This sermon emphasizes the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, highlighting the need for a new heart through repentance and belief in Christ. It addresses the hindrances to experiencing the fullness of the Spirit, such as greed, pride, and a lack of love. The message calls for a baptism of love, where the overwhelming presence of God's love transforms hearts and motivates action.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Acts chapter 8. The title of the message is, Is the Holy Spirit Upon You? And you might say, Shane, we're talking a lot about the Holy Spirit this last few months, and we are because we're in the book of Acts. And it really shouldn't be called the Acts of the Apostles. What should it be called? The Acts of the Holy Spirit. And it's the Holy Spirit moving in the church. And I believe this topic, apart from salvation, hear me loud and clearly. Apart from salvation, this is the most important topic we can talk about. Because once you're saved, wonderful, but do you have the Holy Spirit in your life? Is the Holy Spirit upon you? So here's the question I'm going to throw out there. And I want to throw this out to people who have been coming to church a long time. You've probably been coming to church longer than I have. And you've maybe well versed in the Bible a lot more than I am. And you know theology, but let me throw out this question. Is there fire in your life? Is there fire in your life? What I mean by that, is there godly passion? Is there zeal? Now not just for His Word, but for others. Are rivers of living water flowing out of you? Are you spiritually alive? Because we're talking about a living, vibrant Word. The Word of God is living, it's vibrant, it changes everything. So if these areas are missing, if you don't like this topic, if you're getting a little uncomfortable, it's because you need to hear this topic. Is the Holy Spirit upon you? So turn to Acts 8, verse 14. Acts 8, verse 14. Now let me throw another question out while we're reading. We're going to talk about the Samaritans. Are these Samaritans believers? Are these Samaritans believers before the Holy Spirit falls upon them? Interesting. Are they believers, or are they not yet believers until the Holy Spirit falls upon them? So let's read. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. Now this is like us saying, the apostles here in Palmdale, when they heard that Santa Clarita received the Word of God, they sent apostles to them. That's about the distance from where they're going to Samaria. So they heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, so they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down to Samaria, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Is that interesting? For as yet, He had not fallen upon them. So these people received the Word of God, but the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when the apostles laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. Now isn't this interesting? These Samaritans received the Word of God. I mean, that leads us to believe, right, that they probably were believers, but the Holy Spirit had not fallen upon them. So again, that question, has the Holy Spirit fallen upon you? That might be a good reminder that I spoke about a few months ago. When the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit, there's three prepositions that the Bible often uses. Para, para, cletus, that's where we get the word paraclete. There's high schools named after that. It means the Holy Spirit is coming alongside, much like a helper, coming alongside of you. And then the Holy Spirit, en, is another preposition in the Greek language is the Holy Spirit is in you. But when the Holy Spirit is in you, you can quench and grieve the Spirit of God to where you feel like you're dead spiritually, even though He is in you. You've quenched and grieved the Spirit of God. Now, the powerful preposition, the one I like the best, is epi, E-P-I. It means the Holy Spirit has come upon you and overwhelmed you, so springs of living water are flowing out. That's where most people are missing it. Now, theologically, there's different divides. You talk to Jack Hayford, you talk to John MacArthur, you're gonna get a different twist on this. You talk to Norman Geisler or Wayne Grudem, systematic theology, and those who write theology books, you're gonna get different things. You can even look at Matthew Henry. He wrote in the 1600s, a very good commentary written, actually, I believe it was, yeah, 1600s. George Whitefield would actually carry that commentary in the Bible with him when he would go preaching. Matthew Henry said that these people are converts. John MacArthur says this is a transitional period within the book of Acts, where the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen, so it's transitional. So what is going on here, Shane? Well, I'm glad you asked. But first, let's clarify for some new people, and I know, I've actually heard, we have people coming that aren't really well-versed in the Bible, so when I say certain things, they're not sure what I'm talking about. On this issue of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is, it's part of the triune, they call it the triune nature of God, the Trinity. It's what sets Christianity apart from a lot of other religions as well. We believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One, yet operating in three distinct persons. Now, that's about as far as I go, because if you start to get a little out there and explaining it, you run the risk of misrepresenting the Trinity, the triune nature of God. The Holy Spirit is what is given to a believer. He indwells the believer. So now you have the character of God, the nature of God, the heart of God. And the more you submit to that work, the more you'll be filled with this nature of God. When you don't submit to that work, and when besetting sin comes in, wrong attitudes, bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, all these things that just come in, if we don't harness them and get rid of them, you will quench the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and be ineffective for God. I mean, I would say the vast majority of believers do not lead people to the Lord. They don't talk about Jesus very much. They don't mention, maybe employees, I've known employees that would work together for months, and they wouldn't even know that each other were Christians in the construction field. They would work together. How is that possible? It's possible because it's not upon them. The Holy Spirit is not upon them. So that's who the Holy Spirit is. It's a person, it's not a force. It's not like Star Wars or God's force. That's why he can be quenched and grieved. So were these Samaritans believers? Were these Samaritans believers? If so, why did they receive the Holy Spirit later? Well, if we go back and we look at verse six, the Samaritans that we read last week, they gave heed to the word of God. They were filled with joy, and they were even baptized. So that would lead us to believe that they were believers, that they were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what