What The Holy Spirit Does - Pastor Otis Amey | Elk Grove

📖 For Sermon Notes and Guide, visit: https://midtownchurch.org/note/4-19-2026-midtown-church-elkgrove/

Give through Midtown today: https://midtownchurch.org/give/

Thank you for your support online family!
             
              🌟 Quick Links:
             
   New to Midtown? Discover more here: https://midtownchurch.org/new/
Share your prayers with us: https://midtownchurch.org/care/
Plan a visit and join us in person: https://midtownchurch.org/

Visit our website at www.midtownchurch.org for more information about our church community and upcoming events.
 

More about Pastor Otis:
              
          Pastor Otis Amey is a former record-setting S.F. 49er wide receiver and punt returner. He was Born and raised in Union City, CA, Otis now lives in Sacramento and serves as the Associate Pastor for Midtown Church overseeing Men's, Young Professionals, and Serve Ministries. He is also a keynote speaker and workshop developer, empowering people everywhere he goes. In addition, Otis serves as the Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where he coordinates on-campus events, sports camps, and mentors coaches and student-athletes. As a Life Skills Coach for Sac State's Football team, Otis is dedicated to transforming lives from the inside out, starting with himself, his home, and his community. As a married father of three, Otis strives to be the role model and mentor he never had.

Give through Midtown today: https://midtownchurch.org/give/
Thank you for your support online family!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

We're gonna dive right into the word this morning. Something I'm excited about. We're in a new sermon series uh called Empowered. It's about the Holy Spirit. And so uh last Sunday, I know I was in Sacramento, and Pastor Ephraim preached a message uh about who is the Holy Spirit. And so as we continue along this journey, the title of the message this morning is What the Holy Spirit Does. What the Holy Spirit does. Again, most times we know about God. We've learned things about God. Uh, we've learned things about Jesus, about the Son, but rarely do we really talk about the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, how you access it, what it actually does. Uh so we'll we'll dive right in. Um, for me, it took a while to learn how things work. I've shared a story before, I'm not gonna dive into it right now, but there was a time where I had retired from playing pro football and I got into CrossFit, and then I still thought I was young and uh I wouldn't really cool down, which is very dangerous to do. I would warm up, I would do the workout, and I ended up straining this muscle that I didn't even know you had in your body called a piriformis. And most of you looking at me crazy, like, what's a piriform? Exactly, that's what I thought. Piriformis is in your hindquarters, somewhere back here, and it's a muscle that controls a lot. If you strain that, you are in trouble. So there was a time where I strained that muscle, and here's what I learned is that uh your body works together. So if I was warming up, I would just train what I was doing. So if I was doing power cleans, I would do some squats and get ready, but I wouldn't train my entire body. It's a whole nother sermon that the body needs to work together. The body all works together, it all plays its part. So this morning we're talking about what does the Holy Spirit do? How does that work together in your Christian walk? Um, every Tuesday at Sack State, there's a gathering in the evening. Every single Tuesday, this is amazing. There's some people that don't want us in the building, but we're still able to have it because it's after hours. Every Tuesday evening, there's a gathering of athletes that get together and they fellowship, they hear the word of God. Oftentimes they have food, they do an icebreaker, but once a month they have this thing called a super chapel. So all that really means is they have a guest speaker that they think, you know, the athletes will want to come here and they'll get some, they'll bring some food. And so they invited me out this month. And so the very first thing I did when I got the invitation, I don't take it lightly, is it said, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to say to these athletes? Of course, the easy way out would be I'm just gonna share my testimony. I've done that thousands of times. So, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to talk to them about? And what popped in my mind was something I did not want to talk about. He gave me the title first, and the title was Courageous Confrontation. I said, Hold on, Lord. I don't want to talk to these young folks about courageous confrontation. I'm like, God, I'm wrestling with the Lord if you've ever done that before. Why this? Why not something cool and fun? It's the end of the day, it's been a long week. And so who here were the two main scriptures that the Lord gave me is Matthew 18, verse 15 through 16. And so I began to talk to them about this. I said, if you have an issue with someone, what does the Bible say to do? It says to go and post it on Facebook, but