Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week..

Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….

So church, I’m gonna ask you to stand and open your Bibles.
We are in the book of Romans back in the book of Romans. It’s been some weeks.
Romans chapter eight verses nine through 11.
And um Frank Turi last week made that little jab about how long it’s gonna take us to get through the book of Romans.
What’s the hurry? It’s good doctrine. It’s essential doctrine.
It’s what we need and frankly, uh we need to know doctor more than ever and it needs to happen in a Sunday setting.
See, isn’t that what small groups are for? No church services are for doctrine?
I’m not gonna teach you today. The five steps of feeling happy about yourself.
You can watch that on youtube somewhere and there’s a lot of other things you can get off of youtube.
But what we’re talking about right now, what we’ll always talk about here on Sundays is treating you the way God would have you be treated.
And that is immersing you in the doctrine of God’s word.
That’s how we grow and become disciples in Romans eight is a great picture of this.
And before we read it, the title is what spirit lives in you. That’s a very important question.
What spirit lives in you because there is a spirit.
Listen, there is a spirit that lives within you by default.
And that’s the spirit of who you are, God made you body, soul and spirit.
But outside of that, listen, the Bible is very clear that there is going to be one of two powers that occupy and drive your body, soul and spirit.
I’m not talking about your spirit.
In the question here, I’m talking about, are you being empowered and operated by the spirit of God or not?
And the not is terrifying and yet it’s 100% current for our day.
Romans chapter eight verse nine. I’ll read the odd number verse jump in on the even Romans chapter eight verse nine, but you are not in the flesh.
He’s speaking to the believers in Rome.
But in the spirit, if indeed or the word can be translated since indeed, the spirit of God dwells in you.
Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, listen to this.
He is not his I but if the spirit, the Holy Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.
This is incredibly powerful stuff. This is truth that will absolutely transform you.
So long as it gets under our skin. Amen. Father God. Move in our midst. We pray.
Lord, we ask you that you would just take over. Lord, we sensed your presence in the worship.
We pray now that you be honored in the word we ask it in Jesus name and all God’s people said amen church.
You may be seated. What spirit lives in you is the question.
And um when you think about that, you need to make note of the fact that as human beings uh you are uniquely created.
And boy do, I just want to shout this out like never before the human being today in the world is under attack.
And I’m not talking about you and me just being human beings. I’m talking about God’s design.
You can travel around any city or any complex.
Maybe you, maybe you live in a master planned community.
I don’t, maybe you do and they have rules, do they not have rules?
Some of them are good.
I guess it’s supposed to be supposed to keep property values up and keep somebody from painting their house purple.
OK? I get that. I understand that. But there are rules and regulations to protect the investment of all.
And so they do that because they value the investment enough.
And there are nations and they operate as nations, there’s counties, they operate as counties and they have rules to protect the, the very purpose of its existence.
But then we come to the human being. And have you noticed?
Of course, you’ve noticed that it seems to be almost an all out war on what the human is and I want to submit to you today that that’s by design demonic design, but by design, God designed you a certain way.
Friend. You have been engineered to be a human being. You’re not an animal.
I don’t care what Chuck Darwin says. He’s wrong.
The Bible says that you’ve been creating the image of God.
And the Bible says that God established mankind to be over the whole earth.
And the Bible says that he placed Adam and Eve to be our original parents and that we were to have Dominion over all of the animals and all of the sea creatures.
And that think about that, we can’t even imagine what that means. If Adam and Eve wouldn’t have sinned.
Does that mean that we could have gone to the ocean and talked to the fish or, or whistled and a whale would have come up.
We could have gotten on the back of a wha I don’t know it’s but, but to have Dominion over the, the, the great creatures of the sea.
What does that mean? Nobody knows.
It just means that we had a lofty position where God put us over this planet and then Adam and Eve had to do it their own way, which became our way.
And now we see a world in freefall as it is and the human being under attack, the human being being redefined, the human being being degraded down now to the level of even a sub creature.
And I’m always quick, I I’m always quick to point out when opportunity gives uh a chance to where this world around us doesn’t want us to mention anything about God.
But then when somebody commits a murder or a crime, they say things like how could this happen?
And I always sarcastically, it’s very fun to do. I’ll do it on social media.
Uh And it, it just, I’ll say something like this.
How dare you be upset with the murderer?
He went through all of these secular school indoctrination.
He went to his university that we’re hearing about and he went out, he got out of school and things didn’t go his way.
And so he shot up the classroom or whatever he did. Why would you dare criticize him for that?
You know what the funny thing is, is the people who say, you know, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die are the ones that are most upset.
The people who say we are evolutionary creatures, they’re the ones that get most upset.
They want me to say this should be condemned.
And of course I’m being very sarcastic right now.
Are you following me when you, my point is this, when you tell someone they’re an animal, all their lives that there is no God there is no purpose for your life that there’s no condition by which you should live by and that there is no state as it were of order in your life.
You tell them you’re an animal and then you expect them to act like angels.
I like to point out the contradiction.
