September 7, 2025 • 43 mins
Have you ever noticed how comfortable we are talking about God the Father and Jesus the Son, but when conversation turns to the Holy Spirit, things get... awkward? That's exactly what we're tackling head-on in this powerful message about the third person of the Trinity.
The Holy Spirit isn't a "what" but a "who" – fully God, just as the Father and Son are God. Using the analogy of water existing as ice, liquid, or steam while remaining H2O, we unpack how the Trinity functions as three distinct persons sharing one divine essence. But understanding the Holy Spirit goes beyond mere theological concepts – it's about relationship.
For many believers, especially men, the emotional aspects of engaging with the Holy Spirit create discomfort. When the Spirit moves, it often manifests through tears, physical sensations, or deep conviction. We explore why so many resist these experiences and how true strength is found in surrender, not avoidance. As the message reveals, "There is nothing stronger than a man on his knees at the altar."
The Holy Spirit fulfills crucial roles in our spiritual lives – convicting us of sin (John 16:8), giving us new life (Titus 3:5), empowering our witness (Acts 1:8), and guiding our decisions (Galatians 5:16). Yet how often do we try to negotiate with Him? "I'll stop when You give me this" or "I'll start when You provide that." This bargaining reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of who God is and our position before Him.
Ready to move beyond intellectual understanding to personal engagement with the Holy Spirit? This message challenges you to ask, "Lord, what are you calling me to do?" and to recognize that the same resurrection power that raised Jesus lives within every believer. The question is – are you willing to access it?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen, amen, whoo whoo .
Tell you what.
There's something about a fullhouse that changes that music
ministry experience, doesn't it?
Amen, amen, amen.
We'll let the kids get situated.
Gets a little crazy as they tryto leave.
Everybody gets excited.
So we're in week three of ourmessage about the Holy Trinity
(00:33):
and so today we're talking aboutthe Holy Spirit.
So I opened with I've got theHoly Ghost, because why not?
Right Felt appropriate.
Did you guys like that?
I like that song, it's fun,right Felt appropriate.
Did you guys like that?
I like that song, it's fun,right.
There are a lot of people whodon't quite understand what the
Holy Spirit is and oftentimesthat's the question that I get
(00:55):
asked is what is the Holy Spirit?
And I think it's really easy toexplain to people.
But we have to be honest.
We're really comfortable abouttalking about God, right, god,
the Father.
We know who God is right.
We're really comfortabletalking about Jesus because we
know who Jesus is right For themost part.
But when we start talking aboutthe Holy Spirit, it's something
(01:18):
that isn't tangible and it's alittle bit like because you get
some people who reallyunderstand the Holy Spirit and
they scare us, right?
You notice I'm not looking atPastor Holly right now, because
if you're going to talk aboutsomebody who's in tune with the
Holy Spirit this lady is in tunewith, she walks the walk, she
(01:39):
talks the talk right, and she'llcome to me and she'll say
Pastor Michael, I had this dreamand I'm like I don't know how
you live in that head.
I say that to you regularly,don't I?
Because she sees and she hearsand she knows, and she says the
Holy Spirit is telling me, andsometimes, when you hear it, you
think this lady's off herrocker.
I want to tell you guyssomething she said.
(02:00):
She told me this much later inour friendship, when she, her
and Dave first started cominghere.
She told Dave that Alyssa and Iwere going to have another baby
.
I will fight you, no.
So here's the thing I didn'tknow that she had ever said that
(02:21):
, and then it was spoken to usmultiple times after that.
We talked about this already.
But here's the thing she sawsomething that I could never
possibly believe, right?
So you think it's crazy.
Let me tell you something wehave to understand who God the
Father is, who Jesus the Son,god the Son is, so that we can
(02:42):
truly understand who the HolySpirit is, because it is not a
what it is, a who Amen.
Who the Holy Spirit is, becauseit is not a what it is a who
Amen.
And see, that's where we getlost.
We get focused on the whatabout the Holy Spirit and not
about who he is.
Can I make it simple for you?
He is God, that is the HolyTrinity, amen.
It is super simple, that's it.
(03:03):
That's what we need tounderstand Now.
We need to grasp what does hedo in our lives and what should
we be looking forward to?
There's a lot of scripture.
We're not gonna get to all ofit today, but we're gonna get to
as much as we can.
And I wanna start in Matthew 28, 19.
You ready?
It says therefore, saytherefore, okay, I just wanted
(03:27):
to make sure you were payingattention.
Therefore, go and makedisciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Now, I prefer Holy Ghost, right?
I prefer Holy Ghost.
I don't know, there's justsomething about it.
Right?
It should spark excitement inour lives when we begin to think
(03:49):
about, talk about and deal withthe Holy Spirit, because he's
the one that comes and changesour lives.
Right, whenever you form arelationship with Jesus and you
start walking hand in hand withJesus, the Holy Spirit shows up
in your life and he starts towreck you right From the ground
up.
And it's never fun.
Amen.
(04:10):
Any of us ever been wrecked bythe Holy Spirit Laid on the
floor and cried because God hassaid you know, he has sent the
Holy Spirit to just tell me thatwhat I am doing needs to change
right, or to tell me what I'mdoing is right.
Listen, sometimes we think whenthe Holy Spirit shows up, it's
always conviction.
(04:30):
Listen, sometimes he gives uspeace and comfort and allows us
to know that the path that we'reon is the right path.
Listen, somebody said to me theother day that they didn't like
the gym project.
And listen, you guys can tellme that all you want.
But I'm going to just tell younow because I'm very honest,
right, honest with you guys.
I don't care, because the HolySpirit told me that that was the
(04:52):
direction that we were supposedto go.
My responsibility to the HolySpirit is to listen, discern and
move Amen.
So I can't sit and wait for youto get on board.
You gotta figure that out onyour own right, because when the
Holy Spirit starts to move inyour life.
What happens is you want toargue with him, you want to
rationalize with him.
(05:12):
Well, you know, the Holy Spirittold me I'm supposed to start
tithing.
God spoke into my life, I know.
I woke up and he said you knowyou're supposed to start giving
your 10%.
And I've always told the HolySpirit well, I'll give when I
get this job or I'll give when Iget.
Listen, you're not gettingbecause you aren't giving right.
You aren't getting because youaren't listening to what the
(05:34):
Holy Spirit.
It's not just money, it's notjust about your time.
Whenever you argue with him,listen, I'll stop smoking when
you do this.
Right.
Whenever you show me, I'll stopor I'll start.
You're trying to rationalizewith the one who created you.
You're trying to negotiate withyour creator.
(05:57):
Can I tell you something?
He didn't make you to bestubborn.
He didn't make you to be stupid.
He didn't make you to bestubborn.
He didn't make you to be stupid.
He made you to be reverent andto hear what he is saying to you
and move in the spirit.
When he says to move, but wedon't know how because we don't
(06:19):
know who the Holy Spirit is.
He said to go and makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
He didn't say names, he didn'tsay in the name of God, in the
name of Jesus, right, becausethey are one.
They are, in fact, god.
(06:39):
See, god created everything.
Everything was created throughJesus.
When Jesus left, he told us thathe was sending another, the
Holy Spirit.
Right, amen, that's what we'retalking about right now.
This is the Jesus that we don'tget to see, but we get to feel
(07:05):
every day.
How many of you wake up knowingthat God is present in your
life?
And oh, there is.
If you're not feeling that, weshould talk, because there is no
greater feeling.
When I get up in the morning, Isay to my wife, the very first
thing out of my mouth everymorning is I don't wanna go to
work today.
Right, it's the truth, right,hallelujah.
And then the Holy Spirit saysbut you get to, but you get to.
(07:31):
Do you understand that I haveprovided for you in a time that
you didn't think provision waspossible?
You know, I talk to people allthe time who are like well,
god's never done anything for me.
You're standing here talking tome.
He's done something for you.
He woke you up today, right.
(07:52):
He brought you to a place oflearning.
He brought you to a place ofunderstanding.
God has not forsaken you.
He has not left you.
He has not left you in need, hehas not left you in want.
He has given you everythingthat you need.
He is clothing the lilies ofthe valley, he is feeding all of
(08:13):
the birds of the skies, and yetwe can't see what God has done
for us through the gift of theHoly Spirit.
I'm gonna tell you, I don'tfully understand the Holy Spirit
.
When the Spirit moves,sometimes I get a little bit
nervous, right?
Can I tell you why, though?
(08:34):
Every experience that I've hadwith the Holy Spirit has been
one of those, and I shouldn'tsay that that's not a fair
statement.
Most experiences that I recallwith the Holy Spirit are those
ones that wreck you.
Most experiences that I recallwith the Holy Spirit are those
ones that wreck you, right?
I remember laying on the flooron this side of the sanctuary
just weeping, because the HolySpirit was just beating me up
about something in my life, andI thought you know, this isn't
(08:54):
what I want to experience, butthen, when I realized that he's
only doing that because he'sjealous of me.
He's jealous for me.
