The Apostles' Creed - pt. 9

John Chapter 14 We're continuing our series.

John 14 · chapter mention

We've used the Apostles Creed to guide us through the scriptures.

We've said many times the Apostles Creed is not the

scriptures. The Apostles Creed has been used

though by by the Body of Christ for about 1500 years to clarify

doctrine. What's true?

What is essential? For their freedoms or their

disagreements beyond this that we can tolerate, yes, many.

However, there's some specifics here that the whole body of

Christ to be Christian is to believe these things.

So we'll read the creed together at the close of our service.

But I'm going to go to the third portion of the creed where it

begins. I believe in the Holy Spirit.

So that's the only line where the Holy Spirit is.

Well, that's not the only line where he's explicitly mentioned,

but it's the first time we really get into who He is.

And as you look at the Creed, you see the the Trinity is laid

out. I believe in God the Father

Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

And then the whole heart of the Creed is mostly about Jesus.

There and then we get into I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. So what does that mean to say?

I believe in the Holy Spirit, Who is the Holy Spirit?

Who isn't the Holy Spirit? What is his work?

What is his ministry? What does he do?

Well, we'll start by saying who he isn't.

The Holy Spirit is not a force like Star Star Wars.

He's not just this ethereal thing.

He's not some kind of vapor trail that Jesus leaves behind.

The Holy Spirit is not a spiritual residue.

The Holy Spirit is not an atmosphere.

The Holy Spirit is a he. The Holy Spirit is a person.

When we say he's a person, it doesn't mean that he's a human.

But to say that he's a person mean he's he has a personality.

He has a distinct will. The Holy Spirit has a desire.

The Holy Spirit is a person like the Father is a person like the

Son is a person. The Holy Spirit has personality.

He has a mind, will and emotions.

He thinks he knows he can be grieved.

He can also be pleased. So the Holy Spirit is distinct

in that he has his own personality.

Also, of course, he is God. The Holy Spirit is God.

He is part of the God head. He is God Co equal God Co

eternal with the Father and with the Son.

How do we know this? So what I'm not going to do is

I'm not going to run you to a million different verses to say

let me prove he's God, let me prove he has personality, let me

prove this. Some of these things I'm just

going to show you really briefly while I'm still establishing

this core foundational doctrine but go to I told.

I won't make you go there for time's sake.

You're going to stay in John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

But in Acts chapter five, we have an example here where the

apostles, the church is growing. Everybody's rejoicing and out of

their own overflow of their own hearts at the direction of the

Holy Spirit. People are selling property and

they're bringing all the money to the church elders and they're

saying, hey, whatever the whatever the church needs, just

spread it around. I'm good.

Well, a couple chose to do that as well, but they did in a

deceptive way. They claimed that they had sold

that, they sold it and they said here's all the money from the

sale of our property. But they lied.

It wasn't all the money from the sale of their property.

They didn't have to give any money.

That was the point. They didn't have to do anything.

But they did something and then said, hey, we're doing it too.

We're just, we're doing what everybody else is doing.

So but Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to

lie to the Holy Spirit? So how did Peter know that the

Holy Spirit told him? OK, so one of the gifts of the

Spirit was in operation. Which one?

I don't know. I don't care.

But the Holy Spirit was moving and operating to say, hey Peter,

here's what's really going on here.

And an is why is Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy

Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of

the land while it remained unsold, Did it not remain your

own? And after it was sold, was it

not at your disposal? Hey, you had freedom to do

whatever you wanted to hear. Why is it that you have

contrived this deed in your heart?

You have not lied to man. What?

To God? He said.

You lied to the Holy Spirit. You lied to God, Same person.

To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God.

Psalm 139 verses 7:00 and 8:00, what we read earlier.

Where shall I go from your spirit Or where shall I flee

from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're

there. If I make my bed and she'll,

you're there. The Holy Spirit is the presence

of God. The Holy Spirit is everywhere.

Is he? Is he the Father?

Well, he is one with the Father. Is he Jesus?

Well, he's one with Jesus, and yet he's still distinct with

your Michael. You're not explaining it good

enough. I I won't be able to satisfy

your intellect on that. You can trust me today, but you

can still believe in the Holy Spirit, and you can still boldly

and joyfully say I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I'm not ashamed of him. I'm not afraid of him.

