Shane Idleman emphasizes the critical relationship between obedience and the filling of the Holy Spirit, using Jesus' baptism as a pivotal example of how obedience leads to empowerment. He argues that just as Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to begin His ministry, so too do believers require this filling to experience true power and transformation in their lives. Idleman challenges the congregation to consider their own obedience and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, asserting that many struggles in the church stem from a lack of this divine empowerment. He encourages believers to take steps of obedience, such as baptism, to unlock the fullness of the Spirit's work. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit to ignite passion and purpose in the Christian walk.

Jesus went 30 years. Obscurity. Nothing. Not much. 12 years old. He stayed in Jerusalem. He was listening and asking questions. Nothing. At 17, didn't he do something? 18, 19, nothing. I mean, I don't know about you, but if you just sit and ponder that. He's born? Nothing. Until the light is turned on. And the Holy Spirit descends upon him at his baptism. That word upon is epi in the Greek. It's an overflowing, overfilling coming upon Jesus Christ. So if the Holy Spirit had to come upon Jesus Christ in order for him to begin his ministry, how much more do you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God? Now that should be amens from every single row in this place. Right? Because that's the greatest need in the church today. I'm not talking about weirdness. I'm talking about power. I'm not talking about being odd. I'm talking about being bold. Having a love for Christ. And I've taken you here before. I'm not going to do it on Christmas. But everybody you love to read. I get emails from a lot of you and recommend books from D.L. Moody and Adoniah Judson and Hudson Taylor on the mission field. And Oswald Chambers, The Utmost for My Highest is great devotional. And George Whitfield and John Wesley and Amy Carmichael. And should we just keep going? Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Wesley. We can just keep going. All of these leaders that we read about, all of them had a powerful experience with the Holy Spirit. You will not find anybody in all of church history who did not have a moment of crisis where they were broken before God, filled with the Spirit, and now we hear from them. You will not find anybody who didn't have that. They're just going through life casually. Christianity is kind of boring. There's nothing there because the power, the light is not turned on yet. So Jesus goes from obscurity to notoriety. Within days possibly. How did that happen? We'll put on the screen Matthew 3.13-17. I want you to see this. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan. So John the Baptist, that's where he gets his name, he was baptizing people, came to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you. Are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John allowed him. Can you imagine this? If you're baptizing people in the Jordan River, by the way it's anywhere between 50-65 degrees, so this is going to be warm, chilly Jordan, Jesus comes to you to be baptized. I don't know about you, but I might lose it. No, no, no. Jesus, I'm not even worthy to unloose your sandals. I'm not going to do that. Jesus said, suffer it so, which means allow it, that all righteousness may be fulfilled. Now theologians are divided. Everybody has their opinion. We obviously know Jesus was sinless. We obviously know he didn't have to be baptized. Was it an example? Was it a look at his death, burial and resurrection and the baptism, obedience to the will of the Father? That after that, after he was baptized. Now I don't want to make too much of a big deal of this, but I think it is a big deal, because the scriptures are crystal clear to be baptized. Believers, baptized. I believe I get baptized. So those who are not ready for that, you might want to check, just check your faith. Check your heart. Where is that? Because you believe and you're baptized. So it was a step of obedience. Once he was baptized, he came up out of the water and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. And we read throughout Acts too, the Holy Spirit came upon them. It's just over, it's like, if you've ever said that phrase, I don't know what came upon me. I don't know what came over me. It's this endowment of power, if I could sum it all up. I mean, this is so critical, guys. You've got to get this. We will not know about the mighty things of God. We will not have hearts of prayer, hearts of worship, see people healed and set free and delivered, know what God's will is, unless we're filled with his Spirit. So when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So right here we also have a teaching on the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, right here on the Trinity. So here's two points of application. Have you been baptized? Have you been baptized? If not, get wet today. We have extra towels. Well, I've got to wait until I get my life straightened. That will never happen. Never happen. I did it when I was younger, but I had to do it again in 2000, 18 years ago in Lancaster. And I believe that's when my guy started to call me to the ministry, that step of obedience, but I kept saying, No, no, no. And I was still struggling in my life with things. I was still struggling with alcohol, for example. I was still struggling with things, and there's things that are always to struggle to. You know those things, right? They're always, Open that door for me again. I've got to wait until I get my life cleaned up, is what people say. No, you don't. If you believe in Christ, get baptized, and you'll be amazed at what that step of obedience can produce. So, have you been baptized? The second question, this will get a little bit more personal to everyone in this room, has the Holy Spirit come upon you? And if you say, I don't know. I want you to just pray to God this morning or this afternoon, and say, Lord, what does that look like? I don't think I've experienced that. That's like me putting my hand into the fire and saying, Did I get burned? I'm not really sure. It smells weird, and it's cooking right here. But that's the same thing. When He radically changes your life, and I'm careful here, because I know where Pentecostal charismatics take this, right? Into kind of the weird territory of, well, you've got to act weird. No, you don't have to act weird. You're bold. So when the Holy Spirit fills you, everything changes. This, I hated to read. Have you ever, I hate, you ask my mom, I hated to read. Part of it was dyslexia and different things, and it's still hard to read. But I hated to read. Now I love to read. Thousands of books since I was filled with the Spirit. I don't think I read one book when I wasn't. The Bible comes alive. Now I know what He's talking about. Now I know. What is that, David, that the bones you have broken may rejoice, create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. God, now I know what that means. I can't get enough of this, because it's food to the dying soul. See, everything changes. I haven't cussed in