February 8, 2004 Sun AM
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Fatherhood of God. Nothing in your life happens that Father doesn't allow and use to your good. Father doesn't love us because we're worthy, but because He's God. He can't be comprehended but He can be known through the Holy Spirit. What God did 2000 years ago; He expects to do in your life today. We need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an "IT." He is a distinct personality. He desires to speak to us. Nothing will happen without your pursuit. Prayer is communion. You're not heard for your much speaking but for your purposeful speaking. We have to ask the Holy Spirit to be involved in our lives. We try to use our own inner voice as the Holy Spirit. We think our will is the will of God. The power of God works readily in the empty life. The voice of the Holy Ghost is always in contrast to natural wisdom. The Holy Spirit never speaks of Himself.
His very essence, the fact that our God is eternal, infinite, a sovereign God who is all-powerful, none can thwart His purpose or His will in your life. Isn't it great to know that your life is not subject to fate? Nothing happens that your Father does not allow, purpose, and ultimately will work for His glory and your good, because all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. Amen? So God's in charge, He's operating and orchestrating your life, every aspect of it. Not everything that happens, we would say is good, but it all works for good. It's all for the glory of God, it's all under His sovereign oversight. So we realize that He, then, is ultimately purposing, orchestrating, and using all things for His own glory and for your good. So when we realize that, it causes us to be able to walk in a liberty and a peace and in worship.
We were talking last service about the unconditional love of our Father. We said that most of us could not identify with that in any of our earthly relationships. None of us have had perfect fathers in the natural, and because of that our perspective of fatherhood is tainted unless we go to the Word of God and understand the true Fatherhood of God. We need to do that, we need to understand how loving our Father is, how infinite His love is for us, as we were sharing last service. There's nothing that has to be merited, God does not love us because we are worthy, He loves us because He is God. We are not worthy; we will never be worthy. We'll always fall short, and God will always love us, praise God, and rejoice in us, and delight in us, and call us His own, and cause Himself to become an inheritance to us, and us to be His inheritance. The relationship that we have with Him is beyond natural comprehension. We said that, in fact, our God is incomprehensible, but we can know Him. He cannot be comprehended, but He can be known. I want to talk about the vehicle that allows us to know the incomprehensible God, and that vehicle is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's abiding in us that allows us to cry, "Abba, Father." It's the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit, that we are the sons of God, that we are right with Father, that we're known and that we're on course.
I want to take our understanding of Father, His love for us, who He is and what His purpose is into the practical aspect of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and walking in that relationship with Him. Until we understand that this life in the spirit is the purpose of our Father and a gift of our Father, we'll think that somehow it's merited, we have to get holy enough. We have to somehow perform some type of penance, some ritual, fulfill or know some formula. It's not the case. Now, when I talk about "life in the spirit," sadly today, we almost have to apologize for being charismatics because of all the yo-yos on PTL and TBN and all the gimmicks, all the hype, all of the hypocrisy and all of the sensationalism. It's tragic that we have to almost apologize, but I want to tell you something, we have no apologies for being full of the Holy Ghost. Amen? There is no apology for being able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and obey it. There is no apology for the visitation of the Spirit of God in our midst that causes us to by faith walk beyond the seen, beyond the natural, and transcend every power that would oppose the Kingdom of God. There are no apologies for the Spirit-filled life.
I like what Tozer says in one of his books, as he was talking about in their day that same dilemma that we have today, where people were looking at the charismatics. One of the things in those days the fundamentalists most opposed, they said if you went into any Pentecostal church, all you heard was a teaching on tongues or miracles, and that was truly about all you could hear back in the early days of Pentecost. Why was that? Because the pendulum was swinging, there hadn't been any messages on that. Now maybe there were too many, but it doesn't negate the reality of God's promise that in the last days He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, your old men would dream dreams, the young men would have visions of the work of the Spirit of God in our generation. In the last days, from the day of Pentecost--and these are the last days--there's only one church, there was not a subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began at Azusa Street. Azusa Street was a continuation of the day of Pentecost. Amen? There's only one church; there's only one last dispensation and we're in it. Things have not changed in 2,000 years, and God has not changed; He's immutable, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He did 2,000 years ago, He expects to be doing in your life today. Where is the power of God? Where is the dependency on the Holy Spirit? Where is the reliance upon the supernatural, and not the machinery of 2,000 years of experience of Christendom? Where is the greater wisdom of that inner voice that transcends the mass mailings, the media blitzes of Christianity today? Where is the power that sends us into the streets to preach this unsearchable riches of the resurrection of Jesus, the free gift of the Sin-bearer becoming sin with our sin that we might be made righteous with His righteousness, and to stand and herald this gospel and see 3,000 saved in one street corner? Where's that power in you, where is it in me? Is this a different church, or is it the same church without faith, without reliance? Is it the Laodicean church which rests in its riches and says "I have need of nothing"? Beloved, we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God!
