 Good morning everyone, it's a bite to stand welcome come on in we're gonna dive straight in this morning what a powerful day yesterday come on all this place why don't we just lift our hands to the Lord from the front to the back this morning we lift our hands to Jesus God we just thank you for this morning we want to enter in with thanksgiving to your courts of praise Lord we just welcome you here this morning thank you for what you did I missed yesterday Lord we give you glory we give you honor today and I was praying this time but we give you this hour we give you this morning but we just want you to be high and lifted up high and lifted up God we just thank you we honor you in this place mighty God would you come and have your way in this place be lifted up all honor or glory be unto the name of Jesus today that's in that name that we pray and everybody said man come on let's sing let's worship today when people pray your light inside always the only song to sing let's do that again we just say Jesus nothing else like your name well let's just lift up our hands in the sanctuary as we give God all risen and exalted one your name is like honey on our lips Lord your spirit alive in us Jesus we love you what an incredible honor it is to know that our thanksgiving and our praise opens the door and gives us access to boldly approach your throne of grace to not approach your throne of judgment but to approach your throne of grace and that you're willing to not just receive us but to offer help to us in every one of our moments in Lord today I'm praying this morning for every pastor every leader every every saint of God that's in this place Lord that all of the challenges and the difficulties and even as we just sing about the suffering of this moment would yield and surrender to the beauty and the glory and the sovereignty of our Lord and we say all the glory belongs to you Jesus Lord may your glory eclipse all the temporal things of this earth and Lord today would you open our eyes of our heart and release the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus in a deeper more fuller intimate way in each and every one of us fill us afresh in a new with your Holy Spirit well just invite them just say Lord today feel me afresh in a new with your Holy Spirit meet me today Lord let today be Bethel that the Lord is in this place how awesome is this place meet us speak to us Holy Spirit Jesus we give you all the praise and the glory and the honor because you alone deserve it you alone are worthy of it in the matchless name of Jesus hey while you remain standing for just a moment I wanted to talk to you as a family and Jane and I just want to thank you for something so last year at a rise shine the week after a rise shine our family went into one of the most difficult years of our lives our daughter Ashley and son-in-law Zach my my daughter was carrying identical twin girls and the week after a rise shine at about I think 23 weeks 22 weeks they discovered that the twins had a had a syndrome called TTS twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and they had to be delivered at 24 weeks six days and it was for just a very short period of time it was the most intense season of prayer that I think I've ever experienced encounter in my life and so the the two girls were delivered at 24 weeks six days neither one of them should have survived daughter gave birth to two two girls Celia and Reese and Reese was born ascension day and after 10 days Reese went home to be with Jesus on Pentecost Sunday but Celia miraculously is still with us and many of you so many of you reached out to us during that time and prayed with us and supported us and just sent us messages we know that upper room was praying all of our churches and our network and family you guys were all praying and thank God for social media because the word it literally went around the world we had we had Christians in Iran praying for our daughter and our son-in-law and our granddaughter and so we want to show you a picture this is Celia at 24 weeks six days the day she was delivered her eyes were steel sealed shut and I want to invite Ashley and Zach would you you guys come on up and would you bring our granddaughter Celia and this is Celia and she's our little miracle and Reese is her twin sister intercessor in heaven named after Reese Howells and from our family to all of you we just want to say thank you that meant the world to us and still means the world to us and we love you all so thank you we just wanted to share the victory is also share the fact that I know that many of you in this room have your own stories of difficulties and times of trouble the day of trouble that maybe this last year has been that for you and maybe it's been a previous year or a different season and here's what we know is that when you are in the day of trouble oftentimes it can feel so lonely and we want you to know that you're not alone we know that we were not alone this is why family is so important this is why even why you know church is important the local church but then even families of churches being together and it doesn't matter whether you're the senior leader the senior pastor or youth pastor or just you attend a church we need one another this is the beauty of how the Lord Jesus has built his church to where not one member is enough but we are all interconnected with one another and when one part of the body hurts we all feel it but all praise all glory to Jesus and here's what we know even in our loss we know this we know that the time that we have with Reese on the other side of eternity is going to eclipse the time we've been separated on this side of history and we say Jesus haste the day when you shout aloud and empty graves and the kingdoms of our law man become the kingdoms of our God and King that's going to be a glorious day church and that's what we're living for that's going to be an awesome wonderful day how many know that Jesus is Lord he is Lord and so today Lord we just pray meet us today as we give you all the glory and all the honor Lord you see every one of our circumstances you know right where we're at and what we need holy spirit you are the great comforter that