Shane Idleman addresses the significance of the Holy Spirit's baptism in his sermon 'Playing With Fire: The Spirit's Baptism.' He emphasizes that without being filled with the Holy Spirit, believers cannot effectively operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Shane discusses the importance of experiencing God's power and presence, warning against quenching the Spirit through sin and emphasizing the need for surrender and repentance. He encourages believers to seek a deeper relationship with God, highlighting that true Christianity is about experiencing God rather than merely following rules. The sermon calls for a boldness in witnessing and living out one's faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The title this morning is Playing with Holy Fire, the Spirit's Baptism. Playing with Holy Fire, the Spirit's Baptism. Now, how many people did I just offend with the title? Okay, nobody's raising their hand. There'll be a larger group listening to this later or right now live on Facebook and YouTube and different things. But this is a controversial topic. When you talk about the Holy Spirit, the fire of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what starts to go off in your mind? I'll tell you, and when I hear it, I get excited. It's in the Bible. It's in the Bible, and it's the Spirit's baptism, the filling, the unction, the anointing. Call it whatever you want. Do you have it? Do you have the power and presence of God in your life? You don't even have to call it anything. You just say, God, fill me. I've been filled with God. So why am I talking about this? Well, we're getting ready to go into a series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Do you have any questions about tongues or prophecy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, healing, shame? What is all that stuff? Well, that's where we're going to be in the next few weeks, maybe a month or so. But here's why this is important. Without the fullness of the Spirit, without being filled with the Spirit, the gifts aren't really significant in that you won't operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Because somebody who is quenching and grieving the Spirit of God, often the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, do not reveal themselves, or they do not operate in the life of a believer who is not filled with God's Spirit. Now, of course, there's immature believers, there's people just coming to the faith. God pours His Spirit and His gifts on whoever He wants. But the quenching of the grieving of the Holy Spirit can really disarm, and disarm is not even a good word, it can really prohibit us being fully used of God. You know that, right? Aren't we miserable when we've quenched and grieved the Spirit within us? So this is why you hear terms like unction. Have anyone ever heard that? Some of these words are in your Bible, depending on your translation. Unction, baptized, filled, anointed. And let me just cover those quickly. Unction is power, the power of the Spirit. Baptized means overwhelmed by the Spirit. Filled means what is flown in is flowing out. And anointed means empowered to fulfill a task of God. For example, for the first 29 years of my life, I was not anointed by God. He was still using my past, He was still there, He was watching out for me, making sure, once this joker gets his act together. But then there came a time and place where I fully surrendered my life and experienced this filling of the Holy Spirit's fire. And that's where the anointing comes from. Now I'm anointing this task for which I've called you to do. And you don't have to be a pastor for this. This is the mark of every true believer of God. To be filled with His Spirit, to do great exploits. We're all the body of Christ. So this is not just a message or a topic for pastors, it's for all of us. And let me show you how important this is. I actually didn't have it on my notes. I remembered it the first, and I'm so glad I remembered it the second. It's one of the things I just love. Did you know, other than one time at 12 years old, you've never heard of what Jesus did for 30 years? Have you ever thought about that? I'm like, what did He do at 17? Like, let me just lift this car off this guy. Or cart, not a car. But let me just lift this oxen that fell. I mean, what did He do for 30 years? He goes from obscurity to notoriety with one experience of the Holy Spirit. The Bible's clear. You can read it for yourself. That Jesus was baptized. He actually went to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist said, Can you imagine baptizing Jesus? I can't baptize you. You need to baptize me. And he said, Suffer it so, if you have the King James, suffer it so that all righteousness may be fulfilled. Suffer it so that all righteousness may be fulfilled. And he was baptized. And the Bible is clear. It says, And the Holy Spirit came upon him. The word is epi, E-P-I in the Greek. It's a preposition that means upon Jesus. See, the Holy Spirit was already in him, E-N. And the Holy Spirit runs alongside of people, paracletus. It's where you get the high school paraclete. It's a paracletus. It's running alongside. Then the Holy Spirit's in, but the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus. Then he goes into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil, which always happens. And he came out, the Bible said, And he came out full of the Spirit. Your translations might say the fullness of the Spirit. Or Jesus came out of the wilderness filled with the Spirit. Now, did he not have the Spirit for 30 years? See, there was a defining moment. There's a defining moment where the Holy Spirit came upon him. Do I fully understand it? No. All I have is what Scripture teaches. And I don't like these guys that draw all kinds of stuff out of Scripture that aren't there. But all we know is the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. He goes in the wilderness. He's filled with the Spirit. Comes out empowered by the Spirit. Now we hear of him every day. Something happened. Something happened for the call of ministry upon his life. But we hear this word fire in the Bible often. Now, the number one way it's used is in judgment. The fire of God. But it's also when God answered by fire. He