Fruit of the Spirit and Holy Spirit Q&A| Let's Talk Biblical

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If you love talking about the Bible as
much as I do, then I think you'll really
enjoy this show. Welcome to Let's Talk
Biblical, the podcast where we dig deep
into the heart of scripture, explore
timeless truths, and have real
conversations about what the Bible says
and how it applies to us. My name is Lex
and I want to thank you for joining me
on today's episode. So, grab your Bible,
get comfortable, and let's talk
biblical. All right, guys. Welcome back.
Um, tonight we're going to be doing two
things. So, I want to talk about the
fruit of the spirit and then we're going
to have a Q&A where we are just
answering any kind of questions you have
related to the Holy Spirit. And so, the
last few weeks we've been talking about
the Holy Spirit. We started off talking
about who is the Holy Spirit and then we
talked about the gifts of the spirit and
then now tonight we're talking about the
fruit of the spirit and then next week
we're going to be talking about
Pentecost. And so this whole month
basically is devoted to the Holy Spirit.
And so tonight after we talk about the
fruit of the spirit, uh the majority of
the the hour I'm hoping we can dedicate
to questions. So if you have questions
related to the Holy Spirit, the gifts of
the spirit, the fruit of the spirit,
anything uh along those uh along those
lines in that realm of of uh
conversation, go and post those
questions in the chat and then we'll
start looking at those questions um here
in just a little bit after we get done
uh talking about the fruit of the
spirit. And so let me just go ahead and
jump right into the topic at hand, the
fruit of the spirit. And so we can look
at Galatians chapter 5. And I want to
start in verse 16. Uh because we're
seeing uh what Paul is setting here is
he's setting up a contrast between uh
the spirit and the flesh and the works
of the flesh versus the fruit of the
spirit, which could also be called the
works of the spirit, I think. Um and so
he says um I say then walk in the spirit
and you shall not fulfill the lust of
the flesh. And so he's giving us
um a resource, a tool to help us fight
the battle against the flesh. And so
this is a very important tool resource
for us to understand. Uh because if
we're walking in the spirit, we are not
going to be walking in the flesh. uh
we're not going to be falling prey to
the lust of the flesh. We're not going
to be falling prey to uh the temptation
of the flesh when we're walking in the
spirit. Now, when you fall prey to the
flesh, that's a clue to you that you're
not walking in the spirit. And so, if
you're if you're constantly battling
with the flesh, then that means you need
to learn how to walk in the spirit
more because when you walk in the
spirit, you're not going to be
fulfilling the lust of the flesh. And so
those two uh as we read throughout the
the New Testament, those two are at war
with one another. And Paul talks about
this in several of his
epistles. He goes on, he says, "For the
flesh lusts against the spirit and the
spirit against the flesh, and these are
contrary to one another so that you do
not do the things that you wish." And
this is actually similar to what Paul
talks about in Romans uh where he's
talking about Romans uh 56 and 7.
and he's talking about how um the spirit
and the flesh are at war with one
another. And he talks about how um he
does the things he doesn't want to do
and the things he wants to do, the good
things he wants to do, he doesn't do.
And there's this constant battle within
himself. He's describing this this
battle between the flesh and the spirit.
And uh he goes on and he says, you know,
if we walk in the spirit um then we're
not going to fulfill the lust of the
flesh. And we may we may jump over to
Romans here in a minute, but I want to
stick with Galatians for right now. And
so he says, "The spirit of the flesh
lusts against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh." So they're they're
fighting against each other. They are um
at war with one
another. If you are led by the spirit,
you are not under the law. Now, this is
oftentimes confusing for people. What
does he mean under the law? And um when
you think about what does under the law
mean? uh think about what does it mean
to be above the law. We talk about
criminals oftentimes being above the
law. So someone who is like an alapone
um someone who is a uh very rich uh
influential person often times they seem
to be above the law. They seem to be
able to commit crimes and get away with
it. And so is Paul saying we're above
the law? No, I don't think that's what
he's saying. that we are somehow above
the law that we can sin and get away
with it. I don't think that's what he's
trying to say. Um if you're under the
law, you're someone who is being um
punished by the law. You are under the
condemnation of the law. You are feeling
the weight of the law upon you. And so
if you are feeling the weight of the
law, that means the law is coming down
on you. It is pressing down on you. You
are under the law. You are being
punished by the law um because you're a
lawb breaker.
And so he says, if you're led by the
spirit, you're not going to be a lawb
breaker. If you're led by the spirit,
you're not going to be under the law.
You're not going to be under the the
weight of the law, under the punishment
of the of the law, under the
um
uh the force of the law. Um so you'll be
what would you be then? You'd be a
lawabiding citizen. You would be in line
with the law. You would you would not be
under the law being a lawb breaker. uh
you would not be above the law being a
lawb breaker who gets away with it. The
under the law is a lawb breaker who is
punished above the law is a lawb breaker
who gets away with it. You would be
walking in line with the law. You would
be a lawkeeper. So you would be a
law-abiding citizen. And so if you're
walking in the spirit, you are not
breaking the law.
Um now the works of the flesh are
evident which are adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lwdness, idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies,
outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders,
drunkenness, realies, and the like. of
which I tell you beforehand, just as I
also told you in time past that those
who practice such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, so now
he's listing things that the law forbids
us from doing. He says these are
evident. And so the idea is that you
should know better anyway. You shouldn't
have to have the law tell you not to do
these things. Um and so they they should
be evident. So the works of the flesh
are evident. Verse verse 19, the works
of the flesh are evident, which are
adultery. You should understand that
adultery is wrong. You know, adultery is
violating the covenant that you've
entered into. You've entered into a
marriage covenant with your wife or
you're violating the the marriage
covenant somebody else entered into by
uh committing adultery with that married
person. Um, fornication. Okay.
Fornication is
uh being involved sexually with somebody
outside of marriage. And so having some
sort of uh illegal sexual relationship
with somebody, something that is not
permitted. You you have not been granted
access to that person in that way.
That's what marriage does is it grants
you permission to enter into sexual
covenant with someone. And if you're not
married to that person, you you have not
been given legal access to sexual
covenant with that someone. And that's
the problem with fornication. Uh
marriage gives you legal access to that
fornication. You are stealing that
without having legal access to it. Um
uncleanness uncleanness can cover all
kinds of different things. Um but the
idea of being unclean is is we want to
be clean. We want to to be clean so we
can come into God's presence. And when
you're unclean, you're unable to come
into his presence. And that's
illustrated throughout the Old Testament
in numerous ways. And so, um, you know,
things like a woman on her monthly cycle
is unclean. Um, you know, an emission of
of fluid from your body makes you
unclean, whether it be blood or semen or
some other sort of emission, you become
unclean. Touching a dead carcass, you
become unclean. uh touching someone else
who is unclean makes you unclean. Um
uh leprosy makes you unclean. There's
all kinds of things that can make you
unclean. And as you look through uh the
Old Testament, there's so many laws
devoted to clean and
unclean. And learning how to avoid what
makes you
unclean is important. And and Paul is
illustrating this here that that this is
the work of the flesh is is doing things
that make you unclean. And that's a
fleshly thing. And you know, and there's
some things you can't avoid, right? You
can't avoid like women, you can't avoid
your monthly cycle. That just that's
part of life. That's something that
happens. You can't avoid that. You're
going to become unclean during that
period. Um, but there's things that you
can do to prevent that from spreading
and things that you can do so that when
the uncleanness is over, you wash and
then you're clean again.
Um, and so there's there's certain types
of uncleanness you can avoid and certain
types of clean uncleanness that you
can't avoid. Um, but the idea is you
want to try to remain clean and avoid
uncleanness when whenever possible. But
that again that's illustrated throughout
the Old Testament. Lwdness. Okay, this
lwdenness has to do with indecent
exposure. Um, it has to do with um, uh,
immodesty and showing parts of your body
that shouldn't be shown. Um, and even
also there's lewd behavior, lewd acting,
lewd speaking. Um, you know, people have
lewd conversations that they they're
talking about things they shouldn't talk
about. Um, and viewing lwdness is also
would be included in this. So looking at
things that are lewd, looking at um you
know movies and TV shows and and uh
pictures on the internet and whatnot,
things that are um when people are being
immodest and when people are doing
things that are um lewd and and uh
inappropriate and looking at those
things, you are involving yourself in
lwdness. You are being exposed to
lwdness and you shouldn't do that. You
should try to avoid that. Um then we
have idolatry.
Again, these are supposed to be things
that are obvious. These things are
apparent. Obviously, idolatry is wrong.
We're supposed to worship one God and
not worship many gods. We're supposed to
worship the one true God of the Bible,
not other gods and idols and things like
that. Um, sorcery, you know, again, this
should be apparent. We shouldn't be
consulting witches, shouldn't be
consulting um evil spirits. We shouldn't
be consulting astrology, uh, horoscopes,
um, things like that that would be
considered in the realm of of sorcery.
Um, hatred. We shouldn't be hating one
another. Hatred is something that's a
work of the flesh. And we shouldn't be
given to hatred, given to anger, given
to outbursts, uh, to wrath, things like
that. And so, it should be obvious to us
that that is a work of the flesh, not a
work of the spirit. um contention.
