Seized & Overwhelmed by God

All right, the title is Seized and Overwhelmed by God. Seized and Overwhelmed by God. When the Spirit Falls, part one.

When is part two? God willing, next Sunday. So Seized and Overwhelmed by God. Why are we always talking about the Holy Spirit? Well, blame the book of Acts.

Not me, we're just going through the book of Acts. So since many of you weren't here before, or you've been out, let me catch you up a little bit. We've been going through the book of Acts, and Peter was met with Cornelius.

Cornelius was an unbeliever. Peter was obviously a believer now, filled with the Spirit of God. And he went to Cornelius' household because God gave Cornelius a dream to look for Peter, because he was genuinely seeking God.

And that's what I talked about before. If you're genuinely seeking God, God will show you who He is. But there has to be a genuineness there.

Not, okay, Lord, if You're real, show me today then. There has to be a genuine seeking. Lord, I really want, clearly, somebody put the sun up there.

Clearly, somebody put the moon over there. Somebody did this. And God, if You're out there, I want to know who You are.

I want to know You and experience You. And so, Peter goes and he preaches in Cornelius' house. He comes in, he walks in, he walks in, and he begins to preach.

Now, this is interesting. You guys ready to experience what they experienced there? I mean, not necessarily what's gonna happen here is gonna happen there, is gonna happen here, but it's a very interesting tie-in to what can happen now in the church. And what I mean by that is seized and overwhelmed by God.

It means often we're overwhelmed with joy. Have you ever been overwhelmed by joy? Overwhelmed by excitement? Overwhelmed by grief or anguish? How do those things happen? Because something happens to us, and then there's a response, an emotional response, a God-given emotional. God gives us these emotions as He designed us, so it's okay to express anger, but do not sin.

Right, if something's gonna make you angry, something's going to upset you, something's gonna, you're gonna get excited about things. And there's anguish or sadness. You feel the death of somebody and these emotions.

And so, when the Holy Spirit, in the book of Acts, we learned initially, the Holy Spirit came upon the early believers. And this overwhelming power of the Spirit came upon them. And they rejoiced.

And the church, actually, that's how the church began, and it went out. And so in chapter two, which was the baptism of the Holy Spirit into the church, the church was sent out. They had now the fullness of the Spirit.

Now we're in chapter 10. Also in chapter 19, we're gonna read about it. And throughout church history, you read about Christians being overwhelmed and seized by the power of God.

You also read about unbelievers being overwhelmed and seized by the power of God. One of the verses that I came across this week, it said, the hand of the Lord was heavy on me. Ezekiel says, the hand of the Lord was on me.

And it indicates an overwhelming force by which Ezekiel was seized by God. And we see this, Jeremiah was seized by God. Isaiah was seized by God.

And Ezekiel was seized by God. And again, I will tell you, I'm sure our elders will tell you, most theologians, it's a topic where all we have is a Scripture. I don't know why God does some things some ways.

I don't know why some people are completely overcome and some people's salvation experiences is different and they kind of just woke up with this sense of knowing God and now they're different. That's why I love what Jesus said, the wind blows where it wishes. How the Spirit works, we don't know exactly.

So it's not like, okay, here's what God's going to do here today. Exactly like that. We don't know.

You don't have a chapter and a verse to say, okay, do this, do this, and do this, and then do this, have an upper prayer room meeting, wait for about two hours, and then the Spirit comes upon you. We don't know. We just have the Scriptures, but we also know that a desire is important.

I don't know how God does things, but man, I want more of Him. I want more of Him, don't you? And as soon as we don't, that's where it's closed off. Your walk with the Lord will stop when you don't want more of Him, when you're satisfied, when you're content.

It seems to be just, it just stops. I've felt that before. Have you before? It's just like, that's it.

I gotta return to my first love. I've gotta get, because we're hungry, and when you're hungry, He'll feed you with more of Him. The desperate and dire need in the church today is more of God, more of God.

Repentance, humility, brokenness, all these things, the desperate need is more and more of God. So, check this out. Peter walks into Cornelius' house.

