Preach the Truth Whether it Fills Up a Room or Clears it Out

I'm going to get right to the message. Ironically, a couple different things happened this week. The title is, Preach the Truth, Whether It Fills a Room or Clears It.

I wish I came up with that, but I saw it somewhere and I said I'm going to borrow this. Preach the truth, whether it fills a room or clears it. We are on number 13 in our series in Acts.

And the great need today, the great need today is boldness to preach the truth. And that's what we'll be unpacking this Sunday, next Sunday, as well as we go through the book of Acts. A couple verses I want to bring to your attention that we will be getting to, Acts 4, 13-17.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men and they marveled. And then I love Jeremiah, you know it's a famous verse we use here often, but his word was in my heart like a burning fire. It was shut up in my bones.

I was weary of holding it back and I could not. And it's interesting, boldness restrained leads to joy abstained. When God calls you to be bold, that's what Jeremiah said, his word was in my heart, but I got weary of holding it back.

I didn't want to say anything and I became weary because of that. And let me tell you as my own personal experience, it's exhausting to be cowardly as a Christian, is it not? It's exhausting to be cowardly because we know we need to say something, we know we need to speak up, but the opinions of men are too great and living there, and I've been there, it's exhausting, it's debilitating, you actually quench and grieve the Spirit. Is there anything greater for a Christian than when God calls us to be bold and calls us to do something we say, no, I don't want to do that.

And I know it's challenging, but at some point we have to break out of that mold that sometimes we set for ourselves and we have to preach the truth whether it fills a room or clears it. Of course, most of you aren't called to do what I do, but we can be bold for our faith as long as it comes of course from love. And I need to, here's where this sermon took a twist.

As I'm working, I wouldn't just throw this in here, what I'm about to tell you now, I wouldn't just throw it in there just to throw it in there because I want to go on a rant. The timing was impeccable. I'm working on this message, I'm going through some points, and then something just hit the news.

How many of you saw the bishop at the National Cathedral? Here we are, this person has the opportunity to speak to our nation, but she delivered a pointed plea directly at the new president on behalf of immigrants and the LGBT community and their children during a service. Now, on the surface, there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, by the way, let's make sure we do things right, but you have to pull back the layers to get to the truth. To get to the core.

As they say, pull back the onions to see what is fueling those words. And I just read this on their website. We believe that leadership in the church is available to all regardless of gender and race or ethnicity.

Sounds great so far. And sexual orientation. Promoting.

When you use, and that's where, I don't know about many of you, but this is the National Cathedral. And you're going to promote and push godless ideology, sexual sin. And that's the platform.

You've got national attention, national media, and the biblical stance. The biblical stance is we welcome, but we don't affirm. Did you catch the difference? Boldness, I believe, is a battle cry for a deaf church.

Wake up, church. Wake up, church. Wake up, church.

And the only way church wakes up is through boldness. Boldness to confront evil. Boldness to confront sin.

And it's out of, actually, this is what I'm about to tell you over the next few minutes, is actually very loving. You see, we've misdefined the word love. Love doesn't mean, hey, I'll just know, I'll accept you where you're at, of course, but I will not capitulate.

That's not love. That's cowardliness. And church, we have to go back sometimes and hear, we just heard the cry of Jeremiah, but you have to go back and you have to hear the cry of the Old Testament prophets.

You have to hear their cry. You have to saturate your mind in their truth, because Jeremiah would also cry out, woe be to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, thus saith the Lord. He said, my heart within me is broken.

Why? Because they walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evil doers. One clear sign of a false prophet is they will actually strengthen the hands of evil doers. Because they do not confront, and when you do not confront, you confirm.

And actually, you go a step deeper into the murky waters, and you actually encourage sin by your support. God's Word is crystal clear. Crystal clear.

And I get a pushback, clap of shame, these aren't bad people. No, I don't know. How do you define badness, I guess? But they're deceived.

So you can be good in your mind and good intentions, but we know that the Bible says we are all sinners. We've all fallen short. There's nobody that does good.

No, not one. And people can be very deceived. And that's why God, do you know what He said? He said, do not listen to them.

Do not listen to them. I have not even sent them. Are there people in our pulpits that God has not even sent? Absolutely.

He says, I have not even sent them, yet what did they do? They ran. I haven't spoken to them, yet they prophesied. This is the context of Jeremiah, working from chapter 20 to 23.

God's telling Jeremiah, I haven't spoken to them, yet they spoke to the people. Can you imagine God has not sent them, but the world is listening? I've not sent them that they ran. I've not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

But, but, but, God said, have they truly stood in my counsel? What the Word of God says? Had they truly done that, then they would have turned the nation back to me. Why? Jeremiah said, because my Word is like a fire, God says. It's like a hammer that breaks to rock and pieces.

