Latest / #Faith4TodayPodcast / #Faith4TodayPodcast // EP44 – A Farewell Gift (John 16)
Transcript
- 0:00Jesus said, I'm sending you the helper, but the Holy Spirit
- 0:03isn't a feeling. He isn't a vibe.
- 0:05He's in good energy. He isn't a frequency.
- 0:08He isn't even aura you got a farm for He's a person.
- 0:12In this episode, we're going to explore what it means to live
- 0:14filled with the Spirit who convicts us of sin.
- 0:18And in this episode, we're going to talk about how he convinces
- 0:21us of righteousness, connects us back to Jesus.
- 0:24If you've been battling shame, confusion, or spiritual
- 0:27numbness, today's conversation, we'll remind you that the Spirit
- 0:30is not distant. He is God with you right now,
- 0:34bringing you joy, clarity, and life to your very soul.
- 0:39Are you ready? Let's go.
- 0:46Welcome to another episode of the Faith for Today podcast.
- 0:50My name is Matthew. I'm your host and our desire is
- 0:52to help you live with faithfulness today.
- 0:56We don't want you just to be inspired on Sunday.
- 0:58We want you to be loyal on Thursday so we live out our
- 1:02faith and we bring faith to life together.
- 1:05And so here on the Faith for Today podcast, I'm going to
- 1:07recap a Sunday message, going to share some bonus content, and
- 1:11then respond to questions that we want to answer in regards to
- 1:16the subject and the topic. And I'm so thankful.
- 1:20If you haven't yet, would you subscribe?
- 1:22Would you like the podcast on whatever platform you're looking
- 1:25at? Add some comments.
- 1:26It really helps others find this podcast.
- 1:30And then we are hopeful that it is a blessing to you and an aid
- 1:35to your spiritual walk with the Lord as you grow every day in
- 1:40love and loyalty for King, King Jesus.
- 1:44Well, let's get into the recap. We looked at John 16 and it's
- 1:49the the final kind of piece of Jesus's farewell conversation
- 1:53with his disciples. And in this farewell moment,
- 1:57he's telling them about a gift that he's leaving them, a
- 2:01parting gift in his farewell discourse.
- 2:05Now, when Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving,
- 2:08he wasn't going to leave them hopeless, he said, I'm sending
- 2:11you the Helper, the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit isn't a
- 2:15vibe or a good energy or aura. He's a person.
- 2:19He's fully God, just as the Father and the Son are both God.
- 2:24From the very beginning, the Bible has shown US one God
- 2:28revealed in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
- 2:32working together to give us life.
- 2:35Now Jesus said the Spirit would come so that we wouldn't stumble
- 2:40in our faith of our witness. Now that that means the Spirit
- 2:44doesn't just help us feel God's presence, He empowers us to live
- 2:48a life faithfully and loyally to Jesus, bearing witness to Jesus
- 2:53in a world that often is resistant to him or rejecting
- 2:57him. Acts 18 says that you're going
- 2:59to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you're
- 3:02going to be my witnesses. That's what water baptism
- 3:05declares is our first act of witness, saying my allegiance
- 3:09belongs to Jesus. But there are things that trip
- 3:13us up that cause us to stumble. Things like sin and shame and
- 3:18Satan's lies. Sin has a way of distorting us
- 3:22and disconnecting us from union with God.
- 3:25Shame isolates us if Satan slanders us, and he whispers
- 3:30fear of punishment and fear of rejection to us.
- 3:34But Jesus sent the Spirit to bring freedom in all three
- 3:38areas. The Spirit convicts us of sin,
- 3:41not to crush us, but to heal us. Conviction is like a doctor's
- 3:46diagnosis that comes with a cure.
- 3:49It's God saying let's clean this out before it spreads.
- 3:53Conviction is actually a gift of God's love.
- 3:57Then the Spirit convinces us of our righteousness.
- 3:59He reminds us that Christ, that in Christ we are made right with
- 4:04God, that we're not defined by shame or failure.
- 4:08Shame says you're rejected. The Spirit says you're my child.
- 4:12And he turns our hiding into places of healing.
- 4:16And when Satan accuses us, the Spirit reminds us the enemy is
- 4:20already been judged. The verdict is in Jesus win and
- 4:23has overcome, stripped him of his power so we don't live under
- 4:28fear nor condemnation anymore. John 16 tells us that the Spirit
- 4:33also guides us into truth and he speaks not randomly, but he
- 4:38speaks in perfect harmony with Jesus.
- 4:41The same Spirit who whispered and inspired scripture still
- 4:45breathes understanding into US today.
- 4:48When we're confused, the Spirit reveals truth not just about
- 4:52doctrine, but about our life, about who we are, about the love
- 4:56of God. It is who God is, who we are,
- 4:59and how we can walk in freedom. The Holy Spirit helps us with
- 5:02all of those things. And here's the beauty of all of
- 5:05it. The Spirit connects us back to
- 5:08Jesus. Where sin separated us, The
- 5:10Spirit brings us into communion again.
- 5:12That's why Jesus said your sorrow will turn into joy.
- 5:17Where the Spirit is, there is joy.
- 5:19He's the living link between where God is and where we are.
- 5:24He unites us with Jesus and Jesus unites us with the Father
- 5:30that he brings us into deep, deep communion.
- 5:33So the question we asked ourselves at the end of the
- 5:35message was this what's keeping me?
- 5:38What's hindering me? What's disrupting or distorting
- 5:41my communion with God? Is it sin that needs to be
- 5:44confessed? Is it shame that needs to be
- 5:47healed? Is it fear that needs to be
- 5:49silenced? Wherever that space is, we can
- 5:52invite the Holy Spirit to invade that place, to come and fill
- 5:57that place. We can ask Him to hover over our
- 6:00hearts again, to breathe life, to set a fire for a love for
- 6:03Jesus and to lead us into truth. The Holy Spirit is not just the
- 6:09power of God. He is the presence of God.
- 6:12He is God, and He's with us each and every day.
- 6:16All right, let's get into a little bonus content now.
- 6:21The first thing I want to share is how sin causes our soul to
- 6:25grow septic. I mentioned this in the message,
- 6:27but I want to expound on it. In fact, I think when our soul
- 6:30grows septic, it looks a lot like skepticism and self
- 6:33worship. Skepticism becomes this septic
- 6:38element in our soul when it's sealed off from relationships.
- 6:42These wounds that we have, if they're not healed by grace,
- 6:45they can become entry points for cynicism.
- 6:48And cynicism is the rot of our faith.
- 6:51It's slow, it's quiet, it's eternal, and it leads to this
- 6:55deep skepticism. Or we start worshipping kind of
- 6:58our own self, where we live on the knowledge of our own good
- 7:01and evil, and we think more highly of ourselves than we
- 7:05ought. We start to doubt God's
- 7:07goodness, then his motives, then his presence, and before long
- 7:10the life of the Spirit, His joy is peace, is peace.
- 7:14It just stops flowing freely altogether.
- 7:17We're still attached to the vine and appearance, but the SAP of
- 7:21his trust and the intimacy just isn't circulating in our lives.
- 7:25Let me give you some examples of how our soul grows septic
- 7:30because of sin that remains in place.
- 7:32Let's let's take bitterness. It's like this unforgiving
- 7:35wound. Sometimes someone has wronged
- 7:39you. That's the wound.
