[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. I'm so thankful that you're here. Welcome. Welcome to High Ridge Longview. I want to say a very special welcome to all of you watching online. So, hi, Ridge. Would you give a very special warm welcome to all of those who are watching from all around the world? Hey, we're glad that you're here. Come on, everybody.
We're glad that you could tune in. Welcome, welcome. Grab your Bibles, if you will. We're going to spend some time in the Book of John, or if you are a Spanish speaker, that is Juan, chapter, chapter 14. I'm sorry, it's been a couple weeks since we've been able to preach live. And so thank you very much for coming back after our ice apocalypse. I appreciate that this is the one week of the year you actually use the heater in your car and that's about all you get. It's our one week of winter. But I'm so glad that you were able to tune in online last week when we had to shut down. And only one of us, between me and my wife have actually fallen on the ice this week.
But I won't say who it was.
But I'm grateful. I'm grateful that we're all safe and sound. I'm grateful that you're back. John, chapter 14.
I want to get into God's word together with you, continue on with our series called the Forgotten Fire. This is all about understanding the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, depending upon which theological background and history that you might have.
But there's so much confusion and fear and then misuse and abuse around the person of the Holy Spirit. So it's important that we really take a fresh look at this fire. The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the fire fire that he sends in. Acts, chapter two. And so what. What does it mean to have that fire? What does it mean to have the Holy Ghost? What does it mean to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit?
And so there's some important things that we need to see. And we're going to look at this in John chapter 14.
It's important to understand the context of this chapter. So the disciples, Jesus's friends for the past three years have watched him do incredible Miracles. And now Jesus says, I'm going away and you can't come with me.
And then he says, where. Where I'm going, you're going to follow later. And they're like, I don't even know the way. And he's like, I am the way. And they're like, no way. Like, yeah, way.
Yahweh.
But then he says, he's. He says this. He said, I'm. I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. And they're like, we don't want that. Like, whatever. Whatever that is. Like, you just, you stay with us. And he's like, no, no, no, better I should go so that the Holy Spirit can come.
And they're like, that's freaking us out. Like, there's a lot of confusion, not just in our churches today, but there was confusion from the very first moment that Jesus ever gave the promise that the Holy Spirit was showing up. There was confusion, there was misunderstanding, there was fear. And Jesus says, look, you need this. This is important. And so Jesus outlined some very clear principles on who the Holy Spirit is and what he's here to do, why it's so important that we have a relationship with him.
And so remember, he's speaking to some, some disciples that are afraid. They're. They're scared, they're confused. They said, no, no, no, there's no reason to be afraid. He said, this is going to help you. And so I want to pick it up. In verse 15, Jesus says this. If you love me, keep my commands. Verse 15, if you love me, keep my commands. Now you can. You can see that in two different ways, depending upon your theological history. You might hear this scripture as if you love me, keep my commands.
Some of us read it that way, and then some of us read it from the perspective of grace, which says, hey, if you love me, you'll keep my commands. And we understand that if you just love your wife, you don't have to worry about. Don't cheat, don't cheat, don't cheat. Just love your wife. You don't have to worry about that. Some of you are like, how does he know? I'm glad you're in church today, but remember this scripture in context. Jesus is speaking about loving me and keeping my commands in the context of the Holy Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit is the key for us being able to keep the commands that Jesus gives. It's key for us to be able to love him as he says, I want you to love me.
He's speaking about this in terms and in the context of the Holy Ghost. If you love me, keep my commands, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate. Somebody say advocate to help you and be with you forever. He doesn't say, avocado. We're not supposed to eat that. That's demonic. Don't eat that.
Oh, you that moved from California, like, I'm just kidding.
Gross. If it ain't guacamole, don't eat it.
He says, I'm gonna give you another advocate to help you. And he says, to be with you forever. And Jesus calls him the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit can't lie. That's important for you to know. He's the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit doesn't lie.
