The main thing we all have to learn,
that I have to learn more, that you
have to learn more, is to understand the
person and the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Father sent the Son, the Son accomplished
what He was to accomplish, and then rose
from the dead after dying on the cross
for our sins, and then ascended to the
right hand of the Father.
You always have to go back to this
basic fact.
And then He said, it's good for you
that I go, because unless I go, the
Helper, the Spirit, won't come.
But when I go, I'll send Him to
you.
And I have been with you, but He's
going to be in you.
And He insinuated and taught Jesus that everything
He was to the disciples, the Holy Spirit
would be, and even more.
It is true that even those disciples who
lived with Him for three and a half
years, He didn't produce a whole lot in
their lives, because when He was arrested, they
all fled.
So you would think at least He would
get loyalty into them, but they were weak
like jello.
And it wasn't until the Spirit came that
you see a change in them, in Peter,
in James and John.
Because the Holy Spirit is our main weapon,
the one we have to depend on, Satan
in the fight tries to take away from
the church, and I would sadly say, and
has succeeded greatly in taking away an understanding
and a knowledge of the Holy Spirit from
most churches.
They are not open to the Holy Spirit.
They do not believe in the present-day
ministry of the Holy Spirit.
I know a young man who's going to
a school, a Christian school.
He took a class in the book of
Acts.
He just started it in the fall.
He called me totally just saddened, because the
teacher told him at this Christian school, we're
going to study the book of Acts, but
everything in here can never happen again.
It's not for today.
This is all just what happened 2,000
years ago.
So it's forget about it.
And that's the view of a lot of
churches.
They are so afraid of abuses of the
Holy Spirit.
They are so afraid of Pentecostal and charismatic
excesses that the devil has just done an
incredible job of playing both sides and making
them extreme.
Crazy manifestations and things not found in the
Scripture, which are blamed on the Holy Spirit,
and the other side reacting and saying, well
then, you know what?
If you think that's the Holy Spirit, I
don't want to know about the Holy Spirit,
because that's insane.
Let's just study the Bible and then call
it a day.
Each side becomes more extreme, and now people
who emphasize the Word and the Spirit, the
church is very, very hard to find that
balance now, either off on one side or
off on an anti-Holy Spirit jag.
But the truth is, we only have the
Word of God as our rule of faith,
and the Bible tells us that in the
early church the Holy Spirit was everything.
In fact, he's the only one who's been
put in charge of the Christian church.
No pastor is in charge of the church.
No bishop, no pope, no anybody.
The only person in charge of the Christian
church is the one that God sent to
be the executive of the church, which is
the Holy Spirit.
Just as Jesus was in charge of the
disciples, the Holy Spirit is supposed to be
in charge of the church.
But it's harder, it takes more faith, because
he's invisible.
Jesus walked and talked, and you could see
him and talk to him, crucify him.
The Holy Spirit, that's another whole thing.
But he's the only one in charge of
that Bible school.
He's supposed to be in charge of this
church, this pulpit, what the choir sings.
Every decision, every naming of anyone in any
office, it's supposed to be done, led and
governed by the Holy Spirit.
He's in charge.
When pastors talk about, here's my vision for
the church, that's really weird, because you're not
supposed to have a vision, you're supposed to
find out the Holy Spirit's vision for your
church.
And the vision is basically found in the
Scriptures.
I just want to point out three things
about the Holy Spirit tonight, and then we
can pray for more of the Holy Spirit
in our lives.
I want him more in my life.
Is he in my life?
Yes.
Have I experienced the Holy Spirit?
Yes.
Has he helped me and continues to help
me?
Yes.
Do I need more of him?
Double yes.
How many know he lives inside of you,
you're a believer?
Okay.
But how many want more of him?
See?
That's the trick that ministers will say.
Don't pray for the Holy Spirit, you already
have the Holy Spirit.
But that's a trick with words.
We have the Holy Spirit living in us,
but we want him to control us more.
We want his gifting, we want his direction,
we want him involved in our lives.
Every day should be...
Look, when Peter, James and John and the
disciples were walking with Jesus, what was every
day?
It was a Jesus day.
Every day they woke up.
What was the main thing of their day?
Jesus.
Where is he going?
Where are we going to eat?
Where are we going to live?
What are we going to do?
When are we traveling?
When are we staying?
It's the Jesus day.
And now that he's gone, he has turned
it over to the Holy Spirit, who is
the Spirit of Christ.
So, here's the things I just want to
leave with you.
Maybe you need to hear this, someone.
I believe you do, because I just prayed
to try to move away from this message
or exhortation.
It's not a message, a little exhortation.
But I feel like we need to hear
this.
So, let's look at Acts chapter 16.
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region
of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by
the Holy Spirit from preaching the Word in
the province of Asia.
