Breakthrough: Jesus & The Spirit

Come on, churches. Clap our hands together all across our campuses from the north side, south side, east side, west side, central campus, and 450 prisons all across the United States of America. And we are grateful that we are together as we are celebrating the afterglow of our women's conference. What a move of God. It was just incredible to be in the room with so many warriors who love Jesus. And for that, we celebrate a lot of movement in the Kingdom of God advancing. Women of God forever changed. Also, at Super Bowl Sunday, I got to take a quick survey. How many of you are cheering for the Patriots? Anybody cheering for the Patriots? Okay. We got a couple jerseys here at the central campus. How many of you are cheering for the Seahawks? Anybody cheering for the Seahawks? All right, that's a couple of services right now. And if you were to survey CBC, it seems as if it's tipping in the Seahawk category. How many of you are going, "I don't care. I really don't even care." And then there are people like me that go, "The Cowboys are not in the Super Bowl again." And that as soon as this game is over tonight, I will go, "And next year's our year." And we've been saying that for so many years. But how many of you know that when trophies fade, and chicken wing bones are left behind? There's one thing that remains to say. His name is Jesus. He's King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Come on, can we just take a few seconds just to celebrate the fact that he is the champion of the world? Amen. And because his kingdom rules and reigns forever, it's important that we have conversations. It feels like it's a few conversations in a row. But I just want to always preface conversations like this to say that we cannot allow culture to disciple our kids. We can't let comments and social media disciple our kids. We have to be a church that just speaks to absolute truth. And let me just say a few things today. On Friday, I made a post that expressed my concerns towards the video that was on the social media platform of President Trump. Whether it was personally sent by him or not, we don't know and we'll never know. Bottom line, it came from his platform. Scripture is really clear by the way in Luke chapter 12 verse 48, it says, "To those who have been given much, much is required. Influence carries responsibility." So let me be very clear. It is never acceptable ever to use imagery of monkeys associated with black people. It's never acceptable ever. But matter of fact, where did this ideology even come from? Once you're tuned into the podcast this week, it's Pastor Marquis and Pastor Hutchim I really break this down. I want to show you where this ideology comes from. And it's demonic, it's divisive. And the hope of the world is Jesus. But I just want to remind us what the Bible says to us because these images is rooted in racism that has furthered even the animosity and the tension and division. Genesis 127, which is why we always have to begin with what God says, not what culture says. God says that we are all made in the image of God. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation, every people group. It's important that we start there. Every person is made in the image of God. In anything that connects imagery towards racism must be unequivocally condemned. There is power in our words. There are power in images. Proverbs 18, 21 says there is life and death in the power of the tongue. When communication is purposeful or not once more, we don't know. Wounds are created that need to be healed. Conversations of divisiveness coming from a particular platform is what's communicated and sentiments and it must be confronted. And there has to be accountability. Accountability is required. On Friday, my post was intended to bring biblical clarity to this issue. It would have been helpful for me if I would have heard what President Trump said later. However, let me just say this. There will always be opinions of me. But the one thing that will not be an opinion, it'll be a fact, is that I will never be silent, ever, when there is injustice done to my brothers and sisters. Silence is never an option. Say what you want to say about me. Talk however you want to talk about me. But you'll never be able to say he's silent on issues. However, what is troubling when I later saw this video from President Trump, he did not denounce, he deflected, and instead of being quite transparent about the question concerning the post, he did not own it that it came from his platform, that it came from his platform. And therefore, based upon that, he chose not to address the hurt and the divisiveness that has been caused. He needed to demonstrate leadership in that moment and to condemn what was wrong and to bring healing to people that needed his voice to speak to them. Therefore, influence carries responsibility whether you're the President of the United States or you have a Facebook account yourself. Every single one of us have to