Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:06] Well, before you sit down, do me a favor. Turn to someone you don't know, say hello, welcome them to church, give them a hug if they're okay with that.
Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.
Guys, it's so exciting this morning. We've got.
Just look this way. This is our brother Brendan. He's been away over in Philippines. Philippines for a while. He's just come back. Brandon, man, I want to just say right now that I see that you've grown into a man of God. Yeah, I see that this time that you've had, that hasn't been a time where you've not stopped seeking after him. I can see that you've really had to trust him through these last few months. And I just want to say that God is saying thank you for trusting him with your family, with your brothers, just with your whole family situation. And I believe that you've grown as a man of God over this time, man. So bless you, brother. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done.
[00:01:02] Amen.
[00:01:03] Hallelujah. Well, we're. We're continuing our series on the Holy Spirit this week. Until the Lord says, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm just going to keep doing that. I'm just, just going to keep going. Have you guys been enjoying it? You guys been getting a lot out of it? Amen. And I just want to pray this morning, Father. I just thank you that, Lord, as we open up your word this morning, God, that you'll minister what we need to hear, Lord God. Let it not be about my message or what the words that I've written down. Let it be your Holy Spirit moving on the hearts of your people and quickening to them, Lord God, what they need to hear, what they need to take from today, Lord God, only your word and your spirit together can bring transformation, Lord God, I can do nothing, Lord. It's just simply me as a vessel surrendered to your word this morning, Lord God. And I just pray that they encounter you, are transformed by you, and leave here equipped and empowered, Lord, to do all that you've called them to do. It's in Jesus name we pray.
[00:01:59] Amen.
[00:02:00] Amen. Hallelujah. So had a word of knowledge this morning. So we're going to talk about this morning. We're going to talk about discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit.
So a lot of people, you know, you could talk this about hearing the voice of God being led by the Spirit. But I specifically felt like the Lord said it was about discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have plenty of gifts in the Holy Spirit. We have the gifts of healing, the gifts of miracles. But we also have the gift of discernment. That is a gift that the Holy Spirit gives us. And specifically, that gift is for us to discern his voice, to discern his leading, to discern what he's doing in our lives. So I want to unpack that a little bit with you guys this morning. Is that okay? But I had a word of knowledge this morning, and I can't claim that it's my word, but it's something that God quickened to me through, of all places, Instagram. Don't judge me.
But, hey, if you use the tool for his glory, it's a different thing than if you're using it for your flesh and your pride and for your agenda, right? Like, if you're using it for his glory, everything, it's like money. Money is not evil. But the love of money, the greed, the selfishness that comes behind money, that's. That's what's evil. Same thing with social media. It's just a tool. But if we use it for his glory, it can be used for good, right?
[00:03:16] Amen.
[00:03:17] Come on. Okay, so this is it. He says there has. And this is for someone this morning. I think it's in line with what we've been singing and the move of the Spirit this morning. He says there has never been a moment when God has panicked and said, oh, no, they ruined everything.
There has never been a moment when God has gone, uh, oh, I wish they hadn't have done that. That ruins all my plans for them. Now, the good that God has for you is irrespective of you is all because of Jesus Christ.
The good that God has for you has got nothing to do with your holiness or your good works or any of those things or what you do, right, Your missteps or any of those falling downs. The goodness that God has for you is because of Jesus Christ and your faith in him alone.
[00:04:06] Amen.
[00:04:08] Now, I would definitely caution you not to do dumb things on purpose, because you'll just invite trouble into your life. But if your heart is pure and you're going after God with all that you've got and you love him, maybe you're struggling with some things, reading the Bible, prayer. Maybe it's difficult for you. If your heart is for him, man, he's got you. You can't mess it Up. You really can't mess it up. He'll work all things together for your good. Hallelujah. Amen. We're going to go from there. All right. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. So discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit. So there's many different ways of expressing this. Hearing the voice of God, being led by the Spirit of God. And it can get, you know, off in the weeds sometimes. And that's why we're going to keep everything that we're doing founded in scriptures. Who can remember our key verses from the last couple of weeks? Put you on the spot. Timmy knows because I told him this morning.
We're In John, chapter 16. Yeah, yeah. 17 to 7 to 15. Beautiful. Beautiful. So let's get that up on the screen. Let's just do a quick refresher of what God's been speaking to us over the last couple of weeks. So we saw here that this is Jesus speaking. And he says, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go, the helper will not come. But if I do go, if I do depart, I will send him to you.
And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgments. We saw that it was the world that he convicts of these things. But some of us can still have some world in us. So we allow the Holy Spirit to help us convict us of the one sin, not sins. It doesn't say sins. It says sin, which is not believing on him.
[00:05:43] Amen.
[00:05:44] That's what the Holy Spirit convicts us of. Not of all the things we do, but that we're not trusting Jesus. And we've got to trust Jesus. Even Christians, we get off in the weeds, we do the wrong thing. Holy Spirit doesn't judge us. He doesn't condemn us. He says, hey, you're not trusting in Jesus. Trust in Jesus.