It's like the fire that ignites the soul. This is why our nation is crumbling from within. There are false voices offering false hope based on false truth.

Yes, you need a heart for ministry, but my goodness, you also need a backbone. Did you catch that? Yes, you need a heart for ministry, but you also need a spine. Yes, you need to be balanced, but you better be bold.

Church, we must cry out for that holy fire. Can you imagine if the church cried out for that holy fire? Oh God, holy, you are worthy. Your holiness needs to guide us.

God, you are holy. And just sing like that song we sometimes do. Take me in past the outer court, into the holies of holies.

Lord, I want to see your face. I hunger and thirst for righteousness, and it's only found one place. Take me in by the blood of the lamb to the holies of holies.

God, I need to see your face. See, there's a time when the church was holy, not crowded. In seasons of revival, God will bring a crowd to a holy church, but you cannot tickle the ears.

You've got to convict the heart. We need that holy fire again. And a lot of it boils down to the authority of scripture, correct? The authority of scripture.

Is it God's word or is it not? They don't think it is, so they play with it. They redefine it. And if you stand on the authority of God's word, you are, if you don't stand on the authority of God's word, you are no more a pastor than a wolf is a sheep.

That's the clear mark. That's the clear mark. It's really not difficult.

All these different people, what do they stand on? What do they say about God's word? Are they upset that Paul said this and Jesus really didn't mean this? Give me a break. We need to wake up. And if you think what I'm saying is insensitive and hard, you're actually right.

You know why? Because I can't be sensitive to feelings. I must be sensitive to the truth. There's a big difference.

They're a dividing line and boldness. Boldness is ignited in desperation. It's fueled in the fires of prayer.

It's refined in the sacredness of worship. We are not progressing as a nation. If we are digressing from God's word, that's the difference.

Why is this a big deal, Shane? Why is it? Because the world is screaming in our face. They're blatantly pushing perversion in the face of your kids and grandkids. Where's the holy outcry? Where's the prayer meetings and asking God for that holy fire? And if you want to be popular, preach happiness.

But if you want to be powerful, preach holiness. That's the difference. And I've said this before years ago, but something really stuck and I wanted to let you know what I discovered.

You see, pastors are supposed to be pillars who support truth, not oppose it, not tear it down. That's our job. I don't care about your opinion or what you think.

What does God's word say? Why? Because truth is not flexible when it comes to absolute. It's not flexible. It's solid.

It's unyielding. Truth liberates, truth rebuilds, truth restores, truth heals, and truth transforms. You don't change the truth.

The truth is supposed to change you. So when these woke churches try to change the truth, they don't change people. One or the other will change.

The truth changes you. And when you don't want to change, you try to change the truth. And that's a deadly slippery slope.

And so like I said years ago in Lancaster, and I want to ask this question, where are the Isaiahs and Jeremiahs calling the nation to repentance? Where are the Peters and the Poles? They spoke with so much authority that even though they're dead, they still speak. Where are those voices? Where are the Whitecliffs who stood so unyielding for the truth that he was called the morning star of the Reformation? Where are the Tyndales and the Husses who are burned at the stake? Did you know that? Literally burned alive. Or Savonarola, I think it's one of the guys in Italy in the 1400s.

Savonarola, I believe his name was. They burned him alive at the stake because he challenged heretical teachings. Where are those voices? Where are the Martin Luthers when they asked him to recant his works? He said, here I stand, I can do no other.

Where are those voices of truth? The John Calvins and the John Knoxes. John Knox cried, give me Scotland for the cause of Christ or I shall die. Where's the voices today? Crying, give me America for the cause of Christ or I shall die.

That's passion. That's urgency. That is boldness.

Where are the George Whitfields who actually shook the continents of Europe and America? And I say again, where are they? Where are the John Wesleys and the Robert Murray McShaneys? Where are the Spurgeons? Did you know he's quoted more today than ever before because of the truth? Where are the D.L. Moody's? Where are the Evan Roberts during the Welsh revivals of 1904? He preached so powerfully against sin that people cry out, no more Lord Jesus. Where are the Puritans like Richard Baxter who said with such humility, I speak as a dying man to dying men. So here's what I noticed.

There's no woke cowards in that list. Think about that. There's no compromisers.

All the Christians we know, there's no compromisers. And those who capitulate, the cowardly, the soft and don't want to hurt, none of them change the culture. It's the boldness that changes the culture.

You have to preach the truth whether it fills a room or clears it. Now into Acts. And again, everything I just said, people say that's so unloving and mean.

Actually, it's very loving and truthful. You've had the wrong definition of love. Love means I accept you and I love you.

