January 20, 2025 • 47 mins
This episode dives deep into the personhood of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing His essential role in a believer's life. We explore His promise of empowerment, the gifts He provides, and how to cultivate a genuine relationship with Him to navigate life's challenges and fulfill our mission.
• Examine the significance of the Holy Spirit's empowerment
• Discuss the importance of the Holy Spirit's personhood
• Explore the gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit
• Understand why believers need the Holy Spirit
• Learn ways to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up?
Faith and Failures.
Thank you for coming back andbeing here for another episode
this week.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about some Bible knowledge.
I want to talk to you about theperson, personhood.
We're going to go through someexplanations and descriptions of
(00:22):
the Holy Spirit.
And descriptions of the HolySpirit.
So, whether you're in church,whether you're not, you may be
in a certain denomination orwhatever, and there's a lot of
questions.
I don't feel there's enough talkaround the Holy Spirit.
So we're going to dive in today.
We're going to base all of ourknowledge, all of opinions, all
(00:42):
of the facts, on Scripture,where it's found.
So it'll be on your screen injust a second and I just want to
let you know that thereshouldn't be as much mystery
around it as there is.
Obviously, you're talking aboutGod.
You're talking about a spirit.
The spirit is in the word.
So it's going to be a littlebit like we are fleshly beings,
(01:03):
so the spiritual aspect of allof it.
It's's going to be a little bitlike we are fleshly being, so
the spiritual aspect of all ofit.
It's not going to be a full, ahundred percent understanding,
but I believe that God gives usenough, and so, yeah, you got to
go a little bit on faith.
Enough information, enoughprinciples, enough stories uh,
(01:30):
enough um stories, instancesthat um can really help us to
have a better and fullerunderstanding of who is the holy
spirit.
So stick around.
Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you
to all of the new subscribers.
If you haven't yet considersubscribing, hit that bell
notification so that you can seeevery time I put out a new
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A major portion of you thatwatch my videos haven't
(01:50):
subscribed yet, so why not?
It's free.
You can also find a PayPal linkbelow if you want to give a
one-time or give a monthly tosupport the channel.
Anything, great or small, isappreciated.
Now let's get into the video.
Great or small is appreciated.
Now let's get into the video,all right?
(02:12):
So I want to start off with a.
We're extra wide today.
I don't know why I switchedcameras up and this is like
super wide and normally youcan't see all my stuff and I
didn't have time to cleananything, so it is what it is.
I got a lot of things going onin the dark.
I turned the light off, butover here is all nuts and you
can actually see my screens thatI always have here for me.
So, that being said, let's diveinto it.
I want you to look over in yourBible to Acts, chapter 1, verse
(02:39):
8.
It'll be on your screen Acts,chapter 1.
So Acts, chapter 1, verse 8.
Now, this is a promise fromJesus.
You need to be very clear onthat.
This is not something that isbeing made.
So if you believe in Jesus, hehas promises.
Okay, we're going to read fromActs, we're going to read from
John, then we're going to jumpback to our key text again in
(03:01):
Acts, chapter 1.
But let's read this this is apromise, but you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comesupon you and you will be my
witnesses telling people aboutme everywhere, in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria andto the ends of the earth.
So one thing that is a key notethat it wraps up that with
(03:24):
first, to talk about power, andit's given the reasons why
because we are meant to havepower to propel us into being
able to fully articulate andfully preach, not just pastors,
people that have come to Christ.
We are to duplicate what Christhas done in us, and so this is
(03:48):
why it's very, very, veryimportant for us, as Christians,
to understand that we are notjust getting saved to get fire
insurance, to just get out ofgoing to hell going to hell.
We need to let that fire fillus so that we can be channels
(04:10):
for the Holy Spirit to workthrough, so that we ourselves
can then be a a not only a goodsteward, but a good reflection,
a honest, true, real reflectionof who Jesus Christ is and who
he was.
Christ is and who he was.
And if you think about this in avery real sense, like people
(04:31):
who don't know God, they're notBible scholars.
You know some of the atheists.
They go way off.
They try to disprove.
I was actually watching a Idon't know what it was on, my
wife was watching it the Casefor Christ by Lee Strobel
Excellent book.
I'll try to remember to leave alink in the description if you
want to pick it up.
If you're skeptic, hey, what'sit going to hurt?
Are you going to be provenwrong?
(04:51):
Are you going to be provenright?
If you're so confident in beingproven right, then why not read
something from across the aisle?
It shouldn't change anythingexcept build your confidence in
what you think you already know.
So why be scared of that.
So we're going to dive into asubject.
There's a lot of question marksaround it the person of the
Holy Spirit.
(05:11):
We're going to talk about thatin just a minute, but he is a
person.
So let's walk through what theHoly Spirit's role is in the
Trinity.
So is in the Trinity.
So John 14, 16 through 17.
Now some people don'tunderstand the Trinity part and
I want to try to just.
It's not a full episode on theTrinity, but I want to just
(05:38):
barely touch it for you.
Jesus is so.
God is not wearing differentmasks when he is interacting as
the Holy Spirit or interactingas Jesus Omniscient, omnipresent
, he can be anywhere,all-knowing.
So, that being said,specifically in the Bible, jesus
(05:59):
is called God's son.
Matter of fact, in, I think,hebrews chapter one I texted my
wife about it this morning, Iwas, I was doing some studying,
anyways it says that no angelwas ever told or called the son
as Jesus was called the son.
And in John 1, 1, it talksabout the Word being the Son,
(06:26):
and John is one that is tryingto testify it's the most
intentional on testifying thathe was the Messiah, that he was
the Christ, and so you have tounderstand that these
conversations God wouldn't havewith himself.
They are one, but they are alsoindividual.
(06:54):
Let me give you a real example.
As the scripture says and as weactually do that the Bible says
that a son will leave hismother and father and become one
with his wife Two separatepeople, but they are one.
They are joined together.
Spiritually, physically,emotionally.
They are to become one and twoto become one.
(07:16):
So in the kind of same sense asthe Bible describes how we
should get married and jointogether.
So the Bible tries to lay outsome hints and displays and
examples, and John chapter 14 isone of those examples.
If the Holy Spirit and Jesuswere the same, but just putting
(07:37):
on different masks, he would nothave had to leave for the Holy
Spirit to come.
He could have been here and theHoly Spirit still do its thing
because it was the same person,right?
That would make logical sense,but yet it's not that way.
It's actually that he said Ihave to leave.
(07:58):
So let's read it Verses 16 and17.
And I will ask the father.
So he's right.
Here is displaying threeseparate people, personhoods I
talking about Jesus will ask theFather.
So he's saying I will ask himto send the Spirit.
So if he's having to sendsomething, someone besides Jesus
(08:20):
, then it's obvious, it's aclear separation of that person.
But all the news, and just aslater in scripture it talks
about and we'll talk about thegifts in a minute where one
spirit testifies of the spiritbeing in you.
The one spirit gives the giftof prophecy.
The one spirit gives the giftof tongues.
The one spirit it keepsmentioning again the one spirit,
(08:41):
the one spirit, because allomnipresent, the one spirit has
the same characteristics andcapabilities, but a distinct
role from Jesus, because theHoly Spirit didn't come to be
sacrificed and live a perfectlife.
It didn't come in flesh form,but Jesus did.
God didn't come in flesh form,although the deity and the
(09:03):
holiness and the righteousnesswas in Jesus, but he laid off
the glory so that he could comeand live a life like us, to pay
the price that we ourselvescould never pay.
And I will ask the Father, andhe will give you another
advocate, so key word, another.
He's talking about himself andhe's saying besides me, the
(09:27):
Father will send anotheradvocate who will never leave
you.
He is the Holy Spirit.
So he's being descriptive, he'sgiving a title, he's giving a
name to the advocate that isgoing to replace Jesus to the
advocate that is going toreplace Jesus there would be no
replacement, but Jesus said ifthey were the same.
(09:51):
But Jesus said there's going tobe a replacement, I must go, he
will come.
Who leads into all truth.
The world cannot receive himbecause it isn't looking for him
and doesn't recognize him.
But you know him because helives within you now and will
later be in you.
(10:13):
In this scripture, jesuspromises the Holy Spirit as an
advocate, sometimes translatedas comforter or counselor or
helper.
Notice, jesus calls the HolySpirit a he.
It is a descriptive and genderassigned quality, showing that
he is a person, not animpersonal force.
(10:36):
Okay, so let's read our keytext again.
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit comes upon you
and you will be my witnessestelling all people about me
everywhere, in Jerusalem, judea,samaria and the ends of the
earth.
So here Jesus explains thatreceiving the Holy Spirit
includes receiving power, notjust for our benefit, just like
(11:03):
the gifts of the Spirit we'regoing to get into it in a minute
but the power comes for thebenefit of the body and
spreading the gospel and also asa key ingredient to fulfilling
our mission to go.
The Great Commission.
The last thing Jesus said wasto go into all the world preach
(11:25):
the good news.
