The Genius of Jesus (1st service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (July 12, 2026) | Life Bible Church

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see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Trent asked me last

night as we were talking a little bit, he says,

what are you going to preach on this morning?

I said, well, I'm going to preach on what we've

been preaching on. He goes, Pentecost? I said,

no, no, no, no. The journey to Pentecost. It's

going to take me all summer to probably get to

Pentecost. But the reality is there is much in

this understanding of how important Pentecost

is and how Jesus laid. the foundations and the

truth of it. So Father, I ask this morning as

we open the word, God, help us understand the

genius of Jesus. Lord, the absolute mind of our

Father and of the Son in preparing his people.

to have an encounter with the third part of the

Trinity, the Holy Spirit, that all of them, Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit, would come alive in our

life. And Lord, that we would be able to walk,

speak, release all that you have for us. We ask

that now. Help me deliver this in Jesus Christ's

holy name. Amen. Well, we've been talking about

the truths in the journey from Passover to Pentecost,

and I've kind of been... laying down some foundational

things but Trent kind of gave us a big wide overview

of Pentecost about a month month and a half ago

and now I've kind of gone backwards as is usual

and I'm trying to just fill in some stair steps

so that we understand or maybe some paving stones

of how critical this is probably the thing that

I deal with the most and probably have the biggest

challenge in the life of our church or in this

area is really several things. Number one is

dealing with my own self and dealing, make sure

my flesh and all of that is under the cross.

That's the biggest challenge, right? Come on,

getting ourselves in line and making sure we're

a partaker of, I'm the first fruits of the partaker

of actually receiving the word of God, making

sure it's flowing out of my life. But the second

thing is to try to traverse this area of understanding

the Holy Spirit in a biblical framework because

of the region and the area that we're in. Probably

the thing that is the most... limiting in this

area because I was born and raised here five

generations from this area is some of the mindsets

that have come in to the body of Christ that

have now been rigid for over a hundred years

plus in lockdown understanding of the scriptures

without explaining or navigating the fullness

that's really in the scriptures. So we hit head

on tradition and religion that has locked people

down into a, what I would call a linear form

of Christianity, a mental form of Christianity,

not having any depth of spiritual understanding.

Now you fight that part. But then you also fight

the extreme part of what it looks like when somebody

turns a charismatic Pentecostal light on, all

the bugs come out. And so you have every form

of the false side of things and the extreme side

of things with no anchor really to sound doctrine.

And somewhere in the middle between it just locked

down, buttoned down, and just Father, Son, and

the Holy Bible, and Father, Jesus, and all Holy

Spirit, and no Bible, somewhere in the middle

is the actual reality of having a real encounter

from everything that's written in here, and the

progress of moving people from an Old Testament

experience and understanding to a New Testament

doctrinal understanding and New Testament experiences,

graces, and gifts. That should be what is on

our heart to pursue. Because anything, and I

want to say this carefully, Anything that Jesus,

the Father, and the Holy Spirit are involved

in that is of him is perfect. It's perfect. To

take away from it is a sin. To add to it is a

sin. That's the balance that we're working with

here. What is revealed, what has been told, This

idea, so just please understand that through

the summer, at least right now as I see it, through

the summer we're going to be drilling down on

the understanding of Jesus' ministry to get us

to the Holy Spirit and the understanding of Pentecost

and the reality that we're still to be living

in that with the Holy Spirit. So that's what

we're gonna deal with this summer. That's what

I felt from the Lord to deal with because as

we move into fall and we move into our celebration,

25 years and lots of things going on, various

speakers coming in from various parts of the

world, I felt pressed of the Lord to say, they

need to have this in their heart of why and what

I'm wanting to do in this area. And so when Jenny,

released that word this morning and some of the

things that have been happening in the last couple

of services, there is a genuine force of the

Holy Spirit, not as in it overpowers us, but

the Spirit of God coming to us and saying, I'm

trying to get you to move into the fullness of

what I want. And boy, there should be nothing

else in our heart Beside wanting that. Now. Okay.