answered Elisha by fire. He led them by fire. And what he does, he gives us his fire. He gives us the Holy Spirit of God as his fire within us. And I'm going to read a few excerpts here. You can actually download my book, Desperate for More of God. It's free, so don't think of pushing anything. It's a free download. I have a whole chapter on this. But I'm going to just sum up a few things. Why is there so much division on this issue? Because there is, isn't there? Depending, I don't know if you know your background. I don't know how long you've been in church. But there's a big division over this topic of the Holy Spirit. And here's why. In a church, you're going to have genuine fire. You're going to have people genuinely filled with God's spirit. And then you're going to have the fake fire. You know the people who make a lot of noise? Like God's always speaking to them every minute. And they're just making all this noise. And we say, I don't care how high you jump. I want to know how straight you walk when you come down. You have to have fruit. You have to have character. So you have the real. You have the genuine. Then you have the fake fruit. And often the enemy will try to counterfeit things. He'll bring people in. It often happens that the enemy brings people to a church to try to disrupt it. And you don't know a lot of times. But I know certain people have come in, haven't been here a while, or different things about them in first service, second service, throughout the months. I can tell there's a distraction here often. Emotions aren't necessarily pure all the time. And so you have the genuine. And then you have the fake. And then you also have believers who have not experienced what I'm talking about. And it's very hard to embrace something you've never experienced, isn't it? So when people, when I talk about the filling of God, the spirit of the living God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, those who have never experienced it can sometimes become offended because they think you're super spiritual. Or you're more mature than them and you receive something that they haven't. And often the reason they haven't is because they haven't surrendered to the work of the Spirit. They've been closed off. So a lot of those people would say, for example, as we're going to go into 1 Corinthians 12 on the gifts of the Spirit, 13 on love, and 14 on, 13 is not just about love. It goes on to talk about where prophecy fells and where tongues fell. It sees prophecy, love will never fell. And Paul talks about the giftings and different things. And chapter 14 is a lot on tongues. What is that? That's weird. That's bizarre. I don't know. Paul spoke in tongues. It's in the Bible. I mean, it seems to be a very good thing in the Bible. So how to go from a very good thing to a thing of the devil? That's one thing I don't understand. But you do get counterfeits. You get controversy. You get a whole bunch of different things. Can you imagine an immature believer given a very mature gift? And so that's why we have to be very careful in being judgmental, actually not being judgmental. Because if it's in the Bible and somebody experienced it, and it lines up with Scripture, you're standing on pretty solid ground. I remember the first time I experienced something like that. I've shared this before. I don't want to go off into a big story here. But many of you know it was right over this hill. I was at a house that I built. I confessed. I gave my life back to God. I just got to take everything. I'm done. You need to just take it. God just broke me. It's hard to even explain what happened. You're crying so much. There's snot coming out of your nose. Just, oh, God. And then just the miraculous filling of the Holy Spirit. Oh, man. Tremendous pain but tremendous joy. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible now I couldn't put down. It's coming alive. I'm highlighting everything. Why didn't I see this for 29 years? Has that been there? I thought many of these things were added later in the Bible. Like, where did that come from? So I'm all excited. I'm all excited. You know, and I find a church. I was actually a new pastor, and we go to that church. I'm excited. And then you start to meet the naysayers. Right? Debbie Downer. Shane, that's not for today. That's of the devil. Well, Paul said, oh, I know. But that was for the early church. They needed that. Those poor, weak Christians. All we need is the Word. That's all we need today. But Paul teaches on it. Well, no, but those chapters don't apply anymore. Oh. I'm sure glad I don't believe that. But there was a mocking voice. Right? A mocking. Oh, you're just drunk. You're just out of your mind. Now, I'm actually, so, you know, I usually lean heavily towards the conservative side. On the gifts and different things. Nobody's ever heard me do things that are out there, weird, whatsoever. And God doesn't do weird things. He does things in the heart. And sometimes people weep during worship. Sometimes people get excited and filled with joy. People work differently in this area. But the mocking voices. Teasing. Those who have not experienced God will tease those who have. They'll mock them. They'll ridicule them. And I go back, every time I hear that, I go back to what happened to the early apostles. They mocked them. They said, oh, they're all drunk. They're drunk in the morning. Look at this. But they're praising God. Oh, I know. But they're drunk. And Peter said, hold on. This is that. This is that that the prophet Joel spoke of many, many years ago. That God said, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will what? They will prophesy. They will preach God's word. With power and boldness. They will call things out. On my men servants. On my maid servants. I will pour out my spirit. I will give dreams and visions on the people who are filled with my spirit. So Peter says, no, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. So if all that was given on the day of Pentecost, why is it now gone? Aren't we still in the last days? And I don't understand those people that say, well, Shane, we have the Bible and that's enough. Yeah. It's enough for godliness, for doctrine, for theology. But my brother, I need some fire. I need experience. God. You have to have