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Getting-Reacquainted-with-the-Spirit-of-_Media · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Jesus said, you will receive power when the Spirit is
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Speaker 1: upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: and in Judea, and in Samaria and to the remotest
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Speaker 1: part of the earth. Put in today's language, it would
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Speaker 1: be you shall be my witnesses in Frisco and in Texas,
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Speaker 1: and in Kansas and Kentucky and Illinois and Ohio, and
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Speaker 1: even into Canada and Mexico and Europe and Africa and Russia,
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Speaker 1: into distant islands that you have never seen before. Your
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Speaker 1: witness will reach them because of the Spirit. And that
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Speaker 1: is why we give today as we do, not just
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Speaker 1: from our hearts, but sacrificially, sacrificially. Someone told me years
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Speaker 1: ago that if you were to check the cornerstones of
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Speaker 1: the great churches, you will see that many of them,
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Speaker 1: if not most, were built during the depression. People turn
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Speaker 1: to God when times are hard. With him, you can
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Speaker 1: entrust your treasure and always receive a return. And so,
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Speaker 1: our Father, we pause to thank you for your redemptive work,
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Speaker 1: finding us when we weren't looking, loving us when we
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Speaker 1: weren't very likable, or loving, caring for us when we
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Speaker 1: were careless, giving to us, when we were so selfish,
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Speaker 1: preocied with our own ego, needs and demands, even the
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Speaker 1: spirit of entitlement and dying for us, when if had
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Speaker 1: we been living in that day, we would have spit
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Speaker 1: on your son. We would have rejected him with everything
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Speaker 1: and our being. But you have redeemed us by your grace.
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Speaker 1: You've found us, by your grace. You've saved us. Because
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Speaker 1: of your grace, we in turn are learning to be
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Speaker 1: unselfish and giving, and gracious and merciful and forgiving. Know
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Speaker 1: all of this, our Father. As our gifts come to you,
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Speaker 1: they come from a heart full of gratitude. We love
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Speaker 1: you because you first loved us, and because you have
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Speaker 1: taught us to do that. In the name of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: our model, our Master, we pray. Everyone said, Amen. Isn't
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Speaker 1: it hard to get your mind around anything that's invisible?
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Speaker 1: And we have a hard enough time understanding and grasping
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Speaker 1: that which we can see and know and measure, but
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Speaker 1: the invisible, especially when the invisible, is sometimes known as
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Speaker 1: the ghost, the holy ghost. Anne Ortlund, in her penetrating
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Speaker 1: little book Up with Worship, tells this wonderful story that
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Speaker 1: a lot of us who were reared in the church
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Speaker 1: can identify with. When I was little, I used to
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Speaker 1: play church with my friends. We'd get the chairs into rows,
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Speaker 1: fight over hoo'd be the preacher, vigorously lead the hymn singing,
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Speaker 1: and generally have a great carnal time. The aggressive kids
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Speaker 1: naturally wanted to be upfront, directing or preaching. The quieter
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Speaker 1: ones were content to sit and be entertained by the upfronters.
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Speaker 1: Occasionally we'd get mesmerized by some true sensationalist crowd swear,
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Speaker 1: like the little girl who said boo, I'm the Holy ghost.
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Speaker 1: But in general, if the upfronters were pretty good, they
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Speaker 1: could hold their audience quite a while. But if they
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Speaker 1: weren't so good, eventually the kids would drift off to
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Speaker 1: play something else, like jump rope or jacks. That generation
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Speaker 1: of children has now grown up, but most of them
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Speaker 1: haven't changed too much. Every Sunday they still play church.
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Speaker 1: They line up in rows for the entertainment. If it's
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Speaker 1: pretty good, their church may grow. If it's not too hot, well,
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Speaker 1: eventually they'll drift off to play something else, like yachting
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Speaker 1: or wife swapping. Hmm. I've discovered when you get serious
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Speaker 1: about spiritual things, you not only get serious about church,
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Speaker 1: you get serious about God, like who is He? Who
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Speaker 1: is He? We get that pretty well because we all
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Speaker 1: have fathers and he's called our heavenly Father. And except
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Speaker 1: for a few fathers who are have been too hot
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Speaker 1: and aren't worth remembering, for the most part, dad's are
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Speaker 1: a pretty good lot, faithful, caring, loving. They're the leaders,
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Speaker 1: the planners, and the home. They're the ones who sacrifice
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Speaker 1: for the good of the family. So Father, God, we
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Speaker 1: can get that, and so we get to understanding more
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Speaker 1: about God the Father and the Son. Well, a lot
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Speaker 1: of us are sons, and as sons we've learned to
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Speaker 1: obey our father, and growing up we carried out the
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Speaker 1: desires of our dads because he wanted good things for
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Speaker 1: us and loved us and led us correctly. As sons,
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Speaker 1: we wanted to do his will. So getting to know
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Speaker 1: the Son has not been a real leap of difficulty.
