Demystify: The Holy Spirit In Real Life | David Eiffert

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Transcript

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Acts chapter one, beginning in verse one. Luke would say this in my former book. He's talking about the Gospel of Luke. Uh, the book of Acts is really Luke part two. It's the continuation, the continued story of Jesus that he begin. In the Gospel of Luke, he says in my former book, Theophilus, that's who he's writing to. I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen, after his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me speak about for John baptized with water. But in a few days, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful, uh, to be here. We're grateful, uh, for your word. We're grateful for your church, and we ask that you would speak to us individually and as a community. And you would help us to, um, hear what you say, receive what you say, and implement the things that we say, that you say. And it's in your son saying, we pray. Everybody said amen. Well, I am excited to start a series this morning. It's a gonna be a three week series, right sweetie? Three weeks series called Demystify, the Holy Spirit in Real Life. And over the next three weeks, what we're gonna be talking about is the Holy Spirit, who he is. What he does and how he changes everything about how we're supposed to live our life. And I want to, uh, just, uh, um, comfort the nervous this morning and say this, I am not a strange person. Well. I'm not a super spiritual feely kind of cri. That's just not who God made me. And so I want you to know this, that no matter where you're at with the Holy Spirit, I believe that this series is for you and the title this week, if you're taking notes, is this the helper? You didn't know you had the helper, you didn't know you had, you know, it was a couple years ago. I was at a kid's birthday party. I took my uh, daughter. And so the kids were playing and some of the adults were hanging out in the living room and they had cupcakes at the birthday party. And so I went and I got a cupcake and I was eating the cupcake. And uh, it was really, really good. And um, but I could tell that there was another parent, someone that I knew, not super well, but came to the church. I knew him, not super well, but I knew him a little bit and they were kinda looking at me, kind of surprised, like. I was just like, uh, and so it was so good. I went and got a second cupcake and so I was eating the second cupcake and, and then this parent got up and came to me and they said this, so you eat all that sugar? I was like, yeah, they, they said, you do know that sugar is poison, right? And I was like. I was like, I, I just want a cake. You know, it's a birthday party. And so they went on and apparently they had seen a documentary on how like, sugar is, poison, sugar causes cancer, sugar, you know, sugar, like messes with your gut health and it messes with your glucose and all. And it's like, there's just some certain topics in life and I'm just like, I'm just eating the second one. I'm like, Hmm, sounds good. What's it called? There's certain topics that just make things awkward. It's even worse if you start talking about like artificial sweeteners, seed oils. There's just certain things that just make things awkward and uh, that's how it is for like a lot of different people when it comes to the Holy Spirit that maybe, maybe they experience something weird at church. Or maybe someone manipulated them with like some God told me kind of nonsense. Or maybe they, maybe they grew up in a church environment that was like all emotion and no Bible, but for whatever reason people have, when it comes to the Holy Spirit and the topic of the Holy Spirit, they have all this baggage. And so the moment you mention the Holy Spirit, they kind of like tense up and they're ready to defend against something that you're not even doing. And so again, I just wanna say that wherever you're at with the Holy Spirit, we want to say that, um, that may maybe like, makes you uncomfortable. I, we just want you to know this. It's not our intention to make you uncomfortable in this series. It's not our intention to fit you into like a theological box, but the goal of the series is really simple, and it's just this to help, you know, the Holy Spirit. Not, not just about the Holy Spirit, but to actually know the Holy Spirit. And the reason that we think that this is an important topic is that we believe the Holy Spirit is a tragically neglected part of the Christian life. For most people, like we, we believe in him. Sure it is. Like we would never, we would never deny him. But honestly, ask this question like, when's the last time you undeniably saw the Holy Spirit at work? When's the last time you actually had a conversation, not just with God, God, but with the Holy Spirit? When was the last time, when's the last time you asked the Holy Spirit for help? I think for most people like it, like if we're honest, the Holy Spirit is kind of like the forgotten family member at Thanksgiving. You know? It's like, don't forget to go say hi to grandma. Uh, you know? But that's like what the Holy Spirit, it's like, oh