He wants the best for me in allthings that I'm able to
readjust the lens at which Ilook at the Holy Spirit.
He's not coming.
He's not punishing me bytelling me to make adjustments
in my life.
(09:14):
Amen, it's not a punishment.
It's a standard at which Ishould grow, and when I'm
willing to grow in the spirit,my flesh man has to die and it
has to lay on that floor and die.
Amen, through tears andfighting and arguing and
rationalizing.
That has to die.
(09:35):
But some of us aren't willingto let the flesh die, amen.
See, when the Holy Spirit takesa hold of us and he tells us
what we should be doing.
Listen, sometimes we hear thatstill small voice and he says
quit your job.
Right, ashley?
(09:56):
Holy Spirit tells you quit yourjob every day, doesn't he?
He really does, but theconfirmation does not come from
her husband, right?
So until the Holy Spirit moveson him to tell you to quit your
job, guess what?
Sorry, sweetheart, you got togo to work.
She says I'm quitting today.
(10:17):
Hopefully the Holy Spirit'scoming over you right now,
andrew, we're going to pray foryou before we leave here today.
I'm speaking it into existence.
Listen, there is confirmationthat comes when the Holy Spirit
moves in your life.
Right?
You don't get to say everythingthat happens.
Well, god told me.
Right.
I don't get to do everything Isay.
It can't be.
God told me right.
(10:38):
I have people that I amaccountable to, but first and
foremost I am accountable to Godin all things.
So if I stand here and tell youGod said that I'm supposed to
spend all the church money on anew church van, I'm going to
tell you something my churchcouncil ain't going to like that
too much.
And do you know why?
Because I am responsible tothis body, but I am responsible
(11:02):
to God.
And if I'm saying that becauseI want to create a
transportation ministry, becauseI want to be able to get people
to, that's not God speaking tome, that's my own selfish
desires to have more seats, fullright.
I want to be very clear.
That is never going to happenunless somebody gifts us a van.
Because I shouldn't say that.
Because now I said it and nowGod's going to be like watch
(11:22):
this.
He's tricky like that sometimeswith me.
He gets me to say it in frontof all of you and then I have to
backtrack in front.
It's bad, it's bad, but I knowthat if that's what God truly
wanted for us, he's going toprovide it in a way that does
not strip us of our needs, ofthe things that keep us
(11:44):
operational.
Amen, I can force it, I can saythis is what God said, but
without confirmation, and thatconfirmation comes a lot of ways
.
Most of the time, what happensis Pastor Holly will call me.
She says Pastor Michael, I wasthinking about something, or in
the prayer room, or on Wednesdaynight I had this thought and
it's exactly whatever it wasthat God told me.
Right, that's confirmation andthat's what I look for.
(12:06):
I don't make decisionshaphazardly.
I remember the first time thegym project was really spoken
about publicly.
It's been in my heart for along time, but I remember the
first time it was spokenpublicly.
It was Pastor Holly and PastorRoger.
Pastor Holly said I'm soexcited because I can see it
already.
It was blue walls with carpeton the walls.
(12:27):
You guys remember that, thatugly blue carpet that was on the
wall.
The walls had the bathroom.
She could already see thevision that I had seen.
That's confirmation, right,that's what we trust the Holy
Spirit to do, right, we trusthim to give us something and
make sure that it's the rightthing, amen.
Okay, think about water for justa second.
(12:54):
It can be ice, so it can be asolid, it can be a liquid, it
can even be a gas whenever itturns into steam.
All of those things are exactlythe same, right?
It's all water at the end ofthe day.
And so when we talk about, oh,I'm bleeding, I got the Holy
(13:18):
Ghost, it's all over my fingers.
Look, I don't know what it is,it's probably from biting Roger
earlier.
Yeah, he bit me back.
Is what happened?
If we picture, if we picturethat analogy of water, it helps
(13:41):
us to understand the essence ofthree in one.
Amen.
Now, I'm not trying torationalize or marginalize the
Holy Trinity in saying that, butsometimes we have a hard time
understanding or visualizingwhat it actually is.
See, the Holy Spirit isactually personal.
It's not just an it, it's notsomething that's impersonal,
(14:02):
that just floats around in space.
The Holy Spirit is inrelationship with each of you,
just as Jesus is in relationshipwith each of you, amen.
And so my experience with theHoly Spirit is different than
Pastor Holly's experience withthe Holy Spirit.
That doesn't mean I'm notfilled with the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't mean I don't have arelationship.
She is much deeper connectedthan I am to the Holy Spirit.
(14:26):
But it's her gifting and that'swhy I believe in the five-fold
ministry.
Don't freak out on me, but it'simportant to have people who
understand, when the Spiritmoves, what is actually
happening in the building.
Romans 8, 27,.
It says and the Father, whoknows all hearts, knows what the
(14:47):
Spirit is saying for.
The Spirit pleads for usbelievers, in harmony with God's
own will.
Leave that up there for just asecond.
And the Father knows.
The Father, who knows allhearts, knows what the Spirit is
saying for.
The Spirit pleads for usbelievers in harmony with God's
(15:07):
own will.
That means that whenever we arepraying and we are in need, the
Holy Spirit, just as we talkabout Jesus interceding for us,
is interceding for us.
He is pleading for us inharmony with God's own will.
Not your will, right?
(15:31):
Not your will.
See, when Jesus was in thegarden he said to the Father
should it be your will, let thiscup pass from me.
Now we understand that Jesus isGod in a physical form.
Anything that he asked thefather would provide.
(15:53):
But he didn't say father, letme come home to you, spare me
from this death, he said.
Should it be your will?
Are we praying that way?
Are we so closely connected tothe Holy Spirit that, when we go
(16:13):
to the foot of the cross, thatwe pray Lord, let your will be
done in my life today?
Lord, I don't understand what'shappening.
I'm frustrated, I'm angry.
How many of you have ever beenfrustrated or angry?
How many of you are sittinghere frustrated or angry?
Right, steph, you're alwaysfrustrated and angry.
That never changes, sweetheart.
I kid, I actually couldn't.
(16:38):
I need.
What I really need is like awet wipe or something more than
the Band-Aid.
Okay, hold on, dr Rogers in thehouse.
Oh, that Band-Aid ain't gonnastick.
Look, it's already coming off.
The Holy Spirit is a Band-Aid.
It's stopping the blood,alright.
Ephesians 4.30.
(17:03):
When my tech person gets backthere, it says and do not bring
sorrow to God's Holy Spirit bythe way you live.
I hear that.
And do not bring sorrow toGod's Holy Spirit by the way you
live.
Remember he has identified youas his own, guaranteeing that
(17:27):
you will be saved on the day ofredemption.
Do we think that the way thatwe live our lives every day is
good to God's Holy Spirit, orare we asking ourselves are we
bringing sorrow to God Becausehe's disappointed when we don't
do great things for the kingdom?
Amen, he is disappointed.
(17:49):
He's not angry at you, he won'ttrust me.
He gives me a lot of grace, heforgives me for a lot of things,
right.
But we have to understand thatit is our responsibility to
bring joy and not sorrow to theHoly Spirit by the way that we
live.
Amen.
Okay, amen, bring joy and notsorrow to the Holy Spirit by the
(18:09):
way that we live.
Amen.
Okay.
That note is a really weird note, and why I wrote it, I don't
know.
I've learned that sometimes thethoughts that are up here don't
correlate whenever they go downthere.
Sometimes I'm like you can'tgrieve electricity, what.
That has to be a typo.
You can't grieve electricity, Idon't know what If power's
(18:38):
turned off.
Yeah, I guess that's probablypretty true.
Now I wanna just we're gonnabreeze over this point, but this
is the part that we wanna talkabout.
We wanna understand theSpirit's role in the Holy
Trinity.
So this is the part that Iwanna tell you the Father is the
architect, the Son is thebuilder and the Spirit.
(18:58):
This is why I wrote it.
This is why I wrote it, but Iwrote it before this line.
The Spirit is the one whobrings the power Right Now.
I've told you before that when Ilook at the Holy Spirit, I look
at it as emotion.
I've told you before that whenI look at the Holy Spirit, I
look at it as emotion.
Right, because I think thatwhen the Holy Spirit is working
(19:19):
on us, he's eliciting physicalemotion from our flesh.
Right, because our spirit is sooverwhelmed by what the spirit
is doing that our flesh manresponds in some emotional way.
And again, it's anger, it'ssadness, it's angst, it's anger,
it's sadness, it's angst, it'sfrustration.
(19:39):
All of those feelings come whenthe Holy Spirit begins to work
in our lives.
Right, I don't know, have anyof you ever had like a genuine
experience with the Holy Spirit?
Holly, keep your hand down.
She's like it's my life.
When the Spirit moves on you,you feel that in your emotions,
right?
Yeah, and it's a little bitdifferent for everybody.
(20:02):
I remember one time I waslistening to somebody speak and
the Holy Spirit was just reallystarting to move in that place
and it felt like just there waslike a windstorm going on around
me.