And then Jesus says this, not just to the disciples, but he's speaking prophetically to us in the church today. He says, this is the problem. The world's gonna have a problem with the Holy Spirit. The world cannot accept him. Why? Because it neither sees him nor knows him.
It's not something that we can just cleverly package and easy to understand. Oh, I see it. I can feel it. I can touch it. He said, the world's gonna have a big problem with this because it doesn't fit within the parameters of what they think is important and how they think it should work and how they can control it or monetize it or use it for their own purposes. He said, that's the world's gonna have a problem with the Holy Spirit.
It says this, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. It's important that Jesus says you know him because they're like, we don't know who that is. He said, no, it's me, but it's on the inside of you. This is Jesus essentially telling his disciples, until this point, you've watched me do things, but when I leave now, I'm gonna be inside of you, doing things through you. I've done things with you. I've done things for you. Now I'm gonna be doing things through you.
This is one of the reasons why Jesus says, after I leave, greater works than these shall you do. You guys are gonna do incredible things. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is living on the inside of you.
But remember, he's speaking to his people. Didn't understand that. Like, I don't. What does that mean?
All I hear is that Jesus is leaving, and I don't like that.
But Jesus says it's better that I should go. I know it's gonna be confusing. I know you're gonna have a hard time with this because you want what you can see, what you can feel, what you can touch. You want people to just provide bread for you. You want somebody else to come and do the miracles. I'm telling you, you're gonna skip on down, if you would, to verse 26, same chapter.
Jesus says, the advocate. There's that word again, the advocate. Well, who are you talking about? Jesus. He clarifies the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. Here's what he's going to do for you. He's going to teach you all the things and remind you of everything I have said to you. So remember, Jesus is leaving.
He says, I expect you to keep my commands.
Well, I. I don't know about. I don't know about all the disciples, but I can speak for myself. It wasn't that I was a. A bad kid that didn't understand the rules. I just could never remember them. Like, wait, what did they tell me not to do? I don't know. We know that later on that was diagnosed as adhd. We understand that now. But at the time, it's like, I. I need an advocate to help me remember what you told me I wasn't supposed to get into.
Help me learn. Help me remember. Here's the good news. Jesus says, I'm going to help you to obey my commands. I'm going to help you to love me even when you can't see me.
And that helper is the Holy Ghost.
So Jesus says, he's going to teach you. He's going to remind you of the things that I've said. And then Jesus says, peace, I leave with you.
Now, it's important because many of us love that scripture. When Jesus says, my peace, I give you peace. I live with you. Remember why they were needing that peace?
Because Jesus was leaving. They're about to feel very alone.
And then he goes on to say, don't let your hearts be troubled and don't be afraid. I love that scripture, by the way. We'll take that scripture out of context all the times and apply it to every time that I feel alone or I feel afraid or feel confused. And you should absolutely use that Scripture. But Jesus used that and spoke about it in the context of us being confused about the Holy Spirit.
He says, look, just have peace. Just trust me. Walk by faith. This is better.
You need the Holy Spirit.
So there's a lot of confusion. There's a lot of unrest. There's a lot of bad theology. There's A lot of misuse and abuse and people getting really weird with things about the Holy Ghost. And then there's the other extreme that says, the Holy Spirit is not for today. You don't need that. Avoid it at all costs. And so because we all come from different theological backgrounds and different church backgrounds, you might have a completely different interpretation of what the Holy Spirit is or who the Holy Spirit is. And so it's important that we get back to what Jesus says about the Holy spirit. So John 14. I've intentionally chosen this group of scriptures, this text, because this wasn't Paul writing it. This is Jesus.
This is the highest authority that we have. You can't argue with what he's saying.
And Jesus very clearly outlines who the Holy Spirit is and how we are supposed to relate to Him. There's not supposed to be a bunch of confusion. And we all have different ideas of what the Holy Spirit really means. So it's important that we lay aside our opinions and say, what does Jesus say? And could it be that perhaps I don't understand it like I think I do?
