The Missing Link

0:00 Well, everybody, we are going to have a good time. It's going to go quick. I got to warn you right now because we're going to be talking about the missing link. Yeah, the missing link, not the Darwinian missing link, which is actually a joke. I'd love to talk about that some other time. Just this to say, there is no missing link in the evolutionary theory. There's no chain. But again, that's for some other time. We're gonna be talking about the actual true missing link in the Christian experience, in the believer's life, from private life to public life to worship life. Listen to this, the missing link to what makes a church a New Testament church.

0:46 Hear me out, there are a lot of churches in the world. Not all of them are New Testament churches. In fact, I would venture to say, And this is one reporter's opinion that there are very few New Testament churches. And when you look at the requirements of the New Testament church and the doctrines of the Bible that they are to hold to, that defines a New Testament church. A 501c3 does not make a church an actual church. A pastor, board of elders, membership, non-membership, denomination, non-denomination, none of those things make a church, a convocation of people, a New Testament church.

1:43 What makes a church? a New Testament church is outlined throughout the entire New Testament, obviously. From Matthew 1, verse 1, all the way through to the closing verses of Revelation 22. I believe it's chapter 13. I'm losing my memory right now, but Revelation 22. That's a New Testament church. For example, baptism. There's doctrines regarding baptism. But if you're listening carefully, you should come back to me and say, which baptism? Good question. There's the baptism of water.

2:25 There's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There's the baptism of the Spirit of God into a believer's life. And then there's the baptism that Jesus Christ performs. Oh, yes, he does. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Jesus Christ performs the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon a person's life. John chapter 14, John chapter 16, and others. So, the missing link, you say, well, Jack, what's the missing link in the New Testament church? I'll give you a clue. The missing link was deliberately missing throughout the entire Old Testament era.

3:09 The missing link did not appear, arrive, as you and I know, until the day of Pentecost. The missing link to the believer's life, including Abraham, including David, that missing link was the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer. So in our, you know, graphics of this podcast, the missing link, you know, I don't know what our great, wonderful, gifted guys are going to make this look like, but I'm going to assume they're going to use something like the missing link. The missing link is not missing.

3:51 The missing link is ignored. The missing link is not an it, a thing. The missing link is the person. of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, New Testament, very different than the Old Testament, and the missing link is the Holy Spirit absent from a church gathering. When you go to church, I don't want to get too mystical here, but I mean what I'm about to say, and I know this. Maybe you do too. When the Holy Spirit is moving somewhere, let's say a church, you can almost sense the Holy Spirit's presence when you pull into the parking lot, even though you may have never been there before.

4:43 Something will be different. There'll be a strange sense of discernment in the life of the believer. Hey, wow, what's going, something's up here. And you walk into that church service with your spiritual radar on because you're judging all things based upon Acts 17, 11? and you begin to discern the Spirit of God is in this place. There are people rejoicing in righteousness. You can see there's people that are wholly dedicated to God here. Christ is being exalted. The fruit of the Spirit is being witnessed in the congregants' lives. How we were greeted, how we were ministered to, or even dealt with.

5:28 What if there's some... rogue, crazy person that shows up to disrupt. And the body of Christ even deals with them in a spirit-filled way. That shouldn't surprise you, by the way. Jesus had to deal with that for three and a half years in his earthly ministry. Wherever the work of God is happening, the church is going to experience infiltration of the enemy. And you should be able to feel a difference. You should feel it. I've been to churches before where I've been asked to speak. And I got to tell you, and no, I'm not going to name them. I couldn't wait to get on an airplane to get out of there.

6:09 It's like, man, what a dead place. I don't even know why they invited me. This was bizarre. Dry bones, you know what I'm saying? Crazy, weird, bizarre. So what's the missing link in your life, maybe? Maybe. I hope it's not your life, but in the life of the church, number one, you caught it. You got him. It's the Holy Spirit. And the number one thing is this, everybody. Mark this down. Please check this out. Drum roll, please. He's holy. The Bible says he is the Holy Spirit. Immediately separating the Holy Spirit of God apart from all other spirits, he's And because he is the Holy Spirit, definite article, there is no Holy Spirit like him.

6:59 There is not a Holy Spirit. There are not those Holy Spirits. There are not them Holy Spirits. It is the singular, no other, one and only Holy Spirit. And he is holy. Write this down if you would, please. Isaiah 63, verse 10. Holy Spirit. So he turned... or he himself turned against them as an enemy, and he fought against them. Some of your Bibles read, they made angry the Holy Spirit of God, and he turned upon them and became their enemy.

