October 30, 2025 • 17 mins
The Old Testament saints had to approach God through animal sacrifices, Levitical priests, and a specific temple in Jerusalem, yet they longed for what we have today. Through Jesus Christ, God's Spirit dwells within us directly, and we are the dwelling place of God. While God is always with us individually, there's something uniquely powerful about experiencing the Holy Spirit when believers gather together as the church. We encounter God's Spirit in three distinct ways when we come together.
First, through corporate gathering and worship, where something supernatural happens as we pray in unity, sing God's promises together, hear His Word, and participate in communion and baptism. God literally inhabits the praises of His people, creating a more palpable sense of His presence than we often experience alone.
Second, through other people's spiritual gifts, as every Christian has been gifted by the Holy Spirit with natural abilities, life experiences, and passions that God uses for His purposes. Like a physical body where different parts serve one another, we're designed to minister through our various gifts - sharing wisdom, offering comfort, demonstrating hospitality, teaching, and providing counsel.
Third, we experience the Holy Spirit through practicing the 'one another' commands found throughout the New Testament, such as loving one another, praying for one another, encouraging one another, being patient with one another, and bearing one another's burdens.
These aren't just acts of kindness but supernatural manifestations of God's Spirit working through His people. God never intended for us to be 'Lone Ranger' Christians, isolated and unable to properly discern truth. Instead, He has placed us in a body of believers where His Spirit moves uniquely and powerfully through community, creating opportunities for both giving and receiving through the gifts He has distributed among His people.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
All right, good evening.
Happy Wednesday to you.
Three things real quick before Iget started.
One reminder at the conclusionof recharge, as everyone goes to
classes or choir, I am I ammaking myself available for
prayer.
So if you need, want, you have aburden of prayer, I am happy to
(00:24):
stick around as long as you needand to pray with you.
Two, uh, Air Force is the bestbranch in the military.
Three, I am a very cheapbillboard and can be bribed with
usually just a Snickers bar uhfor those sorts of things.
All right.
Um, now let's get serious for asecond.
(00:48):
Imagine with me that you arethere when Solomon dedicates his
temple.
Okay?
Remember David's son will build,will build the Lord God Almighty
a house.
And so the temple is built.
(01:09):
You can read uh through there,there's two different accounts,
one in Chronicles and one inKings, where where it talks
about all the material that'sused, but it's finally, it's
finally ready.
Now, at the dedication ofSolomon's temple, right?
They they they sacrificed 22,000oxen, 120,000 sheep, 120,000.
(01:37):
Each priest is personallydedicated.
He has his robe, he goes throughhis cleansing process, and and
then when all of that is done,the Levites, they they uh lead
Israel in in singing and inrejoicing.
(01:57):
They blow their trumpets as loudas they can and they shout
praises to Yahweh, the one,true, the only God.
And the Shekinah glory, rememberthe the cloud, the pillar of
cloud and the fire at night?
The Shekinah glory falls andenters into the temple.
(02:22):
And everyone there fell on theirface, they could not get up,
okay?
And they worshiped God probablylike they had never worshipped
in their entire life.
And most of us would say, Iwould give my right arm to have
been there just to see somethingthat incredible and that
(02:44):
amazing.
And the Old Testament, thescripture says that those saints
longed for our day.
For our day, they longed forwhat we have.
(03:04):
They don't have to go throughthe blood of oxen and sheep,
they don't have to go throughLevites, they don't have to meet
God at a temple in Jerusalem.
We are the temple.
In the name of Jesus Christ, hisSpirit indwells us.
(03:26):
So on Wednesday nights we'vebeen talking about meeting spots
for the Holy Spirit.
If you want to experience God,if you want to feel and
experience the Holy Spirit, thatthere are particular meeting
spots that you can meet him, andone of those, distinctly in the
(03:47):
New Testament, is in his church.
In the church.
Because every one of us, okay,it doesn't matter what day of
the week we meet, right?
The church is not the building,we are the church, and we are
gathered, okay?
And you and I experience theHoly Spirit here when we are
(04:13):
gathered.
Let me read for you, 1Corinthians 12.
Um, none of these are on.
