 We can all rise. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Save your Lord God and King. We worship exalt and magnify your holy name. We thank you. We praise you. We bless you, Jesus, for your immense and endless love. Your compassion, your mercy, your kindness upon us for never treating us according to our sin but always looking past our faults, our weaknesses, our sins to see the heart that you created for us with this capacity to love you, to know you, to serve you always being willing to redeem, to restore, to heal Lord Jesus, you are our strong tower and our refuge and these trying times you are our anchor and our hope send forth your Holy Spirit now We give you permission, Lord Jesus. Have your way in us. Come Holy Spirit and we ask this in your most precious name. Amen. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Alrighty. So do I have any friends here from Chicago and anyone from Chicago? Nice. Apart. Okay. Excellent. Excellent. So I want to talk about Chicago just for a second. You know Chicago, I have a cousin that lives in Chicago and she lives downtown, you know, right in the heart of things with her and her family. She was a city attorney but now she just raises and her kids. I think she's planning on going back to work once her kids are out of the house. But I've been to Chicago a few times. I love the city of Chicago. Do you know at one time they almost were going to abandon the entire city? This is like right around the time of the Great Chicago Fire. That was in October of 1871, right? When the Great Chicago Fire destroyed most of the city. And now, if you know about the Chicago River, that flows down the middle of the city, like on one kind they have this strip, I think they call it the Miracle Mile. And at one point, you know, when the Great Chicago Fire started to actually started on the lake side of the Chicago River. But see, the Chicago River was where all the slaughterhouses were. And they would dump, literally just dump, all the animal waste into the river. People would, oh, proper plumbing in that, just empty their chamber pots into the Chicago River. There's actually pictures of, black and white pictures of the Chicago River with ducks standing on top of the surface because it had this thick film kind of sludgy stuff. People called it the stinky river because you can just imagine what it smelled like. And when the Chicago Fire broke out on the lake side and hit the river, the river caught on fire because of all the waste. Through the years of 1880 and 1890s, you know, through that whole decade, at least 10,000 people a year were dying from cholera and typhoid fever and other diseases because of how putrid and diseased the water was. And after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, another 100,000 people died from illnesses carried by the river's water. Rather than tear down the city, move it, which they were seriously thinking they were going to have to do, the Corps of Engineers came up with this idea, what if we changed the flow? Because what was happening is the Chicago River was coming down and it was emptying into Lake Michigan right where all the city was drawing and it's drinking water. So all this sludge, all this pollution was emptying down the Chicago River from the slaughterhouses and all the waste into Lake Michigan. And people were drinking that water and getting sick and getting sick and getting sick and some of them were dying. So what they decided was to build an elaborate set of gates and locks. Locks are these things that help steer water. And they built the first one right where Lake Michigan and the Chicago River met, rather than flowing into Lake Michigan, water from Lake Michigan would now flow into the Chicago River. And then they built a 28-mile long canal with its own set of locks and gates that went all the way from Chicago down to the Displains River, out to the Illinois River and finally into the Mississippi. They literally changed the entire flow of a river. They moved more rock and soil in creating this canal than they did when they built the Panama Canal. It was the largest engineering project ever and it saved the city of Chicago. But in order to do that, they had to change the flow. And this river that was once this shallow, sluggish, diseased filled water became fresh and clean again. It was washed clean. And so the drinking water was saved. And when I think of that feat, this engineering feat, at the time it was like one of the most amazing things ever done, I think of what the prophet Ezekiel was shown by the Lord. He had this vision. In the 40th chapter of the book of Ezekiel, it says, He said to me, son of man, have you seen this? Then let me back along the bank of the river. And he said to me, the water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into Ereba. And when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature with swarms will live and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there that the waters of the sea may become fresh. So everything will live where the river goes. And in this prophetic vision, Ezekiel has seen the coming of the Holy Spirit. That this fresh flow that was going to come from God's temple and everywhere this flow went, the stagnant waters would be made fresh and life would flourish. New life would come forth because this water would go forth from God's temple and whatever it went and whatever it touched became fresh and alive and produced life. I believe that baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience that has been given to the church to release and strengthen the effects of our baptism and our confirmation so that this new