Thankful For The Holy Ghost | Pastor Matt Davis | 19Nov2023

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:00:00] If you are thankful for the Holy Ghost. Glory to God. Well, you can be seated unless you're going to shout and run in the Holy Ghost. Amen. We might do that too. We are Pentecostal, right? You're not ashamed of that? Amen. Glory to God. We're going to talk about the Holy Ghost today. Amen. You know, he's everything that song just said. He. He is on inside of you. He's your helper. He's your comforter. He's your standby counselor. Glory to God, your advocate. When you need an answer, he brings the answer. He's everything that God is, and he is on the inside of us when we're born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we're going to discuss that today, are we? We're live. Amen. We'd like to welcome everyone on Facebook Land. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. We're going to get into the word today concerning the Holy Spirit and what he is to us and through us. I know Thanksgiving is coming up real soon. And and that's the reason I titled. If you have to put a title on the message, I titled mine today, Thank God or I'm thankful for the Holy Ghost. Thank God for the Holy Ghost because he is everything you know. He's just as much God as God is God. He's just as much God as Jesus is God because he's part of the Trinity, the 3 in 1. You can't separate them. Amen.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:01:20] He's a Holy Ghost, but he's also the most misunderstood part of the Trinity. We're going to look at some things today concerning his personality, how he works with us and through us, and the fact that, you know, he wants to bring victory in every area of our life. Amen. Victory in every area. He takes what Jesus has already done. See what we need to realize when when Jesus came on the earth, he could have just came and died and paid for our sins and been buried, and rose again from the dead and went back to the father. And he said, man, y'all just going to have to do the best you can till I get back. And thank God he didn't do that right. You know, it's kind of like sometimes you, you maybe the parents go out on a date or whatever, and they leave the kids with a frozen pizza and whatever, you know? So, hey, y'all just going to do the best you can. We'll be back after a while. We're going to go get a steak and whatever. We'll bring you some cheese biscuits back. But you know, you're just going to do the best you can until I get back. Well, see, thank God Jesus didn't do that, right? No. He said I'm leaving, but I'm going to leave someone just like me. Glory to God. In fact, it's going to be better for you because he's going to live on the inside of you.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:02:27] So when Jesus walked the earth, he walked with the disciples. But you know, if you got away from Jesus and you wasn't in the same place, then you couldn't just ask him a question. Why? Because you may be here and Jesus may be over there. But the thing about the Holy Spirit is, is he's not just walking around with you, but he lives in you. The Bible says, and now we're the temple of the Holy Spirit. So now, no matter where we go, he goes. Glory to God. When we have a question and we need an answer, the answer is living on the inside of you. Amen. Glory to God. So Jesus told him. He said, look, I know you don't understand necessarily right now. In fact, they were asking him, said Jesus, I believe it was Philip asked me. He said, Jesus, will you show us the father? And he said, Philip. He said, I've been so long with you, he said, and you still ask me, show you the father, he said, have you not seen the father yet? He said, everything that I do is what my father does. Everything I say is what my father is telling me to say. He said at least, at least believe me. For the. For the work's sake. For the miracles sake. And then he told them, he said, look, I'm going to go away, but it's going to be better for you that I go.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:03:28] Because when I go, the comforter, the Holy One, the Greater one, he can come and he'll live in you and he'll lead you and guide you and show you things to come. Amen. Glory be to God. So we're going to talk about that today. And I'm excited about it. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm excited about acts chapter one. Let's go in our Bibles to Acts chapter one and verse eight. And we're going to talk about power. How many of you like power? You know, as a kid, I used to like to blow things up. You know, we we got in trouble with fireworks a lot because we would blow things up. We'd tape m-80s. They don't even make m-80s anymore, do they? Nathan. Man, we used to buy cherry bombs and m-80s and blow stuff up, and and we used to take PVC pipe and make guns, and we would have bottle rocket fights in the yard. I'm talking shooting bottle rockets at each other with a PVC pipe gun, you know, and you poppin bottle rockets all around you, you know, you can't. Sometime I couldn't hear for 2 or 3 days, you know, because want to go off my, my head or whatever. And it's kind of like a ringing is that ring is that is a doorbell ringing. No, that's just my ears, you know. So, you know, boys in particular.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:04:34] They like power. They like things to blow up. Amen. Well, when you get filled with the Holy Ghost, when he comes to live on the inside of us, we receive power from the Holy Ghost when he comes to live on his side. And that's what this verse tells us here in acts chapter one. I hadn't even got there yet myself. Let me get over there. Acts chapter one and verse eight. Jesus told him. He said, go wait in Jerusalem. For the promise of the father. Glory to God, and you'll receive this power. Verse eight says, but you shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. I want you to notice there when he said, power. That word power means you can study and look it up. It actually means the Greek word is dunamis. It means explosive power. Amen. That means it'll blow up strongholds. It'll blow up things. You know where people lived in sin for years. And they said, you know, I just couldn't overcome this, or I had this addiction or this problem. I just couldn't get through it. Now, when you received the Holy Spirit and power, the power of the Holy Spirit can come in and destroy and blow up those yokes of bondages. Amen. The things that held people captive for years and even families.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:05:50] You know, I lived in a family where we had, you know, people talk about generational curses and all that, you know? Well, I'll just tell you this, is that the Holy Ghost will blow up a generational curse. He'll completely destroy it. Brother Hagan called it annihilated, or he said, annihilate. He said no, and I highly. That means that the Holy Ghost, he'll blow something up to the place where it cannot be put back together. And that's what the Holy Ghost will do through his power. When he comes into our life, he'll take things that's not from God. Amen. If we allow him, if we cooperate with him, if we yield to him, if we give our lives to him, he'll take things that have held people in bondage, held us in bondage, and he'll completely destroy it where it can't be put back together. Amen. That's called freedom. Everybody say freedom. So he came to give us freedom. So you shall receive power. After that, the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. So this power comes on us for a reason, not only for us personally, but also so that we can be a witness. And it tells us we'll be a witness. Where? And it says in Jerusalem, which means basically, you'll be a witness in your hometown.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:06:57] You'll be a witness here. Local. You'll be a witness to the surrounding areas around you, and also you'll be a witness to the uttermost parts of the earth because of the power that you receive from the Holy Spirit. How many of you know that the world has had enough? Natural. I mean, the world's had enough self-help books. You can go to you can go to some of the books, millions of clothes. And now you can go to Amazon online, or you can go to a books and me and you can find help self-help books till they run out your ears. And people have tried it and they've done this and they've done that, and you've got two steps. And I'm not against steps in different, different AA and different programs. I'm not against the steps. If, look, if anything can help somebody come out of bondage, that's a good thing. So I'm not I'm not against the steps. But what I'm I'm for is this is allow God in his ability by the Holy Spirit to help you accomplish those steps. Let it be his ability working in you and through you that allows you to do the things that's going to bring about change in your life. Because when we depend upon our strength and our ability, when we mess up or we make a mistake, then the devil comes in and he brings condemnation, right? He comes in and says, you don't have what it takes.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:08:02] He comes in and says, you're not good enough. He comes in and says, you'll never make it because you've already tried it, and because you tried it and didn't succeed, then you might as well quit, and you might as well give up because you don't have what it takes. See? But when we do it in his power, glory to God. When we do it in his ability and who he is on the inside of us, then we can accomplish. We will accomplish because it's him and it's not us working on the inside of us and trying to do it in our strength. Right? So we'll be a witness unto all the earth, because we're doing it in his strength and his power. Supernatural. Say, when God gives you a word supernaturally for somebody and you go to it to that person and speak it to them, then it gets their attention. Right now. Natural compassion is great. We ought to have compassion for the lost. That's great. But when he gives us a supernatural word for that person, a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge, and we go to that person and share that word of wisdom, word of knowledge, and all of a sudden, man, their ears perk up. Well, wait a minute. How did you know that about me? How did you know that my shoulder was injured in a football game in high school? How did you know that? That I just lost my my husband.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:09:04] How did you know that? I just lost my job. We'll see. The Spirit of God knows all things, and he lives on inside of us and he'll show us things to come. But are we listening? Are we yielded to him? Amen. But that power that we have to be a witness. See, that's what I'm telling you is supernatural. And we need to walk in the supernatural. Don't be afraid of him. Amen. We're a Pentecostal church. Right. But see, the Bible is true and written for everyone. It's for denominational churches. God. In fact, I never saw a denomination in here, did you? I know there was John the Baptist, but I don't think he. I don't think he attended the Baptist church. I'm not against the Baptists. I'm for the Baptist. I'm not against the Methodists. I'm for the Methodists. But see, we're the body of Christ, and the Word of God is written for the church, for the body. Not not for walls, not a denomination, but for the children of God to learn from, to glean from, and to be able to walk as a success in this life. Amen. And that's the reason the Holy Spirit has been made to. He's been made out to look very weird and spooky, you know, and you hear people talk about him and they call him. Well, he's a Holy Ghost, you know, and he wants to get spooky, you know, he's a holy.