Operations Manager - Isaiah 42:1

Hey guys, thanks for listening to our Calvary Chapel Charlotte podcast. I will walk by faith and not by sight.

You guys can turn to Isaiah 42, if you would. You know, it's wonderful. We are not under the law.

But that's the law. The law for righteousness. We're not under a law that will judge us for being unrighteous or that can make us righteous.

But we are under a law. It's the law of love, the law of the Spirit. I am so glad that the Lord is faithful to keep His word. He works by a law, essentially.

Like, I was just, I knew getting here. If I can just get here and start worshiping, everything will be okay. Because that's how the Lord works. It's just how He works. It's not like, oh man, that was such a letdown.

No, it's the Lord is faithful. That if we put ourselves in the places that He promised He'll be, then He will interact with us in the way that He promised, in the way He guaranteed. So good. The Lord is so good.

Alright, so, last time, we were together looking at the series on the Holy Spirit. We were at our stop number three. We looked at the enabling of the Spirit. Resurrection, ascension, and beyond.

How the Holy Spirit enabled Jesus, the disciples, the church. We looked at how the difference between after resurrection, but before ascension, and then after ascension.

The different ways that the Holy Spirit interacts with us and enables. How He enabled characters in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant, but it was not a permanent enabling. But He operates in His role as the paraclete, as the like guide, the like comforter, the one who's like Jesus, and Jesus' role with His apostles is the Holy Spirit in His role for us.

He operates in that role to do what? To enable. He enables. He sent as the gift of the Father to enable the bride of the Son. This is what He's here for. We saw in Luke 24, 49, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but wait, tarry you in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high.

We looked at that word endued. It means to clothe, to enrobe, to enwrap. And so Jesus said, Yes, I've breathed on you, you've received the Spirit. Whosoever sins you remit, they're remitted.

Whosoever sins you retain, they're retained. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you.

And lo, I'm with you always to the end of this age. But wait until you're clothed and robed and enwrapped by the Spirit. And so then last time we looked at enabling, and now we'll move our bus, and we will be looking at stop number four, the operating of the Holy Spirit.

How does the Holy Spirit operate? Okay, so He's here to enable. But then once He's enabled, how does He operate? How does He operate in our lives? How does He operate in the ministry of Jesus? And how does He operate in the ministry of the apostles, specifically in the book of Acts?

Now His purpose and His plan and His promise is to do what? To enable the bride, the body, and the church. That's what we looked at last time. And He does that so that we might operate effectively during this season of the Spirit.

And the disciples, they said, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? And He said, No, it's not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father has put in His own power. So there are times and seasons that are under the Father's power and control.

One of them, the restored kingdom for Israel. He says, But you shall be, what we just read, endued with power. Actually, we didn't just read that. But you shall be endued with power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

It's enough. It's enough for you to have this enabling for this season of the Spirit. And that's what the church age is. The season of the Spirit. Not just the season of being indwelt by the Spirit.

That's for anyone under the new covenant. But the season of the Spirit operating in our lives for the bride and for the body to be a witness. To be in this world as Jesus was.

And that's what we're going to look at tonight. We're going to look at the Holy Spirit as our operations manager. So, what is an operations manager? Well, an operations manager, this is just a diagram that is from a corporate production saying what an operations manager is.

And so, if you go through those, think of the Holy Spirit. He does these things so well. I don't know if you can read that. But number one says, an operations manager is responsible for planning and organizing production schedules.

Man, the Holy Spirit does that so well. He's the one who knows the timetables of our lives. He organizes our production schedules. He knows when we'll have seasons of fruitfulness. Ensuring that all products and services meet high quality standards.

Man, the Holy Spirit's really good at that. Coordinating and supervising the work of employees. That's why he does that so well. He's the one who coordinates and supervises us. He's the one who unites the body for the work of the ministry.

Number four, monitoring the use of resources, materials, equipment, et cetera. He distributes the gifts as he will. He monitors the resources. It's up to him to give to every man severally as he will and how they're to be used.

Solving problems that arise during production. There's a lot of problems that arise during production. Lord, produce fruit in my life. Oh, so many problems to this production.

What's going on, Lord? He solves those problems. Keeping track of KPIs, key performance indicators, and making improvements where necessary. He's the one who keeps track of the KPIs.

He knows those performance indicators. He knows the key things he's looking for us in our lives and in the body. He's like, that's what I'm getting towards. Let's move towards that. So he's a great operations manager.

