Walking With The Comforter

Let's wave those Bibles around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together say Heavenly Father, I'm hungry and thirsty for more of you.

This is where I come to be fed the Word of God and to drink of the Spirit.

I'm hungry and thirsty for more.

I know that thirsty people are dangerous dangerous to the devil and I stay thirsty.

I stir myself up to drink more and more, think less and less.

In Jesus' name, amen, you can be seated.

Praise God.

Let's turn to John, john, chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Oh, that was beautiful, hallelujah.

They talked about Chitima.

You know, chitima was just in town here recently with David Crowder, over in Sugar Land.

I just heard about it.

And Patricia, where are you and your boy, as they hear this morning?

Patricia, that's her daughter.

She's a.

She sang here not that long ago.

She is so powerful.

She God has opened the doors for her and she had such a.

David Crowder's been around for years.

He was singing.

He was singing contemporary Christian music when my kids were looking and they were pre-teen and we were having to be protective of what kind of music that they were going to be listening to, and so David Crowder's been around for a long time, but he's got Chitima with him.

They're all part of this one.

I forgot the name of the company, huh Passion.

So, oh, wow, I tell you what she is so anointed, so did she.

She sang that song, amen, wow, all right, praise God.

Well, we got treated too this morning.

That was awesome, all right.

John chapter 14 and Acts chapter nine.

John 14 · chapter mention

Let's look at John 14.

It is communion Sunday and I've been.

I want to link a message up with why we're receiving communion and this message kind of links up with communion.

And John chapter 14, this is the last supper and the version of this doesn't talking about.

John 14 · chapter mention

It's not talking about communion itself, but it's talking about what happened at that last supper, the night before Jesus was crucified.

And he said here in verse 16, he said, and I will pray the Father, they were sad because Jesus is leaving and so they're kind of coming unglued.

And he said in verse 16, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive Because it's seeeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you and he shall be in you Now.

See, he wasn't in them yet.

Why?

Cause Jesus hadn't died on the cross yet.

But he's given them a taste of the Holy ghost here in these few verses at the last supper.

At the last supper is when he chose to instruct his disciples a little bit about the Holy ghost.

They didn't know much about the Holy ghost and so how many of you know, right before he died?

This is important stuff.

This is really important for them to know, to hang on to something when he does, when he is crucified, and then 40 days later, when he leaves the earth and goes to heaven, it sits at the right end of the Father, all right.

And then Acts, chapter nine.

Acts, chapter nine, verse 31.

Then everybody shout.

Then Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified and walking, number one in the fear of the Lord and number two in the comfort of the Holy ghost, were multiplied.

And that's what I wanna talk about today walking in the comforter.

Walking in the comforter.

I've preached this for years and years.

I've preached this all over the world.

I've preached this in the Philippines, I've preached it in India, I've preached it in Canada, I've preached it everywhere.

Sometimes I'll call the message walk it in the Holy ghost balance, because it talks about two things the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy ghost.

Not much fear of the Lord anymore.

Fear of the Lord is not popular, and so we'll talk a little bit about.

In fact, this message is really more about the fear of the Lord.

What is the fear of the Lord?

Being afraid of God?

No, it just means having respect for Him, reverence for Him.

And who is God?

What part of God is it?

Well, all of God, but especially the Holy ghost, because he's the one that lives inside of you.

So I'm talking about walking in the comforter.

And you know, in John 14, the Amplified talks about the word pericleto, so that's the word comforter, which comforter is a poor translation of the word pericleto, and so the Amplified says counselor, helper, intercessor, advocate, strength that are stand by.

So when you add up all seven of those, it's a better description of that Greek word pericleto.

And really, if you really get right down to it, comforter.

When we think of comforter, we think about somebody Pat, and it's on the head and little darling, and everything's gonna be okay.

And that's a very minor element of what a Christian ought to need.

Why?

Because you have this right here.

You shouldn't have to have somebody walk around with you all the time patting you on the head and telling you everything gonna be all right, little darling Amen, because we've got His guarantee on that, don't we?

So really, the word comforter is helper.

That's the best you know.

To add it all up, he's your helper, and it's always best to live your life knowing that you need lots of help.

You will never accomplish God's purpose walking in the flesh, walking according to your own education.

I know some of you highly educated, I know some of you highly talented, but it's not good enough.

I said it's not good enough to do what he called you to do.

We've gotta have His help.

Whoo hallelujah, that God is wiser and smarter than we are.

Amen.

So Jesus prayed and this prayer was answered on the day of Pentecost, and it was answered forever.

He settled the issue.

The Holy Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind.

I like what Brother Osteen used to say.

Why was it like that?

Cause he was in a hurry to get there.

That's right.

That song talked about how he rushed down here, didn't it?

They picked up on Brother Osteen's sermon.

So he prayed and his prayer was answered at Pentecost, it was settled forever and these men, who really, previous to this, were ignorant of the Holy Spirit and His ways, were suddenly filled.

