SPEAKER_00: And we started a new series uh last week.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Stephen started a new series on the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: How many know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: And this week's um title, I guess you could call it the best version of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The best version of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of self-help books out there that talk about being the best version of yourself, but we're gonna learn how to be the best version of ourselves when we apply the Holy Spirit to our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So as we go through this series, we've learned that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And when we gave our lives to Jesus, when we recognize our need for a savior and surrendered our lives to God, what happens now is that we have allowed Jesus to usher the Holy Spirit into our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: I should hear an amen on that one.
SPEAKER_00: We have allowed the Holy Spirit to be ushered into our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: And when that happens, there's a change.
SPEAKER_00: A change was made inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: We become, the Bible says, a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about that before.
SPEAKER_00: You are a new creation in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The old man is gone.
SPEAKER_00: And what was once an empty house, and what was once broken down, now has new now has a new resident inside of it.
SPEAKER_00: And what was once dead is now brought back to life.
SPEAKER_00: What was once separated from God is now brought back together.
SPEAKER_00: What was once lost, its purpose, what once has lost its purpose, is now given a future again.
SPEAKER_00: So when we accept Christ and place him Lord of our life, the Holy Spirit takes residence inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: And that shouldn't be a shock to you.
SPEAKER_00: You should know that already.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you didn't know that, but now you know.
SPEAKER_00: When you give your life to Christ and you surrender to the things of Him, His Spirit begins to He enters into you and begins to transform your life.
SPEAKER_00: So now no longer are you just an empty, broken down vessel that could have been.
SPEAKER_00: But now you listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Now you are living, breathing, intentional, called and chosen child of God who is an important part of God's family.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: That's an important statement.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to repeat after me.
SPEAKER_00: Now you are a what?
SPEAKER_00: Living?
SPEAKER_00: Say it, living, you are breathing, intentional, called and chosen child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, say that again.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a living, I am breathing, I am an intentional, I am a called and chosen child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You have to get that inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: You have to realize that.
SPEAKER_00: Your spirit is renewed and continues to be renewed.
SPEAKER_00: Your soul is being transformed, even your body is being used, your physical body is being used for worship to glorify Christ just as it was created to be.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what happened in Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: When Adam and Eve sinned, there was a separation there, but because of the work of the cross, now we have access to his throne room, we have access to forgiveness, we have access to the King of Kings because of what he did.
SPEAKER_00: And now, spiritually, we can be created as it was supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, because we're on this earth, there's still a curse, our bodies still deteriorate.
SPEAKER_00: anybody bodies did anybody's body deteriorating?
SPEAKER_00: My body sometimes feels like that.
SPEAKER_00: I played softball last Friday, and then I played again the following Monday, that following Monday, and my body felt it.
SPEAKER_00: I was kind of getting out of my my vehicle like an old person.
SPEAKER_00: No offense to any old people getting out like that, but I was walking around like this for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: I had to stretch.
SPEAKER_00: When I was younger, my 20s, I didn't even was stretching.
SPEAKER_00: What is that?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who stretches in their 20s?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I don't I didn't stretch.
SPEAKER_00: But now I feel it in my body as I'm getting older.
SPEAKER_00: I feel different aches and pains.
SPEAKER_00: You're walking, anybody 40 and above walking, all of a sudden you're like, what is that about?
SPEAKER_00: What is going on?
SPEAKER_00: That's all still part of this curse.
SPEAKER_00: That physical, this physical place that hasn't been completely restored yet.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible talks about someday there'll be a new heaven and new earth.
SPEAKER_00: But right now we are placed on this earth and we still have to deal with the curse of sin in that regard.
SPEAKER_00: But spiritually speaking, you are set free this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read this verse to you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Or do you not know that your body, that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?
SPEAKER_00: I want to pause right there for a second.
SPEAKER_00: That word body right there in the Greek is called Soma.
SPEAKER_00: Soma, S-O-M-A.
SPEAKER_00: And that's referring to every part of your body.
SPEAKER_00: Your physical, your spiritual, your mental capacity.
SPEAKER_00: That's all of it.
SPEAKER_00: So when it's saying body in that, in this verse, it's saying the temple of the Holy Spirit is within you.