I was planning on you doing it.
Um let me read it this way.
All right, 1 Corinthians 12, 4through 7.
Now there are a variety ofgifts, but the same Spirit.
There are a variety ofministries and the same Lord.
(04:34):
There are varieties of effects,but the same God who works all
things in all persons.
But to each one is given themanifestation of the Spirit for
the common good.
Now, verse twelve.
(04:58):
This is anybody's body, even asthe body is one, and yet there
are many members, but all themembers are part of one body,
though there are many, right?
We are one body, so also isChrist.
Okay?
In other words, so again, thepoint that I'm gonna make real
quick if you want to experiencethe Holy Spirit of God, come to
(05:22):
church.
When the church is gathered,there is a unique manifestation
of the Spirit of God for you toexperience.
Okay?
So when we gather corporately,all right, so the first thing,
uh when and how you experiencethe Holy Spirit.
The first one is in thecorporate gathering.
(05:43):
When we corporately gathertogether, okay, on Sunday
mornings or here, what are wedoing?
Right?
We are praying together inunity, okay?
We're praying the truth of God,we're praying the promises of
God.
We God Himself has promised tomeet us.
(06:03):
Uh when we sing together, whatGod's word says he inhabits the
praises of his people.
All right, so he comes and hemeets with us.
So when we uh praise his name,when we sing the promises, I
don't know about you, I'll tellyou flat out, I experience the
Spirit of God when I am hereworshiping with you on a level
(06:27):
that I do not whenever I'mlistening to my favorite worship
songs in my vehicle by myself.
When I am with you, I sense thepresence of God much more
palatable, much stronger.
Right?
We hear and I preach, and whenyou go to groups, we teach God's
(06:49):
word.
How about when we take theLord's Supper or baptism?
This is a collective thing thatwe do together.
Did you know that the NewTestament says, Paul says that
that some people were dyingbecause they were taking the
Lord's Supper in aninappropriate manner?
Now you pause and you step backfrom that and you say, What?
(07:11):
They were dying because theywere not examining their heart,
they were taking the Lord'sSupper in an inappropriate
manner.
Yeah, and Paul's like, yeah,some of you are sick and others
of you have died because ofthat.
Now, what is he expressing?
He's expressing the fact thatwhen we, when the church is
gathered, that's there is aunique power and presence of the
(07:33):
Spirit of God that is you it'sunique, it's different from when
you are just by yourself.
So God moves in power amongsthis people, unlike when you are
simply alone.
Really quick illustration abouthow God never calls us to be
(07:53):
Lone Ranger Christians.
Did you know in December of1944, uh Japan had a group of
soldiers, uh, one in particular,I'm gonna mess up his name, uh,
but it was like uh Oshina, whouh was sent to the remote
islands of the Philippines.
(08:14):
And he was largely by himself,but there were a few other kind
of guerrilla warfare kind of uhLone Ranger soldiers that were
sent to the islands.
And he was sent on his mission,December 1944, and he was told,
listen, whatever you do, do notsurrender.
Okay?
Uh try and confuse the enemy,but whatever you do, do not
(08:36):
surrender.
Well, he goes down there andlike a month later, Japan
surrenders.
But he's on his island.
And so they're trying to sendword to him that uh that the war
is over.
So uh uh planes uh come by anddrop leaflets, uh they put
(08:57):
newspapers out for him to read,they come by with with uh
messages and and air horns andmessages of all, but all the
while he says that that has tobe propaganda from the enemy.
He does not know how to discerntruth, okay?
And so he stays hidden, he staysuh just eating in the jungle.
(09:19):
Listen, for 30 years.
30 years, 1974.
He was 22 when he went in, hewas 52 when he came out because
he was by himself and he did notknow how to discern the voice of
the enemy, and he was soconfused, he wasted his life for
(09:42):
30 years.
Are you kidding me?
World War II is over and it's1974, and he finally came home.
You were not meant to be alone.
Number two, the other area.
Uh you will experience the HolySpirit when the church gathers
(10:03):
in other people's giftings.
Okay, the scripture passage Iread said that the Spirit of God
has gifted every member of thebody.
