SPEAKER_00: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
SPEAKER_00: For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba Father.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say, I'm a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Say it again, say I'm a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: Being led means to lead along, to bring, to carry, to drive.
SPEAKER_00: Bible records that Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So being led is to drive, is to compel to go in a particular direction.
SPEAKER_00: And we said the sons of God in Romans chapter 8, verse 14, the sons of God there means that those whom God loves and cherishes as a father, those whom God loves and cherishes as a father.
SPEAKER_00: So we can say now that for as many as are driven by the Holy Spirit, as many as are led along the path of life by the Holy Spirit, these are the ones whom God loves and cherishes.
SPEAKER_00: Are you hearing me?
SPEAKER_00: As many as are led by the Holy Spirit, these are the ones that God loves and God cherishes.
SPEAKER_00: I made two um bold statements last time we spoke.
SPEAKER_00: I made two bold statements.
SPEAKER_00: I said that the primary way that God shows us his love as Christians is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our heart.
SPEAKER_00: I said the primary way that God shows us his love is the presence of his Holy Spirit in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the primary way God shows that he loves us.
SPEAKER_00: The primary way he shows that he loves us is sending his Holy Spirit into our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus was baptized at the Jordan River, God said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Listen to him.
SPEAKER_00: And God did not just talk, God is like a talk and do kind of God.
SPEAKER_00: God is like a talk and do kind of God.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just talk.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you have people that say they love you, you have people that say they'll be there for you.
SPEAKER_00: And when the when push comes to show off, they are nowhere to be found.
SPEAKER_00: God is not that type of God.
SPEAKER_00: When he said, I love this is my son in whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He sent the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He sent the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit alighted on Jesus as a dove.
SPEAKER_00: That was God showing, giving himself as a token that I love this person.
SPEAKER_00: I love him.
SPEAKER_00: I also said, I also made another important statement.
SPEAKER_00: One of the statements I made was that the Holy Spirit in our heart is proof that God has solved our biggest problem.
SPEAKER_00: And what's our biggest problem?
SPEAKER_00: Is the problem of death.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit in our hearts is what is proof that God has solved our biggest problem.
SPEAKER_00: Are the problems you are worrying about?
SPEAKER_00: Are they illegitimate?
SPEAKER_00: No, they are not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: They are not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: Your challenge of um, you know, wanting a better life, yeah, it's not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God says, I wish, he says in in um 3 John, I wish above all things that you prosper, even as your soul prospers.
SPEAKER_00: So he wants us to prosper, he wants us to have the good things of life.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are worried about those things, your worry is not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: Your desire for certain good things of life is not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says it's not it is not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: Oh is yes, it's not illegitimate.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it's legitimate, it's legitimate, but your biggest problem is the problem of death.
SPEAKER_00: Your biggest challenge is that challenge that you are worried about.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, when am I going to do this?
SPEAKER_00: When am I going to do that?
SPEAKER_00: How am I going to pay for this?
SPEAKER_00: How am I going to pay for that?
SPEAKER_00: In the face of death, every other challenge pales in comparison.
SPEAKER_00: Are you hearing what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: In the face of death, in the face of a life-threatening situation, every other challenge pales in comparison.
SPEAKER_00: And this is important to always remember that so that you can put things in perspective.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if someone comes and solves your biggest problems, I think that person has done well.
SPEAKER_00: If somebody comes and it solves your biggest problem, I think that person has done well.
SPEAKER_00: And how do I know that the presence of the only spirit in our hearts is proof that God has solved the problem of death?
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read it together.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody want to go.
SPEAKER_00: Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody, one more time, want to go.
SPEAKER_00: Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory?
SPEAKER_00: Who there is the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: What is the purchased possession?
SPEAKER_00: You and I, we are the purchased possession.
SPEAKER_00: We were bought by the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I've been bought with the price, therefore, I glorify God in my body and in my spirit, which are God's.