SPEAKER_00: And where did this spirit come from?
SPEAKER_00: It came from God, and that you are not your own, for you have been bought for a price.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at what it says here.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, glorify God in your body.
SPEAKER_00: So now I'm gonna glorify God in my body, my physical body, I'm gonna give him glory.
SPEAKER_00: The way I live my life, the mental capacity of my life, I'm gonna give him glory.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna give me a new mind.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna renew my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritually speaking, my spiritual body, we're gonna be connected with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So when it says body, it's body, soul, and spirit in that verse.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit takes residence within you and begins to transform your physical, mental, and spiritual body.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: See, the problem we run to as children of God is that we forget what God has done in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people forget that they are a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they forget that they are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And that happens to all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can look at people and say, I wonder if they realize that they are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That they realize the Holy Spirit is inside of them.
SPEAKER_00: And you might think to yourself, Pastor Mike, that's judging.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Bible also says you'll know them by their fruits.
SPEAKER_00: So you know how somebody is living their life, maybe just by a conversation, or by the way they're living their lives, or where they are spiritually, by how they're acting and what they're doing in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: You can't forget that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I actually asked my wife to come up.
SPEAKER_00: She has a funny story that she wants to share that goes along with this.
SPEAKER_00: Come on up, Karen.
SPEAKER_01: This one goes way back.
SPEAKER_01: I was probably, I don't know, 12.
SPEAKER_01: Way back.
SPEAKER_01: We were living in New Hampshire, and my dad, if you knew him, he loved cars.
SPEAKER_01: Um he just sometimes would go in his spare time just to test drive a new car that came out.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh what was fun was there'd be grand openings or fun days, and he'd pack all of us because there's free popcorn and free hot dogs.
SPEAKER_01: And when you got six kids, that's what you do for a field trip.
SPEAKER_01: So or eight kids, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, we're all in the vehicle, and my dad wanted to, I think it was the Astro van that had come out, and we're all sitting in the vehicle, and he's test driving it now.
SPEAKER_01: And we're driving, and he's mad.
SPEAKER_01: And he's having a conversation with us in the back, getting replies and everything, saying, Oh, that salesman, he's a liar.
SPEAKER_01: He said this thing's gonna get 35 miles to the gallon, and I know it isn't.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, he hears it is, it is, you know, from the peanut gallery in the back.
SPEAKER_01: And then he's saying, No, no, it's it's all a lie, and uh these stores aren't gonna work, and I guarantee you that there is no warranty, like the guy saying, There is, there is a warranty.
SPEAKER_01: But my dad didn't know that the guy was in the car with us.
SPEAKER_01: And it was him replying, and my dad thought it was my brother Timmy, but we're all sitting there trying to get my dad's attention through the mirror, saying, He's so when my dad saw that the guy was in the car, he goes, but other than that, the car's great.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure many of us have embarrassing stories like that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Bunch of liars, you gotta get saved.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's raising their hand, nobody has embarrassing stories, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've pocket dialed someone by accident, and the person on their side of the phone was listening to your conversation, you didn't even realize it.
SPEAKER_00: You uh maybe you accidentally pressed talk to text in your conversation, and um you know your whole team of at work might have heard your conversation or got a text uh that didn't make any sense or whatever it might have been.
SPEAKER_00: There's moments when you realize that when somebody else is in the room and when somebody else is listening behind the scenes, you sometimes begin to sit up a little taller, right?
SPEAKER_00: When you're by yourself or with your family, you might act a little different, but when there's someone new or someone different, you begin to act a little more um gracious or appropriate, right?
SPEAKER_00: So you think about what you say before you say it.
SPEAKER_00: You're all of a sudden the best version of yourself for the most part.
SPEAKER_00: And we all know everybody has two sides to themselves, sometimes three sides to themselves.
SPEAKER_00: The one that everybody sees and the one that they don't let anybody see.
SPEAKER_00: The person we pretend to be and the person we truly are when everybody goes home, are they are they the same person?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, men, we suck in our stomachs a little bit when we talk to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Hi, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and then when they leave, you're like, oh, thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But thank the Lord that He didn't leave us alone, amen.
