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  THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVING IN US
  by Sandeep Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit in the
New Covenant, highlighting that the Holy Spirit is given to believers
from the start to the end, not as a character modification program but
as a vital presence in their lives. It addresses the tendency of
Christians to diminish the Holy Spirit's role and emphasizes the need
for a personal surrender to the Holy Spirit for transformation and
victory over sin. The speaker challenges the misconception that
believers have to wait for the Holy Spirit to act, stressing that the
Holy Spirit is already within them due to their lack of faith or
unbelief.

Duration: 34:11 Topics: "Role of the Holy Spirit", "Surrender for Transformation"
Scripture References: John 14:16, Luke 11:13, Romans 8:26, John 16:8, John 7:38, John 14:26, Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 4:30

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit in the New
Covenant, highlighting that the Holy Spirit is given to believers from
the start to the end, not as a character modification program but as a
vital presence in their lives. It addresses the tendency of Christians
to diminish the Holy Spirit's role and emphasizes the need for a
personal surrender to the Holy Spirit for transformation and victory
over sin. The speaker challenges the misconception that believers have
to wait for the Holy Spirit to act, stressing that the Holy Spirit is
already within them due to their lack of faith or unbelief.

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CONTENT
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I've been speaking about the ministry of the New Covenant, and what we
heard today about the Holy Spirit is an essential part of the New
Covenant, and that the New Covenant is not a character modification or a
moral improvement program, but the Holy Spirit has been given to us from
the start to the end. One of the great insults that many Christians give
to God is to diminish the Holy Spirit. And let me explain one of the
ways, one of the evil, wicked ways in which many Christians diminish the
Holy Spirit.

I'm talking about Christians. I would talk about born-again Christians,
demean and blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Born-again Christians will say,
will teach them, will accept for themselves and will also teach their
children, you can receive God into your heart.

How in God's name can we receive God into our heart? Only if the Holy
Spirit comes into our heart. What right do we have to receive the Holy
Spirit to come into our heart? No right. But for people who are born-
again, we say we can receive the Holy Spirit into our heart by faith,
and you can be born-again.

And all of us will put the badge on that we say we're baptized, we've
been born-again. Well, how did that happen? How did you get born-again?
Well, I asked God to come into my heart. And just like that, He came in?
Yeah, He just, when I repented, He came in.

It's that simple. And the Holy Spirit comes into our heart and we're
born-again. But here's the blasphemy.

The blasphemy happens that after that we make it such a big deal for the
Holy Spirit to come into our lives. To get victory over sin or for
anything else. We suddenly make a disconnect as if we're waiting for the
Holy Spirit.

Because Christendom has done that to us. Because the disciples waited
for 10 days to receive the Holy Spirit. There's a whole movement and a
lot of us can buy into this lie that we have to wait for the Holy Spirit
to come.

And we must see it as a wickedness and an evil in our lives if any of us
don't have the assurance that the Holy Spirit is in us. There's only one
reason why the Holy Spirit is in us. It's because of our unbelief and
our lack of faith.

What's stopping us from being filled with the Holy Spirit? What's
stopping your 10-year-old child from being born-again? What's stopping
your 25-year-old child from being born-again? Your 28-year-old co-worker
from being born-again? All the same thing. Because we don't want Him. Or
because we are not surrendering to Him.

He comes in like sunlight comes into a room and the blinds are open. He
comes and fills a bucket like a tap that we like a bucket is put under a
waterfall. There's no blame on the Holy Spirit in whether our children
are born-again.

There's no blaming on the Holy Spirit if we're not filled in the Holy
Spirit right now. And this is where a lot of Christians, mostly because
of the charismatic movement, has blasphemed the Holy Spirit even though
they are the ones who talk about the Holy Spirit the most. They
blaspheme the Holy Spirit because they make it as if it's a special
thing.

As if we have to keep waiting for Him and we've got hoping that He comes
and keep begging Him and praying and praying and hoping and running
after Him and making it sound like it's on Him. It's never on Him. It's
never on the Holy Spirit that our children are now saved.

It's on us as parents. It's on me that the Holy Spirit is not filling me
with right now. I don't have to wait for victory tomorrow.

