Shane Idleman emphasizes the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, contrasting it with worldly power and influence. He stresses the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, which empowers Christians to live out their faith authentically and effectively. Idleman encourages believers to wait on God, prioritize prayer, and seek unity within the church to experience the fullness of the Spirit's power. He shares personal anecdotes about his ministry journey, highlighting that all success comes from the Holy Spirit's guidance and not from human effort. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper surrender to God, urging the congregation to seek a genuine relationship with the Holy Spirit.

The message this morning is, you shall receive power. You shall receive power, and I'm going to pick up where we left off in the book of Acts. But this is kind of, I would say, part two of the Holy Spirit. We talked about the Holy Spirit last week, and if you weren't here, I would encourage you to go online and listen to that message. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? It's the most important question a Christian can ask. So this is part two, because I wasn't able to finish everything in that sermon. The title is, you shall receive power. And I'm not talking about worldly power. You know what that is, correct? We're seeing that in the presidential debates. And in politics, many times, it's control, it's prestige, it's influence. So when I'm talking about, you shall receive power, it's not that kind of power. You actually might not receive prestige. And you may lose influence, and you may lose control. Because you're guided by the Holy Spirit, and that's what spiritual power is. Spiritual power is the Holy Spirit controlling you. The Holy Spirit exalts Christ. The Holy Spirit influences us towards godliness and humility. Actually, it's the work of the Holy Spirit in your life that determines how well you live your life for Christ. It's not our work. We submit to His work, but it's actually the Holy Spirit's work. And if you want to know more about the Holy Spirit, again, I want to reference last week. Go online and listen to that. I've talked about who the Holy Spirit is in a little bit more detail. But I think it's important, before we start reading Acts, to understand that the church was born 2,000 years ago. We're going to read about when the church was born. And that spiritual power, anything that God does in this church, in your life, the hospital home ministries that we have, where people are coming to know the Lord, the baptisms that are spontaneous here and people are coming to know the Lord, is through the work of the Holy Spirit. And as we celebrate the last service last night, I begin to think of a few things. And I'll just share them with you. I think it hopefully will resonate with some of you. Anything that I've ever done successfully in ministry has been through the Holy Spirit's power. Looking back on my life, whether it's books or speaking or the church, anything, I look back and say, God, it's all you. Because there's no way Shane Eidelman could have put that together. Same way in your life. You submit to the Spirit's power and to His guidance in your life. I want to go back right before the church started. I told a few dozen people what we were doing completely from scratch. And many people said, oh, you can't do that. You don't start a church that way. You have to have something in your home and then it grows. You can't just say you're starting a church and hope people show up. It doesn't work that way. And I said, well, I think God's wanting us to plan a church and we're going to go for it. And the doors began to open. It was amazing what God put together in the final weeks before we actually launched the church. Also, a lot of people said you can't start a church on a Saturday. It won't succeed on a Saturday night. No church has ever done that before on a Saturday night. Maybe later, but you need to find a place that's available Sunday. And I would get discouraged. My wife's roommates, I'd go home and say, we have a free building on a Saturday night. And the open door, the worship, the sound, everything. So is that not an open door? I don't know. If He's in it, He's in it. And I remember some of you know Chris Johnson at Grace Chapel. I talked to him right before we started the church and laid out what I'm doing. And I'll never forget his words. He said something like, you're going to have to go talk to somebody else because I've never done what you're about to do. I don't know how you just start without a core group, without on a Saturday. You're going to have to ask somebody because Grace Chapel is 100 years old. So it's been around a while and he kind of walked into that. And what I decided to do is seek godly counsel, of course, but many people couldn't offer that counsel because God was doing something different, something unique, and it was basically from scratch. Again, so he gets all the glory, all the credit. Another thing that came out is it's non-denominational, meaning we didn't want to identify with any certain group. We just wanted to be a Bible-believing, non-denominational church that believes in the whole counsel of God's word. Well, the big problem with that is there's no support. So you basically walk into a bank and you open a savings account with $100 and you trust that God is going to bring in the support. And the first night, it was more than we ever expected. That's why we don't pass out an offering. We don't make it a big deal. God has just been financially blessing the church since day one. And again, all these things you just don't do. I remember, I won't point out the church, even though I'd like to tell you what street it's on. But the people still, not recently, but it was pretty occurring that I would hear that, well, that's not a real church because he never went to seminary. And I would hear that often, like, really? That's a real church? Yeah, Morgan never went to Bible college, you didn't go to seminary, you know, that's not a real church. A real church is somebody who's went to seminary, they've got their Ph.D. on their card or their Master's on their card, and they've done a lot of studying, and that's how you start a church. Forgetting the fact that I've studied just about as much as any Ph.D. I know because I wanted to do it. God's Spirit was propelling me in that direction, and I wanted to do that. So you have to have theology. I think it's a big misconception, people think, well, you didn't go to theology, you don't know anything, like, where's Matthew? Is that book in the Bible? I don't know, it's like there's a big misconception. Now, granted, you have to be willing to study, and theology is very important, but I believe the Bible also talks about when they heard the disciples, they knew that they had