The message this morning is, you shall receive
power.
You shall receive power, and I'm going to
pick up where we left off in the
book of Acts.
But this is kind of, I would say,
part two of the Holy Spirit.
We talked about the Holy Spirit last week,
and if you weren't here, I would encourage
you to go online and listen to that
message.
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?
It's the most important question a Christian can
ask.
So this is part two, because I wasn't
able to finish everything in that sermon.
The title is, you shall receive power.
And I'm not talking about worldly power.
You know what that is, correct?
We're seeing that in the presidential debates.
And in politics, many times, it's control, it's
prestige, it's influence.
So when I'm talking about, you shall receive
power, it's not that kind of power.
You actually might not receive prestige.
And you may lose influence, and you may
lose control.
Because you're guided by the Holy Spirit, and
that's what spiritual power is.
Spiritual power is the Holy Spirit controlling you.
The Holy Spirit exalts Christ.
The Holy Spirit influences us towards godliness and
humility.
Actually, it's the work of the Holy Spirit
in your life that determines how well you
live your life for Christ.
It's not our work.
We submit to His work, but it's actually
the Holy Spirit's work.
And if you want to know more about
the Holy Spirit, again, I want to reference
last week.
Go online and listen to that.
I've talked about who the Holy Spirit is
in a little bit more detail.
But I think it's important, before we start
reading Acts, to understand that the church was
born 2,000 years ago.
We're going to read about when the church
was born.
And that spiritual power, anything that God does
in this church, in your life, the hospital
home ministries that we have, where people are
coming to know the Lord, the baptisms that
are spontaneous here and people are coming to
know the Lord, is through the work of
the Holy Spirit.
And as we celebrate the last service last
night, I begin to think of a few
things.
And I'll just share them with you.
I think it hopefully will resonate with some
of you.
Anything that I've ever done successfully in ministry
has been through the Holy Spirit's power.
Looking back on my life, whether it's books
or speaking or the church, anything, I look
back and say, God, it's all you.
Because there's no way Shane Eidelman could have
put that together.
Same way in your life.
You submit to the Spirit's power and to
His guidance in your life.
I want to go back right before the
church started.
I told a few dozen people what we
were doing completely from scratch.
And many people said, oh, you can't do
that.
You don't start a church that way.
You have to have something in your home
and then it grows.
You can't just say you're starting a church
and hope people show up.
It doesn't work that way.
And I said, well, I think God's wanting
us to plan a church and we're going
to go for it.
And the doors began to open.
It was amazing what God put together in
the final weeks before we actually launched the
church.
Also, a lot of people said you can't
start a church on a Saturday.
It won't succeed on a Saturday night.
No church has ever done that before on
a Saturday night.
Maybe later, but you need to find a
place that's available Sunday.
And I would get discouraged.
My wife's roommates, I'd go home and say,
we have a free building on a Saturday
night.
And the open door, the worship, the sound,
everything.
So is that not an open door?
I don't know.
If He's in it, He's in it.
And I remember some of you know Chris
Johnson at Grace Chapel.
I talked to him right before we started
the church and laid out what I'm doing.
And I'll never forget his words.
He said something like, you're going to have
to go talk to somebody else because I've
never done what you're about to do.
I don't know how you just start without
a core group, without on a Saturday.
You're going to have to ask somebody because
Grace Chapel is 100 years old.
So it's been around a while and he
kind of walked into that.
And what I decided to do is seek
godly counsel, of course, but many people couldn't
offer that counsel because God was doing something
different, something unique, and it was basically from
scratch.
Again, so he gets all the glory, all
the credit.
Another thing that came out is it's non
-denominational, meaning we didn't want to identify with
any certain group.
We just wanted to be a Bible-believing,
non-denominational church that believes in the whole
counsel of God's word.
Well, the big problem with that is there's
no support.
So you basically walk into a bank and
you open a savings account with $100 and
you trust that God is going to bring
in the support.
And the first night, it was more than
we ever expected.
That's why we don't pass out an offering.
We don't make it a big deal.
God has just been financially blessing the church
since day one.
And again, all these things you just don't
do.
I remember, I won't point out the church,
even though I'd like to tell you what
street it's on.
But the people still, not recently, but it
was pretty occurring that I would hear that,
well, that's not a real church because he
never went to seminary.
And I would hear that often, like, really?
That's a real church?
Yeah, Morgan never went to Bible college, you
didn't go to seminary, you know, that's not
a real church.
A real church is somebody who's went to
seminary, they've got their Ph.D. on their
card or their Master's on their card, and
they've done a lot of studying, and that's
how you start a church.
Forgetting the fact that I've studied just about
as much as any Ph.D. I know
because I wanted to do it.
God's Spirit was propelling me in that direction,
and I wanted to do that.
So you have to have theology.
I think it's a big misconception, people think,
well, you didn't go to theology, you don't
know anything, like, where's Matthew?
Is that book in the Bible?
I don't know, it's like there's a big
misconception.
Now, granted, you have to be willing to
study, and theology is very important, but I
believe the Bible also talks about when they
heard the disciples, they knew that they had
been with Jesus, even though they were untrained,
unlearned men, they had been with Christ.
Because they knew Jesus, they knew His Word,
and they knew who He was.
So I just want to share a few
of those things with you.
I jotted down other things, like, I didn't
even know what iTunes was, and I remember
telling them, no, we're not going to videotape
it, that's stupid.
Who does that?
Just a CD's fine, because, no, we've got
to try it, it's the way things are
going.
And then now, the media, audio, video, reaches
tens of thousands of people.
