Gateway Church's Podcast
Where Does the Wind Blow?
Next chapter two, if you turn over there please. I'm excited about being here. I love you, love the church, love Pastor Robert and the staff and pastors here and the elders. And I don't really love them, I respect them and really appreciate what God has done in the life of this church since its beginning. Very proud of you all and the contribution you've made to the health and the future of this body. So it's a delight for me to get a chance to talk to you, is that a shot? I'm used to it, you know, I'm used to taking a shoot. Now this is a really a serious subject. It's hard to be frivolous when you're talking about the Holy Spirit because he just isn't. And I can tell you this for sure, I'm from a personal testimony that in the last number of months, the Lord has sort of revolutionized my own personal walk with Him in this way, that I'm much more intimate and intimately acquainted with and have ongoing conversations with the Holy Spirit in a way I never had before in my life. That I consistently am talking to Him now. I mean, just in the average run of the middle day, and we all face circumstances and situations where we need information, we need understanding, we need leadership, we need to make decisions, we need to know what to say or what not to say, is that right or not? And I just started believing that the Holy Spirit meant what He said when He said I'll lead you into all the truth, I'll be your teacher, I'll bring you a member to everything that Jesus has said to you, I am in you and I'm with you, I'm your comforter, I'm your comforter, I'm walking right beside you, why don't you ask me some questions every once in a while? So I started doing that, and it really has changed my life. It's not only changed, I believe my normal traffic patterns and things that I do in the way I would do things, but it's beginning to change me inside into a better person I believe, that I'm much more guarded and consistent in what I say and what I don't say, those kinds of issues with my mouth and my lips and things like that. So I want to share some of these things with you. Ash chapter 2 is the account that most of you have already read before of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Now Pastor Roberts already explained all that to you and I don't need to go in the background of that, but I can tell you this, that there's not a more personally important event in human history that ever took place than this one is going to read about right here. My life has been affected more by this than any other single thing other than the inference of Jesus Christ in my life. So this makes Jesus personal. It is no longer under the old covenant where it was God with them. It is now God in us, God in He. And that's really different, that's a real change, it's a paradigm shift that is unbelievable that God lives in me now in the presence of the Holy Spirit. All right, let's read this verse 1. "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to do some weird stuff, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven, and when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because they heard each one, because each one were hearing them speaking his own language, and they were amazed and marvels saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galilean? How is it that we hear them in our own language to which we were born, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Capidosia, Pontius and Asia, Pergia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the districts of Libya, around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and Prophylite, greetings and arrows. We hear them in our own tongues, speaking of the mighty deeds of God, and they continued in amazement and great perplexities saying to one another what does this mean, that others were mocking saying they are full of sweet wine, and you know what happened in the rest of that day? It stood to preach, 3,000 people came to the Lord, and the church was given its birth here on this day. That's a weird sounding bunch of events if you look at it from a logical perspective. Jesus in Luke 24 had commanded them to go over to the city of Jerusalem and wait for the promise to one of the Father who would imbue them with power from on high, and then they were to begin to do what Jesus commanded them to do. They did what he said, they went over and waited, and this event took place. They had no idea what it was going to be like. They didn't understand, and we wouldn't have understood that we've been in their shoes. You simply, how do you, in a faintest way, come to understand the importance, the cataclysmic event that was to take place in their lives, and through them to many others? Now, why is this just a sovereign work of God? I mean, to God just in history, choose a day and say it's going to happen on that day. It's going to happen whether or not the conditions are right or the conditions are met. This is a sovereign work of God, and it's going to happen regardless of other events or other conditions. I do believe that a sovereign work of God, I do believe it is in the fullness of God's time, and all things happen that way with the Lord, and yet this is something else. I do believe the disciples met some conditions in order for this event to have its fullest impact. Now, if you want the Holy Spirit to anoint you, to fill you, to blow into your life as he came into their lives to that same extent, I believe you do have a part in that. That you do have some conditions to meet in order for the Spirit to have liberty to work in your lives. It's not all independent of you that there are some things that you need to do. Now, from this story, I'm going to pick out four things, and I believe these are legitimate things, the conditions that they met that provided the best