But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and
to the ends of the earth. So what happens when
the Holy Spirit comes upon them? They get changed.
Right. They're going to be witnesses. What happens
to their mouth? It takes off. Yeah. When God
touches your spirit, it comes out your mouth.
God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit
on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring,
where we contend for that promise outpouring,
we equip for that outpouring. so that we may
engage in that very outpouring. I'm Philip Buss.
And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today.
We're so glad that you're with us. We are going
to give you a peek into our devotional time today
and how the Lord led us and what he's talking
about in our spirits, what he's encouraging us
with is what happens to your mouth when you're
filled with the Holy Spirit. You might be surprised
at where this is going to go. Thank you so much
for joining us today. We're just delighted that
you're with us. It's going to be a very exciting
discussion that we're going to have and looking
through Scripture, comparing Scripture with Scripture.
But before we get started, we want to encourage
you, if you haven't already done so, to go to
our website, globaloutpouring .net. Make sure
that you're on our email list so that we can
stay in touch with you. We want to make sure
that we have good communications with you. And
we want to also encourage you, if you haven't
already made plans to come to the Global Outpouring
Convention 2026. It's going to be in St. Louis,
Missouri at the Hilton Hotel by the airport.
And it's going to be a glorious time, a time
for you to go deeper in God. Are you hungry for
God? Is that why you're listening to this podcast?
Is it because you are getting fed and you like
the meaty word of God? Well, you'll get. a huge
dose of it at the convention, and an opportunity
to meet other people that are of like precious
faith. We have just an amazing array of speakers
that'll be with us, Tony Kemp and Dean Braxton,
Anna Werner. Claire McQueen and I will be speaking
there, and it's just going to be an opportunity
to worship with people from the nations, get
connected with people from the nations, and just
get a heart for the outpouring, get a special
dose of more of God. So it's going to be glorious,
and we encourage you to come. So this morning,
in our devotions time, you know, we're recording
this just before Christmas. to be broadcast,
to be streamed. What do you call it? To be posted
the next week, just before New Year's. And we
were just continuing in our studies about Christmas
and about, you know, this is a time when we remember
the birth of Jesus. So we wanted to go back to
the book of Luke once again. And we found a thread,
a thread that was running through It's a very
long chapter. If you haven't read it recently,
it's over 80 verses. And there are several stories
within it. And what we saw when we were reading
this time, and I love the fact that you can read
the same scripture time after time after time
after time. You could still get more. You get
something new. Yeah. So we saw something new
about the different ones that were filled with
the Holy Spirit during... this chapter. It starts
with Zacharias in the temple, and how he has
a visit from Gabriel, and he's not believing
what Gabriel says, and Gabriel says, okay. No,
what he was asking was, give me a sign. Give
me a sign. Okay. He says, okay, here's your sign.
You're going to be silent. It's time for you
to be quiet. He was more merciful to Mary. Yes.
Well, I think Mary was asking a different question.
Mary was asking, How could this be? How can this
be? Like, I don't understand. Zacharias was asking
for a sign. Oh, okay. So, you know, it's kind
of like, we've got some serious unbelief here.
And for Mary, it was like, I don't understand.
How does this work? How can I have a baby when
I haven't had any relationship with a man? And
she's engaged, but nothing's happened sexually
there. Okay. So the thing that stood out to us
was Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
When she heard Mary greet her, you know, I'm
sure Mary came to the door and said, Shalom.
Yeah. Shalom, Elizabeth. And in that moment,
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit
in her womb. Yes. Because that was prophesied.
That's what Gabriel said was going to happen.
But he couldn't talk, but he leaped. Yeah. It
could be that he went kind of glove, glove or
something. Glove, glove. I don't know if babies
can make sounds in the womb or not. He leaped.
He moved. She felt him doing calisthenics or
something in her womb. I remember when I was
expecting our daughter, and there was an occasion
where I fell into the lake. And we were boating.
I won't go into all the details. I think we've
told that story before. But I fell in, and I'm
looking up at the bottom of the boat and thinking,
Philip doesn't swim well, and I can swim. I don't
want him jumping in. I better get up to the surface
so that he knows I'm okay. So, you know, I said,
thrash, thrash, thrash, get up to the top. And
I said, I'm okay. And then people came running
and pulled me up onto the dock, and I felt our
daughter thrashing. I mean, she experienced my
adrenaline. And so, you know, a baby threshing
in your womb, you know that there's something
serious going on. And she was more than six months
at that point. She had dreams for a while of
drowning. Yeah, she did. She did. We prayed,
but we had some serious issues with that one.
