Let's lay some groundwork.
This topic, it divides.
And I'm really springboarding off of Matthew 10,
20, what we talked about a few weeks
ago.
For it will not be you speaking, but
the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
And Jesus said, and actually that was future
tense.
He wasn't talking to the disciples right then.
He was saying, in that day when I'm
gone, and you're persecuted, don't worry about what
you're going to say, because it's the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit speaking through you.
He'll show you how to answer.
So Jesus was giving a future tense, a
future application to Scripture, what was going to
happen later on, when they are filled with
the Spirit of God on Pentecost.
So I kind of want to lay some
groundwork.
And I've noticed, this is interesting, the Spirit
of unity, right?
The Holy Spirit, always remember this, the Holy
Spirit is never divided.
So if there's division in the church, guess
what?
It's not the Holy Spirit that's divided against
Himself.
Somebody's out of whack here, out of kilter.
The Holy Spirit doesn't divide against Himself.
He's the Spirit of unity.
So if we all came in, filled with
the Spirit of God, with the fruit of
the Spirit, that would be united.
Unless there's somebody there, you know, a false
teacher or something causing issues.
So it begs the question, how is the
Spirit of unity become the Spirit of disunity?
The Spirit of unity, why is there so
much disunity nationally, even globally on this issue
of the Holy Spirit?
Why is that, if He's the Spirit of
unity?
And that's really what we're going to talk
about.
And I like what A.W. Tozer said,
if the Lord's people were only half as
eager to be filled with the Spirit as
they are to prove that they cannot be
filled, the church would be crowded out.
Isn't that true?
If we were just as eager to prove
that we can be filled with the Holy
Spirit as to prove that we can't be,
the churches would be crowded, ministers would be
flourishing.
But again, that's why this is a priority.
The Holy Spirit leads us into a deeper
relationship with Christ.
So we look to the work of the
Spirit in our own life to lead us
to a bigger, broader relationship with Christ.
A few scriptures on that, Romans 8, 9.
However, you are not in the flesh but
in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you.
But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
So the Holy Spirit, this would be a
whole other sermon on who is the Holy
Spirit.
Seeing the triune nature of God, which is,
it's a mystery and it should be.
How can we worship God as one distinct
person?
Here, Israel, here, I, the Lord, your God,
am one.
One person.
God is one.
Yet, theologians, you can't quite put a term
on it, but the triune nature of God,
which is pretty close to the triunity, the
trinity, and that's where we get that word
trinity from.
From the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the
Son, all coming together in perfect unison as
the one essence there of God.
And I don't want to use words here
that might not represent the trinity well, so
I'm very careful.
It is hard to say three persons because
they're not people, they're not persons.
But there's three separate, distinct characteristics of the
trinity, yet they're one.
Does that make sense?
I've seen people try to explain it as
an egg, you know, an egg.
You've got the shell, you've got the white,
you've got the yolk, it's all one.
But a lot of those things kind of,
you know, you can't really use those things
to compare the trinity, even though they help
in our limited understanding.
So that's what the trinity is, the triune
nature of God, the Father, the Son, the
Holy Spirit.
And that's what sets Christianity different from many
other religions.
There are some groups that say what I'm
saying right there with the trinity, three in
one, is blasphemy to God.
And I want to say, well, according to
this, it's not blasphemy, it's truth.
And even you can go to the beginning
of Scripture in Genesis where it gives, it
talks about God.
You've heard the word Elohim, right?
And that actually, that word, it comes from
the singular L-E-L.
And then you've got Ella, the plural, and
then Elohim.
The dual, this nature of God that encompasses
more than the singular, the dual, the triune
nature is even in His name, Elohim.
So we see that throughout Scripture, so there's
a constant pattern there.
And what about the Scripture when it says,
let us make man in our own image
and according to our own likeness?
What, is God confused?
I mean, let us make man?
So there's a trinity there.
And that would be a whole other topic,
but suffice it to say that the Spirit
of Christ is the Holy Spirit.
1 John, and it is the Spirit who
bears witness, because the Spirit is the Spirit
of truth.
Acts 7, 51, you men who are stiff
-necked and uncircumcised in your heart and your
ears, you are always resisting the Holy Spirit.
And this is interesting, this is why sometimes,
and this is where it's a hard balance
to find, because on one hand, you don't
want to put too much emphasis on the
Holy Spirit, right?
And you get way out there in la
-la land, you know, everything's the Holy Spirit,
and you get weird.
And in other churches, it's almost like they
have the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Word.
They want to avoid it.
Don't really talk about that, Shane.
You know, come on, just...
But the Bible talks that the Holy Spirit
leads us.
The Holy Spirit convicts us.
The Holy Spirit draws us.
The Holy Spirit comforts us.
It's almost like it's God's nature working inside
of man, yet we don't want to talk
about that.
It's God's Spirit residing in the believer.
It's God's Spirit convicting the world of judgment,
of sin, of righteousness.
And here's one of the reasons why I
think the enemy likes to really hit this
topic hard.
It's because boldness comes directly from the Holy
Spirit.
