 I'm probably gonna I'm gonna teach you a little prayer song we're gonna start with that and then and then we're gonna go Into the talk for those of you who obviously have seen me do presentations in the past It's a little different than than the hosting role So it's gonna be a little more teaching time and then we're gonna have some questions and answers at the end Okay, so it'll be fun. You should laugh a bit. We'll tell some funny stories But this is gonna be a great little talk and opportunity to kind of get You know down and dirty about some specifics and ways that we can really live out our faith and the power of the spirit especially in this time so Why don't we get ready and I'm gonna switch mics That's cool If I take off my jacket, are you gonna be okay with that? some of you Are struggling being so attracted to me and I understand that okay, so Okay, oh, yeah Yeah Sound like what did he do something? You forget I used to be in rock and roll. I was in a band called boys to men The Lord can do something with me Father, son, Holy Spirit in me. Thank you for today. Thank you for these amazing men and women I want more of you. So we invite you Holy Spirit to teach about the beauty of what love looks like teaches how to be filled You you you can look at I don't know what you need, but I believe that God wants to meet your needs I've said that a number of times and so if this isn't real if Jesus isn't real if he didn't really give us his Spirit if in fact the father is a farce then we are the most ridiculous of people If Jesus has remained dead we are fools But if in fact it's true that God the father loved so entirely and completely and in the generosity of this Godhead chose To become flesh and dwell among us and the person of Jesus Christ Who lived the perfect life of love And promised to pour his spirit upon us so that we could be empowered to do great things If that's true then we are unstoppable and the verses like greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world are important I'll steal I like the idea of Jesus inviting his disciples to just come and be with them to sit to talk to laugh For some of you who have been married for a long period of time You know the beauty of just being together with someone that you love you don't have to do Anything you can just be and it's a beautiful experience And I think that's what our faith is supposed to be like just being And the doing flows from the being that's what I think so what you listen to this again This is quite I'll steal the day you can look at me The father suddenly spread in them we're gonna pray at the end a little bit so okay I'm just gonna keep my jacket off. It's just to dress the obvious problem here and that is I have a lot of weird birthmarks and I can't do anything about it my parents were artists kind of screwed me up as a child so How many of you have a past? How many of you've been trying to hide your past most of your entire life? How many of you have people in elementary school middle school high school that could disclose your past and it terrifies you? I think sometimes we wish in a way that our life were different sometimes I think that we have these idealized versions of what it looks like to be a great saint And so we imagine what it looks like to be a great saint. I think you imagine what it looks like for you to be a great saint What is it? For some of you it's like well, I would be praying non-stop. I would spend you know countless hours before the Blessed Sacrament I'd be praying the the rosary ten thousand times, you know, and gosh everywhere I went people would be just so in awe of my holiness I Would buy a locate I would levitate I could read people's souls And when you have this list and the list comes from basically probably saints that you like the amazing wonders and the things that they've done That's your idea of what it would look like to be a saint But what if what if what it looked like to be a saint was your regular mundane life? What if that actually was the journey towards sanctity and you can't imagine it some of you have been praying that you could get tuberculosis So you could be like Saint Trez And but we have all of these bizarre ideas of what it looks like to be a saint because because that's how our saints that we love that We are attracted to that's how they died wouldn't it be great if we could have that same death and you're you know You're right in a sense that it'd be great for us all to have a holy death But guess what maybe a holy death could literally actually be you dying With your family surrounding you praying the rosary or maybe a holy death could literally be you you know in your bed Snoring and dying. I don't know how death works. I haven't experienced it yet, but I know it's pretty unique to the person Pretty specific to that person We have an idealized version of what it looks like to be a great saint But did you know there's no repeat saints not one saint is the same So we we have a number of saints that the church has intentionally canonized be adipide We call venerable this journey towards you know the ultimate right canonization is not something that's just random No big deal. I mean think people knew right when Mother Teresa passed away. That was a saint In fact many people said that to her before she died and she would say well I have to be dead first in order to be a saint the reality of sanctity is something that that is not a surprise Look at me. You don't wake up one day in heaven like oh my how did I get here? It's your whole life. It's what it it's what it is like you this is what you've been doing your whole life Now there are certainly I think some places in ways that we can have a little bit more of a fast track towards sanctity a little bit Clear a path like avoiding sin and and maybe having our lady help hold our hand and guide the way I think there's definitely some some highways when it comes to the the road to sanctity But I guarantee you there's a lot of cars on that highway and not one of them is the same So I think we have a weird idea often times is that When we hold an idealized diversion of what it looks like to be a great saint, we don't really live a saintly life So look at me if you're holding to a preconceived idealized version of what it looks like to be a great saint You will never truly live out the life of being a great saint Because you've robbed yourself the opportunity to be a genuine unique Contribution to the family of God now Some people get upset and they think well like okay. What does that mean? Well, what