SPEAKER_00 0:29

And discover more about LifeFake Church. Producing lifefakefake.org. Visit lifeafe.net today.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

John chapter 14 is where I will begin for this next segment of our worship service today. John chapter 14. And let's look at verse 16. On my last occasion to be with you, we talked about the fact that you need help. We all need help. I need help, you need help, and God knows we need help. And so he sent a helper. And our part is to cooperate, participate, to learn from the helper. We have a helper. Hallelujah. John chapter 14. This in chapter 14, 15, and 16 is one conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples before he ascends, before he goes to the cross and pays the price and then establishes our covenant. He's having this conversation with them, and he is helping them to identify some things that are about to change. Some things that are about to change in their prayer life, some things that are about to change in the way that they interact with God. And one of the most important things that he addresses in this conversation is their relationship with the Holy Spirit. Not only how they interact with him, but their need and the value and the importance of this interaction with the Holy Spirit. In chapter 14, verse 16, Jesus said, I will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter. Another comforter that he may abide with you forever. The word comforter is an interesting word. It is the word paracle. It is twofold in its meaning. The word para, it's a compound word. Para means side by side, a partner or a standby. Side by side, a partner, a standby. We know the spirit lives within us. So this is referring to how he leads us, how he interacts with us. Not as much his geographical position in your life, but his leadership position, his way of helping you in the situation. How does he do it? He does it side by side with you. He leads you, he accompanies you through that situation with this guidance side by side, like a partner. Like someone who is standing by on ready for you to consult with him at any time, for you to address him at any time, for you to acknowledge him and ask him, what should I do in this situation? He's right here by your side constantly. So that's what the word para means. But the other part of this compound word is also equally important. And this cleat, C-L-E-T-E, is a word that means called, summonsed, or appointed, called, summonsed or appointed. This shows us that his position by your side is a holy calling. Just as holy as a pastor's office or a prophet's office or the office of the evangelist. These are all called positions by God, appointed by God, with an anointing, with supernatural equipment, with all of the necessary spiritual provision for that office. The Holy Spirit is called by God. He has a holy calling, a set-apart sanctified calling. He is appointed. He is summons by the Father to stand by your side, to help you in life, to be your side-by-side, constant counsel. Hallelujah. So would you think, I know personally, when God called me into the ministry, what an important, important, valuable role I consider this to be. It's not something that Pastor or I take lightly. We are feeding God's people. We are ministering the word of God. It is something that is set apart. Can you picture the responsibility that the Holy Spirit brings to his office? There's nobody called to help you the way he's called to help you. There's nobody assigned personally by God like he has been assigned personally by God to be there helping you in any situation or scenario you may face. Glory to God. It's a holy calling. So the Holy Spirit, he said, this word comforter. I would like to look at it in the amplified. Can you put the amplified up for me? Because it is such a um a profound word that the amplified Bible amplifies it with seven words to describe this multifold working of the Holy Spirit in our life. It says, I will ask the Father and He will give you another comforter. And now we see the Amplified giving us these words, counselor. Have you ever felt like if somebody could just talk me through this? He will. He will. He will talk you through it. And his counsel will bring you out safely. His counsel will help you know what to do. He is your counselor. You have a personal counselor assigned by God for whatever it is you're facing, whatever situation you ever come upon that you don't have an answer for. You have a counselor. He's your helper. Remember, I said, God told me we need help. We need help. And he gave us a helper that oftentimes we ignore. I said we. I didn't say you. Did I say you? I didn't say you. I said we. Because I've been guilty of ignoring him. I've been guilty of Googling first and asking questions from God later. Pray first, Google second. That's my new motto. Pray first, Google last. I mean, because sometimes do that backwards. They they go to all of the people they think have experience in that field. They'll search it online. They'll go through all these different avenues to try to get answers. And the last thing they do is ask the Holy Spirit, who was there all the time with the right answer. He's like, I could have told you that. I could have saved you a lot of confusion. And you wouldn't have had to try all those other things that didn't work. You could have come straight to me and I would have helped you out with the right way the first time. Glory to God. But that's why we're learning about our help. That's why we're finding out the help that's available. So he is your helper, your intercessor. Your intercessor. Now the word intercede means to go between. And Jesus is the intercessor. And the Holy Spirit is an intercessor in situations for you. The work of intercession Jesus did. Jesus went between us and God and established the new and the living way for you and I to approach God through his blood, giving us the righteousness that we are in Christ by washing us in his blood, making us righteous and heirs of God. So Jesus did that by his obedience. He did that by his work and established that for us. He also went between us and the enemy to break the control that the enemy had in our life. And so Jesus is the intercessor and his work of intercession is established. But there are avenues through which the Holy Spirit will be a go-between for us. And we'll see that most often in our prayer life when we are experiencing situations that we know God wants a different outcome, and yet what we're seeing is not the results that the word says we should have. And so we're trying to pray, and we we saw in our first session, Romans chapter 8 says, the Holy Spirit helps us when we don't know how to pray. He helps us in that infirmity of not knowing what to pray, how we ought to pray in that situation. Because we don't have all the details. We don't know what the enemy is doing behind the scenes. We don't know the lie that that person is believing. We don't know what it