Boldness comes directly from the Holy Spirit.
I didn't realize how many enemies I had
until I became bold.
To be quite honest with you.
I mean, when I wasn't talking much about
God in my twenties, man, love with the
world, the world loved me, no issues.
But when you're filled with the Holy Spirit,
then the outflowing, I've got to witness.
I've got to witness, I've got to speak
boldly, I've got to speak truth, and you
upset people.
And the enemy does not like you coming
against his kingdom, so I think this is
one of the ways...
One of the ways he gets in is
by kind of messing up this whole idea
of the Holy Spirit.
He doesn't want us to be bold, but
on the other hand, he kind of gives
people too much freedom, where they think, well,
if it's odd, it's God, anything goes, and
it's the Holy Spirit moving.
And you can excuse all kinds of ungodly
behavior because the Holy Spirit told me to
do it.
And that's not biblical either.
So we need to find a balance.
And I wrote here, as I have before,
the power of the Holy Spirit is like
dynamite that ignites a hunger for God so
intense that every aspect of life is changed.
We become bold for Christ, not passive.
We become stable in Christ, not fanatical.
And we become more committed to Christ, not
wavering.
So you see why this is so important?
The Holy Spirit inside the believer, as I'm
filled with the Holy Spirit, out comes boldness,
in comes stability.
I'm not wavering.
You're filled with the Spirit of God, so
you're speaking truth.
Lies are being changed, so why would we
ignore this topic?
But many churches are silent on it, or
it's overly emphasized.
If the Holy Spirit is overly emphasized, the
relationship with Christ will suffer because we're not
called to worship Him.
He points me to Christ.
Does that make sense?
And in my own personal experience, I saw
this.
I was a Christian, kind of living carnal,
just not really, you know, no passion for
God, but I felt the conviction there.
And then one day God began to just
rip everything from me and finally said, OK,
enough, I surrender.
I surrender.
And I was just filled with the Holy
Spirit like nothing I've ever felt before.
The Bible became a lie, I couldn't get
enough.
Jones Intercable, remember that group?
Turn off my television.
I just love this.
I'm getting so much of the truth.
The filling of the Holy Spirit was so
apparent that I wonder if I was even
saved.
Because I went from, eh, no big deal,
and now God is everything.
Overnight, within a few minutes.
And that filling of the Holy Spirit, I
remember driving on Rancho Vista Boulevard, and I
was just overcome with such joy.
I mean, I almost had to pull over.
Like, Lord, where's this coming from?
I have so much joy and love, even
though I'm going through hell.
Where's that coming from?
Oh, I know, it's the power of the
Holy Spirit.
And so that's why there's a passion for
this, is because I can see it change
lives.
And also I can see it diminish lives
if you're quenching and grieving the Spirit of
God.
And that we do that a lot.
Not only through sin, because we think, oh
yeah, I'm committing adultery or pornography.
But if we just come in with a
critical heart, we quench the Spirit of God.
If we just come in negative and upset
or gossiping, we just quench the Spirit of
God.
That's why this is so important.
Actually, our relationship with the Holy Spirit affects
more of our spirituality than we think.
Second, only to salvation, I think this is
the most important topic a Christian can be
concerned with.
And that might be a controversial statement, but
salvation is way up there, number one.
But number two, the fully surrendered life, a
believer being filled with the Spirit of God,
is right there up there at the top
of the list.
Because it affects everything.
It affects how we treat our spouses.
It affects how we treat others.
Are we effectively when we witness?
I mean, I listen to somebody witness without
the power of the Holy Spirit, and I
hear somebody witness with the power of the
Holy Spirit.
They say the same exact things, but there
is a clear difference.
One is saying, it's almost like saying, thus
saith the Lord.
The words have power.
Everything is captivating.
It's pulling the person in.
This other person just sounds like a dead
theologian who's teaching something in a seminary.
What's the difference?
The power of the Spirit in a believer's
life.
It's vitally important.
Actually, the reason a lot of people are
feeling dead and lethargic in the church is
because of this topic.
The reason there's fighting and there's complaining and
there's bickering and God seems distant and the
Bible is boring and I just need to
get home and watch Dancing with the Stars.
How do you read that thing every morning,
let alone get up and pray and worship
at your house?
How do you do that?
I don't do it.
It's through the power and the anointing and
the unction of the Holy Spirit.
That's why it's so important.
Take the Spirit of God away and all
you have is lukewarm carnality.
It's vitally important.
But this is the acid test when we
talk about the Holy Spirit.
The acid test is fruit.
Fruit.
Not emotionalism.
Not hype.
They often say you can't whip up the
Holy Spirit like a pep rally.
God's got to bring it down into the
life of a believer.
Anytime you try to whip it up or
manufacture it, you're in trouble because God's not
in it.
What does that look like, Shane?
Turn on Christian television tomorrow and you'll see
what that looks like in many cases, sadly.
I mean, if we can just get louder.
If we can just get the right terminology
in there.
Well, you don't need me to do it,
but you know what they do.
It probably wouldn't look too good doing that.
