The Greatest Promises Ever Made

The sermon, the title today, is The Greatest Promises Ever Made. Greatest Promises Ever Made. Perhaps you might remember a promise that was made that was either kept or broken in your lifetime. I go back to 1987, the most memorable time for me. I'd just been married two years. I was working at a company. And our company had an incentive plan for all of us.

And the incentive plan was that if we made our goals, there would be certain trips that we would be given. And so in 1986, I was part of the management team, but didn't go on that trip. But I was promised the next year, if we hit these levels we were supposed to hit at the company, then I would be able to take a trip. And my trip, of course, Mary wanted to go to Hawaii. So my boss at that time said, well, if you hit these goals, you'll be going to Hawaii.

So Mary and I, about this time of the year, put in for Hawaii for the feast back in 1987. So I was not too concerned. She had just gotten out of college and really didn't have a job yet. And we were getting by on my salary. My salary wasn't enough to get us to the feast and back at that time. But with the goals we were going to meet and the promise that I would be given a free trip for both of us, I decided to go ahead and put the feast in. Well, we did hit our goals. In fact, we eclipsed our goals way before. And I was excited, waiting to have the trip paid for.

And at the last moment, in about August, last of August, as we were getting ready to take our trip in September, Boss came and said, well, it really didn't work out that way this year. I know we hit our goals, but just not able to keep that promise to you. So, but I'm going to make it, yeah, I'm going to give you a little bit. So here's $250. Well, the flights back then were almost $2,000. So we made it. We made it to Hawaii by the skin of our teeth. And a couple credit cards as we spent all of our feast money and stayed in a room on Oahu about the size of two of our bathrooms.

But we had a good time and we enjoyed our first trip to Hawaii in 1987. I remember that because that was one of the promises that so stuck with me. It was a promise that was supposed to be there, but it didn't happen. You know, there's been some great promises made to mankind. President John F. Kennedy stood before the American people and said, we will, by the end of the decade, land a man on the moon. And we did. We did. It's interesting that President Johnson, who followed up President Kennedy after he was assassinated, made a promise before the American people. A promise not to send troops to Vietnam. And what did he do?

He sent troops to Vietnam. A promise not kept. Perhaps you remember President Bush, 41, made a famous declaration of, read my lips, no new taxes. That promise he broke because he signed a bill later on raising taxes. Perhaps you will remember, if you're a purveyor of history, when Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler. And Adolf Hitler promised him that he would not invade Czechoslovakia after he had already taken control of Austria and was moving towards Europe. And, in fact, Neville Chamberlain came back and got off the plane, thought this was all going to happen because he believed Hitler's promise and said, peace in our time!

As you find out, that was far from it. You see, political campaigns. Ever since I've been young, I would listen to people running for different offices and they would all promise these things. I remember it was some statesman one time said, if you ever find a president who keeps half of his promises, you need to make him king. Because it very seldom happens that people keep their promises. Politicians make promises to get elected.

Period. That's the way the game is played. I think all of you know that. You've seen promises were made, promises broken. Perhaps you've even experienced some of those personally. Was Lucifer the world's first politician? I'll ask you that question. Was Lucifer the world's first politician? Like you go with me to Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28, verse 14, 15. This is, You were the anointed carob who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God.

You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. Verse 16. By the abundance of your trading, you were filled with violence within and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God. I destroyed you covering carob from the midst of the fiery stones. The abundance of your trading. What was he trading? What did Lucifer have to trade? What was he doing? What did he trade? What did he then, if he was trading something, what did he promise?

What promises did he make? Whatever it was, one-third of the angels, they bought into it. They believed it. And they followed Lucifer as he was cast down to earth.

What was the biggest promise you ever made? Perhaps it was sitting there at a table as you bought or in the process of buying a new home.

You're sitting there and you have all this paperwork and they go page after page after page. You get down to the bottom and it tells you exactly how much that house is going to cost you over the 15, 20, or 30 years that you buy that.

And it basically says that you promised to pay this amount. I remember my first house in 1988. I built it, but when I had the loan and had to go through and I'm looking, I only did 15 years.

But I was looking at total. It was like double what I actually was borrowing to pay for that. And I was making a promise that I would fulfill that contract and pay that amount of money.

I'm sure you have done the same thing. Maybe it's not a house. Maybe it was a car. Maybe it was something like that.