people do that. It says to go and send a DM on Instagram. No, it says to go directly to them when? First. That's what scripture says. Oh, the scripture's so powerful. This will save so many relationships, so much heartache, and so much unnecessary time wasted trying to circle back and spin the block and say, I didn't really do that, I didn't really say that. Nine times out of ten, this is I I'm not, this is not uh scriptural, this is my personal experience. If I have an issue with somebody and I go directly to them, we're able to hash it out right then. Nobody else needs to know, nobody else has to know. It oftentimes it's just a misunderstanding. And so if you do what the Bible says, it'll bless your life. It'll bless your life. Uh the second scripture I went over was Proverbs 18 and 17. Right? It says, the first person to speak in court seems right until they get cross-examined. So I ask you guys, like I asked them, what do you think that means? Talk to me, what does that mean? There's always more than one side to a story. And oftentimes the person that's telling the story doesn't even have full context of what transpired. Really, this scripture is talking about context. Slow down, get context. I'll tell you, even if I come to you, I may be in my in my flesh. Slow down, what are you saying? Let me get context. Who else is involved? I have not heard their side. Let me nip it in the butt. The very first thing you should do is say, Why are you coming to me talking about them? Go back to Matthew, Matthew 18 and say, You should go talk to Eric directly. You should go talk to Pastor Tyrone directly. Why are you talking to me about him? But if we take time to pump our brakes, pray, and get context before doing anything, it'll bless our lives. And so, look, I I end up doing this message. I'm I'm thinking, like, man, they don't want to hear this. The entire time they're engaged, I see them nodding them heads and nodding their heads. I shared some, I got very vulnerable and transparent with them. They couldn't believe some of the things that I was sharing. I was sharing areas where I failed in this. And I'm thinking, okay, Holy Spirit, you led me to talk about this. So as I'm preparing, I'm packing my backpack, getting ready to leave. Look what the Holy Spirit did. Immediately after the gathering ends, two volleyball players walk up to me and they're in awe. They said, Uh uh Otis, we just had a Bible study in our dorm last night. And the two scriptures we went over were Matthew 18 and Proverbs 18, 17. They were in awe that it confirmed some things that the Holy Spirit was already dealing with them about. This is so this message was two Mondays ago. This week on Tuesday, I'm walking around the practice field, just popping in for 30 minutes. One of the receivers runs up to me. He's like, Bro, that message on Monday last Monday, God was speaking directly through you to me. And he starts telling me about how we went and had a courageous conversation. And I said, Bro, it has nothing to do with me. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Um, so so then on Thursday night, we had a uh Pastor Ephraim had a cohort of a bunch of different pastors and their spouses. So they went to Fixton's uh Thursday evening, and then they came to the service on Thursday night, and I was preaching this message, and afterwards, uh Pastor E's on his way home with one of the other pastors that flew him from Seattle, and he has him on speaker's phone and he's saying, Brother, that was a great message, but I want to share a testimony with you from from just 10 minutes ago. We were in the lobby, DJ's playing music, and I heard a young lady say, I've been holding this in for five years. I need to share this with you. And I said, What? That was just the intro to my sermon, but this is what the Holy Spirit does. So maybe this intro is maybe prompting you to have a courageous conversation with someone, or to reveal something that maybe you know that the spirit has been telling you to discuss. Little biblical foundation, there are four major discourses that Jesus gives in the Gospels, but the most intimate one is this one. It's called the upper room discourse. I can't say without thinking about life. Um it's in John 14 through 17. This block of teaching is only found in the Gospel of John. And so even the name, the upper room, it's not in the text, but it's a term that Bible scholars use to designate this portion of scripture. So John 14 is the only portion that actually uh occurs in the upper room, but chapters 15 through 17 all take place on the same occasion as Jesus Christ is preparing to die for us. So where do they go? After he institutes the Lord's Supper, when they leave the upper room, where do they go? They say a hymn, they go to the Garden of Gethsemane. Right? After he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, he is handed over by Judas, who betrayed him, who betrayed him over to the Roman soldiers. He endures six false trials, ends up in the hands of Pontius Pilate, who says, I'm washing my hands, I'm not guilty, even though he hands him over to be beaten and executed. This is all taking place right before this. So the best analogy I can