The Spirit Is a Person — Robert B. Thompson

On to you tonight it is with praise and Thanksgiving Lord you are so good. So good. So good. So good. Look, God is good. And we praise you Lord for your goodness to us Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you a little Devin as far as I know Lord is doing well coming along.

But thank you for that wonderful miracle Lord. The doctors were amazed. We praise your name. You are our great healer by your stripes, we were healed and that's it. And so Lord, we pray you'll bless each household here, particularly this night Lord when the things that are dark Spiritually are are set up as though they were important Lord.

The Holy Spirit Is More Than Speaking in Tongues

We pray you will protect us in this time. We want nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness and we pray that we will worship Jesus on Halloween night. We just set up Jesus and he will be our great One Lord that we look to and that we worship that we enjoy praise your name Lord.

Bless each house represented here with safety and help and as the young people have their doings tonight We pray your hand will be upon them Lord. We keep them safe and healthy on the premises and on the highway.

Hallelujah, Lord. We look to you alone for our health and our safety Lord. Yes, Jesus, and now Lord as we continue, you know the needs that are here. I pray you'll speak to them bring Jesus to each one as he or she has need Lord that no one will be left out.

We pray in your name amen, I Want to talk a little bit tonight we we've got as far in our study of Ezekiel as Chapter 47 talking about the water of life. The water of life is the Holy Spirit and I. And I want to talk a little bit about the Holy Spirit as the Lord leads Audrey I'll get your Bible here now.

We are part of a Pentecostal denomination that the problem has arisen. I think how many would agree with me, but We as important as tongues is and God knows I speak in tongues probably more than anybody in the house.

But there's more to the Holy Spirit than speaking in tongues much more and We have young people with us. Some of them are thinking about career. Some have engaged in careers already wondering what they should do and Whatever is done has to be done through the Holy Spirit.

I notice the NIV King James refers the Holy Spirit is our comforter and But NIV calls him our counselor and I like that better. Because comforter gives you the idea. Whatever you do the Holy Spirit's going to comfort you whereas counselor the idea.

He's telling you what to do and advising you what to do and as far as the Holy Spirit. Last week We went into something very important. I think what we might start there tonight. It's in Luke 11 5 through 13.

Luke 11 5 through 13. It's a very important consideration. Very and I haven't preached on it very much. But I feel it's time God wants this emphasized and I said last time Sunday night that Each one of us each day should pray at least once that God would give us more of his Holy Spirit.

That's all I mean, how long is that going to take and I've been doing it. I've been doing it. It doesn't take long just asking God because While the God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him, we know from Acts 5 32 yet There is this scripture about pestering God.

And that's just exactly what the Greek means. Tony says it's used today in the Greek language to mean somebody that's persistent to the point of being obnoxious. So it's an angle and it's in Matthew and it's in Luke and we need to pay attention to it.

Then he said to them suppose one of you has a friend and he goes to him at midnight and says friend Let lend me three loaves of bread. Because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him.

So we're not talking about praying for more of the Holy Spirit for ourselves, but so that we may be a blessing to others. To the world today, there are some of you that may go as missionary now, you can't go as a missionary unless God called you.

You can't be a preacher unless God called you. God called me when I was 19 years old about one year younger than Rebecca is now. I guess you 20 now. You're 21 two years younger than ever ask a woman to rage.

It's two years younger than Rebecca is now and When God called me to preach and I was in Japan at the time. But you can't call yourself to preach. You can't call yourself to be a missionary, but every Christian Can pray for the Holy Spirit?

Because you notice it says a Friend of mine is in a journey has come to me. So it could be somebody in your school. It could be somebody at work a friend of mine has come to me and you know. We've had a lot of gospel preaching in America.

We've had a lot of information. But what people need is the Holy Spirit they need life. Jesus said the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. They're just not academic words. They're just not school words.

They're not just words out of a book. You can tell people the gospel and it could be true. The information is accurate. But unless the Holy Spirit is moving through you that word will be nothing more than words in a book.

See Jesus said the words that I speak in you they are spirit in their life, you can be in the Holy Spirit to the place where the Words that you say are spirit. And so people hear in their mind the information, but they hear in their Personality they feel the life of God so this applies to all of us.

