Tyler Noe- Spirit Empowered Study

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Well, good morning again, and welcome to our second session of the Laborers' Conference on this second day.

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My name is Keith Foskey, and I'm going to be welcoming up this morning my friend and fellow laborer,

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Tyler Noe. Tyler hails from Greer, South Carolina, and he worships at Hope Chapel, a non -denominational congregation, and he has hosted the

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Bread of the Word podcast for four years. I met him when

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I first began coming into the Laborers' group and into the podcast, and I am very thankful to count him as a friend.

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He has a very infectious laugh and is a sweet young man and very intelligent student of the

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Word. So, thank you all for being here today to listen to Tyler bring us the Word of God. Just a twinge of height -related humor before we dive in.

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With the Lord's help, I wish to bring to your attention John chapter 14, verses 25 and 26.

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This is a unique section in Scripture, and it's probably the closest we get in the words of Christ to being a commencement address.

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Usually, we see this with graduation, with closing one door and opening another, and this is part of what many more learned than I have called the upper room discourse, where he goes up to the upper room and he addresses his disciples one -on -one, and these are some of his last statements before he's arrested and crucified.

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This is the last moment. This is the last speech. This is, you have to get this now, and in part, he's preparing them for the day when he is not in their physical presence as Jesus of Nazareth.

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And so, in verse 25 of John 15, God says, when

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I'm on the right page, God says, These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

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But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, he shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever

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I have said unto you. And so, right off the bat, we have three things that are presented to us about the

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Holy Spirit. We've been talking about the Holy Spirit for a long time now, it seems. We've only been here a day. That is how much we have had packed in here, and it's been amazing.

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And if it wasn't the Word of God, we'd say you'd be tired of hearing about the Holy Spirit right about now. But of course, we're not tired of hearing about the

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Holy Spirit, we need more of this. We could go another week of this. But the

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Holy Spirit in this text, first and foremost, is called the Comforter. And the

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Greek word that Jesus uses here is parakleton, which is really fun to say.

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But parakleton is one of those odd spots in ancient Greek where we don't have one word to put it into.

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That's why so many translations put it so many different ways, that some say the Comforter, some say the Advocate, some say the

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Helper. We've seen some of those just this weekend. But the word parakleton simply means the one who comes alongside of another.

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That's a lot of words for one word, to call the Holy Spirit the come -along -sider.

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And so the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. But why do we need a Comforter? What is the value of stating right here that He is the

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Comforter? If we look at John 15, we see that Christ is the

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Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman. And every branch in me that beareth not fruit,

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He taketh away. We go right into the pruning of God's people. We go into suffering.

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We go into, you will have tribulations, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. And so Christ saw fit to assure

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His people that He was leaving a Comforter. That for what they were going to be beckoned unto after His death, after His ascension, they would need a

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Comforter. And secondly, this Spirit, this Comforter, is sent to us, as it says, by the

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Father. The Holy Spirit is not just this isolated person of the Trinity. But we can't really consider the

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Trinity, or even the Holy Spirit Himself, without considering the other two. So we're in John 14 right now.

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Flip over to Luke 11. And picking up in verse 5,

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Jesus says, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him,

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Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.

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And he shall from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed.

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I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he shall rise and give him as many as he needeth.

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And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

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For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

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We like to take that one out of context right there. All you have to do is ask, and you shall get it.

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But the reason that the friend is asking in the first place, is not because he doesn't have a car. It's not because he doesn't have

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XYZ. It's because he doesn't have anything. He says, I have nothing to set before him.

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Jesus continues to explain it another way. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

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Or if he ask a fish, will he give for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

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If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly

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Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? That the nothing that we have is that we lack the

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Holy Spirit. And so we ask because we have nothing to set before God. We have nothing of our own accord.

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That we must be given the Holy Spirit because we have nothing to offer. That is why we ask and find.

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That is why we knock and it shall be opened. Because in and of ourselves, we have nothing.

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But in the same token, the Holy Spirit is the gift of a good father. So when we're told by Christ that it is better for you that I go away that the

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Holy Spirit may come, this is not plan B. This is not a subpar gift.

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This is the gift of gifts from a good father who gives good gifts to his children.

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And what does that Holy Spirit do?

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What is he accomplishing? What is better for us to have this comforter for? Two things.

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He says, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever

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I have said unto you. That he shall teach us all things. That when we are being taught by God, and more importantly, that he brings all things to our remembrance.

