Speaker 2: 0:30

Jean 14.12.

Speaker 1: 0:34

Oui, je vous le déclare, c'est la vérité. Celui qui croit en moi fera aussi les œuvres que je fais. Il en fera même des plus grandes, parce que je vais auprès du Père.

Speaker 2: 0:49

And now in English. This is the new international version version. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father this is the word of the Lord, la parole de Dieu.

Speaker 3: 1:18

Thank you and thanks be to God. Hey, it is so good to be back with you here at Northgate. For those of you who may be newer, my name is John and you haven't been here in the past, but this is like my eighth summer. I've been able to join you and be with you, which is exciting. I figure this is the early crowd, so I'm going to have more grandparents in this crowd. Any grandparents in this crowd? Yeah, it'll make it to the later ones. You've been up since like three in the morning. You're already just like that's how you're wired now. Right, I love being a grandfather.

Speaker 3: 1:42

My grandkids call me Poppy, and the thing I love about them is like they're so amazing. I really wish I would have had them first. I love them so much, but I do know this like, grandkids are the reward for not killing your own kids. So, speaking of kids, though, when my daughters I have two daughters in their 30s now when my daughters were little, we had one of those major power outages that just blanketed Southern California and my kids were like at a loss of what to do, like okay, there's no power, like there's no lights. They noticed that they're like well, can we watch TV? No, because it plugs in. Oh, can we listen to the radio? No, because it plugs in. Mommy, can you make us some popcorn? We use an air popper? No, because it plugs in, and it took them a while to figure it out. I think they're like three and five. It took them a while to figure it out. Anything that plugged in would not work. That was the whole idea. Well, today we're talking about power. We're talking about the power of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 3: 2:46

As we continue this series and I love this series that you've been a part of. I've been watching some of those and kind of keeping up with you it's something that dawned on me just a few years ago. I've been doing ministry now for over 41 years. That means I'm old. But something dawned on me a couple of years ago. I had never done a series on the Holy Spirit. No, I've talked about him and obviously he comes up in Scripture. I'd never done a whole series and we saw something really spectacular happen in our church when we did that. Like, people are hungry to learn more. So I'm so excited you guys are doing this, just spending some time soaking in all these different things, because how could you talk about the Holy Spirit in just one week anyway? So you're spending some time talking about this and, pastor Larry, he talked about this in the very first week Is he a person or is he a force? And the answer is he's a person. He's part of the Trinity Father, son and, as Max Lucado says, the Holy who. Like, we're just not that familiar, right, the Father, the Son and the Holy who. But you've been talking about it, you're getting more familiar with this familiar stranger we call the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 3: 3:54

I love the idea of this weekend in particular, and I was invited to talk about power. Bless you, man. Speaking of power, I was like bam, way to go. I was a little impressed right there. My family makes fun of me because I always carry this.

Speaker 3: 4:12

Anybody know what this is. It's a little Swiss Army knife. It has scissors, it has a knife, it has toothpick, it has tweezers. It's like everybody makes fun of me and then, all of a sudden, they're in a spot where they need one and they're like hey, do you have your stupid little knife? Yes, I do, right, I'll come to the rescue Poppy, to the rescue, right? I could open that gift for you. Here you go, right, and this is awesome, unless my job was cutting down a massive tree, and then I'd look a little silly walking up to a tree with this. If there's an option between my little Swiss army pocket knife which I've lost several of these in airports because they won't let you go into the airport, it's like who get this hurt? Anyway, it's like I have to go buy another one on Amazon. If my only option was this or a huge power saw and my job was to cut down a tree, I'm going to take the power saw every time. Right, that's what we got to do when we're talking about the kind of power we're talking about in this series.