The genius. I put that in there because as I

was thinking about Jesus as the master teacher.

We've talked a little bit about he was the master

teacher. He was the master preacher. He did everything

perfect. And the genius of how he wove. natural

things into spiritual things the timing that

he worked with with the father of heaven's timing

of how he laid it out is is incredible and jesus

reveals the heart of the father and in order

to get this framework of what he He put in seed

form in Passover and began to move this process

of what he alone could do, but that he then called

us to partner with and him together in a kingdom

experience. All of those things were laid out

in, if you will, in blueprint form for an old...

covenant type or an Old Testament type believer.

In the beginning of our journey of Israel, knowing

how to work with God, there was always a partnership.

And how much more is there to be a partnership

in the New Testament? Because the Bible tells

us, he said, listen, if the old covenant was

important, how much more is the new covenant?

That wasn't just That wasn't just ratified and

declared by angels, but now is ratified and declared

by the life ministry and blood of Jesus Christ.

How much more should you know the fullness of

your covenant? If you know more about the Old

Testament covenant than you do about the New

Testament covenant, you're missing something.

And you're actually going to have a default to

a religious mindset and to a form of limitation.

Why? Because if you live in an Old Testament

understanding, you by nature are limited. Because

it's a limited covenant. Can I, just a little

bit better amen than that. The Old Testament

covenant is limited. That means any type of thinking

That's connected to Old Testament thinking only.

Without New Testament revelation. Is limited.

Which means you can't do. What God has asked

you to do. In fullness of the Holy Spirit. Without

releasing what is bound you. In order to have

understanding of what God is actually wanting

to do. Now listen. I love my upbringing. I do

sometimes, you know, I have good fun with it

because it's, somebody asked me the other day,

or I was actually talking with a gentleman and

I had never met before. It was a great conversation.

We were talking about it. He says, man, it seems

like things have changed in the valley. We've

been here for so many years and people just stop

waving. I said, well, That didn't just happen.

I said, I remember as a kid, everybody used to

wave, except for my conservative Mennonite cousins.

I could barely get them to lift one finger on

the steering wheel. I mean, I'd wave at them.

So I said, we're not going, this isn't going.

I mean, yeah, I get people are less friendly,

but trust me, I've lived with this for a long

time. The reality is sometimes we have to break

out of things in order to actually break into

new things. Now we need new grids of perspective

processing and the motivation from the heart

to see the father's love and to watch it flow

from within us. It's easy. As we have seen over

the past few weeks to gravitate in time as we

move from platforms of love, grace, and truth,

which we should be operating in, it's also easy

that even though we're supposed to be operating

in love, grace, truth, that when we don't stay

in that relationship of communicating with God

in the fullness of what he's done, we begin to

what? You begin to atrophy. If God has given

you grace gifts and you're not operating in them,

it doesn't mean that the gift is totally gone,

but it means that you don't have the strength

or the discernment, or do you have the articulateness

of that gift if you're not operating in it? Just

like with any form of weights. If you stop lifting

weights, it doesn't take very long and your body

goes back to an atrophied state or worse. Hello?

Come on. The reality is, you have to, the Holy

Spirit says in Hebrews, and I believe the Apostle

Paul most likely wrote it, but if he didn't,

that's fine too. It's a great book of the Bible.

