Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] It two Corinthians three. We're going to read 17 and 18, and this is what it says.
[00:00:06] Now, the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In verse 18, we all with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. Now, just to make this simple for those who may be joining us, and maybe you haven't heard the other messages, the premise of this message is very simple. The idea is that because of what Jesus has done in our lives, he's tore down this wall of division that once separated us from God and has allowed us to come not only into his presence, but literally to look and to behold the glory of the Lord. The manifest presence of the Lord. The Bible says it's like a mirror. And you look into that mirror and you begin to reflect his glory. And not only that, you are transformed into his glorious image. So that means the more time you spend with Jesus, looking at him, reflecting in the word, even around the people of God, you're going to look more and more like Jesus. Come on, tell your neighbor you look like Jesus.
[00:01:31] That's right. Now I want you to turn to another passage as well. Ezekiel, chapter three. Ezekiel, chapter three. And I want to highlight the role that the Holy Spirit plays in all of this, beholding and becoming. It's very important.
[00:01:47] Ezekiel, chapter three. And verse 23. There's a lot of places I could have pulled this idea from, but this is one that I was just in, in my study time last week, and it was powerful. Ezekiel, 323, it says, so I arose, and I went out into the plain, and behold the glory of the Lord. Everyone say, glory of the Lord.
[00:02:07] The glory of the Lord stood there like the glory I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.
[00:02:15] Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me, and he said, go shut yourself inside the house. You can read the chapter. It's a powerful story. The Lord spoke to him, but I want to emphasize that the spirit entered me and set me on my feet. Let's pray, and let's ask the Lord to speak to us through his word this morning. Lord, we commit this time and this word to you. Even your word says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There is liberty. And so, Lord, I just pray. Holy Spirit, would you come even now? Would you begin to fill and to saturate this atmosphere. Come on, church. I want you to help me pray. Pray with your spirit. Pray with your understanding. Welcome the Holy Ghost. We pray, O Lord, may your spirit fill and anoint our time together. Open the word. Give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the glory of God. I pray that we would have eyes that see, ears that hear a heart and a mind that perceives what you are speaking to us today. I pray Jesus the same anointing that was upon you to preach good news to those in need. May it rest upon me as well. And I bind the works of the enemy. He who would seek to distract, to distort, to confuse or uproot the word as it comes forward. Give us liberty in the Spirit as we receive your word today. In Jesus name, I pray. And everybody say, amen. You may be seated.
[00:03:52] Hallelujah.
[00:03:54] I love this passage. I love the Holy Ghost. Does anybody love the Holy Ghost?
[00:04:00] As I read this passage, I'm just like, I'm so stirred even in the idea, like, what a privilege that we can behold the glory of the Lord.
[00:04:11] I hope that doesn't ever become stale to you guys. I feel like we can maybe take for granted the fact that we sense the Holy Spirit when we come in. You realize it was not always like that. You realize it's not been like that for everybody. There was a time that the Spirit of God had not yet been poured out. And they would have pictures, they would have shadows of what God was going to do. And I'm sure it was great in its own sense. But those moments of visitation, those moments of glory were few and far between. But today, I mean, this is what the Bible says the prophets looked forward to about a day where the Spirit of God would be poured out. I mean, a time where Moses could not look at the glory of God and live the time. Jacob's wrestling. And if you see me in my glory, you will die. Ezekiel has an encounter with God. Cannot stand, falls on the ground. I mean, you read these moments and then to think, the Spirit of God is with us today. The spirit of God dwells in me. How is that possible? Somebody better say, thank you, Jesus.
[00:05:23] That's how it's all possible. And so we have the high privilege of beholding the glory of the Lord. And Ezekiel gives us kind of some insight in how this is even possible. He's experiencing something here in this text that we just read that seems to be consistent with encounters with the glory of the Lord. The Bible says that he saw the glory and he fell on the ground. Now. Let me give you some theology here. I don't know if you've ever been in a place where, like, a person of honor walks into the room and you feel like we should stand for this person. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Or a moment where maybe there's a reverence in the room and, boy, I feel like we should kneel right now in the presence of God. We've all had those kind of moments where maybe even somebody, a pastor or a leader or someone said, all rise, or let's all kneel. And we do those things and we feel like it's right. Anybody ever know what I'm talking about?
