The Promised Gift

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(upbeat music)

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We're gonna continue our series on His Church,

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and I'm excited about where we're going today

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and through Christmas, actually, through the Advent season,

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we're going to be looking at the gift of the Holy Spirit,

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the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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And so we're gonna stand this morning

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and we're gonna read from Acts chapter two.

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Actually, that's not true.

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We're gonna read from Acts chapter one.

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I have a feeling that this is wrong again.

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No, it's not.

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Man, you guys are on it.

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Here we go, all right.

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We're in Acts chapter one.

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We're going back to Acts chapter one.

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So here we go.

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In my former book, Theophilus,

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I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

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until the day He was taken up to heaven

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after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit

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to the apostles He had chosen.

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After His suffering, He presented Himself to them

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and gave them many convincing proofs that He was alive.

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He appeared to them over a period of 40 days

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and spoke about the kingdom of God.

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On one occasion, while He was eating with them,

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He gave them this command.

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"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift

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"My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about.

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"For John baptized with water, but in a few days,

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"you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

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Then they gathered around Him and asked Him,

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"Lord, are You at this time going to restore

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"the kingdom to Israel?"

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He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times

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"or dates the Father has set by His own authority,

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"but you will receive power

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"when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

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"and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem

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"and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."

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After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes

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and a cloud hit Him from their sight.

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They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going

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when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

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"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here

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"looking into the sky?

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"This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven

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"will come back in the same way

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"you have seen Him go into heaven."

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Father, I thank you for your Word.

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I thank you that it is true.

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And I thank you, Lord, that it is alive

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and it can transform us today.

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I pray that that would be the case in Jesus' name, amen.

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You may be seated.

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The Holy Spirit.

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I grew up in a independent, fundamental Baptist culture.

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We did not talk about the Holy Spirit.

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We talked about hell.

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And everybody was going to this place called hell.

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I learned a lot about hell in that particular church.

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And we didn't talk about the Holy Spirit.

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In fact, the times that we mentioned,

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maybe got close to talking about the Holy Spirit,

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we were talking about the crazy people across the road

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who were jumping and dancing,

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and they too were going to hell for talking

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and experiencing the Holy Spirit.

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And so thankfully the Lord has rescued me

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from that ideology and that has liberated me

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to understand that there really is a Holy Spirit.

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And guess what?

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Everyone in this room, if you're a believer,

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you have access to Him.

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You have access to Him.

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Now I'm gonna say something right now

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that is might gonna offend some of you,

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but if it does, just go back and watch last week's message.

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That might help you, okay?

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But no, I'm serious.

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I may say something right now

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that's gonna offend some of you, okay?

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And that's okay.

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I want you to work through it, okay?

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I am not much of a woohoo guy.

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What do you mean by that?

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I'm not much of a,

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let's just see all of this stuff happen around.

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Why is that?

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I'm not much of a woohoo guy

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because I don't need the woohoo of God

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to prove to me His reality and His sovereignty.

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And I have a propensity in my flesh

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that if I get around a lot of the woohoo of God,

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then I begin to chase after the woohoo

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instead of chasing after God.

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And I never want that to be the case in my life.

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But in the same vein, I don't wanna dismiss the fact

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that God does move in the miraculous.

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He does move in the supernatural.

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He does do these things among us,

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but there is a purpose for when God moves

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in the miraculous and in the supernatural.

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And let me tell you what the purpose is not.

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The purpose is not to sell a book for 1995.

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The purpose is not to draw a big crowd.

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The purpose is not to put on a show.

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The purpose of the supernatural move of God in your life,

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whether it be through healing,

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whatever thing you can throw under the umbrella of woohoo,

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anything like that is nothing more or less

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than to point people to Jesus Christ.

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To remind you that we are to exalt Jesus Christ

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at some point from point A to point B,

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we have to get to a point of acknowledging Jesus Christ.

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There is no man on the earth who is able to do

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what the Holy Spirit is able to do.

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It is the Holy Spirit.

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Now, I would be remiss to say,

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I'd be remiss not to say that I don't believe

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that anyone has the total picture of the Holy Spirit.

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I don't think there's anybody that can stand up and say,

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"I've got it down.

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"I know the Holy Spirit in and out.

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"And like I said, I'll sell you a book,

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"a pamphlet or whatever."

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No, nobody really, truly,

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totally understands the Holy Spirit.

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And I do believe that churches back off

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from teaching about the Holy Spirit

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because there seems to be some confusion

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around the Holy Spirit.

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And here's the reason why that is.

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I believe that pastors or preachers or leaders

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have an experience with the Holy Spirit,

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then they build a doctrine based on that experience

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and they expect everybody to walk with them

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and it doesn't line up with the truth of God.

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And so you can really woo a lot of people

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and you can really lead them astray

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when you're not following the principles

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laid out in God's truth.

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The Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit

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does not have to be confusing.

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There is enough scriptural precedent.

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There is enough in scripture to tell us

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about the Holy Spirit, some concrete things

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that we can learn and draw from about the Holy Spirit

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that allows us and puts us in a position to access Him.

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In fact, I would go a step further

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to acknowledge the fact that we need Him in our life

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in order to survive in this world.

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In order to survive in this world.

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So we don't have to operate or lean in to confusion.

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And it is my hope and it's my goal

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as the leader of this house, as the pastor of this house

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that we never lead you into a place of confusion.

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That we do things in such a way that are clear

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and that point us back to the Word and back to the Lord.