been with Jesus, even though they were untrained, unlearned men, they had been with Christ. Because they knew Jesus, they knew His Word, and they knew who He was. So I just want to share a few of those things with you. I jotted down other things, like, I didn't even know what iTunes was, and I remember telling them, no, we're not going to videotape it, that's stupid. Who does that? Just a CD's fine, because, no, we've got to try it, it's the way things are going. And then now, the media, audio, video, reaches tens of thousands of people. Throughout the United States and the world, we get emails from Denmark and Australia and New Zealand and all these different places, and I usually send them to Mike or the office or different people to help answer all these emails coming in. Marriage problems in North Dakota and Kansas and Florida. So for all that to just happen from a Saturday night, it's God's Spirit, God's power. And I'm not a perfect vessel. I'm a flawed vessel. And you need to understand that we are all flawed. Pastors don't come up here and do everything perfectly. I went kicking and screaming. Do you ever have a child? Come on, you're coming. Either way you're coming, right? You're coming, whether you can play dead and you drag your feet on the dirt, you're coming. Either way. Or you can say, here Daddy, come up, let me just take you around. That's the easier way to go. That's how you want to go. Daddy, just take me, whatever you want to do. And it was difficult. It was challenging. Iron sharpens iron. There's a lot of things that God had to, you know, it's very humbling to not have your own facility, and you have to, you know, pretty much any request they want. I remember the first year, they needed their church for Christmas Eve, and it falled on a Saturday. What am I supposed to do, cancel the service? I mean, how do you, you know, just that, God using all that, and different things that happened. I said all that to say that, to say this, you shall receive power. Many times God's going to call you to do something you can't do on your own. So you can't look back and say, look what I did, look what I accomplished. Just things in ministry, or in your own life, or with you praying for certain things, God wants to get all the glory, and all the power, and all the credit goes to Him. That's where we have to have our focus. You can clap for that one, please do. So let's begin in Acts 1, the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commands to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. After Jesus' resurrection, He hung around for forty days, and appeared to, I think, over 500 people. That's why He says there's infallible proofs that Jesus is the risen Savior. But you have to understand, Acts is actually a continuation of the book of Luke. So Luke is writing, and he's saying, based on what I've already told you, the former account, Theophilus, in Theophilus, if you look at the word, it's theos and phileo, lover of God, is what that word means, and some have even said, well, it was written to the church, lovers of God, this is the book that I'm writing to the lovers of God, to the church, but me, looking at the immediate context, I tend to believe this is an individual that He's writing to. And many infallible proofs, we've talked about that so many times here, on the infallible proofs for the resurrection, that Jesus is who He said He was, the biggest witness out there is a transformed life. To go from darkness to light, to go from hell to heaven, to go from wrong to right, to go from not liking God, to now I can't get enough of God, that in and of itself is a miracle. The infallible proofs. And then we talked about last week, the whole message was on He through the Holy Spirit. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, and He wouldn't start His ministry until He was filled with the Holy Spirit, who do we think we are to neglect this aspect of God's, the triune nature of God? We need the Holy Spirit's power. We need His presence. I'm not scared to ask for the filling of the Spirit. Well, Shane, aren't we already filled? Well, we are given the Holy Spirit, as I've said before, at conversion. That's baptized into the body of Christ. You are baptized into the body of Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. But then the question becomes, but does the Holy Spirit have all of you? See, we have the Holy Spirit. But many times, He doesn't have all of us. There's a process there sometimes of being filled with the Spirit and removing things from our lives. Here's often what happens. I'm gonna probably take some rabbit trails, so I apologize this morning, early, first time. Instead of asking for permission, right? It's better to apologize. Because God takes this Holy Spirit topic, I mean, I could camp out here for a month and do a whole series, and I try to like, okay, don't talk about that. The power of the Holy Spirit, many times a person, once they're converted, and they've surrendered their life to God, they're filled mightily with the Holy Spirit. They are just on fire for God. But sometimes, often a person becomes a Christian, they love the Lord, but there's besetting sins that they don't get rid of, and they're not laying down some things. They're holding on maybe to bitterness and unforgiveness, and they're gonna hang on to this addiction. So they're not filled with the Spirit, even though they're a believer. So you can see, they're quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit. That's what the Bible talks about. Don't quench and don't grieve the Holy Spirit. So that's why you can have two people, believers. One on fire for God, and God is doing so many things through them. It's not the person, it's because they've surrendered their life to the work of the Spirit. The other person, which Paul calls carnal. You are carnal in your nature. Your carnal nature is leading you. You're loving the things of the world. You're not giving up. You're not letting this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You're holding on to arrogance, so they're not filled with the Spirit. So they go through life like this. Pretty miserable. Like, well, I'm a Christian. I know God saved me, but I'll try to make church once a month. You know, I guess I'll try to read this, and I'd rather watch Howard Stern than listen to Air One. And I'd rather... Why? What's wrong with me? It's because you're filled with the things of the world. And that's the difference. That's the distinction between somebody filled with the Spirit and somebody who's not. And then verse 4. The Holy Spirit is promised in these next few verses. And being assembled together with them, Jesus, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, You have heard from Me, for John truly baptized you with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Now, that could be another sermon. Those