If you have your Bibles, you can turn
to Acts 3, Acts 3, verse 11.
Acts 3, verse 11.
How to be Refreshed and Renewed is the
title of the message.
How to be Refreshed and Renewed, because a
lot of times Christians need to be refreshed
and renewed.
It's going to go with the calling.
You're going to get disappointed, you're going to
get discouraged, sometimes feel beat down, but you
need to be refreshed and renewed often.
And there are many ways to be refreshed
and renewed.
I've talked about them often.
That was my experience at Hulme Lake was
very, very tiring, but very refreshing and renewing.
But there's one way that I think supersedes
all other ways, and we're going to get
to that as we read through the book
of Acts, beginning in verse 11.
And last week we talked about the lame
man being healed.
Now verse 11.
Now as the lame man who was healed
held on to Peter and John, all the
people ran together to them in the porch,
which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.
So when Peter saw it, he responded to
the people, Men of Israel, why do you
marvel at this, or why look so intently
at us, as though by our own power
or our own godliness, we made this man
walk.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
God of our father, saying he knew the
right God, glorified his servant, Jesus Christ, whom
you delivered up and denied him in the
presence of Pilate, when he was determined to
let him go.
Pilate was actually determined to let Jesus go.
I find no fault in this man, but
the people, the people wanted him to be
killed.
Now this is interesting here, there at Solomon's
porch, I think we have a picture up
there, I sent it out this morning, I
think Susie was able to upload it.
That's kind of a replica of the Solomon's
porch area, and if I had some time
I could explain a lot of it.
There's what's the inner court, the outer court,
the Holy of Holies is inside that actual
building, and there's an inner court, there's an
outer court where actually the Gentiles were allowed.
They could not go into the temple area
itself.
But if you see those pillars around, Herod
actually built this porch around this temple area,
and the east wall was called Solomon's porch.
And Jesus actually, I believe it was in,
I wrote it down this morning, John 10,
23, Christ taught there.
And actually the early church met there in
Acts 5.
So Gentiles were no doubt present in the
Solomon's porch area, they just could not go
into the inner court, the outer court, obviously
not the Holy of Holies, that was where
the priest could go once a year to
make atonement for the sins of the people.
So my point is, because a lot of
times we think, we forget about the audience,
and at least in my opinion, Peter here
is talking, there's Jews, there's Gentiles, there was
Gentiles in the audience yelling, give us Barabbas,
get rid of Jesus, there was Jews as
well, it's a mixed crowd here that he's
talking to.
And it's interesting, I was deciding on whether
to go back and forth on this, but
a lot of this now is coming out.
There was a pastor recently on Oprah, there
was a Christian author, a female Christian author
that eventually, her publisher just pulled her books,
because she was getting a little unorthodox and
saying things that really don't line up with
the Christian faith, and they'll often say something
like this, Jesus was a friend of sinners,
and therefore our goal is to be a
friend of sinners, and therefore not offend anybody.
Now, this could be a whole sermon, but
I've got to say this, a friend of
sinners does not mean that all sinners like
you.
Sinners hated Jesus, the ones who didn't repent
and believe.
He rebuked entire cities, and they did not
repent.
Now, to qualify that, sinners were gravitated toward
Jesus.
They loved Him because He spoke truth to
them, He helped them, He healed them, He
restored them.
So we see sinners coming to Jesus, loving
to be around Him, but we see sinners
also hating Him, and not wanting to be
around Him.
Remember the scripture that talks about that if
the world hated you, they're going, they're hating
me, they're going to hate you as well.
And so there's this view in Christianity, and
I hear it sometimes that, Shane, we just
need to be a friend of sinners.
Right, but when I try to be a
friend of sinners, love them, tell them the
truth, some of those sinners are going to
hate me.
The sinners that will love you are the
ones who appreciate you telling the truth, and
they're open for the truth.
Also, a friend of sinners does not mean
that Jesus approved of their lifestyle.
To be a friend of a sinner doesn't
mean you approve of their lifestyle, it means
you love them in that lifestyle.
And that word friend of sinners comes from
the passage where Jesus was actually healing people,
setting people free, and the religious leaders came
to Him, said, you're just a drunkard and
a friend of sinners, meaning He was with
the sinners, and that's where we need to
go to.
We need to go to the sinners.
But that doesn't mean that we didn't change
the message to accommodate that person.
So that's what's happening.
This person on Oprah recently, he'll quote, Jesus
is the only way, the only truth, the
only life, and then he forgets the other
half.
Nobody can come to the Father except through
Him.
And they'll avoid these things like sin, and
the blood of Jesus, and the cross.
Shane, we've got to be a friend.
No, that's not a friend of sinners.
That's a coward.
Because to be a friend of sinners is
you come alongside, you love them, and you
encourage them, but you also help point them
to the truth.
So I found that, right now I'm Facebooking
two, right now one is a friend of
mine, I help more than any other person
in the history of when I worked at
24 Hour Fitness.
He was African American, still a good friend
of mine, lives about an hour from here,
and he's really saying some harsh things on
Facebook about things, coming election or different things.
I reached out, hey, I'd love to talk
with you.
He goes, hey, this is Shane, I'd love
to meet with you.
So I'm reaching out there, I've got my
best friend from high school reaching out too,
and he knows where I stand, but you're
reaching out, how can I encourage, how can
I help?
He's going through a significant problem now.
And I'm reaching out, but they know right
where I stand.
Now, there's other people though that hate where
I stand, and they'll let me know.
So we can't go, am I pleasing this
person, am I pleasing, and I've struggled, I
opened up at Hume Lake about this, with
a lot of the men that were there,
and there's a lot of pastors in the
audience, I didn't know as well, but that
really helped them, is my flesh, or the
way I was raised, is to be a
people pleaser.