is that caused them to act the way they're acting. We don't know all the details, but the Holy Spirit, He does. God knows the whole panoramic picture. And so the Holy Spirit, then, it says he makes intercession for us. He goes between us and he doesn't do it while we're asleep. He doesn't do it without us. He does it while we yield our voice to him and allow him to pray through us with groanings as we speak in tongues, as we yield to the Holy Spirit, and we from our heart allow him to help us pray. He is in that praying, he is going between us, and he is giving us the words to pray the perfect will of God. So you might say, Well, how can I pray the perfect will of God? I don't know the perfect will of God. The Holy Spirit does. And he helps us in making intercession, that going between through that language, giving us the words to speak, but you give voice to the words that he impresses upon you. So this is a help that's supernatural. This is a help that is priceless. This is a help that requires our faith, that we believe, and that we yield to and that we activate his help. Because it's not automatic, it's not just gonna happen, but it is automatically available through his presence in our life. Because Jesus said, I'm gonna pray the Father, and He will send you a helper, He will send you an intercessor who will help you go between. Let me get finish this in uh verse 16 in there, uh the Amplified, an advocate, a strengthener. Do you think strengthener, supernatural strengthener? I mean when I go on a long trip, my husband has a battery, an a battery charger that's uh portable, that is, is you don't have to have anything else. In other words, I'm not dependent. If something happened to my battery, I'm not dependent on somebody else to come give me a jump start. I've got a device that will jump start my car in the car in case I need a battery, right? Well, you've got one living in in your heart. You've got a supernatural supply of God's power, so that even if you are running low, if you have been exerting a lot of spirit spiritual energy, if you've been standing, you've been believing, you've been exercising your faith, you've been working the word, and and you've had a lot of demands placed on your faith and a lot of things pulling on you. And you say, I am running low on spiritual energy. The strengthener lives in you. He is your ever-present help in time of trouble. Amen. And he's there to strengthen you. So all you have to do is tune in to him and say, I just access, I ask you, Lord, strengthen me by your spirit and my inner man. And glory to God, he'll just jumpstart you right there on the side of the road. He'll just jumpstart you right there in the middle of that situation, in the in the emergency room, in the wherever it is that that you find yourself running short on spiritual energy. Just ask him, and he is there to strengthen you. So he is your advocate, he is your helper, he is your go-between, your strengthener. And then it says standby. He is your standby. And again, that was one of our definitions of that word para. It means to stand by. So renew your mind with that image. Renew your mind with that. Yes, he lives in me and he's always standing alert, he's always on standby. I am never waiting on God for an appointment. I am never having to schedule out weeks in advance to get to see God, to get to talk to him about my situation. He is ever present. He is a standby, he is there on call at any moment. Glory to God. So what a privilege. And Jesus said, He has been given to you. The Father will give you another comforter. The word another means another just like the first. There are two words that could be used in the Greek language for another. One would be another in the same category, but not exactly the same. Like you, if you said another piece of fruit, and your first piece of fruit was an apple, and then somebody handed you another piece of fruit, but it was an orange, that's not exactly the same. So that word would not be the word that we would use here. But it's another of the exact same. Then another of the exact same kind. So Jesus being the first comforter, the first helper, he said he's just like me. Another just like me. And you know, they were already saying, Oh, Lord, we are better off to have you with us. We we we don't need, we we want you, because you know, when we were uh dealing with all those hungry people, you multiplied fish and bread. And when can you imagine all of the things that they could count on their hand and think, I can think of a lot of reasons why I just like you to stay here with me. To have you here to help me. We've seen you raise the dead, we've seen you heal the blind, we've seen you cause the lame to walk, we've seen we we think you should stay with us. But he said another of the exact same quality of the exact same kind. So I remember um I was my I was at a meeting, we were had all of the youth group over at our house. This was a number of years ago when we were in Kansas. We had all the youth group over, and we were playing a game that said, you know, you would pull a thing out of the uh thing and read it. And one of the questions that was pulled out of the the bowl was if you could talk to anybody uh who is no longer um alive, who would it be and what would you ask them? And so this person, it wasn't one of the youth either, it was one of the youth worker helpers. And I I was I thought we got to pray now because the youth worker helper said if I could talk to anybody, it would be Jesus. Yeah, I know. That's what I did. I was like, you can, yeah, he's not dead, he's still alive, he may not be living on this planet in his physical body, but he is well and alive, and in you can still contact him. And so uh this this mindset sometimes that that we can fall into of knowing it in our head, but not having the reality in our heart of the relationship we have. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. If he's with you, he's going to tell you exactly what Jesus would say if Jesus were standing there face to face, looking you in the eyeballs. The the counsel the Holy Spirit gives is the same. He Jesus wouldn't tell you to do it differently. Jesus wouldn't advise you differently and say, well, you know, the Holy Spirit told you that. No, I if it were me, I would tell you this. No, the Holy Spirit's gonna bring it exactly the way Jesus would explain it, exactly the way Jesus would advise you, counsel you, direct you, uh uh give you the details. The Holy Spirit's going to exactly like Jesus leads you. Hallelujah. This needs to become reality to us, not just in the mind, but we need a spiritual perception. I am never at a disadvantage. I am never a victim because greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. No matter what it looks like, I have access to know what to do. I heard Pastor Nancy, someone asked Pastor Nancy Dufrane, and her husband had when he passed away, it was through a tragic uh plane crash. And someone asked