That's just fighting with each other. We
shouldn't be fighting and bickering.
We're supposed to be peace. We're
supposed to be people who have
peace known by our our love for one
another and to walk in peace with one
another. Jealousy
um you know jealousy is you know you're
you're jealous of somebody for some
reason. They have something you don't
have. Um, and it's it's jealousy and
covetousness are closely associated and
they're also closely associated with
theft because often times when someone
steals something, it's because they see
something that you have that they want
and so they covet it and they're jealous
of it and then they go and take it. And
so you have to be jealous of it first
for you to covet it and then you have to
covet it before you take it. And so it's
it's kind of that trail of theft. And so
it starts with jealousy. And so you're
jealous of that that thing that person
has or the you know whatever jealous of
that person for some reason and that
makes you want what they have and that
causes you to covet it. And then when
you covet it then you seek to get it
from them. And you know often times that
even causes you uh if you're jealous of
somebody maybe you'll try to hurt them
uh because you're jealous of what they
have or what you know what what you
don't have.
Um and so those are uh they lead to
other sins. Um, outbursts of wrath that
again is connected to hatred, is
connected to anger and and so outbursts
of wrath are just where you just lash
out at somebody. Um, you're not being
self-controlled. You are letting your
temper get the best of you. Um, selfish
ambition. And so this is you're seeking
for yourself. You're not seeking to
benefit somebody else. You're not
seeking to help somebody else. You're
seeking how can I benefit me? You're
being selfish. Um, and so you have
ambitions to try to help yourself, to um
exalt yourself, to make yourself rich,
to make your yourself look better to
somebody else. Um, to uh to have a
better uh reputation, to um have a
better job, to have whatever, you know,
you're you're seeking for yourself.
You're not seeking to help others. And
so selfishness is a flesh motivated
thing. Um, dissensions. And so this is
uh this is causing division. It's
causing um separation. It causing
contention. It causes one person to be
pitted against another. Um and so you're
you're basically inst instigating
um contention. You're instigating
division. You're instigating strife. Um
you're not causing unity. You're not
causing love. You're not causing
harmony. Um you're causing problems.
Okay. Heresy. Heresy deals with
um your theology. And so it deals with
your, you know, are do you have right
thinking on this matter? Do you have
right uh the right mindset on this
thing? Do are you thinking clearly? Are
you thinking biblically? Um and so
heresy comes from the flesh, not from
the spirit. And so right doctrine comes
from the spirit. Heresy comes from the
flesh. And if we look through history,
um many of the the heresies throughout
history have been motivated by the flesh
and and you can trace them back somehow
to get back to the flesh. And um but
that that's uh you know it should be
apparent. It should be obvious.
envy. Uh, you know, envy again is is
back up there with jealousy and um it's
up there with uh um covetousness, you
know, and and it would be related to
lust as well, but you're envying
somebody for something. You're you're
wanting something they have. Murder. Uh
murder obviously it's associated with
hate and anger and outbursts of wrath.
So these are all kind of interconnected
things. Um, but obviously murder is like
the step further from hatred and a step
further from outburst of wrath. And so
some of these are kind of intermingled
and and similar. Um, drunkenness. Okay,
here's one that is is a little different
than some of the others, but drunkenness
has to do with um you're not being
sober. you are um you're you're
letting chemical, you know, whether it
be alcohol or drugs or something inhibit
your thinking and you're you're not
being soberminded. You are being drunk.
You are being um misled. You are letting
your your mind be affected and
deteriorated from what it should be. And
that is motivated by the flesh as well.
So people who are drunk, uh, that's not
the spirit motivating you to get drunk.
It's your flesh motivating you to get
drunk. And when you're drunk, you make
bad decisions and you do stupid stuff.
And so, you know, to be spiritually
minded, we need to be people who avoid
drunkenness. Um, and so, you know, I'm
not saying don't ever drink. Um, I think
it's fine to have have a drink once in a
while if you want to have a glass of
wine with dinner or something. I'm not
saying you don't have to ever drink. You
can never drink again. That's not what
I'm saying. What I'm saying is uh we
need to be people who are um seeking to
be sober minded, not
drunk. Um realies, okay, this has to do
with fighting um and the like. And so
anything like this, anything like any of
these things listed above, these should
all be obvious. These are the works of
the flesh. The flesh wants to cause
division. It causes chaos. It causes
fighting. It causes strife. It separates
people. Um it it it uh destroys peace.
Um it causes
um just all kinds of problems. The flesh
is is what's causing problems in your
marriage. The flesh is what's causing
problems at work. The flesh is what's
causing problems in your home. The flesh
is what's causing problems within
yourself. Um and so it's it's the flesh
that's the problem. And the enemy likes
to use your flesh against you. And so
the enemy will come with temptations to
try to tempt your flesh to get you to
say or do something you shouldn't be
doing. And um and so it's it's that's
how the enemy gets you is by um
appealing to your flesh. And if you can
uh resist if your flesh can resist the
temptation, then you won't fall into
those snares.
And so that's why the flesh and spirit
at war with one another because the
spirit is trying to um conquer the
flesh. The spirit is trying to lead the
flesh in the right direction and and
keep the flesh from uh doing what the
flesh wants to do. And so it's about
your flesh submitting to the spirit.
Okay. Um now then he then he shifts
gears and he talks about the fruit of
the spirit. Verse 22. But the fruit of
the spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering or patience, kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. Against such there is no
law. So now he's he's telling us, you
know, against the works of the flesh,
there's all kinds of laws, right? God
has given us all kinds of laws set to
show to to fight against the flesh, to
show us these things are wrong, to tell
us this is not correct, this is
incorrect behavior. Uh but against the
the fruit of the spirit, there's no law
to limit the fruit of the spirit.
There's no law to limit your um love.
There's no law to limit your joy, your
peace, your patience, your kindness,
your goodness, your faithfulness, your
gentleness, or your self-control. The
the the law is not given to limit the
fruit of the spirit in any way. Um
there's no law against it. You can do
all these things without
limit. Okay? And so there's no law
opposing the fruit of the spirit.
There's no law opposing the spirit of
God. And that's something we have to
understand. The law opposes the flesh.
The law does not oppose the Holy Spirit.
And so when we're walking in the spirit,
we're not going to be doing anything
contrary to the law. We're not going to
be opposing the law in any way because
we're walking in the spirit. And so if
we're walking in the spirit, we're going
to be walking in love. And and the Bible
says we know we're going to be known by
our love for one another. Uh we're going
to be walking with joy. And this is um
joy. You know, we're we're told to
rejoice even in suffering, to rejoice
even when things are not going well. And
um you know, James talks about when you
face trials of many kinds, count it as
joy because you know the testing of the
faith develops perseverance and
perseverance character. And so you know
that through these trials and
tribulations and testings that that is
for your benefit. And so you can rejoice
even in those hard times, even when
things are bad. you can still have joy
and that is a fruit of the spirit. And
so when the spirit is working in your
life, it produces that fruit. And this
um one thing we have to to differentiate
here is that it's not something you
produce. Okay? You don't muster up joy.
It's the fruit of the spirit being in
you. So if the spirit is in you, you are
joyful. If the spirit is in you, you are
love. You are loving. If the spirit is
in you, you produce peace. You you are
peaceful.
Um if the if the spirit is in you, you
have patience. You are able to suffer
long uh through
difficulty um and through difficult
people and having patience with other
people. Um if the spirit is in you, you
have kindness. And so when people talk
about the evidence of the Holy Spirit in
someone's life, I think the fruit of the
spirit is more evidence of the spirit in
your life than the gifts of the spirit.
Because as we talked about last week,
the gifts are manifestations of the
spirit.
Okay. Uh 1 Corinthians 12 it these are
the manifestations of the spirit. This
is how the spirit is manifesting in that
moment at that time. So he manifests in
healing. He manifests in a word of
wisdom or word of knowledge or a word of
tongues or a prophecy. That's the Holy
Spirit manifesting and becoming evident
and apparent in that situation. But the
evidence of the spirit in your life, the
evidence the Holy Spirit has transformed
your heart. The evidence that you are
walking in the spirit, the evidence that
you're being led by the spirit is these
fruit. You're going to see these fruit
in your life. You're going to have love.
You're going to have joy. You're going
to have peace. Okay? You're going to
have patience. You're going to have
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and
self-control. Um, and self-control, I
think, is a big one that if we have
self-control, that is huge. Um because
self-control limits the flesh in so many
ways. Um but love is opposed to hate.
Love is opposed to lust. Love is opposed
to envy. And and so we can go through
all these works of the flesh and see how
love is contrary to the works of the
flesh.
Joy contrary uh if you have joy then you
are content and you don't you don't uh
you're not jealous and envious. You
don't covet. And so if you have joy um
you are content with with how things are
and you don't you don't seek to um have
what someone else has. Peace. If you
have peace in your life, you're not
being contentious. You're not being
divisive. You're not um causing
problems. You're not causing strife.