SPEAKER_00: You've been bought with a price.
SPEAKER_00: What was the price that bought you?
SPEAKER_00: The blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when he says that, who the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that someday God is going to come and take the people he bought.
SPEAKER_00: God is going to come and take his property on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that place is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Someday very soon, God is going to come and is going to come and take what he bought.
SPEAKER_00: You don't buy something, pay the full price, and then leave it in the store.
SPEAKER_00: You don't buy a fridge and then leave it in the store.
SPEAKER_00: You don't buy a car and just leave it in the showroom and just, you know, let them be looking at it.
SPEAKER_00: No, when you buy something, you may say, Okay, keep it here for two days.
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_00: That's basically what God did.
SPEAKER_00: He purchased you with his blood, purchased, paid a huge price for your life, and then he said, I'm going to the proof that I'm coming back to get what I bought is putting the Holy Spirit in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say amen to that.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: The proof that God is coming back to take what he bought, to carry you away from here and spend eternity with him is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Is the guarantee, is the guarantee, he is the guarantee that of our inheritance until the redemption, until God comes back to redeem what he has bought with the precious blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say amen.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: So if I'm going to spend eternity with God in heaven, then the problem of death is solved.
SPEAKER_00: One musician sang.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to spend eternity with God, but nobody wants to die.
SPEAKER_00: But death is just a passage into glory.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said death is a passage to glory.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's just a passage to glory.
SPEAKER_00: The problem of death has been solved once and for all.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is in our hearts, but unfortunately, many of us have learned to live without our day without daily interaction with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We have learned to live without daily interaction with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want to do today is to stare up, to stare up and to increase our hunger for the person of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We have learned to live without daily interaction with the with the person of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want to do today is to stare you up or to increase your hunger for the person of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: See, if I say that this uh my pen now, for example, if I say this pen, you know, it's available for sale, and I ask you, how much are you willing to pay?
SPEAKER_00: They're probably gonna say, Oh, I'm gonna pay you five dollars, maybe two dollars for it.
SPEAKER_00: You know.
SPEAKER_00: But if I say that this same pen was the pen that Western Churchill used in the Second World War to write all of his musings and his meditations.
SPEAKER_00: And I say that, you know, it was stolen and then it was found in um a gallery in France and then later found in a museum in Spain, and finally found its way to Shangkota in in Lagos.
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly your desire for the pen increases.
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly you want to get the pen.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because your perceived value of that pen has suddenly increased because of the history of the pen.
SPEAKER_00: So, hunger and thirst is determined, is driven by the value we place on things.
SPEAKER_00: It is this is it is determined by the value we place on things, and so my goal today is to increase your desire, to increase your hunger for the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Not just to increase your knowledge of him, no, not to increase your knowledge of him.
SPEAKER_00: Desire is in the heart, desire is a heart matter, knowledge is a head matter.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us have a lot of knowledge, but you don't have desire.
SPEAKER_00: You know a lot about the Holy Spirit, but you don't have a desire, you're not walking in it.
SPEAKER_00: Yet, God looks at the heart, man looks at the outward.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not about knowledge, it's not about you know, man knowledge for the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not the point of these teachings.
SPEAKER_00: The point of the teaching is to increase our desire for him.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say amen.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I want to hopefully magnify the Holy Spirit in your heart, magnify the Holy Spirit in your face so that you begin to see him as he really is, you begin to desire him as he really is.
SPEAKER_00: I want to magnify him in your face so that you begin to desire him so that your life begins to improve and to change and become what God wants you to be in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's start today from John chapter 16, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 16, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody, let's let's read together.
SPEAKER_00: I want to go.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.
SPEAKER_00: For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.
SPEAKER_00: But if I depart, I will send him to you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he's saying that it is to your advantage that I go away.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is not an idea, it's not it's not an add-on to this talk of redemption and salvation.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not an it's just not it's not something we just stumbled on, it's not it's not a ah, let's quickly have the Holy Spirit to them.
