Satan will steal your joy 03-15-2023

The speaker begins by greeting everyone and commenting on the weather. They mention a young man named Solomon accepting Jesus Christ. They then share incidents where their truck window was broken and a company refused to reimburse them. They attribute these challenges to Satan trying to steal their joy. They emphasize that when doing God's work, there will be opposition. They discuss the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit and how it helps in understanding spiritual matters. They warn against false teachings and doctrine of demons. They share a personal experience with a false teaching about baptism. They encourage listeners to rely on the words of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit for discernment. Good morning, good morning, these are 4, 2, 3, 8, you are the first one, good to see you this morning, alright, good to see ya, good to see all of you this morning, alright, good to see ya, good to see ya, good morning, good morning, good morning, good to see each one of you, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good to see each one of you, good morning, Diane, good morning, good to see ya, good morning on this beautiful Wednesday morning, looks like we're going to have rain outside, love it, have your coffee, you know what, I do have coffee this morning, I've been slowing down on my coffee, good morning, good morning JT, good to see you, Jim, I always wondered why didn't you go with James Taylor, just for, you know, marketing reasons, James Taylor, wow, that's cool, but good to see ya, good morning Pastor Paul, what does it say, good morning Pastor Paul, wow, long time, I miss these studies, peace and blessings to you, we receive that, thank you so much, Ray, good to see you this morning, going to make some coffee this morning, good morning, yes, yes, yes, get some coffee, Pastor Paul, but I have been slowing down on the coffee, but however, I did get a cup of coffee this morning, we have wind and chilly, good morning, yes, the weather's good, because I don't want to be famous, oh, amen, amen, Miss Joy, thank you so much, praise God, thank you so much, what's up man, how you doing, I am doing good, let's, you know what, how many we got on, 190, okay, let's talk about something, yesterday, how many were you on yesterday, I'm sure most of you, so yesterday we had a young man named Solomon accept Jesus Christ, and that's happened a few times on our lives, and I love it, I love it, I love it, but, do you all understand this, that when you are doing the Lord's work, when you are doing the Lord's work, Satan is angry, he's mad, he's upset, he wants to somehow rob you of your joy, and with that being said, so yesterday, yesterday was a very interesting day, let's put it that way, so yesterday, I get done with the live, I do my routine, I get ready, I walk out the door, because I'm in route to go to, go to work, to Ed Ace, and I walk out, and there my truck window is busted out, I was like, Mr. Solomon, good to see you this morning, we were just talking about you, I walk out, and my window was busted out, and I look, and there was glass on the ground, there was glass on the truck, and immediately I thought somebody was trying to steal our truck, and our property is closed in, I'm like, did somebody really come on our property, that was my immediate reaction, but then as I really started looking, I think a bird hit the window, but it's the inconvenience of the window being broken, and I'm like, Satan, you're not going to steal my joy here, I'm excited, I'm just giving God all the glory, because young Solomon accepted Jesus as his Lord, I'm not going to lose my joy, and then, I'm at work at Ace, and I get a, well I sent the old company I consulted for, I said, hey, I haven't received my last, good morning Ms. Kim, I haven't received my last expense report, and I just sent an email, and basically, they responded, well, we came to the conclusion, and I'm not going to go into details, because I'm going to give them an opportunity to fix this, well, we came to the conclusion that since you didn't put certain information in this database, that we're not going to reimburse you, wait a minute, what do you mean you're not going to reimburse me, I go, basically, I've never put any information in that database, and I didn't have access to the database in the end, so, my word has always been my bond, and you guys have always honored that, and I've, you know, displayed by, you know, phone calls, and emails, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and they basically said, well, we're not going to reimburse you, well, it's not a lot, to me it's a lot, to some of you, it might not be a lot, it's a thousand bucks, and that would be, you know, helpful at this point in time, and I'm like, once again, here's Satan trying to steal my joy, and see, folks, that's what happens when you are doing the Lord's work, there are going to be things that take place, there are going to be, how can I put it, when you are doing God's work, there's going to be opposition, when you are doing God's work, there are going to be things coming against you, and this is why the Bible is quite clear, that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, that's a lot, especially for working for someone, it is a lot, however, when you wrestle, when you wrestle, good morning, Nate, when you wrestle, how can I put it, when you think you're wrestling with