Okay, nobody's raising their hand.
There'll be a larger group listening to this
later or right now live on Facebook and
YouTube and different things.
But this is a controversial topic.
When you talk about the Holy Spirit, the
fire of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of
the Holy Spirit, what starts to go off
in your mind?
I'll tell you, when I hear it, I
get excited.
It's in the Bible.
And it's the Spirit's baptism, the filling, the
unction, the anointing.
Call it whatever you want.
Do you have it?
Do you have the power and presence of
God in your life?
You don't even have to call it anything.
You just say, God, fill me.
I've been filled with God.
So why am I talking about this?
Well, we're getting ready to go into a
series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Do you have any questions about tongues or
prophecy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, healing,
shame?
What is all that stuff?
Well, that's where we're going to be in
the next few weeks, maybe a month or
so.
But here's why this is important.
Without the fullness of the Spirit, without being
filled with the Spirit, the gifts aren't really
significant in that you won't operate in the
gifts of the Spirit.
Because somebody who is quenching and grieving the
Spirit of God, often the Holy Spirit, the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, do not reveal
themselves, or they do not operate in the
life of a believer who is not filled
with God's Spirit.
Now, of course, there's immature believers, there's people
just coming to the faith.
God pours His Spirit and His gifts on
whoever He wants.
But the quenching of the grieving of the
Holy Spirit can really disarm, and disarm's not
even a good word, it can really prohibit
us being fully used of God.
You know that, right?
Aren't we miserable when we've quenched and grieved
the Spirit within us?
So this is why you hear terms like
unction.
Have anyone ever heard that?
Some of these words are in your Bible,
depending on your translation.
Unction, baptized, filled, anointed.
And let me just cover those quickly.
Unction is power, the power of the Spirit.
Baptized means overwhelmed by the Spirit.
Filled means what is flown in is flowing
out.
And anointed means empowered to fulfill a task
of God.
For example, for the first 29 years of
my life, I was not anointed by God.
He was still using my past.
He was still there.
He was watching out for me, making sure.
Once this joker gets his act together.
But then there came a time and place
where I fully surrendered my life and experienced
this filling of the Holy Spirit's fire.
And that's where the anointing comes from.
Now I'm anointing this task for which I've
called you to do.
And you don't have to be a pastor
for this.
This is the mark of every true believer
of God, to be filled with His Spirit,
to do great exploits.
We're all the body of Christ.
So this is not just a message or
a topic for pastors.
It's for all of us.
And let me show you how important this
is.
I actually didn't have it on my notes.
I remember it the first.
I'm so glad I remembered it the second.
It's one of the things I just love.
Did you know, other than one time at
12 years old, you've never heard of what
Jesus did for 30 years?
Have you ever thought about that?
I'm like, what did He do at 17?
Like, let me just lift this car off
this guy.
Or cart.
Cart.
Not a car.
But let me just lift this oxen that
fell.
I mean, what did He do for 30
years?
He goes from obscurity to notoriety with one
experience of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible's clear.
You can read it for yourself.
That Jesus was baptized.
He actually went to John the Baptist, and
John the Baptist said, can you imagine baptizing
Jesus?
I can't baptize you.
You need to baptize me.
And he said, suffer it so, if you
have the King James, suffer it so that
all righteousness may be fulfilled.
Suffer it so that all righteousness may be
fulfilled.
And he was baptized, and the Bible is
clear.
It says, and the Holy Spirit came upon
him.
The word is epi, E-P-I in
the Greek.
It's a preposition that means upon Jesus.
See, the Holy Spirit was already in him,
E-N, and the Holy Spirit runs alongside
of people, pericletus, it's where you get the
high school periclete.
It's a pericletus, it's running alongside.
Then the Holy Spirit's in, but the Holy
Spirit came upon Jesus.
Then he goes into the wilderness and is
tempted by the devil, which always happens.
And he came out, the Bible said, and
he came out full of the Spirit.
Your translations might say the fullness of the
Spirit, or Jesus came out of the wilderness
filled with the Spirit.
Now, did he not have the Spirit for
30 years?
See, there was a defining moment.
There's a defining moment where the Holy Spirit
came upon him.
Do I fully understand it?
No, all I have is what Scripture teaches.
And I don't like these guys that draw
all kinds of stuff out of Scripture that
aren't there.
But all we know is the Holy Spirit
descended upon Jesus, he goes into the wilderness,
he's filled with the Spirit, comes out empowered
by the Spirit.
Now we hear of him every day.
Something happened.
Something happened for the call of ministry upon
his life.
But we hear this word fire in the
Bible often.
Now, the number one way it's used is
in judgment.
The fire of God.
But it's also when God answered by fire.
He answered Elisha by fire.
He led them by fire.
And what he does, he gives us his
fire.
He gives us the Holy Spirit of God
as his fire within us.
And I'm going to read a few excerpts
here.
You can actually download my book Desperate for
More of God.
It's free, so don't think I'm pushing anything.
It's a free download.
I have a whole chapter on this.
But I'm going to just sum up a
few things.
Why is there so much division on this
issue?
Because there is, isn't there?
Depending, I don't know if you know your
background, I don't know how long you've been
in church, but there's a big division over
this topic of the Holy Spirit.
And here's why.
In a church, you're going to have genuine
fire.
You're going to have people genuinely filled with
God's Spirit.
And then you're going to have the fake
fire.
