John Bevere - Does the Holy Spirit Have a Personality?
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Welcome to session two. The title of this session is "The Personality of the Holy Spirit." All right, just to review, Jesus made the most startling statement. He said, "I'm telling you the truth; it is best for you that I go away." Why was it best for us that He goes away? Because for us to make contact with Him, we would have had to fly to Tel Aviv, rent a car, go out into the middle of Galilee, find Him—it wouldn't be too hard because there'd be a massive amount of people around Him—and then wait for everybody to have their conversation. It might take a month or two to get to the center, and you better make sure you have everything written down because it's going to take another couple of months if you forgot to ask something. So Jesus is saying how much better it is that someone exactly like me—the Godhead, the third person of the Godhead, who has come to glorify me and reveal me—comes and reveals me to you.
Today, we're going to go a little further in our session. This is why Paul the Apostle makes a statement to us believers. He says in 2 Corinthians 13:14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Now notice, Paul identifies, first of all, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We wouldn't even be in relationship with God the Father had it not been for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says, "the love of God." Aren't you glad the Father loves you? You're His child. I think about how much I love my four boys and my grandbabies—that's my grandchildren. I'm way too young to be a grandpa, so it's "G-Daddy" and "G" for short.
I think of how much I love them, right? The Father's love, oh, it's so great for us, right? But then he specifically, when he moves in, identifies the Holy Spirit by saying, "the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you." So may it be with you, which means there's a chance it's not with you, okay? The word "communion" is the Greek word "koinonia." Let me give you all the definitions I found for this word: it means fellowship, companionship, communication, intimacy, sharing together, social intercourse, partnership, joint participation, and close mutual association.
So that's a mouthful of powerful words. I'm going to break it down into three major sections: number one, fellowship; number two, partnership; number three, intimacy.
Number one: fellowship. The word "fellowship," if you want a definition, means a friendly relationship, companionship, company, and sharing together. All right, friends and comrades do what? They share together, communicate together, and talk to each other. They share what they're doing. You know, I like to play golf. When I go out on the golf course, we're talking to each other, especially when we're on the same team. I tell my teammate, "You see this putt? I'm sinking it, okay?" We're going to go up a hole, but you know what? I'm communicating with them.
One of the things I love about golf is that when I used to play tennis in college, you can't talk to the guy across the net. The reason I love golf is that you talk to this person. I have developed more close relationships on a golf course. That's where fellowship happens; that's where communion happens. That's why I want my wife to play golf with me because she's the one I like being around. She's a partner to me, you got it?
We always keep each other informed. I think of my staff. My staff members are some of the closest people to me on earth outside of my family. We're always talking about our intentions and what we intend to do. Well, that's what fellowship means.
If you look in Acts 20:22–23, Paul said, "And now I go to Jerusalem, drawn there irresistibly by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what awaits me except…" Now listen to these words: "The Holy Spirit has told me in city after city that jail and suffering awaits me." Now notice the Holy Spirit didn't tell him that in just one city; He told him in city after city. I'm sure when you're told that jail and suffering awaits you, you're probably going to be questioning your partner every city, saying, "Have you changed your mind? Could this be altered just a little?" But every city, he kept saying, "Get ready for it." There have been times when the Holy Spirit has told me words I didn't want to hear, and I kept asking Him. He told me city after city, day after day, and then finally, He just got quiet, like, "I told you enough."
And so that's fellowship. If you look in Acts 10:19, while Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are seeking you." So, it's the Holy Spirit who told him, "Hey, you've got some visitors down there, and I want you to go with them. I've got something for you to do." If you look in Acts 8:29, it doesn't say "God"; it doesn't say anything else other than "the Spirit." Of course, He is God. It says, "The Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near and overtake the chariot.'"
Now you know what's interesting? Philip was conducting a revival meeting in the city of Samaria, and the Bible says an angel told him to leave in the middle of the meeting and go to the desert. It doesn't say, "The Holy Spirit told him." It says, "An angel told him." Do you understand these guys knew the Holy Spirit's voice so well that when an angel talked, they could tell the difference between the angel talking and the Holy Spirit talking. It does not say an angel appeared to him. The angel spoke and said, "I want you to go down to the desert." That was an angel who said that. But yet, when he got into that desert, he identified the one he was most close to. See, they were so close to the Holy Spirit. One might say, "Oh, the Spirit of God is saying, 'Go join that chariot,'" and he did, and he got the Ethiopian eunuch, who was third in command in all of Ethiopia, saved. How cool is that? That's what I call fellowship, comrade!
