By My Spirit

Let me share a thought with you as we begin. I think one of those phrases that stick out in Church of God culture that I think we've heard so many times over the years in different sermonettes or in different sermons is simply this, not by your might or by your power, but by my spirit, says God. What does it mean, not by your might or by your power, but by my spirit?

I'd like to expand upon that today in the course of this message. For those of you that are note takers, that is the title of my message, By My Spirit. And I think it's a relevant topic as we approach Pentecost and perhaps the most important topic that I can bring to you as your pastor. It was very important to Jesus Christ on that night that he was betrayed.

He was about to go through something incredible. He was going to go through agony. He was knowing that he was in that sense going to come out on the other side of death, but it was a very, very challenging evening. And his disciples were bewildered and did not know where they were going to be or where they were going to go.

And Jesus gave some of the very, very best news that he could give to his disciples and to you and I on this day. Join me, if you would, in John 14 as we begin to develop this message called By My Spirit. In John 14, there is something special and something wonderful that Jesus wanted to share. He said, Let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God. Believe also in me. And in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. And where I go you know. And the way you know. So Jesus was moving them into the future, understanding what lay before them. And then we pick up the thought in verse 16. Because he had to go and prepare the way. But then he said something in verse 16, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that it may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees it nor knows it, but you know it.

For He dwells with you and will be in you. And I will not leave you orphans, and I will come to you. Jesus spoke about this Helper. He spoke about this Comforter. It meant everything to Christ that He might share this good news, that as in that sense for the moment He departed to the next assignment, to be our Savior, to be our High Priest in heaven, that there would be a Helper that was here below.

It meant a lot to Jesus Christ to share that news. Allow me to take you to the second step. It meant a lot, and it meant something to the disciples, because their Master had told them that something wonderful and something incredible was coming their way. They waited alone. They waited for days in Jerusalem, in probable danger, and yet with great expectancy, for the Christ had promised them something really neat, something really special, something that would shore them up when He would not be physically present. And there they would be, and they would no longer be alone. They would not go it alone, and that gift that Jesus promised them would help them about the commission that they had given them.

They came to understand, and they came to appreciate it as it began to develop that it was indeed a gift from God Almighty. As it says in Acts 2, 38, and will most likely be read tomorrow, that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God. Here's what I want to share with you, friends. There was such expectancy.

There was such hope as they came towards God in one accord in one place. You see, the Son of God, Messiah, had promised them something. Jesus never lied. He was always true, and He was always faithful, and He was basically telling His disciples, you don't want to miss this. You're going to have this, and as sure as I am going, it is coming so that you can continue with the commission that I have set before you.

Now, as He stated that, let's remember these were Jews of the first century. They did not necessarily understand at that point what you and I understand, this matter of the Spirit, because until that time, the Spirit had been basically, in a sense, impersonal, and had been transitory. It came, and it went. There was a need. The power of God rested upon the judges, or rested upon a king, and then it left.

But now, it seems as if something was expanding, something wonderful, something personal, something beautiful. And they tarried, as the old King James English says, and they waited, as Jesus had told them, until that gift came to them from on high. And that this gift would allow ordinary people ultimately to do extraordinary things. What do I mean by that? All you have to do is read the book of Acts. You see, when you look at the Gospels, and if you look at the book of Luke, that shares how salvation came through Jesus Christ.