yeah. And the Holy Spirit and, and he's just this distant kind of concept, not an active presence in our life. And that's a problem. That's right. And the reason that that's a problem is because Jesus said something that ought to blow your mind. Look at this, John Chapter 16, verse seven. He says this, Jesus says, but I tell you the truth. It is, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. So Jesus said it's actually better for him to leave so that the Holy Spirit could come. I don't know if that, if that strikes anybody as slightly odd because how could anything be better than having Jesus physically present? How could that be? Well, the reason is this is that because Jesus knew something that the disciples didn't, he, he, he, he knew that he could only be at one place at one time, but the Holy Spirit could be with all of them all the time. That's right. And so he knew that while he, Jesus could walk beside them, the Holy Spirit could live in them. And, and what I want you to get today is the same spirit. That empowered Peter, James and Paul, who turned the world upside down in the Book of Acts, is available to you today in 2025. Not a different spirit, not a watered down spirit. The same spirit is available to you. The problem is that most of us don't expect much of the Holy Spirit because we've figured out how to do our life without him. We've figured out how to do church. Without him. we've, learned to live pretty successful lives according to the world standard without him. And that's a tragedy because you're trying to live the Christian life without the one thing that Jesus said was essential. So you're trying to witness to people without power you're trying to overcome without the helper. You're, you're trying to know the truth without the spirit of truth. And so for the next few weeks, what we're wanting to do is we're wanting to demystify the Holy Spirit, answer the questions, who is he? What does he do? And how do I experience him in my everyday life? And our prayer for you is that by the end of the series, the Holy Spirit wouldn't be a theological concept for you, but he would be a person that you actually know. And I am gonna warn you here that over the next three weeks, I am going to refer to the Holy Spirit as a person a lot. And just so you know, yes. That is theologically correct. Uh, the, and when I say a person, I don't mean he's a human, he doesn't have a body like us, but the Holy Spirit is a personal being. That's right. And so it is correct to say the person of the Holy Spirit. And just to give you a little context here in the Book of Acts that we just, uh, read, Jesus had been crucified, he had been buried, and then plot twist, right? He's resurrected, he's alive. And the disciples, they've seen him with their own eyes, they've touched his hand. Uh, they've touched his side, they've eaten with him. So this is real. And for 40 days after the resurrection, you may not even know this. For 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus appears continually to the disciples and he's there and he's he, he comes and he teaches them and he encourages them. And during those 40 days, Jesus focused on two things, the coming of the kingdom and the coming of the Holy Spirit. That's it. Yeah, that's what he talked about. The coming of the kingdom and the coming of the Holy Spirit. And think about it, because Jesus had conquered death. He could have talked about anything. He could have given them like a five year, you know, church growth strategy plan. He could have laid out like some deep theological systematic theology course. He didn't do any of that for 40 days. What he did is he spent 40 days talking about the Kingdom and the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he knew what was coming. Amen. He knew, he knew that in a few days he was gonna leave. He, he was gonna ascend to heaven and he knew that the disciples were gonna need help to do what he was calling them to do. So he tells them, he says, Hey, don't leave Jerusalem. Stay and wait for the gift the father has promised. He says, he says, you know John the Baptist, he would baptize people in water, but in a few days you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And the disciples are thinking like, well, we don't know what that means. We don't know what he's talking about. But he trusted. They trusted him enough to stay. And then look at what happens. Acts chapter two, verse one. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. So these were the the same disciples that ran off. When Jesus was arrested, now are filled with boldness because they're filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter, who went and he denied Jesus three times, he stood up and he preached to thousands of people, and on that day, 3000 people gave their lives to Christ in one day. What changed? The Holy Spirit came. And so today what we're wanting to do, just as a, um, introduction to the whole series is to answer this fundamental question, who is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? And I've got three truths about the Holy Spirit. I won't take too long that I want you to write down. Number one, if you're taking notes, write this down. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. Good. That's good. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. So let me start by saying what the Holy Spirit is not. So the whole, the Holy Spirit is not like a, um, a nebulous force hovering around that's likely to zap you. Like, you know, you stuck your hand in a, a, like a socket, right? He, he's not, he's not a mystical energy that you harness. To accomplish your purposes. The Holy Spirit is a person, and when I say a person, again, I don't mean he is human. He's not human. But the Holy Spirit is a personal being. That's right. Right. Like you understand God the Father, you understand Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the same. The Holy Spirit has a mind. That's right. Think about it. Isn't that ing the Holy Spirit has a mi, the Holy Spirit has emotions. What scripture teaches the Holy Spirit makes decisions. The Holy Spirit, you can have relationship with him. He's not just a force or an energy. It's not, it's not like Star Wars. That's what I'm trying to get at. Use the force. It is like, use, use, use the spirit, Don. It is not like, and that might seem obvious, but there's a lot of people that treat the Holy Spirit more like a thing than a person. And we'll, we'll, we'll use language. You know, we're using the spirit's power. We're tapping into the spirit, and we don't wanna argue about language, but just understand this. The Holy Spirit is not a spiritual vending machine that's good. Where you insert your prayers and like outcomes, like the power that you need. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. Look at this, John Chapter 14, verse 16, and I will ask the father and he will give you another counselor. To be with you forever. And that word in that, in that verse, another in the Greek, is important. It means another of the same kind. So, so it's not a different kind of counselor. He's saying, I'm your counselor and, and I'm being replaced by the same kind of, not a worse version than me, the same kind of counselor. And so Jesus is saying, I'm leaving, but don't worry. Because another counselor is coming who is just like me. So, I dunno if you can imagine this, but I like to imagine, imagine, uh, uh, the actual physical, literal Jesus standing beside you and everywhere you went in your life, he, he was just functioning as your personal counselor. How helpful would that be? Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you love that? Like how much peace would you have to know that you always have perfect truth and perfect wisdom in every situation? I think that'd be awesome. Well, we don't have that, but instead what we have is we have the literal presence of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus says, that's actually better. That's Amen. It's actually better than having physically Jesus here. It's better that we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. Three things, these are like subpoints of 0.1, don't worry, they'll be fast. Three subpoints on the Holy Spirit being a person, uh, to remember. Number one is this, the Holy Spirit is your helper. Amen. The Holy Spirit is your helper. Uh, so it says counsel, the word counselor in John chapter 14. Some translations you probably read, it might say advocate, it might say helper. In the Greek, it's the word parakletos which means the one who walks beside you. And in the English language, the closest thing that we have to this language is a defense attorney. And now you're thinking like lawyers, boy, but, but think about what a defense attorney does. They stand up for you. They plead your case. They're on your side. They're not there to condemn you. They're not there to criticize you. They're there to help you. And the Holy Spirit is your helper, your advocate. So he comes alongside you, and the voice of the Holy Spirit says like, I'm here. I'm with you. We can do this together. And the Holy Spirit helps when, so I'm thinking like when you don't know how to pray. For example, he can help you pray. I dunno if you're like me, but a lot of times I don't know what to pray, especially when I'm in crisis mode. I don't know what to pray. Well, the Holy Spirit will help us. When I'm facing a decision and I don't know what to do, the Holy Spirit helps me. He's my counselor, so he gives me the wisdom. He's communicating to me the right thing. When I'm feeling weak, the Holy Spirit is there to help me when I'm feeling overwhelmed. The Holy Spirit. Is there to help me. The Holy Spirit is your helper. Number two is the Holy Spirit is your teacher. That's good. The Holy Spirit is your teacher, John 1426. Again, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sent in my name, listen to this, will teach you all things. That's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit teaches you and I, I love this because the Holy Spirit doesn't expect you to know everything. Yeah, and that's, and that's good for me. He doesn't expect you to have it all figured out. He's here to teach you. What does he teach you? He teaches you the Jesus way. He teaches you how to live like Jesus in everyday situations. That's right. And he also does this, I believe he does this by showing you blind spots about yourself. The