SPEAKER_00: No, it was the plan all along, it was the plan all along, it was the reason for the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He says, It is better for you that I go away.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples would have preferred to have the physical Jesus in in their presence, you know, a Jesus that they could call on the phone and say, Oh, uh, bross, my my my mother-in-law is is is having a headache.
SPEAKER_00: They would have preferred that.
SPEAKER_00: They would have preferred the Jesus that will go, bros, Lazarus, the friend, the one whom you love is Sico.
SPEAKER_00: Bros.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: They would have preferred that.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus was saying, Hey, listen to me, I have a better deal for you.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if I give um Nathan a cookie now.
SPEAKER_00: I give him a cookie.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's all woke you up.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine I give Nathan a cookie and I say, Hey Nathan, can I have that cookie?
SPEAKER_00: Um, but he probably said no.
SPEAKER_00: And guess, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That has happened many times.
SPEAKER_00: He will say no.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: If he gave me that cookie, there is more from where it came from.
SPEAKER_00: If he gave me the cookie, I will give him a lot more.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus knew.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew that him living, them losing his presence, as it were, for a little bit, meant that they will get something bigger, something better.
SPEAKER_00: He said it's your advantage that I go.
SPEAKER_00: It is to your advantage.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say it's my advantage.
SPEAKER_00: Say, say the Holy Spirit is my advantage.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like two people in a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Another analogy here, two people in a relationship, you know, they've been married maybe for like, you know, I don't know, 10 years, and suddenly, you know, they're just in a kind of rot, they're in a kind of rod there, they're they don't know, they can't place their hands on it.
SPEAKER_00: They're not just things are not just right.
SPEAKER_00: And so they began to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: And like, oh um, babe, my wife or my husband, I think we need, let's address this thing, this thing.
SPEAKER_00: So they finally settled and said, once one of them suggested maybe we should go on a retreat, like a one-week retreat.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning you go on your own retreat, I go on my own retreat, and we just try and clear our heads, you know, start and get out of this fog.
SPEAKER_00: And the other person said, No, you cannot go on a retreat, it's not possible, it cannot happen.
SPEAKER_00: I how can I live without you?
SPEAKER_00: You know, they don't know that if you allow that person to depart for a little bit, they will come back refreshed, come back energized, come back ready to face the future.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus knew.
SPEAKER_00: All things being equal, though.
SPEAKER_00: All things being equal, it's not always the case.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus knew that if I go, if I depart from you for a little bit, what will happen?
SPEAKER_00: You will get the helper.
SPEAKER_00: It is your advantage that I go.
SPEAKER_00: There is a bigger gain.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was telling them, if I depart from you, are we here?
SPEAKER_00: Are we paying attention?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I said, Are we here?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in Luke chapter 24, verse 49.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 24, verse 49.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father, the promise of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
SPEAKER_00: I send the promise of the father upon you.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a promise, healing is a promise.
SPEAKER_00: A good car is a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Prosperity is a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Living a good life is a promise.
SPEAKER_00: It is not the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Are you listening?
SPEAKER_00: It is the promise.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is not a promise.
SPEAKER_00: You know, having all those nice things, they are promises of God, but they are not the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Which means when you find and you receive and you appropriate the promise of the Father, all the other promises will find their place in your life.
SPEAKER_00: When you find, when you receive, when you appropriate the promise of the Father, every other promise will find their fulfillment in your life.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the promise of the Galatians chapter 3, verse 13 to 14.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians chapter 3, verse 13 to 14.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.
SPEAKER_00: For it is written, curse is everyone who hangs on the tree.
SPEAKER_00: That verse 14 says that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
SPEAKER_00: Are you here?
SPEAKER_00: That we might receive what the promise of the Spirit through faith.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is what?
SPEAKER_00: The promise.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the promise.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is what God wanted to give since Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is what God had wanted to give all this while.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit in the heart of man.
