(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - All right, good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. As usual, it's a privilege and a joy to gather together to worship our great God. And as Christians, we celebrate, we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's in that gospel that we have freedom and we have freedom to worship, freedom to sing to our God.

So let us begin this morning's service with a song. Let's sing together, "I Will Glory in My Redeemer." (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ Whose priceless blood has ransomed me ♪ ♪ Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails ♪ ♪ And hung him on that judgment tree ♪ ♪ I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ Who crushed the power of sin and death ♪ ♪ My only savior before the holy judge ♪ ♪ The lamb who is my righteousness ♪ ♪ The lamb who is my righteousness ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ I will glory, I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ My life he bought, my love he owed ♪ ♪ I have no longings for another ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied in him alone ♪ ♪ I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ His faithfulness my stands in place ♪ ♪ My foes are mighty and rush upon me ♪ ♪ My feet are burnt out by his grace ♪ ♪ My feet are burnt out by his grace ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ Who carries me on eagle's wings ♪ ♪ He crowns my life with loving kindness ♪ ♪ His triumphs all I'll ever sing ♪ ♪ I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ Who waits for me at gates of gold ♪ ♪ And when he calls me it will be paradise ♪ ♪ A space forever to behold ♪ ♪ A space forever to behold ♪ ♪ And I will glory in my redeemer ♪ ♪ Who waits for me at gates of gold ♪ ♪ And when he calls me it will be paradise ♪ ♪ A space forever to behold ♪ ♪ A space forever to behold ♪ (soft piano music) - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Breen Community Church. We're gonna get started with Pastor Mark. He's gonna have an announcement about next week. - Good morning, everybody. In the month of October, we were especially encouraged to fast and pray for the various needs in our lives and particularly to fast for the people who are unbelievers in our family and amongst our friends.

And so as a capstone to that, next Sunday, it would be a special evangelism-oriented Sunday as an opportunity for you to invite the people in your lives to come. During the service, I'm gonna be giving a special gospel sermon entitled "Is it Worth It?" talking about what's truly valuable in our lives and then after second service at 1245 in the cry room across the way, we're gonna be having a Q&A time.

And during that time, our outreach team will be, you know, having free resources of Bibles, books about the gospel, and pamphlets, but also David Mobley and I will be hosting a Q&A time where people can submit questions about Christian doctrine, maybe even counter-arguments to the Christian faith as well, and we'll take time to field any of those questions that may come in.

So see that as a special opportunity for you to bring out your friends and family who are unbelieving, and we'll continue to pray for them. Thank you. - All right, again, just to clarify, next Sunday, Pastor Mark is gonna be giving a gospel message, and so our outreach team is that special event, so he's gonna be presenting the gospel, and then there is a Q&A after that.

So if you've been praying for your unbelieving family, friends, coworkers, next Sunday would be the good time to bring them, to introduce them to that, okay? Couple of announcements. Tomorrow is Trunk Formation, so the church will be open somewhere around 3 to 3.30. If you need to come earlier to decorate and do stuff, please let us know.

We could, there will most likely be somebody here a bit earlier than that, but just to make sure, please let us know. And so if you need to get here earlier than that to set up, we'll be able to come, and hopefully we'll be able to open the doors where we can do that.

For the rest of you who are coming with your children, it's starting at 5 or 5.30? Sorry. - 5.30. - 5.30? 5.30, okay? So, all right. If I'm wrong, let me know. If I don't get corrected, it's 5.30, okay? Thanksgiving regional dinners, if you are planning to come and you haven't signed up and you wanna stay in Orange County, okay, please sign up as soon as possible, or else we have few spots left in Orange County and plenty left in Los Angeles.

So, sign up as soon as you can so that we can place you near your home instead of going further away. So, if you're planning to sign up, please sign up ahead. And again, seriously, it's hard for us to put people together last minute, so if you are planning to come, please sign up today if possible.

BAM Park Day is happening on November 5th, and then after the worship time, our sister Kristen is gonna come up and give her testimony and then be baptized. But before we pray for the offering, those of you who've been following the news, what happened in Itaewon in Korea yesterday, about over 150 students, young students, like in late teens and early 20s, basically got stampeded to death.

They were in this area where they're known for kind of night hangouts and that type of stuff. And the reason I mention this is because South Korea has, in the last 100 years, experienced tremendous revival of the gospel and the church is growing so rapidly. And then just in one generation, the country completely flipped.

And so they went from ascending nation, missionaries, to receiving nation. And so the population went from 33% Christian to the Gen Z generation to less than 3% in one generation. So they're completely losing the college students and under, or young adults and under. And so this is a huge issue, what's going on in Korea, where the secularism has penetrated.

They've lost all respect for religion and Christianity in particular, and the younger generation. So they have so many mega churches over there that just are not able to reach their children. And so as a result of that, our denomination actually has contacted us knowing that we have a lot of young Asian Americans at our church asking us to come out to Korea and begin some work to reach out to the younger generation.

So I am headed out there early November with the missionaries to get some connection. And if the Lord opens the door, we may begin to do some work out in Korea, reaching out to the younger generation. And so I mention this to you because, one, I'm asking you guys to pray that that would happen.

And hearing that news, that that's the generation that they're losing, and that so many of them are being lost to secularism. And so Stampede basically happened in this area where they're known for clubbing and night hangouts. Thousands and thousands of these young people got in, they got forced into this alley, and then they got stampeded.

And so 157 basically has passed away, and they're expecting as high as 200 when they do the final count. So 200 all in this one long alley stretch. That's how crazy it was. And so my prayer is that I'm asking you to pray for, one, that when we go out that the doors will be open so we can do the work, but two, that I'm sure this is a shock to the nation, that the older generation has been very concerned about the younger generation, but this would be a wake-up call, in particular to the churches out there, to really take this seriously and to reach out to the younger generation, that there would be a revival in the church as a result of the shock of what has happened yesterday.

