Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Comforter Pt.1

Let's go to 1 Corinthians again. We've just finished fourteen sessions on perfecting the habitation of God: the study of the fact that we are the temple of the living God. We went through all of the Temple's pieces of furniture, the items of worship, and related those to our personal lives and how we need to surrender ourselves fully at the brazen altar to present our bodies as living sacrifices; how we need to stop at the laver and look into the Word of God (as James says) and not forget what manner of man we are, to cleanse ourselves with the washing of the water of the Word and to cleanse those around us, that we, as a church, might be presented without spot or wrinkle before the Lord. We talked about the table of shewbread, how it's the ever-presence of God to provide our needs. We understand that "man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). We found His Word and we ate it and it became unto us the joy and the rejoicing of our hearts (Jeremiah 15:16). We spent time, there, at the candlestick, and we realize that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12); we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). His Word is a light and a lamp unto our feet, so that we don't have any occasion of stumbling (Psalms 119:105). The altar of incense: the sweet fragrance of our prayers and worship, which ascend before God; that what things so ever we desire when we pray, if we believe that we receive them, we shall have them (Mark 11:24). That's the confidence we have in Him (1 John 5:14). So, we talked about the fact that our lives, in the midst of this corrupt and perverse generation, are to be the habitation of God. And we talked primarily about the lordship of Jesus in our lives, and the life of sanctification. Now I want to take this tabernacle we've talked about perfecting, and take a few sessions to understand the need to fill this tabernacle with the presence of God.

All the things we studied, you remember, were preparatory for the cloud, or the Shekinah, to descend into the presence of the people. It's nothing but religion without the presence of God. We're no different from the Hindus, the Muslims, or the Incas, without the reality of the presence and provision of the living God; lives lived, daily conscious that God is with us, and working in us, and working through us, and that we are the ambassadors of Christ. Do you really believe that? You know, I've shared how I'll do that every once in a while. I'll be out and people will say, "What do you do?" and I'll tell them, "I'm an ambassador." "Oh, really!" They look for your diplomatic plates. Is it reality to you? Do you understand that we are representing another kingdom? This is not our home. Amen? We're not citizens of this government. We are not citizens of this planet. How real is that in your life on a daily basis?

1 Corinthians, Chapter 3; we used that as one of our main textual foundation stones in our last study. Just so you understand: in these next sessions, we're going to talk about the need for each one of us to be full of the Holy Spirit. When we talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, we're going to talk about a number of things: we're going to talk about the power to become witnesses; we're going to talk about the understanding to speak the wisdom of God and to be able to speak revelation knowledge (not new knowledge, revelation knowledge) of the Word of God as He brings to your remembrance all things, the Scripture says, that Jesus has spoken to us. That's what the Holy Spirit will do in you. He will bring to your remembrance everything that Jesus spoke. I tell you what, that's all you need to get by: to know what Jesus said. Amen? That's all you need. And the Holy Spirit will always, under all circumstances, give you the words of Jesus to speak, if you'll trust Him, if you'll be aware of what's going on internally. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says it this way: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, [Now, we spent fourteen sessions on that] and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Do you realize that this morning? The Holy Spirit of God.

John tells us the whole trinity of God lives inside us. You know, as little kids we talk about asking Jesus into our hearts, and we do ask Him to come and indwell us and to become the Lord of our lives, but Jesus is not the only member of the Godhead living in us. We are indwelt by the Godhead Itself. This great unitary God lives inside of us. But God being unitary and distinct, and as we've said He manifests Himself in these three persons, and a key person, and yet so ignored by much of the Church today is the person of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He is a person. He has a personality. Ephesians says, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God" (Ephesians 4:30); He can be grieved. "Why...lie to the Holy Ghost" (Acts 5:3); He is conscience and cognizant and communicative with us. It is the Spirit that teaches us all things and leads us into all truth (John 14:26, 16:13). He is present and He is active in our lives. How conscious are you of the Holy Spirit? How conscious are you to listen to that voice, and be able to know distinctly the voice of the Holy Spirit as He says, "This is the way, walk ye in it" (Isaiah 30:21).

