1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,360 Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Cole. 2 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,400 I'm going pastor here. What what originally I was going 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,880 to do is I was going to preach a sermon that kind of cooperated 4 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,120 with Luke Stone's excellent sermon last week about how the 5 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:15,120 Holy Spirit testifies and brings our identity to mind. 6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,400 It was an excellent sermon. If you haven't listened to it, 7 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:19,560 make sure you go back and listen to that on Spotify. 8 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,440 But instead of going that route, which I originally planned to 9 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,240 do, this morning is going to be a little bit more of a 10 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:29,680 standalone sermon. Because as I was prepping and 11 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:36,200 thinking and praying, I was constantly haunted this week by 12 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,520 my own shortcomings and failures of life with the Holy Spirit. 13 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,480 And I don't think I'm alone in this struggle with the Holy 14 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,560 Spirit. And I wonder if you have this 15 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,720 same struggle too. So I'm going to preach on that. 16 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,400 So if you're able, let's stand for the reading of God's Word. 17 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,600 What we do at Frontier is we preach expository sermons. 18 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:07,000 What that means is that 90% of the time we spend our time in a 19 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,720 singular text where we explain that text over the course of 40 20 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,040 or 45 minutes. We look at the the literary 21 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:15,320 context, we look at the historical context, and then we 22 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:17,320 bring it to its Christological context. 23 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:20,520 And that's 90% of what we do. This morning I'm going to preach 24 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,640 a little bit different. It's called topical preaching. 25 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,280 Instead of focusing on one singular text, we're going to 26 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,800 look at 4 texts. I'm going to draw one unified 27 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,320 observation of those four texts, and then I'm going to preach on 28 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:34,600 that observation. What's the observation? 29 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,440 You'll be able to tell. Listen to what I listen to what 30 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:39,920 I emphasize, and you'll know where I'm going with this. 31 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:47,320 John chapter 14. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, 32 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:52,280 whom the Father will send in my name, He, everybody say He. 33 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,960 He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance 34 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:02,360 all that I have said to you. John 15 But when the Helper 35 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,560 comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of 36 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:12,320 truth, who proceeds from the Father, He, everybody say He, He 37 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:17,280 will bear witness about me. John 16 When the Spirit of truth 38 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:22,480 comes, He, everybody say He. When the Spirit of truth comes, 39 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:28,320 He will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on 40 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:35,400 his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he 41 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,920 will declare to you the things that are to come. 42 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,960 Romans chapter 8. Paul says likewise. 43 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:48,000 The Spirit helps us in our own weakness, for we do not even 44 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,040 know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself. 45 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:59,760 Everybody say himself, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us 46 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,960 with groanings too deep for words. 47 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:13,360 He, he, he himself pray with me. Heavenly Father, I pray that you 48 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:22,440 would move us this morning, that we wouldn't just talk about your 49 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:31,000 Holy Spirit or pontificate or hypothesize about your Holy 50 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,640 Spirit, but that we would be people who experience your Holy 51 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,400 Spirit. Lord, would that be true of us? 52 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,240 We're not here to just learn some new things, Lord. 53 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,200 We're not here to just hang out with some people who are 54 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,880 affable. We're here because we want to 55 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,960 meet with you and your Holy Spirit is your personal presence 56 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,920 with your people. And so, Lord, would you fill us 57 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:10,080 freshly with your Holy Spirit. We would not walk away thinking, 58 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:15,280 oh, that was a nice message or I would have said some things 59 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:19,600 differently than him. But instead, I pray that we 60 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:25,640 would walk away thinking. I heard from God this morning. 61 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:33,960 I met with God this morning. Oh, that that would be true 62 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,920 about us this morning. All God's people prayed. 63 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:38,840 Amen. You can have a seat. 64 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,160 All right, I'm going to zoom in on one observation that I think 65 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,560 you notice across those four different biblical texts. 66 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,440 The Holy Spirit was referred to in those four texts with 67 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,920 personal pronouns. He, he, he, and himself. 