What are You Full of?

The title this morning is What Are You Full Of? What Are You Full Of? And the key verse that I'm really springboarding off of is Acts 11.24. He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit. The third Person of the Trinity. Make sure if you get a chance to listen to Luke's message last Sunday on the Person of the Trinity.

And that's what as a Christian we believe. We believe that God is one. God is one, but He reveals Himself in three Persons of the Trinity.

If you try to delve too much into that, your brain will explode. We know that God is one. We don't worship three different gods.

There's one God. But He chose to reveal Himself in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And they each have different roles actually.

It's pretty incredible as you look into it. So when it comes to being full of the Holy Spirit, it's a good reminder that this is so important because He's a regulator. The Holy Spirit is an umpire in our heart.

Do you know you have an umpire in your heart? He's an alarm clock. I think we have these bullet points up there, Louise. I think so.

I don't know. I might not have sent those. But it's a good reminder.

Oh, it's in your notes actually that you have in front of you. Or hopefully you got from the greeters because it will remind you throughout the week that He's an umpire of your soul. He's an alarm clock.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. You ever get those beeps? This engine light you do not want to ignore. He's a helper.

He's a comforter. And His leading can be subtle or dramatic and life-changing. And so on the topic of what are you full of, my mom used to tell me, I remember even when I was younger, Shane, whatever you're full of will spill out when it gets hit.

A vessel, when it's hit, what's inside spills out. And so a lot of civil unrest, what we're seeing in our country. And what's flowing out is what has been deposited in.

And this topic is so important. But I do want to clarify some misunderstandings about this topic of being full of the Spirit. And again, we're in Acts 11.

Seems like maybe I'm talking about the Holy Spirit quite a bit because that's where Acts has us. Pretty much every chapter is on the power of the Holy Spirit and being full of the Holy Spirit. But number one, being full doesn't always mean being nice.

I know I need to clarify that. Because the definition of nice actually means being agreeable. Passive, agreeable, pleasing.

So sometimes all the Holy Spirit has you doing the opposite. Ruffling some feathers. Saying some hard things.

Being bold for your faith. And so if it's always about being nice, think of Mr. Rogers, that's definitely not always the case. Because if being nice causes you to be silent when God wants you to speak up, the reverse effect will happen and you'll quench the Spirit of God.

And I don't want to give you permission to be mean today. Don't please don't, that's not the takeaway. But sometimes, and I get this pushback too, if I talk about anything that's going on in our nation, Minneapolis, oh, you know, you shouldn't say anything, just be nice.

But the church has a voice too, you know? We're called to be bold. We're called to tell people the truth. And so you can't focus on always being nice.

We see that Jesus would cry out. John the Baptist would cry out. The prophets would cry out because it involved pleading and there's urgency.

And it often wasn't what the people wanted to hear. Can you imagine if I came here, my goal this morning was to be nice? Now in one sense, it's to be nice in my attitude, understanding, quick to listen, slow to speak, but also the words we say aren't always agreeable to everybody. And so that is the first misunderstanding is full doesn't always mean that we are nice.

Look at 2 Chronicles 24-20. It says when the Spirit came upon Zechariah, He declared, Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you. And guess what? He was killed for those words.

And I believe if my memory serves me correct, this is the same Zechariah that Jesus said that this blood will be required upon you on this generation because of killing all the way back from Abel to this righteous man Zechariah who you killed between the porch and the altar. Jesus condemned their activity. But being full of the Holy Spirit, it's hard to explain because the fruit is there, right? Love and joy and peace and you want to be nice, but also you have something inside of you that's a little bold.

It's a little bold and you're trying to find that Lord help me balance. That's why I often say I don't know if I've ever preached a 60 minute perfect sermon. Come on guys.

Every word I've said, every nuance, every gesture, every voice fluctuation, everything was just perfect. No, God works with fallen people. My attitude might get in there a little bit.

Come on, you know. It's a hard challenge because we're constantly being challenged by not having the fruit of the Spirit and our pride gets in there and it's difficult. Jesus and John the Baptist were definitely not always nice.

Were they? Jesus and John the Baptist weren't always nice. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, told the sorcerer, you son of the devil! You enemy of all righteousness! Wouldn't you like to go up to some people that are doing some things and say that? But he's being truthful. The sorcerer who's harassing them, harassing them, he stood around and said, you son of the devil! There's a boldness there.

And it comes with that time with the Lord. Again, I'm not telling you to be mean. I'm not telling you to be mean, but we do have permission to be bold.

We have permission to be bold. Bold for truth. But it must be balanced with brokenness because what's inside comes out.

What's inside will come out. So where we find ourselves then is Acts 11. I read v. 24, but we actually start in v. 19.