give to what Jesus is doing, he knows he's gonna die. This is the upper room discourse, or some might uh call it the farewell discourse. The best analogy I can give is uh I have a 10-year-old son who just left. Is if I knew that I was about to die, I knew I had like two weeks left, for sure. What are the things that I would teach him? What are the things that I would set aside to make sure I poured into him and make sure he was prepared to be a man, uh a child, a true child of God in this world? This is what Jesus is doing here. I I would let my son know that life isn't PS5, there's no reset button. I would, I would, I would challenge him to stick as tight to Jesus as he possibly can, that there's no guarantees. Oh, these types of conversations happen every day, especially in hospitals. When people are passing away, they know they have a few moments left, and they tell their son or their granddaughter what they want to hear. Whoa, whoa, whoa. If if you knew that it was your last moments, what would you tell your son or your daughter? See, this is what Jesus is preparing them to do. He tells them that he was hated without reason, and him saying that he was fulfilling what David said in Psalm 69 and 4. He tells them not to be surprised when the world hates them. Why? Because it hated him first. And at the end of John 15, I'm gonna read it. There's there's a spiritual Amazon prime going on here. At the end of 15, it says, When the advocate comes, who I will send to you from the Father, the spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. Right? So here's what's happening. Here's why I said that. What is the gift that he's sending? The Holy Spirit, the advocate, the helper, the comforter, the master teacher. Who is the sender? It's Jesus and the Father. And whose warehouse or storehouse is it coming from? From God's. But don't miss this. Uh uh, what the gift does, what does the gift do when it's opened? So you get this package, you get the Holy Spirit, but what does the Holy Spirit do when you open the gift and you use the gift? I'm doing it right now, it testifies about Jesus. So don't get confused. If someone's saying the Spirit told me, the Spirit told me, but they're not talking about Jesus, that is not the Spirit. The Spirit loves to testify about Jesus. So any person or any ministry that's hyper-focused on the Spirit may be a little bit off because what the Holy Spirit does, it says it in Scripture. It likes to glorify and magnify the name of Jesus. See, that the Spirit is illuminating Scripture and empowering us so we can focus on and testify about Jesus. So in this in this chapter, there's three main things happening uh in John 16. Jesus is praying, um, sorry, he's preparing, he's praying, but he's he's praying and preparing his followers for suffering. That's a whole nother sermon for a whole nother time. I think a lot of us don't have a proper theology on suffering. We think, oh, I raised my hand, I came to the altar, I gave my life to Christ, it's all good now, right? In a sense, it's all good because you have the helper, you have God's indwelling spirit with you to go through everything, but it doesn't guarantee that life's gonna be all good. He's preparing them for suffering, more suffering than we'll probably ever endure in our lives. And we'll talk about it in a little bit. He's also, number two, he's reframing his departure back to heaven as something that's good. So understand this if I'm walking with Jesus for three years, I also would not want him to leave. And so he wrestles with that. He's telling them, it's good that I go, and here's why. Because he's promising help through the Holy Spirit. And so the big question in this message is this why is the Holy Spirit important for the Christian? Why is the Holy Spirit important for the Christian? Here's point number one. The Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers us. The Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers us. If you've heard me preach enough, you you've heard me say that I'm a I'm an introvert. And so right before I walk out, I'm always like, Holy Spirit, take over. I don't necessarily want to do this. I know that you've called me to it, I know that you've gifted me to communicate, but uh I'm I'm I'm shy. I don't want to be out doing this. I'd rather be where you're at, watching Pastor Tyrone or somebody else do this. Believe it or not, it is true. It's true. The Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers us to do what God has called us to do. Amen. I'm gonna read the scripture again, the the end of verse 15, and on to the first seven verses of 16. It says, under the heading the work of the Holy Spirit, when the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. He's trying to empower them, he's trying to prepare them, he's trying to equip them. They will put you out of the synagogue. In fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their time comes, you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. Essentially telling them, like, when I was here, you had this protection, but don't worry, don't trip. I'm still sending you help. You'll still have the help that you need. I have told you this so that