Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
must be anointed, taught, helped. We need your spirit to come and and and lead us and change us. So, Holy Spirit, we invite you here. We invite you into our lives. We invite you to do what you want to do. God in heaven, we ask you to forgive us for every time we've grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit. For any time we have resisted or frustrated what you wanted to do in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. We want you here, Lord. We want you in us and to fill us and to empower us to do all that you've called us to do. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. And amen. You might want to turn me down just a just a hair there. Last week, um if you weren't here, this is going to be kind of a continuation. I kind of started a series about heaven's secrets and I talked about spiritual blindness last week and about uh what Jesus talked about about people having ears to hear, but they don't hear and having eyes to see, but they don't see and about how the heart has to completely turn to the Lord and we have to be willing to turn away from sin and turn away from the flesh and turn away from our own will and our own plans and and until we truly surrender to the cross and to the will of God for our lives, um we're going to be hindered from seeing everything God wants us to see in the word and and for our lives. We just uh and and I and I asked the question last week, how many of you real I mean, how many times have you come across somebody that you think should know or understand what you're trying to tell them in the Bible and they just don't get it. I mean, you it's right there in plain language and black and white or red and white and you're showing them and you're you're telling them and they they just like something's across their face and their eyes and there's this this spiritual blindness. Now, as I as I got ready to to for this morning, of course, I know the Lord wants us to go into the parables of Jesus cuz that's what he was talking about, some of those secrets of heaven that were kept secret from the foundation of the world and there's such rich truth in those parables that we need to understand. But the Lord just just it's like I started praying last night and he said he said you you you're not going to get any of this if you don't if you don't focus on the Holy Spirit. I mean, it was just like tomorrow you need to talk about the Holy Spirit because he's the one. You remember me giving you the scripture last week from Ephesians chapter 1 where Paul said I pray that for you that God will give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him that the eyes of
your understanding would be enlightened. Well, that spirit of wisdom and revelation is the Holy Spirit. Amen. And what he was saying and and and what I'm going to show you today is is how important it is to pursue the Holy Spirit. How important it is to pursue the things of the spirit, pursue the Holy Spirit, to never be satisfied with where you are and how much of him and how much of the anointing and how much you have. You can never be satisfied because as you're going to see, I'm going to show you the seven manifestations of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to show you where he there's different aspects to him and we can grieve him and quench him and push him away and and not even realize it sometimes. And that's the dangerous thing. You know, when when the Holy Spirit left Samson, when the anointing left Samson, it says he did not even know that he had left. And he said, "I will go out as at other times." And when he got out there, he got defeated. And this is this is something I I I I don't know who said this or coined this phrase, but I've heard it preachers repeat it over and over again. You know, when the Holy Spirit comes into your life and and fills you and baptizes you and anoints you, he says he comes in like a lion, but he when he leaves, you'll never know it. There is such a deception and a blindness that can come over when the Holy Spirit is truly grieved away. When he's quenched. And so, we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit this morning. Um You know, the Trinity of God, the Godhead, is a is an awesome and mysterious thing. You know, it's kind of sometimes kind of hard hard to understand how he is one God and yet so has such three those three very distinct personalities and man or manifestations of who he is, but very different each one. And you know, it's just like the human being. You know, God created us in his in in his image. And the man is a spirit and a soul and a body. And we know that from 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that we have a spirit and soul and body. And you know, each one of those words is a different Greek word. And and though they make up who we are, each part is very very different. And that's just the way God is. He is three parts, one God, but each part is very very unique and very different. Um I want you to take your Bibles just real quick, and I want you to turn First, we're going to turn to um to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and read a few verses. And and then we're going to go to um to John 16. Just to give a basis on on about the Holy Spirit giving us understanding, revealing things, how important uh he is to the life of the Christian. And I don't I don't even know what I would call this this morning. I just wrote at the top of my page the Holy Spirit, but I would just say this morning is about pursuing the Holy Spirit. Pursuing him.
Um Oh, you know, we talk about pursuing Jesus, and that's true and that's good. And we talk about pursuing God. But we need to get a a grasp on what it means to pursue the Holy Spirit and understand what we're pursuing. Um and um anyway, go to uh I said it 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And I can just sense him here today. I sense the presence of the Lord. And it's just awesome. Amen. Praise God. We thank you, Lord, for being here. Um I want you to go down to verse um Oh, gosh, there's just so much good stuff here. Um let's just start reading at verse one. It's just so good I can't I can't chop it up. And this is Paul speaking to the Corinthian church. He says, "And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with the excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, dunamis power, miraculous power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." And listen, folks, just just pausing right there, we have a church out there that has a lot of the wisdom of man in it, but is lacking the Spirit of God. And then we have a church out there that's so loopy and weird in spiritual things that they have gotten off in another spirit and they don't stick to the word of God. But what God wants us to be is a people who are filled with his word, who are filled with with understanding his word, but also moving in the the gifts and the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit or else we're just dead. Okay? And and and folks just think I think sometimes there's a lot of churches out there that just think because they're Christians and because they believe in Jesus that the Holy Spirit just automatically is going to bless and empower what they do, but that's not the case. Okay, I'm going to prove that. I'm going to show that to you. But let's keep reading. He says, "How be it, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. Not of This is not the demonic wisdom. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Okay? Which none of the princes of this world, the demonic powers knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed them unto