You know the people make a lot of
noise?
Like God's always speaking to them every minute.
And they're just making all this noise.
And we say, I don't care how high
you jump, I want to know how straight
you walk when you come down.
You have to have fruit.
You have to have character.
So you have the real, you have the
genuine, then you have the fake fruit.
And often the enemy will try to counterfeit
things.
He'll bring people in.
It often happens that the enemy brings people
to a church to try to disrupt it.
And you don't know a lot of times,
but I know certain people have come in
and haven't been here a while, or different
things about them, and first service, second service,
throughout the months.
I can tell there's a distraction here often.
Emotions aren't necessarily pure all the time.
And so you have the genuine, and then
you have the fake.
And then you also have believers who have
not experienced what I'm talking about.
And it's very hard to embrace something you've
never experienced, isn't it?
So when people, when I talk about the
filling of God, the spirit of the living
God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, those
who have never experienced it can sometimes become
offended because they think you're super spiritual, or
you're more mature than them, and you receive
something that they haven't.
And often the reason they haven't is because
they haven't surrendered to the work of the
Spirit.
They've been closed off.
So a lot of those people would say,
for example, as we're gonna go into 1
Corinthians 12, on the gifts of the Spirit,
13 on love, and 14 on, 13's not
just about love, it goes on to talk
about where prophecy fells and where tongues fell,
or sees love will never fell.
And Paul talks about the giftings and different
things.
And chapter 14 is a lot on tongues.
Oh, what is that?
That's weird, that's bizarre.
I don't know, Paul spoke in tongues.
It's in the Bible.
I mean, it seems to be a very
good thing in the Bible.
So how to go from a very good
thing to a thing of the devil?
That's one thing I don't understand.
But you do get counterfeits.
You get controversy.
You get a whole bunch of different things.
Can you imagine an immature believer given a
very mature gift?
And so that's why we have to be
very careful in being judgmental.
Actually, not being judgmental.
Because if it's in the Bible and somebody
experienced it and it lines up with scripture,
you're standing on pretty solid ground.
I remember the first time I experienced something
like that, I've shared this before, I don't
want to go off into a big story
here, but many of you know, it was
right over this hill.
I was at a house that I built.
I confessed, I gave my life back to
God.
I just take everything, I'm done.
You need to just take, God just broke
me.
It's hard to even explain what happened.
You know when you're crying so much, your
snot coming out of your nose.
Just oh God, oh God.
And then just the miraculous filling of the
Holy Spirit.
Oh man, tremendous pain, but tremendous joy.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit, the power
of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible now I couldn't put down.
It's coming alive.
I'm highlighting everything.
Why didn't I see this for 29 years?
Has that been there?
I thought many of these things were added
later in the Bible.
Like where did that come from?
So I'm all excited.
I'm all excited.
You know and I find a church, or
I was actually a new pastor and we
were going to that church.
I'm excited.
And then you start to meet the naysayers.
Right?
Debbie Downer.
Shane, that's not for today.
That's of the devil.
Well, Paul said, oh I know, but that
was for the early church.
They needed that.
Those poor weak Christians.
All we need is the Word.
That's all we need today.
But Paul teaches on it.
Well no, but those chapters don't apply anymore.
Oh.
Hmm.
I'm sure glad I don't believe that.
But there was a mocking voice.
Right?
A mocking.
Oh, you're just drunk.
You're just out of your mind.
Now I'm actually saying, I usually lean heavily
towards the conservative side on the gifts and
different things.
Nobody's ever heard me do things that are
out there weird whatsoever.
And God doesn't do weird things.
He does things in the heart and sometimes
people weep during worship.
Sometimes people get excited and filled with joy.
People work differently in this area.
But the mocking voices.
Teasing.
Those who have not experienced God will tease
those who have.
They'll mock them.
They'll ridicule them.
And I go back, every time I hear
that, I go back to what happened to
the early apostles.
They mocked them.
They said, Oh, they're all drunk.
They're drunk in the morning.
Look at this.
But they're praising God.
Oh, I know.
But they're drunk.
And Peter said, Hold on.
This is that.
This is that that the prophet Joel spoke
of many, many years ago.
That God said, In the last days, I
will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters will what?
They will prophesy.
They will preach God's word.
That with power and boldness, they will call
things out.
And on my men servants, on my maid
servants, I will pour out my spirit.
I will give dreams and visions on the
people who are filled with my spirit.
So Peter says, No, this is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel.
So if all that was given on the
day of Pentecost, why is it now gone?
Aren't we still in the last days?
And I don't understand those people that say,
Well, we have the Bible and that's enough.
Yeah.
It's enough for godliness, for doctrine, for theology.
But my brother, I need some fire.
I need to experience God.
You have to have both.
You have to have theology with experience.
That's biblical, historical Christianity.
You show me one person in the New
Testament who did great exploits for God but
who didn't experience Him.
Didn't experience the power of the Holy Spirit.
George Watson said, The true saints of God,
here we go, who have had clear heads
and pure warm hearts, most of us, right?
Have in all generations had to walk between
the two extremes of cold formality on the
one side and the wild, ranting fanaticism on
the other side.
Dead formality and the false fire of fanaticism
are both Satan's counterfeits.
And he does not care into which extreme
the soul plunges.
What he means by that is dead formality.
Cemetery.
Have you ever been to cemetery churches?
You know, you walk in yawning.
