Access to God, Royal Priesthood

I don't think there's words that can show the gratitude. So anyways, welcome everyone. Thank you again for being here. We are going to go through the 40 things that we receive at Salvation. And those things are called spiritual assets. Remember what assets are. They're advantages. They're benefits that God provides for us to live this spiritual life. To live this life, his perfect plan for us.

Let's take a moment of silence. 1 John 1.9 says, If we confess our sins, that the Lord is faithful and he's just to forgive us and cleanse us of anything. All things, all things, unrighteousness, all wickedness.

Father, thank you so much. Thank you, Lord. It's really an honor and a privilege to serve you. It's such an honor and a privilege, Father, to devote ourselves to learn of you, Father. Learn the word, knowing who you are, our positions in all of this. How we just hold truth, truth to your word, Father. Thank you for everything that you do, Father, that you continue to do. I pray, Father, today that you open the eyes and ears of my brothers and sisters, the royal family,

that we can take what we learn and apply it, Lord. you've blessed us with this family father and we're so grateful let every word be your words all of these thoughts be your thoughts father thank you so much that we have been chosen elect and take what we would see our opposition let everything that's said today be your glory in.

jesus thank you amen thank you okay so as we go through these 40 things you're going to see that they all overlap they all um intertwine with each other they all make and it makes so much sense as we go through it, So, assets again, these are advantages that the Lord has given us, benefits that the Lord has given us, and I'm going to try to follow your paperwork.

Like, we're going to go right down the list, one, two, three, and I don't know how far we're going to get through this list today, because there's so much to say in every one of these things, but let's begin. Everybody ready? Yes. So, the first one we have is access to God. Now, I know that sounds simple, right? We all know since the day that we were saved, we have access to God.

Let's see what that means, exactly what that is talking about, okay? Access to God has been provided for the believer through the death and burial and resurrection, of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our high priest. He's our royal high priest. And it is through his priesthood that the believer becomes a royal priest and is given access directly to God.

In order to become a high priest, Christ had to become true humanity. Think about that now. In order for us to become a high priest, Christ had to come and become 100% man. And Jesus Christ represents us before God in heaven, before the throne of God. By becoming our high priest, Jesus Christ became our mediator.

As the church age believers, we belong to his priesthood, the royal priesthood. The royal priesthood is far superior. I want you to think about this. The royal priesthood is far superior to any that existed in the past. And you remember, we went through all of that. As our high priest, Christ has won the victory over Satan, especially in the angelic conflict.

The priesthood of Christ is the reality of the priesthoods that existed in the Old Testament. Now, we were just talking about that on Saturday. Just as the rituals and the sacrifices were shadows of real things to come in the future. The order of the royal priest of Christ is the realization of those shadow types. Does that make sense?

So all of those things that were in the past, those rituals, was a shadow of what Christ did for us. And you can read of all of that in Hebrews chapter 8. If you take the time and read the whole entire chapter of Hebrews chapter 8, it goes right through it. Now, as believers, we gain access to God and represent ourselves before him. And so in the past, in the Old Testament, if you do and go through the Old Testament,

they would have to go to the priest in order to have access to God. The priest did that. Well, they would... they did sacrifices more than once a year but they would have to do it through the priest okay once a year they did it at uh yes exactly they have atonement exactly but they had no access to god directly when jesus came and died for us he taught that veil that we can go directly to him now.

there's no more going to any human being and as i go through this you'll see the order of the royal priesthood of christ is a realization the shadows to come right all royal priests have access to god to uh to god and represent ourselves before him we do not need to confess our sins to a member of the clergy as we were brought up and taught that way right we go directly to him we confess our sins directly to god confession acknowledging our sins is to be done in private.

silently and immediately we do not need someone else to pray for us though we always appreciate it when they do but we don't need that as priests unlike the levitical priesthood in israel which, was based on physical birth and we went through all of that the priesthood of the believer is based on new birth we become new creatures at salvation see back then they were chosen by god.

who the priest line was going to be through the brother of moses that line of that bloodline of people the Levites from umbilical cord to umbilical cord they became my priests now us today as a believer, When we trust and have faith in the Word of God, and accept and receive the gift that He did for us, we become the new hybrid, and it's through our faith that that is done.

And because of that, we have access to God. One of these things that they didn't have before, that is unique to us today as a church-age believer. We don't have to go through anybody else. We can do that directly ourselves. We actually share Christ's priesthood because we are in union with Him. Since we represent ourselves before God, it is our personal responsibility to grow spiritually.

through the perception and application of Bible doctrine. Now, there's other things that we have access to, and of course, we're talking about prayer. And I want to spend a little bit of time with you on prayer, because that's another way that we have access to the Father. That make sense? So prayer, and let's get into it. Prayer is a great system of communication with God for the believer.

The purpose of prayer is to communicate with your Heavenly Father. How does He communicate with us? Through His Word. We communicate with Him through our prayers with Him. God communicates with us through His Word, like I just said. We communicate with Him through our prayer. God, therefore, expects all believers to use prayer. That's the command. He expects that from us. When we have access to Him...

