video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJIfmyN71p8
I want to preach to you just for a few moments this morning on Haunted by the Ghost. And I'm not talking about an evil ghost, but the Bible calls the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, but in equally and just as in many places, calls him the Holy Ghost and we're haunted by the Ghost.
Where can I go and get away from this haunting because He said 1 Cor. 6:19 "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" Your body is a house and the Holy Ghost said your body is the house that he's going to haunt or inhabit. That's what haunt means, to inhabit, to frequently visit. I'm haunted by the Ghost, the precious Holy Ghost. It also means to be preoccupied the word haunted, as, with an emotion, a memory, an idea to be accessed, to be haunted by a memory.
The Holy Ghost is, in fact, haunting us. He is inhabiting us. He lives in us. That's why Jesus said in John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Watch out when you're haunted, you hear things and when you start to do something you shouldn't, this haunting of the Ghost will bring things to you that you wanted to forget. He'll teach you all things, he'll bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. In John 15:26 He said, "But when the Comforter is come (that's who the Holy Ghost is), whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me:" One more quick verse, John 16:7, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth (Jesus speaking); It is expedient for you that I go away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you."
He is inhabiting us, he is living in us. Jesus went to heaven but he sent his spirit or his ghost, the holy ghost, to live inside of us. He is always with us. He said "I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you." In Bethlehem, he was Immanuel, God with us. In Calvary, he was God for us, hanging on the cross, but in Pentacost, he is God in us for he filled them with his supernatural power. He's always, continuingly watching over us, this precious holy ghost.
He's watching us, he's listening to us, he's comforting us, he's leading us, he's guiding us, he's protecting us, he's keeping us, he abides. He abides, hallelujah, he abides. I'm rejoicing night and day as I walk the narrow way for the Comforter abides with me. I am inhabited, I am haunted by the ghost. It is a blessing to know wherever I go. He's with me, I don't have to be- when you are facing a daunting challenge, when the challenge that you face, and I've faced them many times in my life and I'm sure you have too.
But it's such a comfort to know that I'm not in this by myself. I'm not just doing this in my own power, in my own ability, in my own intellect, but he lives inside of me. I'm haunted by the ghost and the power that is in me is greater than it is in the world. I can do this because Jesus is with me.
The Holy Spirit is haunting me. He speaks to me, he leads me, and I would like to say in the other side of that, that's the positive side of being haunted by the ghost. But here's the negative side of being haunted by the ghost, the Holy Ghost. Don't think that just because you get out of church, you decide to backslide, you decide to get away from this Bible stuff and everything you've been raised in, that you can just walk away from God, because you're haunted by the ghost. He won't leave you alone, he'll go to a party with you. I know you think that the ghost just shows up in services when they're singing the 23rd psalm, but he goes to parties, he gets in bed with adulterers. He's watching, he's listening. He knows what's going on in your life.
You're haunted by the ghost and you can get away from the church, you can get away from the preacher, and you can get away from righteous people, but you can't get away from the ghost because he goes with you. And the whole time you're thinking about doing something you shouldn't, you hear voices. "What are you doing here?" "Don't do that, you know better than that. Stop it." "Stop it, stop it." You're haunted by the ghost. Just because you want him to leave you alone, doesn't mean he will.
There is a continual haunting of the soul by the Holy Ghost. Backsliders are haunted by the ghost. Backsliders, just because you decide that you don't want to walk with God or go to church, or care what the Bible says doesn't mean it will shut up. You can go as far away from church as you want to go and David said, "Where can I go and get away form the spirit. I'm haunted." And one night when you're laying in your bed, you'll get haunted by memories when you feel so empty after you've been used by sin, after the bottle has done what it can do for you, and the drugs have done what they can do, or the affair.
Then you, one day, you'll get haunted because you remember the peace that's in God's house, saying to you, "Do you really think you can just walk away form Him?" His strength is too powerful. His anointing is too strong. His grace is too abundant. His peace is too unforgettable. His love is too precious. You'll never be able to get away from him, for he will forever haunt you. I've seen it happen, I've seen people in this church backslide, saying "I'm free," and leave and right back to the stuff God brought them out of. But they are never ever able to get away from the haunting of the ghost and I tell you to every parent or person in this room who's raised a kid right or maybe they don't live right, they ought to give you joy because I'm telling you that if you do what the Bible says, the Holy Ghost, the hands of heaven will get after them.