You're not, you know, so
peace conquers those areas of the flesh.
Um patience, patience is so huge. If you
have patience longsuffering in your
life, then you are able to um deal with
so many difficult situations, so many
difficult people, uh so many stressors,
you have that patience to
endure. Kindness um kindness goes a long
way. And kindness is is something that
we we need more of in the world is just
being willing to be kind to somebody um
even when they're not kind to you. you
know, somebody's mad at you and yelling
at you and and trying to pick a fight
with you and you're just return kindness
to them. And you know, the Bible says
you're you're heaping coals on their
head uh when you when you uh return
kindness instead of anger in in favor of
anger or in in when they when they give
you anger and hate and come against you
as an enemy and attack you, excuse me.
If you pour kindness over them, love and
kindness, um it's like putting hot coals
on their head because they they don't
know what to do with that. They're
treating you horribly and you're
treating them
good and they don't understand that.
They don't know how to reconcile. Well,
I'm you know, I'm I'm being a horrible
person to you. I'm treating you
terribly. I'm yelling at you and cussing
at you and saying horrible things about
you and you're being nice to me. Why are
you being nice to me? They don't know
how to handle that. They they can't
reconcile that. And often times that'll
get them to to take a step back and look
at their own behavior and say, "Oh, I'm
being kind of kind of a jerk here. Why
am I acting this way? This is a nice
person." And oftentimes that'll diffuse
the com the the heated
situation. Goodness. Um just being good,
being good to people. Um you know, and
God is good and and when we are being
good, then we are being like God. Same
all these things. These are all
characteristics of God. God is love. God
is joy. God is peace. God is is is
patient. God is kind. God is good. God
is faithful. You know, so we get to
faithfulness. And and faithfulness has
to do with um you know, this this is
conquering the lust of the flesh. This
is conquering adultery. This is
conquering fornication. We're being
faithful to our our husband or our wife.
We're being faithful to that other
person's husband or wife by not causing
adultery, by not causing problems. we
are being faithful to our future husband
or wife by not having fornication with
this person
illegally. Um and so faithfulness comes
in against those works of the flesh.
Um gentleness and and so many times just
being gentle in a situation, speaking
gently to somebody instead of harshly.
Um, and you know, we we had some things
in there about your language, about
having harsh language and um outbursts
of wrath and things like that. And so,
this is
um opposed to those things, right? Um,
and then self-control. And like I said,
self-control could be overarching of of
so many of these works of the flesh and
having the self-control to to just
resist to the temptation for any of
these things. You know, yeah, you're
angry, but you control your anger. Yeah,
you're you're um you have a fleshly lust
after someone, but you control that
fleshly lust with self-control. Um yeah,
you
have whatever, you know, you you have a
a covetous thought or a jealous thought
or an envious thought and you control
that. You you control that thought with
self-control. Um it doesn't mean you're
never going to be tempted in any of
these ways. It means you are able to
control your flesh. And so when that
temptation does come, you can say, "No,
I'm not going to I'm not going to give
into that temptation. I'm going to
resist that temptation." And that's the
Holy Spirit working in you, allowing you
to have that self-control to resist
those things. And again, these are
things that the spirit is producing in
you as you're walking in the spirit.
These things are being produced inside
of you. And so, um, it's not that you
are producing them. It's not that you
are, um, conjuring them up in some way.
is that the spirit is producing them in
you.
Um, all right. So,
uh, I want
to go ahead and look through the
questions now. Um, let me go ahead and
transition to the questions and I'm
going to start looking through the
questions and and find some. So if you
have a question about the Holy Spirit,
you have a question about the gifts of
the spirit, uh a question about the
fruit of the spirit, a question about
Pentecost, about anything related to the
Holy Spirit, uh post your questions in
the chat and we will start looking at
those in just a second. Hey friends, if
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Now that we've explored the depths of
today's topic, it's time to hear from
you. Welcome to the Q&A portion of the
show where you can ask questions about
today's topic. So post your questions in
the chat and let's talk
biblical. All right. So, first question
we got in here is Tracy at Thinking
Kingdom Thoughts, and she says, uh,
question, do you mind sharing a time
when the Holy Spirit spoke to you in
your life? How were how were you able to
determine it was the Holy Spirit? Um,
and so really that I'm going to look at
that as two questions. So, um, how are
you able to determine it's the Holy
Spirit? I'm gonna answer that part first
and then we'll go to your first one
about giving an example of a time when
that happened. And so I think
um there's several ways you can know if
it's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Um
one is it's it's not going to um align
with your flesh. And so, um, I've heard
people say things like, "Well, the Holy
Spirit told me to divorce my wife and to
marry this this other younger, prettier
girl." That wasn't the Holy Spirit. That
was your flesh. The Holy Spirit is not
going to tell you to divorce your wife
and marry somebody else. Um, that is
contrary to scripture because God wants
us to be faithful to our covenants that
we make. You made a covenant with your
wife, you're supposed to be faithful to
that covenant. But I've actually heard
people give that as an example of
sometime when the Holy Spirit spoke to
them. That is not the Holy Spirit. That
is your flesh speaking to you. And it is
um deceiving you. You're being deceived
by the flesh. And we're we're told that
we're supposed to have a discerning of
spirits and and to discern what's the
Holy Spirit and what's not the Holy
Spirit. And so having that kind of
discernment is very important. And so I
I would encourage you first off pray for
discernment. pray that you could
recognize and discern the voice of the
Holy Spirit. Um, but the Holy Spirit
does not contradict the scripture. Um,
you'll never find uh the Holy Spirit
telling somebody to do something
contrary to scripture. So, for example,
um the
uh trying to think of a biblical
example, we've got
um Daniel. Okay, Daniel was in
Babylon and the king said, "Uh, well,
you're not supposed to pray to any other
god
um but the gods that we tell you to pray
to and if you're caught praying to some
other god, then we're going to throw you
in lion's den." Well, Daniel
um you know could have said, "Well, the
Holy Spirit told me uh I better not be
caught praying um publicly." so uh so
that I didn't get thrown into the lion's
den. So he decided to um to close all
his doors and windows and pray privately
so that nobody can see him. Okay, he
could have he could have said you know
the Holy Spirit told me this and
um you know that you know it's possible
that the Holy Spirit might have said
something like that to him maybe. Um,
but what ended up being the case is he
prayed with all the doors and windows
open. And he prayed out in public view
where anybody walking by could see him
praying. And he did it three times a
day, every day. And some people walked
by and saw him praying. And they went to
the king and they said, "Hey, this
Daniel guy, he's praying. Uh, we've seen
him praying multiple times a day to this
other god. Uh, you need to throw him in
the lion's den." They were out to get
him. And someone could come along and
say, "Oh, well, see, he should have he
should have hid and not
prayed." But we we we know through the
rest of the story that he did exactly
what he was supposed to do. And he was
supposed to be thrown into the lion's
den so that God could show his power and
stop the mouths of the lions and uh show
the king that the God that Daniel prays
to is is the real God um and not the
idols of Babylon. And so as you know
hindsight in that scenario we see oh
well Daniel did he was doing what he was
supposed to do. He was being led by the
spirit. He prayed with his doors and
windows open so that they would catch
him so that he would be thrown into the
lion's den so that he would show the
king that God is the true God. That the
God of Israel is the true God.
Um, and so we have scenarios like that
sometimes in our life
where either way, you know, you say,
"Well, I'm I'm
praying I'm praying privately, and
that's a good thing." Or, "I'm praying
publicly, and that's a good thing." And
which is the Holy Spirit saying? That's
where the discernment comes in is well,
is it is it wise and prudent to pray in
a way that you're not going to get
caught and thrown in jail or thrown in
the lion's den? Yes, it's wise and
prudent. And so, it's possible that the
Holy Spirit could have told him to do
that. Um, is it
uh is it brave and bold
um to pray publicly in the in the face
of threat of his own life and standing
up for his faith and standing up for his
God? Yes, it is brave and bold in that
situation. And so maybe the Holy Spirit
was leading him that way. And so in that
situation, you could see both
possibilities. And so you have to have
the discernment to know which is the
right approach. What is the Holy Spirit
saying in this situation? Um whereas you
know the example I gave earlier about uh
divorcing your wife and marrying the the
beautiful younger woman um because
you're tired of your wife. Well that's
not the Holy Spirit. That's your flesh.
That's that's the lust of the flesh.
That's not the Holy Spirit. Um stealing
something. You know obviously the Holy
Spirit is not going to tell you to steal
something. Um, you know, you say, "Well,
I'm starving and and I have no money and
and I need something to eat, so I'm
going to go steal a loaf of bread."
Stealing is still wrong. Stealing is
still even even if you are starving to
death, to steal a loaf of bread is still
wrong. It's still a sin. You've still
committed a crime, that is not the Holy
Spirit telling you to steal. The Holy
Spirit would give you some other option.