He fits this role so well. If you're not already there, turn to Isaiah 42, verse one. This is where we're gonna start as we go through this, looking at the Holy Spirit as the operations manager in our lives, but not only ours, but also in Jesus'.

Isaiah 42, one says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect and whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.

He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. In Jesus we know in Luke 4, 14, it says he returned in the power of the spirit and then went into Galilee as he comes out of the wilderness.

This is speaking of Jesus, the servant that he upholds, his elect and whom his soul delights. The one who will bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, he's put his spirit upon him. The Holy Spirit is upon this servant, this anointed servant of God.

In verse 14 of Luke chapter four, where it says Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee. Power means power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature.

This idea here of power. He returned in the power of the spirit. He returned in the power, the virtue that resided in the Holy Spirit according to its nature. The Holy Spirit's nature is inherently, it resides in him, the ability to enable.

It inherently is there. Again, we went back to Genesis recently and looked at what was the Holy Spirit doing? As we saw the Trinity there, God said, the Father said, the word, let there be light.

And it said the spirit was hovering over the water. The enabler. Even back then, he's the enabler. It's in his nature. It's inherently part of who he is to enable. He enables the work of God in the servant of God, this specific servant, the anointed servant.

The servant of God who's chosen, who's upheld, and who's delighted in by God. This is what the Holy Spirit does. He says, I will enable the work in the servant of God who's been chosen, who's upheld by God, who's delighted in by God.

Now in the Old Testament, that enabling, there were servants of God that God had chosen, that God upheld and whom he delighted in, but that enabling was always what? Temporary. It was always temporary.

There was no servant of God who could measure up to this Isaiah 42.1. None of them. Moses, Elijah, definitely not Samson. We looked at him. Right?

None of them could measure up to Isaiah 42.1. None of them could be this one. Except for Jesus. In John 3.34, For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the spirit by measure unto him.

The Holy Spirit's ability to operate, to be the operating manager, to work in Jesus' life, was not hindered by a fallen nature or by sin. And Jesus is the only one who could fit this Isaiah 42.1.

Did the Holy Spirit enable? Did he uphold? Did he choose vessels and servants of God throughout the Old Testament? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. But it was temporary. None of them could fit this definition.

Only Jesus could. So he comes and he anoints him. He enables him. For what purpose? Right? Well, we saw that in John 14, didn't we? In John 14, when Philip says, Lord, show us the Father, and it'll be enough.

Enough. And Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long with you, Philip? You've not known me. He that has seen me has seen the Father. And why do you say, Show us the Father? Father, believe you not that I'm in the Father, and the Father in me?

And he says this, The words that I speak unto you, I don't speak of myself. And then he says, But the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. So he's got the words and the works.

He says, The words I speak, I'm not speaking of myself. But the Father that's dwelling in me, he does the works. The words and the works of the Father. Right? But who's the one who's operating in Jesus' life to enable?

Well, it's the Spirit that he's put upon him. I hope we can all say, Man, these are not my words. Right? They're my words in that they have my flavor. Right? If you put a message on by some guy you don't know and put a message on by me, you're like, Oh yeah, I know that's Jared.

You know, he stumbles over his words, and he talks too fast. That's him. Right? But hopefully the meat of it and the essence of it is like, Oh, well, he's talking about the Scripture.

He's talking about the truth of God. Those are the words of the Father. The works that we do. We want them to be the works of the Father. But who's the one who's enabling? Who's the one operating in our lives to enable? It's the Holy Spirit.

Jesus himself declared that it was the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life, working in this particular way by which he operated in his ministry. Jesus himself says, Hey, the Holy Spirit's working in my life in a particular way so that I can operate in the ministry.

I'm turned to Luke chapter 4. We're going to be in a few different Scriptures. If you grab one of the little sheets from the back, you'll see all the places we're kind of going to anchor ourselves as we go through this. Luke 4.

This is when Jesus is in the synagogue, his pronouncement of who he is and his purpose. So verse 18 and 19 is what we're going to look at. He said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

He's declaring himself to be the anointed servant of Isaiah 42.1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. You know, as I'm reading that, I was just thinking of what we were looking at Sunday.

And we read that and we think, Oh, Lord, we want to see you do that. I want to see you heal the brokenhearted, deliver the captives, recover of sight to the blind, those that are bruised. But then God brings those people and we're like, Oh, dear.

