Dean Miller: I’m so glad that you’re here tonight. How many of you are glad you’re here tonight? You know, there’s a lot of places you could be tonight other than here.

You could be in jail. You could be in the hospital. You could be in Florida in a hurricane, right?

We came today. I landed this morning, and I was driving from the airport, and Pastor Steven picked me up, and we were driving over, and all of a sudden our phones all started going off on an alert, and it was a tornado coming through. So we came up here to the church, and we all took shelter downstairs, and it was the best shelter I’ve ever been in.

We were all in the basement of the church. They were giving me chili cheese dogs. And it was a wonderful time.

I thought, man, I’ll shelter for a hurricane anytime, you know. If I get a chili cheese dog out of it, that was great. And we had a wonderful time together, and it’s just a joy to be here.

I’m very thankful for the opportunity. And I was here the last time. I was the only time I’d ever been at Falls Baptist before.

I was here for, I was taking your money. Remember that? It was stewardship banquet, and I was telling you about you need to give all your money.

It was a stick-up. But I hope that the Lord has blessed that and that you’ve been faithful in your giving this year. And it’s just a joy to see what God has done.

I left here back when I left from that meeting. It was the first time I’d been here, and I was overwhelmed at the presence of the Lord here and what God is doing in this church and the touch of revival here and to see the soul saved and just to see how your church has come through even the difficulties of this year. And the group from the college was with us on July 4th when the accident took place.

And just to see your grace, the grace of God on this church and to see how God has used you in these days. And I want to encourage the church tonight that God has great things and sometimes great things come through great adversity.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, wherein we greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, we are in heaviness through manifold temptation, that the trial of our faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found in a praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And so I’m grateful for the grace of God in your life and letting God be seen in your lives. Thankful for the privilege of being here.

And I’m looking forward to today, tonight and tomorrow. I’ve been praying for this and praying for many of you that were driving here. Some of you, I think, flew here, I imagine.

But you got here and I’ve been praying that God would speak to your heart while we’re here. So find in your Bible tonight, John chapter 14, John chapter 14. It’s good to see friends.

I see Tim Stratton over here, pastor in Minnesota, been a dear friend, been a faithful man. He has been a faithful man of God for many years. And can I share the news that you shared with me today?

This last Sunday became a grandfather for the first time. And the problem is I became a grandfather this year and I look like one and you don’t. And you don’t have a stitch of gray hair.

I don’t know how that happened. I know what happened. I had three girls, and that’s what happened.

I have three daughters. I have Deanna, Brianna, and Juliana. Now, we didn’t plan to name them all that.

We didn’t plan to do the rhyming name thing. My wife wanted to name the first one after me, and so when we found out it was a girl, obviously it was Deanna after Dean, right? And then when Brianna came along, we didn’t know what we were going to name her.

We had all kinds of names picked out, but we couldn’t figure it out. We just couldn’t settle on a name. And so we’re in the hospital.

We’re trying to fill out that birth certificate thing. And the nurse was like, you know, I got to turn this in. So hurry up.

And yeah, we’re only picking a name here, right? And so anyway, the nurse was like, what’s your oldest daughter’s name? It said Deanna.

She said, oh, what about Brianna? Well, that was kind of on our list. And we were like, you know, that is a beautiful name, Brianna.

So we named her Brianna. And didn’t know that we were going to have a third daughter. I thought we were going to get a boy in there somewhere.

But when you have the third daughter and you’ve got Deanna and Brianna, I’m like, you can’t have Deanna, Brianna, and Stephanie. You just can’t do that. So we had to go with Juliana.

And then finally got a son, and we have little Santa Anna, and he’s a great, no, I’m just kidding. We don’t have Santa Anna, but it’s a joy. It’s good to see the Herbsters, Brother Mike and Miss Amy and your family.

What a precious family. And serving the Lord down in the swamps in Louisiana at Southland Christian Camp. And just a tremendous friend and fellow laborers in the Lord.

It’s just a great, isn’t it wonderful to serve the Lord and just to love the Lord? Did you find John 14? Find John 14.

All right, now before you read the text, I want you to look up here at me for a minute. And I want to ask you a question. How many of you would say, Brother Miller, I know that I know that I know that I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior.

I am a believer in Jesus Christ and I’m not ashamed of it. Would you slip your hand way up high? Okay, now hold your hand up for a minute.

I want you to see that you are solemnly attesting to the fact that you are a follower and a believer of Jesus Christ. Okay, good. Now you can put your hand up and I want you to read something.

