Essentials | Week 3

Good morning. It's good to be here. Yes. Fun to be back. Fun to be back.

You know, what wasn't fun is, last week, I'm standing in the office and I'm talking to, Ben Archer, our president pastor that's over here from England. I don't know if you heard him. He's the guy that when he read the scripture, you're like, that's what God sounds like.

And as I'm talking to him, I feel something in my mouth. I'm like, what is going on? Did get something in my tooth? I reached back up and I go, oh, yeah. There is something in my tooth. And what was in my tooth was a piece of my tooth.

So I pull out. I'm like, what the a piece of my tooth just broke. And I there's still something wiggly. I reached up. Another piece of the tooth falls out. So now I'm holding two pieces of tooth, and I'm looking at Ben. I'm like, you know, this is your fault. I've been hanging out with you too much. My teeth have turned loyalist, and now they're British.

So I was like, join or die. You know? And then and then I was like, okay. So I was like, I gotta go to the dentist. Part of my molar out there cracked. So as I left, I put the pieces of the tooth on pastor Caleb's computer because he was still in the office and not by his desk. So that's what you gotta do. He'll find that. That'll be fun. And then I left and I went to the the the the dentist who told me there's not enough tooth to put a crown on. You gotta go to the specialist because they probably need to put an implant in. And I started reading about that, and I goes, it doesn't sound pleasant. And the part that really didn't sound pleasant was the cost. And I'm like and I looked at my dental insurance. We don't cover anything that does with implants. I go, of course, I should have known that already.

But then I go and I was like thinking, hoping maybe they can just pull the tooth out.

It's so far back, I can't see it. I don't care. And so I go in and they're talking to me. And fortunately, they said, hey. You know what? I think we can pull the tooth out and put this bone graft stuff in there, and then you'll be fine. Because where it's at, it's not gonna affect your jaw or anything else. So that saves me a lot of money, which I'm happy. So he says, but we do have to pull it out. It's gonna be kinda you know, he was honest with me. He's like, hey, there's three roots up in there, we gotta be careful because one of them on the scan is touching

up against your sinus cavity thing. And so this is gonna be a little bit complex, but, you know, I know how to do this. I've been doing this a long time. Talk you through. We'll get it done. And I go, okay. Well, then numb me up really good if you're gonna be wrenching teeth out of my mouth.

And so he did. He he he got me all numbed up, and he says I go, make sure. Make sure it's really numb. He's like, no. I'm good at it. I guess so he came back in. He goes, oh, let me let me I'm gonna do a neurological test, and then we'll get going. And I'd laughed. He goes, why do laugh? He goes, neurological test? I'm not an idiot. Why do you guys have to use the science y words? I go, what do you mean? He goes, what do you think a neurological test is? I go, you're gonna take something sharp, poke me, and see if I scream, and then, you know, if it's numb or not. He goes, that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

And so so then he goes in there. I passed the test. And now all of sudden, I'm just you know, it's awkward. You're in a dense, like, you know, and they're they're too and and they're they're they're like like over you. And and then they start talking to you, and you can't talk back.

And and and so you just gotta listen. You just shut up and listen. And then part of it is good to shove listen because what they're about to do is very disconcerting.

And and he talked me through it. He goes, hey. Here, I just wanna you. I I gotta pull these out, but, you know, it's not one tooth. It's it's I gotta break it up because with three nerves, I have to pull this three times. I have to do it in sections.

So he's just telling me what he call he's preparing me, and I'm like, oh, no. This is weird because and and he goes, and you're gonna feel some pressure, which as Brian Regan said, if a doctor ever says you're gonna feel pressure, buckle up.

And then he start pulling. Don't know if you've ever been numbed up and had a tooth pull, but you do feel pressure. It doesn't hurt in the traditional pain sense. You just feel that tug. And the problem is that tug is is it's it's you that you feel. It's your body Starts tugging, your toe is wiggling like you think it's gonna pull your toe in. Like, is this pulling my whole body out?

And then he's pulling on but then the more disconcerting part is you start hearing noise that's inside your head. So it's in stereo because it's bouncing through your own sinus cavities. And it's like snap, crackles, and pops. As you hear the and he's like, all right, trying to get it loose.

And then you will hear a snap, right? And and you're like, And it's it's not that it's sharp pain,

but it's more like that is so awkward and weird, and that's me. And then I'm smart enough to know that was a lot of manhandling of a part of your body and snapping something off. This is gonna hurt once this pain once the numbness wears off. And that first one, he's like, that's good. We got that out. Then he goes, here's what I do next. I'm do the next one. And then he talked to me. He's like, I saved the best for the last. This is the one I'm concerned about because this one, if it's communicating

with the nasal because then what communicating means, I go, all right, it's all the way through, right? And he goes, yeah. And he's like, which means if I have to pull that out and it pops a hole in, your recovery's gonna be a little different. I go, what does that mean? He goes, you you can't sneeze

unless your mouth is open. Meaning you have to make yourself, you gotta make it do it that way. And you can't blow your nose for four or five days.