We know it’s wrong because God has put it in our hearts.
We know it’s wrong because God has written it on our very spirit, our soul.
So you can have it both ways.
If you want to have an evolutionary byproduct of an accident, then it’s to every man his own.
But if God created us for a purpose, then there should be evidence that there’s part of the divine nature that is still visible in this world today.
And I argue that there is overwhelmingly any act of kindness is a display of a little ember, a mere effervescent of how we once were as the human being.
And it’s God’s plan to get you. And I back to Him. Why?
Because His whole heart is to restore us to the former glory.
Now, the process begins here on earth, heaven awaits which is the final product for that.
We cannot wait enough in numerous times. Church.
By the way, if you look in your Bibles right now, now in your bibles, you would see that there are several key words.
In fact, they repeat themselves quite often five times.
I think maybe even six times you’ll see the word in I N for example, but you are not in the flesh, but you are in the spirit.
The spirit of God dwells in you. Christ is in you. Uh He dwells in you.
It says again and then at the letter and the spirit who dwells in you, the word I N in English is the Greek word E N.
And uh it, it means that God you can write it down this way that God would take up residence.
It is God’s will in the Bible to communicate to you that he wants to take up residence in your life.
And by doing so, he uh establishes a new community.
It’s called the church and he does it through your heart and your life. It’s very awesome. It’s very beautiful.
It’s very organic. Um You just don’t build a building slap across on the top and put a parking lot out there and call it a church that’s not a church.
God determines what a church is.
And uh you guys know this, that you and I could be seated right now on the side of a hill as long as the Bible is open and the spirit of God is in our lives.
That’s church. And I think that might be a better idea.
Maybe that’s the direction we’re all going eventually anyway, is church under the stars, so to speak.
We don’t belong to this world. This is not our home.
Few things before we get into this.
It’s very important to understand that we talk about in over again, in the spirit Christ, in you God, in you, that we’re really talking about the placement, something that it means to be fixed or positioned.
God’s word says you, the believer have been positioned in Christ. God does this. You can’t do it.
I can’t do it. God does it. And by the way, there’s evidence and you’re going to know it.
If it’s happened to you, you know it, if it’s happened to you and you don’t know it, maybe you haven’t recognized it yet and today will change all that.
The word also means that when God does his work in us, that he occupies a place in our life and the work can refer to space and time which alludes to thoughts.
God begins to influence our thinking and our very motive for living another understanding of the word I N both English and in Greek E N is being part of being in a place of a safe location, a desired place, a haven.
If God is in you, you can be in the midst of the most horrific situation.
If God is in you, there’s a sense of a haven that dwells within you, the world is flying apart around you and you’ve got peace.
I’m wondering if you know that today, you should know that.
In fact, you know, when it’s happening in your life because you’ll have peace and this is one of the ways that you’ll find out about it is that others around you who are biting their fingernails and freaking out are upset with you because you’re not doing the same, don’t you?
They’ll grab you by the shoulders and say, don’t you understand how horrific the situation is?
Yes, I do. Well, I don’t believe you. Why?
Because you should be freaking out like us, You should be biting your fingernails.
You should be taking pills shooting a shot of something.
No, God’s got this. I don’t understand. I don’t know what’s happening either.
My friend, but God knows and that’s part of us returning back to where we belong when we are away from God.
We worry when we are away from God or do not know God.
It’s no wonder why we’re falling apart inside and out.
It’s because we think we’re in some way, shape or form in charge or we can somehow control something.
But it’s not possible. I wanna have you look at four things as we get into this study today with respect to the assurance of salvation.
God’s word is certain that those who have salvation, know it.
And there are four types of people that we need to consider. So, did you guys all hear me?
You’re very quiet right now. You say, wait a minute, Pastor I’m visiting today. Are you saying that once saved?
Always saved? I’m saying yes. Once saved always saved.
If you’re saved, you know, for those of you who don’t know Christians get in fights over this issue.
Oh, so you believe in one saved? Always saved?
Because there are just, there’s a camp who believe that you can be aborted from the family of God.
I don’t believe that. And then there’s a group that says you can’t. I’m in that group. Why?
For what reason? Because when God does a work, as we’re learning on Wednesday nights, he finishes that work.
And when you’re born again, Jesus said, there’s no passion uh passage of scripture that says you can be unborn again.
Here’s the issue. Well, my friend, he said he was a Christian for 30 years and then he just went nuts and went into the world and he, he, he lost his salvation.
How do you know, how do you know you ever had it?
Jesus says, watch out because there are those who believe for a while, but they go back into the world.
They never had faith, they had belief. Does that define you today?
Do you have belief but not faith?
Well, number one, look at this, there are four types of people that we need to consider regarding the assurance of salvation, which is key to the book of Romans chapter eight.
Number one, there are those who are not saved and they know that they’re not saved because they do not believe in the need to be saved.
You might be here today saying I came because it’s Mother’s Day.
These are they who are in a state of condemnation says the Bible, they don’t care about what God says.