So if you guys can keep that in your prayer. And so let me pray for us. And again, if you brought a physical offering, we have a physical offering box over there. Otherwise, we'll give you a minute to give your offering electronically. All right, let's pray. Lord, we come before you with heavy hearts, knowing that so many young, precious souls, Lord God, have been lost frivolously.

Help us, Lord God, not to simply grieve and feel bad, Lord God, as the world does because their lives were cut short, especially at such a young age. We pray for the grieving parents and family members, Lord God, that this would lead to a greater despair that will ultimately lead to a greater hope in Christ.

I pray for a revival. I pray for the existing current churches, Lord God, to wake up from their slumber, to see the dire spiritual need that we are in, not just there, but all over the world, and especially here, Father God. Help us not to live day to day like the rest of the world, as if we're going to be here forever, knowing that we are just sojourners just passing through.

Help us, Lord, to live for eternity. Help us, Lord, to live in the midst of this world, knowing, Father God, the spiritual poverty that surrounds us. Help us to be a greater and greater light, that we live for purpose, that we would live for your glory, that we would live, Lord God, to see the lost come to Christ.

I pray for your blessing, especially upon next week. Pastor Mark, with all the people who have been praying, Lord God, we ask, Lord, that you would bring revival in our own hearts, that we may see the lost and have compassion and to pray. The lost around us, Lord God, that they may see the light, they too may know who you are.

Use us mightily for that purpose. Anoint and bless, especially next week, for that purpose. And we ask, Lord God, that even in our giving, may all of it be multiplied 30, 60, 100-fold for your kingdom and for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Church family, would you please stand with us as we continue our worship?

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Hear His law, vast as the ocean ♪ ♪ Loving kindness as the flood ♪ ♪ When the prince, a life, a ransom ♪ ♪ Shed for us His precious blood ♪ ♪ Who His love will not remember ♪ ♪ He can never be forgotten ♪ ♪ Throughout Heaven's eternal day ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ On the mount, on the mount of crucifixion ♪ ♪ Fountains open deep and wide ♪ ♪ The floodgates of God's mercy ♪ ♪ Flow to vast and gracious tide ♪ ♪ Grace and love like mighty rivers ♪ ♪ Poured incessant from above ♪ ♪ Heaven's peace and perfect justice ♪ ♪ Gifts of gifts to world in love ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Here is love, here is love that conquered evil ♪ ♪ Christ the first, born from the grave ♪ ♪ Death has failed to be found equal ♪ ♪ To the life of Him who stayed ♪ ♪ In the valley of our darkness ♪ ♪ Dawn is everlasting light ♪ ♪ Perfect love and glorious radiance ♪ ♪ Has repelled the devilish night ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ No love is higher, no love is wider ♪ ♪ No love is deeper, no love is truer ♪ ♪ No love is higher, no love is wider ♪ ♪ No love is like your love, O Lord ♪ ♪ No love is higher, no love is wider ♪ ♪ No love is deeper, no love is truer ♪ ♪ No love is higher, no love is wider ♪ ♪ No love is like your love, O Lord ♪ One more time.

♪ No love is higher, no love is wider ♪ ♪ No love is deeper, no love is truer ♪ ♪ No love is higher, no love is wider ♪ ♪ No love is like your love, O Lord ♪ ♪ Here is love, best as the heavens ♪ ♪ Boundless as the stars above ♪ ♪ Are the souls that He has ransomed ♪ ♪ Precious Father, treasured sons ♪ ♪ We are called to feast forever ♪ ♪ On a love beyond our time ♪ ♪ Glorious Father, Son, and Spirit ♪ ♪ Now with man are intertwined ♪ ♪ We are called to feast forever ♪ ♪ On a love beyond our time ♪ ♪ Glorious Father, Son, and Spirit ♪ ♪ Now with man are intertwined ♪ ♪ ♪ O God, before the mountains were brought forth ♪ ♪ Were days of spring and summer filled the earth ♪ ♪ From everlasting, You are God ♪ ♪ ♪ We dwell beneath the stars in ancient skies ♪ ♪ A thousand years are nothing in Your sight ♪ ♪ From everlasting, You are God ♪ ♪ ♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ ♪ O God, when joy and tragedy collide ♪ ♪ And loss reminds us life is but a sigh ♪ ♪ From everlasting, You are God ♪ ♪ ♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ ♪ We rest within Your plan ♪ ♪ ♪ O God of light, our ways are known to You ♪ ♪ But by Your grace, You're making all things new ♪ ♪ So satisfy us in our numbered days ♪ ♪ Establish every effort while we wait ♪ ♪ From everlasting, You are God ♪ ♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ Amen.

You may be seated. Hi. For those that don't know, my name is Kristen Pond. I am a second-year student at Biola University. I'm going to be sharing my testimony. My testimony starts off similar to many here. I grew up in a Christian home and went to church every Sunday service, just like right now, every Friday night for youth group, like many of you college students, and summer VBS camps.

I only went to church because it was the only thing I knew, and I was simply following what everyone else was doing because that's the Christian thing to do. I was blindly following the ways of what would need to be done to be considered a good Christian by others.

Yet, during all the times I went to church, I still sinned heavily. I surrounded myself with non-Christians at school and engaged in sinful behaviors, such as laziness in my academics, leading to failing many classes, having a short temper, and being quick to anger, which led to physical and verbal fights with my friends and my family.

I placed my value in sports and music, prioritizing them above all else. I was clearly not the Christian I claimed to be, and the worst part was that I knew what I was doing was wrong. I was fully aware of all the sin I was committing, but I did not want to stop sinning.

I was full of pride and self-righteousness. In the back of my mind, I made up the excuse that God will forgive me of my sins because I claimed I was a Christian, and that was what he was supposed to do for Christians. 1 John 1:9 says, "If he confesses our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." I admitted I sinned to God in my prayers, so I felt that I was off the hook until my next sin.

