WALKING with the Holy Spirit // Summer Lean In series (part 8) // Taylor L.

My name is Taylor. For those those of

you that don't know me, I'm excited to

preach today. But first, our pastors,

you will notice, are not here today. And

they are so sad to not be here. They

were on a flight that was supposed to

get in last night, but it got delayed as

flights do usually. So, just want to let

everybody know they are really sorry to

not be here, but instead of them, you

get me today. So, we'll we'll see how it

goes. All right. My message today as

part of our summer lean-in series is

titled Walking with the Holy Spirit. And

I am going to be honest, I knew, and my

husband can attest to this, that I

wanted to talk about the Holy Spirit for

my message probably, I don't know, six

or so months ago, but I was so nervous

about it. Um, because it's pretty out of

my element. I have preached a few times

up here, but I am really used to just

telling my story instead of explaining

theology because in this world today, in

any world, people can argue your

theology, but it's really hard to argue

what actually happened to you. So,

telling my story is a little bit safer.

Um, so usually I tell my story and then

I cry. I don't usually plan that part,

but it happens every time. So chasing

down this topic which is deeply

spiritual is a little intimidating. So

I'm starting with that to preface with I

don't have everything right. But I was

actually thinking as I was writing this

message. I don't know if I even fully

understand the Holy Spirit myself and

that's why I want to talk about it.

Sometimes I feel weird even talking

about it cuz it feels like a topic that

just belongs to people who are deeply

spiritual or maybe spiritual elite like

pastors, worship leaders and not just

like a regular old Christian girl like

me. So I knew I wanted to learn more. I

want to understand him more and I want

to know the Holy Spirit better. So as I

was preparing and learning, I started to

feel less intimidated by the topic

because I know I don't know everything.

I was studying the Bible to this week

just like any other Christian trying to

figure things out. And this is not going

to be me pretending to be an expert on

theology. This is just an invitation for

us to learn together to discover who the

Holy Spirit is, what he does, and what

does it look like to walk with the Holy

Spirit every day. So, if we're going to

walk with him, we have to start I'm

going to turn the sound off on my

computer first. There. Um we have to

start at the beginning of understanding

who the Holy Spirit is. Right? Before we

can understand what someone can do for

us, we have to understand who he is so

that we know how to walk with him. So if

you are like me, when you hear the

phrase Holy Spirit, your mind might go

to like an energy um or maybe just like

a feeling that you get during a really

intense time of worship or an intense

time of prayer. But that is our first

mistake. That's my first mistake as

well. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is

a person. My first slide is a very

simple slide. Know him. The Holy Spirit

is not just a power to experience. He's

a person to know. Not person as in a

physical body, but a person as in an

entity that you can interact with, that

you can have relationship with. So, if

you have your Bibles, we're going to

start in John. John 16:7. And I'm going

John 16:7

to set the scene for us. So this is like

the last supper. Jesus is getting ready

to be or he's about to be arrested. He's

about to be crucified and he's with his

disciples. They have been walking next

to him for years at this point. They are

very close to Jesus. They're intimate

with him. They have immediate access to

him 24/7. They even left their families

because of the power that that um Jesus

showed to follow him. So now Jesus is

telling them, which I think is a little

crazy, and I'm sure you do too, that

he's going to leave them. So let me read

John 16:17.

John 16:17

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It

is to your advantage that I go away. For

if I do not go away, the helper will not

come to you, but if I depart, I will

send him to you. So I think a lot of my

confusion about the Holy Spirit is

because I wasn't relating to him as a

person. But in this verse, as we can

see, the Holy Spirit is referred to as a

hymn. And not just a hymn, but a helper

or a counselor. And for me, this makes

it a little bit easier to relate to the

Holy Spirit. So, going back to the

verse, can you imagine? We are

disciples. We know Jesus so well. We

have always had this immediate access to

him, to his advice and his teachings.