individuals, you're wrong, because we do not wrestle with individuals, our battle is spiritual, so yesterday was a great day, but Satan, good morning, lamp, Satan was trying to rob me of my joy, so with all that being said, keep your head up, keep your focus, but we're going to talk a little bit more about what we talked about yesterday, turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians 2.14, we looked at it yesterday, let's look at it again, so that we can get in line to what we're going to do here, 2nd Corinthians, and I'll keep you guys up to date with regard to this company, I might need some help from you guys on that one, but we're going to, I gave them until Friday to fix this, and if not, I might have all of you help me with regards to that, watch out for the birds today, really, a bird hits the window, is that crazy, I mean it did a pretty good number on it, so 1st Corinthians 2.12, I'm sorry, please forgive me, 1st Corinthians 2.14, 1st Corinthians 2.14, let me pray real quick, Father God, I thank you, I praise you, I honor you, I lift you up, Lord I pray that you would just bless this Bible study this morning, Lord I pray that you would bless me to teach it, Father we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen. Alright guys, I am going to shoot to get off at 7.15, I know that's not long from now, but we should be able to get what we need to get in, and get this imparted to you, but 7.15, somebody remind me please, okay, 1st Corinthians, we said it yesterday, but let's look at it again, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, we said yesterday that the natural, what do we mean by the natural, the person that is not born again, and that's a phrase we don't use a lot these days, JT I know you heard a lot of that in the Baptist church, that we are born again believers, what does that mean, we are born, and we're going to look at what that means, we are born again, we have been given a new heart, we are filled with the Spirit, and we are born again, and basically it says the natural man cannot understand the things of the Lord, some of you have been talking to people about the Gospel, they could be in your family, you've been at the family function, you've asked everybody to bow their heads and pray, they've mocked you, they've laughed at you, but why, because they're in the natural, they're in the flesh, they're in their carnality, they cannot understand the things of God, because why, they are of flesh, they're not born again, watch what it says again, it says, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, they can't understand the Word, they don't understand when you get excited, there are going to be people on here, I guarantee you the moderators are going to have to put people out of this live, because they're going to talk nonsense, don't get mad at them, but they're going to speak nonsense, because what we are talking about must be spiritually discerned, it must be discerned, yesterday, going outside with the window broken, dealing with this company with regards to the revenue they owe me, I have to spiritually discern that, and say, wait a minute, something's going on here, I'm not mad at the company, I'm not mad at the birds, but something is going on here, why, because I know that Satan is upset, why, because we are sharing the good news, we're sharing the gospel, we know that Satan is upset, that Solomon accepted Jesus Christ, his soul has been saved, and that he is a born again believer in covenant with Jesus Christ, see, that's what we have to understand, but people don't understand that unless they have the Holy Spirit, this is why you see people saying, Amen, Hallelujah, this is why people understand that, because they are filled with the Spirit, watch this, verse 15, but he who is spiritually judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one, for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ, we cannot be judged by the world, why, because we have been, our verdict is what, not guilty, why, because we have put our trust and faith in whom, Jesus Christ, Solomon, you are not guilty, as a sinner you are not guilty, you are rendered not guilty, matter of fact, your sins have been thrown in the sea of forgetfulness, why, because you have been covered by the blood, you are not guilty now, and that's why you have eternal life, that's why you will go before God, and you will stand before God, and you should not be judged according to your, if you will, your sin nature, now, anything you did in the body after you are saved, you will be judged according, but not unto condemnation, point is, you are saved from the wrath that's going to come upon this earth, now, though, back to my point here, so, for us to try to really convince people of the Bible, and they don't have the spirit, this will make no sense to them, however, let's go to the book of John, and that's where we were going to go yesterday, but we ran out of time, let's go to the book of John, chapter 3, I think it is, the book of John, chapter 3, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, alright, and while you're doing that, and while I'm doing that, I'm going to get there, and I'm going to take a sip of my coffee, alright, so, the new birth, that's what we'll label this, the new birth, wait, I have a question, what will happen at the rapture, I've heard only 144,000 people will be saved, real quick, I'm going to side note and answer that real quick, the 