[0:00] verse 21 I'll read three verses 21 2 and 3 have a short prayer and then Adam you come while I'm praying if you will then Jesus then said Jesus to them again peace be unto you as my father hath sent me even so send I you and he's talking of course to his apostles when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins you retain they are retained now father Jesus said receive ye the Holy Ghost now I want you to read another couple of verses with me turn to John 7 back up in John chapter 7 verse 37
[1:04] John 7 37 in the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink he that believeth on me as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified turn to Acts chapter 8 the next book after John is Acts chapter 8 this is the last scripture that we'll read as you know Philip went up to Samaria the city of Samaria had a revival John and Peter came later and in 15 8 15 Peter and John who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost look at verse 16 or 17 then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost all right now you can look up here and I'll hurry the Holy the Holy Spirit is so neglected he is the most sensitive of the three father and son and spirit all have the same characteristics but they're more prominent one or one or more is more prominent than one than the other for instance the father is very sensitive to you can find some places in the Bible where his sensitivity is is evident but that's not the prominent thing about the father I think and I may be wrong I know God is love
[3:09] God is mercy I think the most prominent thing about God the father is his wrath now once he gets hell done and out of the way there won't be any more wrath but the Bible says he's angry with the wicked every day now Jesus is sort of in between him and the spirit Jesus gets angry but hardly ever Jesus is very sensitive but that's not his number one characteristic what is Jesus number one characteristic most outstanding the one that's evident of course it's his love and compassion now you get down to the Holy Spirit and he has all of that except I suppose he gets angry but we're never told one time that he ever got angry he is very loving you don't think about it but the Bible tells us that the spirit loves us just like Jesus loves us and the father loves us his most prominent characteristic is his reticence his retiring nature his sensitivity he's very easily hurt we're never told not to grieve Jesus or grieve the father but we're told not to grieve the spirit now the Holy Spirit is neglected he's quiet he's unassuming he's easily driven away if you're not careful you won't even notice him but that should not keep us from wanting to have a great relationship with him
[4:50] God and Jesus are very offended if you could put maybe use that word when their counterpart the spirit is neglected and we do neglect him now next Sunday night I'm going to preach another message on the Holy Spirit get a little bit more in detail but tonight I want to just make this point this is from an old English teacher that really it really it really got me when I realized what I'm about to tell you many times in the scriptures we're told to receive the Holy Spirit or somebody received the Holy Spirit I looked all those up there are two words in the original language for receive one of them is receive passively and the other is receive actively now watch this passive receiving is when somebody gives you something and you're not the actor you're just the receiver and it's okay with you you know it's fine
[5:55] I got this it's okay I didn't have much emotion about it he wanted me to have it so I took it and I'm the receiver passively not one time does the scripture tell you or me to receive the Holy Spirit passively that other word word means meet him halfway and be eager and I'm so glad to get this gift give it to me I want it give it here it's an active receiving and that is exactly what that word is and what that what that voice is the active voice when using that word it means to welcome him if it's a person it means to welcome him make him feel at home let him know how glad you are to have him for instance Chad let's say your mother had something no you had something okay your mother heard that okay
[7:02] Chad let's say that your mother is going to come to us your mother is going to come over to live with you Dawn comes to you and says Chad my mother is going to come to live with us and she'll be here tomorrow hypotheticals would you receive her actively or passively don't answer that it might it might hurt your marriage alright but you can see what I'm saying sometimes we receive people in a passive way somebody calls you up and says oh you wonderful wonderful lucky person we're going to bring our family of aid in and stay two weeks with you how would you receive them actively or passively you probably wouldn't even receive them you'd probably move wouldn't you but if Jesus were to send you an email and say
[8:10] I'll be arriving in Dubuque on such and such a day and I'd like to spend the night with you stay in your home for a day how would you feel about that see it's a totally different thing isn't it that is the way we're supposed to receive the Holy Spirit we're supposed to make him feel welcome and let him know how glad we are to have him folks we don't do that we don't do it when Jesus looked at his apostles and said receive ye the Holy Ghost he used that word that anybody that spoke Greek knew what it meant they understood hey the Holy Spirit and I think I think at this point they were well versed enough to realize what a great honor that would be to have the Holy Spirit come and they were probably very eager but that's what he wanted them to be he wanted them to look forward to it and say praise the Lord hallelujah
[9:11] Jesus is going to send the Spirit and I'm going to have him in my body he's going to live with me forever and you're going to receive him gladly and joyfully how many of you do that how many of us make the Holy Spirit glad he lives with us I believe it's a shame it's a disgrace how neglected this wonderful person is who lives with us all the time cannot get away from us he's going to be with us to the end he seals us so that the devil can never get our soul he comforts us when we need comfort he strengthens us he warns us when danger is coming he leads us he helps us in prayer and many other things he's always faithful to his job and most of us go all day every day and never give him a thought did you know you ought to talk to him have you learned to talk to him did you know that you ought to go through your day with a conversation going on all the time with the Holy
