Person & Work of the Holy Spirit

We have been working our way through the Holy Spirit and prayer. And maybe just to bring us up to speed on this. You know, the Lord Jesus told his disciples that if you ask to bother anything according to his will, he'll grant it. There's a caveat in that. His will. So how do you know? How do you know what his will is? His will can be apprehended by the study of the word. But there is no apprehension of his will without the work of the spirit in you. Because you don't get it otherwise.

How about doors opening? Say that again? Well, I'm just thinking, when the Holy Spirit is working, it seems like the doors seem to be opening. Do you want to sit here? Okay. The open door, closed door policy? Yeah. I wonder how valid that really is. It's not.

I mean, as an example, there's a great need for missionaries to go to Uganda. You happen to have not a whole lot going on this month, so you're going to go. Door's open. Somebody's even going to pay for you to go if you go. I don't think so. Because you should only do what the Lord has called you to do. And a call doesn't necessarily mean an open door. But it might. See what I'm saying? Lots of times the ministries and things that the Lord calls you to go in are actually difficult and much more trying than just having an opportunity or a door.

But not to discount it because God works. through all kinds of circumstances, I don't think you can just rely on the open door, shut door policy. Because if you were the apostle Peter and you were teaching the gospel in Jerusalem and they called you into the stand even and said you can't do that anymore. And he said wait a minute, I have to obey God, not you guys. Well these guys have shut the door. Sure, sure. It's that kind of thing.

What does it point up? What does that kind of a question point up? That we're in tune. And that's really one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit, is to put us in tune with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father's will. That's his job. So what should we do? If you know that that's his job, what should you do? Pray. You'll probably follow his direction. Sure, follow his direction. So how do you find out what his directions are? Well, I think it has something to do with in you. I mean, if you're going to go, what was that place?

Uganda. Uganda. If you were going to go there, but inside your deepest being, you just felt like, well, I don't want to go. That's true. Most everybody in this room read What's Going On Downriver? Yeah. How about the guy before he went over to New Guinea, didn't want to go, thought that he should go. McCall was there and he was afraid. Down deep in here, he's scared to death. He thinks he's going to be lunch.

That's right. Here's how you know. Here's how you know. That's how you know, but you could say the Bible says go out and tell what you know to other people or whatever. So if you kind of know we're in the Bible, I don't know, does it say... Do you know what I mean?

It seems like it's got to come straight from the Holy Spirit. Well, and what's interesting about the Word of God, Paul says to Timothy to study, to show yourself a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. So you just don't search in the Bible for something that would verify what your inner gut feeling is.

Right? It's like the Great Commission. Go on to all the nations, preach the gospel, baptize them. And most people think that that's a command. It's not. You know what it is? In the going. So wherever you're going, whatever you're doing, that's the Great Commission. It doesn't mean you have to go to Uganda. It means that you go to King Soopers. That's where you're going. It's the life that you are.

The next subject we'll get to this morning is the walk in the spirit. The walk in the spirit isn't a bunch of name tags that says here's who I am and what I do, but who you are is recognizable because of your walk in the spirit. What the idea of prayer is, is the idea of communication. And as we look at those verses in Romans 8, there is ignorance on our part about what the Father's will is.

If I said to you, do you know precisely what God's will is for your life? Do you know what it is? I know what it is. I bet you don't. I don't. She doesn't. Who knows it over here? Raise your hand if you know exactly, precisely what God's will is for your life. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Romans 8, 28 and 29. It's right there. It says, God works all things together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. Those he foreknew before ordained to what? To be conformed to the image of his Son. Everything that goes on in your life from start to finish is to conform you to Christ. Everything.

Be it Uganda, be it Arvada, You see that? So you have to see it from that perspective, otherwise you're kind of looking for the open door, closed door. The door doesn't matter, really. This is something, Father, you brought in my life. I know you're going to use it to conform me to the image of your son. I have no idea how you're going to do it. It doesn't seem plausible to me, but that's what he's doing. And you know why?

Why is conformity to the image of Christ? Well, let me ask you this. Is that a positional thing or a conditional thing? How many think it's positional? The conforming process itself. The conforming process itself. It has to be conditional, doesn't it?

