The New Normal
Things were never the same. They did not go back to their normal lives because this is the new normal.
And that's the reason why I titled my sermon as The New Normal.
Life beyond the upper room.
I think it was on March 2nd, the BC Premier, David Eby, said that we are going ahead without our neighboring states, the US,
that we are going to change our clock and that's going to be once and for all.
And then on 8th March it was made official that we are going to stick with daylight saving
and now when fall comes we are not going to change back our clock.
This is the new normal. This is the new normal.
So what happened on Day of Pentecost is that this is the new normal.
We often heighten and bring to this climax where the explosion happens on Day of Pentecost
where Joel has prophesied about this, that a day is coming.
In the later days when God is going to pour out his Holy Spirit.
Because in the Old Testament it is God who is always speaking to one specific group of people.
And those are the prophets. Yeah?
If you are not a priest, if you are not a prophet, there is a very slim chance that God is going to speak to you.
Yeah? And then Joel is saying that in the later days God is going to pour out his Spirit.
And it's not going to be for priests and prophets, but it's going to be for old men, young men, sons and daughters, servants and masters.
It's going to be on all flesh. Joel has been promising about this day.
And then Jesus is also saying that if I go away, it's your advantage. Why?
Because if I go away, I can be sending my... I mean I will send my Spirit.
And you know what happened on the Day of Pentecost? Things changed.
Because prior to this, Jesus can only be at one place and one time.
Because he is in the form of a physical body.
So he is walking on the shores of Galilee.
But he is not in Timbuktu. He is not in Vancouver. Right?
But now what changed was that after the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out,
now Jesus is right here in this room.
Jesus is in India. Jesus is in Tokyo. Jesus is in New York. Jesus is in Lagos.
He is in Kenya. He is everywhere. At the same time. Right?
At the same time. Omnipresence of God. Spirit being present everywhere.
And that changed everything, guys.
Things were never normal again.
And it will blow away your mind when this happened.
And then, now you begin to read Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 5, right?
Because we often read about Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit was poured out.
What happened in chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, till 28 chapters?
You see, full of miracles.
Full of miracles. Yeah? The Book of Acts. It's fascinating, I tell you.
What was the wow factor? It's the Holy Spirit, guys.
Christians who don't have the fire, Christians who are lifeless,
Christians who are not passionate for God, one thing is missing.
It's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the wow factor in your life.
Yeah? It's the fire, the zeal.
Whenever in the Old Testament, whenever God wants to do something,
he has a plan, he has a purpose, and he wants to accomplish that, he'll give his spirit.
You know, the day in the moment when David was anointed by prophet Samuel,
it says, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him.
Since that day, David was never the same. Right?
And think about, you know, Bezalel.
He was a man who was filled with the Spirit in Exodus 31.
For what? For craftsmanship, for woodwork, for gold, for everything.
He excelled.
So, you see, whenever God wants to do something, he would send his Spirit.
The Spirit would come upon him, or sometimes he would fill them. Right?
And it's a supernatural empowerment that comes upon the people of God
to accomplish what God wants.
And so, in our day, gifts and talents and skills and knowledge and expertise are overrated.
Overrated, I tell you. Yeah?
If you don't have a voice that stands out, then the rest.
You're not meant to be a singer. Yeah?
Or if you're not so naturally gifted, like Messi, something that outshines others,
it doesn't make sense. Yeah?
But the rest of us, including myself, I'm a very average guy. Yeah?
You know, I know a little bit of many things, but nothing stands out.
And I'm telling you guys, the Babylonian system, which we read in the book of Daniel,
it will always elevate in appearances people of royal birth, right?
Who are knowledgeable, who are of royal blood.
These things are elevated. And in our generation, things like expertise, like knowledge and skills and all these,
yes, they are important to some extent, but we don't idolize them.
That's why the way Jesus now comes and does it is so different.
He did not come and choose the scribes and the Pharisees, the elites of his day.
He chose very ordinary guys, fishermen, tax collectors.
He would appoint them. Why?
Because he's the wow factor in their lives.
And after Jesus, he said, it's your advantage that I go away.
Okay. Now the spirit has been poured out.
And this is the era of the Holy Spirit that you and I are living in.
Until Christ returns, it's going to be the Holy Spirit who's going to continue the work of Jesus in your life,
in my life and through your lives, guys.
And I'm saying this has nothing to do with being a charismatic or Pentecost. Nothing. Yeah?
The word Pentecost means 50. Penta, right?
