Introduction

For 17 years, a man by the name of Walter Wilson, who was a medical doctor was involved in evangelism and Bible studies in Christian service. But according to his own admission, his service, his evangelism, all of it was absolutely fruitless. And as you all can imagine, he was a bit discouraged by it. I mean, for 17 years he served God didn't see people come to know the Lord, didn't really see much interest in Bible studies and in the work in the hearts of people. Well, one day a missionary from France came and visited his home. And as they were talking, the missionary asked Dr. Walter Wilson, this question, he said, Sir, what is the Holy Spirit to you? Dr. Wilson thought for a moment and you know, he said, you know, well, you know, the Holy Spirit, He's God, you know, and so on and so forth and gave you know, all this pat answers. And the missionary said, No, Dr. Wilson, it’s not what I asked you, I want to know what you know about the Holy Spirit's work and power in your ministry and in your life. Dr. Wilson thought for a moment, honestly. And he had to say that missionary, you know, I know who he is, theologically, but I have no personal relationship with Him.

You know, I understand that. I remember when I graduated from Bible college, in fact, let me just say this, if the missionary went on to say to Dr. Wilson said, Then, sir, that's the reason for the fruitlessness and the bareness of your ministry, because you know about Him, but you have no personal relationship with Him. And I would venture to say that most of us kind of find ourselves at some point in life, just like that we know about the Holy Spirit. And if I had asked you, Who is he? Maybe you could wax eloquently about, you know, He's this and He's that but if I were to ask you, explain to me or demonstrate to me or share with me, something of his working and his power demonstrated in and through your life, probably, we would have to admit that I know about Him, but I don't have any personal relationship with Him. And, and I was there I remember I had just graduated from Bible college, I was about 30 years of age. And I was sitting before a group of pastors and Bible college professors, these PhDs in theology, and I was going through what they call an ordination, where they a group of men lay their hands up on you and ordain you and say, Yes, you are theologically and by way of character and study qualified to be a pastor, right. So there's some kind of a qualification process that we have before we can stand here and declare to you the Word of God. And so they were talking to me and asking me questions about theology and about an hour into it, my pastor, who was about 70 years of age at the time, looked at me and said, Mike, tell me, what is the Holy Spirit to you? And so I, you know, as a well-trained Bible college student, I began to say, well, you know, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent. He's omnipresent. You know, He's omniscient, you know, and I began to use all these great theological terms. And, you know, feeling real good about myself. And I remember he looked at me in absolute dead seriousness. And he said, Mike, that's not the question I'm asking you. I know that you're trained very well, I know, you know, all the right answers. What I'm asking you is what do you know of his power, and his working, and his influence in and through your life up to this point? And you know, when he said that, I was literally stunned, I felt as if my jaw dropped to the ground, I began to stutter and stammer, and I had no concrete answer to give that man, you see, because like Dr. Walter Wilson, I knew who he was, but I had no personal relationship with Him.

And I would venture to say, if we were to ask the average person, that same question, what is the Holy Spirit to you? I'm sure we'd get answers back like this, well, you know, the Holy Spirit, you know, He's the third person in the Godhead bodily, but nothing more. Some might say well, He's a mysterious unknown power that we tried to get a hold of and use and others might say, well, He is my servant to whom I call upon when I need some kind of help in life. But friends, one of the most important questions that we can consider is this, what is the Holy Spirit to you? Because do you realize that your answer to that question will determine what kind of Christian life you live? Because you can know all about Him as a theology. You can know all about Him doctrinally, and that's a good thing. But you realize just the information about who He is theologically and doctrinally, friends, may not change your life. Because your answer to that question, what is the Holy Spirit to you, will determine what kind of a Christian life you live, whether you live a barren or a fruitful Christian life, whether you know the fruit of his spirit or you don't, whether you live in the spirit or whether you live in the energy of the flesh.

And so I want us tonight very simply, all right, very simply, I want us to consider this question, what is the Holy Spirit to you? And I want it to be personal. I want us to sit back and think for a moment, what is the Holy Spirit to me? So let's consider that tonight. You see, one reason the spirit is nothing to so many people, is because so many people, when we think about the Holy Spirit, they see Him as nothing more than a power emanating from God. They see Him as it were, as an impersonal it, they see Him as a force or they see Him as my servant, you know, somebody I call upon when I need some kind of help it may I say this, God is not your servant, Jesus is not your servant and the spirit is not your servant. We don't call upon them when we need some kind of help. You know, we get the Christian life all mixed up. You see, we are His servants. All right. And we're to sit before Him and get His orders. And then He partners with us to do what He wants done. The Christian life is not you accomplishing your will with His help, but the Christian life is God accomplishing His will in partnership with you did you get that?

