All right, Acts 19, once again, I'm gonna start at verse one, I'm gonna read down through verse seven. And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. He said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghost. And he said unto them, unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about 12." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and the privilege we have that we can come in the midst of our week and gather around your word, we can share our burdens and our praises and bring those to the very throne of grace. That is a privilege that is beyond measure of its value. I pray you'd help us to see that. And then as we gather and we come to your word, I pray you give clarity of thought and speech and give us understanding of the subject we're studying. Father, I do pray for my brother. He has a lot of issues that he's dealing with, and so I pray you be gracious and work in his life. Use this for your glory, both physically as well as in his life spiritually. Father, no doubt there are other needs amongst us, things that we've not mentioned, but you are aware of. And we are in desperate need of you. Would you help us, please? Would you pray for the work at St. James? We continue to seek your blessing upon those efforts, and that you would provide a man, just the man, Father, that you want to go there to be the pastor. Brother Hoover, help him in the much travel back and forth and send him on his way, just guide and direct and all these things. Help us now tonight, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. We began last Wednesday, as we kind of finished up a series of lessons about our Savior, and so last Wednesday we began thinking about the Holy Spirit. And if I could summarize last Wednesday's lesson primarily, it's the Holy Spirit is not an entity or a force. He is a person and He is God. And that's important. It's not like, you know, taking an energy drink and getting a boost. He's a person. And that's important for us. He's not a force or some sort of weird presence. I've been doing these online video training classes on suicide prevention. And the instructor mentioned that in their practice, several times clients that were being dealt with who had either felt they were going to try a suicide or they attempted, but providentially God was gracious and they didn't die, whatever. The point is they felt a dark presence. Well, spiritual beings are not just presences, like, you know, you get the goosebumps, got the heebie-jeebies or whatever, or you feel euphoric. They are persons, and that's important. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is a person. Now, if he's God, because we said that last time, didn't we, then that means the Holy Spirit has all the attributes the Father has, right? Okay, we're summarizing. We're not going to go back and redo that whole lesson. But so the Holy Spirit doesn't have a body. He's all those omni words and loving, gracious, kind, holy, and on and on we could go. I'm not so sure you can exhaust a list of God's attributes because he's infinite, which means there's things about him he hasn't even told us. I mean, I'm not so sure I got a handle on everything in the Bible now. And so if he would have told me everything about him, and if he's infinite, that'd be an infinite amount of information, wouldn't it? Well, it's more than I can grab a hold of in my puny little brain. But he has revealed that the Holy Spirit is God. We could go back earlier in the book of Acts. You remember when Ananias and Sapphira, they sell a piece of land in that whole incident and Peter sort of rebukes them and you know, you have not conspired against you know, God's people, but you've lied to God, he says. And earlier he says you've lied to the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is God. All right, that's good. Now if Let me ask you a question, is God with us right now? Yes, he is. Both because he's omnipresent, which means he's everywhere all the time, but also because we've gathered for a distinct purpose, haven't we? We've gathered specifically to sing his praises, to encourage one another in our walk with Christ, and now that we might come to his word and be instructed. so where two or three are gathered together in my name and that's what we've done we're gathered in his name so he's here even in a facet and I can't explain that but it's more than just the fact that he's everywhere but in a very special way he's here can you see him No. Can you feel him? Now, if somebody, you know, jumps up and goes, hallelujah, runs laps around the auditorium, we're going to be a little like, what's the matter with that guy? That does happen in some places. I mean even in Baptist churches, man I heard about an independent Baptist Church way down south where the Browning was there on deputation and the preacher was preaching away And some guy about where Terry's it gets up Hallelujah, and he starts running laps around the auditorium And Dave's like if they bring out the snakes I am out of here Hanging around for that It was real different. He's from Colorado, so they don't do that in Colorado. And to my knowledge, they don't do that here in Montana. That would be really abnormal for us, wouldn't it? Right. But my point is, we can't see him or feel him in that kind of way. But he is here. Let me ask you this, have you ever felt his presence? Yeah, I have. I have. In the way that I'm thinking, one, maybe twice, once or twice. And I'm not going to get wrapped up in that, but I'll be telling you stories, and you didn't come here to get stories. My point is, God can manifest himself if he wishes. Right? Flaming the burning bush, right? He manifested himself. The pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire, as he leads the children of Israel, manifested himself, okay? Captain of the host to Joshua, he manifested himself. So God has the, I mean, when Jesus is baptized, there's the dove and there's the voice, okay? So God can manifest himself in a very physical