Welcome to the quality Christian living podcast.
I am your host David friend today's podcast is
entitled the Holy Spirit and the supernatural
I believe it's going to be a blessing because
the Lord's given me some very special things
to share with you today We're gonna talk about
how people say things like we must leave the
natural and move into the supernatural. What
are they talking about? And what does the supernatural
mean to us? And how can we experience the Holy
Spirit's supernatural power? Is it possible to
live in the supernatural? So there's a lot of
things to cover, and we'll just see how the Lord
takes us through this. But before we get started,
we need to pray. Heavenly Father, I ask your
blessing on this podcast that you would anoint
it, bless it, and that you would guide me through
the whole thing. Pray the Holy Spirit would touch
the lives of those listening in, and as we enter
into the discussion on the Holy Spirit and the
supernatural, I need you to take over, take complete
control of this podcast. I surrender to you.
Bless those that are listening in, and I'll be
careful to give you praise for it. Now, in Jesus'
name I pray. Amen. Now first we need to define
what the word supernatural means. You see, it
is God's divine actions. They are higher than
our natural actions. Matter of fact, I need to
read a scripture right here that talks about
how God's powers and his thoughts are greater
than ours and they're obviously supernatural
over our natural thoughts. I'm going to read
from the book of Isaiah in the New Living Translation,
chapter 55, verses 8 and 9. My thoughts are nothing
like your thoughts, says the Lord, and my ways
are far beyond anything you could imagine. See,
his ways are supernatural. For just as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher
than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your
thoughts." So that kind of lays the groundwork
that there's a difference between our thoughts
and God's thoughts and the supernatural. The
supernatural is above the laws of nature, and
nature is what we struggle with, which we can
refer to it also as our flesh, that robs us from
having that supernatural relationship that we
need with the Holy Spirit. You see, the supernatural,
we read about in the Bible. These are divine
actions of God. They are miracles of healings
or resurrections or the creation power of God
or salvation. And it's so important that we understand
there's a major difference between what we think
and what our thoughts are in relationship to
God's thoughts and the supernatural thoughts
and actions that the Holy Spirit wants to operate
in our lives. need to understand that the Holy
Spirit is the one that brings the supernatural
to us. These supernatural activities, they can
be experienced by followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We read about the supernatural gifts
of the Holy Spirit. And I'm not going to go into
that whole teaching. I've done that before. But
the supernatural gifts are the power gifts of
the Holy Spirit of wisdom and knowledge and healings
and prophecy and tongues and interpretation of
tongues. And it goes on and on. There's so many
wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are
all supernatural. Jesus calming the waters is
supernatural. Jesus healing those in the Bible
where the Word of God tells us that He healed
all the sick and that every kind of disease and
illness was healed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
These are supernatural activities. And they didn't
cease, they didn't stop when Jesus left the earth
and went to be with the Father and left the Holy
Spirit here. No, the gifts can continue and they
are continuing on. I know in my own life I've
experienced miracle healings. I've seen miracle
healings of individuals that the doctors are
just amazed at. And even the doctors that I have,
some of them I've talked to have said that they
don't understand them, they don't know how they
operate, but they've seen miracles of healings
in their practice. You know, it would literally
take hours and hours. to explain and to review
all the supernatural events in the Word of God.
So we're not going to do that because we're going
to try and lay basically a foundation of how
to understand the Holy Spirit and the supernatural.
See, the supernatural is led by the Holy Spirit
in Christians, in followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit wants us to yield to
His supernatural abilities. We can live in the
supernatural. only through the Holy Spirit. You
know, the supernatural is anything from healings
and great miracles to just simply that still,
quiet voice that we hear that tells us to call
someone or to apologize to someone or correct
some actions that we've taken or make decisions
on certain things. Those are just as much supernatural
activities as the great healings and miracles
that we read about. Let me give you some examples
in the scriptures of supernatural power and the
Holy Spirit and how they work together. Let's
start with the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit,
quite frankly, is a supernatural gift from the
Holy Spirit. It's love and joy and peace and
patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness
and faithfulness and self -control. These are
things that are above our natural ability. We
can be in the midst of some really difficult
times but have joy and peace. That's a supernatural
experience. We can be going through some of the
most difficult trials, we can have terrible diagnosis
from the doctor telling us that our sicknesses
are bad, they're terrible, they're even life
-threatening, and yet still be at peace and have
joy in our heart. The gifts of the Spirit that
I've talked about previously a little bit, like
miracles and greater faith and wisdom and tongues
and all those things, are more examples of the
supernatural operating in the lives of Christians.
