0:07 leaders from around the globe, I bring you greetings from Malaysia. My wife, Debbie, and I are the senior pastors of the Destiny Sea Tree Churches, and we are also the regional directors for Sea Tree's mainland Southeast Asia region. You know, I've been given this privilege today to talk to you about growing and moving with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you have been in the C3 movement for any period of time, you would have noticed that one of our core values is the fact that we are a Spirit-led movement. That truth is encapsulated in the values of the movement. We are Christ-centered, Spirit-powered and connect-driven Spirit-powered Now, that isn't just a cool label to have on the movement It is the undergirding reality of how this movement is shaped and run Our leaders,
0:55 Pastor Phil and Chris have rightly placed a high value on the leading and ministry of the Holy Spirit for the movement And that is how it's meant to be Living by and flowing with the leading of the Holy Spirit wasn't just direction for a select few special Christian leaders It was in fact expected to be the default way of life for every follower of Jesus In fact, the scripture says in Romans 8 verse 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God And this scripture seems to imply that the defining factor of you being a child of God Is the fact that you are led by the Spirit of God So a Spirit-led life, in a sense, is a non-negotiable for a child of God. You and I are meant to live by the leading guidance and in relationship
1:45 with the Holy Spirit. And this is true for every believer, and even more so for those of you who have been entrusted to lead others in any leadership capacity. The Holy Spirit, in a sense, is our unfair advantage as Christians and leaders when compared to those who are outside of Christ We have God on the inside of us which means we have the opportunity for 24-7 communion with Him We have access to supernatural insight and wisdom and direction, strength for our lives The Word of God to Zerubbabel is now a reality for all of us to walk in confidently Not by might or by power but by my spirit, says the Lord And that is why you're going to accomplish great things That is why you're
2:32 going to overcome obstacles and setbacks That is why you can know what to do in difficult situations How to rightly respond in different circumstances That is why you're going to succeed as a believer and as a leader You have got God on this personal journey with you by His Holy Spirit You are His dwelling place, His temple I've heard people say many times, how wonderful it would be to have been around when Jesus walked the earth. Life would have been so different. My faith walk would have been so different. How awesome it would have been to be in the position of the disciples to actually meet and be with Jesus in the flesh. Truth be said, that would have been pretty awesome. I can imagine what
3:20 that would have done to my faith life, my walk with God. In fact, I wouldn't even need faith for my walk with God. I was literally walking with God. I wouldn't need faith to believe that He works miracles. I would have seen Him, witnessed Him doing it in the flesh. Clarence, you worried about the bills? Go to that grocer, buy that fish, and in that fish, you're going to find a prepaid credit card with your name on it. Oh, Clarence, oh, the cafe is running out of coffee. Bring those little leftover beans to me and watch me turn them into a Starbucks. Of course, I say that in jest. You know, we would think that the disciples had it good. It was the good life, or so it would seem. But Jesus thought different. When He informed His disciples about His imminent departure, they were
4:06 obviously upset at the possibility of no longer having Him around with them. But Jesus said to them in John 16, verse 7, He said this, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you." So what he was saying was, yes, you guys are sad and you're going to miss me. But me going away is going to be better for you. Because when I go, I'm going to be in that position to send you the Helper, the Holy Spirit. And that is going to be a much better arrangement for you. This arrangement is going to be more advantageous for you. So basically what he was saying is the dynamic that the disciples were going to
4:53 have with the Holy Spirit that which you and I have today, the indwelling Spirit of Jesus who dwells with us and is in us is much better than what they had back then when they were walking with the physical Jesus Jesus in his physical form was restricted God in the flesh could only operate within the limitations of the human body He could only be in one place at one time. He could only exert an external influence upon His disciples. He could teach them, He could guide them, He could reveal to them truth, but He couldn't change their hearts. And that is why the disciples, despite being with Jesus all those years, still didn't get a lot of what He said. They didn't understand. They still retained a lot