[00:06:00] Amen.
[00:06:01] I've sinned because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you see me no more. And of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Hallelujah. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, and we're going to land here for a little bit today and move from here. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you the things to come. We'll go to the next one. We'll finish it off. For he will glorify me. So the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in our lives, and he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. Remember I said at the beginning, he takes the righteousness and gives it to you. He takes the joy that comes from Jesus and he gives it to you. Takes all the things of Christ and declares them to you. Hallelujah. And then verse 16.
Did we get to 16? No, 7 to 15. Beautiful. We're done. Hallelujah. So he will take what is of mine and he will declare it to you. So backing up to verse 13, Timmy. Thank you, brother. Everyone give a hand clap for Timmy because he's amazing. Hallelujah. Amen.
So however, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you. Say that with me. He will guide you into all truth. So that word guide is the Greek word “hodēgeō” (ὁδηγέω), and it means to lead on one's way, to give guidance, to show the way and to teach. Okay, so let's look at it. He will guide you into all truth. He will lead you on the way to truth.
He will give you guidance.
He will show you the way. He will show you the way into all truth, and he will teach you all truth.
[00:07:52] Amen.
[00:07:54] So that's really good, because remember a couple of weeks ago I talked about that word proceed, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, right? Which meant to continue the journey. So the Holy Spirit has been sent by Jesus to continue the work, the journey of Jesus now in us and through us. But the great thing is he doesn't leave us to do that on our own. Now, not only does he have us continue the journey, he actually shows us how to do it. He leads us how to do it. He teaches us how to do it. We don't have to do it on our own strength. We don't have to do it on our own knowledge and understanding. We can have the Holy Spirit to show us, to lead us, to guide us.
[00:08:28] Amen.
Amen.
[00:08:32] So following the Holy Spirit is more than him helping you find your car keys.
Praise God that he helps me find my car keys. Timmy was telling him this morning that his dad was walking down a track, and the Holy Spirit said to him, you dropped something. He's like, no, I didn't. I love that your dad argued with the Holy Spirit. He said, no, you dropped something. No, I didn't. Keeps walking. I think I dropped something. Keys are right there in the middle of the bush track that he was walking down. So thank God that he helps us Find our keys. Hallelujah. But this is the thing a lot of people say. Holy Spirit, where are my keys? Find them. And then they don't talk to them for the rest of the day.
[00:09:09] Amen.
[00:09:13] Heart surgery.
Heart surgery.
[00:09:17] Amen.
[00:09:18] So we have to be willing to acknowledge his presence in every room, in every situation. The Holy Spirit is here now. The Holy Spirit is indwelling in you. Yes. But he's also moving in this room as well. The Holy Spirit is here. He's among us. He's in us. He works through us.
[00:09:35] Amen.
[00:09:36] So we have to get into that place of acknowledging him in every room that we step into, every place that we find ourselves, every conversation that we're having. But this is all a part of learning to practice the discerning, the leading of the Holy Spirit. Discerning the Holy Spirit and his leading.
[00:09:54] Amen.
[00:09:54] It takes time. It does. So I'm here to encourage you this morning that you don't have to have this figured out yet. You'll think like, oh, he knows how to hear the voice of God, or that person knows how to hear the voice of God. But I don't really hear the voice of God. It's okay, you do. For starters, you do. Because anytime that you think some thought about yourself that maybe is an unworthy thought, the Holy Spirit will quickly correct that. How many times does that happen in your life? That's the Holy Spirit. You hear the voice of the Lord, you hear the leading of the Holy Spirit. He leads you and guides you into all truth. He leads you into knowing who Christ is and who you are in Christ all the time. That's what he's doing.
[00:10:25] Amen.
[00:10:25] But not only that, he's actually leading you to see Christ in others too, and see the blessing of Jesus over other people as well. Whether it's a brother, sister, or maybe it's someone that's unsaved. The Holy Spirit is always quickening to you the truth about them in Christ. Okay, so maybe they're not saved yet. But the truth is that Jesus died for them. The truth is that his blood is enough for them. The truth is that he didn't see them and go, you know what?
I'm going to count them out of the cross work. They don't count. They don't get salvation. No. Every single person Jesus says yes to, he says, you're invited, come to the dinner table. And that's the Holy Spirit's ministry to us. He convicts us of our righteousness, but he's also trying to tell us that everybody out there that you encounter is also declared righteous by the blood. They just don't know it yet. And that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit will always glorify Jesus.
So learning to discern the Holy Spirit and be sensitive to his leading and prompting takes time and it takes faith. It takes faith. It's a really hard thing to say. Oh, yeah, the Holy Spirit is talking to me, or the Holy Spirit is leading me, or is that the Holy Spirit? Or is that my own thoughts or. You know, but that's why the word of God is so important. We're going to get into that a little bit later today.
But acting on that leading is essential to a victorious Christian life. We can't do it without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is essential to us. Walking in victory, you know, you can't do it on your own. It's not by might, it's not by strength. It's by my Spirit, says the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the one who leads us into the victorious Christian life.
