 We're continuing our series today called Host the Holy Ghost. Have you been enjoying the series? Amen. My family immigrated to the United States when I was 13 and a half years of age. Being in the United States is so much different than being what I grew up in Ukraine. In the Ukraine, for example, people dress up for everything. Girls who put on high heels and dress up like they're going to a club just to go get milk across the street. In the United States, we value comfort over style. I would dress up in pajamas and literally go to watch a movie, do all the errands, and meet with somebody, get our glasses on and wear it at my house, how do you call this? Slippers, house slippers. Because in the United States, it's very different. When we came first time and we saw how people dressed up in America, we were like, man, these people have no sense of style. But then as I started to grow him more, I lost my sense of style and I developed comfort. Because comfort is better than style. Somebody say amen. Another way in the United States, people are extremely nice. Maybe too nice sometimes. They smile to everyone. If you ever end up in the former Soviet Union in Russia or Ukraine, don't smile to strangers. It's actually offensive to smile to strangers. You only smile to people that you know. You don't smile to strangers. In here, you smile to everyone. Another big difference living in the United States versus living in Ukraine, for example, is in the Ukraine and the Ukrainian culture, people live with their parents until they get married. You can imagine how much hate I got because I lived with my parents until 24. A youth pastor, I had my own real estate property, but I lived with my parents. Why? To save money. To learn life skills. In the United States, if you were 18, you got your license, you got a job. Get out of here! You get married and then of course you move back with your parents. To save the money. The most difficult part about living in the United States was to learn English. I knew, of course, high-biocacola and ride the train. To learn English wasn't easy, but I knew that I had to learn English, because the opportunities and the resources in this country will be limited to me if I don't speak the language of the country I just came into. The way I learned English is by going to these classes called ESL. Now, being in the United States, word ESL and plague seemed similar. Like, if you were in ESL, I almost felt like I was a leper. It wasn't the nice thing, it just felt embarrassing. You know, you don't speak English, but then later on I started to understand that ESL actually means English as a second language. It doesn't mean you're a leper, it doesn't mean you're stupid, it just actually means you're so smart that you're learning as a second language. I had to learn and I had to go to ESL, because I was coming from a place where my default native language was no longer good in the territory that I moved into. See, I want to tell you something. When you become a Christian, you come into a new territory which has a new language and the new language is called faith. All Christians are a part of FSL, faith as a second language. Our native language, our default language is a language of fear. It's a language I am nobody, it's a language I am poor, busted and disgusted. It's a language nobody loves me, it's a language of defeat, it's a language of negativity, that is the language of the flesh. But when you get born again, you come into a new kingdom and this new kingdom has a new language. And this language is a language of faith, because God calls things which are not as though they were. God doesn't use his mouth to describe. God doesn't use his mouth to describe a situation. He doesn't waste his words for that. He uses his mouth to change a situation. And therefore when you come to a God's kingdom, you must learn the new language and the language is the language of faith. Now, how you learn English is you hang out with people that speak English. You go to ESL classes, you get a tutor, you use a translator. See, one of the reasons why many people are depending constantly on the preacher's prophets and apostles, is because the same way when I was in the United States first four years, I needed a translator because I did not speak English. So I depended on somebody to do that for me. Many people depend on other people all the time, because they're not maturing in their own faith yet. There's nothing wrong with needing a translator in the beginning, but after a while the righteous man lives not by his pastor, but by his faith. Not by his apostle, not by his intercessor, by his own faith, meaning he learns the language of the kingdom of God. He learns the language of positive thinking, positive confession, and positive feeling. Come on, somebody! Language of the Holy Spirit is faith. God doesn't speak English. He speaks faith. Now, God understands English, of course. He understands all languages, but his primary language is faith. It's not Espanol. It's not Russian. It's not Ukrainian. It's not English. It's faith. And in order to communicate with God, you have to speak faith. But your native, and my native language, our default language is the one of doubt, is the one of fear, expecting the worst. People don't love me. It's the one of being a victim. It's the one of being defeated. It's the one of being down, but that's the language of our old country. The new