It's been said that I've been speaking too quickly. And I just caught myself speaking too quickly. Because this is the kind of message that I'm just gonna share with you off the top of my head. All right. So what happens I'm gonna get caught up in what I'm saying, because I want to communicate this truth to you, because it is so very important. And so if I get a little bit too fast for some of you who are not used to my rapid style of communication, just wave your hand or throw something at me. Okay. In fact, when I came to GLCC years ago, Dr. Choo used to sit on the front row when I preached and when I started getting and I'm not kidding, yeah, okay, I am not kidding. When I say this. He used to lift a little sign that said slow down. I am not kidding. Yeah, I just I was new at GLCC. And the church was kind of, you know, I was new to them. And they were new to me. They weren't used to my rapid style of preaching. So he put a little sign up, and he would say, slow down. So I want to communicate, okay, honestly, okay. And so if I'm a little bit too fast, and it is not getting into your ear, then I know it is not getting into your heart. And I want the word to get into your heart. So just do something. All right, if you do something goofy, I'll know. And I won't say why are you doing something goofy? And I won't do that. Okay, I'll say, I'll slow down.

The Holy Spirit is Divine, is a Person

Alright, so where were we? I'm just kidding. I know where we were. So where are we? Where's my notes? No. I made a detour from the message. And here's what I said. Sometimes when we think about the Holy Spirit, we think of them as simply as an impersonal it and we think Him as a power emitting from God. We look at Him sometimes as maybe a servant that I call upon when I need some kind of help. And then I wanted you to know this that, you know, the Christian life is not you know, me accomplishing my will with God's help. That's not Christianity. Christianity is God accomplishing His will, with my help. Did you get the difference? All right, hey, I'm not the master and He's the servant. I'm the servant. He's the master. Alright, so the Spirit of God is not your servant. All right. And one reason He is nothing to so many is because that's exactly how we see Him. But here's what the Bible says, the Bible tells us in regard to the Holy Spirit that He is divine.

All right, He's God. We read in Matthew chapter 28, and verse 19. In that passage, He's seen and He's placed on equal par with God the Father and God the Son. So He is without a doubt, God. We're told in Acts five, He's called God. John, chapter six and verse 63, we're told He's the member of the Godhead that gives man his life. And so just simply said, it is important to know that He is God. But listen, He is not just divined, the spirit of God is a divine person. Did you hear that? He's a person. That means He's not just a power emanating from God. He's not just some kind of mysterious, unknown force that we tried to get a hold of and use. He's not just an impersonal it, but He is a divine person.

All right. In fact, the greatest discourse ever given on the Holy Spirit was given by Jesus Himself. And Jesus said 12 times in John 14, 15 and 16, He referred to the Spirit of God as a divine person, all right. He constantly referred to Him as a person, not a power, not a force, not a mysterious it, but He referred to Him as a person. Notice what Jesus said just gonna quote his words with a little bit of commentary. All right, Jesus, speaking of the Holy Spirit here in John 16, said, “However, when He,” all right, referring to the Holy Spirit, He is refers to a what? Refers to a person He's not referring to a power, you know, He's not referring to a force. All right? He's not an energizer battery pack, all right, but He's a person. So notice He says, “When He”, person, not it, “the spirit of truth has come”, again, He says, “He will guide you into all truth for He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears He”, the Spirit of God, a divine person “will speak and He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13). He's talking about a person, the Spirit of God when He comes, all right, as a person He's going to communicate to you. And so when we talk about the Holy Spirit, you need to realize that He is a divine person. He's not just divine, He's a person and you say, Well, what is the big deal about the Spirit of God being a person? Do you realize as a person, the Spirit of God has the ability to love, He can guide He can care, He can comfort, He enables and empowers why? Because He is a divine person.

The Holy Spirit is the Lord of the Harvest

In fact, do you realize as a divine person, we can pray to the Holy Spirit. I'll let that just sink in because that that upsets people sometimes. Pray to the Holy Spirit? I thought we pray to God the Father, you know, in the name of God the Son through the Holy Spirit, okay, you can do that if you want to. But, He's a divine person, and as a divine person, He's to be talked with, we can pray to Him. In fact, I think Jesus was referring to the spirit when He made this statement. In Matthew chapter nine, remember, verses 37 and 38. Jesus said, “The harvest is plenteous but laborers are few”. And then He says, “Pray ye, therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers” into the harvest, who's Jesus talking to? Who's Jesus asking us to pray to? Well, let me just have you think about it this way. Who's the Lord of the harvest? What member of the Godhead has been delegated the responsibility to the harvest? I want you to know something, it is the Spirit of the Living God. And Jesus is asking us in this passage, because He is a divine person, He's asking us here to pray to the Spirit of God, especially concerning the matters of the harvest.