The woman caught in adultery. Oh, that's the one, Lord. Okay. Oh, a leper. Oh, dear. So unclean. Oh. We're going to see when we continue on in John, we're going to get to, John, what are we in?

Seven or eight? I've been reading ahead. We're in seven. Yeah, John seven. No, we're in eight. John eight. We get to John nine. We're going to see the man born blind and they're going to say, Lord, who did sin? This man or his parents.

And here's someone who's been so stigmatized and we say, well, God's come to bring sight to this blind. Oh, him, Lord? Well, he sinned or his parents did. But these are the people Jesus came for.

Now, was Jesus the son of God during his entire 30-ish years of life on this earth? Yes, 100%. He was the son of God his entire 30 or so years upon this earth as a man.

However, it was only after being particularly anointed and enabled by the spirit that he began to operate in his role of Isaiah 42.1.

You don't hear anything about him except we get that one picture when he goes up to Jerusalem as a 12-year-old. What's he doing the rest of his life? He's fully the son of God, isn't he? He is.

But he's not yet been anointed by the spirit to operate in this specific capacity. He's not been enabled for this operation. He says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me.

What does it mean that the spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus? All right, this is our api, our Greek word for api, E-P-I. It's a Greek-derived prefix. It means upon, over, outer, or beside.

It's a prefix. We use it all the time, right? Here's some examples. It means above or over, as in epidermis, your skin. The above dermis, the dermis, the skin that's on top.

It's above or over, after or in addition to, as in an epilogue in a book, near or at, as in the epicenter of an earthquake, right?

So you think about that in the describing the function of how the Holy Spirit operated in Jesus' ministry. This api describes that. He was over the ministry of Jesus, wasn't he?

Jesus waited to operate in his ministry until the Holy Spirit was over it. He was in addition to the ministry of Jesus, wasn't he?

He came alongside of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God on this earth. And the Holy Spirit, he waited for the Holy Spirit to come alongside. It's like his partner in crime. Well, no, not crime. That doesn't work well. Not his partner.

His partner in righteousness. That's what he was. He waited for him. Near or at, as in the epicenter, the center of what Jesus was doing. Here is the Holy Spirit.

So we could say this. We could say that the Holy Spirit was over the ministry of Jesus. He was in addition to Jesus for the purpose of directing, enabling, and functioning at the center of Jesus' work during his season of ministry upon this earth.

I think from the scripture, we can validly say that. If you look here in Luke chapter four, what we just read, verses 18 and 19, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him to do what?

To enable him to operate in what way? Preaching, healing, deliverance, restoring, freeing, and then fulfillment.

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The Holy Spirit was in Jesus' life. He's operating. He waited for him to come and be an addition, to be over this ministry, to be at the center of it, for preaching, healing, deliverance, restoring, freeing, and fulfillment.

Why? Because he's gonna turn around and say, hey guys, as I was in this world, so you are in this world. I'm not like withholding anything from you. It's not like, well, good luck guys.

Wouldn't wanna be you. No, what did he do? He came to be us so that we could then be, in a sense, loosely, him. So Jesus was what?

Jesus was God. We know that scripture tells us in Mark 10, 18, when Jesus is speaking to the rich young ruler, he said, there's none good, but one that is God.

So as God, Jesus was good. However, Acts 10, 38 tells us that Jesus did good because God the Spirit was enabling him, was enabling him to operate in this capacity as the anointed servant.

So he was good, but he did good through the enabling of God the Spirit. Acts 10, 38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

Man, there you see the Trinity again right there. How God anointed Jesus. The Father anointed the Son, and there's the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit just hovering over the deep, like, hmm, what's next?

What's next? What's next? Just waiting for orders. What's next? Ooh, we're gonna create water? Let's do it. Oh, what do you wanna do now? The Father speaks. Father says, oh, here's my heart. The Son speaks the words of the Father, does the works of the Father through the enabling of the Spirit.

Boom, there it is. What are we doing today? It's the same thing. The same thing. It's the heart of the Father through the words of the Son, through the enabling and operating of the Spirit. Turn to Matthew chapter 12, if you would.

We're gonna be here for about 10 verses. There's a picture of how the Holy Spirit operated in Jesus's ministry. Verse 22.

So we're gonna start in Matthew 12. It is a healing. We're gonna see the response that happens and then how Jesus responds to those who respond to him. It's a very well-known passage.

It speaks of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Verse 22 of Mark 12 says, Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him.