[00:11:56] Amen.
[00:11:57] So discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit, this is all a bit of a precursor. So today I want to look at some ways to help you discern the Holy Spirit. And this is important. And have confidence to act on what you believe he is saying to you.
This is important. You will miss it.
You will miss it. I've missed it. I miss it every day. I miss it in church sometimes where I feel like the Lord's telling me to do it. And then I just clam up and get fearful when I don't do it. Just real talk. I miss it. We all miss it 100%. But the beautiful thing about God's grace is that you cannot mess up his plan for you if your heart for him. And if your heart is for him and your motives are pure, he will work all things together for your good and for the glory of Him.
[00:12:39] Amen.
[00:12:39] I mean, you'll miss it. You got to be okay with that. You got to be okay with missing it. You just got to know that God doesn't count on your getting it right to work it out.
He's already factored in you messing it up. And to the overall scheme of everything, he's going, they're going to mess it up. He's factored it in.
He's not sitting there. Oh, no, they ruined everything. Like I said, amen. That's comforting.
What I'm speaking to you now is the Holy Spirit because it's comforting, right? It's comforting to know that it's irrespective of your perfection, because none of us are perfect. Only Jesus is perfect.
[00:13:18] Amen.
[00:13:19] Okay, so number one in discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit, if you're taking notes, number one, you have to study the real deal, not the counterfeit.
You have to study the real deal, not the counterfeit.
Timothy, you got your microphone there, bro. So Timothy shared a great story with me this morning that I think really encapsulates this a little bit. So I'm gonna get you to share. You have to still study the real deal and not the counterfeit.
[00:13:49] So last week, Pastor Jeremy was talking about First John, Chapter 5, where it talks about Father, Son, Holy Spirit, right? They are the Trinity. Three in one, right? So I was just scrolling through Instagram, and this guy came up, and he's like, the Trinity. It's blasphemous. If you think that, then you are completely wrong. And I'm like, well, no, I literally just saw it last week. In First John, it talks about how God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are like the three in one, right? It talks about that in First John. And I'm like, no, no, that can't be true, because I know the real thing. I know what the word says. I have it in front of me, so you can't trick me.
[00:14:27] So, yeah, amen. You guys see that? Because lies are gonna come across your screen every day, whether they're in the media, whether they're just in conversation, whether they're in your social feeds, whatever it might be. Lies are gonna come across your screen every day. But if you know the truth, it's easy to spot the lie. So Timmy knows the truth. He knows that the Trinity is real. He's seen it in scripture. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and all three are one. We've looked at that. We've just studied that. So when a lie comes across the screen, the counterfeit comes across the screen trying to speak something other than truth. The Holy Spirit says, no, that's not right. The Holy Spirit witnesses and bears witness to him of the truth. He leads and guides us into all truth.
[00:15:07] Amen.
[00:15:07] So knowing the real deal helps us to spot the counterfeit. Do you know when they actually do counterfeit?
Like the guys that look for counterfeit bills, notes, dollars, that kind of thing. They don't try and figure out which one's the counterfeit by studying the counterfeit and going, oh, what's the thing that's out? Because they change all the time. The sophistication behind that Thing is so, so real. Like they have new way reproducing fake bills all the time. So these people that are assigned with spotting the counterfeits, they study the real deal. They study every inch of that dollar bill, every inch of that note to understand exactly how it fits, what it looks like. And then they can easily spot when it's out. Can easily spot when just like one dot or one, you know, one, one line is out, because they know the real deal. And it's the same thing with us. We can have confidence in the Spirit of God leading us. The discerning of the Spirit of God, if we know him, if we've studied him, if we focus on him because it's easy to spot the lie, then Amen.
[00:16:10] Amen.
[00:16:11] So we're going to look at this a little bit more. I think that that is a really practical and powerful tool and it's so important.
So the gift of discerning of spirits, its primary use is discern the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit, not the enemy. Look at this. In John chapter 10. So in Jesus, in John chapter 10, he refers to himself as the good shepherd and us as his sheep. And it says that many had come before him, and he calls them thieves and robbers and strangers. But Jesus is the true shepherd and the only one who can give us eternal life. So in John 10, 5, it says, yet they will. They're talking about us as sheep, yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but they will flee from him. For they do not know the voice of strangers.
Study the real deal, not the counterfeit. Right. Know who the Holy Spirit is. Know who Jesus is. They will flee for him. For they do not know the voice of strangers. And they go to verse 27, same chapter. He says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them. And they follow me. I lead them. He says, they know me. So they don't know the stranger's voice. They know my voice.
[00:17:24] Amen.
[00:17:24] And they lead and I lead them and they follow me. See what we focus on? And if we focus on the things of the enemy, it's only going to highlight the work of the enemy. It's only going to highlight that in our lives. So they're going to bring that condemnation. So they're going to bring that judgment on our lives. So they're going to bring that unworthiness on our lives. If we focus on the things of darkness. But if we focus on the things of Jesus and the truth about who he is and what he's done on the cross, and who we are now in him and who the Father is. Because Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. If we focus on that, we focus on the presence of the Holy Spirit, we focus on getting to know him through His Word, getting to know him in prayer, then we can be led by Him. He can lead us. We can have confidence that we're following his voice.