68 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,480 Those are all personal pronouns. And that observation, that 69 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,920 simple observation, is going to form the direction for the rest 70 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,920 of the sermon. Francis Chan famously wrote a 71 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,360 book called The Forgotten God a couple years ago. 72 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,280 Anybody read that? It was a good book. 73 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,400 I recommend it. What Chan does is he he exhorts 74 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,160 people in that book that the Holy Spirit tends to be the 75 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,880 person of the Trinity that we forget is God. 76 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:25,480 It's a it's a good book. I recommend it. 77 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,680 But what I'm going to do this morning is I'm going to preach 78 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:35,160 like the opposite end of that. So Chan focused on the Holy 79 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:39,120 Spirit as the forgotten God. What I want to do this morning 80 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,480 is because often times we understand the Holy Spirit as 81 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,960 God or as divine or as Yahweh, but sometimes we have the 82 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,280 tendency to reduce the Holy Spirit to a concept or an 83 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:51,880 impersonal force like gravity. And so rather than preaching on 84 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,320 the fraught and God, my theme this morning is going to be the 85 00:05:55,320 --> 00:06:01,360 forgotten person, particularly our temptation to depersonalize 86 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,960 the Holy Spirit into nothing more than gravity or an 87 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,120 objective truth. So here's here's the big 88 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:08,400 question. I'm going to hammer you with 89 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,280 this all morning long. The big question is you may know 90 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:14,960 the Holy Spirit as a concept. You may know the Holy Spirit as 91 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,920 a doctrine. You may know the Holy Spirit as 92 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,640 an idea, but do you know the Holy Spirit as a person? 93 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,400 It's my big question for you this morning. 94 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,600 Do you know the Spirit as a person? 95 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,640 This is not a coal observation, right? 96 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:41,120 This is a, this is every denomination that's biblical. 97 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,600 Is my mic off? It turned off. 98 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:46,800 Did I say something that bothered you back there, Carl? 99 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,080 Yeah, I'm off. I don't know. 100 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,200 It's on. So I'm just going to preach 101 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,440 loud. You like that? 102 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,840 No needed that encouragement, bro. 103 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:06,040 I was going to feed off of that. All right, so here's where I'm 104 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,360 here's where I'm going. We're just we're going to do 105 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:10,640 some theology up front. Every Christian denomination 106 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,280 that is biblical refers to the Holy Spirit as both God and 107 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:21,160 person. We we've got a word what we put. 108 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:35,960 Oh, it just fell down. Been reading too much GQ bro. 109 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,760 So every every every denomination that's biblical 110 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,440 refers to the Holy Spirit as both God and person. 111 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,200 We we have a word for Christian denominations that refer to the 112 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,560 Holy Spirit not as God or not as person. 113 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,200 That word is heretical. OK, Like, for instance, I was in 114 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:01,240 the car about a month ago with my, with my daughter and she 115 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,800 just out of the blue, I was like, I was blasting the music. 116 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:05,840 So I was like, what was that, honey? 117 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,200 What? And I, I turned the music down 118 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:09,920 and she said, you know, Dad, I've been thinking about it. 119 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:11,360 I was like, this should be interesting. 120 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:16,400 She says, I, I've been thinking about it, the Father, the Son, 121 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,400 the Holy Spirit. And I was like, Oh yeah, what 122 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,440 have you been thinking about? The Father, Son, the Holy 123 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,520 Spirit? And she said, I've been thinking 124 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,640 that actually we just, we just worshipped 3 different gods. 125 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,880 I was like, the whole Christian history has been thinking about 126 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,080 it. And they would say you're a 127 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,159 heretic Della. So I pulled over and I made her 128 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:43,280 walk home. I didn't, I didn't do that. 129 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:44,520 I didn't do that. I didn't do that. 130 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,840 But I just just what watch this. Here's here's the Catechism of 131 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,360 the Catholic Church. Even our Roman Catholic brothers 132 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,920 and sisters say the Trinity or God the Trinity is 1. 133 00:08:55,120 --> 00:09:00,400 We do not confess 3 gods della we do not confess 3 gods, but 134 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:05,120 one God and three everybody say Persons, one God and three 135 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,280 persons. And the Holy Spirit is the 136 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:12,080 proper name of the third person of the Holy Trinity. 137 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,640 Now it's not just our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters on 138 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,160 the other side of the aisle all the way over with the Assemblies 139 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:25,160 of God friends. Joseph, your people, our 140 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,960 assembly of God's friends say in in their catechism quote, the 141 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:35,360 Holy Spirit is a divine everybody say person Co equal 142 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,720 with God the Father, Co equal with God the Son, and of the 143 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:46,040 same nature. He is a person, not a thing or 144 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,080 mere influence. If you don't like catechisms or 145 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,280 you don't like theology, here's CS Lewis. 146 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:53,840 Lewis is talking about the Trinitarian nature with the 147 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,600 Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and particularly the Father's social 148 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:59,840 life with the Son. How the Father loves the Son and 149 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,040 the Son loves the Father. How the Father delights in the 150 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:03,880 Son and the Son delights in the Father. 