Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, highlighting that the Holy Spirit is our comforter and guide after Jesus' ascension. He calls for a deep longing for Jesus, which in turn enhances our relationship with the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ's glory and truth to us. The preacher warns against the dangers of being comfortable in sin and stresses the need for brokenness and humility to receive the Holy Spirit's fullness. He encourages believers to seek a genuine encounter with the Holy Spirit, which leads to a life of holiness and a commitment to God's truth. Ultimately, the message is a call to live in a way that glorifies Jesus through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

I just want to pray. Let's just pray. Just be a few minutes. Beloved, the Holy Spirit is bidding and calling us, and He is reintroducing Himself back to the church in this late hour that we're living in. And we are a privileged people to be called by God, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, made a partaker of the glorious redemption that's in Christ, and then be brought by the Holy Spirit to a place of brokenness, contriteness, humility, there to find a blessed encounter with the beautiful person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke a lot about the Holy Spirit in the Bible. The Holy Spirit, listen to me, beloved, the Holy Spirit became the church's best friend after Christ ascended. Jesus was the comforter to His disciples. They had grown to love Him and appreciate Him, and they had just abided under the shadow of His glorious wisdom. And then, lo and behold, Jesus said in John chapter 14, a very, very saddening statement. At least at first it was. John chapter 14, Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also, and whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Now as we read on, we know that Jesus spoke about Himself being the way. Then in verse number 15, Jesus said, If ye love Me, keep My commandments, and 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 seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Beloved, this precious Holy Spirit was the church's best friend. John 16, verse number 5. Just reading some Scriptures, familiarizing ourselves with Scriptures that perhaps we've never really contemplated or considered. John 16, verse 5, But now I go my way to Him that sent me, and none of you asketh me whither thou goest. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Can you see, beloved, that sorrow had filled the disciples' hearts because Jesus was all the world to them. Jesus was always there. Jesus was always comforting them. They could see Him. They could touch Him. They could just come under His wonderful, glorious protection. He was indeed a shepherd to the sheep. And here Jesus is saying, I'm about to leave you. Beloved, let me say something to you that when Jesus Christ becomes more and more and more significant in your life to the extent that you begin to recognize that you need Him every moment of the day, the Holy Spirit will become more and more significant to you because you will recognize that the only access that you have to the Son of God who sits upon the throne of His glory, there ruling the heaven and the earth, the only access that you have to Him is through the person of the Holy Spirit. He indeed comes and reveals the things of Christ to us as we're about to read. Has sorrow filled your heart today in considering that you can't see Jesus? He's left. Can you see this, beloved? Can you see the intensity of this? Oh, this is so much more than letter. It's so much more than just Scriptures. Sorrow fills the heart of His beloved as she longs more and more to see Him but knows that He has ascended and He can't be seen at this time. See, this is love. This is the key to your Christian walk, relationship with the Savior. But here's some comforting words. Does your heart pant for Jesus? Yes. Sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is necessary for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send Him unto you. There it is. Don't you long to see the One who saved you by His grace? Don't you long to see the One who cleansed you by His blood? Don't you long to see the One who walked that lonely road to a place called Gotha and there hung His arms out upon a cross and submitted Himself unto a death upon a cross? Not for His own sake but for you. Don't you long to see Him? Hath sorrow filled your heart? You say, oh my, I'm not too sure. Perhaps God may show us that the Holy Spirit and His fullness will come more and more as we begin to long to see Him and know Him. Let me tell you, the Holy Spirit doesn't have a private agenda. You know, many times believers expect the Holy Spirit to come upon them and make them something great. That's why He never comes. You see, the Holy Spirit doesn't come and make you great. He comes and makes Jesus great. See, the Holy Spirit is searching for hearts that are doing this. Oh, I want to know you, Jesus. That's who He comes to. He doesn't mess with the ones that have 150 private agendas. Now, the Father's committed to the Child of God that has been washed in the blood. And the Father's committed to dealing with those things. But the Holy Spirit waits until, oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. See? And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin. The Holy Spirit deals with sin. When the Holy Spirit comes, you