My dad, you know, not giving me much
affirmation, never saying I loved you, and never,
Daddy, am I pleasing you, am I pleasing
you, I'm being good in sports, I'm cleaning
my, I'm pleasing, I'm pleasing you, Dad, I
want to, that's affirmation.
Whether you believe in the five languages or
not, that's probably one of mine.
You know, it's positive affirmation, because I never
got a lot of it from my father.
So now you come to the pulpit with
that, oh, you better leave that at home,
because that's not going to fly.
To try to please men, you cannot please
God.
It's impossible to please men, the world in
general, and God.
You can't.
So what you do, is you're filled with
the Spirit, you're filled with love, and joy,
and compassion, but you speak the truth.
So sinners that, you know what, I do
need to hear that, they love Jesus.
Those who didn't, they didn't love Jesus.
They didn't like what He said.
He rebuked entire cities, because of their unbelief.
Bethesda, Corzine, it's going to be better for
you on the Day of Judgment, than all,
Tyre, Sidon, it's going to be better for
you on the Day of Judgment than these
other cities, because they did not repent.
So there's just, I want to just clarify
the nonsense that Jesus was a friend of
sinners means that some sinners didn't feel comfortable
around Him.
Some sinners ran the other direction.
But a lot of them did, because it
was like a magnet of love, and compassion,
and mercy.
And that's what I think we should be.
Love and compassion.
I don't like what He's saying, but He's
such a nice guy, I can't hate Him.
And that's what we're seeing here in this
setting.
That Peter is speaking to all this group
of people.
The statement, He didn't make sinners feel bad,
is nonsense.
He gave them hope, and He showed them
how to be saved.
That's really the way for an unbeliever.
The best way for an unbeliever is how
to be refreshed and renewed is to find
salvation in Christ alone.
Those songs, unbelievable this morning.
In Christ alone, that one has been a
favorite of mine, because that's the solid rock,
and then hell has been defeated.
My resurrected King has rendered you defeated, and
we're supposed to walk in that victory, not
defeat.
The miracle, we see here, the miracle.
Men of Israel, why do you marvel at
this?
So Peter and John, if we fast forward,
actually rewind, they said silver and gold, I
don't have, but what I do give you,
I give you in the name of Jesus
Christ, stand up and walk.
And there was a miracle that took place,
and the miracle opened the door for Peter
to speak to this audience.
And that's why, this could be a whole
other side note, so I'm going to hurry
up and not stay on it too long,
but this is one reason why there are
groups divided on signs and wonders and miracles
today, is they'll say it was only for
the New Testament church to prove the authenticity
of the gospel.
And that's true, absolutely true.
You don't see too many people walking by
in their shadow healing people, or a handkerchief.
But it doesn't mean that God still doesn't
heal and do signs and wonders today, especially
if you read a lot of books on
the mission field, you will be absolutely convinced
that the power of the Holy Spirit is
still evident today.
Absolutely evident, unless tons of missionaries are lying.
These people have given their life for the
gospel, given up family, friends, and they're just
lying, right?
I mean, come on.
So that's why there's a divide, because you
see that the signs and wonders were given
to authenticate who Christ was.
I am the Son of God, bam, healed,
delivered, set free.
There's no confusing if this was really the
Messiah.
But this miracle opened the door for Peter
to speak.
So Peter used this miracle.
He didn't say, okay, he's healed, let's just
go home.
He used this miracle to speak.
And I often wonder, what doors is God
opening that allows us to speak into the
lives of people?
And if you're careful and watchful, God will
open doors.
And often we don't like those doors, but
He'll open those doors for us to speak
to people.
I wanna give you a wonderful example.
Yesterday, as I told you, I got up
at four in the morning, left at 4
.45, got down from Hulme Lake to Chatsworth,
not a quick drive.
So I get there, and I'm texting my
wife, okay, I'll stay for the service.
I'm not speaking, I'm just there at 11.
And I'll leave at 12, have some earplugs
ready.
Or if you guys wanna run errands for
two hours, I'm okay with it, earplugs.
When you have four kids, you need earplugs
to take a nap.
That's where I'm going with this, right?
So I'm out.
Susie remembers I was back by the door
and greeting the family.
And then Glenn, whose wife passed away, said,
hey Shane, my friend's here, dying of cancer
in a wheelchair.
Would you mind helping him get in his
car and then also following him to the
grave site and get him out and help
him there and then also take him to
the restaurant afterwards, make sure he's, you know,
okay.
And I'm like, well, sure, I can do
that.
And I'm just, I'm following them driving to
the, I'm like, God, you are so funny.
You are just, you know.
But I was refreshed.
I was happy to do that.
The person didn't know how it was, carry
him, lift him, get him.
So I was, didn't get home till around
four o'clock.
And come to find out, he's not in
a good relationship with God.
So I was able to give him a
book and they told me thank you 10
times, him and his wife, and getting them,
serving them.
They're serving them.
Now, Shane, you're so holy.
No, I'm not.
My flesh was thinking nap time, nap time,
nap time.
And, but God opened that door because he
doesn't have a lot of time.
And I want to stay in communication with
him.
And God is opening that door.
Now he's got 666 in his email, just
to tell you.
And I didn't even, can I even email
somebody with that email?
I mean, can I even write that?
I have a hard time, you know, it's
like, I don't know if I can send
this email.
I don't know if I can follow up,
you know, but of course I'm being facetious.
Of course I can.
I'm not, now if I got that number
on my license plate, I would be the
first to the DMV.
And I would say, whatever you need to
do, change that number.
