Scripture references: Acts 19:1-2; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19; Restrains (Preston); Convicts (Jacob); Regenerates (Sarah); Baptizes (Isaac); Indwells (Rachel); Seals (Dustin); Sanctifies (Karis); Fills (Hunter); Intercedes (Naomi – Praying girl, London – the Holy Spirit, John – God, the Father) – Romans 8:26-27; Illumines (Jordan) – Psalm 119:18, Ephesians 1:18, 1 John 2:20; Guides (Isaiah) – Genesis 24:27, John 16:12-13; Acts 16:6-10; Acts 16:36b; Comforts (Isaac) – John 14:15-17; Gives gifts (Noah)- 1 Corinthians 12:11, John 14:15, John 14:21

If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find John chapter 16, but actually we’re going to be putting a lot of Scripture up on the monitor and you can just look at it there, take screenshots, whatever you got to do. At any rate, this is the second part of a message we began a couple of weeks ago,

But if you weren’t with us, no problem, we’re going to take plenty of time for a review, okay? This is a walk through the Holy Spirit, but as we get going, I just want to remind you, some of you, this isn’t a reminder, just knowledge to you, but 10 days ago, all of the Engaged Network leaders, pastors, elders, deacons, and most of their paid servants came together at this venue. And we just had a very concentrated time of remembering the things God has done in all of our churches and the hundreds. And I don’t think I’m exaggerating. Thousands of souls that have been saved as a result of this venture that began in 2005 and now is 4,000 people strong. And the very next church is this when you’re looking at Eden Church in one month, amen? (audience cheering) So just yesterday they had a pre-launch party in the park, some of you were there. It was a great time, just hundreds of people from the community that they are reaching. Actually a big shout out to Redeemer Church in Winterset, who brought up a bunch of people to work on homes and yards and such throughout the day in their neighborhood and then, what’s so funny? What I miss here. Anyway, you wanna fill me in on this here, Paul? No. Anyway, Redeemer Church was up here and serving all day and they were cooking and just doing all kinds of things. It was just a tremendous, tremendous time.

And as I mentioned, the church starts in a month. All of this we sense has been a leading of God. If it’s, if you’re getting the leading of God, you’re getting the leading of the Holy Spirit of God. When you read about the Holy Spirit and His works in the Bible, and particularly in the New Testament, it’s almost amusing when Bible preachers try to explain His work. As some of you have heard me say before, you don’t explain power, you just experience power. And the Holy Spirit is heaven-sent power.

And he’s more than that. He’s personality as well. And we’ve talked about that in days gone by, but when he came and the church began at Pentecost and Acts 2, he came in power. There was this rushing wind, the place was filled, it shook, and then he revealed himself, and some of you have seen this classical picture. He revealed himself with the Bible described as cloven tongues of fire over the what? Over the heads of the believer. Why do I point that out? I’ll tell you, when we circle back toward the end of the message.

And even just to show you how ignorant God’s people were of the Holy Spirit then, 20 years later, the apostle Paul on his third missionary journey. This wasn’t his first rodeo. He’s going back to Ephesus. He runs into a dozen people who, well, let’s just look at it here, Acts 19, here’s what it says. happened while that while the police was in court and Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus, they found some disciples, there were 12 of them, and he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “You mean the third person of the Godhead, the one who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient?” That’s not how they reply, is it? No, they said, “What are you talking about? Holy Spirit? What in the world is that? Well, if he was misunderstood then he’s still two millennial later, still misunderstood is he not.