recognize that what we say and what we do, we are all accountable for. If we cause pain, if it causes division, we are all going to be held accountable to the Lord by the things that we said and the things that we did not say. And let me say it again, influence carries responsibility. But let's just make this really clear. The heart of God greaves over racial division. More than any one of us, the heart of God who made us in his image sees his children diminish and devalue and divide and it breaks his heart. It breaks my heart. Not just because of the fact that I'm a father of a black son or married to a Filipino wife. It breaks my heart because it breaks God's heart. For us as a people, we're going to be a church that says to all people, you are welcome here. You are welcome here. And what we're believing for is that actually CBC can be a testimony that at so many different moments, there's one table, one table that we come to that Jesus invites us into. All of us need Jesus. Can we agree together that the hope of the world is Jesus? The answer to every problem is Jesus. Ephesians 2.14, he breaks down the walls of hostility and makes us one. But let me just close with this. My allegiance is to no party, either parties. I'm going to keep reminding you of this. My allegiance is to a lamb and a lion. And his name is Jesus Christ. My allegiance is not to a man in an office. My allegiance is to a God man who rules in heaven. My allegiance is not to a future leader. My allegiance is to Jesus Christ. And my advocacy for all people will come through what Jesus says about all people, which is we all are his sons and daughters. Can we clap together? Let's clap together. Amen. Let's lift our hands together. Thank you for the day. Thank you for the purposes of God, the plan of God that you've set before us. And Lord, I pray in faith today, let CBC be a demonstration of what it looks like to be from every walk of life and to be centered in one that we are sons and daughters of a living God. And Jesus, name it all God, so people today, amen. Amen. Come on, let's clap together. We are so glad you're here. And we're in a sermon series entitled Breakthrough, but it's really been a sermon series on the oil. Many of you heard me talk about a young man named Gary last weekend. Gary, by the way, is five or six years old. I don't know if Gary's in the house, but Gary's a full grown man at five and six years old. I think I looked at him as like, Gary, when did you start shaving? He's five, six years old. Gary wanted to meet me after a service. And we're standing in this back hallway here at the central campus. And I got down on one knee and Gary said, Pastor Ed, what is the oil? And how is this about the Holy Spirit? I said, well, the Holy Spirit is not oil, Gary. I said, but the Holy Spirit has an image that people can understand. It's the oil. And then Gary, five or six years old, looked at me and he said, so the oil represents the Holy Spirit. I said, come on, Gary, use a big word called represent. Absolutely. exactly what I'm talking about and we've been in a sermon series on the oil of the Holy Spirit. And what we have to begin with this thought concerning this conversation today for the next few moments is actually what Jesus would remind us of that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. How many of you love Jesus, any Jesus lovers in the house all across our campuses? We love Jesus. Love Jesus. All right. And how many of you love the Holy Spirit? Come on, can we just say that we love the Holy Spirit? We love the Holy Spirit. But they are not one in the same. They are individual. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity of God, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity of God and God the Father, of course. So God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one, three individual realities of God. And as you and I think about Instagram specifically, how many of you know what it means to collab with somebody on social media? Anybody know what I'm talking about? 14 at this campus, awesome. All right. So anybody else on the other campus is, so let me just break it down to some of you that don't know what I'm talking about. You're following a particular actor or a musician or an actress, whoever it may be, that you're following. And then you love this particular person. You love their content. You've been following them for a while and you have been following another person that you go, man, I admire, I respect, but you did not know these two people know each other. Are you still tracking with me? And then all of a sudden they collab together, which means that they created a post where they were together. And this is one of the comments, this is the collab I did not know I needed. I want to preach a message today that helps you understand of the ultimate collaboration. Come on, we love Jesus. One more time, we love Jesus. Come on, we love the Holy Spirit. But the ultimate collaboration of the two together is Jesus walking