Help Is On The Way | Sunday Message

Struggling to answer someone's questions about your faith, Pastor Greg Laurie recommends a great book to help. You know, I remember the first time that I shared my faith. I was so young, and I was challenged by an atheist. I did not have a clue as to what I should say. And I wish I'd had a copy of this book by Frank Turek and Norman Geisler, and the title of it is "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist." And we want to send you this book for your gift of any size, available at.

Harvest. dot org. Hey there! Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you.

If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest. dot org. Well, grab your Bible and turn to John 14, and we're starting a brand new series. That we are simply calling the Holy Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit in you. We're going to talk about a lot together that I'll describe in a few moments.

But let me start with this. Have you ever seen that Life Alert commercial? You know the famous line. I heard they copyrighted it.

So if you say this line, you have to pay a royalty to someone. And you know what that line is. I fall in and I can't get up. Wow, and I laugh because not because someone's fallen and they can't get up. I don't find that funny, but the lady who does the acting is not the greatest actress.

And I find it a little humorous. I fall in and I can't get up, but it's selling a device called the Life Alert button. You push the button, you get a live operator that helps you. That's a good thing. Wouldn't it be great if we could have a little life alert button hanging around our neck, and if you pushed it, you had immediate conversation with God?

Because there are some times where we just need to talk to Him. And we all need help in life. I told you a couple Sundays ago, we're driving to church, and I got a warning that my tire was low. You know, needed more air. Thought that's no big deal.

Then it said you're getting a flat tire. Stupidly, foolishly, I ignored it, and then I had a flat tire. Then the rubber, the tire, came off the rim, and I'm driving down the freeway on my rim. And so we pull over, and so we call the automobile club. We get an automated response.

Go to this website. Tell us where you are, which we did. After a lot of texting back and forth, probably with some bot, we were told someone will be there to help you in one hour. And we're on the shoulder of the fast track lane on the ninety-one freeway. You don't want to spend an hour waiting for help, right?

A lot of things can happen.

So then it dawned on me: call nine one one, which I did, and I got a live operator who sent me the back to the. They said we'll get a hold of Automobile Club, and we AAA, and then they got back to us and they said it'll be one hour.

So none of that really helped. None of that really helped. But there are times in life where we just need help. But sometimes our friends can't help us.

Sometimes our family can't help us, and we feel abandoned. And a lot of people right now are literally turning to AI for companionship, not just for information, not just for help writing their emails or debugging code. In night in twenty twenty six, the number one use of AI is therapy and companionship. Therapy and companionship. They're going to AI to get wisdom.

They're going to AI to get direction. They're going to AI to find companionship. And I tell you, we have something far greater than AI. And let me restate that: someone far greater than AI. We have the Holy Spirit.

You know, AI is available twenty four seven, but it doesn't love you. It's just predicting what your next word will be. The Holy Spirit knows what your next need will be, and He is here for each of us.

So, as I said earlier, we're starting a brand new series that we're calling "The Holy Spirit and You." We're going to identify who is the Holy Spirit. Why is the Holy Spirit come? We'll talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Are they still for today? Can we have spiritual gifts, and can we use spiritual gifts?

And the answer, of course, to all of those questions is a resounding yes. How do I discover what my spiritual gifts are? We'll also talk about the fruit of the Spirit. But here's the thing: the Holy Spirit is way more involved in your life than you may even realize. According According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit is the one who brought you to Jesus.

He seals you. He leads you. He fills you. He even intercedes for you.

Now you might say, "Did you say he? He?" I thought it was more of an "it," a thing, like sort of like the Force in Star Wars. Trust the Force, Luke. You know. No, that is not who the Holy Spirit is.

The Holy Spirit, of course, is a part of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was there at creation when God looked out and said, "Let us make man in our image." Who was He talking to? Angels? No, we're not made in the images of angels, are we? We're made in the image of who?

God, the Trinity. Conversing together at the very creation of mankind, the Trinity isn't three gods. It isn't one god wearing three masks. It's one god existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each one fully God, distinct yet perfectly one.

You say, Greg, I don't understand that. Welcome to the club. I don't think there is really a way to explain it in a way that we might all understand, but it's simply taught in Scripture. But we can know God and we can have a relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit. But it's hard to wrap our mind around the Holy Spirit.