opportunity for the Spirit to do what he did, and it's applicable to us in our daily lives and in the Church. So let me give you those four windows just so that you can open to allow the Spirit to move. These are conditions that the Spirit is comfortable moving in. He loves to move when these conditions are met in a person's life or in a congregation's life. Here's the first one. First condition, first wind them, is submission to Christ. They had an attitude in the heart of submission to Jesus. The reason they were together in the city of Jerusalem was because he commanded them to go there in Luke 2449, "Behold, I'm sending forth a promise of my Father upon you, but you're to stay in the city and to your clothes, or imbued or covered with power from on high." An amazing thing happened. Jesus talked to these 120 disciples just before his ascension into heaven. He's about to ascend into heaven after his resurrection and his appearance on earth. He's about to go back to heaven, and he gave him this commandment. First of all, he said in Luke 24, "I want the gospel to be proclaimed in my name to all the nations of the beginning of Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things," he said. So he's sending them into the world, but he said, "Before you go do that, I want you to go to the city of Jerusalem and wait for the enduement of power, for the promise one of the Father, he'll come upon you." Now here's what they did, talking about submission to Jesus. When he told them to go to the city of Jerusalem and wait, what did they do? An amazing thing that they did, they went over to the city and waited. They did what he said, and listen, all of them did what he said. Every single one of them did what he said as a group. Now you have to get used to this. The Holy Spirit really is comfortable working in a submissive heart, submissive to the lordship in the commands of God, the commands of Jesus. He's comfortable. He works there, because he himself is absolutely submitted to the will of God to Father. He is God, but he's submitted to God. As Jesus is God, he's still submitted to God. He did what the Father wanted him to do. That is a lifestyle, and a way of thinking, a way of looking at life that will allow the Spirit to work in your heart and have liberty in your life. He's comfortable in that kind of atmosphere. Now here's an interesting twist on this really. Jesus told them to go to the city and wait. What city did he tell them to go to? The city of Jerusalem. You know what the word "Jerusalem" means? "Jerusalem." It means the city of peace. They went to the city of peace and waited, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Here's the point. Number one is the most challenging thing, one of the hardest things God will ever ask of you is to wait, because you don't like waiting. I can also tell you this, you're never truly submitted to Christ in any area of your life unless you're able to wait in peace in that area. And trust in the Lordship of Jesus, and trust what he told you. When you are anxious, when you're worried, when you're manipulative, when you're trying to control events and you're all out of shape in any area of your life, I can tell you Jesus is not the Lord of your life in that area. When he is Lord, you wait in the city of peace. You wait in peace. You're at peace. We don't like waiting, do we? If you're going to become intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit, which you desperately need to do, I promise you, you're going to have to learn the fine art of waiting. You don't like to wait, do you? Americans don't like to wait. As a matter of fact, we're in a hurry all the time. I know you. I know what you're like. You're like me. We're always in a hurry. Our lives are so busy, so full, not only just busy in activities, but we're busy with information. Our minds are running everywhere. All of this information, these ideas, these things, these thoughts are in our minds, to the place where it's very difficult for us to pick out the voice of the Spirit of God in the midst of all the other information. You must learn this. You don't like to wait. There's never a place in your life where you do love waiting in line. I mean, you like that. I mean, you just go somewhere and hope there's a line so I can wait. We're not here that way. We're not wired that way. We always try to find the fastest line to get in, right? You do it at the grocery store. You do it at the toll booth. You do it wherever you are. And I'm always wrong in the one I pick. Martha doesn't like to wait. She is the traffic. Orlando is pretty tough. And she has a theory. That's my wife, Martha. The theory is, and she tells me this, and always instructing me where to go and how to get there quickest. And she would say, "Never, ever get behind a minivan. If there's a minivan in the line, get in the other one." When I said that at our church, a lot of people have minivan. It's a pastor. I don't drive slowly. I'm minivan. I drive fast. You always get behind me if you want to. I said, "Well, that's her theory, don't mind." But listen, what I'm asking you here to do is a test of your submission. In addition to Jesus as your willingness and ability to wait in peace. Whether that's in your finances, if Jesus is Lord of your finances, there will be seasons of time where He desires you to wait, not to get ahead of Him, not to jump out there and make it happen on your own, but wait for His provision, wait for His timing. And you'll be at peace about it. You won't be striving. You won't be anxious. You won't be worried. You won't be all out of shape. That's the sign of submission to Jesus. That's true in your relationship. In the young people's lives, I try to teach them, listen, wait on God. Let Him provide who You are to marry. Don't jump ahead of Him. Don't get ahead of Him. And stop being anxious and