And by the way, as we just kind of move through the New Testament, you know, we discover, hey, we discover it's the Spirit of God, who is the agent of evangelism. Do you remember in Acts chapter eight, it was the Spirit of God that spoke to Philip and led him into the Gaza desert, where the Spirit of God opened the heart and led Philip to that Ethiopian eunuch who was born again. It was the spirit of God who led him into the Gaza desert, and there open the heart of that Ethiopian eunuch. You remember the Spirit of God in Acts chapter 13, said, the Bible says, separate unto me, Paul and Barnabas for the work in which I have called them and that spirit who spoke, sent them out on that first missionary journey. Friends, He is the Lord of the harvest. Do you remember it was that very same Spirit in Acts chapter 16, that hindered Paul from going to Galatia. And hindered Paul from going to Bethania. It was that same spirit that led Paul to the Adrian Sea. And I think as he was there, dangling his toes in that warm water, he heard that Macedonian call, come and help us and they're led by that same spirit, he went to Philippi. And remember there in Philippi, the Spirit of God spoke to him and took him to and had him go to the place and to the particular person to the heart and open the heart of an individual by the name of Lydia who came to know Christ as Lord and Savior. Why? Because the Spirit of God is the Lord of the harvest.

And we are to be communicating with the Spirit. Regarding the harvest friends, He is a divine person. And we are to be talking to we are to be praying to this Lord of the harvest. In fact, we are to ask Him, to lead us to the place and the people who need to hear the gospel. We're to ask the spirit to do what the Spirit has been designed to do. Remember John 16 and verse eight. The Bible says when the Spirit comes, He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and God's coming judgment. Hey, listen, when you're out sharing the gospel, whether it be on the streets, or family or friends, you need to ask the Spirit of God to do what He alone can do, to open eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to receive that glorious truth of the gospel. Hey, listen to Spirit of God. I'm just saying this, the Spirit of God is what? He's the Lord of the harvest. And we need to be talking to Him regarding the harvest.

As the Holy Spirit is a divine person, we can pray to Him and communicate with Him

By the way, why can we talk to the Spirit of God because He's a divine person and as a person, we need to be communicating with the spirit primarily regarding the harvest, we need to be asking Him to do what He alone can do. He can lead us to the place and the people that need to hear the gospel. He brings conviction of sin. He brings enlightenment, He brings truth. You see, we need to be communicating with the spirit. In fact, you know, in the Scripture, nowhere are we told not to pray to the Holy Spirit, nowhere. In fact, it stands to reason if the Holy Spirit is on equal par with God the Father and God the Son, and we pray to God the Father and God the Son, why not pray to the third person of the Godhead, God the Holy Spirit? And let me just say this, if you're not communicating with the Spirit of God, if you're not praying to Him about the harvest, again, I have a question for you, then what is the Holy Spirit to you? Are you with me? You see if He's a divine person, and you're not communicating with the divine person of the Holy Spirit, then what is the Holy Spirit to you, you know what He is to you. He's a power, He's a force. He's an unknown it, but He is not to you a divine person, because we communicate with persons. He's a divine person, as a divine person, we can pray to the Spirit of God, and as a divine person, you know, we can praise Him. And as a divine person, we need to be thanking Him. You see, if we're praying to Him, and we're asking Him to do certain things, and He does it. If we ask Him to lead us to the person and to the place, and God does it, and we were able to share the gospel, or, you know, we asked Him to enable my words and to bring enlightenment into the mind of this person, bring conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment, and he does it. If we ask Him to comfort us, and He comforts us. We asked Him to teach us because He is our divine teacher, and he shows us truth. We asked him to work in our heart and to empower us and enable us or whatever it may be. But if we're asking Him to do certain things, and He doesn't, you know, because He’s a divine person, we need to be thanking Him for it.

You know, if we all so often, thank God the Father and God the Son, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you thank God the Holy Spirit for doing something in your life, or in the life of another person. You see, as a divine person, we need to build a relationship with Him. And we do that you see, by praying, and by praising and by thanking this divine person. In fact, Paul constantly acknowledged the working of the Holy Spirit, if you just run to the book of Acts, just notice how many times he acknowledged I mean, he acknowledged it was the Spirit of God that hindered him from going to Galatia, Bethania. He acknowledged it was the Spirit of God that sent him to Lydia and to Philippi. He acknowledged that, and friends, we at the same time, need to acknowledge, and we need to thank and we need to praise the Spirit of God, when He does work in our life.

