Transcription
[Music] Come on, it's a great day to be in the house of the [Music] Lord. We worship the God who was, we worship the God who is, we worship the God who ever more will be. He parted the raging sea, come on, he parted the raging seas, my God. He holds a [Music] victory. There's joy in the house of the Lord, there's joy in the house of the Lord today, and we won't be quiet. We shout out your praise and joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place, and we won't be quiet. Shout out your [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise. Come on, oh, serve a God who heals today. We sing to the God who heals, we sing to the God who saves, we sing to the God who always makes way. He hung upon that cross, then he rose up from that grave, my God. Still rolling stones away. There's joy in the house of the Lord, there's joy in the house of the Lord today, and we won't be quiet. Shout out your praise and joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place, and we won't be quiet. We shout out your praise.
Come on, we were the beggars, now we're royalty. We were the prisoners, now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. We were the beggars, now we're royalty. We were the prisoners, now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted by his grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord, there's joy in the house of the Lord today, and we won't be quiet. Shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place. We won't be quiet. Come on, sing it again. There's joy in the house of the Lord, joy in the house of the Lord, and we won't be quiet. You shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place, and we won't be quiet. Shout out your praise. Oh, we shout out your praise. It's you're worthy, Lord, you're [Music] worthy. We shout out your [Music] praise. Oh, you're worthy. Give all my praise, oh [Music] yes, you're worthy of all our praise. Come on, all over this place, would you just lift up your song. Oh, you're worthy, Lord, so worthy. Oh, bless Jesus. He's mine. He's been my fortress in the fire, time after time. Born of his Spirit, washed in his [Applause] blood. And what he did for me on Calvary, more than I'll ever know. In love, I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never [Applause] fail. He will never [Music] fail. Perfect submission, all is at [Applause] rest. I know the author of tomorrow. Come on, church, it's our story today. So this is my [Music] story, this is my song. I'm praising my risen King and savior all the day long. I trust in God, my savior, you're the one who will [Applause] never, he will never [Applause] fail. I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never [Music] fail. He never fails. I trust in God. Trust in God. It's everything I have, everything I [Music] have. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never, he will never fail. [Music] I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never [Music] fail. He will never [Applause] [Music] fail. Come on, come on, give him praise this morning, give him praise. I trust him. And would you just bow your heads? Father, we are so thankful for your goodness and your mercy that's been following us all the days of our life. Father, we thank you for what you're doing in our hearts, in our lives. We pray for our nation. We pray, Father God, for our communities. We pray for our families. We ask you, God, for those that's walking through struggles or circumstances or difficulties, whether it be health or whether it be relationship or financial. Father, we thank you that we can trust you. We thank you, Father God, that you are right here, right now, in our midst, in your presence, God, and we honor you for that, in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Come on, turn around and high-five somebody and say, "It's good to see you at Heartland today." You may be seated for a couple of minutes. Or some of you that maybe forgot, we have been invaded this weekend with HonorBound all across this nation, and that's just been such an honor for us to be able to host our 25th anniversary of HonorBound. You know, some of you have met some of my family. You met my mom, you know, from Alabama. You've seen, but listen here, here's my family right here, this HonorBound group right here. If you want to know, this is all brothers and sisters. They've come from Pennsylvania, they've come from Florida, they come from South Dakota, they've come from uh, uh, Nebraska. I, I just, I don't want to, Ohio, I mean, they have just come from all over. Yeah, where else? Texas. Come on, how could I forget Texas? Come on, what? Arkansas. There we go. Raise the back. It is an honor. Come on, look. Springfield, Missouri, California, even, and Ukraine. Come on, come on. [Applause] Ukraine. Wow. It is such an honor. Uh, just a couple of minutes, we're going to give you an opportunity to honor the Lord in tithes and offerings, but it's been such an honor again for us to host this event. For some of you don't know, HonorBound Ministry is our fellowship. The Assembly of God is the only fellowship that has a ministry specifically designed to reach the motorcycle culture. We have our national uh, chaplain um, Manny with us. He's been with us these last couple of days. It's great having him. He oversees, we have national chaplains that's set up in our HonorBound, so it's just an honor. One of the things that we're proud of here at Heartland is that our now HonorBound that was a national is an international, and we are so honored to have Curtis Hubble with us. Would you welcome Curtis from Ukraine with us, and he's going to introduce Sasha? Curtis, thank you, buddy. Just such a great honor to be