The Promised Gift

(upbeat music)

We're gonna continue our series on His Church,

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

and through Christmas, actually, through the Advent season,

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

the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And so we're gonna stand this morning

and we're gonna read from Acts chapter two.

Actually, that's not true.

We're gonna read from Acts chapter one.

I have a feeling that this is wrong again.

No, it's not.

Man, you guys are on it.

Here we go, all right.

We're in Acts chapter one.

We're going back to Acts chapter one.

So here we go.

In my former book, Theophilus,

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

until the day He was taken up to heaven

after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit

to the apostles He had chosen.

After His suffering, He presented Himself to them

and gave them many convincing proofs that He was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of 40 days

and spoke about the kingdom of God.

On one occasion, while He was eating with them,

He gave them this command.

"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift

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

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

"you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Then they gathered around Him and asked Him,

"Lord, are You at this time going to restore

"the kingdom to Israel?"

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

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

"but you will receive power

"when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

"and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem

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

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

and a cloud hit Him from their sight.

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

when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

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

"looking into the sky?

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

"will come back in the same way

"you have seen Him go into heaven."

Father, I thank you for your Word.

I thank you that it is true.

And I thank you, Lord, that it is alive

and it can transform us today.

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

You may be seated.

The Holy Spirit.

I grew up in a independent, fundamental Baptist culture.

We did not talk about the Holy Spirit.

We talked about hell.

And everybody was going to this place called hell.

I learned a lot about hell in that particular church.

And we didn't talk about the Holy Spirit.

In fact, the times that we mentioned,

maybe got close to talking about the Holy Spirit,

we were talking about the crazy people across the road

who were jumping and dancing,

and they too were going to hell for talking

and experiencing the Holy Spirit.

And so thankfully the Lord has rescued me

from that ideology and that has liberated me

to understand that there really is a Holy Spirit.

And guess what?

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

you have access to Him.

You have access to Him.

Now I'm gonna say something right now

that is might gonna offend some of you,

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

That might help you, okay?

But no, I'm serious.

I may say something right now

that's gonna offend some of you, okay?

And that's okay.

I want you to work through it, okay?

I am not much of a woohoo guy.

What do you mean by that?

I'm not much of a,

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

Why is that?

I'm not much of a woohoo guy

because I don't need the woohoo of God

to prove to me His reality and His sovereignty.

And I have a propensity in my flesh

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

then I begin to chase after the woohoo

instead of chasing after God.

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

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

that God does move in the miraculous.

He does move in the supernatural.

He does do these things among us,

but there is a purpose for when God moves

in the miraculous and in the supernatural.

And let me tell you what the purpose is not.

The purpose is not to sell a book for 1995.

The purpose is not to draw a big crowd.

The purpose is not to put on a show.

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

whether it be through healing,

whatever thing you can throw under the umbrella of woohoo,

anything like that is nothing more or less

than to point people to Jesus Christ.

To remind you that we are to exalt Jesus Christ

at some point from point A to point B,

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

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

what the Holy Spirit is able to do.

It is the Holy Spirit.

Now, I would be remiss to say,

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

that anyone has the total picture of the Holy Spirit.

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

"I've got it down.

"I know the Holy Spirit in and out.

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

"a pamphlet or whatever."

No, nobody really, truly,

totally understands the Holy Spirit.

And I do believe that churches back off

from teaching about the Holy Spirit

because there seems to be some confusion

around the Holy Spirit.

And here's the reason why that is.

I believe that pastors or preachers or leaders

have an experience with the Holy Spirit,

then they build a doctrine based on that experience

and they expect everybody to walk with them

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

And so you can really woo a lot of people

and you can really lead them astray

when you're not following the principles

laid out in God's truth.

The Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit

does not have to be confusing.

There is enough scriptural precedent.

There is enough in scripture to tell us

about the Holy Spirit, some concrete things

that we can learn and draw from about the Holy Spirit

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

In fact, I would go a step further

to acknowledge the fact that we need Him in our life

in order to survive in this world.

In order to survive in this world.

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

And it is my hope and it's my goal

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

that we never lead you into a place of confusion.

That we do things in such a way that are clear

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

Here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians.

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

He is not the author of confusion.

If you leave somewhere after a teaching with confusion,

my encouragement to you is to lay down whatever it is

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

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

Do not build your life off of something

that you're confused by.

Do not build your life off of something

that you're confused by.

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

and in order.

He is not a messy God.

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

'Cause he wants you to straighten up, right?

He wants to show you some better things.

But he's not sloppy.

He's a God of order.

And he works things in that way.

So the Holy Spirit.