In fact, if we ask the Spirit of God to do something, and He does it, and we don't thank Him. Do you know humanly speaking, what we should call that? You know, we call that, well, let me put it this way. If you do something for me, and I never say thank you for it, what do you call that? Ungrateful. Okay, we can call a route to be like to say, you know, we're driving in my car, and we're going down the road. And you know, it's one of those wonderful monsoon nights, it's raining heavy, the wind is blowing. And, you know, we're not in Singapore, we're in Malaysia, and the GPS kind of messes up, you know, and we go down one of those, you know, dark and dirty roads, and all of a sudden, on this muddy road, my tyre blows out, the rain is falling hard, the wind is blowing, and I look at you and you look at me, and I say, will you change the tyre? And you say, Hey, no problem, you know, so you get out in the mud and the rain. And you know, you get down there and I mean, you are just dirty, you're soaking wet, your wind blowing, you change the tyre, you get back in and I look at you, and I say, Eee, get those muddy feet off my floorboard, oh, you're gonna get all my seat all wet, you know? And all I do is I begin to complain. Or maybe I don't even acknowledge that you did anything. But I never say thank you, you know, for getting wet and muddy for me. Is that a nice thing to do? You know, we would never do that to somebody in a situation like that. Right? I mean, someone go out and change the tyre of your car in a situation like that, you'd get in, you'd say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let me dry clean your clothes. Let me take you for a meal. I mean, we would do everything just to express our appreciation.

But friends, do you realize that oftentimes we ask the Spirit of God to do things. And He does it. And we never thank Him for it. You see, if the Spirit of God is a divine person He is and we are asking Him to do things and we need to be thanking Him for it. By the way, if you're not praising and thanking the Spirit of God, again, I asked you this question then what is the Holy Spirit to you? You see, He is not then to you a divine person, but He is a divine person.

As the Holy Spirit is a divine person, we can trust Him

Do you realize as a divine person not only are we to be to pray to Him and thanking Him, but I want you to know something, we can trust Him. Do you know why we can trust Him because He is a divine person. You see, we can trust the Spirit of God because He is a divine person. We can trust Him to do what He has been delegated to do. We can trust Him to teach us, we can trust Him to lead us, we can trust Him to give us wisdom, we can trust Him to help us make the right choices in life. We can trust Him to give us the words to say when we need to speak them. You know, many times people are fearful to witness why? Because they say, well, I'll get tongue tied, I won't know what to say. Well, why don't you trust this divine person called the Spirit of God, He will give you the words to say when you need to say them. Or, you know how many times I've been in a witnessing situation and they ask me a question. And all of a sudden, I'm stumped. And I'm thinking, Wow, I've never heard that question before. But every time I sit back and I say, Holy Spirit, would you give me the words to say, Bam, He gives me something to say to that individual that helps him through that moment of crisis. You see that is what the Spirit of God does, we can trust Him. Why? Because He’s a divine person, we can trust Him to give us the power to do what God wants us to do. We can trust Him to give us victory over sin and self and the power and the pull of the world. You see, we can trust Him, to raise up leaders in our particular ministries, we can trust Him to lead our services. You see, we could come into a building like this, and turn this service over to the Holy Spirit. And we can trust the Spirit of God to do what He wants done in our life and your life and the work of this church. We can trust the Spirit of God to lead our leaders. We can trust Him. Why? Because He is a divine person, we can trust Him.

I remember many years ago, at GLCC, when we were still meeting at 360 Dunearn Road, and I was preaching on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And I preached one Sunday morning on the personality of the Holy Spirit, is kind of what I'm telling you right now about His personality. He is a person. And I was preaching on the personality of the Holy Spirit. And there was a young lady in our church. And she seemed to catch the reality that He is a divine person, and He can be trusted. And so after a Monday morning prayer, she went over to the Hawker center there at Adam road. And she had asked the Lord, Lord, lead me, Holy Spirit, lead me today to somebody who needs to hear your message, somebody who needs to hear your truth. And so she was walking to the Hawker center, she looked over and she saw this, this Malay girl, and the Malay girl looked up and gave her a big broad smile. And the Spirit of God said, speak. She just asked the Spirit of God to lead her she went, this girl gave her a big smile. And she knew in her heart that she needed to stop and speak. But you know how the mind does all kinds of mental gymnastics within a second? Do you know what I'm talking about? And she took a step, within one step, I mean, all these things went through her mind. No, that's not the one, I can't speak to her. She's Malay. And you know, she's of another religious background. And this is really not acceptable in Singapore, I better not do this. And the Spirit of God said, Speak and then she said to the Spirit of God, okay. If I look back at her, and she looks at me again, and smiles, I'll do it. So sure enough, she looked back and the girl was still looking at her big broad smile. And so she trusted the Holy Spirit. She turned around, sat down with this lady, engage her in a conversation and with an hour, this lady there at the Adam Road Hawker center, Malay by birth, and you know what, by religion, she bowed her head and placed her faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But afterwards, she said this to the lady, she said, you know, or the lady said this to our church member. I wanted to make this decision for four years. But nobody was able to tell me how, until now.

You see, friends, that's what this divine person can do when you trust Him, See, because He is a divine person, we can trust Him. You see, we need to be talking to Him about the harvest, we need to be praising Him and thanking Him when He does things, when we ask Him to do things. And then we need to trust Him. You see, He is not just a power, He is not just a force, you know, He is not just an impersonal it, but He is a divine person.