He's got what we would call an entourage, and these are Jewish believers with Peter. Remember the early church, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the church, the Day of Pentecost is what it's called, and the Holy Spirit fell upon, you've got 120 people, and the Holy Spirit falls upon them. Jesus said that, go and wait, go and tarry, wait for the endowment of power.

Wait for the Holy Spirit, don't go out and do anything. Wait, and so this promise comes, and now, the Bible says, it doesn't know how to describe it, but like tongues of fire, like tongues of fire, and the people are speaking in tongues, and they're worshiping God in just this incredible atmosphere that's taking place. I mean, truly, when they're baptized in the Spirit of God, that's powerful, that's very powerful.

So, while Peter was still speaking to Cornelius' household, he's telling them about Jesus, he's telling them about the cross, about repentance, while he's still speaking, what happens? Again, this is the Bible, this isn't shame. The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the Word. And Peter's surprised.

I mean, you think of this house, he's inside this house, people are sitting down, he's explaining to Cornelius, and then, the Holy Spirit falls upon these people who weren't yet believers. That's what's interesting, in Acts 2, they're believers. I mean, Jesus said, go and wait, you're discipling, you're following, but they don't have the, what I referred to before, the epi, the overfilling, overpowering Holy Spirit in their hearts.

They're saved as believers, but that overpowering sense of the Spirit working in your life was not yet there, was not yet given, and that's all, I mean, we could camp out there for a while. But what words caused the Holy Spirit to fall? Well, God honors the preaching of His Word. And so, that's what Peter was giving them, the unadulterated, untarnished purity of the Gospel the good news and the bad news, no doubt.

Talking about repentance for the remission of sin, turning from God, turning from the wrath that is to God. And as he's preaching, the Holy Spirit falls upon them. And that will, that has often happened before.

Maybe not a large group of people, but as a person's preaching sometimes, and you'll begin to hear that weeping, and we've seen it here where the people just start weeping, and you can tell there's tears throughout the service, and the Holy Spirit's being poured upon them, or in the prayer room, or when they come forward, and just, they came in kinda dead and barren, but now the Holy Spirit's poured into their hearts. And there's, throughout even church history, you read, a lot of the books I read talk about in prayer meetings or in services where they would just, the Spirit of God would come upon a service. And Duncan Campbell in the New Hebrides Revivals writes about this, and sometimes they would just go to preach and the Spirit of God was so heavy and came upon the people, and again, we can't put a formula on it.

And no more than a farmer can make it rain. But he can prepare that soil. Can you imagine a farmer sitting out going, oh, look at all this rain, I forgot to till the soil and plant the seed.

Nothing will grow. So same thing in the heart of a believer. We've gotta till that soil, so when and if the rain comes, we are flooded with that work of the Spirit.

And so many times people say, Pentecost was a once and for all event. Well, if that's the case, why did it happen again in chapter 10 here? Why does it happen in chapter 19? Why does it happen in the life of church history? Now, there's something true to that fact. Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, was a one-time event, baptized in the Holy Spirit, but as believers, we are still seeking that deep work of the Holy Spirit.

And sometimes for unbelievers, when they become Christians, they receive the Holy Spirit. And I don't quite understand it, because sometimes people, when they repent and they believe, it's just this tears, right? And like, I can't, and it's just, man, they are overcome, and they can't wait to start witnessing. They might experience some gifts of the Spirit.

And then other people, it's not that traumatic. It's like, yeah, I repented, and I believe, and I want to get baptized, and it's like, hmm, you know, I'm going to start evangelizing, and okay, well, it's a little bit different, right? And I don't know. I can't explain it.

I can't explain it, because the Bible doesn't tell us, again, exactly what the formula is and how it works. But I do know this. I do know this.

No doubt, these listeners were open and ready to receive. And they're probably on the edge of their seat, maybe listening, because remember, God went to Cornelius in a dream, or an angel went to Cornelius. And so he's probably a little excited to hear what Peter's got to say.

He fell down and he worshiped Peter. Peter said, no, no, no, get back up. And so I do know this, though, for sure, as certain as I'm standing here.

If a person's closed off, I don't know about this guy. I don't know, the Holy Spirit, whatever, whatever. I've seen some weird stuff on YouTube.