There is no tomorrow except I'm going to be with the Lord. There is only
today. If there is only today, well you really need the Holy Spirit
today.

You need the Holy Spirit right now. Well I'm going to have to wait for
Him to come. And that's a mixed up distorted gospel here.

This is not the first time we've talked about this, but this is a
repeated reminder because religiosity sits deep within all of us.
Whether it has been through things you've heard in this pulpit or other
pulpit, it doesn't matter. We have to fight a wrong concept about God
and the Holy Spirit.

And we who are born again, I'm not speaking to non-Christians, it may be
a different message. But for those of us who sit here being born again,
we blaspheme the Holy Spirit by not by making Him something other than
sunlight that fills the room. Why is sunlight not in my room right now?
It is because I have the blinds on.

And God is saying move the blinds and the Holy Spirit will come in like
the sunlight comes into the room. It is my fault and I can fix it in
five seconds. I can fix the problem in five seconds by opening the
blinds.

I'm not speaking theory. I live by this. I have chosen to live by this
truth over and over again because I see it in the scripture.

Luke chapter 11. It's as simple as a child asking for food that God
gives the Holy Spirit. That is why I say over and over again in
different ways that I have to tell myself that I blaspheme the Holy
Spirit by not allowing the Holy Spirit to come into my heart.

And thinking that it's something on Him and not on me is the reason why
I don't have the Holy Spirit. So what should I say? Should I lie when
somebody asks me, have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? I shouldn't
lie. But what are we waiting for? I'll tell you what I'd be waiting for.

I'm waiting for myself to believe God's word. And what stands in
opposition to faith is feeling. And because we have so many stories in
the Bible in which the Holy Spirit is tied with some event, we make the
Holy Spirit tied with something rather than simple belief in God's word.

How do you know you're born again? How do you know your sins have been
forgiven? You're feeling something or that feeling could change. How do
I know I'm born again? Belief in God's word. Belief in God's word what?
That the Holy Spirit has come and cleansed me through the blood of
Jesus.

How do I know that the Holy Spirit can come and fill me to equip me for
every single circumstance today? Same word of God. Same word of God with
the same power. I believe that I will handicap and hamstring my
children.

We will hamstring and handicap our children, the next generation, in
their ability to be born again and to live strong lives because we don't
accept the Holy Spirit for victory over sins to kill all the giants and
to live with the Lord all day long. If they don't see us living with a
filling of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit over and
immersion of the Holy Spirit over and over again every day, if they
don't see it, they're going to have real trouble understanding what it
means to be born again. The Holy Spirit has to become somebody who is so
precious and accessible to us.

And this is something that the people in the old covenant didn't have.
All they could have was to chain, as we heard, chain demon-possessed
people and restrain them. But the Holy Spirit has come to free us and we
must stop, we must catch the lie that we allow ourselves because, mostly
because of some thing, event that happened that we read in God's Word or
some other church that we've been to or some ministry we've heard of,
some email we get, that we think the Holy Spirit is connected with
music, that the Holy Spirit is connected with a feeling, that the Holy
Spirit is connected with, I could just sense the Holy Spirit.

What does that mean that you could just sense the Holy Spirit? I'll tell
you how I sense the Holy Spirit. He makes me holy. It's very simple.

You want to know if you are filled with the Holy Spirit today? Just look
at your life and you are holy. That's how I should sense the Holy
Spirit. And I have to train my mind not to sense the Holy Spirit by
music, by tears, by tingles down my spine or I don't know what else.

But very simply, Lord, are you making me holy? Are you giving me a
greater desire to be holy? That is the proof that God has given me the
Holy Spirit. And He gives the Holy Spirit to us. But because we want to
do our own will, because we want to do whatever we want to do, because
we want to feel whatever we want to feel, the Holy Spirit is limited.

We want to keep the blinds on. We want to have the pity party. We don't
want to kick the pity, we don't want to kick the bad feelings out and
let the sunlight of the Holy Spirit come in.

It's all on me, all the time. Now, I don't want us to now become a
congregation or group of people that now knows the better answer to give
when somebody asks have you been filled with the Holy Spirit. It's not
the point.