that means is that God? Doesn't manipulate you and force you to walk in the path That is best for you now. Here's the amazing thing about God God doesn't doesn't doesn't basically give up on you when you deviate from the best path And I think that's part of the big message here is that is that when God does a great work? He can do a great work in a variety of ways and circumstances and because we're human persons and have freedom of choice There's gonna be a lot of different times on the journey that we go over here and over there That was not necessarily the most ideal situation But we can ultimately know and have confidence that whatever those Deviations and journeys and variables along the way whatever they are whatever they might look like God is bigger than any of those deviations and you know numerous little bumps along the way. Are you picking up what I'm throwing down? This is a very important principle for us because because I think God gives us enough time to be great saints And you might say well Chris, I haven't done a great job of being a great saint I've taken a lot of variables paths. I've done a lot of things that I wish I wouldn't have and the truth is You know, I probably don't have much time left There's not enough time to be a great saint. Look at me. Look at it. Look at it. Look at it Yes, there is See part of that is your journey and none of it is outside of the reach of God and He can take whatever remains that time and he can use it for the glory right of God and Maybe that's part of your journey is The realization of what it will look like and could look like for you to say yes To the uniqueness of God working in you and through you See the reason all of this is a factor because when we talk about the work of the Holy Spirit the irrepressibility Of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit wants to do something in you and through you Period and the reason is because of baptism We're invited into the very life of God and it's not just a club and not just a gathering of people who share similar Beliefs it's not just a place where we can feel good But it's a place where this family of God where we are empowered then by that spirit of God to go out and live Now what are we to go out and live? We're to go out and live like Jesus. So look it Jesus who's the last Adam he basically Fixes the mistake of the first Adam he comes and he lives out the fullness of what it means to be fully human And to love God in a proper and in an obedient way. This is a very important point of the incarnation Because Adam set us spinning he and Eve by that choice free will by the way not manipulated not coerced a willing free choice To do something that they know that they were not supposed to do that spun everything off of its axis There's no longer unity with God no longer unity within themselves and no longer unity within each other and because of the Consequences the radical massive consequences of a temporal being Adam and Eve offending an eternal being God Who's eternally father son and spirit? There's no way they could have just fixed it by saying I'm sorry This is the intensity of what we learn in the Old Testament that sin is severe It's so severe that it justifies right the loss of life and so animals according to certain stipulations and and Situations they would be Sacrificed and representatives for the individuals so they could have a time and a period of basically Right passing that guilt escape goats But it wasn't the ultimate forgiveness and what God wanted it was to teach us that sin is so radical and so intense And so severs us off that main path It's so changes the way that we think about ourselves and others that what we need is to be like clicked back into place and not Just repaired but given a new heart and a new mind Hebrews 8 10 And this I love is that God doesn't just want to kind of fix this together with twine and Basically kind of Jerry we get with duct tape. He looks at you and he realizes okay What needs to happen is you need a complete overhaul a brand new start a new beginning And so God looks at you and he says because your mind buried with me in baptism raised the newness of life I'm going to give you a whole new way of living a whole new outlook on life It is the proverbial rose colored glasses because you're looking through things because of the blood of Christ That's been shed on your behalf not as a scapegoat as the one that one who really in fact does forgive your sins Look at me. Look at the guy you're tracking with me. Are you following me? Yeah? I know you just ate You're not allowed to get sleepy. Okay The thing about this that I love in which is so important is that Jesus Becomes flesh right the second person of blessed Trinity becomes flesh Jesus lives that perfect life in obedience to the father as the last Adam He undoes the mistake of that first Adam That's why we look at he a Mary and call her the new Eve right the knot of Eve's disobedience is undone by the obedience of Mary And so what we have here is we have almost like a new beginning right in the beginning God created the heavens of the earth and you have that story and there's the human person Adam and Eve and they make these choices and These choices have great possibilities or great consequences that are negative What would have happened if Adam would not have sinned or Eve would not have sinned in that moment Who knows this is what's so fascinating? See Adam was called to tend and to keep that garden But the truth was he didn't do his job He shirked his responsibility. How do we know that because Eve is over there hanging out next to the tree and Then there's the serpent and some people have a real problem with this Why would a good-loving God allow for the serpent to be in the garden in the first place? You know how the serpent got there? It's Adam's fault That's how the serpent got there. He didn't do his job He didn't tend he didn't keep he was not responsible God gave him dominion over all those animals gave him the ability right to do things that really are Not understood by us as human persons in the sense that he didn't have any conflict within himself because he didn't have concupiscence that that propensity towards sin. He didn't have a disconnect right with who he was yet integrity. He had basically Almost at that time kind of the state sense of death So we would call that that preternatural gift like immortality and he knew things and he had what's called like an infusion of knowledge And because that was happening. He was set up for success But when the