It says, Those who are mature have discerned

and grown in their gift by reason of use. You

cannot grow and you cannot move in areas and

stay sharp without what? Using what God gave

you. So when I find out that people have been

given spiritual graces and gifts, especially

in the gifts of personal prayer language and

the gifts of some discernment and prophecy and

word of knowledge and healing gifts that are

all listed in the scripture and they haven't

operated in them for months or even years. My

question is, how did you move from a place of

fellowship and partnership now to a place of

just Like an empty, or excuse me, an abandoned

aircraft hangar. Planes parked that have never

been flown in a long time. Well, let's look at

the platform a little bit. And I'm going to bring

us in, maybe I'm going to, for some of you that

came on fire on the altar on Saturday night,

this may be a little bit of a repeat. but for

the first part, but I want to get this in to

the foundation of the whole church because it

really is the genius of Jesus or the genius of

God to have an understanding. If we believe that

God is perfect, how many believe that God is

perfect? Okay, I'm just looking for those that

didn't raise their hand. Okay, if you believe

that he's perfect, If you believe that he's eternal,

if you believe that every part of the Godhead,

even though he's one in heart and mind, he is

three individual persons, meaning there's a plurality,

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It means that you can't

have Father, Son, and Junior. There is no Junior.

Holy Spirit. It's Father, Son, And Holy Spirit.

Therefore, if your understanding is God, Holy

Spirit always has been. Holy Spirit has always

been with the Father. We see him in Genesis chapter

Genesis 1:2

1 verse 2. And the Spirit of God was. hovering

over the face of the, he was involved in creation

as the word, which was, which was who Jesus was

prior to being manifested and born of flesh.

The word spoke, the father willed it, the word

spoken and the Holy spirit came and made it take

place with the formation of the will and the

word. Hello with the will and the word, the Holy

spirit works. So the minute we begin to say things

that are of God, we question them that are clearly

biblical. We've already said to God, I don't

trust you. Now this was, I'm just gonna just

talk about my heritage a little bit. This is

the greatest thing. That was probably instilled

in me. And I don't mean it as a good thing. The

greatest principle that was instilled in me as

a child. Growing up in a conservative denomination.

Was fear. Fear of being deceived. Fear of being

taken advantage of. Fear of operating in something

that is not of God. So everything that was said,

everything went through that lens. It wasn't,

it made, you thought, okay, the Bible says test

everything to see whether it's from God. Absolutely,

yes, test everything. Test everything. What you're

hearing me preach against the word of God, against

the scriptures. But what it does is it maligns

that. It means that it sets up a fear of failure,

a fear of being wrong, a fear of looking foolish,

a fear of actually moving out in something that

would actually be sponsored by faith. And it

cuts off your feet before you ever take a step.

And so every aspect, my life. When I look back

at the first 18 years of what my greatest barrier

inside of me was fear of doing something wrong,

fear of offending God, fear of being deceived,

and fear of receiving anything that I had not

seen, had not heard, and I had not watched somebody

else do. Now you understand this, that the disciples

had to face all of those fears. Why? Because

how they were raised in Judaism, they hadn't

seen a lot of things that Jesus was doing. And

Jesus revealed to them things that they saw personally.

But when Jesus left and said it's... More to

your advantage that I go that I could send the

promise of the Father. Who, by the way, the promise

of the Father was the Holy Spirit. Who is co

-equal. Everything that the co -equal with Jesus

and with the Father would do would be a representative

that all he would do was bring something that

is from God, that is initiated from God, and

that is meant to help people. And the first thing

they would have to confront is fear of making

a mistake. Fear of failure. Fear of being deceived.

They'd have to crush it. They wouldn't have to

eliminate. Of course you have checks and valves,

but it has to be the check and the valve of the

scripture, not what's in your own soul because

you're intimidated. Now listen to me. By a group

of people that didn't want to move past anything.

Isn't that what the Jewish people were? A group

of people that did not want the revelation that

Jesus was the Messiah, nor the revelation that

the Messiah had sent something that they were

to operate in as you knew him. And so one of

the things we have to deal with in this area

is Moving past the barriers of fear and the mindsets

that somehow what God has put in the scriptures

can be taken or left. What this idea that pastors

in this region would offer Christians. The understanding,

well, we don't have to, as long as we agree that

you're going to heaven, that's the only thing

we have to agree on. I'm sorry, that's not Bible.