The Holy Spirit is not spooky. The Holy Spirit is not weird.

I've seen some weird people and some spooky people.

Me too. But they are not the Holy

Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not spooky.

The Holy Spirit is not weird. Could he direct you to do

something that others perceived to be weird?

I don't know. What do you think?

Would you think it would be weird if somebody spat in the

mud and rubbed it in somebody's eyes?

Oh, well, that's different. OK, Well, I think it's kind of

weird. But I mean, you don't, because

you're super holy and stuff, but I think that'd be a little

weird. But that's exactly what Jesus

did. Was it wrong?

Of course not. But Jesus says he only did what

he saw his father doing. So the problem there, though, is

with our with our background, With my background, Pentecostal,

unashamedly, unapologetically, very biblically, I I've seen all

kinds of things. I've seen all kinds of things.

But I I have to filter everything through the word of

God. And a lot of times there's fear

and misunderstanding around the the work in the ministry of the

Holy Spirit. And a lot of times what I find

people reject is the excesses that they've seen.

So which I would say, brother or sister, Me too.

I reject excess. Now, how do you know when was

and what shouldn't and how far? Like the Lord will sort it out,

the king will sort out his people, that's for sure.

I take comfort in that. So in the meantime, I'll go, I

don't know, was that the Lord or was that the flesh?

Well. Was it sinful?

Well, no, but I don't think it was.

You know what if If I have concern, I can speak to brothers

and sisters about those things, but I don't need to put the Holy

Spirit out of my life in such a way.

It's like I really don't want anything to do with him because

he might, you know, make me do something crazy.

The Holy Spirit doesn't possess his people in the same way that

a demon would attempt to possess someone and control their

physical body. The Holy Spirit will fill his

people, though he will fill his people.

And when he fills you, what are you going to do?

You're going to glorify Jesus. You're going to be glorified.

You're going to be glorifying Jesus.

You're going to be free. You're going to be bold.

You're going to be clear. So now you're in John 14.

Once again, I'm not. I'll catch up with you.

John 14, verse 15. What do we want to know about

John 14:15

the Holy Spirit? Well, let's ask Jesus

specifically what we can know about the Holy Spirit.

Verse 15 If you love me, Jesus is talking.

You will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and

he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because

it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

He dwells with you. I said that earlier, So he's

talking to his disciples. The Holy Spirit dwells with you,

is what Jesus is telling his disciples.

But he's going to be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.

I will come to you yet a little while, and the world will see me

no more. But you will see me.

The world's not going to see Jesus anymore.

But the disciples are still going to see Jesus, but He

leaves. How are they going to see Jesus?

Because I live, you also will live.

And that day you will know that I am in my father, and you and

me and I and you. Whoever has my commandments and

keeps them, He it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will

love him and manifest myself to him.

How does Jesus Manis manifest himself to his church?

Through his presence, through the Holy Spirit, Judas, Not as

scary, it said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest

yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus answered him. If anyone loves me, he will keep

my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and

make our home with Him. Whoever does not love me does

not keep my words. And the word that you hear is

not mine, but the fathers who sent me these things.

I've spoken to you that while while I am still with you.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my

name. Look at the Trinity working

together here. The Holy Spirit who the Father

will send in my name. He will teach you all things.

What is the Holy Spirit supposed to do in the life of the

believer as Pentecostal? Sometimes we just go.

He does the tongues. He tongues is you.

That's that's it. That's his role, that's his

ministry. The Holy Spirit is tongues.

Well, the Holy Spirit is not tongues.

The Holy Spirit fills His people.

That's the primary focus of of well, we'll get to that in a

moment. There's there's multiple

ministries, the Holy Spirit. But if if we're going to go just

on the on the charismatic side of things for a moment, the Holy

Spirit. Yes, we'll fill his people.

And when he fills his people, something happens.

They're going to glorify the Lord.

That might be through prophecy, that might be through their

boldness, that might be through speaking in tongues, which also

glorifies the Lord. But the Holy Spirit, whom the

Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things.

The Holy Spirit has come to teach us all things and to bring

to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

What does the Holy Spirit want to do?

He wants to glorify Jesus. The Holy Spirit's ministry is to

remind you to actually bring back to your brain, literally to

your mind, to your heart, and to your mind what Jesus has taught,

What Jesus has said, Peace, I leave with you.