I'm like, well, if I got a boogie? What am gonna do? And he's like and he's like I was like and and he goes and and the reason why? He's like, because it's probably gonna make my head explode because air will go back and forth and cause it to like, yeah. Well, your head won't explode, but you got the concept.

But he was super calm.

He rips that last one out, and it was like, it was hard. It comes out. And he goes, alright. We did it. We did it. You'll be good. And by the looks of it, it's gonna heal fine, and you're not gonna have to get an implant. He goes, unless you miss the tooth. Some people come back and say, I missed the tooth. Missed the tooth? I didn't even know I had that tooth till parts of it fell out into my hand. I don't think I'm gonna miss the tooth. But what was interesting about that is is is is I'm laying in that chair. He's working inside of me.

And the only thing I could do is choose to stay calm and listen to him. And he actually was a really good dentist. He walked me through as he was talking about. As long as I didn't shut off listening and just got in my own head and listened to the snap, crackle, and prop, it was calming.

Because that was those noises were discer there was a little pressure, there was weird sounds, but I knew that was for good. And that's what we're gonna talk about today, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in us, and what we need to do is listen to his voice, especially because his voice is calming

and helpful. But, yes, he does wanna do some stuff from the inside out that's gonna give us some pressure, and it's gonna sound weird. And sometimes it's gonna be a little achy, but we're afraid of that.

And that's what we're talking about today, this doctrine, this idea of who the Holy Spirit is. And and it says in in Romans, Romans eight eleven kinda gives us our big idea for today.

Romans eight eleven. There we go. The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And just as God raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living within you.

Said he's saying that the holy spirit now that passage in Romans eight is is is a follow-up. In Romans seven, Paul's just sharing the whole gospel of this church in Rome. He knows that a lot of them are new. There are lot of Gentiles. They don't they don't have the old testament understanding of who God is. So he's kinda given this good theological understanding of who God is and what's going on. And in Romans seven, he starts being honest about the idea that, well, if we have the Lord, then why do we still sin? And there's sin involved, but we don't have to sin. And he gets really honest in Romans seven and says, you know what? I get it. I get what you're thinking. He goes, I don't know why I often struggle with why do I do the things I don't wanna do.

And somehow I can't figure out how to get myself to do the things I ought to do. This is Paul himself.

We have this struggle. Like, we know what God wants us to do. He knows what he should do, but he's like, I just don't wanna do it. And I go and so he goes off and does the other thing. And then he starts to say, what a wretch am I? We are really trapped in this idea of with sin in our lives and all that. But chapter eight says, but thanks be to Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit.

And then eight starts taking that apart, and that's a key verse that I just read. He's saying, the Holy Spirit here's the power of how you can get past this, how you can conquer sin, how you can live the life that God wants. You need to realize that you have the Holy Spirit in you. If you know Jesus Christ,

God, the Holy Spirit is in you.

And even in that verse, the way it's worded, if you look at a couple of those words, it implies it's saying that that's God. The Holy Spirit is not the force. It's not some ghost. It's not some random, and the Holy Spirit is not a feeling. So many people, the way we act, we talk about the Holy Spirit. It's like, just felt this. It's the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit brings feelings, but it's not he's not a feeling.

He is a he is God, the Holy Spirit. He is fully God. Every passage you see when that he says and how you know that? It says, the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power inside you, the Holy Spirit.

The only power that can raise from the dead is God himself. Over and over in scripture, every time he talks about the Holy Spirit, he has the attributes of God. He is called God. He is said to be God.

That's powerful to know. A lot of people are like, why do I need to know this doctrine? They say, they're God. It's the Trinity. Why? Because to understand that helps us understand what he's doing in our life and the power we have to be able to do it instead of living defeated, living fearful.

Because what God wants to do in us, the Holy Spirit is always with us. And, yeah, he's gonna bring some pressure that's uncomfortable, There's gonna be some weird crunchy sounds in our life, but we have to sit with him and listen to him because we have the power. And you know what the pious is? The same power

that raised Jesus. That Greek word there is dunamis. It's where we get the word dynamite. So what we see here to go into who the Holy Spirit is, he's God, and what he does, that's what we're gonna look at, is we gotta realize if you have put your faith in Christ,

you are never alone. He is always with us because he's in us. We have the Lord in us, not just out there watching us. And that brings a power and a comfort that we can learn to live from instead of trying to go out and perform and live for God. It's more of live from the power that you've been given.

So what does this look like? What does this mean? I wanna share three things, and I'm mainly gonna be in John 14 through 16.

I'm gonna jump over to first Corinthians for the last point.

But in the what we're gonna look at is these three things that the spirit does. What what he does? What's what what was his mission when he comes and why is he in us and what's he doing in the world? And in that, we can understand what we're called to do in regards to trusting the spirit and the power in that. And and and and the first thing that that we see that he does is he the spirit shapes us.

Meaning he's changing me and you from the inside out. That's why he's working in us. He shapes us. That's what the Holy Spirit's job is. It's not just us. We just

surrender to it and listen to it. We're not running around trying to do the things. Hey, here's the list that God wants us to do. Here's the to don't list. Here's the to do list. And we're not running around doing that list so then we will change and we'll be shaped is we let the Holy Spirit shape us and he calls us to these things.

