Turn on the Light

The title of the message is Turn on the Light. Turn on the light. It's not a normal Christmas message, you know, about Jesus born in the manger and different things.

And just for trivia's sake, so you know, we don't know if there were three wise men. There's manger scenes and we sing about it, but we don't know how many wise men there were. Also, Jesus wasn't probably just born, it could have been months if not a year later the wise men came.

And I don't know if you're aware of this, but we don't know if it was on December 25th. It probably wasn't. That probably wasn't his birthday.

It's probably warmer outside and if you can look at the calendar and there's some guessing there, but the main reason is we're remembering the birth of Jesus Christ. And I'm going to talk about three pivotal events that happened in his life. You know what pivotal means, right? It's on a pivot.

Something is turning. Something dynamic takes place. It turns the tide of history.

Have you heard that before? Or turns the tide of my life. Something turned and it made a difference. On D-Day, the allies landed 156,000 troops on Normandy.

Did you know that? That was a pivoting point, right? It turned the war. Martin Luther in 1517 nailed 95 theses on the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany and it turned the course of the Reformation. It actually fueled the flames of the Reformation.

So we see also in Jesus' life, there are three turning points that will affect your life at a very deep level and that's what I'm hoping happens this morning. It's not a long message, right? So you can say, praise God, it's not a long message. But it's not a short one either.

But God might have other plans, I'm not sure. So let's talk about that. The first area of turning on the light, is it the birth of Christ? The light has come.

Isn't that what we celebrate, right? The light has come into this world. Let's clap at this service, amen. Second service is the clapping service, right? So you can clap if you'd like, I love that.

But the scripture we're going to put up on the screen is Isaiah 9-6. And you can tell, right, that Chip and Joanne Gaines fix her up or visit us this week and they made some changes and upgrades. So I forgot to point that out, I was going to thank all the helpers that helped with that as well.

So, yeah, let's clap for that, clap service. Okay, back on track, Isaiah 9-6, the light has come. We read this often at Christmas.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. So actually, a gift is given, and that's where we get the idea of gift giving at Christmastime. And many of you know of Kris Kringle, right? It's not just Santa Claus, in Germany, Kris Kringle and that whole idea was to give gifts to orphans.

So the history is paganism, some at Christmas, but also there's a lot of redemptive work also that we celebrate this time of year, where the light is shining. So Christ was given to us as a gift, and the government will be on His shoulders, and He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That's the God you worship.

So when you say hallelujah, you're saying the government, all authority is on His shoulders. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. We exalt Thee, we praise Thee, we worship Thee.

That's where worship comes from. But it's important to look at these each, this time of year, especially at Christmas. The government, you have this little child, I'm picturing this little Jesus, and the government will rest upon His shoulders.

Not the government of the United States. Not the governing authorities, everything rests in Him for the entire world, yea, for the entire universe, everything. The idea of government is all power and authority is given to the Son.

He's ruling and He's reigning, so they note that first. The government, in case you're confused, all power rests in the Son. So not North Korea, no army, no dignitary, no president, all the leaders could line up and do nothing to God.

No nuclear blast, no economy rupturing, nothing affects Mighty God, Everlasting Father. Everything rests on His shoulders. But it's important to remember that, right, as Christians, myself included, we can get worried, we can get anxious, what's gonna happen? We're looking at the news.

He holds Kim Jong-Jong, whatever his name is, He holds him in the palm of His hand. Russia, in this palm. Trump, the puppet master, right? He holds it, He is the ultimate authority, look to Him and Him alone.

And I get emails once in a while, Shane, what about the one world government, the Illuminati, whatever, who cares? I know who sits on the throne, that's what matters. Stop watching all these crazy YouTube videos, it'll make you crazy. And look to the one who has the answers.

Yeah, there probably is a one world government, read the book. But He, everything rests upon His shoulders, He has ultimate control and authority. That's the government, so don't think of our government, that's way too small.

This government will never crash. This government will never take, it only gives. And I hear this a lot, many say, Jesus doesn't rule over me.

Well, yes He does. He does, He rules over all of creation, the only difference is those who submit and those who don't. It's still His kingdom, it's still His empire.

Jesus, He doesn't rule over me. Yeah, He does. You will face Him someday and you will see that He rules over you.

So I want to get that government issue out there. And then wonderful counselor. Man, He's someone you can go to with all your pain.

One in the morning, four in the morning, evening, family's falling apart, health crisis. You can go to Him and Him alone. He's a wonderful counselor.

He's not asleep, you're not going to bug Him. He's a wonderful counselor. And I don't know if any of you need counsel right now.