Right, Acts 16:6: "Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit." It doesn't say Jesus forbade them; it said, "the Holy Spirit forbade them to preach the word in Asia." After that, they had come to Mysia and tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So you see this communication going on between the leaders and the Holy Spirit.
Should it be any different today? Should it be different? Do we have now better ways of serving God than the Holy Spirit? Is it just that they were so primitive, and we've got GPSs and iPhones and iPads, and we can do it without you, Holy Spirit? No, it's not that way. We need Him to speak to us. New Testament believers were very aware of the Spirit of God's constant companionship with them. They expected His involvement with them just like we would expect anybody who we spend 24/7 involvement in our life with. Can you imagine spending 24/7 in our house and not saying a word to each other? That's ridiculous! Yeah, I don't ever want a marriage like that. I love this woman; I love hearing from her. I want her to just talk to me because I love hearing her voice. Tanya and I have been married 30 years, and if she were single and I was single, I would be so on her trail because she is the love of my life.
That's right—applaud that or something! You know, I've never been bored. I'm in hotel rooms now for 24 years. I've never been bored in a hotel room. How can you get bored when you're living with God? He and I room together. And you know, sometimes I'm really protective. I say, "I don't want to room with my assistants. I want to be alone in my room." You know why? Because I want to hear Him speak! I love that—are you with me? I really enjoy that, and I'm a guy who really likes to be around people. I love being around people. I'm not a guy who is a hermit type who wants to be alone and just be away from everybody. I really like people, but I really like the Holy Spirit, and He's my favorite person to be around. Are you with me?
The next word is partnership. Everybody say "partnership." If you look at 1 Corinthians 3:9, this is probably one of the most mind-blowing scriptures in the whole New Testament. What does it read? We are laborers together with God. That's mind-blowing! We are joint laborers with God! Okay, I like the way Weymouth puts it: "We are fellow workers for and with God." I work for God; I work with God—oh my goodness, that's good, isn't it? So what does that speak of? Partnership!
Okay, now listen to what the apostles said when they wrote a letter to all the Gentile believers. They said, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." You can see the partnership here working. Are you seeing this? The leaders distinctly showed the Holy Spirit's views as well as their own in this situation; they both participated in this decision. They were partners in the Kingdom work. You see this mirrored in the Old Testament. You've got God coming to Abraham at the terebinth trees. God sees Abraham as a partner. God and Abraham walked over to the cliff, and God looked and said, "You know, I'm really considering blowing up these two cities. What do you think, Abraham?" Abraham was freaked out because his nephew was over there, so he talked Him down to just ten. You know the story, right? But God was literally viewing Abraham, saying, "Should I do what I'm planning to do in Sodom without first talking to my partner Abraham?" You see, that's what partners do.
In a business partnership, you talk about something big you're going to do. Lisa and I talk about big moves that we're going to make. Aaryn is in that, and Addison's in that; we're always talking about moves that we're going to make. Why? Because we're partners! Are you seeing this? So that's what God's doing with Abraham here. You see the same thing with Moses. God's saying things to Moses, and you've even got in the scripture that two times, Moses, because of how he responded, God changed his mind.
So these are mirrors of the New Testament, but I gotta say something: Abraham and Moses didn't have near what we've got because they only got that once in a great while. We get it continuously, 24/7, baby! Are you with me? So that's why it's so much better because our partner doesn't have to sleep. I got up at 2:20 this morning and didn't go back to bed because I was so excited about today—seeing all you guys, preaching the word of the Lord, seeing what the Holy Spirit was going to do. So I got up and talked to my partner. You know what? He was awake! It's amazing!
He didn't say, "John, why did you wake me up?" Now, Lisa would have said that—she should have said, "Baby, what do you want?" I said, "Oh, God, I just want to talk!" And I've tried that before, and it didn't work. Because she likes her sleep, and I like my sleep. I don't like her waking me up. If we used to do that when we first got married, then we learned, "Don't do that. Don't do that." She'd be like, "Are you awake?" I'd say, "I am now. You've got to go to work in three hours!" But you see, He was awake when I got up this morning. He was talking to me about today, telling me about what's going to happen. Are you with me? It was pretty amazing!