This is the way that we communicate. Pretty simple. But it needs to be done. We are actually commanded to pray without ceasing, just like David just said. Which means we have a consistent prayer life. Every day we should be praying. Every day. Prayer can be a powerful weapon. I'll tell you, the other night, the other day on Sunday,

when Samantha went through that, it was so beautiful. It was such a blessing that when she went through the whole thing, what prayer was and the principles of it. Very beautiful. Prayer can be a powerful weapon in the hands of a believer who knows how to use prayer. There are correct principles and procedures to prayer. Very important that you understand that. There are correct... principles and procedures, when we do prayer.

And it is important that we learn these procedures and principles. And you can read about them, and we're not going to go through it because we're not going to have the time. We're going to go through some of the scriptures, not all of them. But prayer is for believers only. I want you to think about that. Prayers. God does not hear the prayers of non-believers.

In order for a person to address God, as Father, they must first have a family relationship. That's why. The relationship is possible only by placing your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Once this relationship exists, the believer has every right to communicate with, His or her heavenly Father, through prayer, having access to God.

One of these assets that God gave us. I don't want you to forget where this is all coming from. This is, of course, is what God wants us to do. He wants us to pray. All prayer is to be directed to the Father. These are the procedures. Directed to the Father. In the name of the Son. Having access to Him. You want your prayers answered? Answered, this is the system.

This is the procedure to get your prayers answered. First thing is, you must be a believer. Without being a believer, you have no access to Him. And then, of course, you have to follow the procedures to get your prayer answered. Answered. Pretty simple. Once the relationship exists, the believer has every right to communicate with him. All prayers are directed to the Father. We just talked about that.

This is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Now watch this. Long prayers are to be done in private. How many times when we get together, when it goes on and on and on, long prayers are to be done in private. In public, prayers should be short and to the point. The Pharisees, and I know you guys know this,

the Pharisees, you remember how they used to do it? The Pharisees were found in lengthy prayer with men, and they would stand on street corners so people could hear them, so they can be known that, hey, look at me, I'm praying. That's the way they used to do it. But what does God tell us to do? he says to go into your closet to go into this private just you and him and have access to him this way there are correct procedures that we must follow now that doesn't mean that you can't be in.

your car that doesn't mean that you can't be in a place of work and just uh step out and pray to him please when when we say go into your closet that means just have that alone time just between you and him and there's also an order for prayer the first item of our prayer should always be.

to name and admit our sins see this is what this and as we go through this i want you to see how this is all intertwined with with every one of these 40 assets, Every one of them, right? We have to admit our sins using the rebound technique like we always do. We take a moment of silence. We confess our sins, and that is for a reason. That restores the control of the Holy Spirit, and we have fellowship with him.

The believer is now in position to be heard of God. How important is that? When we have access to him because of what Jesus did for us, and we don't do 1 John 1.9, we don't confess and cite our sins, you do not have access. He doesn't even hear your sin. So important. That's why this procedure, it restores our fellowship,

and the believer is now in position. This should be an encouragement to keep short accounts, right? How many times do you hear us say that all the time? Keep short accounts. Every day, name and cite your sins. Let the Holy Spirit be in control of your soul, leading and guiding you. So important. Secondly, we should always give thanks, right?

That's another thing we need to do. When you're in prayer, you give thanks for the spiritual and the material blessings that God has generously given to you, given to us. This includes, also includes, the fine discipline. Sometimes we get disciplined, but then you should be thanking him, because he's keeping you in his plan, right? And he needs to bring you back to where you need to be.

Is this all making sense, right? And I know this is, again, it could be repetitive to some of you, but I know there's people in here that don't know this, that there is procedures to just pray. Very important. Prayer for the unbeliever is primarily for salvation, before they're saved, to get to salvation. Since God does not force a person to believe in Christ,

Christ, our prayer, our prayer for somebody else should be that they will hear a clear gospel message. We can't do it. Only God can do it. But we can pray for that person and pray that they understand the gospel message, that they get a clear understanding of it. We could also pray that God would provide us the opportunity to present that gospel. That's another beautiful thing.

You know what's amazing? I've had the privilege and the opportunity to go with some of the people in here to go pray for other people, people that are sick. And what I've noticed, people are starving. Amen. And what's so sad is they don't know anything. They know that he exists, and they know, yeah, God is, you know, he is the creator.

But they don't know anything about him at all. And as you pray for these people and have the opportunity to do so, you know what they say? you know the biggest line or the most common thing that i say i hope i'm saved john i hope that i'm saved that's what they say because they know who god is they're in fear i've heard that.

from people who've been in church for 20 years so and that's what i'm talking about see as we go through these 40 things as we have this is only access to god this is so basic so common for most of us here access to prayer we understand that god taught that we don't have to go to anybody else we do it ourselves yeah that's access to it we understand that but some people they know this they really don't understand it yeah and these people are sick some of them are.

But they don't have no clue. It's so sad. And that's why, see why we have so much to be thankful for. These 40 things, this is so minor, but so major at the same time. Okay, so we know that we go to God and be thankful, right? Thankful for spiritual things.