Could I be wrong?
Once again, I've told you some of my stories. So my dad was raised Southern Baptist. My mom was raised Catholic. They raised me Pentecostal. I've seen it all, all kinds. There's a lot of things out there in religion that are very confusing, especially when it comes to the Holy Spirit and growing up Pentecostal.
When you say I got the Holy Ghost as a Pentecostal, if you say that to anyone else that's not in the Pentecostal or simply a God crowd, that means something completely different.
It also depends on whether or not they're raised in a white church or black church or Hispanic church, because they have different interpretations of what that means. So for a Pentecostal, you say, I got the Holy Ghost. That means that's the first time you spoke in tongues.
And that's gonna happen one time where I got the Holy Ghost. But if you were raised in black church, got the Holy Ghost means I danced beyond human ability.
If you were raised in the charismatic movement, I got the Holy Ghost. Means you got slain in the Spirit or at least gave somebody the courtesy drop when they came by and tapped you on the forehead.
You know, it means something different.
Now if you're Baptist and somebody says, I got the Holy Ghost, that means you now get the left foot of fellowship. We don't do that here. Go over there. That's.
So just let's understand that there are a whole different. There's A spectrum of understanding on the Holy Spirit. We can't all be right.
So what does scripture say? What does Jesus say about the Holy Spirit? He calls him an advocate.
He says, it's better that I should go. The Holy Spirit's better. And he says, don't be confused.
Don't freak out.
I want you to be at peace, Jesus. You don't understand. Like, we're all down here confused about who the Holy Ghost is. So some of us make him really, really strange. And some of us say, don't come over here.
What do you say, Jesus? And so Jesus outlines very clearly who the Holy Spirit is. So I want to give you something that I think will help you to kind of solidify this in your own mind.
Here's the first of three things I want to share with you. Number one, the Holy Spirit. According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is clearly a person and not a force.
Clearly a person and not a force. By the way, the Holy Spirit is clearly a person, not just a gift, not just a specific gift.
So some of us, we think of the Holy Ghost as a force, and I call that Star wars theology, you know, and we kind of relate to the Holy Spirit. Like, it's just something out there that we can tap into and use if we need it. And that's really a bad way of looking at that because Jesus is very clearly referring to the Holy Spirit not as an it.
He says he. And he says it multiple times. He is gonna do this, he is gonna do that. He represents me on the inside of you. He, he, he. So it shows us that there's a personal relationship that we're supposed to have with the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus is talking about who the Holy Spirit is, he's referring in that language. The words that he uses are very intentional. He's saying he's like me.
It's another one like me. It's just like me.
But instead of something that you can look at and see and touch, it's going to be inside of you.
It's the me version, but inside of you.
Now, that was difficult for some people to understand as they were hearing Jesus say it. And remember, this is Jesus.
Like, we get you, but start again and explain it more.
Can you dumb it down for us a little bit more, Jesus? Because we don't understand, but Jesus very clearly refers to the Holy Spirit as a him and a he, not an it. And then he says he's going to be with you. He's going to be inside of you. He's saying the Holy Spirit is relational. Not only is he personal, he's relational. And he says he's going to teach you all things and help you to remember all things. This shows us very clearly that the Holy Spirit is active.
Jesus clearly says the Holy Spirit is personal, relational, and active. It's not just some force, and it's not just the gift of tongues. That's very, very limiting.
It's very backwards.
Jesus says he, the Holy Spirit is personal, relational, and active. And so when we. When we understand that it's not some force that we use, you know, you know, Luke, use the for.
Then it keeps us from going to charismatic excess with things the scripture doesn't say.
Because some of us, if we really thought that, we'd be laying in bed at night, like, Holy Spirit, if you're real, turn that light off so I don't have to get up right now.
That's the kind of dumb stuff that we do.
Well, I guess Holy Spirit doesn't exist. Not for today. Like, come on.