It comes from the Greek word, Pentecoste, which means 50.
50 a day. As simple as that. Nothing more. Yeah?
So the Jews, they would celebrate the Passover 50 days later.
And for Christians, we celebrate the day of Pentecost because it was 50 days after the resurrection.
Right? And so what happened after Acts chapter 2?
Let me share a few things here. Yeah?
So after the Holy Spirit was poured out, bold preaching began.
Peter was scared. He denied Jesus three times.
Now he stands up and he boldly preaches. He's different now.
And the persecutions began. Right? Supernatural deliverance.
The angel came and then he rescued the apostles from the prison. Right?
And then the first martyr, which we read from the life of Stephen. Right?
Now these same disciples are being murdered for their faith.
And then Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus in chapter 9. Right?
The guy who has been plotting to kill the Christians is the same guy who is now protecting and promoting the gospel. Yeah?
And then, you know, Peter raises Tabitha from death.
It's crazy, guys. It's not Jesus here.
Jesus is not raising. Peter is raising. He's doing the same thing that Jesus did. Why?
Because the spirit of Jesus is in Peter now. Right?
It's crazy, guys. And then for the first time, the gospel now spreads to the Gentiles. Yeah?
And then the first mission trip, the international mission trip began. Right?
Paul and Barnabas now steps aside their comfort zone, their territory, so to say, crossing international borders.
And then the gospel made its entry to Europe, Paul and Silas, when they were in Philippi. Right?
And then the unusual miracles, the handkerchief of Paul sent out.
And then people experience healing. Peter's shadow is bringing healing.
Crazy stories, guys. Yeah? The raising of Eutychus. It's a very funny story, guys. Yeah?
On the third story, Paul has been preaching for so long that this guy does off. He fell from the third floor and died. Yeah?
And then Paul raises him. Yeah?
You know, don't worry if you're Eutychus. God will raise you up.
Crazy, guys. And then Paul experiences a shipwreck. He knew he was coming. Why? Because the Spirit revealed to him.
And he's saying, no, if we go this route, we're going to have a shipwreck. He knew it. Yeah?
And then on the island, a poisonous snake bites him. And then, you know, people are thinking that he's going to die.
Nothing happens. And the whole island came to know Christ.
And then, you know, Paul, during his last days in house arrest, and he has been preaching the kingdom of God boldly.
These are stories of the stories. You know, when you read the book of Acts, I tell you, the wow factor in the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit.
Because the physical presence of Jesus was no longer here on earth.
And what continued was the same work of Jesus that continued by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Through what? Through whom? Through ordinary people.
This is the wow factor in your life, guys. Let's dismiss which denominations we are from.
I came from Baptist. I tell you guys. Sola Scriptura. Stick to the scripture. Yeah?
The Holy Spirit is too controversial. Let's not deal with these things. Yeah?
Oh, we should speak in tongues only in private or should we speak in tongues in public?
Prophecies? Should we allow it? Should we not allow it? So caught up in this debate, guys.
Let the Spirit do his work, man. Let's not caught up in this, in the controversies. Yeah?
It's amazing, guys. It's amazing. It changed. It ruined my life, guys. It ruined my life.
Now I wouldn't consider myself as Baptist?
I want to be true to the Word. That's all that matters.
One may say, well, after all, all these miracles found in the scripture are done by the disciples of Jesus.
So I'm not sure about myself. Well, and others may say, what does the Holy Spirit do with me?
It has everything to do with you guys. This is the plan.
See, God is personal and yet his mission is global. His scope is always global.
And that's why he's not satisfied with you experiencing Jesus in your own little way.
No, he's not interested in that. Much more than that. Yeah?
You know, we have done a series on the Holy Spirit. Seven weeks, we did a seven-week series on the Holy Spirit.
We barely scratched the surface. And today I have only one hour to teach about this.
It's impossible to cover everything. So instead of broadly covering because the Holy Spirit is a counselor,
the Holy Spirit is a teacher, that itself can be an hour, right?
So he comes like a rushing wind. He comes like consuming fire. He flows like rivers of living waters.
All these are true, right? There's so many aspects that I can take on.
But I want to focus a few areas today, especially what it means for I now to allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life
and what happens if I allow him to do that, right?
There are many more, but I'm just going to share four things here. Yeah?
And then three points on how we can work or say walk and step with the Holy Spirit.
So, you know, all together, seven points. Fair enough? Yeah.
Yeah. We don't know how long these seven points will go. Yeah?