two verses. I'd love to preach a whole sermon on that. But suffice it to say this, the disciples, He didn't say go out and start witnessing, go out and start getting involved in ministry. He said, don't do anything. Disciples, don't even touch a scroll to roll open and start putting together commentary. Don't do anything. Wait until you receive power. Wait until you receive the Holy Spirit's power. Now, here's the difference. The Holy Spirit throughout the Old Testament was given in portion by God. And David being filled with the Spirit. And Saul being filled with the Spirit prophesied. And Elisha, the Spirit came upon Elisha. And the Spirit came upon Nehemiah. The Spirit came upon, but then could withdraw. But as believers, the promise that Jesus is talking about is when, now that the church is born, Jesus leaves, the Holy Spirit comes. Now instead of the Holy Spirit being portioned, now and then according to God's sovereignty and good pleasure, whatever He wants to do, now the Holy Spirit is given to every believer. Much different. Much different. You are actually given the same Spirit of God that rose Jesus from the dead, where Elisha did all of His miracles, where David was victorious. You think he beat Goliath in the power of the flesh or the power of the Spirit? Now we as believers, and I truly believe this, more than I believe that the sun is going to come up tomorrow because I trust God's Word over what He created, that you have that power, that unction, that fire of the Holy Spirit. It's given to every single believer. That's a promise. But if you are continually quenching that fire, you will not feel the heat. So you have to stand by the fire to feel the flame. Many people have the fire burning in the den, but they're down the hall in the living room and they're climbing up to the attic and they wonder why they don't feel the fire of God's presence. It's burning, but you're not close enough to feel that flame. So that's what's happening here. Jesus is saying, don't go do anything because you're going to do it in the power of the flesh. Wait for the promise of the Father. Wait for that Holy Spirit to impact you and empower you. Now this gets a little controversial. I believe it was J. Vernon McGee, maybe even John MacArthur, in their study Bibles, talking about the... Let me be careful here too, because I love both those men. But it's almost as if they're saying that the disciples actually weren't believers until the promise, like when Jesus said, receive the Holy Spirit. He did that chapters before this. So they received the Holy Spirit, but this is something different where they're receiving now this unction, the preposition, the Greek preposition is epi, E-P-I, to come upon a person. That's different from the preposition en, where the Holy Spirit is in a person. So I believe that when the disciples, when Jesus said, receive the Holy Spirit, before this event, that they were believers. You would consider them Christians. When he says, receive the Holy Spirit, and I take that literally, so this now is a separate event where they have the Holy Spirit, but this is now the Holy Spirit coming upon them. So, how does that work today? Well, a little distinction and difference. Here I'm getting ahead of myself, but while I'm on the topic, let me just stay here for a minute. When the Bible explains the work of the Holy Spirit, do you know what a preposition is from school? A preposition helps to explain what the noun is doing. A person, place, or thing. The preposition is used to qualify or to show what it's doing. So the Holy Spirit, there's a word paraclete, paracletus. It's the Holy Spirit comes alongside, but he also comes alongside and he convicts the world of judgment, righteousness, and then judgment is to come. So the Holy Spirit comes alongside as an advocate, as a comforter, but then the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit residing in you, E-N, which means what I just said, the Holy Spirit is residing in you as a believer. And then there's an interesting word. Jesus said, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, E-P-I, that's the epi word. This is an overflowing power of the Holy Spirit that permeates all areas of life. So a person, here's a good example. It happened in Lancaster. Many of you know. I might as well close this. It was bothering me during worship. Isn't that weird? But, oh now the other side's open. But this is the difference. You can put water in that baptismal, right? An inch or two. There's water in that baptism. There's a couple inches of water. But turn the water on and let it flow. And let it just come out the sides and over the top and onto this carpet. That's the overflowing epi power unction upon of the Holy Spirit. So you see the difference? Many are filled with two inches. But they're not overflowing. What do you do? You have to surrender to the water faucet. You have to surrender to the work of God's Spirit. To the degree you surrender is to the degree you'll be filled. More surrender, more filling. Less surrender, less fill with the Spirit. So that's why these words shouldn't be confusing. But Pentecostal charismatic circles people often say, Brother you just need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You just need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And what they're saying is a person needs that filling. Like Jesus being filled with the Spirit. Paul being filled with the Spirit. Peter being filled with the Spirit. They need this filling to take place. So I believe we are I don't use the term necessarily baptized in the Holy Spirit because it happens in conversion. But there are subsequent feelings of the Holy Spirit. Not feelings, like you feel something. But feelings. F-I-L-L-I-N-G-S So a person can be filled with the Spirit. So that's why you'll hear those terms kind of used loosely sometimes. What do they mean? Brother you need to have that baptism of the Holy Spirit. What they're saying is they lack the fire. They lack the unction. They're not filled with the Spirit. So that was just a quick test or a quick nugget on terminology. So, verse 6. Therefore when they had come together they asked Him saying Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them it's not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Jesus said get off of all this other stuff. Don't worry about all these other things. I thought of even today how perfect that is. Stop worrying about politics and all the things and the nation and all these things but focus on seeking first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you and you'll receive power to be witnesses. It's what He was telling them there. They thought that Jesus was coming in order for them the nation of Israel to overcome Rome. You can read like Daniel chapter 7 and different things that they knew the book of Daniel. They knew things that at some