I GOT THE POWER | Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. We are concluding a series that we've been in about the power of the Holy Spirit, teaching us how to live in freedom. Make sure you open your Bible right now and turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 1. We're going to jump into the scriptures to learn and grow and encounter God's love in just a moment. But I want to say thank you to everybody that gives to and through Zoe Church. If you'd like to give today, go to our website, click the top right bar. It will drop down the give option, hit give, and it will lead you on how and where to give today. Thank you for your generosity, and thank you for your obedience to the plan of God for your life. Let's jump in to Acts chapter 1, verse number 4, for a message we've called today, I Got the Power. Let's jump in.

0:53 Acts chapter 1, verse number 4. I'm going to read some scriptures, and then I'll give you context in what we're talking about today. Let me read a few verses, and then I'll bring some context to your life. Acts chapter 1, verse 4. And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time let the cowboys be good again? No. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. I want to preach a message today. Write down the title. It's called I Got the Power. And we are concluding today. We've been talking for the last four Sundays about freedom. We've been in this theme, this thought that there's a lot of people that know God but are not free. And we've been studying this. If you missed out, I want you to go back and listen to these messages because it is the heart and the will of God for you to be free.

2:34 Somebody say amen. And so this is the climactic conclusion. And at the end of this service today, anybody that would like to receive prayer, our prayer team is going to come up front. And if you'd like prayer today, we're going to pray for people at the end of the service because we are finishing today also, not just our series, but today is the end of 21 days of prayer and fasting.

3:00 Come on, clap for everybody that did the fast. And I don't know what you fasted, but I will be, if you want to join me at about 930 tonight, I will be at the Marina del Rey Bacio del Latte getting three scoops of gelato because man, have I missed ice cream. But we're going to, we always at the end of our fast, we always pray for people to be anointed for what God has for you next. I'm just convinced God's got a bigger plan than you do. I'm just convinced God's got better stuff for you than you got for yourself. Anybody believe it today? So we'll pray at the end. We're talking about, we are studying freedom. And I just want to tell you today, we're concluding with what I think is an essential. You cannot live the life of freedom tapping into your own strength in order for you to stay free.

4:00 I'm saying it every Sunday. Freedom is three things. It is received, it is learned, and it is what? Fafor. You fight to stay free. The only way you can stay free is through the power of the Holy Ghost. And so I believe it's an essential for your life. It's funny to me that in church, things that God calls essential, we think are optional. things that God is like, you got to do this. You got to have this. We're like, I don't know. It's kind of an option. Think about what he's saying here. This is Jesus before he's back. He's about to go back to the father. And he says to these guys, guys, before you go out, you must first receive. And he says, you may not leave this city until you are endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit. Then you can go out and be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and the uttermost parts. He said, you shall receive. I like that word power there. In the Greek, it is translated to the word dunamite. It's dynamite. In other words, you cannot be free in your own strength, but you can be free in the strength that comes from God.

5:21 You need some dynamite. Now, I don't know where you grew up. I'm from the state of Washington. I don't know if you grew up, anybody, you grew up setting off fireworks on the 4th of July. Let me just see your hand. Setting off fireworks. I grew up in a state, we set off fireworks. I know if you're from LA, this is a hard concept, but we grew up setting off fireworks. This last 4th of July, I was in Missouri for the 4th of July, and the church I was preaching at gave us a gift basket of fireworks. Like in Missouri, they don't have laws. They don't have... COVID never happened in Missouri. And my kids, my 8, 10, and 12-year-old boys have a gift basket of fireworks. This is better than Christmas morning. And so we took them out to a field, 4th of July night, and they never been in the grass. They never been in grass before. And so they're out there in the grass. And my 10-year-old, my 10-year-old was born a pyromaniac for the Lord, and he loves fire. And so he's out there, he's pointing Roman candles at us. He's in heaven. And they gave him these firecrackers, you know, where you can set it off, and then all of a sudden, it's not one firecracker that goes off. It's a whole, this is a whole thing. This guy, I've never seen a look like this on my kid's face. He went somewhere.

6:43 but watch what the Bible says. It says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and then you can go out and live in freedom, but most of us don't stay free because you never tap into the power. You think that power is optional rather than being essential. It is impossible to live for Jesus without the power of the Holy Ghost. Oh, come on, everybody. Clap and thank God today. Why are you treated as an op? You need oxygen to live. You need wind to sail. You need a foundation to build. You need water to live. You cannot live for Jesus without the power of the Holy Spirit. He says, you're not going to go out and do anything for me. You're not going to go out and live in freedom until you receive this dynamite.