Salvation came, but the book of Acts shows how salvation was then spread by men and by women, just like you, and just like me, that believed that God was going to send a gift from on high. So, it meant something to Christ. It meant something to the disciples. Allow me to share a third point, and this is going to kind of what I call this message, is going to be a note-taker's delight. So, if you want to take notes, get ready, because we're going to go boom, boom, boom, on a lot of points and a lot of items, because what I'm sharing with you today is something every Christian needs to know. Number three, then, is this. I would suggest that it means something to Satan as well. It does mean a lot to Satan. Now, what do I mean by that? He knows the meaning of by my spirit is so rich that he would like us to get distracted or distort it or demean it, and to think that the Holy Spirit is not everything that it has cracked up to be, and therefore misunderstand it and ignore it or put it on pause, and thus to quench that spirit, which I believe is going to be spoken about tomorrow, so I'm not going to step on that subject right now. The biggest propaganda that Satan would like to foist upon the body of Christ today is that the Holy Spirit is not everything that it's cracked up to be. That somehow Christ, in John 14, sold the church a bill of goods. Now, why do I bring this up to you? Because the disciples had all of this anticipation beforehand, as we are now beforehand coming up to Pentecost tomorrow. Our expectations on the other side of Pentecost must match the anticipation beforehand, and we can fill that up. Can you imagine having been given a beautiful package, and you know that inside that package is a beautiful gift, but you have not unwrapped it? And beyond that, you have not read the directions to know how to use it, and how it will help you, and how it will motivate you forward with the calling from God the Father through Jesus Christ. Galatians 5 and verse 25, a verse about the Spirit. Join me if you would there for a moment. Galatians 5 and verse 25, because Pentecost is a fantastic festival. Feast of weeks, feast of firstfruits, Pentecost, counting 50. There's so many things to talk about, but I want to center on this verse for a moment, because remember what it again said back in Zechariah 4.6, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit. Now let's build upon that. Let's stay together as a church family here. Let's build upon that and go to Galatians 5 and verse 25, and notice what it says, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

If God has given us a gift from on high, you and I as men and women then have a responsibility to live and to walk in the Spirit. You say, well, Mr. Weber, how do you do that? That sounds like a lot of Bible talk. Well, we're going to break it down. And what I want to show you here is the God ordained benefits of living and walking in the Spirit and utilizing that Spirit as a man and a woman, Christian folk, as we discussed in the very fine Bible study today, as we abide in Christ, what we are doing. You see, when somebody gets baptized, I like to share with them what they're buying into. You're either buying into the ways of this world or you're, in a sense, buying into, not that there's any amount, that's an expression because salvation is a gift. But what are you buying into when you forsake your natural might, when you forsake your natural ways, and live by three simple words? What do you think those three simple words are by now? By my Spirit. You might want to jot that down. If you're taking notes, underline it. By my Spirit. That's speaking of God's Spirit, not your Spirit, because you came to a point of surrendering your Spirit and your agenda. You said, I want to be, as you talked about in the Bible study, I want to be bent towards God. I want Christ living in me. I want to walk in the commandments, both by the letter and by the Spirit, so that I might be utilized by God Almighty. And as Christ grabbed a hold of me, therefore then, to grab a hold of the things of Christ, as it says in Philippians. So are you ready to go? And we're going to learn a little bit about the Holy Spirit. Now, I've got all sorts of points, and I doubt I'm going to get to it, because I don't want to press your conversion. I know some of you are looking at your watch already. So we're going to go with the points that I go with, and I'll presume that's what was inspired and what the blessing was on. So here we go. Here's the first point I want to share with you. You see, the Holy Spirit, we understand in God's church that the Holy Spirit is not a third person of the Trinity. That's not the God that we worship, and that's very important to understand, because the first commandment is about, you shall have no other gods before me. Thus, we don't want to detract, and we don't want to add. So we do not worship God in Trinity. God is a family. God is a family at this time of two. God the Father and Jesus Christ.

At the same time, then, what about the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit? I remember many, many years ago, and probably most of you were not there, but I remember Mr. Herbert Armstrong talking about this in Pasadena days, and I remember he just hit the right word, and that was simply this. The Holy Spirit is the essence of God. It's the essence of God. It's not a person, but it is that essence. Remembering that God the Father is Holy in spirit. Jesus is Holy in spirit. And as we come to understand through the Scriptures that God gives us at baptism no less than Himself, He gives that down payment of what He is. Now, why do I say that? Good question. Thanks for asking. Because we need to understand, while in a sense we understand the Greek of the He and the Him and all of that, we need to be careful that we don't simply look at the Holy Spirit like a spiritual screwdriver, or a spiritual wrench, or kind of a hammer that we tap with. It's not just simply a utilitarian tool. It's no less than God who has placed a part of Himself in us, that down payment, that earnest. And that allows us then to be His children. And I think sometimes we need to be careful when we've moved away from one aspect, not to lessen it in the other aspect, to realize that no other than God Almighty has invested a part of Himself in us just a little bit, just a little bit, to see what you and I will do with it in appreciation for what He and His Son have done for us. And it's what we need to move through our lives now in 2013. And with that point then, allow me to give you number one. Living by the Spirit offers revelation. Living by God's Holy Spirit offers revelation. Let's go right to Scripture to share this point in 1 Corinthians 2. Let's notice what it says here in 1 Corinthians 2. And let's pick up the thought if we can together in verse 7.

