Follow His Spirit

Open your Bibles to John chapter 14, maybe at verse 16 through 17.

John 14 · chapter mention

John chapter 14, verse 16 through 17. We're going to continue talking about the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16–17

Verse 16, Jesus says unto us, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you

another helper that he may abide with you, watch this, forever.

Look at verse 17. the spirit of truth whom

the world cannot receive so the

world doesn't have the spirit of truth because it neither sees

him nor knows him simply meaning it gives the world is only moved by what they

can see but we can be moved by what we believe it only sees him nor knows him

but you know him thank god we know the holy spirit for he dwells with you and

here's one of the most important parts,

and he will be in you.

And so as we look at the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's important to realize

that you have supernatural assistance.

When you gave your life to the Lord, and you said,

Jesus is Lord, and you confessed with your mouth, believed in your heart that

God raised him from the dead,

and you knew that you had no way to atone for your sins,

and you knew that you were lacking in this

life without supernatural power and

provision and help and you needed a savior at that

moment you accepted Jesus and Jesus gave you the Holy Spirit to be with you

forever so you have someone that the world does not have matter of fact you

have of someone on the inside of you with you that most people on this earth do not have,

you have the Holy Spirit.

And how many of you know that life can be very challenging?

Life can be difficult. I mean, when you talk about financial pressure,

I mean, that's a real thing.

Financial pressure is very, very difficult. I say this all the time and I'll say it again.

I mean, unless you've been broke, you don't know what being blessed really feels like.

I mean, healing, I mean, there's some of us are dealing with things in our bodies,

pain and sicknesses and diseases and terminal things, and these things are challenges.

And I say it all the time, you don't know what feeling good is like unless you

have not felt good before.

I say this all the time, it feels good to feel good because Because when you're

not feeling good, it doesn't feel good.

And so you understand that there are challenges. There are challenges with relationships.

You have challenges, students in here, academic challenges, and there's mental challenges occurring,

and there's environmental challenges, and now we're in a political season,

and there's political challenges, and challenges all throughout this earth.

Challenges maybe with your mom and dad, or challenges with your son and daughter,

or challenges, challenges, challenges with your children, challenges with your spouse, challenges.

I mean, there's a lot lot of challenges, but Jesus gave us a solution to these

challenges, and he gave us the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit knows everything about everything.

The Holy Spirit has a solution for every challenge that comes your way.

The Holy Spirit knows things that you don't know.

The Holy Spirit is someone Someone that's with you and in you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You are never without the Holy Spirit.

And I love in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit used to come upon individuals

for a temporary period of time, and then the Holy Spirit would then ascend off of them.

But because we're in the new covenant and because of Jesus's death,

burial, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit now is in us at all times.

He is with you while you're

sleeping he's with you while you're working he's with you

while you're arguing with somebody realize he's

with you while you're depressed realize he's with

you while you are a cousin and you

shouldn't be cussing by the way he's with you all throughout your day all throughout

life the holy spirit is with you and i'm challenged today to talk to you about

the person of the Holy Spirit when I was growing up I.

I grew up in a Baptist church. The name of the Baptist church was True Victory Baptist Church.

That's where I gave my life to the Lord as a eight-year-old in the third grade.

Pastor Reed is still pastoring to this day. I actually talked to him a couple

years ago. He's still going strong.

He's no longer in the North Pole, Alaska.

That's where I gave my life to the Lord. I lived in the North Pole,

Alaska. He's in Louisiana now, but pastoring another church.

However I gave my life to the Lord in

the third grade and when

I was in church and we had

what I would call a full gospel Baptist Church

okay when I was in church I would see people and then people my mom my mom what's

going on with that with that lady them and my mom would say that's the Holy Spirit and I.

If the Holy Spirit makes it, oh, make you do a jerk, and you're,

oh, and then sometimes it'd be, and then the music would be going,

and then the ushers would come, and then they would fan.

Have you seen that? They would fan, and then the usher would touch somebody,

and then she, and the usher, oh, and I thought, I don't want to have nothing

to do with the Holy Spirit.

And then I look, and my mom is one of the main ones falling out.

I'm like, Mom, what happened today? the Holy Spirit, and I thought,

man, I don't want to have anything to do with that.

Or we'll say that the Holy Spirit is a mist.