Holy Spirit will come and he points out your pride. That's right. He, the Holy Spirit comes and points out your selfishness. He points out your envy, he points out your idolatry. Not to shame you, but to help you grow. You know, years ago, I, uh, was, I got my, uh, concealed carry permit. Um, and so I, I didn't really know too much about guns, but you know, I, so I went to this class and this class, this guy, he was. Teaching was a friend of mine, and so we went out to the range and I was shooting, I was shooting a gun. It was, he like gave me a gun. I was shooting the gun and I was like, I could not hit the stupid target. And so I was like, someone's moving the target or the bullets are crooked or something. Something's wrong with that target. Well, the teacher, he came up to me and he said, he says, uh, pastor David, you're flinching before you shoot. And I was like, no, I'm not. He's like, yeah, yeah, you are. Um, and I said, no, I'm not. I'm a man. Men don't flinch. So he pulls out his phone, video me, so I'm shooting Miss the Target shows me sure enough, I was flinching. It's like, this is, you know what I mean? Because a gun was about to go off. It's natural, but I had a blind spot. And the same is true in our lives. We all have blind spots. We all have things that we think are right, that are wrong. We all have things that we think are wrong, that are right, and and that's one of the things that the Holy Spirit does. And of course, community can be something that points out. Uh. Your blind spots. Right? That's why it's important. That's why we have things like community groups, amongst other reasons, but the Holy Spirit can also help you by pointing out your blind spots. I remember, um, uh, a while back, it's been quite a while now, but I remember I was preaching and sometimes when you're preaching, if you don't know this, sometimes you get too courageous. Because you know, like the adrenaline's sort of running and then you're kind of like saying things and people are like, Hey, and you on, and so then you say stuff and you're like, stronger than you should be. And I said something, I said something about like, I don't know, some critical thing on like the American church. I said, and as soon as I said it, the Holy Spirit told me, he said, Hey, you shouldn't have said that. And I'm like, what do you know? They loved it. They clapped. They stood up. You know what I mean? Like, but, but that's what the Holy Spirit will do. Sometimes he'll come in and he'll and he'll, he'll tell you things and he'll give you some feedback on what you're doing. He'll tell you, Hey, that was really cool what you did. Hey, that that wasn't right. And the Holy Spirit will do that. So maybe you're like with your kids and your kids are being a total disaster. And so you say this and you have this attitude with them. And immediately if you're in tune with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit can tell you like, Hey, you shouldn't have been like that. Amen. That, that, that's what the Holy Spirit does. And what's beautiful about the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit knows you. Amen. He knows your family history. That's right. He, he, he knows your past. He knows where you have failed in the past. He knows what your parents said about you that still has a scar there that maybe you don't even know about, but the Holy Spirit knows all that. And so he's uniquely positioned to help you on your journey. On following the Jesus Way, the Holy Spirit is your teacher. Number three, lastly of the subpoints is this, the Holy Spirit is your reminder. Now, I almost said reminder, but apparently that's not a word. So we're going with reminder. Look at this, John 1426 Again, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all the thing, will teach you all things and listen to this and will remind you of everything I have said to you. And so, so if you come to this church, you, you are taught a lot of things. We're, we're a, we're a teaching church and I was doing some math, uh, yesterday when I was doing this. I'm thinking like, okay, I have probably on average, when you say three points a sermon, it's pretty, pretty standard. I'm, I'm a three point guy and, and my target, just to let you know, my target is to preach between 35 and 40 times a year. So that's three outta four. And so I'm doing the math and I'm thinking like, okay, that's probably about 120 points that I put in those little boxes for y'all per year. And so you might be thinking like, what am I supposed to get 120 bumper stickers? Like, how am I supposed to tattoo all of that on my bo? Like how, like what does that, what does that look like? Here's the good news. Is that if you put yourself in a place where you keep drinking in the knowledge and wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit has a part in that, and it's this, that he will remind you of what you need to know, when you need to know it. And so like if someone cuts you off in traffic, you don't have to be like, pull out your notebook and like find the place where Pastor David talked about anger. Like, like what did he say? No, the Holy Spirit will remind you of what you need to know, when you need to know it, because