This sermon emphasizes the power of purity, highlighting the importance of being pure in heart and action as vessels for the Holy Spirit. It discusses the struggle with imperfection and the need to focus on the direction of the heart rather than perfection. The speaker shares personal experiences of lacking spiritual power until fully surrendering to God and being filled with the Holy Spirit, leading to impactful moments like leading someone to the Lord. The sermon also touches on the significance of faith, unity in the body of Christ, and the ability to torment the enemy through spiritual power and purity.

The power of purity is the topic of my message. The power of purity, and I think acts could have been written along the lines, if it needed an introduction, it would be the acts of the Holy Spirit using pure vessels. And what I mean by that is God asks us, commands us often to be pure in heart and pure in action. So my heart needs to be pure and my actions need to be pure. Now, many of us think on this topic, we think, okay, wait a minute, I'm not 100% pure. There's some things that I'm dealing with, there's things that come up, and Shane, I can't get this, I can't hit that mark 100%. Well, you're in a good company because nobody can. It's not, I think it was John MacArthur who said, God's not concerned about perfection but direction, the direction of our heart. And there is a difference. I noticed it this week when my son was near the curb and there was a little bit of curb water running down. And I thought of that choice, a child might have of drinking or sink water. What would you prefer your child had a drink of? The curb and gutter water that's just coming off the neighbor's lawn and property and up the street and all the oil and all the things or the sink? Go to the sink, please, right? Of course. But even in our sink water, we have 100 parts per million or 10 parts per million or different things of different contaminants, different pollutants. But that water is still living water. You can get by drinking sink water. I don't know how long but it will be much better than curb water. And that's the imagery there I really wanna leave you with is many times we have that curb water. We're just so full of pollutants from everything from wrong attitudes to wrong behaviors to wrong this and God is wanting to remove those things so we can be pure vessels that he can use. And it's really the book of Acts we've been going through. You can turn to Acts chapter five verse 12 and I'll get there in a minute. Acts chapter five verse 12. But the power of the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world. The power of the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world. And it dawned on me, I was able to lead somebody to the Lord at one of our hospital homes a few days ago and she's dying, she's got HIV and she was just anxious and really in a bad way. But after she gave her heart to the Lord and prayed and repented and tears of joy followed, they said she's doing wonderful this weekend, praise God. But as I was leaving there, it dawned on me that for the first 18 years of becoming Christian starting at 12 years old, I didn't lead anybody to the Lord. I rarely talked about God unless I was asked. Oh Jesus, of course, but 18 years? From 12 years old to 29, 30? 18 years of nothing. Say a couple prayers, I would go to church now and then, but I was loving the world, the things of the world. I had no power of the Holy Spirit in my life. I didn't really want to talk about Jesus and the reason is because I hadn't experienced Him. Because it's like, for many people, talking about Jesus is like talking about the news. Well, I guess if I have to, I mean, it's what we're supposed to do. It shouldn't be that way. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it's an all-consuming, it drives who you are. It drives how you want to raise your kids. It drives how you spend your time in the morning, how you spend your time later. It drives your conversations, how you schedule things. Everything, when you're filled with the Spirit, talking about Christ is a byproduct. You try to find that in almost every conversation without being irritating. Like, okay, I've got it, Shane, I've got it. And there's people right now I've backed way off of, friends in high school, they know where I'm coming from, when I'm coming from, and how I'm coming from. And they just, just stay away. I know what you stand for, and those, you gotta do. But for the most part, when you're filled with the Spirit, it comes out of you. So I wanna just throw that question out there this morning. When was the last time you seriously talked about Christ and walked through the steps and participated and led somebody to the Lord? And now, the Bible talks about confessing and repenting, and you don't have to say a quick little prayer, you don't have to force the will. But if the Holy Spirit's operating, I believe He gives us opportunities that we can point people in the direction of God. And if it's been months, if it's been years, if it maybe hasn't happened, we have to ask ourselves some hard questions. God, am I full of your Spirit? Am I a pure vessel that you can use? Have I removed pollutants out of my life that allow the Holy Spirit to work through me? And what I like about this topic is, I can liken it to in the physical realm as well. When you eat, you know, have you ever dieted before? And said, I'm stopping that. After Thanksgiving weekend, I'm back on track. And then it goes good for a few days, and you're like, but after Christmas, when New Year's comes, I'm back on track. And we just, it's just so hard. But I've noticed that once you fuel your body with the right things, juicing and eating good food, you want more of that good food. And you want more of