here. Uh, when, when I'm a missionary, when we get a, when we get a few minutes, we have a lot of stuff that we want to say and what we want to promote and what we hope might happen, but the biggest thing that I want to do here today is to say to this congregation, thank you. Okay? Early on, [Applause] yes, early on when I, when I had a vision that God was calling me to go to a nation that I really wasn't that familiar with, the nation of Ukraine, to start motorcycle ministry, to take HonorBound to a national uh, uh, stage, there wasn't a clear path, and I faced a lot of obstacles. And God had called me and told me, even if it cost me everything, this is what I must do. And so there was some feeling that maybe I was going to have to go it alone, and this was one of the first places, Pastor Phil was one of the first men that heard me saying what God was calling me to do and the battle that was raging inside, and he invited me to come here and share that vision with you, and you responded in a big way, and that was a big shot in the arm. That was encouragement that let me know I was not alone. It's my pleasure to introduce to you today uh, Alexander Lapenko. He is the president of HonorBound motorcycle ministry in Ukraine. Will you please stand and and and wave to [Applause] everybody? It's a great honor to have him here. It was very difficult for him to get permission even to leave his country. And what I want, what I want to tell you, uh, things in Ukraine, everything has sort of changed as to what I thought I was going there to do and what it would look like. Everything has changed, but God is not surprised, and right now the ground has been churned up in the nation of Ukraine, and it wasn't in the way that we would have picked, because it's war that has broken up that, that, that soil, and there is, there is change in the air everywhere you go, but there's something that's happening in Ukraine. The ground has been broken up, but it has been fertilized with the tears and the prayers and the outpourings of people from all over the world who have said, "It doesn't matter what's going on there, God has a plan for Ukraine, and the best is yet to [Applause] come." We have big things on the horizon, and I would love to talk to you about some of those. I want to tell you that we're in the works of translating a book that's called Discovering the, the, the Treasures of Your Fire Bible. We're putting that into uh, the Ukrainian language, and I believe that emerging leaders are going to come up out of the dust and the ashes of places that have been destroyed, and they're going to start studying the word of God with a new fervor, and there are going to be churches that are popping up all over Ukraine where there was no hope, there is going to be [Applause] hope. We've launched a very dynamic ministry. We are racing Hot Wheels and telling uh, telling orphans and refugee children about Jesus Christ. And when I get done here, I'm going to thank, I'm going to children's church next to thank your boys and girls, because uh, some of you parents know that your children have been bugging you to take them to Walmart or somewhere to buy Hot Wheels. Those were for me, and I'm happy to leave this place loaded down with Hot Wheels to go and tell and to tell boys and girls who, many of them who have lost everything, they're displaced by the war, with your help. We're making a big, big difference, so thank you for investing, thank you for believing in the vision that God gave me, and I look forward to doing great things together. We are making a big difference. Thank you, Pastor Phil. Thank you, buddy. Come on, would you give it, it's a good hand clap. What a blessing, what a blessing, what a blessing. I, I love this church. We, we say it all the time. What makes a great church is a great commitment to the Great Commission. You got a great church, and that's what it's about. All these flags represent missionaries and mission works that we're involved in, and you help us to do that. I, I would be remiss if I did not also recognize, we have Judy Cochran. Judy, would you stand with us this morning? Judy, Judy, just stay standing for just a second. Get on, Judy. Yeah, come on, Judy. And her husband, Russ, was, was, was the founding members of HonorBound motorcycle ministry, and uh, we are so honored to have Judy's one of our missionaries. She now works in the recovery program as a, as a chaplain. You may be seated. And uh, we're so honored, Judy, that you've been with us. That table you see set out in the connect center, I encourage, I encourage you to go by there and look at, you'll see some of the early processes of how that this ministry grew from five to I think we're well over 1200 members around uh, the United States and now outside. Come on, give the Lord a good hand clap for that. Our national chaplain, Howard Rainey, from uh, the Arkansas area, Keith from Florida, Dwayne, Dwayne W over here, they're from Texas, and again, we've just been so, so blessed to, to be able to host you and have you with us. Our general superintendent, Doug Clay, will be coming shortly. He's going to minister to us today. I love to be a part of a fellowship that says, "What can we do to reach people that nobody else is reaching? What can we do to impact culture and generations for this time to, we're in?" That's what the Assemblies of God is all about. Hey, would you stand with us? We're going to honor the Lord this morning in our, in our tithes and offerings. If you're part of Heartland, we encourage you to continue to steward your time, your talent, your temple, your testimony, and your treasure. Today is Mission Sunday, so if you're here, part of Heartland, you say, "Hey, I want to make sure I'm