I'm assuming most of this room, right? We'll be the person who's got it all down. Lord, help me in this job endeavor. Help me, this struggle I'm going through.

Lord, I don't understand. I don't. But go to the wonderful counselor.

He's wonderful. That word wonderful means remarkable, incomprehensible. And I believe this is a thing I don't think a lot of Christians understand.

But that Christ will lead those who are willing to follow. See, even though there's, Lord, I don't understand doesn't mean He's not in control. Lord, I don't know what I'm going through.

You haven't answered yet. Doesn't mean He's up in heaven going, oh, shoot. I don't know what's going to happen.

Can I say shoot? Is that okay? Okay. Every time I try to have serious sermons. But think about that.

He guides those who are willing to follow, right? If you're willing to follow, He will guide you. Through the storm, through the adversity. It's His Father holding His Son.

I've got this. Daddy, I don't know where I'm going. I got this.

I don't understand this. I got this. And He's guiding.

He's guiding those who are willing to follow. But you have to say, Jesus, I will follow. But be careful.

There's a cost. Don't we like to cut that part out of the Bible? Count the cost. No, I'm crossing that out.

Pick up your cross and follow me. Nope. Give me bling bling and lots of food in the refrigerator.

Then I'll follow you. But it's not that. So He's a wonderful counselor.

And I would just encourage you, if you're going through something very challenging, although you might not understand it, you will look back and you will see Him as the wonderful counselor. You will see Him as the shepherd. You will see Him as your redeemer.

You will see Him as the one who holds everything together. Because it's often, it's not until I get through the storm. It's not until I get through the 150 mile an hour tornadoes that I appreciate the attic or whatever they call, storm shelters in the Midwest, right? You go down.

It's not until the storm is, I appreciate this. So it's often we don't, those who don't have a deep appreciation for God often haven't been through much. It's those who have weathered the storms, who have fought on the beaches of Normandy, who appreciate the war.

It's the same thing in our lives. He's a mighty God. It's interesting.

He just, they don't say He is God because they could. Everlasting Father, Prince of Priests, God. But this word mighty, look it up in the Hebrew.

It's a God that is a champion, a warrior undefeated. So it's not one of many gods. It's not, we read.

Aren't you so glad we don't read the Bible and say, I wonder how this is going to turn out. Boy, that devil, he's a toughie. He, I don't know, like read, keep going.

You're going to see how this ends. No, mighty God, He is, He is champion. He is warrior.

He is undefeated. I don't know about you, but my whole life is a fight. I wake up fighting, right? I wake up fighting.

Krispy Kreme and Starbucks is calling my name right now. But I'm fasting. I'm getting to church.

And then you get to lunch. This is calling my name. Sleep, you know, life is a fight.

And it's a mighty God, a warrior, undefeated. His gift is victory. His gift is victory.

See, you walk, as a believer, you walk in victory. I don't feel it sometimes, but you're walking in victory. If you hold the line, if you hold fast to Christ, it's already been won.

The victory, the outcome has already been settled. Just hold to Christ and Christ alone. That's why they say these words, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The government is on His shoulders. It lets the Old Testament writers will continue. He is my Sabbath rest.

When I get into Him, He is my rest. He is my shield. He is my buckler.

He is my high tower. He is my fortress. He is the soon coming King.

He is a lion that was slain before the foundation of the world. He is the lamb that was slain. I'm sorry, He's the lion that conquered.

He's the lamb that was slain. See, you see Christ in everything. The bright and morning star.

The brazen serpent that was lifted up, that drew all men unto Him. Whoever looked and saw was healed. You can find Christ throughout the entire Old Testament.

In the feast. In the tabernacle. In the Holy of Holies.

They would come into the Holy of Holies. They couldn't go where the priests were. The high priests.

Until that veil was rent from the top to the bottom, allowing access to the Father. Who provided that access? Christ and Christ alone. You don't go to a priest to go to the Father.

You go directly to the Father. Mighty God. Everlasting Father.

At this point, I want to just camp out for a minute. Everlasting Father. It's a relationship that lasts forever.

It's a relationship that lasts forever for those who know Him. See, this is my concern, especially for this time of year. Like 350 people at the first service.

But how many why not see again? It's Christmas. We go to church. And I'll see you, Shane, at Easter.

And I, tears well up sometimes when I think of this. That many people know Him. They know about Him, I should say.

Yeah, Jesus, right? The guy on the cross and died for sins. Yeah, I got it. But do you know Him? Do you truly know Him? Do you have a relationship? Because if you're saying, I don't know.

I think so. The possibility is there. Highly, high possibility that you don't truly know Him.

And I never say this to beat people up. I never say to convict. And sometimes people say, oh, well, you're just better than me.