Ooh, I saw a mist in the air, and the Holy Spirit was here.

Or we might even say that the Holy Spirit is an it.

The Holy Spirit is an it, and we don't personify the Holy Spirit.

I'm here to tell you that the Holy Spirit is a person who's fully personal.

And while you might get a jerk, that might be a function of the Holy Spirit.

It just might be. Well, you might get a, hey, listen, I've had times I'm praying.

Next thing I know, I got tears coming out. I'm like, oh, the Holy Ghost is all over me.

But he's first and foremost a person.

And he's very personable.

So he's not a person as in a human sense, but he's personal as in a spiritual sense.

The Holy Spirit can communicate with you and can talk to you and feel what you feel.

The Holy Spirit is someone whose scripture calls a friend.

A helper. And what I want to talk to you about today is I want you to stop referring

to the Holy Spirit as an it.

As you know, how disrespectful it would be if I just keep saying it led worship this morning.

Didn't it do a great job this morning?

It man, she she sung that it sung that song. I'm totally, totally disrespectful

to refer to a person as an it.

One of the things I want to challenge you on today, are you listening to me?

Because I'm going to challenge you today, is stop saying something told me.

That's disrespectful as well. Something told me. No, the Holy Spirit told you.

If I'm talking to Josh and he tells me something profound like,

I look good today. Thank you, Josh.

And he tells me something profound like that and I tell y'all,

something told me I look good today.

No, I need to recognize that Josh told me that.

When we are developing and cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit,

we're going to have to realize that he is a person.

He's not an it and he's not a something. think.

Be very mindful when you are developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit

that you recognize that he is a person.

He's invisible, but that doesn't make him not real.

I mean, radio waves are invisible. I don't see them, but they're floating around

here. Have anybody ever seen wind?

No, you've seen the effects of wind, but you've never seen wind.

But you feel the wind. You don't see it. You feel it. It's real.

The Holy Spirit is a person, and he's real, and he's someone you can talk to.

The Holy Spirit is someone that wants to help you.

He wants to give you divine assistance. He wants to give you divine support.

He wants to comfort you when you are down. He wants to help you make the right decision.

And one of the things that I want to challenge you on today too is when we're

talking about the Holy Spirit, I want you to be aware that you are talking to him and not about him.

When we're talking to the Holy Spirit, let me give you an example. We're talking to him.

So when I talk to my virtuous wife, Stacey, I don't say her name all the time.

I'm not like, well, Stacey, how are you doing today? Stacey, you look great.

Stacey, you are the best cook.

Stacey, I went down to the store the other day, Stacey, and Stacey,

I went and I bought some eggs, Stacey, and Stacey, I went and got a smoothie, Stacey,

and Stacey, after I got a smoothie, I got some gas, Stacy and Stacy I

went and Stacy that that's not a conversation that we have I don't actually

ever really say her name when I'm talking to her unless I'm trying to get her

attention and once I have her attention I'll say Stacy she'll say yes my lord

no no that's that's in my that's in my dream sorry about that,

she'll say what no I'm just playing she'll say yeah and I'll say.

You're the apple of my eye. You're the butter on my warm bread.

You're the star on the Dallas Cowboys helmet. You're the whipped cream on my

sundae. You're the cherry on top of my cheesecake.

I'm talking to her.

But what happens when we begin to talk to the Lord, word.

God, God, I love you, God, God, I love you, God, God, God, God,

God, God. That's not a real conversation.

That's something that you and I are going to have to stretch in our relationship.

When we're talking to him, it takes a moment of pausing, talking to someone

that you really, have you ever spoke to someone that you really respected?

I've talked to men that I've really, really respect it. And I use the word, sir, a lot. Yes, sir.

Sir. I mean, I respect, I don't say their name over and over and over and over

and over. 25, the God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God.

That, that is not a real conversation.

Can I, can I help you this morning? Pause.

Father, I love you. Here's what we used to do. Here's what we,

here's what I used to do. Can I talk about myself?

Father, I love you. And Father, you're so good. And Lord God,

you're so great. And Lord God, Jesus, thank you. And Lord God,

you've been good. And Lord God, you've been.

And I said, wait a minute, that's not talking to someone. That's talking about someone.

So now I change it.

Father, I love you. You're so patient and kind with me. You're so gentle and merciful to me.

