Who cares, amen? John chapter 14, and I'm gonna read to you a couple verses, and then we're gonna give you a new doctrinal message. The series would be called Doctrine Matters, because doctrine does matter, amen? And it's always mattered, and always will matter. And people that don't care about doctrine got a serious issue, and I don't know how to help them, because I don't know what else to do for them. All right, I'm really strong up here, and I keep turning it down. It don't work, Blake. I don't know. John 14, verse number 15. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. Who's that? The Holy Ghost, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. So that's talking all about the Holy Ghost, right? We've covered, and you all know on Thursdays we like to do doctrinal right now and expository Sunday night and just preach on Sunday morning, wherever the Lord leads us. But we've covered the doctrines of soteriology or your salvation. uh and some christiology or the doctrines of christ and what christ did for you we looked at redemption justification propitiation reconciliation and every one of them messages they preached man we're just trying to teach uh but then that those messages preach but this tonight i'm going to give you a lot of teats before we get to any preach but we'll see what happens all right But as we preached those, I continually had to say over and over and over, when you're dealing with doctrines of salvation, how you were saved, how you keep it, and all that stuff, and dealing with what Christ did for us, and he sent us that comforter I just read about, every time I preached on that, I ended up having to talk about the Spirit of God. When you study the Spirit of God in the Bible, that's called pneumatology. Starts with a P. Put pneumatology, amen, if you're from Campbell's Creek. But pneumatology is the doctrine of the Holy Ghost of God. And I had to talk about it over and over and over. I said a phrase like this over and over. Folks that have their soteriology or salvation doctrine messed up, hence a loss of salvation, salvation by works, or other heresies in the age of grace, always have their pneumatology or their doctrines on the Holy Spirit Fouled up a man and how that spirit relates to their salvation. They've always got all that all messed up a man so naturally Naturally, the next set of doctrines that we're going to talk about is the Holy Ghost of God, amen? So tonight, I want to give you an introduction and devil in to this question that I have. Who is the Spirit of God? Who is the Spirit of God tonight, amen? And notice, I said, who is he? But of course, to tell you who he is, I'm going to have to tell you what he is not, amen? And here's what one man said, Dr. Ryrie in Ryrie's Bible theology book said, many have labeled the 20th century Amen? And the 21st. He wrote that in the 1900s. Many have labeled that 20th century as the century of the Holy Spirit. The rise of Pentecostalism with its major emphasis on the ministries of the Spirit and the blossoming of dispensationalism's emphasis on the Spirit are distinctive to this age. Now, if you study church history, you'd realize that. There's never a time where charismaticism was so empowered as the 1900s, which is dealing mostly with the Spirit of God. And there's been a tremendous revival of dispensationalism, which deals with the divisions and separations and how the Spirit of God works, amen? So that statement, I believe, is 100% true. Now, I'll speak on that before I finish that quote. I'm going to give you a negative and a positive. First, we've got the negative. Y'all know me and know the text. What's the negative? The Pentecostal movement, amen? Now, here's what I believe. The Pentecostal movement was fueled by the dying down of the Welsh revival that started in the late 1800s. over there in Welsh, amen, and it spread, and millions were saved. But what that started in a youth meeting, amen, and it was indicative of the entire revival. It was not a doctrinal revival like the Reformation. You understand, the Reformation was a revival out of the Catholic Church, but it was a doctrinal revival where men found out what the Bible said, and they got away from false doctrine, and it started a revival. But the Welsh revival was not one of such. It was much more shallow, if you will. Not saying it wasn't great, not saying God didn't save millions, but it was a different type of revival. And because of the lack of doctrine emphasized in the revival, when that meeting began to die out over in Los Angeles, California, there's a group of folk, a man in a mission house that didn't want the rest of the revival to die, and they began doing some spooky and weird and unbiblical stuff. That's called the Asusa Revival. Now, if you Google that, you'll find the internet says the Asusa Revival started in Los Angeles, California in 1906, took place in the Asusa Street Mission, small rented building at 312 Asusa Street. The revival became a significant event in the history of Christianity, particularly for the Pentecostal movement as it marked the beginning of widespread, widespread Pentecostalism, emphasizing the baptism of the Spirit Speaking in tongues and healing. Amen Three false doctrines they have we're baptized in spirit. That's what happened when you got saved the moment you got saved They believe it's a second act of the Holy Ghost of God where you get baptized when you speak in tongues Or you do or you get some second helping of the Holy Ghost. Amen So, you have the spreading of the charismatic, we call it charismatic as well, and Pentecostal doctrines of the Spirit. And we know all kinds of small Pentecostal churches, don't you? You pass in Assemblies of God, you pass the Church of God, you pass the Holiness Pentecostal, you walk past all them women in their long throwings of denim skirt, y'all, and the bun on the head, and the baseball t-shirts that cover them filthy elbows, you know that they're