Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / SUNDAY MESSAGE You Will Receive Power from GodSermons Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: These two elderly couples really enjoyed spending time together. And
- 0:04Speaker 1: they were having a delightful evening at one of their houses,
- 0:09Speaker 1: and the ladies who were sitting indoors in the living
- 0:13Speaker 1: room and the guys were out on the patio. And
- 0:14Speaker 1: then one fella said to the others, said, hey, you
- 0:18Speaker 1: and your wife need to try this restaurant that we
- 0:20Speaker 1: went to last night. It is really good. And the
- 0:22Speaker 1: fellas said, well, what's the name of it? And the
- 0:25Speaker 1: first guy said, you know, as I get older, I
- 0:28Speaker 1: just forget things I cannot remember. Maybe you can help me.
- 0:32Speaker 1: What do you call that flower that has red petals
- 0:37Speaker 1: on it and thorns on the stem? And the fellas
- 0:41Speaker 1: said rose, And the first guy said, yeah, that's it,
- 0:45Speaker 1: and he yelled at his wife, Hey, Rose, honey, what's
- 0:48Speaker 1: the name of that restaurant. Well, of all the things
- 0:57Speaker 1: we shouldn't forget, at the very top of that list
- 1:01Speaker 1: is a promise about the presence of the Holy Spirit
- 1:05Speaker 1: in the life of the believer. We're going to look
- 1:09Speaker 1: at that promise before we do. Let me just remind you,
- 1:13Speaker 1: if you're new to Old Kills, welcome. And what we're
- 1:16Speaker 1: doing is we're working through some promises, trying to build
- 1:19Speaker 1: our lives on promises instead of the pain or problems
- 1:23Speaker 1: of life. There's over seven thousand promises in the Bible.
- 1:26Speaker 1: No way we can look at them all. The sampling
- 1:29Speaker 1: of those as we hope enough to create a desire
- 1:33Speaker 1: to know more. And each week we make a declaration.
- 1:37Speaker 1: What we do is we sit up straight. So if
- 1:38Speaker 1: you can do that, we have sit up straight monitors
- 1:41Speaker 1: who are watching. Put our shoulders back, fail, your lungs
- 1:46Speaker 1: with air, your hearts with hope, Wake up anybody around
- 1:48Speaker 1: you that's dozed off, and let's say it like we
- 1:52Speaker 1: mean it. You're ready. We are building our lives our hope.
- 2:02Speaker 1: We do not or we stand promises of God. Amen,
- 2:12Speaker 1: Please forgive our speaker today. His sins are so many.
- 2:16Speaker 1: Help us to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ, we
- 2:20Speaker 1: pray and all the church said. Back when my legs
- 2:26Speaker 1: were stronger and my ego was a little bit bigger,
- 2:29Speaker 1: I'll let a friend talk me into entering a bike race.
- 2:33Speaker 1: Pat McGrath attends our church. He's been in competitive biking
- 2:36Speaker 1: since elementary school and he and I used to bike together,
- 2:40Speaker 1: and he convinced me to be a part of a
- 2:43Speaker 1: race in the hill country, not just any race, but
- 2:46Speaker 1: a race. It includes an ascent, a one mile ascent
- 2:51Speaker 1: of really actually it was a four mile ascent up
- 2:53Speaker 1: a twelve degree gradient hill. In other words, it was
- 2:56Speaker 1: a bring yourself up out of the saddle, pump, burn
- 2:59Speaker 1: your thighs, run out of oxygen section of the race
- 3:03Speaker 1: that for most of us would take about ten or
- 3:05Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. It was appropriately called the Killer Diller. So
- 3:11Speaker 1: we were a part of the Saturday race. The race
- 3:15Speaker 1: began and those bikers who really deserved to be there,
- 3:20Speaker 1: like Pat, took off. Those of us barrel bellied laggards
- 3:26Speaker 1: were in the back, and for the first few minutes
- 3:29Speaker 1: we were making jokes about the intensity of the race,
- 3:33Speaker 1: But soon we stopped making jokes because you have to
- 3:36Speaker 1: have oxygen to talk, and we were running low, and
- 3:41Speaker 1: we hadn't even reached the hill yet, And when we
- 3:45Speaker 1: came to the hill, everything inside of me started to die.