1 Corinthians 2 in verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. It's the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, just the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Having been granted the Spirit of God as that Helper and as that Comforter and as that Guide offers us the ability to see and hear matters regarding the real world of God's purpose and kingdom. It moves us beyond CNN and Fox News and the LA Times and the world of headlines down here that seem so very, very important to us and move us into a greater realm of understanding what God is doing. In a sense, it unlocks and opens the door of our understanding that has been slammed shut by man himself from Eden forward. It opens the door concerning God, concerning ourselves, concerning the world around us. I have a question for you. Tell me why is it that we can look at the same page on the Bible, the same scripture as someone else does, and come to know and appreciate and internalize what the true will of God is?

Why is that? I'm sure you've had that experience at some time where you've sat down with a well-meaning friend, a very sincere individual, and you're looking at the same set of scriptures and you might as well be on Venus and that other person be on Mars. And there's a void there. There's a lack of understanding because it's God's Spirit that reveals, that unveils, apocalypse. Revelation, the other the Greek name is apocalypse. There's an opening, there's an unveiling of this, as it says here, this mystery. That mystery is not like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The mystery is one that is slowly opened and revealed to those whom God himself, not Robin Weber or some other individual, but God himself initiates into his family and desires for him to learn about him.

And not only that, the Spirit not only reveals what God is desiring to do here and now, but what God has in store to us that are in the present. I want you to share John 16.13 for a moment. John 16.13. John 16.13. Another aspect under number one of living by the Spirit offers revelation. Notice Jesus' own words that same night about the comforter that he would sin. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, and that's the same as the Holy Spirit, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And notice then, and he will tell you things to come. God is ageless. God is eternal. Not trapped in time and space. And neither is that Spirit that proceeds from him and Jesus Christ. And it says that he's going to show us of things to come. And you see that throughout the Scriptures. Ezekiel 37, verse 1, just not jot that down. You can look it up later. That famous valley of dry bones, of which Ezekiel is led to observe and see about the potential of humanity in the future in God's plan. It speaks of the Spirit was upon me on that day. That was God's Spirit showing Ezekiel things to come. You can go to Revelation, and picking up in Revelation 1, verse 10, where John says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And the book of Revelation of things to come is the work of God's Spirit working with John. You know, when we think of God's Spirit working in us, and as we read the Scriptures, we recognize sometimes, and I speak to our young people here, that you can read some things that are a little scary in the Bible. And you're not the only one. You can hear about a tribulation. You can hear about challenges that are going to be visited upon the nations of this earth. You can hear this number here and this number there, and you start wondering, well, who's going to be left anyway when you read the Bible? But the Spirit of God allows us to move beyond that. It opens our understanding that man is not headed for disaster. There's a purpose that's being worked out here below. And that Spirit of God that reveals the things of God and the things to come tells us then that this world is not going to wind up under the umbrella of a nuclear bomb. This world is not, of and by itself, going to starve itself to death. Climate change, whatever you want to call it, global warming, is not going to create an extinct mankind. There is a purpose that is being worked out here below and that God Almighty is going to rescue humanity from Himself. And thus, humanity is not headed for disaster, but is going to be grafted into the destiny that God intended from Eden forward. And He has a plan, and He has a purpose, and He has provisions, and the Spirit reveals that to us. Point number two. Living by the Spirit allows us to be taught. John 14 and verse 26. Living by the Spirit allows us to be taught. Jesus, speaking of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, it will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all the things I said to you. Now, when it says to teach all things, we're not talking about the three R's. Writing, reading, and arithmetic. We're not talking about algebra, geography, or even astronomy, but the really big matters of life. That's what God's Spirit teaches us. Join me if you would. Words that are spoken on this day so long ago in the book of Acts. Acts 2. Let's pick up the thought here. Acts 2 and verse 11.