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Here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians.

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God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.

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He is not the author of confusion.

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If you leave somewhere after a teaching with confusion,

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my encouragement to you is to lay down whatever it is

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that you heard at the feet of the altar of the Lord

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and say, Lord, I need you to bring me clarity.

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Do not build your life off of something

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that you're confused by.

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Do not build your life off of something

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that you're confused by.

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Later in the same book, it says God does things decently

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and in order.

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He is not a messy God.

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He doesn't, now he'll mess with your life.

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'Cause he wants you to straighten up, right?

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He wants to show you some better things.

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But he's not sloppy.

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He's a God of order.

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And he works things in that way.

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So the Holy Spirit.

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I am a teacher at heart and I believe that Jesus Christ

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was one of the best teachers that ever set foot

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on the planet.

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When I read scripture and I see the way that he taught,

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the way he talked to people, the way he used examples

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and testimonies and objects and all of these things,

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I believe we can learn a lot.

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If you're an educator in the room,

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I believe you can learn a lot from looking at Jesus's life

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and the way that he taught.

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And if you are an educator, you understand

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that the practical baseline of teaching

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is that you teach a lesson, then you assess the lesson,

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and then you go back and restate what they've learned.

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Those are just the three basic parts

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of getting through whatever.

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And Jesus did that.

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Jesus does that.

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He did that.

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And what we're looking at here in Acts chapter one

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at the very top is Jesus has already died.

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He's been buried.

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He's been resurrected.

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And now he is back.

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He's saying, "I'm here.

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"I did exactly what I told you I was gonna do."

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And he spent 40 days reviewing everything

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that he'd been saying was gonna happen.

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So he took the time and he did three things.

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This is what it says in the scripture.

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He says that he gave instructions.

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So he had 40 days 'cause guess what?

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Jesus knew he was about to go be with his father.

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And so just like any good teacher, he said,

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"I need to give some final instructions to my followers."

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So he gave instructions.

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The second thing it says that he did over in Acts chapter one

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is he proved that he was alive.

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If Jesus would have not shown up physically to the disciples,

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there would have been a question on whether or not

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he was truly resurrected.

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But he took the time.

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Remember, we talked about back at Easter

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where doubting Thomas, he was like,

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"Man, I'm not gonna believe until I touch Jesus."

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And he did.

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Jesus was so gracious to say, "I'm alive.

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"You need to know that I am exactly who I said I am

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"and I am resurrected from the dead."

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So he spent the 40 days proving that he was alive.

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And then lastly, he spoke about the kingdom of God.

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He spoke about the kingdom of God.

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Over in Matthew chapter six, it says,

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"Seek first the kingdom of God."

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This was a pillar in Jesus's life, in his ministry.

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"Seek first the kingdom of God."

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And so he was pointing to the kingdom of God.

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And so after we establish,

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after Luke establishes these three points,

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he goes into the section and he says,

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"Now one day when Jesus was eating with his disciples,

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"he says to them, 'I want you to not leave Jerusalem,

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"'and I want you to do something while you wait.'"

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And we're gonna talk about that in just a second, okay?

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What they were supposed to be waiting on.

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Who, more importantly, they were supposed to be waiting on.

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So this is what we're going to do.

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We're gonna go to John chapter 15, if you have your Bibles.

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John chapter 15, and I'm gonna read a little bit more

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than you're used to today

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because I want us to transport back from this point,

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we were Acts chapter one, Jesus is resurrected.

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We're gonna transport our minds back before the cross

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where he's walking with these same disciples.

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I want you to understand that the concept, the idea,

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and the introduction of the Holy Spirit

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did not happen in Acts chapter one.

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Jesus already was on the scene

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talking about this promised gift.

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And so we're gonna look at that here in John chapter 15.

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"If the world hates you," and it does,

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"know that it hated me before it hated you.

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"If you belong to the world,

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"the world would love you as its own

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"and would treat you with affection.

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"But you are not of the world.

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"You no longer belong to it,

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"but I have chosen you out of the world,

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"and because of this, the world hates you."

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How many know that the world hates you?

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"Remember that I told you,

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"a servant is not greater than his master.

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"If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

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"If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

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"But they will do all these hurtful things to you

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"for my name's sake,

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"for they do not know the one who sent me.

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"If I had not come and spoken to them,

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"they would have not sinned,

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"but now they have no excuse for their sin.

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"For the one who hates me also hates his father, my father.

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"If I had not done among them the works,

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"which no one else did, they would have not sinned.

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"But now they have both seen and have hated me

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"and my Father as well.

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"But that the word which has been written in their law

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"would be fulfilled, they hated me without a cause."

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Now listen to this, church.

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But when the helper, the Holy Spirit,

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comes whom I will send to you from the Father,

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that is the spirit of truth, who comes from the Father,

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he will testify and bear witness about me.

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But you will testify also and be my witnesses

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because you have been with me from the beginning.

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I have told you these things so that you would not stumble

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or be caught off guard and fall away.

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They will put you out of the synagogues

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and make you outcasts, a time is coming

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when whoever kills you will think it is offering

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a service to God.

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And they will do these things because they have not known

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the Father or me.

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I have told you these things now so that when their time

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comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

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I did not say these things to you at the beginning

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because I was with you.

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But now I am going to him who sent me

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and none of you asked me where are you going.

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But because I have said these things to you,

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sorrow has filled your hearts.