And so the spirit does shape us. And what's happening in in in John 14 through 16, because that's where I'm I'm gonna jump around and read several verses, is this is the the Jesus' final talk the night before he's gonna be crucified.

This whole section is, and he's trying to calm he's trying to do two things. He's trying to give his disciples some last information that they really need to know before he leaves.

And he's trying to help calm them because when he starts to say he's gonna leave, they freak out. Because think about it. He's like, he's been with three years. Now he's talking about dying and he's like, I'm gonna leave. And they're like, what? You know, and they're they're freaking out. You know, like, like, like, I'm I'm

it's I I I'm a grandparent and I've actually just found out we're gonna have another grandchild coming up here pretty soon. And that's gonna be cool. And but it's interesting with grandkids because, you know, when kids are little, I I have a seven year old grandson,

a four year old grandson, and and a and 0.5 year old granddaughter, my my my son's child. And the the youngest, Isley, the girl, like, she hasn't figured out the advantages of their parents leaving her at our house. The two boys have.

You know? Because our our grandparent names is my wife is Lolly and I'm Pop. So together, we're Lolly Pop. And and we went with that because we're both suckers. So then they come over and the two older ones, they've figured out that we're suckers.

So they don't care if mom and dad leave them there. They're like, we're going to lolly and pops out. Lollipop. Yeah.

Woo hoo. And then they they really love it when mom and dad leave because then it can't be, I want this. I want that. Well, you gotta ask your mom and dad. Second they're gone, here you go. I don't care. And, you know, so they figured out. But the littlest one, she's going on two, she hasn't figured it out. So the only time she's been left with us is because one of them has to go to work or whatever, so we're gonna watch them for just a couple hours.

She comes in is all like, you know, like, don't leave me. And then after that's happened a few times, she's even more skittish

when she comes over. Because now the only thing she imagines is I'm gonna be left here, even if mom and dad aren't leaving. So she'll walk in through our hallway and my wife was just saying she walked in just as she went in and and she went

because she she hasn't figured out to wear suckers yet. Meaning, you do realize, little girl, you're gonna love it so much better once your parents leave.

That's what Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples in this moment. I'm leaving, but it's gonna be better for you that I leave. And they're like, so that's the context.

And in this context of this talk, he bring he keeps bringing up the holy spirit. So I just wanna read a bunch of verses here and then we'll and it show how he what it's saying is he's shaping us. He's working it's better for us to have the holy spirit. And it starts off in verse 15. If you love me, obey my commandments.

And I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate. See, meaning if you're gonna love me, you're gonna obey me. Now this is not a he's like, if you love me, you're gonna follow me. You're gonna trust me because I'm the one that's dying for you.

And now to love me means to live with with me. But but here's how you're gonna do it. I'm sending you another advocate. And which, by the way, another proof that Jesus is God because they're another advocate in the Greek means another of exactly the same. It means it's purposely saying this is just like me. It's God.

So I'm sending you the Lord. I mean, the God himself. I'm gonna come. He'll come back. And that's better. He goes, he will never leave you. He's the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him because he isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives in you with you now and later will be in you. See, catch that? That's another thing in reference to to God is gonna be in you because he's he lives with you now. He's referring to himself.

But he'll be in you later, Holy Spirit. And he's trying to say, right now, I am God. I do think, but I'm not in you. If I'm with you, I'm with you. But if physically I'm not there, you don't see me. But when I leave, it's gonna be better for you because now God will be with you because he'll be in you always. Meaning,

even if you're going through the worst, most lonely thing in the world, and you're even wondering where God is, if you know Jesus, it's impossible for you to ever be alone. You're not alone. God of the universe is in you, with you at all times. All times. He's trying to encourage him with that.

And then if you jump down to verse 25, he says, I'm telling you these things now while I'm still with you. But when the father sends the advocate as my representative, that is the Holy Spirit, he will teach you everything and remind you everything I have told you. I am leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. So he's saying, I'm leaving, and don't be troubled because I'm leaving you with a gift. And then here's the thing you gotta remember with that gift where he says he's working. The Holy Spirit is the gift. God himself

is the gift. When we hear how he's gonna leave you with a gift, peace, it's like we think it's peace from our problems. Peace from pressure and crunching snack crackle, and pop sounds in our lives. That's not what he's saying. He's saying the gift itself is the presence of the Holy Spirit himself in us, always

working inside of us. And that can bring a peace despite the pressure, despite the sounds. Just like that dentist talking me through He says there's a peace because I know, because he's letting me know, that as you try to trust him for where we're going, that's a healthier place to be.

And that's why the world can never give us that peace because all the world promises and tries is this will make you feel good right now. This will make you forget. This will make you do this. But the problem is that type of peace is contingent on your circumstances. I'm giving you a peace that when you lean into this,

you'll have peace, joy, patience, contentment despite your circumstances, which is way better. Way better. And then he goes on in chapter 16, verse seven through 11, says, but in fact, it is best for you that I go away. You need to stay at Lollipop's house, man. Because if I don't, the advocate won't come.