5:39 of their broken nature, that bad temper, pride, grief. But you see all of that shift after the baptism of the Holy Spirit They move from having God with them to having God within them And you see the tremendous change in the lives of the disciples after the baptism Their lives, their attitudes, their thinking Everything about them was transformed And that is why He said to them It is to your advantage that I go away Because now through the Holy Spirit Jesus will no longer be limited He will come and live on the inside of you So that we now not just know what we must do We have His power to live the life that God is calling us towards In fact, the Holy
6:27 Spirit is basically Jesus unlimited The Holy Spirit is to our advantage The tragedy is many times we go through our lives, our leadership, our ministries with the Holy Spirit as an afterthought and not the leading drive. We can have an intellectual understanding of the Holy Spirit, but we don't walk in the experiential reality of what it means to be led by Him, to be His temple. And our desire is to see this shift for you Because as the famous evangelist Reinhard Bonnke once said He said it like this The Christian life is not difficult It is impossible And if he was saying that about everyday Christian life How much more
7:14 difficult is everyday Christian leadership? But the point he was getting at The reality that he was trying to convey was this We can't do this by our own strength We can only succeed in this life, we can only walk the path that God has for us if we have help And God knows this and that is why He sends us the helper His Holy Spirit to be with us and in us You know, for the sake of time, I won't go into the basics of the theology behind the Holy Spirit I won't be teaching you about His nature, the baptism, how to receive the Holy Spirit. I'm going to assume that you all already have those foundations in place. If you don't, do speak to your pastors or leaders and they will get you clued in. My focus this session is to share
8:03 with you some of the best practices on how you can grow in your walk and your relationship with the Holy Spirit and how you can be a better minister of the Holy Spirit. Being a Spirit-led leader or minister is the byproduct of us living a Spirit-led life The same Holy Spirit that the disciples had, you have with you Because the same Jesus that filled them, filled you You were not given a junior version of the Holy Spirit A mini-me version of the Holy Spirit So if it's the same Holy Spirit, the same Jesus through whom we put our faith in and receive But our experiences seem to differ We need to ask ourselves, where does this difference lie? If it's not with God, then maybe there's something that we need
8:49 to work on or we can work on. You know, when you read the Old Testament, you will realize the disciples of Jesus never prayed for more of the Holy Spirit. And there's no instruction or direction in the New Testament on how to get more of the Spirit. Yet the Scriptures do contain instruction and direction on how we can live in more surrender to the Holy Spirit that we have. Let me put it this way, your experience with the Holy Spirit is not determined by how special you are It is determined by how surrendered you are So instead of asking how can I get more of the Holy Spirit Maybe we should be asking how can the Holy Spirit have more of me? Instead of thinking what you would do one day by the leading of the Holy Spirit Start developing your walk with Him now,
9:37 today So I'm going to go into the five best practices How can we develop in this area? And the first point, the first practice, practice awareness Know that you have Him with you You are one Spirit with Him You have the Holy Spirit with you now as sure as the disciples had the Holy Spirit with them 1 Corinthians 6, verse 17 says it like this But he who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him 1 Corinthians 6, 19, that famous verse, Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, you and I, we are one spirit with God. We are joined with Him. We are His temple. We need to go through our day and life mindful and aware of His presence
10:26 with us. You know, the Apostle Paul signs off his letter to the church in Corinth like this. In 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14, he says, May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Note that he doesn't say, May the presence of the Holy Spirit be with you. The word he uses, the term he uses is fellowship. You see, fellowship is different from grace and love. When it comes to grace and love, There's nothing we can actually do It is not dependent on us The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as you would know by now is a free gift All we do is receive We don't do anything to earn it It is a gift from God And when it comes to the love of God Listen, you didn't
