The Forgotten Fire: Filled With The Spirit?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help, you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Hello, everybody, and welcome to a special edition of High Ridge Longview. I am. I'm welcoming you here on a very, very cold, cold, cold day in East Texas. I am. I'm going to bring you a message called the Forgotten Fire. We're at a series that I think is. Is going to help a lot of people. The Forgotten Fire. It's all about the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, depending upon which kind of church background you. You came from. But there is. There's. There's so much confusion when it comes to things of the Spirit, when it comes to who the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Ghost is. Like, we don't even understand the terms. And so I want to bring a lot of clarity and help people kind of just get rid of all the theological noise and all the things that we've been taught to really help us get to understand what the Holy Spirit is and does and, and how is he active in my life? How can I. How can I become all the things that I'm seeing in the Bible, like, how do I walk in those things? And so it's important that you see with. With great clarity. Exactly. Not just what, but who the Holy Spirit is. And hopefully in the next few minutes, there's gonna be a lot of encouragement, a lot of. A lot of clarity. Light bulbs will go off and you'll be like, okay, I get that. I understand. That helps me because that really is my heart. And, you know, maybe the Lord kind of. Well, I don't say maybe. I think the Lord knows exactly where you are today. And if you're. If you're watching from your home, hopefully you're comfortable. Hopefully you've got enough blankets or your heat is still on. Hopefully you've got electricity. Hopefully you're well taken care of. Hopefully you're nice and warm. And so I think the Lord knew exactly where you would be when you're watching this because he wants to speak to you and wants to help you to see how important you are to him and how important the Holy Spirit is to you. In order to become who you've. Who God has called you to be, you need the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a, it's a must. And so it's important that we get clarity. And so I want to take you over to ephesians, Ephesians chapter one. And I want to start right there in verse 13. Now, when Paul is writing this letter to the church in Ephesus, to the Ephesian people, it's important that you kind of understand who he's talking to, because context is everything. Paul is writing to a group of people that are mixed Jew and Gentile. Old believers, new believers, those that have been raised up studying the Torah and all the Jewish beliefs. They've been raised up studying the law of Moses and, and they've just now converted to, to, to Christianity. They're being filled with the Holy Spirit. And then you've got people that have been using witchcraft and demons and all kinds of gods, people that have, have no historical pedigree of faith. It's very much like the modern church in America today. There's some people that have been, you know, born into this. Like, grandpa was a believer, Grandma was a believer, mom and dad were believers. I'm a believer, my kids are believers. Like, it's just kind of, kind of in your, in your DNA. Then there's other people that they're like, I don't know anything about this. You know, I understand, you know, maybe astrology or astronomy or horoscopes, like you have all kinds of different belief systems that you've, that you've kind of adopted. There is a large group of people that Paul is speaking to very much like we find in our world today. And so when Paul breaks down who the Holy Spirit is and what the active role the Holy Spirit is in a believer's life, it's important to recognize that these people didn't all have, have the same starting ground theologically. And so Paul has to make it very, very clear for them to understand exactly what is going on inside of them and what the Lord is asking us to do and how the Lord is expecting us to accomplish these things. And so I love how Paul breaks it down for them because it makes it very clear for us too today when he talks about this forgotten fire. And I feel like that's so important today because the American church of today's largely either completely neglected and avoided the Holy Spirit because they're afraid of abusing people, and rightly so, they're afraid of hyper emotional things. Then there's also this side that has, that has just kind of gotten out of Scripture and taken the Holy Spirit and gone to great excess and things that the Bible doesn't give us any instructions on how to handle that stuff. And so in between the chaos and hyper control, you've got two extremes. And then a lot of churches that have just neglected that altogether because they don't know how to handle it. But God's Word brings a lot of clarity. And so in order to find out who the Holy Spirit is, you have to go back to God's Word. And there's so many wonderful scriptures. So I'm gonna give you a ton of scriptures to make sure you see this for yourself. So we're gonna follow along in Ephesians, and it says this, verse 13 and 14. And you also were included with Christ, included in Christ when you heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation. He's