And if I do go away, then I'll send unto you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment. The world's sin is that it refuses to believe in me. So believe in me, and he says, if you believe in me, you're gonna trust me. You're gonna believe in me, you'll believe me,

is what he's saying. The world won't do that. And so many of us, we act like the world. We don't believe Jesus in how we live our lives. And what happens is we're grieving the Holy Spirit.

And he says, but that's why having God in us, he will convict us of that. Bring conviction. And I'll I'll talk about what that means in a sec. Because he says the world sinned and refuses to believe me. Righteousness is available.

We can live rightly with God. It's available because I go to the father and you will see me no more. What he's trying to say is righteousness is available. You can do those things that scare you. The things you think I can't do to trust God. I can't do that. You can get past this. You can battle those sins in your life. You can get past these things. You can live out the life you want because you have the Holy Spirit.

You just gotta connect to it. You got can't act like there's God out there, and then I come in here. I do my thing to try to prove myself to God, then I go back out there and live my life. We have to be tied in and listening to the Holy Spirit. We have to sit there.

So how does that work? Is it because then he works in us. He changes us.

And then as he changes us, as we trust, as we sit with him, we then take steps in trust. That helps change us more because now we get more confidence. And then we'll take another step and then another step. A lot of us struggle that we have a hard time really trusting the Holy Spirit.

You know why a lot of us have a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit in our lives right now? We have a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit because we've had a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit. That's deeper than you think. You might wanna write that. He got it. He's smart.

We have a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit because we've had a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit.

Meaning that's why when God asks us to do simple things first like baptism, that's the first act of obedience. It's scary to some people. I gotta get up in front of something. I'm declaring my faith in front. That's kind of scary. It is, but it's it's you're not gonna die from it. You're gonna lose your house from it. You're not gonna nothing's

gonna happen from it other than it's a little bit intimidated.

That's why you do that right after you become a Christian because you know what? It seems like some simple ritual, but when you go into it in faith and you just take that little step, you get out of the water and you see people crying all time. And I've had guys cry go, I didn't think I'd cry. Didn't think this is gonna be that emotional space because the Holy Spirit met you there. He's with you there. You did that in trust of him, and you're like, this was a powerful moment.

And then you go, wow, was scared, but that wasn't so bad.

So what's the next step I should take? The reason you can't face what I what God's try asking you to do, convicting in your heart about sin. Convicting you about, hey. And sin isn't always about this to don't list. He's convicting you about the to do. Hey. You you it's not about just stopping this. It's like, I've called you to this.

And and we're afraid. We're scared. You know what? Because we we we forget because we probably many of us, we've always lived that way. And so now I'm up here going, you know, God wants us to be people that are really engaged in church. And you're like, that is a huge step.

Yeah. It's like how I went through school in math. I ended up in calculus my junior high school. I was always in advanced placement math.

I was like monkey see, monkey do. I was kinda bright. I could kinda do this work. I could I but I barely passed every math class I ever had, these advanced placement. I did just well enough that they put me in it again. But here's the problem.

I never learned the principles. I didn't understand what it was. I didn't know. I just go, alright. I'll just I'll just I'll just

and ape and do like and try and watch and then, you know, you know, whatever I needed to do. And I did whatever I needed to do to just barely I don't even understand. And I said I did calculus. I I am so bad. I don't know what calculus is to this day. But yet I got a B in calculus.

I didn't understand what it was because I never leaned into it. All I did was just hold on and make it through. So it got harder every time. Every time. Because well, now I don't I I don't really understand the principles of that. And now that I needed I needed the principles of that to be able to do this?

That might be describing you. The reason to hear like, hey. You know what God wants you to do with your time? You know what God's asked us to do with our testimony?

You know what God's asked us to do with our money? You know what he's asked us to do in our marriage? You know what he's asked us to do as parents? He's not asking us to do it because he's just making up rules. He's like, he knows how it works. But since I didn't trust him back here,

all of a sudden, this seems like, how dare God ask me to do this? We have a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit now because we've had a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit. You gotta start. That's what he's saying. He's it'll be good for you because you'll have him. He'll convict. He'll bring conviction.

So two things before I move on to the next point. If he's gonna speak to me and work from the inside out,

How do I know it's him speaking and not just my own ideas or that knuckleheaded friend's ideas? It's actually pretty simple.

The process is simple. The hard part is, am I gonna have the courage and the willingness to listen and do it? Because it takes a little discipline to hear from the Holy Spirit. A lot of people act like the Holy Spirit's a feeling,

and they never do they never go to the places and do the things of here's where the Holy Spirit speaks. And so then you just go by a feeling, and you think that was God.

And I'm not talking about non Christians. I'm talking a lot of people in this room, even Christians. I I hear the craziest things. I saw this butterfly land on this thing and my my my my by this friend I had, their favorite color is blue. It was blue, and it looked into this direction. That's why I was thinking about maybe buying a house or doing this. So I thought, know, it's like, what are you talking about?

The word says clearly that the Holy Spirit speaks to us primarily through his word, the word of God. So you have to be in it. You have to know it and not just read it and study it to have facts. You have to sit in the chair like I did in the dentist chair long enough to after you've read it and listen to him

speak to your heart about what that means for you.

