The Holy Spirit

Oh, it's good to be back. Everybody stand up. I always love praying before bringing the word of God. It's great to have Palm Gardens with us this morning and also City Place. And I just want to say last year was my first time with you, but let me tell you, I want to be part of this family. I love this family. So would you please adopt me? All right. All right. You got Papa Todd. You got Mama Julie. Uncle John is in the house today. All right. And I want to say that the reason I've fallen so in love with this church mainly is because of your leaders. You know, I'm in churches all over the world. I actually leave Tuesday for Australia and New Zealand. I think I was home two days in January. Lisa and I see churches everywhere. But can I tell you, it's so refreshing when you meet leaders that are strong visionary, but also are humble. You know, I've met leaders in my travels that are strong visionaries and sometimes kind of run over people. And then there's some people that are humble that don't have any vision. But when I see the vision, the leaders that God has given you, I don't know if you really realize what you've got. And I want to make sure that you never take it for granted. Because let me tell you something, in 25 years of traveling all over the world, I have never ever been in a green room where after a service, a pastor has looked at all of us and said,

Hey, let's just stop and thank God for what he did in this woman's meeting tonight. And then he did it again last night. So let me tell you, you're in a safe place. You're in a great place. And I want you to thank God for that right now. Amen. Amen. I sincerely mean that with all my heart. And so I'm just honored to be here. I want to show you a quick picture of my family, because these are the people I love so much. If you can identify with me or with my family, you can identify with my message. That is my beautiful wife. You've got our four sons, our daughter-in-law, and those are our G babies. You say, what is a G baby? I am way too young to be grandpa. So it is G daddy and G for short. So anyway, we've actually got three. That's Asher and Sophia there. But let me show you Lizzie Hope. She just came. That's Asher. There's Lizzie Hope. She just came last year. So I keep trying to get my sons married quicker so I can get more G babies. So anyway, somebody's got to help me with that. Any girls interested? But anyway, no, I better not go there. All right. Now I want to ask you a question today. Do you want a message from me or do you want your life changed forever?

Which one would you prefer? That's a really good answer, but the Bible says we don't have because we don't ask. So I want to ask God to really impact us today. Can we do that? So father, in the name of Jesus, thank you for this church. Thank you for this church. It's impacting the world, not just this area. And I'm asking today, Lord God, that you would literally invade this sanctuary by your spirit. For I do decree that your kingdom has come within us. Your will shall be done in this place on earth as it is in heaven. Holy spirit, do what you love to do. That is magnified. Jesus, the word of the living God in our midst. And I pray that as a result of what is spoken and what is done by you in here today, we will never, ever be the same again. We believe you for this. And we ask this in Jesus mighty, wonderful, majestic, holy, awesome, magnificent name. And everybody that agrees shouts, come on, let's thank God for what he's going to do in our lives. Amen. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. You know, Robert Morris, the last two weeks is so beautifully opened up to us about the holy spirit, talking about him as a person and then, and then talking about the baptism last week. I really want to take it a step further. Now that you've repaid to receive the baptism, how does our real walk with the holy spirit go? You know, Robert's so beautifully pointed out, and I don't need to belabor this today

that the holy spirit is not an it he's a person. You know, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard the holy spirit referred to as an it, I would be a very, very wealthy person today, but he is a person. He's not a bird. He's not a flat fire. He's not a wind. He is the third person of the Godhead. The early church knew this. They were established with this because Jesus made the statement. He is going to be just like me. They walked with Jesus. They interacted with Jesus. And so the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church. And these are the final words that he writes this church before he leaves the earth. And he says this in second Corinthians chapter 13, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion. Everybody say communion of the holy spirit be with you now. As a former Catholic boy who was an altar boy for eight years, when I hear the word communion, I think of the little wafer that the priest used to put on our tongue and the wine that I snuck at the end of every mass as an altar boy. That is not communion. All right. The word communion here is actually a Greek word. Now this Greek. That is translated communion has several definitions, but I'm going to narrow it down to three major definitions today. Definition number one would be fellowship. So what Paul is saying is may the fellowship of the Holy spirit be with you. Notice he doesn't say, may the fellowship of Jesus be with you. Why doesn't he say that?