So have I. That's not going to keep me away from God. It'll keep them away from God on YouTube, but not me. There's always going to be counterfeits.

We don't throw out the Bible when the church down the street uses it. I mean, there's always counterfeits, and there's always things that aren't going to happen, to people who are closed off. Or they're like, yeah, I don't know about the gifts of the Spirit.

Well, you probably won't ever experience them if you're closed off. That's called doubt and unbelief. We should say, Lord, whatever You want.

I want more of You. You show me. And so I'm pretty certain they were open.

They were receptive to what Peter was being said. And as a result, God honored that, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. It's a beautiful scene.

Sin in the camp, hindrances in the holy place, and choosing compromise over conviction all can hinder the Spirit falling upon a person. What I mean by sin in the camp, if there's sin in the camp, if there's undealt with sin, and we're holding on to sin, besetting sin, it quenches and grieves the Spirit. It doesn't lead to a mighty filling of the Spirit.

Or if there's hindrances in our hearts that are hindering us from that deeper walk with the Lord, and we're choosing compromise instead of being convicted, it will all hinder the Spirit falling upon our hearts. And those of the circumcision who believed, we're basically saying the Jews, the believing Jews who believed, they were all with Peter, they were astonished. That's a pretty strong word.

Because they're sitting there, Peter's talking to them, and they're like, what is going on? The Holy Spirit fell upon them just like He fell upon us. They were astonished, and they said, the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. And why were they astonished? Because they're thinking, this is our gift.

This is the Jewish gift. Wait a minute, this is mine. The Holy Spirit is mine.

God's work is mine. God's redemption. He's our Savior.

He's not yours. At least that's what they thought. I'm sure their hearts were changing now that they have the Spirit of God.

But this is my gift. But God says, no, it's for everybody. Everybody.

The Gentiles shall see the light. And it's a good reminder that God doesn't always do things our way. Anybody learn that lesson yet? Okay, the rest of you aren't being honest.

God does not always do things our way. They would have never guessed this at all. They didn't know why they were going.

God summons them to Cornelius' house and the fruit was amazing. Wanting more of God doesn't mean that you throw caution to the wind. Guys, when we want more of God, more of God to move in our hearts, more of that deep work of the Spirit doesn't mean like we're checking our brains at the door, throwing caution to the wind.

Alright, whatever happens, I'm gullible. If it's odd, it must be God. That's not it.

It's a passionate desire as that deer looks for that living water. As our hearts want more of God. It's actually very healthy.

And it should be that way till the end of our life. More of God and more of God and more of God. Because what's the opposite of that? Less of God, less of God, less of God.

Getting bored. Leaving our first love. And there is a marked and obvious difference when the Spirit falls.

There's a marked difference. And that's why we often say there's fruit in the life of a believer. There should be a marked difference about you.

Now again, there's different personalities. Some people are more conservative. Some people are more demonstrative.

Some people are wired different. They're different callings from God. But there's a marked and obvious difference.

Number one, when a person becomes a believer, of course. But also, when a person has surrendered to the work of the Holy Spirit, they look different than the carnal Christian. They can't mix.

It's like mixing the oil and the water. There's a marked now difference. And now I'm overwhelmed by the Spirit of God.

And again, I don't fully understand when God does it, to what degree, how often, but there's something about childlike faith. And I've seen many, many intellects hinder the work of the Spirit because they put God in a box. I mean, some of you are aware, maybe a lot of you aren't, but there's a huge debate within Christian circles that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit coming upon people powerfully does not happen anymore.

It doesn't happen anymore. And a lot of people who are well-educated, there's something about, not everybody, but there's something about the more education we get, the more we know about God, the more we try to confine Him to a box and worship our intellect, and we begin to quench and grieve the Spirit. That's why I've quoted before.

I don't have it today, and I hope I do it justice. But D.L. Moody's quote, D.L. Moody's quote, that we are leaky vessels, right? We have to stay underneath the fountain of living water all the time. But he also said that they are good teachers.

He's talking about the Bible teachers in his day. He said they are good teachers, but why can't they themselves see that the one thing they are lacking is the mighty, filling, baptism, unction of the Spirit? He saw it in his day. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones has sermon series on it.