The second way, God's people. And it's why we need to be in real community with other Christians who have to be committed to the word as well. You can get into a small group of Christians, and if you're not all committed to the word, you're just like

you're like a book club because, you know, most book clubs, half the people don't read the book. And then they just go online, they find something, or they just try to speak into the conversation without knowing what's going on. And that kind of community isn't gonna do you a very good much.

But it's the word of God and the people of God. And now sometimes when you know the word of God, you know the people of God, he will use weird circumstances.

But what usually it is is he keeps something keeps coming in your way. Why did that happen? Why did I keep here? Why did I I I I know there's something God from scripture is kind of talking about because it keeps popping up. Not some random, but it's like random things happen that remind you of I really should trust God on this. I really should try. And it comes up in a commercial or in a movie scene or random conversation with a friend or you come to church to the pastor's preaching and he's like, did did he listen to me? He's saying exactly all the things I've been wrestling with right now. When that connects the dot,

that's the Holy Spirit. And that's how you learn. So a couple things about that. You need to be in community with other people because other people can see stuff you can't see. It's kinda like I was watching, like, you know the greatest

I watched this show Quarterbacks on on on on on you know, and you watch it and guess what? These are the greatest out of the greatest quarterbacks on the planet. They all still have personal coaches. It doesn't matter how good you are. They because you know why? That quarterback's a better quarterback than that coach.

But you know what he has? He has a set of eyes that can look at you from the outside with the principles and notice something. That's why we need it. Then that's how the Holy Spirit talks to us. Here's one thing you just gotta know that most people make the mistake of. When the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart,

he will never guide you towards anything that contradicts the word of God. Ever. I've had people come, well, I think the spirit just said it was okay that I should really move in with my girlfriend. No. He did not. Something else told you to move in with your girlfriend.

There are things that we just want, and and there's things that's like and we wanna make it, and we put God's words in because if you don't know the word, you can't hear from the spirit

because that's all he's gonna guide you in. He says he guides you in all truth. When it's referencing truth, it's the word of God. He's referencing you the truth. He it says he illuminates it. See, the father thought the whole plan. The son bought the plan for us. The spirit is what brought the plan to us.

And that's the plan. He works in us in that way. He works in us in that way. He shapes us. The second thing he does is oh, wait. I got some reflection questions. Forgot the throat punch. Sorry. Tilt your heads up. No. I'm hoping you'll take the questions for each of these sections and go somewhere and actually

spend some time listening to God and the Holy Spirit through this. And just ask yourself on this this point. What's the one thing the spirit may already be quietly pointing to in my life? Like, just saying, hey, this is something you need to lean into.

And the follow-up is, what are you gonna actually do about it this week? Don't just think about it. When you realize here's something I think the Holy Spirit's speaking to me on, you respond to it. You don't procrastinate. You don't put it off. You don't say I'll wait till later.

Try it and see what starts happening in your life. Because you know what? Every one of these points, everything I'm talking about, you already saw a video on it, played out perfectly. Taylor's story. Look how it changed when he realized how much God loved him and the power that it unlocked through the Holy Spirit.

How his life changed? How he said he instantly went from, I I don't hate myself anymore. I'm able to to to to to do these things. And he sat there, and the spirit convicted him, convicted him with this idea that I can keep doing things this way and keep getting the same results.

Or I can do the scary thing that I don't think I have the power to do, but I'll go in the direction that's different and trust him.

And he was stuck. He was trapped. How about you? Seek the help.

Because the second thing he does, he shapes us. He's changing us from the inside out. Second thing is he sends us. The reason we need to be healthy on the inside is because we do have a mission. He sends us. We are called to go. In John 15 verse 26, this is in the middle of this. He's telling them all this stuff. Hey. Don't worry. This spirit will be with you. But he makes it really clear. This is not just all about your own little personal walk with you and God.

There's the spirit came to empower us to the mission God has given us.

And he says this, he goes, but I will send the advocate, the spirit of truth, the holy spirit. He will come to you from the father and will testify about me. That's saying that's the holy spirit who draws people to come to Jesus. It's the holy spirit that opens the door. It's the holy spirit that convicts them of their sin and makes them realize I need the Lord. That's the Holy Spirit's job.

But he throws in, and you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry. So boom. All of sudden just right in. He's like, the Holy Spirit's gonna be the main testimony, but I need you to testify as well.

He's basically it's a court seat. You got this big court case. You got the key witness. That's the one that's gonna give the most amount of testimony. It's gonna really get into everything. That's usually the one that settles the case. But then they also bring in that secondary testimony to corroborate that's just like, hey, it's corroborate like, all right. Now this person said where they were there at. You bring in the police officers. Yes, I can confirm that on this date this blue blue blue this happened and that did.

This is what really drives the case. This is just saying this is what I know and I saw and what happened that settles it. That's what he's saying we should do. We are supposed to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. If I know Christ

in my heart, if I am really listening to the Holy Spirit, I'm spending the time in the word, and I'm actually saying, You died for me. Now I want to live for you, and I'm trying to figure this out. In your heart, you should have a heart to reach people for Jesus. A Christian should never say,

Why do I have to move services? How dare you say that? What about me and me? Because Sunday's getting so crowded, and almost every new person comes to Sunday. People that don't know the Lord almost unanimously come on Sunday.