I've shared with you over and over again that, tragically, many of us confuse our own voice, the voice of our own will, our own lusts, our own covetousness with that of the Holy Spirit. We think whatever we conjure up, and whatever we want to do, must be God telling us to move in that direction. I want to talk a little bit about how to recognize that inner voice, and know that it's the voice of the Holy Spirit, and not a voice you and I have manufactured to give credibility to our own will, and say God told us. We're going to take a few minutes and find out what God is really telling each of us. Do you realize He's not going to speak in the specifics--this is very important for you in spiritual guidance. Everybody's talking about "God said" and specific guidance: You will not receive specific guidance until you're moving in general obedience. Once you're moving in the general obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit, He can specifically direct you. So, we're going to show you those biblical principles. But, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us?

Let's look at Ezekiel: a great passage, a prophetic word from the prophet Ezekiel in Chapter 36, verse 27. Ezekiel says it this way: "And I will put my spirit within you, [remember we talked about general obedience] and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." There it is. "I'm going to put My Spirit in you, and the evidence of My Spirit in you is that He will help you to understand and keep My commandments, My judgments. He's going to give you an awareness of the Word that's alive and working in you." So, it's very important that we realize what the purpose of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is. A lot of your old time Pentecostals mistakenly thought the purpose of the Holy Spirit was to cause them to speak in Tongues: that is not the reason the Holy Spirit came. Yet, many of our Fundamentalists today, who lean toward knowledge instead of relationship, deny the active working of the Holy Spirit in the life of individuals today. They say there is no work that evidences itself distinctly from the immediate work of grace and regeneration in the life of an individual. In other words, when you're born again you get everything that there is of God, and you don't need anything subsequent. That's not what the Scripture teaches. Though the Holy Spirit indwells us at regeneration, the Holy Spirit enables us, and the Holy Spirit renews us, and the Holy Spirit empowers us, in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is a distinct subsequent work to regeneration. The Scripture is full of that, yet denied by so many today.

We're going to talk about that aspect, but the main question I want to ask right now is this: Are you conscious of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you aware of the working of the Holy Spirit in your life? If you don't know what He is doing, you might not be aware of it and His presence. So, let's talk about what it is the Holy Spirit is to do. Acts 1:8 says, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me." How great a witness are you, today, for the Lord Jesus? How much power do you move in? Are you conscious, at times, that you need the unction of God, the power of God? Are you conscious of a distinct power and presence rising up within you to meet needs when you feel weak and when you feel incapable? Do you see the ability in you to move against your natural tendencies and boldly speak the name of Jesus in any environment? Is your life a witness, not just verbally, but enabled to live differently from all the other people around you? Not just talking about it, but do you live a life of sanctification, of separation; a life that gives glory to God? Is there an enabling, an empowering, which accomplishes that in our lives? You see; this begins to be an evidence of our awareness of the working of the Holy Spirit within us.

One of the things, you're going to see, that the Holy Spirit does, is create in you the ability to worship. I have opportunity: I, periodically, in our worship time, will take time out and look around. Now, I know worship is internal and not external; and I know some of the people who sing the loudest and clap the most aren't living the holiest lives; but that's not what I'm talking about. How free are you in worship to acknowledge the privilege of the presence of God? Where is that active awareness? Are you aware when the holy God comes into our presence, and how do you respond? I know there are natural obstructions; I know people's minds wander; I know there is the adolescent tendency to look around, unless pizza is being served. But, I want to tell you something: If you're a young person, and you're full of the Holy Ghost, your hands are going to come out of your pockets. Without singing "I will lift up holy hands" they will be raised in thanksgiving that we're no longer under the power of flesh, and self, and self-consciousness, and pride. There's no longer a fear of what anybody thinks, but a sense of privilege to worship the Savior of our souls, the Redeemer of our lives. There's an enabling to be witnesses unto Him.