No, I'm actually a sinner. I need Christ just as much as you do. All I'm doing is pointing people to the Savior.

Pointing people to the cross. Here's how this saved me. Here's what you need.

So do you know Him or do you only know about Him? Right, it's an analogy I use often. I use it again. But if Mike Trout were here in the front row, right? So I was looking at Mr. Trout.

Oh, I know all about you. Well, this probably wouldn't work for me because I don't know much about baseball. But let's say it was somebody that knew a lot about baseball.

I know your stats. I know your home runs. I know how many balls you've caught.

What you dropped. I know all about you. When you went to college.

I knew everything. I know about you. You know what he would tell me? I just got invited here.

I don't know you. I don't know you. Mike, me, come on.

I pastor the church here. You don't know me? No, I don't know you. See, I know about Him, but I don't know Him.

Same thing with Jesus. Many can know about Him. But if the heart hasn't been engaged.

If we've never repented and truly repented and truly believed. Then we don't know Him. We only know about Him.

Here's a wonderful test. If you're wishing this, I would hurry up and get through this sermon. That's a good test.

That's a good test that you only know about Him. And I don't say that. Trust, understand my heart.

It's not to condemn. It's not to beat up. It's not, oh, I'm holier than thou.

I need Christ. I need Him every day of the week. But do you truly know Him? Or do you only know about Him? And then Prince of Peace.

This is interesting. It follows Everlasting Father. Because once He truly becomes your Father.

Once you have this relationship. Then the peace comes. See, no son, no peace.

No repentance, no peace. And this Prince of Peace. Thank God for peace.

I don't know about you, but I love peace. I love just a peaceful home. Right, reading a book by the fire.

Right, it's quiet. You know, it's just peaceful. The church is peaceful.

Our community is peaceful. Our nation is peaceful. We went to, many of you know, I went to New York in October with my wife.

We were on Fox News and debated a pastor who supports gay marriage and things. And I was, I couldn't, I love New York. But I couldn't wait to get home.

No peace. I mean, I'm sleeping in the hotel. There's sirens.

And we're right at Times Square. And you got all these billboards bigger than this church. And everybody's moving 100 miles an hour.

You just jump in there. You're like right, NASCAR. And there's just no peace.

Just a whole, it's just adrenaline rush the whole time. There's no peace. And you want to go back to Lancaster? Yes.

Oh man. Yes. The peace.

LAX was peaceful compared, you know. And it's, oh, the traffic, the 405. You think we have traffic? You don't know.

When you've got a guy on a bike trying to get in, a girl running and jogging, three cars going this way, people trying to jog to get past the stoplight before it's even green. It's just, it's an unbelievable amount of people. There was no peace.

I mean, there's peace I felt with the Lord. But as far as my adrenal glands and it was just, it was like it was at Disneyland the whole three days. With four four-year-olds, right, trying to keep up.

But this, he is the prince of peace. And peace is the opposite of chaos. So peace comes in.

It's the opposite of chaos. Peace is greater than fear. Just like greater, just like lightness, lightness.

Light is greater than darkness. See, they're not opposing forces necessarily. Peace is greater than fear.

You don't even have a spirit of fear, as a matter of fact. You have the prince of peace residing in you if you know him. So peace is greater than fear, just like light is greater than darkness.

When the light is switched, when the sun comes up, the darkness doesn't compete with it. What's the darkness do? It flees. So when the light of the world stepped in to us, to the world he was born, that light came in.

And that light should be manifest and revealed in us. That's why the song says, I'm surrounded by the arms of a loving God. I'm no longer a slave to fear.

It's all about celebrating what God has done. So that's the first turning point, major turning point in history. The prophets wrote about it.

Did you even know that it was foretold when Adam and Eve lived? When she took of the fruit, right, the tree that was good for the eye, pleasant to the eye, good for food, and desirable to make one wise? Just so you know, that's how the devil's going to come after you in those three areas. Good for food, lust of the flesh. Good to the eye, lust of the eye, and desirable to make one wise, the lust of the flesh.

I mean, lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life. That's all he's ever using. If you ever wonder, how's the devil coming at me? Right there.

Lust of the flesh, what your flesh craves. Lust of the eye, what your eye wants, and the pride of life. And then God said, because of this, and the curse and different things, but he said, your foot will push and crush the head of the serpent, the seed that is coming from you.

So the Messiah was prophesied hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before even the Jewish nation was formed. And we see this incredible turning point. The light has come in the Messiah through Mary that we celebrate.

But now, this is one of the most important turning points. The light has come, but it wasn't turned on yet. Think about this.