If you are a Christian, okay,the Spirit of God indwells you
and you have giftings, you havepurposes.
(10:24):
Okay, you have natural giftingsand abilities, you have uh you
have experiences, you havepassions, and the Spirit of God
comes inside of you and quickensuh in a supernatural way and
highlights those giftings, andthe scripture calls that
spiritual giftings, okay?
And and there's an extensiveanalogy that's used about that
(10:49):
as the church, guys, we are thebody of Christ.
And I want you to think aboutthe way that your body works.
If my left elbow itches, does itjust radically vibrate and
scratch itself?
No, what does it do?
It sends a signal to the brain,and the brain sends
(11:15):
communication to the right armthat says, your brother over
there itches.
I need you to get to action andgo over there and scratch it for
him.
Okay?
That's the way your body works.
I want you to think about theway, the way that you experience
(11:38):
the giftings of other people,and you are experiencing the
Holy Spirit that has giftedthem, and you are growing
because of their giftings.
Right?
When we come to church throughpreaching and teaching and
praying together, when you speakto people through wisdom and
(12:02):
discernment, that they haveexperience and they have
passions, and they have walkedthrough trials in life and
received comfort from the Lord,and they are able to pour in
wisdom into you.
Okay?
That is the Holy Spirit.
That's the Spirit of God workingin their life and through them
(12:25):
to you.
I want you to think abouthospitality.
I want you to think of all theways that we uh so Paul says in
in Romans uh Romans 1 verse 12,he says, I he was never, he he
could, he had never, by the timehe wrote the letter, he hadn't
been able to go to Rome.
And he said, I can't wait tocome to you, Rome, and to meet
(12:49):
you so that we can bear fruitone to another, so that I can
bear fruit with you and you canbear fruit with me.
So there's this beautiful,incredible picture.
We just got back from India,right?
So we we took the mission trip,and and many of you, uh, you
know, of no fault of your own,but but you had a general
(13:10):
impression that we were gonna goover there to India and and we
were just gonna preach thegospel and we were we were gonna
try and birth things, but thatthat's not what we were doing.
We went over there to see whatGod was doing and to meet with
leaders that were there in thechurch.
Okay?
So this is a completelydifferent culture, uh,
completely different, right?
Socioeconomic status, uh,education, background culture,
(13:34):
all those things.
And we went over there, and youknow what's absolutely
fascinating and amazing?
How much we learned from them,how much we were encouraged by
them, how much, how much I amdifferent from just spending uh
12 days there and coming backand saying, you know what, the
(13:55):
the Lord really stirred up somethings in in my spirit and in my
life.
And for them to be able to saythe same thing, right?
It is bearing fruit one toanother.
That is the Spirit of God.
Thirdly, real quickly, I'mrunning out of time, and that is
uh the one another's.
The scripture is full of the NewTestament, it is full of one
(14:20):
another commandments.
Love one another the way thatChrist has loved you, pray for
one another, encourage oneanother, be patient with one
another, give wisdom to oneanother, bear one another's
(14:44):
burdens, show hospitality to oneanother.
Okay, listen, when you gothrough life, when you go
through trials and difficulties,you're not, again, you're not
meant to go alone.
How are you going to experiencethe Holy Spirit when when the
(15:05):
church is the church, when we dothe one another's, when we love
one another, when we pray forone another, okay, when when we
bear one another's burdens, whenwe're patient and wise, bearing
fruit back and forth.
When we do that, okay, when thechurch is the church, you I know
(15:27):
I know you don't always think ofit in really spiritual terms,
but the Bible wants you to,okay?
Right.
So when I experience uh GlennSmooth's hospitality, uh by the
way, Glenn Smoot is a uh rockstar uh driver on on road trips,
okay?
And uh when I when I experiencethat in in him, right, that's
(15:51):
that's part of his giftings andhis wiring, that's that's the
spirit of God.
Okay.
When we experience uh Mark'sgiftings to to sing and to and
to leadish and worship so manydifferent areas, right?
Uh the Frederickson's uhhospitality, right?