What is it the Holy Spirit does? We're going to talk about His ability to give us power to witness; I think we'll talk about that more tonight. I think we can understand who the Holy Spirit is, and what He intends to do in our lives, when we look at the prototype: Jesus. Now, when I say "prototype," don't misunderstand. He was unique, distinct: He was the God-man, but He was at the same time very God and fully man, so we can't put off what He did on the fact that He was God, because He was tempted in all ways such as we are, and yet without sin, the Scripture says (Hebrews 4:15). The Bible makes it very clear that He was man, that He was subject to temptation, and that, as He ministered, He did not minister with the innate attributes of God, but relied upon the working of the Holy Spirit in His life. We can't comprehend that. What we would say is, "Look, if You're God, how can You not be God? If you're God, how can You set those attributes apart and trust the Holy Spirit to work in You? I don't understand that." That's because you're not God. He was able to fulfill this role as God-man because of His uniqueness, His (and we talked about it in our study a couple of months ago concerning the attributes of God) absolute, incomprehensible infinitude. There is nothing impossible to Him.

With that in mind, when we talk about Jesus fulfilling His role as Savior, as the last Adam, listen to what the Holy Spirit says. You remember, John the Baptist talked about Jesus; and when Jesus was baptized, the Bible says, John beheld the Spirit descending and coming upon Him like a dove; and the Spirit came upon Him without measure, the scripture says, and continued upon Him. Now that's interesting because, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people temporarily, empower them and then leave. Case in point: Samson. Samson was not always capable of ripping gates off cities and carrying them away. Samson was not always capable of just walking up and grabbing your local lion, and ripping it apart. He was empowered by God to do that. He wasn't on steroids; what gave him that supernatural power was the Holy Spirit; then the Holy Spirit would descend. The Holy Spirit, for the first time, came upon a man without measure: Jesus. Subsequent to that, He tabernacles in us: His Church. That's a mind blower!

Listen to what He came to do. We saw in the passage in Ezekiel that He came to cause us to walk in His statutes. One of the names, one of the main terms, for the Holy Spirit (you'll want to get this in your notes) is "the Spirit of Truth." Everybody's stumbling around in darkness, today, trying to find the answer, and we have it. All the answers to life's dilemmas: we have them. It indwells us in the person of Jesus, and in the empowering of the Holy Spirit. May I ask you something, those of you who are not content: What are you looking for, when you have everything? What is it you're looking for? When He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, what are you looking for? If there is a discontentment in you, it is not the Holy Spirit trying to lead you somewhere, it's the flesh trying to dominate you, because the man who's alive in the Spirit is absolutely content, and knows he has everything he needs that pertains to life and godliness. There's nothing else to seek. I have it all, praise God; and I'm at rest. Are you there, or do you need something else to make you fulfilled? That's what we want to talk about.

Isaiah says this in the eleventh chapter. This is phenomenal! It's one of the most specific statements in the Scripture concerning the Holy Spirit, and what we can look for Him to accomplish in our lives. The book of Isaiah, Chapter 11, verse 2. It talks about what John the Baptist saw; it's a prophetic statement of what John saw that day at the Jordan. It says, "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him..." That's what's unique, distinct, about Jesus; but let's talk about who the Holy Spirit is. We're talking about the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus. That's a distinct event, but we'll see that it's available to you, because the Scripture says, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are a far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39). So, the Holy Spirit, His empowering and His indwelling, is available to every one of us. Are you full of the Spirit this morning? Is your life controlled by the Holy Spirit? Is there the fruit of the Spirit, which we're going to talk about in Galatians, manifesting in your life? Is there the power of the Holy Spirit, which the book of Acts talks about, evidencing itself in your life? Is there the purification of the Holy Spirit in worship and praise recognizable in your life?

