1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,240 We're going to be very busy in the scriptures this morning. 2 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:04,160 You can turn to John, Chapter 16. 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:07,880 I won't be sharing some of my personal stories on Wednesday 4 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:13,200 night because two reasons. First of all, I'm going to gab 5 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,200 about my stories on Sundays, right? 6 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:20,040 But also, I'm really excited because while Jared and Beatrice 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,080 are part of this team, they normally lead our youth group. 8 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:25,480 And I'm going to step in and go back to my roots and share a 9 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,520 message with Elevate Student Ministries on Wednesday. 10 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:33,440 So that'll be fun, at least for me, if not for them, because I 11 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,640 have some, I have some things planned. 12 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:44,080 Yes, you've heard stories. So that being said, this is a 13 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,240 very important series. It's sort of one big expanded 14 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,760 series, but we spent a whole month going through unseen 15 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:51,480 things. We talked about the unseen 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:54,440 realm, we talked about what demons are, we talked about why 17 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,720 they attacked us and all of these different things. 18 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,360 We talked about the Nephilim. If you don't know what that is, 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,840 go listen to Part 3 of the last series that we did. 20 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,560 Now we're going to spend the next two months essentially 21 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,840 talking about the Holy Spirit. When we're done with that, we'll 22 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,080 end up talking about some of the more demonic things and how you 23 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,080 handle demonic attacks. But I'm just telling you that 24 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,800 before we get there, I don't want to introduce that before 25 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,200 you're equipped with the Holy Spirit, OK? 26 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:27,200 The Holy Spirit gets first attention in this, but I am just 27 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,800 fresh back from Guatemala and one of the things I realized 28 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,840 while I was in Guatemala this time is that my Spanish is way 29 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,320 better than it used to be. I'm not bragging, OK? 30 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:39,360 I want to be really clear about what I just said. 31 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:44,960 I didn't say my Spanish is good. I said it is better than it used 32 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:47,280 to be. Those are two very different 33 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,520 statements. But I can get around now. 34 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,240 I can order food. On the way to the airport. 35 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:53,920 I had a 40 minute conversation with Carlos, who's like one of 36 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,800 my favorite people out there. I can understand a surprising 37 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,960 amount of what people are saying to me and I can sit down and 38 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:05,560 have what I call a good enough conversation and it's going to 39 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,200 be broken. But they're going to give me 40 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,520 grace because they know I'm trying to learn their language. 41 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,800 And there's going to be moments where I don't know a word and 42 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,280 have to find another way around it. 43 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,040 And there's moments in these conversations where they say 44 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,560 something really fast and I'm like, mas despacio por favour 45 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:23,760 much more slowly. Please. 46 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,480 I know a lot of people know that song, but they shouldn't. 47 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,080 I know that there's going to be moments where I just stare at 48 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:34,440 them. And I hope that my face somehow 49 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,920 communicates that they have dramatically overestimated my 50 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:42,160 abilities because there's plenty of times that they're like, you 51 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:47,280 know, hablas espanol and I'm like UN poquito maso menos. 52 00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:49,600 And they're like, ah, and they just start going. 53 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,840 And they talk so fast when I don't know the words. 54 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,480 But I'll tell you to be able to navigate a lot of my own 55 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,200 conversations was really satisfying. 56 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,640 And I, I'll be honest with you, I felt really good about myself. 57 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:05,320 Because when you first Start learning another language, every 58 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,280 little breakthrough feels enormous. 59 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:09,480 How many of y'all are desperately clinging onto your 60 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,560 Duolingo streak? You're trying to learn a a 61 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,320 language right now. OK, so the first time you 62 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:16,920 understand a sentence without somebody translating it, you get 63 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:18,600 excited. And the first time you answer 64 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,000 somebody and they understand what you said, you get excited. 65 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:23,440 You're like, I'm ready to conquer the world in 2 66 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,040 languages. And it makes you want to learn 67 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:27,880 things. You start listening harder and 68 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:29,440 you ask people, how do you say this? 69 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,560 Como si D say you know, and you pay attention because you know 70 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,800 you need help. But eventually something 71 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:36,320 happens. And that's what I found happened 72 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,240 to me on this trip. I got good enough. 73 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,360 And what I want to start by by telling you this morning is this 74 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,200 is that good enough is pretty dangerous. 75 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:48,640 Once I realized I could have a conversation on my own, I didn't 76 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,040 feel quite as desperate for a translator or any help anymore. 77 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,680 I, I, I would have somebody standing beside me who's 78 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,080 completely fluent in Spanish and English and I could still 79 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:02,000 decide, no, I got this sort of maybe I do, Maybe I understand 80 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,320 70 or even 80% of the conversation. 81 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,560 Maybe I was able to communicate enough to get my point across, 82 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,480 but maybe everybody walks away understanding basically what I 83 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:12,880 meant. But why would I settle for 84 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,320 basically when somebody standing right next to me understands 85 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,560 everything? And I wonder if that's exactly 86 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,840 what a lot of us do at some point in our Christian life. 87 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,080 Do you remember the first time that you started following 88 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,160 Jesus? I want you to think about it. 89 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,720 I want you to remember that season where you wanted to learn 90 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,360 everything. You wanted somebody to teach you 91 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,720 how to pray. You wanted to know what the 92 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,080 Bible said and you wanted to know what it really meant. 93 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,160 You asked questions and you came to church hungry, not just out 94 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,800 of obligation. You didn't know what you were 95 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,600 doing and you and you knew you didn't know what you were doing. 96 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:51,360 So you depended on God for everything. 97 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:53,760 And then you learned some things. 98 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,520 You learned the language of church and Christianity. 99 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,160 Maybe you learned the songs. Maybe now K Love is your #1 100 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,480 radio station. You learned when to stand and 101 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:06,680 when to sit, which is a lot easier here because we're not 102 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,360 very Catholic. You learned some Bible verses, 103 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,640 you learned how Christians talk, and you learned what you're 104 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,800 supposed to say when somebody asks how you're doing. 105 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,840 How are you doing? I'm blessed, can't complain. 106 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:23,400 Wouldn't do any good anyway. Well, why is it you either have 107 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,480 to lie to us or complain? How about you can just say, oh, 108 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,720 man, it's a tough season. Like, could you pray for me? 109 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,720 That's why this morning I said, oh, thanks for asking how I'm 110 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:34,560 doing. I was disobedient to God this 111 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:39,440 morning, so I've been better, but I still got him right. 112 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,880 Maybe you learned even how to serve in a church that feels 113 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:45,240 good. You learned how to pray without 114 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,120 feeling awkward. Some of you are like, oh, you 115 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,920 lost me at that one. Don't worry, we'll be covering 116 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,120 prayer during this service or this series. 117 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,760 Some of you learned how to lead in the Kingdom and you learned 118 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,640 how to preach, and you've been doing this for maybe 20-30, 119 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,480 forty years. Congratulations. 120 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:04,240 Somewhere along the way, we all got good enough. 121 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:09,800 Good enough to make decisions without asking God, Good enough 122 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,560 to have conversations without really listening for Him. 123 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,000 Maybe we got good enough to do ministry because we've done it 124 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,200 100 times before. Or we got good enough to walk 125 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,960 into church, sing the songs, listen to the sermon, serve 126 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,760 someone while we're here, and then go home and do the next 127 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,000 thing next Sunday without ever stopping to acknowledge the one 128 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,080 who is standing beside us the entire time. 129 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:33,720 I think one of the most dangerous places that you can 130 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:35,840 reach in your Christian life is the place where you've gotten 131 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:38,640 good enough at being a Christian that you don't realize how 132 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:43,120 desperately you still need God. And guys, I wrote these words 133 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,680 like a week ago. So this morning they're a little 134 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,000 bitter as they're coming out of my mouth. 135 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,120 This is almost exactly where the disciples are when we come to 136 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,120 John 16, and hopefully you're there now. 137 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,640 I want you to understand this before I read the Scripture. 138 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,320 They have spent about three years directly with Jesus, and 139 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,640 they have learned from Him, and they have travelled with Him, 140 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,120 and they've watched Him work, and they've even gone out and 141 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,160 done ministry themselves. They are not the same confused 142 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,440 men that dropped their Nets and followed Him at the beginning. 143 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,520 They've got some season to them now. 144 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,000 They've gotten better at this. But now they're sitting with 145 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,320 Jesus on the night before the cross and He's been telling them 146 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,160 something that they do not want to hear, that He is telling them 147 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:27,600 this. He's leaving. 148 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,400 Can you imagine this? Can you imagine sitting there 149 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:32,760 walking with him for three years? 