Now they got the Holy Ghost.

When they got saved, jesus remember?

Jesus appeared to them right after he was resurrected and he breathed on them and he said receive ye the Holy Spirit who sends you, forgive their forgiven, who sends you, retain.

They are retained.

So, in other words, that's when they actually were reborn again.

How many of you know that the apostles needed to be born again?

The 120 needed to be born again?

Well, that's when they were born again.

So the Spirit of God came and took up residence in them.

You know, we just posted something on Facebook the other day that you know Christians ought to be filled with the Holy Ghost and speaking.

And then another post a day later was, you know, speaking in tongues, as we're speaking to God and we speak in tongues?

Oh, my goodness, we've had hundreds and hundreds of ignorant comments.

Have you read the comment?

People don't know squat about the Holy Ghost and they call themselves Christians.

And I started to answer it and I said you know, I don't like to type.

I'm in the wrong business.

I'm a preacher, I preach, I don't type, I don't mess with my fingers and go, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

Let Him.

That is ignorant, be ignorant still.

Then you know you need to hang around a different church if you think that what you say is true.

I mean that's most ignorant.

Ignorant.

That's why I'm preaching is hopefully some of them will stumble along and finally hear the truth about the Holy Ghost.

But anyway, so Jesus prayed, his prayer was answered and then you know, we got filled.

We got the Holy Ghost when we got saved.

But when we received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we were filled.

There's two different things the Holy Ghost and regeneration.

When you were saved, of course you did.

If you didn't have the Holy Ghost, then you're not saved.

Your body became the temple of the Holy Ghost.

What you have of God.

You're not your own.

You've been bought with a prize.

Therefore, glorify God, your body and your spirit with your God.

That's for every born again believer.

But there's a subsequent.

There's a subsequent experience called the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

That's what Jesus talked about.

He commanded them in Acts, chapter one, not to lead Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.

John truly baptized the water, but you're gonna be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now and you shall receive power after that.

The Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me.

So we're not much of a witness without the power of the baptism of the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues.

Forget about a testimony, forget about a witness.

I've seen people.

I mean, they do the best they can, but they're not good enough.

That's why he has the baptism available for every believer.

Well, you don't need to have that to go to heaven.

You're right, you can go to heaven a lot faster without it, cause you're dumb.

You're walking through life dumb, like one hand tied behind your back, without the tools that God intended for you.

I mean, we don't send soldiers into battle without any armor, do we?

Or without any guns, without any ammo.

Amen, the baptism is everything you've got to have to live successfully and to help others.

So he filled us.

When we received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and we got another comforter.

What is that?

See, I'll pray another comforter.

That means identical, it means duplicate.

Over the years, I've heard and I've said to myself well, the Lord said to me.

Brother Mark's always saying well, the Lord showed me this.

The Lord said this, the Lord.

Well, the Lord didn't tell him anything.

If the Lord didn't appear to him, who was it?

It was the Holy Ghost.

Well, why does he say that?

Cause the Holy Spirit sounds just like the Lord.

They sound alike.

He's duplicate.

He's a duplicate of Jesus.

Jesus does not come down out of heaven and come down here and appear to you every five minutes to tell you something.

Who's talking to you?

If you hear a voice at all?

Who's talking to you?

I hope, hopefully Could be a demon.

I think a lot of these people that answered my one lady said well, you've lost me as a follower.

I thought, well, bye-bye, I wouldn't look it for you.

People are passionately ignorant.

I mean, they're so passionate, they're so passionate, so they're getting back to the spirit of God.

He's another comforter, just like Jesus, and so Jesus is leaving the earth and now we have a comforter that's everywhere present.

He's anywhere and everywhere, but especially he's inside of every believer, and so you have this helper.

This strengthen, this stand by advocate is another very important aspect.

Holy Spirit, he's the best lawyer you'll ever have.

I've had lawyers.

I've had some really good ones and I've had some really bad ones and so he is the best, he's an expert.

Amen, praise God.

So the early church then it says then they had rest, walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, fear of God.

Then they had rest.

It said then so word then why is it in there?

Then, well, it was after a certain amount of time.

So we're right if we go back a few chapters and see that the church was not walking in rest, they were not walking in the fear of the Lord and they weren't walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, they were walking kind of in disobedience, if you really want to know the truth.

Because Jesus told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

In fact, in Matthew he said make disciples of all ethnos, people, groups, ethnicities, not just Jews.

But the early church was they were Jewish, they were Jewish, and so when they got saved they just stuck with the people they knew better, they knew the Jews, they'd go to the temple.

They went.

I mean, they went to the temple.

They can go to church.

They went to temple.

So you know they were Jewish people.

You read it, read your Bible with some understanding, start understanding that there was not God's plan, that's not what God told them to do.

They were in violation of what Jesus told them to do.

Well, it doesn't say that way.

You need to read your Bible with a little understanding.

So they opened the door to Satan and a lot of the persecution they suffered was because of disobedience.