144,000 you've identified in the Old Testament, if you keep reading, I mean, sorry, in Revelations, please forgive me this morning, guys, the 144,000, you will see in Revelations, okay, now that 144,000, if you keep reading, they are what, from the tribes of Israel, right, the twelve tribes, you do the math, you can look at it right there, that is reference to them, now the rapture that we notice is the rapture of the church, the church, what is the church? A born again believer in covenant, that means everybody that has a relationship with Jesus Christ, if Jesus were to rapture the church tomorrow, that means the universal church will be raptured up, and it says that are, thank you so much, those that are dead in Christ, right, those that are dead in Christ will rise first, meaning my parents, who've gone on to be with the Lord, will rise first, and those that are alive, we will meet Him, who's Him, Jesus Christ, where? In the sky. That is now the rapture itself, but that 144,000, and I think, if I'm correct, and please someone correct me, I know that the Jehovah Witnesses teach that there's only 144,000 that will, I guess, be saved, and some of those 144,000 are within their ministry, supposedly, but that is false. If you read that in the revelations, you're looking at the tribes of Israel. So let's get back to the book of John, and there we go, that's a perfect example, there's a perfect example. You have been told something that a person, good morning, good morning friend, you've been told something, and it was a false teaching, now I'm not, I'm not, you know, getting on you about this, but what I'm saying is there's so many false teachers out there, they're not filled with the Spirit, so they teach false doctrines. Matter of fact, the Bible, matter of fact, hang on just a second, 1st Timothy 4.1, I'm just going to show you this real quick, 1st Timothy 4.1, I had to write this down, so I wanted to make sure you heard this, 1st Timothy 4.1, watch this. What is their doctrine called? Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits, and doctrine of demons. What? See, this is what happens, when people aren't filled with the Spirit, and they call themselves teachers, they are teaching false doctrines, and matter of fact, the Scripture calls them doctrine of demons, or doctrine of devils, I think the King James Version puts it. Doctrine of devils, let me read it again. Now the Spirit, what is the Spirit? Holy Spirit, God. Now the Spirit expressly says, in the latter times, meaning now, meaning right before the coming of Christ, but the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith. When we talk about the faith, we're talking about the doctrine of faith, the system of faith, we mean the truth. Remember we looked at the Scripture yesterday, it said that we must worship God in spirit and truth. But there are some that are going to leave and walk away from the faith, the truth. You've got guys on here, I see them all the time on their lives, they say, ex-Christian, ex-evangelist, ex this, this, this, this, and they've turned their hearts from God. They've turned their hearts from salvation, and now they listen to false doctrines, false teachings, which are doctrines of devils. We have tons of people come on here and claim that, good morning Josh, we have tons of people that have come on here and teach a false doctrine, a false teaching. There are people that come on here that condone same-sex relationships, there are people that have come on here and even accuse Jesus Christ, good morning, there are people that have come on here and accused Jesus Christ of having same-sex relationships. Once again now, the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, watch, it keeps going, speaking lies and hypocrisy, they speak lies, but if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you will listen to these teachings, if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you will consume these teachings, if you do not listen to the Holy Spirit, you will allow these teachings to indoctrinate you. Now once again, the beginning of the verse says what? These are doctrines of devils. You say, well Pastor Paul, how can that be? How many people, and I'm going to be very candid, how many people have been misled by false teachings? Let's be honest, anybody want to admit that this morning? How many have been misled by false teachings and the Holy Spirit corrected you? I'm going to take a sip and see what you all say. Let's see, how many of you have been misled? Good morning, me, me, there we go, there we go. I was, I was, I'll be the first one to admit it. I was a new Christian and I was attending a church that taught Jesus only. Wait a minute, what do you mean they taught Jesus only? Well what verse did they do to support that? Okay, let me take you there. They would take you to Acts 2.38. They wrapped a whole doctrine, and little did I know any better, they wrapped a whole doctrine around Acts 2.38, and let's see what it says, alright? And some of you might have been consumed with this doctrine, you might be consumed with this doctrine right now. But look what it says in Acts 2.38, some of you already probably know where I'm going to go right now. Acts 2.38, now I'm going to be the first one to admit it, here we go. Then Peter said to them, repeat and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins. Now let's think about it. They would tell us, okay, what does that name there say? We're