Nobody else could feel what Iwas feeling.
But that experience, for me,was incredibly real and I was
able to experience it, touch itand feel it.
Right, that's what the HolySpirit is about.
(20:22):
And then the emotion starts towell up inside of us.
We become I tend this is sorry,guys, this isn't macho, but I
tend to cry when the Holy Spiritmoves on me, right, because I
don't know what he's doing.
He's like he just really startsto shake me up on the inside
and then when I'm doing that,I'm thinking Lord, whatever it
is that you're doing, I need youto do it quickly, because I
know there are people staring atme right now.
(20:44):
Right, lord, I don't want to belaying on the floor crying,
lord, I know that they're.
And he says you just need to bein my presence, right.
And so you guys noticed thatthis morning some of you may
have noticed I stepped out ofthe sound booth this morning
during worship and I wasstanding down front because
there was something that wasmoving in the atmosphere today
that I needed to be in front ofthe Holy Spirit.
(21:05):
I needed to be as close as Icould to that move.
Now, he could have met me inthe sound booth, but he said I
don't want to meet you in thesound booth, right, because back
there you're distracted Up here.
Up here you're focusing on me.
Right, and sometimes we don'twant to listen to the Spirit
when he says move, because thereare some of you that know you
(21:27):
should come to the altar on someSunday mornings, right, and you
stay in your seat.
Right, because you don't wantpeople looking at you.
You don't want people going oh,I wonder what they're up there
for, right.
Or going oh, I know why they'reup there.
Right, you don't want that inyour life because it's unnerving
, it's scary.
Men, we tend to not come to thealtar, right, because we're
(21:49):
tough and we're strong.
I'm not gonna point that out.
Dave just got tapped a littlebit there.
We're manly men, right?
I'm going to tell you somethingthere is nothing stronger than
a man on his knees at the altar.
And can I tell you that if youare on your knees at the altar
(22:11):
and you are genuinely in thepresence of the Almighty, you
aren't just there for yourself.
You're there for your family,you're there for the community
that you surround.
We are leaders and we shouldn'tbe afraid of being in
relationship with the HolySpirit.
Right?
Listen, when I'm talking to God.
I'm like Lord.
I don't know.
I don't know what you need fromme today, but I want you to
(22:33):
know that I am here to serve youand that I love you, and I am
thankful that you love me.
Men, most of you won't even sayI love you to your mama, right,
right, some men won't even sayit to their wives, to their
children.
I tell my friends I love themall the time.
Right, I hang up the phone withyou.
Love you Listen.
(22:54):
Right, I hang up the phone withyou.
Love you, listen.
Love is the greatest of allthings.
Right, and if I can do that onething, that I am doing
something right.
Right, men, we gotta stop beingso tough and stop avoiding the
Holy Spirit and we have toembrace him.
I can tell you that almost everywoman in this building can give
(23:15):
me a story of an experiencewith the Holy Spirit.
Right, you know why?
That is Because they show up,because they show up, and when
they show up, they show upexpecting.
Right, they come in ready for amove of the Spirit.
When us men show up, we think Ihope they don't talk to me.
(23:35):
Listen, sometimes I'll come anddo technology for Pastor Holly
in some of her women's meetingsand I will hunker down as low as
I can in that sound booth Don'tsee me, I'm just gonna run
sound.
And then they'll be like PastorMichael come up here and next
thing I know I'm laying on thefloor crying.
I'm just going to run sound andthen they'll be like Pastor
Michael come up here and nextthing I know I'm laying on the
(23:56):
floor crying.
I'm like I didn't come for that.
Men, am I being honest?
Right, when we need a healing,do we come forward for a healing
?
No, usually our wives aredragging us to the front, or our
wives are saying you shouldn'treally go and you're like I'm
good, my toe's green and fallingoff, I'm good, it's fine.
(24:24):
It's fine, it's the same withthe doctor.
You ain't going to the doctorunless your wife makes the
appointment.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Listen.
My doctor called for a followup appointment.
I sent the text message to mywife.
I'm like can you call andschedule this?
She said you know, you're notone of my children.
I'm like well then, I justwon't go.
Right, if my wife has to makean appointment with the
(24:47):
physician, certainly she's goingto have to encourage me to see
the great physician.
Right, because, men, we areafraid of what the Holy Spirit
will do in our lives, especiallywhen he shows up and he says
listen, stop, or listen.
Go here I am, lord, use me.
As long as it's something thatI want to do, right here I am,
(25:08):
lord, my feet have hit the floor.
I am ready to give you glory.
Use me, lord.
Oh, no, no, no, I don't want tocall them.
I haven't talked to them inyears.
I don't want to talk to them.
No, no, no, lord, I'm not goingover there.
The last time I talked to Dale,he said something I didn't like
, so I ain't going to talk toDale again.
(25:33):
Amen, men, is that us?
And when we get together, do wewant to talk about Jesus?
Men, I'm asking a question, andit's a real question when we
get together, do we want to talkabout Jesus?
It's a mixed bag.
Some of us are saying yeah andsome of us are saying no.
(25:56):
Can I tell you something?
The ones that are saying yesneed to show up to more, because
the ones that are saying no arethe ones that show up to
everything.
Amen, amen, it's true, those ofus who are afraid to talk about
because we don't want to getemotional.
Well, our men's meeting wasphenomenal.
It was phenomenal Listen itwasn't phenomenal because of the
word that was preached.
(26:17):
It wasn't phenomenal because wegot to sit and hang out with
one another.
It was phenomenal because therewas a move of the spirit at the
end of that meeting where weshared our hearts with one
another.
Amen, guys, when the HolySpirit moves, that's what we
should be doing.
We got to stop being so toughall the time, amen.
Okay, let's talk about somestuff that the Holy Spirit does.
(26:41):
He convicts us of our sin.
Yes, been there, done that anddidn't stop and had to have it
again One more, please, right,because we don't want to believe
what God is saying to us orwhat the Holy Spirit is saying
to us.
We want to argue John 16, 8.
(27:02):
There it is.
And when he comes, he willconvict the world of its sin and
of God's righteousness and ofthe coming judgment.
So when he comes and heconvicts the world of his sin
(27:24):
and of God's righteousness, heis preparing us for the coming
day of judgment, amen.
And so when we willingly walk insin, do you think that, when we
enter into heaven, that you aregoing to hear?
Well done my good and faithfulservant, or are you going to
hear depart from me, for I neverknew you?
Because, listen, you can knowwho Jesus is right, you can know
(27:47):
who God is, you can know whothe Holy Spirit is, but knowing
who they are is not the same asknowing them personally.
A lot of people in the worldknow, listen, there are people
who despise Christians who knowwho God is, who know who Jesus
is and know who the Holy Spiritis.
Because they know, do you thinkthat they will enter into the
kingdom of heaven?
(28:07):
The answer is no.
You have to have relationshipwith Jesus Christ.
You have to be in step with theHoly Spirit.
Amen, all right, are you ready?
Titus 3.5.
It says he saved us, notbecause of the righteous things
we had done, but because of hismercy.
(28:29):
He washed away our sins, givingus a new birth and a new life
through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has given usnew life.
Amen, what a day, what a day.
(28:50):
I am excited about the changethat God made in my life Because
, listen, those of you who wouldhave known me before would have
looked at me and said there isno way that guy should be a
pastor.
As a matter of fact, some of youhave heard that from the
community he's your pastor.
What?
How did that happen?
I'm going to tell you how thathappened.
I'll give you the full storyright now.
(29:11):
It's a quick one Grace andmercy, that's it.
I wasn't qualified, I wasn'tqualified.
He doesn't call the qualifiedright.
He doesn't call the qualified,he qualifies the called.
And when it was time for me tobe here, he said it's time for
you to be there.
All, at that point, all it waswas obedience.
(29:32):
All it was was obedience.
Lord, here I am, use me.
Here I am, lord, use me.
And I served on worship for along time and I thought, lord,
if this is where you want me,I'll live here as long as you
want that.
And then one day he said, no,I'm going to have you preach.
And I said no, no, no, no, no,not interested in that.
(29:55):
And he said but I'm gonna.
And I said yeah, but I'm notgonna.
He said but I'm going to, and Isaid, yeah, but I'm not
Catching that pattern, kind oflike the Israelites.
You get it right for a minute,god shakes it up and then you're
like, ah.
(30:16):
For a minute God shakes it upand then you're like ah, I'm
going to mess this all up.
His grace and mercy hassustained me through all things.
He did not qualify, I was notqualified for the calling, I was
not called.
You get what I'm saying.
I'm not going to get it rightat this point.
He empowers us to witness, acts1.8.
(30:37):
He says but you will receivethe power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you and you will bemy witnesses telling people
about me everywhere, inJerusalem, throughout Judea and
Samaria and to the ends of theearth.
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit comes upon you.
(31:03):
The same power that rose Jesusfrom the grave lives in us.
Amen, that is resurrectionpower.
