Filled To Be Bold

Now the message, filled to be bold. One person likes the title. That's good.

Thank you. No, I know it's catches people off guard, but isn't that so true? We're in the book of Acts. We just talked about Peter being filled with the spirit.

And I mean, I could do a series on this because it's so important. They used to have events. I don't know how many of you have heard of like the Keswick conferences back late 1800s, early 1900s, they would spend a week talking on this subject every night.

And just revival type services because the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is so important. It's called pneumatology. And we get to where we get our word pneumatic from.

Pneumatic, any men have pneumatic guns? What does that mean? They are air. Pneumatic, air power. And isn't it interesting, pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit.

And like Jesus said, nobody knows how the Spirit moves. It's like wind. But it's so important because apart from salvation, it's a very important doctrine.

Here's why. You are saved. Once you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit.

But now the Spirit has to be given some amount of leeway in your heart to do what He wants to do. Like I've explained many times, I won't go into details, when I got saved at an early age, early teenager, 12 or so, 13. God didn't have all of my life.

And I spent over a decade quenching and grieving the Spirit. Like you would have never caught me singing that song. I want to lay here on your breast, Jesus.

And what? I want to go watch a monster truck rally with a 454 blown motor popping out of the hood and just right guy stuff. But that's because the things of the Spirit were being quenched and grieved. And now I love that song.

It's one of my favorite songs. Because there's nothing wrong with you pressing. The thought is, as John laid against the bosom of Jesus, can you imagine? I mean, just when God fills you, and you'll never be the same.

And that's why you don't care what people say. That's what you don't care what people say about you or your church or your worship because you've had that relationship. And it's such an important doctrine because, and it's a little, because there are different sides of it.

Many, I would say Pentecostals, hyper charismatics. Maybe you've been part of this church. Maybe you believe, or those types of churches, maybe you believe this.

And there's nothing wrong with believing it because Wesley and some of the other people taught it that they call it a second work of grace. In other words, you can be a believer but not have the second work of grace yet. You've got to, you know, press in.

You've got to wait for that. They call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I love this topic.

I've studied it probably more than any other topic on revival and pneumatology. And I've read dozens of commentaries, countless revival history. And so I've got a kind of a good understanding on it because it's so important.

And so they would teach this second work of grace. So people would press in. They would get to the altar.

They would get to prayer meetings because they wanted to experience the second work of grace. And then we've got tons of testimonies from all kinds of Christian leaders who were Christians but not really going anywhere until years later, decades later. And they finally surrendered and God filled them with His Spirit.

So it's not that they weren't saved, it's where they weren't yielded. That's the difference. So I don't teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit in that sense because the baptism of the Holy Spirit is we're all baptized into one body, but there are subsequent feelings of the Holy Spirit where you're filled with the Holy Spirit.

So if you want to call it baptism, anointed, unction, filling, I don't care what you call it, you better have it. And that's why somebody by the name of R.A. Torrey who wrote the Fundamentals of the Faith back in 1904, 1905, he was close to D.L. Moody, he said, I'd rather have the experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit and miss the term exactly than have the term right and miss the filling. Because so many people can get caught up on the, you have to have this exact, and I'm not for bad doctrine at all, we shouldn't promote bad doctrine for some feeling, but what you call it, the Bible's clear, there's a baptism, there's an anointing, there's a filling, there's an unction that believers can have.

The problem is many don't have it. And it's because they've been quenching and grieving the Spirit, and exactly what Gina said, perfect timing, she probably didn't even know it, but that's what happens. We push out the fullness of God and we allow the world to come in.

And so I wanna talk about this a little bit as we're in Acts, boldness, filled to be bold. Well, Shane, what exactly is boldness? Because we see things on social media, man, that guy's bold. No, he's kind of arrogant.

There's a big difference there. And I'll just share this with you. One of my, people say, they wonder, and Joseph, are you here? Yeah, there's a great prayer in the prayer meeting about just not being afraid of people's opinions and things like that.

That really was just on point. But I really thought, I don't care as much about people's opinions as I do about God's opinion. And so what happens though, I can be bold, but I'm like, Lord, did that please you? Or did a little bit of the flesh get in there? And I kind of let him, I kind of helped out the Holy Spirit a little bit.

You wanted me to make a whip, but in that whip, I also put glass and stones and all kinds of things. So that's always my concern with this type of calling. Not everybody has this type of calling.

You've been to different churches around town. You know, there's different callings. And so it's a hard one because you gotta be bold, but you also have to be gentle.

And the reason for 25 years now, I guess it's part of my calling. A lot of my people, friends don't do this, but for 25 years, it's just been my habit. Of course, there's exceptions and different things, but to get up about three in the morning, like I did this morning.