7:45 The Holy Spirit is holy, and when we rebel against him, when we are disobedient to him, doesn't matter if you're a believer or an unbeliever, He's holy. Whenever he is violated, insulted, when he is abused, when the Holy Spirit is misunderstood because of bad teaching or no teaching, or you and I failing to read our Bible to learn about him, he's grieved. The Bible says in the New Testament, grieve not the Holy Spirit.

8:26 The Bible says, Peter says, Why have you conspired in your hearts to sin against God? For you have not only lied unto men, but you have lied unto God. And you've lied to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. He's holy. And so you don't want to grieve him. You don't want to upset him. Believer, and only the believers know what I'm talking about. Wherever you and I go, have you noticed who's there with you? The Holy Spirit. You can't, listen, you can try to pull a Jonah and run. Can't do it. You can, some of you have been in the pit of despair.

9:08 So filled with depression, so filled with anguish. You didn't want to live anymore. You got in your car and you drove. Yeah. and you didn't care if you died. You deliberately didn't even put on your seatbelt because you had so given up. You had just said, if I die tonight, anything's better. If I die, I'm going to go see Jesus, but I don't want this life. Whatever it might be. Maybe you lost a bunch of money in a bad deal, and you wound up opening the window, and you stood out on the balcony, and you concluded, I'm more worth to my family if I slip off this balcony But you didn't. The Holy Spirit was speaking to you, wasn't he?

9:49 Or maybe you committed some sin somewhere and you immediately felt swallowed by condemnation and you were convinced in your mind that as a believer in committing this sin that you're going to be going straight to hell. And you heard the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit of God. He's holy. He's holy. Isaiah 63.10. He is God, as I made reference a moment ago. Acts chapter 5, verse 3 and 5 goes to what we're saying earlier again, but I also want to throw in Genesis chapter 1, verses 1, 2, and 3.

10:29 Look for the Holy Spirit being God. Okay? But we go to Acts chapter 5, verse 3 and 4. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it still not in your control? Why have you then conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. They lied to God, the Holy Spirit. He is God. The creation construction was overseen by Jesus Christ himself.

11:12 Genesis chapter 1, the Bible tells us, both Old and New Testament, that Christ was the creator. By the word of God, all things were framed and created. But in the Genesis account, you read about the Holy Spirit brooding over the face of the waters. The word brooding is indicative of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit at creation being one, of course, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit of God was the... The action, the activity to the creation overseen by Jesus Christ, the carpenter.

12:00 If you want to look at it that way. Number three, the Holy Spirit is personal. The Holy Spirit has a personality. He's personal. In fact, listen, you have a personality. I have a personality. Can I insert this coming in from the side? Let's get this straight. Your personality is different than anyone else's personality on earth, though there may be some similarities of people that you might know. Does it make them you? You are uniquely you. I don't need to get into the cute stuff about the snowflake. There's only one snowflake, and there will never again a snowflake like that one.

12:43 And the same is true about our eye pattern, eye signature, eye recognition. People might be close, but no one's exactly like you, like me, completely different. Guess what? You have a personality. Did you know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins to change you from... a dead creature into a living creature, to take what was old and make new, to take a broken, destroyed, rejected human and make you a new creation in Christ. Jesus died on the cross for your sins, not your personality.

13:26 You do not need to walk around and ask people to forgive you because you're quiet or you're extrovert or you're somewhere in between. Okay, it's what you do with your personality that makes it sin or not. But your personality, stop trying to be somebody else. Why don't you be and find out who he wants you to be as you've been created in Christ? You have a personality because God the Holy Spirit is, has a personality. Jesus has a personality. The Father has a personality. That's why you and I have a personality.

14:07 Okay? It's amazing to think. Wow. So yeah, he's personal. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit's job in his personal work is to sow, save you, and to seal you, and to keep you, and to make you one with the Father and one with the Son. That's his job. And how does he do that? Your relationship with the Holy Spirit is your preeminent number one door to the Father and to the Son when it comes to the work of God in our lives.

15:01 So, God the Father sent the Son, The Son showed us the keeping of the law, which only He could do, and you cannot, nor can I. He lived a perfect life, satisfied the demands of God's holiness and righteousness by the law, fulfilling that. But then He took upon Himself all of our sins, and He died in the body. And then on the third day, He was resurrected again by the power of the Holy Spirit. And from that moment on, Christ Jesus, after His ascension, went back to heaven, and then on Pentecost, 50 days, on the 50th day, he sent his Holy Spirit.

