Acts 1030.
The message this morning is the Lord hear
us.
The Lord hear us.
Acts 1030.
And I wanted to give a big backdrop
of where we were and how we got
here, but let me just tell you this
in a nutshell.
Cornelius, an angel appears to Cornelius.
He's seeking God, he's fasting, he's fearing God,
and he's seeking God.
And then Peter has a vision.
So Cornelius sees an angel, Peter has a
vision, and God's going to bring them together
to lead this family to the Lord.
Acts 1030.
So Cornelius said, four days ago, I was
fasting until this hour.
And at the ninth hour I prayed in
my house, and behold, a man stood before
me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your
prayers have been heard, and your alms are
remembered in the sight of God.
Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon, whose
surname is Peter.
He is lodging in the house of Simon,
a tanner by the sea.
When he comes, he will speak to you.
So I sent to you immediately, and you
have done well to come.
Now therefore, we are all present before God
to hear all these things commanded you by
God.
So Peter comes into this house, Cornelius gives
him a backdrop of the angel, and Peter,
why are you here?
We're anxious to hear what you have to
say to us.
But I want to stop here for a
minute, and Christian disciplines help us hear from
God.
And I don't want to overlook this, I
mentioned it briefly, but Cornelius was fasting.
And on that note, I do want to
recommend a really good book, A Hunger for
God, by John Piper, on this area of
fasting and prayer, what it looks like, why
do we fast, is it a New Testament
discipline?
I thought it was an Old Testament thing.
No, it's very relevant, very new, and I
will submit to you that when you fast
and starve the flesh, you can hear better
from God.
It's a spiritual discipline that is often overlooked.
And many people say, that's an Old Testament
discipline.
That's Old Testament, as they put the double
-double in their mouth.
Of course it's an Old Testament discipline, because
we don't like it.
So it's very applicable today.
Also, he said, hear all the things commanded
by God.
Hear all the things commanded by God.
So if Peter's going to portray the gospel
correctly, he's got to give Cornelius' family all
of the truth.
Not some of the truth, all of the
truth.
And it was interesting when I spoke, many
of you know, at the debate against the
atheists at the college recently.
I was able to give that last ten
minutes on the gospel.
There were atheists, the satanic group that got
up and left, different religions, different organizations, Muslim,
Hindu were there, and they all heard the
gospel.
And I knew that was going to be
a different audience, and I had a choice.
Do I make Christianity palatable or powerful?
Do I make it taste good, or do
I make it powerful?
Do I make it easy, or do I
make it narrow?
And that's when it comes to the truth,
we have to remember that we present the
whole truth.
That's why I like Mike put up here,
right here on this side.
Preach the word, be ready in season and
out of season.
The word, the totality of the word, and
that's what Peter was going to do.
So Peter preaches to Cornelius' household.
Verse 34, then Peter opened up his mouth.
You have to do that, right, to preach,
to tell people.
You have to open up your mouth.
And also, this is interesting, as you know,
I've talked about before, the truth really gets
people upset, doesn't it?
They hear things they don't want to hear.
I had the privilege of, we had a
large memorial service here yesterday, and about 12
people got up and left as I was
presenting the gospel.
Now, I don't want to hear that part
of this.
I just want, you know, to pay my
respects.
And why is that?
Because that truth does something in our hearts,
and it convicts us, and God wants to
draw us closer to Him.
So then Peter opened up his mouth, and
he said, In truth, I perceive that God
shows no partiality.
What was happening is the Jews thought that
Christ was just for the Jewish people.
Jesus wasn't for anybody else, but God showed
Peter in this vision not to call things
common, which God has cleaned, which God has
saved the Gentiles.
He's brought salvation to the Gentiles and the
Jews, so there's no partiality.
And that's good to remember with God.
That God is no respecter of persons.
And sometimes we think, well, I'm in America,
and God does this, and He puts me
way up here and others down here.
No, there's no partiality when it comes to
God.
As a matter of fact, when we get
to heaven, He's not going to say, What
denomination were you?
