Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / 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 other and said, Hey,
- 0:17Speaker 1: you and your wife need to try this restaurant that
- 0:20Speaker 1: we went to last night. It is really good. And
- 0:22Speaker 1: the other fellas said, well, what's the name of it?
- 0:25Speaker 1: And the first guy said, you know, as I get older,
- 0:28Speaker 1: I just forget things I cannot remember. Maybe you can
- 0:32Speaker 1: help me. What do you call that flower that has
- 0:36Speaker 1: red petals on it and thorns on the stem? And
- 0:41Speaker 1: the fellas said rose, And the first guy said, yeah,
- 0:45Speaker 1: that's it, and he yelled at his wife, Hey, Rose, honey,
- 0:48Speaker 1: what's the.
- 0:48Speaker 2: Name of that restaurant.
- 0:56Speaker 1: Well, of all the things we shouldn't forget, at the
- 1:00Speaker 1: very top of that list is a promise about the
- 1:04Speaker 1: presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
- 1:09Speaker 1: We're going to look at that promise before we do.
- 1:11Speaker 1: Let me just remind you, if you're new to Old Kills, welcome.
- 1:15Speaker 1: And what we're doing is we're working through some promises,
- 1:18Speaker 1: trying to build our lives on promises instead of the
- 1:22Speaker 1: pain or problems of life. There's over seven thousand promises
- 1:26Speaker 1: in the Bible. No way we can look at them all,
- 1:28Speaker 1: but the sampling of those as we hope enough to
- 1:32Speaker 1: create a desire to know more. And each week we
- 1:34Speaker 1: make a declaration. What we do is we sit up straight.
- 1:38Speaker 1: So if you can do that, we have sit up
- 1:40Speaker 1: straight monitors who are watching, put our shoulders back, fail
- 1:45Speaker 1: your lungs with aria, heartswithhope, Wake up anybody around you
- 1:49Speaker 1: that's dozed off, and let's say it like we mean it.
- 1:52Speaker 1: You ready, we are building our lives our hope.
- 2:02Speaker 2: We do not.
- 2:05Speaker 1: Or we stand promises of God. Amen, Please forgive our
- 2:12Speaker 1: speaker today. His sins are so many. Help us to
- 2:16Speaker 1: see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ, we pray and all
- 2:22Speaker 1: the Church said. Back when my legs were stronger and
- 2:27Speaker 1: my ego was a little bit bigger, I'll let a
- 2:30Speaker 1: friend talk me into entering a bike race. Pat McGrath
- 2:34Speaker 1: attends our church. He's been in competitive biking since elementary
- 2:38Speaker 1: school and he and I used to bike together, and
- 2:40Speaker 1: he convinced me to be a part of a race
- 2:43Speaker 1: in the hill country, not just any race, but a race.
- 2:46Speaker 1: It includes an ascent, a one mile ascent of really
- 2:51Speaker 1: actually it was a four mile ascent up a twelve
- 2:54Speaker 1: degree gradient hill. In other words, it was a bring
- 2:57Speaker 1: yourself up out of the saddle, pump, burn your thighs,
- 3:00Speaker 1: run out of oxygen section of the race that for
- 3:03Speaker 1: most of us would take about ten.
- 3:05Speaker 2: Or fifteen minutes.
- 3:06Speaker 1: It was appropriately called the Killer Diller. So we were
- 3:12Speaker 1: a part of the Saturday race. The race began and
- 3:16Speaker 1: those bikers who really deserved to be there, like Pat,
- 3:21Speaker 1: took off. Those of us barrel bellied laggards were in
- 3:27Speaker 1: the back, and for the first few minutes we were
- 3:30Speaker 1: making jokes about the intensity of the race, But soon
- 3:34Speaker 1: we stopped making jokes because you have to have oxygen
- 3:38Speaker 1: to talk, and we were running low, and we hadn't
- 3:41Speaker 1: even reached the hill yet, And when we came to
- 3:45Speaker 1: the hill, everything inside of me started to die. My
- 3:49Speaker 1: legs were burning, I was running out of air, and
- 3:51Speaker 1: I was having less than Christian thoughts about my.
- 3:54Speaker 2: Friend Pat McGrath.
- 4:00Speaker 1: By the 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.
- 4:09Speaker 2: I really did.
- 4:10Speaker 1: I felt a hand pushing me up the hill and
- 4:13Speaker 1: looked and there was my friend Pat. He had finished
- 4:18Speaker 1: the race.
- 4:22Speaker 2: Remembered me.