[00:06:27] This was not that when the Bible says that the glory of the Lord appeared before Ezekiel and he fell. That is the Hebrew word naval, and it means to cast down, to cease to die. To you ever wonder why we say slain in the Spirit? He was as if he died. He was overwhelmed. He was overthrown. He was caused to lay down. You're talking about a dramatic encounter with God in his glory to the degree. I don't know if he thought, I'm dead, if God made him lay down. But there was something so overwhelming about that moment, he could not stand in the glory of the Lord. Have you ever sensed something like that?
[00:07:17] It's incredible when the glory of God shows up. John had an encounter in revelation, Chapter one. The Bible says that he saw the Lord seated on the throne, and he fell on the ground as though dead. The very same thing that happened to Ezekiel. And you got to think, this guy knew Jesus. This is the same John who was resting on Jesus during the Last Supper. He was intimate. He knew Jesus, and yet here he saw Jesus in the fullness of his glory. And it was more than he could handle. Like, we pray for glory, but, friend, I think sometimes we don't even know what we're asking for. Even the revelation of God, it is overwhelming. There was even a moment in the garden. You ever read this part, Jesus in John 18, I think. Verse four. You can pull this up if we've got it. John 18. Four.
[00:08:12] This is where Jesus is being betrayed. Judas comes, points him out, the Roman soldiers, and this is what happens. Jesus, therefore, knowing the things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, who are you seeking? They said, jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am he. Now, just so you understand this phrase here, he's used a number of other times throughout this text. In fact, through the Gospel of John, there's seven times Jesus makes I am statements. And every one of them is pointing back to the moment where God from the burning bush said, I am, that I am. And so Jesus was claiming to be the very same God that spoke to Moses in the Old Testament. This is the reason they're killing him, by the way, because they consider it blasphemous. You're saying you're God? That's exactly what I'm saying. I am the light of the world. I am living water. I am the good shepherd. I am the sheep. The door of the sheep over. And this was another one. I am he. And the Bible says Judas, who betrayed him, also stood with them. And in verse six, it says, when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell on the ground. Have you ever seen that before? This is wild. So at the revelation of Jesus, these guys get. I mean, they just fall out. This isn't church people either. These are the soldiers coming to arrest Jesus. These are the accusers. These are the haters of Jesus. And yet at the revelation of who Jesus is, they fall.
[00:09:58] I like that. Remember that passage in Philippians that says, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess, Jesus is Lord. Things in heaven on earth. And I hope that I'm there when I get to watch Satan kneel before Jesus and declare, you are Lord. You get to watch. You're going to get to watch these God haters and God deniers. You're going to watch every power in hell kneel before Jesus and declare that he is Lord. That's going to be an awesome day. That's going to be an awesome day.
[00:10:29] Now you see, the glory of the Lord here is revealed. And all of these have these encounters where they're falling on the ground as though they are dead and overwhelmed by the revelation of God.
[00:10:44] And this is why, friends, I have no issue theologically, when people get touched by God, they may fall down, they may shake. In fact, I was hearing a pastor tell a funny story the first time that he was on a prayer team. He went down and prayed for a person, and they began, instead of falling backwards, they fell forwards and fell on top of him. And so he's like, getting weighed down under this and ends up rolling. Could you imagine this happening? Like I ask you, Zaldi, will you help me in the prayer time? And the very first person you pray for falls on top of you and you can't get. They have to help him get out from under this person. And so he's like, okay, fine. If they're going to fall forward. Then I'm going to come behind them and pray for them. And so he goes behind. He's praying for a very large woman, okay? And so he's standing behind them, lays hand on them, and guess what? She begins to fall backwards. She falls back on top of him, like literally under this large woman and cannot get out from under her. I don't even think she knew that she was on top of him. And they end up having to get ushers to help this guy out. He did not do well in that prayer ministry to start off. But I don't have theology issues with that kind of manifestation, because I see when people get revelation, when they get touched by God, that's the sort of thing that happens. It's a manifest presence of God.
[00:12:10] You say, well, God is everywhere.
[00:12:14] You got people that are watching online. You're at the beach and you're saying, well, God's here at the beach with me. I understand that. But do you realize even the Puritans and I like this, they would talk about the manifest presence of God, and they broke it down. I'm going to teach you something. This is like church history. Our Founding Fathers, those guys who wear the cool hats, right? The Quaker oatmeal guy, they had a theology. You know why they called them Quakers, right?