Throughout the United States and the world, we
get emails from Denmark and Australia and New
Zealand and all these different places, and I
usually send them to Mike or the office
or different people to help answer all these
emails coming in.
Marriage problems in North Dakota and Kansas and
Florida.
So for all that to just happen from
a Saturday night, it's God's Spirit, God's power.
And I'm not a perfect vessel.
I'm a flawed vessel.
And you need to understand that we are
all flawed.
Pastors don't come up here and do everything
perfectly.
I went kicking and screaming.
Do you ever have a child?
Come on, you're coming.
Either way you're coming, right?
You're coming, whether you can play dead and
you drag your feet on the dirt, you're
coming.
Either way.
Or you can say, here Daddy, come up,
let me just take you around.
That's the easier way to go.
That's how you want to go.
Daddy, just take me, whatever you want to
do.
And it was difficult.
It was challenging.
Iron sharpens iron.
There's a lot of things that God had
to, you know, it's very humbling to not
have your own facility, and you have to,
you know, pretty much any request they want.
I remember the first year, they needed their
church for Christmas Eve, and it falled on
a Saturday.
What am I supposed to do, cancel the
service?
I mean, how do you, you know, just
that, God using all that, and different things
that happened.
I said all that to say that, to
say this, you shall receive power.
Many times God's going to call you to
do something you can't do on your own.
So you can't look back and say, look
what I did, look what I accomplished.
Just things in ministry, or in your own
life, or with you praying for certain things,
God wants to get all the glory, and
all the power, and all the credit goes
to Him.
That's where we have to have our focus.
You can clap for that one, please do.
So let's begin in Acts 1, the former
account I made, O Theophilus, of all that
Jesus began both to do and to teach,
until the day in which He was taken
up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had
given commands to the apostles whom He had
chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive,
after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being
seen by them during forty days, and speaking
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God.
After Jesus' resurrection, He hung around for forty
days, and appeared to, I think, over 500
people.
That's why He says there's infallible proofs that
Jesus is the risen Savior.
But you have to understand, Acts is actually
a continuation of the book of Luke.
So Luke is writing, and he's saying, based
on what I've already told you, the former
account, Theophilus, in Theophilus, if you look at
the word, it's theos and phileo, lover of
God, is what that word means, and some
have even said, well, it was written to
the church, lovers of God, this is the
book that I'm writing to the lovers of
God, to the church, but me, looking at
the immediate context, I tend to believe this
is an individual that He's writing to.
And many infallible proofs, we've talked about that
so many times here, on the infallible proofs
for the resurrection, that Jesus is who He
said He was, the biggest witness out there
is a transformed life.
To go from darkness to light, to go
from hell to heaven, to go from wrong
to right, to go from not liking God,
to now I can't get enough of God,
that in and of itself is a miracle.
The infallible proofs.
And then we talked about last week, the
whole message was on He through the Holy
Spirit.
If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, and He
wouldn't start His ministry until He was filled
with the Holy Spirit, who do we think
we are to neglect this aspect of God's,
the triune nature of God?
We need the Holy Spirit's power.
We need His presence.
I'm not scared to ask for the filling
of the Spirit.
Well, Shane, aren't we already filled?
Well, we are given the Holy Spirit, as
I've said before, at conversion.
That's baptized into the body of Christ.
You are baptized into the body of Christ,
you receive the Holy Spirit.
But then the question becomes, but does the
Holy Spirit have all of you?
See, we have the Holy Spirit.
But many times, He doesn't have all of
us.
There's a process there sometimes of being filled
with the Spirit and removing things from our
lives.
Here's often what happens.
I'm gonna probably take some rabbit trails, so
I apologize this morning, early, first time.
Instead of asking for permission, right?
It's better to apologize.
Because God takes this Holy Spirit topic, I
mean, I could camp out here for a
month and do a whole series, and I
try to like, okay, don't talk about that.
The power of the Holy Spirit, many times
a person, once they're converted, and they've surrendered
their life to God, they're filled mightily with
the Holy Spirit.
They are just on fire for God.
But sometimes, often a person becomes a Christian,
they love the Lord, but there's besetting sins
that they don't get rid of, and they're
not laying down some things.
They're holding on maybe to bitterness and unforgiveness,
and they're gonna hang on to this addiction.
So they're not filled with the Spirit, even
though they're a believer.
So you can see, they're quenching and grieving
the Holy Spirit.
That's what the Bible talks about.
Don't quench and don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
So that's why you can have two people,
believers.
One on fire for God, and God is
doing so many things through them.
It's not the person, it's because they've surrendered
their life to the work of the Spirit.
The other person, which Paul calls carnal.
You are carnal in your nature.
Your carnal nature is leading you.
You're loving the things of the world.
You're not giving up.
You're not letting this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus.
You're holding on to arrogance, so they're not
filled with the Spirit.
So they go through life like this.
Pretty miserable.
Like, well, I'm a Christian.
I know God saved me, but I'll try
to make church once a month.
You know, I guess I'll try to read
this, and I'd rather watch Howard Stern than
listen to Air One.
And I'd rather...
Why?
What's wrong with me?
It's because you're filled with the things of
the world.
And that's the difference.
That's the distinction between somebody filled with the
Spirit and somebody who's not.
And then verse 4.
The Holy Spirit is promised in these next
few verses.
And being assembled together with them, Jesus, He
commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but
to wait for the promise of the Father,
which He said, You have heard from Me,
for John truly baptized you with water, but
you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now.
Now, that could be another sermon.
Those two verses.
I'd love to preach a whole sermon on
that.
But suffice it to say this, the disciples,
He didn't say go out and start witnessing,
go out and start getting involved in ministry.