garden scenario happens that great epic battle between the enemy when the enemy comes in the serpent And he basically taunts Eve and asks did God really say that you would die if you eat from that There's a decisive moment where Adam epically fails because what should have happened there is Adam looked at the serpent and said I don't care if I die this day But I will defend my bride and we will do what God asked us to do and not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good Nibel if he would have done that who knows what would have happened who knows what would have happened Maybe at that moment all of humanity was set into the beatific vision and that's where we were going to spend forever Immediately without all of this other stuff. We don't know but because he chose sin and she chose sin what happens is is that we deviated off course and it's going to take us Covenant after covenant after covenant to realize how severe sin is Why so long between the garden and the cross and the reason is that the human person is inclined to forget The human person without that infusion of knowledge Now we are mortal and now we don't have that integrity with all those Possibilities of deviating from here to there It's going to take us a long time to realize that we were made for something more than just going through the motions And satisfying urges and trying to fulfill what like needs with wants. Are you following me? And so we bring up that moment right the incarnation because God is not just interested in us going through the motions He made the human person in his image and likeness isn't inviting him into the very life of himself And so he's going to fix the one thing that could keep us from truly loving him You could say well, what if what if a person was born and did not sin Could they die for us and for our sins and the answers no Because adam and eve were born without original sin and they made the choice to sin Could eve uh have said i'm sorry adam said i'm sorry and and and and then we're all back on track and be forgiven And no big deal no because that offense by a temporal being was to an eternal being you can't just say sorry Well, what about mary could mary have been born without original sin conceived without original sin And then died on the cross for our sins And we would be forgiven could that have happened No Because she's a human person not an eternal being See the thing about today and this is really important is that when we talk about the work of the spirit It's always going to go back to the reality Of jesus christ as the last adam who's wanting to show the human person What it really looks like to love god serve god and obey god That's why jesus when he walks among us and he and he says things like you know be healed or uh or uh Lazarus come forth and and all of these words that are so powerful like he was without sin cast the first stone The reason he does these things and heals these people is because he's showing us that god's power Is unstoppable that when god chooses to do something Nothing can come against it not a physical ailment Like a paralyzed person not a spiritual problem like the the man of jeresine who was possessed by the demons There's not any type of internal chaos like even judas betraying him right There's nothing and no obstacle that can stop the mission of god And jesus goes to the cross and he's not killed. He lays down his life He's he's willingly giving his spirit to the father. Why because he's showing us This is what it looks like to fully be alive to fully be Be empowered and to give back to the father in obedience and the love of the spirit Of a life that is beautiful and good and true And so there he lays down his life for his bride He fights the serpent and wins the last adam defeats sin Where is your sting are you following me? Are you listening? We're supposed to be a charismatic group here There we go. There's an arm. All right So what happens what happens jesus says Okay, i'm gonna go and i'm gonna prepare a place for you. I've got everything situated now I've set it up for your success I want you to realize how much i love you and you were made to be in communion and union with me I want you to be one with me so in order for you not to feel like orphans and to be empowered I'm gonna send the very spirit of god upon you And this is what's so amazing the love of god is within us We are invited into the life of god because of this incredible gift Look at look at look at look at the thing that was in the way sin with all of its consequences and radical Kind of effects is now eliminated because of Calvary that work on the cross But see it's not just a life of being forgiven and here I want to have you be peaceful It is that but it's now a work to be done But the work to be done has to overflow from being more than from doing. Are you listening to me? This is a big a big big deal a big deal We can't spend our time worrying about all the things that we have to do or should be doing The key the key is and the secret is to be with god and from that being we will begin the doing I want you to think in your mind of uh Of a of a fountain Not a not a lake not a pond not even a stream but a fountain And you are the vessel and you as long as you stay underneath that never-ending flow from the fountain will be filled to overflowing The reality is many of you come to these conferences are entirely depleted There is nothing within you to give to anyone else because you feel so empty And ultimately what you're needing in your life is a refilling to overflowing But the only way that you can live your life in an effective and a powerful way is to do two things One is to remember the work of jesus christ and what he's done and the reality of the spirit of god in your life I want to show you this from actually from a scripture passage because saint peter our very first Pope said this and it was written In uh his second letter So if you are looking for it, it's second peter and it's all the way to the right It's pretty much near the end of the bible It's kind of very much close to the book of revelation And this is what he said saint peter said his divine power is granted to us all things that pertain to life in godliness How many things? Listen to this his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life in godliness Through the knowledge of him who called to us to him his own glory and excellence By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises that through these precious great promises through these You may escape the corruption