This sermon from Acts 10:30 emphasizes the importance of God hearing our prayers. It highlights the story of Cornelius seeking God and Peter's vision, showing how God brings them together. The sermon delves into the power of Christian disciplines like fasting and prayer to help us hear from God. It also discusses the need to present the whole truth of the Gospel, the role of repentance, and the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in believers' lives.

Acts 10.30. The message this morning is the Lord hear us. The Lord hear us. Acts 10.30. And I wanted to give a big backdrop of where we were and how we got here, but let me just tell you this in a nutshell. Cornelius, an angel appears to Cornelius. He's seeking God, he's fasting, he's fearing God, and he's seeking God. And then Peter has a vision. So Cornelius sees an angel, Peter has a vision, and God's going to bring them together to lead this family to the Lord. Acts 10.30. So Cornelius said four days ago, I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you. So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore we are all present before God to hear all these things commanded you by God. So Peter comes into this house, Cornelius gives him a backdrop of the angel and Peter, why are you here? We're anxious to hear what you have to say to us. But I want to stop here for a minute, and Christian disciplines help us hear from God. I don't want to overlook this, I mentioned it briefly, but Cornelius was fasting. And on that note, I do want to recommend a really good book, A Hunger for God, by John Piper, on this area of fasting and prayer, what it looks like, why do we fast, is it a New Testament discipline? I thought it was an Old Testament thing. No, it's very relevant, very new, and I will submit to you that when you fast and starve the flesh, you can hear better from God. It's a spiritual discipline that is often overlooked. And many people say, that's an Old Testament discipline. That's Old Testament as they put the double double in their mouth. Of course it's an Old Testament discipline, because we don't like it. So it's very applicable today. Also, he said, hear all the things commanded by God. Hear all the things commanded by God. So if Peter's going to portray the Gospel correctly, he's got to give Cornelius' family all of the truth. Not some of the truth. All of the truth. And it was interesting when I spoke, many of you know, at the debate against the atheists at the college recently. I was able to give that last ten minutes on the Gospel. There were atheists, the satanic group that got up and left, different religions, different organizations, Muslim, Hindu were there, and they all heard the Gospel. Now I had, and I knew that was going to be a different audience, and I had a choice. Do I make Christianity palatable or powerful? Do I make it taste good or do I make it powerful? Do I make it easy or do I make it narrow? And that's when it comes to the truth, we have to remember that we present the whole truth. That's why I like Mike put up here, right here on this side, preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season. The Word, the totality of the Word, and that's what Peter was going to do. So Peter preaches to Cornelius' household, verse 34, then Peter opened up his mouth, you have to do that, right, to preach, to tell people, you have to open up your mouth. And also, this is interesting, as you know, I've talked about before, the truth really gets people upset, doesn't it? They hear things they don't want to hear. I had the privilege of, we had a large memorial service here yesterday, and about twelve people got up and left as I was presenting the gospel. I don't want to hear that part of this, I just want, you know, to pay my respects, and why is that? Because that truth does something in our hearts and it convicts us and God wants to draw us closer to Him. So then Peter opened up his mouth and he said, in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. What was happening is the Jews thought that Christ was just for the Jewish people. He wasn't, Jesus wasn't for anybody else, but God showed Peter, in this vision, not to call things common, which God has cleaned, which God has saved the Gentiles, He's brought salvation to the Gentiles and the Jews, so there's no partiality. And that's good to remember with God, that God is no respecter of persons. And sometimes we think, well, I'm in America and God does this and He puts me way up here and others down here. No, there's no partiality when it comes to God. As a matter of fact, when we get to heaven, He's not going to say, what denomination were you, what church was that? Oh, West Side, I have them really high up here on this list. It's all the blood, all the blood of Christ. That's how we stand before God. So Peter began to open his mouth, in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, now this is going to be a controversial scripture. Think about this, think about what Peter is saying. In every nation, everywhere on the planet, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by God. Now that sounds, just face value sounds like, well, if I fear God and I'm a good person doing good things, God accepts me. Now let's