- 4:25Speaker 1: Actually peddled all the way back up at least a third,
- 4:29Speaker 1: maybe halfway up the hill, dismounted from his bike, placed
- 4:34Speaker 1: his bike on the side of the road, ran and
- 4:38Speaker 1: caught up with me, which tells you how slowly I
- 4:40Speaker 1: was peddling. And he began to run, pushing me up
- 4:46Speaker 1: the hill. He said, I told you you would finish
- 4:51Speaker 1: this race, and I'm here to guarantee that you will
- 4:56Speaker 1: do so.
- 4:58Speaker 2: I'm wondering if you could use a push.
- 5:02Speaker 1: Doesn't life sometimes feel like an uphill ride, and maybe
- 5:08Speaker 1: you're running low, not on oxygen but hope or friends
- 5:17Speaker 1: or encouragement, or maybe you are out of breath. If so,
- 5:21Speaker 1: I'm so happy you're here, because I'm so happy to
- 5:25Speaker 1: tell you that you have a friend, and that friend
- 5:29Speaker 1: has come along beside you, indeed taken up residence within
- 5:33Speaker 1: you to give you a push. And that friend is
- 5:38Speaker 1: named the.
- 5:39Speaker 2: Holy Spirit of God.
- 5:45Speaker 1: His last words to his disciples before Jesus ascended into
- 5:50Speaker 1: heaven included a promise of the Holy Spirit, he told them,
- 5:56Speaker 1: and you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
- 6:01Speaker 1: on you. The final words before Jesus ascended into heaven
- 6:06Speaker 1: were somewhat of a transfer of the baton. Jesus was
- 6:09Speaker 1: ascending and the Holy Spirit was descending into the hearts
- 6:15Speaker 1: of the followers. Jesus did not promise the disciples that
- 6:19Speaker 1: everything would be easy. He did not promise the absence
- 6:23Speaker 1: from disease. He did not promise the guarantee of a
- 6:26Speaker 1: certain level of income or popularity. But he did assure
- 6:31Speaker 1: them that the Holy Spirit would give them power. And
- 6:35Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit was the powerful force giving the New
- 6:39Speaker 1: Testament Church the push to make the climb. The Holy
- 6:46Speaker 1: Spirit continues on earth what the Father and the Son
- 6:52Speaker 1: Jesus Christ have begun, though all three expressions of the
- 6:57Speaker 1: Godhead are still active. It is in this final age,
- 7:03Speaker 1: under the purview of the Holy Spirit, that the Church
- 7:07Speaker 1: is empowered, and the Holy Spirit lives today, granting power
- 7:14Speaker 1: and strength and hope.
- 7:17Speaker 2: To all those who need it.
- 7:19Speaker 1: Indeed, he promises to give us a push. Let's use
- 7:24Speaker 1: that word push as an acronym is a short summary
- 7:29Speaker 1: of what the Holy Spirit does. In fact, just as sampling,
- 7:31Speaker 1: there's no summary. We don't know all the Holy Spirit does,
- 7:35Speaker 1: but just a sampling. If you'd like to fill in
- 7:38Speaker 1: the blanks, let's get to work on those. The Holy
- 7:40Speaker 1: Spirit promises power to the saint. The Holy Spirit promises
- 7:47Speaker 1: power to the saint. Of the many scriptures that help
- 7:52Speaker 1: us understand the place and roll of the Holy Spirit,
- 7:56Speaker 1: we could turn to the Old Testament Book of Job.
- 8:00Speaker 1: If God were to withdraw his spirit, all life would
- 8:03Speaker 1: disappear and mankind would return again to dust.
- 8:08Speaker 2: So really, the Holy Spirit is.
- 8:09Speaker 1: The animating force behind creation. Every unfolding flower is a
- 8:15Speaker 1: fingerprint of God. But for Christians even more important, the
- 8:20Speaker 1: 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: is always an option, because harmony in the Holy Spirit
- 11:05Speaker 1: is always present. And so we can no longer say
- 11:09Speaker 1: 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,
- 11:27Speaker 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 2: Have you? Do those still exist?
- 12:18Speaker 1: My grandmother and my mother canned vegetables and gems and jelly,
- 12:25Speaker 1: and I can remember in both of their kitchens whenever
- 12:29Speaker 1: they would feel fill the mason jars, they had these
- 12:34Speaker 1: lids that they would twist, and there was a rubberized
- 12:38Speaker 1: seal that sound familiar. Am I misspeaking, ladies? And if
- 12:44Speaker 1: I just imagining it, it sounded like there was even
- 12:46Speaker 1: a kind of a pop, and you knew they were
- 12:50Speaker 1: Whatever was in that jar was sealed, and then they
- 12:52Speaker 1: would store it and it would the contents would be protected.