He was reformed. He was reformed, and he would actually go after the reformed dead churches of his day. It's a consistent pattern throughout all of history.

I do want to ask this question, though. So why is sermon on this topic? Why is sermon on this topic? Well, let's think about this just for a minute. If a downpour of the Spirit is possible and the gifts are available, wouldn't it be advantageous to pursue a deeper work of the Spirit? Think about that for a minute.

If a downpour of the Spirit is possible and the gifts are available, wouldn't it be advantageous to pursue a deeper work of the Spirit? Even those who believe that the supernatural gifts have ceased, okay, take that part out, wouldn't it still be important to pursue a deeper work of the Spirit in your life? Absolutely. This type of message, I believe, is vitally important for the church. And here's the thing we have to remember.

I always want to tell people this. Get this point across. If your experience with the Holy Spirit lines up with Scripture, you're in good company.

There's nothing to be afraid of or worried about or people put you down. If what's happening to you is in the Bible, good thing. And I'm going to get into part two next week to talk a little bit more about this.

Because it says here, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles also, what happened? They began to speak with tongues and they began to magnify God. Now, it's a confusing issue for sure because we see weird behavior. We see odd things.

It's something we don't understand. But again, the context of it is it's a worshipful magnifying of God. And that's what they heard.

It's one of the only gifts. It's really a benefit to you and to other people. What do you mean by that? Because Paul, and we'll talk about it next Sunday, Paul goes on to say that with the Spirit, he's praying to God.

That it's his time with the Lord that's very impactful and meaningful. That's what Paul says. So people have a problem with it.

You have a problem with Paul. Paul needed it, but we don't. Well, that's poor Paul.

Yeah, he sure needed those gifts. We don't today because we've got the Bible here. We still see through things dimly, don't we? We still don't see things perfectly.

Why? Because when that which is perfect hasn't come yet. Jesus hasn't come yet. When He comes, yes, prophecy will cease, tongues will be done away with, love will not fail.

But that which is perfect has not come yet. And D. Martin Lloyd-Jones made that point. He said then if we say the gifts are gone, that means we now see better than Paul.

And I sure can't make that statement. I don't know about you. But again, don't let the abuses push you away from what the Spirit can do in our hearts.

It must be a life's pursuit. Pursuing God is a life pursuit. So I'm gonna give you another question.

A couple questions today. Are these gifts, he's talking about tongues, prophecy, we'll get into that a little bit, probably next Sunday. Are these gifts that were wonderful, again, in the Bible, they were wonderful, they were needed, they were taught about, and they were sought after, are they now gone? And are millions of believers being fake and influenced by the devil? You can deal with that one this week.

Think about that. These gifts, they're wonderful in the Bible, they're needed, they're taught, they're sought after, they're encouraged. Eagerly, eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians.

And do not forbid speaking in tongues. Now again, as a conservative, as somebody who doesn't like weird stuff, that's not of God, I get it, I truly do, but there's no way I can get scissors and cut these verses out. Because here's what, and I've heard people, men of God I respect, and say the tongues today is of the devil.

So how are people worshiping at the altar or in the prayer room, and they're worshiping, they're praying in tongues, if God gave them that gift, and they're being broken before God, and they're crying out to God, and they're worshiping, how's that, that's not the devil, guys. Hello! Now is some weird stuff out there? Yes, yes, I don't let weird stuff influence me. I let the Word influence me.

That's what we're supposed to, is it could it be that you're making an excuse? Because you don't want to go deeper. It's in the Bible, it's in the Bible. And the main verse is, if you keep reading in 1 Corinthians, when he talks about desiring the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.

Prophecy, a lot of times it's a gift where it's something you're not planning on saying. Anybody teach studies and it's like, where did that come from? And it's like this God supernaturally brings something to your mind, rabbit trails, that really help people. It's like, that's a prophetic, that's a supernatural gift.

Or a word of wisdom, God shows somebody something and I need to share this, this is God's, I need to share this with them. And you share it and it helps them. That's what the gifts are, they're helps.