And so, for example, we have the widow,
the poor widow who um her, you know, she
she has enough bread for one loaf of
bread or enough enough uh dough for one
loaf of bread. And uh Elijah comes along
and he says, "Hey, make me a loaf of
bread and you know, make yourself a loaf
of bread and uh your dough is going to
last." Well, that's the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is is the one enabling
Elijah to come and and tell her to to go
ahead and use the dough and it's going
to keep lasting. It's going to keep
growing. It's going to keep multiplying.
Um, you know, if if if
uh Elijah was not being led by the Holy
Spirit and he said, "Hey, make me a loaf
of bread first and then you know you'll
you'll have plenty for yourself." And
she made him a loaf of bread and he's
like,
"Haha, now you're going to starve
because you have nothing." Well,
obviously that wasn't the Holy Spirit.
that was him being selfish and um
leading her astray.
And so we see often times that um the
evidence of the Holy
Spirit after the fact.
Um and so we have to be again
discerning. Um but you know the the
situation let me let me go ahead and
give a situation in my life. um a a time
in my life when the Holy Spirit spoke to
me and I knew and was able to determine
it was the Holy
Spirit. Um there have been lots of times
in my life that I could give as
examples. Um and
oftentimes knowing it's the Holy Spirit
is you you find out later for sure. And
so it's not maybe not even that you know
for sure when it happens but you follow
and you find out yes it is the Holy
Spirit. So, for example,
um when I was I was probably pre-teen,
you know, 12, 11, 12, 13 years old, you
know, I was a young kid. Um I had a
Swiss Army knife and um it was winter
snowing and uh lost the Swiss Army knife
somewhere in a 5acre pasture in the
middle of winter with a foot of snow on
the ground. We were out riding sleds and
um my neighbor's dad had a
uh hood off of a car that he'd strapped
to the back of a tractor and we sat on
that that hood and he drove us all over
that pasture and somewhere on that 5acre
pasture I lost my pocket knife and I
prayed because I knew there's no way I
could find that walking around in the
snow looking over five acres to find a
tiny little pocket knife.
So, I prayed. I went home and prayed and
just asked God to to help me find it.
And I mean, we looked we we spent hours
looking for it and couldn't find it. And
so, then that night I prayed. And then I
had a dream. And in my dream, I walked
out to a certain place in the pasture,
looked down, and there was my knife. And
so, the next day when I woke up, I
remembered that dream. And I got up, got
dressed, walked out to that exact spot
in the pasture, looked down, and there
was my knife.
And
so I was able to know that was God
speaking to me in my dream. That was the
Holy Spirit speaking to me in my dream.
And so he spoke to me through my dream
and I knew exactly what to do. And I did
it. And the result was I uh you know
that exactly what the dream said would
be the result, right? And so I knew that
that was the Holy Spirit speaking to me
in my dream. It wasn't just a weird
crazy dream. If I'd have gotten up and
walked out to the pasture and looked
down and there's not a pocketk knife, um
then I'd be like, "Oh, well, I just had
a had a dream. Wasn't the Holy Spirit.
It was just me hopefully wishing that
I'd find it." But, you know, I didn't,
so whatever. But the fact that I found
it exactly where I saw it in my dream
means that it was the Holy Spirit
speaking to me in my dream.
Um, you know, I've I've
uh when I was younger, um, high school
and college, I I dated different girls.
And there were times when I thought,
"Oh, maybe she's the one. Uh, maybe this
is the girl I'm going to spend the rest
of my life with." And I'd pray about it
and and ask the Lord, you know, is this
the girl I'm supposed to marry? And
something would happen and I would know,
well, she's not the one. And so, we'd
break up and and go our separate ways.
Um, and then when, you know, when I met
Amanda, um, I prayed, you know, is this
the one I'm supposed to marry? And I
instantly felt confirmation. Yes, she is
the one. And she felt the same way. She
felt confirmation, too. And so we dated
um like two weeks and then we got
engaged. And then we're engaged for 6
months and we got married. And we've
been married 23 years now. And we have
three wonderful kids. And um I you know,
I know that she is uh she's obviously
the one that God chose for me. She is a
a wonderful wife, a wonderful partner.
Um, you know, and when it comes to
ministry, she is exactly what I need in
a wife for ministry and and everything
she brings to the marriage and she
brings to the ministry. Um, she she
balances me out. Like the things I'm
good at, uh, there's things I'm good at
and there's things she's good at. And
the things I'm not good at, she is good
at. And and so she brings balance, uh,
to my ministry. And so, um, you know,
looking back on 23 years of marriage, I
know that, you know, I I followed the
the Holy Spirit in choosing to marry
her. That that was she was the right one
that she was the one that the Lord had
brought into my life. Um
when when we were uh when we were
pregnant uh for the first time uh before
well when when she was before she got
pregnant before she got pregnant with
our firstborn
um I again I felt like the Lord was
saying we're going to have two
boys and um so when she got pregnant I
said oh it's a boy and she's like how do
you know? I was like, "Well, because God
told me we're going to have two
boys." And um sure enough, she had had a
boy. And then she got pregnant again. I
said, "Well, there's the second boy."
And sure enough, we had another boy. And
then she got pregnant a third time,
which and I was like, "Well, I don't
know about this one. I just know we're
supposed to have two boys. This one
might be a girl." Um, and sure enough,
it was a girl because I felt like the
Lord had spoke to me. We're going to
have two boys. And so I didn't know if
that was only two boys or if that was um
you know at least two boys. And so I
wasn't sure about that, but I knew we
were gonna have two for sure. And we had
two two boys for sure. Um and so I I
believe that was the Holy Spirit
speaking to me and telling me we're
going to have two boys. Um when we moved
out of the city out to the country, uh
we prayed and we prayed for specific
things. We're like, "Lord, we, you know,
this is this is the kind of house we
want. Uh, you know, we want to have a
wood burning fireplace. Uh, I need a a
little shed or something for me to have
for an office, for a studio, for for
doing videos and teachings and things
like that. Um, like to have uh a little
bit of land so that we have some space
to uh to do stuff on and to have some
chickens and a garden and things like
that. And we had a list. We had, you
know, we put together a list of
everything that we were dreaming of,
everything we wanted. And but we weren't
we weren't crazy with it. We weren't
like, "Oh, we want, you know, 16bedroom
mansion with, you know, 6,000 square ft,
you know, like we weren't dreaming big."
We were being reasonable. And we said,
"Within reason, what can we afford and
what do we want it to look like?" And,
you know, all that kind of stuff. And so
when we when we found this place um you
know we're looking at we're like man
it's got everything we were looking at
you know everything we wanted all the
things we were looking for. It's it's
further out than what we were wanting.
We wanted something closer to the city.
This is much further out but that wasn't
like on our list. And we're looking
around at this place and we're like man
everything on our list is here. We've
got the wood burning fireplace. Um you
know it's the same type of house that we
wanted. It's got a, you know, the shed
here that I'm in right now that that I
have for my office has a garage area
where I can do um woodworking and
things. Uh we've got three acres. You
know, it's it's it's basically it's
everything we we put on our list. And in
the by the front porch there was a rock
and it has James 117 on it. And that's
just what it said on the rock, James
117. And the guy who lived here before
had etched that into the rock. And I saw
that and I and I looked at a man. I was
like, "Do you see this?" And she's like,
"Yeah." And she started crying. And
James 1:17, let me go ahead and just
read that to you. I'm going to pull that
up. Okay. Uh, here we go. Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from
above and comes down from the Father of
lights with whom there is no variation
or shadow of turning. And so it's like
God just stuck this rock here just as
a assurance to us that this is this is a
gift that he's giving to us. And um so
when we got this house, we we asked the
the the previous owner who was selling
it, hey, can we have this rock? And he's
like, yeah, I'll you know, yeah, you can
have it. I'll leave it here for you. And
so it's still sitting uh in up by the
front porch in the garden uh right there
in the front of the house. Um, and it
was just it was just like this extra
confirmation that yeah, this is this is
what I have planned for you. This is um
this is where I want you to be. And that
caused uh a lot of other things to
happen. So, you know, because we moved
here, we were able to find the land for
the church, which is, you know, like a
mile away from our house. We we drove by
and there's a for sale sign on it. we
stopped and called the number and and
were able to to start the process of
buying land for the church. And if we
weren't here, we wouldn't have been able
to find that land. We wouldn't have
probably ever been able to build the
church here where we are. Um and so it
just kind of started this
um this cascade of things showing us
this was God's plan. Uh this is where he
wanted us to be. And so um discerning
God's will in your life sometimes like
that example, you know, Well, it's not
you can't say, well, it's contrary to
scripture or it's not because it's not
really related to scripture. You know,
it's we asked him what we should do
about
moving. We asked him to lead
us in in that what what we should do and
where we should go and he led us to it.
Um, he helped us find this place and
helped us get it for a price we could
afford. and
um he kind of gave us that extra
uh you know the little extra nod that
yeah this is where I want you. And so we
were you know both of us knew instantly
I mean when we before we even got here
we were like this is the place we're
going to buy. We had this conversation.
We looked at the pictures online. We're
like this is perfect. This is exactly
what we want. It's in our price range
exactly what we're looking for. um we
were ready to buy it without even coming
out to visit it. We we knew this was the
place we were supposed to be at. And
both me and Amanda both had that
confirmation that this is where we're
supposed to go. And then once we got
here, um it was just even more
confirmation that yeah, this is where
we're supposed to go. And you know, we
were talking to the people who owned it.