Thank you for material blessings, even. Because he is gracious, and he provides all things for us, including divine discipline. Don't forget about that. Yeah. We also know, finally, that we should pray for our own needs, and for the needs of others. And I always follow this. I always pray for the needs of others first. I always thank him for things first. Pretty much exactly like this we've been doing and not even realizing it, right?

1 John 1.9, you're in fellowship. You rebound, then what do we do? Then we thank him for everything. Now you start praying for others, the intercession. Then you pray for yourself. This is the procedure. Very, very important. And why is that? I mean, you can do it. It doesn't have to be exactly like that. But if you do it in that manner, you don't forget.

It becomes, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's like an organized thing as you go through it. Yes, okay. You don't forget. You cover all the bases. Exactly, exactly. God is a border. Yep. The number one thing. The number one reason our prayers are not heard by God is what the Bible calls carnality.

Controlled by our sin nature. That's why most of the time that our prayers are not heard. Carnality may take various forms in the life of a believer. And we've been through all of this. Any sin removes our fellowship with God and the controlling of the Holy Spirit. And keeps our prayers from being heard. Third, lack of faith hinders our prayer.

Think about that. Having lack of faith will hinder your prayer. Selfishness will hinder your prayer. Lack of compassion will hinder your prayer. All of these things will keep your prayers. How about arrogance?

Sometimes, and I didn't know, when I knew what arrogance truly was, I wept when I left this place on my way home. Because I found out that I was in such a way that I never even realized it. On my way home, I wept because I'm like, how did I not know this and didn't understand it?

When we put ourselves before the Word of God, when we say, I want you to think about this, when you say, you're reading this, and there's something that you come across, A specific scripture, and you're like, no, that can't be, that's not for me. It has never worked for me. You're putting yourself above the word arrogant.

And when you go into prayer with that kind of attitude, your prayer's an honor. See, we have to remember, God knows all. He knows the motives. What are you really in prayer about? Do you really want to have a communication, a line of communication with Him? Or are you just going through the motions? Oh, the Bible says, I pray, I'm just going to be obedient and pray.

And have nothing, nothing in that prayer that's coming from here. It's just words. Think about it. As a mom and dad, speaking to a child, or a child speaking to you, and just, that child, just saying these words, but you know that none of it means anything. He's not going to do any of it.

What about arrogance when it's low self-esteem? It's even worse. Self-esteem is another form of arrogance. I think it's the worst one, because you know you'll realize that you are in self-enrichment. That's what I'm saying. It's so important that, that's why you have to be in the Word, and understand it, and get into these, get into the depth. That's what I mean by depth. Have the understanding of what this does for you, and knowing it. Prayer is so, such, it's such a weapon that God has provided for us, if you utilize it.

But you have to know it, understand it. Prayer should always be, thank God for his blessings, our petitions like we've just been talking about, our problems. That is what is important. That's having. So, one of the things, as soon as we're saved, we have access to him.

You don't need anybody else. We have our own way. Does that make sense? Pretty simple. What's the next one on our list? Baptism of the Holy Spirit. So, Joe, why are you reading this stuff? This is all stuff that I just put together as I study it. You know what I'm saying?

Now, all of this, the one that I gave you, Phil. pretty much the same thing if you view it's just a little more in detail here. I added things to it. So the baptism of the Spirit. Let's talk about that. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is neither seen nor felt. I know people have a big problem with this. They have to feel the Spirit. It has to be felt.

That's not what the Word of God says. It's neither seen nor felt. It is a fact stated in the Word of God. It's a fact that's stated in the Word of God for us to believe. Technically, it is when the believer is placed in union with Christ at salvation. It's our identity, with Christ. That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there are seven baptisms in the Bible. We're talking about baptism of the Holy Spirit, much different than what the normal, average believer thinks. But we're going to talk about that a little bit. We're going to talk about that. So we know that there are seven baptisms in the Bible, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is, of course, one of the seven.

The word for baptism in Greek is baptismo, if I'm saying that right. And which literally means to dip. That's what the word means, baptismo. Please just bear with me as I go through this. And back then, this word was used or described when they were dyeing garments. Because that's how they used to dye garments before. Or when they would go for a cup of wine,

they would dip the glass in the bowl of wine. They would use that same term for that. John the Baptist and Jesus used the word to describe water baptism as submersion, as we, as most believers, know it today. Does that make sense? Therefore, the accurate interpretation of the word is to dip or to submersion.

That's what baptism in the Greek, baptisma, means. Now, please remember what I'm talking about. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is what we're talking about. This particular one, out of the seven. When a person trusts Christ as Savior, They are dipped or submerged into the body of Christ. This, of course, is speaking the positional truth.

