In this sermon, the speaker uses a hypothetical scenario of having the President of the United States visit your house to illustrate the importance of sharing the gospel. The speaker emphasizes the need to share the message of salvation with others, just as one would eagerly share the news of a visit from the President. The sermon also highlights the role of the Holy Spirit in convicting people of sin and drawing them back to God. The speaker encourages listeners to respond to the Holy Spirit's prompting and seek deliverance from sin.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, Post Office Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or by calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. The President of the United States, in some kind of a public relations action, came to your house. Pulled up with his entourage in their big limousines. In come the guards, his bodyguards, and they clear the way. And the President walks into your house, and he's spending the evening with you, your family. And you sit there with the President of the United States, and he is letting you talk. And you just happen to want to get it all off your heart, so you're talking to him about politics, the economy. You're telling him about the failing moral standards in America, and you let it all out. And then, by the way, you had a personal problem, and nobody seemed to work it out. By the way, Mr. President said, you asked, could you help me with this problem? And he turns to one of his associates and says, take care of it. And so, it's supposedly taken care of. How would you act the next day when you went to work? First place, you come out of your house, and one of your neighbors said, who was that visiting you last night? All those men standing in the hall. You say, well, just another friend. That's what you'd say. Just one of those friends. You wouldn't be interested. Or you'd say, well, that was just the President of the United States and his bodyguards. And then you walk on. Of course you walk on. No, you wouldn't walk on. You'd say, that was the President of the United States visiting in my house. And you go to work. First thing you do, you corner the first person you see. Guess what? Guess who was at my house last night? Believe it or not, the President of the United States was at my house, and I told him everything was on my heart. And they'd look at you and say, what did you put in your coffee this morning? And I'll bet you're telling me the Vice President was there and served tea. No, honestly, the President was at my house last night. And I told him everything was on my heart. Folks, when they find out about it, they come to you and say, hey, that's true, isn't it? What did you talk about? And you rehearse the whole thing, and you go over and over until they're tired of hearing about it. Amazing. Sad that we have a far greater potentate living with us in our house and in our home, and we take him for granted. He's the true VIP, very important person. I speak of one who lives a potentate, representing the very majesty and glory of God. And he has come, according to the Scripture, to abide in us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And though we would honor the President of the United States or any other world leader, when the greatest leader, the greatest ruler of all condescends to come to your home, to your house, to your body, to live there, we hardly know him. We hardly recognize him. We very seldom talk to him. He is left alone. We go our own way. You would think that a potentate who lives and abides in our human frail bodies, we would at least consult him. If we knew that he had all the power of God resident in him, you would think we would not live in fear. We would not live with anxiety. We would go home every day saying, I have one I can go to. I have someone I can unbear my soul to. The Holy Spirit is the most talked about, the most ignored member of the Godhead. He is ignored. Seldom do we talk to him. We almost have the idea Jesus might get jealous. Jesus might get jealous if we worship the Holy Spirit, if we pray to the Holy Spirit. But we forget that Jesus sent him. Jesus ascended to the heavens and he said, in my place, I send the Holy Ghost. Now, I could live with my disciples, but I could only live with a handful. I could only be at one place at one time. But the Father, he has come out of the Father, really given as a gift by the Father. But he was given to me to send to you. That's why you read in places the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father. You're given by the Father. But you find it written over and over again, I will send him to you. I will send the Holy Spirit and he will live with you. He will live in you rather, not just with you, but he will live in you. Jesus said, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him. That hit me. I said, Lord, I really do not know him. That's why I'm so obsessed with getting to know him. Jesus said, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I'm asking you, do you really know this ruler, this potentate of glory? See, Jesus was looking forward to that time that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon all flesh. That the Holy Spirit would be given to his disciples. And he's a gift, you will surely know him. And here's what the Lord is saying. How can