I want to say thank you for always providing for me.

You see, you just pause. Because when you pause, now you are cultivating a relationship

that is genuine and that's real.

I'm talking to someone and I don't have to say their name over and over and over again.

I am just communicating to them because they are looking right at me.

See, when you give the Holy Spirit your attention, he is giving you his attention.

And the cool thing about the Holy Spirit, he can give each and every one of

us his attention all at the same time.

We don't have to get on anybody's schedule. He is listening all at the same time.

And we just begin to talk to him. Some of you are going to just have to pause

and say, you know, I've noticed, I've said, Father God, Father God,

Father God, 29 times in this prayer.

And that's not a real conversation.

I've got to pause and say, you know what? I'm talking to someone,

and if I'm talking to someone visible, I wouldn't say their name over and over and over again.

Then you begin to cultivate a real relationship in your communication.

And I believe, how many of you heard of the love languages?

That's one of the best books. If you hadn't read the five love languages,

get that book and read it.

It has helped me in my marriage. It's helped me with my friendships.

It's a tremendous book about how there are five different love languages that

all of us receive and that we all give.

And I believe the love language of the Holy Spirit is quality time.

I believe when we make time to communicate,

to not just talk to him like we would any visible person,

but to then sit and listen like we should any visible person.

Really, I'm going to sit back and I'm going to listen to what he has to say

to me. If we take a look at John chapter 16, I believe it's verse 13.

John 16 · chapter mention

Yeah, let's take a look at this one.

However, watch this. When he, somebody say he.

Not a it, not a miss, not a jerk, not a tongue.

But a he, person. When he, the spirit of truth has come, he, say he.

He. Will guide you into all truth. For he, say he.

He. Will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and.

He. Will tell you things to come. So we are,

Jesus is describing the Holy Spirit is a person that's going to communicate

with us and show us the future if we'll simply cultivate a relationship.

And what does that look like? I believe it looks like taking time away from

everyone else and saying, I'm sitting here to spend time with the Holy Spirit.

And you can bring him your grievances. You can bring him your frustrations.

You can bring him your condemnation, your shame.

You can take it to him. Let him talk to you about your anger. finger

take it to him and he'll begin to talk

to you about life and

he'll begin to help you but you got to realize that you

have to cultivate a relationship with the

holy spirit now you can take time for me

i like to wake up earlier in the mornings but he's with

you all day long you can do this while you're

teaching in school you can do this you can talk to him

while you're cutting hair while you're driving

while you're playing video games whatever the case may be you can talk to the

holy spirit have a conversation with them as you progress in life he'll begin

to speak to you more clearly you can speak to him and you just have this working

relationship come on somebody say amen.

One particular time, and I want to share this story. This happened years ago.

We asked a guest minister to come to our church. Now, this guest minister came

before any of y'all were here, so don't even try to figure out who it is, okay?

And he came, and this was, we had just kind of started the church and so on

and so forth, and I want to give you a little background.

When I invite a guest minister, it's usually through a relationship. I have a relationship.

I trust what God has put on the inside of them, and I asked him to come and bring that word.

Usually what happens in those situations is the people that I work with,

man, there is no money discussed at all, Tamika.

I mean, it's just simply, we wanna come. Thank you for the invite.

The invite of itself is really, really good.

I'm glad that you invited me. I wanna come.

And what we do because we're a generous church and we are, one of our cultures

is generosity. generosity we're giving church, we take care of them.

We bless them. We honor them financially.

That's what an honorarium is. It means there's honor behind it.

And so a lot of the guest ministers, they like coming to True Life because we

honor them. They feel honored.

And you guys are such good givers, and we want to bless the gift of God that

comes, and we want to thank them for their time, and there's honor that takes place.

When I get asked to go places, it's the same thing.

I don't charge anybody to preach. I don't have a charge because I preach the gospel.

Now, if you want me to do something else other than preach the gospel,

I'm going to have a charge, okay?

So just realize that. Will you come cut my grass? Yeah, that's going to be $175, okay?

And I'm going to make it so hard that you go ask somebody else to cut the grass. All right.

No charge to go preach. And most people I work with, there's no charge and we

just bless them and so on and so forth.

Well, this one particular guy, we brought him in and his wife in and we just

blessed them and took care of them.

And once they got done, we sent them a very nice honorarium check.