Holiness Pentecostal folk, amen? That's who they are. And they believe in the apostolic gifts, amen, that you see in the book of Acts, amen. And we're going to learn the book of Acts later on, but that's what you see. But what are some of the largest churches and the largest grown churches you know now? Now, in the 60s, 70s, and 50s, you had jackals, and First Baptist of Hammond, Indiana running 10,000. You've had other churches, amen, down there Highland Park Baptist Church ran thousands and thousands. You had Bible-believing, independent, fundamental Baptist churches thriving, but right now, what do you see thriving? It's always the worship center. It's always the church with no name on it, amen. It's the depot, amen. I don't mean the name church. I'm just trying to think of different words that they use to describe these meeting places, amen. But those churches almost always have a charismatic slash Pentecostal type doctrine when dealing with pneumatology and the acts of the Holy Spirit of God. So let me just give you a couple examples, not to make nobody mad, but what's a couple of the big ones you know? Well, they're assemblies of God, but you've heard of Bethel. Am I right? You've heard of Bethel music, because I know you've heard the Goodness of God song, but you've probably heard all their wicked songs with all kind of crazy doctrine in it as well. But Bethel is a church located in Redding, California. Bethel Church is known for its charismatic and contemporary worship style, this is from the internet, including the practice of speaking in tongues, healing, and prophetic ministries. That's all done through what they believe the Holy Spirit. Characteristics of the Pentecostal tradition can trace their roots back to the Azusa Revival. They run about 10,000 a week in church. They reach millions through their Bethel music. They run a school there called the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. What do you think supernatural ministry is? Holy Spirit, amen? The church also, they operate that school. They train thousands of students each year from around the globe in supernatural ministry, including prophecy, healing, and worship. And it has a strong international student base with participants coming from many different countries. They got a big influence, y'all. Big influence. Then you've got that place called the Hillsong. Hillsong, from the internet, is influenced by a broader Pentecostal and charismatic movement that grew out of the Azusa Street Revival. Particularly in terms of worship, the Holy Spirit's gifts, the charismatic practices. Best known for its worship music ministry, especially through Hillsong Worship. This global music ministry has become one of the most influential Christian worship brands worldwide. It teaches the worship practices aligned with the charismatic Pentecostal traditions that were catalyzed by the revival. This includes the belief in the ongoing work of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, all of which were central to the Azusa Street Revival. Y'all see why I don't sing that stuff? Hillsong's global weekly attendance is believed to be around 150,000 people across all the campuses. They've got about 90 of them, and they're including online viewership there as well. They reach millions through their music. They also run a Bible college that teaches all those supernatural gifts, amen? So you see why Dr. Ryrie stated that this century is the century of the Spirit? It's never been like that before in Christianity until now. You know how hard it is to keep independent fundamental preachers and young men that want to be popular and want to go somewhere straight when that's the popularity? So now, on the opposite end of the spectrum, And by that, I mean from total false doctrine that I just showed you to total proper doctrine. We have the resurgence of dispensationalism in the 20th century, largely in part. Somebody in here got a Schofield Bible on their lap. Largely in part because of the Schofield reference Bible. Do I agree with everything Schofield said? No. He's a Bible corrector. He's a King James corrector. I don't believe everything he says, Jeffy. I don't. Amen. But he is the catalyst. of the dispensational movement of the 20th century, amen? So here's what you've got. Let me read about that real quick, this internet. First edition of Schofield Rivers Bible was introduced in 1909. Now the second and third one have taken out most all of the notes that Schofield had in there. because it's been tampered with. Hey, man, so be careful. If you ever read one, read the very first one, all right? It was a result of the work of Cyrus Ingersoll Schofield. If I'd have known that name, I'd probably have named one of my children that. A theologian and pastor who added extensive notes and cross-references to the King James Version of the Bible. Schofield's goal was to provide a systematic and dispensational interpretation of scriptures, which would help readers understand the Bible through a framework that emphasized different dispensations or periods in God's dealing with humanity. The 1909 edition was the first widely circulated version of the Bible to have annotations. What's that mean? It's the first commentary Bible. There's never a commentary Bible before it, and I can imagine how many people got mad about it. You're putting other words under God's Word, and I understand. It was later revised and expanded in 1917. The Scofield Bible became particularly influential among evangelical and fundamental Hallelujah Christians. And it played a significant role in popularizing dispensationalism, a theological perspective that divides history into distinct eras where God interacts with humanity in different ways. Now, don't be fooled by the Calvinists. Don't be fooled by the other men that get things a little messed up that are most likely covenant theologians, all right? Because they'll try to tell you. That means they