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Now why was sorrow filling their hearts?

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Why was sorrow filling their hearts?

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Jesus Christ was physically in front of them.

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They were leaning on his strength.

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They were listening to his teaching.

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They were following in his ways.

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Jesus is saying, I'm about to leave.

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So sorrow is filling their heart.

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Not only am I about to leave,

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but your lives are gonna be real interesting without me.

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You're gonna need something to help you along the way.

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More importantly, someone to help you along the way.

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But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage

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that I go away.

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Friends, it was to our advantage that Jesus Christ

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ascended and went to heaven.

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I love you guys.

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I'd love to hang out with every single one of you

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all at the same time.

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It's impossible.

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It's not impossible for the Holy Spirit.

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For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you,

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but if I go, I will send him to you.

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That's a promise.

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And he, when he comes, will convict the world

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about sin and about righteousness and about judgment.

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He says specifically about sin,

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because people do not believe in me.

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About righteousness, because I'm going to my Father

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and you will no longer see me.

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About judgment, because the ruler of this world

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has been condemned.

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I have much more to say to you,

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more than you can now bear.

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I could only imagine.

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They can't bear another thing.

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You're leaving us, what?

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But when he, the Spirit of truth comes,

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he will guide you into all truth.

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He will not speak on his own.

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He will speak only what he hears,

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and what he will tell you is what is yet to come.

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He will glorify me.

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The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus,

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because from me, it is from me,

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that he will receive what he will make known to you.

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And so, Jesus is promising these disciples,

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physically in front of them, promising them a gift

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that he is saying is better than the gift

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standing right in front of them.

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And it is the person of the Holy Spirit.

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And friends, that same gift is available

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to everyone who believes.

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Everyone under the sound of my voice who believes,

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you have access to the Holy Spirit.

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So now let's transport back into time,

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the death, burial, and resurrection has happened.

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The apostles, the disciples have this information.

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Jesus is resurrected from the dead.

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We're in Acts chapter one.

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He has now recapped everything we just read.

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He said, "I am alive."

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And he's got them sitting at a table, and he says this,

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"I want you not to go back to Jerusalem.

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"I'm about to leave.

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"I'm about to ascend to heaven like I told you.

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"I'm about to do."

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Aren't you so glad that Jesus always does everything

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he said he's gonna do?

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Every single time.

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And so he said, "I'm about to go to be my father,

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"but here's what I want you to do.

Speaker: 00:17:02

"I want you to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:17:07

"I want you to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:17:09

"I did a thing this past week.

Speaker: 00:17:13

"I did a thing this past week, Ashley.

Speaker: 00:17:15

"I went on a daddy-daughter date with my daughter, Lucia.

Speaker: 00:17:22

"And one of the things that she likes to do

Speaker: 00:17:25

"is she likes to go to the pet store,

Speaker: 00:17:27

"and she likes to pet puppies.

Speaker: 00:17:31

"It's a free activity.

Speaker: 00:17:32

"If you want something free for your kids, just go.

Speaker: 00:17:34

"They bring the puppies out.

Speaker: 00:17:35

"And I had zero intention on buying anything

Speaker: 00:17:38

"from that pet store.

Speaker: 00:17:40

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:17:42

"But we got in there and the Holy Spirit of God."

Speaker: 00:17:45

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:17:49

We got in there, Ashley, and I'm telling you right now,

Speaker: 00:17:51

we got in there and that puppy,

Speaker: 00:17:53

can I just describe the puppy to you?

Speaker: 00:17:54

The puppy is like, it's black,

Speaker: 00:17:56

and it's got like this brown fur in the front.

Speaker: 00:17:59

It's got these beady black eyes

Speaker: 00:18:00

and this nose that kind of sticks out.

Speaker: 00:18:02

It kind of can fit like right here in the palm of my hand.

Speaker: 00:18:05

And it's so soft.

Speaker: 00:18:06

And like when I put my face up against it, he just rubs.

Speaker: 00:18:09

I mean, it's just, don't you think that's cute?

Speaker: 00:18:11

Like don't you, doesn't that just make you

Speaker: 00:18:12

wanna have a puppy?

Speaker: 00:18:13

I mean, it's a, you know, I tell you what,

Speaker: 00:18:15

I tell you what, I tell you what, I tell you what.

Speaker: 00:18:17

Let me just show you a picture, okay?

Speaker: 00:18:18

Here's the picture.

Speaker: 00:18:19

Isn't that, isn't that just the, Ashley,

Speaker: 00:18:22

isn't that not the best right there?

Speaker: 00:18:24

Look at that.

Speaker: 00:18:25

I mean, do you see how the paws are just kind of like

Speaker: 00:18:27

dangling over my arm like this?

Speaker: 00:18:29

And the ears just kind of like, it's just,

Speaker: 00:18:31

he's, and then at home, at home,

Speaker: 00:18:34

he's like, he like hops in the grass.

Speaker: 00:18:36

Like you just boop, boop, you know?

Speaker: 00:18:38

And he's just cute, just runs around.

Speaker: 00:18:41

Don't you think he's just so cute?

Speaker: 00:18:42

Ashley, hold on, wait a second.

Speaker: 00:18:44

I just.

Speaker: 00:18:45

Ashley, I mean, goodness gracious.

Speaker: 00:18:51

I mean, look at this.

Speaker: 00:18:53

There's nothing cuter.

Speaker: 00:18:54

Look, I mean, come on, look.

