Extending His Power

How’s everybody doing? I think that’s the best response I’ve ever gotten here when I’ve asked that question. Thank you. That was more than three people, and that’s all I can ask for. For those watching online, we do always have more than three people in the building. It’s just you only hear three people respond. I promise there’s more people here. But it’s good to see you guys.

Last time I preached, I think I went 40 minutes over, is what I learned, and that was not supposed to happen. So I’ve tried to learn from that, and I promise I won’t keep us too long today. This is a little bit of a shorter one. But we all know that this is still important to talk about, as we’ve been in the series called The Spirit and the Bride. Everybody say, “The Spirit and the Bride.” Good, I’m glad you’re with it. Here’s our beautiful, wonderful graphic.

The Spirit and the Bride

Last week you may have been a little confused if you weren’t here, or if you just saw the message title, because last week it was titled “The Spirit in the Bride.” So it almost sounds like a typo, right? But Jay was intentional with that title. It was really about the Spirit being in the church and being in the body, and who we are. So just a small recap, because again, I want to keep this a little shorter today. This is talking, of course, about the Holy Spirit, and then the bride is us as the church, us as a body.

And you can even see this in a scripture that I feel like is oftentimes brought up in marriage retreats or men’s retreats or women’s retreats. When I went to premarriage counseling with Pastor Larry, it was brought up there. So you hear this all the time. Ephesians 5:25–27 — which normally, I feel like, is not talking about the Spirit and the bride — says this: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

So when you read this, obviously this is an instruction to husbands and how we’re supposed to love our wives. But this is specifically a reference, and we can see that it’s talking about us as the church being the bride of Christ — something that He is preparing to present to Himself. We’re on the same page here? Okay.

So I was praying a bit about what this message was going to be about and what the Lord wanted to speak to you guys about and get across. And honestly, I wasn’t getting a ton from Him. I felt like I was spending time in His presence, and I felt like I was having a little bit of fellowship with Him, and it was all good. But as far as the practical side of writing my message down, I was like, man, there’s not really an orchestrated method to this. I’ve preached messages before, and I was not receiving the same way that I’m used to receiving from Him.

So instead of asking the Lord, “Okay, what is it that You want to speak in a message?” I just took a second and reflected on our past messages in this series, The Spirit and the Bride. And I ended up landing at a spot where I was like, I feel like I need to ask the Lord what it is that He wants the bride to be doing. What is it that He wants the bride to be about? In other words, what are we to be about as His people? And there were three things that He brought up. I do have a slide for it — I never prep the AV team, but I did put one in there — so we can put these three things up once you find it.

The three things that I feel like He’s asking the bride to be about right now are conquering sin, partaking in fellowship, and understanding His Word. Again, that’s conquering sin, partaking in fellowship, and understanding His Word.

Three things the bride is about

If you’re like me, when you see that very first point, you’re like, “Well, I don’t conquer sin. That’s Jesus. He already conquered sin. That was His whole deal. I can’t conquer all of sin.” But when I really pondered on this and looked at all three of these things in unison, I got this picture of what it’s like — at least for me — when I’m really being diligent about making sure that I’m spending time in His presence and walking alongside the Holy Spirit’s guidance, for lack of a better term. When I’m really making sure that that’s what I’m about day in and day out, and I’m in this season of knowing exactly what He’s speaking to me, I experience all three of these things in a continuing rotation. Does that make sense at all?

So even though I am not Jesus Christ, the one who conquered sin, He still has this equipping for me when I’m coming up against temptation, or those struggles in my life, or those challenges. He’s equipped me to be able to face sin face-to-face and conquer it. And when you do that, I think the glory in it is not just so that you can pat yourself on the back. Number one, you’re walking in fellowship with Him. And number two, when you do part number two, partaking in fellowship, and you start to share with people, you are bringing glory to His name: “Look what I was able to conquer through Jesus Christ.” And you’re having this true fellowship, and that ultimately will lead to understanding His Word together, as we do in groups.

But Pastor Jay said something that I want to highlight specifically for part number two that kind of relates to everything that I’ve already said. We have this quote from Pastor Jay that I put on social media because I thought it was so cool. This was from two weeks ago, in his message. He says, “There is a fellowship and a strengthening and an encouraging that is to take place in the church. True fellowship among the body is not socializing. It’s when we come together as brothers and sisters in the Lord and we walk away encouraged and strengthened to fulfill your calling and your purpose.”