He said, don't do anything.
Disciples, don't even touch a scroll to roll
open and start putting together commentary.
Don't do anything.
Wait until you receive power.
Wait until you receive the Holy Spirit's power.
Now, here's the difference.
The Holy Spirit throughout the Old Testament was
given in portion by God.
And David being filled with the Spirit.
And Saul being filled with the Spirit prophesied.
And Elisha, the Spirit came upon Elisha.
And the Spirit came upon Nehemiah.
The Spirit came upon, but then could withdraw.
But as believers, the promise that Jesus is
talking about is when, now that the church
is born, Jesus leaves, the Holy Spirit comes.
Now instead of the Holy Spirit being portioned,
now and then according to God's sovereignty and
good pleasure, whatever He wants to do, now
the Holy Spirit is given to every believer.
Much different.
You are actually given the same Spirit of
God that rose Jesus from the dead, where
Elisha did all of His miracles, where David
was victorious.
You think he beat Goliath in the power
of the flesh or the power of the
Spirit?
Now we as believers, and I truly believe
this, more than I believe that the sun
is going to come up tomorrow because I
trust God's Word over what He created, that
you have that power, that unction, that fire
of the Holy Spirit.
It's given to every single believer.
That's a promise.
But if you are continually quenching that fire,
you will not feel the heat.
So you have to stand by the fire
to feel the flame.
Many people have the fire burning in the
den, but they're down the hall in the
living room and they're climbing up to the
attic and they wonder why they don't feel
the fire of God's presence.
It's burning, but you're not close enough to
feel that flame.
So that's what's happening here.
Jesus is saying, don't go do anything because
you're going to do it in the power
of the flesh.
Wait for the promise of the Father.
Wait for that Holy Spirit to impact you
and empower you.
Now this gets a little controversial.
I believe it was J.
Vernon McGee, maybe even John MacArthur, in their
study Bibles, talking about the...
Let me be careful here too, because I
love both those men.
But it's almost as if they're saying that
the disciples actually weren't believers until the promise,
like when Jesus said, receive the Holy Spirit.
He did that chapters before this.
So they received the Holy Spirit, but this
is something different where they're receiving now this
unction, the preposition, the Greek preposition is epi,
E-P-I, to come upon a person.
That's different from the preposition en, where the
Holy Spirit is in a person.
So I believe that when the disciples, when
Jesus said, receive the Holy Spirit, before this
event, that they were believers.
You would consider them Christians.
When he says, receive the Holy Spirit, and
I take that literally, so this now is
a separate event where they have the Holy
Spirit, but this is now the Holy Spirit
coming upon them.
So, how does that work today?
Well, a little distinction and difference.
Here I'm getting ahead of myself, but while
I'm on the topic, let me just stay
here for a minute.
When the Bible explains the work of the
Holy Spirit, do you know what a preposition
is from school?
A preposition helps to explain what the noun
is doing.
A person, place, or thing.
The preposition is used to qualify or to
show what it's doing.
So the Holy Spirit, there's a word paraclete,
paracletus.
It's the Holy Spirit comes alongside, but he
also comes alongside and he convicts the world
of judgment, righteousness, and then judgment is to
come.
So the Holy Spirit comes alongside as an
advocate, as a comforter, but then the Bible
talks about the Holy Spirit residing in you,
E-N, which means what I just said,
the Holy Spirit is residing in you as
a believer.
And then there's an interesting word.
Jesus said, you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes upon you, E-P-I,
that's the epi word.
This is an overflowing power of the Holy
Spirit that permeates all areas of life.
So a person, here's a good example.
It happened in Lancaster.
Many of you know.
I might as well close this.
It was bothering me during worship.
Isn't that weird?
But, oh now the other side's open.
But this is the difference.
You can put water in that baptismal, right?
An inch or two.
There's water in that baptism.
There's a couple inches of water.
But turn the water on and let it
flow.
And let it just come out the sides
and over the top and onto this carpet.
That's the overflowing epi power unction upon of
the Holy Spirit.
So you see the difference?
Many are filled with two inches.
But they're not overflowing.
What do you do?
You have to surrender to the water faucet.
You have to surrender to the work of
God's Spirit.
To the degree you surrender is to the
degree you'll be filled.
More surrender, more filling.
Less surrender, less fill with the Spirit.
So that's why these words shouldn't be confusing.
But Pentecostal charismatic circles people often say, Brother
you just need to be baptized with the
Holy Spirit.
You just need to be baptized with the
Holy Spirit.
And what they're saying is a person needs
that filling.
Like Jesus being filled with the Spirit.
Paul being filled with the Spirit.
Peter being filled with the Spirit.
They need this filling to take place.
So I believe we are I don't use
the term necessarily baptized in the Holy Spirit
because it happens in conversion.
But there are subsequent feelings of the Holy
Spirit.
Not feelings, like you feel something.
But feelings.
F-I-L-L-I-N-G-S
So a person can be filled with the
Spirit.
So that's why you'll hear those terms kind
of used loosely sometimes.
What do they mean?
Brother you need to have that baptism of
the Holy Spirit.
What they're saying is they lack the fire.
They lack the unction.
They're not filled with the Spirit.
So that was just a quick test or
a quick nugget on terminology.
So, verse 6.
Therefore when they had come together they asked
Him saying Lord will you at this time
restore the kingdom to Israel?
And He said to them it's not for
you to know times or seasons which the
Father has put in His own authority but
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you.
Jesus said get off of all this other
stuff.
Don't worry about all these other things.
I thought of even today how perfect that
is.