So you're being transformed from a position you already enjoy to a condition that you can enjoy more. You understand what I mean? Maybe I'll say it another way. You're being transformed from a position you already possess to a condition you can enjoy. So that the Lord Jesus Christ would be able to manifest his life through you. Which is kind of maybe called the fruit. I mean we sort of have the seeds. The fruit is the result of the conformity. See the fruit comes out because when we start on to the next, we'll see that. the fruit is a result of a conformity. So God the Father finds all of his pleasure in his Son, the Lord Jesus. Doesn't it make sense that he would conform you to his image so that he could find all of his pleasure in you?

Now this is not a process that goes on through your being ignorant. This is a process that goes on. You are engaged in this every moment. There aren't any bleacher sitters in this environment. Everybody is in the game. Everybody is being conformed and you are critically involved in this process moment by moment.

Through finding out what your position is, through trusting the spirit of God to carry out what he says he's going to do. You have a will and so he invites you to cooperate with him by believing him. So prayer is the thing in the middle of all of that that allows you to communicate with God and get communication back. you know the old saying that boy I've been praying like crazy and the prayers go up to the ceiling and they bounce back. I never hear anything back. Well what are you waiting for? By the way he already gave you the answer.

The spirit of God's job is to open up your understanding about what God's will is for you. Starting with the conformity process and then each individual nuance of this conformity process he'll make you aware of it. and guess what you will do? You'll say, okay, go for it. Do it. Be it done to me according to your will. Whatever you want to do is okay with me. Because I really like the end product. I know where you're going. Because you showed me. See that?

So it's not a really complicated process. And that's why prayer is so involved in this process. How else I mean, if I call up Randy on the phone and we're talking back and forth, we're praying to each other, we're communicating. Isn't that what we're doing? I'm saying, Randy, will you do so and so? He says, yeah, I'll do that. Will you do? Yeah, I'll do that. Okay, thanks a lot. See you.

We're praying to each other. We're talking. We're communicating. See? We're talking to the father about our needs. We're talking to him, thanking him for what he's done. We're communicating. That's what he wants. If you read John chapter 17, the prayer is wonderful because it's a prayer from the Lord Jesus to his Father based on the Father's will, and the Lord Jesus wants some specific things done. He knows the Father is going to do them, so there's an interchange there, and he thanks him. If the Lord Jesus said in that prayer, Father, that they may be one as we are one, that they may be one of us, you think the Father is up there going, I don't know about that Jesus. I don't have to think that one over.

So it's his will. And that's the thing that we're ignorant about is the precise and accurate will of the Father through you to conform you to the image of Christ. That's what you're here to do. And you can't perform the works of the Lord unless you are conformed. Because you're going to do them out of the flesh otherwise.

Let's look at question 6. In Jude 20 and 21, there are four features mentioned regarding steadfastness. What are they? The answer is, in Jude it says, But you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Keep yourself in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to return alive. So here's steadfastness. First thing is building themselves up in the most holy faith. Boy, that sounds like self-effort to me. Okay, how do you build yourself up in faith?

Don't worry. Yeah, that's right. You just read it. And when you see something in there, you say, I wonder what the Lord wants me to do about this truth? You know what he wants you to do about it? Believe him. That's it. Second one, praying in the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit, as we've been discussing, is in dependence on, reliance on, that he's going to inform you as to what the Father's will is for you. It doesn't discount the fact that you can make all your requests known unto the Father. All of them.

Don't you find it interesting that Paul goes to the Lord with one request three times? And he did it three times because he didn't think the Father quite understood what he was asking? What happened in the process of those three requests? What happened? Who changed? Paul did. He changed from Lord get rid of this thing to whatever you want to do father is okay with me because I know what you're doing.

I learned in the process that your strength is made perfect in my weakness. I didn't know that the first time I asked but I do know it now. It reminds me kind of like a little kid like you know if you stop them from running out in the street You know, they don't know, and then maybe something kind of happens, and then by the end, hopefully after they mature more, it's like, you know, you understand that your parent is caring about you, and you're grateful for it. He loves you, he's protecting you. Yeah. And so what are you more willing to do? Trust him next time.

You know, there's a great story about a burning, a two-story burning house, and there's a little boy up on the second floor, and he can't get out except for jumping out the window and his father is on his way out. And he says, come on my son, jump. And he can't see his dad, but he jumps. Why does he jump? Because he knows his dad. He knows his dad is going to catch him. He knows that.