[00:12:43] Does anybody know why they called them Quakers? There were people who would come into the church and they would see these people on the ground shaking under the power of God as the Lord moved upon them. And they called them. It was actually a criticism, but it stuck. Those are Quakers. That's why they called them. You guys think like, Pentecostals didn't invent this stuff in the last 20 years? No, this is stuff you watch through revival history. You watch. Read about the Methodist Church. I know these guys are ordaining gay ministers and doing all kinds of craziness. John, not John, what's his name? John Wesley. Yeah, I had it right. John Wesley would be rolling over in his grave. They started out, they would practice Pentecostals, didn't invent being slain in the Spirit. They would be going through their methods of service. You ever been in a Methodist church? They have their methods, and they would be going through the methods of their service. And they would have an entire part of the ministry slotted out for carpet time.
[00:13:40] What's carpet time? Well, that's when the ministers would begin to go through and pray for people, and they'd be overwhelmed by the power and the glory of God. And they would spend time on their face, on the carpet visions of God, manifestation of the Spirit. This is not some new phenomena. I'm telling you, virtually every denomination that is out there was birthed in the moving of God. And that's why, friend, I want to stay in the flow. I want to stay in the flow of what God is doing all the days of my life. So I got sidetracked. But the Puritans, they broke down. The presence of God like this. You have, first of all, essential presence. Everyone say essential presence.
[00:14:21] Essential presence is the idea that God is everywhere. God is with us. And that's true. So even for the unbeliever that offers a little prayer to the Lord, yet God hears that to the person who doesn't have the ability to fellowship, God literally is everywhere. God is always available.
[00:14:42] His hand is never too short to save. His ear is never far removed that he cannot hear. God is always close. There's an essential presence. He's always there. But the second is what we call cultivated presence. Everyone say, cultivated presence.
[00:14:58] This is the relationship that a believer develops with God. You cultivate your relationship. So I walk with him every day. I am growing in him. So, yeah, God can meet me at the beach. And in fact, even recently, I've taken to listen into sermons and worshipping while I'm working out. And I'll go sit in the sauna. And I've had some God encounters in that sauna. Man, I feel like I'm suffering for Jesus in there, sweating, dying. It's 190 degrees, praise God. And I'm like, I'm going to make it for 30 minutes. And I try and stay in there. And I have some wonderful God encounters that's cultivated presence. As I walk with the Lord, I'm cultivating a relationship. I'm driving in the car, I'm playing my guitar. Everything that I'm doing, I'm cultivating a relationship with the Lord.
[00:15:53] And then there is, thirdly, what they would call manifest presence. Everyone say, manifest presence.
[00:16:02] These are moments of visitation. These are moments when God shows up, profound miracles where people are just like, in the glory of the Lord. There are times, glory, a physical manifestation of God in the earth, like Solomon, when they were praying. And the glory of God came so profoundly, where even the ministers could not stand in the presence of God, where people were in the parking lot and could not stand because the glory of the Lord was so tangible. Friend, I don't know about you, but I pray for that kind of stuff. I pray, Lord, give us your manifest presence. Show us your glory. And by the way, I know I'm preaching to the choir. If you're sitting here in this room, manifest presence is almost exclusively for corporate gatherings.
[00:17:01] You're hard pressed to find those moments of dramatic visitation where it just happened to one person alone, hanging out on the beach or walking through the woods or sitting in the sauna. That's cultivated. You can encounter and hear the Lord. I believe that. But there's something special that happens when we get together. It's that Homo Thumadon. We burn together. We have the same fire. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. God shows up in a unique way. In fact, I was talking with, I don't know if I saw him here, one of my brothers that was at our one year old birthday yesterday and was just pastor, oh, you're so awesome. And thank you for the messages. And you bring me such. And I just turned it right back on him. I'm like, we all burn better when we're worshipping together. You being there matters just as much when you're there. It creates this atmosphere. And every one of you, like this, works because we come together and we worship together and we hunger together. God's manifest presence. Hallelujah. So how can we have that? Like, you may wonder, how is it that Moses was told he would die if he saw God's glory?
[00:18:18] How is it that Ezekiel fell down as though he was dead when he saw the glory of the Lord? How did John see the glory? And he fell down like he was dead? And yet we have been invited to behold the glory of the Lord.