Their helper was not helping them disobey God.

He was not helping them disobey God, and so they?

They were just walking along and, of course, you know, the persecution got so bad that all of the disciples left Jerusalem, except the apostles, and they were scattered abroad.

That's when we pick up the story of Philip.

Philip went to Samaria.

Well, samaria is not Jerusalem and Samaria doesn't have any Jews.

They're all mixed race.

They're part Jewish and part Canaanite, and so that's why there was a racial divide.

It was Jews always looked down on Samaritans.

That's why Jesus talked about the good Samaritan.

Because he did that.

Why To poke his finger in the eye of all those sanctimonious Pharisees?

Again, you need to.

You need to realize that Jesus just wasn't always out there giving out hugs.

And a boy and a boy.

You're doing a great job, great job, good job.

Give me five.

No, that's not Jesus, not the Jesus, I read about the Jesus I read about, made a scourge.

A whip, took long, and he was so mad, even after he made a whip and went in there and drove the money changers out of the temple, overturned their tables, so they hadn't fully obeyed the Great Commission.

And so, as they began to obey, so what happened?

Well, you went to Samaria then, you know.

Then then, philip, you know, started preaching to the guy out in the desert, you know, got him saved, and so they slowly started leaving the comfort zone of Jerusalem and moved out into the rest of this world.

It took a while, it took a while, and then you see, in Acts, chapter 10, finally, peter gets a grip.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Finally, I mean, the spirit of God has to, has to lead him and give him a vision of the, of the sheet with four corners and the unclean animals on the sheet.

And he said rise, peter, peter, kill and eat.

Oh, I've never killed anything, I've never eaten anything.

Unclean, what a God is cleansed, call, not thou unclean.

He had to teach Peter, peter, still clueless, here in Acts, chapter nine, he still doesn't get it.

We, just, we just think these guys, just all of them, they're just greater than bigger than life.

Well, I just admire all the apostles, but they, they didn't know.

It took decades for them to learn.

Let's not go backwards, let's go forwards.

We've got 2000 years of revelation, knowledge that we can stand on the shoulders of great men and women of God today, and we don't have to go back, we can go ahead.

We can find revelation for our day, for our generation.

It's not new revelation, it's fresh.

There's no new.

There is no new.

It's the same Bible, but there's fresh revelation that is relevant to our day.

Are y'all with me now?

So as they began to obey then, they had rest.

What is rest?

Peace, prosperity and quietness.

Could we stand the little dose of that right now in America?

Yes, better start obeying God then.

Amen.

Peace, prosperity and quietness, that's rest and walking in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were edified.

They were edified then.

Before then, they weren't fully edified.

What does edified mean?

Well, it means they were built, strengthened and emboldened.

Isn't that what we need now?

We need bold voices.

We need people that'll stand up and tell the truth.

We need people to speak out against the evil that's been perpetrated, especially in our schools.

In some parts of the world.

They're trying to make it illegal In New York City, de Blasio.

They're trying to figure out a way to make it unlawful for parents to complain about the curriculum at school.

They wanna shut the parents up.

I wanna shut him up.

I believe one day he'll be thrown into a place where he'll be shut up.

He doesn't get saved.

He's gonna go right straight there and burn forever and ever.

Blasio, you're a lost goose.

You better repent and be saved.

And people like that I mean these people are so arrogant.

They think they know better about your children.

They're like I mean, it wasn't five years ago if they said that they would probably be driven out of office.

But now what's changed?

Well, I'll tell you what's changed.

You know it's gotten so late that the Holy Ghost quit helping.

Oh, okay, church, you're not gonna say anything.

Okay, preacher, you're gonna sit there and act like everything's the same as it's been behind your pulpit and you're not gonna lift your voice and say one thing about overreach in the government and how they're making all these decisions that are ungodly.

You're not gonna say anything because it's oh, separation in church and state.

My 501C3 is at risk.

That's not all.

That's at risk.

Are y'all with me now?

Oh, I said it's Communion Sunday.

This is why we receive Communion.

We receive Communion to remember what Jesus did and the greatest really it's the greatest thing that anybody could do to prepare us to have the third person of the Godhead not only live on the inside of us, but be upon us.

It's great.

Where is he In most churches?

Well, read my Facebook page, you'll find out.

Ignorance is just unbelievable.

And that's just 8,300 people.

Just think about how million, untold millions of people who call themselves Christians are so stupid when it comes to the God of heaven living on the inside of them.

Why isn't he more in an evidence?

Well, because they hadn't gotten to the then, yet they're still preceding the then.

Oh yeah, did you get what I'm saying?

I mean, you're like the early church.

They didn't get it either.

They didn't get it either, but they did get it.

They finally did get it.

And God's not gonna let the church alone until people get to a decision point.

So you can't be in this church until you make a decision and a lot of people visit and they hear the decision they gotta make and they run for the hills, they go back to comfort zone Because they realize what's necessary is they're gonna have to get a voice.