I thought it was very nice. And this is early in our ministry.

So at the time, it was a stretch to sow what we sowed into their life.

Well, I get a voicemail from this guest speaker and thank God it was a voicemail.

Somebody say, thank God.

And then the voicemail said that we had owed, we owe him money.

Now, remember there was no charge and nothing like that. Somehow we owed money.

And so it was in the voicemail. Kurt, thank God it was in the voicemail because

if I'd answered that phone, I had a whole lot to say.

And I said, we owe them money. How do we owe you money. I mean,

we took care of this, that, this, that, this, that.

And I wish I would tell you that I consulted with the Holy Spirit first,

but I didn't consult first. I should have.

I called him right back and somebody said, thank God he did not answer the phone,

because they might've been some choice words and a relationship severed, right?

And I said, He didn't answer, and I was really upset. I went to Stacy.

She was more upset than I was about it, and we were just really,

really upset. Like, how in the world do we owe you money?

I mean, we took care of this, that, this, and then we, how do we owe you money?

That doesn't make any sense, right?

And the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me. I said, I sat back and said,

Holy Spirit, you're going to have to help me with this because I got,

I want to handle this my way.

There's a way I want to handle it, and I want to do it because I ain't scared.

I ain't scared of him. I ain't scared of nobody, okay?

I want to handle it. The Holy Spirit said, give him the money.

I said, no, that's not how I want to handle it because I don't owe him no money. We blessed him.

I wanted to let him know. I had a list of stuff that what we did to really bless

him, and he's going to get all of it, okay? And so I don't know where you're

coming with. I owe you money.

And so the Holy Spirit said again, give it to him. And he had told me how much.

I'll tell you. He said we owe him $300.

And the Holy Spirit said, give it to him.

And I said, that's not what I want to hear. And I went to Stacy and she was

like, I don't want to give it to him. I said, I don't want to give it to him either.

And I said, I want to talk to him. That's what I really want to do.

The Holy Spirit said, give it to him. I heard it strong in my heart. Give it to him.

I called up our accountant. His name is Frank. I said, Frank,

cut a check for $300. Send it to him overnight.

I want him to get this check the next day. If we We owe him something.

You get it the next day. I call him and finally answer. I say,

man, I got your voicemail. You said we owed you, you know, three hundred dollars. And he started.

Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You know, I did leave that voicemail.

And and I got to think about it. I shouldn't have said that.

No, you said it, bro. You said it. You know, I mean, you said it.

I mean, I know you should. I agree.

I said I want you to know we overnighted a

check right you're gonna get it tomorrow all right I sent this address and he

was like oh you know he was very kind and this that and the third and and I

said just want to make sure you get it and I and I remember sitting on my porch

I was like holy spirit I I did what you asked me to do you asked me to send it I send it.

That it was about three or four days later i go

check the the church mailbox and at the time this was the largest check in the

mailbox we had ever seen it was a check in there for three thousand dollars

and the holy spirit and it was someone that didn't come to go to our church

they just said the lord told them to just bless our ministry here's three thousand

dollars the holy Holy Spirit said,

right when I opened up the check, he said, if you listen to me,

I'll take care of everything.

I'll cause you to prosper. Don't get caught up in all that. If you just listen

to me, I know how to take care of you.

I believe that $300 was just seed sown that God used to send 3,000 in the same week, $3,000 back.

At the time, one of the largest checks

our ministry had ever received what am I

saying to you if you if you have a relationship with the

Holy Spirit and just listen to him let him talk to you and a lot of times listen

to me now I hope you hear my heart on this a lot of times he's gonna ask you

to do things that are not consistent with the reputation that you're trying to build.

I'm, I won't, listen, you don't take advantage, I'm Devon, nobody take advantage

of me, I'm trying to be, you know, you don't come and take advantage of me, no,

I don't, screw all that, you know, I want you to be kind,

you're trying to, what, nobody, people fighting in the Popeye's over chicken

sandwiches, over reputation, when the Popeye's chicken sandwich came out,

all the new people fighting, they're not fighting because the sandwich was that good.

They fighting because of their reputation. But if somebody were to listen to

the Holy Spirit, somebody took a step back, said, I ain't got time for the fight

over that chicken sandwich, man.

Go and cut in front if you want that bad. You know what I'm saying?