Jesus was born. We don't hear anything about Jesus. Wouldn't you think? Oh, at 12, he lifted up a horse carriage and healed.

Or at 13, you should have heard at 13, he threw a rock of 450 miles. There's nothing, nothing. Other than 12 years old, he was at the temple.

They found him at the temple talking and asking questions. And they said, no child ever spoke like this child. Lots of questions, nothing.

In his 20s, like, Lord, what's going on here? This guy was born 26 years ago. What are you doing? Nothing until the light was turned on. This is an amazing event.

I still don't comprehend it. But it wasn't until Jesus was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. He goes from obscurity to notoriety in one day.

And nobody to now the world can't stop him. Nobody's offended. Now everybody's offended.

He's upping the whole religious system. Everybody's friend. Now many want to kill him.

What's the difference? The Spirit's power. The light was turned on. 26, 27, 28, probably 30.

He went baptized. The Bible says the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove and came upon him. The word in the Greek is epi, E-P-I.

It means an overwhelming upon. Like, man, something is upon him. He's a new person.

So if Jesus needed that, if Jesus needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you see where I'm going with this, right? What in the world makes us think we can go into ministry, we can go pray for people, we can get involved, we can conquer the demonic realm, we can pray for people, we can try to win people to the Lord without the filling of the Holy Spirit. It's not possible. You might as well just go watch grass grow than try to do something for God outside of the Holy Spirit.

That's why I tell people all the time and I thank them. You know, we get emails and people are, oh, thank you for the church. Thank you.

You guys are changing my life. That's like going out and thanking the sprinkler for watering the grass, right? It's just a conduit for the water. That's all we are, spirit-filled believers.

You're just a conduit. See, it's Shane, oh, it's not Shane. Shane, I don't want to be hung over right now, I hate to tell you.

And married maybe five times, if not dead. That's where I would be. But the Holy Spirit had other plans.

And when he came upon me in 1999, 2000 in Palmdale, came upon me and the word of God becomes alive. I don't want the old friendships anymore, right? I exchange a 40 of Mickey's Big Mouth for fasting. Don't act like you know what I'm talking about.

Come on, it's Christmas. You know exactly, you know what a 40 is. And you turn from that, right? Come on, you guys trying to act like Christmas Christians.

But the Holy Spirit turns from darkness to light, turning on the light. So you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. That's the key to Christian living, to be filled with the light.

So see, the light just comes out because you're filled with it. So let's read about that. Matthew 3 on the screen.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. All week, I've been thinking about this. Could you imagine, you're baptizing people, right? In the Jordan River, you're probably on the edges, it's cold, and you're baptized.

And here comes Jesus, you know it's the Son of God because he said, behold, behold, comes the Son of God. I'm not even worthy to take off his sandals. Behold, the Son of God, Jesus said, baptize me.

Can you imagine? No, no, I'm not touching that. There's no way. I would be, I'd probably be on my face bawling.

Lord, my Savior, like Peter, like Isaiah when he saw the Lord. Oh my God, I'm a man of undone lips and I dwell among a people that are ungodly. Oh God, baptize you? You've got to be kidding me.

And Jesus said something interesting in the King James, that suffer it so that all righteousness may be fulfilled. Somehow this had to fulfill all righteousness, obedience. See, the Son was obedient to the Father.

He never argued. He never debated. He would pray, Lord, take this cup from me, but he was always obedient to the will of the Father.

So somehow, even theologians are divided. We know that Jesus didn't need to repent of his sin and be baptized. We know that, but it was a step of obedience.

John the Baptist, can you imagine, would hold Christ and baptize Jesus? Would tears be flowing? Maybe it's me, but I can't even picture this. It's like, you've got to be kidding me, right? And he's baptizing Jesus. Jesus comes up out and the Spirit of God descends, comes upon him.

And the Father spoke, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him. So we see the Trinity.

We see the Spirit. We see the Son. We see the Father.

So all these religions that say the Trinity is not taught in the Bible, what Bible are you reading? You either believe that or that Jesus is a ventriloquist, right? This is my Son, whom I'm well pleased. What was that? And here's a dove. They think it's the Holy Spirit, right? Either he's a ventriloquist manipulating all that, or the Father spoke from heaven, the Son was in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove.

It wasn't a little white dove, right, on his shoulder. It's the Holy Spirit, mild and meek yet powerful. This gentleness of the dove comes upon Christ.

He's enfolded with gentleness in the Holy Spirit. And then he comes up out of the Jordan. I can't even imagine this.

And then the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness to fast. Oh, something else we don't want to talk about, right? He fasted for 40 days. And then when he comes out, the Bible says something interesting.