And Jesus looks at us and looks at the

disciples and he says,"I

telling you this is the truth. It's

actually better for you if I leave." And

I'm sure that they felt abandoned. I

know they felt abandoned because as you

go on in John, it says their um their

hearts were full of grief. So Jesus

tells them it's best for them that my

physical body goes. Why would he say

that? He says,"I will send you a helper

to walk alongside of you always." He

sent them his spirit that lives inside

of them and is with them always. So he

traded his physical body so that he's

not limited to time or space or

geography and we have that same access

so that us and the disciples can carry

his presence and his spirit. And in that

verse, he says, "Not only all of that

information, but he's our advantage."

So, we talk a lot in church about how

Jesus is always with us, but technically

after his resurrection, Jesus went back

to be at the right hand of the father

and he's waiting. But God's spirit, his

presence is within us. Our body is a

temple that houses the Holy Spirit. So,

let's think about that. If Jesus walked

into the room today and he said, "Would

you choose the Holy Spirit over sitting

next to me in my physical body?" I don't

think I would. I don't know about you

guys. I don't think I would. But Jesus

would. He said, "That's how important

the Holy Spirit is. I'm choosing this

for you. It's better for you. That's how

big of an advantage it is." So today, I

don't think a lot of us feel like that

was an advantage. I think a lot of us

feel confused. I don't think I'm the

only one in the room that has felt a

little confused about the Holy Spirit

because somewhere along the way, we took

this person and I think that we can make

it a little bit weird. Um, we can

sometimes take what was meant to bring

us power and clarity and we can turn it

into something that makes people want to

run away or maybe makes people feel

uncomfortable. And if the Holy Spirit is

really our advantage, why do so many

believers keep him at a distance?

Usually, I think it's because somewhere

along the way, we've encountered

something. We've had an experience that

was confusing or maybe even a little bit

hurtful or exaggerated, something that

might have felt disingenuine.

So, my next slide is trust him. And

these are my most simple slides because

I want it to be simple. But trusting him

means not letting broken people keep you

from his presence.

>> So why does it get weird? Why does it

sometimes feel fake? Why does it feel

sometimes like a performance? Because

like anything, a good thing can become a

bad thing when people distort it, right?

People are as as Kayla said, pe we are a

group of imperfect people. Am I right?

Can I get a amen? People aren't perfect

and we get it wrong. And I think that

ultimately this is a tactic from the

enemy because if even just one time you

have an experience or a manifestation of

the Holy Spirit that was clouded by

broken people and maybe it felt weird,

it felt a bit uncomfortable, then you

don't want anything to do with him after

that. Maybe you have an example. I'm

sure some of you do about an experience

that you've had that felt that way. I

have an example I'm going to tell you

about today. So maybe every time you

someone mentions the Holy Spirit, you

get a little nervous because you've had

this experience. Back in the day when we

were starting Collective Church, you can

leave that slide up, Mariah. When we

were starting Collective Church, we were

kind of like shopping around. We were at

different buildings trying to figure out

where to call our home. And we had a

prayer service on a Sunday. And I the

the altar was like this way. There's a

coffee bar here. So when you were

getting coffee, you weren't facing the

altar. I was facing the coffee getting

coffee as one does and a woman came up

behind me. She's no longer at this

church or it's not relevant to the

story, but she came up behind me and she

started praying for me. Put her hands on

me very loudly, very emotionally. Um,

and I just kind of stood there cuz I was

literally in the middle of getting my

coffee and I didn't say much. Um, but

she kept praying and she said she kept

repeating herself. Um, that the Holy

Spirit is telling me that you have a

physical problem going on in your body.

Not I don't have a perfect body, but I

knew that I didn't have a physical

illness going on at that time. So, I

just kept quiet and I just didn't say

anything. But, it kept getting more and

more emotional, louder. Um, and then she

said, "The Holy Spirit is telling me

that you have a kidney problem." And I

was like, "I don't I know I don't have a

Should I get checked out? I don't know.

But I didn't have a physical kidney

problem and I knew it. Um, and I didn't

say anything, but I knew that that maybe

wasn't the Holy Spirit talking to her.