You leave yawning.
And here's all the announcements of women's potlucks
next week and this and that.
Betty needs a ride to the doctor.
And those are all good.
Don't get me wrong.
But then, okay, turn to John and let's
just get through this.
People are falling asleep.
There's no power of God there.
That's why we call it a cemetery.
They're dying.
They need spiritual resurrection.
Can you imagine if Jesus preached to that
group?
Or Paul?
Wake them up out of their slumber.
That's actually the definition of revival.
God, would You not revive Your people again
that we may rejoice in You?
Not be bored in You.
Rejoice in You.
But then you have the fanaticism.
It's you guys.
You're fanatics, right?
Now, it depends how you define that word,
you know, of course.
But this is just weird.
Odd, it's God's stuff.
Hey, no matter what happens, if it's weird,
it's God.
I've seen videos where they've toked the Holy
Ghost.
Toked the Holy Ghost?
Are you kidding me?
Or they'll act bizarre.
They'll act like they're on fire and do
cartwheels and say angel feathers are falling on
them.
Oh, it's the Holy Spirit, brother.
No, that's just weird.
When was the last time you led someone
to the Lord with boldness?
Oh, I don't do that.
I'm just all about worship.
And so this side is just fanaticism and
ranting and weirdness.
And some churches are kind of like that.
It's like a circus environment.
The Bible says do things decently in order.
Not weird and obnoxious.
But trying to find that balance, right?
Because you don't even know.
You don't even know.
I don't usually do this, but I could
have jumped a little bit during that last
song.
The goodness of God.
I could have got a little charismatic.
So I'm glad.
But the goodness of God.
God, you've held this together.
Don't you realize that?
Who's held your life together?
Who's held the life of your children together?
Who has held all this together?
The goodness of God.
When you cry out, He hears you.
Doesn't that change the way you worship?
Or am I just off?
But see, the goodness of God.
You are so good.
God, you should have destroyed me 15 years
ago.
I should not be called to the pastor.
Oh God, you keep all this together and
you begin to worship Him.
And has God ever set you free of
an addiction?
I've prayed with people, men, who used to
be felons who are heroin addicts and they're
weeping and they're weeping and they're weeping.
Oh, that's too charismatic.
No, that's God breaking a heart.
You better be careful.
So see, finding that balance.
There should be a passion and experience behind
serving God.
It's not, this is not a dead religion.
So I love that song.
My resurrected King is resurrecting me.
My resurrected King, He's been resurrected.
He's gonna resurrect the death and the decay
in my own personal life and set me
up on the pedestal again.
Out of the ashes, I will arise.
Out of the ashes, God will pick me
up and pick you up and put you
back up and say, son, daughter, go forward.
Yes, you've fallen a hundred times, but I
will pick you up.
I will build the steps of a righteous
man.
He falls, he will not be utterly cast
down because God upholds him.
Get up, son.
Get up, daughter.
Keep fighting the goodness of God.
I should just change the whole sermon right
now to that.
But see, you should experience God.
It changes everything.
I can talk to the person who's suicidal
and say, listen, the goodness of God, get
your life back on track and just give
Him everything.
Those who struggle with same-sex attraction, let's
give it to God.
But Shane, I don't know what to do
with this.
Let Him worry about it.
Give it to God, and you've experienced God.
I mean, when He pulls you out of
the pit, you might be able to preach
to others about getting out of the pit.
Our faith is a faith of experience.
This is what separates it from every other,
if you want to call it religion, I
call it relationship, but this is what separates
every other religion from Christianity.
It's God reaching down to man, saving man
and having a relationship with that man.
Relationship.
Religion is going through rules and regulations.
And I don't want to list a lot
of religions here.
I don't know who's here this morning.
I've had people come from different religions.
But if there's no living, vibrant relationship with
God, recheck yourself.
Check yourself.
Because we are to experience God.
Jesus Christ dies on the cross.
We repent.
We believe.
We're filled with the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God cries, Abba, Father.
That's experience.
And so be careful, those who try to
discount your experience.
False fire kills, but fire that is dead
is powerless.
As I've said many times before, it's possible
to be Bible-taught, but not Spirit-led.
Bible-taught, but not Spirit-led.
And this is so hard because you'll hear
the mocking voices from family, from friends.
There's this, when you're set apart for God,
when you're filled with God's Spirit, here's what
happens.
You know, when you're filled with God's Spirit,
the world doesn't like you.
Carnal Christians don't like you.
Pharisees definitely don't like you.
Because you're convicting all three camps.
The light is convicting other people.
The way you live is convicting other people.
I shared this with the first service, and
I'll share it with you.
Something about me you don't know, my wife
knows, and some people think it can get
sad, or I don't know what the right
word is, depressed, or I get frustrated.
I actually don't because I understand what happens,
but the number one reason the number one
reason I don't get a lot of speaking
requests.
I've heard of a conference center here nearby,
I'm not going to tell you where, I'll
just say that.
Why they don't want me to speak, different
churches, I'm actually being considered right now to
fly out at a speaking event, a large
group event, but the board's divided.
You know what they say?
I wrote it down to get it just
right.
He's too extreme.
But see, he's not safe.
What do they mean by that?
Because you don't want to upset the status
quo.
They want you to come in, be a
cheerleader, encourage everyone.
They paid money for this, I guess, or
we sold things at the vendor booth.