And then Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter being, see, this is the endowment of power that we want to get into so many of your hearts.

I do. This is what you need. This is this thing lacking.

The vibrant filling of the Holy Spirit. So then he allowed him, still up on the screen. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water.

And behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him, upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

So two quick points of application. Have you ever been baptized? I want to encourage you this morning to do it after the service. You wear that, I'll wear this.

We've got towels. Step of obedience, get baptized. Or if like when I did when I was a kid, I didn't even know really what I was doing.

Walked away from God and I came back to him. I got baptized. And I believe it was in 2000, it was when God, when the ministry started to begin.

I was speaking at health and weight loss seminars. I was into fitness a lot. And I was teaching people about losing weight.

And as I'm preaching to like, there's five, 600 people in this auditorium. I just feel this, uh-oh, this is not, you know, just like this is pales in comparison. Are you saved? Do you truly know him? I'm like, what is this? Oh God, I don't know what this is.

I'm not familiar with this. And that was the Holy Spirit though coming upon and that calling and shifting from speaking and being a motivational speaker and everybody loved it to now what does the Spirit say? Through God's word, through preaching. If you're here to hear my opinion, go somewhere else.

If you're here to see what does Shane think, it's what does the Spirit of God say through his word as we look to his word and we preach the whole counsel of God's word. See, if you come up filled with the Holy Spirit, you will offend, but you also love. You will upset, but you also heal.

It's very interesting, when God called Jeremiah, if I can remember, Jeremiah said, oh, but Lord, I'm just a youth. And God said, you're not a youth. You will go to who I call you.

You will speak what I tell you to speak. You will pluck out. You will root out, you will pluck out, you will pull down and you will destroy.

But he said, you also plant. See, there's a planting that takes place and there's an uprooting. There's a building up, but there's also a pulling down.

God's word has to convict in order for that change to take place. So that's the two points of application. Number one, have you been baptized? Consider doing that after the service.

And the next point of application that applies to, sadly, I believe this applies to many, many Christians. Has the Spirit truly come upon you? Has the Holy Spirit truly come upon you? And if you're saying, I don't know, it probably, he probably has not. That'd be like me saying, sticking my hand in the fireplace and I smell the flesh and it's cooking.

I'm like, I don't know. Is my hand in the fire? I mean, you know, you know. So as surely as you know, when your hand touches that fire, as soon as you know, you know when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and fills you because now, what is this is love and joy and peace and long-suffering and gentleness.

Now I'm not cussing as much. I don't even remember the last time. Now I'm not being this way.

Now I'm not angry. Now I'm loving God's word. Now I'm filled with the Spirit.

Now I'm praying for people. A traitor, Joe's, what's wrong with me? Now I'm praying. You see somebody walking and go, ma'am, do you need prayer? What's wrong with me? The Holy Spirit has been given full reign and authority to rule in your life.

See, and that's why I believe there's so much weirdness out there because the enemy goes after authenticity. When he sees authentic move of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, he's going to disrupt that and the people act weird and crazy. Like, I don't want that.

That's the Holy Spirit. I don't want to have anything to do with that. No, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to even begin his ministry.

I don't know for certain, but without this endowment of power, there might have been no miracles. There might've been no cross because just the man maybe would not go to Calvary. It wasn't until the Holy Spirit came upon him and he was filled, filled with the glory of God.

Everything he touched turned to gold. Every healing, every miracle he did, he listened to the Father. And I don't fully understand.

Fully God, yet fully man. But the Bible teaches that. And I'm glad I don't understand everything about God, right? Come on, guys, you don't even know everything about your spouse or your kids, let alone God.

The problem is we all want a painless Pentecost. I just heard Leonard Ravenhill say that this week. I was listening to the old message.

We want a painless Pentecost. Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit fell upon the church. But we want a painless Pentecost.

I don't want to get baptized unless it's 92 degrees. I've got my comfy, cozy blanket. I've got three changes of clothes in case of this.

I've got my Sunday best on. It has to be very convenient. I don't want the Holy Spirit to fall upon me because it's not very convenient.

I love being the way I am. I love being proud and arrogant and mean. I don't want too much of God.

That's for weirdos. I don't want to carry my cross and follow Him. I want all of God without the cost.

But as we all know, without a cost, there's no value. Can you imagine if you give somebody a rock? Like, oh, thanks, Shane. You find that out back, you chuck it.

Or what about if you had a soldier say, I picked this up from the beach of Normandy. It was in my friend's hand, clinging to life. I'm passing this on to you.

Same rock. What's the difference? You're throwing that one on the ground, not me. See, without a cost, there's no value.