Because it's difficult to fellowship with somebody who is a few billion miles away. You have to remember when Jesus ascended to heaven, the angels told us, the disciples, the way he went is the way he's coming back. He has not come back on the clouds yet. You know, what's interesting to me is that the person of the Godhead who was on the earth is always the one who's misunderstood. If you look at the Mount Sinai, they did not get God the father. If you look at Jesus's days, when he was on this earth, the leader said, we know God, but who are you? And if you look at the Holy spirit today, he's been so misunderstood by so many believers in the church. The second definition of this word is partnership. So what Paul is saying is may the partnership of the Holy spirit be with you. And the third definition is this intimacy. So let me cover each briefly here today. First of all, fellowship may the fellowship of the Holy spirit be with you. Now the word fellowship is defined as this companionship or sharing together. How many of you know, companions interact with one another. Can you imagine getting in a car and maybe going down to a Miami dolphins game and your friend jumps in and you got an hour and a half drive down to the stadium with traffic. And you don't say one word to him the entire drive, not I'm looking forward to the game. How was church this morning? You don't say, how's your family? You don't say a word for an hour and a half in the car and add insult to injury. You turn the Christian radio station up really loud. So he can't talk. Now you would never do that with a human being, but yet how many times do we get in a car and we drive an hour and don't say one word to the Holy spirit? Why? Because we really see him more like an it, even though we call him a person, we treat

him like an it. If you look at the early church, they just weren't this way. Look at the apostle Paul. He said in Acts chapter 20, he said, and now I am going to Jerusalem. See he's got a traveling companion. He's about to talk about drawn there irresistibly by the Holy spirit. Notice he doesn't say by Jesus, not knowing what will await me except the Holy spirit. Now look at this carefully. The Holy spirit has told me in city after city, the jail and suffering lie ahead. Now notice the word city after city. This is just not a one-time. That's the way we think he talks. No, he interacts. There's an ongoing conversation going on here from city to city. I'm sure Paul's protesting. What do you mean jail? I'm supposed to bring the gospel all over the world. What do you mean jail? Paul actually, it's going to give you a chance to speak to soldiers and leaders and even Caesar. Yeah, but I don't like the suffering part. Can we do away with that? See they're interacting about this because Paul literally takes Jesus's words seriously that he's just like Jesus. He interacts with him. Are you seeing this? The apostles didn't just walk around hoping that Jesus one day might speak to them. They're interacting with him. If you look at Philip, Philip is conducting a meeting in a city called Samaria and right in the middle of the meeting, we read in the Bible in Acts chapter eight, that an angel

of the Lord spoke to Philip. Now you will never find anywhere in any translation of any Bible that an angel appeared to Philip. An angel spoke to him. Now you will find places in the new Testament where angels appear to people. Peter, Joseph, Cornelius, Zacharias, Peter, but an angel didn't appear to Philip. An angel spoke to Philip and said, go to the desert. So Philip goes to the desert and a couple of days later, there's a Royal Ethiopian chariot and we read three verses later. Look at this. Then the spirit said to Philip, go and join the chariot. Do you understand that these guys, they were so familiar with the Holy Spirit's voice that they could tell the difference between his voice and an angel's voice. Now that may seem kind of strange to you, but is it really strange? You know, I can call my office no matter where I am in the world. I have 25 team members and my, my, one of my team members will answer and say, good morning messenger international. May I help you? And I'll say, good morning, David. I was like, good morning, Jessica, because I know the voice of every one of my 25 team members. Now that's not so unusual to us. Why is it so unusual that these guys could recognize the difference? I can see Philip sitting next to Dr. Luke who wrote the book of acts and Philip goes, doc, doc. No, it wasn't an, the Holy spirit who spoke to me in the city. It was an angel. But when I got out in the desert, that's when he spoke to me because they were so intimately acquainted with him. Another definition of this word Koinonia is partnership. So what Paul is saying is may the