And so he is God, we continually point that out. He is the third person in the Godhead. He possesses all of the attributes, all of the characteristics of God, including personality. And from time to time the Scripture will mention our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in one breath, so to speak. Here’s when I sent out an email just the other day from 2 Corinthians 13, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, second person of the Godhead, and the love of God, the Father, first person of the Godhead, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, be with you all.” So there in one breath you have our triune God. The more familiar passage in many of you have probably even memorized it as the one where Jesus gives the Great Commission, he tells his disciples, “Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son.” Notice in the name singular, one God, three persons, right? In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Years ago I began to contemplate the multifaceted works of the Holy Spirit. He does have a multifaceted, incredibly dynamic ministry on earth now amongst unbelievers, amongst believers, and amongst just the world itself. Sometimes, when you read the Bible, isn’t it kind of hard to get your head around that? Would you agree? All the things the Holy Spirit does. At least to me, I thought one day we could just sort of demonstratively sort of visualize this and I came up with this idea and did it and We preached the first part of this a Few weeks ago.

So now I would like all of you all of my friends who are coming into this sermon You’re gonna help me with this sermon give them around the plots as you make your way up to the platform right now Let’s clap for them here they come If you were with us two weeks ago, you saw eight people behind me this morning 15 So they’re gonna find their spots here and I’m gonna try to help them find their spot You should know your spot if you thought you that you that were in the reviewed category all right, so Ome on your knees You’re gonna kneel okay, you’re gonna turn this way sideways and London you’re gonna stand right here because London you’re gonna play the role of the Holy Spirit How cool is that? So don’t mess this up, okay honey? All right. And John, you’re going to be the father, okay? So we got everybody, I think, in the right place otherwise.

All right. So these all represent the present active works of the Holy Spirit. Now if you were with us last time, you know what they are. And we’re going to see how well you know what they are. I’ll shout them out with you at the same time. Presses out the end.

The first thing we said, the Holy Spirit, what? Restrains— oh man, well how lame is that? He does what? He? Okay, so he restrains. We said in 2 Thessalonians chapter two that the Holy Spirit of God is actually restraining evil until God takes him out of the way. That is, he’s still omnipresent, but his impactful ministry of restraining evil is gonna be taken out of the way. And if you think the world is evil now, you haven’t seen anything yet. When this day happens, it’ll be all hell breaks loose, okay? So he went everyone and he convinced, now I had to give, I mean,

Jacob, I mean, it’s a little more authority. The foot out, slam that foot, point that thing. I mean, he’s very good. So what does he do everybody? He what? He convicts. So the Bible tells us in John 16, that the Spirit of God has come to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment, of sin because they don’t really believe in me. All right, so he restrains, convicts,

“You’re gonna, you’re rocking a baby, you’re honey.” All right, there we go, very good, sir. So he regenerates, say it together, he, word means to be born again, okay? So when you trust Jesus, you are born again. It’s the Spirit of God, who, what? Very good, regenerates.

And then what’s he do? He baptizes, all right? So when you trust Jesus as your Savior, the Spirit of God is the one who places us into the body of Christ. That’s what it means to baptize. It means to place into. And Paul tells us in the Colossians 3, it’s there where our life is hidden with Christ in God. Amen. That’s a safe place to be. So the Spirit of God does what everyone ready? He restrains, convicts, regenerates, baptizes,

And then he indwells. By the way, I got to tell you what we did in the first service. Yeah, isn’t that precious? She’s having a baby. But Rachel’s played this position before, but we had another gal, Bri Hill, was playing this position two weeks ago. She was due the very next day to have a baby. Guess what? She had the baby. So she couldn’t be here for indwelling. We moved her over here with the baby this morning and he regenerates because she’d be born again. How cool is that? So, Rachel, you’re good just the way you are. He does what everyone, he restrains, convicts, regenerates, baptizes, and indwells.

Next, what does he do, Dustin? You got me over your spot? Okay. He seals. Say it everyone, he, which we’re told is the ministry by which he himself becomes the seal. And he’s in our hearts, that’s the guarantee. We talk about the seal of guarantee. That’s what he does, according to Ephesians 1. He’s the guarantee that what God started, God will finish. He will take you to heaven if you have trusted him as your personal Lord and Savior.

