Come Holy Spirit Part 5 | Are You a Partner? with Rudy

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected

or to give online, please go to hdv .church slash

connect or hdv .church slash give. If at any

point during this message you feel called to

make a change in your life, text CHANGEME to

97000. Now enjoy the message. Good morning, family!

Good morning! Shoot, I was wondering. The first

service was pretty awake. You guys were doing

good. We're doing good. Good morning, welcome.

If you're here for your first time, second time,

welcome to our church. If you're watching online

from your home, maybe from the Dominican Republic,

thanks for joining us. If it is your first time

or you just started a couple weeks ago, when

the service is over, introduce yourself to me.

Me being Rudy, I am the assistant pastor. It

is my honor and pleasure to speak to you guys

today. Before I do that, let me highlight just

a couple of these announcements to help you guys

partner with the Holy Spirit. You heard the glow

necklaces. Is anyone here going to watch fireworks

this week? Okay, a couple of you. So what some

of you may or may not know is we like to give

away glow bracelets. So there are packs of glow

bracelets at the Welcome Hub for you to take

and bless. A kid or a couple kids, 10 or 15 bracelets

in each one. Try to please keep it to one pack

per family when you go out there. Next. I heard

feedback. Next. Summer growth groups are happening

next month. We have eight people that are going

to lead. Of those eight, seven of them have never

left. We also have a virtual version. So if you

are one of those leaders, your packets are ready

at the Welcome Hub. Go pick them up. If you want

to get involved, you can go to hcv .church slash

groups. Or next week, all the leaders will be

here. And you'll be able to meet them face -to

-face. So you can get into a growth group for

the summer. Did I mention we like to party? And

then lastly. You guys were here last week, you

know that the DR, the Dominican Republic mission

trip is happening right now. The kids are down

there. How many of you have been following the

Holy Spirit for a while now? Trying. Don't try,

do. There is no try. Oftentimes when you follow

the Holy Spirit, it's kind of like a wild goose

chase. That's what these kids are experiencing

right now. Chris and Carl Hartman and Steve Wetzel,

they all got up Friday to take everyone down,

and their flight got canceled. They came home

Friday. I'm trying to update everyone on Facebook,

and I'll do that this week, but they ended up

going back down yesterday. They flew to BWI.

They left New Jersey sometime around 11, 11 o

'clock, and landed in a Dominican at the wee

hour of like 1 .30 a .m. So we are going to pray

for them because they are going to make a difference

this week. Whether or not the enemy wants them

to, they are going to make a difference. So with

that said, let's just pray. You guys aren't here

to listen to me anyway. So let's invite the Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit. God, I just give up this stage,

this microphone to you. Whatever word you want

to say, you can use my voice, God, but let it

be all your words. God, I pray for each and every

one of these young people that are sacrificing

a week of their summer to go speak your name.

Give them grace, give them patience to be able

to walk this week out. God, I just pray a special

blessing over the bracelets. Each and every child

that has handed a bracelet this week, let them

and their family know just how much you love

them. Through a bracelet or a kind word. God,

just be with us here today. Allow your word to

speak through. Wreck us so that we get out of

the way to walk out your will. God. Speak to

all that's here today in such a way that we're

not just inspired to do your work, that as soon

as Rudy's done speaking, everyone wants to run

out and do the stuff right now. In Jesus' name,

amen. All right. So, if you're warm right now

like I am, because I'm wearing pants, just know

that that's the Holy Spirit moving, not a broken

air conditioning unit. About two weeks ago, I

started a new running program. Actually, a couple

of you have actually acknowledged to me that

you saw me running over the past week or so.

The one person was like, Rudy, did I see you

running? And I kind of just laughed because it's

like, yeah. Their next statement was, because

your body looked like it was running. But I think

if you went any slower, you'd be walking, running

backwards. Listen, I've run seven half marathons

in my life. Running at 50 doesn't look the same

as running in your 20s or your 30s or even your

40s. It sure as heck doesn't feel the same. especially

when you are out of shape and trying to get back

into it. Now, when I say it looks different,

what I really mean is, I'm going to keep going

and ignore that. When I say it looks different,

what I really mean is slower. It looks slower.