Partnership of the Holy Spirit be with you now, how many of you know that partners like to develop what I call an ebb and flow Do you know what I'm talking about? I was raised in Western, Michigan on White Lake right on Lake, Michigan and We had national regattas. There was a lot of sailboat racing. I had two years of sailing school. Our family had a yacht and So, you know I grew up racing and I remember when I got to be with this one particular skipper He was really good And I remember the crew captain looked at me and said now John You're part of the crew. You're part of the team when we get on the water the skippers gonna give these orders This is your job in the race. And I remember we got out in the race the issue the orders and Everybody's flying and I'm going oh gosh, what am I supposed to do? And I'm like the man odd man out You understand what I'm saying? But after a few races, I started developing the flow and I was part of the team The same things gotta happen with our partnership with the Holy Spirit. We got to develop a flow, you know I remember the first time I got up to preach 30 years ago in front of my new wife Lisa Lisa was sitting in the front row Five minutes into my message. She was sound asleep She slept my whole message David It was terrible and her best friend next door had drool coming out of the side of her mouth She was in such deep sleep. Now. I preach to people and they don't go to sleep Why because I've learned how to flow with my partner You know, I remember the first time God said write a book It took me a whole year and it's really not that good of a book But I just finished my 19th book and it I cranked it out in a couple months Why because I've learned how to flow with my partner and there are a lot better books now Are you getting what I'm saying? This is what? The Apostle Paul means when he makes this statement He says we are fellow workers for and with God. Not only do I work for God? I work with him that's partnership if you look at Acts chapter 15. Oh my gosh Here's an example of partnership. Look what these guys actually write They said for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us you notice They represent his view as well as their view because God never intended us to be robots

He wants partnership in what we do. Are you with me? He enjoys that he desires that he longs for that You know, it's really not unusual. If you go back to the Old Testament, you're gonna see Abraham and God, you know one day God just makes the statement Should we do what we're planning on doing without talking to our friend our partner Abraham? So God comes down has a chat when they're done with the chat God approaches How he's gonna handle the situation totally different than before he talked to his partner If you look at Moses, the Bible says two times two times in the Bible God changed his mind Because of what his partner Moses said, but when Moses was just on the mountain with Abraham, it's just at the cliff But with us, it's 24-7 cuz Jesus said he's gonna be continually in you and with you That's partnership when he says with you. Are you with me? Oh my gosh. I'm preaching myself. So happy this morning already I'm can hardly stand it I'm kind of agree with Brad. I haven't gotten over this yet. Pastor Todd. Are you with me? And so, you know, it really goes deeper than partnership. It goes to close mutual Association now you say what's close mutual? Association. Well, let me help you understand what I'm talking about when I was in high school. I'm gonna date myself Gee daddy for sure you You could just look at me and say one word Beatles Okay, I know who you're talking about Paul McCartney John Lennon Ringo Starr George Harrison, he's the Beatles I know where these guys come from. I know the music they play. I know their songs That's all you had to say Beatles. You can say Stooges Moe Larry Curley Don't even try to put Shemp in there. He was not a Stooge. Okay, nobody watches Shemp videos But anyway, that's close mutual association You know, I remember the first time dr. Cho came to my city in America back in the 1980s I was asked to host him. I was so excited now Let me tell you dr. Cho is the largest church in the whole world in Seoul Korea over 1 million members Okay, 1 million. I said 1 million. Yeah, and I remember back then it was a smaller church He only had 750,000 members. So he came in and I remember he flew in He had like 20 businessmen with him from Korea and the head business guy sits me down says mr. Bevere you're you're driving. Dr. Cho to service tonight, aren't you? I said, yes, sir He said well, I need to tell you something. I said, yes, sir

He said when you pick him up at the hotel and you drive him to the auditorium do not talk to him Dr. Cho does not talk to people before he preaches. I said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir I remember I pulled up to the hotel and they opened up the door and they put dr. Cho in the seat beside me when dr. Cho got my car God got in my car. Oh my gosh. I mean the whole Atmosphere of my car was filled with the presence of God and tears start pouring down my eyes and I'm not a cry And I remember it was so strong, the presence of God that halfway to the auditorium, I didn't care what the guy said to me anymore. I just turned and said, Dr. Cho, God is in the car. And he looks at me and goes, yes, I know. And that's all I said. So, you know, we got to talk later when we played golf together, but I'm so glad you didn't say anything because I started thinking how much time he spends with the Holy Spirit. He talks to the Holy Spirit. He spends a couple hours a day every day, just totally him and the Holy Spirit. See, who do you associate with people who ignore you or people who like you? You know, do you know why I like coming to this church? Because Pastor Todd actually likes me. I mean, he picked me up at the airport. He didn't send somebody else. And you know, he immediately brought me to Julie and Lisa and we're all hugging and embracing. He said, Oh, I love you so much. He's texting me before I come. I'm so excited about you being here. He puts me in a beautiful hotel room. Gives me a big old basket. Gives me gifts. I'm like, Oh my, my, I mean, sends me out with the best golfers in the church. All the leaders are like, Oh, John, we're so honored you're here. Pastor Tom's looking at me saying, we're so honored you're here. I'm like, what are you talking about?