When we talk about the Father and we pray the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come." The Kingdom of God is not in word or deed, but in power. It's in the working of the Spirit. The Kingdom of God is not meat, and it's not drink. It's righteousness, it's peace, and it's joy in the Holy Ghost. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." How is that going to happen? When the Holy Spirit begins to manifest Himself in our presence. Any good study in pneumatology has to do with the personality, the personhood of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to give you a whole class in pneumatology in just a few sentences. Here it is: the Holy Spirit is not an "It;" He is a distinct Person. The Holy Spirit is a Person. He has personality; He can be known, He can be related to, and He can be a friend. He is a Master and a Lord, and He desires to speak to you. We do not serve, as the pagans, dumb idols, but the Holy Spirit speaks to us. "I would not have you ignorant brethren," Paul says in Corinthians. God speaks to us by the Holy Spirit constantly. Are we hearing His voice, or are we too busy? If God were speaking, would your cell phone interrupt him? I'm not just being facetious; we've lost the art of being quiet. We're so concerned about being hooked into each other that we are missing out on hearing from God. Why don't you get alone with God and hear what He has to say about Him being glorified in your life? About being able to fulfill the prayer that you've prayed how many times, "Thy will be done"? He wants to do His will in you. Are you making yourself available for the will of God; do you even know what it is? The Scripture speaks and says, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." You are being set apart solely for the purpose and glory of God; that's His will. The first thing you'll hear when you hear from God is, "I want to set you apart for My glory; I've got something for you to do distinctly, uniquely for you to do." Do you even know what it is today? We are all members in particular of the Body of Christ, we all have a purpose. Do you know what it is, and is it being perfected in you? Our Father, the eternal, infinite, sovereign, and immutable God! What good is all of that if He's not involved in your life? We say all that about Him. Do you know Him, do you have a relationship with Him, or are you a bastard child? I told you through some of the research our family has done that part of our lineage comes down through King Henry of England. If you could go back to those days and wind back into history, go back to all of those in our ancestry and you see the little bastard child say, "That's my Dad, the king!" What good does that do you? Do you have a relationship? Are you able to boldly enter into the throne room of your father? Are you an heir of the throne? It all belongs to us, but it is accessed by faith, by diligent pursuit, because He is a rewarder of those that what? Diligently seek Him.
So here we have God and we recognize Him in all of His majesty, and we say, "That's my Dad." What good is that doing you? Until we can say, "My Father, Abba, which art in Heaven, use me, Your will be done in me, here am I, send me." The whole delight of Father as we read it in the epistles, the Galatian principle is that we become huios, adult children, so that God could be glorified in us, so He can turn the Kingdom over to us. It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, amen? It's what Dad's trying to do in your life that's why He's wanting you to grow up so He can put the Kingdom into your hands. As long as you are babies, Galatians says, you need a tutor, but when we become mature sons, no longer in need of tutelage because the Holy Spirit now abides in us, and is leading us into truth. Do you want it this morning; how badly do you want to take the gift that God is offering us?
