How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit

foreign [Music] we're going to begin in John chapter 14 and verse 17. Jesus is in the upper room and he is speaking to his disciples for the last time in the flesh and knowing that he is speaking to them for the very last time he is very carefully chosen his words when I spoke to the Riga church for the very last time as the senior pastor I knew that the last message I ever spoke to that church was probably the most important message I would ever speak to that church because it was my last words

that I would say to them and therefore I carefully chose my words now in the same way Jesus is in the upper room he has opportunity to speak of many things that as he sits with his disciples in that room he chooses to speak to them about the ministry of the Holy Spirit these were the last and the most important words which Jesus could speak to his disciples and I want us to see what he said in John Chapter 14 verse 16. and I will pray the father and he will give you another comforter that

he may abide with you forever then notice in verse 17 he calls him even the spirit of Truth if you have an ink pen or a pencil today underline that in verse 17 even the spirit of Truth then in chapter 15 and verse 26 Jesus continues speaking about the ministry of the spirit and he says when the comforter has come whom I will send unto you from the father even the spirit of Truth underline that in verse 26. now twice in two chapters Jesus is called the Holy Spirit the spirit of Truth then in chapter

16 verse 13 Jesus says how be it when he The Who the spirit of Truth again underline this phrase the spirit of Truth so now in three chapters Jesus is called the Holy Spirit the spirit of Truth three times chapter 14 chapter 15 chapter 16 Jesus driving this point Into the Heart of the disciples he is the spirit of Truth he is not the spirit of deception you can trust him anything that he says to you do it he will never mislead you or misguide you because he is the spirit of truth but then notice

again in verse 13. he said how be it when he the spirit of Truth is come he will do what he will what guides you into all the truth now if you would either underline a circle this word guide in verse 13. I grew up in the Baptist Church and we grew up in a particular Church where the word of God was taught and I had heard this verse taught many times but I had never heard anyone teach on this word guide and so when I was writing my book sparkling gems for the Greek one

day I was writing about the Holy Spirit and I turned to John chapter 16 verse 13 opened in my Greek New Testament happy when he the spirit of Truth has come he will guide you into all the truth and when I saw this word guide I was shocked because it was not what I anticipated at all this word guide needs to guide but it is the Greek word odega which is not just any kind of a guide but rather this is a tour guide a tour guide and particularly it is a guide who is trained

to take you into unknown unexplored territory he has already been there he knows all the roots he knows all the paths and therefore he is qualified to take you where you have never been before it is a tour guide now I live in Russia and the 14 years that we've lived in Russia this year this month is our 14th anniversary in the Soviet Union in the 14 years that people have been coming to see us in the former Soviet Union to go to the city of Moscow and when they come to Moscow they all want

to go see the Kremlin and because we live in Moscow they all want me to take them to the Kremlin and because I know history they believe that if I walk them through the Kremlin they're going to get a tour like no one else has ever given them and therefore I have been to the Kremlin many times you say brother Rick how many times you've been to the Kremlin about 200 times it's actually more than that but I don't want to tell you how many I'm almost embarrassed about it I have been to the Kremlin

so many times I could almost give you a guide a tour of the Kremlin blindfolded would you like to go to the Kremlin with me just for a moment here's what you do you walk all the way down to the end to the far Tower of the criminal which sits right by the Moscow River I'm sorry where President Putin where President Putin drives into the Kremlin every day you turn you walk through the door you take a few steps you turn left and there is the door to the armory the Armory is the treasure house

inside the Kremlin you walk into the armory and once inside the Armory you realize the entire building is a vault you walk through one vault door and then you walk through a second of alt door and then you walk up the steps up to the first floor and you turn left and you walk up the next set of steps and as you walk up the next set of steps you enter into a huge circular room that is filled with the clothing of the czars as you turn right there in this intersection are all the dresses

made 100 of pure silver dresses spun of silver every thread in the dress made of silver and these were the coronation dresses of the Queens and when American visitors see these they always wonder how have these dresses retained their form because the dresses are absolutely beautiful but when you understand the dresses are made of metal they're made of silver once you put those dresses in place those dresses never move beautiful beautiful dresses and then when you turn and look to your right there is the clothing of the priesthood garments spun of gold gold on top