- 3:48Speaker 1: My legs were burning, I was running out of air,
- 3:51Speaker 1: and I was having less than Christian thoughts about my
- 3:54Speaker 1: friend Pat McGrath. A third of the way up the hill, though,
- 4:02Speaker 1: I felt something in the lower smaller portion of my back.
- 4:07Speaker 1: I felt a hand pushing me. I really did. I
- 4:10Speaker 1: felt a hand pushing me up the hill and looked
- 4:14Speaker 1: and there was my friend Pat. He had finished the race,
- 4:22Speaker 1: remembered me. Actually pedaled all the way back up at
- 4:29Speaker 1: least a third, maybe halfway up the hill, dismounted from
- 4:33Speaker 1: his bike, placed his bike on the side of the road,
- 4:37Speaker 1: ran and caught up with me, which tells you how
- 4:39Speaker 1: slowly I was peddling. And he began to run, pushing
- 4:45Speaker 1: me up the hill. He said, I told you you
- 4:50Speaker 1: would finish this race, and I'm here to guarantee that
- 4:55Speaker 1: you will do so. I'm wondering if you could use
- 4:59Speaker 1: a push. Doesn't life sometimes feel like an uphill ride,
- 5:08Speaker 1: and maybe you're running low, not on oxygen but hope
- 5:14Speaker 1: or friends or encouragement, or maybe you are out of breath.
- 5:21Speaker 1: If so, I'm so happy you're here, because I'm so
- 5:24Speaker 1: happy to tell you that you have a friend, and
- 5:28Speaker 1: that friend has come along beside you, indeed taken up
- 5:32Speaker 1: residence within you to give you a push. And that
- 5:37Speaker 1: friend is named the Holy Spirit of God. His last
- 5:45Speaker 1: words to his disciples before Jesus ascended into heaven included
- 5:52Speaker 1: a promise of the Holy Spirit. He told them, and
- 5:56Speaker 1: you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
- 6:02Speaker 1: The final words before Jesus ascended into heaven were somewhat
- 6:06Speaker 1: of a transfer of the baton. Jesus was ascending and
- 6:11Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit was descending into the hearts of the followers.
- 6:17Speaker 1: Jesus did not promise the disciples that everything would be easy.
- 6:21Speaker 1: He did not promise the absence from disease. He did
- 6:25Speaker 1: not promise the guarantee of a certain level of income
- 6:28Speaker 1: or popularity. But he did assure them that the Holy
- 6:32Speaker 1: Spirit would give them power. And the Holy Spirit was
- 6:36Speaker 1: the powerful force giving the New Testament Church the push
- 6:42Speaker 1: to make the climb. The Holy Spirit continues on earth
- 6:49Speaker 1: what the Father and the Son Jesus Christ have begun,
- 6:55Speaker 1: though all three expressions of the Godhead are still active.
- 7:00Speaker 1: It is in this final age, under the purview of
- 7:04Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, that the Church is empowered, and the
- 7:09Speaker 1: Holy Spirit lives today, granting power and strength and hope
- 7:17Speaker 1: to all those who need it. Indeed, he promises to
- 7:20Speaker 1: give us a push. Let's use that word push as
- 7:25Speaker 1: an acronym is a short summary of what the Holy
- 7:29Speaker 1: Spirit does. In fact, just as sampling, there's no summary.
- 7:32Speaker 1: We don't know all the Holy Spirit does, but just
- 7:35Speaker 1: a sampling. If you like to fill in the blanks,
- 7:38Speaker 1: let's get to work on those. The Holy Spirit promises
- 7:42Speaker 1: power to the saint. The Holy Spirit promises power to
- 7:48Speaker 1: the Saint. Of the many scriptures that help us understand
- 7:53Speaker 1: the place and roll of the Holy Spirit, we could
- 7:56Speaker 1: turn to the Old Testament Book of Job. If God
- 8:00Speaker 1: were to withdraw his spirit, all life would disappear and
- 8:05Speaker 1: mankind would return again to dust. So really, the Holy
- 8:09Speaker 1: Spirit is the animating force behind creation. Every unfolding flower
- 8:15Speaker 1: is a fingerprint of God. But for Christians, even more important,
- 8:20Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is more than the animating force behind creation.