I don't want that number anywhere around me.
But it's, God will put those people, but
you have to be open.
I could have said, oh man, I really
have to get back.
For what?
To sleep.
I mean, that doesn't work.
So God opens those doors.
And again, I often don't like to use
examples because people think, oh man, Shane, so
I'm, my flesh was not happy at first.
But you see, this flesh submits to you.
Fortunately at Hume Lake, the opposite was happening.
I was, I actually didn't go up to
speak until almost eight o'clock at night
on two of the nights.
I'm not used to that.
I get back after 10, but I'm ministering
to guys afterward for half, we miss, I
miss dinner and lunch each time because of
staying there, ministering, fasting.
I brought some fruit and some, just some
nuts.
And it was, it's amazing.
Once you starve that flesh, and he fights
for a little bit, but then you can
feel the spirit of God coming upon, and
God is changing people on the drive back.
So he prepared me for this as well.
The flesh was in submission, and it's ready
to come back and rear its ugly head.
So it's all about submitting to the work
of God and fasting and praying.
Concepts we don't hear about much anymore.
That's gonna be our arsenal.
Are you aware of that?
Fasting and praying and seeking God.
On that note, at Hope Chapel, where we
used to meet, that must mean one of
my kids are in trouble.
So, so at Hope Chapel, Monday night the
7th, the day before the elections, there's, we're
gonna have a prayer, time of prayer there.
Monday at 7, if you can be there.
I might give just a quick little encouragement.
I don't know if there's worship there, I
just found out.
7 p.m. Monday.
And I would encourage you, those who can
make it, make it.
I don't know what will result.
I'm not endorsing or not endorsing.
I just, it's a prayer time for Christians,
and sometimes that gets loud.
And sometimes we're contending.
And I wanna just throw that out there.
Monday at 7, if you need more information,
we can give it to you.
But that's where we're gonna see a difference.
And that's where a lot of the men
who came up at Hume Lake were open
that they don't have a prayer life.
They don't fast.
They're addicted.
The numbers of men now addicted to pornography
is amazing and startling.
And women.
We are not, when I read the Bible,
I see the seriousness of sin.
The church now sees it as some little
thing that, oh, you know, it's something I'd
struggle with, but it's not that big a
deal.
But the Bible says it's a really big
deal.
I mean, what Jesus says, cut out your
eye or your arm if it's causing you
to sin.
If a little, if a man leads a
little child into sin, it's better for that
man to have never been born or for
a millstone to hung around his neck and
cast into the sea than to ever lead
one of these little ones astray.
There's some seriousness about that.
And we need to address this topic with
the seriousness that God addresses it.
And now back to this.
The miracle opened the door for Peter to
speak.
And what door is God opening for you?
I want to encourage you to get involved
in our hospital home ministry where we go
and we visit people in these hospital homes.
And I really promote this a lot because
we've seen just as many salvations and changed
lives there than here.
And people, when I, every time I go
there, there's not a time I don't go
there that God is not moving in this
way because you're going out of your comfort
zone you're going into a difficult environment.
It's not fun.
It's not, but you walk into that and
God will open amazing doors.
We forget that faith isn't just a belief.
Faith has feet.
I don't just sit at home and kumbaya,
my lord, kumbaya, God says, good worship, now
go out and do something and put feet
on our faith.
And then he said, not their power or
their godliness, not their power or their godliness.
Sometimes we think that, and I talked about
this already in the sermon a few weeks
ago, not by my power or my power,
but God's power.
It's things that we do for God are
not through my power, my strength.
It's submitting and being the vessel that he
can use.
But it's interesting.
They also said not by my, our power,
but or by my or our godliness.
And this is interesting because Christians often think,
and I'm gonna be careful here, the more
godly I am, the better I am, the
more spiritual I am, the more I'm tuned
with the Holy Spirit and I'm just so
godly and you're not and we have this,
now I can just walk through doors and
I can go to the hospitals and heal
people.
But the godliness is never meant for self
-exaltation.
Godliness is meant to draw me closer to
Christ so I can be filled with the
Spirit and then operate in his power.
And people forget that about obedience.
I really got this point clear with the
men there and I've got it real clear
here before that this concept of obedience as
I'm spiritual, I'm better, I have to do
this, it's obedience.
I love God so I have to obey
him.
And this concept of grace, that by grace
I can sin more, Paul said absolutely not.
By grace, because of grace I actually live
under a higher standard.
Because of grace, because I want to please
God, I want to follow his rules.
Some people call it, I call it guardrails.
Do we want them to remove the guardrails
on Godi Pass?
Just take them off and while you're at
it, let's widen the street right to the
edge.
Why?
Well, they're guardrails, Shane.
That's exactly what God's laws are.
And people get upset at me, Shane.
You're legalistic, you're mean, you're throwing all this
stuff on people.
No, the Bible says, put on this, take
off this, be obedient here, flee from sexual
desires, make no provision for the flesh, put
these things in your mind, be not conformed
to the world, but be transformed, put on
the armor of God, all these things of
obedience.
Why?
To draw us closer to God and fill
us with the Spirit because it's warfare.
This is warfare, guys.
We're not here playing church.
We have to take this seriously.
We are in a battle.
Oh, I don't know about that, Shane.
Well, you're in the battle whether you know
about that or not.
You are in it, and you're probably losing
if you don't think it's a spiritual battle.
So it wasn't by their power or their
godliness.
But when it comes to godliness and obedience,
the more I surrender and submit to God's
laws and obey them, then from that comes
the Spirit's power.
Again, I really want to clarify that.
There's nobody operating in the power of God,
whether it's a preacher, pastor, teacher, preaching with
the anointing of God, seeing lives change, and
all these other things that have not submitted
this area and are trying to follow what
God is doing.