of solid beds of scarlet and there around the collar are icons made of solid gold and these are just the beginning garments we haven't even got to the nice garments yet then you walk further and there you see garments completely encrusted with emeralds about this size and sapphires and pearls and you walk on further and finally you find one garment that is just so spectacular you wanted to stop and look at that garment it was a garment which was commissioned by Catherine the Great for her personal priest she wanted her priest to look excellent as

he served God the woman who made that garment sewed 250 000 pearls on that garment and because those pearls were so fragile she had to sew in a darkened damp room so the pearls would not become fragile and break she sewed for 26 years for that garment and when she put the last piece of thread through the last Pearl she had worked in darkness for so many years that she went blind with a Threading of the last Pearl that was a garment which was worn one time in the service of God then you leave the

garments and immediately you hang a right and there are the Thrones there is the Throne of Ivan the Terrible which is carved of pure ivory there is the Throne of Boris good enough and directly behind you are the Thrones of Michael Romanoff including the throne that is covered with 900 flat diamonds you may have never heard of a flat Diamond it looks like a piece of glass but it is a diamond and they're about this big 900 of them cover this throne then next to that Throne is the big double Throne of Peter the Great

and his brother and then directly behind you you turn around and there is a room that is like a rotunda which is filled with the jewelry of the horses any woman would love just to have the jury of the horses solid broaches sapphires this big with thousands and thousands of diamonds encrusted all around it you say well what was this used for it was a brooch which was pinned into the Mane of the horse's hair so that the horse would look beautiful as a walk through the streets of Moscow and then you walk through all

the carriages carriages carriages carriages including the great carriage that all the Cinderella stories are based upon this massive massive carriage the biggest Carriage ever made the problem was when they built it they forgot to put a device in it so that it could turn the only thing it could do was go straight and therefore that Carriage was never used and that's why it's so beautiful all of that is just the first floor of the Armory then there is the second floor and then there is the churches now how do I know that territory so well

I've been there I know all the roots I know the fastest way to get you around and I know the longest roots to take and often when I am there with my friends I'll see some American group and I feel so sorry for them because they have a guide that is taking them the longest and the hardest way and I know at any moment some American woman in that group is going to say I need a toilet and the toilets are all all the way back at the very beginning of the museum so that lady

is going to have to walk all the way down this stairs this stairs this stairs through the first Vault through the second Vault all the way to the toilet if the toilet is working and then she's going to have to come all the way back to join the rest of the group and by the time she gets there then she's going to complain that her back hurts and her feet hurts the problem is there's nowhere to sit inside the armory and I often think to myself if I was the guide of that group I would

get them to their ultimate destination faster and safer now take all of that into the meaning of this word guide Jesus said how be it when he the spirit of Truth has come he will do what guides you the Greek word for a tour guide which means the Holy Ghost has already been out front he already knows where we're going he knows the longest route he knows the shortest route he knows how to get us to the ultimate destination the fastest way and the safest way now the truth is we're going to all end up

at the destination anyhow the question is in what shape do we want to be in when we get there we can bang our head against the wall and find our own way or we can let the Holy Ghost be our God he wants to be our God now turn to Romans 8 verse 14. and in Romans 8 verse 14 we have one of the most wonderful promises in the New Testament in the King James version Romans 8 14 says as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God how

many of you know that verse let's say it together as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God but when you read this in the Greek text it completely reverses the sentence structure now I want you to look at it in your King James version see how the King James says it and compare it to how I'm going to say it the king's name says as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God but the Greek puts the Holy Spirit at the

very first of the verse the Greek actually says as many as by the spirit of God are being led and it puts the picture of the Holy Ghost at the first of the verse we are at the end of the verse the spirit of God is out front like the great leader we are behind like the Tagalongs as many as by the spirit of God are being LED and this word LED is the Greek word ago spelled a-g-o and I want you to write this down this word ago has two meanings in the Greek language

both of them are correct in this verse and in fact this is one of the problems in translating the New Testament every word is like a full sermon by itself and because of a lack of space translators have to choose which one they're going to use but often there are multiple choices and this particular case the word ago the word lead has two meanings and both of these meanings are correct in the first place the word ago spelled ago is an agricultural term it is an agricultural term it describes someone wrapping a rope around the

neck of a beast and then taking the other end of that rope and leading that beast and that Beast Faithfully just follows being led on the other end of a rope now when Denise and I first moved to the former Soviet Union 14 years ago it was probably the most critical time in terms of the economy there was no gasoline for cars I thought there were no cars but in fact there were cars but if there's no gasoline you cannot use your car and therefore the roads were completely empty there was no toilet paper you