divide the Bible by covenants. We divide it by dispensations. What they'll tell you is that dispensationalism is relatively new. and they'll cite C.I. Schofield, but then they'll begin to tell you different things. Let me just tell you first that we divide the Bible in a manner of dispensations. Now, I believe Schofield was completely wrong when he said a dispensation is a period of time. But a dispensation is a way that God deals with a man in some way in which he has not dealt with that man before. That's how H.A. Ironside put it in his commentaries. But the covenant guys, what they do, they look at the Bible in relation to the covenants that God made with man, which are, they're made to different people, they're made at different times, they contain different promises, and many of them overlap each other, and some of them still have not ended. What's that do? It causes confusion, and it yields us replacement theology, where they believe that the church replaces Israel. Now who believes that? Every Amillennialist. Who's Amillennialist? Pretty much everybody but us and Presbyterians. Most of the Protestants, why did the Protestants believe it? Because they came out of the great horror. They came out of the Catholicism. Catholicism believes they are. They took the place. The Pope is the vicar of Christ. He's Jesus. He's sitting on the throne with a scepter, amen. And they still, they believe that infant baptism is the same thing as circumcision. And they're doing all that stuff, amen, that communion, all that. Listen, they believe they have replaced Israel And all these other boys ascribe to that covenant theology and believe they replaced Israel. Now I know I'm touching a lot of Sunday school stuff, but that's okay. I ain't gonna cover it no more, because I did it in Sunday school three years ago. But they like to say that dispensationalism is new, right? But it's not. They try to say we're either from Darby in 1850, Tyler, or Darby influenced D.L. Moody and George Mueller. Y'all heard of those guys? But they always fail to mention William Penn who wrote a book on it in the 1600s, Samuel Hutchinson in 1590. Isaac Watts, who wrote some of your hymns that we sing in 1674. Jonathan Edwards, who helped lead the First Great Awakening in 1637. Justin Martyr, one of the early church followers in 110. Irenaeus wrote about it in 130. Clement of Alexandria wrote about it in 150. And the Apostle Paul and every other disciple in the Bible that ever talked about a premillennial return of Christ, amen? or a pre-tribulational rapture, or talked about the law as compared to grace, which would be Peter, Paul, James, all of them, they all knew that God made divisions in the Bible, and therefore we must rightly divide the Word of God. If you ever studied in the first one, two, and three centuries, it's called Chileism, C-H-I-L-I-A-S-E-M, instead of dispensationalism, but that's how you can find it and study what they believed in that, amen? So here, I said all that. I said all that to get down to just show you a couple things, amen? It all went downhill when Origen began to allegorize. He had a systematic allegoration of the Bible, and he printed the Hex Blue that I just made Jeff read about, amen, in A.D. 250. And it had the Vaticanus in that sixth column, amen. And it was all about allegorical translation of Scripture, which means he believed they replaced Israel, man. And that's what messed everything up. But I said all that because of this. Literal Bible interpretation will leave the promises that are given to Israel there for Israel and not replace them with the church. And here's what happens, literal interpretation of the Bible will yield you a premillennial view of scripture. Meaning that Christ will return and fulfill those promises on earth, sit on the Davidic throne that it says he will, and give that land to Israel that it says he will in the Abrahamic covenant, amen? And that premillennial view will yield you a dispensational teaching of the scripture. You ain't Israel, and Israel wasn't a church. Y'all with me on this so far? All right, all right. And the reason I gave you all that is because the doctrines of the Spirit of God are different in those dispensations. Do you believe me? If you don't, find somewhere in Old Testament where someone was indwelt with the Spirit. Find somewhere in Old Testament where someone was baptized by the Spirit. Find somewhere in Old Testament or another dispensation where someone was sealed by the Spirit. It doesn't happen anywhere. They came on people, he came on people, went on people. I got a lesson in two or three weeks on the Holy Spirit and Old Testament. I'm excited for that. We'll do that then, but will you trust me when I say it was different? It was different. And the charismatics, the charismatics are stuck in Acts, which will blow your mind. I've got a message I'm going to preach on that too. But you know in the book of Acts, and I've got to be careful, I don't want people to think I'm a hyper dispensationalist, because I'm not. I know when the church started, Acts 2. But you've also got to understand there was Jewish men preaching to Jews, there was men preaching to Gentiles, and there was different things happening. And from Acts chapter 2 to Acts chapter 18, different groups of people in different places received the Spirit in different ways. You can't argue with that. Some got it by believing. Some got it by being baptized. Some got it by laying on the hands of people. Paul laid his hands on people, and the Holy Ghost fell on them, amen? See, Iscofield notates that in his Bible over there, and many other men, too. Now, back to the original point. This is the century of the Spirit of God. At no other time has there been so much focus on it due to those two points. And neither has at any other time has there been so much false doctrine spewed. I know in early church centuries there was tons of false doctrine. There was the deity of