happens, though. There is no set pattern in the book of Acts. Laying on of hands, they're filled with the Spirit. Baptized, they're filled with the Spirit. They believe they're filled with the Spirit. There's no set pattern. The book of Acts is the Holy Spirit, like the wind, moving wherever he wants, and he's gonna do whatever he wants, however he wants. And this is interesting. This is why often you'll see some fundamentalist-type churches, they'll say this about the book of Acts, that they actually don't use the book of Acts for doctrine. And I understand what they're saying because it doesn't like the Pauline Epistles or the book of Romans or Ephesians, where theologically, doctrine is laid out systematically, and you know what the church should do, what the church shouldn't do. So I see what they're saying, but I've often noticed it's often those groups who are afraid of the Holy Spirit who say this. Oh, look at the Holy Spirit doing all that stuff. We don't use the book of Acts for doctrine. We don't wanna touch that book. That's what happened now. No, but it confirms experiences. It confirms what God still does in the church. So if the Holy Spirit comes upon me and I'm broken before God and I just wanna worship and I love his word and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in my heart and I'm reaching out to heaven, I'm drawing closer to God, and I see that written in the book of Acts as the early church experiencing the same thing, that validates my experience. And I believe it was D. Martin Lloyd-Jones who said, if you want a commentary, he's a good commentator, died, I think, in the 1980s, but he said we never interpret Scripture in light of our feelings or experiences, but we do interpret our experiences in the light of Scripture. So if what I experience lines up with Scripture, I don't have a problem with that. And that's why the Holy Spirit is an interesting topic in many churches. In one church, they won't talk about it. It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Word, not the Holy Spirit. They don't wanna talk about that because look at all this weird stuff, speaking in tongues, prophesying, what is this? Come on, guys, it's just, no, no, none of that. And then this side, right, is the circus environment where it's just odd, it's God, anything goes. You just can quack like a duck and act like a monkey and do whatever you want in the name of the Holy Spirit, and probably just tons of things happening. The Holy Spirit, brother, and all this weird stuff that's not biblical, but you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Holy Spirit is powerful. If I could go to each one of you, I would shake you and say, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Is he upon you? Well, Shane, how do you know? How do you know? How are you treating others? Are you witnessing? Is the Christ the center of your life? Do you love worship or is it boring? Is church monotony or is it fulfilling? Come on, guys, this isn't rocket science. We know, is the Holy Spirit upon us or is he not? And I think that's what's happening here, so let's talk about it. Let's break this down. Verse 14. For you Bible students who wanna break down the Scriptures, we are going to do that right now. Now, when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God. So, received the word of God, dekomai, dekomai. It means they welcomed in the Greek. The reason I'm bringing up the Greek here is because the two words received are actually different in the Greek language when he uses the word received later. So, these disciples, these apostles, they heard that Samaria welcomed the word of God, okay? But I can welcome a visitor at my door and not open the door. Hi, good to see you. You gonna open the door? No. I'm welcoming you. It's funny, this morning, 2 a.m., woke up, I'm like, that sounds like a trash truck. Something's just, that's a loud noise. Beep, beep, you know? So, I look out and there's fire trucks up my street, you know, and paramedics. So, I look out, so I couldn't really see what house they were at. I couldn't go back to sleep. That was the problem. But I was gonna welcome. You know, I'm welcoming. Do they need some help there? But had I not went out there and investigated and asked, I was only welcoming. So, I think that's what we're seeing here. It's to receive something in a welcoming way. So, the Samaritans received the word of God in a receptive way. Then verse 15, who, when they had come down, prayed for them, the apostles prayed for the Samaritans, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Now, this word receive is lambano. So, it's an interesting topic on the Greek language. In Hebrew, they're very poetic in different things. But like for the word love. I love TV, I love my wife. We use the same word. Where the Greek language would have agape and phileo and different types of love to be more specific. So, if you look at that, lambano means to take with the hand in order to use. So, they welcomed the Holy Spirit. They welcomed the word of God. But it wasn't until the Holy Spirit was upon them that they were able to use that, like taking hold of the Holy Spirit. Here's the key, receiving the Spirit is experiential. Now, that might be controversial for some people, but it shouldn't be. When you receive, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, there is, it's experiential. You go to a good movie, you experience something. You see your baby being born, you experience something. Your team won the Super Bowl. People get more excited about that than being filled with the Holy Spirit. Have you realized that? So, it's experiential. Now, not all the time. Some people, there's just a deep sense of God's abiding love. Other people, like I remember Dio Moody, he had to go into a room, shut himself up for a few hours because the Spirit of God was pouring on him this tremendous amount of love that he felt he was gonna burst open. Charles Finney, I can take you to Whitfield. Adrian Rogers, A.W. Tozer, all these people we read about, they were filled mightily with the Spirit of God, and it was experiential. They experienced something. You can't experience God and not feel it. Isn't it, we like to judge people. They're so emotional when they worship. I mean, if God is touching your heart, you might be more apt to do something experiential, thank you, Lord, than sitting there bored to death because you haven't experienced God. That's why I feel that many people are not truly worshiping God because they're not experiencing Him. If you're truly experiencing God, you're crying Abba Father. Here's what happens, 15, 20% shake their head yes, and the rest say, he's upsetting me now. But remember, the only reason I upset is to convict, and when you're convicted, hopefully you'll go to God and say, I want that, I need that, I see my need now. See, that's the point of conviction. You see, when I'm convicted about how I treated somebody, I go and I reconcile it. When I'm convicted about a certain lifestyle thing, I'm gonna deal with it. That's the beauty of conviction. I like what John Piper said. If you wanna listen