us by his spirit. We all in line. But God has revealed them to us. Where did he reveal them? Where's the revelation of the things of God? The Bible first. Amen. Always the word first. Remember, the Bible says, Paul wrote to Timothy, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." That word inspiration means by the very breath of God. That is by the spirit of God. So he says there that he But God has revealed them to us by his spirit. First by the word, but let me stay tell you this. God will come to you, the Holy Spirit will come to you and teach you the word. He will come to you and illuminate the word. He will come and and just open it up to you and give you clarity and and and direction. So, we need both. You understand what I'm saying? The word of God and the spirit of God. All right? Let me keep reading. But God has revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us. I'm going to talk about the things that are given to us by God through the Holy Spirit. Which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Boy, you're going to see us doing this this morning, okay? And he says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned." And this is what I love. This is why so many people stumble over the baptism of the Holy Spirit in tongues. It seems foolishness to sit around and babble in a language you don't know, and yet God has chosen that very thing as a doorway into great power and blessing. All right? But let's keep reading. He said, "But he that is spiritual judges or discerns all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." For who has known the mind of the Lord that we may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. So, that's kind of I couldn't chop that up because there's so much there, but that we need the spirit of God to to search. Now, we have to pursue him. I'm going to show you this before we do that though. Let's Let's go back to John and let's just read John. John 16. I feel this this morning. I mean, I can sense God all over this this morning. He wants us to to get a hold of the Holy Spirit and let him get a hold of us. Amen. Be consumed, filled, possessed, led, just oozing. Right? Amen. That's good stuff. Here Jesus talking about the Holy
Spirit. Let's read this cuz all of this is going to going to tie into what we when we get into the rest of this. Go to uh John 16 and let's go down to verse seven. Jesus speaking to his disciples. He said, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you." And And this is just This ought to tell us something here, how important the Holy Spirit is because Jesus said it's it's better for you that I go away. Because if I don't go, the Holy Spirit's not going to come. And what what what Why was that so important? Cuz Jesus was was telling them, "You know, I'm here as the Son of God in the flesh. I can't fill you and make you what you are to be. But when I send him, he can fill all of you and make you what you're supposed to be." Amen. Basically, Jesus said, "I can't do the Holy Spirit's part." And the Holy Spirit will always go, "I can't do Jesus' part." You get what I'm saying? And the it they they have their own individual work that they they do in our lives. Amen. Let's keep going. It says, "When he is come, verse eight, he will reprove or convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has got to come and reveal them to you. All right? Boy, it is just awesome. Jesus is like, there's things that you're going to hear from him. All right, let's keep going. Verse 13, howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He will show you things to come. Now, just the very nature of the Holy Spirit, he tells us here that the Holy Spirit's going to speak to us. This is not just speaking through the word, but this is God will communicate with you. This is beautiful, right? He says he will speak to you and show you things to come. Listen, Christians, simply by nature of the Holy Spirit in them, should be prophetic. Okay? We should be prophetic people. We should know some things before they happen. Amen. Let's just keep going. He says he shall speak and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. He always lifts up Jesus. He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.
Boy, this is just good stuff. Amen. Now, that's the foundation. That's what Jesus told us about the Holy Spirit, right? Now, I'll get to this other later, but I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 4. And I think I've taught this, not this particular thing, but I've mentioned the phrase. How many of you have read across the phrase in the Bible the seven spirits of God and wondered what in the world is he talking about? All right, we're going to find out. Revelation chapter 4. Now, here's something I'm going to tell you this is just this is just awesome to me. Because this is the throne of God. Okay? God gives us a picture. He gives us an idea of what's what what it's like up there, but still our minds cannot comprehend the throne of God. But he said something here that's very important and we need to get a hold of it. And yesterday when I when I was praying and the Lord said, "You need to talk about the Holy Spirit tomorrow." He filled me with this. He He said He said there's seven manifestations of my spirit and here they are. And he gave me each one and he gave me the the the scripture to back it up. And he goes, "Don't grieve, don't quench, don't resist any seven of these if you want him." Amen? This is why the I'm What I'm telling you this morning is why the church is a lot of the church is powerless and dead. Because they have grieved him and have quenched him and have resisted him or at least in part in places and he will not or cannot do everything he wants to do. See, that's why I hate Calvinism. Calvinism is the biggest error ever perpetrated upon the church. Talk about we can't resist the Holy Spirit. That's about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Amen? I mean Stephen must have been crazy. You do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did. He said it in his sermon before they stoned him. Right? But let's read this. Revelation 4, okay? I remember the first time I read this and it just puzzled me. And to tell you the truth until now I didn't fully grasp it. All right? But Revelation 4, we're going to start reading at verse 1. This is John on the Isle of Patmos, and this is when he was called up to heaven and given this vision of Jesus and the revelation in the end times. He says, "After this, I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard uh I heard it was as it were a trumpet talking with me, and he said, "Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter." And immediately, I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. I can't even imagine what that I looked up jasper and sardine, and they I mean, this blue stones and red and
just you can't even imagine. I can't even imagine green. I mean, so we don't even know exactly which color and what he's trying to describe here, but what the Father must look like. You know? I mean, it's just an awesome sight. He says, "And there was a rainbow around the throne and the sight like unto an emerald." Wow. "And round about the throne were four and 20 seats, and upon the seats four and 20 elders sitting clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold." Now, verse 5 is what we want to focus in on. "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." I want you to see that. Seven lamps, he said, "which are the seven spirits of God." Then he goes on, "And before the throne was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, there were four beasts full of eyes before and behind." Now, I'm not going to go on and read the rest of this. You can later if you want to, but he says in and and just make a little mental note of this, that in the throne around the throne, there were lightning and thunder and voices. Now, one of the one of the things God showed me yesterday about the Holy Spirit, and I almost entitled this the lightnings of God. This is not lightning like we have, the natural lightning. This is lightning the lightning of God. But But those three things pretty much describe around the throne the Holy Spirit all around the Father. His spirit just there, you know? And And the lightnings represent the light and the power. And the thunderings represent the sound of his voice. And then of course it just tells you voices. Shh. God is always power. He is always moving. He is always speaking. There is always things and just just let this There is always things proceeding from his throne. He's never idle. Amen. Shh. There's always something going on with God. The issue is if we can get get in on it or not, right? All right. Then he says, "The seven spirits of God." Now, let me I'm going to I'm going to go through these and I'm going to show you. Um And you can just write these down. If you're taking notes this morning, you can write these down. I'm going to give them all to you and then we're going to go back and look at them, okay? A little bit closer. Number one. And we're going to call it the lightning of God or the sword of the spirit. The lightning of God or the sword of the spirit. And that's your verse right there, Revelation 4:5, okay?