We can understand to some degree God as a Father because all of us have a Father. Maybe it was a good father, maybe a mediocre father, maybe it was even a bad father. But you had some kind of father in your life, so you think of God as a father. Yeah, I can understand that. And even in the Lord's prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven." Then we come to God as the Son.

Jesus Christ, we can understand that to some degree. God is the Son of the Father walking among us. But when we come to the topic of the Holy Spirit, it's harder for us to understand. It doesn't help that the King James Version refers to Him as the Holy Ghost. I heard about a little girl who was.

Not quite understanding this concept of the Holy Spirit, and she prayed, "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Toast." And so, you know, it's not—it's not always easy to understand. But He is not a force, according to Scripture. He has a definite personality. Maybe one of the reasons we think of Him more as an object or a force is because He's described in the Bible as coming in the form of a dove. He's likened to wind.

He's likened to fire, but according to Scripture, he has a specific personality. He can be grieved. He can be quenched. He can be resisted. He can even be insulted.

He can be lied to as well. See, only a friend or a family member can grieve you. You know, some person cuts you off in the freeway. You're not grieved. You're just irritated.

But if a family member or someone you're very close to lets you down or disappoints you, that's grieving to you. That's relationship. We can actually grieve the Holy Spirit.

So let's come now to John 14, where Jesus begins to talk about Him. And understand the context of this. This is our Lord encouraging his disciples, who were very afraid. They were afraid of their future. They were stressed out.

So He offers them these very familiar words of encouragement. John fourteen verse one: "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God." Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If, were we not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, you may be also.

Well, there they were troubled, and we're troubled. We live in such a troubled world right now. The onslaught of technology has only added to that.

Some research has found that today's average young person is reporting more anxiety than the average psychiatric patient did back in the nineteen fifties. We're under a new kind of stress, but to that generation, to our generation, to every generation, Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled." And now He shifts gears. Go to John fourteen verse sixteen. I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. Whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. A little longer, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live also.

Now he elaborates on it. Drop down to verse twenty-six. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the The Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you.

Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

So this is a pivotal point in the ministry of our Lord. He's saying, guys, I'm going to have to leave you. You know, I'm I'm going to. Go to be with the Father. I'm going to ascend to heaven after, of course, I die on the cross.

But I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm not going to leave you as an orphan. You know that's a scary thing for a child to be abandoned. I remember years ago when I was a little boy living in New Jersey. My mother had married one of her many husbands, and this is the only husband who ever treated me as a father should treat a son.

Though he was not my biological father, he cared about me. He he tried to be. There's a picture of him. Tried to be a good example for me. And you know, I looked like a pretty happy kid there, right?

I had hair. It was nice. But but I felt safe. I felt like I had a hands-on functioning dad, so when I got out of school one day, and my mother had the car loaded up with all of our luggage, and she said, "We're leaving." I said, "Where are we going?" She said, "Hawaii." I said, "Where's dad?" She said, "He's not coming," and I didn't see him for the rest of my childhood. And she married the very opposite of my father, Oscar Lory.

Another man who was a wild, violent, abusive alcoholic, and he almost killed my mother. As a matter of fact, when they had an altercation one night.

So that day, I felt like an orphan. I felt like I was all alone. And sometimes we feel that way in life, like we're all alone. But Jesus is saying, "I'm not going to leave you as an orphan. Help is on the way, and He is the Holy Spirit." Look at what He says in verse 16.

I pray the Father; He'll give you another helper that He may abide with you forever. This phrase, "another helper," comes from the Greek word parakletos. Pericles, and it's a word that means one who is called alongside to help. Another way to translate it is an advocate, or even another of the same kind. Or even another translation puts it this way: I am sending another friend for you.

I love that another friend for you, and it's the Holy Spirit. I mean, think about the access the disciples had. To God incarnate, they were literally walking with Jesus. If you had a question for Jesus, he's right there. Ask him.

I wonder what Jesus thinks about. Ask him. He's right there. Yes. Ah.

You were with him twenty four seven. When he got up in the morning, there was Jesus. Lunchtime, there he was. Dinner, Jesus was there. They walked with him.

They talked with him. They experienced life with him. And now he's going to leave them.