Obedience comes with power because it's the Spirit's
power working through us.
Verse 14, but you denied the Holy One.
So Peter just put out this whole case.
Jesus, who you crucified.
Pilate was going to let Him go, but
you crucified Him.
You denied the Holy One and the Just
One and asked for a murderer to be
granted to you and killed the Prince of
Life, whom God raised from the dead, of
which we are witnesses.
In His name, through faith in His name,
has made this man strong, whom you see
and know.
Yes, the faith which comes from Him has
given Him this perfect soundness in the presence
of you all.
The Holy One, the One set apart.
It's interesting.
I mean, people are confused.
A Holy Spirit, they don't know what that
means.
Sometimes it's like this floating, you know, gas
or something.
The Holy Spirit just tells me what kind
of spirit He is because you can have
a deceiving spirit.
You can have a lying spirit.
You can have these different kinds of spirit.
The Holy Spirit tells me that is holy
and set apart.
He's part of the triune nature of God,
the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus being the Holy One, the One
set apart, the Messiah.
That's why there's different names for Jesus.
Messiah.
He came to save His people.
Savior, to save His people.
The Anointed One.
He was anointed by God.
And that's why He has so many different
names in the Bible because He took on
all those different things.
The Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the
End.
He's actually my Sabbath rest and Him I
rest from my labors.
He is the Prince.
He is the Lion from the tribe of
Judah.
He is an ever-present help in time
of need.
He's my strong tower.
The Bible understood and the Old Testament writers
understood as they moved into the New Testament
they gave Him all these names that He
is everything that encompasses who God is.
The Just One.
The Holy One that took our place.
The Prince of Life.
There's abundant life in Christ and people need
to start getting a little bit more excited
about who He is and what He's done.
And the problem many times we don't rewind
2,000 years and remember the cross.
Remember what He went through because of me.
See, the Bible is interesting.
It first condemns me before it releases me.
Read Scriptures.
It will condemn you and then it releases
you.
It will break you and then it restores
you.
That's the point of the Gospel.
Verse 17, Yet now, brethren, I know that
you did this in ignorance as also your
rulers.
But those things which God foretold by the
mouth of all His prophets that the Christ
would suffer He has thus fulfilled.
He's telling the people you were ignorant.
You didn't know exactly what you're doing.
But guess what?
Now you do.
He just laid it out.
Now you have a choice to make.
And that's what we do often when we
preach.
People are ignorant to the Gospel.
They have no clue.
But once you present that truth, now they
have the responsibility to respond accordingly to that
truth.
Ignorant.
You know what that means, right?
A lack of knowledge.
A lack of information.
These people did it in ignorance.
And then verse 19.
So Peter, what's the solution?
Repent.
Therefore, and be converted that your sins may
be blotted out so the times of refreshing
may come from the presence of the Lord.
Basically, bam!
No more excuses.
Refreshing.
Energizing.
That's what happens when repentance takes place.
From Cain to Abel to Noah.
From kings, prophets, and priests.
From the New Testament to the book of
Revelation.
Repentance.
That's what brings the refreshing and the renewal.
If you go all the way to Revelation,
all the way at the end of the
Bible, all those who call upon the name
of the Lord will be saved.
Saved.
What are they doing?
Repenting.
Cain.
Killed his brother.
God said, listen, sin is knocking at the
door.
Actually, it's crouching at the door ready to
jump in.
It's ready to...
But had you done what is right?
Had you repent?
Noah.
What was he telling the people to do?
Repent.
What were all the prophets throughout all the
Old Testament, the majority of them, telling the
people to do?
Repent.
That's how times of refreshing come from the
presence of the Lord.
And that's why I said, first, the Bible
condemns you before it releases.
See, it condemns me.
I repent.
It releases me.
It sentenced me to death.
It sentenced me.
Then I repent.
Then it pardons me.
You see how this works?
Then the Gospel breaks me.
It tells me who I am, and then
it begins to restore me.
That is how...
There's refreshingness...
Refreshing...
I don't know if that's a word.
But to get refreshed, you have to...
That's why I love repentance.
They say, well, Shane, I've repented.
Yeah, but we still need to repent from
some things.
I know people who are miserable in their
Christian faith because they have not repented.
They've repented for salvation, but they have not
repented for bitterness and arrogance and unforgiveness.
We walk around.
We're miserable.
We just hate life.
I just don't...
I don't know what's wrong.
When we repent from these things, times of
refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.
Those of you with your Greek Bibles, go
back and look up or the Strong's Exhaustive
Concordance of the Bible, or now you can
just go online.
It's so easy.
Look at that word, times of refreshing.
Look what the Greek word means.
It's actually revival.
Revival.
Revival will break out.
We talk about big revivals.
What about little revivals when a soul comes
to knowledge in Christ and they repent and
revival takes place?
See, we can talk to people who are
dead and they're dying.
They are depressed.
They are suicidal.
I can't tell you how many people I
pray for that are suicidal.
They just walk around, and many times, if
they're not a believer, it's because they haven't
repented, and often they think they have repented.
When I was a little kid, I think
I became part of the church.
That's not repentance.
Repentance is acknowledging, God, I'm a sinner.
I've never truly repented.
You'd be amazed at the people who have
never truly repented.
You would be amazed.
One guy actually came up for prayer, and
he said, I'm praying for this guy this
weekend.
I wish I remember his name.
You can pray for him too.
But he came up, and he just ran
up for prayer, and I was in the
back.
I've never had some kind of, you can
tell, I gotta pray.
Every time he said, Jesus, I just wince.
I just, because I was talking about, there's
no other name that can save.