I'm so honored to be here, you know, but they actually like me not compare this true story. I go to a church and, uh, they, they, they drive me to the church. And when they drive me to the church, my entourage puts me in a room all by myself. Do you understand isolation room? Understand. And I'm sitting in the room for 20 minutes and I'm looking at the time and I'm going, Oh my gosh, service started five minutes ago. And then the knock comes at my door and there's my entourage. And they reach out their hands like, let me have your stuff. And we're walking down this long hallway and I feel like I'm dead man walking. You know, this is my execution. We, we, we walk out to the platform. There is the pastor way over there. First time I've seen him. And then I get up and I speak 40 minutes to 9,000 people. And when I'm done, they whisk me back and put me in the room. There is nobody else in the room. And I started thinking, why did they invite me? Do they even like me? Now I don't associate with that church, but I love associating with this church. Why? Because they really like me around here. Okay. So, so, so I think there are churches that the holy spirit goes to out of obligation. Then there are other churches he goes to because they really like him. See you were created in his image. He, you are like him. Oh my goodness. All right. Let's try this again.

Let's go. Let's go to intimacy. Intimacy. Intimacy. Intimacy. So third definition of quantity. Now, um, intimacy. Hmm. I like this one. What's intimacy. Intimacy is fellowship, but it's on a deeper level. Intimacy goes to the thoughts, the desires, the intentions of the heart. Okay. How many of you know, intimacy is the sure Avenue to a deep friendship. Look, look, look at the message Bible translation of second Corinthians 13. It says the intimate friendship of the holy spirit be with you. Oh my God. The intimate friendship of the holy spirit. He doesn't say me the intimate friendship of Peyton Manning. Be with you. Look, I would like to meet Peyton Manning. I just have so much respect for the guy, but we're not talking Peyton Manning. We're talking about the one who put the stars in the universe with his fingers and called everyone in my name. I mean, I was out praying on the ocean this morning and I'm like, Oh my goodness. You weighed every drop of that water in the palm of your hand. You're my friend. It's like, Whoa, are you with me? That's how I got my kids out of stardom. You know, they were so into Michael Jordan when they were little.

I said, Hey, Michael Jordan can palm a basketball. Well, let me tell you something. The holy spirit can palm the earth. You think he's something. My boys were like, Whoa. Yeah. I said, so let's put it in perspective here. Okay. Anyway, he wants to be your friend. I mean, do you comprehend what's being said here? Look at what James says. James says this, the spirit, notice he identifies the spirit who dwells in us yearns. Everybody shout yearns, yearns. What does it, what does it mean to yearn? To yearn means to long for intensely and consistently. Now the consistently, that's the part I like. You know, there's no human being on the earth I love more than my wife. And she's the same with me, but you know what? If I wake her up at two 30 in the morning, I guarantee you, she's not yearning for me, but you know, I've gotten up at two 30 in the morning, David, and I've gone to my office and he's yearning for me. We have, we have, we have a conversation for a couple of hours. It's amazing. I mean, amazing. You know, I want to go back, but you know what, before I do, look at this. Look at this again. He yearns what? I want you all to say that word because I think this needs to be brought up because some people really wonder about this. What does that mean?

He yearns for us jealously. Let me put it to you like this. Do you think my wife would be intimate with me, share with me the secrets, the desires, the intentions of her heart? If I was pursuing a relationship with another woman, please tell me we don't need a marriage conference right now. There's an answer to that question. The answer is no. Okay. Would you know what James says the previous verse? You're seeking a friendship with the world. You're an adulterer. Don't even think you're going to have intimacy with the Holy Spirit. What's an adulterer? An adulterer is somebody who has a covenant with someone and violates that covenant to establish a relationship with somebody else. What's the world? Well, the Bible describes the world. It's the indulgence of the flesh, the gratification of the eyes, and the pride of life. What's the pride of life? It's status. It's reputation. Let me put it to you real simply. If you want to be on this platform with this amazing worship team because you want the people to see you, don't expect to have any intimacy with him. You're an adulterer. You're pursuing status, reputation. But if you want to be on this platform because you want to serve these people, then you're going to have intimacy with him. Good preaching, John.