The second thing or And remember, it's not that these are seven different spirits of God. These are the seven manifestations of one Holy Spirit, okay? Uh I'm saying that making that clear so no one hears this message that thinks something weird's going on here, okay? God manifests in different ways. All right, so the lightning of God {slash} the sword of the spirit. Number two, the water of the spirit. He's referred to as water in John chapter 7. Number three, the fire of the spirit. Jesus, did he not say I will When John said he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire, right? The fire of the spirit, a different manifestation, a different purpose. Let's keep going. The dove of the spirit. John saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove, right? Now these are things all of you've read, you've all heard. It's all in the Bible. Matthew 3. Number five, the oil or anointing of the spirit. First John chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Number six, the wind or breath of the spirit. What did it say happened on the day of Pentecost? Like a mighty rushing wind filled the house. And number seven, the life of the spirit. Romans chapter 8. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. Right? I put beside that also or the sustaining power of the Spirit. Okay? Now, let us look at this a little bit. The lightning of God and this is something and I'm just going to share this that God just showed me in vision form yesterday. I mean, I was praying. I wasn't expecting this. This doesn't happen all the time. I wasn't visualizing anything. I'm sitting there praying and and God says says, "Here it is." And I mean, he just deposited these things in me and about as fast as he deposited these seven things, he deposited the scriptures to go with them. But, for for for some reason, this the lightning of God, this sword of the Spirit, this thing came in a vision form and I saw like you know how it can it is when when it's at night and and and a storm is coming in and it and and maybe it maybe there's a full moon and there's enough light that you can see, but then that those clouds start coming in and it's dark. And then all of a sudden, that lightning starts cracking down and
you it'll and when it flashes, all of a sudden you can see and then it goes away and it's dark again and and and and and I saw just like I could I could just see lightning coming down and the Lord said to me that that his lightning that the lightnings around the throne and that manifestation of the Holy Spirit has to do with the conviction of sin. The conviction of sin because he strikes. He strikes. He penetrates and he filled my mind all of a sudden how how Paul was on the road to Damascus and and he was headed to persecute and kill Christians. He wasn't on his way to a church service. He wasn't singing Kumbaya. He was going to persecute Christians. He He had no intention upon following Jesus and the light from heaven shown down struck him, knocked him down to the ground. And Jesus spoke to him and said, "How long will you kick against the pricks?" That means that Paul had been being pricked, stuck with that sword of the Spirit or the the lightning, the conviction of God, and he'd been resisting that. And oh, this is something that Christians resist about the Holy Spirit. I saw that yesterday in a little Facebook discussion, didn't we? It's an issue when when when something is brought to our minds that is sin or wrong or compromise, we either will let God convict us, let the Holy Spirit convict us and say, "You know, maybe I need to change my ways. Maybe I need to change my thinking. Maybe I need to repent. Maybe I maybe I need to admit just admit maybe I'm wrong." You know, just admit it, right? Boy, you can resist this. The world resists this. Paul or Saul of Tarsus was resisting this, but the prayers of the saints So, let me say this. The prayers of the saints brought down the lightning of God on Saul. This is what we need to do when we're praying for the lost that God will bring down the power of His Holy Spirit conviction. Remember, we read it. The Holy Spirit, when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. And this is If we're going to cooperate with God, we need to be praying that that conviction will hit them like a bolt of lightning like they hit like he hit Saul of Tarsus. Sometimes I think we're we're not understanding that unless God brings down this this this pointy pricks of His conviction, people will not be saved. And Christians need it as well as lost people. Christians that are backslidden and lukewarm and compromising and living according to their flesh. Right? But I'm going to say this to to us Christians in here and Christians listening to this message, do not quench the conviction of the Holy Spirit by calling it condemnation. You know, let me let me say this this morning. You start talking about some sin in somebody's life that they need to get out of or some sin and immediately
people go, "Now, don't condemn. Don't judge." Right? Let me tell you the difference between conviction and condemnation. The word where it says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin in that verse in John 16, that word means in the Greek to tell a fault. Okay? That's the actual definition. To rebuke, to tell a fault, to correct. Right? That's the word. So So, God tells us when something is wrong and we as Christians when we speak that the word about something that's sin or wrong that God wants us to deal with, conviction is when you feel the guilt. When you feel the the the You feel that God's God's displeasure over this thing. That's a good thing because that's what God uses to get us to change, to repent. But so many Christians don't understand that condemnation means to the the the very definition of condemnation means to speak a sentence over someone and say they have no hope. To condemn means to give a person no hope. But if I say to like for instance, if if I'm preaching to someone or witnessing to someone and I know that they're in the sin of fornication, me telling them that the sin of fornication will damn their soul to an eternity in hell unless they repent and get out of it is not condemning. And then if I tell them, "All you have to do is confess the sin to God and repent, leave it alone. Get away from it. Jesus will wash your sin, forgive you, and and you can have eternal life." That's giving them hope. That's the way out. That's conviction. That's not condemnation. Condemnation would be if I said to that person, "Oh, you're a fornicator. There's no hope for you." And move on. Amen. Most Christians don't do that. We're not We get accused by the world and backslidden lukewarm Christians of condemning. You know why? Because deep down within them, if they're living in habitual sin, if they're backslid, they know they're condemned. The Holy Spirit's telling them they're condemned unless they repent. And they get real ill when you bring it up. Amen. Second thing, all right? I gave you the example, conviction, the pricks. That's in uh Acts chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus. The water of the spirit, John 7. Let's turn there. Let's read that real quick. I'm going to try to go through these quick. That that one was just important, I believe, to understand how desperately we need the conviction of sin. And Christians as preachers and you know, preachers have no concept of this anymore. Pastors, preachers have no concept of