So when the Holy Spirit comes in the world, he restrains, convicts, baptizes,  indwells, seals and then we come to Karis. What’s the next thing he does here? Okay, there it is. You got a little crown on her head here. This is the halo. All right. So he sanctifies. So when you come to Jesus, the Holy Spirit sanctifies you. It’s a big religious word, isn’t it? It’s also a Bible word. It just means to set a part. So that’s where he sets us apart for God. At the moment, we get saved. But here’s the deal. And the sanctification is the first of the ministries that just keeps going. He continually sets us apart. This is where we would talk about the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5, love joy, peace. This is the spirit of God as he fills our life. He sets us apart for God. Okay? You can always tell when somebody is sanctified just by the way they’re living, right?

So the Holy Spirit does what? He, everyone, restrains. [inaudible]

And then my friend who can only be here for a couple more weeks, okay? What role do you play? He fills. He fills, all right? You got to get a big guy for who likes to eat. That’s my friend Hunter here. He fills us. This is what he does. When we walk with God, we’re in his word, God is… When God is controlling us, the Spirit of God is controlling us. And we should constantly be filled. When He fills us, that’s not a given. In fact, that’s why Moody said, we have to stay under the faucet because we’re all leaky vessels, right? So as we walk with God, this is our, we participate in this as He actually leads us.

So one more time, because this is all review here. The Holy Spirit, everyone, loud and clear, He. >> [INAUDIBLE] >> And fills.

Now, my patient ones here, OK? Now, London, you’re going to stand this way, honey. All right, there we go. OK, so this is– I need three individuals to illustrate. This is– he intercedes. Say it. He intercedes, OK? So let’s first of all look at the scripture to prove. Because did you know the Holy Spirit is an intercessor? Let’s look at the scripture here, it is in Romans chapter 8. Here’s what it says. Romans 8, likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray as we ought. Can I get an Amen? But the Spirit Himself, that’s our word, intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Notice it’s a Spirit making the groanings not you and me. And He who searches hearts knows what is in the mind because the Spirit, and there it is again, intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Now you know the Holy Spirit does what everyone he, now here’s what you gotta do. Okay, so omit your praying. So get your hands together like you’re just a saintly little girl praying, okay? Okay, and so London, you’re gonna take your hands like this and you’re gonna kinda bend toward her a little bit like you’re listening in, and then you’re gonna turn to John here and go like this, like you’re presenting it to him. And John, you’re gonna go, that’s it, pretty simple, right? Okay, let’s just, everybody say he intercedes, okay, and turn, and there you go, very good.

Now, let’s look at the verse again. They’re putting it up here again. Tell you how fascinating this is. And this is gonna be, I am certain, the most encouraging thing many of you will take away today. Now I told you there are two words intercedes up there. They’re not the same. The first word intercedes, it’s the only time it ever appears in the Bible. And listen to this, it literally means bending over. So picture, the Holy Spirit bending over. Here is Ome praying. And if, I mean, let’s just be honest for a minute. There are times when you’re praying for that woman or that man or that kid or that job. or that employee, or that employer. You’re praying for a lot of things, and you just get so befuddled, and you don’t know how to pray. You get your struggle in your prayer. Can I get an amen of that? I mean, we all struggle at times in prayer, how to pray. And sometimes that causes, it stymies us, and we don’t pray. And I’m here to tell you on the basis of this doctrine of the Spirit of God’s intercession, stop doing that, pray, because the first word means to bend over, okay?

The second word is even cooler. The second word is an antonym. If you’re not an English major, you don’t have to be that. You know what an antonym is? It’s an opposite. If I said, for all of sinned and come sure to the glory of God, the word sin is the word antonym. That’s the Greek Does anybody know what the word sin means? That’s it, I heard it means to miss the mark. When we sin, we miss the mark. You know what this word intersession means? It means to hit the mark just the opposite. And so this is what I want to make sense of this. At times we pray, we struggle expressing ourselves. We don’t know how to pray. So the Holy Spirit bends down, takes our prayer, takes them to the Father and straightens them out and he hits the mark every time. How cool is that? Every time. Let me illustrate further.

