Thanks for tuning in to the Summit Church podcast. My name is Curtis Andrusco and I've had the joy of pastoring here at the summit for a little over 12 years now. If you're new around here, the Summit Church is one church that meets in many locations across Raleigh Durham every single weekend. But every once in a while, the Lord allows us to come together as one church all in the same place for something really special. Well this year that is happening at what we're calling church at the DOOM!

On Sunday September 21st we'll be holding all of our weekend services together at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill. We're going to have two services throughout the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. But we're going to worship together, open God's Word together, celebrate baptisms together, And man, just take time to recognize, respond,

and give thanks to God for all he's been doing in

and through our church.

A gathering like this, let me tell you,

is the perfect opportunity to invite someone,

whether it's a neighbor or a coworker,

a teammate friend, or a family member

who might not normally come to church.

Just a little pro tip, if you tell them

you'll pick them up their favorite coffee, have it ready, tell them you'll take them to a UNC's basketball arena for free and then buy them lunch after, there's probably nobody that's going to turn that down, so make sure you take advantage of that. But listen, all the details, how to get your free tickets, parking info, service times, FAQs, all of that stuff, it can be found on our website at summitchurch.com slash church at the dome. And if you're not in triangle area, you should absolutely consider flying in for this weekend because it's gonna be an amazing event. But if that's not an option, no worries, we've got you covered as you can join us online on YouTube or at live.summitchurch.com. Again, we've seen God move in powerful ways when we've gathered like this in the past and we are praying and believing that he will do it again and I really hope you'll be a part of it. All right now let's get into today's message. I'm praying that this message today would encourage you, challenge you, and help you grow as a disciple of Jesus. Light of all this going on though, this is a very special weekend for us because for some time now we've had some very special plan for the Summit Church. It's not often that I read a book and feel like, I think that's the best book that I read in this year. And then the next year, read another book by the same author and think, well that's the best book I've read this year. The first book I read by Tyler Staten was called Pray Like Monks and Live Like Fools. It was a book about prayer. We have one fan of it over here. And it's a book about prayer. I wrote a book also on prayer called Just Ask. And when I read Tyler's book, I thought,

well, Tyler's book is the book that I was trying to write.

The book I wish that I had written, but it wasn't. And then the next year I read his book that I held here in my hand called the Familiar Stranger. It's a book on the Holy Spirit. I also wrote a book on the Holy Spirit Tyler. It was called Jesus Continued. when I read Tyler's book, I thought, well, that was the book I was trying to write on the Holy Spirit.

And I often tell people, I am 100 well, that was the book I was trying to write on the Holy Spirit.

And I often tell people, I am 100% sincere with this. God is my witness. When people ask me one book to read on either prayer or the Holy Spirit, I'm like, if you're gonna read one, read, pray like monks and live like fools, you're gonna read one of the Holy Spirit, read the familiar stranger. And so I knew that I never met him, met him but I wanted to have him here just to be a part of our church and to be a part of what is going on here in the triangle.

And so we came in and spent some time with our staff. He's been here with us all week, and we're privileged to have him come and preach to you this weekend. And on top of all these other wonderful things, when he walked into my office, we'd never met before. first time never exchanged a word. He walked in and saw a poster of Nicholas Cage and he said,

I love Nicholas Cage. And I said, I said, now, I might be in punk, and he said, no, he said, I really feel like Nicholas Cage might be the most underrated actor of our generation. And I just begin to weep and I walk over and I put my hands around him and I said, I see you friend and you see me. And so, hey, for multiple reasons, Tyler, we love you. grateful for you. Put your hands together, some of it all campus doesn't welcome Tyler Staten. Thank you. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, right now as we prepare to open up your word,

we also open up our hearts and I pray God that you would enable us to do more than to reflect on good news and an ancient story of what you did among people a long time ago, but I ask and invite you, Lord, to plant your kingdom in new and fresh ways in my heart and in the hearts of my brothers and sisters today. In Jesus' name, amen. Just recently, just a few weeks ago, a few friends were over for dinner at my place. There was several friends from my local church community and then there was Nora, a high school friend who just happened to be in town in Portland, Oregon where I live and pastor. And after dinner, we spent a few moments just sitting there in the living room listening to God and praying for one another when a friend from my church community who had only just met Nora that evening, like a couple hours before said, Nora, I'm sorry, this is going to sound strange. But as we were praying, I just had this picture of you in my imagination wandering around in the lobby of a movie theater. And just this deep sense that Jesus wanted to say to you that he sees you there and draws particularly close to you when you are in that place. Now Nora's older sister took her own life about five years ago. They were super close and she was always Nora's movie going companion and ever since her loss, Nora will walk around in movie theaters in the midst of Bouts with anxiety. In fact, just the day before she had stepped into a movie theater lobby in Portland trying to stave off a panic attack because there's something about the dark lights and the bright auditorium and the smell of popcorn and all of it that just calms her in some therapeutic way. Nora does not consider herself a follower of Jesus. She's very much on the fence when it comes to God and she's pretty suspicious of any form of organized spirituality. But here she sits in my living room sobbing amongst warm, loving strangers who have somehow unknowingly spoken directly into her place of deepest pain with divine comfort. So I want to talk to you friends this morning about the Holy Spirit. Now the biblical picture that we're offered is that of a triune God, father, son, and spirit. And I think we mostly get the Father. He is in heaven parenting all of us His children. And we know the Son Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God, that came to show us what God is like and even make a way through sin and death back into fellowship with that God. The Spirit, though, something more of an urban legend. Like I know you've heard the rumors, but have you spotted the Yeti? That kind of thing.

The spirits like that,

one person in your friend group

that you've always been with in group settings,

but never out of one-on-one conversation with,

...