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

was one of the best teachers that ever set foot

on the planet.

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

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

and testimonies and objects and all of these things,

I believe we can learn a lot.

If you're an educator in the room,

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

and the way that he taught.

And if you are an educator, you understand

that the practical baseline of teaching

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

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

Those are just the three basic parts

of getting through whatever.

And Jesus did that.

Jesus does that.

He did that.

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

at the very top is Jesus has already died.

He's been buried.

He's been resurrected.

And now he is back.

He's saying, "I'm here.

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

And he spent 40 days reviewing everything

that he'd been saying was gonna happen.

So he took the time and he did three things.

This is what it says in the scripture.

He says that he gave instructions.

So he had 40 days 'cause guess what?

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

And so just like any good teacher, he said,

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

So he gave instructions.

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

is he proved that he was alive.

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

there would have been a question on whether or not

he was truly resurrected.

But he took the time.

Remember, we talked about back at Easter

where doubting Thomas, he was like,

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

And he did.

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

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

"and I am resurrected from the dead."

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

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

He spoke about the kingdom of God.

Over in Matthew chapter six, it says,

"Seek first the kingdom of God."

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

"Seek first the kingdom of God."

And so he was pointing to the kingdom of God.

And so after we establish,

after Luke establishes these three points,

he goes into the section and he says,

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

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

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

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

What they were supposed to be waiting on.

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

So this is what we're going to do.

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

John 15 · chapter mention

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

John 15 · chapter mention

than you're used to today

because I want us to transport back from this point,

we were Acts chapter one, Jesus is resurrected.

We're gonna transport our minds back before the cross

where he's walking with these same disciples.

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

and the introduction of the Holy Spirit

did not happen in Acts chapter one.

Jesus already was on the scene

talking about this promised gift.

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

John 15 · chapter mention

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

"know that it hated me before it hated you.

"If you belong to the world,

"the world would love you as its own

"and would treat you with affection.

"But you are not of the world.

"You no longer belong to it,

"but I have chosen you out of the world,

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

How many know that the world hates you?

"Remember that I told you,

"a servant is not greater than his master.

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

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

"But they will do all these hurtful things to you

"for my name's sake,

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

"If I had not come and spoken to them,

"they would have not sinned,

"but now they have no excuse for their sin.

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

"If I had not done among them the works,

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

"But now they have both seen and have hated me

"and my Father as well.

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

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

Now listen to this, church.

But when the helper, the Holy Spirit,

comes whom I will send to you from the Father,

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

he will testify and bear witness about me.

But you will testify also and be my witnesses

because you have been with me from the beginning.

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

or be caught off guard and fall away.

They will put you out of the synagogues

and make you outcasts, a time is coming

when whoever kills you will think it is offering

a service to God.

And they will do these things because they have not known

the Father or me.

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

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

I did not say these things to you at the beginning

because I was with you.

But now I am going to him who sent me

and none of you asked me where are you going.

But because I have said these things to you,

sorrow has filled your hearts.

Now why was sorrow filling their hearts?

Why was sorrow filling their hearts?

Jesus Christ was physically in front of them.

They were leaning on his strength.

They were listening to his teaching.

They were following in his ways.

Jesus is saying, I'm about to leave.

So sorrow is filling their heart.

Not only am I about to leave,

but your lives are gonna be real interesting without me.

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

More importantly, someone to help you along the way.

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

that I go away.

Friends, it was to our advantage that Jesus Christ

ascended and went to heaven.

I love you guys.

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

all at the same time.

It's impossible.

It's not impossible for the Holy Spirit.

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

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

That's a promise.

And he, when he comes, will convict the world

about sin and about righteousness and about judgment.

He says specifically about sin,

because people do not believe in me.

About righteousness, because I'm going to my Father

and you will no longer see me.

About judgment, because the ruler of this world

has been condemned.

I have much more to say to you,

more than you can now bear.

I could only imagine.

They can't bear another thing.

You're leaving us, what?

But when he, the Spirit of truth comes,

he will guide you into all truth.

He will not speak on his own.

He will speak only what he hears,

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

He will glorify me.

The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus,

because from me, it is from me,

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

And so, Jesus is promising these disciples,

physically in front of them, promising them a gift

that he is saying is better than the gift

standing right in front of them.

And it is the person of the Holy Spirit.

And friends, that same gift is available

to everyone who believes.

Everyone under the sound of my voice who believes,

you have access to the Holy Spirit.

So now let's transport back into time,

the death, burial, and resurrection has happened.

The apostles, the disciples have this information.

Jesus is resurrected from the dead.

We're in Acts chapter one.

He has now recapped everything we just read.