- 7:40It hurts deep, but then you get it infected.
- 7:43Instead of bringing it to God, you hold it.
- 7:45You replay it. You might even justify it and
- 7:49before long the result is bitterness festers, joy is
- 7:53drained out of you and you can't celebrate others good things
- 7:57because you're still infected by old pain and you just are bitter
- 8:01all the time. That's why Hebrews 12/15 tells
- 8:03us, see to it that no bitter root grows to cause trouble and
- 8:09defile many. The soul kind of just begins to
- 8:13grow hard and you just stop trusting in love or other people
- 8:18all together. Let's take pride for example.
- 8:21It's this silent infection that grows.
- 8:24You begin to crave control or recognition, but that's a bit of
- 8:29wound in the infection kind of sets in because you start
- 8:32believing that you don't need pruning, you don't need
- 8:35correction, or you don't need grace.
- 8:39Pride begins to block the flow of humility, which is the very
- 8:44grace of God in your life. And so when you're living in
- 8:47pride, you can't have God's grace.
- 8:51Think about lust. It's the subtle poison in our
- 8:54soul. The wounds are like loneliness
- 8:56and desires or unmet need for a connection.
- 9:00And so you seek comfort in a counterfeit intimacy, images and
- 9:05fantasies, secret indulgences. The result is you just feel
- 9:09temporary pleasure. But long term numbness rewires
- 9:13your brain in an unhealthy way. And the more you feed it, the
- 9:17less you can feel the Spirit's pleasure and joy in you.
- 9:22Hebrews 49 talks about having lost all sensitivity.
- 9:25They have given themselves over to sensuality.
- 9:28And so there's a a numbness that begins to feel.
- 9:32And we can't hear the Spirit's voice because we are consumed
- 9:36with our own selfish desires or, or even let's think about
- 9:42deception, the fear of being known or rejected.
- 9:46And then you begin hiding, being crafting an image, manipulating
- 9:50truth to protect yourself even. And and you begin to live
- 9:53divided 1 version of yourself in public and another one in
- 9:57private. You're you become hypocritical
- 10:00to a fault. But really you're just play
- 10:03acting and deceiving other people.
- 10:04You're living out a lie, you're pretending something because you
- 10:08don't want to be rejected, and your soul ends up growing hollow
- 10:13and authenticity begins to die and you begin to live with a
- 10:18lack of truth in your life. Now let's talk about greed.
- 10:21This is the last one we'll look at.
- 10:24I think the wound is that there's a fear of lack.
- 10:27Maybe you experienced lack in some area you didn't have and it
- 10:31wounded you in some way. You begin to to feel the
- 10:35infection because you start grasping for more money or more
- 10:38status or more security, thinking that money is going to
- 10:42solve that. And the more you hoard, the less
- 10:46you actually trust and find joy and enjoyment in the things that
- 10:50you have. Luke 1215 says take care.
- 10:54Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
- 10:57Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
- 11:01Why? Because the soul begins to bloat
- 11:04and you begin to be a consumer and entitled.
- 11:08And in that place of entitlement, you never can
- 11:11really be satisfied or feel joy in anyone moment or anyone
- 11:17things. So you're full of things and
- 11:20activities and commitments, but you are empty of peace and
- 11:24satisfaction. And so these wounds, these sins
- 11:28that we allow to linger 'cause this septic action in our life
- 11:32and it creates a a septic nature in our soul.
- 11:35And we need to learn how to confess our sin first.
- 11:38John 19 says if we confess it, he's faithful to forgive it.
- 11:41And I, I want us to understand we don't have to be afraid of
- 11:45God. He has already decided what he
- 11:48wants to do with our sin when we confess it.
- 11:51Here's what he wants to do. He wants to forgive it.
- 11:54He wants to remove it and he wants to cleanse us in all his
- 11:57righteousness. Repentance is not just
- 12:00confessing our sin, but it is a turning from the infection to
- 12:04connection. It's it's this idea of I'm
- 12:06turning away from from pursuing the sin and I'm going to pursue
- 12:10God instead. There's a, a repentance and a
- 12:12replacement of some things, some some actual change in behavior
- 12:18and direction or discipline and devotion.
- 12:21And, and then at the end of the day where, where we confess and
- 12:25we begin to live in discipline. You know what you find?
- 12:29You find yourself experiencing the presence and pleasure of
- 12:32God. The joy of God shows up and, and
- 12:35the greatest, the greatest sense of sorrow you will experience in
- 12:39your life is a life without the presence of God in it.
- 12:44Whereas presences there is joy, where there is no joy, there is
- 12:48great sorrow. And so many of us live shallow
- 12:52and full of sorrow because sin has created the septic thing in
- 12:58our hearts and we're unable to experience the full life of God
- 13:03like He would long for us too. But sin doesn't have to be the
- 13:07thing that keeps us from that. Sin can be removed and then we
- 13:11can experience the cure of real connection and communion with
- 13:16Father, Son, and Spirit. The second thing I wanted to say
- 13:20is around this idea that it's the advocate.
- 13:23It's the Holy Spirit who is convincing us of righteousness
- 13:27and silencing shame at the same time.
- 13:30He's an advocate, a counselor. He's the Greek is Paracletos,
- 13:34where he's the one who's coming alongside to advocate or help or
- 13:39be a counsel to us, to convince us that we are righteous in
- 13:44Christ sight and it silences the shame all around us.
- 13:50The advocate is the one who connects us to Jesus.
- 13:53Jesus is the one who connects us to the Father in the Old
- 13:57Testament in Hebrew, in the Hebrew language, the the Hebrew
- 14:02word for helper is azar. It is like like a connector, A
- 14:06supplier, a protector in battle. We we see that throughout the
- 14:12New Testament, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the helper,
- 14:15the guide, the connector. And majority of the time in the
- 14:19Old Testament, when the word helper is used or help is used,
- 14:22it's in reference to God himself as a protector or, or someone in
- 14:27battle coming to our aid. Now this is the same word that
- 14:32God uses to describe the wife in a relationship, the same role,
- 14:38which I think is right because in in Ephesians we see that
- 14:42Jesus is the role model or the role prototype for a
- 14:48relationship in a in a marriage relationship for the husband.
- 14:51But just like Jesus is the prototype of the way a husband
- 14:55is supposed to operate in a marriage, the Holy Spirit who is
- 14:58also equal with God in Co equal partnership and participation
- 15:03with Jesus and the Father in this union.
- 15:08The same way the husband and the wife are Co equal in their
- 15:11participation and partnership to accomplish the mission of God in
- 15:17their family unit. And so I think the role of the
- 15:21Holy Spirit is a great role model or prototype for the way
- 15:26in which often a wife will help and be alongside in equal
- 15:32partnership and power with the husband to bring about what God
- 15:37is doing. And there is a mutual submission
- 15:40that takes place between the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
- 15:43There is this, this union that they have in that and, and I
- 15:47want us to understand that this Spirit that he's giving us the
- 15:51Holy Spirit. When Jesus tells us that he's
- 15:55sending us the Holy Spirit, it's the same Holy Spirit that he
- 15:59received. And then he tells his disciples,
- 16:01Hey, I'm sending you the Spirit. It's the same Holy Spirit that
- 16:04they received. Now their relationship with the
- 16:07Holy Spirit is different than my than than than Jesus's
- 16:11relationship with the Holy Spirit.