So when the disciples were scattered after the persecution, I'm going to get into some very interesting messages in the next couple of weeks, so make sure you're here on Sundays. I'll be talking about the persecution and what that involves. But after the disciples were scattered, there was a big persecution, and they were scattered.

And then Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

That is really the key. The hand of the Lord was with them. The best way to produce fruit is to bury the right seed.

So if you want the fruit of the Spirit to come out, the best way to get that fruit is to plant the right seed. Because what is inside will come out. What you're getting ready with now, today, in your devotional time, your time with the Lord, you're planting those seeds.

And that fruit will come out. Do you ever catch yourself and say, I'm so glad normally I would have done such and such in traffic? Normally, but you're like, man, I'm changing. There's the fruit that's been planted.

But be encouraged, sometimes bad fruit grows up. You've got to cut that out. Cut that fruit out and get back on track.

So we're also full of the Spirit when we obey God's Word His way and we step out in faith to spread the truth. God will fill you. That's what we see here.

The Lord blessed His work because He stepped out, He obeyed God, He stepped out in faith to spread the truth. That's one way to know and rely on God to fill you when you're doing things for Him. You go into a difficult situation, for example, with our hospital homes.

You go to visit somebody and you're like, okay, Lord, I'm just going to step out in faith because I know this is Your will. And as a result of that, the filling of the Holy Spirit follows. But it's often when we don't do something that God wants us to do and we quench and grieve the Spirit of God.

And often, it's because we retract. It's much easier not to be bold than it is to be bold. And then Acts continues, Then the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch, and when he came, he saw the grace of God, and he was glad, and he was encouraged.

And so what he did, he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. So again, to be full of the Spirit. He was truly happy for the success of others.

You don't see that very often these days. He heard the good news that God was moving and he was so excited for them. What happens when we hear good news? That God is moving in somebody else's life and not my life.

We kind of attack them. We go into attack mode. And then also, full and encouragement to others.

He was an encouragement to others even when you have to say hard things. What are you full of? Well, a deep, unwavering, sincere commitment to follow God fills you. So that's a great way to be full.

Truly happy for the success of others. There's a joy in your heart. There's not jealousy and contention and bitterness and putting them down.

There's a true joy for them. And if there's not, you just repent. Lord, help my heart.

Help my heart. I'm coveting where I think the grass will be greener. Have you ever noticed the grass is greenest where you water it? I don't know.

Just saying. And He was an encouragement to others. Even when He had to say hard things, He was an encouragement to others.

And that's an incredible way to get full of the Spirit. Because we encourage others. You build them up.

You strengthen them. But also, you shoot them straight. About what? Maybe they might be hurting their marriage or hurting their kids or hurting their walk with the Lord.

And there's a deep, unwavering, sincere commitment to follow God. And that fills you. That always fills you.

When it's unwavering, it's a sincere commitment to follow God. What flows out? So here's what flowed out. For He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the church.

Now, it's important to know, you cannot be a good man or woman absent of being full of the Spirit. The Bible's pretty clear that there are none that are really good. No, not one.

And that's hard for some people. But I know this good person. I know this.

But when it's compared to God's standard, we quickly see that nobody even comes close to measuring up. And that word there I put up for you in the Greek, it means inherently good. It's a person who's virtuous.

They are righteous. It signifies moral excellence. And there's generosity.

And so that's a byproduct of being full of the Holy Spirit. There's a goodness about them because they reflect the fruit of the Spirit. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year, they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

So, it was kind of a term of mockery at first. But they began to own the badge like little Christ followers. All those Christians, Christ followers.

And that's when the name stuck. Here you go. If you ever wanted to know where that came from.

And in those days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. So, I don't want to go into a lot of detail because I have many times in the last couple of months. But there were giftings of the Holy Spirit that some believe don't happen anymore.

And I'm not going to get into the whole debate. But this type of person was an apostle was somebody who would be sent and plant a church. And then evangelists would be like a Stephen, right? Evangelizing.

Greg Laurie just did that recently in California at an event, right? And they're Billy Grahams. And they're evangelizing. And then you'd have the pastor teacher.

That's kind of where their wheelhouse is. But then the Bible talks about there were prophets. And now it's got this weird kind of nuance to it.

People avoid the term. I'm not going to sit here and name names, but there's names out there now this week that are just ridiculous stuff coming out about these so-called prophets. Many of you will not know what I'm talking about, so I don't want to get into the weeds there.

But it is really what it is. The gift is when God supernaturally, I think Wayne Grudem's definition in his book on systematic theology is when God supernaturally, spontaneously brings something to mind that wasn't otherwise known beforehand. That's the simple definition.