cooperating with the Holy Spirit in preaching messages that bring conviction of sin. If the Holy Spirit Let's Let me say this. If the Holy Spirit wants to bring conviction of sin to a person to get them saved or get them out of a lukewarm backslidden state, are are we cooperating with him if we don't preach the truth to them? If we pat them in the back and tell them they're okay, we are actually resisting and opposing what the Holy Spirit wants to do in their life. Charles Finney, the great evangelist and revivalist, put it this way. He said He said, "That's giving false comfort to sinners." And he said, "You're You're You're sealing their fate by comforting a sinner when they're living in sin. Okay? And this is a man who led 500,000 people to the Lord personally without television or radio or modern transportation. Okay? Revivals broke out everywhere he went. 100,000 people saved in 6 months in Rochester, New York in 1832. Born again and it's a statistical fact that 85% of Finney's converts were still faithful to the Lord 20, 30 years later. Unlike DL Moody who preached a much weaker gospel of grace whose only 15% of his converts were found faithful 30 years later. Very interesting, okay? But anyway, let's keep going. John, what did I say? John 7? Just to show you, the water of the spirit. Actually, a good reference to and what I call this the water of the spirit is regeneration or being born again. That's what Jesus talked about in John 3. He that is born of what? Of the water and of the spirit. He's not talking about you got to be baptized in water to be saved like I like the Catholic church teaches or the church of Christ or whatever. He's not talking about that. The water of the spirit. Right? And he's talking about you must be born by the spirit of God. Okay? And then that's what Jesus was talking about here in John 7 when he said, "If any man thirst" look look at the verse uh 37. He said, "In the last day in that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Now, in John 4, this is what he talked about to the woman at the well when he said, "I have waters that if you drink" And of course, these are present tense Greek verbs, which means drink and keep drinking and are drinking now. But these things will be in you a well of water what? Regenerating you and making you a born-again Christian regeneration, okay? Water. Everybody with me? All right. The the third thing, fire. Let's go We need to read Matthew 3 real quick.
Matthew 3 cuz there's several things here in Matthew 3 we need to get a hold of. I love John the Baptist. Hallelujah. You know what's amazing about John the Baptist? And I you know and I I believe in miracles and I believe in healings and miracles and I've seen them, great healings and miracles. One thing that fascinates me about John the Baptist is Jesus said, John the Baptist, the Bible tells us, did no miracles. Yet he said he was the greatest prophet that ever lived. Isn't that amazing? The modern Pentecostal charismatic movement, they don't grasp this anymore. That the most important thing is not a healing or a miracle. Those are wonderful. The most important thing is repentance and salvation and truly making true converts that understand they must flee the wrath to come. Amen. That's always going to be my focus. I'm going to pray for the sick and believe for miracles and cast out demons and all that all the gifts of the spirit. I'm going to get on that in a second. But the most important thing is preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ, preaching repentance, preaching holiness, change. You don't act like the world. You don't live like the world. You don't You don't compromise. You know what I'm saying? Truth. John the Baptist did not play, did he? And what you know they people would ask him, "What do we do? What should we do?" And he told them, "Stop doing this." You know what I'm saying? He was plain about it. Well, let's read it. Matthew 3, verse 1. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And then of course I I'm going to skip on down. He says in in verse 6, "And they were baptized of him in the Jordan confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, 'O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, "We have Abraham to our father." For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children into Abraham. And now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. He says, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." You see that? Let's keep reading. "Whose fan is in his hand, he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Then came Jesus from Galilee into Jordan and unto John to be baptized. But John forbade him saying, "I have need to be baptized of of thee, and you come to me?" And Jesus answering
said unto him, "Suffer it to be now, for thus it it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he suffered or allowed him. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. It's interesting that another part another place another gospel it says it sounded like they thought it thundered. You know? It's just amazing something came from the throne. Here we see several things. We see what? We see baptize he saw baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. Then he says we see the Holy Spirit like a dove. So Matthew 3 number 3 and I think I said this but the fire of the spirit. The fire of the Holy Spirit is for purification and sanctification. This means that God wants to burn some stuff out of you. I'm going to give you a reference. I'm not going to turn there but Malachi chapter 3. He talks about I'm going to be a refiner's fire a purifier of the sons of Levi. The fire of God comes to consume away things in our character in our nature that are wrong that God wants to change. It's that process of burning and making of the putting the gold in the furnace and melting it down and causing the impurities to rise to the surface and scrape them off. Boy, let me tell you how many Christians resist this manifestation of the Holy Spirit wanting to deal with issues in their lives. And I'm not talking about just some maybe gross obvious sin. I'm talking about laziness attitudes vile stuff coming out of our mouths that hinder and quench what God wants to do. Amen. Unbelief. But see, if we yield to this baptism of fire to this work of fire. It means we let God. We let God. Sometimes it takes some time. You know, maybe we have to go through a trial. I've been through one recently. I've been through a lot of them. But I've been through one but I've noticed things changing in my life through these trials. God's getting stuff to rise to the stuff, scraping stuff off, impatience. Offense with God and with people. Amen. These are things God wants to deal with in us. And and and this is something remember I said about pursuing the spirit. I'm going to get to that in a second, the scripture behind that. But pursuing the spirit of God is saying God, I want this.