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:10:11] Some say spirit, some say goes, he a ghost or is he a spirit? You know, and they get all spooky and weird about it. And they think about little old grannies at church with beehives, you know, and some service you went to in a revival where they was dancing around and, and they did. Have you ever been to one where they do the barricades or whatever? And you have these two little grannies get out and they lock arms. There are two ushers and they got a granny in the middle and they going around with and she's oh, you know, and man they running around and they, they bounce around like this because they let her go. She'll tear something up. You know, she'll tear up the blinds or scratch the paint or she'll throw a hymnal. They don't know what what she's going to do, you know. And we have, we have these pictures in our mind of these weird things about the Holy Ghost. And I know we're laughing about it, and it's funny to us, but, you know, there's a lot of denominational people right now that don't. Understand the function of the operation of the Holy Spirit because they have these weird things in their mind, and he's spooky and he's a ghost. And man, we just don't, you know, we're going to go to heaven. We're going to be sweet and nice, and we're going to make it to heaven.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:11:07] But don't don't talk to me about the Holy Ghost. You know, we know he's in there. But there are just certain things that, you know, and tongues. Oh, no no no no no no. Tongues goes in your shoe. You know it's not in your mouth. There's one in there. But we talk, but we don't speak in other tongues that's passed away, you know. And there's even some people bless the heart that thinks that tongues is of the devil. Or that's evil. And so that's what the devil wants people to believe, because he wants to keep them in bondage and never walk in and operate in the gift of the Holy Spirit and the benefits of the power that he is on inside of them. See, he's the part of the Trinity that lives in the believer, and because he lives on inside of us, the more we know about him and understand how to flow with him and to operate with him, the more victory we can live in upon this earth. The more authority that we can walk in. You understand that the more authority we can walk in over the enemy. So if we don't learn to yield to him and learn his ways and his personality, then that means the devil is happy because he can keep us out of the blessings of God. He can keep us out of the fact that we're called to be a witness, right? And to represent Christ in the earth.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:12:14] He can keep us away from that and just keep us just nice Christians and go to church and have our fellowships and be real sweet and real nice and make it to heaven one day. But we're not going to affect the world very much. We're not going to lay hands on the sick very much. We're not going to be bold about the gospel because we don't believe in that. We don't believe that he lives in us and that he's part of the Trinity in a way that he works through us. Does that make sense? So he's not weird. He's not spooky. Glory to God. In fact, he's a gentleman. I remember having a conversation with a with a man one time that he was in a actually he had left a church split and they had started another church they were in they were in a church. They didn't believe in raising hands and having certain type of worship, you know, and they said, well, well, we're just going to go start our own church. So they left and started their own church. I mean, you know, thank God, if that's what they were called to do, they did it. They went started their own church. But he was talking to me about the Holy Spirit. You know, he said, well, now we believe that we're going to lift our hands and we we're going to worship the Lord.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:13:13] We're going to praise the Lord. We're going to have a little more up tempo worshiping everything he said. But let me ask you, he said, what about those tongues? What about tongue? Well, it gave me an opportunity to talk to him. I didn't blow him out of the water, but I opened the scripture and began to talk to him, you know, and it gave him something to think about. And he's like, well, you know, I see that because there's places where after Paul got born again. There's places where Paul went. I believe it was in acts. I've got it written down in one place. We're going to refer to here in a moment concerning something else. But Paul went to him, and he preached Jesus unto him. And he said, John came, and he baptized with water in the name of Jesus. And it says, right after that it said, they believed on the name of Jesus and were saved. And then it said, Then Paul laid there his hands upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues. So, see, it's it works together, but it's not the same. You see what I'm saying? We're born again. And I know a lot of you know this. I'm not. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm using it to to illustrate what I'm talking about and to explain.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:14:13] And we've got people watching from Facebook and listening at different times, and they need to know how to operate and flow in the Holy Spirit. And it's not the same as just being saved. When we get saved, we get born again. Yes, there's the Holy Spirit lives in there, but there's a subsequent experience called the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. That brings a new dimension. Amen. When you don't know how to pray. We sang a song a while ago, said, when I don't know how to pray, then he does know. When you run out of words of what to say about a situation and you, your mental capacity is exhausted, then glory to God. There's something down here called the Holy Ghost. And speaking in other tongues is a heavenly language that you can begin to pray and speak out mysteries and declare things that you don't even know, you don't even know in the mental realm what what the answer is. And there's even a place higher than that. When you can get into a the gift of tongues to where it's like a I've been there before, where you're praying in the Holy Spirit, and all of a sudden it's like an extra gear. You got a car that you can do that in where you hit. You hit that extra gear. And that's fun. Uh, Jessica used to have a car.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:15:19] That little Volkswagen Beetle she had that had a little s sport gear. Something down there. You could bump it down in the s in sport and gave it a little more spunk. And and she said, what's that's for dad? I says for stay away. Don't use it. That's what I told him. I said, ask me. Stay away from it, don't use it. But we like to drive it. And when I drove it, you know, I'd get on this curvy road and drop it down in. That's. And it would hug them curves and man, you know it just changed the gear ratio on it. Well, see, there's a gear in the Holy Ghost where you can get to another level. You can change gears and begin to in the realm of the spirit, you begin to prophesy and declare in other tongues, and you're speaking out things about your future and about your family and about your business. See, so there's things that that we don't need to allow. Uh, teachings that we've heard and religious things that we've heard about the Holy Spirit keep us from walking in the dimension that's going to bring success and victory into our lives. Amen. Because that's what God desires. He desires for us to know Holy Spirit in an intimate way, to be in close fellowship with him, in union with him. Glory to God. Walk every day. And you know, Benny, Benny Hinn.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:16:24] I almost said, Benny Hagan. That might have been maybe they had a cousin, I don't know. But Benny Hinn wrote a book called Good Morning, Holy Spirit. So every day that we wake up, we ought to acknowledge Holy Spirit and say, good morning, Holy Spirit. And he wants to talk. He wants to fellowship. Glory to God. So he's not he's not weird. He's not he's not spooky, but he's part of the Trinity. And he desires so much for us to walk in the truth. So he's a gentleman. He leads, he doesn't push, he convicts us, but he doesn't condemn us. He does things decently in the order. Amen. And he's such a vital part of living a successful Christian life. Glory to God. We can't live this life in our own ability, but through his ability, through his strength and through his call and through his supernatural equipment. Amen. See, we're equipped right now to live in such a time as this. Did you hear me today? You hear the world talking about, you know, the wars and rumors of wars and how everything's lining up in prophecy. And thank God, pastor, he's been bringing revelation on the book of Revelations to us and renewing our minds concerning the things and the times that we're living in. But see, the Bible tells us not to be afraid about that. It says to encourage one another. As the day approaches, we are to be excited.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:17:38] Because he chose to put us here right now at such a time as this. And the good news is, he didn't leave us comfortless. He didn't leave us helpless. Helpless. He didn't leave us without equipment. No, but he gave us the equipper, the Holy Spirit, to live on inside of us. I've never been in the military, but I know if you go in the military, brother Bill, don't they give you equipment that you need? They give you training that you need. They put you in the best possible situation that they can to to to be a success. And what they've sent you on that mission to do and to accomplish. Well, see, God knew that we would be alive in this day and this hour. So he gave us the equipment and the equipper. That's the Holy Spirit to be able to be a success. And not only that, but to be a witness for him in a time right now, to be bold and to share the gospel. Amen. To be bold and lay hands on the sick, to be bold and allow the gifts to operate and to flow through us. Why? To bring in a harvest. Amen. To bring in a harvest. Now I'm going to share a story real quick with you that I've shared in the past. It's been it's been quite a while, and it actually was a dream that I had. And it happened many years ago.