151 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,080 And Lewis goes on to write what grows out of the joint life of 152 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,440 the Father and Son. So their love and delight in one 153 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,320 another. He said it was so profound and 154 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,040 thick that that delight stands forth not just as an emotion, 155 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:21,040 but as a person. What goes out of the joint life 156 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,400 of the Father and the Son is a real person. 157 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:28,040 It's in fact the third of the three persons who are called 158 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:30,640 God. And this third person is called 159 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:35,920 in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God. 160 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:42,760 Here's here's what I'm saying. The Holy Spirit is personal. 161 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,120 So my big question for you this morning is I know you can 162 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,160 articulate who the Spirit is. I know you can say some stuff 163 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,320 about the Holy Spirit. My question for you is, do you 164 00:10:55,360 --> 00:11:02,760 know the Holy Spirit personally? You're going to love us. 165 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:10,840 About a year ago, I, I overheard my 4 year old and six year old 166 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,400 son and daughter arguing in the room next to me. 167 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,200 So I did what every good parent does. 168 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:18,840 I eavesdropped, right? I heard them. 169 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,160 I heard them arguing. And so I went to the corner and 170 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,280 I was about to walk into the room and I thought, you know, 171 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,720 I'm just actually going to lean up against this corner and I'm 172 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:28,440 going to listen to what they're arguing about. 173 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:34,320 And Della was saying, no, Russell, he, he doesn't, he 174 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,800 can't. To which Russell diplomatically 175 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,520 and gently, but still forcefully said, you're wrong, Della. 176 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,000 He can, you've just never seen him do it. 177 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,480 So I'm, I could have, I could have walked into the room and 178 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,880 answered whatever argument it was they were having about me. 179 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,440 I didn't want to do that though, so I just kept on eavesdropping. 180 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,120 So I was leaning against the corner listening to my kids 181 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,480 argue. And then they revealed the 182 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,360 subject about me that they were arguing about. 183 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:10,840 Della said no Russell, dad doesn't cry, he can't cry. 184 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:21,640 To which Russell said, yes Della, everybody can cry. 185 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:27,560 You've just never seen dad cry. And so my 4 year old, she was 4 186 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:31,880 at the time, she's 5 now. But apparently my my daughter 187 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:39,680 literally thought of me as an impersonal force that doesn't 188 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,000 even have an emotional life and doesn't have the capacity to 189 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,400 cry, which would hurt my feelings if it weren't super 190 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:48,640 common. This is the primary way that 191 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:50,640 most people view their authority figures. 192 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,440 Piaget, a famous childhood psychologist, he said that the 193 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,120 fact that children view their parents impersonally, so they 194 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,360 they tend to view their parents primarily as rule makers, 195 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,520 primarily as need meters and primarily as optical removers, 196 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:07,840 he said. He said it's actually necessary 197 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,400 for the psychological safety of children to imagine their 198 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,560 parents as impersonal forces. And if they knew that their 199 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:17,240 parents weren't Superman or Superwoman, they would probably 200 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,880 never develop emotional safety. That's that's natural to them. 201 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,920 And so the fact that your kids view you as an impersonal force 202 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,400 that's just there to meet needs and remove obstacles and and 203 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,000 make rules is actually it's, it's totally normal. 204 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,920 But PJ also argued that if children never mature, if they 205 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:39,080 just never mature to the point of realizing that their parents 206 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,120 are persons with real wills and real personalities and real 207 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:48,440 stories and real motivations, if they never mature to the point 208 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,640 of realizing their parents were persons, then their relationship 209 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,560 with their parents would be defined by three things. 210 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:00,240 Number one, delayed empathy. They would never even think to 211 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,200 imagine that there are emotions going on inside of your head and 212 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:04,080 heart. That's bad. 213 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:09,920 That's bad, right? Secondly, shallow communication. 214 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,200 I'll talk to my mom or dad if I need a thing, but that's it. 215 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,760 Shallow communication or third, relational immaturity. 