life that Christ came to give us can be fully released in our life and we can become the people that God created us to be. That's what baptism in the Holy Spirit is all about. The term baptism in the Holy Spirit itself is a biblical term and it's been affirmed by popes and other church leaders throughout the history of the church. Jesus himself said, and I think Father Dave mentioned this scripture. I know that I think maybe Heather mentioned this scripture where Jesus says, I came to cast fire on the earth and would it that it were already kindled? You know, Jesus has come to cast this fire on the earth. He wants us to be ablaze with his love. He wants us to be on fire with his love. And Jesus himself in Acts chapter 1 before he leaves, before he ascends back to the Father he's meeting with it and he says he met with them. He enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak. So this is Jesus and you've heard me talk about the promise of the Father. For John baptized you with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Something new. Something amazing, something powerful. And Jesus went on to say you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So Jesus wants to baptize us with the Holy Spirit. He wants to baptize us with fire. He wants to baptize us in this power. At the beginning of Vatican II, St. John the 23rd prayed a prayer of Pentecost. He said renew your wonders in our time as though for a new Pentecost. And do you know that an hour away from here is the Ark and Dove where the Holy Spirit first fell upon a bunch of college students who didn't really know what they were doing. They were just praying for the church and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. And it became like ground zero for what we now know is the Catholic Charismatic renewal that has reached millions of millions of people across the planet. It's right in our own backyard. Just right outside of Wexford, Pennsylvania. It's amazing. That was the fruit of St. John the 23rd's prayer. It was one of them, right? St. John Paul the Great said, the institutional and charismatic aspects are co-essential as it were to the church's constitution. It's from this providential rediscovery of the church's charismatic dimension that before and after the council a remarkable pattern of growth has been established for ecclesial movements and new communities. So here we have St. John Paul the Great saying it was a providential rediscovery of this baptism in the Holy Spirit. Providential. That means that this is sent by God because it's what the church needs. And we were blessed to rediscover it in our time. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2008 said in effect Jesus' whole mission was aimed at giving the Spirit of God to men and realizing them in a bath of regeneration. When we think about the mission of Christ and he says it is finished and he passes away on the cross, right? Those last words, it is finished. He's not saying the work of salvation is done. He's saying my mission as the Christ is done. As the one who was anointed with the Holy Spirit in his flesh as the perfect sacrifice to take away the sins of the world is complete. We see in the Gospel of Matthew the veil in the temple that separated people from the inner presence of God was split in half. Symbolizing that whatever separated us from God had been torn down, torn asunder that there was nothing that could separate us from God anymore. But Jesus said, look, it's not done until you get the Holy Spirit. That's when it truly begins when you receive the Holy Spirit that is the Lord and giver of life. You've said that I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly. You're going to find that life through life in the Spirit. That's where you're going to find that abundant life that I spoke about. So wait, don't go anywhere. This is Jesus. Go make disciples, but wait. Don't go. Okay, Jesus, make up your mind. What are we doing? He's saying wait because you're going to need something. You're going to need the Holy Spirit. You're going to need a binder. Ten simple ways to build the church. Didn't leave them a big bag of money. Didn't even leave them a building to meet in. It's funny what we worry about as a church, right? We need a program. We need a program. We've got to figure this out. Who's got a program we can use? It's no program. It's a person. Church renewal comes about when we invite the person of the Holy Spirit into the center of everything we do. In any program, no matter how wonderful it might be, if it's not anointed by the Holy Spirit and blessed by God, we'll produce fruit because only the Holy Spirit changes things. Only the Holy Spirit changes things. So when Pope Benedict says, in effect, Jesus' whole mission was aimed at giving the Spirit of God to men and baptizing them in a bath of regeneration, we need to take note. And he goes on to say, he goes, today, this is 2008, today I would like to extend this invitation to all. Let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Let us recover awareness of our baptism and our confirmation. Ever timely sources of grace. So he's saying like, let's get baptized in the Holy Spirit and release the graces of our confirmation and our baptism in our lives because this is what we need people. This is why Jesus came. He just didn't come to tear down that wall. He came to give us life and that life is the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis himself in gathering renewal leaders from across the world says, you, the charismatic renewal have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement's birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be