you not know somebody who lives with you? It's almost an indictment. It hit me so hard. Jesus said, you will know him because he's going to live with you. I ask you again, think about it. How can you not know somebody who lives with you unless you have ignored them? If you've ignored that person, either out of ignorance or out of apostasy, but you have ignored this ruler of the whole universe who abides in our bodies physically. He abides. How can we not know somebody who lives within us? How can you not know, he's saying. Paul wrote, I gave you this verse, 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you. He's given us three admonitions. Alright, most of the church, most of God's people have clearly understood the first two admonitions Paul gives in this verse I've given to you. We have all known about the grace of Jesus. We know how we've been saved. We know that part of the gospel. We know this admonition from Paul and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is there in this building that loves the Lord, who doesn't know Christ died for you? You can explain it to anybody, the grace that's been extended to you. You know about his saving grace. You know the second admonition also, the love of God. How can you not know his love? He came down and found you in the depths of sin. You've tasted, you've experienced the love of God. But this third admonition here in this one verse, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you. This is where we have failed. This is where the church of Jesus Christ is primarily blind. We do not have the communion of the Holy Ghost. We have the knowledge of his saving grace. We have the experience of his divine love. But we do not know anything about the communion of the Holy Ghost. Communion here in Greek, as it's used, means conversation, sharing. We do not converse with the Holy Ghost. We do not share with the Holy Ghost. We keep things bundled inside, and there he sits neglected. There he abides abandoned. There he is waiting to give all of the mercies and the wisdom of Almighty God, and we ignore him. We shut him out. Do you talk to the Holy Ghost? Do you talk to the Holy Spirit? Then why would you ever be afraid again? The Holy Ghost did not come to make himself look good. He did not come to meet some need in himself. There is no need in the Holy Spirit. He didn't come to satisfy some supernal need that was created or abiding in himself. He didn't come to look good for himself. In fact, the Bible says that he won't even speak of himself. He comes to glorify Jesus. He didn't come for a need in himself. He was given for you. He was given for me, a gift of Almighty God. It was for our purposes that he's been sent. Now here's where I am. Morning, night, and every waking hour, I'm saying to the Lord, to my heart, and to the Holy Spirit, now wait a minute. If God tells me that he has sent the Holy Spirit out of heaven, when Jesus was here, the Holy Spirit was in heaven. Jesus went to heaven and sent the Holy Ghost in his place. The Holy Spirit is here. Jesus is a man who sits at the right hand of the Father in glory. The Holy Spirit has come. He has come in his place. He said, I will send him in my place, and he will be with you. And I say to my heart, if he's been sent, and in him is the fullness of the Godhead, and he is all wisdom and all knowledge of God, I want to know why he's here. I want to know what his ministry is in me. I want to know why God sent him to me, so that I can cooperate with him, so that I can have all the benefits of him. I must have the blinders removed from my eyes. The Holy Ghost can no longer be just some emotional experience. He can't just be speaking in tongues and interpretation and gifts. He's so far beyond that. That's just the fruit of the tree. I want to know he is a person. I want to know why this person, this God person, abides in me. I want to know all about him. Folks, you and I cannot be satisfied in these last days until God tears off the blinders and we can see the glory of the Holy Ghost has been sent to us. It just consumes my waking hours. Now, last Sunday, I told you what the Holy Spirit was speaking to my heart. That walking in the Spirit, I rehearsed. I'm going to go over just these three points. By the way, anything the Holy Ghost gives you, you never lose. If it's man's knowledge, you can't remember it. When the Holy Ghost reveals it, you never lose it as long as you live. It can be ten years later, it'll be there. You can't lose it. And what God is going to bring forth tonight, you will never lose if you hear it in the Spirit. I will never lose these three truths he gave me last night because it came from the Holy Ghost. Number one, walking in the Spirit is simply allowing the Holy Ghost to do what God sent him to do, cooperating with him in his mission. All right, what is that mission? The mission of the Holy Ghost, the work of the Holy Spirit, is to find and fetch the bride of Christ to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to get us from here to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to present us to him as a perfect or spotless bride. Thirdly, everything he does in us relates to that divine purpose. Everything he does in us has to do with his mission. He's not interested in entertaining anybody. He's not going to stop and give some card tricks. He's