Anyway, the point is that a baby in the womb
can react to circumstances. And that's what happened
with John. That's the point. The point is that
John reacted. John received the Holy Spirit in
that moment when Jesus in the womb showed up
at his house. So, you know, there was already
interaction between these cousins in the womb.
Wireless. Yes, wireless. Absolutely. Yeah, there
was an atmosphere of the presence of God that
had come on Mary. So she was filled with the
Holy Spirit, I would say. Yeah, the Holy Spirit's
living in her. Yeah, the Holy Spirit in the flesh,
fathered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was in her
womb. And so there was an infilling there. Just
to go back to where Elizabeth was filled, Luke
1. 41 to 45 from the ESV says, and when Elizabeth
heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in
her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry. So
here's what happened when she was filled with
the Holy Spirit. What happened with her mouth?
Well, she exclaimed, blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why
is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord
should come to me? For behold, when the sound
of your greeting came to my ears. The baby in
my womb leaped for joy, and blessed is she who
believed that there would be a fulfillment of
that which was spoken to her from the Lord. Wow.
So she's prophesying. So she gets filled with
the Holy Spirit, and boom, out of her mouth comes
prophecy. How did she know? How did she know
that it was Mary? Well, she probably recognized
Mary's voice. Yeah. But to be able to say, blessed
is the fruit of your womb, Blessed are you among
women, the mother of my Lord. I mean, how would
she know that? Except I just came on spontaneous.
Right, because the Holy Spirit came upon her.
She was filled with the Holy Spirit. So you made
the comment this morning when we were studying
this, that the first person to be filled with
the Holy Spirit in the New Testament was Elizabeth.
And she prophesied. She prophesied, yeah. That's
pretty good, you know. Yeah, it wasn't on the
Temple Mount, no. No. It wasn't Jerusalem. I
think the name of the town that is the traditional
place that Elizabeth and Zacharias lived was
Ankarim, which is a suburb of Jerusalem. The
priests didn't necessarily live in Jerusalem,
but he was close by, Zacharias, I mean. So anyway,
so Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit, and
in this exchange. You know, they're both being
moved by the Holy Spirit in that moment. They're
prophesying to each other, kind of. And Mary
responds with, oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
This is from the New Living Translation. How
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he took
notice of his lowly servant girl. And from now
on, all generations will call me blessed. For
the mighty one is holy. And he has done great
things for me. He shows mercy. from generation
to generation to all who fear him. His mighty
arm has done tremendous things. He has scattered
the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down
princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.
You know, she could have been seeing in the spirit
to what was going to be going on in the heavenlies
as Jesus overcame the... Powers of darkness,
right? Yeah. He has brought down princes from
their thrones and exalted the humble. He has
filled the hungry with good things and sent the
rich away with empty hands. So it's like the
servant of the boat. Yeah. Yeah. He has helped
his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.
For he made this promise to our ancestors, to
Abraham and his children forever. Yeah. Doesn't
change. Doesn't change. You know, God didn't
throw away the Jewish people. He didn't throw
away Israel. Just get that out of your head.
If you've been taught that, it's not true. So
after John the Baptist is born, then comes Zacharias'
turn to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He was
quiet for all those nine months. This was in
the midst of people. Yes. So we're still in Luke
chapter 1, verses 57 to 79 tells this part of
the story. Now the time had come for Elizabeth.
to give birth, and she had a son. Then her neighbors
and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her
great mercy, and they rejoiced with her. When
they came to circumcise the child on the eighth
day, they were going to name him Zechariah after
his father. But his mother responded, no, he
will be called John. Then they said to her, none
of your relatives has that name. So they motioned
to his father to find out what he wanted him
to be called. Now, it's interesting to me He
was not able to speak, but it doesn't mean that
he was deaf. So I don't know why they were motioning
to him. They couldn't just ask him. So he asked
for a writing tablet and wrote, his name is John.
And they were all amazed. Immediately his mouth
was opened and his tongue set free and he began
to speak, praising God. Fear came on all those
who lived around them and all these things were
being talked about throughout the hill country
of Judea. All who heard about it took it to heart,
saying, What then will this child become? For
indeed the Lord's hand was with him. Then his
father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit
and prophesied. Okay, so here's what happens
to his mouth when he gets filled with the Holy
Spirit. He prophesies. Blessed is the Lord, the
God of Israel, because he has visited and provided
redemption for his people. He has raised up a
horn of salvation for us in the house of his
servant David, just as he spoke by the mouth
of his holy prophets in ancient times. Pause
there for just a second. Think about Mary came
when Elizabeth was in her sixth month, and Zacharias
would have been home. He would have been there,
okay? Yeah, because his course didn't start yet.
So when she's retelling the story of what happened
when Gabriel appeared to her, I mean, his eyes
must have gotten wide because he saw the same
angel. Ooh, yeah, Gabriel. Yeah, he saw Gabriel.