Examples of divine healing like Jesus raising
Lazarus from the dead. We read about it in chapter
11 of the book of John in the New Living Translation.
Let me read a couple of verses there that I think
would help us understand the working of the Holy
Spirit and how we see the supernatural in operation.
Now in the story of Jesus and Lazarus, remember
that Lazarus was a dear friend of his and Lazarus
was loved by so many people. Well, Jesus was
called upon to come back because Lazarus was
sick and he delayed because he had things to
do. doing ministry, and he wasn't able to leave
right then and run to the aid of the family and
to Lazarus. But when he got there, when he arrived
there, he walked up to Martha. This is recorded
in John chapter 11 verse 24, New Living Translation.
And Jesus basically says to Martha, your brother
will rise again. And she's saying, well, if you'd
have been here sooner, I'm kind of paraphrasing
it, if you'd have been here sooner, he wouldn't
have died. And Jesus just simply says, your brother
will rise again. Verse 24, he says, yes, Martha
said he will rise when everyone else rises at
the last day. And then Jesus in verse 25 says,
no, no, no. He says, I am the resurrection and
the life. Anyone who believes in me will live
even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and
believes in me will never die. Do you believe
this, Martha? I thought that was... Really important
to read that, that do you believe this, Martha?
So do we believe in the miracle power of Jesus,
the resurrection power of Jesus, the supernatural
power of Jesus, and how those supernatural powers
are operated in our lives through the anointing
of the Holy Spirit? So Jesus then called Lazarus
forth and said, Lazarus, come forward. And Lazarus,
they rode the stone back. Lazarus walked out
and he had his barrel cloths on him and they
had to remove all that. and he was up and about
and moving and eating and doing the things that
any living person would do. So this is a great
story of the supernatural, but one where it's
important that we operate and... And understand
when Jesus said to Martha, do you believe this,
Martha? Do we believe this? Let me ask each and
every one of you listening in today, do we all
believe in supernatural power? Do we believe
in healings and miracles? And if we don't believe,
we've got to go to the Word of God. We're going
to need to go to the Holy Spirit and help Him
with our unbelief. And so with that, we can receive
the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit
to take us into the realm of the supernatural,
maybe like we've never experienced. Here's a
couple more scriptures I think that would be
helpful to listen to. Acts chapter 1 verse 8
in the New Living Translation. Listen to this,
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you and you will be my witnesses. Right
there we're hearing from Jesus that the power
of the Holy Spirit will come upon us and anoint
us. That's supernatural power. And then in 1
Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 27 the New Living
Translation says, all are given different gifts
to build up the body of Christ. Once again talking
about the supernatural, being led by the Holy
Spirit. And then in Galatians chapter 3 and verse
5, the New Living Translation, God gives His
Spirit and works miracles among you. Once again,
the connection between the Holy Spirit and miracles
and the supernatural. We read in Romans chapter
8 and verse 9, the New Living Translation, the
Spirit of God lives in you. Now I wanted to read
that one before we move on because it's so important
we understand that when we become the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes
to live and dwell in us. And Paul is telling
the people in Rome about this and explaining
to them that the Spirit of God lives in you.
So we've got to believe that. That may sound
pretty basic to some people, but quite frankly,
we've got to start at the beginning, and that
is to have faith to believe that the Holy Spirit
is living in us. And so the Bible tells us that
greater is he that is in you than he that is
in the world. That's simply referring to the
power of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural power
of the Holy Spirit. So do we believe, like Jesus
told Martha, do you believe? Well, I'm asking
everyone out there, do we believe that we have
living in us the supernatural power of the Holy
Spirit? So I hope that that kind of settles that.