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That is, he's not just imparting new information. But he is testifying of what Christ has already said.

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He's bringing to our remembrance the things of Christ. And so we're not divorced from the

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Father and Son when we talk about the Spirit. It is more complicated than that.

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It's not like we have this big blob that we call God, but that there are defined roles and contributions to each person of the

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Trinity. And so the Spirit is not divorced from the Father or from the Son. But he is given by the

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Father, who gives good gifts to his children, and he testifies of the Son. And so this is what we have in the

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Spirit. We have the unique opportunity to be taught by God.

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By one who shall be with us forever. Christ came and was with us for a short time, and went back up into heaven.

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But the Holy Spirit condescended forever. He shall abide with us forever.

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So while Christ condescended and then went back up, what we have in the

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Holy Spirit is a perpetual condescension. That he stays with us.

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He makes his home with us. For the purpose of teaching.

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For the purpose of guiding us. For the purpose of comforting us. And so we have the opportunity to read the

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Scriptures with the Comforter. To read the Scriptures with God.

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Who abides with us forever. That is not often how we look at it, is it?

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We talked yesterday, Jonathan was talking about having so many degrees you get a fever. And having all the books and all the studies and all of this and all of that.

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We have piles and piles of material. But the books themselves have no power.

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And commentaries are great, I have a few of them myself. But the best commentaries are simply going to be a testimony of people who have walked with God.

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And who have learned from the Holy Spirit. What we are looking into in the best commentaries is documentation of their walk with God.

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Which is a different perspective than what we see sometimes in the marketplace. Because we seem to have this boiled down to a formula almost.

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That you put in the right numbers, enter your variables, and out comes godliness. But 1

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Corinthians chapter 2 tells us that these things are spiritually discerned.

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That the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.

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Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. That does not sound like an easy point

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A to point B variable. That sounds like there is work that I can't do. That sounds as if it is

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God who worketh in me for his good pleasure. And so the concern with reading the scripture with the comforter is that we are communing with God.

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And that is not merely an intellectual pursuit. That is part of it, because the mind is engaged.

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Love the Lord your God with all thy heart, all thy mind. It is all there. But it is more than just the brain.

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It is more than just getting the heavens into your mind. It is getting into Christ.

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It is getting with God. It is, Holy Spirit, what are you saying here?

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What is God saying in this text? What is God doing?

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And how has he invited me to learn from him who is meek and lowly at heart? How have

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I been beckoned to learn from God? The words of God.

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In the spirit of God. And so it is not merely an intellectual exercise.

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But in that token, the wisdom to discern these things comes from God. Job chapter 12 says that with the ancient is wisdom.

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And understanding with length of days. That is not about the aged deacon in my church.

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Because there are some men up there in years. But there are none that we could consider ancient.

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There is one who is ancient. The one who predates time itself. And so when we say that with the ancient is wisdom, ultimately it is with God that wisdom abides.

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And so to truly find wisdom is to seek the one in whom wisdom abides.

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James chapter 1, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God. And he shall give it, what's it say, graciously.

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It says without hesitation. That God gives us. Ask and you shall find.

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And he shall make us wise. It is all of God.

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So we are reading scripture with God. Not just reading a book, but we are gathering with God.

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And this is what's embodied for us in communion. When we talk about the Lord's table, we are gathering in the midst of Christ.

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That we are communing with Christ in a way that is special, a way that is sacred. That what we know to be true about Christ is set before us.

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And it testifies to us, reminds us of who Christ is and what he did. And likewise, the scriptures are laid before us that we may learn from God.

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That we may learn the character of God from God himself. Not through mediators, not through different vessels, but that ultimately it is

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God who teaches us. And so wisdom lies with God.

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Wisdom abides with God. And lastly, what we learn in scripture leads us to worship.

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Psalm 119. Not the whole thing, but Psalm 119 is in a lot of ways a love song for the word of God.

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And there are a number of nuggets that we can pull from this. You could do a whole sermon, series of sermons out of Psalm 119 just reading it.

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But Psalm 119 verse 171 reads, My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

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My tongue shall speak of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteousness. Let thine hand help me, for I have chosen thy precepts.

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I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord, and thy law is my delight. It says earlier in the chapter that your commandments are my counselors.

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Is this the approach that we have to the scriptures? That it's not just a book, but that it is something living, breathing, that it proceeds from God.

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That how we understand it is given to us by God. That what

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I understand about the Bible is not the product of my intelligence. It's not the product that I have the right books.