don't realize how critical toilet paper is until you can't find toilet paper I spent one entire week looking for toilet paper when I finally found a store in Eureka that had toilet paper I bought every roll in the place I walked out with armfuls of toilet paper thinking to myself these people must think our family has a serious problem but I didn't know when we would find toilet paper again there were no light bulbs where there are no light bulbs there are no candles because people had already purchased all the candles it was a time

of deficit that was almost hard to believe the eggs disappeared I'll never forget that we woke up went to the grocery store one day and they said there's a deficit of eggs and I remember thinking where did the chickens go there were eggs last week suddenly there are no eggs in the whole country we could not find eggs we couldn't buy milk bread flour sugar or butter unless we had coupons ration coupons which were similar to what they would give you in a wartime situation if you didn't have those coupons you could not buy those

products that was the situation that I moved my family into we saw all kinds of things we had never seen before one day I was washing the dishes and as I was washing the dishes I looked through the window and saw something I had never seen in my life it was the spring of the year it was time to plow the gardens but there was no gasoline so people couldn't use their tractors so my neighbor took a big old-fashioned plow and hooked it up to his wife he stood behind his wife to guide the plow

and his wife bent over and was heaving and pulling as he pointed that big angle into the ground and the two of them were plowing the field I was in shock I said Denise you've got to come see this she came and we both stood and looked I said Denise do you want to try that another thing we saw that I had never seen before was people who walked the cow people who walked the cow in the city where we lived there were little garages where people stored their cars that had no gas and next

to their cars they put their cows and every morning the little bitty grandmas in town would get up and walk out to the little garage open the door take out the cow tie a rope around the neck of the cow and these little bitty tiny frail Russian grandmas would take the other end of the Rope and they would walk those cows all the way to the outskirts of the city out near where we lived and they would just walk until finally they found a little plot of green grass the little grandmas would reach in their

pocket pull out a steak knock it into the ground and then they would take the end of the rope tie it around that steak slap that old cowl on the side and the little grandmas would walk all the way back into town until about 5 30 that night when there was another Mass Exodus of little grandmas who were walking back out to where they had left their cows that morning now the thing that amazed me first was that these cows would follow those grandmas these great big powerful muscular cows following this little bitty tiny frail

grandma the truth was that cow could have run over that Grandma but instead the cow just and where their Grandma had knocked that steak into the ground and left the cow the cow stayed in that place where it had been LED and in fact the cow never budged the cow never moved until that night when the little Grandma came back but the truth is the cow was strong enough that with one jerk of the neck it could have ripped the stake out of the ground but the cow never even thought about that it stayed exactly

where it was led and I said to somebody what's up with these cows why do these big cows follow these grandmas and they said because from the time that they were young they have been trained to follow the leading of a beast on the end of a rope is this Greek word ago which was is used here in Romans chapter 8 14. it is the picture of the Holy Ghost with a rope around us but he doesn't put a rope around our neck but rather he is attached to our human spirit and if we'll allow

the Holy Spirit to be out front he will tug on our hearts he will pull on our hearts and if we've been trained correctly we will come to recognize the tugging and the pulling of the spirit so that he can be out front and we can Faithfully follow behind him and where he leads us to we are to stay in that spot even if we don't like that spot we are to stay where we have been LED until he comes back to pull the stake up and delete us somewhere else but now here's the problem

this word ago which means to be led on the end of a rope and agricultural word is also an athletic term it is where we get the word agony or the Greek word agonizo it describes a great struggle a great struggle and usually this Greek word ago describes a struggle of the Mind the struggle of the will or a struggle of the emotions and this is so very important in this context it tells us the Holy Spirit wants to be out front he wants to lead us he wants to pull our Spirits we should be

sensitive enough that when he pulls on our heart that we can sense his leading and his drawing the problem is our ahead often does not understand the leading of the spirit and therefore we enter into an agonizing time where our heart says one thing but our head says another and agnizo there is a great wrestle between our head and our spirit how many of you know exactly what I'm talking about now one of the best examples of this is in Luke chapter 22. when Jesus has finished in the garden of this in in the upper

room he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane now we're not going to read all the scriptures because there's too many but I want to walk you through these Jesus comes into the Garden of Gethsemane and if you read Matthew's gospel he says to his disciples you stay here while I go Yonder to pray that word Yonder describes a great distance Jesus wanted so much space between him and his disciples that they would not hear him when he began to pray yet when you study Luke's gospel Luke's gospel said when he was about a stone throw