In so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. So many times, the spiritual and the physical are combined. It says Jesus healed him. The healing was both spiritual and physical in this case.

Right? The Spirit of the Lord is upon him to do what? Preach deliverance to the captives. Heal them. And all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? You know, spoken of in Isaiah 42, 1?

The anointed servant of God. Well, do you believe me, Philip? Do you believe me I'm the anointed servant of God? Do you believe me I'm the son of David? Believe me. At least for the words and the works that I say.

And when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. So don't be fooled by him. He's using the power of the devil to cast out the devils.

Now what's happening here? Well, we're going to jump down real quick and look at verse 32 to describe this heart that the Pharisees have. Matthew 12, 32. And whosoever speaks a word against the son of man, Jesus says, It shall be forgiven him.

But whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. Neither in this world, neither in the world to come. And so the Pharisees here are speaking against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus doesn't say, hey, you're speaking against me. He says, specifically, you are speaking against the operations manager, the one who's enabling, the one who's giving the witness. It's the Holy Spirit you're speaking against here.

Now the Pharisees then, what does that mean? They're responding to the witness of the Spirit regarding the truth of who Jesus was and what he said. So Jesus' words and works are being witnessed to by the Spirit, and the Pharisees are rejecting it.

Verse 25 and 26, or I'm sorry, 26 and 27. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.

And every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. Right? That's what all our kids do. It's like, hey, can I do this, Mom? Well, sure you can. And they find out, well, Dad had said no.

They're trying to divide and conquer. And if Satan casts out Satan, he's divided against himself. Simple logic. How shall then his kingdom stand?

And if Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. You see, the enemy always seeks to sow confusion by his lies.

He always does. If these Pharisees could not actually prove anything against Jesus, they would at least attempt to discredit him. Okay, you know what? He did heal the guy. He did cast out the demon.

We can't actually disprove anything he did, but we can try to discredit him. We can try to say, you know, the real issue here is that this is not a move of God. This is actually a work of the devil.

You know, that church there. You don't want to go there. You know, it just seems like the Spirit's moving. No, no, no, no. You want to stay with us. But what happens here?

What happens every time the enemy seeks to discredit Jesus? He ends up discrediting himself, right? Here we see, they try to discredit Jesus, and Jesus turns around and just absolutely discredits them and says, now, wait a minute.

If I'm casting out devils by Beelzebub, then who are your children casting them out by? There's a spiritual principle that's at work here. And it is this, that neither the spiritual kingdom of God nor the spiritual kingdom of Satan can operate contrary to their nature.

The spiritual kingdom of God and the spiritual kingdom of Satan, they cannot operate contrary to their nature. Satan will never, ever operate for God's kingdom.

And God will never operate on behalf of Satan's kingdom. Now, is God able to use the kingdom of darkness to work all things together for good? Absolutely. But the work of light will never result in greater darkness.

Never. There will never be a move of God that leads people into this kingdom of Satan, that will promote darkness. It doesn't work that way, right? And we cannot use Satan's kingdom. We cannot use darkness and say, well, hopefully light will come out of this.

God is able to work all things together for good. But in no way can we go out with our dark lights and shine them around and think, well, maybe some good can come from this, right?

No. Satan's kingdom will never operate contrary to its nature, and neither will God's kingdom. He says, Satan is not divided against himself, and neither am I. 1 John 1.5, None.

This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. None. Not one little bit. We were talking about this, the men's discipleship with 1 John.

And then this Sunday, as Jesus is going to say, I am the light of the world. You know, it's so much just, again, how the Holy Spirit, as the operations manager, is determining what we cover and what we go over.

So, in God, there is no darkness at all. None. There's no corner to hide in. There's no place you're going to be in the shade. But yet, we're told to walk in the light.

How could we be in darkness? And what we said was, to be in darkness while you're in the light, what do you have to do? You just got to close your eyes. All of a sudden, you're in the light, but you're in darkness.

You can't walk as he walked in the light, if your eyes are closed. So, Jesus says in verse 28, If I cast out devils, but, sorry, but, if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come unto you.

Or else, how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods? Except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. So, since Satan's kingdom cannot exist if it works against itself, then only a kingdom which is stronger than and opposed to Satan's kingdom would ever seek to overcome it.

Right? None of Satan's kingdom will seek to overcome Satan's kingdom. It doesn't work that way. So, you have to have a kingdom then that is stronger than and opposed to Satan's kingdom if it's going to overcome it.