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I've got everything John Calvin ever wrote. But rather that God has imparted it, disconnected with who

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I am. That it is a gift from God, the understanding that I have.

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And it is according to his will, the things that I don't. That just as God gives wisdom, he also withholds it sometimes.

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That's a joke too. That is not a fun text to read sometimes, because you want to feel good about what you know. But there are times where it says in Psalms God veils himself in darkness.

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Oswald Chambers once put that to the one who is not born of the spirit of God, the commandments of Jesus seem simple.

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But to one who has been born of the spirit of God, they find that he is veiled in darkness round about him.

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That it gets harder when we know more. When we truly know who Christ is, Jesus gets harder.

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That to know God becomes much more involved. Because it's not just a mind.

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It's not just the brain. But it is abiding in the spirit of God. And so we walk with a

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God that we cannot see. We pray to a God that we do not see. And yet he abides within us.

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And so what we learn in the scriptures is not the product of my intelligence, but it should lead me to worship.

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It should alter the way that I pray, the way that I approach the scriptures, and the way I move from the scriptures.

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Because at one point I'm going to have to get up from that desk and go back outside. And that's got to be different.

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There is a point where the way that I walk is different. That the attitude of the psalmist may be mine.

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That your precepts are my counselors. Thy law is my delight. Wherefore shall a young man cleanse his way?

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Very first verse in that chapter, by guarding it thereto according to thy commandments. Psalm 1.

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Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. And that is not, you will be blessed if you do

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X, Y, Z. But this is what the blessed man does. Is he meditates on his law day and night.

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He delights in it. He delights in God. That is not something I can manufacture. That is something that God gives.

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And so when God gives knowledge, he gives delight, he gives joy. It is accompanied by a deeper sense of who

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God is. It is accompanied by recognizing who he is and who I am. And recognizing that I should praise

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God for what he has graciously shown me about himself. And so we are left with the promise of a comforter.

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So when Christ goes away, the Holy Spirit comes to stay. Why? That he may teach us all things and bring to our remembrance what

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Christ has said. And so while it's not just a mind thing, the

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Holy Spirit reminds us who Christ is, what Christ did, what he said, and brings it to a point that we put legs on it.

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It's the Holy Spirit that convicts the heart. It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to do anything with this.

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It's the Holy Spirit who makes this more than just a book, but that makes our theology a theology of the head, the heart, and the hands.

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And so as we transition out of the conference, because there's going to be a day where we walk out of those doors and it's not for lunch.

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And we may not come back here, I don't know. So how do we keep this going?

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Not the vibe, not the feeling that we've had a conference, and we all get like this emotional high almost.

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I remember from my days in youth camp, we see this in conferences sometimes, but it's not keeping that going, that feeling, because the feeling will go.

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But having met with God doesn't. Having met with God alters the way that we live, alters the way that we see

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God, the way we see ourselves. And that is something that flows from the Holy Spirit.

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The Holy Spirit stays even when the feelings don't. And so the praise of God in response to what he's taught us goes beyond that initial emotional response to seeing something new in Psalm 119, but it goes deeper into how

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I worship him six months from now, when life gets hard, when nobody's tuning into the conference, when nobody's watching the podcast, and I'm just doing my thing.

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Because God sees what I'm doing, but the people don't. We talked about being nervous about not having the likes and the views and everything, and that can be quite the distraction sometimes with all of this, because it's before the face of God first and foremost.

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All things are before his eyes. And sometimes we forget that in light of the gatherings, in light of the people, in light of the numbers.

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But there's going to come a day where we will go out the doors of this church and the numbers won't follow us, where there won't be this crowd of people wanting to hear what

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I have to say. And yet I am still expected to grow with Christ. I'm still expected to commune with God, to read the scripture with the comforter.

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It is more than just an emotional high. It is more than just those ups and downs, but it's an abiding presence who teaches us all things.

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And may we be cognizant of how the Holy Spirit is teaching us and what he is teaching us, and how what he is teaching us leads us to worship.

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Father God, we are grateful to have the unique privilege to be taught by you, that we don't have a series of teachers that we have to defer to, but we have the teacher of teachers in the

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Holy Spirit, whom you have sent to testify of your son.

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God, I pray that you would make us more cognizant of what you are teaching us through the Spirit and how that Spirit causes us to worship, to fix our eyes ever the more clearly upon you.

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For in you we live, move, and have our being. And in Christ's precious name we pray, amen.