talking about when you got saved. All right, so go back to that moment when you got saved. And he says this. When you believed you were marked in him, him being Christ, with a seal. That's an important word, the seal. This is like a deposit. This is the, the first installment. This is, this is a guarantee. He said it's a seal. What is that seal? The promised Holy Spirit. He's saying. He's, he's right there. And that's what God gave you the moment you got saved, that Holy Spirit. What is that? He said it's a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Everything we built today is going to be built on those two scriptures. Paul is very clear about who the Holy Spirit is when you get him and exactly what that means to us. And so I'm going to break that down in a few different ways. And here's the first thing I want you to see. Number one. This is probably, probably most important. Number one. The Holy Spirit is fully given at salvation. The moment that you get saved, God has given you this deposit. Paul is very clear. He says when you believed you received what we received, you received not, not just Jesus's penalty for, for that he paid for your sins. He said you received a deposit, a guarantee, a seal. And that's the Holy Spirit, the promised Holy Spirit. Everything that Jesus promised would happen the moment you got saved. There it is. That's important for us to know. So you're not waiting around and saying I'm not quite a good enough Christian. Cause I don't, I don't have the Holy Spirit. Yes, you do. You, if you believed in Jesus Christ, if you asked him to take over your life, if you, if you asked him to forgive you of your sins, you. You have the Holy Spirit. He is right there. He is fully given at salvation. One of the greatest joys of my life is, is being able to go to adoption court. And if you've never, if you've never seen a child that was an orphan or a child that had, that had no family be adopted into a new family, let me just tell you, it's, it is, it is super emotional. It's a beautiful thing. And I've had the wonderful honor of being there for many families when children find their forever home and it's an experience like no other. You need to see that at least once in your life. But one of the things that struck me, that just moved me was not just watching this child be accepted by the family, but it was the judge. And when the judge looks at that father and looks at that mother and says, you need to understand a few things. I want to make sure that you hear this and you hear that this is legally binding and that this child is to be considered just as much your heir and your child as your biological children, whether you have them or you don't. Like, you understand this is not like some, some child that you bring into your home to become your slave. This is not child that you bring just to show them charity. This is your child and it makes them agree to that. And said, this is a full inheritance, like, this child is full of yours. Do you understand the implications, the legality of what that means? And that's exactly what Paul is doing. He says, do you understand that the moment that Christ saved you, he' adopted you into his family? That's all. Ephesians, chapter one. You've been adopted and you have the full rights. You have the full inheritance. You have the full guarantee, the seal, the deposit, the promise that God has given to all of his children. What is that? You have the Holy Spirit. You are fully a child of God. And how do I know that? How do I know it for sure? How do I know that I'm saved? The Holy Spirit, he's our deposit. He's our guarantee. And I love that. It says you were sealed. That word sealed says it means something to that crowd. We don't, we don't use the seal a lot. You might see it if you ever had to have something notarized like there's a seal and that says that this is, this is authentic. This is, this is real. This has authority behind this. This is, this is more than just, just a promise. It's a, it's a guarantee. It's a legal term. And I love how he uses those words. He says, this is a deposit you ever had to put down, like the first and last month's deposit on a, on an apartment or first and last month's deposit. This is what he's saying. It's the first of, of many payments the Holy Spirit, he said, was given to you at the moment that you're, that you were, that you were, that you were saved. And it's the first of many times that God's going to fill you with his Holy Spirit. That's important for us to see. And I love how it's, it's, it's a legally binding, it's legally binding right there on, on the giver, not the receiver. When he says, this is a deposit, I love that he's saying, and all the weight is on me to not just give you the Holy Spirit, but to keep giving you the Holy Spirit. That's beautiful because that means you didn't earn it. It's not some maturity thing where I have more Holy Spirit than you do, I have more gifts than you do. Like, let that stuff go. That is bad theology. God says, I've given you the Holy Spirit. I'm going to continue to give you the Holy Spirit. We continue to move out into gifts of the Holy Spirit. And all of the weight of that gift that I'm giving you is on me. It's not on you, it's on me. I'm going to give you those things. Now, whether you use