But the first one is the transforming touch of the Holy Spirit, the transforming touch of the Holy Spirit.
There's something irreversible about the Holy Spirit. Every life that you touch, they're never the same.
There's something irreversible truth about the Holy Spirit. Yeah?
He loves to touch lives and every life that he touched, they're never the same.
It's impossible to escape the touch of the Holy Spirit. Yeah?
It is never a one moment thing.
Because why? Because the agenda, his agenda is transformation.
The Holy Spirit is interested in not modifying or improving your life a little bit here and there.
He's not interested in tweaking your life. He is interested in transforming your life. Yeah?
So Peter, who denied Jesus three times, is the same guy whose life has been changed forever.
And, you know, transformation happens in two ways, usually. Yeah?
One is instant, the other is gradual.
For someone like Saul on the road to Damascus, he experiences this light from heaven. It ruined him.
The fate that he wants to destroy is the very fate that he wants to defend.
His name was changed to Paul.
It all took one encounter. It was enough.
You know, I remember of one man from our church in India.
He went to a father's camp.
He's an alcoholic.
He smokes. He's addicted to smoking.
During this Bible camp, he encounters the Holy Spirit.
And after he came out of that Bible camp, he lost his desire for smoking and for alcohol.
It all took one incident.
The encounter with the Holy Spirit.
It's not like he's feeling guilty about it. He repented. No.
He just lost desire. He just lost interest.
There's no desire to smoke. There's no desire to go for alcohol.
The desire just changed. Right? It was instant.
And the other one is gradual.
When you think of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5,
none of those traits that are mentioned in Galatians 5 can be grown overnight.
I don't get patient.
One day, I wake up. I don't wake up and say, I'm full of self-control today.
No, it doesn't work like that, guys.
Love, peace, kindness, gentleness, forbearance.
All these qualities that we see are gradual.
They are not developed overnight.
This is why Ezekiel talks about God saying that he's going to give you a new heart.
He replaces your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
Because it's the Spirit.
And then the Spirit will now help you to follow his decrees.
I remember of a guy who was addicted to pornography.
And I walked with him closely.
And I noticed it was so hard for him.
He would come back and say to me, I've fallen again.
I was able to refrain from it for a week. I've fallen again.
There were times when he would go for a month.
Fall again. Sometimes two months.
We're really happy for him.
Fall again.
And so, you know, over this period of time, my intent was, can I, without judging him,
without condemning him, without shaming him, without inflicting guilt in him,
can I continue to love him and still expect him to change?
And he was the work of the Holy Spirit in his life.
It was not instant.
It was a struggle for him.
But slowly by slowly, this is the work of the Spirit.
Sometimes it's gradual.
Because why? Be it instant, be it gradual.
The Holy Spirit has one agenda.
That is transforming you.
Be gradual.
The Holy Spirit has one agenda.
That is transformation into Christlikeness.
He is the Spirit of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus.
He wants to make you like Jesus.
That's his goal.
When you read Galatians 5, I just mentioned, these traits that we read,
the nine fruits that were mentioned, these are all qualities of Jesus.
These are all the nature attributes, personalities of Jesus.
Yeah?
The Holy Spirit's intent is to make you like Jesus.
You know, the Holy Spirit will now change the very desires that are soulish
and now shift that into the things of God.
Your desire begins to change.
Some of the things that I enjoy, I don't enjoy anymore.
He even changes your desires, guys.
That's the beauty about Christ.
It's never self-effort.
I don't do these five things and become like Christ.
It's never self-effort.
It's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Because transformation is the agenda.
And I've got to allow that, the work of the Spirit in my life,
because transformation is guaranteed, guys.
No one who is in relationship with the Holy Spirit can remain the same, I guess.
I tell you guys, any area in your life that you struggle,
any area in your life that you want to be strengthened,
any area in your life that is unfruitful,
any area that has been hidden, exposed to the Holy Spirit,
He'll bring transformation in that very area, guys.
So that's the first one.
No one, no one remains the same, whoever encounters the Holy Spirit.
And then the second one is,
the Spirit of God is the Spirit of fruitfulness.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of fruitfulness.
Where do we get that? Everywhere.
Genesis' account, the Holy Spirit was hovering over the surface of the deep.
And then He makes things happen out of nothing.
And He said, be fruitful and multiply.
Even in Galatians 5, it's called the fruit of the Spirit.
Fruit of the Spirit, meaning it's the Spirit of fruitfulness.