[00:18:07] Amen. Amen.
[00:18:10] If all you know about is the things of darkness, is that killing you or freeing you?
Jesus said in John 8, I don't have this one. Oh, did I? No, I didn't. He said to the. Jesus said this in John, chapter eight. He said to the. Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, if you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Well, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. So the Holy Spirit is leading us into freedom in Christ. Amen.
[00:18:40] Amen.
[00:18:41] But if we focus on the things of darkness, if we get into trying to figure out the enemy and his plans, that's not leading us into freedom. That's leading us into bondage again.
[00:18:52] Amen.
[00:18:53] We gotta focus on the truth, focus on Jesus.
[00:18:56] Amen.
[00:18:56] So then we can spot the counterfeit. It's easy.
[00:18:59] Amen.
[00:19:00] That's a good word right there.
[00:19:01] Amen.
[00:19:04] So knowing Jesus for yourself as revealed in the Scriptures is the surest way to discern the Holy Spirit's leading in your life. Remember, Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And he said that the Holy Spirit will glorify him. Jesus.
So Jesus is the Word. Correct. Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is complete revelation. Nothing can be properly understood without Him. Study Jesus and know Jesus and you'll easily know who is leading you.
[00:19:33] Amen.
[00:19:34] Amen. He's the Word made flesh. So everything in scripture finds its fulfilment, finds its purpose, finds itself in Christ. You cannot interpret or rightly divide the word of God or the leading of the Spirit without the finished works of Jesus Christ.
If you believe the Spirit of God is leading you, if you believe the Holy Spirit, if you're discerning that the leading and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. So ask yourself, is this glorifying Jesus? Is this magnifying Jesus? Am I seeing this through the finished works of what Jesus has done on the cross?
Because if the answer is yes, then you can have confidence it's the Holy Spirit leading you. Because no man could be drawn unto the Father unless he's led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will always lead you to the Father and he'll always lead you to Jesus. He'll always glorify God. So if the answer is yes to those questions, when you feel that there's a prompting of the Holy Spirit, you have confidence, step out, be in faith, do it, you know, again, you can't mess it up. If your heart's pure and you want to do it for God, and it's all about him and his glory, it's not for you and your agenda, God will work it out.
[00:20:33] Amen.
Amen.
[00:20:40] Number two. The Holy Spirit always leads in love.
So the Holy Spirit allows us to experience and interact with the presence of God. God is love. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit leads us, he always leads us in love.
[00:20:54] Amen.
[00:20:57] Think about a marriage or a relationship.
If you lead it through fear or control, is that going to be a healthy relationship? Is that going to be a lasting relationship? It's not, is it? But if you lead it from a place of love and sacrifice and surrender, it's going to produce the right fruit in that relationship, isn't it? So the Holy Spirit is never going to lead us out of fear or control or manipulation. He's going to lead us in love. He's going to want the best for us. Love is sacrificial. Love always gives of itself. Love seeks not its own, but seeks the welfare of others. Right. The Holy Spirit is leading in our lives, is always going to lead us from a place of love, place of what's best for us and what's best for those around us.
So if you believe that the Holy Spirit is leading you, but it's bringing fear upon you. Now, there is a difference between, you know, just that flesh trepidation and it's like, oh, this is scary to step out of. But the Holy Spirit will give you a quickening of faith to be able to do it, you know? But if it's fearful and you're feeling like, oh, I can't, you're losing sleep at night, or if you're feeling like, yeah, it's just, it's going to hurt someone else, or if you feel like you have to do something and it's going to overtake or override someone else, or take a blessing from someone else, that's not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never take from someone and give it to you. That's not how the Holy Spirit would ever work. He doesn't take, he gives. That's what he does.
So let's say, for example, you want to you know what's a good example, Holy Spirit? Let's say, for example, take a work situation. Actually, no, let's take for an example that someone's married and you're like, oh no, that person should be my wife. But they're married.
The Holy Spirit's not going to break up a marriage because you think that that should be your wife. You should check that. That is not your wife. Okay, it's not your wife. No, but they're my soulmate. I get it. No, that person's married. They're in covenant. The Holy Spirit is not going to do that. The Holy Spirit's not going to break up a marriage so you can get to be with someone. That's not how the Holy Spirit works. He's not going to operate in that way.
[00:22:58] Amen.
[00:22:58] That's a pretty kind of basic example. But that's what I'm talking about. Right? The Holy Spirit would never contradict Jesus or contradict the word of God in leading you. If we're discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit, he's not going to go against what's in the word of God, which is that he puts a blessing on marriage. Covenant is important. Right. He's not going to go against his word. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? I think it makes sense. Okay, thank you, Lord. Guys, good. Enjoying this?
What are we talking about?
You guys are with me. I love it.