Jesus sent to us today I'm just praying for those who right now feel discouraged feel overwhelmed feel in over their head that holy spirit you would come up alongside of us today and be our great paraclete wrap your arms around us strengthen us with the spirit of endurance that only comes from you as we give you glory and honor in Jesus name amen hey would you real quickly would you just turn around say good morning to somebody and then go ahead and take your seat and we are so ready for day number two day number two I just want you to know that we we planned all this snow so that we could sell out our sweatshirts so this was all planned next week in May listen next week check the weather report next week here in Michigan will be 77 degrees non for real that's what they're predicting it's going to be sunny but because man can affect climate we affected it this week just to sell hoodies so hey real quickly we want to make you aware of an event that's coming up here at radiant that we want to invite you and your churches to be a part of coming up in September we are going to be hosting Jimmy Evans and the exo marriage conference here he does several of these across the United States Jimmy Evans is one of he's one of my mentors he's one of our apostolic overseers here at radiant church and as you know unlike many others God has called and anointed him to speak and strengthen marriages and so he's going to be doing a exo conference and this is this is really important for pastors and those who are in ministry frontline ministry to make sure that our marriages are strong and that we're able to help others and model that and and help the the families and the marriages that are in our church it starts with the leaders and so I want to encourage those of you who are leading churches or leading departments find yourself on the frontline of ministry make an investment in your marriage exo marriage is an incredible couple of day seminar conference that's going to help strengthen your marriage and you might make it available to the people in your church if it's within driving distance for you and so there's qr code I think they're gonna put up here there it is and if you scan that you can get all the information that you want to and and avail yourself of that and join us and I think I think we're about half full right now we have 800 seats that we're gonna make available I think we're about half full already so if you're interested in that take a long weekend Jimmy Evans is gonna preach here that weekend come to the marriage conference have a weekend away just you as a couple and invest in your marriage okay this morning this is a highlight so I will I will start by introducing RT Kendall yesterday at dinner he told me he said you know in England they say that the longer your introduction is the less significant of a person you are and so I'm not gonna by any means try to stretch this out I wish I could just walk off because that's how significant he is but I want to say this in the early days of trying to figure out who I was as a leader I never felt at home in the denomination that I had been discipled in that was Pentecostal I didn't feel at home in that even though I love the work of the Holy Spirit because they thought I was too heady and into theology for them and they thought you're you need to get your nose out of books and and just flow with the spirit so then I I got a lot of friends that were highly intellectual and theological but they were dry as burnt toast and I'm like but I love the work of the Holy Spirit and I always felt spiritually homeless and there were a couple leaders that I came across John Wimber was one of them and RT Kendall was another who were writing books about word and spirit in our context we call it spirit and truth and for the first time I felt like there wasn't something wrong with me that you could love theology you could love doctrine you could love the Bible and you could also be a person of the Holy Spirit and no one has exemplified that in our generation more than RT Kendall RT and his wife Louise are here he's off authored over 90 books holds two masters degree two doctoral degrees let me just say this he's a general in the faith and we are so honored to have him so everyone would you stand to your feet welcome to the platform dr. R. T. Kendall please sit down please I'm glad my wife was here to hear that if I tried to explain it to her she wouldn't believe me well thank you but what will they expect now you remind me of a friend of mine from Pennsylvania who was introduced to this large sales gathering as the man from Texas who had made two hundred million dollars in oil and he was gonna tell how he did it but when he heard the introduction he panicked he thought what am I gonna do well he said to himself there's only one thing to do and that's to stand up and tell these people the truth so he said ladies and gentlemen before I get into my talk there were one or two discrepancies in the introduction he said first I'm not from Texas I'm from Pennsylvania the money was not in oil it was in coal the figure was not two hundred million dollars it was two hundred thousand dollars and it wasn't me it was my brother he didn't make it he lost it I preach in Pretoria South Africa and they have a contest every year I come who can give the most outrageous introduction and that time was when dr. Michael Eaton he's now in heaven he and I were speakers of the whole week and the man who stood up he said now folks we've got dr. RT Kendall dr. Michael Eaton here in one place we must take advantage of this week and he said it's my duty to introduce dr. RT Kendall one of the great theologians of our time filled with the fruits oh sorry that's Michael Eaton I just he sat down I stood up wonderful to be here who came in last night I sense such intense worship and such expectancy and be impossible to preach a bad sermon in an atmosphere like this but as Yogi Berra said it ain't over till it's over but thank you leave for having me you honor me I believe Mark Driscoll twisted your arm and said you must have me and so I'd never heard of you you married well how did you get her you ugly thing I come from the hills of Kentucky we must have