However, I kept sinning over and over again, convincing myself I would be forgiven after every time I tried to repent and asked for forgiveness. I carried this mindset with me all throughout my elementary school days to the end of middle school. This ungodly mindset encouraged an unhealthy pattern of sinning and ignoring the truth that I was really not a Christian, nor was I forgiven for the sins I committed.

I kept giving in to desire to sin as I did not change the ways after repenting. It cannot have been more obvious that I was of this world, consumed by its sinful pleasures. I really started to drift away during eighth grade as I completely stopped going to church. I put all my time, energy, and heart into my friends, which replaced God on the throne as gods in my life.

It was not until the end of eighth grade where my youth pastor sat me down and talked over what it really meant to be a Christian. We talked through all the steps from when I first thought I accepted Jesus into my heart to where I was at the moment.

I knew what it meant to be a Christian, but I started to question if I was even a Christian to begin with. After all, I only opened the door partially, still holding onto the world with one hand. I only verbally confessed I was a believer, which did not qualify as a profession of faith.

I finally admitted I never fully let him into my life. I was embarrassed and ashamed of this, but my youth pastor, along with a few of my summer camp counselors, guided me through the ways in which I can reconcile with God and commit my life to him for real.

I repeated the prayer that everyone said when they first believed when they were just little five-year-olds, but this time I focused on giving it all to him. This meant not just faking it on Sundays like right now and Fridays in college group, but also to go on and live a godly life Monday through Thursday at school.

Truthfully speaking, it didn't take just a day, a flip of a switch. It took many months to come back to church and to fully trust him. I felt a yearning and a self-desire to know him and to be like him. Throughout it all, he waited patiently as I learned to come back to him and rely on his love.

I felt him slowly take the reins and guide me back to the light. As of now, I have taken my relationship with God seriously, and I'm still desiring to grow to him closer. Those who might recognize me from the members' meeting, this is two weeks late, I know, but I wanted my parents to be here, and my brother, who flew down last minute, thank you.

This is an encouragement to see how God has worked in my life. And for the people that God has placed in this church, and people that I invited from Biola and UCI, and the people in the college group especially, I want you to continue to challenge me to grow closer to him and to please hold me accountable for my word and the promises that I make.

As I stand here with my cheap $2 shower shoes, thank you. All right, let's go Biola. Yeah, that's my alma mater. That's where I met my wife. Thank you, Kristen, for that awesome testimony. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. I'm actually only going to be covering a small portion of this today, and I'll explain why.

Luke chapter 4, but I'm going to be reading all the way from 1 through 12. Or 13, sorry. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing. May your word speak to us, mold us, guide us, rebuke us, challenge us, encourage us, and build us. We pray for your Holy Spirit's guide and help.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, as we are studying through the Gospels, right, we're obviously learning a lot about who Jesus is. We're studying the epistles, and the epistle basically, obviously, clearly states this is who Jesus is. This is what he has done. He's the high priest.

He's the Son of God. But the uniqueness about the Gospels is it actually shows us who he is. You know, a lot of stuff that we know about Jesus is what we were taught, theological statements, right, doctrinal things that we know. But the benefit of studying the Gospels is we actually hear his words.

We see what he has done. And so it's one thing to know about Jesus. It's another thing to know who Jesus is. And the reason why this is important is as we contemplate who Christ is, that what we are seeing of who Jesus is, we need to clearly understand what it is that we're seeing.

Because if Jesus is just God, right, if what we're seeing in the Gospels is God incarnate, and no wonder he's performing miracles, no wonder he's raising people from the dead. So we worship him, we honor him, but we can't follow that. That's not something for us to repeat, because he's God.

If all we're seeing is his humanity, if that's what we're seeing and that's all he is, and then we can follow him, we can be encouraged by that, but we don't worship a human being, right? What is it that we are actually seeing? In Philippians 2, 5-7, it says, "Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." Again, we know this passage very well, but what does it mean to not to grasp equality with God?

We know to repeat these words, if somebody asks us, "What does that mean?" But what does that actually mean? Does that mean that when Jesus walked on this earth, that he basically forsook his deity, and so Jesus was no longer God and was just a human being walking? What does it mean when he says he emptied himself?

Emptied himself of what? His glory, his deity, his power, his position, his omnipresence, right? Omnipotence, did he empty himself of all of that? What does it mean that he had emptied himself? To take in a form of a bond servant being made in likeness of man. In what way was he like a man?

How can he be like us when he is 100% God and 100% man? So the theologians consider this incarnation a hypostatic union between God and man. 100% God, 100% man. And I think there was about six months ago, I gave an illustration about pouring oil into water. Do you remember that?

And within this cup, in the cup, he said, "This cup is Jesus, but that portion of the oil is 100% oil and the portion of the water is 100% water because they don't mix." So the question we need to ask is the totality of that is Christ. There was a union, right?

His, Jesus, who is the son of God, who is the creator of the universe, took on human form, and so the totality of both natures is God. When we are looking at the Gospels, what is it exactly that we're looking at? So if we're looking at Jesus from the top, we're looking at his deity, right?

So are we looking at God walking on earth? If we look from the side, that when Jesus is hungry, he's man, but when he's performing miracles, he's God. When he is tired, he's man. Is he flipping back and forth from his humanity to his deity? Or are we looking at Jesus from the bottom where it's fully humanity and everything that he's doing, he's doing as a human being?

Which one is it, right? Can you see how it will alter the way we read the Bible depending on how we see who Jesus is? If you're seeing, "Oh, it's a deity. We can't copy anything he does. He's God. He casts out demons because he's God. He walks on water because he's God." Or is he just going back?

Is he turning it on and off? Right? I mean, how can Jesus be hungry? How can God be hungry? Oh, that part is human. When he's agonizing before the Father in prayer, is there another way? It's like, oh, that's his humanity. And then when he resurrects Lazarus, that's his deity.

Is that what's going on? Is he going back and forth? Again, why is this so important? It's because everything that we're studying in the Gospel of Luke, we need to understand it from a proper perspective. So I'm going to give you the answer now, just in case you fall asleep.