See, that's the difference, okay? Signifying our union with Christ, our identity with Christ. Does that make sense? See, when you become a believer for the first time, and when the Holy Spirit comes into you, now you are baptized by that Spirit because it has come into you for the first time. Now you are known and you are identified with Christ.

and now you are in union with it. That's what the meaning of being baptized of the Holy Spirit is. Does that make sense? That makes sense. Bringing you to Christ. That's right. And now you are identified. It doesn't just bring you, but you are identified with him. You are in union with him. He comes in and he brings you to him. That's right. Now, water baptism is taught by some ministers as necessity for salvation,

which is a false doctrine. You do not need to have water baptism to be saved. Because now, what are you doing by doing that? What are we doing when we say, I must be baptized in water in order to be saved? Exactly. We're adding to God's word. We're saying, no, God, I have to do the work now. I must be baptized.

I must do it. See it? I, I. God says, no. That's not the way it works. I do it. I provide all things. I make all provisions. That's right. Now, it is being taught today that they must be baptized or submerged in water. Now, I want you to understand when that happened,

if you remember Christ going in, meeting with John the Baptism, and when he was baptized, that was a sign of identification with John. With exactly. Okay? You got to remember, when you go into the, when you're submerged, this is, this is how they look at it. I want you to understand how you are identified when you go into the water or into the. So, when a person goes into the water, he's submerged.

When Christ went into the tomb, the person goes into the water. When he comes out of the water, he's resurrected. And he's saying now, it's his outgoing or outward testimony saying, I am now a Christian. But you've got to remember, that was before. That was before. We're going to see that today. That doesn't necessarily, now there are people that still do that.

But that doesn't mean that you're not saved or that you have to do it to be saved. Now, there are people that want to get water baptism because they want to say they want to have this upward testimony. I guess that's up to you. You can do that, but there's no need for it. to be saved. Please understand that. It doesn't make you spiritual. It doesn't make you spiritual at all. It used to be before, but not anymore.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesied, watch this, by John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. It was prophesied when they did it. This prophecy was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Everybody remembers that, that story in the Bible. The day of Pentecost, which occurred 50 days after Christ ascended, when the permanent, indwelling of the Holy Spirit began. You guys remember that, right?

Do I need to get into that story a little bit? Is everybody okay with that? This event marked the beginning of the church age. Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for the church-age believer only. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, the one that we're speaking about right now, is for the church-age believer only. It didn't happen in the Old Testament.

It was only for us today. When you're saved, when you become a believer for the first time, by the Spirit indwelling in you, it didn't happen. The Spirit came upon them, never inside of them, like it is for us today. Even after too? What do you mean? After the church-age? After the church-age, it's not going to happen too. Okay. Now, since...

It means that placing a believer into union with Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, assures the believer of sharing Christ's inheritance. That's the key. See, when you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, it's done. It assures that that believer, that believer shares Christ's inheritance. So important. What he has is now yours.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This inheritance includes, doesn't just stop there, this inheritance includes becoming a member of the royal family, like we always talk about. We actually share Christ's royalty, baptism of the Holy Spirit. See how it all intertwines? And we're going to get into all of that, and it's going to be, it's, it's, watch.

Look, in order for you to have a prayer life, you must be filled with the Spirit. You cannot have a prayer life and have access to God without filling up. See, it all locks into one another. And also, before you even get filled, you have to have baptism. It's all... Yes, that's what I mean. So as we cover these things, you're going to hear a lot of the same thing, but it makes sense, because you can't have one without the other. You can't have the filling of the Spirit.

unless you've been baptized with the Spirit. You can't have the filling of the Spirit unless you have been indwelled with the Spirit. See? It's all, locks it all in. One on top of the other, on top of the other. And it all happens because of this one act that Christ did on the cross, and you now believe. All of these things are now ours. Isn't that amazing when you really think about it? The baptism of the Holy Spirit. So it's saying that it results in union,

which never did exist before to the believer. The union with Christ is unique and it sets up many potentials. That's what I keep talking about. It sets up many potentials for us. Being placed in union with Christ is called, there's another one, positional sanctification. We are set aside by God. Positional sanctification describes our new relationship with Him.

And that, of course, it is a permanent relationship based on our faith in Christ and it never changes, never, regardless of the condition, of the believer's condition, that position with Him. Never changes. That's what's beautiful. And a team. And a city. See why it's so important that we understand these 40 things? When you understand them in detail.

Because think about it. I just want you to think about this. You know your position. You know that we have access to him. You know that we have access to him through our friend. We know our position with him. We know how he feels about us. And how we know him through that. I always go back to this because this did it to me. When I learned this of my father, it just opened the doors.

All these doors. Boom, boom. And everything started making sense because of that. That's important. Yes. Does that make sense? Yes. Right? I always used to wonder, oh my God, okay, what does that mean that God is justice? I never grasped the full depth of all of that. You probably never knew the difference between righteousness and justice. Never did. They are always the same.

Well, they're almost the same, but so different. So different, yeah. Right? So different. So, so different. Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense? Yes. Does anybody have any questions on baptism of the Holy Spirit or access to God before we move on? Because this next one, I love this next one.

Yes, Bobby. Yes, boys. One-shot deal. Everything is one-shot. As soon as you trust, believe, and you've received the gift of Jesus Christ, you automatically are baptized. One-shot deal. You don't lose it. It's permanent. The only thing, see, you've got to remember, and we're going to get into this right now as we go through it, okay?