her, what was the hardest thing? Was that plane crash, losing her husband through that plane crash, the hardest thing that she's ever had to deal with? And she said, No, the hardest things I've ever had to deal with were the things happened before I knew how to ask the Holy Spirit what to do. She said, When my when my husband's plane went down, I immediately turned to the Holy Spirit within me and said, Now what do I do? How do I respond? And began following the leading of the Holy Spirit in every response, in every way that she dealt with, leading that church, leading that ministry, leading her family through that situation, keeping their eyes on Jesus through all of that. She said, the things that have been the hardest were the things that I didn't know how to do because I had not yet learned how to consult the Holy Spirit. I thought, how how transparent, but how helpful for those of us. If I if I had learned to ask him, especially in situations that catch me off guard, especially in situations where it seems like the enemy's trying to pull the rug out from under my feet. Instead of responding out of the emotional feeling of that moment and the hysteria or uh the uh natural human response to it, I'm never obligated to the natural human response. Because I'm alive in Christ. I have the helper living, resident in me. And so if I learn to depend on him, if I learn to trust in him, I learn to go to him, no matter what happens, when it happens, even if it catches me off guard, it didn't catch him off guard. And he will guide me through it. Hallelujah. So the spirit of God is our helper, and he is abiding with us. Verse 17. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. Now, this is one of those things that for those twelve disciples, they were not yet blood washed at this conversation. They were not yet born again. They were keeping the covenant, they were walking with Jesus, they were carrying the anointing under the old covenant. But when the blood was shed, and when the Holy Spirit became resident within them, they now had his interaction at a different level. At a different you are born again into this relationship. They were before the cross, interacting with the Holy Spirit upon them through the anointing, but not within them through the new birth. But after they were born again, after the blood was shed and Jesus appeared to them and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, and he breathed on them, and we see evidence of them with the fruit of the Spirit. It says, after he ascended, they returned into Jerusalem with great joy. So there's the fruit of the Spirit. So they have received the new birth at that point, and they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now he is resident in them. So he says, He will be in you. So for you and I, when we accept Jesus as Lord, he becomes resident in us. The Holy Spirit is the one who it brings the life of God into our spirit. Through the word that we've heard, the faith that we've heard, the Holy Spirit brings us to life. And that eternal life is now a well of living water springing up within us. Verse 26, same chapter. Verse 26. But the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you. He will teach you. Bring things to your remembrance. He will teach you, and he'll bring things to your remembrance. Hallelujah. So that again puts us in the student chair. So if he's gonna teach me and he's a gentleman and he is not gonna force it on me, the better student I am, the more progress I'm gonna make. You know, in the things of the spirit, your progress is not held back because God's trying to keep you in the slow pace. If you give yourself, if you give him your attention, if you make yourself studious to following his spirit, studious to the word of God, if you if you do your part, he'll keep you moving. He'll keep you on task at your learning level. Hallelujah. So we're not waiting on him as often as he's waiting on us. A lot of times people get the idea that they're waiting on God, and they have them theirselves stuck in neutral. Neutral, waiting. I'm waiting on the Lord. Bible waiting on the Lord is a spiritual activity. It's not a neutral activity. It is not something that you're sitting in neutral, twiddling your thumbs, waiting on the Lord. If you're waiting on the Lord, there's a spiritual activity of keeping your ear tuned in to hear, of seeking his face, of being in that place where you are aware of his moving and his presence and what he's directing you to do. So waiting on the Lord as it refers to Scripture is not the same definition as a lot of people, a lot is what a lot of people are doing when they say, Well, I'm waiting on the Lord. They're just sitting in neutral. But waiting on the Lord, I'm I'm ready, Lord. I'm seeking you. What's next? What's my next move? What's my next step? What is my my next uh direction that I need to take? Amen. So we see here that he's teaching, and he's bringing things to our bringing things to our remembrance. Things that God has said to us, things that Jesus has taught us. He'll bring those things to our remembrance. And then let's look at chapter 16 and verse 7. John 16, 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I not, if I if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. So Jesus said, This is beneficial. One of the definitions for expedient would be this is beneficial for you. This is a necessary, beneficial step for your progress. This is conditional for your progress. It's expedient for you so that I can go to send him. If I go away, then I can send him. Glory to God. Verse 13. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself. But whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. So this is one of those reasons why it's so expedient for you, so beneficial for you. He will guide you into all truth. He is the spirit of truth. We see Jesus referring to that name for the Holy Spirit multiple times in these chapters, the Spirit of Truth. When the Spirit of Truth comes, you have resident in you the Spirit of truth. And there are a lot of lies swirling around. Lies that look like reality. Lies about whatever. I mean, it's everywhere. Things that you'll hear preach that sound just a little bit. You're just like, I can't, there's just something that just doesn't seem right about that. That's because the spirit of truth is residing in you, and he's trying to tell you, don't swallow that. Go ahead and spit that out. That's one of those things you don't need to accept it just because it it came in that uh cloak or that deceptive looking like it's religious or looking like it's right. The Spirit of truth is teaching us. Hallelujah. And that's a protection for us. He's showing us things. Verse 14, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it to you. Now the word show, he's used it twice now in 13 and in 14. The word show means to announce, to declare, or rehearse. The Holy Spirit rehearses things with us. And I yeah, I'm so glad