your little brain can hold so much. But he's omnipotent. He knows all things, and part of his job is not just to teach you, but also to remind you. And so maybe you're like doing something, you'll be in a situation and something will put like suddenly pop into your mind, like a little verse, you know what I mean? You're out there and it's like, oh, I thought of that little verse we were studying. Maybe it was like some truth. Maybe it was on principle, and you're, and you're thinking like, where, where did that come from? It came from the Holy Spirit. Amen. Because he's your reminder earth. He reminds you. So the Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. Number two is this. The Holy Spirit is God living in you? Yes, the Holy Spirit is God living in you. The Holy Spirit is not just around you, even though he is the Holy Spirit is also in you. Again, I'm gonna keep reading these verses, John chapter 14, verse 16, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him. Why? For he lives with you and will be in you, with you and in you. So Jesus is making a distinction here between two different realities. So in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God would come and go. He would come. He would come upon people for specific tasks, if you'll recall. So like the Holy Spirit. Comes upon Samson and gives them supernatural strength of the Holy Spirit would come upon prophets that would help them speak the truth of God, but it, it would come and it would go. Even David, after he was anointed king, he prayed, don't take your spirit from me. That was his prayer. Don't take your spirit from me, but the spirit, because the spirit would leave. It wasn't like a permanent presence, so the Holy Spirit was with them sometimes, but the Holy Spirit wasn't in them. And then Jesus comes and he announces something different. He says, the spirit's not just gonna come upon you. He's gonna live in you forever. And that's why, that's one of the reasons why what we have is so much better than what they had. Romans chapter eight verse nine says this, you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit. If indeed the spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. The spirit of God lives in you. First Corinthians, chapter six and verse 19, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Who is in you, whom you have received from God? Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And I wonder if y'all remember this, but like youth pastors used to use this verse to be like, don't smoke. Because your body's a temple and it's like, sure, but it does mean something in addition to just don't smoke. Uh, it means that like right now, if you've put your faith in Jesus right now, as you're sitting in that chair, the spirit of God lives on the inside of you. He's not in the back office. He is not like hovering around. So he's probably like in the North Pacific somewhere. No, he lives on the inside of you right now. The Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you and I. When I was a kid, I used to think like, yeah, but where exactly am I the only one? Like, is he by your liver? Like maybe he's around between the kidneys. Is he somewhere in the rib cage? And the Bible unfortunately does not give us precise anatomical location, but that's okay. What matters is that he's here. Is that he's here, is he, is he here? Is he here? Is he here? Yes. He lives on the inside of you, fully present, fully engaged, fully committed to you. And I want you to think about this. Shouldn't there be a difference between a person who has the spirit of God living on the inside of them and someone who doesn't? Yes. When you think about that, doesn't that seem like that would change a person like that? That person might act a tiny bit different. After that, like, let's imagine I, I came and told you that I had an encounter where God entered my body and enabled me to be a great football player. Wouldn't you think that that would probably translate into how I actually play football? But, but now imagine that I said that and I'm a terrible football player. Wouldn't you question the validity of my encounter? Of course, right? And so we have Christians all around the world right now that claim that the Holy Spirit has entered into them, given them supernatural ability to follow Christ and to put sin to death and to like love each other and serve God's kingdom. Like wouldn't you think that would make a significant difference in their life? But the world, when the world sees Christians live no different than non-Christians, can you blame them? For questioning the validity of our faith. That's exactly what James talks about. By the way, look at this James chapter three, verse nine. He says this with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing my brothers and sisters, this should not be can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring. So James here is saying that these self-proclaimed Christians are doing something that ought to be impossible. And I don't mean that in, in that in a good way. He's saying if the Holy Spirit is really in you, your life should look different. But the good news is this, the Holy Spirit is not just there to point out the problem. He's also there to help you bring about change. The Holy Spirit being inside. You should change everything. It should change how you talk. Yes, yes. It should change how you think. It should change how you act. It should change how you love it should change how you forgive. In fact, that's precisely what Galatians 5 22, if you know the fruits of the spirit, that's what that is. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Paul is not saying those are things we should try to be. Even though that's true, we, what he's saying is that's what comes out of us naturally when we live by the spirit. And so we, we want you to know that as the pastoral step, we just want you to know that the spirit of God is living on the inside of you. And because that's true, you can live a victorious life. You can, you can, you can control your tongue. I don't, well, yeah. That's another conversation. I'm not saying you do. I'm saying you can because the whole, you can control your temper. You can No, I'm, I'm Irish. Yeah, you can. I'm a redhead. Yes you can. You can control your temper because you have the spirit of God living on the inside of you. You can love people unselfishly. You can do that. You are capable of that. Not in your own power, but because you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you. You think about, I don't know if you've ever spent any amount of time thinking about what caterpillars think about, but work with me so. So, you know, when you're a caterpillar, I mean, you're just this fat disgusting blob of a scru. I mean, they're gross, they're all boldest, and we caterpillars are weird. Um, and so if you're a Caterpillar, you spend your whole life, you know, just like right here in the dirt and like maybe climbing up a couple little plants. That's your whole life. And then like one day you take a nap, like a, like a really long nap. And then you wake up and you're like looking at your body and how like everything has changed. Now instead of your chubby, weird little body, you've got this little slender body and you've got these amazing wings. Um, it's like this amazing transformation. And as spirit-filled Christians, we should be experiencing that same transformation. Listen to me, you are not the person you used to be. I know you still act like it 50% of the time. You don't have to. Right. You're not the same person. Not at all, right? You used to be the small, grubby, chubby caterpillar guy, but now you, you have a spirit empowered ability to live differently and faithfully because it's not just God out there that's telling you what to do. It's God that's in here helping you do it. Yes, and it makes all the difference. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. Number two, the Holy Spirit of is God living in you. Number three is this. The Holy Spirit fights for you. The Holy Spirit fights for you. You have the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of you. He's not just passive that, and I just feel like someone needs to hear this, that he, he's not just hanging out. The Holy Spirit on the inside of you is active. He's working, he's fighting for you. He's making connections that maybe you can't make. And, and he's communicating. Be because the same spirit that lives in me, lives in you. There can be all of this amazing synergy that happens because we're all following the same spirit. Remember, years ago I had a great friend. He, um, I think he lives in Florida now, but. He, he was here in town because his brother was very ill, his younger brother, I think it was somewhere, some early forties, I think was the brother and he was, he got very sick, so he was in the hospital. So he flew down and we all thought he was gonna be okay. Uh, cool, cool, cool guy. And he was in the hospital, so I, you know, he told, uh, my friend texted me, he said, my brother's in the hospital. P please be praying. So I was praying, uh, assuming everything was fine. And then one night, uh, I woke up at like three o'clock. 3:00 AM and I just had this feeling that I was supposed to pray for this brother. And so like, and it felt kind of urgent. And, and so, so I went to the bathroom because I didn't wanna wake up my, my wife. I went to the bathroom, turned on the little light, and I sat on the edge of the tub and I prayed for him and I prayed for this family for like a couple minutes and then, and then I went back to bed. And so the following morning I texted, uh, my friend and said, Hey, I don't know why, but I, but I prayed for you and I prayed for your family and for your brother, um, at 3:00 AM And he said, that's the craziest thing because my brother died at three 15 and it's just amazing. You know, the, the Holy Spirit knew what was going on. In that hospital and, and he knew that the family needed strength at that moment, and peace and courage, and so he woke me up to pray. Why? Because the Holy Spirit was fighting for that family. He's, he's fighting the Holy Spirit fights for us. I remember, uh, pastor Shirley, I don't even know if she's probably with the kids right now, but she told us years ago, I wonder if y'all remember this, but she says if anyone pops into her head and it like doesn't know where it came from, she