That means we are calling deadthings to life.
Amen, that is resurrectionpower.
That means we are calling deadthings to life.
Amen, we are calling dry bonesto live.
Amen.
Now, I don't know about you.
(31:24):
I've never seen an actual deadbody be resurrected Never seen
it.
But I have seen a lot of deadspirits come back to life.
Amen.
I have seen a lot of deadspirits come back to life.
I have watched God work in waysI could have never imagined.
Listen, I tell you guys aboutmy family a lot, and my dad's
(31:45):
not here today, my wife's not inhere, so I can talk about my
family all I want.
Amen.
Oh, oops, I didn't see him.
Didn't see him, whoops.
All right, maybe I should toneit down.
Nah, my sister said to me Iwill never set foot in a church
again.
My brother has never.
I don't know that my brother'sever been in a church before,
right, and that scares mebecause that means that my
(32:06):
family may not enter into thekingdom of God, they might not
enter into glory.
Right?
My brother reached out to me theother day.
He sent me a Facebook messageand he was talking about this is
this is dating me.
The green Power Ranger from thenineties you guys remember that
stuff?
Oh yeah, he's a pastor now.
Tommy, he's a pastor now.
(32:30):
Why would my brother care toshare that with me?
Something at some point in hislife?
Those seeds that I have plantedhave taken root.
They aren't deep yet.
He hasn't shown up to churchyet, but something's changing.
Amen, that's our responsibility.
(32:53):
It's our responsibility topreach.
We get that ability, that power, that strength through the Holy
Spirit, through ourrelationship with the Holy
Spirit.
The Spirit isn't just someonewe read about, it's not just
about theology.
It's someone that we walk withevery single day.
(33:14):
Amen.
We talk about our relationshipwith Jesus.
We get that relationship withJesus through the presence of
the Holy Spirit Every single day.
The Holy Spirit is moving allaround us.
We have to be willing to take ahold of that move and say I'm
going to use this move for goodand not for bad.
I'm going to tell you and sayI'm going to use this move for
(33:34):
good and not for bad.
I'm going to tell you I have alady that works at the bank and
she's in an office that I'm inand she came in the other day
and she was laughing and shetalks real loud, and so you
can't help but hear the story.
She's telling me that shewalked into Mako's the other day
and she bought a bunch ofgroceries.
She rang them up in theself-checkout grocery.
She rang them up in theself-checkout and her daughter
called.
She picks up the phone, shedoes her thing and out of the
(33:59):
store she goes, and the ladyfrom Makos, they bank there and
they came in and they said hey,we got a little problem.
You came in and you scanned allyour groceries and you walked
out without paying for themBecause her daughter called and
whatever she needed wassemi-emergent.
So she's talking on the phoneand just grabs her stuff and
walks out.
Well, I mean, obviously shemade it right, she wrote a check
, everything was fine.
(34:19):
But that's us every day, right?
See, we go to do one thing withthe Holy Spirit.
We go into prayer, we go intothe Word.
Whatever it is that God hascalled us in that moment, we go
to it, and then, all of a sudden, we're distracted by something
that the world has called us toright.
Chances are it doesn't meananything.
(34:40):
Chances are the world is tryingto stop you from being in
relationship with Jesus.
Listen, adhd is a real thing.
I'll start washing, loading thedishwasher.
Next thing I know I'm doing aload of laundry.
I'll start washing, loading thedishwasher.
Next thing I know I'm doing aload of laundry.
So somehow I'm like pressure,washing the house.
10 minutes later I don't knowhow it happens, but it's the
(35:01):
same thing whenever I wanna gointo prayer, right, I sit down
and I say you know, lord, Iwanna just spend this moment
with you.
I wanna give you everythingI've got, father, I want you to
see my heart, I want you to hearme, I want you to know that I
am here to be in relationshipwith you.
And the next thing I know myphone rings.
(35:23):
Next thing, I know one of thekids wanting something.
Right, that's not true.
They always go to mom firstunless she's not there.
But I know that I have to carveout that time for that
relationship.
See, the Holy Spirit is alwayswith me and I can always be in
relationship with the HolySpirit.
The problem is, it's a choice,right?
(35:46):
We have to choose to be inrelationship with the Holy
Spirit.
Galatians 5.16,.
It says so I say let the HolySpirit guide your lives, then
you won't be doing what yoursinful nature craves.
(36:09):
So I say let the Holy Spiritguide your life.
What does that mean?
That means stop makingboneheaded decisions without
going to the Father first,without saying to the Holy
Spirit I am here so that yourwill will be done, not that my
will will be done.
Amen.
Have you guys ever?
(36:30):
I've probably made threeboneheaded mistakes today?
Right, yeah, yeah, that was aboneheaded mistake from
yesterday that I'm paying fortoday and that's yeah.
Roger knows exactly why he'slike yep, god got you.
(36:53):
All I know is that we makechoices every day to put
ourselves in relationship withthe Holy Spirit or to remove
ourselves from the Holy Spirit?
Amen.
And the question is is how do welive our lives more in tune
with the Holy Spirit and betterrelationship with Christ, so
that, when we're praying to theFather, that those prayers are
(37:14):
on a solid foundation?
Amen, I'm not saying so.
Those prayers are answeredbecause you can't pray what you
want.
You have to pray that God'sperfect will be done in your
life.
Amen.
Lord, whatever it is, I wantyou to lead me, guide me, direct
me.
Lord, let your perfect will bedone.
There's a lot of things thathappen in my life that are not
my perfect will.
It is not my desire, but it ishis design, amen.
(37:37):
So who is the Holy Spirit?
He is God, he is personal.
He is the one who applies thework of the salvation in our
lives, amen.
So when he starts to apply thatwork of salvation, that's when
you start to see the good works,that's when you start to see
kind people.
When do we start seeing that Goout into the world?
When do you see kind people?
(37:58):
We are all so far from thatthat it is hard for us to
believe that that is what'ssupposed to be happening.
He convicts, he renews, heempowers and he guides.
This is not just a doctrine tostudy, it is a person to know.
Amen, Second Corinthians 13, 14.
It said if the good news, oh,she's got the wrong one.
(38:27):
2 Corinthians 13, 14.
Yeah, may the grace of the LordJesus Christ, the love of God
and the fellowship of the LordJesus Christ, the love of God
and the fellowship of the HolySpirit be with you all.
Amen.
(38:47):
May the grace of the Lord JesusChrist, the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spiritbe with you all.
That should be our prayer forthe world every single day.
That should be our prayer forourselves every single day, that
every day when we wake up, thatthe grace of the Lord Jesus
(39:09):
Christ surrounds us, that wehave a love for God and that the
fellowship of the Holy Spiritis with us in all things.
Amen.
Church, my challenge to you forthis week is to do a little
digging.
I want you to grab your Biblesthis week.
I want you to open them up andI want you to explore who, in
fact, the Holy Spirit really isin your life.
(39:30):
I want you to be inrelationship with him and I want
you to have a meaningfulconversation with God.
What is it, lord, that you arecalling me to do?
I'm not asking you to volunteerin the church this message
isn't about that but for so longwe have come to just sit.
(39:51):
We've come to just observe andto just hear, and not to walk
out what God has called us to do.
Can I tell you that that $2,800check that was written last
week was not written by aregular member of this church,
it was a gift from a visitor.
Because they believe in whatGod is doing in this place.
(40:14):
Right, that is exciting,because that means that
something good is happening.
The problem is this those of uswho are here week in and week
out, we don't see the same thing, because we have become so
complacent to that move of thespirit.
Right, we have become socomplacent that when, when wake
(40:36):
up oh sleeper.
Right, we shout it at oneanother all the time because we
know that, as a body that getscomfortable, it's easy to fall
asleep.
Listen, you guys wanted thesenew chairs.
We got you these fancy newchairs.
Apparently, they're toocomfortable because I can't get
you out of them.
Right, I can't get you up on aSunday morning to serve.
The thing is, we can't continueto exist if we don't continue to
(41:01):
grow.
It's not about numbers, it'sabout spiritual growth.
It's about being able to movein something new that the Holy
Spirit is doing in this place.
So I want you this week, tospend time with the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I want you to just ask him,lord, what is it that you would
call me to do?
I want you to just ask him,lord, what is it that you would
call me to do, lord?
How do you want me to serve youbetter?
(41:23):
Amen, cool, or don't.
Whichever, that's fine.
Anyhow, I guess, since theanointing is beginning to lift
and you guys are thinking aboutyour subway lunch, I should
probably start to pray.
But I think, before I do that,what I'd like to do, pastor
(41:45):
Holly, are you willing to dosome ministry time with us this
morning?
So what I'm gonna do is I'mgoing to dismiss.
I'm gonna do a prayer ofdismissal, tech team, if you can
prep some ministry music.
What we're gonna do is if youdon't wanna stay for ministry
time, that's fine, but I'm gonnaask that you leave quickly.
That way we can continue to bereverent here in the sanctuary.