Gabriel gave this message to him. So it's like,
oh, this is bigger than I thought. So going on,
he prophesied. He's raised up a horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David, just
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets
in ancient times. Salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of those who hate us. He has
dealt mercifully with our ancestors and remembered
his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father
Abraham to grant that we, having been rescued
from the hand of our enemies, would serve him
without fear in holiness and righteousness in
his presence all our days. And you, child, will
be called a prophet of the Most High, for you
will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation through
the forgiveness of their sins. Because of our
God's merciful compassion, the dawn from on high
will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness
and the shadow of death to guide our feet in
the way of peace. Wow. That's huge. That's huge.
That's huge. He was speaking as a prophet of
the Lord in that moment in his home or wherever
it was that they were circumcising John the Baptist.
I don't know whether that was done. At the temple?
Probably not the temple, but probably the local
synagogue. It kind of sounds like the people
came to their house to do it. Okay, yeah. So
this is the beginnings of the New Testament.
But there are numerous times in the Old Testament
where it talks about how the Holy Spirit came
upon people or filled them and what was the result.
Okay, let's look at what happened to their mouths.
So in Numbers 11, 24 to 29, we've got the 70
elders in the wilderness. Remember, God was merciful
to Moses and used Moses' father -in -law. To
say, look, this is too much for you. You shouldn't
be sitting with everybody all day working out
their little problems when you can have somebody
else, other people, pick this up. And God instructed
him to choose out 70 elders. Can you imagine
how many billion people out there coming to your
door when there's a problem? So it says, Numbers
11, 24 to 29. Moses went out and told the people
the words of the Lord. He brought 70 men from
the elders of the people and had them stand around
the tent. Then the Lord, Yehovah, I'll add that
because it's capital L, capital O, capital R,
capital D. Then Yehovah descended in the cloud
and spoke to him. He took some of the spirit
who was on Moses and placed the spirit on the
70 elders. As the spirit rested on them, they
prophesied. But they never did it again. But
they never did it again. Isn't that interesting?
It was a spontaneous thing. Yeah, it just came
on them to show, okay, God is saying, you've
got the goods, you've got the qualifications
to stand in this position and take care of the
needs of the people. If you get a tough thing
that you can't handle, then take it to Moses
was the instruction. But here is a taste. of
what happens when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
They only did it once, but they did it, okay?
And then, it's interesting, in the next verse
it says, two men had remained in the camp, one
named Eldad and the other Medad. The Spirit rested
on them. They were among those listed. In other
words, they were called to the tent, but they
didn't go. Interesting. So they were part of
the body of 70. That's good. But really there
were only 68 that showed up at the tent. You
know, many revivals, you know, it's not just
what's going in the church. People out in the
parking lot and other places can get hit with
the Holy Spirit even though they're not in the
building. Exactly. It happens. And it's because
Eldad and Medad were called, even though they
didn't show up, they were called, they had that
same calling on them to be part of the 70. And
so when it came down on the other 68 by the tent,
they got it wherever they were. Yeah. And they
prophesied. So they prophesied in the camp. And
then a young man ran and reported to Moses, Eldad
and Medad are prophesying in the camp. Joshua,
son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth,
responded, Moses, my Lord, stop them. But Moses
asked him, are you jealous on my account? If
only all the Lord's people were prophets and
the Lord would place his spirit on them. They
wouldn't have all the problems they have. Yeah,
exactly. And that's why we have opportunities
as we can become filled with the Holy Spirit.
The point of what God is doing in the New Testament
times from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
on the day of Pentecost, the point is that the
Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. And work on
us. Work on us, yeah. And work in us and work
the character of Christ in us. And just uses
us even when we need it. Yes, exactly. So here's
another situation. When the first king was being
appointed, right? Saul. Saul, okay. Which wasn't
really part of the plan, but that's what the
people wanted. Give us a king. Right. Give us
a king. Give us a king. King to reign over us.
Right. Because we want to be like everybody else.
Wow. So in 1 Samuel 10, verse 1 says, Samuel
took the flask of oil, poured it on Saul's head,
kissed him and said, Hasn't the Lord anointed
you ruler over his inheritance? And then he goes
on and tells him a bunch of details about. What
he's going to do. Yeah. Here's what he's going
to do. Here's where he's going to go. You're
going to meet these people. They're going to
give you bread. They're going to prophesy. And
then you're going to meet these people with harps
and tambourines and flutes. And then you're going
to prophesy with them. So verse five says, after
that, you will come to Gibeah of God, where there
are Philistine garrisons. When you arrive at
the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming
down from the high place prophesying. They will
be preceded by harps, tambourines, flutes, and
lyres. The Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of Yehovah,
will come powerfully on you, and you will prophesy
with them, and you will be transformed. There's
your opportunity. That's what happens when the
Holy Spirit hits you. Yeah, you can be transformed.