country called the kingdom of God has a new language. And if you want to learn to relate with God and the spirit of God, you've got to learn new language. Language of the spirit is invisible in the sense that it's the language of thoughts, images, and imagination. The Holy Spirit doesn't speak verbally to us. He speaks to us with pictures. Bible says in Acts chapter 2, visions, dreams, and prophecy. Meaning He speaks to us with pictures, imagination. He speaks to us with thoughts. Amen? Most of us know that when God speaks, He doesn't speak in our ear. He speaks in our heart. It actually proves that God is real. I can prove to you that God is real. The argument is this. If you can see God, therefore He doesn't exist. Have you noticed that your thoughts cannot be seen either, but you are convinced of their reality? My God. There's no microscope in the world that can see your thoughts. But you are assured convinced they are real. So is God. He lives in the same realm, and He is as real in that realm as your thoughts are. In one school, a teacher was trying to convince students that God doesn't exist, and the teacher stood up and says, do you guys see the screen? Yes, the screen is real. Do you guys see the board? Yes, the board is real. The teacher said, do you guys see God? They said, no, God is not real. The students applauded, and once Johnny rose his hand. He said, can I ask a question? The teacher said, yes. He said, guys, do you see the teacher? Yes, the teacher is real. Do you see teacher's brain? No. The conclusion is, teacher has no brain. And Johnny continued. He says, no one, the teacher says there's no God. She's brainless. It's a joke, but the point of the story is your thoughts are invisible. And so is God. And you communicate with God through invisible frequency. Which are your thoughts? The images in your mind. Amen. Amen. Going into the scripture, I want to just underline what I just mentioned already from the scripture. If we go to Genesis chapter six, verse three, it says the following. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with men forever, for he is indeed flesh. Yet his days shall be 120 years. I want you to see in here. And if we can go to a few verses down in verse five of Genesis chapter six. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of men was great on the earth. And that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So I want you to see that the reason why God was removing us from the earth, not letting us live forever. In verse three, it says because my spirit, if we can go back to verse three, it says that because my spirit will not strive with men forever. There is a teaching and I saw even one of the comments on our Facebook where they said, the Holy Spirit did not exist on the earth until the coming of Jesus. It's first of all not true. In Genesis chapter one, verse two, it says the spirit of God was here when the earth was a mess. In Genesis chapter six, it says that God says, my spirit will not stay with men forever. God didn't say he's taking his spirit. He's saying we're leaving earlier. We had a situation, our first camp as a youth group. It was in August 4th, 2004. It was our first camp and the last camp. And the reason why, and this is our pastor Martin. This was BC days. For those of you who will be listening to this message, you need to watch the YouTube BC days. It's before Christ. And then there is a picture of me and pastor Ilya. And so this is when we were young and handsome. But this is what happened. We were going to the camp in Natchi's. Over there by Wenatchi, further than Yakima. And so we were going there intense and as we arrived there, there were rules in that campsite and we proudly broke every rule in that campsite. Come on, we were four years on America, nose, pregnancy, English and stuff. So it was very difficult. So we parked where we're not supposed to park. We started fires. We were catching fish. We're not supposed to. A guy broke his arm. We ran over somebody else's tent with a bicycle, an accident. So after we broke all the rules, this is what happened. The management of the campsite, it came to us and I want you to see what happened. The management did not say, oh, guys, you are breaking the rules. You are making such a mess. We're leaving. That's not what the management said. The management came to us and they said, you guys are breaking the rules. You guys are a bunch of, like, did you guys escape prison? What's wrong with you? And they said, you know what they said to us? You guys are leaving. I want you to notice this. The earth was created by God. We are the stewards. The Holy Ghost is the management company. And when humanity misbehaved, God came and said this. He said, because you keep breaking rules, my spirit is not leaving. Why? It's my territory. You're leaving earlier. We're not going to live till 900, 120. And then we kept misbehaving. God's like, well, 70. And now most of us can't even live up to 70. Because I want you to see this. This earth doesn't belong to Hollywood. It doesn't belong to communism. It doesn't belong to democracy. To any nation, it belongs to God and we're the stewards. And the spirit of God is the management company. Are you with me? The Holy Spirit is going to be on this earth until God calls him. But right now, and then he was on this earth. And I want you to see a few things. Because man's in verse 5. Look at verse 5 one more time. And the Lord saw the wickedness that was great on the earth. I want you to see this. Everybody, somebody say every. Every intent. The word intent in original Hebrew means a framework of mind. It means like a mindset. Every, if we can go back to the verse. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was somebody say only. Only evil, somebody say continually. So I want you to see the state of their mind. Every, only, and continually. Every, only, and continually. Meaning the dominant thoughts of the humanity was not positive. It wasn't good. And that's what caused the spirit of God to say, This is too much. Every, only, and continually. What are your dominant thoughts today? They either assist or resist the Holy Spirit. Write this down. Point number one. The dominant thoughts either assist or resist the Holy Spirit. Every, only, and continually are the dominant thoughts. It's your mindset. It's how you think. It's not just the thought comes in once in a while. These are the thoughts that are constantly, they're dominant. They're like default thoughts of your heart. And these thoughts they either push you from the spirit of God or they bring you closer to the spirit of God. Are you with me? I want to show you that from the New Testament in John chapter 13. If we go to John chapter 13 and it says in verse, verses two. In verses two. After the supper ended. The devil having already put into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. I want you to see this. In verse two. So the devil's already put into the heart of Judas. So the devil planted something he framed. He wanted to frame Judas. He wanted to plant something in his heart. And from the verse two all the way to verse 27. Jesus is carrying a conversation with Judas. He's poking on Judas for Judas to come clean and mention that I'm battling with some thoughts to betray Jesus. He keeps mentioning things like somebody's going to betray me. Somebody's really going to betray me today. I mean there's 12 guys. One of them has to betray Jesus. And Judas has the thought. And instead of saying Jesus I need some help. I've been having some weird thoughts. I know they're not mine. Guys can you guys gather around me and pray for me? Judas keeps silent. Jesus says whoever I dip this bread with and give it to is the one. This is a good moment to say, okay guys time out. We need prayer. Judas take the piece of bread and says nothing about it. See Judas keeps defending bad thoughts in his mind. Instead of come clean to Jesus and to other people. Say guys pray for me. And I want you to see what happened in verse 27. What happened in verse 27 is this. After the piece of bread Satan entered Judas. How did Satan enter Judas? How does the spirit or your mindset become that mindset? How does it become dominant in your mind? Remember this. Whatever thoughts you keep defending will be dominant in your mind. And they will dominate your actions. Write this down. Whatever thoughts I am defending will be the thoughts that will be dominant in my mind. Whatever thoughts you accept as your own even though they're not. They will continue to dominate your mind and dominate your life. And that's exactly what happened with Judas. And that's exactly what will happen with you and I. Whatever thoughts we defend. Whatever thoughts instead of resisting those thoughts. Instead of saying my home group please pray for me. Instead of saying hey I reject that. That's not mine. I rebuke that. That negativity I know that's my old past life. But I'm a new creation and I need to think positively. So I'm gonna fight to think positively. Your dominant thoughts they attract the Holy Spirit or they repel the presence of God in your life. I want you to see. I want us to look at this verse from Genesis again. Genesis chapter 6 where you can put up the verse. The Lord said my spirits shall not strive with mine forever for indeed his flesh his days shall be 120 years. Because the dominant thoughts were evil. Because the mind and the heart and the soul of the people was negative. God said my spirit is not gonna be here for all the time with you guys. Meaning we're limited with the Holy Spirit. But second thing that I want you to remember and I want you to write this down. Is the dominant thoughts limit your life. We were cut short on this earth. Meaning our days on this earth was limited because of what was happening in our mind. The sicker your mind is the shorter your life is. The poorer your mind is the smaller your bank account is. The poorer your mind is the sicker your body will be. No wonder Apostle John says I pray you will be in good health. And that you will prosper as your soul prospers. Meaning the measuring stick for prosperity on the outside is what's happening on the inside. Come on somebody. One of the things that limits our life is the limitation in our mind. Many times we like to blame things on our boss. We like to blame things on our teacher. We like to blame things on our parents. We like to blame things on people who broke up with us. We like to blame things on everybody except take responsibility for whatever is happening in our mind. In order to overcome the limits in our life we have to remove the limits in our mind. Come on somebody. And a lot of times those limits I'm going to mention one thing. One thing that limits our spiritual walk with God more than anything else. It's called traditional thinking. Traditional thinking has stole