I want the baptism of fire. I want you to purify me. I want to sit one day and know that I'm sanctified and purged. That was the whole story. You got Isaiah the prophet who'd been a prophet for no telling how many years and then all of a sudden King Uzziah dies. This is Isaiah 6 and we see he sees heaven open. He sees the glory of God. And this is a man who was a holy man already. He's a prophet of God already. And he sees the throne of God and and and God takes an angel comes and takes a a coal from off the fire and touches his lips. What was that? That was a picture of this baptism of fire and he says, God has purged your iniquity. This is not that you need, you know, this is not saying that the blood of Jesus through redemption we're not saved but guess what? Christians still have issues. And God wants to take the fire and burn it out of us. And he says you're purged now. And this is this is a real process that we have to yield to. Amen. Let's keep going. Number five. I'm going to have to stay on this one for a second. The oil or the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This Oh, and I let me back up. I I missed one, didn't I? Number four, the dove of the spirit. And And this is what I'll say beside that just right now, just briefly. The dove of the spirit is that's that part of the Holy Spirit, that still small voice. His great gentleness and subtleties that we can miss at times. Yet are the most profound. You know what I'm talking about, right? Remember Elijah? Out in the wilderness and God sends a fire. God sends an earthquake. God sends a wind. But it says God wasn't in them. Even though God sent them. But then a still small voice and What did Elijah do? Wrapped his his head in his mantle like We miss so much because we're so busy. Sometimes I've asked the Lord recently, there's been a few times recently when we were in Georgia. Someone came into my We were at the the shower and someone walked in front of me and started talking to me and immediately God says to me And I And it was so quiet, so subtle. I I immediately You know, this guy's fooling around on his wife. I mean, God says just But it was so quiet, it was so subtle. And then I looked at his wife and it's like there was this chasm between the two of them. And I was like But it was so subtle, I walked away from that and really didn't think about it for the next couple days and I realized you know, that was God showing me that. Because an incident another incident came up about it.
So I'm like, you know, sometimes God is so quiet. He's so gentle. And this part of the of the spirit, listen, this is the part where you know, a dove can could land on your shoulder or could could land and sit in front of you. But wild movements and wild actions, you know, gruff Yeah, scare him away. And this is the part of God. You know how you'll feel sometimes he's there, sometimes seems like he's far away. This is the why we have to pursue him. This is this part because he's so It's amazing how he's so powerful yet so gentle at the same time. Now, don't I'm not saying he can't do some real power. He knocked Paul on the ground, right? But in dealing with us and us yielding to him, sometimes he's very very subtle. And we can miss him easily. And it just ought to make us go, "God, I want to be sensitive to you more, right?" Next thing, the oil. The oil of the spirit of the anointing. Now, this is you know, the oil or the anointing is the word in the Greek, chrisma, okay? Where we get our word charismatic from. Nothing wrong with that. But here here's what this is about. This is about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit here, okay? Now, notice I've talked about what? Four other things before we even got to this. But this is this the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an event. It is a It is a thing that God wants us to pursue and to experience. And he wants this thing, you know, us to be filled in this manner. This is not a one filling. I mean, of course, I believe there's many fillings. He He even told a church that was already baptized in the spirit and speaking in tongues and operating in gifts. He told the church of Ephesus in in Ephesians 5, be filled with the spirit, right? Well, that means it's a continuous ongoing action. It's like you need to be filled again and then be filled again. I believe there's many infillings of the spirit. I believe there can be many anointings of the spirit. But the initial anointing or the the charisma is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's another manifestation with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. We got it in Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19. Paul gives a whole chapter on it. Said in in, you know, talks about it in 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 14. This is something you have to pursue. I know I know there's some of you in this room that are baptized in Holy Spirit speaking tongues. I know there's some that are not. I'm telling you, pursue this until you receive. Okay? This is a legitimate part. It's not everything. And see, there's some charismatics and Pentecostals out there that make this everything and everything else in their life is screwed up.
Okay? So, this is I'm not one that says this is everything about the Holy Spirit. But this is an important part that we should not grieve or quench or resist or doubt or fear or delay. This is something Well, I'm going to tell you, when I came back to the Lord when I was 19 years old, I was not in a Pentecostal church. Y'all understand that? I was not around Now, the guy that I worked for was charismatic, but I never heard him speak in tongues and I didn't even know what it was. Okay? Here's what happened to me. I just read the Bible. Wow, novel idea, right? I didn't have indoctrination from churches and traditions and denominations telling me it wasn't for today and that I didn't need that. Or that because there's crazy people out there that take it to an extreme, you shouldn't even pursue that, right? I just read Acts chapter 2 and I saw where Jesus told his his 12 or his 11 that were left, he What did he say to them? Here now Now, let this sink in your head. They've been with him for 3 years, trained by him personally, and yet Jesus Christ, the Son of God, says, "Don't do anything." Now, he'd just got through telling them, "Go into all the world preach the gospel." But then he says, "Don't do anything until you are endued with power from on high, until you receive the Holy Spirit." Now, in John 20, he had he had appeared to the room and breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." They were regenerated, but then he says, "Go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, something else, something different." And so they go to Jerusalem and they pray for 10 days. Well, actually it's it's 50 days before this this day happens, but we know they were in the upper room for 10 days. And so they're there for 10 days and here's what's amazing to me. They're not even sure what's coming. They don't have preconceived ideas. They they don't even have Most of them probably didn't even know the scripture in Isaiah 28 about that God said he would use stammering lips and another tongue. They probably didn't even know that scripture yet. I would be shocked if any of them did, right? Really, the gift of tongues was a mystery hidden in one verse in the Old Testament. Right? Isaiah chapter 28, I think it's verse 11, if I 11 try, I have to turn there in a minute. Actually, Paul quotes it in 1 Corinthians 14. God says, "With stammering lips and another tongue, I will speak to this people. It is a refreshing and a rest, yet they would not hear. Now, let me say this. Acts 2, there's 120 in the upper room. Rushing, mighty wind fills all the house, right?