Transformed, yeah. But you've got to let him
stay there and work on you. Yeah, not just a
one -time thing. Right, just like those 70 elders.
They had it once. So it was a sign that they
were okay to do their job, but it wasn't an indwelling
spirit, right? Verse 10, when Saul and his servant
arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him.
Then the spirit of God came powerfully on him
and he prophesied along with them. Everyone who
knew him previously and saw him prophesy with
the prophets asked each other, what has happened
to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?
So was he among the prophets? It looked like
it at that moment. He had the gift, and it looked
like it was in operation. Right. But we know
that a spirit came on him, and he would— He was
over jealousy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was jealous
of David. When they were singing the song, Saul
killed his thousands and David his ten thousands.
Right. That didn't go over good. No. No, he was
insecure. Yeah. And he was insecure from the
beginning. He really didn't have it in his head
that he wanted to be king. Yeah, because they
had to flee when it was time to do it. He was
hiding. Yeah. He was an unwilling king. Then
later on, you know, David is playing his harp
for him, you know, because this evil spirit had
come on him. And it says, Saul sought to pin
David against the wall with the spear, but he
eluded Saul so that he struck the spear into
the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch
him, that he might kill him in the morning. But
Michal, David's wife, who was Saul's daughter,
told him, if you do not escape with your life
tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed. So Michal,
some people call her Michael, so Michal let David
down through the window, and he fled away and
escaped. Michal took an image and laid it on
the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair at its
head and covered it with the clothes. Now, what
was she doing with an image? Could have been
a bust of David. That wouldn't come until years
later. I suppose not. Michelangelo hadn't been
born yet. So anyway, we won't go down that bunny
trail, but that's just an interesting thought.
And when Saul sent messengers to take David,
she said, he's sick. Then Saul sent the messengers
to see David saying, bring him up to me in the
bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers
came in, behold, the image was in the bed with
the pillow of goat's hair at its head. Saul said
to Michal, why have you deceived me thus and
let my enemy go so he has escaped? And Michal
answered Saul, he said to me, let me go. Why
should I kill you? Now David fled and escaped,
and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all
that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel
went and lived at Naoth. That was a safe place.
Yeah. It was Samuel. And it was told Saul, Behold,
David is at Naoth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers
to take David. And when they saw the company
of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as
head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the
messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
So what happened to their mouths? The Holy Spirit
took over. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Probably just
this one time. Yep. Could be. When it was told
Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also
prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the
third time, and they also prophesied. So because
they've prophesied, in other words, because the
Holy Spirit came on them and they began to speak
the oracles of God, they were not able to do
the bidding of the king because the king of kings
gave them different orders. Yes. Hallelujah.
So then he himself went to Ramah and came to
the great well that is in Siku. And he asked,
where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold,
they are at Naoth and Ramah. And he went there
to Naoth and Ramah, and the Spirit of God came
upon him also. And as he went, he prophesied
until he came to Naoth at Ramah. And he too stripped
off his clothes, and he too prophesied before
Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that
night. Talk about being humbled. Yeah, I guess.
Thus it is said, Is Saul also among the prophets?
So that happened twice. That the Spirit of God
came on Saul in spite of his flesh. So let's
just pause and think for just a second. Because
sometimes, as we get filled with the Holy Spirit,
we can prophesy. But if we don't let the Spirit
of God work in us to deal with our flesh, we're
not going to present the character of Christ
that... He's designed us to walk in. That indwelling
Holy Spirit is there to bring us into a deeper
place with him, into a place of walking in the
light as he is in the light, so that we can have
fellowship one with another. Too many times our
fellowship gets broken because we might be able
to prophesy when the Spirit of God is moving.
But when we go home from church or wherever it
is that we've been prophesying, when we go home,
if we can't treat our spouse correctly, if we
can't treat our children according to the Word
of God with loving correction, okay, it's important
to have discipline, but it's important to speak
the truth in love and all of those kind of things.
be visitors in this place of the moving of God,
the moving of his Holy Spirit. I don't want to
just be a visitor. I want to live there. I want
him to have continuous access to my spirit, soul,
and body so that he can do anything he wants
to do anytime. I remember our founder, Sister
Gwen Shaw. She was amazing in the Spirit of God.
Like the Holy Spirit would just come over her
and she would prophesy. She had a tremendous
gift of prophecy. And she would prophesy things
in the moment. It's not like she needed to have
a, what was that scripture in the Old Testament?
