Don't Ax The Book of Acts

Don't axe the book of Acts. Don't axe the book of Acts. And that will make sense here shortly.

And as a pastor, it's hard for me sometimes because I wanna weigh through a lot of the news that's out there and a lot of things that are going on. And you don't wanna get caught up in conspiracy theories and you don't wanna live in fear. But I do think we need to be, as churches and Christians, prepared.

The next, I believe, couple months are gonna get very interesting. I'm not gonna be political, take sides, but there's just no way in the world what they call the deep state is gonna allow Trump to even come close to winning. What does God want? I don't know, we're gonna find out.

But that's gonna cause a big upheaval. A lot of talk is cyber attacks that are very realistic. And as someone who used to dig trenches miles and miles and miles for Southern California Edison, I can let you know the power grid is not that safe, okay? It's not, we're just hanging by the thread here.

God keeps us together. So with that said, though, I think we should be prepared. And as we get into the book of Acts, I think it's gonna help prepare us spiritually.

But of course, water, some extra food, some cash on hand. I mean, it's just wise because we don't know what we're getting into. I'm praying against all of that and God's on the throne.

We're not worried, but he does tell us to use wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing. I think sometimes we forget about that, even myself.

Well, I'm just kind of led of the spirit, God will show me. Well, yeah, but also you have to use wisdom. Wisdom makes the car payment.

You don't just wait for a check to come in the mail, right? You've got to apply some things. And we are at a very critical junction in our nation. It's no longer about politics, it's about power.

Oh, that seemed to go. Power. When you weaponize the government to go after opposition, you've become a third world country.

And we are seeing some things that do not even make sense. For example, as Christians, we love immigrants, right? We love all nationalities, but just to allow whoever to come in unchecked, unvetted, hey, here's some money, here we'll fly you every, like things don't make sense. There's an agenda going on that is demonic, really.

And we have to call it out and we have to be prepared. I think Newsom though on Friday vetoed the big bill giving illegal immigrants $150,000 for homes. So we're on the same side on that one.

So see, I can love those who are truly needing help, but I can also at the same time protect the families. The greater responsibility is first to protect your family. The Bible says, if you don't care for your own, you're worse than an infidel.

You get your house in order and then you can help others. It's not the other way around because all kinds of just wickedness is coming in. And I don't know where this is all gonna lead.

I will not remain silent. I'd rather retire as a pastor than not talk about important issues that are confronting the church. So with that said, we're gonna reemphasize again, reminding you, difficult times require intense responses.

So a reminder, we have a 6 a.m. service where you can come. We're just gonna worship on for an hour and a half. And then we go right into prayer.

And then we go into the services. Talk about getting your heart on fire for God. That you've just been all morning focusing on Him.

And so we wanna let you know that we're gonna be that's gonna be one of the ways we get through these difficult times. It's not coming to church every now and then. Couple times a month, I'll come to church.

Try eating a couple times a month. That doesn't work. You will die physically eventually.

You will wither on the vine spiritually. I mean, you can do it at home, you can do it wherever, but there's gotta be an in-depth and persuasive and passionate pursuit of Christ. And so we're gonna, well, let me just read Acts 1 first because I had to take out like three pages and condense this down.

Yeah, let's read Acts 1. I think we have it up there. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which He was taken up after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commands to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Jesus actually appeared, I think they estimated around 500 people that we know of, before His ascension as giving more valid proof of who He is and what He accomplished.

And then the famous verse from chapter one, the Holy Spirit promised, the Holy Spirit promised, and being assembled together with them, Jesus is with them, He commanded them. Now this is very interesting. He told all His disciples, they had been with Him for years, a couple, right, three years.

They've seen the miracles. Here He is risen from the dead. You think they're a little excited? I mean, nothing's going to stop them now.

But He said, actually, don't leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. Wait, which He said, you have heard from Me, for John truly baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Wow, apart from salvation, you are being introduced to the second most important aspect of Christianity bar none.

You realize that? I have no problem saying that. Of course, apart from salvation, this endowment of the Spirit, this power of the Spirit, this anointing of the Spirit, this unction of the Spirit, this is where you go from barely existing as a Christian to on fire for God. God moves on behalf of those who are filled with His Spirit.

And as much as I would like to break down each verse, I'm going to do that, there's so much I want to say to you this morning because it's important to set the foundation. And I've been praying this week, praying for God to anoint these services. And I will publicly confess, God, I need your anointing on this series.

I don't want to preach from frustration. I don't want to be a smart aleck with people who might not agree. I want that humility, God, I want your anointing.

And that word is thrown around lately. I mean, it's thrown around a lot, but lately, you know, even more, and people kind of cringe at that word. You know, if you cringe at that word, that's okay.

And it all depends on who says it, right? If John MacArthur says it, oh, it's okay. Benny Hinn says it. Or Kenneth Copeland says anointings.

Let me go this direction, right? And it's like, who's saying it? And what do they mean by it? But I just wrote this down yesterday. It's when God touches you for a task. When He empowers you for a promise.

When He calls you for a purpose. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But we can only do what God's called us to do.

Not unrealistic things and things that are out of my lane and maybe things with the wrong motives. And I was thinking of this verse. I went to the park with my daughter.

I was sitting there. I'm like, I wonder if I could use this verse against Michael Phelps. I'm gonna race you.

And I can beat you. Because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens. Out of context, I'll lose really bad.

So you have to be careful where you apply Scripture and how you apply it. But I truly believe when God anoints a person, calls them to do something, you can accomplish that. Because it's God working through you and in you.

Despite setbacks, despite circumstances, despite failures and fallings, you can get back up and finish that task. So finding out what He wants us to do is the key. And that does not happen without this filling of the Holy Spirit.

And you know that anointing, right? I mean, we hear it, we were at Grace Fest or at different places. And there's a difference between gifting and gifting with anointing. Correct? And praise God, our team has been anointed by God, called by God.

Because it's when the anointing meets the gifting, that's powerful. That's when hearts are changed. That's when the heavens are rend by His Word.