You can't say, "Yes, I'm full of the Spirit" while there's no evidence of it. There has to be fruit manifest. There has to be gifts in evidence. There has to be ministry of power. There needs to be the purity of sanctification. There needs to be a reliance upon God's wisdom, and not man's or the world's methods. The disciple said, "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" (John 14:22). Jesus responded to them in John's gospel, and I'll just give you the capsulated version. He said, "Here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to manifest Myself to you and not to the world in this way. I'm going to manifest Myself to you through My Word." The world believes this is just a historical book written by men. We believe John 17:17: "thy Word is truth." We believe "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That no Scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:21, 20); we believe what Timothy and Peter say about the Word of God. We believe that "the Word of God is [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," as Hebrews 4:12 says, "piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and the spirit, and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." He said, "I'm going to manifest Myself to you through My Word. The world is going to reject it. My sayings, My wisdom is foolishness," Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "to the world. These things I'm going to show you in My Word are only spiritually discerned; the natural mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God."

So, it's not enough to read this Bible, is it? You have to read it by the Spirit. There has to be the Holy Spirit in you to get you to understand this "code book." Oh, it means exactly what it says, but you have to be able to understand it. You can read it, and not understand it. You can memorize it and quote it, and still not understand it. Do you know of Nikita Khrushchev? Most of you aren't old enough to remember the guy who took a shoe off and tried to drive a few nails during a United Nations speech. He was a great Bible scholar: atheist, communist. They say he had memorized large portions of the Scripture. The Word can never be alive to you until you're full of the Holy Spirit; and in direct proportion to your fullness of the Spirit will be your obedience to the Word. You can't do the Word in your own strength: It's only in the recognition of the Spirit living through us and walking through us; the Spirit who leads us, the Scripture says, into all truth. Are you full of the Spirit this morning? "Well, I was filled with the Spirit." That's not what I asked. Are you full of the Holy Spirit this morning? We're going to see evidence in the Scriptures in just a moment that the Holy Spirit filled the original disciples, endued them with power; they went out and ministered mightily; they spoke with new tongues; they cast out devils; they healed the sick; then they had to be refilled, the Scripture says. Are you filled this morning? Those of you who even speak in other tongues: is it just noise now, or are you different when you're through praying? Is it a habit? Do you pray in tongues out of habit, or when you're through do you have new revelation of what God wants to do in your life? Is there a new awareness of your need to be dependent upon the presence of God? Is there a new empowering to be a witness, or did you just make a bunch of noise? You might as well go to one of those country-western events and yodel, because it's just noise. Are you full of the Holy Spirit

Beloved, "...ye are the temple of God and...the Spirit of God dwells in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16). Can you live without His presence? Can you be at rest without the awareness of His ordering every step? I live in a constant awareness and a constant fear! You say, "Well, there's no fear in God." I'm talking about a reverential fear. I'm talking about an awareness of the worth of something I don't want to loose. My heart cries like the psalmist in 51, "...take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!" I don't know where I'd be without--well, yes; I do. How can you live without that? In everything I do I'm listening for that voice. It doesn't come from up here [points to head]; it comes from in here [points to the heart]. It's an intuitive knowledge. You know the wisdom and the voice of God. It brings these thoughts into subjection. It takes everything that starts here and it says, "Okay, I'm going to filter that through the Word of God." We're going to take what starts here [in the mind] and the Holy Spirit will filter it through the Word of God and you'll know whether it's truth or not. The Spirit of Truth leads us into all truth.

What does He do? Who is this person? What is His function? Isaiah 11, verse 2: "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, [put this in your notes] the spirit of wisdom and understanding." There's no need for us to ever be in doubt or confused. "I just don't know what to do." I always know what to do. I always know what to do. I don't always understand what I'm doing, but I know what to do, because that voice will say, "This is the way, walk ye in it." And I'll go walk in it. And somebody will say, "What are you doing?" And I'll say, "I'm walking in the will of God." "Yes, but can you explain it to me?" "I don't have a clue, but I know what I'm doing: I'm walking in the Spirit." "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). I'm dying to my own knowledge. I'm dying to my own will. I'm dying to my own ambition. I'm dying to my own lusts, because the spirit of wisdom and understanding says... There's a very simple principle to put into every decision you're going to make. Is this about glorifying God or myself? The Holy Spirit will only glorify Jesus. So, any voice which is the Spirit coming up in you is about Jesus, not about you. It's not about making life easier for you; it's about making you more like Jesus. It's about men seeing our good works and glorifying our Father, which is in Heaven.