The reason I highlighted this and why I think it’s so good is because — and we’re going to get into it a little bit more here — this is something that I feel like happens at every single one of our groups. Who’s ever been to a group here at Chapel Valley? A lot of people have been to groups. So when we have fellowship as believers — I think there were a couple of staff meetings years ago where Pastor Jay and Pastor Suzie felt like it was important for us to focus on fellowship, and they would communicate this to the majority of the staff, which were young adults at the time. And we didn’t really understand what that truly meant. At some point it got communicated like, “That’s hanging out with other believers.” And we’re like, “Oh, cool.” So we would just hang out with each other, and honestly, I don’t think we ever got much done. We were building our friendships and having fun together. But as far as strengthening ourselves in the Lord and challenging ourselves and keeping each other accountable — “What is God doing in your life? How are you doing with that? Let me pray for you” — we would just hang out. For me, I would be playing video games with people and having fun, which is all good.

But I think the reason I love that quote so much is that he says true fellowship is not just socializing. It’s when we come together as brothers and sisters in the Lord and we walk away encouraged and strengthened to fulfill our calling and purpose. And that’s truthfully what I see happen in the groups here at Chapel Valley, at least the ones that I’ve been to. That’s what we get to experience when we come to church and gather as a body as well. And so if that’s not happening, I would encourage you to question the Lord: “Why am I not seeing this happen in my life?” These are promises from God, and this is what we’re supposed to understand as our assignment. So if it’s not happening, you actually have a right to ask the Lord, because I think in response He will highlight things that He wants you to be focusing on in order for that to happen. Are you with me? Does that make sense? Okay, good.

When we walk around understanding our purpose, conquering sin and having true fellowship with one another, we understand His Word, because you can’t really be doing all of that without hearing from Him in a way that is true and concrete. And so in our groups we do dive into His Word. It’s always centered around at least one verse that we’re highlighting in that moment. And understanding His Word truthfully just comes out of being in it, and we are charged up to take on our mission — in other words, the commission that has been given to us by Jesus Christ.

The Great Commission and the overflowing cup

Some of you might be familiar with this — it’s pretty famous — but Jesus did give a Great Commission to all of His disciples. Not just the ones that were there in that moment, but all of us, to this day. Amen. So let’s look at that Great Commission. Matthew 28:19–20 says this. This is Jesus speaking to His disciples before He ascended into heaven but after He was resurrected. So He’s already conquered sin, He’s already conquered the grave, He’s come back to life, He’s the resurrected Lord. He even told the disciples, indirectly, to meet Him in a city. They came, they met Him, and now He’s speaking to them before He sends them. This is the final Great Commission He gives to them. Matthew 28:19–20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

And so when we look at this, we realize it’s our job to be doing all of these things — going around and having all these miraculous things happen. But for me, a lot of times I feel like I’m only motivated to do these things shortly after I leave an atmosphere like we experience here in church — shortly after I leave an atmosphere where I’m surrounded by believers that are encouraging me, having that true fellowship we were talking about before, or exiting a time of worship where you’re really, truly worshiping the Lord. Those are the times shortly after that where the Great Commission is on my mind. But in that Monday-through-Saturday, or Monday-through-Friday time, it becomes so easy to get wrapped up in the daily grind, for lack of a better term.

So I’m like, man, why is that? Why does that keep happening? And I really had to think about it for a while. This Great Commission is something that we can be doing, even if it’s a little bit daunting. Because in my head, when I read this, it’s such an intimidating task that a lot of times I’ll discount myself from being able to do those things — being able to go around and baptize people in the Holy Spirit. Being able to share the gospel is even intimidating sometimes.

And then when I really look at it, I think it’s because I interpret this as, I’m supposed to go out and provide a solution, or save people from the bondage that they’re in. I’m supposed to bring people to this new level of understanding who God is and therefore save them. But how many of you guys know it is not our job to be people’s savior? We are to point them to Jesus. As far as being a savior goes, that’s Jesus’ job. Our job is to bring glory to His name through the sharing of the gospel, through sharing our testimony and displaying our faith.