And so, somebody who's humble, they're broken. See, let me just tell you something. I don't follow these well-named so-called prophets.

I want to hear from the 80-year-old woman who has a gift of the prophetic who's been through a hard season. Let her speak into my life. I don't want to follow these clowns or these gimmicks or these names.

No, no, no. God might have used you years ago, but now you need to humble yourself. Humble yourself and follow God again.

Seek Him with all of your heart. And so God would use somebody. He would give them this prophetic gifting where God would bring something spontaneously to their mind, and guess what? It's not to build up their ministry or to collect money.

See, that's again where they miss it. It's to either convict people or to help them. We can look at examples throughout the Bible.

That was to convict or to help. So, there were people that God used. No names.

No big ministry. No 100,000 followers on Instagram. YouTube channels not monetized.

And God would use them to help the church. So, prophets came from Jerusalem and one of them named Agabus stood up and showed, here's the key, showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. So God shows this person.

He's got a track record because He also will read where He told Paul, when you go to Jerusalem, be prepared because they're going to bind you up and they're going to imprison you. And I believe Paul said, I don't care, I'm still going. He could go back on that and say, oh, I was prepared for this.

And so what the church actually did is they took an offering, they collected, they used this information, and then they sent that money to the churches who would need it because of the famine. That's how the gifts work. Because when you say, well, all we need is the Bible, well, if all they had was the Bible, how would they figure that out? For example, let's say, hey, God gave somebody a deep prophetic type of legitimate word, I should clarify that, that some churches are going to be in need.

You can't just find that in Scripture. That's what people don't understand. It's not above Scripture.

It doesn't supersede Scripture. We don't follow it instead of Scripture. It's a helpmeet.

It's a helper. The Holy Spirit is helping us in our journey. Now, I will be honest with you, that's a difficult gift because many times, we're not supposed to be gullible.

And just every little thing people say, you have to test the spirits. You have to gauge it with their personal character. I mean, there's a lot of things to it.

And I would say over the years, people say things that a lot of times, again, just being honest from my own opinion, I don't think they're trying to do harm in false prophets. I think they're just excited. Right? And they say things.

I believe God showed me this. And that's why you have to be careful. Are you sure it's God? Or is it just a good idea? So people have told me things.

I even had a lady, and I love her heart, I know eight months ago, I had this vision or dream or something that you were with TPASA and you were evangelizing, right? Exactly what Greg Loury just did. Okay, that's nice, but is that God or is that you? That's a good idea. Maybe that sounds good, but it doesn't mean that's God doing it.

And I can go over other things. You know, that's why I'm just leery. I'm careful.

We've seen the abuses in many churches. And it's probably one of the gifts that can be the most easily abused. Because if you try to fake healing, I can prove you wrong.

Just go get an MRI. Ultrasound. Let's flesh this out.

But when you say God told you, well, there we go. Who am I to question God? And how do you really know? So it's a very interesting gift that as a church we believe, obviously God still does that. Because I can give you other situations where it's as clear as day that God was putting something on somebody's heart.

What we've also seen is I believe God will give somebody something. Again, it's usually the little old lady. This person.

It's not some big name. Because the bigger you get, the lower you've got to go. And the bigger you get in your own eyes, the less God will use you.

And He'll pick out the people that are least likely. That's how it should work. It's never to elevate somebody.

And that's why I've got concerns with some of these prophet this, prophet that. It's like guys, take the title out. You don't need prophet and apostle on your business card.

That's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And you miss it.

You miss a lot of things. So be quiet. Shut your mouth for a season.

Spend some time with God. You don't need to get a prophetic word every ten minutes. Or do you know those people who go to churches? What's the Lord saying? Do you have a word for me? Do you have a word for me? Yeah, Jesus Christ has a word for you once you bury your face in the Gospels for the next three months.

That's how you get a word from the Lord. And then as you're doing that, if God wants to, boom, hit you with something, then that gift can come alive. And I'm only saying this because I've seen this gift hurt a lot of people.

And that's what's in the news right now in some of the charismatic circles with what they're going through and how they allow this guy to do certain things and say certain things. And people sold their life savings and they moved and they married people they shouldn't have. You never let a word like that dictate those decisions.

If anybody told me, I'd say, okay, thank you. I'll check with God. You never let a person tell you what you should be doing.

Back in the 70's, they called it the shepherding movement. Do you remember that? Had some good things at first, but then you couldn't buy a car unless you went to your shepherd. And you couldn't marry unless they went, oh, this is getting ridiculous.

And so that's why it's such a hard topic because I love that God would work like this. But I have to say, I've seen a lot more, not abuses, but where people are just wrong. Just completely wrong.