So he's saying, "But listen, guys, I am going to send you another helper of the same kind, and he is the Holy Spirit, another friend." And there's a lot of things that the Holy Spirit does in our life. In fact, the word here that I mentioned, "perakleitos" in the Greek, is one who pleads a cause before a judge, sort of like a legal assistant or maybe even an attorney. The Holy Spirit is pleading your cause before God the Father. First John two one uses the same word when it says, "If any of us." If anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our cause before the Father. He's Jesus Christ, who is truly righteous.

Okay, so wait, I'm getting confused now.

So I have an advocate, Jesus Christ. I get that he stands for me before God. But now Jesus is saying, "I'm sending you another advocate." Wait, I have two defense attorneys. That's right. You have two, both pleading your case.

Two legal counsels. Same word is used for both. One stands on the right hand, right hand of the judge, ready at any moment to plead our case. That would be Jesus. The other stands by our side, pleading our case.

And this is an amazing thing, you know. I don't know if you've ever been to court before. I remember years ago, I was in Camp Pendleton. I was going to serve with Rawl Reese, and he was a Marine, so he had access to the base.

So he's in his car, and I'm following him. And they have the speed limit there is very, very slow. And I went over the speed limit. I mean, I am barely moving. I maybe went two miles over, and I am pulled over by the military police, and I am ticketed for breaking the speed limit.

Okay, wow. And so then someone said to me, "Oh, you should appeal it. You should go to court. These guys never show up, and they'll waive the fine." Now, even though I was technically guilty, probably going two miles over the speed limit, and it seemed like a ridiculous ticket to me at that, I think I will. I'll just appeal it, and the guy won't show up, and they'll waive the fine.

So I go to the courtroom, and there is the officer that wrote me the ticket.

Okay, this is not good because I am technically guilty. And then there's the judge, and this judge was interesting because he was trying other cases that day. And I actually really liked this judge. He would quote scripture to people.

Someone offered him a some excuse, and he said, "Oh, okay.

Now, do you think if Adam said that to God, that would have passed muster?" And I went, "Whoa!" He quotes scripture, and then I thought, "Wait, I'm a pastor, and I'm going to appear before this judge." I don't. I don't want to. I don't want to do this now. And so they appointed an attorney for me, and I said, I don't want to do it anymore. I'll pay the fine.

He says, No, you have to appear before the judge. I don't. I don't want to appear before the judge. I'll pay the fine. No, you have to appear before the judge.

And so the attorney appointed to me walks up and says, Your Honor, you've heard of the. Fighting priest. Here we have the surfing pastor. Every one in the courtroom did what you did. They started laughing.

I stood up. I felt like a complete fool. I pretty much acknowledged I had broken the speed limit, and then the judge reduced my fine slightly. And it was an embarrassing moment for me. But here's the thing: He was not the greatest defense attorney.

But you've got Jesus Christ, and you've got the Holy Spirit, so you're in good shape.

So He is advocating for me. But again, I want to emphasize: He has a personality. Again, Jesus says later in John 16, when He has come, when He has come, not when it has come. When he has come, he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

Now, for a person, for a being to be considered a person, they must possess certain traits. They must have intelligence, will, and emotion. Human beings possess all three. Trees don't possess them, nor do rocks or cars.

Some creatures do, dogs do. I don't know about cats. You know, I've heard stories of people who've died, and the dog sits by their side until help comes. And I've heard other stories that people who die, and the cat begins to eat them. That pretty much this is true.

That that pretty much sums it up. But objects don't have personalities. Though sometimes we attach a personality to an object, maybe your car. You're trying to start it, and it's it's not firing up. And you're saying, "I can't believe you're doing this to me." And you're talking to the car.

But you understand, it's not a being. But the Holy Spirit has will. He has personality. He is a being, and therefore. He's one that is a being we can appeal to.

We also know he has intelligence. We're told in First Corinthians two ten, God has revealed things to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

So the Holy Spirit knows things. Not only does He have intelligence, He has a will. Speaking of the gifts of the Spirit, Paul says in one Corinthians twelve that the Holy Spirit distributes to each one individually as He wills.