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:18:43] I don't know, probably 15 years ago when I had a dream. I was talking to pastor last week, I think it was last week in the foyer about it or the week before, I can't remember. We were discussing it and when I had this dream, you know, sometime you eat too much pizza or taco or whatever, and you and you have crazy dreams and man, you know, you're flying over your neighborhood. You ever had that dream before where you flying over the top of your neighborhood and you're like, man, you know, that's where we played backyard ball. And and, you know, this is my buddy over here had this, you know, we shot basketball over here. And you know, I wrecked my bicycle over here one day and, you know, and my shoe string tied up, you know, in the wheel. And I flipped all these crazy things you have. Or maybe, you know, I've dreamed before that I woke up at school and my desk and in my underwear. I don't know if you all ever dreamed that before. You ever dreamed that before you woke up, you were sitting in homeroom and you're like, uh, does anybody. Does anybody know? And you're like, you know, like, how am I going to get out of here? You know, I'm, you know, crazy dream. But this was not one of those dreams. This was a dream. And God does work through dreams, right? He works through dreams.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:19:41] But you have to know the difference between a Holy Ghost dream and some something crazy like that. In this dream, I woke up and it was so powerful. I mean, I stood up out of the bed and I'm like, I'm looking around. And it's one of those I'm thinking, I'm still there. And I'm like, man, this is this is wild. And I had to grab on to. I held on to the nightstand beside my bed and I'm like, I'm looking and said, this is my bedroom. I'm here. And I looked over my pillow and my pillow was completely soaked because I'd been weeping in my dream, and I fell to my pillow and it was soaked because I've been weeping. Because God revealed his heart to me about something. I was preaching at a church and the church I was at. It had two sections similar to this. It actually had three sections and it had two back doors on the back. Double doors here, double doors there. And I'm preaching. Don't even know what I was preaching on, but man, I got wound up and I was, I was proclaiming the word and the Holy Ghost started to move. And I was kicking my leg, man. And I was spitting. You know, they call it spitting cotton, you know, windmill. I was getting with it and the Holy Ghost started to move and I thought, man, it just came on me.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:20:40] And I started to run. You know, Jesus said that he was full of joy above all his fellows. And Jesus danced. And we know that David danced. He danced so bad he shook. But thank God we don't wear skirts. But he shook his skirt up, you know, when he was dancing. So the Holy Ghost came home and I ran. I ran out of the sanctuary doors. And I can tell you that exactly. If I were to preach in that church at some point in my life, I'll know exactly where I'm at, because it was such such detail. It's just amazing how detail it was. So I ran out the back doors shouting and dancing in the Holy Ghost. I got into the foyer, man. I was twirling and dancing and shouting. I don't know what all I was doing. I came back into the from the back doors and when I did, I fully expected. What would you think would be happening? I fully expected when I came back in through the doors, that the church would just be man running in the Holy Ghost. They'd be shouting, there'd be somebody over here speaking in tongues, somebody over here rolling, I don't know, dancing, you know. I didn't know what was going to be going on, but I thought, the Holy Ghost is moving and this is what he's doing, and this is what's going to be happening. So when I come back through the doors, I come back through the double doors and I push him on them.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:21:41] And I still dancing. When I get in, it's completely silent, completely silent. And I walk in from the back of the chairs. And when I get in, there's people in the in the seats and they've got newspapers out. And they're sitting there in the church with newspapers and they're reading their newspapers, and it's like you're in a time lapse. You know what I'm talking about. It's like time stopped and I was like, spinning around, and I could see all these different images of people and things that was going on. I only knew one person that was in there, and I remember their face and who they were, but these people were reading the newspapers. And I looking down and I'm thinking, man, what has happened? What's going on? You know. And so I walked up to one of them, and that's the only person. I remembered their face. And I walked up to him and they sitting there with a newspaper. And it wasn't any brother Bill, I just want to tell you. But if it was, I'd let you know. But no, but it wasn't you. But but they were sitting there reading the newspaper, and I walked up to him, and I took my hand like this. And I went, and I just ripped the I mean, I ripped the middle of the newspaper clean out and they sitting there with two pieces, one on each side, and they looked up at me and they like they looked at me like, you idiot, what are you what are you doing? You know, have you lost your ever loving mind? You know, what are you doing? And I just but it was like righteous indignation came over me and I just ripped the middle out of it, you know? And I'm walking around.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:22:48] I come back up to the pulpit, and when I get to the pulpit, I turn around and it's like the time fast forward. And I looked up and the clock hit. It clicked straight to 12:00. Click to 12:00 when I did, when the clock did, everybody in the sanctuary stood up. They put their newspapers down. They started walking around talking. And I'm still in this time lapse. Like they don't even know I exist. And I'm still walking around in this time lapse and I get over to them and they're like, you know, and when I say this, I'm not. I love man, I love to talk about games and football and I love to go. Y'all know. I mean, you know, me. I like to eat, right? I like tacos, you know, I like pizza, I like to eat, I like good, you know, grilled fish, man I like to eat. So but what happened was these people were talking about, where are you going to go, you know, where are we going to get some lunch at? You know what happened in the game last night? What? And I was hearing all these little conversations going on.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:23:39] And I'm thinking I'm like, Lord, what are you? What are you? I mean, I see what's happening. What are you trying to show me? And what happened is he began to tell me. He said, this is a condition of the body of Christ as a whole, is that they're more interested in the in the events of the day and what's taking place and the events of the day, than they are the move of my spirit and what my voice is saying in the earth today, and what my agenda and my purpose is. And say he's not against us enjoying life. He said. He came to give us life and life more abundantly, man. He wants us to enjoy things. He put everything that's here. The earth belongs to him. He put it here and he put it here for us to enjoy. So he's not against that. But what he showed me in that dream was, is that it's easy for the body of Christ to get to a place to where they're not in tune to his voice, they're not in tune to his leading. In the time that we live in right now. See, there's not much more time left. We're living in the last of the last days, right? But it's nothing to be afraid of.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:24:34] We ought to be excited because we get to be a part, see? But we need to be in tune. We need to be listening. We need to be in tune that dial into the frequency of his voice so that we can hear and know is, what is it today, Holy spirit, what is it today that you have on the list for me while I'm at my job today? Who will I see today while I'm at the grocery store today? Who is it that I'll see there that I can witness to? What is the day, Holy Spirit that you want me to change? About the way that I treat my family and my wife? What is it today, Holy Spirit, that you want me to change about what I do with my money? What is it today, Holy Spirit that I can invest in that will bring increase so that I can be a greater blessing to the Kingdom? See, the Holy Spirit is always speaking. He's always talking. And his reason he does that is he's he's he's trying to get us to a place to where we increase, to where we're blessed and prosperous and walking in the fullness of everything that Jesus has provided. Amen. So he shared that dream, that dream. And I really had to when I woke up and I held on to my, like I said, the night table and I'm in my pillow is wet because I began to weep.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:25:36] And since he said, I'm allowing you to feel my heart and the grief that it brings me when my children don't walk in union and fellowship with the with the leading of the Holy Spirit and what the spirit wants to do. Amen. Now let's go. Two, I believe I want to go to the book of John. Go to John chapter 14 real quick. If you don't have your Bible with you, you can look on the screen up there. John chapter 14. We're going to start. You've got to two passes on the read. We're going to start in 14, verse 16. We'll read that here in just a moment. So what we need to realize is, is that that we understand a lot of that in the church, that we're in the body of believers here, we've been taught well. Amen. We've been taught well for years, and we've been taught on the Holy Spirit and a lot of things. What I'm sharing today. Most of you know, but I'm here to, to to not only bring maybe some greater light in that area to stir some things up concerning those areas, but also to to bring a exhortation to the place, to where we're encouraged and spurred on to, to to get to a place to where we're in greater union with him. We're in union with, yes, we're one with him. But to be in a place where we hear better.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:27:13] Do you hear what I'm saying? Where we hear better. Where we're walking closer to him. To a place not you can't get closer than. Than he lives on his side of you. You can't get any closer than that. But you can. I'm getting ahead of myself. But you can be in a greater fellowship. Right. Just like a natural relationship. We're going to talk about that in a minute. You can be in union with somebody, but there's a difference between union with them and fellowship with them. You could you could be in union and not want to see the face. You could be in union and say, get away from me. I don't want to talk to you. I don't want you to be around me. Right? Or you can be in union with them and you can be in close fellowship. And that's what God wants us to do with the Holy Spirit. So that's the reason I'm sharing this. And there's a lot of people that, like I said, that may hear this message, Facebook or otherwise, on audio that don't understand the purpose and the personality of the Holy Spirit. You know, I went to a it was actually Granite West. I've shared this story too before, but it fit good right here for those that may be listening as well. But Granite West, one time she invited me to a revival and I won't mention the name of the church, but she invited me to a revival, and I was probably ten, nine, ten years old.