And let me remind you, when the Holy Spirit came upon the church, the reason I talk about this a lot is because it's what most of us need. If this happened, you could get rid of 90% of the problems. What was that thing we were arguing about? It's over.

The Holy Spirit's cleansed me. What's that marriage thing we had problems with? What, submission or loving my wife? Who cares? The Holy Spirit's ruling and reign. See, He'd just go and just clean house.

It would fix all of these things. Pentecost, they were waiting for 10 days. 10 days, travailing, praying, probably fasting.

Lord, what's going on? We're waiting for you. There's a price to pay. The Holy Spirit comes upon a prepared people.

The Holy Spirit will never come upon an unprepared vessel, will He? Think about this. Lady Gaga gonna be doing her stuff, and the Holy Spirit just falls upon her. She's, oh my God, I'm filled with the Spirit.

No, no, she's doing her thing, right? She's not a prepared person. You've got to get your heart the same way with us. You've got to get our hearts prepared.

The Holy Spirit comes upon a prepared person. If this subject bothers you, then that's also a good indication. You need to hear what I'm saying.

Because I believe that obedience and being filled with the Spirit are always related. And if you're more interested on more than that, I'm going to talk about that on January 3rd, the first Wednesday. So try to be here if you can.

But we see from Acts, the book of Acts, to the Reformation, to awakenings, to revivals, to be the light. Do you want to be the light? I'm assuming, right? You want to be the light in the world? Do you want to be the light in your house, to your children, to your grandkids? Do you want to be the light? How can you be the light if you're not filled with the light? How? That's what A.W. Tozer said. It's always stood out to me about pastors.

He was 70 years ago. He said, basically saying to me or any other pastor, who you are, Shane, all week, is who you're going to be when you step to this pulpit. See, I don't say a quick little prayer in the morning and try to put something together.

It's the cultivation of hours of prayer. Hours of seeking God. Hours of seeking, hours of studying.

And from that, that light will flow out. Same with all of us. We want to be the light, but what you're filled with is going to come out.

Do you have a little tiny flashlight? Or do you have a big, what are those lights? It's just, you see them in the sky. Searchlight, okay, thank you. But isn't that the difference? Many Christians have a pocket flashlight.

It's right here if I need it. I can barely see to get my keys open in my car. I have those on my little, on my keychain.

I barely, just enough to put this key in my lock at home. Many Christians are walking around with that little flashlight. No difference.

Nobody sees it. But the difference is, when you submit to the work of the Holy Spirit, you become that searchlight. You search out people.

That light finds people. It's a reflection of what God is doing in your heart and in your home. Not a perfect person.

Not a perfect person. But a person who repents when they're wrong. Person who asks for forgiveness when they've done something they shouldn't have.

A person who loves the Lord is going to fight for that relationship. But that's the difference. And I just want to share that with you because that's the biggest need today.

I mean, I just can't tell you how big of a need it is. D.L. Moody said this 150 years ago. About his teachers and pastors of that day.

He said, they are good teachers. They are wonderful teachers. But why will they not see that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is just the one touch they themselves need? I would use the word filling of the Holy Spirit because baptism, we're all baptized into the body of Christ.

But I'm not going to argue over language necessarily. But the Bible says there are subsequent fillings of the Holy Spirit. There's a, because you can be full on Sunday.

And come next week, I'm just as empty as a dry well. That's why D.L. Moody also said we are leaky vessels. Right, it's leaky.

When I leave here, the Holy Spirit, it's leaking. Get home and go throughout the course of the week. You get in traffic, right? You get in traffic.

Come on, you guys, don't play church with me today. You get angry. You get angry.

You get upset. You get bitter. You get mean.

The Holy Spirit's just, and you have to be filled again with the Holy Spirit. That's why my prayer, I won't tell you often, but I'll tell you now. When I'm praying in this morning, we get here early sometimes.

We pray on the altar at six in the morning. We have worship music on. And I'm praying, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you better fill me.

Please, I need you. I need you. It was Charles Spurgeon used to say this.

I remember he would be down here and he walked every step. That's not weirdness. That's understanding where your power comes from.

You're either going to operate in your flesh or in the power of the Holy Spirit. There's no middle ground. And then the last point about lights is lights went out.

We've talked about this before. We celebrate Easter or Resurrection Day for those who are dogmatic, right? Not Easter. That's a goddess estar.

We don't celebrate Easter. Well, we celebrate the empty tomb. Whatever you want to call it.

And at Christmas, we don't celebrate a tree, right? We're not worshiping a tree in Jeremiah 10. We're worshiping the risen Savior. Because I get emails this time.

