"Our Need of the Holy Spirit" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

today we're gonna be talking about a subject that probably for the next two weeks that is very important and it's dealing with the need of the Holy Spirit you know we take it for granted if you've been a Christian for a few years you know something about the Holy Spirit and the importance and the need of the Holy Spirit and the role of the Holy Spirit but we often have new people that are coming in and and this is so foundational there's some things a pastor should probably talk about every year almost every year I talk about the importance of your devotional life and reading the scriptures and this is one of those subjects the important role of the Holy Spirit in a person's life I remember hearing about an old farmer all his neighbors were beginning to rave about these chainsaws that had come out this as many years ago and they said Zeb you got got to get yourself one of these chainsaw so you'll be able to cut three times as much wood as you can now and so he finally said all right he was a little resistant to change but he he went down to the local farm supply and he got himself a chainsaw about a week later he came back and he told the owner of the store he said I want my money back he said this thing doesn't work he's it's taking me three times as long to cut the same amount of wood as I did before and the guy said well let me see your saw he handed him the saw and he checked the oil he checked the gas he turned on the switch and he pulled the cord he went move the rubber room and the farmer jumped back and said what's that noise he'd been trying to cut all that wood without starting the song and it kind of reminds me of what happens at a lot of people's lives we tried to do the works of the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit and it becomes very frustrating actually impossible and so I can't overstate the need for us to have the power of the Holy Spirit if we're going to be Christiane's it is a priority the Holy Spirit is a priority for believers the Bible begins and ends with the Holy Spirit you read in Genesis the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and then you jump to Revelation the spirit and the bride say come there in the last chapter the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus started with the Holy Spirit Matthew 3:16 and Jesus when he was baptized he came up out of the water and the heavens were opened and lo the Holy Spirit descended Lankin down he was anointed with the spirit and then as he is ascending to heaven jesus said go ye therefore teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit so it's the beginning in the end of the Bible it's the beginning in the end of the gospel and Jesus tells us it's a must for the Christian John chapter 3 verse 5 he said to Nicodemus most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of the water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit don't marvel that I say to you you must be born again now what is that new birth mean what's he talking about born again listen don't marvel that I say to you you must be born again the wind blows where it wishes you hear the sound of it you can't tell where it comes from or where it goes so is everyone who is born of the Spirit so what is the new birth Jesus just said you must be born again so is everyone who is born of the Spirit and he said most assuredly unless you are born of the water and the spirit you must be born again in the Holy Spirit if you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven it's a it's a must it's a criteria it's essential to salvation this is where the power comes from it's a life-and-death issue if you believe the Bible let me give you a few more verses life-and-death issue Romans 8 verse 6 to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace talking about being filled with a mind of the Holy Spirit Romans 8 verse 9 but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not his that means if you do not have the Holy Spirit you are not his that's the group that when the Lord comes he says I don't know you now I'll be talking in a moment what does it mean to have the Holy Spirit but I just I wanted to lay down the groundwork it's a must this is not optional we must be born again we must have the Holy Spirit and you don't want to try to live the Christian life without the Christian spirit so a little disclaimer a little clarification before I dive in when we talk about the Holy Spirit people often wonder are we talking about a what or a who biblically the Holy Spirit is a who but sometimes when you have a strange creature you might call it an int and so the Holy Spirit because he is difficult for us to comprehend sometimes you'll find even in the bible it's referred to as it and we talk about the Holy Spirit as a power but technically the Holy Spirit is a person and just a few scriptures to bear that out for example I'm giving you a lot of scripture so you may want to just jot these down and you can look some of them up later acts 5 verse 3 and 4 Peter said to Ananias why is Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit he just told a lie he says you've not lied to man but to God when you lie to the Holy Spirit he says you're lying to God the Holy Spirit has all of the characteristics that would make you a unique person or an individual the Bible says the Holy Spirit can be grieved and you read that in Ephesians 4:30 do not quench the Holy Spirit 1st Thessalonians 5:19 the Holy Spirit is someone to who can be resisted in acts 13 it says they fasted and then the Holy Spirit said well Holy Spirit's speaking they could have said Jesus said but it says the Holy Spirit said so why do we need the Holy Spirit well first of all it's a very beginning we need the Holy