Shane, can't you just make everybody feel good?
You're too extreme.
You're not safe.
We don't know what you're going to say.
That's okay, I don't know what I'm going
to say either.
But I'm often reminded.
So it's actually a good thing.
I'm probably here more often.
But I hear that there's a church, I'm
just a little ways here on Avenue something.
And when I was in the men's ministry,
they would go, you've got to let this
guy speak.
And he's like, it's a pipe dream.
That guy will never speak at our church.
Too extreme.
Or that one was because I didn't have
an education.
Too hard.
Trained by God, right?
It just cracks me up.
People think you don't go to seminary, you
don't study anything.
You're just stupid.
You actually read more.
You read more.
You want to just know God for who
he is, not for a degree on the
back of a book or on your business
card.
Not say I got through this seminary.
I want to go through the seminary of
God.
But I'm often reminded of C.S. Lewis's
work, Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where
the lady, I don't remember her name, she
said, oh, Aslan, they found out he was
a lion.
She said, is the lion safe?
Lucy.
He said, safe?
Lucy, he's a lion.
He's a lion.
That's why you don't have to defend the
word of God.
You just open the cage and let it
out.
No, I'm not safe.
Yes, I'm extreme.
We're dealing with extremely critical times here.
Our nation is in turmoil.
We are rejecting God.
We need to be extreme.
John the Baptist was extreme.
Ezekiel was extreme.
Isaiah was extreme.
Jeremiah was extreme.
Jesus himself was extreme.
Paul was extreme.
Meaning you're outside of cookie cutter Christianity when
you call the church to repentance.
You call the prodigal son.
You call the men out of pornography and
adultery and all these things.
You work by the hand of the living
God.
You are not safe.
You think Trump is a wrecking ball.
You should see a pastor on fire for
God.
He'll be a wrecking ball throughout our whole
nation.
And you can tell this is one of
my favorite topics.
I love the power of the Holy Spirit.
We're called to crack the foundation, not smooth
the coating.
So it used to hurt my feelings a
little more.
But now I understand.
Because I can see expressions.
Hey, we should have Shane speak.
One guy, I won't tell.
I think it was, I'll say a little
bit.
It was at Greg Laurie's church at his
pulpit.
They were having a conference many years ago.
He said, Shane, you get to leave, but
we have to do damage control after your
messages.
Meaning repentance, it's messy.
The Bible says something interesting.
I've met down this verse a lot this
month.
When the ox is working, the stall is
dirty.
My translation.
Meaning when the ox is working, there's manure.
You can get rid of the ox and
you'll have a very clean stall.
But when the ox is working, when the
Christian is working, when hearts are being changed
and transformed, it's messy.
It's messy.
People get up, they walk out, they complain
to this or they do this.
But it's the wrecking ball.
God's word is the wrecking ball to our
lives.
It's the bomb of Gilead.
It's a healing ointment.
It's the eye salve to eyesight.
It's all these good things, but it's also
a wrecking ball.
It comes back and wipes out addictions.
It comes back and cleans our hearts out.
It is not safe.
The word of God is not safe.
Reliable, yes.
Trustworthy, yes.
But safe?
To a person caught in sin?
It's convicting.
So let me ask you this question.
Is the fruit of the Spirit flowing out
of you?
Or is bad fruit growing within you?
I'm going to give you the surest indication
of being filled with the Spirit that you
can have is this.
Is there a boldness to witness?
A boldness to witness.
You say, I'm not bowing my knee for
any other God but Jesus Christ.
I'm not going to allow you to talk.
Please pray for me, because I'll be in
the store.
I'll hear somebody say Jesus Christ in the
wrong way.
I'm like, hmm.
Hmm.
What did you say?
But that used to get me in trouble
and that used to get kind of confrontational.
But there's a boldness to witness.
Now be careful though.
Many people confuse boldness with being obnoxious.
Those obnoxious people.
They're yelling at people, right?
I'm boldness.
Like those guys that protest Grace Fest.
Or they stand in the corner and they
protest the godly events.
They are obnoxious.
They are not bold.
They do not have the Holy Spirit within
them.
Here's why.
They have patience and kindness.
They put others first.
Is that flowing out of your lives?
Now be encouraged, because this doesn't always flow
out of my heart.
I wish it did, but it's not on
this side of heaven.
But see, there's a desire to say, God,
that was wrong.
Give me a loving heart.
Give me a gracious heart.
So is there love and patience and kind?
Is it flowing out of your heart?
Is there a boldness for the gospel?
Is there joy in the midst of adversity?
I see some people, they are so fearful
of things.
I'm like, why are you so fearful?
Shane, have you read the news?
Yes, but I've also read the Bible.
I've read the news.
Shane, I got an email.
Shane, China's military has been increased 80%.
Well, I know a military of a god
who can speak the word and run down
an entire nation.
He sent out an angel and it killed
185 Assyrians.
One deaf angel.
That's the God we trust in.
But there's joy in the midst of adversity.
Am I happy with the way things are
going?
Absolutely not.
Am I concerned about the indoctrination of children?
Yes, but there's joy in the midst of
adversity because the Holy Spirit's not wringing his
hands worried.
Oh, what's going on in America?
The Holy Spirit says, I filled you to
be an example.
I filled you to be bold.
Do business until Christ returns through the power
of the Spirit.
So there's joy, there's peace in the midst
of the storm.