[00:18:37] Something's not adding up here. But what you'll begin to notice is even with Ezekiel, this is so cool. We read the verse in verse 24. The Bible says that Ezekiel saw the glory, and he fell down as though he were dead. And then in verse 24, it says, then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. You want to know how you can behold the glory of the Lord, friend? You need the Holy Ghost. We must be filled with the spirit of the living God. It's the only way you will die if you see the glory of the Lord. But if Jesus has redeemed you. Oh, my goodness. You want to talk about. This is a revelation that came to me while I was preaching in the first service. You heard me talking about how you are two Corinthians 521. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That means if you have given your life to Jesus, if he has attributed his accomplished work to your life, you right now are just as righteous as Jesus, you are just as righteous as Jesus. Well, how's that possible, Pastor? I'll tell you how that's possible. In the Old Testament, the glory of the Lord would rest upon what they call the mercy seat over the Ark of the covenant. And one priest, one time a year, would go into that most holy place to give offerings, to give an atonement, sacrifice for the people.
[00:20:11] If he had one blemish upon his life, his garments had to be perfect, his heart had to be right, he had to be cleansed through the shedding of blood. And if he had one stain upon his life, inside or out, he would be struck dead the moment he came before the glory of the Lord. This is why they would tie ropes around their ankles as they would go into that most holy place. And they would have bells around the hymn of their garment.
[00:20:37] If they heard that thing stop jingling in the presence of God, they knew something was off, and so they would have to drag his body out, because nobody could go in there and live the glory of the Lord.
[00:20:50] Do you want to know how redeemed you are? Do you want to know how righteous you are?
[00:20:59] The fact that you can come into the presence of God, and not only that, but the same glory that would kill an unclean man lives in you.
[00:21:16] Think about that. The same presence that would have killed Moses if he looked at dwells in you. How's that possible?
[00:21:27] Only by the Holy Ghost. Only by the Holy Ghost. Jesus has torn down the veil, allowed us to enter in, and he has given us the Holy Spirit. It's only by his power that we are able to stand. I don't know if that blesses you, but that sure does bless me. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Ghost. I love it. So we want to talk about this morning. I want to give you three ways that we can.
[00:21:55] How can we behold the glory of the Lord?
[00:21:59] We need the Holy Ghost.
[00:22:02] How can we live a life in the Spirit? You'll notice it says that we. This is two Corinthians three and verse 18. With an open face, we behold the glory of the Lord, and we are changed from image into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. How can you behold the glory of the Lord? By the Spirit of the Lord. We've read this every single week. Have you ever caught that before? How can you behold the glory of the Lord? By the Spirit of the Lord. Everybody say, by the Spirit of the Lord.
[00:22:39] So how do we actually do that? How do we live life in the Spirit? Well, number one, we need to walk in the Spirit.
[00:22:48] We need to walk in the Spirit. If you're taking notes, I want you to write that down. We are to walk in the Spirit. Everybody say, walk in the Spirit.
[00:22:57] Romans eight one says, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God did by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but we walk according to the Spirit. So I know that's a mouthful and there's some wonderful theology in there. I would encourage you to dig in and study. The fact of the matter is, we must walk in the Spirit. Do not walk in the flesh. We walk according to the Spirit. And what this requires, friend, you want to know how you, you want to, I mean, if you ever go on a hike, you ever go on a jog. One thing that's very very important is watch where you're going.
[00:24:00] You need to watch where you're going and the way that you walk in the Spirit. You set your eyes on Jesus, you look and behold the Lord by the spirit of God. This is how we walk in the Spirit. It's all about your eyes. So what are you looking at? What are you see, we understand what it is you say. How do I actually walk in the Spirit? Well, it contrasts it with walking in the flesh. And we all understand what it is to walk in the flesh, don't we? We have these moments where, I mean, we know when the Spirit of slap comes upon us. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Or what Dr. Morocco was talking about? Have you ever had one of those moments? Just kill him. God. Has anybody ever had that? Okay, and we'll pray for you. Praise God. But we all know what it's like when the flesh begins yelling at us. When the flesh begins pulling at us. This is why I've learned. You want to know a key? If you ever need to talk finances with your spouse, it's time to talk to budget. Don't do it hungry.