So let's move on to the next part of our podcast
today. Let me just ask a question. What does
the supernatural mean to us? all of us. Is it
possible to live in the supernatural? Well, I
believe that it is because the power of God is
inside of us, living inside of us, dwelling inside
of us, and we can live in the supernatural. What
it means to Christians is to live abundantly,
to live with a joy in their life, to live with
peace. It means living a quality Christian life.
You know, that's the name of this podcast that's
been operating. This one's been operating for,
what, four and a half years now. In the last
year, we've been focusing totally on the Holy
Spirit but quite frankly supernatural living
means that we can live that quality Christian
life that we're talking about so we can live
not just a get -by life or just kind of barely
keep our mind focused on things, but literally
have abundant living and have an overcoming life
and becoming more than conquerors. That's the
life that the Holy Spirit wants to bring to each
and every one of us through His supernatural
powers. Living in the supernatural is living
in the Holy Spirit. We are able to do that based
on what the Bible tells us in 1 John chapter
4, verse 4, New International Version. The one
who is in you, I mentioned this just a moment
ago, but now I'm going to read the specific scripture.
The one who is in you, that's the Holy Spirit,
is greater than the one who is in the world.
So because of that, we are able to live in the
power of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural power.
Now when we start to talk about the supernatural,
the thoughts of great miracles and healings and
resurrection power and Jesus walking on water
and feeding the 5 ,000 with a couple of fish
and a couple of pieces of bread, all those are
things we think about the supernatural and those
are supernatural activities but the supernatural
is also that small still quiet voice of the Holy
Spirit reminding us to call an old friend maybe
to apologize for some past actions that's a supernatural
act or a thought that maybe you need to change
maybe the things that you're doing in your life
or that you should become more active in your
church or use your talents more or even use them
at all in the church. Those are the supernatural
empowerments of the Holy Spirit wanting to work
through each and every follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, this kind of reminds me of
the time several years ago when I was, my wife
and I were praying and thinking about it was
time for me to step down from the church as the
senior pastor and to bring in a younger person
so that we can continue to grow and continue
to attract all ages of people, not just the older
folks that we had, but that we could kind of
turn our church over to someone else. I could
help them or work with them. But it was something
that we prayed pretty heavily about it. And we
needed the Holy Spirit to intervene with us.
So we were praying. And so I was out one day
during this period of time and just going out
doing some errands from the church. And as I
was driving by a coffee shop, I felt the Holy
Spirit. impressed me didn't talk to me in an
audible voice I've never heard an audible voice
of the Holy Spirit but he impressed upon me to
go into this coffee shop and I didn't want to
it was a time of day where I didn't really want
any coffee but I felt a very heavy impression
to go in there so I stopped my car walked in
went in there grabbed a cup of coffee thinking
why am I getting this I don't even really want
this but as I was leaving the store I walked
past a gentleman that I thought think I know
that guy but I walked out the door and just kind
of passed him and All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit
stopped me and said, go back in there and apologize
to this person. You walked past him. Maybe he
saw you and thought that you weren't being kind
to him. And I thought, well, I'm not going to
do that. But then it was very heavy. I mean,
a definite heaviness that was on my heart that
I had to go back in and see who this person was.
So I went back in this place. But I walked right
past him, walked out another door. Then the Holy
Spirit says, get back in there. And I walked
back in again. And I stopped in front of this
fellow. He was sitting there with his laptop
and had his face straight down in his laptop
and his coffee and all this good stuff and wasn't
paying attention to anything around him. And
I leaned over and I said, hi, I think, are you
Pastor Luke? And he put his head up and it was
him, it was Pastor Luke Barnett. And all of a
sudden he looked at me with a surprise and he
said, wow, it's great to see you here. And I
said, well, do you have a second? could we talk
for a second? And so I asked him a question.