216 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:28,680 And so as I was leaning against that corner listening, listening 217 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,440 to my daughter adamantly argue that I don't even have the 218 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,960 capacity to cry it, it dawned on me. 219 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:41,160 That's the same way that I tended to view my dad growing 220 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,240 up. Like I only saw my dad cry 2 221 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,760 times when I lived underneath the roof of his house, and both 222 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,640 of them were huge moments of revelation for me. 223 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:52,760 The 1st is when my grandfather died. 224 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,200 I remember seeing my dad standing over my grandpa's 225 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,440 casket, weeping. The second one was after my last 226 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,120 high school wrestling match. I remember him bear hugging me, 227 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,880 weeping and telling me that he was so proud of me. 228 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,520 And do you know what I thought during both of those moments? 229 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,760 Both of those moments, it was like being gripped by a new 230 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,680 revelation. I remember thinking, Huh, I 231 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,560 don't even know he could do that. 232 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:22,360 You know, I don't even know that. 233 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,160 And again, this is the most natural thing in the world. 234 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,720 This is the way that people tend to view all of their authority 235 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:29,880 figures. Kids tend to see their parents 236 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,080 impersonally. Churches tend to see their 237 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,160 pastors and personally, employees tend to see their 238 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,440 employers impersonally. Students tend to see their 239 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,920 teachers impersonally. Like, I remember when I was a 240 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,360 high school English teacher, I remember one Friday night 241 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,640 bumping into one of my students at Target. 242 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,200 And I swear that student looked like they had just seen a ghost. 243 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,720 And I came around the the corner at Target, like with deodorant 244 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,880 in my hand. And the student like stopped in 245 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,720 their tracks and they were like, dyke, what are you doing here? 246 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:07,320 I was like, I was like, what? Getting deal? 247 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:12,520 Like I was like, do you think that I just live at the high 248 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:19,240 school? And she said, I guess kind of it 249 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,880 just had never even seemed to occur to them that I had a 250 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:28,480 personal life that existed beyond the scope of their needs 251 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,080 for a teacher. I just lived in the high school, 252 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,440 Some most natural thing in the world. 253 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:41,320 And so there I was, leaning against the corner of that wall, 254 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:46,760 listening to my daughter argue adamantly that I didn't even 255 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,360 have the capacity to cry. And it dawned on me, yes, this 256 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,760 is how I view my dad. Yes, this is how I tend to view 257 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:55,720 my authority figures. But the most important 258 00:16:55,720 --> 00:17:01,280 realization I had was this. I went, oh, that's actually how 259 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:06,960 I tend to view the Holy Spirit. Like I tend to view the Holy 260 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:12,920 Spirit as not even having the capacity for personhood. 261 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:18,119 It's not even having the capacity for crying or being 262 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,480 grieved. Did you know the Bible says that 263 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,920 you can grieve the Holy Spirit or quenched? 264 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,280 Paul says don't quench the Holy Spirit. 265 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,600 Do you know why he says that? Because you can, you can quench 266 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,000 the Spirit, you can grieve the Holy Spirit. 267 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,080 I recognize in that moment that I saw the Holy Spirit the exact 268 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:42,560 same way that my kids tend to view me as rule maker, as need 269 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:54,240 meter, as obstacle remover, perhaps as crazy uncle, right? 270 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,960 I go to the Father of the Son if I need something normal like 271 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,040 sanctification or encouragement or growth. 272 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,320 But I go to my crazy uncle Holy Spirit if I need something weird 273 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,520 like speaking in tongues. I tend to view them 274 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,360 impersonally. I tend to view them as gravity 275 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:12,520 right, you know? You know the way that you view 276 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:13,960 the way that you view gravity, right? 277 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:20,000 It's, it's all around us. No matter what we do, it's out 278 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:25,440 there doing its thing. So I may as well take it for 279 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:27,480 granted. Do you see the Spirit this way? 280 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,000 He's omniscient, he's omnipresent. 281 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:38,480 He's everywhere all the time. So why even personally engage 282 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,280 with them? And the reason I'm pressing into 283 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:46,240 this is because when we see the Holy Spirit impersonally, our 284 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,640 relationship with them tends to be characterized by the three 285 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:54,800 categories that Piaget already articulated 7 or 8 decades ago. 286 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:59,400 It tends to be characterized by the late empathy. 287 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,360 It just never even occurs to us that the Holy Spirit has a will 288 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:16,040 and desires and motives and personhood and in existence 289 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,040 apart from meeting our needs right. 290 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,040 If we view the Holy Spirit and personally, then our 291 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,680 relationship with them tends to be defined by delayed empathy, 292 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,000 by shallow communication. I'll go to the Spirit if I need 293 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:36,080 something, but absolutely nothing beyond that delayed 294 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:43,040 empathy, shallow communication, and relational immaturity. 