supporting missions and missionaries." This is a time to do that. We appreciate what you're helping us do, the impact that we're having in our kingdom. Many of our HonorBound group will have to leave after this service, and many of them will start their pilgrimage back to their homeland, but again, we just want to bless them and and pray for them. Father, thank you so much for what you're doing through this church and through the ministry of HonorBound to Full Throttle and Heartland and our people here. Thank you, God, for Curtis, thank you for his heart, his passion to follow the lead that you put inside of him about going to Ukraine. We pray for that nation, God, that that war-torn country that that's battling today, the ministry that Curtis is now in with offerings and kids that are refugees, God, we just pray that you use him mightily, that these young men and women will grow up to know that there is a God, there is a heavenly Father who cares about them, and God, that you will protect them and bring them up to have a great testimony of your grace in their life. Bless our people today, in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Hey, will you continue? If they're going to worship one more song, that we'll introduce our speaker this morning. God bless. [Music] You. I got a story too good to hide. I was a blind man wandering until I saw the light. I got a story I can't deny. [Music] I'm a living, breathing miracle, and I just got to [Music] testify. Come on, church, say, "Ain't nobody love me like Jesus." Ain't nobody love me this good. Ain't nobody love me like Jesus. I know, I know, nobody good. Tell me who can give me this freedom. Tell me who can give me this. Ain't nobody love me like Jesus. I know, I know, nobody. Ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody. And now I'm anointed to bring the news. I know everything he did for me, I know he'll do for you. He gave me joy for the morning, for the, for the, is a [Music] crown. I'm walking, talking miracle, I just got to let it out. Oh, know, ain't nobody love me like Jesus. Ain't nobody love me this good. Ain't nobody love me like Jesus. I know, I know, nobody good. Tell me who can give me this freedom. Tell me who can give me this. Ain't nobody love me like Jesus. I know, I know, nobody. Ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody. Come on, nobody could pull me from the darkness. Save me by the blood. Raise me from the ashes. I know, I know, nobody. Break off every shackle, tear down every wall, set free every captive. I know, I know, nobody. Pull me from the darkness. Save me by the blood. Raise me from the ashes. I know, I know, nobody. Break off every shackle, tear down every wall, every and captive. I know, I know, nobody could. Ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody love me like Jesus. Ain't nobody love me this good. Ain't nobody love me like Jesus. I know, I know, nobody. Tell me who can give me this freedom. Tell me who can give me this. Ain't nobody love me like Jesus. I know, I come on, no, no, no, no. Ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody, ain't nobody. Ain't nobody, ain't nobody. Woo! Come on, come on, give the Lord a praise, and just remain standing if you would. It, it's been an honor to have the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God with us last evening and today that he's going to be speaking. He's a great man of God, a powerful husband, he's a grandfather, more importantly, and we appreciate Doug Clay's heart and his. Would you welcome Pastor Doug to our platform today? Amen. Amen. Hey, while you're standing, can we do something on this Lord's day? Let's give Jesus a hand clap of praise. Come on, everybody. Give the Lord Jesus Christ a hand clap of praise, cuz he is worthy. Wow. Amen. God bless you. You can be seated. This is a privileged opportunity to be here in a ministry highlight that I'll cherish in my spirit really for the rest of my life. Wow. Exciting to be here, and thank you, Pastor Phil, for your kind and gracious hospitality. You know, I'm in a different church every week, uh, large churches, small churches, inner city, urban, rural. Here's what I can tell you: great churches are not built accidentally. It takes several things. First of all, it takes the blessing of the Lord. How many of you know Heartland has had a can of God's blessing on its uh, uh, admission for several years? It takes church people like you that understands what it means to be a church. We're not just a religious fraternity that does a few humanitarian deeds throughout the year. We are the body of Christ, the agency, the primary agency that God is using to expand his kingdom on Earth. So those of you who are members here at Heartland, thank you. Thanks for being the church. Thanks for understanding what that means. But I could also tell you, when it comes to great churches, it does require great leadership. And Heartland, and all of the guests of honor from HonorBound, can I tell you, when it comes to called, capable, and great leadership, he's the best sitting right down there in the front row, and I just salute you, Pastor Phil. I thank you for all that you're doing. Excited about your vision, Sunshine Center, and wow, uh, it is, it's, it's so fun to see that the older you get, the faster you go, and that's exciting. I, um, I want to bring a message to you this morning entitled The Holy Spirit and You. In fact, the Holy Spirit really is my favorite person in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is not an "it" to be debated. He's not a ghost to be feared. He's not some idol member spectating in the Trinity, but he's the third member of the Godhead that when you said yes to Jesus, took residency