The point is not to give the right answer. The point is to have the
right life. And I want to urge all of us, dear brothers and sisters, be
filled with the Holy Spirit continuously.

That's the command of Scripture. Don't be drunk with wine. You've got
two choices.

Go and enjoy the pleasures of this world. Drunk with wine is one option.
Or be filled with the Holy Spirit, continually.

You choose. Don't hang out in the church. Don't hang out in the new
covenant church and not be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You're worse. That's lukewarm. God says, I'll spit you out of my mouth.

If not, let's just go back into the world. Let's find out how horrible
the pig farm is. Then come back and be filled with the Holy Spirit
continuously.

And let me be born again the same way we tell our children to be born
again, which is receive the Holy Spirit. Surrender fully and receive
him. He'll come in.

What am I telling my children? Surrender and then you just have to wait
for God to come in? That's not what I'm telling my children. But somehow
we believe that if we ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to live a
holy life today, it's not possible. We have to wait.

We have to continue to fall into sin today. Maybe three months from now,
I'll get victory. No, not at all.

God gives you this full measure of the Holy Spirit for today, not for
tomorrow. For today. So we live in victory today.

The full measure of the Holy Spirit that God gave Jesus, he's willing to
give to us today. If we don't radically and ruthlessly live with this
reality of the Holy Spirit, we're living under maybe no covenant. Maybe
better first to live under the whole covenant where we chain the demon-
possessed spirits within us, not as Christians, but that attitude of the
flesh that hates God.

Maybe it's better to chain that. But that's not the solution God offers.
The solution offered is to live by the spirit.

The law of the spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death and
frees us from the life of the flesh. And so we must radically ask
ourselves, dear brothers and sisters, ask yourself, what is the active
role of the Holy Spirit in your life today? Or are you just character
modification? Have we restrained our eyes and our mouse click movements
such that we don't click on those links? Have we modified our behavior
well enough that we stay away from these things? Or is there still a
dependence on the Holy Spirit? We have to keep fighting for it because
we so often lose it. So we can get scared by our flesh and just think
it's going to take lots of time or we can just comfort ourselves with
our self-denial programs.

The Holy Spirit has come to give us a dramatically different life,
dramatically different life today. So we don't need to have a long
prayer meeting, we don't have to spend hours, we don't have to play soft
music, instead we believe in God's word. Did you play soft music? You
want to play soft music to get your children born again? Any of us think
that that's going to get our children born again? Let's play soft music
right now, let's turn on some candles and then our children will be born
again.

But we make the feeling of the Holy Spirit after that somehow related to
something. Long times of singing, praying, it's not complicated, it's
not complicated things. And our children need to see a consistency in
our lives that we as adults don't mystify the Holy Spirit.

He's a very real person, just like the God the Father is a real person
and Jesus is a real person, He can be our friend, so is the Holy Spirit,
He's a person and He must be with me today. I've created a few slides,
the point of it is not to go through them, you can have a sermon on each
one of them. Let's get to the next slide.

We talked about the Holy Spirit making us children of God, we already
talked about that. Here are some of the ministries of the Holy Spirit.
There's a book that I wrote on this that goes through each of these
points in more detail, so I'm just going to give you a quick overview of
it.

The next slide, the Holy Spirit must come as a fire. If we all want to
receive the Holy Spirit, we'll open up our arms and we'll open up and
say Lord fill us with the Holy Spirit and He comes knocking on the door
and Jesus says I come and I stand at the door and I knock, will anyone
open to me and come in, I'll sit and dine with but when we creak the
door open, we see Jesus holding a fire and that's the Holy Spirit and He
says if you're going to make me come in, I'm going to baptize you, I'm
going to immerse you, I'm going to dunk you head to toe in the fire,
Holy Spirit in the fire, I'm going to burn up all that is not of me. So
every last ambition, preference, bias, interest, burnt up and so we say
no God we don't want you, we don't want the Holy Spirit and we blame God
for the Holy Spirit saying God please come, please fill me with the Holy
Spirit and God says I'm always ready for you but I come as a fire, it's
because I don't want to receive you Lord as a fire that burns me up
completely, that's why I don't receive the Holy Spirit like I should.

