Michael Koulianos emphasizes the significance of Pentecost as a day of thanksgiving and remembrance of God's law given at Mount Sinai. He reflects on the glory of God descending upon Sinai and the heart of God to dwell among His people, highlighting the importance of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life. Koulianos urges the church to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, moving beyond superficial worship to a transformative experience of God's presence. He stresses that true Christian life is about a genuine relationship with God, where the Holy Spirit guides and empowers believers to live in His fullness. The sermon calls for a return to the core of faith, focusing on Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Today's Pentecost, and Pentecost was, in the old covenant, a great day of thanksgiving. As the ancient church of Israel also, they were not only thankful for the Lord himself, but for the first fruits of the wheat harvest. It was an incredible day of remembering the law of God that was given on Mount Sinai. How many of you remember what happened on the top of Mount Sinai? Does anybody have an idea? Anybody remember, let me say it another way, what descended upon the top of Mount Sinai? Anybody remember? Sorry, I have an in-ear on this one, and so I'm functioning at 50 percent, scream it. The glory cloud came, right? And that cloud was shrouded in great darkness, the Bible says, and filled with fiery light. And from the midst of that cloud, the voice of the Lord came, which is incredible. Imagine watching that take place as the children of Israel, watching heaven literally come to the earth. And some of the ancient Hebrew scholars would actually say it that way, that the Lord himself, that heaven's environment and atmosphere touched Sinai, and the two became one. Isn't that amazing? It shows so much. It shows the heart of God to come be with his people. It shows the desire in God's heart to invite his friends into the cloud, which is what I talked about last Sunday night, which by the way, if you haven't been on a Sunday night, you're missing out. They have been absolutely sacred. You need to get there tonight, bring your family, and just get into the presence of the Lord. So here we see the Lord's desire to come down. Say that, to come down. I'd like to begin with a question this morning. Why would God come down? What is in the heart of God that would cause him to come down? Love. You got it. In Exodus 25, why don't we turn there? You don't mind reading your Bible in church, right? Okay. In Exodus 25, verse 1, the Scripture says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering. Offerings are not man's idea, by the way. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart, you shall take my offering. That should happen in every service. We should willingly give to the Lord. Amen? And this is the offering which you shall take from them. Gold, by the way, if you're taking notes, that speaks of Jesus our God, the Divine One. Silver, that speaks of Jesus the Redeemer, the one who comes to save. Bronze, that speaks of the Lord Jesus who took and became our sin. Blue, that speaks of the Lord Jesus who is the revelation of God who has come from the heavens. Purple, that speaks of the Lord Jesus who is our King. Say amen. I'm getting stirred up a little bit with each one. Scarlet thread, Jesus the one who bleeds as our Savior. Fine linen, the sinless one. Goat's hair, our sin substitute. Ram skins dyed red, the one who is our covering, our propitiation. Badger skins, this speaks of the suffering of Jesus. Badger skins are very difficult to look at, but they do an incredible job at what they are supposed to accomplish. They actually covered the top of the tabernacle tent with badger skins. It kept the rain and the elements out, but it was very ugly. To the world, Jesus is not worth coming to. He's considered boring. His followers are considered fanatics. That's why the cross is an offense. Why would anyone want to follow a crucified man who has been skinned alive as a criminal who is hanging on a tree between two other criminals? What is it about this ugly one in their eyes that is worth following? How many of you know he may have been ugly to the eye, to the fallen, but beautiful to those who love him? How many of you know he does an amazing job at saving our soul? Acacia wood, this speaks of his incorruptibility. Acacia wood is an incorruptible wood. Acacia wood and of the cross, the crucified one. Oil for the light. He's the baptizer and the Holy Spirit. Somebody say amen before I jump down there. Spices for the anointing oil. Spices speak of his character. Now think of this. You couldn't just pour oil on the high priest back then. You had to put spices in the oil. And you couldn't just dump oil. I'm sorry, you couldn't just dump spices because it would blow off. You needed the oil to contain and hold the spices so that it would be an irreversible fragrance on the high priest. Without the oil, you have no fragrance. I should say without the oil, you have no ointment. So the two become one here. Oil and fragrance. It is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit alone who