So the Holy Spirit brings. Peace.

My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give

you. Let not your hearts be troubled,

neither let them be afraid. So now what does the Holy Spirit

do? Jesus calls him our helper.

That word helper means he is our counselor, He is our encourager,

He is our comforter. He is our intercessor.

Just like Jesus intercedes for us, the Bible says the Holy

Spirit also intercedes for us. So that means he's a stand

between. He's a go between.

He is pleading for our case on our behalf.

This is what happens when a spirit filled St. is praying in

tongues. My mind is unfruitful, but yet

my spirit speaks mysteries and I'm building myself up higher

and higher in the Spirit like an edifice.

How so? Well, it's a submission.

It's a humility to the Holy Spirit.

He's actually getting stuff done.

He's really the 1:00 making things happen.

So Jesus says he is our helper. Do you need a counselor?

You have one pastor. Ken calls the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Ken is my pastor. He calls the Holy Spirit.

Our senior partner is one of the names he has for him.

Our encourager, our comforter, our intercessor.

This is his role in the Godhead and how he works in our lives.

We see that the Father sends the Son, and the Father and the Son

send the Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us to

pray. He makes decisions on which

gifts to give and on whom to put those gifts on and in.

He is the wisdom of God, and he makes decisions.

He's thinking, He chooses. He decides.

He's pleased. He's displeased.

He is grieved when he's grieved. He doesn't turn his back on us.

And yet you can still sense the presence of the Lord being

displeased in your life. Or am I the only person who's

ever since the displeasure of the Holy Spirit we call this

conviction? I'm convicted of my sin.

The Holy Spirit's going. That's not me.

And that doesn't please Jesus, and that doesn't please the

Father. And that's not who you are

anymore. I'm going, oh, what am I going

to do with that? I should repent.

That's the what the Christian life is marked by.

It's marked by repentance. What is the what else is the

ministry of the Holy Spirit? Well, the first ministry of the

Holy Spirit in a person's life is actually he brings the

revelation of Jesus. He brings the clarity in our

need. So as the word of God is

delivered, the Holy Spirit with it brings the faith.

So that I can actually believe I've heard the gospel and now I

go, I'm truly aware that's a miracle in itself.

That is a gift of God from the Holy Spirit.

And then in the next moment, now, whenever I have put faith

in. It's by God's grace.

I've been saved through faith, so now I've believed and

repented. The Holy Spirit actually does

the regeneration. The greatest miracle ever is

where I have become born again. I was dead and now I'm alive.

We say Jesus saved me and that's accurate.

But the Holy Spirit is the one who actually does the work in a

person's heart. God is pleased to minister and

serve us this way. The Holy Spirit is the one who

regenerates us. Jesus said you must be born

again. You're born out of the flesh the

first time. You came out of your mom the

first time. But this next time you need to

be born out of the Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who does

that. Born again Miracle in us.

He is the one who actually resurrects and regenerates us.

The Holy Spirit seals us, the scripture tells us He seals us

at our new birth, and then He fills His church with himself.

He supplies us with power and boldness to be witnesses for

Jesus. So Jesus breathed on.

His disciples received the Holy Spirit.

I think that's when they were born again.

But secondarily, he says, hey, you believe in me, you trust me?

I've been resurrected. The way to the Father is now

open. You're saved.

And yet power is still coming. It wasn't only for them, because

the Holy Spirit hadn't been sent yet, and he'd been sent 10 days

later. Even after the Holy Spirit had

been poured out. On the day of Pentecost, we see

disciples of Jesus. Loving and following the Lord

born again, people who then experience a secondary event in

their life where they go, oh, now we're actually filled with

the Holy Spirit. Our salvation is based on the

Father's power and love, the Son's death and resurrection,

and the Holy Spirit's regeneration and his seal.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God who is with us in the

earth. Yeah, but it feels like Jesus.

Yeah, I know, because he's, he's one God.

It feels like I just feel the comfort of the Father with me

right now. I know you do because that's

exactly who who the Holy Spirit glorifies and reveals to us.

So it it's not wrong and you don't need to nitpick yourself.

But we do see the biblical normative way to pray.