They're gonna have to get that boldness.

To be edified means that you are emboldened.

Glory to God.

So they had rest, which is what Peace, prosperity and quietness, and we're edified.

They were built, strengthened and emboldened as they walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

And again, that word comfort is really the help.

It's not little, darling.

Let me pat you on the head, all right.

So to walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, there's three things, and they all relate, I believe, to the fear of the Lord.

What is the fear of the Lord?

Is it being afraid of God?

No, but it is reverencing God.

It's caring about what he thinks above anything else.

And what does he think?

These are His thoughts, right here.

It's not a mystery what God thinks about anything.

He's not neutral.

There's still a lot of people think God's neutral.

Well, god's neutral on these political things.

He's not.

No, he's not.

You're stupid, you don't know God.

You don't know God by His word, you just know.

You know sound bites, you know theories, but you don't know the Bible, the Bible.

God is never neutral about anything.

He has a specific, Specific.

How are you with me now, all right.

So there's three things Resist not, quench not, and grieve not the Holy Ghost.

Everybody say resist not, quench not, grieve not the Holy Ghost.

All right, so let's start with resist, don't resist the Holy Ghost.

So act seven.

This is a.

This is Stephen.

For his trouble.

He got stoned, he did not win the people's choice award, was not invited on the red carpet and he said here in act seven 51 to the Jews he went off to pray and he did great signs and wonders among the people, miracles.

He had great signs and miracles among the people, great, great mega.

And he was an usher.

That was his job description, not evangelists, not profit, not profit.

He was an usher, spirit filled, ministry of helps.

And because the church wasn't doing its job, he got forced out outside and started preaching to the people that were still lost after Jesus was created.

In fact, a lot of these people are the ones that said crucified.

So he went to them and he says you stiff neck, verse 51, you stiff neck and uncircumcised and hardened ears.

Now see, that's not a.

That's not exactly the way to win the crowd over.

You don't build a church by calling people names, you know.

But what was he?

Was he there for a church growth seminar?

Was he?

Was he there to have a secret, sensitive ministry?

You, stiff necked and uncircumcised and hardened ears, you do always what.

Resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so did you.

They killed the prophets, they didn't listen to the prophets.

You're doing the same thing.

You always resist the Holy Ghost.

You know resisting the Holy Ghost.

Well, pastor, I don't know how.

Well, don't resist the Holy Ghost.

In other words, don't oppose them, don't go in the opposite direction.

Sometimes it's just simple as dragging your feet when you know in your knower to do something and then you don't do it.

Don't look at me so innocent.

I know I'm not the only one that's drug his feet.

I drug my feet.

For you know, couple of years before I started this church, I drug my feet and started another house.

It was so cursed it took a year and a half after I started the church for that house to even sell after the bank on it.

I went back in that house and it just gave me the creeps.

It was like every demon in the whole city was hanging off of the doorways inside that house.

It had so much oil on the front door.

Every preacher that come through town, I'd have them go over there and on it with oil for it to sell.

Never did sell.

The bank took it back, foreclosed on it.

January the third, they took it out of my control along with a whole bunch of my money and my partner's money too, and they just appropriated that into their portfolio and it didn't sell for a year and a half.

And then we started this church on January the 29th, so 26 days after they bought that house on the courthouse that's how they do See they put it up for auction and they're the only bidder.

And so how do they buy it?

Do they pay for the loan on the no?

No, they discount it.

They buy it at a loss.

I mean, they bought that house way cheaper than it cost me to build it.

Why did they do that?

So they could, just they could own it, and later on they make a big old profit and it just.

That's why they have marble lobbies.

That's why they've got marble on their countertops.

When you go into the bank at the bank teller, they don't have fermaca there, do they?

No, there's no fermaca in there.

Marble everywhere.

Ain't no crosses in there either, all right, so so resist dragging your feet.

See, the early church was content, like I said, staying Jerusalem, that's the comfort zone.

They knew it.

That's where they were, and you know when God wants major changes.

What major change did God want?

He said I want this gospel to go everywhere.

I don't listen.

Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

They've heard they've rejected.

Now let's shift gears, let's get it out to the Gentiles.

They didn't understand that.

That's what he said in plain Hebrew.

Right, we like plain English, but Jesus preached in plain Hebrew, or Aramaic actually, but anyway.

So he said yeah, go into all the world, make disciples of all ethnos.

The Gentiles, gentiles.

They didn't do it.

They drug their feet.

They made all kinds of excuses to stay right there in Jerusalem.

And so I remember, back in the 80s, brother Osteen was up on the platform and he was preaching along.

He says how would you like the banks to call you to borrow money from you?

Well, you know, that meant something to me, because I'm a home builder and everything I did was on borrowed money.

I borrowed money from the bank and built houses.

Other people's money, your money.

You put it in the bank.

They pay you 1%.

I pay 12% for the same money.

You get 1% for it.

It's too bad.