The only thing you lose is the filling of the Spirit. Not baptism, not dwelling, it's filling. And you need filling in order to have access to God. See? See how we're all intertwined? For the prayer. Yes, for the prayer. Exactly. All right, so Lao, one of my favorites, is divine power. This one, to me, was another eye-opening asset.

That really opened my eyes and gave me such a much more of a depth of understanding. The Christian way of life can be lived only by power created greater than ourselves. We don't have the power to do it. The Christian way of life can only be lived by the power greater than ourselves.

We need God's supernatural power. That's what this is. I'm talking about supernatural power in order for us to be effective in the execution, of His plan. That's why when I learned this, I'm like, we need this power, we can't do it on our own. It's His power, if you want to execute His plan. This power has been given to each one of us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus prophesied the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he said, watch this, he said that we would send, or that he would send the comforter. We've all read that. But this is what's amazing about that as I go through this. The word in the Greek for comforter is parakletos. That's what the word in the Greek is. And I'm going to spell it for you. It's P-A-R-A-K-L-E-T-O-S.

Parakletos. I think that's what it means. Which means someone called to aid of another. That's what the meaning is. An advisor, or an intercessor, mediator, or an advocate. And this is what, when I read this, I'm like, ah, in a courtroom, that's what that means.

In the Greek now, see, when we, in the English, we listen to the word comfort, doesn't make sense. But when you look up that word in the Greek, parakletos, what it means is very different than the word comforter, as we know it in the English language. Now, I want you to think about this. In the English language, comforter is a poor translation of that word, parakletos.

The word... Like I just said, paracletos, intercessor, mediator, advocate. Now, when we read that in the English, it gives us almost, it's almost like God, the Holy Spirit came and gave you a little pat on the head. That's how I have it written here. And said, don't worry, you're going to be okay. Isn't that what comforter kind of means?

How we feel? Totally different. It's not the same in the Greek. That's why it's so important that we understand the Greek and we get the understanding of that. The Holy Spirit was given to us to empower. Now, divine power, the Holy Spirit, that's one of the sources that we need for that divine power.

Right? It's the Holy Spirit. Two power options. That's one. And the Spirit is given to us to empower us, to guide us, to teach us. Jesus said that you shall receive power. What's the Greek word for power? Dunam. Exactly. Right? After the Spirit has come upon you. Very different than the way we see the word comfort.

It's okay. You're going to be okay. I'm going to comfort you. That's not what God's talking about. He's your advocate. Big difference. He's the mediator. Big difference. After salvation, the Holy Spirit provides. And I love this. After salvation. And I hear this all the time. After salvation, the Holy Spirit provides spiritual IQ for learning and applying Bible doctrine. What does all of that mean?

Now how many times do we hear, that I hear, Joe, I just don't understand. I'm not as smart as you. Well, I don't have, I can't read like you. I don't, I hear all of that. That's nonsense. See, when you have the Holy Spirit, it's his IQ that you receive to gain Bible doctrine. It's not your IQ. That's right. You see the difference?

So when people say, well, I just don't know, or I just, I just don't, I just can't understand. No, no, no. It's because you're not giving it a chance. But if you take the time, that's his promise to us. It's the Spirit that is in you. It's the IQ of the Spirit that gives you the knowledge. He will empower you, not your own IQ. Isn't that amazing? Mm-hmm. So we talk about equal privilege and equal opportunity.

You have no excuse. I don't want to hear, oh, I'm not smart enough. I hear that all the time. I just wasn't as good as the other ones in school. That's arrogance. It is. It's a form of arrogance. Spiritual IQ, that's power. See, to me, when I think of that, I'm like, wow, that's amazing power.

When I'm not smart enough to read the word and understand it, but I promise God that I will devote myself and put in the time, and a little here, a little there, a little here, precept upon precept, that he promises that I will get it, that I will understand it. That's the power that's available to us, this invisible asset, this spiritual asset, these benefits, these advantages that God gives every believer, educated, non-educated, white, black, can be from any country. It's the same. There's no advantage because of your race, because of who you are, how much IQ or what is your IQ or whatever that is supposed to be. You guys understand that, right? Very important.

The utilization of the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life is a matter, and this is so important, is a matter of personal volition. See, it's whether you want it or not. It's what you want. It's what you put in. God will never, and I say, you guys hear me say this all the time, He will never impose His will.

You have to be. That's the only if. Joe, I promise you, you'll know Bible doctrine if you give me the time. You're a disciple. Heidi, I promise you, if you put in the time, a little here, a little there, you will be a disciple. That's what that disciple is all about. It doesn't matter if you graduated, if you didn't graduate. None of that matters. God empowers us. He provides it all.

See how it's not of us? Even that, He provides. Spiritual IQ. Now, it's through our volition. The believer must choose to allow the Holy Spirit. He must choose. See, when we say 1 John 1, 9, we are allowing it. We're saying, Lord. They are my sins. I confess these sins to you. I want to be in fellowship. You say in your word that you are faithful.

and you will cleanse me of my unrighteousness, that I may be in fellowship with you so that you may lead and guide me through my spiritual walk. You see what I'm saying? Right? Now watch this. Now the Greek word for filling is, and I hope I say it this way, is plero. Am I saying that right? Plero. Okay? And it has four meanings.