about that. I need that. Lord, please remind me. Tell me that again. Rehearse that with me. He'll rehearse that. But notice Jesus said, He will take what is mine and he will rehearse that with you. He'll announce that to you. He'll declare that. He shall receive of mine and he will show it to you. You can't see it any other way. You can't see what belongs to you in Christ without his help. Without the word and the Holy Spirit, how are we gonna understand the righteousness we are in Christ? Without the word and without the Holy Spirit bringing that word to life in us, how are we gonna see ourselves as heirs and joint heirs? You know, the reason that in Ephesians 1, that prayer of Lord, give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of you, so that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, so that they could know the hope of the calling and the riches of the glory of the inheritance. You don't know what's yours by inheritance without you, you're not gonna know it by your mind alone. You're not gonna get it through the sense-knowledge realm. It must come through the spiritual revealing. It's got to be revealed to you, what belongs to you. It's got to be revealed to you. Hallelujah. And he is your resident revealer. He's constantly with you to show you what is in your heavenly account, your inheritance, constantly in you to tell you and rehearse to you. You have authority over this in Jesus' name. To exercise that authority, he reveals things to you, he reminds you, he brings that back to your remembrance. Wait a minute, Jesus purchased that. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Jesus already put that under his feet. So that means it's under your feet, and you can walk over this. You can deal with this situation differently if you'll listen to the Holy Spirit. So he glorifies Jesus by revealing what belongs to Jesus. Notice the next verse. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, I said, He will take of mine, which is all things the Father has, that has been given to Jesus, that has been given to you. He will take those things and he will reveal them to you. He will show them to you. He will announce them to you, declare and rehearse those things to you. We need that. We need that. That's the help we need. Glory to God. Glory to God. Now, in all of this, Jesus is telling us the Father wants you to have the Holy Spirit working with you like this. I want you to have the Holy Spirit working with you like this. This is not something that's optional. This is not something that you can say, I'm not interested. I don't really need all that. I'm on my way to heaven. That's enough. If I just, if I just have a entrance, a ticket into heaven, if I just get to heaven, that's enough. No, God said the Father and the Son, Jesus, they both planned out and purposed for you to have this kind of help. For you and I to have this access to all of this help. Supernatural supply of wisdom, of counsel, of strength. Why? Because he knows we need this. He knows we need this. Jesus is our example. When Jesus came to this earth, what we see in his earthly ministry was a model so that you know how you should look and how you should act. Everything he did, he never said, This is a God trick, don't try this at home. When they said, Lord, the map the master, the tree that you cursed is is withered up, he didn't say, Yeah, I can do that, but don't you try that. No, what did he say? He said, Have faith, operate the faith of God. You can do this. If you would say to the mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in your heart. But if you believe that those things that you say come to pass, you'll have what you say. You can do this too. You can work the faith of God too. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. When Peter said, Lord, if it's you, bid me to come. He didn't say, Peter, don't get out of the boat. This is a water walking miracle that only I am capable of doing. He didn't say that. He said, Okay, Peter, come on. I wasn't going to make you get out of the boat, but if you're interested, I'll give you the power to walk on the water. Amen. So Jesus was modeling for us. And one of the important things for us to see, let's look at Luke 3. In his model for us is the Holy Spirit upon him. Luke 3, verse 21. Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus, also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened. Now stop and hold your place there and go to, I want to compare all three all three instances where this is recorded. Mark 1.10. Hold your place in Luke. We're going to come back to it. Look at Mark 1.10. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened. He saw the heavens opened, and the spirit of a dove, a spirit like a dove descending upon him. Okay, and now Matthew 3, 16. Matthew 3, 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight away out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. It did not say in any of these verses that the clouds parted. But that's what a lot of people imagine. The clouds parted. It said the heavens opened. Because the Holy Spirit from heaven came to the earth and was resident upon Jesus. In each of these, it says the heavens opened. I have a center column reference in Mark 1 that says the heavens were cloven or rent. So a tear in the atmosphere, as the Holy Spirit entered the atmosphere and came upon Jesus. Now let's also compare these each. It says the Spirit of God descending. I want you to take the prepositional phrase like a dove and set it apart for a minute. Because it didn't say a dove descended, but that's what a lot of people have in their head. A picture of a bird flying down. But that's not what the Bible says. The heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended. That's Matthew. Let me look at Mark 1.10. The Spirit, I'm going to pull that prepositional phrase out, the Spirit descending upon him. And then Luke verse 22 of chapter 3, Luke 3, 22, the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape. Again, pull the prepositional phrase out for just a minute. We'll put it back in. But the emphasis is the Holy Spirit himself descended from heaven upon Jesus. Now let's pull the like a dove back over here and put it in context. Because like a dove, the preposition like is describing the action of how the Holy Spirit descended. He descended like a dove. If I were to say I ran like an athlete, or I sang like a bird, or I I ate like a pig, right? I'm saying how I did that action. So like a dove describes the manner in which the Holy Spirit descended. So he did not swoop down like an eagle attacking a rodent on the ground. And attack Jesus, like swooping down forcefully and landing upon him hard. No, the like a dove indicates the mannerism of the Holy Spirit, his gentleness. He's not forceful. He's powerful. He is powerful, but he's not forceful. He's not rude. He's not violent. He's a gentleman. That helps us. Because I remember when I first uh began