So the Holy Spirit determines what kind of spiritual gifts He's going to give to you, and we'll talk about this later. There's a lot of gifts of the Spirit listed in Scripture. In Acts 15:28, we read the apostles preface their judgment on a question of church doctrine, saying it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The Holy Spirit not only has intelligence; he not only has will, and this is where it gets really interesting to me. He has emotion.

He has emotion. As I mentioned earlier, you can grieve him, you can quench him, you can resist him, you can blaspheme him. I'll talk about that at the end of the message. You can even lie to him.

So, these are things that we can do actually to the Holy Spirit. But another thing that the Holy Spirit does is he convinces us. That we are children of God, because the Bible says His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Christian can, the Christian should, and the Christian must know that they are saved. For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.

That's what the Bible says. You should never doubt your salvation.

Some would say, "Well, no one can know that they're safe." People who are Catholic don't have the assurance of salvation because they have to do certain things each week. To sort of maintain that favor with God, receive that grace of God, but the believer who understands Scripture can know that salvation is something that belongs to them. How many of you know you are saved? Raise your hand if you know this. You say, "But I don't know." Well, you can know, and you must know.

First John says, "If we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Remember that man we call him the Philippian jailer. He cruelly mistreated Paul and Silas, threw him into a dungeon. Through a series of events, he realized he needed Christ, and he cried out to the apostles, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And Paul said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." So that's how you get it. But the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. That's one of the things that He does.

He also seals us. Over in Ephesians one thirteen, we read, "In Him you trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. At having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, a promise which is a deposit, guarantee in our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory." So, what does this mean that I am sealed?

Well, back in these days, when goods were shipped from one place to another, they would be stamped with a wax seal, imprinted with this signet ring that would identify a unique mark of ownership. It would be sealed in wax. You would take a signet ring and put it into the hot wax, and so if you saw this. Document or whatever it was, oh that that's important. This is belongs to a king.

I don't want to open this. I don't want to break this seal.

So you have a seal on us. Let's put it another way. You have an ID tag attached to you, and that ID tag says you belong to Jesus Christ. Years ago, I was traveling and I picked my suitcase up at the little carousel there, and I'm going away, carrying it. And some lady chases after me and says, "You took my suitcase." I said, "No, ma'am, this is my suitcase." And no, it's mine," she said.

And she had another another suitcase that happened to be mine, and I realized both of our suitcases looked exactly the same. But I opened it to check, and my suitcase, which was hers, was filled with women's clothing.

So I did not I didn't want to take that for sure, right?

So we traded suitcases. If I would have just checked the ID tag, I would have known. And so here's how it works in real life: the devil comes, and he says, "I'm going to bring havoc and misery into your life." I'm going to destroy you. I'm. Wait.

Wait. What's that? What's What's that ID tag? And he takes a close look. Property of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he backs off. He backs off because I'm sealed by the Holy Spirit. I have the ID tag given to me by the Holy Spirit.

So that's one thing he does. He seals us. But then it goes on to say that he is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance. We know how this works. He maybe you want to buy something, and you say, "I want to buy this," and they say, "Well, sir, there's a lot of people that want to buy this." So you have to pay now.

Well, I I have to go home and get my money or get my checkbook or I don't have Apple Pay on my phone. Whatever it is, I'll be back.

Well, sir, we we can't just hold it because what if somebody comes and wants to buy it?

Okay, I'll leave a deposit. I'll leave a deposit so you'll know I mean business, and you make a significant deposit on that thing you want to buy, and they'll hold it for you. The Holy Spirit is God's deposit in your life to let you know that He means business. He's promised us heaven. He's promised us glory.

He's promised us so many wonderful things. But in effect, the Lord says, "Just so you know, I mean business. I'm going to deposit my Holy Spirit into your life." Wow, that's a significant deposit. That makes us know it's real. But as I see in those commercials, but wait, there's more.

The Holy Spirit also teaches us. He teaches us. Verse twenty-six. Jesus says, "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." This comes to reading the Scripture. Right.

So, as I read the scripture, the Holy Spirit will illuminate it to me.

Sometimes this happens in a sermon. You're listening, and all of a sudden, the preacher appears to be speaking directly to you.

Now, I'm going to get into this a little bit later when we come to the topic of the gifts of the Spirit. But there are certain gifts that God gives. That the Lord will reveal truths to people. One is called the word of wisdom, the other is called the word of knowledge, and the other is called the gift of prophecy. And what those gifts are is it supernatural revelation of things you would not know on your own.