Luke, chapter 11, as the Lord's speaking here. "One of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray..." He says in verse 2, "...When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." Then in verse 9 He says, "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Nothing's going to happen without your pursuit, without your seeking. One thing that's obvious in this chapter in the ministry of Jesus, we need to be a praying people, prayer is communion with God, and prayer is communion. Prayer is not trying to change God, or to solicit God to instruct Him in how to fulfill your will on earth. Prayer is not enlisting God for your own selfish purposes. Prayer is not cooperating with God to accomplish your vision. Prayer is communion, you've heard the old adage, "prayer changes things." Prayer changes you! Prayer changes your perception. I'm not so much concerned with circumstances changing; when I come into God's presence in prayer, I want to change. Amen? I want to be changed; I want to see more clearly; I want to know what God's saying. As I come to God based upon these circumstances in life, whatever they may be, I'm not coming telling God what needs to be done; I'm coming to find out what He wants to do in me. "Lord what do you need to do in me in the midst of these circumstances?" So many of us want to come in prayer and say, "God, You need to do this, You need to change that, Lord, save Uncle Willie, and Lord, heal Aunt Maude." "Our Father." Your Father knows you have need of these things; we don't need to come as the pagans. Your Father knows that you have need of these things. Come and just be quiet before Him. We are not heard for our much speaking. Do not pray in vain repetition; you are not heard for your much speaking, but for your purposeful speaking, spirit-induced speaking.
We realize, then, that the Spirit of God wants to lead us into the presence of God to just be changed by His presence. Prayer is being changed by the presence of God; prayer is practicing the presence of God; prayer is resting in the promises of God; prayer is reciting the eternal truths of the Word of God as we are spiritually induced by the Spirit of Truth. Prayer is boasting in the greatness of your Father, prayer is in declaring the eternal promises. Prayer has petition that says, "Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever." "Lord, teach us to pray." He said, "Pray after this manner..." Then persist in prayer, and live in prayer. Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Be ever present, be ever expecting. Prayer is a life of expectation of the intervention of God for His eternal purpose and glory. So we draw on that presence, and He says, then, to us in this passage, "Don't you realize that God will give you what's best for you? If you ask for a fish, He's not going to give you a serpent. If you ask for an egg, you're not going to get a scorpion." Then He makes this statement, and we want to pursue this in these next couple of sessions, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
One thing we find out here about, then, the Holy Spirit's involvement in our life is that we have to ask. We have to ask Him to be involved in our lives, we have to ask Father to grace us, to gift, bequeath us, empower us with the promise of the Holy Spirit of God, His coming to tabernacle within us. This promise that has been given to us of the ever-abiding presence and power of God--that's what the Holy Spirit is. You know, the Holy Spirit plays a small part in most of our lives, and that shouldn't be the case. You have to be very careful as we relate not only to the doctrine but to the Person of the Holy Spirit, that we understand--that's a strange statement. Let me say it this way, that we understand to the best of our ability the triunity of God, the trinity of God. So that we don't see the Holy Spirit as just an influence, He is a distinct Person, very God, and the very essence of God, uniquely God, and not exclusively God. In your mind, understand that as we're relating to one personality, one Person of the Godhead, they do not work independently, or even distinctly, but in total harmony at all times. There are not e-mails going back and forth informing the other Person of what they've been doing. Okay? There is no accountability, and only for our understanding, as reference points, do we see such phrases as "greater," and "sent." As we can relate and understand that type of language because of our limitations of time and space, because of our finite being, do not misunderstand who these Persons are; one is not greater than the other. When Jesus says, "The Father is greater than I am," it's a point of reference for you and I to understand the function of God as it relates to redemption, not the existence of God as it pertains to eternity. Okay, that should help some. When we are relating to the Holy Spirit, we are not excluding any other portion of the Godhead. When we are relating to Jesus, we are not excluding any other portion of the Godhead. When we commune with our Father, it's in total inclusion of the other two Persons of the Godhead. How can this be possible, how can there be three? I don't know! "Well, if I can't understand it, I'm not going to believe it." Well, then, you're not going to believe anything about God, because He's infinite and you're finite. So, by faith, we receive what God has spoken of Himself, even though we cannot comprehend, we can know, we can relate, and we can believe.