Speaker 3: 5:19

This particular verse came to mind right the moment when Larry says I want you to talk about the power part of the Holy Spirit, and this is what came to mind for me. I got to turn this on so that it'll work. Here we go, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Let me make sure you understand this Not by might, like my power, not by might or human power or willpower. No, it's going to be by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives are going to be changed, that God is going to do what he purposed to do. It's going to be by his power, and when we go about it in our way, we look a little silly.

Speaker 3: 6:01

I got in trouble one time. I showed a clip, and the reason I say I got in trouble I had a lady who left our church over this. We were talking about the full armor of God in Ephesians, chapter 6, and I showed a clip from Monty Python and it was the scene with the holy hand grenade. Some of you you've never seen it, you're not old enough. Those of my age are like wait, wait, woo, this is such a good movie. It's stupid, but it's such a good movie. Anyway. The holy hand grenade, it's like thou shalt count to three, thou shalt not proceed to four, thou shalt not stop at two. And the reason I showed that clip was that that's how ridiculous we look, fighting spiritual battles on our power. That's how stupid we look. That's how stupid we look when there are massive things that God wants to do, but it's not going to happen on our power, it's only going to happen by his spirit.

Speaker 3: 6:58

Tyler Staten says this only a confrontation with your own powerlessness will drive you to the power of the Holy Spirit. See, our culture constantly drives us to a thing I called like a self-reliance. It's like you're enough. Believe in yourself, come on, have faith in yourself. I'm not going to tell you that's just a dead-end road, because we are not enough. But we are not left without power. This is God's plan and this is the beauty of His plan. He has given us His power. So in John, chapter 14, which is going to be our primary text, john 14, 12, jesus is getting ready to tell his disciples you're not alone. You're not alone.

Speaker 3: 7:47

You got help and help is on the way. So here it is in John 14, 12. Here it is in John 14, 12. It's not working. There it goes.

Speaker 3: 7:58

Very true, I tell you whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I'm going to the Father Now. I know that you already looked at this verse in the series and the question is always the same question what does do even greater works or do even greater things mean? Does that mean like quantity, like because there's going to be millions of us that you just multiply what Jesus is doing? That's greater that way. Or does it mean, like he raised the dead and he brought sight to the blind and he healed the leper? Are we going to do even more amazing things than that ourselves? The answer is no one knows for sure. But what did he say? You're going to do even greater things. How is that possible? Because you're not alone and there is not just a force. There is a person named the Holy Spirit who's going to guide and direct you and he's going to bring his power.

Speaker 3: 8:58

Power is the same word the apostle Paul uses when he talks about the church, and he says this in 1 Corinthians 4,. He says, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power. And yet it feels like it's a lot of talk and it feels like in life, where is the power that I need? Because I feel powerless when life is hitting me from every side and all these different things are happening. Like, where is that power and need? Because I feel powerless when life is hitting me from every side and all these different things are happening, like where is that power? And what we've got to do is figure out how do we connect with that power. And like my daughter's figuring out that if it plugs in, it won't work. When the power is hot, it won't work unless it's plugged in. Right, I mean, you can have a really nice TV, but if it's not plugged in, if it's not plugged into the power source, it's not going to work. And so what you and I have got to do, we've got to figure out how do we do this.

Speaker 3: 9:45

Now. The Bible gives us this beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus' life, and I want you to see this because it's going to make a difference in the way you view, maybe the, because it's going to make a difference in the way you view, maybe the way you view the way God wants to work in your life as well. In Jesus' baptism there is this moment where the Holy Spirit comes. Now you might remember this. Like the Father says something, the Holy Spirit shows up. You have the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all in the same scene in Jesus' baptism, and it's in Mark, chapter 1.

Speaker 3: 10:14

It's actually recorded in Matthew, mark, luke and John. All four gospels record this. It says just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a. What does that say? Like a dove. All four of those gospel accounts use the same word dove. And a voice came from heaven. You are my son, whom I love. With you, I am well pleased. So you've got the Father, you've got the Son, you've got the Spirit all together. Why a dove? I mean, of all the images that the Holy Spirit could arrive on this evening, why a dove? That has always baffled me.