way if he wishes. That's up to him. There's no button we can push to make him show up. He's not a puppy on a chain. We don't control that. He is God. So it's important. So let me give you some scripture. Hosea 5.6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him. He hath withdrawn himself from them. God's people, and they were in idolatry, they were not walking with the Lord, they were not doing right, but they were going through the motions of sacrifices and going to the temple and all that kind of stuff, but it was empty. It was just as mechanical as an unbeliever thinking, if I count my prayer beads, it's like, you know, a magical thing is going to happen. But the Lord says, I withdrew myself. He was there because he's omnipresent. But he wasn't going to manifest himself or reveal himself to them in any fashion. Acts chapter 8 and verse 16 interesting that's when Philip goes and he preaches a bunch people get saved there up there in Samaria and it's it says in that verse for as yet he was full to be of the Holy Spirit fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus now these are people who had come to faith in Christ but there was no visible tangible evidence of the Holy Spirit Now, there's probably several reasons for that, but right now we're just highlighting the fact that he can reveal himself if he wants to. And if he doesn't want to, he doesn't. And if he doesn't, am I exempt from doing what he says in his word? No. No. Okay, so he's, you know, I don't control him. Or how about Psalms 51 verse 11, David says in that Psalm, this is, you know, thought to be in reference to his sin with Bathsheba. He says, cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He was concerned about that. Now, the Old Testament era was different. The Holy Spirit came upon people and left people. In the New Testament era, the Holy Spirit comes within and stays. But the point is, You can have the Holy Spirit residing within, and if he wishes, you can feel like you're abandoned by the Lord as his child. He can choose to, you know what, if you're not gonna get right, I'm not. Have you ever felt, don't raise your hand, have you ever felt like in your prayer life, your prayers were just bouncing off the ceiling? I don't want you to raise your hand because I don't want you to admit that you know Yeah, I'm raising my hand because I have been there Where it felt like I'm just going through motions. I Know I'm supposed to pray and I'm crying out to God, but doesn't seem like it's doing any good. I And that sometimes that's my fault because there's something not right. At other times I think the Lord just wants me to be hungry for Him. But the point is the Holy Spirit can manifest Himself if He wishes. It's not required that He does that. I can't require him. So tangible manifestations of the Holy Spirit are completely at his discretion. That's a very important truth. so that I'm not looking for something. I've mentioned before, my friend Eddie is a teenager. They live down in the suburbs of Detroit. And so my mom and I were down there over a weekend to visit. And so we went to church with them and it was a great big charismatic church. I mean, hand waving, falling in the aisle, all the typical things you would find in a very dynamic church of that denominational and theological bent, okay? And it seemed like every two minutes we were standing up. Because all of a sudden, everybody was up doing this. Now, this is a perception of a teenager, so you've got to put that in context. And so it's kind of like, really, we've got to stand up again? Oh, whatever. OK, I don't get it. And then it sort of dies down. We sit down. And then all of a sudden, we're all up again, doing this thing. And it's like the preacher's got a zap button in the pulpit. Beep, beep, beep. And that's what it felt like to me as a teenager. And after that happened several times, I look at my friend, and Eddie looks at me, and he rolls, now this is his church. This is where he goes to church. He rolls his eyes, and he says, if you come here, you have to have the gift of standing. I thought, something ain't right with this. My friend is not really impressed, and this is his church. Like, something isn't, you know. But there are people who are looking for a manifestation to validate. Now the Holy Spirit can give a validation if he wishes. He can. In our circles that typically doesn't come out in those kinds of ways where we have to stand up and wave our hands or speak in tongues or fall on the floor or whatever. But a lot of times it comes out when we start talking about revival. That somehow we're supposed to have revival like they did at the Great Awakening. Or in the Welsh Revival. Or the great revival that took place in Korea. That somehow we're supposed to have the same manifestation. And I've been in meetings where it felt like it was being forced. And you cannot force the Holy Spirit. He is God. We submit to the Holy Spirit. We do not dictate to the Holy Spirit. Any tangible manifestation, whether it's somebody's crying, some of you, when you got saved, you were crying. You were overcome. Others of you were as emotional as a rock. You want to get saved? Yeah. Okay, you lead a minute sinners prayer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you really mean that? Yeah Right, does that mean they're not safe because they didn't fall on the floor and crying No, cuz everybody's a little different We have different life experiences, different emotional makeups, etc. But we get to looking for that because we want a validation somehow. But that's not how that works with the Holy Spirit. His enabling is not limited to the tangible manifestations. I mean, here we are in Acts 16, right? And they're like, we don't even know if there is such a thing as the Holy Spirit. And we talked about that last Wednesday. And I think these guys are believers, because they're trying to work for God. They're just uneducated in the sense that they're uninformed about the further revelation