like, well the name says Jesus, okay? Then they would say, why are you not being baptized in the name of Jesus only? Why are you being baptized in the other way? And we would look at that and say, well okay. Then Peter said to them, repeat and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And we were like, okay, that makes sense when I mean me and my wife, and we're like, okay, that makes sense, and I would wrestle with it, but then they would baptize people in the name of Jesus. Matter of fact, they went as far to say that if you weren't baptized in the name of Jesus only, you did not have the real baptism. You weren't saved. Matter of fact, they went as far to say that even if you didn't get baptized in the name of Jesus, you weren't saved. But I remember wrestling with that. And then they went on as far as to say, now you have to be baptized in the name of Jesus only, but on top of that, you have to speak in tongues. Now we're seeing a false teaching with regards to what, baptism in Jesus' name only, and then we get next to what, now we've got to speak in tongues, that's worked, and I would scratch my head and I would study the scripture. Matter of fact, I even questioned the pastor and he wanted to fight with me about it. So my point is this, let's go back to where I was going in regards to 1 Timothy 4.1. Look what he says, now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirit and doctrine of demons. Doctrine of demons. See, when there is a false teaching, that doctrine comes from the devil himself. And you and I must have the Spirit, Holy Spirit, to discern what is truth. While I was deceived for a season, when I started studying my Bible, and I would go to the, thank you, when I looked at Ephesians, and I said, wait a minute, I've got to speak in tongues, but let me look in Ephesians, and I looked in Ephesians, and what did it say? It said, by faith you are saved, not by works. I said, that's interesting. So it's by faith, not by works. But then I go to Matthew chapter 28, and then I would start looking at that, and it said baptized, and Jesus said it, baptized in what? The name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Wait a minute. That preacher from that pulpit said I need to be baptized in the name of Jesus only. Now though, he would, and I called him on that, and he says, well, what did Peter say? Well, I started doing my research, it says, what Peter was saying, it was implied in Acts 238, but was this, by the authority of Jesus Christ. But really let me break it down a little bit more. But if you go to the book of Matthew, and let's turn to the book of Matthew chapter 28, because I want to point something out to you. In Matthew 28, we're talking about doctrine of devils. If you look at Matthew 28, 19 and 20, let's see, right there. If you look at it this way, in some of your Bibles, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, wait a minute, Jesus said this, excuse me, I burped, Jesus said this, matter of fact, in some of your writings, it must be in red. What did it say? And Jesus came out and spoke to them, and says what? All authority. Uh oh, wait a minute, Jesus is saying, all authority has been given to me. Now you've got to ask yourself, whose authority is more powerful, or who should we listen to? Should we listen to Peter? But trust me, Peter wasn't contradicting Jesus, or should we listen to Jesus? Peter was saying, by the authority of Jesus, by his name you should be baptized. Jesus said, baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So if I were going to listen, what was that scripture? Matthew 28, 19 and 20, or Acts 2.38. Now if I were going to break down and say, who should I listen to with regards to baptism, I think I better stand on the words of Jesus Christ, even if I didn't understand Acts 2.38. I better stand on the word of Jesus Christ, because what did Jesus say? And I'll read it to you so that we're all on the same page. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven, on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus says, baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Yes, Peter did say in Acts 2.38, baptize in the name of Jesus. However, Peter was saying, by the authority of Jesus, because Jesus says here, I have all authority. Now though, how did I figure that all out? Well guess what? Back to 1 Timothy 4.1, because the doctrine of demons, or the doctrine of devils, was trying to deceive me. But because I was filled with the Spirit, and because I did my due diligence, and I studied the word of God, I could see the difference. And that's what's wrong with a lot of you. You're not studying the word of God. You're not studying. You go to church. You listen to what they say. You say amen. You say hallelujah. You look external. You're never going home. You're never opening up the scriptures. You don't take notes to make sure that you can follow up. Brother Nate, thank you so much. Amen, it was corrected later. But you don't follow up. You don't analyze the scriptures. You're not studying. You go through the motions as a Christian. You check in, you check out, but you're not studying the word. When Jesus said make disciples, what does that mean? Discipline student. What should you be disciplined about? Studying the word. Don't just go with it because Pastor Paul told you. Don't just go with it because that building or that church, that building, they shared that with you. But do your work. Once again, I