, even though I'm in prison, I feel freer than I've ever been. Even though I'm in prison, I feel freer than I've ever been. That's that liberty of the Spirit. Now again, how we face these trials reveals a lot about our friendship with the Holy Spirit. And please don't hear what I'm not saying. You guys know everything I say or everything I say I attempt to say with balance I should say. I'm not being dismissive of our problems. I'm not saying you're never under spiritual attack, but I'm saying why do we react so emotionally? And then we glorify the enemy's power and then we get mad at God. Look at what Paul did. He was praising in the prison. One more verse I'll read to you, a couple of verses and then we're going to pray. And when we pray, by the way, I believe that the anointing of the Holy Spirit is going to break bondages in your life. People are going to get delivered right now as we pray in the next couple of minutes here. So this anointing is flowing like a river. From start to finish, this anointing is flowing. So I want you to begin to prepare your faith as I begin to read. Acts chapter 19, verses 11 and 12. God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases and evil spirits were expelled. Think about the fact that Paul walked in such power that his physical body had a tangible touch of the Holy Spirit's virtue on him. His physical being was affected by the manifested touch of God's power. This means that when they brought the handkerchiefs, I have like they give me tissue boxes here, when they brought the handkerchiefs, they would touch it onto his body, onto his skin and whatever that residue was from the glory, it was so heavy on him that that residue would rest on the handkerchief and then they would take that handkerchief and they would just touch someone who was possessed, someone who was sick and that sickness would lift. The demon would flee. You can't have a conversation with the handkerchief. So the handkerchief wasn't asking the demon, what's your name? How'd you get in? How many generations do you go back? It was just a touch and it was gone. That's true power. The sicknesses were healed not because of some method that was applied. People ask me all the time, for the David, how do we see more miracles? How do we see more miracles? I don't know. How do you expect me to know? Well, they say we see miracles in your meetings. Do you know why there's miracles in our meetings? Because the Holy Spirit does it. Nothing to do with me. You want to walk in greater power? Okay, the Bible does give us this. Walk more closely with the Holy Spirit. If you want apostolic power, you need apostolic lifestyle. If you want to walk in this same kind of power, you've got to have this same kind of lifestyle. We want to be able to heal the sick, cast out devils and prophesy, but you and I might not be singing in the prison on some days. I'd say on my good days I could probably do it. But on my worst day, probably not yet. God's still working on my character. We all have to be honest about where we are. So I'm right there with you. I want to attain this. I want to walk with the Holy Spirit and be a heavenly person. You know that? That's what happens when you walk with the Holy Spirit in this way. You become a heavenly person. You become an atmosphere of God's glory in the earth. And so this is what was happening with Paul. They would take these objects from his skin, touch the people, demons gone, sickness gone. No methods, no protocols, even with the healing. No methods, no protocols, just miracles. That's the power I want to walk in. That's what you want. I want you to write these words again. I know I told you to write these at the top of the broadcast, but write them again. Three simple words. Welcome Holy Spirit. Welcome Holy Spirit. Now we're going to pray. And as we do, I don't want you just to watch this prayer. So this is what we do sometimes. When the time for prayer comes, we're kind of already mentally checking out. We're looking at other things to click on. Maybe you see some of my other videos down below and you're saying, okay, what else does he have on this channel? No, no, no, no. I want you to join your faith with mine right now in this moment, whether you're watching live or on the replay, join your faith with mine. And let's ask the Lord himself to deliver you this moment. Let's ask the Lord himself to heal you right this moment, even now that power is beginning to flow, even now your faith is being stirred. Some of you are already beginning to sense like physical sensations of the Holy Spirit's power on you. And I want you to begin writing your prayer request in the comment section right now. Pray for your loved ones. Maybe they need healing, salvation, deliverance. Maybe you need healing or deliverance or breakthrough of some sort. I want you to write your prayer request. Even if it's for other people, you can write it. Go ahead. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you, Lord, that you're beginning to touch your people even now. Father, I pray that your virtue of healing and deliverance would begin to affect change in the lives of your people. You hear every cry. So we thank you for responding. Lord, I thank you for this healing power flowing now. I thank you for this delivering power. Give you the honor and the praise. Just begin to pray in the Holy Spirit right now. And as I said, begin to write your prayer requests in the comment section. Father, I give you the glory and the honor. There's like a river flowing here right now. Somebody, an ear infection has just been healed. I thank you, Jesus. Migraine headaches being healed. I give you the glory. There's a woman watching right now and a couple of months ago you had a miscarriage. And even as I was talking about trials, something in your heart was revealed to you and you're wanting to let go of this anger. The Lord is going to easier to comfort you. Father, I give you praise and honor. I give you... I'm seeing right now someone watching. There's like a... I just saw the kneecap move in a way that it's not supposed to. He's healing that right? A tumor on someone's spine. I rebuke it in Jesus' name. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Now before you go, before you go, I want to ask for your help with something. I want to ask you to help our ministry continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit all around. Look, thousands of believers who watch this broadcast, thousands of you watching now, you generously and selflessly contribute to this ministry and it's in our togetherness, it's in our connectivity that we see our highest impact. And so I'm asking you to help us continue to host these live streams, to host events around the world, to release teaching and to host the Holy Spirit school. All of these things we offer for free and we're able to offer them for free because their donors support it. It's people like you who generously give to the gospel. You love the gospel. You love to give. You love to help people. That's in your nature. Well, here's a perfect opportunity. Let's do this together. Help us take the gospel all around the world. I'm asking you to do something today. Give a one-time gift, large or small, or become a monthly ministry supporter for an amount that works for you. You know, many people are partnered with Netflix and Hulu and Disney Plus. How about instead we partner with the gospel? Look, if you are able to, add to it. If you can't add to it, then replace. Let the gospel replace something secular. I'm asking you for monthly support or a one-time gift. But whatever you do, whether one time or monthly, large or small, I'm asking you to go right now. It's on the screen, davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. Go there now and sign up to become a partner or give a one-time gift. I'm asking everyone watching, live or on the replay, to do their part. Do something right now. Now, if you enjoyed this teaching, you will love 10 major signs the Holy Spirit is truly moving. In this teaching, I talk about the various things that the Holy Spirit begins to do in a sovereign move of God.