And you, I mean you, have to.
You have to realize.
I gave this analogy.
I don't know if I put it in mynotes, I don't think I did.
I gave this analogy Sunday whendelivering this message.
Is that yes?
Well, let me ask you this.
(11:45):
So some of the older crowd,probably the younger like
generation, whatever they're onnow, they started over in the
alphabet, their personal opinion.
They're dumb for starting atthe end, but whatever, like what
is it or no, what is it?
Have you ever had a vehicle, oryour grandparents had a vehicle
, mom and dad, whatever thesteering wheel, did not have
(12:07):
power steering.
Okay, I was in my grandpa'struck and making a turn, I
thought I would.
I turned a mile, like I turneda 90 degree, and it was like
maybe 10, 10 degrees, but it wasjust so hard.
And obviously it's easier whenyou're moving, okay, and
obviously it's easier whenyou're moving, okay, well, the
same vehicle can get you from Ato B.
(12:29):
It'll still get you there, butthe drive is much easier and
more efficient with power in thesteering.
So, speaking in tongues beingfilled with the Spirit, as the
Acts 2 church when it broke outlike it broke out in the way
that it did, because it was, Ibelieve, something new,
something different.
It wasn't dependent on man.
(12:51):
It was completely, 100%dependent on God to make it
happen.
And that's how the church brokeout in the way that it did.
I think it was a veryintentional move.
Now, why?
I have no clue.
Why did God choose to do itthat way and make it where?
It's some weird thing andpeople speaking other languages?
And I have no honest answer foryou, except that God can do
(13:13):
whatever he wants and that's hisbusiness.
Why does he heal some and notthe other?
Why does he restore somemarriages and then others fall
apart?
I can't tell you that, but Ican tell you this he is
sovereign and whatever hechooses and decides I have to be
okay with.
If I trust him that much, like,for instance, my teenager and
(13:34):
me with my parents when I wasyoung.
I didn't always have the reasonbehind or know the reason
behind, but I had.
I had to have a level of trustfor my parents that they weren't
doing it to harm me, theyweren't doing it to just be mean
, that sometimes things justwork out that way and if I be
patient and wait, it'll be okay.
Teaching my teenager that now heis waiting to get his.
(13:54):
You have to schedule it nowbecause of COVID.
He's waiting to get his permit,and so we had a winter snap
thing and it set ice on the roadand here in Longview there was
nothing.
It drizzled a little bit andeverybody freaks out, so
everything shut down for liketwo days and then it was on that
specific day where it'ssupposed to be bad weather and
(14:15):
it wasn't.
So he's upset about that,rescheduled it.
So now it's like at the end ofthe actually it's this week.
So he's kind of stressed outabout that.
But I'm trying to tell him hey,everything will be okay, it
will be okay, it will be okay.
And the same way with the Lord.
We have to understand that Goddoes love us and he understands
(14:39):
and he knows exactly what iscoming and we don't.
His thoughts are above ourthoughts.
His wisdom is above ours.
His wisdom is above ours.
His knowledge is above ours.
He can see backwards here andforwards all at the same time.
I don't think they did it onpurpose, I'm not sure but one of
the greatest examples of thiswould be.
(14:59):
It was a men in black, maybethree, maybe two, I don't
remember and this guy had thispower that he could see not only
the future but the past and thepresent.
So he can, he could seeeverything at the same time.
And I'm like.
My first thought was that'sexactly like God, cause he put
(15:21):
his hands on on the guy'sshoulder.
They were in a baseball stadium.
Because he put his hands on theguy's shoulder, they were in a
baseball stadium, put his handson the shoulder and they could
immediately see, like a I thinkit was all the variables and
everything.
Or they're talking aboutbaseball I'm not a fan, but like
they were talking about allthis stuff or they could see all
(15:43):
the different things happeningat the same time.
And it was like dude, that'slike God.
That's pretty awesome.
So just trust him because hecares for you that much so.
John 14, 16.
I don't know if we read it allor not, but we'll read it again.
(16:03):
I don't know if we read it allor not, but we'll read it again.
The Father, advocate,representative, that is the Holy
Spirit, will teach youeverything and will remind you
of everything I have told you.
So only a person can teach andremind.
The Holy Spirit's not a forceor an it.
We can actually have a genuinerelationship with the Holy
(16:24):
Spirit.
You can't do that with just aforce or a power source, like
you can't go out and grab theelectric thing in the wall and
have a relationship with itYou'd be in a hospital and the
ones with very comfortablepadded walls.
But we certainly can have thistype of relationship with a
(16:46):
person John 16, 13.
When the Holy Spirit of truthcomes, he will guide you into
all truth.
He will not speak on his ownbut will tell you what he has
heard.
He will tell you about thefuture.
So, understanding and I thinkthis is kind of a precursor to
the coming gift of prophecyUnderstanding the Holy Spirit's
(17:11):
personhood changes how weapproach Him, how we pray to Him
, how we listen for His guidanceand how we cooperate with His
leading, with his leading.
So the Holy Spirit is a person.
(17:31):
All right, check these, becausethis don't look right.
Okay, I think I just gave youall the wrong slides.
(17:56):
That's okay, we're moving on.
So the roles of the Holy Spirit.
What does that look like?
So the Holy Spirit convicts usof sin and leads us into
righteousness.
So John 16, 8.
16, 8.
And when he comes, he willconvict the world of its sin and
God's righteousness and of thecoming judgment.
(18:20):
So all of us, one day, aregoing to be judged.
We're going to be before God.
All the good, the bad, the ugly, every word is going to be
accounted for and it's going tobe presented in kind of a court
of law, the way it's set up andthe way it's described and the
way the court system is set uptoday.
And the way it's set up and theway it's described and the way
the court system is set up todayand the way it was in the Old
Testament.
This was given, I believe,blueprint from heavenly
(18:43):
principles, heavenly examplesand heavenly court, so to speak.
So John 16, 8 tells us that therighteousness of we're going to
be judged on our sin and God'sagainst, against God's
righteousness.
We're going to be judged on oursin against God's righteousness
.
So of God's righteousness, notour own, but of God's.
And I want to tell you somethingthat conviction is different
(19:06):
from condemnation.
Okay, conviction leads us torepentance and reconciliation
with God, which is the point.
That's what God desires forevery person who has ever been
born and is going to be born.
He desires for reconciliation,but for us to be led to
(19:27):
reconciliation, we first mustembrace conviction.
Conviction leads us torepentance and reconciliation.
Condemnation leads us tohopelessness.
The Spirit's conviction is meantto help us turn back to the
Father.
So one of the roles of the HolySpirit conviction of sin and
point us to righteousness.
(19:47):
He's also the helper and theadvocate, as we read in John
chapter 14, that he is our, ouradvocate sometimes, or someone
called alongside to help.
He empowers us to facechallenges, counsels us when we
lack wisdom and encourages uswhen we are weary.
He is the sanctifier.
(20:10):
He produces spiritual fruit outof us that shapes our character
and reflects Jesus.
So look at Galatians 5, 22 and23.
But the Holy Spirit producesthis kind of fruit in our lives
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness
(20:30):
, gentleness and self-control.
There is no law against thesethings.
And, if we're honest, we lookat these on your screen and you
read these and you're like, yeah, I think I would want those.
And obviously every single oneof these, every single one.
Look at the list for a second,every single one.
Look down the list, everysingle one.
(20:52):
The enemy tries to pervert andgive you a version of it that
will end up separating you fromgod.
For instance, love.
In the last I don't know howmany years, there has been a
intense perversion of what loveis, for instance, just a simple
(21:13):
dumb.
They use it as a definition,but it not.
That's not how you definethings.
Love is love.
Actually, god is love, and sowhat they're trying to do is the
my truth nonsense, which istaking a truth, one of the fruit
of the spirit, love, that isalso named God, and making it as
(21:36):
how we see things, how we wantto love or experience sexual
gratification is that's my love,and so now how I want things.
So so think about this If Godis love according to scripture,
and I'm taking love and makingit how I want, who now is my God
(21:56):
?
I have put myself in that seat.
Now I am the God that decideswhat my love is and what it
looks like, and no one else cansay anything.
Or now they're, they're hatingand they're there's a phobia
going behind the word orwhatever, and that's not it.
It's just the facts.
And so when the facts gettwisted up and manipulated and
(22:17):
the truth gets turned intosomething that's about me, it's
no longer actual truth, it'sjust something that I want to
twist to fit my narrative, andthis is damaging not only to me,
to my mind, but it's damagingto society and the culture.
And now it has crept into theculture of the church and
allowing things that shouldnever be allowed, allowing
(22:38):
leaders that should never beallowed into leadership
positions.
And so now we are notglorifying, but we're saying we
love you, and really what you'redoing is telling them it's okay
, you can send however you want,as long as you pay your tithes
here, as long as you come andserve in the church, you can do
whatever you want, and that isnot biblical.