Speaker 3: 10:53

So what I want to do is I want to give you some help in this with some imagery of the Bible. I'm going to back up a little bit and kind of walk through the Bible and just the imagery of what this possibly could be talking about, so that we can understand more what the power of the Holy Spirit is and what he's offering us in our life. All right, so we're going to go back to what we call the creation. All right, the very beginning, in fact, the book of Genesis. The word means Genesis means beginnings, and that's exactly how this whole thing starts. Here we go In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. By the way, remember that verse. It's going to come up again, but remember that verse. In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was what's this word? Hovering over the waters. So, however you envision that the imagery is that of a bird, it's hovering over the waters. And then this is the very first scene in the Bible where you, in fact, when we read on, like God, says let us make man in our image. There is a father, there's a son, there's a Holy Spirit all involved in creation, and the Spirit is hovering. That's the idea.

Speaker 3: 11:59

We move through the Bible and we get to the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, and the one who represents that for us is a guy named Moses, and Moses obviously led the children of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land. There's 40 years that go by there. There's a lot of lessons in that whole thing, but then when they get ready to go into the promised land, this word hovering that we see in Genesis 1-2 is a rare word. We don't see it very often in the Bible. One of the other times we see it is in Deuteronomy, and what Moses has done is he has fashioned a song to teach Israel that they could sing. That would remind them of everything that God has done for them. Like how amazing is this God? Like that's what they're trying to do. So Moses has this song and in Deuteronomy 32, it says this like an eagle that stirs up its nest, and what Hovers there's that word hovers over its young.

Speaker 3: 12:48

That spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. This is a very, almost like motherly, very almost like motherly loving, positive word. This eagle is hovering over its nest, hovering over its little ones, caring for them. Now we use the word hover today and it doesn't sound so positive because we mean helicopter parents. It's like that's not the right kind of hovering. This is a very, very positive kind of hovering right here, and that's what he's explaining to us.

Speaker 3: 13:20

And then we get to Jesus. Now again, jesus in his baptism has this dove that ascends, and then you hear the voice of the Father. The dove ascends and what he's really saying to us. I think in this imagery, in creation the Spirit was hovering. God in his care for the Israelites through his spirit, was hovering over them, protecting them for 40 years in the wilderness. And now that same spirit, in the form of a dove, is descending onto Jesus, onto Jesus, Jesus. And from this time on we see Jesus being led by the Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Spirit. That's the kind of language we see in the gospel accounts, as Jesus did his thing.

Speaker 3: 14:06

In Luke, chapter 4, jesus is in a synagogue and he stands up and he opens the passage. He opens the scroll to Isaiah 61, and he reads this Now, listen to this. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, so just know what he's reading was prophesied hundreds of years before and Jesus is going to make the point. It's talking about me. All right. 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 and sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Don't miss this. This is such a clear, powerful claim that the people from this little village in the synagogue take him out because they want to kill him, because he just claimed to be God. He says what we just read you're seeing happening in my life, like the spirit is on me and they wanted to kill him. It says he just walked away from the ground and then it says and he was led by the spirit and in the spirit and in the power of the Spirit. Those kinds of phrases keep coming up because what Jesus does now from this point on is his ministry is launched and it's miracle after miracle after miracle in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 3: 15:30

Now some people have problems with the miracles in the Bible. Did you know that Some people are like I don't know if I buy that, I don't know about that. And if you ever heard of a guy named Thomas Jefferson? There's a famous thing called the Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson believed in God, but he didn't believe in all the miracles, and so he cut out all the miracles in the Bible and he was only left with just like moral principles of life. It's called the Jefferson Bible.