instantly stops what she's doing and she prays for them. And I think that's so wise be because the Holy Spirit knows things that we don't know and he's working on your behalf. And in the same way he's working on the behalf of others. Through you and so man, I and that, and that might feel like, like weird hocus pocus to some of y'all, but I just want you to know that like that's very real, very real, right? Where when I'm going through something, the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of me is also collaborating with people in my church family that there's something going on and they know the right things to pray at the right moment. And so you can know that that's happening for you, but also open yourself up to being used in that way. Right? So maybe like you're at Walmart and you're like, man, I haven't thought about my friend, you know, from high in high school. I haven't thought about that guy in 10 years. Well, stop what you're doing and pray because you never know what it, what the Holy Spirit knows about that situation. He works on your behalf and the behalf of others through you. And you know, they say, um, I'm done. The, the. Psychologists say that one of the worst feelings in the world that a human can experience is feeling truly alone. And not just, not just alone for a day, but alone in life, alone in battles. And I want you to know this, because of the Holy Spirit, you're never alone. You don't ever have to feel alone. Look at this. Look at this first Romans chapter eight verse 26. In the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us. Did you know that? Did you know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you? The Holy Spirit stands in the gap for you. Every moment of every day, you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you, helping you in your weakness. And not just in the big things, not just in crisis mode, but even in like the small things. So like maybe you're at the post office and you, you just feel like the Holy Spirit's maybe saying like, Hey, you need to start up a conversation with this lady in front of you because she's going through something real and you can be a part of the solution for her, right? And so just being open to like what the Holy Spirit might be telling you and maybe, maybe you're at home and you're making your budget. You know, for the month, and maybe you just feel like there's something, and maybe the Holy Spirit would direct you to like, allocate your money differently. Just try to pay attention. Try to try to, and, and I, I, there'll be other stuff in the series. Talk about like how to discern the difference between the Holy Spirit and just your own bad idea. But if you, but if you can just open your heart up to the possibility of maybe the counselor wants to counsel you in everyday decisions, when you're spending time with your family and it's really hard, the Holy Spirit can help you and empower you to show them love, even when it's difficult. The, the point is this, the Holy Spirit is not just for Sunday morning. It's not just when you're in trouble, but he's here with you and in you every moment of every day. And, and he wants to help you. He wants to teach you. He wants to remind you. And so my challenge for you this week, if you'd be open to a challenge is simply this. Just try to become aware of the Holy Spirit's presence in your life. You never have to ask, is he here? Have we established that? You never have to, so in, in any moment, you're like, I wonder if the Holy Spirit, the answer is always yes. The question is, are you aware of it? He's not grandma, that's just like in the corner. But he, but he's going with you every moment of every day. And so just become aware of that because he, he's out there, but he's also in here helping you, teaching you, fighting for you. And we really hope that you would, uh, I hope that you would commit to coming for the next two weeks because we're just getting started. And you might be thinking like. Pd, that sounds really cool and all that, but like I don't, I don't know. I would love to have that, but I don't. I don't know how. Well, I've got some really good news for you, and the news is this. Look at what Jesus says, Luke, chapter 11, verse 13. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him, did you know? Did you know that God wants to give you his spirit? He wants to do that. He's not holding back. He's not making you jump through hoops. He's not waiting for you to get your act together. He wants to give you his spirit. All you have to do is ask. Here's my closing statement. The Holy Spirit isn't a distant force. He's the personal presence of God Who wants to empower your everyday life right now? One. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a power. Your helper who walks beside you, your teacher who reveals truth and blind spots, your reminder, who brings God's wisdom to mind exactly when you need it. Two. The Holy Spirit is God living in you, fully present inside you with supernatural power to transform how you talk, think, act, love, and. Three. The Holy Spirit fights for you actively working on your behalf every moment helping you in your weakness and interceding in ways you can't even imagine.