And so as we get into this, I want you to understand that many have the Word, but do they have worship? Many have the Word, but do they have worship? And of course, I get the pushback a lot when I talk about this. Well, you know, worship is a lifestyle, Shane. Usually from those who don't worship.

But yeah, I gotcha. I know it is. But there also should be something beating in our heart that wants to worship God.

Wants the Word, but wants worship. It's a balanced meal. You have your macronutrients of carbs, fats, and protein.

You got the worship and the Word and prayer. A balanced Christian, a balanced approach. Because if we just only have the Word, we can be filled with Bible knowledge, but no heart engagement.

So in this first one in the series, Don't Ask the Book of Acts. It is number one in the series. This is probably going to take a while, because I'm not in a hurry.

It's what I call the slow cook series. I don't know if I put this up there. But you think of the crock pot.

So we're just going to come, maybe it's a verse for the day. Maybe it's the chapter. Maybe, you know, I don't know.

I just want to be open to what God wants to do in this church. And by slow cook, I mean, let's ponder what God's Word is saying. Let's not hurry up and get through it.

And I want you to follow along, and if you miss a certain service, just go back and listen again, because you might miss important ingredients. We are putting something together here that might take a little bit of time. And I remember when I first came back to the Lord, it took a little bit of time hearing about revival.

Hearing about the Book of Acts. Hearing about the empowerment of God. Hearing about the empowerment of the Spirit, right? You're being challenged on so many different levels.

You're being convicted. And it's a process of God working in our hearts. And what I'm also going to do that's a little bit different is what I'm discussing today, it's not really part two, but it will be more of this on Wednesday for the next six Wednesdays.

I'll be preaching the next six Wednesdays. Abraham will be helping at Ignite and different things on vacation. So the next six Wednesdays, I will be here preaching, God willing, on this Book of Acts as well.

It won't be part two. What I'm going to do though is add to what we've already discussed. Maybe read some Christian bios to fuel desire.

I don't know about you, but when I read stories of Christians being empowered by the Spirit, D.L. Moody and all the Oswald Chambers, and it's very encouraging. So whatever I don't get to today or finish today, I'm going to bring it up again on Wednesday. And then Sunday will be part two of the series.

And then Wednesday, I'm going to focus more on that again. So every Sunday is going to be a different part. I hope that's not confusing.

I probably should have just said Wednesdays, I'll give you more on this first point. And I also don't want to intentionally load you down on the length of the sermon. That's hard sometimes for preachers.

Because you can get so much done in 30 minutes or 35 or 45. Now if God's in it, and it's called Preaching by the Puritans. And their sermons were like an hour and a half to two hours.

Very theologically sound and very deep. And you can read their works, no phone and internet, they had a lot of time to write. And write things down.

But I don't want to load you down on the length. So sometimes it might be shorter. Sometimes it might be lengthy.

But I don't want to just get through all these pages just to get through them. I want to stop and be sensitive to what God wants to do. But what do I mean by don't ax the book of Acts? Don't ax the book of Acts.

Well, there are critics. Did you know there are Christian critics of the New Testament? I'm sorry, of the book of Acts. They're Christians.

And they're critics. They say the New Testament book of Acts is not for theological positions. It simply records the events of the early church.

So in other words, when you try to pull out doctrine on the Holy Spirit from the book of Acts, they say no, that book's not written as doctrine. It's just an experience. You can't go there, Shane.

Now, 99.9% of the time, it's from those who no longer believe in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. So that kind of makes sense. And there is some truth to that.

We can't start pulling out doctrine out of the book of Acts as far as, oh, this happened and this happened and this happened and this happened. We have to make sure it's grounded in other New Testament books of the Bible for sure. But I believe it can be used in a very powerful way.

Ironically though, this group of critics, they draw some of their doctrines from the book of Acts as long as it's not about the miraculous. And so I want to ask you a question. I don't think I have it in here because I just thought of it yesterday.

For many of you, and there's a lot going to be listening on the radio. Many of you know we've got the sermons go out on about 80 different radio stations throughout the United States. A lot of people listening.

And so I want to throw this out there to everyone, not just you, because a lot of people here are really good at this, but would you consider turning off the negative voices against the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit just for a season? Just for a season. Just seek God. Don't listen, I'm not saying just listen to me only.

I'm saying listen to God and the Word. Spend time in the Word. Because what happens when we start to listen to all these negative, they're not really fans of the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit.

If we're constantly filling our mind with that, then it can be really distractive because I do know this, in my own heart and own life, if you begin to push away the power of the Spirit and begin to question and begin to grieve, and I don't really want that, and I just want doctrine and doctrine and doctrine, you'll push that away, because actually real doctrine comes alive in the power of the Holy Spirit. You have doctrine, sound doctrine, but also, I don't know how people do it with just one. Like I often say, Bible straight as a gun barrel theologically, but just as empty.

You need to put that round in the chamber and let that be the explosive power of the Spirit. Daniel M. Durrani said, where there is no direct teaching, for example, in the book of Acts, narrative provides guidance, and biblical narratives guide readers in their proper use. So the narratives in the book of Acts can be used for us to better understand the heart of God.

Those who live before the council of Nicaea, what that was, the council of Nicaea in AD 325, it was when a group of Christian leaders got together and they basically said these are the 66 books of the Bible, and what they call the canon of Scripture. That's when that happened. 325 years, probably 300 years, a little bit less than after Jesus, they finally said, okay, these are the books that the early church has been using for a couple hundred years.

We're going to acknowledge them. But Ignatius, he was one of these people who lived before the council of Nicaea. They're called the anti-Nicaean fathers, which means they came before this council, and we can learn a great deal from them.

Ignatius of Antioch, in his letters, they contain numerous points of application from the Gospels and the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles. So if you can go to the early church fathers, see, we don't look to them for doctrine because, I mean, I can point out Aaron Origen, Augustine, some of his writings, Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Irenius, Ignatius, there's some of the things like, and that's where some of the Roman Catholic doctrines come from, for example, infant baptism. So we don't look to them for truth, but it's interesting if they confirm and they reference and they comment on Scripture.