They don’t care about. The Bible says they don’t care about the issue of sin.
They don’t care about right or wrong. They’ve got their own morality and that’s just fine.
That’s, that’s, that’s one group.
The second group is that some are saved and they celebrate having the full assurance of their salvation.
They know that they are living in an active state of grace with God and they know they are secure in Christ, Jesus alone.
That’s the group. I’m in group number two. I’m behind door. Number two.
It’s the grace of God that has saved me.
Uh My life was completely bent on killing myself the way that I was living and God got a hold of me by his grace and I celebrate my salvation every day.
Because why? Because God reminds me of it every day. I don’t have to conjure it up.
I don’t get, I don’t wake up in the morning and have written with Lisa’s lipstick on the mirror. Jack.
Remember you’re saved. No number three.
Some are in fact saved, but they are emotionally insecure of their salvation in Christ. Their souls are unnecessarily fearful.
A lot of people are like this.
They are restless and often troubled even though they are secure in Christ.
That’s their position yet they fail to enjoy Him. Why would that be the case?
Because they struggle with their self worth based upon their own observation versus God’s observation?
Do you know why you and I have so much value is because we’ve been creating the image of God and you and I are key at pointing out our own flaws, right?
We’re pretty good. We’re masters of that. We have no problem. We can justify our own condemnation.
If you’re very honest with yourself, you know, you and I know me and I know all the things that I feel at that I failed at in the past and I’m failing at now.
Sad to admit, don’t look at me like that same with you.
But to hear this, that God says, I position put Christ in you by the Holy Spirit.
You are marked as my child.
I’m doing a work in your life and I’m gonna bring it to a beautiful end. Remember Jeremiah 29 11?
It’s not on the screen. Go ahead and write it down. Uh That’s a great tattoo.
If you’re gonna get one Jeremiah 29 11. God.
God says, I know the thoughts I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of hope and for a future, thoughts of bringing your life to a full and glorious end.
That’s what God wants for you.
You need to listen, you need to meditate on that because you’ve got salvation, but you’re not enjoying it because you’re focused on all of your sin or shortcoming.
When God says, imagine this, he looks at us as it were with uh call it rose colored glasses.
They’re red. I mean, they’re blood red glasses. He sees us through the blood of Jesus.
And how is that possible, Jack? Because it’s by faith in Him. That’s all he’s asked us for.
You come to me in faith. It sounds easy.
It’s easier for a little kid than it is for us.
But it’s to take him at his word. Fourth group.
Some are not saved, but they think they are listen to this, this group is scary.
This probably defines most of America.
If you interview somebody on the street, some are not saved, but they think they are saved.
They have convinced themselves of their assurance of salvation based upon another gospel.
It’s not the biblical gospel meaning or understanding. Thus, their assurance is a false assurance. They’ve got some answer.
For example, how do you know you’re gonna go to heaven if you say well, you know what I I have really, I’ve believed all my life.
I’ve been to church all my life. I’ve given money faithfully.
I’ve done service to wrong answer, wrong answer. Romans chapter eight, beginning in verse nine.
What spirit lives in you? Number one.
It’s this church and this is our, our only point for today because it’s too deep.
It is, this is it the spirit of comfort when you pick up the Bible, when you think about God, do you have an understanding that God’s will is for you to have a spirit of comfort governing your life?
God wants his kids comforted. And what beautiful news in the world today is that God says to you.
And I, I want to leave you my peace.
I want you to have my comfort and it’s beyond human description by the way.
And we look at it this way in verse nine.
Is he the spirit who confirms, does he confirm that comfort in your life?
All of you think about yourself?
Now for a moment, you, you’re permitted to do that, think all about yourself right now.
And you ask yourself, does God, the Holy Spirit?
Is he actively comforting you in your life in your day to day life? Do we have struggles?
Do we have difficulties? Yes. But is he comforting you? Why?
Because when he does that, it confirms our faith in him.
He says in verse nine, but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit notice here it’s capital s the Holy Spirit.
The believer does not live for the appetites of his flesh.
In fact, we have woken up to the truth that the appetites of our flesh, war against the will of the Spirit of God.
And we’ve covered that in many chapters of the book of Romans.
So we don’t need to go back on that.
But when I talk about confirm, what do I mean by that? Well, confirm our confirmation.
It means that God shows us a distinction between the two worlds that are available to control us that are there to control us.
Galatians chapter four, by the way, verse eight says, indeed, when you did not know God, you serve those which by nature are not gods.
I find that a fascinating statement and a commentary when you and I did not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
We were still very religious to practice the worship of our gods.
We didn’t call them gods but they were gods. How do we know?
Did they not control our decision making? Did they not control how we spent their money?
Did they not control you? What are you talking about?
I don’t know, maybe it’s the God of God of sports. Maybe it was the God of, of drink.
Maybe it was the God of fill in the blank.
It was something other than the personal God of the Bible. Was it girls? Was it guys?
Was it porn money? Was it uh health? What was it? It doesn’t matter what it is.
