 What does it mean to be a friend of the Holy Spirit? It is the Holy Spirit who helps us to worship more sincerely, study the Word of God more deeply, pray more powerfully, live more righteously, and various other things. And I believe that today, as you hear about how to cultivate a friendship with the Holy Spirit of God, that your life is going to be transformed. It is my prayer that as you watch this program today, that as you join in for this edition of Spirit Church, that the presence of God would invade the room, the very surroundings that you have around you right now, and that you would experience the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit in a way that you've never experienced it before. I pray that this broadcast today draws you closer to the person of the Holy Spirit. And by doing so, tap into the greater level of divine power that God wants to place on your life for your call for such a time as this. Stephen Moctezuma is here with me as usual. He's going to lead you in some worship that we're going to come right back and get into this lesson on friendship with the Holy Spirit, where I'm going to be teaching you on how to cultivate that Holy Spirit friendship for your life. Well, I pray that you enjoyed that worship. And like I said, we're going to be talking today about how you can cultivate a friendship with the person of the Holy Spirit. I'll never forget what happened to me when I first discovered that the Holy Spirit is not a thing, an object, or a force, but a person. It was life transforming. And since that day, I've experienced the depths of God in ways I never thought I could. And so I pray that today, as we get into this message, that not only would you be drawn closer to the person of the Holy Spirit, not only would you be given a greater understanding of the depths of God, but that you would experience the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit in a very special way. I believe some of you while watching this are going to sense the Spirit of God around you. You know, I don't believe in accidents. I believe that you're watching this right now because God has appointed you to watch this teaching right at this very moment. My prayer for you was simple. And it was God lead everyone who needs to be led to this teaching today for such a time as this. And I really do believe this. I'll say this because this is something that's been on my heart. I believe that the church is getting ready to shift into a greater awareness of the Holy Spirit of God, such as we've never seen before. You've heard of things like the Azusa Street revival, the revival in Florida. You've heard of, you know, the outpourings of the Holy Spirit that have visited this nation and other nations of the world throughout church history. And I believe that we're coming into something that is like unto the charismatic movement, a new move of the Holy Spirit where such a time as this, there's been somewhat of a spiritual vacuum that has been created. In other words, you're not hearing much talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, about the fire of God, about the depths of prayer. We hear a lot about success and positive thinking and fulfilling your dreams. And none of those things are wrong in and of themselves. But I believe that God is bringing a greater demonstration of his supernatural aspects to the church in the coming season. And I believe that this message today could very well be pivotal, because perhaps God wants to use your life. Maybe there's someone watching me right now who God wants to use your life to help usher in this new move of the Holy Spirit. Now, when I say new move of the Holy Spirit, I simply mean fresh. Of course, God doesn't change. His word doesn't change. The gospel message doesn't change. But what we're coming into is definitely going to be fresh. It's going to renew people. And I believe it's going to result in a great harvest of souls all around the world. So having said that, I'm starting to teach things on the Holy Spirit again. You know, at the beginning of last year for the first six months or so, I was just focusing on teachings on the Holy Spirit. And today we're getting back to that focus again. So the scripture says this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23. You've heard that man has a body, a soul, and a spirit. And the scripture actually does teach this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23 says this. Now, may the God of peace make you holy in every way. And may your whole spirit in soul and body be blameless until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. This scripture in Thessalonians spells out for us very clearly that man is trifold, just as God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So man is body, soul, and spirit. Your identity, however, rests not in your body or your soul. Your identity is based in the spirit. So you are a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body. Your body is very obvious what your body is. Your body is the physical connection with the world in which you live right now. Some have come to call it your earth suit. It's not really you. It's not really who you are entirely, but it's a representative of you here in this realm of the world. So you have a body which interacts with the physical world around you, and you have a soul. So your body is your physical being. Your soul is your mind, your will, your emotions, your personality, your decisions, your thought life, and then your spirit is something else entirely. Your spirit is your divine connection with God. This is what it means to have inner fellowship. We don't have fellowship with the Holy Spirit in body, though according to 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19, that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We don't have fellowship with God in our soul, though God does save our souls, affect our souls, impact our souls, transform our souls. We have fellowship with the Holy Spirit in the very deepest parts of who we are. It's spirit to spirit communication. In fact, the book of 1 Corinthians actually spells this out very clearly for us. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse number 10, the scripture says this, but it is to us that God revealed these things by his spirit, for his spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit. And no one can know God's thoughts except God's own spirit. And we have received God's spirit, not of the world spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. So it's talking about a very deep knowing of who God is. So the Holy Spirit knows God better than we can. The scripture asks, who can know you better than your own spirit? Who can know the innermost parts of yourself other than you? So just as your spirit knows you more deeply than anyone else, so the Holy Spirit of God knows God more deeply than anyone else, and it is this fellowship, our spirit with God's spirit, this communion that we call the inner fellowship that is constantly taking place. So even when you're going about your day, even when you're not even thinking about the Holy Spirit or God or the things of God or the scripture, even when your mind is not given to those things, there is this fellowship that takes place in another realm entirely that is ongoing 24-7. It's a very deep, it's a very real, it's a very strong connection that you have with your Creator. And it is living from this place of inner fellowship that causes true spirituality. Some people live their lives focused on what's happening in the physical realm. They look at their health, they look at the bank account, they look at their relationships, they look at their car, they look at their house, they look at everything going on around them, and they judge their standing in the world by the physical realm. Some live in their soul and they live from the place of the soul. They judge everything based upon how they're feeling, what they're thinking, what is going on inside of them, what they want to do, what their desires are, what their will is. And then there are those who are led by the Spirit, who walk with the Spirit, who cultivate a deep inner fellowship with the Holy Spirit, who live from a place of inner fellowship with God. And the one who lives from the inner place cannot be affected by what happens in the outer world. In other words, if I'm living in the Spirit, if I'm living consciously aware of the reality of the Spirit, if I'm living from a place of cultivating that inner fellowship with God, if I'm drawing my source, my sustenance, my strength, my joy, my peace, my clarity of mind, if I'm drawing guidance and direction from the inner man, there's nothing that happens on the outside that can affect what God wants to do with me. You know, the scripture talks about how we are oppressed but we're not crushed, we're persecuted but we're not abandoned, we're struck down but we're not destroyed, why is that? Because we can be pressed in this realm but we can never be crushed in the inner man. We can be persecuted in body and in soul, physical and psychological resistance from the world. But we can never really be abandoned because we are constantly in fellowship with God. And though you strike the body down, who I am, the Spirit can never be destroyed. And it is this fellowship, this inner place that the Christian is called to live from, to draw from, to be aware of, and God is calling you into this. You know, when I first began to serve the Lord, I read many books of many great men and women of God and you'll know this and I don't talk about it often because I personally don't like to be a name-dropper or anything like that. But you know, if anyone who's observed this ministry or watched our videos or watched our teachings, you'll notice that we draw some inspiration from some very key figures. I mean, I was very inspired growing up by Oral Roberts and Catherine Coleman and Benny Hinn and I watched the impact that Ms. Coleman had on Pastor Benny's life, but I'll never forget what happened when I read this book by Pastor Benny Hinn called Good Morning Holy Spirit and that was the first time that I realized that the Holy Spirit, who I had up until that point thought of as a force or an object, you know, we say Holy Spirit and we think of all of these misconceptions that are cultivated in our own minds because of maybe church lingo or culture. I had thought of the Holy Spirit as that sensation you feel during worship, as the goosebumps you get during a good sermon, as the power that would heal the sick or cast out devils or make people fall slain in the spirit under the power of God. Now, those are expressions and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. They are not in and of themselves the Holy Spirit. And I know we often say it, that the Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing. And you may amen it emphatically. You may respond in the affirmative, that's right. He's not a thing. He's a person, yet we fail on many points to cultivate that. And I read that Pastor Benny's book. I watched it in videos of Catherine Coleman, the way she talked about the Holy Spirit. She enjoyed this very nearness of God and she enjoyed being aware of his presence at all times. You could tell the Holy Spirit and Miss Coleman were very close. And I was having dinner with a couple who, a very old couple, as far as, you know, relatively speaking, way master, they've seen a lot throughout the ages of the church, you know, church history in the times that we've passed over in this century. And they knew Catherine Coleman personally. And I would sit and