point the Messiah would come He would rule and reign. His people would conquer Rome. It's what they thought. Jesus said no, no that's not the plan. That's not the plan. You will receive power. You will receive fire. You will receive the baptism of the Spirit not many days from now. And then Jesus ascends to heaven. Verse 9 Now when He had spoken these things while they watched He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as He went up behold two men stood by Him in white apparel who said Men of Galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. And that's a promise even for today. Jesus will return. That's as sure as again the sun coming up that He will return in His time. And now I'm just going to paraphrase the next few verses. This is the upper room meeting. The disciples basically went into an upper room in Jerusalem and they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. So think about this. The Holy Spirit is about ready to visit them in a powerful way. They're not they don't have they don't have Netflix on and voodoo and all these Facebook and all these things they are just focused on God. That's a good lesson for us today. They are just on one accord they are of one accord you know what that means? I don't know if this would this work Josh? Gabe might get mad. But you don't want to hear me play that right? Because I have no clue. You'd be like oh goodness or Rosie can I try the piano? What is that? Shane stop and go back to the pulpit get off of that. But see that's what the church looks like when you're not united in harmony with you're not in harmony with you're outside what the Holy Spirit wants to do when we're not in unity. That's how it sounds to God. Like screeching music it's not in key. Be in harmony with each other be of one accord. It sounds thank you now you threw me off track. That's okay. The coming of the Holy Spirit. So here's the the disciples return to Jerusalem they go to an upper room and they are with one accord they're not arguing they're not bickering they're not like complaining about anything they are one accord in prayer and supplication. Why doesn't it just say prayer? Well in my opinion if you look up what supplication is it's a begging of God. So it's showing you what kind of prayer it was. If you've been in a real prayer meeting you know exactly what I'm talking about. This is supplication you are pleading with God God rent the heavens bring your revival bring your saving grace God save my son save your daughter you're pulling down heaven you're making supplication you're renting basically your heart you're pouring it out to God. That's what he's talking about prayer and supplication. So I want you to think about that for a minute for the Holy Spirit in order for the Holy Spirit to fall on these people and change them dramatically look what was occurring unity in prayer brokenness supplication coming before the Lord he only falls on a prepared vessel the fire of God falls on a sacrifice not an empty altar. Therefore brethren present your bodies as living sacrifices holy holy unto God which is your reasonable service he falls on a sacrifice. So here's the coming of the Holy Spirit Acts 2 look at your Bibles Acts 2 this is when the church was born did you know the church had a birthday? The church had a birthday on well we don't know the exact year so I'm not going to go there but let's just say it was shortly after Jesus was resurrected Acts 2 when the day of Pentecost had fully come this is a day which God had planned beforehand in the Old Testament that they were all with one accord in that place I guess he really wants to get that point across doesn't he? why would he say they were with one accord twice if it wasn't important for the church to have unity and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and one said upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance well that's a controversial topic isn't it? I've lost people out of this church over this topic just the fact that I believe that the Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore I believe that the Holy Spirit still acts in those giftings of what is laid out 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 I believe in that I believe that the Holy Spirit does still operate that way people say well I'm out of here after that well good you've never seen any weirdness ever in six years but you're going to leave because somebody embraces that what Paul spoke about and what happened here was not a bad thing it's a good thing how can Paul and these believers speak in tongues and now it's of the devil now it's wrong because if experience lines up with scripture you need to be not concerned in this area if it lines up with scripture now I do want to talk about this topic for a minute since I'm on it the disciples were filled with the Spirit completely tongues of fire we don't know exactly what that was but it was evident that God visited this place they were filled and as a byproduct of being filled with the Spirit this unknown language unknown to the person was given to these people so when they begin to speak in this language which people from all over would say they are glorifying God they are speaking the good things of God but even though you don't understand it the Holy Spirit is speaking the good things of God in a different language it would be like if I were to say Padre Nuestro de casa en cielo santificado sea tu hombre venga en nuestro reino haga tu voluntad hacia en la tierra como en cielo Padre Nuestro de cada dia oh no that's not tongues that's Spanish that's our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven in Spanish see just because you didn't understand it didn't mean it didn't have power see and that's how the Holy Spirit would work but Paul talks about a couple things if you turn to 1 Corinthians not today this morning I'm going to say tonight probably for a while until you get used to it 1 Corinthians read chapter 14 and I can't go through and go well Paul didn't mean that for today can I just rip this whole chapter out I mean it doesn't doesn't make a lot of sense he says desire spiritual gifts those who speak in a tongue speak to God not of men it's edifying yourself don't disrupt the service I just summed it up for you that's the purpose of tongues if a person is given this gift of the Holy Spirit it's not for men it's for God so somehow the Holy Spirit is working through this person and if the Holy Spirit is praying for you that's a good thing that's nothing to be afraid of but you watch Christian television you say I don't have anything to do with that but the Bible says Paul says do not allow it to be in a large multitude like this without somebody interpreting or if the environment is conducive so obviously we don't allow that because Paul says somebody's going to walk in and think you're out of your mind it's not