And then you get up to the front, and it might be free when you get up there.

Somebody say amen to that.

A lot of times, the Holy Spirit is going to ask you

to do some things that you don't want

to do he's gonna

ask you to do some things that is going to be

very difficult like forgive them do you know what they said to me yeah forgive

them do you know how I feel I know how you feel forgive I don't want to forgive

I understand you've been forgiven go ahead forgive them I don't I don't want to do that,

sometimes the Holy Spirit this is very hard for adults y'all ready for this

is hard for adults this is really difficult ladies this is difficult for y'all

too I'm telling you it's difficult I'm gonna say it I'm not scared of y'all.

Tell them I'm sorry.

It's very difficult. Difficult for us men, too. I don't want to just put the

ladies out there. It is. Tell them I'm sorry. I apologize.

I was talking to a guy, and we were texting, and he said something that was

absolutely ridiculous, okay?

And it was about this political environment. It was absolutely ridiculous what

he said. And I wrote back something.

I thought, you know, you got to be careful with the text because there's no tone in text.

So I just wrote something back.

And what he heard was a totally different tone than what I said.

And what he heard was that I called him a jerk. Now, that's not in the text.

And he said, you know, I called him a jerk. And, you know, this is how he felt about what I texted.

And immediately I could have defended myself.

I didn't call you a jerk. I don't know where you get that from.

I didn't call you no jerk. I mean, that's something you call yourself.

Because I didn't call you that. I mean, I didn't say that.

I said, I don't care what you think. I didn't say that. That's not what I said,

right? That's not what I said. That's called immaturity.

Immediately, I wrote back. I said, man, I'm sorry. I said, forgive me for saying

it that way. That was not my intention.

I can totally see how you got that. Forgive me. He goes, oh,

it's all good. We still cool. And so what am I saying?

Sometimes when you cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit,

it is not your will, not your desire, not your outcome, not what you're expecting. It's going to be...

What he wants you to do. And if you will lean into what he is saying,

he will lead you and guide you.

And if you hear me clearly this morning, and he will prosper you.

You will prosper, advance and excel in every area of your life if you simply

cultivate the relationship that you have with the Holy Spirit.

Spirit he's going to ask you to do some things that you don't want to do and

that's why he is called the comforter so that he can comfort you when you're

doing something uncomfortable,

while you are doing what he's asked you to do he is comforting you as you are

apologizing as you are forgiving,

as you are giving the money that you don't feel like you owe,

or you are releasing the money that you do feel like, or whatever the case may be,

he's going to ask you to do something that's uncomfortable, but then he's going to comfort you.

When he says, go and share the gospel with that person in Walmart,

it could be uncomfortable, but

you're going to have to do what the Holy Spirit is saying for you to do.

This one particular time, I wasn't even in a full-time ministry.

Maybe I would have just gotten a full-time ministry.

And I was asked to speak at a college.

And I went to this college. It was hundreds of college students.

And the Holy Spirit asked me to do an altar call for people that just want more of the power of God.

Now, when I asked the leader of the thing, could I do that first?

And he was like, please, because we've

never done that and I just I've been

very sensitive to what people you know feel please

can you do it I said okay I since the Holy Spirit asked me to

do it I did an altar call and I said you

just want more of the power of God young people you're here today come to this

altar and so on and so forth about a hundred students came up to the altar I

mean it was packed it was on a big kind of coliseum at UNC Charlotte and it

was it was packed and I went down and I began to just lay hands on people and the power of God failed.

And I went up to this one college student and I'm saying, I'm saying this to

you so you can understand how to hear from the Holy Spirit.

I went up to this one college student and the Holy Spirit said,

prophesy over her that her and her husband are about to do some type of mission

work in another country.

And that God would, that I would be with them and that I would comfort them

and I would take care of everything, but they need to go do this mission work.

Well, my mind said, well, they're in college. They're she don't have no husband.

She look like as young as I look, you know, my 21 year old. She look really

young. She ain't got no husband.

And so I was like, the Holy Spirit said, say that to him. And I said,

She don't have no husband.

And I heard her again, say it to him. I was like, she don't have no husband.

So I said, when you get married, you and your husband are going to go overseas

and this, that. And everybody started laughing.

And I opened my eyes. I like to close my eyes. I opened my eyes.