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Speaker 1: We understand the Father plans our salvation, and God the
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Speaker 1: Son implements the plan by going to the cross and
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Speaker 1: dying for us. We spent some time on both, looked
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Speaker 1: at four attributes of God the Father, and spent some
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Speaker 1: time addressing Christ and the Cross. But now now we
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Speaker 1: come to the tough part. I remember growing up because
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Speaker 1: our family didn't have a car, my dad took the
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Speaker 1: car to work. It was during the Second World War,
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Speaker 1: and for those four four and a half years we
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Speaker 1: would walk to the end of the block and attend
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Speaker 1: the church most convenient happened to be a Methodist church,
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Speaker 1: and I remember while attending that church learning something I'd
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Speaker 1: never done before. In the church, we usually would attend
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Speaker 1: or had earlier attended, and we would repeat the apostles Creed.
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Speaker 1: Sound familiar to any of you in the Apostles Creed,
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Speaker 1: which if you do it enough, you memorize it. I
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Speaker 1: believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth,
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Speaker 1: and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. Was
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Speaker 1: conceived by the Holy ghost. Wait. I remember as a
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Speaker 1: little kid, because my mom had taught watch out for ghosts,
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Speaker 1: stay away from ghosts. First of all, there's nothing to it,
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Speaker 1: then she would say, but if there is anything to it,
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Speaker 1: it's evil conceived of the holy ghost. But it's holy,
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Speaker 1: So I would go on. Born of the Virgin Mary
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Speaker 1: severed under Pontius Pilot, was crucified, dead and buried, descended
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Speaker 1: into Hell. That one hung me up. The third day,
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Speaker 1: he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and
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Speaker 1: sit it at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.
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Speaker 1: From fence, he shall come to judge the quick and
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Speaker 1: the dead. The fence part I never got, and the
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Speaker 1: quick part never made a lot of sense. And then
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Speaker 1: I said, I believe in the Holy Ghost. I remember thinking, don't.
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Speaker 1: I don't want to do this, And the next line
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Speaker 1: always tru me. I believe in the Holy Catholic Church,
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Speaker 1: which means universal Church. But I didn't know that. My
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Speaker 1: dad didn't either. He leaned over and said, don't say
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Speaker 1: that part. So I'm kind of picking and choosing my
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Speaker 1: way through the apostles creed between the Holy Ghost and
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Speaker 1: the Catholic Church and conceived by the Holy How in
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Speaker 1: the world could a ghost caused Mary to get pregnant?
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Speaker 1: And oh, I'm telling you, I was years figuring that out.
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Speaker 1: And you know what, Honestly, I say this and we
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Speaker 1: chuckle about those funny things as children. There are a
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Speaker 1: lot of folks hung up on stuff like that. What
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Speaker 1: in the world does this stuff mean? So it seemed
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Speaker 1: to me, if we're gonna get serious about church, which
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Speaker 1: is plan a for anybody that really gets serious about Jesus,
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Speaker 1: and don't ever sell that part short. Don't let anybody
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Speaker 1: ever tell you the church in important. They don't know
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Speaker 1: what they're talking about. That's adolescent talk. That's stupid counsel.
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Speaker 1: Those who say that are cynical, or they've been burned,
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Speaker 1: or they're under toxic religion and they're now free of it,
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Speaker 1: so they want nothing to do with it. They throw
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Speaker 1: the baby out with the bath water. Wait. Wait, Jesus
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Speaker 1: said I will build my church. Sounds pretty important to me.
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Speaker 1: And he's the one who said the gates of Hades
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Speaker 1: will not prevail against it. That sounds pretty powerful. So
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Speaker 1: we get serious about church, and then long while we're
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Speaker 1: at church, before we get serious about the Trinity. Oh
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Speaker 1: there's another tough one. God is three and one that's
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Speaker 1: hard to figure out. Miss William is a schoolteacher in
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Speaker 1: the second grade. I decided that Christian school she would
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Speaker 1: teach her kids about the Trinity. And she used a
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Speaker 1: great big pretzel. It twisted all around, had three big
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Speaker 1: holes in it. They're about the same size. So she said,
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Speaker 1: all right, children, this represents the father that's a hole,
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Speaker 1: and this represents the son and this represents the Holy Ghost. Okay,
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Speaker 1: so let's see if everybody got it. So she hands
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Speaker 1: it over to Tommy, and Tommy goes, oh, this hole
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Speaker 1: is the Father, and this hole is the Son, and
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Speaker 1: this hole is the Holy smoke or whatever it's supposed
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Speaker 1: to be. What is this about? Why on earth do
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Speaker 1: we have an invisible member of the Trinity? See what
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Speaker 1: I'm getting at. Of course you do. Some of you
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Speaker 1: have been in the family of God so long, and
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Speaker 1: unfortunately you've disconnected from those who don't get it. It's
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Speaker 1: tough stuff. It's hard enough to believe in a father
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Speaker 1: when you didn't have a father worth believing in. And
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Speaker 1: it's tough enough to believe that Jesus could die for
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Speaker 1: the sins of the whole world in one act of sacrifice.