that good food. You have a good, healthy breakfast, you want a good, healthy lunch, a good, healthy snack, and you're feeding that body the same thing with spiritual principles, the same thing applies. When you start feeding on the right things, on the Word of God, on the church, on worship, on fasting, on all these things, it's an all-consuming passion that forces you, and you want to keep consuming those healthy spiritual things. So, the difficult thing is, it's hard to break that cycle. It's hard to break the cycle when we're caught in not wanting to do the right things, not wanting to remove the pollutants, and we get in the rut. It's like, I just can't break out of this. I've been this way for months or years, Shane, and I've fallen off the, I've fallen in this area, fallen in this area, and thank God, He just says, return to me, and I'll return to you. I believe that in a covenant-keeping God, when He says, if you return to me, I will return to you. I know you've drifted, but get back on course. Let me clean your heart, and you can be a pure vessel that I can use, and the interesting thing about purity, and I wish I might have to do part two, because there's a lot the Bible says about purity, but as purity increases, so does spiritual power and unity in the body of Christ. Purity grows the church. Faith is increased, and demonic strongholds are obliterated when purity is in our lives. I'm leading right into Acts 5, 12, and what, just writing purity this or that, purity basically is, God talks about a defiled conscience in the Bible, a defiled temple, a defilement. When we give over to those things that are not glorifying to Christ, those things that pull us down, we are defiled, and we love the Lord, and we're caught in this, but we can't see through because of all the pollutants, and a pure vessel, somebody with true repentance who removes these things that are holding them back, and they say, Lord, I'm coming to you. I need to get back on track. I need that restoration. I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit again, and they start to remove those pollutants. A lot of pollutants are what the eye gate sees, what we allow into our mind, what we allow into our thoughts, and we're not taking those out captives, and we're not pure vessels that God can use, and we see this powerful move of God in Acts 5.12, so let me read that, and through the hands of the apostles, those people who are following Jesus, called by Jesus, commissioned by Jesus, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly, and the believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them, and also a multitude gathered from surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Now I will make a public confession, I've talked about this before, I don't know why we don't see it like that anymore, and everybody has their opinion, and so do I, but the bottom line is that God was clearly moving in a powerful way, and a lot of times there's different groups, there's a group that believes that the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit in this area have ceased, and it's where the word cessationist comes from, they believe that those miraculous Holy Spirit inspired gifts were done away with, and they use this as a proof text, we don't see any of this anymore, and that's true to this degree, but I believe the closer you walk with Christ, the more you will see things like this, you will see people set free, you will see demonic influences leaving, you will see healings take place, the closer you are to Christ, the more you know God's will, the closer you are to God, and being that pure vessel, He can use you in a mighty and powerful way, so obviously we don't see this to the degree they saw it there, but I also want to remind you that the book of Acts was written over about 30 years, so we think things were happening every day, every day for a week or a month, but it was a 30 year period, and sometimes there'd be weeks or months or years, I'm not excusing it, I think the church is lacking power today, but I also believe we don't want to pay the price, because He told these men, these believers, go in an upper room and wait until you receive power, and then they received that power, they went out and did the work of God, and I brought this illustration up last night, and I'll bring this up to you again this morning, but do you think that we would have saw these guys walking in this tremendous power if they just bought a case of Shock Top the night before, and a whole bunch of pizzas, and decided to watch Ouija board movie, the Ouija, do we really think they would, what is that, it's beer, there's other kinds, man Peter, I've got a hangover this morning, and I can't, I don't know, let's just go out and talk, do you think that God would have moved in that type of, of course not, so the closer we draw to Christ, and we see it on the mission field, why do we see it on the mission field, because often they don't have Facebook, they don't have the media, they don't have all these distractions, they don't need to know what's going on in 50 different states and 100 different things, and they don't need to see all the, I'll look at articles, and you go down, where are these pictures coming from, that's how the devil traps you, and wonderful article, terrible pictures, and we wonder, well God, you've gotta be a pure vessel, and the message this morning is come out from among them, be separate, yeah, you're gonna look a little different, there's gonna be a little distinction about you, these guys were not normal people, to have the power and presence of God, you will look odd in many cases, don't go out and search it, don't say I'm very odd, and aren't I full of the spirit, not necessarily, being odd is not full of the spirit, but you will