The Holy Ghost will continually be convicting you, reminding you, haunting you. Now, the way that you backslide is you start lying to yourself, number 1, and then you start lying to the authority. There's a great story in the book of Acts in the 5th chapter. It talks about Ananias and Sapphira, and how that they sold a piece of land and they wanted to impress everybody with their giving.
So they came to the temple and pretended as though they gave everything they had, but they only gave part and it wasn't so bad. They could've done that and been okay. But it's the fact that they tried to lie and said that they gave everything. And first they lied to Peter, the spiritual authority over that house. See, when people want to go back, the first thing they do is that, they lie to themselves and then start lying to authority.
As to steps, they lie to leadership, they lie to the man of God, they lie to Apostle Peter. Now, you can lie to a man, but you can't lie to a Holy Ghost because the next thing that happened was "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart (listen to these words) to lie to the Holy Ghost-" (Acts 5:3) See, I want to put it like this, you can lie to your husband, you can lie to your wife, you can lie to your pastor, you can lie to your colleagues, you can lie to your parents, and you can get by with it. But when you're haunted by the ghost, he's called the spirit of truth.
You can't lie to the Holy Ghost because he was there when you did it. He was there when you said it. He was there when you texted. You can delete it, but you can't erase it and lie to the Holy Ghost good enough, because people may not see it, but God sees it. This is the issue now, you can't lie to the holy ghost. You can delete it off your computer, but you can't lie to the Holy Ghost because when you're haunted, that means, he sees, he's with you, He knows all.
The positive side of being haunted by the Holy Ghost is, he's always with us, he's always loving us, he's always comforting us, he's always protecting us. The negative side of being haunted by the Holy Ghost is, you can't lie to the Holy Ghost because He was there when you did it. He sees you when you sin, he sees you when you deceive, he sees you when you lie and the Bible said that, New Testament, Ananias and Sapphira, after they lied to the holy ghost, dropped dead. The next verse says (Acts 5:11), "And great fear-" Well, I guess so. And this wasn't in the Old Testament, this was New. Be careful how you treat the Holy Ghost.
What we need in America is a new fear of God. What we need in this generation is the ability to fear. The fear of the Lord needs to grip us again. We need to respect the Holy Spirit. We need to respect the word of God, that's when you have a fear. We need to understand that, when you're haunted by the ghost, even if you go to hell, the story in Luke chapter 16, the man who went to hell and lifted up his eyes, he was haunted by a memory. He was haunted by the fact that his family-he had seven brothers and they were on their way, living the same life and he begged and said, "Let me go back, and let me warn my family, my brothers, not to come to this place." He was haunted by the memory of the fact. He had a consciousness of what was right and the word of God and the truth. And the thing about the ghost is he haunts you and even if you go down to hell, you can't get away from the truth that God is reaching out in mercy to you now.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:1 "Let us therefore fear-" Listen to this, this loose grace just live any old life you want to live, if you want to hop into a bed of fornication, you want to go out and get drunk, you want to go get hot, you want to cheat and lie and do all kinds of stuff and not repent on it and not feel any conviction and not fell anything and just-. Listen to the word, "Let us therefore fear, (everybody say "We need to be afraid") lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, an of you should seem to come short of it."
He said, "This is something that ought to preoccupy your mind, and Lord I don't need to come short now. I need to be afraid, not in a good way, in a Godly way. I need to have such a reverence about making it to heaven. I don't want to come short." I know it's by grace we're saved, but folks, after you get saved, some actions, some corresponding actions are suppose to happen in your life.
Now, listen to what else he says, (Hebrews 4:2) "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." He's saying the same gospel as saves one, damns another. The same gospel that will save you and send you to heaven if you believe, will damn you and send you to hell. The same son that melts a candle and hardens clay is the same way.