As to the Father, Jesus taught us to pray to the Father

throughout the scriptures. When Paul is praying for

churches, he says, I've been my knee to the Glorious Father and

yet would it be wrong for you to say?

Jesus, I love you, Don't pray to Jesus.

Would it be wrong to say Holy Spirit, I love you, feel me

today and lead me today? No, it wouldn't.

And yet we still see the the biblical normative is we pray to

the Father in the name of Jesus and who is helping us to pray?

Who's present inside of us and with us.

It is the Holy Spirit. You should rejoice at the

goodness of God, all of who he is.

We're not as a as a denomination.

Well, I guess we're not a denomination.

We're non denominational. But as a Pentecostal people, we

have a reputation of we're just the Holy Ghost people.

We're the God people. We love God the Father, the Son

and the Holy Spirit. We want to glorify God the

Father, understand his His role, his ministry, his function in

the Godhead. We want to do the same with King

Jesus. We want to do the same with the

Holy Spirit. It's in in the way that the

Scripture reveals to us. Back in verse 17, still of

chapter 14 of John, here he says even the spirit of truth, whom

the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows

him. You know him, you know him, for

he dwells with you. And will be in you.

Jesus says that you know him. He's saying this to his

disciples even before the Holy Spirit has been poured out in a

more full way. We know the Holy Spirit was

already present on the earth. We know that this the scripture

reveals that throughout the Old Testament.

And yet there was something distinct and clear and unique

that happened on the day of Pentecost.

Obviously Captain obvious here to here to preach a sermon to

you. So that was that was evident.

But the Holy Spirit wasn't in them, but he would be.

No longer does the Holy Spirit just rest upon his people, but

he personally fills them. And This is why Jesus said it's

better than I go. It's better than I go, I'm with

you. But he is going to be in you.

And that's even better than what we have now.

That was hard for the disciples to believe.

Really, Jesus, How does it get any better than being with him?

And he says it's better. Jesus said it so if you won't

take it from anybody, take it from Jesus.

Jesus said it's better than I leave you.

That's impossible. No, Jesus, there's no, there's

no universe where it's better that you leave me.

And He says, no, it's better that I leave you.

I I get, I'm physically present with you in a way that you're

accustomed to, but the Holy Spirit's going to fill you and

be in you. So this is how Jesus could

actually say, I'm leaving, but I will be with you always.

How? Through my presence.

Who is that? The Holy Spirit.

So Jesus is with me. Yes, He is.

The Father is with me. Yes, he is.

Because you have the Holy Spirit inside of you.

Every single Christian has the Holy Spirit inside of them,

every single Christian. And yet we still want to be

filled. So we are born again.

The presence of God lives in us. He lives with us.

And yet there is still a filling, There is still a

swelling, There is still a glorifying to a greater degree,

into a greater measure that we can enjoy.

Go to verse 25. Jesus said these things.

I have spoken to you while I'm still.

With you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all

things and bring to your remembrance all that I've said

to you, What a gift, what a joy, what a blessing.

The Holy Spirit brings the Lord to our remembrance.

So you might think to yourself, man, I I really need to think

more about God. Know what you need is to be

filled with the Holy Spirit. Because as long as you're

thinking I oughta, I need to. You're still thinking about what

I must do, and there's certainly a place for discipline in the

Christian life. However, the ministry of the

Holy Spirit is the gift of God, where you're not just having to

say, all right, what do I have to do today?

Brush my teeth? Think about God, pray.

But instead, when you're filled with God, Jesus will be

glorified. Jesus will be on your mind when

the Holy Spirit is inside of you.

When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you won't have to go.

And I really, I really ought to be better.

I ought to do better. That is an empty Christian who

talks that way. Are you shaming them?

Not at all. I've been that empty Christian.

I've been that empty Christian many times.

In my Christian walk where I'm going, I'm drained.

I'm depleted. Why?

I haven't been in fellowship with him.

I haven't been poured into. I haven't been seeking His

fullness. But when I seek his fullness,

I'm not thinking about what I oughta.

I'm thinking the the automatic fuel is in me.

The desire is already there. The Holy Spirit guides my

desires without me even consciously thinking I'm going

to Christian up today. No, Instead the Holy Spirit's

going This is who you are. And I'm going, man, I'm.

I'm being carried. It's called grace.