I'm going to give you the answer now, and then I want you to follow along, and I'm going to make my case. What we are looking at the Gospels is Christ's humanity and his deity veiled completely. Everything that Jesus does, he does as a human being in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now that's the answer, so I'm going to make my case. When I approached this text, I thought I knew what I was going to preach. In fact, I look at genealogy, it's like, okay, I've got to dig, and I've got to do some study on this. How am I going to preach the genealogy?

And so there's some text that's kind of obvious, because how many times have you heard a sermon about the temptation of Jesus? I could probably ask you now, you've probably heard sermons that you remember. It's like, oh, yeah, I heard that. So as I was thinking about this text, I kind of already knew, because I preached it so many times, that I said, okay, I already know the outline.

I know I'm going to go do some study and maybe add some more stuff and be creative in the way I present it. And then I started to dig into this text, and then I couldn't get past the first passage, because, you know, you do an inductive Bible study.

So I was doing my inductive study, and I was asking all these questions. And the first question that popped up was, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit," and I said, "Wait a second. Why does he need to be filled with the Holy Spirit? He's God, right? Why does God need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?" And I just couldn't get behind that.

And then he says, "Returned from Jordan, was led around by the Spirit." Okay, he was filled with, he was baptized by the Spirit. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He's led by the Holy Spirit. In verse 14, he says, "He grew in the power of the Holy Spirit." And then I started to kind of sidetrack.

I said, "Wait a second. Let me see how much of this language exists in the rest of Jesus' story." And so I looked it up, and it's everywhere. I wanted to sidetrack. I'm going to sidetrack a little bit today before I jump into the rest of the text, because I think this is that important, that we need to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus so that we can understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our life.

And I know I talked about this maybe about, I think, about two months ago, a month and a half ago. But again, I want to go through some text with you so that you can see why this is so important and how we are to look at Jesus when we are studying the rest of the book of Luke.

Whenever we talk about the Trinity, we know how to defend the Trinitarian, the first person of the Godhead, God the Father, because he's everywhere, right? The Old Testament, New Testament, you know, he's everywhere. And we come to the New Testament, and we can easily defend the deity of Jesus.

Before Abraham was, I am. All things are created by him, for him, through him. Everything is sustained by him. Right? The God himself caused, you know, his son, Dithrono, God, is a righteous scepter that lasts forever and ever. So Jesus' deity can be easily defended. Most people, when it comes to the deity of the Holy Spirit, they only have a couple passages, you know, the Great Commission, he's baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is kind of like attached. So if we defend the deity of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is kind of like the younger brother that's always, you know, hanging around the older brother. So it's like, yeah, he's deitied too. I don't know how else to explain because he's around.

Right? But we don't know exactly how to defend the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, because there's only a few texts that actually clearly states that. And those texts are enough. But the Holy Spirit is the silent partner who is everywhere but in the background. You ever have one of those friends that if you ask, "Oh, what is he like?" that you can't explain through what they say.

You can only explain by what they do. Right? Like, because I talk for a living, you can take a lot of things that I say. "Pastor Peter's like this because he said this." Right? But I had a friend back in college, even to this day I can't remember a long phrase that he's ever spoken.

In fact, he grunts more than he talks. If I ask him a question, he's like, "Ugh." Like that's my greatest memory of him. Right? And he's a good friend. He became a pastor. He lives in Atlanta. But I don't remember in my head like a long conversation. It's usually me having a monologue and he was like, "Ugh.

Yeah. Okay." Like that's about the length of conversation that I remember. Not that we don't talk, but he's not known for his words. But if you ask me who he is, I can tell you clearly who he is. He's one of the most faithful guys I know, one of the most loyal people that I know, one of the most consistent people that I know.

And I can tell you this because of my observation, because of the time that I spent with him. His character is clearly seen by what he does more than what he says. That's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is hard to define by explaining through verses. Like this is what the Holy Spirit said.

The Bible says this is exactly what it is. There are verses that talk about that, but the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is seen mostly by what he does. You look at just the Gospel of Luke, right, just the Gospel of Luke, how often or how prominent is the Holy Spirit?

Just in the first three chapters, I'll bet you, when you think about just remembering what we talked about in the first three chapters, you remember John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Simeon, Mary, Joseph. You remember all of them. The angel Gabriel. So those are the highlights. But I'll bet you, you have some vague understanding or vague memory of the Holy Spirit.

But I want to show you just how prominent the Holy Spirit has been, even just in the three chapters. In Luke 115, John the Baptist is described as saying, "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb." He said what distinguishes John the Baptist is not simply his diet, but even from the mother's womb, he's going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 135, Mary had a hard time believing, "How can I conceive without a man?" And the angel answered her and said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." He said that's how you're going to conceive a child. Zacharias, Luke 167, and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied.

Luke 166, explaining John the Baptist's growth, he said, "And the child continued to grow and to become strong in the Spirit, and he lived in the desert." About Simeon, remember him? Luke 2, 25-27, "And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord. And he came in the Spirit into the temple." Luke 3, 16, when John the Baptist says, "I am not the Messiah, but the one who is coming." Jesus is coming, and the way he distinguishes himself from the Messiah and himself, he says, "John answered and said to them, 'As for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming, who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and of fire.'" He says, "John the Baptist was baptized by the Holy Spirit, but Jesus himself is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit." That's the distinguishing mark. Luke 3, 22, "And the Holy Spirit descended upon him when Jesus is baptized.

The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, 'You are my beloved Son, and you I am well pleased.'" This is just the first three chapters. Every single character in the first three chapters is described by either being filled with the Spirit, the power of the Spirit, spoke through the Spirit, was moved by the Spirit, everything.

But if I didn't mention that, if I didn't highlight that for you, when I asked you, "What are the first three chapters about?" You'll probably say, "Genealogy, the birth of Jesus, Simeon, Mary, Joseph, Immaculate Conception, John the Baptist, all these people are mentioned, but every single one of them, there is a unifying theme throughout every single one of these characters, every single one of these events.