SPEAKER_00: That was his eternal counsel, that was his eternal plan.
SPEAKER_00: I want to reside in man, I want to find a resting place, I want to find an abode in man.
SPEAKER_00: That was his eternal counsel.
SPEAKER_00: That was what he had in mind all along since the fall.
SPEAKER_00: I want to come and dwell in man, and the Holy Spirit made that possible because he is the promise of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say amen to that.
SPEAKER_00: So the Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Interaction, appreciation of the Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: It is a non-negotiable.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's look at I said I want to magnify the Holy Spirit in your heart, in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: I want to magnify the Holy Spirit in your face so that you begin to hunger and you begin to thirst for him.
SPEAKER_00: Let's do that by showing us the dependence, how people have dependent on the Holy Spirit in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start by looking at how Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit, and we're going to look at how the early church depended on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I want to magnify the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: See how people took advantage of this person called the Holy Spirit so that you can also begin to take it seriously, take him seriously, and begin to take advantage of his presence in your heart as well.
SPEAKER_00: Dependence on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was born by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He was born by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 1, verse 35.
SPEAKER_00: It says, And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the eyes will overshadow you.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, also that that only one who is born, who is to be born, will be called the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 1, verse 35.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He was when he was baptized in the Jordan by John, the Holy Spirit what?
SPEAKER_00: Descended upon him like a dove.
SPEAKER_00: And that's when his ministry started.
SPEAKER_00: Before the Holy Spirit came, Jesus was just a very good carpenter.
SPEAKER_00: Are you hearing what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was just a very good carpenter.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine the savior of the world being a good carpenter.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: But when the Holy Spirit came, the carpenter became the healer.
SPEAKER_00: The carpenter became the savior.
SPEAKER_00: The carpenter became our high priest.
SPEAKER_00: The carpenter is now seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for us.
SPEAKER_00: I thought somebody would clap for Jesus right there.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Holy Spirit came.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 10, verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 10, verse 38, he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power.
SPEAKER_00: And he went about doing what?
SPEAKER_00: Doing good.
SPEAKER_00: It was the spirit that empowered him to go through with the work of redemption by dying on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It was the spirit that empowered him.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit for everything.
SPEAKER_00: I've shown you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit for conception to be born.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Holy Spirit to begin his ministry after he was baptized.
SPEAKER_00: It was the Holy Spirit that enabled him, energized him to even go through with the death on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his travail and his agony in the garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Ebush chapter 9, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: It says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit, offered himself without sport to God?
SPEAKER_00: How much more?
SPEAKER_00: How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God?
SPEAKER_00: It was the Holy Spirit that energized Jesus that enabled him to go through with that travail and with that torturous death on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Without the Holy Spirit, he couldn't have done it.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: It depended on the Holy Spirit for his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the spirit that dwells in you.
SPEAKER_00: Who raised Christ from the dead?
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Holy Spirit for everything.
SPEAKER_00: Even after he has risen from the dead, he gave commandments to his disciples by the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: He gave commandments to his disciples by the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 1, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 1, verse 2, until the day in which he was taken up.
SPEAKER_00: After he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Holy Ghost for his for his birth.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Spirit for His baptism.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Spirit for empowerment for his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Holy Spirit to die.
SPEAKER_00: He depended on the Holy Spirit to resurrect.
SPEAKER_00: Independent of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Even in ascension, he depends on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: To instruct his disciples, it depends on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: From birth to death, Jesus was utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the Holy Spirit in the early church.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit in the early church.
SPEAKER_00: Peter listened to Jesus for three.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine Jesus being your pastor for three years and you are still timid.
SPEAKER_00: You say that's why you are still timid and you are afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And that gives that gives pastors a lot of hope.
SPEAKER_00: That you know, somebody can listen to Jesus for three years and nothing changed about them.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing changed about them.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: They still went and carried fishing boat and they said, uh, this what this man has been telling us for three years.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to understand what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: We don't understand what he said.