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Speaker 1: But you get to the Holy Spirit ghost. First of all,
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Speaker 1: he's known as a ghost because the word spirit is
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Speaker 1: the same word as breath, breath b r e a
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Speaker 1: t H breath breathing out God breathed out his word,
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Speaker 1: and that came to be translated in one of the
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Speaker 1: earlier translations as ghost. Unfortunately, he isn't a ghost. He's
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Speaker 1: a spirit, and he isn't an It He's an he
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Speaker 1: his personality, mind, will, emotions, He knows, he can be grieved,
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Speaker 1: He directs, he instructs, so he has the characteristics of
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Speaker 1: a personality. I ever refer to the Holy Spirit as
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Speaker 1: an it anymore than you would. God is an it
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Speaker 1: or Jesus as an it. A ghost is an it spirit. Ah,
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Speaker 1: He's the comforter. He's the one called alongside to help,
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Speaker 1: as we shall see. Being God, he has all the
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Speaker 1: attributes of the Father and the Son. Listen closely. Those
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Speaker 1: attributes are co equal, co eternal, coexistent. They go on forever.
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Speaker 1: They are all the same. One doesn't have more than
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Speaker 1: the other, and they exist faithfully together but separate. It's
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Speaker 1: a mystery you can never fully grasp, but they are there. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: that God had Father, Son, Spirit. God the Father planned ourselves.
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Speaker 1: God the Son has implemented our salvation, and God the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is empowering it. As we shall see, he
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Speaker 1: operates in a realm, for only God is present, the
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Speaker 1: very mind of Deity. Let me show you first Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: chapter two, and you'll be ready to let your fingers
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Speaker 1: do the walking through these white pages. As we work
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Speaker 1: our way from one passage to another. First Corinthians two,
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Speaker 1: verse six. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who
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Speaker 1: are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor
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Speaker 1: of the rulers of this age, who are passing away.
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Speaker 1: By the way it happens every Sunday, the wisdom we
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Speaker 1: speak when we gather the teaching, you receive the instruction,
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Speaker 1: whether it's from music or from God's word or some preacher,
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Speaker 1: it's it's a wisdom that is not from this passing
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Speaker 1: away world. It is it is a divine wisdom that
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Speaker 1: comes from His word. We speak looking verse seven, God's wisdom.
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Speaker 1: It's in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined
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Speaker 1: before the ages to our glory. Is that great? Or
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Speaker 1: what before there ever was the beginning of time? God
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Speaker 1: planned the wisdom, the knowledge, the truth to live by,
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Speaker 1: all of that arranged in the Godhead, all put together,
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Speaker 1: all known, all ready to be delivered. And then man
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Speaker 1: falls in the garden, and his whole mind has changed,
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Speaker 1: his heart has changed, his will has changed. And now
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Speaker 1: you've got to permeate all of that. A mind that's blinded,
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Speaker 1: a heart that's cold and like stone as we just sang,
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Speaker 1: and a will that's in resistance to the things of God.
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Speaker 1: But the wisdom is there nevertheless, so we need divine
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Speaker 1: help Verse ten. For to us God revealed them, that's
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Speaker 1: the truths of his word, the truths of his mind.
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Speaker 1: God revealed them through the Spirit capitalists that's the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: For the spirit searches all things, even the bathos of God.
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Speaker 1: Years ago, doctor b b did that early investigation of
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Speaker 1: the subjeb the below the surface of the water, and
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Speaker 1: went deep, deep into the bowels of the sea and
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Speaker 1: saw things never seen before saw of the Jacques Cousteau
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Speaker 1: of that era. He called that round submarine, if you will.
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Speaker 1: He was in with its quartz window, a bathos sphere
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Speaker 1: for the depth, the sphere of the depths, the same
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Speaker 1: Greek word translated here depths. He searches even the depths
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Speaker 1: of God. Can you imagine what that's like. We hit
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Speaker 1: the surface, we learn a little. Every once in a while,
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Speaker 1: we're around someone highly intelligent, and we listen and we
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Speaker 1: realize how much that person knows. Someone said that an
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Speaker 1: education is going from an unawareness to awareness of your
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Speaker 1: own ignorance. You become aware of the depth of information
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Speaker 1: you don't know. Happens in seminary all the time. As
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Speaker 1: the truths of Scripture began to be taught by these professors,
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Speaker 1: these individuals, men and women with great minds and understanding
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Speaker 1: the truths of God. You sit as a student and
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Speaker 1: you think, will I ever grasp this? Will I ever
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Speaker 1: get this? And then along with that come the original
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Speaker 1: languages of Greek and Hebrew. I remember looking at Hebrew
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Speaker 1: for the first time, thinking that is like a rag rug.