You and I can't just do business directly, cut the bank out.

Hadn't discovered how to do that yet.

I'm paying too above prime.

Prime is way up there.

You don't get prime for your money.

I think you lend the money in the form of a CD, but I mean it's pennies compared to what they get when they loan it back out.

And so when he said, how would you like it if banks called you and wanted to borrow money from you?

And I just laughed and I said, well, that would be a transformative kind of a thing for me, because my whole life is borrowed money.

It's how I do it.

And as far as that goes, being a home builder, I've never built a house in my life.

I do not own a hammer or a saw, I don't know anything about electricity.

I have a telephone and I have a little book about this big with every phone number of every subcontractor, and that's what I have.

I build houses with a phone book and a phone.

That was how I did.

So other people's labor, other people's money are y'all getting it now?

So when he said that, I started laughing.

I said, yeah, and what I've always made a practice is, whatever he said, anything up on that platform, he said whatever he said, even if he's joking.

I'm saying that's for me, why?

Because he's my pastor.

He's anointed to feed me.

He's anointed to watch over me.

His rod stretches out over my life.

I know when he's talking it might sound like he's joking, it might sound like it's just his shtick, but let me tell you something when he's talking I'm listening with both ears and I went wow, I like that idea.

Come on, bank, call me.

God is my witness.

The next week.

A bank president, just Jetero Bank.

Anybody remember Jetero Before Houston Intercontinental Airport?

It was Jetero Airport.

I don't know if anybody that old or not, but it was Jetero.

What a dumb name.

Anyway, houston has a history of dumb name.

So Jetero.

They changed the name but this was Jetero Bank, allied Jetero Bank.

It became under the Allied Bank shares and I had known this guy.

I'd never borrowed money from him, but he knew me, knew some of the other guys in the Allied Bank system where I had borrowed money.

He called me, said John, I need your help.

I said really, you need my help.

Yeah, I've got a house that sold the University of Houston golf coach and I knew who the guy was.

I can't think of his name now, but he had all those pro guys that played the University of Houston.

They went off into the pros, made millions of dollars on their jets and all that flew all over the country.

I mean he had the greatest golf program in the world at University of Houston.

Back in those days His daughter had bought a house.

His daughter had bought a house from this guy that I knew.

I knew the builder and he had gotten in financial trouble and left town and that was it.

And they're trying to salvage the deal.

It's a custom home and he's gone and they can't finish the house.

He said we're trying to get the house in our name.

It's gonna take another couple of weeks but once we get that and it looks like if we can work something out, we're trying to salvage this contract because we really need to sell that house to the people that bought it.

But they're kind of upset that the builder's gone, broke now left town.

Is there anything you can do?

I said well, sure, give me the address.

I said now, you know.

I said what stage is the house in?

Oh, it's painted, it's almost finished.

I said finished.

I said you've got 10% left to do, and that's I mean a monkey can get it up to the stage it's in right now.

It takes a real builder to finish it.

It's gonna cost you I can tell you that up front, because they're gonna be looking down my throat and they're not gonna trust me because of him.

And I said you're gonna have to pay me.

Are you willing to pay me?

Otherwise I'm not even gonna bother going to see it.

It was way out of I-10.

It was not even in my neighborhood.

It's, you know, 30 miles from my house to the job site.

But one good thing was it's almost finished, so it wasn't gonna take very long.

He said oh yeah, we'll work it out.

I said well, I gotta go look at it first and I'll come back.

So I came back and said 8,000 dollars, 8,000 dollars.

It's gonna cost you.

Yeah, cost plus 8,000.

You're gonna pay all the costs plus 8,000.

I said it's barking.

I don't even know why I'm doing it for that cheap.

I'm just thinking that.

You know I hate.

I know the guy.

He's a good guy.

I know he didn't.

He wasn't trying to hurt anybody and he must be desperate and he had moved to Austin to try to get a job is what he had done.

He couldn't make any money or cash flow.

And did he couldn't?

He couldn't make things work, so anyway.

So we made the deal.

I met the people.

They were, they were nice, and I had to sell myself.

I had to sell them on the idea that I'm gonna be, it's gonna be okay and it was okay.

In about 45 days I got my $8,000.

That's more money than I'd make on a whole house if I built it from scratch all the way from clearing the lot to.

I mean, in some cases and usually I tried to make more than that, but a lot of times I mean $8,000 gross profit.

That's not too bad Back in those years.

And they were happy, happy, happy.

And I didn't have thank God, I didn't have to go through the house after they moved in and rebuild it and do all of that kind of thing, and it would have been even worse if it had been finished and then I had to go over there and anyway.

So the next week after that and I see I'm a home builder what am I doing?

Well, I had sold everything and I had one house finished to sell, so that means I have zero cash flow.

Y'all get following me.

I'm talking about opposing the holy.

I'm talking about not following and not and being resistant.

The holy ghost is working in my life, in my business, and he has given me a way to make a living without building risky, speculative homes.

