The Mind of The Spirit

next week is, Patrick, don't let people hold you back from coming to church.

So next week is Pentecost, and so I wanted to start on the Holy Spirit this week, and

then Derek will talk about it next week.

Sound of the mighty.

It's got a little more.

Should I use the other mic or we good?

Okay.

Hey, there's still a noise.

You can hear a hum in the thingy.

Check, check, check.

Cool.

Okay, so I want to talk about the Holy Spirit and talk about the mind of the Holy Spirit,

because usually we don't think of how the Holy Spirit, you can stretch your feet out.

I'll try not to trip, David.

So, Farhan?

Yeah, it'll keep me on camera.

Yeah, it'll keep me on camera, yeah.

Just put your foot out.

I'll stay within the thing.

So when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we rarely talk about how he thinks, and the intent

is can we engage him like he would really like to be engaged and not use him like he

was some kind of agent from God who's supposed to be used.

That's the intent.

So to begin with, is it even possible for us, when I say ask, don't think of somebody

else, think of yourself, is it even possible for us to say words like, I really love you,

Holy Spirit?

When you say that, is there enough oomph behind what you're saying?

It's possible to say, I really love you, Jesus, or it's possible to say, Abba, I really love

you.

But why is it that most of us struggle with putting enough oomph into, I really love you,

Holy Spirit?

Or perhaps some of us don't have that issue, but many of us do, eh?

Because we don't relate to him like that.

If you said that, would you be able to do it with enough reasoning, enough thinking,

enough emotion, enough feeling?

Would you be able to engage spirit and soul when you say to him, I love you, Holy Spirit,

I really love you, Holy Spirit?

Would you be able to write a song to the Holy Spirit?

Surprisingly, no.

That's why you hardly hear songs about the Holy Spirit.

You hear about flooding a room, filling the atmosphere.

When was the last time you said that to your wife?

Could you just flood this room and fill the atmosphere?

We don't.

But we've been able to take what the Old Testament and sometimes the New Testament did.

We think of him as wind, we think of him as fire, we think of him as oil, we think of

him as dove, but we do not have the ability to capture him as a person.

And so we don't necessarily go into the next step of thinking with him or thinking like him.

Because how do you think like a dove, like fire, like wind, like...

It's not possible.

So we stick with words like flood the atmosphere, fill the room, and really that's not what he does.

So we can grasp the Father, we can grasp the Son, but not so much the Spirit, because

he's always been represented in non-personal terms.

That's sad eh?

The one who is really personal, who actually lives in you, knows you better than anybody else.

He who is so personal is always referred to in impersonal terms.

This is why we don't even know what to expect when we say baptism of the Holy Spirit.

What's it supposed to look like?

Is it supposed to be tongues?

Is it supposed to be prophetic utterances?

Is it supposed to be keeling over?

Is it supposed to be jumping up and down?

Is it something in the air?

All those things are supposed to follow after we connect personally.

You connect with someone you love and all these things will happen.

You may fall down, you may jump up, you may feel like there's electricity in the air,

but it all happens because of a connect.

It doesn't happen without the connect.

So the attempt is can we make him un-invisible?

Can we make him un-invisible?

Can we make him personal so that we begin to think like he thinks?

Any questions?

Any questions?

Say that again, Mark.

Yeah, why separate the Father from the Holy Spirit?

Because surprisingly in Galatians 4.6 and Galatians 3.5,

the Scriptures separate him.

In Galatians 4.6, they call him the Spirit of Christ.

In Galatians 3.5, they call him the Spirit of the Father.

And so they actually give him personhood.

So and so that Jesus said, I have to go so that he can come.

And he actually puts it this way.

He says, I've got to go to the Father so that the Spirit of the Father can come to you.

So the Scriptures actually person him.

And separate him.

The triune God is not separate and yet they are three persons.

Yeah, yeah.

So the thing is we relate to the Father, we relate to the Son.

But we are not able to relate to the Spirit.

Are you going to close what you're relating to?

Are you going to close what you're relating to?

I'll deliberately do it and I'll shut you down.

So maybe you are, but the rest of us are struggling with it, Diana.

Well, I'm not saying that I do. I just...

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I know you're struggling with it too.

What are you going to say?

Yeah.

So that was a smart move, Jacob.

So just as Christ has made the Father real and just as...

So Christ makes the Father real, eh?

And this is how it was supposed to be.

The amazing way the Godhead works is that the Godhead places a light on the other person of the Godhead.