We can say this is the early church, the first hundred years of the church. Look at what they're saying. And so he talked about the book of Acts.

And I'll probably talk more about this on Wednesday, actually, on this topic. But it's so important as we get into this topic of spiritual hunger, spiritual hunger, it's important to build an appetite now for what lies ahead. See, my goal is to start building that spiritual hunger now.

So you want to come Wednesday, you want to come Sunday or Sunday morning, and you're getting that fire back for God. It's not just about coming to church, it's wanting to open the Word again. More, wanting to put on worship.

And you know, let's say it's later in the day and we're starting to get hungry and we start talking about barbecued tri-tip in the back. And I start telling you every 20, you guys smell that now? And you know the same thing can happen with spiritual hunger? We can begin getting hungry for the things of God. Or the opposite, full on the world don't want the things of God.

And our hunger diminishes. We don't really want to press in to God like we used to. And so that is one of my goals, to increase that spiritual hunger and build that appetite.

And for us to remind us to come with childlike faith. Childlike faith. It's not just when Jesus said, if you have faith like these children, when talking about the kingdom of God and repentance, right? But I also believe that has an overarching principle to it.

Right, childlike faith. They would come to Jesus and they would just believe Him and they would come expecting and they would just, whatever you say versus now as you get older, if you're like me, the spirit of doubt comes up a lot. Anybody develop a critical spirit? And we don't come with childlike faith anymore.

We come to judge. Or to pull down. Or with the wrong heart or wrong attitude.

And we've got to get rid of that. We've got to just say, Lord, what do you want to speak to me? What do you want to say to me through Your Word? And that's why I mentioned that the next six Wednesdays, I don't know if we have it up there, we're gonna be even doing that even more. Fuel the tank on, prime the tank on Sunday and then keep priming it on Wednesday.

And then Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, leading up to run the heavens. It's a building of an appetite. You'll see that often.

As you read about revivals and how God used the church to change a nation, it usually just didn't start one day. There was a time of pressing in and prayer meetings and hunger and desire and seeking and pursuing. And that hunger began to grow and then God began to honor that pursue of His presence.

And that's what it is, isn't it? The pursuit of His presence. The pursuit of His presence. That worries some people, but it doesn't worry me.

Because if you're in right standing with God, His presence is a wonderful thing. You know that song, Show Me Your Glory? I'm not as scared of that. Like, oh, that's just emotional worship.

It's biblical. Lord, show me Your glory. Show me Your power.

Show me Your presence. I want to feel that like Elisha when he felt the presence of God or Moses like the presence of God or David or how many examples in the Bible where God, the prophet Isaiah, I can't even look, I'm a man of unclean lips and my face has seen the king of kings. The Bible says that Elijah was a man just like us.

Why can't we experience God in those ways? What verse do you have? That God doesn't do that anymore is not a verse. It's a doctrine of demons because the more you pursue Him, and it's not about feelings. Maybe I should clarify this up front.

Emotionalism is when my emotions are getting all carried away and they're carrying me away and I'm being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. I'm just emotional. Today I'm up and tomorrow I'm down and I'm crying at the altar and my emotions are controlling me.

But when you're seeking God and you're pursuing God and God decides to breathe His breath upon you and the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you're feeling the emotions of that, that's good, that's God-given. Thank God for those emotions. My goodness, it's almost like people don't want to experience God.

Don't get too carried away. I've got to be out of here in 30 minutes. Did they just go 45 minutes on worship? What is going on in this place? My old church, we're done and in and out in an hour.

Well, good for you. But have you experienced the power and presence of God? Why is the work of the Holy Spirit so important? Have you thought about this? Why is the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart, in your life? I don't care if you're dead spiritually. I don't care if you're alive spiritually.

This topic is so important because it affects everything we do. This really hit home this week, thinking about if we're always quenching and grieving the Spirit and we're dead spiritually, and we're just, have you ever been there going through the motions? You're Lazarus, but you still got the grave clothes on. You're walking around, you're alive, but you're still dead.

And we just go through life that way. But that empowerment of the Spirit, when the Spirit comes alive upon a believer, it affects everything we do. From parenting to pastoring.

From leading a business to leaving a legacy. From the health of your marriage to the success of your family. Think about everything is affected by this.

Everything. The Spirit empowering believers. Why does He do that? It's to carry out God's will.

That's really the main thrust behind the Spirit-empowered life. I'm going to dig deep into this as we go, because it's actually one of my favorite topics if you haven't noticed. It's to carry out God's will.

So when I'm quenching and grieving the Spirit, let's say, there's so many rabbit trails, I'm trying to hold them back. But many of you are new and you haven't heard a lot of this, but in my 20s, like many of you, many of you listening, I was a Christian. Right? Yeah, I'm a Christian.

I believed, I repented when I was younger, but fruit, if you had a microscope, you could see it. Right? Nobody's looking. Yeah, I'm a Christian.

I might pray if I need anything. But right, just the basic, the Bible, this is boring, doesn't mean anything. Mom, come on, I don't know what this is.

This is boring. Doesn't mean anything to me. But I'll read all the secular magazines.

And so just going through life. 18, 19 mistakes. Hello? 20 mistakes, 20 mistakes, mistakes.

I always regret it the morning of, the next morning. Oh God, please help me not to do that again. Then I do it again.

Then I do it again. How many times have you said that? And that's why on one hand I cringe. I get like, I wasted my whole 20s.

Man, I'm like, well, thank God I didn't waste my 30s, 40s and 50s, right? And so I didn't do anything for God. What did I do for God? I did things for myself. I earned the money, paid the bills.

But I was a Christian. I didn't do anything for God. Nothing.

And looking back, it's like, amazing He let me live. Right, the grace of God, the mercy of God. That's why some of us are pretty emotional when we worship.

I mean, that song, I don't care how many times you've heard it, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see.