when their time comes, you will remember that I have warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asked me, where are you going? Rather, you were filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. The first word in verse 26 got me excited because it's in red letters. What does it being in red letters mean? It means that Jesus said it. So if Jesus said it, what does that mean? It's gonna happen. It's true, and it's gonna happen. So when it says when the advocate comes, that means that help is on the way. It may not come when we want it, but it's always on time. Jesus said it, so it's going to happen. He says, when the advocate comes. I don't know when, but the advocate is on the way. Context for them in this scripture. What's the first word? When? Help is on the way. He so so so he's leaving. He's going to leave, but he hasn't really left because he left a piece of himself inside of us. And so he's marked and sealed every believer with his abiding presence. Like, have you ever just stopped and thought about the fact that it's scripture, the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, from the grave, that I don't know who rolled the stone away, no man could do it, indwells you. For every single person that's given their life to Christ, the same spirit indwells you. I say this in my mind oftentimes and often out loud to remind myself that I should not be living no average and ordinary life. There's no way that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in me and I'm just existing. See, a piece of the master is in you, which makes you a masterpiece. How else do you explain Saul of Tarsus' transformation? Saul of Tarsus, in Acts 8, we find him approving the stoning of Stephen, a type of Christ. Says the same thing that Jesus Christ says on the altar, uh, says on the cross. Forgive them for they know not what they do. Imagine dying like that. You're on your knees, and a bunch of dudes are throwing stones at you until you die. And Saul is there approving of his death. Then all of a sudden, if you know the story, he's on the road to Damascus. He goes and says, I'm going to the synagogue in Damascus to find these followers, at the time they're called followers of the way. And I'm going to either extradite them, excommunicate them, or eliminate them. That is his plan. And so he's on the way to the road to Damascus, and God throws him off his horse. The other dudes around him are tripping because they can't see anything, they can only hear the voice. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Lord, is that you? And he blinds him for three days. Right after that, he appears in a vision to a brother named Ananias and he says, I want you to go find Saul. And he's wrestling with the Lord, like, wait, you mean that brother that's trying to kill us? Like, imagine if the Lord came to you and said that, hey, this dude that is a serial killer, hey, you go find him and bring him into your house. But he knows, Holy Spirit, he knows it's the Lord. And so he goes to him and we pick it up in Acts chapter 9 and 17. Understand, I said it when I was praying. Uh, before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit's there. We see the Holy Spirit at work transforming lives and empowering people. So while Saul was on his way to find people of the way, Jesus changed his way. And in Acts 9 and 17, it says, Then Ananias went to the house and he entered it. He placed his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be what? And be filled with the Holy Spirit. So from the moment he was saved, he started preaching that Jesus is the Son of God. This is why, outside of Jesus, of course, which is 90% of the answers, I tell my kids, if you don't know the answer in children's church, just say Jesus. 90% of the time, you will be right. 90%, you will be right. 60% of the time, it works every time. This is why I love Paul. A lot of us, we get saved, we become soft. Paul keeps the same passion, the same fervor, the same zeal. He just switches teams. He's on his way to the synagogue to kill Christians. And then the Lord's like, nope, I got a different assignment for you. And he keeps that same passion. Like, slow down and catch this. He goes, he went from going to the synagogue to persecute followers of Jesus to going to the synagogue, same place, to preach about Jesus. Only God, only the Holy Spirit can do that. This story changed my entire outlook on forgiveness. And I know you, if you've been here before, you've probably heard me share this story. I will never get tired of uh of telling this story about my father, but in context today, about the power of the Holy Spirit. When my father was in and out of jail, in and out of prison, he was in a halfway house. I was a senior at Sack State playing football, trying to go to thinking about going to the NFL. He uh we're told he's in a halfway house and that in a couple weeks he'll be homeless. And so he ends up uh uh just to give you guys the real, I was gonna give you guys the the the PG-13 version. Uh, when I was young, my dad was the villain in my origin story. He did so much damage and caused so much trauma and pain to our family. I remember looking him dead in his