What church was that?
Oh, West Side.
I have them really high up here on
this list.
It's all the blood.
All the blood of Christ.
That's how we stand before God.
So Peter began to open his mouth.
In truth, I perceive that God shows no
partiality, but in every nation.
Now this is going to be a controversial
scripture.
Think about this.
Think about what Peter is saying.
In every nation, everywhere on the planet, whoever
fears God and works righteousness is accepted by
God.
Now that sounds, just face value sounds like,
Well, if I fear God and I'm a
good person doing good things, God accepts me.
Now let's back up a little bit.
Romans 2.12 Paul said this to the
church in Rome.
For as many as have sinned without the
law, that means all the world without the
law, will also perish without the law, and
as many as have sinned in the law,
the Jewish people, they will be judged by
the same law that they are disobeying.
So that's what he's saying.
Those will be judged outside the law, those
will be judged who know the law.
For not the hearers of the law are
just in God's sight, but the doers of
the law will be justified.
But we know that we're not saved by
works, that our righteousness is but filthy rags.
So what is Paul talking about?
Well, I could spend the whole sermon here,
but I'm going to try to just unpack
the important parts.
For the hearers of the law are not
just in God's sight, but the doers of
God's law.
He's talking about the Old Testament saints as
well.
Abraham, God accounted it to him, righteousness.
Abraham was right before God because Abraham believed
in God.
Noah believed in God.
Moses believed in God.
There's a God, I'm not him, God, I
believe in you.
And because of that, I fear you and
there's a change in my heart, I want
to work righteousness.
And this is a whole topic of imputation.
Imputation is an accounting term.
The sin is imputed to us because of
Adam.
Christ dies on the cross and his imputed
righteousness, his right standing before God, is now
imputed to us and covers the sin of
Adam.
So, again, this is a deep theological mystery.
Many people, depending on what denomination you're from,
they will look at this a different way.
But we know that we are saved through
faith in Christ, in Christ alone.
But our righteousness or our lifestyle, our works,
is the fruit, it's a byproduct of our
belief in God.
And then Paul goes on to say, for
when Gentiles who do not have the law,
so this is about all those people, what
about all those people who've never heard the
gospel?
Out in Africa or India.
What about all these people?
That's not a fair loving God.
You just say, just those who ever hear
about Jesus.
Well, for when the Gentiles who do not
have the law, they don't have the Scriptures,
by nature do the things that are in
the law.
That's interesting.
By nature meaning they do the things in
the law.
I'm not going to steal my neighbor's chicken.
I'm not going to steal my neighbor's wife.
I'm not going to set his house on
fire.
I know these things because that's the inner
alarm clock of the Holy Spirit.
Going ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
And he's convicting, he's showing.
I believe that God's law is written on
our heart.
That the conviction is there.
We know right from wrong.
Who shows, although having the law, are a
law to themselves.
Who show the work of the law written
in their hearts.
Their conscience also bearing witness, I know this
is wrong.
And between themselves, their thoughts accusing them or
either excusing them.
In the day God will judge the secrets
of men's hearts by Jesus Christ according to
our gospel.
So summing that up, because I can't sit
here and unpack Romans for a while.
It's this, men are held responsible.
Men, women, all of us are held responsible.
Even those who have never heard the gospel
have a witness.
The witness is inside bearing witness to a
creator.
Romans 1, if we had time to go
there.
For his invisible attributes are clearly seen.
So that we are without excuse.
Because we actually suppress the truth.
Like a basketball.
Put that basketball under swimming pool water.
And try to do that.
Have you ever got hit in the head
with it?
So that's what we do with the truth.
We suppress it and we suppress it.
But there's no excuse.
Because we have the inner conviction that we
are not right with God.
And we are held responsible for what we
do with that.
Even John MacArthur would say.
If a person will respond to the revelation
he has.
God will provide some means for that person
to hear the gospel.
If a person responds to the plea.
To the facts that there's a creator.
If the person responds.
God will like Cornelius answer that prayer of
response.