I said, I'm thinking of stepping down. This is
not to be announced or anything, but I'm thinking
of doing that. And I'd like to know if you know
of maybe a younger person in ministry that I
could work with, possibly turn the church over
to. And he said, yeah. He said, that would be
me. And I said, you, you've got this huge church
that you have taken over from your dad and that
Phoenix First Assembly at the time, that's what
it was called. He had a great ministry. And I
thought, well, you, I'm sure you're not going
to want to step over and be involved in our church.
He said, no, we've been trying for years to start
an expansion of our churches and have mergers
and merge with other churches. He said matter
of fact a few days ago I was with the family
in New York and we were having dinner and I said
before we eat I'd just like to pray that I get
a chance to meet with Pastor Friend and talk
about his kind of what he's thinking to do in
the church and if there's any way we could work
together on anything and so he was telling him
that and here three days later I run into him
at a coffee shop. Well it was not a run -in to
it was a divine appointment from God. because
we chatted, we started talking about it, and
within a period of 90 days we did a full merger
and brought our two churches together and created
something new called Dream City Church. And Dream
City Church then from there took off and grew
and got new campuses here and there and has continued
to expand. But there was an intervention of the
Holy Spirit, a supernatural intervention of the
Holy Spirit to stop me in what I was doing and
move me in the direction He wanted me to go and
to meet with this pastor that I had known for
years but hadn't seen for years and the Holy
Spirit was there operating in that. Now I gave
you that story, I know it took a little bit of
time, but I gave you that story because I think
it's so important to understand that that's how
the Holy Spirit can work in your life. He can
impress you to call someone or reconnect with
someone or change jobs or change the way you're
living your life or somehow become more active
in your church, whatever it might be, listen
to the still quiet voice of the Holy Spirit.
That is a supernatural movement from God the
Father. Now, the Holy Spirit led me into a supernatural
experience and he can do the same thing for any
one of us. He will do the same to any Christian
providing that that particular Christian surrenders
their will to the leading of the Holy Spirit
and listens to that thought, that impression
of the Holy Spirit. puts upon them. I'm positive
that every single person listening to this podcast
has had opportunities to enter into the spiritual
power or the supernatural actions of the Holy
Spirit. Matter of fact, when you receive Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior, that is a supernatural
movement of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells
us that the only way that we can become a Christian
is if the Holy Spirit moves upon us and convicts
us of our sin and tells us to then submit our
lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that is a
supernatural power and it's happened in every
believer. Now, if you're not a Christian, you've
not given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ,
I need to stop right here. I really believe the
Holy Spirit wants me to stop here because I don't
know who's listening in. I'm sitting here making
these podcasts every week. They literally go
around the world and I don't know who's listening
in, who's a Christian, who isn't. So let me take
a moment. If you're not sure where you're going
to spend eternity, whether heaven is in your
plans, I'm going to ask you to just pray this
prayer with me. Say, Heavenly Father, I need
I need you to forgive me. I've sinned and fallen
short of your glory, so I repent of my sins,
ask you to forgive me, and cleanse me from all
unrighteousness. Today, I accept Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior. I believe that he was
born of the Virgin Mary. I believe that he suffered,
he was crucified, he was resurrected, though,
from the dead, and he now sits at the right hand
of the Father. So on this day, I surrender totally
to the Holy Spirit and to receive Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior, and I promise to serve
you. all my life in Jesus' name. If you prayed
that, you need to find a good church. You need
to get the Word of God out and start reading
it. I would encourage you to do that. Now some
people say, why do you do these altar calls,
these times to give people a chance to receive
Jesus? Well, I don't do them just on my own.