Spoken on Pentecost. Here's an audience, and many of them were from around. These were Jews of the diaspora, the dispersed ones, those that were Hellenistic. They had not just simply a Judean or Temple view, but a worldview. These were men and people that had the money to get to Jerusalem, so these were individuals that were basically, most likely, well off. These were people that had been schooled, as it were, in the thought of that day. But then notice what it says in verse 11. Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues or languages, the wonderful, wonderful works of God. And that's what God's Holy Spirit teaches us, are His wonderful works. Well, what do you mean, wonderful works, Mr. Weber? Well, then we have to go to Psalm 8 and verse 3. Join me over there, please. In Psalm 8 and verse 3, these are the wonderful works of God, David, the psalmist, shares what God is doing. In Psalm Zayne, verse 3, When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of man that you visit him? For you made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hand. You have put him over all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, beasts, birds, fish, those that pass through the paths of the sea. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is your name in all of the earth! This is a reference not only to Jesus Christ, but this is a reference to the destiny and the purpose of humanity. It speaks to salvation and of what God is doing. And you can only understand that and be taught by the Holy Spirit. That begins to unfold the greatest story that has ever been told.

And that that Spirit begins to work and guide and mold your mind as it says in Romans 8 14. You can jot that down. As many as are led by the Spirit. You know sometimes you wake up one morning, you say, I gots it. No, you've been led to that point through your life's experiences to where now you are ready and prepared for God to take us to the next step as that Spirit is working and molding and shaping and guiding and leading us by God's grace. And then when we begin to understand the teachings of the Word, that we begin to understand this incredible story that unfolds out that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, should not perish, but that there's life. And then we reflect on Hebrews 2 and verse 10, the writings of that author of the book thereof, that God is calling many, many sons to glory. Not just simply to be angels, not just simply to be cosmic robots, not just simply to be blips in a beatific vision, bored to death in eternity. Is that the eternity you want to step in? That's not... Thank you, I agree with you. This is the eternity that God grants us. Now, in all of this, then, let's understand something. Living by...under point two, living by the Spirit allows us to be taught. Let's understand, as I say, this living by the Spirit teaches us the spiritual implications of God's holy and righteous law. We spoke about this in the Bible study today. That's why you don't want to miss Bible study, because then you get a double dose of what we're talking about here. Living by the Spirit teaches us the spiritual implications of God's holy and righteous law, that is, hear me please, if we allow it and if we follow the lead of that Spirit. It instructs us that the law is not an end of and by itself, but always, hear me please, always directs us to God's great love, merciful nature, righteous judgments, and our access and need for His continuing grace.

In other words, God's Holy Spirit is like an x-ray that allows us to understand the letter of the law and its obvious intent that then leads to that sweet reasonableness that is the Spirit of the law.

Let's remember, as it says, jot this down please, Romans 7 and verse 14, it says that the law is spiritual, quoting Paul.

I remember back in 1994, 1995, when certain folks wanted to remove the law from our way of life and from our church community, and we would go to Romans 7 and verse 14, that the law was not just something that was fossilized in the sands of Sinai, but it was alive, it was well, it was spiritual.

It was not just something for a decade or for a century or millennium that the laws of God encapsulated in the Ten Commandments is spiritual.

It is not just simply temporal for one set of people or for one set of time to recognize that those very laws are going to be taught in the wonderful world tomorrow during the millennium, when all of Jerusalem is going to come up and say, teach us your ways. Well, what are we going to teach them?

