Michael Koulianos emphasizes the significance of the Holy Spirit as a personal and holy presence in the life of believers. He explains that understanding the Holy Spirit deepens our relationship with God, highlighting the distinction between our earthly fathers and our heavenly Father. Koulianos stresses the importance of prayer and scripture in knowing God's will, asserting that Jesus intercedes for us through the Holy Spirit, who is essential for our spiritual growth and understanding. He warns against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, underscoring the sacredness of His role in our lives and the church. Ultimately, Koulianos calls for humility and reverence towards the Holy Spirit, recognizing His holiness and the power of His presence.

I want to continue to talk about the person of the Holy Spirit. And I'm actually writing a bunch of papers on the Holy Spirit right now. I'm taking a class on pneumatology, which is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And I'd like to share some of what the Lord's been giving me as I study. I'd like to share some of that with you. Not to puff ourselves up theologically, but when you study the scriptures in the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit becomes more real to you and becomes your friend. And more than that, he's much more than our friend. Say amen. But I would like to share some of this with you. And I want us to begin just building a solid foundation in the person of the Lord. Now, how many of you know we have a Father in heaven? Raise your hand. Okay, that's very literal. It's extremely literal. And when Jesus taught us to pray, he began by saying, Our Father who art in heaven. Right? A lot's going on there. A ton. One of the things happening there is the Lord is reminding us that our Father is different than our earthly Father. Say amen to that. We are to honor our parents, no doubt. But there is a distinction between our Father in heaven and any other Father on the earth. Notice that Jesus says he is not just my Father, but he is our Father. That means that there is, listen carefully, a communal entering into God's presence. There is also an individual experience in God's presence. But God is wanting to also take a people into his presence. So there's individual prayer, there's corporate prayer, and it's also a healthy reminder to remind us that we are all members of a family. Amen? Okay, so we have a Father in heaven. He is so mighty that the earth is his footstool. Have you ever used a footstool? I don't even know if they make them anymore. But basically, the Lord is so powerful that he can put his foot on the earth and use it to rest. That's amazing. Now Jesus is seated at his right hand. I remember doing that. Don't worry, don't worry. Jesus is seated at his right hand. Now, did Jesus say, I'll be with you always? Yes or no? Okay. The question is, is how is that accomplished? And it's by the Holy Spirit. It's by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is in us by the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, exalted above the highest place, he must remain there as high priest. Or check this out, if Jesus loses his priesthood, your salvation is in jeopardy. Because he ever lives to intercede for us to the Father. Does that make sense? When we think intercession, especially if you grew up in Pentecost, you think of stomping barefooted women, blowing horns, screaming, binding everything, even if it's not a principality. They have names for it, like everything is a demon. Everything is warfare. Say amen if you grew up around that. So that's not what I mean by intercession. Praying is part of the intercessory life, but Jesus as our intercessor is much more than that. His being intercedes for us. He literally sits at the right hand of the Father as our representative to the Father. So when the Father looks at Jesus, he sees his church represented in him. This is amazing. Aren't you glad that Jesus doesn't sit there based on our accomplishments? It gets better. Aren't you glad the Father doesn't see us merely based on our accomplishments? So the Father sees in his Son who is fully man, all of us. That's incredible. Additionally, the Father sees in his Son, he who is fully God. And those two are married perfectly within Jesus. From that place, yes, Jesus prays. Now this is going to blow your mind. Jesus only prays according to the will of the Father. Right? Okay. And the Father only knows how to answer Jesus' prayers. I'm not saying those are the only prayers he answers. I'm just saying when Jesus prays it, the Father says yes. Why do I say that? Well, for instance, Jesus told us to pray for the release of the Holy Spirit. He said, ask your Father. How much more shall your Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? So here we are praying in accordance to the will of the Father and Jesus is the baptizer and our intercessor. I guess my question is, how can we miss? The reason prayer lives are dead is because Bible reading is dead. There's an old saying, the Bible will either separate you from your sin or your sin will separate you from your Bible. So when you begin to see the Lord in his wonder, something erupts in you, a life of prayer. Not just a prayer list, but yeah, it helps. It helps to know how to pray according to the will of God. How do I know what the will of God is? The scriptures. See, all of us want to know what city God wants us to live in or who we should marry or what the specifics are of our ministry. That is what you call the hidden will of God. Like, how many of you know there is no verse in the scriptures that mentions Orlando? So I can't go to a chapter and verse that says, move ye to Orlando. Yeah, so that Orlando is not mentioned in the scriptures. But if you want God to trust you with his secret will, listen carefully, you must learn to begin to pray his revealed will, which is the word of God. You cannot go straight into mystery and hiddenness without passing the test of stewarding the revelation of God in the scriptures. Does that make sense to you? Well, that being said, Jesus, imagine this, you have Jesus as high priest and intercessor representing you. How much power is stored up in praying his words? The father does not know how to say no to his son. And so when you get to pray, when you begin praying according to the revealed will of God, it is powerful. That's how mountains move. You