The Holy Spirit has dynamic power

But listen to this. He's a divine person of dynamic power. Did you hear me? Yes. See, this divine person is a person of dynamic power. Friends, the Spirit of God is a power equal to God the Father and God the Son, please remember this. It was the Spirit of God that you know brooded over the waters of the deep there assisting God, the Father, in the creation of this world. You see, it was the Spirit of God who imparted life to this lump of clay and brought forth man as a living being. Hey, that was the work of this divine person of dynamic power. It was the Spirit of God that took 40 men over a period of some 1600 years, and without violating their personality. He brought forth the book that we call the Bible and friends, please know that the book that you hold in your hand, and that you cherish dearly, is His inspiration. Yes, He is a divine person of dynamic power. It was the same spirit that placed a seed in the womb of Mary and brought forth God the Son wrapped in human flesh. It is this very same spirit that gave Jesus victory over the subtle, sly slander of Satan there in the wilderness. Why? Because He is a divine person of dynamic power. Friends, it is this spirit that enabled Jesus Christ to heal the sick and to raise the dead and deliver men and women from the delusions of demons. Why? Because He is a divine person of dynamic power. Please know that it was this very same spirit that enabled Jesus to wipe his brow from the drops of blood and thus endure the pain and the shame of the cross. Why? Because He is a divine person of dynamic power. It was this very same spirit, that quickened and raise Jesus’s body from the dead as He lay there in the tomb. That was the work of the Holy Spirit, this divine person of dynamic power.

It is the same spirit that took you and I who are dead in trespasses and sin, and brought into our life, life and made us the children of God that we are today. Our regeneration is a work of the Spirit of the Living God, do you realize it is that same spirit that enables us, you know, to be victorious over the power and the power of the world and the lust of the flesh? Friends, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you see, He is a divine person of dynamic power, and friends, any truth that you have embedded in your heart, and any truth that has changed your life, and the Word of God is the work of this spirit. Why? Because you see, He illumines His inspiration, because He is a divine person of dynamic power.

The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person of Dynamic Power who lives in you

And friends, I want you to know this. He is a divine person of dynamic power, who lives in you. If we could catch the reality of that last thought, it would revolutionize your Christian life. You see this divine person of dynamic power, He lives in you. In fact, Paul put it this way. He says, “Do you not know”? Wow, I mean, I can imagine Paul's excitement. You don't know this? “Don't you know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God lives in you” who lives in me? (1 Corinthians 3:16) Yes. He who hovered over the waters of the deep? Yes. He who rose Jesus lifeless body from the dead? Yes. He who put life into this lump of clay and made man living beings? Yes. He who put a seed in Mary's womb and brought forth God the Son wrapped in human flesh? Yes. He lives in you. He lives in you.

And if He lives in you, shouldn't His presence be making a difference in your life? Are you with me? If this divine person of dynamic power lives in me, and He does, friends, and He should be making a difference in every area of our lives? Absolutely. He should be bringing peace and He should be bringing patience in our walk and in our relationships. You see, if this divine person of dynamic power lives within us, yes, then our lives should be radiating the love of Jesus Christ. You see, there should be a song in our step. You know, I mean, there should be Thanksgiving in our tongue. Listen, if this divine person of dynamic power lives within us, and He does, friends, He should be making a difference in every area of your life. He should be enabling husbands to love their wives, as Jesus loved the church. He should be enabling the wife to respect the husband and enabling the children to honor their parents and parents who raised their children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. If He is a divine person of dynamic power, who lives within you, and He does, He should be making a difference in every area of your life. He should be making a difference in our church, and our church should be making a difference in the community. And if our church has not been making a difference in the communities because we don't understand that this divine person of dynamic power lives in our person. He should be manifesting through your life, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Friends, that should be a living reality. Why? Because He lives within me. The fruit is His fruit. His Grace, His character manifested and flowing in and through your life. He should be making a difference in every area of your life. So, if He’s not making a difference in your life, there's a reason. And here it is. If this divine person of dynamic power is not making a difference in your life, it's because you've not made Him your daily partner. I'll say it again, if this divine person of dynamic power is not making a difference in your life, it's because you've not made Him your daily partner.