295 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:48,640 So let me ask you again, do you know the Spirit personally? 296 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,160 I know you can articulate who the Holy Spirit is. 297 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:57,920 I know that you know the Holy Spirit the same way that you 298 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,560 know a baseball card. You kind of know the stats. 299 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,320 I had like, I had like 300 Ken Griffey junior baseball cards 300 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:07,800 when I was I was obsessed with Griffey. 301 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,120 I can tell you the stats, right? I had a baseball card 302 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:13,840 relationship with Ken Griffey Junior. 303 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,920 If you went to Ken Griffey Junior and you're like, hey, 304 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:16,920 what do you think about cold Eikey? 305 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:22,520 You know what he would say, who is this your relationship with 306 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,240 the Holy Spirit? You know his stats. 307 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,080 But if you really engage with his spirit and you're like, Hey, 308 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:35,840 do you know cold Eikey what the Holy Spirit say who in Germany, 309 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:37,720 this was only a couple years ago. 310 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:42,000 This was the year 2020. Some theologians did a did a 311 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,840 study, a pretty extensive one, where they wanted to see if they 312 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,040 can make any observations about whether or not the image that we 313 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,800 hold in our mind of God has any sort of quantitative impact on 314 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:55,680 the quality of our relationship with God. 315 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:57,640 And this is not going to surprise you. 316 00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,800 I think this is just a nice study to hear that kind of maybe 317 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,760 supports traditional historic Christian theology. 318 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:03,840 So this isn't going to surprise you. 319 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,120 But what they did is they asked the participants to describe how 320 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:10,640 they viewed God. And based on the image that they 321 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,520 used to describe God, they divided people into two 322 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,520 different categories. There were people over here who 323 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:20,280 had an image of God as personal, and there were people over here 324 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,640 who have an image of God as impersonal. 325 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,480 And so this is really helpful because right now in new Age 326 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,280 spirituality, it's really trendy and it's really cool to describe 327 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,000 God impersonally, right? To describe God as, you know, 328 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,760 he's just kind of the force behind existence or he's just 329 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:42,160 kind of the vibe that makes me feel spiritual. 330 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:47,920 And what this study found is that that sounds nice, right? 331 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:54,360 Participants said God is that the energy in everything, which 332 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,680 is not wrong, but if that's your only image of the spirit or the 333 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,000 spirit is just the fire that helps me feel spiritual or the 334 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,760 spirit is more of a vibe or force than a person. 335 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,240 All of these things, they sound very spiritual. 336 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,960 You know what the problem is? The problem is that people who 337 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,840 articulated God in their image of God as impersonal, they were 338 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,160 three times as likely to describe their spirituality as 339 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,960 quote, feeling spiritual disconnection, feeling 340 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,080 spiritually detached or struggling with prayer and 341 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:31,720 emotional connection. And then on the other end, the 342 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:39,800 people who saw God with personal images like father, son, spirit 343 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:46,920 helper, friend, they were three times more likely to describe 344 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,440 their spiritual life as quote, having higher spiritual 345 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,480 vitality, showing greater resilience and suffering and 346 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,640 showing more ethical consistency in their lives. 347 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,480 And so like, these aren't surprising findings, right? 348 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:09,000 Really what the only thing that finding shows us is that if you 349 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:14,200 see God impersonally, you won't have a relationship with him. 350 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:22,080 Or that's not surprising. If you see God impersonally, you 351 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,400 won't have a relationship with him. 352 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,560 So let me ask you one more time. Do you know the Holy Spirit 353 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:33,240 personally? And so like, look, there's, 354 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,600 there's a million different ways that we can press into this and 355 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,080 get some practical application. OK, no, cool. 356 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:39,920 I kind of struggle with that. OK, what do I do? 357 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:43,120 So let me just kind of pluck one that I think is interesting and 358 00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:44,480 I want to compel you to try this. 359 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,440 OK, so this week what I want you to do is I want you to practice 360 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:50,480 making small talk with the Holy Spirit. 361 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,040 Small talk and don't hear what I'm not saying. 362 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:58,600 I'm a big fan of carving out bigger chunks of time to prayer. 363 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,320 I like carving out 30 minutes or 60 minutes in order to listen 364 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,160 deeply to the Spirit. I just don't want you to start 365 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,640 there. I want you to start by learning 366 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:07,960 the skill of making small talk with the Holy Spirit. 