And then I want you to tell me if you believe that. Now I’m not going to ask you to show hands, but I want you to see if you believe this. Look down with me in verse number 12 of John 14.

Verily, verily. You know, whenever Jesus wanted to emphasize something, he’d said it twice. Verily, verily.

Truly, truly, I say unto you. Boy, you talk about the emphasis. Truly, truly, I’m saying this.

I am. The God of the universe is saying this to you. I am saying this to you.

He that believeth on me. Now, you just raised your hand a moment ago, did you not? He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also.

And greater works than these shall he do. Because I go to my father. Now, did you just read that?

Maybe that’s written in red ink in your Bible. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just written in black ink.

I don’t know. But it’s ink on white paper. And it said that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Truly, truly, we have his word on it. that greater works than he did shall you do. Because he goes to his Father.

Now, I submit to you tonight that that sounds impossible. That you and I could do greater works than the Lord Jesus Christ. Was Jesus using hyperbole?

Was he exaggerating? Was he just trying to give the disciples a confidence boost? Was he just taking up space?

I don’t think God used words just to take up space in the Bible. Every word is inspired of God. Every word is important to God.

And God said, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because he’s going to his Father, you’re going to do greater works than he did. Notice it again. The works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my father.

Lord, I pray tonight that these next few moments you would open our eyes afresh and anew to your word and to what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that there would be a generation of young people, there would be a generation of preachers, a generation of moms and dads who would see with spiritual eyes and hear with spiritual ears and perceive with spiritual minds the privilege that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and that, Lord, we would live to it.

And I pray that you’ll use this message tonight. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now, it seems like a mission impossible that Jesus said to his disciples, I’m going away.

Let not your heart be troubled. I’m going away and when I go away I’m not going to leave you comfortless I’m going to send another comforter to you and when he comes he’s going to dwell in you and Jesus said now listen boys to his disciples listen to me I know that you’re wondering where I’m going and why I’m going and how you can go with me. He said, but listen, that’s not the thing.

You will come with me one day. I will come again and where I am, I’m going to go prepare a place for you that where I am you shall be also. But until that day, when you cannot be where I am with me, I’m going to be where you are with you.

And when I come to be with you, you’re going to do greater works than I’ve done.

do you know a Christian like that are you a Christian like that now this is a this is a thought that makes us sit up and take notice and to take examination and say wait a minute let me look at this life that I’m living and let me see am I am I a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ who is doing the works that Jesus does and greater works than Jesus did?

And am I living up to what Jesus said a believer was going to do? Now, the whole passage of Scripture in John 14, 15, and 16, and we’re going to walk through some Scriptures here tonight, but that whole passage of Scripture has to do with this. Jesus said, I’m going away, and I’m going away so that I can send the Holy Spirit.

The Father will send the Spirit. I’ll pray the Father. The Father will send the Spirit.

The Spirit will come and be with you. And when the Spirit of God comes to live within you, you’re going to do greater works than I’ve done. Now, church, I want to tell you tonight that we are living in modern-day America in a very powerless, very emaciated state as a church.

We are cowering in the darkness. While the world is advancing its agenda and its sin, the church is sitting in the corner quietly hoping that Jesus will come and get us. When he will.

But until then, we are to be taking him to them. there needs to be a generation of young people that sees a new and a fresh what it means to be a spirit filled Christian many years ago I was in the Christian school how many of you are in the Christian school all right I was in the Christian school and we had a young man that we had a young man that came to our school

Now this fella His name was Carl Carl was a bus kid His never knew his dad His mom was as poor as Job’s turkey And Carl wanted to go to our Christian school He got saved on the bus ministry Started coming to church Said I want to go to

this Christian school So Carl went down to McDonald’s And got him a job And Carl started working hard at this job And saving his money and paying his own way Through the Christian school and I mean you talk about a kid that get up early and and and do his work he would go work the early shift at McDonald’s come to school all day play go out he went out for sports played football and basketball

and all that after practices he’d go back to work work through the night at McDonald’s till they closed I mean this kid was burning the candle at both ends well he didn’t have any transportation he was doing all of this walking from his house to the bus stop taking the city bus to work take the city bus to school and in transportation and so there was a guy in our church who was selling a moped now how many of you remember what

a moped is anybody know what a moped is all right moped is a little motorcycle that’s got pedals it’s a bicycle a little motor on it right and uh and so he was selling this little moped well he found out that carl needed transportation so he just gave it to carl he gave it to him said carl you can have it boy carl was tickled pink he had this moped and we were all

