In his newest book, Winning the Invisible War, Dr. Michael Youssep declares. Many people, including many Christians, pretend there is no war. They even tried to deny that Satan exists because they can't detect his presence with their physical senses. But the invisible war is real.
It's raging every day all around us and within. In Dr. Michael Youssef's book, Winning the Invisible War, he offers timely hope for the battle worn. Dr. Youssef reminds you that victory is guaranteed in Christ.
As a Bible scholar and compassionate pastor, Dr. Youssef gives you the tools to stand strong in the strength of the Lord and be victorious in winning the invisible war. Pre-order your copy today and learn more about the content when you go to ltw.org. ltw.org Request your copy of Winning the Invisible War Today. You can get all of the pre-ordering details from your Leading the Way Ministry representatives at 866-6666.
six two six four three five six. And of course, you can order online. And learn more about the life-shifting content when you go to ltw.org. Welcome to Leading the Way with Pastor and International Bible Teacher, Dr. Michael Youssef.
Friends offer smiles and laughter. friends share joy in the victories, and friends share tears in the pain. King David wrote in one of his many Psalms that there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. who we learn is the Holy Spirit himself. Today, Dr.
Youssef begins a powerful series on the Holy Spirit. It's called Know your best friend. Listen as Dr. Michael Youssep begins. I think it was Mother Teresa who once said.
that the biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer. But it is the feeling of being uncared for, unwanted, and being deserted and alone. No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ said to the disciples, He said, I will not leave you orphans. But I'll send you the counselor, I'll send you the comforter, I'll send you the paraclete. Believers are given the most perfect best friend that they could ever hope to have.
The problem is this. Listen carefully. Here's the problem. Not all believers Understand or know. The role of God, the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, in their lives.
Not all of them. In fact, there is so much misunderstanding about the Holy Spirit, there's so much confusion, there's so much ignorance about the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, so much so that some people just Gave up and don't want to know him. And that's a tragedy. But that even leads to a bigger problem. Not to now love, worship, and adore the Holy Spirit of God.
Is like missing out on knowing your greatest and best friend that you could ever know in your life. And that is why I'm going to take time in the next several messages. That I'm going to talk about the Holy Spirit. I'm going to. Tell you who He is and what He does to help you not only believe in the Holy Spirit, but fall in love with Him all over again.
Now I want to make a confession to you about a struggle that I had as I'm preparing this series of messages on the Holy Spirit. By calling him your best friend, my best friend. I'm risking something. I am risking Humanizing This third member of the Trinity. And I don't want to fall in that trap.
Today we live in a time When there are so many well-meaning books out there selling by the bucketful. By the truckloads. Books that are in their desire to make God relevant to us humans. They brought God so low into the human point of view. They brought him so low that he is not the God of the Bible.
But in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 16 The Apostle Paul said that we know Jesus after the flesh no more. He is glorified in heaven. His body isn't a glorified body. He's no longer in that weak human body that hung on that cross. Even John the Revelator, when he had an encounter with the risen Christ, John, who was described as a disciple whom Jesus loved, John who leaned his head on the shoulder of Jesus, when he saw the glorified Jesus, he fell on his face.
And he hardly recognized him. Because of the majesty and the splendor in which Jesus is right now. The disciples from Emmaus after the resurrection hardly could recognize Jesus. Why? Because we know him after the flesh no more.
In our desire to make Jesus known to people, cut him down to size, to our size, sometimes even below our size. As I said, I'm going to say more. about this in the next message. He Jesus Is glorified in heaven, reigning and ruling supreme in the universe. Even with our own eyes, we can't see it, but with the eyes of faith, we can.
He is majestic in his appearance. He is mighty in his glory. He is robed in splendor and righteousness. He is the all-powerful God. He is the almighty God.
He alone is worthy of worship and praise and adoration. Give him praise. Jesus said in Matthew 24 That toward the end of time there's going to be subtlety. There's going to be subtlety. in deception.
