[00:00:00] Well, good morning to every one of you. And welcome, welcome. Welcome at whichever campus you're on. I want to welcome you. And those of you who are a part of our online community, wherever you are in the world, uh, we want to welcome you in one of the things that I'm trying to do as a pastor has helped all of us to understand we're all in this. [00:00:17] So, um, I can see who's online and I, Lauren, you are in Texas, and I want you to know, we know you're with us and Maddie, you are in North Carolina, and that's just a sampling of, of a number of people from around the country. So here's the deal folks. The church has changed over the last two years, kind of get. [00:00:35] Can I get an amen and we love it when we get to be together. And I believe God does special things when we're together. I think it's really important that you get out of bed and you get here if you can, but we have an online ministry because not everybody can be here. So with that said, I'm glad you're here. [00:00:50] And we're going to continue today in a series that we've been in for four weeks. This will be the fourth of five weeks and we'll finish this next. It's called the God within. And what it is is it's just a chance for us to talk about the holy spirit. Now we're going to do that today, but to get ready, I need you to grab your Bible and open it to Luke chapter. [00:01:09] Just opened it to Luke. And Luke is the third of four biographies of Jesus in the new Testament. So find the new Testament. It'll say Matthew, mark, Luke. And just find Luke and I'll show you where we're going to look in just a moment, but just get that ready. So the God within this series, we're in is talking about the holy spirit. [00:01:30] And what we're trying to do is we're trying to take the holy spirit from being some vague, kind of like a theorial out there in the clouds, kind of a concept, and really try to make sense. So that. I have a practical, applicable understanding of who the holy spirit is and what he's up to. And so that's what we're doing in this series. [00:01:52] And we're going to keep working on this now today. And I need you to understand this today is part one of two parts under the God within series. I want to talk about what. The holy spirit makes, what is, I mean, what difference does it make? But as spoiler alert, it makes the spirit makes all the difference in the world. [00:02:14] Okay. So I just got to tell you that the spirit makes all the difference in the world, but part one is going to be today. And part two is going to be next because I can't get all this in, in one message I got to set up. By spending some time helping you to see something today, and that's what we're going to do. [00:02:29] So I'm excited for this and we're going to get going. So what I want to do to get to kind of pick up the conversation, get us, get us thinking about the spirit. Again. I want to get there by kind of going around the backside of the Bush. I want to ask you what comes to your mind when you hear this word. [00:02:42] Okay. I'm going to say a word and you, what immediately comes to your mind. Immediately what comes to passion. Now? I don't know what you think of when you think of passion. A lot of people would say, well, passion has everything to do with heart. I mean, heart and passion go together. Passion all obviously has a lot of kind of romantic overtones that you could chase down. [00:03:03] I don't know what you think of when you think of passion, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to understand what the dictionary says. The word passion means in today's vernacular in today's. So here here's the definition. All right. Straight out of it, a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something, or about doing something, a strong it's just this thing, this feeling of enthusiasm or excitement. [00:03:29] So with that said, let me ask you this question. This is, you get an answer. It's your answer. It's nobody else's answer. It's your answer, but I want to ask you the question. What are you passionate about? What are you passionate? And you might be going, ah, give me a minute, give me a minute. Let me just do something. [00:03:47] Let me, let me just go through some possibilities and I'm going to make a point by going through these possible. You just go with me on a journey. All right. What are you passionate about? It could be a particular sport. You are all about golf or you're all about baseball or is football for you or it's tennis or pickleball? [00:04:03] You could be about a sports team. Like you could be all about, you know, like that local team, that's six, six and oh five and or whatever it is right now, tips. And, oh, what are we? We've never been here before. This is brand new territory. It could be about the Cardinals. And so you wear all the Jersey, you do all that. [00:04:21] You get to the game because you're passionate about the Cardinals. It certainly could be a sports team. You pass, it can be about something you recently purchased. I got a brand new house. Maybe that's see my house. I got brand new car. You got to check out my ride. I got a brand new boat. You got to see this thing. [00:04:34] It could be about something like that. It could be about your