15:44 And the Holy Spirit has been here ever since, coming up on 2,000 years, right? I mean, yeah, surpassing 2,000 years. The Holy Spirit has been here. Christ is coming back because Christ is not here right now. Not physically, right? So how does God dwell around us, with us, in us? The Holy Spirit. That's how. And, you know, obviously, you guys, I'm giving you a little primer here. You should do a word study. Please do this. a word study. Do a word study on the Holy Spirit. Do a biographical study, as it were, on the person of the Holy Spirit throughout the entire Bible.

16:25 It will bless you beyond your imagination, and it will probably take you a couple of months, and boy will your faith expand. It'll be amazing. So, listen, number four, He's the indweller. Mentioned that a moment ago. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Father indwells us although you can go to John chapter 10 and it alludes to this reality, but nowhere does it say as a doctrine, and then the Father will dwell within you. Somebody might try to make the case in John chapter 10 for this, but just hold on. You can't make the case that Jesus Christ dwells within you, although...

17:09 I'll make my point in a moment. Somebody could say, but wait a minute, what about this and what about that? I'm not arguing with you. There's a way in which a Sunday school child is correct no matter which way their finger goes. Meaning this, watch this. If I'm in the pulpit and I ask the congregation, where's Jesus Christ? Point with your finger. the entire adult congregation will go like this. They'll raise their finger upward. But if that exact same question is asked to all of the children on campus who are in their class at the same time mom and dad is in the adult class, that's how we do things here at this particular church where I'm pastor.

17:56 We don't have a Sunday school program. The whole thing is a Sunday school. The kids are being taught at the exact same time that the adults are being taught, but all of them in different sanctuaries at their level. Doctrine. That said, hey kids, where's Jesus? Most kids don't go like this. Most kids don't point up. Most kids go like this. They point to their heart. Who's right? Who's wrong? All of them are right. All of them are right. You say, wait a minute, how can Jesus be in heaven, enthroned above, and he's going to come back if he's already here?

18:38 Ah, good question, good observation. You see, the parents are right, the adults are right, because Christ is enthroned above with the Father. He is coming back. But it's also true that he dwells within us by the Holy Spirit. That's what the scriptures teach us. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. By the way, read John 14 and read John 15 and John 16. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you're not your own?

19:25 The Holy Spirit dwells within every true believer. Friend, listen, I don't mean to freak you out about this, but this is going to hit you right between the eyes. How do I know? Because I remember when I got hit right between the eyes. I remember being a Christian, but not being confident or comfortable about me going to heaven. I was still feeling a lot of condemnation because if I were God, I wouldn't forgive me, but I misunderstood what the gospel really meant. And God is so patient and kind. He puts up with us so patiently, right? So all that to say this, that when we grow up in Jesus, there comes a point when we actually believe him.

20:12 We stop trying to argue our own case either for or against ourselves, we don't argue. Now, for us at all, we've surrendered to the facts. And the facts are these. Every true child of God, the Holy Spirit dwells within them. And the Holy Spirit dwelling within you bears witness with His Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. Our Spirit, in other words, the redeemed Jack, the new Jack, reaches over and shakes the hand of the Holy Spirit inside of me, so to speak, and my spirit bears witness with his spirit that I am a child of God.

20:57 So says the Bible. Did you get that? It's personal. He's holy. He's God. He indwells. He's amazing. He's awesome. Number five, Forgive my English, but I'm going to put it this way. The convictor. He's the convictor. John chapter 16, verse 8, the Bible says, Jesus is speaking. And when he has come, notice personal pronoun. The Holy Spirit is a he. He is a he. When he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit is convicting people of sin, believers and unbelievers.

21:46 That's powerful. Think about that. I'm hoping to remember a verse in a moment before I wrap this up. And that verse, in case I forget, I'll just tell you that Jesus... told the Pharisees and the scribes that, you know, you guys can be, my Father will forgive you guys for all your stupidness. My Father will forgive you guys for being absolute spiritual bozos. I'll forgive you for that. But if you die like this, in this condition you're in, if you die believing that the Father did not send me, the Father's willing to be lenient on you, and so am I.

22:27 But you got a problem. If you believe that and you die like that, if you die rejecting the witness of the Holy Spirit that the Father sent the Son, there is no forgiveness for you in this world, Jesus said, or in the world to come. Why? Because you've sinned against the Holy Spirit. That is the unpardonable sin. Why? There's some Pentecostals out there watching right now or some Southern Baptists, and they're saying, I thought smoking, I thought if I smoked, I was going to go to hell. No, when you go to hell, that's when you smoke.

