I've been in churches where they'll have the youth get up and have a praise team, and they get up wearing shorts, t-shirts, whatever, you know, just come as you are, God loves you, you know, no standard for a dress, and just, you know, they're kind of a church, you know, oh, just God loves you as you are, just come, and so they do, they just come like they woke up out of bed, in their shorts and their t-shirt, and their hair is everywhere, and some of them even hairspray, they see their hair, how it stays, ah, I like that, they'll hairspray it, so it'll stay all day, yo, do they do that here? make their hair look like a messy do and then they spray it make it stay but uh so the youth gets up there you know a youth group and it's uh it's that contemporary fleshly music that makes the flesh want to respond and then after that the preacher gets up and announces oh josh warneke's here to preach to us why don't you come on up and i get up there I'm not kidding, I just feel like telling jokes and entertaining people for a few minutes and then close up and go home. That's the atmosphere that that creates. Nothing about the Lord, just all about flesh and entertaining people, entertaining carnal Christians, you know, if you will. But the music, oh, the music prepares us. Amen, it softens our heart for the Lord. And it's easy to get up and preach after good music. It really is and it's a it's a vital thing very important in our church Please don't let go of that hold on to it embrace biblical music biblical teaching Let it be a part of your life at home at church everywhere you go Amen, and I'm sure God will continue to be honored continue to bless and you'll experience Lord Don't, well, of course, be content in the Lord, but don't be content with what you have done in the Lord. Be thankful with what you have done in the Lord, but don't be content as if that's good enough. You've seen God, God's blessed, okay, great, and then just be content in that. No, look for greater things. Get closer and closer to the Lord. Experience greater and greater and greater things in the Lord as life goes on. I assure you, as long as you're alive, God has a purpose for you. As long as you're alive, there's a reason. There's a purpose. It's appointed unto man once to die. God has already set an appointed time for our death, for our departure. And when we're done, he sees the whole picture. He inhabiteth eternity. Amen? God inhabiteth eternity, which means he's already in 2050 right now. I mean he inhabited these he's every he sees the whole picture And he knows when we're going to be done He knows when he's going to be done using us as long as we're alive. God has a purpose. God wants to use you Look for great things Amen, be that christian that walks with god and actually sees god answer your prayers Amen, you can actually be that christian. You can see god answer your prayers For real. You know how the Lord tells us to pray and He'll do for us? He'll actually keep His word as long as we can walk with Him and talk with Him and let Him do what He wants to do through us. It is self that gets in the way. It is self. It's the natural man that hinders God from doing what He wants to do in us and through us. Amen. We just have to die to self. Always die to self. Put self down. Let God live in you. Let God live through you. Amen. And you'll get to see great things. No doubt, greater things. We see the days that we're coming into. The times that we're coming into. We see the world. It's not just one country here, one country there. It's the whole world all of a sudden at once is attacking people who have a moral compass, attacking people who have a righteous position, and just attacking. Not like, you know, physically, but just ridiculing and mocking and poking fun, trying to tear that down, trying to destroy those barriers, those boundaries. so that they can just run off after the flesh and live it up however they please, however they want, without any conviction of other people who have a standard. So they want to tear that down and there's a great attack on that and it's just going to continue and get stronger and stronger, which creates for us opportunity to see greater things. I believe that we're going to see, as long as we live for the Lord, we will see more miracles happening. I'm not saying revival is gonna break out around the world. We don't see that in the scriptures But I do believe that we will see as we stand for the Lord in hard times We're gonna see God come through and do great things Providing for his own protecting his own as he said he will throughout the scriptures as he has proved himself faithful again again throughout history He will provide for his own. He will take care of his own. He'll protect his own. Amen. He is there for us. And as we come into hard times, hard times require miracles. As long as we're not in hard times, we don't need a miracle. Everything's fine. No problems. But when we come into hard times, we need God to come through for us in greater ways, more often, in hard times. So as long as we're going to be going into harder times, I really believe we're going to see greater things from the Lord, which should encourage the saints. Take a stand, be strong, be holy, be moral, be pure, be what God wants you to be. Let God work through you and flow through you and do what God wants to do in your life and through your life. And we're going to see greater, greater things. Miracles, you know, God has chosen to be in His