It has to be. And what are all of this world's kingdoms? All of this world's kingdoms align with who? Satan. But the enemy. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.

So, Jesus is essentially saying it is only a kingdom from outside of this world that would oppose Satan's kingdom. So, that's why he can say, Hey, if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God has come unto you.

A kingdom from outside this world's kingdom is now here because it's the only one that would oppose Satan's kingdom, and it's also the only one that can overcome it. Jesus says in John 10, 36, speaking to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now, now, he says, at that time, is my kingdom not from hence.

Jesus' kingdom does not originate here, does not need to then be in, does not need to work together with the kingdoms of this world.

It's going to be in opposition to it. It is the stronger man, the one who comes in, who binds the house of Satan, the strong man in Satan's house, and then spoils his goods. And what are the goods that have been spoiled from Satan's kingdom, from Satan's house?

It's us. Jesus is the one who can come in, bind the strong man, and just start pillaging his house, freeing all of those slaves. Verse 30, He that's not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.

So under such conditions as described above, neutrality is not an option. You cannot be in both dark and light at the same time. You cannot be in both the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of heaven at the same time.

So you're either going to scatter with me or against me. Colossians 1.13 says, Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

That is what Jesus did when he bound that strong man. And that's what he's saying to these guys. Hey, you're attributing God's works to Satan's kingdom.

Wherefore I say unto you in verse 31, What is Jesus saying?

Even though Jesus is the one healing and speaking and doing the work, He's attributing the operations of his ministry to the Holy Spirit. He's saying this is the Holy Spirit's doing. The Pharisees were attributing the work of Jesus's ministry to who?

Satanic spirit. The works that Jesus did were as a result of the enabling and operating of the Holy Spirit in his life. What was his entire purpose for operating in Jesus's ministry?

What is the entire purpose of the Holy Spirit operating in Jesus's ministry? To bear witness to what? That Jesus is the Savior. He is the light of the world. He is the anointed servant.

He's the one who brings deliverance. His main ministry today, then, and forever, the Holy Spirit, is to testify of Jesus. He's always pointing to Jesus.

So then John 15, when the comforters come, whom the Father will send unto you, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me. So, when the testimony of Jesus is rejected, one is truly blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

He's essentially called him a liar. In respect to his testimony about Jesus. You say, well, can we commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Yes. If you continue to reject Jesus into eternity, then there's no way to undo those eternal results.

You can't. The rejecting of the witness of the Holy Spirit regarding Jesus is the only way to enter into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of God. And the Pharisees said, we reject that, and we're attributing the work of the Spirit to the work of the devil.

And Jesus says, hey, you're not rejecting. You're rejecting. It's not only me you're rejecting. I'm not going to judge you. I didn't come to judge. You're rejecting the witness of the Spirit. There's no one doing that. There's no sin that can be forgiven.

That's the one sin. I'm sorry, not no sin. That is the sin that can't be forgiven. There'll be nobody in hell who has not blasphemed the Holy Spirit. There'll be nobody in heaven who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit.

So here we see the Holy Spirit is the one operating in Jesus's ministry. He's the one doing the work. He's the one giving the witness. He's the one performing the miracles and things.

Jesus attributes it all to him when they say, you're doing work by Satan. He didn't say, you know what? I'm the son of God. I'm doing work by the power that my father's given me. He didn't say, I'm doing work and the authority and power of the father.

He said, you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit's work and witness and operation in my life. That's what happens when people reject us. When they reject your witness. They reject the enabling and the operating of the Spirit in your life.

They're not rejecting you. And Jesus said that. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. They're rejecting the witness of the Spirit regarding Jesus. And there's no way to undo those results.

Turn to Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit then operating in the ministry of Jesus. Now the Holy Spirit operating in the apostles' ministry. Jesus was the anointed servant of God.

He was the one who was chosen by God, accepted by God. He was the one who could have the Holy Spirit's enabling and operation in his life, not temporarily, but permanently. In Acts chapter 2, we know this passage.

Really well. Verses 1 through 3. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.

And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire. And it sat upon each of them. A couple things in here to know.

I love God's Word because I like words. I think I like words because I like God's Word. The more you study it, the more you appreciate words. You know, it didn't say there was a rushing mighty wind.

It was the sound of it. And what were they all doing? And they were all just standing around having dinner. They were all fellowship. And they were all, it says what? Where they were sitting. I wonder what they were doing all in that upper room together sitting.