And people say, oh yeah, you're so spiritual. Actually, it's not. Because of that, I'm so broken.

I need God. I need to hear from you, Lord. Because if I just get up there in my flesh and yeah, I'm bold, no, I'm arrogant.

And that's gonna hurt people, not help them. Because true biblical boldness balances what needs to be said with the right heart. That's why Leonard Ravenhill was famous for saying, you need to weep before you whip.

And he's talking about Jesus who wept over the city of Jerusalem before He whipped them out of the temple, the money changers. What a great balance Jesus was. I'm just always amazed.

I like just perfect balance of boldness yet gentle. I mean, that woman caught in the act of adultery, neither do I condemn you. Woman, go and sin no more.

But he was bold with those guys accusing her. And just that incredible balance, and we want to learn from that. But boldness, boldness, it means outspoken and unreserved in utterance.

The freedom of speech with frankness and candor and courage. But there's another word too, the Bible, looking at the definition, also cheerfulness. So see, that's really, if you think you're bold, but you're kind of mean, your boldness might need a little fixing.

Your boldness might need a little fine-tuning because boldness is not gonna come from an arrogant, angry, like let me show them, it's gonna come from a heart that's been broken before God, spending time with God. And as we look, and that's where I think a lot of the boldness comes from, at least from this church, is the more time we're in God's Word, the more time we focus on that, we worship, out of that reservoir of what's been building comes the boldness. Comes the boldness to confront our culture.

And whatever administration is in office, doesn't matter, we have the boldness to confront. So we left off where he was addressing the Sanhedrin. In Acts 4, Peter's addressing the Sanhedrin.

And it came to pass the next day that all the rulers were there. I mean, Caiaphas is there, the scribes, the elders, John, Alexander, all these great leaders, they weren't Christians, some of them are Jews. Obviously, most of them are Jews.

But look at the door that God opened. Here is just Peter, let me go to the temple like normal. Let me go here and oh, there's a man here, he's sick, he's actually needs healing by the beautiful gate, something ugly by the beautiful gate.

And he said, in the name of Jesus, I command you to get up and walk. And now this guy's walking, he's leaping, he's excited. And now Peter has this platform to preach to the Jewish, you couldn't make this up.

You couldn't try, you couldn't pay, you could not set this up. That's why only God can open some doors. And if He hasn't opened it, don't force it.

Learn from me. Let Him open the door. They're gathered at Jerusalem.

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Matthew 10, 19, it reminds us of this. When they deliver you up, do not worry about what you should say, what you should speak for, it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. Thank God for that verse.

Because I worry sometimes, don't you? I mean, like if you're ever put in a difficult spot at work or wherever and I don't know how to respond, I hear that a lot. Like, what do you say to my neighbor who says this? What do you say to my... And it's like, it's hard to give an answer because it really depends on the atmosphere, doesn't it? I mean, for sure, the mood of your neighbor. Are they arrogant and ready to just tell you off or are they teachable? And they're genuinely seeking.

Big difference. Because I believe that that verse about not throwing your pearls to swine might have to do with something like that. Why give all your time? Why give all your energy? You know, and that's why I don't read comments anymore on social media much.

There's a small exception. But it wastes so much time. I'm like, that was so unfruitful.

Because most people are not teachable. They don't ask you a question, oh, thanks for that. They want a challenge.

And they want a rebuke. And you don't want to give those people a platform. So he's asking them, how was this man healed? And then it says, then Peter, then Peter what? Verse 8-12, but wasn't Peter already filled? Yes, he was.

Is that interesting? He was in the upper room. He was already filled. The Holy Spirit made that crystal clear.

Tongues as of fire on them and spoke out with boldness. So why are they repeating that again? I mean, what's the point? Well, there's got to be a point and that's why Paul said, be filled with the Spirit. In other words, submit to the working of the Holy Spirit.

I mean, Peter, I believe it could read different if they were saying, by what power, by what name have you done this? Like, okay, I'm sorry guys, you're right. I mean, what was I thinking? Gosh, I better get out of here because I'm going to lose my status in the temple and I don't want to upset these guys. You would not be reading, and Peter filled with the Spirit.

I don't believe, personally. I think he dug his heels in and when a vessel struck, what's inside spills out. The Holy Spirit's already within him.

The boldness is there. I'm going to explain this maybe in a minute. It's like a car that's full of gas, but until you turn the key, so he was ready.

So it's like he took a bold stance. Like, I'm going to say something and God honored that boldness and Peter being filled. Now, it could be that he was like, oh Lord, what do I do? And then the fullness of the Spirit came upon him.

That's fine as well. Either way, something different and dynamic happened and he said, rulers, why are you judging us for a good deed? I'm paraphrasing a little bit. Why are you judging me for a good deed? This helpless man has been made well.