They built the house and when they had
it built, they wrote scriptures on the
on the post of the walls before they put
the sheetrock up. And they had um they
had this notebook where they showed us
where which scriptures were in the house
and where they were. and sweet couple
and um you know they love the Lord and
and we know that you know they they they
prayed over this land and they blessed
this land and it was just you know
obviously this is where God wanted us uh
for multiple multiple
reasons. Um another you know another
example of of when the Holy Spirit spoke
to me and and I knew it was the Holy
Spirit. Um we were at a restaurant one
time and I was talking to Amanda. It was
just me and Amanda. We didn't have kids
yet and uh there was a group of people
sitting behind me. I couldn't see them.
Um couldn't, you know, wasn't able to
hear their conversations or anything
like that. And they were just sitting
behind me and I was talking to Amanda. I
was involved in a conversation with her
and I just all of a sudden felt like the
Holy Spirit stopped me uh mid-con
conversation with Amanda and I felt like
the Holy Spirit said, "You need to turn
around and and speak to this certain
person." And there was like six people
in the in the booth and I knew exactly
which one to say to speak to and turn
around and speak to him and say, "You
used to be a pastor, but you're not
anymore." And I thought, "That is the
weirdest thing to say to a complete
stranger. Um, I don't know what to do
with this, but I'm going to be faithful.
I'm going to obey." So, I turned around
and I said, "Hey, um, I know this is
weird, uh, but I feel like the Holy
Spirit just told me to say to you, you
used to be a pastor, but you're not
anymore." And he said, "Yeah, that's
true." I said, "Okay." And I turned back
around and finished my conversation with
Amanda. I said, "I I don't know why I'm
supposed to say that to you, but uh,
that's that's all I was given." So, and
I turned around and and continue my
conversation with Amanda. And so his
confirmation that that word of knowledge
that I shared with him was true, you
know, because I I had a word of
knowledge about him, somebody I didn't
know, to total stranger. I I was given a
word about him that he was a pastor, but
he's not anymore. Turned around, said
that to him. I wasn't given anything
else to say, so I didn't say anything
else. I felt like I did what I was
supposed to do. He confirmed that it was
true uh by saying, "Yeah, you're right.
That's true." And so I know that was the
Holy Spirit speaking to me. I don't know
why. I still today don't understand why
God had me do that.
Um, you know, maybe God was saying
something to him that he needed to hear,
uh, you know, he needed to hear somebody
say that to him to get him to do
whatever God was wanting him to do. I
don't know. Um, I will probably never
know what that was about. Um, that
doesn't matter. I don't need to know
what that was about. All I need to know
is that I was doing what the Holy Spirit
asked me to do and then it's in his
hands to take care of the rest. and he's
going to do something with that. And um
I just trust that he did do something
with that and that it was great.
Um and so there's so many examples in my
life where I could I could show you um
the Holy Spirit speaking to me uh in a
situation or or something.
Um and and you know, sometimes it it
makes sense, sometimes it's odd.
Um, and so there's it can happen all
kinds of different ways. Um, we we were
praying with somebody one time and the
this this person was dealing with um a
mental disorder. They they had uh
bipolar and um they were having um
schizophrenic voices in their head and
they were diagnosed bipolar
schizophrenic and they were asking for
prayer for healing and to have us um
cast these cast demons out because they
thought they were uh demon possessed.
And so we had a group of people go over
and pray with them. And um as we're
praying for them um I had a word from
the Lord that said, "You need to stop
looking at pornography." I told, you
know, I told that person, uh the reason
you're having these issues is because
you're looking at pornography. You need
to stop looking at pornography and your
mind will be set free. And they broke
down and cried and and he started
saying, "Yeah, I've been looking at
pornography since I was like eight years
old." And um I said, "Well, that's
that's the problem is it's just it's
destroying your mind. You get rid of the
pornography and you'll be healed." Um I
don't know if he ever got rid of the
pornography or not. I don't know if that
if he ever got the healing he was
looking for, but the the Lord gave me
the answer and the Holy Spirit gave me
the answer for him and what he was
supposed to do and it's up to him
whether he did it or not.
Um so there's so many ways that the Holy
Spirit can speak to you in different
scenarios. Um there was
um uh for example like the discerning of
spirits. Um you know there have been
times when we we when we were looking
for a house, this was years ago. We were
looking for a house and we went into
this house and when we first got there
me and my wife both thought something's
not right. This is weird.
um this house feels
um not right, like something's wrong
here. And we just felt like there was
this like a darkness there and like it
was like wickedness, evilness was in
that house.
And we we we continued the tour, started
looking around the house, and I went
into one of the closets, opened the
closet, and I saw that there was a
little hole in the wall in the closet,
and I thought, "Well, that's weird.
What's that?" And I saw a light coming
through, and I thought, "Huh?" And I put
my my eye up to the hole and I looked
through and it was looking into the
bathroom into the shower. And I went
around the door and I went in the
bathroom. I looked there was a mirror
and the hole was behind the mirror and
they scratched off the back of the
mirror in the
corner and they had a hole in the closet
so they could peek into the into the
shower in the bathroom. And so somebody
was hiding in the closet peeking into
somebody else in the shower. And I
thought, "Wow, that's why this house
feels weird." Um, I mean, we felt it
when as soon as we got to the house, we
felt it. And but it wasn't until I found
that hole in the wall where you could
see into the shower when I realized
that's why this house is is unholy.
That's why something's wrong with this
house. But the Holy Spirit gave us that
discernment to sense to sense that. Um,
and you know, so obviously we didn't buy
the house. Um, because that that house
was defiled. The house was unholy.
Um, and there was wickedness being done
in that house and who knows what all
wickedness was being done there. Um, but
we we said this is not the house for us.
It was a beautiful house. Um, but we're
like this this house is has got a
darkness in it and we don't want to deal
with that. Um, and so it's discerning of
spirits in that situation. So there's
there's so many examples that a person
could give of how how you know it's the
Holy Spirit. And I think the best
example is when you have confirmation
um either from someone or something that
confirms the word that you heard or the
the sense that you have um the direction
you're feeling. You're going to have
some kind of confirmation of that
usually. Um so
uh that would be uh my second part is
you know first part is it's not going to
contradict scripture and the second part
is is God gives you some sort of
confirmation so you know it's from the
Lord. But sometimes that confirmation
comes after you act. And so, uh, like
for example, when when I felt the Holy
Spirit told me to talk to that guy and
say, "Hey, you used to be a pastor, but
you're not anymore." I didn't get the
confirmation until I acted. And so, I
acted first and I I acted in faith
believing that it was the Holy Spirit.
And, you know, here's the thing. If it
wasn't the Holy Spirit and I turned
around and I made a fool of myself and
said, "Hey, I feel like the Holy
Spirit's saying, um, you used to be a
pastor, you're not." He's like, "What
are you talking about? I have never been
a pastor in my life. I've never been a
believer in my life. Um, I'm not a
Christian at all. I've I've never wanted
to be a Christian. You're completely
absurd. I'm I'm a rich businessman and
and you're just a fool for saying it.
Well, that would have told me two
things. One, um, it would have told me,
well, you you weren't hearing the Holy
Spirit right on that one. And two, I
would have, you know, felt like a fool
and made a fool out of myself.
But it's a stranger, so what's the big
loss? He has no clue who I am. Um, I
made a fool in front of him and he's no
better. He's no worse off for it. I'm no
worse off for it. Um, so, you know,
acting in faith didn't hurt me in that
situation. Um, but the confirmation of
knowing that that was in fact true and
the Holy Spirit confirmed it by him
replying and say, "Yeah, you're right."
um that gave me uh the confir
confirmation and assurance that I was
hearing correctly from the Holy Spirit
so that later when I hear from the Holy
Spirit in other ways I can know that it
is the Holy Spirit speaking. Um I don't
always get those confirmations though.
And so there are times whenever um you
know I'm praying with somebody or
speaking with somebody and I feel like
the Holy Spirit has me say something and
I say it, I just trust that it's the
Holy Spirit. And um sometimes I get
confirmation, sometimes I don't. U but
even when I don't, I feel an assurance
within myself that I was doing uh the
best with what I was given. I was I was
saying what the Holy Spirit told me to
say. And the more you get familiar with
the voice of the Holy Spirit, the easier
uh it is to know when it's the Holy
Spirit and when it's not. Um and so
that's it's one of those things it's
like
uh the more experience you have with
hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit,
the more you recognize the voice of the
Holy Spirit, the more easily you
recognize it. Um and so for someone who
is new to hearing the voice of the Holy
Spirit, there's some un uneasiness, some
awkwardness about it, and you it takes
some some time to learn. Um, just like
when you're a kid, learning to walk, it
takes time to learn to walk. Learning to
talk, it takes time to learn to talk.
