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, 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?
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 chapter eight, verse 14.
Acts chapter eight, verse 14.
Now let me throw another question out while
we're reading.
We're gonna 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 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, 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 going to get a different
twist on this.
You talk to Norman Geisler or Wayne Grudem,
Systematic Theology and those who write theology books,
you're going to 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 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 in 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 6, 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 going to 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.
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
our 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 want to touch that book.
That's what happened now.
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
want to 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 want to talk about that because
look at all this weird stuff, speaking in
tongues, prophesying, what is this?
Come on, guys.
You know, 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 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 want to 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 receive 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.
Are you going to 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 outside, I couldn't really see
what house they were at.
I couldn't go back to sleep.
That was the problem.
But I was going to 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, 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 D.O. 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 going to 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.
We like to judge people, oh, 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 going to deal with it.
That's the beauty of conviction.
I like what John Piper said.
If you want to 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 or 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 in
their walk.
So, they were challenged.
You know, the apostles 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...
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 going to 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 going to 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, into 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, 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 there's, 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 want to 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 and these different things.
It's a second work of grace.
And men who I read, they've died now,
passed on, I don't want to use names,
because I'm not sure, but I think like
Wesley maybe, and 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 want to 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 Judson, Hudson Taylor, missionaries, no passion, no
zeal.
They're 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 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 feelings, 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.
I need that.
Actually, I'll just share this with you.
I have a big post-it note in
my office now that I'm going to work
on sermons sometimes now later in the day.
I feel rushed in the morning.
Got to read the Word, got to pray,
got to 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.O. 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 got to 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's 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.
I'm like, where did that come from?
And shame being filled with the Holy Spirit.
That's why the Bible talks about different feelings.
It's subsequent feelings.
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 Pentecostal churches 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 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 going
to 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 them.
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 and mean and 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.
No, 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 when,
like, listeners, right, from, 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 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've ever heard.
I'm like, no, it wasn't?
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 hitted, or 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, whoever
hurts, it's gonna hurt a little bit.
Amen, don't clap on that one.
So, 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.
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 schooners called, or a wrong relationship,
or pornography called, and they're caught in this
carnality.
They're caught in this, I don't wanna give
this up.
But see, there's something in them that wants
it.
Isn't that interesting?
Few of these people are unbelievers.
And they know that there's something drawing me,
but 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 kinda 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.
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, 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 strong hold on us, hence
the word stronghold.
So you've got to 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 want
to 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 want to unfollow.
Honest stories, I always tell honest stories, but
let me just, just for the point of
emphasis, so many young adults are hungry for
God.
They're hungry for God with emails from all
over, different countries even.
I'm 24 and I struggle with this.
I'm 23, I just heard this at your
message.
I'm 18, I need, and all these times,
without fail, without fail.
Now, okay, let me say nine times out
of ten, 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 go, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow.
But they're still following me.
They're still getting the messages, so I unfollow.
You're gonna post that garbage?
Unfollow.
You're gonna say, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow.
Cuz I'm, 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 get
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 mean, 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.
Are you 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
God 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, 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,
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.
Now, who are you?
I'm Jesus Christ.
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 in the, 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 filling 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 kinda coined the phrase jealousy, or envy.
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, cuz 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
binge, and I think you call it smacking,
or 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 the 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 other 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 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 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, we sold it for
$100,000.
Here's the whole 100, 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 all tiramotus.
If I had the Holy Spirit, I would
impress people, I would finally be spiritual.
See, there's people saying, man, Shane, I want
to be filled with the Spirit, I want
to go into the hospital homes, or 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 modus.
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.
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.
Look what, but sometimes it's, you gotta 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 or struggling.
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?
This, 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 kind of, you know, because some commentary
is 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,
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 out of 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 a 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 what 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.
What, 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 for, 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 face has come to me in the
morning.
Where you sit, what service you go to,
God, break them, fill them with your Spirit.
What else can I say that 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.
It's you, but just repent with God and
say, God, I wanna be filled.
Who wouldn't wanna be filled more with His
Spirit?
Who?
I don't know.
The person caught in carnality.
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 with 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.
Oh, Whole Foods in Valencia, one hour drive.
They say, oh, I'm going to Whole, great,
what church?
Oh, that's too far, 18 minutes?
18 minutes.
Come to church.
Oh, we're going to the feline compound in
Rosemont.
That's 40 minutes.
What, 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 at 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 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, ah, 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.
And 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, and the men 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 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 see, David, you brought him.
So I'm gonna give you my jacket after
church, Gabriel.
And thank you, could you touch my heart?
God uses those things to reveal the heart,
doesn't he?
I was driving, oh, Lord, 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, use this
as an opportunity, but I think it's a
good opportunity to even show you my own
heart.
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 changed?
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 and you
repent and you get filled with God's love.