This is the grace of God, where the Holy Spirit is actually

doing work, continuing to change my desires, continuing to give

me new thoughts, to give me new hopes, to give me new conviction

where I'm going. Whoa.

I feel different about that today than I did yesterday.

Why? Because I'm full.

I'm more full of him than I was, Jesus said.

Sorry, wrong spot. So like I said, what you need is

to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then he fills you with more of himself, which is to be filled

with more of God and he will keep Jesus on your mind.

A page over in in chapter 16 going quick, Sherry said.

I've only got 5 minutes left. John chapter 16, verse 12.

John 16:12

So this is this whole discourse. Like we we haven't departed

Jesus talking to and comforting his disciples throughout these

past couple chapters. But in verse in verse 12 of

chapter 16, he says, I still have many things to say to you,

but you cannot bear them now when the Spirit of Truth comes.

So Jesus says, I'm still going to keep talking to you, but you

can't. You can't deal with it all now,

but I'm going to keep talking to you how or because the Holy

Spirit will be with you. And he's going to communicate

me. When the Spirit of truth comes,

he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on

his own authority. Interesting the Holy Spirit

doesn't speak on his own authority.

He has a desire that's perfectly unified with the Father and with

the Son. But he speaks on a different

authority. 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.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it

to you. All that the Father has His

mind. Therefore I said that He will

take what is mine and declare it to you throughout the Gospels,

as you see Jesus talk and teach, you see the Father, the Son, the

Spirit Man Who where do they end and where do they begin?

Clearly distinct, clearly one, clearly perfectly unified in

love. He will keep Jesus on your mind.

And the Scripture also tells us that it's the Holy Spirit who

searches the depths of God. The Holy Spirit searches the

depths of God, the Word of God tells us, and he reveals the

depths of God to his people. So we see his ministry as

personal. He's direct.

He's with us. He's clear.

He glorifies Jesus. We'll close in Acts chapter 19.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

When we say we believe in something, like we said multiple

times as we've gone through the series, to say I believe in is

not to say, yeah, I already know that that is the danger for

Americans. That is the danger for anybody

who's had familiarity with the Scriptures.

That's the danger for anyone in here who's like, yeah, yeah,

yeah, I know, I know, man. I know.

I know you know I know too. That doesn't save us.

That doesn't comfort us. That doesn't help us.

That doesn't equip us with power.

The devil knows everything about the Lord that he can.

That's been revealed by God. And is it helping him?

It's not serving him well. So to know things doesn't

accomplish things. And this is the danger,

especially for us Southern American Christians, you know,

who tip our hat to the man upstairs.

It's a very dangerous perspective.

Whenever we think I know that, I already know that.

We're not talking about knowing things, We're talking about

believing things. And when you believe something,

it will change the way you live. So if I believe in something, it

affects my Sunday morning, right?

I come to church even though it's hot, even though it's

raining. But when I just know something,

I go. I stayed out late last night.

There's a million examples where we would apply this to our

lives. The way I treat my wife is

different because I believe that he's coming to judge the living

and the dead because I believe. In the forgiveness of sins,

because I believe in the life everlasting, all these things,

they show up in a very practical way.

So how is the Holy Spirit practical?

Not that he has to be. He could be whatever he wants,

but he is who he is. But to believe in the Holy

Spirit is to fellowship with him is to understand him and it's to

love Him more is to love God more.

To know Him and to believe in him is to welcome him to

fellowship with Him. And like we read like David

Prayed and Psalm 139. Is to say Lord search me, know

me. I want what you want because I

know what you want is best. So here in Acts chapter 19, we

Acts 19 · chapter mention

have some disciples. It's not clear whether or not

they're born again yet. I don't think they are.

Somebody could argue with me on that and that that would be OK.

But what we'll read in chapter 19, verse one.

And it happened that while Apollo's was at Corinth, Paul

passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

There he found some disciples, and he said to them, Did you

receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

They said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy

Spirit. And he said, into what then were

you baptized? They said into John's baptism.

And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after

him. That is Jesus.

On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord

Jesus. And then and and when Paul laid

his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they

began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

There were about 12 men in all. So like I said earlier, this is

the the normative case throughout the Book of Acts.

Whenever you see someone was filled with the Holy Spirit,

something happens right away. They're they're filled.