SPEAKER_00: We said he should restore the kingdom of to Israel to us, and he's saying no, he's telling us about some some fanciful ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go and start fishing, Jerry.
SPEAKER_00: But when the spirit came, when the spirit came of Peter, the same Peter that was timid, that denied Jesus three times.
SPEAKER_00: When the spirit came, he preached, and three thousand people gave their lives to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Holy Spirit came upon him.
SPEAKER_00: Dependence, utter dependence on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 5, verse 9, the same Peter, the same Peter that could not challenge a little girl.
SPEAKER_00: The same Peter that could not challenge the little girl, she he challenged, you know, maybe some of the one of the bigger donors in church.
SPEAKER_00: The one of the you know major donors in church, Ananeas and Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: Why have you lied to the Holy Ghost?
SPEAKER_00: He said to them.
SPEAKER_00: How did he do that?
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Ghost empowered him.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 8, verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake this chariot.
SPEAKER_00: This is the encounter of Philip with the utopian eunuch.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, this is how the gospel got to Africa through the utopian eunuch.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit directed Philip, go and meet this chariot, go and join yourself with this chariot and minister salvation and baptism to the utopian eunuch, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Dependence, utter dependence on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 11, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 11 and verse 12, then the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Told me to go with them, doubting nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, the six brethren accompanied me.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, the six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.
SPEAKER_00: This is Peter.
SPEAKER_00: When God, when the when the Holy Spirit sent him to go to the house of Cornelius.
SPEAKER_00: Peter was not, you know, um, excited and you know, happy about the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: No, it was not, it was not, it was not truth about it.
SPEAKER_00: But the Holy Spirit compelled him.
SPEAKER_00: Go, go with this man, doubting nothing.
SPEAKER_00: That is how the gospel started to come to the Gentiles, little by little.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 13, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: You know this one very well.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 13 and verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for this for the work that I've that I've that I have for them.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The early apostles, what I'm trying to show us is that Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The early church depended absolutely on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 of Acts chapter 13, he says, So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they did not send themselves.
SPEAKER_00: They did not send themselves, they waited for the Holy Ghost to send them.
SPEAKER_00: See, many of us were just so in a hurry, we want to do this, we want to accomplish, you want to do that, we want to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Just relax first.
SPEAKER_00: Let the Holy Spirit send you.
SPEAKER_00: Let the Holy Spirit send you with the accompany the needed backing and resources.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they depended on the Holy Spirit for everything.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 19, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Paul speaking here, he said, he said to them, Did you receive?
SPEAKER_00: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
SPEAKER_00: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe?
SPEAKER_00: So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It was strange to him.
SPEAKER_00: How can you say you have not heard of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: That is how we live.
SPEAKER_00: It's in him we move and live and have our beings.
SPEAKER_00: How can you say you've not had the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 20, verse 22 to 23.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 20, what am I trying to show us?
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to show us that the early church was all about the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: They were not about logic, they were not about intellect, it was about the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 20, verse 22 to 23.
SPEAKER_00: And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations are with me.
SPEAKER_00: Absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit even prevented Paul from preaching in certain places in Acts chapter 16, verse 6 to 7.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 16, verse 6 to 7, the Holy Spirit comp prevented them, did not permit them from preaching in certain regions.
SPEAKER_00: So we see the utmost dependence of Jesus on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We also see that the early church depended on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: My question for you is how dependent are you on the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: How dependent are you on the leading of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: How dependent are you on the leading of the spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Have you come to a place of utter dependence on the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you still rationalize?
SPEAKER_00: Do you still, you know, do you still try to figure it out?
SPEAKER_00: Do you used to do what's best for me?
SPEAKER_00: Are you here?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, do you used to do you know, given the fact this is what's best for me?
SPEAKER_00: I got to do what I got to do.
SPEAKER_00: No dependence on the how dependent are you on the Holy Spirit and his leading?