So anyway, we didn't have what Abraham had. I mean, God would come down, have a meal, and all that before they could talk, okay? But not us. He's with us all the time. Acts 20:28 says, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." Do you hear that? The Holy Spirit made you overseers of those people! He didn't say, "Who Jesus made you overseer," right? Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock that the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Are you seeing this?
He was so aware of the Spirit because He's the one in the earth. Jesus is in heaven, thank you very much! Are you with me? Okay, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted in Acts 13:2, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to." You see Him distinctly identified—not Jesus, the Holy Spirit!
But listen, let me tell you something—it goes deeper than partnership. Koinonia involves close mutual association. Now think of close mutual association. All right, I'm going to give away my era, okay? I remember when I was a teenager and a little younger, if you said "Paul McCartney," what did everybody think of? Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon—the Beatles! You don't think of one Beatle in the 60s. Now they broke up. I'm not talking about the 60s. Even today, if you ask somebody over fifty, and you say "Beatles," they're going to think, "Who?" They're going to think, "Ringo, Paul, George, and John," right?
Now one of my favorites—the Three Stooges! If you say "Curly," I'm thinking of Moe and Larry! Yeah, you know a movie would be ridiculous having Curly in it, not Moe and Larry, right? Because there was such a close mutual association. Are you following me? That's what koinonia means.
I remember the first time Dr. Cho, who pastors the largest church in the world with 830,000 members in Seoul, Korea, came to America. I was fortunate enough to host him twice. I remember one time playing golf with him. The day before we played golf, I picked him up for a service, and I was going to drive him to the service. When he got into the front seat of my car, it felt like God walked into my car. All of a sudden—now I'm not the crying type, okay? My family knows that. I mean, sometimes, but I just started crying. Tears were pouring down my cheeks.
You know, I wanted to be very respectful and not say anything to him, but finally I just said, "Dr. Cho, God is in the car." He goes, "I know." And man, I later thought after that incident about how much he writes about the Holy Spirit. He prays in the Spirit for two hours every day. Ninety percent of his prayer time, he says, is praying in the Spirit. Now he later said he prays four hours a day—much of that time is praying in the Holy Spirit. So when he gets into the car, are you following me?
I think of Catherine Coleman. She was doing a meeting in New York, and you know the ushers had to get her out of the meeting. It was a hotel conference center, so they brought her through the kitchen to get her to the elevator. Right? The chefs and cooks are in there working, preparing the meals. They have no idea Miss Coleman is walking through, and all of a sudden they're on the floor. They had no idea she was coming through! They were on the floor from the presence and power of the Holy Spirit because He was so closely associated with her because she loved Him so much. Are you with me?
When I look at husbands and wives, how many of you know there are some ministers out there? You see them, then there's other ministers you see, and you see her. Do you want to know why people are always asking me about Lisa? Always! Because before I ever preach, I put a picture of Lisa up, I tell people how hot she is, and I tell them how in love I am with her. I talk about her when I preach, and so people are constantly saying, "How's Lisa? How's Lisa? How's Lisa?" Why? Because when you think of John Bevere, you think of Lisa Bevere. When you think of Lisa Bevere, you think of John Bevere. Why? Because there's a very close mutual association.
That's the way it's supposed to be with the Holy Spirit. You know what's so sad? Some ministers stand up, and you think, "What's his wife's name?" We don't know, right? You see what I'm saying? Because there's not a close mutual association. Are you following what I'm saying?
How does that close mutual association come? It's developed; it's pursued. Amen? Are you with me? If you honor the Holy Spirit, you talk to Him and spend time with Him, then He will be closely associated with you. I find that when you talk about Him, He manifests.
I remember one time speaking in a very large church—a 5,000-member church—on Sunday morning. I preached on the baptism, the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I think 500 people got baptized with the Holy Spirit in that church! You know, it was quite an amazing morning! I remember this pastor, a guy who could bench press 400 or 545 pounds—he's no wimp of a man—came up to me in tears pouring down his face. He said, "I have never felt the presence of God in this church like this tonight." I said, "Do you know why?" He said, "Why?" I said, "Because we talked about the Holy Spirit this morning, and when you talk about Him, He manifests. When He manifests, what does He do? He glorifies Jesus! He loves to glorify Jesus! That's His favorite thing to do, to talk about Jesus. He loves doing it!" Are you with me?