so excited for Carl that he got this moped and so Carl came into work and we would notice that Carl would get to school every day and he was exhausted he was sweating and he changed in the bathroom and and we didn’t know what was going on with Carl and we’re like Carl how you like that moped oh yeah I’m glad I got it but he was never really excited about it like Carl don’t you aren’t you glad you got that moped I mean

listen isn’t that a wonderful thing you got you got this moped you can get around yeah yeah i can and i never could quite figure out why carl wasn’t so excited about that moped one day i was with my youth pastor and we’re going out on a visitation thing and we’re driving down the road

and we came to a road in colorado springs colorado called called uinta boulevard uinta’s got this big hill going straight up i mean it’s a big hill and we’re driving up we’re driving up this hill and i look over on the side of the road and i see this guy standing on top of this bike pedaling for all he’s worth i mean just pedaling, pedaling, pedaling. And this poor guy is so exhausted. He’s so wrung out.

He’s soaking with sweat. And we drove by and I went, hey, that’s Carl. And there was Carl pedaling the fire out of that moped up that hill.

I told my youth pastor, that was Carl. He’s pedaling that moped. He said, what?

I said, he was pedaling up the hill. So we went and did our visit. We came back.

We’re coming back down.

And Carl, about this time, is finally getting to the top of the hill and he’s pushing that moped he’s pushing it you can see he’s got spaghetti legs i mean he’s just this kid is dripping sweat and he’s huffing and puffing we pulled over my youth pastor said carl what are you doing he said i’m going home from work he said no i mean what are you doing pushing this moped he said that’s a big hill i’m tired he said why were you pedaling up

the hill he said well I didn’t want to push it all the way up the hill he said Carl have you ever tried using the engine Carl said what engine we rolled with Carl’s moped over to the gas station put about three bucks worth of gas in it let me tell you Carl never pedaled again

that guy was riding down the road his feet straight out he was having the time of his life he was pedaling let me tell you Let me tell you what I see today. Let me tell you what I see in Christianity. I see people who God has given us this gift.

I mean, this gift so wonderful, so great salvation, that God has given us his only begotten son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. What a salvation we have. What a great salvation.

And I see a lot of Christians going, oh, yeah, it’s wonderful, wonderful. and I’m just peddling my way all the way to heaven. Boy, this Christian life is hard.

Now, can I tell you something tonight? The Christian life is not hard. The Christian life is impossible.

You see, there’s only one person that ever lived the Christian life and his name was Jesus. And if I’m gonna live the Christian life and you’re gonna live the Christian life, it’s going to take Jesus living it in us. See, when God saved you and gave you this great salvation, he never intended for you to pedal it everywhere and push it up the hill and wear yourself out.

He gave you an engine. Inside you, he’s given you the power and the fuel for you to ride in this great salvation and accomplish what needs to be accomplished, not in your might, not in your strength, but through the Spirit of God. And yet today, Christians are so horribly depleted.

We’re weary. We’re wrung out. We’re tired.

We’re frustrated. And we’ve pushed this Christian life as far as we think it can go. And let me tell you, it’s time for some of us to pull over and fill up and get filled with the Holy Spirit of God and run in his energy, in his power, in his strength, in his might.

And though our outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. And this is what Jesus is telling us in John chapter 14. He’s saying, I’m going away from you.

And when I go, it is going to be my responsibility to pray to the father that he will send the spirit of God and he will fill you and he will dwell in you and he will give you the power that you need to live this life. So I want you to see a couple of things about the filling of the power of the power of the Holy Spirit tonight and what Jesus had in mind. and why He gave us of His Spirit.

I want you to see it tonight. I want you to watch this very carefully. Look at verse number 16, please.

In John chapter 14, verse number 16, Jesus said, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you for how long? For how long? He will abide with you forever.

Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you. Now he’s speaking to those disciples. He’s got Peter and James and John and Andrew and Bartholomew and Thaddeus.

He’s got these men gathered around him and he’s telling them, I’m going away. And when I go, I’m gonna pray the Father and the Father’s gonna send another comforter and he’s gonna be with you and he’s gonna be with you forever. He’s the spirit of truth.

And he shall be with you. Right now he’s with you. But notice what he said.

He said right now he’s with you. But look at the end of verse 17. And shall be in you.

I will not leave you comfortless. Now watch what he says. Watch what Jesus says.

I will come unto you. Yet a little while in the world seeth me no more. But ye see me because I live.

ye shall live also. Now I want to tell you tonight what the Bible, what Jesus was explaining to his disciples. He was saying to them this, I’m going to go away, and when I go away, it is expedient for you that I go away.