150 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,520 You left your career, you left your home. 151 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,000 You, you are now identified with him. 152 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,520 Many of them, when they are seen out in public, people recognize 153 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,720 that somebody who was with Jesus, so their whole life is 154 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,080 now defined by their companionship to this man. 155 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,160 And he's like, hey guys, I'm about to check out. 156 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,120 We get real selfish real fast, don't we? 157 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:52,200 Well, what does that mean for me? 158 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:55,480 What do I do now? Where do I go? 159 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,160 They don't understand the cross yet, they don't understand the 160 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:02,600 resurrection, and they certainly don't understand the Day of 161 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,280 Pentecost. All they know is that the person 162 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,680 they've depended on for the last three years is telling them that 163 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,640 they're going to have to keep going without him standing 164 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,400 beside them. So join me in verse 5. 165 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,920 Jesus says this. But now I am going away to the 166 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:23,280 one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I'm going. 167 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,680 Instead, you grieve because what I've told you, but in fact it is 168 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:33,120 best for you that I go away because if I don't, the advocate 169 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,720 won't come. If I do go away, then I will 170 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:41,440 send Him to you, and when he comes, he will convict the world 171 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,640 of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming 172 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,360 judgement. The world's sin is that it 173 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,200 refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available 174 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,440 because I go to the Father and you will see me no more. 175 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:56,760 That verse alone will mess you up. 176 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,840 Righteousness is available because he goes to the Father 177 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,360 and you can't see Jesus. Verse 11. 178 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:06,280 Judgement will come because the ruler of this world has already 179 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:10,600 been judged. Then he says there is so much 180 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,280 more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now. 181 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,440 I wonder how many times I've wanted to know more, but Jesus 182 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,200 in His goodness is known. I can't handle it. 183 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,920 He says when the Spirit of truth comes, He'll guide you into all 184 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,240 truth. He'll not speak on His own, but 185 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:27,880 He will tell you what He has heard. 186 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,120 He will tell you about the future. 187 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,000 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever He receives 188 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:36,800 from me. All that belongs to the Father 189 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:38,920 is mine. That is why I said the Spirit 190 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,040 will tell you whatever He receives from me. 191 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:44,200 I don't. I don't know that we understand 192 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,240 exactly how ridiculous verse 7 must have sounded to those men. 193 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,720 Verse 7, he says it's best that I go away because if I don't, 194 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,400 the advocate won't come. Maybe your translation says it's 195 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,560 better that I go away. Put yourself in their shoes 196 00:09:57,560 --> 00:09:59,120 again. I want you to imagine you have 197 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,320 been walking side by side with Jesus for three years. 198 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:04,880 Not only are you trying to wrap your head around this fact that 199 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,160 he says I'm about to go, but he looks at you and he says, hey, 200 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,880 I'm about to leave you and it's going to be better for you that 201 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:16,480 I do. Is it, is it better? 202 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,800 How many of you would love to have Jesus walking next to you 203 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:22,520 24 hours a day through your life? 204 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:25,120 Come on, Mike, you're in church, right? 205 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,440 So all of us, right? We all want Jesus walking 206 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,080 through life with us. And Jesus says it's better that 207 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:34,400 I don't. You know why? 208 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:35,960 Because here's what that would look like. 209 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:38,080 Whoa. That really offended me. 210 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:39,440 Jesus. What do you want me to do? 211 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:41,160 You went. Should I? 212 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:42,600 I'll. I'll forgive him now. 213 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,440 OK, Jesus, look at all these people. 214 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:46,840 Who do you want me to go and pray for? 215 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,600 Tell me and I'll go do it. OK, Jesus, what should I do with 216 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,280 my day now? Should I? 217 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:55,320 I know you don't want me on Netflix, OK? 218 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:58,120 Right. We would go to him and say, what 219 00:10:58,120 --> 00:10:59,760 do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? 220 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,720 What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? 221 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,760 We would want to sacrifice the free will that God so 222 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,120 intentionally placed inside of us because we want somebody to 223 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:11,720 tell us every single move to make. 224 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,560 Now, prayer is important. Don't hear what I'm not saying. 225 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,560 Prayer is important, especially over big things, for healing and 226 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:21,840 for miracles, for your job, for your finances, for the direction 227 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:23,560 of your family. There's a lot of things that you 228 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:26,040 need to go to Him in prayer for, but He equips you with the 229 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,840 wisdom so that you can then utilize that wisdom to carry out 230 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:31,680 His will. Because the closer you get to 231 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,960 Jesus, the more that you become like Him, the more that these 232 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:39,040 small things do convict you. We would trade the Holy Spirit 233 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,120 for Jesus. Most of us would, if we're being 234 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,040 honest, because we want Jesus to walk with us through life. 235 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,040 But he says it's better for the Holy Spirit to come. 236 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:51,000 One translation, and I love it. I love it, I love it. 237 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,360 I love it how it says it. When he says it's better for me 238 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:58,040 to go away, the translation says it is to your advantage that I 239 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:02,400 go away. Not even to God's advantage, not 240 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,320 even God's preference. It is to your advantage that 241 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,800 Jesus is not walking this earth today. 242 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:13,960 Isn't that a wild thought? Peter has watched Jesus walk on 243 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,480 water. John watched him raise the dead. 244 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,880 They have seen blind eyes opened and they have seen demons on the 245 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:23,880 run. They have been caught in storms 246 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,240 where they were convinced they were going to die and Jesus just 247 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:32,320 stood up and told the wind dog whisperer right when they didn't 248 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:34,320 understand something, they could ask him. 249 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:36,240 And you know what Jesus would do? 250 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:41,240 He'd answer him when they got something wrong, they could look 251 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:42,480 at him and you know what he would do? 252 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:44,720 He would correct them when they were afraid. 253 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,880 He was there to give them confidence and boldness. 254 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:50,840 And when they didn't know what to do, they would look at Jesus. 255 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:52,960 And now he's telling them, you're going to be better off 256 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:57,760 without me once I leave. I want you to think about that 257 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,760 for a second. If you could wake up tomorrow 258 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:05,400 morning and have Jesus sitting at the kitchen table, we'd love 259 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,840 it. But the Spirit that's living 260 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,520 inside of your chest, believer, is to your advantage. 261 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:16,800 Today's sermon is called the Forgotten Advantage because this 262 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,040 is the advantage that we act like we don't have. 263 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:21,800 I don't have it in my notes, but if you'd like a good book, 264 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:27,920 Francis Chan Forgotten God. It's probably my favorite 265 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:29,840 Francis Chan book I've ever read. 266 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:35,280 The subtitle to To Forgotten God is Reversing the Tragic Neglect 267 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,360 of the Holy Spirit because God gets a whole lot of praise in 268 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,080 church. Jesus gets a whole lot of 269 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:42,560 praise. We got this cross up here. 270 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:46,720 The Holy Spirit, though, the Holy Spirit is the part of God, 271 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,680 is God's manifestation here on this earth inside of you and I. 272 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,240 And the Holy Spirit gets slept on way too much. 273 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,080 I want you all to know some things are going to change 274 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,720 around here at Liberty Church because we're going to be making 275 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,440 room for the Holy Spirit in some different ways. 276 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:02,240 And I don't know all the ways it's going to look like yet 277 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,480 because I'm not going to create it, but I'm asking for you to 278 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:07,880 intercede and to pray. And I'm interceding and praying. 279 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:10,960 And I'm asking God, how do you want this church to look? 280 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,640 How do you want us to handle prayer even after service? 281 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:15,400 How do you want us to handle prayer in general? 282 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:17,840 How do you want us to handle intimacy with you when we're 283 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:19,080 alone? And how do you want us to handle 284 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,160 intimacy with you when we're as a a group? 285 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:23,680 We're going to figure this out and we're going to grow closer 286 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,840 to the Holy Spirit because we are still at war and we are 287 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,480 still under attack. Our families and our minds are 288 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,040 under attack. Our bodies are under attack and 289 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,320 y'all can fight it on your own if you want to, but I'm running 290 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,840 to the Holy Spirit. He gave me an advantage in this 291 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,280 war. This morning I neglected it. 292 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:47,280 Ain't going to happen again. The problem is that a lot of 293 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,280 Christians have forgotten how powerful this is, and some of us 294 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,640 grew up in churches where nobody talked about the Holy Spirit at 295 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:53,600 all. Show of hands. 296 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:55,960 Holy Spirit was almost never mentioned growing up. 297 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,440 OK, now what if you grew up in a place where the Holy Spirit was 298 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,960 talked about constantly, but it was mostly talked about in 299 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,680 connection with weird manifestations. 300 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:08,400 Anybody. OK, all right, The Holy Spirit 301 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,360 can become either the person nobody talks about or the person 302 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,320 that everybody is a little nervous to talk about, unless we 303 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,920 get this right. So let's get this right. 