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:28:20] And man, I was living through living hell in my family life. You know, we had. You know, on Friday night we may have bar stools flying and no telling what shotguns pointed each other knife flying through. I mean, there's no telling. Ambulance is coming to get somebody out of the floor. You know, who knows what was going on. Full fledged party. All the furniture moved out of the house and, you know, stereo going. And, you know, my grandma come in one night and there was a rock, a river of beer running through the kitchen floor, because there was about 7 or 8 garbage bags full of beer cans that was leaking all out. And she's like, she come in there with a gun, ran everybody. She ran everybody out of the house. They was jumping out windows and everywhere. So that's kind of thing, you know, that I was living in, in a part of is nine years old. And granted, West invited me to a revival. And the thing was, I was hungry, man. I was looking for something. None of that was even at nine years old. I was drinking beer at nine years old and things I shouldn't have been doing, but none of that satisfied. It was just a temporary fix. I'd forget about what I was dealing with.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:29:22] But then, you know, later on it was still there. See it never satisfied. And as I got older, I continued in that path, and it never satisfied. I'd look to other things, and that didn't satisfy. See? But she invited me to this revival, so I went. I didn't know. I didn't know anything about anything. All I knew there was that God was out to get me. That's what I believed that God was going to get me. Because that's what my mother told me. Bless her heart. That's all she knew at the time. You mess up, he's going to get you. You say a ugly word. He's keeping up with it. He's going to get you. Well, I'll go to this revival. And man, man, there was people. Like I said, it was this little ladies, you know, they had the barricades and they bouncing around and shouting her hair down, you know, and all this weird stuff going on. I didn't know what to think. They just threw me from what I was living in over into Pentecostal revival, you know, man, this is this is wild. But I kind of liked it, you know, I was like, man, this. You know, I'm used to, folks. Look like they drunk. Pass. Now, I'm used to seeing that falling over in the chair, and you have to carry them out to the car and get somebody to drive them home. I'm used to that slobbering and.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:30:26] So it's kind of the same. But but they look kind of happy when they're doing it. People I see they, you know, wake up and Gerald and hang over and hug and Ralph and you know, the Ralph, the porcelain throne and you know, all this going on, you know, and wake up with a headache and all this going on. So I thought, man, this is different. So they give the altar call. And I was like, I don't know, I want it, but I don't know. I'm kind of scared, but I want it. So on the way now, here I am, nine, ten years old by myself. Did nobody go down there with me? And they had a huge stage. It was a stage too big. I mean, you could have played golf on it, you know, you could have played miniature golf on it, whatever. It was a big stage. So I walked down the aisle and halfway down to the altar, the Holy Ghost came on me. And I'm nine years old. Didn't even know who the Holy Ghost was. I did think he was spooky. I did think he was something from, you know, scary movie, horror movie, whatever. I didn't know, but he hit me and I didn't just walk to the altar. I ran to the altar. And when I got to the altar, I ran from one end of that stage to the other, dancing, shouting, and started praying in other tongues.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:31:29] Nobody touched me. Nobody told me anything about what might happen. And I started praying in other tongues. It was the most wonderful experience that I'd had up to that time in my life, and the hell that I was living in, it was it was amazing. I ran from one end to the other, shouting and the Holy Ghost. Well, that that service was great. It was awesome. But I came back to my seat and after things calmed down, I went home. And from that day from about nine, ten years old, all the way till I was 15. No one explained to me about what happened. Nobody discipled me. Nobody taught me about the Holy Spirit. And I lived through how many years? That is nine. Five. What is that? Five more years. Six more. Six more years of life. As a teenager, growing up, experiencing a lot of things. I should have never gone through that if I would have been taught and discipled about who the Holy Spirit was and his purpose, I could have avoided a lot of those things that I went through. Right, but nobody told me. So. That's how important it is that we disciple people. That's how important we that, you know, you can be supernatural and not be weird. So you can have friends and you can have co-workers, and you can have people that work in the same industry you work in, and be fully confident in who you are and the Holy Ghost and still not be weird.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:32:44] See and that's what God wants. But also in that you can walk in power and you can walk in authority and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you. And Mark Hankins says it like this. He said, The Holy Spirit is a genius. He knows everything. And he said, if you'll listen to him, he'll make you a genius. He'll make you look smart, and you're not doing that. So people will look at you as who you are a just as a natural person. But you're doing that to bring glory to God. You're bringing you're doing that to be a witness and to bring people into the kingdom. When we flow and operate in the Holy Spirit. Right? So we don't have to be weird either, but we can be yielded and be in close fellowship with him. Amen. So being filled with what I'm telling you this morning is this is being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, but it's a necessity. It's not just a luxury that we have. And we're coming to church and I'm filled. We're Pentecostal, but it's a necessity. We were riding down the road somewhere. I think maybe this weekend or last week, I don't know. And Julia said, boy, I sure do like these heated seats, man. They're nice. I love it, you know, when it gets cold and you can flick that button and turn on the heated seat and it's nice and toasty.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:33:50] That's nice. That's a luxury, but it's not a necessity. You know, as long as the car cranks somehow jump it off. Whatever you got to do and you get down the road. Do you ever had a car like that? You didn't know if it was going to make it or you know, somebody? Well, I get there. Somebody has some jumper cables or whatever. You know, I knew a girl one time. She had a car. You had to pull the seat belt halfway down. The thing would start as a Ford Escort. I never in my life I don't know what it was that I don't know, but she had some kind of. Did she pull it down a little bit, turned the key a certain way? Or maybe it was just in her mind, I don't know, but maybe it was when she turned the key. But you know, what I'm saying is, you know, there's certain luxuries on vehicles that are nice, right? Backup cameras are good, heated seats are nice, but they're not a necessity. You can get somewhere without all that. But the Holy Spirit for a Christian is not a luxury. It's a necessity. Every day that we wake up, it's a necessity that we have and live and understand and walk in his presence and in fellowship with him. Amen. So in John 14, let's read that verse 16.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:34:49] It says, and I will pray the father. You got it up there. He said, Now I'll pray the father, and he'll give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. Because because it saith him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. On the amplified version, it says, I'll give you another comforter, a counselor, a helper, an intercessor, an advocate, a strengthener, and a standby, and he may remain with you forever. That means he won't ever leave you. You're never alone. Amen. Hallelujah. So where to? We're not just to take up space here on this earth until Jesus comes. We're to occupy. And that's what this tells us here. He's giving us this equipment, these tools and the personality, the Holy Spirit to to to occupy, to be a witness till he comes. The word occupy means to to be situated in a place or a system. It means to rule or to take control of. Amen. It means to be the light of the world. It means to be Jesus to the world. And we've talked about this a minute ago to be supernatural, not just natural. Because the world has had enough just just to be a natural and trying to do things. It needs supernatural. So we have these tools in our toolbox.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:36:06] Amen. We have this living on inside of us by the person and the personality of the Holy Spirit. He's our counselor. Do you need to know how to do something? He's your counselor. Do you need help in how to accomplish something? How to get something done? Glory to God. He's your helper. He's your intercessor. He's your go between. He's your advocate. He's your lawyer. You're strengthening your stand by. Amen. Do you need strength in a situation? He's your strengthener. Amen. Don't allow the devil to tell you you're not going to make it. Don't allow your mind to tell you that. You just can't control this. See, there's times and situations we'll get in where the enemy will put pressure on you and your mouth. Open up your mouth and say, I just don't know if I can take take this anymore. I don't know if I can make it through this situation. I don't know if I can handle any more. No. The Holy Spirit is your helper and your strengthener and you can make it through. Glory to God. Because it's his strength and his ability, not yours and your strength. No, you won't make it in your ability. No. You might have a nervous breakdown, but in his ability, you can walk through it every time. Amen. Because he's a strength, honor. Glory to God. He's a strengthener, and he's your standby. There's a few more translations I want to make mention of real quick.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:37:15] The ESV says I'll ask of the father and he'll give you another helper. He'll be with you forever. New Living Translation said, ask the father and he'll give you another advocate. He'll never leave you. The message says, I'll talk to the father, and he'll provide for you another friend, so that you'll always have someone with you. You ever felt that way before? You just didn't have a friend in the world. The Holy Spirit is your friend and he'll never leave you. He's always there with you, and you'll always have somebody there no matter what you feel like, no matter how dark it looks, no matter how bad the situation. What's happened to you? The Holy Spirit is your friend and he'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. Glory to God. Hard. I mean, that's awesome. Just that right there. It means everything. See people. People sometime never forsake you. People. Sometimes they'll tell you they'll do something. They don't do it. Sometimes people don't keep their word to you. But the Holy Spirit is always your friend. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. There may be somebody I sense the Holy Spirit right now. There may be somebody watching today that you've had a loved one, maybe a spouse or a loved one that has told you that you're worthless, that they don't want you anymore, that they'll never come back to you, or they don't even don't even love you anymore.