This Word is a discerner of the thought and intentions of the heart: it knows your motives. The Holy Spirit will reveal, by the Word, your motives. If you're doing the right thing for the wrong motives, it doesn't profit you or God anything. It's not about what we're doing; it's about why we're doing it and how we're doing it: by and for God. Natural man tries to do all kinds of good things: all the humanitarian efforts going on for the tsunami victims. That doesn't bring any glory to God; that's all about man. Then they'll stand up and boldly proclaim to Franklin Graham, and they'll say, "Listen, bring us food and bring us money, but don't you talk that Jesus stuff to us." Thank God for somebody who's willing to stand up (Amen?)--His dad could learn a lot from him--and say, "Hey, let me tell you something. If I bring you a cup of cold water, it will be scripturally, in the name of Jesus." Now, the Bible doesn't say we're not to help people. It says we're to help them in the name of the Lord (Mark 9:41). Amen? We're to let them know why we're doing this, because if I weren't born again I wouldn't be serving others. I don't want to get off on the psychology, but you need to understand what's in man, who's totally depraved. Do you want to know why people arm themselves to go help, for instance, these victims of the tsunami over there? Oh, it's about helping, somewhat; but, it's really not. It's about my feeling good about myself. It's about my being able to say, "You know, I'm a pretty good guy." It's about my saying, "You know, I don't really need Jesus to be righteous; look at all the good stuff I can do." It's about self-worth, self-glory. It's about misplaced value on the worth of man. It's about giving man, who I am serving, more worth than God; because these same people wouldn't walk across the street to worship Jesus, but they'll go around the world to worship a man. That's the spirit of the world we live in; it makes people uncomfortable when you talk about that, and they don't quite understand, but, beloved, that's the reality. You and I, walking in the Spirit, need to be aware of men, what they are and the fact that we're one of them. Without the Holy Spirit, we're going to have the same tendencies to serve self, be caught up with pride, and lust, and covetousness; and only by the Spirit of God are we going to be able to move in the wisdom of God, and in the humility of God, and be able to serve for proper motive: the glory of God, not self.

So, the Spirit comes upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. Then look at the next one: "the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." The Holy Spirit will constantly keep us aware of the fear of God. When I talk about the fear of God, we can understand it better this way: the worth of God; the recognition of God in everything; the desire to please Him, and not worry about what others think, not give place to our own appetites. God's just always first. It's all about God. You know, there's talk about how radical some of our behavior is as Christians. We're a kind of weird people in the sight of a lot of folks. I see we have a few visitors this morning. You've come into a group of weird people. What makes us weird is this: We believe you're supposed to do what the Bible says, not just talk about it. Because of that, people say, "Man, you guys are weird. You mean, you really--it's okay to talk about it in church but, you mean you live that seven days a week?" Yes, to the best of our ability. So, people see that as radical. But, I want you to understand something: it is not radical; it is normative. We've come so far from biblical Christianity that, when you live the Bible people think you're radical. You're not! We're just at the beginning. There's been such a diluting of biblical truths, that those of us who embrace them are perceived as radical, which is probably the kindest term used. But, I want to tell you something: the more full of the Holy Spirit you become, the more radical you're going to be in the eyes of those who are around you. Like David: his wife was offended when he was dancing before the ark. She said, "Look at the king! You made such a fool out of yourself in front of all the handmaidens of Israel. These women saw you as the king out there dancing naked before the Lord." He wasn't a streaker; he wasn't buck naked. He just didn't have on his royal garments. What he had on was a linen tunic, which was what the priests wore. She thought he was naked because he had stripped himself of the glory of man, but he wore a garment that was for the glory of God. What he said was, "If you think that was bad, wait till you see me tomorrow!" Amen? Are you full of the Spirit of God this morning? You see, when you're full of the Spirit, you're never satisfied. You know there's more to be had, and you're in pursuit of it. So Jesus, then, received the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Powerful!