That's not Bible. Yes, we should agree on that,

that the blood of Jesus, the cross, the resurrection,

that should be the, that's the first step. One,

but I don't just go through life like this. That's

what a Christian life looks like when you don't

accept the other part of the walk with the Holy

Spirit. You don't walk. You just kind of leap

only through life in this area. Why? Because

you only have one step that you can actually

say, that's all my growth is. The whole point

was, this is my first step. This is my second

step. And in that process of doctrine and my

relationship with Jesus, and then He doesn't

make our experience supersede any of that, but

he gives us experience in the midst of his truth,

his doctrine, his word, and his fellowship. My

biggest fear of a kid, as a kid, was looking

foolish and making a mistake. Now I know this

is, I'm telling on myself this morning. But I

remember talking to my girls and Jesse's now

working for Michael Krupp and driving a combine.

Thank you, God bless you, sir. And in that process,

she's just fearful of everything. And I went

out on the first day that she was supposed to

start and I said, you know, Michael, maybe I

better ride around in the combine with her and

maybe just... It's the first time she's really,

she hasn't drove a big machine and that machine's

worth more than 10 years of my salary. So let

me just, let me just ride around in this thing.

And as I rode around in the thing, I texted Jenny

several times to have the defibrillator on standby.

Just teaching her how to line up with the truck

and the auger and the, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, stop. And that process, and I could see

fear was beginning to, okay, Jesse, you gotta

help me. You're not in trouble here. Okay, we

gotta break that. But you gotta remember, you

can't just keep your wheels turned and expect

you have to line up with the truck and stay straight

with the truck. Help your dad. I've lost my hair.

I don't wanna lose anything else. But you're

doing great. And why am I saying that? Because

all of a sudden she's like, dad, this is so hard

with you in here. I said, well, if you just lined

up once, I'll get out of here. Just, just, I

said, she goes, I know there's a sermon coming,

right? Yes, there is. There is. If you'll just

stay aligned, it will flow. Hallelujah. So she

texts mom. As soon as I left the combine, got

in the car, she goes, I did it perfectly once

dad left. Anyway, the point being fear can cripple

you from operating in the plans and purposes

of God. And for me, I know this sounds strange

and it wasn't that, that my parents raised me

like this, but Stuff can come up in you that

you don't want to be embarrassed or humiliated.

You know probably the biggest hurdle for people

to embrace truly that partnership with the Holy

Spirit is their fear of what somebody else is

going to think. This was so on me that when I

work for people, after I left the farm from about

18 to 22, right in there, and I worked at different

places. I worked at Wildish. I worked at other

places. I don't even want to name them all. And

I got incredible experiences. I was putting myself

through college and business school and then

Bible college. But one of the things that even

when I went to work full time in the ministry,

is I had a fear that I wouldn't do things right.

So much so that I didn't know that I was afraid

to use the bathroom on work time. Because everything

I knew was in my heart, and it wasn't because

my dad and mom put this in me, it was I... I

was listening and partnering with a lot that

in order to be a good employee, I could never

take a break. I couldn't even use the bathroom.

If I needed to use the bathroom, that was a,

in my mind, that was an exception to the rule

and I better not do it next time. You better

go for the whole day and like a good German,

get on the pot and off the pot in the morning.

And that dominated me. It dominated my time.

It dominated my thinking. It dominated how much

work and productivity I would get done. And everything

I looked at became an issue of measuring myself

by what others thought and not by having just

a relationship of saying, there are things that

are acceptable. You shouldn't fear using the

restroom. And that's a crazy thing, but I'm giving

you an insight into my life. That spirit of fear,

that fear of failure, that fear of humiliation,

that fear of getting in trouble, that fear of

doing something wrong. So I would focus on the

things that I could do right. And I would stay

in those things rather than moving forward and

growing in some areas. And that was one of the

very first things. That God had to teach me.

The fact is even in the pioneering of this church

25 years ago. I'll never forget. My first encounter

with a spirit of fear. Where I realized it was

fear. Was in a church parking lot. God had spoken

to me about. And he literally said it. He said

I'm going to cause you. I was praying about where

we were to go to plant a church. Because God

had been speaking to both Jenny and I. And I

had a bunch of states and cities that I wanted

to go to. And first of all, I wanted to go to

South Dakota, to be honest with you. I liked

the Black Hills. They had great deer hunting.