The Lord will hear your plea.
That's why when it doesn't.
I'm not cold or callous.
But when people say.
Well what about all those people that haven't
heard the gospel?
Yes let's get the message to them.
Let's get the gospel out to them.
Let's bring missionaries.
But they have the inner conviction of the
spirit working in their heart.
Convicting them of righteousness.
And convicting them of the judgment that is
to come.
So they have an internal.
Think about the people.
It's like you make it hard to go
to hell.
It's really hard to go to hell.
Because you fight conviction your entire life.
Your entire life.
You're miserable.
You're fighting.
Talk to atheists.
They're not happy.
They are not happy individuals.
And they're conviction.
And they're fighting the conviction.
Here's the word of God.
They hear the word of God.
I don't want to hear the word of
God.
There's that loud bald guy in Leona Valley.
I don't want to hear him anymore.
And they're conviction family members.
You've got to read this.
I don't want to hear this.
Here's this article.
You've got to check it out.
I don't want to read this article.
Here's this book.
You've got to check it out.
Billboards.
There's a creator.
You walk outside.
NASA.
New discoveries of this.
It's everywhere.
Everywhere.
So people are without excuse.
There's no excuse.
I mean, if you can explain how people
can come from nothing.
And babies are born.
And all this just happens out of random
mutation.
It's impossible.
There's no excuse for denying that there is
a creator.
Now, of course, I've talked about this.
But it fits the sermon.
The two sides on this.
It's really about pursuit and choice.
And I don't even know if I want
to go into this.
Because I've talked about the two different sides
before.
And we're limited on time.
But it's the whole point of can.
Here's where the argument is.
Can man respond to that conviction?
Can man respond to that conviction that he
has?
Arminianism.
This side, man cannot respond.
He can't respond.
He's dead.
How can a corpse respond to anything?
Calvinism.
And you have those two.
That's why there's a divide in the camp.
Within the Christian community.
Man can respond.
Man can't respond.
Unless the Holy Spirit quickens him.
Actually, the order of salvation is different, too.
This side would believe that the order of
salvation is faith, belief, repentance.
This side would believe that the Holy Spirit
comes and indwells a person.
Then they can have faith and repent and
believe.
Because the Holy Spirit is within them.
Convicting them to do that.
They can't do that without the Holy Spirit.
So are they already saved before then?
That's why people get in big arguments.
I get emails a lot that people shoot
me down.
I can't take a strong stance on one
side or the other.
But I just like what the Bible says.
We are held accountable.
I'm going to preach the gospel.
You better repent.
God's sovereign.
Keeps it simple.
Right?
I mean, it keeps it really simple.
I actually, I don't know if I've told
you this before.
But I was reading Martin Luther's book on
the bondage to the will.
He wrote against plagianism.
That says, actually, you're not born a sinner.
Your little babies are good little babies.
And it's a product of their environment.
I just kind of threw that book down.
Lord, I don't understand this.
I mean, if you're sovereign in regard to
you will save whoever you want to save,
I don't even have to get out of
bed.
I don't have to preach the gospel.
I'll do it, I guess.
You command me.
I mean, but what?
I mean, there's no passion.
Right?
I mean, if it doesn't matter what I
do, it doesn't matter what I do, God's
elect will come to saving faith.
We might as well close down the church.
Think about that, right?
But when I read the gospel, Paul pleading
to King Agrippa, King, oh God, I wish
you would turn to Christ.
Jesus, you are not willing.
Jesus is crying.
He's crying, oh Jerusalem, you're going to be
devoured in AD 70 when Titus comes in
and he ransacks this place.
You missed your opportunity.
You were not willing.
You stiff-necked people.
You denied me.
That seems pretty passionate.
That's a passionate plea to turn to God.
Turn to God.
But both sides do agree that without the
convicting work of the Holy Spirit, nobody will
come to know God.
Nobody.
And I agree with that.
Without the Holy Spirit going, open the door.
Open the door.
Without that, man would not come to saving
faith.
John 6, 4.
No one can come to the Father.