He said, "I am alive."

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

"I want you not to go back to Jerusalem.

"I'm about to leave.

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

"I'm about to do."

Aren't you so glad that Jesus always does everything

he said he's gonna do?

Every single time.

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

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

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

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

"I did a thing this past week.

"I did a thing this past week, Ashley.

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

"And one of the things that she likes to do

"is she likes to go to the pet store,

"and she likes to pet puppies.

"It's a free activity.

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

"They bring the puppies out.

"And I had zero intention on buying anything

"from that pet store.

(congregation laughing)

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

(congregation laughing)

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

we got in there and that puppy,

can I just describe the puppy to you?

The puppy is like, it's black,

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

It's got these beady black eyes

and this nose that kind of sticks out.

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

And it's so soft.

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

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

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

wanna have a puppy?

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

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

Let me just show you a picture, okay?

Here's the picture.

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

isn't that not the best right there?

Look at that.

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

dangling over my arm like this?

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

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

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

Like you just boop, boop, you know?

And he's just cute, just runs around.

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

Ashley, hold on, wait a second.

I just.

Ashley, I mean, goodness gracious.

I mean, look at this.

There's nothing cuter.

Look, I mean, come on, look.

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

My goodness, come on.

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

Oh, come here.

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

how cute this puppy is.

Ashley, look, look at this.

I know you want to hold, come on.

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

Oh, isn't it just the best?

Makes you want one, huh?

I know, I know.

It makes you want one, right?

Yeah, it's amazing.

(audience laughing)

(audience laughing)

Some of us spend our life describing the Holy Spirit,

looking at pictures of what he's doing

in other people's life,

but until you experience it and touch him yourself,

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

This room turned upside down

the minute that dog came on this stage.

(audience laughing)

Because you experienced something.

And there is an experience available to you

with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

If you will choose to lean in and engage him,

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

the experience of the Holy Spirit is a joyful one,

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

but every time the Holy Spirit gets done

doing what he's doing,

you are off better than you were before.

Experiencing the gift of the Holy Spirit

is far better than talking about him

or acting as if he is not there.

And you have access to experience him today,

right now, moment by moment.

You need the Holy Spirit in your life.

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

In this Acts chapter, after he tells them,

"Wait on the Holy Spirit,"

he references two different types of baptism.

We experienced one of the baptisms today.

The first one was baptism by water.

What is baptism by water?

We believe, did you know Jesus got baptized?

You all realize Jesus got baptized.

Can I just pose a little thought-provoking question?

If Jesus got baptized,

I just don't know if that's exactly

what the Lord wants me to do right now.

(congregation laughing)

Jesus got baptized.

This is what baptism does.

Pastor Justin referenced it before.

Daniel Edwards today professed to about 300 people,

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

"I no longer have one foot in the world,

"one foot in Christ.

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

"and I want you to know."

It is a public proclamation.

Every believer should be baptized.

Every believer should be baptized

and make that public proclamation.

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

I baptize you with water.

It's talking about John the baptizer.

But one who is more powerful than I will come,

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

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

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

The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

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

And then you come out of the water,

dead to the world, alive in Christ.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the indwelling,

the filling of the Holy Spirit.

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

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

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

Now some of you like to wear underwear on your head

and put Superman capes on and act like you do,

but you don't really have power

unless you have the Holy Spirit.

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

to defeat the sin and the giants in your life.

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

Any NASCAR fans in here?

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

You sit and you watch cars go around

in a circle 188 times.

(imitates car engine)

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

go around 188 times.

Some of you are staring at the same problem

over and over and over again,

and it is costing you everything.

You need the power of the Holy Spirit

to break the cycle in your life.

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

Some of you have been praying so hard

for a move of God in your life,

but you have not accessed the power available

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

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

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

You are forgiven because of the blood of Jesus Christ,

you have access to Father God.

You can be in relationship to Father God.

My sin has been forgiven,

but I still contend with all of the giants.

I still have to go out and be ready

to fight all of the giants.

This is why some of us are continuously at the altar

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

over and over and over and over again,

because we're out there fighting powerless.

But you have access to this God

who will give you the tools that you need.

Some of you have not forgiven that person

that you need to forgive because they did the unforgivable.

The power of the Holy Spirit gives you the ability

to do things that you could never imagine possible.

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

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

They were reading scripture.

They were memorizing scripture.

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

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

People were applauding.

If you memorized 40 scriptures, come to the altar.

If you memorized 60 scriptures, come to the altar.

This is within a year's time.

200 scriptures come to the...

There were kids who had memorized 200 scriptures

in a year's time.

I believe that the generation we are living in

is redefining Christianity

without the use of biblical principles.