inside of your life, and our relationship with him is vital for Christian growth and Kingdom advancement. Now, I'm a third-generation Pentecostal preacher's kid, so I was born and raised in this thing. I've seen a lot of things happen in the church in the name of the Holy Spirit. I'm not really sure he was catalyst for inspiring that. I'm the superintendent of the largest Pentecostal fellowship in the world, and I can tell you, not everything that gets attributed to him is really from him. Um, in fact, for all of my Texas friends who were here early on in my administration, there was a, somebody sent me a video clip from a church in Houston. It was a Sunday during the Christmas season, and the pastor's message was entitled Scrooge, Santa Claus, or Savior: Who are you going to worship this Christmas? And when he got to this point on Santa Claus, he was laying him out. He was talking about the ills of Santa Claus, how Santa Claus was ripping off the minds of our young people, and all just, just, just wiping him out. He gets the end of his message, and he says, "Now bow your head and close your eyes." About that time, a little old lady in the back stood up, and she said, "Thus sayeth the Lord, thus sayeth the Lord, lay off Santa Claus. He's a good man doing a good work in our [Laughter] community." I don't know if that was inspirational or not, but um, I want to talk to you this morning about the Holy Spirit. I, I get it. He doesn't always get the appropriate amount of time or the accurate amount of attention. I mean, we get the Father. Everybody has a father, be it good or bad. We understand God the Father. We understand God the Son. In the beginning, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We, we give a whole month of celebration to God the Son, but God the Holy Spirit, not always comprehending that. But don't be so hard on yourself. The early church didn't always get it. The Bible says in Acts chapter 19 that when Paul was traveling in Corinth and going through and checking up on some of the new churches and the new believers, it says when he came to Ephesus, he found a group of believers, and he said, "Hey, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" And their response to him was, "No, we haven't even heard there is a Holy Spirit." So Holy Spirit doesn't always get the accurate amount of time or the appropriate amount of attention, but the big idea for this morning is this: the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead who lives inside of you as a Christ follower, and I believe your relationship with him is vital for Christian growth. If you have your copy of God's word, turn with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I want to talk to you this morning about this unlikely hero, the Holy Spirit, and um, there's three things that Paul represents in Romans 8. First thing that I would submit to you this morning is this: that the Holy Spirit can protect you from yourself and the wrong thinking that the enemy tries to trick you with. The Holy Spirit can protect you from you and the wrong thinking the enemy tries to trick you with. Notice Romans chapter 8. Paul says, "There is therefore now no condemnation." Would you say those two words with me? No. Come on, say them again. No condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, watch this, the power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. No condemnation, that's free. Because too many people live with things that condemn them. They live with guilt, they live with regret, they live with the "I wish," or too many feel people feeling they're not worthy enough to be involved in a ministry. And Paul says, "There's no condemnation. You've been freed from that by the power of the spirit." He goes on to say in verse 5, "Those who are dominated by their sinful nature think about sinful things, but those," watch this, "who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the spirit." There are way too many people in life today that get tripped up by the things that God has forgiven them of, and I would just challenge us this morning: you can be free from that kind of erroneous thinking when you're baptized in the Holy Spirit, when you have an active relationship with the Holy Spirit. You see, it's another, it's, it's one thing to say you've been set free, it's another thing to walk in that freedom, to walk in that. Listen, the enemy of our soul will try everything he can to keep us from fulfilling the purposes that God has created us for. It's the work of Satan. I mean, it's been around ever since the Garden of Eden. Think about it. Satan always tries to undermine God's credibility. Satan always tries to make it hard to live out the Christian life. He always tries to confuse the body of Christ with false teachings. He always tries to bring division within the body of Christ. Satan always tries to get you to trust in yourself more than God. So that's probably why Paul said in Ro, in Ephesians 6:18, "Pray in the spirit on all occasions. Stay alert. Be persistent in your prayers for believers everywhere." Telling you, your relationship with the Holy Spirit can protect you from yourself and wrong thinking the enemy tries to trick you with. You know what I've discovered in my life? I can't defeat the, the enemy with my willpower. I can't defeat the enemy in my strategic planning. I can't defeat the enemy in my goals, but I can defeat the enemy through the power of the Holy Spirit, and I'm grateful today that the Holy Spirit can protect you from yourself when the enemy is trying to talk you out of what he wants you to do. I mentioned to the men last night, I'm a third-generation preacher's kid, born and raised in the church, cut my teeth in the...