It feels slower. The pace is slower. The recovery

time is slower. Me getting up tomorrow morning

is slower. The only thing that's faster is my

heart rate and maybe my breathing. So what happened

is this. Like two months ago, I started a high

-intensity interval training session three days

a week. I'm doing it, and I'm just not seeing

any movement because, again, I'm 50. Every other

time in my life it happens. But anyway, I decided

I needed to change my diet. my eating, and maybe

start doing some cardio. I wear a Garmin running

watch. Any runners in here? Oh, like four of

you. Hopefully you guys will understand what

I talk about today. It was actually the Garmin

app on my phone that suggested I partner with

one of their coaches to start this running program.

So I updated my app on my phone, and there was

Coach Greg. asking if I wanted to join a 5K or

a 10K training program. Of course, I'm all in,

so I picked the 10K. Like I said, listen, like

I said, I've run a couple half marathon, not

a full, a couple half marathons in my life, so

I went all in. My goal date should be Labor Day

weekend. So if you see me crawling around the

south end of town on Labor Day weekend, stop

and give me a glass of water. So listen, I'm

partnering with this coach, and this coach tells

me what to do three times a week, which is awesome

because I don't have to decide. I don't have

to make the plan. The app does it for me. Then

the cool thing is it sends it right to my watch,

and all I have to do is follow the promptings

of my watch, and I'm golden. The other cool thing

is it tailors the walk to me. I mean run, but

the walk, whatever. It's cool, like when the

workout's finished, at the end of the workout,

it'll say, hey, how hard was this? And then I

push easy or moderate or hard. I have pushed

moderate once. Let me tell you, it was 90 degrees

last week. I ask God every day why I'm doing

this. So, in my watch right now is the Monday

workout and the Wednesday workout. Tomorrow,

I do stride repeats. If you've ever trained,

tomorrow's not going to be fun. Wednesday is

a progression run. Friday, it says, stay tuned

for details. It knows that it's got to see what

I'm doing before it can give me the answers,

right? The watch won't tell me Friday's plan

until I do tomorrow's plan. This is how the Holy

Spirit works. He only tells you a step or two.

He won't tell you the next step until you do

yours. The funny thing is, I'm willing to do

the next workout not knowing what's coming. I

trust the tech or the AI or... whatever's controlling

this thing, I will partner with this virtual

coach that I've never met, but still hesitate

to partner with the Holy Spirit, the one who

knows me inside and out. And that's what I want

to talk about today. This week, we're going to...

do our points based on how Chris has set us up

over the last couple weeks, because he's shown

us in the last couple messages how the Holy Spirit

empowers us, how the Holy Spirit helps us, how

the Holy Spirit teaches us. And today I'm going

to take those points as the basis to viewing

the Holy Spirit as our partner. Our first step

then, which is also an action step, is to prepare

ourselves to partner prepare ourselves to partner

with the Holy Spirit, the first thing we need

to do is say it. Surrender. Say it. You guys

don't even want to say that word. Say it again.

Okay. What is surrender? Surrender just means

to give up the fight. Surrender is just a complete

yielding. It can mean a total relinquishing of

our control and power. And I say that, and some

of you want to run out right away. In Philippians

Philippians 2:5

2, verse 5, it goes like this. Adopt the same

attitude as that of Jesus Christ, who in the

form of God did not consider equality with God

as something to be exploited. Instead, he did

what? Emptied himself by assuming the form of

a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.

And then when he had become a man, he humbled

himself again by becoming obedient to the point

of death. death on a cross. He gave it up. Like

Jesus, we need to give up. 1 Peter 5, starting

in verse 6. Humble yourself under the mighty

power of God, so that he may exalt you at the

proper time, casting all your cares on him, because

he cares about you. Be sober -minded. Be alert.

Your adversary, the devil, is prowling around

like a roaring lion. looking for anyone he can

devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing

that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced

not just by you, but every believer throughout

the world. So, my buddy Brandon Lurch was a regular

attendee here at Hub City Vineyard a few years

ago. Then life kind of happened, his situation

changed, and he was just led elsewhere. for a

season. We reconnected a few weeks ago and had

dinner. So he's been attending this other church,

actually saying, Rudy, I'm not even 100 % sure

why God has me here in this season. But like

Brandon, like me, Brandon is working out, working

on his body. He was on a run down at the towpath,

Easter weekend, and he starts praying. steps

over, kneels down, and starts praying, and clearly

hears God say to him, Brandon, be still and wait.