A friend of mine has come to me in my journey and See if you're not prayed up and you don't have the Holy Spirit. Then you have nothing to offer you can tell them about Jesus. Say come to church or something.

That's all good. But you don't have you don't have life to give them. Unless the Holy Spirit is there and this tells us to ask for the Holy Spirit. The one inside referring to God here says don't bother me.

Do you imagine God saying don't bother me? Can you imagine that Abbey God saying don't bother me? That's what Jesus is telling us. God is waiting to be bothered. There's an element in God that admits to persistence.

I don't know whether if he's because he wants to see if we're serious or Whether that's what. But we have the word and the word says don't bother me. Okay, because the Americans were arrogant and proud to say well, that's the way you feel about it.

Forget it. I've got other things to do. And you do that you get nothing. God said go ahead. Okay. I got it. All you have nothing. So if you want to parade around in your nothingness, why help yourself?

You're gonna have to be a little more insistent. You have to be a little more insistent. I didn't have people are like that. They they ask once and they say oh God didn't answer my prayers. So forget it or It's not his will.

How do you know it isn't as well? Don't ever believe something isn't God's will unless God tells you it isn't as well. Then if he tells you it isn't as well, it isn't as well. But until he does he may be just asking for you to to bother him a little yeah.

Don't quit when you go before God don't quit. Remember Jacob. He could have got up in the middle of the night and walked off. He stayed with it. He hung on to God, you know, I'm not gonna let you go. This is not forcing our will on God and it isn't that it isn't that we always want the Lord's will to be done.

We're not trying to force him to do something that he doesn't want to do. It's just a fact of the spirit realm. That you get things from God by persistence. And I think it's very important for young people to know that especially although some of us older dudes can profit from it, too and that is Life and you've heard me say this probably ten times.

Life beats the idealism out of us by that. I mean a youngster's apt to believe anything. They believe they can whip the world. Reminds me of a senator that said when he went into the Senate he was going to save the country.

By the time that he got out of the Senate and in a few years after a few years been knocked around enough. He said if he could just save the sand dunes in his state. And life does that. Brooks. Well, you always you always come before God with the idea not my will be done you always do that.

That is the most fundamental of prayers. But that is not an excuse. For not going after what you want. See, I like I told you until I was corrected by chief that you can't steer a ship when it's in. When it's in the harbor when you can a warship because they have ways of playing the force of water on the rudder so they can even steer it while it's in the port, but.

Just for us that are not driving Battleships. But maybe a sailboat you can't you can't steer it when it's in the harbor. You just can't do it. You can wiggle the rudder on all you want. I mean nothing's going to happen because the boat is not moving.

And it's like sitting in your car and working the steering wheel and going anywhere unless the cars in motion. Well, that's the way it is with our life and people say well if it's God's will he'll send me to the mission field doesn't Work like that.

Doesn't work like that you have to be in motion and then. Then the Bible says you will hear a voice behind you if you go to the right or the left. You will hear a voice behind you saying this is the way walking in it.

So when you get out and get going. Taking whatever course is reasonable. The Lord will direct you if you're praying. It isn't that you're forcing things on God, but it's so easy after years go by to lose.

The joy that you had and what you really wanted from God and yet it didn't happen. But life beats that on of you. It just meant you feel well, it'll never happen. I had hopes of being a missionary. I had hopes of having a gift of healing.

I had hopes of being a blessing in the church and winning many souls to Christ. I had these hopes, but it didn't come to pass and so after a while you figure It's never going to happen. It wasn't God's will whatever and that may not have been true at all.

And I know in my own case, and I wanted to serve God when I came out of the Marine Corps. In my early 20s, I mean I was ready to go and I went to Bible school and I was ready to go like a house of fire and I'm gonna preach the word, you know.

And then I did some and God met me in Bible school. He gave me the message I preach today. God gave me in Bible school over 50 years ago but Then as hard as I'll do we tried to start a church in Phoenix that didn't work.

I'm finally just I can tell what God was just not blessing and so I Prayed to the Lord. I prayed and asked God. I said you're not telling me what to do. So and you're not letting me go in the ministry, even though I know you call me.