But what is or was your biggest promise? Perhaps it was your marriage covenant when you were married.

Adriel and Terrence married last year and they stood before God and all the witnesses there and said, I asked them, do you faithfully promise in covenant with God? And they said yes.

To many people that is the biggest promise and a promise that has to last a lifetime.

Or maybe it's your baptismal covenant. Do you remember your baptismal covenant? What you promised God? All of us, I think, do.

Norman Vincent Peale said, promises are like crying babies in a theater. They need to be carried out at once. Do we carry out our promises at once? Do we expect that from other people?

Just Friday there was a guy supposed to come by and bring me a cabinet that he had said the week before he would bring. He didn't, so he said it will be Friday. Friday came and went. Still no cabinet. To some people, promises are not that important. But thankfully, promises are very important to God.

And as we heard yesterday, God cannot lie. He makes a promise. He will fulfill it. He will fulfill that promise.

You know, according to experts, one expert said there are 7,487 promises in this book. Another expert said there are 8,810 promises in Scripture.

I looked at some of their writings, some of their work, and they are doing everything and stretching a few.

But most theologians agree, and I think you would agree too, that there are over 3,000 promises in this book.

Over 3,000 promises in the Word of God.

Now, being there are over 30, just a little over 31,000, verses in the entire Bible, that puts us somewhere around 10% of God's Word, our promises.

That's pretty big. In fact, I think most of you can just turn somewhere in your Bible. Read a chapter or two and you will find promises there.

I'd like to give you a few to chew on this morning, and then we'll get to why we're really here today.

I know I grew up hearing this song, Standing on the Promises of God. Most of you probably remember that if you've been around for a while.

I still looked at the words the other day and wondered why we still don't sing that today. I think it's a very good song to remind us that God made these promises.

And we can stand on His promises that He does. Let's go to some of those promises.

One of the first ones in the Bible is Genesis 3, in verse 14 and 15. And what does it say?

Well, it talks about Jesus Christ coming, the seed.

And the seed shall bruise or crush Satan's head. It's a prophecy.

In fact, he's talking about one of the first prophecies in the Bible many have said that a Messiah, a Savior, will come from Eve.

And she probably thought about it in her lifetime. She didn't realize it would be many generations later that that was made possible.

How about Genesis 9? Genesis 9. Let's look at this. 9, verses 15 through 16.

God says, I will remember my covenant, or promise, or agreement, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.

The water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

So he said he would never flood the earth, so it destroyed everything.

And he even gave us a sign, the rainbow.

Now, I'm sure, as I think about Bahamas last year, and I'm sure our members there, Cynthia, Mark, and Wendy, and many of the others, probably thought about this scripture as that hurricane was sitting over top.

On top of them, just not pulling inches but feet of rain.

As the people were flooding, I remember Cynthia calling me and telling me it was up to her knees in her house, and all we could do was pray at that point.

And God delivered them.

But he said, made that promise that he would never flood the earth again.

And it's been 3,500 years since that time, and he hasn't, because his word is true, and we believe his word.

Let's go to another promise. Genesis 12, verse 1 through 3.

Genesis 12, said, He was. He blessed him.

Let's go on down to verse 3.

And I will curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And it has. You look at his son, his grandson, his great-grandson, Joseph.

They were all very much blessed.

But then you look down because out of his seed came Judah, and out of Judah's seed came the Messiah.

And by him all the earth has been blessed because the Savior came through that family.

I want to go into a couple of scriptures that I think you can relate to.

And I want you to think about some of the promises that are in the Bible that come to mind when you think about the promises that God has given to us.

And to give them to mankind. If you have some of those, I'd like you to send them to me.

Maybe in a future Sabbath greeting that I send out.

Because there's so many promises I didn't want to go through them all because I want to go through specific ones today that relate to the giving of the Holy Spirit.

But I'd like to go to Proverbs 1 and verse 33. Proverbs 1 and verse 33. This is powerful to me. This is an incredible promise that I need to remind myself of.

It says, but whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without the fear of evil.

And in this evil world today, we need that promise. That promise is important. And God will deliver that promise. I had a man tell me one time, he said, I talked about promises, and he said, God promised men that good and obedient wives would be found in all the corners of the world.