Um, she kind of wanted me, it felt like

she was wanting me to match her emotion,

if you know what I mean, or have like an

equally strong reaction, but I didn't

cuz I wasn't feeling that. And she got

it wrong. And and that's okay because we

don't always get it right. But this was

a negative experience with a person.

That's not a negative experience with

the Holy Spirit.

Uh she was a well-meaning person who

just missed it. So I have to remember

this and I want us all to remember this.

The Holy Spirit never gets it wrong.

He's a perfect spirit, but imperfect

people do. And I'm sure that there's a

million stories where people have felt

the Holy Spirit guiding them and got it

exactly right. And it meant a lot. But

one negative experience can outweigh a

million positive, right? So I think when

we have an experience like that, we sort

of want to stay away from the topic. Um

it's just like we don't we don't go over

there. Uh and I have felt that way. I

felt that over this past year. I'm

still, you know, learning to come out of

that. But I was reading this book which

I recommend to all of you. Um which kind

of sparked my desire to go into this

message. It's called The Divine

Counselor by Alex Cely. And in it she

says, "You cannot do the Christian

journey without acknowledging the Holy

Spirit." And as a believer, he has given

us an advantage by his presence within

us. And I don't want to let broken

people get in the way of my relationship

with the Holy Spirit. So as I learn who

he is and I separate those experiences

stemming from people, I have to learn

how do I actually walk with the Holy

Spirit? How do I utilize the advantage

that God has given us? So, as I learn

who he is and I keep moving along, I

have that's my next step. What does it

look like to walk with the Holy Spirit

every day? Uh, and when you hear people

say things like, "I heard the Holy

Spirit tell me or um like along that

line, what does it do?" You sometimes

think, "What does that even mean? Am I

supposed to be hearing an audible voice?

Am I missing something?" And I have

learned over the course of studying and

learning and just being a Christian that

most of the time walking with the Holy

Spirit is much more ordinary than

dramatic experiences.

Sometimes it's reading scripture and

there's just one verse that will not

leave you alone. Sometimes it's just a

gentle conviction before you send a

really angry text message. Sometimes

it's being prompted to send someone an

encouragement and later finding out they

really, really, really needed it when

you sent it. And sometimes it's just a

deep peace even though your

circumstances haven't changed. So

walking with the Holy Spirit is about

learning to recognize his voice in those

ordinary moments. And that's where I

think he begins to do his work. And when

I think about walking with the Holy

Spirit and I get to know him more, I

learn about all of the different roles

that he plays in order to do his work

within us. So, one role that I feel like

the Holy Spirit plays that's vital to

our growth is as our counselor. When I

think about counseling, and I'm sure

many of us have been to counseling, and

it's a gift from God, um I think a lot

of it is about uncovering truths about

ourselves and about the situations we've

been through and then revealing them to

us. And the Bible refers to the Holy

Spirit as the spirit of truth. If we can

pull up John 16, when the Spirit of

truth comes, he will guide you into all

the truth. For he will not speak on his

own authority, but whatever he hears, he

will speak, and he will declare to you

the things that are to come. That's just

one verse. I have one more. 1

1 Corinthians 2:10

Corinthians 2:10. These things God has

revealed to us through the spirit. For

the spirit searches everything, even the

depths of God. So, I'm going to tell a

story. I'm going to tell a personal

story. I was debating, but I'm going to

go for it. So, when I was in high

school, I had a boyfriend of I'd

honestly all through high school. It was

as serious as a boyfriend in high school

could get. Um, if you know what I mean.

Like, he knew my family. We had all the

same friends. We were very close. I did

think there was a future there. Um, I

was sitting in his basement watching a

movie one night with him and he was not

feeling well. And I just remember he had

a stomach ache and he would have stomach

aches like more often than a than I feel

like was normal for a person. So he went

to the bathroom and I don't know what

had compelled me to do this but I went

into his closet and sitting I told Satie

I was not going to cry during my message

today and I'm not. But sitting on this

is 20 years ago so I shouldn't. But

sitting on his shelf was drugs in his

closet. not like your run-of-the-mill

like uh teenagers smoking marijuana. It

wasn't that type of thing. It was a lot

more serious of um like items that were

used to do the drugs.