- 8:25Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is the midwife in the process of
- 8:29Speaker 1: being born again, or the new birth. Jesus told Nicodemus,
- 8:34Speaker 1: very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the
- 8:36Speaker 1: Kingdom of God unless they are born of the water
- 8:39Speaker 1: and who the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but
- 8:44Speaker 1: the spirit gives birth to spirit. So you should not
- 8:46Speaker 1: be surprised at my saying you must be born again.
- 8:49Speaker 1: The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it sound,
- 8:53Speaker 1: but you cannot tell where it comes from or where
- 8:55Speaker 1: it's going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
- 9:00Speaker 1: So when you say yes to Christ, the Holy Spirit
- 9:02Speaker 1: says yes to you and takes up residence within your heart.
- 9:07Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit enters and bringing with him, the Holy
- 9:11Speaker 1: Spirit brings that animating power, convincing, guiding, strengthening, and assuring
- 9:18Speaker 1: you that you're not alone in this journey. He enters us,
- 9:23Speaker 1: according to Ephesians one three, upon the confession of faith,
- 9:28Speaker 1: and as he has his way within us, a wonderful
- 9:31Speaker 1: transformation occurs. We become less and less like us, and
- 9:36Speaker 1: we become more and more like God. He begins to
- 9:39Speaker 1: help us think with the mind of Christ, to speak
- 9:43Speaker 1: with the lips or the words of Christ, and even
- 9:46Speaker 1: our heart displays the affection of Christ. So this is
- 9:50Speaker 1: all the work of the Holy Spirit bringing about a regular,
- 9:54Speaker 1: increasing transformation of the saint. But the Holy Spirit is
- 9:59Speaker 1: concerned just with the individual saint. He is also, we're
- 10:03Speaker 1: going to see confirm concerned with the spirit of the Church,
- 10:07Speaker 1: the unity of the Church. And so we can say
- 10:10Speaker 1: that the Holy Spirit promises to bring unity to the church.
- 10:15Speaker 1: Unity really matters to God. A fractured and divisive church
- 10:20Speaker 1: is a terrible testimony to the world. That is already
- 10:24Speaker 1: fractured and divisive. Right, But when a fellowship of believers
- 10:28Speaker 1: enjoys a spirit of unity, that's attractive, that appeals to
- 10:33Speaker 1: the world, and it appeals and it and it bears
- 10:36Speaker 1: witness to the unity of God. For that reason, the
- 10:40Speaker 1: Holy Spirit takes responsibility for creating unity in the church.
- 10:45Speaker 1: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit
- 10:49Speaker 1: through the bond of Peace. We're never told to create unity.
- 10:52Speaker 1: Unity is already there. We just keep it. We acknowledge it,
- 10:56Speaker 1: and we follow the work of the Holy Spirit. Harmony
- 11:00Speaker 1: there is always an option, because harmony in the Holy
- 11:04Speaker 1: Spirit is always present. And so we can no longer
- 11:08Speaker 1: say I just can't get along with so and so. Well,
- 11:12Speaker 1: you can't, but the Holy Spirit can, and so we
- 11:15Speaker 1: can begin to pray, Lord, help me to get along
- 11:18Speaker 1: with so and so. Because the Holy Spirit promises unity
- 11:23Speaker 1: in the church. Wherever there is unity in the church,
- 11:26Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit receives all the glory. Wherever there is
- 11:30Speaker 1: disunity in the church, we go to the Holy Spirit
- 11:33Speaker 1: and we ask for help and for comfort. The Holy
- 11:36Speaker 1: Spirit unifies the church, but also the Holy Spirit seals
- 11:42Speaker 1: and supervises the church. The Holy Spirit invisibly yet indispensably,
- 11:49Speaker 1: serves as a rudder to the ship of your soul.