I just goosebumps even now. And at that tender age of 29 or so, when God finally said, okay, son, it's time to break you. And boy, did he ever.

Cried out to God, still remember, right at the home and everything, just not too far from here. Just bawling my head out, crying to God. But through all that tears and pain, it was just tremendous joy.

Like, what is going on here? What's going on here? All these tears and joy. And you got to remember, I'm lifting weights, I'm drinking beer, I'm like this, you know, just 270 pound guy, you know, rough guy and all. And God's just breaking me and breaking me and breaking me.

And then from that, I'm like, man, I got to find my Bible. Where's this hunger coming from? I'm like, this is in here? This is in here? About, just, I mean, so many scriptures when I first, I mean, you read them when I was younger, but they meant nothing. Like, yeah, whatever.

But now you open it, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Oh God, help me. And it's coming alive. Got the highlighter out.

It's coming alive. Got to turn off my Metallica and country music. Bye-bye, guys.

And I put on, back then it was popular, Hillsong with Darlene Check and all those songs. And I'm just, man, just joys filling my heart. And now God says, now I'm going to use you.

So it went from nothing for God to now He starts putting desires on my heart. Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. And all the things, writing the books, like it's just this desire to write books, which is funny, I couldn't spell well.

Thank God for Christina still editing. I was like, me writing? That's like the most, that's dumb. I mean, really, Lord? When He takes the foolish things, confuses the proud.

Shane Eidelman is doing book signings in Barnes and Noble? People are like flipping out. They're like, I'm like, I know, nobody's more surprised than me. And so God says, now I've got the vessel that I can use.

So that's why I get passionate about this. That's why I say hard things and convict because we need to be convicted and realize if we're quenching and grieving the Spirit, there's nothing more important than being refilled and refueled again, or for the first time. Many in the church of America have never experienced the full power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus actually said, wait until the power comes upon you. Now, I don't know if you're like me, I think these were believers before this event. Jesus breathed on them, received the Holy Spirit.

People like J. Verne McGee, who I appreciate, John McCarthy, they would say, no, no, no, they weren't. They didn't have the Holy Spirit yet. That was just a pledge.

No, it's because you don't like the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. You've got concerns with Pentecostals and Charismatics. That's why you say that.

They were believers, but He said, don't go do anything yet because you have not been empowered. Oh man, power keeps getting it. I better get this away a little bit.

Don't do anything. I know you've seen me. I rose again and you've seen the miracles, but don't do anything until the promise of the Father.

The Father said, when Jesus is glorified, lift it up, the Holy Spirit. I must leave, Jesus said, because if I don't leave, the Helper won't come. I mean, this is just an amazing moment.

And they're waiting and they're waiting in the upper room, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. And now they're just excited. They're worshiping the controversial doctrine of tongues.

Oh, that's for weird people. I guess they were all weird in the upper room. All the early church was weird there, the 120 that God filled them with the Spirit.

And if you understand the gifts of the Spirit, you'll see these things are weird. They're God using, what are all these? They're praising God in our language. The goodness of God, they're praising God in this language, this language, but they don't speak that language.

So it's not stupid or corny, it's weird. It's God filling them with the Holy Spirit. They're praising God in this unknown tongue to bless these other people.

And Paul even said, I pray in tongues more than all of you. I'm praying to God, not to man, he said. Paul makes it sound pretty positive.

But because of abuses, anybody seen any weird YouTube videos? Just me? It's like cringe, why, why, why? But anytime there's the authentic, the enemy's gonna try to disprove it. And so that's this Holy Spirit coming upon these believers. Now there is a difference, I believe.

The Holy Spirit has been given the day of Pentecost. We don't now have to go wait in a room for 10 days or two years or three years. You can't take a doctrine and say, okay, you have the Holy Spirit, now go press in, go out in the wilderness for a while, and maybe, maybe God will give you, the Holy Spirit will come upon you.

But this is interesting because countless Christians, again, I'll be talking about this on Wednesdays. You guys don't wanna miss Wednesdays, I'm telling you. Countless believers, including myself, D.O. Moody, Oswald Chambers, Adrian Rogers, A.W. Tozer, many of them received the power of the Spirit years after they were converted.

Wait a minute, I thought you, right, remember what I always say. You have all of the Holy Spirit, but does He have all of you? So it's like, okay, I'm a believer, I gotta go and wait for a while, maybe next year, this time. No, you surrender all now.

You say, God, everything is yours. You lay your face on the altar or your home and you worship, you say, God, take. He's not gonna go, you know what, let's just wait a year or two.

So in all the cases, it's because people have not fully surrendered their lives. Did I fully surrender at 12? Mm-mm, I don't wanna go to hell, I love Jesus, but I sure wanna follow the world for a while. Mm-hmm, let's see, what can the prodigal son do and get in trouble with? Yes, here's why we don't get out of sin, because it does feel good, doesn't it? I talked to three people, or at least three parents who knew people, their sons or their, yeah, I think their sons and daughters, at GraceFest, three of them heavy into alcoholism.

They're Christians. And I said, you know what, do they enjoy it? Yeah, yeah, you'll never break free of sin when you enjoy it. You'll never break free of sin when you enjoy it.

You need to see the death in it. Well, the Bible says drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. Right, if they're unrepentant, they say, this is who I am, it's my lifestyle, but those who are struggling in sin, we need a lot more grace for the struggler.

Don't forget about the struggler. Don't throw him in the same camp as the hypocrite. Because a believer, I might shatter somebody's world right now, so I don't know if I should say this, hmm.

You guys, that side, I don't know if you can handle it. Christians struggle with sin. Christians struggle with sin.

And so I look at these people and say, how do you, why can't you just stop? What's wrong with you? I'm a, why can't you stop? You're not a Christian. Well, I can't stop overeating. I can't stop drinking caffeine.

I can't drink, I'm hooked, I'm, right? We all have our struggles. Why can't you stop porn? Why can't you stop pride? Now when I do this, I'm not giving permission to go sin. Oh, Shane said we sin.