So when I was a very young dad, I had one daughter. She was three years old. And one day, she came up to her mom and I said, “She told us she’d made her bed.” Well, we were anxious to see what this looked like. So she took us in the room. There’s the actual picture. Her mom got the camera and took a picture of this. That’s the bed. That’s the first time she’d ever actually made the bed. Look how proud she looks. And of course we just, we went coo-coo for coca-puffs, so we read and we hugged her. And I was walking out of the room with Sarah. And I looked back and I saw her mother doing this. And I thought to myself, That’s exactly what the Spirit of God does to your prayers in mind. Because that’s what our prayers look like. But the Spirit of God straightens them out so that they hit the mark. He bends over to take them from us. He gathers them in. He straightens them out. He turns them to the Father. And they are perfect.

So listen to this. As J.I. Packer said, don’t fret. Just pray. God fixes our prayers on the way up. If he does not answer the prayer we made, he will answer the prayer we should have made. That is all anyone needs to know. And that makes intercession really cool. So pray, Saint of God, pray.

So what does the Holy Spirit do? Help me out. What? Restrains. >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Very good. Now, so if you could be kind enough to actually speak up over here next time, that would be great. We’d like to have everybody involved here, right? Very, very good. All right.

So the next one is going to be — we’re going to be using — oh, okay. We’re going to be using Jordan here. Okay. So Jordan. This is a really powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit. And I always like to have a girl do that ’cause you’re a nice looking woman and you look bright and you love Jesus. I know that, right? Do you like to read your Bible? When you read the Bible, everyone’s small. Do you ever read the Bible and go, “Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen that before.” Okay, so go like this and kind of tilt your head like, “Oh, you just learned something.” That’s it. Here’s the word, he illumines. Okay, say it everybody he what? He illumines, okay. That means exactly what you think it means. It means to throw light onto something. This is what God does.

I was in an office one day, I, doctors office, and I saw on a plaque with a quote on it. I just was arrested by it from Marcel Proust, a French novelist who wrote, “The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” And this is what the Spirit of God does when he saves you. gives you new eyes. This is what David meant when he prayed for the powers of observation when he said, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things from your law, right? And even Paul prayed for the Ephesians that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened. That is the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. And when God the Holy Spirit enlightens you through His word, it’s yours. You can embrace it. These are what we call the ramahs of scripture. And you can embrace it for yourself. Adrian Rogers once said, “Whatever I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of.” But what God talks you into is yours for life, amen? So embrace that.

What does the Holy Spirit do? Let’s look at He what? No, stop. Just stand up, everybody just stand up ’cause you are really being kind of lame right now, okay? Not all of you, but seriously, Stretch your legs and shout out with me these as you’ll remember them, ready? He restrains. (audience member speaking off mic) Very good, you may be seated, all right? Thank you, thanks for letting me tease you and give you a bad time.

Okay, so Zee, this is what we’re gonna do. You are a guide. So you’re gonna put your hand on Jordan’s shoulder and you just kinda go like this. Can you do that? Very good. Are you pretty good in it? So he what? Say it to everybody, he guides, okay? So let’s find some scripture on this to see if it’s true. But before we do that, many of you know that one of my life verses is in Genesis 24 where it says, “As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me.” I love that. As for me, that’s personal. Being on the way, that’s experiential. The Lord led me. That’s spiritual. That’s what I want. That’s what I want my life to demonstrate. And if God is leading us, it’s the Holy Spirit so doing. In Jesus’ affirm this, in John chapter 16:12, when He said, “To is disciples, I’ve got so many other things I want to say to you, but you can’t bury them. You can’t handle them. You can’t take them in now because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit in them. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all what? Truth, the Spirit of God and the truth of God in the Word of God help the person of God walk the walk of God. That’s That’s what the Spirit of God does. And by the way, he doesn’t just order your starts, he orders your stops. Sometimes we think of the Holy Spirit just telling us, “Go this way, go this way, go this way.” But if you’re walking with God, the Spirit of God will tell you, “Stop, stop doing that. Stop going that direction.” In Acts 16, we have that, where the missionaries were getting ready to go, Paul and Company, and they wanted to go here, the Spirit of God said, “No.” They wanted to go here, the Spirit of God said, “No.” And then there was this vision of this man from Macedonia. So come over here and help us out. And that was when this spirit of God said, go. He doesn’t just say no. Our go, rather he says no as well, you need to be listening for his stops as well as his starts.