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:38:29] But the Holy Spirit loves you. You're precious to him. He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He's there with you every day. So don't quit. Don't give up. Amen. Don't ever allow him to take you, that is, tell you that it's not worth it anymore and that you should just take your life. So that's the way it starts. It starts with a seed of a thought. That's the reason this is one of the most misunderstood subjects in the Scripture. The devil does not want people to be in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He wants them to stay away. Amen. Because of this right here. Now, listen. Real, real close to this. Holy Spirit knows everything about every situation. He he takes and shows us the application of, or how to apply everything that Christ has provided in his death, burial, and resurrection. So sometimes we think, man, this is good, I'm in Christ. You know, you know, a lot of people are attracted to the in Christ message. You know what I'm saying? They call it a message. Well, what we have in Christ, we've been made new creations. In Christ, we've been forgiven. In Christ, we're righteous in Christ, we're healed in Christ. And what he's done in his accomplished. But see what the Holy Spirit does. He takes what's been done in Christ, and he shows us how to apply that in our daily life. He makes it a reality.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:39:48] Glory to God. He's the doer of the Word of God. Amen. He's the power that takes what God has done and finished and accomplished through Jesus. And bless God. He hits that situation with power and with authority, and he calls us to come to pass in our life. Amen. He's not just a comforter. Console us when things seem to go wrong. So you know he is the comforter, but he's not just a comforter to come and say, okay, baby, it's going to be okay. You're going to make it. That's part of it. He'll comfort us, but he's not just a comforter and console us, but he's he's our strengthener. He's our advocate. He's our teacher, and he's our helper to get us through that situation. When we look to him. Amen. Now, listen to this real close. We will receive all that Jesus provided in the direct proportion to the measure that we receive and yield to the Holy Spirit. In other words, this the measure that we walk in of what he's provided, the measure that we walk in, all that we talk about, the finished work of Christ, not just being attracted to it, not just understanding and knowing about it, not just having mental assent and hearing about the finished work of Christ, but the measure that will the measure that we walk in it and receive it into our life is the same measure that we yield to the Holy Spirit.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:41:02] The same measure that we're in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Glory to God. Why? Because he's the one that performs it. He's the one that carries it out in our life. He's the one that tells us what to do and what not to do. He's the one that tells us to go here and to go there and not go there and not go here. So he says, sometimes we look at a situation and say, well, God, you know, God caused this calamity to come. No, God didn't cause that calamity. God didn't cause that person to be sick. God didn't kill that person. And how many times do we know? I know stories in my own personal family to where God warned someone not to go there. Don't go, don't go. No. You need to be here. Don't go there. But they didn't heed. They didn't listen to it. They went anyway. Well, there's mercy and there's grace in a particular person I'm talking about there in heaven today. We know that they're in heaven. But God warned them through the Holy Spirit multiple times. Don't go there. Car even broke down and they threw water in the radiator and went on anyway. They did this and that. They were late at work. They had some things, held them up at work, and they were going to miss the the time where they were supposed to be there, but they went anyway.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:42:01] They, they called and said, I'm going to be late, but I'm coming. I need to be at church. I should be at church. It was on a Wednesday night and they said, I need to be at church. I want to go to church. And the person that called him said, both of them is in heaven today. But the young man had gotten a boat. A lot of you know the story. He had gotten a boat, and he wanted her to come riding a new boat with him. She said, no, I need to be in church. He said, no, just not going to hurt to miss this one. And it's not about I'm not being religious. It's not about being at church. Church is good, right? But it's not about the fact that she should have been at church on a Wednesday night. It's about the fact that the Holy Spirit was warning her and putting things in her path to keep her from going. But she didn't heed. She didn't listen, and she went anyway. And as she got into the boat, an accident and ultimately she lost her life. And we know she's in heaven. But see, it's vitally important that we listen and we yield to the Holy Spirit, and it's in direct proportion that we yield to him and listen to him as far as what we're going to experience in our life. Of the finished work of Christ and what he's provided for us.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:43:00] Amen. So as born again believers baptized in the Holy Spirit, we're fully equipped. Amen. Everybody say that with me. Say I'm fully equipped. Fully equipped. Nothing missing. Glory to God! Nothing. Nothing's broken. You're not looking to add something to. You have all the equipment, and we're not going to turn there. But we know first Peter or second Peter one three it says, as the divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who's called us by glory and virtue by which we've been given, has been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these we might be what? Partakers of his divine nature. See, God wants us to partake. We've escaped the corruption that is in this world through lust. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to apply and to walk in these promises that he's talking about. Amen. He teaches us how to apply them. You know, have you ever read the scripture before? And just he's like, I just don't understand what that means. Now, going back to my childhood, you know, we used to have this great big black Bible laying on my coffee table. Imam and make me do chores. Chores as a kid, you know. And I'd pick it up and I'd dust around it and over it, you know, and I put it back down, and we respected it, but we didn't know anything about it.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:44:14] We didn't know anything about it. And I even used to open it up as a kid, you know, just curious. And I start reading. And for some reason, I'd always start at the beginning and I'd get through there, and I'd read about the creation for a few chapters, and then I'd get lost. I'm like, I don't even know what this. What in the world is it? You know, I'd close it up and it just didn't go back to it. But see, the Holy Spirit's our teacher. He's our teacher and he'll reveal the truth to us. Not just so we can say we know something, but so we can apply it and live in what he's provided, and we can take it and give it away. Show somebody else. Hey, this is what the word says. So? So if we go to the word to read and to meditate, then we need to ask the Holy Spirit is I open my word today and your word today, and I open it and begin to study and meditate. Then I ask you, teacher, to come teach me, show me, reveal to me what your word says, and he'll open it up. I know you've all in here. Had that happen before, where our scripture just comes alive and you say, man, I might have read that ten, 20 or 100 times, but it's never jumped off the page like it did today.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:45:14] It's alive and full of power and it speaks to you. You see the difference? It's just not a dead book. It's alive and it's full of power. So we have this equipment. Colossians two six says, we're complete in Christ. We too are filled with the Godhead, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. But the enemy knows this. We've already mentioned that. That's reason he tries to keep us from the Equipper, to keep us out of close fellowship with him. Amen. He tries to come and deceive us. He wants to keep us in his arena. Where does the devil operate? Somebody tell me, what's the number one arena where the devil wants to operate at? And in his mind and our mind thought life. He wants to keep us up here in this noggin, up here with these crazy thoughts that come. And I know it's an old example, but Brother Hagans, he probably got it from somebody. And then they got it from the Holy Ghost. So it all goes back to the Holy Ghost anyway. But, you know, thoughts can come and go, but it's like a bird. Birds can fly overhead, but don't let them land there and build a nest. Right. I know that's an old example, but it's one of the best ones you ever. Thoughts can come. Just that mental image. They can come, they can go. But don't let those thoughts stay there until they build a nest like a bird and they take up residence, because that's when he starts to get a stronghold.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:46:27] It goes from a thought to a stronghold, then it turns it to an action. Right? And then he's got hooks in somebody's. So that's that's the arena he wants us to stay in is in the Thornton Arena. But, see, we need to keep him on our territory, which is the territory of faith. Amen. Territory of faith. And also being aware of what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing. Back to that dream I had. It's not rocket science. It's not some religious, you know, this thing of it is being in union with with the Holy Spirit is freedom. It's not some heavy burden. Jesus said, my, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He said, man, come be with me. Stay with me a while. Learn my ways where my ways are light and easy. Glory to God. I mean, he says, thing of it is serving Jesus, man. It's awesome. It's fun. It doesn't mean we don't have challenges. But the good news is we've already won the victory. The good news is he already knows the answer about everything. All we have to do is come in line with him, yield ourselves to him and listen to him and then rest. Glory to God. Just rest in him. Rest in him. We don't have to fret. We don't have to worry because we're not even of this world system anyway.