But the acid test, really, when somebody says
the Holy Spirit this or the Holy Spirit's
moving, I want to see the fruit.
What does your wife say about you?
What does your spouse say about you?
What do the kids say about their daddy
and mommy?
What do others say about you?
When have you led somebody to the Lord?
When have you spent two hours in prayer?
Show me the fruit.
I don't care how high you jump during
worship.
I want to know how straight you walk
when you come down.
That's the fruit.
That's where the rubber meets the road.
Is the fruit of the Spirit present?
Well, what is the fruit of the Spirit?
Many of us know, but is there love
present?
Truly, is there love?
Because when I drift from this area, I
know the Holy Spirit's not operating.
Guess what's operating?
The flesh.
When I don't have true love for the
brethren, when I have true unity there.
Love.
What's the next thing?
Joy.
Peace.
Patience.
Kindness.
Goodness.
Faithfulness.
Gentleness.
Self-control.
And I don't want to just glance over
that.
Let's just take inventory real quick.
Don't raise your hand.
Just be honest within your own heart.
Because God knows.
God will convict you right now.
Are you impatient?
Are you irritable?
Are you upset?
Has joy left your life?
Guess what's happening?
The Holy Spirit is not being given an
area in your heart to rule and to
reign.
Because that's the fruit of the Spirit.
I know.
Man, when I'm walking with love and joy
and peace and patience and kindness and goodness
and faithfulness and gentleness.
Right?
Not anger.
Gentleness.
Not explosion.
Gentleness.
When things don't upset, I'm walking in eggshells.
Everything's irritating.
The Holy Spirit's not present.
He's being quenched.
He's being grieved.
And we have to wake up and we
have to notice that.
From my experience, and I know this sermon
is going to offend some people, and I
don't apologize.
I just want to acknowledge that I know
it does and it's supposed to.
But from my experience, I've noticed that many
who are very demonstrative and very emotional and
very loose in this area of the Holy
Spirit are also those that deal with the
most fallout.
Divorce.
Moral failure.
Burnout.
Quarreling.
Division.
And so on.
In other words, the more emotional and weirder
you get, the more problems you have.
From my personal experience.
Of course, this isn't an absolute.
I'm just saying from my personal experience, talking
to many different groups, man, those that are
like, wow, that guy's just overly something.
Well, he's got a lot of...
There's not a connection there.
It's almost like emotionalism has replaced time in
the Word of God and prayer and worship.
And, you know, we get emotional, right?
You look at the Dodgers, man.
Shirts are off and they're painted blue down
one side and this.
And so, you know, what's going on there?
He's a fan, right?
But so is the guy next to him
that's not wearing anything and sitting there eating
his popcorn.
But we always judge if you're emotional.
That's where the spirit's at.
Well, not necessarily.
And from my experience, that's quite often the
opposite, sadly.
It's almost as if emotionalism has replaced much
needed time with Christ in prayer, reflection, application
and repentance.
Emotionalism can't replace these things.
Now, I also need a disclaimer in there
because emotions are good.
They're not a gauge for truth, though.
They're a vehicle for expression.
So when I feel emotional towards God, that's
not a bad thing.
That's a good thing.
But sometimes we judge each other too emotional.
You know, they're out there and then they
say, well, he's not emotional.
He must not be filled with the spirit
of God.
Oh, my Lord.
And we judge everything off emotions.
I remember 10 years ago, I went to
what would be considered a hyper Pentecostal church.
Wow.
I mean, laying down to see people preaching,
you know, on the ground because anointing so
strong.
And I'm like, this is not good.
I don't know why I came here.
You know, wow.
And guess who was accused of being quenching
and grieving the spirit of God?
Me.
You're surely.
So I have to act like that to
be filled with the spirit.
I don't think so.
That's not biblical.
That was hooked to porn that was cheating
on his wife and I was getting drunk
tonight and they're doing all this weird stuff.
So we have to be very careful in
this.
We don't gauge.
We don't gauge the Holy Spirit by emotions
alone.
Granted, when God fills you with the spirit
and you're filled with the spirit of God,
you've conquered besetting sin.
You're going to be a little emotional.
I mean, we get people in here.
They start crying.
Lord, you've delivered me from crack cocaine for
a year.
I have to worship you.
I haven't had a drink in 12 months.
I have to worship you.
That addiction has been gone.
I have to worship you.
And the tears fall and people get excited.
They might even say, man, praise God.
Thank you.
Let's camp out at this worship song for
the next 10 minutes.
Is that OK?
Absolutely.
Not only is it OK, it's encouraged because
that's genuine.
It's not made up.
It's not fake.
It's not phony.
That's the difference.
Don't gauge it on emotionalism.
And this is coming from a guy, I've
told you before, who's not emotional.
My dad, remember, he'd say, boy, you don't
cry.
You don't cry, boy.
Get up.
Work hard.
Come on, blisters on our hands.
No emotion.
You can't even tempered.
You know, that might be to my detriment.
I don't know, but I'm conservative in some
areas.
But sometimes when God's moving in my heart,
it's OK to let him know.