That's actually against theentire design of the church.
(23:04):
We are called to go into theworld, not the world into the
church.
So all of us would love thesequalities, but we have to be
careful.
Are we receiving these thingsright here from God, from the
Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit produces theseor are we partaking of the
(23:26):
synthetic, the fake, what theworld is offering and what the
enemy is trying to offer?
So another thing besides thesanctification, producing
spiritual fruit out of our lives, the Holy Spirit gives us
witnessing power.
As we read in Acts 1.8,.
You will receive power when theHoly Spirit comes upon you.
(23:51):
That's not just for the earlydisciples, it's for us today.
There is no scripture, noscripture anywhere.
You cannot cite the scripturethat says that the acts to
experience faded out or die withthe apostles.
It's not there.
So anyone that makes it anypreacher, that preaches that the
(24:12):
holy spirit is changed, and ifthey believe that the Holy
Spirit is a part of the Trinityof God and God never changes,
then they are lying and doingthe enemy's work.
That's just the bottom line.
So let's go to point numberthree.
Why do we need the Holy Spirit?
(24:32):
Why do we need the Holy Spirit?
Well, first of all, to overcomesin and temptation.
Apart from the Holy Spirit'swork, we end up relying on our
own strength, which fails usevery time.
You give enough room and itwill fail you.
(24:53):
Enough room and it will failyou when we allow the Spirit to
lead us.
He helps us to resisttemptation and walk in victory.
That is the heart of God.
He desires that for us.
So, number one, to overcome sinand temptation.
Number two, to discern God'swill.
Life is full of decisions,career paths, relationships,
(25:14):
ministry opportunities.
The Holy Spirit nudges us andleads us, gives us peace or
caution and aligns our heartswith the will of God.
Our heart and our will for ourlife should come in alignment
with God, not trying to forceGod to put a stamp of approval
on what we're wanting to do.
That's not healthy and that'snot biblical.
(25:36):
Then you make yourself the God,you're the deciding factor,
instead of the other way aroundand God being the one lead you
and the Holy Spirit being theone that guides you.
Number three the genuinefellowship with God.
The Spirit makes God'sfatherhood real to us.
Look at Romans 8, 16.
Real to us Look at Romans 8.16.
(25:59):
For the Spirit joins with ourspirit to affirm that we are
God's children.
We can draw near to God becausethe Holy Spirit's presence
within us.
Number four we need to avoidquenching the Spirit.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5.19.
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.
(26:19):
We can stifle or grieve theHoly Spirit by persistent
disobedience, neglecting prayer,ignoring God's word.
The Holy Spirit is gentle andhe invites but never forces.
If we consistently push himaway, we miss out on his power
(26:41):
and the comfort he is thecomforter.
So let's look at some gifts ofthe Holy Spirit.
So I only have this on yourscreen because 7 to 11, there's
a lot of meat here, so I'm justgoing to leave that there and
you can screenshot it or you canlook it up as you watch, but I
(27:02):
will read it 1 Corinthians, 12,7 through 11.
A spiritual gift is given toeach of us so we can help each
other.
If you notice, this consistenttheme running throughout the New
Testament is we are meant tohelp each other.
It's not all about me, it's notwhat gifts.
Can I Read what Paul wrote tothe church of Corinth?
(27:23):
They had some issues becausethey took what the Spirit gave
them and made it aboutthemselves.
I don't want to be that church.
I want to be the body that ispleasing to the Father, that is
useful and does it rightaccording to the Holy Spirit and
the will of the Holy Spirit.
So to one person, the Spiritgives the ability.
(27:44):
Okay, first of all, let's backup.
Actually, we're going to do itat the end, never mind, but just
follow along as I read, if youdon't mind.
To another, the same Spiritgives a message of special
knowledge.
The same Spirit, you don't mindto another.
The same spirit gives a messageof special knowledge.
The same spirit gives Imentioned this earlier the same
spirit.
The same spirit.
The same spirit Listen, it'llsay it over and over again the
same spirit gives great faith toanother and to someone else.
(28:07):
The one spirit gives the giftof healing.
He gives one person the powerto perform miracles and another
the ability to prophesy.
He gives someone else theability to discern whether a
message is from the Spirit ofGod or from another spirit.
Still, another person is giventhe ability to speak unknown
languages, while another isgiven the ability to interpret
(28:28):
what is being said.
It is the one Spirit, and onlyspirit, who distributes these
gifts.
He alone decides which gifteach person should have.
So what's our takeaway fromthese passages?
Is that every believer itstarts it off right there on
verse seven a spiritual gift isgiven to each of us so we can
(28:51):
help each other.
Every believer receives atleast one gift, but not one
person, not one believer hasevery spiritual gift.
It evens it out and makes itwhere nothing.
No one can ever say they arebetter than the other, and
actually Paul continues to writethat very thing that nobody
needs to try to pretend thatthey are better.
(29:12):
The purpose of these gifts inthe second sentence is to help
each other.
Gifts are meant to help eachother and build up the church.
The Holy Spirit distributes ashe wills, which means no gift
(29:33):
makes one person superior toanybody else.
Now we can go on to the 13thchapter of Corinthians, 1
through 3.
Same thing.
It's a little lengthy so I justput it up here for you, so you
can screenshot or write it down.
And so he describes all thegifts.
(29:54):
And now he's going to thechapter 13.
He's saying in verse 1 if Icould speak all the languages of
the earth and of angels butdidn't love others, I would only
be a noisy gong or a clingingcymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecyand if I understood all of god's
secret plans and possessed all,and if I had such faith that I
(30:17):
could move mountains but didn'tlove others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have tothe poor and even sacrificed my
body, I could boast about it,but if I didn't love others, I
would have gained nothing.
(30:38):
Love is the foundation fromwhere every believer should lead
from.
It's the starting point ofministry.
It's the starting point ofsharing the gospel.
It's the starting point of howwe should be to other people's,
both believers and non-believers.
One thing that the church doesreally well is we act like we
(31:00):
love new people.
So and it's authentic, we loveit.
When new people come in, we'llhug their neck, we'll shake
their hands, we'll be all niceto them, but you let them be
there for a year, two years,three years.
All of a sudden they're old hatand we don't have the same type
of love, because the new wearsoff.
This happens in relationships,this happens at jobs.
It's the best thing ever, andthen you're there for six months
(31:25):
and you're like this sucks,it's the same thing, same
principle, the news wearing off.
So we have to work at being aloving church, a loving body
that actually loves and takescare of itself.
It's important for us to startevery single conversation, start
there with love, so we canremain in love, which is one of
the fruit of the spirit.
(31:45):
It's not about us.
So we have to try and work atit and strive to be who God has
called us to be.
1 Corinthians 14.1,.
Let love be your highest goal,but you should also desire the
special abilities the Spiritgives, especially the ability to
(32:07):
prophesy.
So, yes, love is priority, butdesire spiritual gifts, seek
them earnestly, pray for themand let the Holy Spirit move
through you to bless the churchand to reach the lost.
Now Paul goes on and he tells alittle bit about why prophecy
(32:28):
and I'll dive into it just for asecond Because prophecy is
there to correct, to lead, toguide, and it's in a form of
communication that bothnon-believers and believers can
understand.
So he says this because heactually goes on and talks about
(32:55):
like I pray in tongues morethan all of you you know, but
desire prophecy more for thebenefit.
It's not giving a blueprint towhere this is how it has to be.
Every single time People do this, all the time.
They cherry pick a couple ofscriptures and they make it
their entire theology andthought process.
And they make it their entiretheology and thought process and
they say well, this is what Ibelieve in.
Anything outside of this iswrong.
(33:16):
When you can give a book overhere that is writing to a
specific people that says to dothis because you're acting like
this, so I have to correct youand keep you in these parameters
, but then over here they're notgetting that same instruction
because they don't have thatsame hangup or issue or drama or
whatever the case may be, andso.
So my point is stop cherrypicking and using that as your
(33:41):
theology and saying well, if hesays you can only do this here
and only prophecy, then youcan't speak in tongues anymore,
which is not the word of God.
You're completely missing thepoint.
He was writing not to you, butto a specific people.
You may not know this, but theBible was written for you, not
to you.
The Bible was written for you,not to you.
(34:02):
Think about who the scripture,the letter from Paul, are
written to.
What was going on?
Why did he have to come down sohard?
He describes himself as prayingin tongues.
Do you think, when he prayed intongues in every scenario by
himself, that he had aninterpreter?
No, there's a big difference ina message in tongues in a
(34:24):
corporate setting, which isappropriate, and praying in
tongues.
Now, there's two sides to everycoin.
Some denominations, includingmine, go.
Now, if they're in a group ofpeople that understand what's
going on, say it like a.
In my denomination we have likepastors meetings and pastor
stuff, uh, conferences andthings.
Everyone there is on the samepage of speaking in tongues.
(34:48):
They have an understanding.
Most have been doing it foryears.