So I can, no. Paul said grace abounds. Should we keep sinning? He said absolutely not.

But when you recognize that there's people who struggle in life, and I've seen it here at a church. These people, they might not struggle with obvious sins or some of the ones I just mentioned, but they are just as prideful. Oh my goodness.

What a critical spirit. I don't want to run into this. They don't even see it, right? The pride in others I can clearly see, but thank God there's none in me.

And you know those people? It's like, oh my Lord. If I try to talk to them about it, they get defensive, the blinders. And so that's my point is there's people who are struggling with sin.

We have to help them through that struggle. As long as it's not a lifestyle, right? The Bible says homosexuals, drunkards, thieves, covets, adulterers, they're not gonna inherit the kingdom of God because they're unrepentant. But did you know you can struggle with all those things and still be a Christian? You might go a year or two years or three years.

A friend of mine, they used to go here. And it was a couple years ago, but they went like six or seven years together as a couple, clean, no alcohol. And they fell after seven.

Talk about depressing. But wanted to encourage him. No, okay, you need to get back up and keep fighting.

Don't let that become the cycle because you fall back into that cycle of defeat. The enemy has that stronghold again, and he begins to shame and guilt you. I don't wanna go to church.

I don't wanna read the Word. And you live in that prodigal state. That's why it's so important for the prodigal to repent and come home, back into the arms of the Father.

This is gonna be so good, guys. I'm so excited. I would go for about six more hours if I could on this topic.

Because think about it. How many people do have that spirit's endowment of power? Do you truly have that? And it's not like a light switch. And there are times it's, I don't even wanna, I can't preach, right? Quench your greed of the Spirit, whether it's fear, whether it's demonic attacks.

Have you ever been just down? This week I had a couple different issues. It was amazing how it just, it kills the spiritual life in you. But then you don't stay there.

You get back on track and let God refill you again. And so that is this whole topic of the Holy Spirit empowering believers. Was somebody using my microphone while I was gone? But you see how important this is? Because you can have doctrine, but the doctrine's not coming alive in your heart because you're arrogant or critical.

Or you can be carnal and not being experienced the power of God. And I hear that, I probably talk to more carnal Christians than prideful ones, but they want more of God, but they're stuck. They're stuck in that sin.

They're stuck in a wrong relationship. And it's hard to have the fullness and the fire of God if we're constantly stuck in our sin. What about even parents? We're not parenting like we should.

Overbearing, controlling, manipulating. And God wants to work a deep work on our hearts, but we keep suppressing it and making excuses. You are actually quenching and grieving the Spirit.

You see how this plays a role in everything. It plays a role in how we treat you. You don't want me to come here and I'm quenching and grieving the Spirit after 12 ounces of caffeine and I'm mad and irritable and angry.

I run to people. You're right, it affects everything. It's about getting our heart right.

Without this empowerment as Christians, we simply exist. We don't flourish. Can you think of how many are dying on the vine because they don't have this empowerment of the Spirit? I would say it's most Christians in America, wouldn't you? Maybe even a lot of you at this church.

It's okay, Hayden. He's excited about this topic too, huh? But isn't that true? And I don't say that arrogantly because I can fall into that camp really quick as well. That's the greatest dilemma and struggle with the believer is to walk in the Spirit and to be full of the Spirit versus walking in the flesh and being drawn away by the devil, being discouraged and quenching and grieving the Spirit.

And this is where many of us live. We try to come to church. We try to open the Word.

We try to do better. It's just an exhausting journey. It's challenging being filled versus empty of the world.

And that's why, how many of you remember the old Calvary chapels? They'd have something called Afterglow. The Methodists had Mourner's Bench. Others would have a decision room where you could really press in, really press in.

That was my design for Wednesdays over the next six weeks is to camp out at worship and have our hearts fueled by some of these biographies and revisit some of these topics on the filling and the fullness of the Spirit. But what I did in this series on the Holy Spirit, see, it's almost getting time to end in three more pages. But I went back to my roots for this series.

And I'm going to borrow a lot of material by someone, and you can write down this name if you'd like, by D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. Let me tell you why I like him.

Because he was as conservative and theological as they get, and he preached the power of the Holy Spirit. He actually preached on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a second endowment of power after the filling of the Spirit. So see, it keeps a lot of credibility when you quote people like him other than charlatans and weird people.

And reading his books, and I also listened to his tapes, and one of the books he recommended, it's called The Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wells. And I'm going to be sharing from that book. It's from Banner of Truth Publications.

It said this, never before translated into English, these two massive volumes, and they are big, they talk about the exciting story of the amazing spiritual transformation that affected Wells between 1735 and 1850. Of great value is the use of the author's eyewitness accounts from their diaries, journals, and letters. Why is this so important? Because this is a theological mastermind.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. John MacArthur said one of his top 10 books ever that he would request pastors to read is Preachers and Preaching by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was at a pivotal point in London's history.

He drew so many people in for conferences on the Puritans and revival. So see, this is where sound doctrine meets the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be straight as a gun barrel theologically, right, but we also need to be locked and loaded with the Spirit, and that's what we're going to do.

But I do want to leave you with this thought. Why is there a big divide in the book of Acts? I think we've got the next screen we can put up. Why is there a big divide in the book of Acts? Shane, what are you talking about? How many of you have heard of those two terms at the top? Anybody not heard of those two titles following the yellow? Okay, well, they're pretty easy because the name will explain it.

Sensationism comes from the word ceasing. So the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased. So the book of Acts, you listen to a person in a church, a pastor that believes this, their sermons are going to be way different than my sermons because the Holy Spirit doesn't do that anymore, they say.

And I say, why? How? Prove it. And then the other word, continuationism, believes that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit still continue. So we experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit legitimate.

We experience them, we read them in the book of Acts. I experience this, Paul talks about it. Paul talks about it right here.

But many of us, I don't know, you probably don't want to raise your hand, that we're conservative, right? We love the Word of God. We don't want to be weird. We don't want to be emotional.