on this earth, doing all that he did in the power of the Holy Spirit. I've got to ask you a question. You all ready for this? Come on, you ready? Here's the theological question. The theological question, I got to ask you today, all campuses, is Jesus 100% God to you? Now, if you say yes, I'm going to use that answer because I agree with that answer. I believe that the Holy Spirit is 100% God. I believe that Jesus is 100% God. I believe that the Father is 100% God. This is not like your hand sanitizer, 99.9. This is 100. This is low random. All right, but hang with me. 100% God, which by the way, kindly, respectfully, I'm going to use against you in this entire sermon in a kind way because you just told me that Jesus is God, which means that Jesus can do all things. Would you agree with me that Jesus can do all things because he's God? He's omnipotent. He's all powerful. He's omniscient. He knows all things. So if Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and can fully operate in his God power, then I want to show you something that the ultimate collaboration with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is when Jesus walks on this earth and can do all things by his own power, but chooses to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit. Why? That's the question. Why? Was it for Jesus? Because he couldn't do what he did without the Holy Spirit answer is Jesus could do all things because he's God, but why does he choose to operate in the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Why? You. To show you how we are to live in the ultimate collaboration of walking in victory, but the Holy Spirit of God is not an it. It's not a force. The Holy Spirit of God, as Gary said, the oil represents the Holy Spirit and you may not have never heard this before, but you are anointed. You're like pastor, you had to break that down. You're chosen. You're called. You're consecrated. You're dedicated. Yes, we are all ordinary myself included, but when the oil of the Holy Spirit that you got at the moment of salvation got on you, I need you to know you became somebody different, but you may not know what you're walking in and you may not recognize the power that you have to live a life of victory more than a conqueror to walk truly in a real relevant relationship with God that changes every place you go to. And this is the language that we use here at CBC is oil to stay oily, my friends, that every place you go into, that the atmosphere changes, that you leave behind oily footprints of the fact that you've been walking with God in the anointing of God on you is not just for people to clap for you, but the anointing of God on you breaks chains off of other people. That the oil of God on you brings deliverance for other people. Somebody get with me today. That the oil of God on you could actually make your home a different place, can make your workplace a different place. Your school a different place. If you fully recognize the ultimate collaboration, come on, look at your neighbor and say, this is good. Come on, look at your other neighbor right now, go, this is good. Here's the reason why. It's so good that you got to live out his goodness. So this is the target statement. We got to live with what Christ lived by, by choosing to live in it. If Christ lived by it, then we must live in it. Here's the word of God. Come on, we always got to start with the word of God. It said Corinthians, chapter 21 through 22, it says, as it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed, only pastor ed. No. It says, anybody, come on, just, would you audience participate right now? Has anointed what? Us. Dear God, I love the sweet child. Just shouted this out because if a kid can get this, then you can get this. Thank you for helping me preach this thing. My young brother, a sister, whoever shouted that out. But here's what I'm saying to you, is that God has anointed us, anointed us. We got to stop, listen, I'm not diminishing my anointing. I got it in anointing, but you got it in an ointing. We got to stop saying that the only people who are anointed or people who hold microphones, walk on stages, play instruments, and do stuff up here with LED walls and smoke and lights. No, listen, it's you. You are anointed to walk in the fullness of God every day of your life in victory. Somebody out of clap, hello, God. So I got six points. How many points do I got? It's like being at the Spurs gang two shots. I got six points, all right? Six points. The ultimate shot right here, I got six points. And point number one, I want to show you the ultimate collaboration begins with conception. Jesus was conceived in the spirit. Point number one, conceived in the spirit. The word of God says in Matthew chapter one verse 20, that which was conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Now you answer the question that Jesus is 100% God, which means if Jesus is 100% God, he could have manifested himself from heaven, which by the way, this might be a theological