So if you really want to know Jesus, you have to know the Holy Spirit.
See now, look—okay, wait a minute. I know about—I'm just going to say a name here; hopefully, you'll pick up—I know about Kobe Bryant, okay? Why? Because the media portrayed him to me. People have talked about him. But you know what? If I'm walking down the road, Kobe Bryant wouldn't even know who I am, and I probably would meet a very different person from the one I think he is because I really don't know him. I just know what people tell me about him.
That's the way a lot of people are in their relationship with Jesus. People talk about Jesus from the Scriptures; they talk about Him in the Bible. But they've not met the Holy Spirit! He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ! Are you following me?
The people who know Jesus? I would pick up people time and time again. I remember when I used to pick up our guest speakers in the church back in the 1980s. The ones who got in my van who knew the Holy Spirit knew Jesus the best! I remember Gene Wilkerson—she was a lady, oh, about this tall, about seventy-some years old, white hair. She'd pray for you, and your hair would stand up on your arms. She got into my van one day, and I remember God walked in, just like Dr. Cho. I was like, "Oh my!" My mouth dropped, and was on my lap. My mouth—the bottom of my jaw was on my lap the whole time I drove her. I thought, she doesn't know about God; she knows God! Why? Because she knew the Holy Spirit!
See, the Pharisees said, "Hey, we know the Father; who are you, Jesus?" They wanted a relationship with the Father apart from Jesus. They said, "Hey, we're God's children." So they wanted to know God through the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus says, "Don't you see? You see Me; you see the Father!" Right? Well now, today, there are Christians who want to know Jesus without the Holy Spirit, and it's no different than the Pharisees trying to know God the Father, averting and skipping past Jesus. Are you with me?
Jesus said, "If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well." If you really know the Holy Spirit, you would know Jesus. He was saying, "The Father is not here, guys; He's in heaven. But if you come to know Me, you'll know My Father because we're one. If you come to know the Holy Spirit, He's the person of the Godhead that's here; you'll come to know Jesus."
I will tell you this: Lisa and I have been ministering now for 30 years—this year is our 30th anniversary—and you know what? The people who know Jesus the best are the people who know the Holy Spirit the best. It's amazing! I've never seen it. Never seen an exception.
And returning to the words of the apostles' letter that they wrote in Acts 15—remember I mentioned it to you a little earlier? Remember they said, "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." You know they were so close they could share His feelings without Him speaking. They didn't say the Holy Spirit instructed us to tell you not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, not to drink blood, not to commit fornication. They didn't write that because the Holy Spirit didn't tell them. They said, "It seemed good."
You know, Paul did the same thing. Paul wrote half a chapter in Corinthians, and you know what he said? He said, "But in my opinion, it would be better for her to stay single." I think "I think I am giving you counsel from God's Spirit when I say this." See, he knew God, the Holy Spirit, so well that he wasn't able to say, "Well, this is what the Spirit of God is saying. This is thus saith the Lord," but "I think I have the Spirit of God on this one." Are you with me?
In order to be intimate, we must know the personality of the one we seek to be close with. Isn't that true? This enhances our communion and brings it to deeper levels. We've got to know their personality. Correct?
How many of you know you treat people differently? Do you know I treat Addison different than Austin? Did I treat Alec different than Arden? Because why? They're all different personalities! And you know, I didn't know that for the longest time; I just treated them all the same way. I made big mistakes because of not knowing each of their different personalities and how they reacted. Who was sensitive to that? It was Lisa! Lisa had to train me, teach me that!
Are you with me?
And so the Holy Spirit—I'm going to say this again. He's a person! In John 14 through 16, Jesus uses pronouns—He, Him, and Himself—19 times, okay? So He's a person. Right?