- 16:12A disciples relationship with the Holy Spirit is different
- 16:15than Jesus because Jesus is a God man.
- 16:18So Jesus in the Holy Spirit, they had a union that has God
- 16:21and are worshipped. We are not right.
- 16:23Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit.
- 16:26You were not, I am not. Humans are not.
- 16:28We are conceived of our Daddy, right?
- 16:31Like his seed is what conceived us, not the Holy Spirit.
- 16:34And so that's not how it so there is a distinction in the
- 16:39type of relationship, but it is nonetheless the same Holy
- 16:42Spirit. And I think that is important
- 16:46for us to understand that He is the Spirit of grace.
- 16:49He is the empowerment that we need in a moment.
- 16:52He is the gift that he's given to us.
- 16:54And the Holy Spirit is the same Spirit.
- 16:57There aren't different holy Spirits.
- 16:59It's the same Holy Spirit that's an operation in the Old
- 17:02Testament for certain purposes and would come on someone
- 17:05temporarily to help them accomplish something.
- 17:08It's the same Holy Spirit that was prophesied out in Joel.
- 17:11It's the same Holy Spirit that came and rested on on Jesus in
- 17:14the form of a dove, and that he was filled by the Spirit, led by
- 17:17the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit that we see in the
- 17:20Gospels as articulated in the Gospels.
- 17:23It's the same Holy Spirit that was promised to the disciples
- 17:26and that was poured out at Pentecost and that for all who
- 17:30are far off and would believe can also receive of the Holy
- 17:34Spirit. It is the same Holy Spirit.
- 17:37So when John writes in first John that the same Spirit that
- 17:41raised Christ from the dead lives in you, it's important.
- 17:44Here's why that's important for us because Jesus told the
- 17:48disciples that that he was going to send it.
- 17:52And if it was true for them and it's the same Holy Spirit, then
- 17:55it's also true for us. It's not some schizophrenic Holy
- 18:00Spirit where he's one way with the apostles and a different way
- 18:03with us today. It's not.
- 18:05It's the same Holy Spirit, the same fruit of the Spirit, the
- 18:09same gifts of the Spirit in our operation, the same fullness and
- 18:12power to be a witness is available to us today.
- 18:16It's the same Holy Spirit available for us to do the will
- 18:20and purposes of God in this day and time.
- 18:23Jesus fully God, empowered by the Spirit.
- 18:26His relationship was different, different, but it's the same
- 18:29Holy Spirit. Why is that important?
- 18:31Again, here's why. Because if Jesus told his
- 18:34disciples that the Holy Spirit wants to speak to them, then you
- 18:38need to know that the Holy Spirit wants to speak to you.
- 18:41It's the same person. If the Holy Spirit is going to
- 18:45guide them into truth, the Holy Spirit wants to guide you into
- 18:49truth. If the Holy Spirit is going to
- 18:51bring back to remember, it's all the things that Jesus taught
- 18:54them. The Holy Spirit wants to bring
- 18:56back to your mind all of the things that you know about God
- 18:59in the moments when you need to be reminded, it's the Holy
- 19:03Spirit who's going to remind you of the way in which you should
- 19:07walk. So the relationship that we have
- 19:10with the Spirit, it is the same Holy Spirit in the relationship
- 19:14impacts our life every single day.
- 19:18So when Jesus says I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to guide
- 19:22you and speak truth to you and to show you things that are not
- 19:25yet to come, he's telling us that the Holy Spirit is going to
- 19:30speak those same things to, to us.
- 19:33I, I said in the message kind of at the very top that for me,
- 19:39learning to walk in relationship with the third person of the
- 19:42Godhead, the, the God, the Holy Spirit, that that relationship
- 19:48has been absolutely pivotal and essential for my life in
- 19:54ministry. I'm all I am where I am doing
- 19:57what I'm doing, the person that I am because of the Holy Spirit
- 20:02to learn to listen to his voice and follow it.
- 20:07I'm literally where I'm at today because of those things.
- 20:10I literally moved to North Carolina because the voice of
- 20:14the Holy Spirit. In fact, I'll tell you the
- 20:15story. It was 2000 and 2003 March area
- 20:24and we were on AI was on a missions trip in on a missions
- 20:28trip in Oxla, Mexico and I was one of those.
- 20:33I was with several of fellow students in our in missions in
- 20:37our internship program that we were in discipleship program and
- 20:41we were in Oxford, Mexico. I'd been there before and I was
- 20:44helping to lead some of the components of that particular
- 20:47trip. There were a four, four person
- 20:49team. I was one of four and so there
- 20:52are three others. But I remember a couple days
- 20:55into the trip, waking up early, like before my alarm went off
- 21:00and I just had this like thought, and it was a thought
- 21:05that I believe from the Holy Spirit that said, come and spend
- 21:08some time with the Lord. Come, come out of everything.
- 21:11I was like, well, I'm going to get up and read my Bible in a
- 21:13little bit. It'll be fine.
- 21:14I'll just do it then. And then it just kept lingering.
- 21:17He come, come and spend some time with me.
- 21:21And I reluctantly got out of bed early, got ready, went out onto
- 21:24the balcony into this busy kind of smelly St. there in Oxla,
- 21:28Mexico. And I remember just this thought
- 21:33read about who the Holy Spirit is.
- 21:35And so I just opened my Bible and I actually just started
- 21:38reading through the Gospel of John.
- 21:40Got to all read through all the parts where it talked about the
- 21:43Holy Spirit being your guide and who you are.
- 21:45And, and I got to this part in John 16 where he's going to show
- 21:49you things to come. And I remember reading that and
- 21:53the holy, I just felt like the Lord said, no, no, just pray in
- 21:55the Spirit. So I just began to pray in my
- 21:57prayer language and pray in the Spirit and kept reading the
- 22:00scriptures, reading the scriptures.
- 22:01And I came back to the scripture in John 16 and said, I'm going
- 22:04to show you things to come. And I, and, and it was so loud
- 22:07on the inside. This, this inspired thought it,
- 22:09it, it echoed in my mind. It wasn't audible outside, but
- 22:13it was really, really loud on the inside.
- 22:15And, and the thought was this, pay attention.
- 22:18I'm going to show you things to come.
- 22:21It's all I said. And I was like, all right, I
- 22:23spent some time, I wrote it down and kind of finished praying and
- 22:27spending some time with the Lord and gave the Lord some
- 22:30gratitude. And I remember going about my
- 22:32day, finishing getting ready, went down to breakfast, got
- 22:34ready to go. Now at this point in time in my
- 22:36life, I knew I was going to get married to Amber.
- 22:40And our plan was to take a year after we got married later in
- 22:45that same year, 2003. We were just going to just hang
- 22:48out and chill and do married life for a year.
- 22:50And then kind of maybe start looking for opportunities to
- 22:53join ministry and, and, and work at a church and do pastoral
- 22:58ministry in some capacity. And that was our plan.
- 23:01But that morning we went through devotions and got breakfast and
- 23:05did all the things and I was getting onto the bus.
- 23:08And that day as I was getting onto the bus, it was like
- 23:11everything in the bus went blurry except for one seat.
- 23:17And I was like, that's a little weird.
- 23:19And so I sat in that seat and I just sat in the seat.
- 23:22We started driving. We had to drive a little bit to
- 23:23our first ministry site that day.
- 23:26And I remember sitting there and I had some conversations.
