Michael Todd - The Upgrade - Part 2
What's going on, my friends? I am so grateful you're tuning in today. And I got a question. Are you ready to live the amazing victorious Christian life that the Bible talks about? See, a lot of people believe it, but they never see it, because they have not received the upgrade, the powerful advantage that God gives his people when they accept and receive the Holy Spirit. Today if you want the advantage in every area of your life, go ahead and receive the upgrade aka the Holy Spirit. Let's do it together.
Well, I want to welcome everybody to week two of a series we're calling, help me, the upgrade. Y'all, if you can't sense what God's trying to do, he's trying to release his power in our life. See, a lot of people don't understand but the whole reason we're doing this series is because I believe there is a portion of the Godhead, specifically the Holy Spirit, that has been marginalized, not talked about, deemed weird and has literally made whole groups of people think that it's not even something we should be messing with today. And the thing that I came to tell you is that the Holy Spirit is not just weird or he's not just a part of the Godhead. He's the upgrade.
What you don't understand is this is the part of scripture and the part that Jesus tells us out of his own mouth, this is not a pastor, apostle, a bishop, a minor or major prophet. This ain't none of them. This is Jesus himself, our example telling us that the Holy Spirit is the one that has come to help us. I just see so many people in need of help right now, and they're looking to men to do what only God can. And in this series I want to refocus us back to God and God the Holy Spirit. So in the next six weeks I'm going to be your teacher. I'm your professor. I wore my lab coat today, okay. I'm gonna be your professor and what we are going to do is we are going to walk systematically through scripture to see what it says about the Holy Spirit. Just say it oust your mouth. Say Holy Spirit. Yeah, yeah.
I just want you to get used to saying it because you're going to be saying that name a lot more. Just say it one more time. Say Holy Spirit. And I want you to realize that there's something that I'm even trying to break myself out of is saying the Holy Spirit. Because Holy Spirit is his name. Not the Holy Spirit. You don't say the Michael. You don't say the Tommy. The Tommy, we want you to come. No, no, no. We'd say Tommy, we want you to come. This is something you pastors mess up but y'all know we live humble, open and transparent. I'm showing in front of you that God is still working on me. He showed me that last week. He said my name ain't the Holy Spirit. My name is Holy Spirit. And I started to think about it like oh, snap! I've relegated to like, when you know how people say the Walmart.
That get on my nerves when people like the Youtube. No, it's just you tube. The Holy Spirit saying the same thing. It's Holy Spirit. Even my points that are going to come up today they gonna have the in front of them because I prepared this a week ago. I'm telling you transparently that God is revealing himself to all of us in real-time. And if you think you know everything there is to know about God, baby, you're fooled. He is unexplainable. I'm doing my best over 7 weeks but I'm telling you there are mysteries of God that we will never be able to explain, and that's why we have to continue to talk about the Godhead of the Holy Spirit. Everybody just say it one more time. Say "Holy Spirit".
All right. So let me help you. I want everybody to experience a new version of God. Wherever you are right now, I want you to have the upgrade. Some of you have only experienced version 1.0 of God. They means you recognize God. And everybody does that. Oh, the big man upstairs. You know what I'm saying? The guy in the sky and all of these like generic things we say. But there are a lot of people, the Bible tells us, he's like there are going to be many people that said they knew me. They're gonna act like Lord, Lord, we did this in your name. And he's like bro, I don't even know you because recognizing somebody doesn't mean you have a relationship with them. And if you're at that point, it's all good that you just recognize God. I'm glad you're watching today.
What I want you to do in this series is going from recognizing God to receiving Jesus. The whole reason this church exists is to represent God to you no matter if you're lost or found for one reason, we want you to receive Jesus. We want you to be transformed in Christ and that's the thing that changed me. And so if you're at the place wondering do I really want to give my life fully to God and not just make him Savior but make him Lord of my life, I'm telling you at the end of this service you're going to have of an opportunity to upgrade. And the crazy thing about it is there's been over 16,000 people that have upgraded this year through transformation church. Y'all didn't hear me. I said over 16,000 people have gone from recognizing God to receiving Jesus.