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:47:36] It can all fade away. All pass away. But but heaven will remain forever. His word remains forever. Glory to God. And we're going to be there with him forever. Forever and ever. And we're part of that eternity right now. We're citizens now. We don't. We're not applying for citizenship. We've got it, baby. We're there so we can rest. So it's not hard. It's not burdensome, but it's light and easy. When we're in that fellowship with him on a daily basis, it's light and it's easy to see. That's where peace comes from. He gives. He is the Prince of Peace. So it's not burdensome to say, I'm going to go spend time with the Holy Holy Spirit. It's actually will take burdens off of you. It's not heavy to go saying, I'm going to meditate in the word no. It'll actually take burdens off. It'll take the heaviness away. It'll take the I don't know what to do. It'll give you the answer of what you're supposed to do. It'll take the fact of I'm hurting in my body. I have sickness or pain in my body. The Holy Spirit will lead you to the Scripture that will bring life and health and healing to your mortal flesh. See? But the enemy wants to tell you. No, I'm. You know I'm not going to do that as burdensome. I don't have time. I'm going to do this.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:48:42] Something else will come up. He wants to keep us away from that place of close and intimate fellowship, and the enemy wants to keep us in the realm of mental reasoning. I heard a story. I don't know if it was in Israel or where it was, but there was a this family that lived in this arena or in this area that was that had a lot of missiles. It was probably somewhere in Israel, but they had a lot of missile attacks that would come in. And I know we've even had a well, I don't know what they're actually using it for, but I know they claim it's for. The the what was it? They sent out all the texts and everything to. I know everybody got the message on the phone where the text went out, like the alert deal, you know. So this particular country, they had those going and there was a ballistic missile that had been fired and it was coming in to this particular area. And the man got an alert on his phone, and his wife was in a different place in town. So he went and gathered his kids up, and they had a safe place in their home. So he went and gathered up his kids, and they got in a safe place. And he began to pray over his kids and speak the Word of God. But his wife was over somewhere else, and he texted her and he couldn't get her.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:49:42] And they found out later she was running on the treadmill somewhere at an exercise place or something. She didn't have her phone with her, and evidently she didn't have something on TV. She because whatever it was going on. But she didn't get the message. Well, she made it through. She was fine. But see, one of them had a message and the other one didn't. One of them knew what was going on, what was happening, but the other one had no idea. And so that's what a lot of the body of Christ is doing is they're they're saved. They're born again. They might even be filled with the Holy Spirit, but they're not walking in union and fellowship with him on a daily basis. So. You see what I'm saying? He lives in them. But but but not not in tune with him. They're not in close fellowship with it. So the husband got the message. He was in the right place. He prayed over the kids, believing God for safety. The wife didn't know anything about it. She was kept in safety by the mercy and grace of God. But I'm saying she didn't get the message. So the Holy Spirit is downloading messages every day. He's downloading direction to us every day. But are we listening? Are we in tune? So it's vital that we take the time we got to invest into that relationship. It's vital that we take that time to listen and to know.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:50:51] Amen. So there's many gifts and callings that are never activated outside of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Did you hear me? Today? There's many gifts and callings that are never activated outside of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That means that a lot of people never yield their life to the Holy Spirit. And see when when we look at our natural ability, how many of you know, when I was a kid, I never would have imagined myself standing here today speaking the word. I never would have imagined myself running the company. And we're a small company, but I'm just saying I never had those necessarily those thoughts as a kid is a young kid or even as a teenager. And there's things that God's called each and every one of us to do that we just don't naturally have those thoughts. In fact, we're by a natural human reaction to things. We normally have negative thoughts. The negative thoughts are is. This is I can't see myself doing that. I could never do that. I can never say that. I can never go to that place because we're looking at our natural ability, right? We're thinking we don't have what it takes. We're thinking we don't measure up or whatever. It could be a things that we've done in the mistakes we've made, whatever it is the enemy tries to do. But see, that's what the arena he wants us to stay in.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:52:03] And that's what happens to a lot of people when they don't yield themselves. And I'm talking to myself as well. I'm not condemning anyway. I'm talking to myself if I don't yield myself. For the voice of the Holy Spirit. There's things that he's called me to do. And told me to do that. If I don't yield myself to that, I'll never walk in that. And I'll never accomplish that because I'm listening more to my mind and my body about what you can't do and what you won't be able to do and who won't listen, and how you can't have the finance to do that. You see what I'm saying? But when we get out of our natural mind and our body and we tune into him. Then we'll begin to walk in that direction of what he's saying, because we're following his lead and his walk because we know. No, it's not me, it's him. It's not my ability is his ability. It's not my ability to produce finances. It's the fact that he's already met every need through Christ Jesus. You see what I'm saying? That's the difference. Living by the natural realm and the natural ways of thinking. Are we going to live supernaturally? And by his voice and by his leading? See, everything that we experience of the finished work of Christ is experienced through our obedience and our yieldedness to the voice of Holy Spirit.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:53:11] Amen. Glory to God. So we don't want to miss callings. Right. We don't want to miss divine appointments, do you? Do you want to miss a divine appointment by the Holy Spirit I don't want to miss. So how do we not miss him? We don't miss him by tuning in and keeping our ears or our spiritual ears open. We tune in by spending time with him. We're going to look at that just in the last few minutes that we have today. We're not going to turn to these scriptures, but I'm going to quote a few to you. Romans 814 says, they that are the sons of God. And you know this verse. It says they are led by the Spirit of God. So if we're a son or daughter of God, we're led by the Spirit of God. John ten, verse four and five and verse skip down. If you're making notes, you can write this down as John ten, verses four and five, and then down in verse 27 it says, my sheep will know my voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. This is Jesus here, and he's talking about being the good shepherd and leading the sheep. And he said, you know, I'm the good shepherd. And he talks about different things. There's a whole parable there. But he said, my voice, people hear the the voice of the good Shepherd. They hear me and they know my voice and the voice of a stranger.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:54:19] They will not follow. But see, it takes time to develop a knowing on the inside of us to know his voice. Do you hear me today? So we have to. We have to train ourselves to hear it. It doesn't just come automatically. There are so many voices in the world, voices from the internet, voices from social media and voices from our own body and from our own mind. Voices from family members that don't know and don't understand and saying, why do you why do you believe that? Why do you go to that church? Why do you why do you speak the Word of God like you do? Why do you believe that's going to happen? Why do you believe this is going to come to pass? Well, see, that's all voices and voices are going to come and voices are going to go. But this voice remains forever. Glory to God. And this is a solid rock that we can stand on, and always have confidence that it shall come to pass. The. There's no not one jot, not one tittle that will fade away, but it'll all come to pass. Amen. So we can put confidence in it. But we have to know that voice. And I mentioned this earlier. I was talking about a husband and wife relationship. They can live in the same house, but they can sleep in different rooms and there's no intimacy.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:55:20] They can be legally married, but they're not in fellowship. They're not in relationship. There's no communion, there's no communication. They're not on the same page. They don't have the same vision. They're just existing in a home or in a place. But there's no there's no purpose. There's no direction. You see what I'm saying? They're just existing with no purpose, no direction. They're just kind of living life. And just wait until, you know, some people just wait until Jesus comes. But we're the body of Christ, and we're here and call for a purpose, to be a witness to further his kingdom. Glory to God. Do you understand that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords wants to use you? Amen. Wants to use us as a body. Use this church to to make a tremendous difference in this world. We've already made a tremendous difference. But he wants to use us in a greater measure. The greater measure that we'll yield, the greater measure that we'll listen, the greater measure of the will obey to go and to do and to listen to his voice is the greater measure of the. He'll use us to make an impact for the Kingdom. Amen. Glory to God. But this example that I want to use is the same way we've got to. We can be filled as far as baptized with the Holy Spirit. He can live in us as a temple.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:56:27] But are we in fellowship with him or are we just living in the same house? Are we sleeping? Sleeping in different rooms. Are we not having intimate communication, intimate fellowship? Because if we're not, we're not going to hear his voice. We're not going to know his leading. We're going to listen to more to what the world saying. We're going to listen to more what our feelings are telling us to do. We're going to listen to more. You know, the world said, oh, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't stay in that mirror. Just go over here to be easier. Don't stay with that person. You don't like them anyway. Don't stay with them. Why you got to stay with them when there's plenty of people in the world? Just go find somebody else that you like better. They'll fit better with you. No, no no, no. Are you married? Are you in covenant? Amen. That God bring you together and put you together? Then that's where he wants you to be. And that's where the plan of God is for your life. So don't listen to the outside voices. I always use a joke about the the only reason the grass is greener. You know, you cut grass. And I used to have this patch in my yard. I'd cut grass with a push more, and I'd get a certain patch and it'd go dead every time because it was real thick. Y'all know why it was real thick.