Jesus said nobody can come to me unless
the Father, what?
Draws him.
This side would translate that word helko, drag
him.
This side would translate the word helko in
the Greek as a divine impulse that we
can respond to or not.
See, you've got two sides here.
What about the other verse?
The natural man, 1 Corinthians 2, 14.
The natural man does not receive.
So this side is saying, the natural man
does not receive the things of the Spirit.
They are foolishness to him.
They can't.
This side says, the natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit.
That word is dekomai.
Dekomai in the Greek, it means, you ready
for this?
He does not welcome or accept.
So although I don't welcome or accept visitors
knocking on my door at 1 a.m.
at my house, that doesn't mean I can't
get up and open the door and let
them in.
Even though I don't welcome.
So see how you can look at things
two different ways.
And really, the majority of the books I
read, John Piper's and others, are on this
side.
I like both sides.
And the Reformed thought, Calvinism, came actually out
of or against Roman Catholicism.
When it works, you know, penance, all these
works, works, works, works, works.
This came out against that and said, no,
we're not relying on the works.
It's a five, sola scriptura, sola gratio, all
these, by grace alone, through faith alone, through
Christ alone, through the work of, you know,
the Holy Spirit alone.
And they came up with these against works,
works, works, works, works.
So if you understand the two schools of
thought, you can see they both come from
scriptural course, but I like to take the
middle ground and believe that both.
I trust God, He's sovereign, thank God for
that, but people are held responsible.
And it's hard for me if I tell,
if I get mad at a, let's say
there's a new baby born, right?
Maybe dedicated today, two months old.
If I tell that baby, you're going to
be punished unless you get up and walk
right now.
That baby's not, that baby's not even able
to perform what's being asked, so it's not
right to punish a baby that can't perform
what he's being asked.
So that's one of my issues with this
side is if man can't repent and believe,
but he's called to repent and believe, and
then he's punished because he can't repent and
believe, that doesn't seem like the heart of
God.
It doesn't seem like that, because if God's
saying, you must do this, that tells me
a person can do that, or else he
wouldn't command it.
However, this is a debate that's been going
on for thousands of years, 2,000 years
maybe, early church fathers, even to begin with
Augustine, St. Augustine, and I think it was
400 AD, believed actually in free will.
And then later, he believed on this side.
And then as a result, he wrote a
book I have, I like to read sometimes,
it's called The Retractions.
He looked back on his life and said,
I'm retracting this statement, and this statement, and
this statement, and this statement.
So I always remember that, Shane, be careful,
you don't want to go back and retract
everything.
So on things that are not real, that
the Christian community is divided, godly men are
divided, I just want to walk humbly between
them, and try to glean from both.
So that was what was happening with Cornelius,
that Cornelius was seeking him, he was responding
to the revelation that was given to him.
Then verse 36, the word which God sent
to the children of Israel, preaching through Jesus
Christ, he is Lord of all.
So he's telling Cornelius' family, listen Cornelius, you
heard the truth, Jesus Christ is Lord of
all, and I don't want to skip to
the next verse, because I want to remind
you what the word Lord means.
Someone having power and authority and influence.
If you confess with your mouth that Christ
is Lord, that he has authority and influence,
that he's governed your life, that he saved
you, you will be saved.
That's what it means, lordship.
What about flipping Sue?
Every knee will bow, and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
So this is what you're going to run
into if you think he's just a good
teacher.
I like, he was a good guy, gosh
if we would just follow his teachings, but
I can't take on the whole God stuff,
then you are not in the right relationship
with God.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, scripture is
clear.
That word you know, verse 37, that word
you know, Cornelius you know, it was proclaimed
throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after
the baptism which John preached.
So I don't know the tone of Peter's
voice, maybe he wasn't being like I'm being,
but Cornelius you know, here's the truth, it
was preached throughout all Judea, 33 years, Jesus
walked, he talked, he healed, you know this,
this is after the baptism of John.
Well, what is he talking about now?
Why did he bring that in?
Because this is interesting.