health and your you're passionate about what you eat and you're passionate about your cooking and all that kind of stuff. It could be about health and fitness. And you're passionate about your workout routine. You're passionate about how many. [00:04:48] Yes, that's it and all that kind of stuff. And, and where you do that, that could be your thing. You could be passionate about a certain relationship, man. I love this woman. I love this man. I'm passionate about it. It could be about your kids. I'm passionate about can be your grandkids. I'm passionate about my grandkids. [00:05:03] They can be about making money. I'm passionate about making money. You can be passionate about spending money, and if you're passionate about spending money, you should marry somebody who's passionate about making money. Cause that's just kind of how that works. You could be actually to the point I could just keep going. [00:05:17] You could be a certain cars, years have passed. I'm passionate about justice. I'm passionate about stopping human trafficking. I'm passionate about eradicating poverty, and that could be your thing. It could be passionate about your pet and you could be passionate about reading. You could be passionate about something you collect, man. [00:05:34] I don't know what it is. Coins or trading cards or comic books or. [00:05:42] Lisa, my wife. I love you. If she's in here, you could be passionate about collecting traffic tickets. I had to say that to balance out the shoes comment. All right. You passionate, I'm passionate about that. You could be passionate about, uh, traveling or movies or music or a particular music group or for tography. [00:06:04] You can be passionate about like your hobby. If you have the hobby, like if it's the best hobby ever, you know, like fishing, you, it, it makes sense why you're so passionate. You could be passionate about your church. You could be passionate about your faith. You could be passionate about your job. Can I just do that last one new for fun? [00:06:24] Cause no, no way. I'm passing passionate. Here's the point? That is a short list. And I know I belabored that, but I just need you to understand. There's no number of passions. As many people exist, exists, or could be passions that match them. And that you might be passionately frustrated with me right now. [00:06:44] Cause I didn't name yours. But the reality of is you're so many things that you could be passionate about. Another word for passion, a word we don't use in our language very much these days is the word zeal. And if you ever heard somebody who's zealous about. Zeal and zealous are related to the word jealous, by the way, you're never jealous about anything you don't care about. [00:07:07] You're never zealous about anything you don't care about. What are you passionate about? How do you know when you've found your passion? Oh, your body will tell you, you found your pet me. You come alive, you light up it. Blood starts flowing, man. Your eyes get big. Your eyes actually dilate. And everything is just like clicking away and your voice becomes animated and your actions become animated. [00:07:32] Your emotions get invested. Usually can't shut up about what you're passionate about because it's your passion, it's your passion. So let's just agree to something and this, all of this is going to a destination. All right. Let's just agree to this. All right. We are known and we are defined by our passion. [00:07:54] All right. So in other words, people who know, you know that about you and if you didn't have that, they, they would go, no, that's not them because the person I know in that body is passionate about that thing. You're, you're known and you're, and you're defined by your passion. And then I just need you to understand this. [00:08:15] It basically, your passions tend to find you, and then they define you. That's how it works. So again, I want to ask you the question. What are you passionate about? What are you passionate about now? Send all your passions over there on the back burner for just a moment. I'm going to ask you another question. [00:08:31] All right. If somebody had to like pin you against a wall and to get you to say what your purpose in life is, not your passion, your purpose, what would be your purpose and go, what do you mean by purpose? Like what are you trying to do? What are you trying to accomplish? When you wake up in the morning, what are you trying to get done? [00:08:50] Not in the today, but today's a part of a bigger story. That story of my life, the story of your life, what are you trying to accomplish? So in other words, when your life is all said and done, what did you want to say? And what did you want to get done? What's your purpose? Or do you say I don't have one can see, I want you to understand you were born to have a passion and you were born to have a purpose. [00:09:14] Do you know what those are now? Listen carefully. When your passion intersects your purpose, right? That intersection point, your passion intercepts, your intersects, your purpose. That is the sweet spot of your life. That is the best you you'll ever be. Your passion and your purpose at that intersection. Now enough about you enough about me. [00:09:41] Let's put that