Always remember that, eh?

They work as one and therefore the Father points towards the Son.

He says, you want to see me? Look at the Son.

What does the Son do?

You want to see me?

When you see me, you see the Father.

And then one of the things Jesus does is he says, I'm leaving you with someone else now.

Because if I'm here, I'll only be in Vancouver.

I cannot be in Vernon and I cannot be in London.

So I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit.

And so one of the things Jesus does is point towards the Holy Spirit.

Does he do that in Scripture?

Yeah.

John 17, John 16, John 14, John 15.

Just this continuous unfolding of who the Holy Spirit is through those four chapters in particular.

The Acts of the Apostles is really not the Acts of the Apostles.

It's the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

And you begin to see evidence of him there.

What he does, how he thinks.

Sometimes we've reduced him to the engine of the church and things he does.

Like the fruit of the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit.

What about him?

So, Jacob, isn't it?

I guess it was always thought that the Holy Spirit reveals the Father to us and reveals the Son to us.

So that's what we've been taught is his job.

Yeah, and that's what he does.

But how about knowing him too?

Why is it that we leave out the third person of the triune God?

Why do we reduce him to gifts of the Spirit, to speaking in tongues, to a few prophetic words and stuff like that?

We don't know him.

And to know him is to know God.

To know him who lives in you 24-7 and to relate to him, it'll be fun, man.

It won't take away anything from us.

It'll add to us.

Because he's the one who's living inside of you right now.

Right now, the only person of the Godhead that is at present inside this body is him who is called the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father.

We call him the Holy Spirit because that's what scriptures call him too.

But we don't say Holy Jesus.

And occasionally we say Holy Father.

You love saying Jesus, don't you?

It's the most amazing name in the world.

But there is this person called the Spirit of God.

And he's the only one who's in me right now.

He's the only one who will help us as I'm teaching to figure out what's true and what's not.

He's the only one in this room right now representing the Father and the Spirit of God.

And he's the only one who's in me right now.

He's the only one who will help us as I'm teaching to figure out what's true and what's not.

He's the only one in this room right now representing the Father and the Son.

Might be a good idea to kind of begin to relate to him better.

Won't happen overnight.

So in dealing with the Spirit, we are dealing with God's personal presence.

So in dealing with the Spirit, so we got to get that right, eh?

I'm the Spirit, so we got to get that right, eh?

We are dealing with God's personal presence.

We're dealing with God's personal presence.

So that's the first thing, eh?

That the Spirit of God is God's personal presence.

For Jacob, for Acts 29, for you.

you, He's God's personal presence. Imagine that for a second. There's something about

the private life of God that I now have because of the personal presence of God in me. Just

hear those words again. There's something about the private life of God. Marvel at these

words. There is something about the private life of God that I now get to partake in because

of the personal presence of God by the Spirit. Is the scripture? Yes. You read 1 Peter, it

talks about that. That we are now partakers in His divine nature. How? How do you partake

in someone's divine nature unless you have an in into his private or her private life?

And how does that happen? Through the personal presence of God Himself by the Spirit in me.

That is nuts man. This is what we are talking about. This is not even what we are talking

about. This is who we are talking about. The moment I put private before His life, you

realize, oh shucks, this is someone's life that you're sharing in. Nothing held back.

Nothing held back. The strange thing about God is nothing is held back. It is open to

you as far as you want to swim. Nothing is held back. He says that. Paul says that in

2 Corinthians 6 when he's talking about his human love for people. He says, if you have

a problem with me, it is not because my heart is small. It is because your heart is small

because my heart is open to you and I'm holding nothing back. If a man can say that, then

take 1 Corinthians 13 and you will find that God doesn't hold anything back either. So

how deep do you go into the private life of God? As deep as you want to. Why aren't we

going? Because of our own fears, our own hesitations, our own theology, our own background, our

own sin, our own independence, our own fallenness. That's the reason we don't go further. Not

because he's holding it back. Gosh man, when you became born again, the words he said was

I do. It is a marriage. Romans 7 talks about it. You free yourself from your past and you

become one with the one that you belong to. How do you free yourself from the past? Romans

7 says you cannot marry another as long as you're married to someone. And then in being

born again, what are you doing? I'm cutting myself off. The past is dead. Now that the

past is dead, I can join myself to someone new. You have been betrothed to one. And in

you saying Jesus, I want you into my life, the reply is I do. And it is forever, eh?

