- Hey, guys, welcome to Sandals Church where we are all about
this vision of being real, and, you know, today if you want to dive
deeper into this message, or dive deeper into the
vision of being real that is what our podcast
"The Debrief" is all about. So check that out at Debrief.Show, but we are so glad that
you joined us today. Enjoy the message. (dramatic music) - Good morning, Sandals Church. (cheers and applause) Man, it's good to see you guys today. Welcome, welcome, man, super excited. How many guys have felt the earthquakes? Okay, I don't know where your house is, but at my house we're
on a big granite rock called Woodcrest, and you
hear it first, it goes boom, and then it's like we're
all gonna die, Amen, Amen. I don't know what it is with everybody running to their cell phones, man. I just start praying. All these people that are filming that ain't gonna be me. You're never gonna see
a video of me filming. I'm gonna be running. You're gonna see Tammy
filming me running away. You're on your own, sweetie,
I got to get out of the house. People need to hear me
preach, Amen, I'm precious. Man, I'm so glad you guys are here today. We're in this series called "Confused." Man, we live in a world
where people are confused about all kinds of things,
and one of the things people are most confused about is God. We're in this study in
the Book of Galatians where literally Paul tries
to set the record straight about how you become a Christian, what it is that we believe, and a lot of you don't realize this, but the Book of Galatians talks
a lot about the Holy Spirit. So we're gonna talk about
the Holy Spirit today. Some of you, you know, you
come from religious backgrounds where you're very comfortable
with the Holy Spirit, and nothing I'm gonna say is
gonna bother you, shock you, or concern you, so just pray
for the rest of us, Amen. Some of us are like, oh, my gosh. I don't know what's gonna happen. Is this where they cut
the chicken's head off? No, we're not gonna do any of that today. And some of you you have
no idea you're like, I thought we worship God. Yeah, we do, we worship
the relational God, the Christians, we're Christians. Christians call God the Trinitarian God, God the father, God the son,
and God the Holy Spirit. So we're gonna talk about
God the Holy Spirit today. So if you've never heard
about the Holy Spirit, man, I was right there with you. I was 21 years old gave my
life to Christ, super excited, in a Bible study, and
one of my friends said, "Well, have you been
baptized in the Holy Spirit?" And I was like, no, what's that? He's like you need to come
to my church, Tuesday night, seven o'clock that's when
the Holy Spirit comes. I'm like, okay, that's weird. So just so you know we don't
have like a secret service on Tuesdays at seven
o'clock for you, okay. This is it, if you don't
like this you don't like us. So I go to Tuesday night at seven o'clock because that's when the Holy Spirit has time for the rest of us. So I show up and I come to this service, and everybody's like, ooh, are you ready? I'm a little freaked out. And so we're worshiping,
you know, it's cool. It seems kind of normal. It seems kind of right. The pastor comes out, big
gigantic dude, a former athlete, and he says, "If you need to come forward, "and receive the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, "you come forward right now." I'm like, okay, well, this is why I came. So I go forward and I never
seen anything like this. So you kind of get in
line and you got to wait, and there's the big guy in the middle, and he's pushing the spirit on
you and people are coming up. Have you guys ever seen this? People start dropping, poof, and I'm like, oh, my gosh she's killing
people, what is happening? So he prays and if you don't
know this when they pray they push your head like this, and people are, poof, falling, and then people come out
of nowhere with blankets, and they cover you with
blankets because you're dead, and we don't want to see you die. I'm like what is going
on I'm freaking out, so I go forward, and I don't want to bail because all my buddies are there, and I don't want to be
the one guy that runs, but I wanted to run. So I'm getting closer and
closer and then it's my turn, and he just stops, and he says,
"Everyone close their eyes." And so I did what you
guys all do when I say bow your heads and close
your eyes I went like this. (laughter) I'm looking around because
I want to make sure that they're not gonna
like kill us or something. So I come forward and
everybody's praying over me, praying over me, praying over
me, and just praying over me, and this guy's just relax, just relax. I'm like, I am relaxed. So pretty soon I realized
because my eyes are open that I'm the only person left. Everyone else has been
slain in the spirit, covered with blankets,
taking naps with Jesus, and I'm standing there and
I'm like, God, come on. Just knock me out. And I thought about faking it, but I was like I'm gonna do that. I mean, God, you're gonna... I want this to be real. So then the senior pastor
comes over he's like, everybody get out of the way,
we've got a prodigal son. And he comes over, man, and he just says, "Son, listen to me." And he prays over me and he says, "Holy Spirit, set this
young man's balls on fire." I was like, what? Like I'm 21, I want to get
married, I need those things. I don't want them on fire. So I freaked out, I