11:17 Asked God to love you, God decided to love you He decided to pay the price so that He could have you So that He could have this relationship with you The love of the Father In fact, He loved you while you were yet a sinner We did nothing to earn it We receive it, we just receive it We thank God for it It is not dependent on what we've done How good we've been It's dependent entirely on how good God is So that's grace and love But when it comes to fellowship, it's a bit different. Fellowship puts on you a responsibility. Fellowship needs participation from all parties involved. I need to be actively involved in creating that fellowship. Fellowship is defined as
12:03 companionship. He's your constant companion, your friend. Another translation says the communion of the Holy Spirit. Communion is defined as the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level. You know, many times we know He is with us. We understand presence, but we do not engage in fellowship with Him. We go through our entire day, we face life, we face challenges without fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We benefit most from the reality that we are His temple when we turn that temple into a space of fellowship with God. That means that I can, in every
12:49 circumstance, at any point, commune with Him, speak to Him, hear His voice, be His voice. That means even when I'm driving, when I'm having a meal, when I'm out and about, I've got 24-7 access and fellowship with God. Right at this very moment, you can commune with God. You can receive from Him. You can speak to Him. And living with an awareness of the reality has a huge impact on how we face challenges. How I face challenges, how I manage situations, how I minister to people. Even as I speak to people, be it someone needing counsel or just casual conversation, I can at the same time speak to the Holy
13:36 Spirit ask Him for wisdom or guidance or insight. And many times I get thoughts or ideas or impressions or wisdom or a word of God that I know did not originate from my soul. And that was just the key that was necessary to unlock something for that person or to bring a shift that was necessary in that circumstance. Learn to walk in that awareness and that communion with the Holy Spirit. You are His temple. You are the dwelling place of God. How powerful is that truth? Is that reality? When you walk in that awareness, you realize that you do not have to shift your location to fellowship with God. You just have to shift your mind to an awareness that you are His temple, that
14:24 He lives in you, an awareness of His presence with you. You don't have to look for the right atmosphere to encounter God. You carry the right atmosphere within you. And understanding that should influence every circumstance, every challenge you walk into, every interaction that you have. And when you face those things, when you're speaking to someone, be it one-on-one or in a group setting, you have at that point access to the all-knowing, all-powerful, limitless God on the inside of you. And at that point, you can function as a minister of the Holy Spirit You can be a channel of His grace, a channel of His wisdom, authority and power There is nothing that you are facing or going to face that you will not
15:11 be able to navigate successfully if you understand and live from that reality Nothing is impossible to God. And that God is with you on your journey. It's with you when you step into that meeting. It's with you when you're speaking to that person. It's with you when you're facing that challenge. And understanding this should also influence how we pray. When we pray, you are not praying to connect with God. You are praying from connection with God. You don't need to get God's attention. You have His attention. You know, out of my four sons, yes, I have four sons, for those of you who do not know. My number three, his name is Judah. Judah is the loudest. You know, his normal volume when speaking is a couple
15:59 of decibels higher than the average person. He could be right next to me, but speaking in a way that most people would consider shouting. And I would always have to remind him, hey, Judah, why are you speaking so loud? I can hear you very clearly. You're really close to me. We are right next to you. You don't have to shout. You don't have to strain your voice." And then he will reduce his volume. You know, and one of the reasons I think he shouts or he speaks so loudly even when he's so close to us is because he doesn't understand proximity. He's not conscious of how his proximity to us affects his communion with us. And in that same way, understanding our proximity to God is the key to an unstrained prayer life. He is that friend that sticks
16:48 closer than a brother. Note that when you pray, you're not praying to a temple, you are praying in the temple. You are not praying to the dwelling place of God, you are praying in the dwelling place of God. 1 Corinthians 3.16 again, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? That is why Paul tells us to do something that could sound so impractical if you think about it. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16, he says it like this. He says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. He's saying that God's will is for us to pray without ceasing.