John the Baptist was foretold in scripture that
there would be a forerunner of Christ, and
boy this would be another interesting sermon.
John the Baptist, you have the last book
in the Old Testament, Malachi, they don't know
exactly when it was written, let's say 400,
450 BC.
Then you have nothing from God, nothing from
God for 400 years.
Can you imagine that?
Not hearing from God, from your prophets, from
anything for 400 years.
He just rebuked the nation of Israel for
their idolatry, their wicked leaders, and their pagan
marriages.
That's why Malachi said I change not, the
Lord told Malachi, I change not, I hate
divorce.
I hate even the thought of divorce.
And then he ends the book of Malachi
saying that somebody will come in the spirit
of Elisha, and they will turn the hearts
of the fathers back to their children, and
the children to their fathers.
400 years of silence, then John the Baptist
comes on the scene and says repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent,
and you better, I don't remember who said
it, but you better commit your head to
heaven if you preach repentance.
20 years in the wilderness, a ministry that's
probably six months long, and then he's beheaded.
But he was the forerunner of Christ.
He preached, he baptized Jesus.
Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power.
So God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit
and with power.
They go together.
You can't have the Holy Spirit and no
power.
If you have the Holy Spirit and no
power, it means you've quenched and grieved the
Holy Spirit.
That's why Karen, I love what you share.
Please share that at the next service because
that, I'm just gonna, I'll let the cat
out of the bag.
What she said is exactly what I'm praying
for this church, that you would hear the
worship and it would just bring you to
your knees.
People begin to weep.
God will begin breaking the heart because the
power of the Spirit is moving.
Listen, you can go to church and it
can be a cemetery, dead, dead religion, dead
orthodox, dead doctrine, because the letter kills.
It's the Spirit who gives life.
It's the power of the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus, God anointed Jesus with the Holy
Spirit.
He went doing good works, healing people, all
who were oppressed by the devil for God
was with him.
Then you can bring Isaiah in, right?
In the book of Luke, Jesus opens up
the scroll.
He says, the Spirit of the Lord is
upon me to preach the gospel to the
poor, to open blind eyes, to set the
captives free.
God has anointed me for this very purpose,
to set the captives free, to preach the
glorious gospel.
That's why I'm here.
So Peter is breaking all this down.
And then verse 39, and we are witnesses
of all these things which he did both
in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a
tree.
Him God raised on the third day and
showed him openly, not to all people, but
to witnesses chosen before by God, even to
us who ate and drank with him after
he rose from the dead.
Anybody who says, I don't know about that,
I can't really believe that, I have a
lot of questions, well, I'm going to not
invest in an hour and a half right
now and I'll just go encourage you to
watch Case for Christ.
Oh, no amens on that one.
New movie out, Case for Christ, how Lee
Strobel, former atheist, came to know Jesus Christ.
The manuscript, the rabbi in the movie, or
whoever that was, under 6,000 manuscripts we
have, the 500 witnesses, all these things that
prove the resurrection is true.
See, here's the thing, if this was all
a Bible thing, oh, you guys and your
Bible.
I mean, the Book of Mormon is no
different, Moriah and this mountain and all these
things, it really didn't happen.
But secular sources, Josephus, Roman historians, other historians
talk about a man named Jesus.
He was crucified and the body was stolen.
Or the swoon theory.
Right, Jesus really wasn't hurt that bad.
He got up three days later.
See, you can't discount the fact that here's
a historical figure.
Where do we date our calendars?
In the year of our Lord.
Oh, man, I could spend some time there.
That is amazing.
I think there's eight different secular historians, not
Christian, that say, yeah, there was a Jesus.
He's not the Son of God.
Okay, if there was a Jesus, He did
die.
Where's the body?
Where's the resurrection?
How do you know the resurrection isn't true?
All these people gave their lives for a
lie?
They hid a body that they can't find
and they're dying for that lie?
All these witnesses, all these accounts, all the
changed lives.
See, it was one thing if you could
just say this happened, like, yeah, I think
so.