not going to stop and make people happy. He's got a mission and he's going to stick to it. Every gift has to do with that mission. Every fruit, every operation of the Holy Spirit, he has one thing in mind. He's going to take you as a bride to his Master, our Master. All right, let's go to the next step. How many understand that? Do you understand that walking in the Spirit is simply allowing him to do what he's called to do? Secondly, he's called to find and fetch the bride. Thirdly, everything he does has to do with that divine purpose. Now, further, here's the next step. The Holy Spirit is our keeper sent to preserve a bride as a virgin. Paul, speaking through the Holy Ghost, said this, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11.2 Godly jealousy here in Greek means red-hot fighting defense. God said, I am red-hot, white-hot to defend you against the devil and every seducer because you have been espoused. You're engaged to Jesus Christ. And God sent me to keep you as a chaste virgin. If I have my way, the Holy Ghost says, I've been sent not to just gift you, not just to do something to make you happy and just get you through life. No, I have a grand purpose. I have a grand mission, because when you're saved, no matter how dirty you were or filthy, you're considered a virgin in the eyes of God. You're a virgin in the eyes of Jesus. The blood makes you a virgin. The Lord says, I'm going to send the Holy Ghost. I've got an investment in you. I've invested the blood of my own son. You're his bride now, and I'm going to send the Holy Ghost to make sure you stay a virgin. You are going to stay a virgin. The devil's going to come at you with all kinds of seductions. He's going to come disguised as an angel of light. He's going to send his ministers disguised as angels of light. And he's going to mimic another lover. He's going to mimic and say, God sent me. Jesus sent me. Come with me. You see, that's an allurement, and the Holy Ghost has come to expose all the devices of the devil. If you and I didn't have the Holy Ghost in us, we would have no discernment whatsoever, because discernment is only resident in the Holy Ghost. It's not resident in us. You don't have discernment without the Holy Ghost in you. You have no wisdom. You have no discernment whatsoever. It's in the Holy Ghost. If the Holy Ghost is talking to you, and you're talking to the Holy Ghost, I'm going to tell you what he's telling you. He's going to tell you the same thing he's telling me. I'm keeping you. I'm your keeper. If you will yield to me and trust me, I'm going to keep you. A very well-known evangelist, who has fallen with prostitutes, says, and I've talked to him personally, I've talked to his family, and I'm not getting a second hand, I'm getting it from the dear brother. When he's nine years old, he says, a spirit came over him. And this spirit was of the enemy. And he claims that his temptation was greater than most people, because he was more mightily used of God and had a greater, I suppose, suggesting a greater gift of God. And now this temptation has grown so great. Now, folks, that is totally unscriptural. That is not in the Bible whatsoever. The Bible said all our temptations are common to all men. They're common to all. The devil, you fight just as big as he fought, or anybody else. He's just as little. I ought to say he's just as little. But this evangelist is attributing power to the devil that he never had. He never had. You see, the Holy Ghost is not intimidated by a 900-foot devil. He's not intimidated by your lust. He's not intimidated by any of your problems. He has never been intimidated by anything out of hell. He is not an intimidated Holy Ghost. Let me tell you what the problem is. See, the Holy Ghost is received by faith. The Holy Ghost ministers by faith. Faith is that which causes the Holy Spirit to release in us the power of God. This man lost his faith. He lost his faith in God's keeping power. And when you lose your faith in the Holy Ghost's ability to keep you from the power of the devil, the fear of the enemy comes in, and that fear overwhelms you, and you go down. It's a lack of faith and confidence in the keeping power of the Holy Ghost. Keep that in mind. People say, well, why are so many falling? Those who were used of God. Any man can fall if he gets away from the keeping power of the Holy Ghost. He no longer believes, no longer trusts. The Scriptures, Paul said, how did you receive the Holy Ghost? How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Then he goes on and said, you received by the hearing of faith. You heard that the Holy Ghost came to abide in you, and you put your confidence in him. Brother, sister, wherever you're at, you get alone with God. You begin to talk to the Holy Spirit. He's going to remind you, if you'll trust me, I've been sent to keep you. I'm on a divine mission, and nothing's going to stop me from this mission. You can't fight the devil. He's bigger than you. You can't fight the devil. He's bigger than you, but he's not bigger than me, the Holy Ghost will tell you. I have all the power and the glory and the might. Satan himself will transform himself into an angel of light. So will his ministers, false apostles pretending to be the apostles of Christ. But my Bible said the gates of hell shall not prevail. Why not? Because the Holy