freaked, I freaked out. All my friends are dead on the
ground covered in blankets, and I just ran, ran right
out of the church, man. And I was like I am not. We're not setting any genitals on fire. That is not the God I know. So years later, man, I
meet that pastor at a lunch because now I'm a pastor, and I said, "Hey, I got to talk to
you about something." He's like, what? I was like, your prayer over my genitals we need to talk about that. And he told me he's like, I did not pray for your
balls to be on fire. He said, "What I said was, "will the Holy Spirit set you on fire "from the balls of your feet
to the top of your head." I was like, oh. That makes sense, that makes sense. So, look, man, I don't know, I don't know what you've had with the Holy Spirit, but we're not gonna set
anything on fire today, but we do want you to be
filled with the spirit of God, and here's why you can't
be connected to God without the spirit of God
because the spirit is God. So let me just pray over us today that the Holy Spirit would be with us, and that you would learn today, and just so you know most of
what I'm gonna talk about today I'm not gonna talk about
everything in the Holy Spirit, but most of what I'm gonna talk about comes from the Book of Galatians. As a matter of fact, seven of the passages we're gonna look at, seven,
are in the Book of Galatians, and they're all about the
Holy Spirit, so let's pray. Heavenly Father, we
pray in your son's name that you would send the
spirit upon us today. Lord, you said in the
Book of Corinthians, Lord, that you want the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit with us, and that's what I pray here today that your grace would be real. Some of us are so far from you. Some of us are still dead in our sins, and we need the grace of
your son Jesus Christ. Some of us don't believe that you love us, and we need the love
of you God, our father, and some of us, man, we're
just so disconnected. We need the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit here today. So be with us in Jesus'
name we pray, Amen. All right, let's take a look
at Galatians two through three. Paul says, "Let me ask
you this one question. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit "by obeying the law of Moses?" Stop, here's where
Christians get screwed up. Did you receive the Holy Spirit? And you're like, no. Well, you got to do these things. Paul is saying you don't do anything, but one thing to receive the spirit. So you got charismatic
friends and they love God, and they love the Holy Spirit, and I don't know why it
is when they say to you did you receive the Holy
Spirit they say it like this. Did you receive the spirit? It's like what's wrong with your eyes? So next time somebody
asks you that question, and if you go to Sandals Church you need to answer with the word of God. Not their experience, not what they think, with the word of God. Paul says, "Did you receive the spirit "by obeying the law of Moses? "Of course not." "You received," past tense, "You received the spirit "because you believed the
message you heard," about whom? Christ, listen to me. When you receive Christ
you receive the spirit. If you don't have the spirit of God you have not received the son of God. When you receive the
son you get the spirit. There's no such thing as
two classes of Christians. There's no such thing, and I don't care what your grandma said. Your grandma's a good
lady, but she's wrong, and you need to listen to the word of God. The word of God says if you
don't have the spirit of God then you don't believe in the son of God, and if you believe in the son of God, you have the spirit of God. You need to understand that, and a lot of people are confused. He says, "How foolish can you be?" Christians can be pretty foolish. Pastors can be pretty foolish. Denominations can be pretty foolish. That's why at Sandals it
doesn't matter what we believe. It matters what God's word says, and this is why so many
churches get screwed up because they teach what they believe, and they don't teach God's word. We go with God's word, whether it makes us comfortable or not, and it says, don't get stupid. After starting your new
lives in the spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? This is some of you today
you're terrified of the spirit. You don't actually believe
in a Trinitarian God. Some of you believe in God
the father, God the son, and God the holy scriptures. Who wrote the scriptures? The Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit wrote the scriptures, and if you don't have the
Holy Spirit of God inside you you're not gonna understand
the holy scriptures that the Holy Spirit wrote. You need the spirit of God to
understand the word of God, otherwise, it's just a book. That's why there can be
professors at universities that study the Bible their whole life, and know nothing about God. You need God's spirit. So the Bible teaches, not Matt
Brown, not Sandals Church, not you, not me, not your community group. The Bible teaches I
receive the Holy Spirit when I repent of my sin, and I believe in God's son Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible teaches. God wants you to have his spirit, and the only way you get his spirit is by believing in his son. So what does God's Holy Spirit do? God's Holy Spirit fulfills
God's promise to me. Write that down, God's
made promises to you. That's why some of you are mad at God because you're claiming