sat in a room with a bunch of people, Acts 2.38, thank you so much everybody, and Acts 2.38, and they misled hundreds of people. And the only difference between me and them is what? I went home and studied. And in due season, I finally got it together. All right, now, with all that being said, let's go to the book of John. We only got a few more minutes, and I wanna make sure we get this all in here. Let's go to the book of John, and let's look at something. And you guys have heard what I'm about to read a thousand times, all right? And so we wanna go to John chapter three, the new birth. John chapter three. Once again, we know there's doctrine of devils. We saw that in First Timothy. We know in the latter times, people will take heed to these and lead the faith, and they will listen to false doctrines. We know some folks have been misled from the get-go. Now, with all that being said, we wanna know, how do I overcome this? Well, you must be filled with the Spirit. So the book of John chapter three started with verse one. Are you ready? Here we go. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. Let's stop right there. Now, I find this very interesting. Here is a religious elite, a Pharisee. Now, the Pharisees were a group of men that had come together that were sick of the cultural influence. They were sick of the Jews that were, if you will, were being, if you will, how can I put it? They were taking on the culture, the Roman Empire, the Greek Empire, the teachings, and these Pharisees decided to separate themselves and they would hardcore focus on the law. They would focus on the law, and they were very extreme. They were very religious elite. They were legalistic. But they were the religious elite of their day. But this Pharisee named Nicodemus, watch what he does. He comes to Jesus by night. Why by night? Well, he didn't want his peers to see him. He came by night because he wanted to speak to Jesus on the down low. But look what he says. He says, this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, we know that you are a teacher come from God. I find that to be a very powerful statement because we know for a fact that in the book of John later, most of the Pharisees said God cannot be with Jesus. Why? Because he didn't keep the Sabbath. But this Pharisee says, we know that you are of God. Why? Because God is with you. But I find this very interesting, and guys, I've read this verse a thousand times, and I bet you no one has caught this. Here we go. So he comes to Jesus. He says, we know that you are God. No one can do the signs that you would do unless God is with him. This is what I noticed. Did you notice before I read verse three, Nicodemus just made a statement. It wasn't a question. It was just a statement. He basically says he came to Jesus. He came to him. He made a statement. He came by night. But here's the beautiful part. Let's see if you guys catch this. Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus knew what he was thinking. Folks, Nicodemus came by night, but Jesus knew what he was thinking, because Jesus responded as if he was answering a question. Now though, for those who declare that Jesus is not God, I beg to differ, because God is all-knowing. For those who declare that Jesus cannot be a divinity or deity, I disagree with you, because guess what? Jesus right there knew exactly what Nicodemus was searching or looking for or wanting to know. And he responded immediately and said, Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he or she, I added that, cannot see the kingdom of God. I want you to think about that. We must be born again. When I was a young kid growing up in the Baptist church, there was a very common phrase. People say, I'm a born again believer in covenant with Jesus Christ. That means a lot, born again believer. We are born once physically, and then we're reborn the moment that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are born again believers, born again. And Jesus said it right there to Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now watch this, let's keep reading. Verse four, Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Nicodemus is thinking like most of us. Watch what he says. Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? That's a legit question. How do I become born again? Do I have to reenter my mother's womb? How does that work? Verse five, Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Let's stop right there. I don't care who you are. I don't care how much money you have. I don't care who your family is. I don't care what your story is. It does not matter. Unless you are born of God or born again believer, you and I shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Look what he says, Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. There are two school of thoughts regarding the water and the Spirit. The first school of thought, people have said the water represents baptism. The Spirit represents the baptism of the Spirit. The second school of thought is water is the birth, the water that we're in within our mother's womb. All right? Of course, we do know that the Spirit means being baptized with the Holy Spirit. But I think I believe the second. I'll tell you why. Let's look at the next verse. Verse six, that which is born of the flesh, wait a minute, wait a minute, that connects to the last one. Watch this, Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Okay, we see water and