eyes. And you'll see a picture of him in a second. And I said, I hate you, and if you die, I won't cry. And I meant it. I meant it. Up to that point, about 20 years of almost every day, all the nonsense, cussing us out, breaking stuff, causing harm, causing trauma, causing pain. To where when they called and said, Can your father stay with you? Uh, I can't even say what I said initially, but eventually I said, but eventually I said, he can come live with me. So as I'm a senior at Sach State, he's living in Sacramento. We're trying to care for him, but he's still being arrested for public intoxication, which is extremely embarrassing. But there was one point, there was one point where he scrounges up enough money to hop on a greyhound and to go try to make things right with my mom. And I remember the day that my mom called me and said, We just got out of church. And I said, What do you mean? Because my father would go to church with us, and after church he would help do communion, uh, but usually he would just stand in the parking lot. He'd be outside right now, smoking a cigarette, just hearing the amplified sound. And so then, I think a couple years later, my mom sends me this picture, and it's of my father preaching, doing a Bible study. Doing a Bible study. And when I saw it, I wept. And even now, it's on the screen right here, and I don't want to look at it. But here's why I'm sharing this right now. In the context of this message, you heard what I said to you. I looked that man in his face and said, If you die, I will not cry. If my father dies today, I will weep. Only the Holy Spirit can do what he's done. I do not consider, hear me. I do not consider anything that he did. He texts all of everybody in the family at six o'clock in the morning, a scripture, a passage, encouragement, almost every single day. I can call him right now when I leave, and he's gonna tell me what the Lord told him. That same man who was Saul on the road to Damascus. That's what changed me. I read this story and I said, God, if you can change him that wrote about 25% of the New Testament, you can change my father. Then I started, then I stopped hating him and I started praying. Praying for him. And then here's where the game really changed. About two years ago, I had a conversation for the first time with him where I asked him, like, tell me your story. Tell me everything. And he said, I did the best that I could with what I had. But I had nothing, son. My father would come home every day and never talk to me. On the weekends, he would show up with a 12-pack of beer, walk right past me, and go in his room and close the door. We never had a relationship. And I understood you did the best you could with what you had, with what you learned, which was nothing. So he couldn't teach me how to be a man because no one ever taught him how to be. So it gave me extra grace for him to understand that he tried. But everything changed when the Holy Spirit came, when he surrendered his life to Christ, and gave the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit take over. It brings a smile to my face when I think about this. Like the only time I even think about the 20 plus years of all that he did is when I'm sharing the testimony. And even when I share it now, I smile and say, Thank you, God. Thank you that you finally got a hold of him. Thank you that even in those, if even in that season, you taught me some things on what not to do. But now he's the father that I wish he always was. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. And I know some of you in here are wrestling with strained relationships with your parents or your prodigal sons and daughters. I want to tell you to keep on praying for them. Don't give up on them. The Holy Spirit didn't show up for the first time on the day of Pentecost. I want to address this because some people think that's the case. Spirit fell in Acts chapter 2. That's when the Holy Spirit was there. This is a theological impossibility because God didn't show up for the first time in Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit has always been at work because the Holy Spirit has always existed, because the Holy Spirit is who? Is God. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 through 2, it says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness over the surface, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and what? And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are persons, they're different expressions of God, part of the Trinity, and sent by God the Father. Just to give you guys a few examples of this, Jesus is conceived by who? By the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist is filled by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit rather, before he's even born. When Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, who is present? The Father, the Sons being baptized, and the Spirit descends on him like a dove. The Spirit of God empowered Jesus to drive out demons. And so before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon people for specific reasons, uh, for specific purposes. But after Pentecost, the Spirit now indwells every believer