Creflo Dollar - Your Unseen Partner: The Holy Spirit - Part 2
You and I were fathered by the Holy Spirit. That old you died. It went away. It passed on. That new creation was conceived by the Holy Spirit. God gave birth to that perfect part of you, and the perfect part of you is that born again part of you. It's that new creation in you. You are a spirit. You possess a soul. You live in a body. When you got born again, it was your spirit that changed. You lost that old man. You got that new man. That new creation was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And Jesus called the Holy Spirit in him, the Father.
So allow me to do that. The Father's in me. The Father's in me; the Holy Spirit operating as a Father in me. Glory be to God. He's not a Father. He's not operating as a Father in heaven. The Father, my Father lives in me. The Holy Spirit lives in me to father me, hallelujah. The Holy Spirit lives in me to father me, praise God. So some of you say, "Well, you know, you didn't have a natural father". But I'm telling you, you'll never have a father like this, a Father who loves you so much he moved on the inside of you to father you, glory be to God, to direct your steps, to correct you, praise God, to lead you, to guide you, to tell you where to go and where not to go. You have a Father living on the inside of you. And under the New Testament, this is why Jesus said this.
The administrator said, "Under the New Testament, you no longer have to refer to him as God. Under the New Testament, you can refer to him as Daddy". Your daddy lives on the inside of you. Your Father lives on the inside of you. But what good is a Father living inside of you that you ignore? What good is a Father living inside of you that you don't pay attention to? You have a Father living on the inside of you by way of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, they always work together. During his time on the earth, everything you read and see about Jesus Christ is Jesus and his Father working together. Jesus says, "I don't even know what to tell you except the Father in me tell me". The Father's teaching you what to say and how to talk. Glory to God.
Look at John 5:19. John 5:19. Now, this is what got me. I look at Jesus and here's what got me. He said, "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself". All right, Jesus is referring to himself. "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do". How you think you can do something of yourself except what you see the Father do? But Christianity means we have a relationship. We know our Father. Christianity says we spend time with our Father. In this case, it's not an absentee father, it's absentee children. The Father's there. He moved on the inside of you, but you're remaining absent from him.
You don't spend no time with him, you don't talk to him. You're so engaged into the world, you're so engaged in trying to be like the world. You don't even understand it's what the world is giving you is blindness. And the more you receive from the world, the more you become blind to what the Father has to give to you. They're absentee children. The Father is very present in this case, but what does a father do when the children don't want to cooperate, or to hear or to be a part of it? And we get so used to pushing God aside, ignoring his Words, that our heart becomes hardened, and we don't even sense it no more. What happens when you sin, sin, sin and you convince yourself it's all right with God, it's all right with God. I'm teaching a series called "What Goes Around Comes Around".
See, the grace of God doesn't stop; whatever goes around, comes around. Because if that were the case, all of the good stuff you sow, wouldn't be able to come back either. And so you're under it, you're under this principle that says, "Dude, be careful for what you do because what you make happen here going to show up one day". And a lot of people don't believe that. They say, "Well, that's all right with God". Listen, God still loves you but that's still going to happen. I don't know what people think. "Well, the grace of God threw that principle out". Well, you know that Galatians talked about that. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that and that alone is what he's going to surely reap".
Somehow, you think you can just go and act ugly and ugly ain't gon' come back to you. That's why the Holy Spirit here to help you so you don't keep... see, the Father's trying to help you because the Father knows what happens. When the Father says, "Don't do this," he's saying don't do this because there is a principle in operation in this physical world. And everything on the planet operates by that principle. Everything, it's a physical law, operates by that principle. And when you think you've gotten away with something and you don't know how that harvest going to come back. It may come back in a way that you didn't think it was going to come back.
So don't ever get comfortable in sin. Don't ever get comfortable in what you're doing because it's coming back. It's coming around again. It's not like, you know, that's not... and you're not going to see that again. Phew. Let me calm down. But I'm gon' teach that but I'm teaching it now, but I am gon' teach that. He said, "Then said Jesus, and he said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he does, these also does the Son likewise". You know, we love to brag about the stuff we get from our natural father, but we hardly get anything from our heavenly Father. "Oh, I learned that from my daddy".
Well, what have you learned from God lately? What have you learned from your heavenly Father lately? Do you know him? Do you know him when he talking to you? Do you see him when he's trying to protect you? Do you hear him when he's trying to guide you? Or do you mix up the ways of the world with the ways of the Father, and somehow thinks that God is no longer for diligence? You want to just pray and sit back and wait for it to happen and you forgot about that God is a God of excellence, and he's a God of diligence, and he's a God that leads you and shows you how to do what needs to be done. And the things we have turned Christianity to, into, and they're just not true. That's just not a... you live in a physical world, you live in a physical body and there's certain physical things that have to take place in this physical world.