have to learn, our students know this, you have to learn how to find your five smooth stones from the creek that David killed Goliath with. You have to find your individual specific five smooth stones for that battle that's facing you. And make sure they are smooth stones, not jagged stones, because smooth stones fly straight. How are stones made smooth in that part of the world? I've been in that creek. The first place I went in Israel was the valley where David killed Goliath. And I had my Bible open. I was there with my father-in-law and I'm reading it, the Philistines camp on this mountain, the Israelites camping on that mountain, and I'm looking at the mountains. And then I read, and a creek, David went to a creek and pulled out five smooth stones. And lo and behold, there was a creek. The Bible is so perfect. And guess what I did? I went into the creek. And guess what I grabbed? Five smooth stones. And they were smooth. What smooth? The stones out. The current of the water. The washing of the Word in the presence of the Holy Spirit. You see, you take your Bible, listen carefully, you take your Bible in the manifest presence of the Spirit, and you sit there in God's presence, and you don't read the Word only. You feast on the Word. You pray the Word. If you are on one passage for one year, do it. At that point, it'll be yours. It gets into your bone marrow. And don't wait till the battle to find your stones. Collect an arsenal of stones. And they don't really become your stones, your verses, until you pray them. The way you get those verses from the ear to the heart is through prayer. So you take them. God puts, is this helping you? You take them. And God puts a green light, or I should say a red light, on that verse while you're reading. That is God's way of saying, stop. Some of us never feast on the Word because we are addicted to our devotional schedule. You should have a scheduled time to pray, but if you're reading somebody else's format, and God's saying, stop, listen to God, not the person who published the book. Once he puts that red light on that verse, start worshiping. Start praying. Ask Him, give me more. What are you showing me? Like, can I give you a little example? Is this boring, you guys? You guys here this morning? Okay. Everyone, do we give you melatonin at the welcoming table? All right. How many of you remember Joshua being given authority to lead Israel? Jesse preached on the Joshua generation. It was wonderful, by the way. Her dad called her and goes, my teaching's better. He goes, mine's the best. You did good, but mine's the best. She's like, gee, thanks, Dad. So encouraging. All right. Joshua is given authority through the laying on of hands by God through the hands of Moses. And that's why the Bible says, lay hands on no man suddenly. Some of you, listen carefully, there are preachers today who build schools or online courses who promise you ordination if you go through an online course. How in the world can you know somebody well enough through an online course to ordain them into the holiest calling the face of the earth has ever known? And so Paul writes, don't do it. Don't lay hands on any man suddenly. Because if you do, their sin shall come upon you. That has nothing to do with evangelism. The context is ordination. So imagine I prematurely ordain someone. I put my hands on them. In 10 years, they make a mess. That's my mess. Now, if I've gone through it correctly, it's not my mess. But if I rush the process to build my school, it's a mess. It's my mess. And guess where I have to give, guess where I'm going to experience that audit? At the throne. No, thank you. Please, how many of you know you can't cheat on your taxes in heaven? I don't want to go through that audit. I don't. Well, that's a deduction, Lord. No, I'm not doing that there. I want that to go as smoothly as possible. Are you with me? So, Joshua receives wisdom and authority through the laying down of hands of Moses. And God says, as I was with Moses, I'll be with you. And then the people said, as we were with Moses, we're with you. It is powerful to lay hands on somebody that way. You're literally releasing a new life in many ways, not a salvific salvation. I'm talking about a new life, a new ministry. This happens to Joshua. And how many of you know the first city Joshua took? Scream it. Jericho. Who does, let me ask it another way. There's a grove that Joshua marches from before he encounters the captain of the Lord's host. Do you remember the name of the grove? It's called the Acacia Grove. So, the other day I'm reading this. I'm in my Bible. I'm just trying to give you an example. And God read lights, Acacia Grove to me. And I said, oh, you want me to stop here? You have something for me here. Now, when I read the word, I'm only looking for Jesus. Because I believe that's what Jesus taught. I said, Lord, show me. What are you doing? Where are you here? And then the lights went on. Sometimes a revelation is a question away. What does Acacia represent in the Bible? The incorruptibility of Jesus, that his body would not see decay, and the power of the cross. Check this out. I'm gonna let you have this part, baby. You can put it into your Joshua Generation series. All right, where does Joshua, what does his name mean? Yehoshua, what does it mean? The Lord, our salvation. It's the same name of Jesus. What's the origin? What does Jesus march from if we are going to conquer the devil's territory? The power of the cross and the power of the resurrection. He marches forth from the Acacia Grove. If you want to watch walls fall and take back what you feel has been taken from you, let your origin and source be the Acacia Grove, the power of the cross and the power of the resurrection. That's an example of honoring God's pause when you read the scriptures. Amen? Okay. Can I have 10 extra minutes this morning? All right. So Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in her seating. He has ascended, listen, fully and bodily. That's what Acts, that's what many passages teach. Ephesians teaches us this. They saw this in the book of Acts. He went up from among them. 500 watched him. The day will come where he comes down with much more than 500, by the way, with 10,000 upon 10,000. He will come back the same way he went up. That is what the angel said. In like manner, he shall return. Now this blows us away. For some it's hard to believe, but