carries, offers, and smears us in the character of Jesus. And the spices all speak of a different aspect of Jesus. Throughout the scriptures, myrrh was brought to Jesus because he would die. What did they clothe him in or bathe him in after he died? One of those spices were myrrh and aloes. That's what the Bible says, right? What did the wise men come with? Myrrh. They're prophetically declaring, here's the Lamb of God. Calamus is a sweet-smelling fragrance or spice. That speaks of the sweetness of his presence and the sweetness of worship. Isn't he wonderful? Frankincense, for instance, speaks of his priestly ministry. Am I going too fast? We need to teach the Bible again. Sorry, I'll slow down. We need to teach the Bible again. If this is overload, it's just because you haven't been hearing the Word. This is just the Bible. We need to stop preaching messages on how to make people's dreams come true and talk about Jesus. Honestly, the more I look, I'm like, we've raised up worshippers who are pop stars and pastors who are life coaches. And the world's going to hell in a handbasket. Numbers are increasing, campuses are expanding, but the nation's going to hell. It doesn't work. Sorry, I had an earache this morning. I'm just over it all. It doesn't work. It does not work. It's been proven to not work. We bumped into a test in 2020 and 2021. In many cases, not in all, we failed miserably as a church. It showed us who we really are, which is that we all need help. We need Jesus again. We need Jesus again. My God, we need Jesus again. The church needs to stop filling arenas to go watch people who say they're worship leaders but they're not even singing about Jesus. It all just needs to stop. And you need to change the dial and be a powerful man and woman of God. And you determine what you listen to. And you determine what you get to read. Come on, let's go. Let's get into Jesus here. This thing is… No, I felt the presence of God. No, you didn't feel the presence of God. Because you left the same. One time. Can I vent? Okay. I'm just saying. I mean, we literally have a generation at this point that on a mass scale has not corporately run into the cloud and wouldn't have any idea of what he's like in there. But we're filled with initiative. Talking about all we're going to accomplish. Doesn't work like that. Unless the Lord builds the house. They that labor, labor in vain. One time I was preaching at a well-known church. And I was just up there on the platform and I asked for the keyboardist. A well-known worship leader refused to even get on the platform and help me. Because they said, we don't know what to do up there when he's up there. That was so telling to me. I thought, what do you mean you don't know what to do? This is what you do, right? You minister to the Lord. You should know his movement, his heart, what he wants in the moment. That's what a worship leader does. That's what true Levites do. They're with him all the time. What do you mean you don't know? If you don't know that, what do you know how to do? If the presence freaks us out, there is a place in the presence where it should freak us out. But if we don't know what he's like in the presence, that just reveals a lot. Amen? That was your spanking. Now you'll be healed with some nice organic wine. Are you ready? It wasn't your spanking. You're an amazing church. But I have to hit at these things occasionally. Because they're demons and principalities and they just need a nice slapping. Sweet incense, verse 7. Onyx stones. This is so powerful. It speaks of the covenant of God and his character and who he is. The ephod is set in the breastplate. In other words, God carries the stones who also represented the tribes of Israel. God carried them on his heart. Each tribe also represented a different character of the Lord. A different characteristic, I should say. Imagine you serve a high priest today. The Hebrew says he still ministers in the heavenly tabernacle who wears you on his heart. That should have made you much more excited. So the high priest back then would carry these stones on his chest. That's true priestly ministry. True Christian leadership is to carry the people on your heart when you minister to the Lord. Amen? Verse 8. And this is what I want to get to. And let them make me, listen carefully, a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them. That's why God comes down. Close your eyes for a moment. Say, Jesus wants to live with me. Keep your eyes closed. Say, Jesus wants to live on me. Say, Jesus lives in me. To every believer, the Holy Spirit lives within them. Every one. Every believer who has come to the Lord Jesus, repented of their sin, turned to Him in faith, put all their trust in Him and Him alone, in His death, burial, and resurrection, whether they're Baptist or so Pentecostal, the Pentecostals won't even claim them, the Holy Spirit lives in us all. It is really theologically incorrect to ask someone who you don't think speaks in tongues if they have the Holy Spirit. You're welcome. Everyone who doesn't speak in tongues goes, thank you, I love this church, my Lord, okay. You cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit inside of you. John