There's contentment and trust and resting in God.
Oh, how many of you need that?
Rest in God.
And I've talked to people about this.
Here's how it goes.
Oh, I know, but the deadline's coming up.
I know, but I've been waiting six months.
I know that, I know that.
No, wait, rest, be content.
God's in control.
He will not give you what you cannot
handle.
And he definitely won't give it to you
before you can handle it.
And many times he'll use things to get
you through the storm, such as trusting in
him.
For example, don't you think trusting in God
is one of the most important attributes we
can possess?
I would think so.
If I don't trust God, I'm in trouble.
But how do you trust God unless you
go through things?
You think you just wake up, boy, I
really feel like trusting God this week.
I had a great night's sleep.
It's usually because you go through and you
trust.
You go through and you trust.
Lord, I've been praying this prayer for years,
but I still trust you.
We've been dealing with this health issue, and
I still trust you.
I don't understand why this happened.
Don't try to figure out, God, why did
this life end?
Why did this health issue happen?
Why, why, why, why, why?
But Lord, I trust you.
It's okay to ask why.
I've got a long list of whys.
But at the end, we say, Lord, I
trust you.
That's if you're filled with the Spirit.
It comes not naturally.
It comes supernaturally.
Now there's also gentleness and kindness.
Uh-oh.
Words.
Are your words gentle and kind?
I'll be honest with you.
I don't get this right a lot.
I don't get this right all the time.
There was something I didn't handle right yesterday,
that I didn't apologize for.
I didn't quite season my words with grace.
Very intense situation.
But see, the Holy Spirit's drawing us back.
Can I get that back right again?
Kind, building up, encouraging.
Gentle.
Oh, moms and dads.
Don't we need to be more gentle with
our kids?
I should see most heads shaking.
Yes.
Gentle.
Kind.
Long-suffering.
What does that mean?
To suffer long.
But what do most of us do once
we have the Word of God?
We become judgmental.
Remember this?
What am I doing?
Sin sniffing.
Aren't you married today?
Your girlfriend with you?
Didn't I see you going to the movies
last night?
Can't you get together?
Is that a Catholic cross you have on?
And you just, you become a sin sniffer.
Judgmental.
Always fault-finding.
The Holy Spirit is not always fault-finding.
The Holy Spirit is not fault-finding.
He's convicting.
And He'll use someone to speak the truth
in love.
But it's not for the purpose of condemning.
It's the purpose of convicting and restoring.
Restoration.
And then lastly, self-controlled.
Some of you need to tell King Stomach,
no more.
And Queen Appetite, get out of the room.
Self-controlled.
That's a fruit of the Spirit.
A person who is filled with God's Spirit
has self-control.
We're going to get into that in a
minute, in the weeks to come, on the
gifts of the Holy Spirit.
A person does not just have to go,
I'm speaking in tongues, I don't know what's
going on, the Holy Spirit just took over.
No.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is self
-control.
Also, the Scripture has clear guidelines on what
to do and when to do it.
The reason 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 was
written is because living children need rules.
Dead children don't.
If those chapters don't apply to a church,
you might want to check their spiritual heartbeat.
Because living Christians need boundaries.
I do, don't you?
I've got people I can mention that are
famous that will lovingly rebuke me.
I'm open, I'm an open book.
I'm living, I'm vibrant, I'm passionate.
Shane, listen, make sure you don't come across.
I need this just like everyone else.
Who thinks they have it all mastered?
That was a perfect sermon for one hour.
I didn't miss a point.
That was perfect attitude, perfect heart, perfect this.
Oh, we're in trouble.
Living children need rules.
So let me ask you this question.
I've asked it before, but it's so important.
The Bible says, out of your belly will
flow rivers of living water.
Jesus said, if you believe on me, as
the scriptures say, out of your belly will
flow rivers of living water.
So why are many people lacking rivers of
living water and they're bored at church instead?
They don't have rivers of living water flowing
out.
They're bored.
Like Jeremiah, his word is in your heart
like a burning fire.
There's a burden of the Lord.
There's a Holy Spirit's fire that's burning within
you.
Now, do you ever get so close to
a fire you have to back away because
your clothes are getting hot?
That's the Holy Spirit's fire.
You feel that burning because you're close to
the heat source.
Some of you are out in the other
room, out back across the backyard and you
can't even feel the warmth of the fire
because of, I'm going to get to that
in a minute, but that's what the power
of the Spirit does.
The Holy Spirit comes upon you for service
in God's kingdom.
So the questionable doctrine, that took me 40
minutes, the questionable doctrine, don't worry, I'm not
going to stay here long, is the Spirit's
baptism.
This is the point I wanted to get
to.
What is the Spirit's baptism?
Well, let me just read Scripture.
I think that's the best way to do
this, correct?
So Matthew 3.11, we can put that
on the screen.
John the Baptist is speaking.
He might know a little bit about theology,
correct?
He said, I baptize you with water for
repentance, but after me comes one who is
more powerful than I, whose sandals I am
not even worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and what?
Fire.
So this is where power meets experience.
The power of God, experience of God, it
meets in the life of a believer.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire.
That's why there's different denominations.
Foursquare, for example, has Jesus as healer, baptizer
of the Holy Spirit, four different things.
Foursquare, Pentecostals believe this, Charismatics believe this, Conservatives
don't believe most of this.
So that's why people gravitate towards different denominations.
