Breathe on me, breathe of God

 Fill me with life anew

That I may love what thou dost love

 And do what thou wouldst do

 Here I am Holy Spirit

 Come walk with me

 Help me hear what the Lord is saying 

 Holy Spirit you are welcome here

 Let us have a moment of silence to wait upon the Spirit.

 
In Psalms 

David says,

O God, You are God;

Early will I seek You;

soul thirsts for You; I

flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your Power and Your glory.

 
David declares that his flesh longs for God while his soul thirsts. Isaiah meanwhile in 26:9 says that with his spirit he will seek God. So we have the flesh longing for God, the soul thirsting　 and the spirit seeking. It is noteworthy that in　Moses' accounts of the Tabernacle we find: the　outer court, which is symbolic of the Flesh; the　Holy Place, which is symbolic of the soul; and the Holy of Holies, which is symbolic of the spirit.

Longing takes one to the Outer Court; thirsting takes one to the Holy Place; and seeking leads one to the Holy of Holies.

 So as we long for God we go into prayer, which is the place where God begins to deal with and crucify the flesh. It is a place of struggle where, as we get on our knees each day, all we can think about at first is our guilt, our failures, our great needs. We repeat ourselves over and over, and God seems a million miles away. We wonder if we're accomplishing any- thing. We want to fall asleep, to take a break-any- thing.  What we don't immediately realize is that the longer we are on our knees, the less of the flesh remains. A death begins as we are on our knees. As soon, as God finishes crucifying the flesh, a breakthrough comes-you feel it-and suddenly your prayer becomes real. A river gushes out of your inmost being, and your words become meaningful.

The presence of God comes in, and something real happens to you. You may even begin to weep.  That breakthrough may take a half hour, an hour, maybe longer. It will take as long as needed, depending on where you are with the Lord, what your relationship is with Him. He must deal with the idols and the sins in your heart. Any Isaacs in your heart must die (which is what God was determining with Abraham). If you haven't prayed for a long time, you can't expect a breakthrough after the first minute or two.

Remember, this is a daily matter. The break-through doesn't come once for all time. "I die daily," Paul says in I Corinthians 15:31. There will be a struggle each time we go into this kind of prayer. The presence and the anointing don't come today because you died twenty years ago. They come today because you died this morning. God does not use leftovers.  The way you will know when the breakthrough comes is that guilt will disappear. The absence of guilt means you have broken through. You have sought Him and found Him.

 At some point, then, will come the "thirsting" for Him. Your soul will thirst for Cod. David said in Psalm 42:1-2,

 
 As the deer pants for the water brooks,

 so pants my soul for You, O God.

 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

 when shall I come and appear before God!

And that is exactly what happens to us. Our soul

thirsts to come before the living Cod; it thirsts for His presence.

 David's imagery is perfect. A deer seeks water for two reasons; one, because he is thirsty and, two, because he is being chased by another animal. He knows that his scent will be lost if he gets into the water. He will be safe. So it is with us believers. We thirst for the presence of God because it satisfies our souls and because no enemy can touch us. The devil cannot find us. That's why David also wrote, ''You are my hiding place" (Ps. 32:7).

 So when you and that water for which your soul has been longing, praise will erupt in you. You will know that you are in the Holy Place, where praise is genuine. There will be none of the matter-of-fact and routine ''praise the Lord; thank you, Lord." It will become real. Every part of your being will be thanking Him - even for those things that an hour　ago you could not thank Him for. Everything a become beautiful.

 Let us take another closer look at what this means, the connection of the temple the tripart human and the triune God. Again the temple is made up of the outer Court the inner court and the Holy of Holies.  In the outer court the sacrifices are burned. The inner court and the Holy of Holies is separated by a curtain. Now it might be helpful to know about this curtain which was probably close to 6 inches (15 cm) thick. In the Holy of Holies the Spirit of God resides with the commandments.  We are also tripart, Body (flesh) Soul (mind and Heart) and Spirit. Now, many confuse soul and spirit but we must separate then. The only thing that can be said is that they are both part of the inner-man, the part that leaves the flesh behind upon death. Now finally the triune God. Father – creator, mind.  Jesus, flesh, spirit manifestation of the living God in the flesh.  Spirit. Strangely enough If we consider these points we find a progression of faith as well. We often can believe that there is some God, Then we find Jesus and are saved by his sacrifice. We then live a new life through the spirit. But why is this all important.

Let us begin with the temple, as most of you know only the high priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies and then only once a year. The Priest wore special robes with bells attached and a rope was often tied around His waist, for you see entering the Holy of Holies was a dangerous thing.

 Hebrews 13: 11,12

 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

 If the priest were not pure and did not bring the sacrifice or anointing the tabernacle properly he would fall dead.  Only the high priest was allowed in and only once a year. Can you imagine having this job.