He is a Divine Person of Dynamic Power called alongside us as our Daily Partner to enable our walk and empower our work and witness

Now, that takes us to our text tonight. Alright, told you about 20 minutes into the message. I'll tell you when we actually get to the message. We're now at the message. So let's turn to our text tonight, in Second Corinthians chapter 13 And verse 14. And I want you to notice carefully what the Lord says. In this benediction. He says, Now “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God” and notice, “and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. Amen. Now, the word, communion, here is a beautiful word. It's from, it's from that Greek word, Koinonia. You're familiar with that term? The Koinonia refers to a fellowship, refers to a partnership. And so what Paul is saying here is, May the partnership of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And see if we are not experiencing this, the power of this divine person who lives within me is because we've not made this divine person of dynamic power, our daily partner. And so it refers to a partnership, and yet, there's another beautiful word that I think demonstrates His ministry to us. It's found in John 14, 15, and 16, three, four times Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as what's called a Parakaleo. Oh, it's a Greek word, compound word. Para means alongside of. Call is from the word Kaleo, it means to call. So it refers to one called alongside of you.

And so if we take these two words, the Koinonia, the Parakaleo, the partnership, all right, or the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and we bring them together, it gives us a beautiful picture of the Spirit of the living God's ministry in your life. And here's what it means. It means this, it means at the very moment of your salvation, this divine person of dynamic power, was called alongside of you to be your daily partner. And so why was He called alongside with you to be your daily partner? That He might enable your walk and empower your work and your witness for the glory of God. Now, I know that's a mouthful, but I'll say it again, at the very moment of your salvation, this divine person of dynamic power was called alongside of you to do what? Why was the Spirit of God called alongside of you? Why does he dwell within you? He's there to do what you can't do. He's there to do what only He can do. He's there not to make your life easy, but He’s there to make you a man or a woman who's able to do great and glorious things for our great and mighty God. And He enables your walk, and he empowers your work, and your witness for the glory of God.

So here's a question, have you made this divine person of dynamic power your daily partner? You see, that's the question. And that's what it comes down to. And that's where I began tonight. I just, you know, I knew about the Holy Spirit, like you know about Him, but I had no personal relationship with him. Why? Because I didn't really understand Him to be a divine person of dynamic power, who lives in dwells within me that desires to be my daily partner. I didn't understand that. Because I didn't understand that I didn't experience that power. And I didn't know, I didn't really know what He could do in and through me. So you know, I was like you. I just did the best I can. I thought Christianity was just, you know, you know, pick yourself up by your own bootstraps, you know, just get disciplined and do it, you know, as the old Nike slogan says, Just do it. But I soon realized Christian life is not just do it, okay, because we just can't do it. But He can do it. But it demands us coming into a living partnership with this divine person of dynamic power.

And so how can the Holy Spirit be my partner? How can He be your partner? Well, it's like this, we must yield our bodies, because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, to this indwelling Holy Spirit to be our Lord, and to be our leader. Because it's only when we yield ourselves to Him daily, yield ourselves to this indwelling Spirit that He's able to do what He alone can do in and through us. Only then is He able to work in our lives and to flow through us. Only then is He going to, we're going to experience His comfort, know His power and His enabling. It's only then are we going to know the illumination of the Scripture you see. So we must allow him to be our Lord and leader.

In fact, I like what Paul said in First Corinthians six and verse 19. He says, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”. And so partnership is just yielding. It's yielding your temple, your body to His control. Are you with me tonight? It's just you yielding your body to His control. That's what we call the spirit filled life. Ephesians five and verse 18, says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein it is excess” but rather he says, “Be filled with the spirit”, be controlled by the Holy Spirit. So partnership with the spirit and where we know His empowering and we know His enabling is simply nothing more than you yielding your body to His control because where's the Spirit of God tonight? Where is he? He's in us. A life that wins the dynamic life is yielding your body to His control, it's a daily yielding of yourself to His control, so you allowing him to be the Lord and the leader of your life. All right, it's you making your whole being available to His use.

I'll give you an illustration. And then we'll almost be done. So I want to illustrate for you just a moment what it means how we yield our body to His control. It's like driving a car. All right. You know, you get into a car, you know, and lordship is not this. All right, it's not me getting into the driver's seat. And just the Holy Spirit is in the passenger seat. And so I turned the car on, I put it in first gear, and all of a sudden, I'm driving. And as I'm driving down the road, I realized, Oh, I gotta surrender myself to the Holy Spirit. So He in the passenger seat, I say, Holy Spirit you take over so I take the hands off the steering wheel. I take my foot off the gas pedal, and I say you're in control, you take control of my life. Okay, that's not lordship. You know what we call that? We call that lunacy. Okay, because that's stupidity. That’s not lordship, alright. We're not talking about you taking your hands off the steering wheel of your life. It's not as we read, oftentimes, just let go and let God, you know. Well, I'm just going to trust you Holy Spirit's, I'm gonna jump and you're gonna have to protect me now. Oh, you know, okay. That's lunacy. That's not lordship. So what is lordship while you're driving the car? Because God never violates you. Okay, he works with you. Not instead of you. He works with you.