promises he didn't promise. God's promised some things to you. For example, we have
a pastor at our church you're gonna hear from him a
couple more times this summer. His name is Pastor Alfredo Ramos. Anybody love him? Yeah, he's great. He's the secret sauce of Sandals, Alfredo. See what I did there? I thought it was clever,
he thinks it's ridiculous, but Pastor Alfredo and
I are both Lakers fans. Now I don't know if Alfredo is connected to the mafia, or what, but he told me he had inside sources. He promised me that he knew Kawhi Leonard was gonna be a Laker, and I trusted him. I put my faith in trust
in Pastor Alfredo Ramos. Do you know that Kawhi Leonard
did not sign with the Lakers? He signed with L.A.'s JV team. (laughter) The Clippers, I know,
rub it in Clippers fans, rub it in, you hate me. Anybody ever had somebody
make a promise to you, and they didn't keep it? Hurts, now I'm teasing about
Alfredo, I mean, a little bit, but some of you stood on
an altar and you said, and you meant it until death do we part, but the other person standing
there didn't mean it. Broken promises hurt don't they? Some of you had a dad
who swore I'll be there, and he didn't come. Some of you girls had a girlfriend who swore she would never like him, and she married him, right? We've all been lied to. We've all had people
who've made promises to us. Listen to me. God will never give a
promise that he doesn't keep. God's promised his Holy
Spirit to all who follow him, and this is what Paul
says in Galatians 3:14. Through Jesus Christ how
do we receive the spirit? Through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ God
has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised Abraham that we might receive as believers the promised Holy Spirit
through faith and whom? Jesus Christ. Look, you have the spirit of God if you believe in the son of God. Now here's the problem. Some of you have never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of you have never had an encounter with the Holy Spirit, and we're gonna talk about why that is. And here's the thing, just because you are cemented in a
relationship with somebody doesn't mean you're
connected with somebody. Amen, married people. Like you can be married
laying in the same bed, and you ain't connected. You can be in the same
bed and be so far apart from each other emotionally
and spiritually. And the same thing is true with God. Just because your relationship
with God is cemented doesn't mean that you're
connected and right with God. Here's the thing that you need to know about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is personal. He's personal, he is a person, and what that means is you can offend him. You can hurt him, you can grieve him, and when you do those things in your life he pulls back his presence, and blessing, and anointing on your life. And you need to understand that. The Holy Spirit connects me
spiritually, write this down. Spiritually to God through prayer. The primary role of the Holy Spirit is to help you talk to God. That's why a lot of you don't pray because you don't know how to
pray you're afraid to pray. It feels weird I feel like
I'm talking to the air. It's because you don't
have the spirit of God living inside you. The spirit of God helps you
talk to the person of God. He connects you. He gives you all the bars
and signals you need. You got a good connection
you're not cut off, and the Lord hears every word you say. Galatians 4:6. And because we are his children God has sent the spirit of
his son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, Abba. Abba, Father. Now Abba is just an old word
from an ancient language called Aramaic which means daddy, and every parent loves it when their child mouths those first words, dada, mama. There's nothing better than
that in the world, right? Dada, mama, and you don't
even care if it sounds right. Sometimes you even make it,
well, that's what they said. No, no, they just
grunted, they just farted. No, no, they said dada I heard it. And grandparents you're worse. You don't even care what they say. Mama, me me, pee pee,
papa, ooh ooh, ah ah. Grandparents get bizarre
on names you don't care. Come here, come to
grandma, come to grandma. Come to pee pee, come to, come to papa. Right? We just want to be called. Listen to me. I know prayer is scary. I know prayer is intimidating. God just wants you to call out. And it's not about it sounding right. It's about you calling out
and you know who he is. Right? Ephesians 6:18, Pray in the spirit, when? At all times, on every occasion. Here's how we should start every prayer. God, I don't even know what to say. Some of you are scared to
death of praying in public. People are so grateful when
I'm at their house for dinner, food, birthday, 'cause they know they don't
have to pray in public. The pastor's gonna do it. We're gonna have pastors to pray. So I love to mess with people because I'm not just a
Christian I'm also a Jedi, and I can take that pressure, and just send it somewhere else. And I just said, "Thank you
so much for asking me to pray, "but I really feel like Tim
is being called to pray." Let me tell you something dads. your daughters bring a guy home, you want to see if he's the real deal. Oh, dad, he's so cute
and he's loves Jesus. Just throw this on him. Hey, James, we're glad
you're here tonight. I just thought since you have a personal