look odd to the culture by what you view, and what you listen to, and what you watch, and how you conduct yourself, so I truly believe a few different things are happening, number one, that God is using pure vessels, set apart for him, these guys were on fire for God, they were up in an upper room in a prayer meeting, not for two hours, for 10 days, did they leave and come back, I don't know, but they were seeking God, God filled them with his spirit, with his power, they went out and they did ministry, there was no distractions, there's no lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life like we have today, they purified themselves, they walked out in the pureness, and righteousness, and holiness of God, see they used to preach about those topics 100 years ago, they used to preach about the fear of God, and the holiness of God, and the righteousness of God, but now it's all about love, and mercy, and grace, and thank God for that, thank God for his love, and his mercy, and his grace, but that's only some of his attributes, he's also holy, actually the angels cried, holy, holy, holy is our God, the temple shook, and Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, God I'm not worthy to see your face, and they cried, holy, holy, holy is our God, and the righteousness of God, and the fear of God, and the judgment of God, see we've gotta wake the church up, those are all characteristics of God, the attributes of God, we'll be the person who just hangs on the love of God, so they can continue in sin, or the grace of God to continue in sin, Paul said should we sin more, so grace abounds more, absolutely not, so the call to holiness, and righteousness, and purity, that's when you're gonna see God move in your heart, that's when you're gonna see God move in your life, is the closer you get to that flame, the more you feel the heat of the fire, try this at home, build a fire, go walk out in the garage, and see how warm you stay, what's the difference, you've gotta sit next to the fire, you've gotta sit next to that heat, to feel that fire, and make a difference, trust me I've seen people, filled with God's spirit, everywhere they go, just the store, Trader Joe's, the movies, the this, the that, that God's working through them, so I don't believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in this area has ceased, but I think a lot of the power has left the church, because we're not going back to the basics, of prayer, luckily we have prayer before service now, and many things, but the prayer, and the fasting, and the seeking God, I'm browsing through a book I like to do, every other year or so, it's written by the Pastor Cho, who leads the largest church in the world, in South Korea, seven Sunday services, 800,000 members, it's interesting, there's no gimmicks, there's no marketing campaigns, there's no demographic studies, it's Friday night prayer meetings all night, it's fasting, it's seeking God with all their heart, broken before the Lord, that's all that ministry is, there's no marketing, how do you get that many people, I don't have any idea, I'm sure it's a populated area, but the point is, God will bring the people to, where his word is being preached, and taught, and going back to the basics, so that's what we are seeing here, they had power, because they had the purity, also they were very young in the faith, so you young adults, or those who haven't been a Christian very long, be very encouraged, these guys were not, well I've been a Christian 20 years, and I know how to handle this, they hadn't been a Christian very long at all, a Christ follower, filled with the Holy Spirit, you might be talking, well I don't want to get technical here, and somebody call me on it, because I don't know exactly, but it's been weeks, and weeks can be months, so it's been some time there, they haven't been a believers very long, if you look at the day of Pentecost, you look at going through Acts 1, 2, 3, Peter's first sermon, Peter's other sermon, now you see this, there's not a lot of time that has passed by, so God can use, you see God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called, he doesn't care if you're 40 years in the faith, if you're not broken, humble before him, I would rather take a teenager, 18 on fire for God, than somebody 68 years old, who's hard, and legalistic, and rigid, because God will work in that person, who's pure, and flexible, and not going to mold to certain things, they want to be fully used of God, and I also think that there are different seasons, of outpouring, God will use certain, if you go back, and read revivals from 300 years ago, and work your way up, they always started in a prayer meeting, they always started when God poured out, it's amazing, people would be a mile from church, and feel convicted, fall on their face, and give their hearts to the Lord, be healed, be set free, be at the store, bars would close down, homes, they would be singing worship, when God was a season of his, they would call it manifestation, his presence was there, that's why people say, why do we sing about the Holy Spirit, you're welcome here, isn't that obvious, yeah, but so is the other part, where Moses said, show me your glory, God show me your glory, I see the rocks, I see the trees, I see the river, but God I want to see, the manifest presence of your spirit, Lord show me your glory, and God says it's too great, no man has ever seen this, and lived, but God show me your presence, and when his presence comes, and you feel the power of God, you will be radically changed, it's like me saying, hey I just about, I barely got to church, my truck went down, all the way down Godee Hill, I almost died, and I had to walk here, you'd say Shane, you're either a liar, or you're deceived, and many people, they're