- 11:53Speaker 1: He keeps you in the right direction, and he keeps
- 11:57Speaker 1: you from tipping over. Here's a wonderful promise. You were
- 12:01Speaker 1: sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of Promise, who
- 12:06Speaker 1: is given as a pledge of our inheritance. I wonder
- 12:11Speaker 1: if any of you have ever seen a mason jar?
- 12:15Speaker 1: Have you? Do those still exist? My grandmother and my
- 12:20Speaker 1: mother canned vegetables and gems and jelly, and I can
- 12:26Speaker 1: remember in both of their kitchens whenever they would fill
- 12:30Speaker 1: the mason jars, they had these lids that they would twist,
- 12:36Speaker 1: and there was a rubberized seal that sound familiar. Am
- 12:40Speaker 1: I misspeaking, ladies? And if I just imagining it, it
- 12:45Speaker 1: sounded like there was even a kind of a pop,
- 12:48Speaker 1: and you knew they were Whatever was in that jar
- 12:51Speaker 1: was sealed, and then they would store it and it
- 12:54Speaker 1: would the contents would be protected. Well that in mind,
- 12:58Speaker 1: we can understand that the whole spirit seals the soul
- 13:03Speaker 1: of the believer. You are too valuable to be exposed
- 13:08Speaker 1: to the onslaught of the devil, and he may tempt you,
- 13:12Speaker 1: and he may test you, but he cannot have you.
- 13:16Speaker 1: He cannot have you. Sometimes my heart is troubled because
- 13:21Speaker 1: so many people think that they're going to lose their salvation.
- 13:25Speaker 1: They think that they're in one day and out the next. Listen,
- 13:28Speaker 1: you're not good enough to save yourself. You're not good
- 13:31Speaker 1: enough to stay saved. And the same power that saved
- 13:35Speaker 1: you initially is the power that preserves you eternally. You
- 13:39Speaker 1: are sealed by the Holy Spirit. He wraps himself around
- 13:43Speaker 1: you with a protective presence that the interlopers from hell
- 13:47Speaker 1: cannot breach. He has you in the palm of his hands.
- 13:51Speaker 1: Some of you need to receive that promise right now.
- 13:54Speaker 1: And this salvation is not contingent about having the right emotions,
- 13:59Speaker 1: really not contingent on having the right actions. It's contingent
- 14:02Speaker 1: upon placing your trust in Jesus Christ. And once that happens,
- 14:07Speaker 1: this wonderful, wonderful gift happens, and that is you are sealed.
- 14:12Speaker 1: The imprimaiture of God has placed on you, and when
- 14:15Speaker 1: the devil tries to get you, he cannot have you.
- 14:18Speaker 1: For that reason, there are many promises in scripture that
- 14:22Speaker 1: bring us hope. Here's one Ephesians four and verse thirty.
- 14:26Speaker 1: Remember he is the one who has identified you as
- 14:29Speaker 1: his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the
- 14:34Speaker 1: day of redemption. Oh, bless you Holy Spirit, that you
- 14:38Speaker 1: have sealed us and guaranteed that we will be saved
- 14:42Speaker 1: on the day of redemption. Not only does the Holy
- 14:46Speaker 1: Spirit seal us, the Holy Spirit supervises the church. The
- 14:52Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is in charge of all the details of
- 14:55Speaker 1: the church. I have a friend who supervises an apartment.
- 14:59Speaker 1: Came one day. I said, what does that mean. He said, well,
- 15:02Speaker 1: I'm just in charge of everything. I keep the place running. Well,
- 15:06Speaker 1: maybe we could say the same about the Holy Spirit.
- 15:08Speaker 1: He keeps the place running. Here's a list of some
- 15:12Speaker 1: of the jobs the Holy Spirit has. Comfort the bereaved,
- 15:16Speaker 1: guide the believer into old truth, reveal the things that
- 15:20Speaker 1: are still to come, offer prayers of intercession, bear witness
- 15:25Speaker 1: to the saint that the saint is saved, Attest to
- 15:28Speaker 1: the presence of God with signs and miracles, create a
- 15:31Speaker 1: godlike atmosphere of truth and wisdom and freedom. We could
- 15:36Speaker 1: add to that the distribution of the gifts of the Spirit.