I think it was Elisha said, send for a minstrel.
Yeah, send for a minstrel. And the minstrel plays
and the anointing comes and then you can prophesy,
right? Yeah. A lot of people can prophesy when
the anointing is there. But the anointing would
come on Sister Gwen and she would just prophesy
at the kitchen table. She'd prophesy in the living
room. She would prophesy in the office. She would
prophesy. Or in the bathroom. Anywhere. Anywhere.
Anywhere she was, the Holy Ghost would come on
her. Yeah. And she would start to prophesy. And
she was very accurate. Very, very accurate. I
mean, she prophesied things like the Berlin Wall
coming down, and it came down, right? She prophesied
that Ariel Sharon would be the next prime minister,
and he was, you know, back in that time. She
was just amazing. And she prophesied Pastor Zapata
into Spain, and God used him just like she prophesied.
And Carlos Anacondia. Yes, yes. She prophesied
over him. Argentina. Yeah. She prophesied into
his life. So it's about walking with the Lord
and having a continuous relationship going where
he can just stop us at any second and get past
our flesh and into the Spirit in just a moment.
So there's these situations where people will
get into that anointing place and they can prophesy.
If they're not walking with him all the time,
it might not just happen all the time. Yeah,
that's good. That's well put. And I think that's
probably what happened to the 70 elders. They
had enough of righteousness in them to do the
right thing, but they didn't have enough presence.
They didn't walk with him up to that time. I
mean, these people had been slaves in Egypt,
right? A lot of baggage. Probably so. A lot of
anger. Could be. A lot of hurt. Could be. But,
you know, they did have enough wisdom from the
Lord. When God took that spirit from, off of
Moses, it's like, I'm picturing it this way.
Okay. I'm not saying this is what happened, but
here's how I'm picturing it. That God put one
hand on Moses and then one by one, bam, bam,
bam, bam, bam, put it on the other 70 and transferred
something. Yeah. Okay. That he had given to Moses.
It all came from him. He probably didn't actually
do that. I'm just saying this is how I'm picturing
it in this moment. So anyway, there were other
people that the Spirit of the Lord came upon,
like in the book of Judges. It says that the
Spirit of the Lord or the Spirit of Yehovah came
upon Othniel, came upon Gideon, Jephthah, Samson.
And there's like three different words in the
Hebrew that are used here. And I won't go deeply
into this, but when the Spirit came on Gideon.
And he blew the trumpet and drew the Israelites
to battle. It says that the Spirit of the Lord
clothed him. That's beautiful. Isn't that an
amazing expression? Kind of like cuckoo. Yeah,
yeah. So it's like the Spirit just came around
him. And when he blew the trumpet, something
happened. So that's what happened to his mouth.
Okay, it's not like he prophesied, but the Spirit
of God came upon him and his mouth blew the trumpet.
It was probably a shofar. Yeah, went through
the shofar. And everybody heard it somehow and
gathered to the battle. And then there's Othniel,
when the Spirit of the Lord came on him. It was
like the Spirit happened to him. The Spirit came
on him. And he judged. OK, he judged Israel.
He went to war and the land had rest for 40 years.
40 years. I mean, that's a big deal because of
the spirit of God came upon him. But it wasn't
like he prophesied, but he was able to judge.
OK, so he was speaking. There was something that
came out of his mouth for him to be able to speak,
for him to be able to go to war and lead people
into war and deal with the enemies. And then
there's Jephthah, and he subdued his enemies
also. And then there's another expression for
Samson. When the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, it's like the Spirit came mightily upon
him. Mightily, wow. Yeah, and we talked about
this the last time we mentioned Samson, that
people who have seen him in heaven or have been
taken there to see him in action, you know, like
the Holy Spirit can take you there to see. almost
like time travel, but not time travel. It's just
being transferred in the spirit to be able to
see it happen. And they say that he was just
an ordinary guy. He was not some big muscle man
like we picture him. We picture him, yeah. Yeah,
like all the cartoons picture him as this muscular
guy. But no, he was just an ordinary guy. And
that's why you could really tell that it was
the spirit of the Lord that did it. And then
we have... Here's a case of someone who is not
a righteous person, and that's Balaam. Oh, my.
Okay, so in the book of Numbers, you have this
story about the king of Moab, and some of the
other kings were hiring him to come and curse.
Yeah, curse Israel. Right? And at first he says,
I think he had a dream, and the Lord said, don't
you go with them. So he told them no. When the
messengers came, he said, nope, can't do it.
And it's because, okay, now he was a seer, he
was a prophet, but he was not a prophet of the
Lord. He was a prophet that was connected to
his own gods, but he had a gift that originated
from the Lord. But his understanding, as I'm
seeing it, okay, don't start a doctrine about
it, but as I see it, it was, he recognized that.