Sad bar was, he made the earth round. So we have those secure promises that God gives us, that he's looking after us, that he knows where we are. He knows even the hair on our head. He even knows the number. Is that not a powerful, powerful promise that he's going to look after us?

That we're just not left out here to flounder and to just exist?

I know there's two promises that most people know, especially in the Church of God. And it's Jeremiah 31, verse 33, 32 and 33, where it says, I will write my laws in your heart and in your minds.

Ever thought about that? How's he going to do that? That's a promise he made.

How did he do it? That's why we're here today. By the Holy Spirit, he's able to write his laws in our hearts and our minds. Powerful, powerful. And of course, there's John 3, 16. All of us know that.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That's a promise. People know it. And I'm thankful for that promise.

And the world should be thankful for that promise. I want to go to one of my favorite promises in the Scripture. Like you, if you will, go with me to Romans 8.

Romans 8, from the New King James Version. Romans 8, verse 37 through 39, this very, very powerful promise that God is giving to us.

I know if we have it up there, but I love Romans 8. As a matter of fact, Romans 8 was actually talked about as one of the favorite Scriptures of more ministers than perhaps any of the others.

Let me read that. You can just sit and listen to this incredible promise in Romans 8, verse 37 through 39.

It says, What?

Separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What an incredible promise! Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. He loves us!

Do you love Him as much as He loves you? I don't know if that's humanly possible, but with God's Holy Spirit, you can see the possibility.

You can see the possibility of opening up, as we'll talk about today, some of the things that He talks about, the reasons that this Spirit, this essence in Him, is given to us.

I'd like you to go with me now to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, which is an incredible verse.

It says, And here's a point in 4.

What's it say? Promises. Great and precious promises. That's what He's given to us.

That through these you may be, oh man, this is what this day is about, partakers of the divine nature.

Divine nature? That's what we get. That's what the Holy Spirit is. It's of a divine nature, not human nature, and it's given to us, which is, as it says there, helps having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

It helps us to do that.

I'd like to go now to some scriptures that we read every year at Passover.

I've read these many times, and many of you have, but never really stop and focus, because there's a different purpose that night than what I'm trying to bring across today at this Pentecost service.

And so I want us to go and look at what Jesus Christ that last night, He's telling His disciples, we must focus on, He is talking to them as well as talking to us today.

Think about that.

These words that we're going to read about the gifting of the Holy Spirit, because as you understand, we had the foot washing in John 13 and then 14, He starts talking to His disciples, and He's trying to tell them they're clueless that anything's going to happen.

He's told them it's going to happen, but they're still in their own little world as we sometimes get involved in ours, and they weren't thinking about it even when He brought this out.

He wants them to grasp this, to use this, because something big is about to happen, and it's going to happen on Pentecost the next Holy Day.

And so that hopefully gives them time to think about this. Like you turn to John 14. John 14, verses 15 and 16.

If you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, that He may abide with you forever. He was telling them about a helper. He was going to send them that was like Himself. Go on to the next verses.

The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Talking about a future time, talking about when the Holy Spirit was gifted to them on that day of Pentecost. So before that time, God's Spirit, His essence, His power, it's been with them. It's been trying to work with them. As it does before, all of us are baptized and have the gift of the Holy Spirit laid upon us. He said, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. How is He going to come to them? By the very essence, by a part of Him, that the Holy Spirit is going to be able to work with them.

Let's go to verse 25. Verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. He's been talking about it, but the Helper, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and will bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. One of the gifts helps us to remember as we dig a little deeper into this. Verse 27. Peace, I leave with you. Boy, does this world ever need peace right now.

That's one of the things that the Holy Spirit gives us is peace. Doesn't the world need peace right now? All kinds of peace from one end of this country to another, from one part of this world to another. Because my peace I give to you. Not as a world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We have no reason to be fear, to have fear. Let not your hearts be troubled. Because God is looking after us. He even gives us some assistance, some help with this, with these issues. We need to have the peace of God in our lives. A peace that can only come from Him. As we go to John, chapter 15, verse 26. It says, But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. So He's going to send, as He told them that He did.

He fulfilled that promise, 1989 years ago today, and He also fulfills that promise to us. That when we ask and have given ourselves to Him, and not just off of whim, but we've dedicated our life to Him, then He will fulfill His promise. Now, I think you'll find it interesting that it talks about a helper, a comforter. The actual Greek word there is paracletos. Paracletos is a koiné Greek for also a helper, a comforter, an advocate.