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Speaker 1: How does anybody ever get that? You know what helped
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Speaker 1: when I finally turned it upside down the other way.
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Speaker 1: I'd had it upside down for a day, so I
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Speaker 1: turned it over so I could read it. I mean,
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Speaker 1: the depth of God's truths in our own language. The
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God knows it all. Remember that when you
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Speaker 1: relate to the Spirit of God, you're relating to one
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Speaker 1: who has it all known, has it all understood, and
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Speaker 1: his major role is to communicate that truth to you
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Speaker 1: in bite sized chunks that you can take and apply.
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Speaker 1: That's his role. He reveals them to you. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse eleven. We can identify with this who among men
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Speaker 1: knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of
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Speaker 1: the man which is in him. You know, right now,
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Speaker 1: I have thoughts that you don't know, And you have
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Speaker 1: thoughts that I don't know, because they're only known by
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Speaker 1: each one of us individuals. No one else can know
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Speaker 1: our own thoughts. Right now, I'm going to think of something.
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Speaker 1: What was I just thinking of? You have no idea.
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Speaker 1: I was thinking of a purple submarine. I don't know why,
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Speaker 1: but it was just in my mind. It was a
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Speaker 1: thought in my mind. Silly, unrelated to this, but it
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Speaker 1: illustrates the fact that you don't know what's in my mind.
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Speaker 1: Now look closely. Even so, the thoughts of God, no
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Speaker 1: one knows except the Spirit of God. Who how good
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Speaker 1: is that? And he's not keeping it to himself. His
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Speaker 1: role is to unveil that truth and to let you
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Speaker 1: get a corner on it and begin to see it.
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Speaker 1: It's called spiritual insight discernment. It becomes a filter system
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Speaker 1: in this wicked, deceptive world where you're hit on all
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Speaker 1: sides but the media, and you have to filter through
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Speaker 1: that and come up with truth in the midst of
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Speaker 1: a pile of error. That's the role of the spirit
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Speaker 1: Verse twelve. Now we have received not the spirit of
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Speaker 1: the world, but the spirit who is from God. Why
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Speaker 1: so that we may know the thing's freely given to
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Speaker 1: us by God. You know what I have had people
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Speaker 1: say to me doesn't matter that I know that much.
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Speaker 1: Look look, wait, if you're ever tempted to say that,
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Speaker 1: zip it, zip it, don't say that. If you really
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Speaker 1: mean that, you're a prey to every cult that comes
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Speaker 1: to your door. You don't care about knowing what you believe.
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Speaker 1: You're ready for a fall. The enemy loves to hear
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Speaker 1: you say that. The adversary feeds on that kind of thinking.
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Speaker 1: I mean, if the spirit of God exists for the
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Speaker 1: single purpose of revealing God's truth, doesn't it make sense
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Speaker 1: we need to know that truth. That's why you were
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Speaker 1: born in previous, previous churches where the truth wasn't taught.
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Speaker 1: That's why you came out of that false religion where
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Speaker 1: you realize this is not doing good, this is toxic,
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Speaker 1: this is hurting me. You weren't getting truth. When you
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Speaker 1: get truth, you're set free. You shall know the truth
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Speaker 1: and what the truth will make you free. Yes, freed
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Speaker 1: from those things that once captured you and controlled you.
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Speaker 1: We have received not the spirit of the world, but
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Speaker 1: the spirit who is from God, so that we may
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Speaker 1: know the things freely given to us by God. Let's
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Speaker 1: go further, Let's dig further into his role. When I
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Speaker 1: did my study, I came up with about thirty to
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Speaker 1: thirty five things the Spirit of God does. You'll be
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Speaker 1: happy to know. We won't go through all thirty to
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Speaker 1: thirty five of them, but I'm going to spot maybe
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Speaker 1: three four of them that are important enough to underscore.
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Speaker 1: Go from First Corinthians to Titus. Titus chapter three, you
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Speaker 1: get to the letters of Timothy, you go one further,
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Speaker 1: one book further. The next letter is the one to
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Speaker 1: Titus three, verse five. If you like taking notes, I've
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Speaker 1: given you an outline that you can follow. I fill
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Speaker 1: mine in every week in preparing, and so I've got
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Speaker 1: mine all filled in. And it helps me because thoughts
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Speaker 1: disentangle themselves over the lips and through the fingertips. As
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Speaker 1: you write your thoughts down, you'll grasp them, even if
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Speaker 1: you don't hang on to this very long. By just
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Speaker 1: the writing down of those things, it will help you.
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Speaker 1: One of the four that I want to mention is
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Speaker 1: the spirit regenerates. He regenerates verse five, he saved us.