Spirit, but verse six, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. It makes sense. So I believe it's not talking about baptism, but it's talking about you must first be born into this world, right? But you must be born again by what? Of the Holy Spirit. Watch this, verse seven. Do not marvel that I said this to you. You must be born again. Folks, we must be born again. We must have the Spirit. The Spirit will lead us in all truths. This is why, now, don't get me wrong, we can be misled for a moment. We just proved that earlier. We can be misled for a moment. We can somehow get a doctrine in our spirit, a teaching, and we can run with that, and less, and now watch this, and there will be this gnawing at you from the Holy Spirit. Something's wrong with that. Something doesn't seem right about that. And then what happens is you take your time and you study God's Word, and then the Holy Spirit reveals it to you. This is why it's important. We must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is through the Spirit that we can persevere in this thing called life. It is, when Jesus went to the cross, remember, he went to the cross for our sins, but he resurrected to deliver us from our sin daily. Oh, my, my, my. Here we go. No, we are not the Hebrew Israelites, but we'll talk about that later. We're not the Hebrew Israelites, all right? We are not a part of those 12 tribes. Don't let anybody fool you on that. If you're referring to the black Hebrews, no, don't go there. There's nothing that supports that thought. But let's get back to this. And he says in verse seven, "'Do not marvel, I said this to you. "'You must be born again.'" Now watch this. Look at what he says in verse eight, and I love this. "'The wind blows where it wishes, "'and you hear the sound of it, "'but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. "'So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" Let me take a sip, because I like that verse. Hang on. I love the analogy with regards to the wind. You can't see the Spirit. You can't see the Spirit. We talked about that a few days ago, that you cannot see the Spirit. We talked about a few days ago that we are made up of what? A soul and a spirit. We said a few days ago that when we die, our body dies. But our soul and spirit is eternal. That's why we said we must have Jesus Christ, because when we die, or I should say, when our body dies, our soul and spirit, our soul has to go somewhere. With Jesus, where does it go? In his presence. Without Jesus, where does it go? Into torment. Now though, watch this. This is why it says, the wind. That's very powerful, because pneumo, wind. It is likened to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Let me read it again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it came from and where it goes. That is the way it is with us, with the Holy Spirit. We can't see it, but we see the effects of it. Remember, we talked about the personality of the Holy Spirit, why? Because it's got intellect, it's got emotion, it's got a will, it's a person, it's within you. But you do not see it. Just like this verse said right here. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Isn't that beautiful? Now let me prove it. You guys have seen a windstorm, but you never saw the wind. You've seen the wind blow, but you didn't see the wind, you didn't see. Now granted, you knew if it was coming from south of this and so on, et cetera. However, you don't know its origin. You don't know where it came from. But you see the effects of the wind. You see the trees. You might see a garbage can fall over. You might see the rose petals on the ground. You see the effects of the wind. So it is with the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Spirit, and it changes our life. Life, hence, we see what? The fruits of the Spirit. And this is why Jesus was telling Nicodemus. He says, Man, you must be born again. You must be filled with the Spirit. You must be born from above. You came in this world through the water of your mother's womb. Amen. But you must, what? Be born again through, what? The Spirit. Verse 9, And Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. Now I find that very powerful. Did you look at that verse real quick, and did anybody catch that? Let me read it again. I'm going to emphasize one word. Ready? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Verse 11, Most assuredly, I say to you. Now that's interesting. We should be uppercase. Who are we talking about? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus did not count it robbery to count himself equal with God. We speak what we, should be an uppercase W again, we, what we know, and to testify what we have seen. And you do not receive our, that is beautiful. We are seeing the poor, a word that represents what? Plurality, he's emphasizing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Folks, you are seeing the Trinity right there in front of you. That's not what we're talking about this morning, but I just want to highlight it. Our witness, verse 12, if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? He's going back to the original point. He's like, how can you understand these things? Why, because you're not born again. If I tell you earthly things you don't believe, how are you going to believe heavenly things? How do you expect people to hear the gospel? Now, don't get me wrong, you preach the gospel. You teach the gospel. You share