a get-together afterwards my wife is from northern Illinois there wasn't much applause for you because I'm from Kentucky and she's from northern Illinois she's a snob she thinks she's a cut above Kentuckians thank you seriously for having me pray that I'll be a blessing I'm going to read from two or three passages first from the gospel of John chapter 1 starting in verse 32 and John this is referring to John the Baptist John testified I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained on him this is a very important word remained everybody remembers the dove they overlook the word remained he says it again I didn't know him but he who sent me to baptize with water told me the one you see the spirit descending and remaining on he's the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God and then from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 Ephesians 4 verse 30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption let all bitterness anger and wrath shouting and slander be removed from you along with all malice and be kind and compassionate to one another for giving one another just as God in Christ forgave you and one other phrase from Hebrews chapter 3 verse 10 where God lamented of ancient Israel you have not known my ways will may God be pleased to bless the reading and the preaching of this is most holy and infallible word brief word of prayer heavenly Father I pray now for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus by your spirit to rest upon every mind in this place in order that their perception of what I say will be heard as you intend cleanse my tongue that I will be your transparent instrument to say everything that needs to be said nothing that does it need to be said help me to be clear help me to be simple I pray that this will be life changing I dare ask that no one after today will ever be the same again and may this word bring great honor and glory to your name I ask in Jesus' name amen some years ago I wrote a book called sensitivity of the spirit when people refer to it they often misquote it and call it sensitivity to the spirit and I can understand that and then that is in fact what it will lead to but many miss the point that the person of the Holy Spirit the Trinity the God head the person of the Holy Spirit is a person with a personality and he happens to be a very very very sensitive person now when we speak of somebody being a very sensitive it's not a compliment you say well be careful around that personally get their feelings hurt easily just walk on eggshells because they can't take it anything it's just not right and it's not a compliment but like it or not that's the way the Holy Spirit is and a number of years ago I don't know which came first the chicken or the egg but parallel truths you could say twins twin theological truths were born almost simultaneously one was the sensitivity of the spirit when I saw something I'd never seen before and then a truth that I did know about but I would think everybody knows about and that's the teaching of forgiveness and so after the Apostle Paul says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God the word grieve comes from a Greek word that means get your feelings hurt and so the Holy Spirit can get his feelings hurt and he can get his feelings hurt very easily some years ago I was preaching in Alabama and after talking in the past for study for a few minutes just as we walking into the pulpit I don't know why wait until just literally as we're walking into the pulpit he whispered to me he said what's a veteran like you got to say to a young whippersnapper like me and I thought hmm it came to me find out what grieves the Holy Spirit and don't do that and you've got your work cut out for you the thing that may take you a while to absorb and believe but you'll come to see it it's only a matter of time is how easy it is to grieve the Holy Spirit in fact I'll go this far like it or not grieving the Holy Spirit is the easiest thing in the world to do you do it when you don't know you're doing it you see well what grieves the Spirit well immediately Paul says as soon as he said grieve not the Holy Spirit of God with whom you received from the day of redemption let all bitterness anger and wrath be put away from you forgiving one another just as God also forgave you in Christ and these two teachings they're parallel they're married to each other and in a sense this message was born in what was at the time the darkest hour that Louise and I had ever been through the days at Westminster Chapel in London they were the worst of times the best of times and our darkest hour came during those 25 years at Westminster Chapel and something happened that brought us so low I thought I was finished I thought my ministry was over what happened was unfair unjust wrong and I was devastated and I couldn't tell anybody but it happened that in the providence of God an old friend from Romania in the days when they would call it the behind the iron curtain that's when it was way back then and his name is Joseph so he now happens to live in Oregon lives in America but at that time he was just in London and I happen to have known him and he came to our home and I decided I would tell Joseph zone what happened knowing it he wouldn't tell anybody because I couldn't tell anybody I poured out my heart to him and explain what happened and if I'm honest I thought he would put his arm around me and say RT you ought to be angry get it out of your system I was hoping he would say something like that and just looked at me and said anything more I didn't know that's it I wasn't prepared for what followed if I could narrow 25 years down to 15 minutes would turn out to be my finest hour when Joseph's on looked at me and said RT you must totally forgive them for until you totally forgive them you will be in chains release them and you will be released nobody'd ever talked to me like that in my life faithful the wounds of a friend and then I said Joseph I just remembered I actually haven't told you everything and I started listening this I can I can hear him now in his Romanian accent RT you must totally forgive them for until you thought to leave forgive them you