Um, but the more you do it, the better
you get at it. And then then you get to
the point where you can walk and talk at
the same time without even thinking
about it. And it just comes second
nature to you. It's just part of who you
are. And so that's that's part of it as
well is the more you walk in the spirit,
the easier it is to walk in the spirit.
the more you hear from the spirit, the
easier it is to hear from the spirit.
And so, um, and I think that knowing his
word is a big part of that. So, if you
know the word, you're going to know the
voice of the spirit more
easily. Um, all right. Next question
says, "Is it possible to just receive
the Holy Spirit and not yet be filled
with the Holy Spirit in Acts two, like
in Acts 2:4?" Okay. So,
um that is a wonderful question and
um I'm not sure I have a a clear answer
for you. Um but we see examples in the
Bible of people like for example the
apostles when they were disciples Yeshua
um breathed on them and he they received
the Holy Spirit but then later he said
wait for the uh the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And so they
they received the spirit already once uh
but then they received the Holy Spirit
more at Pentecost in a different way.
And so I think it's possible that yes,
it's possible to receive the Holy Spirit
uh but not to be um completely filled
with the Holy
Spirit. But I don't think it's necessary
that that has to happen that way. I
think that someone could like we see
examples in Acts where someone who uh
receives the the baptism and filling of
the Holy Spirit all at once. they get
saved and are instantly baptized and
filled with the Holy Spirit and they are
um already have full access to the Holy
Spirit in every way. Um and so we see
examples of that as well. And um we also
see examples of people who are baptized
uh for for the remission of sin but they
were not baptized in the Holy Spirit.
And then then when they receive the
baptism of the holy spirit then they are
you know start seeing manifestations of
the spirit such as speaking in tongues
or prophecy or things like that. And um
but it seems like they can be separate
events and they could be the same event.
Um, so if you know I guess if the
question is is it possible that you may
have received the Holy Spirit when you
came to faith but you've not received
the baptism of the Holy Spirit um in the
sense that you are filled with the Holy
Spirit and walking in the spirit and uh
allowing the gifts of the spirit to uh
be active and manifesting in your life.
I I think that's possible. And so if if
you feel like um you would like more of
the Holy Spirit in your life, I would I
would ask you to, you know, tell you to
pray for it. Uh because the Bible
encourages that. The Bible says seek uh
seek the Holy Spirit. And you know, if
those who ask for the Holy Spirit, God
will give it to you. Um Yeshua said, you
know, you're you're evil and you give
good gifts to your children, how much
more will your heavenly father give you
the Holy Spirit to those who seek it, to
those who seek after it.
Um and
uh you know and in 1 Corinthians 12 he
says earnestly desire the the gifts and
you know especially the the better gifts
and you know the gifts that are more
useful. Um and so we're supposed to be
seeking after gifts and and also in in
um Galatians where we're talking about
the fruit of the spirit. We're supposed
to be seeking after the fruit of the
spirit. We're supposed to be walking in
the spirit. We're supposed to be living
our life following the spirit and so
we're supposed to be doing that. So, you
know, if that's something you feel like
you'd like to see more in your life, I
would encourage you to pray for that.
Seek it and, you know, ask the Lord to
to give you more of his Holy Spirit. Um,
and I I I believe according to his word
that he will he will answer that prayer.
Um, but I I want to give you an example
in my life as well though.
um for years. I grew up in the Nazarene
church and um the Nazarene church didn't
believe in uh the gifts of the spirit
and so I didn't really know anything
about them. And then I married a woman
who was assembly of God and they talked
about the gifts of the spirit all the
time and it made me desire to have the
gifts of the spirit working in my life.
And so I you know every time they had an
altar call, every time somebody would
say, "Hey, you know, if you want to
receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
come up." I was there.
And uh I was like, "Yeah, I want I want
baptism of the Holy Spirit." I I got
prayed for probably 40 times to receive
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and never
spoke in tongues. And so because the
Assembly of God believed that you have
to speak in tonesues as the proof that
you have the Holy Spirit, I was so
confused because I received the baptism
of the Holy Spirit or prayed for the
baptism of the Holy Spirit 40 times,
never spoke in tongues. And they kept
telling me, "Well, if you don't speak in
tongues, you don't have the Holy
Spirit." And so I was I was just kept
thinking, "I don't have the Holy Spirit.
I don't have the Holy Spirit." Because
what they were saying was a lie. They
were telling me I didn't have the Holy
Spirit when I did have the Holy Spirit.
I just didn't speak in tonesues. And
they were misunderstanding the gift of
tongues. They thought the gift of
tongues is the evidence, the only
evidence that you have the Holy Spirit
in your life. You have to speak in
tonesues to prove that you have the Holy
Spirit. That is not what the Bible says.
And once I realized that, then I was
able to start realizing and start
seeing, oh, the Holy Spirit has been
working my life all this time. And it's
obvious that the Holy Spirit is
manifesting my life in different ways.
I've received gifts of knowledge. I've
received gifts of um prophecy. I've
received uh word of wisdom, word of
knowledge, word of prophecy. I've I've
received, you know, I've prayed for
people and they've been healed. Um, I
mean, I've seen all the gifts working in
my life except tongues and
interpretation. And um, but you know
what's funny is there was actually a
time um, when Amanda was sick and she
was actually she was sick because of uh,
demonic um, attacks that she was
receiving. And it it's a long story. I
don't have time to get into all of it,
but we we lived in a place that was
really bad neighborhood. Um the women
across the street were lesbian witches
and we think they were cursing us and um
Amanda had these horrible nightmares
where these little children would come
and torture her in her sleep and there's
demons looking like little kids
torturing her in her sleep. And we went
to bed praying every night and reading
scripture every night. And
um there was one night she um she woke
up and I I had I was asleep. I was dead
asleep and I had my hands on her and I
was praying for her in another language
and she said she recognized that it was
not English. Um, and she thinks it was
Hebrew. She thinks I was praying for her
in Hebrew, which is really interesting.
Um, because I didn't speak Hebrew at the
time. I I didn't know any Hebrew at the
time, but I was praying for her in what
she thought sounded like Hebrew. And she
uh after she woke up and heard me
praying for her, she went to sleep and
was peacefully asleep the rest of the
night. And so she thinks I was praying
for her in tonesues um in my sleep. And
so it's possible that my conscious mind
has not allowed me to speak in tonesues
because it doesn't make sense to my
conscious mind and maybe I'm holding
myself back. You know, maybe my my mind
is is preventing me from being able to
speak in tongues. I don't know. Um but
my unconscious mind when I was sleeping
might have allowed me to. And so I think
that's really interesting.
But
um you know I I can't explain a lot of
the things I've I've experienced and
seen and done and heard and felt um but
I I can tell you that the Holy Spirit
has definitely been active uh throughout
my life. Um and it it is confirmed in
numerous ways.
Um, I'm looking for another question
here real
quick.
Uh, okay. Uh, this is not a question
related to the Holy
Spirit, but
um, I'm going to go ahead and look at
it.
Uh, Ali says, "Josie, you are okay to
congregate with fellow believers while
unclean. If we had an actual temple and
a Levitical priest, that would be an
issue. They cannot be unclean while they
minister to Yahw." So, I know it's not
exactly a question for me. It's a
conversation that somebody else is
having. Um, and
uh I'm going to go ahead and weigh in on
this. The and I think you you know, I
don't know the whole conversation. I'm
guessing this may have something to do
with um like uncleanness. A woman in her
minstal cycle is unclean to go to the
temple. Does that mean she's unclean to
go to church? And I think that's a good
question. we should probably wrestle
with. Um, and I know people who fall on
both sides of that conversation. I know
some people who say, "Well, you know,
when she's in her monthly period, she
doesn't come to church." And I know
other people that say, "Well, you know,
it's not the temple, and so it's
okay." And I can see good arguments for
both in that.
Um, one
thing that I would I would lean more
towards I think right now uh lean more
towards the side that it's not the
temple. Um, and so the level of
cleanness is not as um necessary as it
was for the
temple.
Um, and so it has to do with the decrees
the degrees of separation of holiness.
And so when you know within the temple,
the holy of holies is the most holy
place. Only the high priest get in there
once a year on the day of atonement. He
had to be um you had to go through this
intense ritual to make sure he was clean
before he went in and all kinds of
things. And so that level of holiness
for the Holy of Holies was
intense and very extreme because he was
coming into the the the presence of God
in the Holy of Holies. uh the the ark of
the covenant was in there and and um
that was just the the most holy place on
earth at that time. Well, then you have
the the holy place which was the tent
around the holy of holies and uh that
you know the priests could enter there,
other priests could enter there and that
was you know a regular occurrence for
the priest to enter that place. um they
still had a level of holiness they had
to meet to get go in there but it wasn't
the same level as the most holy place.