Christ. There was all that stuff. Works came in back then and all that. But man, people are messing with the spirit of God right now. and I'm watching it infiltrate Bible-believing churches everywhere you go. Everywhere you go, somebody's talking about some crazy works of the Spirit or doing something to yield the works of the Spirit, typifying the Spirit in a way that was only done in the Old Testament, amen, right there, picking up things that the Holy Spirit laid on people, thinking they're getting it from somebody else and carrying it. All these different weird spiritual things that is nowhere in your New Testament. So I just want to teach on this stuff a little bit. We'll preach, but we'll teach. But here's the remainder of Ryrie's note in the very beginning. To the century's concern for the evangelism of the world highlighted the need to know the power of the Spirit to accomplish this evangelism. Though this attention on the work of the Spirit has been a good thing, it's not always been scripturally guided. Thus there exists an even greater need today for careful attention to the biblical teaching on this subject. How much do you really know about the Spirit of God? It's one of them things that even my brethren, the Fundamental Baptist boys, won't preach on. Because there's so many things they're scared of. And I'm scared too, but I'm going to preach it. I don't care. So let's pray, son. Father, we love you. Lord, help us. Holy Ghost, guide us tonight. Lord, let us say what we need to say, God. Keep our mouth shut when we need to keep it shut. Lord, I pray you'll use this message. Our people will learn this word and never be duped and deceived. God, in these end times, men are coming in, wolves coming in sheep's clothing to deceive and trick the people of God. Lord, I pray our people be strong enough, God, not to be duped and deceived by old Satan. Lord, we love you and praise you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Thought I was gonna preach on about 10 different things, but this all I'm getting tonight. Number one, he's a person. He's a person. John 16 and 8. Is that where we're at right now? John 16 and 8. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, notice the verse. Calls him a he. Now, I'm sorry for all you domineering woman that come in the 1960s, a man, and had your hippie dresses and your flyers and all that, and tried to take over your houses. I'm sorry. You done messed up. This ain't your millennium. God the Father is a spirit. But guess what? He's a father. Father's a man. Jesus was the God-man incarnate. He's a man. And now we find the Holy Spirit. Guess what he is? He is a spirit, but he's a man. Amen? Unless y'all do that pronoun stuff where he, she can be called a he if you want to. That ain't in my Bible, amen? John 16 and 8, and when He has come, He will approve the world of sin and of judgment. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive Mine. You know 12 times in that chapter, He is referred to as a He. What's that tell you? He's a man and He's a person tonight. Very important, because false doctrine is formulated off the fact that he is not he, but it is it. Amen. Now, there's one place in the Bible where the Holy Ghost's reference is it, but it's because of the vernacular and the English that is being used. But the Holy Ghost is not it. He is a person. Amen. Monarchism in the 3rd century denied that he was a person, Arianism in the 4th, Socianism in the 16th, and today Unitarians, liberals, neo-orthodox theologians, today say that he's not a person. One man said this, many people who profess to believe in the Holy Ghost actually believe in God the Father and God the Son but they believe in the Holy Ghost only as a servant or errand boy or a fruit giver sent to give them goose pimples or to make them blabber and go into some sort of trance. That is. Or they reduce him to an innate force, inanimate force, such as electricity, which is powerful but completely devoid of a living person. But what you find in the Word of God is that he's a person and he's equal with God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Ghost of God, listen, possesses attributes of a living person. Now, you understand that? He can be approached and shunned. He can be trusted and doubted. He can be loved and hated. He can be adored and insulted. He can be lied to. He can be offended, amen? He is a person, not. The Holy Spirit's name is forever linked with God the Father and God the Son in the baptismal benediction formula here. Matthew 28, 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name, not names, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. It's singular, y'all. Triune God. There's one Lord. One group's come up with teaching that because of that verse, there's two gods or three gods. Hey, man, that's Arianism, and I meant some ego. But then you've got the charismatics that take Jesus and say, there's one God, and it's Him. That's why they baptize in the name of Jesus. Dad, I never understood why the old-timers would say, do you baptize in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, or do you baptize in Jesus? It's because they was trying to see if I was a oneness Pentecostal, man. Because they baptize in Jesus, because Jesus said, if you have seen the Father, you have seen me. So therefore, they believe that Jesus is God the Father. But guess what? Jesus slept, and Jesus got tired. God ain't never been tired. God ain't never took a nap. Jesus bled, and Jesus wept. God ain't never bled, and God ain't never wept. Amen? The Holy Spirit is a person, a third person of the triune God, amen? And He is equally co-eternal, co-equal in power, co-equal in rank, and everything is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and you better get that right, amen? If you don't believe in the triune God, you got a problem, amen? You didn't have to believe it when you got saved, but after you got saved, you better believed it, or you probably ain't saved, amen? If you don't believe Jesus was God, that died on the cross of Calvary for you, you've got a soteriology problem. You better believe the spirit, amen? Secondly, he possesses personal characteristics and attributes. This is where I'm trying to get in the preach, y'all. Number one, he has willpower. And I don't mean the willpower that you have to stay on that diet for two more days in 2025. I'm talking about he has the power to will things. 