Amen. Thank you. Now, let me go back to Acts. This is the statement that I read to you earlier. The apostles made this statement. They said, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. And did you know what they do? They write a five paragraph letter that we still have in our Bible. But can I point something out to you? They didn't say the Holy Spirit spoke and so do we. They said it seemed good. And then they write five paragraphs. We still got in our Bible. Do you understand that their relationship with him was so intimate? He permitted them to represent him without him speaking. Okay. That's best. That's mind boggling. See, let me give you an example. Lisa and I have been married 33 years. We know each other. You know, I could come to your house and I always get up earlier than Lisa and you'd have, you know, bacon cook in and you'd be making some gravy and eggs and grits. I'd say, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Don't make grits. Don't make bacon. Don't make gravy. Cause Lisa doesn't need any of that stuff. I can represent her without her speaking. Cause I know her so well.

Do you see what I'm saying? That's what's happening here. You know, I can be in a room and my wife can give me one look and I can write three pages what she just said. Now you would be in that room. You would see that same look and you couldn't write a sentence. Why? Cause you don't know her. Like I know her now, 30 years ago, we were in a room. She gave me a look like that. I said, babe, what you saying? That was awkward. Now how many of you know, in order to have, in order to have intimacy with somebody, you have to seek to understand the personality of the person you want to be intimate with. Does that make sense? Okay. Like when my kids were all young, they were 12 and under, I wasn't doing very good as a dad. And one day my wife pulls me in the bedroom. She said, honey, you're not doing really good with these kids. I said, I know. What am I doing wrong? And Lisa goes, well, John, they all have different personalities and you treat them all exactly the same. It's like, Whoa, you talk to them the same. Like one son, you got to give it to him straight in the face. He doesn't take hints. You don't beat around the bush. You got to give it to him directly. Then I got another son.

You got to come in the side door. You got to get him to think he thought about it. So I started adjusting the way I communicated my boys, according to their personalities. And I started getting somewhere as a dad, well, how many of you know, men and women are the same way. Another marriage conference. I can see it coming. Palm gardens is responding better to me right now. Are you with me? Okay. So, so what am I talking about? I'm talking about men and women are different. Let me just give you an example. Two years ago, I won our club championship. It was a two day golf tournament. The first day I shot a 67. So I came home and my family said, well, they all knew I was playing. How'd you do? I said, well, I shot a 67. My boys like, whoa, dad, what holes did you birdie? Now my wife looks at me and she goes, oh honey, that's great. What did you and the guys you play with talk about? Do you see the difference between the guy's response and her response? Because men and women are different. That's why Peter said, dwell with women with understanding. And if he really would have thought it through Peter, he would have said, and you women dwell with men with understanding because we have different personalities. Well, if you look at Jesus, Jesus talks about the holy spirit and 19 times. In John 14, 15, 16, he refers to the Holy Spirit as he, him, and himself. However, if you go back to the Greek language, you will find out that the Greeks have a gender

neutral pronoun that we don't have in the English language. So in the English language, we say he, you know, I'm talking about one guy. If I say she, you know, it's one girl, but the Greeks have a gender neutral pronoun that can refer to either one guy or one girl. We don't have that. That's the pronoun Jesus uses all 19 times in John 14, 15, 16. Now if you go back to the Hebrew writing, the old Testament, it gets even better because Hebrews were much more descriptive. They were much more into function, whereas the Greeks were into their form. The Hebrews would take more energy to point out if it was masculine or feminine by doing this. The verb or the adverb that they would assign to the pronoun or the noun would identify if it was male or female, feminine or masculine. You understand what I'm talking about. Do you know this? Several times in the old Testament, the verb and the adverb that is assigned to the Holy Spirit in the sentence is feminine. Let me let you get over the shock here just for a second, feminine. Now I am not saying the Holy Spirit is a female. Don't you dare walk out of here or any campus and say, John says the Holy Spirit is a goddess. Don't do that. That's not what I'm saying. But what I am asking is this, who existed first, God or human beings, God. That's a good, good answer. And right answer. Look at Genesis one 27. So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them male and female. He created them in his own image. So you know what that means?