Sleeping? Probably not. They were probably praying. They were probably sitting and praying. Waiting on the Lord. Seeking the Lord. And here comes the Holy Spirit. And he sat upon a pea, each of them.

They each had an epiphany. An epi. The disciples were anointed for what purpose? To witness forth the works and words of the Father just like Jesus.

Each disciple must have their own upon experience with the Holy Spirit. In his role as paraclete. So that each disciple might be enabled to operate for the kingdom of light in the season of the Spirit.

God has given that for each of us. We're each to have that. Verse 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The disciples were enabled by the Spirit. They're filled with the Spirit.

And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. You see, the disciples were under the operating management of the Spirit. They were enabled by the Spirit. And now they're operating under his management.

They didn't just decide, you know what? I'm going to speak in tongues because it's a thing. Now the Holy Spirit did that. He did that in their lives. He filled them. He enabled them. And he began to operate then in their lives.

1 Corinthians chapter 12. Verse 4 says, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

And there are diversities of operations. But is the same God which works all in all. But all these works that one and the self, same Spirit. Dividing to every man severally as he will.

He decides. He's the operations manager. You know what? I think I'm going to give you this. And I'm going to enable you to go and operate in this capacity. So that you can be a witness to the Father's words and works.

In the life of Jesus that he gave for the redemption of the world. Go and do that with that operation. You, I want you to go and do that. Well Lord, I didn't really want to move boxes for Christ.

You know, I wanted to do something else. Being able to do something else, Lord. Could you please? He's like, no, this is what I've given you to do. Go do it. How well does that work at your job, right?

I don't really want to do that. I would like to do something I would like to do. Would you please pay me for something I would rather do? It doesn't really work that way. Then they say what? You're fired.

So what do you see about Jesus' ministry? Well, the Holy Spirit, I'm sorry. We can use then this same wording, our same paragraph that we use for Jesus. We can use for the church. The Holy Spirit is over, a P, the ministry of the early church.

He was an addition to the church for the purpose of directing, enabling, and functioning at the center of the church's work during the season of the ministry for which the church is upon the earth.

I don't think of the works. During the season of the church is upon the earth. It's not weird. It's not something we don't want to take part of.

It's something when you understand it, you're like, give me that. Yes. I want to. God, you have saved me. You have given me a new heart. I would love to operate in this world for you if I'm enabled by you.

If I've got to do it without your enabling, I'm not going to be able to do it. He's like, don't worry. I got this. So Jesus' season of ministry was for a fixed time, wasn't it? So was the church's.

Jesus' season of ministry was for a fixed purpose. So was the church's. Jesus' season of ministry required a specific anointing. So does the church's. Jesus' season of ministry operated under the management of the Holy Spirit.

So does the church. The Spirit operates in the church. One of the things he does is he gives direction. He tells us what to do and where to go.

Here's some quick examples. We have Philip, Peter, and Paul. The Lord did that alliteration. He named them. He chose guys with that. Or Philip, when he's going down to the Ethiopian eunuch, the Spirit said unto him, go near.

And then afterwards, the Spirit catches him away. The Holy Spirit's in the church operating by giving direction. Peter, when he thought on the vision of the sheep being let down from heaven, what is this?

The Spirit said unto him, go with them. Acts 11, 12. The Spirit bade him go with them, nothing doubting. We see the Spirit said, and the Spirit directs.

With Paul, as they're ministering there and praying in Antioch together. They ministered to the Lord and fasted, and the Holy Spirit then said, separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work of the ministry.

So then they being sent forth by the Holy Spirit. What does this do for us in the church? What does this do? It's always a good thing when you have someone else you can pass.

Pass the responsibility too, right? Not as an abdicating responsibility, but like, why are you doing it this way? Because the Holy Spirit said. Because the Holy Spirit directed. Well, how do you know?

Well, because you see, he's enabled me during this season of the Spirit by filling me and by operating my life. And he's doing it according to the Word. And when I'm in the Word, and when I'm allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me through the Word, it matches up with the things that are happening in my life and the ideas and nudgings he gives me in the inner man in my mind and heart.

They all are matching up, and this is the direction he's going. There are many times that I know the Holy Spirit is like, hmm, that was the Lord, right? But I can't quantify that for you.

I can't be like, well, this is how. He said it in this way. I heard, I felt. But I know. I know it's him. The Spirit operates in the church also by enabling a bold witness.