You guys remember Easter weekend? What happened

Easter night, Easter Eve? We had a big storm,

right? So Brandon wakes up the next morning.

In his driveway are two big trees blocking in

his car. So his first thought is, I guess the

enemy is trying to keep me from going to church.

Until God said, no, that was me. I'm pretty sure

I told you to be still and wait. Get back in

there and wait. It's hard sometimes. But know

this. If the waiting is hard, know this. Go all

the way back to the Old Testament, Lamentations

3. The Lord will not reject us forever. Even

if he causes suffering, he will show compassion

according to the abundance of his faithful love.

Of course, even after reading that, some of you

are still like, Rudy, yeah, okay. God said wait,

and I've been waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I want

to go back to last month's series just for a

second. It was called Inked. We took tattoo submissions.

This submission didn't make it into one of Chris's

messages, but I want to highlight one of those

submissions. Charlotte Henson has the tattoo

on her arm, a tattoo that just says 41. 41. I

don't have the photo, but I just want to read

you what she said in her submission. Why 41,

she asked. In the Bible, It rained for 40 days

and 40 nights. Day 41 came, and the rain stopped.

Moses committed murder and hid in the desert

for 40 years. Year 41 came, and God called him

to rescue Israel. Moses went up on the mountain

for 40 days. On day 41, he received the Ten Commandments.

The Israelites, they wandered in the wilderness

for 40 years. Year 41, they walked into the promised

land. Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days. Day

41 came, David slew him. And Charlotte goes on

in her submission to list other 40, 41 scenarios

from the Bible. And this one just stuck out to

me because I relate. to this number so much.

I was baptized at six years old and heard shortly

thereafter that I would be in ministry. I was

ordained at 41. Now, if you learn anything from

my math class, if you do that subtraction, what's

that equal? 41. Somebody needs to take a math

class. Thanks, Lynn. You just kept me from crying,

that's all. I'm not sure who was waiting on who,

whether it was me waiting for God or God waiting

for me, but 40 years of waiting on God, then

I was ordained in year 41. Most of us don't like

to wait 40 minutes. Shake your head no if you

want to, but this afternoon when you go to lunch

at the Texas Roadhouse, if your lunch takes 40

minutes, I guarantee you you're yelling at a

manager. Charlotte finished her submission with

this line. The rain will stop, the giant will

fall, and you will enter your promised land.

Don't give up at 40. Clap. While you're in the

waiting, while you're in the waiting, pray like

it depends on God. But move like it depends on

you. Waiting doesn't mean you can't move. This

leads us to our second point. Another S word.

After we surrender, we need to submit. Submitting

is yielding to authority. Submitting is accepting

the will or the commands of a superior power,

which is whom? Oh man, you guys need another

Holy Spirit lesson. God, thank you. Okay. Surrendering

is giving up. Submitting is giving in. Now, bear

with me for a second as I read this next scripture.

And don't jump anywhere yet. Go to Ephesians

5 and verse 22. It says this. Wives, submit to

your husbands as to the Lord. Because the husband

is the head of the wife as Christ is the head

of the church. He is the savior of the body.

Listen, I know that I cherry picked one short

little section of this whole chapter. I am not

trying to make any statement about household

authority. If I was, this would be my question.

Which is more necessary to make your body work,

the head or the heart? Without the life -giving

oxygen and nutrients in the blood, the brain

can't do its work. Conversely, without the control

center of the brain, The heart can't perform

its function. Neither can anything else. Husbands

and wives, you need to work together, submitting

together on your relationship, together for it

to be efficient. Now, let me get off that soapbox.