[00:23:40] Amen.
[00:23:41] The love of God has many distinct characteristics. It is not the world's love which is self centered and driven by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Those are the three temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness when he was taken by the Holy Spirit was the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. And those are the three things the enemy will always tempt us with. Is this good for me? Oh, it looks good. I want that covetousness.
That's the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh. Oh, this will make me feel really good. You know, this will take away my doubt, my worries, my, you know, my depression. This will make me feel really nice and warm and fuzzy. That's the lust of the flesh. I just want it to feel good, you know? And then the pride of life. This will make people like me. I'll be able to get where I want to go. My agenda will be fulfilled in this. But at what cost? Right? And what cost?
And so those three things are the things that we're always tempted with same Thing as Jesus was tempted with. That's why it said that he's tempted in the same way that we are yet without sin. And he knows our infirmities, he knows our weaknesses. He knows that our flesh is struggle. It's a war against the Spirit and the flesh all the time. He knows that.
But what he's saying to us is he's saying that through the Holy Spirit's leading and learning to discern the Holy Spirit, we can know what the truth is. We can spot the counterfeit, and we can have confidence to walk in what he's got for us.
[00:25:06] Amen.
[00:25:07] All right, so Jesus defeated these three things in the wilderness, and he returned in the power of the Holy Spirit. And, and he went about doing good and revealing the love of the Father. When he acted, the Bible says that he was moved with compassion. One of the ways that we can know we're being led by the Holy Spirit is that we move with compassion. We move with love. You know, it's not about us anymore. It's about the welfare of someone else. You know, there's plenty of examples that we see in the Bible.
But one of the things that really stands out to me is when the leprosy, the person with leprosy came to Jesus and He said, Lord, if you’d be willing, make me whole, cleanse me. And Jesus said, it says in the Bible that He was moved with compassion. He said, I am willing. And he reached out his hands, you know, reach out your hand, man, to a leper. Jesus was risking everything because if that man wasn't healed, then Jesus would be cast out. Jesus would be thrown out. He would not be allowed back into Jerusalem. He wouldn't be allowed back into the city because he'd be considered unclean.
But that's not how God operates. That's not what God does. He sees past the physical and he sees the person for who they're created to be in Christ. And he's moved with compassion. Same way when we see the lost people out there, we should be moved with compassion to see them want to know Jesus, to see them want to be.
To be encountered by Jesus. You know, it's so easy to judge, it's so easy to condemn. It's so easy to put people in a box. So easy to do that, right? But that's not how God operates. That's not how the leading of the Holy Spirit operates. He'll challenge you every time to step outside of your comfort zone for the good of another person, to be moved with compassion.
We should want that we should be like, lord, help me to be moved with compassion. Help me to look past my day and my agenda of what I'm trying to accomplish so I can see what you're wanting to do in this world, how you're wanting to bring your glory to earth.
[00:27:07] Amen.
[00:27:09] This is a challenging word. I get it. Trust me. I'm ministering to myself here. There's a lot of times where I just want to go to Woolies and get in and get out. But sometimes we got to stop and we just got to ask the Holy Spirit, is there anything you want to do here? Sometimes he says, no, just get home to your family. Because my first ministry is my family. You know, I should be out doing this. Sometimes I just got to get home and be with my family. Get the chicken schnitzels, man, and get home.
Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes this all comes out. But other times, he might say, no, I want you to pay for that woman's groceries. Oh, no. I want you to just go pray for that person. Their back's hurt, you know, that's not me thinking that thing. Why would I think that? I just want to get my chicken schnitzel for the Lord. So what I've done is I've given the Lord. I've given the Holy Spirit permission to interrupt my day.
I've given him permission. I said to the Holy Spirit, every day, you have permission to interrupt my day with what you're doing. And sometimes he doesn't interrupt it, and other times he does. And then I have a choice to obey that or not. If I do. Blessings normally follow. Not always. Sometimes persecution. That's fun, too. I don't want to pray. I don't want you to pray for me.
It's okay. Jesus loves you. Have a good day. Get my chicken schnitzel. I'm out.
And then I go, lord, why did you have me pray for that person? Hey, they needed my love, too. They needed an opportunity to know my love, too. But you knew they were going to reject me. He's like, yeah, I did. They rejected me too, son.
[00:28:45] Amen.
[00:28:47] You gotta be willing to face rejection when you walk with the Holy Spirit.
You gotta be willing. That's a part of it. It's a part of the surrendered life. You gotta be willing to face rejection.
Willing. That flesh is gonna get crucified, man. It's not easy following the Holy Spirit. It's so anti. Everything that we see in the world. It's the opposite. It's not easy following the Holy Spirit. You will Be challenged. But, man, it's worth it. So worth it when you see someone receive their healing and give their hearts to Jesus, man.
So worth it when you give of yourself like Patti and I. I'm going to share the testimony, bro. Patty and I, this week, a lady came across the ministry of the church, and we had the opportunity to bless her and take some things down to her, some furniture and stuff. She was in a situation where she had to get out of where she was, and she was holed up in another spot, and she had nothing. She didn't have a sofa. She didn't have TV cabinets. You never. Nothing.