There appeared to them cloven tongues like as a fire. The Holy Spirit, well, he was doing something special here because he comes in wind, fire, and the anointing, or the oil, the gifts. Three manifestations this day. And he comes in there and it says, "They were all filled." Just the apostles? Everybody present. Wouldn't you hate to miss church that day? Everybody filled with the Holy Spirit, all 120. Now, if it wasn't for everybody, why did Jesus fill everybody there? Amen. Don't believe lies out there. There's one verse in 1 Corinthians 12 that say, "Do all speak with tongues?" That's not saying all can't. It's saying, "Do all?" No, all won't because of what? They won't pursue him for it. Or let their or the you know, listen, and I know some of you I know the biggest hang-up I've seen over the years is the mind gets in the way. But who does it say spoke in tongues? Does it say the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues? What does it say? They spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. This is a cooperation between you and the Holy Spirit. The Holy You go to Acts chapter 19, it says Paul laid hands on them and what? The Holy Ghost came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. God will not make you speak in tongues, you yield, and then the Holy Spirit. You take a step of faith like Peter out of the boat. If Peter, you know, Jesus said, "Come." Didn't he? God says, "Be filled. Receive the baptism." Right? Come. And you know what you have to do? I remember when I was sitting in the closet, I read Acts chapter 2 and I said, "God, if these boys needed this, I need it. I need everything you got." And I said, "Lord, fill me. Baptize me in the Holy Spirit." But I knew enough to know he's not going to make me. And I started moving my mouth and moving my tongue and let me tell you what happened. Something happened in here and a fluent, I mean, supernatural language started coming out of me. But the moment I decided to shut my mouth and stop moving my tongue and my vocal cords, it stopped. God does not force it through you. God does not force you. Okay? This is vitally important. This is the only gift of the Holy Spirit that God lets us control. Because it's given to us for praise and worship and prayer and and and strengthening our spirit man. It's a unique and special and important gift. And you know, I've heard people
say, and this makes me so angry. How many of you ever heard this? It's the least of the gifts. Ever heard that? I have. I've heard that from Baptist and Methodist and Presby- You start talking about this. They say, "Oh, it's the least of the gifts." Really? Even if that was so, here's a here's a scripture for them. The last shall be first. Amen. Let me say this about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the doorway into all the other gifts in a much greater measure. Amen. Any Christian can have a vision, hear the voice of God. I'm not saying that. But once the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes into your life and you have the gift of tongues and you start exercising that gift in prayer and in worship in your private time, there's something just unleashed. I noticed it when I was filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to pray in tongues in my in my private time that word of knowledge begin to operate. The gift of prophecy begin to operate. The gifts of working of miracles, the discerning of spirits, the other nine gifts of the spirit. Okay? This is what we need. We need this to demonstrate the power of the gospel to the world. Jesus witnessing to the woman at the well. What? Go get your husband. I don't have a husband. That's right. You don't have a husband. You've had five of them and the one you're living with now is not your husband. That was a word of knowledge. That was a gift of the spirit. Sir, I perceive you are a prophet. Right? First Corinth First Corinthians 14, he said, "If you prophesy, reveal the secrets of men's heart, they will fall down and say God is in you of a truth." We need this. The world needs this. Who cares how many people want to operate in divination and and fortune telling and and and spiritism, the real thing is available for us if we pursue the Holy Spirit. Amen. SHH. BE FILLED. BE BAPTIZED. This morning, I'm going to tell you what. For those of you if you haven't been and you want to be prayed for, I believe in this and I've laid hands on a lot of people and some of them have been filled and speaking in tongues at that moment and sometimes it's happened to them that later that night when they're at home and maybe a week later. But but I believe in the in what Paul did in Acts 19, lay hands on them and pray for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and they will be. But I'm going to tell you, it's something you have to step out in and start speaking with your It sound You feel like a baby. You feel like a fool. Well, guess what? God has chosen THE FOOLISH THINGS TO CONFOUND the wise. Amen? Tongues is an is a power. I can't even I mean, I I need to take a a service one day and just deal with this issue. Because I'm going to tell you, I would not have the relationship with God, the revelation, the understanding, the miracles, the the the people I've seen saved if I hadn't have had
this anointing and these gifts. Okay? But, again, you can abuse them. You can abuse them and you can easily move out of them into the counterfeit. Amen? That's why we stay in the word. Okay? Let's keep going. Shh. I feel the Lord on that. Amen? I mean, that I mean, you could do five sermons on just that one issue. But, number six. The wind or breath of the spirit. Now, this is this is something that God just the wind. The wind. Oh, God. The rushing mighty wind is when God comes to bring a move of God. To bring a revival. To sweep hundreds or thousands of people into the kingdom of God. The day of Pentecost, 120 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the fire of God, they were baptized, they spoke in tongues and prophesied, but Peter stood up and preached the gospel of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, and 3,000 people were born again that day. That is what the rushing mighty wind does. It is a move of God to bring something new forth, to birth something new, to birth a bunch of people into the kingdom of God. Amen. I mean, getting one soul is saved is wonderful, and God says all heaven rejoices when one sinner repents, but a move if we pray and fast IF WE GET GOD to come down in that rushing mighty wind, a revival will take place. And we've had these seasons in the church world to know, under Finney, under Wesley. We've seen it under Whitfield. We saw it in the Brownsville Revival, the Azusa Street Revival, the Cane Ridge Revival, THE WELSH REVIVAL. WE NEED THIS. AMEN. How many have gotten close to God doing this and grieved him away? By sin, by worrying what man thinks. The fear of man brings a snare. Whenever we start worrying about what people think, the Holy Spirit is grieved away. Number seven. I'm going to get you to turn to this one just so you can see. Number seven is the life of the spirit or the sustaining power. Romans 8, turn to that one. Let me just tell you this while you're turning there. The Spirit of God just said to me very plainly while we were in worship, he's going to send a revival to Auburn University.