And there is nothing held back. This is the kind of God we have. All right, Emmanuel.

Nope. No big deal. I just wanted to highlight it. I got a text message from someone saying

maybe tone down the joking because there are a lot of new guests here. I will start

doing that from this moment on. So if I go really serious on you, it's because, yeah.

Hey, the spirit of God is God walking with you in the garden 24-7. And I'm not saying

that's what Adam had. We must realize, and I've said this before, that one of the things

that happens as soon as you become born again is you get the presence of God back and you

get a father. The very idea of being born again is, hey, you lost the presence of God,

you lost your father. In being born again now, you get two things back. You get the

presence of God back and the presence of God comes back to you by the Holy Spirit. You

get back to where Adam used to be, where he used to have the presence of God 24-7 in

the garden. The reason the spirit of God now comes into my life and does not leave is because

the intent has always been, can we restore Eden? Can we restore Eden? Which is why God

keeps saying, can I make all things new? That's God's primary intent, hey? Can I make all

things new? So what does he do? He makes you new first. He makes your spirit new first.

You know the word, he's making your thinking new. When you die, you'll have new bodies.

That's been made new. Nothing has changed since Eden. I am making all things new. And

then in Revelation 21 verse 5, there's this loud voice from the throne which says, behold,

Revelation 21:5

I have made all things new. One of the things the spirit of God does is make all things

new and he does this joyfully. He doesn't do it as a chore. And so what's he, one of

the things I have to realize and practice, when you write Genesis 1 with me in it, it

should be, and every evening in the cool of the day, Jacob and God used to walk together.

This is possible now because of the spirit. He doesn't leave. He doesn't leave. Great

thing is he doesn't even need to walk. For some of us that's an advantage. Sorry, we're

not supposed to joke right now. No joking. Stop it. Yeah. Okay. So this is not going

to go well. So I'm trying. So where was I? Yeah. Guys, and he's a person so he can be

lied to. He can be waxed. He can be grieved. He speaks. He has a voice. He hears. All these

things are real too. I love the fact that he can be grieved. He's real. I can grieve

him. This is so awesome that he hurts if I can hurt him. What I mean by that's so awesome

is to be able to relate to someone invisible who lives in me who hurts also means that

he can be highly pleased. I can hurt him. I can vex him. Kids vex you, right? Don't

touch that. I'm not touching it yet. I'm not touching it yet. You can vex him. You can

quench him. He has a voice. He hears. He's got all, he's got a whole set of emotions.

He's a god of laughter. The Holy Spirit laughs without making it go silly. It'll sound silly

but it's not. Do you realize that any good humor comes from God? Do you realize that

laughing and the idea of Isaac and laughter and all these things are real? Do you realize

that the idea of Isaac and laughter and all these were God born? That Adam and God would

walk around and they would look at the platypus and they'd laugh their heads off. The idea

is that we do not relate to God like that. We do not relate to him like that. The hope

is that we can at least begin to and that at the risk of sounding silly, we'll include

God in conversations that we don't normally have. Because he has a whole range of emotions

from crying to laughter to sadness to joy to exceeding joy. There's a reason why scriptures

say in Psalm 16 that I have anointed you with gladness beyond your brothers. There's a reason

that he begins to weep over Jerusalem. He's standing over Jerusalem. You can see the rest

of Jerusalem below you and he's beginning to weep. His heart is grieved. Where did

their emotions come from? Because he was a perfect man. He drew them from the Spirit.

I had to be able to know him like that. Because in knowing him like that you will also know

the father and son better because he reveals the father and son. When you get to know the

revealer you get to know who he is revealing even better. Any questions? Because sometimes

guys if you don't know the one you're walking with it will dull your ability to actively

participate with him. If you don't know the one you're walking with it will dull your

ability to actively participate with him. We talk about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Every doxology ends with may the love of the father, the peace of Jesus Christ and the

fellowship of the Holy Spirit as in participating with the Holy Spirit. So awareness activates

participation. If I'm dull to who I'm walking with it's highly unlikely that I will be able

to share in fellowship with the Spirit of God. Because what is the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit then? That he comforts you when you mourn? What about the times you mourn

comforts you when you mourn? What about the times you're not mourning? And if all he is

is a gift giver or a fruit producer again you're reducing him to an agent. He is God's

agent but he's so much more than that. Any questions? Here are some words you would rarely

think of God as but perhaps the Holy Spirit might be a little easier. Amazingly exuberant.