attending church after I got saved. And I I thankfully I was saved into a full gospel church that that that ministered about the power of God. But there were people in that church that didn't believe that you could pray in tongues unless the Holy Spirit came on you violently. And then so they only responded when it when we had one of those services where the power of God was in great manifestation, and then they would woo and they would spin around and their hair pins would fly out of their hair and stuff like that. They did not feel like you could on your own without having that great manifestation, they they waited until things were at a a certain level before they believed it was the Holy Spirit. So how much did they miss in their life because they never yielded to him when he softly and gently came and rested and wanted them to respond in prayer, wanted them to respond, and but they didn't recognize him that way. So he is gentle, he comes to us, and sometimes when you're learning how to respond to him, for instance, if you are in a service and the Holy Spirit just gently you have a desire to give a word in tongues, and and you're like, is that just me? Or is that the Holy Spirit? Is that just me? And so you dismiss it. And then again, just a gentle nudge, just a soft prompting. Maybe it's you're at the checkout stand and you have this prompting, just tell that person, just smile at them and tell them, hey, God loves you. And you're like, nah, no, that's not, that's not the that's not God. I'd be too embarrassed to do that. And and again, you just feel that soft prompting. If we'll learn to respond, you know what? I just decided I'd rather be wrong and miss it trying. And I would say, Lord, I'm I I think that's you, so I'm gonna do this. I think that's you, so I'm gonna do it. If I'm wrong, help me. If I'm wrong, correct me. But I'm gonna try, I'm gonna, I'm gonna respond because I had too many times pulled back from that prompting and pulled back from that little soft nudge and missed my moment. So he is in his mannerisms, gentle, but the Holy Spirit himself, not a bird, the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape, and I'm back in Luke 3, in a bodily shape upon Jesus. Hallelujah. Now, Jesus told his disciples in the verses that we read that the Holy Spirit would be in you, and he's gonna operate side by side with you, leading you and teaching you. But in Luke 24, he tells his disciples specifically, Luke 24, in the moments before he ascends to the Father, he said to them in verse 49, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. Well, he told them back in John 14 and 15, the Holy Spirit will be in you. He will live in you. And now he is saying, and if you will recognize verse 52, great joy, that's a fruit of the spirit. Right? And how do you have the fruit of the spirit without being born again? So after his uh resurrection from the dead, and he appeared and and and visited with his disciples, they have received Jesus, they have joy, but he tells them there is a working of the Holy Spirit that you will need to participate in. I send the promise of my Father upon you. And he said, Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power. Endued is a word that means put on like a coat. To put on like a coat. Clothed with power. We can also see in Acts 1, this conversation is recorded. Let's read it in Acts 1, verse 8. But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. He said, You shall receive power. This is the word dunamis. It's defined as force, strength, ability. And my favorite part of the definition, this is from the strongest concordance. My favorite part of the definition is worker of miracles. You shall receive the worker of miracles when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Hallelujah. And so you in your own strength and power can't do it, but his power is on you. Amen. You shall receive the worker of miracles as the Holy Spirit comes where? Upon you. So when he refers to John 4, the well of water, he's referring to the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. The Holy Spirit's working in your daily life, leading you in your daily decisions, teaching you in your daily prayer time and study time. It's the Holy Spirit interacting with you, and you're drinking from the well of living water. But then in John 7, Jesus refers to rivers coming out of your spirit. Rivers. He said, That Holy Spirit, he who drinks the water that I give, he that believeth on me out of his belly, his innermost being, not your stomach, your innermost being, out of your innermost being, your spirit shall flow rivers. Well, the well is for you, but the rivers is for the people. The rivers is, I mean, we many, many multitudes of people are benefiting from the Mississippi River, right? Because it flows all that way down. And the rivers that are flowing out of you are meant to benefit many, many people. It's the Holy Spirit. And then it says this, and I want to look specifically because John chapter 7, where we find this rivers of water versus the well of water. Verse 38, he that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly, his innermost being, shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. They that believe on him should receive. Hallelujah. So the only requisite for receiving this interaction with the Holy Spirit is to believe on Jesus. They who believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And that's why Jesus, who had not yet been glorified, is having this last conversation with his disciples before he goes and ascends to his father to be glorified. And he says to them, Wait for the promise. I will send the promise of the Father. I will send the promise of the Father. And you shall receive power after you receive the promise of the Father. So many people in the body of Christ have accepted Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away their sins. Yet when John the Baptist made that declaration, he didn't stop with that explanation of who Jesus is. Jesus is not only the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, but he is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire. Hallelujah. And not only do we need to receive the Lamb of God, but we need to receive the baptizer in the Holy Spirit and fire. Because Jesus said, It's my Father's plan. I'm gonna go and fulfill that plan. So it's God's will, it's Jesus' will for us to have the Holy Spirit working in his fullness in our lives. Hallelujah. So he said in verse 4, wait for the promise of the Father. Wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard of me. Verse 5. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So let's look at what? The not many days from now. Okay, let's look at that. So he told them, not many days from now. So there's no need to tarry anymore. They were tarrying for the not many days from now. But in chapter 2, we see that the time came. It said, When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. Did we see the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke? It used the word upon the Holy Spirit came upon. And here the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples who were there in the upper room. And what happened? They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak. But they didn't speak just natural words. They were speaking supernaturally. They were speaking, they were doing the speaking, but the Holy Spirit was empowering their words. The Holy Spirit was giving them their language. It says they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Who gave them utterance? The Spirit gave them utterance. They spoke, the Spirit gave them the words to speak. Supernaturally supplying words in our mouth. Supernaturally supplying utterances that bring the perfect will of God. Pray the perfect will of God. We know that from Romans chapter 8. Hallelujah. So they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Bible records this filling was evidenced as they spoke with other tongues. Now, you could say, let's read what Peter preached about this. Because let's let him identify that this is what John 7 was referring to. Because what did he say? This he spake of the Holy Spirit, who had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So Peter in his sermon in verse 32 says, This Jesus has God raised up, whereof you are all witnesses. So he's preaching Jesus to them. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, that took place after Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, I will send the Father, the promise of the Father. Luke 24, Acts 1. He said, I will send the promise. It says, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he, Jesus, has shed forth this which you see and hear. And what were they seeing? They were seeing people acting like they were drunk, but they were not drunk with natural wine or alcohol. They were drunk with the Holy Spirit. They were under the influence, not of natural alcohol, but of the supernatural presence of God upon them. And they saw that. And then it says, now see and hear what you're seeing and what you're hearing. Well, what were they hearing? They were hearing people speak in their own tongues, knowing there's no way they ever learned my language. They don't know how to speak that naturally. How are they speaking in this language? And I'm hearing them, and what were they doing? They were praising God. They were glorifying God with their words. But it was a witness to all of those people. And he said, What you're seeing and what you're hearing is the promise of the Father that Jesus has received because he's been glorified and has poured out upon all these people the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Now they had a great altar call, and people got saved. They told them, You can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for this promise is unto you. And so we see that's the response of this first church service, if you will. This first time all these people are brought into the body of Christ. And they are brought into the body of Christ and told that they can receive not only the new life in Christ, not only forgiveness of their sin, not only this eternal life, but they can receive this promise of the Holy Spirit. And somewhere along the way, people have, not us, but other people, have taken and separated and said, well, that that's for some. Because we are interested in Jesus, the baptizer, and the Holy Spirit. He said we need this interaction with the Holy Spirit, that we need help. We need help. Because we don't always know how to pray. We need the interceding of the Holy Spirit. So let's look at Acts chapter 8 and verse 14. Acts chapter 8. Verse 14. This is when Philip is there preaching in the city of Samaria. He's preached Christ to them. And people have given heed to those things. They saw the miracles. There was great joy in the city. Look at verse 8. Chapter 8, verse 8, there was great joy in the city. How'd that get there? They were getting born again. They were hearing the word. For there to be the fruit of the Spirit, there's got to be a new birth. So there's great joy because they've received Jesus. It said so, and they received, he preached Christ to him, and the people with one accord gave heed to those things. So they're getting saved. In verse 14, says, When the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they're saved. They have accepted Jesus. They've received the word of God. They said, There's more. They've received the word. They've got saved, but they're not done. We're not done with them. There's something more they need. And he said, They sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. Notice he did not pray that God would send the Holy Ghost. That God would send the Spirit of God or God would give them the Spirit. The Holy Spirit had already been given. The Holy Spirit had already been sent. Send it on down. Send it on down. I don't need to sing that song anymore. I I don't need to send, Lord, send, send the Holy Spirit. Lord, let the Holy He's here. He's like, hello. I I recently had the privilege of being in the very first, this past Friday, the very first session that uh Jesse Duplantis is on his tour of where he is telling people about his experience of going to heaven. And he said, and he was he said, I was so embarrassed that I even asked this dumb question. Dumb, dumb, dumb. This dumb question. He said, I'm standing there at the throne of God and the power and the presence of God, and I could just barely even hold myself up. And I said, Where I see the Father, and I see Jesus. Where's the Holy Spirit? And he said, I just said, dumb, dumb, dumb. Because he said, the angel looked at me and said, The Holy Spirit's on the earth. And he's like, I knew that. But think about it, the Holy Spirit's here. They did not pray that God would give them the Holy Spirit. The promise is unto you and to your children. If you believe on Jesus, my prayer is that you receive. The receiving is the only necessary activity to the having. The promise. God's already provided the promise. Jesus has already received of the Father and sent the help of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. The receiving is what was lacking. And so they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he was fallen upon none of them. Upon. They were born again. They had the Holy Spirit in them by the new birth, but he at this point had not come upon, fallen upon. Again, that shows us how he moves in a service. He comes upon us, and we sense his presence and respond to his presence. He had yet fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Let's look at another example in Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, Peter had seen a vision. And God said in this vision, he had seen the unclean things on this sheet being descended down. And God said, Don't call unclean what I have called clean. And he told him to go with the men who