I'm not to judge, but here's what God's Word says. And you're on a very dangerous path. That's biblical love.

So if you want to use the word love, I would suggest you change the word or phrase and just say, I'm too cowardly to tell people the truth. And I probably should throw a disclaimer in there. I don't think we walk around doing what I just did, right? You'd be surprised when I talk to people individually.

I don't act like that. Go back to Kent Clark with the glasses on and nice. But see, there's something.

And when they saw that Peter and John were filled with the Spirit and spoke with boldness, boldness. So again, in this Acts series, and we're talking about truth, God revealed His Word. God is revealing His Word, His principles and His character.

I want to tell you something that I hope you never forget. God's truth, absolute truth is more important than natural absolutes. What's a natural absolute? Two plus two is four.

Gravity. I mean, just the law of thermodynamics, the space-time continuum. But God's absolute truth is actually above that.

Why? Because God can change natural laws. It's called a miracle. But He doesn't change moral absolute laws.

And that's all those people that argue, well, yeah, but that was back in the Old Testament. Show me one moral law that has changed. Well, He said you can't eat seafish back then or seafood.

Well, no. Shellfish. Okay.

Well, that's a dietary law. Well, you can only wear certain clothing. That's a type of restriction for the children of Israel.

But no moral law, no moral law has ever changed. Do not do this morally has never, ever changed. Isn't that amazing? Not once.

By the way, shellfish is not too clean for you. So just so you know, God. And it's ironic.

I read some things, you know, and they say, well, you can't mix cotton in this. That's ridiculous. Actually, a lot of people think that when they did that, a person could represent the garment of a priest.

It's the same way I wouldn't put on a police officer uniform because I'm not a policeman. So see, when you look at God's Word, it's for a purpose. Now they recommend that you should be circumcised babies on the eighth day.

Huh? Well, I read that. It was written 3,500 years ago. If I had time, I would take you to all the ridiculous things medicine believed.

But God doesn't change. Anybody heard of bloodletting? Where they believed you just lay there, they poke holes in you, and you let out all the blood, all that bad stuff. Things they did to your brain.

And I mean, it's just God's Word though is the only solid foundation. So where we're at in Acts, the context is a man was healed. So remember, go back and listen.

If you didn't, a man was healed at the beautiful gate. I talked about something ugly at the beautiful gate and he's healed. And so what did Peter do? They use the opportunity to confront the people and preach to them boldness from this because the Holy Spirit's not going to give up an opportunity.

Let me tell you, when you're available, when you're ready, the Holy Spirit will use you. You just have to be available. Actually, I normally don't do this.

So don't look at me as a good example because I've was just like everyone else. But I was in a store the other day and I said, okay, Lord, if you just want me to, you know, I'll be available if anybody needs anything, just, you know, just because if you're sometimes you're getting in some place, you got to hurry up, you got to get out, right? Your schedule got to be the next place, next place. Leave yourself some time.

So I'm in the store and this lady said, can you read this for me? She's about, she's probably a hundred, 200 pounds overweight. And so she's asking me, she's got these vegan cookies. And she says, what kind is this? And I said, oh, it's, it's, I don't, it doesn't have the, the flavor.

What are you trying to do? And she goes, well, I have to eat vegan. I'm trying to lose weight. I said, well, don't, that's not, vegan doesn't mean healthy.

Explained sugar and carbs. And she's on Ozempic and talked about that. Gave her some free books to download and just got her a gift car.

Cause she's on disability was just, she was so excited that God touched her in the store. But if I wasn't available or in a hurry, you know, so I put these down. Here's some grass fed beef jerky and an apple, much better choice.

Okay. Here's how that works. But just being available, you don't have to do that.

Maybe God will have you do something else. Fix a flat tire, charge a battery. I actually bought one of those chargers that sit under my seat.

Now that the little thing I've charged three different vehicles in four months, just people with their hood up and, and just trying to be available because it's not my nature though. My nature is like your nature. Correct? You got places to go, people to see, things to do.

I'm kind of moody. I don't want to be bothered. That's the flesh.

Walking in the spirit doesn't come naturally. It comes supernaturally as we submit to what God wants to do. But I can also stand up here and tell you many missed opportunities as well.

So Peter uses opportunity to confront the people and I have to do it. I have to give you a quick word about confrontation. It should come from a humble heart.

That's not reacting, but responding. I had to practice what I preached. Everything I just said has been in my notes three or four days.

Woke up early this morning by two in the morning, looked over it, praying, worshiping. God, do you want this to be said? Remove the plank from my eye first. God, I don't, I don't take joy in doing this because what I just said, if that gets out, I just made some enemies.