This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it's the very first mention of
the Holy Spirit, Jesus after Matthew chapter 1, God told Mary that she
was birthed, Jesus was going to be birthed to the Holy Spirit but the
first ministry of the Holy Spirit as a fire. The next one is as a dove,
this must coexist with the fire, God must burn us up but we have rest,
there's no controversy, there's no tension between God and me as he
brings the fire, we surrender and we say God you can have your way and
some things are harder than others to let God have our way and you put a
religious thing on it, Lord I really want to do this for you and then it
becomes really hard sometimes for the Lord to burn that up and we say
well I think God gave that to me, well then God will have no problem
resurrecting it, God gave Isaac to Abraham and God said kill him, kill
him, so we must always no matter what religious language we put on or
what impression we had on it, you have to be willing to say God you and
I will never fight, when you come with the fire I also see that there
will be a dove resting on me, it alighted on him, it rested on Jesus,
the dove won't fight, doves don't fight, so when the dove comes with the
fire and we fight, the dove says okay I'll go, I'll come back tomorrow,
you clearly want to pick a fight, doves don't fight, so when the Holy
Spirit comes with the dove, as a dove and the fire, he says the fire is
for you, but there's not going to be any fight, if you're going to fight
me let's come back another day, and he waits, he's waiting for me to
start fighting, not because he's not ready to work with me, but he comes
to pour his fire on me to burn me up, but I'm so interested in holding
on to my feelings of unforgiveness, I'm so interested in holding on to
my feelings of worry, I'm so interested in holding on to my feelings of
what money could do or help me every now and then, so he says let's come
back another day, just tell me when you're ready, I'm coming to you as a
dove, I want to pour fire on you and burn you up. Next one, this is one
of my favorites, where does the Holy Spirit come to me, the ministry of
the Holy Spirit, he comes to make you answer that question, who killed
Jesus? He comes to convict us of that, this is a question that we must
sit long and hard about, who killed Jesus? History tells me one answer,
but the Holy Spirit comes to tell me a different answer, dear brothers
and sisters, the Holy Spirit comes to tell me that I killed Jesus, and
he comes to break my heart over that, and the promise that I haven't
even tasted, I can't even fathom, but I long for, is that one day that
God will break my heart, that I killed Jesus, like my heart would be
broken if one of my children died, I know how my heart would be broken
if one of my children died, and God's promise to me here is that he
wants to fill me with the Holy Spirit, I can't manufacture this, ten
times watching the passion of Christ won't do this to me, the Holy
Spirit will give this to me, where he will break my heart that I'm the
one who killed Jesus, we all can maybe answer the question on a quiz,
yes I'm the one who killed Jesus, but Lord breaking my heart over it,
like my heart is broken when I lose my child, and I haven't even
scratched the surface of that, the Holy Spirit comes to convict, you,
you are the one who killed, I want to break your heart over that, to the
next one, and he wants to pour God's love into us like a waterfall, to
overflowing, there's not a good enough picture I can find to show what
God wants to do with this Holy Spirit as he pours to overflowing rivers
of living water, gushing into us, gushing out, this is the love of God
that he wants to fill us with, we've talked a lot about this, the next
one, do you think it's interesting that the Holy Spirit when he came to
live with me, God said, I'll make you the main character and I'll make
the Holy Spirit the helper, what a beautiful picture of God's respect
for our choice, for our free will, and God says, I'm not going to give
you the Holy Spirit to possess you, I'm going to give you the Holy
Spirit to help you, come like a dove, anytime you need help, I'm around,
I'm not going to barge my way and stand at the door and knock, I who
created this world, I hold the whole world in my fingers, but I stand at
the door and knock on your heart, because that's the spirit of the Holy
Spirit, comes like a dove and he says, I'm ready to help you, anytime
you want to grab my hand, my hand is there, but many times I'll need you
to push me away, keep doing it, I'll always be there to pick you up, to
help you, as we seek to be like Jesus, as we seek to be like God, we
have to have that relentless hand out for people, let me help you, let
me lift you up, this is the spirit of God that God gives us, how can we
not, how can we have a spirit of judgment if the Holy Spirit is in us,
how can we be judgmental to others when the Holy Spirit's a helper,
comes to help you, he comes to convict me that I'm the one, comes to
fill me with love and interest, he comes to lift me up, this is how I
ought to be to other people, if the Lord is filling me with the Holy
Spirit, it's the ministry of the Holy Spirit to come and help you, he's
there as a helper today, I tell you something, I think about cooking,
I'm a mess in the kitchen, I need help, I can do it if I get help, if I
have a helper, I feel that okay, I can make some food for people who are
coming over, if not, let's order in, I have to see that about my life as
a Christian, as a way to live this life, to live in victory dear
brothers today, there's lots of moral development plans to get you nice
and sober and well-equipped three months from now, six months from now,
but what's the gospel that says you can be like Jesus today, the Holy
Spirit, we must, don't, let's not blaspheme him, let's accept him, let's
embrace him and say Lord I want to, good news is that I can be different
today, as I walk out this building, that I can talk to my spouse