SPEAKER_00: When He ascended into heaven, He sent His Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Because when the Holy Spirit is operating in your life, he's transforming you from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: So whether you are young, you're middle-aged, or older, or at home, at church, at work, wherever you might be, you're the same child of God that he created you to be from your mother's womb, whether wherever you might be.
SPEAKER_00: What people see outside of your home, you're the same person when you're by yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to show you something that happens to a lot of believers.
SPEAKER_00: There's a trap that people fall into, and it's something that that the devil uses to disrupt your life, and it's just a short little verse, it's James chapter 1.8.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 1.8 says, being a double-minded man, now, ladies, that's talking about mankind, so you're not excused from this.
SPEAKER_00: Being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever met someone who doesn't know what to order at a restaurant?
SPEAKER_00: And they're just, you're like, come on, come on, everybody's waiting.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know how to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about those small things.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about a double-minded person.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who's walking the fence, who's in the middle of the road.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna pick a side, but they don't know what side to pick, so they're they're picking, they're in the middle.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Bible talks about double-mindedness, being a double, being double-tongued, having flattering lips, as a deceitful, uh, have a deceitful heart, being lukewarm.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Holy Spirit wants to do away with all the back and forth between the darkness and the light, being one person in the day and then another person in the dark, deciding, oh, today I think I might follow the Lord, and the next day, nah, I'm just gonna do what I want.
SPEAKER_00: See, the enemy wants to bring confusion to your life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what his job is.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to bring confusion, he wants to bring chaos, he wants to bring disruption to your life.
SPEAKER_00: And when you identify like this, it becomes like a circus act.
SPEAKER_00: And you allow the devil to move into your life.
SPEAKER_00: And next thing you're juggling all these different things and you lose focus and everything comes crashing down.
SPEAKER_00: And then you're embarrassed because somebody saw the side of you that they weren't meant to see.
SPEAKER_00: I remember one time we were I was at the store with PT, another PT story.
SPEAKER_00: And we were either at home or at Home Depot at or at Lowe's.
SPEAKER_00: And I think we were getting paint for one of the classrooms or something, I don't remember what it was.
SPEAKER_00: And we're there trying to pick out the paint or order the paint, whatever it, whatever we were doing, and we hear in another aisle someone talking to somebody, and they were swearing up a storm.
SPEAKER_00: They were they were really going for it.
SPEAKER_00: And the person comes around the corner, and we both recognize this person because they were a person who came to church.
SPEAKER_00: Came to this church.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here right now.
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: This is a long, this is a long time ago.
SPEAKER_00: And we both, me and PT looked at each other like, whoa, like wow.
SPEAKER_00: And then he comes and he and he sees us and he goes, hey, he didn't really didn't know that we heard him.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, and he became the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Pastor PT, how are you?
SPEAKER_00: Good, great sermon on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that really touched my life.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't hear that a second ago.
SPEAKER_00: A double-minded person.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 5, 8 through 13 says this for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists of in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
SPEAKER_00: As you try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.
SPEAKER_00: For it is look at this, verse 12, for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
SPEAKER_00: But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
SPEAKER_00: And then look at what it says in Luke chapter twelve.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter twelve, verses two through three.
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys have that verse?
SPEAKER_00: But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.
SPEAKER_00: Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have been whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed onto the housetops.
SPEAKER_00: See, there are people who give their lives to Christ and continue to live double lives.
SPEAKER_00: They come to church, they read their Bibles, they even serve in a ministry in the kingdom of God and continue to live a double life.
SPEAKER_00: The one you see in church and the one you see at home, they're two different people.
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean you're a bad person?
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean you don't belong in the presence of God?
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean you will always have to be that way?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer to those three questions is no, you don't have to be that person.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's you this morning, you need to wake up and get a and get a new perspective of what being a Christian is.
SPEAKER_00: Because you don't have to live a double life.
SPEAKER_00: But you need to change and ask the Holy Spirit to weed out what doesn't belong in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You have to choose to follow the things of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He just doesn't zap in, you become this perfect person.
SPEAKER_00: It takes work, it takes discipline.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know you you can do it because all things are possible if you have Christ on your side?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is: how can I be constant and consistent?