to some solid Bible teachers, he's well versed in theology and also open to the power of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He said, the ones mentioned throughout the book of Acts that experience God are either speaking in tongues, they're prophesying, they're freely praising the great things of God, there's boldness, and there's power and witness, and there's obedience to God. They experience God through the Holy Spirit, they're different. There's something different about them. So, what's going on here? Let me clarify, this is the item in prayer phrase now, okay? And this is probably one of my top subjects that I really enjoy. I read a lot of books on the Holy Spirit. I've got a pile about this high on both sides of the debate on the gifts of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit, the unction of the Spirit, the anointing of the Spirit. What does this mean? Because that's what literally changed my life. The only reason I'm here preaching today is because of the power of the Holy Spirit. The only reason I get up and I want to seek God is the power of the Holy Spirit. The only reason I lead people or bold with people about Christ is because of the Holy Spirit, not Shane Idleman. So, that's why I love this topic. There's so many people too trying to do the Word of God in their flesh when all they have to do is submit to the work of the Spirit. And he will lead, he will direct. So, here's my thoughts. With these Samaritans, we can all agree, I'm assuming that something was clearly lacking, right? Something was clearly lacking. They received the Word of God, but they had not received the Holy Spirit. So, a few things could be going on here. They were either challenged by the apostles and their walk. So, they were challenged. You know, the apostle said, listen, you've got to submit to the work of the Spirit. Or they were ignorant to the things of God. We don't know there's a Holy Spirit. What are you talking about, Paul? They're either ignorant or they're being challenged. And now, here's how it normally plays out. Talking to now, fast forward 2,000 years. Here's how it normally plays out. People say, on this topic of the Holy Spirit, Shane, I'm open, but I'm very cautious. I like the idea, but I have no intention of fully surrendering my life. It makes sense, but I'm not sure it's for me. If you say all those things, then you will not have the power of the Holy Spirit resting upon your life, because He only fills an empty vessel. To the degree you surrender is to the degree you'll be filled. Surrender this much, you'll be filled that much. Surrender everything perfectly? No, I have not mastered that, but I'm gonna die trying. To the degree you surrender is to the degree you're filled. So maybe they challenged them on this area. Maybe they challenged the Samaritans. Or, here's another idea, they were just ignorant. What are you talking about? Yes, we want that, absolutely, and they received it. Interesting cross-reference, Acts 19, which we'll get to later. While the apostles were in Corinth, Paul, passing through the upper regions, came to Ephesus, check this out, and finding some disciples, say they're believers, wouldn't you? I mean, they're not gonna use that term disciples if they're not. He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? I wonder if that's a question for some of you. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Received in this type of way that we talked about. So they said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, and to what then were you baptized? So they said, into John's baptism. So they were baptized into John the Baptist, his baptism, which was a baptism of repentance. They were disciples, they believed, but they had not received the Holy Spirit. How is that possible? But they said, we didn't even know there was something there, the triune nature of God. They said, we didn't know about this. And it was interesting, 15 years ago, I forgot all about this until recently. 15 years ago, I was in a Bible study. I taught briefly on this passage. And I had a pastor's son say to me, I would probably say the same thing about the Holy Spirit. Because he was dad, the church was so afraid to talk about this, he didn't know there was anything more. Fast forward 15 years, he's not in a good spot right now. But he would say, I didn't even know there's more. Now, my mind starts working, because if a person repents and believes they're filled with the Spirit, what else do you need to know? I mean, it's a work of God, and sometimes that happens. But sometimes, there's more for a person, and that's why, maybe I should have backed up. There's three different belief systems in here. One is, which I wouldn't agree with, when it comes to this spiritual power, this Holy Spirit upon you. Whatever you wanna term that is, they believe that it's a second work of grace after conversion. So, months from now, years from now, sometime from now, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and you'll receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in these different things. It's a second work of grace. And men who I read, they've died now, passed on, I don't wanna use names, because I'm not sure, but I think like Wesley, maybe, along those lines, would say it's a second work of grace, but then there's the other side that says, no, you have all the Holy Spirit, that's it, you're good, you've repented, you believe you're baptized, you're good, man, don't worry about it. But you know where I like to hang out? Right in the middle, it's the question, you have all the Holy Spirit, but does he have all of you? That's why there's different views, because there's people who've been Christians, Oswald Chambers, I know some of this was repetitive from months ago, but I wanna bring to the new people, Oswald Chambers taught at a theological seminary, was depressed and just miserable. He's teaching in a seminary. He was about ready to write my utmost for my highest, the best devotional of all time. I think his wife actually wrote it after his death and put his works together. But D.O. Moody was a pastor, dead, dying. Adoniah Jetson, Hudson Taylor, missionaries, no passion, no zeal, they were all believers. But there came a point in their life where God broke them to such a degree, they said, God, I need all of you. It's not about me and my agenda and my ministry and my name, it's about you. God, fill me with your spirit, and boy, did he ever. So I don't think they had to wait this time, okay, a couple years from now, I'm gonna receive this endowment of power. It was right there, it was ready, it was available, but they had to submit and surrender their life. Because you can be well-taught in Bible doctrine, but lack the power of the Spirit. You can lack the power of the Spirit. Well, Shane, how do I know? Where's your heart for others? The love of Christ, love and peace and gentleness and compassion. Is it overflowing in your life? I mean, this is very easy to compile and see where we're at with God. One translation on this said, did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside of you? That's a good