Ghost is on the job. The Holy Ghost is doing his mission. Hallelujah. Now unto him, unto who? Looking unto him, the Holy Ghost, who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Hallelujah. Now listen closely. All error and all false teaching about the Holy Spirit. Now listen closely, because there are books out now about the Holy Ghost, all kinds of books. Many of them just absolutely full of error. And I'll tell you why they're full of error and how it happens. How is it that men misjudge the Holy Ghost and blaspheme the Holy Ghost in what they write and say and how they act in the pulpit? It's because they disassociate him from his eternal purpose. They disassociate him from the work that he's been sent to do. They have never understood why he came. He has come to find and preserve a spotless chaste bride, to present an absolute virgin to Jesus, unpolluted by the world. You tell me you go to hear an evangelist, he's a Holy Ghost evangelist, and you say, the Holy Ghost is on him? Let me tell you then what you have to see. Let me tell you what there must be. There must come forth, not entertainment, not some game the Holy Ghost is purported to be playing, not to thrill people. I am shocked at the people that are so blind today that want to go to a meeting and just get zapped. They want to fall over backwards. Now folks, I'm going to tell you that there are scriptures in the Bible that God, when the Holy Ghost comes, has slain certain people. Saul, for example, goes to a prophetic meeting. Samuel's conducting it. He's already sent to numbers of soldiers and they didn't come back with David, who's there at the meeting also because they fell under the power of God and were slain. Saul, finally, at the third time goes himself. And I'll tell you, that must have been some Holy Ghost meeting when the king comes and nobody recognizes him. No one says a word and he's standing outside the door and the Holy Ghost is so prevalent in the house it hits him and he's slain under the power of God all night long. He lays there with nothing but his undergarments. He's stripped off his outer garments and lays slain all night long. And he goes right back to his sin. He goes right back to his apostasy. Didn't touch him. And I see people saying, that is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not interested in playing games. There are times I've been slain in the Spirit. I believe in being slain by the Spirit. But it's not a show. It's not show time. That comes when you're convicted by the Holy Ghost for your sins. And you fall on your knees, the Bible says. That comes when the Holy Ghost is doing his mission. He's doing his work convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment. Hallelujah. If you're going to go to a meeting just to be entertained and you want to see people fall out or you want things... I want to fall out. Folks, I'm not making fun of that. Not at all. There is a genuine work of the Holy Spirit. But let me tell you what a true manifestation of the Holy Spirit is in a meeting. We've been praying, Oh God, come send the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost will answer, Do you really want me to come? And what do you expect when I come? You see, we have some people who would like to see all the gifts in the operation at one time in the church and over here word of knowledge and over here tongues and interpretation of tongues. And folks, that is part... That's a part of a believer's meeting. That is entirely scriptural. But you see, a true manifestation, the greatest work of the Holy Spirit, the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit has to be in line with His eternal purpose for the work for which He's been sent. And He will not go off chasing rabbits, so to speak. He won't go off this course, this divine eternal purpose of His. He ever has that in His mind. I've been sent to you to keep the wicked one away. I've been sent to purge you. I've been sent to clean you up. I've been sent to give you a spotless, to keep your robe spotless. I've been sent to keep you as a chaste virgin. My role is virginity, not corruption, not pollution. And the greatest manifestation in a meeting is when God comes on the servant of the Lord and He has the mind of God and you're provoked, you're convicted of your sins and you are provoked to get on your knees. You don't care if you're blessed. You don't care if a gift is operating. You're saying, I want to be ready for Jesus. I want clean hands. I want a pure heart. That's the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. He is doing His greatest work. He is showing His greatest manifestation when He's convicting of sin and when people are falling on their knees and when there are great searchings of heart. You show me a meeting where there's a quiet, still searching of the heart and there's an inner quaking as the Spirit of God points out sin. He doesn't do it just to exult in some kind of burden that He's placed upon you of guilt or condemnation or conviction. No, it's all a part of His eternal purpose. God says, Holy Ghost says, I will convict you. I will make you miserable. Have you ever heard of Holy Ghost miseries? How many have had Holy Ghost miseries? When you failed the Lord, what is it? That's the Holy Ghost doing His work. Hallelujah. That's His eternal purpose. He's keeping you as