And the reason that it's being redefined

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

So I wept when all of those kids came down

after having memorized 200 scriptures.

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

And I look up and in the restroom,

there is this sign that reads this.

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

And the Holy Spirit of God spoke to my heart

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

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

"at Springhouse, but if you will introduce them

"to my Holy Spirit and my Holy Spirit

"will couple up against the truth of my word,

"explosive wonderful things will happen

"in those people's lives."

I believe the Lord wants to do explosively wonderful things

in your life if you will allow Him.

Why do we need power?

What do we need power for?

This past weekend I was helping over at the Jansen home

on they were laying this new patio.

Is it called a patio?

Patio, okay.

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

And you know what I did to my hands?

I put on gloves.

Now not everybody was that smart that day,

but I put on gloves.

But why did I put on gloves?

Why?

Because I wanted to protect my hands.

I was doing the work.

The work would have not changed had been different

had I not had gloves on, except for the fact

it would have been much more painful.

Here's the thing.

Some of you are in your profession,

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

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

without protection and so you are being beat up every day

doing the thing God wants you to do.

Put on the protection.

Bring on the power.

Allow the Holy Spirit to use you.

Invite Him into your day in day out routine.

Is that not what Romans 12 talks about?

Take your everyday ordinary life, right?

Put on the protection of God.

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

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

I'd hammer in the evening.

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

chip off some of the slate to make it go

and he had this hammer and he's like,

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

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

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

that it's intended to be done.

See, some of us are using the wrong tool

because you're not listening to the Holy Spirit

to tell you pick this up instead of that.

Do this and say this instead of that.

And so you're using the same tactics

over and over and over again and you're wondering

why is this not working?

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

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

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

the tool He asks you to use is not a tool

that you would have ever thought to use

for that particular problem.

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

you can go fight that giant with five smooth stones

when the Lord's on your side.

When the Lord's on your side.

So we're contending against our flesh.

I mean, maybe I'm not making enough sense

to you this morning.

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

maybe this will help.

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

that you accepted Christ into your life, man.

Welcome to the family.

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

of the family in Christ.

- Ha ha, yes sir, yes sir.

- Now listen here, young buck.

(yelling)

I only got one thing to say to you.

- Where your clothes go?

- Here, you're gonna need this.

- Wait a minute, what's that for?

- Oh, this?

Oh, that's for him?

(yelling)

- And what is that?

- Oh, that right there?

Oh, that's your flesh.

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

- Till you gave your life to Jesus.

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

Yeah, you're on God's team.

- Okay, okay.

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

You walk in the Spirit.

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

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

- Oh, okay, what do I do?

- Relax, relax, young buck.

Show me your fighting stance.

- Okay.

What's that?

- What you doing, playing street fighting?

You wanna come back?

This is my fighting stance, okay?

This is not how you fight against that thing.

- Okay, but what do I do?

- Let me show you the only fighting position

that is ever gonna work on that thing over there.

Dear Heavenly Father,

thank you for this opportunity to kill my flesh.

Get down full and pray.

Holy Spirit, I need your strength right now.

Word says to resist the devil.

Submit yourself to God and he will flee from you.

I don't think this is working.

So right now in the name of Jesus,

I am so ready to take you to the temple.

- Jesus. - Jesus.

- Jesus name. - Jesus name.

- Jesus name. - Jesus name.

- Amen. - Amen.

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

- Boom.

- Work separate time son, work separate time.

(congregation laughing)

- Yeah, get down through and pray.

Without the Holy Spirit,

you are powerless against your sin.

Without the Holy Spirit,

you are powerless against your flesh, against your sin.

Romans 8 26 says this,

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness."

You know what this means?

If the Spirit helps us in our weakness,

that tells me that Christians can be weak.

Christians can be weak.

So who helps us in our weakness?

The Holy Spirit.

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

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us

through wordless groans.

I hate that.

I hate that.

You know why?

The Holy Spirit is praying on my behalf

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

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

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

but he is doing that because he sees me

as perfect and completing like Christ

on this journey to being like Christ.

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

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

Now the Lord is the Spirit

and where the Spirit of the Lord is, what?

There is? - Freedom.

- There's freedom.

Don't you wanna be free?

Don't you wanna be free?

Listen, some of you are begging God

to liberate you and heal you,

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

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

that supreme place in your life

where your loyalty and your allegiance is to him,

and then he will give you everything you need

to be successful.

Now guess what?

He's probably not gonna give you the tools

and things that you need for five years from now.

He's giving it to you for this afternoon.

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

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

in 30 seconds from now.

He's going to give you the power.