- 23:30And then about halfway into the the, the ride, I began to have a
- 23:34conversation with Rodney, who was working with the ministry
- 23:38organization at that time. And Rodney and I just began to
- 23:40talk, talk about dreaming, talk about the church, talk about the
- 23:43need for discipleship and to grow in those things.
- 23:46And my heart just began to burn. And Rodney said this.
- 23:50He goes, man, it just seems like God is doing something in your
- 23:52heart that's similar to my heart.
- 23:54How about I take your number and I give you a call when I get
- 23:58back to South Carolina to help my dad at his church.
- 24:04I'll give you a call and we'll just see what maybe God is doing
- 24:07at that time. It's like, great, man, there was
- 24:11something in that moment. Now, Fast forward.
- 24:13I was at home. Yeah, some graduated school.
- 24:17Amber and I are engaged. I'm working a job.
- 24:20She's working a job. We're kind of going through it.
- 24:23And that week I began, I remember on a Monday started to
- 24:25feel like this burden. And I told Amber, I said, I
- 24:28don't know that we're supposed to wait a year to start
- 24:30ministry, but I don't know what that looks like.
- 24:33I'm just going to kind of trust God to show us.
- 24:36Two days later, the phone rings and it's Rodney.
- 24:39And he says, Hey, what's God saying?
- 24:41And I'm like, bro, you're not going to believe.
- 24:43This is what I feel like God's saying to me.
- 24:44And he's like, man, you're not going to believe something.
- 24:46Had a conversation with a friend of mine who's planning a church
- 24:49in Charlotte. He, he asked me if I came across
- 24:52any amazing people in my years on the mission field.
- 24:56And I felt like I needed to give him your name.
- 24:58But man, I don't want to tell him about you because I want you
- 25:01to come and help me in college ministry.
- 25:02You're like my ace that I'm holding up my sleeve.
- 25:06I don't want to tell them about you, but man, I just feel like
- 25:08I'm supposed to. Are you all right with?
- 25:09And I'm like, bro, yes, let's do it.
- 25:13And so that began a process that Amber and I, we would get
- 25:16married and then a few weeks after getting married, we would
- 25:20move to Charlotte, NC and help this church plant and become
- 25:25youth pastors. And then I don't see kids in
- 25:27youth and life in ministry just began to grow.
- 25:30And that was one of the many times I could tell you about God
- 25:34speaking to me through the Holy Spirit prepping my heart to be
- 25:37aware of things that He was doing and would lead me to do in
- 25:41the future. Every transition in ministry,
- 25:44every change, every move of space or location, even from
- 25:49house to house. Like all of these things, the
- 25:51Lord has just spoken and given clear guidance and direction.
- 25:55Why? Because the Holy Spirit is there
- 25:58to help you be to guide you in life so that you live in the
- 26:04will of God and live with God in all things.
- 26:09And my life has been 1 long workshop of learning to listen
- 26:13to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
- 26:15Now I don't always use because the Lord said so or thus saith
- 26:19the Lord when I'm making decision or making a thing.
- 26:22Sometimes I I love this phrase in Acts where they say it seems
- 26:25good to us and to the Holy Spirit to do this thing.
- 26:30And I've kind of lived my life that way.
- 26:32But there are things that just seem good to me, but they also
- 26:35seem to be confirmed and good to the Holy Spirit within me.
- 26:38And I've lived my life in that way, and it's just been long,
- 26:41long living working it out of learning how to hear the voice
- 26:45of the Lord follow his, follow his nudging, his leading, and
- 26:49trying to be with Him in union. And I'm learning more and more
- 26:53today about how the Holy Spirit convinces us of things that are
- 26:58holding us back, showing us things that are deep in the dark
- 27:03places of our heart that need to get out.
- 27:05These things that men that where he's convicting us, where he's
- 27:09convicting us of sin, of righteousness, of judgement, and
- 27:13all the best possible ways to bring us into better union with
- 27:17him. I really do believe that the
- 27:19Holy Spirit Spirit still speaks truth and it always will align
- 27:23with the revelation and the teaching of Jesus because the
- 27:26Holy Spirit wants to reveal Jesus to us.
- 27:29He wants to reveal the Father to us.
- 27:32The Holy Spirit is the one who breathed and inspired the
- 27:35Scriptures. And so when the Holy Spirit
- 27:37speaks, it speaks in alignment with the truth of the
- 27:40Scriptures. But I still believe the Holy
- 27:43Spirit inspires. He inspires us to do things and
- 27:46to lead us to do things. That doesn't mean that we're
- 27:48going to write more things that are equal in authority to the
- 27:52scriptures. That's not it at all.
- 27:54The scriptures are what the scriptures are.
- 27:56They are for that we have them, right?
- 27:58They are, they are for us. We learn and they're they're
- 28:01profitable in all sorts of ways. We're not adding to scriptures,
- 28:04but the same Holy Spirit who breathed and inspired those
- 28:07things wants to breathe and inspire our love for God, wants
- 28:10to breathe and inspire our devotion to God, wants to
- 28:12breathe and inspire the way we to live our life for God.
- 28:16And whenever you get stuck even reading the Word, especially
- 28:19reading the Word, you can ask the Holy Spirit to help you
- 28:23understand what the Scripture is saying, to help you understand
- 28:26what's happening in your family, in your kids, in your marriage,
- 28:30in your work environment, in your culture.
- 28:32We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand what is it He
- 28:36wants us to do? Is there anything He wants us to
- 28:39do and we can learn to hear His voice?
- 28:43There there are. The Holy Spirit will speak to us
- 28:46through Scripture. The Holy Spirit will speak to us
- 28:48through other people, and the Holy Spirit will speak to us
- 28:53directly with an inner voice and a whisper.
- 28:57Those are ways I found that God is the Spirit is continually
- 29:01speaking and revealing who He is.
- 29:03Again, Jesus wants to reveal himself to us and he does it to
- 29:10the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants us to to
- 29:12see Jesus, and Jesus wants us to see the Father like they are
- 29:16working to help us grow in union and communion with with Him.
- 29:23I really do believe that the Holy Spirit's ultimate design is
- 29:26to connect us to Jesus, to convince us of what Jesus did
- 29:30for us, and to guide us to keep Jesus's commands.
- 29:34And the greatest sorrow is to be separated from Jesus, to be
- 29:38separated from the Father and the Spirit.
- 29:41And God doesn't want us to live that way.
- 29:44God's where the joy is, and He wants us to experience joy.
- 29:48All right, that does it. For some bonus content, let's
- 29:50talk a few questions and some responses.
- 29:53Here we go. Question #1 How do I know if I'm
- 29:58really filled with the Holy Spirit?
- 30:00Is it something I feel or something I live out?
- 30:05I think yes, it is something that you live out.
- 30:08And there is kind of a different sense inside of you.
- 30:12There's an empowerment, A courage, A boldness, a peace.
- 30:14There's there is an abiding sense of God's presence in you.
- 30:17I think there is something there with that.
- 30:20But at the end of the day, how do you know if you're filled?
- 30:22Well, Jesus said if you ask, then you received that simple.
- 30:27So here's the question, have you repented and have you asked?
- 30:31So if you're not a child of God, you don't have the Holy Spirit.
- 30:34But if you've repented, put your trust in Jesus and you've asked
- 30:38to receive the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, you've asked to
- 30:42be born again, you've asked for the Holy Spirit to fill you.