They're helps, they're not the main meal. The Word of God is the main meal. But I have the Word, I still need help.

I don't know about you guys, if you don't need help anymore, my goodness, Lord, I'm reading your Word, I'm studying your Word, but I still need help. Is this you, is this your direction? Is this legit? I mean, it lines up with Scripture, but Lord, I don't trust me, I trust you. I need a little help.

The gifts of the Spirit are given by the helper. That's the point of the gifts. We still, Paul needed them.

The early church needed them. The Word gives us clear, defining principles, the character of God, the inerrancy of Scripture. And technically, you can live the Christian life without the gifts and just in the Word, you can.

But you'll be a lot more unfruitful and barren because these are supernatural gifts given by God to bring life to the believer. In 1 Corinthians, it goes on to say in those chapters, mainly if you're interested, read 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14. Paul talks about that love is the greatest thing and love will never fail.

Love is patient, it's kind, it doesn't envy, it doesn't boast, it's not rude, it's not proud. And that's when he says prophecy will cease, tongues will cease. When that which is perfect comes, these things will be done away with because right now we kind of see dimly through this glass.

We don't see real well. And we need the gifts. We need the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in our heart and in our life.

But when Jesus comes, these things will be put away with, be done with. Now, some people actually say when that which is perfect comes means the Bible. And I don't know how in the life of me that from John Calvin to D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and countless others, I mean, Wayne Grudem, his systematic theology and Norman Geisler.

I mean, it means when perfect, tetelios, it's that perfect state when Jesus is here, then we won't need the gifts. That would be a concern for me if I'm quenching all these things because I saw somebody on YouTube or other Christians acting weird. And some of those things obviously need to be called out for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, they need to be called out.

And Paul wrote the letters to the churches. It was mainly Corinthians, but all the churches read it. He's saying eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy, and do not forbid the speaking in tongues.

Can your stance and your view of the Holy Spirit quench and grieve Him? Well, I put the answer in case you don't know. Absolutely. If a person says, you know, Shane, God doesn't do that anymore.

The Holy Spirit coming upon and powerfully weeping and at the altar and emotional worship, that doesn't happen anymore. Well, that's where you're going to stay, sir, for the rest of your life. And I guarantee you will turn hard and critical and legalistic and dogmatic without that deep working of the Spirit breaking your pride out of your heart.

I've seen it more times than I can count without a shadow of a doubt. And so, baptized in the Spirit is what they call it. You hear that term out there a lot.

Brother, have you received your baptism of the Spirit? Pentecostal churches talk about that a lot. You know, have you received your baptism of the Spirit? And I know what they're saying because there's something that I think early Methodist taught even the Moravians, Count Zindedorf, and many people like that, I'm gonna go over it next week. So much in church history, sometimes they would teach you there's a second work of grace is what they would call it.

Okay, so the first work of grace is you're saved. And the second work of grace is now you need to keep pressing in. You need to keep praying.

You need to keep asking for it. You need to keep seeking this baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's why they say, have you received your baptism of the Spirit yet? And people are like, what are you talking about? And so, studying all this, looking at the Bible, of course, talking with the elders over the years, we all agree that there is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Again, just sticking with Scripture, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when you're baptized into, you're a believer, you're baptized into Christianity as far as the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes upon you when you're saved. I don't really see where the Bible's like, okay, hey, over the next couple of years, you're gonna be dead and barren for a while. So, just keep sick, just wait.

Just ask God for the second work of grace. Ask God for the baptism of the Spirit. But we're kind of all saying the same thing because often, people don't receive that as salvation.

Hello, how many can relate to that? You know it came years later. And I can give, there's a book called They Found the Secret that I've talked about before. John Bunyan, Amy Carmichael, Adonai Judson, Hudson Taylor, John Bunyan, Whitfield, Wesley, I think.

I mean, even Adrian Rogers, you hear him on the radio. He talks about this later, A.W. Tozer. What happens is they're Christians and for years, Oswald Chambers was teaching at a seminary as a professor.

And he said the Bible was dry. Most boring book I've read. I'm saved, but I'm just not, there's no fire there.

He's a professor. Read D.O. Moody, he was a pastor. He was a pastor.