17:36 Now that is only possible if you walk with the awareness that God is in you, that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, if I go through my day with that awareness, my every thought can become an interaction with God. I can be in communion with the Holy Spirit when I'm driving, when I'm with my friends, when I'm out shopping, when I'm having breakfast. I can be in constant communion with the Holy Spirit. Then, prayer without ceasing becomes a reality for me, for my life. Now this reality also means that everyone that comes into contact with me is coming into contact with a potential God encounter that could transform their lives Everyone you speak to or minister to can have a God
18:24 encounter through your life When you walk with that awareness, you grow in intimacy You grow in your relationship with Him You become more sensitive to His thoughts and leading and you become a more effective minister of the Holy Spirit. So that is the first point, awareness, walk in greater awareness. The second best practice is this, fill yourself with the Word of God. Another thing that we must develop in our relationship with the Holy Spirit is filling ourselves, the art of filling ourselves with the Word of God. John chapter 14 verse 26, says it like this, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father would send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Note
19:14 that Jesus is saying he will teach you and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. He will bring to your remembrance, the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance the words of Jesus. And the words of Jesus are found in Scripture. And the Scriptures are the primary vocabulary of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will speak to you mainly through the Scriptures. Note it says, He will bring to remembrance, not He would bring to appearance. That means the Scriptures won't magically appear in your head. But the Holy Spirit will cause you to remember or recall Him. For you to remember something simply means that
19:59 you must have encountered that thing before. If you don't encounter the words of Jesus found in Scripture, the Holy Spirit cannot make us remember something we've never encountered before. And this is so important because many people would claim to hear from the Holy Spirit apart from Scripture. That's where the danger lies and that's how cults are born and that's how people would end up with strange and weird theology that is totally out of line with the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word of God. The Word of God is the lens through which we view every revelation, every prophecy, every spirit is how we discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. And that is why we need to feed ourselves with the Word We
20:45 need to have a healthy Word life And when you feed yourself with the Word You give the Holy Spirit literally a greatest say in your life Because that is His primary vocabulary Spend time, daily if possible Get into a Bible reading plan You don't have to read entire chapters Just portions Meditate on what you've read Think about it Let it sink in your spirit Memorize, make it a challenge, a personal challenge to memorize three scriptures a week. You know, I cannot emphasize this enough, the importance of God's Word for your development as a believer and minister of the Holy Spirit. You know, someone once said, everybody wants to hear from God, but nobody wants to read His Word. You know, one of my most powerful moments where I can say without a doubt that it was God
21:35 speaking to me happened when I was in Sydney doing Bible college. I wasn't in a good space at that point. I looked ahead and it was darkness. A fear came upon me about my future and all that was ahead. I didn't know if I was even meant to go back to Malaysia. What was I going to do? What was God going to lead me into it? Everything seemed so bleak before me. And that month in particular, we had been studying the book of Isaiah in college. And I remember Pastor Pat Ancliffe saying to us, that whenever they saw the term, the ends of the earth in scripture, they believe, hey, that's us, that's Australia and New Zealand. That's what it's referring to. We are the islands, the people from the ends of the earth. So there I was in that very dark moment in that
22:25 space. I was alone in my room. All of a sudden, I had an impression to read Isaiah 41. Just a thought, you know, it felt like it was generated from my own mind. But I thought, hey, that's pretty random But I decided to pick up my Bible and read through that chapter As I go through it, there's nothing to it at first But then I come to verse 9 and 10 And as I read them, I don't know how to explain it to put it in words, but those verses had a power on them for me. It sort of jumped out at me as though God Himself was declaring those verses over my life. And Isaiah chapter 41 verse 9 and 10 says this, it says, I have called you
23:11 back from the ends of the earth, saying, you are my servant, for I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Do not be afraid for I am with you. Do not be discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." You know, the moment I read that, I knew, I knew, I knew without a doubt that this was God speaking to me about all that is ahead. The darkness and the hopelessness I was feeling immediately disappeared. And I knew what I had to do. I knew the steps that I had to take. Till today, I go back to that moment and that scripture as a pivotal encounter in my life that spearheaded me in
23:57 the direction that God had prepared for me. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, gave me direction for my life and future, gave me confidence for the future through the written word of God. And that's how it's going to be in many instances for you. And that is why you need to spend time with the Word of God. So walk in that awareness, fill yourself with the Word of God. That brings me to the third best practice, which is practice obedience. When you get a prompting from the Holy Spirit or instruction from the Holy Spirit, obey. You and I have the capacity to live obedient lives. You know, God revealed His will on what He was going to do a long time ago through the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 36, verse 26 to 27, he says, He says, I will give you a new heart and
24:47 I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. He's going to put his spirit on the inside of us to give us the capacity to follow and be obedient to what he says in Philippians 2, verse 12, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. As you cooperate with what God is doing