SPEAKER_00: That's the challenge for today.
SPEAKER_00: How dependent are you on him?
SPEAKER_00: Have you come to a place of alter dependence?
SPEAKER_00: See, and listen to me, the heller you come to the end of yourself and you start depending on the Holy Spirit, the better for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't come to the end of yourself quickly, life would drive you to the end of yourself at some point.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, everybody got comes to the end of themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us, you will come to a place where you have come to the end of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The earlier you start depending and trusting on the Holy Spirit for guidance for the little minutia, for the little things, the better for us.
SPEAKER_00: The better for us.
SPEAKER_00: How dependent are you on the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: You see, life does not have to be it or miss.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do, you know, pick this, pick that, pick this, pick that.
SPEAKER_00: No, life does not have to be like that.
SPEAKER_00: You can be precise.
SPEAKER_00: You can see that as Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit, his ministry was precise.
SPEAKER_00: As the apostles depended on the Holy Spirit, their ministry was precise.
SPEAKER_00: They did not go where Jesus did not send them.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: When you start depending on the Holy Spirit, there is precision in your steps.
SPEAKER_00: You are not doing luck and chance.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you are not doing luck and chance.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I remember when I was still living in Chicago, and I was still living in Chicago.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I spent about three years in the in the city, and you know, I had come to the end of myself.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just put it that way.
SPEAKER_00: I had come to, I mean, things, things after spending like three years there, it was just like everything just grounded to a halt.
SPEAKER_00: I started feeling uncomfortable, you know, about my living situation, about my work situation, and all that, and all that.
SPEAKER_00: And I knew that something just had to change.
SPEAKER_00: Something had to change.
SPEAKER_00: I knew that something needed to change.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I had the option of where to go.
SPEAKER_00: I had friends here and there, friends in Michigan, some in um, you know, some other parts of the country saying, Oh, you can come, you you know, we'll figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: And I also had the option to come to Maryland, of course.
SPEAKER_00: I knew that this was a very important decision for me in many ways.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritually, it was a very important decision.
SPEAKER_00: As regards my immigration, it was a very important decision where I go next, what I was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: So I started to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the much I could.
SPEAKER_00: But I just started to, I know that this is a very critical junction of my life, and I need some help, you know.
SPEAKER_00: So I decided to visit Maryland, you know, just come and celebrate um pastor's birthday.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it was one of the options I had.
SPEAKER_00: Just come.
SPEAKER_00: I came, looked around, asked a few questions.
SPEAKER_00: She was said, okay, you can come and all that and all that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when I got back to Chicago, I don't know exactly when, but there was just that assurance that okay, Maryland is where to go.
SPEAKER_00: There was just that that certainty.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I could have decided to go and do um to go and also I could have I could have decided to go and also to go and make it happen for myself.
SPEAKER_00: To go and make it happen.
SPEAKER_00: But the Holy Spirit led me to Maryland.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it led me to Maryland, it led me to Maryland.
SPEAKER_00: The influence of the Holy Spirit in your life will impact the quality of your decisions.
SPEAKER_00: The decision I made to change locations, when I look back now, is one of the most strategic decisions I've made since I came to this country.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I could have decided to go and wing it.
SPEAKER_00: I could have I could have decided to go and go with the flow, to go and also make it happen.
SPEAKER_00: You see, but the fact that I could at least quiet my mind, quiet the noise, quiet the distractions, because at some point the voices were just too much.
SPEAKER_00: This one is saying Atlanta and this one.
SPEAKER_00: Just let me relax for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that you could listen to Jesus, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and and be sensitive to his nudging and his promptings delivered me from being stranded in this country.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, delivered me.
SPEAKER_00: I can say that for sure.
SPEAKER_00: It delivered me from being stranded in this country.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have access to the intelligence of God, it knows the future.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit knows the future that you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: He knows the future that you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: He can sense the future.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying that you don't your life does not have to be by chance.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm trying to say.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be making difficult um decisions that you have to be undoing every time you look back.