The law. And at that time, when Jesus Christ, the king of the new covenant, and the king of this earth is there, are we just going to teach them the latter of the law? That's kind of where you start, but the Holy Spirit begins to work with us by God's grace and begins to allow us to grow in grace and knowledge and to begin to understand the spiritual application, the spiritual aspect of that law, that it's not just simply a rule, but it's a relationship. Remember what we talked about today? You're going to have the Bible study today, whether you want it or not, but remember what we, Mr. Garnett, what we talked about is that it's not enough just simply to know God. It's not just simply enough to know Jesus Christ. If you know God, you have to accept Christ. If you accept Christ, you accept God. You also have to accept these people down here below, like brethren and family and neighbors that are not as easy to get long enough along with like God and Jesus Christ. But the book of John says that if you do not love your neighbor, but if you hate your neighbor, you have no part of God. So thus you understand that the Holy Spirit teaches us not only the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. That it's not enough that we come together here today worshiping God on this, what we call the Seventh-day Sabbath, but that we love the people and are growing in relationship with the people here. Otherwise, your Sabbath-keeping is in vain.

You heard it here. Your Sabbath-keeping is in vain if you only come to keep the Sabbath to honor God, but you're not striving to love your mate, your spouse. Same thing. Your children, your adult children, your grandchildren. That person that's sitting in the row in front of you that you haven't talked to for a year because you have an issue. It's issues today, isn't it? Do you have an issue with them? I have issues. Get your issue resolved. That's what 1 John 3 says. Let's go a little bit further here. This is neat. I've got to share this with you. John 16, verse 12. Let's go over there a second. John 16. In John 16, verse 12, sometimes people will say, well, you know, Mr. Weber or Mr. Garnet or Mr. Helge, Mr. Fish, I'm just kind of a slow learner. We'll join the crowd. I'm Dutch, and the people over in Holland are still wearing wooden shoes, so they're a little slower there. And you say, but I just don't know if I can grasp all of this. And I know we have some people that are new here in our fellowship and in this way of life. Well, this verse is encouraging to you and encouraging to me. Notice what it says in John 16 and in verse 12. A promise from Christ. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of Truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he will speak not on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And we've covered this verse already, but the point I want to share with you is even Jesus recognized that as his disciples, sometimes we're just not ready for the next step. We've gotten so far, and as a good teacher, as a loving instructor, he knows what we can handle and can't handle. I know there are things today that I'm being taught through Scripture, through the lives of others, experiences of my own, that frankly I would not have been ready for. Or Susan would not have been ready for when we were 24 or 34 or 44 or 54. I won't go any higher because my wife's in the room. We wouldn't have been ready. God, in his mercy, did not allow his Spirit to shape and mold us and bring that lesson to us. We just weren't ready yet. Here's what I want to share with you. If anything, if we gain anything out of this message, we worship a good God, a knowing Christ, and their Spirit moves us to this level of when we are ready. They will share the next part of how we need to grow in grace and knowledge. Let's go to point number three. Living by the Spirit guides us always.

Romans 8 14, I've already alluded to it, but why don't we turn over to it, eyeball it as a congregation. Romans 8 14, because it's important we understand this aspect of the Spirit. In Romans 8 and verse 14, it says this, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God.

This Spirit that we speak about is not a rambo. It's not out doing its own thing. It doesn't have its own identity apart from God. It says right here, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The word for comforter used in the Scripture is literally one who literally walks alongside of us, a companion. The Spirit is simply that Spirit, but the Scriptures use metaphors to allow us to understand that when Jesus said that I will send a helper, but when that help comes, it does not help by the hour. It does not say, you can't pay me enough, or the job is over. I'm taking a vacation. It is always with us. It's important to realize that God's Spirit empowers us. It leads us. It guides us. It doesn't run over us. It does not overpower us. It does not possess us. It does not push us. I can raise my hand as a Christian and say, oh, there's been many a times when I would have liked to have had God's Holy Spirit drag me into righteousness. Or push me. Just a good push. But that's not how you're looking at me. Yeah, that's how it doesn't work. God's Spirit guides. It leads. It's understand that other side, that force, the bad force that Dr. Hoover talked about, overpowers.

It dominates. And it possesses. And all the time, making you feel as if it's doing you a favor. That's not how God's Holy Spirit works. God's Holy Spirit works this way. It guides us to the point of decision between the two trees. It guides us. It leads us up to that point between the two trees. And then, as it says in Deuteronomy 30 verse 19, it says, I set before you life and death, blessings and cursings. And God's Spirit will always prompt us towards life. Because the verse that says, self says, choose life. Choose life. And that's what God's Holy Spirit does. Join me if you would in Psalm 143. I just looked this up this morning. It's a wonderful verse by the psalmist. In Psalm 143 in verse 9.