Keeping yourselves in the love of God. How do you do that? Keeping yourself in the love of God. Speak up, I can't hear you. I don't think you do it. I don't think you keep yourself. You're already there. How do you keep yourself? You don't place yourself there. You're already there. Sure. Romans 5, 4, 3. For the love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Who loves who first? He loves me first, right? So I love him back. The issue is, you know, stay in the river. Stay in the stream. Let God love you is kind of more what it is saying. And looking for the coming of the Lord. Looking for the coming of the Lord. I think every believer As you grow, there's this increased expectation of the Lord's coming.

And it's not so much based on the bad environment you live in. Every time he reads the paper, you say, oh, I hope you come tomorrow. It's not based on that. It's based on the fact that some really good friends of ours are coming on Friday. We can't wait to see them. We want them here. We want to hang out with them. have fellowship with them. We're looking forward to them showing up. I'm really looking forward to the day that the Lord comes. Granted, all of this gets away, but it's not that, it's Him. It's Him. I can't wait to see Him face to face.

So what's the difference between formal prayer and prayer in the Holy Spirit? Being a good Catholic, I can tell you all about formal prayer. You know, maybe it's more man-made. Okay. Well, we can talk about formal prayer real easily because we have lots of them around. If you come out of a denomination, there's all kinds of formalities like the Apostles' Creed, and I don't know if you're a Catholic like me, there's things called prayer books, 300 pages of prayers, you know. You'll never see a Catholic priest stand up in front of this group and wing it. Just pray out of his heart. You won't see that happen. Oh yeah, let's see. It's June 30th and the prayers for today are... and here he goes. Do we ever? Say that again.

I mean, if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if it... if I don't think so because here's the problem with large denominations who have an increasing clergy.

The clergy gets in the way of your intimacy with Christ himself. The Catholic Church sets it up so that you have to go through the priest to get to Christ. Or you have to go through the priest to the mom to Christ. like the Blessed Virgin has anything to do with the work of Christ? They claim that she is the distributor of grace.

How does that happen? I don't want that story. The formality is out of man and what does man's mind want to do? It wants to repeat and repeat and repeat. and they work on the language and they get it right so that it sounds really pious. What's the difference between that and praying in the Holy Spirit? And don't tell me it's a language you don't understand. What's the difference? Well, it's spontaneous.

It's what comes from the Holy Spirit, from your heart. In one of those hungry hearts. There was an article about praying, I forget what month it's in, but whoever wrote it said, we must get our prayers from God. I like that a lot. We have to get our prayers from God. You understand? And I dare say that when you go to the Lord and say, well, you know, I'll give you a good example. My buddy in Arkansas called me last week and said, I want you to pray for me.

I have to go in and they're going to do an ultrasound on my prostate. So if they say there's something wrong with it, I don't know what it is, but I'm a little nervous. So I said, okay, I'll pray for you. So he calls me back this week and he said, well, it wasn't my prostate after all, it was my kidney. And they did an ultrasound and I'm fine. He said, thanks for praying. I said, why are you thanking me? You don't know how I prayed for you. Because if you go to the Holy Spirit or you go to the Lord to say, well, you know, so-and-so wants me to pray for him. What should I say? What do you want? What should I say about them?

My natural instinct is fix it, but that may not be your will. Maybe you want a circumstance here because there's a growth process going on that I don't know anything about and I want to pray whatever, or maybe I'm not supposed to pray about the procedure itself, but to pray about her or him their rest in the Lord during the procedure or that they may manifest the life of Christ in the environment of the hospital. Something like that that has nothing to do with whether they're going to get well or not.

You see that? So I think it's appropriate for us to go to the Lord in every circumstance and say, well what do you want me to say about them? If you do that you'll find sometimes you'll be a little afraid to pray once you get back. Oh gee lord, is that really where you're going?

So, Rideout says there's a stability, it must be in the power of the spirit of God, all else will fail, human strength and human wisdom all falter here. But, he who is the living link with God preserves him to the end. There is a vast difference between formal prayer and praying in the Holy Spirit. None but those who are indwelt by the Spirit can truly pray that way.

I'm watching TV the other day, on channel 7, which I normally do, and I get on the Senate channel, and the chaplain of the Senate is opening up the session by praying. Oh, was that awful. He must have spent two days writing that nonsense. It was terrible. Because it was all this flowery speech about what wonderful people were in the Senate. Well, that turned me off right there. He was giving them compliments. Paul does that, doesn't he? Like, give them compliments, and then he goes in. He said, yeah, I went up to Jerusalem to see those guys who were the pillars of the church, whatever they think they are.