Let it be known to all of you and all of the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, oh golly, that's not going to go over well. And he was okay for a minute there. But see, that's part of boldness and being led by the Spirit.

You say things you wouldn't normally say necessarily because you're worried about the opinions of men. That's why Christians can walk into school board meetings with a smile and say, you will not allow that garbage in our schools. You will not allow this type of... And there's a boldness about you because you don't care what they think.

You have to share what God has put on your heart and what is right. Can you imagine if we got more boldness back? That's why we see a lot, you're like, how did this happen? Because we don't want to lose our job. We don't want to lose our... That's why people don't come forward and say things often.

I know it's hard. I mean, if I was a public school teacher, that would be difficult. If I'm at Northrop and I have to celebrate the rainbow flag, I mean, challenging situations.

But you have to make sure you're full of boldness, not fear. And he said, God raised him from the dead. So everything hinges on these two facts.

Fill with the Spirit and God raised him from the dead. And I'm not gonna go into detail. I did, I believe last week, that all of Christian faith relies on this fact.

Either Jesus was raised from the dead or He was not. If He wasn't, then why are we here? So as you can see, everything hinges on this fact. It's like the hinge, it swings on this.

And also, I believe the fullness of the Spirit, having the fullness of the Spirit in all areas of life. Here's a few scriptures, Acts 4.31. The place, and this is, we haven't even got there yet. I don't think I got this one to you in time, but we'll just camp out here on this screen right here.

But let me read these, Acts 4.31. The place where they were together praying was shaken and they were all filled with the Spirit and spoke with boldness. We haven't got there yet. What's all this filling of the Holy Spirit? What's going on? Because you see now how important it is.

And how important now in this culture to be filled with the Spirit, which is full of love and joy and peace and contentment and gentleness, but also the fire of God. You're also filled with the fire of God. That's a powerful combination.

Because I don't think you can really experience the fruit of the Spirit without the boldness of the Spirit. Because if I'm timid and cowardly and not going to say much, I'm not going to walk around with a lot of joy. Why? Because I'm not happy.

I'm not doing what I know I should be doing. The fruit of the Spirit, the joy and peace and love and longsuffering and gentleness and kindness and patience, that comes from walking out your faith. By the way, self-control is also on that list.

Acts 7, we'll get into later, Stephen was full of the Spirit. Well, yeah, of course, he's a Christian. Why do they keep saying this? Barnabas, full of the Spirit in chapter 11.

So it does beg the question this morning, could that be said about you? Pin drop. A person full of the Spirit can also make mistakes. This will help some of you.

Because it gets a little confusing. Peter and Paul got into it. Other things happen.

Just because a person is full of the Spirit doesn't mean they're perfect. You know, if you follow me the rest of the day, you might see something that's not quite the fullness of the Spirit. Did I accidentally get through that light? Did I go a little too fast? Pastor Shane, you weren't too nice to that cashier at Trader Joe's.

Well, you're right, she wasn't too nice to me. That did not happen, so. I'm trying to well aware, well aware.

Actually, I ran into a guy at Sprouts, and he was at the mince thing yesterday. And then the guy who helped me with my cell phone at Verizon a couple years ago was at the mince thing yesterday. So, you gotta stay in spirit mode.

Because it's difficult. But a person full of the Spirit can also make mistakes. That's why we need more grace.

But here's the difference, they're quick to repent. They might not right away. It takes a little bit of us some time to, you know, absorb it.

But right? You know, you're quick to repent. Because you're full of the Spirit. That is the key.

And do you know it's a key qualification for leadership too? Leadership in the church, one of the qualifications is the fullness of the Spirit. Not a perfect man, but a man committed to being filled with the Spirit. That's really what it's about.

It's about committed to being filled. Because I've had seasons where I do not want to go to church. I do not want to run into anybody.

I'm not happy right now. We can all relate, come on. We know.

It's tough. The Christian life is tough. Isn't it difficult? That's why we should come alongside of each other and encourage, not discourage us, each other.

So Peter goes on to say, by Jesus, this man stands here before you whole. By the way, Jesus is the stone which was rejected by the builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. I love that Peter said this.

If we had time, we'd go back into the Gospels where Jesus upset the religious rulers on this point. He said, you are rejecting the chief cornerstone. Any builder knows you got to start somewhere on which everything else is measured, the cornerstone.

He said, I'm the cornerstone and you are rejecting me. He actually said, if you trip over this and fall and you repent, it will be better for you than if this stone crushes you, Pharisees. And so Peter's bringing this up again.

Nah, that's kind of a sensitive point, Peter. Boy, you're really wanting to get whipped, aren't you? And that's what they did back then. They would actually whip them as punishment.