And it's sad. I think people just get fired up or they have dreams. And I'll still remember, there was a church I went to, oh my goodness, I don't know when this was, 2001 or 2002.

And this famous guy got up and said, was there a war with Iraq around that time? Two, three, something. And he said if we go to war with Iraq, America doesn't have enough body bags. And so obviously, false, false, false.

And nobody calls him out. And other things that are just so, because what happens is they have the limelight. They might have hit it years ago.

They might have got something right, but now they're the prophet such and such on Facebook. And nine times out of ten, it's like, well, it's so vague too. Darkness is coming over the United States in the coming months.

No kidding! No kidding! If you're truly from God, be specific. And what's the point of it? And again, I believe God uses people in this area, but we've got to be so careful because I've also seen people become unstable. The stability is in the Word and your obedience to it.

Not in what such and such is saying on the Internet. And again, personally, you know, God may use somebody obviously in the past, but they begin to build their ministry from it. And then every impulse they get, they think it's from God.

And I started to write things down the last couple of weeks. This is the year of harvest. This is the year of blessing.

This is the year of abundance. Well, who are you talking to? That's so vague and I'll tell you what, that's not true for a lot of people. You false prophet, shut your mouth.

You can't just go, this is a year of harvest, folks. Everything's going to be good. This is a year of blessing.

For some people, for sure, but for others, all hell might break loose. They might get the diagnosis from their doctor. They might go through financial difficulties.

So I just hate this gift being abused. Because it's such a slap in the face to legitimate works of the Holy Spirit where He works through humble, broken, gentle people being used by God, sensitive to His leading, not out there for their glory. Let me get a film in.

Let's come film this deliverance. I'm going to pray for this deliverance right now. And watch this.

And look, do we have enough people? Is it going live? And I'm going to give this prophetic word. That's dangerous and damning. And it should be called out.

You can know if the Spirit of God is working or not. And what is flamboyant? And guys, I'm not apologizing. I'm just saying, I'm sorry to keep beating this point up, but I'm not sorry.

Because it's ruined their lives. And I believe people will stay out of the Word when they get a Word from somebody else. So how it should work is you're going through life.

You're following the Lord. And you need help with a certain issue or a certain thing. You're really struggling with this.

And God might use somebody to put something in your mind. Hey, this is weird, but all throughout the service, I've been feeling this. I can't ignore it.

And I don't know, I'm just going to share it with you. Because I don't know what to do with this. And you share it with the person and they begin crying.

That's exactly what I need to hear. That's how it works. That's how it works.

I don't want to go into a lot of details because I don't have permission, but you know me, I ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Maybe I won't give dates and things like that, but somebody on our prayer team had this really strong desire to go into a different part of the church. Like, where are you going? You're supposed to be in the right prayer.

And then the person there, the person there was praying, Lord, if You're real, bring somebody to me. Hello? Well, that's just coincidence. Oh, really? Yeah, that's a pretty good coincidence.

That's just the devil. Oh, that's the devil, huh? That's how he works today. No, that kingdom would be divided.

So see, that's how it's legitimate. And that's how it works. And usually, I would really encourage people not to say, God told me.

Unless it's in His Word. Because I don't know how many of you have missed the God told me before. You thought God told you, and you find out it wasn't God.

I think there's a strong impression deeply about this. I feel that God wants me to share this with you. I don't know, take it to the Lord.

I think that's just wise. So this person came, Agapus, and he showed, here's the thing, he showed by the Spirit, not himself. He showed by the Spirit.

And here's what's hard, is we don't have the checklist. Right? I wish it said he was showed by the Spirit. Here's how.

24 hours of full-on fasting. And then two hours of praying. And then he confessed all his sin.

And then he went and worshiped for a while. And here's what you need to do for the Spirit to show you. But we don't have a checklist.

But I do know this, the closer you get to Christ, the more sensitive you'll be to a true work of the Holy Spirit. And there'll be times as you pursue Him that you know you shouldn't say something. And the flesh wants you to say something.

And you're like, oh, I'm so glad I spent time with God. Haven't you guys done that before? Man, I put a post up there about what's going on with ice and stuff, and a couple of minutes, I'm like, why did I do that? Now, I have some strong opinions. I'm sure most of you know what they are.

And most of you are here because you agree with them. But I'm trying to like, what's me? And what's the Spirit? And guys, it is hard. It's hard because I want to tell people just like you do.

Don't you? I mean, it's challenging. Because I want to say, don't resist authority. It's not that hard.

Don't try to hit people with your car. Here I go again. My goodness, I'm trying.