SPEAKER_00: How can I be constant and consistent?
SPEAKER_00: How can you be the same person at work, at home, or church without feeling like a fake or a phony or like you're trying too hard?
SPEAKER_00: First, the first thing is we, and we've talked about this, is that you have to remember that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit dwells inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing is the Holy Spirit wants to transform you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this, it's very important.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit wants to transform you into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to make you like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean you're gonna be perfect like Christ?
SPEAKER_00: No, but he wants to transform you into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Just so you can say, look what I did to that person, I changed them into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's more to it than that.
SPEAKER_00: It's so you could be a witness to others that way you can say, Look how God has changed my life.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he's doing in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Am I a perfect person?
SPEAKER_00: No, but I am striving to be more like him and look what's happening to my life.
SPEAKER_00: I now have joy and peace and happiness, even in the midst of a storm.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: It's a testimony to the people around us, what God can do.
SPEAKER_00: They might look at you and say, weren't you that person that used to do this, that, and this and that?
SPEAKER_00: What happened to that person?
SPEAKER_00: Well, God has changed my life.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Holy Spirit wants to transform us into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 13 8 says, Jesus Christ is what?
SPEAKER_00: The same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: Where we are, He wants to change us to where we are consistent, where we are constant, where we are dependable, where we are real people who are once sinners, but now the Holy Spirit is living inside of us, rearranging, convicting, transforming, bringing to light, even giving strength to live, move, and have our being in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Holy Spirit does.
SPEAKER_00: Some might say, well, Jesus doesn't expect me to be perfect all the time.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that you're not going to be perfect all the time.
SPEAKER_00: But people use that as an excuse not to change.
SPEAKER_00: He understands that I make mistakes, that you make mistakes, and that we're human, that we make mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: And people say, well, it's all under his grace anyway, so you know I can kind of live I can live however I want because I'm under his grace.
SPEAKER_00: And you hear that all the time: his grace, his grace, his grace, his grace.
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You're abusing his grace when you're living that way.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this in Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 4.
SPEAKER_00: This is what shall we say then?
SPEAKER_00: Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
SPEAKER_00: Far from it.
SPEAKER_00: How shall we who die to sin still live in it?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus have been baptized in his death?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we have been buried with him through the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in the newness of life.
SPEAKER_00: You understand that's where we talk about you are a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: The old person is gone.
SPEAKER_00: That person is dead, and now you are raised up like Christ was raised up in the newness of life.
SPEAKER_00: So now grace is the door that you can walk through.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says here in Titus chapter 2, verses 11 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: For the grace of God has appeared.
SPEAKER_00: Who is the grace of God?
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean that he's appeared?
SPEAKER_00: It was Jesus when he came to this earth.
SPEAKER_00: And what did Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He brought salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, in a godly manner in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, eager for good deeds.
SPEAKER_00: See, his grace is not a justification for sin or to keep on walking in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: But his grace is the only reason you have access to the Holy Spirit and the possibility of taking somebody that was filthy and like you and I and make us worthy to be transformed and to walk in the newness of life.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Grace is a door, not a coverall for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is a door.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is a door to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: It is a door to forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: It is the door to salvation, to a new life in Jesus Christ, because of the work of the Holy Spirit being completed in your life.
SPEAKER_00: See, Paul even talks about grace as a door to the power to overcome obstacles.
SPEAKER_00: Second Corinthians, Paul is talking about this thorn in his flesh that he has to deal with.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians chapter 12 9.
SPEAKER_00: To what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and he has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.
SPEAKER_00: So now Paul says this, most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what that's saying this morning?
SPEAKER_00: It's saying, So now I am glad to boast about the things that I am weak, my weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: So now I can show the world that the power of Christ can work through me.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Because when I am weak, he is strong.
SPEAKER_00: He works through me through my weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: He works through me through my trials and my tribulations.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says, I count it all joy when I walk through these situations.
SPEAKER_00: I count it joy.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he likes suffering?
