A number of you know that my father's been very ill and that kind of thing and you know occasionally people will hear that kind of thing and you've had this kind of experience for enough some of you say well I'm gonna pray for you if you don't know that person you know you might think yourself well that was please that's kind of like saying hope everything goes well you know like or like non-Christian say we'll be thinking about you right kind of like okay that's nice I appreciate the thought that really doesn't do all that much for me to know that somebody I don't know says they're gonna pray for me why because well I don't know what their prayers are like I don't know the God really answers their prayers or not I don't know if they're very faithful in the praying I don't know anything about this person so who cares whether this person's praying for me or not they make that much difference to me okay that was my problem with Holy Spirit that was my problem with Holy Spirit praying for me I didn't know him so what good was it that somebody I don't even know don't even know what he's like don't even you know and I got a clue whether he cares about me at all or not what difference does it make that he's praying for me but that wasn't the problem in Romans because you see Paul could say these words to the Roman Christians because as he talks about in chapter 14 they had the gifts of the Holy Spirit and they knew the power of the Holy Spirit in their life they experienced Holy Spirit healing they experienced Holy Spirit's grace they experienced his love and it's concerned for them he was like a dear friend to them he was like somebody they knew somebody they knew cared about them and protected them and they sure that they were good and okay he was their deposit the experience of him was their deposit guaranteed great things to come when they heard, it's okay when you suffer because holy ghost is praying for you. It's like when the old prayer warrior in the church comes up to you. You know the woman who's prayed all her life, you know, since her husband's died, she's been like praying every second. And every time she prays for anybody, they suddenly get all these miracles that are happening in their lives, right? You know those kind of women? Guys, you just wish that she'd come by you and say, I'm going to pray for you next week, all week, every day. And when they do, you go, thank you, because I know God listens to your prayer. And you know that when she says she'll pray for you, she really will. If you know a woman or sometimes a man is usually the woman, but when you know a woman like that, or an occasional man that does that kind of thing, and they tell you, don't worry about this, you'll make it. I'm going to pray for you. It does come for you. It does give you hope. It does give you life. That was the experience that the people in Rome, the Christians in Rome had when they heard these words because they knew that kind of reality for the Holy Spirit. Not paying attention to the Holy Spirit robs you of all possible comfort from the Holy Spirit. That's what I'm telling you. You've got to get to the point that you begin to experience his ministry in your life. Not just know it theoretically, but experience it in your life. And when you can do that, then the knowledge that he prays for you can help you make it through the hard times. The knowledge that he's your surety, your guarantee, your deposit, guaranteeing the future for you can get you through the hard times.
Just some sort of practical advice on that, how they experience the Holy Spirit. I could just say a couple of things to you. One is, let God out of the box that you put him in. I mentioned this last night, remember or this morning, remember in John chapter 3 where Jesus says the Holy Spirit is like the wind. We never know where it's coming from. We never know where it's going. Let God out of the box, the demon in the bottle. There's a popular phone that's been around a little while now about that. But there's a demon in the bottle, God, that he's got, that you know exactly what he's going to do. You know exactly how he's going to react. You know he's just what's going to happen. Let him out of the box to let him do something surprising to you. And what I mean by that is just sort of open your eyes and sort of expect God to do something strange and remarkable. Something he's never done for you before. I think that's really where it starts. I know this sounds a little charismatic, but I think it's where it starts. It's sort of being open to the idea that God might really do something like the wind. And then the second thing I would say to you is this, stop being scared to acknowledge that it was God. I know this church is not a typical Presbyterian church, but I know it's a typical Evangelical church. And the tendency in most Evangelical churches is to explain events as an act of God only as a last resort. You know people all talk about all the time talking about the Lord did this and Lord did that. You know there's times of people how you tend to shrink away from them, pull back some of their fanatics. Well let me encourage you to do this. Not just to say start saying the Lord did this and Lord did that. Like when your child makes a good grade this semester, don't just say way to go sweetheart and you really worked hard and really proud of you. Instead, give the glory and the honor to the fact that it was the wind doing it. Maybe you will be surprised. That's the price like your child making a good grade, okay? Let it be the wind that did it. Rather than good work, kids. But more than that, what I'm trying to say is don't just say the Lord did it. Start attributing it to Holy Ghost. Start recognizing that it was that person of the Trinity that did it. It wasn't just the Father, it wasn't just the Son, to whom you already give enough attention already, okay? It was Holy Spirit. God here with us now. It was this mysterious person of the Trinity who can't tie down any more than he can text the wind. And as you can begin to do those two things I think, just open yourself up to the possibility that God might do something that he hasn't done before in your life. And secondly, when things happen, go ahead and attribute them to him and acknowledge him and honor him for having done it. Holy Ghost for having done it. I think what you begin to see is that you won't be clenching the Holy Spirit quite as much as you used to. And you can avoid even greening them. Then the experience of these blessings that the prophets have given us will begin to mean something to you. Because it'll be like as your friend, including his arm around you. Just to give you an example of this, it's just happened to me this week. I would say my Father and I are really not all that close. But something very pressure happened this week as my Father was near death several times and terrified. He's a Christian but most of us when we finally face that, the only thing that's going to scare us. Nurses would come in and they can kind of sweep to him. There's no man and it's kind of like a mess or a thing, but it really didn't mean very much to him. Because they're like, well, they get paid to do this. Do you know what really meant something to him? It was when I would do it. It was when I would hold his hand. That's what meant something to him. That's what allowed him, my heart, World War II, Father. He wanted to hold my hand as he was being healed into the surgery. Nobody else is just mine. And the comfort that he received from that came from the fact that I was dear to him and he knows me. He knows that I care about him. That's the kind of relationship you have to have with Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can mean anything to you. And for it to help you make it through this dark night that we called life. So you have to let him breathe and you have to recognize him when he does things. To talk about the Holy Spirit a little bit today, kind of got a big fascism in the Holy Ghost today, haven't you? Don't, in fact, blame likes to dunk in danger. You've been immersed in the Holy Ghost today. And my practical advice really does well down to get the theology, but that won't get you very far until you get the relationship happening, the dynamic, the personal thing happening with him. And then you'll be encouraged by his presence in your life, rather than being left alone. You have five minutes. What do you want to say?