At moment by moment, the Holy Spirit,

it's not like the Holy Spirit says,

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

He's with you all of the time.

You need the Holy Spirit's help.

Why is this important at the crux of everything?

It's because you belong to a kingdom

and you are called to be a witness.

Your salvation is not just about you.

You are a small part of a larger picture.

Do you know that you have, Lord,

you probably have been at grocery stores

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

and the Lord wanted to use you

to be a voice piece in their life.

And the reason that we're not the voice piece

is because we're not paying attention.

You want to be in lockstep with the Holy Spirit,

hand in hand, moment by moment.

Guys, our lives, our salvation,

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

here on the planet.

Every moment, there's a reason

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

He wants to use you to advance.

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

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

that needs this Savior.

And I wonder, Kevin O'Day,

how many opportunities have just,

because I'm concerned about Kevin O'Day,

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

But the Holy Spirit of God

wants to embolden and empower you

to advance his kingdom by adding numbers to the kingdom.

Somebody was just telling me yesterday

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

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

"I wanted them to come."

Holy Spirit moment, Holy Spirit moment.

Are you listening?

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

Right?

Ruby, go clean your room.

It's not clean.

There was not obey.

There's no obeying there.

How do you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?

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

is specifically why I wanted to bring this message today.

I wanted to start out this series.

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

I do not wanna lead you astray.

I want us to be sound in our doctrine.

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

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

How do you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?

There are people out there that are selling books,

that preach and everything that say,

the only way that you can receive the Holy Spirit

is by making a spectacle out of yourself.

Compulsions, all of these different things.

And I'm not negating that at times

those things might could happen.

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

Ask.

That's it.

Ask.

Ask and you shall receive.

Knock and the door will be open.

This is what Luke says,

"If you then though you are evil,

"know how to give good gifts to your children,

"how much more will your Father in heaven

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

All you have to do is ask him.

I'm not asking for a show of hands,

but I am asking this question.

How many have actually uttered the words,

Father God, I want your Holy Spirit.

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

If you haven't asked the question,

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

Ask him for the gift.

Ask him for the gift and begin to believe

in what he tells you.

Begin to believe that you've received it

and you will begin to see some things happen.

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

we're gonna talk about the Father, the Son

and the Holy Spirit and the distinction between the three.

The following week, we're gonna talk about

some incredible gifts that the Holy Spirit has available

for those who believe in him.

Guys, there's always more with the Lord.

There's always more with the Lord.

And so if you want to receive the Holy Spirit,

you simply need to ask and understand

that the primary job of the Holy Spirit

is to point people to Jesus.

And this truth right here is the foundation

that we're gonna walk on this entire year,

that the primary job of the Holy Spirit

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

is not for the miraculous signs, is not for,

and all of that stuff might happen.

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

it is to point people to Jesus Christ

so that numbers can be added to the kingdom

day by day by day.

What does that have to do with you?

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

I'm already a number in the kingdom.

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

screw up your life and they need to actually see Jesus

in your life.

And you need the power of the Holy Spirit

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

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

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

It is available to you.

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

Why would you wait to ask for this precious gift?

There's coming a day, I said earlier,

Jesus has done everything he said he would do.

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

and he's coming back.

And I cannot wait for that day.

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

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

I can't wait for that day.

I can't wait.

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

is not just for you.

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

But you know what?

There are people who are watching your story saying,

I can't believe this God actually did it.

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

There's something here happening.

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

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

man, that really encourages me.

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

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

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

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

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

so that his kingdom can be advanced.

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

So would you stand with me this morning?

We're gonna just do something a little different.

Are we gonna do something different, Lord?

Holy Spirit.

Jeez.

Maybe you have once thought that you maybe asked

to receive the power of the Holy Spirit

and you just realize I've not been accessing him

like I should.

But what I would like to do this morning

is if you would like to ask the Holy Spirit

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

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

every day, every moment, this is a gift

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

without extending the invitation

'cause I just talked about how important it was.

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

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

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

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

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

Doesn't that say I surrender?

Yeah, it's a posture of surrender.

God, I surrender myself and Father God,

I am asking for your Holy Spirit

'cause I need your power in my life.

If that's you, come to the altar space

and we're gonna worship together

and I'm gonna ask some of our leaders

to come around and face some of these guys

and just agree with them and pray with them,

lay hands on them and ask the Holy Spirit

to fill their lives.

So if you guys would step forward

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

and the rest of us are going to worship.

Guys, this is an amazing step.

This is next to salvation.

I mean, you're talking about coupling up

with the God of the universe.

I need this power in my life.

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

Leaders, would you come pray?

(gentle music)

you