It’s the head of God, it’s above God and we make them gods.
And Paul is talking to the church at Galatia and he says, don’t, you know that when you didn’t know God, you still had God’s atheists have gods.
They really do.
There’s many things atheists trust in can I put it to you this way?
There’s many things that atheists have faith in.
But God is asking, do we have that place of comfort?
And is that comfort confirming our lives? He uses the word right here in verse nine, the word flesh.
It’s the Greek word Sark, S A R X Sark. And it means our bodily existence.
I love the word because it means that that’s not all that we are.
It’s not all that we are. That is good news.
It means our bodily apparatus, this bio machine that you and I willfully manipulate around.
We move our bodies. Watch this. This is I, I don’t know. I’m sorry because I’ve been studying this.
It’s all in my head bouncing around. It’s got to come out, but I hope you see it too.
So watch this. My mind is going to formulate a statement. Uh It’s coming here, it comes.
It’s about ready to use a part of my body.
And here it comes, my mind is going to say uh using my mouth.
So it goes from the invisible ethereal world into the physical realm. Are you with me?
The thought is you can’t touch my thought.
I say I’m gonna raise my right hand and I raised my right hand.
See Jack, what are you talking about?
What I just did encompasses the full person of who I am.
My right hand only went up after a decision was made.
But the decision was made only after a thought process was carried out.
And it went from the spirit realm of who I am to touch my soul, which is the brain, not the brain as matter, but the mind I should say.
And the command was given to a physical part of my body. Say it, do it.
You need to remember that in life, you and I are not just creatures that do.
There’s a reason why we do. There’s a reason why we say.
And that word Sark screams that it’s one third of who we really are flesh.
Even though we see it in the mirror every day, we stroke it and we take care of it.
We put, put uh formaldehyde or a perfume on it.
Yesterday, my daughter came over, came, came over and uh I think I’ve told you guys before.
I don’t, I don’t know why but I have no, I’ve never had feeling in my face.
I could cut myself with a razor blade, uh shaving and, and I’d never know.
Um I it’s terrible because when, when I took Lisa out on her first date, you know, I love spaghetti and it’s just, you know, it can be everywhere and I can’t feel a thing.
So yesterday, yesterday there was a mosquito on my cheek just having a grand old lunch.
How do I know? Because my daughter walks in the room and she goes, oh dad, there’s a mosquito on your face.
I go. There is and she goes, yeah, come and blood. That thing had been there.
I don’t know, breakfast, lunch, heading for dinner, big spot of blood.
I, I didn’t feel it.
I, I didn’t even feel, I mean, my neck moved but I didn’t feel the, I didn’t feel the slap and she goes, I’m so sorry.
I don’t, you remember? I can’t feel anything on my face that’s fine.
And so trying to remember why I even brought that up about, about the flesh being one third of who we are.
It’s the part that won’t really matter till later when God resurrects us from the dead.
But the Bible says we are no longer what a great comfort.
God says you are no longer under the flesh. You’re not in the flesh anymore.
It doesn’t drive you the real Christian lives and moves and dwells in a reality that is spiritually based Christian.
And according to the Bible, our existence, true existence is in the spiritual realm.
May I tell you the world right now?
It’s so evident and you can feel it more now than ever is not our home.
You can really sense it and sometimes it’s hard to stay in the fight for things that are good because we’re supposed to stand up for what’s right.
But it’s getting tougher because we, we are starting to feel as the believer, we’re starting to feel a great separation from this world.
Are we not, I mean, don’t get me wrong.
We’re gonna pay our taxes, we’re gonna do the speed limit. We’re gonna mow our laws. That’s not what I’m.
But what I’m talking about is there’s this overwhelming increasing sense because the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.
And he’s basically saying you don’t belong here. This is not your home. I’m coming for you soon.
And I love that Christ in you.
The Bible says, do you know that if Christ is in you?
There’s a sense of comfort and he confirms it to you.
No loving parent would ever have their child grow up insecure.
Parents spend a lot of time and effort to communicate security to their Children.
And then your brother comes along and says, you were adopted, which if you were adopted, cheer up because as Christians, every single one of us got adopted us into the family.
And it’s that word spirit, the num simply meaning the Holy Spirit. Watch this.
The Holy Spirit is active. He has a movement, the, the Holy Spirit is not stationary movement, the breath of God, the given of life, the life giver or the breath giver.
Do you remember when God carved Adam out of the dirt? Which is awesome?
Oh Pastor, you told me, you believe that.
Well, as science catches up with the Bible, more and more the very elements that make up the universe and this earth are the exact same elements that make up the human body.
How do you explain that? I can explain it easy.
God says I formed Adam out of the dust of the earth.
So if that were true, then you’d find all the elements of dust in the human body.
And guess what? We’re a bunch of dirt clouds until God breathed his spirit into our body in Adam’s body that is.
And Adam, the Bible says became a living soul, but God wants you to be comforted in your salvation.
Mark these down. If you would, we’re going to rattle off several passages here.