that is in the world because of passion and become partakers of the divine nature Now look at that's what happened at baptism everybody is a partaker now of the divine nature. Look at look at look at Everybody has passions in this room. Do you know that you have passions? Nothing wrong with passions passions can be good or they can be disordered ordered or disordered passions, right? How do you know which is which? Well, if you see someone and you think oh, you know, that's a beautiful person That's not a disordered passion, but if you see that person think i'm gonna kill their husband and take her That's a disordered passion And there's ways to respond to those So let's say you have a disordered passion You're driving and somebody walks really slow in front of your car and you have this desire I want to run them over by the way, totally normal desire and The reality that disordered passion now you can respond to it in two ways One is listed or allowable and the other is illicit. That's not allowable So if in fact you run over that person For your information, you should be in jail. Okay That's disordered passion and it's illicitly responded to this is a very important principle for us because Because what happens is is that being invited by God into the very divine life and given these very great and precious promises We are are asked to look at ourselves a little bit different than what we originally thought And so st. Peter writes and he says For this very reason because of the fact that you're baptized and you're invited into all of this goodness For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge With self control and self control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness And godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. Do you know what those are? Those are the virtues the cardinal virtues and the theological virtues. So basically saying look, you're born again Your followers of jesus christ, you're part of him The life of god is within you so now live differently and you're going to want to unpack these virtues in your life Well then verse 80 says for if these things those virtues if these things are yours and abound They keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ How many of you want to be effective and fruitful when it comes to your relationship with god? Amen, so guess how you do that I'm gonna show you and i'm just gonna read what st. Peter said our very first pope If you want to have that at effectivity that productivity you need a person who's growing in virtue But what if you're struggling with growing in virtue? This is what he says he goes Whoever lacks these things these virtuous gifts cardinal theological virtue whoever lacks these is blind and shortsighted Now you might not like that, but that's the case if you're struggling with virtue That means that there's an area in your life that you're blinded in and and you're shortsighted So now there's you need a clarity of perspective. What is the glasses? What is the remedy to fix your sight? Here it is You are blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins This is insanely awesome Because it always comes back to the cross. This is why st. Paul said i determined to know nothing among you except jesus christ And him crucified is why he said to the Galatians i have been crucified with christ It's no longer i live but christ who lives in me See the reality of the cross is it's the reminder that that i'm new now i'm different The life of god is within me And so what we do is Following the lead of our elder brother jesus that perfect man who gave the entirety of himself back to the father and the love of the spirit Now we are given the opportunity to be set back on track to be forgiven of original sin and even right actual sins And now empowered by that very love of god and spirit of god. We are sent To go into the world and do what? To be fully human To live what it looks like to be an obedient son and and daughter In a world that is dark We're meant to be in the world but not of the world where we're called right and chosen To go and be fulfillers of the great commission Right go into all the world and preach the gospel Judea Jerusalem to the ends of the earth right in your here moment and your little bit of extended outreach in the entire world Look, you are called because of your baptism To be priest prophet and king. That's what father davis talking about guess what To do that to live an effective and powerful christian life you have to remember That you've been forgiven from your sins and what will that do that'll help remind you that you filled with the spirit of god Can do anything If it's for his glory Are you listening to me? You are not listening to me Here's the thing about today when we talk about the irrepressibility of the holy spirit this idea Clicks perfectly in place with seeing all of the work that the son does And all of the work that the father had done when you look at the old testament In other words these principles and i'm going to give you five Are very much in step with the way that god worked in the old testament The way that god worked in the gospels and the way that god works in the new testament And the way that god wants to work in you right now But all of this is connected to the reality of our Receptivity of that salvific gift and the receptivity of the spirit of god. Are you listening? Here we go All right, here's the first the irrepressibility of the spirit That's the name of the talk and we are ready to go now that we are halfway through today. All right, so The first is this the irrepressibility of the spirit over natural barriers And i'm just going to give you examples of these with some scripture references for your own study The first natural burial that we have a barrier that we get an example of the work of the spirit being greater over Is language that very first moment in the acts of the apostles chapter two six to eleven Each person heard in their own tongue the mighty deeds of god and that's what it is They don't hear about some sort of intricate deep theological variable Although these have theological realities the truth is they talk about the mighty works of god And each person coming into that area into jerusalem that day Heard in their own language the testimony and the witness of what god had done In the old testament and in fact what god had done obviously in the life of jesus himself And they were so flabbergasted by this because these average joes and james people who have no great significance Were speaking