both. You have to have theology with experience. That's biblical, historical Christianity. You show me one person in the New Testament who did great exploits for God, but who didn't experience him. Didn't experience the power of the Holy Spirit. George Watson said, the true saints of God. Here we go. Who have had clear heads and pure warm hearts. Most of us, right? Have in all generations had to walk between the two extremes of cold formality on the one side. And the wild ranting fanaticism on the other side. Dead formality and the false fire of fanaticism are both Satan's counterfeits. And he does not care into which extreme the soul plunges. What he means by that is dead formality. Cemetery. Have you ever been to cemetery churches? You walk in yawning. You leave yawning. And here's all the announcements of women's potlucks next week. And this and that. And Betty needs a ride to the doctor. And those are all good. Don't get me wrong. But then, okay, turn to John. And let's just get through this. And people are falling asleep. There's no power of God there. That's why we call it a cemetery. They're dying. They need spiritual resurrection. Can you imagine if Jesus preached to that group? Or Paul? Wake them up out of their slumber. That's actually the definition of revival. God, would you not revive your people again that we may rejoice in you? Not be bored in you. Rejoice in you. But then you have the fanaticism. That's you guys. You're fanatics, right? Now, it depends how you define that word, you know, of course. But this is just weird. Odd, it's God's stuff. Hey, no matter what happens, if it's weird, it's God. I've seen videos where they've toked the Holy Ghost. Toked the Holy Ghost? Are you kidding me? Or they'll act bizarre. They'll act like they're on fire and do cartwheels and say angel feathers are falling on them. Oh, it's the Holy Spirit, brother. No, that's just weird. When was the last time you led someone to the Lord with boldness? Oh, I don't do that. I'm just all about worship. And so this side is just fanaticism and ranting and weirdness. And some churches are kind of like that. It's like a circus environment. There's no... The Bible says do things decently in order. Not weird and obnoxious. But trying to find that balance, right? Because when you... Man, you don't even know. You don't even know. I don't usually do this, but I could have jumped a little bit during that last song. The goodness of God. The goodness... I could have gotten a little charismatic, so I'm glad. But the goodness of God. God, you've held this together. Don't you realize that? Who's held your life together? Who's held the life of your children together? Who has held all this together? The goodness of God. When you cry out, He hears you. Doesn't that change the way you worship? Or am I just off? But see, the goodness of God. You are so good. God, you should have destroyed me 15 years ago. I should not be called to the pastorate. Oh God, you keep all this together and you begin to worship Him. And when God... Has God ever set you free of an addiction? Something... I've prayed with people. Men who used to be felons who are heroin addicts. And they're weeping and they're weeping and they're weeping. Oh, that's too charismatic. No, that's God breaking a heart. You better be careful. You better be careful. So see, finding that balance. There should be a passion and experience behind serving God. It's not... This is not a dead religion. So I love that song. My resurrected King is resurrecting me. My resurrected King. He's been resurrected. He's gonna resurrect the death and the decay in my own personal life. And set me up on the pedestal again. Out of the ashes, I will arise. Out of the ashes, God will pick me up and pick you up. And put you back up and say, son, daughter, go forward. Yes, you've fallen a hundred times. But I will pick you up. Though the steps of a righteous man. He falls, he will not be utterly cast down. Because God upholds him. With the get up, son. Get up, daughter. Keep fighting the goodness of God. I should just change the whole sermon right now to that. But see, you should experience God. It changes everything. I can talk to the person who's suicidal. And say, listen, the goodness of God. Get your life back on track. And just give him everything. Those who struggle with same sex attraction. Let's give it to God. But Shane, I don't know what to do with this. Let him worry about it. Give it to God. And you've experienced God. I mean, when he pulls you out of the pit. You might be able to preach to others about getting out of the pit. Our faith is a faith of experience. This is what separates it from every other. If you want to call it religion. I call it relationship. But this is what separates every other religion from Christianity. It's God reaching down to man. Saving man. And having a relationship with that man. Relationship. Religion is going through rules. And regulations. And I don't want to list a lot of religions here. I don't know who's here this morning. I've had people come from different religions. But if there's no living vibrant relationship with God. Recheck yourself. Check yourself. Because we are to experience God. Jesus Christ dies on the cross. We repent. We believe. We're filled with the spirit of God. The spirit of God Christ. Abba Father. That's experience. And so be careful those who try to discount your experience. False fire. Fire kills. But fire that is dead is powerless. As I've said many times before. It's possible to be Bible taught. But not spirit led. Bible taught. But not spirit led. And this is so hard. Because you'll hear the mocking voices. From family. From friends. There's this. When you're set apart for God. When you're filled with God's spirit. Here's what happens. You know. When you're filled with God's spirit. The world doesn't like you. Carnal Christians don't like you. Pharisees definitely don't like you. Because you're convicting all three camps. The light. Is convicting other people. The way you live is convicting other people. I shared this with the first service. And I'll share it with you. Something about me you don't know. My wife knows. And it's. Some people think it's. It can get sad or. I don't know what the right word is. Depressed or I get frustrated. I actually