more people from reaching more for God than anything else in the world. Because to the people outside of the church what damages their mind is evil thoughts lost in pride. What controls people inside of the church many times is traditional thinking. Traditional thinking says you shouldn't clap at church. Even though the Bible says clap your hands all your people. Traditional thinking says don't raise your hands in worship. The Bible says in the New Testament raise your holy hands. Traditional thinking says you got baptized as an infant. That's all it matters even though Bible says that Jesus got baptized as 30 years of age. The tradition says if you cast out demons the demons will come back at you and hunt you. Even though the Bible says you will cast them out and nothing by no means will hurt you. Traditional thinking says the spirit the Holy Spirit is tongues. The Bible says the spirit of God is a person because Jesus referred to him as he not it. The tradition says you have to pray and fast and get your life super super duper holy and then God will give you his power when the Bible says it's his gifts and gifts are not awards. In order to remove limits in your relationship with God you have to differentiate. What's tradition and what's holy scriptures and many times those two are not the same. Many of you what holds you back from pursuing the Holy Spirit today is not the devil. It's the traditional thinking that puts your spiritual life on the leash. If you want to go further with the Holy Ghost you're gonna have to learn to say you know what this is great. I grew up like this I was taught like this but listen if I find something else in the Bible I stick with the Bible because this word is eternal and this is the word of God because somebody say amen. I had a lot of traditional thinking it limited me and I still have traditional thinking that limits me and the further I go with God the more I begin to see one thing how the Lord breaks traditional thinking in my mind. The idea of having two services on Sunday it goes against my tradition because I love how the fact that we're so close and everything but the Bible says to reach to people. That means I have to push away traditional stuff so that I can go further with the Holy Spirit. Come on somebody I want you to write down point number three. Dominant thoughts unlock greatness. Dominant thoughts unlock greatness. And if we go back to Genesis chapter six and verse three. I want you to see this verse there or verse three yes. I want you to see this verse there where it says that God saw the wickedness. Verse five let's go to verse five. The Bible says that God saw the wickedness of men. I want you to see this word. It was everybody say it great. Why was it great? Because the thoughts were only every and continuously. Now you probably have not seen it like this yet. That your dominant thoughts produce greatness. And the kind of thoughts you have determine the kind of greatness you get. Now they had greatness and wickedness. You can have greatness in business. Israelites had greatness in complaining. Great complainers. You can have greatness in your marriage. Great marriage. Dominant thoughts will unlock greatness in you. But you determine what thoughts will unlock what greatness. The humanity was unlocked of greatness of greatness in wickedness. But we can unlock greatness in the Holy Spirit. We can unlock greatness in witnessing. We can unlock greatness in healing. We can unlock greatness in our business. We can unlock greatness in our relationships if we have dominant thoughts. Are you with me? To unlock greatness we have to allow dominant thoughts to be in line with God's word. The problem why many people have dominant thoughts that are bad is because they don't have a Bible reading plan in their life. If you don't read the Bible and you only read the news and you pinterest if you live on pinterest you will die by pinterest. Bible says that no man can live by bread alone. Today Jesus will say no man can live by Facebook alone, Twitter alone, News alone, CNN, Fox alone, but by my word. What does that mean? That means for your mind to be dominant in positive it has to be dominated by something greater than your circumstances. And that is the word of God. What does that mean practically? That means you download your version Bible app. You get a physical Bible and you make a decision to submerge your mind into God's word daily. If you don't do that the devil will make your mind his foot stolen. He will tremble on it and then your mind will reflect your circumstances instead of changing your circumstances. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 it says that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. It says in Proverbs as men think if so is he. Meaning if you want to change your life it first comes through the change of your mind. But most of our mind walks under our life, not above our life because there is no room for the Bible. If you make room for the Bible Joshua 1-8 it says if you don't let this book depart from your mouth but meditate in it day and night. Meaning your mind is above. You will make your way successful and you will have great success. You want to unlock success. Pull your mind from your sickness. Pull your mind from your poverty. Pull your mind from your abuse. Pull your mind from your past. Pull your mind from whatever happened to you. Come on somebody. It's easier to come.