They've studied theirwell-learned men and women of
God and not saying they'rebetter than anybody else, but
they have an understanding, andso praying in tongues out loud
amongst other believers that hasfull knowledge of what's going
on is completely appropriate,acceptable and biblical.
But and I've done this you getworked up and it ends up flowing
(35:10):
out of you.
But it doesn't need to be aconstant practice unless being
prompted by the Spirit.
And so sometimes, as Pentecostalpeople, we base a lot of our
stuff in Acts 2, but we forgetabout the prophecy.
There's a lot of things we endup forgetting about and we make
tongues our first priority.
Not a bad thing, that's how thechurch broke out, but we end up
(35:35):
taking speaking in tongues andwearing it as a badge of honor,
as if we are the one that giftedit to ourselves and that we are
the one that does the filling,and we're not.
So be careful, be cautious, tonot get cocky, because I
guarantee you, if you payattention to what the people
were doing, the church ofCorinth, when Paul had to write
them some very correctiveletters, it was them taking what
(35:59):
God was doing, what the HolySpirit was doing, and it made it
all about them, and they weredoing pretty much the same thing
the Pharisees did with the law.
They were making what a giftthat God gave, like, for
instance, the Sabbath and wasmaking it completely about
themselves, when really it wasjust a gift from God for us to
enjoy, to not kill ourselvesover it, to not kill ourselves
(36:22):
over it.
And so my point is this doesn'tneed to be a dividing factor
and split churches.
It's a bunch of nonsense,because we're not the one that
gives the gifts, we're not theone that does the infilling.
No person in Acts, chapter 2,chose to be filled.
(36:42):
They were just hungry, theywere desperate and they were
broken people.
And that is the ground that iscultivated and ready for the
seed of the Spirit to be planted, so that the infilling can
happen with the evidence ofspeaking in other languages, and
so that good, healthy,spiritual fruit can be grown.
And that's the Bible.
Okay, so the prophecy?
(37:06):
All right, we went down thatone.
So how can you cultivate arelationship with the Holy
Spirit?
Number one prayer and surrender.
Start by saying Holy Spirit,have your way, holy Spirit, lead
me.
Create space for listening aswell as speaking.
(37:30):
A lot of times we think prayertime should be where I'm talking
all the time.
Some of you need to learn justto shut up.
Some of the most not mostamazing, but some very deeply
rooted good fruit out of my lifehas been when I've just learned
to shut up and allow the spiritto lead or guide or do what he
wants to do.
Sometimes he speaks to a gentleimpression.
(37:52):
You can kind of get that inyour heart.
You kind of feel like you'resupposed to do something.
A verse of scripture.
So if you want God to speak toyou, if you want the Holy Spirit
to speak to you, start divinginto his word or even a sense of
peace where the anxiousness orthe struggle or the pressure of
a decision kind of fades away.
(38:13):
You just feel at peace about itand there's not really a room
for doubt.
It's peace that passes, passesup the understanding that we
have, because it's a godly peace.
It's the Holy Spirit sayingit's okay to either go or just
be still and enjoy this.
Number two engage the word withthe Spirit.
(38:33):
The Holy Spirit helps usinterpret and apply Scripture.
Before reading pray, lord, openmy eyes.
Holy Spirit, teach me yourtruth.
As we read earlier, the HolySpirit will lead you into all
truth.
Number three is obedience.
So number one prayer andsurrender.
Number two engaging the wordwith the spirit.
(38:55):
Number three is obedience.
When we sense the Holy Spiritleading, whether to forgive
someone, this is a big one inthe church.
When someone does somethingwrong to is a big one in the
church.
When someone does somethingwrong to you, you just write
them off.
That is so unbiblical and it isdamaging because the word says
if you don't forgive, the fatherwill not forgive you.
That is scripture.
We have leaders in the church.
(39:16):
We have church members who aregreat at tithing, they're great
at showing up, they're great atserving, but they have
unforgiveness in their heart andthey will not let it go.
God's desire and his mandate isfor us to forgive.
Say it again God is waiting foryou to forgive or to serve,
(39:41):
doing something specific in thechurch or to share the gospel
with a friend.
When he prompts us to dosomething, respond immediately
when you feel that why?
Because maybe not you, but me.
I am so gifted at talking myselfout of doing what I feel like
(40:01):
I'm supposed to do in a moment.
So what I have done less of isthinking.
I know that sounds exactopposite.
Well, I want to pray about itmore.
I want to think about it more.
By the time you pray and thinkabout it, the opportunity of
where God was trying to alignyou with could be gone.
And here's the thing If youhave a relationship with the
(40:24):
Holy Spirit and with the Father,you don't have to do a whole
lot of praying because you'vealready been doing that.
You don't have to say, well,I'm going to pray about it.
You should have already beenpraying for the will of the Lord
to happen in your life.
And so when something presentsitself not always, sometimes
it's the enemy trying to baityou.
Sometimes it's God trying tomature you even more and take
you further into obedience andsubmission to him.
(40:46):
But oftentimes, if we wait toolong, we will talk ourselves out
of what God is actually tryingto tell us to do.
It's very easy to do that.
I'm really good at it.
Small acts of obedience buildssensitivity to his voice.
Number four live in community.
So that was obedience.
Live in community, fellowshipwith other believers who also
(41:09):
seek the Spirit's guidance.
Often God uses the insights andencouragement of fellow
Christians to confirm what theSpirit is trying to lead us into
.
So you got.
Number one is prayer andsurrender.
Number two engaging the wordwith the Holy Spirit.
Number three is obedience.
(41:30):
Number four live in communitywith other believers who believe
the same way you do.
Don't say you're trying to beled by the spirit and then go to
a church that never evenmentions the Holy Spirit and
they shy away from many topics.
If they won't ever discuss Acts2 with you and they say it died
out, they won't understand thisand you're at the wrong church.
But it's just the Bible.
You either believe all of it oryou believe none of it.
(41:52):
There's no in between.
So number five worship.
At Thanksgiving, an atmosphereof worship softens our hearts to
His presence.
Expressing gratitude draws uscloser to him, and so worship
and thanksgiving what does theword say?
He inhabits the praises of hispeople.
Even if you don't feel like it,praise him anyways.
(42:16):
I have a challenge to my peopleat the church.
It sounds simple, but it's notFive minutes of praise, five
minutes of reading your word andfive minutes of prayer every
single day.
So I want to challenge you.
Ask the Holy Spirit.
He is a person.
The Bible clearly describes.
(42:37):
He is a person, not a thing,not it?
Not some sort of force.
It's not Star Wars.
He is a person, not a thing,not it?
Not some sort of force.
It's not Star Wars.
He is a person to be interactedwith, to be engaged with, to
seek after, to ask.
So if you've neverintentionally welcomed the Holy
(42:58):
Spirit's leadership in your life, today, ask what do you have to
lose?
Today is an opportunity.
The Bible consistentlydescribes it as speaking in
(43:22):
other languages.
This is not a denomination thing, this is a biblical thing, and
so I mean, if you are a believerand maybe you've never heard
really details of who the HolySpirit is, it's kind of been
like this mystical.
Some people even say Holy Ghost, and that even makes it more
like this mystical.
(43:42):
Some people even say Holy Ghost, and that even makes it more
like the Holy Spirit is not aweird topic or subject, but it
is something that you need toread up on and discover for
yourself.
So, as you read the scripture,start in Acts, chapter one, and
this is Jesus' words.
That starts us off where youwill receive power.
(44:03):
So it's a continuation.
Jesus is about to leave theearth and he's saying listen,
I'm going to go, but there'ssomeone that's going to come.
He didn't even tell him what itwould be.
He didn't tell him how it wouldhappen.
He said it would be a comforter.
He was giving them thesecomforting, supportive, like
descriptive qualities of theHoly Spirit, but he didn't say
nothing about another tongue,and I think that's what the key
(44:26):
was, because they weren'texpecting specific things, and
so it didn't skew or warp theirreceptiveness to it.
They just received it as ithappened.
And so, as you as a person, as abeliever, ask the Holy Spirit,
(44:47):
just have a quiet prayer timeand say Holy Spirit, I don't
know if this is real.
I don't know if this wholething is like, because, if you
think about it logically,speaking in tongues would have
to be the most singular, massiveconspiracy ever to be in
(45:11):
humankind, because so manypeople around the world are
doing it in different languagesand here in America, this is not
an American thing.
I mean, if you know anythingabout Scripture, the Bible is
not American.
So think of it in those termsand be like okay, lord, I don't
(45:33):
understand it, but if it'ssomething you would like to
allow me to receive, I want whatyou want.
So, holy Spirit, would you fillme, show your power to me, fill
(45:58):
me up, give me a personalexperience of Acts, to give me
the power to do your work and topreach your word, as you have
told us to do in Scripture.
I'm excited just to see thecomments of what's going to
happen.
Open yourself up, ask the Lord.
(46:19):
Lord, would you, if you want to, I'm available.
Just make yourself available,and you have no clue.