back up a little bit. Romans 2.12, Paul said this to the church in Rome, for as many as have sinned without the law, that means all the world without the law, will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned in the law, the Jewish people, they will be judged by the same law that they are disobeying. So, that's what he's saying. Those who will be judged outside the law, those who will be judged who know the law. For not the hearers of the law are just in God's sight, but the doers of the law will be justified. But we know that we're not saved by works, that our righteousness is but filthy rags, so what is Paul talking about? Well, I could spend the whole sermon here, but I'm going to try to just unpack the important parts. For the hearers of the law are not just in God's sight, but the doers of God's law. He's talking about the Old Testament saints as well. Abraham, God accounted it to him, righteousness. Abraham was right before God, because Abraham believed in God. Noah believed in God. Moses believed in God. There's a God, I'm not him, God I believe in you. And because of that, I fear you, and there's a change in my heart, I want to work righteousness. And this whole, this is a whole topic of imputation. Imputation is an accounting term. The sin is imputed to us because of Adam. Christ dies on the cross, and his imputed righteousness, his right standing before God is now imputed to us and covers the sin of Adam. So again, this is a deep theological mystery. Many people, depending on what denomination you're from, they will look at this a different way. But we know that we are saved through faith in Christ and Christ alone. But our righteousness or our lifestyle, our works, is the fruit, it's a byproduct of our belief in God. And then Paul goes on to say, for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, so this is about all those people, what about all those people who have never heard the gospel? Out in Africa or India? What about all these people? That's not a fair loving God? You just say, just those who ever hear about Jesus. Well, for when the Gentiles who do not have the law, they don't know what's, they don't have the scriptures, by nature, by nature do the things that are in the law. That's interesting. By nature meaning they do the things in the law. I'm not going to steal my neighbor's chicken. I'm not going to steal my neighbor's wife. I'm not going to set his house on fire. I know these things because that's the inner alarm clock of the Holy Spirit. Going ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And he's convicting, he's showing, I believe that God's law is written on our heart. That the conviction is there. We know right from wrong. Who shows, although having the law, are a law to themselves. Who show the work of the law written in their hearts. Their conscience, also bearing witness, I know this is wrong. And between themselves, their thoughts accusing them or either excusing them. In the day God will judge the secrets of men's hearts by Jesus Christ according to our gospel. So summing that up, because I can't sit here and unpack Romans for a while, it's this. Men are held responsible. Men, women, all of us are held responsible. Even those who have never heard the gospel have a witness. The witness is inside bearing witness to a creator. Romans 1, if we had time to go there. For his invisible attributes are clearly seen. So that we are without excuse because we actually suppress the truth like a basketball. Put that basketball under swimming pool water and try to do that. Have you ever got hit in the head with it? So that's what we do with the truth. We suppress it and we suppress it but there's no excuse because we have the inner conviction that we are not right with God. And we are held responsible for what we do with that. Even John MacArthur would say, if a person will respond to the revelation he has, God will provide some means for that person to hear the gospel. If a person responds to the plea, to the facts, if there's a creator, if the person responds, God will, like Cornelius, answer that prayer of response. The Lord will hear your plea. That's why when it doesn't, I'm not cold or callous, but when people say, well what about all those people that haven't heard the gospel? Yes, let's get the message to them. Let's get the gospel out to them. Let's bring missionaries. But they have the inner conviction of the spirit working in their heart, convicting them of righteousness and convicting them of the judgment that is to come. So they have an internal, think about the people, it's like you make it hard to go to hell. It's really hard to go to hell because you fight conviction your entire life, your entire life, you're miserable, you're fighting. Talk to atheists, they're not happy. They are not happy individuals. And they're conviction, and they're fighting the conviction. Here's the word of God. They hear the word of God. I don't want to hear the word of God. There's that loud bald guy in Leona Valley. I don't want to hear him anymore. And the conviction family members, you've got to read this. I don't want to hear this. Here's this article, you've got to check it out. I don't want to read this article. Here's this book, you've