from them a stone throw does not match the word Yonder so Jesus intention was to go far but he didn't make it there Jesus only made it about a stone's throw you say why Matthew's gospel says that he began to be so sorrowful that he couldn't make it all the way to the place where he wanted to pray and in fact one gospel says that Jesus fell on his knees the word fell in Greek really means to collapse this was not a religious picture of Jesus just gently lowering himself down upon his knees but the

weight of what was on him was so heavy Jesus literally collapsed Luke's gospel says that he fell on his face so now you see a progression Jesus collapses under the spiritual weight and then the weight becomes so unbearable that he literally falls on his face and Luke's gospel remember Luke was a doctor says that he prayed the more earnestly which is the Greek word ectenees the word Greek word ectenees describes a person that is in such emotional agony a person that is in such real physical pain that he cannot sit still or lay in one

place this is a person that is writhing in every direction so now we see the picture of Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane he wants to go pray Yonder but because the pressure is so great he only makes about a stone's throw when suddenly he collapses on his knees and then falls on his face and it becomes so excruciating this moment that he begins writhing he begins moving this way and that way holding himself as he cries out to God and we know what he prayed he said father if it be thy will let this

cup pass from me Matthew's gospel says a second time he said father if it is possible let this cup pass from me and Matthew's gospel says a third time he said the same words well think of it that night in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was being tested by his own teaching you'll be tested by your own preaching just before he came to the Garden he had told the disciples three times the spirit is the spirit of Truth you can trust him the spirit is the spirit of Truth he will never mislead you he will

never misguide you the spirit is the spirit of Truth you can trust him you can trust him you can trust him and now as Jesus Is In The Garden of Gethsemane he realizes this Same Spirit of Truth is leading him to the cross and before the cross this Spirit of Truth is leading him to pilate where his body is going to be scourged and his body is going to be ripped open where 600 soldiers will slap him and spit on him all of this is in front of him and Beyond the cross is Hell itself

and the spirit of Truth is leading him to the and Jesus cried out is it possible can this really be you if there's any way let this cut pass from me and finally he said nevertheless not my will be done but thy well will be done argonia agony in fact Luke's gospel literally says and being in and agony the very same word and being in an agony he sweat as it were great drops of blood the Greek word thrombus do you know that we know exactly what this was it was a medical condition which existed

then and exists now but it is so rare I doubt anyone in this room has ever met anyone who had this medical condition it is a literal medical condition they examined the Garden of Gethsemane in the Journal of the American Medical Association and even diagnosed why Jesus sweat great drops of blood it is a condition that exists in individuals that are under great stress the pressure in their mind is so great that the Mind begins to send signals of pressure to the human body and the body begins to respond as if it is under real

actual pressure though in fact it is simply a situation that is in the mind and the perceived pressure becomes so real that the top layer of skin separates from the second layer of skin it forms a vacuum blood fills that vacuum in fact the vacuum becomes so filled with blood that finally it begins to push through the pores of the skin and because the sufferer is already agonizing and is perspiring it then mingles together with the sweat so that it runs down the face like a sweaty blood and if we had seen Jesus in The

Garden of Gethsemane that night he was a bloody mess before he ever went to the Cross he was already a bloody mess and how I thank God that the Holy Spirit chose to include this in the scripture because it tells us the kind of pressure that Jesus was under In The Garden of Gethsemane and finally after winning the battle in prayer he came to his disciples and in Mark's gospel he woke them up and he said rise let's be going and the Bible tells us that as they went Judas Iscariot came best to read about

it in John chapter 19. Judas Iscariot came with a band of soldiers now most think that a band of soldiers was 10 or 20 or maybe 30 soldiers but in fact it is the word Spira and it describes a Roman cohort a Roman cohort consisted of 300 to 600 soldiers never less than 300 never more than 600. so that night when the soldiers came into the garden to arrest Jesus this was not just a few soldiers it was 300 to 600 soldiers and I don't know what these soldiers had heard about Jesus but when they

came they came with clubs and they came with knives imagine the power they must have heard that Jesus had and the Gospel of John tells us that when Jesus saw them he stepped forward and said whom seeking and in John 19 they answered Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus answered them the King James I am he in Greek it says ego Amy a literal translation I am exactly the same words which are used in Exodus chapter 3 when God identifies himself to Moses the same words which Jesus uses in John 8 verse 58 when he said