There's nothing wrong with that as long as
it's not emotionalism, as long as it's not
trying to draw attention to yourself, as long
as we also, and I should probably talk
about this in the future, with this worship
service.
It's so interesting.
I've had people leave and they say, you're
too charismatic.
And the charismatics leave and they go, you
are so conservative.
I don't even know.
Do you guys do anything?
It's like, well, what is it?
Well, I'm caught in the middle.
Too charismatic or too conservative?
I don't know.
We're just trying to honor God the best
we know how.
And a lot of times that's why God
has given us different denominations, so we can
worship God in our own way, as long
as it's according to Scripture.
But I want to talk about that area
of worship, too, because it gets, you know,
it does get brought up a lot.
You know, people, you know, they often ask
one of the questions is with the flags
during worship and all that, and myself and
the elders, we just don't see that environment
for this church.
It's not a bad thing.
It could be a very good thing.
But it's not the environment we're trying to
foster here.
We want people to just worship and not
be distracted and not, you know, and all
these things.
It's more of a worshiping, not praise and
worship.
It's more of a worship service where we
come and our hearts are bowed down.
We're before God.
We're praising Him.
We're worshiping Him.
And I've told them before, I might get
to heaven.
I might say, Shane, you should have flags.
Okay, well, I'll let God tell me that.
Not you.
You know?
And when I talk to the core team
and they're saying, yeah, we don't feel like
we're going that direction either.
Let's just, you know.
And so I think God gives us each
individual types of services based on the character
of those leading the church.
Instead of judging and saying, oh, you're not
filled with the Spirit.
Really?
You better check the fruit, not the actions.
The fruit of the life.
That's where the Holy Spirit is.
So just remember that next time somebody you
say, well, they're quenching and grieving the Spirit
of God.
Well, if they got a lot of fruit,
we should shut our mouth and take note
because there's fruit there.
Emotions are a vehicle for expression, but they
are not a gauge for truth.
We want to make the environment here God
honoring.
We don't need to work it up.
God needs to bring it down.
And to be quite honest with you, that's
a challenge.
Because how do you worship God?
But how do you also be sensitive to
those not being distracting and being sensitive to
unbelievers here and all that?
People might say, brother, I don't care.
I'm going to worship God.
If they don't like it, they don't like
it.
Well, that's good at your house, but I
don't know in a corporate worship setting.
I mean, if Paul says don't speak in
tongues, are people going to think you're out
of your mind?
Wouldn't that apply to other areas, too?
I mean, there's a lot to consider here
in the pages of Scripture to sit and
just ponder all these things over.
Now, this is funny, too, because dead churches
say, amen, you get them.
But the same can be said of dead
churches.
You're dead.
You're cold.
You're callous.
You need to wake up.
You need the power of the Holy Spirit
as well, because you're dead and you don't
even know it.
True saints of God, listen to this, the
true saints of God who have had clear
heads and pure warm hearts have in all
generations had to walk between the two extremes
of cold formality on the one hand and
wild, ranting fanaticism on the other.
Dead formality and the false fire of fanaticism
are both Satan's counterfeits.
And he does not care into which extreme
the soul plunges as long as it plunges.
And that was by George Watson speaking on
this topic of revival.
And what he's basically meaning there is dead
formality.
Just dead, read the Bible, a couple songs,
let's go to dinner.
And they're just, man, what is it?
Do you even believe what you're teaching?
I mean, just dead churches, just dead as
can be.
Or the wild, ranting, fanatical things, both of
them are counterfeits.
And both of them Satan will use to
take us further and further away from Christ
if we're not careful.
And it's hard to find that middle ground.
As pastors, it's extremely hard to find that
middle ground, if there so does exist a
middle ground.
But I think on one hand you want
to be God-honoring, you want to worship
Him, but at the same time be sensitive
to those within our sphere of influence.
And on this topic, if anybody has issues,
definitely let us know.
We're not going to think you're mean-spirited
or anything because we're allowing God to move,
yet we want to stay within the perimeters
of His Word.
And if the fruit of the Spirit is
not present, or if the fruit of the
Spirit was present, we would see a lot
less division on both sides.
Think about that.
The thing we're arguing about, if we had
the fruit of the Spirit in our life,
love, joy, peace, contentment, long-suffering, gentleness, if
we had these things, there would be much
less division.
Because true love looks past things that we
might not agree with.
True gentleness.
We want to protect each other.
When was the last time we said, I
want to protect the people here, versus I
want to nitpick and I want to put
them down.
You see how that works?
If I came saying, listen, I want to
protect you guys.
I'm not talking about weirdness and going away
from truth, but if we truly want to
protect and love each other, versus pull each
other down, you would see this issue kind
of vanish in many circles.
But we often avoid the fruit of the
Spirit in the name of but.
And what I mean by that is both
sides.
If we challenge the hyper fanatical side, hey,
fruit of the Spirit, yeah, but, but, but,
but, you're quenching and grieving the Spirit of
God, man, you've got to just let it
go.
If it's odd, it's God.
And they just throw in buts in there.
Yeah, but Shane, but you're quenching and grieving
the Spirit of God.