No, but every time I do that, I get people, I'm not following you anymore. I'm not coming to your church anymore. You know what? I don't care.

I have to speak the truth in love. I have to speak the truth in love. While I'm on the rabbit trail, let's keep going.

Why is there none of this under Obama or Biden? Because the government supported them. The local government. You have paid agitators in these areas.

And governors who do not want to help this administration. So guys, we've got to wake up and pull our head out of the sand and stop drinking Kool-Aid. That's just the truth.

If you go and you say, I'm armed and you're going to fight policemen, hello, guys, hello. We have lost our mind. And then there's people who support that.

It's ridiculous. The Spirit of the living God has shown me, hopefully, that I can say that during this sermon. We're going to find out later when I drive home.

But see, many churches were quiet during COVID. Now they woke up. Because they know there's an agenda and that church is supposed to... I'm not supposed to shut my mouth, honey.

I'm not supposed to be quiet and intimidated by the left. Or the right. I'm not supposed to be intimidated by those groups.

You should hear what I said. I just spoke at the Republican National Committee in Santa Barbara on Thursday. And I told them the red, white, and blue isn't going to save us.

Only the crimson blood of Jesus Christ is going to save us. You say the hard things. I said pride is destroying us.

Pride is destroying us. Get off your high horse and humble yourself before Almighty God. There's no political party that's going to save us.

We need to seek God like never before and pray, oh God, rend the heavens and come down and visit Your people again. You tell people the truth. I don't care what party you are, but there is absolute truth given to governed men.

And we should speak the truth with clarity from a biblical perspective. Alright. I was not planning on going there.

But I was praying about it because I'm so sick of this misinformation. I am so sick of this misinformation. And the twisting of Scripture.

There are pastors with the rainbow flag behind them saying that what happened in that church, Don Lemon, right? All those guys go into a church service like here and they disrupt it. That's just like Jesus going into the temple and flipping over those tables. No, it's not.

It's not even close. That's out of context. This is a spiritual battle.

What are you full of? What are we full of in our nation? Now, granted, when it comes to this issue, should we be sensitive? Should we be concerned? Absolutely. But even that lady who did get killed when she tried to hit somebody, did you ever hear her dad on CNN? He said she shouldn't have been there. She has the wrong spirit guiding her.

He was a solid believer. And see, that's speaking the truth. How hard would that be? I can't even imagine it.

But the pulpits aren't supposed to stay in your little box. We're supposed to preach the truth in all areas of society. And here's what happens.

People, when they say I'm political, they don't care if I'm talking about their political view. They love, oh, that's, yes. Oh, go for it.

But as soon as you challenge your political view, that's when you're too political. I've seen it over the years. It's not about that.

It's about the Gospel affecting. The Gospel doesn't have anything to say about what's going on? Are you kidding me? Absolutely, it's the silent churches that allowed Hitler to do what he wanted to do. Let's just go louder on the drums as we hear those trains going behind us taking people to the concentration camps.

Guys, I made a deal with God years ago. I'm not building a big church. I'm building people.

And we will speak the truth and love even if it upsets some people that don't understand. Led by the Spirit is about pursuing a relationship with God. Led by the Spirit is about pursuing a relationship with God.

You know, maybe I wasn't going to go there, but maybe I should. When it comes to these types of issues I just spoke about for the last five minutes, this is not something where I just come up here and I react, right? That's wrong. This is coming from a reservoir up at 2.30 this morning.

I'm just saying, praying and worshiping, Lord, use me. What do You want me to say? Broken before Him. Humble.

And then from that reservoir of time with Him, that's where this comes out. So if you're upset at this boldness, I don't know what to tell you. The more time I spend with Him, the bolder I become.

And the less time I spend with Him, the less time I spend with Him, the more I don't want to offend the other side. Because we have to speak the truth when you're full of the Spirit. You cannot stand by and watch lies.

Lies being perpetrated and influencing the next generation. So on this issue of prophecy, again, it's God supernaturally giving a burden to someone to either help someone else, help themselves maybe, or to convict someone, or even themselves. But we must handle prophecy like you handle dynamite.

Very carefully. So what can we do with this topic of prophecy? What about the Lord told him? Now, I love this that Agabus, he stood up and here's what he said. He was showed by the Spirit.

So we don't know. Thus saith the Lord. So we don't know what he said.

He might have said, hey guys, I'm sensing this. We don't really know, but here's a good way to test it. Look at the moral consistency of the person.

Look at the moral consistency of the person. He had a consistent track record. And if their character cannot match their calling, throw it in the trash.

You look at the person saying, I have this on my heart. Are they close to the Lord? Is it exalting truth and Jesus? Is it wise? Hello? Hey, God really showed me this morning, you know, I don't know, you need to leave that wife and go... Right? Hello? But some people are that gullible. I don't know.