before Abraham was ego Amy I am and when Jesus uttered those words there was such a blast of divine power that John chapter 19 says the soldier staggered backward and fell to the ground staggered backward in Greek describes somebody trying to resist a force that cannot be resisted they were trying to resist as it power drove them backward and finally bam they fell to the ground now stay with me just at this moment Peter swings into action and the Bible says Peter having a sword well you don't normally think of the disciples as carrying swords

why did he have a sword the word sword is the Greek word macarius it describes the sword of a Roman soldier this was not his sword he looked and scattered all on the ground with 300 to 600 Roman soldiers slain by the power of God and laying there with them was malcus who was the spokesman of the high priest Peter and all of the disciples probably had a real grudge against this guy because every time the high priest said something ugly about Jesus he said it through his spokesman who was malcus and when Peter saw

malcus laying there and so many available swords he grabbed a macarias this is not the sword of a civilian this is a Roman sword and the Bible says he did what cut off his ear now we know he was not trying to cut off his ear he was trying to cut off his head and swiped his ear and just about the time the soldiers begin to recover from the power of God and little by little they begin to find their way up on their feet there stands malcus the most public citizen in the city of

Jerusalem the spokesman of the high priest with his hand on the side of his head his ear laying on the ground and blood pouring down the side of his face and Jesus said suffer me this their Greek would be better translated give me just a minute and the Bible tells us he healed malcus well he had to heal malcus if he didn't heal malcus Peter was going to die he had committed to offenses number one he stole military equipment for that reason alone Peter would have died number two he assaulted the most visible member of

the community for that reason Peter would have been killed now Jesus one of his leading Apostles is going to be executed because of what he did in a moment of the flesh so now as Jesus is on the way to the Cross to die for the sins of mankind he says excuse me everybody give me just a minute suffer me this I got to take care of business and Jesus heals malcus and the Bible says he laid hands on him now we don't know whether he picked the ear up and put it back on or

just grew a new ear but that word to lay hands on describes a forcible grip it wasn't just little bit touching him Jesus shook that man's head as he released the power of God and when Jesus released his head his ear was in place and then at this moment something really strange the Bible tells us in Mark chapter 14. that a naked boy came running into the middle of this big events now how many of you have ever read about the naked boy in the Garden of Gethsemane suddenly a naked boy appears you say now

brother Rick I've never read that open your Bible to Mark chapter 14. I want you to see this Mark chapter 14. are you with me Mark chapter 14 and verse 51. and there followed him a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his what naked body and the young men laid a hold on him and he left the linen cloth and fled from them what naked now when you read what Scholars say they write a bunch of funny stuff about this naked boy in the Garden of Gethsemane some of them try to say

that it was the Apostle John if it was the Apostle John it means he decided to go naked while he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that night I don't think John played prayed naked others said that it was Mark and then Mark was over in the city of Jerusalem he heard that Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane so he jumped out of bed and ran over to the Garden of Gethsemane well in the first place this would have meant that Mark slept naked in the second place the people who write that

have never been to Jerusalem because you can't run from the city of Jerusalem over to the Garden of Gethsemane unless you are a world-class athlete it is down the Ravine up the Ravine that is a big distance and even if he had heard that Jesus was being arrested he could have never physically done that the distance was too great it would have been too hard so who is the naked boy why would the spirit of God put that into this story the key is the word linen cloth this word linen cloth is a Greek word

which is only used one way everybody say one way I love these Greek words that are only used one way because it means you don't have to think too deep there's not a whole lot of room for misinterpretation this word Lenin cloth Stay With Me was a specific word was described very expensive Lenin garments which were made in Egypt we even know where they were fabricated and they were brought to Jerusalem and when people died they wrapped the dead in these linen claws that's the only way that this word is used it cannot be used

any any other way well when you understand how the Jews buried the Dead they buried them naked they buried them in owls they bathed their bodies just like they did Jesus in fact this word linen cloth is exactly the same word which is used to describe the cloth that was used for Jesus body it is not the same word used for Lazarus body that describes small strips of garments but this was the word used for extremely rich people when they died they would bathe their naked body then bathe then wrap them in a linen cloth