And then if that wasn't going to convict enough, Peter said, there is not salvation in any other name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. There's no other name, no other name by which we must be saved. Well, let's talk about this for a minute.

Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. Next slide. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit.

John Polehill is a commentator. He said the verb used, the verb used, filled, the word filled, is only used for special moments of inspiration. Luke is therefore presenting Peter as giving a prophetic speech like Isaiah or Jeremiah directly to the leadership of the Jewish people, calling even the high priest.

You guys don't know how this is so, I mean, we're bold, but this is like, yeah, going before North Korea or China, the presidents and telling them that they're, and it cost Peter's life eventually. But he called even the high priest to repent of his sin of killing the Messiah. The high priest who would go into the holies of holies and represent the people and bring in the blood of the sacrifice, and Jesus is the fulfillment of that, that high priest, he's calling to repentance because you don't truly know the Messiah.

And that's why fullness equals boldness. Fullness of the Spirit equals boldness. We are filled to be bold and boldness for the truth fills you.

Isn't that interesting? So you're filled with the Spirit and you're supposed to be bold, and when you are bold for the truth, even when you don't feel like it, that's going to fill you. There are some ways you can fill this spiritual gas tank. We'll get into in just a minute.

But you have to have boldness for the truth. I've never seen, please point them out, send it to the church office, a lukewarm, cowardly, woke pastor that is bold. Correct? Usually their demeanor's very gentle and they're like, you know what? I know Paul said that 2,000 years ago, but that was back when they were very chauvinistic and Paul really has to work on his attitude.

And it's okay now to, you know, these types of sexual sins and things like that. I mean, if you just love one another, if you just love your partner, you're okay. And even Jesus admitted that He really didn't know everything.

I mean, you see, they're very, they're like a politician. Like, what did you just say? What did you just say? We are filled to be bold. And like I said, it's like turning on the power in a car.

The car is already filled with gas, but the key ignites it. And so how it really works is, who a person is all week is who they'll be when they get into situations. Correct? Can you imagine if I tried to come up here and preach this message, and Monday I had no time with the Lord, I ate too much, I wasn't, you know, King's stomach was in control, I was watching reruns of Reacher.

Oh, I can hit home. You want me to hit home? And I put on stuff on YouTube, it was really nuts, all about conspiracy theories and all this stuff that's not really that great. And then on Tuesday, kind of the same pattern, no time for God.

And I allow some negative influences to kind of, you know, speak into my heart and speak into my life. And I get a little bit of critical, I get a little critical, I get a little critical about Pastor Shane in the church. I guess I'm playing myself, huh? So I get a little critical about others.

And you know, come Wednesday, so Wednesday, it's been a hard day, I might pick up a six pack. Thursday, I might do, you know, Saturday, I'll kind of put something together, see if I can wing it. Do you think the sermon might be a little different? I won't even show up.

I'll call in sick, because I've quenched and grieved the Spirit and I don't want to be here. And that's unfortunately why many Christians don't come to church, or very seasonal, because they're stuck in that routine of shame and guilt and condemnation. What's the point? I don't even want to go.

Let me tell you, that's the time to go. That's the time to tell your flesh, I'm getting back on track. And be encouraged.

Be encouraged. If you're dealing with sins of the flesh, I'm also concerned with those who are dealing with sins of the heart. There's a difference? Kind of.

I mean, they're all sin. But sins of the flesh are things, the lusts of the flesh, you can fill in the blank, I'm pretty sure, right? I don't have to get too graphic here. But, sins of the heart, you can't spot as easily.

And that's why pride, did you know Jesus called that out more than any other sin? Woe be to you Pharisees, you stiff-necked, always resisting the Holy Spirit. And it's actually easier to deal with people who are caught in sins of the flesh because they're hurting, they're broken. It's like the prodigal son.

But those dealing with the sins of pride, don't see it. Don't want to be rebuked. They'll actually rebuke you.

Once your sign of a prideful person is there, they don't take rebukes very well. Yeah, but I'm not going to do it. How about you? I know it's hard, I've been guilty of that too.

You know, that's your opportunity to let them have it too. But it's actually harder to deal with. What was harder to deal with for Jesus? The woman caught in the act of adultery or the Pharisees? I'm not giving you permission to cave into sin, but often there's a sensitivity there because pride can be a great hindrance to the filling of the Spirit.

I would say that's probably one of the top, top hindrances to being filled with the Holy Spirit, with those who know the Word of God well on an intellectual level. That pride will block the fullness of the Spirit. A prideful person can be harder to help than those caught in fleshly sins.

So let me share four things with you that will really help if you want that fullness of the Spirit. I talked about these briefly on January 12th, but I didn't get into a lot of detail and I held them for now. Number one, ask.