- 30:45Well, then you've received a lot of times it's good to have
- 30:49someone pray with you to lay hands on you, to confer the
- 30:53Spirit in you. That it's something that we see
- 30:55throughout the example of the New Testament in the book of
- 30:58Acts, something throughout church history, where they would
- 31:01pray with somebody and confer the Holy Spirit often at the
- 31:04moment when they were being water baptized or at a moment of
- 31:08real conversion. That where they would pray for
- 31:10the Holy Spirit to, to really fill them in their place of as
- 31:14they repented and, and laid aside their other allegiances
- 31:18and gave their loyalty and, and trust to Jesus.
- 31:22And then so, so if you've done those things, if you've asked,
- 31:26then you've received. And at the end of the day, we
- 31:29have to yield to him each and every day.
- 31:33We can ask him to reduce the fruit of the spirit in US, ask
- 31:37for his presence to abound in our lives.
- 31:39But at the end of the day, we yield to him.
- 31:43We we recognize and we, we, we yield in our lives, surrendering
- 31:48more and more to the person of the spirit, surrendering to the
- 31:51love, surrendering to the peace, surrendering to it.
- 31:54And so how do I know if I've been filled at at at bottom
- 31:58level you, you've asked for it. And Jesus said, if you ask, we
- 32:03receive and then we know the Spirit is in US.
- 32:06And then there is fruit and evidence that follows through.
- 32:10And it looks like his peace looks like his sense of
- 32:13presence. It, it, it, it feels like
- 32:16conviction at times. It is joy, it's love.
- 32:19It's these things that there's a, a new life.
- 32:22There's something that bubbles, if you will, like the river of
- 32:25living water. Jesus said is it bubbles from
- 32:28within us and so there are many evidences of the Holy Spirit.
- 32:32I don't believe there's only one evidence one there's tongues,
- 32:36there's the the fruit of the Spirit.
- 32:38There are gifts that the Spirit will operate in us.
- 32:41There's his abiding presence. This is the river of living
- 32:43water. That's that's inside of us.
- 32:46It's the the hearing and in the sense of connection with God
- 32:51that that you have in your life. There's truth, there's there's
- 32:54those sorts of things. So there are evidences of the
- 32:57spirit in our lives. But at the end of the day, how
- 33:00we're filled and we know we're filled is that we've asked him
- 33:03and in faith we trust that He has given him because freely he
- 33:08wants to give the Spirit to those who ask.
- 33:12Next question is this. What does it mean that the
- 33:15Spirit, quote UN quote, proceeds from the Father and the Son?
- 33:18Does that mean he's less than them?
- 33:21No, I do not believe that he is less than the Father or the Son.
- 33:25I do think that the the Son and the Spirit walk in submission to
- 33:30the will of the Father. I've heard it described like
- 33:33this. The Father wills it, the Son
- 33:37does it, and the Spirit empowers it.
- 33:41I've heard it tried to explain in that way that the each of
- 33:44them have roles as beings, Godhead beings, divine beings
- 33:51that we worship and venerate. They are Trinity is always in
- 33:56perfect unity. They are constantly in perfect
- 33:59communion with each other, perfect union with each other,
- 34:03always a working together. There's not a competition to try
- 34:08to outdo each other. There is purity in how they
- 34:12operate. And so proceeding from the
- 34:14Father means proceeding from the Father and proceeding from the
- 34:18Son means that together in unison, they have sent the
- 34:21Spirit to us. They both desire for you to
- 34:26receive the Holy Spirit, the Father, God the Father, God the
- 34:31Son, want you to have God the Spirit in you, filling you and
- 34:37an overflowing from you each and every moment of your of your
- 34:41life. He, he longs for that.
- 34:43So when it says it proceeds from the Father and the Son, that
- 34:47means they are both in unison, in agreement and together
- 34:51willing and desiring that you and I would receive of the
- 34:57Spirit. Let me go to another question.
- 35:01It says this John 1426 says, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit,
- 35:05whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things
- 35:08and remind you of everything I have told you.
- 35:11John 16 and verse 7 says, nevertheless, I'm telling you
- 35:14the truth. It is for your benefit that I go
- 35:16away because if I don't go away, the create the counselor will
- 35:19not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to
- 35:23you. Can you please explain these two
- 35:25scriptures? As one reads that the Holy
- 35:27Spirit will be sent by the Father and one reads the Holy
- 35:30Spirit will be sent by Jesus. So this question is similar to
- 35:34the other question as it relates to what does it mean to proceed
- 35:37from the Father and the Son. And again, the Trinity is in
- 35:42perfect unity. When you see a scripture that
- 35:45feels like it's saying one thing and another scripture that that
- 35:49says something that feels out of sync with it, we have to begin
- 35:53to look at the full council of Scripture to get an idea.
- 35:56Because sometimes the Jesus is saying a partial thing and the
- 36:01disciples know the other things. And so they're just kind of
- 36:03filling it in. And other times he's emphasizing
- 36:05it for a for a reason or for a purpose.
- 36:08And I think in both of these cases, he's letting them know,
- 36:10listen, the Father wants you to have the Spirit because he wants
- 36:15you to be reminded of everything that I've taught you.
- 36:18Other times, like in 16 and verse 7, he says, I'm going to
- 36:21send the Spirit to you. I'm, I'm giving you this gift
- 36:24because John the Baptist said that he is Jesus is the one who
- 36:28baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1, Jesus tells his
- 36:32disciples, don't go anywhere and wait for the promise of the
- 36:35Father that I will send to you. So we see it actually in other
- 36:40places where it's both the Father and the Son willing,
- 36:45desiring and activating the the gift of the Spirit being poured
- 36:50out. In fact, John 1526 says that it
- 36:53is, that he's going to send it and the Father is going to
- 36:57proceed to send it as well. In other words, it's coming from
- 37:00both the Father and the Son. Why?
- 37:02Because the Father and Jesus are in unity with the Spirit.
- 37:07Jesus said I never do anything that I don't first see the
- 37:10Father doing. In other words, Jesus never did
- 37:12anything that the Father didn't instruct or will and desire to
- 37:16occur. So when Jesus says I'm sending
- 37:19you the Spirit, he's also saying the Father wants you to have the
- 37:22Spirit. And when he says the Father
- 37:24wants you to have the Spirit, Jesus is saying, I want you to
- 37:28also have the Spirit because the things that I'm doing and living
- 37:32how he's operated in my life, you need him operating in your
- 37:35life. And, and this is not a foreign
- 37:38idea to the disciples, by the way.
- 37:42They were aware of the work of the Spirit throughout the story
- 37:48of the Scriptures, through the Hebrew Scriptures.
- 37:51You see, multiple times in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit
- 37:54would rest on them and enable them and give them agency to
- 37:59accomplish a purpose. Jesus was telling his disciples
- 38:03he was giving them a purpose to love one another and to obey all
- 38:06that He's commanded them. And he was giving them the Holy
- 38:10Spirit to empower them, to give them agency to fulfill that
- 38:15Commission, to fulfill that mission, which is why we know
- 38:20the will of God is that we would work in the mission of God's
- 38:24Kingdom, that we would work as Jesus commanded us to work, that
- 38:28we would do the things that Jesus commanded us to do.