a virgin to present you as a chaste virgin to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. We are kept by the Spirit in two ways. First of all, we're kept You could probably call this the negative side of His keeping in that He convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment. He provokes to righteousness and that's a very painful experience sometimes. Beloved, every time I'm under conviction, I thank God. That's a sure sign the Holy Spirit is being honored in your life because you're being convicted. God help you when you're no longer convicted. God help you when you can sin and feel no godly sorrow. That's the Holy Ghost. You could say something, you could just say something mean or unkind to a Christian and the Holy Ghost will say, uh-uh, that was not of Christ. You go to God, you go to pray, it gets bigger and bigger and you can't pray because the Holy Ghost doesn't support you while you're walking in disobedience. The Holy Ghost won't leave you but He won't cooperate with you. You understand that? He won't cooperate with you until you go back and do what He told you to do. And that's why a lot of people are not walking in the Spirit. That's why the Holy Ghost is not cooperating with a lot of Christians because God has already, the Holy Ghost said, I want you to make that right. And until you make it right, you are not going to have the cooperation and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life because He said, if you won't obey me here, no matter what I tell you, you'll never obey me so why speak further? So you go back to point A and say, God, I'm going to do, you do that, and the Holy Ghost said, now let's move on. Hallelujah. I've had to do that. I get a suspicion I'm going to have to do that a lot more since I'm studying the Holy Ghost. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over. Hallelujah. You see, that's the negative side but there's a positive side of the ministry of the Holy Spirit having to do with communion. And that's that the Holy Spirit, secondly, listen closely, the Holy Spirit reveals to the bride the wonderful things that are prepared for her. Listen to this Old Testament text from Isaiah 64. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor have they perceived by the ear, neither have their eyes seen, O God, beside Thee, what He's prepared for him that waiteth for him. Now, isn't that wonderful? And yet it's sad. Man has not seen, man has not heard those things that have entered into the heart of God. These great eternal depths of God have not been revealed, all but in the New Testament since the Holy Ghost came. It's different. I read to you now from 2nd, 1st Corinthians, don't turn, this is 1st Corinthians 2, 9 and 10. But as it is written, and Paul is quoting from Isaiah 64, 4, this very verse I read, it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now, listen to Paul in 1st Corinthians 2, 12. Here is the very clear statement in the Bible of God, in God's Word, concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Here it is. Now, we have received not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God. That's the Holy Spirit. You and I have received the Holy Spirit. Why? That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which men's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches. Now, let's stop for just a minute here. The human mind cannot begin to understand this text at all. You could study that, go to any commentary, study everything every man has ever written on that. They're all going to go down the same path. You're going to hear one minister, or one teacher after another repeat the other. This cannot be known unless you pray for a revelation. Stop a minute. Here's a scripture that says, things never before heard, never before seen, yea, the deep things of God that have been hidden from the beginning of time have been revealed to us by the Holy Ghost. You say, well, I missed it. What are you talking about? What is this great thing that the Holy Spirit's to have revealed to me? Things the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, nor entered the heart of man yet. What is it? Folks, the Holy Ghost doesn't lie. The Word of God doesn't lie. It's impossible for God's Word to lie. And my Bible says that the Holy Ghost has revealed them unto us, and that he's teaching us in these very things. Now, what is it? Well, first of all, folks, I don't think we realize how fortunate, how wonderful it is that you and I live in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. For years, centuries, there were heathen nations, there were people who were without hope, without a gospel, because God's interest had to do with the very small remnant, the Jewish people. All through the Old Testament, here it is, all through God had a chosen people, and the prophets didn't see it. They referred to it, but they didn't understand. It never dawned on them. They looked into these things. They desired to know them, the Scripture says, but it was not revealed to them. In fact, even up to the time of the disciples, they didn't understand. They couldn't really comprehend that the Gentile could be saved. This was a Jewish gospel. The hope, the covenants, all had to do with the Jew. Jesus comes, and he tears down the wall of partition, and the gospel is given out freely to Jew, to