differently, that I can live in forgiveness differently today, you mean
not one day to work it all out and to process it out loud and you know,
go to therapists to let me figure out all that happened to my parents,
no, today, right now, I need the Holy Spirit Lord and he's given to us,
let's fight for this dear church of God, dear believers, their saints,
their brothers and sisters, their children of God, let's fight for this
that the world doesn't give us and pop psychology will tell you all
kinds of things that can help us be good two months from now, three
months from now, one year from now, so I said there are many programs
including many religions will tell you I can help you make 2018 a good
year, but we're fighting for let's make today a good day, that's what
we're fighting for, that's why we need the Holy Spirit today, in your
mess, in the midst of your mess, God can get you out of the kingdom of
darkness and bring you into the kingdom of life, for children who have
not received the Lord, God can do that today and for those of us who are
still stuck in some sins, God can get us out today, he can help me, let
me just go to him and ask him for help, Lord I'm as clueless about
dealing with the sin as I am in the kitchen, help me Lord and he'll help
us, the next one, he's an advocate, it's the same word that is used for
help or an advocate, but I like that other meaning, he's an advocate,
he's rooting for me, he's rooting for me, he groans with me, you know
all of us as we get older, we start to see the body starting to decay,
break down, all kinds of troubles and we're saying God, you know what,
I'm groaning, I can't wait till I get to be with you and I'm fully in
the redemption of my body and I get a brand new body, I don't have to
hear all these creaks from the bones rubbing against each other, those
days are over and I groan for that man, I can't wait for that day and
God says in the same way, the Holy Spirit groans with our weakness, he's
not throwing stones at us, he's groaning with us, we've got to listen to
hear the Holy Spirit groaning, advocating on our behalf to the Father,
to God, saying I'm not giving up on you Israel, it's a wonderful,
beautiful Holy Spirit is groaning over us, he's advocating for us, God's
on our side, we really need to treasure and value the Holy Spirit and
the last one is another one that's absolutely special to me too, he
draws me to Jesus, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is such a wonderful
person because he's trying to unite me with Jesus, he's trying to make
me one with Jesus, he's trying to make me one with Jesus like a bride
and a bridegroom are one, he's not interested in our songs, he's not
interested in our professions of great things, he's not interested in
our meditations while on bed, when God says come catch the foxes with
me, arise, come with me to the mountains, the Holy Spirit's constantly
trying to get us up to say go be with Jesus, don't do Bible study, go be
with Jesus, don't have long hours of prayer, go be with Jesus, don't go
and solve world hunger, go be with Jesus, don't do whatever you want, go
be with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is groaning within us saying go be
with Jesus, go be with Jesus because Jesus is the most beautiful person
that exists, John 16 14, he will glorify me, he will make Jesus more and
more special to me, how can we overcome sin dear brothers and sisters,
all these sins that hold on to us, character modification, a different
approach Jesus, the Holy Spirit offers which is I'll make Jesus so
beautiful, you wouldn't even want to sin and he wants to make the Holy
Spirit so beautiful to us and that's the attraction, the attraction of
the world is gone because Jesus is genuinely more interesting to me,
that Jesus is genuinely better than all the attractions of this world,
who can do, who can offer such a life, who can do such a life in my
filthy wretched life that I have right now, that's full of these lusts
and desires of God says the Holy Spirit can do it and he's available for
us today, we don't get transformed into his image today but today the
start begins and we fight for these, we long for these and we seek for
these with all of our heart to say Lord this is my heritage, I want you
to draw me to Christ, I want you to convict me that I'm the one who
crucified you, I want these things to be real in my life and you said
the Holy Spirit will do that to me, fill me Lord, I'm not going to
debate whether you gave him to me, you gave him to me but now make these
things real to me, help me not to live by feelings but help me to be
constantly drawn to Jesus, going back to him, going back to the one, the
one that I killed the Holy Spirit saying come, be with him, be with him,
the Bible ends with saying the Spirit and the Bride say come, the Bride
of Christ has that heart and the Holy Spirit is telling each one of us
groaning with us and come, come be with Jesus, there's so much we can
meditate on the Holy Spirit let me end with what I started, let us not
blaspheme the Holy Spirit and blaspheme God's word by making the Holy
Spirit more inaccessible than he needs to be and let us repent if we've
made it easier for our children to receive the Holy Spirit and we're
making it on ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit, I'm not talking about
gift of healing, I'm not talking gift of teaching, I'm not talking about
gift of tongues or any of that stuff, I'm talking about the Holy Spirit
as a person to do all of these things, to help me, to convict me that
I'm the one who killed Jesus, to draw me to Jesus, why wait, don't wait
dear brothers, don't sisters, don't wait till tomorrow, he wants us to
live in holiness today, he says be holy as I'm holy, Lord I have no
chance, well I'll give you my Holy Spirit, he is holy, that's in his
name, it's wrapped up in his name, I'll give you the Holy Spirit, then
Lord, yes, he'll help me to be holy today, may God help us, let's close
in prayer.