When they came to the border of Mysia,
they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit
of Jesus...
Notice the same interchange.
Holy Spirit, now called the Spirit of Jesus.
All the same person.
The Spirit of Jesus would not allow them
to.
So they passed by Mysia and went down
to Troas, which is on the coast.
During the night, Paul had a vision of
a man of Macedonia, that's northern Greece, standing
and begging him, come over to Macedonia and
help us.
After Paul had seen the vision, we, Luke
includes himself, we got ready at once to
leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called
us to preach the gospel to them.
So let's just analyze what we see here.
We find out this about the Holy Spirit,
that as he lives through us and in
us, he is often responsible for restraining and
constricting us, and stopping us from doing what
our plans are to do.
If you look at the map of Paul's
second missionary journey, this is his second journey,
he had gone, the first journey, up into
the Galatian area, where we get our letter
to the churches in Galatia.
And now he's with a different traveling companion,
and he's up in his second trip, and
let's see, looking at it like this, look
at me, so here's the Galatian area, and
straight ahead is an area called Asia.
Not Asia to us, but Asia to them.
And by the way, in Asia are all
the seven cities that Jesus wrote to in
the book of Revelation.
And the main city over there is Ephesus.
Those are the cities that are over there,
and he wants to preach the gospel.
Wouldn't that be a good thing?
They need the gospel, he has the gospel,
he's a preacher, he's an apostle, he wants
to go.
And the Holy Spirit says, no, you can't
go.
How did the Holy Spirit show them that?
How did he make that known to them?
It's silent on that.
But they sense a restriction of the Holy
Spirit.
Was it a good thing they wanted to
do?
Yeah, but not every good thing is God's
thing.
Oh, but I see need.
Not every need are you supposed to get
involved in.
Because God has other people that he's moving
all around.
So you can't have a knee-jerk reaction
and say, oh, I see a need, I
gotta, no, I see another need, I see
another.
No, I got a letter, somebody from Africa
said they need $500 for their orphanage.
I gotta send that, I gotta do that.
I mean, you'll be broke and you'll have
a nervous breakdown within six months, right?
So one of the offices of the Spirit
is just like Jesus stopped them from doing
certain things, the Holy Spirit stops our plans
and restricts us.
Not only does he do it, look what
it says.
They wanted to go into Asia.
Watch me, I'm moving in the map from
east to west.
They wanted to go in Asia, but the
Holy Spirit restricted them, stopped them, and they
were sensitive.
So now he turned toward the north and
he wanted to go to Bithynia, which is
up here, to minister.
And the Spirit of Jesus said, don't do
it.
How I long tonight to be sensitive to
the leadings and the restrictions of the Holy
Spirit.
To be led and know that the living
Spirit of God, the Spirit of the living
God, is directing our footsteps.
Now notice if the Spirit many times, you
know, I've had this told to me and
it had happened in my own life when
I was in college.
You're about to go into the wrong party,
the wrong place, the wrong thing, and the
Spirit just makes you so uneasy and is
telling you, do not go there.
That club is not where I want you
to be.
That group of people is not where I
want you to be.
You will not glorify my name in that
place.
Do not read that magazine article.
Do not watch that movie.
That will contaminate you.
And the Spirit restricts us.
And I hope that we're open to that.
How many want to be open to that,
right?
Because God is saying, don't go there.
Because once that thing gets motion, then the
flesh kicks in.
Now you have a problem.
But notice this is different.
This is a good thing.
They want to preach the gospel.
And you can wear yourself out and waste
your life just reacting to what people ask
you to do and where you think you
see need when it might not be you're
the one to meet that need.
God got a lot of people.
He has timing for all these places.
He has other people that He's moving around.
You're not the one to go there.
Someone else will go there, right?
Otherwise, every invitation I get, I have to
say, I'm going.
Why?
Because someone invited me.
Well, that doesn't make any sense.
I have to pray and say, God, where
do you want me to be?
Where does He want you to be?
What does He want you to do?
So we find out that the Spirit restricts.
And I want you to know today, ask
God, God, make me sensitive to the restraining
influences of the Holy Spirit.
Most times we're looking for the leadings of
the Holy Spirit.
And that's important.
We're going to get to that in a
second.
But remember this.
He not only leads, He stops.
And when He says stop, you better stop.
I know, but I don't see anything wrong
with that.
Are you going to trust your brain or
are you going to trust the Holy Spirit?
If they would have argued with Paul or
had a vote, democracy, let's vote.
You can't vote.
You got to get the mind of the
Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ.
God, what do you want me to do?
I know, I pray, and I feel, I
know that all these people go in the
Philippines not because they just feel like getting
on a plane and working hard for 10
days.
They feel the Holy Spirit wants them to
be on that trip.