Now there is a discovery that I've made that will really help me in interacting with the Holy Spirit. Okay? This discovery has—and I really hope it will help you—but the discovery that I've made is this: in the Greek, there is a pronoun that can be used for men and women. Okay? Now we don't have that in English. We've got "he" and "she," and "it." "It" is a pronoun for an object or an animal. "He" refers to a guy; "she" refers to a girl. We can't say a guy and a girl with one pronoun; we'd have to say "they." We can use "they" because they could be guys or girls. But you know, the Greeks have a pronoun that can be used for male or female, and that's a gender-neutral pronoun that refers to a human being, not an object.
And do you know that that is the pronoun that is used in the original Greek? It's not specifically "he"; it's not specifically "she." It is that gender-neutral pronoun referring to a person.
Now first of all, I want to say this: I am not saying the Holy Spirit is a female, so get that way out of your mind. I'm not saying He's a goddess, okay?
However, can I ask this question? Who existed first, God or human beings? God did! My Bible says God created them—man in His image, male and female—which means what? If He created them in His image, male and female, that means feminine characteristics have to be in God! Correct? Because if it would have said He created them in their image, male, I wouldn't be saying this right now. He said "male and female."
Okay, so we've got the Father; we've got the Son. Could it be the Holy Spirit has some of the attributes of what's found in a female? Are you with me? Yeah, okay! I just want to make sure we're all together on this!
Now there's a reason for me saying this. I would never say this unless I didn't feel it would benefit you. And the reason I'm saying this is because it will help you relate to Him.
Now see, I call Him a "Him" because we don't have that gender-neutral pronoun. I would be using that if we had that in our English language. Okay?
So why am I saying this? Okay, when I got married, I have a World War II vet dad. He's 93 years old now; I love him so much. But my dad didn't prepare me for being married to a woman. Peter made the statement; he said, "Dwell with women with understanding."
Right? So I go into this marriage, and I'm treating Lisa like a guy. Okay? This is really the love of my life—I mean, she was my first real girlfriend. Okay? So I'm just treating her like a guy. Oh, that wasn't working, baby! Let me tell you, all of you know that, right?
If you don't, you need to sit down with me. If you're on my staff, I can tell you. There are some differences between male and female! And you know, I had to learn how to speak to her.
Let me just give you an example: with my sons, you know, there have been times where I have communicated roughly with my sons. I've been hard. I was harsh. I shouldn't have spoken that way to my sons. And you know what? I'll look at one of my sons—let's say it's Addison—and I'll say, "Addison, I'm so sorry." And you know what he says? "I forgive you, Dad." And you know what? He and I are fine!
Do you know who's sad? Mom! Mom's sad for a couple of days! I've hindered my communion with Lisa for a couple of days because three days later, she's going, "I'm still reeling from the way you talked to my son." And you know what? That's all right; I understand that!
Okay, listen to what Ephesians says. It says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." The Greek word "grieve" there is "lupē." It speaks of being sad, made sorrowful, to be made sorry. It comes from the Greek word "lupe," which denotes a pain or grief that can be only experienced between two people who deeply love each other. Are you with me? Deeply love each other!
Now can I read to you the whole scripture in context? "Do not use foul or abusive language; let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow, deep grief, to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, He has identified you as His own."
Then it says in the next verse, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well of any type of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."
You know, if I want a really good night with my wife, you know what I better be? Kind and tenderhearted to my sons! Because if Lisa's hard on my sons, I'm like, "I forgive you, babe; it's great; we're fine." But if I'm hard on my sons, I've saddened her for two days! You following me? Okay, the reason I bring that up is because most women are like this! Where do you think that attribute came from?
Especially when Paul doesn't say, "Don't grieve, make extremely sorrowful Jesus." He doesn't say that; don't grieve the Father. Don't grieve the Spirit! Here's another supporting statement: you can talk bad about me. You can cuss me out. You talk bad about my wife—you're in huge trouble! Right?
You know what Jesus says? He says this: "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
Now isn't it interesting that God the Father places protection on the Holy Spirit—not on Jesus, not on God the Father Himself? He says, "Don't you be touching…" Why? Because the Holy Spirit can be grieved! He can be sorrowed! Are you still with me? I said, are you still with me?
Can I give you another reason? When a child gets hurt, who do they run to? They run to Mom! Do you know that there are states—Hawaii is one of them—where they have a policy now? When a juvenile delinquent needs to be arrested, the first policeman that goes in is a woman because they found that the juveniles respond to the comfort of a woman, and they will open up more, and they will respond to that comfort of that woman.