(42:08):
So if you just bow your headswith me.
Heavenly Father, I thank you forour time in this place together
.
Father, I thank you for thereverence of this congregation
and, lord, I pray that this bodywould continue to move into new
places this week.
Father, that they would setaside childish things and that
they would pick up the things oftheir lives, that they know
that you have called them to,father.
(42:29):
Lord, that they would bewilling to step out in faith
because of their steadyrelationship with the Holy
Spirit.
Lord, I thank you and I praiseyou.
I give you honor and glory thisday.
Lord, I thank you and I praiseyou.
I give you honor and glory thisday.
Lord, bless these people asthey move from this place, lift
them up and guide theirfootsteps.
We give you praise, honor andglory in the mighty name of
(42:50):
Jesus, amen.
Amen, amen, whoo whoo .
Tell you what.
There's something about a fullhouse that changes that music
ministry experience, doesn't it?
Amen, amen, amen.
We'll let the kids get situated.
Gets a little crazy as they tryto leave.
Everybody gets excited.
So we're in week three of ourmessage about the Holy Trinity
(00:33):
and so today we're talking aboutthe Holy Spirit.
So I opened with I've got theHoly Ghost, because why not?
Right Felt appropriate.
Did you guys like that?
I like that song, it's fun,right Felt appropriate.
Did you guys like that?
I like that song, it's fun,right.
There are a lot of people whodon't quite understand what the
Holy Spirit is and oftentimesthat's the question that I get
(00:55):
asked is what is the Holy Spirit?
And I think it's really easy toexplain to people.
But we have to be honest.
We're really comfortable abouttalking about God, right, god,
the Father.
We know who God is right.
We're really comfortabletalking about Jesus because we
know who Jesus is right For themost part.
But when we start talking aboutthe Holy Spirit, it's something
(01:18):
that isn't tangible and it's alittle bit like because you get
some people who reallyunderstand the Holy Spirit and
they scare us, right?
You notice I'm not looking atPastor Holly right now, because
if you're going to talk aboutsomebody who's in tune with the
Holy Spirit this lady is in tunewith, she walks the walk, she
(01:39):
talks the talk right, and she'llcome to me and she'll say
Pastor Michael, I had this dreamand I'm like I don't know how
you live in that head.
I say that to you regularly,don't I?
Because she sees and she hearsand she knows, and she says the
Holy Spirit is telling me, andsometimes, when you hear it, you
think this lady's off herrocker.
I want to tell you guyssomething she said.
(02:00):
She told me this much later inour friendship, when she, her
and Dave first started cominghere.
She told Dave that Alyssa and Iwere going to have another baby
.
I will fight you, no.
So here's the thing I didn'tknow that she had ever said that
(02:21):
, and then it was spoken to usmultiple times after that.
We talked about this already.
But here's the thing she sawsomething that I could never
possibly believe, right?
So you think it's crazy.
Let me tell you something wehave to understand who God the
Father is, who Jesus the Son,god the Son is, so that we can
(02:42):
truly understand who the HolySpirit is, because it is not a
what it is, a who Amen.
Who the Holy Spirit is, becauseit is not a what it is a who
Amen.
And see, that's where we getlost.
We get focused on the whatabout the Holy Spirit and not
about who he is.
Can I make it simple for you?
He is God, that is the HolyTrinity, amen.
It is super simple, that's it.
(03:03):
That's what we need tounderstand Now.
We need to grasp what does hedo in our lives and what should
we be looking forward to?
There's a lot of scripture.
We're not gonna get to all ofit today, but we're gonna get to
as much as we can.
And I wanna start in Matthew 28, 19.
You ready?
It says therefore, saytherefore, okay, I just wanted
(03:27):
to make sure you were payingattention.
Therefore, go and makedisciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Now, I prefer Holy Ghost, right?
I prefer Holy Ghost.
I don't know, there's justsomething about it.
Right?
It should spark excitement inour lives when we begin to think
(03:49):
about, talk about and deal withthe Holy Spirit, because he's
the one that comes and changesour lives.
Right, whenever you form arelationship with Jesus and you
start walking hand in hand withJesus, the Holy Spirit shows up
in your life and he starts towreck you right From the ground
up.
And it's never fun.
Amen.
(04:10):
Any of us ever been wrecked bythe Holy Spirit Laid on the
floor and cried because God hassaid you know, he has sent the
Holy Spirit to just tell me thatwhat I am doing needs to change
right, or to tell me what I'mdoing is right.
Listen, sometimes we think whenthe Holy Spirit shows up, it's
always conviction.
(04:30):
Listen, sometimes he gives uspeace and comfort and allows us
to know that the path that we'reon is the right path.
Listen, somebody said to me theother day that they didn't like
the gym project.
And listen, you guys can tellme that all you want.
But I'm going to just tell younow because I'm very honest,
right, honest with you guys.
I don't care, because the HolySpirit told me that that was the
(04:52):
direction that we were supposedto go.
My responsibility to the HolySpirit is to listen, discern and
move Amen.
So I can't sit and wait for youto get on board.
You gotta figure that out onyour own right, because when the
Holy Spirit starts to move inyour life.
What happens is you want toargue with him, you want to
rationalize with him.
(05:12):
Well, you know, the Holy Spirittold me I'm supposed to start
tithing.
God spoke into my life, I know.
I woke up and he said you knowyou're supposed to start giving
your 10%.
And I've always told the HolySpirit well, I'll give when I
get this job or I'll give when Iget.
Listen, you're not gettingbecause you aren't giving right.
You aren't getting because youaren't listening to what the
(05:34):
Holy Spirit.
It's not just money, it's notjust about your time.
Whenever you argue with him,listen, I'll stop smoking when
you do this.
Right.
Whenever you show me, I'll stopor I'll start.
You're trying to rationalizewith the one who created you.
You're trying to negotiate withyour creator.
(05:57):
Can I tell you something?
He didn't make you to bestubborn.
He didn't make you to be stupid.
He didn't make you to bestubborn.
He didn't make you to be stupid.
He made you to be reverent andto hear what he is saying to you
and move in the spirit.
When he says to move, but wedon't know how because we don't
(06:19):
know who the Holy Spirit is.
He said to go and makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
He didn't say names, he didn'tsay in the name of God, in the
name of Jesus, right, becausethey are one.
They are, in fact, god.
(06:39):
See, god created everything.
Everything was created throughJesus.
When Jesus left, he told us thathe was sending another, the
Holy Spirit.
Right, amen, that's what we'retalking about right now.
This is the Jesus that we don'tget to see, but we get to feel
(07:05):
every day.
How many of you wake up knowingthat God is present in your
life?
And oh, there is.
If you're not feeling that, weshould talk, because there is no
greater feeling.
When I get up in the morning, Isay to my wife, the very first
thing out of my mouth everymorning is I don't wanna go to
work today.
Right, it's the truth, right,hallelujah.
And then the Holy Spirit saysbut you get to, but you get to.
(07:31):
Do you understand that I haveprovided for you in a time that
you didn't think provision waspossible?
You know, I talk to people allthe time who are like well,
god's never done anything for me.
You're standing here talking tome.
He's done something for you.
He woke you up today, right.
(07:52):
He brought you to a place oflearning.
He brought you to a place ofunderstanding.
God has not forsaken you.
He has not left you.
He has not left you in need, hehas not left you in want.
He has given you everythingthat you need.
He is clothing the lilies ofthe valley, he is feeding all of
(08:13):
the birds of the skies, and yetwe can't see what God has done
for us through the gift of theHoly Spirit.
I'm gonna tell you, I don'tfully understand the Holy Spirit
.
When the Spirit moves,sometimes I get a little bit
nervous, right?
Can I tell you why, though?
(08:34):
Every experience that I've hadwith the Holy Spirit has been
one of those, and I shouldn'tsay that that's not a fair
statement.
Most experiences that I recallwith the Holy Spirit are those
ones that wreck you.
Most experiences that I recallwith the Holy Spirit are those
ones that wreck you, right?
I remember laying on the flooron this side of the sanctuary
just weeping, because the HolySpirit was just beating me up
about something in my life, andI thought you know, this isn't
(08:54):
what I want to experience, butthen, when I realized that he's
only doing that because he'sjealous of me.
He's jealous for me.
He wants the best for me in allthings that I'm able to
readjust the lens at which Ilook at the Holy Spirit.
He's not coming.
He's not punishing me bytelling me to make adjustments
in my life.
(09:14):
Amen, it's not a punishment.
It's a standard at which Ishould grow, and when I'm
willing to grow in the spirit,my flesh man has to die and it
has to lay on that floor and die.
Amen, through tears andfighting and arguing and
rationalizing.
That has to die.
(09:35):
But some of us aren't willingto let the flesh die, amen.
See, when the Holy Spirit takesa hold of us and he tells us
what we should be doing.
Listen, sometimes we hear thatstill small voice and he says
quit your job.
Right, ashley?
(09:56):
Holy Spirit tells you quit yourjob every day, doesn't he?