No fire, really. Built his own ministry. But then years later, what happens? This baptism, this unction, this fire, whatever you want to call it, they didn't have it back then, but they receive it now and now they're on fire for God and they wonder if they were even saved to begin with it's so powerful.

And I've talked about this before. That's what happened to me in 1999 when the Spirit came upon me. It's just, talk about life changing.

It's completely, bye bye world. And now the fullness of the Spirit. And so the only thing I can think of that makes sense and enlisting and reading their biographies and understanding is, and this is why I say this often, they had all of the Holy Spirit at their conversion, but He didn't have all of them.

Now it makes perfect sense. So if somebody's fully surrendered, the Lord, I want all of you, it's like, nope, it's probably gonna take about five years from now. There's something called a second work of grace.

You have to keep praying for the baptism of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit. It could take 10 years, it could take, you're waiting for this, that was my first stage of salvation, now comes my second stage of salvation. It doesn't work that way.

Because many people, Charles Finney received the mighty baptism of the Spirit the next day after his conversion when he's out in the forest crying out to God. There's so many different stories. And it often has to do with the fully surrendered life.

Once they give up everything, I've seen conversion and baptizing the Spirit, fullness of the Spirit on fire for God, boom, end of story. But for the majority of believers, let's be honest, and I think what happened, I was right up there in Wrightwood at 12 years old, I remember repenting, believing Jesus, had the peace, my mom was happy, I was happy, you know, everything's good, but then, like, you know, my dad was a tough guy, farms of Oklahoma, you know, my friends, my influences, like, yeah, I don't wanna be some Jesus guy. That's kind of, I'll go to church with my mom, right? I'm my mama's boy on Sunday, but I'm my daddy's boy Monday through Saturday, hunting, fishing, you know, cussing a little bit, try Copenhagen at 12.

Glad it didn't stick too long. And, you know, just, and so I'm quenching and grieving the Spirit at my conversion. And then when God finally said, okay, tough guy, break you, break you, break you, break you, break you, break you, Lord, I can't take anymore, I give you everything.

I give you everything, God, fill me, fill me. So the same thing that could have happened didn't happen for 17 years later. But how many believers are living their whole life like that? That's why I often talk about full surrender.

Without that, you're quenching and grieving the Spirit, because He doesn't fill you to do what you want to do. So to the degree you're filled weighs equally with the degree you surrender. That's why throughout this church, you've seen it, before you know, people on fire for God.

I mean, like, whoa, there's people I look up to that, man, they're on fire, fire for God. You heard that Paul Washer clip I played a couple months ago? Some of you need to go find one. Paul Washer received the Holy Spirit.

Years after conversion, he was so desperate, crying out to God, walking in the hills of East Texas, the hill country, and the Spirit of God came upon him. Because there's a desperation, though it's not like a light switch either. Okay, I'm fully surrendering today.

Everything Jesus, Shane said, better happen to me. Sometimes there's a pursuing. A pursuing.

It's called pressing in. It's called He's a reward of those who diligently seek Him. So it might not happen right away.

And that's why, I don't know, the wind blows where it wants. I don't know why the Holy Spirit does this here. Sometimes you see a 12-year-old receive the Lord, and man, they're on fire for the Lord.

They're worshiping and speaking. Like, where did that happen? Why did I have to wait 17 years? Probably because they didn't care what anybody thought. They wanted more of God, and more of God, and more of God.

So you see people, they're just on fire for God. They're continence, they're joy. And then you see other people, kind of in the middle.

Any middle people? You know, it's like, ah, yeah, I visited the hospital home last week, and I love to come to worship sometimes. And like, you know, there's a kind of, you know, there's something there. But then you get to this, you know, then there's other people, it's like, my lifetime pursuit is quenching and grieving the Spirit.

I'm in another wrong relationship. I'm fornicating again. I'm getting drunk again.

I'm watching, and they live in this state of carnality. And they consistently quench and grieve the Spirit. That's why those things have to be repented of.

And full surrender must take place. And God falls upon an empty vessel that wants to do, when you say, Lord, whatever you want me to do, and you mean it, then it might be a pursuit, because God might be testing you. See, I don't know the heart, God does.