Some people mix it with faith and receive, other people harden the more they hear it. They said, "Beware and fear, lest you fall short. Let us therefore fear." If any of us fall short, there ought to be a reverence when you're haunted by the ghost. You can't just sin and live a lifestyle of sin and no change whatsoever in your life. But when you're haunted by the ghost, if you start to do something, something in you, something in you says, "Mmm." Know to fear. I'm going to give you one more scripture, Philippians 2:12, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed (listen to these words), not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Paul said "I notice something about you.
You just don't obey the word of God in my presence, but I've noticed that when I'm absent you're even more careful." Now, I'm going to tell you something about that. That somebody who's got the real deal because if all you've got is the Christianity you have, is you live right because you're around the preacher or you're around your mom and dad or you're around this one or that one that might tell on you. You don't have anything. But it's what you do when you're not in the presence of those kinds of people.
But here's the revelations, you understand that I'm haunted by the ghost. Therefore, I'm not even as concerned about what they think as I am what He thinks. Then he goes on to say, "I've noticed how much more in my absence you live it." It's great that you can be a Christian Sunday morning, but I want to know what you're going to do tomorrow. I want to know what you're going to do Friday night. I want to know if you're going to have your foot in the club on Halloween night partying, but you were in the church this morning. I want to- It's not what you do in my presence, it's what you do in our absence, that really shows forth whether or not you have true salvation, because it goes on to say, "-work out your own salvation-." (Philippians 2:12) Bless God, I'm cured.
That means whatever's good to me, I feel like, I feel like this-. What does it say? "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Oh God, and notices your own salvation, notice it can't be past your salvation, he's to walk with God, mom or dad, or, brother or sister, or husband or wife's walk with God. "Boy- my wife is a prayer warrior." But he said, "You better get your own salvation, and you don't do it because of those people.
You do it because you're haunted by the ghost and you have such a fear, such an honor, such a reverence for Him, that wherever you go, whether people are with you or not, whether anybody knows the truth or not. You are what you are when you are absent from all of those things and you could do it, and nobody will know about it. But there's something in you that haunts you." This is, do the right thing. Do the right thing.
That's when you got it, and anything less than that is not true salvation because when you're working out on your true salvation, it's with fear, Godly fear and trembling. "God, I don't want to fall short, I have got to make it to heaven." This thing is serious. Heaven is serious, hell is serious, eternity is serious. And so, I'm praying for the haunting of the ghost. To get stronger in our lives than it's ever been. That we would be so sensitive to Him.
That we would want to please Him more than anybody and we wouldn't do it for people, we would do it because He abides. He's in us, we're haunted by the ghost, and if you're losing your conviction and losing your standards, it's because you're not fearing the Lord like you need to fear Him.
How many of you are thankful for the haunting of the ghost? That He won't let you just get by, He won't let you just do what you want to do, but He keeps on coming back. That still, small voice saying, "Repent." "Do right." "Walk right, God will bless you." I don't know who I'm preaching to this morning, but I sense in my heart strongly that there are backsliders here. That there are people who once walked with God strong, but you tried to get away from it and today, the Lord is calling you home.
Today, the spirit of God is haunting you while I"m preaching, and inside of you there's a voice that's been speaking, that is the voice of the Holy Spirit, saying "This day is for you. I want to do work in your life. I want to be Lord of your life. I want you broken and submitted humble before me. Truthful, clean, pure, forgiven, washed, cleansed." He brought you to this service this morning and it just might save your life. It just might be exactly what you need to turn your life around. With every head bowed and every eyes closed, would you stand on your feet everyone, no one moving please.
Stand on your feet all over this room, every head bowed and every eyes closed. Here in this room, you would say, "Jentezen, I'm not living right and I need to turn my life around to Jesus Christ. I feel the haunting of the Ghost and I know it's not a bad thing. It's a blessing. He just won't give up on me. I want to be forgiven, I want to find peace, I want to leave this room knowing that my name is written in the book of life. I want an eternal life, I want His grace to cover my sins, Pray for me, I need Him. Pray for me, I've got to get it right today." If that's you and you know it, boldly lift your hand right where you're standing. I want to see it.....