this very word and then they would seal the tomb well if you've ever been to the city of Jerusalem and if you've been to the Garden of Gethsemane you know the whole place is surrounded with Graves and some of the graves are very very old in fact James the brother of Jesus was even buried right there near The Garden of Gethsemane many famous rich people were buried in that region when Judas and the soldiers came to arrest Jesus and Jesus said ego Amy I am that blast of power was so strong it knocked nearly 600

soldiers on their back and at that moment an accidental periphery Resurrection took place as the same power that knocked them down touched a little boy that had just recently been buried and now as they're preparing to arrest Jesus and the soldiers are trying to recover from the power of God the little naked boy with his burial cloth comes running into the middle and says anybody know what's going on around here and the high priest guard say somebody get that kid the last thing they needed at that moment was the rumor of another resurrection and they

tried to grab the kid and the kid ran away and they all stood there holding his burial gloves now why am I telling you this no one had the power to take Jesus Christ no one at the very moment of his rest he was growing an ear on a man's head with his mere words he knocked 300 to 600 soldiers flat on their back a man was accidentally raised from the dead we know that later Jesus said that he could have called how many Legions of angels ten thousand Legions of angels all of this was

at his disposal but yet he stood silent and the Bible tells us they led him to Caiaphas that word LED is the same word ago used in Romans 8 verse 14 which means that night Jesus was not really being led by those soldiers Jesus had already in prayer said God not my will he had been through the agony in his soul in his heart he knew the spirit was leading him to the cross in his mind he wondered how could the Father possibly require this in his heart he knew this was his Destiny in his

mind he did not want this there was a struggle as he was following the spirit of Truth and finally that night they came and because the word ago is used we know literally they wrapped a rope around the neck of Jesus and they led him Isaiah 53 says like a lamb to its Slaughter he was literally LED with a rope wrapped around his neck but that night it was not really the soldiers that were laid in him it was the spirit of Truth leading him to the cross aren't you glad that Jesus followed the Holy

Ghost now how many of you have ever had a struggle between your heart and your head can I see your hand you know the spirit of God's leading you to do something but your head does not understand what your heart is telling you and you know that I have personally discovered in my life that God doesn't normally lead us by prophetic words but he leads us by our hearts something inside that just pulls us we sense it it's a drawing it's a tugging on our heart and that's the spirit of God out front as many

as by the spirit of God are being led he's trying to lead us that's how he leads us the problem is when our head doesn't understand and the agonizo the agony then begins between the head and the spirit now Robin Linda Thompson are sitting right here great friends of mine several years ago they had a big conference in Chicago great conference and I was at that conference it was the last night of the conference I was so excited to get there that night Denise and I went to the hotel to take a nap and as

we took the nap I began to be disturbed in my spirit I said sweetheart I don't know why but I am not supposed to leave this room tonight she said well that's kind of strange I wonder why the Lord would want you to stay in the hotel room I said well that's what I think I said oh this can't be God this is not God why would the spirit of God lead me to stay in the hotel room this is just me and the longer that I laid there the more Disturbed I became in my

heart I just felt you are not supposed to leave this hotel room tonight but in my head I could not understand so I dismissed it I got up and began to put my clothes on get ready for church and the whole time inwardly feeling like I was violating something that I was supposed to stay in that room soon there was a little tap on the door I said Denise the driver is here to get us we are late we've got to get dressed we've got to go quick so I got to finish getting dressed went

to the door opened the door looked out into the Hall and there was no one there I said Denise we are so late that driver has already gone down to the car I said sweetheart I'm going to run down to the car come as quick as you can so I went down the elevator downstairs and when I got downstairs there was no car there was no driver Denise came down 15 minutes later and there was still no driver we were not late there was no driver we talked to the lady at the front desk for

a few moments and finally the driver came we got in the car and began to drive across the city of Chicago sitting in the back seat the whole way I kept saying Denise I don't know what this is I've got to turn this car around I've got to go back to the room I don't know why no no no no no this is not God why would God tell me to sit in the room does he want me to watch television while the rest of you go to church tonight I haven't got sarcastic about it