got to check it out. Billboards, there's a creator. You walk outside, NASA, new discoveries of this. It's everywhere. Everywhere. So people are without excuse. There's no excuse. I mean, if you can explain how people can come from nothing, and babies are born, and all this just happens out of random mutation, it's impossible. There's no excuse for denying that there is a creator. Now, of course, I've talked about this, but it fits the sermon, the two sides on this. It's really about pursuit and choice. And I don't even know if I want to go into this, because I've talked about the two different sides before, and we're limited on time. But it's the whole point of can, here's where the argument is, can man respond to that conviction? Can man respond to that conviction that he has? Arminianism. This side, man cannot respond. He can't respond. He's dead. How can a corpse respond to anything? Calvinism. And you have those two. That's why there's a divide in the camp, within the Christian community. Man can respond, man can't respond, unless the Holy Spirit quickens him, actually the order of salvation is different, too. This side would believe that the order of salvation is faith, belief, repentance. This side would believe that the Holy Spirit comes and indwells a person, then they can have faith and repent and believe because the Holy Spirit is within them, convicting them to do that. They can't do that without the Holy Spirit, so are they already saved before then? So that's why people get in big arguments, I get emails a lot that people shoot me down, they don't like that I can't take a strong stance on one side or the other, but I just like what the Bible says. We are held accountable, I'm gonna preach the gospel, you better repent, God's sovereign. Keeps it simple, right? I mean, it keeps it really simple. I actually, I don't know if I've told you this before, but I was reading Martin Luther's book on the bondage to the will. He wrote against plagianism, that says actually you're not born a sinner. The little babies are good little babies and it's a product of their environment. I just kind of threw that book down. Lord, I don't understand this. I mean, if you're sovereign in regard to you will save whoever you want to save, I don't even have to get out of bed. I don't have to preach the gospel. I'll do it, I guess. You command me, I mean, but what? I mean, there's no passion, right? I mean, if it doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't matter what I do, God's elect will come to save me in faith. We might as well close down the church. Think about that, right? But when I read the gospel, Paul pleading to King Agrippa, King, oh God, I wish you would turn to Christ. Jesus, you were not willing. Jesus is crying. He's crying, oh Jerusalem, you're going to be devoured in AD 70 when Titus comes in and he ransacks this place. You missed your opportunity. You were not willing. You stiff-necked people. You denied me. That seems pretty passionate. That's a passionate plea to turn to God. Turn to God. But both sides do agree that without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, nobody will come to know God. Nobody, and I agree with that. Without the Holy Spirit going, open the door. Open the door. Without that, man would not come to saving faith. John 6, 4, no one can come to the Father, Jesus said, nobody can come to me unless the Father, what? Draws him. This side would translate that word helko, drag him. This side would translate the word helko in the Greek as a divine impulse that we can respond to or not. See, you've got two sides here. What about the other verse? The natural man, 1 Corinthians 2, 14, the natural man does not receive. The natural man does not receive. So this side is saying, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness to him. They can't. This side says, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. That word is dekamai. Dekamai in the Greek, it means, you ready for this? He does not welcome or accept. So although I don't welcome or accept visitors knocking on my door at 1 a.m. at my house, that doesn't mean I can't get up and open the door and let them in. Even though I don't welcome. So see how you can look at things two different ways. And really, the majority of the books I read, John Piper's and others are on this side. I like both sides. And the reformed thought, Calvinism, came actually out of or against Roman Catholicism. When it works, you know, penance, all these works, works, works, works, works. This came out against that and said, no, we're not relying on the works. It's a five-sola scriptura, sola gracia, all these, by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, through the work of, you know, the Holy Spirit alone. And they came up with these against works, works, works, works, works. So if you understand the two schools of thought, you can see they both come from scripture, of course, but I like to take the middle ground and believe that both. I trust God, He's sovereign, thank God for that, but people are held responsible. And it's hard for me if I tell, if I get mad at a, let's say there's a new baby born, right, maybe dedicated today, two months old. If I tell that baby, you're going