[00:25:04] My brother had a genius idea. He says, you know, when we need to talk budget or we need to talk finances, what we always do is we go to a restaurant, we eat a good meal, and then we talk. Plus, we're in public. So if I say something that makes her want to murder me, she won't do it in front of everybody.
[00:25:21] Why?
[00:25:23] You're just learning wisdom here. We know what it is to walk after the flesh, and in the very same way we lean into. Well, I'm going to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying. This is why Paul, he just finished talking about wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death. And his response is, I walk in the Spirit, not the flesh. I walk in the Spirit, not the flesh. In Romans chapter eight, verse 14 says, as many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God. You know what walking in the spirit really comes down to your identity.
[00:26:07] I know who I am. I'm a son of the most high God. I'm an heir with an inheritance. No condemnation. Freedom from sin, freedom from eternal death, made righteous in Christ Jesus. That's what it is to walk a life in the spirit. Speaking of my brother, we were with him for 4 July, and they were running around and just having a great time. And Elijah's six, seven, eight. How old is he? Seven. Okay.
[00:26:40] He's little. And Elijah, we were talking about his dad. Now, his dad, if you've met Jeremy, he's a minister in Hilo for us. And Jeremy's a big weightlifter. He's in Jujitsu and all this kind of stuff. He's a college football player. And he's still fast, man. I mean, that guy can run. And it's awesome. And so we're talking in front of Elijah and the boys, just. Man, how awesome. Jerry, your dad's so strong and he's so big. Weightlifter, all of mean. And you can just tell, like, he loves when we're talking about his dad. And then my wife says something. Elijah. Elijah's like a mini Jeremy. Looks like him, acts like him, and she's.
[00:27:23] Elijah, you look just like your dad. You're going to be so fast like your dad. You're a great athlete just like your dad. And you just watch this kid. I mean, he's running, know, just being a little kid. But as soon as my wife said that, he just starts.
[00:27:39] It's like something came over him is like, that's. Yeah, I am like my dad. I am strong like my dad. I am fast like my dad. You ever seen that kind of thing you go talk to a kid about? Whoa, you're so handsome like your dad. Oh, you are beautiful just like your mom. And you just watch it. I don't even want to try of it, whatever. But you walk. It's identity and friend. If you and I would just begin to understand. I'm walking in the spirit and I'm a son of the most high God. It'll change the way you walk. I'm not afraid. I'm not anxious. I have faith, and yeah, God's going to do this. I have expectancy when I pray as identity. And we can walk in that. That's what it is to walk in the spirit. Number two, we're going to live in the Spirit. Live in the Spirit. Everybody say, live in the Spirit.
[00:28:34] Now, you'll see this in Romans eight and verse five. It says, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. So hear me, I said that walking, walking. It matters where you're looking. You need to watch your path. What you set your eyes on. Are you beholding the Lord? If you do, you'll walk right in the very same way. The way you live in the Spirit is not about where you're looking, it's actually about where your mind is. What are you meditating on? Those who live According to their flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those who live according to their spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. So what are you thinking on? This is why from the very first week that I've been in this series, I've been hammering this idea. If you live with a sin consciousness, you will sin. I can't cuss. Can't cuss. Can't cuss. And then you cuss over your frustration of trying not to cuss, right? Sin conscious, I can't lust. Can't lust. And the next thing you know, you're just. You're in that sin consciousness will lead you to sin. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, and you'll exude the flesh, but the things of the Spirit, when you live in the Spirit, I'm setting my mind on the things, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, friend. I mean, I've just noticed even when I get this negative thing that starts coming on me, I just start thanking God. I just. God, you're so incredible. God, you're so wonderful. And all of a sudden, as I'm agreeing with the mind of Christ, all of a sudden, those fleshly, carnal, unbelieving, doubting thoughts, they just begin to fade away.
[00:30:30] Set your mind on things that are above meditate. This last Thursday, I preached on having the mind of Christ. You can have the mind of Christ.
[00:30:42] You can think like Jesus thinks. You can have the mind. The Bible says, of the spirit. Oh, my goodness. So this is why I'm very conscious about what comes my way.
[00:30:57] You'll hear about these guys like Elon Musk and.
[00:31:02] And Trump, these high level leaders. And one of the things that you'll hear that they do is they never listen to criticism.