Ephesians chapter two, verse 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit friends.
If you don’t know, this is the Bible, Paul is talking to the church in Ephesus.
The reason why I’m saying that is because is that an insanely bold statement?
The Bible says to those who have faith in Christ, in whom you also are being built together.
That’s God’s work for a dwelling place of God in the spirit.
We need to be careful that we don’t look at each other so common.
Every single life has value.
Listen, suicide is on the rise worldwide, but America seems to be the epicenter of it.
I want to say right now, don’t do it.
No, you don’t know what I’m going through.
I don’t need to know God knows, but you have yet to turn it over to him. Cry to him.
True story. Got a text this week. I’ll leave, leave out the details.
Simply this, this particular person knows better. This particular person is in a place of power.
This particular person said I can’t take it anymore.
I’m going to end my life and he texted me and so I answered back and I said, are you a believer?
Yes. You know that I am.
And I said, well, that takes suicide off the table then, and that’s exactly what I said.
I’ll be honest with you. I said, look at this moment, I’m having a pretty rough day myself.
I agree with you. I feel like not facing tomorrow.
But I tell you what, how about you?
And I wake up to the realization, we ain’t got the authority to take our life that God gave.
We’re going to suck it up and we’re gonna come back and do it again tomorrow until this cloud passes.
Will you do this with me? Question mark, answer back. I’m with you pastor.
Do you ever get, have you ever been there?
She’s like, why do I live anymore? Wait a minute.
Is Christ on the throne of your heart will yell.
Well, then let’s wait for that clown to pass.
God will confirm and he announces to us this, that the spirit of God is in the believer doesn’t mean we’re exempt from this life’s pressure, but God’s with us.
First Corinthians chapter three verse 16. 1st Corinthians 3 16 says this.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God?
And that the spirit of God dwells in you? The Holy Spirit. You see Jack.
If that’s true, why, why can’t you, why can’t you jump like 45 ft in the air?
Oh, you’ve been watching too much Hollywood.
It would be way easier to jump 45 ft in the air than it would be to live the next 30 years.
Faithful to God, faithful to my wife, faithful to my kids. Are you hearing me faithful to you?
Fill in the blank. Pastor Chuck Smith used to say, I don’t know if he got it himself or he got it from somebody else.
He said, I don’t care how high it is that you can jump, that matters.
That’s how straight you walk after you land.
Are you a superhero at work?
Do you have medals in honor of this and that? Hey, that’s awesome.
And I’m not disparaging that. But listen, we’ll never survive this thing called Christianity without the Holy Spirit of God.
And in fact, the reverse is what we’re seeing in the world today.
We’re seeing something that is called church that’s not church that is so sick and anemic and pathetic that it’s no different than the world.
In fact, it’s even worse than the world because their actions are cloaked in religiosity.
They slap a bible verse on it and they say, look at us and the world looks at them and says, who needs you?
No, when God gets a hold of us, listen, he starts a work in us.
And if you haven’t caught on, it’s a marathon friend. But you hang in there.
Second Timothy 1 14, 2nd Timothy chapter one verse 14 says that, that good thing which was committed to you.
That is the gospel. Keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.
This is confirmation to the believer’s life that should bring you comfort.
Ask yourself, does the Holy Spirit live inside of you? Does it control you?
Do you sense his presence and his leading and his guiding Ephesians chapter one verse 13 in him, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, that’s the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Some of you who are into banking or finance, that word sealed with the Holy Spirit.
It’s uh the old Greek. Uh Well, the, the word in Greek is the old English word.
Earnest, not a name but earnest money. You know what earnest money is.
Uh Many of you don’t know because you’re too young, earnest. Money is a down payment, money, down payment.
Uh It’s laid aside, it’s, this has been a down payment that sets it aside.
You know, listen, if you are currently, if you currently have a mortgage, you’re buying your house.
If your friends show up and say this is your house.
No, come back in 30 years, right? It’s not your house.
And by the way, read the fine print, the bank can almost take it almost.
I say any time they want, you’re buying your house.
But with God, he puts a down payment on you and look at the word word sealed.
You are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.
When the Holy Spirit says, I promise you, I’m gonna pick you up on the day of redemption.
That is God speaking. Oh, doesn’t that bring you comfort? Brings me comfort.
Listen in the face of an opposing world and darkening days and constantly shifting agendas.
I have comfort and God confirms that every day of my life and I don’t wanna have that joy by myself.
Every single one of you should enjoy that. And if you don’t have that, you have to get that today.
You gotta get that by getting him. God is among his people. God’s word is true.
God makes his promises and no 21st century shakes the truth of God.
If anything things for us become more sure and more certain.
Look at all the things I’m gonna get off target here.
Look at all the things that disrupted your life over the course of these last three years.
And now we find out 90% of what you were put through, turned out to be needless.
That’s the world friend.
But as we’re learning on Wednesday nights in the book of Hebrew book of Hebrews.
God’s immovable. Never changing. He’s steadfast and sure what an awesome God he is.