It’s best for you that I go away. You say, what in the world does the word expedient mean? Expedient has, well, you can hear the root word in there for expedition.

To go on expedition, I’m going somewhere. I’m on a journey. I’m on an adventure.

I’m on an expedition. And if I’m going to get where I’m going to need to go, I’m going to have to have what I need to get there. And so the Holy Spirit is expedient that Jesus went away so he could send the Holy Spirit to give me what I need so that I can get where I need to get and do what I need to do.

Everybody understand? And here’s what he said. Jesus said, I’m going to give you this Holy Spirit.

And here’s what he’s going to do. Number one, he is going to bring the presence of Jesus in you. He is going to bring the presence of Jesus in you.

Notice what he said. He said in verse number 17, at the end of the verse, for he dwelleth with you at that present time. He was dwelling with those men, but he shall be in you.

There’s coming a day when he that is dwelling with you is going to dwell in you. Jesus said he’s dwelling with you because I’m with you, but I’m going away. And when I go away, the Holy Spirit’s going to come and he’s going to be in you.

Now watch what he says in verse number 18. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.

You say, well, Brother Miller, when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit, who lives in me, the Holy Spirit or Jesus? Yes. But who dwells in me?

Is it the Spirit or is it Jesus? Both. You see, the wonderful thing about being filled with the Spirit of God is this.

He abides with us. Jesus said in verse number 16, he will abide with you. That word abide means to dwell permanently with you.

He sent, I’m not gonna leave you comfortless. That word comfortless, I’m not gonna leave you orphans. I’m not gonna leave you as children without apparent.

I’m not gonna leave you alone. I’m not gonna leave you by yourself. I’m going gonna come to you.

I’m gonna be with you. Well, Jesus, how are you gonna be with us when you go away? I’m gonna be with you through my spirit who will be in you.

And when he’s in you, I’ll be in you. And the presence of Christ will dwell in you. When the Spirit of God comes upon you, and when the Spirit of God came to live within you, who came to live within you?

Was it the Spirit of God or was it Jesus? Yes. Listen very carefully.

I believe this. I believe a great definition of a Spirit-filled life is this. The Holy Spirit is Christ in the Christian.

Now there are some who get the Holy Spirit out leading the parade. And everybody’s got the Holy Spirit out in front, and you’re leading the parade, and he’s in charge. And let me tell you, that’s wrong.

The Holy Spirit is not out in front leading the parade. Christ is leading the parade. And the Holy Spirit is pointing everybody to the one leading the parade.

Listen, the Holy Spirit did not come to magnify himself. He did not come to speak of himself. He came to speak of Christ and to magnify Christ.

And so when the Holy Spirit comes to live within the believer, he comes to restore the presence of Christ in us. You see, Jesus is God, yes or no? The Holy Spirit is God, yes or no?

So when the Holy Spirit comes to you from Jesus, He is coming to represent the Lord Jesus. And while He dwells in you, He makes within you the abode for the entire Godhead. Now you can know the Father.

Now you know the Son. Because the Holy Spirit has made a place in you that is holy that God can dwell in. Let me tell you something very interesting.

In the Old Testament, God has always desired to dwell with His people. He came into the garden in the cool of the day and He walked with Adam and Eve. Did He not?

He fellowshiped with them every day in the cool of the day. He walked with them. But listen, man fell from that.

Man became sinful. They were cut off from the presence of God. That now had to be restored.

So in the Old Testament, what did God do to restore his presence among his people? Well, to restore that presence, there was a temple made. First a tabernacle and then a temple.

And there was a temple in the Old Testament. God had a temple for his people. But when Jesus came and died and was buried and rose again and sent the Holy Spirit, now God does no longer have a temple for his people.

God has a people for his temple. and now God dwells in you hey what?

know you not that your body is the temple of the Spirit of God which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own you’ve been bought with a price the Holy Spirit of God lives in you and so many of us are peddling in our own strength and power when we have the very presence of Christ in us number two not only does he restore the presence of Jesus in us

but number two he represents the person of Jesus in us look at John chapter 14 and verse 26 he represents the person of Jesus in us look at verse number 26 but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the The Holy Spirit of God is the comforter. Now this is interesting about the comforter. The word comforter, we all know, is that word paraclete.

Called alongside of. It is another word for the advocate. It’s another word for that one who comes alongside of you.

As a parent comes alongside of a child, or as an attorney comes alongside of a client to defend them, the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to represent us. And what is he representing to us? He is representing Jesus to us.