either lying, that they don't have a relationship God, or they are living in deception, that they're filled with the spirit, you are radically changed, you're radically changed, but Shane I want that, well then get on your face, before God at home, or come to the prayer room later today, or just say God I need that, I don't have that, because there's a clear difference, there's a distinction, now this is also an encouragement, for those who are trapped, and they, Shane I want that, but I don't feel that, I'm not making a difference, and there's something, that is clogging the line, there's something there, that is not allowing that purity, to go through, and we know what those areas are, and God's convicting them of you, during this sermon, that's how he works, I don't have to list 20,000 things, we know exactly, what might be clogging that line, from unforgiveness, to bitterness, to certain besetting sins, God wants to come out from among them, and be separate, well Shane why are you spending, so much emphasis on this, because the Bible does, I mean it gets pretty dramatic, when Paul says make no provision, for the flesh, don't make any, Paul I can't plan ahead to sin, no, can I dabble in sexual immorality, no you're supposed to flee, can I think about certain things, no let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself, well what about this, what about this, finally brethren, whatever things are pure, and noble, and honest, and upright, and just meditate on these things, put on this, take off that, why because God wants us, to be filled with his spirit, the power of purity, so the closer we draw to God, that's where that power comes from, and then we also see unity here, they were of one accord, the Bible says, and they were all with one accord, and David Gusick said this, let this sink in, the fact that God's people, are all together with one accord, is a greater display of the power, of the Holy Spirit, than any particular sign or wonder, our hearts and our minds, can be harder to move, than any mountain, and I didn't think about that this week, because that's true, when you can get a group of believers united, that's the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit, if I've got a problem with you, and you've got a problem with me, the Holy Spirit doesn't have a problem, does the Holy Spirit have a problem with himself, the Holy Spirit's never divided, well Shane come on, yeah you have to take the lesser road, you humble yourself, and say it's not worth it, we're just here on the essentials, it's not worth bickering and complaining, it's putting your self interest aside, and your needs aside, that's how the Holy Spirit works, if two people just put their selfish needs aside, and focus on others, oh marriages will be restored, you don't need a counselor, you don't need a therapist, you need broken and humble men and women, submitted to God, and the Holy Spirit brings the two back together, so we see the power of unity, unity is a wonderful thing, because you can have mortal enemies, and once they come to know the Lord, they are united, nothing will keep you away, from that unity, and it was interesting, very interesting, I didn't know it was happening, but last night, I've only lost about one fight in my life, that I can remember, I was 17, it was about 30 years ago, and the guy who did it, was here last night, he came to the service, it was unbelievable, but his name is Roman Santos, and they have a boxing, and he went on to be Olympic boxer, on the Olympic team, no wonder, my goodness, and I still remember that night, I got hit about 15 times, before I knew what even hit me, but anyway, I see him, I can't believe he's here, and we give each other hugs, and he comes back for prayer, and he wants that fire of God again, and just the unity, all that was, who cares, who cares, I don't remember the black guy, and the bruised lip, and the bloody, it was unity, bringing the reconciling, God is reconciling the world, through his son, that's the only reconciliation, that's the only peace, we're ever going to know, is reconciliation through his son, so you see tremendous unity, you see tremendous power, but then it says, none of the rest dare join them, why is that? Well, right before this, do you remember what happened from last week, couple people died, because they lied to the Holy Spirit, and the whole church was filled with fear, the people were filled with fear, see that kind of fear is a very good thing, it's a very good thing, I don't feel like driving off that mountain road, I fear that mountain road, don't you? So I'm going to stay on this side, and a little slower, I fear it can be a wonderful gift from God, because when you fear something, you respect it, you have reverence for it, and I'm concerned that many people are walking around as if God is a doting grandfather, or a cosmic ball of love, he's just up there, look at that, just floating around, and God just loves me, winks at my sin, so the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, I fear God, it'll change the way you preach, it'll change the way you treat your spouse, it will change the way you live your life when you fear God, because you've got to answer to him, that's why, and I know these types of messages make people feel uncomfortable, and that's good, I think it's a good time to remind you that if you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying, this is always the case, when you don't like to hear what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear it, God is convicting us, but there is a cost to pay, none of the rest dare join them, and I read a quote this week in a book, and it really, it's one of those quotes I just put down, I said God, this is unbelievable, but it's true, and the author said the