were coming to the gate. And so right after he came out of that vision, he looked down off the rooftop and he saw these men walking up to the gate, and the Holy Spirit said, Go with them. And it was a group of people leading him to a house where there were people who were not Jewish, Cornelius' house, and he had seen an angel. Cornelius had seen an angel who told him to call for Peter, and Peter would come tell him the words by which he would need to get saved. And so Peter is there at Cornelius' house. The men who came with Peter, they don't believe that if you're not Jewish, you can get God, get saved until now. Because what happens, it says in verse 44, while Peter yet spoke these words, he's what is he speaking? How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, he's preaching Jesus crucified, right? And resurrected. So while he's speaking these words of the gospel, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word. The Holy Spirit fell, and they of the circumcision which believed were shocked, astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit, for they heard them speak with tongues. So how did they know that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on them? They heard them speak with tongues. It was an evidence to them that they had received. And they wouldn't have believed it if they hadn't seen that, because they didn't think that they could get saved. But oh my, they've got the same baptism in the Holy Spirit that we've received. How did this happen? Golly. How did this happen? God must have saved them too, for them to have received the Holy Spirit upon them and speaking in tongues. Now, in the case in Samaria, where Philip had been preaching and Peter and John came and prayed for those people to receive the Holy Spirit, it doesn't specifically say they spoke with tongues, but something was evidenced that caused Simon the sorcerer to say, Hey, I want to do what you just did. So let's go back and look at it because I don't want to leave that unsaid, because we want to recognize it says in verse 18 of chapter 8, Acts 8, 18, when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. So he saw something. There was something. Now we can just from Bible evidence pull that same evidence that Peter had indicated in his sermon. What you see and what you hear is the promise of the Father. Is that what Peter preached in his sermon? That which you're seeing and hearing is what Jesus has received of the Father and poured out, and you're seeing and you're hearing. Well, Simon saw something. He saw something that made it clear to him that they didn't have it before, but they have the Holy Spirit in this working now, and he wanted to be able to do that too. So we can take the scripture and and and and recognize there was something that gave him that indication. And if we comp use the other scriptures as the testimony to support it, we can identify when Peter said in the sermon, what they were seeing and hearing, it was they were hearing them speak in tongues. When we see him here in Acts chapter 10, what convinced the religious Jews that were with Peter, it was the fact that they heard them, verse 46, they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. And that's what evidenced to them, indicated to them that they had received. Now I've got one other example because out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19, and let's look at verse, we'll begin in verse 1. And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus. Finding certain disciples, he said to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? Now I know King James is using ghost, but in our society today, that word ghost is used too often and confuses people. It's used too often in a negative sense. And so an accurate definition is the Holy Spirit. And I like to use Holy Spirit. So I'm not against the phrase Holy Ghost, but I think for because a lot of what I interact with people who don't know anything about God, they hear ghosts and they think haunted house. And so we don't want to confuse people. We may have been in uh raised up and heard the phrase Holy Ghost all of our life and and we know. But when we want to walk in um wisdom with those who might not know. So the Holy Spirit. So it says here, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? First thing he asked them. First thing he asked them. So we saw as soon as they heard in Acts chapter 10 or in Acts chapter 8, the first thing, when they heard that they got saved, get Peter and John down there to help them receive the Holy Spirit. And now again, here is Paul, and he says, very first thing, oh, you're a believer? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Why? Because we know it's expedient for you. We know this is vital, this is important for you to receive him in his fullness. You need help. That's what he's saying. You need have you got the help? Are you equipped with the help? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said, What? We didn't know about the Holy Spirit. And he said, How are you believing? And they said, Well, we believed in John's baptism. And so he preached Jesus to them. And they got saved and baptized. And it says, let's read here, in they said unto him, We've not so much as heard that there be any Holy Spirit. And he said to them, Unto what then were you baptized? John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him whom should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them. Where? On them. Did they get saved when he preached to them? And they got baptized in the Lord Jesus. So they were already saved. They'd had the Holy Spirit enter their heart, but now the Holy Spirit came on them and just got saved, y'all. Not been saved two weeks, two months, two years. Just got saved. They'd been following the teaching they had from John's baptism, John's preaching and John's baptism, but they had just got saved. And the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Because the working of the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is a result of the well of water. The born-again, I've accepted Jesus as Lord. I have the fruit of the Spirit. But the gifts of the Spirit are connected with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He said, You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall receive the worker of miracles. And the gifts of the Spirit, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gift of discerning of spirits, the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues, the working of miracles, the gift of faith. Those gifts of the Spirit flow as he wills. You don't have to qualify for 10 years of Bible study to be worthy. You just have to be willing to flow and let him, the worker of miracles, do what he does best. And he immediately began working through these people who had just received the Holy Spirit. They spoke with tongues and prophesied. So prophecy is the gift of prophecy, is one of the gifts of