The deception is going to be so subtle. Jesus said, not me, that even some of the elect, some of his own people, some of his children, some of belong to his bride, the church, will be misled. and will be taken captives by these subtlety of these misguided False truth that looks good but it's not good. And the tragedy of all tragedies is that so many Christians across the churches, even in this area, are falling in these travesties, they are falling in these heresies, they are falling in these subtle deceptions simply because they have never taken time to learn biblical truth. And so, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, which is the subject I'm going to introduce to you today.
When it comes to the Holy Spirit of God, Many people think of him as a mere force in the universe. And they talk about him as such. as just a mere influence. uh in the universe as mere power that can be used at will Others refer to him as it. Don't ever refer to the Holy Spirit of God, the third member of the Trinity, as it.
It's He. Jesus talks about him in the masculine pronoun. Others merely recite in their religious creeds, in the liturgy, I believe in the Holy Spirit. It's like I believe in cars. I believe in motorcycles.
The Holy Spirit of God is a divine person of infinite majesty. Who dwells and to take possessions of the believers here on earth? He is a divine person. Who does the work of the Father and the Son here on earth? He is a divine person who has no body of his own.
That is why he dwells in the believers. He is a divine person, the third member of the Trinity, who helps us who have finite mind to relate to the Infinite God, the Creator of the universe.
Well, what constitutes a person? But constitute a personality. A person Has an intellect, he has a mind. A person has has a will. and a person has emotions.
And the Bible teaches, listen, beloved, listen carefully. The Bible teaches that God, the Holy Spirit, has all of these. He is a person who hears. He is a person who speaks. He is a person who witnesses.
He is a person who convicts. He is a person who glorifies Christ. And that's why when we sing about the Holy Spirit, we say, Glorify His name. Jesus said that He will glorify my name. He is a person who leads and guides.
He is a person who touches and He commands. He is a person who forbids. He is a person who comforts. He is a person who intercedes. And above all, the Holy Spirit has the capacity to fellowship with us, mortals.
The Holy Spirit relates to our spirit. I'm going to say more about this in the coming days. Let's look at the three components. of the personality. of the Holy Spirit.
Three components. The Bible speaks of the heart of the spirit, that's emotion. The Bible speaks of the mind of the Spirit, that's his intellect. And the Bible speaks of the will of the Spirit. That is the execution of the decision that's already made by the mind.
First, it's the heart. which is the seat of emotion. In Romans fifteen thirty, The Bible speaks of the love of the Spirit. He is a spirit of love. Without love, he cannot comfort us.
Did you get that? In Acts chapter 9, verse 31, it says that they walked in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And when there is love, there's always grief. Whenever there is love, there's always grief. Himir out on this one.
Only a loving person can experience grief. Grief is experienced When love is rejected, and scorned. Grief is experienced. When love is ignored and forsaken. Grief is experienced when love is taken for granted.
Grief is experienced when love is met. Was selfishness. Grief is experienced when love is misunderstood. Grief is experienced when love is not appreciated and comprehended. And that is why Ephesians 4:30 says the Holy Spirit gets grieved very easily.
I wonder. How many of God's children? Those who love Jesus. are grieving the Holy Spirit right now. Are grieving the Holy Spirit right now.
because of sin, because of disobedience. because of self-will. We grieve him. When there is love, there is grieving. When there is no love, there's no grieving.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit of God. has a mind. The mind is the seat and the source. of intelligence. It's the seat and the source of reasoning and knowledge.
With our minds we think, with our minds we plan, with our minds we organize, with our minds we devise, and with our minds we comprehend. And Romans 8:27 talks about the mind of the Holy Spirit. He has his own mind. And the mind of the Spirit is also described in 1 Corinthians 2, 10 and 11, that he is the spirit of wisdom. Thirdly, There is the will of the Holy Spirit.