Father I pray Lord that the Holy Spirit may grow in significance in our
lives, that the Holy Spirit will become such a precious part of the
Trinity, Lord, we baptize people, we believe that you are three in one,
you're the Father and you're the Son and you're the Holy Spirit, and the
Holy Spirit is the one who gets to live with us Lord, it's the same
Spirit of Christ, that same Spirit that Jesus wielded faithfully every
single temptation and lived the flawless perfect life, that same Holy
Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead has promised to give us
resurrection life, all these things are not possible Lord, without the
Holy Spirit we want to repent Lord Jesus of all these man-made efforts
we've made to try to live better lives, help us dear Lord Jesus to see
our continuous need for the Holy Spirit, that we would pray always, that
we would pray without ceasing, knowing that we constantly need the Holy
Spirit to help us, help us dear Lord Jesus, in Jesus name, Amen. Let me
end with one last thought, how many things can you do without Jesus? And
you know the Bible answer, how many things are we doing today without
Jesus? You know how many things Jesus did without the Father's help? He
says I do nothing, we need to be trending in that direction, we're doing
less and less without checking in with the Father, many things are
lawful but not all things are profitable and then God will start showing
you some things that are technically lawful in God's history, there's
nothing wrong with reading our Bible at night and saying Lord I want to
stay on it, lie in bed at night and I can comfort myself that I read
scripture, but God was saying you know I was knocking at your door
telling you to come out with me, is there something, have we seen the
evil of burying our talent in the ground? Did we lose the talent? No,
God gave me one, here you go, God's a wicked, you're a wicked person, if
you just give back what I gave you, I want you to get a return on it, so
when God gives us the Holy Spirit, He wants a return, His Holy Spirit
and my filthy body, what's the return? A holy temple, a holy body now,
here God gives you the Holy Spirit back, the end of my life, filthy
temple, God says you're a wicked person, I gave you the Holy Spirit, you
didn't do anything with it, just buried him, didn't use him to transform
your body, may this not be true in our lives, let us really receive the
Holy Spirit today, to live holy lives today, Amen.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/JaipYT_fIEc.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/the-holy-spirit-living-in-us/
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