So I'll just do what I want to do and you steer me you steer me and I didn't give up on God. I said you just steer me out. So I decided what I wanted to do was to teach music composition and harmony in college.

That's what I wanted to teach composition harmony in college. So I put in my application in Arizona State University of Tempe and I was accepted on a music scholarship piano ha tra la. Something's working here.

And by this time I was in the middle of my 20 years old or anybody in here about 25 so you can picture. About Angela's age there. Audrey says I'll work you go to college. So I went to college and of course, I was no foolishness by that time.

I mean I was ready for business. So I got to the four years and three years in Arizona State so got right out got a job teaching music in Globe High School Globe, Arizona, and I still all I want to do is preach the gospel kept up, you know praying to God.

But that's and so then I was there a year and I said no that isn't gonna get me in teaching music in college so I Applied to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, and that's. That's the tops. I never Expected to get admitted to Eastman.

I never expected that. But Eastman that year had a program a quota program. They were going to take so many applicants from certain sections of the United States. Never been chosen because you know, that's they turn out concert pianist and orchestra conductors and everything else.

So I was accepted so we packed all our belongings and a red Ford sedan and off we went to Rochester, New York, or do we went back to work and I started off in Eastman and while I was there I Ran out of money.

I still praying for still praying for You know the Lord See you never quit but God's Steers you as you go and I was my idea. Yeah, I want to serve God. But you have to do something reasonable. Well Eastman is so expensive that Audrey was keeping us in groceries.

But I mean my goodness in those days and that was way back there in Oregon lessons or something like nine dollars an hour. Which was oh, I couldn't afford it. So I said, okay, so I took a job teaching elementary school music in Rochester the following year and That did it that did it.

I got in with the kids. I said, this is where I belong as with children so The University of the University of Rochester has a music college. Associated with the University that college is Eastman School of Music it's kind of like the tale of wags the dog because While the University of Rochester does turn out Nobel Prize winners.

It has nothing the internationally You know reputation that Eastman does so he's some kind of wags the kind of wags of the University there. But the University of Rochester turns out psychiatrists and doctors.

There's no mean school. But anyway within that school. Within that University I said I belong in the classroom teaching children Shine the college so I was teaching harmony and composition in college.

I forget that I'm going to teach kids. So I transferred over within the University of Rochester from the Eastman School of Music into the College of Education. And an order is still working away, and I'm going to college.

But I was also working too because I took a job teaching school at the same time but you know, it's amazing I couldn't go full-time, but as Taking night courses and summer and everything and working.

It's amazing how time goes by and the first thing. You know, I had a master's degree. Well, I already had a Bachelor of Arts With a minor in education. I had a master's degree in education. Still teaching school and loving it.

So I stayed with the University of Rochester another year and got a head specialist in education cool. So I kept going. I mean I was had some momentum going by then so I just kept going and kept the pace going until finally I finished my final year and got a doctor of education from the University of Rochester and all the while wanting to preach and God not making it possible.

So I applied around for a job and got a job in a college in San Jose State College in San Jose and And I took another course there. I took a post postdoctoral course in school law in while I was acting as assistant professor in the college all the time wanting to serve the Lord and So I taught the college for one year.

I said this is not for me. I love the young people is great and I had a lot of experience to bring to it because I've been teaching school for years had tenure in Rochester and I enjoyed them, but not it was not like children.

So the following year I went back into the grades and taught the grades first in wasn't in that place and wasn't. I finally ended up in Palo Alto and God just blessed me. The parents come say my child never liked school now, they're raving about school.

What are you doing? But it was just God God blessed me because I was following him. And I had a lot of opportunities in fact the school where I was teaching was the first school in the world, I guess to use computer-assisted instruction and They were using it out of Stanford University and the funny thing Stanford was only a few miles from there.

But the signal was going from Stanford to a satellite and back down to the school where I was only a few miles but The Lord just blessed me. I mean he blessed me in education until you can't believe it and Finally Here we are.

I'm 50 years old. I won't tell you how old Audrey was. I was 50 years old and We both knew we both knew. You're not waiting for me any longer, I'm waiting for you. Whoa 50 but we had kept ourselves ready.