But so did Jesus. For what? For speaking the truth. He wasn't always gentle.

Anybody, you've ever read all the words of Jesus? It's not always gentle Jesus. Sometimes it's pushing over the money changing table, Jesus, and, and calling the Pharisees. Like I've never said you brood of vipers.

You whitewash tombs. I'd love to, but I'm just not that bold yet. Can you imagine putting, putting you in front of, let's say a cult? That's what it was.

And Jesus, you're, you, you, you offend us. Yeah. That's the point.

Cause if you're never offended, you rarely change. Can you imagine if you're always accolades and everybody's all, you're the greatest. That's what's wrong with Hollywood and, and, and the sports figures.

Oh, you're so awesome. I mean, give me just 10 minutes with Tom Brady. I'm not going to give him, I'm going to shoot him straight because they've they're, they're rarely, rarely offended, but the word of God offends Oswald chambers actually said the word of God offends until there's nothing left to hurt and to offend.

And I said on that 20 years ago, and I read them like, that's so true. Doesn't God just get you to such a point of brokenness? You just open the word and say, Lord, offend me. Where's my heart wrong in the situation.

So if you, if you, here's the thing about confrontation. If you're a confrontational person and you're reacting and yeah, yeah, yeah. That, that might not be the right spirit.

Just saying. Cause a true confrontational spirit that was given by the Holy Spirit is first loving. Their goal is restoration, not to win an argument.

It's not to pop off. It's to ultimately encourage. Do you see how the right heart is so important? And it's just, you can, you can, you can just sense that hard heart a mile away.

It's, it's just so sad. And when you confront, you're excited about the hope of restoration. You're not excited about the confrontation.

I didn't want to say what I said for 20. I did not. I'm like, can I just take this on my notes? I mean, I don't want to be Lord.

Is it just me? Is it my opinion? I'm not excited about that. It's actually, it's actually, to be honest with you, it's wearisome. Cause you're, you're carrying a weight.

Abram saw me. I get here. We got here at six this morning for worship.

I just had to get in the altar for a half hour because this, this way of God, because you're saying, I believe God put this on my heart. That's a pretty big deal. And there's a, there's a weight that goes to it.

That's why the prophets would often say the burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord. And they would say that the burden of the Lord and see God puts without the burden, you won't let it go. Is that interesting? So when I feel this desperation, this passion, I mean, I was so in the national cathedral.

We can go to the history of that cathedral back when it was legit and how far we've drifted from the truth. And this isn't a drift when you call sexual perversion, right? And God's truth wrong that by necessity, it has to be called out. I mean, just by necessity.

And of course I'll get pushed back. I'm sure you don't, you don't need to say anything. Well, she shouldn't say anything.

I'm responding. I'm not going out looking for people. I'm responding in the nation is desperate to hear those voices.

So be careful when you, if you want to confront, if you're like, yeah, go get them, Shane. Yeah. I'm going to go tell my worker off tomorrow.

I'm going to, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm just, I'm just bold. I got an attitude. No, that's an attitude.

That's not good. Spirit-filled believers don't have an attitude. You know the attitude, right? Well, I don't know what men, men, men's attitude.

They're like this. Whatever. You know, they've got an attitude about them.

Always arrogant, always challenging, always controlling. But you know, the women with the attitude, right? There's no gentle spirit about them. It's like, you know, you got that, you got that.

Don't make me do it. You guys know what I'm talking about, right? You know, you get the attitude. It's just, don't do that.

Don't do that. I'm just bold. No, you're arrogant.

My goodness. You don't see it. Open your eyes and let the spirit of God to convict you.

So Acts chapter three, 35 minutes to get there, but it was worth it. Acts chapter three. Oh, this is so profound.

So he's preaching to the, to the people. It's actually some of the religious leaders are there now. And he said they may send Jesus Christ who has preached to you before whom heaven must receive until the time of restoration of all things.

Here is our hope. We don't know how it's all going to pan out for us. Pan tribulation is, but there's going to be a time of restoration for all things.

And Jesus is not going to be the little lamb. He's now going to be the lion from the tribe of Judah who comes back with the armies of heaven. And that out of his mouth goes that sword that he will strike the nations.

He will rule them with the rod of iron. And that time is coming. So get ready.

Which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. And this is a reminder for some of us, but maybe in case you don't know this, this is how the Bible came about. Second Peter 1.2, for prophecy never came by the will of man.

It's not what man wants to say. Trust me, if man wrote the word, it would not read like it does. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Well, can that still happen today? Yes, men can still be moved by the Holy Spirit. I know people can write incredible books inspired by the Holy Spirit and preach and things, but they can never have their words equal with Scripture. And we can get into the Council of Nicaea and what they did is they basically said, these are all the books of the Bible.