languages that would fall and stride and and stepped with even personal dialects and things That would be very unknown to folks in that area in region You know when you travel around the world you realize that most people know numerous languages It's only in america that we've specialized in only knowing one That's a little bit of a cynical uh look but it but it's kind of true When i was over in malaysia a few years ago, uh honestly all those kids not only did they know english But they also knew chinese And they each had their own personal dialect and then there was a primary language in A malaysia that they all would speak at least four languages were the common reality I was in the philippines just recently most those philippinos can speak numerous languages a variety of dialects This is so common and normal and so for them in that area to hear People speaking those kind of unique specialized languages was unbelievable Some assumed that they were drunk. They said absolutely not right? We're not drunk as you suppose. We're just filled with the holy ghost All right, so there it is So the holy spirit in that early church in that moment that irrepressibility of the spirit the first natural barrier The one thing that should have stopped the going forth of the gospel the language barrier is eliminated with the work of the spirit Now some of you are a little bit freaked out with everybody speaking in tongues. Okay, I get it. It's a little bit strange I understand But honestly, it's kind of fascinating that the word of god is so true then and it's so true now There have been times in stories of people that I've met and talked to who have been speaking in tongues And a person next to them said what you're speaking my tribal dialect. How do you know that? And they have no idea. They're just praying in the spirit And sometimes we're like, oh my gosh, this sounds a lot like like gibberish. Is this even a word? I think I've said that word like 14 times like I mean this can't possibly right But see god we're talking about all of time gives to each of us the opportunity to pray in a language in the spirit That allows for us to worship him sometimes when we don't have the proper intellectual capacity to articulate what we're feeling And in that moment being filled with the spirit Pentecost, right? We have this unfolding of the spirit of god and what should have been a barrier is no longer a barrier Another natural barrier in this time would be storms remember some of the storms that happened in the acts of the apostles Chapter 27 is a place where there's some storms Verses 9 10 and forward We could talk about the ways that in that tumultuous storm, right the whole ship is Kind of sinking the paul is stranded now on an island. He's in the water He says one time for three days and you think my gosh, there's no way this guy will continue to go preach the gospel But he's in the water for three days. He gets out and what does he start doing? He starts preaching I mean, he's just literally unstoppable not because of himself But because the spirit of god was not going to allow any physical obstacle. Look at me. Look, look, look, look So here's the truth. Here's the truth. What are your physical obstacles? You can tell me all you want Well, I can't really move because my my joints are sore That's a physical obstacle. Maybe you can't speak. Maybe you maybe you're deaf. Maybe you're maybe you're mute Maybe you basically, you know, whatever you don't have a tongue. I don't know I don't know But whatever that physical obstacle is god wants to use you to preach the gospel Look at it. Look at it. Look at it Social media Would be a great place for you to slam them with the beauty of the gospel When all of those people out there are grumping about a politician You don't like grumping about some sort of movie that they like and you don't like grumping That's don't be mean don't be sarcastic Don't go after him saying I can't believe you that you're watching that can't believe that you like him Can't believe that you're following that Just simply go up and just say man the lord today blessed me You just start showering you're gonna hold bunch of people that unfollow you for sure And they're probably the people that are driving you crazy moving on Here's the second the irrepressibility of the spirit over physical barriers And there's some overlap so they can do that so we have natural barriers here's physical barriers Such as sickness and lameness. There's some examples where there's the widow of name and Remember if you remember that Jesus when he healed the sick Those are examples in the gospels in the new testament You see that the same spirit of God that was with Jesus healing the sick Is the same spirit of God with Peter and Paul who are healing the sick in the in the early church And that same spirit of God is in you So there are times that the Lord might ask you to pray for other people with sicknesses And honestly that's not that's not a concern and a problem Because the Holy Spirit is in the business of working healing still Now look at look at look at most of the time people who have healing ministries are often wearing glasses in our sick themselves Why is that and the reality is is that oftentimes they are people who will Carry upon them a willingness and a propensity even for suffering And allow that to be in them so that they can pray on behalf of others Here's a true story one day. I was sitting with a good friend of mine He was from this area this has to be about 19 20 years ago and He had he had kidney Problems and had already had a replaced kidney, but he had a disease that would attack the new kidney So he was an amazing person had a number of kids that were beautiful and They would homeschool and they just really were trying to live a very Simple and a holy life, but his disease prevented him from doing many things He couldn't really stack wood and couldn't really pick up his kids too much because of the pain the physicality and issues And so we became pretty good friends with them and I loved them very dearly And I still love them and I remember one day that uh, I was sitting with them And he had scars all over his body and and I remember I have scars all over my body because I had open arch surgery I've had it a couple times and it's just because I was born with a bad heart And so I remember sitting with him and I said, you know what I believe god heals Wouldn't it be amazing if god did a radical healing in us? And we have all of these scars are all over our body of of a real true physical