to be punished unless you get up and walk right now. That baby's not, that baby's not even able to perform what's being asked, so it's not right to punish a baby who can't perform what he's being asked. So that's one of my issues with this side, is if man can't repent and believe, but he's called to repent and believe, and then he's punished because he can't repent and believe, that doesn't seem like the heart of God. It doesn't seem like that, because if God's saying, you must do this, that tells me a person can do that, or else he wouldn't command it. However, this is a debate that's been going on for thousands of years, 2,000 years maybe, early church fathers, even it began with Augustine, St. Augustine, and I think it was 400 AD, believed actually in free will. And then later, he believed on this side. And then as a result, he wrote a book I have, I like to read sometimes, it's called The Retractions. He looked back on his life and said, I'm retracting this statement, and this statement, and this statement, and this statement. So I always remember that, Shane, be careful, you don't want to go back and retract everything. So on things that are not real, that the Christian community is divided, godly men are divided, I just want to walk humbly between them, and try to glean from both. So that was what was happening with Cornelius. Cornelius was seeking him, he was responding to the revelation that was given to him. Then verse 36, the word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. So he's telling Cornelius' family, listen Cornelius, you heard the truth, Jesus Christ is Lord of all. And I don't want to skip to the next verse, because I want to remind you what the word Lord means. Someone having power and authority and influence. If you confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord, that he has authority and influence, that he's governed your life, that he's saved you, you will be saved. That's what it means, Lordship. What about flipping Sue? Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So this is what you're going to run into if you think he's just a good teacher, I like, he was a good guy, gosh, if we would just follow his teachings, but I can't take on the whole God stuff, then you are not in the right relationship with God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, scripture is clear. That word you know, verse 37, that word you know, Cornelius, you know, it was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. So I don't know the tone of Peter's voice, maybe he wasn't being like I'm being, but Cornelius, you know, here's the truth, it was preached throughout all Judea, 33 years, Jesus walked, he talked, he healed, you know this, this is after the baptism of John. Well, what is he talking about now? Why did he bring that in? Because this is interesting. John the Baptist was foretold in scripture, that there would be a forerunner of Christ. And boy, this would be another interesting sermon. John the Baptist, you have the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi, they don't know exactly when it was written, let's say 400, 450 B.C. Then you have nothing from God, nothing from God for 400 years. Can you imagine that? Not hearing from God, from your prophet, from anything for 400 years. He just rebuked the nation of Israel for their idolatry, their wicked leaders and their pagan marriages. That's why Malachi said, I change not. The Lord told Malachi, I change not, I hate divorce. I hate even the thought of divorce. And then he ends the book of Malachi saying that somebody will come in the spirit of Elisha, and they will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children, and the children to their fathers. 400 years of silence, then John the Baptist comes on the scene and says, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent, and you better, I think, I don't remember who said it, but you better commit your head to heaven if you preach repentance. 20 years in the wilderness, a ministry that's probably six months long, and then he's beheaded. But he was the forerunner of Christ. He preached, he baptized Jesus. Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. So God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. They go together. You can't have the Holy Spirit and no power. If you have the Holy Spirit and no power, it means you've quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit. That's why, Karen, I love what you share. Please share that at the next service, because that, I'm just going to, I'll let the cat out of the bag. What she said is exactly what I'm praying for this church. That you would hear the worship, and it would just bring you to your knees. People would begin to weep. God would begin breaking the heart, because the power of the Spirit is moving. Listen, you can go to church, and it can be a cemetery. Dead. Dead religion. Dead orthodox. Dead doctrine. Because the letter kills. It's the Spirit who gives life. It's the power of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus, God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. He went doing good works, healing people, all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Then you can bring Isaiah in, right? In