This is David. Remember the man that said, oh please revive me. Oh please don't take your Spirit from me. David got it. David knew that he needed that Spirit. Do you and I realize that today, brethren? I'm speaking to you as your pastor today and as a servant of Jesus Christ to, in a sense, overwhelm you with the blessings and the wonderment of God's Spirit that is readily available and in you. You don't even have to anticipate it. You just have to know how to use it to move towards those next steps in your life. In Psalm 143 in verse 9. Notice what it says here. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. In you I take shelter. The word out of the Bible study today would abide. Take me into your shelter. Take me into that framework of Jesus' life and death, resurrection, ascension, and the ever-living reality that He now serves as your personal Savior and our high priest and our heavenly apostle. Thus, let's be sheltered in that and then teach me to do your will, for you are my God. And notice, your Spirit is good. Then it says, lead me in the land of uprightness. Prompt, guide, lead, nurture, share. And thus what God does with this Holy Spirit, it's like we that grew up in the 60s, remember Vietnam, where there were those Vietnam goggles that were developed for Vietnam and our GIs were in those thick forests and everything looked dark and you'd put on those goggles and then it was like daytime. And that's what actually gives the American military an advantage, is that the American military basically fights at night now. They own the night because of those goggles that make everything light up. That's almost the best way that I can share what the Holy Spirit does because we live in a world that there's a veil on it because of the rejection of humanity to God's way of life and this darkness descended at Eden. And God now is granting the first fruits, the body of Christ, in a sense these eyes that come by the Spirit that allow us to cut through the fog of human nature, that allow us to cut through the darkness of materialism and secularism and an unrighteousness to where we clearly see what is coming our way before it gets here. Wow! That's what God's Holy Spirit does. The world around us just gets blindsided. Let me take you to another thought here. Number four, living by the Spirit convicts us. Living by the Spirit convicts us. John 16 and verse 8. Again, some of Jesus' last words to His earthly disciples and yes to you and to me today. John 16. Let's take a look here. This is exciting. I'm really happy that I can share it with you. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Christ's words, and when it has come, it will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more. Of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Now, I still have many things to say to you, but you can't bear it right now. What does it mean to convict us? That word is the same word, Greek word, that comes the word convince.

It means to cause, to believe, without doubt. We're not talking about a convicted of a death penalty, but the word there, the sense of it is to give us belief, to shore up our unsteadiness in this world in which the kingdom has not come in all of its fullness yet and that we believe without a doubt. I ask you a question, friends. What is it that we are convicted of? We are convinced of our sins. We are convinced and convicted of our sins. God's Holy Spirit makes us aware of our unbelief and the gravity of our sins, especially we that are bent towards God and are desiring. Are you with me? Desiring with all of our heart to practice godliness. Ain't it at times because we're still in this human tent? We will have our foibles. We will make our mistakes. And yes, indeed, a foible is a poor word or substitute for simply sin and missing the mark. And yet, as it says, that we work out our own salvation with trembling and fear. And that trembling that is mentioned in Philippians is not a trembling of dread, but the trembling is one of when you have disappointed somebody that you truly love and desire to please and you know that you have not. Be like me with my spouse or you with your spouse. We've taken our vows. We strive to live as best as we can. I certainly want to please Susie. And when I don't, I tremble. Not because she's going to come after me with a broom. Please understand. But I tremble because I love her and I've devoted my life towards her. Not always perfectly stick around after church, but that there's that trembling of sadness because you have not been pleasing. That's what God's Holy Spirit does to we that are in the body of Christ. It creates this conviction that we're off-mark and leads and guides us tenderly and in love and, yes, sometimes through experience to come back to the righteousness of God. It also convinces and convicts us of God's righteousness. It convicts us of the righteousness of God by pointing to the triumphant work of Jesus Christ in us. It convicts us of that righteousness and it proves our availability of God's righteousness now showered upon us because of that sacrifice and accepting it and having him live his life. We're convicted that God loves us so much that he gave us his own son. He's not going to give up on us. I realize that every week, some of you, someone out there, I do not know your name, but God does, knows that you feel as if God has given up on you. That God somehow is really far remote and you don't hear that still small voice that you've heard before and you get, shall we say, spiritually lonely.