price of being chosen, the price of being called, and the price of being used by God is often suffering, and I didn't like that, I didn't like that one bit, to be honest with you, but I started to think of the children of Israel, I started to think of Moses, I started to think of Joshua, I started to think of all the different people used by God, there was tremendous suffering, did Jesus suffer? Well Shane, what about Paul? Oh, don't even get me started, he suffered great, Shane, what about John? I heard he was one of the disciples that didn't die, yeah, tradition holds that he was boiled in oil, and exiled to the island of Patmos, Shane, Jeremiah, no, weeping prophet thrown in a pit to die, the people never turned back to God as far as we know, and he was called the weeping prophet, giving his life for the cause of God's law, and the people didn't respect him, they would mock him, they tried to kill him a few different times, Isaiah, I just read Isaiah, Shane, history records that he was sawn in two, by Wicca King Manasseh, what about John the Baptist, the greatest forerunner, the greatest preacher, beheaded, and this really started to sink in for me this week, because we get focused on the comfort, and the cozy, and the blessings of God, and I said, it woke me up, I'm like, God, we might need to suffer, and we do suffer, but now it's, I didn't get a good parking spot, the mall's crowded, I mean, have you had people spit at you, and wish that you were dead, and curse you, you will suffer, you will be hated, for Christ's sake, if you're truly following him, see, if you're not, you can fool a lot of people, you can be that closet Christian, oh, I'll post this little cute stuff on Facebook, nobody will really know what that is, but then I can keep this other group happy, I can go and do this with the boys, and then go to church on Sunday, nobody will really know, see, most men would rather be seen leaving a bar, than leaving a church, if the truth be told, if the truth would be told, I'm walking out of Schooners, on Avenue L, hope everybody sees me, hey, but don't see me coming out of church, that's embarrassing, why is that? Because we're not filled with the spirit of God, there's no power, there's no purity, we don't see these things, of course we don't see these things, because we want to live like hell, we want to rejoice on Sunday, but live like hell on Monday, and the reason God, I believe, speaks these types of messages into our lives, is because he loves us, you, if you have kids, you know, you're a little two year old, three, I love, don't go out and play in that street, please come back, well now I can grab them now, but you know, if you couldn't, let's say you couldn't, and you would plead with them, come back, come back in, please come back in, please, and it's a loving father, it's a loving father, the price, the price of being chosen and called, is suffering, suffering, through many dangers, toils and snares, I've already come, that sounds familiar, yeah, now you'll know the rest, it's grace that's brought me here thus far, and it'll be grace that takes me home, see that author knew, John Newton owned a slave trade, and William Wilberforce led him to the Lord, and he's broken before God, and then he could say, I was blind, but now I see, oh God, you saved a wretch through many, many, many dangers, and toils and snares, I've already went, it's grace that's brought me here thus far, and it'll be grace that takes me home, yes, there'll be suffering, yes, there'll be difficulty, yes, there'll be challenges, but you hold on to God's grace, that's why I often say, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart, that the Joel Osteen type sermons, are not gonna get us through these dire times, it's not about positive thinking, it's not, and I always get emails, why do you put them down, I'm not, I'm just saying, it's not gonna cut it, positive thinking, and having lots of money, and thinking your way to health, wealth and wisdom, is not gonna work, when ISIS is declared, to come across our border, and now we're seeing cops killed, at the alarming rate, folks, you better wake up, you better wake up, Trump's not the answer, I hate to burst some bubbles this morning, but he's not the answer, only Christ is the answer, and guess what, he might bring a lot more persecution, than many people are thinking, right now, those who are in the electoral college, that will be making a vote, are getting death threats, if you go through with your vote, we will kill you, are you kidding me? I mean, don't even get me started on that topic, but folks, we are facing real evil, the enemy is ramping it up a little bit, law officers can't even go on a call, a normal routine stop, and somebody's gonna pull out an AK-47, you think that's gonna help, or hurt crime? You think, they're gonna, there's cities, there's areas now, they won't even go into, Shane, you're scaring us, no, I'm giving you a reality check, because suffering, is a mark of a believer, stop trying to run from it, don't run to it, but understand, that it will come, that way you can teach your kids, yeah, you might suffer a little bit, you might be made fun of, you might not make a lot of money, you might have a disability, you might, but having done all, stand, I'm just gonna stand, that's why I love that song, it's grace that's brought me here this far, and it's grace that takes me home, so be careful in this area, there is a cost, there is a cost to purity, there is a cost, you will pay a price, you will have to watch what you watch, and be very careful, be very careful who you associate with, who you hang out with, what you allow into your mind, what you allow into your body, what you allow, come out from among them, be separate, well everybody else is on Xanax, okay, well