relationship with Jesus I'd invite you to talk to
him on our behalf in prayer, and bless our food. Go ahead, James, we're all listening. We want to hear about
this intimate relationship that you have with God. Right? 'Cause if you don't have an
intimate relationship with God you may have one with me
so make it a good prayer. People freak out. Married couples, you have all
kinds of intimacy together, but, boy, when it comes to
prayer you're like, uh, duh, uh. You know why that is? You got to start simple. Husbands, just say this,
dad, I don't know what to say because she wants me
to say it help me out. Help me be the spiritual leader
I'm supposed to be, Amen. It doesn't have to be long. It doesn't have to be powerful. It just has to be real. And let me tell you this. A lot of you guys don't pray because you never hear anything back. Listen to me, prayer is not
about you hearing from God. It's about your heavenly
father hearing from you. You know when I call my
mom you know what she says? She always says it's so
good to hear your voice. That's what prayer is. Prayer is not about you
hearing God's voice. Prayer is about God hearing your voice, and he knows his kids, he knows them. Praying the spirit at all
times, and on every occasion, but when it comes to the
Holy Spirit people get weird. They say, well, I pray in
tongues, I don't pray in tongues. What is this, what is
that? Let's talk about it. 1 Corinthians 14:15, Well then, what shall I do? When it comes to prayer. He says, "I will pray in the spirit, "and I will also pray in words." "I will pray in words I
understand and words I don't." And here's the thing when
it comes to the Holy Spirit people try to make sense out of it. Look, there's just some things that we don't understand about our faith. For example, write in your
notes, reread Acts, chapter two when the Holy Spirit
falls upon the church. I want you to pay attention
to a word everyone ignores. The words that everyone pays
attention to are these words. Tongues of fire fell upon us. Everyone ignores these
words they looked like. You know what that means? They don't know what they were. Anytime you see in the Bible and it says it looked like, it might have
been, it could have been. Whenever they're describing things like the head of a lion,
the eyes of a stork, and the legs of a zebra
you know what that means? They don't know what it is. They're doing the best they can, and when it comes to the
spirit we can't explain it. What's important is not how you pray. What's important is are you praying? If the Lord prompts
you to pray in tongues, then pray in tongues. If the Lord prompts you
to use words use words. About a year ago I had my
cousin out and he came over. I'd never met my cousin, cousin's wife, and they had a two-year-old son. I love two-year-olds because two-year-olds are learning, right? They're learning language. You ever met a two-year-old
that's got a word, and they're super impressed
that they know this word, and they're gonna use
it whenever they can. My cousin's son he
learned the word amazing. Now I learned from him that we don't say the
word amazing correctly. Here's how you should say amazing. Next time you say amazing take your butt cheeks and clench them because this is what my
cousin's two-year-old would do. He would clench his butt cheeks, and he would go that's amazing. That's how you should say that word. Just try it, get a cramp, that's amazing. We would go on a walk and he
would see a bug that's amazing. He would see a tree that's amazing. He said it just like that, and I understood exactly what he meant, and he knew what the word meant
so he used it all the time, but then it came time to
eat, and he came up to me, and he doesn't even know who I am, right? He just knows I have food,
and he says zibba, dibba, da. I'm like, what? Zibba, dibba, da. You ever got a two-year-old
that's frustrated because you don't understand
what they're saying? So then they say it
louder and slower, right? That's what we do to other people. Zibba, dibba, da, zibba, dibba, da. Like I don't know what you're
saying, bud, what do you want? Then he gets upset. Zibba, dibba, da, zibba,
dibba, da, zibba, dibba, da. Then he's on the ground zibba, dibba, da. So I ask his dad what does he want? He's like I don't know,
let's call his mom. So we call his mom and
said, "He's freaking out." What's he saying? I don't know that's the problem. Just give me the phone. Give him the phone and
say what do you want? He's goes zibba, dibba, da. She goes, oh, he wants a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich. I'm like, oh. So, I go and I make him a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich, and give it to him and
he's like that's amazing. (laughter) Look, that's what I
think tongues are, right? When you pray in tongues you
don't know what you're saying, but your father knows. Here's the thing. If you're praying in
tongues around other people guess what you need? An interpreter because you might be saying peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but we just think you're weird, right? So that's why at Sandals
we use primarily words that we all understand, okay? 1 John 4:1, Dear friends,
don't believe everyone who claims to speak by the spirit. Ladies, write this down. If a guy tells you God
told him to marry you you don't have to believe him. You can tell him, well,