It had gold in them still. I liked pheasant hunting.

And I realized there was no real charismatic...

Pentecostal expressions. Everything was Lutheran,

Methodist, pretty locked down. And so there was

Air Force bases and I'm ready to go to Sioux

Falls or Rapid City. And I'm ready to do this.

I'd been there multiple times. My dad and I had

been pheasant hunting over there, bought some

machinery over there when we were on the farm

and young. And I just fell in love with the area.

And I heard the Lord say, I'm going to send you

to a place that you'll inherit the prayers of

your forefathers. I knew exactly where that was.

And I was on the other side of the McKenzie River,

Eugene Christian Fellowship at the time. It's

now Joy Church. And I remember he says, from

this great river to Lebanon, all the way to the

sea shall be your territory. And he spoke that

to me. And I knew that was, Lord, I know Lebanon.

I know Albany. That's where I was raised. And

he goes, yep, and that's where you're going.

Can you pick somewhere else? What about Bend?

No. Okay. And so as I'm listening to this word

and I knew it was from the Lord, it did absolutely

undid me on the inside. I began to think about

coming back to this area. And I had only, Jenny

and I had only just moved up the road 20 miles.

you know, 20, 23 miles, I think from where I

was born and raised. And we had a little house

in Springfield and we were on staff there for

about almost eight years. And I remember coming

back, thinking about coming back to this area

and I got, I got terrified. I said, Lord, I don't

want to go back to that area. I know the looks

of the people. I get the one finger wave. I know

what they think about the Holy Spirit. I know

what they think about the things that I have

learned of you and grown in you and walk with

you in. And I don't want to go there. Send me

to a people. Isn't this a great selfish prayer?

Send me to a people that like me. Send me to

a people that want what you've done by the spirit

of God and that actually have open hearts. I

told you where I'm sending you. You did. Is there

any room for negotiation? And so in that process,

when the Lord said, I'm going to cause you to

inherit the prayers. That's the first time I

had heard the Lord speak to me about. prayers.

And I didn't put the concept together that prayers

stay eternal until he answers them. It was the

first time he spoke to me. He says, I'm going

to cause you to inherit the prayers of your forefathers.

And I realized that there were things that our

forefathers prayed. And my forefathers were Mennonite

forefathers. I had a great, great grandfather

that was the bishop of the Harrisburg Mennonite

Church, and my great, great grandfather, Peter

Neuschwander, was the first deacon of the Mennonite

Church. So I knew what God was saying. There

were prayers prayed from sincere men and women

that in their generation had not been answered.

You can think what you want about that, but the

reality is God knows prayers, and if prayers

are prayed according to his will and according

to his purposes if they're not done in that generation

for whatever reason those prayers stay before

the throne so that he can answer them and in

that process God began to deal with me on fear

and I began to say Lord I am coming against fear

and I've never felt it like this. And I said,

in Jesus' name, God, forgive me of fear. I've

gone back to an old lens that I thought was broken.

And as soon as I said, Father, forgive me for

fear, all of a sudden I just began throwing up.

And I began to throw up. As soon as I threw up

the first time on the flower beds, I thought,

fear. you're there. Come out. I mean, I am barfing

up. I didn't even know what on flower beds. And

I left it there for the church just to bless

them. No, I was barfing up for about five minutes

in that process of breaking a spirit of fear

that I realized had its root system from all

the way down to a little boy. And it had hindered

me. It had hindered me at every part of knowing

the Holy Spirit. Every form, time I got prayed

for to get filled with the Holy Spirit. Every

time I'd asked for gifts. Every time I was in

an atmosphere where I knew the Spirit of God

was there. That thing would come up in my mind

and my heart. And it would question. Is this

right? Is this really for me? I'll look foolish.

I don't know this. I've never seen it. And there

had to be something of an impartation of the

Holy Spirit to strengthen my inner man to say,

you don't need to have someone show it to you.

