This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God, highlighting the struggle to let go of our troubles and the hindrances that hold us back. It addresses the need for genuine repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit for salvation. The message warns against mocking the work of the Holy Spirit and encourages a humble and receptive heart to God's leading.

Many of you know what's been in the paper with Sergeant Owen and his, we call it a murder, it's horrific. But when the shooter was taken to court on Friday, it was actually Jason who took him. And I was, you know, we're texting back and forth on Friday. You know, it's just a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard place to be. But as Christians, we can't allow that frustration and anger to build up. But we've got to be that bridge and that gap. And the things, it's interesting because the media will paint a picture that there's an agenda there. Because I also remember, I think it was a couple months ago, Jason can correct me if I'm wrong. But he was taking an African American girl to LA and she had a seizure and flatlined on the 101 freeway. So he's on the side of the freeway reviving her. So why don't we see those kind of things, you know, as well. And the media will twist things. And I think it's good for the pulpit to bring some clarity in there. And we know that there's a lot of good citizens in the valley. And don't let a few things here and there paint this horrific picture of what's going on. But in my opinion, it's a battle. People don't like the truth of God's word. They don't like authority. They don't like the good and different things. Of course, no police force is perfect. No nation is perfect. No church is perfect. But the people that I know in this valley, I can honestly say I've written about it before. I don't know one police officer that's a racist. Or I don't have any racist friends. Maybe I won't have any racist friends, obviously. But I don't see that. Now, granted, it's there. And it's real. I understand that. But let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater and assume that everybody's bad. Some of the people who watch my house when we go on vacation are an African-American neighbor across the street. I mean, we don't have – those of us who are believers are colorblind. So you have to go into the culture and make that difference and stop the fire and not fuel that fire. Yesterday was interesting. I was parked at the post office on 50th Street West. And many of you know where it is. There's Domino's and then a Don Cuco's or Don Juan's Mexican restaurant. And I'm sitting there at the stop sign getting ready to turn right. And here goes this Hispanic waiter running up the hill chasing a guy who didn't pay his bill. I'm like, oh, Lord, I'm turning right. I'm turning right. And I didn't get very far. I'm like, oh, man. So I go back, and I just get up next to him in my car. And by then, he's at the top of the hill, and he's hitting on him. I said, hold on, hold on. What's going on? This guy didn't pay the money. He said, settle down. I'll go back and pay it. You don't need to do that. And then the guy who was drunk started mouthing off. He said, listen, you're tired and you're drunk. You don't want to be mouthing off to me right now. Okay, just relax. Just relax. You're going to go down, and you're going to apologize for what you did. I'm going to pay your bill. And he said, okay, thank you. And so I walked down. I was driving my truck. He's walking down. I'm telling him about God and the church and get his life right and all these things. And so I'm feeling pretty good. But God gave me a wonderful ministry opportunity. And then here comes this little car racing up the hill. Hop in, hurry. And he hops in the back seat, and they take off. I'm like, man. I was angry. I'm like, I'm going to go turn around and get that license plate. But anyway, I went back to the Mexican restaurant, paid the bill. The waiter was thankful he doesn't make a lot of money, and they have to pay those bills if people run out on them. So my flesh is like, just go home. You're in a hurry. Go home. You don't need to get involved in this mess. But he was hitting him in the concrete, and it was not going good. Just stop it right there. Be the light. I wish I could tell you. No, don't clap. Because I was getting, you know, the flesh was not wanting to go up there. And the more the drunk guy kept mouthing, I just, you know, the pastor side was not coming out. It's like, you want me to hop out of this truck and help that guy? I'm paying you. But he just lost his job. He's intoxicated and telling he needs to get his life right with the Lord. And this is God, you know, you could be going to jail right now, so you need to be quiet. And so anyway, just an example of God showing me to do something I didn't want to do, but felt the need to stop that violence that was happening. And, of course, other people are looking, right? But nobody's doing anything. I wonder what's happening. And nobody wants to get involved, and that's half the problem. So you came here to hear the Word of God, and that's why I'm here as well. So you can turn your Bibles to Acts 2. The title of the message is The Blessing of Brokenness. The Blessing of Brokenness. And this is not going to be a topical sermon. What topical is, is you take a topic and you expound upon it, you bring in Scripture. We're going to go through the book of Acts here. But I notice a thread here with the blessing of brokenness. But in contrast, we like, I don't know, maybe you don't, but I do, I like to return broken items. When something's broken, I'm returning it. Nothing is of value if it's broken. And if it doesn't work, throw it in the trash. It's broken. And we get upset when something breaks. So it's kind of hard for us sometimes that this word brokenness, we don't like, do you want your kids jumping on a broken trampoline? Or a broken, do you want them going into a broken building? Or if we said, you know, our building's pretty broken right now. We're going to try to worship, but if there's an earthquake, run for cover as quick as you can. We just, this image of broken is not good. But in God's economy, it's a wonderful thing. Because there are some things we understand to be broken. Do you know before you ride a horse, it's always, often broken? Or a baseball glove, you pick one up, try using it. It's not going to work. It has to be broken. Broken in. The soil. Before a farmer tills the land, what's he do? Breaks it up. So the same thing in God's economy. The opposite with God. He can only use a broken person. And