Speaker: 00:18:56

I mean, is he not the star of the show?

Speaker: 00:19:00

My goodness, come on.

Speaker: 00:19:02

See, look, oh, he's just walking around, come on.

Speaker: 00:19:04

Oh, come here.

Speaker: 00:19:08

Ashley, I just don't know that you're getting quite

Speaker: 00:19:10

how cute this puppy is.

Speaker: 00:19:12

Ashley, look, look at this.

Speaker: 00:19:16

I know you want to hold, come on.

Speaker: 00:19:17

Look at this, don't you just love it?

Speaker: 00:19:20

Oh, isn't it just the best?

Speaker: 00:19:23

Makes you want one, huh?

Speaker: 00:19:25

I know, I know.

Speaker: 00:19:26

It makes you want one, right?

Speaker: 00:19:29

Yeah, it's amazing.

Speaker: 00:19:30

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:19:37

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:19:39

Some of us spend our life describing the Holy Spirit,

Speaker: 00:19:43

looking at pictures of what he's doing

Speaker: 00:19:47

in other people's life,

Speaker: 00:19:48

but until you experience it and touch him yourself,

Speaker: 00:19:55

you do not know how much power is in the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:20:00

This room turned upside down

Speaker: 00:20:02

the minute that dog came on this stage.

Speaker: 00:20:04

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:20:06

Because you experienced something.

Speaker: 00:20:08

And there is an experience available to you

Speaker: 00:20:13

with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:20:16

If you will choose to lean in and engage him,

Speaker: 00:20:20

if you'll choose to lean in and engage the Holy Spirit,

Speaker: 00:20:24

the experience of the Holy Spirit is a joyful one,

Speaker: 00:20:28

it is a full one, it is a convicting one,

Speaker: 00:20:30

but every time the Holy Spirit gets done

Speaker: 00:20:32

doing what he's doing,

Speaker: 00:20:33

you are off better than you were before.

Speaker: 00:20:36

Experiencing the gift of the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:20:40

is far better than talking about him

Speaker: 00:20:41

or acting as if he is not there.

Speaker: 00:20:43

And you have access to experience him today,

Speaker: 00:20:51

right now, moment by moment.

Speaker: 00:20:55

You need the Holy Spirit in your life.

Speaker: 00:20:57

Hear me, you need the Holy Spirit in your life.

Speaker: 00:21:01

In this Acts chapter, after he tells them,

Speaker: 00:21:03

"Wait on the Holy Spirit,"

Speaker: 00:21:04

he references two different types of baptism.

Speaker: 00:21:07

We experienced one of the baptisms today.

Speaker: 00:21:10

The first one was baptism by water.

Speaker: 00:21:12

What is baptism by water?

Speaker: 00:21:14

We believe, did you know Jesus got baptized?

Speaker: 00:21:17

You all realize Jesus got baptized.

Speaker: 00:21:19

Can I just pose a little thought-provoking question?

Speaker: 00:21:22

If Jesus got baptized,

Speaker: 00:21:24

I just don't know if that's exactly

Speaker: 00:21:29

what the Lord wants me to do right now.

Speaker: 00:21:31

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:21:34

Jesus got baptized.

Speaker: 00:21:35

This is what baptism does.

Speaker: 00:21:37

Pastor Justin referenced it before.

Speaker: 00:21:39

Daniel Edwards today professed to about 300 people,

Speaker: 00:21:45

"I am dead to the world and alive in Christ.

Speaker: 00:21:47

"I no longer have one foot in the world,

Speaker: 00:21:49

"one foot in Christ.

Speaker: 00:21:50

"I am dead to the world and I'm alive in Christ,

Speaker: 00:21:53

"and I want you to know."

Speaker: 00:21:55

It is a public proclamation.

Speaker: 00:21:57

Every believer should be baptized.

Speaker: 00:22:00

Every believer should be baptized

Speaker: 00:22:02

and make that public proclamation.

Speaker: 00:22:04

This is what it says over the same author in Luke wrote this.

Speaker: 00:22:09

I baptize you with water.

Speaker: 00:22:10

It's talking about John the baptizer.

Speaker: 00:22:13

But one who is more powerful than I will come,

Speaker: 00:22:16

the straps of whose standals I am not worthy to untie.

Speaker: 00:22:20

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Speaker: 00:22:24

That's the second baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:22:29

The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:22:31

So baptism over there in water is a submergence into water.

Speaker: 00:22:36

And then you come out of the water,

Speaker: 00:22:39

dead to the world, alive in Christ.

Speaker: 00:22:41

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the indwelling,

Speaker: 00:22:44

the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:22:46

And why do you need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit?

Speaker: 00:22:50

Here's the answer, because you and I need power.

Speaker: 00:22:53

And you don't have power without the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:22:57

Now some of you like to wear underwear on your head

Speaker: 00:23:00

and put Superman capes on and act like you do,

Speaker: 00:23:02

but you don't really have power

Speaker: 00:23:04

unless you have the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:23:07

It is the Holy Spirit's power that gives you the ability

Speaker: 00:23:12

to defeat the sin and the giants in your life.

Speaker: 00:23:15

See, I went to NASCAR yesterday for the very first time.

Speaker: 00:23:17

Any NASCAR fans in here?

Speaker: 00:23:19

I went to NASCAR and you know what you do at NASCAR?

Speaker: 00:23:21

You sit and you watch cars go around

Speaker: 00:23:23

in a circle 188 times.