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Speaker 1: This is a he referring to God, the Father, God,
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Speaker 1: our savior. Verse four saved us Verse five, not on
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Speaker 1: the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,
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Speaker 1: but according to His mercy by the washing of There's
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Speaker 1: our word, regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. What
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Speaker 1: does that mean. It means when you and I were
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Speaker 1: converted to Christ, regardless of our age, even though we
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Speaker 1: may not have known anything about this, new life was
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Speaker 1: given to us Tewod Corinthians five seventeen. If anyone is
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Speaker 1: in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have
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Speaker 1: passed away, all things have become new. You know why
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Speaker 1: that's true because of the work of the Spirit. When
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Speaker 1: you say I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as
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Speaker 1: my own personal savior, I've determined I can't get myself
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Speaker 1: to heaven on my own good works. I believe the
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Speaker 1: Savior died for me on the cross, and I will
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Speaker 1: take that death on my behalf, and I will place
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Speaker 1: my faith and trust in Him. At that moment of salvation,
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Speaker 1: you're given new life. It's called the new birth. John three.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born anew and
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Speaker 1: then it goes on to explain it must be by
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Speaker 1: water and the word. Are the spirit and water and
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Speaker 1: the spirit, as in mind is the holy Spirit. Now
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Speaker 1: look at verse five again. He saved us not on
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Speaker 1: the basis of deeds which we have done, but according
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Speaker 1: to his mercy. As he cleaned us up, he washed us.
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Speaker 1: Think of washing clothing, of washing your car washing. Now
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Speaker 1: this is the inside of your life. Because he's invisible.
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Speaker 1: He does his invisible work inside that part of us
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Speaker 1: that no surgeons scalpel can ever reach. The Word of
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Speaker 1: God is alive and active and sharper than any two
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Speaker 1: edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit.
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Speaker 1: The Word of God penetrates to the very place that
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Speaker 1: no one else can reach. And when he reaches you
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Speaker 1: with new truth and new life, he cleanses you. He
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Speaker 1: washes you. Generate is to began. To regenerate is to
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Speaker 1: begin again. You began at birth from your mother's wound.
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Speaker 1: But there must be a read generation for you to
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Speaker 1: say you are now in the family of God. You
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Speaker 1: were born anew. It's a second birth, it's a spiritual birth.
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Speaker 1: So the first thing we name is he regenerates this.
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Speaker 1: Now back to first Corinthians told you we'd be moving
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Speaker 1: back and forth. So let's go from Titus back to
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Speaker 1: First Corinthians twelve. Here we are verse twelve of chapter twelve.
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Speaker 1: You'll see the second of the four we're gonna point
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Speaker 1: out that the spirit does First Corinthians twelve, Verse twelve,
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Speaker 1: even as the body is one and yet has many members.
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Speaker 1: And all the members of the body, though they are
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Speaker 1: many or one. Hold on that sounded like a tongue twister.
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Speaker 1: Think of your own body. It's made up of head, arms, legs, fingers, toes, organs,
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Speaker 1: that part which is seen, that part which isn't seen.
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Speaker 1: All of it makes up This is our anatomy. And
26:52
Speaker 1: it's made up of many parts or is called here
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Speaker 1: many members, But it's one body. So also is the
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Speaker 1: body of Christ. The universal family of God is called
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Speaker 1: in scripture the body of Christ. Now where is the
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Speaker 1: spirit at work in this? Look at verse thirteen. For
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Speaker 1: by one spirit we were all baptized into one body.
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Speaker 1: Whether the Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, we were
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Speaker 1: all made to drink of that one and the same spirit.
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Speaker 1: What does that mean? That means the Spirit of God
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Speaker 1: at the moment of salvation places us, placed us into
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Speaker 1: the body of Christ. When you hear baptize, you think
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Speaker 1: of water. This is one of those dry baptisms. If
27:39
Speaker 1: this will help you. There are wet baptisms and there
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Speaker 1: are dry baptisms. This has nothing to do with water. Here.
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Speaker 1: The original term bopto means to dip, literally to dip.
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Speaker 1: It was used for the ancient dry cleaner's business that
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Speaker 1: would take a fabric that would be white and would
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Speaker 1: dip it into a die, and that was called bapto
28:03
Speaker 1: when they dip that fabric into that die, and it
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Speaker 1: change the identity of the fabric. Once white, now it's
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Speaker 1: the color of the dye. So the Spirit of God,
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Speaker 1: when we are born again, takes us invisibly without our
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Speaker 1: knowing it, without our experiencing it, and identifies us with
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Speaker 1: Christ and Christ with us. That's why the greatest hope
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Speaker 1: you have is the living Christ within you. The Spirit
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Speaker 1: of God identifies us with Christ. Man. I just add
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Speaker 1: this because some will come along saying you need to
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Speaker 1: pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, You need
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Speaker 1: to pray for the baptism. Never once in scripture are
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Speaker 1: we commanded to pray for the baptism of the Spirit.
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Speaker 1: It happens to us. It doesn't happen because of us.
28:55
Speaker 1: Are by us you. You were born with certain colored eyes.