Issue and problem and yet if we got healed then we could go all over and tell people That god has healed like we are literally the perfect poster children of dysfunction physically And yet, you know god could do that and he said this is what he said to me goes chris I believe god can heal too I do believe that he said but But jesus like he chose to suffer And somehow I feel like for me that might be the better way One day he heard christmas eve that he was going to be the recipient of a of a kidney He screamed the house running around saying that your dad's going to be healed your dad's going to be healed Kidney and they went to the hospital and they had a transplant On christmas and um, we were so elated such an answer to prayer A friend of ours had gone to lords and gone swimming in the water and all sorts of stuff for our friend and We related I got to go to the hospital after all of this was done and pick him up to bring him home Some time later and I was so pumped and we were driving home And he's like I think I think I have to pee and we celebrated. We were so excited. He has to pee I'm gonna go pee with you. Let's pee together And so we went to the we went to the restroom and we're peeing and let's order more drinks so we can pee again And uh, it was just awesome and we got home and he ran into the house and threw up and uh His body was just trying to figure out what was happening um Not too long later. I would take him to the hospital when I couldn't Pittsburgh and and um, and I remember I remember He said to me. He said chris. I gave my body to jesus a long time ago I just sometimes I think he overestimates me And I said I'll have to quote you on that one day and uh, and he said I don't think I don't think the medication's working And I would take him to the hospital now and then and and then one day Uh, I got a call that he was he was not doing well and they had taken him into the hospital and uh, and uh, his wife was there and the deacon was there and And uh, his body started to shut down and he was gonna die I thought like this is not how it's supposed to happen You know And uh, his wife as they were praying the rosary said don't you leave me unless mary comes for you and She came I don't I don't understand sometimes why certain people are healed Why some some people are not here's what I know There's a beautiful way to die And some people have had it and there's been sometimes surprising moments in death And some people have had that and god is present in both I think we should pray with an intensity for healing And and believe with great confidence because god can heal but there are occasionally times that he doesn't And we may never know this side of eternity. Why I'm gonna tell you one more story I don't I don't know why I feel like I need to stay here, but I'm gonna One time, uh, my grandma was blind. I mentioned that last night. I have a grandma um She she was blind and I've never seen me most of her life and uh She had a detached retina. She was flipping a mattress and the detached and back in those days They had some limited surgery abilities. They tried and eventually too much scar tissue. She would never be able to see Blind never saw me all that stuff, right? Well I remember as a little tiny boy praying for her healing Because I read about it in the bible. There's so many examples of healing for blindness. I said lord I believe you can heal and so I prayed and and you know years and years I prayed all the time and one day Jesus told me no What I'm a little kid First isn't that in my favor second She loves you like she's all in for you I said why and he spoke to me and not out loud but to my heart and he said because I want the first person for her to see to be me Look, I don't know why I I don't think we'll ever understand why people People go when we don't want them to go, but I do know that God can heal And I think tonight there are going to be some people who are healed and then some people who the lord is going to maybe say no I don't know. I don't know why Maybe maybe I don't have perfect faith, but I just think if everybody Lived who we prayed to live nobody would ever die And not to be completely insane, but this really isn't the ending place Like this is we're in transit. We're in Philly trying to get somewhere else Please everybody needs to get out of Philly. All right, so nobody wants to be in there Somebody's like we live there. What? Get out Just kidding just kidding So we have irrepressibility of the spirit over natural barriers over physical barriers And uh, here's the third spirituality uh in irrepressibility of the spirit over supernatural barriers This is a big deal. Uh, there's a number of examples in the Acts of the apostles Acts chapter 10 38 where Jesus heals those that are oppressed by the devil You have Some Simon the magician chapter 8 verses 9 and following In egyptian, uh, you have the egyptian priests that were against Moses and Jesus you can look at that in the gospels, but sons of skeva That's in the Acts of the apostles people don't know a lot about that 19 chapter 19 Jesus you can look in the um gospels about him having victory over the demoniacs Another example of the irrepressibility of the spirit over supernatural barriers is idolatry When they call barnabas Zeus and paul hermes in chapter 14 verse 12 When you look at the scriptures, you realize there's a lot of reasons again why this the gospel message Wouldn't be able to make it out. There's physical limitations. There's there's there's natural problems storms and the like you have You have spiritual adversaries that are at work How can you possibly have an effectivity and preaching the gospel when you have all those things against you? But each of the examples that are given there is victory and in that moment of victory the gospel is preached That's what I love And so again, here's the truth my friend passed away But I have told that story a number of times and people have been transformed by his life and his death And that's the goal is that even death has no sting when it comes to the impact of the gospel The gospel will go out and honestly It's a powerful opportunity that we have to realize the beginning the middle of the end if we place it in the hands of god can be redemptive So we have that let's look at there's only two more and i'm gonna Try to do that. We'll pray and if we have time for questions. We'll do questions. Here's the third fourth rather So we have the irrepressibility of the spirit over natural barriers over physical barriers number two over supernatural