analogy. Did the Holy Spirit, is he truly ruling and reigning in your life? What happened? They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Here's what happened. Remember, we left off back at Acts 19. He said, what were you baptized into? In John's baptism. Okay, here's what happened after that. They were baptized, what we're gonna do next Sunday, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and they prophesied. Now, many churches will say, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Don't talk about that other stuff. But when you experience God, when he fills you with his Spirit. Or the second thing which could be going on here with the Samaritans is God waited until the leaders were there to validate the gospel. Because the leaders came to Samaria, they laid their hands on the Samaritans, laying on of hands, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Something happened. So that's where you get that doctrine, kind of off a little bit here, of some churches laying on of hands for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And let me clarify in terms there real quick. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, when it's mentioned in the Bible, is when we are baptized into the body of Christ. So I don't really use that term when it comes to subsequent fillings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit filled Peter. The Holy Spirit filled Paul. The Holy Spirit filled Mike, and Jane, and Chris, and Bob, and Shane. It's this filling of the Holy Spirit. And when I'm filled, sometimes come Tuesday, I'm drained and I'm dead, and there's nothing of the Holy Spirit in me. He's way down here by my feet. I need that fresh time with the Holy Spirit. Actually, I'll just share this with you. I have a big post-it note in my office now that I'm gonna work on sermons sometimes now later in the day. I feel rushed in the morning. Gotta read the Word, gotta pray, gotta get in the sermon. And I'm going back to two, three hours just in the Word, just in prayer, just in worship. And that can come later. Because see, I have to. I'm a leaky vessel, remember? D.L. Moody, we're leaky vessels. We have to sit underneath that fountain. So when I talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit, that's it, some people are filled with the Holy Spirit. And then there's a quenching and grieving. Then they're filled with the Holy Spirit again for a certain task, and then they're quenching and grieving. And I don't know how it works. I mean, there's been times where I've spoke somewhere, and it's just lunch, and it's a heavy lunch, and I forgot not to eat, because I like to preach on an empty stomach. And it's just kind of, oh, I'm just tired. It's lunchtime, and I gotta speak. And I'd rather go to the dentist. But then I get up there and look to the Word, and I can't, it just, something just comes up, this filling of the Holy Spirit, where this boring, dead, dry turns to this abundant life, and I preach the gospel. Where did that come from? And shame being filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why the Bible talks about different fillings. It's subsequent fillings. I hope I'm saying that right, right? You know, not like, oh, I feel sad, not that. Where you're filled up like a gas tank. So that's the difference on that terminology. But a lot of the Pentecostal churches, they say, brother, you just need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. What they're really saying is you look like you drank prune juice, you're miserable, you need the fruit and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, you need that mighty anointing, that mighty unction. I think it was R.A. Torrey who said, I'd rather miss the theological definition of what this is and have the power of the Spirit, than miss the power and get the theological term just right. Now, we love theology, but I want the power of the Holy Spirit if I can't quite explain it. You can call it unction, power, anointing, filling with the Spirit, but do you have it? That's the question, do you have it? Because for many years, I didn't. Church was an afterthought, not a priority. God was a consideration, not a priority. Jesus was something I looked to now and then, not the center of my life. The difference is being filled with the Spirit. Here's what we do know. The more you seek, the more you find. The more you die to self, the more Christ will be alive in you, and the emptier you are, the more filled you will be. Three reasons why he may not be upon you. You ready to get some soul searching application going? Three reasons why the Holy Spirit may not be upon you. Number one, I didn't know that there is more. I didn't know that there is more. This is a genuine concern. This person says, I want this. I want this, and I talk to people, even in this church. Maybe young adults that are coming in. I didn't know there was that. I mean, I have God, I love God, but I don't really have that power. I'm lacking that power. I don't know, I didn't know the Holy Spirit could be part of a powerful thing in my life. I didn't know that, I want that. And when you want that, you will receive that. You receive it by faith, and you submit your life to God. Now the second person, you think you don't need more of God. Nobody's in the 9 a.m., right? But the 11 a.m., this is gonna apply to. This applies to more people than you think. You think you don't need more of God. This person says, I'm good. I will talk to people, and I know they need the Holy Spirit. I know they need the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh yeah, you can quote the Bible, I don't care. Do you have the power of the Holy Spirit? I'll talk to you, I know they don't. And I'll talk to them about this subject. Oh man, no, I'm good. Back in 1974, I went forward in the Billy Graham Crusade, and I've got all the Spirit I'll ever need. Why don't you ever talk about Christ? Why are you angry, mean, judgmental, and bitter? Why do you quote Scripture as if it's a knife, and not a loving text to help people? You need this. Oh, I'm good, brother, I'm good. No, you're not good. You know what that's called? Spiritual pride. It's called spiritual pride. And I've had that. Even now it hurts a little bit. Listeners, right, they'll email and they'll say, man, over the last two years, your sermons are really anointed now. I'm like, well, what was that, what was three years ago? What are you talking about? You know, it's like, oh. It's like, now, I started fasting three years ago, but also, I found that it, like a personal, that was the best sermon I ever heard. I'm like, no, was it? My goodness, what happened? But it hit them right where they needed it. Another person hears it on this, the law, legality. Oh, that's a, oh, that's a bad, but it's the Holy Spirit's hitting them where they need to be hitting. Hitted, is that a word? Where they need to be hit. See, videos, I could edit that out, but live streamers, dude, they're gonna see, they got the full enchilada. I told God, I don't care, I'm gonna let loose with this thing, and whoever it hurts, it's gonna hurt a little bit. Amen, don't clap on that