of God through Jesus. when Paul speaks to them about that now we don't get you know him giving them the Romans road or something but what we do find is that them submitting to something that's very significant and verse 5 when they heard this they were baptized now what did Philip say to the Ethiopian eunuch when the eunuch said here is water what does hinder me to be baptized Philip says, nothing if thou believest. So we find what is the requirement to be baptized in the name of the Lord so that it's a meaningful thing, not just a mechanical thing, is you have to believe. Salvation precedes baptism. Salvation is inner, baptism is outer. So they submit to baptism, which to me is an indication that they were believers in Christ. Now, what happens in the very next verse? Paul lays his hands on them, the Holy Ghost come upon them, and they speak with tongues. Uh-oh. Is that a validation that we should all be speaking with tongues? Some will take you there, and they'll say, see, see? Hmm, when you think about that, His enabling, meaning the Holy Spirit's enabling, we could call it the filling. I mean, there's different ways to describe it. I don't want to get wrapped up in some sort of buzzword, okay? But when the Holy Spirit enables, sometimes that enabling is manifested in a tangible way. But it is not limited to that. His enabling has a very pointed purpose. And that purpose is way more than tongues, meaning languages. And that's what the word means. It's not Hashemah, Lashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Hashemah, Because my friend was an assembly guy. I went to summer camp with him and, man, if you didn't go down front and do that and hop around a little bit, you were like the target all week. They're going to get you, so you go down there and get the feeling. Well, teenagers aren't stupid. They know how to kind of play the game. boy one kid was down there he was hopping up and down hopping up and down hopping up and down like for an hour and one of the counselors is like oh praise the Lord he's got the gift of jumping gift of jumping where is that in the Bible that is not in the Bible as a teenager that's weird something's weird there So now tongues is a real thing and that's kind of where I'm gonna shift to because that's perhaps the most controversial or the most visible or tangible thing that sometimes is pointed at as evidence the Holy Spirit resides within. I had a shipmate And he was in the holiness movement and we're talking old time holiness movement. Buns for the ladies and no rings and no makeup, no jewelry of any sort. I mean they were like super old time holiness people. And his mother-in-law was like one of the co-preachers in this church. And he was hoping that at some point he'd get to preach and he says, I can't do that until I speak in tongues. Because that was the validation. He needed a physical, audible manifestation in the minds of the congregation before they would sort of put the seal of approval on whatever he was going to do. So we're going to Partly because right here in our text, Paul lays his hands on them, and the Holy Ghost comes on them, and they speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues in the book of Acts shows up four times. Four times. If it was the primary validation, I would expect it to show up every place Paul went to preach, because every place he went and preached, people got saved. Churches were planted. That's where Ephesus, the churches of Galatia, Colossae, Thessalonica, et cetera. He went there, preached the gospel, people got saved. Churches were established. But we don't read about them. There's no historical record of this happening except four times here in the book of Acts. So we need to think about that. So let me start with the progression. Let's look at the four incidents. So go to chapter one of the book of Acts. And forgive me, I'm not trying to be critical or mocking of folks who are of a charismatic flavor. I'm just sharing a teenager's perception. So if we can't laugh at ourselves, Life's gonna be pretty rough, okay? We gotta be able to say, hmm, that was a little weird there. I gotta get that fixed. Acts chapter eight, okay? Or chapter one, excuse me. So this is real familiar for us. Jesus is gonna ascend, right? He's going back to heaven. And he tells them in verse four, wait for the promise of the Father, okay? What is the promise of the Father? That's right. The promise is the Holy Spirit. It's the comforter. That back in John 16, Jesus said, if I go away, I will send the comforter. That's the promise, is you're not gonna be left alone. And so the Holy Spirit's coming. Verse five, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And what happens a few days later? Okay. Chapter 2 the Holy Ghost comes Okay in a in a very powerful enabling way, but I want you to look at verse 8. I you probably may even have it memorized Jesus says But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall speak with tongues No, that's not what it says It's not what it says ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. So there's a progression given, isn't there, of what's going to happen. The Holy Ghost is going to come and is going to enable them and give them the power they need to be a witness in these places. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the world. Four places concurrently. And a lot of times this is a missions verse, and it is. I want us to jump from this recognizing what's supposed to happen when the Holy Spirit comes. So, okay, we're told what's going to happen. Well, what does the record show happened? Chapter two, okay, chapter two, it's the day of Pentecost, so it's 50 days after the crucifixion, 50 days after the Passover, that's what Pentecost means, 50, okay, pente, and so they're gathered together, they're in the upper room, they're having a prayer meeting, and in verse four, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak. with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there was dwelling at Jerusalem, who? Jews. Jews. That's speaking of their ethnicity. They're not Jews because they live in Jerusalem. They're Jews because that's their ethnic heritage. In fact, most of them didn't even live in Israel. They lived all over the place, okay? Devout men out of every nation under heaven. And so, something amazing happens, okay? Verse six, look at the end of verse six, because that every man heard them speak in his own language, his own language. And then we're given the list of the languages, okay? They're amazed. verse 8 and how here we every man in our own tongue or language where we were born Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers of Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers from Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians there's a lot of languages there These are all either they are ethnically Jews or they are proselytes to Judaism So they are considered Jews Jesus said Both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Those first two are fulfilled right here right here the Holy Spirit comes and and they speak in Jerusalem, because that's where they physically are, but it says, I should have wrote down the verse number, okay, they're not Galileans, every man in our own tongue, there is verse nine, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and in Judea. So the first two in that four that Jesus mentions all have to do with Jews, ethnic Jews. But the Spirit comes and they're a witness. Now the Lord adds an amazing element to their witness because these people at this point in history, these are Jews who have grown up outside of Israel. Hebrew is not their mother tongue. They speak something else because that's where they were born and that's where they grew up. And Hebrew is kind of something they've had to learn as much as they can to kind of communicate when they come back for the feast days. And so God's concern is not that the disciples hear another tongue because they're all native Israelites ethnically and geographically. They don't need it in French. They need it in Hebrew and they already got it because they're believers, they're apostles. But all these other people that are there, they need to hear And, man, if you got to get an important message, it's much better if you get it in your mother tongue instead of having to suck it through the straw of another language. That's difficult. Okay. So there's the day of Pentecost. Okay, go to chapter 8. And so that was the day of Pentecost. These all start with P. This, I'm calling this the day of Philip. because it's about Philip. He's going somewhere. He goes... The Jews, they don't go everywhere to preach. They're supposed to, but they don't. So the Lord has to get a little cattle prod program going. And that cattle prod is Paul, or Saul, the Pharisee, and the persecution that he brings. And look at verse one, and Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem, because they all stayed there. That's why the church in Jerusalem was a megachurch. By chapter eight, that church is about 20,000 people. That is huge. I mean, I can't imagine a congregation that gathers on Sunday and is 20,000 people. I mean, we have to rent the Metra. Wow, that's amazing. But the problem is, these people from all these places came and got saved and stayed. They were supposed to go out, but they stayed. And so the Lord says, okay, we've been here and done this before after the flood. I had to zap them and change their languages so they'd go out. I got to do something. So here's persecution, okay? And they're scattered abroad, it says, throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. The only ones who didn't leave were the preachers, okay? And Saul's wreaking havoc at the church. But look at verse four, it says, therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. So Philip goes to Samaria. Isn't that interesting? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. Samaria is the next one. And that's the next event of tongues. is he goes there preaching and verse 10, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard because that of a long time he had bewitched them. So these people are in bondage, okay? But when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. They got saved. They got saved. They walked away from their false religion and they went to the truth. Then Simon himself believed. This is the guy who they thought was this great powerful person and he was just a shyster. But he believes. I think Simon got saved. Now, he has baggage. Who here that's gotten saved later in life didn't have baggage? Or maybe he still has baggage. I mean, that's life, isn't it? I mean, I got saved when I was four. I have baggage. It's just smaller luggage. But I got, I started baggage after I got saved, even. So, I mean, everybody's got baggage. I'm getting off the track. Then Simon himself believed also, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip. Do you think they would have baptized him if he wasn't a genuine believer? no and wondered beholding the miracles inside 14 now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God they sent it to them Peter and John who when they were come down prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost hadn't fallen on them yet 17 they lay their hands on them they received the Holy Ghost And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. Simon, I mean, that's what he knows. He knows the idea of, oh, I can, maybe that's, change of career, but same pattern. Not quite. So now we're at location number three, Samaria. Who are the Samaritans? Yeah, they're half-Jews. They're a mix. they're not they're not the people of Babylon and so forth that were moved there the Samaritans were the people who then there was inbreeding between those people who were moved in by Syria and those other countries that then intermarried with the Jews and that's why the Jews didn't like them because they weren't pure but they're still connected to the Jews