bomb for you and your soul. Jesus did not just enter into history at Christmas time. Jesus has existed for all eternity before the earth existed. Jesus existed. And when you and I think about what the scripture just told us, it's speaking of Mary, that what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit. Why does it say that? Because what was in her as a child was not conceived by Joseph. It was not conceived by a sexual union with God like other religions teach, that actually what was conceived in Jesus, in regards to the Holy Spirit, was Jesus who's always existed, which by the way, communicates a supernatural miracle that Jesus who's always existed downloaded himself into an embryo. And what does that miracle? Holy Spirit does that miracle. Why is it important that Jesus would be born of a woman? Because he could have dropped down like Iron Man straight to the earth. Y'all with me, rockets, X-ray vision, Kate, buckle, boots, and we'd be like, "Worthy." But instead, oh God, this just dropped in my spirit. We've watched a lot of babies grow up to be kings, but never in all of history did we see a king become a baby. Just let that sit. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. You go, "Okay, but, Pastor Ed, remember, you told us this is the ultimate collaboration, so why was Jesus conceived in the Spirit?" Thank you for asking that question, your brilliant people. But because of the fact that Jesus was brought into this earth, born unto us through the Holy Spirit, which means that you and I in order for us to be born again, do you remember the conversation with Nicodemus? Nicodemus was like, "What must I do to go to heaven?" Great question. Jesus goes, "You got to be born again." Nicodemus was like, "I got to go back inside my mother's womb." I can only picture Jesus like, "Dear God, dear God." But what do you say to to John 3 verse 60 says what's born of the flesh is born of the flesh. about what's born of the spirit is born of the spirit. Ask to say that in order for you to be born again, yes, it's Jesus, but we got a really theological problem. We got to address Romans 3, 11 says, "No one seeks after God." So how do we, as sinful people who have hearts that are dead unto Him, actually want God? Answer, the Holy Spirit is drawing you to Jesus, leading us unto repentance. Even your faith in Jesus to say yes to Jesus is a gift from the Holy Spirit. So Jesus was born on this earth conceived by the Holy Spirit to teach us that in order for you to be born again, to get to heaven, you got to be born of the spirit. Now Jesus saves us, but in order to see that Jesus saves us, the Holy Spirit has to reveal this. I got to break this down for somebody that walked in one of our campuses or this campus, and was like, "Hey man, I'm not even a God follower." Like I didn't want anything to do with God, but I just woke up today and I'm like, "I need God." Can I tell you that's not you. That's the Holy Spirit of God awakening in your heart, drawing you into the presence of God today. When somebody repents of sin and gives their life to Jesus, let me just be really clear. It's not because I persuaded you. The Word of God through the Holy Spirit brought conviction. You're like, "I need to get saved. "I need to repent of sin and put my faith in trust in Jesus." That's not because my sermon was cool. It's because the Word of God never returns void, and when the Word goes forward, it landed on your heart and the Holy Spirit began to bring light to it. And you're like, "How come I've never heard this before? "Let me break it down." You did hear it before, but your heart was not receptive to it, and then at the right time, in the right moment, the right place, the Holy Spirit of God begins to draw you, 'cause now you find yourself ready. This is what it means to be conceived by the Holy Spirit specifically unto us. Awakening, new birth, new beginning, made possible. Yes, by Jesus Christ. He's the way the truth in life, but we would never know that we need His way. We would never know we need His truth. We would never know we need His life if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit. Somebody help me clap. Come on, help me clap. We'd never know it if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit. Now how many points do I got? I gave you one, all right, here we go. I love it, you got six points, all right. Point number two, write this down. We are affirmed in the Spirit, all right? Jesus was affirmed in the Spirit. John chapter one, verse 32, "Yall still with me," say amen. It says, "And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, "and it remained on Him." In Matthew 3, verse 11, He says, "And He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." Now if you're like, "Hey man, "I don't even know who this John guy is." Who's John? It's called John the Baptist. He wasn't like Baptist. They just called him John the Baptist. Now don't miss this. He's rocking like a coat of camel hair, this ain't H&M, this ain't Zara. This