aside. Let's talk about Jesus. What was Jesus? What was Jesus's passion. There's so many things you could put here. I mean, you also could make a really, really long list. I won't do that. We need to talk about this passionate about praying. He was passionate about preaching as passionate about doing miracles is passionate about serving. [00:09:59] He was passionate about giving. He was passionate about the poor. He was passionate about the outcast. He was passionate about his father. He was passionate about the kingdom of heaven, this passion. He was passionate about all those things. I want to suggest his greatest passion was none of those things. [00:10:12] His greatest passion was something else. Or so I'll show you in just. And you're never going to understand the passion of Jesus until you understand the purpose of Jesus. What do you mean purpose? Like, why didn't Jesus? Like what did Jesus seek to accomplish? Like what, what, what were you trying to like, what was your life all about? [00:10:28] Why did you come? You know, it's interesting, um, businesses, corporations, churches, ministries, they usually have a mission statement. We exist for the sake of, for the sake of why did Jesus exist? Now businesses and churches and why don't you declare it? You go, this is what we're all about. This is what we're trying to accomplish. [00:10:49] Do you know that Jesus declared his purpose? He flat came out and said why he came. You might not have seen it. You might not have understood, but let me show it to you. It's it's crystal clear what he said. This comes from Luke 1910 for the son of man came to seek and save the loss. That that was it. What do you mean? [00:11:11] The loss? Jesus came. His purpose of coming was to go to every single person. Who's not in a relationship with his father, not right. That that relationships are severed or broken and make it right to seek and to save it, to restore it, to redeem it. In fact, he said it this way in John six, four, I have come down from heaven, not. [00:11:36] To do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me, and this is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose. None of all of those he has given me, but raise him up at the last day for my father's will, is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life. And I will raise him up to the last day. [00:11:56] I see the passion of Jesus. The purpose of Jesus was to seek and save the lost. That meant, it meant his passion was people, people that can I get real clear. His passion was you. That was his passion. You were his passion. He, he came to make sure you don't end up going to hell and is passionate about that. [00:12:26] don't think about this, but it's interesting if you do, if you read the Bible, it's all these conversations Jesus has with. You see a very clear pattern. Let me, let me just show you a little bit. All right. In Matthew chapter four, verses 18 to 20, and they'll pop up here. It says this as Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers Simon called Peter and his brother, Andrew. [00:12:49] They were casting a net into the lake for, they were fishermen, just doing their thing. Come follow me. He sees these two brothers, this Simon and Andrew. They're blue collar workers out there making a living doing, and he says, follow me. Now, when you hear the words, follow me. I hope church that you associate this with Luke 9 23. [00:13:13] If anyone wants to come after me, here's the invitation. Die to yourself. Like humble yourself, die to yourself and commit to follow. That's what he was offering him, humble yourself, die to yourself and going to journey. Now, what you're going to discover is when Jesus invited people to do that, they said, yes, not everyone, not all the time, but usually they said, yes, Peter and Andrew said, yes, Philip John, 1 43, the next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee finding Philip. [00:13:41] He said to him, follow me. And Philip said, yeah. Yep. I'll go, Matthew. This was fascinating to me. Um, and so I asked you to turn to the book of Luke and I said it was the third of four biography. So Matthew mark, Luke, and John, these are the guys names who wrote those biographies. Matthew, this guy was a tax collector. [00:14:04] When, when he came to Jesus, he went by a different name. He went by the name, Levi, let me, let me show you something. All right. So Matthew five, uh, Luke, excuse me, 5 27 says after. Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at the, at his tax booth. Follow me just said him and Levi got up and left everything and followed him. [00:14:29] What do you mean follow following, humble yourself. Dive yourself. Going an adventure with me. And Matthew did ended up writing a gospel where you talking about the woman at the well, which he's gotten this conversation with a Samaritan woman and she comes to faith. You get that wee little Zakiya. The little guy up in the tree, uh, he came to Jesus Bartimaeus Jesus blind. [00:14:52] Bartimaeus Jesus said, come follow me, get on this journey. We can talk about this crazy man. This Garrison demoniac this guy that was demon, possessing chains are hanging from him and he, Jesus lands on the shore and this crazy man out of his mind, a