In Acts 4.8, it says, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them. Man, Peter didn't have that on his own. Peter was the least bold and the biggest boaster of all of the apostles.

And then who's the one that the Holy Spirit makes sure to get on the pages of Scripture to tell us is the one speaking. Peter, something happened to this man. He's filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4.31, after they prayed in the upper room, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness. The Holy Spirit operates in the church to enable.

That's part of his operation. Acts 5.32 says, And we are his witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to them that obey him.

The word given, gift, the word for gift, it's the same word used in Luke 11.13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

When did God ever give the Holy Spirit as a gift to us? Was that how you got saved? Oh God, please give me the gift of your Spirit. No. He said, Lord, I recognize I'm a sinner.

And this Jesus has promised to save me from hell and my sin if I'll put my trust in him. It's after that we realize, God, I just don't feel very enabled in this world. I'm trying to operate in the things the Scripture says, and I can't.

He says, wonderful. I got something for you. All you need to do is receive this. So the Spirit, he operates in the church by faithfully operating as the gift of the Father.

Father, that's the idea you see throughout Acts where they lay hands on people. It's to receive a gift. Acts 8.17, they laid their hands on them when they're in Samaria, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19.6, when Paul's there in Ephesus, he laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them. Upon. I think this is our last spot. Turn to Acts chapter 8.

The Holy Spirit operating in the apostles' ministry. To be over the ministry. To be in addition to the ministry. To enable and direct at the very center of the ministry.

Why? And so that we can minister as witnesses during this season of the Spirit that we are in. It's a privilege. It's a huge privilege to be part of this season.

To be part of this body. Not this body. I think it's a huge privilege. But the body of Christ. It's a huge privilege. Huge privilege. To be able to be those that say, God, you have given us this.

I want to operate in that. How silly to not take advantage of that privilege. How silly to be like, meh, I'm not really comfortable with that. I tell you what. If you're not comfortable with the work of the Spirit in your life, you're not going to be comfortable with much else as a Christian.

Because you're going to have the constant battle between trying to be comfortable in the world and trying to be comfortable with things of the Spirit. You're never going to be comfortable with the things of the flesh in the world again. Once you have a new heart.

But you're never going to be comfortable with the things of the Spirit until you begin to operate in the enabling of the Spirit. Simon himself here, verse 13. Speaking of this man named Simon, who was Simon the sorcerer, he was called.

He was someone who said he was perceived to be a great man. They all thought he was like something because he could do magic tricks. But we're going to see here that the early church valued the operation of the paraclete very highly.

They valued very highly the Holy Spirit working in their lives in this way. And so should we. Verse 13 says that when Peter and them, they come and they preach, it says, I'm sorry, Philip preached.

Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. The scripture tells us he believed and was baptized.

He was born again of the Spirit. He accepted the truth regarding his condition and Jesus' ability to change that condition. Being born again of the Spirit, Simon is now drawn to the Spirit.

But what's the issue? He's still under the mindset and operating principles of his old management system. Right? He's drawn to the things of the Spirit. Now he's been born of the Spirit.

But he's still under that mindset of operating under those old principles and management that he was used to. Verse 14. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they said unto them Peter and John, who when they were calmed down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

Receive as a gift and as promised. For as yet, it tells us, he was fallen upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They're all saved.

They've all been born again. They've all put their faith in him. And the apostles come and say, we want you to receive something. Now that you have become sons of God, receive the inheritance of the sons of God.

They had received by faith what James 1.21 says is the engrafted word, which is able to save their souls. And now by faith, the paraclete must be given and received.

You see, the apostles must by faith give what God had promised. They had to by faith accept that, hey, you know what? We believe that God has this extra gift for us. That God has something more for us. That when we lay hands on you and pray, you will receive it.

And the Samaritans, they must by faith believe that there's more. There's more to be received of the Spirit beyond being born again. They had to accept that. They had to believe that. So they laid their hands on them, verse 17, and they received the Holy Spirit.

And when Simon saw through laying on the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. Still working under that old management practices there. Saying, give me also this power that on whoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.

Now up until this point, I'm sure that's how he collected all of his tricks. And all of his new things that he did to wow people. To make them think he's a great man. So he's like, okay, this is valuable to me, and this is where my value system is.

So I would love to have this ability. Here's some money. Peter said unto him, your money perish with you. Because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

You have neither part nor lot in this salvation. Did I say that? No. You have neither part nor lot in this matter. The matter of receiving the gift of the Spirit.