The Holy Spirit empowered them. The Holy Spirit baptized them. The Holy Spirit fell upon them. The Holy Spirit moved them. The Holy Spirit caused them to prophesy." All of this is going to be relevant. We may look at it and say, "Oh, that's good to know. The Holy Spirit, he's in the background, he's working." Let me tell you the conclusion before I even get to the conclusion.

If you miss this, and you don't understand this, and if you don't apply this, so much of our Christian frustration comes from working hard, studying hard, sacrificing so much with no power of the Holy Spirit. Anybody who's made any effort to conquer sin, anybody who's ever really sacrificed or tried to bring people to Christ, share the gospel, to make disciples, without the power of the Holy Spirit has ended in greater frustration than if you've never attempted at all.

The harder you work, the greater frustration you experience. Some of you may be sitting here, it's like, "I've never experienced that." Maybe because you never tried. The harder you try, the more you understand how frustrating it is to bear fruit without the Holy Spirit. Now, I just mentioned the first three verses, but in Luke chapter 4, he says he was full of the Holy Spirit.

He was led around by the Spirit. Luke 4.14, he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Luke 10.21, he prayed and rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. And then Luke chapter 12, verse 10, he says, "All other sins, blasphemy against the Son of Man can be forgiven, except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit." Jesus himself highlights the sin against the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is saturated in everything that is happening. And this is not limited to the gospel of Luke. Go back, and next time you study or read through the Old Testament, read the part of the Bible, and highlight how the Holy Spirit is working. There is not a single text, single book that you can go through where the Holy Spirit is not at the center of powerfully moving.

In fact, the whole book of Acts. If you ask somebody who studied the book of Acts and say, "What's the outline of the book of Acts?" Well, chapter 1 through chapter maybe 8 or 9 is about Apostle Peter. He's the one who shows up, and then the gospel goes to the Gentiles, so Apostle Paul gets converted, and then so he's the main character all the way to chapter 28.

But that's not how the Bible, that's not how Acts is organized. Acts says, "The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you," Acts 1:8, "and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the remotest part of the world." So if you look at how the book of Acts is organized, it's organized by how the Holy Spirit is working in Jerusalem, and then how the Holy Spirit is moving the church to Judea through the persecution, and how in the persecution the Holy Spirit is moving them to Samaria, and how the Holy Spirit has brought Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit falling upon the Gentiles.

That was the main thing that they were arguing. When the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles, they had this huge meeting in Jerusalem to say, "Hey, the Holy Spirit is also falling upon the Gentiles." That was the thing. How do we understand this? Because the kingdom of God is being opened to the Gentiles, but the way that they described the kingdom opening to the Gentiles is the Holy Spirit is also coming upon the Gentiles.

So the whole book of Acts is the story of the Holy Spirit moving, and the characters that it is empowering to do His work. So the Holy Spirit, though He is in the background, is the central figure throughout the whole gospel, throughout the whole redemptive history. So I encourage you, next time you read the Bible, try to read it through that lens.

Try to look for the Holy Spirit. My bet is that you're not going to be able to avoid it. Once your eyes get open to that, you can't shut it anymore because it is saturated. Why is this important? Because this is what God calls us to do, to pray in the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit.

So if we can do everything, everything that we do, and yet have no spirit, absolutely powerless. We hold on to a form of godliness with no power. And the more disciplined you are, the more frustrated you are. The more sacrifice you make, the more frustrated you will become. The harder you work, the more bitter you become because it ends in a brick wall.

It's sacrifice, holding on to a form of godliness, yet you see no power, you see no work. Isaiah prophesied this when he said that the Messiah is coming in Isaiah 42.1, "Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I put my spirit upon him." He said, "What distinguishes the Messiah than any other prophet is that my Holy Spirit is going to be upon him.

He will bring forth justice to the nations." Isaiah 61, verse 1, this is the passage that Jesus reads at the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry, and this is what he says, quoting Isaiah 61.1, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." Okay, read that carefully. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim the liberty to captives, and freedom to the prisoners." What came first? The Holy Spirit. He said the reason why he needed to be anointed with the Holy Spirit is so that he can preach, so that he can do the ministry because even the Messiah, even the Son of God had to be anointed by the Holy Spirit in order to carry out what God called him to do.

And this is what he reads at the beginning of his ministry and says, "Now this is fulfilled in you." So at the center of Jesus' ministry was the Holy Spirit. He was baptized by the Holy Spirit. He was empowered by the Holy Spirit. He was led by the Holy Spirit.

And then when he left, he told his disciples, "I'm not going to leave you alone as an orphan, but the Holy Spirit, the counselor, the helper is going to come and remind you of everything that I have done." He says, "The Holy Spirit is going to convict the world of sin." And then he says, "If you do not abide, you cannot bear fruit." He's talking about the Holy Spirit.

So past, present, and future is saturated. If you are going to bear any fruit, you have to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. I don't need to tell you how frustrating it is to do anything and then lead to nothing. If you go work out, and you work out, you start out slow, and you're lifting weights, and after about two months, you see a friend walking in, and he lifts for four days, and he's bucked up already.

You've been doing it for months, every day, and you're working your tail off, and you go to the mirror and nothing. How frustrating is that? Very frustrating. You're trying to lose weight, and this guy is like, "Oh, I skipped some boba the other day. I lost five pounds." You've been starving yourself for like a month, and you gained three pounds.

So the harder you work, the more frustrated you become. Even Peter, when he describes, as he is talking to the Gentiles in Acts 10, verse 38, describes Jesus this way. "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." This is Peter who walked with Jesus, who observed him close up more than any other human being, describes Jesus and all the power and everything he's done because he was anointed by the Holy Spirit and was given power.

He was given power. That's how Peter described him. He recognized the central thing about Jesus was the Holy Spirit. Even though he knew exactly who he was. He's the Son of God. You are the Christ of the Son of the living God, but the way he described him was he was a man anointed by the Holy Spirit with power, and that's why he did what he did.