He is in your heart. He’s in your life to represent as Jesus’ advocate, as his representative to you. Now think about this for a minute. Jesus is our advocate to the Father Jesus sits at the right hand of God representing me to the Father and Jesus speaks to God on my behalf when the old accuser of the brethren comes and makes defense and says accusation your honor God I want you to look at Dean Miller today I want you to

see what he did look what he did when he was in that airport and they told him that the plane was going to be delayed and look how he got mad, what he said, how he behaved. Look at him, look at what he did. And God looks and sees and sure enough, I sinned.

But all of a sudden there’s one that says, Your Honor, may I approach the bench? And the judge says, you may. And he walks up to the bench.

Morning, Father. Father, what Satan is accusing my client of today is of no consequence. Well, what do you mean it’s of no consequence?

I saw him do it. Well, Your Honor, that’s of no consequence. I already took that sin and paid for it.

It’s under the blood. I call exhibit A the blood that speaks on my defense. That blood was shed for me and that blood yet speaks that I’ve been redeemed and I’m purged and I’m clean.

Isn’t that a wonderful thing? Jesus stands at the Father’s right hand to make defense for me as my advocate. He represents me.

In other words, when God looks at Jesus, he sees me. But the Holy Spirit comes as the advocate to represent Christ to me so that he can speak on Jesus’ behalf to me and say to me, hey, when the plane’s delayed, don’t act like Dean. Act like Jesus.

In this moment, here’s what Jesus would do. Here’s how he would respond. Do it this way.

And the Holy Spirit represents Christ to me.

the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you to represent Christ to you let me show you a passage of scripture for just a minute look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 I want you to see this for just a minute we often use this about heaven and I think it’s okay but that’s not the context of the passage of scripture watch this very carefully first Corinthians chapter 2 and verse number 9 but as Now, could heaven be included in that? Well, of course.

But that’s not talking just about heaven. Listen to me. I want every young person, listen to this tonight.

Watch this. Verse number 10. But God’s eye hasn’t seen, ear hasn’t heard, the mind of man cannot conceive what God’s prepared for them that love him.

But God has revealed them those things that cannot be perceived. In human instrument, with ear, with eye, with mind, imagination, those things that cannot be perceived, God has revealed those things to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, Save the spirit of a man which is in him. Say, what is he talking about there? Well, listen, nobody understands the ways of men, but men.

Now, I know some of you right now, we’ve gone crazy in our society. Some of you think your dog understands you, but your dog does not understand you. You’re like, oh, my dog understands me.

No, your dog does not understand you. Your dog has learned little key words and little things that they respond to. Yes, yes.

But if you want to see if your dog understands you, go home and explain algebra to your dog. Sit down with your dog and try to explain what’s going on at this conference to your dog. So then we got on a bus.

Well, now you already got a problem. That dog has no idea what a bus is. Or we got in a van and we drove on the road and there was a speed limit.

There’s a whole system of traffic regulations. And there’s like police officers and you can get fines and tickets and you have to get a license.

to be a certain age and the dog just like and the car it’s got reverse and it’s got drive and it’s got park and the dog’s like ha park park i know that dog i know that let’s go to the park and you’re like oh he’s under he’s getting it no he’s not and then there’s this thing called the irs and the irs has taxes and you got to pay that we got fill out these forms

and the dog’s like okay treat treat say treat say treat your dog does not understand you he said my dog understands me no your dog understands the tone of voice go

home and when you get home tonight instead of saying who’s so glad to see me and the dog walk home and just say who wants to get run over by a car that dog’s gonna be just as happy walk in that house tonight and say did you want a treat do you want a treat who wants a treat that dog does not understand a word you’re saying

so who can understand the things of the spirit of man save the spirit of man that is in him you can’t listen we can talk about traffic and we can talk about law enforcement and we could talk about taxes and irs and algebra and i still don’t get it but only men can talk about things that pertain to men

and listen to me listen to me this is one of the reasons why many don’t understand the word of god because nobody can understand the things of God save the spirit of God that is in him. If you don’t have the spirit of God you can understand the things of God. Some people read this book and they try to make sense of the Bible.

Can I tell you? You don’t understand the Bible intellectually. You understand the Bible spiritually.

The Bible is not a book that you come to head first. It’s a book you come to heart first. It’s a book that is understood through the spirit of God that is in you.

And he speaks to you the words of Christ. And he represents Christ to you. number three the Holy Spirit has been sent to us to remind us of the promises of God to remind us of the promises that Jesus gave us watch this again verse 26 but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things now there he is he is representing Christ to you he’s

teaching you the life of Christ he’s teaching you how Christ lives He’s teaching you and making you to understand this new life that you have in Christ. But notice what else he does. Watch.