He had to acknowledge the God of the people he
was being sent to curse. And that he had to operate
under their God in order to speak what needed
to be spoken. And so the second time they came
to him, the Lord said, okay, you can go with
them, but only say what I tell you to say. So
this is when he's on the donkey, right? And the
donkey sees this angel of the Lord. And she pushed
against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against
the wall. So he struck her and struck her again.
This is the second time that angel of the Lord
went ahead and stood in a narrow place where
there was no way to turn either to the right
or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel
of the Lord, she laid down under Balaam. Balaam's
anger was kindled and set and he struck the donkey
with his staff. Then the Lord, Yehovah. open
the mouth of the donkey. So here's a case of
the donkey prophesying, okay? And she said to
Balaam, what have I done to you that you've struck
me these three times? And Balaam said to the
donkey, now that's funny that he's talking back.
Because you've made a fool of me, I wish I had
a sword in my hand for I would kill you. And
the donkey said to Balaam, am I not your donkey
on which you have ridden all your life long to
this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?
And he said, no. What version is this? What version
is this? That's the ESV, English Standard Version.
So then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam. Now,
he was a seer, but he hadn't seen this bit. Yeah.
The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam. Yehovah opened
the eyes of Balaam. And he saw the angel of Yehovah
standing in the way with his sword drawn in his
hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face.
And the angel of Yehovah said to him, Why have
you struck your donkey these three times? Behold,
I have come out to oppose you because your way
is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and
turned aside before me these three times. If
she had not turned aside for me, surely just
now, I would have killed you and let her live.
So that's Numbers 22, 25 to 33. And in the end,
he could not curse Israel. Yeah, he tried and
tried and tried. But he knew for his own life's
sake that he better speak only what he heard
and saw. And so he did. And of course, Balak
wasn't very happy or the Amalekites, whoever
they were with. But then, you know, being evil
hearted, really, he told them how to get to Israel
to get them to sin. See, as long as God could
see them as righteous and obedient, then they
were protected. But if he could get them to sin,
then that's when he had the Moabite women go
in and get the young men enticed and et cetera,
et cetera, and to worship their idols with them
and participate in illicit things, illicit sex
and so on. Then it would remove the hand of God
from them until Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,
the son of Aaron, the priest. came and dealt
with that one, one of the sons of Israel, brought
unto his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight
of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel, who were weeping before
the tabernacle of the congregation. When Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest,
saw it, he rose up from among the congregation
and took a javelin in his hand and went after
the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both
of them through. That stopped the plague. That
stopped the plague. The sin brought a plague.
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, that was the way that
Balaam taught them the back door into bringing
a curse on Israel because sexual immorality is
going to bring a curse. So Balaam actually spoke
rightly from the Lord. And, yeah, he also spoke
badly. And I don't think we're going to meet
him in heaven. I really don't think so. It could
be that he repented, but I kind of doubt it since
he was mentioned in the book of Revelation as
well. But, you know, this is a situation where
someone very unlikely gets anointed to speak
something anointed and to prophesy something
anointed. Now, this morning, we were quite surprised
to find out a story. Well, let me back up and
just say this. We've been invited to do a special
number for the Christmas Eve service at our little
church, Methodist Church in Jasper, Arkansas.
And so, you know, we were kind of praying into
what song should we do. And I said, honey, you
need to do the Oh Holy Night. Because everybody
just loves that. And they love him singing it.
So we're working on that one. So I thought, you
know, let's find out the story behind this song.
And we were ever so surprised to find out what
the story is. Because it's another one of those
unlikely, very, very unlikely things that...
It's like Silent Night, the organ was broken,
so they used a guitar. Exactly, exactly. You
know, a special song was written for the moment,
right? For the moment. So back in the 1840s,
I think it was 1847, there was a little French
village, and the priest asked this local poet,
would you write a poem for the Christmas Eve
Mass? He agreed to do it. But the thing was that
he was not a godly man. He was an atheist, according
to this story, and even a socialist. It's not
the picture of someone you would think writing
a worship song. Right. But he took on the job,
and he was kind of excited about it. So I guess
he decided that the best thing to do is go back
to the book of Luke and read. So he went where
we went today, and he read the story, and he
got anointed to write a poem. Okay? He got anointed
for it. And he was so pleased with how it turned
out that he said, you know, this shouldn't be
just a poem. This could be a song. And he reached
out to a friend of his who was a composer. And
he was Jewish. And he was Jewish. And so the
composer wrote this beautiful tune that we all
have come to love, O Holy Night, right? And they
sang it, yeah, I guess they sang it for the Christmas
Eve Mass, and everybody loved it. And then when
the word got out of the fact that An atheist
and a Jewish man were involved in writing this
thing. It was actually banned for a while in
the church. But the people were still singing
it at home. And that's not where the story ends.