Certain physical activities that have to take place. And the Father will show you about those physical things that have to take place. And you need God. You need God. And some of you are mad at the only one that can help you. Some of you been stranded on the side of the highway for years. Some of you have talked yourself into something you know is wrong, and even though you been in this wrong all of these years, there's still the Father inside working, fighting to not let you go, and to not let the world take you. He's still fighting for you. We have a Father in us. Daddy, God, lives in you. He wants to talk to you. He's talking to some of you right now. Open your eyes up. You have the advantage on the inside of you.
God wants you to be more successful than what you want to be. God wants you to be more prosperous than what you want to be. God wants you to be healed. God wants you to be delivered. God wants you to be more happy than you want to be, but we think it's foolish. We think it's foolish because we can't see him. We think it's foolish because that can't be real, because Satan fills your mind with doubt. And I'm telling you, God is about to make himself so real. He's already made himself so available, but we can no longer continue to be absentee children, absentee sons and daughters. We got to trust God, and we get to believe that he is.
Look at John 5:19. It says, "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what so ever things the Father do, these also the Son likewise he doeth". Now, here's the convincing that I had in my heart in reading this Scripture. Listen to this, Jesus needed this ongoing partnership with the Holy Spirit in order to complete his mission. Jesus needed this ongoing partnership with the Holy Spirit in order to complete his mission. If Jesus depended on this ongoing relationship in order to complete his mission, who do we think we are trying to complete our mission without an ongoing partnership of the Holy Spirit? Every one of us have a mission in life. Every one of us have an assignment in life. We have something we've been called to do in life.
How do you think you're going... Jesus said, "I cannot finish or complete this mission without this ongoing partnership". I say what he said; I can't complete this mission without this ongoing partnership with the Holy Spirit. I can't do it. I can't do it. There's no way. You know, next year I'll be celebrating 40 years in ministry. There is no way, nothing could have gotten done without this ongoing partnership with the Holy Spirit, including the continued metamorphosis and change in own my life. The metamorphosis and change in my life as a father, as a husband, as a pastor. I have to have that ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. I don't know what I'm doing. I've never done this before. I only do what the Father is showing me what to do.
And then maybe one day, I'm made qualified at sharing some information but the thing I know I can do is tell people, he lives in you too, and he can father you the way he fathered me, and he can help you to get of over stuff you used to do. And I can tell you, I'm glad to say for some of you. Some of the things, you used to do, you're over that, but it's because of that ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. It's because of him. It's because of him. How much more do we need the Holy Spirit to help us complete our mission?
I want to show you something, look at Acts, Acts chapter 1, verse 4 and 5. Acts chapter 1, verse 4 and 5. I can recall where, man, especially when I'm in my 20s and I'm starting this ministry, I'm like, "I have to pray and I have to seek God," 'cause I don't know what I'm doing. I think that was a lot better than today because you have to be careful not to fall into temptation that says, "Because I've done this for 40 years, I don't need to depend on the Holy Spirit like I used to". That's dangerous. Remain a student of grace, no matter how long you've been in the game. He says, "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me". Verse 5, "For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence".
You heard what he said, he says, "Hold on, before you go on your missions, stay right here in Jerusalem and wait, wait". You know, I think a lot of times people do stuff and they're not waiting, they're not waiting on the Holy Spirit. They have nothing that says the Spirit of God told me to do this. They have nothing that says that the Spirit of God is leading me to do this. People go with their own plan, and you know, focusing in on if God did it for them, he could do for me. And that may not be the mission, that may not be the plan, or he may not want you to that way. That's what the church is caught in. We keep marrying methods, and God's trying to do a new thing, a new way, and he can't do it because everybody assumes that the right thing to do is just to the way that it's always been done.
And the Father wants to show you this path for you. He wants to show you this assignment for you. He's given you a vision and he's given you a desire, but you keep walking ahead of him. And you're supposed to walk with him. Not behind him, not in front of him. You're supposed to walk with him. And he will lead you into green pastures. He will show you the things you need to go, because you see, God knows when you need to take a pitstop. Let me show you what I'm talking about here. So the Spirit of God, it's very clear that he said, "Wait in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit".
Now, watch this, and some of those most powerful things you can do as a Christian is wait until you receive the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit have to say about this? People don't care about what the Holy Spirit has to say. They do what they want to do. And I have noticed that, that people are doing what they want to do. That's why I'm not like I used to be. I felt like I could change them. If I could change people, I'mma keep pounding, pounding, pounding. And I look at things in the past and I pound, pound, pound, and I realize all of that time, and all of that effort, and I really wanted it more than they wanted it. And I knew what Holy Ghost said but he wanted, and I just said, "You know what? I'm not doing these people no good. I'll tell them what God want me to tell 'em and then I'mma back up".
And God knows how to teach people, because when they don't receive his instructions and his teachings, God will let stuff happen. God will just back up and say "All right, you won't pay attention to what I'm saying? Go on, I tried to tell you there's a gigantic ditch there, but you keep going. Go fall in the ditch". And then when you get in that ditch, and you'll lift your hands up and say, "Father, I stretch my hands to thee. No other help I know". See, sometimes we got to get out the way. Some of us well-to-do Christians, you need the Holy Ghost to tell you when it's time to engage and when it's time to back up. And some of you engage and the Holy Ghost didn't tell you to engage. You engage because you were afraid of what people were gon' say, and you had to come, "You know what, well, you supposed to do this". But no, you supposed to do what the Father leads you to do.