I talk about this a lot. Don't worry, I'm not going to stay here most of the morning, even though I'd like to. But God only uses broken people. To the degree you break yourself, God will fill you with His Spirit. And it's through that brokenness that we rely on Him. And we become, in my opinion, more spiritually mature. So we're going to recap Acts 2. And the first point about the blessing of brokenness is it leads to spiritual growth. So if God is breaking you, do you ever have a difficult season in your life? There's a difficulty and there's a breaking that's taking place. That will often lead to spiritual growth. You will not grow spiritually unless you go through something. Have you ever seen a person in really good shape? Their shirt's breaking, their muscles and all this. They had to break that body down in order for it to be built up. The same thing spiritually. You'll have to be broken down. We don't humble ourselves often. God has to humble us. So the first point is the blessing of brokenness is it leads to spiritual growth. And that's what happened the birthday of the church, Acts 2. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire. And one sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now I'm not going to make a big deal of this because I did the last two weeks. So go listen to the last two weeks worth of messages if you haven't already. But I ponder this point. If this happened today, how many of you would stick around? How many people would we lose next week if this happened? Well, Shane, the Bible says this about tongues. Oh, I know. I'm not talking about superseding the Scripture. But if God's presence fell in such a powerful way that the place somewhat shook and we were on our faces before God in tears, and it was hard for me to speak and we couldn't worship, God revealed himself powerfully. These men and women were filled with the Spirit, epi, upon them. And the Holy Spirit came upon them. It reminds me of when Jesus said, For the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has called me to minister to the gospel to the poor and different things. What would happen in the church if something like this happened? Have you ever thought about that? Well, people probably say, man, this is amazing. Or others mocking. And we're going to see that in a minute here. This was revival. God visited his people in a powerful way. This was revival. And there's always preparation. Men and women, hear me good on this. There's always preparation to receive from God. You've got to prepare your hearts to receive from God. A preparation has to take place. You can't come here on Sunday and expect to receive from God if your heart's not prepared and open to receive. If it's just going through the motions and there's no receptive heart, you will not receive. It's like somebody trying to hand me something with my fist like this. The heart was not open. He wasn't willing to receive. And, for example, that guy yesterday was not willing to talk to me until he understood what I was doing. I'm paying your bill. The police aren't coming. You're not going to jail right now. Because me and this guy can't hold you here. Then it softened. Then he was willing to receive. Then the second point, filled with the Spirit. The blessing of brokenness. These disciples, these people, were with one accord. They were broken before the Lord, and they were filled with His Spirit. So here's the crowd's response. Here's what would probably happen here too. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and they were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of our own language in which we were born? And then verse 9 and 10, I believe, goes on to talk about all the different languages they heard. But somehow God supernaturally filled these people with His Spirit. As a result, the fruit of the Spirit, in this case, was the gift of tongues. That these disciples spoke in a language not known to themselves, but known to everyone around them, that clearly this is God moving. We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, Whatever could this mean? Whatever, this is wonderful, whatever could this mean? Others, mocking, said they are full of new wine. They're drunk, that's what they're doing. What would you say to this group? Think about that, what would you say to this group? And if you're interested in the topic of tongues, I spoke about that last week. I'm not going to go there in this direction, suffice it to say this, obviously it was a very good thing in the book of Acts at the early church. So it's hard for me now, if somebody is given that gift, to say, oh no, that's of the devil. That's not for today, that left many, many years ago. Decades ago, actually 200 years ago when the Bible was canonized. We don't need those anymore, and I can't find that anywhere in scripture. Now do we see abuses, do we see things out of context, do we see people disrupting services? Absolutely. But if God created the heavens and the earth, I have no problem thinking the Holy Spirit can give somebody a language that they don't understand from a heart of worship. The Holy Spirit crying Abba Father for us. Think about this, and I talk to them often, and there's people here this morning, so I want to respect that, but if they don't believe in this gift, or it's for today, were you embarrassed for these early disciples? I mean obviously this was a good thing, and a God thing. So I'm just careful there, because I've mocked people that I shouldn't have mocked. I've ridiculed people in my past that I shouldn't have as a young adult, and the encouragement there is to be careful. So they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Others mocking said to them, they are full of new wine. They were full of new wine. So two responses, this is amazing, or do you mock? And when people mock, it's usually because it's on a conservative side. And I've told you before, if I were to lean in any direction, I lean to the conservative side of things, obviously. So when you mock though, many times we mock because we say, oh that's just too emotional. We don't understand that, or I've never experienced that, so that must not be of God. Well, how is that relevant today? Well, because people say the same thing. I've never experienced that, so God must not be able to do that. So be careful, because that can become a form of mocking. Verse 14, this is a good time to check your phones too. Verse 14, point three, the blessing of brokenness. Openness to God's will. We are open to God's will. When you are a broken person, you are very open to God's will. Not my will, Lord, but your will