It's not a force. Jesus clearly says the Holy Spirit is a person. He's not. Not the bronze medalist of the Trinity. He's a person. Jesus says he's like me, but he's on the inside of you. It's the Spirit of God on the inside of us. So Acts chapter 2 says this in verse 38, Repent and be baptized, every one of you. And you're gonna receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay? So we know that the Holy Spirit is inside of you. It's there the moment that you get saved. And there's gonna be many times that you're gonna be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. So it starts at that moment, and then there's a yielding that will come. When you say, holy Spirit, will you speak to me? Will you show me? Will you help me to do what Jesus is asking me to do? Will you help me to grow up? Help me to mature? Help me.
He says that Holy Spirit is right there.
And then it says, this promise is for notice. This, it's for you. It's for your children.
It's for your children's children and for all those that are far off.
For all whom the Lord our God will call.
And this scripture alone. And there are a couple of more that we can show you. The scripture alone clearly says that the Holy Spirit is active today because it wasn't just speaking to those that were there. He's saying it's for your children.
Not everybody there was a parent, and he said, it's for your children's children, not everyone there was a grandparent, he said. And for those that are going beyond that, all the way into Longview, Texas, in 2026, he said, this is for them, too. It's very alive, very active. So it's not limited to some force that makes us go nuts. And it's not just limited for that day, because this is the promise. The Holy Spirit is for you. It's for your kids, it's for your grandkids. It's for all those that will ever come. It's the. It's the new covenant, the grace. It's the proof of the new covenant that God has given us. It's. It's God's Holy Spirit living in people, very alive, very active.
Let me show you one other scripture, just to stay on this for a moment, because many people have been taught the Holy Spirit's not for today. Stay away from all that because it gets weird. I understand, but that's because people get weird with things. That doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is not alive and active.
Acts 1, verse 8. If you ever need another scripture, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit is going to give you power to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the outermost parts of the earth. The Holy Spirit is the power.
And then we have a response to be witnesses.
You still with me?
Let me ask you this. As Christians. Do you believe, yes or no, do you believe that we're still supposed to be witnessing today?
Almost everyone would say that.
If Jesus says the Holy Spirit is gonna give you power to become my witnesses, and we still believe that we're supposed to be witnessing today, then let me make sure that you see this. I'll put this on the screen. It makes no sense for us to be commanded to witness, but God removes the power.
Oh, that was just for them. That was just for them. They need the power. But you, you don't need the power to become what? You're gonna still do this, but I'm not gonna give you any power to do that. That makes no sense whatsoever. We're still commanded to witness. We're still commanded to go into all the different parts of the world. We're still commanded to live as. As witnesses for Christ.
And please hear me, the power is still there to do it. Jesus would not command you to do something that he wouldn't give you the power to do.
That's cruelty.
The Holy Spirit is clearly a person. He's not a force. He is alive. He's active. He's personal. He's here today Point number two, the Holy Spirit is our advocate. Jesus refers to this multiple times. He calls him the advocate. We don't use that word a ton, but because it means several different things in the English language, it's a little bit difficult for us to interpret. But the original Greek word here is parakletos, which means one who is called to come alongside of you.
One who is called to come alongside of you.
Now, it's a legal term. In some context, the advocate would better be described in English than as a good defense attorney.
So if you've ever been sued or ever been on trial, you're like, I need a good defense attorney.
You understand? For those of you who've never been part of the justice system or never had that, you might not get it. But I remember When I was 16, I was in a car accident with my older brother. And it was a horrible car accident. We had a drunk driver that hit us head on and just completely destroyed our car. And I was in the hospital for a while. My brother was also. And there's a very, very tragic thing. There's a lot of trauma in it for me. And. And it took a long time to really recover from that, from that accident. And the guy that hit us actually took his life and had to watch all that as a young kid. It's super traumatic. And I remember, you know, having to just stay at home and. And when you. All your friends are going to school, but I can't get up off the couch. And I remember all the. All the concussion symptoms were so difficult to process, the migraines. And I was really messed up for a little while.