in order it's not in harmony with it doesn't work especially for a mixed multitude they would encourage it in groups where people knew each other and where there's somebody who can interpret what they're saying without that it's pointless but Paul said now Paul said this so if you think it's weird was Paul weird? he said I speak in tongues more than all of you I speak in tongues and I wish that you would do that but I'm not speaking to men I'm speaking to God so that's why people sometimes say it's a private prayer language or it's a real language the bottom line is people understood what they were saying and if people have been given this gift I don't want to say no it's not valid today mainly what they'll use to say it's not valid today is when that which is perfect comes that which is in part will be done away with but Paul is talking about when Christ comes again we won't need these gifts of the Holy Spirit also in chapter 14 Paul says therefore tongues is given as a judgment in stammering tongues that they will judge God's people but that shows that tongues is a sign for unbelievers it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not available today you talk to people on the mission field they'll see a lot of the miracles a lot of the gifts of the Spirit because they're open but cautious that's what I like to do I'm conservative in this area I'm open God whatever you want to do but I'm also cautious because he gives us discernment he just turned on what I just said some weird things going on and you know that's not necessarily of God's Spirit also though you have to remember something Paul is writing to the church in Corinth these people were abusing the gifts were they not? that's the whole point of the letter Paul is abusing they are abusing the gifts so that might happen today and living children need rules dead children don't so when God's children are living and vibrant and filled with the Holy Spirit D. Martin Lloyd-Jones actually said that I think it was in his book Preachers and Preaching that living children need rules dead children don't so if 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 doesn't apply to you you might want to just ask God for some direction in this area because Paul said desire desire these spiritual gifts desire them desire above everything prophecy prophecy oh no Shane that just means that's exactly what I'm doing you're not forth telling predicting a future necessarily but you're forth telling what God's word says that's why God says when they hear you prophesying speaking God's word they will fall down on their face before God and worship Him and repent because of His truth piercing their heart tongues doesn't do that tongues doesn't do that that's not the point of it and again I don't want to I could talk about that for a while but there are wonderful resources on that if you're interested I just can't looking at the Bible looking at all these things say that these they call it the I believe it's the revelatory gifts meaning the revelation gift gift of prophecy gift of knowledge healing and tongues were done away with when we got the canonization of scripture now that we have the Bible we don't need these other gifts is the thought behind that now I think one reason is because they've seen the gifts abused and misused and people just acting bizarre but I also believe that when people haven't experienced these things they tend to fear those things and they think why I'm spiritual and I'm more spiritual than they are and just because you don't experience it though you tend to doubt that God is really doing that today so I would just tell you to take it to the Lord say Lord you show me I desire whatever you have for me I want the best gifts God and I want to prophesy I want to be able to speak your word and truth when the day of Pentecost had fully come there was one accord we read all that already and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and it's only weird because we haven't experienced it if you think of it it's like well that's weird I mean some people have you know who you are but we think well that's weird how does that work well it's the Holy Spirit operating through a believer to me it's no weirder than Shane Eidelman up here right now if you looked at me 20 years ago I would have done anything I could to not speak in public I would have never chose this in a million years ever but that's what God does that's bizarre to me that he would take me and do this and he can take you and do the same type of thing not necessarily pastoring maybe some of you but any type of ministry God will use you in so many different ways the hospital homes are a great example of this so let's stop for three minutes let's watch the time on three baptisms have you received this baptism 1 Corinthians 12 13 for by one spirit we are all baptized into the body whether Jew or Greek whether slave or free have all been made to drink of one spirit so this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit have you received this baptism in other words are you a believer very simple are you a believer even kids a lot of kids here you can ask yourself do I truly know Jesus or do I have a relationship I mean do I have a religion or not a relationship I want to know him today I want to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and repent of my sin tell your mom and dad let them know or me let us know that you want to be part of that body or an adult you have to make that decision you cannot live your life with a question mark here never you have to make the decision are you baptized into the body of Christ for John truly baptized with water so have you been baptized as a step of obedience have you ever been baptized wow when I was a little kid or an infant no have you ever taken that step of obedience because I believe I often use this analogy the Holy Spirit the power of the Holy Spirit like being like a water hose or actually a fire hydrant hose that is just on full blast but if you go through and you put some kinks in that hose what is coming out you are like there is no water it is dripping what happened it is not the hose it is not the pressure it is not the fire extinguisher it is the kinks in the hose and many people are not filled with God's Spirit because there is a lot of kinks in the hose they do not want to get rid of and I truly believe that baptism is one sign of a form of obedience that we need to take I opened up last night that I was actually baptized over there in that baptismal 16 years ago I was 30 years old came back to the Lord and I am like I am not getting baptized that is embarrassing everybody is going to know I just was writing my first book I am speaking sometimes and I am like I am not getting baptized and then every verse every time I read in the morning there is something about baptism baptism baptism baptism baptism like