WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.600 Grab your Bibles, open them up with me to John chapter 14. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.759 John chapter 14. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:09.119 I want to give my uh word of greeting to Josh's earlier. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.000 My name is Chris Cuba. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.599 I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here at United City Church. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:17.679 And despite the fact that I am 43 years old, I am not old. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.879 I just want to point that out. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:20.399 I don't know what that was. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:24.640 It is pretty cool though to see a multi-generational uh baptistry. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:25.760 There's no question about that. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:27.199 It just proves this. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:32.000 I don't know what your story is or what age you are or what your situation is. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.600 God has a plan for you. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:37.280 I want you to know that. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:46.399 I want you to know as we begin this series and as we begin to talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and as we begin to talk about uh the Holy Spirit and who he is and what this all looks like. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:47.520 I want you to know this. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:49.200 God has a plan for you. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:51.359 God desires to meet you where you are. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.719 God desires to be able to not leave you where you are, he desires instead for you to take a next step. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.520 And I hope that today that will be the case for you. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:01.840 John chapter 14 is where we're going to start. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.879 Full disclosure, we're going to be all over the Bible today. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:05.840 I want you to know that. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:10.079 Uh I hope that you uh grew to take notes during the journey series. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:21.920 Uh, if not, I hope that maybe you will begin to take notes, whether that's getting your phone out and being ready to take some pictures of the different references, or you writing them down uh on the little piece of paper that's in front of you in the seat back. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:25.439 Or if you're joining us online, you can do uh the same somehow. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:26.719 We just want to encourage you. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:35.200 This is a perfect week for you to spend time with the Lord and to begin to walk through many of the passages that I'm gonna give you today about the Holy Spirit. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:36.480 I encourage you to do that. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.760 I hope that you have a time with the Lord each and every day. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:48.079 And I hope that this could be something that is added on to it and you can be ministered to not just on Sunday, but throughout the rest of the week. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:53.359 I want to take this opportunity as well to greet all of the men and all of the women in our correctional facilities. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.439 Let's give them a hand and celebrate the fact that we get to bring this message to them. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:10.400 I'm gonna hold off, but man, I have an unbelievable announcement about that phrase that I cannot wait to tell you as a church that is super, super exciting how God just continues to open up doors and move. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:14.400 Uh, and I'm gonna hold off though, but it is exciting to think about what God is doing. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:21.759 I brought a couple of logos with me uh that I'm gonna throw up on the screens, and I want to see if you can recognize what these logos are. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.199 Take a look at the first one here. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:24.639 Can you tell me what this is? 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:26.639 Dairy Queen. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:27.199 All right. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:33.520 Uh just a reminder, please don't leave during the invitation because I've made you hungry and you want to go ahead and get something to eat. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:38.240 I'm guessing the next one, though, may help deal with whatever hunger pains you may deal with. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:38.960 What is this one? 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:40.719 Burger King. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:42.240 Cool commercials, cool logo. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.439 Not great food, right? 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:44.560 You know, kind of deal. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:46.080 All right, how about this next one? 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.080 Pizza Hut. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:49.840 All right, how about this next one? 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.599 North Face, something we would not know much about here in Houston, right? 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:00.960 Because there's no need to buy any kind of jacket or any kind of material like that from North Face. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:07.360 Uh, but all of these are logos that are missing something very important. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:18.479 Now, here's the cool thing is that they have enough brand awareness that you, even by looking at the logo, you're able to identify and know what those companies are. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:40.240 However, if you were to ask the companies about their logos, one thing they would tell you is that as much as they want to create a brand awareness so that when people look at them, they associate them with that company, they would all tell you the most important part of a logo is the name. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.520 It's who they actually are. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.120 I want to talk to you about churches today. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.879 I don't know what your journey or your background is, how long you've been at United City. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:56.240 Maybe you have been in the church search uh recently, or maybe you were in that not too long ago. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:59.280 And let me tell you something that you can discover about churches. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.800 You can actually visit churches and you can pull up onto the property. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:04.400 It's got amazing facilities. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.280 The facilities just sort of indicate that there's life going on inside of the building. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:14.879 You can go and be greeted by somebody in the parking lot ministry who goes and sends you to your spot. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.079 You can then come on and you can be greeted by someone who is a greeter. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:27.040 If you have kids, you can drop your kids off at a fun, safe, friendly, clean environment in the kids' ministry, and they can have a great experience. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.680 Your youth can go to the youth ministry, and the youth ministry is a place that is a lot of fun. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.879 They've got a lot of friends there, they identify with a lot of people. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:44.160 You could come into the worship service, and in the worship service, it can have incredibly good high-production music with incredibly good talent. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:50.959 Now, not too good because we don't want it to look like a concert and then it's not real, but then you but we still want to be good enough to where it's not a distraction, right? 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.480 And you have that going for you. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:05:08.399 You can go and you can hear from a pastor who's engaging, seems to be able to speak in public and have all of these quote ingredients that are all working, but you leave the church and you say this, something's missing. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.920 Like something just feels off. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:24.000 I may not be able to describe it, I may not be able to explain it, but there seems to be they're doing church the right way with all of the right ingredients. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:44.639 However, there's no life change, there's no movement, it just seems as though everyone listens and enjoys it, but there's just not that it that I don't know what it is, but I know it when I don't experience it. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:50.639 This morning we're beginning a brand new sermon series for the next four weeks called Forgotten. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:06:01.199 And what I want us to do is I want us to look at what I believe is an epidemic in individual believers and an epidemic in churches. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:18.079 It's when they have all of the exterior ingredients that would seem to suggest a movement of God in their lives or a movement of God in the church, however, they just have a lot of potential. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:22.160 They don't experience any power. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:31.199 The power that I'm referring to, the it that I mentioned, is the Holy Spirit. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:48.639 The Holy Spirit is something that is necessary in order for a believer or for a group of believers called a church to operate and to be able to exist in the way that God intended them to exist as believers. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:54.879 I can already tell, though, when I mention the Holy Spirit, like it just automatically kind of wigs us out a little bit. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:59.279 The Holy Spirit is one of those things that are very, very much, it's uncomfortable. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.759 It's it's something that is very uh difficult. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:03.360 Let me just mention this. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:10.560 I prayed this morning that God would anoint me with the Holy Spirit and put his blessing upon my life. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.120 Can I also tell you that scares me by saying that out loud, right? 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:17.519 Because I don't even really know what all of that means, right? 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.959 At times, I feel like, but I do know it is something that is important. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:24.160 We want it, but we don't understand it. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:35.519 And so often when it comes to the person of the Holy Spirit, we instead have more confusion and chaos than we do clarity and conviction. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.639 My goal is to educate you over the course of the next four weeks, but I don't just want you to be more knowledgeable. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:50.000 I want you instead to be able to know what God's word says and then take your next step and apply it. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:08:04.079 Whenever I was growing up, I was in my the church that I grew up in, they they sometimes would periodically have somebody that would go and they would baptize, just like we just saw, and they would say that they baptize this person in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:13.199 And I remember sitting in the service and I was just playing along because no one else reacted, but I'm thinking, I don't know who the ghost is, but I don't want him on me, right? 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.439 Like, does he come in the middle of the night? 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:16.800 Like, what is going on here? 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:22.639 You you may have heard phrases like that that cause there to be confusion on this topic. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:32.159 Here's what also adds a little bit of a layer to this, particularly in Houston, what you can have is maybe the church that you grew up in, all you ever talked about was the Holy Spirit. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:40.399 In fact, the Holy Spirit was the litmus test to determine what level or type of believer you actually were. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:51.120 Yet the problem is whenever you read God's word, you don't seem to see any of the things that you were taught so often as what is most important in all of the spiritual life. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:09:06.159 If I had to guess, though, if you grew up like me, or maybe you were around the church, maybe you had a Bible-believing church, one that taught and studied the scriptures, you largely avoided or never mentioned the Holy Spirit. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.480 Because you were scared to death of it. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.399 Pastor and speaker uh Francis Chan, he says this, which I think is so accurate. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:21.919 He says, From my perspective, the Holy Spirit is tragically neglected and for all practical purposes forgotten. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:36.720 While no evangelical would deny his existence, I'm willing to bet there are millions of churchgoers across America who cannot confidently say they have experienced his presence or action in their lives over the past year. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:40.879 And many of them do not believe they can. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:51.039 The goal of this series is to address the forgotten, to help educate about the abused or maybe the neglected. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:55.200 Each week of the series, I'm going to address a question. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:59.279 I want to go ahead and tell you where we're going in all four weeks of this series. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:04.960 I want to tell you today we're going to be addressing who is the Holy Spirit. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:10.639 Next week, we're going to be looking at what does the Holy Spirit do to me. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:18.240 Week three is going to be how do I get more or how do I get less of the Holy Spirit? 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:24.159 And week four is going to be what does the Holy Spirit do through me? 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:27.440 I encourage you to be here for all four weeks of this series. 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:28.639 I encourage you to take notes. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:36.799 I encourage you to begin to see and open your eyes and your hearts to see what God would have for us as we walk through this very important topic. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.039 This morning I want to look at the first question there. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:49.120 In order for you to apply and to live and to operate with the Holy Spirit, you have to know who the Holy Spirit is. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:55.200 John chapter 14 is going to be our launch text in verse 16 and 17. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:01.600 It says, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:02.799 We're going to see later on. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:04.799 The helper is the Holy Spirit. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:10.639 So he's saying, I will ask the Father, and he will give you the Holy Spirit to be with you forever. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:18.720 Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:24.000 You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:34.240 The way that I want to answer this question about who the Holy Spirit is is by giving you two statements and giving you one point of application. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:40.240 The very first statement is this the Holy Spirit is a person. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.759 The Holy Spirit is a person. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:51.600 Many times you can come to a worship service, and uh the worship service has the right levels of volume. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:57.840 The worship service has the exact right lighting at just the right moment, and then all of a sudden they play your song. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.360 All right, it's your song. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:02.720 It's that song that you sing uh whenever you're not here at the service. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:18.720 You actually sing it in the car, or maybe you sing it at home, or maybe it's a song that resonates with a particular difficult moment in your life, and God used the words and the lyrics and the melody of that particular song to be able to do something and remind you of who he is and what he is all about. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.720 And so as a result of that, they start singing your song and like your jam is on. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:23.600 Like it is on. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:24.480 Here you go. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:32.080 You are so excited, or maybe you come to a worship service and and you hear and you begin to, it's a new song. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.360 And so, because it's a new song, you really want to hear the lyrics and you want to kind of know what it is that they're saying. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:51.600 And so you begin to listen really intently to the lyrics, and as you begin to read the words and process the words and listen to what they're saying, it really begins to start to speak to you, and then all of a sudden they get to the bridge, and oh, I mean, the bridge is legit, right? 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:53.919 It's one of those great, really cool bridges, right? 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.639 The worship team's going backwards and forwards the whole time, you know. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.519 I mean, it's like it's like here we go, like this is amazing. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:04.879 And you're listening to the words, and all of a sudden you begin to have that feeling. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:18.320 If you never felt that feeling before, I would encourage and hope that at some point in the presence in the gathering that we get together, that you would have that feeling, that feeling where you just know God is here. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:23.039 And that feeling is something where it may cause you to react in different ways. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.919 For some of you, it may cause you to become expressive. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:28.399 For some of you, it may cause you great joy. 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:31.039 For some of you, it may cause you to get really emotional. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:36.559 For some of you, you might even go from here to here, right? 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:39.200 And God's moving. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:44.240 I mean, it's just no way to describe it other than the fact that you just did this in church. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:45.519 Like, wow, you know. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:49.200 But whatever it is for you, you've got that feeling. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.200 And here's what you might do: you might describe that to somebody else. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:54.799 Hey, tell me about church today. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:59.360 Oh man, the Holy Spirit was there today. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:06.480 Or you may say, Man, I just felt the Holy Spirit in the worship today. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:10.799 Or I just know the Holy Spirit was with me. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:16.000 And all of those are just human words to bring attempt to just say this. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.759 Man, worship was awesome. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:32.960 And we get this mentality, unfortunately, that suggests that in order for you to have that feeling again of the presence of God, you gotta have all those factors in place. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:48.159 I gotta make sure that I have the worship team in place, and I gotta make sure that they're playing my song, and I gotta make sure that the lights are this certain way, and I gotta make sure that all these things happen, or you begin to say this the reason why I haven't felt the Holy Spirit is because they're not playing my song. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:53.919 Because my song is this song that represented this in my life. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:55.840 And here's what I want you to know, okay? 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:07.919 When you try to manufacture or recreate a feeling, you are worshiping the feeling instead of recognizing the feeling isn't what brings you power. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:17.759 Instead, the feeling is indicative of the person of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:32.799 Which is why you can worship in your car, you can worship in the shower, you can worship in the hospital room, you can worship wherever it is that you may find yourself. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:41.600 Because what God is inviting us to do is not have a feeling, he's inviting us into a relationship. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:47.200 Let me show you a passage of scripture in John chapter 16, verse 13. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:54.639 It says, When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:16:06.480 For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:07.440 Please hear me. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:15.120 Our relationship with God is not this generic thing where he's way up there and we're down here and we've got no way to relate to each other. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:24.159 And we're grateful that he sent his son Jesus, and we're grateful that he relates to us by giving his son and allowing us to experience salvation, but essentially, after that, you're kind of on your own. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.600 That's not what it says. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:32.159 Instead, the Holy Spirit is a person that we can relate to. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:37.840 Here's the problem many times we want the benefit of the relationship without the actual relationship. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:43.440 You see, I'm married, and when I'm married, that get what that means? 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:45.440 I have married privileges. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:46.559 Okay? 00:16:46.879 --> 00:17:00.639 We share a bank account, we share a bed, we share a house, we share meals, but I can very easily want the benefits of that relationship without we're all working on that relationship. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:13.839 And so it's important for me to pursue my wife, to date my wife, to spend time with my wife, to talk to my wife, to relate to my wife, so that I'm not just asking her for what she can do for me. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:18.559 Instead, I am relating to her that also has benefits from that. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:28.319 What I want you to understand is this is that you, when it comes to your relationship with God, can't just want the benefits of God without wanting a relationship with God. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:43.440 And when it comes to the Holy Spirit, what we want is for the force to help us, but we don't actually want to relate and realize that the Holy Spirit is a person who wants to interact with us as a person. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:45.119 Here's what I want you to see. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:46.559 I'm gonna give you a bunch of verses. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:47.039 Here we go. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:48.720 I want you to write these down and get ready. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:54.319 First of all, I want you to see the Holy Spirit has an actual mind and emotions and even will. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:03.839 Acts chapter 15, verse 28 says, For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:09.359 Folks, I'm gonna be sharing in a couple of weeks the vision for United City Church. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.160 I want to be sharing with you about a vision for your life. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:13.680 Can I also tell you this? 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:21.759 That vision is prayed up and bathe in what God has said, because what I don't want to do is tell you what Chris thinks. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:29.839 And the Holy Spirit relates and helps me know hey, this is where you stop and this is where I begin. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.759 And so make sure that you don't get those things messed up. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:42.799 Holy Spirit is one who thinks, Acts 16, verse 6, and they went throughout the region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:49.440 I don't know about you, but I find great comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit knows that I'm about to do something stupid and stops me from doing it. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.799 Do you realize that the Holy Spirit, because he relates to you, does the same thing all the time? 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:03.039 Like there's a relationship where he sees and knows the tendencies of your own heart, and he can get out ahead of that and it's like, no, no, no, we're not gonna do that. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:04.720 I'm not, I'm not, I'm gonna stop that. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:06.880 John 14, verse 26. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:14.960 But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:16.640 It's depressing at times. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:25.039 And if I was to ask many of you uh what you learned at church at lunch today, because many of you would be like, I I have I have no idea, I forgot, you know. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:39.599 But it's also amazing to me how in a certain situation and in a certain setting, God brings to mind something somebody has said, God brings to mind some verse of scripture, God brings to mind some sort of truth, and all of a sudden you recall it with incredible clarity. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:40.240 Why is that? 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:42.240 It's because it's the Holy Spirit going before you. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:48.400 Reminding you of the things of Jesus, reminding you of the right things. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:52.880 This is one of my favorite passages of all Romans 8, 26 and 27. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:55.200 Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:56.559 Anybody weak today? 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:58.960 Anybody struggling today? 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:10.160 Anybody find yourself at a place where you would say you know you're supposed to pray, but you don't know what you're supposed to pray, you don't want to pray for the wrong thing because it feels like whatever you are praying for doesn't seem to be get heard or doesn't seem to be answered. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:11.680 Here's what I want you to see. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.960 For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:20.640 But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:28.000 Here's the translation of that the spirit prays for you what you should pray if you knew well enough to pray that. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:36.240 I don't know about you, but I find great comfort of that because I guarantee you, there are certain times I am crying out to the Lord for the wrong thing. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.079 And I think it's the right thing. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:46.640 I want it to be the right thing, but God knows me and loves me and comes before me so much, he relates to me that he's like, Oh, that's cute. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:48.480 Here's what you should pray. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:21:00.240 But can I also tell you he does that when you're at your weakest moment and you're so sick and tired of hearing the doctor tell you that they don't have more answers? 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:11.599 Can I tell you that God also does that whenever you are at the end of your rope with your marriage and you feel like there is no reason to stay in this other than what God says? 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:13.359 I don't care what God says, though. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:17.039 I don't want to ask that God would heal this because I don't want him to heal this. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:17.599 Guess what? 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.440 The Spirit prays for you then. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:22.000 Look at verse 27. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:25.599 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:29.200 Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:35.359 I'm so grateful that the Spirit prays what God wants to hear, not what I tell him to pray. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.720 Because it's not always exactly what it should. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:44.079 These are all things that a person does, not a force, not an it, not a thing. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:51.839 So it's important that you aren't trying to pray in the Holy Spirit like it's a mist or a ghost or the force in Star Wars. 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:59.279 It's so often, I think, when we talk about the presence of God, it's literally like the force. 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:01.440 May the Force to be with you. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:06.960 And instead, we have a relationship with the God who can be known. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.480 Second reality is also true. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.000 The Holy Spirit is a person. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.960 Number two, the Holy Spirit is God. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:17.359 The Holy Spirit is God. 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:25.039 What makes us unique and different and separate from every other religion that is out there is the fact that we are Trinitarian. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:36.880 What that means is that we believe that God exists as one God, but he exists as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:46.319 We don't think that God just changed forms along the way and became, he was Father in the Old Testament and He was Jesus whenever he was on the earth, and now he's the Holy Spirit. 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:52.319 No, we believe that instead all of those things have always been, and we believe that God is also one God. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:23:05.920 That's what makes you different than every single person that's gonna knock on your door and begin to tell you about the Bible that they have, and they begin to show you things, it's gonna be radically different because their fundamental difference is where they believe about God. 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:07.759 We're Trinitarian people. 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:11.440 And the Holy Spirit is God. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:21.119 Acts chapter 5, there's this story of Ananias and Sapphira, this married couple who both bring this offering to the Lord at different times, and they both lied about what they brought. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:23.680 Listen to what it says in Acts 5, verse 3. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:31.200 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:32.319 Verse 4. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:35.839 You have not lied to man, but to God. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.720 When you sin against the Holy Spirit, you sin against God. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:47.839 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.799 These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:55.039 For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:24:00.000 For who knows the person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:05.440 So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:09.839 The Holy Spirit is omniscient, meaning he knows what you are thinking. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.759 This is why you can't trick God. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:12.640 Please hear me. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.279 I realize that we have in our Northeast Houston culture a churched culture. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:33.599 And what that means is that if you were to ask someone what church that you go to, they would have an affiliation with the church most recently enough to where they could at least answer that question and say, Well, I go to such and such church, even if they never actually go to that church, right? 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:35.839 That's just sort of how things work here. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:47.440 And we have, because of that, this culture that seems to suggest that you can basically say one thing about church, but not actually believe anything they do at church. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:55.279 I can live in such a way where I'm around the religious things, but I don't necessarily have to be religious myself. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:25:03.759 Here's what I want you to understand God sees everything, God knows everything. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.799 There's no Snapchat with God. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:16.319 Snapchats were basically you choose who gets to see certain things that you allow them to see of your life, and the second they see them, it goes away. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:18.079 That's not how it works. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:21.759 Instead, God knows all things. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:27.119 Psalm 139, verses 7 and 8, where shall I go from your spirit? 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:29.680 Where shall I flee from your presence? 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.079 If I ascend to heaven, you are there. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:34.720 If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:39.039 Holy Spirit is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.519 This should bring you great comfort, and this should bring you great conviction. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:48.400 I want you to understand something. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:57.920 The Holy Spirit is there when you have that feeling on Sunday when all of a sudden your song is on and you're worshiping and you just feel God's presence. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:25:59.359 But don't mistake this. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:04.799 He also is there when you have that feeling on Friday night that you're not supposed to have. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:11.359 Because you're where you're not supposed to be, doing what you're not supposed to be doing. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:22.240 And even though you may do everything in your power to separate those two things and act like somehow they don't overlap, the Holy Spirit sees both. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:35.359 And because of that, we have to understand something that to somehow blaspheme his name either through our mouths or through our actions, we're gonna be held accountable before God. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:37.359 He is everywhere. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:44.000 We're gonna learn next week some of the amazing things he does about like guiding us and leading us and convicting us. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:48.640 But he was also present at some of the most significant moments of our faith. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:51.039 Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:54.240 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:59.680 Verse 2, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:03.839 This whole thing was created, the Holy Spirit was there. 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:07.200 Luke chapter 1, verses 34 and 35. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:10.640 And Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:17.200 And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.839 Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.480 He was there when Jesus was born. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:36.720 When the Savior came to this earth, the Holy Spirit was a part of that, and now the very scripture that we read, the very scripture that we receive life from, he was involved in that. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:45.200 Second Peter chapter 1, verses 20 and 21, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:53.519 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:59.039 Holy Spirit is both a person and the Holy Spirit is God. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:02.720 Maybe you're hearing this though, and you would say, Okay? 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:04.480 Great. 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:06.880 What does this have to do with me? 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:09.359 Here's my one point of application. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:13.839 You need the Holy Spirit. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:18.160 I want to make sure you hear what I'm saying. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:23.680 I'm not saying it would be better off for you if you had the Holy Spirit. 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:26.000 Although that is true. 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:34.640 I'm not saying that, hey, when you've tried everything that you've done and you run into a brick wall, the Holy Spirit is who you can go to next. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:43.920 I'm not trying to tell you that, hey, you should consider trying to live this life with the Holy Spirit. 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:51.119 I'm telling you this based upon the authority of God's word and the experience of my life. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.839 You need the Holy Spirit. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.240 Turn with me to Acts chapter 2. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:02.240 Acts chapter 2 should just be a few pages over from where you are. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:14.240 I want to show you a very important passage of Scripture that forever changes how the Holy Spirit interacts and shows himself in history. 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:34.000 It's important that we note this is not an event that is intended to be recreated, but it is an event that is meant to show that the way that God had worked with his people and interacted with them up to this point has forever going to be different going forward. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:38.480 Acts chapter 2, let's read verse 1. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:45.200 It says, When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:54.480 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:00.000 And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:07.680 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:14.559 Up until this point, the Holy Spirit only sporadically showed up in the lives of people and in their situations. 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:20.160 We see many evidences of this throughout the Old Testament, but it was not a regular, ongoing occurrence. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:26.720 Now, this unique one-time encounter, it says a great wind and tongues of fire show up. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:28.559 That's a little bit different. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:42.880 Now, instead of the Holy Spirit becoming an occasional thing, it is signifying a shift that greater power would be given to each individual believer from this time forward after this moment. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:47.119 This is where the church was officially birthed. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:54.319 Before people had to come to the temple or the tabernacle in order to experience and to have the presence of God. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:03.279 Now, through the Holy Spirit indwelling in each believer, the presence of God now was inside of them. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:06.799 This is very important that you hear what I'm about to say. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:16.000 In this specific instance here, the evidence of the Holy Spirit filling someone's life is speaking in tongues. 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:20.000 Let me tell you how typically churches handle speaking in tongues. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:26.480 They will either say, Everybody has to speak in tongues, otherwise, you don't have the Holy Spirit. 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:30.240 Or they would say, I'm scared to death of speaking in tongues. 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.359 It must have gone away. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:32.960 We're not going to talk about it, right? 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:34.160 One or the other. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:46.319 And I'm going to simply tell you this: any teaching that tells you that you do not have the Holy Spirit of God in your life unless you have spoken in tongues is an abuse of God's word. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:59.519 I would also tell you, any teaching which tells you that the spiritual gifts have totally ceased in every single way, I believe, is also an abuse of God's word. 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:08.880 Instead, we must recognize the goal is not that I speak in tongues, the goal is that I am living by the spirit. 00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:11.680 Romans chapter 8, verse 9, listen to what it says. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:14.079 This is my proof text of this principle. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.519 It's you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:21.359 If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you. 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:26.559 Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:44.240 What this means is that whenever you give your life to Jesus Christ, receiving him as your personal Lord and Savior, at that moment in time, the Holy Spirit indwells you, lives inside of you, and you now have the Holy Spirit's power living in you. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:33:08.319 What this means is that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, the same power that gave us the scriptures, the same power that allows us to see the miracles that took place throughout Jesus' day, the same power that allows us to be able to see bondage being broken from sin is the same power that now lives inside of you. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:17.039 What this means is this is that your greatest need and your greatest problem is not the fact that you need your circumstances to change. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:34.720 For some of you, what you think if your life will be better as long as you get this promotion, as long as your finances go in this way, as long as the relationship goes from here to here, and on and on and on, you're thinking as long as the externals can change, then things will be better. 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:39.359 And I would simply tell you this don't fight supernatural problems with natural strength. 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:47.759 The Holy Spirit living inside of you. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:13.119 And peace and hope. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:23.519 Despite those circumstances, folks, what we want for you is not temporary relief. 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:34.000 What we want for you is holy spirit power allowing you to see the beauty of Christ. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:40.239 As you get to reflect and live out his glory. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:48.639 What I want you to see is that the point of this life is not that somehow God would make you fulfill all of your dreams. 00:34:48.800 --> 00:35:01.440 The point of this life is instead that you would get to be a part of his plan and his purpose, which is so much bigger and so much greater than your best dream. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:07.199 Walking with Jesus is the greatest thing that you will ever do. 00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:14.719 The question I ask for you today, though, is this do you have the Holy Spirit? 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:18.480 Does the Holy Spirit live inside of you? 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:21.679 If you're a believer, the answer is yes. 00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:30.559 But maybe you're not experiencing joy and peace and love and all the things that the Holy Spirit produces. 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:35.360 Let me tell you, it's not because the Holy Spirit has stopped working. 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:45.199 But what it probably does mean is that you need to remove some things in your life so that the Holy Spirit can start to move in your life. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:49.519 For some of you, you need to confess. 00:35:50.960 --> 00:36:00.719 Confession is a means by which we can receive the restorative, healing, comforting work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:03.199 But you gotta be honest. 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:06.239 You gotta be honest about those idols in your life. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:14.159 You gotta be honest about those things in your life that you're holding on to and you're leaning on way more than the Holy Spirit. 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:20.239 Some of you are trying to fight the battles that you've got in your life with natural strength. 00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:21.760 I just need to try harder. 00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:27.440 My default is I just need to get some time away and get my mind clear. 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:30.320 I just gotta think this through. 00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:32.719 I gotta strategize this out. 00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:34.239 Please hear me. 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:41.519 God's given us brains, God's given us strategies, God's given us all of those things, but those things do nothing compared to his supernatural power. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:47.679 Instead, maybe today what you need to do is you need to get on your knees. 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:55.280 You need to maybe use this front area right here as an altar where you come before the Lord and you simply say, God, I'm gonna let you have this now. 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:05.199 I've done everything my natural strength knows to do, and I'm now at the place that you wanted me all along, which was dependence upon you in the first place. 00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:08.239 Maybe for some of you, you need prayer today. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:09.840 We want to pray with you. 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:12.800 We want to walk alongside of you, but please hear me. 00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:16.159 We don't want to pray for the things that God doesn't say are best for you. 00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:19.119 We want to pray that God's will be done in your life. 00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:25.679 As hard, as painful, as difficult as that may be, it's probably gonna require you to walk away from some things you love. 00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:30.000 It's probably gonna require you to sacrifice some things you may not want to sacrifice. 00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:35.599 It's probably going to require you to have some difficult conversations that maybe you're trying to avoid. 00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:39.440 But I would also tell you this: the Holy Spirit will guide you. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:42.800 He will lead you, He will walk with you. 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:46.639 For some of you, your next step today is church membership. 00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:48.480 That's what you need to do. 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:50.639 God has led you to United City. 00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:55.360 This is the place that you've identified with, and you would say, This is where I know God wants me to be. 00:37:55.519 --> 00:37:59.199 Would you lead the way today and come and join United City Church? 00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:03.199 A place that you can believe and you can belong and that you can be with us. 00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:05.119 Maybe some of you need to be baptized. 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:08.400