- 38:30And so he's given us the Holy Spirit as a seal, as kind of a
- 38:35an indicator as as the, the, the engine and the power and the
- 38:39permission to do the things that he's invited us to do in his
- 38:43Kingdom. Father, Son and Spirit in
- 38:46unison, in unity and imperfect communion, demonstrating what
- 38:51love really looks like among each other should come and
- 38:55desire for us to walk in communion with each of them at
- 39:00the same, all the same. And so to proceed from the
- 39:03Father and the son just means they're both in unison doing it.
- 39:07And Jesus says it one way to emphasize one thing says it
- 39:09another way to emphasize another thing, but says it both are
- 39:13going to be sending the Spirit because he wants us to know both
- 39:16are coming from the Father because they are unified in dare
- 39:20Godhead. Here's another question says how
- 39:24can I tell the difference between conviction and
- 39:26condemnation? Is it similar to guilt and
- 39:29shame? A really, really big and and,
- 39:32and good question. In fact, I know a lot of us are,
- 39:35are since the message kind of pondering how the Holy Spirit
- 39:41comes to not just convict us of sin, but convict us of
- 39:44righteousness. And, and, and I do think that
- 39:50conviction and condemnation are different, just like I believe
- 39:55guilt and shame are different. Conviction is meant to lead you
- 40:01to God. Condemnation causes you to hide
- 40:06from God. Conviction invites you to
- 40:11commune with God. Condemnation makes you feel
- 40:15rejected by God. Conviction convinces you that
- 40:20God is the cure. Condemnation convinces you that
- 40:24you aren't helpable like that. You are beyond repair or beyond
- 40:30redemption or beyond forgiveness.
- 40:33Conviction brings us to a place of sorrow and, and, and where we
- 40:38recognize the guilt of the action.
- 40:42Condemnation comes to a place where shame begins to speak to
- 40:46us about an identity. Guilt says I did something
- 40:50wrong. Shame says I am wrong or I'm
- 40:55guilt says I did something bad. Shame says I am bad.
- 40:59So shame speaks to us more about identity, things that we we, we
- 41:03embody and we are guilt tells us, and conviction reveals
- 41:07things that we have done. Now the more you do something,
- 41:13the the more you reflect that thing.
- 41:16So it's important to know that the longer we sin, the more
- 41:19sinful we reflect, but we can have a new identity.
- 41:24And so the Holy Spirit comes to give us conviction to help us
- 41:28connect to Jesus, who is the cure allowing us to connect with
- 41:35God. Remember when, when it says in
- 41:39John 16, Jesus is explaining, he says he's going to convict the
- 41:43world of sin because it it, it, it doesn't see it's, it doesn't
- 41:48know me, it can't know me. It's going to convict the world
- 41:51of righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me
- 41:55no more. And he's telling us he's giving,
- 41:58giving us a heads up that he's going to the Father to be our
- 42:03righteousness, to fully fulfill all of the law.
- 42:07And when he goes to sit down at the right hand of God, it's
- 42:11because everything is finished and He now has the victory and
- 42:16all of the righteous things necessary have now been
- 42:20fulfilled. Which means that the word
- 42:26righteous has to do with one who has fulfilled or keeps the law.
- 42:31So when Jesus is declared righteous and gives us
- 42:35righteousness, he sits down at the right hand of God in heaven.
- 42:38He has completed and fulfilled all the requirements that the
- 42:43law demanded. So he is declared righteous in
- 42:48the sight of the law. And if he's declared that and
- 42:51he's saying the Holy Spirit is coming to be an advocate to
- 42:55remind you that because I'm righteous and you're in me,
- 43:00you're righteous too, that that that the the requirements have
- 43:05been satisfied so that you can be in the holy presence of God.
- 43:12And so conviction helps us remove the thing that's keeping
- 43:18us from having connection with God because God wants us to walk
- 43:22with him, not be filled with sorrow or shame.
- 43:27Here's the next question. If I've confessed my sin, why do
- 43:30I still feel guilty sometimes? Mainly because we are creatures
- 43:36of remembering, right? There are things grained in our
- 43:39minds. A memory and imagination are
- 43:44where Satan likes to inspire lies.
- 43:47Just like the Holy Spirit will inspire truthful things that we
- 43:51can think about and imagine, Satan wants to come and inspire
- 43:55lies that we think about. Now the thing that Satan does is
- 43:59he's got data on us from previous things, right?
- 44:02So he, he comes along and he says, hey, remember, we needed
- 44:04this. And you always do this way and
- 44:07you always said you would never do it again, but you did it like
- 44:09a bunch more times even after that.
- 44:11And he has this ability to hurl accusations at us that cause us
- 44:18to believe that our identity is something other than
- 44:22righteousness, that God's love is for people other than us,
- 44:24that God's forgiveness doesn't really we take effect.
- 44:28And so we believe the old script more than we believe the truth
- 44:34that the Spirit is speaking. And so memory and imagination
- 44:38are powerful things. And that's where the enemy lives
- 44:41in that playground. He is the slanderer and the
- 44:45accuser. He often accuses you of things
- 44:48that you have done wrong but been dismissed of trying to
- 44:53label you a certain way even though you aren't that any
- 44:57anymore. And so the enemy continually
- 45:00hurts liners. And that's why Paul says in 2nd
- 45:03Corinthians 10 that we have to take every thought captive to
- 45:09the obedience of Christ, make every imagination submit and be
- 45:13filtered to the truth that is higher than the thought that
- 45:17we're thinking. We have to submit that thought
- 45:21that we're thinking, the imagination, the thought that I
- 45:24still feel guilty or I'm not really forgiven that thought
- 45:29that is there. We have to submit that to the
- 45:31higher truth, which means what? What's the higher truth?
- 45:33Jesus said if you've confessed it, then I'm forgiving it.
- 45:37If you're walking in the light, then we can have fellowship of
- 45:39the light. Many times we acknowledge that
- 45:42we feel sorry for our sins, but we don't do anything to do or to
- 45:48live differently. In Psalm 51, I think it is when
- 45:54David's talking about oh Lord, don't take your spirit from me.
- 45:58Renew, renew this in me, forgive me, wash me clean, create a
- 46:03clean heart in me. Renew a steadfast spirit in me.
- 46:06It talks about rebuilding the walls.
- 46:09Those, those walls are the protection to keep you from
- 46:13harm, to keep you from doing evil.
- 46:16So he's using those poetically saying, Lord, I've confessed,
- 46:19you've given me a new heart, you've cleansed me.
- 46:21Now would you help me rebuild the walls so that I don't
- 46:25crossover a boundary of sinfulness again?
- 46:30Many times the reason we still feel guilty isn't because we
- 46:34don't believe we're forgiven. It's that we're not behaving
- 46:38like we're forgiven. We have not built any practices
- 46:43into our life that are going to help keep us from repeating a
- 46:47sin, that are going to help us or keep us from repeating the
- 46:53failure. And and so we still feel a sense
- 46:56of guilt because we aren't doing any embodied action to remind us
- 47:02of anything different. So it's really important to not
- 47:07just confess and acknowledge our sin, ask for forgiveness, but
- 47:11repentance is changing and turning around and charting a
- 47:16new course. It's rebuilding the walls of
- 47:18where did the enemy get in that that allowed you to fall and
- 47:22look at the porn that that allowed you to come in and and
- 47:25made you feel like you needed to lie about something that
- 47:28happened, making yourself feel or look better than maybe what
- 47:32really was the case. How did it come about where,
- 47:35where you started to steal from someone else or you mistreated
- 47:38them and you made them, man, just feel so bad because you
- 47:43just badmouth them the whole way.