Speaker: 00:23:26

(imitates car engine)

Speaker: 00:23:29

It costs me a lot of money to go watch those cars

Speaker: 00:23:34

go around 188 times.

Speaker: 00:23:36

Some of you are staring at the same problem

Speaker: 00:23:40

over and over and over again,

Speaker: 00:23:42

and it is costing you everything.

Speaker: 00:23:46

You need the power of the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:23:48

to break the cycle in your life.

Speaker: 00:23:50

You need the power of the Holy Spirit to break the chains.

Speaker: 00:23:54

Some of you have been praying so hard

Speaker: 00:23:56

for a move of God in your life,

Speaker: 00:23:57

but you have not accessed the power available

Speaker: 00:24:01

by the Holy Spirit, because here's the thing,

Speaker: 00:24:03

the blood of Jesus is sufficient enough to cover your sin.

Speaker: 00:24:08

You don't have to add to the blood of Christ.

Speaker: 00:24:12

You are forgiven because of the blood of Jesus Christ,

Speaker: 00:24:15

you have access to Father God.

Speaker: 00:24:17

You can be in relationship to Father God.

Speaker: 00:24:19

My sin has been forgiven,

Speaker: 00:24:21

but I still contend with all of the giants.

Speaker: 00:24:24

I still have to go out and be ready

Speaker: 00:24:26

to fight all of the giants.

Speaker: 00:24:27

This is why some of us are continuously at the altar

Speaker: 00:24:30

all the time asking God to forgive us for the same thing

Speaker: 00:24:32

over and over and over and over again,

Speaker: 00:24:34

because we're out there fighting powerless.

Speaker: 00:24:37

But you have access to this God

Speaker: 00:24:40

who will give you the tools that you need.

Speaker: 00:24:42

Some of you have not forgiven that person

Speaker: 00:24:45

that you need to forgive because they did the unforgivable.

Speaker: 00:24:49

The power of the Holy Spirit gives you the ability

Speaker: 00:24:51

to do things that you could never imagine possible.

Speaker: 00:24:54

You need the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Speaker: 00:25:03

So I was over at Junior Bible Quiz several years ago.

Speaker: 00:25:08

They were reading scripture.

Speaker: 00:25:10

They were memorizing scripture.

Speaker: 00:25:12

All of these kids and the pastor got up and said,

Speaker: 00:25:14

"If you've memorized 20 scriptures, come to the altar."

Speaker: 00:25:17

People were applauding.

Speaker: 00:25:18

If you memorized 40 scriptures, come to the altar.

Speaker: 00:25:21

If you memorized 60 scriptures, come to the altar.

Speaker: 00:25:23

This is within a year's time.

Speaker: 00:25:26

200 scriptures come to the...

Speaker: 00:25:28

There were kids who had memorized 200 scriptures

Speaker: 00:25:32

in a year's time.

Speaker: 00:25:33

I believe that the generation we are living in

Speaker: 00:25:38

is redefining Christianity

Speaker: 00:25:42

without the use of biblical principles.

Speaker: 00:25:45

And the reason that it's being redefined

Speaker: 00:25:48

is because there's a lack of knowledge of His word.

Speaker: 00:25:52

So I wept when all of those kids came down

Speaker: 00:25:57

after having memorized 200 scriptures.

Speaker: 00:26:01

I wept and I went to clean myself up in the restroom.

Speaker: 00:26:04

And I look up and in the restroom,

Speaker: 00:26:07

there is this sign that reads this.

Speaker: 00:26:11

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

Speaker: 00:26:15

And the Holy Spirit of God spoke to my heart

Speaker: 00:26:19

and He spoke to my heart about every one of you.

Speaker: 00:26:22

And He said, "Kevin, there is a foundation of the word

Speaker: 00:26:26

"at Springhouse, but if you will introduce them

Speaker: 00:26:30

"to my Holy Spirit and my Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:26:33

"will couple up against the truth of my word,

Speaker: 00:26:36

"explosive wonderful things will happen

Speaker: 00:26:38

"in those people's lives."

Speaker: 00:26:41

I believe the Lord wants to do explosively wonderful things

Speaker: 00:26:45

in your life if you will allow Him.

Speaker: 00:26:50

Why do we need power?

Speaker: 00:26:52

What do we need power for?

Speaker: 00:26:56

This past weekend I was helping over at the Jansen home

Speaker: 00:26:58

on they were laying this new patio.

Speaker: 00:27:02

Is it called a patio?

Speaker: 00:27:03

Patio, okay.

Speaker: 00:27:04

And we're hauling these slight pieces from this trailer.

Speaker: 00:27:09

And you know what I did to my hands?

Speaker: 00:27:12

I put on gloves.

Speaker: 00:27:14

Now not everybody was that smart that day,

Speaker: 00:27:16

but I put on gloves.

Speaker: 00:27:17

But why did I put on gloves?

Speaker: 00:27:20

Why?

Speaker: 00:27:23

Because I wanted to protect my hands.

Speaker: 00:27:26

I was doing the work.

Speaker: 00:27:28

The work would have not changed had been different

Speaker: 00:27:30

had I not had gloves on, except for the fact

Speaker: 00:27:33

it would have been much more painful.

Speaker: 00:27:35

Here's the thing.