maniac comes at Jesus and slides right at his feet. And Jesus heals him. [00:15:17] And then he's in his right mind. You could read the story and then the guy immediately wants to get in the boat with Jesus, because you're going wherever you're going. I'm going with you. And Jesus says, you know what? I need you to do. I need you to go back home and make a difference with the people you see. [00:15:31] You don't think about this, but everywhere. Jesus, he's hanging on the cross and there's one guy on one side, mocking him, the other, guy's going, dude, shut up already. You know who this is. And Jesus turns to the test today. You'll be with me in paradise, always, always, always looking for the opportunity to bring somebody home with them everywhere. [00:15:51] He went now since its purpose was to bring salvation. Here's what I want to tell you. His passion was, if you haven't heard it yet, people, you, you were the passion of Jesus. The thing that got him excited, the thing that enthused him, got him motivated. And if I want to be real. People who are outside, that, that haven't yet found their way back home are who is most passionate about. [00:16:17] We're not by the way, just so we're clear, that's been the perennial problem of the church. We, we so quickly make all of the story of God, about us and our family and our church family. And whenever we do that, and we matter to God, don't make you don't hear that. I'm not saying we do. I just need you to understand. [00:16:39] Somebody who's not walking with him is when he wakes up thinking about like all the time that person is on their mind, on his mind. Not usually on our mind that he walked by the city of Jerusalem and he says he just broke down and wept, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, what I could have done for you. And he looks at you if you're away from him and he just weeps, he goes, what I could've done his passion is that you would come home, that you would come home now. [00:17:09] I want to remind you of something, the intersection of your passion and your purpose is the sweet spot of your life. You need to think about your passion. You need to think about your purpose. Now I want to take on a quick journey. Alright. We'll once on a quick journey and we're going to end up in Luke here in just a moment, but let me get you to Luke by, by way of the book of Isaiah. [00:17:30] In the book of Isaiah was written 700 years before the time of Jesus. Now here's what I need you to understand. Isaiah was a prophet, which meant that God gave him the ability to say things that were going to happen in the future. And in, uh, Isaiah chapter nine, verses six and seven, he said, uh, prophetically for unto you, a child is born. [00:17:55] There's ring a bell. He's going to be, um, you know, mighty this incredible person is coming. It was a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah. And then he says, the zeal of the Lord almighty will accomplish this. The passion of God is going to be on this coming savior. He gets to the 61st chapter of the book of Isaiah. [00:18:22] And it's a prophecy about this Messiah. And let me show you what it says. I think this is very interesting, Isaiah, 61, the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me. This is prophetically, the Messiah speaking all right. 700 years before the time of Jesus, the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me. [00:18:45] Now watch what he's been anointed to do to proclaim good news to the. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim freedom for the captives release, from darkness, for the prisoners and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. So the people in Isaiah's days are going, how are we going to know how, what do we look for? [00:19:05] And from that day forward, they kept looking for somebody. What do we look for? What's the sign, the one who has the spirit of the sovereign Lord. That's the one who's going to be the fulfillment of this prophecy. Now lock that away hundreds of years past, and then along comes Jesus. Now in your Bible, be in Luke chapter four, but before you get to four, let me show you something that happens in chapter three. [00:19:36] So Jesus is born. Okay. The child is born now. How are we going to know it's him? Is this the Messiah? Is this. Luke chapter three, verses 21 and 22 says this watch watch when all the people were being baptized. Jesus was baptized too. As he was praying, heaven was open and the holy spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove and a voice from heaven came from heaven. [00:20:04] You are my son whom I love with you. I am well. How are we going to know the one who has a spirit of the sovereign Lord on him? That will be the one and the heavens open as spirit and a form of a dub, a voice father, son, spirit. This is the one. This is the one you go to Luke chapter four, verse one, it says this Jesus full of the holy spirit, left the Jordan and was led by this. [00:20:39] Into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. So the spirit of the Lord descends on him and chapter three, and then he leads him into the desert and chapter four, after in the, into the wilderness, which is the desert of the Jordan. It's the region between the Jordan river and Bethany like the Mount of olives, that area it's just vast nothingness on the backside of that mountain. [00:21:06] That's where Jesus was tempted. Look at chapter four. And we're going to read this together because I want to show you what happens next. Verses 14 on down to 19, it says, um, so he was tempted in the desert, in the wilderness. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit, got a mark that phrase in the power of the spirit and news about him spread through the whole countryside. [00:21:32] He was teaching in their synagogues and everyone. This guy's phenomenal. Who is the sky? He went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, well, we know who this one is. And on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue as was his custom. He stood up to read. Now, watch carefully. He's the guest speaker in the synagogue that day. [00:21:53] And he stands up and he asks the attendant. Would you hand me a scroll? Now you got to understand, we can just open a Bible or click on. There literally, there were boxes that had the scrolls of the, of the old Testament. Okay. They're there on scrolls and there are multiple scrolls if they're long books and he asked for this passage, so look, look, um, and, uh, so he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet, Isaiah was handed him now unrolling it. [00:22:22] He found the place where it was written. So he's unrolling it. He seems to be rolling it on her own. Rolling it. Rolling hiney. He gets down to this passage. Watch the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. [00:22:50] Wha what did he just say? What did he just say? Do you understand what he said? He gets the squirrel and he goes this right now, this passage, uh, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the tenant, sat down the eyes of everyone on the same guy were fastened on him. He began by saying to them today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. [00:23:24] What. You know what he's saying? The spirit of the sovereign Lord has come upon me and in the power of that spirit, I'm making that claim. And if you keep reading, you're going to discover a little bit Rocky from that point on, but I want you to understand Jesus is very clear. I've come to bind up brokenhearted people, people who are imprisoned free, not just don't think just a prison. [00:23:56] Downed people who are hurting, who are oppressed. Good news. Good news. I want to show you something else in a Luke chapter five, just the next chapter verses 31 32. He's kinda called out. And, um, the religious people want a little more attention and by the way, that's always the problem with us religious. [00:24:21] We always think we get more God that we have more right to God. And like, God should always be about us. And he's about us. There's no question, but we forget about them. Who aren't us. They're not a part of us. They're outside the fold. Jesus answered them. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. [00:24:49] You guys don't make my purpose about the holy saved ones. Don't, don't declare that as my purpose. I've not come. I've come to bring people home. If you're already saved, you're already home. You're already home. You're already a part of the family. See what Jesus is trying to communicate is folks. There's so many people out there who don't live with the hope. [00:25:18] Why don't you care? That's what he's saying to me. When he's saying to you, why don't you care? And you don't think this was a point. If you go to Luke 15, it's all in the book of Luke, go to Luke 15. He tells three little stories. His is his lead off story. You ready? This is Luke 15, three through seven. [00:25:34] Listen. Alright, then Jesus told them this parable a parable is a little story. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country. Lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and he goes home and he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. [00:25:55] I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven, over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons that do not need to repent. So we think the party's always about us. That's our problem. And that is exactly what happened there. And then he tells the story of that Ken coins and then tells her story of the two sons and the son that was lost comes home. [00:26:23] And the older brother is so put out that the party happened on behalf of the one that was lost. Why, why didn't we always have a problem with Jesus going after the one, he made it very clear. I'm going after the one I'm going after the one who's not. Why are we so put out with that? We're the good ones. [00:26:43] Why don't you focus on us more? When did you give us more of your attention? You know, that one deserves to get eaten by some Wolf because it wandered off on its own and Jesus goes, no, you're, you're fine. You're good. You're good. What does he know? Why is he so focused? Can I kind of drop an idea on you right here? [00:27:06] Listen, this is probably the most important thing I want to. Today, please listen. Can I tell you why Jesus was so focused on people who are not yet home? If you're a Christian, this world that you're living in right now, if you're a