one. So, do you not think you need more of God? Do you not think you're good? No, you're not good. I'm not good. I'm not good. When the final worship comes up, I wanna be next door, I wanna be petitioning God. God, break my heart, draw me closer to you. I wanna be so on fire for God that I don't snap at my children, that I don't get upset. God, please, draw me closer to you, and if the pulpit needs it, sure does the pew. If you think you have all of God, I have a wake-up call for you. You don't have all of God that you need because it's an ever, it's a life-consuming passion. Till the day you're buried six feet under, that should be the passion of your heart is to have more of God. You can know the Bible but lack power. Did you know that? You can know the Bible but lack power, know the Scriptures, but be unloving and arrogant. Shane, do you have a Scripture to support that? I have the entire New Testament to support that. Jesus preached against the Pharisees, the religious leaders. Now, granted, they weren't believers. Okay, you got me there. But they had the letter of the law, they had the Bible. Jesus said, you search throughout the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life. And I've seen people, they're well-versed in the Bible, but they're as dead as a doornail. They're just, nothing is there, no power of the Spirit is there. Or the third person, you don't want more of God. This person says, I don't want this, I don't want this. And this I probably see more than anything. Right now, there's at least two dozen people telling me they're gonna come to church. And I still don't see them. Last night, I'll be there. What, times again? Why, because schooner's called, or a wrong relationship, or pornography called, and they're caught in this carnality. They're caught in this, I don't want to give this up. But see, there's something in them that wants it. Is that interesting? Few of these people are unbelievers. And they know that, there's something drawing me, but I can't, I can't, I can't give up everything. So this person, you don't want more of God. And I didn't think this was true. I thought, who in the world is not gonna want more of God? But you'd be very surprised. You'd be very surprised when you talk to people because, well, I kind of like the way things are. I like my marijuana bong. I just like, I like to get drunk sometimes. I like, man, I got a trip lined up to Vegas, and we've got this going on. I like this, Shane. You're telling me I gotta get rid of this? See, you missed the whole problem. The problem is you love the wrong things. When you have the love of God in your heart, you don't love those things. So I can't relate because I don't love those things. All I see is I'm losing my job as a pastor. I'm gonna be hungover. I'm gonna lose my family. I'm gonna lose my money. That's what I see. And my heart doesn't want those things. It says I want more of God. So I think you got your wrong focus. It's called idolatry. R.A. Torrey said, the gratification of the flesh and the fullness of the Spirit do not go hand in hand. What he means there is you cannot live continually gratifying the flesh and also have the fullness of the Spirit. Because when you gratify the flesh, and it's all about loving the things of the world, the Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved to such a degree that you don't have that passion for God anymore. And that's why you enjoy these things, because those things are dominating. Isn't it interesting about the flesh? You take one bite of that chocolate cake, you want, oh, I'm good, mm-mm. I'm stopping by Claim Jumper and getting that six-inch-high chocolate cake, right? Or the best Mexican food you've ever tasted, and they're giving you one little fork. Here you go, that's all you can have. No, no, no, I'm devouring that plate. That's how the flesh is. The more you feed it, the more it wants. And the more it wants, the more you give it. The more you give it, you quench and grieve the Spirit. But conversely, the more you feed on the things of God, the more you want the things of God. So it really boils down to, I think it was Billy Graham who said this 30, 40 years ago about a young man who had this battle in his mind. He went to this pastor, and he said, Pastor, I have this battle in my mind, the evil dog and the good dog. He said, the evil dog keeps winning. And the pastor said, then you need to starve that dog to death. Isn't that true? What we feed prevails. What you feed prevails. That's why you see people who are hooked on different things. It started with the little compromises. So if you're that person, I don't want this, I love my carnality, you're miserable in your carnality and you know it. This is a miserable life. But we're hooked, we're in bondage. It has a stronghold on us, hence the word stronghold. So you've gotta break free of that and be filled with the Spirit of God. I don't know if this is interesting. I wrote down three people here I wanna talk to. This is why you might be prohibiting the Spirit's work in your life. For young adults, to follow Christ, you must unfollow others. Facebook, you making the connection here? To follow Christ, you must unfollow others. But young adults are so caught up in the world that they love the world. They don't wanna unfollow. Honest stories, I always tell honest stories, but let me just, just for the point of emphasis. I, so many young adults are hungry for God. They're hungry for God. Emails from all over, different countries even. I'm 24 and I struggle with this. I'm 23, I just heard this, your message. I'm 18, I need, and all these times, without fail, without fail. Now, okay, let me say nine times out of 10, just in case. But if you happen to click their Facebook page, you'll see what they really love. Marijuana's free now in California, let's get high. Or their favorite alcohol, or their uncovered model, who they're, look at this. See, you can't have, you gotta unfollow. You gotta unfollow the world to follow Christ. Just look at what they're, that tells you what they love. No wonder you don't love Christ. No wonder you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, because you're filled with all this garbage. Unfollow them. There's a button there called Unfollow. Did you know that? I love that button. I love that button. I go, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow. But they're still following me. They're still getting the messages. Unfollow, are you gonna post that garbage? Unfollow, you're gonna say, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow. Because anything that disrupts me, I'm gonna unfollow them if it's in a bad way. You voted for that person? Unfollow. No, I haven't done that yet. I haven't done that yet. But I don't need to see barely covered people and beer everywhere and bong hits and marijuana's now legal and borderline pornography and movies that are not edifying. I don't need to see that. I got enough problems. Unfollow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow. Young adults, you might as well just take that from the sermon. Go home, who do I need to unfollow? Don't you? You see all the