Ask for the fullness of the Spirit. Ask for that. Luke 11, 9-13, he talked about how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? Now, commentators are divided on exactly what this means.

There could be a few different views, but the bottom line is, he's saying ask about the Holy Spirit. There's gotta be an asking there. Ask for the fullness.

Ask for the fullness like many have before. Many Christians throughout the centuries have asked for the fullness, have sought the fullness, have wanted the boldness, and they pursue God. If you don't seek it, you might not find it.

And you definitely won't receive it. And here's the thing that's interesting about boldness. It's an abrasive, is it not? What's paint thinner used for? Remove the paint.

It's harsh. Boldness can be harsh. Anybody use sandpaper? Well, thank God for all of those things.

We need them because what do they do? They smooth out. They remove things. They wake people up.

And that's the point of boldness. And it is hard. It's hard to be bold and find that balance between boldness and love.

So you have to ask. Maybe this morning you need to ask, say, Lord, I want the fullness of Your Spirit. I want more of You and less of me.

I want to be bold with my friends or my workplace. Or maybe if you don't want to be bold, pray that you have some boldness. Number two, desire to do God's will and pursue humility.

Desire to do God's will because He's not gonna fill you if you're gonna do your own will. And that was my problem in the 20s. Like, here's what I'm gonna do.

And I would pray now and then. I would give maybe a little bit. You know, I'd go to church Christmas, Easter.

Maybe a couple other times, please my mom. I'm quenching and grieving the Spirit. Here's what I'm gonna do.

Here's how I'm gonna work. I'm gonna retire at this age. Here's how I'm gonna live my life.

Like, Lord, come and bless this. It doesn't work. He says, first, let me break you and then I can bless you because now you want to go my direction instead of asking me to go in your direction.

He will not do that. God will not change course. Have you ever noticed that? God never goes, you know what? All right, it's been a couple years.

It doesn't look like you're changing. Let me change my plans. Guys, I've talked to people even on their deathbed crying.

I know what God wanted me to do. Even back when I was 18, 19, 20. I know what God wanted me to do.

How heartbreaking is that? Is it not? I don't know. There's not too many things that would be more difficult than knowing God wanted you to do something and you ran from it your entire life. Maybe some of you need to make that recommitment this morning.

Desire to do God's will. Pursue humility. Both of those go together.

And often the least likely to be used of God are often the most desperate. And that you have to have a desire, don't you? There has to be an intense yearning. And even if you don't feel like it, like sometimes I'm preaching to you, but I don't feel what I'm preaching all the time.

I've just got to do it because of obedience. And think about this verse. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And you can fight those feelings. You can say, Lord, I hunger and thirst for righteousness. Look what's happening in our culture.

Look what's happening in our school districts. Look what's happening in the government office. And look at what's happening just in life in general.

God, I'm hungering and thirst for righteousness. I don't really feel it and I don't know what's going on and I wish I could worship you more, but there's a hunger for that. God says, those who hunger will be satisfied.

Listen, you don't make up hunger. Even when you get hungry now, it's built up over time. Real hunger's actually built up over life.

Most of us aren't hungry, we're just addicted to our next hit. The sugar, processed food, caffeine, whatever it is. But real hunger actually doesn't even start in the stomach, it's in the throat.

It's a sense that you've got to, and it takes time to get to that. And same thing with spiritual hunger. It takes time.

And that's why it's called pressing in and yearning. An intense yearning for God. The yearning, often when people yearn, they don't feel that great.

There's a burden. There's a, God, something's wrong in my life. Something's wrong in my heart.

Would you fill me with your Spirit? And ultimately, you become what you behold. You become what you behold. Charles Spurgeon said, you will never, never glory in God till first of all, God has killed your glorifying in yourself.

Yeah, let's camp out on that one for a minute, huh? You will never glory in God till first of all, God has killed your glorifying in yourself. And Alan Redpath, incredible books he's written. When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible man and crushes him.

That doesn't seem very nice. Actually, it's very loving because God will crush the pride out of you. In order to have it replaced with humility.

That song, there's a song in the crushing, in the crushing of your secret place. That crushing produces, I mean, you've heard me talk about it before, but how do you get your perfume, women? Something is crushed. That nice, cute flower petal.

Crushed. That olive oil. Isn't that what they would do? Go to Italy.

Grapes. Crushed. Same thing in the human heart.

Tozer used to say, it is doubtful that God will use a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply. That crushing. When it's so funny, I hear people, especially if they're younger and stuff, they're like, oh yeah, that seems a little hard.

Wait till life chews you up and spits you out. Then you'll come running back to messages like this. Right now, life is just great.

Things are going good. I've got my whole life set in front of me. Wait until you get out there and face the wickedness and the evil.