Stop worrying about politics and all the things
and the nation and all these things but
focus on seeking first the kingdom of God
and all these things will be added unto
you and you'll receive power to be witnesses.
It's what He was telling them there.
They thought that Jesus was coming in order
for them the nation of Israel to overcome
Rome.
You can read like Daniel chapter 7 and
different things that they knew the book of
Daniel.
They knew things that at some point the
Messiah would come He would rule and reign.
His people would conquer Rome.
It's what they thought.
Jesus said no, no that's not the plan.
That's not the plan.
You will receive power.
You will receive fire.
You will receive the baptism of the Spirit
not many days from now.
And then Jesus ascends to heaven.
Verse 9 Now when He had spoken these
things while they watched He was taken up
and a cloud received Him out of their
sight and while they looked steadfastly towards heaven
as He went up behold two men stood
by Him in white apparel who said Men
of Galilee why do you stand gazing up
into heaven this same Jesus who was taken
up from you into heaven will so come
in like manner as you saw Him go
into heaven.
And that's a promise even for today.
Jesus will return.
That's as sure as again the sun coming
up that He will return in His time.
And now I'm just going to paraphrase the
next few verses.
This is the upper room meeting.
The disciples basically went into an upper room
in Jerusalem and they continued with one accord
in prayer and supplication.
So think about this.
The Holy Spirit is about ready to visit
them in a powerful way.
They're not they don't have they don't have
Netflix on and voodoo and all these Facebook
and all these things they are just focused
on God.
That's a good lesson for us today.
They are just on one accord they are
of one accord you know what that means?
I don't know if this would this work
Josh?
Gabe might get mad.
But you don't want to hear me play
that right?
Because I have no clue.
You'd be like oh goodness or Rosie can
I try the piano?
What is that?
Shane stop and go back to the pulpit
get off of that.
But see that's what the church looks like
when you're not united in harmony with you're
not in harmony with you're outside what the
Holy Spirit wants to do when we're not
in unity.
That's how it sounds to God.
Like screeching music it's not in key.
Be in harmony with each other be of
one accord.
It sounds thank you now you threw me
off track.
That's okay.
The coming of the Holy Spirit.
So here's the the disciples return to Jerusalem
they go to an upper room and they
are with one accord they're not arguing they're
not bickering they're not like complaining about anything
they are one accord in prayer and supplication.
Why doesn't it just say prayer?
Well in my opinion if you look up
what supplication is it's a begging of God.
So it's showing you what kind of prayer
it was.
If you've been in a real prayer meeting
you know exactly what I'm talking about.
This is supplication you are pleading with God
God rent the heavens bring your revival bring
your saving grace God save my son save
your daughter you're pulling down heaven you're making
supplication you're renting basically your heart you're pouring
it out to God.
That's what he's talking about prayer and supplication.
So I want you to think about that
for a minute for the Holy Spirit in
order for the Holy Spirit to fall on
these people and change them dramatically look what
was occurring unity in prayer brokenness supplication coming
before the Lord he only falls on a
prepared vessel the fire of God falls on
a sacrifice not an empty altar.
Therefore brethren present your bodies as living sacrifices
holy holy unto God which is your reasonable
service he falls on a sacrifice.
So here's the coming of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2 look at your Bibles Acts 2
this is when the church was born did
you know the church had a birthday?
The church had a birthday on well we
don't know the exact year so I'm not
going to go there but let's just say
it was shortly after Jesus was resurrected Acts
2 when the day of Pentecost had fully
come this is a day which God had
planned beforehand in the Old Testament that they
were all with one accord in that place
I guess he really wants to get that
point across doesn't he?
why would he say they were with one
accord twice if it wasn't important for the
church to have unity and suddenly there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing
mighty wind and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting and there appeared to
them divided tongues as of fire and one
said upon each of them and they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began
to speak with other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance well that's a controversial topic
isn't it?
I've lost people out of this church over
this topic just the fact that I believe
that the Holy Spirit is the same yesterday,
today, and forevermore I believe that the Holy
Spirit still acts in those giftings of what
is laid out 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14
I believe in that I believe that the
Holy Spirit does still operate that way people
say well I'm out of here after that
well good you've never seen any weirdness ever
in six years but you're going to leave
because somebody embraces that what Paul spoke about
and what happened here was not a bad
thing it's a good thing how can Paul
and these believers speak in tongues and now
it's of the devil now it's wrong because
if experience lines up with scripture you need
to be not concerned in this area if
it lines up with scripture now I do
want to talk about this topic for a
minute since I'm on it the disciples were
filled with the Spirit completely tongues of fire
we don't know exactly what that was but
it was evident that God visited this place
they were filled and as a byproduct of
being filled with the Spirit this unknown language
unknown to the person was given to these
people so when they begin to speak in
this language which people from all over would
say they are glorifying God they are speaking
the good things of God but even though
you don't understand it the Holy Spirit is
speaking the good things of God in a
different language it would be like if I
were to say Padre Nuestro de casa en
cielo santificado sea tu hombre venga en nuestro
reino haga tu voluntad hacia en la tierra
como en cielo Padre Nuestro de cada dia
oh no that's not tongues that's Spanish that's
our Father who art in heaven hallowed be
thy name thy kingdom come thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven
in Spanish see just because you didn't understand
it didn't mean it didn't have power see
and that's how the Holy Spirit would work
but Paul talks about a couple things if
you turn to 1 Corinthians not today this
morning I'm going to say tonight probably for
a while until you get used to it
1 Corinthians read chapter 14 and I can't
go through and go well Paul didn't mean
that for today can I just rip this
whole chapter out I mean it doesn't doesn't
make a lot of sense he says desire
spiritual gifts those who speak in a tongue
speak to God not of men it's edifying
yourself don't disrupt the service I just summed
it up for you that's the purpose of
tongues if a person is given this gift
of the Holy Spirit it's not for men
it's for God so somehow the Holy Spirit
is working through this person and if the
Holy Spirit is praying for you that's a
good thing that's nothing to be afraid of
but you watch Christian television you say I
don't have anything to do with that but
the Bible says Paul says do not allow
it to be in a large multitude like
this without somebody interpreting or if the environment
is conducive so obviously we don't allow that
because Paul says somebody's going to walk in
and think you're out of your mind it's
not in order it's not in harmony with
it doesn't work especially for a mixed multitude
they would encourage it in groups where people
knew each other and where there's somebody who
can interpret what they're saying without that it's
pointless but Paul said now Paul said this
so if you think it's weird was Paul
weird?