talk with this couple. And they told me all sorts of wonderful things about her. And one of the things he, one of the things a gentleman I was having dinner with said about Catherine Coleman, that really stood out to me. He says, he said, she wasn't, she didn't try to be spiritual. She was spiritual. It's who she was. And no one could deny that. And I looked at men and women of God like that growing up. I thought, Lord, what is it about that person where there's something very special on their being? And when they talk, there's this charisma. There's this magnetism to their expression. There's this depth to their words. And I would listen to them. I would watch them very closely. And I said, Lord, what do they have with you? I'm missing something. And it wasn't until I connected with this person, the Holy Spirit. And I realized that I could know him, not know of him, that I could know him very closely, very nearly, that I could become friends with the Holy Spirit. That is what radically transformed my life. And to this day, I'm still living from the benefits of that revelation. It has changed my entire being, my thinking, my mannerisms, my teaching, my preaching, my ministry. Everything about me has changed when I at 11 years old realized that this person, the Holy Spirit, could be known. And so I'm very passionate about helping people connect with the Holy Spirit. So this is the idea now. I want to give you just a few very practical keys that you can use to draw nearer to the Holy Spirit and how you, and if you do these things, not only will you be drawn nearer, but he'll begin to trust you with greater, greater levels of revelation. He'll be able to put his power on your life because he can trust you. You know, he only anoints the people he can trust. And the Holy Spirit, you hear it said, it's very cliche to say many theologians say, but it's true. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. And I believe that the Holy Spirit is a classy being. And so we're going to talk a little bit about that today, but I want to give you keys here. Now, you often hear it said that to draw closer to God, and this is true. You need to read your Bible, you need to pray, and you need to worship, prayer, Bible reading and worship. Those three things are wonderful. I've taught about them often. I teach a lot about prayer. I teach a lot about devotion and what I teach sometimes on worship. And all three of those things do draw as close and all three of those things do cultivate this friendship with the Holy Spirit, but it is so much bigger than that. It is so much larger than that. It is so much more every day than that. In fact, it's very practical developing this friendship. So I'm going to give you real quickly here, five keys to drawing closer to the Holy Spirit or appreciating that friendship or making a stronger connection with that friendship than ever before. So number one, we need dependency on the Holy Spirit. Now this has to do with involving him. The scripture says that it's not by power nor by might, but it's by my spirit says the Lord. Acts chapter one, verse eight says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Jesus talked in John chapter 14 about a comforter who would come and who would teach us and guide us in all truth and remind us of the things that Christ has taught as well as give us revelation moving forward. And so we need to realize, first of all, that this dependency on the Holy Spirit has to come back to us. I'm telling you, too much is done based on man's intellect, man's planning, man's ideas, and this is all well and good. God wants us to get involved with planning. God wants us to be organized. God wants us to do excellent ministry. God wants us to carry out his plan, the spreading of the Gospel for the global salvation of all mankind through practical means and through orderly means and systematic efforts. Yes, but we cannot forget that if it is absent of the Holy Spirit's power, then it's mere social work. That's all it is. If you think the Gospel is all about feeding the poor, which that's part of it. If you think the Gospel is all about taking care of orphans and widows, the Gospel is all, I'm telling you, that's not it. Here's the problem. And I'm all for those actions. As you know, we help, as a ministry and you who are partnered with us, we're combating sexual slavery and the sexual exploitation of children through our partnership with Destiny Rescue. So I'm all for doing things that have very practical effects. Jesus talked about giving someone water and you're receiving their reward, visiting people in prison, taking care of the widows, taking care of the orphans, taking care of your, those in need, the hungry, the naked and all those. Those are all well and good. But I'm telling you that many people trying to make the Gospel more palatable to the modern world, trying to make it seem because in their minds it's not as relevant to the world as it should be, trying to make Christianity more relevant, the focus has become meeting the needs of men here on earth. I'm all for social justice. I'm all for humanitarian projects. I'm all for the well-being of humanity and taking care of your fellow citizen. I'm all for community projects and whatnot. There's nothing wrong with that. But let me tell you something. It does you no good to feed the hungry if his soul is on its way to hell. It does you no good to clothe the naked if they put on their clothes or comforted and have no reconciliation with God. It'll do you no good if you rescued all the sex slaves and you housed all of the homeless people if they do not have a home in heaven. It does you no good to work here in the earth to better man's temporary situation if you are not giving him the power of eternal life. What good will it be to feed a man today who's going