You have no clue the amazingthings God can do through you
and in you by just simpleobedience and willingness to be
a vessel.
(46:39):
I love you, I'm praying for you.
I hope you have an amazing week.
Faith and failures podcast.
What is up?
Faith and Failures.
Thank you for coming back andbeing here for another episode
this week.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about some Bible knowledge.
I want to talk to you about theperson, personhood.
We're going to go through someexplanations and descriptions of
(00:22):
the Holy Spirit.
And descriptions of the HolySpirit.
So, whether you're in church,whether you're not, you may be
in a certain denomination orwhatever, and there's a lot of
questions.
I don't feel there's enough talkaround the Holy Spirit.
So we're going to dive in today.
We're going to base all of ourknowledge, all of opinions, all
(00:42):
of the facts, on Scripture,where it's found.
So it'll be on your screen injust a second and I just want to
let you know that thereshouldn't be as much mystery
around it as there is.
Obviously, you're talking aboutGod.
You're talking about a spirit.
The spirit is in the word.
So it's going to be a littlebit like we are fleshly beings,
(01:03):
so the spiritual aspect of allof it.
It's's going to be a little bitlike we are fleshly being, so
the spiritual aspect of all ofit.
It's not going to be a full, ahundred percent understanding,
but I believe that God gives usenough, and so, yeah, you got to
go a little bit on faith.
Enough information, enoughprinciples, enough stories uh,
(01:30):
enough um stories, instancesthat um can really help us to
have a better and fullerunderstanding of who is the holy
spirit.
So stick around.
Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you
to all of the new subscribers.
If you haven't yet considersubscribing, hit that bell
notification so that you can seeevery time I put out a new
video.
A major portion of you thatwatch my videos haven't
(01:50):
subscribed yet, so why not?
It's free.
You can also find a PayPal linkbelow if you want to give a
one-time or give a monthly tosupport the channel.
Anything, great or small, isappreciated.
Now let's get into the video.
Great or small is appreciated.
Now let's get into the video,all right?
(02:12):
So I want to start off with a.
We're extra wide today.
I don't know why I switchedcameras up and this is like
super wide and normally youcan't see all my stuff and I
didn't have time to cleananything, so it is what it is.
I got a lot of things going onin the dark.
I turned the light off, butover here is all nuts and you
can actually see my screens thatI always have here for me.
So, that being said, let's diveinto it.
I want you to look over in yourBible to Acts, chapter 1, verse
(02:39):
8.
It'll be on your screen Acts,chapter 1.
So Acts, chapter 1, verse 8.
Now, this is a promise fromJesus.
You need to be very clear onthat.
This is not something that isbeing made.
So if you believe in Jesus, hehas promises.
Okay, we're going to read fromActs, we're going to read from
John, then we're going to jumpback to our key text again in
(03:01):
Acts, chapter 1.
But let's read this this is apromise, but you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comesupon you and you will be my
witnesses telling people aboutme everywhere, in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria andto the ends of the earth.
So one thing that is a key notethat it wraps up that with
(03:24):
first, to talk about power, andit's given the reasons why
because we are meant to havepower to propel us into being
able to fully articulate andfully preach, not just pastors,
people that have come to Christ.
We are to duplicate what Christhas done in us, and so this is
(03:48):
why it's very, very, veryimportant for us, as Christians,
to understand that we are notjust getting saved to get fire
insurance, to just get out ofgoing to hell going to hell.
We need to let that fire fillus so that we can be channels
(04:10):
for the Holy Spirit to workthrough, so that we ourselves
can then be a a not only a goodsteward, but a good reflection,
a honest, true, real reflectionof who Jesus Christ is and who
he was.
Christ is and who he was.
And if you think about this in avery real sense, like people
(04:31):
who don't know God, they're notBible scholars.
You know some of the atheists.
They go way off.
They try to disprove.
I was actually watching a Idon't know what it was on, my
wife was watching it the Casefor Christ by Lee Strobel
Excellent book.
I'll try to remember to leave alink in the description if you
want to pick it up.
If you're skeptic, hey, what'sit going to hurt?
Are you going to be provenwrong?
(04:51):
Are you going to be provenright?
If you're so confident in beingproven right, then why not read
something from across the aisle?
It shouldn't change anythingexcept build your confidence in
what you think you already know.
So why be scared of that.
So we're going to dive into asubject.
There's a lot of question marksaround it the person of the
Holy Spirit.
(05:11):
We're going to talk about thatin just a minute, but he is a
person.
So let's walk through what theHoly Spirit's role is in the
Trinity.
So is in the Trinity.
So John 14, 16 through 17.
Now some people don'tunderstand the Trinity part and
I want to try to just.
It's not a full episode on theTrinity, but I want to just
(05:38):
barely touch it for you.
Jesus is so.
God is not wearing differentmasks when he is interacting as
the Holy Spirit or interactingas Jesus Omniscient, omnipresent
, he can be anywhere,all-knowing.
So, that being said,specifically in the Bible, jesus
(05:59):
is called God's son.
Matter of fact, in, I think,hebrews chapter one I texted my
wife about it this morning, Iwas, I was doing some studying,
anyways it says that no angelwas ever told or called the son
as Jesus was called the son.
And in John 1, 1, it talksabout the Word being the Son,
(06:26):
and John is one that is tryingto testify it's the most
intentional on testifying thathe was the Messiah, that he was
the Christ, and so you have tounderstand that these
conversations God wouldn't havewith himself.
They are one, but they are alsoindividual.
(06:54):
Let me give you a real example.
As the scripture says and as weactually do that the Bible says
that a son will leave hismother and father and become one
with his wife Two separatepeople, but they are one.
They are joined together.
Spiritually, physically,emotionally.
They are to become one and twoto become one.
(07:16):
So in the kind of same sense asthe Bible describes how we
should get married and jointogether.
So the Bible tries to lay outsome hints and displays and
examples, and John chapter 14 isone of those examples.
If the Holy Spirit and Jesuswere the same, but just putting
(07:37):
on different masks, he would nothave had to leave for the Holy
Spirit to come.
He could have been here and theHoly Spirit still do its thing
because it was the same person,right?
That would make logical sense,but yet it's not that way.
It's actually that he said Ihave to leave.
(07:58):
So let's read it Verses 16 and17.
And I will ask the father.
So he's right.
Here is displaying threeseparate people, personhoods I
talking about Jesus will ask theFather.
So he's saying I will ask himto send the Spirit.
So if he's having to sendsomething, someone besides Jesus
(08:20):
, then it's obvious, it's aclear separation of that person.
But all the news, and just aslater in scripture it talks
about and we'll talk about thegifts in a minute where one
spirit testifies of the spiritbeing in you.
The one spirit gives the giftof prophecy.
The one spirit gives the giftof tongues.
The one spirit it keepsmentioning again the one spirit,
(08:41):
the one spirit, because allomnipresent, the one spirit has
the same characteristics andcapabilities, but a distinct
role from Jesus, because theHoly Spirit didn't come to be
sacrificed and live a perfectlife.
It didn't come in flesh form,but Jesus did.
God didn't come in flesh form,although the deity and the
(09:03):
holiness and the righteousnesswas in Jesus, but he laid off
the glory so that he could comeand live a life like us, to pay
the price that we ourselvescould never pay.
And I will ask the Father, andhe will give you another
advocate, so key word, another.
He's talking about himself andhe's saying besides me, the
(09:27):
Father will send anotheradvocate who will never leave
you.
He is the Holy Spirit.
So he's being descriptive, he'sgiving a title, he's giving a
name to the advocate that isgoing to replace Jesus to the
advocate that is going toreplace Jesus there would be no
replacement, but Jesus said ifthey were the same.
(09:51):
But Jesus said there's going tobe a replacement, I must go, he
will come.
Who leads into all truth.
The world cannot receive himbecause it isn't looking for him
and doesn't recognize him.
But you know him because helives within you now and will
later be in you.
(10:13):
In this scripture, jesuspromises the Holy Spirit as an
advocate, sometimes translatedas comforter or counselor or
helper.
Notice, jesus calls the HolySpirit a he.
It is a descriptive and genderassigned quality, showing that
he is a person, not animpersonal force.
(10:36):
Okay, so let's read our keytext again.
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit comes upon you
and you will be my witnessestelling all people about me
everywhere, in Jerusalem, judea,samaria and the ends of the
earth.
So here Jesus explains thatreceiving the Holy Spirit
includes receiving power, notjust for our benefit, just like
(11:03):
the gifts of the Spirit we'regoing to get into it in a minute
but the power comes for thebenefit of the body and
spreading the gospel and also asa key ingredient to fulfilling
our mission to go.
The Great Commission.
The last thing Jesus said wasto go into all the world preach
(11:25):
the good news.
And you, I mean you, have to.
You have to realize.
I gave this analogy.
I don't know if I put it in mynotes, I don't think I did.
I gave this analogy Sunday whendelivering this message.
Is that yes?