Back of church pews. And my testimony is something like this: I'm I'm the youngest of three. My mom and dad pastored a church in Adrian, Michigan, and I was was there in that church. My mom was the minister of music; my dad was the pastor. So, you know, I was at church a lot. And back Sunday nights, Sunday nights, I would fall asleep in the church pew, and there'd be a few Sunday nights I was left sleeping in that church pew. Mom thought Dad was going to take me home. Dad thought Mom was going to take me home. You can sing all you want, get up, get up, get up, get up out of that grave, but when you wake up and the lights are out in a church, that's a spooky place to wake up. I'm just telling you.
When I was nine years old, my dad died suddenly of a massive heart attack. He was only 40. I was nine; my brother was 15; my sister was 18. But I never felt the negative impact of being raised by a single mom because I was a part of a great church, much like Hartland, where I had a lot of spiritual dads—men who would help me build my Pinewood Derby car, men who would take me to Detroit Tiger baseball games or canoe trips. This sounds crazy, but I grew up feeling sorry for kids who only had one dad.
I want to pause and challenge every HonorBound man in this room, room today. I pray that you will be the answer to some single mom's prayer in your church; that God will use you to be the answer to the prayer of a single mom. So I grew up; I had all these spiritual dads. It was in the context of the local church I felt God's call on my life to go to Bible college. So I took off and went to Central Bible College. And that's when it happened—started meeting other preachers' kids. My roommate was a preacher's kid from Carlinville, Illinois, and so on the weekends he would go home, and um, his dad would give him an opportunity to take part in the service or maybe be part of a board meeting or something like that, and he would come back Sunday night. We'd stay up real late Sunday night, just just talking church stuff. He would say things like, "My dad said this is how we ought to do assimilation," "My dad said this is how we ought to do leadership training," "My dad said this is how we ought to do community outreach," "My dad said," "My dad said," "My dad said." And for one of the first times in my life, I felt like I had been cheated by God. I thought, "Lord, I would like a dad that would walk these spiritual principles out with me. I would like a dad." And I had convinced myself that God was unjust. I was going to quit school, go home, and take care of my mom.
Hey, sidebar. One of the reasons why in the Assemblies of God we put such a high priority on scripture, one of the reasons why your pastor places a high priority on scripture, because when you're going through difficult times, you can have a tendency to either listen to yourself or the truth of God's word. And I don't know about you, but my self lies to me at times. My self doesn't always tell me the truth, but God's word will never lie to me. I remember calling my mom. I said, "Mom, I can't connect the dots on this. Why would God do something so unjust to our family? What's up with that?" And like only a godly pastor's wife mom could do, she said, "Honey, I can't answer all your why questions, but I can promise you this." And my mom broke into this really cool prayer. She said, "Lord, you said in your word…" Now I grew up with my mom using that phrase an awful lot, Sister Cocker. And I'm just telling you, I'm General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, but I got to confess to you, I don't think everything she said was in the book—was really in the book. Okay, but this time, this time she was right on. She said, "Lord, you said in your word you'd be a father to the fatherless, and I claim that promise for my son Doug, in Jesus' name." Well, we hung up, and I didn't feel any better. I still convinced myself to quit school, go home, take care of my mom. God doesn't know what he's doing.