Every knee will bow, and every tongue will,
and he was just wincing, and he's like,
I just, when you said there's so much
power, even demons tremble.
I had to come up for prayer, and
I said, young man, do you want to
accept Christ as Lord and Savior and repent
today?
That's what we need to pray for.
He goes, no, I don't.
And he goes, see, see, that's my problem.
That's my problem.
I can't, I go, no, the problem is
there's demonic influence that is stopping you.
You don't want, the enemy doesn't want that,
so your struggle is, you see your need
for a Savior, but do you really want
it?
See, you can't just have good thoughts, and
positive thoughts, and hope for it.
That young man had to repent.
And all I could do after the conversation
is pray, and pray that God would convict
him, and draw him this weak end, and
he was given his heart to the Lord.
But isn't, I've never seen anything like that
before.
He ran, he knows he needs it.
Can you imagine that?
You get up, you're 50 feet away, you
run, it's kind of like, I gotta run,
I need, I pray, every time he's, I
need Jesus, and I know, but I'm wincing,
and I can't, it's just like, okay, lay
it out.
No, I don't want that.
I mean, it was just straight up.
I straight asked him, no, it was not
even on my radar.
I, no, really?
Well, this hasn't happened in a while.
Hmm.
So I said, Lord, you just gotta help
me with this prayer, and I prayed, and
that you convict him, that you save him,
show him your grace, show him your love,
your sins are forgiven, if he acknowledges your
son, he needs to repent of the, he
gave me a big hug, and walked away.
Like, boy, there's a struggle there.
Because on one hand, if the enemy's there,
and they're not coming for prayer, they're definitely
not giving me a hug, what they're giving
me is this.
Or, now it's pepper spray, right?
That, but this, this turmoil, what would have,
what, no doubt hooked on something, what would
have changed that?
What, this man who came, that was what
was hard for me, he came for refreshing,
and renewal, he came for revival, he came,
I need answers, I need something, and there
it is, it's this one little word, it's
this one little tiny word, that has enormous
consequences, repent, repent, and believe in the gospel,
bow your knee, right now to Jesus Christ,
give up everything for him, repent, and then
just say no.
That's how powerful this word is.
That's what is the hope for the nation,
that's what the hope is for churches, it's
this word, that's where you get refreshing, and
renewal, and that's what's so hard for me,
I don't want to belabor this point, but
the hardest part about pastoring, the hardest part,
bar none, is to watch people die spiritually,
they're dying spiritually, right before our eyes, and
all you say is drink of the living
water, drink of the living water, you're bound
in iniquity, I'm not even talking about people,
unbelievers, I'm talking about believers, they're dying, they're
dying, they're depressed, they're sorrowful, they don't have
the passion of God, the Bible's boring, they
hate everything to do with church, but they'll
come just because they're supposed to, and they're
dying spiritually, and I just take of the
living water, Christ spoke of take of the
living water, there's always something sometimes we need
to repent of, but they don't want to,
they don't want to release those, whether it's
anger, or bitterness, or unforgiveness, or lust, or
now we call them besetting sins, yeah I
guess I have to live with this, no
you don't, one verse after church, just give
me one verse, that says we just live
with that besetting sin, because actually what happens
is a besetting sin, let me clarify, this
is a sin that a believer is struggling
with, have you ever been, I just can't
defeat this, I just can't, I prayed, I've
even fasted, I've come to you, I just
can't beat that, I fall back into this
besetting sin, well a besetting sin, then becomes
a stronghold, and that's where the enemy will
continually beat you up, and he'll go to
that area, that stronghold that has begun to
work in your life, and he'll continue to
harass you in that area, and sometimes those
sins don't come out easily, this kind cometh
not out, but by prayer and fasting, now
some people say, well that verse isn't in
some of the other manuscripts, but if you
look at the fathers of the church, early
church fathers, many of them quoted and referenced
that verse, that there's some type, sometimes there's
a stronghold of besetting sin, that's not going
to go out easily, there's going to be
travail, there's going to be weeping, there's going
to be seeking God, there's going to be
in his word, there's going to be fasting,
because you're doing battle, you think the enemy
just wants that stronghold to go easily, he
doesn't, that's why repentance is so important, it
gets the heart right, Lord I'm sorry, you
know it's okay to say this, Lord I'm
sorry, I have jealousy and envy in my
heart, I'm repenting, I'm struggling with all these
different issues, and I'm repenting, I'm struggling with
unforgiveness and bitterness, there's people, there's believers, I
hate, I hate them, God, and you bring
it to the cross and you repent, times
of refreshing come from the presence of the
Lord, you cannot hold these things in, and
then be a Christian filled with the joy
and power of the Holy Spirit, it's impossible,
it's impossible, most secular psychologists recognize that guilt
is a major cause of depression, did you
know that, that if you could just get
rid of guilt, that many people would be
set free of what they're struggling with, and
we have a person who has set everybody,
should have set us completely free of guilt
and shame, because he paid the price, every
burden of sin, one of the songs we
sang, it just made me think, the curse,
every curse was put on his shoulders, everything,
so we walk in freedom, and then the
enemy brings up the shame, I walk in,
either Christ paid it all or didn't, it
either paid it all, or he either paid
it all or didn't, but I want to
talk to you, before I let you go,
about how to be refreshed and renewed, just
a couple scriptures, because this is so vital,
this is so vital, even I saw it
in Hume, like so many men are just
dying, spiritually, they're dying spiritually, and we see
it here, we're just, I mean you read
the book of Acts, well that was for
them brother, I don't think so, it's for
us, to experience that, now I have some
thoughts that, they didn't have Facebook and media,
and all kinds of garbage back then, and
I mean can you imagine, no correspondence whatsoever,