I've told you what it is and I'm giving it to

you because it's connected to me. You see, that's

the beginning. Of learning to walk with the Holy

Spirit. Is that you have to begin to believe.

That he's co -equal with the Father. You have

to believe that he's perfect. You have to believe.

That if it's from him. That he can't give you

anything. That's not perfect. And not holy. Are

you there? You see, now I can say those words,

but I can tell you if you've been taught against

things that are of the Holy Spirit, it is a struggle.

It took me three and a half years to finally

embrace the gift of the Holy Spirit as being

filled and receiving my prayer language of speaking

in the Holy Spirit. And you know where it came?

I went to altar call after altar call. I mean,

I'm gonna come down here. I mean, every time

they had some prophets in, every time they had

somebody that gave an altar call for three years.

And I can tell you a minimum of 10, maybe 12

altar calls. Finally, I got to the point where

they would pray and they would say, listen, it's

all over you, just partner. And if I heard that

one more time, I was gonna partner in flesh and

punch a guy out. I'm like, I was ready. I changed

doctrinal position. I was open to receiving,

but after 10 or 12 altar calls of trying to get

filled with the spirit and nothing happening,

I became frustrated. And so I changed the channel.

I changed the channel on radio stations. I changed

when the charismatic or Pentecostal preacher

came on. Nope. Calvary. Nope. Give me something

more conservative. I'll buy the doctrine that

God gives gifts, but he doesn't give it to everybody.

And that's where I settled. And I settled in

the land of God has chosen not to give me that

gift. And then God decided to reveal himself

on a John Deere tractor on a 200 acre field with

a five bottom plow. And I had to use the restroom.

And I remember shutting the tractor down. I was

listening. I turned the radio station back. I

should have never, no, I'm glad I did. I turned

the radio station back and Pastor Frank, who

I was going to church there at the time, Pastor

Frank DiMaggio, he was on the radio and he's

talking about this very subject. And I'm arguing

with him the whole time because I couldn't argue

in church. But in the tractor cab, you can argue

with the radio. And he said something about just

trusting the Holy Spirit and you have to partner

with what is unknown to you, but it's known to

God. He said that statement and the Spirit of

God convicted me. And I was ticked. I turned

the tractor, idled it down, sat with my hands

crossed and said, Lord, I have done this 12 times.

And then I heard the Spirit of the Lord question

me. He says, how many times did the prophet tell

Naaman to dip in the Jordan? Oh, every time you

have the right answer. Have you noticed that?

God's never wrong. That even when you try to

argue with him, he comes up with a great Bible

verse that you hadn't thought of. shoot. Okay.

All right. I 12 times. I said, Lord, I've got

to use the restroom. But when I come back into

this cab, you have to help me. I'm going to give

it one more time. So I did my thing, got rid

of some coffee, came back up into the tractor

cab. stayed under the air conditioner for a bit.

I was hoping my employer wasn't coming down the

road. I was looking just to make sure. I was

like, what is he doing out in the middle of the

field? Anyways, anyways, but I'm just thinking

all this. And the Lord said to me, he goes, now

when I tell you, I want you to worship me. And

as you worship me, I want you to sing and say

what comes out of your heart. I go, well, that

doesn't make any sense. He says, it's not supposed

to. You're filtering everything through your

mind of what you think makes sense. Has anything

I've done with you made sense? Well, you got

a point there, no. There's a lot of things you've

done with me that doesn't make sense. Most people

would have said, nope, nope, nope, not him. He

goes, so you're going to have to do what I tell

you to do without anybody showing you. Now, what

I didn't realize, I'm going to pick on my folks

here for a bit. What I didn't realize is that

my parents had the Holy Spirit, not just with

salvation, but they both were tongue talking

people. I did not know that. I did not know that

I was 19 years old when I got filled with the

spirit. I had never heard that. I'm not trying

to embarrass you, but let it happen if it needs

to. Okay. I had never, I had never, I had never

heard them speak in tongues ever. The church

we went to didn't do it. Fact is it was taught

against. And I didn't know that they had had

experience prior where they both had been filled

and fluently worshiped God in the spirit. Never

once in my home had I heard that gift. Now, my

dad modeled reading the word of God. My mom read

sometimes. No, I'm just messing with you. They

both read the word of God. They both loved Jesus.