And will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. The Holy Spirit does a work in your heart and mind that will speak to you the word of God that Jesus has spoken to us. The Holy Spirit brings it to heart.

Have you ever been somewhere? Have you ever been somewhere all by yourself doing something that you ought not to do? and all of a sudden there is that still small voice that begins to tell you, you ought not to do that.

During COVID, I had a neighbor to my right. They were from Nepal. They were Buddhists.

I had a neighbor to my left. He was a motorhead, had race cars and engines and his wife was new age. She was into all kinds of tarot cards and crystals and all of that.

And through that whole time of COVID, we tried to be good neighbors and minister to our neighbors. And I would be outside mowing my grass, and they would come out. And if I was outside, they would stay inside.

When I would go inside, they would come out. And my neighbors to my right, they would mow their grass with a mask on and gloves on. And if I came outside without a mask, they would run back in their house.

The lady over here was burning all kinds of incense and taking all kinds of, like, mineral oils and frankincense. Frankincense and myrrh and all the smell of oils were emanating from her house. She was in the backyard with a mask on.

I remember one day I came outside and my neighbor with all the oils said to me, Hey. She’s on the other side of her yard, on the other side yelling at me. Hey.

I said yes how come you’re not afraid and I said because I I don’t I don’t have anything to be afraid of she said aren’t you afraid of this virus no what if you get sick and die I’m going to go to heaven well doesn’t that scare you no she said how can you be so sure so I’m glad you asked and you know what I knew all of a sudden I knew that she was all into frankincense and myrrh. And so I just started.

I said, you know, you ever heard the story of how Jesus was born? You know, Christmas. I said, they gave him frankincense and they gave him myrrh.

They brought those treasures to him. And those are valuable treasures. Yeah.

Do you know why they did that? Because he wasn’t like any other baby. He was the son of God.

and those were special spices and oils. And I began to explain about myrrh and the burial and how that Jesus was coming to die and I’ve never led anybody to Christ giving them a essential oil speech. I gave her the gospel that day from beginning to end.

I prayed for her she didn’t receive Christ a couple weeks later I’m in my garage and I’m literally got the garage door open and I’m working in my garage and all of a sudden have you ever been somewhere by yourself and you could just feel presence I’m working and I just felt something like really close and so I kind of slowly turned around and there was my neighbor she was standing like six inches behind me

and I went hey what are you doing and she said I did it I said you did what she said I repented and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior and she said I’ve got all these and she had like crystals and tarot cards. Can we burn these? And I said, yeah.

And we burned them. She said, there’s a little creek right down here by our house. The big Thompson River comes down and breaks off in a little branch.

She said, there’s a little creek right down here by the house. Can you baptize me? And I said, well, we have a baptistry at the church.

she said I want to get baptized right now my husband he won’t do this he doesn’t believe it but I’ve been telling him all about what you told me how Jesus came and died for us and that we could have eternal life and our sins forgiven he doesn’t believe that but he would come and see me get baptized and you could tell him I said let’s go so we went to the creek and baptized her. And I preached the gospel.

Now, I’ve never done that before in my life. You say, what are you talking about? I’m talking about this.

Listen, I’m talking about this. I didn’t know how to do that. I didn’t know what I needed to tell her.

But if Jesus had been talking to her and maybe sitting with her by the well, he would have said, why are you coming by the well by yourself? Can you give me something to drink? Well, you’re a Jew.

How is a Jew asking me for water? Yeah. And Jesus just started right there with the whole water pot and the well and the Gentile and the Samaritan and the Jewish thing.

And he just started walking and he said, I could tell you more about it, but I need you to go get your husband. Well, I don’t have a husband. No, you’re right.

You don’t have a husband. You got five of them. And the guy you’re living with now is not your husband.

and boy Jesus just went right into the gospel did he not did he not hey listen to me listen to me listen to me you and I believe tonight I believe tonight that many of us are trying to speak as men to other men but we’re not doing it through the spirit of God and with the mind of Christ and letting the words of Christ dwell in us and speak through us so

that Christ is speaking through us by the power of his Holy Spirit listen very carefully he represents Christ to you he brings the words of Christ into you. He speaks through you and to you by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes us do the things that Jesus did in the power in which Jesus did them by bringing his word to memory.

Look over very quickly. Look at Isaiah chapter 50. Look over in your Bible, Isaiah chapter 50.

Isaiah chapter 50. And verse number four, look at it. Isaiah 50 and verse number four.