I used to when I was teaching school I used to get up in the morning and walk around Palo Alto for an hour praying God. I want to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. I'm teaching the fifth grade.

See you never lose you don't just because time goes by you you're probably thinking well, I'll never be 50. I mean by the time I'm 50 the Millennium will be here and over. Don't kid yourself. It's amazing in my heart.

I'm a Gen X. I Don't look at. I Laugh your day is coming your day is coming so be quiet. But it but you don't change inside. Unless you let yourself change I can still today I can relate easier to children and animals than I can to grown-ups.

Because of my heart I have a child's heart but I never. You don't let go because God didn't answer and I had to wait 25 years. Doesn't mean he didn't hear. Because I was praying a wild prayer. I want to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

Every place near in the world, you know, that's nearer now than it was then. Because I saw the day when I was teaching down al Cortez Hotel in the Morris Sorolla School of Ministry and contacting Students from all over the place, especially third world countries.

How did that happen? God hears and answers prayer if you don't quit. And never lose your idealism. Never say oh, I'm too old. You're not too old. You're not too old unless you tell yourself you're too old.

I was looking at a Man a magazine the other day. He's a hundred one and He still competes in the track events can't compete in Racing and things because he's got a bad knee, but he does the shot put and does the other things.

And he wins every time. You know, why? There's no one else in his age group. But there's a picture this old guy 101 years old. You got the shot put he's gonna put it. It's it's it's how you view yourself.

See you're never too old until you tell yourself you're too old and there's people in their 80s that climb mountains believe me. There's no stopping people if they don't lose their hope and their joy and their idealism.

So don't ever that now he says here. Don't bother me the door is already locked and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. Period end of prayer. Give up. It wasn't God's will.

Yes, Matt. Yes. That's right, and that's what I'm trying to say and you just summed it up beautifully. It's what I call it. This is the way you can remember. It's the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. It's the sword it isn't.

The Lord will not do it by himself. You can't do it by yourself, but see the Lord uses people That want to be used. Sometimes he uses people that don't want to be used like Moses and Gideon but ordinarily.

You the odds of your being used by the Lord. Go up into the stratosphere when you are praying every day and Saying Lord, I want to be used. Bring someone across my path today. Fill me with your spirit so I can give them life.

If we don't do that it won't happen. It may not happen that very day, but you keep that up and see God will guide your prayer. Yeah, you have to learn how to pray. One of the things of learning to live in the spirit is learning how to pray.

Lord teach us to pray. When you're a novice in prayer, it's a pain in the neck. I mean you'd much rather do anything else than pray. And all the kids said amen. But when and maybe not all the kids either, but when you learn how to pray you you learn to Audrey and I sometimes talk about as taking up your parable or turning your little prayer wheel.

You get down there, and you'll learn to kind of interact with God and. Pretty soon five minutes isn't enough because it gets to be fun and. And pretty soon ten minutes isn't enough and pretty soon as you stay with it God begins to show you stuff.

Even the child God will be in the show you stuff and. Then it really becomes fun. Then you begin to really look forward, but if all you know about prayers to get out of it. Oh, I wish this was over. Bless my mother.

Bless my father. Bless my aunt and my uncle. Bless my grandmother and bless my dog, and that's all I can think about Lord. I'll see you later. Naturally you're not going because you're thinking of me and interesting things to do.

That's no fun. I mean, it's like well. I'll give God five minutes, but as much fun. Well God you know he likes to have fun. God likes to have fun. Who created fun? Wasn't the devil? He did not have fun.

He couldn't have fun if he tried. He's so tied up in knots. But God has fun. He comes skipping around and he likes to have fun. Why do you think he created puppies? He didn't have to. Why do you think he created little kitties that like to get a ball of yarn and run around the front room there's nothing left.

But yarn and no ball. He created that that's when you see a little kitty playing with a ball of yarn, that's God. Now he creates Tigers to. I mean God is a very multi-faceted person. But God likes fun.