- 15:40Speaker 1: His list of responsibilitied is wonderful is varied, but maybe
- 15:45Speaker 1: at the top of that list we should include the
- 15:47Speaker 1: word holy. Holy, because the Holy Spirit makes us holy.
- 15:54Speaker 1: He is about the task of sanctifying the Saint, helping
- 15:58Speaker 1: us resist temptation, remain pure, elevate our morality. He calls
- 16:04Speaker 1: us to a level of holiness. But you were washed,
- 16:07Speaker 1: you were sanctified, You were justified in the name of
- 16:10Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, by the spirit of our God.
- 16:16Speaker 1: Now you know, my bicycle story had a wonderful ending.
- 16:19Speaker 1: I actually did complete the race thanks to Pat's push,
- 16:24Speaker 1: and I enjoyed the downhill ride, and I really enjoyed
- 16:28Speaker 1: crossing the finish line, although I think I was dead last,
- 16:32Speaker 1: but I ended up with a good T shirt and
- 16:35Speaker 1: a sermon illustration. But what if I'd said no to Pat?
- 16:43Speaker 1: What if when I felt him pushing me, I slapped
- 16:46Speaker 1: his hand away and out of pride, said I can
- 16:50Speaker 1: do this on my own. Well, many people do that
- 16:53Speaker 1: to God. It is pride that keeps people from forgiveness.
- 17:00Speaker 1: It is pride that keeps people from the power of
- 17:03Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Pride drives people away from God. Don't
- 17:07Speaker 1: be among those you cannot make it on your own.
- 17:13Speaker 1: You cannot, and God knows that. For that reason, he
- 17:16Speaker 1: offers to save us then in dwell us and to
- 17:20Speaker 1: change us more and more into his image. Or what
- 17:23Speaker 1: if I had have turned to Pat as Pat was
- 17:26Speaker 1: trying to push me up to hill and said, you know, Pat,
- 17:28Speaker 1: I'm not worthy of your help. I'm not any good.
- 17:31Speaker 1: I shouldn't have ever been a part of this race
- 17:33Speaker 1: to begin with. Go find somebody who deserves to be pushed.
- 17:38Speaker 1: Some people do that with God as well. They just say,
- 17:41Speaker 1: you know, I'm not worthy. And maybe you believe that
- 17:44Speaker 1: because all your life people have told you that. Listen,
- 17:47Speaker 1: God thinks that you are special. He thinks that you
- 17:51Speaker 1: are something special, and he calls you even the Temple
- 17:58Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. He must really love you, because
- 18:02Speaker 1: he is willing to indwell you and change you. And
- 18:06Speaker 1: it's the voice of the devil. In fact, we stand
- 18:09Speaker 1: against the devil today and tell him he cannot have you.
- 18:13Speaker 1: And so you stand against that thought. God wants to
- 18:16Speaker 1: empower you and change you and use you to be
- 18:19Speaker 1: salt and light all over the earth. It simply falls
- 18:24Speaker 1: to us to cooperate to receive this promise and then
- 18:28Speaker 1: cooperate with this promise. Well, how do we do that? Well?
- 18:33Speaker 1: I think simply, we try to walk in step with
- 18:39Speaker 1: the spirit. That's what the Apostle Paul said. We walk
- 18:42Speaker 1: and step with the spirit. We keep in step with
- 18:46Speaker 1: the spirit. Did you guys know I played the tuba
- 18:48Speaker 1: in the high school marching band. I'm just full of surprise,
- 18:51Speaker 1: as aren't I. I was a tuba player for a
- 18:55Speaker 1: couple of years, and so my freshman and sophomore year
- 18:58Speaker 1: in high school, I was in the mare marching band.
- 19:01Speaker 1: And every marching band has a drum major, and those
- 19:04Speaker 1: of us who have been in a band know that
- 19:06Speaker 1: it's not up to us to set the rhythm. It's
- 19:10Speaker 1: up to us to follow the pace of the drum major.