this is as Christian as anything else. And we should look forward to the day because the Bible says there's a reward for those who look for the return of the Lord. I think we've done a huge disservice by telling people, don't worry about the return of the Lord. Just get the job done now. Be so kingdom that you forget about the return of the Lord. We're stripping people of eternal reward. You actually become more kingdom and more effective, more holy in your sanctification when you await the return of the Lord. And how can you be in love and be married and not want to see your husband? Isn't it natural to want to see him? I said, isn't it natural to want to see him? So Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. Here's the question. Which member of the Godhead is ministering on earth today? Yes, all of them work together. Everything God does is as a trinity. But which member of the Godhead was sent on the day of Pentecost to turn hearts toward Jesus again, the person of the Holy Spirit? So let me say this unequivocally. It is impossible to know Jesus without the work of the Holy Spirit. Impossible. Now, God takes names very seriously. Now, the Holy Spirit has many terms, types, and titles that are placed upon him in the scriptures. But let's just get back to the nitty gritty, to the very foundation of it all, the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure why this subject is so taboo. I don't understand why the teaching of holiness causes such a stir in the church. For Jesus to call the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit, he is stressing at an introductory level the sacredness of the Spirit. Did you know he is not blind? Neither is he deaf. Turning your Bibles to Hosea 11.9. I'm going to land it here in about seven minutes and we'll receive communion. Hosea 11.9, when you're there say, yes, I am God and not man. The Holy One in your midst. Why would the Lord need to say that to Israel? It is such a healthy reminder to hear again that the Holy Spirit is not a force or an energy we use to accomplish what we think is best in our lives. No, no, no. The presence of the Holy Spirit, he is first and foremost holy. He is other than. Other than. And the Lord here reminds us that he is the Holy One in our midst. Exodus 3 verse 5. You there? And then he said, do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet. For the place where you stand is holy ground. Say this out loud. The Holy Spirit is holy. Basic yes, but forgotten too often. 100%. The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father and the Son. St. Augustine said this. He said, I spent my whole life trying to find him without only to finally discover God was within. Is God without? Absolutely. But Augustine discovered for him to commune at the level that God wanted him to, he needed to discover the indwelling God. And that person is the person of the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure. In fact, I am sure. It is impossible for me to stress well enough the holiness of the Spirit. And he has this side of him that is so sensitive that to blaspheme him is unforgivable. In this age, Jesus said, and the age to come. Do you know who some of the most miserable people are? The most judgmental. Am I right or wrong? They seem to believe that they deserve more. Don't they? I heard somebody call it crabby Christianity. Put crabs in a cup. Every time one of them tries to go up, the other crabs pull them down. It's typically the judgmental that do that. And I'm not sure. In fact, I know. And we all do it. That when we speak, this Holy God is present. But to judge something that the Spirit is doing and cross the line, calling what is holy demonic, is blasphemous and unforgivable. Not so with the Father. Not so with the Son. Jesus said that. These are the words of Jesus. He said, this is forgivable against the Father and against the Son of Man. But to blaspheme the Spirit is unforgivable. One of the things I teach here at the church and at the school, which is all one big happy family. Thank you, Jesus. What I teach often, especially at school, is if you don't get it, keep your mouth closed. If you don't have scripture to prove that that is necessarily what's going on in your head, keep your mouth closed. God is not a servant of our box. It's amazing to me. If somebody's filled with joy and they happen to be happy in church, it's quite offensive. But we love it when they weep. One certainly is the Lord. The other one must be just the devil. God forbid. God forbid Christians could be happy. I heard someone say, why do people fall when you pray for them? I said, I don't know. And then I heard another preacher go, well, I'll tell you why. Sometimes God and man meet and God wins every time. And by the way, it is in the Bible. I'm not sure we understand the holiness of the Spirit or the holiness of the ministry, the sacred nature of baptism, the sacred nature of receiving communion, like we are here in a moment, the sacred nature of singing, the sacred nature of opening the Bible. Anybody here remember, okay, anybody here over 40? All the ladies are like, I've never heard that before. What's that number? Okay. Anybody here over 40? Raise your hand. Come on. Okay. Anybody here who's over 40? Remember their 20s? If not, you're way over 40. All right. Okay. Do you remember thinking thoughts like this in your early 20s? I am so ready for all God has for me. And I'll tell you when I'm ready now, I'll take it all right now. How many of you are less convinced of your own ability and resume now than you were in your early 20s? Oh, but what happened? Hopefully, listen carefully. If you walked with Jesus, you actually are more prepared now. But you're less convinced of it now than you were back then. Why is that the case? I'll tell you why. A brain. No. Humility. Humility. What we do from the seats is tell those who have the responsibility how they should minister. Not realizing that that heart posture alone is the actual thing that keeps us from trustworthy enough to have what we want. It's called judgment. And it's called judging what the Lord, the Holy Spirit has kissed. I want all of us as humble people to have eyes, listen carefully, and in the lives of others. Because if God has anointed someone, listen carefully, he did not anoint them with some weird substance. They are wearing the person of the Holy Spirit himself. He is sacred and holy.