but why did not I want to do it pride what people will think that is the bottom line so I said you know what I am being baptized Jesus did at 30 probably right around there and I want to be baptized and I did it and I could tell from that point that kink in the hose was gone and God began I am not necessarily tying that necessarily with the filling of the Holy Spirit but I know if there is a step of obedience and a person has not been baptized why would not they it is crystal clear throughout scripture so I would just encourage you to be baptized we are doing it in October October 23rd last Sunday we had 12 baptisms 8 of those were spontaneous many people just said I need to do this and I had people last night come up to me and they said I need to do this and they have been coming to the church for 4 years so it is a good thing I am not going to look down at you I am going to say well good finally it is a finally because we can get comfortable I was little and you become a Christian and then years go by and you realize I have never done it so I would take that step of obedience because Jesus John truly baptized with water Jesus says when you believe be baptized it is a step of obedience and then the final question I want to ask have you received this power that we have been talking about you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you say I don't know if I received that or not that is like saying I don't know if I am wet while standing in the shower you know you know whether you are wet in the shower you will know are you filled with God's power are you filled with His presence it is just over you just can't shut up shut up everywhere I go the Holy Spirit is just overflowing where you drive where you go to eat it is just Holy Spirit flowing you can't stop it I am like what is this what happened to me I will never forget that day in my house at four thirty in the morning God mightily broke me I have never cried even at my dad's funeral I did but then after that grown men don't cry and I just couldn't stop crying God's spirit came over me and worship turned on I had to turn off Garth Brooks and George Strait get country music off and get the worship on and my heart was just broken before the Lord I mean I am talking old country you know Hank Williams Jr. and Keith Whitley Conway Twitty George Jones I had them all I had them all and I why am I so depressed he stopped loving her today why am I so depressed why because because I was in God in just everything now I don't want this now I want God's power I want God's spirit what is going on in here why is the Bible I can't get enough if I could consume it I would consume it what is wrong with me that overfilling power of God the Holy Spirit and it is boldness that you have it because God wants every person to have it but people say but Shane you are a pastor and I say but you are a parent we need more parents filled with the spirit of God so you know how to discipline you know how to love you know how to hold you know how to direct them teach them in the way that they should go when they are older they will not depart from it it is the Holy Spirit's power you can't and you try to contain it I will give you an example this morning I actually got here at 5 this morning put on worship music just give my heart right before God go over the sermon and then I met a friend of mine he asked me he has got 28 years of sobriety and they are celebrating his birthday he asked hey would you come to this he comes here sometimes I said sure I would love to go so at 6.30 in the morning there is 40 people at this meeting and he gets his thing and then you know does anybody want to share and I am like Lord don't do this I am just going to just leave here shortly and just Lord don't do this I am just and then of course you know hi I am Shane I would like to share okay how would you share well 12 years 34 years ago at 12 years old I took my first drink down the street a half mile that set a course of addiction that ruined me in my teenage years in my 20's and I said but God set me free I have surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ all of you go around and you say a higher power my tree my rock I can say the Jesus Christ and people clap and they are excited and what happened though is then people started to say yeah not my higher power Jesus when they gave their testimony and you could tell and I said the prodigal son came home you have got to surrender your life to God you have got sobriety but not salvation big deal just three minutes you have to preach but I went and I am like no I am not going to say a word I am not going to say a word I am not going to say a word I am not going to say a word I am not going not be filled with the spirit you have not told anybody about Jesus in a year that is not Christian ministry is not being filled with the spirit that is Christian ministry it is working it is doing things so be careful in this area as well I am going to close here shortly but Jesus said in John 16 7 it is good that I leave so that the advocate will come to you now I chewed on this verse all week because is Jesus saying that the power of the Holy Spirit coming in my life is better than his physical presence he is telling his disciples I have been with you three years and I must go it is better for you that I go and the Holy Spirit come upon you than me stay and you receive not the spirit think about Peter Jesus is with him all the time three years and then the final day comes Peter just oh I don't know him I don't know him at all no and this girl slave girl said yes I know I recognize you your speech betrays you and he said no no no I don't know this man and then now now a couple weeks later Jesus leaves he sends the advocate Jesus is gone and Peter stands up and says you stiff neck people you put Christ on the cross you put him on the cross what must we do to be saved repent so how did Peter go from that weak coward Peter I'll die for you and then here it comes oh no I won't I don't know you to now this this bold messenger of the gospel you can see where this is going right the filling of the Holy Spirit Jesus said it's better for me to leave so the Holy Spirit can come upon you so here's what I want to leave you with you shall receive power when you wait on God see we don't we don't we've lost the lost art of waiting on God is gone think about this a hundred years ago have in your mind Little House on the Prairie if that would just come back I mean now they've got shows where the transgender kid is this hero and it's just so sad to watch where how far we've drifted from the original intent of television different things but imagine that there's no phone there's no Facebook there's no this you just I mean people say oh that would be so boring I think I missed it by a hundred years if I would have been born 1890 or so you know of course it's God's