Watch this. The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning.

He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. Listen to me carefully.

God desires to put his word in you so that he can speak that word through you because there is power in the word of God. It has power to bring conviction. It has power to bring conversion.

It has power to change lives. And I want to tell you, we love to sit around in here and talk about the word of God and we ought to.

But God wants to get a generation of spirit-filled young people who know the words of Christ in here and are able to speak them into this lost and dark generation and win people to Christ and give you the tongue of the learned and the mind of the learned and the power of the Holy Spirit to speak his word to this generation who is so lost. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. And I want to say this lastly and I’m finished.

but not only does the Holy Spirit restore to us the presence of Jesus in us and represent the person of Jesus to us but remind us of the promises of Jesus but listen very carefully he also has come to release the power of Jesus through us look at chapter 16 and verse number 7 please I wish I had time to go through all these scriptures but for sake of time just watch these scriptures Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

Over and over and over and over again, Jesus has said, verily, verily, I speak the truth, the spirit of truth. I am truth. I’m telling you the truth.

I’m giving you something that is substance and truth. I’m telling you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away.

It’s best for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.

For he shall not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. Now, why does God give us the Holy Spirit? Watch this.

Look at verse 14. Watch this. He shall glorify me.

For he shall receive of mine and will show it unto you. He has come to glorify me. Literally, he’s saying this.

Jesus is going to Holy Spirit is going to take my glory. And bring it into you. that my glory may be seen in you.

And the power of Christ and the glory of God. You think about that Shekinah glory in the Old Testament. You think about the power of that glory on Mount Sinai.

You think of that glory when it fell upon those places in the tabernacle in the wilderness. You think about that glory that was in that temple and the place shook together. You think about that glory when Isaiah in the year that King Uzziah died saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.

And there he was and he was seeing the glory of God. You think about that. You think about that.

You think of the glory of God in the Bible and that glory of God has been brought into you to be lived in you, to be released through you that the power of Christ may dwell in you. God lives in you. The fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in you.

The glory of God is in you tonight. The glory of God. Who is the glory of God?

Jesus. His power and the Holy Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and gives it no wonder, Jesus said to his disciples, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And after that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

Ye shall receive power. whose power his power how many powerless Christians do you know powerless because we are so busy trying to do things for God rather than just letting God do things through us through the power of the Holy Spirit we’re peddling this gift when we should be revving the motor and resting in it and letting him carry us in strength and power and glory that Christ may be seen in us.

This world needs to see some Christians with Jesus all over them and in them. We need to get the junk out of the way, the sin out of the way, and Christ in us, fullness of power. Some of you need to go home to that besetting sin and you need to come home and stop trying, Stop trying to overcome that sin and come to that sin and tell that sin, you are dead and you are crucified and Christ lives in me and there is no temptation.

Jesus was tempted at all points like I am and yet without sin. And I am no longer into the power of this sin. I’m under the power of Christ.

I’m talking about the power of God. Listen to me. Husbands, you need the power of God to be the husband to your wife that God’s called you to be.

How in the world do you think you can love your wife as Christ loved the church unless you have the power of Christ in you? Wives, how in the world do you think that you can submit yourself to your husband as Christ submitted himself to his father? How can you be as submissive and as following and as obedient in that relationship as Jesus was in that relationship unless it is Jesus doing that in you?

How in the world as parents do you think we can bring up our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord unless it’s the Lord bringing them up through us? I’m talking about we need the power of God as parents. We need the power of God as spouses.

We need the power of God as children. We need the power of God as teenagers. You cannot deal with the sin that is in this world.

You cannot overcome the power of darkness that is in this world. But young people, he is sending us. He is sending us as sheep among wolves.

He is sending us as his people into the power and the kingdom of this darkness. And he’s sending us with all power that is in heaven. He is sending you on mission impossible.

With man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible. The problem is tonight we’re living too far beneath our privilege.

Can I tell you that you don’t have to do anything to have that? But believe. You say, but how do I get the Holy Spirit’s power?

You yield. You die daily. I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. I’m here. Yet it’s not I.

Christ lived in me. the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him say how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit have you asked God to fill you today have you said to

that old man you’re dead you’re dead you’re crucified you’re powerless the new man is in me today i am yielding to the power of christ jesus

fill me years ago i was a poor youth pastor god bless youth pastors I didn’t have any money I had more week than money And by the end of the week all my money was gone And my wife and I had a little baby at home And I have this thing there was this place in town That was a full service car wash It’s one of those places where you drive up to the car wash

and they have a guy that meets you out front and they got a menu and they’re like, what would you like? And you’d say, you know, you could do, you know, you could do a basic that was like five bucks. You could do a basic or you could do the ultimate or you could do the VIP.