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:57:31] Does anybody tell me? Septic tank sewage. So the grass is greener on the other side because on top of the septic tank, that's what I always tell people. So that means it's greener. But up under the greenness is a whole lot of mess up under there. So just because it looks better, you can go that way. And think it might be better, but when you get over there, guess what? You're going to have a whole nother set of problems, and there's going to be a whole lot of mess to deal with. See, so we don't listen to the voice of the world and to our feelings. We listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, but it comes through communion. Amen. So we got to invest in the relationship. And advanced to the place where we hear his voice. Glory to God! Just like a natural relationship, sometimes it's just a simple walk in the park with your wife. Take some time to get away. It may call for a greater week, weekend, or a greater time away to where you can close stuff out. And have fellowship and talk and get on the same place. Know when we had the summit meetings and trustful. It wasn't convenient for me to be there. I needed to be in different places. In fact, we missed one of the meetings and we had some things going on and that's fine.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:58:39] But the other one I needed to be in in Chattanooga taking care of some business. I didn't need to be there, but I made the decision I'm going to be there anyway. And I went and I got separated from work, separated from other things and to a place. And I was in during the time of worship. And I answered that I was looking for came during the time of worship. Just as clear as it could be about a certain situation, I said. He said, do this and do it this way. It was, it was concerning. Some things were business and I did it and I've seen the results from it. But until I got to that place, I didn't get the answer because I was busy, busy doing this, busy taking care of business, being doing this, busy with the invoices coming in. Business was making schedule, business with life and business with going here and business going there. You see what I'm saying? That's what the devil wants. He wants us to be busy and doing life and taking care of that. And that's all great. But. But what about being in tune with his voice? Because Jesus is coming soon. Do you hear me? He's coming soon. And we're living in the last of the last days, and there's assignments that he has for us. And when we get to heaven one day, all these things that we thought were important here, they're not going to be so important.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [00:59:43] What's going to be so important is, is the people that we took with us. It's going to be important. We took our relatives that don't know Jesus. It's going to be important. We took our friends that we grew up with and that we still know now that don't know Jesus. And they're living, walking down the road on the way to hell, and they don't know how to get out of the hell that they're living in. But we've got the answer. But we don't believe we have the answer. We don't believe we have what it takes, and we don't yield to the Holy Spirit. That is the power. And he is the boldness that we can go and be yielded to him and just open our mouth and let the words that he has come out of our mouth, that is exactly what they need to hear. It's not our natural knowledge. It's not our natural ability. It's not our being ability to be eloquent and knowing all the answers of everything. No, but it's just being yielded. If you look at the disciples and the apostles, they were a bunch of messed up men. They were messed up people, Peter. I mean, just a fireball. He had a he needed to go to anger management, cutting folks ears off, you know, I mean, they would messed up ragtag bunch of people. But he but what they yielded themselves to the Holy Ghost.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:00:42] And you look at Peter. Glory to God in the book of acts. Man, he was wild. He took that boldness, but he put the Holy Ghost on it. And directing the right direction, he stood up. One day there was 3000 added. 5000 added. Glory to God. He went to the same people where he denied Jesus and was afraid of him. He went to him after the day of Pentecost and filled with the Holy Ghost. And he stood up and he said, listen to me. He said, you people, the one that nailed Jesus to the cross and the one that you you killed Jesus. I'm standing up today preaching in his name and but but it's in the name of the one that you crucified. So there was a difference and it was called boldness and boldness of the Holy Ghost. And if we want to walk in that, then we have to do what they did. And they yielded themselves and they spent time with him. Glory to God. Hallelujah! Somebody say Hallelujah. Amen. Well, we're going to finish today with this. So we got to invest in that relationship. Like I said, sometimes it can be a walk. Sometimes it might need to be a getaway. Do. Separate yourselves. You, so I can't do that. Well, no, you can't afford not to do that. It doesn't have to be on a, you know, you can go out in the woods somewhere and sit on a tree stump.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:01:50] It doesn't cost a penny to do that. Go out in the woods. Sit on a tree stump and talk to the Holy Ghost and let him talk to you. And he said, well, I don't know. What do you say? Well. Good. We don't have to know. Let's just go and listen, and you'll be amazed at what he'll tell you to do. And the answer to come for this and answer to come for that. And what you didn't know to do this and say to this person all of a sudden, you just know. And it to bring results. Glory to God. See? Because he wants to walk in Kingdom results. Hallelujah! Kingdom results. Glory be to God. So how do we develop it? Real quick. You give me five minutes real quick. How do we develop it? I'm going to run through these real quick if it's scriptures that you already know, but Romans 12 two, it says for us not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by how the renewing of our mind. So how do we do that? Number one, we develop our ability to hear his voice and to know his leading number one, by meditating on the Word of God. John 1426 says, The Holy Spirit will bring back all things to your remembrance. Jesus said this. He said, The Holy Spirit. He'll bring back to your remembrance all things that I've spoken to you.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:02:58] So as we meditate on the Word of God and put the Word of God in, then the Holy Spirit can bring those things back to our remembrance. Amen. So that's how we know his voice. That's how we know his leading is we meditate on the word. Second way is this by praying in the Holy Spirit, speaking in other tongues. Fellowshipping with him. Jude. Verse. Jude verse 17, chapter one, verse 17 through 23. It says to build yourself up, praying in the Holy Spirit. The Amplified version says, when you pray in the Holy Spirit, you're building yourself up like an edifice. You're rising higher and higher like an edifice. Glory to God. Amen. Glory to God. Show supernatural. So you're not natural. You're super natural. Glory to God. Third way. Well, Hallelujah. I'm going back up to this I. You said you'd give me five minutes, right? Amen. I want to share this with you. And it's about praying in the Holy Ghost being supernatural. See, when you build yourself, you're like that building. You rise. You're raising yourself up higher and higher. You're strengthening yourself. Mark Hankins he shared this in a in a sermon he was preaching one day about. He was in California. And I've got one other point about what we do. And then I'm closing with a story. So he was in California and he was preaching at his church, and he was driving down the road, and he had a driver that went to pick him up from the hotel, bring him to the church.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:04:34] And he was driving by these buildings and all these buildings had these huge cables down beside the building. And he got looking and he's like, he said, I'm always paying attention to my surroundings, different places I travel. He said, so I was wondering what the world's all these, you know, these big, big buildings and they got these huge cables running down beside them. He says. I don't know what the world that is. So he asked the guy, he said, hey, he said, what's all these cables down the side of these buildings for? He looked down and he said, I don't know. And he said, why ask somebody? He said, find out. I want to know. So they go on to the meeting that day. The guy comes, takes him back to the hotel after the meeting, and he says, oh, by the way, he said, those cables are put on there. He said, they're cables to strengthen those buildings because they're in California, have a lot of earthquakes. He said. Those cables are put on there to strengthen the buildings, so when the earthquake comes, they'll be able to withstand withstand the shaking from the earthquake. And he said they were built way back, you know, way back whenever. And they didn't build them with the with the equipment. They, the architects and things at the time didn't have the technology they do now.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:05:32] So they didn't build them to be strong enough. So they came back later and he said they're called seismic retrofit. That's what they're called. Seismic retrofit, he said. And he said, if you know him, he's like, hmm, you know, he said, that's a Holy Ghost right there. He said, that'll preach. So he put it in one of his sermons and was talking about the Holy Ghost. So what happens is, when you pray in other tongues, you're building yourself up like an edifice, building yourself up higher and higher and higher, and you're strengthening yourself. And it's like those cables they put on there. They're seismic retrofit. The cables come on there when the shaking comes. Amen. When the shaking comes, it can't destroy the building. And that makes me think about in the New Testament, where, you know, the parable that talks about the people build their house on the sand. He started building it on the rock. They built it on the sand. And the storms of life come. And the wind and the storms come. And they blow up on the foundation. And they. And it blows the sand away. And, and it talks about the foundation destroyed. And the great is the fall of the house. But and it says, if you build your house upon the rock, the rock of Christ Jesus, when the storms come, they can blow and they can come and the winds can come, but the foundation is strong and it will withstand.