Well then outside that you had the outer
court and the priests and Levites were
regularly there and other people were
able to come there and so just regular
people were able to come to the outer
court and they had to have a certain
level of holiness to enter there but it
wasn't the same level of holiness that
they have in the inner court or in the
holy of holies. And so there's these
degrees of separation as holiness is is
applied. And I think this question has
to do with the uncleanness in the the
thing earlier with the works of the
flesh. That's why I'm addressing
it. Um and then we have well then we
have
synagogue and that's where church is
more like a synagogue in that sense. Um
synagogue oftentimes in in Jewish
synagogues they'll have separation. So
the men sit on one side, the women sit
on the other side. Churches don't
typically have that. Um there's some
churches that do, but most don't. Uh
most, you know, husbands, wives sit
together with their kids in the same
same row. Um but in synagogues, they'll
have the women sit on one side of the
room, the men sit on the other side of
the room, and there's a wall of
partition between them. And this
prevents the women from being able to uh
pass along their uncleanness to the men.
So they're not going to be sitting in
the same chairs. they're not going to be
touching each other, things like that.
So, they they're keeping their distance.
Um, and you know, often in Jewish
synagogues, the men will not shake hands
with the woman. They don't touch a woman
other than their wife. And this, you
know, is partly for that uncleanness.
They don't want to become contaminated
from the woman's uncleanness, menstrual
cycle. Um, but I think also in
synagogues often times women will
abstain from going to synagogue when
they're on their menstrual cycle. Um,
but I don't know if it's necessary. I
haven't looked into it too much.
Um, but uh within churches typically
that's not the case. They don't
typically require women to abstain from
church uh when they're on their cycle.
And
um they uh
typically don't separate men and women.
Um, and one thing to consider is with
um, in the book of Hebrews, it talks
about how um,
Yeshua washes away our uncleanness and
that we don't need the same rituals for
cleanliness
um, that was required in the temple
because all of that cleanliness comes
from Yeshua. now. And I I think there's
a good argument to be made uh from that
uh from that the book of Hebrews in
regards to that. Um but I would still
encourage people to maintain cleanliness
in their life. Uh regular baths, regular
showers, regular washing your hands, um
things like that to maintain cleanness
and um because cleanness is important. U
physical cleanness of your body is
important. But the defilement of
uncleanness that affects your spirit and
your soul, that is taken care of by
Yeshua. And he cleanses us from all
those things that make us
unclean. And so that the inner
cleanliness comes from Yeshua, not
through
rituals of the the priesthood now. And
uh but the physical cleanness of our
body still needs soap and water. And so
you still need to bathe and wash your
hands and things like that. So I would I
still encourage physical cleanness um
even though it may we don't have uh
avenue for the spiritual cleanliness
that they had in the temple uh through
the same ritual washings and sacrifices
and things like that that was done in
the temple. Like for example, with a
woman's menstrual cycle, she had to go
uh mikvah um and offer sacrifices after
certain things. Like if you had, you
know, she had a child, um she had a
certain waiting period, she had to
mikvah a certain way, she had to offer
certain sacrifices for a boy, different
sacrifices for a girl, different waiting
periods for boys and girls. Those kind
of things are not really possible
uh without a temple. And uh so the best
we can do is say okay you need to take a
bath, you need to bathe because we don't
even have the proper way to do mikvah
um in that sense. And so we would say
well you know you if you you've had your
period take a bath and make sure you you
maintain proper hygiene and cleanliness
um so that you're not spreading
contamination.
But the spiritual cleanliness of that
is, you know, it's is about Yeshua and
what he did for us and he has cleansed
us spiritually. Um, and so his sacrifice
is uh greater than all sacrifices, not
just sin sacrifices, but all of them,
including the ritual uh cleanliness
sacrifices uh that were done throughout
the Old Testament. And so we rely on
Yeshua as our source of cleanness, as
our source, as our source of holiness,
as our source of righteousness, as our
source of salvation, as our source of
forgiveness, as our source of atonement.
Yeshua is our source for all of those
things. And so his blood is is greater
than all sacrifices. His sacrifice is
greater than all sacrifices. His
priesthood is greater than all
priesthood, all other priesthoods.
Um, and so we go through him for our
cleansing and our healing and our
wholeness and our um, forgiveness in all
those
ways. But I think it's still good to
take a bath. So
um, all right.
Uh Ali says, "I believe tongues should
be an actual language, not gibberish."
Um and I agree with that. Um I think
that tongues is an actual language. I
don't think that it is gibberish. I
think that sometimes people speak in
gibberish and claim it's tongues. Um I
think there is a lot of fake um gifts of
tongues happening. And I think it's
sincere in in many cases. I think it's
sincere. Um I think there sometimes it's
not sincere. here. I think that there
are cases where it's
um uh deception. And so, for example, um
Kenneth Copelan, I think he is I think
he's very deceptive. And I think that,
you know, when he speaks in tongues,
it's not sincere. I think it's
deception. And he may be speaking in
tongues, but I think he's speaking in
demonic tongues. Um because I think he's
I think he's being led astray by dece
deceiving spirits. He's teaching heresy.
He's teaching lies. He's prophesying
falsely. Um he is uh getting rich off of
his lies and deception. I think he is
outright a deceiver and he is not led by
the Holy Spirit. Um and and I I'm pretty
careful
uh in saying something like that about
someone. Um there, you know, there's a
lot of guys that I'm like, I don't trust
that guy. Um I have a bad feeling about
that guy. I I don't want to listen to
that guy because I don't agree with his
teachings. But with Kenneth Copelan,
he's one of those guys I'm like, he is
absolutely a false teacher. He is
absolutely uh being led by some other
spirit, not the Holy Spirit. And I'm I'm
very hesitant to say that about people,
but I'm not hesitant to say that about
him. Um he is a false
deceiver. And um people need to avoid
him. Uh, and there's some other guys
that I, you know, that I would probably
put on the same level with him. Um, but,
uh, he he's a good example of someone
speaking in tongues that I believe is
not the gift of the spirit. Um, that it
is a a uh, deceptive thing. And, um, I
think he's I'm giving him as an example
of of someone who is falsely speaking in
tongues,
um, that is not being led by the Holy
Spirit.
Um, but I think that there's a lot of
sincere Christians who uh are speaking
in tonesues or speaking gibberish
thinking they're speaking in tonesues
and they they don't know what they're
saying and nobody knows what they're
saying. They're just making words come
out of their mouth, but they're doing it
with sincere heart. They they want to
um they want to obey the Lord and and
they they're trying and and doing what
they think they're supposed to be doing.
And I don't fault them for that.
Um, but I think when you know what the
Bible gives us is the examples we see
like from the book of Acts, they were
speaking in tonesues and everybody
understood them in their
language. And in 1 Corinthians uh 14
where he says that you know if you speak
in tonesues that there should be someone
who interprets and so there should be
someone there who can interpret what's
being said. And so if you if you if
there's no interpreter then speak in
tonesues to yourself. don't don't do it
publicly. And so if there's not anybody
who can interpret, then you just say,
"Okay, well, this wasn't for everybody
else. This is just for me." And leave it
at
that. Um, and so I think we've got to be
careful.
Um, a lot of people want signs and
wonders. A lot of people want
um, hypers
spirituality. And I think what we've got
to realize is sometimes
uh these things happen very subtly and
it's not a big show. It's not a big
production. It's not um a spectacle. And
usually with the Holy Spirit, it's not a
spectacle. Usually it's pretty subtle
and
um and it has purpose. And if
something's a big show and a big
spectacle and it has no purpose, then
it's probably not the Holy Spirit.
Um, and so, for example, whenever, um,
you know, if you're praying for somebody
and and,
um, you know, you pray for healing and
they're healed, um, it doesn't need to
be a big show and you don't need to
parade them around in front of everybody
and and, uh, make them dance on stage
and stuff like that, you know.
Um, it doesn't have to be a big
spectacle. It could be, well, praise
God. All right, next. You know, who who
else needs prayer? you know, it doesn't
have to be a big show.
Um, and you know, when there's a a word
uh of knowledge or word of of prophecy
or something like that, it doesn't have
to be a a big um a big display, a big
public thing. You know, it could be,
hey, you know, come here. Um, I have a I
have a word to talk to you. Let's go
talk in private. I have a word I feel
like the Lord has wants me to say to
you. Let's go have a private
conversation. Talk about this. we don't
need to make a big spectacle in front of
the whole audience. Um I just need to
have a conversation with you because
there's something I'm supposed to tell
you. Um and you know and even sometimes
it's even more subtle than that. You
know, you're um there have been times
whenever um you know, I'm doing
counseling with somebody and uh
something comes up in the counseling
session and the Holy Spirit just puts
something into into my heart to say that
they need to hear. And I don't say, "Oh,
the Holy Spirit told me to tell you
this." oftentimes I'll just say it, hey,
this is this is something I think you
need to consider, something I think you
need to do. Uh because the Holy Spirit
put that thought into my mind. Um I'm
not being deceptive about it, saying,
"Oh, it's not the Holy Spirit, it's me."
That's not what I mean. It's just I'm
not being making a big show of it. I'm
not saying, "Oh, the Holy Spirit's
telling me you need to say this or do
this or or whatever." It's not necessary
to have to always preface it with the
Holy Spirit told me this.
Um, you know, and I've I've seen
preachers do things like that. They make
a big show of it and they're, you know,
they're preaching a sermon and then
they're like, "Oh, hang on a second. The
Holy Spirit's talking to me. Oh, what is
it? Oh, the Holy Spirit told me I need,
you know, that that's not necessary.
