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And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17

Now, what’s interesting is that the Holy Spirit is not an "it", it’s a "Him". I hear people incorrectly say, " It’s leading me to do something".  You can actually grief the Holy Spirit. Or as the original reads, "choke" the Holy Spirit. The scripture teaches the Holy Spirit has a personality and emotions.  

You see, the picture, metaphors and emblems used in the Bible can easily be misinterpreted and distorted.  He is a person and not merely a presence. 

He Is Not Wind, Fire, Oil, Or A White Dove. 

Jesus knew this. He taught us, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, 

that He may abide with you for ever,” (John 14:16). 

The Holy Spirit employes numerous ideas of Himself so that you and I can relate and understand his work. Maybe this will help. The Holy Spirit can rush into your life like clean, pure water— 

refreshing and hydrating you. The Holy Spirit can enter your life like fire—cleansing you. The Holy Spirit can move powerfully in your life—like wind. 

As we unpack this for the next few weeks, your christian experience will be catapulted onto a new level! The Holy Spirit is a person!!!!

Pray this with me throughout the week:

“Father,in Jesus name,reveal the Holy Spirit to me in a new and fresh way.  Holy Spirit, you are not fire, oil, a dove, you are the third person of the Trinity and God has given you to me, as a believer, so that I can walk in total victory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” 

I'm Not Talking About Casper, The Friendly Ghost

If you bring your bibles this weekend we will open them up to the book of John as we’re starting a new series today called “Ghost” as we study the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit.  

Growing up for most people, when they hear about the “Holy Ghost” it weirds them out.  Most understand God the Father (they have a father), God the son Jesus Christ but when it came to the Holy Ghost most could not relate and for most, any interaction with the “Holy Ghost” was weird with weird people, acting in weird ways,doing weird things. Very unusual and possibly many of you have had similar experiences.

In my opinion, this has led to a “Pendulum Swing” to where some ministries would have what I call “an overemphasis of the Holy Spirit” and other places would “grossly under-emphaize” the Holy Spirit.  Some would over emphasize and like a bible falls off the table, they go crazy “I bind you demon of “bible falling” I cast you out. HOLY GHOST, HOLY GHOST, ETC.!!!  LOL 

But what is a far more common experience is the “under-emphasis” of the Holy Spirit.  I know about the Trinity and the Father and the Son, but I just don’t know about that Holy Spirit thing.  It’ like our weird cousin Eddy, just nobody talks about him.  

So, this weekend we’re going to start in Jn. 14 with the words of Jesus and we’re going to build a foundation as we would begin to understand Jesus better, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17

This is going to be great! Invite, Invite, Invite.  See you at one of the weekend worship experiences, until then, be blessed!

Just Do It: Speak It!

Here is another power-point you'll hear this weekend as we continue our series GOD, LOVE, SEX.........

SPEAK WORDS OF ADMIRATION, AFFECTION, AND AFFIRMATION. 

Now, why are these types of words so important?  Let’s let scripture answer it.

The tongue has the power of life and death… Proverbs 18:21

With your very words you can speak life and encouragement and a blessing into your relationships. And out of that same mouth you can speak words of criticism, words of slander, words of gossip, and you can literally speak death into a relationship out of your mouth.

You remember the first time that you met your cuddly wuddly love muffin and you said to her or him, you said, “I love you.” Oh, oh, oh, I just said it.  Remember the first time?  There was power in that moment.  

What happens after you’ve been married 10, or 20, or 30, or 40 years?  The power in those three words starts to fade when you say them over and over again.  Good night, I love you.  Gotta go to work, I love you.  Catch ya later, I love ya.  Thanks for dinner, love ya.  Love ya, love you, love ya, love you!!  It starts to lose the power of it.  

If you will add the one word to the end of that phrase it will bring the power and the life back.  What word is that?  The word “because”.  I love you "because", and then you fill in the blank and all of a sudden you watch as life comes into your relationships.  

For example, I could tell Melinda, I love you because.. (1.)  you’ve laid down your life to serve the vision that God has given us.  I love you because.. (2.) you’re the most selfless person that I know.  You give your life.  I love you because...(3.) you pour your life into our children and raise them in such a Godly way.  I love you because... (4.)  you are fun to be with.  I love you because. (5.) you fear God.  I love you because...(6.) you’re the most faithful woman that I’ve ever known.  I love you because...(7.) even though you make me late everywhere we go, I’d rather be late with you than on time with any other woman I know.  I love you because.  

You add the because and watch how God changes your relationships.  Whenever you think something good, you what?  You, you say it.  

Just Do It: Say it!

One of the powerful relationship principles I will share this weekend will be............

IF YOU THINK SOMETHING GOOD, SAY IT.

To think something good and not say it is similar to buying a present, wrapping it, and not giving it.  We are robbing them of the blessing of receiving the good thought.  

We’ll see Solomon do this over and over again in scripture with the Shulamite woman.  When he thinks something good, he gives life to it by saying it.  We’ll start in Chapter 7.  