[00:31:11] They literally will filter out. Don't bring me the negative news articles about what's. Why would they do that? I believe in constructive criticism, but I'm not receiving constructive criticism from random people. I don't know.
[00:31:26] If my wife comes to me, I tell you, my kids are about the most honest, and they're like, dad, that was dumb. Or, dad, that was. What? You didn't make sense. I believe them, and that's good. I know they love me, and they have my best interest in mind, so I will hear them. But somebody came to me this last week, and they're like, you know, pastor, we had a negative review about Hell House, and they wrote an article for the newspaper, and you should see this. And I thought about it, and so they handed me the thing, and I see it's, like, written by Yoga Cat lady, and she has her.
[00:32:00] I'm not kidding. Actually. I'm not kidding. And she had listed under her description of herself. I thought you guys were pulling up a picture of her. Okay, yoga Cat lady. And on her description, all it has was her preferred gender pronouns. And I'm just like, this is not the person that I need to be receiving criticism from. I just not. You know what? I'm gonna. Because we're sitting in that same meeting hearing about 160 souls that got committed to the body of Christ, hearing about 600 people who stopped for prayer, receiving deliverance and healing and freedom. And you want me to pay attention to yoga Cat lady? She. Her. No, listen, friend, I love her. I hope.
[00:32:49] She was apparently, like, ran away from the decision room. It's like, no, you're not going to. Why? Because I'm setting my minds on things that are above. I want to have the mind of the spirit. So I'm not listening to all this noise and criticism and negativity. I cannot live there, friend, you cannot afford to live in those places. This is why even in our home, we've declared that our home is going to be a criticism negativity free zone. And so my daughter she actually came up because we've discovered, okay, thinking about how I can say this where I don't get in trouble later on today, one of the worst things you could do if you need your wife to calm down, is to tell her, calm down.
[00:33:47] I'm helping you out, okay? I'm helping you.
[00:33:50] And so we took this, like, if we're going to have a criticism negativity free zone, we can't say no criticism, no negativity, because then we're just going to have a fight, and that doesn't work. So my daughter came up with a code word. And I don't know where she thought of this, but she's like, we'll just say beans. And if we say the word beans, we know that means, hey, you're being negative. You're being critical. We're going to cut. And so there's times where I won't use my wife as an example, but maybe was. And you'll hear beans, Gabriel. Beans. Okay. All right. Why? Because, friend, you'll notice that if you allow negativity in your workplace or in your home or in your Bible study, I'm telling you, even prayer meetings get like this. It's stage four cancer. And I don't know if we're going to come through. And my job is this. And listen, I want to hear the need, but, like, cancer. Got it. Cancer free zone. Here's the promise of God. And you just contend against. You don't stay in that place, because literally, you'll watch the atmosphere just begin to shift. You get the mind of the flesh, you'll get the mind of unbelief, the mind of criticism, of gossip. I'm not going there. So we begin to release a scripture and encouragement and prophecy and faith, and all of a sudden, the atmosphere begins to change. And even if you came in heavy and weary and worried, all of a sudden that just begins to lift. Anybody feel like that? And coming into the church, like, man, I came in, I had somebody come up to me after the first service, and they said, pastor, I don't know why, but I was so critical and negative. I've been irritated with all my coworkers all week, but I heard this message, and the moment I received prayer today, I felt it lift off of me. He was so excited as he was walking off the property today. That's awesome. Why? He got in a different atmosphere. He began to hear different declaration. It's the mind of the Spirit and the best way. In fact, the Bible says, let me read to you this verse. I'm going to give you a tip and then we're going to pray.
[00:35:55] Romans 826. The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses when we don't know what we should pray, what we should pray for, as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is. He who searches the heart knows what the mind. You know, the Holy Spirit's more than just a force, more than just power. Holy Spirit has a mind, a will, emotions. He's a person. He has desires, he can be grieved. He has joy, he has a mind. He thinks the mind of the Spirit. He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. The will of God.
[00:36:41] So there's moments where I'm overwhelmed with fear or anxiety or unbelief. We all have those moments. And one of the things when I began to read this verse, I'm like God, something in my flesh or in the realm of unbelief that is dominating me right now.
[00:37:00] But there's another mind. I can come into agreement with the mind of the Spirit. And so I begin to groan.