people in this dispensation of time. The Old Testament didn't have this. The prophets, the Spirit of God would come upon the prophets and the priests at times, but all of the people, the Spirit of the Lord didn't come on everybody. You know, when people wanted to have answer from God or be directed by the Lord, they would go to the prophet, and they would give a prophet's reward, and the prophet would divine for them, do sacrifice for them, or the priest would divine for them, or, you know, do sacrifice for them to hear from the Lord, and then they would say what God said. But today, the Lord lives inside of us. He communicates with us. He comforts us. He strengthens us. He empowers us. Those are the things that's very clear in the Bible that God is in us to do. And what a privilege to be alive in this dispensation of time. Especially in this period of time as we're getting close to the end. As we get closer to the rapture. Not the coming of our Savior to the earth, but the rapture. Amen. I really believe we're going to see great things, and I encourage you to take courage in the Lord. Be strong and look for greater things. Amen. Look to be used by God, and you'll see God do great things. We have seen God do amazing things for us in our life, Renee and I, in the ministry, miracles. God has answered prayer and did miracles, healed people when there was no cure for that healing or for that sickness. and but God did a miracle and instantly they're cured and giving God thanks and praise that God does hear prayers God can do miracles and he does do miracles it's the same God that we read about in this book same today amen he is the same yesterday today and forever amen We just have to put self down. Let God live in us. Amen. And we've been talking about that last night. We'll talk about it some more today. And we're going to take it right into our home, right into our family. Amen. Because we talked about yesterday, our relationship with God is most important. It's number one. Our second most important relationship in this world is husband and wife first, and then children, the family. And so I'm gonna talk to you about some things, just Christian life, and then we're gonna conclude, we're gonna bring it right into our home. Amen. And before we get into that, I do want to mention something Pastor Simeon brought to my attention yesterday, last night. And sometimes, and I've done this too, I've heard parts of what preachers have said and missed parts. So just in case there was any misunderstanding, I mentioned about as Christians, we need to, you know, dress as Christians. I forget how I was putting it. But anyhow, as Christians, oh, yeah, I was saying that we don't need to look like freaks as Christians. So I use the word different also. We don't need to look different. If you're dressing moral and modest in today's time, you're gonna be different. You're gonna stand out. And that's what I was saying. Just to make sure there was any confusion, God gives dress standards in the Bible. Amen. We as Christians, we need to follow those dress standards and honor the Lord with that. But is what I was saying is that we don't need to look like freaks to stand out. You know, to say, oh, look at us, we're different. We wear the hood and the thing and the veil and the black and white only. You know, there's a big group in America that wears only black and white. Colors are evil. You can't have colors. It's not of God. And it's only black and white, for real. And they're modestly dressed, but it's only black and white. And so, you know, there's, you know, people see that and they really stand out almost as a freak. That's so we don't need to try and be freaks to stand out if you just dress modest and honor the Lord the way you dress Dress to please the Lord Amen, don't dress to please other people's eyes to catch other people's attention Dress to please the Lord. You're gonna stand out. Amen in today's time. Amen, so Dress standard is important. Amen So, let's go ahead and pray and ask God to bless the reading of His word. And we'll be reading in Galatians chapter 5 if you wanted to turn your Bibles there. Before we pray, open your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. And I'm just going to talk to you again some more about the Spirit and the flesh and walking in the Spirit. I hope I'm not going to bore you guys with simple teaching. You know, this is basic stuff, but I'm going to take it to a conclusion that's super super important Amen, and I brought some little illustration thing here just to illustrate if applied you will see Amen you will see God if applied you will see the difference that it makes if ignored you will continue the same unchanged Not becoming better Amen. So, we definitely want to walk in the Spirit, let God use us everywhere we go, starting here and then in our home. Amen. So Galatians chapter, let's go and pray and ask God to bless the reading of his word and we'll get into it here. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, once again, for this opportunity to be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ and to sing praises to your name, how great these hymns are that you have filled people with your spirit to give us such hymns with the music that we can sing and enjoy together and honor you and glorify you for you are worthy Lord, I pray that you would be with us now at this time as we read in our Bibles to learn of you. God, I pray that you would fill us with your spirit. Lord, help us to be emptied of self at this time. Help us to block the cares of this world out of our mind. And no matter how simple this teaching is, Lord, help us to listen and see the truth of it, the reality of it, and apply it to our lives. Lord, help us to make changes where there's a need for a change in life so that we can be conformed into the image of your son, be more like Christ, and we can see greater things happening in our personal life and through our life and in the ministries that you allow us to be a part of. Lord, I pray that you would fill me with your spirit, give me clarity of thought, clarity of speech. Lord, help me to be able to make sense of the word of God this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. Galatians chapter 5 here. We'll read in that Let's just read through it and then we'll come back and make some comments Galatians chapter 5. We'll start reading off in verse number 13 The Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 13 for brethren ye have been called unto liberty Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. I But by love, serve one another. And this love is not to feel affection or feel warm towards somebody. Oh, I don't love him. How do you know you don't love him? Because I don't feel a burning inside. I just don't feel warm towards him. I just don't feel anything. That's not this love. This love is action. Whether you feel like it or not, you do good for the benefit of another. That's love. Y'all know the charity love? Do I need to labor on this? Do you guys know the charity love? It's seeking the good of other above self. That's the love that the Lord talks about. Amen? Like when God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Gave him to suffer on the cross at Calvary. He humbled himself lower than us for our good. Took our shame upon himself and died for our good. When we didn't deserve it. And who here deserves salvation? And God was so impressed with you and He saved you. Not one of us. Amen. We have to have the love of God one for another. Even when the other doesn't deserve it. Still we show love. There's gonna be times where people are gonna frustrate you. You're not going to feel anything affectionate towards them, unless it's a bad effect, like you want to lay your hand on them or something. But the love of God is you're going to do good for them in spite of how they treat you, how they are. You're just going to love them anyways. Love one another. If we will do this, we see God. We will see God do things, amen? Love is the most powerful thing, and I'm not gonna get into all those gifts of the Spirit, but without charity, without this love, we're nothing. You can have the faith to move mountains, impress people with your great faith, moving mountains. You can speak all the tongues that are out there, the Fijian tongue, the Australian English tongue, the British English tongue. You can speak all kinds of languages out there and impress people that you can witness in so many languages, but without charity, you're nothing. We're nothing but a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. That's what we are without love. You ever go into a store, you open the door, and there's that little bell hanging there? When you open the door, it hits the bell ringing, and you look at it and go your way. That's what we are to this world without love. Just the sound of grass or a tinkling cymbal, they hear it, they look at us, oh, okay, and they go, unchanged, no difference. Love is the most powerful thing. We cannot love if we don't die to self. We can't love this way, the way God tells us, if we cannot put self down. Amen. This world is not about us. When we live as if the world exists for us, we become miserable, a miserable wretch. And nobody likes us. Who likes a person that's so proud and arrogant and thinks that you exist for them? They step on you to put themselves up. Who likes that? Nobody likes that. But if we're not careful, self will try to do stuff like this. You know, that's the natural man. The natural man is wicked, deceitful, lustful, self-centered. And if we walk after the flesh, live after the flesh, that's going to be us. And yet we call ourselves Christians, we have the love of God, we have the truth. You know, we've got to be different. And this is where it all comes, amen? So verse number 13, again, he says, for brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the Spirit. You see that Spirit? Is that small Spirit or is that a capital Spirit? That's walking the Spirit of God. Amen? Not your own Spirit, but walk in the Spirit. And ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Amen? You're gonna walk in one or the other. You walk in the Spirit, you're in the Spirit. You're emptied of self, walk in the Spirit, fill with the Spirit, you're going to do spiritual things. You're not going to be in the flesh. But if you walk in the flesh, you're definitely not going to be in the spirit. It's one or the other. You know what I'm saying? It's not a mix. It's not a little balance. Oh, I've got a good balance in my life. Most of the time the spirit sometimes fled. No, dead to self. Walk in the spirit. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. See, when we got saved, God saved the soul. He saved us we are regenerated Amen, we are born again. We are alive in christ. Our spirit is alive Amen, and you have he quickened who were dead and trespasses in the sins when you had sinned without christ You are dead when you call upon him. He took your sin away. He gave you life the eternal life your life forever Amen, you we are quick and we are spiritually alive, but the natural man is still there The natural man is not saved. This flesh is not saved You see, we live after the, so there's a constant battle between the spiritual man and the natural man. Does anybody fight this battle? Anybody experience this battle? All right, so I'm not alone. I'm just trying, I don't know if I'm, I think we're all asleep or something here. So there's this constant battle that's going on inside, and it'll always be there until the day we die, unfortunately. But when we die, we will leave this flesh and we'll be in a glorified body. And no more do we have this conflict between the flesh and the spirit. But as long as we're in this body, we're going to have this conflict. And I'm sorry to say, but you all know it to be true as well. We have a natural bend. towards the flesh we have a natural bend to be self-centered selfish look after self put self first think about self first a natural bend to the flesh the flesh must against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh these are contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that you would As a child of God, we would do good. We want to do good. But this flesh is always pulling us and bending us and trying to draw us to do what is not good. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 7, the things that I hate, I do. The things that I want to do, I don't do. Y'all know what I'm talking about. He says, in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. And then he goes on to say, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Through our Lord, we do have victory. Amen to our Lord through the spirit that he has given to be inside of us We can walk in the spirit and have victory over the flesh. We don't have to Hold that bend towards the flesh. We can pull that bend towards the spirit, but it takes effort It takes work as soon as we quit working on that bend towards the spirit the natural pole just goes back You see? It's a constant struggle, a constant battle. But it's a worthy battle. It's a worthy fight. Amen? We've got to work at it all the time. As long as we're in this body, it's going to be a constant battle. When we're not fighting, the bend goes this way. Towards the flesh. You understand? We have to walk with the Lord. Without God's help, without God's strength, without walking with Him, it's all going to be just a bend to the flesh. Self-centered, self-glorifying, thinking of self first all the time. You know what that does to a home? yeah i think y'all know what that does to a home when everybody is self-centered thinking of self first it doesn't work does it it doesn't work so god gives us a recipe Verse number 18, he says, but if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. This is what it looks like for those who walk in the flesh, who just, who won't hold that bend and walk with the Lord. They just ignore it. They choose not to walk with the Lord. They think I'm a good person, so therefore I'm naturally going to do good things. They've got a bend to the flesh and these are the things that happen the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery That's not just wandering off with a woman the Lord himself says that if a man looks upon a woman with lust he commits adultery in his heart already with her So there's many ways, you know, these things can be applied. We just have to be honest with ourselves. The works of the flesh, adultery, fornication. Fornication, it literally is seeking sexual pleasure outside of marriage. However you want to take that, that's what fornication is. If you're married and you seek that outside of marriage, then it's adultery. You're cheating on, you're robbing your spouse of that. You know, that's something God gave to the man and the woman to enjoy together. It's a beautiful thing that God has given. But to seek it outside of marriage is adultery. If you're not married and you're seeking that and going after it, it's called fornication. However you want to take that, however you want to apply that, it's fornication. You understand? Seeking that pleasure outside of marriage. So, outside of the marriage bed, if you will. Fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings. The Bible says in Proverbs, envy is rottenness to the bones. And it is. Envy is just, it's rottenness. You know, somebody has something that you desire, that you want, you don't have it, something bad happens to them, you'll feel good about it. Good, that should happen to him. He deserves that. Well, why? Well, because he has something I want and I don't have it. You know, but envy is rottenness to the bones. In the Fiji Islands, I was talking to Pastor Simeon, this is really common with the culture The Hindu religion this jealousy and envy one another They actually hire witch doctors and do witchcrafts one against another because of jealousy just simple jealousy They'll even hire if a brother's farm has bigger sugarcane than the other the other will hire Fijians to go and burn down a sugarcane and because he doesn't want his brother to have a bigger crop than him. It happens all the time. Just go live there and talk with the people. It always happens. This envy and jealousy is rottenness to the bones. But, you know, it's one of the works of the flesh. Envy, murders, drunkenness. And it doesn't have to be liquor, being drunken on cocaine, any just, you know, escaping this world, you know, through the alcohol, through drugs, whatever it might be, just trying to escape and be drunken and be controlled by something else. So drunken, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of the which if I, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If this is our life, we say we're a Christian, but this is how we live. It's just what we are. It's hard to say that we're actually saved, that we're born again. If these are the works of our life, the fruits that we bear, just what we are, it's hard to say that we're saved. Not to say that you cannot do something like this if you're born again Christian, but if this is the life of a person who says he's a Christian, Hard to say that they're saved. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Amen. And all things are become new. There is a change. There is a desire. Amen. But in the flesh, there's that hole. But in Christ, there is a desire to do the right things, to walk with God. But we just have to choose. We're going to walk with God and get His strength, walk in the Spirit. So we compare the fruits of the Spirit, which look like this. Verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness. goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. If you're alive, By faith in Jesus Christ, you're alive in the Spirit. Hey, walk in the Spirit. Amen? So this is the thing. Unfortunately, many people do not get saved until later on in life. Which means, before they ever got saved, they were 100% governed by the flesh. 100% given by the flesh. And then they get saved. Now they're a newborn creature in Christ. And God says, hey, you're in the spirit, learn to walk in the spirit. As a baby is born, he's got to learn to walk. He's going to stagger, he's going to fall. Mama has to be patient with them. She wants him to walk. Daddy. You're trying to walk to me walk to me You'd be patient to work with them to get in the walk and before you know it they're going around turn the house upside down And you wish you never talked in the walk, right? Please just go back to not walking for a while. Yeah, but They enjoy it and they're going about life Even so when we are in Christ, we have to learn to walk in the Spirit and We have to put effort in this learning to walk in the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit. It's not just going to come to us and just happen. You know what just happens if we were relaxed in this? We have a bend towards the flesh. And we're going to be governed by the flesh because that's what we're used to. That's just what comes natural to us, but we work at it and learn to walk in the spirit I'm telling you you work at this you practice this you learn to be led by the Spirit of God Let God lead you and guide you Well, I just I'm still not getting a preacher if God puts in you to do something that is good for your neighbor That sounds like something the Holy Ghost is trying to get you to do. The flesh is not going to tell you, hey, go make a cake. Give your time and your resources. Go make a cake and give it to your neighbor with the gospel tract and just tell them, hey, we're thinking about you. I just want you to let you know we're praying for you. Here's a cake. Anything we can do for you, let me know. The natural man is not going to think like that. The natural man is going to want the neighbor to show up at your door and bring you a cake. And tell you, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know. You're going to think, yeah, my mom's getting the grass getting tall. So if you think thoughts like that, learn to just act it out. You think thoughts of kindness towards somebody, make an effort to just go act it out. God will put thoughts in your mind. The Holy Ghost will put things in you to do what God wants you to do. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Amen? So if you think about doing things, if you walk into town, you see somebody, somebody just stands out to you. And you think, I should give that person a track. Oh wait, I'm a little bit busy, I need to hurry. And you find an excuse because you get nervous about it. I still get nervous about getting out tracks. I've been preaching doing this for many years now. You know, and you still get nervous. You still wonder, oh, what if they think I'm weird, or what if they want to, you know, call me Holy Joe, or who knows? You know, anything you can think of. Just whatever it takes to get out of this. Coming out of my comfort zone and do it for somebody else, you know But learn to just do what God puts in you to do practice it work at it and you will find yourself Easily being led by the Spirit walking in the Spirit. You'll find yourself doing things for other people that makes a difference Making a difference in this world for the good to the glory of God And then we gotta learn to be led by the Spirit walk in the Spirit. It's not just gonna come to us It's not something you're just gonna get up one day and start doing. You have to work at it. You have to practice it. Learn to walk in the Spirit. Learn to be led by the Spirit of God throughout your day. You go to work. Somebody's broken down on the side of the road. Not always will God put in you to stop. You know, they're standing there with the cell phone. Somebody's coming anyways. You know, but sometimes God will put in you, hey, just stop and just ask if there's anything you can do. Probably there's not, but just stop and