I don't think it's right necessarily, but I
understand why that happens.
So he baptizes with the Holy Spirit and
fire.
John 7.39, the Spirit will be given
after Jesus has been glorified.
In John 7.39. So here's what happens.
A quick course on theology.
This is a quick five-minute course on
pneumatology.
It's the study of the Holy Spirit.
Anybody have pneumatic guns?
Pneumatic air guns?
It's air tools.
That's where they get that word pneumatic from
pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit, air.
So in the Old Testament, God would pour
out His Spirit on certain individuals for different
tasks.
In the New Testament, the believer overwhelms the
believer with the power of the Holy Spirit.
So all believers have the Holy Spirit.
All believers at conversion.
So you say, well, what's going on then?
Why are some people, you wouldn't know it.
Well, like I've said before, if you've been
here, you know exactly what I'm going to
say.
If you haven't, you need to hear this.
You have all of the Holy Spirit, but
does He have all of you?
That's what it boils down to.
You don't get pieces and chunks.
The more you submit to the work of
God, the more filled you will be with
God's Spirit.
If somebody is newly saved, and they're saved,
they say, okay, but I want to do
things my way, God.
I'm going to run my own business my
way.
Okay, well, you're going to quench and grieve
the Spirit of God.
You're not going to feel that fullness and
that anointing.
And I can tell you about Christian leaders.
Have you ever heard of D.O. Moody
or Oswald Chambers who wrote My Utmost For
His Highest or Adrian Rogers or A.W.
Tozer or John Wesley or John Bunyan or
Amy Carmichael, where they received this fire of
the Spirit after, many years after conversion.
It happened to me 17 years after I
was converted as a 12-year-old boy.
Why?
Why did it take that long?
Because of the hindrances.
The hindrances, I'm going to talk about those
in a minute, but I want to get
you the Scriptures first.
In the New Testament, Jesus baptizes believers with
the Holy Spirit.
That word just means overwhelmed with the Spirit
of God.
In John 20, 22, Jesus breathed on them
and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
Now, this is interesting.
This is a transitionary period here.
Jesus has not yet been glorified.
The day of Pentecost had not fallen yet
on the church, meaning when the Holy Spirit
falls upon the church, that hasn't happened yet.
So Jesus breathed on his disciples and he
said, receive the Holy Spirit.
So I believe they received the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was in them, but not
yet upon them until the day of Pentecost.
Remember, the Holy Spirit is used three different
prepositions.
Two of those is en, where the Holy
Spirit is in you, and then the next
preposition is epi, Greek preposition meaning upon.
Boy, there's a difference.
Because when the Holy Spirit was in me,
I knew, man, I should've did that last
night.
God, help me.
And again, and again, and again, and again.
I knew what to do.
I was convicted.
I knew it wasn't good.
I knew, but then when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you, you live the victorious Christian
life.
Not sin free, but there's a new anointing.
There's an upon.
That's what happened to Jesus.
The Holy Spirit came upon him and Peter
being filled with the Spirit and Paul being
filled with the Spirit It's a daily decision
many times.
Be not drunk with wine, which is debauchery,
but be filled.
The Greek, if you break down that sentence,
theologians will tell you, it says be being
filled.
It's a constant effort of being filled with
the Spirit of God.
Because like D.L. Moody said, you're a
leaky vessel, and so am I.
If we just leak, if we're never filled
again, we'd be in trouble.
Let me tell you how this happens.
I'm too busy to read God's Word.
I'm too busy to worship.
I don't have time for prayer.
I miss 6 a.m. Sunday morning worship.
I don't have time to prepare my sermon.
I'm watching stuff I shouldn't be watching on
TV or music or running my mouth off
or letting the flesh take over.
I will quench and grieve the Holy Spirit
and the sermon will stink.
Why?
Because it's not that fullness, the filling of
the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes it will come upon a person.
For example, I'm preparing nothing in the sermon.
I'm preparing it all week, nothing.
I kind of come with the bad mood,
things are happening, but then when I start
to preach, the Spirit of the living God
takes over and then Shane being filled with
the Spirit, and I say, God, you've got
to energize me.
You've got to fill me.
And the Word of God comes alive again.
It starts to shoot arrows right where it
needs to go.
It starts to, things I've never even crossed
my mind, God begins to bring up and
lifts me up and the Spirit of God
goes boldly from the pulpit and Shane being
filled with the Holy Spirit.
It's challenging, it's difficult.
You need that indwelling power of the Holy
Spirit.
Something I found was very interesting, I've shared
with you probably a year or two ago,
was many churches, they will do what they
say, call a pastor.
You know what that means?
They want to hire a pastor.
So they'll call a pastor.
Okay, where's your theological training?
What do you think about the eschatology?
What's your view on the Trinity?
Oh, wow, a PhD in biblical studies.
But reading books 100 years ago, 150 years,
written a long time ago, something interesting sticks
out.
They wouldn't ask those questions often.
They would ask one question when considering someone
to preach.
Has he received his baptism of fire?
What's their question?
See, that doesn't mean theology's not important.
But the priority is, is it a person
filled with God's power?
God's presence?
God's anointing?
Because what preaching really is, it's what God
is pouring into my life to pour out
into the congregation.
To build up, to encourage, to quicken, to
teach, to humble, to edify, to strengthen, to
lead.
Because what he's doing, it's filled with the
Holy Spirit poured out to the congregation.