Well, let me ask you this.
(11:45):
So some of the older crowd,probably the younger like
generation, whatever they're onnow, they started over in the
alphabet, their personal opinion.
They're dumb for starting atthe end, but whatever, like what
is it or no, what is it?
Have you ever had a vehicle, oryour grandparents had a vehicle
, mom and dad, whatever thesteering wheel, did not have
(12:07):
power steering.
Okay, I was in my grandpa'struck and making a turn, I
thought I would.
I turned a mile, like I turneda 90 degree, and it was like
maybe 10, 10 degrees, but it wasjust so hard.
And obviously it's easier whenyou're moving, okay, and
obviously it's easier whenyou're moving, okay, well, the
same vehicle can get you from Ato B.
(12:29):
It'll still get you there, butthe drive is much easier and
more efficient with power in thesteering.
So, speaking in tongues beingfilled with the Spirit, as the
Acts 2 church when it broke outlike it broke out in the way
that it did, because it was, Ibelieve, something new,
something different.
It wasn't dependent on man.
(12:51):
It was completely, 100%dependent on God to make it
happen.
And that's how the church brokeout in the way that it did.
I think it was a veryintentional move.
Now, why?
I have no clue.
Why did God choose to do itthat way and make it where?
It's some weird thing andpeople speaking other languages?
And I have no honest answer foryou, except that God can do
(13:13):
whatever he wants and that's hisbusiness.
Why does he heal some and notthe other?
Why does he restore somemarriages and then others fall
apart?
I can't tell you that, but Ican tell you this he is
sovereign and whatever hechooses and decides I have to be
okay with.
If I trust him that much, like,for instance, my teenager and
(13:34):
me with my parents when I wasyoung.
I didn't always have the reasonbehind or know the reason
behind, but I had.
I had to have a level of trustfor my parents that they weren't
doing it to harm me, theyweren't doing it to just be mean
, that sometimes things justwork out that way and if I be
patient and wait, it'll be okay.
Teaching my teenager that now heis waiting to get his.
(13:54):
You have to schedule it nowbecause of COVID.
He's waiting to get his permit,and so we had a winter snap
thing and it set ice on the roadand here in Longview there was
nothing.
It drizzled a little bit andeverybody freaks out, so
everything shut down for liketwo days and then it was on that
specific day where it'ssupposed to be bad weather and
(14:15):
it wasn't.
So he's upset about that,rescheduled it.
So now it's like at the end ofthe actually it's this week.
So he's kind of stressed outabout that.
But I'm trying to tell him hey,everything will be okay, it
will be okay, it will be okay.
And the same way with the Lord.
We have to understand that Goddoes love us and he understands
(14:39):
and he knows exactly what iscoming and we don't.
His thoughts are above ourthoughts.
His wisdom is above ours.
His wisdom is above ours.
His knowledge is above ours.
He can see backwards here andforwards all at the same time.
I don't think they did it onpurpose, I'm not sure but one of
the greatest examples of thiswould be.
(14:59):
It was a men in black, maybethree, maybe two, I don't
remember and this guy had thispower that he could see not only
the future but the past and thepresent.
So he can, he could seeeverything at the same time.
And I'm like.
My first thought was that'sexactly like God, cause he put
(15:21):
his hands on on the guy'sshoulder.
They were in a baseball stadium.
Because he put his hands on theguy's shoulder, they were in a
baseball stadium, put his handson the shoulder and they could
immediately see, like a I thinkit was all the variables and
everything.
Or they're talking aboutbaseball I'm not a fan, but like
they were talking about allthis stuff or they could see all
(15:43):
the different things happeningat the same time.
And it was like dude, that'slike God.
That's pretty awesome.
So just trust him because hecares for you that much so.
John 14, 16.
I don't know if we read it allor not, but we'll read it again.
(16:03):
I don't know if we read it allor not, but we'll read it again.
The Father, advocate,representative, that is the Holy
Spirit, will teach youeverything and will remind you
of everything I have told you.
So only a person can teach andremind.
The Holy Spirit's not a forceor an it.
We can actually have a genuinerelationship with the Holy
(16:24):
Spirit.
You can't do that with just aforce or a power source, like
you can't go out and grab theelectric thing in the wall and
have a relationship with itYou'd be in a hospital and the
ones with very comfortablepadded walls.
But we certainly can have thistype of relationship with a
(16:46):
person John 16, 13.
When the Holy Spirit of truthcomes, he will guide you into
all truth.
He will not speak on his ownbut will tell you what he has
heard.
He will tell you about thefuture.
So, understanding and I thinkthis is kind of a precursor to
the coming gift of prophecyUnderstanding the Holy Spirit's
(17:11):
personhood changes how weapproach Him, how we pray to Him
, how we listen for His guidanceand how we cooperate with His
leading, with his leading.
So the Holy Spirit is a person.
(17:31):
All right, check these, becausethis don't look right.
Okay, I think I just gave youall the wrong slides.
(17:56):
That's okay, we're moving on.
So the roles of the Holy Spirit.
What does that look like?
So the Holy Spirit convicts usof sin and leads us into
righteousness.
So John 16, 8.
16, 8.
And when he comes, he willconvict the world of its sin and
God's righteousness and of thecoming judgment.
(18:20):
So all of us, one day, aregoing to be judged.
We're going to be before God.
All the good, the bad, the ugly, every word is going to be
accounted for and it's going tobe presented in kind of a court
of law, the way it's set up andthe way it's described and the
way the court system is set uptoday.
And the way it's set up and theway it's described and the way
the court system is set up todayand the way it was in the Old
Testament.
This was given, I believe,blueprint from heavenly
(18:43):
principles, heavenly examplesand heavenly court, so to speak.
So John 16, 8 tells us that therighteousness of we're going to
be judged on our sin and God'sagainst, against God's
righteousness.
We're going to be judged on oursin against God's righteousness
.
So of God's righteousness, notour own, but of God's.
And I want to tell you somethingthat conviction is different
(19:06):
from condemnation.
Okay, conviction leads us torepentance and reconciliation
with God, which is the point.
That's what God desires forevery person who has ever been
born and is going to be born.
He desires for reconciliation,but for us to be led to
(19:27):
reconciliation, we first mustembrace conviction.
Conviction leads us torepentance and reconciliation.
Condemnation leads us tohopelessness.
The Spirit's conviction is meantto help us turn back to the
Father.
So one of the roles of the HolySpirit conviction of sin and
point us to righteousness.
(19:47):
He's also the helper and theadvocate, as we read in John
chapter 14, that he is our, ouradvocate sometimes, or someone
called alongside to help.
He empowers us to facechallenges, counsels us when we
lack wisdom and encourages uswhen we are weary.
He is the sanctifier.
(20:10):
He produces spiritual fruit outof us that shapes our character
and reflects Jesus.
So look at Galatians 5, 22 and23.
But the Holy Spirit producesthis kind of fruit in our lives
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness
(20:30):
, gentleness and self-control.
There is no law against thesethings.
And, if we're honest, we lookat these on your screen and you
read these and you're like, yeah, I think I would want those.
And obviously every single oneof these, every single one.
Look at the list for a second,every single one.
Look down the list, everysingle one.
(20:52):
The enemy tries to pervert andgive you a version of it that
will end up separating you fromgod.
For instance, love.
In the last I don't know howmany years, there has been a
intense perversion of what loveis, for instance, just a simple
(21:13):
dumb.
They use it as a definition,but it not.
That's not how you definethings.
Love is love.
Actually, god is love, and sowhat they're trying to do is the
my truth nonsense, which istaking a truth, one of the fruit
of the spirit, love, that isalso named God, and making it as
(21:36):
how we see things, how we wantto love or experience sexual
gratification is that's my love,and so now how I want things.
So so think about this If Godis love according to scripture,
and I'm taking love and makingit how I want, who now is my God
(21:56):
?
I have put myself in that seat.
Now I am the God that decideswhat my love is and what it
looks like, and no one else cansay anything.
Or now they're, they're hatingand they're there's a phobia
going behind the word orwhatever, and that's not it.
It's just the facts.
And so when the facts gettwisted up and manipulated and
(22:17):
the truth gets turned intosomething that's about me, it's
no longer actual truth, it'sjust something that I want to
twist to fit my narrative, andthis is damaging not only to me,
to my mind, but it's damagingto society and the culture.
And now it has crept into theculture of the church and
allowing things that shouldnever be allowed, allowing
(22:38):
leaders that should never beallowed into leadership
positions.
And so now we are notglorifying, but we're saying we
love you, and really what you'redoing is telling them it's okay
, you can send however you want,as long as you pay your tithes
here, as long as you come andserve in the church, you can do
whatever you want, and that isnot biblical.
That's actually against theentire design of the church.
(23:04):
We are called to go into theworld, not the world into the
church.
So all of us would love thesequalities, but we have to be
careful.