So we loaded up a truck and we took the time. We took the time to do this. You know, I work. That's what I do. I have a job, you know, if I don't work, I don't eat. I'm a contractor. Everything I do, if I don't work, I don't eat, I don't get paid. But we took that time out of our day and we drove down to Tugun. We loaded up a truck, we drove down to Tugun. We had some furniture and stuff. We took it to this lady. We blessed her with this stuff, and we just got to talking to her. Patty just asked her, you know, have you been in church lately? Do you know the Lord? She said, I haven't been in church since I was a little kid, young kid.
We just started telling her about the hope, just about hope, just giving her hope, right? A lot of the times, hope is the thing that people are searching for in this world. This world will not give hope, but Jesus does. He's a hope dealer. Amen. And so we just started talking to her about the Lord. Shared a bit of testimony. I shared a bit of mine. Patty shared a bit of his.
And then we just asked her, do you want to receive the Lord today? Do you want to invite Jesus into your heart? Can't guarantee everything's going to be good, but I can guarantee you you're going to experience his love. I can guarantee he'll be for you and not against you. I can guarantee.
I can guarantee that he will work all things together for good. I can guarantee that because it's in the Bible. I can guarantee that I'm not lying when I say those things. And she said yes. She said she wanted to receive Jesus. So Patty prayed, led her into a prayer of salvation, prayed for her, ministered to her, and, man, she changed. Hey, it was like the emptiness was gone and she was filled, and it was beautiful.
But that's what being led by the Holy Spirit is all about. Please, I don't need your applause. Jesus gets the applause.
[00:31:18] Amen. Amen.
[00:31:21] We didn't do it for any other reason than we were being obedient to God.
But when you do that, when you say God, interrupt my day, use me to be a blessing. And you get to see that. And you get to lead someone to the Lord. And you get to see their life now change. And generation had a little girl. This is a household now. Change. Generations change. This girl's future has changed. Now, man. That's worth the sacrifice. That's worth the fear of rejection. If she has said, no, I don't want your God, that's worth that. And following the Holy Spirit, you have to get to a place where you're okay. Where you're okay with giving up some of you so that they can experience Him.
[00:32:01] Amen.
[00:32:02] And that's part of it. But that's a beautiful part of it. That's the best part of it. That's why we are who we are. That's why we're the body of Christ. That's why we're saved. That's why we're Christians.
We're not saved. So we can get all the blessings and hoard them. God will take care of me. I'm good. What can I do for you?
[00:32:21] Amen.
[00:32:22] God will take care of me. I know that. It's written in the word of God. The Holy Spirit is with me. He's going to lead me and guide me. I'm going to discern him. I'm going to follow him to the best that I can. And because my heart is pure and my motives are pure and I'm for Him, he'll work it all together for good. What can I do for you? How can I be a blessing to you? What do you need?
[00:32:41] Amen.
[00:32:44] But please, if you see me broken, come pray for me, man. I need comfort too. I need encouragement too sometimes.
Hallelujah.
[00:32:52] Amen.
[00:32:52] Was that good? That was totally off key, man.
[00:32:56] Amen.
[00:32:58] When the Holy Spirit leads us, he will lead us in God's love. When he asks us to move, love will be the motivation. Never control, manipulation or fear. Love is a key way we can discern the Holy Spirit's leading. Did we make that clear?
[00:33:10] Amen.
[00:33:12] Third one. The Word and the Spirit agree. This is my favorite one. Not gonna lie. This is my favorite one. The Word and the Spirit always agree. Because so many times we can think, we can hear the Spirit, but it's not based in Scripture, or we read the Scripture. But if it's not laced with the love of the Father and the blessing of the Holy Spirit, all we're doing is wielding a knife at people and hurting them. We're gonna hurt people with Scripture, man. We can hurt people with the Word of God if it doesn't have the Spirit breathing on it. If it doesn't have him teaching us when and how to apply it and why we are applying it.
[00:33:44] Amen.
[00:33:45] Because I can tell you a scripture, and it could either cut you or it could encourage you, or it could so many different things it could do, right? But if God doesn't breathe on it, it's just words. Now, God's breathed on the whole Bible. So what he does is he helps us to know when and how to apply it. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He leads us and guides us into all truth. He's our teacher. He's our guide. So the Word of God comes alive when the Holy Spirit quickens it to us. That's what they call a rhema word in theology. So there's the Logos, which is the whole Bible, all the text, everything in the Bible. And then there's the rhema word, which is the spoken word of God. It's the word that God quickens to you, Grace.
So when you're reading that Bible and it pops off the page and you're like, boom, that's the scripture for me. That's what God's saying to me personally. This is a personal revelation for me. But you know that it's God because it's in the Word and the Spirit quickens it to you. But then there's been other times when you hear the Spirit of God and you go, I think that's God leading me. And then a couple days later, you might see it in the Word of God, and you're like, yes, God confirmed it. So the Word and the Spirit will always agree. It's my favorite one.