months. What happened? See? Oh, come on, don't get spiritual on Christmas. Right, you know it's up here, but sometimes it doesn't come out right here. And I feel for people, even this area. I had some guy, he goes, my friend says I'm not a Christian because I cuss sometimes at work. I'm like, what? Are you repenting? Yeah, I feel bad. I'm trying. I'm working out. Oh, my Lord, no. Yes, you're still a Christian. It's called a struggle. Right? Now I'm not giving permission to cuss, but there should be, like, if something happens and something comes out, you're like, Lord, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't do that. That's a repentant heart. That's good. That's God working in the heart. But see, when you're filled, everything changes. Everything changes. You want to hit the clubs on Saturday night? No, I want to go to bed early so I can get here early and get my face before God and get filled with the Spirit. Shane, you don't want to hang out anymore? No, not drinking a 40? Oh, come on, you can relay. Don't put the Christmas moods. What is he talking about? I don't know. I don't do any of that stuff. But see, it's not supposed to be a funny sermon. Right when the Holy Spirit comes in, the world goes out. But the big deception is, well, then you should be perfect, Shane. No, no. My in-laws are here, just ask them. My wife's here, just ask them. It's not about perfection. It's not about perfection, but where's the direction of the heart? Back to the things of God. So have you been filled with the Spirit? Emptied of self? And if I'm irritating or challenging you, that's a good indication you need what I'm talking about. And all you have to say is, Lord, I want that. I want to be filled with it. Imagine what we're praying for. Lord, fill me with your Spirit. Get rid of the spirit of Shane Idleman. Get rid of the carnal nature. And Lord, fill me with who you are. So the nature of Christ is now in you. Now I'm filled with joy. Where's this joy unspeakable? Why are we at the homeless ministry and I want to cry every night? I'm driving home. What's wrong with me? I'm Shane. I don't get emotional. Mr. Tough Guy, right? Where's this joy unspeakable coming? Where's it coming from? Where's love for those who you never thought you'd love? Where's all these things coming from? The filling of the Holy Spirit. The reason I want this topic so infused into our church is because it would get rid of 90% of our problems. This little stuff, you know, right? Gossip, slander, backbiting, hatred, bitterness, cruelty. It vanishes. Because the Holy Spirit wants to repair, not break down. The Holy Spirit wants to renew, not divide. He wants to unite. So have you consider that. I'm reading a book and I just actually listened to a sermon by Leonard Ravenhill. I don't know if you know who that is. He made an astonishing statement. He said we all, or many people, want a painless Pentecost. What he meant by that is we want the fruit of the Spirit, but not the obedience. We want to be filled with God's Spirit, but we don't want the pain. Right? For baptism, for example, I want the water at 85. I want to have my second set of clothes. I want two towels and a comfy, cozy blanket. But see, they would just go down to the Jordan River. John, would you baptize me? 55 degrees. Come out. I don't care. I'm wet. See, sometime, at some point, Christ has to cost you something. The cost of following Him. There's a cost. There has to be a cost, but we want the painless Pentecost. Pentecost was a day, ironically, that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and the church was born. They weren't in there 10 minutes. It said they were waiting 10 days, praying, I'm guessing fasting. It was travail of the soul and travail and praying. It's warfare. So, if it doesn't cost us anything, there's no value to it. Same thing with being filled with God's Spirit. So, in a nutshell, it appears that this was a step of obedience for Jesus, and it led to the descending of the Spirit upon Him. He goes from no ministry to the most powerful ministry that the world has ever seen. Without it, there may have been no miracles, no authority, and no cross. Now, I know I'm treading on delicate ground here, but if you think about it, without this endowment of power, there may have been no miracles, no authority, no going to the cross, because it's the Holy Spirit that gave Him the boldness to do these things. And I don't know quite how this works. Fully man, yet fully God. All we know is what is taught in the Bible. In cross-reference Acts 10.38, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. It's interesting. Jesus, it says God the Father, anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. Anointing, right? We use that word sometimes. You hear that word, oh, here it goes again. Anointing just means touched of God. He goes, I'm going to anoint them to preach. I'm going to anoint them to pastor. I'm going to call John the Baptist from his mother's womb. He's anointed to be the forerunner of the Messiah. I'm going to anoint Jeremiah. Jeremiah, as a matter of fact, before you're even born, I'm going to call you to be a prophet to my people. He's anointed. He's called. So when God anoints you, you walk in that anointing. It's a wonderful thing, but it goes with the filling of the Spirit. No filling, no anointing. See, there might be a calling on your life, but not yet an anointing. God might want you to do something, but the power's not there yet. The connection with God in this area. And obedience and being filled with the Spirit are always related. Obedience. It's a word two churches don't want to talk about, right? Oh, here he goes again on the obedience trip. But it's a wonderful thing. It's obedience. I'm going to read a scripture here. Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice. See, a lot of times we sacrifice, but we don't obey. So when we obey, the filling of the Spirit is possible. From Acts, the book of Acts, to modern-day Reformation in the 1500s, to awakenings and revivals, to be the light. I'm assuming most of you want to be the light in your workplace, right? Want to be the light at home. You want to be the light. Jesus said, you shall be a light on a hill. You shall be the light, the salt that doesn't lose its savor. But to be the light, we must be filled with the light. To be the light, you must be filled with the light. And I'll conclude this about the Holy Spirit. D.L. Moody said this in his day. Remember D.L. Moody? I don't know if many of you know, but 150 years ago, God used him in a mighty way. He was talking about Bible teachers of his day. He said, they are good teachers. They are wonderful teachers. But why will they not see that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is just one touch that they themselves need? Now, I probably would have said a filling of the Holy Spirit versus baptism. I've talked about it before. But the point is, and we can say that today, there are many people, they're good Christians. They're good Christians. They're good people. They're good people. They go to church regularly, but why can't they see that the one thing they are lacking is this mighty endowment of power, this mighty filling of the Holy Spirit? They just don't see that.