Pastor Parker is constantly praying, God, where do
you want us to break out to?
Where do you want us to go?
What new places?
How can we help?
Am I right, brother?
This is what he's praying.
Why?
He can't figure this out.
He's smarter than me, but he's not as
smart as God.
Only God knows where we're supposed to be.
And when He restricts you, don't chafe.
But I want to, and that's what I
feel.
Just trust the Holy Spirit.
He knows everything.
Number two, when they stopped, Paul was caught
in a place where he didn't know what
to do.
So here's another word.
He's stuck and he doesn't know what to
do.
When you have plans and the Holy Spirit
blocks you, what do you do?
You don't know what to do.
So I want to encourage you today.
If in a given situation you don't know
what to do, fine, you don't know what
to do.
Wait.
Don't make up something else to do.
The way we are is, oh, I can't
do that, then I'll do this.
No, just wait.
He honored the Holy Spirit.
I need a word from God.
Maybe you need a word from God today.
What to do?
God will give you that word.
So as they waited, suddenly, through the agency
of God, in this case a vision at
night, he saw a man from Greece saying,
come on over and help us.
He shared it with the brothers that he
was traveling with, and they said, hey, you
know what, Paul?
That's from God.
We feel a confirmation.
And they all concluded, always remember, if you
want to be led by God, you have
to be humble enough to say you can
be wrong.
If you think you never make a mistake,
you won't be led by God.
Because now you think your thoughts are God.
They're not.
They're your thoughts.
They're my thoughts.
But when God speaks to us, I should
be able to share it with the brothers
and say, pastors, come on.
God put us to work together.
What do you feel about that?
Don't we talk about that?
Like all the time we talk like that.
Don't we, Pastor Lincoln?
This is what I feel.
What do you all feel?
Because you think God would show me something
and hide it from all the good men
I'm working with?
Never.
You think God would just show you and
never hide it from everybody else who loves
you and who's spiritually minded?
No.
They wait, he gets this vision, and they
all feel like, you know what, we're heading
to Macedonia.
There's another interesting thought on that.
You know the first place he went to?
Philippi.
And guess where he ended up in Philippi?
In the slammer.
Got a beat down.
And at midnight, he's with Silas.
Wouldn't you think the devil would tempt him
and say, you were led by God to
come here?
Oh yeah, this is beautiful.
God led you to go to prison.
But do you know how sure they were
that God led them?
Even though they got a beating, they knew
converts had been made.
And at midnight, they were singing and praising
God.
Because when God leads you, and you know
you're in his will, it's the happiest place
in the world.
Come on, let's say amen.
Happy, doesn't look good, got a beat down
in prison, but I know I'm here because
the Spirit led me.
The Spirit led me.
When you're not sure, oh, you're always trying
to read the tea leaves, oh, it doesn't
look good, maybe God didn't lead me, oh,
it's looking good, God led me.
No, you gotta know, God led me.
God led me.
What does it matter how it works out?
When God leads you, he leads you.
God restrains, this Holy Spirit restrains, God also
directs.
Notice the minute he gave them that direction,
it says, they quickly left.
They quickly left from Macedonia, because they knew,
God wants me on the road.
I've been waiting, trying, God has been blocking,
I don't know why he blocked.
Do you know, probably Paul died, never knowing
why God blocked him.
But we're not supposed to know everything.
Just get the next step that God has
for you.
I know, but Pastor Zimbala, why did that,
when is that to you or me?
Leave it with God, when we get to
heaven, he's gonna explain everything to us.
Look, here's all you and I need, the
next step.
And when you take that, guess what else
you need?
The next step.
That's all, just the next step.
I know, but why couldn't I go, leave
that with God, God knows what he's doing.
How many have had experiences in your own
life like me?
You look back on your life and you
see how God blocks you from making a
mess.
Lift your hand.
Has God ever helped you like that?
He has me.
So God restricts, he restrains, God directs.
But then notice this, and this is, this
is where we wanna counteract this through prayer.
Look at Acts 19.
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the
road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.
And there he found some disciples and he
asked them, notice, he found some disciples and
he asked them, did you receive the Holy
Spirit when you believed?
And they answered, no, we have not even
heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
So Paul asked them, what baptism did you
receive?
John's baptism, they replied.
Paul said John's baptism was a baptism of
repentance.
He told the people to believe in the
one coming after him, that is in Jesus.
On hearing this, they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus, which means they
were certainly saved when he got there or
for sure they were saved after he dealt
with them for a little while because then
he baptized.
You don't baptize people who are not Christians.
So these are Christians, disciples, believers.
And when Paul placed his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came on them and they
spoke in tongues and prophesied and there were
about 12 men in all.
This is a beautiful story.