This is a multilayered story. There's a legend
that even during World War I, when the French
and the Germans were fighting each other on the
battlefield, that... On Christmas Eve. There
was a truce. On Christmas Eve. I remember reading
this a couple of times in some articles. So there
was a truce that was started by a Frenchman standing
up and singing this song. And then a German stood
up and sang, you know, some German Christmas
carol. And they sang back and forth to each other
these Christmas carols and just stopped shooting
for Christmas. And then they went back to their
war. But it started with that one anointed song.
And then, I guess actually it would have been
shortly after it was written, there was an abolitionist
in 1855. John Sullivan Dwight translated it into
English. And so the words that we currently have
are from his translation. Here's some pieces
from the original poem. Midnight, Christians,
is the solemn hour. When God as man descended
unto us to erase the stain of original sin and
to end the wrath of his Father, the entire world
thrills with hope on this night that gives it
a Savior. People, kneel down, await your deliverance.
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer. Christmas,
Christmas, here is the Redeemer. The Redeemer
has broken every bond. The earth is free and
heaven is open. He sees a brother where there
was only a slave. Love unites those that iron
had chained. Wow. So you have this abolitionist
in America that reads this, and obviously he...
could understand French and translated his version
of it. And it talks about the slave being our
brother. Because at that time, it was just before
the Civil War. It was just before the Civil War.
And so you have that flavor of how this became
loved in America as well, but particularly in
the North, because I don't think they were singing
it in the South. At least not that verse. At
least not that verse. So the story goes on. that
in 1906, there was a man named Reginald Fessenden,
that on Christmas Eve, this young man was a 33
-year -old university professor and former chief
chemist for Thomas Edison. He did something that
everyone thought was impossible. He had created
a new type of generator, and he connected a microphone
to the wireless system. for telegraph. Okay.
Like for Morse code, how they would send Morse
code. Right. So, you know, telegraph, everything
was sent. Yeah. And I don't know what I just
said because I don't know Morse code. I only
know SOS. Anyway, he connected this microphone.
And on Christmas Eve of 1906, he started up.
his microphone and his new little generator,
and he read the Christmas story from the Book
of Luke. And it came to pass in those days that
they went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that
all the world should be text. So he reads this,
and everybody who is connected at that point,
listening to the telegraph, is for the first
time hearing a radio transmission. It's the very
first radio transmission in history. And they're
hearing it on Christmas Eve. The first thing
was the word of God talking about Jesus coming.
And then he picked up his violin and he played
O Holy Night. Wow. There's an anointing on that
song. My point is that God can put an anointing
on unlikely people to bring forth the word of
the Lord. Remember how Caiaphas. spoke, because
he was the high priest, because of his office,
God anointed him to say, it's better for one
man to die than that the whole nation should
perish. Right. Okay. So it's not that he was
personally such an anointed man. No, he wasn't.
But he was standing in God's anointed office.
And these people, this atheist and this Jewish
man who probably at that point, had not connected
with Jesus. I'm trusting that he did before his
days were over, and I'm trusting that the other
man did too, that he had an encounter with Jesus.
But, you know, the point is that God can take
these unlikely people and use them in a way that
you just wouldn't expect because they weren't
walking in righteousness. But God used them and
anointed them to bring forth something that would
be life -changing for people, that would cause
people to turn their eyes on Jesus at Christmastime.
Hallelujah. So it's one of those unusual stories,
right? Yes. We have the promise that was made
in the Old Testament from Joel 2 .28, and it
shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour
out my Spirit on all flesh. See, that was a case
of all flesh. All flesh. Those guys were all
flesh types, okay? That's good, yes. They weren't
your typical—it's like Saul. Saul got in the
right place at the right time, and he's prophesying.
And it wasn't his kind of flesh thing to do,
but his flesh came under the Holy Spirit. Yes.
And so God pours out his spirit on all flesh.
We say that every time we start a podcast. And
then in Isaiah 44, 3, it says, For I will pour
water on him who is thirsty and floods on the
dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants
and my blessing on your offspring. And Ezekiel
39, 29 says, I will not hide my face from them
anymore, for I shall have poured out my spirit
on the house of Israel, says the Lord God. And
then we have Acts chapter 1. Jesus has been on
the earth for his ministry, and he's been pouring
into his disciples. He has died. He has come
back from the dead, and he's about to ascend
into heaven. And in Acts chapter 1, verses 4
and 5, it says, And while staying with them,
he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for the promise of the Father, which
he said, You heard from me for John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now. And then
in verse 8 it says, But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Okay. Yes. So what happens when the Holy Spirit
comes upon them? Wow. They get changed. Right.