So I ask us to move. And you're because I've been in this church for a long time. I give and I serve and I give it. Yeah. And don't you wanna be a part of the mission? You go away from Sunday. You go on Saturday and you will lead someone to Jesus. You don't even have to testify. You testify by letting that seat be empty.

And we should want that. We should want that. And if we're letting the Holy Spirit work on the inside, you will. Good look at Taylor. What's the first thing he did? He didn't get super spiritual. He hadn't been a Christian. He hadn't gotten way down that road. And he just had a whole bunch of his friends get baptized. Why?

Because you don't have to be an expert on everything to testify about Jesus. I think a lot of us have a fear. I'm just not eloquent. I don't you know? All all he did was share what happened in his story. That's all we're called to do, share our story. It's it's the story of the man born blind.

You know, Jesus healed this man born blind on the wrong day. The Pharisees got mad. They never stopped to think what Jesus just did, only God can do. Instead of asking questions of Jesus about, are you God? Help us understand this. They're more like, you did it on the wrong day.

Like how God and even if you are God, you broke our rules. You know, they're like a HOA.

And and and and and and then so then they dragged the guy and they start growing because in that day, they really had this weird belief. Like if you were born blind, it's either sin in your life or sin in your parents' life. Who sinned? What was it? They're asking him all these dumb deep questions. And you know what he said? He said, hey.

I don't know. I don't know anything. Here's all I know. All I know is I was blind, and now I see, and this guy Jesus did it, and I'm gonna go follow him. Maybe you should think the same way. That's it. If we are tied into the Holy Spirit, our heart should be for people.

Because that's what the Holy Spirit came to do, to send us, to testify. So ask yourself. Just ask yourself this. Who's someone you've been meaning to tell just what Jesus has actually done in your life? You don't have to get on social media and try to argue stuff.

And and and and we don't when we when we think this is the sword of the spirit, the weapon, we think what that means is we've turned it into an automatic machine gun, and we fire as many verses as we can at people, a lot of them out of context, just to win an argument.

We need to go to people that we know, that we have in contact with, and start with telling them, You know what? I was blind, but now I see. Come to church with me.

Is there someone that you've been thinking about that God's laid on your heart? And what are you gonna actually do this week?

You know what I did when I started being convicted? Because I'm a pastor, I said, I still need to do this morning. I started making just a simple list of three to four people that I I I am I'm not I I run into. I either coached with them or they're my neighbor or whatever. And I just started making a list. And what I started doing first was I just started praying for them on this list. I said, Lord, I need to talk to them. Can you open doors for me? Can I just have a chance to just talk to you? I'll look for those opportunities.

Go make it. And you know what's weird? I started running into them in random places, started having things happen.

That's the Holy Spirit too. It's like when I say, I think I wanna talk to that person. All said, you're sitting in your front yard and they walk out and they're trying to work on something in their front yard right next to you and you're like,

No, this can't be the time to do it, God. I got to get the sprinkler head fixed. Then it'll just start happening and see what happens. See what happens. I think the reason we lose our fervor in that is we get farther away from the joy of the understanding of what Jesus actually did for us.

And and and and we forget. We don't wanna take people along on the ride as as as much. So he's changing us from the inside out. He shapes us. He sends us. He calls us to go. We need to go. And then last thing is the spirit unites us.

Meaning he says, and you weren't built to do this alone. We're not built to this church. And that's the thing with America, man. Rugged individualism of of being Americans, we're these rugged individualists. It's kind of a cool concept as American. It's a terrible concept as a Christian.

It flies in the face of Christianity. We are not supposed to be rugged individualists. A lot of us, we just come to church and we just we gather here as a a blob of people and kinda get wanting to get our own thing and do our own thing and then leave. And and it's kinda like this. I go I

did anybody have kids that played soccer? They played soccer growing up. Nobody? What do you you You're like, we hate Europe so much. I'm not gonna let my kids play soccer. Anybody have them play all the way through, play a lot of soccer. That was a much more pleasant experience

Cause it gets better. Right? But if your kids only play those first three years, you missed out on it because you didn't really see soccer.

Matter of fact, I know nothing about soccer. I'm like Ted Lasso, but I could have went and coached a team when in my kids' first three years. You know why? There's only one thing you need to do as a coach when they first start playing. This is it. You stand on the sidelines and you yell, spread out. Spread out.

Spread out. Spread out. You just yelled out for three years. Did you ever watch little kids play soccer? You try to teach them that to be a team, you gotta be in your position because that's the tactic for victory. Right?

They all get lined up. You have a mountain. There's a puzzle. You have your back here, your defense, you're the goalkeeper here. The second a foot touches the ball, it becomes one huge clump of human people. There's these little kids looking like, and they're like, and

then the only way anything happens to get scored is you always have that one kid that's like, dude, is he on? What kind of peptides is this kid on already? Is he shaving? They're nine years old. Why did he drive here? You know, they're just huge.

