 The magicians in Pharaoh's court were able to imitate but not duplicate the power of God working through Moses. In the same way today, demonic power seeks to imitate the power of the Holy Spirit. So I want to show you how to discern between godly power, the Holy Spirit's power, and demonic power. But first leave a comment in the comment section, type open my eyes, write those three simple words as we begin. Number one, the Holy Spirit's power points to Jesus. Satan's power points to man. You see often we imagine that the working of Satan's power is going to be blatant. It's going to be obvious that satanic power will directly and blatantly point to Satan. And of course it does ultimately. The enemy is more subtle than that. So when the power of Satan is at work, he allows for that power to glorify man instead of Jesus. And in that subtle way a trap is set and people fall into it all the time. Especially these days we have to be discerning. Now you may be frustrated, confused, and maybe even a little discouraged as you ask, Lord, who's real? Who's fake? What's of the enemy? What's of you? What's of the flesh? What's of the spirit? This is why we have the word. So keep in mind number one, the Holy Spirit's power points to Jesus always. Jesus is the point to the demonstrations of power. Jesus is the message of the Holy Spirit. We can go on about that. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. So the Holy Spirit's power points to Jesus but Satan's power points to man. I'll show it to you. Acts chapter 8 beginning at verse 9 and onward. Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great. There we see one clue of course. Someone who's operating in satanic power is constantly boasting on themselves even if in a subtle way. And all the people both high and low gave him their attention and exclaimed. So here's what the people are saying in response to this demonstration of demonic power. This man is rightly called the great power of God. Notice here in verse 10, they weren't worshiping the devil because of the demonstrations of this power. In a very indirect way of course they were. But in their mind they were giving glory to a man. They were focusing on a man. They were obsessed with the power of a man. They were elevating a man, a human, a person. This could be man or woman. The people exclaimed what? This man is rightly called the great power of God. They followed him because he amazed them. Look at what's being described here. They followed him because he amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized and he followed Philip everywhere astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse 17 now of Acts chapter 8. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Watch this now. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. Peter answered, may your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money. Let me just stop there a little bit of a tangent, but it needs to be said, Jesus already paid the price for your deliverance, for your healing, for your salvation, for your miracle, for your breakthrough. Anyone who tells you that you have to pay them in order to be delivered or to be healed, they're operating in the Spirit of a sorcerer. Why? Because the sorcerer is transactional. The Spirit-filled believer gives freely. And so verse 21, the Scripture declares you have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. Now here's what he discerns. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin. So there was that bitterness there that was in his heart. He hadn't dealt with it. Then Simon answered, pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me after they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord. Now look at the contrast here. I'll read verse 25 in a moment. So jump back to verse 10 and 11, just to note something real briefly. Notice again we read in verse 10 and 11, the language that was being used here is descriptive of the people's awe of a sorcerer. They're focused on him. They're following him. They're wowed by him. They're exclaiming the praises of him. But look at verse 25 now, the difference between what that sorcerer's power was able to incite from the people versus what the demonstration of the Holy Spirit's power now incites from the people after they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus. Peter and John returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. So the people are responding to the testimony of Jesus. Why? Because of the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit's power points to Jesus. Satan's power, demonic power always points to man. Now I have to make sure that this is clear because we have to understand that ministers can't always control how people idolize them. And the sad truth is that people do idolize ministers. So let me just say this, I am not your healer. I am not your deliverer. I am not the source of your encounter with God. I'm a servant of the Lord here to serve you, God's people. Preachers are servants, not celebrities. We are to give based upon what God says. And the truth of the matter is these people just idolize people. It's something that's broken in human nature that tends to do this. But we have to realize that ultimately, even what I tell you, and please hear me clearly on this, even what I tell you, you should test against the Scripture. Don't believe something just because I say it. Don't believe something just because I teach it. You need to know the word for yourself. You need to stand on the solid foundation of Christ and have that personal relationship with Him for yourself. And you go to the Scripture, you allow Him to correct you. I'll tell you this right now. The Lord is correcting me every day. Every day as I move through the Scripture, I'm seeing ways that I could be more like Jesus. We are all works in progress. So when I say that we mustn't idolize preachers, I'm going to throw myself in there too. You