Speaker: 00:27:36

Some of you are in your profession,

Speaker: 00:27:37

you're in your occupation, you're doing the thing

Speaker: 00:27:39

that you're supposed to do, but you are going there

Speaker: 00:27:41

without protection and so you are being beat up every day

Speaker: 00:27:44

doing the thing God wants you to do.

Speaker: 00:27:47

Put on the protection.

Speaker: 00:27:49

Bring on the power.

Speaker: 00:27:50

Allow the Holy Spirit to use you.

Speaker: 00:27:52

Invite Him into your day in day out routine.

Speaker: 00:27:55

Is that not what Romans 12 talks about?

Speaker: 00:27:58

Take your everyday ordinary life, right?

Speaker: 00:28:01

Put on the protection of God.

Speaker: 00:28:03

He also, some of you, this is a hammer,

Speaker: 00:28:06

if I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning.

Speaker: 00:28:09

I'd hammer in the evening.

Speaker: 00:28:13

Pastor James had this hammer and he's wanting to like

Speaker: 00:28:18

chip off some of the slate to make it go

Speaker: 00:28:21

and he had this hammer and he's like,

Speaker: 00:28:22

man, this is not probably gonna do exactly what I need to do.

Speaker: 00:28:26

I need to get the right tool because with the right tool,

Speaker: 00:28:30

I'll be able to finish the job in the way

Speaker: 00:28:32

that it's intended to be done.

Speaker: 00:28:34

See, some of us are using the wrong tool

Speaker: 00:28:37

because you're not listening to the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:28:39

to tell you pick this up instead of that.

Speaker: 00:28:41

Do this and say this instead of that.

Speaker: 00:28:44

And so you're using the same tactics

Speaker: 00:28:46

over and over and over again and you're wondering

Speaker: 00:28:48

why is this not working?

Speaker: 00:28:50

The Holy Spirit, He wants to give you the tools.

Speaker: 00:28:55

He wants to point you and here's most of the time,

Speaker: 00:28:57

most of the time, listen to me, most of the time,

Speaker: 00:29:00

the tool He asks you to use is not a tool

Speaker: 00:29:03

that you would have ever thought to use

Speaker: 00:29:05

for that particular problem.

Speaker: 00:29:06

But you can go with confidence with that tool right into,

Speaker: 00:29:11

you can go fight that giant with five smooth stones

Speaker: 00:29:14

when the Lord's on your side.

Speaker: 00:29:16

When the Lord's on your side.

Speaker: 00:29:18

So we're contending against our flesh.

Speaker: 00:29:22

I mean, maybe I'm not making enough sense

Speaker: 00:29:25

to you this morning.

Speaker: 00:29:26

Maybe it's not computing, I don't know,

Speaker: 00:29:28

maybe this will help.

Speaker: 00:29:29

- Hey, listen, man, I'm really glad

Speaker: 00:29:31

that you accepted Christ into your life, man.

Speaker: 00:29:33

Welcome to the family.

Speaker: 00:29:34

- Yeah, man, it feels good to be a part

Speaker: 00:29:35

of the family in Christ.

Speaker: 00:29:36

- Ha ha, yes sir, yes sir.

Speaker: 00:29:38

- Now listen here, young buck.

Speaker: 00:29:40

(yelling)

Speaker: 00:29:41

I only got one thing to say to you.

Speaker: 00:29:43

- Where your clothes go?

Speaker: 00:29:44

- Here, you're gonna need this.

Speaker: 00:29:45

- Wait a minute, what's that for?

Speaker: 00:29:46

- Oh, this?

Speaker: 00:29:48

Oh, that's for him?

Speaker: 00:29:49

(yelling)

Speaker: 00:29:50

- And what is that?

Speaker: 00:29:51

- Oh, that right there?

Speaker: 00:29:53

Oh, that's your flesh.

Speaker: 00:29:55

- Yeah, y'all used to be real good friends, you two.

Speaker: 00:29:59

- Till you gave your life to Jesus.

Speaker: 00:30:01

- See now, you're a new creation in Christ.

Speaker: 00:30:05

Yeah, you're on God's team.

Speaker: 00:30:06

- Okay, okay.

Speaker: 00:30:07

- You can't walk with your flesh no more.

Speaker: 00:30:09

You walk in the Spirit.

Speaker: 00:30:11

So now that you're on God's team,

Speaker: 00:30:13

he's gonna come at you with everything he got.

Speaker: 00:30:15

- Oh, okay, what do I do?

Speaker: 00:30:19

- Relax, relax, young buck.

Speaker: 00:30:21

Show me your fighting stance.

Speaker: 00:30:22

- Okay.

Speaker: 00:30:23

What's that?

Speaker: 00:30:26

- What you doing, playing street fighting?

Speaker: 00:30:27

You wanna come back?

Speaker: 00:30:28

This is my fighting stance, okay?

Speaker: 00:30:29

This is not how you fight against that thing.

Speaker: 00:30:32

- Okay, but what do I do?

Speaker: 00:30:33

- Let me show you the only fighting position

Speaker: 00:30:35

that is ever gonna work on that thing over there.

Speaker: 00:30:38

Dear Heavenly Father,

Speaker: 00:30:41

thank you for this opportunity to kill my flesh.

Speaker: 00:30:44

Get down full and pray.

Speaker: 00:30:46

Holy Spirit, I need your strength right now.

Speaker: 00:30:48

Word says to resist the devil.

Speaker: 00:30:50

Submit yourself to God and he will flee from you.

Speaker: 00:30:54

I don't think this is working.