Are we receiving these thingsright here from God, from the
Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit produces theseor are we partaking of the
(23:26):
synthetic, the fake, what theworld is offering and what the
enemy is trying to offer?
So another thing besides thesanctification, producing
spiritual fruit out of our lives, the Holy Spirit gives us
witnessing power.
As we read in Acts 1.8,.
You will receive power when theHoly Spirit comes upon you.
(23:51):
That's not just for the earlydisciples, it's for us today.
There is no scripture, noscripture anywhere.
You cannot cite the scripturethat says that the acts to
experience faded out or die withthe apostles.
It's not there.
So anyone that makes it anypreacher, that preaches that the
(24:12):
holy spirit is changed, and ifthey believe that the Holy
Spirit is a part of the Trinityof God and God never changes,
then they are lying and doingthe enemy's work.
That's just the bottom line.
So let's go to point numberthree.
Why do we need the Holy Spirit?
(24:32):
Why do we need the Holy Spirit?
Well, first of all, to overcomesin and temptation.
Apart from the Holy Spirit'swork, we end up relying on our
own strength, which fails usevery time.
You give enough room and itwill fail you.
(24:53):
Enough room and it will failyou when we allow the Spirit to
lead us.
He helps us to resisttemptation and walk in victory.
That is the heart of God.
He desires that for us.
So, number one, to overcome sinand temptation.
Number two, to discern God'swill.
Life is full of decisions,career paths, relationships,
(25:14):
ministry opportunities.
The Holy Spirit nudges us andleads us, gives us peace or
caution and aligns our heartswith the will of God.
Our heart and our will for ourlife should come in alignment
with God, not trying to forceGod to put a stamp of approval
on what we're wanting to do.
That's not healthy and that'snot biblical.
(25:36):
Then you make yourself the God,you're the deciding factor,
instead of the other way aroundand God being the one lead you
and the Holy Spirit being theone that guides you.
Number three the genuinefellowship with God.
The Spirit makes God'sfatherhood real to us.
Look at Romans 8, 16.
Real to us Look at Romans 8.16.
(25:59):
For the Spirit joins with ourspirit to affirm that we are
God's children.
We can draw near to God becausethe Holy Spirit's presence
within us.
Number four we need to avoidquenching the Spirit.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5.19.
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.
(26:19):
We can stifle or grieve theHoly Spirit by persistent
disobedience, neglecting prayer,ignoring God's word.
The Holy Spirit is gentle andhe invites but never forces.
If we consistently push himaway, we miss out on his power
(26:41):
and the comfort he is thecomforter.
So let's look at some gifts ofthe Holy Spirit.
So I only have this on yourscreen because 7 to 11, there's
a lot of meat here, so I'm justgoing to leave that there and
you can screenshot it or you canlook it up as you watch, but I
(27:02):
will read it 1 Corinthians, 12,7 through 11.
A spiritual gift is given toeach of us so we can help each
other.
If you notice, this consistenttheme running throughout the New
Testament is we are meant tohelp each other.
It's not all about me, it's notwhat gifts.
Can I Read what Paul wrote tothe church of Corinth?
(27:23):
They had some issues becausethey took what the Spirit gave
them and made it aboutthemselves.
I don't want to be that church.
I want to be the body that ispleasing to the Father, that is
useful and does it rightaccording to the Holy Spirit and
the will of the Holy Spirit.
So to one person, the Spiritgives the ability.
(27:44):
Okay, first of all, let's backup.
Actually, we're going to do itat the end, never mind, but just
follow along as I read, if youdon't mind.
To another, the same Spiritgives a message of special
knowledge.
The same Spirit, you don't mindto another.
The same spirit gives a messageof special knowledge.
The same spirit gives Imentioned this earlier the same
spirit.
The same spirit.
The same spirit Listen, it'llsay it over and over again the
same spirit gives great faith toanother and to someone else.
(28:07):
The one spirit gives the giftof healing.
He gives one person the powerto perform miracles and another
the ability to prophesy.
He gives someone else theability to discern whether a
message is from the Spirit ofGod or from another spirit.
Still, another person is giventhe ability to speak unknown
languages, while another isgiven the ability to interpret
(28:28):
what is being said.
It is the one Spirit, and onlyspirit, who distributes these
gifts.
He alone decides which gifteach person should have.
So what's our takeaway fromthese passages?
Is that every believer itstarts it off right there on
verse seven a spiritual gift isgiven to each of us so we can
(28:51):
help each other.
Every believer receives atleast one gift, but not one
person, not one believer hasevery spiritual gift.
It evens it out and makes itwhere nothing.
No one can ever say they arebetter than the other, and
actually Paul continues to writethat very thing that nobody
needs to try to pretend thatthey are better.
(29:12):
The purpose of these gifts inthe second sentence is to help
each other.
Gifts are meant to help eachother and build up the church.
The Holy Spirit distributes ashe wills, which means no gift
(29:33):
makes one person superior toanybody else.
Now we can go on to the 13thchapter of Corinthians, 1
through 3.
Same thing.
It's a little lengthy so I justput it up here for you, so you
can screenshot or write it down.
And so he describes all thegifts.
(29:54):
And now he's going to thechapter 13.
He's saying in verse 1 if Icould speak all the languages of
the earth and of angels butdidn't love others, I would only
be a noisy gong or a clingingcymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecyand if I understood all of god's
secret plans and possessed all,and if I had such faith that I
(30:17):
could move mountains but didn'tlove others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have tothe poor and even sacrificed my
body, I could boast about it,but if I didn't love others, I
would have gained nothing.
(30:38):
Love is the foundation fromwhere every believer should lead
from.
It's the starting point ofministry.
It's the starting point ofsharing the gospel.
It's the starting point of howwe should be to other people's,
both believers and non-believers.
One thing that the church doesreally well is we act like we
(31:00):
love new people.
So and it's authentic, we loveit.
When new people come in, we'llhug their neck, we'll shake
their hands, we'll be all niceto them, but you let them be
there for a year, two years,three years.
All of a sudden they're old hatand we don't have the same type
of love, because the new wearsoff.
This happens in relationships,this happens at jobs.
It's the best thing ever, andthen you're there for six months
(31:25):
and you're like this sucks,it's the same thing, same
principle, the news wearing off.
So we have to work at being aloving church, a loving body
that actually loves and takescare of itself.
It's important for us to startevery single conversation, start
there with love, so we canremain in love, which is one of
the fruit of the spirit.
(31:45):
It's not about us.
So we have to try and work atit and strive to be who God has
called us to be.
1 Corinthians 14.1,.
Let love be your highest goal,but you should also desire the
special abilities the Spiritgives, especially the ability to
(32:07):
prophesy.
So, yes, love is priority, butdesire spiritual gifts, seek
them earnestly, pray for themand let the Holy Spirit move
through you to bless the churchand to reach the lost.
Now Paul goes on and he tells alittle bit about why prophecy
(32:28):
and I'll dive into it just for asecond Because prophecy is
there to correct, to lead, toguide, and it's in a form of
communication that bothnon-believers and believers can
understand.
So he says this because heactually goes on and talks about
(32:55):
like I pray in tongues morethan all of you you know, but
desire prophecy more for thebenefit.
It's not giving a blueprint towhere this is how it has to be.
Every single time People do this, all the time.
They cherry pick a couple ofscriptures and they make it
their entire theology andthought process.
And they make it their entiretheology and thought process and
they say well, this is what Ibelieve in.
Anything outside of this iswrong.
(33:16):
When you can give a book overhere that is writing to a
specific people that says to dothis because you're acting like
this, so I have to correct youand keep you in these parameters
, but then over here they're notgetting that same instruction
because they don't have thatsame hangup or issue or drama or
whatever the case may be, andso.
So my point is stop cherrypicking and using that as your
(33:41):
theology and saying well, if hesays you can only do this here
and only prophecy, then youcan't speak in tongues anymore,
which is not the word of God.
You're completely missing thepoint.
He was writing not to you, butto a specific people.
You may not know this, but theBible was written for you, not
to you.
The Bible was written for you,not to you.
(34:02):
Think about who the scripture,the letter from Paul, are
written to.
What was going on?
Why did he have to come down sohard?
He describes himself as prayingin tongues.
Do you think, when he prayed intongues in every scenario by
himself, that he had aninterpreter?
No, there's a big difference ina message in tongues in a
(34:24):
corporate setting, which isappropriate, and praying in
tongues.
Now, there's two sides to everycoin.
Some denominations, includingmine, go.
Now, if they're in a group ofpeople that understand what's
going on, say it like a.
In my denomination we have likepastors meetings and pastor
stuff, uh, conferences andthings.
Everyone there is on the samepage of speaking in tongues.
(34:48):
They have an understanding.
Most have been doing it foryears.
They've studied theirwell-learned men and women of
God and not saying they'rebetter than anybody else, but
they have an understanding, andso praying in tongues out loud
amongst other believers that hasfull knowledge of what's going
on is completely appropriate,acceptable and biblical.
