This sermon emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in empowering believers for worship, prayer, and living a transformed life. It calls for a deep surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit, highlighting the difference He makes in enabling believers to overcome challenges, love others, and engage passionately in worship and the Word of God.

Do you think I can just be all in the world all week long and come up here and say, God, descend upon this pulpit, give me anointing, pierce the hearts after all this world's coming in? No, not at all. The sermon will probably sound like this. Let's turn to John and God is love and I just love God. Let me tell you a story I heard last week and after this, we're going to go paint neighborhoods and just cheerlead. Guys, you go. Your head, not the tail. Just go, man. I go, team, we just love each other and next week we'll do this and that's what it would be. Why? Because there's no spirit of God pregnant with the Word of God. That's what preaching is. It's theology coming from a man who is on fire for God. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said that in his book, Preachers and Preaching. He said that's all preaching is. It's theology on fire with the Word of God. And you can't get that. That's why I'm worried. I have to fast. I have to pray. I have to spend time with God because I don't want to see what it looks like just letting it go to the other side. I've seen the other side and it's ugly. I've been so close to hell, my clothes still smell like smoke. I mean, if I would have died in some of those situations, oh God, if it wasn't for the grace of God. So when you sing and I sing, how great is our God? How great is our God? He saved me 10 times over and he saved you too. We need to start acting like it. We need to start. Who's bored in worship? I'm tired of people being bored in worship. This is a mighty praise and worship service. My God, help us. God help us. It's okay to get worked up. Jesus did. And it breaks my heart when we should be the powerful people of worship, broken before the Lord. And knowing God's presence flowing and tears of joy and lives being touched, healings, deliverance, people being set free, coming out of here, God, I feel so full. I feel so full of you. But instead, we're bored to death and nothing changes. Nothing changes. The same problem today is the same problem tomorrow. Do you ever want to go, do you ever say, God, when is this going to change? Worship me. Worship me. Get on your face before me. Worship me. And I know this isn't popular. We might lose five, six people after this type of sermon, but I don't care. I didn't come here to start a social club. We came here to be a powerful worship service that glorifies Christ. We look to his truth. We become men and women of prayer. Where did that go? You read books a hundred years ago, you'd be embarrassed. Embarrassed is what the church has become. Bible study in the morning, two-hour prayer and worship service, worship at night. It was powerful moves of God because when revival comes, you can't keep people away from church. It's every night, every night, every night, worshiping God. Why? Because they're filled with the Spirit of God. That's who's influencing them. I can tell who's influencing you by the way you worship, by how much time you spend in prayer, by how much time you spend in the Word of God. And I believe God is wanting to correct us in this area, myself included. I could be sitting right there, right there going, oh, Lord, help me become more of a worshiper. Oh, absolutely. See, it's a very good thing to say, God, I don't worship you enough. I don't pray enough. I'm not in your Word enough. Because the person who says, I'm in it enough, I got this down, you're in trouble. The more legalistic a person becomes, the more they're susceptible to failure because they guard and guide with rules and regulations. So just be careful. I would encourage you more than anything to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you. And I'm not afraid. See, in some circles, they don't talk about this kind of stuff. Well, Jesus said, when you go, when I go, the Comforter will come. He will lead you into all truth. He will ignite a heart of worship. He is an ever-present help. The Holy Spirit directed Paul. He directed Peter. He filled Jesus Christ after his baptism so he was ready for ministry. This ever-present help in a time of need is something we neglect because we don't want to talk about him because of some weird guy on TV. And I'm not going to let them rob us of the Holy Spirit's power and anointing. He comes in this place, the presence of God. You wouldn't get out of here without a Kleenex or two because he's convicting and he's drawing. I like what Leonard Ravenhill said. We need to close down every church in the land in America for one Sunday and stop listening to man so we can sit and listen and hear the groans of the Spirit which we in our lush pews have forgotten. We sing about the Holy Spirit. Why don't we ask the Holy Spirit to say, God, come in and cleanse me and change my heart, change my nature, change my mind. God, get me back on track. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. You are welcome in this place to lead me and to direct me and guide me. Do you know the Holy Spirit is not an it? Are you aware of that? The Holy Spirit is not an it. It's not a force. It's not Star Wars. The Holy Spirit is a person who you can quench and you can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. It's what separates Christians from other things. The triune nature of God, the trinity, God is one, yet he reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit is a person and he comes and he will comfort. He actually comes and he will comfort you. Jesus said, I will give you the comforter. Many people know that, the paracletus. And then there's another Greek preposition, the Holy Spirit will come and be in, E-N, will be in you. But then there's another Greek preposition, epi, E-P-I, the Holy Spirit's overwhelming presence, being filled. When Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit, when Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit, that was that epi, that third element, the Holy Spirit coming in and overfilling. That's why you see a person who, yes, they're saved, but they're just as dead as a cemetery. And somebody who's on fire for God, what's the difference? The Holy Spirit. You'll see somebody just cussing out their spouse, but they're still going to church. You see another person who wants to cuss out their spouse, but they'll just act in love, they'll take a drive, whatever. What's the difference? The Holy Spirit. You see a person who can't overcome their addictions, the other person can. What's the difference? The Holy Spirit. People just love worship, others don't. What's the difference? The Holy Spirit. People get into the Word of God, and they can't put it down. They're making notes, they've worn out a couple of highlighters, they journal, other people are like, this, God, I don't even know where to start. This is so boring. What's the difference? The Holy Spirit. You see how important this is? That's why I want to get into the book of Acts, secret be told, is to see how the Holy Spirit worked in the church in those early years. So I would encourage you, surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus Christ himself needed the Holy Spirit, who do we think we are that we can continue to reject or quench or grieve his work? When you're doing the work of God, that is the Holy Spirit working through you. I'm not as naive and stupid as some people think to think that Shane is just, man, he's on fire for God, he can put, you know, he just touches my life and I get emails, I'm like, oh my Lord, Shane Eidelman would let you down. He would not do anything. It's the Holy Spirit working through an earthen vessel. Paul says we have this earthen vessel that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed. I am perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken. I am struck down but I am not destroyed because the power of the Holy Spirit is working in my life and your life.