When we ex we're experiencingthe Spirit of God and you know
(16:18):
that when you're in the depth inthe real trials of life, like
I've seen this church love eachother in incredible ways, and it
it it doesn't always feel realspiritual, but but truthfully,
like that's the Spirit of God ineach of us ministering to one
(16:41):
another.
Okay?
So you're experiencing the HolySpirit when we come to church.
Let me pray over us.
Heavenly Father, we thank youfor your word, we thank you for
the body, we thank you that weare not alone, we are not
isolate, you have not created usto walk alone.
None of us is sufficient, eachof us is desperate to be poured
(17:06):
into by each other.
The foot cannot say to the hand,I do not need you.
And so, Father, humble us andand allow us to genuinely drink
this in that we experience theHoly Spirit when the church is
gathered and when the church isloving each other.
(17:27):
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, good evening.
Happy Wednesday to you.
Three things real quick before Iget started.
One reminder at the conclusionof recharge, as everyone goes to
classes or choir, I am I ammaking myself available for
prayer.
So if you need, want, you have aburden of prayer, I am happy to
(00:24):
stick around as long as you needand to pray with you.
Two, uh, Air Force is the bestbranch in the military.
Three, I am a very cheapbillboard and can be bribed with
usually just a Snickers bar uhfor those sorts of things.
All right.
Um, now let's get serious for asecond.
(00:48):
Imagine with me that you arethere when Solomon dedicates his
temple.
Okay?
Remember David's son will build,will build the Lord God Almighty
a house.
And so the temple is built.
(01:09):
You can read uh through there,there's two different accounts,
one in Chronicles and one inKings, where where it talks
about all the material that'sused, but it's finally, it's
finally ready.
Now, at the dedication ofSolomon's temple, right?
They they they sacrificed 22,000oxen, 120,000 sheep, 120,000.
(01:37):
Each priest is personallydedicated.
He has his robe, he goes throughhis cleansing process, and and
then when all of that is done,the Levites, they they uh lead
Israel in in singing and inrejoicing.
(01:57):
They blow their trumpets as loudas they can and they shout
praises to Yahweh, the one,true, the only God.
And the Shekinah glory, rememberthe the cloud, the pillar of
cloud and the fire at night?
The Shekinah glory falls andenters into the temple.
(02:22):
And everyone there fell on theirface, they could not get up,
okay?
And they worshiped God probablylike they had never worshipped
in their entire life.
And most of us would say, Iwould give my right arm to have
been there just to see somethingthat incredible and that
(02:44):
amazing.
And the Old Testament, thescripture says that those saints
longed for our day.
For our day, they longed forwhat we have.
(03:04):
They don't have to go throughthe blood of oxen and sheep,
they don't have to go throughLevites, they don't have to meet
God at a temple in Jerusalem.
We are the temple.
In the name of Jesus Christ, hisSpirit indwells us.
(03:26):
So on Wednesday nights we'vebeen talking about meeting spots
for the Holy Spirit.
If you want to experience God,if you want to feel and
experience the Holy Spirit, thatthere are particular meeting
spots that you can meet him, andone of those, distinctly in the
(03:47):
New Testament, is in his church.
In the church.
Because every one of us, okay,it doesn't matter what day of
the week we meet, right?
The church is not the building,we are the church, and we are
gathered, okay?
And you and I experience theHoly Spirit here when we are
(04:13):
gathered.
Let me read for you, 1Corinthians 12.
Um, none of these are on.
I was planning on you doing it.
Um let me read it this way.
All right, 1 Corinthians 12, 4through 7.
Now there are a variety ofgifts, but the same Spirit.
There are a variety ofministries and the same Lord.
(04:34):
There are varieties of effects,but the same God who works all
things in all persons.
But to each one is given themanifestation of the Spirit for
the common good.
Now, verse twelve.
(04:58):
This is anybody's body, even asthe body is one, and yet there
are many members, but all themembers are part of one body,
though there are many, right?
We are one body, so also isChrist.
Okay?
In other words, so again, thepoint that I'm gonna make real
quick if you want to experiencethe Holy Spirit of God, come to
(05:22):
church.
When the church is gathered,there is a unique manifestation
of the Spirit of God for you toexperience.