So when you think about it that way, it really becomes this understanding of, I don’t need to go through life thinking, “I need to do this and do that, and I need to be about the Great Commission and make sure I’m checking this off the list, interacting with people, making sure it’s happened.” When you flip it and understand that it’s Jesus’ job to save people, the focus becomes what’s going on with you and God. Because I’m a true believer that if you are focused on the things happening between you and the Lord, and it’s starting to happen, and He’s starting to reveal things to you and perform these miracles, you won’t be able to contain what is happening in your life when you’re conversing with people. It will just come out. It’s going to be this overflowing thing.

Pastor Jay has brought this up a couple times with his analogy, but when we look at being filled with the Holy Spirit, you could think about that literally. I used to work at a movie theater, and it’s funny, because several of the guys on our AV and worship teams this morning have all worked at the movie theater with me. Whenever I watch somebody at a fast-food restaurant go up to a soda machine, it’s very clear to me who has worked in a vending-type job and who has yet to. Because people who haven’t worked in a vending-type job seem to fill it up all the way, and then the foam gets to the top, and they wait for it to settle, and they refill it, and they wait for it to settle, and they refill it. Anybody that’s worked in a movie theater, we just tip that thing at a 45-degree angle, let it pour until all the foam’s there, and then we immediately level it. We’re used to knowing what it’s like to fill something to the very brim in a quick and efficient way.

And Pastor Jay always uses that analogy, because when it comes to the Holy Spirit — how many of you guys know if you go to fill a cup and you just hold it there, even when it gets to the top, what starts to happen? It overflows. And so you look at it this way: when you are spending time in His presence, in His Word, or in worship, or whatever it is, and you’re not just focused on, “Oh, am I doing enough when I’m out and about? Am I talking about God enough? Am I sharing the gospel enough?” — when you’re just focusing on your time spent with God, and you have this true moment of abiding in His Word or abiding in His presence, you can’t help but be filled to the point where you are overflowing. So now when you go out, it’s just going to be a result of what’s going on in you — a result of what you’ve experienced. You can’t help but share it with people. And so you don’t have to feel forced to share something that you’re not filled with. All of a sudden you’re already filled to the point where even moving slightly, it’s just going to spill out. Does that make sense? That’s the analogy that I came up with.

The missing piece: the power of the Holy Spirit

And so how do we do this? How do we get to the point where we are going out and sharing the gospel with people, where you’re going out and having the courage to even baptize people in the Holy Spirit? How do we go about doing the Great Commission that Jesus gave us? Because — we didn’t have it up there — but before He actually gives that Great Commission, He says that He’s been given all authority in heaven and on earth. And then, with that context, that’s the commission He gives us. So it is a commission that is charged with something. So how do we go about achieving that? Do we just go around and be nice to people, be good Christians?

That’s kind of what I was thinking, because I feel like that’s what always gets communicated in church. When I talk to people that aren’t believers or don’t have a relationship with the Lord, I think genuinely and generally they feel happy that I’m going to church. They feel happy that I have faith. It’s kind of an “Oh, that’s good for you” type of mentality. And when I ask people that aren’t in a relationship with Him, “What do you think church is?” they’ll generally say something like, “You do talk about God, but I think you leave knowing good morals, or you heard a good lesson, or you know how to go about life and be kind to one another.” And I think it’s so interesting that that’s oftentimes the perception. Because I don’t know about you guys, but going around and being kind to people — I don’t think that’s quite enough to accomplish the Great Commission that Jesus gave us. I really don’t. So if that’s all we’re getting from church, then what’s up? Where is the disconnect?

I asked the youth group last week, because we generally do talk about things that were spoken at church. The youth group is one of our main groups; it’s just specifically for sixth through twelfth graders, and we follow the same kind of discussion guides that our other groups do. So last week we talked about the Holy Spirit, because we talked about the Spirit in the bride. And I asked the youth group, “Okay, what are the benefits that you guys see from having the Holy Spirit?” In other words, if you knew about God and you learned about Jesus and you gave your life to Jesus, and you still had this level of faith and intimacy and relationship with Jesus, but you didn’t have the Holy Spirit — would your life look any different? How would it look different? What benefits do you get from the Holy Spirit?

And I love our groups, because at some point we had discussion questions one through five that generally led you to a right or wrong answer — you could find the correct answer in the Word. Now I feel like they’re really questions that allow people to wrestle through and verbalize where they’re at, and it allows the Holy Spirit to come in and guide the conversation. Does that make sense, the difference there? So when I asked the youth group that, a lot of them gave good answers, but they were all in the same theme. Everybody responded with the fruit of the Spirit.