he said I speak in tongues more than
all of you I speak in tongues and
I wish that you would do that but
I'm not speaking to men I'm speaking to
God so that's why people sometimes say it's
a private prayer language or it's a real
language the bottom line is people understood what
they were saying and if people have been
given this gift I don't want to say
no it's not valid today mainly what they'll
use to say it's not valid today is
when that which is perfect comes that which
is in part will be done away with
but Paul is talking about when Christ comes
again we won't need these gifts of the
Holy Spirit also in chapter 14 Paul says
therefore tongues is given as a judgment in
stammering tongues that they will judge God's people
but that shows that tongues is a sign
for unbelievers it doesn't necessarily mean that it's
not available today you talk to people on
the mission field they'll see a lot of
the miracles a lot of the gifts of
the Spirit because they're open but cautious that's
what I like to do I'm conservative in
this area I'm open God whatever you want
to do but I'm also cautious because he
gives us discernment he just turned on what
I just said some weird things going on
and you know that's not necessarily of God's
Spirit also though you have to remember something
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth
these people were abusing the gifts were they
not?
that's the whole point of the letter Paul
is abusing they are abusing the gifts so
that might happen today and living children need
rules dead children don't so when God's children
are living and vibrant and filled with the
Holy Spirit D.
Martin Lloyd-Jones actually said that I think
it was in his book Preachers and Preaching
that living children need rules dead children don't
so if 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 doesn't
apply to you you might want to just
ask God for some direction in this area
because Paul said desire desire these spiritual gifts
desire them desire above everything prophecy prophecy oh
no Shane that just means that's exactly what
I'm doing you're not forth telling predicting a
future necessarily but you're forth telling what God's
word says that's why God says when they
hear you prophesying speaking God's word they will
fall down on their face before God and
worship Him and repent because of His truth
piercing their heart tongues doesn't do that tongues
doesn't do that that's not the point of
it and again I don't want to I
could talk about that for a while but
there are wonderful resources on that if you're
interested I just can't looking at the Bible
looking at all these things say that these
they call it the I believe it's the
revelatory gifts meaning the revelation gift gift of
prophecy gift of knowledge healing and tongues were
done away with when we got the canonization
of scripture now that we have the Bible
we don't need these other gifts is the
thought behind that now I think one reason
is because they've seen the gifts abused and
misused and people just acting bizarre but I
also believe that when people haven't experienced these
things they tend to fear those things and
they think why I'm spiritual and I'm more
spiritual than they are and just because you
don't experience it though you tend to doubt
that God is really doing that today so
I would just tell you to take it
to the Lord say Lord you show me
I desire whatever you have for me I
want the best gifts God and I want
to prophesy I want to be able to
speak your word and truth when the day
of Pentecost had fully come there was one
accord we read all that already and they
were filled with the Holy Spirit and began
to speak in other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance and it's only weird because
we haven't experienced it if you think of
it it's like well that's weird I mean
some people have you know who you are
but we think well that's weird how does
that work well it's the Holy Spirit operating
through a believer to me it's no weirder
than Shane Eidelman up here right now if
you looked at me 20 years ago I
would have done anything I could to not
speak in public I would have never chose
this in a million years ever but that's
what God does that's bizarre to me that
he would take me and do this and
he can take you and do the same
type of thing not necessarily pastoring maybe some
of you but any type of ministry God
will use you in so many different ways
the hospital homes are a great example of
this so let's stop for three minutes let's
watch the time on three baptisms have you
received this baptism 1 Corinthians 12 13 for
by one spirit we are all baptized into
the body whether Jew or Greek whether slave
or free have all been made to drink
of one spirit so this is the baptism
of the Holy Spirit have you received this
baptism in other words are you a believer
very simple are you a believer even kids
a lot of kids here you can ask
yourself do I truly know Jesus or do
I have a relationship I mean do I
have a religion or not a relationship I
want to know him today I want to
give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ
and repent of my sin tell your mom
and dad let them know or me let
us know that you want to be part
of that body or an adult you have
to make that decision you cannot live your
life with a question mark here never you
have to make the decision are you baptized
into the body of Christ for John truly
baptized with water so have you been baptized
as a step of obedience have you ever
been baptized wow when I was a little
kid or an infant no have you ever
taken that step of obedience because I believe
I often use this analogy the Holy Spirit
the power of the Holy Spirit like being
like a water hose or actually a fire
hydrant hose that is just on full blast
but if you go through and you put
some kinks in that hose what is coming
out you are like there is no water
it is dripping what happened it is not
the hose it is not the pressure it
is not the fire extinguisher it is the
kinks in the hose and many people are
not filled with God's Spirit because there is
a lot of kinks in the hose they
do not want to get rid of and
I truly believe that baptism is one sign
of a form of obedience that we need
to take I opened up last night that
I was actually baptized over there in that
baptismal 16 years ago I was 30 years
old came back to the Lord and I
am like I am not getting baptized that
is embarrassing everybody is going to know I
just was writing my first book I am
speaking sometimes and I am like I am
not getting baptized and then every verse every
time I read in the morning there is
something about baptism baptism baptism baptism baptism like
but why did not I want to do
it pride what people will think that is
the bottom line so I said you know
what I am being baptized Jesus did at
30 probably right around there and I want
to be baptized and I did it and
I could tell from that point that kink
in the hose was gone and God began
I am not necessarily tying that necessarily with
the filling of the Holy Spirit but I
know if there is a step of obedience