Our will expresses our thoughts, right? Our will is the full expression of our desires and our thoughts. It is the same with the person of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit commands Philip. Go.
and meet the Ethiopian eunuch. In the book of Acts chapter 10, verse 19, the Holy Spirit exercises authority over Peter. In Acts 16, 6 and 7, the Holy Spirit restrains Paul. And Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, he does not act independently of the Godhead, the Father and the Son. Why?
Because there is only one God. The Muslims accuse us of worshiping three gods. We don't worship three gods, we worship one god. Three persons have different assignments, have different tasks, but nonetheless, one God, one mind, one heart in the Godhead. And the person of the Holy Spirit is totally one with the Father and the Son.
No separation. There is only one mind, there's only one will, there's only one heart. And the will and the mind of the Father and the Son in the Godhead are in perfect unity with the Holy Spirit. After all, He is the Spirit of Jesus. That's what the Holy Spirit he is the Spirit of Jesus.
I want to illustrate this to you because In the Hebrew language, There's one word and that word is Ruwach. And it means wind? It means breath. As I take breath, that's the same word as the wind. And it means spirit.
Same thing. Same meaning.
So, in the beginning of the book of Genesis, we said the Spirit of God was blowing on the earth, that was the wind blowing. But then, also, it's a breath, it's a breath of Jesus. Imagine without my spirit, I'm trying to preach to you, okay? This is how it's going to come out. Oh wait.
You get the court in Kavanaugh. The gods.
Okay, did you get it? But then When my spirit gets going and I start talking to you, you will hear what I want to say. You will hear how I'm expressing myself. And that is the spirit of Jesus. He basically takes what Jesus said and he speaks it to us.
Listen carefully. Because the Holy Spirit is a person, therefore our relationship with Him is very personal. It's very personal. You know, We often say that a man is known by the company he keeps We say that? A man is known by the company he keeps.
And I can tell you, you can always tell The man or the woman? who is keeping the company of the Holy Spirit. You can always tell. You can always tell. He said how?
Oh They will manifest the fruit of the Spirit. They will reflect the peace and the joy and the serenity of the Holy Spirit. They are able to discern what is right and what is wrong. They are not easily misled into heretical teaching and heretical books. They will exhibit a God-centered, God-honoring, and God-glorifying characteristics.
Why? because they keep in company With the Holy Spirit.
So for example If you see somebody Who's constantly in a state of strife?
Somebody who's constantly in a state of insubordination or constantly in a state of anger, constantly in a state of self-will, constantly in a state of bitterness, constantly in a state of being critical in critical spirit.
Now these are evidence that that person is not walking and fellowshipping in the Holy Spirit. These are signs that that person may have grieved the Holy Spirit long time ago and have gone to business for themselves. These are the signs. that the Holy Spirit Who's given to us by Jesus? is grieving in a corner of your life somewhere.
The Holy Spirit is given to us by Jesus.
So that we may know Jesus. He reveals Jesus to us. How does he reveal Jesus to us? By telling us, you know, Jesus is this and Jesus is that and your idea of Jesus and my idea of Jesus and Dr. Smell fungus idea of Jesus and this person's idea of Jesus?
No. No. The Holy Spirit of God authored the Bible. It's written over fifteen, sixteen hundred years. people of different Backgrounds and different professions, different periods in history, different locations.
But they're all Giving us the same message. That is why there is no book in the world like it. There is no book in the world like it. You will never find another book like it. It is a unity because the Holy Spirit authored that book.
And when you read that book, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you, is going to open your eyes, gonna reveal Jesus to you from the pages of the book. I'm going to say more about that again. because that's of uttermost importance. People say, oh, these Christians worship a book. God does not Imprisoned in a book, listen, God chose to reveal Himself in that book, and that's good enough for me.
When you know the Holy Spirit you're going to know Jesus. Because his number one task It is to reveal Jesus to you from the pages of the scripture. And that is why the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit said, He is the Spirit of truth. He is the Spirit of holiness. He is the Spirit of life.