mustn't idolize preachers, including me. And you mustn't look to me as some source for a touch of God. Yes, I can serve you in that I can minister the truth to you. I can pray over you. I can believe with you for your healing, for your deliverance. But ultimately, we look to Jesus. And so the difference here though, and the point I was making is that preachers can't always control the way others look to them. I can't tell you how many times I repeat in these services where I minister. You know, we travel around the United States and the rest of the world hosting what we call Holy Spirit encounter services. At these services, people are healed. They're saved when they hear the gospel message and respond to it in repentance. They're delivered. They have incredible encounters with the Holy Spirit. There's just something that God's doing in these meetings, and it's all to His glory. It's all from Him. But repeatedly throughout these services, I'll tell them, there's only one healer here tonight. His name is Jesus. There's only one deliverer here tonight. His name is Jesus. I tell them over and over again, your healing is not found in the touch of a man. Your deliverance is not found in the touch of a man. It's found in the touch of Jesus. And no matter how many times I repeat that, no matter how many times I say that, there are people who will attend these services that in their minds, they just can't break the thought that it has to be the touch of David Hernandez. And there's nothing I can do about it despite the fact that I say that again and again and again and again. Look to the Scripture here, for example, because to some degree, you can't stop people who look to you in that way, but you have to always redirect them back to Christ. Let me show you here an example of this in Scripture. In Acts chapter 14, we'll read beginning at verse number eight. Acts 14, beginning at verse number eight. And I'm making a side point here, but I'm using this Scripture to support that side point that you can't always control what others do around you. In Lister, there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, stand up on your feet. At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted, the gods have come down to us in human form. Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul, they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was on the outside of the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. So now they perform this miracle. Paul prays, performs this miracle, and now the people want to offer sacrifices to them. Look at their response. So this is the appropriate response. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd shouting, friends, why are you doing this? So picture this. All the people gathered in fanfare, approaching these men ready to offer to them these gifts in celebration of who they think they are. They're admiring them as though they're gods. And so in the midst of this fanfare, this crowd approaching, the apostle runs out screaming, what are you doing? He basically stops the parade. No, don't do this, friends. Why are you doing this? We too are only human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. So as you can see, even though they used Holy Spirit power, the people still wanted to worship them. So this is where we have to practice balance because this can be a little nuanced. Yes, it's true that Holy Spirit power points to Jesus and that satanic power points to man. But it's also true that sometimes genuine men and women of God who operate in power are admired in an unhealthy way and they can't necessarily control that, which you want to look for here. So then how can you tell the difference between them? Well, what you want to look for is when you see the power of satanic operation, you will notice that the one who is operating in that power places a very big emphasis on themselves or on coming to them or on honoring them. Look, I believe in honor. I believe in honoring the office of a prophet, of a pastor and so forth. I believe in, of course, giving offerings to God's servants. Those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel is what the scripture declares. But if they're intentionally cultivating an atmosphere where they are worshiped, if they're intentionally teaching things that make the people more and more reliant upon them, then that's a clue that they may be operating in satanic deceptive power in witchcraft and not in the power of the Holy Ghost. Here's another hint. On this same point, one of the, and I'm going to expose something here. One of the subtle ways that these people are able to manipulate God's people and get them to turn to them is by criticizing everyone else's faults so that they only look to them. And these are people who are hypercritical. They nitpick. They intentionally dig for things that they can purposefully misunderstand. And then they say, well, that person's fault's because they got this one thing right. Well, you can't, you can't follow them. Come, come, follow me. Or they'll tell you things like, you know, your pastor doesn't work in real power. I know I'm touching on something here. They'll tell you things like, you know, your church is dead because they don't do X, Y and Z exactly like we do it. Your pastor has no power because he doesn't have the same methodology of ministry that I have. And the subtle manipulative forms of witchcraft. Now take the individual who is the victim, who's being conditioned and it takes that individual and now severs them from all other ties of accountability, severs them from all other connections in ministry, severs them from listening to any other teachings or teachers and brings them only unto themselves. Or they'll say that if you should leave their ministry or leave their church, that you're definitely not in the will of God because God wouldn't lead you anywhere else. He would lead you where he's moving manipulation, witchcraft. And