And and that kid can and he blows up there and then they score. That's all that happens. That's all that happens.

That's what we do as a church all the time. That's the problem with the church in the Western world. That's the problem with the church in every place where they say church attendance is declining. People wanna say the world was a seed. Jesus doesn't work anymore. No, it's not Jesus doesn't work. It's we won't spread out.

We won't take our positions. We all wanna clump here, get what we want, and then leave. And we get really mad if we don't have our our orange slices and our juice box. Where's my snack?

And what does it say in second first Corinthians 12? Starting in verse 12, it says, the human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free, but we have been baptized into the same body

by the same spirit. That's the holy spirit. The holy spirit's job is to unite us as the body of Christ even though we're very different. Unity is not sameness. Unity is not uniformity. We actually all have been given different gifts and different callings, but we have the same mission.

A lot of people wanna come to a church and say, I want the mission to be this. Mission is not up for grabs. Positions are. And they're based on your gifts.

And everyone needs to be on the team. And we need to spread out. If you jump down to verse eighteen twenty one, he goes more. But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it only had one part.

Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you. The head can never say to the feet, I don't need you. We need each other. We need to be in connected and community and service together as a church on mission together.

That's what the Holy Spirit came to do. Not just to individually give us our own little individual spiritual program where we can sit and clump together, try to kick the ball we wanna kick, and then go back out and live the rest of our lives.

And here's the problem. One of us that we don't feel the holy spirit working on this. We don't because we're not doing the work that the holy spirit came to do. And so we don't feel it. And if you jump down to verse 25,

it says, this makes for harmony among the members so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. And if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of us together are Christ's body, and each of us is a part of it. Are you? Do you attend a church,

or do you spread out and know your position, and do you play it?

This is the hardest part. This is where rubber meets the road, is this are you connected? Not just I come to connect privately to God and myself in these moments,

but what the Holy Spirit came to do, what he's calling us to do, what Paul was telling this Corinthian church, this young growing church, and he's like, it's going crazy with growth, but they they didn't have enough people giving, didn't have enough people serving. They had a lot of people attending. Sounds familiar.

And he said, because we need to be contributors. We need to be the body of Christ, not just show up at a location, clump together, and kick the ball we wanna kick. What are we doing about it? We need to connect beyond that. We're wired into other people on purpose.

And what this passage is saying, and when you listen to what the Holy Spirit is and what he wants to do in our lives, if we're not fully living out what he did in us, and you're not actually fully living out what he did in us until you're actually connected to what he's called us to do.

And a lot of times I get it. We struggle. We have reasons. We go, but I can't do this because of this. I can't do that, or I would do. I'm just waiting for I get I get it. I'm the same way. And every one of our reasons seems very formidable and seems very real and in practical logic seems to make sense as to why I can't.

And that's a exact perfect description of what the Bible said is to know the tactics of the enemy and understand the lies of the world. Those are lies. Once again, with going and with this part, we saw that in Taylor's testimony.

It didn't take a long time. He didn't have to wait years. He didn't have to put all these ducks in a row. He got connected to the church. He became a part of the body and contributed as soon as he started to realize what God had done in him. And now look at the joy he has. Look at where he got.

You can't say you are a committed Christian if you're not connected and contributing. You're lying.

And I get it. It's usually there's a fear or a frustration that's holding you back. And what we need to realize is the power that lays Jesus from the dead is in you.

And what he's asking you to do, that thing that you don't wanna do, I don't wanna trust him with my money. I don't wanna trust him with this. I don't really wanna connect. I don't think I can. I don't have this. Do you really think it takes more power for him to help you do that than it did to defeat sin and death?

Because that's the power we have in us. You can do this. You can make that decision to say, hey, my wife and I, we're gonna go seek some help. You can say, I need to I need to go to the recovery night. I need to get past these hurts, these habits, these hang ups with the power of other people and the Holy Spirit.

You can find your spiritual gift and serve in your church despite how your calendar seems. You can tithe. You can. Everyone in this room could tithe if you wanted to. And God would bless you through it, and you would stop worrying about money,

and it would empower your life, and it will increase your trust of God, and it'll make you stop worrying about the world and worrying about tomorrow. It will help you. I'm not saying this to condemn anyone.

I'm doing the same thing. That word there for the conviction of the Holy Spirit says when it convicts, that's different than condemn. The false Holy Spirit, the devil, brings condemnation. Condemnation wants to bring shame,

and that's the difference. Shame is vague and endless. It just tells you you're bad with no next step. Conviction that the Holy Spirit brings is specific, and it always has a door. Here's where I need you to go.

And he shows you exactly what's true so you can bring it to him, be met with grace, and trust him, and move on, and feel the love and the power and the strength. There are people in the front me. I mean, you have been a Christian a long time, and you are still fighting God on the most basic things of being a disciple.

And yet you come, oh, I had this powerful time with the Holy Spirit. And so and then you're saying all this stuff. It's like, this is not scriptural. You're you're listening to a lie. You're playing into the plan of the devil. Let you feel spiritual while absolutely ignoring God.