I couldn't figure this out I said this is just me this is something silly no I have to turn the car around I've got to go back to the room back and forth back and forth back and forth until finally that driver got involved in the conversation Mr Renner you just give me the word I'll tell this car turn this car around and then I got embarrassed I said no just go just go so we pulled up to the church went inside I've visited with everyone and was just so grieved in my heart when they

all turned to go into the service I've waved farewell went back and got in the car so did the driver take me home to my room I don't know why I've got to be in my room tonight as we drove back to the room I remember they were all going to have dinner that night after church I'm going to miss dinner because of this crazy leading that I don't agree with and don't even understand so I said to the driver pull into Wendy's [Applause] so I went into Wendy's he said you want to go through

the drive through I said no I'll go in so I went in when I came out of Wendy's I remembered that we needed some toothpaste so I walked across the parking lot to the convenience store to buy some toothpaste now remember I'm supposed to be in the room finally I get back in the car go all the way back to the hotel room walk in the front door of the hotel stop at the front desk to talk a few more moments with the lady at the registration put push the button on the elevator go up

to the second floor walk down to my room slip the key into the door open the door walk into the room in our room it looked like a tornado had gone through our room suitcases opened closed thrown all over the room and I'm going to tell you honestly my first thought was what did my wife do in those 15 minutes [Applause] you know sometimes Denise will have a fashion show she'll try on everything she's got just before we're supposed to go somewhere and I thought what did she do in those 15 minutes and I looked

over at the desk and my computer was gone in that computer were five brand new books almost finished for which I had no copies at all I looked and my briefcase was gone in my briefcase where the 10 years of my most important notes my passport my Russian visa my Latvian documents everything that I needed for the airplane two days from now all of it was inside that briefcase I turned and walked into the midst of all the clothes and the thief had so much time that they had opened Denise's jewelry bag and separated the

jewelry into four categories nice jewelry silver jewelry costume jewelry cheap jewelry into four categories they had so much time they were able to decide which jewelry they would take and I stood up and I heard the spirit say now you know why I told you to stay in the room tonight if I had stayed in the room that night do you know what would have happened nothing do you know what I would have said today is when she came home after church that night well I don't know what this thing was about I stayed here

and nothing happened I guess I missed God I stayed here and nothing happened and it made me wonder how many times we have all obeyed our hearts and never knew why the spirit of God told us to do something but he is faithful if we will listen to him now I want to give you a very current illustration because we live in Moscow we're able to travel very inexpensively for instance we can take our whole family on a Nile cruise for a whole week visas ship food guide private transport even the airplane for five hundred

dollars a person it's just special rates they offer Russians and since we're Russians we take advantage and this year I want to do something special I want to do something really so we had a family meeting shall we go to Cairo no we don't want to go to Caribou shall we go to Istanbul nah we don't go to Istanbul I'm nowhere let's go somewhere really unique let's go somewhere for Christmas that's really exotic so I called our tour guide she's working on our tickets I am so pumped up to go to Sri Lanka we have

another family meeting we even invite a relative to go with us and something inside me said do not go to Sri Lanka well now my family was so excited I didn't want to tell them that we weren't going to go I didn't want to call that relative and disappoint that relative and I kept trying to ignore what was in my heart but while I was ignoring what was in my heart I kept remembering Chicago [Applause] so I called my family together and I said I'm sorry to disappoint you I don't know why the Holy Ghost

is forbidding me I don't have a word from God it's just something in me I just know it we cannot go to Sri Lanka friends the place that we were going to go to was the place on the eastern coast that was hit the hardest by the tsunami we would have been there that morning if I had denied what I was feeling in my heart let me ask you have you ever had a leading in your heart that you denied and later you were regretful that you didn't do what your heart was telling you you

see Jesus said when he the spirit of Truth everybody says Spirit of Truth he is the spirit of Truth when he has come he'll do what he'll guide he will lead us into the future he knows all the roots he knows the places to avoid he knows the way to get you there faster how to get you there safer but he needs someone who is willing to follow in these days that we're living in you better listen your life might count on it we live in the city of Moscow if you think you've had terrorism

in the United States we have Metro cars that are blown up all the time we have entire apartment buildings that are blown up just in the month of August we had two airplanes that are blown up I say to my kids I say to my church never get on a Metro subway car if you feel something in your spirit and do you know just after I instructed this to my church one week later a staff member was coming to the office and was going to get on the Metro and something inside said don't get on

this Metro Car it was that very car that a black widow that's a Muslim who has lost her husband in chechnya so now she's turned herself into a human bomb they're called black widows in Russia she was on that very wagon she exploded that thing while it was moving the mess was disastrous but our staff was not lost because they listened to their heart we have to listen well the Holy Ghost wants to be our leader can you say Amen to that but that means we have to be the follower [Music]