I've had people come up to me after a message and saying, "Who told you that stuff about me?" But what are you talking about? No, you're describing me in your sermon, and I don't appreciate it. I don't. I don't even know you. No, you just describe me in your sermon.

Well, I'm not intentionally, but there are times when I'm speaking and and I'll say maybe this is you, and I'll just describe what seems like a a hypothetical situation or someone facing a certain dilemma. But the Holy Spirit, I believe, will at times give me these insights that I will share that connect directly to people. And I know I've heard sermons.

Sometimes it's a podcast.

Sometimes it was recorded 25 years ago, and it's speaking to me directly. You know what I'm talking about? That's the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will reveal things to us. But here's where it gets tricky, because people say I have a message from God, the Holy Spirit, saying this to me. These people are usually weird.

I have to say it; they usually are weird. And here's the thing to know: God can speak to us supernaturally. God can reveal things to us we would not know. But at the same time, this must always be submitted to the Word of God. God will never contradict His Word.

So when people say I have a revelation from the Lord, I have a message from the Lord.

Okay, I'll listen to it. But now, according to the Scripture, I'm going to test you. And if that revelation that you give in the name of the Lord does not happen, you're a prophet, all right, a false one, and I'm not going to listen to you anymore. And there's people out there today claiming to speak in the name of the Lord, and we must be very careful because God will never contradict His word. When the Holy Spirit was poured out in the day of Pentecost.

Peter said, "This is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel when he said, 'In the last days, I will pour my spirit out on all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your old men will dream dreams, and so forth.' But he said, 'That which you are seeing.'" This is spoken of in Scripture.

So yes, the Holy Spirit will reveal things to me and to you and to us. He will teach us things, but it will always be according to Scripture. And you get this by reading the Bible. You can't just hold the Bible up to your head and say, "Just Lord, put all of this in my head now." You read it. He says, "I'll bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you." So, since we're not walking and talking with Jesus on Earth as the disciples did, the way Jesus speaks to us is when we open His Word.

Remember, Jonathan mentioned last time as we wrapped up the Gospel of Luke, those two disciples on the Emmaus road. And Jesus took him on a guided tour of all of the Old Testament prophecies pointing to Him. And afterwards, they said, "Did not our hurts hearts hurt?s Did not our hearts burn within us while He opened to us the Scripture?

So the Holy Spirit will teach you through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit also helps us in our prayers. There are times. We're facing a hardship in life. There are times when we are burdened beyond measure.

There are times when we don't know what to do, and we don't even know what to pray. You know what I'm talking about? I literally don't know how to pray. I don't know what I should ask for here. I don't know what the will of God is here.

And so Romans eight twenty six says the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit, listen, prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Not interesting. It might be a time you say, Lord, I just pray for this, and and Lord, I pray, ah, Lord, I just. Lord, I'm just as ah.

That's what that's saying. It's like I don't know. Holy Spirit, help me here. You know how I should be praying. And the Holy Spirit lives inside of every Christian.

Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside of them. Verse seventeen: The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive. Because another seat neither sees them or knows them, but he dwells with you and shall be in you.

Now later, Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit.

So this event or this statement of Christ happened before the upper room, happened before the crucifixion and resurrection. But then, when that happened, remember he appeared in the upper room and breathed on them the Holy Spirit.

So he says he's with you, but he will be in you.

So the Holy Spirit is with us, but he's also in us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ. If you feel it or not, if you feel him or not, First Corinthians six nineteen says, "Don't you know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, whom you have from God." The Holy Spirit can be resisted.

Now, why would anybody want to resist the Holy Spirit? Here's the Holy Spirit who helps us in our prayers. Here's the Holy Spirit who teaches us. Here's the Holy Spirit doing so much work in our life, sealing us, and much more. Why would anyone resist Him?

But they do. Remember, young Stephen on the. Day that he was martyred was standing before the Jewish Sanhedrin, religious leaders of the day, and he said, "You stiff-necked people of uncircumcised hearts and ears, you're just like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit.

So, if you're not a believer, the Holy Spirit's role in your life." Is to awaken you to your need of Christ. When He has come, He will convict or convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. That's what Jesus said in John sixteen. When He has come, He'll convince you. He's the one that shows you your need for Christ.