ask. Leave the gospel track. they see man that person was really kind and they got the track they're likely to read it because you were different you weren't one of those 50 others that just drove by really fast some of them even hit the speed you know full speed boom when they're because i've been broken down inside the road you know and working on tires and some people they're not going to stop you hear the engine boom and they're going to get out of there before you try and flag them down so but you know so but Learn to walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit of God. The Lord tells us to walk in the Spirit. This is not for charismatic people. This is not Pentecostal. Too many Baptists are afraid to use the word Holy Ghost because the Pentecostals have ruined the name, the Holy Ghost. So they just say, oh, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God. Oh, yeah, the Holy Ghost. Yeah, the Spirit of God. They want to shy away from using the word the Holy Ghost. We love this King James book because There's no error in this book. There's no contradiction. I don't know how many times the Holy Ghost is mentioned. It's not a name that we need to shy away from. It's a name we could use happily and thankfully. It's the Holy Ghost who quickened us and gave us life. It's the Holy Ghost who is in us to guide us, to comfort us, to strengthen us, to empower us. in our christened life, amen? And so we don't need to shy away from that. We need to learn to walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and let God lead us according to His perfect will in our life so that God can do what God wants to do through us, making a difference in our world. But if we don't work at it, we have that bend to the flesh. We're gonna find ourselves walking in the flesh. We're gonna be doing these works in the flesh. and we're gonna always be kicking ourself because we know better. Man, why'd I do that again? Why do I keep doing this? Why am I stuck in this? Why do I keep, man, I just, when am I ever gonna get over this thing? Yeah, get over it. Confess it, put it behind you, and go on walking in the Spirit. Walk with God, amen? Look for things to do that will benefit others. Walk serving others. Quit trying to serve self. Quit trying to please self. You understand? Die to that. Die to self. Look to serve others. Look to put a smile on other people's faces. Look to please them in the name of the Lord, to the glory of God. Amen. Work at it and just do it and do it. And the more we do it, the easier it comes, the more we find ourselves walking comfortably with the Lord. More often we're going to be used by the Lord. And God will do things through you that you won't even realize. Until years later, somebody will come up and they'll talk to you and say, you remember this time, God really used you in a powerful way, you just get my attention. And you were such a huge blessing to me. You had no idea. It's because it's God working through you because you're walking in the spirit. And God's doing what he wants to do in you and through you. Amen? This I say then, verse 16, walk in the spirit. And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I've mentioned this verse several times. I want you to turn there now. I want you to see it in your Bibles. And we're going to start bringing this to a close here. John chapter 7. John chapter 7, verse 38. John chapter 7 verse 38-39. John chapter 7 verse 38 39. I'm not going to explain the whole in context what's going on here. I just want you to see this in verse 38 he that believeth on me as the spirit or as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the holy ghost was not yet given because that jesus was not yet glorified Jesus has been glorified. Amen. He died on the cross, paid for our sins, raised from the dead. Amen. He's been glorified and He has given us the Holy Ghost to dwell inside of us. Why do we have the Holy Ghost? Why is He inside of us? He wants to flow out of us as rivers of living water giving life to other people around us. God wants to minister to people. You never know what's going on in people's lives. You never know. People can put on a smile, they can hide the troubles, the depressions, the anxieties, the problems at home. They can hide it pretty good. But deep down inside, they're in turmoil. They're struggling. If there was anybody who had any help or any hope, where is it? We have it. God is the answer to every problem in life. And God wants and God desires to flow through you. God desires to reach through your life and touch people who need help. God has compassion even for lost people. It's not just Christians that God wants to use you to touch, to have compassion on, to give hope, to give help to. Every soul. In the life of Christ, when Jesus was on earth, He healed nobody knows how many people healed. He went to cities, towns, and villages. All that were sick were brought to Him and He healed all of them. Every town, every village, he went to all that were sick. There's a lot of people sick in this world. A lot of people needing healing. And then the 5,000 that ate the fish and the bread, the 4,000 the other time. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people Jesus had compassion on and gave them miracles. When Jesus went to the cross, John was there. You know, Jesus looks out and says, John, behold thy mother. You know, she's your responsibility now. Take her and take care of her. You know, talking about his own mother, you know, Mary. And John was the only one there that's mentioned. And then after Jesus raises from the dead, goes out preaching again witnessing you know Speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God as a straight says He goes up into heaven. There's only a hundred and twenty people in the upper room on the day of Pentecost only 120 He came and started his church With the twelve first, they were the first members of the church called out unto him assembled organized ordained Amen, and then in the upper room, there's 120 of them Where are those thousands and thousands that knew who he was and experienced the miracles? You know, where are they only 120? He never asked them what religion before I kill you and Do you walk with God? Are you saved? Do you have faith in God? Do you believe it before I heal you? I need to know. No, he had compassion on all who came to him, all who needed help. Even so, God wants to reach through your life and touch people who are hurting, who are struggling, who need help, who need an answer, who need hope. Amen? That's why God is in you. God loves the whole world. We don't love everybody. We don't feel compassion towards everybody. We should. When we're walking in the spirit of it, we do. When we're walking in the spirit, we are thoughtful of everybody. We're thoughtful of others. And we want to be a help to others. We put them above self when we're walking in the spirit. We'll go out of our way, we'll be late to something to be a help to somebody in need. And happy to do it. Not angry or upset. You know, but in the flesh, we're gonna avoid people of need. You know, we don't care. We're thinking about self. We need to learn to walk in the Spirit and let God use us. God wants to flow out of us as rivers of living water. Now, all of our Christian life... Oh, here. Can you hold that? That's perfect. As children of God, I'm just gonna close with this one here. As children of God, our relationship with God's first. Amen, that's our first given relationship. And if we don't have that, then we're nothing in anything else we do. Our next most important relationship, obviously, is in the home. Those are the people in our face every day. Amen, so they're next in line our relationship with them must be right. We must be Willing to serve one another in the home. Oh I just want to think about serving in church, but at home now That you know, we'll just do our own thing at home No, you have to be there for each other in the home be willing to serve one another starts in the home If we can't serve each other in the home, then what are we doing at church? If our home's a mess and we're being self-centered about the whole thing, what are we doing at church? You know? So this is how it goes. This is us. This is God. Amen? This is the Lord. This is us. This is our home. This is the church. The pot here is the world. The community. Amen, and it it's exactly in this order and it works perfectly like this if we can get this and Apply it. I assure you you'll see things start changing in your own life in your home in your church You can be a very powerful church, I mean you guys are so close It starts at home You and God first. You have to have that right. Amen. When we are He wants to flow out of us as rivers of living water. Amen. When we're empty of self, when we are filled with the Spirit, the Lord overflows us into our home. This is God's design. It's His plan. Amen. That we're filled with God, continually filled with God, walking with God. As we are filled with God, God overflows our life into our home. Amen, and as we continue to walk with God and continue to walk with God our home becomes filled with God before I continue on Ladies plug your ears No, you don't have to This starts with the man The man is the head of the home The man must take the lead to walk with God Amen, it starts with the man He is the head of the home Ordained by God when the man walks with God God overflows from him into his spouse into his wife literally Amen, and the wife into the home The home begins to overflow into the church. This is God. Don't forget. This is God filling us and God has filled our home and our home the Lord through our home begins to fill the Lord's Church and Amen and God fills the church and the church is full of God because the family is full of God because the Individuals are full of God and then we're gonna run out And then and then the church will overflow God will flow out of the church into the community and into the world Without God we are nothing Without God in this world We're nothing God is everything. He is life. He's the giver of life Amen, we have to be filled with God. Let God overflow you into your home Amen when your homes filled with God your home will overflow into the church and be a blessing to other people Other members in the church when the church is filled with families that are filled with God what a powerful powerful thing this is and It brings us, we're full of God. We're not full of self, this different person, that different person, this different opinion, that opinion. We're filled with God as one spirit. One spirit one heart one mind We find ourselves having the same goals same desires One heart one mind serving God together anytime you see that happen in the New Testament amazing things happen the power of God just busts out and great things happen and We can have revival in our community. We can. Why not? There's no place in the Bible that shows that we can't have revival