That's all it is.
That's what preaching should be for most people.
So anyway, back to this.
Acts, I'm getting somewhere.
Acts 1-5.
For John baptized with water, but in a
few days now, you'll be baptized with the
Holy Spirit.
So that's where it comes from.
You have these disciples.
Jesus said, breathe on them.
They receive the Holy Spirit.
They're waiting here in this upper room.
And they said, hold on.
In a few days from now, you'll be
baptized, which is overwhelmed with the power and
the presence of the Holy Spirit.
So the day of Pentecost hits.
The word Pentecost comes from 50.
It'll take me 20 minutes to explain all
of that.
But it comes, this day of Pentecost comes,
that Jesus's promise, the new believers, the New
Testament church is waiting for.
And this day hits the church, and that's
the change of history.
Because now people are filled with God's Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit fell upon the group
of people, and they were praising God in
another language.
And people said, I hear them.
I hear them speaking in other languages the
glorious things of God.
I hear them prophesying.
I hear them fill with the Spirit of
God.
And the same Peter that earlier said, I
don't know Jesus.
Now he stands up among 3,000.
He said, you stiff-necked people.
You put Christ on the cross.
What is that?
He was afraid of a servant girl 50
days earlier.
Afraid of a servant girl.
He went up to the same people that
crucified Christ, and he called them out.
The wrecking ball was let loose.
That was not safe.
That was extreme.
That is Christianity 101, preaching the Word of
God through a heart that's on fire for
God.
That's Holy Spirit and fire preaching.
So that's what Peter did.
He stood up after receiving this baptism of
the Spirit.
So here's the final verse, 1 Corinthians 12,
13.
We were all baptized into the body.
Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we were
all made to drink of one Spirit.
So here's where the term gets, it took
me 50 minutes to say this.
We believe, I teach, I mean we don't
argue over terminology, but just looking at the
Bible, that the baptism of the Holy Spirit
is a one-time event where somebody's baptized
into the body of Christ according to the
Scripture.
But then we see subsequent, ongoing fillings of
the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and
Peter was filled with the Spirit, and Paul
was filled with the Spirit.
You don't see anybody being baptized or using
that terminology in the Spirit.
However, it's not a hill to die on
because what people are saying is the same
thing.
Are you filled with the Spirit of God?
Have you been baptized, overwhelmed, unctioned, renewed, restored,
revived?
Has the Holy Spirit wrecked your life and
begin to rebuild it again?
I don't care what you call it, but
you better have it.
Do you have that endowment of power?
Do you have that joy unspeakable?
Do you have the kind of faith that's
going to be not wavering in these times
of adversity?
Are you filled with the Spirit of God?
And so many people like to debate this
topic.
The bottom line is there's an experience that
lines up with the Word of God.
You either experienced it or you have not.
I know it's a convicting message.
I know.
The reason it's convicting is because a lot
of people haven't experienced it.
And I can introduce you probably to half
a dozen people recently whose lives were radically
changed by the power of the Spirit here.
They go from nominal Christianity, not living very
good, to on fire for God.
Well, Shane, what happened?
I'm glad you asked.
I'm going to go quickly.
Ask, ask.
Ask for the Holy Spirit.
Well, God says ask, knock, keep requesting, and
God will give the Holy Spirit to those
who love Him, those who obey Him.
Ask for the power of the Holy Spirit.
God, I want all of you.
Can you imagine a Christian saying, that's going
to go, that might lead to Africa.
Not going to pray that prayer.
Hey, I can relate.
I'm scared sometimes.
Say, God, whatever you want to do in
this ministry, but not this or this.
Not this or this.
I remember, I think I shared this a
while back, A.W. Tozer, he told a
man, I want to do more for God
than any man in my generation.
And he said, okay, I mean, we put
people on a pedestal, but it's not, it's
not like a rock star.
It's not an athlete.
It's a man or woman who's been broken,
been rebuilt, been restored, been used of God,
been trampled upon, their name's been slandered, they've
got to get up and fight again.
I've got to come and preach to you
sometimes, and I don't even know how I'm
going to get through the day with adversity
and different things.
So many things coming against us.
The radio station we have is driving me
crazy, much as it goes out.
I'm online with engineers.
I'm like, what in the world is going
on?
Do you know how many times I've told
them already, just quit this whole thing.
But the enemy doesn't like this, and you've
got to keep fighting and keep fighting and
keep fighting.
So ask this morning, ask, and let me
tell you, if he calls you to Africa,
you're going to want to go to Africa.
So you don't have to be worried, I
hope he doesn't have me minister to kids.
People have told me that, I'm not good
with kids.
Do not put me in children's ministry.
My wife will remember this, as soon as
I said, you know what, I don't think
God's called me to young adults.
It's a hard age group.
Then I have to write a book, and
then I'm mainly speaking You have to be
willing and open.
Lord, whatever you want, however you want to
use me.
Because God says, now that's a lump of
clay I can use.
Now the potter can put the clay on
the turntable, and now I can make it.
Be open, you have to be open, Lord,
what do you want me to do?
And surrender, you have to surrender.
What does that mean?
I give up my will, I give up
my plans, I lay down my arms, I
lay down everything.
I lay it down at the foot of
the cross, I want to be mightily used
of your spirit.
I give you everything.
The more you surrender, the more you're filled.