Um so I don't really remember what

happened after that, but I do remember

his mom drove me home because we're

still in high school. I could barely

drive. And I just felt so much shame.

Okay.

All right. I just felt so embarrassed. I

felt shame. I felt embarrassed. I felt

like how could I have trusted this

person with I can't believe I'm still

crying 20 years later, guys.

but with with so much like I it was just

I felt so disheartened and broken about

it and honestly it made me question my

own judgment like how could I have

trusted him and why did I trust him um

anyways that story as I moved on to

other relationships clearly it's

affected me but I think I've moved past

it but I was hardened towards trusting

anyone

and I know that there's stories of

trauma in this a million times more

severe or worse than than my experience.

And that's why I want to talk about

this. But it just took like a lot for me

after this to open up. And it wasn't

just in romantic relationships. It was

like anyone like it was hard for me. I

felt I always felt like people would

feel close to me. But I don't I didn't

feel like close to them. Does that is

that hitting anyone? Okay. So my even my

parents, they're not here today, but

they used to joke that of all of my sib

of all of my siblings, there's four of

us, that I was like the emotionally

unavailable one. And I didn't really

like think about it too deeply. I just

thought that that was just me. Like that

was like that's how God made me. That's

part of my personality. Um it just takes

me a little bit longer to trust people.

And that just was how I went on through

life. And I don't even think I tried to

fix the problem because I didn't even

understand it until probably I'm happily

married now for a year, but until

probably before my relationship with my

now husband, I was so guarded. Um, and

and as I said, it bled into other things

in my life. And I couldn't tell you the

moment that I was, okay, now I'm a

trusting person. Now it's so easy for me

to trust people. But in those quiet

moments with him, he gently uncovered my

fears. Uh my he revealed truth to me and

he showed me how my walls were isolating

me and they were keeping me from a

relationship that I wanted from a

relationship where there's deep intimate

trust which produces a type of love I

hadn't felt before. So it wasn't it just

wasn't an issue for me anymore. And

isn't that what a counselor does? He

moves into your areas of brokenness and

he shines a light on them. And he

doesn't just fix them, but better yet,

he shows you how to fix them and how to

be free from them. He's the ultimate

counselor. He knows the fibers of our

being. He knows our deepest traumas, our

deepest sec insecurities and secrets,

the ones that we aren't even aware of,

how they're affecting us still. He

reveals truth. Sometimes that happens

during prayer. Sometimes it's while

you're reading scripture. Sometimes it's

while you're driving to work and you

just suddenly realize what you're

carrying. But once he reveals the truth,

that is not where it ends. Right? You

still have to walk out your healing. And

that's when human counseling comes into

play. There will still be triggers.

People are still going to break my

trust. People are still going to

disappoint me. And I can have systems in

place to better handle that using these

tools. And human counseling, I want to

reiterate, is a gift from God and it

helps us walk out our healing. It's an

incredible tool to be used. But when we

have the ultimate counselor who lives

inside of us and knows every thought,

every fear, why wouldn't we take it to

him first? What a shame if we don't go

to him first. The Holy Spirit often

works through wise counselors, but he

should never be left out of the

conversation.

The Holy Spirit doesn't just expose

what's wrong. He reveals why. In another

way, he doesn't just diagnose our

wounds. He walks with us into healing.

And as he reveals these truths, these

truths, they lead to us. We can't stay

the same once you know certain things

about yourself. They lead to us

changing, to him forming and ultimately

transforming us. Another way that the

Holy Spirit walks with us is he is our

sculptor.