1 Corinthians 12 and 8, for the one is given by the Spirit, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom. To another, the word of knowledge by the Spirit, same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by the same Spirit. To another, working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, discerning the Spirit. To another, divers kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one in the self, same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. In His will, now that's apostolic, you understand that? Y'all ain't doing all that, y'all ain't speaking different tongues and all that stuff, but it's the same thing for your gift. He willed you the gift that He gave you the day you got saved. Amen? He gave you what he wanted to give you as a third part of the triune God. He chose your gift. And now he also guides and directs the activities of the Christian, especially when they're operating in that gift. Acts 16 and 6, now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach to Ernasia, that's Paul and them going over there preaching. He wanted to go somewhere else. The Holy Ghost said, nope, nope, nope, you ain't going. I'm guiding you. After they were come to Myasia, they had saved to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. Nope, you ain't going. Aren't you glad tonight the Spirit of God will guide your life? He'll guide you to do things that'll put you in the preferential will of God and keep you where you need to be with the Lord. We talked about this, Dawson. Anytime we ignore the Holy Ghost, man, we are putting ourselves in great jeopardy. So anytime you feel that you're under conviction or God's trying to get you not to do something, not to think something, not to look at something, not to go somewhere, you better listen to the Spirit of God or you're stepping outside that preferential, probably even perceptual will of God, what God tells you to do and not do. You're probably stepping outside the will of God and you're putting your own life in grave danger tonight. And he'll guide you to a place, listen, to where you can bear fruit in your Christian life. If you ain't bearing no fruit, you ain't following the Holy Ghost of God. It doesn't mean He'll guide you into a place where you'll never suffer. It doesn't mean He'll guide you into a place where nothing will ever go wrong, but He'll guide you to a place where God can use you and the gift that He gave you for His glory and your good, amen? And there's way too many Christians that are obviously, to anyone with any spiritual discernment at all, they are obviously not being guided by the Spirit of God in their life at all because there's absolutely no fruit in their life. I'm glad that he has a will for my life and he'll guide me. If I'll just submit to his authority, and that's probably most of you ain't got no submission in you, just submit to what God wants and put myself second level, put myself on the back burner and say, God, I only want what you want in my life. I'm telling you, you'll bear fruit, amen? You'll bear fruit in your children. You'll bear fruit in your family. You'll bear fruit in your life if you'll yield to the Holy Ghost of God. And because he's guiding me and deciding some things for me, giving me things, I'm also glad that he has intelligence, aren't you? I'm glad a dummy ain't guiding me. Right? He's got intelligence and knowledge in the Bible. Nehemiah 9 and 20, Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manner from their mouth. They was talking about the children in the wilderness there. Now you know the Spirit of God didn't operate in exactly the same fashion in the Old Testament, but the Spirit of God was there. Jesus is not eternally begotten, amen? He was begotten incarnate in the flesh on earth, but Jesus always was and will be. He wasn't created at some time in the past. Amen? Neither was the Holy Ghost. Always, eternally. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. And God used the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament to bring knowledge and wisdom. Amen? An influence. If he was an influence like Charismatics believe, he wouldn't have intelligence and knowledge. He would just be something pushing. But our God the Holy Ghost has a knowledge and intelligence as he directs us. He searches the things of God the Bible teaches us. Ain't that weird? Here's God, the Holy Ghost, searching the things of God. Well, that's one of the things I need him to search out for me so I can understand it, Brother Delbert. Knowledge and intelligence. And I ain't just talking about reading your Bible, but that plays a big part in it. Amen. You read it, get it in you, the Spirit of God then uses that to teach you things. 1 Corinthians 2 and 10. What's that mean? The world definitely can't understand it. Don't you ever get your Bible theology from somebody probably lost, some secular institution or something. But you know what? It takes a while for us to get it too because the Spirit searches it out for us and gives it to us. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him, even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we've received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things of God that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. You know when you're getting advice from somebody if it's spiritual and it's from the Holy Ghost. Or you know good and well if it's something of man's wisdom. Am I right? Thank God we've got a Holy Ghost that's guiding us and leading us in a manner that is intelligent. If not, we might think we need a litter box in the bathroom, y'all. If not, we might think we need a joint bathroom back there with a skirt on it and a suit on it so anybody can go in there so we don't offend somebody. We might think that Jeff would look better in pantyhose and a flamingo sweater. We might think... We might think it's right and fair to allow women who live like harlots to kill that life that was created in their womb just because they don't want to take care of it. We might think that's right. We might even be stupid enough to be Democrat. Help them. He teaches us. Worldly people say, you think you're better than us. You Christians think you're better. Well, we don't think we're better, but that right there teaches you that we got a wisdom that ain't God. Amen? He teaches us things. There isn't a computer on the planet that can explain to you how the new birth occurs when you get saved. There ain't one that can explain to you the virgin birth. There ain't one of you that can explain the triune God in a manner that you'll fully understand it. And guess what? You and I can read it and try and understand it in our mind, but we can't understand it. But then the Spirit of God will speak to us, amen? You read that word and God will implement faith into you to where you understand it. You might not be able to preach it, amen? You might blumble down, but you believe it by faith and in your mind God has illuminated that to you. One man said this, therefore the Holy Spirit therefore is a teacher that has knowledge, stores up knowledge, reveals knowledge, passes on knowledge, confirms knowledge, and calls knowledge back to remembrance after you've forgotten it. Every Christian has within him a computer that gives him total recall at the right time. It can recall to him what God has said. If the Christian has spent time finding it out. If you consider it a waste of time to study the Word of God, if all you do is sit around and listen to the radio and tapes, you can tell how long ago that was written, and think you're smart because you picked up a few things there when you're in trouble, and all that stuff here and there when you're in trouble, but if you take time for the wisdom like the hidden gold, search the truth like diamonds and have exposed yourself to the Word of God, then the Holy Spirit has a treasury inside of you. He can draw all things to remembrance of what God has said so that at the right time you have sufficiency in all things that it may be abound to every good work in you. What's that mean? If you don't study the Word of God and you don't read your Bible, and I believe in both of them, read it every day, study it every day. If you don't do that, man, there ain't even no way you can even bear fruit for God because the Spirit of God ain't got nothing to draw upon inside of you when He's trying to get you to do something. The same man said that explains why 90% of Christians never amount to anything for God. They never put the Word of God in themselves. And the Holy Ghost is limited. When they get in trouble, there's nothing for the spirit to draw back up in their memory. Nothing. Nothing to assure you. Thank God when people go through the heavy things in life and the rough things. How much of a blessing it is if they've been in church their whole life and read their Bible their whole life and the Holy Ghost just starts hitting you with verses and all of a sudden you've got faith and all of a sudden you've got peace in the midst of turmoils and in the midst of storms. That's all because there's a living Holy Ghost of God inside of you and you've taken this wonderful Word of God and you've dug a hole down inside of you. You put a well with the Word of God, amen. You can be a dummy like me that can't remember what I preached 30 minutes later, but bless God when you read this book, amen, that living Word of God gets in you and that Holy Ghost of God, when times come and you fall apart and you don't know what to do, that Holy Ghost of God will reach down and start reminding you of the things of God and you'll get through what you're going through. Oh yes. Since He has a will for us, and He guides us, and He teaches us, and He's intelligent, you know what? I'm also glad He's got power to perform what He's telling us, amen? But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be a witness unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the other most parts of the earth. Aren't you glad the Spirit who guides you and has a will for your life and gave you these gifts to serve God is the same person that gives you the power to accomplish? that we can't do anything lasting or fruitful in the flesh. You understand that? I'm watching a bunch of little men build little kingdoms. I mean, they're trying to do everything they can, brother. They'll do everything they can to raise money and build something big. They'll do everything they can to bring the community together. And they'll do everything they can to build these monuments and do these different things. But I'm going to tell you, a whole lot of stuff's going to burn up like wood, hay, and stubble. But when the power of God's in it, when the Spirit of God's in it, a man will preach with unction and power, and he won't have to build his little kingdoms. When the power of God's in it, God will take an old cussing commercial fisherman, turn him into a spirit-filled preacher like the Apostle Peter. He'll give you the power to suffer through the deepest trenches of hell for the cause of Christ like he did the Apostle Paul. I'm talking about the power of God for the glory of God provided by the Spirit of God in the believer. I'm glad he's got the power. He's got the power. You ain't gonna do nothing without the Spirit's power. You can try all you want, I preached about that Sunday. New Year's resolutions always fail unless