We are supposed to bear fruit.
In Psalm 1, we're supposed to bear fruit.
One who is blessed by God.
Jesus comes and says the same thing.
If you abide in Me and I abide in you, you will bear fruit.
Right? Fruitfulness has everything to do with the Holy Spirit.
And that's why it's important for us to ask ourselves,
am I bearing fruit?
Am I bearing fruit?
If I am not bearing fruit,
question whether you are in relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Because to be in a relationship with the Holy Spirit and not bear fruit,
that's strange.
Strange, I tell you.
And when I say bearing fruit, it's not necessarily money or materially.
But if the Spirit is the Spirit of joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, righteousness,
all these gentleness, self-control, all of these things,
then are these qualities bearing fruit in your life?
Yeah?
Sometimes it's physical, sometimes it's more than physical.
Mary was a virgin, and you know what was the wow factor in Mary's life?
The Holy Spirit came upon her.
And even though she was a virgin,
made it possible.
Yeah?
Sarah.
Sarah was old and aged, you know.
And Abraham, dead as meat.
And then, happened.
Daniel,
in a system that is not Christian,
in a Babylonian system,
right?
It's not a Christian environment.
Thrives.
Really thrives.
Joseph, doesn't matter.
Really thrives.
Joseph, doesn't matter.
Whether it's in famine, during famine,
or whether it's in prison, flourishes.
See, this is the pattern that you will see again and again in the Bible.
And here's this.
In Ezekiel 47,
where Ezekiel saw this vision, right?
And then, rivers of living waters from the temple of God flowing.
And then, nourishing the plants and the trees on both sides.
And every area that's been touched, they begin to bear fruit.
And here's the crazy thing.
It flows even into the Dead Sea.
And now, the Dead Sea is full of fishes.
And Jesus himself said,
for those who are filled with the Spirit,
they are rivers of living waters will flow out of that man.
Oftentimes, the Holy Spirit is compared with the rivers of life,
rivers of living waters flowing.
And this is why, if the Holy Spirit is living and flowing in your life,
every area that it touches, it will bear fruit.
Yeah?
Every area.
Why it's important is because sometimes I can hide certain areas in my life
and not bring it to the attention nor to the touch of the Spirit.
Because we have a free will.
We often say, God, you are Lord of my life.
You are in control of this. You are in control of this.
But there are certain areas where we don't want to let go.
Finance is a big one.
We always think that 10 times is God's, 90 is ours.
Because it's a hard-earned money.
When God says everything is His, right?
That's why it's important for us to allow the Spirit to touch every aspect of our lives.
If we are to bear fruit.
Bearness and the Spirit, they do not go hand in hand.
We read that in Ezekiel as well.
Dry bones and Spirit, Spirit breeds life.
Dry bones come to life.
Spirit, the Spirit of God and barrenness, they don't go hand in hand, guys.
If there are things that are barren in your lives,
and when I say barren, I'm not just talking about the womb or just the physical.
Barren in relationships, barren in purity.
Yeah?
So many other aspects.
And I'm saying that because the Spirit is the Spirit of fruitfulness.
It is impossible to be unfruitful if we allow the Spirit of God to touch that aspect of our lives.
Yeah?
So that's the second one.
The third one is the supernatural becomes the normal.
The supernatural becomes the normal.
You know, no religion talks about these guys.
God of the universe, the creator of the heavens and the earth,
living in me, living in you.
Which religion talks about that?
Tell me, which religion talks about that?
We often worship the God of the heavens and the earth.
They try to appease their gods.
They bring their pujas, their offerings to their gods
so that their gods can have favor on them.
Christianity is radical.
We make outrageous claims saying Christ is the only way, the truth and the life.
Outrageous guys.
We are saying that it is exclusive.
Yes, it's for everyone who will believe, but it is only one way.
We're not saying there are multiple ways.
Crazy, man.
And we say the God of the universe lives in me.
Crazy, man.
And if the God of the universe lives in you, why do we have to limit God?
Look to ourselves and say I can afford it, I cannot afford it, I can do it, I cannot do it.
Because the focus is on the self.
Right?
But if the supernatural God is living in me,
if the supernatural God is living in me, then I should expect the supernatural things in my life.
It's so tragic how we have downgraded.
Because anything that is not verifiable, anything that is not quantifiable,
everything that is not rationalized, everything that cannot be put on a spreadsheet,
everything that cannot be calculated, if numbers doesn't match, it's harder.