And I said, what are y'all, what was everybody laughing at? They're like,

she just got married last Friday.

And that was, they had just, they just got back from their honeymoon.

I didn't know. Her husband's sitting over there.

I was like, oh, my gosh. And I said, well, I should have said this,

but here's what I said. And I told him what the word was.

And I got back, and I got in, and the Holy Spirit said, I need you to trust me.

The Holy Spirit wants you to trust him. I need you to trust me. I know what I'm doing.

But my mind got involved. involved

and so then I had another opportunity

I went to a Spanish meeting and there was there was no English spoken if there

was it was very little and I went with a friend of mine he's a Hispanic guy

and he asked me to go with him he was teaching so I said oh we're going I went and I.

He said, give, you know, prophesy. People were prophesying.

He asked me, you know, do you have any words, not on the mic,

but any words for people at the altar?

And I said, I have a word for this person here. And I gave him the word in English.

Now, this is before I knew it was only Spanish speaking.

And I gave him the English word.

It was, oh, this is what the Lord is saying, and God's going to do this.

And I said, is that what you're sensing in your heart too? No habla ingles.

And I thought, Holy Spirit, they didn't hear a word I said.

You said trust you. He said, yep, and I could just sense in his heart.

He was just smiling. Yep, you just keep trusting me.

I got this thing. Whether, listen, that word was given whether they understood it or not, praise God.

In the spirit realm, things work.

And so I thought at that moment, I thought, I'm just going to trust.

If I'm going to get words in English and they don't speak it,

I'm just going to trust God. Amen.

So now I just trust God. I just say it. Amen.

Whatever I sense in my heart, notice I said whatever I sense in my heart.

Let me say it one more time.

Whatever I sense deep down, I've spent time with the Lord.

I'm not saying that, you know, I just made up something that came to my head.

No, I spent time with him, and then he is sharing things with me regarding people.

It's the Holy Spirit that wants to encourage you, that wants you to encourage others.

I went to Colorado a number of years ago. My friend Jeremy Pearson had a building dedication.

I went to support him, and he set me at a table with a group of people. I didn't know them.

And this lady kept looking at me at the table, not lustfully,

okay, nothing like that.

She just kept looking, and her husband was very nice. And I was talking to him,

and I would speak to her, and she wouldn't even talk to me.

I was like, hey, hello, and she wouldn't talk to me. I don't care.

I got a wife at home. I don't care if she talks to me or not.

And so I didn't care, and she just kept looking. I'm like, this lady keeps,

she don't like me, but I just kept talking, kept talking.

And, you know, we had a group of table with people, and I'm talking,

and she gave me the kind of, I felt like the side eye, but I don't know,

you know. I'm like, I'm about to call Stacy to fly out here.

And so I left it alone. I went, it's about time for me to go.

And I get ready to go, and this lady comes, runs me down.

I'm like, what in the world? She says, before you go, the Holy Spirit was talking

to me about you the entire time at the table.

And that's why she was giving me that look. She was listening.

And she just kept looking, listening. And she began to prophesy a word over

me that was stuff that I'm walking in right now. I mean, literally,

she began to say some things.

I wish I could have recorded it, but I was so caught up like,

I just prayed that this morning.

And so the Lord says, I'm answering that prayer. That prayer you prayed about

this, this. I'm like, I'm looking

around like, did somebody tell her my prayer time? The Holy Spirit.

This is what the Holy Spirit, if you will cultivate a relationship with,

he wants to use you like this.

He wants you to walk into people up to people in in areas in relationships or

or even in people you don't know and he wants you to say you know i know you've

been praying about your grandma.

The Holy Spirit just told me everything's going to be all right with her.

Just simple words like that.

You want people to open their eyes to the Lord? Give them words of knowledge

and words of wisdom like that.

You want people to get on fire about God? The Holy Spirit knows what's going on.

Before you even go, why don't you even pray, Holy Spirit, send me across somebody's

path today that I may encourage them.

Divine, connect me with somebody that I might uplift them today. I pray that.

Put me across somebody's path today that I can be a blessing to them because

this is our function on the earth.

Our function is to be the hands and feet of Jesus on the earth,

to really show and share the love of God with people.

And it only happens when you cultivate cultivate a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.

I'll end with this verse, John

John 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16. Let's look at verse 7 in the Amplified Classic Translation.