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Speaker 1: You can pray all day and all night, and your
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Speaker 1: eyes are going to still be that color. Some of
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Speaker 1: your can't. Well, you put in contacts. That's not fair.
29:12
Speaker 1: Stay with my illustration. You got eyes that are originally
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Speaker 1: that color. You're going to die with eyes that color.
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Speaker 1: That's given to you. Baptism is like that. You have
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Speaker 1: been placed into the body of Christ, and that is
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Speaker 1: a marvelous, permanent place to be. In fact, permanent reminds
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Speaker 1: me of Ephesians chapter one. So let's go there next.
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Speaker 1: Some of you are saying, I'm getting tired of this.
29:35
Speaker 1: I'm saying I don't care. Ephesians chapter one. If it
29:39
Speaker 1: were all in one section a scripture, i'd keep you
29:41
Speaker 1: in one section. But it isn't, so you've got to
29:44
Speaker 1: turn from one to another. I know it's hard work,
29:46
Speaker 1: but try turning those pages. Ephesians chapter one, verse thirteen,
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Speaker 1: referring to Christ in him, you also after listening to
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Speaker 1: the message of truth, that's the gospel, the gospel of
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Speaker 1: your salvation, having also believed here we are hearing the truth.
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Speaker 1: We believe it. We become aware of the gospel. We
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Speaker 1: trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, watch closely. You were
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Speaker 1: sealed in him with the holy Spirit of promise. So
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Speaker 1: the Spirit of God seals us, What does that mean?
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Speaker 1: That means we're his forever. A seal is a seal.
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Speaker 1: A divine seal is a permanent seal. You have any
30:26
Speaker 1: idea how many people live their lives never sure of
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Speaker 1: their salvation, praying that they will not lose what God
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Speaker 1: has given them, or praying that they will not sin
30:35
Speaker 1: so badly that they will wake up one day and
30:37
Speaker 1: they'll be lost again. I have a great question for
30:40
Speaker 1: those who think like that, How bad is too bad
30:44
Speaker 1: that you have moved from save to lost? No one
30:46
Speaker 1: can ever answer that, because there is no such thing
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Speaker 1: as the loss of salvation. Salvation is a gift, and
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Speaker 1: God doesn't take his gift back. We receive the gift,
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Speaker 1: and as a result, we are born again and we
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Speaker 1: can never be un born. Our children were born into
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Speaker 1: our family. They have our nature, they have our blood,
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Speaker 1: they even have our temperaments in many ways. Because they're
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Speaker 1: in the family, they'll never be not a part of
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Speaker 1: our family. Same as it is because of the Spirit
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Speaker 1: of God who seals us. And now one more Great
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Speaker 1: John Chapter sixteen. I promise will stay in John from
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Speaker 1: here on. John sixteen, verse thirteen. I happen to like
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Speaker 1: stuff like this, but I know for some of you
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Speaker 1: it's a bit of a chore. John sixteen thirteen. Follow
31:36
Speaker 1: there with me. When he referring to the spirit, the
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Speaker 1: spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all
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Speaker 1: the truth. He will not speak on his own initiative,
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Speaker 1: but whatever he hears, he will speak and will disclose
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Speaker 1: to you what is to come. So there is the
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Speaker 1: illuminating work of the Spirit. We have four of them.
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Speaker 1: Now four. He regenerates, he baptizes or reidentifies us with Christ,
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Speaker 1: He seals us, and he now, according this verse, illumines us.
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Speaker 1: See what it says. He guides you into all truth.
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Speaker 1: Listen to me. When we began this message sometime back,
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Speaker 1: you did not know some of the things you now know.
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Speaker 1: The reason you now know them is because of the
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Speaker 1: work of the Spirit. He uses a gift that I
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Speaker 1: may have, and he uses my voice and words that
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Speaker 1: you can understand, but they sink in because of the
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Speaker 1: work of the Spirit. Now you know why the person
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Speaker 1: you bring with you who isn't saved and sits through
32:38
Speaker 1: a message like this bored to tears. You know now
32:41
Speaker 1: why they're bored. They don't have the spirit to them.
32:46
Speaker 1: It says just a lot of gobbly goog They're all
32:49
Speaker 1: concerned about when's that guy gonna be through? When's he
32:52
Speaker 1: gonna stop yelling? When's is this? When is this going
32:55
Speaker 1: to be over? Why did I ever say I would
32:58
Speaker 1: come and sit in this meeting? You know why they're
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Speaker 1: not saved or they're walking in the flesh. But let's
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Speaker 1: stay with the thought that they don't have the spirit.