will be in chains release them and you will be released as a Joseph I can't he said you can and you must and I can tell you it was the hardest thing I've ever ever had to do and parallel with this was Paul's teaching on grieve not the Holy Spirit of God and I began to see how sensitive the Holy Spirit is and it cannot be exaggerated this is a truth that I think has been totally neglected in fact as far as I know I can't prove this but I don't think it's really been dealt with when I first wrote the manuscript I referred to Michael Eaton while ago Michael Eaton died about 10 years ago he's very very close friend he's the only man on the planet with whom I had theological reciprocity I mean we just he just encouraged me I encouraged him and and he's very well read most learned man I ever knew he read the apostolic fathers the church fathers the medieval scholastics the reformers the Puritans the 18th century evangelicals and the neo-orthodox of the 20th and if he was written last week he's read it he just read everything I said has anything been written in the history of the church on the sensitivity of the Spirit he says nothing and the thing is the Holy Spirit is depicted in the New Testament as a dove now not only a dog it's depicted as fire cloud wind oil but why would he be referred to as a dove well at the natural level the dove is a very very shy bird I've done some study on this how fast forward I don't want to bore you with the details interesting though they are but doves and pigeons are in the same family a pigeon is just a fat dove because anatomically they're the same you cut them open gallbladder spine everything exactly the same but then I began to suspect that they're different in temperament and it turns out that they are very different you can train a pigeon you cannot train a dove a friend of mine Pete Cantrell from Ada Oklahoma he died a few years ago he raised pigeons and doves all his life he told me I could train a pigeon to find a red box in the middle of New York City but you can't even get near a dove a dove is a basically a wild enemy a pigeon can be domesticated a dove is gentle pigeons are boisterous and is in the same way many of us cannot tell the difference between a pigeon and a dove so whereas I think you could say the dove represents the authentic Holy Spirit the pigeon the counterfeit and there are those who think well because there was a lot of noise they say you should have been a church Sunday the Holy Ghost came down and you say oh I'm sorry to miss it you but then you ask questions you get to the bottom of it it was probably pigeon religion those who will accept anything and to understand the nature of the third person of the Trinity and here's the thing he won't bend the rules for any of us I don't care how long you've been saved I don't care what your position in is the church he will not bend the rules for any of us and so what is it that John the Baptist discovered he said well the water sent me he said when you see the Spirit come down like a dove and remain it's a key word I would not have thought it and unless you think it's an unguarded comment he says it again when you see the Spirit descending and remaining on the one namely Jesus I don't know if you've had this experience I would predict that you have when the Holy Spirit comes down you could be in church or you could be having a quiet time and the Spirit comes down and you think oh oh this is so good Lord thank you thank you please stay don't leave don't leave please please there are moments like this when God is so real you think after this moment I'll never doubt you again and thank you I love you just like you are I wouldn't change you if I could oh Lord stay stay the peace the joy can't be described but life goes on and several hours later you think what happened hmm he came down but it didn't remain but it caused the dove to lift to fly away well maybe it was when you were driving down the interstate and car in front of you going so slow and you roll the window down and say hey what's the matter with you and the dove just kind of flies away you're in a supermarket and you're at the cashier you wanted to get out quickly a little old lady in front of her she's counting her change and you go oh you wanted her to hear you she did but so did the dove he just flies away the thing is it's a 24 hour situation 60 seconds a minute 60 minutes an hour it's the most challenging truth I can imagine the most life changing truth I have ever ever come across we have to watch your behavior at home at work with strangers I'll be talking to American Airlines on the phone and times when they think the person that's got the job just started yesterday and I know the job better than she does and and I will start saying I am I to believe it Louisa say be careful because it can happen it can happen you say well that's not fair I'm sorry but that's the way he is you say well he ought not be like that but he's the only God you have so get over it a British couple were sent by their denomination to Israel to be missionaries they were given a home in which to live just outside Jerusalem and after they'd been there a few weeks they noticed that a dove had come to live in the eve of the roof of their house and they were so excited it was like a a seal of God on their being in Israel but they noticed that every time they would slam a door the dove would fly away every time they would get into an argument with each other the dove would fly away and one day Sandy said to Bernice he told this story all over Britain he said her how do you feel about the dove in the eve of the roof of our house oh she said it's wonderful it's like a seal of God and our being in Israel have you noticed that every time we slam a door the dove flies away every time we get into an argument start shouting at each other the dove flies away and she said yes and I'm so afraid that one day he'll fly away and not come back he looked at her with these memorable words either the dove adjusts to us or we adjust to the dove and it changed their lives just to keep a bird in the eve of the roof of their house but I'm here to tell you that the Holy Spirit is a hundred times more sensitive than that and you do