He is the Spirit of adoption. He is the Spirit of faith. He is the Spirit of praise. He is the Spirit of wisdom and discernment. He is the Spirit of power and discipline.
He is the Spirit of grace. He is the Spirit of glory. He is the Spirit, the Comforter. And therefore, any sermon, any preacher, any book, That does not glorify the Jesus in the book. Is not the Holy Spirit of God.
Did you get that? It is not of the Holy Spirit of God. Anything that denies that Jesus and Jesus alone is going to make you acceptable to God the Father and therefore forgive your sins and therefore assure you of heaven is not of the Holy Spirit. It's a fake spirit. It's a counterfeit spirit.
Because the Holy Spirit's task is to glorify Jesus. And these other spirits who may claim to be Christians, oh, a lot of people claim to be Christians these days, they may claim to be Christians, but if they glorify man and not God, they are fake, they are imitation, they are counterfeit. Ah, but not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth. And that's how you know.
If it is a Holy Spirit or a fake spirit. Let me tell you this as I conclude. This story is a true story. And it's a story told about a rabbi This rabbi have been a professor of Talmud at a Hebrew seminary in Tel Aviv. for many years.
and he hated Jesus. This rabbi hated Jesus with passion. and so great was his resentment That he verbally abused this Jewish convert for reading the New Testament in Hebrew.
So the young man's reply Yeah. verbal abuse was to give him a gift. the New Testament in the Hebrew language. The rabbi Takes the book. And he decides to read it.
And he stayed up to 3 a.m. reading. The New Testament in Hebrew. Reading about this Nazarene who claimed to be the Messiah. And the Holy Spirit of God guided him in all truth, so he would later confess that I have already found more than 200 references in the New Testament that prove beyond the shadow of doubt that Jesus is truly the Messiah.
That's what the Holy Spirit does. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He helps us to discover the truth as it is only in Jesus. He indwells the believer. But the question, beloved friend, I want to leave you with this.
Are you grieving the Holy Spirit right now? Are you allowing your disobedience and rebellion against the word of God. Grieve the Holy Spirit inside of you. Or are you welcoming him in obedience? Dr.
Michael Usat. With the first episode of a perspective-changing series on Leading the Way, Called Know Your Best Friend. Thank you for listening. The following are reports from Leading the Way's field team. Life in Israel has changed.
Fear feels the air. Pray that the Lord would open hearts to see the Messiah. The people of Iran want freedom. May God grant them mercy. There is no hope in the country, the regime, or the economy.
People in the Middle East are seeking. Islam offers no hope. When I talk about the Middle East, I know you understand and I know you trust me that we are seeing things that we have never dreamt of in the last 1400 years of missions going into that part of the world. I was a fanatic Muslim who used to attack Christianity. After watching your channel, my eyes were opened to see the beauty of Christ.
Though I feared the consequences of leaving Islam, I prayed to accept Christ. And I'm a new person. They're searching for hope in the shadows, behind closed doors, in regimes that silence truth. But God is opening a door. Less than 3% of missionary work takes place among unreached people.
68% of those unreached people live in the Middle East and North Africa. Through the Open Door campaign, that's exactly where leading the way is seeing unprecedented impact. 24-7 gospel broadcasts through our Kingdom Sat channel. Unparalleled access to restricted areas. Effective ministry on the front lines of crisis.
And now, a new door could unlock massive expansion. We have been able to place navigator devices into Muslim-dominated countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and others, where access to the gospel is unprecedented. The door is open, and only God in heaven knows when it will be closed. Will you commit to joining me to boldly walk through these open doors together? Learn more at ltw.org.
Here's our website again. ltw.org. You can also call us to learn more about the Open Door campaign that number 866-866. six two six four three five six. Or write to us at Leading the Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia.
three zero three two five. That's Post Office Box 20100 Atlanta, Georgia. three zero three two five. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Usak.
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