God's Spirit comes back in our loneliest moments and convicts us of the righteousness of God that he said he will never leave us nor forsake us and that and that verse comes to mind. God's Holy Spirit convicts us of judgment, of the certainty of Satan's defeat and his judgment.

That, that which we see around us is going to disappear ultimately. That no matter what happens, that God has a plan and it's going to come through. God's Spirit convicts us. Sometimes when I'm down, I'm going to kind of finish with this point. Looks like I have about 10 more to go, but we'll leave you this. But if I can leave this with you, here's what I want to share with my hometown congregation.

Christians have got to go back to those basic stories that the Spirit of God leads them to. The story of Jesus coming to this earth, being born in a place of humility. Jesus, the one that we read the stories of the Bible that did not even have a place to lay his head and yet loved every individual that ever came before his footpath. We need to read the stories of the Bible, and God's Spirit will convict us. That when we read the story of Jesus being put to death, being put in that dark tomb, and having that stone that was set upon that tomb so that no man could come or go, and was surrounded by Roman guards, to recognize that the story of Christianity is simply that there is no stone too heavy, and that even in the darkest spots the light of God comes in, whether it be a tomb or whether it be the tomb that is in your heart today because you believe that your God has abandoned you. And that's perhaps a little bit how the early disciples felt as they came up to Jerusalem. It says in Acts that they were praying in one accord and in one place, and then they came together on that Pentecost day of long ago in 31 A.D. in one place and in one accord. You see, Jesus had promised them something very, very special, and it had to be special to replace him of whom they loved. He says, I will go. I've got to go ahead of you. I've got to go back up to the mountaintop, as it were. I've come to the bottom. I've got to go back up to the top. And there I will await. But I will send you a helper. I will send you that guy, that one that will stick as close to you as a bug and a rug and never leave you nor forsake you.

It's the Spirit that's going to remind you of the wonderful works of God. It's the Spirit that's going to reveal exactly what you need to know, when you need to know it, and teach you at the level that you are at. Wouldn't you like to be taught sometimes at the level that you are at? I remember when I went to Imperial schools and I took geometry, and I knew how geometry was going to go. I shouldn't say this in front of our high school students, but anyway, I knew how geometry was going to go for me. That was not where my gift was. You know, we're talking about gifts these days, and I do not have the gift of geometry. I did not have the gift of math. And I remember, you know, when you were in Imperial schools, it was always that no matter what class you were in, there had to be a biblical principle brought out, whether it was P.E. or math or this or that. And the good teacher, I will not mention his name to protect the non-guilty, he said, in this class you will reap what you sow. You had to have a biblical principle. I thought, oh man, this is not looking good. I have nothing to sow. There are no seeds of logic in my mind. How often we would like to go back. There is a point to this story. How often you and I, as men and women of God, would like to go back and say, oh, if I had had that teacher that could have sparked my imagination about geometry. See, I had no problem with history, as most of you know, and social studies and journalism. That's where my brain leans. Some of you, it was not history, it was mystery. And therefore, you'd say, oh, if I had had a teacher that could have just tutored and mentored and guided me and brought it down to my level and the way that I need to learn. Oh, I would have been so thankful.

Dear brethren of Los Angeles, that is the tutor that God gives us. It's called his Holy Spirit. He knows exactly what you have and what you don't, our Father. And thus, his Spirit that proceeds from him comes to us, begins to mold and to work with us at the level of where we are at, to lovingly nurture us, move us through the situations that we need, knows exactly sometimes to guide and lead us into green pastures, sometimes to guide and to lead us into still waters. And just like Jesus, our Lord and Savior, it says in Matthew 4 and verse 1, the Spirit led him up into where? The wilderness, because that would be a growing grounds for him.

Brethren, as we approach this beautiful and wonderful high day called Pentecost, let's understand the depth of the gift that God has given us. That it's not by our might, it's not by our power, but it's by my Spirit, says the Eternal of Host.