Old Testament is a no brainer, but these are all the New Testament books the early church has been using from day one. And so all they did, they just said, they just identified the 66 books. And from that, we have the canonization of Scripture from even the first second century.

What the early church was reading, we are actually reading now. You don't add in all these other books and other things. And that's where the Bible came from.

Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And then in Acts 3, 21 through 26, it basically continues on that Jesus was foretold of. And then jumping right to Acts chapter 4, going into Acts 4. Now, as they spoke to the people, what are they telling the people? Jesus is the Messiah.

He's the Savior we've been waiting for. Remember how we read, we were born in Bethlehem, out of Egypt I call my son. This is Him.

And by the way, you killed Him. You crucified the Messiah. Good job.

Not knowing though, obviously that had to happen, for ordained by God, without that shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. And so He's telling the people all this, and the priests, the captain of the temple, which the temple actually had temple guards. So the captain of the temple and the Sadducees, the Sadducees were different.

The priests were the ones who actually went into the Holy of Holies and they stewarded the temple. The Sadducees were outside of the temple. They would go in, but they were the religious leaders.

And something that you can remember is, I think Chuck Smith actually said this, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. That's why they are sad, you see. That's how I've always remembered it.

So now you can remember it going forward. So they would get in debates, the Sadducees and the Pharisees over the resurrection. And you'll see that actually played out in the Gospels.

And so they came there, this is incredible, being greatly disturbed. Greatly disturbed. They did not like what they were saying.

Any surprise there? No. I mean, you guys, we love it on Sunday, right? I mean, there's people greatly disturbed, but they you know, they either walk out and act like they're going to the bathroom, never come back. But you know, you preach at funerals or different places, you tick some people off.

They're greatly disturbed. I remember one time, I don't know if I've told this story in a long time, but I was at the American Baptist Association. It was in Wisconsin.

And they had me come and speak at their general assembly for the year. Annual, I mean, there's hundreds of probably back like, I don't know, six, seven, eight hundred people back, just a long hallway. And I'm doing what I do.

And I said, you know, if the LGBTQ, probably back then it was just a homosexual agenda, tried to do this 50 years ago, it wouldn't have happened. But now the courts welcome it. And I quoted scripture.

And then all these people start getting up and leaving. Like, just like, it was pretty clear, pretty clear. I'm talking dozens.

And then I'm preaching, this lady comes up, she's standing right here. And I'm like, can I help you? Is my time up? And she goes, no, I need to stop you right now from from speaking out against that. And I said, oh, well, thank you.

I'll be glad to talk to you afterwards. But the Bible, I read the Bible, I teach, I just left her alone. I just went into it.

And so, whoa. And then I'm praying with people afterwards. And one out of twelve, one out of twelve, there's one hundred fifty people in line.

And man, every one out of twelve rebuking me, rebuking me, this little 12 year old, I hated everything you had to say. I'm like, golly. So I'm leaving.

I am leaving. They're taking me to the airport. And the driver goes, well, you really let him have it today.

I'm like, yeah, well, what was that about? He goes, oh, we're voting today on whether we split denominations. One side is for LGBTQ and the other's like, that would have been good to know. My goodness.

But actually, it wouldn't have been good, right, because I might have, you know, but it was like they were ticked off. And all I said was what the Bible says. That's I mean, but but.

Like Spurgeon said, many are troubled by the gospel because it interferes with their sin. Many are troubled, let's just say, by what I'm saying, because it interferes with their sin. And one of the most blatant forms of sin is sexual sin.

It's where the people get so upset. Have you noticed that? I don't have a lot of people drunk and hung over and they commit adultery, get upset. They just don't come to church.

And they're like, yeah, but man, you get to this issue now. Golly, they want to kill you. I'm not joking.

Normal death threats and things come from that group often. Why is that? Because it's demonic and you're stirring that darkness. And if they love it, they hate you.

And they have to say something. And so like here, they're disturbed. They're disturbed because the people taught and preach in Jesus' name and in the resurrection from the dead.

And they laid hands on them and they put them in prison. However, however, I love however. This is why we do what we do and why we keep moving forward.

However, many of those who heard the word believed. So that's why I had to ignore that lady and keep talking to the rest of the people and go through, say difficult things that the hardest. I don't know.

You have to ask Pastor Abram, but we love memorials, but they are hard because there's no clapping. There's no amen, brother. Preach it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like I hear a pin drop.

Nobody, you know, half the group doesn't want to hear what you're saying. However, however, many who hear, many who hear believe. And the number came to be about 5,000.

God, when God grows a church, He doesn't mess around. Did you know that's the best church growth model ever given to churches? Preach the truth and let God bring them. That is the best church growth model.