Speaker 3: 15:57

But how bizarre is that? How do you remove the very things that gave credibility to the teaching of Jesus, not just in Jesus' day but even in the Old Testament? The blind were healed, those with leprosy were cleansed, the dead were raised to life. I mean, we see Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit doing all these miracles and more. We see God doing these kind of miracles even before Jesus shows up on the scene, because the Spirit was doing what the Spirit does in His power and God used those miracles always as evidence and credibility to let them know who he really was, so they would listen to Him, that they would pay attention to him. See, I don't have a problem with miracles. Remember, I told you Genesis 1-1 was important. If you can believe Genesis 1-1, you don't have a problem with God moving a little bit of water so the Israelites could walk through in the Red Sea. If you believe in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, you don't have a problem with God saying oh you know what? Hey fish, go over there and swallow that dude named Jonah he's jumping over the boat right now and then three days later spit him up. That's not a big deal for God because of his power. Because of his power, we keep moving through and we see the early church.

Speaker 3: 17:19

The book of Acts is written by a guy named Luke, who also wrote the book of Luke. So we have Matthew, mark, luke, john Luke is one of those four pictures of Jesus' life and when he starts writing the book of Acts he says in my former book and he's writing to a guy named Theophilus in my former book, Theophilus, I began to tell you everything that Jesus did and taught. So in Acts, what he's going to do is now. What Jesus began to do and teach is going to be continued by his church in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says this but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. You will receive what Power?

Speaker 3: 18:08

And in Acts, chapter 2, the power guess what Descends on the church. The one who has been hovering anoints the church descends on the church. The one who has been hovering anoints the church, descends on the church and takes up his dwelling. With him, eugene Peterson, who was the one who translated the Bible that we have called the message. It's kind of like street language for understanding the Bible. He says this God gave us the miracle of congregation, the same way he gave us the miracle of Jesus. By the descent of the dove, the Holy Spirit descended into the womb of Mary in the Galilean village of Nazareth. Thirty or so years later, the same Holy Spirit descended into the collective spiritual womb of men and women, which included Mary, who had been followers of Jesus. The first conception gave us Jesus. The second conception gave us the church. The Holy Spirit shows up in Acts, chapter 2, and then we're off and running and miracles are happening Again. Miracles. In fact, at the end of chapter 2, it says this everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. Well, how were they able to do that? It wasn't their own power, was it? It was the power of the Holy Spirit. And then we get to us. What about us?

Speaker 3: 19:29

My grandson is four years old. He just turned four last month, but ever since he was about two and a half he came up with this thing when we're wrestling. He loves to wrestle, he is all boy. I mean like I raised two daughters and then I had a granddaughter, and then he came in. It was different, let me tell you what. And now I look at him and I just I kind of like laugh out loud to him. I'm like that's what my parents went through, because he walks into a room and my granddaughter's like I wonder if they like them and I wonder if they're being nice to them and I wonder if they're. She's all about relational connection and dynamics.

Speaker 3: 20:05

And he walks in and goes I could jump off that and he will. If you don't stop him, he'll climb and just jump. See what happens, right? So we're doing this wrestling thing and he has this thing. He right. So we're doing this wrestling thing and he has this thing. He says go big poppy. Again, my name is poppy, go big poppy. And that means that I get on top of him, like I'm going to just crush him, but he has his little legs ready and as soon as I get there, he just pushes off. Now, by the way, he knows, and I know he can't push me off, but I go flying anyway. That's what go big poppy means. I get on him and he's like boom, and I go. I go flying into a couch or on the side of a chair or I'm rolling through the room and he goes go big poppy. And I jump back on him and he does it again. Right, this is so fun for us and it's so cool for me that I was in a car wash just like a month ago and they have different levels of the wash. You can get like wet, you can get wet with soap, you can get wet with soap and wax, right, like. They have all these levels and one of them was called go big. I'm like that's the one I'm getting because I'm Poppy. Right, I have to get it. I went, I took a picture, I showed him. He goes yeah, like he made the connection right. Go big Poppy and Jesus. He made the connection right. Go big poppy and Jesus.