it what the scary part is you don't know you do it you do anything you think well just because I said that about so-and-so it's a truth and we justify all we do and don't realize that the dove won't bend the rules and so what does Paul say he says grieving out the Holy Spirit of God let all bitterness bitterness alright is anybody here today you're you're angry right now you're bitter maybe you got an argument with your wife this morning before you got here you can have an argument on the way to church and you're there to worship or somebody mistreated you and you're angry and it seems right I would define spirituality as closing the time gap between sin and repentance for example how long does it take you to admit you were wrong how long does it take you to admit you sinned some say I will never admit I was wrong ever some 25 years refusing to admit they were wrong then one day they say you know I've been thinking maybe I shouldn't have said that 25 years some close the time time gap from years to months and then they cool off and say sorry some close the time gap to a few weeks some to a few days that's better some to a few hours some to a few seconds and if you would catch yourself within seconds you're able to get to know his ways and think I must not even finish this sentence or the dove or fly away the scary thing is we don't know we do it it's like Samson when he gave his secret to Delilah said he knew not that the Lord was departed from him he felt nothing and then when he tried to do what he'd always been able to do he was as weak as anybody else and so if we could get to know his ways and so God lamented of ancient Israel you could almost hear the tear in God's voice they have not known my ways God wants you to know his ways but you're not you may not like his ways and the message that I've been preaching around the world in my old age is that God wants us to know his ways but we've come up with an idea people say how could God send people to hell and more and more becoming universalist or believe you annihilation he come up with a humanistic way of thinking and I don't know if you're aware of this but forgive me but I'd rather say it but not and regret I won't regret it until you know a teaching known as open theism was introduced a fuller seminary generation ago no need to mention the man's name no point in doing that he's well known and that spread throughout the charismatic movement and many evangelicals open theism it's the teaching that God is open to us to know what decision he should make he wants to says co-partners and people love that idea being co-partners with God the idea is that God doesn't know the future so he looks to us for input to know what to do and the reason is that people like the idea that they're in control they don't want a God who's independent as a will of his own some say the reason for prayer is to change God's will wrong the reason for prayer is to find out what God's will is and do it with this new teaching and if I were to name names you'd be shocked household names I've heard it referred to already the little bit of I've been here and it's bringing the death now sentence on many of us a smell of death but people don't like the God of the Bible one mention name I will mention Oprah Winfrey we all love her admire her but when she was a teenager in a Baptist church in Mississippi she heard her pastor say God is a jealous God and she said I don't want a God like that she turned her back on her evangelical heritage and never look back well many was the wall she's done pretty good I would not want to be in her shoes for anything in the world you tell you when the Holy Spirit is ungrieved we begin to see God as he is but when we get tired of a God like that and you hear of a God who's too kind to send people to hell he wouldn't do that people say well that makes sense to me and before we know it we ease away from the plain teaching of Holy Scripture to a God that fits our imagination Romans 1 talks about we are without excuse because we know from revelation of nature the conscience and we live in denial one day if God lets me live long enough I want to write a book called the big elephant you know the phrase the elephant in the room everybody knows it's there but nobody talks about it the big elephant death nobody wants to talk about they're going to die but we're going to die it was appointed in the men wants to die and after death of judgment and the need of the hour is to see that people are lost and we need to get them saved and the danger of many charismatic says they won't worship worship worship but they didn't know little or nothing about leading a soul to Christ and the Holy Spirit is grieved because the Holy Spirit when he's come he will reprove the world of sin righteousness judgment we forgot when Jesus introduced the paraclete one who had come alongside and then when he said I have many things to tell you but you cannot bear them now I'm sure the disciples would have said oh could tell us we can bear we can do it it's like when Jesus said are you able to be baptized with my baptism oh yes we're able they weren't they weren't and so I'm sure the disciples would have said come on of course we can handle it think this teaching right now sensitive to the spirit there's no way you could get that over to the disciples they didn't know about the Holy Spirit yet it's Paul and his letters telling us things about the spirit and he can be grieved and he gets his feelings hurt why does it matter I'll tell you why it matters because the anointing of the Holy Spirit is at stake and there are those who say well all we need is for the fire to fall or go on a 40-day fast I can tell you or another say lay hands on you and you hit the floor I'll tell you right now if you're bitter when you fall you'll be bitter when you get up you go on a 40-day fast if you don't forgive the 40-day fast is worthless and yet in seconds if you can totally forgive where you let them off the hook when you come to the place that you actually pray for your enemy you pray for them you say well I'm I just Lord I just commit them to you see when we say that God has committed to you what you're hoping is God will kill them Jesus said