And I'm saying it's so tragic, guys.
Because when you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, there's nothing natural about God.
Nothing.
Some people have tried to demystify, demystify, as in like the Bible take out the supernatural elements from the Bible.
And all we can get is a history book, but nothing extraordinary.
How can we even say it's the living word of God?
The lame walk, the dead were raised, the prisons break, cities were shaken, demons fled, and the gospel spreads like wildfire.
Man.
This is not an occasional event, guys.
See, once the Pentecost happens, the spirit was poured out, this became the new normal.
The supernatural became the new normal.
Yeah?
Doesn't matter.
It's Paul, doesn't matter.
It's Peter, doesn't matter.
It's Stephen.
Stephen was just chosen for food distribution.
He was not even an apostle.
It became normal, guys.
And yet logic, rationalism, legalism, all these things kicks in.
And that's exactly what the people in Nazareth did that.
Isn't he the son of Mary and Joseph?
Right?
And then Jesus couldn't do much miracles out there because there was a lack of faith.
Same story with the Israelites in the wilderness.
I think it's in Psalm 78.
They limited God again and again.
They limited the Holy One of Israel.
God sometimes is limited, not because he's limited, but because of the smallest of my expectations.
Because Jesus loves to say, your faith has made you well.
Yeah?
Things are done according to the measure of our faith.
So I would say, when was the last time you dreamt of a God-sized vision?
Something that is embarrassingly massive that when you think of yourself, you laugh.
Yeah?
See, guys, I tell you, some of my dreams, some of my wish to do,
some of my goals that I've written five years ago, it's funny.
I don't need God for those things.
Joel chapter 2 has not expired, guys.
Young man will dream dreams.
Yeah?
The old man, sorry, it's the old.
Oh, I'm not sure.
Yeah.
But see, guys, we have to increase our expectations on who our God is, man.
If the Holy Spirit has been poured out and if he's living in you, not for a visit, not for a vacation, permanent, permanent,
why do I have to limit him so much to the size of what I can comprehend?
Yeah?
And you know, this self-sufficiency is so difficult to tackle with.
Yeah?
When we are short of money, we open our bank account.
When we are sick, we go to hospital.
Yeah?
When we need some comfort, we go to our loved ones.
And I'm not saying these things are wrong, but I'm saying that God always is never the first choice.
Yeah?
We go when our systems have failed.
Many people go to God for healing after everything failed.
Yeah?
After everything collapses, we go to God.
Now there's no hope, there is nothing that I can do.
I go to God.
It's tragic, guys, when he should have been the first choice.
Yeah?
The supernatural is the new norm, guys.
The supernatural is the new norm.
If you believe John 1.50, you will see greater things.
I am saying that Acts 2 and the following chapters which we read, and we are fascinated by these stories,
I'm hoping that these things will manifest in greater glory.
Things are beginning to happen here.
You know, people are experiencing healing in the middle of worship without anyone praying, without anyone laying hands.
Yeah?
More and more are happening.
Some are physical.
For Andre, last week, it was something non-physical, but it was something that broke loose for Andre.
For John, he experienced something physical.
For Nellie, she experienced something physical.
Things are breaking out here, and I'm seeing that there is fate in this house, guys.
The spirit of God is in this house.
He's moving, and so can we increase our fate, and can we expect that this is a new normal?
Yeah?
How can someone go for surgery and then come out in a few hours, and then the very next day, he's here as if chilling out there.
Look at Kamal.
Crazy!
As if nothing happened.
And you know, Anne said, this is a new normal.
That's what she said at the corridor.
I pray that these things become so normal so that we would say, come to our church.
There is something that happens every time.
Yeah?
I hope and I pray that we invite people because the presence of God is in our hearts.
And whoever comes and encounters the spirit of the living God, they can never be the same, guys.
Yeah?
Some need physical healing, they get healing.
Some need mental healing, they get mental healing.
We don't even have to name it, guys.
And the fourth one.
As the spirit is poured out, we become Isaiah 61 and Acts chapter 1 people.
Yeah?
Isaiah 61 and Acts 1 people.
You know, God said, you know, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And you will receive power when you receive power.
And God said, you know, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
If the Spirit comes, comes the power of God.
Yeah?
And then in Isaiah 61, the spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me so that I can proclaim goodness to the poor,
bind the brokenhearted, set the captives free, proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
These things, the spirit of God enables you, right?
And I'm telling you this.