And I, like L1 Theologian put it, because we all can understand this, is a helping presence. A helping presence. Don't we need in our lives, perhaps when we pray, we have to pray and need more heart when we pray. We need to make sure that we live our life, we get frustrated sometimes, we realize, hey, I need more of the Holy Spirit. And so we're asking for God to give us more help, and He wants to do it. Paracletos. Incredible word. Do you need a comforter? How about a helper?

I know I need spiritual help many times. I also need some physical help. I need, and this is a way that we can cry out to God, because He's promised to give us the very essence of Him. Give us part of Himself as a Spirit. Do we really appreciate it? Do we look at that and go, hmm, I'm so thankful. You imagine the strange presence it was, 1989 years ago, in that upper room 120 people gathered, keeping a holy day that they knew they were required to keep, even told by Christ, you're going to need to show up.

They did show up, and miracles happened that day. And it was an event that is written down for us to not only look and read and admire and look at ourselves, look at our lives, and see what a difference the Holy Spirit has made in our lives. I want to go to a final set of scriptures today that I find intriguing. I have read these scriptures before, but without the focus of what they are truly all about. I want to read these scriptures, John 16, verse 7-15.

I'll be reading here today, so I'll read through these, and then I want to stop and talk about these scriptures as we look at this incredible day that we are celebrating here today. Verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So he's telling them, he has to go away, but he's going to send them a Helper, just like he's telling us today.

I'm going to send you a Helper. And this Helper, Pericletos, this Comforter, is going to do a lot of things for you. It is such a blessing, such a promise to each and every one of us that we're going to be able to not only see and do and perceive amazing things in our lives, but in other people's lives also. Let's go down to a few more verses.

Okay, of sin, because they do not believe in me, and of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more. And of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

First of all, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them right now. So there was some stuff that they were going to be told or shown later when they had the Holy Spirit. Let's go on and finish these verses in verse 13.

Verse 14, 15.

And those amazing verses. But have you ever stopped to think? Basically, in these verses, these nine verses, he gives us a mandate for what the Holy Spirit is to do through us. That's right. Through us. Just like it did through them. And it's time that we look at this mandate that he has given us. Think about it. Think about how powerful this is. He gives us three things, three things that this Spirit, this Helper, this Comfort of this Periclitos should do through us. Isn't that interesting? And that we have to take these verses that I just read. We're going to highlight here some of those, and we need to apply them to ourselves and ask the question.

God promised this, am I doing my part to fulfill my promise to Him? Because He does not take His Holy Spirit lightly. I found it interesting. As I was thinking back on this, it was probably, I think it was the year 1995. I had a pastor at the time that was teaching things contrary to what my Bible said.

So I decided I would go and talk to him and say, I just don't think I can do this anymore. I was a speaker, but also served in a couple of capacities with the church at the time. But I definitely wasn't a minister. Never thought I'd be one. But here we are today. So you never know what the Holy Spirit is going to guide you to do.

That's the last thing I would have thought I would have been doing. But I met with this pastor, and he was sitting there, and he was into teaching and believing of the Trinity. And I said, well, that's not really scriptural. And I said, how do you understand the Holy Spirit then? He didn't really quote scripture. I remember sitting in a restaurant and talking about this.

And I said, I only want to go to church if they teach from the Bible. Otherwise, why not go? It's not a social event. It can be social. I enjoy meeting people because we have the same thoughts, the same mindset. And I remember him telling me, well, here's how I view the Holy Spirit. Not how the Bible teaches it, but here's how I view it.

He said, it's like radio waves. And God gives these radio waves all over the entire world. And anybody that wants to tune in can tune into the Holy Spirit. And then, you know, it just works with them and just comes to them and fills them. I said, where's the Bible teach that? Anybody can get it anytime, anyplace, anywhere. He goes, yeah, yeah, that's how I view it. It wasn't scriptural. And it wasn't unique. Because the Holy Spirit is unique. God's gift is special. It is something that we should be excited about. It is the greatest gift He could ever give us.

Can you imagine giving something of yourself? Let's look at these three. These three mandates that God gives us here in these, just these nine verses. And let's look at ourselves. I have to look at myself. I have to look and see what kind of job I'm doing. Because it's not just, okay, here the Holy Spirit is going to do this. It's going to do this that He's saying here through us. And the three are to convict, to guide, and to glorify.