So truth doesn't just stay truth and do

nothing. It leads to transformation. It

leads to us changing. In second

Corinthians the Bible says, "And we all

with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's

glory are being transformed into his

image." I love this part. With

everinccreasing glory which comes from

the Lord who is the spirit. And I like

that this Bible I love the Bible. Don't

we all? But I love that he the the Bible

cho God chose this word unveiled faces.

I I didn't really think much of that

until I was writing my message and then

when I when I put this verse on the

slides, it just came to me. Unveiled

faces to me means like your truest self,

the self-aware selves that have been

revealed all of the truths by the Holy

Spirit. And as we live in this

relationship with him, this back and

forth communication, we watch what

happens. We are being transformed. It's

this complete overhaul of our entire

person from the inside out to a new

state of being, right? We are forming

into his image to become more and more

like Jesus over time. Have you ever

looked back five years and you realized,

I'm a kinder person than I used to be?

or uh I'm slower to anger than I was 5

years ago. I don't panic the way that I

used to. That's the Holy Spirit. That's

the byproduct of the Holy Spirit working

in your life. So, how does how does the

transformation come about though? I

think that that was a big question for

me. Um I think that we see us becoming

more and more like Jesus in a lot of

different ways and at a lot of different

paces, right? So, we're all in a church.

I'm sure that you have seen this happen

and maybe even experienced this. But I

think a lot of trans transformation can

happen through these breakthrough

moments which are these rare unplanned

moments where the Holy Spirit just

accelerates your transformation. And

that I'm talking about like at the altar

or during a moment of worship, a moment

of prayer. What would normally take

years is done in a moment. Um, you might

be set free from addiction. You might

just be set free from a pattern of

thinking that you've had for years. And

I believe in that. We believe in that as

a church. That's why we invite people

forward. Uh, we believe in this. There

are many stories of this in the Bible.

Um, countless. And they but they're more

rare, I would say, and I think everybody

would agree with that. They are more

rare, but they happen. I rarely hear a

breakthrough moment that has brought

about deep character change. I rarely

hear someone who came to the altar, had

a breakthrough moment where used to be

insecure and now they're no longer

insecure or used to be an angry person

and now they never lose their temper. I

I I don't know about you, but I haven't

I've heard rare stories of that, but it

does happen. And I don't want to I want

to be clear. I don't want to shrink your

faith because it does happen. But I

believe that deep character change is

usually the byproduct of walking with

the Holy Spirit. Slowly but surely, we

are changed by walking with him through

a thousand small ordinary moments.

And when we think about character

change, I have to think about the fruit

of the spirit. The kids sing the fruit

of the spirit, but and I don't I

sometimes I miss a couple, but love,

joy, patience, peace, gentleness,

self-control.

Am I missing any?

Kindness, this important one. Um, these

develop over time, right? It's not just

a checklist of traits and it's not a

list of commands. And I think that's an

important distinction. the the fruit of

the spirit or not say be more loving, be

kinder. It's a picture of your inner

disposition changing to be more like

Jesus. I didn't put this verse up, but I

I wanted to include it because I think

it's it's it's relevant. Or maybe I did.

Do we have second? Do we have Galatians

Galatians 5:24

5:24? Okay, great. Uh and it says, "And

those who belong to Christ Jesus have

crucified the flesh with its passions

and desires. If we live by the spirit,

let us also keep in step with the

spirit. So there's no commands in this

verse except one thing they're telling

us to do. Keep in step with the spirit.

Walk in the spirit. And the byproduct

will be character that looks like Jesus.

You become a kind person. You become a

loving person. You become joyful. You're

peaceful within any circumstance. You

become faithful. You become patient,

gentle, kind. You are marked by

self-control. These are traits that we

develop. And the fruit of the spirit are

evidence that someone has been walking

with the Holy Spirit. So, we do have a

part to do. We have to create the

conditions in our lives for the Holy

Spirit to do the work to change and

transform us. We don't transform

ourselves, right? But we do cooperate

with what the spirit is doing. And

transformation

always leads us somewhere. We're not

transforming for no reason. So we've

talked about how truth leads to

transformation. But where does

transformation lead us? It leads us to

freedom.