7:42 And then when you receive the dynamite, you'll have a shot at overcoming your personal obstacles, whether they be addiction, whether they be forgiveness, whether they be lust or greed or comparison. It doesn't matter what it is. When the power of the Holy Spirit is in you, you have a shot at overcoming any chain that the enemy would bring in your life. And so let me say it to you this way. I'm going to give you two things to write down today, and we're going to pray. Write down point number one today. The Holy Spirit is in me for me.

8:16 I love this. The Holy Spirit is in me for me. It's like having your own personalized pastor. The Holy Spirit is in me for me. Now, listen to this. Jesus keeps saying to the guys, Guys, I'm just telling you, it's to your advantage that I go away. He says things like this. Guys, something better than me is coming. If I was one of the disciples, I would have looked at Jesus and been like, Jesus, you walk on water. You turn water into wine. You heal deaf, lame, mute, and dead people. How could something better than you be on the way? He is talking about the Holy Spirit. He's saying it's going to be so much better. Right now, I am one man at one place at one time. But when the Spirit of God comes on this earth, he will now live on the inside of you. And this pastor will guide you and lead you and teach you.

9:15 The greatest pastor in the world is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in you for you. And the Holy Spirit leads you into truth. The Holy Spirit teaches you how to live. The Holy Spirit guides you. The Holy Spirit comforts you. He is a personal. I don't know what it is, but I don't buy bags. I collect them, I guess. But through the years of preaching, for whatever reason, a lot of churches I've gone to, they give me these bags with my name on it. So I'm just telling you right now, I got bags in my closet. Some say CV. That's for Chad Veach.

9:56 Some say CCV. middle name Charles. Some just say my last name. Some say Chad. If I wanted to, I could wear a different bag every day. And they're all personalized to me. The Holy Spirit is custom fit for your life, for what you're facing, what you're going through, the season that you're in, the obstacle. Come on, clap if you're thankful. He's in me for me. oh watch Romans chapter 8 verse 13 for if you live if you live according to the flesh you will die but if you live according to the spirit you will put to death the deeds of the body and then you will live oh how about this John 14 verse 26 but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name he will teach you all things and he'll bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. How about chapter 16? Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict you of sin and righteousness and of judgment.

11:07 Now how about verse 13? However, when the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you all things to come. He will glorify me and he will not take of what is mine and he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Last one, chapter 15, verse 26. When the advocate comes, whom I send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. The Holy Spirit never makes much of himself. The Holy Spirit lives to point you to Jesus. Have you ever had a friend or you ever been in a conversation and the person somehow turns everything and makes it about themselves? You tell a story, they're like, you think that's good. You wait till my story. Oh, that's what you did? You wait to hear what I did.

12:11 The Holy Spirit never makes things about himself. The Holy Spirit always points you to Jesus. In fact, put up this list that the Holy Spirit does. Watch this. The Holy Spirit teaches me, reminds me, guides me, comforts me, convicts me, empowers me, strengthens me, helps me pray, transforms my life, produces fruit in me, gives me, assures me, leads me, gives me life, reveals Jesus to me. Is there anybody thankful today that you've got your own personal pastor? Oh, come on, clap louder if you're grateful for the power of the Holy Spirit. He's guiding you, comforting you, convicting you, leading you, reminding you, empowering you, helping you. I'm telling you, you cannot live for Jesus without the Holy Spirit. It is not an option. It is an essential. And do you know how many times the Holy Spirit has spoken something to me for me? I'm just telling you, all throughout my Christian journey, Holy Spirit, he's told me what not to do at times, but I'll tell you the times he told me what to do at times.

13:20 I'll never forget, I was 16 years old. I was at a worship, I was at a youth camp, and we were worshiping the Lord, and we were just youth worshiping God. And I'll never forget, the Lord spoke to me and said, for where I'm taking you, I want you to learn how to play piano. I said, Lord, I don't play piano. He said, I know, that's why I said learn. I went home, I told my father, he got me a keyboard. I'd sit in my room late at night. I learned how to play piano. Little did I know that would be the rest of my life, learning how to play church music. One time I was asleep on a plane. You know, you don't fall asleep on a plane in the middle of the flight. You fall asleep during takeoff. And I was asleep on a plane and the Lord woke me up for where I'm taking you. I want you to pick up golf. I haven't played golf in about a decade. I said, Lord, what? He said, I want you to go get fitted for clubs. Go learn golf again. I'm telling you right now, we would not have this building if I didn't obey the Holy Spirit. Go pick up golf and the things that would happen thereafter.