Spirit to draw us right from the start now a person might think well pastor Doug I've not been baptized yet and does that mean I don't have the Holy Spirit no because it's the Holy Spirit that leads you to understand your need of God the Holy Spirit draws you right from the very beginning something happens in your heart you John 6:44 no man can come to me jesus said unless the father who sent me draws him jeremiah 31:3 yes I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness I've drawn you see up on the screen they got a sunflower you ever seen a field of sunflowers you drive over West Texas and they grow cotton and they grow sunflower sunflowers they use a lot of it for feed for animals but you can see in the morning this whole field is aimed a certain way when the sunflowers get big and full and then as the Sun goes across the sky you see this whole field like solar panels they turn and they track the Sun it's like they're being drawn to the light and that's what's happening in the heart of somebody when they're under conviction and they're realizing something bigger is happening in life that they're missing this power is drawing them and it's again it's hard to describe and you might say well pastor Doug I have trouble understanding the Trinity I remember reading about a theologian dr. Wilbur Smith he said the man who rejects the Trinity may lose a soul the man who tries to understand the Trinity may lose his mind it is a deep subject because here you are a finite creature and we are talking about understanding an infinite God and so right there at the beginning you can see there'd be a problem we're trying to understand an infinite God and yet we are finite we're limited in our understanding so when we talk about the spirit it's the most misunderstood member of the Godhead you know if I say this mental image pops into your head probably like some of the many pictures you've seen of Christ that just helps you fill in the blank or even if I were to say God the Father you've probably got a bearded individual does anyone have a clean-shaven God the Father in their mental picture oh it's no he's got to be hearing right and but when I say Holy Spirit you know I don't think anyone's thinking about Casper I remember when I went to a Catholic school they used to say in the Holy Ghost and you'll find that in there and that used to throw me that the Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost and I'd ghosts for me we're not good so but that's it's it comes from the word pneuma it means the holy wind it's it's an ethereal person sometimes described is fires sometimes water with Jesus just talked about it's like wind and they had a music group called that was Earth Wind and Fire so it's an ethereal thing and it's hard sometimes for us to understand so but don't let that throw you the Holy Spirit teaches us and guides us this is part of the work of the Holy Spirit John 14:26 but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he notice he not it he will teach you all things now when it says he teaches you all things that doesn't mean you become all-knowing it means he's teaching you all things that you need to know for salvation he'll teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I've said to you now don't miss this it's wonderful that the Holy Spirit will help you remember the Word of God just when you need it most they'll bring to your remembrance promises to comfort you he'll you're giving the Bible study to someone someone else's discouraged they need the Word of God Holy Spirit will remind you of a verse at that time in sermon preparation I pray and the Holy Spirit is reminding me of verses but you know the Holy Spirit will never ever remind you of a verse you have not first rend so the Holy Spirit is there to bring things that Jesus said to your remembrance that's assuming that you have read and listened to the things that Jesus said he might bring it to remembrance from something you've read or you may have heard it in a message or quoted but the Holy Spirit will bring these words to life and you know I put up a moment a picture of someone being led by a guide dog and people who are blind that have these guide dogs I often have a little handle or specialized leash on there they can't see but they are trusting the sight of the dog and the little body movements and inflections and of that they become very sensitive to the the posture of the dog and where it is moving and the little changes in its direction so they are seen through the guidance of the dog and the Holy Spirit will guide us Holy Spirit will comfort us and not only have a guide dogs they now have comfort dogs they buy for people they find that they settle down when they're agitated I don't know if I should compare the Holy Spirit to a dog but you know what you get if you spell dog backwards maybe I shouldn't do that I'm sorry but I just want you to realize that he brings comfort you read on here John 6:63 it is the spirit that quickeneth leche prophets and nothing the words that I speak to you they are spirit there's something different about the Spirit of God speaking the words of God they are life and again Kalash I'm sorry first corinthians 2:14 the natural man or the unsaved man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned if a person is not being drawn by the spirit that they've resisted the Spirit of God and you start to talk to them about heavenly things they go who are these crazy people what are they talking about this stuff I mean if you can't see it you don't believe in their right that's what they think I remember there were about 6,000 years people didn't believe in cellphones because you can't understand how those signals go through the air right now we laugh at people that don't believe in cellphones just because people couldn't understand