Convict, guide, and glorify. Is this what we do? I have to look at these and say, well, I can do a better job. I can do a better job. But it says, in verse there, convict the world of sin. How is that done? How is, wait a minute, how does He do that through me? Now I know it says in John 6 and verse 63 that the word is spirit.

And so here you have this spirit, this word, and as you read it, it feeds your spirit, and your spirit feeds you, and you have such incredible understanding. But wait a minute, this is written about that the Holy Spirit is going to be given to the disciples and that through it, it will convict the world of sin. How? How does it convict the world of sin? Through us. By the way we live.

See, the Holy Spirit does change us. The Holy Spirit does work with us. It does. It helps us to look at sin in a different way. We do not live our lives just as we choose to do. We have certain laws that we live within. There are certain laws that this country has.

Every country has different laws. I go to all the Caribbean countries and there's little different laws. A lot of them are basically the same, but there are different ones in each country. But you see, God's kingdom, and that's what we're members of that kingdom. It just hasn't come here yet to us. But we have laws. What does it say? Sin is a transgression of the law. You know, the way we live and the way people see us live, how we talk, how we do everything that we're on display for people, it convicts the world of sin. We do not live. Our neighbors should know that they can leave their house unlocked at any time.

We're not going to go over there and go, Oh, well, look, he's got two TV sets. I've only got one. I think I deserve one. We don't live that way. Why? Because we've been raised by our parents? No. Because we live by a higher law. It's called the royal law in the book of James. It's an incredible law of God. And it will convict the world of righteousness. How does the spirit convict the world of righteousness when the world doesn't want anything to do with God?

So many people. Why? It's back to through us again. How do they know what righteousness is? Jesus Christ came and He magnified and He portrayed. He showed the world what righteousness was. And, brethren, He gave this Holy Spirit so that the disciples could have it and show the world what righteousness is by the way they live, by the way they talk, by the way you do everything, how you raise your children, how you get along with your neighbor, your boss.

All this is part of why the Holy Spirit is given to make us more righteous, to make us like our Father, like our elder brother. Think about that. Convict the world of righteousness. What is righteousness? Well, there's right and there's wrong. We try to do right and do it long enough it becomes righteousness in our lives.

Become a righteous person, not because of us, but because of what's in us that makes us want to be a better person. Like the overline from a movie, you make me want to be a better man. Well, guess what? My wife, she makes me want to be a better man. But God, through the Holy Spirit, makes me want to be a better husband, a more righteous individual, more like Him. But I have to use it. I have to use it. First, that's the one in 5 actually said, don't quench the Holy Spirit, don't quench it or stifle it or squish it or contain it or hold it back.

That's what I have to make sure I do not do, because God has given us that Holy Spirit so that we can do amazing things, so that we can, by our lifestyle, not standing on the street and go, you wicked sinners! No. By the way we live, the way we talk, by the way we act, how we treat people, we make the world a better place to live. That's what I said about my friend, Humberto Mahika, who died a few weeks ago. The world is a less better place. Not grammatically correct, but it is not a good a place with a man like him gone, because he was just a good man. That's why God calls us, so that we can represent Him. So he gives us part of himself and says, go, go, and live like your older brother. Go and treat people godly, because when you do it, it convicts the world of righteousness. It shows them, convicts them. They're guilty. They know what righteousness is. They should see it through us without His Holy Spirit. You're going to see a lot of worldliness. Why it's so important. It's so important as we look at these verses, as we use this. You know, it's amazing. I had a young man I met with out of prison, and he had studied some of our literature, and he was trying to work himself through life. He had some questions, and I met with him. In a way, it was the first time it was kind of cynical, because he really had never been involved with the church. He just read some of our stuff. It was different. He could argue with people in the prison. So it was like, wow, this is really unique. People don't know this. So after he got out, he met with me. I remember us talking, and he brought up the question about sin.

And he said, well, but not everything is listed in the Bible. He said, well, I know it's wrong for homosexuality. Okay? I said, well, yeah, that's listed in Romans 1. That's true. Yeah, but you know what it doesn't say? It doesn't say anything about bisexual.

Maybe, you know, is it okay for me to be a bisexual? You know, where do you go? I remember saying to him, well, what's wrong with being a trissexual? He said, I never heard that word. I said, I just made it up. He said, well, what's trissexual? I said, well, you like men, you like women, and you like animals. I said, because what you're bringing up is worldly thinking. You're not striving for righteousness. You know, this book is all you need. You need to read the book, which he didn't like to read very much.

So, as you can imagine, that meeting conversation didn't go very far, because I'm willing to talk to anybody about anything, really, willing, trying to meet them halfway, trying to work with them, because if God is convicting them of sin and they want to change, he needs to see it through me. But when you're, all you can think about is the world, and the world was what was most important to him. So, you think God is going to gift someone that thinks more of the world than they do of his world, his kingdom?

Do you think he wants to give the special gift, something from him, to help them through life and become more like him, and they just think it's just another toy, just something else to play with, just something to spend a little time with? No. It's that important. See, we convict the world of sin because we believe that there's no such thing as, what, little white lies. That a lie is a lie. We don't need to lie. Yeah, but people will rationalize and go, well, I didn't want to hurt someone's feelings, so I lied.

Is that what God wants us to do? No. No. The Holy Spirit works with us, and we know. How many times have we... We didn't intentionally start out to lie, but we said something and, oh, we take it. We can't take it back. It's already said, and then we go, and we go, man, I didn't need to say that. That was not really correct. That is the Holy Spirit convicting us that we need to be more like Christ, that we're better than that.

That is what this incredible gift is all about. So it says it convicts through us. It convicts the world. And then it goes into the second step. The second step guides. It guides us. Don't you like a guide? I've gone different places and had to have a guide that has helped in many ways. But this paracletus, this comforter, this Holy Spirit, it guides us. It's going to guide us through things. And what does it guide us through? It guides us into all truth, not what some man said in some paper or magazine or what is on the internet.

I'm amazed people send me something and say, oh, you should see this stuff on the internet. And I start watching it. Oh, this is just amazing. And I pick up so many falsehoods or things, it's not even close to right. And I just basically stop watching it. But people will believe. But we need to use the Holy Spirit. If we're not using it, if we find out that we're being dragged down this rabbit hole, we're over here and over there and we're just like tossed to and fro.

Is it possible we're not using the Holy Spirit correctly? That we're not having it to feed us? That we're not feeding it through reading God's Word? Brethren, this is a very, very important point in our life. For many people, they're at a crossroads. They're at a crossroads. Am I going to follow God? Is God really who I thought He was?

We've had people who basically have quenched the Spirit over the years. And you see them, they leave God's truth. They just go and live life, and you see them ten years later, and they don't even remember that, oh yeah, there is a feast of tabernacles. Oh, yes, there is. Oh, I forgot all about that. Why? They quench the Spirit. We have to make sure. It says it will guide us into all truth, real truth, not some man-made truth.

And boy, is there a lot of that out there. I've learned since I've been a pastor, people will, even other pastors will quote something. I go, yeah, but where's that in the Bible? I have to feed the Spirit. The Spirit has to feed me through the Word of God. I don't care what some college taught.

I don't care what some minister at one time taught. If it's not in here, it's not my food. I don't want to eat it. Now, I read a lot. I read various things, and it points me in certain directions. But truth, if it's not the truth, do I need to eat it? You have to ask yourself that. Does the Holy Spirit convict you and go, you say, hmm, did you really want to watch that? Did you really want to read that? Did that really help you? Christ said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

And boy, is that ever wonderful. That's my guide. It guides me. I don't have to worry about when a person of faith dies. I don't have to worry about where they're going to be, because the Word tells me what their faith is, what their destiny is. It also tells me what mine is, and it tells you what yours...what your destiny is. That's why the Holy Spirit will guide you and get you excited.

But I love what Christ was trying to tell the disciples, and he's trying to tell us today one of the most important things that he says in John 14, verse 6, during the same talk with the disciples, this last talk with the disciples.

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is the way. All we have to do is follow His way. He is the truth. There's no lies here. This is the truth. And He is life. And not only life, He is the giver of eternal life. We will all come before the judgment seat of Christ. He judges us all. The only difference with us is, as Peter says, that judgment is now on the house of God.