He really does, but theconfirmation does not come from
her husband, right?
So until the Holy Spirit moveson him to tell you to quit your
job, guess what?
Sorry, sweetheart, you got togo to work.
She says I'm quitting today.
(10:17):
Hopefully the Holy Spirit'scoming over you right now,
andrew, we're going to pray foryou before we leave here today.
I'm speaking it into existence.
Listen, there is confirmationthat comes when the Holy Spirit
moves in your life.
Right?
You don't get to say everythingthat happens.
Well, god told me.
Right.
I don't get to do everything Isay.
It can't be.
God told me right.
(10:38):
I have people that I amaccountable to, but first and
foremost I am accountable to Godin all things.
So if I stand here and tell youGod said that I'm supposed to
spend all the church money on anew church van, I'm going to
tell you something my churchcouncil ain't going to like that
too much.
And do you know why?
Because I am responsible tothis body, but I am responsible
(11:02):
to God.
And if I'm saying that becauseI want to create a
transportation ministry, becauseI want to be able to get people
to, that's not God speaking tome, that's my own selfish
desires to have more seats, fullright.
I want to be very clear.
That is never going to happenunless somebody gifts us a van.
Because I shouldn't say that.
Because now I said it and nowGod's going to be like watch
(11:22):
this.
He's tricky like that sometimeswith me.
He gets me to say it in frontof all of you and then I have to
backtrack in front.
It's bad, it's bad, but I knowthat if that's what God truly
wanted for us, he's going toprovide it in a way that does
not strip us of our needs, ofthe things that keep us
(11:44):
operational.
Amen, I can force it, I can saythis is what God said, but
without confirmation, and thatconfirmation comes a lot of ways
.
Most of the time, what happensis Pastor Holly will call me.
She says Pastor Michael, I wasthinking about something, or in
the prayer room, or on Wednesdaynight I had this thought and
it's exactly whatever it wasthat God told me.
Right, that's confirmation andthat's what I look for.
(12:06):
I don't make decisionshaphazardly.
I remember the first time thegym project was really spoken
about publicly.
It's been in my heart for along time, but I remember the
first time it was spokenpublicly.
It was Pastor Holly and PastorRoger.
Pastor Holly said I'm soexcited because I can see it
already.
It was blue walls with carpeton the walls.
(12:27):
You guys remember that, thatugly blue carpet that was on the
wall.
The walls had the bathroom.
She could already see thevision that I had seen.
That's confirmation, right,that's what we trust the Holy
Spirit to do, right, we trusthim to give us something and
make sure that it's the rightthing, amen.
Okay, think about water for justa second.
(12:54):
It can be ice, so it can be asolid, it can be a liquid, it
can even be a gas whenever itturns into steam.
All of those things are exactlythe same, right?
It's all water at the end ofthe day.
And so when we talk about, oh,I'm bleeding, I got the Holy
(13:18):
Ghost, it's all over my fingers.
Look, I don't know what it is,it's probably from biting Roger
earlier.
Yeah, he bit me back.
Is what happened?
If we picture, if we picturethat analogy of water, it helps
(13:41):
us to understand the essence ofthree in one.
Amen.
Now, I'm not trying torationalize or marginalize the
Holy Trinity in saying that, butsometimes we have a hard time
understanding or visualizingwhat it actually is.
See, the Holy Spirit isactually personal.
It's not just an it, it's notsomething that's impersonal,
(14:02):
that just floats around in space.
The Holy Spirit is inrelationship with each of you,
just as Jesus is in relationshipwith each of you, amen.
And so my experience with theHoly Spirit is different than
Pastor Holly's experience withthe Holy Spirit.
That doesn't mean I'm notfilled with the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't mean I don't have arelationship.
She is much deeper connectedthan I am to the Holy Spirit.
(14:26):
But it's her gifting and that'swhy I believe in the five-fold
ministry.
Don't freak out on me, but it'simportant to have people who
understand, when the Spiritmoves, what is actually
happening in the building.
Romans 8, 27,.
It says and the Father, whoknows all hearts, knows what the
(14:47):
Spirit is saying for.
The Spirit pleads for usbelievers, in harmony with God's
own will.
Leave that up there for just asecond.
And the Father knows.
The Father, who knows allhearts, knows what the Spirit is
saying for.
The Spirit pleads for usbelievers in harmony with God's
(15:07):
own will.
That means that whenever we arepraying and we are in need, the
Holy Spirit, just as we talkabout Jesus interceding for us,
is interceding for us.
He is pleading for us inharmony with God's own will.
Not your will, right?
(15:31):
Not your will.
See, when Jesus was in thegarden he said to the Father
should it be your will, let thiscup pass from me.
Now we understand that Jesus isGod in a physical form.
Anything that he asked thefather would provide.
(15:53):
But he didn't say father, letme come home to you, spare me
from this death, he said.
Should it be your will?
Are we praying that way?
Are we so closely connected tothe Holy Spirit that, when we go
(16:13):
to the foot of the cross, thatwe pray Lord, let your will be
done in my life today?
Lord, I don't understand what'shappening.
I'm frustrated, I'm angry.
How many of you have ever beenfrustrated or angry?
How many of you are sittinghere frustrated or angry?
Right, steph, you're alwaysfrustrated and angry.
That never changes, sweetheart.
I kid, I actually couldn't.
(16:38):
I need.
What I really need is like awet wipe or something more than
the Band-Aid.
Okay, hold on, dr Rogers in thehouse.
Oh, that Band-Aid ain't gonnastick.
Look, it's already coming off.
The Holy Spirit is a Band-Aid.
It's stopping the blood,alright.
Ephesians 4.30.
(17:03):
When my tech person gets backthere, it says and do not bring
sorrow to God's Holy Spirit bythe way you live.
I hear that.
And do not bring sorrow toGod's Holy Spirit by the way you
live.
Remember he has identified youas his own, guaranteeing that
(17:27):
you will be saved on the day ofredemption.
Do we think that the way thatwe live our lives every day is
good to God's Holy Spirit, orare we asking ourselves are we
bringing sorrow to God Becausehe's disappointed when we don't
do great things for the kingdom?
Amen, he is disappointed.
(17:49):
He's not angry at you, he won'ttrust me.
He gives me a lot of grace, heforgives me for a lot of things,
right.
But we have to understand thatit is our responsibility to
bring joy and not sorrow to theHoly Spirit by the way that we
live.
Amen.
Okay, amen, bring joy and notsorrow to the Holy Spirit by the
(18:09):
way that we live.
Amen.
Okay.
That note is a really weird note, and why I wrote it, I don't
know.
I've learned that sometimes thethoughts that are up here don't
correlate whenever they go downthere.
Sometimes I'm like you can'tgrieve electricity, what.
That has to be a typo.
You can't grieve electricity, Idon't know what If power's
(18:38):
turned off.
Yeah, I guess that's probablypretty true.
Now I wanna just we're gonnabreeze over this point, but this
is the part that we wanna talkabout.
We wanna understand theSpirit's role in the Holy
Trinity.
So this is the part that Iwanna tell you the Father is the
architect, the Son is thebuilder and the Spirit.
(18:58):
This is why I wrote it.
This is why I wrote it, but Iwrote it before this line.
The Spirit is the one whobrings the power Right Now.
I've told you before that when Ilook at the Holy Spirit, I look
at it as emotion.
I've told you before that whenI look at the Holy Spirit, I
look at it as emotion.
Right, because I think thatwhen the Holy Spirit is working
(19:19):
on us, he's eliciting physicalemotion from our flesh.
Right, because our spirit is sooverwhelmed by what the spirit
is doing that our flesh manresponds in some emotional way.
And again, it's anger, it'ssadness, it's angst, it's anger,
it's sadness, it's angst, it'sfrustration.
(19:39):
All of those feelings come whenthe Holy Spirit begins to work
in our lives.
Right, I don't know, have anyof you ever had like a genuine
experience with the Holy Spirit?
Holly, keep your hand down.
She's like it's my life.
When the Spirit moves on you,you feel that in your emotions,
right?
Yeah, and it's a little bitdifferent for everybody.
(20:02):
I remember one time I waslistening to somebody speak and
the Holy Spirit was just reallystarting to move in that place
and it felt like just there waslike a windstorm going on around
me.
Nobody else could feel what Iwas feeling.
But that experience, for me,was incredibly real and I was
able to experience it, touch itand feel it.
Right, that's what the HolySpirit is about.
(20:22):
And then the emotion starts towell up inside of us.
We become I tend this is sorry,guys, this isn't macho, but I
tend to cry when the Holy Spiritmoves on me, right, because I
don't know what he's doing.
He's like he just really startsto shake me up on the inside
and then when I'm doing that,I'm thinking Lord, whatever it
is that you're doing, I need youto do it quickly, because I
know there are people staring atme right now.
(20:44):
Right, lord, I don't want to belaying on the floor crying,
lord, I know that they're.
And he says you just need to bein my presence, right.