For your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of your wickedness. And pray, God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. You see, Simon's sin was attempting to gain the gift of God through natural means.

And he was valuing it according to his natural understanding. He thought that he could gain it through natural means. And then he valued it in that way. Can the gift of God be purchased? It absolutely can be.

Just not with money. And there's only one person who purchased it. Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, when Jesus, who had purchased that gift for us, ascended on high, seated at the right hand of the Father, and shed forth abroad that gift, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

Can the gift be valued? Of course. We just can't value it with our natural understanding. We're never going to value or grasp it with that. Let me read to you 1 Corinthians 2, verses 13 and 14.

It says, Our natural man and our natural wisdom are at war within us regarding the Holy Spirit operating in our lives as the paraclete.

My natural man and my natural wisdom says, That is foolish, bro. What are you thinking? That is not what you, that's not you. You can't do that.

What makes you think you can pastor a church? What makes you think you can teach God's word and not lead people into all kinds of weird things? What makes you think you're a bull? What makes you think you have anything?

Our natural man and natural wisdom, they're at war within us regarding the Holy Spirit operating in our lives as a paraclete. We all got a little bit of assignment in us somewhere that says, Hey, maybe we could do this in a way that's a little more comfortable.

You see, to accept that there is a spiritual experience to be had beyond being born again is to move even further beyond the realm of our natural understanding and comfortability.

Listen, you've asked me to put my faith in Jesus. You've asked me already to believe that by trusting in Jesus, by giving a mental assent, that God will do a spiritual work in me that will last for eternity, that will make me part of Christ, will forgive me of my sins.

That's out there enough. And I still got to go to work and talk to people. And now you're asking me to move even further beyond the realm of natural understanding, comfortability, and into this relationship with the Holy Spirit in this way.

Yes, yes. As Paul would say to the Galatians, Oh, foolish Galatians, who's bewitched you? Who's twisted and tricked you that you should not obey the truth?

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. You have seen him with your spiritual eyes. You've seen the truth of his crucifixion.

This only would I learn of you. Received you the spirit by the works of the law? Or by the hearing of faith? Something natural and comfortable? Was that what did it? No. I dare say being born again is not natural or comfortable.

So when we get to a place where we are willing to receive something that is not according to our nature and comfort, Jesus, I need this. Are you foolish? So foolish. Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?

How will we operate in the season of the spirit? Well, in the same way as Isaiah 42, 1. In the same way as the anointed servant of God. Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delights.

And Jesus upholds us. He is the one who went to the cross to uphold us. His soul delights in us not because of anything we can do or bring to the table. And he has put his spirit upon us that we can go and bring forth judgment.

God's judgment to the Gentiles is what? Your sins are forgiven. The gift of God will not be brought down to the natural understanding or to our natural value system.

We must accept that the spiritual work of God is to be done only by the spiritual operation of God. The spiritual work of God in my life must be done by his spiritual operation.

There's no other way to do this. The spirit operates in the church by directing us where? Into the light. Into a place that seems like everything's going to be exposed.

Into a place that seems so uncomfortable. Into the things of the spirit. As Jesus said in John 17, we'll end with this. I am no more in the world. But now these are in the world.

And I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. They may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name.

You gave them to me and I kept them. And none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. He's saying, Father, keep them in the same way I did. How does the Father keep us?

It's the Holy Spirit. It's through the Spirit. Jesus says, when I was here, it was my job to keep them. Those you gave me, I didn't lose any. You know what we can be assured of? The Holy Spirit's not going to lose any of us.

He will keep us. And beyond that, he enables us to operate in a way that we couldn't apart from him. So as we close, if y'all are good for about five minutes or so of just letting him operate.

Lord, we thank you that you are the great operator in so many ways. That definition fits. You operate in our lives to direct us, to enable us. You operate in our lives, to be at the center of our work for you, to be upon and over the work we do for you, to be alongside us as our partner, to be in us as our assurance and our salvation.

And you also operate on our hearts, Lord. You operate by removing those things that are contrary to the Spirit, by working in our lives to move us away from the things that are naturally comfortable, so we can be comfortable with the things of the Spirit.

And Holy Spirit, we ask you by faith, just as you did in the book of Acts, when they all had prayed and said, and then the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Lord, as we wait on you now, just sitting, waiting and praying, would you fill us? Would you enable us? Would you come upon us, Lord?

Would you be over our lives, in our lives, and on our lives? Amen.