But and I've done this you getworked up and it ends up flowing
(35:10):
out of you.
But it doesn't need to be aconstant practice unless being
prompted by the Spirit.
And so sometimes, as Pentecostalpeople, we base a lot of our
stuff in Acts 2, but we forgetabout the prophecy.
There's a lot of things we endup forgetting about and we make
tongues our first priority.
Not a bad thing, that's how thechurch broke out, but we end up
(35:35):
taking speaking in tongues andwearing it as a badge of honor,
as if we are the one that giftedit to ourselves and that we are
the one that does the filling,and we're not.
So be careful, be cautious, tonot get cocky, because I
guarantee you, if you payattention to what the people
were doing, the church ofCorinth, when Paul had to write
them some very correctiveletters, it was them taking what
(35:59):
God was doing, what the HolySpirit was doing, and it made it
all about them, and they weredoing pretty much the same thing
the Pharisees did with the law.
They were making what a giftthat God gave, like, for
instance, the Sabbath and wasmaking it completely about
themselves, when really it wasjust a gift from God for us to
enjoy, to not kill ourselvesover it, to not kill ourselves
(36:22):
over it.
And so my point is this doesn'tneed to be a dividing factor
and split churches.
It's a bunch of nonsense,because we're not the one that
gives the gifts, we're not theone that does the infilling.
No person in Acts, chapter 2,chose to be filled.
(36:42):
They were just hungry, theywere desperate and they were
broken people.
And that is the ground that iscultivated and ready for the
seed of the Spirit to be planted, so that the infilling can
happen with the evidence ofspeaking in other languages, and
so that good, healthy,spiritual fruit can be grown.
And that's the Bible.
Okay, so the prophecy?
(37:06):
All right, we went down thatone.
So how can you cultivate arelationship with the Holy
Spirit?
Number one prayer and surrender.
Start by saying Holy Spirit,have your way, holy Spirit, lead
me.
Create space for listening aswell as speaking.
(37:30):
A lot of times we think prayertime should be where I'm talking
all the time.
Some of you need to learn justto shut up.
Some of the most not mostamazing, but some very deeply
rooted good fruit out of my lifehas been when I've just learned
to shut up and allow the spiritto lead or guide or do what he
wants to do.
Sometimes he speaks to a gentleimpression.
(37:52):
You can kind of get that inyour heart.
You kind of feel like you'resupposed to do something.
A verse of scripture.
So if you want God to speak toyou, if you want the Holy Spirit
to speak to you, start divinginto his word or even a sense of
peace where the anxiousness orthe struggle or the pressure of
a decision kind of fades away.
(38:13):
You just feel at peace about itand there's not really a room
for doubt.
It's peace that passes, passesup the understanding that we
have, because it's a godly peace.
It's the Holy Spirit sayingit's okay to either go or just
be still and enjoy this.
Number two engage the word withthe Spirit.
(38:33):
The Holy Spirit helps usinterpret and apply Scripture.
Before reading pray, lord, openmy eyes.
Holy Spirit, teach me yourtruth.
As we read earlier, the HolySpirit will lead you into all
truth.
Number three is obedience.
So number one prayer andsurrender.
Number two engaging the wordwith the spirit.
(38:55):
Number three is obedience.
When we sense the Holy Spiritleading, whether to forgive
someone, this is a big one inthe church.
When someone does somethingwrong to is a big one in the
church.
When someone does somethingwrong to you, you just write
them off.
That is so unbiblical and it isdamaging because the word says
if you don't forgive, the fatherwill not forgive you.
That is scripture.
We have leaders in the church.
(39:16):
We have church members who aregreat at tithing, they're great
at showing up, they're great atserving, but they have
unforgiveness in their heart andthey will not let it go.
God's desire and his mandate isfor us to forgive.
Say it again God is waiting foryou to forgive or to serve,
(39:41):
doing something specific in thechurch or to share the gospel
with a friend.
When he prompts us to dosomething, respond immediately
when you feel that why?
Because maybe not you, but me.
I am so gifted at talking myselfout of doing what I feel like
(40:01):
I'm supposed to do in a moment.
So what I have done less of isthinking.
I know that sounds exactopposite.
Well, I want to pray about itmore.
I want to think about it more.
By the time you pray and thinkabout it, the opportunity of
where God was trying to alignyou with could be gone.
And here's the thing If youhave a relationship with the
(40:24):
Holy Spirit and with the Father,you don't have to do a whole
lot of praying because you'vealready been doing that.
You don't have to say, well,I'm going to pray about it.
You should have already beenpraying for the will of the Lord
to happen in your life.
And so when something presentsitself not always, sometimes
it's the enemy trying to baityou.
Sometimes it's God trying tomature you even more and take
you further into obedience andsubmission to him.
(40:46):
But oftentimes, if we wait toolong, we will talk ourselves out
of what God is actually tryingto tell us to do.
It's very easy to do that.
I'm really good at it.
Small acts of obedience buildssensitivity to his voice.
Number four live in community.
So that was obedience.
Live in community, fellowshipwith other believers who also
(41:09):
seek the Spirit's guidance.
Often God uses the insights andencouragement of fellow
Christians to confirm what theSpirit is trying to lead us into
.
So you got.
Number one is prayer andsurrender.
Number two engaging the wordwith the Holy Spirit.
Number three is obedience.
(41:30):
Number four live in communitywith other believers who believe
the same way you do.
Don't say you're trying to beled by the spirit and then go to
a church that never evenmentions the Holy Spirit and
they shy away from many topics.
If they won't ever discuss Acts2 with you and they say it died
out, they won't understand thisand you're at the wrong church.
But it's just the Bible.
You either believe all of it oryou believe none of it.
(41:52):
There's no in between.
So number five worship.
At Thanksgiving, an atmosphereof worship softens our hearts to
His presence.
Expressing gratitude draws uscloser to him, and so worship
and thanksgiving what does theword say?
He inhabits the praises of hispeople.
Even if you don't feel like it,praise him anyways.
(42:16):
I have a challenge to my peopleat the church.
It sounds simple, but it's notFive minutes of praise, five
minutes of reading your word andfive minutes of prayer every
single day.
So I want to challenge you.
Ask the Holy Spirit.
He is a person.
The Bible clearly describes.
(42:37):
He is a person, not a thing,not it?
Not some sort of force.
It's not Star Wars.
He is a person, not a thing,not it?
Not some sort of force.
It's not Star Wars.
He is a person to be interactedwith, to be engaged with, to
seek after, to ask.
So if you've neverintentionally welcomed the Holy
(42:58):
Spirit's leadership in your life, today, ask what do you have to
lose?
Today is an opportunity.
The Bible consistentlydescribes it as speaking in
(43:22):
other languages.
This is not a denomination thing, this is a biblical thing, and
so I mean, if you are a believerand maybe you've never heard
really details of who the HolySpirit is, it's kind of been
like this mystical.
Some people even say Holy Ghost, and that even makes it more
like this mystical.
(43:42):
Some people even say Holy Ghost, and that even makes it more
like the Holy Spirit is not aweird topic or subject, but it
is something that you need toread up on and discover for
yourself.
So, as you read the scripture,start in Acts, chapter one, and
this is Jesus' words.
That starts us off where youwill receive power.
(44:03):
So it's a continuation.
Jesus is about to leave theearth and he's saying listen,
I'm going to go, but there'ssomeone that's going to come.
He didn't even tell him what itwould be.
He didn't tell him how it wouldhappen.
He said it would be a comforter.
He was giving them thesecomforting, supportive, like
descriptive qualities of theHoly Spirit, but he didn't say
nothing about another tongue,and I think that's what the key
(44:26):
was, because they weren'texpecting specific things, and
so it didn't skew or warp theirreceptiveness to it.
They just received it as ithappened.
And so, as you as a person, as abeliever, ask the Holy Spirit,
(44:47):
just have a quiet prayer timeand say Holy Spirit, I don't
know if this is real.
I don't know if this wholething is like, because, if you
think about it logically,speaking in tongues would have
to be the most singular, massiveconspiracy ever to be in
(45:11):
humankind, because so manypeople around the world are
doing it in different languagesand here in America, this is not
an American thing.
I mean, if you know anythingabout Scripture, the Bible is
not American.
So think of it in those termsand be like okay, lord, I don't
(45:33):
understand it, but if it'ssomething you would like to
allow me to receive, I want whatyou want.
So, holy Spirit, would you fillme, show your power to me, fill
(45:58):
me up, give me a personalexperience of Acts, to give me
the power to do your work and topreach your word, as you have
told us to do in Scripture.
I'm excited just to see thecomments of what's going to
happen.
Open yourself up, ask the Lord.
(46:19):
Lord, would you, if you want to, I'm available.
Just make yourself available,and you have no clue.
You have no clue the amazingthings God can do through you
and in you by just simpleobedience and willingness to be
a vessel.
(46:39):
I love you, I'm praying for you.
I hope you have an amazing week.
Faith and failures podcast.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.