That's why we give. That's why we serve. That's why we share. That's why we invite. Because we want people to make sure their eternities are secure. But can I tell you the saddest truth about 2.0 of God is most people stop at receiving Jesus. And they struggle for their whole Christian life is if they're saved or not or if they've gone too far from God or not. What I'm telling you there is an upgrade. Everybody say upgrade. And the upgrade is not just to go from recognizing God to receiving Jesus but the third upgrade is to release the Holy Spirit. And right now I want to let you know that you don't have to feel weird or crazy about everything that's going on right now. I'm a regular person that has been transformed by the power of God in the person of the Holy Spirit and I'm going to walk you through this for the next six weeks so we can get this together.
I'm gonna answer your question. I'm gonna talk about tongues. I'm gonna talk about people falling and out and shouting. I'm gonna talk about the gifts of spirit. I'm gonna talk about all of it, so at the end of this my prayer is you would be able to exhaustively watch all this stuff and say you know what? I want to release the Holy Spirit in my life. I'm telling you my prayer for you right now because this is what Jesus told to his disciples. John 14, 15, and 16, we're about to go there in our Bibles but I want you to know that Jesus, most theologians this was 15 to 15 hours before Jesus goes to the cross, and if I only had 12 to 15 hours left with people who were supposed to carry everything on that I've ever done, what would I be talking about to them?
Most people would be like hey, go take care of this. Hey, the money is hidden right there. Look what Jesus is telling his disciples in John 15: 16. He says and I will pray. And that word right there means ask, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another. Everybody shout at me "Helper", that He, capital H, may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth whom the world can't receive right now because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. If you have ever felt in this life like you were alone, Jesus promises you I'm not going to leave you as an orphan. I'm going to send you help and his name is Holy Spirit. I'm gonna show you a bunch of scriptures right now to see, to let you see how valuable having the Holy Spirit active and alive in your life is today.
Go to John 14:26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, so just so we know who the helper is, it puts it in there, the Helper. Who? The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name. He will, watch this, teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Hold on. Write this point down because this made me really excited. The Holy Spirit is my teacher. You need to understand that you can walk into any situation and not know what to do and if you have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, he will teach you what to do. I gotta keep going. I found another one in there. The Holy Spirit is not just my teacher. It says he will bring to your remembrance all the things that I said to you. Hold up. The Holy Spirit is better than just my teacher? He's also my hard drive? The Holy Spirit is my hard drive.
You know why you have a hard drive, right? To store everything that you have on a computer or a device so that when you need it, you can recall that thing. That's why I read the Bible, not just to memorize it because I can't remember all of that stuff, but if I put it in it goes onto the hard drive. And I'll be in a moment and I won't know what to say, and the Holy Spirit says oh, I got exactly what you should say in this moment, because I am your hard drive. The Holy Spirit will teach you and he'll help you remember everything that you need. John chapter 15: 26, I'm just trying to give you some perks of having the Holy Spirit in your life. It says but when the helper comes, we know who the helper is, that's the Holy Spirit, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me.
The message version says he will confirm that I exist, so if you've ever had a question, is Jesus really real, the Holy Spirit says that's me. I will be your assurance. Write this point down. The Holy Spirit is my assurance. When you don't know God, is this you, he said I'll testify and I'll tell you, I'll confirm it, I'll show you, I'll make you aware. Should I marry them? I'll tell you. I'll confirm it. I'll show you. Should I move there? I'll tell you. I will be your assurance that this is God. So hold on. The Holy Spirit is my teacher. He's my hard drive. And he's my assurance. I got one more for you, John 16: 13, however, when he, the Spirit of Truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak. Say that with me. He will speak. Just one more time. He will speak.
That settles every argument. Does the Holy Spirit speak? Jesus said he will speak. And he will testify and tell you of the things to come. Your GPS in your car when you type in directions, it tells you of things of traffic ahead. You want to struggle through life? You want to go through broken and failed relationships? Do you want to have to go through the path that's gonna cause you pain? If you would get in a relationship with the Holy Spirit, he can say bad friends ahead. Uh. He can say years of addiction ahead. He says he can testify and tell of you the things to come. He'll say you won't get paid there but you'll develop your purpose there.