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Speaker 1: It takes the spirit to illuminate truth. That's why it's
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Speaker 1: exciting for you. That's why when you get the truth,
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Speaker 1: it changes the way you want to live, the way
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Speaker 1: you want to respond to life. It changes your attitude,
33:20
Speaker 1: it changes your response to people that are difficult. You've
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Speaker 1: begun to grasp the truth, and he has guided you
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Speaker 1: into the truth. I'm going to give you three words
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Speaker 1: that you need to remember. Revelation, inspiration, illumination. Revelation has
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Speaker 1: to do with God giving his word. He reveals his
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Speaker 1: word to a set number of people. For about a
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Speaker 1: fifteen hundred year period of time in the days of
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Speaker 1: the writing of the Bible, God revealed his word revelation
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Speaker 1: has ceased. There is no more revealing of divine truth.
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Speaker 1: I don't care what people tell you. I don't care
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Speaker 1: how convinced others may be when they say they heard
34:08
Speaker 1: from God last night. Check and see what they had
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Speaker 1: for supper. May have been a bad enchilada, or they
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Speaker 1: may have been awakened because of a dream and they
34:17
Speaker 1: thought that was God speaking. God no longer reveals divine truth.
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Speaker 1: It's contained within the covers of this book. He reveals
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Speaker 1: his truth. Inspiration that has to do with the writing,
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Speaker 1: the recording of the truth that God has revealed that ceased.
34:35
Speaker 1: Now we may be inspired to write songs, or inspired
34:38
Speaker 1: to write poetry, or inspired to write certain notes of encouragement.
34:43
Speaker 1: That's a different kind of inspiration. This inspiration has the
34:46
Speaker 1: word miracle connected to it. Fount Nustace is the word.
34:51
Speaker 1: It means God breathing his word into human beings. And
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Speaker 1: a select number of people took a stylus in their hand,
34:58
Speaker 1: and without error, they wrote the original manuscript of scripture.
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Speaker 1: That's called inspiration that ceased. But illumination goes on to
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Speaker 1: this very moment. Isn't that a great idea? Isn't that
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Speaker 1: a great thought, you are now able to be illumined
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Speaker 1: by what has been revealed and inspiredly and written under inspiration,
35:19
Speaker 1: and now it's available for you to grasp because you
35:22
Speaker 1: have it in your own language. How wonderful is that?
35:25
Speaker 1: How marvelous are those ministries. I think of the ministry
35:29
Speaker 1: of Wickliffe Bible translators, taking the written word of God
35:34
Speaker 1: and putting it in the language of the people who
35:37
Speaker 1: do not have it, and often do not even have
35:39
Speaker 1: their own language. And as a result of that work
35:43
Speaker 1: and the faithfulness of those missionaries, they're able to read
35:45
Speaker 1: in their own language the very word of God. Imagine that.
35:51
Speaker 1: Because we live in a land where there is every
35:54
Speaker 1: type and style and font and color and size text
35:58
Speaker 1: of the Bible, we tend to take it for granted.
36:01
Speaker 1: But you go to a country that doesn't have a Bible. Oh,
36:05
Speaker 1: let me tell you, they'll love you to tear one
36:06
Speaker 1: page out and leave it with them. Why Because it
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Speaker 1: is like no other writing. It is the revealed, inspired,
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Speaker 1: written word of God that will illumine them for life.
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Speaker 1: I got to stop here because of time, But let
36:23
Speaker 1: me stop on a good note. Let me stop with this.
36:27
Speaker 1: Let me ask you to guard against feeling that you
36:30
Speaker 1: have reached the ultimate now in your Christian growth. Just
36:35
Speaker 1: in case you're tempted to think like that, wait before
36:37
Speaker 1: you get your keys, Just sit there, Just stay right there, okay,
36:40
Speaker 1: Just listen closely. You are in a good place. You
36:46
Speaker 1: are in a place where God's word is being taught.
36:50
Speaker 1: Where there is worship, meaningful worship. Where there is integrity,
36:54
Speaker 1: where there is growth, where there is a momentum, where
36:56
Speaker 1: there are signs of spiritual life. There's excitement, there's enthusiasm.
37:02
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like magnetic to be a part of
37:05
Speaker 1: what God is doing here in this wonderful place. But
37:08
Speaker 1: it's easy to think because of that we've reached the pinnacle.
37:13
Speaker 1: I mean, it just won't get any better than this.
37:16
Speaker 1: I mean this is the best. When you say that
37:21
Speaker 1: you forget the work of the spirit is to continue
37:24
Speaker 1: to make your life even better and better. I didn't
37:28
Speaker 1: say easier, I said better. He is able to take
37:34
Speaker 1: this year and turn next year into one that can
37:37
Speaker 1: hardly be compared. As you grow spiritually, as you learn
37:41
Speaker 1: to handle difficulties and endure tests, He's always able to
37:47
Speaker 1: improve on what once was. That's my point, and how
37:51
Speaker 1: we thank him for that we thought last year was good,
37:55
Speaker 1: but look at what this year is held magnificent. I
38:00
Speaker 1: thought of all of this when I finished Max Max
38:04
Speaker 1: Duprize book Leadership Jazz. Listen to this true story. A
38:10
Speaker 1: German machine tool company once developed a very fine bit
38:16
Speaker 1: for drilling holes holes and steel. The tiny bit could
38:22
Speaker 1: bore a hole about the size of a human hair.