them, that's up for debate. That's a completely different argument. But God says, that's on me. I've given you a deposit. And so Paul says, you've been given that the moment you got saved. And it shows us that salvation is not some believe now, receive later thing. And neither is the Holy Spirit. It's not a. Believe in the Holy Spirit. And then later on you're going to receive the Holy Spirit. No, no, no. Paul is very clear theologically, very simple. And, and, and, and right there in plain black and white, you believed, you received, you believed in Jesus Christ. You received his grace, you believed in what he did for you in the finished work on the cross, and you received the Holy Spirit. It's right there. So the Holy Spirit is not an upgrade or a merit badge for believers that's so important for us to know. Why have the Holy Spirit? Good. If you believe, everybody does. It's not some merit badge. It doesn't, doesn't, doesn't make me better than you. Here's what I like to say. The Holy Spirit doesn't make me better than you. It makes me better than me. It's not something that I earned. Like, it's a gift, a free gift that he has given to his children. That God has given to his children. Here's. Here's what we know. Galatians 3, 2. Look at this. This is important. This is what he says. Did you receive the Spirit by the works or by believing what you heard? You didn't earn it. It's a free gift. It's not some merit badge. No, no, no. Did you believe by something that you did or by what you heard? That's a great question. You believe by what you heard. You believe because you heard the message. You got saved because of what you heard and responded to. It's not something that you earned. And the Holy Spirit's the exact same way. And I love that. Here's the second key that's so important for us to see. That kind of erases a lot of theological mumbo jumbo in people's minds about the Holy Ghost. Number two being filled with the Holy Spirit will happen multiple times. It's there the moment that you get saved, and it will continue to be there over and over again in many feelings. And scripture is very clear about that. It's not a one time experience. It's not just a one time that you get saved. And then, and then later on you're going to receive the Holy Spirit and then you're going to start doing all the. No, no, no. It's you've received the Holy Spirit one time completely full, and you're going to have that multiple experiences. Here's what we know in scripture. What are the words that we use to describe the Spirit? In scripture, Holy Spirit is the word pneuma. You know, you might understand that word. Something that's pneumatic is run by run, by wind or by breath. Pneuma means breath, the breath of God. So Holy Spirit can, can be described as the breath of God. It's breathing. And so pneuma is a great term. But think about this. You don't take a breath one time and say, well, that's good enough for me. You don't take your first breath as a baby and say, well, that's enough of that. I did it. No part of walking in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, is constantly breathing. This is going to happen many, many, many times. You don't just breathe one time and then you're done. That's not the way it works. I want you I want to show you two scriptures, and this is so important for you, for you to see that you're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit many times. Acts 2, 4, it says all of them. This is the disciples in the upper room. When the Holy Spirit fell, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in tongues. All right, there's that wonderful scripture. Lots of denominations wish that scripture wasn't there because we can argue back and forth about what tongues means or what it doesn't mean. But notice the scripture. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues. But look at this. Acts, chapter 4, verse 31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. There it is. And they began to speak the word of God boldly. Notice this. It's the exact same people two different times. They are filled with the Spirit, they begin to speak in tongues, and they're filled with the Spirit again. And they begin to speak the Word of God boldly, filled with the Spirit multiple times and in a couple of different expressions. Same spirit, same saved people filled again. And I love that. So being continually filled with the Spirit, Being continually filled is not about more spirit. It's about continued dependence. This is what the Lord is showing us through His Word. You're going to have to depend upon the Holy Spirit. It's something where you're going to have to have. Have a great relationship with him in order to be able to become what God has called you to be. It's not like you have more than anybody else. No, no, no. It's. It's a continued dependence. I want to. Want to be closer to him. Not to have more merit badges, not to have. You know how they used to have the. The badges and all the stuff that. I remember my. My friends were Boy Scouts, and they come to school and they had all their different badges. I'm like, what's this one for? This was knot tying. And this is this man. And awesome. But too many people treat the Holy Spirit like that. Well, I have. I can do all these things. And that's really the kind of theological mess that I grew up