selfies now? They got puffy lips and their shirt's cut down to here. Look at this, look at myself. No, that's not good. Unfollow, unfollow. Because it's drawing you away if you don't make some serious changes. Is it not? Now the middle age group, you thought I was gonna avoid you, didn't you? Didn't you think that? That's my age group. Here's the reason many of us are not filled with the Spirit is because we are wasting our time on vain pursuits. The almighty dollar, my career, my hours at work. If I could just get ahead. No, you don't understand. When the Holy Spirit is alive, you'll be at the bottom and you'll be promoted next month. Maybe not though, maybe it'll be difficult. Maybe it'll be challenging. But if you say, I can't pursue the Holy Spirit because I've got to pursue all these other things. And I know men that are working 60, 70 hours a week. Their family is dying. Their relationship with the Lord is dying. But if I could just pursue the almighty dollar. No, because when you catch that almighty dollar, there's only hell to pay at the end of that. So the many people are not filled with the Spirit of God because he's not their priority. See, I believe you can be the best boss, the best employee, work hard to make a good living and still put God first. That's biblical. I think I just read somewhere, seek ye first. Was it a sign on the way here? Seek ye first, maybe on a freeway. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. All these things will be added to you. Seek God first. Well, things aren't going good. I don't care, seek God first. I'm tired of people kicking God when things get tough. I knew you had it out for me. He's still God. He's got six billion other people. I mean, when things get tough, look to him. Lord, he loves to hear this. God, I'm in trouble. I don't know where this came from, but I'm relying on you. I'm trusting on you and you alone because you will see me through. You just were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, the older group, and I've been always taught to respect my elders, but here's the problem with the older group, and I can see myself falling into this as well. Sometimes we are set in our ways. We are so set in our ways that we don't see the need for change. Concrete is wonderful holding up that block wall, but it's terrible in the heart. I've been a Christian longer than you've been alive, boy. That's wonderful. Boy, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. You want to upset somebody? Ask them, when was the last time you personally led somebody to the Lord? Well, I mean, I talk to people about it all the time. Good for you, but you're not filled with the Spirit. See, I want to break that hard concrete heart. They're set in their way sometimes. If you look through the book of Acts, what has been amazing to me is all these people haven't been, they've been believers for maybe a month or two or three, and the Bible's writing stories about them, exploits about them, leading people to the, Stephen, a martyr, leading people to the Lord. These young, young, Paul wasn't a Christian very long. He knew theology from a Pharisee's perspective, but God finally knocked him off his horse, beast, whatever you think it is, and we're gonna get to that next coming up. God knocked him off. Who are you? I'm Jesus Christ. Oh, I will follow you now, and God redirected his entire life. All these people we see have not been Christians 30, 40, 50 years. They were new believers on fire for God. That's why we say on fire. Are you on fire? You know what a fire is? If a house is on fire, do you know? I don't know, what is that? Look at all that smoke, and I don't know, yet that's the same thing. When a believer's on fire, a person knows. You know if you have that feeling of the Holy Spirit. Now I wanna tie this in to the end of Acts, and I'll get to the end. Carnal thinking also prevents the feeling of the Holy Spirit. Issues of the heart, and we're gonna get into verse 18, chapter eight, verse 18. This actually was a whole nother sermon called Jealousy, the Green-Eyed Monster. You know what that comes from? Shakespeare, he kind of coined the phrase jealousy, or envy, and we see Simon here, the sorcerer, getting very envious of this gift of the Spirit. But I wanna tie it in with this, because carnal thinking, issues of the heart, prevent being filled with the Holy Spirit. Here's why, there's some sins of the heart, I don't know if you have it or not, necessarily. My discernment gauge is okay, pretty good, but I don't know if you have an envious, jealous heart. I don't know if you have a prideful, arrogant heart, necessarily. You can't, because you can't see those, can you? You know if the person's addicted to heroin, they're not keeping their job, they don't look very good. I just, I prayed with a girl yesterday, Friday, who's coming off of a Crystal Myth banjo, and I think you call it smacking, whatever, and shooting it up in their veins and things, and she looks like that, right? And just giving her hope and crying, listen, God's gonna use you to be the best mom you can be, to get your children back, God's gonna use you in a powerful way, but you've gotta surrender all, you've gotta give him everything. See, I can see those sins, but I can't see the sins of the heart, only God can. Now, I can see often when I talk to a person how they conduct themselves, how they treat others, how involved they are in the church, it's pretty easy to discern, but it also is hard to discern sometimes, because it's in our heart. So let's talk about, before we get into Simon's jealousy and envy, don't worry, I'll get quick, I know you're hungry. Let's clarify, envy is the result of lack, jealousy is the result of loss. So envy, I envy you because I don't have what you have. Jealousy is I don't wanna lose this. See the difference? That's why a husband can become jealous if his, you know what, is talking to the wrong person too much. And it's a good jealousy, is it not? That's why when God says I'm a jealous God, that's not a bad thing. That's just a thing Oprah got upset about. That really turned me off, and I read that in the Bible. It didn't turn me off. I said, thank God he's a jealous God. He wants me, he wants my heart. God was jealous because he lost his people to a false God. Verse 18, and when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. So this sorcerer, who was supposedly converted, he baptized, he believed the Bible said, he sees the power of the Holy Spirit. He says, I want that. I'm gonna give you money for it. Give me this power that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, your money perished with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness and pray God perhaps will forgive you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. He saw that. Now, I could preach a whole nother sermon on Simon, was he converted, wasn't he converted? He got baptized, he was a believer, it said, but now he's turned in this. And I know a lot of believers who struggle with greed and jealousy. So I don't know where he's at, but that's not the point. The point is this, greed, greed will prohibit the fullness