So the third role that I feel like the

Holy Spirit plays in our walk with him

is freedom. He is our liberator. I

didn't love that word because it felt a

little formal, but I couldn't think of

anything better because it's so true. He

is our liberator. Truth leads to

transformation which leads to freedom.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:17,

2 Corinthians 3:17

"Now the Lord is the spirit, and where

the spirit of the Lord is, there is

freedom."

The term finding freedom in the Lord, I

don't know if I ever really intimately

related with it to be honest or I didn't

know how to explain what that meant to

me. It I it's a nice term um but I don't

feel like I could define how it relates

to my life really because what does it

mean to be free, right? Freedom to a lot

of us is the ability to do whatever you

want to do whenever you want to do it,

right? But I think it's a lot more

complicated than that. We have things

that we want in this moment, our fleshly

desires. Um, for instance, let's just

say I want to go get a hamburger and

fries after this service.

With some willpower, I could probably

overcome that desire and say no to what

I want in the moment so that I can say

yes to what I really, really want, which

is to be healthy. Right? So long before

this moment of temptation, I can orient

my life in a way that strengthens my

willpower so that I can override these

things that I want to get to my deeper

desires. I could like make sure I don't

go down the street passing fast food or

I could have a good community around me

that keeps reminding Actually, I didn't

have this in my message, but we're doing

a step challenge with the woman.

I I could, you know, have some

accountability in that and I do. I could

have a community that strengthens my

willpower so I can get to what I really

want. So in this way, freedom is not the

ability to do whatever you want or to

give into whatever impulse or desire

that you have at that moment. That's

actually more like slavery.

Freedom is to want the right thing, to

will the right thing, and to overcome

your flesh desires to do the right

thing. But here's the thing.

Strengthening your willpower, learning,

studying, putting the right community,

being in a step challenge, all these

things, changing your influence, it's

never going to be enough. It'll never be

enough. No matter how much willpower you

have, it is never going to be enough to

live like Jesus. Like our end goal is

not just like a really good guy. Our end

goal is Jesus. He's perfect. Willpower

is not going to get you there. as small

changes will help and they're doable on

our willpower alone. But once you bump

up against these deeply ingrained

patterns that go back to generational

trauma that maybe you don't even know

about but your parents do or go back to

addictions that maybe you feel like you

were born with these deeply ingrained

patterns uh and traits that are woven

into who we are deep in your I don't

even deep in your enog or your

MyersBriggs willpower is not going to

cut it for that it's essential to grow

and mature we need willpower. power for

that, but it's not good enough. We need

access to a power that is beyond us, the

Holy Spirit, in order to be transformed,

in order to long for the vision that God

has for us. More than we want the fast

food, more than we want companionship,

even if it's not the right relationship,

more than we want something that's going

to make us happy for an hour, but not

going to make us happy later, or

whatever desire it is we have at that

moment. So willpower is not going to

change your nature. It can modify your

behavior, but it cannot transform your

heart. It changes behavior, but the Holy

Spirit changes your desires. And that's

true freedom. True freedom comes when

the Holy Spirit renews your mind. Like

in Romans when it says, "Do not conform

to the patterns of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your

mind." Then you will be able to test.

Listen, this is scripture, not just me

saying really good stuff. But then you

will be able to test and to prove what

God's will is, his good and pleasing and

perfect will. So the Holy Spirit changes

your appetites. He rewires your desires

so that your mind naturally begins to

crave what God craves. You don't have to

force yourself to obey. You want to

obey. You're not chasing after

relationships that look like the last

relationship that caused your trauma,

that caused your patterns because your

flesh desires just to not be lonely

right now. You want what God wants. You

want the relationship God has for you.

I see a lot of new Christians um doing

good things, changing their support

system, changing their influence, and

even changing their habits and lives.

And I can tell that their strengthening

their willpower, but their desires

haven't changed. Their deeply ingrained

patterns haven't changed. And they're

still justifying their sin because we

still want it. We still want it more

than God's plan for us at that moment

because we haven't been transformed yet.