God's crushing hammer is something we should embrace. There must be expectation. Expectation is a must.

You have to expect the fullness of God. I want more of you. Because what's the opposite of expectation? Disbelief.

Correct? Oh, I know a topic like this. I'd bet $1,000 even though I'm not supposed to bet. There are people that are going, this guy and the Holy Spirit stuff.

I've been a Christian 45 years. I received the Holy Spirit way back then. I don't need this guy telling me.

There's more. Are you walking in what you received? Are you experiencing the fullness of the Spirit truly? Because God doesn't look back at yesterday. Yesterday's anointing won't take you through into the future.

You have to have that fullness, that freshness. Humble yourself. Expect God to move.

Don't let pompous Pentecostals or critical conservatives rob you of spiritual life. Seek God like never before. And number three, number three, this is a key.

Turn from sin and pursue holiness. Turn from sin and pursue holiness. Did you know the first mention of worship in the Bible, actually the first two, has to do with obedience? Abel offered his sacrifice.

He worshiped God. He offered Abraham, worshiped God by providing his sacrifice aside. Because when we think of worship, what do we think of? What we just did.

And that's a form of worship. But when a person worships God, it's really their lifestyle. Obedience, obeying God.

Pursuing holiness. Guys, whatever you pursue, you find. Have you noticed that? That's why I mentioned earlier, you pursue Netflix, you're gonna find, well, maybe there's one thing on there, I don't know.

But whatever you pursue, you find. If you're not pursuing God, you're gonna find the world. You have to pursue the things of God.

And how many of you, you remember I've talked about this before. It was Isaiah, he said, it was the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of His robe filled the entire temple.

And it's actually, the Bible says that the seraphim cried, holy, holy, holy is our God. The seraphim, this will blow your mind. Do you know what seraphim means? To set on fire.

To set on fire. And they cried, holy, holy, holy. Being set on fire by the Spirit and holiness always go hand in hand.

And actually, and we just read, a month or two ago, the tongues of fire in the book of Acts. When the Holy Spirit came and filled the room, the tongues of fire and they were crying out the wonderful works of God. The holiness and the filling of the Spirit, they go hand in hand.

And then as those seraphim were singing, holy, holy, holy is our God. What else happened? Can you imagine that? The doorposts are shaking. Let me grab, let me do this.

Maybe this will help a little more. I don't know if it's working, but get the idea, right? That holy, holy, holy is our God. It was shaking.

And let me tell you right now that holiness shakes everything. You want your marriage restored? You want the prodigal? You wanna come home? You wanna shake up the spiritual realm? Holiness shakes the foundation of evil. It is what God wants us to do, to pursue holiness, to pursue righteousness.

Oh, I won't get a lot of amens. You might not like what I say, but you'll know what I meant. You need to get your life holy and set apart for God.

Not perfect, get back up and fight again. Nobody walks in here perfect today. But there's a difference between those who walk in broken and those who walk in filled with pride.

The holiness doesn't only shake everything. It shakes up the religious system. True churches from fake churches.

It shakes up the governmental system. It shakes up everything in your life. Holy pursuit of God.

And then you too can cry out like Isaiah, my eyes have seen the King of glory. The fullness of the spirits. Praise God, repentance turns you in the right direction.

And holiness keeps you in the right direction. That's how they work together. A person repents, great, good job, guess what? Now there's a path to walk.

It's called holiness. So I can't do this and I can't do that and I can't do this, I can't smoke and chew and hang out with those that do. This is pretty, this stinks.

That's not holiness, that's the wrong view. That's works and oh, I gotta do. Holiness is I love God more than anything else and I'm gonna pursue Him.

I'm gonna seek after Him with all of my heart. I don't want these things because they pull me away from the truth. I don't want to indulge in these things because the holiness of God is my pursuit.

The fire of God is my destination and these things hold me back from that. Big difference, isn't it? Don't get caught up in rules and oh, I can't do this. You're miserable anyway.

Have you ever, America is the most addicted country. Give me Xanax, give me Percodent, give me this, give me this, give me this. Why don't you pursue God? Pursue God.

Disclaimer, maybe God might lead you to use something to help with something. Just saying, are you saying I can't use my serotonin uptake inhibitors for my, no, I don't, if God's led you, you do it. But most of the time, 99.9% of the time, we're not seeking God and we run to other things to calm.

Isn't it interesting how every type of prescription has an opposite side effect that's not real good? Let me tell you about a God who has no side effect. Let me tell you about seeking God with all your heart, with all your heart, with all your strength. With God, you don't have to watch that commercial.

May cause heart frustration, may cause seizure, may cause, you might wanna take your life. May cause this, may cause that. You may wanna kill yourself.