304 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,720 Before we ever talk about the Holy Spirit's gifts, before we 305 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,880 talk about prophecy or healing or miracles or tongues, before 306 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,120 we talk about any of the things that tend to make Christians 307 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,520 start arguing with each other. God loves that, by the way. 308 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,120 We're going to start somewhere much more important. 309 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,360 Before the Holy Spirit is an experience you can have. 310 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:40,000 He's a person that you can know. And I want to talk about who he 311 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,600 is today. If Jesus says that having the 312 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,400 Holy Spirit is to our advantage, then maybe the first question we 313 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:46,760 need to answer is the simplest one. 314 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000 Who exactly is with you throughout the day? 315 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:52,600 Who's with you? Emphasis on the word who? 316 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,960 Because a big part of our problem is we spent a long time 317 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,200 talking about the Holy Spirit in a way that makes him sound more 318 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,360 like the Force from Star Wars than a person. 319 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,760 I want you to think about this and how many times you say it or 320 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:07,680 hear it because I say all these things. 321 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,560 We say things like the Spirit was really strong in church 322 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:13,040 today. I know what we mean when we say 323 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:14,920 that. But if we're not careful, we can 324 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,320 start talking about the Holy Spirit like he's the Wi-Fi. 325 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,440 There was a really good signal to God this morning. 326 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,280 We talk about wanting more of the Spirit, like he's gasoline 327 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:27,600 and we're trying to fill the tank. 328 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,680 And we talk about feeling the Spirit, experiencing the Spirit, 329 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:32,560 being moved by the Spirit. And all of those things can 330 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:34,760 describe something that really happens in church. 331 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,120 But if that's the only language we ever use, then eventually we 332 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,760 can forget that we're talking about somebody. 333 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,760 And just so you know, that is not how Jesus ever talked about 334 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:45,920 the Holy Spirit. Listen to this. 335 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,280 John 14 verses 15 through 17 says this. 336 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,000 If you love me, obey my commandments. 337 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:54,120 Now listen to how He speaks to the Holy Spirit. 338 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,680 He says, and I'll ask the Father, and he will give you 339 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,080 another advocate who will never leave you. 340 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,400 He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. 341 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,920 The world cannot receive Him because it isn't looking for Him 342 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:11,160 and doesn't recognize Him, but you know Him because He lives 343 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,560 with you now and later will be in you. 344 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,920 Well, first of all, not in my notes, but because of my 345 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,240 experience this morning. Listen to how that's connected. 346 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,599 If you love me, obey my commandments and I will ask the 347 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:23,040 the Father and he'll send the Holy Spirit to you. 348 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,319 When you're disobedient to Him, the Spirit does not rush in to 349 00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:29,840 equip you. And so a lot of times we're busy 350 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,880 fighting these things that we're disobedient in and we're asking 351 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,360 God why he's not showing up, but we're not even taking the little 352 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,600 bit of gumption that we've got on our own and using it to be 353 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,480 obedient to Him. But what is in my notes is this, 354 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,640 I want you to notice the language that Jesus chooses to 355 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,200 use here. He is the Holy Spirit, He leads 356 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:52,000 into all truth. You know him, He lives with you, 357 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,960 He will be in you. Do do you hear how personal this 358 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:57,840 is? He's introducing his disciples 359 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:01,120 to a person. And I know that that word can 360 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:04,080 make it a little confusing because when I say person, a lot 361 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,440 of times we normally mean a human being when we say that. 362 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:08,960 That's not what I mean when I say the Holy Spirit is a person. 363 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:11,880 I mean He has the characteristics of personhood. 364 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,960 Here's what I mean. He is not an impersonal power 365 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,760 coming out from God. He knows things, He wills 366 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,800 things, He speaks, He teaches, He leads, He can be obeyed, He 367 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,280 can be resisted, and Scripture says that he can be grieved. 368 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:33,880 You cannot grieve electricity. You don't have a relationship 369 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:36,560 with Wi-Fi. If you do, there's some 370 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:42,960 counselling available, but you don't hurt the Wi-fi's feelings 371 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,960 when you ignore it. The Holy Spirit is not God's 372 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,480 supernatural energy. He is someone that you can know. 373 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:52,680 And Jesus keeps talking this way. 374 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,320 Listen to this verse 25. He says, I'm telling you these 375 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,160 things now while I'm still with you. 376 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,840 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative, 377 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:06,120 that is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you everything and 378 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,720 will remind you of everything I have told you. 379 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,960 He teaches you, He reminds you. So you think about what Jesus is 380 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,360 promising these men when for those three years they could 381 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:21,120 just go to Jesus when they needed a refresher or an answer. 382 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,000 And Jesus is saying this Spirit that's going to dwell within you 383 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:25,880 will do all of those things and more. 384 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,480 So same thing for us. A lot of times we get down on 385 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:30,640 ourselves. Have you ever read through the 386 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:32,120 Bible? And and you're like, man, I've 387 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:34,880 read this three times before, Like, why can't I remember this? 388 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:39,560 Ask the Holy Spirit, He will remind you when, whenever I read 389 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:42,040 the Bible and I, I read through it with my kids right now, this 390 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,240 is my season where in the morning we do this and we take 391 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,320 turns praying. I always put my hands on the 392 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,200 word. Not that you need to do that. 393 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,120 They're not magic hands, but I do. 394 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,920 And I ask God to please speak to me through His Word. 395 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,240 I don't want to just read it to retain it. 396 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,440 There's a lot of people that have scriptures memorized and no 397 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,280 relationship with the Lord. So I asked the Lord to speak to 398 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,280 me through His Word. And I'm just going to be 399 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:08,200 vulnerable up here because I already told you I'm a Sinner. 400 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,440 You already think I'm weird. So I'll just tell you this. 401 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:16,240 A lot of time, maybe 60% of the time, maybe up to 70% of the 402 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,320 time in the morning, I get tingles in my arms. 403 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,440 I'll just be honest with you. And I know He's not static 404 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,080 electricity, OK. But I'm just telling you that I 405 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:30,560 want so desperately to hear from him, and I know that he dwells 406 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,120 within the words of these pages. It's not the only place he 407 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:36,200 dwells. I want him so much. 408 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,880 How bad do you want him? How bad are you willing to 409 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:47,960 pursue Him? I'm afraid that so often we talk 410 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,760 about the Holy Spirit almost exclusively in terms of what 411 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:53,520 happens in a church service, that we associate him with 412 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,800 moments or altar calls or feelings that we get. 413 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,400 The Holy Spirit is not just present when you feel something. 414 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,960 And I need you to know that in the same way that you can be 415 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,600 around your kids and sometimes you're like, I can't believe 416 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:08,040 that God chose me to be your dad. 417 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,200 And then there's other days where you're like, oh, you still 418 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:16,040 live here. All right, Be honest in your 419 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:17,200 marriage. There's days where you're like, 420 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:18,840 I'm so in love with you. And then there's days where 421 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,720 you're like, did you pay the bill or do you need me to? 422 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,080 Right. There's just, there's days like 423 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,120 this. Just because you don't feel it 424 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,440 doesn't mean he's not there. The Holy Spirit promises to 425 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,800 dwell within you, to live within you, to guide you and to teach 426 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,400 you and to remind you. And if you allow your feelings 427 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,320 to be the arbiter of whether or not he's there, you're going to 428 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:38,560 start acting like he's not there. 429 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,680 And do you know what that is? That's relational neglect. 430 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:45,080 He is with you when you're reading your Bible and suddenly 431 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,400 something that you've read 20 times starts to make sense. 432 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,720 But I want you to know He's also with you when you're tempted, 433 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,120 and he is with you when you are hurting, whether you turn to him 434 00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:54,680 or not. He is with you when you're 435 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,080 making a decision and you desperately wish that Jesus 436 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,560 would just sit down across the table and tell you what to do. 437 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,480 This is exactly the point. Because Jesus knew that his 438 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,320 disciples were about to lose the ability to sit across the table 439 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,040 from him, and he told them that they weren't going to lose 440 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:11,720 access to God. He said you are losing access to 441 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,280 this particular relational dynamic, but you will not lose 442 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,400 your access to the will of God. And I want every single believer 443 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,360 here to know this today. No matter where you are, you 444 00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:22,920 have not lost your access to God. 445 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,880 If you hunger and you thirst for him and you want him to change 446 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,120 you, you have access. That door is wide open. 447 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:30,600 We're going to walk through that door over this series. 