Speaker 3: 21:17

What he's doing in John 14 is he's about to tell his disciples you ready for this? You're about to go big. That's what he's going to say Very truly. I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things. You're about to go big that's what he's saying Bigger things than these, because I'm going to the Father. I desperately want that to be true in my life. I desperately want that to be true in your life. I want that to be true in your church. I want Benicia like radically transformed because of the Holy Spirit's power working through you. That's what we should be praying for on a regular basis. God, move and work through us, beyond us.

Speaker 3: 22:08

By the way, that's my prayer every week before I preach, and I've been doing this for years. Part of my prayer just goes like this, and I prayed it before I came out here. God, they don't need me, they need you, and I ask that the Holy Spirit would be present in this room and he would individually speak to every one of you according to what's going on in your life and what you need. Years ago, we were getting ready to do a big event in a stadium for Easter and we had a prayer walk around the stadium the day before and we were praying at different stations. We got to the place where I would be teaching the next day and so they were praying for me and somebody prayed God may the people tomorrow hear in their own language, just like in Acts, chapter 2. In Acts, chapter 2, there were people from like I think it's 18 different nations, and as Peter talked, they all heard in their own language. Now, that's one thing. You got to hear the word of God in French today, that's another language. But what I mean by that, when I got spirits speak to them in their own language, what I mean is that, no matter what I say, that he would say what you need to hear into your heart and that you would receive that, because it's not about me, it's about him, and we need his power.

Speaker 3: 23:28

Francis Chan wrote a book about the Holy Spirit. He said there was a time when I got excited over a crowd showing up to hear me preach, but those days are long gone. Now I deeply desire that the Spirit of God would do things that I know are not of me and that it cannot be faked or accounted for by human action. Max Lucado, in his book about the Holy Spirit, says Forty years of ministry has left me convinced. We do not have what it takes to heal this hurting world. We might create programs, train staff and build wonderful sanctuaries, but I gladly exchange them all for one raindrop from the Spirit of heaven. I'm with those guys.

Speaker 3: 24:07

I love a crowd as much as anybody else, but I want the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do in us by His power. See, here's the truth. He empowers us to be what he calls us to be and he sends us. He sends us into the places that we go. It might be my prayer before I come and preach, but it might be your prayer before you go to work. It might be your prayer before you walk into a school. It might be your prayer before you go visit family. God, I'm not what they need, but they need you and I want you to use me any way you can, by your power, to help them.

Speaker 3: 24:46

Because I'm convinced that the greatest demonstration of God's power and the Holy Spirit's power is not the miraculous like we think of. Like, I think there's part of us that wants I want the power of the Holy Spirit so I can walk outside and say you know what? I want? A better parking spot and just move a car. That would be cool, right, but the greatest demonstration of his power is a changed life. Cool, right, but the greatest demonstration of his power is a changed life, and when you and I take the Holy Spirit with us into those places, there's no stopping what he can do. Listen, he sends us, but not alone, and not without help and not without his power.

Speaker 3: 25:28

Let me go back to this verse again John 14, 12. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Now I'm going to highlight a different word this time, right here. What does that say? Whoever, whoever Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. And in telling the story of the prodigal son, maybe you know this story. I don't even love the title that we've given it. I think it should be called the story of a father's love. There's actually two boys in the story. Both mess up at some point.