a current of grace in the church and for the church. Like we hear all these popes and all these great affirmation and yet why is it that so many people look down upon baptism in the Holy Spirit. It's like, oh, that's just that's just weird stuff. Unnecessary stuff. Frightening stuff. I don't know if that's for me. I don't know if I want that. I'll tell you why because Satan will do whatever he can to keep you from being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit because once that happens it's over. He can't touch you. The Holy Spirit is God's life manifested in our souls and if we surrender to everything that the Holy Spirit wants to do, guess what we become? Not crazy. Saints. Saints. And I don't know about you, but when the devil sees saints he gets really pissed off and he will do whatever he can to keep you from being a saint including trying to teach you and trick you into thinking that you don't need baptism in the Holy Spirit, that it's just weird, that it's too frightening, that it's too overwhelming. He'll do whatever he can to keep you from being active in the Holy Spirit because you know once that happens it's over. You'll be unstoppable, untouchable and he will be defeated. Like I said, we're created in the image and likeness of God and when Jesus died on the cross he broke the power of sin and death but our enemy still remains loose and he knows he can't defeat Jesus. So you know what he's going to go after? Those who choose to really live as his image and his likeness and everyone is in his image but only those who are going to really be in his likeness are those whose lives are marked by the vibrant work of the Holy Spirit. So in a way what I'm asking you to do by opening your heart to the Holy Spirit is putting you on the devil's watch list. Like he's making an enemy's list. You know why certain people have an easy life that they don't seem to get hassled a lot? Because they're not a threat to Satan's kingdom of darkness. You know what he sees? What he sees people actually taking steps towards becoming a safe, becoming the person that God wants. He's all of a sudden plotting and scheming how he can trip you up and undermine you at every step because if he can keep you from running into the arms of Jesus and receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit then he knows that you're going to be trapped. Because here's how it works. We're here. Satan is supernatural. That means that he has without God in our lives the power to oppress to bind us. Look at the people who've given their selves over to evil. But Jesus says in our scripture Luke chapter 4 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he's going to preach good news to the poor for freedom to captives to help those who've been oppressed and to open the eyes of the blind. We don't want to be living in bondage, oppression or blindness. We don't want these things because that's what God wants for us. And those who've given themselves over to the world and worldly pleasures are blind. They can't see what they need to see. And Satan doesn't want you to get 20-20 spiritual vision. Rather you be confused. Rather have you walk in fog. Jesus wants to get you so drunk with the Spirit that you finally walk on this earth sober, aware, in touch with yourself, with God, with the world around you in a way that you've never been before. It's beautiful. It's tremendous. Pope Francis went on to say what is the very first gift of the Holy Spirit? What is the very first gift of the Holy Spirit? The answer it's the gift of himself, the one who is love and makes us fall in love with Jesus. And this love changes our lives. That is why we speak of being born again in the Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit we're born again because all of a sudden everything in our lives becomes new. Like we're itty-bitty little babies seeing the world for the first time under in awe and joy. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience that's been given to the church to release and strengthen the effects of baptism and confirmation. It's a current of grace that transforms the human heart and forms the church. Now, why would we need something other than baptism and confirmation to make this happen? Why are baptism and confirmation in themselves enough? Well, from a lot of people they were. Because there was once a time when, you know, there was good formation and people were affirmed in their faith journey. The world around them affirmed them in their faith journey. But for most people who have walked this earth, including most of the saints we know, that wasn't the case. They lived their faith in contradiction to the culture around them. They were counter-cultural but they didn't care. They knew they had to be counter-cultural. But why would we need something more than baptism and confirmation to do this right? Well, let's look at what it says about the nature of sacraments. Because they're not magic. They're sacraments but they're not magic. It says in the Catechism, it's evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Oh, wow. Well, we go to chapter 2 and say what was that like? Well, first they had tongues of fire come down and rest on them. Then they were speaking in languages they'd never spoken before and they were understood by everybody. And then Peter got up and preached the Gospel and 3,000 people converted like instantaneously. Well, that's the effects that it had on the Apostles. But what is the effect that it had on you on your day of your confirmation? If you're like me, it was simply I had to get dressed up and all I was thinking about is I hope Grandma put