- 47:45But why, why did you do that? What was it that you just
- 47:48bypassed? What, what were the protections
- 47:50that you weren't doing or living or, or acting in?
- 47:53And so for so many of us, habits and and perpetual things in our
- 47:58lives come because we, we're not properly habituating the right
- 48:03kinds of behaviors. We're not practicing our faith.
- 48:07We're just trying to avoid sin. The best way to avoid sin is to
- 48:14actively pursue disciplined devotion to Jesus.
- 48:18Because if you're never moving in the direction of where the
- 48:22sinning would occur, you're you're, you're not as likely to
- 48:25trip up and mess up. And so the reason we often feel
- 48:30guilty is because we have not actually done any actions to
- 48:36remind us of our new identity and status.
- 48:41In other words, we never change our last name.
- 48:45We keep our old name. We never get a new name after we
- 48:48got married. We just keep living in the old
- 48:51identity. You don't live in your new
- 48:53identity as a righteous son or daughter.
- 48:55You keep thinking and reminding yourself and saying things and
- 48:58talking and wearing labels and reminding yourself of your old
- 49:02way of life. And you need to live into your
- 49:05new identity, live into who God has made you to be.
- 49:08And so you need some actions and behaviors that move you into the
- 49:12new identity and move you closer into the new devotion that you
- 49:16have rather than continually remind you of the old things.
- 49:21Another thing that I'll say is that many times we have the
- 49:26memories of, of painful things, the memories of failures and
- 49:31sin. And we've never asked God to
- 49:34cleanse our memories. And we can ask him to do that.
- 49:38We can ask him to, to heal the, the things that we, we get
- 49:43triggered by. Every same year as the year
- 49:47rolls around, we're reminded on a certain date of our worst
- 49:50failures when the divorce happened and you just felt like
- 49:54a complete utter maybe failure. So every year that date rolls
- 49:58around and you just feel sense of guilt and you're off and
- 50:01you're triggered by everything and you don't know why.
- 50:02Well, you need to ask God to redeem even the date to redeem
- 50:06the location, to redeem the memories, the smell, the taste,
- 50:11the touch. You need to give those to God
- 50:12and invite the Holy Spirit to heal that in your life.
- 50:18And that helps us move beyond just confessing our sin to
- 50:23living in communion with God in connection with with him.
- 50:28The next question is this, can someone lose the ability to feel
- 50:31conviction? What happens when that happens?
- 50:35Yeah, I talked about this in in actually the second service.
- 50:38And so if you were in the first you, you may have missed this,
- 50:41but I, I did talk about how having conviction from the Holy
- 50:46Spirit is a gift because it means that there's something in
- 50:49our heart that wants to do the will of God and live in the ways
- 50:54of God versus where our heart has grown heart.
- 50:57In fact, when, when we have a lack of conviction around the
- 51:01sin, it doesn't mean God is blessing us in our sin.
- 51:06We think that it does. We think that God's silence or
- 51:09we didn't have some punishment or some negative thing happened
- 51:11in our life because we kept sinning, like must be okay.
- 51:16Nope, didn't do anything. Nope, we're okay.
- 51:18Yep, I must be. I got away with it.
- 51:21And, and we, we start to ignore the conviction because we think
- 51:24we get away with the sin and ultimately all that we're doing
- 51:27is living more and more rebellious.
- 51:30And our hearts are growing more and more hard and our ears are
- 51:33growing more and more deaf to the nudge to the conviction, to
- 51:38the whisper of the Holy Spirit. So can we lose the ability to,
- 51:41to feel conviction? Well, I think our hearts can
- 51:43grow really hard, really rebellious.
- 51:46Our ears can grow deaf to the tone and the voice of God's
- 51:49grace. Why?
- 51:51Because a hard heart is a proud heart.
- 51:55And when you justify your actions for so long, you have
- 52:00become a right in your own eyes. And when you are right in your
- 52:05own eyes, that makes you God, which is the sin of pride.
- 52:11And when pride sets into your heart and into your life, you
- 52:18are resisted from God. In fact, God, God's not even
- 52:21pursue, he is resisting the proud, like not pursuing, not
- 52:25convicting, not trying to. You have made a decision.
- 52:28You have become proud in your own heart.
- 52:31And God says he resists the proud, but he will give grace to
- 52:35the humble. And so until we recognize that
- 52:38we are so proud and we are broken and we need to repent and
- 52:43become like a little child in humility and trust, then then we
- 52:48can receive the grace of God. But so it's not an unredeemable
- 52:53thing, but we can live for a long time justifying ourselves
- 52:56in our own eyes, which makes us God in our own sight, which
- 53:00makes us proud in our own eyes. And pride will always keep you
- 53:03from the grace of God. And as long as you are
- 53:06justifying your actions, you are you are left to experience your
- 53:10justice. But wherever you allow God to be
- 53:14your judge, he will justify you in his sight.
- 53:19And so as long as you're justifying your actions, you're
- 53:22going to get your own judgement and the judgement of those
- 53:24consequences. But when you allow God to be
- 53:26your judge and he will justify you and you humble yourself
- 53:30under his authority and power, and then you can begin to
- 53:34experience real, real change. And that's what the Holy Spirit
- 53:37does, convinces us that we we have the toxic evil in us, we
- 53:42have the sin, we have the the, the contagion that's infected us
- 53:46and we're infecting others and we need to be humble enough to
- 53:50realize it. Next question is this.
- 53:53Many believers understand the Holy Spirit but struggle to feel
- 53:56his presence day-to-day. How can we recognize His
- 54:00guidance just in practical ways? I think first it comes back to
- 54:05knowing the Word because when you know the words, you know the
- 54:08character of God and the Holy Spirit always leads us in
- 54:12accordance to keep the commands of God to walk in agreement with
- 54:17the word and character of God. I think practically that looks
- 54:22like obeying the nudges when you feel them or sense them, right?
- 54:27You sense the Holy Spirit is there, you maybe have this
- 54:31thought. And again, most of the time the
- 54:33Holy Spirit speaks to me through thoughts, like it's an inspired
- 54:37thought, like that's how lies come in, but that's also how the
- 54:41truth of the Spirit can come in. So a thought comes, this person
- 54:45hasn't been around or you haven't seen them.
- 54:47You need to call or send them a text and just check on them.
- 54:51Do you do it or do you ignore it?
- 54:52Well, I think if you do it, you begin to know, notice that that
- 54:56might be the Lord leading you. And a lot of times you're like,
- 54:59well, what if it's not the Lord? Well then you texted somebody
- 55:01that you cared about. No big deal.
- 55:04Like the Holy Spirit isn't going to lead you to do something that
- 55:07is contrary to the will, ways and character of God.
- 55:11Just not going to do it. So if you're wondering, wait, is
- 55:14that the Holy Spirit? Well, does it sound like God's
- 55:16character, God's ways, God's commands?
- 55:18Does it sound like it's good, loving, merciful, just
- 55:21righteous? Well, yeah.
- 55:23Well, then go for it. Do it.