John 16 verse 7, it says, However, Jesus is talking, I am telling you nothing

John 16:7

but the truth when I say it is profitable, good, expedient, and advantageous for you that I go away.

Because if I do not go away the comforter, Watch this. These are the functions of the Holy Spirit.

The comforter, the counselor, the helper, the advocate, the intercessor,

the strengthener, and the standby will not come to you into close fellowship with you.

But if I go away, I will send him to you to be in close fellowship with you.

Go back to the first part of part A of that verse.

Look at the functions of the Holy Spirit.

Comforter, counselor, helper, advocate. That's someone that is on your side.

Intercessor, someone praying for you.

Strengthener, someone giving you strength. Someone, a standby,

somebody that's right there ready and able to get in there when you're ready

for them to be released in your life.

This is the Holy Spirit.

And I want you to know that God functions in these areas of our life through

the Holy Spirit. For example, there are six functions that I play.

I'm a son, right? I am a son.

I have a mother and a father. I'm a son. That's a function that I play.

I'm a brother. I have a little sister. So therefore, I'm a brother.

I'm a husband to one wife.

I'm a husband, right? I'm a father, right?

I'm a father to four children. children

I'm a pastor to as Thomas would

say thousands of people praise the Lord amen one

day I was talking to Thomas but I said I was telling him about some visions

and dreams and I was like yeah I used to always see myself

with you know just thousands of people and and I'm sitting there preaching the

thousands and and Thomas said well you are preaching the thousands and I thought

well I am praise God our YouTube has thousands of subscribers our blog says

thousands praise God And he helped me see it that way like oh, you're right.

I'm already doing it But I always thought there would be an auditorium.

No, we're already doing it. Praise God. Somebody say man.

I said say man and I'm a friend I'm a friend and to all of you.

I'm a pastor to some of you. I'm a friend and it's really hard I need to teach

you on this to be friends of the pastor.

It's really difficult. That's why I don't recommend people to try to be friends

with the pastor because most people don't have the maturity to understand that

there are times that I am giving opinion.

Now, when I'm up here, I never give you opinion when I'm in the pulpit.

When I'm outside the pulpit, I'm going to give you opinion like the Cowboys are going to win today.

That's my opinion, okay? And then they don't, okay? And so that's my opinion.

You have to be able to be a friend of the pastor. You have to be able to decide

and decipher between when he is a man just given his opinion and when he is

led of the Lord and given direction.

Most people can't do that. You also have to decipher when you become a friend

of the pastor is when is he giving me direction that I need to listen to or

when are we just having a conversation?

Conversation, and most people can't do it.

They cannot be friends of the pastor because they cannot be told what to do

when there's time for the pastor to tell them what to do.

They can't, they just can't, they can't do it, and that's why,

that's why, have you ever heard this state, but don't ever get too close to

your idols or your heroes because they'll disappoint you?

I've heard that I've heard that and I've seen the time I've met some

people that I've always kind of and I thought oh that is disappointing

what happened you became too familiar and if

you come too familiar you'll lose the honor and the awe and the respect now

if they're a jerk that's a whole nother thing but if there is somebody that

you respect and honor you have to realize that that's my pastor that's not my

friend and this is where people get hurt this is where people get it hurt,

especially people, I need to say this, especially when people leave the church.

They'll say, well, I want to leave the church, but can we still go to breakfast and lunch? No.

Well, why not? I got people to pastor. If you want to go somewhere else,

that's fine. I've got people to pastor.

I got people that I need to invest in that need my time. Well,

I thought we were friends. That's the problem.

We weren't. I was your pastor. Are you listening?

You got a lot of friends. You got one pastor.

You listening to me? You got friends. You need a pastor.

Pastor, and when someone says, you know, I don't want to be up under your tutelage

anymore, but I still want to hang out, and no, I was investing in you as a,

as a, as a, in the sheepfold, I was pastoring you, but you don't want it anymore,

so we're not going to hang out and sing kumbaya.

Okay, I'm going to go somebody else that wants it, somebody say amen,

and that's where you get, That's where things happen because people can't correlate

the difference between that's my pastor or that's my friend.

It only takes mature people to be able to do that. You got to be very mature

to decipher between those two.

Somebody needed to hear that because I had no intention of talking about that today.

But this is how you experience true life.