a 20 in that card she got me. I wasn't worried about whether or not I was equipped for mission or alive in the Spirit. I didn't look for a current of grace. My personal formation in confirmation was a joke. I don't remember anything. I remember watching this film strip. You remember film strips? You had the little machine that just you had to click it and you'd have to listen to the tape on the cassette tape and it would beep and you're excuse to advance to the next thing. Our study school teacher showed us this little thing called Cree finds the way. It was about a little Native American boy wearing nothing but a loincloth. He was following the great spirit out in the desert. Like somehow that's supposed to teach me what it means to be good Catholic. It was nonsense. But it was the 70s so nobody cared. But it did matter because it goes on to say about every sacrament it only works if number one this is catechism paragraph 1127 it says celebrated worthily in faith the sacraments confer the grace that they signify a fire transforms itself into everything it touches so the Holy Spirit transforms into divine life whatever is subjected to its power. Let me read that one more time. The Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to its power. And you know what I never did as part of preparation or on the day of my conversion I mean a confirmation I never subjected any part of my life to his power. There was no active participation in that sacrament in my part. I went through the motions it conferred the grace but I was not subject to his power because I did not bend my will at all. I didn't ask for it I didn't want it. It goes on to say in the next paragraph it says from the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the church the power of Christ and the Spirit acts and through it independently of the personal holiness of the minister nevertheless the fruits of the sacrament also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them. How many of you had little or no disposition to your baptism or confirmation if you're a baby you're kind of like remember being baptized if you were baptized as a baby right? This is the sacrament that made you a child of God that made you an inheritance you know gave you the inheritance of all that God is but we don't remember being baptized and were we ever fully instructed in our catechesis or our formation as young people about what it meant to be a child of God to live a life of grace did we ever receive any of that were we ever invited to submit our hearts and minds and our souls in every part of our lives to Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit ever because if we weren't and we didn't even though we received that grace it remained in our soul untapped, unrealized, unreleased and unable to change us the grace is there like an atomic bomb and God is just giving you this little hammer and says just tap a few times on the top and see what happens you're like he just wants to blow you up okay not literally come on, that'd be gross but he wants to release this grace in our lives that can feel like an explosion but for me I think it also feels like when you're sitting on the beach just letting the waves roll over you just sitting in the water just letting wave after wave roll out it's not a fun feeling just kind of drifting and feeling waves wash over you maybe your head's just below the surface and it's quiet and you just feel wave after wave roll over your body you can feel the warmth and then you can feel the cool of the water it's just this amazing peaceful tranquil feeling the it's not about looking for a particular feeling it's about giving God permission yielding these are words that nobody you know to yield you ever get cut off in traffic that's involuntary yielding when we involuntarily yield to somebody we're usually like flipping them the bird you know what do you think you're doing you know I mean like the real test of my holiness is when I'm in traffic and I'm not holy in traffic which makes me realize I'm probably not holy at all much but there's two parts of every sacrament the opus operantum it's just a fancy way of saying that's God's part it's the lavish gift of grace that comes to us in super abundance it's present in every sacrament it was present in your baptism it was present in your confirmation but there was also the opus operantis and that's our part the part where we are in the proper state of receptivity which means we're properly prepared to receive the sacrament we're free from mortal sin our hearts and minds are attuned to God and our wills desire what God desires to give us in this sacrament that's a tall order that's a lot to ask of somebody when they're seven thirteen even when I was confirmed at sixteen I don't even know if I knew what it all meant because I did not get the foundational understanding of God as my father and his desiring good for me there was just this disconnect between all this life of the church and the living God but when it comes to baptism and confirmation what is our part what is the opus operantis it is faith it is receptivity it's repentance of sins and which is why I'm so happy that Heather went there last night we cannot be filled with sin and filled with the spirit we cannot be the more we empty ourselves and shred and shed this sin from our lives the more free we're going to be able to receive now it'll always depend on God's grace it's an initiative we will not have to get rid of X amount of sin in our lives before the spirit can start working if we desire it that's all that matters is that first step of saying okay Jesus I want to be more like you I want to get