Christian, this world is the closest to hell you will ever be. If you're a believer in Jesus, this messed up jacked up world, we're living. [00:27:38] And in this is close to hell as you're ever going to experience. I know it's hard. This is close to hell you're ever going to come, but it is also the closest to heaven. It last person's ever going to be. [00:27:55] Please let that soak in this messed up world is the closest ally, a lost person's ever going to get. And this is as good as it's ever going to get folks. If you're not with God and you don't come home, this is as good as it gets. And this is as good as it gets. You have every reason in the world to be depressed, but it's not as good as it gets. [00:28:19] This is as bad as it gets. If you're on the other side of one decision that would change everything. The purpose of Jesus's life was to bring salvation. His passion was focused on people who don't yet get it. Now I don't have three years to get done when he was trying to get done. Only had three years. [00:28:39] You want to see focus? He wants you to focus. He starts his ministry. I already read the pastors just started his ministry. Let me read it to you again. Let me show you something. Okay. Watch carefully right here. I'm going to show you something I think is so powerful. In Matthew chapter four, we already read this. [00:28:56] I'm going to read it again, but I'm going to keep reading past the point. I originally stopped reading Matthew four 18 as Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers Simon called Peter and his brother, Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for, they were fishermen. Come follow me. [00:29:12] Jesus said, that's where I stopped. And I will send you out to fish for. You think you have purpose now, you think you have passion now follow me. And I'm going to put you on an adventure. That's going to change your life and immediately left their nets and follow. This is the first, that's the first calling right there. [00:29:36] You know what the last thing Jesus said, and I'm not that very last, it was I'll show you in just half a moment, but you know, the last thing Jesus said right before he ascended back after, after he lived his three years of ministry, and that was from age 30 to 33, if you're not tracking after they crucified him, he gathered his disciples together. [00:29:55] And he said that. Matthew 28, 18 to 20 Jews came to them and he said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age, his first thing was come and I'll send you out the fish people. [00:30:20] Here's the last thing go fish for. Now you go, why in the world are we talking about this? What does this have anything to do with the holy spirit? Could it be that God's sending his holy spirit unto you and into your heart as for more than just blessing you, could it be a bigger purpose? You know what, in the upper room, just before Jesus was going to go out and literally be crucified. [00:30:54] He said this, I'm going to send you on a mission. I'm going to give you a purpose, but, but listen, but the advocate, John 14, 26, but the advocate, the holy spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he'll teach you all things and will remind you of everything I've said to you. See, I can imagine, like if I were sitting around the upper table and Jesus was good, I'm going to send you out. [00:31:16] And, and you're, you're going to go fish for me and you're going to go out and you're going to represent. I'd be going, oh, my knees would be buckling. Oh no, no. Don't send me, don't send me since I'm, since somebody qualified, send somebody who knows something and Jesus goes, oh no, no, no, don't relax, relax rocks. [00:31:35] I'm going to send the spirit. Who's going to teach you and remind you of everything I've taught you. Don't worry. Don't you have nothing to worry about that. Let me show you another one. All right. And again, I'm just stopping at two. I can show you more Luke 12, 11. I know there's so much pressure that they're gonna, they're gonna put me in. [00:31:53] They're going to press me for answers. I don't have answers when you are brought Luke 1211, when you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities do not worry about how you will defend yourself or what you will say for the holy spirit will teach you at that time, what you should say. Oh God, I'm so scared. [00:32:13] Mendel. I want to choke. We don't know. I'm going to, I'm going to go, but the spirit is going to come. And when the spirit comes, he's got your back. Don't worry about it. You're going to be fine. Just do what I asked you to do. It's going to be fine. I got it. Now, can I read you the very, very last words of Jesus are recorded in scripture? [00:32:35] Uh, this is, uh, as, before he ascended, this is acts chapter one, a very, very important verse. And this is where we're going to start next week. I'm going to show you how this plays out. Jesus says this. They're wanting to know what's coming, what's coming, what's coming. And Jesus says, acts one eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Sumeria, and to the ends of the earth. [00:33:07] When the spirit comes on you who who's the Messiah, the one on whom the spirit. And he says, you know what, I'm