of the Spirit. You cannot be greedy and be filled with the Spirit. They go opposite. A greedy person holds on to things, they want more, but somebody filled with the Spirit of God have as a giving heart. You can't have both. Look at the greed. From book of Acts, when we started, from Judas Iscariot, sold Christ out, 30 pieces of silver. Ananias, Sapphira, greedy for their land sale. Oh, we sold it for $100,000. Here's a whole hundred. And really, they sold it for 200,000. And God took them right then. Then we get to this guy, he's greedy for money. So be careful, be careful. Don't be greedy for money. Don't be greedy for the things of the world. Because you can't hold on to those and be filled with the Spirit. And that affects more people than you realize. If I had the Holy Spirit, here's what he's saying, it's ulterior motives. If I had the Holy Spirit, I would impress people. I would finally be spiritual. See, there's people saying, man, I want that. I want to be filled with the Spirit. I want to go into the hospital homes. I want to heal people. I want to heal them. But then you want your name elevated. You want the recognition. You want the, look how spiritual they are. That's a wrong motive. The Holy Spirit fills you, again, to the degree you empty yourself. So when I say, God, I just want to glorify you and knowing something inside of me, the flesh doesn't want that. The flesh wants to be risen up. You have to crucify that and say, God, whatever you want me to do. I mean, sometimes I'm so excited to tell you what I did yesterday at the hospital homes and different things, but I know it's just puffing up. Right, I know that just, you'd be amazed at what goes on behind the scenes at the church. But I want to tell people, because sometimes it's a good motive, but sometimes you got to put that, Lord, it's just because of you. Because of you, we want to do, so you have to get your heart right to receive the Spirit's power. I don't want the Spirit's power to be well known. I want the Spirit's power to help individuals, to preach the gospel powerfully, and to be filled with the, can I be a little selfish here? I want to be a better Christian. I want to be a better husband. I want to be a better father. I want the Holy Spirit to break me and use me, because I know when I'm on God's side, and when I'm filled with God, I'd rather be there than trapped on this side of the cross and not have the filling of the Holy Spirit. So you have to get your heart right. Fortunately for everybody in this room, even me, he's not looking for a perfect heart because he won't find one. But there's a difference between a broken heart and a prideful one. An envious, jealous heart, and one who's solely focused on God. Now listen, we all struggle with things. I would say jealousy and envy and things are not in my toolbox of struggles. Different things, he knows different things. So those who are struggling with that, there's hope. It's no different when the person's struggling with this. I mean, there's people, I'm meeting with a lady after this, who has just been trapped in her house, struggling with depression, shame, and guilt. That's not my struggle, but see, it's the same thing. We all struggle with something, so we all go after the struggle, don't we? Oh, I miss, no, just go back to being filled with the Spirit, saying, Lord, remove these things from my life and let me be filled with your Spirit. Then Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me, that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me. Personally, this might get me in trouble, that's okay. I don't think like's the right word, but I feel for Simon. I kinda, you know, because some commentary's like, ah, this heathen, this destitute, this guy's on the way to hell, Simon. But I see Simon, he gives up his sorcery, he believes, he's baptized, he's following these guys, and he has an internal struggle. I want this power, I want, they say, oh, they rebuked him, because here's a good sign of the heart. You rebuke Simon the sorcerer, you say, you guys, I knew it, you're false, you're phonies, I'm outta here. Instead he says, pray for me, I'm repenting, I don't want that to happen, pray for me. Repentance, that's a good practical application, hello. That's wonderful practical application, that we need to repent and get our hearts right before God. Confess and pray like Simon did. Now this is very hard for prideful people. Didn't Peter say this? For I see that you are poisoned and you are bound. And I left out when he was poisoned by and bound by, because I left it blank for all of us to fill in what were there. For you are poisoned by what? By pride, you're bound by envy or selfishness, you're poisoned by carnality, and you're bound with addiction, you're poisoned with your own self-image, and your own ability, your knowledge, and you're bound by pride. Is there anything that's preventing the work of the Holy Spirit? Listen guys, just to honesty, I'll just be honest with you, I'm always honest, but this is just a point of more honesty. It's frustrating to preach week in and week out, week in and week out, month in and month out, and not see a lot of change. Now God is doing wonderful things, I know, baby steps. And it's probably wrong, but I would love to see everybody in this entire church filled with the Spirit of God. That's how I look at it. I don't look at, oh, they're gonna be carnal from here on out, I'm gonna pray, I fast for you. I pray, you don't even know, some of you in this room right now this morning, I have prayed that God would break your hard heart, and that you'd be filled with the Spirit of God. Your faces come to me in the morning, where you sit, what service you go to, God, break them, fill them with your Spirit, fill, what else can I say? Christ has changed my life, He's changed everything. You've got to be filled with the Spirit of God. You need this hunger, this unction for more of God, and you don't have it, and then I come back next week, and here it comes, and now it's next year, and now it's 2014, and 15, and 16, and 17. And it's the same thing, falling on hard hearts. So I just encourage you, if God is convicting you, repent, you don't have to tell me, you don't have to tell me that it's you, but just repent with God, and say, God, I want to be filled. Who wouldn't want to be filled more with His Spirit? Who? I don't know, the person caught in carnality. Let me just talk to the men for a minute here. Oh, it's funny, this week, somebody said, I can't believe that church is so big, there was such a small community. And I said, people are so hungry, they're driving from everywhere. And they just couldn't believe, why a church this big in this small community? But see, I believe that God is bringing you those who are hungry. Hey, you'll drive 20 minutes to Cinemark, will you drive 20 minutes to church? There's people every week that hit Whole Foods in Valencia. Hell, Whole Foods in Valencia, one hour drive. They say, I'm going to, great, what church? Oh, that's too far, 18 minutes? 