Read Ephesians 6, 14-18. What is this the answer for the believer in this conflict? Ephesians 6, 14-18 has to do with what? Putting on the full armor of God? So, conflict. You don't put armor on unless you're in a conflicting situation, right? So I think we as believers have to understand we are in a conflicting situation. all the time, we have a few enemies around, not to mention we're living in his territory. The conflict, there are various weapons, and I want you to notice something, a lot of people don't notice it, every one of those, armor of God, are defensive except for one. So you hear all the time, especially in certain circles, that we've got to go out and get territory and add to the kingdom and all this other stuff.

Well, if that were true, there would be more than just one offensive weapon. All of these are defensive. Hold the ground that Jesus has already won. That's really what it is. One offensive weapon is entitled the sword of the spirit. What's the sword of the spirit? It's the word of God.

So, we believers must understand that In most cases we're in defensive mode. We're not ceding territory. We're holding what Christ has already won. And as soon as you pull out your sword to start the fight, you lose ground. You have to stay in the grace that's been provided.

I have a question here about you wrestle not against flesh and blood and then it goes on to say about Satan and the wicked spirits in heavenly places. And I didn't think there would be any wicked spirits in heavenly places. Explain that. I don't get that. Yeah. You mean in heavenly places like... You think they've all been confined to the earth? Yeah, or wherever. But I didn't think they were in heavenly places. Well, you know... Secular places? Earthly places? Back in the Book of Job, there's a discussion about where the Lord sort of calls Satan in and says, hey, you see my boy, Joe? Where was Satan? He was in heaven. Through us.

Was that before he was thrown out, though? When was he thrown out? Well, I don't know. I think he was, you know, that's obviously after Eden, right? Before the cross. Yeah, I know that. But the cross hasn't really changed Satan's look. His domain is here. I think he has access to the heavens too. Isn't he the accuser? He's the accuser of the brethren, he doesn't do that by cell phone. Well was it Daniel that was praying and then somehow his prayer was answered or someone told him we would have helped you sooner, but the demons or whatever were blocking your prayers.

It isn't exactly like that. To be honest with you, in that and that situation about wrestling over Moses' body, I don't get that. I really don't understand what that's about. The beings that we wrestle against are spiritual beings. They're not, well, yeah they can be. Physically being stupid. Primarily the war is spiritual and we're not equipped to fight that war.

So what we have to do is depend on those that are. And that's the spirit of God. Does that make sense? Yeah. You're more than conquerors through him who loved you. You're not more than conquerors because he made you a conqueror. You're more than a conqueror because you're in Christ. He wins. You get to go along for the ride. And as long as you by faith stay in your position in Christ conditionally, you win.

If you come out, you get suckered out. Look at the people upstairs who are studying James. In James, where the temptation is for sin, when the temptation starts, it assumes that the believer is abiding in Christ, right? So what's the temptation designed to do? to draw you out. Once you come out, what happens? You're toast.

Once you take the bait, you leave your position, come out into the environment where you have been lured out, you lose. That's the goal of every good pitcher is to throw the ball in such a way as to sucker you out of the strike zone and miss the ball. Here's how the loiters do it. When did you stop beating your wife? Wait a minute, I never did. When did you stop? Like there's an assumption that you did. That's the sucker punch. You used to really enjoy doing this. Maybe we do it a little more often. How'd you come? You mean you lose your position? No, you lose the fellowship of your position. You can never lose your position. Any questions there? How does a believer then become victorious in an unequal fight? By the power of his spirit. Sure, it's like you're in against Muhammad Ali. How do you do it? It's by the power of the Spirit, but what's your role in it? What do you do?

I wrote down dependence and prayer, coupled with the watching and intercession of the saints. I would expect you to pray for me. Do you understand that? Because that's your job. My job is to pray for you. My job is to watch for you. Your job is to watch for me. Your job is to come alongside me if you see me slowing down. My job is to come alongside you if I see you slowing down. If I see your focus turning away from Christ, my job is to come alongside of you. If you see it happening to me, your job is to come alongside of me. That's how it works.