We can kind of put up our guard to these things. Mainly men, correct? As leaders, as guards of our homes and guards of the churches. And the problem is though, if you push the Holy Spirit out too much, he might leave.

Now, of course, he's everywhere. He's not going to leave a believer, like in the Old Testament, he'd actually leave. Can you, I'm so glad I live in the Old Testament.

The Bible says, and the Holy Spirit came upon Saul. And the Holy Spirit left Saul. Can you imagine? I don't even want to feel what that feels like.

But that's why there is a big divide on this topic. And it's damaging, it's damning, it's dangerous. I remember me and my wife started going to a church in 2005.

And we're excited. It was actually Calvary Chapel. And we walked into what they call a church split.

Half the church left. It decimated it over this topic. The church believed, like Chuck Smith, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit still exist.

And Calvary Chapel is pretty conservative. They didn't get really carried away. But this other, the pastor started to read critics of the supernatural and started to gravitate towards the supernatural gifts leaving.

And so he could no longer teach what Calvary Chapel believed. So he announced it. We're there three weeks.

He announced it. The church split. It was ugly.

Never recovered still. The place was packed. It was sad to see.

And it's a very important topic. And we're gonna get into the reasons why. But the book of Acts is the manifestation of the Spirit working through believers.

Don't let that word manifestation confuse you or concern you because the Bible uses it. It just means God reveals Himself. God reveals Himself.

Why many don't believe in what we're going to teach in this series. Here's why. They've never witnessed the legitimate.

They've never seen something legitimate. Or they've witnessed it, but they thought it was chance or luck. I'll tell people genuine, and those of you who know me, I'm not real gullible.

I'm not, let's see if it happens. Let's test it out. I'm not gonna just go do something.

But there are legitimate, I've seen legitimate prophetic words that were absolutely impossible. And so I try to tell people that, they're like, well, I don't know, it could've just been that she had this on her heart, or they think I'm lying. Those are the only options really, right? And so it's just sad to believe that the Holy Spirit doesn't do what He did in Acts in the church today.

That's why the church is dead. I mean, you can go to some of these big conservative churches. You come in, they'll sing some hymns, they'll do a teaching, and we'll see you next week.

Some lives are changed because the Word went out. They heard it, right? But where's God moving in the hearts and lives of people? Are we open to praying for people to be healed and set free and delivered? Are we open to those things? And is God, are you wanting to do more? And I think maybe because I saw the legitimate early on. Legitimate.

I'm talking not from weird people on YouTube. Like missionaries, and in my own life, and like, oh, that's what Paul talks about. But now they say, Shane, that's of the devil.

What happened to me is of the devil? Yeah, oh, wow. I became a better husband, a better father, I became a pastor. Boy, the devil sure is not thinking clearly.

I opened up about this a few years ago. We share it on YouTube. And it was on this whole issue of tongues that I never spoke about for 18 years.

But when I explained that experience in 1999 or so, 29 years old, one of the things I started doing when I was worshiping is speaking this language I never even knew. And I'm crying, I'm weeping. I'm like, what is this? I thought these people were weird.

Like, I go up to my mom with the Pentecostal, I'm like, these people are weird. I'm not weird, I'm getting drunk and can't control my life, but they're weird, right? And so all this is just coming upon me, and I just can't, I'm loving, and then I'm reading Paul. Oh, okay, those who pray in tongues, those who, you know, the Spirit is unfruitful, or the Spirit is praying unto God, and it's edifying.

Paul says it's very edifying, and he talks about it. Oh, okay, so it's in the Bible. But then you run, oh no, that's of the devil.

Well, how am I having all this joy for God? I'm in the, I love the word now, I'm putting on worship, but the devil's doing that. You've lost your mind. I think the devil's more in you than in me.

Oh, don't get me started. Don't get me started, folks. Because you have to be careful, when Jesus said you're blaspheming the Holy Spirit, they were actually attributing the works of God to Satan.

So be careful, all you YouTubers out there, who are putting down legitimate movies of the Spirit and saying that's of the devil, could it be that you're blaspheming a legitimate work of God? Absolutely. You will not have the abundant fruit of the Spirit if you reject the power of the Spirit. You will not have the abundant fruit of the Spirit if you reject the power of the Spirit.

If I were you, what I would do is I would pray, Lord, I don't know about this bald-headed guy. Just because he experienced something doesn't mean anything true. I'll tell you to take it to the Word.

But those who believe the supernatural gifts have ceased to have a very hard time. They have a harder time proving that they've ceased than I do proving they still exist. If you wanna be biblical, let's get biblical.

Yeah, let's talk about the Word. You have a harder time proving that they don't. Just because you see weird people on TV and YouTube, that doesn't mean that God's not moving.

Of course, the enemy's counterfeiting it. And I'm gonna talk more about this issue either Wednesday or Sunday because it is important. The gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Why am I talking so much about this? Because the Bible is a story about the gifts of the Holy Spirit being used. First Sermon, and Peter being filled with the Spirit. What does that mean? That means the Holy Spirit came upon him.

And he started to preach Christ and Christ crucified. Paul was given a prophetic word, a word of wisdom. They cast out demons, they rebuked the demonic.

Everything they did in the book of Acts has to do with the supernatural. That's why when you go to very conservative Christian churches, you won't see the book of Acts being lived out. It's not being lived out.

So the gifts that I'm talking about, they confirm the Word of God. Yes, but that wasn't their only purpose. They also helped many people.

They healed them. There was deliverance. People were encouraged.

And I know this topic of deliverance is hot right now, isn't it? For those who, it's like, do I fully understand it? No. It's interesting. The demonic realm, can a person have a demon? Can a Christian have a stronghold? And there's a demonic stronghold and these things that, golly.

But there's no way in the world you can prove to me that the demonic realm isn't real anymore. That someone can't have a, just go watch Hollywood things to see if nobody, they're not even hiding anymore. Right, all these stars.

Now they're dressing like the devil and demons and these altars. It's like so demonic. Folks, we need to wake up to the reality of this.