SPEAKER_00: Once you undo it, you wish you didn't.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be that way, it doesn't have to be that way.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 and 6.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon says here, he says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.
SPEAKER_00: That means you can reduce your margin of error.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: And the Holy Spirit is that advantage that you have to reduce your margin of error.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can reduce your mind.
SPEAKER_00: You see, some people make mistakes in their lives that 20 years after they've made that decision, they are still looking to undo it.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, made critical decisions, mistakes, and 20 years they cannot they cannot undo that terrible mistake they made.
SPEAKER_00: You see, because decisions come with consequences, consequences that you will find very difficult to correct.
SPEAKER_00: So why why do you want to why do you want to risk it?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you want to risk it?
SPEAKER_00: Why not utterly depend on the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Let's begin to bring this to a close.
SPEAKER_00: It is impossible to be dependent on someone you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Write that down.
SPEAKER_00: It is impossible to be dependent on somebody that you don't know, and that's why we are bringing this knowledge to us, not only for knowledge's sake, but so that we can increase our desire, our desire for the Holy Spirit, so that we can increase our desire for the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I want to end today by making another bold statement.
SPEAKER_00: The bold statement is you are nothing without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You are nothing without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I am nothing without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 5, verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: I can of myself do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 5, verse 30, I can of myself do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: You can do something without the Holy Spirit, but the Bible's definition of what you are doing without the Holy Spirit is called nothing.
SPEAKER_00: See, you can do something, you can achieve something, you can build something, you can build a house, you can build a career, you can build a family without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible's definition of that thing you are doing without God, without the Holy Spirit, is nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's the definition of it.
SPEAKER_00: It is nothing, it will come crashing down, it will come crumbling down.
SPEAKER_00: You can ask me about that.
SPEAKER_00: It will come crumbling, it will come crumbling down.
SPEAKER_00: The definition is nothing.
SPEAKER_00: I can do nothing, I am nothing without that.
SPEAKER_00: Should be our attitude to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I can do nothing without you.
SPEAKER_00: So this week, I want you to make a decision to improve your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Decide that you will hear him more, decide that you will consult him more, decide that you will pay attention to his nudgings.
SPEAKER_00: Because your ability to hear from the Holy Spirit is your number one asset as a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: If you take everything from my life, if you throw everything up, you throw everything I have up, and you say, Oh, as it's coming down, just catch one.
SPEAKER_00: You should catch God, catch your relationship with the Holy Spirit, because that will produce every other thing.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many of us have that have that attitude.
SPEAKER_00: Like everything you have, the land, the houses, the connections, the relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Let them throw it up and they say, Oh, as this thing is coming down, no, you can only catch one.
SPEAKER_00: You can only catch one thing.
SPEAKER_00: What will you catch?
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to catch your cars?
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to catch your houses?
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to catch your connection?
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to catch your your social acclaim?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What you should catch should be your ability to hear the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Your ability to hear him.
SPEAKER_00: When you start experiencing the guidance of the Holy Spirit, at first it will look like, oh, it's um it's coincidence.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when the Holy Spirit tells you to do this, and then it it turns out, you know, it might look like coincidence.
SPEAKER_00: But when you keep doing it over time, you do it time and again, you do it over and over again, and coincidence becomes coin consistent, then you know that now you have a guide.
SPEAKER_00: You have a guide beside you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus promised us that we'll have a guide beside us.
SPEAKER_00: You will hear a voice behind you telling you, This is the way, walking it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way walking it.
SPEAKER_00: You will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walking it.
SPEAKER_00: Decide this week that you will prioritize hearing from the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Decide this week and for the rest of your life that you will prioritize hearing from the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: For as many as are led, for as many as are led by the Holy Spirit, they are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be on our feet.
SPEAKER_00: For as many as are led by the Holy Spirit, they are the Son of God.