to hell tomorrow? What good will it be to clothe the naked today though they'll be cast into the lake of fire? The gospel is not about those humanitarian projects. Those are simply tools to help us get out the greatest message. The main priority of the gospel is the saving of souls. Why am I bringing that up? Because we cannot forget the supernatural element of our work here in the earth. Either it counts for eternity or it counts for nothing. And it is only by the Holy Spirit that you can change the destiny of man's eternity. It is only by the Holy Spirit that a heart can be turned toward Christ in repentance from sin. It is only by the Holy Spirit that when someone comes and hears the gospel message that they are convicted of their sin to the point where they turn from it and turn toward righteousness and holiness and they connect with God and they find peace with their Creator. It's only by the Holy Spirit that the gospel message has any power to transform a life. So we must come back to the place if we are to become friends of the Holy Spirit, not just in our ministries but also in our personal lives. We need to become dependent upon the Holy Spirit again. Let me tell you something. We this is the problem. If the Holy Spirit were to leave some of our churches, many of us would not notice because much of what we do does not rely upon his power. I'm going to say that again. Many of us would not notice the absence of the Holy Spirit in our churches because much of what we do is not reliant upon his power. And unless it relies upon the Holy Spirit's power, it is of no effect in the long term. And if it is no effect in the long term, it is no real effect or impact at all. If it doesn't count for eternity, it doesn't count at all. And so we need to become dependent on the Holy Spirit. We need to become broken and understand that without him, we are desperate. Without his presence empowering our very being, we are helpless to even live this Christian life. Here's the truth. Not only could you not pray without the Holy Spirit, not only could you not live holy without the Holy Spirit, not only could you not preach the gospel without the Holy Spirit, but you would have no desire to do any of those things. I mean, I think about how truly dependent upon the Holy Spirit I have to be to live the Christian life. You know something? I've realized that there have been seasons in my life where I'll just suddenly start doing good again. Not that I've ever gone back to any major center or anything like that, but if you notice, sometimes you'll start relaxing in your Christianity just a little bit. You don't pray as much as you used to. You don't read as much of the word as you used to. You don't worship as passionately as you used to. Then out of nowhere, there seems to be this breeze that comes up from under you, refreshing you, breathing life into all that you do for the glory of God. That is a move of the Holy Spirit. That is the grace. That is the mercy of God. So what my point is there is that not only could you not be spiritual without the Holy Spirit, you would have no desire to be spiritual without the Holy Spirit. When you pray and you read, you're not empowering yourself. Basically praying and reading and worshiping is throwing yourself on his power. It's throwing your helpless self on his strong being. And so we need to become dependent upon him. We need to realize and be like Moses in Exodus. When he told the Lord, Lord, if your presence doesn't go there with me, I don't want a part of it. If you don't lead me by showing me that you're in it, I don't want a part of it. Lord, unless you go with me, how are they going to be able to tell me apart from anybody else? You see, God will back his message with miracles. He'll back his faithful with favor, but he always backs his people with his presence. Anyone can preach the gospel and see miracles because the message is backed by miracles. But not everyone carries the presence of the Holy Spirit upon their lives. Only God's people carry the presence. And so we need to recognize that we are helpless without him. We can do no good without him. We cannot think to do good without him. And everything we do without the power and aid of the Holy Spirit is worth nothing in the end. That's just the truth. You say, well, what about if I make a difference in someone's life just for today? Well, it doesn't matter if the Holy Spirit's not involved. Their life's not going to be changed. If they're not changed, there's going to be no true transformation. Without true transformation, there's no true salvation. Without true salvation, eternity has not been affected. And when the eons have passed and history has been written, and ages go by where stories and accounts and all of these legends fade into forgetfulness. When all of our projects and political efforts and everything we've worked to do to make our world better are no longer even recorded in the pages of history because history itself has been erased. When we go long past those eons where things counted here upon the earth and we enter into the realm of eternity, either what we did affected eternity or what we did did not. Because if it does not impact eternity, it makes no impact at all. Even if you make history, even history itself will fade. Even if you leave a legacy here on earth, the earth itself will cease to be. Only the word of God remains and only that which has attached itself to God remains. This is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why we must become dependent upon Him. And when we recognize how dependent upon Him we are, we involve Him. That's what dependency is all about. Involving the Holy Spirit in everything that you do. Not being presumptuous, not just stepping out on a whim, not just stepping out on your own desires, your own ideas. Because God scolded the prophets in the Old Testament saying, you prophesy but you're just speaking of your own imagination. I never talked to you about that. Many times we presume instead of praying and we do instead of consulting and we act without the Holy Spirit. He's not involved because we didn't talk to Him about what we wanted to do. So we must come to the place again where we stop relying on talent, stop relying on technology. We use all of those things. I use all of those things here. We have to come to the place where we realize, Holy Spirit, I need you if anything about my Christian walk is to be authentic. So number one, dependency. Number two, understanding. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 says this, but people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. You know there have been times when I've walked out of movie theaters because what's on the screen is ungodly and sometimes I'm the only one to do it and there have been times when I've taken stands for my faith and out of my respect for the Holy Spirit and I've been mocked for it even by Christians who said, oh you're being too spiritual. Let me tell you something, you can be too weird but you can't be too spiritual. True spirituality you can never have too much of. But we have to have this understanding of Him the scripture says that those that are led by the Spirit are like the wind. No one knows where they're coming from, no one knows where they're going, they're just led by the Spirit and you may be misunderstood because of how much you value the opinion of the Holy Spirit. People say you're religious, people say you're dogmatic, people say you're legalistic, they say you're too burdened with rules, right? Everyone wants to get rid of religion nowadays. All the preachers do too. God didn't come to give us religion, He came to give us relationship. You've heard that said but that's not true because the scripture in James tells us there's such a thing as good religion. No, what we're talking about is pure, empowered living by the Spirit. We have to understand Him. We have to understand that He's gentle and He's kind and that He's willing to help and that He's humble. Think about how humble He is that He would come back to us again and again and again despite the many times we ignore His voice and push Him away. That He would draw us to the depths of prayer even after we choose the frivolous things of this world over audience with God. And we must come to understand Him and in coming to understand Him we come to appreciate Him. Many people are suspicious of the Holy Spirit because of the bizarre acts they've seen acted out in His name. You've seen people barking like dogs, rolling on floors. I've seen some pretty weird stuff. You just go on YouTube and it gets really weird. But the Holy Spirit is classy. He's very down to earth, quite literally. He came from heaven to earth. He's down to earth because He wants to connect with humans. He wants to connect with you and help you live the spiritual life. But we have to understand that He's been misrepresented, that His name has been abused. The Holy Spirit doesn't make you senseless and silly. He makes you sharp. He makes you spiritual. I believe that the Holy Spirit is more likely to give you wisdom and intelligence than He is to give you a drunken state. I've seen the Holy Spirit's presence abused and misused and misrepresented and there are very bizarre actions that happen in the name of the Holy Spirit. But I'm here to tell you, the Holy Spirit's not like that. The Holy Spirit doesn't want to degrade you and shame you in displays that are bizarre. The Holy Spirit is orderly. He's classy. There's a sweetness to the flow of the Holy Spirit. It's not chaotic. And so we need to come back to the place where we understand who He truly is and not judge Him based upon how man has represented Him. Some of us are rejecting the Holy Spirit because we don't like how men represented Him. But this will disregard an entire friendship that can be yours unless you can come to the place where you understand Him as a person, as a representative of God. Don't be afraid to embrace the gift of God because of the horrible displays of mankind. Don't be afraid to embrace the heavenly elegance of the Holy Spirit because you've seen shameful acts done in the Holy Spirit's name. The presence of the Holy Spirit brings about reverence. The presence of the Holy Spirit brings about order. The presence of the Holy Spirit brings about power that is focused, that is for a purpose. Yes, I believe in the slaying of the slaying power of the Holy Spirit. You've seen it at my services, but I don't believe that people should be rolling around the floor barking like dogs. I mean, you watch those videos. There's a guy, he had a leash on a guy who's walking the guy around like he's a dog, and I thought, how is that the Holy Spirit? No, the Holy Spirit, there has to be some principled foundation for what happens in the Scripture. So, number one, we depend on him. Number two, we have to understand him. Don't judge him based upon how other people have represented him. Understand that he's classy, he's heavenly, he's elegant, and those who embrace his power carry with them an air of heavenly elegance as ambassadors of heaven. We're royalty when the Holy Spirit moves on us. So, number one, dependency that's involving him. Number two, understanding that's embracing him. And number three is reverence, and this is obeying him. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 says, and do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. We have to be careful to not grieve the Holy Spirit. I'll never forget one time there was a, if you like me, you get your entertainment mostly from on demand. God are the days of 24-7 channels where you have to get home by a certain time to catch a show. Now me personally, I do engage in watching certain videos and media for entertainment purposes. It doesn't take up a good majority of my life, but there are times when I do it. And when I do, I make sure the content is something that I feel comfortable that the Holy Spirit would allow in my home. So, I watched this series that had come on TV, and many of my friends called me and said, oh, you would love this show. It's really good. It's very intelligently written, a lot of good dialogue, very good story. I said, okay, I'm going to take a look at this. I was pretty excited because, you know, when you find a good series like that, you have something to do on your recreation. And so I said, okay, I'm going to watch this. So, I begin to watch the first episode, and there was nothing in this episode that was ungodly or something that grieved the Holy Spirit, anything like that, but the Holy Spirit told me to not watch it. And I thought it was odd. And so, I said, well, that's kind of odd. And then I second guessed that. I said, well, this can't be the Holy Spirit because there's nothing on this that I'm watching that's ungodly. Can't be. So, what I did is I misunderstood the voice of the Holy Spirit to be my own thoughts. So, I dismissed it. I said, well, I'm probably just overthinking it. So, the next day I get to the ministry office, and I start talking about this show, and the person who does our finance, he was there at his desk, and I said, hey, have you seen this show? And I started talking about it a little bit. And he instantly, he jumped in, he goes, oh, no, you shouldn't watch that. I go, well, why not? Trust me, you won't like it. Now, this person who works for me, he knows my standards when it comes to media. And I said, well, what do you mean I won't like it? I watched it. There was no cussing. There was no sexual content. There was nothing like that. And he says, trust me, you won't like it because by the fourth episode it starts to become like that. And I said, ah, okay. And I was a little disappointed because I would have loved to have watched it if they just didn't include that. And so I said, okay, well, I guess that's it for me. And I turned from my conversation from him, and I began to walk toward my desk. And that's when the Holy Spirit told me, he says, you can trust the word of man, but you can't trust me. And that's when I realized that it was the Holy Spirit, indeed, who was trying to tell me not to move forward because he knew what the content of that media was in the later episodes. And I thought about that, how silly of me to have been so dismissive of the Holy Spirit and what he was trying to do. Even greater, the scripture tells us not to grieve him. What does this tell me? It tells me that the Holy Spirit has feelings. It tells me that the Holy Spirit can be grieved over my actions, that what I do affects the well-being of how the Holy Spirit feels, that my thoughts and my actions and my decisions and my choices all throughout the day impact this wonderful, loving, humble spirit of God who rests on my life, who I hold close and near and dear. You know, my greatest fear, I don't care about offending people. I'll do it any day of the week so long as I'm preaching truth. Of course, I preach truth in love, but if me saying something is biblical and to defend someone, oh well, they can get over it. They don't have to watch my program. But I'm going to preach the truth. So I'm not afraid of pleasing men or pleasing people. I could care less what people think. I couldn't care any less what people think. I care about what God thinks. I don't want to be politically correct. I want to be biblically correct. So I preach the truth. People don't make me afraid. I'm not afraid of people. I'm not afraid. People have threatened I won't donate this. That's fine. God will take care of me. You're not my supply. God is. People have called the office and actually threatened those things trying to get me to preach something different. I said, then don't give. Go support something else. You believe it. And then people often are afraid of demonic beings. I just had a conversation with some of the camera crew here before we started taping about some teachings I'm bringing on demonic beings in October, November. And really I used to be as a kid. I used to be afraid of demonic beings because of their how they were, you know, expressed in stories and in Hollywood depictions and all of that. But I kind of the place where I no longer fear demons. I don't fear hell because I'm not going there. I don't fear demons because they have no power over me. I don't fear men because they're not going to be the ones who judge me. I don't fear men because they could do something in my body, but they can't take care of my soul. They can't destroy or save my soul. So I don't fear men. I'm not afraid of demons and I'm not afraid of people. But let me tell you my greatest fear. My greatest fear since the time that I delve into the depths of the Holy Spirit, since the time that I began seeking God seriously, my greatest fear is that I would grieve the Holy Spirit of God, that His presence would be lifted from my life. Now I know people don't really believe that the Holy Spirit does that. They say, oh that's Old Testament. Well, listen, the Bible talks about grieving Him. King David said, created me a clean heart of God. I renew a right spirit with me. Cast me not away from thy presence, O Lord, and take not thine Holy Spirit from within me. You look all throughout scripture, Ananias and Sapphira. They lie to the Holy Spirit. God struck them down. Simon the sorcerer wanted to buy the Holy Spirit. He was rebuked. The thing about the Holy Spirit is that when He comes, it's boldness. It's when He comes on you, there's fire, there's the presence, you sense Him. But when He leaves, He doesn't give you a notice. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell you when He leaves. He just leaves. Now you may be saying, oh David, that makes me afraid good because nothing could be worse than living a life without the presence of the Holy Spirit on you. You could take everything from me, take my TV show, take my ministry, take my income, take my friends, take my family before you take the presence of God from me. That's all that makes me distinct. That's all that, and if you've ever enjoyed a message from me, you've ever felt the presence of God at our services or seen miracles, all of that is the result of the presence of the Holy Spirit on my life and nothing that I've ever done. Anything that you see in me that's magnetic or charismatic or luring or refreshing, that's the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can't fake this. You can't duplicate this. You can't manufacture it if you tried. If someone grabbed the Bible in a notepad and got in front of a camera and started teaching the same thing I'm teaching, if they don't have the presence, there's gonna be a big difference. This is why I'm afraid. I said, Lord, don't take your presence from me. There's nothing like His presence. There's nothing like praying and sensing Him on your life. There's nothing like worshiping and being raptured in His presence. There's been times I've been afraid to open my eyes because I thought I'd been raptured into somewhere else. It's so intense His presence comes. And there have been times in services where the glory of God has descended on the meeting so heavily that you almost sense the shaking about the place. And people would get up from the front rows and start running out the back door because they were terrified of the presence of God that came on the platform. That's my greatest fear, that I would live a life without the presence of God on my life. It's my all in all. I don't pray to get somewhere. I don't do ministry to get somewhere. His presence is itself my reward. God said to Abraham, I am your exceeding and great reward. He Himself, the person of the Holy Spirit, His presence is what we're after. And those who reverence Him, those who honor Him in their everyday life, experience the presence on their lives. Now, I'm running a little short on time, so I'm going to have to move quickly to these last two points. But I really wanted to drive that point home. Are we ashamed of Him? Are you afraid to tell people that you speak in tongues? Are you afraid to tell people that you believe you're filled with God's Holy Spirit? Are you afraid to tell people that you believe in the miraculous, that you carry the presence of God? If so, why? It's the most beautiful thing about us that we, these broken vessels, could carry a divine essence within our being. Catherine Coleman said God's not looking for golden vessels. God's not looking for silver vessels. God is looking for yielded vessels. And those who reverence Him, who obey Him, who hear His voice, and who move when He says, move, and who stop when He says, stop. Those are the ones you can hold them nearest. Those are the ones who get to know them better than anyone else. And it's a privilege. It's joy. And God invites you to the same. So number one, we have to depend on Him, realize we're helpless, depend on Him, involve Him, understand Him, that's to embrace Him, reverence Him, that's to obey Him. And I'll just quickly move to these last two. We have to trust Him. Don't be afraid to follow His direction. Don't be afraid to step out when He says to step out. And number five, there has to be communication. You know, with all that goes on in our world, it's very difficult to quiet the inner man enough to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. But there has to be that open line of communication. Maybe I'll touch on these two some other time. So just real quickly, we must depend upon Him. We must understand Him. We must reverence Him. We must trust Him. We must communicate with Him. All five of these things will go to cultivate a friendship with the Holy Spirit. I really do feel the presence of God on this teaching here. And I know that you do too. I'm going to believe that today, as we pray now that God's Holy Spirit would come upon your life in a fresh way and that He too would draw you into a friendship with Him that you might carry the Spirit of God upon your life. Let's pray. Come on. I want you right now in faith. Join your hands with mine. Stretch your hands outward like you're receiving something. Lift them to the Lord. Bow your head. Close your eyes. Even if you're somewhere public, just let Him touch your life. So Father, I pray in Jesus' name, we thank you, Father, for the Holy Spirit's presence that is here so evidently, so beautifully. And I pray, Father, that as you begin to move in this moment now, I pray for that one watching. And I pray that your Holy Spirit would descend on them with fire. Father, feel their every being with divine essence overflowing. Father, I pray that you would light them afresh with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Father, I pray you would spark anew, again, a passion for their heavenly Father. God, cultivate, bring to life, fan into flame an undying love for the person of Christ as only the Holy Spirit can do. Father, let them sense you now. That's the power of God. He's moving on. Some of you feel like warmth. Some of you feel like a weight coming around you. Some of you feel like electricity moving through your body. He's touching you. You may have never felt God's presence move on you like this in a video or YouTube, but He's doing something for you right now. You're connecting with heaven right now. There's a divine essence happening. I want you to close