don't. Because I understand what happens. But. The number one reason. The number one reason. I don't get a lot of speaking requests. I've heard of a conference center here nearby. I'm not going to tell you where. I'll just say that. Why they don't want me to speak. Different churches. I'm actually being considered right now. To fly out at a speaking event. Large group event. But the boards divided. You know what they say? I wrote it down to get it just right. He's too extreme. He's too extreme. But see. He's not safe. What do they mean by that? Because you don't want to upset the status quo. They want you to come in. Be a cheerleader. Encourage everyone. Where they paid money for this I guess. Or that we. We sold things in the. At the vendor booth. Shane, can't you just make everybody feel good? You're too extreme. You're not safe. We don't know what you're going to say. That's okay. I don't know what I'm going to say either. But I'm often reminded. So it's actually a good thing. I'm probably here more often. But I hear that. There's a church. Just a little ways here on Avenue something. And when I was in the men's ministry. They would go. You got to let this guy speak. And he's like. It's a pipe dream. That guy will never speak at our church. Too extreme. Or that one was because I didn't have an education. Too hard. Trained by God, right? It just cracks me up. People think you don't go to seminary. You don't study anything. You're just stupid. You actually read more. You read more. You want. You want to just know God for who he is. Not for a degree on the back of a book. Or in your business card. Not say I got through this seminary. I want to go through the seminary of God. But I'm often reminded of C.S. Lewis's work. Lying the witch in the wardrobe. Where the lady. I remember her name. She said. Oh, Aslan. They found out he was a lion. She said. Is the lion safe? Lucy. Said safe. Lucy, he's a lion. He's a lion. That's why you don't have to defend the word of God. You just open the cage and let it out. I'm not safe. Yes, I'm extreme. If they were dealing with extremely critical times. Our nation is in turmoil. We are rejecting God. We need to be extreme. John the Baptist was extreme. Ezekiel was extreme. Isaiah was extreme. Jeremiah was extreme. Jesus himself was extreme. Paul was extreme. Meaning you're outside of cookie cutter Christianity. When you call the church to repentance. You call the prodigal son. You call the men out of pornography and adultery. And all these things. You work by the hand of the living God. You are not safe. You think Trump is a wrecking ball. You should see a pastor on fire for God. He'll be a wrecking ball throughout our whole nation. And. You can tell this one of my favorite topics. I love the power of the Holy Spirit. We're called to crack the foundation. Not smooth the coating. So it doesn't hurt my. It used to hurt my feelings a little more. But now I understand. Because I can see expressions. Hey, we should have Shane speak. One guy. I won't tell. I think it was. Well, I'll say a little bit. It was at Greg Laurie's church at his pulpit. They're having a conference many years ago. He said, Shane, you get to leave. But we have to do damage control after your messages. Meaning. Repentance. The Bible says something interesting. I've met down this verse a lot this month. When the ox is working. The stall is dirty. My translation. Meaning when the ox is working. There's manure. You can get rid of the ox and you have a very clean stall. But when the ox is working. When the Christian is working. When hearts are being changed and transformed. It's messy. It's messy. People get up. They walk out. They complain to this or they do this. But but it's the wrecking ball. God's word is the wrecking ball to our lives. It's a bomb of Gilead. It's a healing ointment. It's a it's the ice off to the ice side. It's all these good things. But it's also a wrecking ball. It comes in and destroy strongholds. It comes back and wipes out addictions. It comes back and cleans our hearts out. And it is not safe. The word of God is not safe. Reliable. Yes. Trustworthy. Yes, but safe. To a person caught in sin. It's convicting. So let me ask you this question. Is the fruit of the spirit flowing out of you? Or is bad fruit growing within you? I'm going to give you the surest indication. Of being filled with the spirit. That you can have is this. Is there a boldness to witness? A boldness to witness. You say I'm not. I'm not bowing my knee for any other God. But Jesus Christ. I'm not going to allow you to. I mean it's so please pray for me. Because I'll be in the store. You know I hear somebody say Jesus Christ in the wrong way. I'm like. What did you say? But that used to get me in trouble when I used to get. You know kind of confrontational. But those I mean there's a. There's a boldness to witness. Now be careful though. Many people confuse boldness with being obnoxious. Those obnoxious people. They're yelling at people right. I'm boldness. Like those guys that protest grace fest. Or they stand in the corner. And they protest the godly events. They are obnoxious. They are not bold. They do not have the Holy Spirit within them. Here's why. The fruit of the spirit is love and patient and kindness. They put others first. Is that flowing out of your lives? Now be encouraged. Because this doesn't always flow out of my life. It flows out of my heart. I wish it did. But it's not on this side of heaven. But see there's a desire to say. God that was wrong. Give me a loving heart. Give me a gracious heart. So it is. Is there love and patience and kind? Is it flowing out of your heart? Is there a boldness for the gospel? Is there joy in the midst of adversity? I see some people. They are so fearful of things like. Why are you so fearful? I've read the news. Shane. I got an email. Shane. China's military has been increased 80%. Well I know a military of a God who can speak the word. And run down an entire nation. He sent out an angel. And it killed 185 Assyrians. One deaf angel. That's the God we trust in. But there's joy in the midst of adversity. Am I happy with the way things are going? Absolutely not. Am I concerned about the indoctrination of children? Yes. But there's joy in the midst of adversity. Because the Holy