[10:26] Spirit he'll even talk back if you listen carefully he'll talk back I love those little impressions he gives me the way I know it is he I won't be thinking about what he says it'll come out of the blue I'll just be thinking about something else and all of a sudden wham this thought will hit me and it'll be a leading or it'll be a blessing somehow it'll help me and I'm thinking where did that come from then I know that's the way he speaks to you in a still small voice I want you to get I want you every one of you to get in the habit of fellowshipping with the spirit and making him feel welcome and let him know how glad you are that he lives with you he is very very sensitive he's not going to he's not going to talk to you and he's not going to make you know about his presence he's going to be quiet and unassuming and reticent unless you actively receive him and welcome him and make him he's how many times I wonder has he just quietly stolen away when he didn't feel welcome how many times have you and I missed his the blessing of his ministry to us because we just neglected him and he didn't feel welcome and he just stole away
[12:08] I want you to learn to actively make him know how much you're glad he's with you I wrote down two or three illustrations about the mother-in-law thing let's just say mom marries again maybe dad dies or whatever divorce and mom marries again how do the children receive the stepfather do you receive the holy spirit like that that's not the way to receive him once in a while the children are glad to have him they welcome him and he feels like that he's in the right place and the people want him there that's the way the holy spirit needs to be needs to feel I wrote down here that when the likes came to our church brother like came to me we talked about it they joined he said by the way there's a family that lives near me on my street and they're very new
[13:13] Christians and I've been I've been mentoring them and trying to disciple them and no doubt they will come with us is that okay if I bring a very new Christian family with me man I want to build a church I don't care if he brings a communist or a monkey just kidding but I said yeah sure that's great that was the Gibbons family now they're still here they've been involved in this thing from top to bottom they have grown we've watched them turn into veteran Christians what if they hadn't felt welcome what if we treated them like we treat the Holy Spirit sometimes what if they walk in everybody just turn and walk away they'd go to Brother Light and say I'll tell you what you've chosen your church you didn't choose ours we're going to find another one but obviously we made them feel welcome
[14:21] I know I I was sincere in my welcome and I think all of you were he's not worth much but I still like him how do you receive the Holy Spirit now then I'm going to tell you what to do if you know in your heart preachers talking to me I have not made him feel welcome I have ignored him I don't I don't enjoy the fullness of his ministry with me because I'm sure he sort of is driven away a bit by my attitude sometimes and I want to know what to do alright I'm going to give you two or three things and then I'm finished number one apologize to him just absolutely talk to him like you would talk to me or one of you he's a person and just say man I'm sorry I didn't know I hadn't realized it just went out over my head I have not welcomed you I know you don't sometimes feel like I'm glad you're here
[15:21] I never talk to you I ignore you and I am so very sorry remember he's a very sensitive person he'll also be sensitive to your apology it'll make a great difference number two welcome him daily over and over don't just do it one time and say well I got that done corrected that mistake now listen carefully when you go to the grocery store ask him to go with you talk to him on the way and say don't let me miss a bargain that I need to find let me be sure to see that thing that maybe I haven't thought about that our family's going to need when we go by it point it out to me talk to him expect him to answer you ask him ask him when you go buy something to help you get the right one new ladies going to go buy a dress it's hard to get modest clothes anymore you notice how it is out in the marketplace ladies they're either way down at the top or way up at the bottom or you can see right through them hard to find modest
[16:44] Christian clothes I'll dare you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you find them it'll make a difference and expect him to do you know that sometimes you'll start to go in a store and there'll be something you'll say no this is the wrong place just don't go in there then listen to him ask him where should I go listen to him start actively using him and letting him know that you need him and you want him and you welcome his advice listen to him talk to him when you're going to work in the mornings a wonderful time to talk to the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit I want you to help me today do a good job at work and don't let me get sick or hurt and you know don't let me make the boss mad or get fired just talk to him talk to him about today's work get in the habit of treating him like a partner a friend make him feel welcome number three often express your love to him he's sensitive he wants to be loved mrs.
[18:00] billy sunday said ma sunday outlived him a long time and many of the people that we've known knew her talked to she said billy kept up a constant chatter with the holy spirit and she said i'd have to listen close to when he's talking to me that he'd throw in he'd throw in his conversation with me right in the middle of his conversation with the holy spirit and said sometimes i'd miss it i thought he's still talking to the holy spirit and i didn't answer him he'd say mom what what why don't you answer me i didn't know you were talking wouldn't you love for somebody to have to say about you they couldn't tell whether you were talking to them with the holy spirit isn't that a great thing to say about somebody do those three things number one apologize number two welcome him daily and use him in your daily life call him in and number three tell him how much you love him be a strange thing if i live with my wife all the time and i never did say i love him strange thing if i live with my wife all the time and never heard her say i love him well it's a strange thing he lives with you just as intimately he never hears it sometimes either does he well my last illustration brother rice one time was heard praying the holy spirit and this august brother that thought he knew everything and there are so many people that are ready to give you advice and you never did ask you notice that a good rule of thumb is don't give advice if you not ask you probably won't be received they walked up to brother rice and said i heard you praying to the holy spirit don't you know that the bible says pray to the father in jesus name and dr rice just smiled at him and said sir i'm very acquainted with the whole family and they're not jealous of each other and i get to talk to any one of them i want to thank you sir anyway for your advice they're not jealous of each other i'm going to talk to all of them bow your head