be careful, everybody else is getting drunk, well be careful, be careful, because many times, you have to come out from among them, and be separate, oh just that statement's gonna get me in trouble, I know it, you have to fight to be filled, you have to fight to be filled, with the spirit of God, it's a fight, it's a battle, and here's how the enemy usually wins, you get angry, you get upset, I've had it, I'm done with this, and you fall right back into it, he uses discouragement and disappointment, not too many people are gonna fall right after the service, we're filled with the spirit of God, come Monday, it's a whole new game, and there's a cost, there's a fight, we see also the church growing, and added to the Lord, and added to the Lord, it's God's church, and then we see tremendous faith, the shadow of Peter, now how does this work, the shadow of Peter just falls on people, and they're healed, well a couple thoughts, and when the lady touched the hem of Jesus's garment, many of you know the story, that she just fought through the crowd, and said if I can just touch, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed, and he felt the power leave him, and this woman was healed, and it's not necessarily in a shadow, or in a little piece of cloth, it's faith being engaged, when people engage their faith, and also there was so much power in this area, I believe that God's manifest presence was there, there was people being healed, delivered, set free, so it wasn't here comes Peter's shadow, let's get under it, it was God moving in a powerful way among his people, and among unbelievers, let's not forget that, we forget about that group of people, but all were coming to him, and being healed, and being set free, think about this, faith has to do something, Noah had to build a boat, Moses had to lead the children of Israel, Joshua had to enter the promised land, but what happens is we use all these little scriptures, and we make some weird doctrine out of them, you'll see these guys on TV, just send me $100, I'll send you a prayer cloth, I bet you will, it's a little one inch by one inch, you just go like this, just pray, and I'll pray with you, and just send me a thousand for a bigger one, John Calvin, who was part of the Protestant Reformation, if you don't know what that is, the boy quick history lesson, the church started out like this for about 300 years, it was called the Catholic Church, don't get offended, Catholic just means universal, it was universal church, and you have people like Constantine coming to power, and you have the power of Rome, these emperors of Rome now joining with the church, and being the head of the church, and the head of Rome, so that's where the word Roman Catholic Church come from, and there's different break offs of that, but now you have this marriage of power and church, and that's not good, because you have this secular type of mentality, and there's so many things, if you look at the history there, of so many inconsistencies of paying for indulgences, or putting money in a coffer, so you could spring your friend from purgatory, or praying to Mary, Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, and all these things, and Mary's co-redeemer, and they started to bring in all these different things, into the church, and people even before John Calvin, I believe it was 12, 1300s, William Tyndale, Whitecliffe, Whitcliffe, you'll hear the Whitcliffe Bible Translation Society, John Hus, two of those three people started to translate the Bible into the common tongue of the people, and two of them were burned at the stake, for doing that, so they see this corruption, and what happens is you have people like Martin Luther, be changed by God, come out and change that part of the church in Germany, you have Urich Zwingli in Switzerland, you have John Knox in Scotland, you have John Calvin in Geneva, and they're coming out, and they're calling the church to listen, all this stuff is not good, it's not good what you're allowing, that's where the 95 thesis comes from, and the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany, 1517, challenging the papacy on all these different things, interestingly, you can keep this in prayer, I'm hopefully meeting in the next few weeks with a couple different priests from out of the area, because the question was brought up at an event I spoke at, why can't Roman Catholics and Christians just come together, and I said well I can tell you, why off the top of my head, and as I started to speak, they wanted to open it up to more, more of those priests, and I'm gonna challenge them on the authority of scripture, I'm gonna challenge them on purgatory, I'm gonna challenge them on confession, and going before a priest and not God directly, and all these different areas of scripture, normal dialogue, healthy dialogue, but at some point God says here, hold the line, speak the truth, and lovingly challenge this group of people, if they're open for it, but John Calvin writing on this whole thing of, the shadow of Peter, falling on people, he said the papist, which are those who are in the church, are deceiving by the wrong use they make of this verse, not only do they get support for false miracles, which they say take the place at the tombs of martyrs, but they use it to vaunt the relics, which means to push the relics on people, they would say look here's Peter's tooth, $10,000, you have 10,000, I've got Peter's tooth, I've got Peter's right hip, I've got, I've got, Paul's ankle bone, I've got, and they would, or come to it, and they go oh, this is, I can't believe Paul's tooth, I mean that would be pretty cool for sure, but there's no power in that, and you begin to worship that, you begin to focus on that, and that's where the Mary worship came in, it's from the same