Plero in the Greek. One of the meanings is to fill up a deficiency. To fill up a deficiency. What does that mean? It means without the power and the control of the Holy Spirit, the believer has no ability to learn, no ability to learn and apply Bible doctrine. You cannot learn Bible without the filling of the Spirit. And what do I mean by that?

And I'm going to explain it to you. See, when you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, when you don't first John 1, 9, and you sit here and you learn Bible doctrine, you're gaining knowledge. Knowledge, okay? The word, that knowledge is coming into your mind, okay? What happens? Now, when you are filled with the Spirit, that knowledge, that's what in the Greek they call it gnosis. In the Greek, that's the Greek word for knowledge.

It's gnosis. Now, when you're filled with the Spirit, what the Spirit does, and this is what's amazing, and I'm going to back up a little bit. Let me go forward to back up. So when you're filled with the Spirit, you're here, that knowledge, the Greek word turns, it says now that knowledge becomes epinosis. That's the Greek word for applied knowledge, or wisdom, exactly. See, what happens is, when you're filled with the Spirit, you're here, you're learning this word, okay?

And then that word, that you have the knowledge, becomes wisdom in your mind. And now that wisdom, once you take that wisdom and then you apply it, that's when it all works. See, in the book of James, the book of James says it so well. He says, why be a hearer of, or how does it say it? Don't be a hearer of the word, but be a doer of the word. See, to receive gnosis is to be a hearer.

But when your epinosis, to apply that thing, now you're a doer of it. You're not just hearing it, you're doing it too. How can you, and I say this all the time, watch how the Bible works. Watch how the Word works. The Word can only work in your life is if you apply it. You can sit here and have all the knowledge you want. You can know that book in and out.

But if you don't apply those principles in your life, it doesn't work. It's all for nothing. I can spend hours and hours and hours in learning how to fly a plane, but if I never go fly the plane, it's all a waste of time. What's the use? Same thing with the Bible doctrine. You have to apply it. But you can't do that unless you're filled with the Spirit.

That's what's amazing. Can you spell that word with a P for filling with the Spirit? Yeah, P-L-E-R-O-O. It's P-L-E-R-O-O. Thank you so very much. Yes. Now, one of the meanings, like I said, is to fill up a deficiency. Without the power and the control of the Holy Spirit, the believer has no ability to learn Bible doctrine. In other words, he's deficient of doctrinal information necessary.

to execute the Christian way of life. Second meaning, P-L-E-R-O, to be fully possessed. Since God, the Holy Spirit, indwells in every believer in this age, the potential exists for us to be fully controlled by God's supernatural power.

This means that the believer can reside in God's plan by utilizing God's system. All of this is God's system. It's a tool that he has given us. It's a blessing that he has given us that if we use this tool and understand it, it's your life now. Because some people will say, well, I'm just going to wait until I get to heaven. You can have all the benefits and all the blessings now on earth.

and utilize it the same exact way. That's how you're brought by God. Number three, to be... Fully influenced is another meaning. So we have number one, to fill up a deficiency. Number two, to be fully possessed. Number three, to be fully influenced. The Holy Spirit is allowed to fill the deficiency and be fully possessed in the believer's life.

Then the area of that is to be influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit. So when you become influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's the key. That's another meaning of plurality. Now I have all scriptures for all of this. And just for the sake of time, you think we should have went into it there? There's so much.

You've got to have those notes on the thing. Meaning, definition number four is to be filled with a certain quality, okay? To be filled with a certain quality. There is no higher quality than the integrity of God. No higher quality than the integrity of God. It is this quality that becomes resident in the soul. The Holy Spirit is allowed to control, possess, influence your soul.

That's what it means. That's why it's so important. Let's go quickly to Ephesians. Ephesians 3.19. Now, I'm going to read this from the NLT, if you don't mind, okay?

We're talking about to be filled with a certain quality is another meaning for pluraleo. Ephesians 3.19, and it reads, May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully, then you will be made complete with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

See, we might not understand this fully, but you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God, pluraleo. Then we talk about walk by means of the Spirit,

which means the Holy Spirit is in control of our lives by relying on the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us. We talk about that, depending on the power to control us, very important. The control of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is limited only by the amount of Bible doctrine resident in his soul and his personal volition. See, the Holy Spirit doesn't go up to you and whisper in your ear.

That's not what he does, and your conscience. That is not of the Holy Spirit. But what the Holy Spirit does, he influences you by the Word of God. See, it's the amount. That you have a peer of the Bible, that you use that to... That's how the Holy Spirit... Knowledge is power. Does that make sense? See, the more wisdom we have from the Word, the more He can use you.

The more understanding of God's Word, the more the Holy Spirit can say, Phil, I can use you, because you understand this. You have God. Then He'll use your understanding, and you're available, through your volition, to walk in His... Does that make sense? See, God speaks to us.