In 1997, I was a much younger version of myself and apparently more marketable because a bunch of people wanted me to be their pastor. And I was looking into all of it, listening, interviewed a couple times, but the Spirit of God would just kept saying, no, no, no, alluring, but no, and then Saylorille Church came. And I sensed his go. The Spirit of God wants to what? Guide us.

Let’s hear it again. What does he do, everyone? Love him, clear. He. (congregation chattering) (audience laughs) (audience laughs) (audience laughs) Wow, there you’ve got kind of serious on that a little bit. That was good. That was good. That was really good.

Okay, so the Spirit of God, by the way, one more thought, the Spirit of God leads by the Word of God. He is the author of Scripture, right? And so never untether yourself from God’s Word because then you’re going to go off on all kinds of tangents and get in all that weird stuff that people attribute to the Holy Spirit that has nothing to do with Him. It’s actually blasphemy in my opinion. But sometimes when you’re hurting and everybody here has been hurt, some of you have been hurt more deeply than others. When you’re hurting, you need the ministry of his comfort. So this is your job Isaac. Right here. You’re going to comfort your buddy, OK? All right, there it is. I like it. I was like, that’s pretty good. Looks a little too cozy, but it does look good. And anyway, so say it or he does what? He comforts, OK? So this is where we get this word that not a lot of people don’t know Greek, know some Greek words like the word “paracletos,” kind of a cool word. “Para” means beside and “Kaleo” means to call. So the idea is, it’s the one who’s called alongside help. Sometimes that word is translated helper as it is in the ESV. Sometimes it’s translated comforter. Either way, it is God comforting us. Here it is in John chapter 14, Jesus talking to us. He says, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments “and I will ask the Father, “and He will give you another,” by the way, that means another of the exact same kind. helper or comforter, to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth. The spirit of God is our paracletos, he is our comforter.

I remember when I was a widower and the first several weeks I slept on the couch and I cried a lot and it wasn’t like whiny, but just the tears would flow. And I remember after several nights I felt I remember literally audiblizing and I sat up on the couch and I said, “Nemmers, get ahold of yourself.” And I sensed I didn’t hear it audibly but I sensed God speak to my heart and say, “I know you’re a mess.” But I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m still with you. I’m still with you. And that was the spirit of God comforting me. And I know that there are times in our lives where the closest person to you cannot bring you comfort. Your spouse can’t bring you comfort. Your best friend can’t bring you comfort. Your kids can’t bring you comfort and we need all of these things. But God has designed his paracletos, his helper, his comfort, his Holy Spirit to be the one who goes where no one else will and comforts as no one else can. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies and God of all comfort. None of us can comfort in every way, right? But God can. And so we say the Holy Spirit does what? He comforts. Let’s do it again. The Holy Spirit does what everyone? Restrains. Very good.

And now my son gets the last one. No, I want you to put your hands like this and just like you’re offering something. Okay? And we’re going to say together he gives gifts. Say it. He gives gifts. Now this is, this is the characteristic, the attribute, the function, the activity, the Holy Spirit, that we could spend many, many weeks on and probably should at another time. But we can’t do it now. We can just say he gives gifts. And here is the the the scriptural premise for that. First Corinthians 12:10. This is powerful. All these spiritual gifts are empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one watch this individually as he wills. By the way, students in the Bible and students of theology, that’s a back door of proof text to the deity of the Holy Spirit because God is sovereign means he can do it. He’s the one who makes decisions on his own. He doesn’t say as Jesus wills, doesn’t say as the Father wills, as he himself wills. The Holy Spirit wills to give good gifts for us to be able to serve God and build up the body of Christ and evangelize the world. So we say that he gives gifts, okay? I mean he himself is a gift, right?