14:23 Come on, clap if you believe. The Holy Spirit is in you for you. He's leading you. He's showing you. He's showing the Holy Spirit told me when it was time to move to LA. The Holy Spirit told me when it was time to do everything in my life. I am dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow morning, you ought to wake up and you ought to say, good morning, Holy Spirit. You are my guide. You are my shepherd. You are my leader. I am surrendered to you, Holy Spirit. You know what LA needs? LA needs a spirit-filled, spirit-led church of people that would obey the spirit of the living. Come on, clap if that's your prayer today. And the Holy Spirit has told me what not to do. I can't tell you how many times the Holy Spirit said, no, don't be friends with these people. No, no, no, no, you're not talking like, I can't tell you how many times the Holy Spirit says, hey, hey, we don't talk like that.

15:20 Holy Spirit, just quicken my spirit. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We don't post like that. Can't tell you how many times the Holy Spirit said, uh-uh, change the channel. No, no, we don't watch that. No, don't get quiet on me now. Half the dudes are like, okay. You know how many times the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, no, no, no, no, we don't go to Rancho Cucamonga. We ain't going out there. Ain't nothing out there for you.

15:54 the Holy Spirit is in me for me. He is in me for me. Because I'll tell you what, have you recognized yet? You are a knucklehead. I am a knucklehead. How about you? I need the Holy Ghost. Anybody else? I don't pretend like, oh, you know, it's an option if you like it, if you're into spirits and stuff. No, I'm telling you, it is an essential for my everyday life. I need the Holy Spirit. I need the Holy Spirit. I need the Holy Spirit to comfort me because I'm going through hard times. I need the Holy Spirit to convict me of any compromise. I need the Holy Spirit to guide me into truth. I need the Holy Spirit to remind me of the call of God on my life. I need the Holy Spirit to make much of Jesus, so I'll live for Jesus. I'm dependent upon the Holy Spirit today. How about your life?

16:56 So the first thing I want to tell you today is the Holy Spirit is in me for me. Because ain't nobody wants you to win more than God. Nobody's rooting for you louder than Jesus. Nobody's for you more than God is. God's got a plan for your life. God's got a future in store. God's got a vision for where he's taking you. Anybody thankful today that God's taking your life somewhere? He's leading you into the future of your life. He knows where he's taking you. By the way, the only thing green that God leads you into is green pastures. We just finished 21 days of prayer and fasting, and there are some people in our church that felt led by God to fast coffee. That is not the Lord.

17:52 That is a wicked, divisive, foul, evil spirit. There are some people in our church that drink matcha. If it's green in a cup, it's not God. He leads you into green pastures. Just kidding. Don't clip that. the Holy Spirit's in me for me. Thank God I got the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's just every day. He's just nudging me. He's just making me sense something. He's using people. He's using the word. He's using community. The Holy Spirit's going, no, no, no. We're not going back to these chains. We're not going back to our old life. We're not going back to those old ways. No, no, no. We're on the straight and the narrow. We are on the path that leads to righteousness. We are in the plan and the will of God for our life. The Holy Spirit is in me for me.

18:55 Write down number two. The Holy Spirit is on me for others. He's on me for service. He's on me for other people. I said this a lot of times during the series. Again, if you missed the series, Go back and listen. But freedom is not for freedom. God did not set you free so you can just be free. He set you free for three reasons. For worship, relationship, and mission. He set you free so you can worship. Night of worship coming up, September 10th. He set you free for worship. He set you free to be in relationship with God. And he set you free to live on purpose, on mission for God. He says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, dynamite, Fourth of July, dynamite on you. And then you'll go out with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts that come from the Holy Spirit, it's the only time in your life that you receive a gift that's not for you.

19:56 Christmas morning, that's for you. From the Holy Spirit, that's for others. That's for service. That's for mission. Oh, I love this. Read with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Watch what the Bible teaches us. In verse number seven, a spiritual gift is given to each of us. Let me just emphasize that. It is not for the super Christian. Church is so funny because usually the people that present themselves as super Christian are number one, super weird. and number two, always trying to convince us that they're better than they are.

20:37 It did not say you gotta be a super believer to get the gift. It said if you're a believer, you get the gift. Now, a spiritual gift is given to each of us so that we can help each other. To one person, the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice. To another, the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same spirit gives great faith to one another and to someone else, the one spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the performing of miracles to another, the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the spirit of God or whether it's from a different spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in an unknown language while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. it is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. This is, I mean, to me, this is as good as it gets.

21:43 The Holy Spirit looks at us and goes, yes, you would be so good with this gift, and we're going to give her this gift, and we need Him to have that gift, and we need to have this person have this gift. Why does he give different gifts? So that we depend upon each other. So we need each other. And I'll tell you, Zoe Church, if this is your home church, we need you to have the power of the Holy Spirit. And we need you to operate in your spiritual gift to edify and build up the church of Jesus Christ. So he's in me for me. He is on me for others. Let me say it this way. The Holy Spirit is in me to form Jesus in me. He is on me so that Jesus flows from me. I'm just telling you, you ain't living the right life unless the Spirit of God is forming Christ in you, and the spirit of Christ is flowing straight out of you.