Speaker 3: 26:05

But the prodigal, the one who goes away, takes his dad's inheritance and blows it all on wild living and prostitutes that's what the Bible says. He has a come-to-Jesus kind of moment where he's sitting there like wait a minute, I should go home. At least I could just be a hired hand. At least I could be one of the workers, I'd have a roof over my head, I've had three meals a day, I'm going to go home. And so he goes home. But Jesus tells us the story so we'd understand that, no matter how much we've blown it, god is still waiting for us to come home. And so when the son makes his way, even though he's rehearsing his speech, the dad sees him. What does the dad do? He runs to him, throws his arms around him, and the son says I'm not even worthy to be. And the dad's like shut up, right, you were lost. But now you're found. We're going to have a party and here's a robe and here's a ring and here's some sandals. Now, what if we all, when we think of coming home to Jesus, when we come home to God, the Father, what if the only thing we thought about was just, at least I'd have a roof over my head, at least I had three meals a day? Then we wouldn't be experiencing the rights and the benefits of being a child. And I think some people just think if I just come back, at least that's a good place. No, we stopped before we read the end of the story. Yes, he had to turn around. Yes, he had to repent. But when he did, the father was ready and the father wanted to make a whole son again, not just add to his work crew.

Speaker 3: 27:35

I had a friend of mine, see, I told you that I think the power of the Holy Spirit is best seen in a changed life. A friend of mine was a pastor in the same town I'm in A few years ago. He stepped aside from that, started another adventure. He's always kind of an entrepreneur and through one event after another his life got worse and worse and worse. Some were his choices, some were just life. He wound up in a deep depression and he was, admittedly, far from God In that space. In that time his wife passed away, the one who had stood by his side through all the junk that he had brought her through, and now he's really alone.

Speaker 3: 28:23

I would text him from time to time, I would call him from time to time just to check on him, and I knew he was just in this dark place. But a little over a month ago not two months ago, end of May we were sitting in a community center watching our adult kids play in an adult volleyball league. You want to feel old. So we're sitting there with our canes watching our adult kids play volleyball. And he's just telling me again, like you can't snap out of it.

Speaker 3: 29:03

Then, right around July 1st, I get a phone call. I look at my phone and it's his name, what's going on? And he says I'm back. What? What do you mean? Like, tell me what's going on, what's going on? And for the next, I don't know how long we just talked and he said I was desperate to fall in love with Jesus again. I felt so far away. He goes. I couldn't listen to worship music, I couldn't read my Bible. He goes. I've been a pastor. I couldn't even read my Bible and I made myself. I opened it. I go, I need to, I need to fall in love with Jesus again.

Speaker 3: 29:41

He opened a John chapter. One in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. And he keeps reading and it gets down to verse 16. It says for for from his fullness, jesus, from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. He said what does that mean? Grace upon grace, what does that mean? And he closed his Bible in frustration. I don't even know what that means. And he went down to the beach. This is Oceanside, the closest beach to our valley. This is where he went.

Speaker 3: 30:10

He says he's sitting there just watching wave upon wave upon wave upon wave upon wave, and it finally hit him. That's God's grace. It's like that. It's like it's grace upon grace upon grace. It's relentless. You can't stop it. It's just grace upon grace. It doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter how bad it's been, it's like he's still coming after you.

Speaker 3: 30:30

And he imagined himself laying in the water, right here, and just the waves crashing over him. And you know when a wave does that? And it pulls back into the ocean, it pulls all these little pebbles and rocks and pieces of seashells and pulls all the stuff away. And he says I just imagined myself being laying, just laying there, and God's grace pouring over me, pulling away from me all the stuff that didn't belong anymore. He said I'm back. I'm back.

Speaker 3: 30:57

Let me tell you something. That's the power of the Holy Spirit, who revealed to him on a beach what God was wanting to do in his life. And I don't know where you're at, I don't know how maybe distant you feel from God. Just know he's there. I'm going to pray with you. I'm going to pray that you understand and know and experience the power of the Holy Spirit, but I want that spirit to change you and to change me and continue to do that and refine us so we can be more like him. Let's pray, god. Thank you so much for your love and your grace upon grace. Upon grace, god, may it be evident to us, clear to us by experience, that the power that you have given us in this spirit of yours is there to shape us and mold us and change us and draw us back to you. In the name of Jesus, we pray and everyone said amen.

Speaker 2: 32:03

Amen, amen. What a powerful message. Would you guys stand with us as we close out.