I'm finishing other people's messes.

Yes, are y'all with me now?

So the next week I finished that deal and it closes and the banker over there is delighted and he calls his buddy at Allied Spring Bank Mike Pope.

I knew Mike borrowed money from Mike and Mike calls me.

He said hey, I heard you.

Someone so call me from Jotaro told me what you did.

I've got two houses so, and so left town.

I knew him too.

I knew he's a good guy.

I liked him.

I've known him many years.

Yeah, I said okay, are they sold?

No, oh, they're not sold.

Yeah, so what stage are they in?

He said they just need finishing up.

I said, well, okay, I know that, but what stage?

Well, they need hardware, paper, plumbing, trim, electrical trim, light fixtures, air conditioning.

He said we wanna do everything but the air conditioning.

I said, well, look, if you're gonna hire me to do it, I would strongly suggest that you set the units and have them started up.

Make sure it's blowing cold, well, well, but we don't wanna have all that.

I said well, if you don't do it and I have to come back later, I'm gonna charge you just as much to do that little bit, because there could be a nail in the copper, there could be any number of problems that you're not gonna know about till you've sold it.

People are moving in in an emergency.

You're gonna want me to go back over there and whatever I'm charging you right now, I'm gonna have to charge it all over again.

He said oh, okay, well, in that case, two houses, $6,000 apiece.

40 days later, $12,000.

Now what should I have done?

Should I have gone out and started five spec houses, which is what I did?

Or should I have prepared a little flyer with my name and my recent history and gone around to all the bank presidents that I knew and there's not that many of them that make home loans?

They don't.

Hardly any banker understands real estate, new home construction.

They did just very few of them.

So they're all a community.

I could have used those two bankers and those three houses to parlay myself going into the biggest depression this city has seen since the 30s, where in just one subdivision there were 1,000 vacant houses, 1,000 and one subdivision.

I won't mention the subdivision because you might live there, you might cause your value to go down.

I mean, god was trying to set me up with a business, an alternative business that would have paid my bills plus all the way through the greatest building depression.

I didn't need to build any houses, all I had to do was finish houses that needed to be finished and just work and work and watch over the empty houses.

You know, when the empty house I mean it gets vandalized, rocks get thrown through the windows, people break in and do all kind of ugly, thern the water faucets on, vandalized.

You know they need somebody like me.

But no, I opposed the Holy Ghost.

So everybody go.

1985, 1995.

How long is that?

Okay, that's when we started the church.

That's when I got out of the mess I created.

It was 10 years when I opposed the Holy Ghost in my life.

Are you all with me now?

I'm preaching from experience.

I lived it.

Don't oppose the Holy Ghost, don't drag your feet.

All right, the second one don't quench the Holy Ghost.

First, thessalonians 519,.

Quench not the Spirit, in other words, don't throw water on the fire, don't put out the fire, don't put out the zeal.

Just a little example I hadn't been saved very long and was going to Full Gospel.

Businessmen's Fellowship International in Conroe was my chapter that I'd go to at the Holiday Inn on Fraser Street, right as you come into Conroe from the South.

It's right there looking at you.

When you come into Conroe you're kind of bare to the left and go down I-45, you pass it on the right.

On its left it's on your right.

So we were there.

I'd go there twice a month.

I'd have the Saturday evening meeting and then two weeks later the Saturday morning breakfast meeting.

Where I was at a breakfast meeting.

It's about 12 guys.

They're, all you know, much more experienced than I am.

I still got milk around my mouth.

I've been baptized in the Holy Ghost a few weeks.

I don't know much, you know.

But we're standing in a circle, we're praying in other tongues and just having a prayer meeting out on the dance floor, the disco dance floor.

That night after this meeting is gonna be disco dancing and there's gonna be all this stuff going on there.

And here we are praying in a circle right there on the dance floor and so one of the brothers you know started giving a message in tongues and I just knew what the interpretation was.

I got the interpretation but I thought you know, I can't do this.

I'm the youngest one here.

I mean, I don't know anything, I'm just gonna wait, maybe somebody else will do it and I quenched the gift of the spirit of interpreting interpretation of tongues.

You know, if a message in tongues is different than just somebody speaking in tongues, they're praying.

Your spirit prays.

That's another thing that got all messed up on my Facebook page.

People don't know the difference between the gift of tongues, which is always supposed to be interpreted, because the gift of tongues plus interpretation equals prophecy.

That's for the what, edification, exhortation and comfort of the church.

That's what it's for.

So I had the interpretation and I didn't give it.

And then the prayer meeting was over and I went home and I felt so bad, I felt so guilty and I asked God to forgive me because I knew I had what quenched.

Don't quench your testimony.

You have a testimony to give.

There are opportunities right now.

You know, just last Sunday James gave his testimony and those candidates for judge were standing right back in the back and one of them teared up.

She said man, you gave your testimony about what happened to you in college, how you had to choose between going to church and going to finals, and you chose to go to church and not go to the final exam.