So the one thing that we see here is this that if we're going to receive the fullness of the Spirit, we have to ask Father. When we ask Father for the Holy Spirit, we're not going to receive anything else but the Holy Spirit, the promise from the Father that's been given to us. Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me..." We're going to talk about the power of the Spirit in these sessions that are ahead. One of the things that I want to start off and emphasize is the presence of the Holy Spirit, because you know one of the things that causes people to look at you and me as charismatics and think we're a bunch of idiots is all of those woo-woo Christians running around saying, "The Lord said," "The Lord said," "The Lord told me." Now, God will tell you periodically to do some strange things, like offer your child up on Mount Moriah. That's unique, isn't it? God will tell you to step out of the boat. God will tell you to roll away the stone. "He stinketh!" "No, your faith stinketh; do what I told you. Didn't I say that you would see the glory of God if you would only believe?"
So, we see these spectacular occurrences in the Scriptures when God speaks, and speaks to do things that are spectacular, unique, extraordinary, and we really get off on all that kind of stuff. But how many of you know that your life is not full of that? The problem with most of us is our life is full of us. You want to know the biggest problem? Most of you try to hang the name of the Holy Spirit on your own inner voice. "God told me." No, you told you. The first thing I want to do is to be able to share with you how to distinguish between your will and God's will, your voice and the voice of the Holy Spirit, because until we learn that we're going to be mopping up a lot of messes. "I really thought God wanted me to." You know the problem in most of our lives? We think our will is the will of God; we think our thoughts are the thoughts of God. The one thing you're going to find about a life that's dictated by the power of God, the Holy Spirit of God, is that it works very fluently, effectively, in an empty life and in a life empty of self-will, self-reliance, any form of self-agenda, to where we can truly enter in and say, "Not my will, Thy will be done. Our Father, Thy will be done." I'm not talking about a life that readily embraces adversity. There's nothing wrong with saying, "If it's possible, is there an easier way?" I'm not talking about asceticism; I'm not talking about, "Yes, man, make it as hard as you can, God." I don't know about you, I want it as easy as it can be. Amen? "Lord, here am I, make it easy, but nevertheless, not my will, but Thy will be done. If it's possible, let these trials pass, let the cup pass, let the cross pass, let the death pass, but if I have to endure those things, I want your will in my life. I know that your grace will be sufficient. I will constantly seek You for deliverance, "I sought the Lord..." I want to tell you something. If you're hurting, if you're confused, if you're fearful, just keep seeking God. "Lord, get me out, Lord, heal me, Lord, deliver me." Until you hear, "My grace is sufficient for you," and then back off. Amen? There is nothing wrong with wanting God to deliver you, heal you. Pray that way! Paul was not rebuked for praying for deliverance, for healing, for ease. "I sought the Lord three times and then I heard...." I sought God for the easy way and then I heard a voice that wasn't his own, "My grace is sufficient for you." The voice of the Holy Spirit will always be in contrast with the voice of natural wisdom--always! Now let me help you and clarify that statement, I did not say that God's voice is irrational, because your assumption is natural wisdom is rational. What appears to be natural and rational is irrational and insane when it's in opposition to the wisdom and will of God. Amen? So the fact that God sometimes does things that appear to be rational and to go along with common knowledge, and with natural wisdom is not the case. It is that natural is going along with supernatural. So, the thing that I'm saying is this, we always seek it here (in the Bible). Not in self-help books, psychology, or in "think and grow rich," or whatever else it might be, Mother Goose, but we understand that this (the Word of God) is truth, and whatever God says, that's how I'm going to do this thing. Now I become a candidate for the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Here's the principle that we're going to work off this morning and probably tonight: the Holy Spirit never speaks of Himself. Then, we'll see that He goes on and says those things that Jesus said that have already been declared. In other words, there's not going to be any unique voice of the Holy Spirit. It will be what the Holy Spirit has already authored in the Word of God, the bringing to remembrance and recitation of the words that Jesus had spoken, the eternal purpose of the Godhead which He was sent to represent. But when the Word speaks toward that, it's saying there is never a selfness in the voice of the Holy Spirit. Now, stop and apply that to many of those voices you hear within yourself and let me ask you, how many times did that voice that you hear within you have to do with yourself? I don't mean your involvement, I mean is it about you more than it is the glory of God? Is this that you're hearing to do for the glory of God, is God going to get the glory? "Yeah, God's going to get the glory, but I'm going to get the benefit." You see, if you can simply begin to understand when you hear those voices to ask, "Is this voice that continually expresses itself, after I've heard that other voice that said, 'My grace is sufficient for you'"? "Yes, it is, Lord, but, won't You change this, won't You do it this way? Oh God, I really believe that even though you said that I just don't have any peace about doing that because I really want to do this." You will never have peace--even though God has spoken, you will never have peace until you die to your own will. The peace that Jesus says He wants to give us, not as the world gives, is a peace to dead men. It's a peace to the surrendered heart, to the resolve of God's purposing in your life.