So we’re going to look at Galatians 5:22–23. Most of you guys know this by heart. Maybe you learned it in kids’ church. I grew up Catholic, by the way, and I didn’t really go to kids’ church and didn’t watch VeggieTales, and I don’t know a lot of the famous stories in the Old Testament. So I always want to make sure I cover this in case people are like me and just don’t know these things, because a lot of people would memorize this in a song when they were a kid. Galatians 5:22–23 says this: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” and then it goes on to say, “self-control.”

These are the fruits that people in the youth group were saying that they would experience: “My life is different, and the Holy Spirit gives me these kinds of benefits.” And they would basically list the fruit of the Spirit. I don’t know about you guys, but to me that’s still in the vein of just being kind and gentle. That’s in the vein of what we talked about before, where you learn how to be a nice person — at least that’s how it came across. I’m like, okay, these are things that are supposed to happen automatically as a result of the Holy Spirit being in and through you. These aren’t the end goal. These are just the fruit of the Spirit. That’s why they’re called that.

So some of them answered that way, and others answered with, “Well, I feel like the Holy Spirit is a guide for me. If I don’t know what to do in a certain situation, or I don’t know what decision to make, I’ll rely on the Holy Spirit to help me make that decision.” So those are the two answers I got from the youth group: the fruit of the Spirit, and He’s a guide. And I think that’s awesome, and it’s great. But I feel like when I talk to people about the Holy Spirit, the one thing that’s always missing from their answers, at least from what I’ve heard, is the power of the Holy Spirit.

When I talk to Christians and have this true fellowship, it’s like we know about the Holy Spirit, we acknowledge the Holy Spirit, and we worship God, and He’s part of the triune God, He’s part of the Trinity — but it’s like we’re missing this whole aspect that is promised to us. Jesus said that He was sending the Holy Spirit as a Helper, but that Helper has power. Amen. We are supposed to be overflowing with something that has power — not just something that would allow us to experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit, or give us guidance every now and then. Does that make sense?

Faith that goes through the roof

So how do we experience that power? Well, I think truthfully it comes from our level of faith. I don’t have my connecting point in my notes here, but what we’re going to talk about in a moment is the contrast between how I see people attend church nowadays versus how they attended what you could call church back in Bible times. There’s this level of faith that I think is really the access point for us to experience the Holy Spirit’s power.

Nowadays we have so much available to us as far as how you can attend church that it’s almost any level of convenience that you want. There can be a church that you really connect with, that you really like — maybe it’s 45 minutes away, but you really like to go there, so you’re going to sacrifice time and money and gas. Or you can have a church that’s closer to you that you don’t really like quite as much, but hey, at least it’s convenient enough to go. Or you can just load up the internet and watch any livestream you want. It’s really convenient to attend church nowadays and just hear preaching. But back in the day, people had this understanding of who Jesus was, to the point where they would do anything to be around Him, hear His teaching, and experience His power. So if they had that understanding with not nearly the amount of resources that we have today, what’s missing? What’s the disconnect? And I would say it’s their level of faith in what He had to offer — their level of faith in who they believed Him to be and what would happen, their level of expectancy when they were put into His presence.

A really famous story out of the Bible that we’re going to look at right now is Luke 5:17–20. It says this: “On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.” So that’s stated right there. It doesn’t say that people knew that. It doesn’t say that this was advertised in any way. I don’t think they had a sandwich board outside of where He was teaching that said, “Hey, the power to heal is actually with Jesus today. This would be a good one to attend.” I don’t think that was put out there. This is just stated for us to know, as readers, for context.

And then it says, “And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.” Why were they bringing him in? Obviously, it’s because they had a level of expectancy and faith in what would happen when he could just be in the Lord’s presence. They didn’t know how it was going to happen, necessarily, but they had this level of expectancy, to the point where they were like, “We’re going to get you here no matter what.” And as we see, it wasn’t as easy as just walking in the door. It says they were seeking to bring him in to lay him before Jesus, “but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’”

We’re not going to fully read on, but I think it’s interesting that back then there was more of an emphasis and an awe and a glory in somebody who could forgive the sins of man rather than perform healing miracles. Does that make sense? I’m not super smart — I’m still studying the Bible and all this stuff — but I think back then there were a lot of people offering, or at least having this facade of being able to heal, or a lot of weird things that would happen. So as far as healing goes, that wasn’t necessarily what blew people away mentally, as we kind of see now. But forgiving of sins — nobody can do that. “Who do You think You are?” And that’s the first thing that Jesus chose to do when He saw this man that was paralyzed on a bed.