is not Nordstrom Rack. I'm just like, dudes out for God. He's eating bugs and wild honey, and he's in the wilderness. And his message was not politically correct. He's just like, "Repent, the king is coming." And people go out to the wilderness, and all of a sudden Jesus shows up. And he looked at John the Baptist, and he goes, "Baptized me." And John the Baptist is like, "Punk the brakes." Mm-hmm, you're supposed to baptize me. And all of a sudden Jesus goes, "This must happen to fulfill the law of God." So John the Baptist submits, baptizes Jesus, you go, "Ed, why did Jesus get baptized?" One, to encourage you to get baptized. If you have given your life to Jesus, you ought to not be ashamed of Jesus. You ought to get baptized. But number two, he was actually showing a picture buried in his likeness, raised to walk in newness of life. I don't know if you know this, but when he got baptized, he was just vividly painting a picture of what it looks like to communicate the dead is gone, and the new is come. And he was teaching in bodily form what he was gonna eventually do for you on the cross, buried in a tomb, and come back from the dead. That's what baptism teaches. But the moment Jesus came up out of the water, hello somebody, the heaven, the heavens open, the dove descended, and the word of God says, that the Holy Spirit remained on him. Remained on him. You're like Pastor Ed, why are you emphasizing remained on him? 'Cause Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come and empower and do great works, and then the Holy Spirit would come off of people. This is good news for us, but in the New Testament, why does Jesus remind us that he is affirmed by God through the Holy Spirit? It's because you and I have the Holy Spirit remaining with us. So in the Old Testament, Adam and Eve sin, they're out of the presence of God. The only time you can now get into the presence of God is going to a tap or not going to sanctuary. But now as New Testament believers, the Bible says that my body is the sanctuary. My body is the temple. The Holy Spirit of God lives in me, lives in you. Good news. I don't just have to come to CBC to get into the presence of God. The presence of God is in me. But what's crazy about this is Jesus has a dove to sit on a shoulder, and for the next three and a half years, can I tell you what Jesus did not do? He didn't walk around with a dove on his shoulder, like he was a pirate with a pair of key. You with me? He didn't walk into places like respect the dove. (congregation laughing) I got the dove. Check the dove. Come on, y'all. You know, with me, like Jesus wasn't like walking into places, going, I got the dove. You can't have the dove. I got the dove. No, no, the dove was a symbol. But what was it teaching us that when God the Father spoke over Jesus and said, this is my son and whom I'm well pleased? Can I tell you what God saw? God saw Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and it brought pleasure to his heart all about to put a theological truth in your soul and spirit. Has Jesus done any miracles yet? Answers, no. He's done nothing. No, like five loads to fish, H-E-B up in here. None of that stuff. He hasn't walked on water. He hasn't healed the dove. He hasn't healed the blind. He's done nothing. And God goes, this is my son. Why? He sees Jesus. He sees the Holy Spirit. I got good news for you. I'm a little fired up. I don't know if you've noticed. But I just need you to know that when God the Father looks at you, He doesn't see you as disgusting. He doesn't see you as scandalous. He doesn't see you in your sin. He sees Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And He goes, this is my son. This is my daughter in whom I'm well pleased. Because when He sees you, He sees Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is good news. Stop trying to get everybody to affirm you God already has. [APPLAUSE] Come on. God already has. Point number three. Thank you. We are led by the Spirit. Jesus was led by the Spandys' unbelievable. In Luke chapter 4 verse 1, "So Jesus comes up out of the water." I don't know if you know this. He comes up out of the water. And before he does any miracles, here's Luke 4.1. In Jesus, full of the Spirit returned from the Jordan. That's where he got baptized. And was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. Sweet Jesus. Luke 4.1 says, "He is full of the Spirit." Remember the question you answered? Is Jesus God? Answer, yes. Jesus is God. But the Bible just said, "He's full of the Spirit." You're like, I don't even know what that means. You know what it means? Is that Jesus full of the Spirit is being led by the Spirit. So he doesn't do anything. Listen to me. He doesn't do anything. He doesn't go wherever he wants to go. His life is guided, directed, led by the Holy Spirit. Not what people want from him. Not the expectation of the pressures people put on him. He moves as the Spirit of God tells him to move. He speaks what the Father has told to the Holy Spirit