You got to take the final anyway because the guy had mercy on that just made her.

He had tears in her eyes, see his testimony.

If he hadn't, if he quenched the Holy Ghost, oh, we've got all these guests back here.

I better take it easy.

I don't want to do that during offering time.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

No, he gave his testimony and it's not just his testimony, it's a part of his testimony.

You've got testimony.

You've got things you've lived.

I gave you my testimony about something that was embarrassing, that hurt me.

Well, it doesn't hurt me anymore.

I give it to you so you can gain.

10 years of pain will help you and help me too.

Now I can stand on the shoulder of the guy that did all that and not make that same mistake again.

Are y'all with me now Quenching the Holy Ghost, quenching praise and thanksgiving?

I mean, you know, the sadder you are, the louder you ought to praise God.

The worse it looks, the louder your praise ought to be.

Remember the praise cure.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about that.

So if you want to quench something, quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

That's what you quench.

Amen.

Don't quench the spirit.

And the last one is don't grieve the Holy Ghost.

Grieving and quenching are two different things.

To grieve the Holy Ghost Ephesians 4-3, grieve not the spirit of God, grieve not or make sad.

You know, when John the Baptist was there witnessing Jesus receiving the Holy Ghost, he said I saw heaven open and the spirit descending like a dove upon Jesus.

And the heavens opened, said this is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased.

Hear ye him.

And so he went off into the wilderness to be tempted to the devil 40 days ago.

And he said I saw heaven open and the spirit descending to the devil.

40 days and 40 nights came back in the power of the spirit.

How did he do that?

Because he'd been filled with the Holy Ghost before he left and the spirit came down on him like a dove.

The spirit is not a dove, but the symbol of the Holy Ghost is a dove.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit never speaks of himself.

He's very meek.

He sounds like Jesus.

When he does speak, he only talks about Jesus.

Are y'all with me now?

Can you read about the Holy Ghost?

He's just very, very.

He's not like you would think God would be like, real insistent.

He will not insist on you doing what he wants you to do.

He gives you a little nudge and weights and if you don't take the nudge he doesn't say much.

He's not like you.

But when he grieves, when he is made sad, his ability is withdrawn and suddenly you don't have a helper.

I'm not saying he leaves you like goes to another place.

He still lives inside of you.

You know, when people raise Pentecostal they think they're saved one day and lost the next.

They're always repenting and they're always worried about they're gonna miss the rapture.

That's just Bible ignorance.

I'm not saying that about grieving the spirit.

When the spirit is grieved, he doesn't leave you and go somewhere else.

He's still there.

He just clams up and he will not lift a finger to help you do anything.

You've grieved him.

And so what happens when that happens?

Well, living wrong, talking wrong and grieve the spirit.

I've seen preachers get behind the pulpit and use the pulpit as a battering ram and as a bulldozer and just run over the crowd and be disrespectful to the crowd and grieve the spirit.

I saw one guy on television.

He was making fun of a woman that was overweight At her expense.

He was having the whole crowd laughing and I felt the spirit be grieved.

I flicked the channel off.

I couldn't stand to watch it.

That's not the Holy Spirit.

That's not right.

To make fun of someone and have the crowd laugh at that person's expense is gonna grieve the spirit.

You are touching God's anointed.

How many of you have heard that?

It's always the preacher saying touch not God's anointed.

In other words, don't criticize me.

Well, I don't believe in criticizing either, but you know, sometimes people need to understand where I'm coming from and I don't mind making the case.

That's not the same as touching the anointing, but you can touch the anointing.

Undue criticism In a worship service having undue praise and adulation of man.

I've seen funerals where the spirit of God just flew away.

Why?

Because people forgot why they were there and they turned it into a bragging session on the deceased.

Well, I'm not saying we ought to criticize them.

I'm not saying we shouldn't brag on them a little bit, but let's not forget Jesus.

Let's not forget the one who made that person what they were.

Our main job is to magnify the Lord.

Well, where do we know?

I don't know where the balance is.

I just know not to go there.

If I'm gonna err, I'm gonna err on the side of preaching Jesus and saying very little about the, especially if I don't know the deceased.

What's there to say?

Back when I first started doing funerals, I didn't know any of the deceased.

I was sent out to do the job and God would give me a message just for that person.

So he loved them, he knew them and God would give me a message to comfort the family, even though I didn't know personally that person.

It's amazing what God did for me in those early days.

One time we had gone on a mission's trip.

I had this lady and her husband that had helped me and had done the organizing on the trip.

As a foreign country Asia.

It's a 30 hour flight back there.

Up there and back.

You're either on the airplane or at the airport 30 hours, and so it's a rugged deal, and so when I get back to town I don't get to have a month vacation.

I'm right back up here in the pulpit.

So I've got to protect God, brother Osteen used to grab me by the lapels.

He said, john, do you love the anointing?

Take care of yourself.

I always believed to fly first class.