Today, in this day and age, He speaks to us through His Word. That's the way He speaks to us. there are four at least four reasons that we walk by the spirit number one is to keep us from the from satan's world system number two to keep us from succumbing to the lust of the flesh.

we all know about that number three to keep us from the power of satan and number four to have the power to live our spiritual lives we're talking about and all of this is the power the power the power that's what we're talking about an asset now there are also two commands or.

what we can call negative command the first negative command is to stop grieving the holy spirit. What does it mean to stop grieving the Holy Spirit? Grieving means to bring sorrow. When we sin, we're grieving the Spirit. You're bringing sorrow to the Spirit.

That's right. If you read that, I'll read it for you. Ephesians 4, 4.30. And I'm going to read it from the NLT. I want you to see it. And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, He has identified you as His own. Guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Watch 31. Get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander,

as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God, through Christ, has forgiven you. See, when you do those things, you're grieving the Spirit. Does that make sense? That's Ephesians 4. I'm sorry. Ephesians 4.30. Yes. 4.30 and 4.31. You're welcome. Do you want me to read that again?

Is everybody clear on that? Now, the quenching is the other one. What is quenching? The second negative command is to do not quench the Spirit. Quenching the Spirit means to suppress it, or say no to the Holy Spirit. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5.19.

When we quench the spirit, we're suppressing it. We're saying, nah, not doing it. 1 Thessalonians 5.19. Now, when I read this from the, I can read it from the New King James, from the NASB, and it'll say, do not quench the spirit.

When I read it from the NLT, it says, do not stifle the spirit, which means that when I looked up the word stifle, it means do not suppress. Now, when I read that, do not suppress the Holy Spirit. um or say no to the holy spirit now and i used this example the other day okay now let's say somebody does something to you um you want revenge now god says that revenge is mine.

what you do is see you're saying no to the holy spirit you're like no i'm doing this my way anyway see you're suppressing it my turn see the difference grieving and quenching. yep so when you're when you're um quenching the spirit you're suppressing it you're saying no to the holy spirit which is against the will of god and what does it do now.

what did the both of these things do when you quench when you grieve what is what happens. That's right. You're no longer in fellowship. You're no longer living in the power that we're talking about. See, that's the key. That's the key to live in that spiritual life is to be in this power, this supernatural power. And we don't do it.

God does it for us. He provides it for us. He provides all things as children. See what I'm saying, what this did for me? Because when I learned of him to hear, and then I saw this, this is so beautiful. Does that all make sense?

So when we grieve and we crunch the Holy Spirit. This is what happens. No power in prayer. Done. No understanding of God's word. If you stay that way. No joy. No happiness. In Christ. Very important. Unable to produce divine good. And you're unable to please God. Because you're no longer in fellowship. Now, through your volition, all you have to do is confess it.

That's it. And you're right back in good standings. Right back in fellowship. And be right back into that. That supernatural power that God has given us. This asset. This benefit. To walk in his presence. See what knowledge does. See what understanding does.

And when we sin, it cuts off that power source. That divine power source is gone. Since God's power system and Satan's cosmic system are mutually exclusive. I want you to think about that. The believer is either in one or the other. You can't be in the other. See, that's the key. When you're not in fellowship, what happens?

When we're not in fellowship, what happens? Not just that. Now you're being led by your sinful nature. That's what happens. That's why we always say, take short account. As soon as you sin, you know when you sin. We're not stupid. You know exactly when. You might not mean it, or you might not realize it, that you're doing it, but as soon as it comes to you, God makes it known to you.

You're sure it comes. Father, I'm confessing this. Cleanse me of all of this, Father, that I may be in trouble. Because I want to be led and controlled by you. I don't want to be led and controlled by my sinful name, or Satan's cosmic one and two.

God's power system, the filling of the Holy Spirit, is the only effective way to execute His plan, and His purpose, and His will. it should not surprise us therefore to learn that satan has also a counterfeit plan that he uses to distract the believer and we just talked about that what's what what do you think satan's plan is, that he will distract us from that that we have he uses this all the time it makes us busy doing.

other things but there's something within us that is used by him ego emotion emotion the ocean danger emotion how many times do we let our emotions take the best of them, right now emotion is given by god now emotion is a wonderful thing when kept in its proper place. see an emotion is meant to be an appreciator that's what it's meant to be.

But in this post-canon period, the works of the Holy Spirit are neither seen, heard, nor felt. So important that we understand that. It's not an emotional thing. You don't see the Holy Spirit. You don't feel the Holy Spirit. They're just simply facts. Either you believe it, or you don't. That's what it is. It's not an emotion.

Watch this. At salvation, and I know it, just one more thing. At salvation, every believer is baptized. We talked about that, right? The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Every believer is baptized. At salvation, everybody is indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Everybody is filled with the Holy Spirit. All of these ministries are entirely unfelt. Unseen and undetected. Every one of those things. You don't feel none of them.