there's an understanding All right, go to chapter 10. I have two minutes. And verse 46, I'll just try to speed this a little bit. What happens here? This is when Peter goes to Cornelius. All right, so we have Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost, which is, in essence, all the Gentiles. That's the idea there, is those who are not Jews, in any fashion, halfway or all the way, they're not Jews, they are the goy, is the word they would use. Well, when Peter goes to Cornelius, he is a Roman centurion, that is not a Jew, okay? Not by a long shot. And oftentimes this event is spoken of in the sense that this is when the gospel went to the rest of the world. Because it stepped away from the Jews or any connection to Jews, it was to people who were not Jewish, had no heritage, connection, culture, et cetera, of Jewishness. And what happens here? Verse 45, and they of the circumcision which, let me look at 44. When Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with, what's the word? Tongues, and magnify God. Magnify God ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses the Holy Ghost comes upon these Gentiles and they immediately become witnesses Witnesses I Suspect it doesn't tell us which language but I would suspect since these are the centurions people and even some of his men They're probably speaking Latin. Or if they're soldiers who'd been conquered from other places that Rome had been, maybe their mother tongue. But here's the key in each of these places, and the last one of course is our text, is there is the presence of Jews. Jews are there. Because for them the tangible evidence that the Holy Ghost was is that these people are speaking a language that's not the Jewish language. And it says in 1 Corinthians 14 22. Now we're moving on to the purpose of the sign. It was a validation for Jewish believers that the gospel wasn't just for them. The gospel was for everybody for everybody. 1 Corinthians 14 22 wherefore tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not in the context of this passage Paul is referencing specifically the Jews and so the idea here of those that believe not is the Jews who don't believe they think they're the special ones they have a free pass into heaven but then they find out well here's some Gentiles and they're obviously the Holy Spirit's doing something there Maybe we're not as special as we think we are. It was a sign for them. Now, just to hasten, this particular enablement or manifestation of the enabling of the Holy Spirit is a diminishing piece of evidence Okay, so in the book of Acts, we have four times. And even the one there in eight, it's not as clear that they spoke in tongues. But okay, so just for that, we're gonna take it for that. Four times in the book of Acts, that's it? Four times. And then the other reference is in the book of Corinth, Corinthians, okay? 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14, okay? And Paul never commanded you to speak in tongues. He just said, don't restrict it. If God gives it, then God gives it. You can't restrict the Holy Spirit. But he gives some guidelines on how it should be functioning. But it is a diminishing evidence. becomes less and less important, just like the other sign gift of healings. They're in the same category. They were a seal of authenticity, a way of validating God's work, but the necessity of that validation diminishes over time. As more and more people are saved, it becomes more common. As the Word of God was completed, There's not the necessity for something miraculously outside. We have the Word. Okay? Now... I'll just save this. How's that? Rather than try to push it and rush it, that'll be an introduction for next Wednesday. Yes, Terry. Right, so it's not like we can turn into a ghost. Right, so obviously Jesus is highlighting something that our worship of God is a spiritual thing. It's an inner thing, it's not an outer thing. There may be outer things we do, but it's motivated by an inner relationship. Does that make sense? Okay, in spirit, and so there are people who go through the mechanics of worship, if you will, but are they worshiping? Right. Yes. Right. Can you worship God while you're cutting up a deer? Sure you can. That's right. You can be thinking about scripture, you could be praying, you could be, you might be humming or singing a hymn or, you know, whatever. So it, the worship in spirit has the worship within my spirit. So my inner man has a desire to be connected to the Lord. And that's not, that's not restricted to the four walls of the auditorium. It's not restricted at all. Wherever I am, I can be worshiping the Lord because it starts from within. I may not even be doing anything. I might be driving down the road and all the worship is taking place within. I don't know if you got your railroad driving job or not, but say you're driving a bunch of railroaders, they may not appreciate it if you bust out in hymns. Yeah, some might, but some are like, hey, shut up. How am I gonna appreciate that? But you're singing inside, that's worship. It's not restricted by a physical location or a physical action. It's motivated by an inner relationship. Now sometimes we just can't help but bust out, and that's why we gather. So corporately we worship, and there's an external manifestation of that. But if it's not right on the inside, then whatever you're doing on the outside is, I mean, you might as well just be counting dandelion heads. Right, yeah. Okay, let's pray before I get asked another question. Father, we thank you. Would you help us? to know that your Holy Spirit resides within is a precious thing. Would you give us clarity of understanding, even of passages that, at times, maybe are difficult for us to understand, but I pray you might make them clear for us, help us to be what we ought to be, to see the importance of the Holy Spirit, your Spirit within us, guiding, enabling, that you could use us. Give us safety now as we go our separate ways. direct, in Jesus' name, amen.