something for 6,000 years doesn't mean it wasn't there we may not understand the working of the Holy Spirit but when God says it's real and I can tell you I felt the power of the Holy Spirit it is real he is real that it's something you can trust john 16:13 however when he the Spirit of Truth has come he will guide you into all truth he'll not speak on his own authority but what he hears he'll speak and they'll tell you things to come he even shows you things ahead of time the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as that still small voice sometimes we may confuse the Holy Spirit with our conscience it's really God's conscience speaking to us it's like when it says you will hear a voice behind the saying this is the way walk in it any of you ever had a very strong impression then you later found out why you're just getting ready to pull out into the intersection and even though the light was green he thought stop again and look both ways and all of a sudden someone came shooting out and you thought what was it that made me think to stop a second time he ever had an experience like that and the spirit sometimes will be guiding us in Supernatural ways first John 2:27 but the anointing that you've received from him abides in you that same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and not a lie just as it has taught you he will abide you will abide in him so it's totally nough said the Spirit will teach us now that doesn't mean that we don't need other people to teach us but when you've got the Holy Spirit you read something and it resonates with you you hear something you say that's the truth I don't know we get a lot of mail at amazing facts and hope I can say this so it's not misunderstood I can't count how many times someone has written several amazing facts employees are here that can testify to this where people tell us I have been going to church all my life searching different churches and if something wasn't right or searching different religions and then we ran into your Bible studies and we knew we had found the truth we just hear that all the time it just resonates they say this this makes sense it resonates with the spirit and they know it's true jesus said he that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says you need your ears enlightened spiritually so whether reading the Bible or listening to a sermon the Holy Spirit will help us to identify the words of life we need the Holy Spirit for cleansing we now need ongoing cleansing of the Spirit it's the spirit that first draws us and then it's the spirit that fills us but first before it fills us it cleans us it's like if you go to an old hand pump that you find out there in the desert somewhere and there's a cup on the ground and you want a drink of water you look up the cup it's been sitting there out in the open in the desert you say I'd like to drink out of this cup and I got water in the pump what's the first thing you do with the water drink out of the cup or you wash the cup with the water isn't that what you do so you'll wash the cup you just wash the outside you wash it inside and out you rinse it you hold it up to the light and now you put the water in it and you fill the cup for drinking so it's the Holy Spirit that washes us and it also is the Holy Spirit that then fills us for use after cleansing and I think bleach is wonderful stuff but it's powerful to you miss apply it you can get burned and I cleaned with bleach every now and then and I just think it's wonderful how white it makes things but then I got to use lotion afterwards or it starts cracking your hands any of you ever taken a shower and then someone else turned on the water and all of a sudden you're all soaked up and now you have a trickle you ever try to shower with a trickle of water oh and the Holy Spirit counts the water is turned on and it cleanses us Romans 15:16 that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable sanctified by the holy spirit the word sanctified means cleansed by the Holy Spirit 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 God from the beginning chose you for salvation through the sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth and so God's Spirit has a cleansing effect and then we need the Holy Spirit once you've been cleansed and once you've been drawn to actually live the Christian life that's why when a person was baptized the Holy Spirit was received now the Holy Spirit could come before baptism that's what happened in Acts chapter 10 with Cornelius the Holy Spirit can come after baptism that's what happened with the Apostles they were baptized but later received the filling of the Spirit the Holy Spirit can come at baptism that's what happened with Jesus and many others in the Bible you can read in Acts chapter 19 these men were baptized in the Holy Spirit filled them Peter says repent and be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and so when you consecrate yourself to God he then gives you this special person of the Spirit in your life someone once said that the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the truth with our heads believe the truth with our hearts and live the truth with our hands you might put it this way the Holy Spirit begins with a wisdom and then worship and then works and so as we've received the Holy Spirit and we've been drawn in our minds we understand these things intellectually we believe it in our hearts then the Holy Spirit helps you we practice it in your life so we're empowered then in a number of ways for one thing God calls us to be his witnesses when God gives you the spirit he wants you to live the life but he wants you to then share it with others you can read Luke chapter 2 verse 24 behold I send the promise of my father upon you tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high