the Lord knows where I am, and he can touch my heart, you stay away. Don't believe everyone who
claims to speak by the spirit. You must test to see if the
spirit they have comes from God. This breaks my heart, but you know that people
use God to use you. Let me say that again. I don't feel like you guys heard that. People use God to use you. You got it, see, I told you,
the Amen came from over there. They didn't get it. Listen to me. Just because somebody said God said doesn't mean God said it. We got to test the spirit for there are many false
prophets in the world. There's a lot of people who claim to come in the name of God
that have never even met God. We got to be careful. So there's three things. There's three things that I look for, and I want you to write these down. When somebody says they heard God they heard a word from God
there's three things I ask. Number one, is it biblical? Is it biblical? Why do I ask if it's biblical? Well, the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, so if the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, he's not gonna disagree with himself because he knows what he wrote. So if it's biblical and
somebody says God told me, and they something that's biblical I don't have to pray about it. I just listen and I receive it. For example, about 20 years ago I went to a church conference. I went to a church
conference I was all excited. Sandals started go grow. I thought it was a big deal. I thought it was super cool, like, oh, my gosh, God's gonna
use me to do great things. I sat at this table next
to this really old guy, and I was like why are you here? Shouldn't you be taking a nap? Like what, what? You know, I was arrogant, I was. And he was there and I'm like, man, this is about church planting. This is about like what God's doing. This is not about you
I was totally arrogant. So we sat together all
day long and we had lunch. He came back from lunch. He sat down next to me
and he said this he said, "You know, I've been wondering
all day why I'm here." I was like, me too. He said, "And I realized about
three hours ago why I'm here, "and I've been afraid to tell you "what I think God's telling me." I was whoa. He said, "I pastored a church." He said, "I was young and talented, "and God did incredible
things through me." He said, "But I had a sexual
affair with my secretary. "My wife left me and my church fired me, "and my life's never been the same, "and I don't know why God had
me come to this conference "except for the fact that
God's telling me to tell you "don't screw this up." I said, "Message received." Look, guys, if I come up to you and I say don't cheat on your wife you
don't need to pray about it. I'm gonna pray about
it I'm gonna trust God. Right? If I confront you and say you need to quit looking at porn. You're like, well, I'm gonna
run this by my peer group. You don't have to pray about that. You don't have to pray about that. If you're single and you're
having sex outside of marriage, and I say stop it. God's Spirit is telling me
to tell you to knock it off. You don't have to pray about it. God just spoke and you better listen because sometimes when God
speaks and you don't listen he calls you home to
talk to you face to face. We call that death. Right? Nobody ever says that at a funeral. Why they'd go so early? I don't know. Next, if you're not sure if it's biblical is it someone that you trust? Is it someone that's reliable. Is it someone that you know
God has used to speak before. This is why we don't allow at
Sandals traveling prophets. We want people we know,
trust, and live with. I don't know who you
are where you came from. It always amazes me traveling
prophets never have a church. You know why they don't have a church? They're not interested in
relationship, but God is. Is this someone I can trust? Is this someone that's reliable? Everybody's got an opinion
about God, but do they know God? Have they lived for God? Can you trust them? Next, take it your
spiritual community group, and try to unpack it. Say here's what somebody said to me, or here's what I feel like
God's spirit is saying to me. And put it out there on the
table and test that spirit because listen to me. You can get stupid real quick. I met a young couple in our church just a couple of weeks ago. They said, "Pastor, we
want you to pray for us." I said, "Why?" They said, "We're moving away." I said, "Well, why are you moving away?" He said, "Well, I guess
we're stepping out on faith." I said, "Who's faith?" Because what he meant was God's faith, but when I pressed him you
know what he really meant? He really meant faith in himself. What he really meant is I hope
I'm not screwing up my life. I said, "Well, who'd you ask? "Where did you get counsel? "Who did you pray about this with?" You know what the answers were? No one, no one, no one, no one. I said, "I'm not praying for
that, you're on your own." He didn't like that, but you know what? He was on his own. Don't bring me the decision
and ask me to bless it. Bring me in on the process
and ask me to pray for it. And that's what so many of you guys do, you screw up your life. You're like, Lord, bless me. Lord's like, uh-uh. You should have consulted before you listened to the false prophet. And let me just say this, I mean, God can use anyone to speak to you. In the Bible he uses a
donkey to speak to Balaam. And for some of you pray about it. He has to use an ass to speak to one. Okay? He wants to get someone