23:08 Well, suicide, that's the unpardonable sin. It doesn't say that in the Bible, as terrible as that is. The unpardonable sin is not tithing. You got to tithe. That's not either. The unpardonable sin is not keeping the Sabbath. We should all obey the Sabbath when it comes to our own personal benefit out of the love of God, but our Sabbath as a Christian is every day of the week, friend. Why limit it to one day? But that's not the unpardonable sin. Did you know the unpardonable sin is not listening to the Holy Spirit as to what he says about who Jesus Christ is?

23:50 The unpardonable sin. But that's not what I'm talking about right now. He convicts the world of sin and of judgment. He's the convictor. You and I don't need to point people's sins out because they're failing. You and I are supposed to spend more time in prayer for them than we ever would speaking about them. Why? Because only the Holy Spirit can convict them. You can't. I cannot. That's number five. Number six is the Holy Spirit is judge. He's the judge.

24:31 Isaiah chapter 4, verse 4. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And the spirit in your Bible, Old Testament, Isaiah 4, verse 4, is capitalized for a reason because in the Hebrew language, it is referring to not an it, but aphel. the person of the Holy Spirit of God. He's the judge. Number seven, he's the sanctifier. I love this one. The Holy Spirit sanctifies.

25:13 1 Peter 1, verse 2. Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, that's speaking about us, That's one verse. 1 Peter 1, verse 2 has the Trinity in it right there. And part of the sanctifying work of the believer is, of course, the Father and is, of course, the Son.

25:56 But your relationship to God in this area, almost maybe being conservative here, I'm going to say all areas as a believer, all areas as a believer, is via the Holy Spirit. This is why so many people are anemic in their spiritual life. The missing link, it's not the link, it's the missing person. In your day-to-day life living Christian witness and experience is the Holy Spirit. When you read your Bible, you should get your coffee or your tea or whatever it is, and it's like this.

26:41 Holy Spirit, I'm going to open up the Bible. I think you can pretty much see this. You know where we're going on this, Lord. And I'm going to ask you to unlock to me, Spirit of God, the understanding of the Word of God. Holy Spirit, you're the author of this book. It's all about exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about Jesus Christ leading us to the Father into heaven forever. It's all about daily living. So, Holy Spirit... You've authored this book. You dwell within me. Take this book that I'm about to read, this chapter of the Bible that I'm about to read, and cause it to be my life lived.

27:26 In Jesus' name, amen. So, Lord, here we go. And you start reading. Wow. Watch what happens. Because he's all about sanctifying you. Sanctifying means he has, watch, he has taken you out of the world and he has put you in to the world of God, to the life of God, to the kingdom of his dear love, his son. And he does, Holy Spirit does that. By the way, my cup right here is about three quarters full. But if we were to keep going on this, if we read John chapter 7, for example, you would find out that it's Jesus' will that the Holy Spirit be in you and overflowing out of you.

28:17 And if the Holy Spirit is coming out of your life as a believer, other people around you are going to get wet with the witness of the Holy Spirit of God. Listen to this. He sanctifies you. That's the work of the Spirit. That's His job. Look, in God's amazing work, Jesus Christ was born into this world and for three and a half years showed us the kingdom of God and power and then went back to heaven. And then, as I said, 50 days later, He sends the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God has been doing the work ever since.

29:03 ever since. It's the Spirit of God who is or is not at your church. You say, well, the Spirit of God's everywhere. Yes, of course, He's everywhere. Yes, He's everywhere. Yes, He's at the strip club. Yes, He's at the Colosseum. Yes, He's in Congress. Yes, He's on the beach. Yes, the Spirit of God is everywhere. But that doesn't make everywhere sanctified by the Spirit of God, because He is where there's gross sin taking place. He's there doing the convicting. Remember that. But in the life of the believer, he's sanctifying us. He's taking me out of this belief system or this opinion or this worldview, and he's putting me into his worldview, his opinion, his way of thinking.

29:52 In fact, we sum it up this way. After praying, we say, Lord, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. That's what we mean. That's what we're talking about doing. It's amazing. It's awesome. He is the sanctifier. He is the one that takes you out of the world. Oh, wait, let me put it this way. He takes you and he takes the world out of you. and he puts the Holy Spirit's power, Bible influence in you. And then being sanctified, he puts you back in the world. Isn't that amazing? He doesn't pull you out of the world and tell you, I want you to go to that monastery there in Italy or that monastery there in Morocco or that monastery there in South America.