We’re told that in John 14:15. He’s also a gift giver. So just a couple of slides here. Here are the four passages in the Bible where you find lists of gifts.

Romans 12: Encouragement, Giving, Leadership, Mercy, Prophecy, Service, Teaching

1 Corinthians: Administration, Discernment, Healing, Interpretation of languages, Languages,

Prophecy, Wisdom, Apostle, Faith, Helps, Knowledge, Miracles, Teaching

Ephesians 4: Apostle, Pastor, Teaching, Evangelism, Prophecy

1 Peter 4: Serving Teaching

Speaking; Prophecy, Knowledge, Wisdom, Teaching, Exhortation

Serving: Leadership, Helps, Giving, Mercy, Faith, Discernment

Signing: Healings, Languages, Interpretations, Miracles

So you can see by looking at that, I mean this looks like a six month series of messages, doesn’t it? There they all are. Now if you’re Jason Jackson, you look at this and you turn it into a category. Speaking, serving, signing. And this is where they all fall. This is God who gives us this Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit does whatever one he gives gifts, right?

So one more time, loud and clear from the beginning, everyone’s voices, the Holy Spirit. [ Inaudible Remark ] Let’s give it up for all of our helpers here. Thank you. You can go back to your seats now. Let’s — another round of applause for Omi who stayed on our knees the entire time. (audience applauds) Thank you all of you. There’s a lot of logistics going on here.

Just as we sort of wrap things up here, how do you know what your gift is? That’s the question everybody wants to know, right? How do I know what my gift is? Well, you gotta go to a class. You gotta take a module. You gotta do something. That’s just foolishness. Now, no, don’t be around. I’m sure they’re helpful, but that’s not what’s necessary. I think it’s a lot easier than you think. The problem is the knowledge is easier. What you have to do with that knowledge, maybe not so easy. You’ve heard me quote this many times some of you, but it’s Jesus’ words in John 14. Here’s what he said, He who has my commandments and keeps them or obeys them, he’s the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love Him. And I will disclose manifest, show, reveal myself to Him. That’s a cool verse, isn’t it? That’s all you got to do.

You have to know Jesus. And some of you don’t. You’ve never repented of your sin. You need to come back to, he convicts. And you’re convicted by the fact that Christ died for your sin and rose again. And you’ve heard it all your life. But you’ve never really, you’ve never repented of your sin. You’ve never turned to Jesus. You’ve never received Him as your Savior. And the evidence is all over your life. That’s not true. You need to, that’s where you need to stop right there. Repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus. For those of you who have, it’s as simple as loving Him back.

Somebody once said, “Love God and do whatever you want.” Sounds pretty radical, but if you love God, doing whatever you want will be doing what He wants. And when you do what He wants, He manifests Himself to you. And part of that manifestation, and by the way, the word is used in Romans 12, which means to be held to a light and referenced in the spirit giving gifts. That manifestation just comes out. You can see it. It’s there through a dedicated life. That’s how you’ll know where your gifts are. And then ask yourself, what are other people saying to me? What are they seeing in me? Remember that old classic picture of Pentecost, the tongues of fire were over their heads. Now this might sound kind of silly, so bear with me just a moment. But if you had tongues of fire over your head, could you see it? Go like this. Others could, like, what’s that thing of fire over your head front? Be kind of weird. What am I saying? I’m saying that there’s almost a picture here of how the body of Christ is so powerful and so useful and so necessary to your life. You need the people of God to look at your life and say, I see this gift in you. You have the gift of mercy. You have the gift of service. You have the gift of helps. You have the gift of administration. You have the gift of leadership. You have the gift of evangelism. And then if somebody says that to you, then lean into it. Don’t just ignore it. I mean, they’re not perfect. It could be that they’re mistaken, but if you have two or three people saying the same thing that are in the body of Christ, that’s God, the Holy Spirit at work, identifying that giftedness in you, lean into it. And furthermore, when you see God’s gift, when you see the tongues of fire, figuratively speaking, in somebody’s life, you point that out, you’re really good at this, and encourage them to use their gift because we’re told repeatedly, You’re gifted, use your gift. So, I’ll walk through the Holy Spirit.