Jesus in Luke chapter 4 opens up the scroll of Isaiah.
And he reads from there.
And he said, today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
You know, this blew away my mind.
Jesus is not reading the initiation and the fulfillment of his ministry.
He's declaring it for anybody who is a spirit-filled person.
Jesus is reading a declaration of anybody who is spirit-filled.
Because he gives his spirit to do exactly what he did.
Yeah?
We become spirit-filled people.
And we are supposed to do exactly what Jesus did.
We are because power has come upon you.
Power has come upon you.
Do you believe that?
Power has come upon you.
Or do you still think you're powerless?
Think of that for a second.
You have power, guys.
Because that's what Jesus said.
You will receive power.
Do not underestimate.
You will receive power.
And when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, we will receive power.
And we will be his witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.
You know, for many of us, our Jerusalem is now our next door.
We don't have to go to the ends of the earth.
Because God brings people from all over the world to be your next door.
Crazy, guys.
And Isaiah 61, oh boy.
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord comes upon us to do these things.
He doesn't look for the qualified guys.
The criteria for God to use us is never about degrees or pedigrees or as such.
It is simply those who are available.
Who are available.
You know, it's interesting how the progression of Isaiah 61, right?
Not Isaiah 61.
When Isaiah experiences the presence, the glory of God.
He said, he initially said, I'm ruined, right?
For I'm a man of unclean lips.
Here is this man who is unworthy before the presence of the Holy God.
Now his own unworthiness is exposed.
He feels worthless.
And then the moment God touches his lips with the coals.
And his life is changed forever.
And then God said, who will go?
And then this guy who said, I am unworthy.
I am ruined.
This guy immediately raised his hand and said, here I am.
Send me, Lord.
Crazy. How did that shift happen?
It's the touch of God.
Crazy, man.
How can Isaiah quickly progress from being an unworthy guy
to one who is like, send me.
I'm ready.
We become Isaiah 61 people, guys.
We become Acts 1 people.
You may not be ready.
You may feel you are unworthy.
You may feel like you don't have what it takes.
Guys, I tell you, man, when the Spirit touches you, you will be ready.
You will be ready.
Because we stop looking at ourselves.
It is deeply personal on one hand, but it is urgent, guys.
It is urgent.
So a quick summary of the four points we covered.
Whoever encounters Christ, they're never the same.
And then secondly, it is the spirit of fruitfulness.
If the Holy Spirit is in your life, you will be fruitful, guys.
It will be unusual not to be fruitful.
And then the third one is that since he's a supernatural spirit,
the spirit of Jesus himself living in you,
I should expect the supernatural.
It should be the norm.
And then the last one, we become Isaiah 61 people
because the spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon you and upon me.
So then, last three points.
These are shorter, I tell you.
How to walk in step with the Spirit.
If this is the Spirit and if this is the same Spirit of Jesus
who does extraordinary things in the lives of the believers,
in the lives of Jesus, and in my life, then how do I learn?
How do I learn to walk with the Spirit?
How do I operate in the Spirit?
And I'm going to share three very simple things
which might not surprise, but sometimes we fail to do the basic.
And the first one is the Bible is your compass, man.
The Bible is your compass.
The Spirit is the Spirit of truth.
God's Word is the Word of truth.
They go hand in hand.
And I'm saying that many people limit the Spirit
because they don't have the framework of the Spirit.
God breathed, right?
The Bible is God's breathed Word, meaning the Spirit, right?
It's fascinating how the Bible is written.
When we first joined the Bible college, we would do an introduction to the Bible.
And it blew my mind.
Over 40 authors wrote the Bible.
They were not writing at the same place.
They were writing at different times and different seasons.
And then how they witnessed is different, yeah?
And they were not, they don't have voice recorders.
They don't have iPhones.
They don't have any, you know, sophisticated tools to gather the data.
And yet, it's amazing how even Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels,
they don't contradict each other.
They are providing the narratives of Jesus from different lenses.
And it perfectly makes sense, yeah?
It's fascinating.
It's the Spirit of God breathing into these people, right?
Life, they're inspired and they're writing.
These are not human generated words.
And so, you know, when the Holy Spirit comes, and Jesus says,
He'll remind you of all the things that I have taught.
And you know, reminding is what?
Meaning you have heard it before.
Because if I have never heard it before, how can He remind me?
And the thing is, guys, it's like this.
When the Holy Spirit even wants to remind you,
but if I have never heard of it, how can He remind me?
Yeah?