They're going to be witnesses. Witnesses. What
happens to their mouth? It takes off. Yeah. Their
mouths begin to prophesy. Their mouths begin
to speak. This comes out of their spirit. Yes.
Yeah. When God touches your spirit. Right. Wow.
Yeah. When God touches your spirit, it comes
out your mouth. Yeah. So in Acts chapter 2, then
the day of Pentecost comes. And the Holy Ghost
comes upon them and they begin to speak with
other tongues and declare the mighty works of
God. And all these different languages are hearing
the voice of the Lord. They're hearing these
disciples talking about the wonderful works of
God in their languages. Whether they're speaking
their language or whether they're hearing it
doesn't matter. They got the message. They're
in that position of the presence of God where
he's being poured out. And they're saying, now
what do we do? So in Acts chapter 2 and verse
37, it says, When they heard this, they were
pierced thoroughly, they were agitated in their
heart, and they said unto Peter and to the rest
of the disciples, Men and brethren, what should
we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ, for the remission of sins. And you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise
is unto you and to your children and all that
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God
shall call. It's for you, listener. It's for
you. It's for you and for your children and even
for as many as are far off. All the people that
you can think of that are far off from God, it's
for them too. And as we contend in the Spirit,
as we believe God and we ask God to forgive the
sins and we remit the sins of those who have
hurt us, we remit the sins of those who are misbehaving
in the earth. asking God to bring repentance
to them. God is going to do something. He's going
to pour out his spirit on all flesh. Jesus said
in John 7, there was this occasion in verse 37,
it says, on the last and most important day of
the feast, the festival, Jesus stood up and cried
out. Now, this was the Feast of Tabernacles.
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
drink. The one who believes in me, as the scripture
has said, will have streams of living water flowing
from deep within him. He said this about the
spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going
to receive the spirit for the spirit had not
yet been given because Jesus had not yet been
glorified. So it's for you and it's for me. Yes.
And it's for us to walk in continuously. And
when we make a mistake, we just repent. Yeah.
Okay. So it's for all of us. And I just want
to encourage you as you're listening to this,
whether you have been filled with the Holy Spirit
previously or not, whatever your experience has
been, God wants to do a fresh infilling to you
today. I remember hearing the testimony of one
of our listeners, and I hope you're listening
again. He was on his way to work. Yeah. A man
from Indonesia. He was on his way to work, and
he was listening to one of our episodes where
we were talking about being filled with the Holy
Spirit. It was on a scooter. Or a motorcycle.
Or a motorcycle, rather. And he was on his way,
and he's riding his motorcycle. He's in traffic.
And as we prayed for the people that were listening
to be filled with the Holy Spirit, he received
and began speaking in tongues for the first time
in his life. When the Holy Spirit comes upon
you, something's going to happen in your mouth.
Something's going to happen, yeah. Something's
going to happen in your life. Maybe God's going
to empower you in ways that you haven't been
empowered before. And one of the things that
happened in the book of Acts, when there were
threatenings of things to be done against the
disciples, they went and they prayed and they
asked God for boldness. So boldness can be a
thing that happens to your mouth, that all of
a sudden you speak boldly about things that you
might not have spoken boldly about before. And
God is going to anoint you and bring you into
a new place. So let's pray so that you can have
a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit right here,
right now, to go farther and deeper and greater
than anything that's ever happened to you before.
Father, we just reach out to you and we're asking
you, Lord, to pour your anointing on the people
who are listening. Pour your anointing on those
that they're going to share it with and they're
going to listen. Lord, we're asking you. for
an outpouring of your spirit right now on every
single listener that they will be filled in a
new way, in a fresh way, whether it's speaking
in tongues for the first time or the first time
in a long time or whether they're going to start
to prophesy or whether they're going to start
to speak boldly and be witnesses into all Judea
and to the nations of the world. Lord, we're
just declaring the power of your Holy Spirit
to come upon each and every one who's listening
right now in Jesus' name. name, receive it. And
we receive it too in Jesus name. Thank you, Father.
Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. We thank
you. We give you glory. We give you honor. You
are so awesome, Father. Pour out your spirit.
Give us your heart for the outpouring, Lord,
that we can go farther and greater and deeper
with you, that you can have your way in us. every
way, forming your character in us and prophesying
and bringing forth your glory in healing, in
miracles, in ways that are going to give you
glory beyond anything we've ever even heard of
before. In Jesus' name, amen. If you enjoyed
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You can also browse our web store for life -changing
anointed books. Until next time, this is Sharon
Boss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with
his overwhelming loving presence.