Nehemiah says it this way. Nehemiah the ninth chapter, verse 20: "Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them." The Holy Spirit is constantly instructing us in how to walk in the image of Jesus, how to walk separate from the world's wisdom, how to move in supernatural power. Not power you can initiate, power He initiates when you're available to be used. There is a misunderstanding of the gifts of the Spirit, that when you're full of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit you can go and heal anybody you want. That's not how it works. If that were the case, you could go empty all the hospitals. It's not like that; it's when that Holy Spirit speaks and gives you the unction. Case in point: Peter and the disciples, many times, had walked past that man at Gate Beautiful. They had walked right by that same beggar; walked right by him, walked into the Temple, performed their worship, honored God, and walked out. This time they're walking in after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. They're walking past this guy; he's asking for alms, and Peter stops. The Spirit of God spoke to him and said, "Okay, stop. I want you to talk to that man." He turns to that man and looks at him. He had walked by him no telling how many times; but now, full of the Holy Ghost, he heard the Word of the Lord. You don't do it at your own whim, your own discretion. "Stop." How many times have you stopped to talk to somebody, or minister to somebody, or given a word in season. You didn't know the timing; and you don't even, so many times, know the consequences; but, it's the Spirit of God leading us into all truth. They stopped and looked at him: "Then Peter said, 'Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.'" The power of God comes into this man and he begins to leap and jump and praise God.

Don't you want to be used like that? Are you quiet enough to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? I wonder if you can hear the voice of the Spirit when your cell phone's ringing all the time, or your satellite radio is blasting, or the latest CD or DVD. How much time are you spending to be quiet before God? We're living in a world of noise, and the Bible says He speaks with a still small voice. To know this voice, you're going to have to get quiet. Your going to have to spend some time, and listen, and become familiar with it. Then pretty soon it will be the loudest voice you're hearing, with all of this other turmoil going on around you. There can be cell phones and people honking and whatever else, and you know that voice. You've become familiar with it, like the voice of your children, the voice of your spouse: you can hear it in a crowd, it's so familiar to you. And, I don't mean because you're wife's got a big mouth.

How quiet? How valuable is that voice to you? In the day we live (Romans, Chapter 8, verse 16 says), "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Did you know that's a perpetual assurance? Are you hearing that constantly? He's bearing witness. We're out there in the midst of this world, and all this turmoil, and all of this garbage, and being vexed on a daily basis as we live in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Holy Spirit is constantly saying, "You're on a mission for Me. You're my ambassadors." Praise God! "If I am for you, nobody can be against you. I've given you all power and all might against all the power of the enemy. No weapon formed against you will prosper." Praise God! "My Spirit has gone before you. My glory is your rear guard." That Word is constantly going over inside of you and assuring you that you are the son of God; and there is the assurance that gives you confidence, that what you ask for, you receive of the Father. Do you walk in that? Are you aware of that assurance? If you're full of the Spirit of God, you know who you are.

We talk about the different temptations out there today: the temptations of lust and covetousness. In this new society, we have this aggressiveness out there to entice you into their ways, to seduce you to their gods. Are you aware of the treasure of sonship? They have nothing to offer of any worth to us who are filled with the Holy Spirit. What would you give in exchange for your soul? Now, that's one thing, but there's something else that's just as valuable because, without it, your soul is lost. What would you give in exchange for the presence of the Holy Spirit? You know, the Bible says He can be grieved and leave you.