permanently if you've surrendered your life to Christ. That is what we're marked and sealed with. The moment you surrender and say, Lord, I repent of trying to live life my own way. And Jesus Christ, you're my Lord and Savior. Father God, I believe that you raised him from the grave. I'm surrendering my life to you. The moment you do that, only God knows what's going on in your heart. And it's genuine, he marks and seals you. You go from having a human spirit to the Holy Spirit. It's your master teacher, your comforter, your counselor. It guides and directs us. And so Jesus isn't telling them, He's not saying that he's gonna send something brand new that they've never uh known about. He's promising to send a fuller, more personal, and more widespread experience of the same spirit that's already been at work. Here's point number two the Holy Spirit reveals our sin and our true enemy. Has the Holy Spirit ever told you? Hey, you tripping? The Holy Spirit convicts you, it reveals your sin. As Amber was talking about, hey, don't do this, don't go there, don't hang with them. All these things, if you're yielding, should live a life of yielding to the Holy Spirit. John chapter 16, verse 8 through uh 8 through 11, it says, again, when? When he comes, the Holy Spirit, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment, about sin because people do not believe in me, about righteousness because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer, and about judgment because the prince of this world, Satan, now stands condemned. So every now and then, uh I see a person still standing on the corner in atonements with a huge sign that says something like, Repent or go to hell. Uh wow, that is an interesting way to show people the love of God. And some of you probably in the past maybe went to a service way back in the day where they were preaching hellfire and brimstone, where you can do anything. Wearing a dress, sister, going to hell. Wearing makeup, going to hell. Shacking up, for young that don't know what shacking up is, living with someone you're not married to, right? Going to hell, all those things. Well, praise the Lord for sending the Holy Spirit because the Bible says that the Spirit convicts sinners. It's not our job. It's not our job. If you're convicted by this message, that's the Holy Spirit. I'm not trying to formulate something to make you feel some kind of way. I'm just telling you the truth. I remember when I first started going on campuses and sharing my testimony about 11 years ago, and I used to feel some kind of way when I give the invitation, if nobody raised their hand. Because I wanted to be able to post a picture and I had donors and all this other shenanigans. But honestly, it was probably about 70 years ago when I finally realized that ain't nobody coming to see you, Otis? At times I can be very, very critical of myself. I remember walking off the stage a couple months ago after preaching at Midtown Sack, and I said, like under my breath, ah, that was alright. And can you guess what happens next after the service? Like seven people come up to me. Bro, God was speaking directly through you. That's exactly the word I needed to hear. And here I am putting all this pressure on myself, and the Holy Spirit is like, you are not that important. I will do what I need to do in every single person's life, sometimes despite you. Your message might be trash, but I'm still gonna speak to them because I know what they're going through, I know what they need when they wake up tomorrow morning and have to deal with what they're dealing with. It is not about you. You need to decrease so I can increase. And it's so freeing when I know that I spent time abiding in the presence of the Lord. When I come out here, I am not worried about anything because it's not my job, it's not my lane. What you do with what you hear is between you and God. Convict means to convince concerning the truth. I heard the gospel several times growing up, but the conviction for me came in my apartment. I went to vacation Bible school, and you typically think your child's gonna give their life to Christ at church. That's not always the case. There's probably some of you in here. You gave your life to Christ at In N Out or somewhere crazy, right? You were at the club. I got I surrendered my life to Christ in my apartment complex in Santa Clara. The point that I'm making is let God be God. Let Him do the convicting. I don't, I don't, we're gonna do an altar call at the end of this, and I'm not expecting anything other than the Holy Spirit to do whatever he decides to do today. You know, uh uh there's a scripture that says some plant, some water, but God makes it grow. He gets the increase. But you know what the very next verse is? This is super humbling. It says, Neither the one who plants or waters is anything. We're the ones that plant and water. Scripture says we aren't anything. It says, but God, the one who makes it grow. He is the one that has the power to change and transform. He is the one that must be magnified and lifted up. So maybe you're not experiencing spiritual increase because you refuse to decrease. You're not seeing him move how he needs to move