So you can be sitting in church or hearing a message or wherever you are. And the Holy Spirit makes you aware of the fact that you need Jesus, but that doesn't mean you're a Christian yet, because you can resist His work. You come to this understanding: I need Christ, I need to get right with God, but you don't do anything about it. That's called resisting the Spirit, and many people do this, unfortunately. And this is important because.

One of the teachings of Calvinism is called irresistible grace. They sum it up in an acronym called Tulip: T for total depravity, and then the I in Tulip is irresistible grace. And the idea is is that you cannot resist the Spirit of God, but the fact of the matter is, you can resist the Spirit of God. And the Lord says, "My Spirit will not always strive with man," and that's exactly what Stephen was saying. You're resisting the Holy Spirit, so He is resistible.

I know there's a song that says, "Simply irresistible," but you can resist. The Holy Spirit, and tragically, many people do. And as you continue to resist the Holy Spirit, this can lead to something even more serious: insulting the Holy Spirit. Hebrews ten twenty nine says, "Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy." Such people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit. Whoa, insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit.

There is one person you don't want to insult and enrage, and that's God. But people have done this, so it starts usually with resisting. No, I don't really want this. I I don't want Christ in my life. I want to live the way that that I want to live.

My friend Frank Turick, who goes out in college campuses and shares the gospel, told me maybe ten years ago, atheism was very popular. And that was the questions he would get. He says, "But those are not the questions they get anymore." And I say, "Well, what are they now?" He says, "Basically, they're about lifestyle and moral choices, etc." He says, "I pose a question to the kids on the campuses now, and I ask them, if I could prove to you that Christianity is true without any doubt, would you become a Christian?" He says, "You know what the answer of many of them is." I said, "What?" He said, "No." No, even if you could convince them intellectually, even if you could answer every question, even if you could refute every argument, they're saying they would not become a Christian. Why? He says because they don't want to change their lifestyle.

Jesus says people don't come to the light because they don't want their evil deeds exposed. It's not an intellectual issue. First time it could be, and you can resolve those issues. But really, ultimately, it's a choice of: Do I want my life to change? Am I willing to turn from sin?

Am I willing to do what God is calling me to do? But the Holy Spirit is calling me, so I resist Him. Then I actually can get to the place where I insult Him, and now I am getting way too far off. It would be like a marriage proposal. I read a story about a guy that decided to do an amazing proposal for marriage, and I'm impressed by this because I gave the lamest proposal for marriage of all time to my wife.

I didn't get down on one knee. I didn't have a ring. I literally, in a conversation while we were eating, said, "Well, I guess we're going to get married, huh?" That was it. That was the first time Kathy Martin, that was her name before she married me, understood I wanted to marry her.

So I guess we're going to get married, huh? And she said, "Yeah, I guess so." But hey, we've been married fifty-two years, so something. At least she agreed with the concept. I like that. But you hear about these amazing marriage proposals, like the guy who decided to propose at a big giant Boston Red Sox game, and he made an arrangement that everything would be on the big screen, so everyone could see it.

So here's this game going on, and this guy gets down on one knee, he pulls out the ring, he proposes to her. Everybody's watching, and she says no. She says no, and as the camera is pulling away, they're arguing. Oh, that's bad, but it's even worse for another guy. True story: a man from China did an elaborate proposal.

He invited all of his friends and family to a large mall. He bought ninety-nine brand new iPhones. It cost him two years' worth of salary. He arranged the boxes on the ground in a giant heart. This guy is clever.

He gets down in the middle of the heart on one knee and proposes. She says no. Oh man, that's brutal, bad.

So here is the Holy Spirit. He comes to you and he says, "You need Jesus, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and shed his blood for you, and you can be forgiven of all of your sin." And you say no. Maybe you are polite. No. Thank you for asking.

Maybe another time. That's insulting. You're insulting the Holy Spirit, and that can lead to the point of no return, the unforgivable sin. Oh, what's that? What's the unforgivable sin?

Is it adultery? Is it murder?

Well, those are bad sins. The unforgivable sin is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Jesus actually said, "All manner of sin will be forgiven, but he that blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Yes, okay, I get it. But what is that? What does that mean exactly?