Further down in this same passage, in verse 29,

we read this. For no one, none of you ever hates

his own flesh, but provides and cares for it,

just as Christ has done for the church, since

we are members of his body. Folks, we are the

body of Christ. We can do nothing without being

connected to our head, which is Jesus. The cool

thing is Jesus uses his body to carry out the

functions that only a body can do. So submit

your head to the head of the church, Jesus, to

the sovereign power of God, our Father, and let

the Holy Spirit lead you. I want to read 1 Peter

5 again, that same passage. Humble yourselves,

therefore, under the mighty hand of God. Submit

to God. So that he may exalt you at the proper

time. Casting all your cares on God. Because

God cares about you. Guys, quit caring about

yourself and let God do it. He's better at it

than you. Now, I'm going to quickly tell a story

that I didn't tell first service. They weren't

ready for it. A couple years ago, Carrie and

I bought our house. I'm going to move around

because it's a running story. Carrie bought our

house. And then the next, it was 4th of July.

4th of July, I went for a run. I was in shape

then. This is nine years ago. I went for a run.

And as I'm running, set the clock three miles.

We're going to run three miles. Thankfully, my

watch tells me where I am, right? I live next

to the city park, so I'm running. go out and

back, and I finish up in the city park. And I'm

running across the back of the park, kind of

from the museum towards Hager House, like right

next to the pond, right next to the lake, right?

I'm running, and as I'm running, I see this dude

standing on the back, like, corner of the park,

of the lake. And as I'm running, the Holy Spirit

says, Rudy, go pray with that guy. And my response

was, absolutely not. And I ran right by him.

A couple steps later, the Holy Spirit's like,

Rudy. Actually, he may have been calling me Christopher

because I need, if you need me to know something,

call me Christopher. Christopher, I'm telling

you, go back and pray. God, you know I'm not

ready for this. I argued with him as I ran around

the lake watching him disappear in the horizon.

And the whole time I'm running, the Holy Spirit's

like, go. And the whole time I'm like, I'm not

ready. Eventually, I'm like, sure, God, if I

happen to run past this guy again. Rudy, go back.

So at this point now, I'm far enough around the

lake because when I argue, I'm stubborn. I'm

far enough around the lake, I might as well just

keep running. Okay? I'm just going to run back

to that corner. If I see him, right? I know I

can't be alone in this thought. So, if you know

anything about the park, there's the trail right

next to the park, the sidewalk, and then there's

a trail higher up, like next to the museum. I

took the trail higher up in case I saw him. And

as I did, Run literally right in front of the

museum. I saw this guy limping up the sidewalk

and immediately knew that there was a reason.

I wasn't ready to submit. Once I submitted and

turned back around, about 10, 15 paces behind

him, my watch says, congratulations, you just

hit three miles. Maybe the Holy Spirit knew I

needed a... A quarter of a mile or seven quarters

of a mile, something, I don't know. He knew I

needed to argue. Point is, I had to submit. But

once I submitted, you know how hard that conversation

was? Not hard. We just talked. Because we're

people. That's how you prophesize. Prophesize

just means be you. So, you guys can write those

notes down. When you see the people in first

service next week, just go. Really told us a

story. Matthew 6, 24. No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other, or

he will be devoted to the one and despise the

other. You cannot serve God and wealth. You cannot

serve God and man. You cannot serve God and the

world. You cannot serve God and your wife. You

cannot serve God and you. Now. Let's get back

to the Garmin watch. It acts much like a stopwatch,

right? You have a button here, you start, stop.

Then you have this button down here that's a

lap button. You guys have used a stopwatch before,

yes? Anyone over 30 maybe? When you hit the start,

stop button, you start, you take off, you run.

Now the cool thing is with these programs that

Garmin downloads, every time you switch, If you're

doing splits where you run for 20 seconds and

then jog or walk or crawl for 45 seconds, every

time you switch, you just hit the lap button,

right? I'm done that, do the next one. Done that,

lap button, do the next one. Okay, that's how

it works. One day, I was doing a light run. I

went from warmup to run, I hit the button. Easy

peasy. Follow the spirit, right? I ran like a

tenth of a mile, looked down, I hit the wrong

button. I stopped the watch. Anyone else here

use a running watch? Do you understand how aggravating

it is that I didn't get that quarter, like tenth

of a mile recorded? You can never get that back.

I digress. The point here, if we want to be successful,

we have to keep checking in. We have to keep

submitting to the watch. Or to the Spirit. Which

leads us to point three. Substantiate. I'll give

you a second because I used a big word here.