367 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:11,120 The problem here is that if you only come to the Holy Spirit for 368 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:17,880 super intense spiritual sessions once a week on Sunday mornings 369 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,840 where you're like, I'm going to cram, I want a really special 370 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,200 moment with the Holy Spirit. So I'm going to take an hour and 371 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,600 set that aside and just see if I can really connect with the Holy 372 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,920 Spirit, I think that's good. But if that's all you do, you 373 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,320 just try to impatiently cram a whole relationship into an hour 374 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,280 a week. And relationships can't flourish 375 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,960 under those circumstances. And so I think something that's 376 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,680 not really talked a lot about in Christian circles is the fact 377 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,680 that we need to learn the skill of small talk with the Holy 378 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:48,120 Spirit. So let me let me frame this in a 379 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:51,640 simple way around a car drive. So this week, when you're in 380 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,320 your car, whether you're driving to work or you're driving to a 381 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,280 friend's house or you're driving back home, I don't care. 382 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:01,000 I want you to do three things. Every time you hit a stop sign, 383 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,040 I want you to to stop for a second and just pray. 384 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:11,560 Holy Spirit, enlighten me. Just be open to small talk with 385 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,240 the Spirit. Be open to whether or not the 386 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,600 Holy Spirit wants to say anything or reveal anything to 387 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,560 you during that car ride. Just Holy Spirit, enlighten me 388 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,640 and see what He does. Hypothetically, when you hit a 389 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,720 stoplight, you should have a few more seconds. 390 00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:32,840 So when you hit a stoplight, I want you to pray this Holy 391 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,280 Spirit, search me, write that Psalm 51. 392 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:42,640 Search me and know me Spirit. Just be open to Spirit. 393 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,160 Is there anything off kilter in my soul? 394 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,760 Are there any sour corners of my heart that need to be sweetened? 395 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,760 Is there any sin I need to repent of? 396 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,680 Is there any gunk in my heart that you want to clean out? 397 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:03,240 Holy Spirit, search me. And then when you eventually 398 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,280 come to a full stop in the parking lot or in your driveway 399 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,720 or wherever it is you're going, I want you to pray. 400 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,600 Holy Spirit, send me. Begin to view. 401 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,080 Wherever you're walking into your house, you're being sent by 402 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,880 the Holy Spirit. You're walking into work, you're 403 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:22,040 being sent by the Holy Spirit. You're walking into to Walmart, 404 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:23,640 you're being sent by the Holy Spirit. 405 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,080 All three of those prayers will form a constellation of things 406 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,720 that we could call small talk. Enlighten me. 407 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:33,640 Search me. Send me. 408 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,880 Social commentators tell us that personal relationships, they're 409 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,440 not magic. We tend to view personal 410 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,400 relationships as well that just magically clicked or that 411 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,240 magically happened. Social commentators have a 412 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,960 different view. They argue that relationships 413 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,920 aren't magic. They're formed by performing a 414 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,880 series of small concrete social actions. 415 00:26:54,920 --> 00:27:02,040 Well, can I say that again? Small, concrete social actions. 416 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,560 Well, our struggle to form deep relationships isn't because we 417 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,560 were born without the personal relationship gene. 418 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,320 It's not a thing. We are all deeply social 419 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,280 creatures, whether we're aware of that or not. 420 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,080 If we struggle with personal relationships, it's because we 421 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,240 lack practical knowledge about how to give others the kind of 422 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,800 rich attention that we desire to receive. 423 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,360 And so the point of cultivating small talk with the Holy Spirit 424 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,600 is to lay the kindling necessary so that the bigger fire can be 425 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,920 lit at a later time. Does that make sense? 426 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:48,040 OK, so I want to ask you again, do you know the Holy Spirit 427 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,000 personally or is he just an idea to you? 428 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,440 I'm just going to say what I mean. 429 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,040 And it's the steps on your toes. So be it. 430 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:05,800 I think the reason why so many people, so many Christians, see 431 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:10,480 the Holy Spirit as a concept and not a person is because they 432 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,560 don't want the Holy Spirit to be a person. 433 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:16,960 But that's the problem at the bottom. 434 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,680 It's that we don't want the Spirit to be a person because 435 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:28,000 persons are time consuming. They make demands on our lives. 436 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,440 They have a will that's separate from us. 437 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:37,760 If the Holy Spirit is a person, he may disagree with me, He may 438 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:43,160 nudge me, He may challenge me, He may disagree with me, and he 439 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,920 may have conflicting desires of me. 440 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:52,440 You know what doesn't do that? Concepts don't do that. 441 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,680 A concept of something you read on a sheet of paper and then you 442 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,800 memorize it to impress your friends. 