That's how Peter describes him. In fact, you get to the New Testament book of Hebrews, he says, "Even the very work of the whole atonement," right? The Holy Spirit was at the center of that. Hebrews 9, 14, "How much more would the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Through the eternal spirit, we have been washed with the blood of Christ.

1 Timothy 3, 16, "By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit." Some of your translations, the word "vindicated" is translated "justified." That the Holy Spirit was at the center of justification. Jesus was resurrected by the power.

Not only did he die and atone for our sins, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he says, "Even his very resurrection, it was by the spirit." Romans 8, 11, "But the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you." The very resurrection, he said, he gives credit to the Holy Spirit.

And then he makes a transition there and he says, "But that Holy Spirit dwells in you," he says. So the distinguishing mark of a Christian is not simply his life. Because you can fake that as a non-Christian. Can't you? There's plenty of people that you and I know who were very disciplined, sacrificed, maybe even became missionaries and pastors and bore a lot of fruit, were very well respected, who turned out to be liars.

They weren't Christians. Without mentioning names, I'm sure you can think of somebody. In recent history, there's example after example. You can do all of that and not be a Christian. You can fake that. I mean, non-Christian can study the Bible, non-Christian can preach, non-Christian can be disciplined, non-Christian can share the gospel, non-Christians can disciple somebody, non-Christians can work hard, non-Christians give money to charity.

He said that distinguishing mark of a Christian and a non-Christian is not simply what he does, even though those are fruits. He said the distinguishing mark is the Holy Spirit. He says Romans 8 and 9, "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him." So he says the fruit of the Spirit, how do we recognize if the Spirit is in him? He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness. He said, I mean, you could fake all of that too.

He said, but one of the biggest evidence of the Holy Spirit is that your inner being changes from being bitter and angry, from coveting, lusting, and all of a sudden, he brings new life and makes you a worshiper. All of those qualities are qualities of a worshiper whose inner being has changed.

I know plenty of people who work hard and sacrifice. Their inner being never changes. I know plenty of people who've picked up their cross and living a difficult life in the name of Jesus Christ, but their inner being never changes. But the true change happens, he says, what God is looking for are people who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

The fruit of the Spirit that's described in the Bible is changing a self-centered man to a God-centered man who worships him in spirit and in truth. So the identifying mark of a Christian is the Spirit, the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is he who helps us in our weaknesses.

Romans 8:26, it said, "In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for the words. And he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." You know why, especially in our generation where you and I live, why it's so hard to pray?

You know, we have schools of prayer, we have books on prayer, we have disciplines on prayer, but here it says it's the Holy Spirit that helps us to pray. A man or a woman who's not walking in the Spirit, he doesn't even know what to pray for. That's what it says.

He doesn't even know what to pray for. Because the Holy Spirit is the one who guides us. Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us. Our prayers are effective when our prayers are lined up with his desire. The Bible says, "If you abide in me, my words abide in you.

Whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." But we don't even know what to pray for because even as we pray, when we're not walking in the Spirit, when we're not praying in the Spirit, even the very content of your prayer, is that the will of God? Or is that for you?

Have you made up that goal? Or is that something that the Holy Spirit is leading you to? He says it's the Holy Spirit. John 14, 18, as Jesus is leaving his disciples, he says, "I will not leave you alone like an orphan." And then he says, John 14, 26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." You and I live in a generation where we are experts in form.

Experts in form. We have access to seminaries, books, know-how, probably better than any generation that has ever existed. We know how to set up chairs. I mean, we are so advanced. Okay, I set up chairs. That's the highest form, right? I mean, everything that you and I can think of, like the form-wise, how do we-- I mean, we have all the form, more than, exponentially, 100 times more than anyone has ever had in human history.

Organization, training, material, translations, sermons, seminaries, churches. I mean, just look at our praise team. I love our praise team, right? And we have people who have been studying and practicing their instrument all their life, and we are able to benefit from that as they lead us in worship. And all that is great because that's a blessing that God has given us.

So we have tremendous form, and all of these are great if the Holy Spirit empowers it, if the Holy Spirit uses it. But if the Holy Spirit is not in this, we are guilty of having a form of godliness with no power, because we know true worship isn't because we have great worship team.

True worship isn't because the chairs are nice or air-conditioned turned on or I gave a great message and you knew the outline and you felt convicted and, you know, that was good. True worship comes from within, when the Holy Spirit is stirring you up to worship. In fact, you and I have become so accustomed to form that when the form is not there, we automatically panic.

Whether that's worship, whether that's training, whatever it is, if we don't see the form, then something is wrong. So I remember, again, I grew up in the church, my dad was a pastor, so form is embedded in me. So several years ago I was asked to come to a Lutheran church to lead this revival.

And Lutheran church is a little bit different, the way they're organized, they do worship differently. So, you know, I am very familiar with the Presbyterian worship because I grew up in that. And I'm very familiar with the Baptist worship because as an adult I became a Baptist, you know.

And so typical worship begins a lot like what we do, right? Somebody comes up, opens up the worship, we sing some songs, we have some announcements, read the text, then somebody gives a sermon, you know, maybe sing some songs. Or if we had a Presbyterian church, somebody would come, you know, and they'll do the Lord's Prayer, and then somewhere there's an Apostles' Creed, and then there's a benediction at the end.

And so it's very familiar. So I went to a Lutheran church, and I'm expecting something like that. And they said the service is at 1130, so I show up at 1120, and I'm sitting, I'm waiting, right? So where's the praise team going to come up, they're going to make some announcement, they introduce me, I'm going to come and speak, right?

So 1130 comes around, and the presider comes up and says, "Thank you, everybody, for coming. Pastor Peter is going to come and preach now." So I was, you know, about to pray, and they're like, "What? They want me to pray?" So I went up there, it's like, "Oh, what's going on?" He's like, "Go ahead, go ahead." So I had to jump into the text, and I have to give a sermon.