no TV, no Facebook, just go out, walk
in the wilderness, seek God, no lust, you'd
have to go drive somewhere, no envy, no
greed, no, what's Beyonce doing, what's going on
with Brad and Jolie, I mean what's going
on, and then you read this thread, and
it turns into that thread, and then three
hours later, you're like, why am I doing
this, Hillary's taking our guns, Trump's going to
start World War III, but see they didn't
have any of that, so I truly believe
it's a much bigger challenge, for us today,
to separate from the world, and be filled
with the spirit of God, we have so
many distractions, but on the flip side, we
have, look at the advantage, YouTube, radio, getting
the message out, and it's amazing, and I
don't say this to toot anybody's horn, but
what God has done through Westside, there are
literally tens of thousands, of listeners per month,
hearing what I'm talking to you about, where
does that come from, but where does that
come from, because I think of that, and
I get nervous, I mean I see a
camera going, and people are like, uh oh,
I just got to forget about all that,
but where does that come from, God says
I want to do this, I found a
church, and the leadership of the church, those
who attend, who want to give support, and
submit to what God wants to do, so
he gets his messages out there, so all
these things that can be a curse, are
also meant to be a blessing, now I
don't want to just leave you hanging with
that, how to be refreshed and renewed, Jeremiah
31 25, I will refresh the weary, and
I will satisfy the faint, God says I
will refresh the weary, and I will satisfy
the faint, here's what we do, we sit
here and go huh, I believe in that,
I promise, but read it in context, there's
always something on our part, I will seek
God, I will put him first, one thing
have I desired, David said, one thing have
I desired, that I dwell in the house
of the Lord, all the days of my
life, that's all I desire, that's what I'm
going to seek, and as I seek him,
I will be refreshed from my weariness, and
I will be satisfied, as I seek him,
see we can't continue in sin, and all
this stuff, and try to get God in
on Sunday, and expect to be refreshed and
renewed, the context is very important, Isaiah 40
31, but those who hope in the Lord,
you know this one, I love the other
translation, those who wait upon the Lord, will
renew their strength, they will mount up like
wings, like eagles, and they will walk and
not grow weary, they will run and not
faint, those who wait upon the Lord, see
it's always the position, and I joke about
this a lot, but I am deadly serious,
you want to be filled with the spirit
of God, you want to get rid of
a lot of this weariness, and be refreshed
and renewed, then take a break from the
media, there's nothing wrong with grabbing this big
TV, putting it out in the garage for
a month, to Facebook, you can unsubscribe from
Facebook for two weeks, and it will save
your profile, trust me I've done it many
times, and I'm not, oh Shane you're getting,
no I'm against things that draw people away
from the Lord, now if you can monitor,
and use it wisely now and then of
course, but for the most part, we know
these areas, and as I said to the
men there, the sad state of our church,
and our families is that, usually the average
man will spend, seven to eight minutes a
week, of quality undisrupted time with their children,
about 35 hours on TV, Shane are you
sure, come on you must have missed some
numbers in there, guys eight minutes, not eight
hours, eight minutes of quality time with their
kids a week, uninterrupted, because I can sit
there and go uh-huh, uh-huh, uh
-huh, oh you're learning guitar that's great, play
something, uh-huh, they're not standing for the
national anthem again, those Broncos, uh-huh, wife
wants me to fix something, uh-huh, but
that's not quality time, quality time is where
you take them, you spend time with them,
you listen, and 35 hours for the world,
and eight minutes at home, we wonder why
Shane, what's going on, I'll tell you what's
going on, you better wake up and realize
this is warfare, the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, you've got to go against
the flesh, and pray and seek God, if
you, if you seek him with all of
your heart, you will find him, those who
wait upon the Lord, those who hope on
the Lord, will renew their strength, that's why
many people are miserable, they're not seeking God,
with all their heart, with all their soul,
and with all their strength, Matthew 11 29,
Jesus says take my yoke upon me, guess
what, there's an action word again, the verb,
pretense, all these things, you are taking, you're
taking the yoke, take my yoke upon you,
and these yoke, oxen would have these big
yokes, wood yokes, I don't know what they
weighed, probably a couple hundred pounds, they would
be tied to the plow, and these oxen
would pull the yoke, and till the land,
so Jesus says, take my yoke upon you,
meaning I don't, I just, I let him
carry my load, I let him do those
things, and people ask me, it often happens
when I speak about, you know you realize
someday, don't you, that the first amendment, and
they're going after pastors first, yes I do,
I understand where we are going quickly, but
what I have to do, is take that
yoke, Christ you pull me, you pull me
through this, if I'm going to jail, I
hope it's once my kids are raised at
least, that's my prayer, so if I can
get caught up in worry, I have to
put his yoke upon me, that's how I'm
refreshed and renewed, I mean we think that
if you're Christian, you're going to be popular,
the most powerful preacher that ever lived, John
the Baptist was beheaded, and we think we're
going to have our best life now, you
see you have to train your kids, train
your family for warfare, pray for hope, pray
for peace, I love it, thank God for
it, times are refreshing, but also prepare for
the enemy, prepare that things will get more
difficult, that's one of my pet peeves about
the rapture, it's like we're going to be
out of here when it all gets bad,
we're gone, we're just gone, you know, really,
do you know that many people don't believe
in the rapture, and that we don't know,
and people ask me, brother the ends are
coming, aren't you excited, well I've got four
kids to raise, I'm married, I've got a
church to lead, that's what my focus needs
to be, yes, Lord Jesus come quickly, please,
please, I hope it's true, but if it's
not, I'm prepared, because we know he's coming
again, we know he's coming again, there's no
way around it, John saw heaven open, and