There has to be personality characteristics that we ascribe as being feminine that existed in God before human beings were created. Otherwise females couldn't have been created in his image. And they were, well, you got God, the father. That's pretty obvious. He's not a feminine. You got God, the son that one's obvious to who's left, who's left in the Godhead that can carry the personality characteristics that we ascribe as being feminine. I submit to you. It's the Holy spirit. And I have proof. Ephesians four 30 says, do not grieve the spirit of God. Notice it doesn't say don't grieve Jesus. It doesn't say don't grieve. The father says, don't grieve the spirit. The Greek word there for grieve is the Greek word that means this. It means deep sorrow and distress. The root word of this Greek word means a pain that can only be experienced between two people who deeply love each other. Let me give you an example of this Greek word. There has been times that I have spoken harshly to my sons, 30 minutes later, this overwhelming conviction hits me and I go back to my son and I say, I am so sorry. The way I spoke to you was wrong. What I said was right. But the way I said it was wrong, would you please forgive me? My sons are amazing. They'll go, dad, come here, put their arms around me and pat me on the back. We forgive you. Everything's great between me and my boys. Two days later, Lisa looks at me and goes, I'm still mad at you for the way you talked

to our son two days ago. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's like water under the bridge. Now what happened? I deeply sorrowed her by talking to her son that she loves so much in a harsh way. Well, can I show you the scripture in context? Look at the scripture in context. Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them and don't bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit. Then he goes on to talk about rage, anger, and harsh words. You understand we grieve the Holy Spirit like my wife gets grieved. We speak to one of his children he loves so dearly, harshly. You don't look convinced. Let me give you another example. You can talk bad about me. You can even cuss me out to my face and I will forgive you. You talk bad about my wife. You're in big trouble with me. Look what Jesus says. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, that's Jesus. It will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, not even in this life, the age, or the age to come. Do you understand the Father and the Son put a protective clause on the Holy Spirit, not on themselves? You talk bad about him, you'll never be forgiven. Now don't worry. You didn't do it. You wouldn't even be wanting to come to church if you did. Don't go there. But why do they do that?

Because he's tender and sensitive like a woman and he needs to be protected. Now listen carefully, tenderness and sensitivity is not a weakness. It's actually a strength, but it has to be protected. If you look at the bombers of World War II, they weren't the weak ones. They were the powerful ones, but they had to be protected. by fighter planes. So don't ever look at sensitive and tenderness as being a weakness. It's a strength. Let me give you another example. I was speaking to the government of Hawaii a couple of years ago. I found out in that meeting that Hawaii has a policy that if a juvenile is abused, the first police officer on the scene has to be female, female. Did you hear what I just said? Female. Why? Because they've done studies and they've learned that juveniles respond better to a female officer, not a male officer. Well, let me let you do your own study. When you were a kid, you scraped your knee. Did you run to mom or did you run to dad? You ran to mom because she's the comforter of the family. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit comforter four times. Wisdom is referred to as she eight times in the book of Proverbs. He is the spirit of wisdom. Now again, I am not saying the Holy Spirit is a female. What I am saying is the characteristics that we ascribe as being feminine had to exist in God before human beings were created. Otherwise, females couldn't have been created in his image, and they were. If there is a person that reminds me of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, it would have to be this person, King David.

Why? Because if you look at King David, no king was ever feared on the battlefield more than him. He was amazing warrior. If you look at King David's interpersonal skills, the guy is constantly crying. I mean, I'm reading through the book of Psalms right now. He talks about drinking his tears. Do you know what he said about another man one time? He said, Jonathan, your love to me was better than any of my wives. What guy talks like this? If you look at him, he was mighty on the battlefield, but he was tender and sensitive in interpersonal skills. If you look at the Holy Spirit, he manifests as the spirit of might. We think he's macho Holy Spirit when in reality, he's tender and sensitive like a woman. You know, when God opened my eyes to this, I got a question answer that I've had for 29 years of ministry. It used to bug me. I mean, really bug me, because in my travels, I would notice women as a whole were more sensitive to the Holy Spirit than men. I used to just stomp my foot down and go, God, what is up with this? Do you like women better? Now, I know I do, but you're not supposed to, okay? And when God opened my eyes to this, I realized why women are more sensitive. Because why? Because they are like the Holy Spirit. They don't have to dwell with him with understanding because they're like him. But we men have to dwell with him in understanding. We think he's macho when in reality, he's tender and sensitive. It's quiet with these men in this place right now. You know, when I first mentioned about writing this book, I've really only preached half