barriers Number three irrepressibility of the spirit over religious differences. This is very applicable in the acts of the apostles You have struggles with jews and a anteach and iconium chapter 13 They stone paul And and he gets up and he goes and he preaches the gospel that's awesome and I mean come on you have a opposition with caesar and rom if you remember that that's pretty intense You have the Pharisees and Sadducees of course that are still angry and trying to resist the the gospel You have sorcerers chapter 13 6 to 11 elements the magician in chapter 16 And you have the synagogue of the freedmen chapter 6 Basically if you just went through the acts of the apostles or you can get the book no pressure Basically, you'll have some of these scriptures and examples because what you begin to realize is that look all of the things that we Struggle with today are the things that they struggled with back then I guess partly what it comes down to is some people feel like i really need to learn more I need to get more fired up for god I need to really get rid of some of these obstacles and difficulties and struggles And then I can go and really be effective for preaching and teaching and doing good things for god No, no, no, no, no, no no you right now are ministers You right now are called to be priests prophets and kings when it comes to all that that entails You are called to be a part of presenting and dealing with right people around you in the great commission Are you picking up what i'm throwing down? Are you listening to me? Are you sleeping? I'm fatter than most of you. I will come out there and I will sit on your legs and break them for jesus Do you understand and then we'll pray for healing we'll pray for healing Gosh All right, here we go the last one the irrepressibility of the spirit over internal differences And I love this is very helpful when we feel division sometimes and the church struggles even in our family Paul luke barnabas mark you would think these people who are saints who would have the perfect relationship dynamic But they struggled there were times that they didn't want to go on mission together Uh You have the greek inclusion. What do we do with all of these greeks who want to come and become become You know followers of jesus now. What are what are the consequences? What are the results and the council of drusselm chapter 4 verse 15? And of course the great story of ananias and sapphira Who they had chosen intentionally to lie to the holy spirit They're struck dead and boy oh boy that that changed the dynamic of that church So think about that when we ask you for money later, but here's the thing Just kidding. Not the same It's a simple truth Jesus loves you You probably heard a song like that when you're a little kid Jesus loves you this i know For the bible and sacred tradition tell me so Little ones didn't belong there we Yes, jesus loves me. Yes, jesus loving. Yes, jesus loves me the bible and sacred tradition tell me so So Just gonna catholic all of my little old Protestant songs the truth You can think of a million reasons why god couldn't use you but he sees you and he already made the decision that he wants to be with you And he wants to do something great in you and to you and through you Maybe maybe what this comes down to is that we just don't think about what we've been given and what we have If you focus on the cross and you just keep looking at that cross That's gonna open up your eyes to see clearly And then you realize wow that's not just for me, but that's for others And that gives you a desire a desire to see something happen But then you feel insecure and you feel weak and you feel unfit for the task You feel like you can't but then that's where the holy spirit empowers you you don't have to feel You just have to walk you have to do because he's already with you. He's in you Maybe you feel insecure. Well, then ask him come holy spirit. I need your help. Give me courage. Give me strength I'm not sure what to say. Well, then just pray pray in the spirit Maybe not out loud as you're walking in the middle of the street because that would be probably a little weird for some people What are you doing? Are you all right? Just filled with the spirit sometimes somebody might come out and say what are you doing? I'm praying. What are you praying about and then you can say you That's a little friar on the campus. You always say to me. I'd be like, what are you learning? What's God talking to you about Father Gus and he'd be like you I'm thinking. Well, okay, that's weird, but Thank you I think about the holy spirit a lot and this is true because I went to a charismatic church when I was a little kid Protestant I grew up Protestant. I became Catholic Easter of 1999 Uh, I remember watching people fall all over the place in that church The holy spirit's breath was intense. Let's just say that he was blowing hard. Okay People were all over and you know, I could repeat to you verbatim the pastor's wife's prayer language. She said it so much I know it. I know it like by heart I'm ever praying as a kid all the time God if you want to give me the holy spirit and speak in tongues and all that I'm open to that But it never happened for me and I felt at some point I felt Maybe it's just sin and so I would spend all this time like lord. What have I done? How have I offended you? What have I done? And I would just agonize over it and I kept thinking It would be different Remember, I read a story about a guy who was filled with the spirit and he couldn't speak English for like three days I wanted that But it it wasn't that I could say some stuff, but it just sounded weird. It didn't sound like it was anything holy I didn't feel holy when I started speaking like that I thought well, maybe I've done something wrong There's so many ways the enemy plays with your brain So I got to be a teenager I made a lot of mistakes and so I realized I've done a lot of things wrong There's no way the holy spirit would want to do something with me in me through me And then he was merciful to me and I would come back to him See the thing about it is that there's there's a million ways that the enemy has strategized to keep you from being powerful And I don't know what it is for you, but I know for me as a little kid It was you couldn't possibly be worthy of that You couldn't possibly be that special to receive that gift. You obviously have something wrong with you But as I got older and I realized Wait a minute He did give me that gift. I just I could make the choice. I had the