be done. I'm open to your will. I'm broken before you. So if you're having a hard time determining God's will, if you don't know God's will, are you truly broken before Him? Are you a man or a woman saying, Lord, whatever you want, I'm here for you, and then removing those things that you know God is calling you to remove. Verse 14, but Peter standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said, listen, you want to hear a perfect sermon? This is it. This is a perfect sermon. You've got boldness, you've got practical application, you've got looking to Scripture, you've got severe conviction, and then you bring hope. It's a perfect sermon. So Peter standing up, oh, he raised his voice. See, I'm okay. I'm in good company. Peter raised his voice and said to the men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words, for these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day. In the third hour of the day, the Jewish calendar, they would go from sunrise to sunset, probably 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. So the third hour, 7, 8, 9 a.m. could be there. I didn't really look into this too much, other than knowing the Jewish calendar, and that's, in my opinion, what it would be around 9 o'clock in the morning or so. So he's saying, obviously, this is not the time that people will be drinking. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. If you have the King James, it says, this is that that was spoken by the prophet Joel, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. So Peter is saying, this is a fulfillment of prophecy, and it shall come to pass in the last days. They said it was the last days 2,000 years ago. So don't think Jesus could come any minute, but you might be here, you might see your grandkids here, and be prepared, be ready for that. Be prepared for His return, but it might be a while. We are in the last days, but they were 2,000 years ago. But Shane, things are ramping up. Oh, of course, for sure. But we don't know when that hour is coming. So it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. I'm not just going to anoint King David for this task. I'm not just going to anoint Solomon so he can prophesy and then withdraw. I'm not going to just anoint these craftsmen so they can build the temple and then withdraw. I'm going to pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. And on My maidservants and menservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. That would be a whole sermon right there, prophesy, prophecy. Prophesying is speaking God's Word boldly. God has gifted me to be that prophetic type of voice, to preach His Word boldly. He has not given me the gift of foretelling. I'm not good at foretelling. I can look at how a person is living and say, that's not going in a good direction. But prophecy, this boldness to speak His truth and prophesy, but also if you look under the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there's something given, the gift of prophecy, which means basically it's a supernatural act of God. He imparts something into a certain individual that gives them a glimpse into what is going to happen, and they can either comfort or warn a person. Now you see a lot of this, depending on what side of the scale you're on. The conservative side, you maybe see none of this. The charismatic side, you see way too much of this. What are the prophets saying? What are the prophets saying? What are the prophets saying? I don't care what the prophets are saying. What is Jesus Christ saying to you in His Word? Because you don't need a prophetic or a prophetic, what are the prophets saying? And half these guys, more than half, are just not on, they just, oh I feel like this, and here's what God said, be careful. Now you can share what might be on your heart, but a true prophetic word from God will be confirmed. And you want to be careful and say, I'm sensing this, I'm feeling this. I want to just warn you or encourage you, I don't know if it's, we'll see. And that's how it works. God gives supernatural things to people so they can, it helps. And that's what people don't understand. They say, well now that we have God's Word, we don't need any of these other gifts. Well, God's Word is true and sure, and we live our life based upon it. That's wonderful, but the gifts of the Spirit are to come alongside and supplement. Versus, you know, you're reading God's Word and somebody comes along and confirms something. Let me share something with you on this. I don't know if I've talked about this here at this church, I know I did Lancaster. I didn't write it down, I should have wrote it down. But about, I don't even know, I think it's written in the front of my Bible, 2003 it might have been, or 2002, I was at a church, I was invited to go to this church, and it was, you know, what they call a healing service kind of thing, and I was not going there with the right heart, if you know what I mean. I was going there to just kind of critique, and I was in my critiquing stage back then. I was worse back then, don't worry. And there's 250 people or so there, and just the week prior, maybe it was 2002, because I was getting ready to preach or so, it was 2000, and me and my wife were talking, I'm like, God, I can't keep doing these health and fitness seminars or all these things. God has put this, I mean like this, it's so bold and in your face, and people are going to think I'm arrogant. How do I know if this is God? See, you're not going to turn to a verse and find that. I don't know if I should give all this up, and is God calling me to preach? I don't know, and my wife would say, I was confused, we were praying about it. So we get to this thing, the worship is over, this guy says, this young man, would you stand up? I'm like, oh, darn it. And he said, and I should have wrote everything down, but something along the lines of that God is calling you, and it's not arrogance, it's boldness. And you need to do what God is calling you to do. It was the only person in the whole room that stood up that night. Oh, that was coincidence, really? That's not coincidence. He just nailed everything we were praying about that week. So it gave me the boldness and the courage to take that next step. And I said, okay, alright, God, if that's you, if this guy, boy, if he just got that right, he is the luckiest guy on the planet. Because I was about ready to say, oh yeah, sure, I'm going to be a blessing someday, and all this just general stuff, but he just, you know, and he actually said, you need to break out of the shell. And I knew what the shell was, it's people pleasing. I don't