448 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,320 But I want to make one more thing clear, because when I call 449 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,040 the Holy Spirit a person, I don't mean he's another 450 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,600 spiritual being somewhere beneath God. 451 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:43,480 The Holy Spirit is not God's assistant, He's not the one 452 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,800 taking messages for him, He isn't the third place member of 453 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,160 the Trinity and gets whatever jobs the Father and the Son 454 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,520 don't want. The Holy Spirit is God. 455 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,440 The Holy Spirit living within you means God himself lives 456 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,320 within you. Throughout scripture, the Holy 457 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,280 Spirit does what only God can do. 458 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,000 I'm just going to give you a quick rundown. 459 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,240 It says that he is eternal, that he is everywhere, that he knows 460 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,960 the mind of God. Do you all right then, It says 461 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,640 that he gives life. It says in Acts 5, when Ananias 462 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,560 lies to the Holy Spirit, Peter tells him that he lied to God. 463 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,520 And when we say that the Holy Spirit lives in you, don't let 464 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,320 familiarity with that sentence make you miss how enormous it is 465 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,560 that the God of all creation chooses to make your heart his 466 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,560 abode. It's not a piece of God, it's 467 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,360 God. It's like the ocean being 468 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,680 crammed into a glass from your cabinet. 469 00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:41,800 That's how God has worked this out, bigger on the inside if 470 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:45,520 you're a nerd. John, chapter 16, verse 12. 471 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,240 I'm going to go back here again because this is important. 472 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,800 He says there's so much more I want to tell you, but you can't 473 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,200 bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, 474 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,040 He'll guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, 475 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,240 but He'll tell you what he's heard. 476 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,120 He'll tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by 477 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:05,000 telling you whatever He receives from me. 478 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,080 So everything the Holy Spirit tells you comes straight from 479 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,600 the lips of Jesus. And listen to this verse 15. 480 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:12,760 All that belongs to the Father's mind. 481 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,200 And This is why I said the Spirit will tell you whatever He 482 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,720 receives from me. He speaks and He guides and He 483 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:20,840 reveals. And everything that the Holy 484 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,800 Spirit does points us back to Jesus. 485 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,680 And that is going to become incredibly important next week. 486 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,920 And I'll tell you why. Because next week we're going to 487 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:30,600 talk about hearing the Holy Spirit. 488 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,360 Because not every thought that pops into your head comes from 489 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:35,480 God. Not everything that somebody 490 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,800 puts God told me in front of actually came from God. 491 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,720 I don't know if I'm giving you breaking news on that. 492 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,600 Jesus gives us a starting point right here, and we'll spend a 493 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,640 lot more time on that next week because one of the number one 494 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,600 questions I get asked by people is how do I know if this is God 495 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,360 or if it's just me or if it's the enemy? 496 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:53,600 And we're going to talk about how to hear the voice of God 497 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,480 next week. But for today, I really want you 498 00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,760 to recognize what Jesus is saying. 499 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,400 You are not alone, and maybe you already knew that. 500 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,640 Maybe you believe the Holy Spirit you know is active your 501 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:10,600 entire life. Maybe you could explain the 502 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,520 Trinity or pass the theology test about him. 503 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,120 But there's a big difference in believing that someone exists 504 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:16,880 and living like someone is with you. 505 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,760 And I believe that translators existed while I was in Guatemala 506 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:22,680 too. But if one was standing beside 507 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,400 me and I never listened to them, I never asked them for anything. 508 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,120 I never acknowledged them. I just kept stumbling through 509 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:30,480 every conversation with my good enough Spanish. 510 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:32,920 Their presence wouldn't change very much about the way that I 511 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,440 operated down there, right? And if you don't lean on the 512 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,960 Holy Spirit, your Christianese is just not going to get you 513 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,400 that far. When I was in Guatemala, I had 514 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:42,840 one of those moments that was really funny. 515 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:47,160 After I knew I was OK, we were at the missionary compound up in 516 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,840 Kiche, and I was walking through this field and I was watching a 517 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,240 rooster because I was showing my daughter on her first time down 518 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:54,520 in Guatemala. This is the rooster. 519 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,600 And you have to watch Roosters because I want to get packed. 520 00:25:57,640 --> 00:25:59,800 I have this bad thing about getting attacked by birds. 521 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,400 So, you know, it's mostly geese because they're just mean. 522 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,320 But there's this rooster and as we're walking, I'm walking with 523 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,440 my daughter and there's, I don't even know why it's there. 524 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,040 There's this big metal set of bars and it's like, it looks 525 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:12,960 like monkey bars that would maybe be on a playground. 526 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:14,200 I'm sure there's a practical use. 527 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,440 I only found impractical uses for it. 528 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,520 And it's about this tall. So I'm walking and this rooster 529 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,240 is going this way. And I'm like, yeah, nice try. 530 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,640 So I duck under and we walk this way. 531 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,000 And as I get towards the end, I stand back up. 532 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,720 You know what the problem is? On this end of the the monkey 533 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,960 bars or whatever they are, it's about this tall. 534 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,280 On this end, it's about this tall. 535 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:40,760 And I'm wearing a hat, so I'm looking at this rooster so I 536 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,240 don't get packed. I didn't get packed, by the way, 537 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:44,520 just in case you were worried about me. 538 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,200 The bill of my hat is covering anything in front of me. 539 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,640 But I already know how high the bars are because I've already 540 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,640 been here. And as I lift my head up, I walk 541 00:26:54,920 --> 00:27:01,080 nose first into the bar, right? I don't know if Jonah's in here, 542 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,560 but I'm just telling you, Jonah, he not only saw it, he heard it. 543 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,280 He was out there doing a Bible study. 544 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,640 And it was like a looney tune sound effect, like when a, when 545 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:16,720 a when a bell gets rung and my bell got rung, blood started 546 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:18,400 gushing out of both sides of my nose. 547 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,880 I went, oh, my gosh. So I'm an American. 548 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:25,640 I pull out my phone. I take a picture of the blood on 549 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:30,920 my hands. True story. 550 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,040 I texted to a couple people. I'm like, I just walked into a, 551 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:35,440 a metal bar. I need prayers. 552 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,680 And then I go and I try to stop the bleeding and I'm looking at 553 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:41,600 it. I'm like, man, it's going to 554 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,880 bruise up. I probably broke my nose. 555 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,960 I don't think I did break it, but I'll tell you this, blood 556 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,320 came out of my nose when I when I blew my nose for the rest of 557 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,160 the week and it crackled for about 6 days whenever I blow my 558 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:56,160 nose. That's a little weird. 559 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:01,720 I'm sure it's fine honestly. A couple days later there were 560 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,560 some people on the trip that said they could see a little 561 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,240 black and blue right here and that was about it. 562 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:07,560 I had trouble seeing it. I don't still to this day. 563 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,040 I don't know if they were just messing with me, but it's 564 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:11,680 definitely bruised up. It still hurts. 565 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:14,400 Why do I share that with you other than I've already made 566 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,160 myself look dumb today? The problem wasn't that I wasn't 567 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,520 paying attention to something that was already present. 568 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,800 The problem is that I assumed I already knew everything that was 569 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,160 present. I'm obviously not trying to 570 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,280 compare the Holy Spirit to a steel bar that hits you in the 571 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,000 face. Although if you've ever 572 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:36,640 experienced the conviction of God right, I just don't want you 573 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,920 to tell people that the theology of liberty is that the Holy 574 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:40,520 Spirit's like a metal bar that hits you. 575 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:47,280 His rod and his staff do comfort you, but I do think there is 576 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,840 something about awareness. Something doesn't become less 577 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,120 real just because you're not paying attention to it. 578 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,080 The bar was just as real before I hit it as it was afterward, 579 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,600 even though it felt a whole lot more real to me afterwards. 580 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,480 The only thing that really changed is I became more aware 581 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,280 of that bar. The Holy Spirit is real. 582 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,640 He is near, He's accessible. He wants you to communicate with 583 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:11,320 Him. And just because you haven't 584 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,760 felt anything or heard anything yet doesn't mean he's not there. 585 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,000 And I need you to know that. What do you do with that, right? 586 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:19,960 I don't want us to leave this morning agreeing that the Holy 587 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,480 Spirit's a person, that he's God and agreeing that he lives in 588 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:23,680 you. And then go through the next six 589 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:25,520 days exactly like the last six days. 590 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,360 I want it to be different. So we start by doing something 591 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:30,720 really incredibly simple. And I would encourage you to do 592 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,960 this. Practice his presence. 593 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,600 Practice his presence. You're like, oh, good. 594 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:36,760 Pastor Blake, what does that mean? 595 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,400 Well, I'm glad you asked. I don't mean you have to 596 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,320 manufacture some sort of spiritual feeling. 597 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,400 I don't mean that you have to put worship music on wherever 598 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,880 you go. I don't mean that you have to 599 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:51,080 spend all day trying to feel like something is happening 600 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:52,840 inside of you. Here's what it means. 