Amazingly exuberant. Super enthusiastic. Humorous. Humorous. Humorous. Humorous. Humorous. Humorous.

A pining for relational joy. A pining for relational joy. Crazy eh? A pining for relational

joy. Ah that bothers me that he pines for relational joy. As in if I spend time with

you and I really like you I'd pine for relational joy. I'd yearn for relational joy. I'd like

to have a time of laughter with you. I'd like to just relax with you. A pining for

relational joy that the Spirit of God is like that. That is amazingly exuberant. Exuberant

is not happy. Exuberant is like really happy. Like but this is who he is. The more we go

down this road the less we realize we know him. Super enthusiastic. When was the last

time you thought God was really super enthusiastic about you? Guys I don't know which to wrap

around this. My heart or my mind because I'm struggling with both my heart and my mind.

My heart cannot understand a God like this. My mind cannot fathom a God like this. Because

right from when you were a kid you were taught other ways. I want to. I'm pleading with God.

Please let me in. This is why Jesus came down in flesh. He had to show the twelve and the

seventy two and the hundred and twenty and the five hundred and twelve. He had to show

them I am God in flesh and this is who I am. A man of sorrows was great fun to hang around

with. Otherwise fishermen, prostitutes and tax collectors don't hang around with people

like that. You've got to be a certain type. He came down in flesh to show this. Do you

see why sometimes Christianity sucks? Because we can't show this because we don't even see

him like that. How do you show him like that? We can show it in here but in here it's so

easy when it's a beautiful song. Out there is where. I mean when you look at Isaiah 60

Isaiah 60:1

verse 1. Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon

you. Upon who? We think it's Jesus. Upon us. And what should happen then? The Gentile

should come to your light and king shall come to the brightness of your glory. Are

they? What does light look like? I would say parts of light are exuberant, amazing, joy,

super enthusiasm and a decent sense of humor. Any questions?

Okay. So now, he cannot love, he cannot show compassion, he cannot show mercy, he cannot

show grace, he cannot show these fine fruit if he didn't have any emotions. Have you ever

loved without emotions? That's what you do to cats perhaps.

But besides that, any love that you show has to have emotions in it. Can mercy be shown

without emotions? Can compassion be shown without emotions? You suddenly realize that

the very reason I even begin to think about love is because I know that I am not just

loving but loving God. You suddenly realize that the very reason I even begin to feel

the things I feel from God. Why do you weep when mercy is shown you by God? You've just

done something terrible and God turns up and showers you with so much mercy that you begin

to weep. Why is it that sometimes the love of God touches you? It's because something

about it grabs your heart man and he comes to you with these emotions the

fruit of the spirit without emotions is not fruit it's blooming a bud that hasn't

matured try eating one of those things thank God God is a God of emotions that

packs the fruit with feeling otherwise we would not know what mercy means

Raham you know the word mercy comes from the word Raham you know what Raham means

Raham is the compassion that the mum feels for the baby in a womb that carries

some visceral emotion so to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit is to