But once you understand, once you make Him
Lord of your life, once you repent, and
God fills you with His love, and you're
crying, Abba, Father.
Abba, Father.
God, I know you.
It is internalized and it's experiential.
So it confirms the Gospel.
See, it's not like most religions never experience
their religion.
They're going through motions.
Prayers and go to church.
And there's just debt.
Well, I hope this is right.
But Christianity changes the heart.
Changes the heart.
So people, you might as well try to
stop Niagara Falls than trying to stop a
real Christian filled with God's Spirit from living
a life to glorify Christ.
You might as well just try to because
it's impossible.
And then He commanded us to preach to
the people.
Peter's saying, Jesus commanded us to preach to
the people and to testify that He is
ordained by God to be the judge of
the living and the dead.
That's why I often quote A.W. Tozer
that I love Jesus because He's my Savior,
but I fear Him because He is my
judge.
See, it's a very sobering reality.
If I often remind you, I'm not trying
to win a popularity contest.
We're not trying to build a huge church
based on what people think, what they want.
You have to tell people the truth.
He is your Savior, but He's also your
judge.
Be careful.
He did that.
Jesus did that.
The disciples did that.
He is the judge of the living and
the dead.
To Him, all the prophets were witnesses that
through His name, whoever believes in Him will
receive remission of sin.
Peter's laying out the gospel.
So we have, this is interesting, Christ is
an advocate.
It's an interesting dichotomy.
Well, perceived dichotomy, it's really not.
A dichotomy is, well, that's something different.
But Jesus is advocate.
He goes to the Father for me.
He stands before God.
He's my advocate.
But then He's also my judge.
So when I say, I don't want you
as my attorney.
I don't want you as my attorney.
I don't want you as my advocate.
I'm going to represent myself.
Then He has to judge you based on
your own representation of yourself.
He's your advocate, but He's also your judge.
Many talk about the lamb, but not the
lion.
Oh, the lamb of God.
Not the lion.
We talk, and we mention the man who
turned the other cheek.
He said Jesus turned the other, people tell
me that.
He said turn the other cheek.
Why are you so upset?
Have you ever read Revelation?
No, what?
What?
That He will tread the winepress and the
fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.
Oh, whoo.
Every time I read that, it's just like,
I mean, it's amazing.
I'll even run into pastors who never talk
about those passages.
Shame, people don't want to hear.
I don't care what they want to hear.
What do they need to hear?
The problem is you've got too much liberal
theology in your mind or you came from
a liberal seminary who wants to just avoid
the difficult truths.
Because you, one, have never been converted, or
two, you've left your first love.
They talk about love, but not the coming
judgment.
Heaven but not hell and relationship but not
repentance.
Whoever believes.
See, remission.
Whoever believes, when you believe on the name
that saves, the shackles are released and it
opens the prison doors.
I mean, I get really excited on this
point.
I don't know why.
But when you give your life to the
Lord and you say, Lord, use me however
you want, He shows you.
God, show me your glory.
Show me your forgiveness.
Show me Calvary.
Be careful to pray that prayer.
God, show me Calvary because you'll see the
blood stained cross.
You'll see how...
See, oh, this is something that is so
frustrating.
People don't understand.
The closer you draw to Christ, the more
you see how depraved you are.
And you've got all these people living like,
oh my, living like Sodom and Gomorrah.
They think they're just great with God.
But the closer I draw to the purity
of the gospel, the closer I draw to
the purity of Christ, and I see Him
that even the sin of selfishness or pride,
whatever it is, the closer I get, the
more my sin is magnified.
I hate it, but I love it.
Because you think you're doing good, and He'll
say, no.
See, just the fact you think you're doing
good.
And He'll start to...
But that's a good thing.
What happens is the closer you get to
the mirror, the better you see, right?
Can you see the men's restroom or the
women's restroom mirrors?
Right now, no.
But as you get closer and closer and
closer.
So God heard Cornelius.
We're talking about God hears.
God heard Cornelius.
This is Cornelius.