601 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,840 Tomorrow morning when you wake up, before you get buried in 602 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,200 everything waiting for you, I want you to take a minute and 603 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,160 acknowledge Him. There's there's some people I've 604 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,320 met before that say I have to spend an hour with the Holy 605 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,040 Spirit in prayer before I even touch my coffee. 606 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,240 God bless those Saints. I ain't got it in me. 607 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,760 But you know, what I do have in me is to acknowledge Him first 608 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,200 and foremost. He's the one you should 609 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:22,360 acknowledge when you wake up, Holy Spirit. 610 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:27,520 Make me more aware of you today. Good morning, Holy Spirit. 611 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,040 It's a pretty decent book too, even if the author got a little 612 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,440 weird eventually. Tomorrow morning when you wake 613 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,320 up, don't get buried in everything. 614 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,920 Greet him. Ask to become aware of His 615 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,280 presence. Yes, you can go eat your coffee 616 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,720 and then sit with Him. I understand how simple it 617 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,920 sounds, but there's good news for you. 618 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,760 It really is much more simple than you think to connect with 619 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,960 the Holy Spirit. Then I want you to start taking 620 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,280 that into the ordinary parts of your day. 621 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,800 Before you walk into a meeting, I want you to acknowledge Him. 622 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:01,960 Before you have a conversation that you've been dreading, 623 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,200 acknowledge that he is present with you. 624 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,360 Before you respond to the text message that made you angry 625 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:08,880 because it kicked you right in the pride. 626 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,840 Definitely acknowledge him before you walk into a doctor's 627 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,520 office or before you pick up the kids from school, before you 628 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,000 make that decision or sit down to study or you walk into a 629 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:20,840 room. The same way that I put my hands 630 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,160 on this, right? I'm not saying go to that hard 631 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:25,280 conversation and lay hands on them, right? 632 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,920 What I'm saying is acknowledge Him in all of your situations. 633 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:31,640 I'm about to make this meal for my family. 634 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:35,360 Lord, I know you're with me. I'm about to go and talk to the 635 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,640 kids because they didn't do fill in the blank. 636 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,560 I'm sure you have options. Lord, be with me while I talk to 637 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,400 them because they need you to be with me, right? 638 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:44,840 Acknowledge Him. It's very simple. 639 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,920 Many of us, if we pray once a day, it is once a day. 640 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,520 And your prayer does not have to be long. 641 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,400 You can carry His presence with you in a way that you recognize 642 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:59,400 no matter where you go. And by the way, let me speak to 643 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,680 many of us today. You are going to forget to do 644 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,200 this. I promise you that you're going 645 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:05,920 to forget. Some of us are going to remember 646 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,280 this tomorrow morning and then completely forget about the Holy 647 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,960 Spirit until Thursday afternoon. I don't want you to turn this 648 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,400 into one more spiritual discipline that you get to feel 649 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:16,800 guilty about failing. It ain't about you. 650 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,240 It's about Him. And if you talk to him seven 651 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,400 times this week, but you talked to him once last week, that's a 652 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,440 really big increase in productivity. 653 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,480 Keep trying. Ask the Holy Spirit when you do 654 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,160 talk to him to remind you. God, could you just give me like 655 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,840 a Holy Spirit snooze alarm? Some of us need that. 656 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:37,840 What is it? Every 7 minutes or 9 minutes? 657 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:39,720 Is that what it is? It's like the most inconvenient 658 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:41,880 time period. Yeah, that's what we need. 659 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,960 God, it doesn't need to be convenient for me, but I do need 660 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:46,960 to hear from you. So speak to me. 661 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,600 I just want you to know that you can change who you are when you 662 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,440 become aware of His presence. It's already there. 663 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,440 It's not like the longer you serve the Lord or the better 664 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,800 that you know Him, that He's just sitting richly there. 665 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,320 Like some of us have a 93% concentration bubble and some of 666 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:07,280 us have a 5% and we're trying to earn more of Him. 667 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,960 He is there and He's accessible. And if there are parts of your 668 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,720 life that you want changed or gone or you want to to 669 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,080 completely eradicate, He can help you do it. 670 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,560 But you've got to start by acknowledging that He exists. 671 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,720 He's a person, and He is right there with you. 672 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,080 I want you to think about your own personal life and the things 673 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,120 that you wish were different. What could change about your 674 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,240 life if you actually began living with an awareness that 675 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,280 God is with you? I mean this everyday. 676 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,040 Maybe for some of us, the biggest change that we need to 677 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:37,960 make this week is just remembering that we're not 678 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,480 supposed to be doing these things alone. 679 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:42,480 One of the things I kept hearing in my mind this morning, I 680 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,960 texted it to a friend. I said I should be better than 681 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,320 this by now. I can't believe that I failed 682 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:49,840 God like this. I should know better. 683 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,640 I'm supposed to be an example. Do you hear how many eyes are in 684 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,600 that? So when you forget, when you 685 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,200 fail, you just ask for Him to come in and to help equip you. 686 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:04,720 Again, I don't know everything that we're going to discover 687 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,000 together over the next several weeks, but I do know this much. 688 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,960 If Jesus believed that the Holy Spirit was so important that he 689 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,000 could look at his disciples and tell them that they're better 690 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,239 off when the Holy Spirit came, I don't want to spend another day 691 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:19,120 treating His presence like it's an interesting piece of 692 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,199 Christian theology or some add on to my spiritual package. 693 00:34:23,679 --> 00:34:25,199 Now that being said, why is it better? 694 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:27,440 Let's talk about why this is better. 695 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,840 I think now we have to go back to the question we started with. 696 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,440 I don't think we should let Jesus off the hook too easily 697 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,320 here. He's OK to be questioned and 698 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,199 chased down if you have a good motive. 699 00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:42,000 And so when he says I'm going to send you some help and it's best 700 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,560 that I go away if I'm sitting at that table, I got questions. 701 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,120 I understand that the Holy Spirit is God and He's a person, 702 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:54,440 but back here in John 14, I want you to take a look at this, 703 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,800 specifically verse 20. He says, when I'm raised to life 704 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:04,000 again, you know that I'm in my Father and you are in me and I 705 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,360 am in you. All right, this is like one of 706 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,560 those math problems that we all loved when we were in school. 707 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,600 Let's pay attention to this. So all right, so we know that 708 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,840 Jesus is in the Father and it says you are in Jesus. 709 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:17,960 So we're like those little Russian nesting dolls, right? 710 00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:20,000 So here's the Father and here's Jesus. 711 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,880 And inside Jesus is you visualize this, OK, But he says 712 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,520 he's in you. How does that work? 713 00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:32,200 If it is like that and it's not exactly, but just roll with it, 714 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,840 OK, All right, You've got God the Father, then you've got 715 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,920 Jesus who's in the Father, and then he says that you're in 716 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,440 Jesus. So you're layered up, right? 717 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,080 You've got God the Father and God the Son right there covering 718 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:45,440 you. And then inside of you is the 719 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,320 Holy Spirit who only tells you what comes from Jesus. 720 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,480 You're surrounded by God the Father and God the Son, and God 721 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:52,840 the Holy Spirit lives within you. 722 00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:56,360 You are completely encompassed within and without. 723 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:00,360 Do you understand how beautiful? You don't understand. 724 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,880 You are covered in spiritual bubble wrap so that when you 725 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:08,600 trip through life you, it is God that takes the hit for you. 726 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:10,720 That's the whole thing we talked about with Communion. 727 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,760 He's the one who is with you. He goes through every scenario 728 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:16,920 with you and if you really belonged to him, you couldn't 729 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,360 escape him if you wanted to. Because even if you got out of 730 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:20,720 that Russian nesking dog, guess what? 731 00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:22,040 Ha ha, Holy Spirit's inside of you. 732 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:26,080 That whole illustration is not my notes. 733 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,920 I hope it worked. So think about how amazing this 734 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:31,720 is. I'm also going to go back to 735 00:36:31,720 --> 00:36:35,320 this because in verse 17, at the end of it, He said you know him. 736 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:37,600 He's telling you about the Holy Spirit, but he says you know Him 737 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,080 because He lives with you now and later will be in you. 738 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,280 Some of us know God well enough that we've always recognized 739 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,840 that there's a presence of God on this earth and He's been with 740 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,120 us, but we haven't yet experienced him in US. 741 00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:55,040 Even the disciples here, Jesus said it's better because you 742 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,640 know him. He's with you right now, but 743 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:01,200 later he'll be in you. OK, this was something that they 744 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:06,080 had never ever experienced God in them, and Jesus is telling 745 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,720 them that the presence of God is about to become closer than it 746 00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:10,880 was when Jesus was sitting at a table with them. 747 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,360 That's pretty close. Jesus came to earth as a man, 748 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,120 and I want you to understand this theologically. 749 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,560 While he walked the earth as Jesus, Scripture says that He 750 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,280 was fully God and fully human. Here's what that means. 