God's going to visit Auburn University in power. You hear me? That university is going to be shaken to its core. People are going to get thousands are going to get saved. Mark my words down. I keep seeing it as I'm praying, but God said it to me, I and he said these words to me, I am going to visit Auburn University. Don't know how. Don't know when. Don't know how to I just know. And you know something else I'm going to tell you that God showed me while we were praying? And this touches me, he said, I have not forgotten all the years you were here in those early days back in the late '80s and early '90s crying out to me for revival here. Fasting for weeks. Getting up at 6:00 a.m. every morning and having prayer meetings every morning. God said, "I haven't forgotten that. It's been stored up for the right time." Y'all hear me? God said he's going to visit. Woo! I know he is. He told me that li- listen to me, just to give you some background that I don't say these things lightly. I shared this before, but in 1994, 1995, well, or when was it? Early '95, God said he was going to bring a revival to Auburn, and he did in 1996. But I don't think it went as far as he wanted to go, but he did visit here and hundreds and hundreds of people were saved. Okay? I know he's going to visit in a greater way. Everybody turn to Romans chapter 8. What's the last one? The life of the spirit, zoe, right? The word zoe, the life. This is the sustaining power. Oh, I'm not even there yet. Romans 8, look up at verse Well, let's read verse 8. This is kind of going to tie it all together here. I mean, not verse 8, I'm saying Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. I'm just going to say something right here I've said for years. If your verse doesn't contain that last phrase, walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, get a Bible that does. It's supposed to be there. Amen.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Remember we were talking about pursuing the spirit, going after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life Well, y'all are the law of the spirit of life. He's called the spirit of life. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. You know what that means? That I don't have to be bound by sin anymore. There's no sin that I have to keep committing over and over and over again without any hope of freedom or deliverance. Amen. I don't have to be in it anymore. Shh. Again, I'm not saying a Christian never sins, but you should not be bound to any sin that you keep repeating habitually and over and over and over. If so, something is wrong in your Christian life or your Christian Maybe you're not even saved or born again. But if this is going on, something is critically wrong. You need deliverance. You need the spirit of life TO COME SET YOU FREE from the law of sin and death. Amen. Let's read it. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Listen, there's only two kinds of Christians or people in this world. There are people who are walking after the flesh, chasing the things of THE FLESH, THE DESIRES of the flesh, the lusts of the flesh, OR THEY'RE WALKING after the Holy Spirit and the things of the spirit. The ones that are trying to do both are the most miserable. But are deceiving themselves cuz they're really walking after the flesh. Don't tell me you're a Christian and you can't get out of adultery. Amen. Don't tell me you're a Christian and you're still getting drunk once, twice, two, three times a month. No. Repent. Get free. IT ONLY SHOWS THAT YOU don't have the spirit. You're not letting the spirit work in you and you're not chasing the things of the spirit. That's why it's easy to tell. That's why Jesus said, "He that saith" 1 John 2:4, one of my favorite verses. "He that saith, I know him"
Jesus "and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth's not in him." The homosexual, the s- he's a Christian is a liar. And the truth is not If he is a practicing homosexual, he is not a Christian. He is a liar and the truth not him. It's that simple. Offend? I don't care. Repent. The spirit of life, the law of the spirit of life can make you free from that. Amen. Paul even said to the Corinthians, "Some of you used to be homosexuals, but you're not anymore." Glory to God. Amen. Let's keep reading. The law the Oh, I love verse four. That that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk That word walk there is a present tense Greek verb. It means ongoing, continuous action taking place in the present. OH. WHAT HERE'S WHAT'S AWESOME. LET ME JUST say this. Here's what's awesome, guys. If we pursue the Holy Spirit and the things of the Holy Spirit, wow, he will come and rest upon us. He will come and fill us. He will come and give us power. He will come and help us. If our heart is set on some idol or some lust or some sin, he is grieved AWAY AND WILL NOT. AND IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE HELP OF THE SPIRIT, you are in trouble. Right? Let's keep reading. Verse five. This This is probably one of the most important chapters for a Christian. Verse five. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. And the word mind there, it means to exercise the mind. To focus or put their attention on. Amen. This verse alone Let me just say this. The person that won't read their Bible, that won't pray, that won't pursue the power of God. They'll sit for hours and watch TV and never study the Bible, never pray, never seek God. They're after the flesh. Their mind is after the flesh. Their heart is after the flesh. This is why on judgment day it's going to be easy for God. Easy. Really? You You want You want to say you should come in here? Let me show you your life. Here's what you did. You don't want to hear those those words
he said to that servant where he said, "Here's what you ought to have done." It's the most scary verse in the Bible. Matthew 25. Here we Keep reading. For to be carnally minded Well, let's read verse five again. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. If you're pursuing the spirit, it'll be very evident you're you're after the things of the spirit. What are the things of the spirit? The word of God. The fire of God. Amen. The gifts of God. Whew. Let's keep going. He says, "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Who wants life and peace? Me. Amen. He says, "Because the carnal mind is an enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is a life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken or make alive your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. This is why I said the life of the spirit is that sustaining power against the carnal nature. You have to have him to KEEP FROM FALLING AWAY. AND YES, you can fall away. You have to have him. You either pursue him or you fall away. Amen. It has been said, there is no standing still in spiritual life. You are moving forward or you are moving backwards. Amen. And this is what's beautiful. God has promised to those who pursue him. Who pursue the things of the spirit. All right. Now, I'm just going to give you these real quick, and I know we've gone a little long today, but we started late, too. Here's the thing Here's Here's the verses. I'm going to give you four things that you we can do bad to the spirit of God. And I'm just going to give them to you. You can look them up. Here's the four things. We can resist him or kick against the pricks. Acts 7 and Acts 9. Okay? Resist, that means to oppose what he wants to do. Just outwardly oppose.