If you look at the end of Chapter 6, the very last verse, we get an idea from the verse that the Shulamite woman was dancing for him.  And I think that’s a good thing.  So, she’s dancing and then he’s thinking some good thoughts and he’s going to tell her.  

Now, if you remember, this is the third string of compliments that he gives to his beloved.  The first two times, he started at the head and he worked his way down.  But now, he’s an old pro.  He’s gonna get creative.  He’s gonna start at the feet and work his way up.  So watch him do so......

How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman's hands. Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of

wheat encircled by lilies. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. Songs 7:1-3

What do you need to say to your spouse today?  What compliments have you been holding back on?  Before the day is over say it and watch how things change in your house!!!!  ;-)

Just Do It!

This weekend will be week #4 of the series “God, Love, Sex”.  The title of Sunday's message is, “Just Do It”.  

Out of the 4 messages that we will study in this series, this, I believe, is the most practical and has the potential for the greatest life change.  In fact,  if I could take my philosophy of marriage, why has God blessed our marriage as He has and preach it in one message, this would represent the heart of my philosophy.  If you apply these principles, I promise they will be life changing.  

Make sure you invite and bring somebody with you.  This is going to be great!!

Song of Solomon Odds & Ends

Song of Solomon is one of the shortest books in the Bible, consisting of only 117 verses. According to some Jewish traditions, it is read on the Sabbath hat falls during the intermediate days of Passover. In the Sepheradi community it is recited every Friday night.

Rabbi Abika declared, "Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is holy of holies." (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5). Similarly, Martin Luther called it das Hohelied (the high song). 

I hope you are discovering the magnificent character of the Bible, its keen insights, and how deeply it probes into human life. The scriptures were given to us so that we might understand ourselves and our God, and the Old Testament books make a tremendous contribution toward this end.  Studying the word produces the best "version" of you!

God,Love,Sex

Super jazzed about this new 4 week message series entitled God,Love,Sex as we focus on the secret keys to building successful marriages and relationships.  Let's start off with a great joke about a young couple.  Enjoy........

One night a guy dropped his girlfriend at her home. As they were about to wish each other goodnight at the front door, the guy started feeling a little in the mood. With an air of confidence, he leaned with his hand against the wall and smiling, he said to her: "Honey, would you give me a kiss?"

Horrified, she replied, "Are you mad? My parents will see us!"

"Oh come on! Who's gonna see us at this hour?" He asked grinning at her.

"No, please. Can you imagine if we get caught?"

"Oh come on! There's nobody around, they're all sleeping!"

"No way, it's just too risky!"

"Oh please, please, I love you so much?!?"

"No, no, and no. I love you too, but I just can't!"

"Oh yes you can. Please?"

"No, no. I just can't" "I'm begging you ... "

Out of the blue, the light on the stairs went on, and the girl's elder sister showed up in her pajamas, hair disheveled, and in a sleepy voice she said,,,,,,,,,

"Dad says to go ahead and give him a kiss, or I can do it. Or if need be, mom says she can come down herself and do it, but for all of ours sakes ... TELL HIM TO TAKE HIS HAND OFF THE DOOR BELL!!"

The Key To All Your Finances Working Properly

During this weekend's worship experiences we are going to talk about a critical heart issue that, in many ways, is the key to all of our finances working properly, and that is honoring God with His principles of giving the tithe, returning the tithe, and even beyond that.   

You don't want to miss the biblical secrets I will share concerning "The Cursed Finances" verses "The Blessed Finances."  Don't forget, 90% of marriages end in divorce over some type of money related issue.  Save and/or strengthen someone's marriage by inviting/bringing them to The River this weekend.  

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. Malachi 3:8-9

The 2 Most Important Financial Books In My Library

Remember the scripture. 

 “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”  

On our website, www.myriver.tv/resources, we provide you the free resources on how to build a budget.   Why?  Because the borrower is a servant----in Hebrew the word is ebed.  It means slave or bondage.  The borrower is a slave, or is in bondage to the lender, and we will not be a slave of anything, except the Lord Jesus Christ.  

We are going to roll and fight our way out of debt.  This week will be incredibly exciting.  We're going to talk about biblical principles for biblical prosperity.  Plus I will share with you the top two financial books in the world that if applied, can literally change your family tree in just a few short months.  Make sure you bring somebody with you this weekend----it's going to be insane!!!

Sunday Morning Money

Just to bring everybody up to speed on the ground that we have covered in the last couple of weeks.  If you've missed out, this is the premise behind our study, that God has given all of us, every single one of you a business, and that is your personal finances.  

Last Sunday we looked at a couple of parables of Jesus, and it shows us clearly that really, God owns everything, but He trusts you, as His children, to be managers, to be stewards of His business, to manage the resources that God has trusted us with.  

In that first week, we looked at a very, very important part of the study, and that is, your finances will be driven by God’s vision for your life, not by all of the marketing.  Not by all of the materialism.  

As believers who attend The River, we are not going to get sucked into debt like everyone else.  We are not going to be driven by what drives everyone else.  Instead, we will be driven by the vision that God has given us to manage our finances for His glory.