Secondly, under this point in verse nine, it goes on.
It is the, is it the spirit of comfort in your lives?
Is this, is he the spirit who possesses, possesses? See, I don’t, I don’t like you.
I don’t like using that word. No, possess is the right word. I don’t like that.
I think of like exorcist and stuff like that. Listen, that’s because Satan has stolen the word as a Christian.
I want to be possessed by the Holy Spirit of God. I don’t want any room for me.
I already tried that. It doesn’t work. He’s the Holy Spirit of possession.
Don’t you think for a moment if you put money down on that house and now you’re making payments on that house that you wouldn’t take care of that house?
God says I put out the down payment on you. I paid for you.
I made a promise to you.
I’m working in your life and there’s a day when all of you will be mine together. Think about that.
You and I live right now in faith through the scriptures and we love a God who we’ve never seen.
Listen, I got to admit to an unbeliever we look like nuts and I agree with them.
I used to think the same way that they think today those Christians because they believe.
Oh, I just love, oh, praise Jesus. We can’t talk like that publicly.
People you can’t tell you, you can’t say that on the oh, oh look God. Be praised.
My car burned down. Don’t talk like that publicly. We know what you mean.
They don’t know what you mean. We look crazy to them, at least fake it.
Hey, look, buddy, your car just burned down. Oh, man, that’s a bummer.
You say, how can you smile of that? I don’t know.
But I know this God’s got a plan and it’s way better than what I can figure out, but he possesses, he literally possesses.
And that shouldn’t surprise any of us who understand what the Bible says about the spiritual realm.
There’s demons that possess people. You know, a lot of things we’re seeing in our world today is being written off to mental illness.
If I’m gonna say something for the law enforcement and some medical people that might be in this service today because they’ll never talk about it.
The stuff that they see, listen, doctors, police and ministry, people see the same thing and you can’t explain it.
You talk about it.
What spirit is that that lives in you?
Is it the Holy Spirit?
Listen, if the Holy Spirit is not in you, then you have no comfort.
If the Holy Spirit is not in you, you have no deep confirmation.
If the Holy Spirit is not in you, you’re wide open the house as it were, is vacant and the door is open the door of your mind.
You’re open to anything or I think you should have an open mind.
I think you should have an open mind.
Doesn’t mean you are to be stupid about things.
And by the way, I have found out that there’s no greater open mind that operates than the mind that’s under the control of Christ.
It’s just that we have wisdom that’s not from us.
People will say, how did you know how to do that?
I didn’t know how to do that, prayed about it.
Read the Bible got this direction from scripture, made the decision and then it turned into that and people say, wow, and you go, wow, what?
Wow, God, he’s personal. He’s possessive.
If indeed, the word can be translated into some of your Bibles do, which is accurate since indeed the spirit of God dwells in you.
He’s talking to the believer. Now watch this. You guys. Are you ready? Get ready to write fast?
I’m gonna go as fast as I can and I’m trying to see what time tonight it is.
You’ll get out of here. Um OK, let’s go. Let’s go quick on this.
Uh Is he the spirit of possession in your life?
The one who possesses John 14 verse 15, John 14 15, Jesus is speaking.
If you love me, keep my commandments. Number one commandment, what’s the commandment? Love? Good.
So how do I love God. Read His word. You fall in love with them.
It’s a love letter. You get to know Him and I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper.
Greek comforter that He may abide with you forever.
This is Jesus speaking, the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.
But you know Him for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I’m sorry.
I’m reading King old King James in my head. It’s a little bit different.
I haven’t memorized an old King James. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
Is that a tremendous statement of confidence and promise and possessiveness.
God, the Holy Spirit saying, I’m not gonna leave you. And that’s Jesus speaking, which is so cool. Watch this.
Jesus is getting ready to go back to heaven. He tells the disciples, I’m leaving good for you.
I’m going because when I go, the Holy Spirit is gonna come, listen, the spirit is gonna come and live in you.
Then he says, I will not leave you orphaned. I’ll come to you.
So I thought he said the spirit was coming to me. That’s what he said.
The spirit is coming to you.
Christ lives in you by the Holy Spirit of God, God, the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Spirit.
By the way, in these few verses, God, the Father God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit are all represented right here in Romans chapter eight verses nine through 11.
John 14 23 Jesus answered and said to them, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and will we will come to him and make our home with him, with her, with you.
That’s comforting. Are you guys? OK.
Next verse John 14 25 these things I’ve spoken to you that while being present with you, 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 things that I said to you.
Listen, peace, I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Listen to this.
Not as the world gives do I give to you? Isn’t that great?
I’m not gonna give you stuff like the world does.
The world gives you stuff that’s breaks made in China uh cracks.
I mean just Jesus is just for the record parenthetical insert the piece I’m gonna give you.
It’s not like what the world dishes up. Let not your heart be troubled.
Neither let it be afraid. You have heard me say to you.
I am going away and coming back to you.
If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I’m going to the father for my father is greater than I.