with, when these people could do all these different things and they wore it like badges of honor. Like, I could do this. I'm just reminded of that movie, the Badges. We don't need no stinking badges. Come on, you got the Holy Spirit, you've got wonderful, wonderful gifts. And these are multiple fillings of the Holy Spirit that will enact in different ways. And that's important for you to see. So Ephesians 5:18. I love this. Do not get drunk on wine. That's one scripture for somebody. It says that leads to debauchery. No, it says instead, be filled with the spirit. And when he says be filled with the spirit, that Greek term by the way, is a continual like again and again and again. It's written in the command tone. That means it's important for us to understand as believers we are to continually be filled with the spirit. So it's not just a one time thing. It's there the moment that you get saved. But you're going to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Multiple times. He says, don't get drunk on wine, but instead be filled with the Spirit. Now he's not just talking about, you know, you're not, you're not supposed to be drinking wine because people will stop there, understand the concept of what he's saying. He's saying in order to be drunk on wine, you're going to have to have more than one drink. For those of you that had never had alcohol in your entire life, you're like, I didn't know that that would happen. I thought you could get drunk in one gulp. Let me just tell you, long experience, I have a past. I just know for a fact, in case you didn't know that in order to be drunk you're going to have to have quite a bit. You've got to drink to excess. And notice what Paul is saying. Don't get drunk on wine. That's going to lead to bad things. Instead, be filled over and over and over again. As in the same process of drinking a lot of wine over and over and over again. He says just in the same way, be filled with the spirit. And it's important that we understand that. When he's speaking about this, he's writing again to believers that have already been saved, they've already been sealed with the Holy Spirit. And he's telling them, keep getting filled with the Holy Spirit. It's a, it's a command, be filled again. That's a wonderful, wonderful way for us to look at it. So being spirit filled doesn't mean I'm losing control. That's important. What it does mean, it means I'm surrendering control. You know, the more person gets drunk, the more they start lose control of themselves. They, they're going to, they're going to get loose at the mouth or they're going to not going to have the filter all Those different things. Now it's not about that because people will treat being filled with the Holy Ghost like, oh, I'm losing control. And lots of other people will say, I don't want the Holy Ghost because I'm afraid I'm going to lose control. It's not about that. It's not about losing control. It's about surrendering control. That's an important theological difference for us to understand. You are saved, you are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And number two, you're going to be filled with the Spirit multiple times, and this is going to happen. The more you trust the Lord, the more you have a relationship, a daily walk with the Holy Spirit, you're going to notice that he's going to take you to new expressions, new ways of understanding, new ways of thinking. He's going to help you become who Christ has called you to be. That's a big deal. You cannot expect to live this Christian life and ever mature unless you embrace the gift that God has given you. This seal of his promise, the Holy Spirit. It's critical in the life of a believer. The Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, depending upon your background. Here's the third and final point I want to share with you. Number three. Learning to be Holy Spirit led is the key to my future. Everything has been leading up to this. Learning how to be spirit led, that's the key to your future. It's the key to everything God has called you to do. It's the key to you walking in ministry, to you walking in the favor of God, to you walking in all the different things that God has purposed for your life. Everything starts with us surrendering control to, to the Holy Spirit by listening to him every day, by walking with him practically, not by losing control and having some emotional experience and having all kinds of chaos, but certainly not by controlling that and say, no, no, no. All I need is Jesus and the Bible. I don't need you, Holy Spirit. Jesus and the Bible would argue against that. We are to be spirit led. And I want to show you how this works itself out practically. This is so different for those of us that have been taught the Holy Spirit is not. For today the Holy Spirit is going to make you lose control. The Holy Spirit, something to be afraid of. It's important that you see this because that's, that's the enemy's confusion on a lot of people that has just ripped them apart. And they wonder why I can't ever live up to the things that God has for me. I never Step into more of him. I never, I never really grow. And I find myself frustrated by trying to live this Christian life and I just can't get it. I can't work it out. I feel like I've never lived up to the potential that, that, that's