going to leave, but I'm going to send my spirit and he's going to fall on you. Power power is going to be, tower is going to be the definition of your life. You're going to receive power. I'll show you what that means. [00:33:25] The next week power for what? Power to power up on people. Power to be the boss power, to have my way power to live my selfish life, power to watt. Hmm. Let's go back to where we started. Stay with us, make this connection. Okay. What are you passionate about? What are you passionate? Well, you get emotional when you get amped up about what is that thing that you're known for? [00:33:49] All right. What is that? Let me ask you a question. I know you're passionate. What price are you willing to pay for that passion? Because that passion doesn't come free. That passion is not cheap, whatever that is. I mean, greens fees. Come on. Come on, uh, you know, buy a boat, come on. This is not cheap. What are you passionate about? [00:34:12] That camera? Cause you love photography. If you're passionate, you don't have not using an iPhone. What are you passionate about? How much are you willing to sacrifice for your passion? What's it cost you really in time in money in energy. Opportunity costs that you can't do something else. Well, why do you do that? [00:34:35] Why are you so passionate about that? He's just go. I just am, I'm made that way. I just, I care about that. Hmm. Priority. So is that bad that you're so passionate about that. Okay. Ready for this? I'm going to say something provocative. I don't think Jesus gives a flying. Over what your passion is now don't take an insult. [00:35:02] That's why all of us have different passions. I don't think he's upset at all that you're so passionate about that thing, but here's an idea. What if, what if you channeled your passion into his purpose for your life? You don't have to feel guilty that you have that passion. What if you channeled your passion into his purpose for your life? [00:35:30] What's his purpose? Follow me, follow me where I'm going. The, what if is to say it more holistically? What if you saw everything differently, like where your time's invested, where your money's invested, where your energy is of us, where your hearts. What if you used your passion to accomplish his purpose, to bring people to Jesus. [00:35:58] So, Hey, I don't just play golf. I play golf on purpose. I don't just fish. I fish on purpose. I don't just collect stuff. I collect friends on purpose. I don't just eat. Cause I like food. No, no, no. I eat on purpose. I don't, I don't just go to the gym and work out so I can build my body. I go to workout so I can build his body. [00:36:29] What have you used your passion for his purpose? Now I'm going to close right here, but I want you to hear what I'm about to say. All right, I'm going to repeat something. I'm going to say something different. This world is the closest to hell you're ever going to come. If your heart's right with. The worst of it's over when you die as nothing but better. [00:36:50] If you're not with God, if you're not right with God, this is as good as it's ever going to get. And it's not good enough for him for you. He's got something so much better. Can I listen carefully in this world? You might be the closest a person ever. The God you, why last week God's living in you, you might be the closest a person's ever going to get to heaven. [00:37:28] You're the closest anyone. Is that someone maybe that someone is ever going to get to God, do you think it's an accident? You have this passion, do you think it's an accident that Christ. Purpose. You want to know what difference the spirit of holy of the holy spirit makes in our lives here. The difference, this is the difference. [00:37:57] God wants you to take your passion versus to his purpose. You want to find your sweet spot, love what you do, but do it for him. Part one, I'll pick this up next week. You come back. Let me pray and we'll continue in our worship. All right. So father, um, maybe when this is all said and done, we're going to see something different. [00:38:24] And when we talk about your spirit, again, it gets very vague very quickly. And maybe it's not meant to be vague at all. Maybe this has meant to be crystal clear. Maybe the reason your spirit is living within us is because there's a reason for our lives. And that just as you invite. Uh, Simon and Andrew to come and follow. [00:38:46] You're inviting us to come and follow, not for the sake of us, but for the sake of your purposes and God we get lost on. So we come, we can become passionate about so many things and spend all our money on that all our time, all our energy, and we're going to die as old empty people wishing we had done something worth living. [00:39:09] Well, we can take our passion merit to your purpose, intersect that in our life. And all of a sudden our life has meaning like it's never had, and our passions have purpose, help us father to figure this out and live it out and bring everyone here back next week and more for us to understand how we get this wrong. [00:39:31] When we make the gifts, you give us the object and not the purpose. Of our mission. So to that end father, we commit. Amen. Thank you guys very much for being here.