on your same level. Next, the Holy Spirit directs
me in a way I should live. So I say let the Holy
Spirit guide your lives. I read this article this week. This is a true story you
can look it up on Google. Google Maps sent 150
people to the wrong place. Right? There's no verse in the
Bible that says Google it. It says got it, that's what it says. 150 people all ended up in a
field in the middle of nowhere because there's a glitch on Google Maps. And they were out there in the field. Really, as you saw cow after cow after cow you didn't think we might
be going the wrong way? You know why? Because they're trusting Google. 150 people in the middle of nowhere, miles from their destination. And that's where some of you are. You trust Google more than you do God. The Holy Spirit directs me
in the way I should live. So I say let the Holy
Spirit guide your life. Some of you are living for yourself, and you wonder why your life sucks. Live for God. When you live for the Holy Spirit you won't be doing what
your sinful nature craves. Listen to me, the world
says follow your heart. God says follow me. You see, here's the problem
with our sinful nature. It craves comfort and pleasure, and you know where that road leads? Straight to hell in
this life and the next. The Holy Spirit craves
sacrifice and obedience. Here's what the Holy
Spirit helps you say no to. Yourself. Yourself, and some of you
never thought about this, but how did Jesus Christ do
everything that he did for us? You know what the Bible says? Through the power of his spirit. We don't think of Jesus as being holy spirit filled, but he was. That's how he did it. That's how he said no to himself through the power of the Holy Spirit, and when he left he said, "Guys, listen to me, I'm gonna leave, "but I'm gonna leave you
with something better. "something that's been
with me my whole life, "the Holy Spirit, "and you're gonna be able to do things "that you couldn't do before." The Holy Spirit is nothing to run from. He's everything to run to. The Holy Spirit's gonna lead you. You know what the Holy Spirit's gonna do? It's gonna open your eyes
to things nobody else sees. This week Tammy and I
we went to the beach, and we had a good time together. The surfs been incredible. I was done surfing and husbands, man, if you want to love your wives
and have a great marriage you got to get good at
laying down on the beach. It's torture, but you'll be
able to do it at some point. So that's what she loves to do you just lay on the beach and sleep, so I'm laying there trying to sleep, but I can't because there's
this guy with an annoying voice, and he's talking driving me crazy. And the whole time on the
beach while she's relaxing I'm like will he ever shut up? So I did what you do when
you can't sleep on the beach I just watch people
because that's not awkward as they're in bikinis
and bathing suits, right? That's totally normal, so
I'm just watching everybody, looking around, Tammy's sleeping, and I watch these two sisters helping their older sister to the beach. One sister I'm assuming is
in her late teens, early 20s, and the younger sister is pre-teen, and they're helping their older
sister who has disabilities, and she's having a hard
time walking on the sand. I don't know about you, but sometimes I show up to the beach, and I'm not properly prepared. Well, they showed up to the beach, and they just brought towels, and they didn't bring
their disabled sister a chair to sit on, so I'm watching this. I'm laying down in the
sand and I'm watching this. I'm like how's this gonna go? This is not gonna go good. And I'm thinking somebody should help. (laughter) And all of a sudden
there's this Asian couple right to my left, and I see the Asian lady whack
her Asian husband, whack, and he's like what? And she's like give up your chair. He's like okay, so she grabs his chair. She runs over and she
tells the two sisters, here sit her on this and you
can have it all day long. She runs over and whacks
her husband, sits down, and opens the Bible and starts reading. And then I wanted to watch the two sisters help their disabled
sister sit in the chair, and she's so happy 'cause she's at the
beach with her sisters, but I can't get a good angle
so I have to move my chair that I'm not using out of the way, so I can
watch the Holy Spirit work, and then I go, uh. How many guys have ever
been in a situation where you're like, man,
somebody should do something. I sure wish God had
somebody here to fix this. God you really need to
put people everywhere because there's a lot of things that need to be healed in this world, and I just really think
if you had a believer that was present somebody
could handle this situation. And I'm like I am the
biggest idiot in the world. I wasn't using my chair watching
someone who needed a chair, but then God the Holy Spirit
tapped somebody on the shoulder who was listening and
she whacked her husband, and solved the situation. Amen, ladies. Next, the Holy Spirit empowers
me to live like Jesus. Just like the Holy Spirit
empowered Jesus to be Jesus the Holy Spirit wants to
empower you to live like Jesus, but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. This is what God wants to do in your life. Some of you aren't sure if
you want God in your life. Let me tell you, Galatians 5:22 and 23 tells you why you want God. The Holy Spirit produces