Spirit's not wringing his hands worried. Oh what's going on in America? The Holy Spirit says I filled you to be an example. I filled you to be bold. Do business until Christ returns through the power of the Spirit. So there's joy. There's peace in the midst of the storm. There's contentment and trust and resting in God. Oh how many of you need that? Rest in God. Rest in God. Oh I know but. I know but the deadline's coming up. I know but I've been waiting six months. I know that. I know that. No. Wait. Rest. Be content. God's in control. He will not give you what you cannot handle. And he definitely won't give it to you before you can handle it. And many times he'll use things to get you through the storm. Such as trusting in him. For example, don't you think trusting in God is one of the most important attributes we can possess? I would think so. If I don't trust God, I'm in trouble. But how do you trust God unless you go through things? You think you just wake up? Boy I really feel like trusting God this week. I had a great night's sleep. It's usually because you go through and you trust. You go through and you trust. Lord I've been praying this prayer for years but I still trust you. We've been dealing with this health issue and I still trust you. I don't understand why this happened. Don't try to figure out God, why did this life end? Why did this health issue happen? Why, why, why, why, why? But Lord I trust you. It's okay to ask why. I've got a long list of whys. But at the end we say Lord I trust you. That's if you're filled with the spirit. It comes not naturally, it comes supernaturally. Words. Are your words gentle and kind? I'll be honest with you. I don't get this right a lot. I don't get this right all the time. There's something I didn't handle right yesterday and I'd apologize for. I didn't quite season my words with grace. Very intense situation. But see the Holy Spirit's drawing us back. Get that back right again. Kind, building up, encouraging. Gentle. Oh moms and dads. Don't we need to be more gentle with our kids? I should see most heads shaking. Yes. Gentle. Kind. Long suffering. Long suffering. What does that mean to suffer long? But what do most of us do once we have the word of God? We become judgmental. Remember this? What am I doing? Sin sniffing. Aren't you married? Isn't that your girlfriend with you? Didn't I see you going to the movies last night? Can't you get together? Is that a Catholic cross you have on? And you just, you become a sin sniffer. Judgmental. Always fault finding. The Holy Spirit is not always fault finding. The Holy Spirit is not fault finding. He's convicting. And he'll use someone to speak the truth in love. But it's not for the purpose of condemning. It's the purpose of convicting and restoring. Restoration. And then lastly, self-controlled. Some of you need to tell King Stomach, no more. And Queen Appetite, get out of the room. Self-controlled. That's a fruit of the Spirit. A person who is filled with God's Spirit has self-control. We're going to get into that in a minute because we have weeks to come on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. A person does not just have to go ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba on speaking tongues. I don't know what's going on. The Holy Spirit just took over. No. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control. Also, the Scripture has clear guidelines on what to do and when to do it. The reason 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 was written is because living children need rules. Dead children don't. That's the heartbeat. Because living Christians need boundaries. I do, don't you? I've got people I can mention that are famous that will lovingly rebuke me. I'm open. I'm an open book. I'm living. I'm vibrant. I'm passionate. Shane, listen. Make sure you don't come across. I need this just like everyone else. Who thinks they have it all mastered? That was a perfect sermon for one hour. I didn't miss a point. That was perfect attitude, perfect heart, perfect this. Oh, we're in trouble. Living children need rules. So let me ask you this question. I've asked it before, but it's so important. The Bible says, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. Jesus said, if you believe on me, as the Scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. So why are many people lacking rivers of living water and they're bored at church instead? They don't have rivers of living water flowing out, they're bored. Like Jeremiah, his word is in your heart like a burning fire. There's a burden of the Lord because what it is, it's the Holy Spirit's fire that's burning within you. Now, do you ever get so close to a fire you have to back away because your clothes are getting hot? Or because you're close to the heat source? Some of you are out in the other room, out back across the backyard and you can't even feel the warmth of the fire because of, I'm gonna get to that in a minute, but that's what the power of the Spirit does. The Holy Spirit comes upon you for service in God's kingdom. So here we go. The questionable doctrine, that took me 40 minutes. The questionable doctrine, don't worry, I'm not gonna stay here long, is the Spirit's baptism. Well, let me just read Scripture. I think that's the best way to do this, correct? So Matthew 3.11, we can put that on the screen. John the Baptist is speaking. He might know a little bit about theology, correct? He said, I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not even worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and what? Fire. Power meets experience. The power of God, experience of God, it meets in the life of a believer. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. That's why there's different denominations. Foursquare, for example, has Jesus as healer, baptizer of the Holy Spirit, four different things, Foursquare. Pentecostals believe this, charismatics believe this, conservatives don't believe most of this. So that's why people gravitate to this. So he baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. John 7.39, the Spirit will be given after Jesus has been glorified in John 7.39. So here's what happens. A quick course on theology. This is a quick five-minute course on pneumatology. It's a study of the Holy Spirit. Anybody have pneumatic guns? Pneumatic air guns? It's air tools. Pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. So in the Old Testament, God would pour out his Spirit on certain individuals for different tasks. In the New Testament, as believers in Jesus Christ, he baptizes the believer, overwhelms the believer with the power of the Holy Spirit. So all believers have the Holy Spirit. All believers at conversion. So you say, well, what's going on then? Why are some people, you wouldn't know it. Well, like I've said before, if you've been here, you know exactly what I'm going to say. If you haven't, you need to hear this. You have all of the Holy Spirit, but does he have all of you? That's what it boils down to. You don't get pieces and chunks. The more you submit to the work of God, the more filled you will be with God's Spirit. If somebody is newly saved, and they're saved, they say, okay, but I want to do things my way, God. I'm going to run my own business my way. I can't even grieve the Spirit of God. You're not going to feel that fullness and that anointing. And I can tell you about Christian leaders. Have you ever heard of D.O. Moody or Oswald Chambers who wrote My Utmost for His Highest or Adrian Rogers or A.W. Tozer or John Wesley or John Bunyan or Amy Carmichael, where they received this fire of the Spirit after, many years after conversion. It happened to me 17 years after I was converted as a 12-year-old boy. Why did it take that long? Because of the hindrances. The hindrances. I'm going to talk about those in a minute, but I want to get you the Scriptures first. So that's what happens in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus baptizes believers with the Holy Spirit. That word just means overwhelmed with the Spirit of God. And John 20, 22, Jesus breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Now this is interesting. This is a transitionary period here. Number five, the day of Pentecost had not fallen yet on the church, meaning when the Holy Spirit falls upon the church, that hasn't happened yet. So Jesus breathed on His disciples and He said, receive the Holy Spirit. So I believe they received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was in them, but not yet upon them until the day of Pentecost. Remember the Holy Spirit is used three different prepositions. Two of those is E-N, where the Holy Spirit is in you. And E-P-I, Greek preposition meaning upon. Boy, there's a difference. Because when the Holy Spirit was in me, I knew, man, I should have did that last night. God, help me. And again, and again, and again, and again. I knew what to do. I was convicted. I knew it wasn't good. I knew. But then when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you live the victorious Christian life. Not sin free, but there's a new anointing. There's an upon. That's what happened to Jesus. The Holy Spirit came upon Him and Peter being filled with the Spirit and Paul being filled with the Spirit and Chris and Shane and Jason and Mike and being filled with the Spirit. It's a daily decision many times. Be not drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled. If you break down that sentence, theologians will tell you, it says be being filled. Because like D.L. Moody said, you're a leaky vessel. And so am I. If we just leak, if we're never filled again, we'd be in trouble. Let me tell you how this happens. If this whole week goes by, I'm too busy to read God's Word, I'm too busy to worship, I don't have time for prayer, I miss 6 a.m. Sunday morning worship, I don't have time to prepare my sermon, I'm watching stuff I shouldn't be watching on TV or music or running my mouth off about the Holy Spirit, and the sermon will stink. Why? Because it's not that fullness, the filling of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes, it will come upon a person. For example, sometimes I'll fill nothing in the sermon. I'm preparing it all week, nothing, I kind of come with a bad mood, things are crappy, but then when I start to preach, the Spirit of the living God takes over and then Shane being filled with the Spirit and I say, it starts to go, things I've never even crossed my mind, God begins to bring up and lifts me up and the Spirit of God goes boldly from the pulpit and Shane being filled with the Holy Spirit. So we don't always walk around on clouds. Life is challenging, it's difficult. You need that indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Something I found was very interesting, I've shared with you probably a year or two ago, was many churches, they will do what they say, call a pastor. You know what that means? They want to hire a pastor. So they'll call a pastor, okay? Where's your theological training? What did you, what do you think about the eschatology? What's your view on the Trinity? Where, oh wow, a PhD in biblical studies and you know, but reading books 100 years ago, 150 years, written a long time ago, something interesting sticks out. They wouldn't ask those questions often. They would ask one question, when considering someone to preach, has he received his baptism of fire? What's their question? See, that doesn't mean theology is not important, but the priority is, is it a person filled with God's power, God's presence, God's anointing, because what preaching really is, it's the import, what God is pouring into my life to pour it out into the congregation, to build up, to encourage, to quicken, to teach, to humble, to edify, to strengthen, to lead, according, because what he's doing, it's poured, it's a holy, filled with the Holy Spirit, poured out to the congregation. That's all it is. That's what preaching should be for most people. So anyway, back to this, Acts, I'm getting somewhere, Acts 1-5, for John baptized with water, but in a few days now, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So that's where it comes from. You have these disciples, Jesus said, breathe on them, they receive the Holy Spirit, they're waiting here in this upper room, and they said, hold on, in a few days from now, you will be baptized, which is overwhelmed with the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. So the day of Pentecost hits, the word Pentecost comes from 50, that'll take me 20 minutes to explain all that, but