worried. Stop saying. Stop saying this that I'll never meet the person. I'll never. Stop saying that. That's out of order. The Holy Spirit can't even speak to you in that kind of atmosphere. It's true about your future, it's true about your vocation, it's true about everything. He must learn the art of waiting in peace. The Holy Spirit will speak to us if we'll do that. He'll empower us, he'll anoint us. He loves that atmosphere. He empowers. He doesn't empower anything that's not at peace with God. So they were waiting. And He made them wait for 10 days. He could have sent them over there and said, "This afternoon the Holy Spirit will come upon you." So He didn't. Made them wait. Here's the second window that you can open in your life of the Spirit's presence to come in. It's the Spirit of unity. Now this is more corporate than individual, but it does have applications in individual life. It's the Spirit of unity. Not only submission to Jesus, but the Spirit of unity. Actually, one says they were all together and they have Pentecost came all together in one place or in one accord. Now that word can be translated to both ways, actually it means both things. They were together in one place, but they were also together in one Spirit. They were all in agreement about the fact that they needed to be there and that something that Jesus promised was going to take place and they weren't fussing about it. They didn't stop and take a vote on whether they ought to be kneeling, standing or whatever. They were in the Spirit of unity. In one place in one accord, now listen to me closely, you'll never find the Holy Spirit moving to the extent that He did in the New Testament Church among a divided people. He won't. He is grieved. He is appended by division. I'm not talking about having a unanimity of opinion. I'm talking about a unity of the Spirit and those are two different things. So matter of fact, one of the reasons God made us all so different is that we'd learn how to walk in unity of the Spirit even though we're so different and we have so many different opinions, that that's the sign of strength. Our diversity is the sign of strength, not a weakness, but He wants us to walk together in the Spirit of unity. You will learn more about the ways of God in relationships with other people that you're not like than you will in any other circumstances situation. And you're not like everyone else. There's always going to be a diversity of opinions, difference of opinions, difference of ways of seeing things, different gifts, and all of this, yet we're one body and we're to be in one Spirit. You understand that that will understand the power of unity. He understands it clearly. And where He learned it most is in His observations and His seasons of time when He was closest to the Trinity. He saw the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit operating in absolute and perfect harmony and unity. And that's where you'll learn it too to say the truth. And you'll look in it, the Bible is filled with this sense of unity of the Trinity. You'll hear the Holy Spirit speaking of Christ, testifying of Jesus, hear Jesus, testifying of the Father, the Father testifying of the Spirit, and it goes back and forth all the time. They're always testifying of one another. So the devil understands the power of unity. That's why it constantly works to divide. This is not some sickly little silly attitude that accepts someone no matter what they're like and all of that. This is a real spiritual atmosphere. It means something. The most outstanding characteristic of the New Testament church was their fellowship. The Greek word is the kononia. And it means much more than us just getting together and having a meal together ever once in a while or a fellowship meal. It means a covenant relationship. It means I am absolutely devoted and committed to the unity of the body. What it means, the spirit of unity, the devil wants to divide. He wants to divide your marriage, and the way he will do that, if he will bring this unity, disharmony, division between you and your spouse, he starts there. Same thing as true of churches. He wants to divide churches because he knows if he can get a church divided and grumbling and complaining and at one another, at the leadership or whatever. If he can do that, he'll stop you in your tracks. And I'm telling you, the future of this church does depend upon the unity of the spirit displayed in the body here. Absolutely no doubt about it. And the greatest hindrance, the greatest challenge that you'll face in the future is to take care of division and device of spirit. Don't allow them to exist in your life, and don't allow them to exist in the lives of those that you know. Challenge those devices of spirit because it's for the devil, it's the work of the devil. Division is always the work of the devil, always. I'm not talking about differing opinions. I'm talking about a spirit of division, never, never, never, never, never be a part of or a party to a divisive spirit. It's one of the seven things, Proverbs says, that God hates. He hates the spirit of strike and division. And there's a couple of things you've got to do, a cry of unity, I call it. First of all, there's diligent effort. You must work at this, Ephesians 4, verse 3 says that we are to be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. And I don't know about you, but I think this is something you need to be reminded of, that it's a part of the responsibility of every member of the body of Christ to be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Wherever it is, you diligently preserve it. Don't you allow things to come in that divide and spiritually divide people. Okay? Holy Spirit will come and he works in the midst of unity. The second thing, not only is diligent effort, but the second thing, you must understand that