choice to to pray to walk in it or not God wasn't gonna force me to to to move forward in a spiritual relationship He was gonna invite me and I had to have a little bit of faith and step forward I remember once I said to the Lord said, I don't know if all I'm saying is gibberish like a little child But at least you know my heart's right. So here we go I think sometimes The enemy will come to you and you'll give you that one thing that would probably give you the hesitancy in your step And maybe it might be well your kids have fallen away from the faith. Why would you tell somebody else about the faith? Or maybe it's you know, you have some secret sins that you haven't talked about Or maybe it's been you haven't gotten a confession in a year Or maybe it's been you're basically old. How could you possibly have anything to say to young people? Or maybe it's and fill in the blank like there's so many ways the enemy looks at uni says no But remember the irrepressibility of the spirit over supernatural things in those moments You say by the spirit of god by this truth I believe that god you want me to have victory to move forward and you move and you don't have necessarily an Emotion that goes with it. You choose to walk in that spirit I pray in the spirit as much as I can And I love it because I have no idea really what I'm saying But I know that my heart is aching at times and I just want to to give it to him But I don't often pray it out loud in a microphone Because I don't think I have that spiritual gift where someone's going to interpret it Maybe it'll happen for me one day. Maybe it won't But right now I know this I know I can make people laugh And I know I can befriend and I can love folks that are not like me I know I can live the gospel even at times without saying words I know that I can I can care about someone bring them food and drink I know that I can be a light and darkness I know that with all of my dysfunctions He is greatly functioning through me and the truth is that's your hope too The irrepressibility of the spirit is just a simple truth God has chosen for you to be here in space and time on purpose You're not an accident and he's invited you into the walk this beautiful journey Where you get to be with him and he gets to be with you And you know what? When you look in the mirror and you're not sure that's exactly the way that you wanted it to be Breathe a sigh of relief because his plan is better than your plan Let's pray father, son, holy spirit. Amen Jesus, thank you For the way you love us What I want to do is just simply Pray that song for the last little bit And I just want you to think about the ways that the enemy lies to you and keeps you from walking in the spirit Maybe maybe you've prayed for the gift of tongues and you have yet to receive that I want you to look at me Just be open, okay Just pray Jesus I'm open And just kind of flow with it Experiment you're like a little child. It's like a little baby It's so beautiful in a way to watch a little baby try to speak For the first time. Do they automatically speak perfect English? No, that's creepy. That's in like horror stories So God's not looking at you saying well, you better do it right or I'm coming Name of the father, son, holy spirit. Amen Jesus. We love you. We ask you what teaches how to be with you I'll steal the day Permission Come holy spirit We ask you to fill us to overflowing help us not to quench your Your work in our life Thank you so much for the gifts and the talents you've given us help us to see clearly The beauty of what we have so that we can share it with those around us We invite you to fill us to overflowing Like a fountain. We want to place ourselves Right in the center of what you wish Last time Father, son, holy spirit, amen I'd like two or three announcements if that's okay. I don't know if we have a lot of time But Okay, real quick I have a lot of I'll have a lot of books that I've written over the years a couple are very special to me I think that would be applicable one that I know is over there is called. I'm not okay. You're not okay, but it's okay and I wrote that for you because Clearly you're not okay But neither am I maybe some of you are struggling I know that mary talked a lot about those insecure feelings and frustrations We haven't talked a lot about it. Maybe tonight. We'll play with this a little bit more But the impact of our parents and how that affects how we look at faith and family But that book kind of delves into a lot of that stuff. I think it's important Second one is the one I've referenced a couple times the Irrepressibility of the holy spirits in here It just goes kind of basically right from the beginning to the end and the acts of the apostles There's not a lot of copies of this book to be real honest I think it only brought about I don't know 30 to 50, but there's more online and I can send more here, but whatever we why we need the holy spirit I wrote this a couple years ago and when I got to this section dealing with tongues I had to stop Because I knew that I couldn't do that Justice so I'm working on a book right now why we need the gifts of the spirit Which I hope to put out in the next year or so Which will not only just address the gift of tongues, but the idea of a prayer language and And other gifts that we don't talk about a lot because there's actually a lot more gifts than just beginning tongues The truth is is that God is giving you a lot of gifts and talents to share the gospel and I can't wait to hear about it I do a lot of social media stuff Some of you have already found me on twitter and instagram and I love interacting with you keeping in touch with you So I'm going to tell you a couple see if we can remember What's my name? chris pageant If you put it together lowercase That's instagram chris with the m for michael. That's my middle name chris m pageant is twitter If you go to happy place homestead you see all the funny videos of my family That's going to be awesome because we're doing truckloads of stuff right now and um I'm a bookaholic. So i'm just going to say this. I love books. I read constantly and I read a ton of stuff Not just spiritual stuff lots. I just read uh the great alone by christin hannah I just finished all the light. We cannot see uh my door. That was amazing So, uh, I have a uh instagram and a facebook page called the bookaholic You might have to put a one after the bookaholic, but but it's uh, you should be able to find me there And I love talking about books. So if you're a book nerd, I'd like to talk to you