I love this time of year for Christmas, but I hate this time of year for emails. Don't you know the pagan roots of Christmas? Oh, for sure. I studied all that.

But we're redeeming the theme to recognize the Savior. We're pointing back to the cross. And I'm just saying, nine times out of ten, those emails are coming from legalistic, hard, rigid people.

Not saying everybody. You can have opinions if you don't want to. I got it.

But don't chide those who look to Christ. Like the Christmas tree, it's evergreen. The lights are representing the lights that never fade.

You can look at the lights and say, thank God I'm not bowing down to a tree and honoring the old pagan traditions. We're pointing to the Savior. So don't judge me or anybody else because we turn the theme and redeem it.

Right? Now, Halloween you'd have a tough one with. I'll give you that one. But Christmas, come on.

Christmas and Easter, we're pointing back to the Savior. So the lights went out when Christ died. Did you know this? That the enemy wanted to put Christ on the cross.

The enemy was rejoicing when Jesus died. Paul actually said if the elements of hell knew what they were doing, they would have never crucified the Lord of Glory. Had they known that their defeat.

Yeah, yeah, look at stone him, kill him, crucify him. Yes, we've won. But then the ground starts to tremble.

I love this part. Can it be Easter again? Just for a minute. Give me Easter again.

But the ground begins to tremble, right? It's trembling. The sky is dark and the Roman soldier saying, clearly, clearly this was the Son of God. Clearly that was the Son of God.

The veil in the temple broke and the temple was in disarray. Dead men were coming up out of their graves and walking the street of Jerusalem. Hell is going, uh-oh, celebration over.

What happened? What happened? He rises again by the, oh, let me remind you, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So the same power that rose Christ from the dead is the same power that operates in your life if you submit to it so you can walk in spiritual authority. Well, why doesn't everything change? Why doesn't everybody get healed? Why? I don't know.

I do know we're not Jesus. So that's one big reason. Perfect communion with the Father.

No sin. No sin. Could you imagine how much better your relationship would be with God with no sin? You would hear the still small voice.

You know exactly the will of the Father because sin separates. So if there's no sin, there's no separation. It's just a constant communion with the Father.

Mary Magdalene, should I cast out the seven demons? What about this man? Will you heal? What about this man? Will you heal? All that came to him were healed because he knew the perfect will of the Father. So back to the lights out. Hell was celebrating.

There's even books written. I think there's one title for young adults. Will they serve beer in hell? No, they won't.

You see these misconceptions? You can gamble on everything. I don't care if you gamble on the stock market. I don't care if you gamble on your social security.

I don't care if you gamble on your retirement. I don't care if you gamble on certain things as far as well. I don't know if it'll be there.

But you better not gamble on God. You can't. You can't live your life with a question mark here.

Let me roll the dice and see if everything Shane is saying... Is everything he's saying true? Or maybe God will listen. Maybe God will see how much of a good person I am. Let's roll those.

Actually, everybody will go to heaven. Hey, I like those dice. Do not gamble.

There's many false teachers, even right now. Pastors teaching universalism. That everybody, every... Then what was the point of that? You see, you think this stuff out, folks.

Do not gamble on God's clear-cut word. It's the final authority for all life and godliness. Show me... I asked a guy this week, PhD.

One of the smartest guys I've ever met. Changed from an atheist to agnostic, searching. I said, you show me one spot where that is off, biologically, historically, scientifically.

Nothing. Nothing. Well, if you give me time, I can show you.

No, no, no, no, no. Off the top of your head. Books are so wrong.

Show me. It's actually... That's why there's so many people upset about it. That's why they remove it from the schools in 1960s.

The schools used to teach the Bible. They used to teach the Word of God. Not everybody said, we didn't come from monkeys.

We came from a creator. They taught that. 1620, the public school system was founded to, guess what? Gonna drop a bombshell right now.

To teach kids the Word of God. That's why it was started. So we begin to remove God's Word from out of everything.

When I was in school, it was talking, making noise, and chewing gum were the top three problems. You don't even want to know what they are today. Rape, assault.

From when I was little, and I've talked to teachers who walked into a classroom. I can't believe what I'm hearing. I mean, when I came in the classroom, it was like, hands on your desk, forward.

Yes, Mrs. Jones. Now it's mayhem. The kids are running the classroom.

You're future leaders. Why? Because, remove this. When you used to go to court, many years ago, they would look at Blackstone's commentaries of the laws of England, written by William Blackstone.

His commentaries on the laws. Every single law had a Bible reference. So they'd say, what does the Bible say about that? What does the Bible say about every law? Ten commandments, everywhere.

So you begin to remove that godly influence. And it's a culture void of God. That's what's happening.