this in our lives. Circle this word love. Anybody like, pastor,
I'm just so full of love. If I have anymore love in my heart I'm just gonna pop I'm gonna die. I love my wife too much,
she loves me too much. My kids, my family, I love my job. I love people on the 91 Freeway. I cannot have anymore love. Man, we need love in every situation. I need help loving my kids. This last week I needed
help loving my wife. We got in a fight on
the way to small group. That's when you do it
when you're a Christian. We got in such a bad fight we
didn't make it to small group. I had to text them we will not be coming. Why? Ran out of love. We did, and what's sad is
she wasn't even mad at me, but I'm so gifted I made her mad at me. Guys, any other guys have that super power it's not even you at the beginning, but it is you at the end. It's like what happened? We worked it out, she repented. (laughter) Everybody knows who has to repent it's me. How about this next one? The Holy Spirit produces joy. Where's the happiest place on Earth? Disneyland, anybody been there? Oh, my gosh, you want to
kill your kids two hours in. Some kids die on the tram. You will have a good time, Johnny. Singles, I love watching
single people fight in line because where you gonna go? You just do one of these. You're texting your
friends he's such an idiot, but I'm trapped in line. This is a true story. I got spanked when I
was a kid at Disneyland. My mom bought a paddle with ears. The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in your life, peace. You know why our society
has to have legal marijuana? Because we're just full of anxiety. We're more comfortable than
human beings have ever been, and yet we're more anxious
than we've ever been. You don't need marijuana
you need the Messiah. That's what you need. Listen to what Jesus says. The peace I give is not the
peace that the world gives. Look, marijuana will make you numb. Jesus will make you
right, and you need that. How about this next one? Patience, anybody like lame at patience? Anybody see those people
the people at Disneyland during the earthquake? They got trapped on the ride upside down. Oh, yeah, with a 7.1 earthquake shut all the rides down at Disneyland, and then they got some magical voice. Greetings, travelers. Your spaceship will be
momentarily disabled as you hang upside down. Let me just tell you something. I am not going to momentarily
wait for anything. I'm smacking the old lady next to me. I don't care I'm out of my mind, and they'll all like filming
each other upside down trapped. Anybody need Holy Spirit patience? Oh, my gosh, I'll be freaking out. We're all gonna die. There's no hope for any of you. Kindness, you know why
Tammy and I got in a fight? It's how I responded. It sounded kind on the inside. It didn't come out kind,
not even kind of kind. This one, goodness. Here's what the Holy
Spirit wants you to do is be a good person. The Holy Spirit wants to
change you, transform you. If you're a millennial
circle this next word. If you don't know if you're a millennial, you probably aren't. Faithfulness, it means
you can stay at a job longer than four hours. They're like, oh, my gosh,
this job is not my career. Dude, you're 17, relax. The Holy Spirit can help you. Listen to me, stick it out. When you want to give up, when you want to throw in the towel. The old translations
call it long suffering. Some of you can't even do short suffering. I might have a headache,
I need an aspirin. Gentleness. Man, I've had to learn that. Some of you, you've been to the doctors, and the doctor said, "If you don't change your
lifestyle you're gonna die." And you can't change your lifestyle. You know what the Holy
Spirit can help you with? Self-control. Right? What if you can't do it on your own? The Holy Spirit can. Next, the Holy Spirit gives
supernatural gifts in miracles. I ask you again does God
give you the Holy Spirit, and work miracles among you
because you obey the law? Of course not, it is because
you believe the message you heard about Christ. Listen to me. If you reject the spirit you
reject everything powerful, amazing, and miraculous about God. Some of you you don't need a miracle now, but you might need one,
and what that means is you want the Holy Spirit in your life. Everything that's miraculous. Everything that's beyond what
we can do is the Holy Spirit. So how do I reconnect with God's spirit? Write this down. I got to open my heart to
the work of the Holy Spirit. You know what many of our problems are is we've given our hearts to someone, and something else other than God, and they've broken our hearts. I got to open my heart to
the work of the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Do
not stifle the Holy Spirit." That's what some of you are doing. Your life and your decision is strangling the work
of God in your life. You've quenched it, you've turned him off, you've turned him away. You've grieved the spirit of God. And you know why that is? For some of you it's sin in your life. The reason you can't hear from God is because you won't let
God deal with your sin. For some of you it's pride. You believe you can do it on your own. Some of you it's fear. You're afraid of what
the Holy Spirit might do. And let me just say this. For a lot of you it's drugs. Whenever you see in the Bible
you see the word witchcraft, do not practice witchcraft, the Greek word is always
this word pharmakeia. It's where we get our