- 19:14Speaker 1: That's what the Holy Spirit is. He leads the church
- 19:18Speaker 1: like a marching like a drum major would lead a
- 19:21Speaker 1: marching band. He leads us we keep in step with
- 19:25Speaker 1: the spirit. He sets the pace, and we do our
- 19:28Speaker 1: best to stand steps. Say Max, that's Eezer said that done.
- 19:30Speaker 1: It sounds kind of mysterious to me. How do you
- 19:33Speaker 1: do that? I think the most practical answer to that
- 19:36Speaker 1: question that I have ever heard has to do with
- 19:39Speaker 1: the list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. You
- 19:43Speaker 1: remember this list. The fruit of the Spirit is love
- 19:47Speaker 1: and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness and goodness
- 19:52Speaker 1: and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. So we know
- 19:56Speaker 1: that the Holy Spirit is within us when we are
- 20:00Speaker 1: showing fruitfulness in these categories. So if on a given
- 20:06Speaker 1: day you feel no fruit when it comes to love
- 20:10Speaker 1: or joy, or peace, or patience or kindness or goodness,
- 20:13Speaker 1: or you feel none of those fruits, well guess what.
- 20:16Speaker 1: Guess who's out of step with the spirit. You are.
- 20:19Speaker 1: But on the days that you feel this sense of
- 20:23Speaker 1: can we use the word supernatural, inexplicable, illogical, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
- 20:33Speaker 1: self control, Well then you can honestly say, oh, my goodness,
- 20:37Speaker 1: that's the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit
- 20:39Speaker 1: inside me, and I can be grateful for that. So
- 20:44Speaker 1: this week, let the fruits of the Spirit be like
- 20:47Speaker 1: indicators on the dashboard of a car. And when you
- 20:51Speaker 1: see them, you know that the tank is full. But
- 20:54Speaker 1: when you see the needle is on e on any
- 20:57Speaker 1: of those fruits, then just turn to the Holy Spirit
- 20:59Speaker 1: and say, look, I need more patience. I know it's
- 21:02Speaker 1: your desire that I have love. I know it's your
- 21:05Speaker 1: will that I have joy. So I turn to you now, Father,
- 21:08Speaker 1: and I want to stay and step with you, Holy Spirit.
- 21:12Speaker 1: And make it your aim to live of life of
- 21:14Speaker 1: unending conversation with the Holy Spirit. Everywhere you go, no
- 21:20Speaker 1: matter what you do at work, at school, at home.
- 21:24Speaker 1: Make it your aim to live in communion with the
- 21:26Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. And then when you feel the nudge or
- 21:30Speaker 1: the direction of the Holy Spirit, be quick to obey,
- 21:35Speaker 1: be quick to obey. I'd like to share an example
- 21:38Speaker 1: of how the Holy Spirit led me to do something recently,
- 21:42Speaker 1: not at all wanting to leave the impression that I
- 21:45Speaker 1: always obey the Holy Spirit because I want to do it,
- 21:48Speaker 1: do more so. But on the occasion that I did,
- 21:51Speaker 1: it was so fulfilling. Some weeks ago, I stepped into
- 21:55Speaker 1: a convenience store, the convenience store I stepped into quite
- 21:59Speaker 1: often to buy a cup of coffee and a breakfast taco.
- 22:04Speaker 1: I'm a health food fanatic, right, And so I ran
- 22:08Speaker 1: into a friend, a friend that I see there quite often.
- 22:12Speaker 1: Just a delightful guy. He always has a joke, he
- 22:15Speaker 1: always has a smile, always something nice to say. But
- 22:18Speaker 1: that day he had none of those, and I wondered
- 22:21Speaker 1: why paid for my coffee and my breakfast taco. Though
- 22:25Speaker 1: I didn't say anything else to him, And as I
- 22:28Speaker 1: was stepping back to the car, I sensed the Holy
- 22:31Speaker 1: Spirit tell me turn around and go back and talk
- 22:34Speaker 1: to him. Now you need to know the context. A
- 22:37Speaker 1: couple of things were going on. One this was a
- 22:40Speaker 1: few weeks back when all of the news was about immigration,
- 22:46Speaker 1: about a federal border policy that was being implemented, and
- 22:51Speaker 1: it was everywhere. It was on the radio, it was
- 22:53Speaker 1: on television, it was even in the newspaper that day.