What would happen if you literally lived in that power? In you, through you, and the peace you would have?

But you gotta be willing to not listen to lie. There is nothing God asks us to do that you can't do. And the second last thing before I close down is like there are there's this real thing too. Some people, the reason you're pulling back is you've been hurt by a church. Now when you say a church hurt you,

a church organization didn't hurt you. A person did because we're the church. And that's real, and that's true. And it stinks that it happens, and it disappoints me. And I would never wanna be the one that did that to someone. But the truth is the conviction that the Holy Spirit brings doesn't mean we're failing.

If you really feel conviction from the Holy Spirit, that means you have the Holy Spirit, which means you genuinely are a believer, which means God loves you. And the reason he's convicting you is because he's not done with you.

But if you've been hurt, you think pulling back from the Holy Spirit's call? Pulling back from what he came? Pulling back from the body of Christ, which Jesus died for? Pulling back from all this is the answer?

The hurt is real. Our answer is bad because your answer is listening to the lie. Devil wins. When you pull back, the only one that suffers is you and the church. He says when we don't come if you go to a church and you're not using your somebody needs your gifts. Somebody. And you need somebody else's. We all hurt.

And then churches come, we run and bounce around looking for new church. Why church wasn't good as the pastor? Because, you know, because 80% of the Christians are not acting like Christians, and they're bouncing around in churches where 20% of the Christians are doing everything.

And then you're mad. Like, well, that church wasn't good enough. You know why? Because they weren't friendly enough, or they didn't have enough facilities, or they didn't have enough of this. And you know the reason was? Because you weren't actually doing your part, or I don't do my part.

And all of that conviction is not condemnation. The saddest thing is if you are stuck in that condemnation listening to lies, you just heard what I did not say. You're some of you are mad at me.

Some of you are just so sad and frustrated because you're so hurt. You're like, I know that. I know that. But I'm just I can't do it. And now I'm getting yelled at again. No. I'm telling you to sit in the chair with the Holy Spirit. Let him start bringing some pressure

and crunchy sounds of pulling on you in parts of your life, and trust that if I let this happen and I choose to go this way, I will get up and I'll be better for it. It'll change me. Amen? Because otherwise here's here's the last thing. Otherwise,

it's kinda like on July 4. We had to end our July 4 celebration early because, you know, all the grandkids were over. And and we had this moment where my my Micah and David,

my son-in-law, they they have the two boys, and they had to leave. And because they had to go to the hospital because they had to go get this picture taken. I have a picture here. You see that little dot right then there in the middle of Ollie, our four year old grandson's

body? You see that light that looks like a solar eclipse or whatever, a moon? Yeah. It it it was this. It was a rock. Not this exact one. That'd be gross. We never found that exact one. But but his older brother yeah. You're like, no. No. No. No. His

older brother had a little collection of these because I don't know what is it. What is it about seven year old boys and polished rocks? You go to a minerals go like, who goes to these things? I want that one. I want that one. Like, why did I just spend $72 on rocks? They could've went in the backyard and found rocks.

They love it. And then men then we get older and we still like polished rocks. They just have wheels and engines. And and and so he he he was bringing his rock over to show his other friend in our party, and his brother Ollie ran. He goes, that's not a rock. That's candy.

And they're like, no. It's it's it's it's a rock. See, it's a rock. He's, no. It's candy. They go, it's a rock. And he grabbed it and he goes, it's candy. I can eat it. They go, don't eat it. It's a rock. And he goes, it's candy. And he swallowed it. Here's

the sad thing is we kinda have a partial belief that he kinda he knew it was a rock.

He just really, really, really hoped it was candy.

This is what I'm talking about to close this down. Is that you? See, think one of the reasons we have a hard time trusting the Holy Spirit in us, the rock that's in us, because the Bible calls God our rock over 300 times in scripture, the stable foundation, especially in times of trouble,

the one we go to, the one who provides, the one who loves, the one who gives, the one who guides. If you know Jesus, he's already in you. But for some weird reason, that's not enough. We're not listening. And we're running to these rocks of life and saying, I need that candy. I need that candy.

And if we took an x-ray of our heart, we keep swallowing the rocks and we ignore the rock. What would it be like? It could be like Taylor's story, like so many other stories. What would it be like if you just stopped doing this

and just surrendered to the love of the Holy Spirit and was in the word and was with God and just just went where he called you to. Let him help you deal with the bitterness and the pain and the struggle and the fear. Be still and know that he is God. Father, I thank you, Lord.

I thank you for this message, and I thank you for your love for us. And my prayer is simple, Lord, for me and everyone in this room. May we be still, be in your word, be with your people, and know that you're God, and hear you speak to us, and allow us to enjoy that gift of peace you've given us, which is the very present

of God, the Holy Spirit within us. Amen. Love you guys. Amen. The God who spoke the universe into existence is closer to us than the breath in our lungs. Amen? And we can hear him this week. A great place to start is reading our bible and getting around other holy spirit people.

Hey, guys. If you like prayer this morning, we have a prayer room off to your left. We would love to pray with you if you'd like to pray with us. And with that, we hope you have a great week. We'll see you next week.