But I never, you have to understand, in my conservative

home, you didn't, The fear, the fear of living

worship openly dominated over what the scripture

said to love God and to live it openly. Singing

in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Spiritual

songs being what? Originated in Holy Spirit language.

Fear dominated that. So you see me on stage,

you see me worship, you see, you know, years

later. But growing up, I had none of that framework.

Fear limited everything when it came to spiritual

things. Didn't do it. Did we talk about Jesus?

Yes. My dad probably talked about the rapture

more than anybody I know. So much so that every

time my sister and I They would just make a decision.

Hey, we need to go move the windrowers. How the

kids are playing, just let them play. They would

leave. All of a sudden, something would come

over me and my sister. We'd search the grounds

for mom and dad, and they were gone. And I remember

coming back with my sister, holding hands, praying

in the living room, God, send it again. So did

we talk about... The Lord, yes, we talked about

it often. We talked about the coming of the Lord.

I mean, he had a slim line, little New Testaments

in case the Russians came. I mean, we had everything

ready to go with the word of God. But hearing

the Holy Spirit and the language of the Holy

Spirit and the expression of the Holy Spirit

and the giftings of the Holy Spirit were unknown

to me. Until I entered into people that took

the Bible literally. And I remember the first

service, 17 years old, the first service I went

into that really had a Holy Spirit expression.

I looked around and I thought, these are crazy

people. We're in a cult. At 17. And that song

of Ray Stevens, that country song, and I listened

to a lot of country music as a kid, that song

came on. That day the squirrel went berserk in

the first self -righteous church. I mean, literally,

I thought somebody had had a squirrel in their

coveralls. I thought, this is what he did. He

came to this church to write this song. It was

so foreign to me. That's why Jenny and I, we

laugh. Why God chose me to actually shepherd

and lead a full, if you want to call it, full

gospel expression of a church is the craziest

thing because what I came out of, I didn't believe

it. I resisted it. I fought it at every angle.

And finally, when the Lord found me in the John

Deere 4440 tractor, He said, you're just going

to have to say out of you because I've given

you the gift. I've given you faith. Bypass what

you think it sounds like. And I remember saying,

okay, oh God, I started a little bit and I just

like, oh, that is this. Stop it. I literally

heard the Lord say, stop it. Try again. Well,

then. It sounded a little bit. It hadn't messed

with me. Because I had a singing background.

And I thought. Are you telling me that tongues

is just jazz scatting? You know. So I'm like.

Are they speaking in tongues? On the jazz records?

No. try again, which was what? Remove your mindset.

See what happens is every time it got caught

in my natural filters, every time, every time

it got caught in my natural filters. Finally,

he had to say, I telling you, do not stop it.

And as soon as I obeyed him, I said, Lord, this

has been here all along. Exactly. You mean that's

all there is to it? Is just trusting you and

let it out from the inside? Yes. I'm so sorry.

I've been an idiot. Yes. Not that the Holy Spirit

called me an idiot, but in my own heart, I realized

it was still fear. It was still afraid. of humiliation,

afraid of the unknown, and afraid of trusting

God that kept me from receiving who he is. Now,

I took you on a long journey this morning of

some of my personal stuff I don't share often.

But if you understand that the Bible says that

God is a giver, His nature is to give. You know

what the hardest thing, the hardest thing for

me, because I too love to give gifts and I'm

certainly not like God, but that part of our

nature, that those that have that grace, you

understand that nature of it. The worst thing

of a gift giver from a human perspective is when

somebody won't even receive the gift. That you've

given. When somebody doesn't receive the gift.