your eyes, begin to pray. God's touching you. There's something very real happening for you right now. In fact, there's somebody watching me right now. You thought you were disqualified because of things that you had done and God still wants to use your life. I'm here to tell you the call of God is still on you and the Holy Spirit still wants to use you. So Father, I pray that they will be flooded with your very essence. Lord, I pray for divine empowering. Lord, empower them to preach the gospel. Put your healing power in their hands in the name of Jesus. Lord, let their mouth become your mouth. A mouthpiece of heaven declaring the goodness, the righteousness and the truth of God. Lord, let their eyes become your eyes. Let them see things, people and situations the way you see them. Father, let their ears become your ears. That they might hear your voice. That they might clearly receive direction from heaven. Father, let their hands be your hands. Let your power move through it. Causing lives to be transformed all around them. Father, let their feet be your feet. Guide them and direct them wherever you need them to be. I pray for divine appointments to be set up in their very near future. And Father, let their being be your being. Let their heart beat one with yours. Let their will be crucified and dissipate and die and leave place for your will. Father, we surrender all. Come on. Now is the time to surrender all. Say, Lord, I surrender all. Come on. I want you to say it. You're going to declare it now. Even if you're somewhere public, don't be ashamed. Say, Lord, I surrender all. I give you my life again. And so, Father, I pray that as they're surrendering, Lord, that where they are surrendering, you would so fill them with the glory right where they are right now in Jesus' name. Let the fire of heaven consume them, transform them. I break the addiction of drugs on their life in Jesus' name. I break the addiction of sin on their life in Jesus' name. I come against guilt and condemnation and shame and fear and anxiety and depression and confusion. We break it now in Jesus' name. Lord, where there have been demonic assaults on them, we shut the mouth of the enemy. And we pray, God, that you would have your way and that your will and only your will would be done in their life. Let us be drawn closer to your Holy Spirit like never before. And those who agreed said, amen. I really feel the power of God. I believe He's touching you. And this has been a joy to teach you today. And go and walk in it now. Walk in this new anointing. Walk in this refresh. You've received impartation today. Now go live it. So I want to take this moment now to welcome our new Spirit Church members. There they are up on the screen. You can see they join from different parts of the world, sometimes different states, sometimes even different countries. We're now at just about 150 members in Spirit Church worldwide. And this has just been just less than a year. So that's great growth for a church. And so this is our online church. Now, if you would like to join Spirit Church, this to be your church, and you want to start doing this online with me, you come to these once a week, you turn it on, we worship together, we pray together, we give together, we evangelize together. And then you'll have personal contact with our staff and with me, and we pray with you and we help you and we guide you with the word of God. It's a community of believers, online community of believers. We call it, we say we're gathering in spirit is really what we're doing. So if you would like to join Spirit Church, you can go ahead and do that now. If you're watching this video, you should be able to see something move overhead. And that will give you a link where you can click that. It'll take you right where you can sign up to become a member of the Spirit family. If you're watching this via a Facebook video or on our ministry app, that link won't appear. Instead you go to spiritchurchonline.com. Now for those of you who do consider this your church, now is the time to send in your support, ties and offerings. And those of you who just received from the teachings on YouTube, maybe you're not a member of the Spirit family, maybe you're not a ministry partner yet, maybe you're not a donor, but you'd like to help us in our efforts to globalize our evangelistic efforts. Really, we're doing this because we want to win souls to Jesus. And when you join us, you're joining your gift with hundreds and even thousands of believers from all over the world, united in one cause to preach the one true gospel of Jesus Christ, but miracles, signs and wonders following in demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing gets better than that. We preach Jesus, His cross, Christ, crucified, resurrected, coming again. We preach repentance from sin. We preach empowering of the Holy Spirit and on and on and on. You're familiar with this ministry. You want to get involved. You want to help us win souls. Then help us do that as we do worldwide television, global discipleship, and international events. We're making an impact. So go ahead and do that today. Give a one-time gift or sign on to become a monthly ministry partner. Some of you can consider a gift of one time of $100, $500, even $1,000. I'm going to challenge you out there. There's somebody watching. God challenged you to give $1,000 of this ministry. Now is the time to do that today. Others, God's challenging you to become a partner, $10, $20, $30 a month. Do that today. Other than that, give a one-time gift. Help us continue to spread the gospel all around the world. We sure do love you. Now remember until next time, because that is it for this edition of Spirit Church. Remember until next time, nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible with God.