But my point was pray. Lord, show me. I'm gonna open Your Word, 1 Corinthians 12.

I'm gonna start there and You show me, Lord. I wanna know. When it comes to doctrine, like doctrines like this, I often ask myself, if I only had the Bible, what would I believe? Have you ever thought about that? Do you know a lot of these obscure doctrines, they develop because people start writing books on certain things.

But if you just read the Bible, think about it, that's all you had? You come away with the thought that, yeah, this still happens. And then I heard recently somebody say, but Shane, we only need these on the mission field. Okay, well, if they're available anywhere, they're available everywhere.

Why some believe that the supernatural gifts have ceased. Here's where the rubber meets the road. And again, I'm laying down the foundation for the book of Acts.

This is priority number one. This will make a lot of sense. But I think that's gonna have to wait till Sunday.

Next week. I'll leave you a little snap right now so you can think about it. Basically, they believe that the supernatural gifts have ceased because the perfect has already come.

And the perfect is the Bible. And because we have the Bible, we don't need the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. That really sums it up.

But when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will be done away with. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. For now I know in part, but then I shall be just as I am known.

So they say they needed the gifts of the Spirit. We don't, because the perfect has come. Well, trying to make the Bible be the perfect is pretty challenging theologically too.

The word is teleos. It means having reached its end, complete, perfect state. So obviously, even John Calvin has commentary.

You can look it up. Even many great commentary, many reformers say, the perfect is Jesus. We're waiting on Jesus to come.

We still look through a glass dimly. I don't know about you, but I still need a little help. I still need a little guidance by God.

I'm not walking. I still can't see perfectly. I've got water in my goggles.

That which is perfect has not come yet. We're waiting on Christ. We're waiting on the Messiah.

When He comes, then He will make everything crystal clear. But for those of you who are interested, that's why. Some people think the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural gifts, I should say, are no longer available because they're no longer needed because now we have the Bible.

Okay, well, I have the Bible, but I don't know about, do you still need a little help? Lord, I'm reading the Bible. I'm praying every day, but I just, I need some help. For example, what about if Joseph, remember Joseph and Mary, baby Jesus, what about, let's just say, go along with me here, what about if they had the Bible? Okay, they had the whole Bible.

Would they not still need a dream warning them? Wait a minute, they have the Bible, though. Why would they need a dream warning them? Because the Bible doesn't tell them to flee. Herod's gonna kill you.

See, supplemental gifts of the Holy Spirit. I have the Bible, principles, godliness, but I need a little help. I need a dream sometime to tell me the witch is coming.

I don't have those kinds of dreams, but I don't know, I'm open. But see, I'm open but cautious. The wise men, what about if the wise men had the Bible? The whole Bible.

Why would they need a dream telling them not to go back that way? They have the Bible. You see where I'm going with this, right? Just because we have the Bible doesn't mean we don't need a little help and direction from the Holy Spirit. I've wrestled with things for months.

For example, I hate sharing things over and over again, but it's a new crowd. When I felt the desire to start a church and pastor. I mean, I'm tearing through the Bible.

I mean, I'm like two, three hours a day. You know, certain scriptures stood out. I'm like, oh, but Lord, is this you? Lord, is this you? Lord, is this you? That's when you need the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit to come alive and direct you, confirm things for you.

A lot of things happened during that season, about three different confirmations. I won't go into a lot of details, but I know one for certain was real early in the morning, three in the morning or so, four. I felt this, I for sure thought somebody woke me up and looked at me like, what's going on? It was like, let me show you something.

So I opened the Bible, I'll never forget, I have it dated. I opened to the introduction to Ezra. Right, I'm praying about all this already.

An introduction to Ezra said God used his younger years and discipline of His Word and getting ready. So when He called Ezra, He was ready to change a nation. I'm like, the introduction spoke to me.

Is that enough? No, I'm like you, I need more. You think Gideon's bad, you should try me. I need three fleeces.

So I walked in and it's still on YouTube, 20 years, 22 years ago, I think it's on YouTube. Still Mario Murillo, I don't even know who this guy was. I go to this big church service, kind of to make fun of it.

They're gonna get healed, yeah, right. And so the whole night, nobody else stood up. He goes, young man, would you stand up? And he said, God is calling you.

And he said, it's not arrogance, it's boldness. And I just told Morgan that week, I said, if I start preaching what God's put on my heart, this is just arrogant, it's so like passionate and people are gonna think I'm arrogant. I don't know if this is God.

She goes, well, just pray about it. So he said that, I have it on audio if anybody wants to hear it. So do you just, oh, it's just coincidence.

Well, really? I had the Bible, I was in the Bible every day, but I need a little help. The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit says he's given to different people to edify the body. It doesn't take the place of Scripture.

It actually isn't higher than Scripture. We don't look to the experience, we don't look to that, we look to the word, that's our grounding. But sometimes God has to come in and help us discern his will.

I don't know how people, I don't know how they do it, just removing the supernatural acts of the Holy Spirit. Peter said, this is that that Joel spoke of. This is that that Joel spoke of 2,000 years ago.

In the last day, I will pour out my spirit. Young men will have visions, old men will dream dreams, and on my men servants and on my maidservants, male and female, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will what? Prophesy, they will do. So now we don't need that anymore.

The problem is that people have never experienced the genuine or they've been raised in a denomination that have been taught this. Man, I've been taught this since I was five years old. There's no way I'm changing, that's called pride.

That's called being unteachable. We should be teachable as believers and not just because a denomination teaches it. And they love to quote the reformers.

John Knox, do you know John Knox had dreams about the Queen of England? The Queen of England said, I actually fear the prayers of John Knox more than the armies of Scotland. Luther, you can read about a lot of the early church fathers, deliverance, demons manifesting. So my concern is if we no longer think that is going to happen, what do we do? We just read the word and pray and hopefully people come to saving faith, it's great.