so that satanic power points to man. That satanic power relies upon manipulation, pressure tactics, group think, crowd control, keeping you so involved that you're consistently exhausted and can never take a break to breathe and think through what you're being asked to do. And so that focus now becomes, well, I'm like, you know, your spiritual father, your spiritual mother. And there's nothing wrong with having a spiritual father or a spiritual mother. But if every teaching is all about how you should cultivate that, I'll just put it this way. If every teaching is ultimately leading to the conclusion that you need that connection with them, there's something amiss there. I'm not saying this is a conclusive, you know, piece of evidence that you, okay, well, they're always pointing to leadership as a key role. So therefore I should cut them off. No, no, no, I'm saying this is one of the things you should look for. Because some churches just teach an unhealthy emphasis on leadership and teaching on health, healthy emphasis on spiritual covering. But that doesn't, that doesn't always mean they're operating in demonic power, again, balance and all things. There's a difference between maybe being a little too heavy handed on teaching on principles like spiritual covering and leadership and using that tactic in the form of manipulation to sever your ties with everyone and anything else so that you look only to them. That's a big difference. And again, this is why we need discernment. This is why we need to look for consistent patterns and look for ways that maybe they're being manipulative, not in a critical way, not in a nitpicky way, but just in a sober way. Again, I'm not meaning to inspire paranoia, nor do I ever want to inspire that. But this is just something that has to be exposed, namely that the Holy Spirit's power points to Jesus. Satanic power points to man always. That's just the way it is. And so again, these ministers can't always control the way that people are maybe idolizing them. But as much as it's in their control, they should respond like this, don't look to me. I'm not your source. They need to continually point people to Jesus. I love one, I can't remember who the lady was, but I love one of the things that she said. And I may butcher it, but it was something to the effect of this. She said that all throughout the day, when people compliment me or thank me for impacting their lives to the ministry, she says, I pretend like I'm collecting a rose from them. They give me a compliment, and I'll say, thank you, I appreciate that. Or thank you, I appreciate the encouragement. There's nothing wrong with stating your appreciation for men and women of God. But again, they can go to an unhealthy extreme. So she says that when they give her the compliment, she takes it like a rose. And then at the end of the day, she takes all of the roses like a bouquet. And she says to the Lord, Lord, here, these belong to you. And I really like that mindset because on one end, she's not being overly paranoid and religious by putting your hand over their mouth and saying, don't compliment me in a strange way. And on that same note, she's not ignoring the fact that God did give her a gift, but ultimately acknowledging that Jesus is the source. Ultimately acknowledging that God is the one who gives these things. I didn't think I was going to take that long on the first point, but we got into a lot of interesting information there. So let me just recap that first point so we can tie together the threads and maybe make it even a little more clear. Iron over it, get rid of some of the wrinkles if there were any. The point I'm making here is that Satan will not be blatant. He'll be subtle. So satanic power isn't going to point to necessarily satanic rituals outright. In some cases it does. For the most part, satanic power is going to glorify a man or a woman. And we must balance this truth with the fact that, yes, some people do idolize them and that's outside of their control, but watch for what they do with those kinds of situations. Do they receive it as if they deserve it or do they redirect it back to Jesus? And when you watch for that, again, this is not necessarily 100% conclusive some of these little bits of information I gave you, but watch for patterns. Does the entirety of their ministry ultimately amount to the glorification of a man or a woman or does the entirety of their ministry ultimately amount to the glorification of Jesus? Let me know in the comment section if this is helping to open your eyes in some of these areas. So you're looking for that very heavy emphasis on man or woman. Number two, the Holy Spirit's power comes from the Holy Spirit's presence. Demonic power comes from performance. The key to the power of the Holy Spirit is the presence of the Holy Spirit. People often ask, David, what's the key? We see the people being touched by the power of the Holy Ghost. We see the people being healed and being delivered. What's the key there? And I'm telling them, it's the presence of the Holy Spirit. There's not a special prayer I can give you. There's not a list of things I can give you that are so ultra specific that they wouldn't be known just by reading the Scripture. You just spend time in the presence of Jesus. You just spend time with the Lord. And what will naturally result without you having to force it is the flow of the Holy Spirit's power. That power comes from relationship. That demonstration of God's ability comes from submission to God's Word. And as you know him, as you draw closer to him, or I should say, as you become more aware of his presence in your life and you allow his presence to influence you in greater measures, now you begin to walk in the power of the Holy Ghost. Conversely, demonic power comes as a transaction. I'll source the Scripture again, Acts chapter 8, what we read of Simon the Sorcerer. When he sees these apostles moving in great power, when