 But let’s move ahead to today’s scripture and this is the amazing part when it all comes together.

This is the cross and today we will look at what immediately followed Jesus’ atoning death on the cross because it indicates a idea that was so important in the early church. And is missed by so many in the church today. You see the early church as seen in the book of acts and beyond lived the resurrection life and the life of the Spirit. It is often said that Acts in the Bible Should have been entitled the Acts of the Holy Spirit. But many today stop there at the cross

 45  From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.

46  About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

47  When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

48  Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.

49  The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

50  And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

 51  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

52  The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

53  They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

54  When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!""

 Here is a verse that many miss and is a challenge of faith

 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

 Wow, instant resurrection.

 But it is not the most significant part of the verse 51 is very important in understanding the transfer of the holy of Holies, the transfer of the temple of God. As this 15 cm curtain is torn the Holy Spirit, the actual presence of God is opened for all.

Let me repeat

As this 15 cm curtain is torn the Holy Spirit, the actual presence of God is opened for all.

By tearing the curtain God, Jesus open the presence to all, not just the high priests and we may all approach the Holy of Holies the Holy Spirit. We may all seek God’s face. We may all present ourselves to him and let him reveal and convict and force us to our knees and bellies in prayer and worship. This is absolutely incredible and essential to the priesthood of all believers. Our only mediator is faith and Jesus for He becomes are High Priest

 Hebrews 3:1

 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

 So Jesus becomes the High priest but more then that and this is the most incredible part, He is also the blood sacrifice.

 Hebrews 10:10-17

10       And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

Awesome!!

There is no need for anything else. Jesus allows us to approach with him the Holy of Holies, and as we approach there it comes here into us into our own Holy of Holies into our own Spirit. Deep calls into Deep. Spirit of God joined with your spirit and coming to Harmony. Wow!!!

 But there is a hitch. You see the Holy Spirit resides where the covenant resides. If we do not have the covenant written in or Soul the spirit cannot reside and this is why we keep the commandments, so we may fully approach God.

 Just as with the temple the flesh must be burned outside we must leave our fleshy lives our flesh problems our fleshy desires our fleshy sin outside to be burnt.

 Daily we lay the sacrifice through prayer. Daily we enter the temple and the triune God enters us. Daily we may now stand before God and seek his Face as Moses did. And as we bring the worship and praise to Him. As we walk into the temple we find we can not carry the burdens of the flesh and they fall away. What freedom we have what glorious freedom.

 Are you getting all this? Do you understand?

 We are not finished there though, because we have to also assume that just as the Holy of Holies had a curtain so do we. We too must remove the curtain so that the Love of the Holy Spirit may energize us and that may flow from our Spirit to others.

 This is something we must do. We must give permission for Christ to enter us. We must allow Him into our inner court and into our Holy of Holies and so I ask you to Tear the curtain as Christ and Spirit tore the curtain of the Temple

 Let us call the spirit and let us pray

 Alleluia

 Now if you want the Spirit communication that we have been speaking of tear the curtain as a symbol of our opening ourselves to the Holy One

 Now the Holy of Holies

  Do you remember that in Psalm 63:2, David spoke of wanting to see Cod's ''power and glory"; That comes with the third stage, the seeking and dying to self that must come before the anointing. This is found in the Holy of Holies, symbolic of the spirit. It is the place where you say nothing, you do nothing. You don't pray. You don't sing. You receive.  That's the place David meant when he said in Psalm 42:7,

  Deep calls unto deep at the noise of  your water falls;

all Your waves and billows have gone over me.
  

 In the Outer Court, my mouth was talking to God. In the Holy Place, my Soul was talking. In the Holy of Holies, my spirit talks Deep calling unto deep. This is where prayer without ceasing is born where you bask in the glory of God. You are not longing. You are not thirsting. You are drinking.  ''Be still, and know that I am God," David wrote in Psalm 46:10. You are so full that you cannot talk. Words are inadequate. You are totally in His presence. You are not interested in what He can do for you; you are interested in knowing Him.

  Let me assure you that, as you enter the Holy of Holies on a daily basis, it becomes more natural, quicker. It may not take you a half hour to break through; it may take five minutes. You may only have to call out His name, ''Lord," and there it is. Also, the more time you remain in the presence of God, the more that presence will rub off on you. The thicker it will get, you might say.  For example, the first time you break through, you might come out of your room and say to your wife, ''Hello, darling," and she will know as you talk that you have been in the presence of God. A week later, say, as you have been spending more and more time with the Lord, you will walk out and before you say anything, she will feel the glory. You won't have to say anything.   With Peter the apostle this reached the point where people expected to be healed when his shadow fell upon them (Acts 5:15).