He likes variety you look at the fish in the sea and the weird things and God likes that he enjoys that he's a god. Of fun believe me he wants prayer to be fun. He wants it to be enjoyable and then when it is you get hooked on prayer I'm pretty sure you'd rather pray than do anything else and.

So it you don't just get down and recite off your list to God you get down and say good morning Lord how are you doing around here and. Pretty soon you begin and then you then you think what do I really want to pray for.

I don't feel like praying for my Mother and my father and the pastor that people understand him. I'm tired of praying for that and Think about what you would really like to pray for you never heard that before did you I can tell.

Think what is it that you want in your heart because God? Answers the cry of your heart. He hears all these words going up like a Tibetan prayer wheel. You know just spin it and it goes on and on and on as the breeze blows.

And God waits till you pray what you really want and sometimes It isn't until someone in the family gets sick. And we want them heal that we really begin to pray and the other time we just do our duty, and that's no fun.

Why don't you try going window shopping with God? I like to go. I used to like to go window shopping especially around stores where they have guns. But I was always crazy about guns which isn't cool in the day in which we live because people are nuts.

But before people got nuts. Guns to me were fun, and I couldn't afford them. And I go and look at. I think the bigger and the more powerful you know an elephant gun. Oh, if I only had an elephant gun, but I was just dreaming.

I used to sit in my high school physics class. And while the professor was going on and on about humidity or whatever it was I'm drawing pictures of high-powered guns. I can still remember that West Haven high school.

Because that's where my heart was that's what I enjoyed. Well. I don't enjoy that now. I wouldn't kill. I wouldn't kill an ant. Now but that's a change of heart on my place. I just like guns. Well that was something I genuinely like.

I don't have time for it now. I certainly wouldn't kill anything, but I did really like them, and they still turn me on somewhat. But That's fine. That's window shopping. I couldn't afford him when I was a boy.

I had cattle. I had catalogs I guess from probably half of the gun makers in the world and there's a lot of them in Connecticut and in New England so I had them all over my bedroom all these wonderful colorful brochures.

I just look at those and drool. But I didn't have the money to buy any of them. But I did finally get a 22. I went down to New Haven bought my own 22 right from the Mossberg company. Mossberg 22 in New Haven.

That's window shopping. Window shop. How many here have ever gone window shopping. You ever look through catalogs? Maybe some of you like cars, and you look through and you saw a real sporty car. Maybe $75 ,000 or something that you thought man.

I'd love to have that. But you can do that with God. And you could just search your heart see what I really like. I had to do that. That's how I came up with this college composition and harmony thing because I love that.

I really wanted to do that. I searched my heart to see what I really wanted to do. Because God wouldn't let me do the ministry so I prayed to find out what I really want to do. I decided on that. That's how it all started.

And I finally ended up doing the two things that I hated when I was a boy. One was being in church and the other one was school. The two things that I detest. How God can change you. But you have to be in motion.

You just sometimes young people make a big mistake. They go and sit in a closet and fast and pray for God to speak to them. You get more deception doing that you don't do that. You you just live your normal life and just give some time in prayer do some window shopping.

Lord I'd sure like that I so maybe a nation's on your heart, or maybe you'd rather work with children or old people or whatever it is. Be a schoolteacher or teach literature in high school or whatever it is.

Go wild. Yeah, I'm praying. I was teaching the fifth grade saying Lord I want to preach the gospel of the kingdom every place where people breathe the air. There was no computer in those days. There's no personal computer.

No internet. Nothing now. It's possible. Wasn't possible then maybe that's why God let people invent the Internet. Stranger things a lot of happen in the world. See Jesus said you shall ask what you will and it shall be done.

But see we get it we ask for something we don't get it that we lose. We lose hope we don't pester God. And God said well, they don't really want that. Yes, Abby. What do you usually do instead of saying no is to show you.

This and now this is kind of complicated. But he shows you that what you are asking for you thought you really wanted. But that really wasn't what you wanted. And then he gets you down to what you really want.

Like I had this great desire to work the police department and work with ballistics that is where they study. When there's a crime they get the bullet and they study and see if it came out of this revolver or whatever great desire.

But you see God knew that would never satisfy me because my nature is such is to work with people. And especially with children and young people that's my nature that was prophesied over me at this last retreat.