he sees them demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit, what does he offer to do? He offers to buy that power. Why? Because in sorcery, it's transactional. Do the right ritual. Say the magic words. Pray the right prayer. Give the right offering. Enact the correct protocols, and then power will come. The demonic realm is transactional, but the Holy Spirit is relational. Demonic power comes from transaction. Holy Spirit power comes from submission. For demonic power, they have to strive. For Holy Spirit power, all you need to do is surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you. We get the power according to Acts 1-8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the key to the power of the Holy Spirit. You'll notice that sometimes these two worlds seem to collide, and people want to teach as though the power of the Holy Spirit is gained through ritual or certain protocols or special prayers. For example, you may be told, well, you can't break that curse unless you go and find this specific point in your family's generations and find out exactly where something went wrong because God's waiting to set you free until you uncover through Ancestry.com, the source of that bondage, my friend. That's transactional. That's how the enemy works. The power of the Holy Ghost is simply, Lord, I put my faith in You, I submit to You, and now I ask that You liberate me, and He will not withhold His power in that case. Now, here I think it's important that I address another side point, but it's somewhat along the lines of what we're talking about here, because the question will arise. Can God use a hypocrite? Why is it that we see, for example, certain men and women moving in great demonstrations of power only to be revealed later as a hypocrite or as someone who is leading a double life? Why is it that they can move in power? I'll show you. Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 to 23, this is what the Scripture says. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy on Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew You. Away from me, you evil doers. Number one, He doesn't deny that they moved in power. When they say, didn't we do this, didn't we do this, didn't we do this? He doesn't say, no, you didn't. He doesn't deny that they moved in power. Actually, they did. And number two, they relied upon their works, and He says He never knew them. So these people come strutting up to the Lord, and what's the most frightening part about this Scripture is that there seems to be an element of surprise here. In other words, they were completely confident that they would be accepted only to find that they weren't getting in. And so when you look at their defense, they don't say, oh, but I put my faith in Christ and He gave me His righteousness. No, what's their defense? Their defense is, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy on Your name? Did we not drive out demons and perform many miracles in Your name? Now, not everyone who performs miracles is going to hell, but some people who are going to hell have performed miracles. So they're not being punished because they perform miracles. That's how some try to read this text. Correlation is not causation. But rather what's happening here is these are people who were fully confident in their own ability. How do you know that? How do you know they had a workspace mentality? Because they said, Lord, look, I did this. This is why you should let me in because I prophesied, because I cast out devils, because I perform many miracles in Your name, and I will tell them plainly, I never knew You. Away from me, you evil doers, He says. And on another side note, whenever you hear that phrase, well done, good and faithful servant, well, what's God's standard for us hearing that? It's perfection. So it's not that we live in perfection, rather it's that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us when we place our faith in Him. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9 tells us it's not of work so that we won't boast. It's our faith in Christ. We're saved by grace through faith. And so when He says, well done, good and faithful servant, He's talking to His Son, Jesus. And only when we stand in Christ can we then hear, well done, good and faithful servant. So again, His standard is perfection. And the only way anyone can hear, well done, good and faithful servant is if they meet that standard of perfection for you and I, the only way we can do that is putting your faith in Christ. So these individuals relied upon their own works, and He says to them, I never knew you. So again, they thought it was transactional. I do this, you give me this. But this leads me to the main point that I'm taking here from this portion of Scripture, that these are people who Jesus never knew, yet they're moving in power. Here's a scary thought, Jesus will use you even if He doesn't know you. Power can flow through you even if the Holy Spirit doesn't dwell in you. Why? Because the gospel works. Because the gospel message is the power of God unto salvation. And that power is accompanied by demonstrations of the miraculous. I mean, look here in Philippians chapter 1 verses 15 through 18. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me a while while I'm in chains. Excuse me, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives are true, Christ is preached, because of this I rejoice. So there are people who will preach the gospel and they don't even have pure motives. They'll preach the good news of Christ and they are not, they are not operating from a place of purity. So we have to keep that in mind as we go to point number three, which is that the Holy Spirit's power tells God's message, demonic power does not. And this might seem to contradict the way I ended point number two, but again, it's not contradiction, it's balance. I'm giving you biblical principles that you can apply to your discernment, and then you search for patterns that will indicate to you whether or not you're listening to or receiving from true power. Or I should say the power of the Holy Spirit, because demonic power, though it is demonic, is a true form of power, though it is a evil form of power. First Corinthians chapter 12 verses one through three. Here Paul, the apostle is writing to the Corinthians in regards to the spiritual gifts. Keep in mind, the Corinthians were pagans, and so they had operated in demonic power before they came to Christ. So when Paul, the apostle writes to them about the spiritual gifts, he's trying to draw a clear line of distinction between the gifts that they had or the power that they operated in in terms of paganism, their former paganism, and the power that they're now operating in in terms of the power of the Holy Spirit. So imagine that Paul's talking to me saying, look guys, okay, I know you were all pagans. I get that you had ways of you think seeing the future and maybe performing a few miracles here or there. But let me help you understand this. This is different, okay? This is not like the power of paganism. And so he writes to help them make that distinction between again the power of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual gifts and the old operations they had in their former paganism. Now about the gifts of the spirit brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You can hear his concern here like, I wonder, and this is me now reading into the text. I don't know if this is necessarily true. This is my own opinion. I should say this is my own line of questioning. I wonder if Paul hesitated a little bit when the Holy Spirit instructed him to write this, like, you sure you want me to talk to these former pagans who operated in demonic power about operating in power? They might get it confused. So he writes about the spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. Like, please listen here. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other, you were influenced and led astray by mute idols. Therefore, and so now when you see a therefore, you have to ask, what's it there for? He's saying, because of that, because you were swept away by idols, because you were former pagans, because you operated in demonic power at one point, therefore because of those things, I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the spirit of God says Jesus be cursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now here, Paul the apostle is not writing this to mean that they can't pronounce the phrase Jesus is Lord. Because of this portion of Scripture, it's become kind of an old wives tale that people who are demon possessed can't say Jesus is Lord. They can say it, it torments them to say it, but they can say it. Again, here, he's not talking about the pronunciation of the phrase Jesus is Lord. Rather, what he's referring to is the message that that power points to, what they do with Christ, what they do with the identity of Jesus. If the power points to a message that says Jesus is Lord, if the power points to the message of the gospel, that's a clue that that power is of the Holy Spirit. Now, going back to the point I made, the sub point I made in number two, this again, you might be saying, well, wait a minute, I thought you just said that hypocrites can preach it and they be living an impure life. Yes, they may be hypocrites, they may be living an impure life, but the power that backs the gospel is still the power of the Holy Spirit. And so this is where we might have trouble drawing those nuanced lines of distinction. I am not saying that someone who lives an ungodly life or a double life shouldn't be judged for that. I'm saying that even those who preach out of impure motives are preaching a true gospel and that gospel doesn't lose power. God will judge them, yes, but this can at least resolve the confusion in your heart where you wonder and go, wait a minute, I saw miracles, I saw what's going on here. I thought by their fruits went out. Well, there you go. Power is not necessarily fruits. When Jesus talks about fruits, he's talking about the character, the purity of who they were, not necessarily the effectiveness of their ministries or their works. And so that power of the gospel does not change. You preach a salvation message. You share the word of God. The word of God is not going to lose power and God may save a sinner through the preaching of his word. God may deliver a captive to the preaching of his word. God may heal someone who is sick to the preaching of his word, even though a hypocrite preached it. So again, this is perfectly consistent to say that if the power is pointing to Jesus, if the power is pointing to the message of the gospel, that that is Holy Spirit power. Now again, you have to take into consideration from a holistic perspective all of the dynamics that are being presented here today to make a conclusion because neither of these on their own can necessarily be conclusive, especially since anyone can say Jesus is Lord, but you're not looking again just for that pronunciation. You're looking for what the message is that's being declared. And so again, a hypocrite can preach a true message of the gospel and true Holy Spirit power be demonstrated. And so that's perfectly consistent with what we read here in 1 Corinthians 12, 1 through 3. Now, this is about message, not method. This is important. This is important. We so often crucify each other over methodology. For example, people in our services, you will see being slain in the Spirit. That term is not found in the Bible, but I think that there's a biblical framework for at least the idea that there can be a temporary physical reaction to the manifested glory of God. I think that's a strong biblical case. I don't teach that as doctrine and tell people they have to believe that to be saved, but it is something that I believe in. It happens