and a person has not been baptized why
would not they it is crystal clear throughout
scripture so I would just encourage you to
be baptized we are doing it in October
October 23rd last Sunday we had 12 baptisms
8 of those were spontaneous many people just
said I need to do this and I
had people last night come up to me
and they said I need to do this
and they have been coming to the church
for 4 years so it is a good
thing I am not going to look down
at you I am going to say well
good finally it is a finally because we
can get comfortable I was little and you
become a Christian and then years go by
and you realize I have never done it
so I would take that step of obedience
because Jesus John truly baptized with water Jesus
says when you believe be baptized it is
a step of obedience and then the final
question I want to ask have you received
this power that we have been talking about
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you and you say I don't
know if I received that or not that
is like saying I don't know if I
am wet while standing in the shower you
know you know whether you are wet in
the shower you will know are you filled
with God's power are you filled with His
presence it is just over you just can't
shut up shut up everywhere I go the
Holy Spirit is just overflowing where you drive
where you go to eat it is just
Holy Spirit flowing you can't stop it I
am like what is this what happened to
me I will never forget that day in
my house at four thirty in the morning
God mightily broke me I have never cried
even at my dad's funeral I did but
then after that grown men don't cry and
I just couldn't stop crying God's spirit came
over me and worship turned on I had
to turn off Garth Brooks and George Strait
get country music off and get the worship
on and my heart was just broken before
the Lord I mean I am talking old
country you know Hank Williams Jr. and Keith
Whitley Conway Twitty George Jones I had them
all I had them all and I why
am I so depressed he stopped loving her
today why am I so depressed why because
because I was in God in just everything
now I don't want this now I want
God's power I want God's spirit what is
going on in here why is the Bible
I can't get enough if I could consume
it I would consume it what is wrong
with me that overfilling power of God the
Holy Spirit and it is boldness that you
have it because God wants every person to
have it but people say but Shane you
are a pastor and I say but you
are a parent we need more parents filled
with the spirit of God so you know
how to discipline you know how to love
you know how to hold you know how
to direct them teach them in the way
that they should go when they are older
they will not depart from it it is
the Holy Spirit's power you can't and you
try to contain it I will give you
an example this morning I actually got here
at 5 this morning put on worship music
just give my heart right before God go
over the sermon and then I met a
friend of mine he asked me he has
got 28 years of sobriety and they are
celebrating his birthday he asked hey would you
come to this he comes here sometimes I
said sure I would love to go so
at 6.30 in the morning there is
40 people at this meeting and he gets
his thing and then you know does anybody
want to share and I am like Lord
don't do this I am just going to
just leave here shortly and just Lord don't
do this I am just and then of
course you know hi I am Shane I
would like to share okay how would you
share well 12 years 34 years ago at
12 years old I took my first drink
down the street a half mile that set
a course of addiction that ruined me in
my teenage years in my 20's and I
said but God set me free I have
surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ
all of you go around and you say
a higher power my tree my rock I
can say the Jesus Christ and people clap
and they are excited and what happened though
is then people started to say yeah not
my higher power Jesus when they gave their
testimony and you could tell and I said
the prodigal son came home you have got
to surrender your life to God you have
got sobriety but not salvation big deal just
three minutes you have to preach but I
went and I am like no I am
not going to say a word I am
not going to
say a word I am not going to
say a word I am not going not
be filled with the spirit you have not
told anybody about Jesus in a year that
is not Christian ministry is not being filled
with the spirit that is Christian ministry it
is working it is doing things so be
careful in this area as well I am
going to close here shortly but Jesus said
in John 16 7 it is good that
I leave so that the advocate will come
to you now I chewed on this verse
all week because is Jesus saying that the
power of the Holy Spirit coming in my
life is better than his physical presence he
is telling his disciples I have been with
you three years and I must go it
is better for you that I go and
the Holy Spirit come upon you than me
stay and you receive not the spirit think
about Peter Jesus is with him all the
time three years and then the final day
comes Peter just oh I don't know him
I don't know him at all no and
this girl slave girl said yes I know
I recognize you your speech betrays you and
he said no no no I don't know
this man and then now now a couple
weeks later Jesus leaves he sends the advocate
Jesus is gone and Peter stands up and
says you stiff neck people you put Christ
on the cross you put him on the
cross what must we do to be saved
repent so how did Peter go from that
weak coward Peter I'll die for you and
then here it comes oh no I won't
I don't know you to now this this
bold messenger of the gospel you can see
where this is going right the filling of
the Holy Spirit Jesus said it's better for
me to leave so the Holy Spirit can
come upon you so here's what I want
to leave you with you shall receive power
when you wait on God see we don't
we don't we've lost the lost art of
waiting on God is gone think about this
a hundred years ago have in your mind
Little House on the Prairie if that would
just come back I mean now they've got
shows where the transgender kid is this hero
and it's just so sad to watch where
how far we've drifted from the original intent
of television different things but imagine that there's
no phone there's no Facebook there's no this
you just I mean people say oh that
would be so boring I think I missed
it by a hundred years if I would
have been born 1890 or so you know
of course it's God's sovereignty and I'm we're
all here because he's called us for such
a time as this but it was easier
to wait on God you would wait on
God I read books written in the 1800s
they would take a walk in the forest
for half a day or they would just
sit and meditate on God's word and do
some some gardening or whatever or go walk
by the lake and they're waiting on God
why?
because waiting shows what's important when you see
people wrapped all around the wall waiting for
Star Wars or or tents out in front
of Best Buy at at what Thanksgiving the
day after Thanksgiving why?