love your enemy pray for them the hardest thing to do is to pray for those that hurt you and I can tell you you can worship for hour upon hour but sooner or later it's got to come no one said it would be easy and people want the fire to fall they don't realize you want the dove to come down and remain when the dove came down on Jesus the dove said oh I like it here I'm at home I'm gonna stay Jesus never ever grieved the Holy Spirit he was at home he stayed and what I want is the Holy Spirit to come down and remain the people can worship in a church and have a fist fight in the parking lot and they don't realize what it's doing this is the teaching if I could get this over Paul talks about the unity of the Spirit you know what that means the ungrieved spirit in me will recognize the ungrieved spirit in you and so when I met Lee yesterday I just felt good and his assistant Rick just good feeling the three of us just sweet fellowship and you're just talking and then this didn't happen but sometimes it will when a fourth person comes up and says you know what's wrong with this church don't you and you think oh no we're having such a sweet fellowship and somebody bad-mouthing didn't bother them it only takes one to break up the unity and I just think what if there may be a thousand people in this room what if in every one of us the Holy Spirit ungrieved you think we all have the Holy Spirit if you're a Christian you have the Holy Spirit but that doesn't mean he's ungrieved he can be grieved now you don't lose the Holy Spirit because Jesus said he will abide with you forever Paul said the Spirit of God with him you were sealed for the day of redemption nothing can be clearer than that but it can be in you ungrieved and so when I talk about the dove flying away it's a metaphor to show that we want him on us in great measure and it comes not necessarily by praying and praying and praying fasting fasting fasting how old you are in the Lord I'm probably I can't prove this but I bet I'm the oldest person here I've been saved for about 80 years I'm 87 I was saved when I was six years old that doesn't mean anything to God what matters but I stand before God at the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of the things done in the body and I will and so will you it won't matter then that I wrote books that I preached here that doesn't mean a thing I mean what kind of husband was I to Louise what kind of a father was I whether was faithful honest this I'm telling you is the most life-changing word I have ever come across and it wasn't easy to come into it because you find yourself always being challenged it's hard not to lose your temper but as I said the Holy Spirit will not bend the rules for any of us and so it's a matter of having the anointing which I would call the conscious presence of the mind of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit can be in you but grieved and when he's grieved you can't think as you should you can't pray as you should you find that it doesn't matter who you are or what they did suppose we heard the testimony of one in this room has suffered more than anybody you've ever met you know there are those who think well I wouldn't have to forgive because God knows what I've been through and in my case he would give me a reprieve you wouldn't ask you your wife was unfaithful to you you were beat up on the street you were raped no in your case you don't have to forgive and suppose we heard your story that we all agree no one we've ever heard of suffered like that I preach this sermon in South Africa where black people have been so mistreated by whites you've no idea and I'll tell you didn't know what you want to tell this I guess it's okay I was famous in South Africa for one day and tell you how it happened they sent me newspaper clippings from all over South Africa it was in every major newspaper Pretoria Johannesburg Cape Town Durham that a woman whose parents were slaughtered they were black by white Africans South African who butchered her parents and they found him they got him and he's in prison be there forever and she wanted to meet him and was given permission and when people found out that she went to meet the man who had slaughtered her mother and dad and when she came out reporters were there why did you do that and this is where she made me famous she said I read a book by RT Kendall on total forgiveness and I wanted to go in and tell him I forgave him and I did you see when you think of what some people have to forgive and sometimes it's little things sometimes it's big things I was leading the worship at Westminster Chapel and right in the middle of the great English him praise my soul the king of heaven just enjoy worship and I saw a woman come in the back door and sat on the fourth row from the back and I lost it I thought how could that woman be here why is she here that woman has done incalculable irreparable emotional damage to one of our children now why is she here I had to keep singing and mouthing the words and I had to read the scripture another him then the pastoral prayer in those days a long prayer was part of the liturgy of what was doing in many British evangelical churches what saved me was offering time when deacon comes up welcomes the visitors makes the announcements and say the morning offering will be received and so I've got about five minutes sitting next to the pulpit collecting my thoughts something happened that I was not expecting hadn't happened before or since as I'm sitting there the Holy Spirit entered a conversation and said I don't say this is verbatim but it's pretty close RT you want to see revival at Westminster Chapel that right yes Lord good how much do you want to see revival oh a lot good which would you have rather have revival or for me to send judgment on that woman out there revival good pray for that woman I pray for that woman he said that's not good enough ask me to bless her bless her say it again bless her say it again bless her and what if I take your word seriously and answer your prayer and I bless her Lord you wouldn't do that would you but that's the point I promise you I would not have been able to finish the worship I would not have been