there is a biblical cause to discipline those who cause disunity and disarmament. And that needs to happen. It needs to be practiced. Romans 16 talks about that, about how a guy can come and divide and all of this and how to deal with it. And that needs to take place. But don't just look to the leaders to be the ones who take care of that and challenge that. You challenge it. It's important that you diligently preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace in the church. Join yourself. Not only am I not going to be a party to it, I will challenge it in love every time it comes around to me. Here's what you do. When the vision comes, when this person comes with a device of spirit, whether it's a critical spirit, device of spirit, murmuring spirit, complaining spirit, a gossiping spirit, and it doesn't just have to be against the leadership, it gets anybody else in the body, really. Here's what you do. You look at them in love, look them in the eye. Now there's a reason they're coming to you. They have some attachment to you in some way, you understand? You look them and I, you smile at them and you say, "Stop it." In love. And you say this, "I will not be a party to division." That's not going to be on my record. When I appear before God, that will not be on my record and I'll tell you this. What you're saying is wrong, what you're saying is evil and what you're saying is sin. Don't say it to me. I will not listen to it. You take that matter to that individual and you get it settled or take it to somebody else in authority. I will not be a party division. Why? Because I want the Holy Spirit to empower us to do all that Jesus died for us to do. Don't allow a Divine Spirit to come around you. Now sometimes you just have to challenge. You have to confront a Divine Spirit in someone else. Martin and I started giving each other kind of liberty to challenge that Spirit in us. You have to challenge it. And there's a lot more to say, but that's enough. Let me read you a verse of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 11. It's amazing. Verse 7 and 8 says this, it's from the Good News. Listen out. The Good News tweaks this verse. It says, "Often your meetings do more harm than good because I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you. Often when you come together in your meetings, they do more harm than good because I hear that there are divisions among you." In other words, it would be better if you never get together than to get together and be divisited. Why? Because that is a negative testimony, it's a negative witness to Christ. Think about this. How would you like for the world, a person in the world, to look at you and your meetings and your fellowship together, look at it, examine it, see division among it, and then go to hell because they look. Now, the opposite of that can be true, it's true in the New Testament churches, and this is what the Holy Spirit produced. He produced an awesome fellowship in their life. They had all things in common even. You see in Acts 4, by that time, that they began to understand the awesomeness of their fellowship, their colonial meal, and I'm telling you, they loved it. It was unbelievably wonderful to them. They weren't just in awe of the signs and wonders done through the apostles, I believe they were in awe of the fellowship they felt, spirit of unity. So the Holy Spirit desires to blow into your life and come into your life, and one of those conditions is the unity of spirit. First of all, submission to Jesus, lordship of Christ, waiting in peace, and second is the spirit of unity. Now, here's the third one, the sanctified speech, sanctified speech. Luke 24 says this, "And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God." So what were they doing while they were waiting on the Holy Spirit to come in those 10 days waiting in the city of peace? They were praising God. They were praying, worshiping, praising God. It's amazing what they didn't say. They didn't come into this room and just get in a fuss over the color of the carpet. They didn't come in and say, "Well, this room is too small, it's too hot, it's too loud, it's too soft, it's not working out. I don't like where we are." You don't hear that. They were together praising God, praying and praising God. That was an atmosphere that the Holy Spirit found conducive to his ability to move and work. They were using their lips to praise the Lord, sanctified speech. Have you ever thought about this? That the number one instrument that the Holy Spirit works through is your mouth? For example, in 1 Corinthians 12, the nine manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit. Out of those nine manifestations gifts, and this is the manifestation means that's the way the Holy Spirit shows up where it expresses himself. It's what he looks like. Out of those nine manifestations gifts, five of them are directly related to our mouth. The word of wisdom, word of knowledge, tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy. The other four are related in some measure to our mouth. The number one instrument the Holy Spirit will use in your life will be your lips, your mouth. So it's important that he controlled your mouth. If he can't control your mouth, he can't control you. If he can't possess your lips, he can't possess you. And he won't trust you if you're licentious with your lips. If you're promiscuous with your words, he cannot trust you, but he won't give you what he wants to give you. This is an observation, but I'm telling you folks, we are very, very loose with our lips in what we say, and it's a general observation, and I plead myself in that too, that we rarely ever think before we speak, slow to speak, slow to anger, quick to hear. That's what Proverbs says, slow to speak. We are to guard our lips and allow him to control our speech. You can't