Waiting shows what's important and this is probably
the biggest problem in the church today is
people I'm talking about problem for for believers
genuine believers is that we don't wait on
God we don't wait on the Lord we're
busy we're in a hurry we've got and
we're thinking about if we ever go to
two services you know it's like I don't
want them too close because I don't want
to you know have to oh hurry hurry
hurry hurry we've got somebody else coming people
I used to preach at two services sometimes
three and they didn't like it because there
was people we were having a revival and
there's people in the lobby waiting and parking
and I don't care it doesn't matter because
we are waiting on God and that's what
you have to get back and here's what
has to happen drastic and dramatic changes need
to take place in your life it's going
to hurt remove every weight that slows you
down remove every sin that ensnares you've got
to structure your life in such a way
that you wait on God you wait on
God that's why that's why I came here
for an hour this morning saying God I'm
just waiting you've got to pour in your
spirit on me you've got to bless these
people you've got to answer prayers I'm just
waiting on you you're the priority see they
receive power when they waited on God how
are you going to receive God's power busy
going here busy doing that busy here over
time under time the kids the family everybody
wants to get so busy that there's no
time for God and you will not be
filled with the Holy Spirit unless you wait
on God because the filling doesn't just happen
like this it's a slow process of being
filled with God's spirit because the first 20
-30 minutes you're unteachable and prideful usually well
God I want this and this and then
God begins to show you things and you
get your heart right and just worshiping Him
so receive power to wait on Him Jesus
took a journey for 40 days Moses was
on the backside of the desert for many
years Paul went to the desert of Arabia
before he the Bible says I did not
immediately confer with flesh and blood Paul says
I didn't immediately talk to man I talked
to God Elijah went to the cave spent
time with God see there's you've got to
get back to that seeking God waiting on
Him for His power and His presence also
you shall receive power when prayer becomes a
priority is prayer really a priority in your
life?
a priority you know what a priority is
right?
it's on the calendar it's scheduled in my
day but here's what prayer is for most
people oh I forgot to squeeze it in
and actually it has to be the priority
that's the main heartbeat of a Christian do
you realize that?
E.M. Bound said that when your faith
ceases to pray your faith will cease to
live when your faith when you cease to
pray you cease to live spiritually and I
liken it to breathing when you cease to
breathe you will cease to live you will
die the same thing with prayer that's the
breath of life that's the breath for a
believer you breathe in and I want to
be careful on the language here of course
but you are waiting on God and you're
praying God just change my heart and sometimes
the best prayers are without words do you
know you pray without talking?
you just wait before God and you wait
God please move show me my heart I
want to know you and you shall receive
power when you're more concerned with unity than
preference when we are more concerned about unity
as a body than preference we will start
to see God move in mighty ways because
unity is the Jesus prayed did you know
Jesus prayed that we would be united that
we would come together as one just as
he and the father are and it must
break his heart when we get little arguments
little things over this and the enemy wants
to come in and break that unity because
unity is like that three-folded cord that's
not easily broken when a believer is united
we are on track with God listen we're
going to the hospital homes or we're going
to minister or we're going to baptize we're
going to do these things for God we're
going to pray and you're united as soon
as he brings in division it just splits
away and it fractions into little groups and
little fractions and little divisions and little gossip
corners and then the work of God ceases
that's why the thing holding many churches together
today is not the Holy Spirit it's social
activity the Holy Spirit is not holding many
churches together social activities are programs services and
a person last night who actually has to
go to a different church now because we
switched here it was sad she said I'm
going because my husband likes it but I
feel hungry when I leave I feel I
feel dissatisfied I'm not getting what I'm not
being fed it's it's dead it's there's nothing
there nothing there at all and there should
be in the living vibrant church people should
be growing they should be they should be
filled with the Spirit when they leave here
I'll share something with you I thought about
this morning I didn't put in my notes
I said which I sometimes do Lord if
you want me to talk about it bring
it up bring it to my memory and
of course it's a closing point and I
remember this is over the past week or
so or two weeks not everybody's happy about
the move I don't know if you're aware
of that and some of the reasons I've
heard just to be honest with you it
just breaks my heart it just breaks my
heart because I've been trying to pour out
for years and it's like do you even
listen for example a couple said we can't
do Sundays it's our only off day together
as a couple okay somebody else said it's
my NFL day somebody else sleeping on Sundays
I'm going to have to see is there
any other church on Saturday I'm like and
we wonder why we're not filled with the
Spirit of God we wonder why we're not
filled with the Spirit of God those comments
simply reflect the heart because when God is
a priority none of that matters if I
run into another person in Palmdale who drives
to Santa Clarita for church I'm going to
have a you know what fit oh yeah
we love such and such we drive to
Santa Clarita Santa Clarita do you know you
passed right by us I mean just or
how many people I know that drive to
John MacArthur's church in Sun Valley I know
so these things I'm sitting there going Lord
help me what's wrong with me what is
wrong with me how and it dawned on
me there's nothing wrong with you it's wrong
with them they're not wanting because when God
is a priority who cares who cares obviously
you have to have things that align with
your schedule from time to time but those
those are silly reasons one lady wanted to
argue with me that she's in East Palmdale