Still, some of those things linger. You're like, concussions. That explains a lot. That. That really does.
But I remember when you're watching daytime TV and you're stuck at home and you go through the prices, right? You remember that.
And then you get really desperate, and then it goes to like, Guiding Light and Days of Our Lives, and you're like, what?
And then by day three, you're like, I gotta find out what happens to Luke and Laura. I don't.
I don't know. Don't know.
But here's the crazy thing, is that all of them have the exact same commercials. And if you're from North Texas, you know that there is the same commercial that comes on all the time, and that is Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer. And so I was like, some of you remember, I'm the Texas Hammer. And I thought this was the first time that somebody was really, like, prophesying through the Television at me. Because he's like, were you hurt in a car accident?
Were you hit by a drunk driver?
Do you have insurance companies calling you and telling you to settle?
Guy's good.
Then you need Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer. I picked up the phone, I called Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer, says, come in and see me, son. And so I sat down and I'm like, I don't know how to navigate through all this, but I was really hurt and I was hit by a drunk driver. And, you know, he died at the scene. He's like, we're going to sue his insurance company and get you every single penny. I'm like, we should do that.
Absolutely, we should do that. Me and you, man.
And I.
It's important that we understand that Jesus is saying the Holy Spirit. He's your advocate. He understands the system.
He can't lie to you. He speaks truth on your behalf.
Because many of us spend our life where we feel like we're on trial, constantly being accused of all the things that we've ever done. We can never get better. We can never live up to expectations. We can never grow up. We can never make better decisions. And we feel like we're constantly covered with shame and condemnation and being forced to remember all the bad things that we've done. We refuse to accept that Jesus could have forgiven us and covered us with grace and he could ever see something worth saving in anybody that's messed up, like me. And Jesus says, you have an advocate. You have someone that can speak to you on behalf of me and tell you the truth of what God's word says about you. You need to understand it. It reminds you of things. It teaches you the things that you need to know. When you're faced with shame and condemnation, when you're faced with.
And you can't get over it, he says he reminds you of things like Romans 8, verse 1, that says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. He took all of the penalty of my sin upon himself. It's not that I wasn't guilty.
He paid for it.
He says, you need an advocate to remind you of those things. When you're walking through trials, when you're walking through temptations, when you're walking through shame and guilt and condemnation. You need the advocate. The Holy Spirit is very much essential for today to help us remember who we are in Christ, remember what Jesus has done for us. Let me say it this way. The Holy Spirit defends me not by denying my failure, but by testifying to Christ's. Finished work. He finished it. He's done on the cross. It was finished. It is done. It's finished. It's not that I'm not guilty.
Jesus paid for my sin.
And we need the Holy Spirit to remind us not that you didn't do it.
Sometimes I think of the Holy Spirit and I see that word advocate, and I'm like, I need you, Jim Adler, Holy Spirit, Texas Hammer.
But in my opinion, like, if you're gonna be able to choose and kind of put a face on it, I want Johnny Cochran.
Anybody remember the OJ Trial? The glove don't fit. You must acquit. I'm like, it rhymes. It must be true.
So when shame is screaming at you, the Holy Spirit is speaking for you. Maybe for you it sounds something different, but for me, I hear him talking back to the enemy and saying, hey, listen, splish splash. Your opinion is trash, not guilty. Thanks to Jesus. That was weird. I'm sorry.
But you need an advocate.
You need somebody to remind you of the finished work of Christ and trials and an accusation.
And Jesus says, it's better that I go because you're going to need this.
He says, he's the advocate. That word doesn't just mean legal representative, but it means. It means comforter.
The comforter.
Now, for us, the comforter means something that you only sleep in about two weeks out of the year. When Texas gets really cold, then I'll pull out the comforter. Uh, but. But that word doesn't mean just to. To comfort you. It's not a blanket. It. It means to. To strengthen you through comfort.