30:41 I want you to climb up to the top and I want you to take all your clothes off and put on this robe and sandals and put a bowl on your head and shave your hair. and be so sanctified. You're so dedicated to God that you sit up there in this tower and you never talk to another human being again. That's how dedicated you are to God. Listen, that's insane. How are you supposed to lead people to Christ when you're hiding out in a robe somewhere on a mountaintop? Get out of there. Get down to where the sinners are at. because you've been sanctified by the power of God.

31:23 Go save somebody by giving them the gospel and show them the way. It's amazing. You say, I don't like what you're saying. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You really do, because Jesus said it in Matthew 28. Starting at about verse 17, read to the end. Jesus said, okay, because you belong to me, here's the deal. I'll be back later. In the meantime, go to work. Go to all the ends of the earth, preach this gospel, and make converts, and disciple them.

32:04 And the first step after you save them, baptize them. And then, as long as they're alive, disciple them. To do what? To go into all the world and preach the gospel, And those who accept Christ, have them baptize them, disciple them all the rest, all the days of their life. And what do we do after that? Go into all the world. Are you getting my point? Don't hide from the world. Get into it. Because the world's been taken out of you. You can do that. You know, we've been galvanized. We've been galvanized. Okay, I got this. What is this? I have a Columbia shirt on right now.

32:45 outdoor shirt. I came from the outdoors, indoors to do this right now. So supposedly, right, if I believe the sales propaganda, supposedly this thing's like 100% UV protection. Really? I don't know if I believe that or not, but if it's 50%, that's pretty amazing. But I'm galvanized, are you following me with this analogy, against the sun. Right? S-U-N. I'm supposed to be protected with this shirt against harmful UV rays to some degree. I don't know how that's possible, but that's what the tag said. Well, in reality, you and I as believers, when the Holy Spirit indwells us, we're not fragile.

33:29 Oh, now that I'm a Christian, you know. What? Everybody thinks that when they become a Christian, they should go work at a church. Right? I couldn't disagree more. When you become a Christian, you should go work at Google. You should go work at Joe's Tire or Betty's Bar and Grill. That's where Christians go? By the way, it's not easy. You think it's going to be easy working at a church? I'm convinced if you've got a spirit-filled, spirit, God-led Bible-teaching church that's making a difference, I think Satan walks around that church every day checking doorknobs.

34:15 Why? Because he wants to destroy. And Christian, cheer up. We're galvanized. Satan cannot touch us without God's permission. To me, that is thrilling. We're invincible, as the Puritan divine said. We're invincible until Christ calls us home. I believe that. So, yep. We're sanctified. The elect is sanctified. And finally with this, he is the sealer. He's the seal. Seal like a sealer. Like a... I need to read the verse. Seal like a stamp. Seal like... mark.

34:56 This is the seal of approval. This is the Underwriters Laboratory, the UL seal that's on all these devices. UL. You'll see on everything that's electronic or something like that, mechanical. UL. What is that UL? You ever wonder what that is? Underwriters Laboratory. What does that mean? It means that it's got, not only it has its patents, but it's safe to use. It's the underwriter's laboratory that says, for example, it's safe to use as long as you don't try to blow dry your hair in the bathtub. It's safe to use. That kind of stuff. Well, their seal's a big deal. If you don't have their seal, you're probably not going to do well in the marketplace.

35:37 Okay? And you know what I'm talking about because I can take you right now to downtown L.A. And you can get a Gucci purse for 20 bucks. Legit. Legit. It says Gucci. It's got the mark on it. 20 bucks, Gucci. It's normally 2,500 bucks. But for you, my friend, today, only today, for you, my friend, 20 bucks. Why is it 20 bucks? Because it has the markings of, but it's not sealed with. You can be religious, but...

36:18 and have the markings of what? What are you? What are you, a Bapticostal? Are you a Lutheran? Are you a Presbyterian? Oh, I'm a Presbyterian. You think Jesus is a Presbyterian? I'm a Catholic. You think God's a Catholic? Listen, no. Well, Calvary Chapel. You think God's Calvary Chapel, dude? You think God's a Calvary Chapel God? Nope. Those are all created by man. All of them. The church was created by Jesus Christ. He bought it. He owns it.