This is what you need to do as
well.
He feared God.
He obeyed.
He sought God, and he repented.
He feared.
He obeyed.
He sought God and repented.
God will hear the proud if they humble
themselves.
He will hear the addict if they confess
and turn.
He will hear the sexually immoral if they
repent.
He will hear the single mom who is
struggling and the failing father.
He will hear them.
He will reach out to the depressed.
He will restore the wounded, and he will
heal the brokenhearted.
That's a God who hears and wants that
relationship, but you have to take that step
of repentance.
Repentance.
Shane, why do you always talk about that?
Well, I'm going to until the day I
die.
The repentance is a beautiful word.
And I won't spend time here because I
know we have to end, but I want
to get through.
The Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles.
Chapter 10, verse 44.
Now listen to this.
Here we go.
Another controversial thing.
Get out your eraser.
You got your eraser with you?
It's funny because people read, oh, this is
amazing in the New Testament.
It happens now.
No, no, that's of the devil.
That was for them, but that's of the
devil today.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the
Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the
word, and this is epi, the word epi,
the preposition falling upon, an overwhelming sense of
the Holy Spirit.
Listen, I felt this so much before I
couldn't even go up and preach.
I just wept and wept and wept.
I couldn't even go up and preach, and
God began to just, when He pours His
Spirit upon, watch out, church.
Watch out, church, because all your plans for
the rest of the day, they are over.
You're not hungry anymore.
The little shower and the baby shower, whatever
later, you're gone.
You're not even going to make it.
You're going to be on the floor, on
your face before God weeping and crying out
to God.
That's genuine revival.
That's what the church needs.
Listen, Trump isn't going to save us.
America needs awakening to restore and renew.
That's okay.
Don't clap the second service wheel.
We have more people there.
But in all seriousness, the Holy Spirit fell,
and this is why I'm so passionate about
this, because He fell upon me, and I
want others to experience that.
You change.
You are just filled.
What is coming out of me?
It's no longer this and, well, cuss words
this and cuss words that, right?
It's what is this?
What's this praise?
What's this worship in my heart?
He's changed my heart.
He's renewed me, and those of the circumcision,
meaning the Jews who believed were astonished, and
they came to Peter and said, The gift
of the Holy Spirit has been poured out
on all the Gentiles, for they heard them
speak in tongues.
Man, Shane, you just lost me again.
The Bible says it.
Isn't this ironic?
We have no problem with raising from the
dead and healing and all these other, but
you can't speak in a language that you
don't know.
Really?
Okay.
Well, you better check your theology, because Paul
spent a whole chapter or two in Corinthians
on this, and people that don't know it,
I can see why it wouldn't make sense,
but once a person experiences it, and the
Bible talks about it, really, it's a worship.
It's not some word of knowledge.
It's this worship from the heart that the
Holy Spirit's crying out, but Father, and the
Holy Spirit doesn't speak American.
The Holy Spirit is crying to the Father,
and that's what this is.
It's this glory that is worshiping God, and
this glory takes place, and a person is
worshiping God, and arrogant, prideful people who have
never experienced it and they just want to
shoot down what they've never experienced.
That's the bottom line.
I knew I shouldn't have fasted this weekend,
huh?
God, my goodness.
I'm so sick and tired of people putting
down what's in the Bible because they've never
experienced it.
They want to avoid the Holy Spirit.
Don't talk about that stuff.
Why?
Because it gets us, doesn't it?
Comfortable Christianity is over.
When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, comfortable
Christianity is over.
You're going to go disconnect Netflix, Facebook, bye
-bye, YouTube no more unless it's worship songs.
All these friends who want to get drunk
and get high, bye, see you later.
I just want to turn off.
Look at just how we spend our time
when you're filled with the Holy Spirit.
Everything changes.
So he said, can anybody forbid water that
these should not be baptized who have received
the Holy Spirit just as we have?
So if you've never been baptized, guess what?
We're filling that up.
I'm thinking of filling it up on Easter
next weekend.
And just be baptized.