I’ll finish with this. Just the other day I worked for the couple of guys that I’ve been working with, and we were looking at the story of Elijah, the great electrifying prophet, remember him calling the fire down from heaven, and smoking all the, you know, of the offering and killing all the prophets of Baal, and then ran from Jezebel. Remember that? He’s on the run ’cause Ahab’s wife says, “I’m gonna kill ’em by the end of the day.” So he’s running, he’s on a mountain, and God meets with him. Remember the story? There’s this, whew, tornadic wind, and then the line, but God wasn’t in the wind. And then there’s this consuming fire. God wasn’t in the fire. Then there’s this rattling earthquake. Once again, God’s not in the earthquake. And then a still small voice. And I share it with my friends. That’s what I want you. Don’t be looking for the next experience, the next He-be-gee-be, the next, you know, you know, tingle that you get. And we all like the tingles, right? Listen to the still, small voice of God. As you open up your Bible, experience the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit to show you truth from God and he speaks to you and gives you a ramah, a word that’s like, oh my goodness, I so needed that. what you do and you walk with God.

With that story in mind, about 20 years ago, I was in a conference in Mac Brunson, was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, one of the biggest churches in America. And he had just become the pastor and he succeeded the great W.A. Criswell. W.A. Criswell is one of the greatest preachers of the last hundred years. Pastor the church for over 50 years. I’m not going for that long just to let you know. Just he just so admired Criswell. And Brunson said every Sunday after he’d preach, he’d go over to Dr. Criswell’s home. And Dr. Criswell was like, “Was anybody saved today? How many souls were saved today?” And they would talk about what God was doing in their midst. And Brunson was so enamored with the power and the spiritual filling of God, the Holy Spirit, in the life of that old man that was dying. He left him one day that his brunt’s and left Criswell’s home. As he walked out the door, he looked up to God and he said, “God, would you give me a double portion of W.A. Criswell spirit?” He was thinking about Elijah because if you remember the story of Elijah, he goes and meets Elijah, throws the mantle on him. And the day that Elijah would be taken up into that chariot, Elisha is right next to him, they’re running into all these prophets. You know, your buddy, your mentor is leaving, shut up! And they just keep on going, right? Until it’s about time. And Elisha says to Elijah, “Can I have a double portion of your spirit?” Remember that? Elijah said, “Well, if you see me, if you see me depart, you’ll get it.” That’s what happened. That was what was on Mac Brunson’s mind. When he walked out of Criswell’s home that day and said, “Would you give me a double portion of W.A. Criswell’s spirit?” And he walked through the yard and came to the picket gate, opened it up. He sensed the Lord speak to him and say, “Nope, but I’ll fill you with mine.”

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your Holy Spirit. And Lord, forgive me if this was silly in some way and don’t want it to be dishonoring to you. Pray that this has been helpful to your people, to see the multifaceted ministries of the Spirit of God demonstrated in the way we did today. We thank you for restraining evil. We thank you for convicting people of sin by using your word and your Holy Spirit. And I pray for those who are here in our midst right now, Lord, who have never trusted Jesus. Their life is a sham, but they’re convicted right now. And that person I pray would just humble their heart and be saved. Thank you for placing us safely into the body of Jesus indwelling us, sanctifying us, filling us, interceding for us, and straightening out all these bumbling prayers of ours. Thank you, Lord, for illuminating us, guiding us, comforting us, and gifting us. So the body of Christ would be encouraged, and grow, and the world would be evangelized, and that you would be honored. We do want to honor you in Jesus’ name. Amen.