[00:37:10] And I notice that my fleshly carnal mind now begins to come back into alignment with the mind of the Spirit. Friend, we're going to pray in a moment. If you've never been filled with the Holy Ghost, if you don't pray with your spirit, we're going to pray that God would empower you to do that. It's one of the great tools that God has given you in your arsenal. If you notice, my mind is in unbelief, in fear, anxiety and depression. If your mind is not aligned with the mind of Christ, one of the great things you need to do is begin to pray with the Spirit and allow your mind to come into alignment with the mind of the Spirit. The mind of the Spirit. I like that. Everybody say, the mind of the Spirit.
[00:37:55] You ever think, what do you think, Holy Ghost?
[00:38:00] You ever think like that?
[00:38:02] What do you think, Lord? You just get in this. We were in the first service. This was so cool. Worship team, you can come. I'm closing.
[00:38:11] We were in the first service and I was sitting in the front row and I began to feel like a pain in my body. And God will speak to me sometimes that way where I'll actually feel physically in my body something that the Lord desires to heal. And I felt a back pain and I thought, oh, maybe we need to pray for backs. But as soon as I came up on stage, as soon as my foot hit the stage right here, I heard the word toxic.
[00:38:41] Like, okay, so it's not a back pain, but it's actually toxicity in the body.
[00:38:48] I felt like the Lord was saying it's a kidney issue where there's toxicity, and it's actually brought pain and this and that. And so I'm sharing this in the first service, and my wife grabs me and says, jake, do you know what's been going on with Deb? Deb was out of service on Thursday night. I thought she had a flu bug or something like that. But she told Leah right before the service that the reason she was in the hospital, the reason that she was getting sick, was because she had an infection in her kidneys because of toxicity that was within her body. And I'm like, whoa. That's why. I mean, I watch, and I see her, and she was just crying there in the first. And it's like, well, where does that come from? It's the mind of the Spirit. Holy Spirit was already ministering over her, knew exactly what was going on in her life. And all I'm doing is leaning into Holy Spirit, what do you want to do today? Holy Spirit, what do you want to do today? And in that moment, we prayed for her, and she's always already doing better, even by the time we came in here and prayed. But, I mean, I just love moments. Like, last Thursday night, we were doing open prophetic minisTry. Thursday night's a prophetic night.
[00:40:03] And we did what we call blind prophecy. Everybody closed their eyes, and my wife picked somebody. It was a first time guest who came into the church and just began to open it up like, okay, who has a word? And Vanessa. I saw Vanessa earlier. She's in kids, loving on the kids. I love it. Vanessa started singing a children's church song. My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do. And the moment she began to release that, we didn't know who the lady was, but she, like, broke, crying. Like, loud crying, grabbing her husband, leaning on her, like, whoa, what in the world's going on here?
[00:40:44] We continued the prophetic ministry. Somebody says, I see a heart. I see a big heart. And so we. Okay, heart, great. So we go through a number of other words, and then we come back and we. Okay, would you introduce yourself, tell us what's going on? She said, well, this trip to Hawaii, my son was supposed to be with us, but my son died one month ago. He had a heart transplant. God had begun doing some work in him. But he began going downhill. And she said that she would lay with him in bed, he would put his head on her chest, or she would put his head on her chest and she would sing the song. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do.
[00:41:31] Their pastor was sitting here. They were all there in that moment. And the day that he went to be with the Lord in heaven, he actually had. He was so weak for the last weeks, but on the last day, he had the strength to sing that song with his mom.
[00:41:48] And all throughout the time they were here in Hawaii, God was just giving them little smiles. I know that's painful, but he's with me. And was giving signs of how. What is that?
[00:41:59] It's the mind of the Spirit. How did Vanessa know that? How did the person. They didn't, but the Holy Spirit knew that. I'm telling you, friend, if we could just come in alignment. Holy Spirit, lead me. Holy Spirit, show me what you're thinking. What are you doing in our midst? Oh, my goodness, friend, if we could come into that, it would change everything.
[00:42:24] It would change. How many know that was so healing for that woman? How many know the way that God touched Deb? I mean, it could have been her life. You don't know. But the fact that God saw it and God is ministering to it, what a joy to walk with the Lord. I want you to stand all across this room.
[00:42:48] I have one other idea. I'm not really going to preach on it. We're going to act on it.