he saw that white horse, and who sat
on that white horse, he who had a
crown of thorns, and eyes of fire, and
out of his mouth was a sharp sword,
and he will tread the wine press, and
the fierceness and wrath of God, and the
angels of heaven will follow after him, so
there goes your Jesus as a pacifist, turn
the other cheek, just gentle, when he comes
back, and see this is interesting, you can't
shoot him, you can't get your AR, nothing,
there's nothing that's going to happen, when a
sharp sword comes out of his mouth, he's
going to level the playing field, he's going
to tread the wine press, and the fierceness
and wrath of almighty God, he's going to
bring the wrath of God, on an unforgiving,
disregarding society, that mocks God's truth, so he's
coming again, but as he's coming again, we've
got to be prepared, you might not be
out of here, in a couple days, or
a couple weeks, or a couple years, you
might go through hell on earth, I don't
know, I pray for it, and we're leaving
Sunday morning, we're so discouraged, no back to
this, you take his yoke upon you, and
you learn from him, he's gentle, and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls, and it's an interesting thing, about
this idea of fear, if you fear the
right things, it can be good, if you
fear that your wife, might walk out on
you, you might change the way you act,
if you fear that your husband, you might
change the way you act, if you fear
financial collapse, you might invest more wisely, if
you fear that you're losing all your money,
then you might stop spending, like a drunk
sailor, on furlough in Hawaii, you might see,
the fear can be good, often many of
you know, I was a heavy equipment operator,
digging throughout the valley, and anytime it would
say, I would call underground service alert, they
would come, and they would mark the area,
where I'm digging, and anytime I saw HP
in yellow, hmm, I do not like that,
high pressure gas line, that's not good, or
Verizon fiber optics, $10,000 a minute, to
fix it, when you break it, or $1
,000, their prices were astronomical, so I would
fear that, now who's gonna say, oh that's
not good, that's the kind of fear, we
have for God, that reverence, and a respect,
for who he is, I respect 12,000
volts, of electricity, I respect the 32 inch
gas line, coming from Texas, to this area,
I respect the same thing, that's fear, and
that's reverence, before God, we need to fear
God again, we need to come in our
churches, fearing but also prepared, to hear from
God, God I fear you, and I love
you, you're my savior, you're my judge, it
changes the way you worship, 1st Chronicles 16,
seek the Lord and his strength, seek his
presence continually, see there's a seeking, the more
I seek him, the more I find him,
and the more I find him, the more
I love him, and the more I love
him, I wanna seek him, you see how
this works, full cycle, this is a good
kind of hunger, the hungrier I am for
God, gotta check that word too, the hungrier
I am for God, the more I want
him, but what we do, I'm hungry for
lunch, I go and eat lunch, I'm no
longer hungry, but with God, the hungrier I
am, the more I devour, the hungrier I
become, and the hungrier I become for God,
that's why, and I told the guys up
there, do you realize, probably most of you,
have not struggled with lust, for two or
three days, yeah why is that, because you've
removed, you've removed the stimuli, and you've created,
a different environment, it's like, where did lust
go, where did this go, I just feel
so, right, because you moved the triggers, you
removed the fuel, from the fire, so how
much more, are we as Christians, need to
change our environment, to something that's wholesome, see
I remember, I remember when the hero, was
the father, I remember when the father, was
respected, he was the hero, not all these,
these reality shows, and dating shows, that are
a stench, in the nostrils of a righteous,
holy, pure God, the hero was the father,
purity, and wholeness, were things that were sought,
and when those things are sought, times of
refreshing, comes from the presence of the Lord,
I don't know about you, but I've got
three little daughters, in the AV, and that
makes me very scared, unless, everything I just
talked about, seek God, trust in him, trust
in his sovereignty, you can go to the
inner cities, and minister, and be safe, if
you're inside the will of God, on that
note, I thank you guys, for sharing about
the Oaks, and I felt prompted, and I
actually forgot, to put my notes, but if
you want to give, to that organization, with
world impact, you could put their names, in
the memo line, and say you want it,
for inner city missions, you want it, to
get these kids into camp, and hear the
gospel, you can do that, oh Shane, it's
going to hurt our tithe, I don't care,
God's going to do that, it doesn't matter,
every time we give the missions, texts come
in the mail, that are, oh I just
sold my house, here's 10,000, I just
sold, it's like, where does that come from,
because God will provide, for his people, if
that's not the focal point, if Christ is
the focal point, and I know there's people,
that probably want to, we've given to that,
organization before, to get kids, from the inner
city, who can't afford it, oh they haven't
seen, mountain and stars before, they haven't, they
haven't, they've seen, they've seen buildings, and disgusting
things, and when they get up there, they
almost are, like withdrawals, right, without phones, they
don't know what to do, because it's hard
to wait, on God, if you've never done,
that before, so it's something good, so if
you want to invest, in that as you
leave, you can make it out, to world
impact, put the bells, in the memo lines,
see them, and what to put exactly, and
you can help, get kids into the camp,
that's how we make a difference, oh I
got to save Shane, I got, no you
got to give more, we've all got to
give more, we are so blessed, in this
country, man that's another sermon, Philippians, and I'm
going to close on this, Philippians 4, 6,
and 7, do not be anxious, about anything,
oh Lord, help me apply this, but it
tells me, not to be anxious, tells me,
I'm going to be anxious, in the flesh,
so do not be anxious, about anything, but
in every situation, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your request, to God, and the
peace of God, which surpasses, transcends, all understanding,
will guard your heart, and your mind, in
Christ Jesus, now, it keeps going, finally brethren,
when Paul wrote this letter, to the church
in Philippi, he concludes, finally brethren, whatever things,