sovereignty and I'm we're all here because he's called us for such a time as this but it was easier to wait on God you would wait on God I read books written in the 1800s they would take a walk in the forest for half a day or they would just sit and meditate on God's word and do some some gardening or whatever or go walk by the lake and they're waiting on God why? because waiting shows what's important when you see people wrapped all around the wall waiting for Star Wars or or tents out in front of Best Buy at at what Thanksgiving the day after Thanksgiving why? Waiting shows what's important and this is probably the biggest problem in the church today is people I'm talking about problem for for believers genuine believers is that we don't wait on God we don't wait on the Lord we're busy we're in a hurry we've got and we're thinking about if we ever go to two services you know it's like I don't want them too close because I don't want to you know have to oh hurry hurry hurry hurry we've got somebody else coming people I used to preach at two services sometimes three and they didn't like it because there was people we were having a revival and there's people in the lobby waiting and parking and I don't care it doesn't matter because we are waiting on God and that's what you have to get back and here's what has to happen drastic and dramatic changes need to take place in your life it's going to hurt remove every weight that slows you down remove every sin that ensnares you've got to structure your life in such a way that you wait on God you wait on God that's why that's why I came here for an hour this morning saying God I'm just waiting you've got to pour in your spirit on me you've got to bless these people you've got to answer prayers I'm just waiting on you you're the priority see they receive power when they waited on God how are you going to receive God's power busy going here busy doing that busy here over time under time the kids the family everybody wants to get so busy that there's no time for God and you will not be filled with the Holy Spirit unless you wait on God because the filling doesn't just happen like this it's a slow process of being filled with God's spirit because the first 20-30 minutes you're unteachable and prideful usually well God I want this and this and then God begins to show you things and you get your heart right and just worshiping Him so receive power to wait on Him Jesus took a journey for 40 days Moses was on the backside of the desert for many years Paul went to the desert of Arabia before he the Bible says I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood Paul says I didn't immediately talk to man I talked to God Elijah went to the cave spent time with God see there's you've got to get back to that seeking God waiting on Him for His power and His presence also you shall receive power when prayer becomes a priority is prayer really a priority in your life? a priority you know what a priority is right? it's on the calendar it's scheduled in my day but here's what prayer is for most people oh I forgot to squeeze it in and actually it has to be the priority that's the main heartbeat of a Christian do you realize that? E.M. Bound said that when your faith ceases to pray your faith will cease to live when your faith when you cease to pray you cease to live spiritually and I liken it to breathing when you cease to breathe you will cease to live you will die the same thing with prayer that's the breath of life that's the breath for a believer you breathe in and I want to be careful on the language here of course but you are waiting on God and you're praying God just change my heart and sometimes the best prayers are without words do you know you pray without talking? you just wait before God and you wait God please move show me my heart I want to know you and you shall receive power when you're more concerned with unity than preference when we are more concerned about unity as a body than preference we will start to see God move in mighty ways because unity is the Jesus prayed did you know Jesus prayed that we would be united that we would come together as one just as he and the father are and it must break his heart when we get little arguments little things over this and the enemy wants to come in and break that unity because unity is like that three-folded cord that's not easily broken when a believer is united we are on track with God listen we're going to the hospital homes or we're going to minister or we're going to baptize we're going to do these things for God we're going to pray and you're united as soon as he brings in division it just splits away and it fractions into little groups and little fractions and little divisions and little gossip corners and then the work of God ceases that's why the thing holding many churches together today is not the Holy Spirit it's social activity the Holy Spirit is not holding many churches together social activities are programs services and a person last night who actually has to go to a different church now because we switched here it was sad she said I'm going because my husband likes it but I feel hungry when I leave I feel I feel dissatisfied I'm not getting what I'm not being fed it's it's dead it's there's nothing there nothing there at all and there should be in the living vibrant church people should be growing they should be they should be filled with the Spirit when they leave here I'll share something with you I thought about this morning I didn't put in my notes I said which I sometimes do Lord if you want me to talk about it bring it up bring it to my memory and of course it's a closing point and I remember this is over the past week or so or two weeks not everybody's happy about the move I don't know if you're aware of that and some of the reasons I've heard just to be honest with you it just breaks my heart it just breaks my heart because I've been trying to pour out for years and it's like do you even listen for example a couple said we can't do Sundays it's our only off day together as a couple okay somebody else said it's my NFL day somebody else sleeping on Sundays I'm going to have to see is there any other church on Saturday I'm like and we wonder why we're not filled with the Spirit of God we wonder why we're not filled with the Spirit of God those comments simply reflect the heart because when God is a priority none of that matters if I run into another person in Palmdale who drives to Santa Clarita for church I'm going to have a you know what fit oh yeah we love such and such we drive to Santa Clarita Santa Clarita do you know you passed right by us I mean just or how many people I know that drive to John MacArthur's church in Sun Valley I know so these things I'm sitting there going Lord help me what's wrong with me what is wrong with me how and it dawned on me there's nothing wrong with you