Substantiate. Substantiate means to provide evidence

or prove the truth of. How do we know that it

is God we are hearing from? We have to substantiate

it. Through the Word, also known as the Bible,

and filter it through Scripture. Now, I'm not

saying here and then get into Scripture. I'm

saying get into Scripture every day. Romans 15

.5 or 15 .4. For whoever has written, sorry,

slow down, Rudy. For whatever was written in

the past was written for our instruction, so

that we may have the hope through endurance and

through the encouragement. That comes from where?

Scriptures. See, like the watch, the more I use

the functions, the more I understand how to engage

with the watch. Funny thing is, I've come to

realize that I don't have to hit the lap button.

The watch is smarter than me. When it's time

to switch, it just switches. The more I engage.

the more I partner with the watch, the deeper

I understand how the watch works. Do I need to

make this connection for you? The more I read

the Bible, the more I pray, the more I worship,

the deeper I understand how the Holy Spirit works.

Let's get back to 1 Peter 5 once again. Humble.

Therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that

he may exalt you at the proper time. Cast your

cares on him because he cares about you. Skipping

down to verse 9. Resist him, the enemy, and stay

firm in your faith. I want to consider another

definition of substantiate. Substantiate can

also mean to grow considerably. To grow considerably

in importance, to grow in worth, to grow in size.

Substantiate means to become more substantial.

The only way to become more substantial is to

get into his presence. And it's funny because

if I ask you guys to raise your hands, how many

of you want to spend eternity with God? I believe

every hand would go up. But if I ask you how

many of you want to spend tomorrow with God?

Less of you would be willing to do it. The more

I hang out with him, the more kingdom moves I

make, the more substantial it becomes. And the

more substantial you become, the more the fruits

of the Spirit come alive inside of you. What

are the fruits of the Spirit? Galatians 5. The

fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance.

Look that one up. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self -control. Against all of

those, there is no law. And in skipping down

to verse 35, since we live by the Spirit, let

us keep in step with the Spirit. How do we keep

in step with the Spirit? I'm going to give you

a couple action steps today. But before I do

that, I want to tell you guys about a life -changing

moment that I experienced about nine years ago.

I'm going to sit down. Hopefully I can get down

and back up. So about nine years ago, this happened.

And I was triggered about a month ago when Chris

started this series. How many of you were here

for the first week of this series? And we got

to the end of the series and Chris said, hey.

Put your hands out. Listen to the Holy Spirit.

And I immediately thought of the time that he

did this back in October of 2015. He said, put

your hands out and listen to the Spirit. So I

did. And I'm going to make you guys do it again

in a second. But I want to tell you the story

of me doing it. Because I have a feeling some

of you may have experienced something like this.

All right. Put your hands out. All right, God,

you don't have to just watch me. Don't do this

yourself yet. Just watch me. All right, God,

what you got for me? This is Rudy checking in.

Kind of hungry. What are we doing for lunch again?

Rudy, focus, focus, focus on the God. All right.

Carrie's got her hands. Carrie never. Carrie's

got her hands out. Good job, baby. Rudy, focus,

focus. All right. Come on, God. Rhett, play me

the perfect note so I can hear God. Guess we're

going to go watch the Steelers play. The only

thing worth doing on a Sunday afternoon. Just

beating myself up because I can't hear from God.

And then I hear, you're going to change the tire.

All right, idiot. Why would I think such a stupid,

ridiculous thing? Carrie, let's go to lunch.

Let's get out of here. Everyone else can hear

from God, but not Rudy. I can't hear from him.

Go to lunch. I drank two beers at lunch. I said

it quietly so they couldn't hear. We were living

in Williamsport. We drove back across 70. When

I got onto the 81 interchange. Telling you guys,

this is a life -changing moment. There was two

girls in this little Subaru Outback with three

babies in the back. They had a flat tire. I pulled

over. They didn't have a tire iron. I changed

the tire, thankfully the same day, because I

don't know about you guys, but I'm an idiot.

If this would have happened three weeks after,

I would have completely forgotten. Why am I walking

you guys through this? I want you to know that

when you listen to God, it may sound ridiculous.

