October 20, 2024 SERMON

Holy Spirit Fall on Us                                                                  
Acts 10:34-48

Take God's Word and find the tenth chapter of the book of Acts. We are continuing speaking under the theme: "That Old-Time Religion."

Let me give you the background for our passage of Scripture. Cornelius was a Gentile. Up until this time, the Gentiles had not been added to the Church of Jesus Christ. All of those early believers were Jews.

Cornelius was a Roman army officer. He's from Italy—garrisoned there in Palestine. He has a hunger to know God, and God had supernaturally gotten this Roman army officer and the Apostle Peter together. Cornelius wants to know about the Lord, so he comes to Peter; it’s sort of a blind date that God has arranged.

Cornelius has gotten all of his friends, his neighbors, and his relatives, and he comes and sits down in front of Simon Peter and says, "All right, here we are. Tell us about God. We want to know about the faith. We want to know how to be saved. We want to know how to be certain. Tell us."

That's where we're going to begin reading our Scripture; Acts chapter 10 verse 34-48

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you couldn’t think of anything else?     

Verse: 44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them, which heard the word.

I want to draw your attention to one word in this verse (fell) that word captured my attention.

While Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit falls.

Studying this week, I could not get past this verse.

They eagerly expected the power of God. They wanted to know more about God.

What do we expect?                                                                 

More of the same?

The people who experienced the power of God in Acts were people who expected something more.

The result was not more of the same – everything changed radically. They were kicked out of churches!

If we really want the power of the Holy Spirit, our lives may look radically different. Our way of thinking could be changed.

When we desire change, it is not the church that needs to change; it is us that needs to change.

Someone asked, “How much of God do we have?”  

My answer, As much as we want!   

Do you think God is rationing His power?

Experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit will take more than showing up on Sunday; the Holy Spirit does not have work hours that begin on Sunday at 11 AM.

If we really want the Holy Ghost to fall on us it doesn’t start in the church, it starts in the “upper room.” It starts at home.

What we are doing all week long will determine a lot of what happens on Sunday. The instructions most always say Some Assembly Required! There is work to do on our part.

Feed Yourself: 1 Corinthians. 3:2 I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn’t handle anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

We all need discipleship, but after a year or two, we should be able to feed ourselves.

If we are not experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit all week, why do we expect it at church on Sunday?

Some people will worship if you sing the right song, or say the right thing, but we should not base our response to God, or desire for God, on how “good” we think the service is.

I have felt the power of God in this place so strongly I could barely stand, but my desire for Him all week long determines what I experience here.

So, if all you want this morning is a blessing this is not the message for you, this is only for those who want God to take over, to consume them.

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them, which heard the word.

The Holy Ghost fell on all of them, which heard the word.

First of all, it tells me that what is happening is the work of the Holy Spirit.

It tells me that the Holy Ghost is the initiator.

It doesn’t say they jumped up and grabbed it, or they reached out and took hold of the Holy Ghost, It says (The Holy Ghost fell on them.)

That word “fell” means, to fall upon, rush or press upon, come suddenly upon, to come forcibly, to seize or take possession of. One definition even says: to strike, to hit.

In other words: The Holy Ghost came in an undeniable, indisputable manner; it was a tangible, heavy, manifestation of the power of God.

They were visibly and physically affected, (They felt it, and anyone present could see the effects of the Spirit upon them)

As I read this scripture my mind went to other places in the Bible where the power of God fell.

1 Chronicles 21:26 David made an altar to the Lord and called upon the Lord and God answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

2 Chronicles 7:1 Solomon had made a great sacrifice to the Lord, When he had made an end of praying the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.

These were also undeniable indisputable, irrefutable visible tangible manifestations of the power of God.

Then the one that really stands out was when Elijah squared off with Ahab and the false prophets of Baal upon Mt. Carmel.

The false prophets and the true prophet the Man of God Elijah came to an agreement.

They would both build an altar and offer a sacrifice but put no fire under it, and they would call on their respective gods, and the God that answered by fire He would be recognized as the one true God.

The story goes that the false prophets built their altar and laid the sacrifice on the altar and called upon Baal from morning till noon with no answer.

Elijah began to mock them, and they became violent and went into a frenzy and began to jump on the altar and cut themselves until the blood gushed out upon them.

They continued from noon till the evening sacrifice.

Then Elijah took over. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down, he put the wood in order and put the sacrifice on the wood, then he had them pour 12 barrels of water on the sacrifice (then he prayed, a short prayer.)

And the Bible says: The fire of the Lord “fell” and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord He is the God, The Lord He is the God.

The fact is: What happened upon that mountain was so powerful and so undeniable that it turned a nation back to God.

They experienced a visible tangible manifestation of the power of God. They had a God Encounter

The Fire of God: The Power of God fell upon that Mountain on that Altar and that Sacrifice.

Then my mind went to Acts 2:1-4:

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Fire of God Fell on David’s altar and burnt offerings.
The Fire of God fell on Solomon’s offering and sacrifices.
The Holy Ghost Fire of God, The power of God fell on Mt. Carmel.
The Holy Ghost Fire fell on the day of Pentecost.
The Holy Ghost fell on the gentiles in Cornelius house.