a chapter in this book. There's 236 pages. I'm so sorry, but I just got to touch on this. I first mentioned to my family, we were around the dinner table. I said, I really believe God's telling me to write a book on the Holy Spirit. Well, my kids kind of recoiled. And I saw that and I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's up? They said, well, don't you remember some of these churches we went to that were quote spirit filled 20 years ago? And I remembered my kids leaning into their mother so strong because they were staying away from the weird person next to them that was filled with the Holy Spirit. And I started thinking about it, it bothered me. And I started thinking and praying and I realized nobody, nobody has ever yielded better to the Holy Spirit than Jesus. Yet kids sought to jump in his lap. Mafia parties asked him to their parties. They wouldn't have asked that woman next to my boy 20 years ago. So you know what I realized, the Holy Spirit's not weird. It was the people representing them. They would have been weird if they were playing cards, they're just weird. If we're going to fulfill, now I want you to listen to me carefully because I'm going to close with this. If Jesus waited 30 years, 30 years before having the fullness of the spirit, before embarking on his destiny of why he came to the earth, how much more do we need the partnership of the Holy Spirit in our lives to fulfill what we're called to do in the business world, in the medical field, in the athletic world, in the educational field, in ministry? We need the partnership of the Holy Spirit, amen? I want every head bowed and every eye closed, every head bowed, every eye closed. In the campuses, I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. You could never, ever have a relationship with God like I have described to you today

unless you were first a covenant child of God Almighty. You say, John, what do you mean covenant relationship? Let me just make a statement. It may trouble some of you. But just hear me out. You can know that Jesus is the son of God. No, he died on the cross. No, he had a virgin birth. Go to church, no Christians, but that still doesn't give you a covenant relationship with God. You say, John, how could you say that? Well, let me give you an example. A girl can date a guy. She can know the guy is a great quarterback. She can know that he's got a scar on his face from a bicycle accident when he was eight years old. She can know that he's an excellent math student. She's been to his house. She's met his sisters, his brothers, but that doesn't give her a covenant relationship with him. It's not until one night he gets down on one knee and he opens up a little ring box and he looks at her and says, will you marry me? At that point, she has a choice to make. She can say no. She can continue life on as is, or she can say yes. And if she says yes, that means a couple months later, she's going to walk down an aisle of a church with a white dress on. And do you know what she's communicating by doing that? She's saying goodbye to every man in the human race, except for that one guy standing down in the altar waiting for her. She's giving him her entire heart, her entire life. She may not be the perfect wife the first day, week, year, or even 50 years, but she's given her entire heart. The only way that you can enter into a covenant relationship with God is through giving your entire heart. Because let me tell you something. When Jesus died on Calvary, I want you to hear me closely. When Jesus died on Calvary, that was him getting down on one knee. And he is saying to us, will you marry me? Will you be the bride of Christ? At that point, now we have a decision to make because God's not a tyrant. Even though God knows it's far better for you to spend eternity with him than burning in hell, where worms will eat you forever and fire will burn your flesh forever. God says, I respect their right to choose. So they have to choose to give their heart to me. And so that's why his arms are open wide to you today. He's yearning for you and saying, I want a covenant relationship, but you have to decide. But the only way I'm going to have a covenant relationship is if you give me all your heart, not part of it. So if you're sitting in here today or in any of our campuses and you'd say, John, I want a relationship with almighty God. I want a relationship with Jesus Christ. I want to

give my heart fully to him. And with every head bowed and every eye closed, I just want you to put your hand up high right now, just signifying to God into me. Oh my goodness. Look at this. Hundreds of hands are up in the air right now. Hundreds. I know that our campuses are the same. Just put them up high. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. Probably 300 hands up in the room right now. I want you to put your hands back down. You say, John, how do we do this? It's very simple. Just as that woman makes a vow of faith to that man. That's what we're about to do in the presence of God. And you are about to become a child of God and have a covenant relationship. I want everybody in the building and in our campuses to pray this prayer with me, say this would be God in heaven. Thank you for sending Jesus first and foremost, forgive me for living life my way apart from you, my creator. But this day I give my spirit, soul, and body, everything I am, everything I have to you, Jesus, Jesus. You are now my Lord, my savior, and my lover. My life is yours. And thank you for bringing me into your family. Fill me with your spirit. I want to walk with you in fellowship, in partnership, and intimacy in Jesus name. Amen. Let's thank him for what he's done. I love you. God bless you. Pastor, it's all yours.