- 22:56Speaker 1: So it was on my mind. And I don't know
- 22:59Speaker 1: how I know this or how I knew this, but
- 23:03Speaker 1: I had a strong suspicion that this fella's wife was undocumented.
- 23:10Speaker 1: It seems to me that my wife knew, and she
- 23:12Speaker 1: told me, but I honestly don't know how I knew.
- 23:14Speaker 1: But so all of that kind of came together in
- 23:16Speaker 1: the parking lot. I had my coffee, I had my
- 23:20Speaker 1: breakfast taco. I was ready to get in the car
- 23:22Speaker 1: and go to the office. But then I thought of
- 23:24Speaker 1: my friend, the idea of his wife being undocumented, and
- 23:30Speaker 1: then all this controversy or this stress about documentation and immigration,
- 23:36Speaker 1: and so the Holy Spirit, what's a good word? Pressed
- 23:41Speaker 1: on me, pressed on me to go back in and
- 23:44Speaker 1: talk to him. I really didn't want to. I didn't
- 23:47Speaker 1: know what I would say to him. I really wanted
- 23:50Speaker 1: to get to work. But the Holy Spirit did not
- 23:52Speaker 1: ask my opinion. It was that strong of an impression.
- 23:56Speaker 1: And so I put the coffee in the in the
- 23:59Speaker 1: breakfast talko in car, but I didn't get in the car.
- 24:01Speaker 1: I went back in the store and he was still there,
- 24:03Speaker 1: and I found him. I walked up to him, and
- 24:06Speaker 1: he was surprised to see me, and I said, I said,
- 24:11Speaker 1: I'm wondering all this stuff about immigration. Are you and
- 24:16Speaker 1: your wife okay? And just like that, his eyes filled
- 24:20Speaker 1: with tears, just like that, and he looked to the
- 24:27Speaker 1: right and to the left like he was concerned somebody
- 24:29Speaker 1: might be listening in. And I said, what's going on?
- 24:34Speaker 1: And he said, well, he said, my wife does not
- 24:38Speaker 1: have the necessary documentation. He said, but we've been working
- 24:42Speaker 1: on it. If I recall, he said for two years,
- 24:46Speaker 1: and maybe it was just a year, but for a
- 24:47Speaker 1: long time, he said, we've been working on it. He said,
- 24:49Speaker 1: we got scammed by a lawyer, and it exhausted all
- 24:53Speaker 1: our savings. And now all this is going on, and
- 24:56Speaker 1: one of our neighbors told my wife if she ever
- 24:59Speaker 1: stepped out of the house, somebody was going to pick
- 25:02Speaker 1: her up and take her back across the border. And
- 25:04Speaker 1: she is frightened, and she hasn't been out of the
- 25:06Speaker 1: house in days. Well, I just happened to know somebody
- 25:13Speaker 1: who knew somebody. I don't really run in those circles,
- 25:16Speaker 1: but I did. I knew somebody who specialized in that.
- 25:20Speaker 1: And I said, oh, yeah, yeah, I know why you laughed. No,
- 25:23Speaker 1: it wasn't that at all. I happened to know an
- 25:26Speaker 1: attorney who knew somebody I don't run in the underground
- 25:31Speaker 1: railroad here. Now, I happened to know somebody who could legitimately, honestly,
- 25:38Speaker 1: legally provide assistance, good clarification there A little embarrassed, and
- 25:47Speaker 1: so I did. I made a call that day, and
- 25:49Speaker 1: I put this friend of mine that i'd seen in
- 25:51Speaker 1: the convenience store in touch with this lawyer, and this
- 25:54Speaker 1: lawyer said, I can help with that. And the lawyer
- 25:57Speaker 1: not only helped with that, but helped at a very
- 26:00Speaker 1: affordable rate. And you know, within I guess a week
- 26:03Speaker 1: or two weeks, the problem was solved. It was solved,
- 26:07Speaker 1: and I thought, isn't that Is that how the Holy
- 26:11Speaker 1: Spirit works? Is that how the Holy Spirit works? You
- 26:14Speaker 1: know that. I didn't ask this friend, have you been
- 26:20Speaker 1: praying about this? But I have a feeling he had.