Okay?
So when we gather corporately,all right, so the first thing,
uh when and how you experiencethe Holy Spirit.
The first one is in thecorporate gathering.
(05:43):
When we corporately gathertogether, okay, on Sunday
mornings or here, what are wedoing?
Right?
We are praying together inunity, okay?
We're praying the truth of God,we're praying the promises of
God.
We God Himself has promised tomeet us.
(06:03):
Uh when we sing together, whatGod's word says he inhabits the
praises of his people.
All right, so he comes and hemeets with us.
So when we uh praise his name,when we sing the promises, I
don't know about you, I'll tellyou flat out, I experience the
Spirit of God when I am hereworshiping with you on a level
(06:27):
that I do not whenever I'mlistening to my favorite worship
songs in my vehicle by myself.
When I am with you, I sense thepresence of God much more
palatable, much stronger.
Right?
We hear and I preach, and whenyou go to groups, we teach God's
(06:49):
word.
How about when we take theLord's Supper or baptism?
This is a collective thing thatwe do together.
Did you know that the NewTestament says, Paul says that
that some people were dyingbecause they were taking the
Lord's Supper in aninappropriate manner?
Now you pause and you step backfrom that and you say, What?
(07:11):
They were dying because theywere not examining their heart,
they were taking the Lord'sSupper in an inappropriate
manner.
Yeah, and Paul's like, yeah,some of you are sick and others
of you have died because ofthat.
Now, what is he expressing?
He's expressing the fact thatwhen we, when the church is
gathered, that's there is aunique power and presence of the
(07:33):
Spirit of God that is you it'sunique, it's different from when
you are just by yourself.
So God moves in power amongsthis people, unlike when you are
simply alone.
Really quick illustration abouthow God never calls us to be
(07:53):
Lone Ranger Christians.
Did you know in December of1944, uh Japan had a group of
soldiers, uh, one in particular,I'm gonna mess up his name, uh,
but it was like uh Oshina, whouh was sent to the remote
islands of the Philippines.
(08:14):
And he was largely by himself,but there were a few other kind
of guerrilla warfare kind of uhLone Ranger soldiers that were
sent to the islands.
And he was sent on his mission,December 1944, and he was told,
listen, whatever you do, do notsurrender.
Okay?
Uh try and confuse the enemy,but whatever you do, do not
(08:36):
surrender.
Well, he goes down there andlike a month later, Japan
surrenders.
But he's on his island.
And so they're trying to sendword to him that uh that the war
is over.
So uh uh planes uh come by anddrop leaflets, uh they put
(08:57):
newspapers out for him to read,they come by with with uh
messages and and air horns andmessages of all, but all the
while he says that that has tobe propaganda from the enemy.
He does not know how to discerntruth, okay?
And so he stays hidden, he staysuh just eating in the jungle.
(09:19):
Listen, for 30 years.
30 years, 1974.
He was 22 when he went in, hewas 52 when he came out because
he was by himself and he did notknow how to discern the voice of
the enemy, and he was soconfused, he wasted his life for
(09:42):
30 years.
Are you kidding me?
World War II is over and it's1974, and he finally came home.
You were not meant to be alone.
Number two, the other area.
Uh you will experience the HolySpirit when the church gathers
(10:03):
in other people's giftings.
Okay, the scripture passage Iread said that the Spirit of God
has gifted every member of thebody.
If you are a Christian, okay,the Spirit of God indwells you
and you have giftings, you havepurposes.
(10:24):
Okay, you have natural giftingsand abilities, you have uh you
have experiences, you havepassions, and the Spirit of God
comes inside of you and quickensuh in a supernatural way and
highlights those giftings, andthe scripture calls that
spiritual giftings, okay?
And and there's an extensiveanalogy that's used about that
(10:49):
as the church, guys, we are thebody of Christ.
And I want you to think aboutthe way that your body works.
If my left elbow itches, does itjust radically vibrate and
scratch itself?
No, what does it do?
It sends a signal to the brain,and the brain sends
(11:15):
communication to the right armthat says, your brother over
there itches.
I need you to get to action andgo over there and scratch it for
him.