Two days later, in a mission service on a Friday night, there was a missionary there challenging students, and when all of the students were coming forward singing, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord," I didn't just turn around and I knelt in my chapel seat. And by this time, I wasn't even praying; I was just venting my frustration to God. "God, this stinks." I'm in that knelt position, feeling sorry for myself, and all of a sudden I felt the strength and the warmth of this large hand placed on my back. In fact, it was not only placed there while the man was praying; he was pushing on my back at the same time. It was kind of the classical Pentecostal, "Hey…" I grew up with that. I was the only kid in elementary school never checked for scoliosis because every Sunday night the deacons would align me at the church altar, right? So I felt this hand, and I turned and I looked, and there was Coach Arnold Forest Arnold. He was the basketball coach, the athletic director of Central Bible College—6'6", 250 lbs, a Hulk of a man—and he had his paw, I mean his hand, on my back. And when I turned and looked, he had a tear coming down his cheek. He said, "Dugger, I knew your dad, and I know your mom. Both of them would be really proud of you." Then it happened. He took his hand; he put it over on my shoulder, and he pulled me really tight into himself. He said, "I just want you to know that as long as you are at Central Bible College, I consider you like my own son." Yeah, when he said "son," I jumped up, and he hugged me, and I tried to hug him, and I snotted and cried all down the front of his shirt. But in that embrace, in that embrace, it was like instant replay going on in my mind. Forty-eight hours earlier, there was a godly mom who said, "Lord, you said in your word…"
And can I tell you, I can't promise you that when you go through difficult things your mind won't play tricks on you, but I can promise you if you give space to the Holy Spirit in your heart, he will bring scriptures to your mind that are louder than your screaming emotions. He will allow the truth of God's word to rise up and to anchor your emotions and protect your thinking. So when we reduce the Holy Spirit to someone who just inspires a few sign gifts on Sunday morning, we're minimizing what he can do in our lives. He protects us from us and the wrong thinking the enemy tries to trick us with. Second thing I noticed from Paul's writing about the Holy Spirit—watch this—the Holy Spirit can give you a sense of contentment for where you're at, even if where you're at is not ideal. Somebody needs to screenshot that this morning. He can give you contentment. Verse six: "So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death," watch this, "but letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God; it never did obey God's laws and never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God." Church, one of the benefits of having an active relationship with the Holy Spirit is having a peace of mind and living with a sense of contentment for where you are at. I've discovered in my own life that whatever space God gets in my life, I'll have peace in, but whatever space he doesn't have in my life, I'm subject to my own thinking and my own emotions. He says, "Doug, how does the Holy Spirit bring peace to us like that?" Well, number one, he helps you to accept the things you can't control. Aren't you thankful for that today? Jesus said in John 16, "He will bring me glory by telling you what he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine. This is why I said the Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me." Listen, God can do absolutely anything, but we can't. So we've got to help the Holy… Holy Spirit helps us to accept the things we can't control. Secondly, the Holy Spirit helps us trust in God's judgments and God's timing. Isaiah 26:3: "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you." Finally, I've discovered in my life the Holy Spirit helps us to surrender to God's control, just to surrender. One of the reasons why some people don't live with contentment that comes from the fruit of the spirit, they're fighting against God; they're fighting against the purposes that God wants to accomplish in their lives. And I'm telling you, I don't care if you ride the biggest, hottest chopper out there in the parking lot, all of us have arms that are too short to box with God. He helps us to surrender this control. I think way too many people lose a sense of contentment because they forget that the Holy Spirit inside of us that can control our minds to help us live with life and peace. We let the circumstances and the realities of our situation get bigger than God. Don't reduce the size of God in your life, and you know who helps you do do that—the Holy Spirit.
There's a third thing about the Holy Spirit that I think is vital for us when it comes to Christian living, and that's this: the Holy Spirit brings intimate fellowship with God like we've never experienced before. If you give space and place for the Holy Spirit, he will bring you into intimate fellowship with God like you've never experienced before. We got to look at some other writings of Paul to fully comprehend this. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:14, "Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, may the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." I love how the Message translation captures this. It says, "The amazing grace of the Master Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God," watch this, "and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." If you hear nothing else I say today, friends, can I just remind you the Holy Spirit wants to bring you into friendship and fellowship with God the Father? That's that's how the Trinity works. The Trinity doesn't work in separation from each other. God the Father doesn't do something over here apart from God the Son, and they they work together. And the Holy Spirit wants you wants you to have intimate fellowship with God the Father. But we've got to grow beyond the fact—we can't let the Holy Spirit just dwell in us; we've got to let him reside in us. It's not a play on words. I want you to think about that. You dwell somewhere. I I dwelt last night in a hotel. I had a little card key, and that card key would get me into the room. That card key could get me into some workout facilities, and if I wanted, that card key could get me a few little snacks. I didn't reside at the hotel; I dwelt at the hotel—limited access. But if you were to come to my home in Springfield, Missouri, where I reside, I've got all access. I can go to the refrigerator anytime I want to. I can go to the cupboards anytime I want to. I can have full interaction with everyone in my house. Why? Because I reside there. And too many times, I think we reduce the Holy Spirit to just sort of dwell in—"Yeah, I'm charismatic; yeah, I'm…"—and we don't let him reside. We don't let him be Lord of our emotions. We don't let him have control of our thoughts. We don't let him have control of our dreams and our ambitions and the timing of things in our life. You see, the Holy Spirit, if you will let him, can bring you into the presence of God where there's intimate fellowship like you've never experienced before. That's his job. It's probably why Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled," to his disciples, "because I go away, I'm going to send you another—the comforter, the Paraclete—who will who will keep you from being wigged out in your own thinking by making me and the Father known to you."