because you're still in the way. See, if your business or ministry is all about you, then the spirit isn't in it. But if the Holy Spirit is in it, then Jesus will constantly be glorified. His name will constantly be made great. Uh on the day of Pentecost, about 3,000 people approximately, they they didn't repent and get baptized on the day of Pentecost because Peter was some preacher of preachers. They did it because the Holy Spirit convicted them and opened their eyes to the truth. Peter denied Jesus three times, and he still decides to use him after restoring him and reminding him of his calling. So the Holy Spirit also reveals to us and reminds us that there is a temporary ruler of this world named Satan, but he's already been judged and that he's already been condemned and defeated. The early followers needed this reminder because they went through some tough times under the Roman Empire. Many of them were fed to the lions. If you watch a movie like Gladiators, first sport, burned at the stake, sawed in half, covered in pitch and tar, and made to be human torches for Emperor Nero, crucified upside down, impaled with spears, and the list goes on and on and on. I want to make a point. If if if if Jesus's resurrection was a hoax or a myth, there's no way any of them would have gone through this. They would have stopped at some point and been like, nah, nah, nah, it was it was fake. It wasn't real. It wasn't real. But they saw something. They saw him, they saw him rise after three days. They ended up seeing the holes in his hand, put their hand in his side. They saw something supernatural that was willing to go through these things for, willing to die for. Humans, we're not that brave. Give you an example. There was a time, so when we grew up, we didn't get much for uh our birthdays, but our mom would make us whatever kind of cake we wanted. So our mom baked the cake, and then she went somewhere to run an errand, and I ate half the icing while she was gone. And so my dad comes home. You saw the picture of my dad. 6'3, 225. He used to have a belt he would hang up on display called the Whoopa Fool Friend. I never asked him what that even means, but the Whoopa Fool Friend was a heavy, thick, weightlifting belt. And he comes home after work. I don't know if he was drunk or not that day, but either way, he lines us all up and said, I'm gonna whoop every single one of y'all, every single one of y'all, if you don't tell me who ate the icing, right? And so I'm last. He said, I'm gonna go oldest to youngest, and there's four of us. The minute he's about to about to pop my oldest brother, I fold. It was me, it was me, it was me, it was me. It wasn't even about to be me. Here's my point humans aren't going to, they're gonna fold. We're all gonna fold. So there's no way that these disciples are about to get sawed in half and say, go ahead and do it anyway. Because Jesus Christ is real. Even if you kill me, I know where I'm going. I know where I'm going. This is why Jesus at the end of verse 16, uh, he talks about it, he spins the block, and he says, You in this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. See, the Holy Spirit gives us peace even in the midst of chaos. It'll, it'll, it'll, it'll change you from the inside. Because sometimes, if you're honest, when things happen, you say, Here we go, here we go, here we go. The minute you allow the Holy Spirit to take over, you'll stop saying, Here we go, and you'll start saying, For we know, before we know, before we know, before we know, that God causes all things to work together. God causes all things to work together. So it's not happening to me, it's happening for me. So why am I complaining when I know it's going to benefit me spiritually in the end? Before we know. Here's the last point. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. This is a very quick point. Chapter 16, verse 12 through 15, it says, I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to us. All that belongs to me, uh, all that belongs to, sorry, all that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. So as we begin to, as I prepare to close, I want to share a quick story. The Holy Spirit, if you yield, uh if you live a repentant and yielding lifestyle, will deposit things. And sometimes you, the more you abide, the more you spend time in the presence of the Lord, the stronger you hear his voice and know for sure that it's him and not you. Uh I don't have a trouble knowing if it's the enemy. Sometimes I'm like, is that me or is that God? Uh, because sometimes if it's me, it sounds good, but everything that's good isn't God. I want to know, is it you? And so on Easter Sunday, uh, Pastor Susie was preaching, and the first thing that blessed me was when she did the altar call, there's about 15 Sacks Day football players that came to the altar and fell on their faces. And I didn't know they were there. Me and my wife are sitting in the front row. The first reason why that was powerful is because usually they ask when I'm preaching and they want to come when I preach, but I've already checked them about that. And I said, You don't come for any person you come to encounter and experience the presence of