Gentile, and finally, there's no more Jew, there's no more Gentile, all the walls are down, and the gospel is freely given to everyone who will believe. This, we take it for granted, but for centuries, that was not known, that was unknown to the eye or to the ear, that God had an eternal plan that he would eventually send his son to this earth to die, to pull down all the walls. Salvation would not be to a small chosen people, but his chosen people would be extended worldwide, all races, all colors, and this glorious gospel. Folks, the apostles until Pentecost had a hard time. In fact, they had a hard time with it after Pentecost, that the Gentile was to be an heir with them to the gospel of Jesus Christ, an heir, an adjoint heir with Jesus Christ. It took all the grace of God for Peter to go down and preach. He had to have a vision, because he had not seen it, his eyes hadn't seen it, his ear hadn't heard it, it hadn't been revealed from the foundation of the world. Suddenly, the revelation is given to the church, it's given to God's people, the Holy Ghost came down, and it was not given until the Holy Ghost came, and the Holy Ghost came and revealed this mighty truth that Jesus had tried to tell them, and now the Holy Ghost is making it real. God has an eternal purpose through His Son, and you're destined to be saved by faith in His beloved Son. Folks, if you'll stop right now and ask for the Holy Ghost to reveal it, you'll see something, that your salvation was planned from eternity, that you were chosen, God chose you from the foundation of the world. Think about that for just a moment, you weren't just chosen a year ago, you weren't chosen just ten years ago, you weren't chosen just when you came and gave your heart to Christ. Jesus got His eyes on you, your parts were numbered in the very womb, He said. Stop and think about it, this is what has never been known, this is what has been closed to the eyes and the ears of the world, that Jesus chose you out of sin to be His bride. And the Holy Ghost when He communes with you is going to remind you how much you are loved by the bridegroom. Oh, you'll find it, the Holy Ghost will say something like this, He says it to me, and I hope He'll say it to you. Spend some time with Him, He'll tell you the same thing. You know what He tells me, David? You know what your master, you know what your bridegroom is doing? He's naming you before all the angels. He tells them how much He loves you. He's saying, I've got a skinny preacher down there in Times Square Church, they call Him David, but I've got another name for Him, I've got a special name that no one knows, but He and I, I'm going to reveal to Him when He's home, and I really love Him, He's the apple of my eye, He's my dove, He's my beloved, He's my undefiled, He's fair, there's no spot in Him, He's ravished my heart, He's my spouse, how fair is His love to me, how much better is His love to me than wine? And that's exactly what you're going to hear from the Holy Ghost. He not only convicts you of sin, but when you repent and you allow, you cooperate, you yield to the Holy Spirit and say, oh Jesus, thank You for the truth that cleanses, thank You Holy Spirit for coming upon me to convict me of my sins, to do Your holy work, and I yield to that. I gladly receive the word as we heard this morning. And then He's going to come and say, now let me tell you how much you are loved. And that is the work of the Holy Spirit to send you every love message from Jesus. He brings a constant message, one love letter after another. He's giving you a love letter right now through my lips. The Holy Ghost has possessed me and He's saying, Jesus loves you. You're His bride. You're His spouse. You bring joy to His heart. He can't wait to meet you face to face. Hallelujah. That's the work of the Holy Ghost. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Hallelujah. He, the Holy Spirit, is a person. Not just an ethereal substance, but He's a person. He's not in China right now, just in China, fighting communism. He's not in Moscow trying to bring down Gorbachev. He's not just in Cuba right now trying to end the godless reign of Castro. He's right here. Yes, He's there, but He's right here. He's here now. He's in this church. He's in your physical body. And He wants to be recognized. He wants you to recognize Him. And I have apologized to the Holy Ghost. I've confessed to the Holy Ghost. Holy Spirit, I'm sorry that I've neglected you. I'm sorry that I've not been praying to you. I'm sorry I've not been worshiping you. I'm sorry I've not honored you. Now, folks, the Holy Ghost wants to be known only in keeping with His purpose. He wants to be known for His work. He wants to be known for His reason for coming. In other words, if you were trying to dig into His eternal substance, if you're trying to dig into all of these things about the Holy Spirit that really don't have anything to do with His mission, the Holy Ghost will say, I'm not going to tell you that. I'm not going to teach you that. I've been sent to do one thing, and that's to bring you to Jesus. And everything that He has, all His wisdom is given to me. It's in me. Jesus said, all things about me He'll bring to your remembrance. He'll show you things to come. And everything He shows you to come, that's not prophecy. He's showing you about the preparedness