It's not. It's not a coddling, it's a strengthening, it's a stabilization that Jesus is describing here when he says that you need to advocate. You need somebody to keep you stable and steady because life's gonna get hard. Just because you have the Holy Ghost does not mean that life isn't gonna get hard.
He's saying, I'm giving you an advocate, someone that speaks truth in the middle of a storm. So the Holy Spirit doesn't just calm my emotions, but he soul so that I can obey God under great pressure. You're going to have great pressure. This is why you need the Holy Spirit to calm you down and stabilize your soul and remind you of who you are in Christ. Remind you of what Jesus told you to do, remind you of your purpose.
We need the advocate, the Holy Spirit.
Here's the last thing I want to share with you. Number three. The Holy Spirit gives gifts. Not only is he a Gift, but he is God, and the Holy Spirit gives gifts.
There's a lot of scriptures we could use to kind of show you this, but I want to focus on just some of the, some of the gifts of the Spirit because that's where it gets really weird for people, is how that it gets misused and abused and charismania, or shut it down completely. We're completely afraid of it, or it's out of control, or we want to control it, or we want to use it to make people give you more money or whatever it may be.
This is something we need to understand that the Holy Spirit gives good gifts.
He's not a weird gift giver.
He gives good gifts and they're appropriate, they're intentional.
And he doesn't give things that you're not going to use.
Come on.
First Corinthians 12:4 says there are different kinds of gifts. Not everybody gets the same kinds.
There's all different kinds of gifts and there's multiple scriptures. We can show you all the things that the Holy Spirit imparts to God's people. And it says, but this is the difference. It's the same Spirit that distributes them.
Another scripture says he gives them out as he chooses.
That's important for us because those gifts that he lists are often misused by people saying, well, if you're going to be a part of this body, then you need to do these things because we do them.
Like, where does scripture say that? You know, come on.
The Holy Spirit is the one that we're to yield to, and we recognize he gives good gifts and say, lord, I believe that when I need that, you're going to provide me with it.
There's all kinds of wonderful gifts. Words of knowledge and words of wisdom and healing gifts, motivational gifts, ministry gifts. There's a lot of different kinds of gifts. But here's the thing. All those gifts that are given to you are not given not just for you, but to be used through you to become who God has called you to be.
God expects that he can give you gifts so that you will give them away and that you'll use them.
The Holy Spirit is very much alive and active, and they're given to, to serve.
Let me say it this way. Spiritual gifts are love in action. They're not for display, they're for service.
We know this because when, when, when the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit and says he's. He's an advocate, it helps us to see that that advocate is, is relational.
And because he's relational, the gifts Aren't dumb.
People have a close relationship with you. When Christmas rolls around, you love the gifts that they give you. Why? Because you're like, this is the most ridiculous thing of all time. You absolutely know me. Or you're like, thank you, I needed this. Because they know you, right?
Understand that when Jesus is talking about this great gift giver, the gifts that he gives, and when Paul is talking about the fruit of the spirit and the gifts of the spirit, these are things that you're going to need because he knows you.
And when you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, those gifts are very practical.
They're very intentional. Because he's a personal advocate. He knows you, he knows what you need, and he knows when you need it.
Some people like, that's the perfect gift. If I was three years old, I have someone going to remain nameless. I'm not going to out anybody. But that person constantly buys me shirts that are a size medium. Like, I haven't been medium since like the fourth grade. Like, what are you.
Oh, this is going to look great on you. Like, no, it won't. I'll get arrested if I try to button that thing and one of those buttons comes loose. Like, there's going to be severe damage. Like, I don't wear immediately. Don't give. And then there's people that love me. And I understand. Like, I thought of you. I got you. This is a daily journal. Like, don't give me that. I will never, ever write anything down. I don't do that.
I'll write anything down. I'll remember. I know I will.
I forget a lot of things. I should write them down. I understand that people are trying to tell me that they love me, but love me less. I'm not gonna write that down.