Nothing gives me more peace than when I think I hear the Holy Spirit and then I see it in the Word of God. I know, man. Like, I know. Or maybe I hear the Spirit of God and I go to my council, my pastors or my advisors, my spiritual council, and they say something that's totally in line with it, and they didn't even know that God had spoken that to me. And I'm like, boom. God's just confirmed it. But they confirmed it through the word.
[00:35:16] Amen.
[00:35:17] That's a surefire way of knowing that the Holy Spirit is leading you is that the Spirit and the Word will always agree. Let's look at that scripture, Timmy first. John 5. Yep, there it is. For there are three that bear witness in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. We talked about that.
And there are three that bear witness on earth. Where are we?
We're on Earth. Okay, good. We're all in agreement. Hallelujah.
And there are three that bear witness on earth. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three agree as one. You're like, what does that mean? Okay, so that on earth we have three that bear witness, and they three agree as one. So they never do anything apart from one another. They agree as one. There. We're clear on that. When that makes sense, everyone, we're in agreement on that. So the Spirit is God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the water. That's the earthly ministry of Jesus. He was baptized in water. That's everything that Jesus did while he was here on earth, in the flesh. The healings, the forgiveness, the mercy, all the things that he did while he was here, anointed by the Holy Spirit, going about doing good and destroying the works of the devil.
[00:36:26] Amen.
[00:36:27] And then the blood.
We all know what the blood is. That's what Jesus accomplished on the cross. So when the Holy Spirit bears witness to us, when the three that bear witness to us on the earth, these three will always be agree. Will always agree. The Spirit will always confirm what Jesus showed us, the example of Christ and his ministry and the finished works of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross and now who we are because of that and faith in him alone.
[00:36:51] Amen.
[00:36:52] Those three will always agree. So we can have confidence that we're being led by the Holy Spirit if it's in agreement with those three things. The Holy Spirit speaking to me, does it line up with what I see in Scripture about Jesus and what Jesus did while he was on the earth and how he ministered? Because I don't want to minister in any other way that he didn't minister. Why do I want to do something that he didn't do?
[00:37:11] Amen.
[00:37:13] And does it confirm the blood and the finished works and what he accomplished on the cross at Calvary? Does it speak of my redemption? Does it speak of my righteousness? Does it speak of my identity? If it does that, I could have total confidence that the Holy Spirit is leading me.
[00:37:27] Amen.
[00:37:28] That's good. That's a really good way for you to know if the Holy Spirit is leading you and guiding you now I can hear some of you thinking, yeah, but I want to buy a house. How do I know it's the Holy Spirit? How do I know it's that house?
I know. We want that practical side of things, right? We don't. Can't. Where's the scripture that says buy this house on this street at that price? Where's that one? Where's that scripture, God?
Yeah.
[00:37:53] Amen.
[00:37:53] It's the leading of the Lord. It is the leading of the Lord. Well, let me give you a quick little testimony about that. Hey, let me have a quick little testimony about that. So we've been house hunting a little bit, the wife and I, and. And man, it's a little bit stressful, a little bit in my flesh. Like, I got total peace about it with God because, man, our house is beautiful. Why would I want to move? But God just put it on our hearts separately. So we started being obedient to that and started looking and seeing what's going on. And we had to ask ourselves, man, this must be God, because I love this house. Why would I want to move from here?
But God spoke to me when we were sort of going through this house hunting process. And we're still in it. We're still believing God and he'll open the doors and he'll make the way.
But he said to me, I was talking to him about. And I said, lord, like, I just don't know what I should do. How, like, where am I supposed to look?
How much am I supposed to go for? Is that going to cap us out with our ability to be able to just live in our cash flow and all this? So this is real conversations, right? This is everyday conversations that you have with Jesus. And he said to me, I had to write it down because it was so good. And I encourage you guys to write it down when you think the Holy Spirit's speaking to you because then you can confirm it later on. He said, you are my child and I only have what's best for you. Don't settle or compromise. So that's what I heard right in my spirit. That's what I heard when I was in prayer.
But I didn't just go, oh, great and then run with that now. I parked that. I sat on that. So, okay, that's the Holy Spirit, wrote it down and I'll let that meditate for a little bit and see how we go. I'm not in a rush. The Holy Spirit is never in a rush. You can't miss it. He'll make it he'll work it out. He'll work it out. Don't rush, don't run ahead of the Lord. And then I was reading in my daily scriptures and I was in Proverbs because I read Proverb every day, chapter of Proverbs every day. So much wisdom. I encourage you to read it. The Holy Spirit will speak to you through that. He wrote it.
It says, the blessings of the Lord make rich and he adds no sorrow to it. I think we got it up there. The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow to it. And the Lord quickly reminded me, if it's me, it'll be good, it'll be easy. There'll be no sorrow with it. If it's me, it's not going to be hard. It's not going to be a burden. You're not going to feel. So. Because I was saying, am I going to have to take it? Is this going to struggle on my cash flow? Am I going to be able to afford this? Lord, where should I be looking? What should I be doing?