and Holy Spirit was to help them share their faith it's like in the temple there was oil that made the lamp burn it's the power of the Spirit that helps us to let our light shine right this is exciting stuff for me too this is so basic to the Christian life don't you get excited thinking about the Holy Spirit God said if you've got the spirit you're his acts 1:8 jesus promised you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be witnesses to me did he say you'll receive the Holy Spirit you'll speak in tongues or did they speak in tongues so they could be witnesses you'll be witnesses for me in the city of Jerusalem and Judea and the other most parts of the earth notice this Old Testament Psalm 51 King David do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me oh wait pass the duck I thought Jesus said I need to go away and I'll send the Holy Spirit I don't think the Holy Spirit came until New Testament times you ever heard that wasn't it Pentecost when the Holy Spirit finally came when did that be sad to think that it was four thousand years into church history before people experienced God's Spirit no a God's Spirit was there at the very beginning what happened after Christ was a special empowering of the Spirit where the miracles of God took off like never before it was the former rain of the Holy Spirit you will see it again before the end of time which is why I'm talking about this do you remember the scripture reading we just had it'll come to pass and the last day is I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh do you know that Peter quoted that verse Peter quoted Joel when he started preaching he said this is the fulfillment of that prophecy wait 2,000 years ago it was fulfilled because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church to launch the New Testament church but it's gonna come again to ripen the crop before Jesus comes we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the church in a special way so four witnesses do not cast me away from your presence do not take your Holy Spirit from me notice what happens restore to me the joy of your salvation uphold me with your generous spirit then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you even way back then David's talking about giving Bible studies through the Holy Spirit and people being converted and so you need the spirit to share you ever been talking to someone else and you want to witness about Christ and you send up a prayer say lord help me know what to say you are asking the Holy Spirit to guide you and how often I prayed and said Lord I'd like to talk to them about you but I don't know how to do it without being awkward can you help do something with this conversation so I can talk about spiritual things all of a sudden the conversational change and it creates a way for me to talk about God the Holy Spirit does that so to be witnesses we need the Holy Spirit for love joy peace and comfort and if you want those things they're all gifts of the Spirit Galatians 5:22 I won't read the whole thing but it says the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace we all want that in her life the Holy Spirit brings that into our life well one love we want joy we want God's love we want peace even in the previous verse Psalm 51 he said restore to me the joy of your salvation through the Holy Spirit Romans 5:5 because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts how by the Holy Ghost so if to church members are having problems loving each other what do they need more of the Holy Spirit God says love your enemies if you can't love each other there's some spirit missing somewhere if we've got the Holy Spirit we'll have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts amen all men will know you're my disciples by your love for one another how does it happened through the Holy Spirit we love in a supernatural way John 14:27 Jesus said peace I give to you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you we should have that joy we should have that peace don't you want to be around loving joyful peaceful people or would you rather be around anxious mean people if we've got the Holy Spirit we will be attractive to the world isn't that right I mean you know we don't want to encourage the depressed but do you want to hang around them we want to be joyful John 16 verse 7 nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away but I don't go away the comforter will not come to you but if I depart I will send him to you he says not talking about himself he's talking about another person notice that I'll send him to you he will bring comfort to you Christ is saying I'm here now he's there but I'll go there he'll come here it's very clear you got two different people involved right in this but what does he do he's a defense attorney Edward is Paraclete he is a comforter acts 9:31 then the churches throughout all Judea Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified walking in the fear of the Lord in the comfort of the Holy Spirit and they disciples were multiplied the church was growing Romans 14 7 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit now it doesn't mean that there's nothing to learn about eating and drinking but the real basics are righteousness and joy and peace in holy spirit it's so sad you know so many people in the world around you they're going through life they just have this egg anxious agony they're drinking and popping pills and entertaining themselves into a frenzy of till they just dull because they don't have the Holy Spirit one of the reasons I'm a Christian is I met some spiritual Christians I met people you know I went through the whole hippie thing and I tried lots of different drugs and the reason we drank and did drugs is cuz we were looking for something we