The Holy Spirit is not a horrible gift giver. Come on. He knows what you need when you need it. And when you're submitted, when you're spirit led, he gives you the gifts that you need as he sees fit, when the time is appropriate.
So desire them, ask them. But also as your spirit led, those gifts show up and they move in different seasons at different times. It's totally fine.
But that doesn't make you better than somebody else because you can do something or have had some gift. That's not what that is.
Why? Because you didn't earn it. It's not about you and it's not for you. It's for him.
Here's what I want you to see in John 16, one last scripture that Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit. Is what Jesus says. But when he, that spirit of truth comes, he's not going to speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears. And it says, he will glorify me because it's from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
Now, this is important.
When we look at how crazy and how excessive some movements have gotten with the gifts of the Spirit, how do we know if that's really true or not? When somebody does this or somebody does that or experiences something or see something, like, how do I know that that's really of God?
That's an important question. There's nothing wrong with asking that question. You need to ask that question. Is this really God? Or is this just cuckoo?
Or could it be cuckoo and still God?
Let me leave you with this simple statement. The true gifts of the Spirit will always be recognized by who they glorify.
Is it for a person or does it glorify God?
Because if it builds up the body of Christ, if it brings glory to the Father, that's God. And don't say it's not.
But if it brings glory to some person, look how crazy this person is because they have way more Holy Spirit than you.
Easy, easy, killer. I'm going to back on up off of that one. Why? Because that's glorifying you.
True gifts of the Spirit. Jesus says they're going to glorify me, and I love that.
So when Jesus puts some parameters on healthy Holy Spirit theology, it's important that we take notice and listen and we recognize that Jesus gets to define who. Who the Holy Spirit is and what he's supposed to do. I don't get to do that. He does.
And it's good for me. It's healthy for me to take a good, fresh look at this and recognize that the American church version of Christianity is a lot of traditions and dead religious works. Lots of fear and lots of crazy excess.
But is it true?
In order to find the truth, we have to go back to the authority of God's word and read what Jesus says.
Then let that be our great litmus test for who the Holy Spirit really is. Because that's the power that our church needs today.
It's something that you can ignore, and it's not something to be abused and misused.
It's not something to be used for your own personal concert.
He's your advocate who speaks truth on your behalf, who helps you to keep his commands, helps you to love him, helps you to step into the future that God has for you. You need the Holy Spirit. And he's a lot more than just speaking in tongues.
He's a lot more than just dancing on a Sunday.
He's your comforter, he's your friend.
He's your advocate, and he is God. Can you receive that?
I want to finish up right there. If you go ahead and put away your Bibles and put away your phones. Let's just spend the next few moments praying a prayer that believers have been praying since the 4th century.
A powerful, wonderful prayer. So would you bow your head and close your eyes? It's a three word prayer and it's simply this. Holy Spirit, come.
Believers have been praying that simple prayer for thousands of years, inviting the Holy Spirit to come.
Holy Spirit, we invite you right now. Holy Spirit, come.
Lord, we ask for forgiveness for the times that we've misused and abused or the times that we've completely thrown you away, denied your existence when you're obviously so important to us. Holy Spirit, come.
Make your presence known and felt and experienced.
Father, you're not. We recognize that you don't give bad gifts, Father. You don't give gifts that are going to hurt us.
You don't give gifts that are going to scare us. Lord. You give good gifts that are appropriate. They're intentional, they're personal and they're necessary.
So we invite you.
We invite the gifts of the Spirit.
Holy Spirit, come have your way.
We listen to you. Lord, I pray that you would lead us through the power of the Holy Spirit this week.
Show us when to speak, when to be quiet.
Show us how to live a life that's pleasing to you.
Show us how to love you, how to keep your commands.
Help us to walk with the power of the Holy Spirit for the rest of our lives in Jesus name, with heads bowed and eyes closed. Maybe you came here today and you would say, pastor, I was raised in church, but I've gotten so far away from God, I've turned my back on him and I need to come home. My friend, you are exactly right. And God led you here today for this moment. You need to come home.