Who is the Holy Spirit called? He's called "the Comforter." Are you still with me? Yeah! Yeah! Okay, can I give you another reason? Yeah, okay? The Holy Spirit is known as the Spirit of Wisdom. Wisdom is referred to as "she" eight times in the Book of Proverbs!
Now, don't get me wrong; wisdom was formed—that's Proverbs 8:22. The Holy Spirit formed everything! Now, isn't it interesting that wisdom is called a "she" eight times in the Book of Proverbs? Again, I am not saying the Holy Spirit is female because let me tell you how I see the Holy Spirit. I see Him like David!
Have you ever noticed how tender David was, how sensitive he was, how compassionate he was when Absalom died? I mean, he's weeping even though he's charging the army to go after him, right? He's right! So David's this warrior, and he's this tender, sensitive guy who worships, weeps, and all the time, right? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of light. He is all-powerful, but yet He's tender to where you can wound Him for a couple of days.
And so what I've learned is—I've just got to be honest with you; you know, it's really interesting. For the past week, I've just basically shut off the TV, except for the Super Bowl. You know, I've been in such communion with God because I just buried myself in prayer and the Scriptures for the past week.
And so I was just—I've just had enough! I walked out into the living room the other night. My sons had a really—an okay movie. It wasn't a bad movie. I actually saw the movie on an airplane going overseas once, and there I came in right when that scene came on where a guy gets killed. I literally felt the grieving of the Holy Spirit go, "Oh! I'm out of here!" And I walked out and went, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"
I was so sensitive to Him. I realized if I would have kept watching that movie, He would have gotten really quiet. And you know what? Lisa's around; she's present. I know when I've sorrowed her. I have to get through the next two days and come bring the comfort back and bring the trust back, right? He's not physical; He gets really quiet. You don't know that He's been made sorry, and it's just because I was so sensitive that I realized, "Whoops, wait a minute! I'm getting out of here!"
And I said, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"
So you don't understand that He's picking up permanent residence! And when you walk into a movie like that, you're taking Him—the God of the universe, who's infinite in holiness, infinite in purity, infinite in might, infinite in wisdom—you're taking Him in there because He's called the Spirit of the Holy God. You're taking Him in there!
Why? Because He's made a covenant! "I'm not going to leave you! If you're going to drag me through that, I'll go because I'm committed to you."
I want to get quiet. If I yell at people, I get—you know, don't get me wrong! I speak strong, and I believe in speaking strong. Jesus spoke strong! He looked at His disciples and said, "How long did I put up with you? You faithless and perverted generation!" I mean, look at Him. He says, "You guys, you don't even know what spirit you're of!"
I mean, don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with speaking strongly as a leader. But when I speak harshly, not only is she saddened—He said, "Now I really got to go, 'Lord, please, please, please, please forgive me!' I'm forgiven; I'm cleansed by the blood of Jesus! I'm still in right standing with God! But I've got to work on that fellowship part because I've saddened Him recently. I spoke harshly to one of my boys, and you know what? Every time I walk down to my prayer closet in the next couple of days, it was coming up. It wasn't condemnation either! I knew I saddened Him.
"Wow! I saddened Him! I talked harshly to one of my boys, and I was so wrong!" And I mean, the next three or four days I walked down—not only that, it took me three or four days to get right back with her too.
See, I'm trying to help you understand! He's gentle; He's gentle, tender, sensitive, compassionate, comforting—as a woman—but He's mighty as a warrior! He's called the Spirit of Might! Are you with me? You're getting something out of this?
Yeah, you know, it's interesting! Here's another thing that's helped me in understanding this. I find that if I really want to get into deep intimate fellowship with Lisa, I've got to talk about the things she likes. You know, I could shoot 68 on the golf course: "Come, honey, hey! When I… Everybody tell me about through the whole thing!" You know what Lisa says? "Tell me about the conversation you had with the guy!"
"Why?" Because relationships!
So you talk about the church; you talk about people in relationships. With the Holy Spirit, you get His interest. Are you with me? Are you following me? Amen?
You know, I'm going to need to stop right there because I've got so much more! We'll just wait for the next session. So we'll see you then. Thank you!