type of thing, so you can see this four or 500 years ago, that people use these types of verses, that's why you have to look at the context, of different things, but it's interesting that even the shadow would fall, that would heal people, and even a cloth, or Jesus's garment, God uses different things, and many times it's because people are exercising, their faith, but be careful, here's a warning, there's a fine line between faith and presumption, when I walk out in faith God is moving, when I walk out and I presume something, I'm falling on my face, what's the difference? The big difference is this, trust in God's word and his principles, that's faith, Lord I'm trusting in your word, I'm trusting in your principles, I'm using integrity, I'm using wisdom, I'm walking out in what I know your word says, and I'm trusting that, presumption though sometimes saying well I'm not sure, and usually when you're presumptuous, you're moving quickly, very quickly, faith waits on God, presumption moves quickly, just move quickly, now there's times to move quickly, when you have to move quickly, but for the most part, that's where people get in trouble, they don't wait on God, and allow him to open doors, they just move quickly, they buy something they regret, have you ever done that? A big something? Do you know that's what caused the financial crisis in 2008, nine and I think we might be seeing one coming up again shortly, because of these things, they just assume and they move into these, not using wisdom and waiting, so that's the difference, this would help you, when it comes to faith, trust God, look to his word and move slowly, those who wait upon the Lord, not rush, will renew their strength, they'll gain wisdom, and we also see people healed, the closer you draw to God via purity, the more you will know his will, it's interesting, Jesus didn't pray for everyone, I don't know if you've ever realized that, he went to the pool and healed one person, in different areas, but everybody he prayed for, everybody he wanted to heal was healed, but he didn't choose every single person, in that whole area, so the closer we get to God, I believe the more you will see, and you'll sense his presence, you'll know who to pray for in regard to healing, and then we see also the final thing, tormented, tormented by unclean spirits, do you think there's unclean spirits today? Well there might be some in this room, it's just tormenting, what does tormenting mean? Plagued, haunted, distressed, they're in agony, they're tormented, so when these apostles filled with purity, filled with God, would go and speak, they could cast out, they could remove this tormenting spirit, because torment works two ways, the devil can torment, but Jesus torments the devil, I believe we as believers can torment the devil, in this regard, we can plague him, haunt him, distress him, and put him in agony, by walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, Shane do you have a proof text for that? Oh quite a few, but let's start with one, when Jesus hopped out of the boat, if we have the same spirit in us, that he had in him, the Holy Spirit, he stepped out of the boat, the man filled with a legion of demons, the demons said don't torment us, don't cast us, don't torment us, Jesus, so you see two different sides, you see many people claiming to believers, maybe they are saying don't torment me devil, but you have the devil saying don't torment me Jesus, see they're not co-equal, Jesus Christ is the name that is above that name, the enemy comes in, he wants to torment, he wants to upset, he wants to, that's what he wants to do, he wants to ruin your testimony, he wants to grab your power, the spiritual power, and he wants you to be ineffective for God, and he'll use tormenting type things, now this would take a whole sermon on its own, demonized, has a demon, and how that works, but if you open yourself up to demonic activity, and you give the enemy a stronghold, a foothold, he will use that, he will use that, that's why it just bothers me when so many people are watching that movie Ouija, and all these movies that are dark and satanic, and you're opening a door, you're not being filled with the spirit when you're allowing that in, when those things entertain you something is wrong, darkness should never entertain a believer, a believer should be repulsed by darkness, and there's so much more, he's gonna talk about what the Bible says about purity, maybe we'll turn this into part two, but Proverbs 29 says this, who can say I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin, who can say that, who can say that, I have cleansed my own heart, I am pure from my sin, we can't say that, so the Bible has two different types of people, the defiled, which means they are defiled, means they are still in the world, they do not have Christ, or the undefiled, have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, that's how true purity exists, now a believer who can be washed by the blood of Christ can still dabble in this defilement, they can still grab from this defilement, from this old nature, and they pull things in that begins to defile them, so that's why Paul says, come out from among them, be separate, and well Shane can you give examples, no you know the examples, what are eyes look at, what we're allowing into our mind, all these things our cause can defile us, so that's what I want to focus on, as we're gonna close in a little bit, is a recommitment to purity, a recommitment to purity, and to remind you and I'm reminding myself, that God is a covenant keeping God, this is something I want you to always remember about God, when God says if you do this, I will do this, you can hold him to that, you can hold him to that, he will not go back on his word, he will not