And then you go to this side, real
dogmatic conservative camp.
You say, listen guys, man, I appreciate your
heart for theology, but you are just as
rigid as a piece of steel.
You're mean spirited, you're angry, you're upset at
everything.
Look at you, you have no fruit of
the Spirit.
Yeah, but, but truth, but truth, but, but,
but.
So both sides, we often avoid the fruit
of the Spirit with but.
Yeah, I know what you said, but.
So we have to be very careful in
this area.
I'm trying to lay down the groundwork, because
now we're going to get into this, this
whole topic of outpouring.
Outpouring the story of Pentecost.
So let's talk about this controversial topic.
Why is everybody going nuts over this?
Well, let's try to unpack this.
And it's helpful to start at the beginning
to gain a clear picture.
So if you have your Bibles, if you
don't, I'll read from Acts 2.
Acts 2.
When the day of Pentecost arrived.
That's where the Pentecostal denomination gets their word,
their, their, their, I guess their title or
their denominational name from, from this text.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were
all together.
Oh, there you go.
We're just talking about that.
They're all together, right?
In unity, not bickering, complaining, all together in
one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound
like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled
the entire house where they were sitting.
And divided tongues of fire appeared to them.
Oh boy, there's another controversial topic.
We're not going to get out of this
thing.
And divided tongues of fire appeared to them
and rested on each of them.
And I often wonder when people read this,
are they embarrassed for the New Testament Christians?
Hang on, those poor guys.
Oh gosh.
Holy Spirit fell and tongues of fire.
Oh man, I could never sit in this
group.
If you do, that's a problem.
Because we shouldn't be embarrassed about the early
church.
We should embrace the early church because they
set the world upside down.
Turned it upside down.
Twelve to 120 and then 3,000 came
to Christ.
And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit.
And began to speak in other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now the word Pentecost means 50.
And it comes from the holiday known as
the Festival of Weeks in Leviticus 23, which
instructed Israel to count seven weeks or 50
days from the end of Passover to the
beginning of the next holiday, which was Shavuot.
This was significant for Jewish Christians.
Think about this.
Because seven weeks or 50 days after the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, during the celebration of
Shavuot or Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured
out.
So you have the Passover.
And people say, well, what was the Passover?
Jesus was the final Passover.
The Passover lamb was crucified.
And from that time he was crucified in
the resurrection, from that they counted 50 days
and here comes this Festival of Pentecost and
the Holy Spirit falls on the disciples in
a powerful way.
This is unmistakable.
I would keep reading, but we'll probably try
to tackle that next week.
But this presents the first divide in the
camp right now, both sides, right?
This whole issue of outpouring of Pentecost.
And here's how the argument goes.
Was Pentecost once and for all?
You guys aren't aware of this, but this
is another big divide.
Many churches in this valley.
Different sides on this.
Was Pentecost once and for all?
Oh, man, yes and no's and maybe's and
I don't know.
Well, here's the biblical answer.
Was Pentecost once and for all?
Yes, in regard to the historical aspect of
the church being born.
It happened on Pentecost, the church was born.
But the ongoing need of the Spirit to
empower God's people still occurs.
What I call personal Pentecost.
That ongoing need for God to empower His
people.
Now, here we go again.
Here's where the debate goes as well.
When people use the term, baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
You already get people wiggling in their seats
like, man, I'm about ready to leave.
Just hold on, hold on.
When people use the term, baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
It's not a bad thing because it's in
the Bible.
But the different sides say, there's one baptism.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit on the day
of Pentecost.
You're baptized in the body of Christ and
that's it.
There's no other baptisms of the Holy Spirit
later.
The other side says, yes, there's baptisms of
the Holy Spirit later.
The problem is on the terminology.
If you look throughout Scripture, when the Bible
talks about being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Remember John the Baptist said, there's somebody coming
greater than me.
I can't even loosen his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire.
So the spirit baptism, this baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
Looking at Scripture, contextually, happens at conversion.
When we are baptized into the body of
Christ.
1 Corinthians 12, 13, Paul says that all
Christians became members of Christ's body when they
are baptized into the body of Christ.
Their baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit
when we become believers.
But then Ephesians 5, 18 says, be filled
with the Holy Spirit.
Don't be drunk with wine.
How are you drunk with wine?
Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink.
So how do you fill with the Holy
Spirit?
Drink in the worship, drink in the word.
Even just that language probably sounds a little
odd.
But I'm not saying, you know, that kind
of drink in whatever.
I'm just saying more of the Holy Spirit,
more of the Holy Spirit, more of the
Holy Spirit.
That's how you fill with the Holy Spirit.
So in a nutshell, it's really an arguing
over terminology.
Because theologically, the baptism of the Holy Spirit
happened at Pentecost.
It happens at conversion when you're baptized into
the body of Christ.
But what happens later on down the line
when people receive this mighty filling of the
Holy Spirit.
That they sometimes call the baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
The filling of the Holy Spirit, the unction
of the Holy Spirit.
The power of the Holy Spirit came upon
them.
And Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit
after he was a believer.
And Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit
after he was a believer.
And Jesus Christ was led into the wilderness,
tempted, came out filled with the Spirit of
God.
Jesus, what?
Was Jesus not a Christian before that?
But through this temptation time, he came out
in the fullness of the Spirit.
Then his ministry began.
So you do see a distinct.
Many times it can happen at conversion.
Where somebody's converted, they've got the fire, they've
got the power of God in their life.
Or it can happen later on down the
line.
Because what usually happens, many times they receive
the Holy Spirit at conversion.
Your believer received the Holy Spirit.
But a lot of us, I don't know
about you, but we like to hold on
to a lot of our sin.
I'm a believer, but I sure like to
get drunk on the weekends.
I'm a believer, but I still like that
porn.
I'm a believer, but I still like sex.
And I'm a believer.
We hold on to it.
And I'm not giving God all of my
life.
Heck no, I got him right where I
want him.
And they quench and grieve the Spirit of
God and they don't feel anything.
They're not witnessing for Christ, they're a carnal
Christian.
And then the day comes when they surrender
everything.
Because God brings a prodigal home.
They give it all to Christ and they
are filled with the Spirit of God afresh.
The Word of God becomes alive and they
are filled.
And they say, I don't even know if
I was ever saved.
What's the difference?
The filling of the Holy Spirit.
So you can call it the baptism.
You can call it the unction.
You can call it the indwelling power.
Whatever you want to call it, you know
if you have it or you don't.
And just to show, I make sure not
to bring any questionable ones.
I mean like not conservative.
But I can take you through.
I can take you through all these resources
of people who received a work of God
after conversion.
You want to start with George Whitfield's journals.
You want to start with the Calvinist Methodist
Fathers of Wells.
It talks about hundreds of years of Welsh
revivals.
Do you want to talk about They Found
the Secret?
Which gives an account of Oswald Chambers to
John Bunyan to Amy Carmichael.
Of all these believers who received something after
conversion.
D.L. Moody was preaching.
He said, my sermons were dead but when
God met me in a powerful way on
that street in New York City.
I couldn't, I couldn't, I had to get
out of the street.
His power, his joy is filling me.
And then I came out preaching.
Then souls were converted.
What do you do with that?
What do you do with D.
Martin Lloyd-Jones?
Very conservative.
A lot of conservative Calvinists like him.
And I do too.
But he talks his whole last chapter to
preachers.
Guess what it's called?
He said, if you're going to preach, you
better preach with unction.
Demonstrating the power of the Spirit in preaching.
His whole last chapter.
This is one of the top ten books
John MacArthur recommends.
And this guy in the last chapter talks
about a subsequent work of the Holy Spirit
after conversion.
Of those who surrender to it.
He wrote a great book on revival.
Then there's a book, Lectures on Revival, written
in 1832.
This guy, Sprague, who was conservative.
And he documented all these things.
So it's not just Shane up here going,
oh, I wonder.
This is countless.
There's Christian testimonies.
And they all go back to what Scripture
says.
This enduement of power.
They were nobodies.
God was boring.
And then God visited them.
He filled them with the Spirit of God.
Now everything changes after conversion.
So I don't care what you call it,
but you better have it.
You better have that power of the Holy
Spirit in your life.
And there's more.
I could have brought ten other books of
all the lives of people.
I mean, this one they found, The Secret,
is amazing.
It's 20 transformed lives that reveal a touch
of eternity.
It's all the guys you like to read.
Oswald Chambers, Adonai Judson, Hudson Taylor, John Bunyan,
Amy Carmichael, Charles Finney, John Hyde, Dwight Moody,
Andrew Murray.
All these people who had an experience with
the Holy Spirit sometime years after conversion.
And they were saved.
They were believers.
Some of them were in seminary.
Oswald Chambers was teaching in a seminary.
But he said the board of God was
dry.
It was boring.
And it wasn't until the Holy Spirit infused
them and brought them that power in their
life that real change took place.
So it begs the question in the church
today across our landscape.
How many people still have not received that
fulfilling of the Holy Spirit?
That being filled, overflowing, because they have not
surrendered all of their lives.
They're carrying bitterness in their heart.
They're carrying a critical spirit.
They're holding on to besetting sin.
They walk around as if they're everybody's judge
and they critique everything.
And they have this hard heart.
And they wonder why they're not filled with
the Spirit of God.
That's why, folks.
It can happen to me, too.
I'm not pointing fingers.
I'm saying all of us.
All of us.
And it's very interesting.
Reading these books, I found a consistent pattern
that is very telling.
That when people would look for a pastor
to come to their church, right?
And come and listen to, you know, OK,
we're calling this new pastor.
They rarely asked, where did he go to
school?
Where did he get his master's degree?
You know what they would ask?
Has he received his baptism of fire?
I thought that was very interesting.
They want a pastor to come, 1800s, 1900s,
early 1900s, who received his baptism of fire.
I don't care if you have a Ph
.D. from the best university.
If you haven't received that infilling power and
presence of the Holy Spirit, you cannot lead
the people effectively.
That's why this is so important.