to tell Jesus. He does what he does once more. You answer the question. Jesus is God. He doesn't need all of that. But why is he doing this? So you would move as the Spirit of God tells you to move. You would speak as the Spirit of God tells you to speak. But I got another theological problem. I really do. Dear God, here's the problem. Why would the Spirit of God lead Jesus, the Son of God, into the wilderness to be tempted by the one who hates God? Name the devil. You ready? The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to face three temptations. And here's the theological problem. The Spirit will never lead you into temptation. Do you know that? Some of you got to stop blaming the Spirit on that stuff. That was your choice that led you into that temptation. It was your choice and the people you hung out with that led you into that deal. Your own fleshly desires and the fellowship of people that we're leading you in this direction. The Spirit of God will never lead you into something. Come on, let me preach this. The Spirit of God will never lead you to do something that'll break the commandment of God ever, ever. (audience applauding) Y'all got to stop saying God told me to do, if God told you to do something that went against what God said, God didn't tell you that. I ain't gonna get no A-men's out of that one 'cause that got up in somebody's business right there, I promise you. (audience laughing) But here's what you need to know. Jesus was led by the Spirit, faces temptation, turned the rock into bread, jump off the temple mount, angels will catch you, bow the knee, and give allegiance to the devil. Jesus says, man doesn't live on bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He quotes Psalm 91 and says this, he goes, do not test God. And then he looks at Jesus and says, I will not bow down unto you because this kingdom I have is not of this world. And here's what I need you to know. And then he says, be gone Satan and the devil had to leave. Here's the reason why Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, the face temptation. Because when you live life, there's gonna be some moments, we end up in some temptation type scenarios that either are flesh-led us into, people hung out with, led us into, but here's what I need you to know. You have the authority through the Word of God and the Spirit of God to resist temptation and not conform to this world or fulfill your fleshly desires through the Spirit of God. So come on some, but, woo, God. You can actually overcome your temptation through the Word and the Spirit. So Jesus goes, y'all check this, the Spirit of God leads me into the wilderness, not because the Spirit of God leads me into sin, the Spirit of God is with you in the wilderness. The Spirit of God is with you when you face those temptations. I just need to put this into somebody's soul and Spirit today, when you make choices that you find yourself like, dear God, I should not be in this situation. The Holy Spirit of God doesn't go, well, figure that one out on your own. Holy Spirit of God begins to lean in and go, I can get you out of this. To happen, come on, to happen. Let the Word of God come on. Don't try to do this on your own. This temptation is bigger than you. This has got a generational curse attached to it. You can't defeat this one on your own. Spirit, truth. I got six points. How many points? - [Congregation] Three. - Point number four, write it down. Write it down. We see that Jesus ministered in the Spirit. He ministered in the Spirit. Now, you answered a question, CBC. All campuses, you answered a question. Jesus is God. Do you still believe this? Jesus is God. So let me ask you a very simple theological question. I think you and you're like pastor, Jesus has been asking us a bunch of questions. Here's the truth. If Jesus is God, then he could preach out of his own power. Would you agree? He could cast out demons in his name, which by the way, that's what cast out demons for the disciples. But what Jesus is revealing in his teaching, in his deliverance ministry, and also in his miracles, it was not his power. You're like pastor, you gotta back this up with Bible. So glad you asked that question. Luke 4, 18 says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor." He delivers people from demons by the Spirit of God, Matthew 12, verse 28. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Here's Acts 10, verse 38, "How God has anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." And he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. He taught, he delivered, and he did miracles through the Holy Spirit. Somebody needs to receive this today. I'm tired of Christians saying that they are not equipped to do what God has equipped them for. (congregation applauding) I need you to stop saying that I don't got what it takes. Pastor, I can't preach this thing like you. Dear God, don't preach it like me. Preach it like you. (congregation applauding) Preach it like you. The Holy Spirit of God has anointed you to teach the good news. You're like, "I ain't got no pulpit. Don't you lie to yourself. Your home is your pulpit, moms and dads." Listen, all you educators, your classroom is your pulpit. Your workplace is your pulpit. That gym is your pulpit, wherever God has given you influence. You go past your head. I only got five people that follow me on Instagram. You got five people to teach Jesus about. (congregation applauding) And let me say this, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you got a deliverance ministry and you don't even know it. That when you recognize the warfare, then the warfare is not against flesh and blood, but you can see the principalities and the dark forces. You by the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit can create a authoritative word that demons of hell have to obey. And you go past your head, where do I do that? It starts with your family, that you would preach and prophesy and declare that no weapon formed against you shall prosper, that you draw bloodlines around your home. You had noxured door frames. You put your hands on your kids in a godly way and say, "Devil, you can't have my kids. (congregation applauding) I need some men of God to pray that over their wives. You can't have my wife. You can't have me." A deliverance ministry is what you've got. Don't be weird about it. Dear God, we don't need any more weird Christians. (congregation laughing) Don't walk into places and go, "Respect the dove." (congregation laughing) Don't walk into places and go, "I got the oil. I don't know what you got, but I got the oil." You don't got walk in power. God consecrated confidence. Walk into rooms like God sent you there. Stop self-sabotaging. Stop deflecting. Stop saying stuff, "I'm not good enough." No, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Stop saying you can't do stuff. You can do all things. We'll try to do strength in you. I got six points. How many points? Point number five. I'm about to jump out my skin right now. Point number five. Jesus was resurrected by the Spirit. You're like Pastor Ed. We're getting an Easter message right here. Yeah, you better believe it. Easter message in February. You agree. Come on, I'm gonna use your words. You agree that Jesus is God. You agree. So if Jesus dies, God had to let that happen for you and for me so we can be forgiven. He was placed in a tomb. You agree that Jesus is God in his own power. If he's omnipotent, he owns all things. Could Jesus have resurrected himself from the dead? Yes, he could have. He could have been like in my own name, my own power. I'm coming back to life. But why does the old God? Let me just let the teaching of the scripture. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ, Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So let's ask this question. What raised Jesus from the dead? Not Jesus, the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. Which means if some of you are catching on to what I'm trying to tell you right now, is if you got the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, then you can walk out the grave of your addiction by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can walk out that grave of depression by the Holy Spirit. You can walk out that grave of financial deficiency by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can walk into places and respect doctors and medicine and all that. But go, I know you gave me that diagnosis, but you don't get the final word. God gets the final word because he, he by his Spirit lives inside of me and I'll do whatever he tell. And if he has a different plan for me, I'll submit to that. But I'm going to believe in faith that I can walk out of my grave clothes because of the power of the resurrection. Come on, somebody clap to that. Let's receive it. Let's receive it. I got six points. How many points? Point number six right here, empowered by the Spirit. Jesus was empowered by the Spirit. He did all these things through the power of the Holy Spirit. Can I ask you a question? If Jesus was empowered by the Spirit, then why aren't you empowered by the Spirit? You got the Holy Spirit. But yet if we got victory, then why do we live in defeat? What, why are we at a place as if it's just, it's like levels of insanity and I'm talking to myself, man. What, why do I keep, Going back and you keep going back to this old way of life and this old way of thinking When we got the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us I need a whole another sermon for this one, but I got to move on But let me just say this to you and John chapter 14 Jesus as he was going to the cross about the die He goes hey listen when I'm gone. I need you to know something the helpers coming The helpers coming you'll never be alone the helpers coming the Greek term is called paraplegied He's going to come along side of you. It's the oh God. This is the ultimate collaboration Do you see what I'm trying to tell you Jesus goes? I did all things through