Okay?
That's the way your body works.
I want you to think about theway, the way that you experience
(11:38):
the giftings of other people,and you are experiencing the
Holy Spirit that has giftedthem, and you are growing
because of their giftings.
Right?
When we come to church throughpreaching and teaching and
praying together, when you speakto people through wisdom and
(12:02):
discernment, that they haveexperience and they have
passions, and they have walkedthrough trials in life and
received comfort from the Lord,and they are able to pour in
wisdom into you.
Okay?
That is the Holy Spirit.
That's the Spirit of God workingin their life and through them
(12:25):
to you.
I want you to think abouthospitality.
I want you to think of all theways that we uh so Paul says in
in Romans uh Romans 1 verse 12,he says, I he was never, he he
could, he had never, by the timehe wrote the letter, he hadn't
been able to go to Rome.
And he said, I can't wait tocome to you, Rome, and to meet
(12:49):
you so that we can bear fruitone to another, so that I can
bear fruit with you and you canbear fruit with me.
So there's this beautiful,incredible picture.
We just got back from India,right?
So we we took the mission trip,and and many of you, uh, you
know, of no fault of your own,but but you had a general
(13:10):
impression that we were gonna goover there to India and and we
were just gonna preach thegospel and we were we were gonna
try and birth things, but thatthat's not what we were doing.
We went over there to see whatGod was doing and to meet with
leaders that were there in thechurch.
Okay?
So this is a completelydifferent culture, uh,
completely different, right?
Socioeconomic status, uh,education, background culture,
(13:34):
all those things.
And we went over there, and youknow what's absolutely
fascinating and amazing?
How much we learned from them,how much we were encouraged by
them, how much, how much I amdifferent from just spending uh
12 days there and coming backand saying, you know what, the
(13:55):
the Lord really stirred up somethings in in my spirit and in my
life.
And for them to be able to saythe same thing, right?
It is bearing fruit one toanother.
That is the Spirit of God.
Thirdly, real quickly, I'mrunning out of time, and that is
uh the one another's.
The scripture is full of the NewTestament, it is full of one
(14:20):
another commandments.
Love one another the way thatChrist has loved you, pray for
one another, encourage oneanother, be patient with one
another, give wisdom to oneanother, bear one another's
(14:44):
burdens, show hospitality to oneanother.
Okay, listen, when you gothrough life, when you go
through trials and difficulties,you're not, again, you're not
meant to go alone.
How are you going to experiencethe Holy Spirit when when the
(15:05):
church is the church, when we dothe one another's, when we love
one another, when we pray forone another, okay, when when we
bear one another's burdens, whenwe're patient and wise, bearing
fruit back and forth.
When we do that, okay, when thechurch is the church, you I know
(15:27):
I know you don't always think ofit in really spiritual terms,
but the Bible wants you to,okay?
Right.
So when I experience uh GlennSmooth's hospitality, uh by the
way, Glenn Smoot is a uh rockstar uh driver on on road trips,
okay?
And uh when I when I experiencethat in in him, right, that's
(15:51):
that's part of his giftings andhis wiring, that's that's the
spirit of God.
Okay.
When we experience uh Mark'sgiftings to to sing and to and
to leadish and worship so manydifferent areas, right?
Uh the Frederickson's uhhospitality, right?
When we ex we're experiencingthe Spirit of God and you know
(16:18):
that when you're in the depth inthe real trials of life, like
I've seen this church love eachother in incredible ways, and it
it it doesn't always feel realspiritual, but but truthfully,
like that's the Spirit of God ineach of us ministering to one
(16:41):
another.
Okay?
So you're experiencing the HolySpirit when we come to church.
Let me pray over us.
Heavenly Father, we thank youfor your word, we thank you for
the body, we thank you that weare not alone, we are not
isolate, you have not created usto walk alone.
None of us is sufficient, eachof us is desperate to be poured
(17:06):
into by each other.
The foot cannot say to the hand,I do not need you.
And so, Father, humble us andand allow us to genuinely drink
this in that we experience theHoly Spirit when the church is
gathered and when the church isloving each other.
(17:27):
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
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