You might say well, you've got one foot in the grave. But what was prophesied over me was to teach young people more than I heard that. Wow. They are hearing from the Lord so Sometimes what you think you want God and his goodness read your personality said that isn't really what they were.

Might be a little boy and what he wanted to do is be a fireman. But it God knew in his heart. He wanted to be a poet, but he just didn't know it. So he does that Abbey what he does is he and when he hears your prayers that you're a ship now you're in motion.

You're sailing east, but God knows you're supposed to go west. So he doesn't scold you. Okay, she's in motion. She cares. She believes. The very slowly your sailboat will turn start going the direction where God was.

If anyone ever told me when I was your age that I would enjoy teaching children. They forget that you are out of your gourd. Must be on something. I hated school with a passion and played hooky every chance I got.

Then I end up being the school teacher. I'll tell you yet He will not get up and give him the bread and notice this because he is his friend. So the friendship with God wasn't enough. Isn't that interesting take note now.

Persistence in Prayer and Asking for the Holy Spirit

This is a very revealing thing and the same thing in Luke. I'm in a Matthew. I think the fifth chapter is here's a when appears twice in the Gospels. It's a very important I tell you I Can't give you anything.

He will not give up so but because of the man's boldness now that Greek word there can be translated persistence. King James calls it importunity. Tony says it's used today to mean something that's obnoxious in other words.

You're a pest you can translate it because he's a pest. Now if God said this Jesus said this so it's got to be important. So after we've obeyed God and met a friend of God and you're a nice person after that.

There's a place to pester God and see God knows if you're all wrapped up in your own life in your own things. You're not going to spend time pestering God. You're just not that interested. Pestering God shows you're really interested.

Wow, they really are interested here. I Know in hiring in hiring school teachers when I was a principal. The person that would get hired would be the person. Okay, you have your interview and I'll say I'll notify you.

You know, there's others have applied and everything. But if someone calls up two weeks later and says, how's my application? I'm really interested in your school. I really think that's just the place for me makes a difference makes a difference.

You don't call him up three times a day. Then call him at home in the middle of the night. You got to use wisdom. But you see you're showing an interest and maybe nobody else did that and the principal feels, you know.

That person might just there was others that I thought might be a little more qualified. But they have a size up this school and they feel that this is where they want to be. Maybe I better give him a shot.

And see how it goes. And that's the way the Lord is. He said here you've got 100 people in a church and there's one of them God that they keep telling the Lord I need more your Holy Spirit more your Holy Spirit.

I need something to give to people when I come across their path I need more your Holy Spirit. No one else in the church is praying like that God said, you know what? Maybe I'll just do something for that person.

Does that make sense to you? And Because of the man's boldness His willingness to the Jewish term is hot spot. He he he goes after what he wants. He goes after what he wants. He will get up and give him as much as he needs.

So I say to you ask and the idea is keep on asking keep on asking and it will be Given to you. Now if that isn't true, then John 3 16 isn't true because the same man said it. You will be given. Well, I didn't get it right away.

It will be given. Can I count on it? God said it will be given. Don't say maybe or anything else it will be giving and as I say, you've got to learn to interact with God so you can tell. Now the Lord if you're open to the Lord he'll show you whether what you're asking for is what you really want and what will bring you joy or Whether there's something better for you in which case he will steer your prayer.

Till it's zinging along till it resonates with his desire for you. That's why you have to be sensitive when you're praying. You just don't get down and go through your list. Bless this one bless that one and everything keep us all safe.

Amen. You don't know how God is feeling about things you've got to interact with the Lord just like you would with a person. You know, am I on the right track Lord? This seems good to me. So I'm going to ask for it here will be done.

But this is what I would like, you know, maybe show a little class. Yes. Exactly tell him your secret is secrets that'll work. She said it's like telling your best friend that you trust your secret is secrets your most secret secrets.

All right knock. Seek as look for and what? The old fine this even works out in the world where people we know people like the man that laid the cable across the Atlantic Ocean and the Wright brothers and so on that things are legion where people have madame cherry extracting radium from The or a pitch blend and till our whole backyard was full of tons of pitch blend.