inside of me. Oh, there's so many believers that, that get clouded with, with bad theology around this. I want you to see this, especially in the life of Peter. One of the greatest moments of Peter's life was when he walks on water, when he, when he starts doing miraculous things as one of the disciples of Jesus. And if you know the story, Peter's actually really. His parents named him Simon. But Jesus says, I'm going to call you Peter. Which means, which means the rock. Right? What a, what a cool nickname. And, and if, you know, if you, if you know me, you know, lots of people call me pt but before that I was Timbo. And I'm like, come on, you know that, that Timbo is not a great name until Tim Tebow came along. Like, oh, Timmy Tebow. I'm like, that's kind of a little bit better. Cause I want to kind of look and model myself after that. But Jesus, Jesus calls Simon Peter translates to the rock. And you can imagine how Peter must have felt in that moment where Jesus gives him that kind of nickname. Yeah, the rock. And Jesus says, on this rock, speaking of Peter, I'm going to build my church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against, like, that's a huge nickname. And Jesus saying, everything else that is built on the, on the church that's coming is built on you there, Peter. Brand new name. You're going to lead it. What an awesome thing. Now can you imagine just a few short chapters later where Peter finds himself denying Christ? Peter saying, I don't know him. I'm not one of his disciples. This is the same Peter who just a few hours before that said, I would rather die. I will never, ever, ever deny you. We see that he looks at the disciples and even if all of them leave you, I'm never going to leave you. What does that show us? And Jesus called Peter the rock, the foundation of the church. But he was called, but he wasn't spirit led. He was Peter led, led by his strong willpower. You ever felt like that? Like, oh, Jesus, I'll never sin again. I'll never mess that up again. I'll never go back to that old same, same, same patterns and same feelings and, and the same addictions. I'll never go back to those same websites. I'll never go back to that same phone number. All these things we tell God will never do. I'll never do it. I promise. I promise. I swear. I swear. And then you find yourself doing it again. No, just. Just me. The rest of us, too. Saved, sanctified, Spirit filled, Spirit led. You got all those things worked out? Sure. This is where we find a lot of believers. This is why a lot of people walk away from religion, because we never. We never teach them how to be spirit led. And that means everything. You have the Holy Spirit. He's right there. He's asking you to be filled multiple times with the Holy Spirit, to draw closer to him, to experience deeper depths and higher heights in him. He's saying, I want to lead. So we find Peter denying Christ after Jesus told him, you're the rock I want to build my church on. You notice the differences in what Peter thought he could do versus what he actually did in his own willpower. There's a big difference between my willpower and the Spirit's power. Because the Holy Spirit enables me to become who Christ has called me to be. He sees things in me, begins to sanctify me and pull out things that just don't belong. He speaks to me and says, don't do that. Don't go there. Come on, you're better than that. You can do this. Come on. Get in your word. Spend time with me. Come on, let's worship together. Let's fill your mind with good things instead of that junk. You don't need that. He begins to convict me. He begins to speak to me. He's a powerful, powerful ally. And if I start listening to him and if I start letting him lead in things of the Spirit, you're going to find that that starts replacing my old messed up, stinking thinking he has a better plan for my life than I do. And so Paul says, hey, look, let Jesus begin to not just fill you with his Holy Spirit, but fill you again. And then let him start taking control. Let him lead you. And this is the key to becoming who God has called you to be. So that when Peter denies Jesus, it's the denial wasn't the end of Peter. It was the end of Peter. Trusting Peter, that kind of had to happen. And you're gonna have to get to the place where you recognize your failure is not the end of you, but hopefully it can be the end of you trusting you. I can't be trusted. I understand that. I'm not a trustworthy person, but the Spirit of God that he placed inside of me, that I can trust and that I can lean on. That's what makes me better than me. Not better than you, better than better than me. So I love this. Let me show you this way. The strongest human desires, without real power given by the Holy Spirit, what are they going to do? They're going to fail. Under pressure. You put pressure on your life, your strongest desires will fail. Addictions can't be broken. You might can grind it out for a little bit if you're stronger than me or stronger than somebody else. But without the power of the Holy Spirit, all you have left is your willpower and good luck. Thanks be to God. He's given us his Holy Spirit to help us overcome addictions, to help us walk in purpose, to help us become more, to help us move out of our own, Our own. Our own anxieties and become who God has called