Incredible beautiful confirmation comfort John 14 um John 15, sorry, John 15 verse seven and eight.
If you abide in me, listen to this and my words abide in you everybody.
Um I want all of you.
If you don’t find yourself praying, then start now today those of you who do pray, which is like a Christian breathing.
Look at this. This is the key to answered prayer.
Number one, if you abide in me and my words abide in you.
That means if the word of God is in you, Jesus showed us.
He said after praying nevertheless, father, not my will, but thy will be done. Are you with me?
You got that. Every prayer is to have that caveat to it.
Whatever you’re praying for then say, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done.
Jesus puts this up in the, in the reverse. You will ask what you desire really. Yeah.
If His word abides in you and you abide in the word, you’re gonna ask God for things, you’re gonna want things that He wants you to have.
You mean like a Ferrari and it shall be done for you.
But this my father is by this. My father is glorified that you bear much fruit.
So you’ll be my disciples. Just notice the key of the word of God governing your life.
Next verse John 15 16, listen to this. You did not choose me but I chose you.
Does that bring you comfort? I love it and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask the father in my name, he will give it you why?
Because your life is submitted to him, he will answer you properly and yes, some of the proper answers are no, you cannot have that next first John 15 26.
But when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father, the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the father?
He will testify of me. And you also, and you also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.
By the way, if this was a church, if if this was a group of pastors and you’re teaching a uh a group of pastors on, on church growth which you’ll never hear this said they have seminars, how to grow your church by 11% each year.
That would be hilarious. If this church grew by 11% we’d be sad.
Why, why would I hire that company to show us how to grow the church besides who cares about the number?
Here’s the key. Give the word of God out. The Holy Spirit hears it. He sees it, he knows it.
He’ll speak to people and they’ll come to the word. That’s why you came here today.
You came to the word you say no, you know what we’ve been planning on coming because of the word, whatever your reason is, the bottom line is this.
You’re here today because of the word. That’s what has driven you here. Why?
Because when, when listen, it, technically, we can’t fail as long as we promote God’s word.
If I were to say to you next week, come back next week, it’s going to be a tremendous time.
We’re going to have eight different points on how to weave the perfect basket in our basket weaving pursuits, nobody would be here.
But if I say we’ll pick it up in the book of Romans next week, people come. Why?
The Spirit of God says, get out of bed, wake up, let’s go. Come on.
See, I don’t want to go. Let’s go. It’s the word amazing.
Uh Next verse John 16 verse five.
But no uh but now I go away to him who sent me?
And none of you ask me, where are you going?
But because I have said to you uh said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away for.
If I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.
But if I depart, I will send him to you.
And when he comes, when he has come watch this, he will convict the world of sin.
Think of that.
Our government right now is trying to make that illegal.
Our government is trying to make the Holy Spirit’s operation in this world illegal if you say something and somebody feels odd or uncomfortable about it.
So all you have to say is Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine, they say, uh it makes me feel uncomfortable.
I’m gonna sue you. Interesting times, huh?
He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they do not believe in me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more and of judgment.
Because the ruler of this world, a reference to Satan is judged.
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them. Now.
However, when he the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come.
I will, he will glorify me.
Jesus is saying of the Holy Spirit for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you that is powerful.
That is incredible. John 16 16, Jesus said a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me because I go to the father.
Two meanings are applied to that people.
He’s speaking to his disciples, you see me right now but you won’t, but you’ll see me again, meaning I’m gonna be put to death.
But on the third day, be resurrected. I’ll see you then.
And the other meaning is I’m going to send back to heaven and you’re not going to see me, but there’s going to be a time when I return again and I’m gonna come and he’s coming.
You can almost sense that even now, you know, acts chapter one, we’re almost done.
Acts chapter one, verse seven, acts 17 and he Jesus said to them, it is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power.
Thank God. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth to right here.
Remarkable. Acts 19.
Some of you have gotten more Bible in the last five minutes than you have all week.
Acts 19 verse one. And it happened while Apollo was at Corinth that Paul having passed through the upper regions came to Ephesus.
That’s Turkey and finding some disciples. He said to them. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
Which is amazing to me. What, why, what prompted I wanna ask Paul, what prompted you to ask then that question they were believers.
You saw something lacking in their life, right? Yeah, I did.
That’s why I asked them, they, they loved God but they had no power.
Did you receive the Holy spirit when you believed.
So they said to him, Paul, we have not so much as heard whether there is a holy spirit and he said to them and to what then were you baptized?
So they said the baptism or John’s baptism, that’s water to be baptized in the water that John was talking about was to say I’m a sinner and I need to die and have new life, that’s fine, but there’s no power in it.
Then Paul said, John, indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus verse five.
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues in this particular case, not always in this particular case, they spoke in languages that they did not know and they proclaimed the word of God.
That’s what the word prophesized means. They proclaimed, they began to preach the word.
Now verse seven, the men who are, there are about 12 in all they were believers, but they didn’t have the power.
Do you see that? Don’t raise your hand? But are you a believer? You have faith in Christ?