1 Samuel 16:14 says: "But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit [came and replaced it]." We don't want that. David cried out in his repentance, after stealing one of his most faithful men's wife and having him killed, the prophet Nathan speaking saying, "Thou are art the man." And him, coming to grips with his own sinfulness, cries out "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:10-11). Cast me not away from Thy presence. Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. There is nothing in life more valuable than that. That awareness is what causes us to say, "For me to live is Christ," as the apostle said. Are you filled with the Spirit this morning?

How many of you have ever known His fullness and, with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues? It's tragic today: so many of the "Pentecostal" heritage are so afraid now, that this major doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues has gone by the wayside, with all of this other Bible belief, because it's not acceptable; it's kind of different. I want to tell you something: the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an "other side of the tracks" phenomenon. The fact that it began on the other side of the tracks, in Topeka, Kansas and in Azusa Street in L. A.--I just drove by Azusa Street a couple days ago: car dealerships, malls. I was kind of looking for tongues of fire somewhere, but I couldn't see them. How long have you sat in these services and seen the effects of the Holy Spirit in other people's lives, yet it's not something of which you say, "Man, I've got to have that"? Simon the sorcerer was willing to pay money for it! His motives were wrong, but he knew it was something to be had. He just had the wrong motive for getting it. How content are you to not be filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you satisfied with what you have? "Oh, this is enough. Praise God, I'm saved!" Yes, but you need to stay that way; this is what begins to bring some of that assurance to us.

So, we're going to talk about this free gift of the Holy Spirit, that's given to every one of us who asks, "How much of an appetite do you have? How willing are you to tarry?" Today, thank God, we don't have to tarry like they did all of those days, but the principle of waiting for God is still real. You seek it until you receive. You pay whatever price there is to shut yourself in with God and let Him fill you with His Spirit. We'll talk about that, probably, tonight, when we talk about the power aspect. But, now we're talking about the wisdom, the understanding, knowing how to walk in the Spirit, knowing what the voice of God is, knowing what choices to make in life.

We'll end with this for this morning. We talked, in men's breakfast yesterday, about the age we live in, the persecution that's going to come, how we're going to be hated of all men for His name's sake. We look, in our society, where we can go to school and you can talk about Islam; you can talk about Buddha; you can talk about American Indian religions with of all the totems; you can talk about the Aztecs; you just can't mention the name of Jesus. You can hand out free condoms, but you can't give out Bibles. Now, in this world, when we stand up for the name of Jesus, we're going to be hated. In Matthew 10 it says, "And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake,...take no thought how or what ye shall speak." In other words: don't have a plan; don't work with the world's wisdom; don't look for an attorney, "...for it shall be given you [by the Spirit] in that same hour what ye shall speak." Do you have enough Spirit in you? How do you know? How do I know whether the Spirit is going to rise up in me in that moment, and I'm going to say the right thing? Do you want to know how? It's because I'm making the right decisions today about the smaller things in life. Then, when I face the larger ones, I have absolute confidence that the Holy Spirit will give me power to speak the right things. An even greater power, especially as it pertains to me, is to keep my mouth shut. Anybody in here besides me have the tendency to talk too much? The Scripture says: if you want people to think you're smart, just don't open your mouth, revealing that you're not. You're just kind of quiet all the time. You just kind of [nod with a thoughtful look], and people think you know something.

