(inspirational music) - Praise God. It's exciting to be in
the presence of the Lord. And I'm believing that God is gonna do something special tonight. Not because of me, but
because of the anticipation, the prayer, the dedication, the commitment that's represented here. So while you're standing I'm going to read two verses of scripture,
the first one from 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13. And let me say it is a
privilege to address you. Thank you Pastor Anthony
Mangan, the entire committee. I don't take it for granted. You wouldn't have to do this every year to have the general superintendent speak but I appreciate that
and I also want to report for we have a new president
for Urshan College, Urshan Graduate School of Theology, Dr. Brent Coltharp. (congregation applauding) But I mention this because without because the times there would
be no Urshan Graduate School of Theology. I'm not gonna take the
time to rehearse it, but I've tried to give you a report. When the graduate school got accredited, when we started the undergraduate school, this past year we attained candidacy, which is provisional accreditation, that was the big step. We got a new president,
we got a new campus because we're already bursting
the seams where we are because of the accreditation. We have a record enrollment, so this fall by God's help we'll be
moving to a new campus and able to house the
increased student body that's happening right now. Praise God, it's a miracle. It doesn't take away from
our our Bible colleges. This is a different project and this is something
we all should celebrate and I'm telling you because without you, none of this would have happened. But because of you. It's not an either or. It's not either support global missions or support college education. It's we're gonna do all of the above. We are an international fellowship. We can have cutting edge outreach revival, evangelism in every
dimension from reaching the homeless, to reaching
the college students. We can do it all. In fact, we must do it all. It's not either or, it's both and, amen. Now that was extra so
don't hold that against me. 1 Corinthians 12:13, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jews of Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have all been made to drink into one spirit. And then I'm going to Ephesians
chapter 5 and verse 18. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18. And be not drunk with
wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Those of you in our meeting last night know that Pastor Mangan
ended with the exhortation be filled with the spirit. That's my title tonight. Filled with the spirit. Let's praise the Lord together again and ask for his anointing. Thank you Jesus for what
you're doing right now. Oh, Lord, pour out your
spirit, confirm your word. In Jesus' name. You may be seated. This is burning on my heart tonight. Filled with the spirit. The theme of the conference,
we've heard his voice, we are expecting to have that kind of an experience where God
speaks personally to us. For some it may indeed
be an audible voice. For others it may be different
ways in which God deals, but we've come here
expecting and believing to have a personally
transforming experience. Nothing can take the place of a personal experience with God. Nothing can take the place of hearing the voice of God for yourself. But when the Apostle Peter recounted that in 2 Peter 1, he went on to say we have a more surer word of prophecy or the prophetic word made sure he was talking about the written word of God. So what I'm gonna give to
you is a little portion of the written word and
after the experience, after Thursday night, you
will still have something throughout 2019 that is
the written word of God that will confirm and perpetuate what you heard and experienced. It's not going to be a word from me, it's a word from the Lord
be filled with the spirit. I'm in the book tonight
when I say the important thing we must take away
from this conference, be filled with the spirit, be filled with the spirit. We've gotta drink deeply
of the spirit of God. (congregation applauding) Praise God. I was being interviewed the other day and someone asked what are the greatest challenges of the church. Three things came to mind in our culture. The first challenge is diversity. You see what's going on in our culture and our society. You see how our nation,
our world is becoming increasingly diverse and you see how the church is becoming diverse,
but that's a challenge because when you have diversity, it stretches tradition,
it stretches conformity, it stretches our preconceptions, our ways of doing things, our traditions. It can set up conflict. Some people don't really want diversity or don't want to talk about it because it does have an element of risk. So that's one challenge. A second challenge is I believe the challenge of unity. We are a very individualistic people. We hear from God, we're called of God. And that's a great strength
of the Pentecostal movement. We launch out by faith
and start ministries, but as we grow, there's the challenge. How do we work together
and what I'm preaching about is more than just the United Pentecostal Church International. I think it's the greatest
apostolic organization in the world. But some of you are
not part of that group, I'm not trying to get you to become part, I'm challenging us if
we're truly apostolic, no matter who we are, no matter
our official affiliation, we've got to face the challenge of unity. We've got to work together. We've got to love one another. We've got to practice ministerial ethics, we've got to be accountable. We cannot be just off on our own with an independent spirit, somehow we've got to build the kingdom of God. That's a challenge. From the local church level
to the international level. A third challenge is secularism. Have you noticed the world is
becoming increasingly pagan? Have you noticed our nation has adopted secular values? And it's starting to put
pressure on the church. It's gonna happen even more so. I was shocked to see the