Kind of cool, isn't it? Really. Okay, but when you said, how could you get back, you can also get back into the Bible. Right. Sure, the spirit of God's job, he has two main jobs. One is to reveal Christ to you as a believer, and that revealing is the conforming process that goes on. And two is to restore you if you decide you're going to take a little side trip off the boat. See that?

And he's so gracious. He doesn't draw you back by kicking you. He woos you back. He woos you back. Because if you have spent any time abiding in Christ, and the more time you spend abiding in Christ, as soon as that intimacy goes away, you're aware of it. And it, over time, becomes the most precious thing you have, is this intimacy with Christ.

I find you're not comfortable in situations that you used to be comfortable in. Yeah. Uncomfortable is a good way to put it. As you grow spiritually, the discomfort grows if you're outside of Christ. You just, boy this isn't who I am, this is not where I belong, I'm not happy here. This used to be pretty cool, but it's not now.

Last question, what does Rideout say is the three-fold blessedness of prayer in the spirit? I don't think I have a page. I'll just read it. Pray in the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit. Do we pray thus? Kelly wrote this 100 years ago by a question like that. Are our seasons of private prayer republic under the particular guidance and power and faith of the Spirit of God? How little true prayer there is.

And yet how many words. Even Abraham Lincoln understood that concept. What was his answer to, gee, the Gettysburg Address was such a great speech, how long did it take you to write it? He said, his whole life. He said, a long speech can be done any time. A short one takes a long time to learn.

The Lord stir us up to know this threefold blessedness of prayer in the spirit. One, our infirmities are helped. Two, our faith is established. And three, our courage emboldened to take fast hold of the living God while we use the sword of the spirit. How cool is that? Our infirmities help. Really neat. Our faith is established. And our courage is emboldened to take fast hold of the living God. You know, this last part, I think sometimes we don't think is really important. I think it's critically important.

One of the biggest problems we as growing believers have is just trusting God with what he tells us, to take hold of and hang on to what he says is true of us, what he says he's done. A simple thing like, were you crucified with Christ and all that that means? Well, yeah, I know it, but did you grab a hold of that and hang on to it? It's the very crux of who you are? That's what praying in the spirit will do. So you learn being crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ and now seated with him in the heavenlies, that's really true? That's really true of me? And I can't go to God and say, yeah, but you don't know what's happening in my life. Oh, really? OK, I'm done with prayer. Any questions? Yes, Steve?

Well, at the end of those three full blessings, He also says, doing all that while you're using the sword. Say that again, the last part. During, when he's referring to the threefold blessedness, he wraps it by saying, while you're using the sword of the spirit. Yeah, and what's the sword of the spirit?

The word of God. You see how that fits? The simple reading of the Word of God, especially the regularly divided Word of God, when you read what's written to you, the epistles of Paul and stuff, that's what happens. Your faith is encouraged, your troubles are resolved, and you grow. And why does all of that happen? What's the word of God in the Holy Spirit? What's the word of God designed to do?

What's it really there to do? It's living. It's alive, right? It's living. And what's the Spirit's job? To reveal Christ to the believer. He does it through the word. So that's why you read it. You don't read it to become a theologian or a scholar. You read it to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus enter into a greater and greater intimacy with Him. I know this probably doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about, but I was thinking this week about this fellow, Dean, who had said something, you know, about 60 years ago, and everybody was jumping on the wagon, and I thought of Jesus' words to those men. He who is without sin cast the first stone. And I thought how quick everybody was ready to throw the stones. Well, you know what else is interesting about that whole thing?

What? Do you think she's a believer? I don't know. I don't know either. What are we talking about? Paula Deen. Oh. Well, if she was, why would she then say that? I mean, you know, people all said it in those days, I presume. That was 60 years ago. She grew up in the South. That was her way of life. You know what her biggest problem was? Her own mouth.

She needed to shut up. And if she was a believer she would recognize that even if that happened she was forgiven and she could just be quiet about it. I don't need you to forgive me, I already am. If everybody laid down everything they did. And the more she talked the worse it got. I know.

Isn't the whole thing hypocritical? Because people that are complaining about what she did, they probably did it themselves. What she did is that critical then that about every other high-profile celebrity needs to be stripped of all of their endorsements too. For some reason they decided she's going to be the sacrificial lamb and boy they crucified her big time. Bless her heart.