the book of Luke, Jesus opens up the scroll. He says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor, to open blind eyes, to set the captives free. God has anointed me for this very purpose, to set the captives free, to preach the glorious gospel. That's why I'm here. So Peter is breaking all this down. And then, verse 39, and we are witnesses of all these things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him, God raised on the third day and showed him openly. Not to all people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. Anybody who says, I don't know about that, I can't really believe that, I have a lot of questions. Well, I'm going to not invest in an hour and a half right now, and I'll just go encourage you to watch Case for Christ. Oh, no way I'm going to spend 20 minutes on that one. New movie, out, Case for Christ, how Lee Strobel, former atheist, came to know Jesus Christ. The manuscript, the rabbi in the movie, or whoever that was, under 6,000 manuscripts we have, the 500 witnesses, all these things that prove the resurrection is true. See, here's the thing, if this was all a Bible thing, oh, you guys and your Bible. I mean, the Book of Mormon is no different. Mori and this mountain and all these things that really didn't happen. But secular sources, Josephus, Roman historians, other historians talk about a man named Jesus, he was crucified and the body was stolen. Or the swoon theory. Right, Jesus really wasn't hurt that bad, he got up three days later. See, you can't discount the fact that here is a historical figure, where do we date our calendars? In the year of our Lord. Oh, man, I could spend some time there. That is amazing. All these, I think there's eight different secular historians, not Christian, that say, yeah, there was a Jesus, he's not the son of God. Okay, if there was a Jesus, he did die, where's the body, where's the resurrection? How do you know the resurrection isn't true? All these people gave their lives for a lie, they hid a body that they can't find and they're dying for that lie? All these witnesses, all these accounts, all the changed lives. See, it was one thing if you could just say this happened, like, yeah, I think so. But once you understand, once you make Him Lord of your life, once you repent and God fills you with His love and you're crying, Abba, Father, Abba, Father, God, I know you, it is internalized and it's experiential. So it confirms the Gospel. See, it's not like, most religions never experience their religion. They're going through motions, prayers and go to church and I have to, and there's just, well, I hope this is right. But Christianity changes the hearts, changes the hearts of people. You might as well stop, try to stop Niagara Falls than trying to stop a real Christian filled with God's Spirit from living a life to glorify Christ. You might as well just try to, because it's impossible. And then He commanded us to preach to the people. Peter's saying, Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. That's why I often quote A.W. Tozer, that I love Jesus because He's my Savior, but I fear Him because He is my judge. See, it's a very sobering reality, if I often remind you. I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. We're not trying to build a huge church based on what people think, what they want. You have to tell people the truth. He is your Savior, but He's also your judge. Be careful. Be careful. He did that. Jesus did that. The disciples did that. He is the judge of the living and the dead. To Him, all the prophets were witnesses that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sin. That's what Peter's laying out the gospel. So we have, this is interesting, Christ is an advocate. It's an interesting dichotomy. He's, well, perceived dichotomy, it's really not. A dichotomy is, well, that's something different. But Jesus is advocate. He goes to the Father for me. He stands before God, for me. He's my advocate, but then He's also my judge. So when I say, I don't want you as my attorney, I don't want you as my attorney, I don't want you as my advocate, I'm going to represent myself, then He has to judge you based on your own representation of yourself. He's your advocate, but He's also your judge. Many talk about the Lamb, but not the Lion. Oh, the Lamb of God, not the Lion. We talk and we mention the man who turned the other cheek. He said, Jesus turned the other, people tell me that. He said, turn the other cheek, why are you so upset? Have you ever read Revelation? No, what? That He will tread the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. Every time I read that, it's just like, ugh. I mean, it's amazing, I'll even run into pastors who never talk about those passages. Shane, people don't want to hear, I don't care what they want to hear, what do they need to hear? The problem is you've got too much liberal theology in your mind, or you came from a liberal seminary who wants to just avoid the difficult truths. Because you, one, have never been converted, or two, you've left your first love. They talk about love, but not the coming judgment. Heaven but not hell, and a relationship but not repentance. Whoever believes, see remission, whoever believes, when