it's wrong with them they're not wanting because when God is a priority who cares who cares obviously you have to have things that align with your schedule from time to time but those those are silly reasons one lady wanted to argue with me that she's in East Palmdale and that's closer I said no no it's not close you go on Palmdale Boulevard and just take it west just take it west it's closer it's closer no it's not and then I don't know if sometimes you don't know if it's God or if it's yourself and it just dawned on me you know what let it go you don't want that there at the church and what I meant by that not in a bad way but you want committed not convenience if you're going to build a strong church you want and I and I hope you understand I love some of these people it's it's I'm not criticizing I'm not being arrogant mean I'm just I was I was hurt to hear what your off day or your NFL I mean what what have I have you been hearing anything anything that we talk about about God and and in all cases I don't see them at church that often and many times they're having marriage issues or other issues and you know why you're not going to be filled with the spirit if God's not a priority he's got to be the priority he has to be the priority so the closing point which was actually what I expressed earlier is how close you are to the flame determines how much heat you feel so I want to just throw it out there this morning that there are some people in here that need to surrender all you need to surrender all you're bored during worship you're preoccupied God doesn't have all of your time he doesn't have all of your your energy and your resources and I don't mean you can't work and you can't do things but God should be the all-consuming passion when I get up I think about God when I'm at work how can I please God well it's easy for you Shane I know I had to work in a very difficult fitness industry in a very difficult construction industry where I was working for guys that were not believers and I had to submit to their authority I know how difficult the workplace is and often that's why I thank God he brought me through that and not seminary cause you get a lot of people out of seminary 24 years old they're ready for a church they're not ready for people they're not ready for people at all and life humbles you and then you're ready I remember a story I'll close with this I said I'd close with this three times right but and I hope I get it right if I don't I'll have to tell you again later but it's about this this preacher who was just out of seminary 5 years 6 years doctorate in this he was just he was ready to let him have it he spent 12 hours on this sermon it was so polished the Greek the Hebrew the Strong's Concordance reference the hermeneutics and the homiletics and everything just flowed and it was this wonderful masterpiece and he couldn't wait wait to get up there and so he gets before the people and he's he's darting and he's he's messing up and people aren't interested and he's like losing it and it's like well that didn't work out and why aren't they why is that baby crying why is this not and just just a total failure he walked down the steps in total humility and God humbled him disgraced humbled broken now he's sat by an old deacon and the old deacon said son if you would have arose to that pulpit the same way you came down you would have succeeded see he let he let pride and arrogance dictate when he should have been humble and broken before the Lord and that's what we need to be I'm going to preach this till the day I die those comments I just shared reflect that people are not broken and humble before the Lord because when you are God is the priority God is everything stop being bored in church stop being bored during worship and start saying God and here's the interesting thing you can't do it on your own you can't say I'm going to try better tomorrow right Mike I'm going to try I'm going to read more tomorrow I'm going to try better and I'm going to and then tomorrow comes and next week comes and next month comes and next year comes and you're sitting in the same position you have to say God I cannot do this I need you Lord I need you to break me I need you to humble me because as you're saying that you are humbling yourself Lord you have to fill me with your spirit I'm broken before you I'm tired of yelling at my spouse I'm tired of not putting you on the priority list I'm tired of being angry at my kids and angry at others I don't have your power I don't have your presence in my life God I'm omitting it I'm a broken undone sinner fill me with your grace and your mercy now his power will come in that's how it works so when I talk about the fully surrendered life the submitted life broken and humbled before the Lord that's why the Bible says a broken and humble and contrite heart a God will not despise he will not cast it away but the proud and the arrogant he will feed in judgment it's very simple God desires a broken heart and I say I pray this still it might surprise some of you but God give me a deeper hunger for your word God give me a deeper prayer life God I want to wake up tomorrow so on fire for you and so just please God do that in my life and through that broken dependent relationship you know how to trust the shepherd he will not use a man or woman he cannot trust he will not use a man or woman who is not broken before him so if you want to receive power not worldly power but spiritual power where you can love others parents you need to be filled with your spirit filled with God's spirit how are we going to raise kids in this day and age without being filled with the spirit you've got everything from Minecraft to phones at 8 years old to God knows what to just pulling some of them away and distracting them you have to be filled with your spirit because when you're filled with the spirit as a parent here's what you get don't tell your kids this but you get discernment you know he's going out smoking pot before he goes out smoking pot you know my mom I told you this story before my mom used to pray for me and she put her Bible on my ACDC and Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden records and all that stuff I said don't pray for me I want to have fun tonight and she would say no God's got a call on your life God's going to use that's a bunch of garbage I want to get drunk that's what I'm going to do so leave me alone leave me alone but don't give up parents praying parents pray God will give you discernment and wisdom you need to be filled with the spirit let me just end with that and have the worship team come back I have no more else to say on that I was reminded of Leonard Ravenhill's quote that we need to close every church in the land for one Sunday and cease listening to man so we can hear the groans of the spirit which we in our lush pews have forgotten