English word pharmacy. Drugs connect you with
every spirit but God. You need to understand that. That's why most of the
ancient world, right? It's why Indians smoke peyote. They're not connecting with the spirit. They're connecting with a spirit. And the next time you see some meth head talking to somebody that
you can't see, listen to me. Maybe there is something there, and that drug has allowed them to see it. We don't know what that is. It's why the Bible says don't get into it. And let me say this. Just because something is
legal doesn't mean it's right. Galatians 5:25, Since we
are living by the spirit, let us follow the spirit's leading in every part of our lives, and let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or
be jealous of one another. As you unpack this in your
community groups this week don't turn it into a fight. If it becomes a fight, or it
becomes a theological argument you did something wrong. It's easy to become conceited. It's easy to provoke one another when it comes to the Holy Spirit, and it's easy to be jealous
of one another's gifts. You don't need someone else's gift. You need the gift the Holy
Spirit wants to give you. Lastly, listen for the
Holy Spirit's leading. When the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth. When I'm done with my
message here at this campus Aurelio Melendrez is gonna come out here, and he's gonna give the call to offering. You know, I met Aurelio in the lobby, and as soon as I met him I instantly knew the Holy Spirit wanted to
do something in his life. Listen to me guys. He didn't even want to
come to Sandals Church. He only came because his wife made him. Sometimes, ladies, you got
to do that, move the chair. And week after week we kept
bumping into each other, and then we became friends, and then ultimately we both heard God say, you're not supposed to be a cop. You're supposed to be a pastor. And he left his career
being a police officer, and he came to work at Sandals Church all because I heard the Holy
Spirit say talk to that person. Let me say this. The Holy Spirit doesn't need your power, but he does need your mouth, and he does need your feet, and he needs you to be obedient, and there might be somebody
here today whose saying, God, if you're real would you talk to me, and God wants to use your
mouth to talk to him. God can use you to change people's lives. It's not you, it's the
spirit of the almighty God, but, unfortunately, some of us today are disconnected from God. One of my favorite Psalms
in the Bible is by David who cried out these words. O God, do not take your
Holy Spirit from me. David was like kill me, take away my job, take away my life, punish me. O God, please don't ever take
your Holy Spirit from me, but renew a right spirit within me God. And that's what we need to pray today. God would you renew a
right spirit within me. Now let me just say this. If you're not right with Jesus
you don't have the spirit that may be the decision
you need to make today. You cannot receive the spirit of God if you have not believed
in the son of God, but some of you today
you believe in Jesus, but you have pushed the Holy Spirit. You have quenched the Holy Spirit. You have stifled the
Holy Spirit in your life, and you need to open
yourself up to him today, and that's what we're gonna do right now. So I'm gonna invite you to bow your head, and close your eyes. You can choose to peek if you want to. I can't make you do anything, but would you just bow your
head and close your eyes, and would you just open up
your hands, both of your hands, palms facing up. You can leave them on your lap. You can lift them up a little bit. You can raise them to the
ceiling, whatever you want. Whatever you're comfortable with, but right now I just want all of us to ask the Holy Spirit to fill our lives, to empower us, to strengthen
us, to gift us, to guide us, to help us to feel God's
presence right here, right now. The Holy Spirit's not gonna
lead you to do anything that's gonna draw attention
to yourself right now. The Holy Spirit's gonna lead you to draw your attention to him. Holy Spirit, in this place as
we're quiet, as we're silent, we cry out to you and we
need the spirit of God. Lord, some of us are
miserable, our lives are awful. We're so disconnected from you. We're so separate from you,
and we need you in our lives. We repent of our sin. We open our hearts, and we submit ourselves to your movement, your power, your strength. Holy Spirit, we invite you into our lives, into our church, into this place. In Jesus' name, Amen. I love you Sandals Church, God bless. Hey, I'm Pastor Matt, super excited and thankful
that you took time to watch any of the content
on SandalsChurch.TV. I would love to invite you to be a part of just those who support the
ministry of Sandals Church. Look, I realize many of
you go to other churches, and I'm not encouraging you to take any money away from that, but any amount that you
could give to help us continue to provide this
content online for free. That's the heart of Sandals Church. And some of you, man,
you're not a Christian, but you watch this, and you're feeling led
by God to give something. Any amount helps. It helps us continue to
provide this content online, and I just am so blessed that you would just take
time to pray about it, and all gifts are welcome. Thank you so much for
helping Sandals Church teach people how to be real.