you believe on the name it saves, the shackles are released and it opens the prison doors. That's, I mean, I get really excited on this point, I don't know why. But when you give your life to the Lord and you say, Lord, use me however you want, He shows you. God, show me your glory, show me your forgiveness, show me Calvary, be careful to pray that prayer. God, show me Calvary, because you'll see the blood stained cross. You'll see how, see, oh, this is something that is so frustrating, people don't understand. The closer you draw to Christ, the more you see how depraved you are. And you've got all these people living like, oh my, living like Sodom and Gomorrah, they think they're just great with God. But the closer I draw to the purity of the gospel, the closer I draw to the purity of Christ, and I see Him, even the sin of selfishness or pride, whatever it is, the closer I get, the more my sin is magnified. I hate it, but I love it. Do you think you're doing good? No. See, just the fact you think you're doing good. And He'll start to, but that's a good thing. What happens is the closer you get to the mirror, the better you see, right? Can you see the men's restroom or the women's restroom mirrors? Right now, no. But as you get closer and closer and closer. So God heard Cornelius. We're talking about God hears. God heard Cornelius. This is Cornelius, this is what you need to do as well. He feared God, he obeyed, he sought God, and he repented. He feared, he obeyed, he sought God, and repented. God will hear the proud if they humble themselves. He will hear the addict if they confess and turn. He will hear the sexually immoral if they repent. He will hear the single mom who's struggling and the failing father. He will hear them. He will reach out to the depressed. He will restore the wounded, and He will heal the brokenhearted. That's a God who hears and wants that relationship, but you have to take that step of repentance. Repentance. Shane, why do you always talk about that? Well, I'm going to until the day I die. The repentance is a beautiful word. And I won't spend time here because I know we have to end, but I want to get through the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles. Verse 10, I'm sorry, yeah, chapter 10, verse 44. While Peter, now listen to this, here we go. Another controversial thing. Get out your eraser. You got your eraser with you? While Peter was, it's funny because people read, oh, this is amazing in the New Testament. It happens now. No, no, that's of the devil. That was for them, but that's of the devil today. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word, and this isn't just the, this is epi, the word epi, the preposition falling upon an overwhelming sense of the Holy Spirit. Listen, I felt this so much before I couldn't even go up and preach. I just wept and wept and wept. I couldn't even go up and preach, and God began to just, when He pours His Spirit upon, watch out, church, watch out, church, because all your plans for the rest of the day, they are over. You're not hungry anymore. The little shower and the baby shower, whatever, later, you're gone. You're not even going to make it. You're going to be on the floor on your face before God, weeping and crying out to God. That's genuine revival. That's what the church needs. Listen, Trump isn't going to save us. America needs awakening to restore and renew. That's okay. Don't clap the second service will. We have more people there. But in all seriousness, the Holy Spirit fell, and this is why I'm so passionate about this, because He fell upon me, and I want others to experience that. You change. You are, you're just filled. What is coming out of me? It's no longer this, and well, cuss words this, and cuss words that, right? It's, it's, what is this? What's this praise? What's this worship in my heart? He's changed my heart. He's renewed me, and those of the circumcision, meaning the Jews who believed were astonished, and they came to Peter and said, the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all the Gentiles, for they heard them speak in tongues. Oh man, Shane, you just lost me again. The Bible says it. The Bible says it. Isn't this ironic? We have no problem with raising from the dead and healing, and all these other, but you can't speak in a language that you don't know. Really? Okay. Well, you better check your theology, because Paul spent a whole chapter or two in Corinthians on this, this, and people that don't know it, I can see why it wouldn't make sense, but once a person experiences it, and the Bible talks about it, it's this, it's really, it's a worship. It's not some word of knowledge. It's not, it's this worship from the heart that the Holy Spirit's crying out, but Father, and the Holy Spirit doesn't take, speak American, the Holy Spirit is crying to the Father, and that's what this is. It's this glory that is worshiping God, and this glory takes place, and a person is worshiping God, and arrogant, prideful people who have never experienced it want to shoot down what they've never experienced. That's the bottom line. I knew I shouldn't have fasted this weekend, huh? God, my goodness. I'm so sick and tired of people putting down what's in the Bible because they've never experienced it. They want to avoid the Holy Spirit. Don't talk about that stuff. Why? Because it gets us, doesn't it? Comfortable Christianity is over. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, comfortable Christianity is over. You're going to go disconnect Netflix, Facebook, bye-bye, YouTube no more, unless it's worship songs. All these friends who want to get drunk and get high, bye, see you later. I just want to turn off. Look at just how we spend our time when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything changes. Everything changes. So he said, can anybody forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? So if you've never been baptized, guess what? We're filling that up. I'm thinking of filling it up on Easter next weekend. And just be baptized. Honor God and show others that you are serious about your conversion. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. So I'll leave with this closing thought. Has the Holy Spirit fallen on you? It might seem like, God, we're talking about the Holy Spirit a lot. I've had people leave this church in the past because they had talked too much about the Holy Spirit. Guess what? These people are not filled with the Holy Spirit. They're filled with sound doctrine, but they know nothing of the Spirit's power. Ask them, what do you want in person to the Lord? They can't even remember. Don't you ever talk to me about the Holy Spirit if you're not witnessing on a weekly basis. I don't want to hear your input. Sorry. Maybe I should apologize later, but let me just internalize that. Soften it up, right? But you know what? That is meant to convict. I'm not concerned with people's opinions on the Holy Spirit unless I see the Holy Spirit operating in their life. Then they have a right to talk about certain things and not be offended. I want to recommend to you another book for those who even thought about ministry. If you're considering it, it's called Dangerous Calling. And the author, Paul Tripp, was a seminary professor. He said, when the gospel of Jesus Christ gets reduced to theological ideas and concepts, you are in trouble. That's the problem many times with modern day seminary, is you come out with head knowledge but no heart experience. You come out knowing all about God to study and get your degree, but you don't know the God who you should be studying. The hardest job a pastor will ever have is practicing what they preach. My weekly prayer, Lord, make sure who I am in private is who I am in public. Make sure the same gospel I preach is the same gospel I'm repenting and embracing. The thing about pastors that you have to remember is we are in the same boat. We are sinners saved by grace. I'm actually, I look to the same one. The same one I'm pointing you to, I have to look to. The same one I'm pointing you to, I have to look to. The same person I'm encouraging you to turn to, I have to turn to. I have to seek repentance and renewal and restoration. So that's the closing thought. Has the Holy Spirit fallen upon you? Do you have this relationship with God? Because I'm not real concerned with customer or consumer Christianity, where we just go through the motions, but do you truly know Him? Is He saturating every aspect of your life? If not, that can change this morning. How, Shane, how? You say, God, I need that. I don't know exactly what it is, but I need that. I need more of you. Show me, please, Lord. God will hear you. And if you don't have a relationship, many people, there's a lot of visitors here all the time, and I want to encourage you, Jesus will forgive if you believe that He is who He said He is. Everything takes a level of faith. Even atheism takes a great deal of faith. You've got to step out onto the rock of nothing, and believe that nothing is there, and nothing is coming, and nothing is going to happen. You're banking eternity on that step of faith. Christianity steps out onto the faith of God's Word, who He is, His sovereignty, and that I'm not God. Because without faith, you can't truly love. I want to encourage you, though, to pray. Really pray. God's convicting me even this morning to really pray. I had just a quick list, 10 things, 15 things, 15, 20 minutes, I'm done. It's like God said, you haven't even begun. You haven't even begun to sit at the feet of your Savior. Let Him build you up. Let Him encourage you. See, there's prayers you can't just pray. You just sit there, and God, oh, God, help me. And He'll bring things to your mind. He'll begin to restore your soul. He'll begin to build you up. He'll begin to hold you. I can't explain it. I can't explain it. Sometimes I don't want to, because words don't do it justice. But sometimes, remove the checklist, and just sit, Daddy, I need you. Daddy, I need you. My father, you know, died at a young, when I was 20s. I didn't know who he was. I didn't know what it meant to be a man. And I said, Daddy, I need you. Show me how to be a husband. Show me how to be a father. Show me how to be a pastor. Show me how to preach this morning. And He begins to rebuild and restore and renew. That's prayer. Prayer is not getting through a checklist. Prayer is sitting and waiting on God, and letting Him fill you with His Spirit.