Are you sure? I've been sensing that too. I've been sensing that. You've been sensing that because you've been drifting through your marriage.

That's not the Lord. That's the devil. The devil is a liar.

And Jesus tells the truth. And so we have to be careful and test is it a wise decision? Does it line up with Scripture? Somebody's saying, I don't know what to tell you. It's been in my heart.

What? What? Tell me. I think you should move out to Nashville by John. Really? Like, did he tell you Franklin? Right, a little like five acres.

Is that what he told you? Right, that just doesn't make sense. That's not where God has me. So you don't move on these things because people tell you that.

You have to use wisdom. Don't worry. There's no plans.

I just thought of that. I'm trying to get John back here and not go out there. Does it line up with God's Word? See, here's the thing.

The early church didn't have this advantage. We have the advantage over the early church. We have the Word of God.

I don't know how they did it. Do you guys ever wonder, how did they do it? They would all meet. They'd say, okay, it's... I don't know, let's pick a year.

Let's see, 70 A.D. No, Titus already conquered Jerusalem. Let's say it's 55 A.D. And they're just meeting. And has Paul written any letters by then? Dave, Donna, I don't know.

Maybe one. Okay, so let's read Paul's letter. Okay, that's great, great, great.

Let's sing some Psalms from the Psalms. Okay, great. What else should we do? I don't really know.

Let's be led of the Spirit. We know there's fruit. Right? Love and joy.

And can you imagine? That would be challenging. I think we should do this. I think we should do that.

I think God should... Like, and you don't really have a gauge. And I think they did get the Word out pretty quickly. We don't know exactly, but I think Paul's letters probably went out pretty quickly.

I think the Gospels, even though they weren't written for maybe a while, I think Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they were there. I think, was it Pauli Karp who was a disciple of John? And so they knew what was there. Talk about led of the Spirit.

But here's the good thing. You have that inner alarm clock. You ever get those in the morning when it's hard to get up? It's the Holy Spirit.

It's one of the things I hated driving heavy equipment is that backup alarm. It would warn me and others, get out of the way, because I can't see you. And that's what the Holy Spirit does.

And here's the key. Is the person open to being tested? I've seen that. Okay, I don't know.

Let me pray about that for a while. Pastor, there's no need to pray about this. God told me.

Oh, well, you know what? You just failed test number one. No, I'm being completely honest with you. They said, I don't know.

This seems pretty urgent. I would listen to that and obey. You lost me.

You lost me on that. Because I'm actually supposed to test the spirits. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Now, these people I would not call false prophets. I would say good people with good intentions, but they get a little too carried away because God used them in the past. And I saw there's people I would love.

I loved throughout my years of ministry. And man, God would use them spot on, but then they would be spot off. They would just completely miss it.

I'm not going to go into details in case you're ever watching this later. But it's like, guys, this is not good. I'll share one thing I think most of you have heard, but a couple of years ago, a friend of mine from the NFL spoke at the men's thing.

And it hurt our relationship because he told one couple, he said, this time next year, you're going to have a baby. Well, guess what? So what most churches do is like, okay, well, hope we never deal with that one. Sweep another rug.

Charismatic cover up. What we have to do is say, hey, I'm going to call you on that in a year from now. It's in my calendar.

And I haven't seen the couple since. So before you critique me and think I'm being too hard on this, you should wear our shoes for a season. Because the gift doesn't work.

But here's the thing, I don't think it was trying to be a false prophet. You just get excited. And that's why I'm like, Lord, if this is You, show me more.

I need to know it's You. I know John's careful when he's up here sometimes. He'll even tell me, hey, Shane, if you need to correct me.

He's told me that. How many times? If you need to correct me when you come up, I'm all for that. And so because that's the right character, right? And God will use people more profoundly.

And there's times too where I'll be preaching and I'll have this rabbit trail. Have you ever heard the rabbit trails? I have no clue where that came from. And then people in the prayer room think, oh, that rabbit trail was so helpful.

I'm like, how was that helpful? Right? Because it spoke to what they're going through. And they needed to hear that. Like, some of you, if you're dating that person, you think you're going to convert them, you will not.

They will push you away from the Lord. That's not my notes. Where'd that come from? But it's true.

It may not necessarily be God. I might just thought of it, but it helps the person. And do not despise prophecies.

Do not despise prophecies. But look at this in the middle. But test everything.

I've had to tell people, listen, you missed that one, you missed the other one, don't tell me stuff anymore. You need to go spend some time with the Lord. Check into the school of God.