feel his presence eh to go factual on the Holy Spirit is to miss out on the

Holy Spirit you know I'm not a guy with feelings I just trust that the Holy

Spirit is here feelings are not my thing well then the Holy Spirit is not

fully your thing either because it comes together that's why I said to a man in

the back row cry a man's man cries

the other thing that's so fascinating is that the Spirit of God knows the mind

of God eh we got to move what one of the things we have to realize about the

whole about us and the Holy Spirit most see you can almost divide Christianity

into three parts one that doesn't know the will of God and doesn't know how to

find the will of God so it's a nebulous life it's this it's this Isaiah 55 verse

Isaiah 55:5

5 life all the thoughts of God are higher than ours and his ways are higher

than ours we have no idea what God is doing case or us or our whatever will be

will be that's one side of Christianity that's a pathetic live way to live when

God lives in you and then there's another side of Christianity which is

we want to know the will of God and so people begin to seek the will of God but

what about a third way which is even better I want to know the mind of God

I'm not satisfied with knowing his will I want to know how he thinks knowing his

will can still come out of devotion prayer hearing and all the stuff

thinking like him can only come out of relationship eh one of the things Jesus

said in the book of John is hey I'm not calling you servants I'm calling you

friends because servants don't know what the master is thinking but friends know

to become a friend you have to think like God to think like God is to figure

out how he's thinking and you have people like this in the Bible you have

Abraham who knows that this Yahweh who he met just a few years ago in Terra

this Yahweh is a God that has compassion and is very reasonable and

superfair so what does he do he begins to engage God at Sodom in a bargain

saying what if it was 30 what it was 20 what it was 10 what it was 5 he begins

to bargain with God there's another guy called Joshua who knows enough to know

that I can ask God to keep the Sun standing still and he'll do it for 24

hours there's another guy called Peter who knows that if I ask him and say can

I come and walk on water knowing him and knowing how he is after having hung

out with him for two years he'll say come there's a way that these men in the

Old Testament and the New Testament began to understand how God thinks there

was another woman and I cannot imagine how she got the hang of this a

Syrophoenician woman who engages in an argument with Jesus saying dogs get the

scraps that follow the table they clicked onto something guys it's time

for us as a church to move from just seeking his will to knowing how he

thinks how does it work in first Corinthians 2 verse 11 it says the

1 Corinthians 2:11

Spirit of God searches the mind of God the Spirit of God searches the deep

things in the mind of God how does it start first Corinthians 2 10 who knows

a man's mind who knows what you're thinking right now nobody knows what you

are thinking right now better than your spirit just as a man's spirit knows

what a man is thinking so the Spirit of God knows what God is thinking because

he searches the mind of God about everything and so what am I supposed to

do now I'm supposed to search the mind of the spirit searching the mind of the

spirit what does that look like it's like this those little alien creatures

with anteroids R2D2 not relating Star Wars C3PO R2D2 oh my god oh yeah yeah it didn't have

anteroids eyes I got no you guys are so deprived in your education so how many

have seen the first Star Wars praise the Lord okay half this church is still

educated yeah so it's it's searching the mind of God is scanning saying Spirit

of God this is the situation I don't want to know your will I want to know

how you think about this just think of those words you're not saying to the

Spirit of God that you want to know you with the will of God why because you

don't want an instant answer you want to begin to think like him this is what

parents do when kids grow older when when kids are small parents tell them

what to do dad how do I do this that that's it but as a child begins to grow

older the intent is how do I do this is not met with this is how you do it it

is let's talk about this and then you engage in a conversation we've got to

try this guys it won't happen overnight this won't be fun in the beginning

because it's so much easier working with the will of God father what's your will

get his will to it and there's a place for that I'm not dissing that but now

there's another way to live and what's that other way that hey let's so Holy

Spirit this is what I was thinking of for Washington DC what do you think and

then a conversation begins sometimes God will deliberately not give the answer so