18 minutes, come to church. Oh, we're going to the Feline Compound in Roseman. That's 40 minutes, well, this is 10 minutes for me. See, it's priorities. Hungry for more of God. Many men say, it's not manly to worship. I'm calm, cool, and collect. But you're a little baby when you don't get your way. It's not manly to read the Bible. I know everything. No, you're proud, you're arrogant, you're unteachable, and you're eager to dispute. Watch out if those four things describe you. They described me before, and I try to chop them off of the head every time they get, in case you didn't catch this. Proud, arrogant, unteachable, and eager to dispute. If that's you, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's not manly, I heard this this week, too. It's not manly to read books. Right, because you're in love with ESPN and Sports Illustrated. Of course it's not manly. You're dead to the things of God. See how all this affects the filling of the Holy Spirit. It's not manly, Shane, to spend that much time in prayer and worship. I'm too busy. No, you're not too busy. You are spiritually dead. That's what the Bible says. You want me to be a little more clear? You are spiritually dead. Listen, it's all I can do to not jump up and grab some of these people in here. Balcony, you're okay, because I won't walk up that far. Trying to balance getting to your heart and not being overly critical. Because I love you guys. I see that there's more to the Christian life. There's thousand times more and you don't know it. Because you got God right here in this nice little box and you're not gonna let him out. It's very comfortable, very convenient. So here's the closing point. You need a new heart. For two people here, you either need a new heart, you're not saved, you don't know Christ, you might have grown up in religion. Religion is not relationship, right? Religion is not relationship. You need a new heart. John 14 one, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. So repent and believe. If you don't know Christ, you're not gonna have the Holy Spirit. You're not, you have the wrong spirit. Because many spiritual people, new age, you get the right, oh, the Spirit's within me. No, it's the wrong spirit. If you don't have Christ, if you haven't repented of your sin and believed, that heart of stone must be crushed and you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit if you're open to the things of God. And then I'm gonna close on this point. Number two, this is the majority of this people you might, I'm talking to, even myself, will fall under this. Many of us, many times, we need a baptism of love. And I'm not afraid to use that term. What it means is God's presence is so powerful in your heart and you feel the love of God that it changes you. Have you ever heard of Pastor Jim Cimbala? Brooklyn Tabernacle. I would encourage you to read his books. He told a story some of you have heard, I'm sure it was on Easter a few years back. And he just preached a lot of services. He was up on the balcony, or the podium, or what is stage, like this, kind of sitting off, just getting ready to go home for the day. And he could see this man coming up, probably half, fifth row back, a homeless man. Ragged hair, teeth missing. And he's like, oh, I'm gonna get hit up for money on Easter. What a way to end the morning, right? So the guy comes up, he's like right here, and he could smell, he could smell the stench. Homeless, he just slept in his own urine out in the parkway there. And he almost had to look away. And he said, he went to give him money, and the man pushed down his hand. And he goes, I want the Jesus you were talking about. And right there, it broke, Pastor Jim. He said, I've become a two-bit preacher, just concerned to get through the day in God. He just raised up his arms and started to worship God. And the man fell against him, fell against him. And God said to him, Jim, if you can't stand this smell, I cannot use you. He said, because this is the way the whole world smells to me. And as God is his witness, he says that that smell turned an incredible perfume that smelled, the whole platform there was smelled with the aroma of God. Whether you believe it or not, that's what he said. The man just embraced, embraced. And I actually go, and on purpose, I listen to that sermon at least twice a year. I listen to that experience because that's what we need. We've grown so hard and so cold and so callous to the things of God, haven't we? There's a dying world out there, and we are cold, and we are hard and callous to the things of God. But the key is we have to repent. We have to repent. We have to believe. And we have to do what God calls us to do. We have to do it. See, it's in the doing, isn't it? This might not prove to be a good idea, but too bad. I left one of the hospital homes yesterday, and there was a gentleman there that I had the privilege of meeting and praying with, and he didn't have any, he doesn't have any clothes at all. The reason it's hard is because it's soul-searching. There's a nice, brand-new I-bought leather jacket in my truck, and God was telling me, give it to him. And I said, David, you brought him. So I'm gonna give you my jacket after church, Gabriel. And thank you, because you touched my heart. God uses those things to reveal the heart, doesn't he? I was driving, oh, Lord, thank you. The devil is a liar. That's not God talking to me. That's the devil. $150 brand-new jacket I love? What? That's not God. He's convicted the whole way home. Then you show up, so now I gotta do it. And that's what I was worried about. I didn't want it to be, you know, like use this as an opportunity, but I think it's a good opportunity to even show you my own heart. You know, I've got busy, I've got things to do, and God has kept convicting and convicting, and I'm not gonna let him keep convicting me and not listen. So if there's areas in your life, I'm gonna have the worship team come up right now, and we're gonna close in worship, and there's areas in your life you need a baptism of love. I can tell you right now, 95% of this room needs a baptism of love, to where the Holy Spirit shows you the love of God, the love of Christ, and you are so overwhelmed. Let Him convict you of those heart issues. What I just shared, it's going on everywhere, isn't it? Isn't it? We know, we know. We know when God convicts us. But listen, we can want it, we can desire it, we can think we need it, but unless the heart breaks and say, God, I'm the man. I'm the man that sermon applied to. I'm the man who needs to repent and believe in the Gospel. I have repented and believe in the Gospel, but I need to embrace the work of the Holy Spirit. It was like, it reminds me when Jesus went to His disciples, He said, one of you will betray me. Did they go, oh, no, no, no, no, Lord. You know what they all said? Lord, is it I? That would be a good sermon title. That's what we all need to do, Lord, is it I? Is that who's saying, because I didn't just get up at three this morning for no reason. I didn't work hard on this all week, and God searching my own heart for no reason. This is supposed to go and penetrate your heart so that change takes place in your repentance and you get filled with God's love.