and that's closer I said no no it's
not close you go on Palmdale Boulevard and
just take it west just take it west
it's closer it's closer no it's not and
then I don't know if sometimes you don't
know if it's God or if it's yourself
and it just dawned on me you know
what let it go you don't want that
there at the church and what I meant
by that not in a bad way but
you want committed not convenience if you're going
to build a strong church you want and
I and I hope you understand I love
some of these people it's it's I'm not
criticizing I'm not being arrogant mean I'm just
I was I was hurt to hear what
your off day or your NFL I mean
what what have I have you been hearing
anything anything that we talk about about God
and and in all cases I don't see
them at church that often and many times
they're having marriage issues or other issues and
you know why you're not going to be
filled with the spirit if God's not a
priority he's got to be the priority he
has to be the priority so the closing
point which was actually what I expressed earlier
is how close you are to the flame
determines how much heat you feel so I
want to just throw it out there this
morning that there are some people in here
that need to surrender all you need to
surrender all you're bored during worship you're preoccupied
God doesn't have all of your time he
doesn't have all of your your energy and
your resources and I don't mean you can't
work and you can't do things but God
should be the all-consuming passion when I
get up I think about God when I'm
at work how can I please God well
it's easy for you Shane I know I
had to work in a very difficult fitness
industry in a very difficult construction industry where
I was working for guys that were not
believers and I had to submit to their
authority I know how difficult the workplace is
and often that's why I thank God he
brought me through that and not seminary cause
you get a lot of people out of
seminary 24 years old they're ready for a
church they're not ready for people they're not
ready for people at all and life humbles
you and then you're ready I remember a
story I'll close with this I said I'd
close with this three times right but and
I hope I get it right if I
don't I'll have to tell you again later
but it's about this this preacher who was
just out of seminary 5 years 6 years
doctorate in this he was just he was
ready to let him have it he spent
12 hours on this sermon it was so
polished the Greek the Hebrew the Strong's Concordance
reference the hermeneutics and the homiletics and everything
just flowed and it was this wonderful masterpiece
and he couldn't wait wait to get up
there and so he gets before the people
and he's he's darting and he's he's messing
up and people aren't interested and he's like
losing it and it's like well that didn't
work out and why aren't they why is
that baby crying why is this not and
just just a total failure he walked down
the steps in total humility and God humbled
him disgraced humbled broken now he's sat by
an old deacon and the old deacon said
son if you would have arose to that
pulpit the same way you came down you
would have succeeded see he let he let
pride and arrogance dictate when he should have
been humble and broken before the Lord and
that's what we need to be I'm going
to preach this till the day I die
those comments I just shared reflect that people
are not broken and humble before the Lord
because when you are God is the priority
God is everything stop being bored in church
stop being bored during worship and start saying
God and here's the interesting thing you can't
do it on your own you can't say
I'm going to try better tomorrow right Mike
I'm going to try I'm going to read
more tomorrow I'm going to try better and
I'm going to and then tomorrow comes and
next week comes and next month comes and
next year comes and you're sitting in the
same position you have to say God I
cannot do this I need you Lord I
need you to break me I need you
to humble me because as you're saying that
you are humbling yourself Lord you have to
fill me with your spirit I'm broken before
you I'm tired of yelling at my spouse
I'm tired of not putting you on the
priority list I'm tired of being angry at
my kids and angry at others I don't
have your power I don't have your presence
in my life God I'm omitting it I'm
a broken undone sinner fill me with your
grace and your mercy now his power will
come in that's how it works so when
I talk about the fully surrendered life the
submitted life broken and humbled before the Lord
that's why the Bible says a broken and
humble and contrite heart a God will not
despise he will not cast it away but
the proud and the arrogant he will feed
in judgment it's very simple God desires a
broken heart and I say I pray this
still it might surprise some of you but
God give me a deeper hunger for your
word God give me a deeper prayer life
God I want to wake up tomorrow so
on fire for you and so just please
God do that in my life and through
that broken dependent relationship you know how to
trust the shepherd he will not use a
man or woman he cannot trust he will
not use a man or woman who is
not broken before him so if you want
to receive power not worldly power but spiritual
power where you can love others parents you
need to be filled with your spirit filled
with God's spirit how are we going to
raise kids in this day and age without
being filled with the spirit you've got everything
from Minecraft to phones at 8 years old
to God knows what to just pulling some
of them away and distracting them you have
to be filled with your spirit because when
you're filled with the spirit as a parent
here's what you get don't tell your kids
this but you get discernment you know he's
going out smoking pot before he goes out
smoking pot you know my mom I told
you this story before my mom used to
pray for me and she put her Bible
on my ACDC and Led Zeppelin and Iron
Maiden records and all that stuff I said
don't pray for me I want to have
fun tonight and she would say no God's
got a call on your life God's going
to use that's a bunch of garbage I
want to get drunk that's what I'm going
to do so leave me alone leave me
alone but don't give up parents praying parents
pray God will give you discernment and wisdom
you need to be filled with the spirit
let me just end with that and have
the worship team come back I have no
more else to say on that I was
reminded of Leonard Ravenhill's quote that we need
to close every church in the land for
one Sunday and cease listening to man so
we can hear the groans of the spirit
which we in our lush pews have forgotten