for His coming. Anything He shows you to come has to do with His purpose. I'll say it again. The Holy Ghost reveals nothing about prophecy. He reveals nothing except that which has to do with His eternal purpose. You say, I go to the Lord, I go to the Holy Ghost, and I have a problem. And you say, talk to Him, commune with Him, share with Him. But let me give you a clue. If you truly want to hear from the Holy Spirit, keep in mind, He's wanting to answer you in line with your Bridehood. He wants to answer you. Now, it's not complicated. I'll try to make it as simple as I can. He's not interested in just baby talk. He's not interested in trivia. He's interested in making you a better bride. Of keeping you clean and pure and holy. So when you're going to get an answer from the Holy Spirit, He's going to answer you in a way that keeps you close to Jesus. He's not going to answer you in any worldly way. He's going to answer you. Now, I've got to get into this before I close. We're talking now about the communion of the Holy Spirit with the Holy Ghost. How can you know if it's the Spirit talking to you and not another voice? There is, of course, given this grand test in the Bible. No man can call Him Lord unless the Spirit of God be in Him. But folks, that is not just saying the words. The devil can easily... In fact, I've seen people trying to pray for demon possessed and say to them, Can you say Jesus is Lord? I'll tell you, every demon in hell can say that. They know that the Bible says the devil believes in troubles. It's not the words. It's not the utterance. We're talking about a man speaking by his life, in his heart. If Jesus is truly Lord and His life proves it, His life says it. His life says that Jesus is Lord. You can see it by the way He lives. It's not just talk. It's not just repeating a formula. I believe any demon possessed man in this city can come here, raise his hands and shout, Jesus is Lord. It means nothing unless his heart backs it up, unless his life backs it up. Now, let me go on. I'm going to give you three simple guidelines. First of all, every one of your desires, your dreams, your ambitions, everything in us of the flesh has a voice. And they're all lining up. Every time you go to prayer, they get in line. Every one of them wanting to be first. There's ego. There's desire. There's ambition. All lined up. I'm first. I'm first. Paul said there are many voices in the world and none without, all with some significance. And I want to tell you something. Every one of those voices are yes men. They all say yes because that's what you want to hear. I'll tell you, you can go to the Lord in prayer and get the quickest yes you ever heard. Yes, yes, yes. This is God. And then, because the devil knows the Bible says it's a still small voice, he'll say, this is Jesus. This is the Lord. You better believe me. Listen to me. The Holy Spirit only speaks to those who wait. Wait. If my Bible tells me that I'm supposed to be slow at speech, how much more the Holy Ghost? He only speaks to those who wait on the Lord. You have to wait till all the other voices get impatient. They've all said their piece. You're torn by saying, I don't know. I'm hearing different things. Go ahead and let them talk. Let them say anything they want. Because you see, the Holy Ghost knows that if you just wait on the Lord, you're growing in Jesus. You're growing in his love. And you're ready to hear a no if he speaks a no. Are you ready for a no? Are you ready for Holy Ghost to say just be patient and wait? It's not time. Do you believe in Holy Ghost timing? You see, when the enemy speaks, there's always a clamor in the heart. There's always a clamor to be heard and a clamor to get it done. There's an urgency, but not with the Holy Spirit. My Bible says very, very clearly, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. David said, my soul waits in silence for God to speak. My soul waits in silence for God. I go to the Lord and I worship. I praise him. And I don't rush in and start talking to the Holy Ghost. I praise the Lord. I pray to the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit begins to lead me to Jesus. He always opens up Christ. Hallelujah. If the Holy Ghost is not pointing you to Jesus, then you don't have the Holy Ghost of the Bible. The Holy Ghost of the Bible will point you to Jesus. Hallelujah. But you wait. You sit. And I'll tell you, Jesus said, my sheep know my voice. They hear when I call, but he only speaks to those who wait on the Lord. You can be sure he will speak. It will come and with it comes a peace that passeth all understanding. There's a peace. The presence of Jesus always accompanies the voice of the Holy Ghost. I'll say it again. The presence of Jesus always accompanies the Holy Ghost voice. When the Holy Ghost speaks, you will experience a manifestation of the presence of Jesus. The devil can't produce that. He can produce an uneasiness. And a lot of people run out of the Holy Ghost presence before the Holy Spirit has really spoken to them. You know Elijah in the mountain? He asked God to speak to him and the wind began to blow. It blew the rocks apart. But the voice wasn't in it. Then came an earthquake and the ground began to shake and tremble. But God's voice was not in it. Then a fire, white hot fire was leaping up from the earth and God's voice was