were empty we're looking for that hi we thought this is what life is all about isn't there anything more exhilarating some people try and find the high through seeking thrills adrenaline junkies or buying acquiring things a lot of people with drugs I meant some people I kept thinking what are they taking there's an old Christian couple but they just were so happy all the time I thought how can anyone really be that happy and you'd see them they just were happy the sun came up they were happy about y'all just everything and i thought what if they God and I was intrigued I thought you mean it's free it's not illegal and it doesn't leave you with a hangover and they're happy oh wow well that would be a pretty good deal if you could be just high all the time on God now I don't want to be degrading to the work of the Holy Spirit but it is better than any drug induced high when you got the joy and the love in your heart and you see people just want to sing because they're so happy that's worth telling other people about so the Holy Spirit gives you this joy and he gives you peace and he gives you comfort and most importantly or not maybe most but certainly important we need the power of the Holy Spirit to obey God to do the work I remember years ago when Karen and I were in Russia in the city of Stavropol where we happen to be they use trolley buses they were buses that were electric and they connected to overhead lines and it's a strange sight in these cities because all between the buildings are cables strung with power lines in the middle of the street for the buses and it's creative because up and down every street of these cables overhead you don't want to fly a kite in that town because you could be dangerous on a wet day but the bus cable think the bus can turn and the arm that goes above the bus is loaded on a spring tension thing so it rests and it just tracks and they it's an engineering marvel how even though it's turning up different streets it's following it knows how to track the right cable and the buses on tires so the guy driver actually controls if he's got to stay pretty much in the middle of the road to keep the cable up above and I remember seeing this one bus the driver he went too wide on a turn and the cable overhead became disconnected Buster's stopped like that and it was full of people and so all the people climbed out or at least some of them climbed down to the bus and the drivers stayed there and they pushed the bus back into the right path then the driver got out and I thought was a dangerous job he had some fiberglass pole and a tool and he had to pull the arm on the bus back down and get it under the cable and let it go and it made contact again it followed this like a little rail follow the cable people just got back in and I thought well they could have just skipped the wires and all got out and pushed the boat bus wherever they wanted it to go but that would have been a lot harder so instead they put their energy into getting the bus lined up with the cable and reconnecting the cable and that was the more efficient way to do it a lot of Christians and a lot of churches go through life pushing the bus around instead of spending their time connecting to the power if we'd really think about what do we need to do to be filled with the Holy Spirit do ian's is a lot easier when you're connected to the power came in now listen to why I say this is important by the way you've heard me quote several times from John chapter 8 John chapter 8 is all about the Holy Spirit from the first to the last verse I'm sorry Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 verse 13 14 for if you live after the flesh you will die I quoted this earlier but catch this but if through the spirit you mortify the deeds of the body how are we going to put down the living for the flesh through the spirit you mortify the deeds of the body you will live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God and daughters of God so instead of being controlled by the flesh if we are controlled by the Spirit otherwise you're dead Zechariah 4:6 not by might nor by power but by what by my spirit says the Lord of Hosts in Ezekiel 36 27 I will put my spirit in you this is the New Covenant and I will cause you to walk in how many of you like say Lord please cause me to walk in your ways he says this is what I'll do how I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them when when he puts his spirit in us so we should be praying and seeking desiring the Holy Spirit more than anything because otherwise attempting to live a Christian life without the Christian spirit is drudgery that's a quote from steps to Christ acts 5:32 we are his witnesses to these things and so also is the holy spirit who God has given to those that obey Him so God gives us the spirit to obey and then God gives the spirit to those who do obey the filling of the Spirit is a power that cannot be trusted to those who are in open rebellion so it's the Holy Spirit that draws us and then it's the Holy Spirit that fills us it's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to obey and then when we do obey he fills us for witnessing you know I I remember hearing about a Navy submarine I guess it's the Navy that has the submarines it's not an airforce submarine the Navy submarine that somehow lost power and it's settled but fortunately it was in relatively shallow waters so they sent this special Navy vessel very quickly it was just deep enough where the men could not get out and like swim to the surface but they sent a special submarine they lowered these large canvas bags they were sealed waterproof bags they somehow got them under some key positions of the submarine they hooked them into some cleats that they had on the submarine and then from the ship they pumped air from above down