Vice-President's wife is being attacked because she's a teacher in a Christian school. All that school does is have a standard for its members and its leaders that conforms to scripture. Why should anyone be attacked in a country that believes in freedom of religion? A country that was founded
on Christian values? It's one thing to say we
tolerate all viewpoints, it's another thing for
the basic Christian faith to be attacked. That's what's happening. If you notice, we had a nominee, I think it was a deputy
budget director was attacked because he had written
as an evangelical student a paper that he believed
salvation is on Jesus Christ and so one of our senators
and candidates for president said you don't deserve to hold office unless you will tell us
that Muslims are saved. That's in our government. Recently we've had two senators attack judicial nominees simply for professing Roman Catholicism, but
it's basically because they don't believe in abortion, because they uphold Biblical teaching they don't deserve to be judges. Now these are just simple examples, but can you see what starts at the top is gonna come to every local church and we're gonna face a challenge. I had a pastor recently tell me that a married lesbian couple
wanted to join the church. He said you're welcome to
come as long as you want, but membership is reserved for people that abide by our teachings. He was attacked by friends and family for that what we would consider
a very Biblical stand. It's coming to the local church. I just preached for one
of the daughter works there in Austin. He said my son attends a public school. For spirit week, they
announced all the girls would come dressed as
boys and all the boys will come dressed as girls. He had to write a letter to explain why his son would not be coming to school dressed as a girl. His daughter is in an all girl school, a public school that asks for all girls, but two of the girls
have now come out as boys and so now they have two
boys in the all girl school because they have a right to
be whoever they want to be. This is not just
theoretical, but the church is gonna face decisions every day that's gonna challenge our faith and challenge our existence. So there are three examples. The challenge of diversity, the challenge of unity, the challenge of secularism. And I propose the answer to that challenge is found in the scriptures I read. By one spirit we're all baptized into one body. What put us in here is the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. We must preach the new birth experience. We must preach the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's what's gonna change our world. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an optional extra. It's we are baptized by
one spirit into one body. We are one body, not
because of our organization, we are one body because of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. We gotta preach the Holy Ghost. That's what will change people's lives. That's what will give us spiritual power. We've gotta be filled with the spirit. Hallelujah. Notice. Baptized. When you're baptized, you're plunged. That's something God does to you, but if you're an empty
vessel and you're baptized, that empty vessel gets
filled at the same time, but you're filled, but from then on you must be filled. You must continue to be filled. That doesn't mean you have
to get to empty every week. But if you imagine that
empty vessel plunged beneath the river, it's filled. When it got baptized, it got filled. But the water is rushing in and the water is rushing out, but as
long as you keep that empty vessel under the surface,
it's never gets empty. It keeps getting filled
with new water every minute, but it never gets empty. We are filled, but we need to be filled. We are filled, but we
must continually be filled with the fresh flow of the Holy Ghost. To use another analogy, we
must drink of the spirit and I believe that's what
we need to do this week. Drink until we're filled with the spirit. We've got to drink deeply. How are we gonna face these challenges? It's not gonna be by superior intellect. It's not gonna be by superior education. It's not gonna be by superior talent. It's not gonna be by
political connections. It's gonna happen as we're
filled with the spirit. We will face challenges
from a secular culture, but Jesus said in Matthew 10:20 and he was talking about persecution, but whether it be arrest of a trial or social persecution as
of the sort we're facing, he says don't worry about it. When the time comes, the
spirit of your Father, which is in you will give
you the words to say, but we only have that promise if we're filled with the spirit. Filled with the spirit. The challenge of diversity. Some may even say well why
you keep mentioning that? Read the Apostle Paul,
read the book of Ephesians. He said the challenge of his day was not black and white,
it was not English and Spanish speaking,
it was Jew and Gentile and notice he keeps
hitting that in every book, every time he can. We're baptized into one body. That means Jews and Gentiles. He says you Jews over here listen to me. The Gentiles are in the same body and hey you Gentiles over
there, remember the Jews are in the same body. Remember it's one spirit,
it's one Holy Ghost. It's not two spirits. It's not two Holy Ghosts, it's one spirit, it's one body. We gotta break the barrier. It doesn't matter if you're black, if you're white, if you speak Spanish. Somehow we've got to be one body. (congregation applauding) Yes, diversity has its challenges, but if we're committed, it's just like marriage has its challenges. You ever notice that? But when you're committed for life, you gotta make it work. If there's a major disagreement, you don't have the option of walking out and walking away. You're stuck. You're gonna have a miserable 50 years. Are you gonna make something of it. So you communicate. When you have that prior
absolute commitment, these two are one flesh. You make it work. You figure it out. The same way Jews and