want to say anything wrong. So he just, for about a minute, just nailed everything that we talked about. So I left there just encouraged by God. Also, I want to share something with you. Two months prior to even talking about this merger a year ago, a pastor emailed me. I don't even know this guy real well. I've never been to his church. We've never talked. Maybe once a year if I see him at an event. He emailed me in July. He said, I was overwhelmed by the presence of God with a strange sense of urgency. At the same time these words came from my mouth, Pastor Shane will be leaving soon. I knew it wasn't because of a sin issue or anything negative. I felt that it was an opportunity that needed an immediate answer, similar to somebody moving because of a business opportunity. The urgency, I felt, had to do with the people of the church. They were confused because of how sudden it was. It happened so quick there was very little time of warning. Again, I didn't feel there was a sin issue or anything, but I felt it was a good thing but very quick. So when I first heard it, I'm like, phew, he's way off. I mean, these guys, I'm not going anywhere. I'm living here for the rest of my life. And then the merger started talking. I'm like, well, okay, but he's still off here, right? I mean, this is not, I'm still in Lancaster. And then once Hope Chapel a month ago or so mentioned, hey, we need you, we need our building back, pretty abrupt. A lot of people felt this way, that it was taking out the whole, we're moving out. Now you could say, well, that was just coincidence, and maybe so. I don't take this to the bank. I didn't make a decision based upon it. But God uses these things to bring an extra level of confirmation and clarity so you can step in His will saying that you received a prophetic word or a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge. When it's done right, it's beautiful. When it's done bad, it's ugly. That's why charismatic Pentecostals have a bad reputation because everybody's got a word. Everybody's this and that. It's all about all these things. A word of knowledge is just God supernaturally revealing something to you that will help somebody else. It's not a bad thing if it's done right. Dreams, visions, to warn. How is Joseph warned to flee and take Jesus with him? How are the wise men warned? I mean, so God can use these things. I will pour out my Spirit in the last days, and they will prophesy. They will see visions. They will have dreams because that's God's Spirit working. See, it's God's Spirit working in us to bring these things to fruition. That's how these things work. If I had more time, I could expound on them. But that's, in a nutshell, visions, dreams, prophecy. They're not bad things. They are supplemental to the Word of God. In other words, I'm reading the Word of God daily, all the time. But I was not prepared for what that person told me. That wasn't anywhere. I couldn't turn to Isaiah or read that. I couldn't turn to Psalm. Now you can have the sensing of the Holy Spirit confirming things in God's will. I wouldn't have needed that prophetic word to step out of ministry. But God uses these things to help us in the process. So, as a church, we don't believe that those gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased. But we are extremely careful because you can get into fanaticism and weirdness and things that are not of God. So we have to be very careful in that area. Fourth point about brokenness, it results in humility. You know this already. And I was just curious. I want to throw it out there. Email me or let me know if you can. Can you name one prideful person, just a prideful, arrogant man or woman who is filled with the God Spirit? I mean, I tried hard this week to think. Just one. Now, we all struggle with pride. Yours truly. I know the balcony I might have fooled. But I don't have my wife fooled. We all struggle with pride. And people use this against me. What I'm saying right now, people will use this against me. They don't go here and say, Oh, I heard you said you're prideful. Yeah. We all struggle with pride. And if you don't, that means you really do. If you don't think you do. Because pride is that human nature wanting to be right, wanting to get the last word. So I have to say, No, pride. You're not gaining that stronghold on me today. I can be wrong. I don't need to make all the decisions. And you just have to work on a daily basis. A humble person recognizes they are prideful, but they're working on it and repenting and not making prideful decisions. So we all are prideful. Your spouse might think you're not or vice versa. But we all know that we are prideful. And I cannot think of one prideful person. What I mean by that is just arrogant. You know they're arrogant. When you see them, you just want to avoid them. Or when you talk to them, you're like, Lord, just hurry up. I cannot stand. The pride just permeates. It's like, man, I don't care how good you're at this and this and this and this. It just makes me sick. And that person will not be filled with God's Spirit. Verse 22, Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst. This is amazing. Jesus never failed. When he prayed for somebody to be healed, they were healed. Set free, they were set free. And Lazarus, arise and wake up a boy in a coffin. Sit up the girl. All these things. People saw it. You couldn't say, oh, that one didn't happen. This one, I did, the doctors lied. No, he just walked for three years and people saw all these miracles. And they still rejected him. So that's what Peter's saying. You yourselves know. You've seen this. Being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and have crucified and put him to death. So on one hand, he says that you put Christ on the cross. Your lawless hands, your evil, wicked hands did not recognize the Messiah. However, it was God's predetermined plan before the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth. So in God's predetermined plan, he allowed this to happen, Romans 8.28. For we know that all things work together for good for those who are called according to God, called according to His purpose. And sometimes we have a hard time understanding that. And here we see the wonderful thing that you can rest in tonight with all the violence going on, with everything that's going on out there. Just reading yesterday that two policemen shot and killed in Palm Springs. We're not going in a good direction. If it's ever a time for humility and brokenness, the time is now. This is important because... I don't know if I should get to that point yet or not. Well, let me just