Somebody could say, Lord, I give you everything this morning. Okay, let's see. If you don't feel anything for a while, are you still going to pursue me? Are you still going to follow me? And so Peter experiences this incredible, incredible baptism of the Holy Spirit.

That's why they call it the baptism. They call it unction. They call it the fire of God.

They call it not the new birth, but the new life of the Spirit. There's so many different terms because we don't know what to call it. But I remember, I used to read books.

I've shared this before. I still read books. But a hundred years ago, I remember a couple different books.

I'm like, man, they're on to something here. And I'm not endorsing this. I'm just telling you what it says, because I think it's important to have somebody qualified, obviously, leading a church.

But many churches, when they would look for a pastor, the number one question was not, where did he get his degree? Where did he go to seminary? Their number one question was, has he received the baptism of fire? And I just get chills thinking of that. That would be the number one question for me. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Hey, we've got this church. Has that person received his baptism of fire? Then I'll look at the theological education, because that should never be the determining factor.

It helps. You've got to have a good theology. I told this story before.

I don't want to embarrass people, but I'm just trying to bring it in. There's a church in Lancaster. They're looking for a pastor.

I went there. Morgan remembers like, hey, I believe God's calling from my life. I'll never forget this.

I mentioned his name before, so I probably won't do it this time. But he goes, oh, Shane, we can't consider you because you don't have a degree. That couldn't even be considered at a church in Lancaster because I didn't have a degree.

It's like, do you want to hear preaching? Do you want to talk? I'll talk with your PhD, and I guarantee I'll go head to head with him on these issues of theology. But because man didn't anoint me, that I'm not qualified, and now our church has a much larger reach than that church. And again, hear my heart.

I'm not minimizing. Education. If you can, and you feel God's calling you to do it, absolutely.

I studied the same books that are reading in seminary. I did the same studying, the same church history, the same things. But it's God's calling upon a person that really matters.

Because when you put somebody in a church with a PhD, they can fail big time. I've got examples, but I'm not going to give them to you this morning. And you can put somebody in with no degree, and it can fail.

And you can put somebody in a pulpit who's anointed by God, who's got the fire of God, and it can still fail. If they don't stay close to their shepherd. If they don't stay close to that living water.

And so Peter saw this experience. And he said, can anybody forbid water? In other words, let's baptize these people. Let's baptize them.

They've received the Holy Spirit. Let's baptize them. And he said, let's go get baptized.

But I have two questions for you. There are some that I've talked to, maybe you know people you can send this to them, that they believe that a person's not saved until they are baptized. Roman Catholic teaches this, it's called baptismal regeneration.

Some of the early church fathers embraced it as well. And if you study, you kind of understand where they're coming from. But my question is this, if baptism saves you, and these people weren't saved yet, how did they receive the Holy Spirit? No, let's be honest, that's a big theological, ooh, they received the Holy Spirit.

They've got the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They've got the joy of the Holy Spirit. They're on fire for God, but they're not yet saved because they need to go get baptized? Hello? Hello? That's actually heretical.

It's heretical. That's why we call it a believer's baptism. So, for churches that believe that you're not saved until you're baptized, you're actually baptizing unbelievers.

Correct? Hey, I got 10 baptisms today. They're all unbelievers though. Until they come up out of the water.

It makes no sense. Absolutely no sense. And again, this is Scripture.

This is not me being a jerk. Maybe a little sarcastic, I'm sorry. I don't preach the sermon 100%.

My attitude gets in there a little bit. Anybody else? So, baptism doesn't save you. But if you don't want to get baptized, I have concerns about your profession of faith.

It's a public declaration. So, maybe make that decision this morning. I'll change my clothes.

We'll get baptized. I'll get baptized. Well, let's baptize you.

There's a seven-year-old getting baptized and the children's ministry's coming in to watch. In just a minute, if I hurry up and get through this sermon. But I can't ignore these important parts.

Finally, how to receive the Spirit. How to receive the Spirit if you're not a believer. The bottom line is stop being led by the wrong spirit.

Repent and believe in God. Repent and believe in God. Let's put up these quotes.