Gentiles were one body. Whether you're black,
whether you're white, whether you're a southerner, whether you're a northerner, whether you're a farmer, whether you're an urban citizen, whatever you are, we are stuck with other so let's make the best of it. Let's sit and talk to one another. Let's pray for one another. Let's love one another. We've got to make it work. We have no choice because we are one body. Ephesians 4:3 says keep
the unity of the spirit. You know our fundamental
doctrine in the UPCI says that. If you just thought somebody made that up, a bunch of compromises
wrote that in there. No, it's actually from Ephesians 4. The unity of the spirit till we come to the unity of the faith. Our friend Jerry Jones told me, he said I think that is
the most violated statement in our manual that we're
gonna keep the unity of the spirit. Let that not be so. Let that be just a joke and not the truth that we're gonna work hard
to keep the unity spirit. I'm not talking about
compromising the doctrine. I know if I stand up and say we believe in the oneness of God, we shall. We believe in the new birth, we shall. We believe in holiness, we shall. We believe in practical
holiness, we shall. I believe all the stuff. I'm preaching all that stuff, but don't use that as an excuse to attack your brother and sister in Christ. Don't use that excuse to go your own independent way to
the harm of the body. We don't have to pit the doctrine against the unity of the body. (congregation applauding) One of the most horrible words in our fellowship, compromise. But again if you've been married more than a few weeks, you know compromise is a good word. (congregation laughing) You better learn that word. You better learn how to practice the word. Marriage is not 50/50. It's you give 100. Then the other time the other gives 100. You just do whatever it takes. You just make up the difference. So it is in the body of Christ. We don't want to compromise the doctrine, you understand that already. We don't want to compromise
our holiness of life. We want to be holy on the inside, on the outside, every which way we can, but that doesn't mean
we can't work together. That doesn't mean we can't rise above personal differences of opinion in order to fulfill the
mission of the whole gospel to the whole world by the whole church. And so, whether it be
local church governance where we respect our saints. I believe in pastoral authority, but I don't believe in authority
without accountability. We like to preach authority, it's true. It's Biblical. But we need to back it
up with accountability. Mutual accountability, mutual submission. I'm not your pastor, but I
think if you are a pastor, you've got to be submitted to the body. You've got to be submitted to one another. You do need mentors. You need people to whom
you are accountable. You cannot operate on your own. You cannot lead people and
expect to exercise authority if you're not willing
to submit to authority. That sounds harsh to some,
but that's in the book. (congregation applauding) We've gotta a balanced view. Authority equals responsibility. Authority equals accountability. I could go on and on, but
I'm coming to a close. We've got to be filled with the spirit. We've got to practice ministerial ethics. If you're the only pastor in your town pastoring ministerial ethics, you do it. It does not matter what
the others do or don't do, you're accountable to God. You be ethical on your
end, God will take care of the rest. How can we do all that stuff? Filled with the spirit. The Christian life is not a battle of two equal opponents, flesh and spirit. No, it is a victorious life. We do have challenges. We do have temptations. Sometimes we actually do fail and we must ask God to forgive us, but the goal of the Christian life
is a life of fullness, of victory, of power to witness, of spiritual fruit, of spiritual gifts. How can we attain that? We've gotta be filled to overflowing. We've gotta preach out of the overflow. We've gotta teach out of the overflow. It can't be just a struggle to get by, but somehow we've gotta be filled. We've gotta drink deeply. We've gotta be filled to the overflow and then we'll know how to deal with a secular world. Then we'll know how to deal
with a pagan environment. Then we'll know how to love our brother when our brother is not so lovable because we're filled and I'll just give you this summary here. If you go back to Ephesians when it talks about be filled with the spirit, it doesn't stop there, but it explains just exactly what that looks like. You just keep reading, he says don't be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit and then it continues the same sentence. Here's what it looks like to be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, that's worship. Giving thanks always for all things in the God and the Father, name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's thanksgiving. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. That's accountability. Don't say you're filled with the spirit and then attack the body. You lost most of that spirit
that you got filled with. Don't say you're filled with the spirit, then you can't worship. If you're filled with the spirit, it's gonna flow in worship. You're gonna start speaking. You're gonna start singing. You're gonna start worshiping. You're gonna start giving thanks. You're gonna submit to one another. You're gonna listen to the brother. You're gonna pray for the brother. You're gonna respect the brother. Oh, I challenge you church, this is my message tonight,
be filled with the spirit. Oh, drink deeply tonight. Don't come to Alexandria
and not drink deeply. Drink all you can. Drink to overflowing. take it home with you. Be filled with the Holy Ghost. Oh, let's stand right now. Be filled with the Holy Ghost. Be filled with the Holy Ghost. The Lord will confirm the
word with signs following. The Lord will confirm your ministry with miracles and wonders, but you gotta be filled. Oh, let's praise the Lord. (congregation cheering and applauding)