But also many churches will not grow because of that. You're not tickling the ear. Oh, they don't want to hear about this.

They don't want to hear about this. They don't want to hear. You see, then, then the seeker sense it.

Then the seeker begins to determine your direction as a church. But God's church growth model is preach the truth. Hold up to the truth.

Why are all these churches that stayed open during COVID the largest? What's the one up in, is it San Jose? I ran into the pastor a while back. Calvary Chapel. It was like the city student for like 4 million.

And it's quadrupled in size. Again, just so you know, we don't, size is not what a church should be after. Because new levels bring new devils.

It's not, I'm good with a large church. We're considered large. Mega churches at 2,000 or more.

We're, we're, we're, we're in our wheelhouse. You start, you know, you just bring on more and more issues and things, but it's whatever God wants to do. But you honor God and then God honors you.

And did you know the majority of faithful pastors, I just talked to one this morning, that you'll never hear of pastor churches under a hundred people. 80% of all churches in America are under 80 in attendance. So see, you can never rate attendance by numbers.

I mean, rate God's, God's blessing on a church by numbers alone. I mean, if you plant a church in, let's say a big city with 6 million people, you're probably going to have a good chance of a mega church. If you just, even if you honor God, he'll, he'll bring the people.

Like where John MacArthur settled or Jack Kibbs and Chino or, you know, there there's, you're right there. But other people are out in the outskirts or in small towns or, or just God knows, God knows what they can handle as well. God knows what they can, I've got three, three pretty good friends that are mega church pastors.

And I wouldn't, I wouldn't trade it for never. They say basically take your problems and times them by 10. You've got to have an executive pastor that just handles the problems.

And then the more exposure, right? The more, but also just because you're big doesn't mean there's God's favor on it. Correct? The best church growth model is to preach God's unadulterated truth and let the chips fall where they may. And maybe it's encouragement to pastors.

God might keep you at a small church and keep you there for the rest of your life. Be thankful, be humble, gracious, because he's got you right there. You can, you can spend a lot more time with your family.

You can be more flexible. You can enjoy God better. So be careful.

Size isn't always what it's cracked up to be in regard to church growth. And we also see here the blinding effects of pride, envy, and jealousy. The blinding effects of pride, envy, and jealousy.

You know, on that note, it's kind of funny. I don't know if I should say or not, but I will. But sometimes people say, you know, I wish we had that such and such, the big church somewhere out over there.

I'm like, yeah, but I don't want their $80,000 a month payment. We're paid off. Nope.

What do you want to do? Right? I mean, it's like, where do you, is it, but let God bring the numbers in his time. It doesn't mean God might not do something in the future. We don't know.

The key is always faithful no matter where you're at. Like Paul, I know how to abound when it's good. And when it's bad, I've had riches.

I've had poverty. I've had just be content where God places you. But I do know this, what you steward well, who often allow you to steward more, more talents, more, more things based on your gifting, but the blinding effects of pride and envy and jealousy, that's why they got mad.

You'll often see their true character comes out. Sometimes they'll say the whole world's going to follow them. Oh, the whole world's following Jesus.

Now, what did you guys, why didn't you go get Jesus? The whole world's going to follow after him now. And that these guards came back and they said, because no man ever spoke like this man. And you know what they're referring to? Boldness.

Look it up. Nobody ever spoke like this man. The boldness from the Spirit.

They gave Barabbas grace, these leaders, but Jesus' condemnation. And that's where the spurging quote comes up. Many are troubled by the gospel because it interferes with their sin.

And then so now this incredible opportunity, and I love God, this is why you have to go through the trials sometimes, because we want, you know, easy, best life now, no challenges, no drama. Anybody else in the no drama camp? Love no drama? Doesn't last very long, but you know, it's nice. But God's used this man's healed.

They're confronting the people. Now the priest and the captain guard are getting upset. And now they get to go in front of the actual Sanhedrin.

The religious body in Jerusalem. God just went boop, boop, boop, tell the truth. And it was a little painful to get there.

And it came to pass on the next day that the rulers, the elders, the scribes, as well as Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, I think I spelled it wrong here, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, there's a lot of people there. They were gathered together all at Jerusalem. They want to know what are these guys saying? And when they had sent for them, they asked them, by what power or by what name have you done this? Now they could be talking about obviously the healing that just happened at the beautiful gate a couple days earlier, a day earlier.

What caused you? How did you do this? And I was reminded of Matthew 10. When they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. And they were committed to preach the truth no matter where it took them.

They were committed to preach the truth no matter where it took them. Now before we go to the next slide, let me set it up for a minute. What happened just two chapters earlier when they're in the upper room? The Holy Spirit came in and filled them, came upon them.