The Holy Spirit speaks. And the problem with most of us is we would rather hear a person speak than the Holy Spirit. Y'all be on clubhouse all the time listening to people who don't have any proof. Oh, I'm in somebody's business. Just because they write millionaire success tips, show me your account. I don't care if you have a credential, you can't tell me what's up ahead. So when I realize who the Holy Spirit is, he's my teacher, he's my hard drive, he's my assurance. The Holy Spirit speaks to me so why wouldn't you accept the upgrade? Why are you fighting so hard to release the Holy Spirit, why are you fighting so hard to not release the Holy Spirit in your life? The reason why I'm so passionate about this, the reason why I'm sweating up here and I decided we were gonna do this long series on the Holy Spirit and the reason why I want you to have the upgrade is because where I am today is a direct result of me listening to the Holy Spirit.
I've been interviewed by all types of people and they try to quantify what God is doing through my life. Oh, it must have been because. And oh, okay, your social media marketing and oh, you came out of nowhere but then you put a... No, bro. All of that that's man's way of describing what only the Holy Spirit did. I'm an equation that you won't be able to solve. And in an age where we all need to figure it out and we're trying to figure out formulas and trying to get the exact quotient of what will produce success in my life, I want you to have what I have. And his name is Holy Spirit. How do I have only six months of TCC education but what I say is studied in colleges around the world? How did I have a potential felony case for insurance fraud on my record and now I help pay off people's cars? See, y'all think it's got to add up, but how if the world was I addicted to pornography and now I help snatch people out of addiction?
How did I almost ruin the relationship between me and pastor Natalie and now I've written a number one New York times best selling books about relationships? It don't add up. Baby, look at my life. It don't add up. But when you throw in the Holy Spirit, I am getting excited right now, they will not be able to figure out how you went from that to this. And they don't have to. As long as all you know is it was the Holy Spirit. How in the world did I know not take any business classes but I am the CEO of an organization that didn't get a building on the block but we bought the whole block? He got a name. His name is the Holy Spirit. Aah! Y'all better hear me. The Holy Spirit is my advantage. I have an advantage.
Every Christ follower that releases the power of the Holy Spirit in your life you can walk into room and they can call you the underdog but it don't matter, baby, because I have an advantage. You can take me to any classroom, any boardroom, any negotiating table, and I have never seen this language in my life, but baby, you can talk circles around me, but I have the advantage. And the advantage his name is Holy Spirit. I can't tell you how many times I've left this platform and said, I'll never be able to do that again. And somehow I get in prayer and I crack open my Bible and I listen. I tell Charles all the time, I was like, how in the world did it happen again? Y'all don't know. Every Sunday I get up here and 30,000-40,000 of y'all tune in, y'all be up like Lord, I'm ready for the word. And I'm like Lord, what is the word? Can I be, like can I be, but every week, every week he does not run out.
Some of y'all have been holding back your creativity and your wisdom and words. That means you think it's in you but the reason I can give everything I got is because it ain't coming from me. The same God that was there at creation hovering over the deep, go back and study Genesis 1, he is the same God that is sitting with me, standing up strong in me. I have the advantage. Count me out if you want to. Don't add me if you want to, but I have the advantage. His name is what? Holy Spirit. And people ask me all the time, how do I walk so confidently? Because I know who's in me. There is no... How do I say it clearer? There is no situation you will ever walk in with the Holy Spirit that you can be played in.
Now, I've walked into situations by myself and played myself. Y'all know how you act like you know something and you don't know it? Y'all know you act like you've been there and you ain't been there? Y'all know you act like you've been through marriage counseling but you ain't really been through marriage counseling so when you hit a bump in the road you act like you don't want to go to counseling but you need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit? Because it's not going to happen with just your knowledge and watching people on Instagram. Yeah, I've been there. You played yourself. But there's no situation that I let the Holy Spirit lead and he left me out there hanging. I have the advantage, and I want you to have it. And the truth is you already have it. You just have it muzzled. You just act like he ain't there. And y'all say stuff like this, something told me.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just had this strong feeling. That's the Holy Spirit. Like, you going on a date with them and the Holy Spirit is like, no! And you're like living my best life. Out here about to kill it. About date night and all, and you out here wondering, "God, why didn't you say something"? I was trying. But you shut down your advantage. Y'all think that I'm saying this. Y'all think these are my words. You think this is just something clever. So go to John 16: 7. Write the point down first. The Holy Spirit is my advantage. Say it out loud with faith. The Holy Spirit is my advantage. When you go to your workplace tomorrow, it doesn't matter what the title is in front of your name. Well, I ain't gonna give my best until they recognize that I'm the senior lead this, that and... Every position I've ever had they had to make up for me.