in our services when the power of the Holy Spirit moves. Now, some could point to and say, well, here I can point to other religions, not that Christianity is a religion, or other belief systems I think is a more accurate way to put it. And I can point to these other demonstrations that look similar to demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's power. Well, just because there's a similarity in methodology or even the way it looks doesn't mean that it's necessarily false, because again, we saw all throughout the Scripture, more specifically, you go back to the book of Exodus and you see that the magicians in Pharaoh's court were able to imitate, though they could not duplicate, the power that was being demonstrated the Moses, at least up to a certain degree. Once the wonders began to increase in their scope, then suddenly they lost the ability to imitate them. But this is to say that sometimes demonic power will try to imitate the power of the Holy Spirit. So, for example, I've seen preachers criticize because their hands shakes when they pray. I'm thinking it's a methodology. You look at their message, look at their lifestyle. Maybe that's a better way to judge it. What are they doing with Christ? Is that power pointing people to Jesus? Are people ultimately repenting, coming into encounters with God? And so, you can't look just at methodology. Now, some methodology is, you know, once you cross a certain line, of course, like I saw somewhere online, someone had, some preacher had people drinking bleach as a demonstration of power. I'm thinking, okay, no, that's either demonic or just forgive me, it's just foolish, right? So, that's definitely not the power of the Holy Spirit. But you can point to biblical principles that would directly contradict such a demonstration, as opposed to, again, just something that people might not be familiar with. Think about the fact that the enemy can imitate healing miracles. The enemy can imitate, there's even an ungodly tongue that people can speak in. You know, we have prayer, the enemy has incantation. We bless people, the enemy tries to curse, but you can't curse who God has blessed, but he'll try anyway. So, there are different imitations of the Holy Spirit's power, and this is why we don't judge by methodology alone. Methodology can be taken into consideration, but methodology alone cannot be the nail in the coffin reason that we maybe accept or reject someone. You know, there may be ways that the Holy Spirit moves that you're uncomfortable with, but that doesn't mean it's not the Holy Spirit. So, this is why, again, we must judge righteous judgment and create a holistic approach using the Word of God as a firm foundation to then discern what is and is not of God. First John chapter one versus foreign onward, this is what the Bible says here, excuse me, verses one and onward. The Bible says this, Dear friends, I do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. So, here we see a warning against false prophets, and then people, you know, usually fret at this point. There's many, and what's funny is you'll even see this posted on people's social media. There's no preacher, by the way, who you follow who doesn't have some criticism against them. Every preacher I know, doesn't matter what background, what denomination, you look in their comments, you're going to have a small group of people who think that they're false, and this is one of the things they post right here. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out in the world. The post that scripture implying that individual that they're posting about is false. But then verse number two clearly tells us the standard by which we make that judgment. So, it's not just some vague judgment where we kind of hope that we get it right, or maybe have some suspicion against everyone, and every now and then our suspicions are confirmed, but verse two makes it clear, this is how you can recognize the spirit of God. Right here, so if you're going to use verse one, you've got to also look at verse two. This is how you can recognize the spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus has come and the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard is coming, and even now is already in the world. So let's again draw together these points. Number one, the Holy Spirit's PowerPoints to Jesus, Satan's PowerPoints to man. A couple of considerations there. Remember that preachers can't always control how people idolize them. They shouldn't be idolized. They shouldn't be worshiped. That's just the brokenness in humanity. Sometimes they tend to do that. Also, we're not just looking for mentions of leadership, mentions of headship doctrines, mentions of church authority doctrines. We're looking for a pattern of heavy handedness and a manipulative pattern that ultimately points people intentionally to that individual and not to Jesus. Number two, the Holy Spirit's power comes from his presence. Demonic power comes from performance. Demonic power is derived from transaction like in sorcery, right rituals, right sacrifices, the correct offering and so forth. But Holy Spirit power comes from the presence of Jesus, spending time in the presence of God. On a side note, yes, God does use hypocrites, but ultimately they are judged. How can that be? It's because the power is not in them. The power is in the gospel, which leads us into point number three. The Holy Spirit's power tells God's message. Demonic power does not. And so you'll see that you're looking not necessarily for methodology, but for the message. Now, there are different categories of methodology. This thought just came to my mind. It might be the Holy Spirit leading me to talk about it, so I don't want to miss it. There's different categories of methodology. There's the category of the spirit. There's the category of the satanic. And then there's the category of flesh and foolishness. So, for example, when