As the Bible says, it came upon them, it filled them, and they're out speaking in tongues, and they're doing all the great works of God. Man, they're filled with the Spirit. So obviously, Peter, you know, was filled with the Spirit to do all this, which I agree with, of course.

Now we read something very interesting, though, in chapter 4, verse 8. Let's put it up there so they can see. Then Peter, wait a minute, filled with the Holy Spirit? What? That just happened. Now some could say, well, yeah, it's just reinforcing.

Well, that doesn't make sense. That'd be like saying, and Shane breathed. Yeah, obviously.

Of course, I breathed. So it seems to be, you know, Peter's sitting in jail. He's got to go in front of these people, kind of like I felt this morning, as far as just, you know, just, oh, this is going to be hard, Lord.

Especially in this situation, he's imprisoned. Man, if he doesn't say just the right thing, people could die for this or be excommunicated. So, in my opinion, many commentators would also agree, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit.

So something, again, not necessarily came upon him, but came out from within him. So as he's trusting on God, he might have some bruises and some scrapes, and I don't want to get beat up again. Oh, what am I going to say? And as he rose to speak, or as he began to speak, he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And that can happen to you. Maybe you go into that store, some store, or you're doing this, and you say, Lord, I want to be used by You. You're not feeling much.

You're a little irritated. You've got a toothache. But something happens to where maybe you have to confront it, or somebody asks you, and you feel this.

Have you ever felt that? There's this sense of spiritual empowerment. And you know what to say. You know what to do.

And Peter was filled, and Paul was filled, and Nancy and Reagan and Aubrey and Chris and Mike and George, and they were filled with the Spirit. And this topic does demand a little bit of extra time. I might go into Sunday, and I did it on Wednesday, I think, a little while ago, but it's interesting.

Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. He said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means has he been made well? Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, Peter, wow, you're going to get more trouble. This is your time to pull a Joelstein.

This is your time to, guys, I didn't mean that. This is your time to kind of, man, they're upset at you. But this is true Spirit-filled preaching.

They will say, the prophets of old, I mean, the king would slap the people and put them in chains. Put them in chains. He always speaks evil of me.

I'll be back. When I get back, I'll deal with it. And the prophet said, if you ever come back, then I lied.

You can get smacked again. And that king never came back. I believe it was probably Ahab, Micaiah, preaching to him.

Let it be known to you all, you crucified Jesus. And this is God who, this is Him who God raised from the dead. God raised from the dead.

Guys, going forward, everything hinges on this fact. Everything hinges on this fact. I actually have about seven more slides, but I'm going to hold those till next week because it's an important topic.

But then Peter, fill with the Holy Spirit. And I thought of a few different things, but I want to just ask, have you ever been filled with the Holy Spirit? Do you not understand what I'm talking about? I'll never forget. I was actually in Rancho Vista.

My wife and I think we're newly married and there's a Bible study and a pastor's son was there. He was probably 30 or so. And we were talking about this.

We were reading this and Peter filled and he didn't understand because I've never been filled with the Spirit. And I was like kind of shocked and amazed at that. But come to find out later in his case, he was never genuinely saved.

As far as I know, he's still living a very destructive life. And so it can do with salvation. A person doesn't have the Spirit because they're not saved.

Or that happens a lot. Many I'm sure can relate. They're Christians, but they've been grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit for so long that they've lost that fire.

They don't do much for God. The fire's faded. The passion's gone.

If it was ever there before. Listen, I've been there. I'm not pointing fingers.

I'm trying to help people. And you can stay there for a long time. I've stayed there for a long time, months and months.

People can stay there for years and years. Because as you're quenching and grieving the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit never says, you know what? That's OK. That's OK.

Let me go ahead and empower you and fill you again. That's OK. I know you tried.

It is always contingent upon us repenting and saying, God, light that fire again. I want you to quench sin and ignite my fire. This is why I believe Jesus said, return to your first love.

This church in Revelation had been quenching, maybe by sin, grieving the Spirit, saddening the Spirit because of their arrogance and their hard hearts. They actually had sound doctrine. They actually were doing things in the ministry, but they become arrogant.

And God said, you've got to return to your first love. You've got to repent. And then I guarantee those who did felt again those rivers of living water flowing out.

So you do have to ask the question. Maybe you're not being filled with the Spirit. And the reason you would know is, do you love God's word? Do you love the truth? Are you humble and gracious and loving and trying to... Again, we all mess up, but the difference is you get back up and you desire that.

It's interesting. I'm going to do this in a Wednesday or two. Sometimes the notes come together.

But the next Psalm I'm in, it says, a prayer of Moses, the man of God. And then I remember we're studying David was a man after God's own heart. And begin to look at the Hebrew structure of that sentence.