- 12:57Speaker 1: Well that in mind, we can understand that the whole
- 13:00Speaker 1: Holy Spirit seals the soul of the believer. You are
- 13:06Speaker 1: too valuable to be exposed to the onslaught of the devil,
- 13:11Speaker 1: and he may tempt you, and he may test you,
- 13:13Speaker 1: but he cannot have you. He cannot have you. Sometimes
- 13:19Speaker 1: my heart is troubled because so many people think that
- 13:22Speaker 1: they're going to lose their salvation. They think that they're
- 13:25Speaker 1: in one day and out the next. Listen, you're not
- 13:29Speaker 1: good enough to save yourself. You're not good enough to
- 13:32Speaker 1: stay saved. And the same power that saved you initially
- 13:36Speaker 1: is the power that preserves you eternally. You are sealed
- 13:40Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit. He wraps himself around you with
- 13:43Speaker 1: a protective presence that the interlopers from hell cannot breach.
- 13:49Speaker 1: He has you in the palm of his hands. Some
- 13:51Speaker 1: of you need to receive that promise right now. And
- 13:54Speaker 1: this salvation is not contingent abon 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
- 14:16Speaker 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
- 14:30Speaker 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 complex.
- 15:00Speaker 1: 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 all 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
- 15:32Speaker 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,
- 16:25Speaker 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
- 16:54Speaker 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 and dwell us, and to
- 17:20Speaker 1: change us more and more into his image. Or what
- 17:24Speaker 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.
- 17:29Speaker 2: 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
- 18:03Speaker 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?
- 18:34Speaker 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: in 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,
- 18:52Speaker 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 marching band. And
- 19:01Speaker 1: every marching band has a drum major, and those of
- 19:05Speaker 1: us who have been in a band know that it's
- 19:07Speaker 1: not up to us to set the rhythm. It's up
- 19:10Speaker 1: 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 at stand steps. Say Max, that's Eezer.
- 19:30Speaker 2: 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
- 19:37Speaker 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.
- 20:18Speaker 2: 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, Lord, 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 a 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
- 21:56Speaker 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
- 22:09Speaker 1: into a friend, a friend that I see there quite often.
- 22:12Speaker 2: Just a delightful guy. He always has a.
- 22:15Speaker 1: Joke, he always has a smile, always something nice to say.
- 22:17Speaker 1: But that day he had none of those, and I
- 22:21Speaker 1: wondered why paid for my coffee and my breakfast taco.
- 22:25Speaker 1: Though I didn't say anything else to him, And as
- 22:28Speaker 1: I was stepping back to the car, I sensed the
- 22:31Speaker 1: Holy Spirit tell me turn around and go back and
- 22:34Speaker 1: talk to him. Now you need to know the context.
- 22:37Speaker 1: A couple of things were going on. One This was
- 22:40Speaker 1: a few weeks back when all of the news was
- 22:43Speaker 1: about immigration, about a federal border policy that was being implemented,
- 22:51Speaker 1: and it was everywhere. It was on the radio, it
- 22:53Speaker 1: was on television, it was even in the newspaper that day.
- 22:56Speaker 1: So it was on my mind.
- 22:59Speaker 2: 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.
- 23:15Speaker 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 the stress about documentation and immigration,
- 23:36Speaker 1: and so the Holy.
- 23:37Speaker 2: Spirit, what's a good word?
- 23:40Speaker 1: Pressed on me, pressed on me to go back in
- 23:44Speaker 1: and talk to him. I really didn't want to. I
- 23:47Speaker 1: didn't know what I would say to him. I really
- 23:50Speaker 1: wanted to get to work. But the Holy Spirit did
- 23:52Speaker 1: not 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 the car, but I didn't get in
- 24:01Speaker 1: the car. I went back in the store and he
- 24:02Speaker 1: was still there, and I found him. I walked up
- 24:05Speaker 1: to him, and he was surprised to see me, and
- 24:07Speaker 1: I said, I said, I'm wondering all this stuff about immigration.
- 24:16Speaker 2: Are you and your wife okay?
- 24:19Speaker 1: And just like that, his eyes filled with tears, just
- 24:22Speaker 1: like that, and he looked to the right and to
- 24:27Speaker 1: the left like he was concerned somebody might be listening in.
- 24:31Speaker 1: And I said, what's going on? And he said, well,
- 24:35Speaker 1: he said, my wife does not have the necessary documentation.
- 24:41Speaker 1: He said, but we've been working on it. If I recall,
- 24:44Speaker 1: he said for two years, and maybe it was just
- 24:46Speaker 1: a year, but for a long time, he said, we've
- 24:48Speaker 1: been working on it. He said, we got scammed by
- 24:51Speaker 1: a lawyer, and it exhausted all our savings, and now
- 24:55Speaker 1: all this is going on, and one of our neighbors
- 24:57Speaker 1: told my wife if she ever stepped out of the house,
- 25:01Speaker 1: somebody was going to pick her up and take her back.