Honor God and show others that you are
serious about your conversion.
And he commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the Lord.
Then they asked him to stay a few
days.
So I'll leave with this closing thought.
Has the Holy Spirit fallen on you?
It might seem like, guy, we're talking about
the Holy Spirit a lot.
I've had people leave this church in the
past because I talk too much about the
Holy Spirit.
Guess what?
These people are not filled with the Holy
Spirit.
They're filled with sound doctrine, but they know
nothing of the Spirit's power.
Ask them, what do you want in person
to the Lord?
They can't even remember.
Don't you ever talk to me about the
Holy Spirit if you're not witnessing on a
weekly basis.
I don't want to hear your input.
Sorry.
Maybe I should apologize later.
Let me just internalize that.
Soften it up, right?
But you know what?
That is meant to convict.
I'm not concerned with people's opinions on the
Holy Spirit unless I see the Holy Spirit
operating in their life.
Then they have a right to talk about
certain things and not be offended.
I want to recommend, too, another book for
those who even thought about ministry.
If you're considering it, it's called Dangerous Calling.
And the author, Paul Tripp, was a seminary
professor.
He said, when the gospel of Jesus Christ
gets reduced to theological ideas and concepts, you
are in trouble.
That's the problem many times with modern day
seminary is you come out with head knowledge
but no heart experience.
You come out knowing all about God to
study and get your degree, but you don't
know the God who you should be studying.
The hardest job a pastor will ever have
is practicing what they preach.
My weekly prayer, Lord, make sure who I
am in private is who I am in
public.
Make sure the same gospel I preach is
the same gospel I'm repenting and embracing.
The thing about pastors that you have to
remember is we are in the same boat.
We are sinners saved by grace.
I'm actually, I look to the same one.
The same one I'm pointing you to, I
have to look to.
The same one I'm pointing you to, I
have to look to.
The same person I'm encouraging you to turn
to, I have to turn to.
I have to seek repentance and renewal and
restoration.
So that's the closing thought.
Has the Holy Spirit fallen upon you?
Do you have this relationship with God?
Because I'm not real concerned with customer or
consumer Christianity where we just go through the
motions, but do you truly know Him?
Is He saturating every aspect of your life?
If not, that can change this morning.
How, Shane, how?
You say, God, I need that.
I don't know exactly what it is, but
I need that.
I need more of You.
Show me, please, Lord.
God will hear you.
And if you don't have a relationship, many
people, there's a lot of visitors here all
the time, and I want to encourage you,
Jesus will forgive if you believe that He
is who He said He is.
Everything takes a level of faith.
Even atheism takes a great deal of faith.
You've got to step out onto the rock
of nothing and believe that nothing is there
and nothing is coming and nothing is going
to happen.
You're banking eternity on that step of faith.
Christianity steps out onto the faith of God's
Word, who He is, His sovereignty, and that
I'm not God.
Because without faith, you can't truly love.
I want to encourage you, though, to pray,
really pray.
God's convicting me even this morning to really
pray.
I had just a quick list.
10 things, 15 things, 15-20 minutes, I'm
done.
It's like God said, you haven't even begun.
You haven't even begun to sit at the
feet of your Savior.
Let Him build you up, let Him encourage
you.
See, there's prayers you can't just pray.
You just sit there and God, oh God,
help me.
And He'll bring things to your mind, He'll
begin to restore your soul.
He'll begin to build you up, He'll begin
to hold you.
I can't explain it.
Sometimes I don't want to because words don't
do it justice.
But sometimes remove the checklist and just say,
Daddy, I need you.
My father, you know, died at a young
age.
When I was 20, I didn't know who
he was.
I didn't know what it meant to be
a man.
And I said, Daddy, I need you.
Show me how to be a husband.
Show me how to be a father.
Show me how to be a pastor.
Show me how to preach this morning.
And He begins to rebuild and restore and
renew.
That's prayer.
Prayer is not getting through a checklist.
Prayer is sitting and waiting on God and
letting Him fill you with the Spirit.
That's prayer.