Resist conviction. Right? Number two, we can grieve him by sin. The word grieve means to make him sad, to distress him. Think about it now. You eat This is in Ephesians chapter 4. You can read the whole thing and he's talking about let him that stole steal no more. Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth. Be angry and sin not. Give no place to the devil. That whole chapter where he's telling you how you ought to live in holiness and true righteousness. And he's going down through this this And then he says and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Right? Charles Finney said it this way when he's talking about things that that show that a revival is near and he gives this long list and he said if all of these things are are in place, he said God is surely going to visit in a revival unless he's grieved away by sin. All right? Number three, we can quench him. First Thessalonians chapter 5, quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove or test all things. Hold fast to that which is good. Quench him. Don't quench that literally means don't extinguish the spirit's fire. Means two things I think this is meaning in that in 1 Thessalonians 5 because in the context First it says don't put out his fire. Don't quench the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. But he talks about don't despise prophesying means don't quench or stop the gifts of the spirit in your life or in your church or your ministry. Don't quench what the Holy Spirit wants to do. Amen. Number four. Hebrews chapter 10. You can abuse the spirit of grace. Oh, what is that? That's what my book's about, grace abuse. That's where the title came from. In the King James, it says you can do spite to the spirit of grace. The Greek word translate there means to abuse the spirit of grace. You know what that is? That's saying God's grace covers me, so I can live how I want to live. I can do what I want to do. I can sin. I can compromise. I can live a licentious lifestyle, but God's grace covers me. And that says you are abusing the Holy Spirit of grace. Listen, I've said this for years, but I'll say it again. Grace is not some mystical thing in the universe that God just rains down on everyone. Grace is the Holy Spirit. When you say the word grace, that's the Holy Spirit.
The Bible calls him the spirit of grace. Think about that. The definition of grace in the Greek dictionary is the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life. Clearly a definition of the work of the Holy Spirit. I love how people throw around grace as an excuse to keep living with their boyfriend or girlfriend, to keep pagan practices. You get what I'm saying? Grace. Oh, it's grace now. No. That's the Holy Spirit you're talking about, and he's not allowing you to get away with this. But if you keep doing it, See, that's why Hebrews 10 says this, "For if we sin willfully after that we've received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking to of judgment and fiery indignation." That's where he goes on down to say, "He that was" He says, "of how much sorer punishment suppose he shall he be thought worthy who has trodden under foot the Son of God, counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and done despite or abuse to the spirit of grace." So, we can resist, grieve, quench, and abuse the Holy Spirit. Now, here's the good things we can do. Give you these quick. Number one, five things. We can receive the truth about him. See, just like I just told you, there'll be people who won't receive the truth about about abusing the spirit of grace. But they'll either receive the truth now or on judgment day have to deal with it. And it won't be pleasant. Right? Receive the truth about the Holy Spirit. Number two, yield to him. And I put out beside that the baptism of the Holy Spirit where we have to yield and cooperate. Man? Number three, obey and be led by him. Romans 8:14 says this the children of God or the sons of God are what? Led by the spirit of God. They let God lead their lives. They don't lead it themselves. Number four, we can be empowered to him to flow in the supernatural gifts and be a witness. Am I going too fast? And number five, be taught by him. First John 2 says, You really need not that any man teach you, but the anointing will teach you all things. Now, I'm not saying you don't need pastors and elders and all that, but the Holy Spirit's your number one teacher, not me. Amen. Guess what? If you won't listen to him, you're not going to listen to me, either.
Right? It starts with him. He starts He does the work in you. You know what I You know what pastors and ministers are for? I mean, God's already doing work in folks, and they're either accepting it or rejecting it. And pastors are to come along and ministers, evangelists, prophets, apostles, they're to come along and reinforce what God's doing and and and try to help you if you're getting off track, get back on track. But that's all we're here for. You know, a pastor's not here to tell you anything, really, that you shouldn't already know. If I tell you something that's not in this book, I mean, you could find this stuff in this book for yourself. I should just be telling you what's already in here. You get what I'm saying? Anything new, I'd be scared of. Right? But the job of a pastor is just to try to keep you from going astray. And push you further. But it's still up to you. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord. I thank you for the truth. I thank you for your presence here today. Holy Spirit, we want everything that you have for us. Lord, everything individually, corporately, every single thing that you have.