us to be. So we see this Jesus. Here's the rest of the story. Jesus meets Peter on a beach after, after the resurrection. And he says, hey, come sit with me. And Jesus restores him. He restores him with love. He says, peter, do you love me? He says, I do. He said, then feed my sheep. He says, you're a shepherd, you're not a fisherman. And by the way, the fire that Jesus is making breakfast over, I love how the only time that you ever find that in scripture is in a couple different places. And both of them revolve around Peter. Peter's restoration when Jesus restores him with a fire. And the other time that you see that word is when Peter was warming himself by the fire where he denied Jesus. I love how Jesus takes him back to that exact same moment of his deepest failure. At the end of his willpower, at the end of Peter trusting Peter, Jesus takes him back to that moment with this, the. With the smell. And he reminds him like, I was there. I saw at your. At your lowest moment. But that moment is not the end of you. That's the. That's the moment where you stop trusting in yourself. You start becoming the rock I'm going to build my church on. This is the moment that Peter begins to become spirit, led by the way it's done in love. Jesus restores him in love and Peter no longer can trust himself and Jesus restores him to ministry. The church really starts in that moment, the Spirit led moment. The greatest accomplishments of Peter's life happen after that moment. And this is some good news for all of us. And by the way, remind yourself that Peter denies Christ. Peter does it multiple times. He starts cussing. I don't know this man. I'm not a disciple. I'm not. I'm not nobody. And then Jesus restores him. Notice this. Acts, chapter 4, verse 8. Peter stands up and begins to flat out preach. He is no longer afraid. He is no longer consumed with fear. He's a brand new Peter, by the way. This is. This is awesome. When you see Peter begins to stand up, this is where the rock really emerges. Notice Jesus has called him that. This is what I'm going to do. But it doesn't start until this moment. This is where Rocky shows up. Boy, the rock, I mean. Remember that. Peter stands up full of boldness. Verse 8. Then Peter, here's the key. Filled with the Holy Spirit. What does he do? What does he say? He says, rulers and elders of the people. And it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. He goes on to say, salvation is found in nobody else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Baller status. What's the difference? Remind yourself. It's the same Peter. It's the same city, it's the same rulers. The only difference is he denied Christ under his own willpower and his own strength. It came to an end. He can't do it. And the difference in Acts 4, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. That unlocks the true potential of who Peter was. See there who's there? There is who God sees you as. And then there's a moment where you become spirit led. Where all of a sudden you start seeing yourself as the person that God's created you to be. The Holy Spirit makes that possible. And I'm convinced there is no other way. There is no. There's no religion, there's no rules. There's no best case scenario. If you take the Holy Spirit out of all of it, you're left with nothing but willpower and rules and semantics. You're left with nothing but dead religion, dead works and legalism. Good luck with that. That kills people. But the Spirit gives us life. So Jesus shows us he didn't build the church on Peter's strength. He didn't build it on Peter's willpower. He didn't build it on his money. He built it on Peter's surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit and what Jesus can do. With your surrender, you're being spirit led. Oh, that's the good stuff. Let me finish up with this last thought. Jesus saves you and the Holy Spirit empowers you to become who Jesus says, you. You are my friend. You're a new creation in Christ. Well, I don't feel like it. Let's start engaging the Holy Spirit. Let him start doing a work where he cleanses your heart. How do we do that? Invite him. Say, lord, I want to be filled with your spirit. You're like, well, I did that yesterday. Good news is, scripture says, do it multiple times. Do it again, Lord, fill me. I pray for the Holy Spirit to come every single day. I pray for him to lead me. Pray for him to show me. I submit. And I said, lord, I can't do this. I'm going to make a mess of my life. I'm going to make a mess of what you call me. I make a mess of things. I say things, I do things. I'm a mess. But with you, Lord, you see me as chosen and redeemed. You see me as loved. You see me as your son, not some orphan that's unwanted. You chose me. You've redeemed me. You've restored me. You've loved me. You've given me a wonderful inheritance. You've sealed it. You made me a promise. And I see it inside of me. It's a deposit guaranteeing that there's something that I've inherited. What is that? It's you. What's the promise? It's the Holy Spirit. He's right here. And if you're a believer in Christ, he's right there. So I'm hoping that this blesses you. I'm hoping that this encourages you. Hope it gives you some clarity. I want to keep going with this series. There's just so much that I'd like to cover that I feel like is. Is. Is much