the Lord. So they come to the altar, 15 of them are on their faces. So I'm uh waking up from a nap and I get a phone call and I see all these text messages. One of the young men that were at the altar had a panic attack and was at the hospital. He was bleeding, all these things. So I'm driving to the hospital, my wife says, Go ahead, we're about to have Easter dinner. I'm driving to the hospital, and the Lord puts in my spirit, it's time. Tell him it's time. And I'm like, what does that even mean? Just when you open up your mouth, trust me, tell him it's time. So we get there, and about three different times I'm getting ready to tell him, doctor walks in, getting ready to tell him, nurse walks in, getting ready to tell him uh his phone FaceTimes him, and finally they all leave. And I'm just like, okay, uh, it's time. And he looks at me and says, It's time for what? And then the spirit takes over. It's time. You are only 19 years old, but you're a leader. There's a lot of young men in this program that look up to you right now. There's a reason out of 96, you're one of the 12 that got this special shirt. It's because they're looking up to you. But what I feel led to share with you in the moment, in this moment, young man, is that it's time for you to surrender your life to Christ. He's laying in his hospital bed on Easter Sunday, and he says, What does that mean? And can I do that right now? And I say, Yeah, let's do it. And so I lead the young man to Christ. We're talking through scriptures and I pray for him. And then the moment he surrenders his life to Christ, the doctor walks back in. And he was a little out of it, and they're asked, she's she's asking him for stuff he shouldn't know. Like, what's your medical record number? He's like, 764 is hard to go. I'm like, What? His mom calls him and he tells his mom, and his mom's on the phone weeping, and she calls me the next day, like, Thank you so much for caring for my son. I say, I tell the mom that I'm just doing what the Lord called me to do. The Holy Spirit put on my heart to tell him it's time. It's time. The Holy Spirit will prompt you, he will guide you, he will direct you. But you have to live a repentant lifestyle, and a lifestyle where you don't just have the Holy Spirit, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. And here's here's the illustration illustration I want to give as I close. And the altar is now open. So you may be asking yourself, okay, I have the Holy Spirit, right? I have the Holy Spirit, but I don't feel like I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. How do I how do I do that? Here's how. Right? The enemy, if he can't destroy you, he'll distract you. So he wants you to wake up and check your phone, do all those things, things that aren't inherently bad, but to be distracted. So here's what you need to do: live a repentant lifestyle, worship, get the right friends around you, listen to sermons, study your word. So the more you put yourself in a position to where it's spirit-involved things. Even on the way driving here this morning, I was singing worship songs. I didn't really feel like doing it, but I'm singing scripture, and I can feel the shift in my body. I can feel the Holy Spirit filling me so that when I get up on here, I can pour out. So here's what happens now. You're we're flawed individuals, so sin will still come, but it won't be comfortable anymore because there'll be conviction. So now there is all this empty space for sin to come and dwell and have his place because the Holy Spirit's there, but you're not filled. So now when sin comes, oh, I can't be a part of that. I can't be a part of that because the spirit is so heavy and thick and residing in you, sin can no longer stay. This is what it means to live a repentant lifestyle, to live a life that's filled with the spirit, so that anytime anyone comes around you, if you just have the Holy Spirit, someone might need something, and you don't really got anything for them. But if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the moment there's tension or stress, someone needs a word, you've got something for them. You're just flowing with the living, with rivers of living water that is just coming out of you. You don't gotta think about it. The Lord says, tell them it's time. I don't know what it means, but when I open up my mouth, the Holy Spirit just starts speaking. It's time, it's time, it's time. Sorry if I got you. What? So as they as they sing and we close, the altars open this morning. I know there's some of you in here. You've been doing what I do on occasion, slipping back into trusting yourself, having trusted the Holy Spirit, which indwells you. There's some that have never surrendered your life to Christ. If you haven't, you don't have the Holy Spirit, and you need the Holy Spirit to honor God, to please God, to worship God, to praise Him, to be used by Him. And so as they sing, the altar will be open. And if that's you come this morning, maybe you're a prodigal son or daughter, maybe it's on behalf of someone else that you're hoping will surrender their life to Christ. You're hoping they'll start trusting and depending on the Spirit and not themselves.