This is a very important topic.
So that's the takeaway from this whole point.
These people are all together.
Then suddenly there came from heaven a sound.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is evident.
So evident that people wonder if they were
ever converted to begin with.
So that would be my challenge to you
guys tonight.
Ask that question.
Because I'm either irritating or I'm confirming.
This type of message either irritates or it
confirms.
People are going amen or they're going shut
up and move on to the next message.
I don't want that.
How bad do you want it?
Let's be honest.
How much of God do you want?
Let's just be honest.
Because the outpouring, the story of the Pentecost
can happen again.
And I did this, I think back then
when I taught in this Holy Spirit.
But I want to ask this question again
because it's vitally important.
Let's just be honest.
How many of us can truly say like
Jeremiah, His word is in my heart like
a burning fire.
Is the word of God in your heart
like a burning fire?
I know you like to read the Bible
now and then.
So does Pharisees.
So does Jehovah's Witness.
So does the Mormons.
They love to read the Bible now and
then.
But is the word of God in your
heart like a burning fire?
It has to come out.
What about Jesus when he said, He who
believes in me out of his belly will
flow rivers of living water.
Does your life have these rivers of living
water?
Or is it stagnant and dead and just
God is distant.
Bibles, you know.
These are hard questions we need to ask.
When John the Baptist said, Christ will baptize
you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Do you know what he was talking about?
See, I read these scriptures and they leap
out to me.
Yes, yes, I understand that fire.
That's what's wrong with me.
Thank God I read that scripture.
That's what's wrong with me because the word
of God is burning in my heart.
It's been shut up in my bones.
I have to read his word.
I have to read church history.
I have to read theology.
I have to love people.
I have to the fruit of the spirit
of my life.
I have to repent when I'm off track.
Lord, thank God that confirms that fire, that
belly.
When I believed on him out of my
belly flowed rivers of living water.
People say I knew Shane then.
That's not him now.
People don't know me now.
That's I don't remember.
He didn't do that.
Where is that difference from the power of
the Holy Spirit?
Get the very thing we need is the
very thing people want to avoid.
That's why Tozer said if people are just
as willing to prove that they need to
be filled as to prove that they don't
need to be filled, the churches will be
crowded.
Ministries will be flourishing.
And here's the truth.
Many have had knowledge, but they have never
truly experienced the power and the presence of
God.
You see, I'm not saying any of this.
Please don't leave here saying Shane beat me
up.
I this is this is more of a
cry and a pleading than a beating up.
They say, Lord, we all need what I'm
preaching to you is what I need.
As it's going to you, it's coming back
into my own heart.
I'm rejuvenating my own heart.
Lord, I need more of you.
I need more of you.
That's why sometimes we need a lot of
worship.
I went to a pastor's conference Thursday on
little sleep.
And and I just by the Alistair Begg
was a keynote speaker.
And I was wanting to be there, but
I was so tired.
I was up at two, three in the
morning.
First song worship.
Second song.
Third.
And finally, the fourth song.
Finally, man, I'm so glad I'm there.
I broke through in my heart.
My heart tell his heart who wanted to
go home, wanted to go take a nap
out in the truck.
Unless you press through, unless you break through
into that, you will never experience the power
of God in your life.
So the few questions I wrote down, I
know we have truth here at Westside, but
do we have power?
I know we have truth, but do we
have do we truly have power?
I know we like to debate doctrine, but
do we have the fruit of the spirit?
I know we move our lips during worship,
but have you ever wept during worship?
Think about that for a minute.
Some of the worship that people get all
throughout the week, they might put a little
air one on.
But I'm talking about the only worship they
really get is when they come in here.
They sing four songs and then they go
home.
Folks, that's not worship.
That's not worship.
Have you ever put worship on at home
and been broken before God?
Oh, that's weird.
I don't even call it weird.
I'm glad I don't believe that way.
I need him in him.
I live and move and have my being.
When was the last time you went during
worship?
Thinking about the condition of our children, the
condition of our families, the condition of the
church thing of God saved you, how Christ
is put on the pedestal, how Christ is
glorified, my relationship with Christ.
Thank God for that.
When was the last time?
Never, never.
Why is worship hard?
You tell me, because the power of the
Holy Spirit is being quenched and grieved.
We read all about Pentecost, but have we
ever experienced it?
And here's why.
My personal Pentecost, if you want this filling
of the Holy Spirit, this indwelling power of
the Holy Spirit, things need to occur.
Number one, unity has to occur.
They were of one accord.
They were one accord.
If you're not in harmony with God's people,
if you're not in harmony with God's people,
you will not be filled with the Spirit
of God.
You cannot be.
That's a fruit of the Spirit, a very
important one.
Also, humility and dying to self.
There must be a seeking.
There must be a desperation.
If you're sitting here going, I got that.
Shane, you're getting a little far out there.
I got all that.
I'm good.
There's no desperation.
There's no desperation for the power of the
Spirit.
Something might be lacking.
A guy that many conservatives like, C.H.
Virgin, well, they should read all of his
works on the Holy Spirit.
I've got all the volumes on it.