that he can engage you in a conversation hear me again sometimes God will

deliberately choose to hold back an answer so that he can engage you in a

conversation because relationship is formed in conversations not in answers

the Greeks and the Jews did not want engagement they wanted signs or evidence

children who are maturing want engagement how do you think it won't be

easy but it'll be so fun any questions because remember this is the same spirit

of God who was there in Genesis 1 verse 2 and Revelation 21 verse 17 he's there

Genesis 1:2 Revelation 21:17

and the strange thing is it's not even linear before him it's before him at

once because he is I am just as a father and son I am remember the father said I

am the son said I am and now the spirit of God is I am too he's there right now

in Genesis 1 verse 2 and he's also there in revelations 21 when everything has

Genesis 1:2

come to an end and all things have been made new he's there too and it's not

waiting to happen it is before him instantly because he is I am this is a

God who lives in me and you think if you had Elon Musk living in your house

you think you would be talking to him our bread and butter and jam you'd be

talking about can Tesla feed me while I'm driving and how do we get that

going

if we would do that with Elon Musk if we would do that with Bill Gates people

pay thousands of dollars just to have dinner with Gates or Musk or who's the

Oracle of Omaha Buffett I mean I'd like to try that and see how many would pay

for dinner with me then now you're laughing too loud but this is who lives

in us and sometimes searches mine on things you don't need guys but things

that are important there are times when we must use the Holy Spirit because he

asks it he says use me so that I can use you yes that part is true but there are

other times where be merry be merry sit and talk about things and the strange

thing with him is he's not in heaven he's in you he's in you learn to search

his mind day because he searches the mind of God knowing his will has become

so important that we are not interested in knowing his mind and once you begin

he'll lead you into conversations he'll lead you into arguments he'll encourage

your arguments he'll encourage your arguments in Isaiah 43 I think it says

content with me argue with me bring your reasoning to me let's talk have a cook

chapter 3 or 2 same thing look at the words that Old Testament guys are

speaking I will go up and stand on the watchtower and I will ask God a question

and I will wait for his answer I want to see how he'll answer me gosh man and

then God begins to answer but it's how do you think the prophetic in the Old

Testament happened you think it was created in a vacuum where someone

decided hmm feel like a pen and paper would be a good idea while I go walking

today no it was in conversation Isaiah would be doing something really not

important like washing dishes and then suddenly he'd hear a voice saying I need

you to go to the potter's house so he takes a walk to the potter's house he

still doesn't know why he's going to the potter's house and when he gets to the

potter's house the potter has just opened the place and he's put clay on the

wheel and then while he's putting clay on the wheel one vase gets ruined so he

takes it and chucks it and then as a second thought and takes the clay back

and he begins to need it again and after needing it it puts it back on the

potter's wheel and turns into something beautiful that it wasn't and God says saw that

Jeremiah same thing hey Jeremiah what do you see I see an almond tree with buds

on it gosh you're seeing well that's how the conversation begins I'm saying to

you he's inviting us into this

it leads to conversations it leads to arguments my only thing in arguments

with God is I'll tell him father just let me know if I'm stepping out of line

or if I'm getting aggressive and I'll back off because it's very hard to have

an argument without getting a little aggressive and backing and demanding so

every time that happens I'll say oops sorry cross the line there you are God

and I am NOT can we go back to reasoning reasoning dueling what do you think is

happening with Abraham and God but he's very respectful as he duels it's what

parents and kids do

let's do one more and then we'll stop hey one of the things the Holy Spirit is

always doing is can I can I can I restore you to the image of God yes it

started at salvation we were made in the image of God and that's why God said to

Adam I'm okay with you going reproducing replenishing the earth filling it why

because you are after my kind and I'm completely alright with you multiplying

because when you multiply you will multiply after my kind one of the things

God still does and he does it by the Holy Spirit is can I make you into my

image in every which way in terms of your body in terms of how you think and

feel and in terms of how you are spiritually can I make you like me so

that you can replicate the permission to replicate only comes when you're true to

the original there's a reason why governments don't accept photocopies or

if you do get a photocopy you've got to have it endorsed by some guy who charges

you money for it what are they called North Republic yeah yeah that's a better

term for them and so the intent of God is can I fulfill Genesis 126 by my spirit

where I still get to make you into my image so that you can replicate after my

kind as in God's kind and that's something he keeps doing so one of the

things he does is renew the spirit of renew the spirit of my mind by by giving

me the mind of the spirit so you can't you can't claim the fifth amendment in

you can't claim the scripture in Isaiah 55 it says his thoughts are higher than

mine his ways are higher than mine yes they are but in first Corinthians 216 it

says but we have the mind of Christ so we can't we can't use that anymore it's a

cop-out it was okay in the Old Testament it's wrong in the New Testament and so

the intent is can I have the spirit of my mind renewed because I'm being given

the mind of the spirit guys just think of it so Musk is coming up to you and

giving you my way of thinking I'm giving you my mind I'm giving you my blueprints

I'm giving you all the secret recipes to send the next rocket to Venus here they

are and he comes and gives it to you only Christ is even more sure that listen

I'll give you my mind Jacob but as I give you my mind will you engage in

thinking like me by coming to me and having conversations with me so then we

we need to we need to stop wanting the will of God within a time frame that's

another thing that happens to us we need an answer by tomorrow I need an answer

by tomorrow I have to give it a reply no you need a start that's all you need

here is the beginning of a thought now let us work this together only petulant

immature kids demand an answer damn damn damn damn it gets more nasal as you

go on but if we can get the beginning and then go through the process of can

we think together what do we get in the bargain we get God what else do we get

the answer we get God it's a whole different thing man so I just need the

beginning and then I'll start going down that road in the process I'll get to the

end but I won't get my answer like I wanted cookie cutter ready to be

consumed and that's okay sometimes Jillian will ask me a question I'll text

you and say yeah I'll let you know in an hour 24 hours later she'll send me a

texting that was the longest hour I have been through but the reason I am not

able to is because I don't have it yet but I know the process has started and

it's so fun now explaining the process too

the intent of the spirit is not to make you a better Christian the intent of the

spirit is not to make you a bread better Christian here are some of the intents of