751 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:27,080 When he took on humanity, He willingly lived within the 752 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,960 limitations of a human body. He reduced himself to you. 753 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:35,040 And here's what that means. When Jesus was sitting with 754 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,120 Peter in Capernaum, he was not physically sitting with somebody 755 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,760 in Jerusalem, not until he was resurrected. 756 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,920 When he was teaching a crowd in Galilee, he wasn't physically 757 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,320 teaching another crowd in Rome. And if you wanted to physically 758 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:50,360 stand beside Jesus, you had to be where Jesus was. 759 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,880 And there were twelve of them. Think about that. 760 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:56,760 Out of everybody that desperately wanted to be around 761 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:58,440 him all the time, 12 of them got it. 762 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,080 And eventually Jesus is going to tell these men to take the 763 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,600 gospel to the entire world. So how exactly are 12 people 764 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,760 supposed to do that if the presence of the ministry of 765 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,240 Jesus is going to remain geographically to wherever His 766 00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:15,600 physical body happens to be? Jesus knew another thing that 767 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,280 they couldn't see yet. He was going to go away. 768 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,880 He knew he would die. He knew he would rise again and 769 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,640 that he would return to the Father, and then the Holy Spirit 770 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,520 would come. And not simply to stand beside 771 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,480 the church, but to live inside the people who make up the 772 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:33,760 church. I didn't plan on doing this, so 773 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:35,760 sorry to the capture team if you're in here, but I'm going to 774 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,640 do it. I don't know. 775 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,040 Can I just get 3 people up here? Don't push each other. 776 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,000 It's not Black Friday. Come on. 777 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,720 Just three. OK. 778 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:46,880 All right. Cool. 779 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,080 This is how amazing this really is. 780 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,040 This is the forgotten advantage. So check this out. 781 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,880 We're going to we're going to call them Peter, James and John. 782 00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:00,640 No, no, no, Peter, James and John, you're more emotional than 783 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,480 these guys. So, so fits, right? 784 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:08,400 OK, little Bible humor. This is how cool it is when 785 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:12,360 Jesus is walking the earth. They're learning from him and 786 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,720 he's going around and he's like ministering to these people one 787 00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:16,200 at a time, one at a time, one at a time. 788 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,560 He says it is to your advantage. Now here's one of the scriptures 789 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:21,120 that trips me up. Maybe it trips you up too. 790 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:24,280 Do you remember when Jesus says you'll go on to do greater works 791 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,360 than I did? How many of y'all are like, 792 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:31,680 sure, you have to say that because you love me like I have 793 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:33,320 trouble disciplining my children. 794 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,160 Surely I'm not going to do more than you did. 795 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:36,480 Jesus. No, no, he's talking about 796 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,360 collectively we are his body. OK, so we are his body and 797 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:41,440 collectively we're going to do more. 798 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,040 You know why? Because even Jesus, when he 799 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,640 walked the earth, reduced himself to a human frame and 800 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:47,960 ministered one-on-one. Ministered to the crowds. 801 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:52,480 But now guess what, Peter, I want you to go and take my 802 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,480 gospel over to the front row. You see that woman right there? 803 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,200 She really needs Jesus. OK, take it to her. 804 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,880 All right? Peter gets crucified upside down 805 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:03,000 eventually. Don't tell him. 806 00:40:03,240 --> 00:40:08,760 All right, James, I need you to take the gospel over here, 807 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,400 right? You see that woman right there? 808 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:13,280 She really needs Jesus. OK. 809 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:14,520 Can you do this? I will. 810 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:15,680 You're on mission. Fly. 811 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:16,800 Fly. OK. 812 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:18,960 And over here. Do I have? 813 00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:21,200 To cry. You don't have to cry now. 814 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:27,880 Now we got John, you're, you're not going to get martyred like 815 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,520 the rest of them. You'll just get boiled in oil 816 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:30,560 alive. And then you'll sit on the 817 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:32,800 island of Patmos and write the Book of Revelation, Really freak 818 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:38,360 out a lot of people. But listen, this is what 819 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:39,920 happens. I want you to check this out. 820 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,840 Go back to your seat, Miss Judy. And here's the what's cool. 821 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:45,560 Michael's right there. Chris is right there. 822 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:48,360 Miss Judy's right there. Whereas there was one person 823 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,480 carrying the gospel all around Jerusalem. 824 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:53,560 Now those three are out. But wait, there's more. 825 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,480 There's actually 11 successful disciples. 826 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:58,320 We don't talk about Judas, right? 827 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:01,800 He's like Bruno, we don't talk about him. 828 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:03,360 Eleven of them went out to do more. 829 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,760 And even outside of that 11, there's more because everybody 830 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,160 that those 11 disciples ministered to now gets to learn 831 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,320 who Jesus is. And through Jesus they gain 832 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,800 access to what? The Holy Spirit. 833 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,880 So now everyone of you that knows the Lord carries the Holy 834 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:19,920 Spirit. Look at what the Lord has raised 835 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:24,440 up in this building today. I mean, look around how many of 836 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:26,920 you are going to encounter people that I won't this week? 837 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:29,720 How many of you are going to have conversations that I 838 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:32,520 wouldn't even be welcomed in? And I know this because most of 839 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,960 the time when I meet somebody and they say, So what do you do? 840 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:36,720 Which happens early in the conversation. 841 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,720 It's a it's a guy thing. And I say, well, I'm a pastor. 842 00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:45,440 I either get, Oh, I think God sent you here and then they just 843 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,000 throw up all their issues, right? 844 00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,760 Or I get so sorry for the words that I used earlier. 845 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,800 No, it's OK. I'm not Jesus himself. 846 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:58,080 But would you like to know about Him? 847 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,520 Some people don't want to talk to somebody when they know that 848 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:05,200 they are a pastor, but they'll talk to a Marine, they'll talk 849 00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,520 to a clinician, they'll talk to somebody who works for UPS, 850 00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:13,040 they'll talk for whatever. They're willing to talk to 851 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,320 people who they encounter through the ordinary places in 852 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,440 life. And that is how the gospel has 853 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,160 always spread. I talk about this in the Next 854 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,760 Steps class, but a lot of times people will ask me, why don't 855 00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:25,800 you do an altar call at the end of all your services? 856 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,280 Well #1 the Scripture doesn't tell us to do that. 857 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:33,200 Number 2, churches for decades have done a great disservice to 858 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,520 their people by doing a giant altar call saying, why don't you 859 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:37,960 just come up here, Terry, at the altar? 860 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,280 We'll play the most emotional music that we can play. 861 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,160 And you'll cry and it'll really feel real. 862 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:46,760 And then we'll go home and we'll say good job us. 863 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:49,240 But there's no discipleship to it. 864 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,600 There's no impartation of the Holy Spirit. 865 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:55,960 There's no further steps needed. Then even when we do an altar 866 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:57,720 call here, you can ask the leadership team. 867 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:01,440 I refuse to do 1 where I just say every, every head bowed and 868 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,560 I'd closed. Because your relationship with 869 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:05,320 the Lord is personal, but it's not private. 870 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,320 We ask people to come up here and we pray with you so that we 871 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,480 can also help equip you. And so it's not just you on your 872 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:15,680 own. It's important that you have a 873 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:17,480 vibrant relationship with the Lord. 874 00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:22,960 And I am so far off of my notes right now, but I'm listening to 875 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:25,200 him. And I want you to know that you 876 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,640 can listen to him too. The same Spirit that's inside of 877 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:32,440 me is inside of you if you belong to Jesus and you can take 878 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,720 Him wherever you go. As a matter of fact, as I just 879 00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:36,440 showed you, you can't get away from Him. 880 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:39,880 And so guess what? When there's people that say I 881 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,600 ain't setting foot in a church, but they can't escape you, 882 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:45,040 right? They come to you to get their 883 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:48,720 hair cut, or they come and they sit next to you at work, or they 884 00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:51,240 come to you for whatever their needs are, or they call you for 885 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:53,800 advice, or you're their neighbor and they're going to talk to you 886 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:56,400 on a regular basis. They are more surrounded by God 887 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:58,200 than they ever knew and you're part of it. 888 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:01,480 One more scripture while we're here. 889 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:06,360 John 1412, Listen, I want you to hear it because I referenced it 890 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:08,120 earlier. I tell you the truth. 891 00:44:08,240 --> 00:44:11,640 Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done 892 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,600 and even greater works because I am going to be with the Father. 893 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:21,000 You have within you the same Spirit that took a three days 894 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:25,080 dead body of Jesus and resurrected Him into new life. 895 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:30,000 The same Spirit. We know this theologically, but 896 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:31,880 then we look at Him, we're like, You're not going to do a miracle 897 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:34,920 through me. And maybe some of us when we 898 00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:37,400 were young or maybe not so young, but we tried some of 899 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:39,080 these things. Do you ever know somebody who 900 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,400 tried to walk on water to see if they could test their faith? 901 00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:44,600 If they had enough faith, they got real wet. 902 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:50,760 This is when we accidentally fall back into treating the Holy 903 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,920 Spirit like an impersonal force. God, I want to be imbued with 904 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,880 the power by the power of grey skull or whatever. 