They're speaking. And what are they doing?

Well, they're glorifying God. What was their prophecy?

Well, it wasn't recorded, but it might have been specific.

It might have been unique for them in that moment.

It wasn't scripture. It was not scripture.

It was not cannon. Just like if you were to have a

word from the Holy Spirit, it does not necessarily become

cannon. So this is an argument that's

often made against the gifts that I find totally nonsensical

and completely bad faith as an argument to to be able to say.

I got this sense that I'm supposed to go tell Don today.

Hey, man, I just want you to know it seems like the Lord's

telling me that Jesus loves you. What are you?

What are you What are you trying to say, John Michael that the

Holy Spirit still speaking? Oh yeah, that's exactly what I'm

trying to say. As opposed to going, hey, Don,

here's the Bible. God's word is in there.

Like it seems to be such an absurdity.

But the the accusations that that is made against.

Continuationists, as we're often called, because we believes that

the gifts didn't stop because the scripture didn't tell us

that they did. Because we believe that the

argument made against us is that anytime a gift of the Spirit is

an operation, we must therefore also be claiming that this is

cannon and that it should become a part of the Sacred Scriptures.

Now, it can never contradict the word of God.

That would be an absolute impossibility and heretical,

however. The the ministry of the Holy

Spirit continues, and he can communicate a particular thing

to a particular person without the whole world having to hear

it and without everyone having to walk in obedience to it.

The Holy Spirit could very specifically say, hey, you know

what I needed? I needed to share something with

you. The Lord is revealed to me.

I think I could be wrong because I I'm involved in this thing.

I don't think you're supposed to buy that house.

Do that what you will. Does that become cannon for the

whole world? No, it doesn't even make sense

for the whole world. But the Lord could do whatever

He wants to do. You could walk into 711 and you

could go in there to grab your Gatorade this week, and you

could look at that person at the counter and the Holy Spirit

might say, I want you to tell them that I love them, I know

them and I see them, and you go, Is that cannon?

Well, is it true? Does God love them?

Does He know them? Does He see them?

Do you think the enemy wants to communicate this?

Do you think this could potentially be a Ministry

opportunity that the Lord might want to open up?

The Lord can go much farther than that.

Again, he's not interested in being spooky, and you don't need

to add theatrics to anything that you would ever do as you

minister to people. But you can communicate the

goodness of God, the glory of God, the holiness of God, and

the simplicity of God. And you should expect God to

move and God to show up, because God is present.

The Holy Spirit is present on the earth to convict people, to

reveal their sin to them, and to glorify Jesus.

So if they're not born again, the Holy Spirit has to say I

want to show you Jesus. And he might do that first by

communicating his goodness by overwhelming them with his good

presence and his kindness where they just recognize I'm being

hugged by God and I don't have any other language for it other

than the Lord is near in this moment and it's in that moment

St. where you get to tell them the Kingdom of God has come near

you. The Kingdom of God has come near

you. How?

Well because God is near you. Not because of me, but because

the Holy Spirit, He loves you. Who's the Holy Spirit?

He is God. He is glorifying Jesus.

We believe in him and we want to be filled with him.

We're not ashamed of him. We're not afraid of Him.

We want to understand his ministry.

He's the one who seals us. He's the one who who does the

work of redemption in our hearts.

And then he says, church, let me fill you.

Let me fill you with power for work of the ministry.

Go into all the world. All right, we're going.

No, no, no, actually. Don't yet until you're filled

with power from on high power of the Holy Spirit.

What's it going to? What's it going to make?

What's going to happen? You're going to love the Lord

even more. You'll be equipped for ministry,

and you'll be bold as a witness for Jesus to testify to what

Jesus has done in your life. You're not pursuing any

particular thing other than the will of God for your life.

And as you're submitted to Him, sure, whatever He wants is what

you want. Because that's who we love.

If you have a copy of the Creed, get it out.

If you don't have one, you could Google it real quick.

Let's stand together as we read the Creed together.

Let's say it heartily, joyfully, boldly, loudly.

Here we go. I believe in God the Father

Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was

conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and

was buried. He descended to hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He descend, ascended to heaven. And is seated at the right hand

of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge

the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the

forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the

life everlasting. Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine

down upon you, and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you great

peace. In Jesus name, Amen.