- 25:03Speaker 2: Across the border.
- 25:04Speaker 1: And she is frightened, and she hasn't been out of
- 25:06Speaker 1: the house in days. Well, I just happened to know
- 25:12Speaker 1: somebody 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.
- 25:44Speaker 2: A little embarrassed, and so I did.
- 25:47Speaker 1: I made a call that day, and I put this
- 25:50Speaker 1: friend of mine that I'd seen in the convenience store
- 25:52Speaker 1: in touch with this lawyer, and this lawyer said, I
- 25:55Speaker 1: can help with that. And the lawyer not only helped
- 25:58Speaker 1: with that, but helped at a very affordable rate. And
- 26:01Speaker 1: you know, within I guess a week or two weeks the.
- 26:04Speaker 2: Problem was solved.
- 26:06Speaker 1: It was solved, and I thought, isn't that Is that
- 26:10Speaker 1: how the Holy Spirit works? Is that how the Holy
- 26:13Speaker 1: Spirit works?
- 26:14Speaker 2: You know that that.
- 26:18Speaker 1: I didn't ask this friend, have you been praying about this?
- 26:21Speaker 1: But I have a feeling he had.
- 26:22Speaker 2: I got to believe his wife was.
- 26:25Speaker 1: And could it be that the Holy Spirit hears the
- 26:27Speaker 1: prayers of honest, god fearing people and then sees somebody
- 26:31Speaker 1: equips them with the ability to meet that need, brings
- 26:35Speaker 1: the two together, and then he has to get behind
- 26:37Speaker 1: us and give us that What was the word that push?
- 26:40Speaker 2: That push?
- 26:42Speaker 1: I'm praying this week that all of us can be
- 26:45Speaker 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 am dwelled by the Holy Spirit were being used
- 26:57Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit to bring hope, to bring encourageant
- 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.
- 27:25Speaker 2: Amen.
- 27:26Speaker 1: Thank you Lord for the promise of the presence of
- 27:29Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, and all the church
- 27:34Speaker 1: said amen, ne.
- 28:21Speaker 3: Ne ne ne ne ne ne st a.
- 30:58Speaker 4: L the same.
- 31:55Speaker 5: You don't have the steak Claus. As long as you're
- 32:03Speaker 5: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 32:12Speaker 6: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
- 32:16Speaker 6: promises to keep.
- 32:19Speaker 4: Just the thought that you are breathing.
- 32:21Speaker 5: Somewhere in this world.
- 32:23Speaker 6: I see even if I'm not beside you, even if
- 32:29Speaker 6: you never know, there's a quiet kind of comfort just.
- 32:35Speaker 7: In knowing you still glow. I don't need forever. I
- 32:46Speaker 7: just need you to exist.
- 32:50Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me.
- 32:54Speaker 7: You don't have to feel the same.
- 32:57Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
- 33:02Speaker 6: through my days.
- 33:04Speaker 3: You don't have to look my way.
- 33:07Speaker 7: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 33:12Speaker 7: know where you're living in the world. I'm not alone.
- 33:21Speaker 6: I won't chase it through the distance, won't disturb your
- 33:25Speaker 6: chosen life.
- 33:27Speaker 4: I'll just keep you.
- 33:28Speaker 7: In my silence, like a star that shines at night.
- 33:34Speaker 4: Through the darkened, through the blue, I still think of you.
- 33:46Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me.
- 33:49Speaker 7: You don't have to feel the same.
- 33:53Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
- 33:57Speaker 6: through my days.
- 33:59Speaker 3: You don't have to look my way.
- 34:03Speaker 4: You don't have to be in my home.
- 34:06Speaker 7: It's enough to know you're living.
- 34:10Speaker 2: In a world. I'm not alone.
- 34:28Speaker 4: I don't need to be your late.
- 34:31Speaker 7: I don't need to cross your mind.
- 34:33Speaker 4: All I need is.
- 34:35Speaker 7: Just the truth that you're somewhere, still alive.
- 34:43Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me. You don't have
- 34:47Speaker 3: to feel the same.
- 34:50Speaker 4: Just as long as you're still hafing, calling softly through
- 34:55Speaker 4: my days.
- 34:57Speaker 5: You don't have to look my way.
- 35:00Speaker 2: You don't have to be my home.
- 35:04Speaker 1: It's enough to know you're.
- 35:06Speaker 4: Living in the world.
- 35:10Speaker 1: I'm not alone.