the Beloved wrote that it is the Holy Spirit who bears witness that we are children of God. An old preacher, he's probably not old anymore because he's in heaven, so I would assume he's young. But he told me once, he said, don't settle for the tongue when you can have the whole shoe. He said he's a God preacher who actually became a real friend and in some ways a pastoral influence in Kathryn Kuhlman's life. His name was Ralph Wilkerson. He became a dear friend of mine. He passed through a great church during the Jesus movement, Charismatic Renewal, called Melody Land. And when I lived in California, even after that, I spent so much time with him. This was funny. One time, David Papavisi and I, you guys all know Dave? He'll be back hopefully soon. But Dave and I went to see him, and he was telling us these stories about Kathryn. And Kathryn asked him if he would allow his wife, whose name is Aileen, not Eileen, Aileen, to fly and go play organ for Kathryn in one of her healing services in Pittsburgh. And Pastor Ralph was hard of hearing. This was so funny. So when I sit with men like that, I don't just kick my feet up and say, Hey, Ralphie, how are you? It's like, Hey, Pastor Ralph. I don't even talk unless he asks me to. And he looks me in the eye and he goes, and Dave had never met him. And he looks at me, he goes, I sense the anointing on you. And I said, Oh, that's encouraging. That's good. He said, I'm hard of hearing. Come open my ears. And we were drinking tea. And I'm like, Now? Literally, we're drinking tea, had a little parakeet in a cage, the whole thing. Remember his house, babe? And it just wasn't like the moment. And then he goes, Come on, come do your job. He goes, Kathryn needed atmosphere and worship and all that. He goes, Benny likes worship too. He goes, You don't need that. Come on, you're the next generation. Open these ears. And I hesitate. He goes, Stick your finger in my ear and open it. He was like 80. And I didn't know him. So I was like, In your ear? In the ear? Stretch my hand? You do that one? So he looked at Dave. He goes, You too. And Dave was like, Dave looked at me real quick. So we got up. And I stood behind him because I didn't want him staring at me the whole time. So I got behind him. He was facing that way. We went for it. They didn't open. But those were great times. And he taught me so much about the Holy Spirit. I was told that he would walk down the aisle from the back door for the altar call. He'd just walk right down. And they would sing, There's Something About That Name in the choir. And he would help lead it. And then he'd just stand at the platform and say, Who wants Jesus this morning? And hundreds would come. And one of the things Pastor Ralph taught me, and obviously my father-in-law taught me and so many, was that it is the Holy Spirit who draws us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit. This is the most important thing he does. To so many of us who grew up in charismatic Pentecost, we limit him to a prayer language, which is a tragedy. And you know as well as I do, if you grew up in church, that many of the people who thought they were speaking in tongues were not. Come on. They weren't. Before I got filled with the Spirit, I think I've shared this with you before, ladies would say, Just repeat after me. And something in my 12-year-old little heart that didn't know much of the Bible used to think thoughts like this, Certainly, the baptism of the Spirit has to be a little more glorious than copying after this lady. And does every prayer language have to include Shabbat? Is it such a uniform utterance? Because everyone's does. Or Rondi. Or Shonda. Now this might be in yours, and I'm not taking a knock at it. I'm just saying, could there be something more vast and beautiful that the Lord has for us? And I'm so glad I did not copy a prayer language and settle. I know I'm making people mad right now. Hopefully not here. But the great sign, according to Scripture, that somebody has been empowered by the Spirit is not their prayer language. The great sign is power to be a witness. The great sign is power. That's what Jesus said. And if Jesus said it, it's right. I said, If Jesus said it, it's right. If you're confused theologically, copy Jesus. You shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You. This isn't to birth doubt in you. Or make light of what the Lord has given you. It's not that. I'm really messing with you a little bit. With a plan in mind. To get you to not settle. To get you to not settle. I'm so glad I didn't settle. I tell our students, I'm so glad I didn't choose Crisco. And got the real oil. By His mercy. And being a witness is much more vast than witnessing. Witnessing is part of that. But being a witness means to exude Him. To drip Him. To breathe Him. It means He's in the shadow when you walk by. There's something beautiful that takes place when the Holy Spirit becomes friends with someone. Because all of us, anybody in their right mind who is loving the Lord. Loves His presence. We all do. I mean, of course He comes in certain ways. I've had this happen two or three times in my life where I felt like I would die. We've all had that. Hopefully. Maybe