Speaker: 00:30:55

So right now in the name of Jesus,

Speaker: 00:30:57

I am so ready to take you to the temple.

Speaker: 00:30:59

- Jesus. - Jesus.

Speaker: 00:31:01

- Jesus name. - Jesus name.

Speaker: 00:31:03

- Jesus name. - Jesus name.

Speaker: 00:31:04

- Amen. - Amen.

Speaker: 00:31:06

- He's the goin' look over your shoulder.

Speaker: 00:31:09

- Boom.

Speaker: 00:31:09

- Work separate time son, work separate time.

Speaker: 00:31:15

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:31:16

- Yeah, get down through and pray.

Speaker: 00:31:19

Without the Holy Spirit,

Speaker: 00:31:23

you are powerless against your sin.

Speaker: 00:31:26

Without the Holy Spirit,

Speaker: 00:31:27

you are powerless against your flesh, against your sin.

Speaker: 00:31:31

Romans 8 26 says this,

Speaker: 00:31:32

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness."

Speaker: 00:31:35

You know what this means?

Speaker: 00:31:36

If the Spirit helps us in our weakness,

Speaker: 00:31:38

that tells me that Christians can be weak.

Speaker: 00:31:40

Christians can be weak.

Speaker: 00:31:43

So who helps us in our weakness?

Speaker: 00:31:46

The Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:31:47

So we do not know what we ought to pray for,

Speaker: 00:31:49

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us

Speaker: 00:31:51

through wordless groans.

Speaker: 00:31:52

I hate that.

Speaker: 00:31:53

I hate that.

Speaker: 00:31:56

You know why?

Speaker: 00:31:56

The Holy Spirit is praying on my behalf

Speaker: 00:31:58

about things I don't want him to pray for.

Speaker: 00:32:01

I don't want him to bring that person back in my path.

Speaker: 00:32:03

I don't wanna have to deal all of those things,

Speaker: 00:32:05

but he is doing that because he sees me

Speaker: 00:32:08

as perfect and completing like Christ

Speaker: 00:32:10

on this journey to being like Christ.

Speaker: 00:32:13

This week, July 4th, we talk about freedom.

Speaker: 00:32:15

True freedom, we know where that comes from, right?

Speaker: 00:32:18

Now the Lord is the Spirit

Speaker: 00:32:19

and where the Spirit of the Lord is, what?

Speaker: 00:32:21

There is? - Freedom.

Speaker: 00:32:23

- There's freedom.

Speaker: 00:32:24

Don't you wanna be free?

Speaker: 00:32:26

Don't you wanna be free?

Speaker: 00:32:27

Listen, some of you are begging God

Speaker: 00:32:29

to liberate you and heal you,

Speaker: 00:32:32

but your loyalty lays with the thing that's killing you.

Speaker: 00:32:34

And the Holy Spirit of God wants to take that place,

Speaker: 00:32:40

that supreme place in your life

Speaker: 00:32:42

where your loyalty and your allegiance is to him,

Speaker: 00:32:45

and then he will give you everything you need

Speaker: 00:32:47

to be successful.

Speaker: 00:32:48

Now guess what?

Speaker: 00:32:49

He's probably not gonna give you the tools

Speaker: 00:32:50

and things that you need for five years from now.

Speaker: 00:32:52

He's giving it to you for this afternoon.

Speaker: 00:32:55

He's giving it to you for the next moment,

Speaker: 00:32:57

for the thought that you're gonna have your thought life

Speaker: 00:32:59

in 30 seconds from now.

Speaker: 00:33:00

He's going to give you the power.

Speaker: 00:33:01

At moment by moment, the Holy Spirit,

Speaker: 00:33:03

it's not like the Holy Spirit says,

Speaker: 00:33:04

"Okay, you're good, I'm gonna go away and come back."

Speaker: 00:33:06

He's with you all of the time.

Speaker: 00:33:09

You need the Holy Spirit's help.

Speaker: 00:33:11

Why is this important at the crux of everything?

Speaker: 00:33:14

It's because you belong to a kingdom

Speaker: 00:33:17

and you are called to be a witness.

Speaker: 00:33:20

Your salvation is not just about you.

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You are a small part of a larger picture.

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Do you know that you have, Lord,

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you probably have been at grocery stores

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right next to a person who's on their way to hell,

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and the Lord wanted to use you

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to be a voice piece in their life.

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And the reason that we're not the voice piece

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is because we're not paying attention.

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You want to be in lockstep with the Holy Spirit,

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hand in hand, moment by moment.

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Guys, our lives, our salvation,

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it's not just for us to have a better life

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here on the planet.

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Every moment, there's a reason

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that you are in the places that you're in.

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He wants to use you to advance.

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There's a reason why he has not split the sky yet.

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It's because there's a dying world out there

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that needs this Savior.

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And I wonder, Kevin O'Day,

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how many opportunities have just,

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because I'm concerned about Kevin O'Day,

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where I'm going, what I'm doing.

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But the Holy Spirit of God

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wants to embolden and empower you

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to advance his kingdom by adding numbers to the kingdom.

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Somebody was just telling me yesterday

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that there was a person who lost their wife just recently,

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and he said, "Man, I invited them to church.

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"I wanted them to come."

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Holy Spirit moment, Holy Spirit moment.

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Are you listening?

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You can't say you're obeying if you're not listening.

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Right?

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Ruby, go clean your room.

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It's not clean.