I came down, and so there was nothing familiar about what they did. And I remember, they said, "That was weird," you know. But I was thinking, nothing that they did was unbiblical. It was that I got so, you know, I got so familiar with the form, that when it didn't conform to that form, it felt like something was off.

That was weird, you know. They didn't prep me for that, right? But some of the most genuine worship that I've been to had weird form. You know, years ago, we went to Romania. We were supposed to--we had a team prepared to go out to China, but that year, they had SARS.

So literally, last minute, they said, "You're not allowed to come into China." So we contacted our, you know, IMB office, and they said, "Hey, we need somebody to come to Romania this year." So we packed up our bags, went to Romania, and we would go to the churches, and the churches were so rigid, you know, because they were so concerned about being judged by the Greek Orthodox Church there, because they're so rigid, and the Baptist church is like-- we got yelled at for smiling during our presentation, you know.

I can go into the stories about that, but we did all this presentation, and they grieved over our presentation, you know, because they were so conservative. Well, in one of those days, on a Sunday, we decided to visit this Gypsy church, and they were kind of an outcast, even among the Baptists.

They're kind of like, you know, they're not Baptists. They're not Presbyterian. They're Gypsies. And so they wanted us to come because the missionary there was working with them and asked us to come. And so it was a small church, maybe a church of maybe about 15, 20 people, and then we had maybe about 10 people on our team.

And so we sat there, and it's like, you know, I was thinking that we're going to be participating in this worship. And then the missionary comes up, and he says, "Pastor Peter, can you give us the word this morning?" I didn't prepare for that, so I just got up and like, "Let's see.

What is the Holy Spirit going to say today?" So I basically gave an impromptu, you know, 15-minute message, and I sat down. I did an okay job. I had sermons that I could give like that. But after that was done, he started to call some people to give their testimony, some people from our team, some people from the church.

And there was no form. They were just kind of free-flowing, you know. Man, it was about an hour of different people standing up, giving their testimonies. And at the end of that, just tears in the room. Every single person just standing up, "This is what Jesus means to me." They would sing some songs, and another person stands up, "And this is what Jesus has done for me.

I'm a wretched sinner, and he loved me. I can't believe that he endured and do this for me." And one by one, they would stand up, and man, it was the most powerful worships I've ever been to. And all because it was people who were being prompted by the love of Christ.

It wasn't because they were having this forum. It wasn't because there was a great message. It was simply the people in the room wanted to worship in spirit and in truth. The Holy Spirit was guiding them and leading them. We can do this week after week. I can give the best sermons.

We can give the best music. But the Holy Spirit is not changing you within. It's just a form of godliness. And there's no power. See, the power of the gospel is the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, transforming us from our inner being. That all I can think of is worshiping God.

Because that's where my greatest joy comes from. Because I used to worship the world. I used to worship money. I used to worship honor from people. Now I worship the living God. So the same joy that I experience from finding success in the world, now I experience that joy exponentially more in worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

That's the Holy Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. What is lacking in our generation is not more form. That's our natural tendency. That we think that if we add more form, if we add more structure, that somehow we're going to experience more fruit. We are formed out. Every single one of you are more trained today than any other Christian has been in church history.

Think about that. You have heard more truth. You had more guidance. You had more training. You had more examples. You've heard more sermons. You had more access than any other Christian in human history. And yet, as soon as we see a problem, the first thing that we run to is we need more structure.

There's nothing wrong with structure. There's nothing wrong with any of that. But what we are lacking is not more form. What we are lacking is the Holy Spirit. What we're lacking is a true life within us that causes us to sing. You have a room filled with people who's eager to sing?

You don't need a whole praise band. Bring a tambourine. Because that's what it's like in India. We go to these villages. We have hundreds of people gathered together. There's no guitar. There's no synthesizer. There's no worship leaders and backup singers and the bass and the latest hip music. Tambourine.

And the room begins to explode with worship because people are eager. Evangelism? Evangelism is not, "Come on, man. The world is dying. We've got to do this." Yeah, that's necessary here. But if you have a room filled with people who's filled with the Holy Spirit, try to tell them not to share the gospel.

Look at the disciples. You keep doing this. You keep doing this, you're going to get in trouble. You're going to be beaten. You're going to be locked up. You may be even killed. You tell me what's right to do. To obey you, to obey God. They couldn't stop them.

Even as they are being stoned, they couldn't stop them. Even as they are running to protect their children, they couldn't stop them. Everywhere Apostle Paul went, there was already a church. There was already a group established. Not because of extensive training and how to evangelize and how to establish elders.

They just went. They just went, and everywhere they went, the gospel was being spread because the Holy Spirit went with them, and they were emboldened. See, us being rich has caused us to believe that if we do more, if we sacrifice more, if we discipline more, if we add more form, if we add more structure, if we do more, more will come out.

That's our own pride and deception. No, he says to do exactly the opposite, to do less. And you say, "Oh, Pastor Peter said do less. Let's stop doing everything." By our own strength. We do less by our own might. We do less by our own intellect, by our own power, by our own will, and depend on God, depend on the Holy Spirit.

Let me wrap this up and bring us back to where I got sidetracked. There's a reason why Luke ends his genealogy all the way to Adam. There's a reason because Adam was in the Garden of Eden, and at the Garden of Eden he fails, and so as a result of that, he gets kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

The Bible says that Jesus is the second Adam, 1 Corinthians 15.22, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." As soon as Adam falls, Jesus shows up. Where does he show up? Where does he get tested? In the wilderness. Adam is in the garden, he gets kicked out.

Jesus is in the wilderness where there's no life, and he's going to, through his life, bring us back into the garden, what God intended, bring life. It's not by accident. I'm going to go deeper into that later. There's a clear connection to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, and Jesus' testing out in the wilderness.

I'm not going to go into that today. Next time I'm up here, and you're going to see that clear connection. It's not by accident. But here, I want you to see this. So the difference between Adam's fall and Christ's redemption, it says 1 Peter 3.18, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive," what?