the words of God, because it's God that, so what do we do? What does the scripture say? We sow, someone comes along in water, but God brings the increase. You keep doing that. But don't get upset at them when they don't understand what you're saying, because we look at that in Timothy. This is nonsense to people, unless they have the Spirit. Watch this. Wait, I was just, wait a minute, wait. The High says there is no Trinity and no rapture. I just want the truth. Okay, hang on a second. I'm going to have to get off here, but we're going to double back on that tomorrow. Here we go. Verse 12, if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended, now watch this, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven. Wait a minute, what did that mean? Jesus is talking about himself. No one has ascended from heaven, but he who has come down from heaven. That is, and he tells it, that is the Son of Man. Who is the Son of Man? Jesus, who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. If you remember in the Old Testament, there were tons of snakes, and there was a brass serpent, and a pole that they would hold up. That brass serpent, if they looked at that, that helped them. But to the point though, Jesus is talking about himself, but he keeps reading. Verse 15, that whatsoever believes it, that whosoever believes in him, we're talking about Jesus, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. This is the important part, and this is the verse that you see everybody, quote, at a basketball game, football game. What is it, John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. Let me mark that. That the world, I'm gonna have to stop right there, that the world through Jesus Christ might be saved. Remember, Jesus didn't come to condemn us. We were condemned already. Because why? We inherited that sin nature from whom? Adam and Eve. But folks, let me get back to the point here. Let me put my marker on that page. But let me get to the point here before I get off. I have two more minutes. For us to discern the Word of God, we must have the Spirit of God. This is why he gave it to us, to seal us, to teach us, to pray for us when we cannot pray, to lead us. What does the Bible say? That we should be led by what? The Spirit. What Spirit? The Holy Spirit. When we are given instructions, when we are told, and it happens all the time, it happens all the time with me. Now, don't get me wrong. I can't give you a, if you will, a play-by-play of how he speaks to me. But there will be an overwhelming emotion that lines up with the Word saying, don't do that. Don't go there. And you have it, too. That the Spirit moves up on you, that something is wrong with that. Something's not good with that. Oh, maybe you should do this, or you should study that. It happens to me every Sunday with regards to sharing the Word of God. It happens to me every day and how I'm going to speak to all of you. It is the Spirit that leads me. But without the Spirit, you cannot lead. You cannot learn. Without the Spirit, you are not sealed. Without the Spirit, you do not belong to God. Without the Spirit, you have no chance to go in His presence. Because why? You're not born again. And Jesus says, once again, you and I must be born again. And Nicodemus, I give him credit. Because why? He looked past his religiosity and wanted sincere truth. And Jesus is the truth. He is the truth, the only truth. There's not a ton of truths. There's only one truth. There's a ton of stories, but there's only one truth. All right, everybody. I must get going. Thank you, Johnny, for reminding me. I must be going. Y'all, I want you to keep each other in prayer. Keep your head up. We will talk so much later about certain subjects. However, keep your faith. Don't allow anybody to pour nonsense into your spirit. And if it sounds odd, even if it's from me, if it sounds odd, get with your Bible. Pray unto the Lord that He will reveal. Ask Him, because He will give abundantly. Show me what is truth. Show me the facts. Show me what I need to know, and God will reveal those things to you. Let us pray. Father God, we thank you, we praise you, we honor you, we lift you up. Lord, I thank you for allowing me to teach. I thank you for allowing me to share your word. And Lord, yesterday was a tough day on me, Lord, regarding the window and the company. But Lord, I just pray that you would just give me that ability to overlook those things, and to just really bask in the joy of my salvation. Father, I pray for each individual under the sound of my voice. I pray for their circumstance and their situations. I pray for Miss Rosemary over there with her son, Joseph. I pray for each individual as they're dealing with everything. I pray for Jim's friends that are dealing with an illness. Father, I pray for our ministry in church. I just pray, Father God. I ask all this in the precious name of Jesus. And Lord, we praise you, we thank you, we honor you. And Lord, last but not least, I pray for our brother, Solomon. I pray that you watch over him. I pray that you keep him, that you would bless him, Father. We thank you, we praise you, and we honor you, Lord, for you're worthy of all our praise, God. Lord, we ask this in the name of Jesus, amen. All right, everybody, I must be going. Lord willing, we'll be on here tomorrow at 0630. Keep your head up, keep the faith. Know that the Lord loves you. And this is the word of God. Let's study it. God bless you, everybody.