able to preach and I started saying bless her bless her bless her until I could start meaning it and I thought he's gonna bless her and it was it was killing me and to prove that I meant it I had to put her on my prayer list every day after that those are the hardest things I've ever had to do but you know what I noticed something I wasn't expecting it wasn't think about it I began to get insight after insight and I got thoughts that I never had mentioned I've written a few books publishers still they queue up for a book in a day you can't get a book published they come to me the thoughts are still coming I can't write it down fast enough and then I began to see praying for my enemy was a good thing to do and I began to think I need more enemies and I found them and I'm not making this up I have an enemy's prayer list every day every day I pray for them nobody hears on it yet at first it's hard to say and when you come to the place that you actually mean it it feels good and it becomes selfish this is the thing the ungrieved spirit there are no shortcuts it's an act of the will you choose to do it you don't wait for the Holy Ghost to knock you down because he won't but he pushed it to you how much do you want more of God how much do you want a greater anointing and I've looked high and low for other ways of course you fast of course you pray but when Paul says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God he says let all bitterness and don't say well I have just a little no get rid of it confess it refuse to think about it and the best way to do it is to pray for them and you mean it because there is nothing greater than to enjoy the Holy Spirit when it comes down and remains it's so good the thoughts come and he will do it for you you don't necessarily mean you'll be an author but you've got a gift nobody else has you may think well my gift is not worth much I think of Joseph Jacob's son he had a gift of dreams and he misused it it was a genuine gift you may think of my dream is to have a greater anointing but does God have all there is of you and you say well my gift what's the demand for my gift I'll say in my gift you know what my gift is I'm a Bible teacher take your Bible away from me I can't do anything but that's my gift I stay in it I don't try to have another person's anointing I think of people have prophetic gifts makes me a little jealous but I think it's not me I'd love it I'd love to have the gift of healing maybe one day I will I'm a Bible teacher I just live in this if Joseph had gone to an employment agency to Kalamazoo and says I need a job okay Joseph what do you do what kind of job do you want what's your gift he said dream I dream oh I have prophetic dreams that it yep your name again Joseph yep we'll be in touch with you thank you very much who would have thought that one day Joseph's gift made him Prime Minister of Egypt overnight you see you have a gift readiness is knowing that you have this kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit with this an absence of bitterness pointing the finger love keeps no record of wrongs why do we keep records to prove we've paid why do we keep a record of a wrong so we can point it out to somebody husband says to the wife I will remember that and sure enough three days later he quotes back you use it I would say any marriage this here today that's on the rocks no nobody knows it but you your marriage could be healed by sundown today if both of you will stop pointing the finger where you want the blessing of the Holy Spirit to come down more than proving who was right who was wrong God will not bend the rules for any of us let all bitterness says Paul all bitterness anger wrath shouting and slander you speak against somebody you don't feel a thing but the dog flies away he don't want you to do it just be gentle and nice you say well that person's not a very nice don't need to tell that you don't need to say it let God deal with them all slander be removed from you be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving one another justice God also forgave you this is the Christianity that the world doesn't see in Christians continue with your worship continue with your singing continue with your praying but the devil would want you to think you can overlook that bitterness to Corinthians 2 verse 11 Paul gives another reason for forgiveness lest Satan take advantage of us I've forgiven you let me tell you something the devil has got a computer printout on you and knows what you're thinking all the time and is waiting for a moment to get in and make you angry and upset to keep your eyes off Jesus and away from wanting to dove to come down and remain don't give the devil that pleasure when you feel an anger remember the devil is just like oh good this is why it's the most life-changing word I've ever had and if I thought I would die today I would be happy for this to be the last message I ever preach this in my opinion is the need of the church you know when I was at Westminster Chapel I started my Sunday morning sermon preparation on Monday morning and from Monday to Saturday to prepare Westminster Chapel is a preacher's dream a pastor's nightmare but but I had all the time to prepare had to preach four sermons a week all new never repeated Thursday Friday twice Sunday that start on Monday it only happened once in 25 years but I didn't get to work on any sermon on the Tuesday the Thursday the Friday I was out in Britain preaching everywhere I could barely keep up my Bible reading plan I use the Robert Murray McShane Bible reading plan it's a good one you may have one that you like better that's fine but you ought to have a plan that keeps you in the word I've read the Bible through I can honestly say 45 times New Testament 90 times songs 90 times I hope you have a Bible reading plan I kept that up that week but I didn't get on any sermon and it was now Saturday morning and I thought this has never happened before tomorrow Sunday I'm not ready it was 9 o'clock Saturday morning I said Lord please let there be no interruption no phone calls nobody knocking on the door 9 o'clock never forget it Louise and I got into an argument in Kentucky we would say it was a