It might sound like your own voice, but he's

going to speak to you. So I venture to say a

month ago that when you guys did this, 90 % of

you heard something and didn't realize you were

hearing something. So we're going to do it again,

which leads us to our first action step. The

first thing we have to do to partner with the

Holy Spirit is to shut up and listen. You need

to listen to his voice in Ephesians 1. Paul prays

over the church this. This is why, since I heard

about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love

for all the saints, I never stopped giving thanks

to you as I remember you in my prayers. Now put

your hands out. And I'm going to keep reading

this verse. And I want you to continue to read

this verse to yourselves all week. I pray that

the Lord of our, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the glorious Father, would give you, family,

you, Hub City Vineyard, the wisdom and the revelation

and the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes

of your heart may be enlightened so that you

may know what is the hope of his calling, what

is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in

the saints. And that you would know the immeasurable

greatness of his power toward us who believe

according to the mighty working of his strength.

So I want you to sit in this moment while Christian

plays and just ask God, what do you have for

me? What do you want for me? And if it's weird,

write it down. If you're still there, stay where

you are. Our last action step. Once you hear

what he says, you have to do what he says. Do

what he told you. 1 John 3 .18. I'm using a Good

News Bible translation. My children, our love

should not just be words and talk. It must be

true love, which shows itself in action. Remember

the story Chris told us a couple weeks ago about

the man in a flood, and he was praying, no, God's

going to send me a miracle, so he shoos away

everyone. This morning, can you change your perspective?

Instead of asking God for a miracle, ask God

how you can be someone else's miracle. may be

the answer to someone else's prayer. Instead

of thinking inward like the man on the roof of

his house, start thinking outward. Be the pilot

in the helicopter. Show up with your boat. I'm

about to walk us through the salvation prayer,

but I got one more quick story. This past week

at Thursday morning, we do prayer every Thursday

morning. Linda Kunkel shared a testimony. Linda's

brother -in -law, Steve, had passed. About a

week or so before his passing, Kurt, Linda's

husband, Steve's brother, asked his brother if

he wanted to give his life to Jesus. Kurt and

Steve recited the sinner's prayer, the salvation

prayer. See, there's a reason why Chris stands

up here every week and makes all of us Recite

this prayer. You got your salvation the first

time. You don't have to keep getting your salvation.

The reason we do it week in and week out is so

that you know the words. So that you're prepared

if you're in a situation like Kurt was. Kurt

had no problem reciting the words. They came

out because he's been saying them. Steve felt

the impact. of those words. And I'm pretty sure

Steve is in a better place because Kurt showed

up in his boat. So if you're ready to make that

commitment today, if you're ready to ask Jesus

to be a part of your life, I want you to repeat

these words after me. Truly mean them, truly

speak right to Jesus. And while you're doing

it, church fam, you're going to do it with us.

Here we go. Jesus, without you I am lost. Without

you I am broken. With you I am found. I am whole.

I believe you are the Son of God. I believe you

died for my sins. I open the door to my heart.

Come on in. Transform me. Make me new. Give me

your Holy Spirit to partner with me. In Jesus'

name, amen. Now, if you said that prayer for

the first time, let's go. You're partying with

us in eternity. If you said that for the first

time, I want you to text the words, change me.

To 97000, Chris, myself, somebody from the office

will reach out to give you next steps. Now, as

we wrap up, of course, like every other week,

we have a couple words of knowledge. So listen

closely. The prayer team will be up here. There

they are. To pray for you. Here's the words of

knowledge. Pain which trickles from the inside

part of your right leg down into your calf. Stomach

issues. Muscle trauma. Pain around the tricep

of your right arm. The bigger toe of your left

foot has pulsating pain. You have a blocked sinus

tract. Number six, I have no idea what it says,

so if this speaks to you, you better get up here.

Smallest finger of the toe. If that speaks to

you, get up here. You guys know that the first

century Christians didn't have the New Testament,

right? They were writing it. They were out there

walking it out through the power of the Holy

Spirit. They were telling people how Jesus personally

changed their life. Now as Autumn sings and leads

us in our final act of worship today, lift your

eyes to God. Worship his name and let him know

you are ready to make kingdom moves. Thank you

guys. Happy 4th. Thank you for allowing me to

speak to you today. Stand up and let's rejoice.

I believe that you are working now to pour it

out. Oh, pour it out.