25:32 within you, saying to you, you will see your relationship with him go to the next level. The disciples surrendered themselves to the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit in all areas. When the Holy Spirit forbade them, they stopped. When the Holy Spirit gave them the green light, they did things. When they chose leaders, they waited to hear from the Holy Spirit. They made their choice to live in obedience to the Holy Spirit. And obedience isn't just for your personal walk. It is also for your ministry to others. Sometimes we would feel a nudge in our spirit or a word in our spirit for someone we are ministering to. Or maybe you would get a thought about a particular person all of a sudden to maybe call or to send them a message to encourage them. When you get these impressions, do not dismiss them
26:18 as figments of your imagination or simply your mind working overtime. Filter them through the Word of God. If it passes that filter, then release that word. Make that call. Share that thought. Pray that prayer. You will be surprised how that would encourage and bless someone or even change someone's world. You know, I can't tell you how many times I've done that and had someone say, Hey, Pastor, that was exactly what I needed to hear. It's an answer to prayer. It is what I've been praying for. And learning to flow with the Holy Spirit requires a willingness for you and I to take risks. You may never know a hundred percent. If you knew 100%, then faith becomes unnecessary. You know, I don't know for sure, but I'm going to step
27:05 out in faith and release that word, pray that prayer. As I feel the Spirit is leading me, I could get it wrong, yes. But I can assure you, the more you step out in faith, the more familiar you will become to the voice of the Holy Spirit. And the wrongs would reduce and the rights would increase. So I give myself that grace. Give yourself that grace. When I release a word to someone, I would say it like this. I feel the Lord wants you to know this. I could be wrong, but I feel the Lord is showing me this about you. Not just says the Lord, because that kind of puts you in a sticky situation if you got it wrong. So the more you obey, the more He will entrust you with. So awareness, spend time with the word. Practice obedience
27:53 and the fourth best practice is this Keep short accounts with God The Holy Spirit is a person and can be grieved Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 to 32 says it like this Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption Let all bitterness, rot, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you So you and I can grieve the Holy Spirit We can behave in ways that hurt the heart of God But the good news is this God has put in place a mechanism which allows us to step into immediate forgiveness and
28:43 restoration in our relationship with Him In 1 John 1 verse 8 He says, If we say that we have no sin We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We all need forgiveness. Forgiveness comes through confession, through repentance, through acknowledging that we didn't just sin, we grieve the person of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit forgives us as we bring our failures to God. If it's a daily struggle, confess daily. Keep short accounts with God No sin that you struggle with is greater than the power of God's forgiveness and ability to make us righteous again When you stay in that
29:32 place of short accounts with God You will also find that that sin starts to loosen its grip on you Keep short accounts Repentance removes anything that can hinder the move of the Holy Spirit in and through your life And finally, the fifth best practice is this learn to pray in tongues. I think one of the most powerful weapons in our arsenal as believers is the ability to pray in tongues. The scripture says that we edify ourselves when we pray in tongues. The scriptures also say that when we pray in tongues, our spirit prays, we speak mysteries to God. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 14 says, For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but my understanding is unfruitful. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, For he who speaks
30:20 in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands him. However, in the Spirit he speaks mysteries. There is something powerful that happens within you in your communion with the Holy Spirit when you make it a practice of allowing your spirit to pray through you. You'll find that it strengthens you, it allows the Holy Spirit to pray through you, the perfect will of God. You know, sometimes we don't know what we ought to pray for as the scripture says, or how we are supposed to pray for something. But the Holy Spirit knows the perfect will of the Father. Praying in tongues is as vocalizing those perfect prayers of the Holy Spirit and that is so powerful. If you make it a practice to dedicate a portion of your personal daily prayer time to praying in tongues,
31:08 you will see your spiritual life move into a realm of deeper intimacy with God and you will walk in greater power and authority. So there it is, the five best practices that will see you go to the next level in your relationship with the Holy Spirit. And from that place, you will become a more effective minister of the Holy Spirit. Walk in greater awareness, fill yourself with the Word, practice obedience, Keep short accounts with God and develop a tongue praying culture for your prayer life. And before I leave, I just want to leave you with this one challenge. Let's put what we've learned today into practice. You all belong to a particular group right now, a discipleship group. I want each of you to spend time praying on your own for every other member in the group. And in your prayer time, ask
31:59 the Holy Spirit to reveal to you or to to use you to speak something or to say something or to release a word into the life of each member, each particular person. Put down that person's name, pray and write it down. And I want you to release that word, share that word. Make sure it's a word of encouragement, something that's going to bless them. Share that word with that person in private. and see what the Holy Spirit does through you. And remember, once you start doing this, you slowly start to familiarize yourself with the voice of the Holy Spirit. Step out in faith, be obedient, and let's see your walk with God go to the next level. God bless you guys. Have a powerful time in your discipleship
32:45 group. And I trust that you all are going to be powerful ministers of the Holy Spirit.