- 55:26It's not. It's not If you're wrong, if
- 55:28you're awful, then then maybe there's been times I've been off
- 55:31when I sense like the Lord was saying something and I think it
- 55:34was for somebody. And I just, I think the Lord
- 55:36wants to just speak this. I, I would submit this thought
- 55:39to you. I feel like the Lord is saying
- 55:40this. Hey, does that make sense to
- 55:42you? I I'm not sure that it does.
- 55:44All right. Hey, thanks for listening and
- 55:46letting me just just practice. Practice isn't about being
- 55:50perfect hearing and following the voice of God.
- 55:52It's just practicing hearing and following the voice of God.
- 55:56I think you need to pay attention to the little nudges
- 55:58and the little whispers. The more you respond to them,
- 56:02the more God knows you're at least willing to obey and He can
- 56:06trust you when He speaks. So obey it and see what happens.
- 56:10Pay attention to those little nudges and whispers and I think
- 56:13you'll begin to experience the guidance of the Holy Spirit day
- 56:17today. Here's the last question.
- 56:19It says what are some consistent practices we can use to tune our
- 56:23hearts to the spirits voice? I'm going to tie this in with
- 56:27the first part of the other question where it asked about
- 56:29feeling His presence each day. I think praying every day is the
- 56:34way in which we begin to hear His voice.
- 56:37And when I say pray, I mean taking time to talk and listen.
- 56:42Then you write down what you hear and imagine.
- 56:44So you get done praying. You talk to the Lord about
- 56:46what's on your heart. Then ask the Holy Holy Spirit,
- 56:49is there anything you want to say to me today?
- 56:53Just jot it down. Is there anything you want to
- 56:55tell me about me today? Jot it down.
- 56:58Is there anything you want to tell me about my day or my week
- 57:01that I'm not seeing or hearing? Just jot it down.
- 57:05Just write down what you hear, what you imagine, or what you
- 57:07think. Just write it down and just pay
- 57:10attention to it, right? How do we practice understanding
- 57:14as presents day-to-day? Well, anytime you turn your
- 57:18attention and you express your affection to God, you will
- 57:24experience his presence through the person of the Spirit with
- 57:27you. There is something about being
- 57:30in the room with somebody and ignoring them versus being in
- 57:34the room with somebody and acknowledging them and giving
- 57:37them attention. There's a different type of
- 57:39connection that is fostered and occurred.
- 57:42In fact, right here as soon as we're on the podcast, just hit
- 57:45pause, turn it off, whatever, and just say come, Holy Spirit,
- 57:50and just begin to turn your attention.
- 57:52God, thank you that you're here with me.
- 57:55I'm begin to just praise Lord. Lord, thank you for your love,
- 57:58Holy Spirit, thank you that you guide, thank you that I can hear
- 58:00your voice. Thank you that you speak to me
- 58:02and you revealed truth to me. Just begin to express affection
- 58:06and gratitude for the Holy Spirit and just sense in the
- 58:09moon, in the environment, wherever you're at you, you
- 58:11begin to sense the difference of God's presence.
- 58:14There is something of God's presence that begins to
- 58:16manifest, begin to account. It's not just a feeling, but
- 58:20it's a sense that you have one because the spirit of the living
- 58:23water, the river of life in you begins to to bubble and, and and
- 58:28build up in you. I think another way for me,
- 58:32learning to hear the voice of the Lord and and and practicing
- 58:35his presence has come as I pray in the spirit.
- 58:39The more I pray in by prayer language in those moments, the
- 58:42more my my spirit is alert. My faith is built up and I'm
- 58:46ready to listen and hear. When I quote the scripture again
- 58:49and again, a lot of times if I want to hear the voice of the
- 58:52Lord, I just remind myself, I thank you, Lord, that Jesus, you
- 58:56are the voice of the Good Shepherd, that the Spirit speaks
- 58:58only what, what, what, what he hears from you and and is in the
- 59:02will of the Father. And I think you that I can hear
- 59:04your voice gone and the voice of the stranger.
- 59:06I don't follow. And I'll just repeat that again
- 59:08and again and again. You're not just allow the Lord
- 59:11to speak to me, allow him to, to, to turn my mind to, to him
- 59:15and I give him my attention and my affection.
- 59:16So every day spend some time in prayer.
- 59:19And after you're talking to the Lord, just stop and ask the
- 59:21Lord, is there anything he wants to say to you?
- 59:24And just just listen for a few minutes.
- 59:27Don't have to take a long time. And then throughout your day,
- 59:29take many moments of pause to turn your attention to God being
- 59:34with you. Then begin to give him praise
- 59:36and adoration, Thanksgiving. What happens that then his
- 59:39presence begins to manifest. And I think another real
- 59:43practical thing to just tune to just practice asking and
- 59:47listening, right? So Holy Spirit, should I wear
- 59:51this shirt or this shirt today and just listen?
- 59:54Should I wear, should I go this direction or this direction?
- 59:57Should I leave it this time or this time?
- 59:59Should we have this or this for dinner?
- 1:00:01Right? It's just.
- 1:00:01Like random thing, things that don't really have much
- 1:00:04consequence to them that are kind of inconsequential.
- 1:00:08Just practice there. Because if you begin to learn
- 1:00:11how to hear the voice of the Lord and just practice
- 1:00:13listening, you're just stirring a desire.
- 1:00:16You're feeding a desire to listen and learn rather than
- 1:00:19just assuming you're going to do whatever you want anyways.
- 1:00:22Just pause and yield to the Holy Spirit in little things that
- 1:00:26that are of no consequence, so that when things of greater
- 1:00:29consequence come, you're well rehearsed in practice in putting
- 1:00:33God 1st and yielding to his leading and to his truth in
- 1:00:38anything else. And a lot of times there, there
- 1:00:42there are things that situations that I'm facing, things that I'm
- 1:00:47processing, ideas that I'm wrestling with.
- 1:00:49I'll just say, Holy Spirit, what do you think about that?
- 1:00:52Sometimes the Lord's like, that's not of me, that's of you.
- 1:00:55Oh, all right, I'm going to let that go sometimes.
- 1:00:57Lord, God's close, I think we ought to do.
- 1:00:59You ought to look at it from this angle.
- 1:01:00Oh, OK, I'll do that with scripture.
- 1:01:02Holy Spirit, would you show me something that I haven't seen
- 1:01:05before? Would you correct something that
- 1:01:07I haven't thought accurately about and just let him lead and
- 1:01:13get let him inspire you. Let him let him nudge you.
- 1:01:15Let the whisper inside of you, your inner sensing.
- 1:01:18Sometimes the Holy Spirit, it's imagination.
- 1:01:20Sometimes it's a sensing that you have a, a prompting, a
- 1:01:23burning, almost a peace in you that's just bubbling.
- 1:01:26Well, those are the nudges of the Holy Spirit and how he
- 1:01:29speaks. Here's what I know is that God
- 1:01:31loves you. Jesus came for you, and the Holy
- 1:01:34Spirit wants to connect you in union with all three so that you
- 1:01:39can live a life in power, so that we can be witnesses of
- 1:01:44Jesus and not stumble in life, but rather we can stay steady in
- 1:01:50our faith and our loyalty to him.
- 1:01:52Friends, I hope today's episode has helped you.
- 1:01:54Have faith for today. Stay steady, don't trip up, stay
- 1:01:59dripping with the Spirit and let's move together being led by
- 1:02:03the Spirit each and every day. I love you guys.