That's why some of you, if you've hit
rock bottom, thank God for the rock at
the bottom, which is Jesus Christ.
Because that's what gets you.
That often gets you to that point of
full surrender.
As soon as God had me, uncle, okay.
Finances, relationship, everything, okay, now I surrender.
Uncle, uncle, now I'm yours, God.
But sometimes it takes that rock bottom experience.
So let that be a stepping stone, not
a stumbling block.
And then, obviously, repent.
Repent.
The fullness of the spirit is quenched by
sin.
There's nothing wrong with spending time with God
and writing down, or thinking about, where am
I missing it?
Lord, oh, be careful, you better get a
pen and paper ready.
Your attitude, your condescending, can be mean-spirited,
you're angry, you're irritable.
That was my list before, back when I
was drinking coffee, that was my list.
All those things, I don't want to convict
too many people this morning, but that stuff
would turn me into a jerk.
So I'm six months off of that, so
please just take it for what it's worth.
I don't know why I brought that up.
Every time I do, people are like, you're
so convicting me of that.
Maybe God is.
But I know D.O. Moody received the
fullness of the spirit once he realized he
was doing ministry in his own strength.
The Holy Spirit came upon him, he felt
the love of God.
I remember another lady in his book that
would go to his meetings, and God was
dealing with her about her appearance, from what
she wore, I guess they wore hats back
then, and her looks, and she's like, it
couldn't be something this trivial.
As soon as she got rid of this
idolatry of her looks, the spirit of God
fell apart.
I can go down list of list of
list of people being John Bunyan sitting in
the jail cell writing the Pilgrim's Progress, or
John Wesley coming over thinking he was converted
to America and finally getting converted when he
got back and doing all these things with
selfish motives, selfish ambitions.
You have got to die to self.
You have got to say, I don't want
to be recognized.
I don't want to be built up.
I don't have to start a ministry.
People don't have to know my name.
God, I just want to do things for
you.
And you repent of beset.
Anybody have besetting sin that is holding them
back from what God wants them to do?
Is it an angry, bitter heart?
Is there unforgiveness?
Are you always blaming the other person?
That's a biggie in the Christian community.
I talk to people who I know need
the fullness of the spirit.
Oh God, if you just turn over, so
your spouse is preventing you from being filled
with the spirit?
Yes, that's true.
No, that's not.
Your spouse can never prevent you from being
filled with the spirit.
Ever.
It's a personal decision that is made.
So repentance needs to take place.
And I want to give you this image
that I've had many years ago.
My son was little.
I've told you this before if you've been
coming here a while.
I've said that a lot today actually.
It's just nothing.
Dad, what's going on?
The water's on.
Well, come to find out there's about five
or six kinks in the water hose.
Once we begin to remove those kinks, he
couldn't even hold, he was like two and
a half, three.
He couldn't even hold that water.
What's going on?
See, the problem wasn't the water.
The water was on full blast.
Could it be that the Holy Spirit, you're
waiting on the Holy Spirit but it's the
Holy Spirit waiting on you?
The water's there.
The rivers of living water are there.
Would you let loose?
Remove the kinks in the hose.
Remove the pride and the arrogance and thinking
God's going to make you weird.
God's not going to make you weird.
He's going to make you bold for the
kingdom of God.
Repent of that besetting sin.
Repent of that clogged line.
Repent of that kink in the hose.
Whatever it is, you know what it is
because I guarantee others have loved you enough
to talk to you about it.
Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Remember I told you my wife said I
put down pastors too much in my sermon
so I'm working on that.
Other people email me and say, you say
OMG or oh my God too much.
You take the Lord's name in vain.
So I'm working and working.
Use these things.
Don't try to defend yourself.
What do I need to work on?
Those are good things because as you work
on those things you become a very good
communicator because you're learning from the critique of
others.
Constructive criticism.
I learned it early on.
But God had to bring the wrecking ball.
He was not safe.
His word was not safe.
I turn on the television.
I get slammed with a message about men
forsaking their God-given role of spiritual leaders
in their home and I wept like a
child.
I went oh God break me and use
me again.
Here I am drunk a day earlier.
Here I am not even, don't even know
anything about God other than what I was
taught as a little child.
And he began to resurrect those things.
Stop elevating your life.
Stop elevating certain people that you look up
to.
They're no different.
I was a dumb stupid country boy from
this little town.
No reason God should do anything other than
use people who surrender to him.
Here's what I'm going to do with you.
Surrender.
And then finally believe.
I'm sure there's people here maybe or listening
that do not truly know God.
There's people here that are going through the
motions.
And we read the scripture earlier that said
I baptize you with water for repentance but
after me comes one who is more powerful
than I whose sandals I am not yet
worthy to carry.
He will what?
Baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with
fire.
Keep reading though.
His winnowing fork is in his hand and
he will clear his threshing floor and gather
his wheat into the barn and he will
burn with unquenchable fire.
Somebody a couple of weeks ago told me
that doesn't really mean fire.
That's just Jesus using imagery.
I don't want to find out.
So make sure you're like because that same
Jesus who says I will baptize you in
the Holy Spirit is the same Jesus who
you stand before as judge of your life
and he says I will throw out the
chaff with like an unquenchable fire and this
winnowing fan.
It was this big thing they would shake
like this and all the grain, all this
stuff and all this chaff would blow in
the wind so Jesus says if you reject
me I will have to reject you.
If you denounce me I won't know you.