38:27
Speaker 1: The Germans sent samples off to Russia, to the United States,
38:32
Speaker 1: to Japan, suggesting that this drill bit was the ultimate
38:38
Speaker 1: in machining technology. This is as good as it's gonna get.
38:43
Speaker 1: This is the finest bit you will ever see. From
38:48
Speaker 1: the Russians, they heard nothing from the Americans. Came a
38:52
Speaker 1: quick response inquiring as to the price of the bits,
38:55
Speaker 1: available discounts and the possibility of a licensing agreement. After
39:03
Speaker 1: some delay, there was the predictable polite response from the Japanese,
39:08
Speaker 1: complimenting the Germans on their achievement, but with a PostScript
39:13
Speaker 1: noting that the Germans bit was enclosed with a slight alteration. Excitedly,
39:21
Speaker 1: the German engineers opened the package carefully examined their bit.
39:25
Speaker 1: Into their amazement, discovered the Japanese had bored a neat
39:29
Speaker 1: hole through it good or what. Don't look now, Ralph,
39:43
Speaker 1: but we got a it wasn't the ultimate. Every once
39:47
Speaker 1: in a while, the spirit of God will call a
39:49
Speaker 1: halt in your life and you'll say, you know, what
39:53
Speaker 1: we're going through now is something that we never imagined
40:00
Speaker 1: we could make. We could make it, we never thought
40:03
Speaker 1: we could do it. Let me tell you why. It's
40:06
Speaker 1: the work of the Spirit. He is empowering you. I
40:12
Speaker 1: will learn next time about the filling of the spirit.
40:16
Speaker 1: When He fills you, it isn't like an ecstasy experience.
40:22
Speaker 1: It's like a deepening reassurance. It's a confidence that is
40:27
Speaker 1: a christ confidence that makes every day a brand new
40:33
Speaker 1: tiptoe experience where God is at work and he opened
40:40
Speaker 1: your eyes to what you've never known before and experience
40:43
Speaker 1: before bow with me. Will you please, right where you're sitting,
40:50
Speaker 1: just just sit quietly. Are you absolutely certain I mean
40:58
Speaker 1: absolutely certain that the Lord Jesus Christ is your savior?
41:05
Speaker 1: I mean there's not a doubt in your mind that
41:08
Speaker 1: if you were to die this night, that you'd be
41:11
Speaker 1: in the presence of God in his heaven. If your
41:16
Speaker 1: response is, you know, Chuck, I'm not sure of that,
41:19
Speaker 1: then the fact is quite likely you haven't been regenerated, reborn.
41:27
Speaker 1: This is your moment. The spirit of God is at work.
41:31
Speaker 1: He will take the truth you have heard, which is
41:35
Speaker 1: the truth that Christ died for your sins and was
41:40
Speaker 1: buried to prove he died, and then was raised victoriously
41:46
Speaker 1: from the dead to prove that he was victorious over sin.
41:51
Speaker 1: That sin that has captured you all your life to
41:54
Speaker 1: this moment can be removed and relieved forgiven, thank God,
42:02
Speaker 1: by your trusting in Jesus. We have prayer rooms, the
42:06
Speaker 1: five of them around this building. They're all well marked
42:09
Speaker 1: with staff by counselors who are very capable of instructing
42:15
Speaker 1: you in your decision today. I urge you to come
42:19
Speaker 1: to one of these places to your left, down front
42:22
Speaker 1: out back to on either side. You'll find a prayer
42:25
Speaker 1: room upstairs as well. Father, I thank you today for
42:31
Speaker 1: helping us stop playing church. Thank you for helping us
42:38
Speaker 1: see the value of great theology, the important role it
42:43
Speaker 1: plays as we are equipped to take on the world
42:47
Speaker 1: that has lost its way. Give us not only discernment,
42:52
Speaker 1: our Father, to see through the pizazz and the fog
42:56
Speaker 1: of the stuff around us, but also the courage to
43:00
Speaker 1: stand against what we have no business agreeing with. Give
43:06
Speaker 1: us that enablement, our Father, to grasp the truth, and
43:11
Speaker 1: then take that truth to those who've never heard it.
43:15
Speaker 1: Excite us with that possibility. And now Father dismiss us
43:20
Speaker 1: with the hope that this day will be refreshing because
43:25
Speaker 1: of your spirit's presence within us. And we thank you
43:29
Speaker 1: for him and the important role he plays in our lives.
43:33
Speaker 1: And the name of Jesus our Savior. We pray to you,
43:37
Speaker 1: our Father. Everyone said amen.
43:44
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Getting Reacquainted with the Spirit of Power
43:49
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in two thousand and eight, and the sound
43:52
Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in two thousand and nine by Charles R. Swindall.
43:55
Speaker 2: In all rights are reserved worldwide.