you haven't. But if you have, it's healthy. We need to understand the fear of the Lord. This is vital. But even in those moments, it's so difficult to explain. But it's still wonderful. Isn't it? Even the moments where you feel like if you're going to breathe the wrong way, you might die. Yet something deep within us is saying, and it makes no sense in our earthly mind, Please don't let this end. Right? Yeah. So, it's natural as a child of God to love the presence of your Father. Because He's a good Father. I said He's a good Father. And just like when a good Father walks through the front door, His children run to Him. It's natural to love His presence. And you should love His presence. Which, by the way, is the actual Him. You should love His presence more than you love anyone or anything. It is fully legal to be addicted to the presence of the Lord. Fully addicted. It is totally normal to want to sense His presence while you're driving. Just don't close your eyes. It's normal. It's not extreme. It's not fanaticism to crave the presence of the Spirit. It's not fanaticism once He gives you a drink to ask for three more. I said it's not fanaticism. It's the normal Christian life to drown in the river of God. That's normal. Can I keep going a little? It's normal to not want to listen to garbage when you can drink of Him. That's all normal. It's the normal Christian life to have joy when people think you should not. That's what Christianity is. We're in but not of. That's what it means to be the head and not the tail. I don't know where we've gotten so screwed up in our theology that all of a sudden that became merely political. We're missing out on the beauty of it. To be the head and not the tail means that we are led of the Lord, that at any moment we can drink, whether nuclear bombs are going off two miles away, Jesus is king. That's the point. We live in another place, and that place is a person called the Holy Spirit. Paul said it this way. He said it is in Him we live. It is in Him we move, and it is in Him that we have our being, as he's addressing the pagans in Greece. Speaking about this person of the Holy Spirit, who is so vast, He is omnipresent. David said it like this, whether I come up to the heavens or make my bed in hell, you are there. To be baptized into the Holy Spirit, which is what Pentecost is all about, God coming down to swallow us up. To swallow us up. I'll say it again until somebody gets excited. To swallow us up. To become our world. Let me read it to you. Go to the Gospel of John. John 1.29. Oh gosh, the Lord is about to slap you. We're going to start handing out mouth guards at the front door in your little visitor bag. Helmets and mouth guards. John 1.29. Can you all see me, media team? Can they see me? Okay. The next day, John saw Jesus, this is John the Baptist, coming toward him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The only way to behold Him is if He's coming toward you. So if your vision is increasing of Jesus, that's only happening because He's saying yes to you. He's coming your way. Behold doesn't mean temporarily look upon. Behold means look and let that look turn into a stare and then never stop staring. Behold means to hold with your eyes. You lock in and then you hold that gaze for as long as possible. Jesus loves it when we look at Him. I said Jesus loves it when we look at Him. Behold the Lamb of God. Obviously John here is pointing the people's attention back to Abraham's declaration over Isaac that the Lord would provide a lamb. So now here John the Baptist is saying here He is. It's taken generations and generations to get to this moment but here's the one that Abraham prophesied. He's also touching on Isaiah's prophecy that it would be led like a lamb to the slaughter. I also want to point your attention to this. That John obviously because it's the scriptures and they're perfect. John introduces Jesus in the proper order. This is so important. He introduces Him as Savior of the world and because that introduction is proper we should experience Him in the same order as Lamb of God first. Then look, look down at your Bible. Verse 30 This is He of whom I said after me comes a man who is preferred before me for He was before me. Here John is saying He's God and man all in one. He's before me but He's man. I did not know Him but that He should be revealed to Israel therefore I came baptizing with water. So He's saying all of my baptisms have led up to this moment. My baptismal ministry is unto the Lamb. What He's basically saying is I am the best man of this wedding ceremony. This is what He meant when He told His disciples He must increase and I must decrease. In a Hebraic wedding, in a Hebrew wedding and in our weddings today the best man stands next to the groom, right? And who brings the bride in? The father. Would any father in his right mind give his bride away to an unworthy husband? No. Well we do it all the time. That didn't happen in my house. The people said it has to be a worthy husband. Say a worthy husband. So the father walks his gift down the aisle and offers this gift who is a bride arrayed in white of people washed in the blood and offers the bride to a worthy