Satan is a diabolical dictator whose laws are evil to the core. He hands down orders to the eager sinner who quickly runs to obey. Little does he know that the law is written in his own blood and nothing but damnation is promised for fulfilling the devil's lusts.

I like these Puritans. Boy, they would lay it out. Now we get all this, oh, don't say that, don't say that.

Let's make people feel comfortable. No, I want to feel them convicted. I want them to drive home.

I want them to drive home upset. And like, is that true? Is that true? He who will not take God before he dies, the devil will take him as soon as he dies. Quotes by William Grinnell.

Famous Puritan who wrote the Christian in complete armor. He said, Satan has no reason to fear an assassin's bullet. He can trust all his subjects and never has to worry about rebellion except when the Holy Spirit intervenes.

Except when the Holy Spirit needs to intervene and he's convicting you that you need to turn over completely to him. Second Chronicles, when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him. You have to humble yourself in the sight of God.

If you are an unbeliever and you don't know God. And this is what's hard for me. I didn't want to rush through this.

Maybe I'll have to bring it up next Sunday. But if you're a believer, which the majority of you are here this morning, how do you receive more of the Spirit? You want me to wait till next Sunday? Okay, that's a good, whoever said yes, that means I need to talk about it. It means you're convicted and you're not coming back next Sunday.

So that's how you're getting out of it. How to receive more of the Spirit. Pray, pray, it's not a one and done.

We must press in. We must press in. What the church needs today is not more events or more studies, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use.

Men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come upon our plans.

He comes upon men. He does not anoint plans. He anoints men.

Men of prayer. And of course, women of prayer, it's the same thing. But you need to pray and you need to pray and you need to press.

But I've done that. Do it again. Do it again.

You didn't stop eating last week. Do it again. Keep pressing in and pressing in.

The more I seek Him, the more I find Him. And the more I find Him, I want to seek Him. And the prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

And ask Him, ask Him. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? But let's clarify. Jesus is speaking about prayer and the good things that God gives His children.

There's nothing in the context of this verse that deals with the reception of the Holy Spirit. As a believer, and you look at the context, He's talking about prayer. If we know how to give good gifts, how much more the Father will give you the Holy Spirit that will help you pray according to not your will, but His will.

I love when God targets you to pray, those prayers are answered. As sure as the sun sets. God is not limited.

God will not be mocked. He's not restrained. This is the God of the universe who says, seek me and you will find me.

Ask and you shall receive. He who knocks on that door, that door will be opened. Keep knocking.

Keep pressing and keep desiring. Keep asking. The best thing, the best thing is more of God, more of God, more of God.

Surrender yourself and yield. Surrender yourself and yield. It's not a one-time decision.

It's a pursuit of obedience. What happened to me in 1999? If I left it there in 2000, you wouldn't even know me today. It's a pursuit of constantly yielding and it's a pursuit of God and surrendering.

Lord, things have drifted into my heart. God, idolatry has come in. Hatred has come in.

Wickedness, I'm starting to doubt Your Word. I'm starting to doubt the power of Your Spirit. Lord, I'm becoming critical and cynical and I'm bothered by worship.

And Lord, would You help me surrender and return to Your first love? And then you have to desire it, guys. You have to desire it. You have to pursue it.

How many of you know that doctors say the stronger the cry, the stronger the child? As soon as that baby's delivered, if he's not crying, they're worried. They're worried. I remember our first boy crying like crazy.

I'm like, oh my God, what's going on? No, it's good, it's very healthy. Very healthy. You let him scream.

Let the lungs, let the oxygen breathe. In the same way, the greater the desperation, the deeper the pursuit, the more intense the cry, the stronger the believer. Cry out to God, church.

You need to humble yourself before Almighty God. Get off your high horse, humble yourself. Stop being comfortable and start seeking God like never before.

Pride is blinding, pride is blocking. A mighty downpour of the Spirit in the hearts of many. Who calms the storm with the Word? Who silences your fear? Who fills the empty, rebuilds the broken, and strengthens the sick? It's God and God Almighty.

Listen, we don't come to church to play games. We come to church to worship the living God.