That's what he'd tell me.

He'd tell me Some people I said that one time and I had a couple that were flight attendants for continental airlines and they left the church.

They got so offended that I flew first class to Asia.

Well, why would I fly in the back of the plane like a sardine and can't rest, I can't lean back.

The seats are like this and like this.

I've done that at 30 hours.

You try it sometime and try to be anointed when you get there, and more effective.

And then when you get back, you try to be anointed when you get back.

You're gonna be sick, you're gonna be worn out.

Are you with me now?

Do you love God?

Do you love yourself, john?

Yes, sir.

So then, also, when I stay in a hotel, I try to stay in the nicest place I can find.

I don't want tolman poisoning.

Where are you gonna get any deadly thing at Shawnee?

Well, okay, you just go ahead.

You go on that one.

You've got such faith.

You've got such faith.

You just go ahead.

But I want something I can eat while I'm there.

So anyway, we're having a report.

It was a tremendous report and we were in this medium-sized city in Asia, there, and the hotel was okay.

It wouldn't probably the second worst hotel I've ever been in, but it was.

I could sleep, it had an air, a window unit, anyway.

So she said you know, it's really a challenge because pastor always needs to stay in a five-star hotel.

And so that was a challenge.

And I said, when she said that, I said, and I laughed, I said five-star hotel.

There's not a single five-star hotel anywhere in that nation, much less in the city where we were.

Claire taught me, out of ever saying third world country, she said, dad, that's really insulting, and I realized that.

So, developing nations, I just wish they would finish developing.

That's all I'd say, that's all I'll say about that.

Please finish developing, but anyway.

So I didn't take it bad, I just I wasn't offended, I laughed, I turned it into a joke and then I started preaching.

After that, after we had the mission's report, what all happened?

How many pastors were there?

1300, pastors and leaders three days.

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

And when I got home I was just exhausted, my heart was palpitating.

I could hardly, I couldn't rest.

I was laying on my couch trying to recover because three or four hours I'm gonna come back Sunday night and preach again and I've gotta get a little rest and get ready for Sunday night service.

But I feel terrible and I can't even doze off and I said, lord, what's going on?

What's this deal?

What's the deal?

What happened?

I realized something was wrong then, not while I was at church, but after I got home and I heard the voice.

She grieved me, holy Spirit, she it was a woman grieved me and I mean the fear of God hit me.

I mean the fear of God hit me.

And I realized what had happened and I just heard the whole.

I heard the whole thing that she said.

And he let me meditate a little while.

He said she dishonored you in front of your sheep.

I said I see that.

I didn't see that then and I didn't take it that way.

Yeah, but I did.

I agreed the Spirit.

And the reason I was tired is because it's just like to preach up here without the anointing here helping me.

It's like pulling an anchor off the bottom of the ocean.

I've had that happen several times in 26 years.

Won't go into all of the different time, but that was one time that I remembered about this message to prepare for you to grieve the Spirit like that.

It's very serious.

And so you know that was the beginning of the end of that person being in this church, cause I called her the next morning and rebuked her in private on the telephone on Monday, told her exactly what I heard, what the Spirit said, why it was wrong, and she just kept making excuses and I knew she was never gonna travel with me again, she was never gonna do anything for me again never, because she wouldn't repent when her pastor told her.

If Brother Osteen told me something like that, I mean I'd be turning corkscrews trying to make it right.

I'd offer to write a letter, I'd offer to get up in front of everybody the next Sunday and say I said something last Sunday.

It was completely wrong, it was a lie.

Cause I never required any kind of a five star hotel.

There wasn't one.

Even if I had, there wasn't one to be in.

They had one little dinky little place to eat in that hotel and all I could eat there was Pad Thai.

Have you ever had Pad Thai?

We'll try having it for lunch and supper times.

Four Nothing for breakfast, pad Thai for lunch, pad Thai for dinner.

Pad Thai for lunch, pad Thai for dinner.

That's two.

Pad Thai for lunch, pad Thai for dinner Times.

Four, four days.

You're ready for something besides Pad Thai?

And it was pretty lousy Pad Thai.

Five star restaurant, five star hotel.

Are y'all with me?

Y'all are so quiet.

Oh.

But see, we can grieve the spirit.

You can grieve the spirit yourself.

You can grieve the spirit.

You can grieve.

Don't grieve the spirit.

Why?

Because he loves you and we should honor him.

We should know how he thinks.

We should know how he is.

He's our entity.

He told me of this one time.

I'm your intimate companion.

He's with us everywhere we go.

He knows us like no one else knows us.

He knows every issue we have.

He knows everything about us and yet he loves us.

We ought to always do everything we can to have Quenania, which is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

So, rather than opposing or resisting the Holy Ghost, quenching or grieving, let's walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

Let's cooperate fully with him, amen, and then we'll have rest, peace, prosperity, quietness and edification.

Come on, lift your hands and receive today.

That's the bottom line of the message is something positive.