do not feel comfortable in sin. When the Holy Spirit is grieved away, the heart can be hardened, and believers can become comfortable in sin. That's what it means to be a backslider. And until the Holy Spirit comes back on the scene, there's comfort in sin. You see? He reproves of sin and of righteousness. He reveals the righteousness of Christ and of judgment. He deals with sin. Of sin, because you believe not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. I have many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. And He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it to you. You see now here what the Holy Spirit is doing? As the Holy Spirit comes, He's bringing the heart of the believer into a focus of the Savior. He's showing the believer what belongs to the Savior. The glory, the honor, the majesty, the beauty that all belongs to the Lamb of God. The Holy Spirit is dedicated. The Holy Spirit is dedicated to accomplish one and one thing alone. Seek and search out a people in whom He may set up His throne and there reveal the matchless glory of the Son of God to a called-out people. That's His agenda. The Holy Spirit is very grieved when He looks and beholds and sees the cheap, human-oriented methods that are running rampant in the church today regarding the Holy Spirit. The Lord's going to find a people who are not going to look to the methods of men anymore, but are going to come before God and go to the Word of God and patiently wait and tarry on the Lord and let the Holy Spirit have His way and deal with us. We thank God for the blood. We thank God for the forgiveness that we have. But now the Holy Spirit is introducing us to the life of, if any man want to follow Me, let him take up his cross. We're going to let the Holy Spirit patiently walk us through and prepare us so that we can become a recipient to the mighty Holy Spirit who, according to the Word of God, will glorify Jesus, will speak of Jesus, will empower us with power to be a witness for Christ. Not a verbal witness. You know, the word witness is a word where we get the word martyr from. Guess what a martyr is? One who loses his life for Jesus' sake. You know, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you become a martyr for Christ. A martyr for Christ. A martyr for Christ is one who says, All to Jesus I freely give. I lose my life, my interest, my agenda to gain Him in all of His fullness. And you shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be my martyrs. Would you like to be a martyr for Jesus? Oh, Father, would you be pleased to receive my offering? See, the Bible says, Offer yourself. We offer ourselves to God. Would you be pleased, Lord, to receive my offering and make me a martyr for Jesus? I'm not necessarily talking about a martyr where you lose your head, but you might. I'm talking about a martyr where daily, morning by morning, you rise up and you confess with your soul because it is burned in your spirit. You say, Father, I arise this morning. I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price. My body is yours. My mind is yours. My eyes are mine. I will not look upon that which is evil. I will not entertain that which is corrupt. Lord, I am Thine. I depend upon You. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Take control of me today. Deal with pride. Deal with rebellion. Oh, God, deliver me from this rebellious spirit. I am powerless. I can't do it, but Lord, I wait for You to do it. There's a martyr for Jesus. A martyr is one who refuses to entertain the old life which in God's eyes is cursed, dead, buried, and full of worms. Now see, this is why the Holy Spirit is patiently waiting. I'm telling you, beloved, be not weary in doing well, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. There was never in church history and even according to the Word of God... Oh, my Lord. What came before Jesus? Rather, who came before Jesus? John the Baptist. What was his message? We want the Holy Ghost without first letting that axe come to the root of what we are. I submit to you that it is not the Holy Spirit that you're going to get. And I don't know what spirit it is, but I want no part of it. It's corrupt to the core. Jesus said, I've come to divide. And let me tell you, He's doing just that. John the Baptist had a very interesting message, but you know, John the Baptist's message needed to be received before Jesus' message was received. And this is what God has to bring us back to. The axe is laid to the root of the tree. John the Baptist looked at a leader. What was his name? Who was living in an adulterous situation. Herod and Herodias. And what did he say? You know why John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb? Because he could look at Herod and Herodias and say, you're living unlawfully before God, sir. The Holy Spirit is here. And I sense His love very strongly, but you know, I sense something else too. I not only sense His love, but the Holy Spirit also is bringing to us, and not just to us, it's going all over the country, all over the nation. And that is an unswerving commitment to His way. He waits patiently. You know, God has been teaching me that He is the Spirit of truth. Therefore, He tells the truth. And we will not be a recipient of His glorious person in His fullness until we're able to hear Him tell us the truth and then fall before Him and let Him break us. So the Holy Spirit is consistent even now pouring out into our hearts