It's hard. We have to hold teaching on it, but you know when God is putting something on your heart. There's a burden there.

It lines up with Scripture. And it's like, Lord, if this is You, because this is not me, I don't want to... And you wrestle with it. Sometimes it's spontaneous.

We just have to be very careful in this area. And I wish I could give you a checklist to leave with. So that's why we are open, but cautious.

They call it charismatic wearing a seatbelt. And maybe it's a good time to mention this. People say, oh, you're not one of those charismatic churches, are you? Actually, we don't go by those labels at all.

We're a Bible-believing, very conservative, God-loving, God-fearing church. But when we open the Scriptures, pretty clear that the Holy Spirit is still... The word charismatic comes from the word charisma. It just means bestowing spiritual gifts.

That's what it means. So yes, we still believe that God still will move in those areas. And actually, if you don't believe that, you have a much harder time proving that than we do based on Scripture.

The Scripture you're defending. I'm just reading Scripture. That's what it says.

1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14. Then you get into Book of Acts, about 30 years of Christian history. Holy Spirit's still doing His stuff.

Still gifts. Then you get into the early church fathers and Polycarp and Irenaeus, Ignatius. Still got some Holy Spirit.

Or Holy Spirit power going. Now you read Augustine and how he believed in healings. Now you get into church history, the 1200s and the Reformers, and you see it's the same Spirit as in the Book of Acts.

But then you have weird people who ruin it for all of us. And so that's my rant on that topic. But what type of prophecy was he referring to in the verses I just quoted? It's a divine declaration or revelation from God.

And I think we should be open but cautious. God will put something. It's not turn left at the light.

Should I go to the mall today? What type? Right, it's pivotal, life-changing things that are important that God will intervene and help us. How many of you know He helps those who are asking for help? Lord, I need a little help on this. I don't know what to do.

Have you ever been there? Lord, I do not know what to do. And sometimes He'll show you. Oh, there's so much peace in that.

But guess what? There's times when He won't show you. And what do you have to do? You have to engage. First gear called faith.

I'm going to sit in neutral until I get directions. No directions. Okay, we'll have to engage faith.

Lord, I think this is the best decision. There's some open doors. What's best for our family.

I think it'll help us spiritually, or at least we'll maintain where we're at spiritually. And I'm just going to step out in faith. I'm trusting that You'll close the door or open the door.

Without faith, you can't please God. I don't think He's pleased with people just sitting in their bedroom waiting all the time for the right course. Because at some point, you've got to get up and say, Lord, I trust You.

I'm walking according to Your Word. And I think You will lead me and guide me. Then the disciples, each according to his ability.

Here's the key. You guys ready? Oh, we're going to do a quick teaching on giving. Oh no, here the church goes again.

No, not this church. We don't talk about it unless it's in the Bible. Unless it comes up.

So each according to his ability, they determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So they heard from this man, Agapus, that there was going to be a need.

They did a collection and they sent it to the need. And that's very healthy. Sometimes we'll do that with the need we have here.

And you guys are very faithful. But a couple things we need to point out. Giving should come from a cheerful heart.

You don't feel coerced or pressured. And each gave according to his ability. According to their ability.

And I believe God measures a person who's ten dollars means just as much as somebody who can give a thousand easily. That's what Jesus made it clear. It's not about the amount.

It's an issue of the heart. But the Bible also teaches that as believers, we give. That's what it teaches.

And we give to where we're being fed. We pay the bills and the lights and things like that. But it has to come from a cheerful heart according to somebody's ability.

That's why we don't pass plates. We don't ask for it. We just put out the box in the lobby for those who feel compelled to give.

And we've never had problems since day one. People find the box. You don't have to force it.

Have you ever been to those churches? Two offerings and a service? During worship, and then we're going to do another one. Alright, I know there's some of you out there you haven't given yet. We need that $1,000 seed this morning.

I want the $1,000 people to stand up. Who are the $1,000 people in this room this morning? And just make it this big thing and now they feel compelled. And now they have to give and that's not the way it should be done.

So what are you full of? Revisiting that question again. To fill a glass, you must first empty it. So if you want to be full of the Spirit, that's why I say this often, you have to empty yourself of self.

Of you. Me too. That's why I prayed before I came up, Lord, for our team, we just empty ourselves of us.

It's not about You. I mean, it's not about us. It's about You.

We want to empty ourself. How can we be used of You? And again, You are full of what You put in. So if you want to be full of God's Spirit, and you are a leaky vessel like me.

We leak. And so we have to stay underneath that fountain of living water, D.L. Moody would say. But the more you put in with the prayer and the worship and church services and things you put into your heart, that's what you're going to be full of.