So you're driving the car, you turn the car on, you put it in gear, you're driving down the road, the Holy Spirit is in the passenger seat, but he's Lord and leader. And so all of a sudden, he says, Turn right. And what do you do? You turn? Right. He says turn left. And what do you do? You turn left. He says, stop. And what do you do? You put on the gas and you close, right? And that was pretty good. Make me make me again, right? He says, Stop. Right. And what do you do? You stop, okay. He says, Speak. And you say what? You speak, right? We're moving beyond the car.

Now. Now we're getting into real life. All right. You're at the watercooler and you're talking with your friend, your friend looks at you and says, Boy, I've really been struggling life. I wish I could find some help. And the Spirit of God says speak to them. Talk to them about me. And if you have yielded your body to His control, what do you do? It was fun when we are in the car. But now we're by the water cooler. All right, you can talk to me alright. What do you do? You speak. See, that's lordship, it's you yielding your body to His control. And by the way, if we have a partnership with this divine person of dynamic power, who wants to be your daily partner, if we are communicating with this divine person, we are talking to Him about the harvest, we are getting up in the morning and say Spirit, this is an exciting day, and I want you to use me today, the Spirit of God is gonna use you. You're gonna go out to lunch with your colleagues and one of your colleagues is going to look at you and kind of open their heart and pour out to you, and the Spirit of God is gonna say, there's your opportunity. And if He's the Lord and leader of your life, what are you going to do? You're going to engage that person in conversation, and He's going to do this. The Lord of the harvest is going to open their heart and do a work that only He could do.

But see, He always does it in partnership with you. That's why I said earlier and I'll say it again, the Christian life, friends, is understanding that He is a divine person of dynamic power, who wants to be your daily partner to enable your walk in power, your work and your witness? Listen, He is not to be your servant that you would call upon when you need some help. We are His servant, and we yield ourselves to Him and He uses us to accomplish His goal in His plan in reaching this world with the gospel, and I don't care how good your motives are. God is not going to fulfill your will with His help. Are you with me? That's important because we get it all mixed up. And that's why we're like a hamster on a wheel. We just kind of spin our wheels on our life and go like this. We look around and we've never done anything for Jesus, because I'm trying to accomplish my will, with His help. And, you know, I'm the Lord and He's my servant. God says, no, no, I'm the Lord, remember, and you're my servant. So you yield yourself to my control, and I'll come and partner with you. And together, we can change the world. You see, that's what God says.

So let me ask you a question. Have you made this divine person of dynamic power your daily partner? You see lordship is not idle passivity. We're not just a bunch of jellyfish, you know, on the warm currents of the gold stream just kind of floating along, you know what I mean? People see the Christian life like that, we just kind of float and, you know, and I'll just go with the flow. And, you know, wherever I, wherever I drift. I know, that must be God's will. You know, so I just drift along the Christian life, you know, and before you know, it was 65, 70, 85 years old. Next thing, you know, we're looking down from heaven saying, Well, where did life go? You see, it's not idle passivity. We're not just drifting, you know. We're cooperating with a living God who has a plan. And God says, If you partner with me, you can be part of my plan. And that's why the Spirit of God lives within you. He wants to make you part of his plan in reaching this world. And all He says, Will you yield to yourself to me? And watch what God can do through you. It's not watch what I can do for God. It's what God can do through you, as you live in partnership with this divine person of dynamic power.

Let me finish with one story, and then we'll be done. Are you with me? Do you remember? Mr. Walter Wilson? The doctor? You guys remember him? Has the night been so long? You don't remember Dr. Walter Wilson. You remember him? We started and we're gonna we're gonna, we're gonna do a sandwich message tonight. Okay, we're gonna start and stop with Mr. Dr. Walter Wilson, because we kind of left his life and hanging. I mean, we just said he lived a barren and fruitless life because he didn't know who the spirit was. Poor Dr. Wilson, you know, here's what happened. About a year later. He went to hear a message, by a guy by name of James M. Gray, who at the time was the president of Moody Bible Institute. And amazingly, James Gray was preaching on the partnership of the Holy Spirit. And he was preaching from Romans 12 and verse one, the message I preached on last night. And he said, have you noticed in that passage, that God didn't tell us specifically who we are to yield our bodies to? He just said, yield yourself to God. He said, may I say to you, we are not to yield ourselves to Jesus, because Jesus already has a resurrected body. And we are not to be yielding ourselves to the Father, because the father is on the throne. He says, but we are to be yielding ourselves to the spirit because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, because He lives within you, you are to yield yourself to Him. And He says, Have you done that?

And when Dr. Wilson heard that he knew that that was the secret to the bareness of his ministry. And he went home that night, and there upon the side of his bed, he made a transaction with God, he surrendered. And he invited the Spirit of God to be the Lord, and the leader of his life. And by God's help, he would yield to his promptings, his control and his influence in his life. He woke up the next morning and was in the kitchen ready to go to his medical clinic. And he said to his wife, today is going to be a great day. His wife looked at him and said, Well, why is today going to be any better than any other day? And he said, Because last night, I allowed the Spirit of God to be the Lord and the leader of my life. And I expect him now to do great and mighty things through me.