That you've spent time. Picking out. Thinking

about. If you're a gift giver. Now some people

aren't gift givers. And when they give gifts.

It's still a wonderful gift. But they're not

giving of themselves. They would rather give

words. Like my wife. She's a wonderful gift giver.

But that's not her main thing. Her main thing

is words. So when I get a card. It is filled

with words. That doesn't really do it for me

because I do words all the time. I love that

she wrote it and I keep the cards. But if I only

write, you're the best wife, love you, Brad,

that's not a good gift to her. And it doesn't

matter if there's diamonds in the box or not.

Words on a full card mean as much as, let's say,

the anniversary band. But for a gift giver, The

most important thing of the gift giver is because

it comes from you to that person. Your personality

of gift giving is expressed in the sharing of

your love for that person. And when a person

says, no, thank you, I don't want that. That

is a rejection. They may think they're just rejecting

the gift, but it's actually rejecting the person

that is giving the gift. And that's one of the

things that I had to learn. One of the things

that I had to honestly repent of, had to repent

of it multiple times to get it out of me, is

that I cannot say to God, who's given the gifts

and lists the gifts, I don't need that. I don't

want that. For me to say that is rejecting God

at a level that says, I know better than you

do. I want what I want and I don't want what

you want for me. Now that doesn't mean I'm denying

God. It doesn't mean that I'm losing my salvation.

It means what? I've put a barrier. I've put a

limitation and I've said to the Lord, that area

of your life and that area of your will, I am

choosing to redefine according to my own understanding,

whether it's my own doctrinal interpretation

or whether it's my own uncomfortability, you

will not give me anything of that nature. I'll

only receive this of you. And then we wonder

why we can't progress with the Lord. I think

that's what the Lord's wanting to do with us

is he's wanting to actually reveal areas where

you've actually had an Old Testament mindset

instead of actually allowed yourself to partner.

I'm not saying leave doctrine. In fact, you'll

actually have to have enhanced understanding

of the doctrines of the Bible to partner with

him because they're all there. They're there.

Not asking for anything extra biblical. God would

never do that. He's asking you just to receive

what he's actually given and revealing in his

word. And that's my heart for you because I know

that that's God's heart for all of us. If we

understand that the father's nature and his character

is that he's a giver. It means that he's a supplier.

He's a protector. He's a forgiver. He's a leader

and he's a deliverer. I must now believe that

everything that's connected to him is only good,

only yields good, and only produces what is God

produced through me. Why? Because I'm on a journey.

Of learning to partner. With him. In his kingdom.

Amen. Can we pray. Heavenly father this morning.

Lord I hadn't planned on. Giving as much of a

testimony of. As I did and I asked that you would

take it today. Lord you would. Cause it to begin

to. Lord find places on the inside of your people

where they're limited. And Lord by your Holy

Spirit that the light of your word would come

and the very conviction of your spirit who is

evident the very first thing of our salvation

is the conviction of sin. That the Holy Spirit

was at work right. From the beginning when we

heard the message. And we believed the message.

You gave us the faith. You gave us the ability

to receive it. And the Holy Spirit brought the

conviction from the Father and the Son. As the

agent that brings God to us. I'm asking now that

you would begin to release that now over this

room. Lord, there would be a heart for this summer.

Lord, this wouldn't be a summer of just neglect.

This would not be a summer of, ah, I'm going

to have my summer. I'm not going to press into

the things of God. No, Lord, this would be a

summer that we would long to engage and further

know the relationship and the development of

your Holy Spirit that you might open the door

over this house and over every single person

that they would walk in a fuller measure of understanding

in truth and in spirit than never before. Lord,

they would become like your disciples, people

who are witnesses and absolutely bold to share

it and live it. Confronting and staring down

fear and watching love, love of the Father, Son,

and the Holy Spirit destroy a spirit of fear

to live in the power of your kingdom. I now bless

them. I bless them now in Jesus' holy name. Amen.

Lastly, if you are in need of prayer send us

a text message at 541 -625 -1365. We would love

to pray with you.