- 26:22Speaker 1: I got to believe his wife was. And could it
- 26:26Speaker 1: be that the Holy Spirit hears the prayers of honest,
- 26:28Speaker 1: god fearing people and then sees somebody equips him with
- 26:32Speaker 1: the ability to meet that need, brings the two together,
- 26:35Speaker 1: and then he has to get behind us and give
- 26:37Speaker 1: us that What was the word that push that push?
- 26:42Speaker 1: I'm praying this week that all of us can be
- 26:44Speaker 1: sensitive to the push of the Holy Spirit. Wouldn't it
- 26:48Speaker 1: be wonderful if oak kills just released into the city,
- 26:52Speaker 1: into the hill country and beyond a body of people
- 26:54Speaker 1: who en dwelled by the Holy Spirit were being used
- 26:57Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit to bring hope, to bring encouraged,
- 27:00Speaker 1: to bring answers to being solutions. So this week, when
- 27:03Speaker 1: you sense that push to forgive somebody, to encourage somebody
- 27:08Speaker 1: to write a letter, to write a check. When you
- 27:11Speaker 1: sense that push, may the Lord allow you to be
- 27:14Speaker 1: obedient to it, and may you stand on this promise
- 27:18Speaker 1: this great and precious promise that you shall receive power
- 27:22Speaker 1: when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Amen. Thank you
- 27:27Speaker 1: Lord for the promise of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
- 27:31Speaker 1: In Jesus's name, and all the church said Amen.
- 28:15Speaker 2: Ne.
- 28:21Speaker 1: De ne.
- 28:33Speaker 2: Ne net the st.
- 29:37Speaker 1: A.
- 30:52Speaker 2: Don't not that.
- 31:55Speaker 3: You don't have the steak clows. As long as you're
- 32:02Speaker 3: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 32:12Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
- 32:16Speaker 4: promises to keep just the thought that you are breathing
- 32:21Speaker 4: somewhere in this world.
- 32:23Speaker 5: I see even if I'm not beside you, even if
- 32:29Speaker 5: you never know, there's a quiet kind of comfort just
- 32:35Speaker 5: in knowing you still glow.
- 32:39Speaker 3: I don't need forever.
- 32:45Speaker 4: I just need you to exist.
- 32:50Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me.
- 32:54Speaker 5: You don't have to feel the same.
- 32:57Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still up there, calling softly
- 33:02Speaker 6: through my days.
- 33:04Speaker 2: You don't have to look my way.
- 33:07Speaker 6: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 33:12Speaker 6: know you're living in the world.
- 33:15Speaker 7: I'm not alone.
- 33:21Speaker 5: I won't chase it through the distance, won't disturb your
- 33:25Speaker 5: chosen life.
- 33:27Speaker 6: I'll just keep you in my silence, like a star
- 33:31Speaker 6: that shines at night.
- 33:34Speaker 3: Through the darkened.
- 33:36Speaker 7: Through the blue, I still think of you.
- 33:46Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me, you don't.
- 33:50Speaker 1: Have to feel the same. It's just as long.
- 33:53Speaker 6: As you're still out there, calling softly through my days.
- 33:59Speaker 2: You don't have to look my way.
- 34:03Speaker 6: You don't have to be in my home. It's enough
- 34:07Speaker 6: to know you're living in a world.
- 34:11Speaker 7: I'm not alone.
- 34:28Speaker 3: I don't need to be your late.
- 34:31Speaker 4: I don't need to cross your mind.
- 34:33Speaker 6: All I need is just the truth that you're somewhere,
- 34:40Speaker 6: still alive. You don't have to stay with me, you
- 34:47Speaker 6: don't have to feel the same. Just as long as
- 34:51Speaker 6: you're still after, calling softly through my days.
- 34:57Speaker 2: You don't have to look my way.
- 35:00Speaker 7: You don't have to be my home.
- 35:04Speaker 6: It's enough to know you're living.
- 35:09Speaker 1: In a world. I'm not alone.