the collaboration of the Holy Spirit And now Jesus goes I'm leaving But here's the ultimate collaboration you In the Holy Spirit and you'll do greater things Jesus says and then Jesus dies and we just fast forward this Let me 10x this thing Then he dies and the disciples are in a room and then Jesus walks into the room and breathes on them the holy spirit This is John chapter 20 Breeze on them the Holy Spirit and says receive the Holy Spirit you're like That's a little weird Jesus walked into a room. I was like Why because it goes back to Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 when God breathed into Adam and made him a living being What's Jesus saying by my breath? You receive life just like Adam by my breath got life Do you see how this is coming back together and then we all of a sudden we see this he goes But wait Before you become my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea Samaria to the ends of the earth You you got to receive power and in Acts chapter 2 Do you know what happens the disciples and the groups of people that were there gathered in the upper room the Holy Spirit of God came like Pentecost fire and there were clove and tongues and they were speaking in a heavenly language and an earthly language Where everybody could understand and all of a sudden 3,000 people got saved and baptized and one dude looked at Simon Peter He's like y'all are drunk And he goes bruh It's 9 o'clock in the morning. Ain't nobody drunk. We are filled with the Holy Spirit of God And I need you to understand something To be a child of God there's not a Christian in this room or our campuses if you say you're a Christian you got the Holy Spirit Question is are you walking in this power that Jesus gave you? I'm close with this. I was walking out the house this morning and I was I was late. I was straight up was late and My wife gave me a bag of my vitamins. I typically take them in the kitchen. You're like dear God. How many vitamins do you take? I take a lot I take a lot of vitamins and You're like that explains the energy Well I was holding this bag And all of a sudden I found myself thinking about so many Christians Have a power source That they have not done this with All I kept thinking about was What good are vitamins in a Ziploc bag that you never take and all I kept thinking about is is a lot of people Who are Christians have the Holy Spirit But what good is the Holy Spirit in your life when you're carrying it around and not receiving the benefit from And all I'm saying is at some level we have to recognize if Jesus did not live independently from the Spirit neither can you We have the Holy Spirit And I know I'm trying to say the Holy Spirit's up in a Ziploc bag in your life That's not what I'm trying to say what I'm trying to say is this is there's got to be a moment where you go I have to live by a power source that's not from me and it's not an it is not karma It's not good vibes. It's the Holy Spirit of God that lives inside of me it is available But yet I keep trying to do my own thing Live my own way Say what I want to say do what I want to do and Jesus goes no there's a different way of living your life And if Jesus goes it was so important and Jesus goes I had all power But I submitted to the Holy Spirit in all things from conception to resurrection And if it was important for Jesus, I think it would be important that you and I go it should be important to me So stop just carrying around the Holy Spirit abide in the power of what God has given you in this life And here's the promise of all of it the promise of all of it is you can't lose the Holy Spirit You can't the question is what we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit Come on can we clap to this today? That'd be all right, man. I'm telling this this is a message for all of us heads About eyes blows father God. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your promise. Thank you for your truth God I'm passionate because you're preaching to me today God I could feel you talking to me today And God I pray that for my brothers and sisters and I pray blessing on their life And I pray that they would walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Jesus that you gave us the Holy Spirit And if it was important for you, it should be important for us Heads about eyes closed I believe there are people that the Holy Spirit of God is drawing unto himself Under salvation through Jesus We're gonna pray this prayer and faith calling on his name And if today you want to put your faith in trust in Jesus. Let's say this out loud together all campuses Let's say this out loud or Jesus. I'm not perfect probably even you save me Change me forgive me. I give you my life If you pray that prayer and faith all of our campuses don't listen even the courage you're getting right now is from the Holy Spirit If you gave your life to Jesus hold your hand up as tall as you can how many do you go man? I did that today all across our campuses hold your hand up [APPLAUSE]