are pure, and noble, and honest, and upright,
meditate on these things, that's where the peace
comes from, you see the battle, I always
go to this is here, this is why
we're not, experiencing a lot of peace, and
transforming work of God, because we're putting things
in, that actually oppose God, we're putting things
in, that make us anxious, and irritable, and
afraid, we're actually feeding, the thing that God
says, don't feed, we're fueling the fire, that
God says put out, you know, I can
see all the posts, on Facebook, we are,
the Christians are scared, and they are reading,
too much garbage, and they're allowing that, to
affect their worship, they're allowing that, to affect
their peace, and their joy, and then I
was going, to get through verse 20, but
I'll just go, to the end verse 26,
maybe come back to it later, to you
first God, having raised up his servant, Jesus
sent him to bless you, and turning away,
every one of you, from your iniquities, Peter
will go on to say, that was the
point of Jesus coming, to turn you away
from your sin, to save you born to
die, and the audience this large, I know
there's people, maybe here that don't know, Jesus
that you don't know God, you've been in
church, but you don't know the Lord, you
have religion, but not a relationship, you've got
to get this right, you cannot live your
life, with the question mark here, like that
man, I talked to the other day, you
cannot live your life, with the question mark
here, and I shared this, I think it
was last year, but when Robin Williams died,
there are people texting him, Jeannie you're now
free, or when Joan Rivers died, now you're
relaxing, in a recliner, with a cabana boy,
bringing you champagne, that's not what she's doing
guys, and I'm not joking, I'm sad, I
wish we could reach, some of these people,
I wish we could reach, some of these
people, in Hollywood, or different things, this is
serious, no Jeannie you're not free, you're bound,
if you don't know the Lord, you're not
going to see, a cabana boy and champagne,
you're going to be in the fires of
hell, Jesus, do you guys realize, Jesus said
that, if Jesus was here today, reading from
that portion, he would say, do not fear
him, who can just kill your body, Isis,
we're more afraid of Isis, than the creator
of the world, do not worry about those,
who kill the body, but fear him, who
can cast both body, and soul in hell,
why would Jesus say that, to tell people
the truth, because he loved them, that's what
all of Jesus, is telling the truth, he
loved them, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I love you, but
I see your destruction, people, children of God,
Pharisees, religious leaders, you stiff neck people, come
to the cross, come to salvation, you read
the scriptures, yet you have a blinded mask
on, you can't even see them, through your
iniquity, come to the cross, this is the
most important subject we own, this is the
most important possession you own, I don't care
how much you have in 401k, or if
your house is paid off, this is the
most important thing you possess, the gospel of
Jesus Christ, you know I heard something,
that really helped me this week, because it
was hard, I mean I was the guy,
who's speaking after me this week, and has
a PhD, and so I'm like, oh oh,
you know what is, who's Shane, just speaks
at a church, you know, and that's fine,
but what people think, what they think, and
have a hard time reading, and stuttering, and
all the, and God just using that, and
he really, he really, I'm opening up maybe
more than I should, but he really helped
to build me up, because I remember saying,
I heard many years ago, that there are
a lot of people, don't get me wrong,
that can preach the gospel better than me,
there are a lot, that can preach the
gospel better than me, but no one can
preach a better gospel, that's the key, but
that will help you, that will help you,
and people, they'll call me, or email, you
know, Shane, if you were just with me
at my neighbor's house, you would've know what
to told them, no, not necessarily, you're the
person in their life, or if you were
there, you could, no, no, you're the, there's
people who can preach the gospel better, they're
eloquent, they're on target, they're smooth, there's no
rabbit trails, but nobody can preach a better
gospel, same thing with you, when you minister
to your friends, minister to your family, you
have to spend time with God, meditate on
scripture, and remember, that there is a lost,
and dying world out there, they are going
to hell, and God calls us, to bring
the perfect gospel, the perfect message, through vessels,
that are not perfect, and as you do
that, you are refreshed, and renewed, and revigorated,
one of the hospital homes, I went and
talked to, unsaved Jewish man, who is gay,
wow, unbelievable, still wanna go back, talk with
that man, love, learn so much, about the
Jewish traditions, and the history, but you are
able to say, the true Messiah, is Jesus
Christ, well, he's not listening, how do you
know, see, all you do is, you plant
the seed, with God's spirit, oh, it's gonna
grow, you plant the seed, it's gonna grow,
and it's gonna grow, and it's gonna grow,
and that's how, how to be refreshed, and
renewed, last point, I know I keep saying
this, but if you don't know Jesus, you
will never be refreshed, and renewed, ever, they
asked, they once asked a billionaire, when's it
enough, after one more dollar, and that's true,
you will never be refreshed, and renewed, if
you don't know him, and I'm concerned, that
many people have religion, they've grown up in
the church, they play church, they know all
about Jesus, but they've never repented, and they've
never experienced, these times of refreshing, from the
presence of the Lord, there were men, up
at this camp, that I almost could not
hold up, afterwards, they were crying so hard,
praying, I had to literally, hold them up,
weeping, weeping, and they left there, refreshed, and
renewed, because they stopped, playing church, but there's
also believers, that are not refreshed, and renewed,
and you have to begin, to apply everything,
that the Bible talks about, who's our trust,
who's our strength, filling our mind, with things
that glorify Christ, seeking God, with all of
our heart, and that does mean, radical change,
people say that, that's pretty radical, oh absolutely,
of course, you think Christianity, is just going
to kind of, fit in there, like on
Twitter, it's radical living, it's radical life, it's
radical change, not weird change, radical change, there's
a big difference there.