He used to walk to his pulpit every
step saying, I believe in the Holy Spirit.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
And then he would get up and preach
to 6,000 people.
We have to have that spiritual power in
our lives.
And then vibrant prayer and heartfelt worship.
That's why we focus on all of these
things.
If you go, Wes, you guys kind of
do it.
Yeah, that's right.
We're providing fertile ground for the Holy Spirit
and for Christ to work and for people
to have a deep, more intimate relationship with
God.
That's our mission statement.
That's our goal.
Not a lot of bells and whistles, not
a lot of programs.
We want to provide fertile soil for the
Holy Spirit to work, not polluted soil.
I want to read a comment from a
man who was struggling last year.
I think I talked to him two years
ago.
He said, I'd become someone I never thought
I would become.
I was in complete darkness.
I would sleep in my clothes for as
long as I could.
I began wishing that I would die.
The emotional pain was unbearable.
Now let's read his comments after he fully
surrendered his life and was filled with the
Holy Spirit.
I only wish that everyone could feel the
love that I experienced.
I'm able to forgive others and genuinely love
them.
I feel like I've been reborn.
Elusive peace has now been found.
That's why God said, you will seek me
and you will find me when you seek
me with all of your heart.
And I just want to encourage you guys.
You know, we say, and I say this
too, if I could just try harder, if
I could just do this, if I could
just do that.
Do you ever say that?
You ever beat yourself up about your kids,
about parenting, whatever it is on the job?
We just say, if I could just try
harder, I could do this, I could do
that.
But the problem is, I'm a broken person
and so are you.
A broken clock can't fix a time.
A broken wife can't fix her daughter and
a broken husband can't fix his son.
We're broken people, folks.
That's why it doesn't work.
Only the Holy Spirit in perfect union with
Christ can repair damage, rebuild lives, and lead
us in the right direction.
How?
Through the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Our personal Pentecost, through the filling of the
Holy Spirit.
That's how that works.
And one thing Spurgeon always used to say,
too, is no matter what sermon it was,
you have to make a beeline to the
cross.
You have to make a beeline to the
cross, to Christ, and everything is about Him.
And on this sermon, Acts 2, it goes
on to say that when Peter actually preached
on Pentecost, and he said, he lifted up
his voice to them and said, Men of
Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let
this be known to you and give ear
to my words.
For these people are not drunk, as you
suppose, since it is the only third hour
of the day.
But this is what was uttered through the
prophet Joel.
In the last days, God declares, I will
pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
Has this ended, or is it still going
on?
Wait till next week.
And your young men shall see visions, your
old men shall dream dreams.
Even on my male servants and on my
female servants in those days, I will pour
out my Spirit and they shall prophesy.
And I shall show wonders in the heavens
above and signs on the earth below, blood
and fire and vapor and smoke.
The sun shall be turned to darkness and
the moon to blood before the day of
the Lord comes, that great and magnificent day.
Peter's first servant wouldn't be very popular today,
would it?
And he didn't finish there.
He said, and it shall come to pass
that everyone who calls upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.
Not might, not could be, not you throw
your little dice and try it out.
God says you will be saved.
So I can't just leave you guys hanging
with the power of the Holy Spirit.
I have to let you know as well
that if you've never repented of your sin,
you've never embraced the cross, you've never embraced
Christ, like Peter said, it shall come to
pass that whoever calls on the name of
the Lord shall be saved.
If you've never called on his name, guess
what?
It's a beautiful time to do it tonight
during worship.
You just call on his name and say,
Lord, I need you.
I need you.
There's power in saying, Christ, I need you.
Forgive me of my sin.
I need you.
I acknowledge you.
And then from that, you can experience the
filling of the Holy Spirit.
So I just want to encourage you, if
you've been coming to church for years or
you've been riding your parents' coattails or you've
been doing good things, none of that matters.
None of it matters.
It's all good.
But none of it matters when it comes
to salvation.
Salvation is man crying out to God and
saying, Lord, I need you to save me.
And he will.
That's a prayer that he will answer.
Let me close as the worship team comes
up.
Lord, we are so thankful for the power
of your Spirit.
Lord, but we don't worship the Holy Spirit.
We worship you.
We worship your Son.
Lord, he just points us to you.
Lord, I, for one, I don't want to
keep saying prayers like this and people aren't
changed.
Lord, we don't want to just leave here
the same way we arrived.
I pray that you convict hearts tonight, Lord,
starting with mine.
I need to be more filled with the
Spirit of God.
Lord, I need more of you.
I need more humility.
I need more gentleness.
I need more self-control.
Lord, and not letting our attitudes and temper
get the best of us.
Lord, I need gentleness and meekness.
I need the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, would you fill us afresh tonight?
We're not afraid of that.
Lord, to be filled with your Spirit is
a wonderful thing.
But I know there's people worried about that.
I know there's people afraid.
I know there's people uncertain.
Lord, just remove all of that.
Remove all of their doubt during worship tonight
as we cry out to you.
Lord, this isn't emotionalism.
This is people hungry for more of you.
We desperately need you.
We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.