How many of you know that the times you're at the greatest discontentment, discomfort, you're disquieted, are always those times when you haven't already made the determination? You're still in the throes of the decision, or you don't have the knowledge. You're waiting for that biopsy report; you're waiting for that ticker tape to come across with your stock on it. Once the evidence comes out, even if it's not a really good result, "Okay, now, I've got to deal with this," but it's the not knowing. You know what? The walk in the spirit is a constant not knowing, and yet there's a peace when you can be comfortable living without knowledge of the circumstances, the specific details. I don't need that knowledge; I just need the knowledge of the One that's going to see me through, the one who is going to sustain me. What I need to know is that God is present, which gives me peace, nothing else matters. Because the moment--see where we get anxious is in time and space. How many of you know that when you come into God's presence and you really embrace the presence of God and that peace comes? You know what happens? You've just entered into eternity. There is no fear, there is no worry, and there is no anxiety in eternity, in the Spirit, only in time and space. So we learn to walk, live, and rest in that Presence.
There's a gift that's available to you and me, this gift of the Holy Spirit. We're not going to talk about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues primarily; we may make reference to that. Most of you here have already been baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Let me ask you a question. When you are praying in the Spirit, are you praying by habit or by inspiration? Are you praying with much vain repetition, just sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, just jabbering, making noises? Because that's all speaking in tongues is if it's not inspiration, if it's not being birthed freshly by the Holy Spirit, if it's just something that you've learned to do. But if you are praying by inspiration, you are praying, the Bible says, according to the will of God, you are edifying yourself, the Bible says. If you are praying truly in the Spirit, you are edifying yourself, you're building yourself up, being strengthened into the image of Christ, or being made over into Jesus.
So, when the Lord speaks here and says, "Ask your Father for the Holy Spirit and He'll give Him to you," what are we asking for? We are asking for an empowering to be made over into the image of Jesus. What am I praying for? I'm asking, "Father, to more proficiently hear Your voice. I want to hear Your voice." I want to hear the voice of God. I'm so jealous for that voice; I'm so in pursuit. You know, when you are listening at that level, many times people around you, Christians, will look at you strangely; all they think is that it thundered. People that hear the voice of God truly march to the tune of a different drummer. They don't always make the decisions you think they're going to make because God's going to be glorified, and everything else has to do with individualism, personalism, pride, and selfness.
I went and watched that movie, "Miracle;" what a great movie with a couple of cool statements that were made! One of them is this--and, man, if this doesn't cut across the grain of where we live in our society today. The coach stood before his team and said, "I want you to understand one thing. The name on the front of the uniform is far more important than the name on the back of the uniform." People can't relate to that today; the name on the front of the uniform means nothing to the players today. It's their name, the one on the back. They will gladly trade the one on the front for another dollar; "Just give me a better contract!" We're so mesmerized today by personality and personal gifts, but I want you to know this Kingdom that we're living in is not many mighty, not many noble. Amen? In that movie the coach made another statement that I thought was great. He was catching flack from the Olympic committee members. They came running and said, "The committee hasn't met yet, what are you doing? You've already chosen a team and you didn't consult any of us. You've cut six of the best players in the nation." The coach said, "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right players." He wanted to build a team, not a bunch of individuals. I'm saying all that to say this. Most people can't relate even in the natural. When you find somebody that moves in a way that isn't about self--see, the reason this guy seemed so weird is because it wasn't about self, or individuals.