For others you might say, pastor, I've never had a relationship with Jesus. I don't understand all this. But I want a relationship with Jesus. My friend, you're right too.
And God led you here today for this moment.
I want to invite you to pray a prayer with me. I'm going to lead you in a prayer and it's the first step toward a relationship with Jesus.
It starts with a prayer of repentance and an invitation prayer Asking him to be the Lord of your life.
And as a matter of fact, so you don't feel singled out or embarrassed in any way, I'm going to have all of us pray it out loud together.
But you need this. You need this moment.
So, high rich family, let's pray this together. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the son of God.
I believe that you lived and died, and I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life, so that I could be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that I could have forgiveness of all of my sin.
Please forgive me, and I'll give you the rest of my life.
In Jesus name, I pray with every head bowed and every eye closed. If that was you and you say, pastor, I prayed that prayer and I meant that prayer with nobody else looking around, can you just slip up your hand all across this place and say, that was me. I prayed that prayer. Good, good. I see you. I see you. I see you. Good for you. You guys can put your hands down. Maybe you're watching online and you pray that prayer with us as well. Whether you're here in person or watching online, there's a phone number appearing on that screen right now. I want to invite you to text me. Text the words I pray to that number.
Reach out and let me help you take the next step. I'll send you the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what you should do next.
I'm super proud of you for coming this far.
Keep walking. Let us help you.
Good for you. High rich family, go ahead and look up at me if you would, and let's stand to our feet together. As our service ends today, I want to invite our elders and their wives here. They're going to be right here at the end of this platform available to pray for you. I also want to remind you of a couple things that are coming up. Our daddy daughter dance is coming up February 21st. Dads with daughters, Let me see you. Would you raise your hands? Dads with daughters. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
I love that some of you are having to become the dad for somebody that walked out. Some of you are spiritual fathers to some daughters. We appreciate the role of the father in this house, and so we have daddy daughter dance available for you. I have to tell you, there are only like 44, 45 spots left. This will sell out very quickly. This is a massive event that we do between dads and daughters, so especially if you have little ones, we want them to be there it's an awesome thing, but it will sell out. So please hear me. This is probably your last chance to buy, to buy a ticket to that. But I love being able to, to raise little girls in the house and I love not having to raise little girls with a bunch of dad issues. Come on, somebody. God's called us to be better fathers, better men, and this is a cool event. I love being able to do this. My daughter and I love this event. Every year we've done it since she was like three. And so last year she was getting married on the same weekend. And I'm like, we're not going to have that, but we're going to have our, our dance at her wedding. And that was not good for your boy. That was, that was an emotional moment. Let me just say there's no video available for that. You will not see me cry. Like, actually, you see me cry most every weekend. I'm big softy.
But I want to invite you February 21st. So highridgelv.com events is how you can do that. Also on Facebook or Insta on our socials, we have registration available for you and there's not a lot of spots left. So this is your last warning on that. And that's a beautiful thing. Also want to say if you've been kicking the tires around here, you're like, I think we want to become members of this church. How do you do that? Hey, growth track happens during our third service. It's right across the street in our youth building. It's a two part process. It happens on Sundays during third service. And so you can take those in any order.
But there are guys that are going to be heading across the street to get ready for that right now. So if you're like, hey, what do we believe? What do you guys, how weird are you? Like, go ask questions. We'd love to.
We'd love to have you. We're all weird here. It's not a competition. Welcome home. We're glad that you could be a part of us. Let me pray for you and bless you and send you out. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Holy Spirit, would you lead them? Would you walk beside them? Would you advocate for them? Lord, would you comfort them, strengthen them, provide for everything that they need? And I ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus and all of us said together, amen. God bless you as you go. Have a wonderful week.
[00:39:30] 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. If you want to be a part 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.
