All Aboard:
Do You believe in Ghost?
Scripture:
Acts: 19:1-7
Introduction:
In the movie, the boy finds the lost ticket that belongs to another passenger who was last seen walking on top of the train with the conductor. When he climbs on top of the train he sees, through the intense snow and boisterous wind, a fire. As he gets closer, he see’s a man sitting next to the fire and he sits down to have a conversation with him.
During this conversation, the homeless man challenges the belief of the boy. He leaves him in silence when he asks the famous question, “Do you believe in Ghosts?”
He wasn’t really asking about Ghosts, he was confronting the boys unbelief, skepticism, and his fear of being wrong.
The question was not about Ghosts, it was about belief itself.
This homeless man constantly made the boy question:
- What he saw
- What he heard
- What he felt
His questions was a confrontation.
- DO you believe at all?
- Do you trust what you can’t see
- Are you going to live by sight or live by faith.
The boy would have never addressed those fears on his own, so this homeless man on the train has to drag his doubt into the open so that it could be dealt with.
You will never deal with what you keep hidden.
The most touchy subject to preach on (even in a Pentecostal church) is the baptism in the Holy Ghost. The reason for that is because many have stopped preaching him as the lifeline of the church.
The Baptism in the Holy Ghost is not just a recommendation that Jesus made before he ascended; it is an experience that he desired for the early church to have before they stepped out to do ministry.
- When you preach salvation, everyone nods.
- when you preach on joy, everyone nods.
- When you preach Holy Spirit Baptism, people begin drawing back and evaluating.
It makes us question:
- Have we received it
- If we haven’t, then why haven’t we?
- Did I really speak in tongues or was it just me?
- Am I less spiritual than others because others have been filled and I haven’t been?
When we begin preaching the baptism in the Holy Ghost, it creates an internal vulnerability that causes people to get defensive or quiet…
It’s not resistance, it’s sensitivity.
We are a Pentecostal Church who believes in Holy Spirit baptism. The reason there is so much draw back when e preach this is a belief issue but it is not birthed from disbelief.
The real struggle is:
- Is this promise really for me?
- Does God still do this?
- What if I seek it and I do not receive it?
People aren’t doubting the doctrine, they’re doubting their eligibility or readiness.
This is the same inner battle that the boy was fighting in the Polar Express. He wanted to believe but he was afraid of being disappointed.
For some, the reason that this is touchy is because some people grew up in churches where:
- Tongues were forced
- People faked spiritual gifts in order to fit in
- Emotionalism overshadowed teaching
- The altar became a pressure zone
- When they didn’t receive they were told they didn’t have enough faith.
Some have been praying for years to be filled with the Holy Ghost and they feel discouraged.
people have sought the Holy Ghost:
- prayed at altars…
- Gone to youth camps…
- Been anointed…
And still have not spoke one word in tongues so now they are self doubting. Not because they don’t believe but because they have been hoping for so long.
For many it has not only become a belief issue but it has become more about personal faith, identity, expectation, and comfortability.
They believe in the Holy Ghost, they just don’t believe that the Holy Ghost is for them, but I came to confront your doubtful mindset. I came to be a living testimony. That if he can take a broken soul, fill him with the Holy Ghost, and call him to pastor…then he can take your empty life and fill it with power from on high!
My God, we still believe in a Ghost in this church. We believe that once you receive this Ghost, your walk changes, your speech changes, your life is empowered. We don’t shove him off in a side room, we welcome him to the main floor and we give him freedom to move.
This ghost that I am talking about comes upon doubters and converts them to believers. Comes upon deniers and turns them into apostles. This Ghost I am talking about brings gifts to edify the body, and fruits to demonstrate the character of Christ alive in your life.
Many try to omit him, some try to forget him. But I choose to submit to him that he may use me for the benefit of the kingdom!
Is there anyone at renovation church today who believes in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost?
That boy is riding that train and he’s talking to that homeless man and when he asks the question :Do you believe in Ghost?” It got real personal. That homeless man spoke like most of the voices in our heads are speaking this morning.
- “is this real?”
- “Is this for me?”
- “Are you sure you aren’t making this up preacher?”
No mam, no sir…this Holy Ghost that I am preaching to you today will take your unbelief and transform it into undeniable belief.
1. Doubt is not always a bad thing.
Some of you just leaned in for that one.
We preach against doubt and we often pair it with fear but doubt is just another word for unbelief. The opposite of faith is not doubt, the opposite of faith is disobedience.