it comes, this day of Pentecost comes that Jesus has promised, the new believers, the New Testament church is waiting for, and this day hits the church, and that's the change of history, because now people are filled with God's Spirit, and the Holy Spirit fell upon the group of people, and they were praising God in another language, and people said, I hear them speaking in other languages, the glorious things of God, I hear them prophesying, I hear them filled with the Spirit of God, and the same Peter that earlier said, I don't know Jesus, now he stands up among 3,000, he said, you stiff neck people, you put Christ on the cross, what is that? He was afraid of a servant girl, 50 days earlier, afraid of a servant girl, and now he's standing up to the same people that crucified Christ, and he called them out, the wrecking ball was let loose, that was not safe, that was extreme, that is Christianity 101, preaching the word of God through a heart that's on fire for God, that's Holy Spirit and fire preaching, so that's what Peter did, he stood up after receiving this baptism of the Spirit, so here's the final verse, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for in one Spirit, we were all baptized into the body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one Spirit, so here's where the term gets, it took me 50 minutes to say this, we believe, I teach, I mean we don't argue over terminology, but just looking at the Bible, that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one time event where somebody is baptized into the body of Christ according to the Scripture, but then we see subsequent, ongoing fillings of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and Peter was filled with the Spirit, and Paul was filled with the Spirit, you don't see anybody being baptized or using that terminology, in the Spirit, however, it's not a hill to die on, because what people are saying is the same thing, are you filled with the Spirit of God, have you been baptized, overwhelmed, unctioned, renewed, restored, revived, has the Holy Spirit wrecked your life and begin to rebuild it again, I don't care what you call it, but you better have it, do you have that endowment of power, do you have that joy unspeakable, do you have the kind of faith that's going to be not wavering in these times of adversity, are you filled with the Spirit of God, and so many people like to debate this topic, the bottom line is you can't debate experience that lines up with the Word of God, you either experienced it or you have not, I know it's a convicting message, I know, the reason it's convicting is because a lot of people haven't experienced it, and I can introduce you probably to half dozen people recently whose lives were radically changed by the power of the Spirit here, they go from nominal Christianity, not living very good, to on fire for God, well Shane, what happened? I'm glad you asked, I'm going to go quickly, ask, ask, ask, for the Holy Spirit, well God says, ask, knock, keep requesting, and God will give the Holy Spirit to those who love Him, those who obey Him, ask for the power of the Holy Spirit, God I want all of you, can you imagine Christians saying, I don't want to do that, I'm not sure that's going to go, that might lead to Africa, not going to pray that prayer, hey I can relate, I'm scared sometimes, say God, whatever you want to do in this ministry, but not this or this, not this or this, I remember, I think I shared this a while back, A.W. Tozer, he told a man, I want to do more for God than any man in my generation, he said okay, well Tozer, be ready to suffer, because being used by God is not a glorified position, I mean we put people on a pedestal, but it's not, it's not like a rock star, it's not an athlete, it's a man or woman who's been broken, been rebuilt, been restored, been used of God, been trampled upon, their names been slandered, they've got to get up and fight again, I've got to come and preach to you sometimes, I don't even know how I'm going to get through the day, with adversity and different things, so many things coming against us, the radio station we have is driving me crazy, much as it goes out, I'm online with engineers, I'm like, what in the world is going on? Do you know how many times I've talked about it already, just quit this whole thing, but the enemy doesn't like this, and you've got to keep fighting and keep fighting and keep fighting, so ask this morning, ask, take hold of, take hold of God, whatever you want from me, I don't care, let me tell you, if he calls you to Africa, you're going to want to go to Africa, so you don't have to be worried, I hope he doesn't have me minister to kids, people have told me that, I'm not good with kids, do not put me in children's ministry, do not, my wife will remember this, as soon as I said, you know what, I don't think God's calling me to young adults, it's a hard age group, then I have to write a book and then I'm mainly speaking to young adults for a year, at conferences, at schools, I'm like, Lord, you've got a good sense of humor, but you have to be willing and open, Lord, whatever you want, however you want to use me, because God says, now that's a lump of clay I can use, now the potter can put the clay on the turntable and now I can make it, be open, you have to be open, Lord, what do you want me to do? And surrender, you have to surrender, what does that mean? I give up my will, I give up my plans, I lay down my arms, whatever I've been fighting with, whatever I've been fighting, I've been fighting you, God, I lay it down this morning, I lay it down at the foot of the cross, I want to be mightily used of your spirit, I give you everything, the more you surrender, the more you're filled, that's why some of you, if you've hit rock bottom, thank God for the rock at the bottom, which is Jesus Christ, because that's what gets you, that often gets you to that point of full surrender, as soon as God had me, uncle, okay, finances, relationship, unfulfillment, spirituality, health, whatever it was, everything, okay, now I surrender, uncle, uncle, now I'm yours, God, but sometimes it takes that rock bottom experience, so let that be a stepping stone, not a stumbling block, and then obviously repent, repent, the fullness of the spirit is