I mentioned this last night to our friends from HonorBound, but you know, presence is so important. And one of the beautiful things that the Holy Spirit does is make us aware of the presence of God in us and around us—ah, presence. I suspect I learned the power of presence through my oldest grandson, Jackson. So I got to ask any grandparents in the house—can I see any? Yeah. Isn't grandparenting fun? Yeah. So we have eight grandchildren, ages 11 down to one, and uh, here's what I've discovered: the reason why grandparents and grandkids get along so well is because we have the same common enemy—their parents. It's true. So a few years ago, Jackson, the oldest grandson, he and I he and I decided it would be okay for him to have an overnight at Papa's house without his parents. Now it took a lot of convincing of his mom, my firstborn, that we could do this, but but we tag-teamed together, and we brought her into an understanding that this would be okay. So I'll never I'll never forget, I went over to pick him up at the house. I drove the truck in the driveway, and Jackson was standing there with his Spider-Man backpack, and it was just jammed full. It had fruit snacks and pajamas and PAW Patrol DVDs in there. And I pulled in the driveway. He said, "Papa, Papa." I said, "Jackson, you ready to go to Papa's house?" He said, "Yes." So I went up to the door, and I grabbed his hand, and I said, "Come on, let's go to Papa's house," and I started down the sidewalk when all of a sudden his mom, my firstborn, clears her throat. "Dad, Dad." I said, "Yeah." She handed me a 3x5 card with a set of six very specific instructions. I thought I raised her better than that. So I start reading these instructions. I get down to instruction number three: "Dad, after 6 p.m., please make sure you put two parts water, one part apple juice in his sippy cup." Well, I thought, first of all, we don't do mixed drinks at Papa's house. We're 100% Dr. Pepper at Papa's house. Two parts water, one part… yeah, okay. We got in the truck. I tore that sucker up. I said, "Come on, Jackson, we're going to have fun," and we did. We did. We played whiffle ball and hide-and-go-seek outside. We watched PAW Patrol cartoons and had some snacks. He got his bath; he got his jammies on. Man, it was going great. And just about the time he was to retire, a Southwest Missouri storm whipped up—I mean, doozy of a storm—loud thunder, flashing lightning, and I could tell Jackson was a little anxious. I said, "Little buddy, would you like to sleep in Papa's room?" He said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." So I made a sleeping area just down on my side of the bed, and and I said, "Now, little buddy, lay down," and he lay down. Boom! A crack of thunder—whoosh! He'd jump up. I said, "You're okay, lay back down." Flash of light—whoosh! He'd pop up. This happened four or five times. After about the fifth time he jumped up, I I said something. Now I don't know where this came from; I don't know who programmed it in me, because what I said to him makes no meteorological sense; certainly makes no theological sense. It just sort of came out. He jumped up. I wanted him to fall asleep. I said, "Listen, little buddy, you don't have to be afraid of thunder. After all, thunder is nothing more than just God moving his furniture up in heaven." Uh, don't judge me, Grandma. You would have put Robitussin in that sippy cup. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. He uh, he said, "Oh, okay." He laid back down. The next crack of thunder, he didn't jump up. I'm like, "Cool. I'll let his kids' pastor work on his theology. I just want him to fall asleep." So I roll over; I'm thinking all's good, and a loud reverberating thunder hit. Come on, grandparents, we have an extra sense. I could feel a set of eyes just looking at me. I'm so sure enough, when I rolled over, he wasn't standing all the way up; he was just looking above the mattress, just looking above the mattress, but his eyes were wide open, just… And I rolled over before I could say anything to him. He said, "Papa, you think I could lay with you till God quits moving his furniture?" I said, "You bet, little buddy." So I picked him up; I plopped him down in bed with me, and in 30 seconds he was out. You see, I couldn't convince that little guy that the storm on the outside wouldn't hurt him on the inside, but as long as he was in close proximity to Papa, he had a sense of security, to rest comfortably, to be able to fall asleep. And I'm telling you, church, sometimes in the craziness of our culture, sometimes when we're watching all the iconic institutions of society shift—the social, the family, the religious, the political—all of all of culture just seems to be drifting away from a biblical worldview. There is nothing quite like just being in close proximity to Papa. And that's what the Holy Spirit can do for you. He can bring you into intimate fellowship with God like you've never had before. So I want to challenge you one more time to take a look at the person of the Holy Spirit—not a theological concept, not some Pentecostal distinctive, not some ghost. I want you to take a look at the person of the Holy Spirit, give him the ability to reside in you, allowing him to protect you from you, allowing him to give you contentment even when the circumstances in your life are not desirable, and ultimately bringing you into an intimate fellowship with God the Father, so you can walk with confidence that you are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good deeds that he's prepared in advance for for you.