But they are real. The baptism of the Spirit, and we're just going to break them down, the baptism of the Spirit places us in union with Christ so we can share His destiny, His inheritance. The indwelling of the Spirit, it's permanent. So is the baptism. Creating a dwelling place, doesn't the Bible say that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit? See, that's what indwelling means.

So we have baptism of the Spirit, we have indwelling of the Spirit, means that your body is now the temple, the home, residence of the Holy Spirit. That's the three things. And then we have the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling is the control, the power source. And we have the sealing of the Holy Spirit, too. Right. The sealing of the Holy Spirit, it just seals your soul. You are completely His. You are completely His, no matter what. Your soul never sins. Your body, your flesh sins.

Because you're sealed. That's why your body goes to the ground, our soul goes to the Father. You know what I wanted to say before? So this is how it works. See, before we, when you're a non-believer, when you are a non-believer, you don't believe, you have no idea who Christ is, is you do not have a human spirit. You have a soul, and you're alive, you have a body, but there's no human spirit. When you become a believer, and then you're instantly given that human spirit,

and then the Holy Spirit now communicates with your human spirit. That's how it works. Does that make sense? Very important that you understand that. So a non-believer, think about it. A non-believer lives and dies by his sinful nature. What he thinks is right. A believer now has the Holy Spirit living in him.

And if he takes short accounts, he's living by this power source. The Holy Spirit. Not just that. And now we also take the word of God. That's the other source of power. You see why we have so much to be thankful for. We've only covered three, guys. But you see how they all intertwine? Filling, baptism, dwelling.

They all intertwine with each other. You can't have one without the other. You can't have the filling unless you're baptized. It's so important that we understand all of these. Does that make sense? We understand that the indwelling is completely permanent, right? The baptism is completely permanent. You can't lose it. It's that filling that we lose when we sin.

When we grieve or quench the spirit, okay? Grieve or quench, we lose the filling of the spirit. And all that means is you still belong to God. None of that changes. All you're saying is, Lord, I no longer am in fellowship with you. So now what's happening is that your sinful nature is grabbing you and leading you that way instead of being in God's power source. Does that make sense?

Please, please. Please tell me if that makes sense. And if it doesn't, just say it so I can maybe come up with another way of explaining it. The filling of the Spirit is God's power system and the believer's power source for the proper execution of the Christian way of life. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the one spiritual asset received at salvation that is revocable. The filling of the Spirit. It's revocable. You can lose it.

The others are irrevocable. You cannot lose it. That's right. Even though we are continually commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit, what does that mean? That means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is our responsibility to allow the Holy Spirit this control. That's power. That's powerful. It has to be from you. You have to allow it. See, God will never impose it on you.

He will never say, Kevin, you have to do it like this. No, you say, Lord, I want you to do it. I allow you to do it. You do it by confessing. When you don't allow it, you're unplugging yourself from that power source. That's what ends up happening. The gas out of the car, the car cannot run. All right, we're going to stop there because it's already almost 8.30.

Does anybody have any questions? Has this helped at all? Absolutely. Right? And as we go through these 40 things, like I said, you're going to see that a lot of them, the other things that we're going to be covering, happens because of baptism. In all of the 20s. The whole thing in 20s. But see what I mean by being thankful for all of these?

How can we not? And I know sometimes, and I'm sorry, but I know sometimes that I might be repetitive. It's like, I want so badly, so badly that you understand this, that you grasp, because this is what's going to be the difference-maker in your life. Realize it. Make you a winner.

What's the use, guys, of all of this, and we don't apply any of it. And then in the end, God goes, I've given you all of it. I gave you a million dollars. You never took nothing out of the bank. What's wrong with you? Can I do a quick recap of what you just said? Sure, of course. I promise. Quick. The first one. One, the first one he says, ask us to God. That means that you are a role of priest.

That's why you have prayer, you can go to God easily. The second one says, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now God says, now you are mine. It's the Holy Spirit that brings you identification with Jesus Christ. And the third one, he says, divine power. What I like about divine power, he says that you get it two ways. One, you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Two, you have to have Bible doctrine. You cannot separate none of that because you cannot have, you cannot have the Holy Spirit and not have the Word of God. That's why it's called two power options.

You need the filling of the Holy Spirit and you need the Word of God. Without those two, you would never grow. That's right. Absolutely true. That's what I'm trying to do. 100% true. You need both. You need the power source. That's how the power source comes in two ways. Filling with the Holy Spirit and also Bible doctrine Bible doctrine. That's how you so okay So saying that you have to say this. Okay. How do you get the filling of the spirit? Confessing sins pressing us in and that comes from what first young one night and that comes from your own volition.

Yeah, how do we get Bible doctrine? The word what does that come from your volition? You see at this time everything is decided by you God see that's what I keep saying. He is provided, Everything for the believer. It's all there, You have to be the one he can't do that Okay, let us pray who is going to volunteer today you let's see.

I'll be ready to stand, David. Go ahead. God bless you, Heavenly Father. Thank you for the beautiful day that you've just given. The time that we were teaching. So go out and help us as we continue.

Be with us in guidance. Let me remind you one more thing, guys. Next week they say you still have 37 more. Oh, 37.