dandy she was horrible I slammed the door went to my desk Lord give me a sermon deal with that woman 10 o'clock blank sheet of paper a pen Bible noon blank sheet of paper or please help me please help me please help me 1 o'clock blank sheet of paper I couldn't get anything my thoughts were blank 2 o'clock I was in a state of panic please please you know that what I say tomorrow is gonna be tape recorded go all over the world you've got to help me silence except I thought I heard a faintly word said really 3 o'clock nothing 4 o'clock you see I was waiting for her what 9 o'clock to 4 time gap about 7 hours I got up went into the kitchen I can see her now standing by the refrigerator she was tearful I said honey I'm sorry it was all my fault she said well wouldn't all your fault is partly my fault I said no no it was all my fault and I'm so sorry we kissed we hugged I went back to the same desk same Bible same black sheet of paper and I promise you in 45 minutes I had everything I needed for the Sunday morning sermon I could not write the thoughts fast they just poured in you can accomplish more in five minutes when the spirit comes down that in five years when you're trying to work it up and the thing is he wouldn't bend the rules for me didn't feel sorry for me because my sermon the next day would be tape record didn't make a difference to him at all but when I climbed down and said I'm sorry this is the thing in my opinion the need of the hour yes we want the fire to fall but I want the dove to come down and remain because by the way this Bible is the Holy Spirit's greatest product would you like to get on the good side of the Holy Spirit get to know his word he wrote it he wrote it get to know what he wrote so well that you know his mind you know his word backwards and forwards you spend time with him children spell love T I M E and what if the Holy Spirit regards your love for him my hero Martin Luther prayed two hours a day John Wesley prayed two hours a day the average church leader in America according to a poll by Christianity today given to thousands of ministers we know the average pastor teacher bishop rector praise four minutes a day and you wonder why the church is powerless that's my word heavenly Father I ask you to take this word apply it by your Holy Spirit I just wonder I had no idea how I would finish today someone asked me I said I'll know at the time I think what I want to do is this if God has spoken to you because you needed this word I want you to consider that 30 seconds from now not yet think about it if you needed this and you want to make a response before God and the angels I'm gonna ask you in 20 seconds to stand to your feet you see in front of all these people oh yeah yep yep well well they'll know I've had a problem who cares does that matter to you it's God matters the honor that comes in God ten seconds don't look and see if anybody else stood five four three two one stand to your feet if you're prepared to say God I needed this I think what I choose to do now I'm gonna lead you to prayer if you've made it say it I'd say it out loud I'd say it out loud everyone together Lord Jesus I need you I want you I'm sorry for my unforgiveness for grieving your Holy Spirit I'm sorry forgive me I pray now for that person and you'll have somebody in mind I just say I pray now for you don't need to call that person's name out loud if it's maybe more than one forgive them you say that forgive them I forgive them I set them free I set them free I set them free calm Holy Spirit thank you for your patience with me come ungraved spirit remain in Jesus name amen finished how many want the Holy Spirit to remain just such a convicting message there's nothing more precious that we are entrusted with than not just the indwelling seal of the Holy Spirit within us but the tangible manifest anointing upon our lives there's nothing more precious I don't know about you but it just just felt like a kid again just in the newness of the call in the newness of being aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit and how wonderful it was when you first began to experience and know his nearness or to be used by him in his anointing and to kind of stand back in awe and think God has used me I don't know if you remember those days for me it was probably being a 16-year-old kid on the streets of Grand Rapids and doing street preaching and recognizing that God was using me and how how tender those moments were and how closely you wanted to be to the Holy Spirit and I'm just reminded of that that we never want the Holy Spirit to become useful we want the Holy Spirit to be precious and honored thank you Dr. Kendall thank you so much and I will just say to you he's one of the kindest him and Louise are just some of the kindest people we've ever been around just in a few shorter moments that we've had together but I want to say this publicly from all of us a room full of pastors and leaders that have watched so many anointed men and women of God start the race of ministry well only to falter somewhere along the line thank you for your example and your integrity and your leadership and your devotion to Jesus with all of your degrees you've never strayed away from the centrality of Jesus and the beauty of his holiness and the presence of the Holy Spirit thank you thank you from the bottom of our heart okay Sean am I up or are you up we're gonna worship you guys ready to worship Dr. Kendall said we could still sing as long as we forgive we could still worship so we forgiven so now let's go before him and let's worship him for a few moments together shall we come on let's worship the Lord together you would search us and know us see if there is anything that is hindering see if there is bitterness unforgiveness selfishness that is causing you to not remain we want to be a resting place we want to be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit God give us the grace and the strength to say yes to lay down our own selfishness in our pride to say yes to a higher way in a better way God in your kindness come revealed shine light so that we could look and love more like you do let these words deep deep roots in our hearts Jesus name amen amen