I first began in ministry, I was very excited about, I still am excited about the power of the Holy Spirit and how he moves in our services, but I think I got a little over excited when it came to the power of the Holy Spirit moving through me. And there would be things that I would do toward the beginning that were just a little bit over the top, and they weren't necessary to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. Now, don't get me wrong. Sometimes I get very excited about the power of the Holy Spirit, and you mustn't mistake excitement for exaggeration or showmanship. When the power moves and I feel it like electricity on my body, I really feel it like electricity. I'm like, okay, you want this? Come down. I want to pray for some people, right? But toward the beginning there were some ways that maybe I exaggerated a little bit, you know, in my expressions and maybe there were some things that probably I could have gone without doing, but that was flesh and foolishness. But then there are methods, guys, that are blatantly demonic, led by demonic powers. So just because the method isn't of the Spirit doesn't mean you automatically say, well, they're of the devil. It could be just foolishness. And I have, believe me, I've seen some foolish, foolish things. It could just be unhealthy showmanship, which, by the way, should be repented of. I'm not excusing that. But to throw that in the same category is not a healthy way to approach your walk with God, because then, again, you're walking around with a warped perspective to where you're going to just end up in paranoia. So yes, you should avoid foolish and fleshly acts, of course, but to conclude that therefore it's entirely demonic, I wouldn't put those in the same category. The only one you want to operate in though, the only power you should be operating, the only methods you should use are the ones that are Spirit-led. So Father, I pray you give your people discernment, help them to look to your word and to look to Jesus and not to man. We thank you, Father, that you've given us everything we need to be equipped. Help us, Lord, not to fall into paranoia and help us not to fall into apathy. Keep us spiritually vigilant. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it, type it even, amen. If you enjoyed that message, you think it could help others, make sure to leave a like. And also, I want to stay connected with you. I release teachings on the Holy Spirit prayer and spiritual warfare. So let's stay connected. Make sure you subscribe to my channel and do click the bell when you do so that you don't miss anything. And now I want to invite you to paying it forward. These live streams, the content we release freely we give or freely we receive so freely we give. We don't charge for these live streams. We don't charge for the videos that we post on a weekly basis. And I want you to help us continue on our mission. We don't charge a registration fee for our Holy Spirit encounter services. Why? Because we have a one word strategy. A strategy is faith. So if you've been blessed by this ministry, you've been impacted in any way, I want to challenge you to do your part. Do your part by today right now becoming a monthly ministry partner. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner and sign up for a monthly automatic gift of any amount. Just open that page and say, Holy Spirit, how much do you want me to support monthly? Ask him that and see how he leads you. You can also give a single gift by going to David Hernandez ministries.com slash donate. All of these resources help to keep the ministry going and growing. And my goodness, the favor of God is on this work and all we can do is our best when it comes to stewarding his work. So again, do your part. Be a part of what God is doing. Help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world. Now maybe there's some hesitation. Even now, maybe you were just going to log off. Like, okay, I got the message I'm logging off. I want you to really listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, because there's always that part of us that hesitates in moments like these, or that wants to hang on to resources. Why? Because maybe we're afraid that if we release it will go without or that we release it will lack. That's just not going to be the case. Trust the Lord. See what he leads you to do. Say yes to the Holy Spirit's voice. Again, davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly ministry supporter, davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a single gift. Thank you for your support. I so appreciate your heart for the gospel, your love for people, your love for Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I pray for you. I love you. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. What an eye-opening message that was. I know that many of you were challenged and filled with peace. You know, because when we study the word, it brings clarity to things that need clarity. So my prayer for you today is that you had clarity and that you draw closer to the Lord. Hey, let us know down below in the comments section what you thought of this message. Well, Spirit Family, thank you so much for joining us here live on stream. We love and appreciate all of you. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. We will see you soon. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Jesus is the only way to God. Touch from the hand of God and the impossible becomes possible. There is no sickness so destructive. There is no problem so seemingly impossible that the power of God cannot make away. God did not create you to live in depression. God did not create you to struggle with an addiction. God did not create you to be bound by sin. You were created in the image of God. He created you to walk in victory, to walk in his perfect peace. Remember that in him is a marvelous light and in his light all darkness is dissolved.