Doubt is the opposite of belief, it is denial.
But an encounter with the Holy Ghost takes faith out of the intellectual realm ( the domain of thought, reasoning, and mental processing) and places it into the experiential realm because it moves beyond information and turns into an encounter.
It’s no longer something that you know about but it becomes something that you have personally experienced.
Intellectual belief says “I know it’s true because I read it, heard it, or was taught about it.”
Experiential belief says “I know it’s true because I experienced it myself..”
Doubt is not always a bad thing, It is a doorway that leads to a personal encounter.
Doubt exposes the gap between what we think and what we believe. That gap creates a spiritual hunger that drives us toward God.
Jesus said “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
No one seeks unless something inside them is unsettled.
Doubt is only bad when it is left unsettled. But when it is followed by a pursuit, it becomes a divine invitation to a deeper revelation.
Thomas doubted the resurrection, but looked what happened. His doubt caused him to stay until Jesus showed up. Jesus didn’t rebuke him harshly, he revealed himself. Thomas ended up declaring one of the most powerful confessions in scripture when he said “My Lord, My God!”
His doubt opened the door to revelation.
In Acts 19, the believers weren’t rejecting the Holy Ghost they were simply left incomplete. Paul came onto the scene and asked the famous question. “Have you believed since you have received?”
Pauls questions was a doorway that led them into Holy Spirit Baptism. Their uncertainty (We have not so much as even heard of a Holy Ghost) was not condemnation, it was an invitation.
Doubt becomes the doorway to receiving.
Doubt is not a dead end - It is a doorway that God uses to lead us into deeper faith, deeper encounters, and deeper revelation.
This boy on the train would have never found a personal belief if his doubt did not force him to pursue truth.
When Paul encountered these believers in Ephesus, their doubt did not prevent them from receiving. It did not disqualify them from the outpouring. It led them to seek clarity, which led to the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Some of you are only Pentecostal because you grew up in it, not because you have had your own personal experience. You have a head knowledge but you lack the heart knowledge. But doubt reveals that what you know is not enough, your spirit is starving for a personal encounter with the Holy Ghost.
If these believers at Ephesus had no doubts, no question, no tension - They never would have sought more of God.
Some of you are living off of yesterday’s out pouring. You can’t even remember the last time you prayed in the spirit. you can’t remember the last time you spoke in tongues. You have developed a spiritual pride that says one encounter is all you need.
“I’m fine, I had an encounter with him years ago; that’s all I need.”
Spiritual pride is the main antagonist when it comes to the Holy Ghost. Since when are we no longer desperate of a move. Since when do we know it all? Since when is there no room for growth?
If your car cannot run off the same tank of Gas for its entire lifetime, what makes you think you can run your race with just one encounter?
When you had doubts, you were desperately seeking. You prayed harder, sought deeper, open your hearts wider…because doubt made you realize hype is not power. Religious tradition is not power. Surface level faith is not power.
Real Holy Ghost baptism comes when you realize the need for God to do in you what you can’t do for yourself.
Doubt empties you and the Holy Ghost fills every void that it left behind.
2. Borrowed Experiences
When asked the question “Do you believe in Ghosts” was asked it ripped a bandaid off of the boys heart and revealed the wound of unbelief.
From that moment forward his entire pursuit was different. He was no longer riding the train to prove that his doubts were correct. He was traveling to prove that his doubts were incorrect.
He did not want to settle for unbelief, he wanted to find a reason to believe. He didn’t want to take his family’s word for it, his sister’s word for, the other kids word’s for it…he wanted his own encounter.
People who grow up Pentecostal hear the tongues, see the gifts, and witness the power; but never really have a personal experience. So they are borrowing experiences from everyone before them. But doubts arise when borrowed experiences are not enough.
Doubt will push you out of an inherited belief into a personal pursuit.
This is exactly what happened to this boy on top of the train. He settled it in his heart that he was not going to settle for someone else’s belief, he wanted his own.
I wish I had some people in the room today who would say preacher I have been saved, but pursuing more! I want MORE!
More of the Fire.
More of the anointing.
More of the gifts.
More of the spirit.
More of the overflow.
3. Are you invested?
I’m not asking if you tithe, give, or volunteer. I am asking if you are invested.
Belief has a cost.
Up until the encounter with the Homeless man on top of the train; the boy was not invested. He was observing - but not believing.
But belief requires:
- Surrender
- Risk
- Trust
There is a currency in the spirit realm when investing in a pursuit of Holy Spirit Baptism. In Matthew Chapter 5 when Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount, he preaches on a. Topic called “The Beatitudes”.