"in the Spirit." That's the difference. "But while in the flesh, Christ will redeem us in the Spirit." And so how significant is the Spirit? Spirit's work in our lives. So let me, again, wrap this up. I started with the question of what are we looking at when we look at Jesus?

Are we seeing deity walking on earth and doing his work? Are we seeing Jesus turning off his humanity and then embracing his deity back and forth? That's not what we're seeing in the Gospel. What we're seeing is a man in every way was like us, who was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

He was a man just like us in every way. He was tempted in every way just like us, but did not sin, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now, if I finish the sermon here, it's like, "Oh, that's a great sermon, but now what?" Because without the Holy Spirit, you will fail.

Yes, we're failures. Let's go home. We all fail. You fail. I fail. I work hard. You work hard. And we fail. Praise God. Obviously, that's not the conclusion. You guys know this passage really well. Luke 11, verse 9. It says, "So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." This is a passage that is preached on, memorized in every church. I don't know how many times I've heard this text being exposited and saying, "Hey, you do not have it because you did not ask.

You have to ask. You have to knock. You have to seek." He said, he promised he will open the door. So if you want a Lamborghini, you have to ask. If you want your business to work, you have to seek. If you want her as your wife, you got to knock or poke.

He said, "Is that what he means?" He said, "Figure out what you want, and then ask, seek, and knock. Because I have a verse." What's principle number one in inductive Bible study? Context. What's the context of this? Well, let's read the rest. "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish.

He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" So when he says seek, ask, and knock, what is he talking about?

Your greatest need is the Holy Spirit. Our greatest desire has to be the Holy Spirit. What we are knocking for, asking for, and seeking is the Holy Spirit. Because until we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, everything that we do becomes futile. And you just won't do it for long.

And then when you feel like you've achieved something by your own merit, because you worked hard, you know what happens? Pride. That's your fruit. Pride. And as soon as pride comes in, you are ruined. And you will ruin everybody around you when pride comes in. That is not the fruit that God desires of us.

He says seek the Holy Spirit. Seek Him. If the Holy Spirit ministry is this important, how much of our strong effort, how much of our prayer, how much of our desire, how much of our seeking, how much of our study should be focused on being empowered by the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit?

The next time we pray, next time we fast, that the central thing that we ought to be begging and praying and crying out for is Lord, empower us with the Holy Spirit. Empower us with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, go before us and open the doors. Holy Spirit, convict the hearts of sinners so that they would receive you.

Holy Spirit, convict the church. Make us into men and women who worship you in spirit and in truth. Holy Spirit, help me to conquer my sins. Holy Spirit, help me to not to look at the world with envy and covetousness. Holy Spirit, fill me so that I would no longer walk in the flesh, but by your spirit.

You and I are busy. Most of you are busy studying, organizing, leading, memorizing, witnessing, raising, trying to raise godly children, sacrificing, giving, all the while frustrated because you don't see fruit. The central thing that you need, central thing that I need, is the Holy Spirit to consume us so that our worship and our life is not about form, but about power.

Would you take some time to pray with me? Not just today, but as you pray, as you fast, Lord, as even the Son of Man, as even Jesus himself was dependent upon the Holy Spirit, Lord, if I've lived a life grieving the Holy Spirit, if I've been holding on to a form of godliness, yet not knowing you from a distance, if I've been regurgitating information without actually living, walking, praying in the Holy Spirit, Lord, I desire that more than anything else.

Let's take some time to pray, humble ourselves before his throne, acknowledge that we are weak without him and asking him. So let's take some time to pray again as our worship team leads us. (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) Let's stand up for the closing praise.

(Music) (Music) He became sin, who knew no sin That we might become his righteousness He humbled himself and carried the cross A love so amazing A love so amazing Jesus, Messiah Name above all names Blessed Redeemer Emmanuel The rescue for sinners The ransom from heaven Jesus, Messiah Lord of all His body, the breath, the blood, the wine Broken and poured out all for love The whole earth trembled, the veil was torn A love so amazing A love so amazing, yeah Jesus, Messiah Name above all names The blessed Redeemer Emmanuel The rescue for sinners The ransom from heaven Jesus, Messiah Lord of all All our hope is in you All our hope is in you All the glory to you, God The light of the whole world All our hope is in you All our hope is in you All the glory to you, God The light of the world Jesus, Messiah Name above all names The blessed Redeemer Emmanuel The rescue for sinners The ransom from heaven Jesus, Messiah Lord of all Jesus, Messiah Lord of all Let's pray.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

God sent His Son They called Him Jesus He came to love, heal and forgive He lived and died to buy my pardon An empty grave is there to fill my Savior's lips Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just because He lives Amen.

At Your table, Jesus lay At Your table, Jesus lay By Your perfect sacrifice I've been bought near Your enemy, You've made Your friend Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace Your mercy and Your kindness, no, no way Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank You The flower's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus, thank You Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You Jesus, thank You Lover of my soul, I want to live for You Lover of my soul, I want to live for You Lover of my soul, I want to live for You Lover of my soul, I want to live for You Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank You The flower's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus, thank You Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank You The flower's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus, thank You Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You Jesus, thank You Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You (intense music) (gentle music) ♪ Here is love, vast as the ocean ♪ ♪ Love and kindness as the flood ♪ ♪ When the prince of life, our answer ♪ ♪ Shed for us his precious blood ♪ ♪ His precious blood ♪ ♪ Here is love, vast as the ocean ♪ ♪ Love and kindness as the flood ♪ ♪ When the prince of life, our answer ♪ ♪ Shed for us his precious blood ♪ ♪ Who his love will not remember ♪ ♪ Who can cease to sing his praise ♪ ♪ He can never be forgotten ♪ ♪ Throughout hell's eternal days ♪ - Yes, Lord.

(gentle music) ♪ On the mount of crucifixion ♪ ♪ Fountains open deep and wide ♪ ♪ Through the flood ♪