And that's why it takes so long is because sometimes you engage, and you mess somebody up, and what could have been over with in a month took another year because you kept getting in the way. You keep helping people that God won't even help. And then, the folks who try to manipulate folks, you go around talking about, "Well, what you should do. You the church, you should do that". No, we should do what the Holy Ghost do and quit trying to marry a method to do what everybody else do. The Holy Ghost know how to run this thing. The Holy Ghost know who need this and who need that, and when they need this and how they need that. No, the Holy Ghost may inspire you, and sometimes to say no. But we don't believe that, why? 'Cause we don't have no working relationship with the Holy Ghost. We've dismissed the God, and say, "I know the way. I'mma do this on my own".
And then you end up falling in the ditch and then they fall in the ditch too. That's what he meant by that. You know, you following. The blind leading the blind and both of y'all end up in a ditch. And then God got to come get both of y'all out of the ditch. I'm telling you, man, we got to back this thing up. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means Christ lives in me to teach me, and to guide me, to counsel me and to lead me. What does it mean to be a Christian? A personal relationship with Jesus. Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is a personal, a personal relationship with the Father that lives on the inside of you, so he can train you, and lead you, and guide you, and show you, and comfort you, and give you happiness that you got to look around and say, "I don't even why I'm so happy," and give you joy, and you don't even know where the joy came from. He said that it was his joy that he gave you.
Well, it's not going to do me any good to go and, you know, bash everybody 'cause of what I think. I'm just... no, no, no. I'm just saying this is light I'm trying to give you to shine in the darkness. Hopefully it's waking up to say, "Whoa, whoa. I haven't been depending on the Holy Spirit". Hopefully, this message is like, "Oh, wow, wow, wow. I've dismissed him. That was him talking to me at the red light. That conviction I had, oh, that was the Holy Spirit trying to change". And the more you get in the Word, and the more you spend time in prayer, then the clearer that voice gets, and you begin to hear him from the inside. And he begins to lead and guide you and instruct you and bring you into places that you know good and well you could not have gotten there without him, yeah. So wait on the Holy Spirit. Wait on the Holy Spirit.
Taffi and I were talking about this the other day. You know, people start things for God, and they give it about two, three years and then they quit... what? Two or three years in the ministry, I was still probably talking to eight people. But I knew that was the Word of the Lord. And how many people showed up didn't determine that was the Word of the Lord; I knew what God told me to do. And there was a time where two people showed up, but I knew what God told me to do. And then five. I knew what God told me to do. But if I was paying attention to the crowds or if I paid attention to the inflammation rather than real growth, a lot of you would look at stuff and it's inflammation. That come from a problem, yeah, anyway. But I need you to pay attention to what the Holy Ghost is saying. And you stand there, and you stand up, because, see, you gotta understand something.
If they're five people there, that's one thing. But what if they're five presidents of gigantic nations. That's a whole other thing, isn't it? You don't know who you might be talking to. But too many people are being led by the wrong criteria. The criteria is not the number. Quit, quit, quit counting seats or quit counting people in seats. What did God tell you to do, and then whatever he told you do, stick with it and watch him do what he tell you to do. And you might not know until you get to heaven, like, what did I really accomplish? It was that one person, that one person you impacted, that one person you impact, and they led 20 billion people to the kingdom, and you don't even know why they called you up front when you get to heaven.
I want to do what God tell me to do. I ain't trying to build no image, I ain't trying to impress nobody and I still believe that a man that defends himself will remain average. I want what God want me to have. Because at the end of the day, when I close my eyes and my spirit leaves my body, I am absent from the body and I'm present with the Lord, and I'm going to live for eternity. And I'm not going to let this little, small time, you know, mess up what God... I don't want to go to heaven and hear "my average and faithless servant". Job incomplete. I want to walk up in there and see Jesus. "Creflo"! And I'm like, "Jesus". I want him to grab me and hug me and put a position on his face that say, "I really love you". It's worth it all. It's worth everything. I still haven't forgot that I got to die one day. I still haven't forgotten that there's a heaven and a hell one day.
What are you going to be like? Check it out. You're going to die. That's a given. You're going to die. Man appointed to die once. You're going to die. All right, you die, and you didn't believe nothing. But then when you die, then everything that I tried to tell you is true. But you didn't believe it because you didn't like me, or you didn't agree with what I said, or you got mad at me or something. But it's still true. And then you die, and it's like "Oh, my God. Everything was... I didn't know it. I was blind. I didn't know".
And I'm trying to get you to see that this Word is the only light, the only antidote for the blindness that you live with right now. Just 'cause you see it on TV doesn't make it right. Just because somebody said it or a whole bunch of people are doing it, don't make it right. If a whole bunch of people decide to jump off a building and kill themselves, will you follow? You know, in this day and time, I think people will. We got to open up our eyes. We're blind, and I'm trying to wake you up to the power of the Holy Spirit.