 Gospel of Luke chapter 4 and verse 1 and verse 2. Then Jesus being filled with Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Being tempted for 40 days by the devil after in those days and in those days he ate nothing. Afterward when he, when they had ended the fasting he was hungry. And then there is, when the devil came to tempt him Jesus replies with the word of God. The devil comes again Jesus replies with the word of God. The devil comes again Jesus replies with the word of God. And then the devil leaves and angels come and minister to Jesus Christ. Let's just pray this prayer out loud after me. Say Lord Jesus, open my heart to your word. Lord Jesus, open my heart to your spirit. Lord Jesus, open my heart to your faith. Holy Spirit was a very important person in the life of Jesus Christ. We see that Jesus came on this earth and he was born out of a virgin birth. And that happened because Holy Spirit was involved. We see the Holy Spirit comes upon Virgin Mary and she conceives a child and this child is Jesus. And this is a picture of what, how Christian life begins. Holy Spirit is present when you receive Jesus and you become saved. And this act, this new birth experience, this salvation is done through the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit assists us in our salvation. He is there to help us and he makes our salvation supernatural. Though sometimes salvation doesn't feel supernatural in the sense that when Jesus was being born, you know it was a typical many babies are born the same way he came from the mother's womb. There was nothing supernatural in his birth but everything was supernatural in his conception. And so the salvation part sometimes it looks very natural when the person comes to the realization, I'm a sinner, Jesus died on a cross 2000 years ago. Historically it's documented and he rose from the dead. It's also documented and it's also there's proof of that and you put your trust in that. It seems like it's just such a natural procedure but in reality it's actually a supernatural behind. Salvation is both natural and supernatural because Holy Spirit is involved and we don't become saved by joining a church. We don't become saved because our parents are Christians just like you are not turning into a car when you walk into a garage. You don't turn into a cheeseburger if you walk into McDonald's. The same way when you walk into church that doesn't really make you saved. What makes you saved is the gospel that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead and you receive that with the assistance of the Holy Spirit and you become a Christian. Somebody say amen. Somebody say amen. And when you become a Christian just like Jesus when he was born and that was by the Holy Spirit he also needed a natural family. He needed Joseph and Mary and Joseph and Mary took care of Jesus. They gave him a place to grow up and they gave him a name and they protected him from this monster named Herod. When you become a new Christian this is done because Holy Spirit was working on your heart. But as a new Christian God places you in the family. God places you in the church. God doesn't place you alone in the island somewhere out there. No God locates you in the church. God gives you a Mary and God gives you Joseph. And sometimes the people God surrounds you in your Christian life are not necessarily super talented. They're not necessarily even super gifted. But they have to have two main abilities. Give you a name and protect you when a monster tries to attack you. When the church is able to give you an identity means who you are in Jesus. And to cover you in prayer. To protect you so that when the enemy attacks you it would doubt. Enemy attacks you with all kinds of questions and all kinds of troubles. And they are there to stand beside you and say you know what the devil is a liar. You can make it through. We're behind you. And if the enemy is going to take you out he's going to have to take us out too. So we're together in this. And somebody say amen. Salvation is a family affair. You join the family. You don't just simply born again on the street. You are born into a family. And God only has children. No grandchildren. And we don't join God's family. We are born in God's family. When you are saved you are born into the family of God. This is the first stage of the Holy Spirit's activity in the life of Jesus. Is he creates his birth. But then we see later on after Jesus is born by the Holy Spirit. Later on when John the Baptist starts his ministry and starts to baptize people into water. Jesus comes to John's baptism. And when John dips him into water the scripture says that Jesus prayed in Luke chapter 3. It says as he prayed Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and filled Jesus. So we see Jesus was being born by the Holy Spirit. But we also see now Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. And this is different. That just because you are saved and Holy Spirit lives in you. The Bible also says that as Christians we must continuously be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. Many times we think well Holy Spirit is going to fill me when Holy Spirit wants to fill me. But the scripture compares being filled with Holy Spirit equivalent to like a drunken being filled with liquor or with alcohol. Now an alcoholic doesn't sit at home and waits for alcohol to come from the bar into his house. Knock the door, go through his living room, jump on his lap and fill his body with liquid. That's not how it happens. You don't get drunk on accident. Being drinking is a choice. You get up, you go to the place where the bottle is and you drink it. To be filled with Holy Spirit is actually not a chance, it's a choice. It's a choice you make where you put yourself like Jesus in the place of prayer and you open your heart to God. You open your life to God and then God's Spirit fills you. To simply be preoccupied with the things of life and expect that somehow somewhere when I'm going to be driving or somehow somewhere when I'm depressed, stressed and just brought down. God just gonna fill me with Holy Spirit. That is an illusion. Being filled with Holy Spirit is a command and it's a choice we make. It's not something that just spontaneously happens to the lucky few. It's just something that we make as a decision to be in God's prayer, to be in God's word and Holy Spirit fills us as a result. Alcoholics don't get filled with alcohol because alcohol is so demanding. No, yes the alcohol attracts them and draws them in but at the end of the day it is their choice and that's exactly how it is to be with Holy Spirit. Now Holy Spirit is not like alcohol. Alcohol is water. It doesn't have a person. But Holy Spirit is a person but Holy Spirit wants to fill you just like an alcoholic. A drunken is filled with alcohol. It is your choice. It's interesting that Jesus gets filled with Holy Spirit at the revival meeting of John the Baptist. Sometimes we kind of don't think about this in the context of how this actually happened. Historians say that for 400 years there was no visible proof of God's moving in the nation of Israel. Religion of Judaism was reduced to synagogues, scribes, Pharisees and lawyers. Means people who built certain buildings where people met on Saturdays and they read through Torah and they were exhorted and encouraged to maintain their allegiance to Torah. But there was no prophetic words, there was no miracles and there was nothing supernatural taking place. Religion was normal until a man rises up whose name is John and he starts to preach for everyone to repent. And so things are just stirred up, people started to come to him and he's not in the synagogue, he's outside by the river. And the amazing part that John does, something was nobody was done before, is that John begins to baptize people. Now baptism in the Jewish history and the Jewish culture was normal but it was not for the Jewish people. Baptism was for the Gentiles, means people who are not Jewish who want to be Jewish. When you come into Judaism what we do is that they get circumcised and another thing they do is they get dunked into water as their symbol of joining Judaism. So here is John speaking to Jews and telling Jews you need to be baptized. So they're like not us, it's them and John says the only difference between you and them, there is no difference. He says you're life, you're mess, he says you're sinners and John just begins to preach and preach and preach. And so I mean he stirs up a crowd, a revival breaks out, people start beginning to get saved, people start getting baptized. Now the law that to baptize only the Gentiles is pushed away, everybody is getting baptized. And Jesus comes and sees the revival and Jesus could have said, John, he doesn't have miracles. John, he's socially awkward, he doesn't talk to people normally, he's not nice, he rebukes the politicians, he doesn't have love. Jesus could have said, well John's ministry is so small, I am not going to go to John's meetings, I'm going to start my own. But the amazing part about our Jesus, he goes to a revival that was not as powerful, but it was the only revival in the world. And he goes to the revival, not just sits on the back and takes notes, but he goes in the front and says John, baptize me too. Imagine, people always say, oh we Christians, you guys are always looking for revivals, Jesus looked for revivals, and that's where God filled him with the Holy Ghost. Jesus did not fill, did not get filled with the Holy Ghost in a synagogue. Holy Spirit did not fill Jesus in some kind of a meeting of believers, it was at a revival that Pharisees and religious leaders said, we don't want to do nothing with it, this is strange, this is weird, he has a demon, the Bible says Pharisees said that. Jesus went to a revival, you want to be filled with Holy Spirit? Where is God moving today? What is God doing today in this world? And maybe what he is doing is not as great as what we know God wants to do in our life and through our life, but are you willing today to benefit from a revival of God's spirit even though you don't endorse or lack the style of the person God is using? Maybe they are eating honey, wild honey and dressed up with some really crazy belts and everything, but at the end of the day, Jesus didn't go to endorse John's diet, he went to endorse the spirit of God that was moving through John. And such an interesting point, the Holy Spirit chose to fill Jesus right in the middle of John's revival. And that's when Holy Spirit started to move through Jesus' life. If we want to see increasing activity of the Holy Spirit, you must be connected, be connected to where Holy Spirit is moving today. You must be aware of where Holy Spirit is moving, now we are so fortunate, we are so blessed, we are so blessed today to be able to know where Holy Spirit is moving and where he is doing things greater than the ministry of John the Baptist. Jesus says John the Baptist's ministry, he was in the Old Testament the greatest, but when you flip the New Testament, John the Baptist is the lowest because right now the moves of God, the greatness of the move of God, it supersedes John's ministry and it's so important for us not to be chasing the man of God, but to be chasing the move of God. When we are after the move of God, Jesus went to synagogue, but Jesus goes to John the Baptist, he did not need to get baptized because he wasn't a sinner, he was a righteous holy man, but he says I endorse what God is doing in your life, I endorse what God is doing through your life and God comes and fills him with the Holy Ghost right in the middle of that revival. Many people say we don't follow revivals, we don't like revivals, why? Because they all are short, they never last. John's revival didn't last either, John died very soon after this, John was put into prison and this whole great revival turned into well nothing, yet Jesus got filled with the Holy Spirit there. Yes, revivals are times and seasons where God comes and stirs things up and they don't last maybe all the time though our desire and wish is to see a lifestyle of revival, but at the same time if it even lasts for a season that does not, should not be ignored, made fun of, mocked or criticized. It should be benefited from and enjoyed for the glory of God. Can somebody say amen? I remember when an outpouring of the Holy Spirit was taking place in Lakeland and every revival is controversial. The only time revivals don't become controversial is after they are passed and the leaders in it die. Then everybody begins to bring flowers and talk about the good old days, but when those good old days are present, everyone picks up stones, throws those people, makes weird accusations, all kinds of things are made and so every single revival is going to be criticized by mainland Christianity. But after the revival passes and mainland Christianity lifts it up and says, oh we were a part of that, this was what God was doing 100 years ago, 300 years ago, 400 years ago. But this is typical, it happened in the Bible, it happens today. I remember when it was in Lakeland, Florida, a guy was moving through a young man named Todd Bentley and this revival that was happening there, a lot of people were coming and Todd Bentley, he had a very unique style. First of all he had a very unique dressing style, he had a very unique style on many things including the things that he put on his body, tattoos and everything. And our pastor was watching the revival and so did we kind of once in a while gleaned in and we did not like his style. We did not like the way he dressed and we did not like the way he even spoke and the way he did certain things but the reality is though we didn't like certain things, God somehow was moving through this man. And I remember when pastor sent me to go there for seven days to be there by myself and so I didn't even know Lakeland existed in America and so I remember I end up in Orlando and I take a rental car and the lady who gives me a rental car, she's like, you know what, you're probably going to that revival. I say, yes ma'am. She says, you know, my relative actually got healed at that revival. And so that's just another confirmation to me that God was generally and really moving there. And so I went there for seven days and honestly, yes, the meetings were from seven to nine hours and the presence of God was tangible. It was pretty evident. I was seeing people being healed right beside me. It was awesome. But honestly, it was not my favorite cup of tea. The way services were conducted, the way he preached, he mostly didn't preach. And the way he was dressed, the way he talked. And honestly, sadly, afterwards he kind of fell. The minister, he under pressure of criticism and so many things, he went back into drinking and revival faded away and this is where every Christian got up and said, ah, we knew it. We knew it. So any new revival, what they're waiting for is this. We're going to wait till John the Baptist's head gets cut off and then we'll have a reason not to join it. But Jesus didn't do that. Jesus knew that revival is a seasonal thing. God moves and Jesus goes right in son of God in the middle of revival. There was lesser than his anointing and God fills him with the Holy Ghost right there. Let's be a generation that's hungry for revival. It doesn't mean we're blind to man's style. That doesn't mean that we have to endorse every single person, even some of their ideas, lifestyle, dress code, and their livelihood of the people that God is using. But we are after the move of God, not necessarily after the man that he's using. We love those men. We honor those men. We pray for those men. But we are after the spirit of God. Can somebody say amen? So we see Holy Spirit filling Jesus, Holy Spirit giving birth to Jesus and Holy Spirit filling Jesus at John's revival. And then we've read this chapter four of Luke where Holy Spirit leads Jesus into wilderness. He leads him into fasting. He leads him into prayer. You know, sometimes we want to be leaders. We all want to rise up to be great influencers. We all want to rise up to be great people. But for Holy Spirit to be able to lead you, you have to have a quality of being led. Many people have a great gift of leadership and they have a horrible characteristic to follow. They cannot follow orders. They give orders. They know how to bark orders on other people. But when it comes to following orders from somebody else, they just can't do that. Imagine Jesus being Son of God, yet on earth, he's showing to us what it's like to live men in submission to the Holy Spirit. He allows the Holy Spirit to orchestrate his life and to bring him to a place where he is not going to eat, where he's going to sacrifice food for 40 days to get something better than food, to be a closer to God, to overcome the enemy, to have a personal victory in his life, to have the victory that Adam should have had in the Garden of Eden, to have the victory Israel should have had in the wilderness, but they failed in. Sometimes when we think of leading of the Holy Spirit, we immediately assume the Holy Spirit is going to lead us to great things, powerful things. And that is 100% true. The only thing is that I think we miss sometimes the cost it's going to take to get to those things. And the Holy Spirit will reveal to us, hey, this is what I'm taking you, I'm taking you to great things, but he doesn't tell us the path and the route he's going to take there. And the path is always going to be this. If you're going to want great things, you're going to have to be willing to sacrifice good things. Food is good. Food is very good. For those of you who are fasting know what I'm talking about. But food is very good. Food is not evil. Food is not pornography. Food is not some lying, cheating or beating or gossiping. Food is a good thing from God. But see, when you want to be used by God, when you want to have great things, this is where Holy Spirit is leading you. But he's leading you by giving up the good so he can get you to the great. Many of us, we want the Holy Spirit to jump us from sacrificing so we can have the good and the great at the same time. And we think that is the key to being really used by the Holy Spirit. If we can keep my life and get God's life at the same time. My friend, that doesn't exist. You cannot have eternal life in heaven until you give up earthly life on earth. You cannot say, I want to be in heaven and live in Pasco. Now, you can daydream, you can do a movie about it, you can write a book about it, but you cannot be in both places. You can't be in something great until you're willing to give up something good. If the Holy Spirit is leading you to give up something good, it's a signature. He is taking you to something that is great. If Holy Spirit is leading you to giving up certain things, then you may say, man, other people are not giving this up. It means the Holy Spirit is leading you to something great, but he has to lead you through something that is giving up of the good. When it comes to fasting, it's giving up good. Why? So you can have something great. When it comes to giving money, when living sacrificially, why do you have to do that? Because you're giving up something good. Do you have something great? You want a path to greatness? It's a sacrifice of good. It's a sacrifice of good. Holy Spirit is leading Jesus into wilderness, and Jesus is fasting in the wilderness and after the fast is over, and this brings me to the thought that I wanted to share with you in this message. The Holy Spirit brings Jesus to a place, but only the Holy Scriptures get Jesus through this place. Let me say this again. Holy Spirit brings Jesus to a certain place, but only the Holy Scriptures get Jesus through this place. The wilderness that Holy Spirit brought Jesus to, the Holy Spirit didn't as a person, did not bring Jesus through wilderness. He brought Jesus to it, and then the word which is he authors, Holy Spirit, this word gets Jesus through this hard time, difficult time, and then the Holy Spirit anoints Jesus with power for miracles and for ministry. And I want to speak to you briefly on this part of Holy Spirit bringing us to place where only Holy Scriptures can bring us through that place. Many times people get a job, and in the first two days every person who gets a job, most people are thankful, and the job, new job becomes a praise report, and we are thankful until that job begins to bring some challenges. And this is the moment where we are asking the Holy Spirit to help us through with the stress, with the work schedule, with the anointing co-workers, with the schedule, time schedule, with so many other things, and we must understand is that Holy Spirit brings us to a place, but he wants us to lean on the Holy Scriptures to get us through that place so we come out better than we came in before. Same thing happens with marriage, when people get married and all these beautiful pictures, and all these beautiful memories, and all these wonderful poems in the first few months, and people are certain this is from God. They are certain that this person was specifically tailored and designed in the seventh heaven, and God just brought them through just supernaturally and miraculously they met. They are certain until the Holy Spirit who brings them to the marriage, it seems like he walks away, but he leaves them with his book to get them through their marriage. Same thing happens in our ministry, and same thing happens in our life. I want you to listen very carefully, because what I'm going to share with you tonight can revolutionize and completely change your life. Holy Spirit authored the Holy Scriptures. The only reason they're called Holy is because the author is Holy. Not the men who he used were Holy. Not all men Holy Spirit used were Holy. This book, the word Bible is called Book. It consists of 66 books. They were written by about 40 authors. In the span of 1600 years. And they were given to us. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 it says that all Scripture is God breath. Holy Spirit is the breath of God. We see in Peter, Peter says that the holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit as they were writing the Scriptures. We see in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 it says that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Means Holy Spirit has a sword. And that Holy Spirit's sword is the word of God. We see Jesus quoting Psalms that David wrote during his hard times or good times. And he didn't say, and David wrote in his Psalms, he says, and Holy Spirit said. Because Jesus knew that Holy Spirit is the author of these writings. This is uncommon kind of book. Yes, it has history, but it's not a history book. It's poetry, but it's not a poetry book. Yes, it has some songs, but it's not a psalm hymnal. This is a sword in the hands of the Holy Spirit. This is a tool that you can have to help you get through what you're going through as a Christian. The presence of the Holy Spirit might not be felt in your wilderness. But Holy Spirit in your wilderness many times is absent from your feelings, but completely present in his word. And when we don't feel his presence around us and everything around us is demons speaking and speaking. And you're certain Holy Spirit brought you here, but where is he now? When Holy Spirit brings you to a place and you can feel him, you must know where to find him. It's called his word. You won't find him sometimes in your feelings. You might not find him deep in your heart or in the complexities of your mind. But if you open the pages and you begin to read very soon, you're going to find him on the pages of the Bible. Jesus came to a place, Holy Spirit led him to. And we don't see another menacing of the Holy Spirit in this hard time. But we see it is written, it is written, it is written, it is written. And the voices of the devil begin to one by one begin to leave. He just passes this time, not leaning on the Holy Spirit, but leaning on the Holy Scriptures written by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit brings us to a place that he gives us to the Holy Scriptures to get us through. When Moses got out of Egypt and we read that after a few days they had no water and people begin to complain. But Moses was a man of God. Moses went to God and Moses got a word from God. Moses comes to the people and he says, God said, he comes to the rock, strikes the rock, the water comes. Years later different miracles or different challenges they would have and Moses always knew the secret. Moses went to God, got a word from God and the word of God sustained Moses out of all the hurdles and troubles on the way to promised land. And the last year of their wandering in the wilderness, people faced the same problem they faced in the first year where there was no water. Now for almost 40 years already they've been wandering and Moses lived by the word of God. And the last year, I mean they're already on the edge to see the promised land and people complain again and Moses does exactly what he did before. He goes to God and God gives him a word and Moses comes out to people and now instead of acting on the word like he always did. The word says that speak to the rock and Moses gets up and he bashes people. He says, you bunch of rebels, I'm sick and tired of you. I'm 120, you pinched my last nerve and he just vomits on them, all of his frustrations. And he looks at the rock, instead of acting on the word which says speak to it, Moses bashes the rock and the water came out. But God looks at Moses and says, Moses, you had to finish strong. You started so good. You acted on my word all the time. You didn't act on the complaints of people or on your feelings. But at the end, somehow you got tired and you got weary and instead of acting on what I said, you acted on what you felt and Moses, you cannot go on. Have you noticed that Satan tempted Jesus at the end of 40 days when he was tired, alone and hungry? Not in the beginning because everyone can withstand in the beginning. But it's when you get at the end, sometimes you're doing something for a long time and then comes that point. The enemy likes to come when you are on the edge of your promised land and when you are tired, exhausted. After we got finished watching, he likes to come and hit us with an attack. And the only thing that will help us to overcome that is learn not to act on our feelings, but to act on God's word. Not to act on your weariness, but to act on God's word. Jesus had the word inside of him, but it's not what got him through. Jesus knew Torah, which is so important, but it's not what got him through. It's applying and it's using the scriptures he has learned as a child. The Bible is something that is going to change your life when you learn it and when you start to apply it in your life. Holy Spirit brings you to a place where the word of God becomes the only thing you apply that could get you through. The word of God is important when you're facing good times, but when you're facing hard times, the word of God becomes everything you depend on. I like the stories of eagles. Eagles were always fascinating creatures to me like lions and Bible compares us to eagles. And eagles, when they are born, they are placed in a very comfortable nest where all kinds of feathers are placed around them. And little eagles in the nest, they're very comfortable. Now little eagles, they have two wings that have been in them and they slowly begin to grow. And the mama feeds them, they're scared of them, watches over them, but they don't fly and they don't use the wings they got because they don't need to use the wings they got. Until one day the mama sees that they already grown and that they need to learn to get their own food and learn to soar and see the sky. She takes them out from this comfortable, full of feathers, nest, and she takes them to a high rock. And she brings them to a high rock not to show them the beauty of nature, but to show them the potential of their wings. And she drops them from the high rock and the little eagles begin to fall down screaming and yelling. And as they fall, the mama watches if they're going to spread their wings or not. And if when the little eagle doesn't spread its wings, way before the little eagle hits the bottom, mama flies so fast and catches the little eagle. And on that day little eagle learns a powerful lesson. I can never fall faster than my mama can fly. I fall fast, but he flies faster. And though I still didn't spread my wings, but I always know the one who lets me gives me opportunities to use my wings is the same one in case I somehow don't open them. He will pick me up and his mercies are greater than my efforts or my abilities. Can somebody say amen? Now the wings in the little eagle is what you have too. These two wings, and this is not a perfect analogy, but this will make sense. It's two parts of the Bible, Old Testament and New. When you become a Christian, you have your little two wings. You know a little bit about Moses and you know more about Jesus. They're fragile, they're small, they're part of you because this is a part of you. But as you grow as a Christian they begin to get a little bit bigger and they begin to get a little bit bigger. And you have them when your life is good, you're getting promotions, people giving you gifts, your friends like you. Everything seems to be good and you're in your little wonderful world where there's good feathers. You're walking and seems like God's favor is blessing you until God provides an opportunity for you to begin to depend on what you know. Depend on what you believe. Because see, as long as life is comfortable, you don't depend on it. You love it, you read it, you believe in it, but you don't depend on it. It doesn't carry you. And he brings you to a place where the Word of God is not a book on a shelf, but the Word of God is the only wings that hold me up in this world and cause me to soar above my storm. That's exactly what God wants to do in your life. He wants you to learn to spread your wings. He wants you and I to learn when he brings us to a place that may be challenging and hard and difficult, bring you to a place where maybe you don't feel the Holy Spirit to feast on His Holy Scriptures. To open your wings and to fly. To open your wings and to act on His Word. The Word that you did not need to act on before and to literally walk, telling yourself of what God says about you that that is true. Telling yourself that what God says about you that that is who I am. That's exactly what Jesus did. He learned the Scriptures in a synagogue, but he applied the Scriptures in the wilderness. And he got through the wilderness so fast and the devil left him so fast. Why? Because not only he had the Scriptures, he applied the Scriptures. The power is in application. Every girl knows this. Having mascara in your bathroom doesn't decorate your face. It's having mascara on your face that changes your appearance. If you have soap in your house, having soap in your bathtub does not make you clean. It's having soap applied on your body that makes you clean. Can somebody say amen? If you have paint, it's not having paint in a bucket that makes the walls in your house a certain color. It's having paint on the walls that make them a certain color. I want us today to make a decision. To make this word. To open these two wings. To rely on the New Testament and Old Testament because Old Testament is about a nation. And New Testament is about a man. God used a nation to bring a man. Old Testament is Christ concealed. New Testament is Christ revealed. You need both of these to live a Christian life. You depend on both of these parts of the Bible. They can make one Bible. As a Christian you cannot live. Jesus quoted the Old Testament. Today we can quote both.