into the bags as the bags filled with air it lifted this enormous nuclear submarine back to the surface and their little tubes of air that came down I didn't happen right away but they filled the bags and they were able to lift the submarine I guess the submarines probably pretty heavy you couldn't lift one but the power of the air to lift it and that air from above did something that was miraculous and that's what we need we need the power of God's Spirit to lift us towards heaven it comes from above we need the Holy Spirit to pray right now you pray for the Holy Spirit to pray through the Holy Spirit you pray for the Holy Spirit to pray through the spirit Romans chapter 8 verse 26 I told you about Romans 8 likewise the spirit also helps in our weakness for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought to but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered you know when we were having Sabbath school this morning I was listening as Huff T's and Shamika and Emma and Brad were singing and I commented to someone I said they sound wonderful and then just before I got up to teach they were singing a song and I asked to sing along with them acapella and I've never sounded so good as when I sang with them something about their voices made my voice sound much better and when you pray in the spirit the Holy Spirit makes your prayers as awkward and stumbling as they may sound to you eloquent before God if you're praying with your heart the thing that makes our prayer so beautiful to God is our sincerity 1st Corinthians 14:15 what is the conclusion then I will pray with the spirit and I'll also pray with the understanding we pray with our minds and we pray in the Holy Spirit you know we all know that bats see with sonar now in case you didn't know a lot of bats fly in the dark but when we went to Fiji we saw a lot of bats that fly in the day and they've got great big eyes and very good vision so the idea of being blind as a bat some bats see very well and they fly in the day but we're thinking about these nighttime bats and some of these cave bats they got almost their eyes are almost little microscopic vestigial reminisce they don't see very well but their hearing is incredible and the way they create pictures of their environment is they are constantly emitting these loud squeak setters supersonic human ears can't hear them they've got equipment that can hear and they've tested it before and it is bouncing that's where we get sonar they're they're high-frequency sounds they're making are bouncing off their environment and it is so precise that they can detect a little bug and catch it with sonar but what's amazing is if they stop squeaking they run into things when they stop making that noise they crash it's the constant noise that helps them to fly successfully the Bible says you and I are to pray without ceasing and as we are praying constantly talking to this as we go through life and were walking with God that's what it means to walk with God is to be praying in the Holy Spirit it guides us through life and you can avoid crashing that way amen so maybe I'll conclude by asking the big question and I'll talk more about the Holy Spirit next week but how do we receive the Holy Spirit I'd hate to in this message I got more to say but I don't want to end this message without giving you that very important element I'm not gonna say everything but I want to give you something so how do we receive the Holy Spirit first of all jesus promised if I send to heaven I will send the Holy Spirit did he ascend to heaven has he retracted his promise of sending the Spirit then the Holy Spirit is still just as available to you and me today as it was when he told the Apostles I will send the spirit but we have a part to play in receiving the spirit for one thing you need to ask Luke 11:13 if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask don't you want to give necessary things to your children when your children say I'm hungry do you enjoy them being hungry or do you want to satisfy their need and Jesus used this illustration he says even you who are evil love your children you'll give them good gifts how much more will your Father in Heaven give his children the Holy Spirit notice when they ask him so what's one of the things we're supposed to do ask God is polite he doesn't want to force his way into anyone's life he will come into the life of those who ask if you don't ask he will not come ask him Zechariah 10:1 ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain and the Lord will make bright clouds and give them showers of rain Acts chapter 2 verse 38 another criteria Peter says repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so as we empty ourselves God will then Phyllis you know there is a great statement in the book desire of Ages page 250 there is no limit that means limitless there is no limit to the usefulness of someone who put in self aside makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit on the heart and lives a life holy consecrated to God one reason we don't receive the Holy Spirit is it requires room we need room in our hearts if our hearts are so full of everything else and we're just saying to the Holy Spirit you know I think I can find a little room for you in the back of the bus Holy Spirit will say well I don't want to bother you we really need to make room and say you know Lord I don't want my life to be full of a little spirit and everything else but having God in our hearts has got to be the most important thing you will search for me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart I will pour water on him that is thirsty blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness when you want the Holy Spirit when you ask for the Holy Spirit I'll pour water on you he's talking about though the