The key word there is remembrance.
The Spirit brings you to remembrance.
And that's why the framework for how the Spirit works is that
the word is the key.
The word is the framework for which the Spirit operates, guys.
And sometimes we're so ignorant of the word
that the Spirit wants to dive here and here and here and here,
and yet I have no clue about the Spirit.
Yeah?
That's why I go with feelings now.
I feel like this is the Holy Spirit.
I feel like this is the Holy Spirit, right?
I'm not sure whether it's aligned with the word.
And so now I begin to credit the things that I did
because of my feelings and credit it as the Holy Spirit told me.
That's where the controversy, that's where the error begins to happen.
If our understanding of the word increases, guys,
our flow with the Spirit will increase, guys.
And the accuracy of your hearing,
the accuracy of diving and flowing with the Spirit will increase, guys.
Yeah?
Sometimes it's just fascinating, I tell you.
Sometimes, like I said, the Spirit reminds you of the things that Jesus taught, right?
There are times when I would read my Bible in the morning, nothing extraordinary.
I didn't say like, oh, that was a revelation.
No, it was just a normal reading of the Word.
And then during the day when I'm meeting someone,
God will remind me of certain things that I read.
Sometimes it's the same day, sometimes things that I read two days ago,
sometimes things that I read three days ago or a week ago.
And I knew that when the Spirit is reminding me,
I knew that that's the word for this person.
And it always surprises me, guys.
And this guy will say, how do you know?
How do you know? Yeah?
How do I know? Because the Spirit reminded me.
Sometimes it's for you, sometimes it's for others. Yeah?
But this is one way.
If you want to increase flowing with the Spirit, hearing the Holy Spirit,
if you don't know the Word, you will always limit the Spirit, guys.
Because He's the author. He's the author of the Bible.
Yeah?
Second one.
One of the hardest things for a modern-day man or a woman is to let go of control.
Control.
I want to control my finances. I want to control my future.
I want to control the future of my children.
I want to control what I will be doing.
Everything.
I want the remote in my hand. Right?
And the world promotes this, that the world is in your fingertips.
Now, you want to watch this? Turn it on.
You want to close this? Shut it off. Right?
And then we want that in every aspect of our lives.
For Christians to let go of control, it goes against the grain.
And I'm saying that surrender is so tough. Why?
Because it appears like defeat.
It appears like weakness. Right?
But in the Kingdom of God, it's an upside-down kingdom.
You know, we were talking about this the other day, about Jesus being our good shepherd.
And we were mentioning about a sheep.
How helpless the sheep is. Yeah?
He has no venom. He has no claws. He has no shell.
He's not fast. He's so slow. Yeah?
There's nothing about the sheep that'll make him strong and fast and secure. Nothing.
It's one of the most vulnerable mammals on earth. Yeah?
They're so dependent.
And Jesus, you know what? Jesus calls you and I sheep.
Yeah. And we think that we can do on our own.
And I'm saying that to let go of control is a huge, huge thing for every one of us.
You know, in the wilderness, Jesus, sorry, God, rained down manna from heaven.
Not once a month. Not once a week. Not once a year.
He could have done that.
You know, God could have rained down their portion for the rest of the month. Right?
And they don't have to come and collect, you know, again for the rest of the month.
But God would do it daily.
And what God is intending is that they can rely on him daily. Right?
He would not trade it for, you know, giving them in bulk and then lose out intimacy.
Lose out dependence.
But God would give them daily and they would go out.
It's a daily reliance on God.
And you know, Jesus teaches the same principle.
Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer.
And it says, give us this day our yearly bread, monthly bread.
It says daily bread.
Jesus says, give us this day our daily bread.
Bread, no matter how amazing it is, you eat, you need it again.
Bread is never a luxury.
Bread is a necessity.
They need for their survival.
And Jesus is saying that you need me for your survival.
And for Christians to let go of control?
Ah!
Yeah?
I don't carry over yesterday's confidence into today.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
His mercies are new every morning.
Yeah, he supplies my daily.
Daily.
Last one.
Keep an open conversation going.
Very simple.
But it is so critical.
Because Paul says, pray without ceasing.
In 1st Thessalonians, pray without ceasing.
He's not talking about using words non-stop.
Right?
If that's the case, none of us will be here.
Yeah?
You cannot pray all the time.
Why?
Because if you do that, you will not do anything else.
Yeah?
So, pray without ceasing.
What does he mean by that?
Meaning to be always in tune with God.