It's not automatic every single podcast, but
there are times that I'm sharing something and
the Holy Spirit then impresses me. That's a supernatural
movement. And to offer the opportunity for people
out there who are listening in, if they're not
sure of their walk with God, if they've never
given their life Jesus Christ. And you'd be surprised
the number of people who listen to this podcast
who've never committed their life to Christ and
who then make that commitment to receive Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior. That is a supernatural
move of the Holy Spirit. So with that... I think
this is a good time to just pray for people in
general to understand, to receive that still
quiet voice of the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father,
for those who are out there today, I know we
all have needs. Some are having financial needs,
some are having physical needs, some have maybe
marital relationship problems, whatever it might
be. I pray in the name of Jesus that you would
now touch them and that the Holy Spirit would
then speak to them and give them guidance, give
them direction. I pray that the Holy Spirit would
comfort them, Father, and give them peace. Pray,
Lord, that the Holy Spirit would work our lives
greater than we've ever experienced before, and
I'll thank you for that in advance and give you
all the praise and glory for it. In Jesus' name
I pray, Amen. Well, I'm going to have to start
wrapping this up, but I've got a few more things
to say. I suggest that we read the supernatural
miracles of Jesus that He performed in the Word
of God. Go back through the Bible. Read the four
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read
it again and look at those miracles and then
read about them. Look at the activities that
took place up to those miracles and after the
miracles and see how the Holy Spirit operated
in these things. You see, the Holy Spirit descended
upon Jesus when John the Baptist baptized Him
and that initiated His ministry, His absolute
full -blown ministry here on earth and that power
of the Holy Spirit who was living in him and
so when Jesus left he says it's best that I leave
because if I don't leave you won't have the Holy
Spirit working with you but if I leave then the
comforter that I'm sending to you from the Father
will come to you to live in you to dwell in you
to give you peace give you guidance give you
direction give you strength and lead your life
if you'll yield to him so this is what we need
to do we need to read the supernatural experiences
of the Apostles how John wrote the book of Revelation,
and how the Apostle Paul, who was anti -Christians,
he hated them, he was killing them, he had no
use for them, and yet while he was on the road
to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and said,
why are you condemning me? Why are you attacking
me? And Paul fell over, lost his sight, and the
power of God just overwhelmed him. That was through
the operation of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was there,
but the Holy Spirit's the one that went to Paul
and convicted him of his need to receive Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. And look what Paul
did in his life. We look at how the Holy Spirit
helped King David when he ran into sin. And he
knew that he had to confess his sins. And he
says, Dear God, I've sinned against you. And
he says, Create in me a new heart and restore
unto me the joy of my salvation. So the Holy
Spirit was moving upon King David when he was
in the midst of his sin and helped him to come
out of that and reestablish his walk with God.
So just take a moment now to to think about the
supernatural Holy Spirit and the experience that
you've had in your life with Him. Obviously,
if you're a Christian, you know Jesus Christ
is your Lord and Savior, then you have had a
supernatural experience there. And I know there's
times when that still quiet voice tells you to
do something. Have you ever been, you know, maybe
doing something, being very busy, then all of
a sudden a thought comes to mind, I need to call
this person and talk to them, or I need to, when
I get home, talk to my wife or my husband or
my kids or something. share something with them.
I truly believe that for followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ that is a supernatural movement
or a still quiet voice of the Holy Spirit giving
us guidance and direction. When those things
happen don't take them lightly. I can tell you
there's been times that the Holy Spirit's told
me to pray for someone and I wound up praying
for that person for five, ten, fifteen, twenty
years every day on my prayer list. Their name
is on there to lift them up and pray for them
and I don't know why I'm even doing it but I
just know that I'm supposed to and then all of
a sudden I'll run into that person and I'll find
out that they were going through difficult times
or that their healing had not taken place and
maybe a challenge that they had in their life
or a physical one or emotional one or wherever
it might be and then I'll see that it's been
lifted because of the power of the Holy Spirit
so when those things happen and you're you feel
that you should pray for someone please write
it down and pray for them and keep praying until
the Holy Spirit tells you you're done you don't
have to continue praying and you can move on
all right well I hope that this has been a blessing
to you I've thoroughly enjoyed it I want to talk
a little bit about the upcoming podcast after
this one, if the Holy Spirit leads us this way,
but I believe the topic is going to be the Holy
Spirit full and being full of faith. It's about
the life of Stephen, a man who was known as a
servant of God. He served other people and he
was known as a man full... of faith and the Spirit
of God. And we're going to talk about his life
and how we can have that same experience to walk
in that power and leading of the Holy Spirit.