And maybe as a Christian, you might say, "Have I committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?" Let me say this at the outset: No believer has committed this sin. It's a sin only a non-believer commits. If you're worried, you've committed the unforgivable sin. That worry is proof that you haven't. A heart that has committed this sin could care less.

You see.

So, oh, maybe I've done. You haven't done it. You're a child of God.

Well, maybe I cursed the Holy Spirit once. It's not that. That's not what this says. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable because it's the rejection of Jesus Christ. What can God do?

Right? He can forgive any other sin, no matter how bad, no matter how horrible. He can forgive it, but if you reject Christ, there's no hope for you. The Bible says, "How can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" You've gone too far, and there is a point of no return.

So, the Holy Spirit, I believe, is speaking to some people right now, convicting you of your sin, convincing you of your need for Jesus. But as they say, the ball's in your court.

So you have to respond like that proposal. You say yes or no or whatever it is, but you are going to give a response to that call of the Holy Spirit. Back to my opening illustration. Do you feel like you've fallen and you can't get up?

Well, I have the number to reach God. I said, wouldn't it be great if we have a phone number to reach God? At I have God's phone number. It's J E R. Three, three, three.

See it, J E R three. I want to try dialing it. No, no, no. You won't. It won't get your phone.

That's a scriptural reference, Jeremiah thirty-three, three. God says, "Call on me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." That's it. Call on the Lord. Say, how do I do that? You say, "How do I do that?" Through prayer, the Bible says, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." And we're going to close now with a prayer, and I'm going to give you an opportunity to call in the name of the Lord to ask Him to forgive you of all of your sin.

Because here is the thing, you know, when you hear a message like this and you say, "Yeah, I get what you are saying," but I don't want to do that right now, you are resisting the Spirit, and you are just a step away from insulting the Spirit. And if you stay on this path long enough, you could end up blaspheming the Spirit, where you would no longer even care. But you care because you are hearing this.

Now respond. God says, "My spirit will not always strive with man." And the Bible also says, "Harden not your heart if you can hear His voice." Jesus died on the cross for you. He rose again from the dead.

Now He stands at the door of your life, and He knocks. And He says, "If you hear His voice and open the door, He will come in. He can come into your life right here, right now." Let's pray.

Now, Father, I pray for any person here who may not yet know You. Your Holy Spirit has made them aware of their need for you, but they have not yet responded. Help this be the moment. Help this be the day that they say yes to the Holy Spirit and they say yes to Jesus Christ. Speak to them now, I pray.

Now, while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying together, maybe you would say, "I am ready to say yes to Jesus." I want him to come into my life and forgive me of my sin. I want to know that when I die, I will go to heaven. Pray for me. Listen. If you want Christ to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that when you die, you will go to heaven, if you're ready to stop resisting the Spirit and instead you're going to say yes.

To the Holy Spirit's call, if you want Jesus in your life today, raise your hand up right now, and I'll pray for you. God bless you. Raise it up, Barbara. I can see it. God bless you.

God bless you. Anybody else? Let me pray for you. Raise your hand up. God bless you.

God bless you as well. You guys watching on the screen right now, Harvest Orange County, Harvest Maui. You can raise your hand as well. Jesus is ready to come into your life. Just raise your hand up.

Now, all of you that have raised your hand, I want you to stand to your feet, and I'm going to lead you in a prayer—a prayer of commitment to Christ. Even if you did not raise your hand, but you want Christ to come into your life, you stand up. Others are standing. You're not the only one. Stand up and let me lead you in this prayer.

Let's get this settled right here, right now. Come on, now, stand up. Be bold. Be strong. The Lord is with you.

The Bible says. Just stand. Let me lead you in this prayer. You will not regret praying this prayer. Anybody else?

Anybody else? Stand now. Let me lead you in this prayer. I'll wait one more moment. There might be a few more.

Stand now. We'll pray together and ask God to forgive you of all of your sin.

So you can have a new life in Him and the hope of heaven. All right, all of you that are standing, pray this prayer out loud after me. Again, as I pray, pray this after me.

Now, pray these words, Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner, but I know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now. And I choose to follow Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. From this moment forward, thank you for hearing this prayer, and answering this prayer.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Hey everybody! Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it.

Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.