stick with God's sovereignty because this will take away a lot of ease, a lot of fear. If you can rest in His sovereignty, God is sovereign. His sovereign plans will prevail. If it's Hillary, if it's Trump, His plans will prevail. If we begin to reject Israel, His plans... Somehow His sovereignty will prevail. That's why when people ask me even about salvation or God... If I'm going to lean, I'm going to lean towards God's sovereignty. I'm trusting in God's sovereignty. However, these people were responsible for their actions. And the people are held accountable for their actions. So God is sovereign. I've read from D.L. Moody. I remember Chuck Smith throwing a book about sovereignty and God's will and Calvinism and reading all these things. I've read Martin Luther debating Erasmus. I've read St. Augustine debating Pelagian. And from that comes Pelagianism and all these different debates. But all we know is God is sovereign. You can rest in that. His sovereign plans will prevail. He can redirect an entire nation. He can redirect a church. He can redirect your prodigal son or daughter. He is sovereign. But we will be held responsible for our actions. And how that works is a mystery. It's a mystery. C.H. Spurgeon said, Man's will and God's sovereignty runs like two parallel lines and we don't know where they cross until eternity. Because I can show you Scripture after Scripture after Scripture what talks about you were not willing. I wish that I were persuaded. You stiff-necked people always resisting the Holy Spirit. You're suppressing the truth. So it tells me these people are suppressing, resisting. They're going to be held accountable. But God is sovereign. God will call. God will initiate. God will lead. His sovereign plans will prevail. And I thank God for that. Because that's who you rest in. That's who you rest in. I told you school shootings would increase four or five years ago. What's happening? Because the world is not going in a very good direction. So you rest in God's sovereignty. It's the only anchor that will never fail. It's the only foundation that will never rot. It's that sovereignty. So that's what he's saying. By God's sovereign hands, he allowed this to happen. For David said, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart rejoiced, my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also rested in hope. David, thousands of years ago, well from here, from this point, B.C., so it's probably 1,500 years or so. Don't hold me on any of this. I didn't study the years. But a long time ago, David foresaw this. He was joyful about the coming of the Lord. Therefore, my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad, my flesh rested in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. Basically, Jesus is not going to stay in the grave, and his body is not going to corrupt and go back to the dirt. He's not going to let Christ see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. He quoted David. So, v. 29, Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you, as if he hasn't already, of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us today. Therefore, being a prophet, foretelling what would happen, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Okay. That's a lot there. Let's break this down, because people say, did Jesus go to hell? Was he in hell for a while? Did he have to suffer? Hades is a compartment, basically. Hades, the word used to describe the dead in the Hebrew is Sheol, and the Greek word is Hades. It's basically the place of the dead. So you have this place of the dead, Hades. Now, this would be Gehenna. The camera won't pick it up, but that's too bad. That's Gehenna, hell, and this is Abraham's bosom. Okay, you see how that works? So the compartment, this is what he's talking about here. This Hades, it's the compartment. Some go to Gehenna, hell, and some here are in Abraham's bosom. Right? So far, making sense. So, when it says here that Jesus, the soul was not left in Hades. He was not left there in that compartment, in Abraham's bosom. He did not, many theologians agree, that he did not immediately go to heaven because he told the thief, I'll tell you the truth, this day I will be with you, in paradise, in this area, Abraham's bosom it was called to. So when Jesus went there, when it talks about setting the captives free, he opened the door and set the captives free to go with him to be with God. So that's the difference, that's the distinction. Hell is still hell, Sheol, but then Hades, the place of the dead, this whole place of the dead, this compartment was Abraham's bosom. It's where Jacob, where was Jacob at in Abraham? And all the Old Testament saints, they were here, so Jesus came, and I believe when it says he let the captives free, set the captives free, he went into this compartment, opened that door and into heaven they went. So that's the difference where you hear words like Sheol, Hades, Gehenna. The Greek word for hell is Gehenna, and that's what they would use often throughout the New Testament. And the righteous go directly into the presence of Christ now. Verse 32, This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses, therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out that which you now see and hear. So he's going back to the people being shaken. Can you imagine the place being shaken, and people are, what's going on? They come and they see this. So Peter's saying this is what you see and what you hear, and I want to remind you, any time the Holy Spirit is moving here or in your heart, in your life, you will see it and you will hear it. You will see it in your works. You have to do something. I have to go stop that guy running up the mountain, up the hill. You have to go to the hospital homes. The Holy Spirit, you see it, but you also hear it. That's why I don't really agree with, I think it was St. Francis of Assisi, it's a wonderful quote, you know, preach the gospel and only use words if necessary. Now I know what he's saying, it's a good thing, but we're supposed to use words. It can become an excuse for not doing anything. I'm never going to mention the hill or anything about God or anything. I'm never going to do any of that. I'm just going to live it. We're supposed to live it. What about if Peter said that? Hey guys, just watch this over the next couple of months. Just watch this and you'll see what this is. Oh no, he raised his voice and he said you lawless men and women, you put Christ on the cross, that's filled with the Spirit because nobody's going to say that if it's not filled with the Spirit. Nobody at all. They would be apologizing. I don't know what this odd behavior is. I don't know. It's just weird. I don't know. Let me jump on your side. Let's tear these guys down. That's what he did before he was filled, wasn't it? The young servant girl said, your speech betrays you, Peter. You were with him. You were with the Christ. You know him. No, I don't. He cursed at Christ. Now he's filled with the Spirit. Now it's going to get interesting. I'm going to step on some toes if I haven't already. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel... He's telling all... I mean, who knows? They don't have a speaker system. There are just thousands of people out there. He's saying this. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know surely that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Savior and Lord. That's an important part. Both Savior and Lord. We can't cling to sin and Savior at the same time. And there was a big debate back in the 80s. It's called the Lordship Salvation. People actually said, you can have Him as Savior, but not as Lord. And you won't find one Scripture that supports that. Granted, there's grace and sanctification. It's a process. You don't just instantly become Billy Graham. It's a process. But there's no Scripture supporting that you can have Him as Savior and not Lord. I like what GotQuestions.org said. Is it possible to be a Christian and live in lifelong carnality, enjoying the pleasures of sin and never seeking to glorify the Lord who bought him? Can a sinner spurn the Lordship of Christ yet claim Him as Savior? Can someone pray a sinner's prayer and go about his life as if nothing has happened and still call himself a Christian? No! No! No! You know why I'm so frustrated this morning? Because not many of you need to hear this. I wish I could tell 300 people out there. Line up Lancaster Boulevard. Hey, there's this event. There's a church. They're going to tell you something. That's who needs to hear this. But you can't call Him Savior and not Lord. The reason you call Him Savior and not Lord many times is the person is not saved. Or they're not filled with the Spirit. They're very carnal. Because it's impossible. Can you imagine saying, yes, He's my Savior, but He's not my Lord. Who does this guy think He is? But that's what I used to do in my teens and early 20s. Maybe some of you still do that. Older, younger. He's not a divided Savior. What He's saying there is He's Christ, the Anointed One, the Savior, that's come to save us. But He's also Lord. It means He's ruler. He's reigning. If He's saved me, He's over me. A.W. Tozer said, if He's not Lord of all, He's not Lord at all. Now, some of us can get, anytime I say that statement too, I get people come up afterwards and say, well, He's not perfect. I'm not saying that. You know what I'm saying, right? I wouldn't be up here. He's Lord of my life in every single area. Everything. There's nothing wrong in any area of my life. I try to give Him. Sometimes financially, if it's hurting financially, like I don't need to give this week. And you start to trust your flesh or you get upset at things. The shooting really brought out just anger in me and frustration. And I didn't know what to do with that. I was sad and hurt and mad and all these things. And Lord, I need to give You that. I need to give You that part of my life. Letting this flesh come in and dominate. So just be very careful. You cannot cling to sin and Savior at the same time. Here's the difference. We still will sin. There's something called perfectionism in the early Methodist movement. Holiness movement is where that term came from. Who said you could actually live perfect. You could reach a state of, you can research it. John Wesley's group. Not everybody embraced it. But the reason they believe that is because the Scripture teaches that you don't have to sin. That through the power of the Holy Spirit you can make the choice turn from sin. John will write, Dear beloved, I pray that you do not sin. You have an advocate. So the ability is there, but to try to get through our life without ever sinning, I've never seen anybody reach that pinnacle. So we have to realize that yes, we will fall from time to time. We will, like we talked about Wednesday, this little bad guy right here. He's right back in there. That's what gets us in trouble, right? That's about all I just want to say. All the fight. Wednesday night. You should come Wednesday night. You'll hear more about that little tongue. What he's doing is he's transmitting what's already going on in the heart. That battle. So we can make him Savior and Lord. And the fifth point about brokenness. The blessing of brokenness is it leads to salvation. You will never, ever find a person who comes to saving faith in Christ who was not first broken. Will you? Can you think of one person that was just prideful and arrogant? I guess I'll give my life to the Lord. I'll repent. I don't know why I'm doing this. I can run my own life. I don't know. I'm not doing this, but I guess I have to just in case there is a hell out there. Nobody. You will never, ever, ever see a prideful, arrogant person coming to know the Lord unless they're first broken. Because broken, the broken heart allows the penetrating message of the gospel to come in. So a broken heart is a repentant heart. And it's also, I want to throw this out there to somebody. If you're unsure if somebody's truly repentant and broken, do they have a heart of restitution? Because we're going to read a minute that these people said we're convicted. What must we do? And you'll see that in somebody who's truly sorry and truly repentant is they'll say, what can I do to restore this? How can I fix this wrong? I'm truly broken over this. And this is what should happen when a person hears this kind of message Peter gave. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. I bet they were. He just, just shift your thinking for a minute. Can you imagine somebody telling you and you were there, that you actually threw rocks at Him or spat on Him? You cursed Him? You mocked Him? That some of us put Him on the cross? Can you imagine the guilt and the shame for those who came to know the Lord? Now, theoretically, we've talked about this before, we all put Him on the cross. My sin, your sin, put Him on the cross. But being there, I can't even imagine God opening my eyes and seeing what I did if I was there. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? What shall we do? Then Peter said to them, repent, repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent. Repent. Change the way you think. Change the way you see yourself. In God's eyes, repent before Him. And then, guess what? Baptized. It doesn't say schedule it next month or next year. Repent and be baptized. And we've had a lot of baptisms lately and we have more signing up for. I would encourage you, be baptized if you haven't. Even if you did when you were a little infant, if you're older, you don't remember what you did, be baptized. It's a sign of what God is doing in your heart. It's basically a sign of commitment. And not continuing to fight Him in this area. So repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sin. He's basically saying, repent, confess your sins to God, and then show me your sincere, go down to the chilly Jordan River and be baptized in front of all your friends and relatives. That'll show the true conversion is taking place. So the person who says, no, I'm not ready for that, has probably not been grabbed by the power of God. They want the get out of jail free card or get out of hell free card. But, oh no, baptism, I'm not ready for that. I've had people say that. Oh, Shane, I'm not ready for that step. What did you do then? What was that about? It was, well, you tugged on my emotional heartstrings, let me raise my hand, I guess I don't want to go to hell. But then when it comes to walking it out, that's where the rubber meets the road. And this is one of the things with like Greg Laurie or Billy Graham and the Crusades, I've actually worked on the grass area, Greg Laurie's Crusades, and I love them. If I wasn't doing this, I'd probably be doing that. But they'll even admit that the conversion rate is not really high. I don't know, 10, 15% of all the people who walk down are actually really converted. And the reason is because you can get emotionally charged. There goes my friends, there goes my wife. Oh, gosh, I don't want to be sitting up here. And you go down, or you paint this picture of hell, and I don't want that hell. And you go down there, and see, that's where it's an emotional thing. That's where it's an emotional thing. But baptism will weed that out really quick, won't it? If you're really serious, we've got 10 pools over here. And profess your faith in Christ and you'll be baptized. How many people would not move forward? Because the heart hasn't been changed. And I'm asked this quite often. People say, why don't you have altar calls? I used to do that early on, and I've done that before, and I think it's a good thing. But I also have seen more people than not raise their hand or come forward, and nothing changes. And here I am going. You can ask my wife. When God first began to call me to speak, I'd get half the room to raise their hand. Oh, gosh, am I going to heaven? I don't know. I was preaching in Wisconsin, American Baptist Association meeting, big general conference before they split up because of the gay marriage issue. And the whole first three rows were kids in the choir raising their hands. Wait a minute. Did they not hear me? What's going on here? But it's because they don't hear messages like this. They hear the soft, cozy stuff, so you wonder how many of those people were converted. So it's not a bad thing at all. But we can rest in the fact, knowing that if you present the gospel, and you say you need Christ, you need to repent tonight, you don't have to necessarily raise your hand. You don't have to come up front. It's not what you're doing. It's your heart. I've had people call me and say, I was so mad when I left your service, but by the time I got home, God convicted me. I pulled over and prayed that I need Him. And I started to gauge the success. Well, God isn't moving. Nobody came forward. Look at all those people. But you're not really getting true and accurate numbers many times. I know denominations will actually fluff up the salvation numbers. How many came to faith? Six this month. Eight this month. Nine. So they're going, raise your hand, raise your hand. I know you need to raise your hand. And it becomes not how God designed it. Look what Peter did. He didn't say come forward. And again, I'm not against that. I'm going to speak in Hume Lake pretty soon. Thursday, Friday, I'll be back for the service. But I'm going to ask the men probably to come forward and make that profession of faith. I have no problem with it. But something has to change in your heart. My wife actually came forward at a Great Glory event many, many years ago. And I thank God for that. So God can work on that. But the main thing is not raising the hand or coming forward at what happens in the heart. So that's what he's saying. You repent. You be baptized. And then God will fill you with the Spirit. Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You cannot have the Holy Spirit without repenting. Now, this can be said a few different ways. You will not receive the Holy Spirit as a believer until you repent. But also, I believe, as I talked about, there's what they would call an endowment of power upon a person. So if a person is saved and like, I'm not going to get baptized, I'm not going to walk in obedience, they will not be filled fully with God's Spirit, in my opinion. Because it's one area of disobedience. And whenever we know there's an area of disobedience, and we continue in that disobedience, the filling of the Holy Spirit is not to the degree it can be or could be. Does that make sense? In other words, if we have areas we know that God is working on us in, and we say, I don't care about that, I'm not going to work in it, and we expect to be completely filled with the Spirit overflowing, have a passion for the things of God, it's not going to happen. Until that kink in the hose is taken out. Remember the story I told many, many months ago, my little boy, he was little, he had the water on full blast, and it was just dripping. Daddy, what's wrong with the water? It's not working. Oh, it's working. I said, go and take those three kinks out of the hose, and you won't be able to hold that water. That's the same thing in our lives, folks. When you quench and grieve the Spirit, it's the kinks in the hose. And when you start to open those, I mean, I know people that God would move mightily in their lives, in their hearts, that they would just remove that stubborn, arrogant, prideful attitude in their marriage. They always have to be the right one. They always have to put their spouse down. Always grumbling, grumbling, grumbling, complaining. I said, that's why you're not filled. You're never going to be filled. Or the person that holds on to that addiction. I just need that 12-pack every week. Well, then you're not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit to the degree