the spirit of God a one can I make you more confident of how God sees you make

you more confident of how God sees you make you more confident of how God sees

you too I love this one anyway to you to the same relationship or the other

richness of the relationship that Jesus had the Jesus has with the Father three

help you attain the maturity of Christ there's one of his favorite things to do

make us Christ like and for fulfill Genesis 127 through you or 128 which is

go forth multiply replenish subdue

these are some of the intents of God and they're such brilliant intents the first

one is hey can I just show you how the father sees you can I just show you how

the father sees you can I just show you the longings of the father thought again

in first Corinthians 2 12 and 13 that's what it says it says he searches the

mind of God and it is this spirit that God has that he has put in you so that

you may know the thoughts hand of ways that God works it was said of Israel and

Moses these two things were said of Israel and Moses Israel knew the ways of

God Moses knew the Israel knew the acts of God Moses knew the ways of God what

has happened in charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity to an extent is

we know the acts of God we know what to expect on Pentecost but we don't know

the ways of the Holy Spirit I think come let me show you my ways so that you like

Moses it doesn't matter what's thrown your way you know how to navigate you

know that if you lay down in front of me even though I've said I'm going to

destroy an entire nation you lay down before me and you know that I'll relent

because you know my heart why because you saw me on the mountain and I said to

you that I'm gracious and compassionate unto a thousand generations and I'm

angry up to four oh you know that I'm Yahweh the self-existent one merciful

and compassionate and now the Holy Spirit does the same thing you don't

have to climb up a mountain anymore first Pentecost he had to climb up a

mountain now the mountains come to you the fire and the power and the noise and

the earthquake everything is in here it's in here that it happens and so his

thing is can I make it more confident of how God sees you the greater your

confidence in how God sees you the greater your exploits the greater your

confidence in how God sees you the greater your exploits this is why it is

so easy for us to be dismantled by words words especially of people that you look

up to where words especially of people that sometimes employ you words

especially of people that you expected to protect you take care of you their

words dismantle us and then you have him and he's constantly wanting to show how

how he thinks of you and as your confidence increases you get restored

restoration comes through increase in confidence restoration comes through an

increase in confidence you want restoration in your life look for an

increase in confidence from the hand of God otherwise restoration what if you if

I give you a better job you'll be restored no you'll have a better job

but you'll still be pathetic restoration comes when something happens inside kids

know this kids know this kids don't want the beating or the parents don't beat

their kids anymore let's take another example yeah let's go 50 years ago when

Dhillon was young so I don't know why I'm picking on you then I usually pick

on Mike yeah but we're not gonna do that today yeah so I mean my dad would

restore my confidence after a spanking by taking me out explaining why he spanked

me I wasn't listening because I knew there was something else that comes at

the end which is usually any ice cream I want and as much as I want and it would

be this restoration of confidence but that walk was critically the walk to the

marketplace was critical because the the spanking still hurt but there was

something else that would happen remember restoration comes for an

increase of confidence and I'm not doing well in any area I go to that well of

confidence that the father can have me look into so that it becomes the image

that stares back at me and the image that stares back at me is not the image

that is in here but something else that stares back at me is that picture of the

yeah second one elevate you to the same relationship that Jesus has with the

father this is something so important to him and he's inviting us this week into

this saying can you do this through the week so I can do something on Pentecost

can I bring you into the richness of the relationship that Jesus had with the

father where you're walking along the road and you have conversations with God

and you say stuff like I'm not doing this for my own benefit I'm speaking out

loud to others here your burden is easy your yoke is light all that I'm talking

right now comes out of a unique father son intimacies and all my actions are

unique father son operations I'm gonna go over it line by line with anybody who

wants to hear I'm quoting from Matthew 11 28 in the message the intent is

Jesus begins to have this relationship to the father where he converses out

loud so that he can draw us into it this is something he so wants to do help

us pray like Jesus help us deal with difficulties like Jesus would your

initial response to any any any difficulty shows you where you are with

God your initial your first response to any situation shows you where you are

with God the first response do you switch to autopilot got to fix this do

you switch to quoting scriptures do you switch to faith or do you switch to what

children do when they are in trouble surprising even faith and quoting

scripture ain't childlike enough it's very grown-up Christianity third one

help you attain the maturity of Christ which is Ephesians 4 that's the intent

that's God's end goal we've talked about it many times the end goal of the church