And the Kingdom is not about self; it's about the glory of God; it's about "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven!" Lives that are being lived out, poured out for the glory of God and the good of the community, and not their own personal gain--natural man doesn't know anything about that. So as we talk about the Holy Spirit in these next couple of sessions, tonight we're going to pick up that aspect of identifying the voice of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of the Holy Spirit will always be in contrast and in opposition to that voice that you're so familiar with. You know that wheeling, dealing, con, sell your will, manipulate voice; self-justification, make excuses voice; blame-it-on-somebody else voice; Tom Sawyer voice, but rather an ability to become quiet, become so empty of self that we can really hear the Holy Spirit ordaining the glory of God--for me to live is Christ, and to hear any other voice, to live for any other purpose, is to be living outside the glory of God.
Where is the power, where is the power of the first century church? Now, if there were 21 different churches, then I could understand--first century church, second century church, 20th century church, 21st century church--but there are not. If God is immutable, if His promises are eternal, if His church is one, one God, one Lord, one body, one baptism, then where is the power, where is the ability to hear the voice of God? It says here there is a man down here on Strait Street and I want you to go and pray for him. Where is the power to lay hands on the sick and see him recover? Where is the authority in our generation, when men's eyes are blinded by satanic power that we could come up and in the name of Jesus speak and see the scales fall off of men's eyes? When and where will you stand and speak so that Simon would be smitten with blindness and those around you would know that God's power transcends all of the occult powers of this generation? Where is the ability to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh? Our Father, our Father, Father we need Your Spirit, in Jesus' name.
As you stand and Gary comes, let's just take a moment in the presence of the Lord this morning and allow your heart to be spoken to. Allow an appetite to be put within your spirit for the things of the Kingdom of God, the things that are spiritual, the things that are supernatural. We'll talk about all the squirminess and abuses, but beloved, we cannot miss out on the supernatural, the sovereign purposes of God, because they've been abused in our generation. We want to hear Your voice, Father, by Your Spirit, in Jesus' name.
As Gary plays for us we'll take a moment. Tragically, beloved, one of the reasons we just don't need any longer is because we're rich and have need of nothing. Why don't we just be truthful and stand up in prayer time and say, "Father, I don't need anything. Hold back on Your Kingdom, mine is doing pretty good. Please don't interfere with this project, my will be done. I don't need any bread, I'm full, thank You. I'm doing pretty good; I'm doing better than most of these people around here. So as I compare myself by myself, I don't need You to forgive me my trespasses. I'm going to see to it that those people do what's right. I have no intention of forgiving their trespasses; they are going to pay. The standards have changed so that behavior is acceptable today in our churches, so I don't have to pray 'Don't lead me into temptation.' We don't believe in the devil today, so I don't need deliverance from the evil one." Or are we a people in need? Are we a people in need of a voice because we don't know how to go out or come in, we are so vile, and we need forgiveness of our sins, and we want to forgive as we've been forgiven? I need Your daily bread; I am so needy of an empowering over the evil one. What do you really believe this morning? The Lord's Prayer or the 21st century Christian church prayer? As we sing this together, just receive the love of your Father; believe for the empowering and the presence of that gift to manifest. Thank You, Jesus. "I stand in awe, so amazed, totally changed by your presence forever..."
Oh, Father, we've got to hear Your voice! Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Lord, Your presence does change us, it is impossible to encounter You and not be changed. We will either bow our knee, stand in awe and humble ourselves and exalt You, or we'll harden our hearts, stiffen our necks and resist Your eternal purposes. We will either come out more like You, or we will leave with a greater hatred for You, but we will not be the same. Father, change us into the image of He who bought us, we'll be careful to give you all the praise, all the glory. Father, we live in a day when professed believers are comfortable with an outward shell of the church; everything's in order, families are in order, the programs are in order. But where is the power of changed lives, of irrefutable evidence that Jesus is risen because of the Holy Spirit's ministry of reproving the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment? We ask that You would make it real, cause it to become our obsession that You would be more manifest in our presence. In Jesus' name we ask it, Father. Amen, amen.
Before you go, turn to someone and say, "He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.
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