905 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,720 We want the power so then we can use it. 906 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:07,560 Your job is to take that spirit who is inside of you, listen to 907 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:12,280 Him, and do whatever He tells you to do when you do what He 908 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:13,200 tells you to do. Guess what? 909 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:15,000 If He tells you to walk on water, you're going to walk on 910 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,560 water. Although I've never seen that, I 911 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:19,280 read a good book that had a story about it. 912 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,000 I'm telling you that you will perform miracles when He tells 913 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,480 you to, but it's more likely for most of us. 914 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,200 And I'm not trying to quench anybody's desire for miracles. 915 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:31,200 We're going to talk a lot about miracles in this series. 916 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:36,200 Why would he ever equip us to do miraculous healings, to walk on 917 00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:39,320 water or to do these things that are inexplainable when we won't 918 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,880 even forgive? We won't even listen to him and 919 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:45,240 be unified with somebody who annoyed us or offended us or 920 00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:47,520 got, you know, I don't know. We just, we won't do the 921 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:50,320 smallest things for God. And then we say, God, I want to 922 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,520 be used by you in a mighty way. You know, what is a mighty way 923 00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,880 is being unified. The world can't be unified. 924 00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:59,560 They don't understand it. But you and I have a spirit that 925 00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,800 should lead us into it. The greater thing is what? 926 00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:05,240 Jesus is going to accomplish through His Spirit filled church 927 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:07,720 and I'm telling you, I am so thrilled to be a part of this. 928 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:11,240 Every time somebody sits across from a broken person and the 929 00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:14,360 Holy Spirit gives them exactly the words that they need, Jesus 930 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:18,040 is still working through His church every. 931 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:20,640 Time that somebody shares the. Gospel with a neighbor, or 932 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:23,400 serves a kid in Guatemala, or serves a kid over in that other 933 00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,800 building. Feed somebody who's hungry every 934 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,280 time that you pray for somebody who is sick, or forgive somebody 935 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:31,080 that you couldn't forgive in your own strength. 936 00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:35,880 Anytime somebody goes halfway around the world to Albania just 937 00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,560 to go and spread the gospel, the mission of Jesus continues 938 00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:40,240 through the people that are filled with his Spirit. 939 00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:44,600 And eventually we'll talk about prophecy and healing, and we'll 940 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:46,560 have a whole Sunday that's dedicated to nothing but the 941 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,080 doctrine of tongues. But I want you to understand 942 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:51,360 that before we ever get there, we have to be willing to give 943 00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,800 God our yes, and we've got to tune our ears to Him. 944 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:57,320 Why would we ever settle for good enough when God himself has 945 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:01,840 chosen to live in US? One of the things that I really 946 00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:04,720 loved about. This recent trip and really just 947 00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:09,120 about adopt A child living water in general, is because it would 948 00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:11,880 be easy to picture one building somewhere where everybody comes 949 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:13,400 and ministry happens. You know why it's easy to 950 00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:15,200 picture that? Because I mean, this is what we 951 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:17,200 do on Sundays, isn't it? Here's our church building and 952 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:18,960 here's where we come and we get ministered to. 953 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:21,320 But down there in Guatemala, I don't even remember what the 954 00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:25,280 numbers are, how many churches that they have up in the 955 00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:27,760 mountains of Kiche and the ones down in Antigua, I can't 956 00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:29,480 remember. Do you remember by any chance 957 00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:31,240 off the top of your head, anybody in this direction? 958 00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:40,480 Yeah, I don't know. 9 Nueve, right, Nueve Iglesias, you all 959 00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:42,840 just heard tongues in an interpretation spiritually 960 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:47,080 charged as you go today. So they have 9 churches, they 961 00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:49,800 have multiple feeding centres. There's other things they do. 962 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:51,360 There's clinics that help people. 963 00:47:51,720 --> 00:47:54,400 A clinic that helped heal one of our team members while we were 964 00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:56,840 down there, helped heal me one time when I was sick on a trip 965 00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:59,720 and still went down there. They are doing so many things 966 00:47:59,960 --> 00:48:02,640 and could you imagine if all of that was compiled into one 967 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:05,000 church that was also a feeding centre and also a clinic? 968 00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:07,840 Could you imagine they wouldn't be able to get everything done 969 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:10,760 because everybody would have to travel to that one location? 970 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:14,200 So it's spread out. I see the gospel being spread 971 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:15,440 just through the illustration of that. 972 00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:17,800 I also saw it through my team that had to be divided up into 973 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:19,520 two or three parts multiple times. 974 00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:22,200 You take a team of 18 down there and see if you don't have to 975 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,760 split it up on occasion. We had to. 976 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:27,120 In fact, there was one time where I was going to do an 977 00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,640 illustration and I was going to have my daughter, Emma Lynn help 978 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:32,600 me, and I was going to have her hold this stick up in the air. 979 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:34,600 And I've used this illustration here before, but it was a 980 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:36,080 leadership seminar we were doing. 981 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,240 And when she got there, she saw that my mom was helping the 982 00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:41,760 cooks prep the meal for the day. So she said, can I go help? 983 00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:43,600 And I'm like, absolutely, go follow the spirits. 984 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:45,480 So she's in there helping them cook. 985 00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:47,720 Well now though, I'm in a pickle because I wanted to use this 986 00:48:47,720 --> 00:48:50,920 illustration and and I needed somebody child sized. 987 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:56,160 So I asked Pastor Kerry and and she was so. 988 00:48:56,160 --> 00:48:58,000 Graciously willing to come up. There and help me. 989 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:01,400 And here's what was so cool. Those cooks had a job that was 990 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,440 so important that Stephen Anna McDaniel said that they couldn't 991 00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,600 even afford to stop down for the 45 minutes of this, of this 992 00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:09,680 teaching. They needed to cook because the 993 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:12,400 people needed their food. So what did we do? 994 00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:15,440 We we brought the meeting to them, turned some speakers 995 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:16,840 around so they could hear it in the kitchen. 996 00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,320 And people were cooking while people were being ministered to, 997 00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:21,000 while some people were leading worship. 998 00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:23,200 All these parts were doing something different. 999 00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:25,360 And nobody was like, man, why do they get to cook? 1000 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:27,960 Well, I have to sit here. They might have been thinking 1001 00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:29,320 like, man, why do they get to sit there? 1002 00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,960 These women work so hard. What I'm saying is I could see 1003 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:35,040 it amongst my team and see it amongst Living Water. 1004 00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:37,080 Can you see it for his church worldwide? 1005 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,360 How important it is that we all take our gifts, that we all take 1006 00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:42,920 Our Calling, and we all take them into the world. 1007 00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:49,800 I love that God. Had other plans than what I had 1008 00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:53,600 that day because it allowed more people to get used if you only 1009 00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:55,280 interact with the people that you plan to. 1010 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,760 If I'd gone to Emma and said get out of the kitchen, you promised 1011 00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:00,720 me you'd be in my illustration. I would have only used Emma in 1012 00:50:00,720 --> 00:50:03,360 the illustration, but instead Pastor Kerry got to be a part of 1013 00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:04,960 it while Emma was also ministering. 1014 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:06,840 And I'm just telling you, if you only go out of your way to 1015 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:08,920 minister to the people you're comfortable with, the people 1016 00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:11,440 that you love, you're only ministering over and over to the 1017 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,080 same people when you're supposed to impart something so they can 1018 00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:16,720 go on and touch other people and you can go and minister to new 1019 00:50:16,720 --> 00:50:21,760 people as well. This is how the. 1020 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:25,800 Early Church was born and 2000 years later here we are. 1021 00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:33,200 I want you to know. That for these disciples, they 1022 00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:35,920 thought that Jesus leaving meant the ministry of Jesus was going 1023 00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,560 to become smaller and Jesus knew was about to go everywhere. 1024 00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:42,600 And if that's true, then I don't want for us this week, just for 1025 00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,120 us to simply walk out of here feeling encouraged that God goes 1026 00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:46,840 with us. I'm going to give you some steps 1027 00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:47,320 here. OK? 1028 00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:49,320 Here's what I want you to do this week. 1029 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,360 First of all, I want you to identify your places. 1030 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:54,680 I just talked about it. You all go places. 1031 00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:57,160 I don't. I want. 1032 00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:00,200 You to identify your places. Take advantage of this Holy 1033 00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:03,160 Spirit that is inside of you. And I want you to write it down 1034 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:04,680 somewhere. Type it in your phone. 1035 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:06,080 Whatever you got to do, write it on your hand. 1036 00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:07,920 I don't care. But I want you to remember this. 1037 00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:09,840 Where are the places you're going to go this week? 1038 00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,760 Put some planning into this. You're going to go places that I 1039 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,440 won't go. And this is your mission field. 1040 00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:21,680 Maybe it's not Guatemala or Albania, but you've got one and 1041 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:25,000 maybe, maybe there's somewhere that you go every single week 1042 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:26,880 and you've never once thought about the fact that when you 1043 00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:29,600 walk through that door, a spirit filled follower of Jesus just 1044 00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:32,120 entered the room. So the game has shifted. 1045 00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:33,640 I want you to start thinking that way. 1046 00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:36,600 When you go places, you're not more important. 1047 00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:39,440 Than everybody else in the. Room but he who is within you is 1048 00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:43,800 more important than everybody else in the world so also don't 1049 00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:45,800 go into work tomorrow morning announcing that the presence of 1050 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:50,480 God has arrived because. You're good. 1051 00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:53,520 You're going to get fired or arrested or both, right? 