It shows that it's possible to be a
Christian and know nothing about the Holy Spirit.
There are churches today that are Christian churches.
I'm not going to deny they're Christian.
They know nothing about the Holy Spirit.
No, that can't be.
Oh yeah, listen.
He went to these people.
They believed in John's baptism.
He told them about Jesus, which they might
have already heard about, but they had a
limited understanding of the plan of God for
their life.
They just knew Jesus died on the cross,
washed away my sins, and then notice how
good God is.
Paul says, no, you don't.
John baptized for repentance, confession of sin, but
then he told us get ready for Jesus
and he told them about Jesus.
They must have put their faith in Jesus.
He baptized them and when they came up
out of the water, he laid hands on
them and they were filled with the Holy
Spirit that they knew nothing about, which means
God can take care of us and bless
us even though we're ignorant.
It's an open heart, not a full head
that he's looking for.
It's just a heart that opens up like
a child.
You have to understand all the theology.
They didn't understand anything.
They just told them.
We don't even know who you're talking about.
He said, oh yeah, let me pray for
you and the Holy Spirit came right down
upon them and now they were speaking in
tongues and prophesying like the early church did
in Acts chapter 2.
So we learned that the Holy Spirit can
restrain us.
Oh God, make us more sensitive to restrain
us.
Don't make that phone call.
Don't answer your wife that way.
I'm talking about little things, big things, all
things.
No, turn the other cheek.
Don't say a word.
I know, but he's wrong.
I know, but don't say anything.
Yes, thank you God.
Help me.
Give me grace now to just be quiet.
So he restrains us.
He changes our plans.
But then he opens doors and tells us
move now.
Go, come on, quick.
This is what I have you to do.
And lastly, he invites us to know more
about him.
That's what I want for all of us
tonight.
I want to know more about the Holy
Spirit.
I don't want to read books on theology
about him.
I've done those hundreds of them.
I want to know more about him in
my own life.
How many want to know more about him
in your own life?
Leading, directing, oh hindering.
Oh I know, but that's a good thing
I want to do.
I know, but did you pray?
Did the Holy Spirit give you the okay?
Do you feel peace about it?
I really feel like God's trying to save
somebody here from a wrong decision.
Could we just close our eyes?
If you're here today and you need the
Holy Spirit to direct you, need a word
from the Holy Spirit, you have to come
open.
Pastor Cimbala, if he wants to restrain me,
I'm willing to be restrained.
If he wants me to step out, I
want to step out.
But I got to hear from God.
I can't handle this on my own.
And I want to know the Holy Spirit
better.
I don't want a partial knowledge of salvation.
I want everything God has for me.
Just step out of your seat and come
up here.
We're going to wait and sit and pray
and wait and worship and be open and
be quiet.
Maybe pray, whatever we're going to do.
Just come on up and stand right here.
We've got deacons, deaconesses that will pray with
you.
God's going to give you that direction that
you need.
Just come.
Stand right here on the edge.
Lord, we say yes to the Holy Spirit
of God directing our lives.
Holy Spirit, you are welcome into this place
called Jim Cimbala.
My heart, my mind, all of us say
welcome.
Welcome.
We say to you, welcome.
You are welcome.
Hold us back from things that are not
your will for our lives, even good things.
Always warn us about the obvious bad things,
evil things.
But Lord, we don't want to spin our
wheels doing things you never called us to
do.
Lead us like you led Paul and his
team.
Constrict us, restrain us at times.
But then God, propel us, commission us, send
us out with power and blessing.
And when you lead us someplace, help us
not to doubt your leading because it doesn't
work out the way we think.
Help us to have faith in you that
you know what you're doing and that all
things work together for good to them that
love God.
Holy Spirit, teach us more about yourself, your
voice, your ways, your direction.
Make us sensitive to your gentlest touch.
Just the littlest nudge we want to be
sensitive to.
If we're moving in the wrong way, take
away our peace so that we'll know to
check and stop and say, help me, Holy
Spirit.
Help me, God.
Help me, Jesus.
We surrender our church, the leadership, the deacons,
deaconesses, pastors, congregation, musicians, sound people.
Holy Spirit, you are welcome.
BT Kids, the choir project.
Do what you want to do.
Direct Carol, direct everything.
Just govern everything, Lord.
We just want to stand by and watch
you work and cooperate.
For those who feel that calling on their
life to do that extra new thing for
you, direct them.
Restrain them where it's not of you but
then propel us when it is of you.
Thank you for all these beautiful people on
this most miserable of nights.
It is good to be in your house,
Lord.
And however it is outside, it is warm
in our souls tonight.
Get us home safely with the peace of
God, the shalom of God resting upon our
hearts and minds.
In Jesus' name.
Everyone say it.
Give somebody a hug, a handshake.