needed for today. We need, we need to get much clearer. And the only way you do that is looking exactly at God's word and reading it for what it says, especially when it. When it comes to things about the Holy Spirit. There's a lot of division there. So I'm going to keep going with the series, if that's okay, and bring you more. But I think if we're going to be honest today, maybe you don't want to. Don't. You don't know what it's like to be, to be Spirit led. Maybe you were raised in a church where they said, you know, holy Spirit, let's just hush, hush with that stuff. Or maybe you were raised in a church where it said, holy Spirit, that's not for Today I'm just going to address that next week I want to show you very clearly in God's word what it says about that. Maybe you say, I was raised in church, but I've walked away from God altogether. What am I supposed to do? Maybe like me and others, you got really confused, really lost along the way. My friend, God led you here for a reason. God has a purpose and a plan for you. And the power of the Holy Ghost is still alive and active and wants to speak right there to you, right where you are. I want to encourage you, don't waste another minute. As soon as you turn off this video today, I want to encourage you, have a moment with the Holy Spirit. Address him, pray to the Holy Spirit. Say, holy Spirit, would you come? Would you speak to me? I know that you're here. I know that you hear me. I'm going to ask you to help me be led by you. Show me, speak to me. And the next time you start making decisions, next time you find yourself at a place where you're wondering what to do, say Holy Spirit, would you help me decide? What would you do? That's a beautiful way to start a great relationship with the Holy Spirit, letting him lead. Or maybe like some others you would say, pastor, I, I, I don't have a relationship with Jesus at all. All of this is, is, is greed. To me. My friend, you're in the right place. I believe if you could see it right now, God himself is reaching down his hand to you. Only question is, will you respond? If you want a relationship with Jesus, if you want a relationship with God, if you want that relationship with the Holy Spirit, it starts with a prayer. It's a prayer of repentance. And if you'd let me, I'd love to pray this exact same prayer with you. So would you bow your heads right where you are and say this prayer with me? I'll help you. The prayer goes like this. Just say, jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. I believe that you came and died. And I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and be filled with your Holy Spirit. Jesus, would you forgive me of my sins? I've messed up. Would you take over my life? I give it to you. Fill me with your spirit and I'll give you the rest of my life. In Jesus name, Amen. Hey my friend, if you prayed that prayer, I am so beyond proud of you. I would love to maybe send you some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next. So there's a phone number that's going to appear on your screen right now. Text me, text the words I prayed to that number, and then I'll help you take the next few steps. It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet Jesus and to know him and how to know him better, how to make it clear for people to understand. And so thank you so much for reaching out. That's a big deal. We love meeting people that have received Christ, especially those that, that aren't even in East Texas. I might not have a church to watch today. You might not be enjoying the winter wonderland that we have right now, but the good news is you have people that care about you. There's a body of Christ that believes in you and that is hoping for God's best to be yours. So that's all I have for you today. I want to say thank you so much for watching. This is a big, beautiful, awesome thing that we can do this. Once again, none of this is possible without some generous people like you standing behind us in ministry and saying, I think this is important. So I want to say from directly to you, thank you so much for those of you that have chosen to financially invest in us and to let your tithe and your offerings be given to this church. It's making a world of difference. People are being saved, lives are being changed. There's clarity coming. They're understanding God's word. None of that's possible without some people using their gifts standing behind us. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much for being generous. You guys are awesome. And then I want to pray for you and bless you and send you out. So, Father, I pray that you bless my friends with an incredible week. Would you watch over them? Would you protect them? Would you keep them, boy? Would you hold them? Lord, I pray that they would have heat and warmth, that have everything that they need, that they'd be blessed, they'd be strengthened, they'd be provided for in every way. Would you bless them? Would you watch over them? I pray in Jesus mighty name and all of us said together, amen. Have an awesome day. [00:35:22] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. [00:35:34] Speaker B: If you want to be a part. [00:35:35] Speaker A: Of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our [email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.