Don’t raise your hand. Next question I have for you.
Is it the power of God that drives you every day and moment by moment?
I have to tell you right now, I’m heading to 66.
I, I, I just told somebody the other day I wanna get a Hammock.
I wanna, I wanna be, I wanna lay between two palm trees.
I’m tired and I’m tired 99% of the time unless I’m serving the Lord.
And then I’m energized and then when God’s done with me, I’m all tired again.
And, um, I think that’s the trick of life is living your life the whole time out being used by God.
And um my doctor shocked me the other day.
I went for my annual report and they do all this fancy stuff and um, I mean, you know, everything before you leave the building, it’s a, it’s an amazing place you go in there.
They’re pulling on this, they’re yanking that they’re doing all kinds of things that I can’t mention publicly.
And within an hour he walks up with his clipboard and he says this is the deal.
And um it’s very cute.
I I’m confessing to all of you but don’t, don’t tell anybody this is what happened.
I felt like a fool. He said, now, here’s your data from a year and a half ago.
Here’s your data from a year ago.
Here’s your data from six months ago and here’s your data from today.
He said, if I didn’t physically know you, the data says that your chemistry of your body is getting younger.
So watch what I did. I don’t clap because I totally blew it.
I said it’s because I got a great doctor. He’s a great guy. I love him.
I said I, because I got a great doctor and he goes, no, he says I watched you on Fox TV.
You have a great God in his hand.
He said I should have said what you said.
And you should have said what I said.
And I was like, oh, you’re so right, so good report.
But boy was I humbled, I should have give God the glory instead of the doctor did good God serve God.
Follow God. It doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be healthy.
It doesn’t mean you’re going to live a long life.
It doesn’t mean you’re gonna have this or that it’s irrelevant.
It means that every moment that you’re living, you’re comforted by the fact that He possesses you, that He is confirming your existence.
You don’t need to give up or lose hope. And finally, we end with this.
And that is that He’s the spirit of God who reveals, he reveals himself to us.
He, it says now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he’s not his, not everybody’s going to heaven.
The Bible says, in fact, the Bible, Jesus said, few people make it when you take the bulk of mankind.
Jesus says, narrows the way and few who find that path.
I want to read this to you in closing the danger of spiritual vacancy in our lives.
The Holy Spirit reveals himself to you, but you must receive, you must respond.
Augustine, Augustine said this a Christian by profession. Listen to this.
He said this in 3 70 ad a Christian by profession only is he who has no sensitivity to the things of God?
No holy affections for.
He does not belong to God nor does he no, nor does a merely professing Christian have a battle with his fleshly appetites because he is still naturally inclined toward the things of his flesh.
He is concerned about satisfying himself by the indulgence of his own pursuits.
He longs for the things of the flesh which are normal to him because he is still in the flesh.
His mind wholly set on the things of this world that either describes you today or it does not describe you today to you who the Holy Spirit has revealed himself to.
He has trained, he’s changed your life and He is transforming your life. He’s in the process.
God, the Holy Spirit is in your life.
If you understand something and that is that you can’t save yourself that for the believer, the Bible says the fear of death has been lifted from us and we understand it from scripture now that it’s only a doorway into the presence of Almighty God, in whom in Christ Jesus, we are accepted our sins have been forgiven.
And then Jesus Christ rose again from the dead to guarantee us justification, friends, what spirit dwells in you.
You can’t go neutral on this. Especially right now you’ve heard this message.
You can’t see what I’ll think about some other time.
You’re right in the middle of a spiritual war and it’s most dangerous if you don’t even realize it.
Satan hates God and God loves you.
So Satan’s coming after you because God loves you.
God will not bow bend, break, manipulate your will because He made you a relational being.
You have to choose to have real love or not. You have to choose to love him or not.
God will never force you into anything. It’s your choice.
But God is stretching out his hand and he’s saying, choose my son Jesus.
And the moment you do, the Holy Spirit will come and take over your life.
I pray that you make that decision in your life.
I pray that before you even get to your car today, that maybe the life that you have inside is void of the Holy Spirit, which is terrifying to think who are living in a very demonically energized world.
That’s why you’re watching and seeing and hearing the things that you are because Satan his leash somehow has gotten longer.
What spirit resides in you. Father.
We pray Lord God in Jesus name that any man or woman, boy or girl right here right now are listening from afar that is not sure of their souls security in Jesus that today they would say Almighty God, I believe that you according to your Bible sent Jesus Christ as the prophets foretold to the cross, it was all written down in your Bible before it ever happened.
It was there and I put my trust in what Jesus did for me.
And I believe as the scripture says, he rose again from the dead and your word says that anyone who will come to you, you will not turn away, but you’ll give eternal life.
So Lord, I acknowledge my sin, I acknowledge your righteousness. I have none of my own.
I give my sin to you and I receive your righteousness in this grand great exchange and I proclaim and make you Lord today the Lord of my life.
I ask it in Jesus name and all God’s people said, amen.