Anyway, full of the Spirit, full of wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge and the fear of the Lord; full, as we end this morning, with an ability to keep His judgments and His statutes, because He's put His Spirit within us. Safe with the absolute confidence those around are primarily moving in the wisdom of the world and natural understanding; but God is revealing Himself to us, and not to the world. We know what's going on, and we're comfortable in the spiritual understanding, which the world calls foolishness. Do you feel safe this morning? Do you feel enabled? Do you know that the greater one lives inside you? Do you know you have all that pertains to life and godliness? Do you realize there's nothing else out there to be attained? "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth" (John 14:27). "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter" (John 14:16). That's what we're talking about here. The Paraklete; in the Greek: Parakletos, the Comforter. In the Greek that means one who is there at your side to aid you, to assist you, to prop you up, to give you counsel, and to speak in your ear, "Go this way. Don't touch that. That's the wisdom of the world. That's compromise. That's the flesh. This is my name. This is my glory. This is your reason for living: to fear God and keep His commandments." "Another Comforter...He will guide you into all truth...and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 16:13, 14:26). Do you stop before any decisions that are to be taken, and say, "What would Jesus do here?" The Holy Spirit will tell you if you'll stop and listen. If you intend to obey, He will lead you into truth.

Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. We're in need of guidance, and assurance, and strength. We're a people who are needy, Father. Yet, we are a people who have all needs met by your riches and glory through Christ Jesus. Do we speak in tongues, and not change? Can we spend 30 minutes speaking in tongues, and not have any revelation, understanding, assurance, peace, or empowering? Then, we're just making noise: it's not the Holy Spirit, for You will bring us wisdom and understanding, counsel and power, and the fear of the Lord. You said You would send us.

"It's important for you that I leave," Jesus said. "I ascend back to the right hand of Father to ever live to make intercession for you. And if I go, I will not leave you comfortless. I will send you the Spirit of God, another comforter." "Another of the same kind," is what the Greek implies there, to carry on the same ministry, but universally. "He won't be limited to space, as I was in my physical body," Jesus says, "He will be universal. He will be omnipresent; and He will be there to bring wisdom, and power, and understanding, and peace, and joy, and strength." Are you listening for that voice this morning? He wants to talk to you. When you pray, how much time do you listen? Why do you need to be filled with the Spirit and able to speak in other tongues? The Bible says praying in other tongues is the Spirit of God praying through us with groanings which cannot be uttered. In other words: with supernatural wisdom, things you can't comprehend. The Spirit prays and makes intercession through us according to the will of God, the Bible says. And, the Scripture says, we pray to our own edification; it builds us up. So, when you pray, and you're praying in the Spirit, then you stop and you listen. It's in this quiet time that the Holy Spirit will reveal what He just prayed. I don't mean verbatim. It's not like the interpretation of tongues. He reveals to you the essence of what He wants to do in your life. Then you say, "Okay," and He enables you; He empowers you to obey. That's how the process works.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. As Gary plays for us we'll take just a moment; we're going to believe Father to minister in our lives. I was just handed a note saying Mark and Rachael want us to pray with them and believe God to strengthen their lives and ours as we raise these children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; so, we're going to have them get Christian. Christian Daniel: that's a good handle. Praise God. Thank God for these young people, for their commitments. Thank God for the presence of the Holy Spirit as we truly bless these households. The Bible says we can speak peace on a household and, if they believe that and receive it, the Holy Spirit will come and minister that grace to them: the reality of the presence of God. Let's sing this together and worship Him this morning: "Jesus, I am Thirsty."

If the pastors will come, please. We love You Jesus! Thank You, Father! Thank You, Jesus! Let's just pray with Mark and Rachael. Father, we thank God for these young people and their hearts' desire to raise these children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Father, upon their lives and Christian we speak peace, now, in the name of Jesus. In the midst of all the confusion in this world, we thank You for peace, and guidance, and strength. Father, help us to honor You in our choices. Make us strong ambassadors, and we will give you all the praise, Father, all the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. [Picks up baby.]

Hey, big guy! Come on up. He's got the hiccups. Let's see if we can get a good hiccup on here. "Hiccups!" That's not quite speaking in tongues, but.... Isn't it a blessing just to see these little ones, and the privilege of raising them up. Who's got you? Who's got you?

Father, we do give You the praise. We thank You for Your sweet presence. We ask that You would strengthen us and help us to honor You in Jesus' name; Amen. Amen.

Come and greet the Parkinsons. Before you go, turn to the person next to you and say, "You're the temple of the Spirit of God."

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