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:06:44] So what the Holy Spirit does when we renew our mind on the word. Then we hear his voice when we pray in the Holy Spirit and fellowship with him. And speaking of the tongues, we're building ourselves up stronger and stronger, like an edifice. Amen. And what happens is, is when the storms of life come and the devil comes and tries to destroy you. It's like those cables. He can't take you down. You're not going to have a nervous breakdown. You hear what I'm saying? So when you're full of the Holy Ghost, you can tell the devil. No, I'm not having a nervous breakdown. I'm not. You're not destroying me. You're not taking my life in this situation. And I'm telling you. Well, if you hadn't been there, you will be there. I remember the time that I went as 2014. And see, this is a witness and a testimony to the world. He's called you to be a witness. When the world looks at you and they say, how can you live through that and still be still have a sane mind? How can you do that and be in peace? How can you have joy and still go through and deal with what you've dealt with? You can be a testimony to the world. In 2014, my mom passed away and in May. In October of 2014, my dad had a massive heart attack, was in a coma for 5 to 6 weeks.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:07:51] The night that he called me, he said, I'm on the way to the hospital. I think I'm having a heart attack. I went to his house, the ambulance was pulling out and I was behind him on the way to the hospital. He didn't come out of the hospital from like October 17th to January 1st of the next year. He was in a coma for five and a half weeks. Never even opened an eye until he saw Julia walk across the end of the bed after five and a half weeks. During the time my father was in the hospital, my nephew, 21 years old, overdosed. And I found him in my dad's home, dead in the bedroom, and I went into the home. I had to break into the home and found my nephew. 21 years old, dead, laying on the floor. I had to walk in and I grabbed a hold of his cold foot. And I remember that night. The presence and the power of the Holy Spirit was there with me. And the Word of God says that he will never leave me nor forsake me. And I want to tell you. When the storms of life come and when the situations come. And the devil tries to shake you and tell you you won't make it and you won't go through that and you won't make it this time, I'm telling you, he's there with you.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:08:58] And no matter what shaking is, no matter what it looks like, you will make it. When you depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. And remember, the police came. And I came in and I was the first one to get there. I had a friend that went with me. We had to break in to get in there to him and the police came in. They were looking at everything in the bedroom and looking for evidence of different things that might have taken place and happened. And I remember when the coroner came in and they rolled him out and he was in that bag, and he was on that gurney as they carried him out. And it was a cold night. And I remember my body. Began to shake and shock, tried to set in and I couldn't talk, and I was trying to explain to them what had happened and what I had found, and give them details about what was going on. I couldn't even hardly talk. But the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit was real, and he was there. And and I know that's an extreme example to use in an extreme case, but I'm telling you, the devil wants to take you out, and he wants to tell you that you'll never make it. And when you're in a case like that, or whether it's Monday morning and you wake up and you don't know what to do, I'm telling you, yield yourself to the voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:10:04] He's your guide. Amen. He's your comforter. He's your strengthener. He'll lead you and show you things to come. Amen. Glory to God. So, just like those cables of that seismic retrofit. Glory to God. No matter what shaking comes, you're not fall. Do you hear me? Today? He's there to strengthen you. He's there to uphold you. He's there to lift you up. And the last way that we know is promptings. And his leading is by obeying. So how do we do it? We meditate on the word. We develop it to know his voice by meditating on the word. We develop his leading and his voice, knowing what his voice and what he's speaking to us by praying in the Holy Ghost and building ourselves up in the third way is by obeying his leadings and his promptings. When he speaks to you to do something, then we obey it. Amen. Just like he told me in that in the summit meetings, when I finally took time to listen, it took me a couple of weeks before I obeyed and I should have obeyed quicker. But I did obey, and when I did, I saw the results of it. And it put it. It put something in the process that's taking place that I was looking for the answer for. So that's that's the third way, is we obey his promptings.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:11:17] Uh.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:11:18] What did he tell us to do last? If we obeyed what he told us to do last. So that's the way we we hear his voice is is being obedient. Matthew 1428 Peter asked Jesus if that's you. He was on the water, and he said, Jesus, if that's you, bid me to come. And Jesus said this. Me. And what did Peter do? He got out of the boat. He got out of the boat. He got wet, but he got out of the boat and he walked. And people said, well, he began to sink. Yeah, but man, he got out of the boat and he walked. And Jesus was there, just like the Holy Ghost. He was there. And he reached out and he lifted him up, and they both went back to the boat together. Amen. Luke chapter five. We mentioned this in the offering. Jesus asked Peter to borrow his boat. What did Peter do? He obeyed. He said, Jesus, we fished all night. We didn't catch anything. But nevertheless, at your word, I'll do it. He could have started making. He did make a few excuses. Man, we fished all night. We ain't caught nothing. You don't understand. Jesus. We're professionals. But, but but he listened to the word of Jesus. He obeyed. And he had a net breaking, boat sinking catch that came in. They had to get other boats. Amen. Then Jesus, at the wedding of Canaan. Married? What did they tell the disciples? Mary said whatever he said to do, just do it.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:12:32] He told him to go get the. Waterpots are the wine vessels. Go fill them up with water. And the disciples were like, man, what a word he tells us. Fill them up with what? Are we going to bring it back to the king? And he's going to drink water thinking his wine, and he's going to kill me. He's going to kill us. But what did Mary say? Mary said, whatever he says to do, just go do it. And they did when they got back. The water between filling it up with water and getting back to the to the king or the leader of the feast, the wedding, there it turned into wine. Somewhere in between. So, see, it's not our job to figure out when it's going to happen. It's not our job to figure out how. It's our job to obey. The leading and the voice and the promise of the Holy Spirit. And somewhere between you starting out and to getting where he said to go. The how to comes. The increase comes. The ability comes. Amen. Do you hear me? It shows up on the scene. But. But that's part of. That's our job. Just to obey. Amen. So we meditate on the word. We pray in the Holy Spirit, and then we obey when he says to go and to do. And when we do, we'll begin to develop a knowing and a leading on the inside of his voice. Amen. Hallelujah! We're going to pray this morning if you're we're still live on Facebook, if you're listening to us today on Facebook, or you possibly listen to this sometime in the future, I want you to know today that the Holy Spirit wants to be your best friend.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:13:56] He wants to lead you, guide you. He wants to reveal to you everything that Jesus provided on the cross through his death, through his burial, and his resurrection. And all you have to do today is by faith. You have to reach out and receive it. And I'm going to pray today and where you are listening to this broadcast. I'm going to pray in the love and the power and the presence of Jesus is going to fill your room, fill your house, fill your body, and all you have to do is you have to by faith, you have to release the words that you'll sense in your spirit, man. Acts chapter two, verse four says that that the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you. He said, but he will give you the utterance. He won't do the speaking, but he gives us the utterance. So as I pray, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. He'll give you the utterance. You'll sense words in your spirit. You may be here today if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit in this room. Amen. I believe, as I pray, for those that are watching and for anybody that's here, if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit today, as I pray, the power, the love, the presence of God is going to come upon you.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:14:55] By faith you'll know that, and by faith you'll sense words. It may be syllables on the inside of you. It may be 2 or 3 syllables. It may be one word that you don't understand. But it's not about the mental reasoning. It's about the Spirit of God that lives on the inside of us. And as you sense that by faith release that begin to speak. It may be one syllable, it may be two. And as you practice that and being in his presence, it'll flow as a mighty rushing river and a fountain that come out and you'll pray in other tongues and pray supernatural heavenly language. Amen. I'm going to pray over you right now in the name of Jesus. Father, I pray for each and every person here that's in this room today, and I pray over those that may be watching and listening as this broadcast goes forth over Facebook and over the airwaves. Father, I speak now directly to them, to their bodies, to their minds, father. And now I release the power and the presence of God into their home, into their room. Father God, where they may be watching today into their vehicle. If they're watching this on a device. Father God, I thank you, Lord, that you fill their house, their room, their vehicle with your presence. Fill it now with your love, father. Touch their body.

 

Pastor Matt Davis: [01:15:57] Begin to stir their hearts. Begin to stir them. Father God in their spirit right now in the name of Jesus. And as I speak to you, as you sense that power and that presence upon your body, now those words that begin to bubble up on the inside of you, those syllables right now by faith, begin to release that in the name of Jesus by faith, begin to release that in the name of Jesus. And if you're here today in this room and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, begin to release, begin to speak in other tongues now in the name of Jesus. So, um, but okay. Shikitei Lake and Arradondo ki shikitei al-mukarama sondo rocket I declare right now in the name of Jesus, receive you, the Holy Spirit receive you, the Holy Ghost. Be filled in the name of Jesus. Be filled right now in the name of Jesus. Glory be to God. Glory be to God. Glory be to God. And if you're watching this and you prayed that prayer, then I want you to continue. If you just got one word, two words, begin to to pray and continue to pray, continue to fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And send a testimony right sin call. Let us know that you received a gift of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Let us know so that we can rejoice together with you. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen and amen. Amen. Glory to God.