I'm going to close with this verse, Isaiah 53, 3 through 5. This is written 700 years before Jesus. It says, we despised Him. We rejected Him.

He endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at Him. We ignored Him as if He were nothing.

Does this pertain to you right now? Are you ignoring Christ as if He's nothing? He endured the suffering that should have been on us. The pain that we should have bore. All the while, we thought that His suffering was punishment sent by God.

But because of our sins, He was wounded. Beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment He suffered.

Made whole by the blows He has received. But again, many people say, but Shane, I don't understand. I need to fully understand.

Guess what? You will never fully understand. But I have to understand. No, don't let that stop you from turning on the light.

Right? Don't let that stop you from turning on the light. When I got here early in this morning, I didn't wonder where did the power come from? One of three grids in the United States of America. And then it traveled through 12,000 volts somehow to get to a receptor site here in the Antelope Valley.

And then somehow gets to a power grid here. And then somehow, somewhere it's in the building on circuits. I just want to go and flip the switch on.

I don't need to know how it happens. The exact dimensions of electricity. You just need to embrace God and stop questioning and judging.

Embrace Him. The questions, the answers will come later. I mean, I love to understand why, why, why, why, why.

But I'm not going to let my relationship with God hinge upon it. And this is amazing because I don't understand it. Maybe some of you can help me after the service.

When people go, I don't understand how God could send somebody to hell. Right? Now we know He doesn't send them there. They choose.

They say, I don't want your offer of salvation. I'm rejecting you. I don't want that.

I would rather go spend time in outer darkness. So they're mad at God because I don't understand how He could do this. And I'm sitting there thinking, I don't know either.

But I don't want to be on that side of it. I want to be on God's side of it. I don't understand either.

But I'm not going to go spend eternity in hell just because I don't understand why He does something. See, we let the, well, I go, oh, He's so, He's um. No, He's actually just and fair.

Well, I don't know about fair. But He's just because fair is like, well, you should, you know. He's just.

Just actually is not quite equal with fair. Because if I have two kids, I'm like, okay, you each get an apple. But just is, you know what? You earn three.

You earn one. I'm just. He's just.

And I don't know how this all works out. And the concept of hell does, I don't understand. Why wouldn't God just annihilate them? Why, why, why last? But we do know this, that we are created eternally.

You don't just evaporate. You're not annihilated. There's eternal.

There's eternity there in your heart, stamped in my heart. So God's offering the salvation. He's offering this gift.

And we reject it. We're basically rejecting. I don't want that.

So what's the other option? To go where those who don't want God go. Whether it's literal flames. I don't know.

Outer darkness. Weeping and gnashing. It's just, there's.

I just know this. If you're separated from God. There will be misery.

But why question? If I don't understand. Well, how, what's the complexities? How does this work? Show me the theological ramifications of this and opposing. But here's what the enemy does.

He lets excuses come in and stop us. D.L. Moody preached in Chicago in 1871. His message was, what shall I do with Jesus? At the conclusion, he said.

Next week, let's come back. And we'll talk about what you should do with Jesus. But he almost couldn't even finish the service.

Because as his worship leader began to sing. The fire trucks of the great Chicago fire. Raced by the church and took out most of Chicago.

And D.L. Moody to his dying day. Said one of his biggest regrets. Is that he told people to come back next week.

And consider what you will do with Jesus. He said, I will never do that again. He never did.

As a side note. Interesting about D.L. Moody. You would never have heard from him.

Or about him. If it wasn't for the time he met the Holy Spirit. He said his whole ministry was in the flesh.

He said, I was serving God out of just fleshly desires. I was prideful. I had no passion.

And then God filled him with the Spirit. And he went into this room. He was, he felt the love of God for hours.

He felt this. And he came out a new man. Same Moody.

Different man. Same sermons but different. Now they had power.

Just going back to the Holy Spirit there. I'd encourage you in this area. But he put a point of urgency on this.

And I want to just do that again this morning. I don't want you to leave. Because many of you I know I won't.

Like the first service. I won't see a lot of you again. Maybe ever.

So what would a person say if you had 40 minutes to say. I just, I just laid out what I would say. If I had 40 minutes to tell you anything.

My only encouragement would be. Repent and believe. Repent and believe.

Do you truly know him? Or do you only know about him? That's the difference between night and day. Right and wrong. Good and bad.

Truth and error. Heaven and hell. That's the difference.

Do you truly know him? So if not. All you have to do is pray and say. God I confess with my mouth.

I believe that Christ is Lord and Savior. I've been raised in a Christian home. I know all about you.

But I've never embraced a relationship with you. And that can happen this morning.