So I hope that you will let your friends know,
that people know about the next podcast coming
up, that we're going to have an opportunity to
talk about how we can live a full life and filled
with faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.
So we'll get into that through the life of Stephen.
It's a great story and one that I thoroughly
enjoyed speaking about and listening to. people
preach on. So with that I would like to tell
you a little bit of how you can learn more about
the Quality Christian Living podcast that we
have. This podcast has been going on now for
four and a half years. We've done about 375 podcasts
now and so we've covered a lot of topics. If
you'd like to know more about Quality Christian
Living I'd like to go to my webpage davidcfriendauthor
.com and when you get there the front page will
pop up and there'll be a link on the very front
page showing a link to podcasts. If you If you
want to click that link on, it'll take you to
all 370 -some podcasts and we'll show you the
various topics. We have series there dealing
with how to have greater faith. We have series
there talking about how to receive miracles.
A series on there how to be debt -free and to
live a debt -free life. To understand the joy
of being generous of our finances and our talents
and our abilities. We talk about the gifts of
the Spirit, the power gifts and the fruit of
the Spirit. There's just on and on and on various
topics. They usually run. anywhere from 10 to
15 or 20 podcasts in a series. This is a particularly
major change in our teaching here on Quality
Christian Living and that is that we've been
in on one topic, the Holy Spirit, now for a year.
And quite frankly, I don't really have any thoughts
of changing that and that we're going to continue.
probably got another 30 or 40 podcasts with topics
and titles and scriptures that I believe the
Lord has given me in order to continue to teach
on the Holy Spirit. So let people know that we're
in this very long series on the Holy Spirit and
that we'll continue there until the Holy Spirit
tells me to do otherwise through that still quiet
voice. So I hope that's been a blessing to you.
If you'd like to subscribe to my podcast, you
can do that by going to cpnshows .com or wherever
you listen to your podcast. So I hope that these
have been a blessing to you I I was amazed the
other day when I was talking to somebody then
they told me how many thousands of people are
listening on a daily basis and and and how many
countries that this has gone around now that
has nothing to do with me Absolutely, nothing
that is the power of the Holy Spirit at work
I would have never even thought about doing a
podcast unless the Holy Spirit gave me the idea
as a matter of fact when I stepped down as the
full -time senior pastor of the church I was
thinking well, you know I'll have time to do
this and do that and whatever. Well, the Holy
Spirit has filled me up with the podcasts that
we do, the number of books that I've written.
When you're looking at my web page, you can scroll
down a little farther and you'll see a number
of books that I've written on the topics that
I've talked about, generosity, finances, the
gifts of the Spirit, miracles and faith. Those
are all topics that are there. I had no idea
that the Lord had all this intended for me. And
so now it's been nearly 10 years since we've
stepped down from the time service ministry that
we had as a senior pastor and now my wife and
I are heading up the congregational care ministries
at the church. I have a lot of activity with
the veterans in our church and business people
and my wife is involved heavily with the widow
ladies in the church. So I'm telling you the
Holy Spirit is sitting there ready to expand
our horizon and bring new things and new thoughts
and new dreams and new activities into our life.
So yield to Him, surrender to Him and heal one
of you and has a great plan to bless your life.
Well, I'm going to close this up now because
I don't want to just keep rambling on here. I'm
going to thank you first of all for listening.
And if you enjoyed this episode, just take a
moment to rate and review the podcast. It certainly
is a blessing to us. You can leave a review on
Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music or Charisma Podcast
Network or just simply give us a star rating
on Spotify. However you choose to do that, we
certainly appreciate it, would love you to do
that. So I'm going to close with a blessing for
you. I pray, may the Lord Bless you and keep
you. May his face shine upon you. May he be gracious
to you and give you peace. May you prosper and
be in good health even as your soul prospers.
So until next time, I pray that God will richly
bless you and the power, supernatural power of
the Holy Spirit will become more and more evident
in our lives. Blessings to you and your family.
Thank you once again for listening to Quality
Christian Living. I've been your host, David
Friend. May the Lord bless you.