So there’s this level of faith and expectancy that these men had, that when they came and saw that they could no longer get in to get to Jesus, they were going to lower this man through the roof of this building just to be in the presence of Jesus. And I’ll bring up the story when I talk to people, and I’ll be like, “That’s amazing. Why are we not doing that now?” I wake up in the morning, and sometimes I roll out of bed and I’m like, “Oh, I have to go to church. This is going to be a long day.” Instead of being excited and doing whatever I can to go and be in the Lord’s presence.

And I’ll talk to people about that, and they’ll be like, “Well, yeah, but back then Jesus was walking around on His own feet here on earth. If Jesus was around right now and I could go hear Him preach or be in His midst, then I would be just as excited as they were. I think now, just because you can’t see Him, it kind of desensitizes you to His power.” And I’m like, yeah, but here’s the thing: we can access Jesus our Lord at any time now, because of what He has done. So why would we have this dead-end level of expectancy or faith in what He can do, when He is now even more accessible than He was before?

I’ll talk to people for whom it’s so inconvenient to load up a livestream. And I get it in one sense. I’m not blaming or condemning anybody. I would just say, if you find yourself in a place where it’s difficult to be motivated to attend church, I don’t necessarily know if that’s a problem with your behavior. It’s more a problem with the level of faith or expectancy in what God’s going to do in your life. And so I would just go to Him and spend some time in prayer and say, “Lord, what is it that You want to do in my life?” Because when He begins to give you that picture or that vision, I think you’ll be blown away.

And when you begin to get that vision and that picture, it can be really exciting at first, but then it gets even more exciting when you realize, “Hey, this is actually possible. This is actually something that can happen in my life, if I would just focus and chase after Him.” Once those things start happening in your life — once He gives you a picture or a vision of what He wants to do in your life, and He equips you with the ability to make that happen — it becomes so exciting that it overflows in you. And now when you’re around people, you’re telling them about healings that have happened in your life. I’ve talked to people in the last three or four weeks here at Chapel Valley that have experienced healings from God, and they just cannot help but share, because they’re so excited and blown away by the level of glory that He deserves for what He’s doing in their life.

And those are the kinds of things that can happen. That’s how the Great Commission slowly starts to take place in your life. Does that make sense? You see the difference there? It’s not this huge, intimidating thing that I always think, where I’m like, “I’m not doing enough. I’m not going out and talking to people enough or sharing the gospel enough.” It’s more about, no — if I would just focus on what God wants to do in my life, and I focus on Him, it will become something that burns in me so hot and so much that I can’t help but do it. It’ll be automatic. You see the difference there? Good.

When the enemy tries to steal it

Oh — I wrote everything that I just went off and said down in my notes, and now I’m like, where am I? Because I know that that was all written down, technically, and I just kind of went off. But why is it that we can hear words like this — a lot of us have been nodding and agreeing and saying things like “yeah” and “amen” here in this moment — and there’s this level of clarity that happens when we’re here at church, surrounded by believers in an atmosphere of worship and hearing the Word of God? So again, as I asked earlier, why is it that when we leave here, it can become really easy to fall back into the trenches, or the trap of things just going back to normal?

I think it’s simply because of something that Pastor Suzie said this morning before we started, when we were all praying here in the sanctuary: the enemy just wants to steal, kill, and destroy. So if you’re receiving something like this that’s powerful, and you’re having clarity that’s coming straight from God, the enemy is going to do whatever he can to steal that in the moment, so that it can’t grow or progress. And when you’re aware of that, it becomes so much easier to combat it. This series is not about the armor of God or anything like that, but that’s just another thing that we’ve been equipped with that the Holy Spirit gets to work through in order to combat what the enemy wants to steal.

It doesn’t really surprise me that that happens in that kind of way. Like my wife — I love my wife, obviously — but one thing that continually happens that I just cannot understand: I used to work in a cell phone repair shop, so I was very used to seeing shattered screens, and I got very good at putting on screen protectors for people. I’m not very good at it now, because technology advances too fast and I don’t know how to take half these phones apart anyway. But where I’m going with this is I will always make sure that my wife has a screen protector on her phone. I’ll buy a three-pack off Amazon — I get one, she has one, and then we have a backup for whatever happens.