living water of his spirit heard about a city slicker that moved to the country he bought a milk cow from his neighbor few weeks later he came back and complained to his neighbor he said you know your cow just isn't putting out very much milk and neighbor said well I don't understand that cow was putting out a gallon and a half a day says how often do you milk it so when I need some milk I milk it so that sometimes we need a pitcher of milk for dinner and so I'll milk a picture and sometimes we just need a cup for some cereal or I said I milk a cup basis aw this is a cow's gonna dry out he says you got to milk that cow for all it will give every time twice a day and it will keep giving milk it has to be that way with us for the Holy Spirit where we want we're trying to get as much is we can all do you think God's ever gonna say to us I don't get greedy about the Holy Spirit you you're taking more than your share of the Holy Spirit we may have a drought like we had here in California you think God's having the Holy Spirit drought and you got a ration your Holy Spirit or should you be praying for the fullness of the Spirit doesn't God want to baptize us with the spirit you know sometimes I think in our church we we think that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is on a chronological clock you know here you've got the seven last plagues and you get the mark of the beast and you've got the you know the trumpets and then you got the Holy Spirit will fall here on this day I don't believe it's like that I think God is down there and he's waiting for us to make room in our calendar for the Holy Spirit it's not like it's on his calendar on such-and-such a date I'm gonna pour out the Holy Spirit he wants to pour out the Holy Spirit now he promised to send it when he came the first time but we need to ask amen ask for his spirit and he will send it to you you know I remember I used to love to fly kites and I went to Central Park one day and on some days you could go to Central Park and you see all these kids out there flying kites but there was a very important need if you're gonna fly a kite you know what that is you need some win how many of you have seen a kid they got a new kite and couldn't wait to fly it they went outside to fly the kite but there was no wind so what did they have to do you got to create artificial wind and see you run have you ever watched that gets tiring pretty quick if the only way that kite goes up is you got to run a kid can only run around the middle so long and then pretty soon they're just tuckered out to forget about this I this is no fun at all and you're running one way and the kites in the other direction you're like you're running into trees trying to watch your kite I know I've done this how much better if you pray for a windy day and you get to stand still and fly the kite you know I think a lot of churches a lot of Christians instead of praying for the power of God's Spirit and making that the priority of really walk with God and listening to God and being filled with God and doing everything we can to cooperate with God and appreciating God in our lives or running around trying to do all the things we can humanly do to keep the kite in the air as soon as you stop it falls and we're wearing ourselves out we're what we need is wind you know when they prayed the Bible says in Acts chapter two they were all in one place and I've one Accord and they prayed and the place was shaken and there was a sound of a mighty wind and then the church began to take off when the disciples put away their differences when they humbled themselves when they asked God for the Holy Spirit God said it and he sent it in mighty power I know that's what I need in my life I'm talking about this because I figured you're not that different that what the church needs today is the Holy Spirit it's wonderful that God's blessed us for this place it's wonderful that we're building a bigger facility but if we have all of that and we don't have the spirit what do we have we don't have anything but if we have those tools and we have the power of the Holy Spirit what God can accomplish is unlimited amen I want to be filled with the spirit I want to have the love and the joining the Peace of the Holy Spirit is that your desire now there's been a little change in your bulletin I was talking with shamekh and we're gonna be singing - six - it's in your hymnal I don't know if they got word of that they're in the studio where the words go on the screen so you might have to use your hymnal - six - sweet sweet spirit there's just two verses and then we're gonna pray together [Music] [Music] Father in heaven dear Lord we've talked about life-and-death issues you say if we have the spirit we have life if we don't have the spirit we have death Lord that leaves us no options but we need to make being filled with you God the spirit a priority in our lives help us to not be satisfied to wake up and go through another day spiritless Lord I pray that you'll show us what we can do to open our hearts to open our lives to surrender our wills to you to respond to the drawing influence of your spirit to listen to the convicting influence of your spirit and surrender our lives to you Lord we want that peace that joy that love that comfort we want the fruits of the Spirit in our lives bless us Lord pray that we can be a church that will be known as spirit fill and so do that now lord help us to live in in our lives give us love for you and love for one another we thank you we ask this now believing and praying in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Aaron

Views: 69,481

Rating: 4.7706766 out of 5

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Id: gdqzQ6e5p30

Length: 48min 55sec (2935 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 18 2017