He went to work. And about 10 In the afternoon, two young ladies came into his office selling advertising. And as they were just sitting there talking about the Spirit of God said, Speak. Spirit of God opened the door. By the way, when the Spirit of God says, Speak, he always opens a door. If you're always trying to kick down a door, you're not in partnership with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God opens the door. Remember what Paul said, Spirit of God opened the door veterans for me. That's what the spirit of does. He opens into our veterans and so all of a sudden, those doors open, the Spirit of God said speak. He spoke, and those two young ladies got saved. The first two people he had ever won to the Lord in 17 years of ministry. It radically changed his life. He soon gave up his medical practice. He became an evangelist, then he started a church, started a Bible college. And then he started a Mission Board. And it says later on in his life, Dr. Walter Wilson said that decision that he made that night to yield himself to the control of the Spirit of the Living God brought a bigger change in his life, bigger than did his salvation experience.

Reflection and Prayer

So I ask you tonight, have you made this divine person of dynamic power, your daily partner? Friends, He lives within you for a reason. He's there to do in and through you what you can't do for yourself. He's there to bring you into partnership with the King of kings and Lord of lords who has a plan to reach this world for His glory. And God just waits for you to yield yourself to Him. So I ask you a question tonight: Are you willing to do that tonight? Are you willing to do that? I want us to have just an invitation tonight, I want to ask the pianist to come and I just want us tonight, I generally do an invitation tomorrow night, we'll do one tomorrow night. But I think this is such an important moment for us. And I don't know where you are in your walking relationship with God. But I'll tell you, I'm sure there are some of you out there tonight that are hungry and are saying you know what I need this divine person of dynamic power to be my daily partner. And if that is your need tonight, then I want you to come to Him tonight, humbly and sincerely. And I want you to yield yourself to His control. Just talk to Him tonight, say Holy Spirit. I know you live within me. And I want you to be the Lord and leader of my life. I want to be sensitive to your prompting, to your leading and to your leadership in my life. In fact, that Bible calls the Holy Spirit, the Lord. And He wants to be that Lord, the Spirit of Christ wants to be the Lord of your life. He wants to use you, He wants to guide you, He wants to empower you, He wants to fill you, He wants to partner with you. So you can change your part of this great world, will you partner with Him and ask Him to be the Lord and the leader of your life.

As the piano plays, if God has spoken to your heart tonight, then you can either come right up front and kneel down here. We can call this an altar tonight if you want to, or you can be right in your seat. But if God is speaking to your heart, then right now ask this divine person of dynamic power to be your daily partner. Heads bowed and our eyes closed. Let's just talk with Him for a moment. Let's just ask Him to do what He alone can do.

Lord Jesus, we thank you tonight that in your great love for us, that you submitted your will to the will of the Father and you left the glories of Heaven and you came to this earth. And in coming to this earth, you took the form of a man and you lived a sinless life. And when the time was right, you willingly submitted yourself in the hands of sinful men and went to a cruel cross. There upon that cross, you shed your blood for us. Third day, you rose again. And today you sit at the right hand and a throne on high. And as you went up, you sent that blessed Holy Spirit down. And Holy Spirit, I'm thankful at that very moment of grace, the Spirit of God came to dwell within us and you are a divine person of dynamic power, who desires to be our daily partner.

Lord, I pray tonight for each and every person in this auditorium who has prayed and asked and by faith made a choice to yield their life to your control that you would be their daily partner. Lord, fill them, enable them with your Holy Spirit. They might be the people that you want them to be that they might do God what you want them to do, that they might live in such close proximity to you, having such an intimate communion and an intimate relationship that they can hear that small still voice, they can experience your love, your comfort and in partnership with you, see you move and work in and through their life, reaching their world for your glory. So we yield ourselves to you tonight to be your servants, and that you would be our Lord and that your will in our life would be accomplished. That we might be part of reaching this world for your glory.

Lord, would you bless your people tonight. Fill us with your Spirit. Lord, I pray that we might go back to our workplaces, to our homes, to our church, to our community, men and women living in partnership with you. Spirit, give your people victory. Holy Spirit, give them victory over their struggles, their difficulties. Would you use the Word that you pour into their life and Lord would you use it to change their mind and thus change their life? Lord, we know that the change life yes comes through the word-filled mind but do a spirit-filled life. Lord, change us into the image of your son. Continue to do a deeper work in us, lead us to the cross. Give us a glimpse of your glory. And Holy Spirit as we sang in that last song tonight we do pray that the Spirit of God would fall upon us. And so we're thankful tonight. And Lord, we give you praise and we give you glory. And we worship you tonight. And we ask this now in Jesus’s name, Amen.