And so you guys noticed thatthis morning some of you may
have noticed I stepped out ofthe sound booth this morning
during worship and I wasstanding down front because
there was something that wasmoving in the atmosphere today
that I needed to be in front ofthe Holy Spirit.
(21:05):
I needed to be as close as Icould to that move.
Now, he could have met me inthe sound booth, but he said I
don't want to meet you in thesound booth, right, because back
there you're distracted Up here.
Up here you're focusing on me.
Right, and sometimes we don'twant to listen to the Spirit
when he says move, because thereare some of you that know you
(21:27):
should come to the altar on someSunday mornings, right, and you
stay in your seat.
Right, because you don't wantpeople looking at you.
You don't want people going oh,I wonder what they're up there
for, right.
Or going oh, I know why they'reup there.
Right, you don't want that inyour life because it's unnerving
, it's scary.
Men, we tend to not come to thealtar, right, because we're
(21:49):
tough and we're strong.
I'm not gonna point that out.
Dave just got tapped a littlebit there.
We're manly men, right?
I'm going to tell you somethingthere is nothing stronger than
a man on his knees at the altar.
And can I tell you that if youare on your knees at the altar
(22:11):
and you are genuinely in thepresence of the Almighty, you
aren't just there for yourself.
You're there for your family,you're there for the community
that you surround.
We are leaders and we shouldn'tbe afraid of being in
relationship with the HolySpirit.
Right?
Listen, when I'm talking to God.
I'm like Lord.
I don't know.
I don't know what you need fromme today, but I want you to
(22:33):
know that I am here to serve youand that I love you, and I am
thankful that you love me.
Men, most of you won't even sayI love you to your mama, right,
right, some men won't even sayit to their wives, to their
children.
I tell my friends I love themall the time.
Right, I hang up the phone withyou.
Love you Listen.
(22:54):
Right, I hang up the phone withyou.
Love you, listen.
Love is the greatest of allthings.
Right, and if I can do that onething, that I am doing
something right.
Right, men, we gotta stop beingso tough and stop avoiding the
Holy Spirit and we have toembrace him.
I can tell you that almost everywoman in this building can give
(23:15):
me a story of an experiencewith the Holy Spirit.
Right, you know why?
That is Because they show up,because they show up, and when
they show up, they show upexpecting.
Right, they come in ready for amove of the Spirit.
When us men show up, we think Ihope they don't talk to me.
(23:35):
Listen, sometimes I'll come anddo technology for Pastor Holly
in some of her women's meetingsand I will hunker down as low as
I can in that sound booth Don'tsee me, I'm just gonna run
sound.
And then they'll be like PastorMichael come up here and next
thing I know I'm laying on thefloor crying.
I'm just going to run sound andthen they'll be like Pastor
Michael come up here and nextthing I know I'm laying on the
(23:56):
floor crying.
I'm like I didn't come for that.
Men, am I being honest?
Right, when we need a healing,do we come forward for a healing
?
No, usually our wives aredragging us to the front, or our
wives are saying you shouldn'treally go and you're like I'm
good, my toe's green and fallingoff, I'm good, it's fine.
(24:24):
It's fine, it's the same withthe doctor.
You ain't going to the doctorunless your wife makes the
appointment.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Listen.
My doctor called for a followup appointment.
I sent the text message to mywife.
I'm like can you call andschedule this?
She said you know, you're notone of my children.
I'm like well then, I justwon't go.
Right, if my wife has to makean appointment with the
(24:47):
physician, certainly she's goingto have to encourage me to see
the great physician.
Right, because, men, we areafraid of what the Holy Spirit
will do in our lives, especiallywhen he shows up and he says
listen, stop, or listen.
Go here I am, lord, use me.
As long as it's something thatI want to do, right here I am,
(25:08):
lord, my feet have hit the floor.
I am ready to give you glory.
Use me, lord.
Oh, no, no, no, I don't want tocall them.
I haven't talked to them inyears.
I don't want to talk to them.
No, no, no, lord, I'm not goingover there.
The last time I talked to Dale,he said something I didn't like
, so I ain't going to talk toDale again.
(25:33):
Amen, men, is that us?
And when we get together, do wewant to talk about Jesus?
Men, I'm asking a question, andit's a real question when we
get together, do we want to talkabout Jesus?
It's a mixed bag.
Some of us are saying yeah andsome of us are saying no.
(25:56):
Can I tell you something?
The ones that are saying yesneed to show up to more, because
the ones that are saying no arethe ones that show up to
everything.
Amen, amen, it's true, those ofus who are afraid to talk about
because we don't want to getemotional.
Well, our men's meeting wasphenomenal.
It was phenomenal Listen itwasn't phenomenal because of the
word that was preached.
(26:17):
It wasn't phenomenal because wegot to sit and hang out with
one another.
It was phenomenal because therewas a move of the spirit at the
end of that meeting where weshared our hearts with one
another.
Amen, guys, when the HolySpirit moves, that's what we
should be doing.
We got to stop being so toughall the time, amen.
Okay, let's talk about somestuff that the Holy Spirit does.
(26:41):
He convicts us of our sin.
Yes, been there, done that anddidn't stop and had to have it
again One more, please, right,because we don't want to believe
what God is saying to us orwhat the Holy Spirit is saying
to us.
We want to argue John 16, 8.
(27:02):
There it is.
And when he comes, he willconvict the world of its sin and
of God's righteousness and ofthe coming judgment.
So when he comes and heconvicts the world of his sin
(27:24):
and of God's righteousness, heis preparing us for the coming
day of judgment, amen.
And so when we willingly walk insin, do you think that, when we
enter into heaven, that you aregoing to hear?
Well done my good and faithfulservant, or are you going to
hear depart from me, for I neverknew you?
Because, listen, you can knowwho Jesus is right, you can know
(27:47):
who God is, you can know whothe Holy Spirit is, but knowing
who they are is not the same asknowing them personally.
A lot of people in the worldknow, listen, there are people
who despise Christians who knowwho God is, who know who Jesus
is and know who the Holy Spiritis.
Because they know, do you thinkthat they will enter into the
kingdom of heaven?
(28:07):
The answer is no.
You have to have relationshipwith Jesus Christ.
You have to be in step with theHoly Spirit.
Amen, all right, are you ready?
Titus 3.5.
It says he saved us, notbecause of the righteous things
we had done, but because of hismercy.
(28:29):
He washed away our sins, givingus a new birth and a new life
through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has given usnew life.
Amen, what a day, what a day.
(28:50):
I am excited about the changethat God made in my life Because
, listen, those of you who wouldhave known me before would have
looked at me and said there isno way that guy should be a
pastor.
As a matter of fact, some of youhave heard that from the
community he's your pastor.
What?
How did that happen?
I'm going to tell you how thathappened.
I'll give you the full storyright now.
(29:11):
It's a quick one Grace andmercy, that's it.
I wasn't qualified, I wasn'tqualified.
He doesn't call the qualifiedright.
He doesn't call the qualified,he qualifies the called.
And when it was time for me tobe here, he said it's time for
you to be there.
All, at that point, all it waswas obedience.
(29:32):
All it was was obedience.
Lord, here I am, use me.
Here I am, lord, use me.
And I served on worship for along time and I thought, lord,
if this is where you want me,I'll live here as long as you
want that.
And then one day he said, no,I'm going to have you preach.
And I said no, no, no, no, no,not interested in that.
(29:55):
And he said but I'm gonna.
And I said yeah, but I'm notgonna.
He said but I'm going to, and Isaid, yeah, but I'm not
Catching that pattern, kind oflike the Israelites.
You get it right for a minute,god shakes it up and then you're
like, ah.
(30:16):
For a minute God shakes it upand then you're like ah, I'm
going to mess this all up.
His grace and mercy hassustained me through all things.
He did not qualify, I was notqualified for the calling, I was
not called.
You get what I'm saying.
I'm not going to get it rightat this point.
He empowers us to witness, acts1.8.
(30:37):
He says but you will receivethe power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you and you will bemy witnesses telling people
about me everywhere, inJerusalem, throughout Judea and
Samaria and to the ends of theearth.
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit comes upon you.
(31:03):
The same power that rose Jesusfrom the grave lives in us.
Amen, that is resurrectionpower.
That means we are calling deadthings to life.
Amen, that is resurrectionpower.
That means we are calling deadthings to life.
Amen, we are calling dry bonesto live.
Amen.
Now, I don't know about you.
(31:24):
I've never seen an actual deadbody be resurrected Never seen
it.
But I have seen a lot of deadspirits come back to life.
Amen.
I have seen a lot of deadspirits come back to life.
I have watched God work in waysI could have never imagined.
Listen, I tell you guys aboutmy family a lot, and my dad's
(31:45):
not here today, my wife's not inhere, so I can talk about my
family all I want.
Amen.
Oh, oops, I didn't see him.
Didn't see him, whoops.
All right, maybe I should toneit down.
Nah, my sister said to me Iwill never set foot in a church
again.