It's interesting. You think he's a per... No, he was after the heart of God. A man after God's heart.

I haven't caught it yet. I haven't grabbed it yet. I've still fallen short.

But God, I'm after your heart. I'm going to find you. I'm going to seek you all the days of my life.

I'm going to get back up when I stumble. And if I mess up and if I come out prideful and arrogant, I'm going to humble myself and I'm going to... I'm a man after... There's where I want to go. And I might not get there on this side of Calvary, but I want to go after God.

I want to seek him. I want to pursue him. And as I get, as I fall and I want to, I got to get back up and I don't care what I'm hit with.

And I'm a man after God's own heart. That doesn't mean you're a perfect person. It means you've set your sights on the goal and you will not give up.

God will fill that person with his spirit. So let's not miss the closing takeaway, the priority of the message. The priority of the message we just heard.

He preached the truth about the true condition of man and hope through repentance. I wish I could, I was going to try to show it this morning, but I just saw, I think yesterday. It shows that bishop giving that real quick message at National Cathedral.

And then it shows what Billy Graham said at the National Cathedral. Night and day, light and darkness, air and truth, wrong and right. And he called the nation to repentance.

Look how far we've drifted. No call to repentance. Now we're glorifying sexual sin.

You don't think that plays a role in how God views our nation? I don't know. Ask him when you get to heaven, but I'm going to, I'm going to err on this. I'm going to err on the side of honoring God.

I don't know. Cause I get people that are like, well, don't you know, Shane, haven't you read revelation? I mean, let's just sit back and just wait for the judgment. I must be reading a different Bible because you can do things that honor God.

You think God wants a lazy person sitting at home waiting to be raptured? That's laziness. That's not, that's not powerful boldness through the power of the spirit. That's laziness and often arrogance.

I just upset a lot more people now, but that's okay. I want to end with this quote. Sometimes I, you know, I'd like to bring in people that, you know, or I've heard and just, but Ozzy Osbourne again, he wants declared in an interview and he actually said the F bomb, but I'm not going to do that.

He said, I'll retire when I hear them nail the lid on my coffin, then I'll do a encore because I am the Prince of darkness. Can you imagine if America pulpits got back to what God called us to do? He might actually hear something noteworthy. I don't want to keep you long, but how many of you remember when I, when the name of Alex de Tocqueville, he was a Frenchman who authored democracy in America and they, they, they give him this quote, even though we can't find it.

He actually was, was given this enormous task from France to come and find out why America was so great. We got to find out. We all know why don't we? Because of God.

Oh, but what about this? What about this? Yeah. Anytime God's doing something healthy, the enemy's planting sickness and disease like slavery and like all kinds of wickedness. But he said, I went there and I went everywhere.

I went to the vast wealth in their, in their gold mines. I went to the fertile fields. I went to their ports and their harbors and I couldn't find it.

I could not find it. He says it was not until I went to the churches in America and I heard the pulpits of flamed with righteousness. Then I understood why America is great.

She is good because she is great. Something like that. If she ever ceases to be good, she'll cease to be great.

The churches of God has, this is not, this is, this is, this is not just something pastors do. God has given the church the enormous calling, the enormous task of being the conscience of the nation to preach boldness and truth and to draw people back. And also broke my heart because I don't, I don't know if people reach these people, but the former president of planned parenthood just died on the day the president was sworn into office.

I saw so many people excited. I'm like, that should break your heart. How dare you? The closing thought is guys, we have to hear, we've heard the cry of the prophets, but did you know the Bible talks about God's heart cry? The cry of God.

It was consistent throughout old Testament history. Return to me and I will return to you. Return to me and I will return to you.

So that's his call. So the pulpits, although you deliver a difficult message, although you, you, you, you, you, you divide the truth and you encouraging me, you convict the ultimate message. The ultimate goal is to sell, tell sinners, there is hope.

And to tell those believers caught in sin and quenching and grieving the spirit returned to God. And he will return to you. Whether you need to return to him and get saved or rather you need to return to him as a believer and begin to repent either way.

If the shoe fits, wear it. Return to the Lord. And a verse that shook me.

And I still remember a lot of these when I'm, because when I went, when you're going through your Bible, now that you're back on track with, with the Lord, the verses just like they come, they just hit me. Right? I remember the very first one. What shall profit you if a man gains a whole world, but lose his soul.

Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name. Depart from me. I don't even know you.

But one of the other ones that says return to the Lord. But then it says, while he still may be found, there will come a point when you, a person can no longer return to the Lord because he can no longer be found when the judgment hand of God falls. Yes, it's sobering, but this is what churches need to be preaching.