You know, yes, we do have specific times for prayer.
That's really important.
Specific times when you allocate your specific time,
when you read your Bible, when you pray, when you connect with God.
Those things are vital for you and for me.
But to limit God to that time alone, it is tragic.
The tragedy is not absence of prayer.
The tragedy is when we limit prayer to those moments alone.
Right?
You know, it's like you wake up in the morning.
You know, I wake up in the morning and then I have my devotion.
And then I feel good about it.
I feel refreshed.
And then now I go to work.
And then from 9 to 5, God is absolutely, completely absent.
And then I come back and like, oh, you know, I should read my Bible again.
Yeah?
It's tragic, man.
Where have we lost God from those 9 to 5 hours?
Yeah?
And I'm saying that for students who are writing assignments,
ask God in the middle of what you're writing.
For those who are working on projects, ask the Lord's help.
Right?
For those who are making transactions, ask the Lord to intervene.
Yeah?
For those who are doing sales, ask the Lord for doors, for connections,
for things to happen.
Guys, I tell you, it is in these moments,
it is in these everyday life moments where you and I experience God in powerful ways.
Yeah?
You see, one of the things that the Holy Spirit is an expert,
he's a teacher, he's a guide, he's a counselor.
That's why when you face problems, he's so good at these things.
He begins to counsel you, he begins to guide you, he begins to teach you.
That's why when you have a problem, oh man, he's right there.
Yeah?
That's why Jesus is so aware.
Sometimes he's able to spot Zacchaeus on the tree.
Sometimes he's able to feel that their power went out of him.
He knew someone touched me.
That awareness.
He said, I only do what my Father tells me to do.
Highly aware, right?
And I'm saying that, to be honest, I sometimes am very dull, very unaware.
And then someone would bring up and be like, oh shucks, what am I doing?
I should have spotted that sooner, right?
And this awareness is something you and I can develop, yeah?
Let me end.
Today we're going to do something different.
I'm going to call a few leaders here.
And if you have not tasted or experienced the work or the move of the prompting of the
Holy Spirit in your life, today a few leaders who operate in the spirit world,
they will lay hands on you, yeah?
They'll lay hands on you and they'll pray for you.
And for some who have never spoken in tongues, do we have to speak in tongues?
No.
Is speaking in tongues a measure to gauge your level of maturity?
No, right?
But see, here's the thing.
All the spiritual gifts are for the benefit of others.
If I provide you with a spiritual gift, you will be able to speak in tongues.
If I prophesy over someone, that person benefits.
If I have a gift of generosity, that person benefits.
If I have a gift of healing, that person benefits.
If I have a gift of wisdom, that person learns.
Every spiritual gift is for others.
There's one gift for the person.
That's the gift of tongues.
If I speak in tongues, no one benefits.
Right?
If I'm speaking in tongues, you don't understand what I'm speaking.
But it edifies me.
It builds me up.
It increases me.
It sharpens my spirit.
It builds my inner man.
That's what the Bible says, right?
That's the gift for you, for me.
Do we have to speak?
I'm saying no, it's not.
Right?
Because the extreme is that people begin to judge the level of maturity by whether this person speaks in tongues or not.
And that's not, right?
Because if you have received Christ, you have received the Holy Spirit.
But it's one of the gifts that the Spirit enables.
And so, if it builds me, if it improves me, if it sharpens my spirit, if it builds my inner man, why wouldn't I want that?
And so I'm saying that if you have never spoken in tongues, I'm saying that how I spoke in tongues was someone prayed over me and then, boom, it started.
And I'm saying that that's not always the case.
In Acts chapter 2, nobody laid hands.
But when the Spirit came, everyone was filled with tongues of fire.
So I'm saying that irrespective of whether the leaders lay hands on you or not, God can fill you up.
But I'm saying that today, today we want to do something different, right?
And I am praying that as the Spirit enables, it can be healing, it can be, it can be prophecy, it can be tongues of fire.
It can be tongues of whatever God wants to.
I would invite that this is the Spirit of God that is here in this house.
And can I ask Derek, Jillian, Sue, Mae, Dawn, maybe Annile to come up as the musicians continue to play one song.
And I know we'll sing that song, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here.
And he's already here.
So as we welcome him, can we expect the Spirit to break something in our lives today?
Yeah.
Can the Spirit deposit something, something that has gone barren or something that you have never tasted?
It says rivers of living waters.
What would that look like for you?
Yeah.
So yeah, Derek, please.