His love, pouring out into our hearts the assurance that He is faithful, He is forgiving, He is loving, but He is also standing as a very firm, unswerving, unblinking God, saying there's only one way. The Holy Spirit is saying, I cannot, I will not, I refuse to unless the condition is met. And God is going to bring back and He is bringing back to His people those that will hear. Many will not hear. Many will turn. We've read it many times in 2 Timothy. Many will turn because they have tickly ears. They don't want to hear the truth. They're going to turn and they're not going to be told the truth. But God will have a people who will hear the truth. And there's not going to be a baptism Holy Ghost outpouring in the midst of sin-laden, selfish people. There's going to be a purging by the work of God's Spirit, a purging by the blood. This is the New Testament. This is what we have right here, the New Testament. The truth has got to be told. The truth has got to be told. And as the truth finds a place in our heart, it will cut, it will convict, it will counsel, it will correct, it will comfort, and it will conform and change us. God's people need to once again consider whose name they are being called by. The Lord knows them that are His, and everyone that names in the name of the Lord. Depart from iniquity. Don't swim in it. Depart from it. I believe according to the Word of God that God is going to raise up a holiness into His people. Not a legalistic holiness, not a holiness where we try and perform for God, but a holiness that comes by virtue of His presence. A holy fear. Yes, beloved. A holy fear. People will glory in the blood of Jesus and in His righteousness, but will not be able to glory in themselves, and will not be able to walk the wrong way and not be dealt with by God. That's what's in the Bible, and that's what we're asking God to do. And there's many, many others. And He's doing it. He really is. He's doing it. So it's going to be a time of heart searching, a time of thinking, a time of conflict. It's good. We've avoided conflict. We've avoided confrontation. But the New Testament doesn't. What will the results be? Well, the whole book of Isaiah tells us what the results will be. Rain will come. Corn will grow. Wheat will grow. Righteousness will spring up. Oh my, the Lord Jesus will just glorify Himself in our midst. I'm excited, thankful, and determined by the grace of God not to turn to the left, not to turn to the right, but to go straight down that narrow path that leads to life. One more Scripture and we'll close. 1 John, the one I wanted to turn to originally. I'm going to read a Scripture in 1 John 2, 15-17. You'll notice that this Scripture reflects the exact opposite of what we just read as to what the Holy Spirit does in the believer's life. The Holy Spirit pours out a love into our hearts for the Savior. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the things of Christ. The Holy Spirit comes and leads us into all truth. And truth is Jesus. Now we see the opposite here. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now doesn't the Bible say that Demas forsook the Lord, forsook Paul? Remember Demas? Demas is a fellow that traveled with the Apostle Paul, sat under his teaching, was acknowledged by Paul. I personally believe that Demas was a genuine child of God, but he forsook Paul. Paul said, having loved this present world, he forsook me and went to Thessalonica. He went to Thessalonica. The love of the Father in Demas' heart had waxed cold. Having loved this present world, what was it that Demas loved? Verse 16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. We need the Holy Spirit in order to break us from the world, the flesh, and the devil, in order to deliver our homes from these things, our lifestyles from these things. Oh, how we need the Holy Spirit. And I believe that He will indeed reveal Himself to us as we continue to seek Him and be patient as He is with us. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Well, glory to God. Remember, beloved or bride, a forgiving, a loving, a gracious, a merciful God who freely justifies us by His grace, who freely bestows upon us His love and His mercy, who then says, Come and let us reason together. If it is your desire to know Him, you must know the Holy Spirit. You cannot know the Holy Spirit unless you have known the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ. And you cannot know the cleansing power of Jesus until you have turned to God in faith, trusting Him as your Savior. And then if you are to have an encounter with the Holy Spirit and an ongoing encounter, you must live in that posture of repentance and brokenness before God, for the Holy Spirit is easily grieved away. And if the Holy Spirit is grieved away, the power to live a victorious life slips right away. And before you know it, you're full of your old ways. And a man that is full of his old ways is nothing more or less than a backslider. Now, we do not believe God will cut off the backslider, but we believe the backslider cuts Himself off from fellowship with God and is overcome by the power of the world. That's why, O child of God, how we need Him. It's a war, but He has promised to be our victory. He's promised to be our victory. So, I want to encourage you, beloved, to continue to seek Him. Ask Him to lead you and guide you and draw Him unto Himself. And He'll do great things for us. Does anyone have anything they want to share?