Do the VIP. Now this is where when you walk, you didn’t ride through this car wash. You got out of the car and you went inside and the car went through this thing and I mean, they scrubbed it and then when they got on the other side, They’re vacuuming inside.

They’re armor-all-ing everything. And if you got the VIP, you got to choose a scent that they would spray in the car. I always chose that boot leather.

You ever walk into a boot store, that new leather smell? And there’s nothing like that. There’s nothing that will make you feel like more of a man than when you walk into a leather store.

Oh, yeah, I want to hunt. I want to kill. I want to eat.

I mean, you’re smelling leather and growing a beard all at the same time. Like, man. I would drive up to that thing.

I’d drive up there, and I’d roll the window down, and I would have visions of being able to say, VIP, please. Boot leather smell. But I’d always drive up, and I would say, basic.

well for Christmas my father-in-law sent me a gift card to the car wash no explanation just send it Merry Christmas hope you like your car wash like awesome I didn’t know how much was on this card and I didn’t want to spend it all on the first trip I went to kind of like, you know, work it out over the year. So I went down to the car wash, got up there, and this teenage kid is up there. He’s like, hey, how you doing?

Like the kid on the video tonight. What was up? What do you want?

I’m like, I’ll do the basic. All right. He writes on the window.

Get out. I go inside. I give the guy the card.

Guy looks at my card. He’s like, okay, hands it back. Like, wow.

Put up my wallet. He didn’t swipe it or anything, you know. I’m like, okay.

So I get my car wash. Well, I went back the next month. I was getting one car wash a month.

What about the next month? What do you want? Basic.

All right. I’m thinking, I’ll save this up for like special occasions. Like I’m going to take my wife on a nice date or something.

then we’ll get the boot store, you know? I’m not kidding you. I called my wife.

It’s now December at the end of the year. I called my wife. It’s the first week of December.

We were going to go do some Christmas shopping together. I had this big day planned. We were going to get coffees or hot chocolates.

It was, you know, just cold, and it was Christmas, and we were going to go get some hot chocolate. So I said, I’m going to get the card. I’m going to spend whatever’s left on this card.

so I go there well when I pull up it’s not the teenage kid it’s the manager of the store when I pull up he’s like how you doing sir I’m like good so I went to I flashed the card that’s what I always did I said hey I got this card I got this oh okay and he starts writing on my car

and he goes what kind of scent do you want I said whoa time out I don’t know if I have enough on here he said what do you mean I said I’ve been using this through the year I don’t know if I have enough on here. He said, what are you talking about? I said, I don’t know how much left on my balance.

He said, what balance? He said, there’s not a balance on that card. I said, what do you mean?

He said, did you read the card? Rainforest Cafe. He said, turn, or Rainforest Card Watch.

He said, turn it over. So I flipped it over on the back. VIP card.

Unlimited. I said, what does that mean? He’s like, VIP?

Unlimited. I’m like, I can have as many VIPs as I want. Like, whenever I want.

Expires. 12-18. I’m like, what’s today?

He’s like, it’s the 9th. I’m like, bro, this car is going to be rusted in nine days. Michelle, we are not going Christmas shopping.

Bring me a lunch. I’m at the car wash just taking it back through. I’m going through as many times as I can.

I’m washing this thing every 16 minutes. Spray it in that thing. Listen, when I get in here, I want this to smell like the whole cow, not just a leather store.

I want this thing to have hide and horns and fur. I want to be able to milk it when I’m done. I want this.

I want the whole thing, man. Listen, I’m driving through. I’m just going around in circles.

I’m dizzy as can be. I’m eating a sandwich on the way through. Vacuum that up.

I got the VIP card. Vacuum these crumbs. Spray it again.

This time, cherry. I don’t care. I want whatever you got.

Listen, think about this. I had the VIP in my pocket the whole year. And I was living on the basic the entire year.

And I’m looking at a generation of young people. God has given you his Holy Spirit. You have the VIP.

You have it all. You have everything that Jesus has and is. And you can have it all.

And you’re just content to live on the basic. Some of us need to go to him and say, okay. I’m taking you at your word And I’m going to I’m going to live the VIP Fill me Make me the fragrance of Christ May the world see Jesus in me Make me clean every whit Wash me Cleanse me Use me Glorify yourself in me It’s time for a generation you know what it is.

You fill in the spirit of God.