back to you I need to change I know this Jesus I'm convicted in my heart I need to change you help me with your spirit but then in that the other day was saying holiness is not just the absence of sin in our lives it's being open to all of what God wants to give and it's surrender which is the hardest part right? you know what the first thing to die in the Garden of Eden was the catechism teaches us that the first thing to die was the trust that Adam and Eve had of God because it's the first thing to die sometimes it's the hardest thing for us to restore trusting God with everything it's how we get there even trusting in God as a gift of grace which is why we always have to pray God send me more of your Holy Spirit so I can grow and trust so I can give you more of my heart so I can grow more of the Holy Spirit but I need more of your Holy Spirit so I can trust you more so I can ask for more of the Holy Spirit and surrender more of my life and make this baby step I don't know if anyone ever saw the movie I don't know if it was the 80s or 90s what about Bob with Bill Murray baby steps baby stepping it's funny it's like a therapy method little baby steps the baby steps are enough with Jesus and that surrender is also like say okay I want to yield my will the part of me that decides what I'm going to do with my day I no longer want to live for myself Jesus because you know what living for yourself is a recipe for complete and utter misery you're never going to be happy if you live for yourself there's not joy found in selfishness that's one of those lies that the devil has tricked so many people into believing follow your heart I followed my heart you know I ended up inside my chest it was weird follow your dreams I don't even want to go there be true to yourself no Jesus Christ is the way the truth in the life I need to be following Jesus and it all comes back down to those two words follow me the words that we heard affirmed in the gospel today follow me don't follow your dreams follow Jesus it's a lot harder to follow Jesus than it is your dreams why because mediocre people are always at their best and I can have the best or the worst dreams and it doesn't matter because if I'm being true to myself I can rationalize being a total turd 24-7 365 I can do that because I'm looking at myself I'm so self-referential in my own eyes I'm doing great Jesus Christ is our standard Jesus Christ is the one who stands before us and says I am the way the truth in the life you want to follow me guess where the path always goes right through the cross it doesn't go around it it doesn't go around under it it goes through the cross and if Jesus Christ the Son of God the perfect person the incarnation of the second person of the Holy Trinity needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to complete his work on earth you better believe that you and I need it and need it in abundance the humility of God to stand at the river of Jordan asking to be baptized to show us that nothing was beneath him in order to teach us the way to live the humility of God to allow himself to be beaten stripped of his flesh nailed to a cross in order to show us what the depths of love are there should be no pride in our lives when we look at Jesus but just total resignation say God if you're willing to do this for me there should be nothing I'm unwilling to do for you so I give it to you every part of my life all I ask Lord is that you give me your Holy Spirit and when we say to the Holy Spirit we just said we want it all I want it all Lord whatever you want don't desire anything but what God wants you know what's I believe that God wants to give some of you the gift of tongues why because as we pray the Spirit takes us throughout the gift of tongues it says that when we are unsure how to pray the Spirit prays through us I can tell you that I have been speaking in tongues consistently since I was 18 years old and the best time I use it is when I'm alone with God and I don't know what to say and I just kind of yield to the Spirit and start praying in the Spirit you know in my own life when I first encountered the charismatic renewal it freaked me out this whole thing about speaking in tongues I was at this net retreat and the team asked me to do prayer with them so I went and sat down they were like where are we going to pray I thought we were going to go to the chapel but they said no let's pray outside under this tree so they're standing in the circle and they're singing songs and they're singing the praise and worship and they're singing really loud and they're putting their hands in the air and never seen that I wasn't sure about that and then they were like really singing like getting into it and kind of moving but they didn't stop like they kept praising God and singing Hallelujah we praise you Jesus Glory to you Lord God Holy is your name and then the guy next to me I wasn't sure what he was saying but I think he made a bad carbide decision because he was sitting there going like I should have bought a Honda I should have bought a Honda I should have bought a Honda and I was like what shut the front door and I lost her cat she's like here here and like you know like there's other guys like I don't know he's wearing a t-shirt but he's going like see my new bow tie see my new bow tie and I'm like what and I mean I could feel like as I'm watching this thing and these guys they got some good drugs or or something else is going on and I could feel the defenses rising but I looked across people I was praying with and I saw this young woman a few years older than me she's absolutely beautiful but it was the most striking thing