And every time I put a screen protector on her phone, without a doubt, the next day the whole screen protector is completely shattered. And I’m like, “What happened?” She’s like, “Oh, I don’t know. I was just living life, and my phone dropped, and it’s never done that before” — which is not true, because it happens a lot. And the whole thing shattered. And I’m like, “All right, well, we’ve got a backup.” So I’ll peel it off, I’ll put a new one on, and two days later the same thing happens. And I’m like, “Okay, I’m not going to do this again until you can learn just to be careful with your phone. I don’t get it. It’s not that hard.”

But what’s funny is, when we go through those screen protectors and she doesn’t have one anymore — she doesn’t order one, I don’t order one, because I want her to learn her lesson — a year will go by, and her phone’s fine. She doesn’t drop it or anything. And I’m like, “Okay, I think we’re good. I’ll put on a new screen protector.” And boom, the next day the whole thing’s shattered. So I’m like, why is it that you can go a whole year without a screen protector and nothing happens, but the second I put one on for you, you have this catastrophic accident and the whole thing shatters? I’m glad it happened when there was a protector on there, but how can you go a year without one and nothing happens, and then as soon as I put one on, catastrophe strikes? I just don’t understand it. Now, to her credit, she has one on there right now that I put on, and it’s been fine for a while.

But my point is, when we come to church and we’re charged up and we feel fully equipped, and we have this revelation or this level of clarity, and we are equipped with something that will not only protect us, but we’re equipped to go out and do things like the Great Commission — why is it that immediately when we leave, things will happen? Your car will break down, or you’ll get in a fight with your spouse, or an unexpected bill will come in the mail, or things that just happen in life. Why is the timing of that lined up so perfectly with what you receive from church? I think it’s simply because the enemy is trying to steal whatever it is that you were just now equipped with. Does that make sense? You were just recently encouraged and reinforced, like a screen protector. You were just reinforced with the things of God, and the enemy wants to take that away as soon as possible, because he doesn’t want you to build momentum.

And so when you recognize that, the way to combat it — when you get in that fight with your spouse, or you get a flat tire on the way home from church, or whatever it is — those are the times now to take a step back and draw near to God. How do you do that? Whatever way you see fit, but you want to be in His presence. That can be things like prayer. That can be things like worship. That can be things like diving into His Word. Because what’s happening is the enemy is trying to do whatever he can in the flesh to frustrate you and take out the things that have been planted. So your job now is to replant those things and stand on His Word, so that they continue to grow.

Faith comes by hearing

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It’s Romans 10:17, which I just kind of spat out — I meant to put that up there and actually go through it with you guys. But when you have this level of faith that you feel is dwindling or being stolen from you by the enemy, now is the time to get into His Word. Once you recognize it and you recognize, “Okay, I don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit in this moment — how do I get that power of the Holy Spirit?” I really think that it’s accessed through faith. If you’re thinking of it as an equation, and you just need to plug something in to get that faith, to then get the power of the Holy Spirit — it really comes through the word of Christ. Does that make sense? It’s simple. I wrote in here, “When you step out in faith, the Holy Spirit steps in.” I thought that was really good. I wrote that down and I was like, “Thank You, God. That’s going to be a tweet if I’ve ever heard one.” But it came straight from the Lord. It did not come from me.

But here’s what I’m going to wrap up with today. I’m probably going to have the worship team come up. Oh, there you are — if you want to come up, even if it’s just the two of you, that’s fine. I’m going to actually help close us out here.

Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Oftentimes, for whatever reason, I’ll cherry-pick this scripture in my head. I’m like, “Okay, I’m not feeling very charged with faith right now. How do I get more faith in believing in what He’s doing in my life? What do I need to do? Oh, I should get into the Word, because Romans 10:17 says that that’s how it comes.” Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.

And so when I was preparing this message — I oftentimes will look at the whole chapter to get context, to make sure I don’t cherry-pick scripture — I looked at it and I’m like, oh, if we just go a few verses before that, there’s actually a lot there. It says this, starting at verse 14: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” Verse 16: “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’” And then it goes on to say, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

To me, this just put it all in perspective. The title of my message, by the way, which I never even said, is “Extending His Power.” When I see the context of this verse — the title of my message being “Extending His Power,” talking about the Great Commission, putting the emphasis not just on how much I am going out and talking to people and preaching the gospel, but rather on what’s happening in you — all of a sudden it put it all into perspective. When you start at verse 14, just a little bit before 17, where it talks about how you get faith, it talks about all the people that don’t yet know Him, that haven’t heard the Word. How are they going to hear about Him unless it’s preached?