443 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,880 Concepts make they make us feel superior about ourselves. 444 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:02,280 They make us feel good about ourselves. 445 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,680 They don't really challenge us. They stay on the page. 446 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,200 Like here's the concept. Do you know what the word 447 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:17,160 pneumatology means, Jay? Do you know the study of what so 448 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:21,080 close the study of the spirit? That's a concept. 449 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,080 Say that later today in everyday conversation, I guarantee you 450 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:26,440 you'll feel better than the other person. 451 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,520 Seriously, say to you say to one of your friends today, hey, 452 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,160 what's your pneumatology, bro? And the way that you'll feel is, 453 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,560 well, I feel better about myself, makes me feel superior. 454 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,160 It makes me feel good about myself. 455 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,720 That's what concepts do. You memorize them and then you 456 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,720 impress people with them. That's not what persons do. 457 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,760 A person demands to be communed with, and if you commune with 458 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,440 the Spirit, that's dangerous. He might ask you to repent. 459 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:53,360 He might ask you to give up a comfort. 460 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:56,480 He might ask you to go pray for somebody in a socially awkward 461 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,520 situation. That's why so many of us want 462 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:00,360 the Holy Spirit to be a concept and not a person. 463 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:06,400 Pastors are the same way. I want you want to know why so 464 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,040 many pastors struggle with seeing the Holy Spirit as a 465 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,240 person rather than a concept. It's because they don't want the 466 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:17,280 Holy Spirit to be a person. Oh my gosh. 467 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:23,200 If the Holy Spirit is personal, he might ask me to set my notes 468 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:28,880 aside. If the Holy Spirit's a person, 469 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:34,640 he might He might demand me to lead the congregation in a 470 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,320 direction that's not financially beneficial. 471 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,720 He might tell me to preach a sermon that's not popular. 472 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:48,000 It's way easier to see the Holy Spirit as a concept on a paper. 473 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,360 And all I do is I explain it to people and we go, Hooray, now we 474 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:53,720 know what the Spirit is. And that's why so many of us 475 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,880 view the the Spirit as a concept and and not a person. 476 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,800 If the Spirit's real, he might, he might compel me to give my 477 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,680 time and energy to somebody who has nothing to offer the church 478 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,920 and will never even volunteer. That's not time efficient. 479 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,000 But the Spirit is a person and he has a will. 480 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,880 And sometimes he leads us in the direction that we wouldn't go in 481 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,960 our own flesh. Do you know him this way? 482 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,520 Do you know the Spirit personally? 483 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,720 And if your answer to this is no, you're like, man, I have 484 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,000 depersonalized the Holy Spirit. If you have depersonalized the 485 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,080 Holy Spirit, I have really good news for you this morning, 486 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,360 right? If you're like, dude, I've spent 487 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,120 most of my life ignoring the Spirit, grieving the Spirit, 488 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,680 stiff arming the Spirit. If that's you, I have really 489 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,360 good news for you this morning. Here it is. 490 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,920 Jesus died for you. Christ was crucified for 491 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:49,800 sinners. Amen. 492 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,000 Christ was crucified for sinners while we were yet enemies. 493 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,600 And by grace through faith, when we believe in the gospel, we 494 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:04,040 receive a million gifts from God, free, free, free of merit, 495 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,640 free of achievement. When you believe in the gospel, 496 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,680 you receive the forgiveness of sins. 497 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,840 That's a great gift, Amen. When you believe in the gospel, 498 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,760 you receive the gift of righteousness. 499 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:21,880 That's a great gift, Amen. You receive the gift of heavenly 500 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,920 eternity with God. And all of those things are 501 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,080 awesome. They're all great gifts, but 502 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,560 none of them are the greatest gift of the gospel. 503 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,240 The greatest gift of the gospel is not something that God gives 504 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,520 you. The greatest gift of the gospel 505 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:40,600 is someone that God gives you. God gives you himself. 506 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:43,520 God's the greatest gift of the gospel. 507 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,240 He gives you the Holy Spirit apart from your good works, 508 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:49,960 apart from your merit, apart from your achievements. 509 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:54,000 You get the Holy Spirit and he seals you forever. 510 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,120 That's what makes Christianity so unique. 511 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,800 The unique question of Christianity is not are you a 512 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:02,480 better person? Every religion asks that 513 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,000 question, right? The unique question of 514 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,200 Christianity is not are you a moral person? 