about her was she was just there with her arms open like this the big smile on her face you know what she was saying I love you Jesus I love you so much and I looked at my life and I looked at hers and I realized here I was 18 years old raised Catholic church every Sunday sacraments check check check I've done in my entire life in 18 years I've never turned to my God and said I love you Jesus and meant it and I felt shame I felt empty and I said God whatever gives her the freedom to tell you that and mean it I want that I want to love you Jesus the way these people love you I want to I want to know you the way they know you I had no idea when I prayed the prayer that the fallout of that was but what I realized is that all you do is ask and God gives and that's what we're going to do right now we're going to ask and God is going to give so here's what we're going to do I'm not going to ask you to stand at this moment not going to ask you to do anything but just sit I guess in case you forgot you can take a breath and just know that God is here to bless you to nourish your souls and we're just going to pray come Holy Spirit John Paul is going to lead us into a refrain I'm going to step out of this way because remember I've done this like literally hundreds and hundreds of times maybe thousands I've never baptized anyone in the Holy Spirit you know why Jesus is the one who baptizes you in the Holy Spirit so our prayer is to the Lord Jesus this afternoon he's the one that's going to come in glory he's the one that's going to do this work we're just going to call upon the Holy Spirit John Paul just lead us please just from your heart to his we sing Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Holy Spirit so I'm going to lead us in a prayer it's a simple prayer where I'll say a line and I'll just ask you to repeat it and the prayer starts off with us giving our hearts to Jesus once again making him the Lord of everything because the end of life in the Spirit is a complete submission of our lives hearts, minds, souls and wills to the Lordship of Jesus Christ he's the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end and the Holy Spirit as the Lord and giver of life is the energy that propels us forward on that journey then we're going to be praying a simple prayer that Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit because seriously this is not forced on anybody and you don't if you don't feel ready you certainly shouldn't feel like okay I've got a pose and I've got to do this whatever I respect people who are on the journey and I respect God's timing for each individual person but if you are in this chapel and you're ready to allow the Holy Spirit to come into your life in a new way you want to receive baptism in the Holy Spirit I'm just going to invite you to stand and baptize in the Holy Spirit before guess what you can do it many times there's not just one occasion to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and it's just an opportunity to receive grace and after we pray for the general baptism in the Holy Spirit John Paul is going to take us back into just praying in general and then I just want you to say Holy Spirit whatever you want whatever gift you want to give me and just be letting the Holy Spirit pour out upon you and stir up in you whatever gifts he wants to give you some of the gifts you have are already locked inside of you and are just waiting to be released others are going to be kind of revealed to you in a new and powerful way but let's just be open but first let's pray this prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Lord Jesus I turn to you this day to receive the new life that you died to give me I repent of my sins I turn to you in faith for the salvation and forgiveness you won for me on the cross through the shedding of your blood I renounce Satan and all his empty promises I surrender my life to you I give every part of my heart to you come into my heart be the Lord of my life be my Savior and my King Father as your child in Jesus I desire to be your instrument I want to build your kingdom and I desire to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit Jesus my Savior and King baptize me in the Holy Spirit and power strengthen me to be your faithful disciple I want to love you more closely and love you more deeply transform me according to your will Holy Spirit I love you Holy Spirit I adore you Holy Spirit I invite you to empower me and fill me to overflowing heal and restore me I hold nothing back from you increase in me the virtues of faith hope and love I open my life to your gifts let your gifts become active in my life come Holy Spirit come Holy Spirit come Holy Spirit come Holy Spirit come Holy Spirit I ask this all in Jesus' mighty name Amen Amen Amen let us worship let us worship open your floodgates to heaven let gates of heaven let gates of heaven let gates of heaven since another wave of peace coming upon this room right now the Lord just wants to give peace specifically I know there's somebody out there that's really struggling with a family member who's left the faith that's caused you a lot of heartache that your ache with desired their life for their soul The Lord just wants you to surrender and trust, but He knows, He's aware, and He cares. Just pray and don't worry. We're just that scripture of cast all your cares on Him, but He cares for you. Lord Jesus, we surrender, we trust. Send forth your spirit that through our surrender and trust, we might find deeper peace. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. There's so many Psalms, but if you read the Psalms, either this person is the most blessed, spiritually gifted, wonderful person, or they're in the pits of hell. There's so many Psalms that talk about the highest highs and the lowest lows. But the thing that's in all of them is the faithfulness of God and how we can pull ourselves out of things and put ourselves into God through praise. And so I want to pray and I want you all to ask for a great gift of praise to be poured out upon you. And the best way to receive that gift is just with a voice of praise. You know, I think it was last night when we were talking about worship and Chris was talking about how it's the praise of God that pulls us out of ourselves. It keeps us from turning in on ourselves and collapsing in ourselves. So let's just praise God now and ask the Holy Spirit to increase the gift of praise in our hearts by just giving God thanks and praise and worship and adoration. We praise you, Jesus. We give you all the glory, Lord God. I love you, Jesus. Tell the Lord you love him. Share with the Lord your gratitude. Share the Lord the praise in your hearts. Sing to the Lord a new song. We worship you, Jesus. Glory to your holy name, Lord Jesus. Holy is your name, Jesus. Praise your mighty name, Lord God. Holy is your mighty name, oh Lord. We worship you, Lord Jesus. We love you, Jesus. Holy is your name, oh Lord. Praise your mighty name, Lord Jesus. God delights in the praise of his children. Just sing out your love to the Lord. Do not be ashamed. Lord, loosen our lips that our hearts, that our mouths may proclaim your glory for you alone are worthy, Lord. You alone are worthy to sit on the throne of the universe to receive our endless praise, our worship, our adoration. We exalt and magnify you, Jesus. You're the land that was slain. You have risen from the dead, conquered sin and death. We worship and exalt you, Jesus. Our Lord, our Savior, our God, our King. Praise to you, Lord Jesus. Holy is your name, Lord God. Glory and honor and praise to you, Lord Jesus. There is none like you, none that can compare to you, Jesus. You are everything. You are the bread of life, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords. We bow before you, Lord Jesus, and we worship you. Glory to you, Lord Jesus. Holy is your name, oh Lord. Holy is your name. I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. Holy is your name, oh Lord. Praise your mighty name, oh Lord. Time flies. You're having fun. We're getting close to the end of our time here, but I feel led by the Spirit to pray for this. I believe that there's a gift, the gift of tongues that God wants to give some people here today. And I think some people here are called to receive that gift. Is the gift of tongues for everyone? Is the gift of tongues a sign that you're specially and dearly chosen and loved by God? Of course not. But for anyone who wants to go deeper in prayer, anyone who struggles to yield their lives, because if you tell me what speaking in tongues is the first thing I want to say, it's just yielding our voices to let the angels praise God through us, to let the Spirit himself praise God in a heavenly language through us. And it takes us to a deeper spiritual plane, a deeper intimacy with Jesus. And some of you are craving that. You want to be so close to Jesus. So I'm just going to lead us. Because part of what I would say is like, for me, being able to yield in prayer helps me yield every part of my life to God's Spirit. So here I want to invite you just to take a deep breath and just yield to, okay, God, take my mind. Let me not overthink. I just surrender. Spirit, just come upon me. Fill my mind. Fill my breath. Just overwhelm me. Come, Holy Spirit. And just begin to let praise come forth. Praise to Jesus. Glory to you, Lord God. I give you my heart. I surrender my mind. I surrender my will. I just surrender my need to be in control. I surrender that which holds me back from completely giving. Just take my heart. My mind, my will, every part of me and pray through me heart. And at some point, brothers and sisters, it just means letting go and starting to let even the noises you're not sure it doesn't matter. It's a sign of faith. It's a movement of the Spirit. It doesn't need to make sense. Just let the Spirit pray. Trust in Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And we just hit 4.30. And so the nice thing is, whatever we're going to do tonight before the Blessed Sacrament, it's just going to be a continuation of this. It's not over. We're just going to take a small break for dinner. We're going to come back and we're going to do a lot more of this tonight. Over in the Field House. But before we go away, I think it would be remiss if we did not do some sort of Thanksgiving chorus to God. John Paul, can you make that happen? Were we just thank God? How many of you really felt the Holy Spirit moving in your heart today in a new way? How many of you feel like, you know, like you're ready to go further with the Holy Spirit? How many of you actually received the gift of tongues this afternoon? Think you did anyway. I mean, like, it's tricky, right? You're like, okay, I was doing something there. It wasn't me. Trust that God is doing that, okay? And if that's something that you all want, just go before the Lord. Jesus said, Jesus, tonight I want to be able to pray in a new way. Or I want to be able to hear you and proclaim your goodness to other people. Just ask for those gifts and you'll be given to them. He's generous that way. It's an awesome experience. Paul, let's just thank the Lord for this time together. I'm so blessed to be able to see God work so powerfully in the lives of so many of you. And I want to thank God as well.