You may wanna use this and don't use if you have this. Don't use if you're pregnant, nursing or don't use if you're a male experiencing this and bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. Why in the world would I take that? Serve a God who has no side effects.

Serve a God who will follow with all of your heart, with all of your strength. There's no side effects that are negative with God. Oh, there's a side effect of healthy marriage.

There's a side effect of the prodigal son coming home. There's a side effect of seeing God move in a powerful and profound way. But those are the kind of side effects I will take any day of the week.

Got to remember side effects for second service. Because it just happens. I probably won't, but I'll feel, what does that mean? Don't miss the service, guys.

Could you say what you said last week? I don't know what I said last week. You've got to be here. My husband's here, can you say what you, number four, oh, I love number four.

You ready for it? You know why? Because I've been the last month or two, I always want to fast when I'm preaching. I haven't been able to do it. Like I want to eat something, have green tea.

This morning, I said, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it because this message is so important. See, that work doesn't do anything, but God sees the heart.

The heart is positioning to receive from the Father. Lord, I want to be emptied of myself. I don't want to think about the In-N-Out Burger.

I want to think about Your Word. I wish they were closed on Sunday like Chick-fil-A. It'd be easy.

Wouldn't be so tempting. So number four, prayer and worship fills the reservoir of the heart. Prayer and worship, they fill the gas tank.

Think of your gas tank in your car. Prayer and worship, let me add fasting in there, absolutely, because it's hard to pray and worship if we're always feeding on King's stomach. We have to take a break of that appetite sometimes and just pray and worship.

And I've noticed, see, I can't pray and worship when King's stomach's on the throne. It goes together. Jesus would assume that we would fast from time to time.

When you give, when you pray, when you fast. It's between you and God, but you have to do something. Again, prayer and worship fills the reservoir of the heart.

That's why we have 6 a.m. worship here for those who want to come next time. Think about that, 6 a.m. in the morning, 7.30 prayer, and then we go into the services. And I know there's a difference.

Can you imagine if I just pulled up in the parking lot, 8.20, hurry up, get my mic check. I'm ticked off. I go to, slip, slip in.

I know, this guy tried to cut me off. And let me try to go and do this. No, who a man is all week or who he is all day will come out.

Now, there's God's grace if you oversleep and you're in traffic. I mean, I've went and it was up in the mountains here. It was a youth retreat.

I couldn't find where it was. Finally found it. And I'm walking in the back door and the worship team just stopped.

They're stopping. The guy's up there and goes, and Pastor Shane's here to preach. I'm like, thank you.

I just walked from my truck up. Like it was that close and I was not happy. But somewhere GPS doesn't work.

And still God used it in a powerful way, even in our weakness. Remember when a vessel is struck, my mom used to tell me this, when a vessel is struck, what's inside spills out. So could it be that a lot of wrong things are spilling out because not a lot of God things are going in? Because especially when you're preaching, when you're preaching, what flows out is really what's already, like I didn't put this together Saturday night.

I put this together over my lifetime. And this week, it just comes out, it's like pregnant with the Word of God. I know moms might say, it's not even close.

I know it's not even close, but it's the closest I can come up with. Psalm 96, six, oh, come. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. Let's camp out at this just for a minute. The burden that God is maybe giving some of you this morning, it's a blessing.

Because sometimes we see the burden and all pursuing God and God, Shane, that sounds so hard. I wanted you to encourage me and now I'm so discouraged. No, use that burden to what? Like I told the men, let that burden, thank You, Lord.

Thank You, Lord. Versus getting prideful and arrogant. Let that burden bring you low.

Full surrender. Full surrender, fully surrender to God. Even on the little things, I don't have to go down the list because He's convicting you if there is something.

Praise God. I don't know what it is because my thing isn't your thing and your thing isn't my thing. Some people can get away with freedoms, correct? In the Bible, there's certain things, but others may, you cannot.

Men don't say anything, but I'm gonna tell the story of the vase and little Johnny. This man came home from work and he saw the police out in front of his house and the ambulance and the doctor. And he came in, he's rushing in, what's going on? What's going on? And they said, don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks.

Johnny put his hand in the vase. The vase I brought home from Israel that like maybe Jesus held, like this is, no! We've tried to get his hand out for the last hour. Every type of oil possible, it's not, you're gonna have to get the hammer.

The dad is heartbroken. And how do you, you can't let, you know, your little son carry a vase around all his life. So before he got the hammer, his son said, Daddy, would it help if I let go of the penny? Oh, that penny, what's your penny? What's your penny? The wonderful thing is, when he submitted, not only was that free, he got the penny.

You're trying to hold on to something that God might want to remove. Because He knows what's best. That's a fully surrendered life.