you do something for God. Most of the time fail. I'm glad also he has the capacity to love a moment's done because he's a person. When he's giving you that power to suffer for Christ because you're letting him lead and guide you and God's using you and your gifts to get glory, I'm glad that he can comfort us with his love in those times. Romans 15, 30, now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered for them that do not believe in Judea and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. You know, you can make it through anything, anything tonight, even if it's death. You can make it through anything. You want to know why? Because of the love of the Spirit of God that's inside of you. Romans 5 and 3, not only so but we glory, glory in tribulation also. Knowing that tribulation work of patience, patience experience, experience hope, and hope make it not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, how? By the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. So many times you quote these verses and you don't read every bit of it, you don't realize it. We can make it through that tribulation because the Spirit of God. Under the tent, I just used it over at Esther when I preached. But it's just the most vivid illustration in my mind. Under that tent when Tyler was on his 11th or 12th day in ICU, we had to deal with that. Him rolling off in a gurney, scared for his life and mama crying. Tent was blowing down. People was being arrested. People was leaving the church. Crazy things was happening. Insanity. I felt like I was losing my mind. I'd wake up in the middle of the night. I had so many physical stresses on me. Most of y'all didn't even know about most of them. I didn't say nothing about them. I had so many of them on me. I was waking up. I couldn't remember where I lived. Couldn't remember what my wife's name was laying beside me. I felt like I was losing my mind, Dawson. I was losing it. The only thing that kept me together was the love of the Spirit of God. Because I'd wake up and I'd start praying, God help me, Lord I need you, Lord help me. And it was like I'd feel the presence of God with me. Even though I couldn't even put thoughts together, I knew there was one that was with me. Who was that? That was the Comforter. That was the love of the Holy Ghost. He's the one that'll be there when you die on that deathbed. He's the one that'll be there when you go through the worst trial of your life. He's the one that'll be there when you're all alone. He's the one that'll never leave you nor forsake you. He's the one that'll keep your mind through Christ. He's the one that loves you. He's the one that'll help you through. The Spirit's love. Amen. So we know He loves us. He guides us. He's intelligent. He gives us gifts. Therefore, it makes total sense that when we don't do what He wants us to do, He's grieved. He's grieved. I'm going to read these verses. It's been a little while. We're only 11 something after or something like that. I don't need to read them all but you know the verses where it talks about let no corrupt communication proceed out of the mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers and conjunction, conjunction, conjunction, what's your function to combine these two sentences and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Those things grieve the Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed. Where's one that makes the Holy Spirit into that dispensation of grace? Under the day of redemption. Then he says this, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Sounds to me that the Spirit of God loves us. And when we don't love him back by being obedient, it grieves him. It hurts him. And we can look at those verses, but what do they say? Corrupt communication coming out of your mouth. You know that gossip and that filth that comes out of your mouth grieves that spirit that loves you so much. That one that comforts you through what you go through. You'll sit and talk about somebody the same day he comforted you, and then you'll grieve him in the same day. That bitterness, that unforgiveness towards anybody. You're grieving him. You're supposed to use it to edify the body of Christ. It says in them other verses, he'll guide you away from anger and wrath and gossip and rudeness. He'll guide you into being forgiving and loving each other. And when you don't heed the guidance of him, you're grieving him. I just thought of that. Ain't that wild? There's days we'll need his touch and his love and turn around and be mad at somebody or bitter or angry and unforgiving. grieve Him in the same day He's helped us. Ain't that like a little child whose mom and dad feeds them and then that little child turns and disrespects them, spits in their face? Ain't that like a little child? That's exactly what we are. That's exactly what we are sometimes. You know what that means? To grieve Him, it distresses Him. It makes Him sad, puts heaviness on Him. You know how many churches will never see the touch of God ever, ever again because of the division and dissension and everything in that verse, all that backbiting stuff's going on. Do you know how many churches God has proverbially written Ichabod above the door and they'll never see a move of God again and that church is becoming a monument? No, it ain't cause certain things, it ain't cause, they're old timey, it ain't cause all that, it's because of the people inside of it. It'll work the same way in your home. You keep grieving the spirit. He says, get that out of your home. Get that out of your life. Don't let your kids do that. Do that different. Teach them that. Read them that Bible. Pray with them. And you keep saying, no, no, no, no. You're just going to grieve him. He'll let you have your way. Fruitless. Not only does he possess those attributes of a person, But it does the things of a person. I'm not going to read all these now. He performs miracles over there