But where's the living, active, moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives? So I didn't get to verse one yet in Acts, but that's the introduction, okay? Part two is next week, we're gonna just keep going on this. I'm gonna unpack the scriptures in Acts, but I think this foundation is so important. Without this foundation and having you really reconsider the operation of the Holy Spirit in your own heart and own life, number one, yes, if you've been quenching and grieving the Spirit through sin, but also those who are doubting, but also those who are playing games with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit's not some cosmic ball of love. He's not some little, you know, oh, the Holy Spirit's here. No, this is the Spirit of God.

There's a reverence, there's a respect. Stop playing games with the Holy Spirit. So what happens when the Spirit comes upon you? I close with these thoughts.

We might actually have the screen up there, Aubrey. The word of God, it's the last one, I believe. The word of God comes alive in your heart.

The word of God comes alive in your heart. Worship is on rewind. You know what that means? Anybody ever hear rewind? Rewind, rewind? Just did it this morning.

For some reason, I got up early. I don't know why, it's too early. But I had this worship song.

I can't remember what it is, but like a lover of your presence or show me your glory or just after this couple minutes of it, rewind and rewind and rewind. And it just, you're just being full of more of God. Oh, God, I worship you.

I adore you. It's not weirdness. It's not emotionalism.

It's how a believer should be interacting with the Spirit of God. The Bible says the Spirit cries, Abba, Father. Abba, not get away from me, Father.

And then also, God is always on your mind. Joy is aligned. Prayer is refined.

That is what comes with the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, you are revived. So the question this morning is, do you need to repent of pride and arrogance in this area? Do you need to repent of besetting sin? You know certain things in your life you need to change.

Like I said, domineering, prideful, arrogant, all these things, and you need to soften up. You need that softness of the Spirit. Make that change today.

Come to this altar and give that to the Lord. Pride will prevent a mighty downpour of the Spirit. Guys, I know, if you want to rate us on pride, I'm right up there with the top 10.

It's still a struggle for all of us, right? Even looking back at my 20s, I'm like, oh, man. I feel sorry for kids without the Spirit, because pride will sucker punch you. It's relentless.

But also, pride prevents salvation. So there could be people listening later, here now, that what's keeping you away from God is pride. Pride and arrogance.

You don't want to repent. You don't want to believe, but you need to humble yourself this morning. The Bible says, if you confess, confess is humbling yourself, acknowledging I need Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

We must pursue that sacred anointing. There's an urgency. God, I want all of you.

I'm a mess. I make mistakes, we say, but Lord, I want all of you. The fullness of the Spirit.

When God's Spirit comes upon you, the Word of God comes alive. Worship is on rewind. Anybody ever put worship on rewind? Oh, I gotta hear that song again.

I was lost, but now I'm found. I'm blind, but now I see. Rewind, remind me again, God, of how good you are, and what you've brought me through.

Let me put that worship song on rewind, and rewind, and rewind. You keep worshiping. That's not emotionalism.

Church, it's what the church needs in America today to get on your face before Almighty God. I'm gonna call out the critical Catholics and the judgmental Jerrys and the negative modern day Pharisees, so you better come prepared to put on your big boy pants. It's time to get convicted and get back to God.

Your joy is realigned with God. Your prayer is refined. There's a fire for God.

There's a passion for the things of God. Though the devil knocks you down, you get back up, and you fight for your family, and you fight for your marriage, and you get back up, and you keep fighting, and you keep fighting until the day you breathe your last breath. You're pursuing the presence and passion of God.

I don't care if it's gone today. I'm gonna find it tomorrow. I'm gonna keep pursuing God.

Don't let pride keep you from the kingdom of God. Don't let pride keep you from the kingdom of God. Say, Lord, I need You.

I need that relationship. I don't know You. Well, how do I know if that's me, Shane? Well, do you know where you're going if you die? Oh, I'll pass to say that.

Well, it's probably the most pointed question you can ask, and it's true. Do you know where you're going when you die? A lot of people will say, I hope so. Man, it worries me when I hope so.

I mean, I hope so, I'm a pretty good person. Oh my goodness. We need to sit down for a while, because that's the only good person up on that cross who died for your sins.

Or, and I have a heart for carnal Christians, right? They're caught in sin. They're caught in sexual sin. They're caught in drugs.

And Shane, I think so, but I'm in a dark spot. Well, let God pull you out of that spot. Repent and return.

Don't live your life with a question mark here. You don't want to say, how close can I get to hell and be saved? You don't want to say, how close can I get to the cross and be saved? That's the difference. So if you need to make that decision today, let us know, myself, Pastor Abram will be next door.

We'd love to pray with you, pray for you. If you've never been baptized, even if you are a believer, let us baptize you. If you have that desire on your heart to make that commitment.

There's something that happens when you're baptized in the water, and you're obedient, there can be the baptism of the Spirit that follows. It's not something I'm teaching or telling. The Bible says, but that's a step of obedience.

I know it happened in my own life, actually. I was running from baptism for a while, and when I finally did that, I felt there was a freedom because I was no longer pushing against it and saying, I'm 30, this is going to be embarrassing. Everybody thinks I'm a Christian.

I'm not going to do that. But until I finally let that pride go. That's the hard thing about pride.

It'll sneak right back up in you, won't it? Man, I'm doing good for a week, and then here it comes. Here it comes. Staying humble.

So let us pray for you with that as well. We pray for a lot of people at the first service on. Let us just agree with you.

Paul said, laying on of hands. Just pray, Lord, if you need that refreshed filling of the Holy Spirit. You need a fresh filling.

You need a refueling. Or maybe you need that endowment of the Spirit's power, the anointing. Shane, I want to surrender everything.

I want that desire for God's Word again. I want that desire for worship. And guys, that's why I'm so passionate about this.

I've been so down. I don't want to even be a Christian anymore. I don't want to do this anymore.

And then I've been so up with having a passion for God. And I know that challenge and trying to get back up and keep fighting when you don't feel like it. That's the time to do it.

That's the time to do it. To get back up and say, Lord, I don't feel anything. I just want to, I don't want to be at church, but I'm going to seek you.

I'm going to repent and watch what God does.