And even when you do it, sometimes you gotta do it again. Do you know how many times I've fully surrendered? I lost count after a couple thousand. Because it's not a one-time thing, is it? Oh, I did that, yeah, like Shane, I did that like six years ago.

Well, in the last six years, a lot of pride has crept in. That thing you used to control is now controlling you, and it's called an addiction. And God wants to remove that.

Let go, Johnny. Let go of that little penny. The book, Full Surrender.

J. Edwin Orr, one of the most incredible authors on revival, Billy Graham actually wrote the foreword. He said, the filling of the Holy Spirit has a direct relationship with immediate service. One might add, from observation, that there appear to be times of relaxation and rest in between times of endowment with power.

Relaxation without any grieving of the Holy Spirit. In other words, you're not always high-strung. Like, I'm not always this way.

I like to go sit down and read a book and relax as well. There's times of refreshment as well. The martyr Stephen, the martyr Stephen, whom the evangelist Luke refers to many times as full of faith, full of grace, full of power, full of wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

And I immediately thought, look at all the opposites. Many people, are you full of fear? Are you full of being critical? Are you, you have no power. You're discontent, you're not gracious.

You need the fullness of the Spirit. He talks about all the glorious deaths of the martyrs. In the 40 years of the wilderness experience between 1908, 1948, when the spiritual death had creeped into the churches, the teaching that the filling of the Holy Spirit was only for the early church gained a lot of popularity.

And as a result, men and women were not empowered by the Spirit. And you have people like Finney and Moody and Booth and Hudson Taylor and a host of others who received the filling of the Holy Spirit later on. I think with Finney it was actually the next day, but with others it was later on.

It equipped them for service. If it's not taught in the church, why should it be caught by you? That's what it's for, it's for service. How is God, if God wants you to do something as a believer, how are you gonna do it without the filling of the Spirit? Correct? And a lot of people bury their face in the Word, but they have truth, no fire.

Word, no worship, bold, but there's no balance, there's conviction, but there's no converts, and they're intellectual, but there's no humility. So as I wind down, I'll give you this point of encouragement. A person is great not because they haven't failed, they are great because failure hasn't stopped them.

That's for men and women. Times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord. The Bible says, we studied that in Acts, I believe it was chapter three.

Times of refreshment can come from the presence of the Lord. Now that has to do with salvation, in that verse. However, for believers, let me tell you, the best way to get refreshed, refreshed, you ever jump into a pool that's kinda cold? That's why the fountains of living water, you sit underneath the fountain of living water and you drink deeply from that well.

You get refreshed from the presence of God. And I wanna close with that statement, we read earlier, talking about Jesus, Peter said, nor is there salvation in any other name. And if you look it up, the stupa, yes, it's called that, still contains, still contains Buddha's relics, including his ashes.

Did you know that? What about the sacred chamber that was once the house of Muhammad? There, he's still buried, his bones are still there. There are currently four prominent theories as to the location of the tomb where Joseph Smith's bones are buried. But we know with Jesus, there's no tomb, there's no place where those bones still exist.

There is no other name by which people will be saved. No other name. Jesus, he went and was crucified and came back up in the resurrection and stand before all those followers and still today, Christ is not dead.

He still lives in the believer and the fullness of the Spirit. And that's why you can preach with boldness about the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit fills you with the boldness. Christ, the Holy Spirit, God, the Father, these three are one.

There's, that's why there's a love for God, a love for his word, a love for people. And you meet people who do not have this love and I want them to challenge their faith. Are you really saved? And I just love that verse, I'll end with this verse.

I think it was Martha, right? That was, or Mary, that was so worried because their brother Lazarus had died. And Jesus is like, don't worry, don't worry. I got this.

Oh, I know, I know he'll be resurrected in the resurrection, in the future. Just to see this moment. Can you imagine Jesus saying, I am the resurrection and the life? Can you imagine that? I am the resurrection and the life.

There is no resurrection outside of Jesus and there is no spiritual life outside of Jesus. He is both. That's why he said, I've come, it is finished.

I mean, if you could just break down the cross, if you could break down what happened on the cross, all of God's wrath is satisfied. Jesus hangs there beaten and bruised for our sin, our iniquity, hence the remembering of him during communion. And then he just, the Bible actually says he gave up his spirit.

It is finished. It is done. By the way, they're gonna kill me.

They're gonna bury me in the tomb and I'm gonna rise again. I'm gonna conquer hell, death and the grave. And this is so powerful that even the Roman soldiers who mocked him said, truly, this was the sun.

I don't know if you've ever seen the earthquake and the sun go dark and then people would be raised from the dead in the tombs of Jerusalem. Something cataclysmic has happened. That's Jesus we serve.

That's the fullness of the spirit you need. You need to seek him like never before and be filled with the spirits.