is very simple can I raise you up to look like Christ that's the end goal of

the church can I raise you up to look like Christ any other end goal is

actually changing the goalposts do not believe that evangelism is healing is

getting people saved us it is not the end goal is always can I raise up a

people to look like Christ do not change those goalposts and the last one is can

I restore your image so that you can now go and be who I always wanted you to be

go multiply after my kind show them what I look like when they come and ask you

show me the father you'll say look at me and you have seen the father brilliant

day there's such logic in it such logic in it and Philip said to him shows the

father and he said why Philip why do you ask if you have seen me you have seen

the father when you stagnate in your union with Christ when you stagnate in

your just three more sentences which will take three minutes you would think

when you stagnate in your union with Christ with the spirit and you stagnate

in your union with the spirit one of the things you're afflicted with

surprisingly is a poverty mentality because the spirit gives life you

stagnate in your union with him and surprisingly you're afflicted or

infected infected with a mentality that is prone to poverty and by poverty I

just don't mean money what does it look like it looks like looking out for

yourself because if you don't connect and relate and engage and work out

things with the Holy Spirit who do you have left but yourself so what does it

look like it looks like looking out for yourself because you're the only one you

can trust you become the architect of your future to you begin to conserve

wealth because you got to have something to fall back on three you begin to work

independently even for God you begin to work independently while the Holy Spirit

loves putting people together he says I want to end your piecemeal existence I

want to end your primary identity as a singular fallen man or woman I want to

I want to remember you into this beautiful thing called the body of Christ

because I'm your DNA I'm your blood type I am the Spirit of God that holds

together this amazing thing called the bride of Christ called the church and so

to be stagnant in my union with the Spirit brings these things on looking

out for yourself conserving wealth working independently and staying down

when you fall because you're afraid to get up you would rather now choose the

safe pathway and so how do you die you die carefully you die self-centered you

die rich and you die with very little enduring fruit and you die risk-averse

I'd hate for someone to put on my gravestone the line he died carefully

that's a terrible thing to say about a person he died rich he died carefully he

died with very little enduring fruit he died self-centered well this is what

happens to most Christians a well the Spirit of God rubs his hands with me

saying where do you want to go next wake up wake up because this body is mine

your body is mine wake up your mouth is mine I've got places to go things to do

wake up that's how the Spirit of God works last line and I really mean it and

I've said this line many times before conspire with the Spirit conspire with

the Spirit conspire with the Spirit why the word conspire why not just say think

with the Spirit conspire with the Spirit because he's your advantage in heaven he

is your advantage in heaven

he is your inside man in the Godhead

he likes telling you the father and son are thinking he likes bringing you in on

their plans it's like knowing something that's happening inside Isaiah figured

this out who shall I send who will go for it me me me me me that's the idea

sometimes just to get up in the morning and have the ability to spend some time

saying Spirit of God anything that the that heaven is planning that I can just

ask for

it's like planning someone's birthday and you call the spouse and you don't

let the other one know and you're planning because you want a surprise it's

that kind of thing in talking like this one of the things that happens is we

make the Holy Spirit sound very human and it scares us what we don't realize

this that's exactly what Jesus did with the father and it doesn't scare us but

when we begin to speak about the Holy Spirit in these terms we've made him

such a touch me not that he would shrivel up and leave have your soul scared

to make any mistakes with him you've got to treat him exactly like you treat the

father and the Holy Spirit and the son the intent is not to make him human we

are not trying to paint the Sistine Chapel and make God look like man we're

trying to relate to someone who is a person okay let's pray father this is

not easy for us we'd prefer just relating to you through Jesus this kind

of complicates things we're talking about the triune Godhead father son and

Holy Spirit and with Pentecost around the corner this is what you want us to

you want us to engage the person of the Holy Spirit and engaging him we will

know you better I have a tendency to repeat the whole

sermon in my prayers I'm going to stop short father and just say could you take

the words that were spoken and by your spirit could you please help me help us

know him better usually we ask the Holy Spirit can you help us know Jesus better

today we are asking you Jesus could you help us know the Holy Spirit better

because this is what you said about him when he comes he will take everything

off mine and give it to you we want to know him better so that we are in a

position to receive everything that he wants to give off you so I'm not asking

you to fill me we can try that next week I'm asking you to I'm coming to you with

heart saying I want to know you so much better because I don't relate to you too

well as I'm praying for me I'm praying for the entire church yeah in Jesus name

so you got guys who can come up for prayer hey if you need prayer feel free

to come up there'll be guys here in front who can pray for you

for whatever your need be I won't be here next week but I have an amazing

Pentecost it's one of my favorite things on the Christian calendar and I'll see

you the week after who's in charge next Derek is in charge