My brother has never.
I don't know that my brother'sever been in a church before,
right, and that scares mebecause that means that my
(32:06):
family may not enter into thekingdom of God, they might not
enter into glory.
Right?
My brother reached out to me theother day.
He sent me a Facebook messageand he was talking about this is
this is dating me.
The green Power Ranger from thenineties you guys remember that
stuff?
Oh yeah, he's a pastor now.
Tommy, he's a pastor now.
(32:30):
Why would my brother care toshare that with me?
Something at some point in hislife?
Those seeds that I have plantedhave taken root.
They aren't deep yet.
He hasn't shown up to churchyet, but something's changing.
Amen, that's our responsibility.
(32:53):
It's our responsibility topreach.
We get that ability, that power, that strength through the Holy
Spirit, through ourrelationship with the Holy
Spirit.
The Spirit isn't just someonewe read about, it's not just
about theology.
It's someone that we walk withevery single day.
(33:14):
Amen.
We talk about our relationshipwith Jesus.
We get that relationship withJesus through the presence of
the Holy Spirit Every single day.
The Holy Spirit is moving allaround us.
We have to be willing to take ahold of that move and say I'm
going to use this move for goodand not for bad.
I'm going to tell you and sayI'm going to use this move for
(33:34):
good and not for bad.
I'm going to tell you I have alady that works at the bank and
she's in an office that I'm inand she came in the other day
and she was laughing and shetalks real loud, and so you
can't help but hear the story.
She's telling me that shewalked into Mako's the other day
and she bought a bunch ofgroceries.
She rang them up in theself-checkout grocery.
She rang them up in theself-checkout and her daughter
called.
She picks up the phone, shedoes her thing and out of the
(33:59):
store she goes, and the ladyfrom Makos, they bank there and
they came in and they said hey,we got a little problem.
You came in and you scanned allyour groceries and you walked
out without paying for themBecause her daughter called and
whatever she needed wassemi-emergent.
So she's talking on the phoneand just grabs her stuff and
walks out.
Well, I mean, obviously shemade it right, she wrote a check
, everything was fine.
(34:19):
But that's us every day, right?
See, we go to do one thing withthe Holy Spirit.
We go into prayer, we go intothe Word.
Whatever it is that God hascalled us in that moment, we go
to it, and then, all of a sudden, we're distracted by something
that the world has called us toright.
Chances are it doesn't meananything.
(34:40):
Chances are the world is tryingto stop you from being in
relationship with Jesus.
Listen, adhd is a real thing.
I'll start washing, loading thedishwasher.
Next thing I know I'm doing aload of laundry.
I'll start washing, loading thedishwasher.
Next thing I know I'm doing aload of laundry.
So somehow I'm like pressure,washing the house.
10 minutes later I don't knowhow it happens, but it's the
(35:01):
same thing whenever I wanna gointo prayer, right, I sit down
and I say you know, lord, Iwanna just spend this moment
with you.
I wanna give you everythingI've got, father, I want you to
see my heart, I want you to hearme, I want you to know that I
am here to be in relationshipwith you.
And the next thing I know myphone rings.
(35:23):
Next thing, I know one of thekids wanting something.
Right, that's not true.
They always go to mom firstunless she's not there.
But I know that I have to carveout that time for that
relationship.
See, the Holy Spirit is alwayswith me and I can always be in
relationship with the HolySpirit.
The problem is, it's a choice,right?
(35:46):
We have to choose to be inrelationship with the Holy
Spirit.
Galatians 5.16,.
It says so I say let the HolySpirit guide your lives, then
you won't be doing what yoursinful nature craves.
(36:09):
So I say let the Holy Spiritguide your life.
What does that mean?
That means stop makingboneheaded decisions without
going to the Father first,without saying to the Holy
Spirit I am here so that yourwill will be done, not that my
will will be done.
Amen.
Have you guys ever?
(36:30):
I've probably made threeboneheaded mistakes today?
Right, yeah, yeah, that was aboneheaded mistake from
yesterday that I'm paying fortoday and that's yeah.
Roger knows exactly why he'slike yep, god got you.
(36:53):
All I know is that we makechoices every day to put
ourselves in relationship withthe Holy Spirit or to remove
ourselves from the Holy Spirit?
Amen.
And the question is is how do welive our lives more in tune
with the Holy Spirit and betterrelationship with Christ, so
that, when we're praying to theFather, that those prayers are
(37:14):
on a solid foundation?
Amen, I'm not saying so.
Those prayers are answeredbecause you can't pray what you
want.
You have to pray that God'sperfect will be done in your
life.
Amen.
Lord, whatever it is, I wantyou to lead me, guide me, direct
me.
Lord, let your perfect will bedone.
There's a lot of things thathappen in my life that are not
my perfect will.
It is not my desire, but it ishis design, amen.
(37:37):
So who is the Holy Spirit?
He is God, he is personal.
He is the one who applies thework of the salvation in our
lives, amen.
So when he starts to apply thatwork of salvation, that's when
you start to see the good works,that's when you start to see
kind people.
When do we start seeing that Goout into the world?
When do you see kind people?
(37:58):
We are all so far from thatthat it is hard for us to
believe that that is what'ssupposed to be happening.
He convicts, he renews, heempowers and he guides.
This is not just a doctrine tostudy, it is a person to know.
Amen, Second Corinthians 13, 14.
It said if the good news, oh,she's got the wrong one.
(38:27):
2 Corinthians 13, 14.
Yeah, may the grace of the LordJesus Christ, the love of God
and the fellowship of the LordJesus Christ, the love of God
and the fellowship of the HolySpirit be with you all.
Amen.
(38:47):
May the grace of the Lord JesusChrist, the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spiritbe with you all.
That should be our prayer forthe world every single day.
That should be our prayer forourselves every single day, that
every day when we wake up, thatthe grace of the Lord Jesus
(39:09):
Christ surrounds us, that wehave a love for God and that the
fellowship of the Holy Spiritis with us in all things.
Amen.
Church, my challenge to you forthis week is to do a little
digging.
I want you to grab your Biblesthis week.
I want you to open them up andI want you to explore who, in
fact, the Holy Spirit really isin your life.
(39:30):
I want you to be inrelationship with him and I want
you to have a meaningfulconversation with God.
What is it, lord, that you arecalling me to do?
I'm not asking you to volunteerin the church this message
isn't about that but for so longwe have come to just sit.
(39:51):
We've come to just observe andto just hear, and not to walk
out what God has called us to do.
Can I tell you that that $2,800check that was written last
week was not written by aregular member of this church,
it was a gift from a visitor.
Because they believe in whatGod is doing in this place.
(40:14):
Right, that is exciting,because that means that
something good is happening.
The problem is this those of uswho are here week in and week
out, we don't see the same thing, because we have become so
complacent to that move of thespirit.
Right, we have become socomplacent that when, when wake
(40:36):
up oh sleeper.
Right, we shout it at oneanother all the time because we
know that, as a body that getscomfortable, it's easy to fall
asleep.
Listen, you guys wanted thesenew chairs.
We got you these fancy newchairs.
Apparently, they're toocomfortable because I can't get
you out of them.
Right, I can't get you up on aSunday morning to serve.
The thing is, we can't continueto exist if we don't continue to
(41:01):
grow.
It's not about numbers, it'sabout spiritual growth.
It's about being able to movein something new that the Holy
Spirit is doing in this place.
So I want you this week, tospend time with the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I want you to just ask him,lord, what is it that you would
call me to do?
I want you to just ask him,lord, what is it that you would
call me to do, lord?
How do you want me to serve youbetter?
(41:23):
Amen, cool, or don't.
Whichever, that's fine.
Anyhow, I guess, since theanointing is beginning to lift
and you guys are thinking aboutyour subway lunch, I should
probably start to pray.
But I think, before I do that,what I'd like to do, pastor
(41:45):
Holly, are you willing to dosome ministry time with us this
morning?
So what I'm gonna do is I'mgoing to dismiss.
I'm gonna do a prayer ofdismissal, tech team, if you can
prep some ministry music.
What we're gonna do is if youdon't wanna stay for ministry
time, that's fine, but I'm gonnaask that you leave quickly.
That way we can continue to bereverent here in the sanctuary.
(42:08):
So if you just bow your headswith me.
Heavenly Father, I thank you forour time in this place together
.
Father, I thank you for thereverence of this congregation
and, lord, I pray that this bodywould continue to move into new
places this week.
Father, that they would setaside childish things and that
they would pick up the things oftheir lives, that they know
that you have called them to,father.
(42:29):
Lord, that they would bewilling to step out in faith
because of their steadyrelationship with the Holy
Spirit.
Lord, I thank you and I praiseyou.
I give you honor and glory thisday.
Lord, I thank you and I praiseyou.
I give you honor and glory thisday.
Lord, bless these people asthey move from this place, lift
them up and guide theirfootsteps.
We give you praise, honor andglory in the mighty name of
(42:50):
Jesus, amen.
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