That's you're making a spectacle. It's
stupid." Um, you know, you're you're
preaching your sermon and the Holy
Spirit gives you something to say and
you just say it and then later you're
like,
"Wow, that was that was cool." um the
Holy Spirit told me to say this and
somebody came up to me later and they
confirmed it and they said, "Man, that
was exactly what I needed to hear." And
you're like, "Well, great. Then that
means I was listening to the Holy
Spirit. That's awesome." Um, you know,
it doesn't have to be anything fancy.
You know, it doesn't have to be some
some epiphany moment. It it can be
subtle and it can be
uh seamless, you know, that it just
happens and you you know, people don't
even sometimes realize it's the Holy
Spirit working, but it is. You know,
oftentimes with counseling that's
happens. You know, you you give good
wisdom, good knowledge, good advice,
good counsel, and it's the Holy Spirit
speaking through you, and it's coming
straight from the Holy Spirit is exactly
what they need to hear, but it's not a
big spectacle. It's very casual, very
um unassuming, very
humble, and um very
gentle. And that's been my experience
with the Holy
Spirit is that's often how it happens is
it's not a big spectacle. Um it it's not
something to draw attention to me. It's
the Holy Spirit is doing something and
using me as a vessel to minister to
somebody else. And I don't need
attention for it. And it doesn't need to
be a big uh a big spectacle, a big deal.
It doesn't need to draw attention to me.
All eyes on me. Hey guys, I'm hearing
from the Lord having an epiphany. It
doesn't need to be that. Um it's just
you say what needs to be said in the in
the moment it needs to be said and very
subtle, very simple. And um that's
typically how I've seen the Holy Spirit
work most frequently in my life. Um and
I would I would assume it's probably the
same way for most other
people.
Um let's
see. Let's see. See, I'm looking if
there's any other questions. I want to
try to go. We're already past our time,
but I'm just looking here real quick and
see if there's any other questions about
the Holy Spirit.
Um, okay. I don't see any. I I I'm
looking for the qu word question in big
bold letters. That helps me find it
quicker so I don't have to read through
every comment in here.
Um Robert says, "The the fruit of the
spirit is essential, especially in
today's world." Uh absolutely. The fruit
of the spirit is essential and uh all
believers um need to be walking in the
Holy Spirit, being led by the spirit and
um following the leading of the Holy
Spirit and and working in the Holy
Spirit and making yourself accessible so
the Holy Spirit can use you. Um and and
that's just to touch again on on last
week about the gifts of the spirit. The
manifestation gifts is the manifestation
of the Holy Spirit in in a certain
situation. And so you're praying for
healing and the Holy Spirit manifests
healing. Um you're you're speaking to
someone and the Holy Spirit manifests by
giving you wisdom. Um you're you have a
situation the Holy Spirit manifests by
giving a word of prophecy.
um you know whatever it is you know gift
tongues interpretation
uh healing miracles prophecy knowledge
wisdom all those it's the Holy Spirit
manifesting in that moment in that what
needs to be done at that moment um and
so if you need a word of wisdom the Holy
Spirit brings that word of wisdom um if
you need uh you know healing the Holy
Spirit brings that healing whatever it
is and it's the Holy Spirit manifesting
in that moment as he sees fit, the Bible
says. And so it's not it's not that
you're going to be always working in all
the gifts at all the time. You know,
you're not going to see it all always.
It's as it's needed. And if it's not
needed, you're not going to see it. And
if healing is not needed, you're not
going to see he healing.
Um but you know, when when healing
happens, we know it's the manifestation
of the spirit healing. And so I I heard
this preacher one time um he said, "I'm
I have the gift of healing and everybody
I pray for for healing, they are always
healed. If if you need healing, I'll
pray for you and you will be healed
because I have the gift of
healing." That is bunk. Um I you know
that you don't have the gift of healing.
The Holy Spirit is the healer. The Holy
Spirit is the one who heals through you.
If someone has received healing through
your prayer, it's because the Holy
Spirit gave them healing. It's not
because you are a healer. And that's
that's where people get it all
backwards. They think, "Oh, I healed
somebody, so I'm a healer." No, you're
not a healer. The Holy Spirit's the
healer. You're just the um you're you're
you're like Balam's donkey. Um you're
the tool he used to communicate what
needed to be communicated at that time.
Um, Balam's donkey was able to speak to
Balam to get him to stop. Uh, so that
the uh the angel who was standing there
with a sword didn't cut Bum's head off.
Um, you know, he the donkey, there's
nothing special about that donkey. It's
the Holy Spirit using that donkey to
accomplish his his
desire. That's what we are. We're just
like Bam's donkey. Um, the Holy Spirit
just uses us to say or do what needs to
be said or done at that moment when he
wants it said or done. We are his tool.
We are his his we are useful in his
hands. And that's what we want to be. We
want to be a tool in his hands. We want
to be useful to him. And if we're not
useful to him, then he'll find somebody
else who's useful. And so, we should
make it our desire to be useful to him,
to be used by him in the ways he wants
to use us. um and not to try to
manipulate and not to um try to be be or
do something that he doesn't
want said or done. Um and so we've got
to be obedient and we've got to listen
and um be willing to obey.
Um that's that's really what we've got
to do is learn how to listen to the
voice of the Holy Spirit and obey him.
Um, that's what walking in the spirit
looks like. And it's very simple. It's
very humble. And
um, it's not that you're going to have a
life full of spectacular, miraculous
things all the
time. You know, I when I when I was
given examples, I gave examples of
things that have happened over the last
30 years. And there, you know, maybe 10
10 examples over the last 30 years of
things that I would consider um amazing
things that the Holy Spirit has done in
my life. I could maybe list 10 or 12
things in the last 30 years. It doesn't
happen all the time. It doesn't happen
every single week. Doesn't happen every
single month. Doesn't happen every
single
year, but it happens when the Holy
Spirit wants it to happen. And so, you
know, I we we've had times where um you
know, we we we were praying for people
and you pray for one person, they get
healed. You pray for the next person,
nothing. Why? It's because the Holy
Spirit chose to heal that person at that
moment, but didn't choose to heal that
next person at that moment. Um and he
has sovereignty to do that. He has um he
has his reasons. And maybe he chose not
to heal for a good reason. And we just
have to trust that if they didn't get
healed, then it wasn't the Holy Spirit's
time to heal him. It wasn't the Holy
Spirit saw it was not the right time for
that healing. And maybe there's
something else that needs to happen
first. Or maybe um maybe he's trying to
accomplish
something through this situation
um and they they can't be healed yet
because they need to get through this
for some other reason. Um Paul, you
know, he says he prayed three times for
this thorn in the side to be removed
from him. And God said, "My grace is
sufficient for you." Whatever that thorn
in the side was, there's a lot of debate
about what that meant. Whatever it was,
though, Paul wanted it gone and God told
him, "No, I'm not going to take it away.
Um you just need to depend on my grace."
And so there may be times in our life
where we're praying for something and
God says, "No, um I'm not going to take
that away from you.
um my grace is sufficient. And we need
to be good with that answer and say,
okay, I'm okay with not having what I
want. I'm okay with not having the
healing. I'm okay with not having the um
whatever situation
change. I'm okay with that because I
trust God and I know that his his ways
are higher than my ways. His plans are
better than my plans. And um I'm going
to trust him to do what he thinks is
best, not what I think is best because I
don't know as well as he does. I don't
see as well as he sees I I don't
understand as well as he
understands. And um we have to trust
him. And that's where faith comes in is
we trust him through the hard things.
And we trust that he is in control and
he is sovereign. He has a reason uh for
everything. And he works out bad things
for good.
Um, but we got to trust him for that to
happen.
So, anyway, um, I hope this has been a
uh, a beneficial Q&A. Um, there wasn't
as many questions as I thought there'd
be, honestly. I thought we'd have more
questions about the Holy Spirit, more
questions about the gifts of the spirit.
Um, so I'm I'm actually surprised, but
I'm glad because um, if there's not
questions, that means you have good
understanding of it. And that means that
the past couple weeks when we're talking
about it um that maybe the topic maybe I
covered the topics well enough that you
don't have a lot of questions. So I'm
glad um and you know I would encourage
you if you do have questions that you
know maybe to go back and and rewatch um
the last couple weeks where we talked
about who is the Holy Spirit, what are
the gifts of the spirit and maybe
that'll help understand some of the
questions you might have. Um, next week
we're going to be talking about
Pentecost. And so we're going to be
talking about what is Pentecost, both
the biblical holiday
uh of Pentecost and what happened at
Pentecost with the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. And we're going to kind of
weave all this stuff together and make
sense of it because Pentecost is right
around the corner. And so we're going to
be talking about Pentecost next week.
Um, and so I'm looking forward to that
and I hope you guys are as well. Um,
until then, we'll see you next time.
Thank you for joining me on Let's Talk
Biblical. If you enjoyed this episode,
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And I look forward to chatting with you
again next week. Until next time, keep
talking biblical. Shalom.