[00:42:54] You don't know how. You're led by the spirit of the mind, of the Spirit. You need to be filled with the Spirit. You need to be filled with the Spirit. And let me just tell you, friend, being filled with the Spirit is not just a one time act.
[00:43:10] I got filled with the Spirit when I was in a junior high student and I got filled with the Spirit when I was in a prayer meeting at Christ for the nations. And I got filled with the Spirit when you know various ministries, and you'll even notice, last week, Dr. Morocco, he opens up the altars. I'm the first one in line.
[00:43:29] And then he doesn't let me pray because he doesn't pray for me because he has me pray for people. But that's fine. But I'm hungry, man. I'm hungry. And you understand, to be filled with the Spirit, it's not like filling a cup to be filled with the Spirit is not like being filled with a cup. To be filled with the Spirit is actually, it's a continuous verb that's used there. It's to be being filled, to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. So I got filled last week, and I'm gonna get filled when I'm praying in the sauna, and I'm gonna get filled when I'm in a Holy Ghost meeting later on, and I'm gonna get filled every day of my life. It's more like a sail being filled with the wind. That's what it is to be filled. And he moves us forward and he moves us on.
[00:44:16] And so we're going to pray that God would fill us with his spirit.
[00:44:23] There's only one prerequisite, because I'm telling you, if the Holy Ghost comes upon you and you have not been redeemed, you might die.
[00:44:33] That's what happens with the glory.
[00:44:36] BuT the moment we receive Jesus and he's cleansed us and forgiven us, and that wall of separation comes down and we can enter into his presence.
[00:44:48] So with every head bowed and everyone praying, if you're here today, you say, Pastor, I want to know that my sins are forgiven and that I'm right with Jesus.
[00:44:58] I want to know that I'm right with God before I leave here today.
[00:45:03] Maybe you've once walked closely with the Lord, but you've gone astray. You've been led by your flesh, you've been led by your carnal mind, and now you find yourself far from God. But today the Lord is saying, come close to me. And if you draw close to me, I'll draw close to you.
[00:45:21] He's gracious, he's merciful, he's slow to anger. He's of great kindness. He does not want to bring judgment. He wants to bless you. That's Joel, chapter two. That's out of the Bible.
[00:45:34] If you're here today and you say, Pastor, I want to give my life to Jesus. I need to have my sins forgiven, and I want to come close to the Lord today. If that's you, nobody looking around, just between me, you and Jesus, I want to know who I'm praying for. Would you lift your hand all across this room? See you. I see you. I see you there. I see you over there. I see you all the way in the back. Yes. Are there others? You say, Pastor, pray for me. I need to be forgiven. I see you there. Hallelujah. I see you there in the middle. Hallelujah. I see in the very back there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
[00:46:08] Hallelujah. As a sign of surrender, can we all lift our hands right now, and I want you to pray out of your own mouth with your faith. I want you to pray this right now. Dear Jesus, I ask you, Lord, to forgive me. I have sinned. I have fallen short of your holy standard.
[00:46:30] But I thank you. You shed your blood, you carried my sin to break down every separation between me and you.
[00:46:45] Wash me, Lord, and receive me into your kingdom, into your body.
[00:46:54] Be my savior, be my Lord, be my very best friend.
[00:47:01] I give you my life.
[00:47:03] In Jesus name I pray.
[00:47:07] Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.
[00:47:11] Hallelujah.
[00:47:14] Now we have a few minutes and I want to pray, and I'm going to tell you, we're going to pray for people to be filled afresh by the Holy Spirit. The power of God broke out in our first service. I was about half drunk coming into the second service because the Spirit of God was so upon me. It's a wonderful thing.
[00:47:35] If I was in your position, Pastor Jacob, I'd be the first one down here receiving prayer today. And if you're here and you say, Pastor, I would like to be filled with the Spirit of God. I'd like to be refreshed by the Spirit of God. I would like a fresh infilling of the Spirit of God. Maybe you're here and you've never received your prayer language. Maybe you've never prayed in other tongues and you say, I would sure like to have that to pray in the Holy Ghost. If that's you, no matter which one of those fits your heart, I want you to come down right now and just begin to fill this altar. And we're going to pray for the Spirit of God to touch us, to fill us, to refresh us by his spirit. Oh, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Just come in.