get your tongue. You can't get you. James talks about that in James 3, the rudder of the ship, God's the ship, little piece of equipment back there, guiding this huge ship. He relates that to the tongue. Your tongue got your whole life. I'm telling you, listen to your speech and tell you your future. It's a little spark that sets a whole forest on fire is how he relates the tongue. The tongue has great power in it. He says it has the power to curse and bless, to bring life or death and the power of the tongue. I observe, James says, with the same lips, you praise God and curse men. He says, this ought not be so, and I can tell you this, it ought not be so, and I'll tell you one of the reasons why an ought not be so, because if it is so, the Holy Spirit will not come and anoint. He will not come. He will not come and empower you with your lips under those kinds of conditions. He says, what's what you say? I never forget, Dr. Mark Rutland, who is my predecessor at Calvary Assembly, a great guy in this preacher in the world, I mean, he's just unbelievable. He's a president of Southeastern College now in Lakeland, and he was telling me the story one time where I heard it in message one. He said this lady came to talk to him one day, a counsel with him in his office when he was at Calvary, and he said, she comes in, she just starts letting her husband have it. I mean, up one side and down the other, she was critical, accubatory, I mean, just letting him have it all the time and said, and then she got on, and he drinks, liquor, I call, he drinks, and I hate him drinking, and he drinks, and all of this, and she just went on, he said, for 30 minutes, she didn't draw a breath, and she was critical, this rush of words. And he finally said, you know, this is not going anywhere. He broke into the conversation, he said, lady, listen to me, listen to me. He said, I realize your husband drinks, but he said, I've been listening to you for 30 minutes, and I already want to take a drink. I can't imagine, I can't imagine him wanting to take a bunch, having to live with you. Your words impact people, every word is consequential, every word is consequential. The Lord desires to capture our mouths, listen to me, I believe that's one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit did this, does this unusual thing called tongue. They spoke with other tongues as the Spirit was given the matter, and I don't know what your opinion about tongues is, actually I don't care what your opinion is. I know it's biblical, he talked, this is a gift of the Holy Spirit, it can't be bad and be a gift of the Holy Spirit, properly understood, properly applied, properly walked in. You just need to get over your tongue, you just need to get over it. But I believe that's one of the reasons it's such a prominent manifestation of the Spirit's baptism. In the book of Acts three out of the four times, specifically in the mentions of Acts that they spoke in tongues from their bad times and the Holy Spirit, the other time they did something that everybody recognized, we don't know what it was, but I have an idea, it's probably what it was. I can tell you, the speaking in tongues is a prominent manifestation of the Holy Spirit's baptism in your life, it just is. And one of the reasons I believe that's true is the Holy Spirit knows from the very beginning, if he can get you to submit your mouth to him in that way, he can get you to submit your mouth to him in every other way. I'm telling you, God has been speaking to me about this tongue thing, and we need to pay attention to it. So when you confront division or division happens, listen, guard your mouth, guard your lips, you can't get your tongue, you can't get you. Acts 1 and 8 says, "Jesus, you prophesying about what was going to happen to them in the city of Jerusalem," he said, "and you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my wife." And that says, "You shall be my verbal proclaimers. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you not should be, you will be my testifiers." Control of your lips. Now the last one though is spiritual boner, spiritual boner, submission to Christ, spirit of unity, sanctified speech, and spiritual boner. Now I want to say to you in this vein, they had a predetermined, seems like, a predetermined commitment not to be ashamed of what the Holy Spirit was going to do, the promised one of the Father. Because if you'll remember in that passage of scripture, it says the Holy Spirit came upon them like He did in the upper room, and they all spoke in tongues, all of them, down to the last person. There wasn't one of them that said, "I'm not doing it, I'm not, I am refusing, I will not do this, I am out of here, I don't like the turn of events, and I'm checking out, I don't want them." They had a predetermined commitment to not be ashamed and to be bold about whatever it was that God was going to do. They all spoke in tongues, and it really interesting to me that, verse 11, it says, "We hear them in our own tongues, speaking of the mighty deeds of God." What they were speaking in this tongues was testifying of the mighty deeds of God. They didn't know what they were saying, but the people heard them in their own languages proclaiming the mighty deeds of God. Now that is going to be a pattern through the rest of their lives. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, when the Holy Spirit baptizes you, when He anoints you, when He fills you, when He possesses you, your lips will proclaim the mighty deeds of God. And you can't be ashamed of, you must be bold. Not only be bold about Jesus, as we'll talk about in a moment, but be bold about the Holy Spirit too, and what He came to get. Never be ashamed of what the Holy Spirit came. Why would He come and anoint you if you're going to be ashamed of Him? Why would He come and anoint your lips so you know you never going to say anything about it? Don't be ashamed of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Don't be ashamed of what He came to do, what He came to give. You can be ashamed of people who act like weirdos if you want to, but don't be ashamed of the Holy Spirit. It's not His fault they're acting weird. Don't be ashamed of Him, they weren't ashamed. They spoke in public, in tongues, all hundred and twenty of them, and brother, there's lots of people gathered there too. Now listen, I've had people, and I came out of a background of a denominational system that didn't believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they thought they passed away in the first century. I'm always marvel at that, so I guess we don't need the gifts of the Holy Spirit anymore since we're so smart now, they were stupid then, so they needed it. We're smart now, so we don't need the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They take a step farther and say, "It's even of the devil." They would teach and preach it, speaking tongues of the devil, healing of the devil. I mean, ever once in a while I got healed, sovereign, lead, but you know, everything going to happen on a normal basis. Really? Now we've got doctors now, we don't need God to heal, we've got to approach. Listen to me, people would often, as I try, and I suppose this is a nomination, and our church is very prominent in the nomination day of the trip, because the numbers of people were coming to Jesus. So I was speaking in all kinds of venues where these kinds of people were, and I bring up this subject, you know, and talked to them a little bit about it, and there'd be some people that come and say, "You mean you speak in tongues, you know what my response would be? You mean you don't?" He talks about it right here, "Why wouldn't you?" He says, "We've got to save them there, Pentecost and all them did, I think I'll try it and see if it works for me." So don't be ashamed of what the Holy Spirit came to do, you don't have to understand everything he does in order to operate in it, but don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of the Holy Spirit, and his gifts don't be ashamed of prophecy. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I believe in healing, because the word teaches that Holy Spirit proclaims it, Holy Spirit does it. I'm not ashamed of prophecy, I'm not ashamed of word of wisdom, word of knowledge, I'm not ashamed of tongues and interpretation of tongues, I'm not ashamed of this discerning of spirits, I'm not ashamed of the fact that God equips us to do those kinds of things to build up the body, I'm not ashamed of that, let me tell you what I am ashamed of, I'm ashamed that ever wasn't ashamed of it, that's what I'm ashamed of, so don't be ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit. He knows what it costs Jesus to save you, his brother, he's a hero to him. At every opportunity he'll talk about it, every opportunity he'll testify about it, every opportunity he'll try to make Jesus' name famous in the city wherever you are. Holy Spirit loves Jesus and he testifies of him. So that's a precondition for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, present for the Holy Spirit. First of all, there is the condition of a submission to Jesus. You've got to do what he tells you to do, and you've got to allow him to be the Lord of your life. The Holy Spirit will not annoy this striving and anxiety and flesh-oriented living. We must decide, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord, I'm going to do what God says, and we'll be submitted to him, and I'm going to wait in peace. I'm going to find a place of peace. I'm going to start listening to him. I'm going to start running around with my own ideas and try to find out what his ideas are. I'm going to find a place where I can get quiet every once in a while. Next time you get in your car, will you turn the radio off or the hate player off or the CD player off? Will you turn it? Just try it for just five minutes, drive down the street and try to think. And say, "Holy Spirit, teach me something today." After I, again, I preached this stuff in our church. Every time I'm getting somebody else's car and the radio would be on, or they'd have tape on it. Sorry pastor, I didn't mean to have that on in the car. That's not what I mean. I mean, practice some solitude, practice some quiet so you can hear. Okay? Holy Spirit loves that. He'll speak in that. He comes. He's got a still, small voice because he wants you to listen to him. It's the mission of Jesus. The second is the spirit of unity. The greatest hindrance to the future of the church is the vision, this harmony, this unity. It's all the ways of the devil, always. Don't you be a party to it, ever. And when you see it, you either walk away from it or you confront it, according to the will of God. It's the spirit of unity. It's sanctified speech. If the Holy Spirit can't get your mouth, it can't get you. If you get in your tongue, not only in this supernatural tongues thing, but also in the natural speaking of words, guard your mouth. It's powerful. You see, Holy Spirit is a God of love and life. He is not a complainer. He's not a whiner. He's not a slanderer. He's not an accuser. When he's speaking through you, there's no whining. That's a broad definition. You can find whining in a lot of different ways. But he doesn't accuse. He doesn't slander. That's not him talking when you're doing that. That is not him speaking. And when you start it, he will draw. He'll forgive, but he will draw. That's not him. It's not him speaking through you. It's not him speaking through you. It's not him speaking through you. It's not him speaking through you. It's not him speaking through you. It's not him speaking through you. It's not him speaking through you.