515 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,760 It's good to aim at that. The essential question of 516 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:17,800 Christianity is not are you a religious person, though? 517 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,720 That's fine. None of those things separate 518 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,640 Christianity from other faiths. The essential question that 519 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:28,800 Christianity asks is, do you know the Spirit personally? 520 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,240 You know him, Do you walk with him? 521 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:37,560 Do you make space for him? He could have been corrected by 522 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:39,680 him. You're all right with being 523 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:42,560 convicted by him. Do you listen? 524 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:45,320 Do you allow yourself to be nudged? 525 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,000 Or is it just baseball card stats? 526 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,200 Right? Because like, if your 527 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:56,320 relationship with the Holy Spirit is just studying, just 528 00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,200 thinking, just reading, all of which are indispensable to 529 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:01,880 relationships, all those things are important. 530 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:04,840 But what I'm saying is if your relationship with the Holy 531 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:09,080 Spirit is just reading, just thinking, just studying, what 532 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,560 you have with the Holy Spirit is online dating. 533 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,920 That's what you're doing. You might think you're above 534 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:24,280 online dating, but if you never commune with the Spirit, that's 535 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,239 all you got. It's long distance relationship 536 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:29,400 all right. If if it's all reading and 537 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,800 studying and no relationship, then you and the Holy Spirit, 538 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,679 you have never made it past Christian mingles.com you're 539 00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:39,920 still on it. Sorry, Joseph, what was yours? 540 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:43,639 Christian farmers only that's the one. 541 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,000 If your relationship with the Spirit resembles online dating 542 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,639 more than a lifelong marriage, I just want to tell you there's so 543 00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:58,000 much more for you. If it's all reading, no warmth, 544 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:04,680 all theory, no embrace, all hypothesis, no spark, all 545 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:09,280 speculation, no life, I'm telling you there's more for you 546 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:11,280 in the Christian life. Look at the cross. 547 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,200 Jesus didn't die on the cross for online dating. 548 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:21,800 He wants a lifelong, personal, warm, covenantal, lived 549 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,560 relationship with you. The Holy Spirit is an on dating 550 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:28,520 apps. He's not interested in only 551 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:34,360 being known through his bio. He wants to be known by you. 552 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:43,880 He wants to be known by you. So let's get to know Heavenly 553 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,480 Father. Yeah. 554 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,440 I just pray that this moment would be a moment where perhaps 555 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:56,240 we reconnect with your spirit. We tend, I tend to make a ton of 556 00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:59,720 assumptions about the Holy Spirit and just be like, you 557 00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:02,840 know, the Holy Spirit. He's just there for all the 558 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,920 weird stuff, you know, Maybe if I want a prophetic word, I'll go 559 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,720 to him. Or maybe if I want to speak in 560 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:12,200 tongues, I'll go to him. I want something weird, I'll go 561 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,920 to the Holy Spirit. But otherwise, Nah. 562 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,920 And so, Lord, I just confess that I have treated the Spirit 563 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:27,080 as a force and not as a person. And so, Lord, I know you forgive 564 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,440 me and I receive that forgiveness, but also would you 565 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:36,600 just give me the power to live a lived relationship with the Holy 566 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:47,320 Spirit where I listen and open and nudged by and even even that 567 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,120 word that Reformed people are allergic to feel. 568 00:36:52,360 --> 00:37:01,480 I pray that we would also feel that your Holy Spirit, you are 569 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:08,040 so relational and social, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 570 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:11,840 before time even began, before you, Lord, before you ever the 571 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:15,040 star, the Father was in love with the sun, the sun was in 572 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,240 love with the Spirit, and the Spirit was in love with the 573 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:19,480 Father. And the Father delighted in the 574 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,080 Spirit, and the Spirit delighted in the sun, and the sun 575 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,680 delighted in the Father. And there was this triune dance. 576 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,720 And that tells me that you did not create us as your image 577 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:31,680 bearers to just be people who put you under a microscope 578 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:36,280 inside of you. You created us to bring us into 579 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,520 what the New Testament calls participants of the divine 580 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,880 nature. We're swept up in relationship 581 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,480 with you so that the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the 582 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,720 Spirit, the Spirit loves coal, and coal loves the Father. 583 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:51,000 We're swept up into that tribe pants. 584 00:37:51,240 --> 00:37:53,120 And so, Lord, would you do that for us this morning? 585 00:37:55,840 --> 00:38:05,200 Soften our hearts, open our ears, nudge us, push us, pull 586 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:13,240 us, embrace us, hug us, shake us, speak to us, and may we walk 587 00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:17,160 out as people who say yes, I know the Holy Spirit person. 588 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,400 So it's in the precious name of Jesus that all gods being 589 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:20,840 prayed.