In every case old and New Testament: It was a visible tangible, undeniable manifestation of the Power of God.

What really concerns me today is: we are raising and have raised a generation of Christians who have never had a God encounter.

They have never experienced a tangible undeniable manifestation of the power of God.

They know God in theory, they know God religiously, they know God mentally, intellectually, they know about God, but they have never had a Mt. Carmel, Day of Pentecost, House of Cornelius encounter with the Fire of God falling on them.

They have never had a burning bush experience.

They have never experienced the power of the Holy Ghost seizing their soul, their spirit; they have never experienced the supernatural fire of God burning in their hands and their feet.

So many people in this generation today the fire of God is just a concept, it’s just an idea.

But I’m here to tell you; the fire of God is not just a concept or an idea or theory or philosophy to be studied.

It’s not the figment of an overactive imagination. It’s not just religious ramblings.

The fire of God is the Mighty Holy Ghost, He is the third person of the Godhead, He is God.

He is the same fire that fell on Mt. Carmel, the same fire that fell on the day of Pentecost, the same fire that fell in Cornelius’ House.

The Fire of God is real and tangible, the Fire of God is Alive, the Fire of God is Contagious, the Fire of God is the might and Power of God.

The Power of God is the only power that can heal. (doctors can cut out diseased parts, but doctors can’t heal).

Doctors can administer radiation and chemo but even then, the body suffers from their harmful side affects. But the fire of God can burn cancer out of your body and never leave a trace, or a scar and any harmful side affects.

The fire of God can burn drugs out of your system and take the desire all at the same time.
The fire of God can restore missing body parts.
The fire of God can deliver from alcohol, pornography, lust, perversion.
The fire of God will burn up jealousy, pride, criticism, bitterness, and unforgiveness.
The fire of God will heal your broken heart; it will restore joy and peace.
The fire of God will heal marriages.
The fire of God will heal your mind.

My prayer is: God do it again, Let the fire fall.

That same fire that fell on the day of Pentecost and that same fire that fell on the gentiles in Cornelius house.

Do it again, let it fall on us, come suddenly, come forcibly, come powerfully, rush in on us, seize us, take possession of us.

We’re not satisfied just to read about it and sing about it (we want to experience it for ourselves).

Jesus said: Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.

He said: Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.

This power again is not a theory or a concept: This power is the same power that caused the sun and moon to stand still; it’s the same power that divided the red sea, caused water to flow out of a rock like a river.

It’s the same power that made the three Hebrew children fireproof. That gave Daniel’s lions lock jaw. That shook Paul and Silas’s prison off its foundations.

This is the same power that was upon Jesus’ life: That opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears, made the lame to walk and the dumb to talk.

This is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

It is this same Fire, this same Anointing, this same Power, that God wants to send on our life right now.

He fell on all of them that heard the word; He wants to fall on every person that is hearing this word.

The word made a way for the fire

.

God wants to fall on our life with a tangible undeniable, irrefutable, indisputable manifestation of the fire and power of the Holy Ghost.

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.

Matthew 7:7 Ask and ye shall receive, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door shall be opened unto you.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Hunger will draw the anointing; Hunger will open the door for the manifestation of the Power of God

Am I talking to anybody who is hungry for the presence and the power of God?

Am I talking to anyone who wants the reality of the tangible manifestation of the anointing and the power of God?

Am I talking to anybody who is not satisfied with religion and tradition? Not satisfied with concepts and theories and philosophies?

Am I talking to anyone who wants the power of Pentecost in your life?

The great Apostle of Faith (Smith Wigglesworth) said: “Every Soul touched by Pentecost should be a live wire.”

I believe there are some hungry and thirsty people right now, who refuse to be satisfied or pacified with anything less than a personal encounter with the true fire of God.

I’m praying somebody is going to catch on fire today; somebody is going to get hit by the power of God this morning.

The power of God is going to seize your life, take hold on your life and set your life on fire.

Our God is a consuming Fire; which means there is a consuming Anointing in this house right now.

Just as the fire of God fell on Mt. Carmel and consumed everything, the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dirt and the water in the trench, so also is the consuming fire of God falling on your life.

I feel an anointing falling in this house, I feel the fire of God falling in this house, Yes, the God we serve still answers by fire, wherever there is an altar, wherever there is a sacrifice, wherever there is prevailing prayer, wherever there are hungry hearts, wherever there is a desperation for Him.

The God who answers by fire is here right now to save you, to heal you, To deliver you, To heal your broken heart, He is here to revive you, put His fire back in you, He is here to give you a fresh anointing, To set your heart, and your life on fire.

Lift your hands and ask Him to fall on you (ask Him to send the fire.) Fire of God: Fall on us, Fall on our hearts, our lives, fall on our ministries, fall on our visions and dreams, fall on our attitudes, fall on our families, fall on our finances, fall on our minds, fall on our bodies.

Consume us: Burn up dead religion, burn up carnality, burn up dead traditions, burn up everything that is not of you and set us on fire.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen!