 Time with Jesus is the first key to impartation. First John 2.27 says, but you have received the Holy Spirit and he lives within you. So you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know and what he teaches is true, it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with him. There's an anointing that we've received and he teaches us. Now this of course is not saying that we don't need to be taught the word. Some people have misunderstood this. Why would God say you don't need to be taught and then say in Ephesians 411, I've given you teachers. This is not saying we don't need to be taught the word. This is not saying we don't need to be taught the fundamentals of the faith or the scripture. If you look at this verse in context, it's saying that the anointing that you have received causes you to know that you are saved, to know that you belong to him. It's an inner witness of salvation but that is the first and foremost key to receiving impartation from the Lord. When I first began in ministry, it was in my school. Now I grew up and attended a private Baptist school and attended a Pentecostal church. And now you know why I am the way I am. Whenever I tell people that they go, that makes so much sense now. But you know, that's where it began. I can still remember it was one of the church services where the youth pastors, his name is Eddie Vargas. He was running around because he was a worship leader at our church. And I guess that the person who was supposed to flip the lyrics, you know, okay. How many of you remember overhead projectors? Okay, good. An overhead project, my friend David's going, yep. You know, okay. An overhead projector was a projector that sent an image overhead, right? So it had, there was a big box of light. You would put a transparent piece of paper on it. Some of you were looking at me like, huh? Why didn't they just use a projector? Listen, they would put a transparent piece of paper on it and it would have the writing on it and that would project and then the magnifier would put it on the wall. And so I guess whoever was supposed to do the overhead projector had bailed. And so I see Pastor Eddie, he's looking around. He's running through the fellowship hall and I'm standing there with a couple of my friends. He goes, hey, I need a favor. My one friend on the left went that way and my one friend on the right went that way. And I was left standing there. He said, I need you to do the overhead projector. I said, I was so nervous because I thought, what if I mess it up? And I was very nervous about it. But I didn't realize that the day I began working that overhead projector was the day I began my journey in ministry. You cannot have your pulpit until you, unless you've had your projector. Everyone needs their projector. If I didn't man that projector, I watched and I remember that as I look back, I think of the, how that moment led to everything that's happening today. I wouldn't be standing here in front of you. We would not be having the Holy Spirit Conference. Had I, like my friends, ran away. It began there and I remember I would come to service and I got, I was so like, I took pride in what I did. That overhead projector never had dust on it. All of the songs were in alphabetical order. I had a power cord that was the, the wires weren't all, you know, all chaotic. I had, I had wrapped the wires around so that it had a perfectly clean look and I would plug it in. I even got fancy and started putting tissue boxes because it was right by the altar and people would use the tissue from my cart when they started to cry. Not only that, I would go to the worship practices so I can start knowing the song and understanding their little hand signals so I knew when the bridge was coming so that when I would flip the song, it was right there at the right time. And man, I wouldn't let anyone touch my, my, my, my cart. I thought, man, they should get me to do all the big services with my projector. I should be the projector guy. But you know, you, you, you, you go from there because I had the men, the projector, I had to be in the front of the church. I had to be in the services and I got to hear anointed men and women of God because I was in the front row. I got a lot of prophetic words because I was in the front row. I got, I mean, I'm telling you, it all led up to one day I went to my youth pastor, the same one, and this was years later. I said, I said, I couldn't, because I couldn't sleep. I was having trouble sleeping because the Lord was telling me, I want you to preach. I want you to preach. I want you to preach. And I was just, I was, no, I was like, no, not because I didn't want to do it. I did, part of me did, but I was scared. And I remember I went up to him. So it was a Wednesday night. I said, I feel like God's calling me to preach. And I said, no, I know you gotta think. He goes, okay, you're on next Thursday. When I, when I asked later as to why I was allowed to preach, I mean, because that Thursday, the very next Thursday, the power of God moved. This sermon was not very good. It was my first one, simple three point sermon on King David. And it wasn't, it wasn't the best sermon they had ever heard, but the Holy Spirit went with me and he moved in the service. Then there was a youth pastor there who happened to be there and he said, I want you to come preach for my youth. And I went to preach for his youth. There was another one there. Eventually I just started preaching around all these churches just solely off of word of mouth. Never passed out a card. Never said you have to have me at your church. Never tried to rub shoulders with spiritual giants and say, hey, you gotta promote me. I just was there and available and God began to elevate that. But you know, it was during that time of serving and during that time of getting to know the Lord that I began to dig my spiritual roots, hours in prayer, not to preach, to man the projector, not to go lay hands on the sick because I had a ministry. And I wanted just to know Jesus, hours a day in prayer, chapters and chapters of the Bible, seeking Jesus, not for his hand but for his heart and coming to know him and be satisfied in him, his presence. God began to do things in me, began to stir me. I began praying for the sick at my school. I began going preaching in front of public schools. I would go preach on college campuses in the free speech zones. 16 year old me, terrifying people because I didn't want to hear the gospel. But it all started in that secret place. And I asked my youth pastor, I said, why did you, you just kind of said yes, you just threw me on there. He said, well, it was because I knew number one, of course, he said, I saw that you had been serving all these years. So that's the other thing though, I recognize that you were spending time with him. God opened the door, I didn't have to push it. We have too many people today who want the platform without the process. They want the platform for promotion. Do you really realize what you're asking for? Something so sacred, something so holy. It began in the prayer room. When God begins to look around the earth for who he might use, he doesn't necessarily look in the places of highest education. He doesn't necessarily look around the board meetings with multi-millionaires. He doesn't necessarily look for the most athletic. When God looks for a place to put the mantle, he's looking in the prayer rooms. Think of Simon the sorcerer who when he saw the apostles laying hands and imparting the Holy Spirit, Acts 8, he saw the apostles laying hands. He said, I want that power. What did they tell him? You're filled with bitterness and jealousy. He wanted to buy, we could only come through a process. You know, you can't just pay a registration fee to a conference, go there and come back anointed. I'm just, can I just preach the truth to you? You're not gonna pick up a mantle by going and taking some online course, even though you got the certificate. The mantle doesn't come because I took a course. The mantle doesn't come because I went to a conference. The mantle doesn't come because I took a selfie with the famous preacher. The mantle comes because I'm spending time with Jesus. Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8 was rebuked for two reasons. How he wanted to obtain the anointing and why he desired it. He thought he could buy it. You can't pay for the anointing with money. You can't even ask for that, that's sorcery. Simon the sorcerer thought you could buy power. When you think you can buy power, it's sorcery. And he desired it for himself. So number one, time with the Lord. This is the first level, but just because it's the first level doesn't mean it's unimportant. It's the first level because it's the foundation.