husband. And for that husband to be deemed a worthy husband that husband had to hopefully in a healthy home has to carry certain qualities. Like if you sleep in all day long and don't work you would never marry my daughter. Right? If you don't love Jesus you would never marry my daughter. Right? If you don't like golf you would never ever marry my daughter. Okay? Oh man. Just so much more. So many other things that would cause me to say that. Anyways let me keep going. You have a worthy husband and the best man stands next to the groom. The moment the father introduces the bride to the worthy husband the best man takes a step away. Right? And joins the rest of his groomsmen. This is what John meant when he told his disciples he must increase. I've done my job. The bridegroom of Israel is now walking through the Holy Land. He is now meeting the children of Israel. Listen. Who left him and committed adultery against him. This is what Hosea says. This is what Jeremiah begs for. Begs the bride Israel to come back to the Lord. But she chooses harlotry Hosea says by worshipping other gods. Did you know anytime you offer your worship to another god even though you continue to worship Jesus anytime you offer your worship to another god it is harlotry in God's eyes. You might say I don't worship other gods. Oh money is. Status is. Man's opinion is. Worship is nothing more than the bowing down of the heart in recognition of something's might and worth. So now the Lord comes to reconcile this harlot called Israel. What an amazing bridegroom who comes to buy her with his blood even though she cheated on him for generations. This is our Jesus. So in that moment John goes okay time for me to decrease. That was a difficult experience for John. We know that he even sent an envoy to Jesus asking if Jesus was the one to come. As human as John was he was still chosen by the Lord. Now. Verse 32. And John bore witness saying I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained upon him. I did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and I have seen and testified that this is the son of God. So John compares listen carefully his baptism in many ways as a model of spirit baptism. And the reason I'm talking about this as I said earlier is I want you to understand that this is so much bigger than a specific gift. But this is a life changing encounter where the whole atmosphere of your life shifts and you begin to live in a different place. This is how John compares it. He says I baptize you of water but there's one coming after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. So let's look at that for a second. John says you see the way I do this. Come up here Ryan real quick. You didn't jump up there like Deanna. A little older. Are you older than him? Okay well I'm trying to help you. Alright. So John says John's standing in a river. Okay. And John's whole ministry is to point people to the Lamb. The whole context is marital. The people didn't know that the Jordan had become their bridal bath, their wedding bath. This is the pattern of the scriptures. We see this happen with Esther. She has to bathe before she approaches the king. So John is standing in these waters of baptism. They are moving water. I mean you know the Holy Spirit is moving. He is the wind of heaven. As I said earlier right? He is the river of God. He is the spring who gushes forth from my innermost being. You want to be in an environment where the river is moving. If the river is not moving it is still. If it's still it will become putrid. That's why the Bible says cast your bread upon the waters after many days it will return to you. If those waters aren't moving that bread's not coming back. So John's standing here and he says I baptize you. I baptize you in water. And he would do that by plunging them into the river. Now because they are in a natural body they have to come up for air. Fair enough? Okay. You can go sit down. I just want them to get the visual. John is saying the one who is coming after me is going to do the same thing to you but not in a river of water. He is going to plunge you into a river who is a person and never let you come up for air. That water prepared you for this one who will baptize you in fire. In the Holy Spirit and fire. And fire is an end time experience. It is a cleansing experience. Remember what he said. His winnowing fan is in his hand. In other words this last great generation I believe we don't know for sure but I think we all look at Bible prophecy and go Jesus is coming. Who knows? But this could very well be the last generation. This could be the generation who watches Jesus pierce the sky. That generation is meant to wear fire. Because if she wears fire the dross is removed. And she will be found ready because she has been in a spiritual bath that has cleansed her and purified her of herself. Yes of her past sin. But also of her current desire that causes her to resist the will of the bridegroom. So Jesus makes this statement to his disciples. We are going to stay on this for a couple of weeks. Jesus makes this statement. He says speaking of the Holy Spirit He is with us and shall be in us. He said that to the disciples. He is with