We're judged now by how we live, how we use the Holy Spirit. Can't you believe that's how? We are judged. So here, the Holy Spirit convicts us, guides us, and then what does it do? It says it glorifies Him. It glorifies God. What does glorify mean? What does glorify mean? The Spirit will glorify Me. Why? Through us! We are the ones that need to be there to glorify God. If He can't do it through us, who else is He going to do it through? Do you glorify God in what we say, what you say to someone else? Does God go, oh man, did you hear what my son or my daughter just said?

How impressive of that! Or does He go, hmm, haven't we done that before? You hear somebody say something and it's just, it's embarrassing. And you just kind of want to put your head down and pretend you didn't hear it. I don't want God doing that. To glorify means to exalt, to revere, even to worship. How do we do that with God? We do it with our lives. We do it through the Holy Spirit because we're reading that word and then you realize just how blessed we truly are.

How do you live? Does your life glorify God? Do your neighbors realize that you're a godly family? You're a godly person because they're around you. They may not understand exactly what you do, but they know. They know righteousness when they see it. They know holy when they see it. They know that there's something about you that's different. It may not be for them, but if we live like Christ because we have Christ in us through the Holy Spirit, people will see it. Oh, it may take a long time, but you can see it. Because I've known people. I've known people that they don't believe like I believe, but I see the fruits of their life, and I respect them. I respect them.

This is what we should be portraying to the world.

We need to be little Christ. Little Christ. We've been promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully you feel like you have it. You know that you have it. You've seen things and experienced things that, wow, where did that come from?

We know where it comes from, and we just have to proclaim. And I've said that many times. Thank you, God. I've studied through this Word, and I still have question marks in my Bible. I've had for all these years this Bible was about to fall apart. But I have some questions because I don't understand that Scripture. I've tried to look for it and so forth, and then I'll come across one, and all of a sudden I've been studying that, and boom, it happens. I understand. I get the meaning, and it goes through this Scripture, and this Scripture, and this Scripture.

Where did it come from? It came from the Holy Spirit. And I'm so thankful for that. I need that guide. Don't you need that guide? So how do we fulfill our promise to God, fulfill our obligation? Because He's made these promises to us. Brethren, it's how we live. It's how we live. Do we live a righteous life? Do we live a life that is guided by the Holy Spirit? And the problem is sometimes we do not ask for more of the Holy Spirit.

We don't. Oh, I just got this problem. Oh, no. You got the problem. Take it to God. I need your help. I need it now. Brethren, that's part of living this life. That's the blessing of having the Holy Spirit. He said, I will not leave you alone. We have the Holy Spirit. Can we just use more of it? And I was talking to you.

I'm talking to me. I'm talking to all the Caribbean. I'm talking to every one out there. We want to do amazing things in the Caribbean. We want to do amazing things in Fort Larder. We want to do this, and the only way we're going to get it done is by using more of the Holy Spirit. Because I realized by doing that, nothing is impossible. And we want to do amazing things. We want to help so many people. We want to show them the way we want to be, that walking, talking billboard. And that starts with each and every one of us and the Holy Spirit.

It brings peace in our lives, not conflict. Finally, I want to go to, as I wrap this up today, hopefully I'll give you things to think about. Because this made me think that, hey, I need to go back and look at this mandate of convict, guide, and glorify. I need to make sure that I'm doing my part with the Holy Spirit. I need more of that. But God gave, I can't say it's the last promise, because as I looked in Revelation, it wasn't the last promise.

There are quite a few promises. One of the last promises in the book of Revelation is He promises you these things if you do what? Add or take away from His Word. It's one of the last promises, and it's not a good promise.

I'm going to make sure I try not to add or take away from His Word. But in Revelation 21 and verse 7, Revelation 21 verse 7, what an incredible promise this is! He who overcomes, what, life? How do we do that? Holy Spirit, use it. He who overcomes shall inherit all things.

I will be his God, and he will be my son. She will be my daughter. We will inherit everything, not just this earth, but everything. God owns everything, and He wants to give it to us. It's the greatest promise He's given to us if we can fulfill our part, everything that He has. Brethren, help us all as we work together, as we look to each other, and not through these things of our own lens, but through the lens of the Holy Spirit.

Let us look at things that we watch, what we say, what we do, how we get involved, how we talk to people, how we use social media. It's so important, because we need to glorify God in everything we say and do. And the only way we can do that is, brethren, use the Holy Spirit, because it, by itself, is one of the greatest promises God ever made.

Have a great rest of the day.