OK, this is a this is the last part of this section. The next section Randy will pick up on, which is the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. This last part has to do with the Holy Spirit working individually. OK, so it's from page 42 to 45. This characterizes the walk in the spirit. And so the first question is, what characterizes the Christian and distinguishes him from the world? The walk in the spirit is what characterizes the Christian and is in contrast to a walk in the flesh.

Now, you only got two choices. And oh by the way, it isn't 60-140 the other. It isn't 90-10. You're either totally walking in the flesh or you're totally walking in the spirit. It's not a little of this and a little of that. You have to be sure about that. Now, he quotes this verse from Romans 8.

They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. What does that mean? What does it mean that they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh? What does after the flesh mean? It doesn't mean you're going after it. What does it mean? It means that you come from it.

My dog is after Labradorian So he acts like a Labrador. Why? Because he comes from Labrador. So he barks and sniffs and wags his tail and does all that. Why? Because that's his nature. Every human being born on the planet comes from the flesh. They mind the things of the flesh, they love the things of the flesh, they learn about the things of the flesh, and they act in the things of the flesh. Because that's where they're from. And they do it spontaneously. It controls them. See that? I say this all the time.

Donna's up in the nursery this morning, and she has two kids up there like, I don't know, under two years old. You know it's interesting, neither one of those kids went to sinning academy. How come? They didn't need to. They didn't need to. Why didn't they need to? Because they are after the flesh. They don't have to learn how to sin.

It's built into them. So when this word says they that are after the flesh, what do they do? They mine the things of the flesh. And I think with us, then we mind the things of the flesh, and then we start thinking that we do know what we're doing, and we're doing it the right way. You know what I mean? That rebellion kind of thing on top of it, then that's the way to do it. Well, I think that's part of it.

She thought she was doing everything right, loved everybody. Sure. She is. She's totally in the flesh. I mean, totally. She's trying to jump over from those evil branches to the good ones and they're not letting her. But isn't it good that this happened in a way because maybe this will draw her to God. It will draw her to something better. It's impossible for her to do anything but what she's doing. Do you understand that? Okay. Second half of the verse.

They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. Those are for only those really holy Christians who go to the Methodist Church, right? Who are these people he's talking about? Who are these people that come after the Spirit? Many of you in this room?

All of you. All of you. You now are, you come from the spirit. That's who you are. You're from that totally. You're no longer from the flesh. You're from the spirit. And so the statement is that if you're after or come from the spirit, you mind the things of the spirit. You pay attention to, you value, you put your arms around, you're committed to, involved in the things of the spirit.

Now, I know you're going to challenge me on this, but please wait till we get to like question four. So that's existing in the positional realm. That's exactly right. Steve said that exists in the positional realm of things. Everybody understand why he said that? Because every one of you actually has both of these natures in you, but you only came from one. Which one is it? Which one is it? No, you didn't. Not now. Where do you come from now?

It's really kind of cool when you think about it. You can trace your lineage, or you used to be able to trace your lineage back to the Garden of Eden, right? Where God formed Adam's body and breathed in him the breath of life. So maybe on the outside, your family heritage goes back 10,000 years, maybe.

But when you come into Christ, how far back do you go? In the beginning was the word. He was existing already at the beginning. So how far back do you go? Eternity. So that's really where you come from. And so you, what the issue, what he's saying to you is, if that's your origin, then you'll pay attention to and mind the things of the spirit. But if you don't know about it, you might not. You might not. And that's why it's important to find out. Now, the difference is, broadly we may say every Christian is marked thus.

If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, that is, not the disposition of Christ, not his life, but the Holy Spirit given to the believer, he is none of his. If you're not in Christ, you have no ownership for him, nor does he have ownership for you. So, in starting out the discussion on walking in the Spirit, it's really important that we understand where did you come from? Now that you are a believer, where did you come from? Because you cannot get the man who minds the things of the flesh to act like he's from the spirit. I know you've tried really hard to accomplish that your whole life. It ain't working out for you, trust me. You can't cross-breed these two.

So next week we'll hopefully get through all of this. on the walk in the spirit, because it's important for us as believers. It's like J. Bernard McGee used to say, if you got arrested for being a Christian, could they prove their case? Dear Father, how we thank you for your word. Thank you for your spirit, that through your word allows us to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, our very life. and be conformed more and more to his image, Father. And we thank you, we pray in his precious name. Amen.