quenched by sin, there's nothing wrong with spending time with God and writing down or thinking about where am I missing it, Lord, where am I, oh, be careful, because you better get a pen and paper ready, your attitude, your condescending, you can be mean-spirited, you're angry, you're irritable, all the, that was my list before, back when I was drinking coffee, that was my list, all those things, it's a side note, I don't want to convict too many people this morning, but that stuff would make me, turn me into a jerk, so I'm six months off of that, so please, just take it for what it's worth, I don't know why I brought that up, every time I do, people are like, you're still convicting me of that, maybe God is, maybe God is, but I know, D.O. Moody received the fullness of the spirit, once he realized he was doing ministry in his own strength, the Holy Spirit came upon him, he felt the love of God, I remember another lady in his book, that would go to his meetings, and God was dealing with her about her appearance, from what she wore, and her, I mean, I guess they wore hats back then, and her looks, and she's like, it couldn't be something this trivial, as soon as she got rid of this idolatry of her looks, the spirit of God fell up, I can go down list of list of list of people being John Bunyan sitting in the jail cell, writing the Pilgrim's Progress, or John Wesley coming over, thinking he was converted to America, and finally getting converted when he got back, and doing all these things with selfish motives, selfish ambitions, you have got to die to self, you have got to say, I want to live for Christ, and I don't want to be recognized, I don't want to be built up, I don't have to start a ministry, people don't have to know my name, God I just want to do things for you, and you repent of beset, anybody have besetting sin that is holding them back from what God wants them to do, is it an angry bitter heart, is there unforgiveness, are you always blaming the other person, that's a biggie in the Christian community, I talk to people who I know need the fullness of the spirit, oh God if you just turn over, but you don't know such and such, usually their spouse right, so your spouse is preventing you from being filled with the spirit, yes that's true, no that's not, your spouse can never prevent you from being filled with the spirit, ever, it's a personal decision that is made, so repentance needs to take place, and I want to give you this image that I've had many years ago, my son was little, I've told you this before if you've been coming here a while, I said that a lot today actually, but the stories are so good, I can't think of new ones, so he's out back, he turns the water on full blast, and it's just nothing, I said dad, what's going on, the water's on, well come to find out, there's about 5 or 6 kinks in the water hose, once we begin to remove those kinks, he couldn't even hold, he's like 2 and a half, 3, he couldn't even hold that water, what's going on, see I had to remove, see the problem wasn't the water, the water was on full blast, could it be that the Holy Spirit, you're waiting on the Holy Spirit, but it's the Holy Spirit waiting on you, the water's there, the rivers of living water, would you let loose, remove the kinks in the hose, remove the pride and the arrogance and thinking God's going to make you weird, God's not going to make you weird, he's going to make you bold for the kingdom of God, repent of that besetting sin, repent of that clogged line, repent of that kink in the hose, whatever it is, you know what it is, because I guarantee others have loved you enough to talk to you about it, oh if we were just open to constructive criticism, oh, wouldn't that be wonderful, remember I told you my wife said I put down pastors too much in my sermons, so I'm working on that, other people email me and say, you say OMG or oh my God too much, you take the Lord's name in vain, so I'm working, I'm working, use these things, don't try to defend yourself, what do I need to work on, those are good things because as you work on those things, you become a very good communicator because you're learning from the critique of others, constructive criticism, if I would listen to what my mom had told me for 17 years, I could have been filled with the spirit early on, but God had to bring the wrecking ball, he was not safe, his word was not safe, I turn on the television, I get slammed with a message about men forsaking their God-given role as spiritual leaders in their home and I wept like a child, oh God break me and use me again, here I am drunk a day earlier, here I am not even, don't even know anything about God, other than what I was taught as a little child, and he began to resurrect those things, he can do the same thing in your life, stop elevating certain people that you look up to, they're no different, I was a dumb stupid country boy from this little town, no reason God should do anything other than use people who surrender to him, here's what I'm going to do with you, here's what I'm going to do with you, surrender, and then finally believe, I'm sure there's people here maybe are listening that do not truly know God, there's people here that are going through the motions, and we read the scripture earlier that said I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not yet worthy to carry, he will what? Baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, keep reading though, his winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire, somebody a couple weeks ago told me that doesn't really mean fire, that's just Jesus using imagery, I don't want to find out, so make sure you're like, because that same Jesus who says I will baptize you in the Holy Spirit is the same Jesus who you stand before as judge of your life, and he says I will throw out the chaff with like unquenchable fire and this winnowing fan, it was this big thing they would shake like this and all the grain, the wheat, the barley would fall, the heavy stuff, the good stuff, and all this chaff would blow in the wind, so Jesus says if you reject me, I will have to reject you, if you denounce me, I won't know you, if you choose life that you may live, it's a call to God, choose life that you may live, so do you truly know him this morning?