you and he shall be in you. Why am I mentioning this? Because it goes back to what I said earlier. You cannot receive Jesus unless the Holy Spirit leads you to him. If I had to draw out a theology cartoon for children I would draw a picture of a dove leading that little child to Christ crucified. And then once that little child comes to Christ crucified this bleeding lamb and sees the glory and beauty of the one who came to die and discovers that since he died they willingly now die for him and with him. That dove that led the little child to Christ crucified now comes to live inside the little child. Is he still with the little child? Absolutely. But now he is also with and in. And he is in us according to 1 John. Listen carefully. He is in us in every born again believer. He lives in us and that interior indwelling is so that no matter what we face we can drink from a river. Turn to John 14 and then I'll pray. Are you enjoying this? Are you thankful for the Holy Spirit? John 14, 15 If you love me keep my commandments. I can preach on that. By the way the fruit of love is obedience. One of them. There are about four or five. Verse 16 And I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever. The Holy Spirit is with us forever. There is nothing to be afraid of. Not gas prices. Not the economy. Not this. Not that. Not politicians. Nothing. There is nothing to be afraid of. The Holy Spirit is with us forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive. We do such a disservice to people who don't know the Lord by saying Oh yeah, yeah. No, God lives in you too. No, He does not. The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can only dwell in a vessel that has been purchased and washed in the blood of Jesus. That is why before the priest would put oil on something he first poured blood on it. Something must be cleansed with blood before it is filled with oil. The world cannot receive because it neither sees Him. Have you ever bumped into this where you said to someone who didn't know the Lord That was God. And they go That wasn't God. That was you. You're like I'm not that good. That was the Lord. You might say That was the Lord. They say That's not the Lord. That's just a coincidence. What's going on there? They can't see His work because they cannot receive Him. Nor knows Him. They don't know His presence. They don't know His character. They don't know His touch. But His church should. We should. We should know Him. But you know Him. Now Jesus Who is He speaking to here? Say the disciples. Why would He say that to them? But you know Him. Had they been indwelt by the Spirit yet? Say no. No, He had not died and been raised yet. They were not born again. So here's my question. How did they know Him? How could the disciples who were not redeemed unregenerate at the time they were not born again How was it that they knew the Holy Spirit? Because He was on, in and all around Jesus. So for them to stay in contact with the Holy Spirit they had to stay very close to Jesus. Amen? For He dwells with you. He was with them because Jesus was with them. Remember what John said? I saw the one whom He came upon Listen. This is the kicker. and remained. This is so important. Listen. This is saying this Jesus is different than Isaiah. I feel the Lord now. He is different than Jeremiah. He's different than Moses. He's different than Samson who can sin and then be used of God. He's different than Saul who's anointed. He's different than, as I said, different than David who can be used of God and then slip up and then used of God again. John isn't saying this one whom I saw is used of Him or frequently empowered. He's saying that the line of demarcation this distinction upon this one is that the Holy Spirit came upon Him listen and stayed. He stayed. Now listen. It's that remaining that is proof that He's the only one qualified to baptize you into the one that He is clothed with 24-7. It's that remaining peace. Now listen. Why would the Spirit remain? Listen carefully. Because of Jesus' perfection? Absolutely. Because of His deity? Absolutely. Did Jesus trust the Holy Spirit? Say yeah. He did because He was led of the Spirit. He followed Him everywhere. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. That's why one of the reasons we call Him the type and pattern the pattern Son I should say. If Jesus followed the Spirit, we should. But there's something else. Yes, Jesus trusted the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit trusted Jesus. The Holy Spirit trusted Jesus. Do you remember when Noah let the bird out the first time from the ark? Why did the bird return? Because it found no place to rest. Then the bird returns with what? An olive branch. And then rests. This was a prophetic declaration that the only one who was found worthy to rest and remain upon was the Lord Jesus. The ark of the covenant Himself. The true Noah's ark who shields us from the waters of judgment. For He dwells with you and will be in you. Listen carefully. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Help me there Joel. John 16 5 But now I go away to Him who sent me. And none of you asks me where are you going? But because I've said these things to you sorrow fills your heart. He's saying I'm going to leave. I'm going to go back to my father basically. You've become so dependent on me basically you don't know how to live without me right here like this in the flesh. Sorrow fills your heart. And nevertheless I tell you the truth it's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away the helper will not come to you. But if I depart I will send him to you. And when he has come he'll convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they do not believe in me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you but you can't bear them now. Oh I love verse 13 However in other words he could not tell the disciples then in the flesh what he can tell those who receive the Holy Spirit. Wow. However when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me. He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. Are you hearing that? He will take the deep treasures that belong to the Lord Jesus the inheritance of the Lord Jesus the deep wisdom within the Godhead and share it with us. I just read to you he will tell us of things to come. Do you realize we have an assurance? We have a connection with Almighty God that the world does not have. When the world is fearful what's next? What's next? The Holy Spirit knows and wants to tell us. Most of it is right here in the scriptures but regarding your future where you should live where you should go who you should marry will I ever get married? Am I too old to get married? What am I called to? The Holy Spirit knows. I'm not against counseling and clearly I'm not against pastoring but I have a question. Have you asked the Holy Spirit? Have you given him enough time to talk to you? Have you given him enough time to actually speak to you? He speaks on his timeline and on his terms. Would you just close your eyes for a moment? The Christian life is a life of true relationship. Listen, listen, listen to me. Don't look anywhere else. Just close your eyes and listen, listen, listen. The Christian life is a life of true relationship with the Lord. I'm not sure we even realize. Whatever you do, don't be looking around. Don't move around. It's a very holy time. I'm not sure we realize what we say or what we ask when we say do you have a relationship with Jesus? But the true Christian life is nothing less than a full-blown relationship. And in any relationship, listen, listen, people talk, they listen, requests are made In this case, love is exchanged. The Christian life is not even meant to be boring, not in the least. Let the world see him as the one who wears badger skins. To us, he's the one who's glorious and colorful and beautiful and majestic. And the scripture says, according to Jesus, that the Holy Spirit would take what is his and share it with us. How real is Jesus to you? I'm speaking to you as somebody who loves you under the anointing this morning. How real is Jesus to you? Is it a true relationship? Imagine that when you come to the Lord Jesus, he takes, according to his word, all of our sin that on our best day is a filthy rack. He takes it all and all of the stain, all of our past, listen carefully to me, there's nobody in here who doesn't have a past, no one, no one, unless it's been washed in the blood. He takes all of our past, everything, everything we're ashamed of, the stuff we didn't know we did, because he holds us accountable for that as well, according to the scripture. The Bible says, in sin hath my mother conceived me. Jesus takes all of that and it was placed upon him and all of that stuff that broke the heart of God was nailed to the cross. And since our blood could not wash it away, he offered his blood that was perfect and that blood washes every stain away. At that point, we are blood washed and blood bought. He purchases us and washes us. Then, the scripture teaches, our bodies, because remember, blood first, then oil, our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit. And then God makes our lives his home, our actual bodies. And he comes to live deep within our hearts by the Holy Spirit. I want to speak directly to some of you here who have never known the love of God. You've never experienced the love of God. I remember that old Kim Walker song she used to talk about. If you've ever experienced the love of God, you'd know, you'd know, you'd know. The Bible says, in the book of Romans, chapter 5, that it is the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Given. If you've never known the love of a real father this morning, you've never known the love of family, I'm here to tell you, there's a love so great, it will greatly eclipse every other love you've ever longed for. Then the Holy Spirit takes up residence deep within us. And wherever we go, we are never alone again. That's why the veil tore in two when Jesus died. It was to say two things. Now you can come into the Holy of Holies. But it also said, the glory of God is leaving this building to come and now live in a people. That is the Christian life. That is the Christian experience. To have our sins washed away, to be justified, to stand before God in His righteousness, and then to be filled with the glorious presence of the Lord.