The Lord said to me, you're my child. Don't settle, don't compromise. And then I saw this in the scriptures. The blessings of the Lord make rich and they add no sorrow to it. So if I'm praying about something and it's something to do with finances or something just to do about my overall well being, God's blessing will never add sorrow to me. It'll never feel like it's a struggle. It'll never make me be worse off than what I was.
That's not the blessing of the Lord. It makes rich. It doesn't make me wealthy. It's not saying I'm going to have tons of money. That's not what the scripture is saying. I'm gonna have rich, I'm gonna have joy, I'm gonna have peace.
Yeah, I'm gonna be able to sleep well at night. You know, since God spoke this to me, I have not lost a wink of sleep over house hunting.
[00:40:59] I haven't.
[00:41:00] Because I was like, oh, sweet, God's got it. He just said it. He gave me the Word through the Spirit and then he confirmed it in his Word. Sweet. I'm good. God's got it. I'm good. Done.
You know, and that. And that. I hope that's a good example of what I'm talking about here, about how the Word and the Spirit will always agree with one another and there'll always be peace. That follows that. There'll always be an assurity, a trust that follows that when God speaks to you, when the Spirit is leading you.
[00:41:26] Amen.
[00:41:27] How are we doing? Five more minutes.
[00:41:30] Amen.
[00:41:33] Does anyone in this room know Reinhard Bonnke? You guys heard of Reinhard Bonnke? Amazing, amazing evangelist. Some of you young Christians probably don't know him, but he was in it for his time. He was like the Todd White before Todd White, right? Like, he was just a massive evangelist.
He was over in Africa, and he would lead hundreds and thousands of people to the Lord all the time. But he had this amazing catchphrase. He said that the Holy Spirit will always confirm the word about Jesus. And that stuck with me. And it stuck with me to this day in my discerning of the leading of the Holy Spirit. That he will always confirm the word about Jesus. He will always confirm Jesus in my life. He will always magnify Jesus in my life. And if I'm to end today with imparting something to you guys, I want you guys to take that away. Is that when the Holy Spirit is leading you, he will always glorify Jesus. He will always speak of Jesus and the truth about who Jesus is. The three bear witness. The Spirit will always testify of the ministry of Jesus and what he's done. Man, he wants to heal you, man. He wants to prosper you. He forgives you. He has mercy for you.
Oh, man. He wants to take you to places that you couldn't ask, think, dream or imagine, you know. He wants to teach you. He wants to sit with you. He wants you to learn of him. He's meek. He's lowly.
He says, come to me. All. You are thirsty, and out of your bellies will flow rivers of living water. He says, come to me. Come to me. All of you are burdened and heavy laden with life. And I'll give you rest. These are all the things about Jesus on the earth. His water, his ministry. That one that he did. And he says, don't forget the blood. The Holy Spirit would remind you of that. Oh, man, you're righteous. You stand before God, holy and blameless, not based on your works or what you've done or your past is not trying to speak louder than the blood.
[00:43:21] Amen.
[00:43:22] Don't let the past speak louder than the blood. These are things that the Holy Spirit ministers to us. These are the things that he says to us. That when he leads us and guides us into all truth. So the three things, study the real deal, not the counterfeit. The Holy Spirit will always lead you in love. So know the love of the Father as Revealed in Jesus Christ. Amen.
And what was the last one?
[00:43:45] Anyone?
[00:43:46] The Word and the Spirit always agree.
[00:43:47] Amen.
[00:43:48] Very good. The Word and the Spirit always agree.
[00:43:50] Amen.
[00:43:51] Well Father, we thank you for this word this morning, Lord, I pray that God it has ministered to your people. I know it was a lot more teachy and meaty this morning, Lord God. So I pray that everybody received from it. Pray that no one fell asleep.
Pray Lord, that you would just quicken to us. Bring back to our remembrance, Lord, everything that we've heard this morning that's of you. If it's not of you Lord, let it simply fall away. We only want what's of you God.
Father, I just thank you Lord as we leave this place today, we will be more in tune with you. We will hear your spirit more clearly and have confidence to move when you speak. Lord God, Lord, we just want to be led by you, Holy Spirit. We want to hear your voice clearly. We want to know what it is that you want for us.
But God, let us not become so fixated on whether it is or isn't the Lord. Let us just be so in love with you that we just know that we're following you. Let us be so in love with you God, and sow in your word that we just know. We just have confidence that it's you leading us. We don't have to second guess it.
And God, give us people to surround us who will speak the Word into our lives and confirm what we think we're hearing from the Holy Spirit. Help us God. Walk with us. Show us you're here with us all the time. Holy Spirit, we just want to be more in tune with you. We acknowledge you and God. We surrender to you. Use us. We speak through us. Speak to us, speak to the world.
And most importantly, glorify and magnify Jesus in our lives. Holy Spirit, it's in his precious name I pray everybody said Amen. Amen. Glory to God.
[00:45:36] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers.life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