22:44 That's when life gets fun. That's when Jesus gets real. When it's not just I'm using the Holy Spirit. Look at me. I've got these gifts. I've got a personal pastor. I've got the Holy Ghost. Look at how great I am. No, the spirit of God is on me because he's anointed me to help those that have been in bondage and been in depression and been in suicide and been in addiction and been in, come on, clap today. Spirit of the living God is on my life so I can do something with my life for the glory of a great. Come on, y'all help him. Give him a shout of praise today.

23:21 And most people, most people never get free. Most people never live in freedom because they think it's about me getting a personal pastor. And what do you have for me? And everything's about me. No, I'm telling you, freedom is for worship, relationship, and purpose. Mission. and I'm just telling you, it doesn't get fun until you receive these gifts and you're like, oh man, Lord, what can you do? What could God do through you?

23:47 Did you know that on the other side of your freedom, there could be like a thousand people that get saved? On the other side of your freedom. And so I go to the Holy Spirit who decides and I go, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, one says, eagerly desire all the gifts. So I know that there are gifts. I want all of them, but you choose.

24:11 You ever go through the buffet line? and they put someone there to serve you, I don't want nobody there serving me. We at the buffet. Why are you there? Because they never do it right. I'm going through my tray. I'm like, yeah, I want some. And they give you too little?

24:34 Oh, thanks. Could you do like another scoop? I like being in control. being a christian is going to the holy spirit and say whatever you want to put on my plate whatever you want to give me i stopped living for me and i started living for you i've been set free so that i could worship be in relationship and live on purpose for god and i'm just believing for your life that you won't hunger for your old life you won't thirst after the things that destroyed you. You won't have a craving for the stuff that left you in shame and in bondage and in brokenness, but you'll get a greater hunger for the things above and the things from God. Oh, come on, somebody thank the Lord today.

25:27 If you're thankful for grace, worship team, come join me. This is how we get free. This is how we live in freedom. I get a personalized pastor that is in me for me. I get the spirit of God. By the way, all throughout the Bible, the Spirit of God came on people. The Spirit of God came upon Gideon. The Spirit of God came upon Saul. The Spirit of God came upon David. The Spirit of God came upon Samson. I want to prophesy the Spirit of God is coming upon Zoe. The Spirit of the living God is on our life. Come on, clap if you believe it. Spirit of God came upon the disciples. And when you got the Holy Spirit, I'm just telling you, church stopped being a Sunday thing, and God started to talk to you Monday through Saturday. God starts just messing with your schedule Monday through Saturday. You better be careful what you pray for, because if you ask the Holy Spirit to take over your life, it will mess with how you order at a restaurant. It will mess with how you show up at a cafe.

26:29 It will mess with your gym time. All of a sudden, God's going to start talking to you about people that you're working out next to. God's going to give you wisdom for your friend that needs a phone call. God's going to give you the ability to lay hands on the sick and watch them be healed. God's going to give you the ability to have faith, to stand for something that's impossible without the love of God. be careful what you ask for freedom most people don't want freedom because it's scary i'd rather just stay in this old chain i'd rather just stay in this familiarity i'd rather just stay in this brokenness it might be toxic it might be damaging but it's familiar to follow jesus is to Say, I don't know what's going to happen today, but here I am, your servant. Use me as you see fit.

27:22 So fun the other day, we took our family to the Dodger game. we had so much fun at the Dodger game and we were walking out, we're leaving towards the end. Because you know, when you become old, you leave in the eighth inning.

27:43 Ain't nobody standing until the end. We got bedtimes. We're leaving the game and we went with Julia's parents and we're leaving the game and this bigger dude kind of disheveled and distraught holding a big old beer. Like, my God, that's a big beer. Is that like a Slurpee beer? he walks up to my father-in-law and he's like hey man are you a pastor you know my father-in-law loved it he's like well yes i am He goes, man, will you pray for me? my father goes yeah absolutely do you go to church he goes no he goes this is my son-in-law he's got a church you should go to it it's called zoe he said let me pray for you right there start praying for this guy holding a beer in a dodger stadium but he's telling you if you ask the holy spirit to overwhelm you it'll ruin your dodger experience in the best way because your life is no longer yours.

28:56 I've been set free so I can go on mission to help the captive find the freedom that I found. To tell the whole world if God could do it for me, I know that God could do it for you. Come on, stand to your feet. Thank you so much for listening. We pray that today brought you great strength, great encouragement, and built you up in your faith. Make sure to hit the subscribe button. And if God did something great in your life today, share the message on social media. We'll be back next Sunday as we talk about our theme for the year, Watch God Work.