36:59 It's his. Not only that, when I say he owns it, read your Bible carefully. He bought the church out of slavery. And then put his mark upon her of ownership. You know, some of you have tattoos. that's kind of cute because most of you, I would assume, you got your tattoos because you decided to get your tattoos. But do you know there's gangs in the world that they mark their property with their logo of ownership? Did you know that they literally tattoo their women on the back of the neck or the back of the bum of ownership of this gang, of this group?

37:47 We own her. We own them. Look, that kid, we owned him since he was five. We tattooed him with our mark. Isn't it interesting? Satan's going to try to mark, tattoo his followers through the mark of the beast. Isn't it amazing that Jesus has his logo, his seal on the believer? He writes his name upon us. He owns us because he bought us out of slavery and into freedom. And how does he maintain that?

38:28 By the Holy Spirit. We enjoy the sealer. The sealer is the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1 verse 13. In him you also trusted after, notice the chronology of it, You trusted him after, after what? After you heard the word of truth. So you heard the word of truth first and went, wow, that's true. How did you know that? The Holy Spirit was over here saying, you just heard some truth. And you responded to the offer of the Holy Spirit. Now watch this. When you trusted the gospel, this is what happened. in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

39:12 The word promise is earnest, the earnest money. So if you're going to buy a home, I don't know how it works in all states, but in California, it works this way. So if I want to buy a house today, I would see a house for sale and I would make an offer. What's the asking price? Oh, pay. Let me, what's the asking price for this 1,000 square foot shack in Southern California? A million. Oh, such a deal. Woo. Wow. A million? Only a million dollars for this shack?

39:54 I'll take it. Well, what that means is I could say I take it all day long. I could even shake the guy's hand. I'll take it. and walk away. Guess what? If somebody comes behind me and says, I want one, I'll pay $1.1 million for that check. And here's a hundred thousand dollars as a down payment. Then the guy, the seller, then he pulls out paper and says, well, dude, then sign here. The first guy walked away thinking, woo, I just got a house.

40:34 I just got a 1,000-square-foot house, shack, Southern California, a million bucks, because I said I'll take it. You know, everybody's laughing at this guy. You got to see paperwork, man. And you know what? You can't see the paperwork unless you lay down 100 grand to what? To enter escrow. It means it's binding. The seller and the buyer have agreed. That excludes all other people. There can be backup offers, but they're away on the outside of the stadium. Only the two partners are in the stadium. And a legal document... commences now all of these things that go into work, soil report, environmental impact, use permit, all these things start to happen, which is law in this state and all this stuff.

41:29 What made it different? The agreement was sealed. by a down payment. The Holy Spirit in your life is the down payment that when Jesus Christ comes for you, either at the moment of death or the rapture, all of us who are sealed on the inside by the Holy Spirit's presence, his residence, he's the down payment. He's the, listen, he's the $100,000 down payment for the million dollar home. He's it. That seal cannot be broken.

42:10 The words used, even when Jesus was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and they sealed the tomb with the stone, And Pilate had a seal of the Roman Empire put upon the great stone. That means they put leather straps across. So think of the stone looking like a big wheel, like Fred Flintstone's tire. And then all across that were leather straps from the Roman Empire. And they all intersected in the middle. They all had this intersection, point of intersection in the middle, right? Like a hub, like an axle. Right.

42:51 That's where they heated up wax and they put wax on that and they stamped the seal of the Roman Empire. If anyone broke that seal that sealed the tomb of Jesus, if anyone broke it, they would immediately be put to death. That's why when Jesus rose again from the dead, those guards that were there guarding, did you know that when Christ rose again from the dead, broke that seal? By the way, wait, sorry. Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. Jesus didn't break the seal. Let's be accurate. Who broke the seal?

43:32 An angel broke the seal. An angel rolled the stone away, which would have broken the seal. The stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out of that. Look, if you've got a resurrected Savior and he's saying... Can somebody let me out? I have to save the world. Then we got the wrong one, folks. Hallelujah. The seal was broken by the angel who rolled the stone away and then sat on top of the stone to let the disciples in because Jesus was already gone. Okay? That same verbiage used for the sealing of the stone is the same words used.

44:13 Same verbiage used, same intent for the believer's life being sealed by the Holy Spirit. Friend, you're not lost. I don't care what your GPS says. And I don't care what your conscience is telling you. And I don't care what some theologian told you. Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? Do you believe he died on the cross and rose again from the dead? God's Son? The Savior? You going to trust in him? Give him your sin. Be saved. Trust him. Be saved. Then you're sealed. The Holy Spirit comes in, starts setting up house. Listen, make sure in your life, make absolutely certain in your life that there is no missing link.