say no I didn't really mean it, when God says if my people humble themselves, and pray he will do this, if you desire, if you I will pour water on those who are thirsty, on a dry and barren land, I will pour water on you, if you are thirsty, whoever drinks of this water will never thirst again, you can hold him to that, Jesus cried if anyone, if anyone in the same cry goes out today, if anyone is thirsty, come on to me all your weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, if you are thirsty I will fill you, if you believe on me as the scriptures say, not some phony fake American culture church Christianity, but if you believe on me as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water, you can hold him to that, and I was reading a small book this week, it's called when God stepped down from heaven, that'd be a good sermon title actually, when God stepped down from heaven, and it talks about all these different revivals, I think this revival was in Welsh many years ago, or in Scotland area, and it started, they all start in small prayer rooms, not just people praying before God, they're not in a hurry, and we got 10 minutes to pray, you know they're waiting on God, and they're praying, and God would bring revival in those places, and I know a lot of people are like, well Shane I don't really know what that is, trust me when it ever would occur in your life, personally here you would know it, there's a marked difference, everything changes, everything changes, you're not in a hurry, we're not hungry, we want more of God, this we can't understand or explain, this powerful move of God's spirit, I mean you read the book of Acts, it happened there, you read church history, it happens, so anyway this young man stood up in a prayer meeting, he said Lord you have made a promise, God you have made a promise, and think about this, are you going to fulfill it? We believe that you are a covenant keeping God, will you be true to your covenant? You said that you will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and he went on to say, Lord I don't know about these other people, but I know about my own heart, God I am thirsty, I am hungry for more of you, to pour water on this dry and barren soul, God you said it, and I want it, and Lord before I sit down, let me remind you that your honor is at stake, I kind of shuddered at that one when I read it, but he's right, he's absolutely right, when God says something his honor is at stake, he must fulfill it, so when the Bible says if you pursue me you will find me, that will happen, if you call upon me I will answer, and I don't know where some of you are, but you need to call upon the name of the Lord, in your sin or in your worry, in your doubt, you need to call upon him, he will answer, this isn't some fake phony type of Christianity, we'll try out, God says you meet me, you will find me, you seek me, you will find me, prodigal son come home, and I will welcome you with loving arms, you're thirsty, I will satisfy you, if you are broken I will mend you, God actually told the prophet, I believe it was Ezekiel, when all the leaders had fell, he said I will bring back my people that were driven away, I will bind up the broken, I will strengthen the sick, but the fat the proud the arrogant, I will feed in judgment, thus sayeth the Lord, oh my God take him at his word, if you're contending for your marriage, do what the Bible says, love your spouse as Christ loved us, die for them, if you're struggling with doubt and unbelief, come to the father and say Lord, I need you to honor your word, your honor is at stake, God I'm struggling with these things, but your word says, if I repent of my sin, humble myself and seek your face, God you will heal me, God I'm holding you to your word, your honor is at stake, there's nothing wrong with that, that's a church who knows who God is, that's a church who knows who God is, do you truly believe the God who created all of this, cannot honor what he says, it's interesting they say if you pull, you know those little tape measures you have, if you pull that over the entire span of the universe, and you move just gravity one inch, it cannot support life here on earth, he, all of those, the hydrogen levels, the oxygen, the nitrogen, the gravitational pull, everything is so finely tuned to life, that it's a fool who said in his heart, there is no God, here's the problem, here's what happens, we've embraced microwave Christianity, my marriage isn't healed today, you know you're right, it took years to destroy it, it might take years to rebuild it, well he didn't relieve me of this, that's right, it could be, it's a battle, it's warfare, when the enemy has a stronghold, he doesn't just give up, this kind cometh not out except by prayer and fasting, we just give up I think too soon, God says pursue me, seek me, you will find me, either we believe that or we don't, here's what happens, I tried it on Sunday, I even put on air one on my way home chain, and I didn't go by In-N-Out Burger, and I fasted for two hours, and God has not delivered me from this, right because that's your conditions, that's your conditions, the father will tell you what to do, when to do it, how often to do it, how long to pursue him, maybe it's me, but I've seen him set people free, I've seen heroin addicts give it up, I've seen people, alcohol, never touch it again, I've seen pornography, they get rid of it, I've seen anger, anger, where they're so angry, just God, as they begin to seek him, see the issue is we have a seeking problem, we have a seeking problem, everything's on sale, it's quick, but seeking God's not quick, it takes time to seek him and to pursue him, but he is a covenant keeping God, what he said he will fulfill, in his time frame, not ours, that's the difference.