the Spirit that 1 Corinthians talks about. In the example of Samaria, Peter and John came and laid hands on them and prayed that they would receive. That is biblical, but it's not required because we also see in Acts chapter 10, while Peter was still preaching, they were receiving the gospel. The Holy Spirit came upon them and they were filled without hands being laid. So hands being laid as a point of contact to help people receive the Holy Spirit is one way, but it's not the only way. It's not a requisite. It's not a standard requirement. It's also possible for people to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit with their hearts, just reaching out and taking, Lord, I want all that you have for me. Hallelujah. And that's that's the decision. That's the decision. God's already, He's not saying yes to some and no to others. If if a person is born again, yes is the answer. It's already yes and amen. If a person is born again, the promise is unto them and to their their children. The promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, it's unto us. Hallelujah. And we need his help. We need his help. When people have the idea that they have to wait, like many are taught to tarry for the Holy Spirit. They're in neutral, waiting on God to do something that He's already done. He's already given the Holy Spirit. We see from Scripture that it's the receiving now. After the day of Pentecost, there was never another example of anyone being told to wait or anyone having to ask God to give. From this point on, in each example that we see beyond the day of Pentecost, they were instructed to receive. Hallelujah. So I'm going to give an opportunity today. If you're here, first and foremost, the opportunity of most importance, of utmost importance, is to know Jesus as Lord. And if you would say, Pastor Michelle, I need to make the decision to accept Jesus Christ, to have the eternal life come into my heart to be forgiven of my sins. If that's the decision that you need to make, I want to give you an opportunity today. Hallelujah. Would you say I accept Jesus as Lord? If that's you, just lift your hand right where you are. I want to pray with you today. Hallelujah. If you have made Jesus your Lord, that's the only necessary requirement to receive the Holy Spirit. The help that he provides to every believer through the new birth. But even beyond that, this working of the Holy Spirit with the rivers of living water praying through us, the will of God with utterances that he brings supernaturally to us is of such importance. If that's you and you would say, Pastor Michelle, I need to make Jesus. I need to accept this, I need to make Jesus the baptizer of the Holy Spirit in my life. I need him to baptize me with the fire and with the Holy Spirit. If that's you and you would say, I want to receive this promise of the Father, I want to pray with you to receive today. Would you lift your hands? Hallelujah. Everyone receiving, everyone in that position, then here's my encouragement to you. His help requires your participation. The help that he brings, he wants to show you things, but he needs your attention. He wants to teach you things, but he needs you being willing to learn. I'm just helping you grow right now. You see me smiling? I love you. And I want you to grow. And he can't pray the perfect will of God for you without you. Yielding to the Holy Spirit and letting him pray through you. Your mind feels bored. Your mind will try to move over there and think about I need to go to the store and get some eggs. I got eggs. Need to go to the store and get some whatever. Right? Because your mind isn't getting any, it's it's the Bible says your mind is unfruitful. But the Bible says your spirit is praying. When you if a man pray in tongues, his spirit is praying, 1 Corinthians 14. You need that. You need that. And you need it more than you know. And the reason I'm teaching on this again is because the Holy Spirit is stirring me that we need to give him more time. We need to give him the microphone longer. Not just giving him a little bit of time to speak through us, but yielding to him and letting us pray through till we've got some breakthrough about some things, till we've got some move forward progress about those things. Praying in the Holy Spirit is a privilege that comes with a responsibility. It is a privilege. But it's not just for band-aid moments in my life, not just for times that are out of control in my life. How about I let him help me pray? Let him give me words so that I can pray the perfect will in these situations and get out ahead of some things. And I just believe if you will heed this and that if you'll give yourself more time in his presence, praying in tongues, letting him pray through you, connecting with him heart to heart. Holy Spirit, I yield my tongue to you right now, and I'm praying this. I believe you'll see some things that you've been putting up with resolved. I believe that. I believe the Holy Spirit has me here encouraging you, challenging you, give him more time. Give him more time. And I'll tell you, we're gonna see it. I'll know it because as you we come together, if everybody who is filled with the Holy Spirit is yielding to the Holy Spirit all week, when we come together, he'll move in a different way in the service because you'll come in supercharged. And when we all come together, that supercharged is going to hit another level. Some of the slow services we some of the times that Pastor and I have to just depend on on just the uh tool belt of the pastor to get through the service is because we're too empty. And I'm just helping you by the Spirit of God. I'm closing my eyes, I'm not looking at anybody. But we, I said we, I didn't say you, I said we have come in too empty. But if we are full throughout the week, praying in the Holy Spirit, edified. It says, when you pray, be being filled. If you get filled, if you allow Him to fill you and edify you and supercharge you, it says, when you pray in the Holy Spirit, you edify yourself, rising higher and higher. You you plug in like a spiritual battery charger. If we all come in with a fullness, we're gonna see it in the service. We're gonna we're gonna know it by the way things are moving forward in the plan of God. We're gonna see more done by the Holy Spirit in us and through us. Hallelujah. And I'm excited about it because I know God has brought us together for such a time as this. He's brought us here, he brought us to Little Rock at for this time. He told me Little Rock is strategic. And I believe you are here because you're strategic. You're a strategic part of what God is organizing and and preparing. And your spiritual supply matters to the whole body, not just to the pastor, not just to the the a singular service, but for the whole body. Your supply matters. So I want you fully supplied, I want you supercharged, I want you edified. Amen. Praise God. Did you receive today? Stand with me to your feet.