in the Book of Acts. He cries out. He teaches. I already said that. He calls men to work and gives them tasks. He proceeds on missions he's given. He went and gave them men power as he was supposed to. Also, when you pray, God, convict my lost loved one at home, it's the Holy Ghost that goes and convicts them. He convicts men of sin. And when he has come, he'll reprove the world of sin. Aren't you thankful that he... Nobody, nobody, nobody gets saved without the Holy Ghost, God. That's what's going on in today's churches. After the 80s and all the easy-believe-ism and all that stuff in the big colleges, that's what half the churches are. Oh, you said a prayer when you were six. You're fine. Nobody lives a good Christian life without the conviction of the Holy Ghost. You ain't perfect. You didn't make it there the day you got saved. And the Holy Ghost has had to move you and guide you the whole time. And if you ain't listened to him half the time you've been saved, you ain't never going to live a victorious life until you're obedient to the Spirit of God. When I'm done, here's the big one. The Spirit of God, he speaks to you. I like that one. You have to let him hear. But here's a good one, he intercedes for you. Tyler preached on this not too long ago. This is the Bible speaking about the Spirit of God living inside the child of God. interceding and translating the Christians prayers into the proper term of supplication before God. What that means is you have someone in heaven praying for you that knows how to pray. Jesus intercedes for you but also here on earth in that vessel of clay that you live in the Holy Ghost of God is in there and when you don't know how to pray that's the one that prays for you. We have another person in us making intercession. But the Spirit make an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He groans for you with groanings that cannot be uttered. What's that mean? They're not verbal. They're not spoken. So one man said this, you often find these foolish, psychotic people who think that because they blabber in some tongue, they think that it's the Holy Spirit. Of course. That's simply nonsense. The Holy Spirit makes intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered. So if you are uttering something and you think it's the fulfillment of that verse, you're obviously a liar because the Holy Spirit makes intercession, brother, and it cannot be uttered. But aren't you glad, Lorne, that when you don't know what to pray, He utters for you? When you don't know what to pray, He does. He does. And honestly, Tyler, we've talked about this, thought about this. As a man, you can groan. People groan in pain, get crushed by a car. People get upset and growl and groan and make noises. Sometimes you ain't got many words, but oh, God. Help. Help. Help. Sometimes you ain't got no idea what to say, but he does. Name the blessing that when you're going through something and it's so bad or it's in such a place that you can't get nothing out. I mean, I don't want to embarrass her. I had no idea mom and dad was coming, but I'm not changing my message. We started going through this stuff. And all of us start praying, God let that be a blood spot, let that be nothing. I mean I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of times a day. Thank God for Myrtle praying because it taught me how to pray. And when I go through things, I'm talking daddy thousands of prayers. Thousands. Oh God do it, oh God do it. On the way to the shower, oh God help, God help. On the way to the car, God help. Lord come to me. At a certain point in this thing, When the doctor said there was something there, and simply said, Dad, I don't know what to pray now. Because I've prayed hundreds of times, and it's like God didn't answer me. I said, honey, you can still pray the same thing you've been praying. God can still do it. Honey, you can pray for peace. You can pray for joy. You can pray for all these things. You can pray. I said, there ain't nothing wrong with praying what I've been praying. Four letter word. Help God. Help us, God. Help us, God. That's the good thing about having that living Holy Spirit inside of you that loves you tonight. You don't know what to say to get that marriage back where it needs to be. You don't know what to say to get that kid back in the will of God. You don't know what to say to get God to heal that problem or do that. But when you say something like, Oh God, I hate to tell you, but it keeps me up. Help, God. Help, God. Holy Ghost inside of you knows exactly what He's saying inside of you, what God wants you to say. He knows the will of God. He knows His will for you. And He knows everything you're trying to get out. And He cleans that thing up and He takes it up to the one that intercedes in the Father. And Jesus Christ prays that prayer from the Holy Ghost. I don't know. You're not excited. I am about it. I'm glad when stuff gets bad and you don't know what to do. You said it before church, it's pretty good. Thy will be done, Lord. Just the Lord have His will. I want this, but the Lord have His will. Maybe you just need to pray a prayer tonight. You've got something going on. You've been asking God for something. You've been trying to direct God's hand and direct God's will. You don't understand that prayer is not asking God and getting what you want and getting your will. Prayer is getting in tune with God and walking with Him so you understand His will, letting the Holy Ghost of God work in you, show you the will of God, let you have peace and joy about the will of God. Then your prayer automatically metamorphosizes. I'm trying to think of a word. Changes in what God's praying. That's prayer, y'all. What you got to pray tonight? God, help. God, help my family. God, heal me. God, touch me. God, do something great in my life. Use me. Just, oh, God, help us, Lord. Help us, Lord. She's going to sing something. Won't you use the Holy Spirit?