not in it. You see how long he had to wait? He wait till the thunder's over. And that does represent all the voices of the flesh. But then it says a gentle breeze came. It's still a small voice. Folks, I want you to ask God to help you wait for that gentle breeze. You wait before the Lord. Cleanse me Jesus. Cleanse my appetites. Take away all the desire of the world. Let him deal with every sin. Let him deal with all the desires of the flesh. So that by the time the Holy Ghost speaks, hallelujah, you'll say, well thank you Holy Spirit. But I've got a double portion. Not only have I got the Holy Ghost speaking to my heart, not only have I know, I know, I know I've heard from God. And oh, you have that eternal, that great eternal yes in your soul. But more than that, you'll say, I've been drawn closer to Jesus. You are drawn by the voice of the Holy Spirit to the beloved. Hallelujah. Finally, he speaks to those who minister to the Lord. And then let him say what he will. Acts 13.2, I just read it. While they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, set aside Barnabas, the Holy Spirit said, as they ministered, that word ministered, as they worshipped, as they worshipped the Lord. Folks, if you'll just go into the presence of God, presence of the Holy Spirit, and just worship the Lord Jesus, worship the Father, worship the Spirit, and say Holy Spirit, here I am, I give you my ears, but just worship, worship. Forget hearing anything. Just worship. The Holy Spirit will tell you what you need to know. He'll tell you what you need to know. And if you're not going to say it, it's probably because you don't need to hear it right now. Don't tell me you're not going to tell you what you need to know. He'll tell you exactly what you need to know, but it'll come out of worship. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Holy Spirit, thank you. Let's stand. Are you beginning to see it's more than just the gift? You know the gifts will operate, but you see, you don't focus on the gifts. Like the preacher said, you go to buy a pair of shoes, you don't ask for the tongues. You ask for the shoes and the tongues are in them. We want the Holy Ghost, not just his gifts. We want the Holy Ghost. We want him living and abiding in us. Oh God, take the blinders from our eyes. Holy Spirit, I pray that tonight and in the weeks to come, you will open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we honor you in this church. We honor you. Folks, raise your hands and let's honor the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we honor you tonight. We honor you for bringing us to Jesus. Jesus sent him, folks. You can worship him. Jesus sent him. You can worship the Holy Spirit. You can praise the Holy Spirit because he's going to bring you to Jesus. Lord, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God in the flesh. It's God in the Spirit. God is the Spirit. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Holy Spirit, thank you for coming. Thank you for being in me, abiding in me right now. All right, you may put your hands down. Here's what I believe the Holy Spirit's leading me to say to you now in the closing part of the service. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin. And if the Holy Spirit's in this meeting now and you're standing here with sin in your life or compromise, you're not walking in the light that you've received, right now I'm going to bow my head and pray in the Holy Spirit. If he's in this meeting, and I know he is, and if your heart is at all open to God, if your heart is open at all, he will convict you. He does that for the purpose of bringing you back. He has an eternal purpose and he's going to accomplish that tonight. And what he does, he brings that uneasiness, he brings, it's like, I'll tell you, for me, it's like a knife right in the middle of the stomach. It's like a knot. It's just a twisting and a turning. It's the Holy Spirit saying, now, lay it down and let me give you power over that now. Let me take it off your hands. Come and trust me with it. I want you to step out of your seat without whatever sin, whatever the problem is, and present it to the Holy Spirit and say, Holy Spirit, I'm tired of fighting this in my own strength. I give it to you tonight and I'm going to trust you. And I'll tell you what, if you'll allow the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, you'll see the Holy Spirit standing beside you, sword in hand, twisting and turning in all direction, and putting every demon in hell to chase. And saying, leave him alone. Leave her alone. This is the bride of Jesus. Hallelujah. Come for cleansing. Come for healing. Come for his power to deliver you from the stronghold of Satan. Father, by your Spirit, Holy Spirit, go throughout this congregation up in the balcony here in the main floor. Holy Spirit, do your work. Do your eternal purpose. Convict of sin. Bring backsliders back to you. Those who've grown cold and indifferent to you. Oh, Holy Spirit, draw them. You said you would draw. You would draw. Do that drawing work right now. Up in the balcony, go down. Either step on either side and come down any aisle. Stand here on the main floor. Come as a spirit. Put your finger on that sin. Obey him. Say, yes, Holy Spirit, I hear you. I want deliverance tonight. Come. This is the conclusion of the tape.