And pride does block the fullness of the Spirit. Have you ever experienced that? Pride will block the fullness of the Spirit. I'm just going to share a verse with you, and then I'll wind it down.

2 Chronicles. Uzziah's fame spread far and wide. Check this guy out.

He was used of God powerfully. Incredible king. For he was marvelously, marvelously helped by the Lord until he became strong.

It doesn't mean he went out and built a bench press. What does it mean? Strong in his heart. Pride.

Look at what I did. Look at what I accomplished. Look at this.

And oh man, this king is great. And when he was strong in his heart, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. Guys, you never win with pride.

You might think you're doing good today. Let me tell you. Come talk to me next year.

Let me tell you. Anybody go through life and after it chews you up and spits you out, you come broken to the altar. Thank you.

Thank you, Lord. My goodness, how quick can I get here? Pride. Pride, pride, pride.

Praise God's humility. God elevates the humble, but He resists. Did you know actually God will fight a Christian in this sense? He resists the proud.

He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And I could stay here an hour, but I'll let God bring it to your heart. Is there anything maybe you're full of that you need to get rid of? Is there anything where you need to humble yourself? Maybe with a neighbor.

Or your spouse. Or your kids. Somebody at work.

I need to humble myself. I need to humble myself. I don't want to keep fighting God.

What about surrendering your life to the Lord? What about, do you come once a month to church if it fits your schedule? You're not really following the Lord, seeking the Lord. All that can change today. You humble yourself.

A man by the name of David Zuclato said, God is not waiting at the finish line of self-improvement. He was waiting at the edge of surrender. Let's internalize that one more time.

God is not waiting at the finish line of self-improvement. He's waiting at the edge of surrender. Guys, that's why I talk about this topic a lot, because it's so important.

We have so many new faces coming in. So many different things going on. And it sums up to full surrender.

Because I can teach you all, let's go through Thessalonians. Let's go through the Pauline Epistles. Let's go through 1 Corinthians.

Let's go through Galatians. We get some great teaching. We've got the Word.

But it falls on deaf ears without surrendering to it. Remember, the power in the Word of God, the power is found not in hearing it. Is that interesting? The Bible says don't be hearers of the Word.

Be doers of the Word, or you'll live in deception. And so surrendering to the Word, so surrendering to Me is, do you ever get cut by the Word? Did anybody get cut this morning? And we get, oh, I've got to do that. And there's a choice we have to make that day.

Do we humble ourselves? Maybe some of you, do you humble yourself and repair your marriage? Do you humble yourself and get rid of that stronghold? Do you humble yourself and say, I need to stop being bitter and angry and backbiting and jealousy, and I need to let this go. I need to just humble myself before God. And that's why I love that song we sing sometimes, Jesus, Lover of my soul.

Jesus, Lover of my soul, let me never lose the wonder of Your presence. Let me never lose the wonder of Your presence. Maybe you're here this morning, you don't know who Jesus is.

You've heard about Him, but you don't know Him. But let me tell you about a Savior who really saves. A King who always reigns and a crown that will never fade.

And the Bible's simple. It just says repent and believe. Repent in the Gospel and believe.

It's so powerful. And I know the topic of hell comes up sometimes. One of the words you can look up, it's called Sheol.

Sheol. And it's an interesting word. It's the place of the forgotten.

And that really stood out because hell will be a place of the forgotten. Can you imagine being there and you're forgotten of God? You're forgotten. And I think that's what has a lot to do with the outer darkness and the punishment is just being void of God.

And I don't want to test this area. Do not live your life with a question mark here. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in Me, though he may die, physically shall live again. So, two people this morning. Worship team, you can probably make your way up here.

The Christian who needs to surrender everything, surrender pride, and get back on track with the Lord, do that this morning. And say, Lord, I want to be full of Your Spirit. Because what happens when we're not full of that? What are we full of? We're not full of the Spirit.

We're full of the world. We're full of a lot of junk. And that's why many of you, if you're struggling with anger all the time.

Anger. Anybody dropping some bad words? Giving people the bird? Right? Just, why is this coming out of me? Well, it's inside of you somehow. It's inside of you.

What I found, the more we submit to the working of the Spirit, the more it pushes that stuff out. And the less we deny the working of the Spirit, and worship, and prayer, and those things. We feed on the world.

That's what we're full of. Now, nobody's perfect. We're going to struggle with things.

I want to make that clear. But there's a big difference from slipping up every now and then to every other hour. And it boils down to what we're full of.

Maybe there's a lot of pain. Do you know we lash out because of pain? We get upset at people because of pain. We're in a bad mood because of pain.

We're full of pain. Full of pain. And that will not produce good, godly things either.