This is really also well, and see apologizers, but where was Holy Spirit when Christ was here? Primarily in him. Yep. In many respects, yes, it was, you know, he's quoting Psalm 22 when he says those words, right, putting the psalm. And the psalm is a psalm that was written to be prayed when you were deserted, when you, when life was horrible. I guide my God, why has he forsaken me? Why has he turned from the wife? Why I cry out day and night? Because you do not hear my groaning. And that's what that psalm was for. It was written for that reason. And being raised as he was, as he was, is a Jew, knowing the Bible, when his worst time in life came, when he was forsaken, that's what he tried out. And I had been forsaken. And yeah. So there was, I think there's a very significant sense in which he was all alone facing this horrible thing, a pain for our sins. That's right. Yeah, he did it by the power of his spirit. Nothing that the does has to come down on and then he starts to do in the mirror, so you know, he didn't do the psalm. It's his life sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. So some degree, yeah. Yeah, this is not, this is not like a light switch, turn on, turn off, it's more or less. It's like the dimmer switch. Yeah. Everything's like, in fact, the binary switch is really a dimmer switch. It just moves quickly. There is no such thing as binary. It's all continuum, but it just moves quickly. Yeah. I guess by moving around. Not from church to church. No, not from church to church, but I mean in our, in our worship and in our lives. And I would think that you see, and I got a lot of nods when I said this the other night this morning, the one that we tend to ignore is Holy Spirit, so it would probably be a really good idea to spend some time there. But if you do that for a year or two, then move on. Okay. Man, you remember last night, the spinning plate thing. Okay, that's what we're talking about here. It's not like, you can, it's not like God the Father first, the Son second, and then the Holy Spirit third. Okay, that's one of the arguments we often use against Charismatics is that the Holy Spirit is really designed to honor Christ. We've got, well, yeah, of course, but then you're supposed to honor God the Father too, and you've got to honor the Holy Spirit, and the whole thing is supposed to be honored to find out now. So it's a matter of spinning the place and doing one for a while and doing the other for a while, and it's all of them missing, and it's all of them not. And you know, get off of this thing and trying to find out the perfect way to do it all the time. Because the deck of life is all the shifting balance can be nothing more than momentary. Right, Rick? You know that thing, don't you? Let me say that again. Because the deck of life is always shifting, over things don't ever say the same. Balance can only be momentary. Now we're doing what's right now. Tomorrow, wake up and say, I wonder what's right to do today. And then what you find yourself doing is rather than getting into this trench where you get deeper and deeper and deeper. You know what happens if you have one balance point and then the deck shifts and you keep the same balance point, what happens? Overboard, right? You got to get sea legs, so you can move with the thing, okay? And that's what life is like. And I think this and some expects this that way. And obviously I'm emphasizing something partly because Rick and Wayne asked me to do it, okay? Holy spirit. But also because I think it's what we need to start emphasizing. And I've tried to do it in a sort of press deteriorating way by doing it from the theology, okay? Rather than saying try it, you'll like it. You know, if I were in a different church or in a more charismatic church, I wouldn't worry about the theology. Just say, take good of this and try. This really is great, okay? And you'll go, yeah, it's great. Let's do it some more, okay? But here you got to sort of say, look, the great expectation of the Bible, of restoration, of salvation is that the spirit of God will come to you and live in you and make you new. And it's the deposit guarantee you're going to get the rest of it. So enjoy. Enjoy like the appetizer. Enjoy. You've been very kind to sin all this time. Some of you spent five hours here today. I can't believe it. What's your heart? Don't you have a life? But I can't cry. All right, heavenly rewards, you're going to get some heavenly rewards. Where's your husband today? Right. Well, I guess I'll get some heavenly rewards for that. Yeah, that's good. Now, let me pray for you, okay? Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we've been talking about your spirit, the processus from you comes to us as your gift. We know we've only barely touched this and we wish that we had days and days to try to work on this, but my prayer is that each one of us will remember how we only receive comfort and help and hope and power from Holy Spirit as we give our attention to them. Help us, Lord, to learn your words about the wind, to watch for the wind, and to enjoy the wind when it comes. Help us to look for you to move in our lives and help us to rejoice when we see that happen as the prophets rejoice to see what was coming in the future. We love you and we adore you for the fact that even though you went away and you left us down here on this earth, that you did not leave us alone. We love the fact that even though we have to wait a long time for the redemption of our bodies and for the glory that's ours, that you did not leave us alone. And we pray that you'll help us now to enjoy that and to delight in that in the ways that we never have before. Amen. Have a good life.