And so it all goes into this moment of realizing, oh, okay, it all starts with my level of faith. Which makes sense, because how am I going to go talk to people about what He’s doing in my life, and this great Savior that I know Him to be, if I don’t have that level of faith or expectancy built up in me? How am I going to talk to people about this great bondage breaker that Jesus is, and the power of the Holy Spirit that’s happening in me, if I find it difficult to wake up and be motivated to go to church on Sunday — when you see people that were doing anything they could to be in His presence, to the point that they would lower somebody through the roof because they knew what would happen if he would be in His presence? And we get to be people now that can access and be in His presence at any time that we want.

And when we see this Romans 10 chapter and we start at verse 14, we realize there’s a whole slew of people that we’re supposed to be interacting with that don’t yet know Him, that don’t yet know His power, that haven’t seen it, that haven’t witnessed it. And it all starts with our level of faith in Him. So if you feel like you don’t have these miraculous, powerful moments that the Holy Spirit is capable of allowing you to experience, for lack of a better term — if you feel like you don’t know the power of the Holy Spirit — I would say that it just starts with your level of faith. And the way to get that faith is by hearing the Word of God. So get into His Word.

I feel like we haven’t talked about this in a while. Since the beginning of the year, we were themed on a new year and New Year’s resolutions, focused on this new way to start the year, and talking about these life journals that we had and getting into His Word and how it’s important. And I feel like we haven’t touched on it in a while, but it is so incredibly important to be in His Word. I say this every single time I preach, but a wise man once told me that if you want to hear what God is saying, you have to know what He has said. And people hear that and they’ll be like, “I don’t know how to hear His voice, though. How do I know what He said?” It’s all written down for you. All you’ve got to do is get into His Word. If you don’t know how to get into His Word, there are audiobooks. Like I said earlier, we live in an age where there are so many accessible resources for us to experience the power of God. And I think with that level of access, there’s been a level of convenience that has kind of edged Him out of our life. Does that make sense?

Start by saying that He is good

And so we need to be people that would fight that and just say, no matter what it is that I’m dealing with, that I see as too difficult, or something that’s keeping me from God — it will never be able to stand up in the face of what God wants to do through me. It’ll never be able to stand up in the face of the level of faith that I’m going to have in Him. And so if you feel like that level of faith is not there yet, I would just start by praising Him. I do think it comes through getting in His Word, and that’s unmatched, but at least start praising Him.

It’s like I tell the youth all the time: if you don’t know what to say to God, just start by saying that He is good. If you agree with that, that means that you believe it in your heart, and you’re able to just start there. So just say that He is good. Close your eyes, focus on Him, and begin to say, “You are good, God.” And as you continue to do that, as you continue to say, “Lord, You are good, You are so good in my life, You are so good, God, You are good, You are good,” and you repeat it, all of a sudden what’s going to start happening is He’s going to reveal Himself to you.

I feel like ever since we were in the last series, The Throne Room, I’ve had this level of revelation that I didn’t have before, where as you begin to praise Him, He reveals more of Himself to you, and then it’s as easy as just saying what you see. Last time I preached, I talked about this. I would be in this moment of worship, and I started saying things like, “You are good, God. You are holy. You are mighty. You are worthy of all of our praise.” And as I would say those things, I had this picture. It was a picture of Christ, but it wasn’t His human face, necessarily. I don’t even know fully how to explain it, but it was this moment where I saw Him, and I knew it was Him, and I saw this fiery white crown above Him. I’d never had that revealed before. So when I saw it, I just began to say what I saw out loud, and I would say things like, “You are royal. You are worthy of all of our praise. You are the name above all names. You are the King above all kings.” They were all things that had this new level of understanding, based on what He had revealed to me.

And so if you’re at a place where you don’t even know what to say to God to experience the power of the Holy Spirit, I would encourage you just to begin to worship Him, and allow Him to reveal more of Himself to you, and then just begin to say what you are seeing. And keep that in mind as we close out with worship here. You’re entering into a time where that’s possible right now, today, in this moment — even if you’re watching online — to enter into this time where you would just close your eyes, focus on Him, ask Him to eliminate the distractions, and begin to say that He is good. In fact, let’s just do that right now.