And that's why we're walking with the

Holy Spirit.

Corinthians 3:17 says, "The Lord is the

spirit and where the spirit of the Lord

is, there is freedom." And this is God's

version of freedom. It's the presence of

a person. It's the Holy Spirit running

your mind. So you're finally be able to

you're finally able to be free to be who

you were made to be to want the right

things. That's freedom. When your

desires match up with God's desires. And

why? Why do we need to be transformed?

What are we doing with it? We're doing

it to point to Jesus. And this one's

actually pretty simple. The Holy Spirit

doesn't transform us just so we are

impressive Christians that people really

want to be around. All of our

transformation has a purpose.

Transformed people become witnesses. The

Holy Spirit transforms us so that we can

point to Jesus.

Acts 18 says, "But you will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

and you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and

to the ends of the earth.

So, it seems pretty simple. The whole

goal is to make us better at pointing

people to Jesus, to be his witness. The

Holy Spirit gives us love, joy, all of

the fruits of the spirit we just talked

about, peace, patience, kindness,

self-control, not as a badge of honor

for us to brag about, but as tools to be

used for him. Some days, I can promise

you, you're going to need that patience.

And other days, you're going to need

wisdom. And other days, you're going to

need healing. But to be a witness, we

have to have experienced it. If you went

to court and you were a witness, and you

said, "Hm, I haven't I didn't see the

crime." You'd probably not be a very

good witness for that court, right? To

be his witness, we have to witness his

goodness in us. We have to witness his

ability to form us and ultimately

transform our lives so that we can be

witnesses to others.

Your neighbors don't need another person

who just knows a lot of Bible verses.

They need someone whose life has been

changed and who has been transformed.

I can't witness a freedom that I have

never experienced.

And I can't introduce people to someone

that I don't know.

So maybe today you have kept your

distance from the Holy Spirit because of

a confusing experience. Maybe you've

been relying on your own willpower

trying to become a more patient, loving,

self-controlled person. Or maybe you've

just never thought of the Holy Spirit as

a person who actually wants to walk with

you every single day.

I I still don't think I understand

everything about the Holy Spirit, but I

know him a lot more than I did a few

months ago. And isn't that like most

relationships? We don't really

understand someone fully until we're

walking with them.

We don't recognize their voice as often

until we're spending time with them,

listening to them. And over time, you

come to know him more deeply.

Learning to recognize the Holy Spirit is

a lot like learning someone's voice. The

more time you spend with him in

scripture and in prayer, the more

familiar his leading your life will

become.

Uh, and I think that's what the Holy

Spirit is inviting me and you into. Not

a perfect understanding,

not even a dramatic experience today.

And not trying harder to become a better

Christian, but just walking with them.

He wasn't leaving the disciples.

He was making himself available to

everyone. And we have that same access.

That's our advantage.

So, I don't want to do an altar call

today, but I want to take one minute

where we all stand up for a second and

we're just going to take a minute of

stillness

where we

we hold out our hands like you're

receiving a gift and we close our eyes

and we just listen.

Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me

today? And don't feel like you have to

force it. Just be still. And if there's

a scripture that comes to mind, a person

that comes to mind, an area of your

life, or even a conviction, just receive

it.

God, I thank you for loving us enough

that you didn't leave us on our own.

Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to

live within us, to guide us, to comfort

us, and to transform us. Holy Spirit,

forgive us for when we have ignored your

voice, for when we've relied on our own

strength or our own willpower, or if

we've allowed other people's mistakes to

keep us from knowing you.

God, I ask you today to shape us into

people that look more like you. Don't

just change our behaviors, but change

our desires.

Change our hearts. God, teach us to love

what you love, to pursue what you

pursue, and to find true freedom in

following you. And as we leave here

today, would you remind us that you are

with us, your presence is within us,

God. And I pray that every morning we

would wake up and our first prayer would

be Holy Spirit, walk with me.

Walk with me today.

Amen.

Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.

Give me.