In verse 5 he says “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. Filled with what?
This is a foretelling of the completion of John’s prophecy…for there is one coming who is greater than I whose shoes I am not worthy to latch…I indeed baptize you with water but not many days after he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire.
Some of you are wondering why you have yet to be filled with the Holy Ghost. My question is what are you investing?
A. Hunger is the first investment.
Many never receive this precious baptism because they approach it casually. You will not receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit while maintaining a carnal appetite. Those who receive the Holy Spirit Baptism are those who hunger enough to say:
- I MUST BE FILLED!
- I refuse to live without His power!
- I want everything God has for me.
This boy’s belief did not come until his hunger for truth was awakened. You must cultivate your hunger for the things of the spirit! That is your first investment!
B. Seeking is the second Investment
Jesus spoke three words in Luke 11:9 that we must do in order to receive.
Ask. Seek. Knock.
All of those are action verbs.
How does one seek the Holy Spirit Baptism?
- They pray regularly for the Holy Ghost.
- They stay in the altar while everyone else is going home.
- They lean in instead of fall out.
- They position themselves to receive during worship.
Pentecost did not come to those who were asleep in their houses. It came to those who were seeking in the upper room.
Seeking is showing up with expectation!
C. Waiting is the third Investment
Jesus told the disciples in Luke 24:49 “Tarry until you are endued with POWER”
Tarrying = actively awaiting.
It’s when you lean in and not zone out.
While they were waiting, they were not wasting precious time. During the waiting their hearts were being prepared.
Just like the boy was waiting throughout the journey - the pursuit was part of the transformation.
D. Surrender is the fourth Investment
Many struggle to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit because they try to:
- Analyze the moment.
- Control how it happens.
- “Do it right..”
- Stay in their heads.
Acts 2:4 says “They spoke with other tongues as the spirit gave them the UTTERANCE.”
Tongues are impossible without surrender.
In other words… YOU yield. HE fills.
The boy could not possibly hear the bell until he surrendered his logic. You will never be able to hear the spirit speaking heavenly language unless you let go of doubt and embrace belief.
E. Repentance is the fifth Investment.
Acts 2:38 gives you the pattern of Holy Spirit Baptism. “Repent…and you shall receive the gift.”
Repentance removes the blockages from a persons life that restrict the flow of the Holy Spirit. Blockages like: Bitterness, Unbelief, fear, hidden sin, shame, guilt.
The Holy Ghost fills CLEAN vessels.
This is why many receive immediately after a breakthrough moment of repentance.
A clean heart = a yielded heart.
Conclusion:
On top of the train, in the freezing cold, the boy encounters the homeless man. Questions, doubt, confusion….all are running through his mind and right there on the top of that train is a FIRE…
Fire shows up when belief is being challenged.
(Light candle)
Fire does not exist for drama. It exists for clarity.
Fire does not argue with doubt.
Fire does not debate unbelief.
Fire simply shows up…
The boy doesn’t win an argument on the roof. He experiences warmth in the cold. That warmth draws him forward to belief.
Doubt is not defeated by logic - it’s defeated by encounter.
In Acts 2 we see where it appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of FIRE.
God did not sent a lecture to the upper room …He sent a FIRE.
The fire represents the presence
The fire represents Purification
The fire represents POWER
The fire represents God drawing near.
Now let me finish…
Acts chapter 19. P{all did not ask the Ephesians if they believed. He asked them if they had received.
The boy believed about Christmas…but he needed an experience to remove doubt.
The Holy Ghost is God’s answer to believers who still feel cold, uncertain, or incomplete.
Fire does not replace belief…it completes it.
We are Renovation Church. The church who Prepares, Promotes, and Produces.
Prepare: Fire Refines and readies us for ministry.
Promote: Fire creates boldness and witness (Acts 1:8)
(Light second candle)
Produce: Fire spreads - one flame lights another…
God never intended believers to travel cold…He intended for us to receive the fire so that we can carry warmth to others.
The fire does not represent how loud you shout, how emotional you get, or how others experience God. The Holy Ghost is personal. But all who are filled with the Holy Ghost will speak in Tongues.
If you’ve believed but still feel cold…
If you’ve ridden the train but want more…
If doubt has pushed you to seek…
The fire of the Holy Ghost is God’s gift to you today!
The fire did not prove the journey was real - it warmed the boy enough to keep going.
That’s what the Holy Ghost does.