you could be. I just need that. So be very careful, because God wants us to be filled with the Spirit. I'm not ashamed to say all these things. I'm unapologetic. Because Scripture supports it. Scripture supports it. Be filled with the Spirit. And that's what the church has. If we got back to that, you wouldn't see many arguments, disunity. You wouldn't see much of that. Because we would all be filled. How is the Holy Spirit going to argue against Himself? Have you ever thought about that? If the Holy Spirit is in me, and the Holy Spirit is in you, why are we not getting along? Hmm. Think of that through today. The reason is somebody or both is not yielded to the Holy Spirit. Because when the Holy Spirit is given, He's not going to argue against Himself. The devil won't even argue against Himself. Jesus said the devil and his kingdom is united. They are strong. They're not even divided. And then He finishes, verse 39, For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. So basically, who was saved in this whole picture? Who was saved? Those who said, this is amazing? Or those who mocked? I can tell you. Those who said, this is amazing. Whatever could this mean? Then they were open. Peter shot them straight. They came to know the Lord. This other group said, they're mocked. They're full of wine and drunk. I can tell. As soon as Peter started to go off, they said, I'm out of here. So that's the point for practical application on salvation. What are you saying? Are you mocking? Or are you receptive, saying, I need God? Or are you mocking God? Because you can't fight God your whole life. You die and you end up in hell. That's what happens. Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. There might be some truth to that. Of course there is. But we want to avoid it. Next week I want to talk about the price of popularity. That's what the church is seeking now. Popular people who tell them what they want to hear. It got so bad in Jeremiah's time. I believe it was Jeremiah 20 or Jeremiah 30, where the people said, don't send us the prophet and seers anymore. Just send us those who tell us what we want to hear. God said, you rebellious children. You rebellious children. Woe be to you, rebellious children, who devise plans but not of my spirit. And they were planning on aligning with Egypt. They wanted people. Get rid of these people. We want to hear smooth things. So that's the application here. If you don't know Christ, if you don't know Jesus, don't leave here today without saying, I need him. I'm repenting of my sin. And then let us know. Because there are two compartments. There's heaven, there's hell. Jesus spoke. I thought about this today. I actually heard a Francis Chan sermon this week, so it probably fired me up a little bit more so. But he made a great point. He said, how can we know? Now, I'm assuming most of you know this. Do you believe that hell is for eternity? Do you believe that it's what Jesus said, that you don't want to go there weeping, gnashing, out of teeth? It's terrible. There's nothing more horrific on the planet than this. Then why do we not tell anybody? Why do we not mention a word? Well, hopefully they'll read the Bible on their own and come to that point. Now, I don't think we should go around, you know, on the corner yelling at people. But you should say, hey, do you know where you're going if you die? Do you know that there is a heaven, there is a hell? It's true. And let God... See, what you're doing is you're speaking the truth and then let God deal with them. Because God's Spirit will take over from them. Thank you, Shane. Now let me take over. That's all he does in preaching. Thank you, Shane. Now get out of the way. Go sit down in the back and be quiet. Let me take over now. That's the same thing in witnessing. But on the other group I want to talk to real quick, and close on this, and I really mean close on this. There are people, and I come across them, especially when we post on Facebook, they are mocking the work of the Holy Spirit. They are mocking the worship's too passionate, you're too out there, the Holy Spirit, just too much, they're mocking the Holy Spirit. That's why I said this group is straight as a gun barrel, but they're just as empty. They're mocking a true work of the Holy Spirit. Because true work of the Holy Spirit affects your emotions. Why when I held my baby girl at A.B. Hospital for the first time I couldn't stop crying, I felt like a fool in front of the nurses. But we're not emotional with the things of God? We sing those songs about the cross, and we're not emotional? So be careful, because I know there's a group, a segment of Christianity that mocks, that mocks works of the Holy Spirit, that mocks the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that mocks any type of worship that's not written on page 22 of the hymnal, and done with a certain amount of instruments, all these things, be careful, very careful in this area, because you could be mocking God in this area. I remember I was in my twenties in church, my mom will remember, she's here, and I would go in, these people are nuts, my goodness. They're just nuts. Hands raised and giving glory to God, but they're nuts, they're weird. Let me go out and get drunk and head to Bakersfield, because George Strait's in town. Why were they weird? Because I wasn't filled with God's Spirit. And when God totally broke me, I stopped mocking the Holy Spirit, and started saying, God, give me whatever you want. I want all of the Holy Spirit, that's what I want for this church. I'm not afraid of that. I'm not afraid of God pouring out His Spirit. Now granted, people act differently. You have the Dodger fan who's painted blue, and you have the other Dodger fan with his son there, watching the game. They're both Dodger fans. But they're different. So be careful in this area too, because we can become wrongly judgmental. That's what these people did. Can you imagine this group that mocked them? And they said, oh, they're the drunk, and they're mocking God. They will never receive anything from God. The same thing today. Those who say, oh, they're just mocking the Holy Spirit, that's too charismatic. People leave here actually, go to other churches, and I've talked to them, and they go, why? Because you're too charismatic. Too charismatic? What do you mean? The songs are right? Yeah, it's too charismatic. We just want to be quiet. And the services are too long. There's too much worship. Oh, I know what's going on. The Holy Spirit doesn't have your heart. That's the bottom line. I've got to step on toes before people move their feet out of the way.