in our community, shows we can't have revival in our city. We can have revival in our city. Amen, it will not happen without God's people being filled with God Look at history We must be filled with God. We've got to make sure of my right at the Lord. Am I walking with God? when we do things Do it led by the Spirit Walk in the Spirit as you do things when you go to work walk in the Spirit Let the Spirit of God lead you he will give you wisdom. He'll give you power. He'll give you strength He will make you to do it at the workplace in such a way that God will be glorified through the work that you're doing Amen Walk with God the way you act the way you respond It's got to be led by the Spirit. Amen? When things happen in the home and you want to respond quickly in the flesh, because that's what you have a natural bend to do, stop and think about it. Ask God to fill you. Say, God, please fill me with your Spirit. Help me respond. according to your word. Help me respond by your Spirit. Holy Ghost, please guide me. How do I need to respond to this? I don't want to respond in the flesh and make things worse, because that's what happens. Lord, I want to respond to the Spirit. Give me answer. If you don't have answer, if you don't know how to respond, don't respond. Just back off and leave it alone and wait until God gives you answer, until God shows you how to respond. Amen? Be emptied of self. Respond being led by the Spirit of God. Let God lead you. Let God guide you. He will empower you You'll experience amazing things. I assure you when I learned this lesson we were in the Fiji Islands and we were there for about a year and It was not easy. We it was we were taking on different cultures of Fijian culture is a strong culture the the The indian culture is a strong culture and the muslims have a very strong culture we're trying to adapt and adjust and being used and abused and cheated and tricked and you know because we were the Just different people in town. So they took advantage of that and it was frustrating times and in the home frustrating and um My relationship with my wife was not right. It wasn't good. And I didn't know what was going on. We just really had a hard time, really rough time. And a friend showed me this and I decided, well, God's first, my wife is next. And I've got to put her before everybody else. She comes before the church. She comes before the pastor. She comes before anybody but God. Amen. God's first and then your spouse. You've got to love one another, minister one to another, be there one for another. The children know when mom and dad love each other. Not having a warm feeling, they see the action one towards another if they love each other, if they are loving each other. Amen? The children know. They see that. And the children, when they see mom and dad loving each other, they have peace. They are secure. But when mom and dad are not loving each other, the children are restless. They're not secure. They're frustrated. There's no peace in the home. Starts with the man. The man's the head of the home. He's got to take the lead. Walk with God. Love your wife. Even if she doesn't love you in action, even if she's not doing for you, love your wife. The Lord says to the men, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He humbled himself lower than us, took our shame, took the blame in order to make peace with us. Amen. There's times where the guy has to just take the blame. Take the shame. Make peace. Take the lead. Love your wife. Amen. Love your family. And that's going to overflow into the church. Amen. And then when the church is full of God, it's going to overflow into the community. Powerful thing that God has given us. God is in you to flow out of you. Amen. To minister to others. Let God do his perfect work through your life. With everybody's heads down and everybody's eyes closed, once again, we just want to have a short invitation time here. However, God might have spoken to your hearts. I encourage you use this time to talk to the Lord I do encourage you ask God to give you wisdom and strength to to know how to minister to your family To be led by the Spirit if you've been struggling. I don't know what it is to walk in the Spirit How can I be led by the Spirit of God? Just ask God to lead you, ask him to guide you, ask God to help you to respond to situations in the spirit rather than in the flesh. Ask God to help you to walk in the spirit and live your life to be a benefit to others. The devil will tell you live for yourself so that you can have a life. God says forsake your life for my sake and you will gain life. Learn to serve others, love others, even people who are not worthy of love. When your neighbor is nasty to you and ugly to you and rude to you, go give him a gift, give him a gospel tract, pray for him. You'll see a difference I assure you. That act of love is very powerful. But if we're not in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, these fruits of the Spirit are not gonna come out. You walk in the Spirit, you're going to bear the fruits of the Spirit. And the fruits of the Spirit are powerful. Ask God to lead you and to guide you. Ask God to teach you how to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit if you don't know what this is all about. He'll begin to teach you. He'll begin to show you. And you'll experience a powerful, victorious Christian life. Amen. Amen. Let's just continue to take a few moments just to pray and seek the Lord.