SPEAKER_00: No, nobody likes to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: But he knows what God can do.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what God can do in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He knows how God can change you and make you into the man and make you into the woman of God he wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: He knows he can take those problems that you might have, those things that you might struggle with and change them for the change them and take them out of your life and replace them with his goodness and his mercy and his peace.
SPEAKER_00: So by his sufficient grace, the power of Christ is now in me, giving me and giving you the ability to listen to this, giving you the ability to overcome even the most difficult of circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you might be thinking, Pastor Mike, that that just feels impossible to do.
SPEAKER_00: How do I change who I am?
SPEAKER_00: How do I change my emotions?
SPEAKER_00: How do I change my thoughts?
SPEAKER_00: How do I change my desires?
SPEAKER_00: This is the way I am, and this is the way I will always be.
SPEAKER_00: And what do you hear there?
SPEAKER_00: I, I, I, I, I.
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You cannot change yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So you're just going to be stuck in a rut.
SPEAKER_00: But let me let you on a little secret.
SPEAKER_00: If you surrender your life to the Holy Spirit, you surrender your life to the Lord, He is the one that changes you, not you.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You have to allow the Holy Spirit to change you.
SPEAKER_00: You have to choose who you're going to serve.
SPEAKER_00: Am I going to be a lukewarm Christian or am I going to be on fire for the things of God?
SPEAKER_00: And how do we change from being a lukewarm Christian to being on fire for the things of God?
SPEAKER_00: I'll say it over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: You need to get in his word.
SPEAKER_00: You need to have a relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: You need to pray.
SPEAKER_00: You need to ask the Holy Spirit to enter into you.
SPEAKER_00: You need to ask the Holy Spirit to change the person that you are and to becoming to the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you become a person who is on fire for the things of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Even when things are going, when not things, when life is not going your way.
SPEAKER_00: Because now when things aren't going your way, you know that Christ is still going to be there leading and guiding you.
SPEAKER_00: Because He's going to give you joy in those moments.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to give you peace in your suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to give you happiness.
SPEAKER_00: Because now you're going to be able to use that problem, whatever it might be, to be a testimony to the things, to the people around you, and to be able to proclaim Christ to those around you because of what you have gone through.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it's all about.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: That you're just not you're not just an empty vessel.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just an empty vessel.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just going through the motions.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just a person who comes to church on Sunday and that's it.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're on fire for the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: You're on fire for his word.
SPEAKER_00: You have a desire to know who he is.
SPEAKER_00: You have a desire to have a relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: You have a desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be led by the Holy Spirit, to go up to people and talk to them about Christ, to be involved in ministry, to be involved in connect groups, to be involved in teaching kids, to be involved in someone's life, to be involved in bringing someone to church.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to have that desire if you don't get into the presence of the into the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You understand that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: If you want to have a desire to be in the presence of the Lord, you need to move towards the Lord because He's there calling all of us.
SPEAKER_00: And he will do what He says because He is a God that doesn't change His mind.
SPEAKER_00: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: When He tells us that He loves us and He has a promise for us, He's going to do it.
SPEAKER_00: All we have to do is stand on those promises.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to read Ephesians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 through 21.
SPEAKER_00: It says, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.
SPEAKER_00: Pause there for one second.
SPEAKER_00: So beyond what you can even imagine, he is able to do.
SPEAKER_00: How does he do this?
SPEAKER_00: He does it according to the power that works within us.
SPEAKER_00: To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We have to remember there is a power at work within us, making you the best version of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says this power is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think.
SPEAKER_00: A power that resides in us, that if you would allow, is able to transform even the most unthinkable parts of who you are and into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Those deep down things that you think that they're so shameful.
SPEAKER_00: God is still able to change those things and take those things out of your life and turn those things into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If we truly are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then why are we living two lives?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes three lives.
SPEAKER_00: Living your life as a reflection of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to take notice of that last part of that verse.
SPEAKER_00: It says, To him be the glory.
SPEAKER_00: God should be gloried.
SPEAKER_00: Your life should bring glory.
SPEAKER_00: The way you live your life should bring glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you don't have to pretend anymore.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is dwelling within you and desires to give you the real, give you a real experience of what a child of God looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Stop resisting the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you this morning, don't resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, allow him to transform you into the image of Christ, which is the best version of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.