1052 00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:56,560 But here's. Here's the next step in that. 1053 00:51:56,560 --> 00:51:58,280 Challenge. When you identify those places 1054 00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:00,640 you're going, I want you to identify at least one person in 1055 00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:03,160 those places. All right, I'm. 1056 00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:04,520 Here I'm in the workplace or I'm. 1057 00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:07,560 In the barbershop or I'm in Walmart or I'm in my, my 1058 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:09,360 family's, you know, family dinner or whatever. 1059 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:11,360 Who's one person that you need to minister to? 1060 00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:12,680 And you're like, well, I don't know. 1061 00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:14,400 There's so many options and they're all intimidating. 1062 00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:15,760 I'm going to ask you to figure it out. 1063 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:18,880 Who are you going to ask the Holy Spirit? 1064 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,240 Who will guide you? And teach you and correct you 1065 00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:26,560 and remind you of things. You like #3? 1066 00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:32,440 Do something, do something and you might be like, well, I told 1067 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:34,680 my aunt it was a good church service on Sunday. 1068 00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:39,760 Your life for the gospel do something once you go somewhere 1069 00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:43,320 and you identify somebody, have one conversation, one question. 1070 00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,320 You don't have to have some sort of evangelistic method laid out 1071 00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:48,440 and memorized. Just have a conversation with 1072 00:52:48,440 --> 00:52:49,840 them. Do you go to a church? 1073 00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:52,120 You'd be surprised. A lot of times the answer is not 1074 00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:53,840 yes or no. A lot of times the answer if 1075 00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:57,600 it's no is I used to but and then they give you their story. 1076 00:52:57,880 --> 00:53:00,120 What a beautiful gift when somebody gives you their story. 1077 00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:04,080 Now here's the last thing I told you when you. 1078 00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:06,480 Wake up, start your day. By starting to acknowledge the 1079 00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:09,440 Holy Spirit God, I know you're here. 1080 00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:11,600 Please make me more aware of your Holy Spirit throughout the 1081 00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:14,200 day when you walk into these scenarios. 1082 00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:18,800 Holy Spirit use me. Holy Spirit, use me. 1083 00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:23,000 Holy Spirit, use me. What is the Holy Spirit? 1084 00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:26,560 I got a couple of you, Holy Spirit. 1085 00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:30,000 Use me. Use me here. 1086 00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:32,920 He doesn't. Need your permission but when 1087 00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:34,640 you. Are in lock step with him. 1088 00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:39,480 It is so much more fluid. One more person I need to brag 1089 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,880 on who's. Not here today about Guatemala. 1090 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:44,880 We want to do something big through us, but maybe the big 1091 00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:47,320 thing is just noticing one person and having that one 1092 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:50,080 conversation. I just need to tell you, as I 1093 00:53:50,240 --> 00:53:52,640 discussed those translators and interpreters down there in 1094 00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:57,200 Guatemala, many of you support Jake Collier and he is doing a 1095 00:53:57,240 --> 00:54:06,880 phenomenal job. I'm going to tell you what if 1096 00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,040 you wanted to support him. Even at 10 bucks a month, 20 1097 00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:12,080 bucks a month, whatever, you can go to libertync.org and there is 1098 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:14,680 a fund just for him when you do the drop down menu for Jake 1099 00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:16,960 Collier as a as a as a missionary. 1100 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:21,160 And I'm just, I'm here to tell you that I preached 5 church 1101 00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:23,960 services there and he did all five of them with me. 1102 00:54:24,560 --> 00:54:27,120 And at all five of those church services, there was a different 1103 00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:29,640 person who shared a testimony before I preached. 1104 00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,200 So he interpreted for six different people down there, 1105 00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:38,520 this gringo from our church. Who wanted to learn the language 1106 00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:40,680 so. Badly that he didn't just attend 1107 00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:43,280 our church and didn't just serve on the worship team and with our 1108 00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:45,600 kids. He also went to Latino and 1109 00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:47,960 Hispanic churches so that he could learn the language and 1110 00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:49,800 learn church services and learn culture. 1111 00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:53,920 He's all in for the gospel. What human being does that? 1112 00:54:54,680 --> 00:54:57,800 The answer is none. But the Spirit that is within 1113 00:54:57,800 --> 00:55:04,160 him spoke to him and he gave God his see, yes, he said, I'll go 1114 00:55:04,160 --> 00:55:06,560 anywhere you want me to go. So I just encourage you to 1115 00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:09,200 support him. But he has an advantage now 1116 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:10,920 because he can speak the language. 1117 00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:14,400 He's walking into a place that he is more effective than I am. 1118 00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:18,360 Where are you walking this week where you have an advantage that 1119 00:55:18,360 --> 00:55:21,480 I don't? I'm going to wrap it up now in 1120 00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:23,280 Romans 8. I've got one more scripture for 1121 00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:25,920 you, but I want to go back one more time to the question we 1122 00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:28,760 started this morning with because I think after everything 1123 00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:31,800 that we've talked about, I hope it sounds a little different 1124 00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:33,320 now. If you could choose between 1125 00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:36,720 having Jesus physically walking beside you or having the Holy 1126 00:55:36,720 --> 00:55:39,120 Spirit inside of you, which would you choose? 1127 00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:42,320 I understand. Why most of us could. 1128 00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:45,360 Still be tempted to choose Jesus because there is a comfort and 1129 00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:48,000 there's something about imagining being able to sit at 1130 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:52,000 the kitchen table with him and have a conversation, but the. 1131 00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:53,440 Disciples had that for three years. 1132 00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:55,720 And Jesus said it was going to be better for them to have the 1133 00:55:55,720 --> 00:55:58,320 Holy Spirit. I want you to know. 1134 00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:01,520 This years later. The apostle Paul is writing to 1135 00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:05,560 the Christians in Rome, the very center of the place that was 1136 00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:08,080 persecuting them. He's writing to people who never 1137 00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:10,800 got to sit at the table with Jesus, people who didn't walk 1138 00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:13,520 through Galilee with him or watch him calm the storm. 1139 00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:17,560 And Paul explains what is now true for every person who 1140 00:56:17,560 --> 00:56:19,720 belongs to Jesus. Listen to this in Romans chapter 1141 00:56:19,720 --> 00:56:22,600 8, verses 9 through 11, he said you. 1142 00:56:25,560 --> 00:56:28,160 You are not controlled by your. Sinful nature. 1143 00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:31,120 You know what that means? You have a sinful nature, but 1144 00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:34,040 you're not controlled by it. You are. 1145 00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:36,720 Controlled by the Spirit. If you have the Spirit of God 1146 00:56:36,720 --> 00:56:39,520 living in you, and remember that those who do not have the Spirit 1147 00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:41,960 of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all. 1148 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:45,320 So if you belong to Him, you may not feel it, but you have the 1149 00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:48,200 Holy Spirit within you. Verse 10, and Christ lives 1150 00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:50,360 within you. So even though your body will 1151 00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:54,560 die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have 1152 00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:58,080 been made right with God. And in verse 11, the Spirit of 1153 00:56:58,080 --> 00:57:00,840 God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. 1154 00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:04,400 And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will, he 1155 00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:07,240 will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living 1156 00:57:07,240 --> 00:57:09,920 within you. I don't want to rush past this. 1157 00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:12,560 This is the part that I think somehow we've managed to make 1158 00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:16,120 ordinary That's Christianity one-on-one. 1159 00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:19,200 Of course we know that the Holy Spirit lives in me, but I don't 1160 00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:23,400 know how often we actually stop and think about that, that this 1161 00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:25,600 is his home. There is no temple now. 1162 00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:29,240 That veil was torn, and the presence of God left that temple 1163 00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:35,080 and found a new temple right there, right there. 1164 00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:39,040 The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. 1165 00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:40,600 Is present when you wake up tomorrow. 1166 00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:42,760 The Spirit will be present when you go to work. 1167 00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:45,160 The Spirit will be present when you take your kids to school, 1168 00:57:45,320 --> 00:57:48,440 when you walk into the doctor's office, and the Spirit of God is 1169 00:57:48,440 --> 00:57:50,480 present when you get those phone calls that you don't look 1170 00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:53,880 forward to. This is your advantage. 1171 00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:57,120 We somehow just got good enough at Christianity that we forgot 1172 00:57:57,120 --> 00:57:59,960 the advantage that we had. I don't want to live that way 1173 00:57:59,960 --> 00:58:04,120 anymore, do you? So as a church, I don't want us 1174 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:06,760 to be a church that knows a lot about the Holy Spirit but 1175 00:58:06,760 --> 00:58:08,120 doesn't know how to live with him. 1176 00:58:08,960 --> 00:58:11,200 That's really what this whole series is going to be about. 1177 00:58:11,200 --> 00:58:13,040 We're going to eventually talk about all those things I 1178 00:58:13,040 --> 00:58:14,600 mentioned earlier. And I want to remind you that 1179 00:58:14,600 --> 00:58:16,640 next week is how to hear from him. 1180 00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:19,720 But this next week, if you don't know how to hear from him, at 1181 00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:22,400 least talk to him. Know that his ears are not 1182 00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,920 plugged. He can hear you when you wake. 1183 00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:27,120 Up tomorrow. Acknowledge that. 1184 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:29,600 He's there and ask him to use you everywhere that you go. 1185 00:58:34,360 --> 00:58:35,960 Sometimes the question that we have is even. 1186 00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:37,600 Simpler than knowing how to hear from God. 1187 00:58:37,600 --> 00:58:40,040 Sometimes it's pastor. I hear people say that God spoke 1188 00:58:40,040 --> 00:58:41,880 to them. Why won't he speak to me? 1189 00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:44,280 And I'll give you a little teaser for next week. 1190 00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:46,760 I think he does. I think He does. 1191 00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:48,200 And we're going to talk about how to hear that. 1192 00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:50,720 But if we're going to say that, that we also have to be 1193 00:58:50,720 --> 00:58:53,040 responsible enough to ask how we know. 1194 00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:55,480 I want you to know not every thought that has gone through 1195 00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:58,400 your head this last week or this next week is the Holy Spirit. 1196 00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:01,320 Sometimes it's you. Sometimes it's your own fear. 1197 00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:04,120 Sometimes it's the enemy. Sometimes it's just what 1198 00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:06,360 somebody told you 20 years ago that you assumed was true. 1199 00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:09,200 But I don't want to get ahead. Of myself for this. 1200 00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:11,000 Week. The challenge is to start paying 1201 00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:14,920 attention to the fact that he is here and he is not just in this 1202 00:59:14,920 --> 00:59:16,760 room. He is inside every single one of 1203 00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:19,800 the believers that is here too. If you're like me, then maybe 1204 00:59:19,800 --> 00:59:22,480 you spent a lot of your life trying to be good enough and 1205 00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:24,920 Jesus gave you something better. So this week, let's take 1206 00:59:24,920 --> 00:59:25,880 advantage of it. Amen.