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There was not obey.

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There's no obeying there.

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How do you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?

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What I'm about to say in the next three minutes

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is specifically why I wanted to bring this message today.

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I wanted to start out this series.

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Because as your lead shepherd, as the pastor of this house,

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I do not wanna lead you astray.

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I want us to be sound in our doctrine.

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I do not want us to take our focus off of Christ Jesus.

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So what I'm about to tell you is real important.

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How do you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?

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There are people out there that are selling books,

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that preach and everything that say,

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the only way that you can receive the Holy Spirit

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is by making a spectacle out of yourself.

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Compulsions, all of these different things.

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And I'm not negating that at times

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those things might could happen.

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But the way that you receive the Holy Spirit is very simple.

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Ask.

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That's it.

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Ask.

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Ask and you shall receive.

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Knock and the door will be open.

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This is what Luke says,

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"If you then though you are evil,

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"know how to give good gifts to your children,

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"how much more will your Father in heaven

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"give you the Holy Spirit if you ask him?"

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All you have to do is ask him.

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I'm not asking for a show of hands,

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but I am asking this question.

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How many have actually uttered the words,

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Father God, I want your Holy Spirit.

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Would you please give me the gift of your Holy Spirit?

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If you haven't asked the question,

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then it's likely that you haven't received the Holy Spirit.

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Ask him for the gift.

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Ask him for the gift and begin to believe

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in what he tells you.

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Begin to believe that you've received it

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and you will begin to see some things happen.

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Now in two weeks time, let me say next week,

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we're gonna talk about the Father, the Son

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and the Holy Spirit and the distinction between the three.

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The following week, we're gonna talk about

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some incredible gifts that the Holy Spirit has available

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for those who believe in him.

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Guys, there's always more with the Lord.

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There's always more with the Lord.

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And so if you want to receive the Holy Spirit,

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you simply need to ask and understand

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that the primary job of the Holy Spirit

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is to point people to Jesus.

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And this truth right here is the foundation

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that we're gonna walk on this entire year,

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that the primary job of the Holy Spirit

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is not to glorify you, is not to have the woo-woo happen,

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is not for the miraculous signs, is not for,

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and all of that stuff might happen.

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But at the end of the day, when the Holy Spirit moves,

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it is to point people to Jesus Christ

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so that numbers can be added to the kingdom

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day by day by day.

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What does that have to do with you?

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I'm saved, what does that have to do with me?

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I'm already a number in the kingdom.

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It's because somebody out there's looking at you

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screw up your life and they need to actually see Jesus

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in your life.

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And you need the power of the Holy Spirit

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to clean yourself up so that when they look at you,

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you're not one of those hypocrites they're talking about.

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You need the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

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It is available to you.

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It's a wonderful gift that Jesus Christ himself promised us.

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Why would you wait to ask for this precious gift?

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There's coming a day, I said earlier,

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Jesus has done everything he said he would do.

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There's coming a day where he's going to split the sky

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and he's coming back.

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And I cannot wait for that day.

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But the reason that we have the Holy Spirit, guys,

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is because there's other people that need to be able to say,

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I can't wait for that day.

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I can't wait.

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Libby, what's going on with you and your husband

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is not just for you.

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It's a glorious thing that's happening in your life.

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But you know what?

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There are people who are watching your story saying,

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I can't believe this God actually did it.

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There's something about this God that might be real.

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There's something here happening.

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And they're watching you walk out your faith in your walk

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and you come up here and testify and they're going,

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man, that really encourages me.

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There really must be something to this Lord, to this God.

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And the same is true in all of your lives as he's touching

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and as he's moving, as he's ebbing and flowing

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in your lives, in your homes, in your relationships.

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God, to be magnified so that we can become witnesses for him

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so that his kingdom can be advanced.

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I want to see multitudes come into the kingdom, friends.

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So would you stand with me this morning?

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We're gonna just do something a little different.

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Are we gonna do something different, Lord?

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Holy Spirit.

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Jeez.

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Maybe you have once thought that you maybe asked

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to receive the power of the Holy Spirit

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and you just realize I've not been accessing him

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like I should.

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But what I would like to do this morning

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is if you would like to ask the Holy Spirit

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to fill you up, if you would like to ask the Holy Spirit

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of God, invite him into your life to walk with you

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every day, every moment, this is a gift

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that is available to you and I can't let us leave here

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without extending the invitation

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'cause I just talked about how important it was.

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If that is you and you've never prayed that prayer

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or you think maybe you've prayed that prayer at some point

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but man, you've just forgotten about the access you have,

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I'm gonna ask you to come forward, take a step of faith,

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come to the altar space and this song says I surrender.

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Doesn't that say I surrender?

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Yeah, it's a posture of surrender.

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God, I surrender myself and Father God,

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I am asking for your Holy Spirit

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'cause I need your power in my life.

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If that's you, come to the altar space

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and we're gonna worship together

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and I'm gonna ask some of our leaders

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to come around and face some of these guys

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and just agree with them and pray with them,

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lay hands on them and ask the Holy Spirit

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to fill their lives.

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So if you guys would step forward

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so we know that you are not just sitting on the front row

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and the rest of us are going to worship.

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Guys, this is an amazing step.

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This is next to salvation.

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I mean, you're talking about coupling up

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with the God of the universe.

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I need this power in my life.

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All you got to do is ask and believe, let's worship.

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Leaders, would you come pray?

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(gentle music)

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you