I’m going to transition us into a closing time of worship, but if you could just close your eyes and pray with me. Father God, we just thank You for what You are doing in our lives. We thank You that the Great Commission is something that, although it’s intimidating, Lord, we know that we are not people’s saviors. Lord, it’s You that is our Savior. You are the Savior, Lord Jesus Christ. And so we just need to focus on what it is that You are calling us to, and the level of faith and expectancy that we have of what You’re going to do in our life. And that really begins just by saying things like, “You are good.” So that’s what we recognize right now in this moment.

If you guys could just stand with me, if you’re able. In this moment we’re going to enter into this time of worship. Lord, this is a time where we’re dedicated to You. Father God, today we talked about extending the power of the Holy Spirit onto others, and it’s not something that should be forced, but rather something where we ask for a filling of the Holy Spirit to the point where it is overflowing. And so I pray that You would build our faith — that You would build our faith by our being in Your presence, by being in Your Word, by hearing Your Word, God. And that’s just going to start by declaring praise to Your name, and that’s exactly what we do in this moment. Lord, You are good. You are holy. You are faithful.

Just begin to say anything that you recognize God as. Begin to declare that out verbally with your mouth. Declare it out to Him. Father God, You are holy. You are worthy of our praise. You are the name above all names. God, You are the King above all kings. You are good. You are great, God. You are great, God. You are great, God.

Father God, we just pray that the things that we received today would be something that is planted not only in good soil, but would be protected from the enemy trying to steal. Father God, I pray that You would remind us of how great You are in the moments where we don’t feel Your presence, where we don’t feel Your power — because the idea of us experiencing a moment where You aren’t there, Lord, that’s a lie. We can access Your presence at any time, Lord.

So, Father God, I pray that You would remind us of those things, and increase our level of faith and expectancy in You, by just encouraging us to lift up a shout of praise — whether it’s in our car, whether it’s in our closet, even, God, when we’re getting dressed in the morning, whatever it is. I pray that You would remind us of those moments to lift up a shout of praise, to bring You to the forefront of our mind as we go through just day-to-day life. Because, Father God, not only does it start with us, Lord, but there’s such an importance to those who have not yet heard or have not experienced You. I thank You that Your redemption plan is something that involves us heavily, Lord — that You work through us, God. And how are those who have not heard Your name yet supposed to hear if we don’t have that level of faith or expectancy in You?

So I pray that You would start with us. I pray that You would start by reminding us of how great You are in all the moments that we don’t feel it, because, Lord, that’s just something in our flesh that we can easily get over when we allow our spirit to sing out a shout of praise. Father God, we thank You for Your goodness, and thank You for Your faithfulness, and it’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Amen. Well, I’m going to finish with this. If you are in a season or a situation in your life right now where you feel like you’re not experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit to the level that you should be — maybe there are words of wisdom or words of knowledge that you’ve expected in moments where you’ve interacted with people, or you feel like you didn’t have the words to speak to them; if you feel like you’ve had moments where you were supposed to pray for somebody for healing, or even receive healing yourself, and you have not yet experienced that power — I would encourage you to actually come up and get prayer today before you leave. We’re going to have a couple of pastors and leaders up here to pray with you. In fact, Pastor Larry, could you come up and just be available to pray for people, as well as you, Pastor Suzie? I would encourage you to come up before we leave here today, for that moment specifically.

Because I just want to close and remind us that there is a lot out there available for us on how to live a better life. There are the “ten best things you can do to set yourself up successfully financially” books, and there are motivational speakers that are technically better at speaking than me on a stage, and there are so many different solutions that this world has to offer. There are so many youth programs that will help your kids gain character or learn how to go through life the proper way. So if church were just a solution for that, I don’t know why we would even do it. There are so many different solutions. Church is not about that. This is a gathering of people that God has called, and He’s ready to sanctify as His bride, to present to Himself. And so the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit’s part in that, is so important and so crucial.

And I would say if you haven’t experienced it yet, it starts with your level of faith. But we’re here to build each other up and encourage each other and bring that level of faith out in one another. So if you feel like you’re not experiencing that, I would encourage you to come up and get prayer and receive the power of the Holy Spirit today. And it just comes from coming up and praying with anybody that’s up here.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.