Hey, let's pray. Lord, I want to thank you today for uh, first of all, for this weekend and uh, the celebration of your faithfulness, your blessing on this ministry of HonorBound. Wow, who would have thought from those humble beginnings of just four or five people to now truly a revolutionary movement that's advancing the kingdom of God and blessing the Assemblies of God and beyond exponentially? And I pause and thank you for that, Lord. I want to just I want to take some time this morning to pray for those who may not be in right relationship with you. And if you're watching online, please don't toggle away at this moment. I really want you to lean into it. I wonder if there's someone who's here in person service or online you'd say, "Pastor Clay, would you include me in your final prayer? I don't have a relationship with God." Oh, I know a lot about the Lord. I know I I know people that work at the church, go to the church. I I even know some of the songs. But if you're honest with yourself, you'd say you've never come to the place in your life where you know for certain if you were to die today you would spend eternity in heaven. Man, I can't imagine doing life without that kind of confidence. I can't imagine doing life without knowing that I belong to him and he belongs to me. I can't imagine doing life without the full assurance that I've been adopted into God's forever family. So if you're here and you'd say, "Pastor Clay, would you include me in your final prayer," I want you to acknowledge that. And while every head's bowed and every eye's closed, and again, if you're watching online, if you'd say, "Doug Clay, please include me in that prayer," and I just want you to raise your hand and look at me, or if you're online, I want you to throw a thumbs-up emoji. Thank you, sir. I'm not going to embarrass you; I'm not going to have you come forward. I just want to want to pray a prayer that brings a sense of security to you that you are a child of God. There anyone else that would join this individual and say, "Pray for me?" Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. God bless you. Someone else join? Four adults and say, "Pastor Clay, please include me in your final prayer." This is what I want to do: I want to pray that prayer, and if we made eye contact, you raised your hand, and you meant that, I want you to know this prayer is for you. This prayer doesn't mean you have to join a church. This prayer doesn't mean… this prayer simply means you're kind of tired of living for yourself. You're tired of living without the confidence that you're a child of God. God's got you in the palm of his hand, and his Holy Spirit can bring you into relationship with him. This prayer is for you. But but I'm going to tell you what I'm going to ask everybody in the church to repeat this prayer after me today. So friends, would you join me in repeating this prayer? "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I do believe I do believe that you're the Christ, you're the Christ, the Son of the Living God, God, who came from Heaven to Earth, Earth to die for my sins. I am a sinner. I am. I need a savior. I come into my life, my life, forgive me of my sins and establish yourself as my savior and my Lord. With my mouth I confess; in my heart I believe that you are the way, the truth, and the life. I accept your free gift of eternal life, in Jesus' name. Amen." Amen. Hey, congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Hallelujah. Yeah. That's a great place to clap. [Music] Hallelujah. For those of you who prayed that prayer, I would love after service just to meet you, congratulate you, welcome you to the family of God. For those of you who prayed that prayer, perhaps you live live in this area. I can tell you this: this church is all about helping you discover God's great love for your life, God's provisional care for your life, and I know they would like to journey with you in your faith. So I want to thank you for being courageous enough to recognize you're done; tired of living for yourself, and you want the Holy Spirit to come in and help you have intimate fellowship and relationship with God. Amen. Aren't you thankful for the word of God? Now for every HonorBound member, I want to pray a prayer of blessing over you. "Lord Jesus, I thank you for these men and women who day after day interface with people who are far from you or hard towards you, been hurt by the church, hurt through life, don't have meaningful relationships with family. Oh God, would you use each and every one of these individuals to be ambassadors of your reconciliation, to build bridges of friendship with lost people, and indeed, not even in word, but indeed as they represent and live and show the love of God, would you open doors for them to reach people for you? I pray a blessing on this ministry. I pray a blessing on each of the chaplains. I pray a blessing on each of those who participate uh, in in chapters, and may you continue to flourish this ministry for your honor and for your glory, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen."