So the opening, you ready to read it together? To all who are weary and need rest, to all who mourn and long for comfort, to all who fell and desire strength, and to all who sin and need a Savior, this church opens wide her doors in the name of Jesus, the friend of sinners. I don't know, it could be me, but what a way to start the morning. So the title is Remembering the Day the Fire Fell. Isn't that cool? I don't know, I asked a few people if it's corny, and they said no, so we went with it. Okay, if you think it's corny, that's okay. I can see your point, but I think that really gets the message across. We are still in the book of Acts in that series, and I think it's just a good reminder for even the pulpits of America. Remembering the day the fire fell. A friend of mine posted on social media this week, Todd Coconato, he said, this is not a date to remember, but an encounter. They had truth, but they didn't yet have fire. That is so important, guys. And of course, some people you know I'm talking about, others don't. It's what we call in church history the Day of Pentecost. And we could get pretty deep if we went into when Moses was given the Ten Commandments 50 days later, and the law, and then we've got 50 days later. after Jesus' resurrection, ascension, things like that. Now we have the day of Pentecost when the church is born. It's interesting, when He gave the commandments, 3,000 died because of their sin. But when the fire fell and Peter preached his first sermon, 3,000 were added to the church. Maybe coincidence? I don't know. Interesting, isn't it? So it's throughout church history, the day of Pentecost is 50, the word 50, it's when the Holy Spirit was given to believers. And if you just kind of think about that, the Godhead, the triune nature of God actually resides in a believer, a genuine believer. There's a lot of fake ones out there, AI Christians. I just thought of that. That might be a good sermon title. AI Christians. But they received this fire, and it's so important. When the church exchanges the fire of the Holy Spirit for strange fire of human ambition, entertainment, and compromise, then the pulpit becomes a spotlight, the platform becomes a stage, the preacher becomes a performer, and the congregation becomes the audience. Only one fire is authorized by God, and that fire is the fire of the Holy Spirit. As for me, I don't want strange fire, I won't settle for wildfire, and I refuse to have no fire. I want nothing but the Holy Ghost fire." Now, let me give credit, I don't know who it is, a guy named Jason Steege, I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that right, had that on social media, and I said, I've got to read that because that's exactly what I'm going to be talking about this morning. That's such an important topic, isn't it? This topic is, as you know, if you've been coming here a while, it's second only to salvation, especially in my heart, because, again, transparency here. This is where we see the amount of lives being radically changed. I love teaching. I love preaching. I love a checklist. All those things, but it's not until a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit that you begin to see radical changes, okay? And I do have a big announcement today. I'm withdrawing from the charismatic community. Now, let me explain that. I'm tired of all this stuff we see in the news. I'm tired of these false prophets. I'm tired of these people saying it's revival and they're asking people for money. I'm tired of everything we're seeing in the media. It's about protecting an image. And we need to get back to brokenness and humility. So what community are you with? The Bible community. What is the Bible saying? What does the Bible say? Some of you might not know what I'm talking about. Just thank the Lord for that. But others, you know, you see all these people in the news, all these fake prophetic words, all this jockeying proposition. They have a quarter million people on YouTube, so now that means we need to listen to what they say. They miss it. They're not even close. It's all about a platform and not about brokenness and humility. And that's why it's a scam to many people. We see this weird stuff going on. I don't want to fake. I don't want to fabricate anything. I don't want to have a fake healing. I don't want to put gold dust or glitter in the vent fans. I don't want to have a little box up there dropping feathers, angel feathers. People are sick of the phony and they need the authentic. They need the real power of the Holy Spirit. And in case you're not aware, charismatic just comes from the word charisma. It means bestowing spiritual gifts. So I'm more on fire about this topic than ever before. I truly believe that God is still doing those things. But not according to what we see often on YouTube. Or what we see in the news. It makes me sick. Especially all these leaders now with all these allegations of different things. Guys, when you have ten witnesses, twenty witnesses, you need to own it. But we're worried about our platform and our image. And I know a lot of these guys, I have their cell phone numbers. And I'm just not gonna say anything. You can't do that. You have to own it. Repent, get back to brokenness and humility before Almighty God. And so I'm just as sick as all the circus environment as most people are. Millions of followers doesn't give you a voice. Only God will give you that voice. And often, it's in the menial. It's in those who you would never think would be given that voice of God. And God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. Some of the best preachers I want to listen to, you guys would probably never even heard of. Phil will agree, but I'm still trying to get Brian Long out here from like five years ago, a cattle rancher in Oklahoma. No big names charging big money. We want to hear from the Spirit of the living God again. God, what do You say? Because see, God touches the heart that's not concerned about the platform. My wife and kids say no, but I say, guys, I'm this close from disconnecting. Every social media, Instagram, Twitter. You want to follow us? Go to YouTube and you watch a video. Okay. But I also know that God has given us a voice here. And so trying to just steward what He is doing is a part-time job. But let's back up and let's talk about this topic for a minute. God's Spirit is poured out. And it was actually prophesied in the book of Joel. They don't know exactly when it was written, but let's say it was written a long time ago. Way before Jesus' time. And God said, it shall come to pass, afterward, after what? Well, the context is locusts devoured the land. Their lusts got them into trouble. Their sin had consequences. And that's one thing I love about God. People say, oh, Shane, your preaching is so hard, but don't you know I give you hope at the end? If my preaching is so hard, you might want to go cut out all the prophetic books. Those guys. Wow! Unbelievable. And so the people, famine, pestilence, all these things, but God promises, and it shall come to pass afterward. Now granted, this is going to be hundreds of years. but it's for us today. He said, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Okay, God said, I'm going to pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will what? Prophesy. The Bible says that. Why is that a weird word for some people? It's a Bible word. God said He's going to do this. So you're calling God weird. Basically. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also on My men servants, those who serve Me, male and female, I will pour out My Spirit in those days." What are those days? Well, let me not get too far ahead, but we talked about this before. In the book of Acts, they're waiting in that upper room, waiting for God. And here comes the fire of the Spirit. And you remember, I'm going to read some of it in just a minute, they were so passionately filled with God that people thought they were drunk because they were speaking in other tongues. And Peter rebuked them. He said, they're not drunk. This is that. This is that. that Joel spoke of. This is happening now. Can you imagine the excitement? And guys, this is one reason. I haven't heard too many people talk about this. And I want you theologians to just think about this, okay? Because sometimes our Bible knowledge can get in the way of our vision. Anybody suffer with that before? Just me? Okay. We've got a position and we hold that position. And it's good, of course, sometimes, but you have to be a little bit open. For those who think that the gifts are no longer available today, then that means this is no longer. available today. And they'll say, well, now that we have the Bible, the early church needed the gifts. No, God said, I'm going to pour out my spirit on all flesh. So he did that in Acts. He did that in the early church. And it's going great. And now we don't experience those things? How do you make that theological quantum leap? You can't. You can't. I'm going to pour out my spirit, and this is going to be the fruit of it. Nowhere will you see in Scripture where it says, only for a short time. Because I don't know about you, but I hope they don't take this wrong in the early church, but I need the Holy Spirit just as much as they do. Now granted, they didn't have the Word. I understand that. And there are some good arguments for why the gifts were needed early on. But also, if you've seen, that's why I said I'm leaving the weird, showboating, $4,000 suit, $20,000 to speak group of people that they hide underneath this banner, but they're no more filled with the Spirit of God than dead believers. Not open to the working of the Holy Spirit in their life. And I just can't align with, I don't want people thinking that we're like that. It's appalling, it's disgusting. It's cost me relationships. I just put out, you can find them, two videos on YouTube about certain people and certain things. I ever got people texting me, ah brother, you know, we don't believe everything we hear because we want to protect the image and the person. when God wants to break and humble them. Again, the context is because of lust, the locust devoured. Maybe it's a good encouragement for some of you this morning. If the enemy is taking you out and your lust is helping the process, and you've created some damage, just return to God. Return to God. Be filled again with His Spirit. Be filled afresh again with His Spirit. That's one of the reasons I'm so glad that God brought me through my past and what He's brought me through. Because now I really, believe it or not, I encourage people. The people I encourage are usually convicted. And they don't like what is being said. The call to go low was the only cure. The call to go low was the only cure in the book of Joel. He says, consecrate a fast. Call the sacred assembly. Call the sacred assembly. Come together and cry out to God. You know, that's still the answer today. I'm seeing things too. California is ripe for judgment. I say she's ripe for revival. There's a big difference there. There's a big difference there. Consecrate a fast. Church is getting together and calling on the name of the Lord. I'm not worried about what they're doing down in Los Angeles and the unbelieving and all the Hollywood. I'm worried about what the church is doing. Because God says, I don't see Hollywood. I don't see all this junk. I don't see all this LGBTQ. I see my church, my remnant. I hear that voice. If theirs just be 10, I will spare that city. That cry God hears, we're so worried about the world and how it's darkened. Look in the mirror. That's where the change needs to take place. When we gather, it's a priority, isn't it? Don't come together and cry out in the house of my God. You want to see a church on fire, look at the attendance of the prayer meeting. Or lack thereof. Praise God it's packed at 730. I'm excited about that. I honestly don't care if there's 30 or 3, but there is something very encouraging when the church is hungry for more of God. I could not lead a dead church. Any secret there? No, let me get out of that one because it could get a little interesting. When we gather, it's a priority. Why don't we come more often together to prayer meetings and worship times? Well, I can do that at home. Well, so can I. Can you imagine if I just never showed up for any of these and I do it at home? Well, no, you have to. Why do I have to? I don't have to, actually. Why is it easy to do it at home? Because it's easy. It's comfortable. It's convenient. Guys, I still remember those COVID days. Oh, yeah. Like, watch the repeat of, I'd actually preach, I think, on Saturday, watch a repeat on Sunday. Got my comfy, remember, it's cold out, so you have those comfy little, I don't know, they're comfy, and they have like fur in them, these shoes. and pajamas, latte, oh, I just love this. Oh, this is so comfortable. Some of you watching are stuck in livestream mode. You need to break out of that livestream mode. Yeah, it's comfortable, it's convenient, and thank God for it. I'm not against it. But seeking God is not convenient. It's not very comfortable. Because King's stomach and the flesh and all these other things that want to keep us bound to darkness, when you rend your heart, God will rend the heavens. Praise God for that. When you rend your heart, God will rend the heavens. Matthew 3.11, so again, we're building up to Acts, we have Joel's prophetic word, and we're talking, I don't wanna be, what are we, 700 years, probably, from Joel? I don't know. I know there's 400 or 700 years, depends on who you read. And now, that's a long time to wait for a promise. And then now we go to Matthew, Jesus, beginning his ministry, John the Baptist said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will, Jesus will, the Son of God will, baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And a lot of churches avoid this topic. It's because it's controversial. But it's very biblical. Jesus said, through Matthew, Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Fire. Now, of course, some commentaries say this is the fire of everlasting punishment. I don't quite see that. Because I don't know, that doesn't look like something for her to look to. But it's true. Those who reject Christ, He is a consuming fire for the unbeliever. Or it could be the fire of the Holy Spirit that inflames and purifies men. Yeah, me too. I want that one. Jameson Fawcett Brown commentary said, the fiery character of the Spirit's operation upon the soul. It's searching. It's consuming. It's refining. It's transforming. Many of you don't know what that last word means, because I didn't either, and that's what it means. Transforming. The transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to throw in a big disclaimer here, a big note to self. Remember this. Those filled with the Spirit still struggle. That's some of those critics on YouTube. That's what they'll say. Oh, look at this person. He fell. That nature's in us. Have you ever tried walking closely with God for the rest of your life and not stumbling once in a while? Anger comes out. Irritability. Oh, I knew they weren't filled. But you don't want to see me unfilled. Paul said this is where wars come from and contention and arguments and slander and gossip and adultery and backbiting and fraction in the church. Dissension. It comes unfilled with the Spirit. And filled with the flesh. Isn't that ugly? I'm not going to go into detail. I don't think they'll listen. I think my wife would be okay with it. But I talked to somebody recently who has a restraining order. And I said, you know what? You just need to get filled. You just need to get filled. Don't feel bad. I'd have about 10 of them. Shane Eidelman left to Shane Eidelman? How many of you would be on your sixth marriage if you're still alive? You wouldn't be here, you'd be hungover. Come on, let's get real. It's ugly to be emptied of God and full of yourself. And even those filled with God, they're not perfect. I'm so glad God doesn't tell us some things right at the beginning of the journey, because I thought when I came back to Him, filled with the Spirit, all the excitement, it's like, man, I'm going to live a perfect life. This isn't gonna be too hard. Well, often when you have that overwhelming, that power of the Spirit in your life and now you're filled, now you're on the enemy's hit list. You're on the radar, yep. You're on the radar. Resist the devil, he will flee. Make no provision for the flesh. All these Scriptures, now I'm like, oh, can I just put on some of the armor of God? Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the wiles of the devil, the trickery, the deceit of Satan. This topic, guys, is so important. So we have Joel, we have Matthew, and now in Acts, we've talked about this before. So when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. That's hard to happen in a church. Of one accord. What does that mean, one accord? Unity. Love. And I've seen this before. We can have prayer meetings and a certain amount of people, I know we're all united. And then that grows a little. I'm like, I don't know about this. Hmm. No, that person doesn't like me. I know that's a gossip. Oh my goodness. And the bigger you get, do we come in in one accord today, this whole church? Not a chance. Not a chance. But that's where the power of the Holy Spirit rests, and it may be in your life as well. Maybe you need to get one accord with the Spirit. and get rid of those attitudes you have about others. Attitude will prevent altitude. Do you ever wonder why I preach like this? It's because I live it. I've came in with bitter hearts. I've come in kind of judgmental. And I understand how that can really clog up the line. of my relationship with the Lord. And suddenly, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Now, just so you know, again, we want to be theologically correct. We don't look for this like, okay, guys, You know, we're just gonna, we're gonna wait and unless we see this mighty rushing wind, unless the pulpit breaks in two, unless the tongues of fire on our shoulders and this wind rushing through, you know, that's what we're looking for. We need that. We don't necessarily need that because that came already. And now when you repent and believe you have the, you get the Holy Spirit, you get the Spirit's fire in your heart. Now with that said, I have heard and read of revival accounts, I think it was the New Hebrew Revival possibly or others, where they've been in a country barn, and the whole atmosphere of the prayer meeting changed. Tongues of fire. or the wind was blowing through the place, and it resembled a lot of the book of Acts. So it was amazing how, and so again, we don't, this doesn't have to happen, but there is something transformative that happens when a person is truly filled with the Holy Spirit. It will be different for other people and different for your situation, but when you're, think about this. Okay, let's talk about a believer. When they're filled with the Holy Spirit, they go from minimal, I couldn't pull it off, but I was gonna bring those large five-gallon sparkler bottles. One had a little bit of, you know, just a little bit of water. The other one was full. And take the full one, you might get a little more wet. And so when a person is, and the songs we are singing are all biblical songs, more of you, God, that's what being filled with the Spirit is, that's what going deeper is. And the Holy Spirit came upon the church and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, I don't know if I should unpack this, but I think it's important right now. Tongues of fire. Not tongues like a dove or a gentle breeze. There's the fire. And those who don't like what I'm saying, they often say, oh, the fire of God is never good. Well, yeah, it's never good for an unbeliever. but it's very good for believers. That's the fire of God. And what does fire do? It consumes, it transforms, it sets ablaze. So that's the image I have, is you could listen to a boring speaker without any fire, and I've been there, but that's not the job of the speaker, to be filled with God's presence as we spend time with him, and then that fire, goes out and it motivates you, and encourages you, and you leave here, I can get back on track, I want that passion again, and I want that holy zeal again, and so that filling of the Holy Spirit spreads into you, and then you moms, you take that home, dads, you take that home, and that fire, again, you won't be, all hell might break loose, If you come home Sunday, kids, I'm so excited, we're gonna have family devotional tonight. Get ready, get ready, because the enemy's gonna attack that as well. No kid likes that, they like YouTube. Well, some kids do, some kids do if they're filled, okay? But that's what it is, it's that fire. A gentle breeze doesn't wake anybody up, we go back to sleep. Any of you nappers out there, you know, just crack that door open. ceiling fan on and get that gentle breeze. You don't sleep well when the house is on fire. That's what this is. It's the fire of God. And that's why so many misuse the word revival. It's not loud music, and it's not collecting money, and it's not talking about revival and manipulating things. It's not a whole bunch of Christians meeting and maybe a three-hour service. That's great. But revival is when the heart's revived. And there's fruit. There's fruit. You leave excited and you do things for God because you've been revived. And let me tell you up front, pride always prevents the fullness of the Spirit. Pride always prevents the fullness of the Spirit. You can't have both. You can't have both. Because what is pride? Self. And when I'm full of self, how can I be full of the Spirit? They contradict each other. The filling of the Spirit suppresses pride. And as a result of suppression, there's humility. But pride puffs up and quenches and grieves the spirit. I haven't thought of this story for a while, but some of you have heard it, but it fits perfectly here. I once told her that story of a 25-year-old guy who just graduated seminary. How many of you have heard this before? Morgan, you don't count. You've heard a lot. Who else could sit through 15 years of sermons? Man! Praise God! Praise God! You guys should tell her thank you more than me. Because if she wasn't filled, our marriage would be ugly. That's what marriage is. It's working on things together. It's ministry. It's ministry. Anyway, he's 25 years old. He's fresh out of seminary. They just gave him the church. Here's your church. Let's say I'm coming here for my first time. I'm gonna make sure I have my name out on the sign. Then I talked to the office, did you let them know I'm a graduate of, oh no, let's pick a good, since it's close by, did you know I'm a graduate of the Master Seminary? Can you let the congregation know? Oh, he's already toast. They are gonna be so blown away by my seminary education. I can't wait to get up there and show them how I dissect the Hebrew and break apart the Greek. I've got these three points just like homiletics taught me. My homiletic sermon, I'm going to send this in to somebody because it's so impressive. And so he walks to the pulpit. This is who God created me to be. And by this time next year, this church will be three times its size. Because I'm so special. But when he got up to preach, God humbled him. Things weren't coming together. He stuttered. He put his pages on the wrong page. He couldn't gather his thoughts. And in utter humiliation, and just completely humiliated, broken, he just walked down the steps. And he just sat in the front row, head held by his hands. And the old deacon looked at him and said, hey, young man, if you would have ascended to the pulpit the same way you descended, you would have succeeded. If you would have went up in the brokenness and the humility and the reliance on God, you would have succeeded. Pride always prevents the fullness of the Spirit. But guys, be encouraged. We have a responsibility too. It's not just say, okay, God, fill me. Fill me. I sang that song with Maddie. Fill me up, God. Fill me up. I'm a little teapot short and strong. Fill me up. Lord. You provide the sacrifice, God provides the fire. So when you pray, Lord, fill me up, get ready, get on your Nikes. Because it's a pursuit. It's a life. Okay, Lord, I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna fast. I'm gonna seek you with all of my heart. I'm gonna repent of that bad attitude. I'm gonna repent of that gossip against the pastor. Just throwing that in there for a little bit. Oh, trust me, I know the slanders and the gossipers and the back biters in this. I know, trust me. I'm getting hit all the time. Often because when you make me look bad, you elevate yourself. I'm trying to be careful, but I already had a lady come and pray with me and said, you need to speak what God puts on your heart. So I have a challenge. Because it needs to be said. Why does it need to be said? Because I wish to God those people would find their way to the altar and repent. They don't have to tell me anything. I don't care. I want them right with God. I don't want to be a hindrance to them. If what I say upsets you, ask God. I'd say, why is this upsetting me so much? Why don't I like what he's saying? Nine times out of 10, it's a kind of funny word, starts with a C. Conviction. I don't like conviction either, and I have to make a choice. Do I dig my heels in and fight? Or do I say, Lord, what do You want to do in my heart? We have a responsibility. You provide the sacrifice. God provides the fire. Now something interesting, the Holy Spirit falls again on the Gentiles. Acts 10. This is amazing. The Holy Spirit is going to fall on the Gentiles. And that's why we sing that song, Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me. Some people, oh, I can't believe you're singing that emotional song. Well, it's biblical. Guys, come on. Your Pharisee heart needs to be crushed. It's preventing a mighty outflow of the Holy Spirit into your heart. Pharisees don't get inflow. Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me. Would be to God we would sing that and desire that. Because we need a fresh filling. Paul said, be filled with the Spirit. Let me tell you, it's not a one-time thing. I wish it was. I wish I could walk around just completely... Don't you? No arguments at home. No falling. Everything's great. Nobody offends me. I just want to stay here. But that comes crashing down constantly. That's why D.O. Moody said you have to sit underneath the fountain of living water because you're a leaky vessel. You want me to do that again, do you? Okay, so now the Holy Spirit is gonna fall. The Bible talks about the Holy Spirit falling, really coming upon. I heard this example, I don't even know who it was, I should've wrote it down. But the Holy Spirit's like, the water's here, correct? Now it's in me, and I'm tempted. Glad the lid stayed on. Now it's upon, should I do that just for illustration? No, okay, okay. But you see, right, I don't need to do that. Now it's, see a lot of you are, got the pinky. That's all I want, Shane. I don't want to get carried away. I've got my man cave and my NFL, my NASCAR. I don't just want to do, give me a little bit on Sunday. That's enough. The Bible doesn't say that's enough. It says, upon the believer. If I leave here and go out to shop, nobody's going to know I just drank a little water, but they're going to know if my shirt's soaking wet. So now the Holy Spirit wasn't just for Jews, it's now for Gentiles. Peter was talking to them, and as he's talking, the Holy Spirit fell on them, everyone who heard the Word. And the believers from among the circumcised, meaning the believing Jews who were with Peter, they're amazed. They said, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. How would you know, unless something changes, how do you know that the Holy Spirit is being poured out on somebody? I could be praying for somebody in the prayer room and just praying for them. I see them yawning and say, okay. Yeah, the Holy Spirit was just poured on me. How would I know? I don't know. You know because There's an outward something. We've had people, and they'll start crying uncontrollably as the Holy Spirit is being poured into them. I've been forgiven. I've got to get to that altar. Something... How can the Spirit of the living God pull into your heart and you just sit there? Bored. One of these worship songs is over. I've never seen the Holy Spirit when somebody's filled, or I've never seen there not be some type of emotional response. Hello? You know! You know! Why are you crying crocodile tears? Why is the Word coming alive? Why are you full of joy? Why do you want to call your brother and ask for forgiveness? Why do you want to just hug your spouse and say, I'm so sorry? Why? It's the outworking. of the Spirit. Now you know why I beat this drum so often. Let me go in here. Give me the Holy Spirit. No, I won't. But that's why I beat this drum so often. That's how you get back on fire for God. That's how you heal your marriage. Young adults, teenagers, teenagers, young adults, anxiety, depression, suicide, gender identity, be filled with the Spirit of the living God, and that will push out all that stuff. We should preach more about this stuff and I've got my critics oh he's too much in the Holy Spirit right because that's what changes your life wake up wake up praise God that's what changes your life being filled with the Spirit of God this church wouldn't even be here had we not been filled with the Spirit of God I don't want to I would weep over what my life would look like Don't some of you, even as a Christian, a Christian doesn't mean you'll succeed, especially if you're not filled with the Spirit. Some of the worst things we see going on in our churches are Christians. From Christians. Abuse, alcoholism, anger, holes punched in walls. Abuse, cursing, cursing. There's people come to this church, I run into them, they'll drop some F-bombs. I'm like, dude, what the heck? You think that's okay? They don't care. You've heard the statistics, half the marriages in the church end in divorce. Did you know it's only one out of 1,100 who read the Bible together and pray? That's some pretty good statistics. Well, what's wrong with the 50%? Not filled with the Spirit. Trust me, if it was, I'd just be getting up about now, I'd probably have my wife beater, white tank top on. Jack Daniels, empty. George Strait playing on the whatever. They don't know about me. My job is just complaining all day long, gossiping Gary. But I'm a believer. I truly love Jesus. I repented and I know, but man, the flesh has got me. I'm a slave. I'm a slave. I'm quenching and grieving the spirit. the majority of the church needs a fresh fire. And I know I make a lot of things, and the critics actually really don't bother me over the years. I've developed two-inch thick rhinoceros skin. My heart breaks for them. Because I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm moving on. I'm preaching, I'm leading a church. You're stuck in this mode. And often, the more I'm... I probably shouldn't tell you this. Nope, nope, nope, sorry, nice try. But now I have to, right? Don't let this discourage you, okay? Let me make sure, let me, don't let this discourage you. You promise? Don't let this, pinky promise? No, real promise. The more filled you are, the more critics you're gonna have. the more family members are not going to like you. Can anybody say amen? Oh my goodness! Boy, did I learn a lesson. Oh, you're just a holy roller. Who made you judge and jury? And anytime you just lovingly, lovingly... Does anybody want to lovingly speak the truth? You're just trying to help. Here comes that divided tongue attacking you. I can show you, I got nasty texts just from yesterday. Wow! And you realize the more filled you are, worldly Christians don't like you. Prideful Christians don't like you. Carnal Christians don't like you. My wife probably texts me saying, don't say that. But I'm not giving details, and these people probably never listen to the sermon, so we're good. It wasn't you, it was James Cadiz. You guys listen to him? I'm going to tell him to stop texting me right now. But it's funny, just a side note, yesterday, I text him about 3 in the morning, and he's just going to bed. I'm just getting up. So I'm like, we've got completely different... I'm 9 to 3, he's 9 to 3 the opposite, 3 to 9 the opposite way. But anyway, that was a side track. But guys, people just don't like you when you're passionate about God. Don't let that deter you. Don't let that stop you. Don't let that refrain God moving in your heart. Are you ready to get a little controversial? Okay, what was the outflow of the Holy Spirit upon them? Well, we left off about halfway through, and I don't know why this is such a hard topic. It's in the Bible multiple times. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues. Oh my goodness. and exalting God, exalting God. Then Peter declared, can anyone withhold water for baptizing? In other words, the Spirit of God has came upon them, let's get them baptized. They received the Holy Spirit just as we have. And Jesus commanded us to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Well, this is a good scripture for those who think you have to be baptized before you are saved. Clearly, these people were saved before they were baptized. Okay, the Holy Spirit came upon them, but they're not yet saved until they go under? It's ridiculous. Because it's not Jesus Christ, work on the cross, and then let's schedule your baptism for a few weeks, then you'll be saved. It's just absolutely absurd. Speaking in tongues. I want to talk about this for a minute, because the question might come up in the Q&A today. Do all who are filled with the Holy Spirit, do they speak in tongues? It's evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, our church's position, I believe the elders are all on the same page, it's not that everybody, they would call this actually, it's a form of Pentecostalism, it's something about a second worker of the Holy Spirit manifests, and there's certain denominations that say when a person's baptized in the Holy Spirit, the evidence is tongues. And without that, you're not baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now, there are a lot of verses that talk about everybody believing received. However, when Paul goes into the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he says, does everyone have the gift of healing? No. Does everybody have the gift of prophecy? No. Does everybody speak in tongues? You would think that would be the natural response, right? So you can see through Scripture that, no, I don't believe that if, I mean, you'd have to get rid of so many, I mean, Billy Graham, Dio Moody, Adrian Rogers. I mean, a lot of our heroes never said that they did this. So I can't say, oh, they weren't really spirit-filled. Because Paul said not everybody does it. Now, here's another question. Could more people have this gift if they were open? Yes, of course. Anytime we say, I don't know about that. Oh, Lord, I don't know about that. If I were You, I'd just say, Lord, whatever You want, You know what's best. How can You go wrong when I'm going to open myself up to deception? You're praying to God for God to fill you with more of Him. You're opening yourself up to deception? Please define that for me. You're opening yourself up to deception when you stray from God's Word. And so, as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit, they were speaking in other tongues. So, what is the point of tongues? I'm not getting into teaching, but the Bible is crystal clear that it's, number one, it's for personal edification. Paul said it. Paul said it, that's what he said. I'm worshiping God, I'm speaking, I don't know, but I'm personally edified. Also, we see that it's for interpretation. I can totally see this, especially when the new church was born. Can you imagine? Actually, it goes, we hear them talking about the goodness of God in our own tongue. Medes and Persians and all these different groups of people were hearing the praises of God in their own tongue. And so it's a witness to that. And on the mission field too, we see also that people that would have this gift, And people would understand they're praising God. They're understanding God. And then, of course, it talks about how it can be disruptive. Disruptive. Of all the things that are disruptive, I'd say this is at the top of the list many times. Prayer meetings have been divided over this. Churches have been divided over this issue. People get all worked up over this issue. Disruptive. Disruptive. I remember when we first started the church, we said, okay, let's have a gathering at somebody's house. I wasn't there, actually. Morgan will remember. And so people were invited. I think there was a couple of couples that were not even believers, and they're just interested in this gathering. Well, this lady started to speak in tongues. And these two couples left the church, never saw them again. And I talked to them, and so see, her heart was right, but it was out of context. No interpretation, and you have to know your audience. A lot of people that support the gifts forget about this very, very, very, very, very important word. Paul said, I'd rather you speak in a known language because people are gonna come in that are uninformed, and they're gonna think you're out of your mind. It's in the Bible, guys. So in our zeal for spiritual gifts, we have to make sure we're grounded in the totality of God's Word. And we have set the stage here. We're unapologetic. I mean, we're open to whatever God wants to do. But we've told people the public big worship service is not the time to speak in tongues if dozens of people are going to think, what is going on? Uninformed. What about if interpretation? Well, that's a whole other topic. But that's why we've got to steward God's Word and what He's doing. And I've seen the people that don't care about this, and they just want to rattle off, they're often not too stable. Can we just be honest? And they'll say, I can't suppress the Holy Spirit. No, actually, the Holy Spirit gives you self-control, and you do things according to Scripture. And if it's out of order, it's not working, God's not doing that. And then Acts 19, and it happened that while Paulus was at Corinth and Paul passed through this country, they came to Ephesus, there he found some disciples. Okay, so this is interesting. He found some disciples. Now, would disciples mean that they are believers? They are Christians already. Well, welcome to a big theological discussion among theologians. Depends on who you read. But let's keep reading. And so, He said to these disciples, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? That's a good question today, isn't it? I'd love to go around and say, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Some would say, absolutely, but others, I don't really know. I'm not sure exactly what they're talking about. For me, that would be paused for concern. So either a person isn't saved, or they're not surrendered to the work of the Spirit. Those are really the only two options. And they said to them, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what then were you baptized? They said, we are baptized into John's baptism. Paul said, okay, okay, John baptized with repentance, right? What they would do is they would go in the Jordan River, probably waist high, and the person is baptizing because they're repenting of their sin. And so that's what they did, and they would tell the people to believe in the one who has come after him, that is Jesus. So it is interesting, they told these people you have to be baptized and believe in Jesus, and they said they were. But yet, they didn't even know what the Holy Spirit was. They didn't experience that yet. So when they heard this, they were all baptized, not just in John's baptism, but they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why when we baptize people, we say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. There's something dynamic that takes place when you get baptized, guys. It's a fulfillment of the Great Commission, but it's also obedience to Jesus. You can never go wrong doing that. So by the way, it's full. If you're convicted today, been running from God on this area? I did. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. But there was no outward sign. No, it says, and they too began speaking in tongues and prophesying. What's prophesying? Well, Joel said when the Holy Spirit comes upon the church, they will see dreams and have visions. Shane, do you think that still happens? Of course. There's no way in the world I'm going to get up here and go, you know what? I know what Joel said, and I know what happened, but not today. People get too weird with this stuff. Just because somebody gets weird, don't let that distract you from following God. Now, there are things you need to do, right? If you have a dream, we've got plenty of those. You don't just automatically think it's a God's dream. Usually those are very vivid. You know that God is doing something, a vision. Do you know what that is? Have you ever just seen something and then God shows you something supernaturally? And what about prophesying? Prophesying is sharing something. Have you ever had something on your heart that's so burning? And you have to share it with others. You're prophesying. And again, I'm just quoting the Bible. This isn't weird stuff made up later. This is in the Bible. And that's what I don't understand. Dreams, vision, prophecy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge. They needed that then, but we don't need it now. What Bible are we reading? It says these things will come to pass. And so when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, They spoke in tongues, and there were about 12 men in all. It's interesting, in the fourth century, I think I have this quote up there, in the fourth century, the bishop of Jerusalem prepared those who were soon to be baptized in the Holy Spirit by explicitly exhorting them to approach the mysteries in awe, to expect the downpour of the Spirit. See, I think it's very healthy in a healthy church to expect God to break out of the box we put Him in. Don't we put God in a box? I don't want to keep harping on this. I've said a lot, but many of you are new and haven't heard me say it. But it's hard. You've got to have a plan and you're responsible for things. But to say, I went to churches I spoke where the first song is four minutes and two seconds. The next song is three minutes and 38 seconds. The next song is four minutes and 18 seconds. And then we have baby dedications. Don't go over two minutes on this. And then Chin, you got about, well, if he goes long in the baby dedication, get your message down to 25 minutes. By the way, those have been some of the most powerful messages I've ever given. Because when you submit to what they want to do, you don't just come in there like a rebel. And then, okay, after that, we've got this closing song for four minutes. That's a church service for many, how many millions, thousands, and we just, we have God in this box, and that's what's gonna happen today. In the church of a living God, where lives are being wrecked and restored, and you don't know who's coming in the door. You don't know what's going on. And we limit God? Don't do that. Don't do that today. Please don't do that today. Filled doesn't always mean that you fill it. How many times have I told you? I don't feel like preaching sometimes. I don't feel it. But when I step up here, open the Word, it's hard to explain. It just leaps inside of me, and the Word comes alive, and this not wanting to really do much now turns into something completely different. So to answer the question, were those believers that didn't even know about the Holy Spirit? I'm not sure, because it is a time between the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, a believer was someone who was waiting on the fulfillment of Jesus. Abram believed and God counted his righteousness, Noah believed. And so what they did is they believed in God, waiting for the promise. So now we're in between. Now the promise is here in the New Testament. And so, They obviously were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit, so they could have been in that waiting period there, and now the Holy Spirit comes upon them as believers. And I've kind of shifted on that before. I thought maybe they were believers, and I don't really know. The Bible isn't clear they were disciples. It could be that they weren't filled yet. I don't really know. But sometimes a fresh filling of the Spirit occurs when a step of obedience takes place. Who could preach that? Who's lived that? Sometimes a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5.18, occurs when we step out in obedience. You know God wants you to be vocal at that school board meeting. But I'm feeling timid. I'm being fearful." But when you get up there, boom! The obedience brought the power of the Holy Spirit. Behave courageously and the Lord will be with you. To behave courageously tells me I'm not always going to feel like it. Often we don't feel like it. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. I think we've got a quote up there from him. So just to give you some context, many people, especially in the Reformed faith, John MacArthur quotes him. many solid theologians. He was probably one of the best pastors in London back in that time. John MacArthur actually recommends his book, Preachers and Preaching, as one of his top 10, and that's how I came across this guy initially. And then he's got a whole tape series. Remember tapes? On the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And he caught a lot of flack in his group of people. You can still read about some of it online. But he actually believed that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a distinct work of the Holy Spirit, different than conversion. Okay, and this is where we get a little division in different Pentecostal, charismatic, conservative. He believed that a person was saved, but then there's a subsequent work of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. And I've debated with people until I'm blue in the face, just the arguments. I finally got to the position of, it doesn't matter exactly what you call it, you have it. That's it, that will end all debates. But see, though, if you become a believer, now there's something additional you have to seek. You have to seek this, maybe years go by, and you have to seek this baptism of the Holy Spirit. And often, a lot of the guys I just mentioned, D.O. Moody, so many, John Wesley, I mean, I have a whole, it's called They Found the Secret. If you want more information on this, They Found the Secret, short biographies of Christians who did not receive this mighty baptism of the Spirit until years later, and they were Christians. And I can actually say this happened in my life as well. At 12 years old, I was a Christian, but for 17 years, I was eating with the pigs. Anybody relate? No prodigals out there today? Well, you're just not being honest. Okay. But so finally when the Holy Spirit came upon me, I question my salvation. Was I ever even saved to begin with? Because it's such a profound experience. And that's why many people believe it's a second work. So biblically speaking, I think biblically speaking, I think again, all the elders will be on the same page on this. The Bible says that we are all baptized into the body of Christ. So if we're gonna use the right language, we're baptized into the body of Christ as believers. But there are subsequent, fillings of the Holy Spirit. So what people are calling baptisms of the Holy Spirit are simply fillings of the Holy Spirit. So I don't care if you call it a filling, a baptism, an unction, an anointing, do you have it? That's really the key. And some people have it at conversion. But how many of you know at conversion, sometimes you want to still live like you used to live? Not all of us became perfect Christians at our conversion. We fought the flesh. I hope the 11A is more honest. You guys, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And when you like that old life, that old life quenches and grieves the spirit if you submit to it. You know, I'm a Christian now. I came to church. This is great. But next weekend, you're going to run with the old crowd again. You're a little miserable. You're not as happy. But that activity is quenching and grieving the Spirit. And so maybe years go by. Third marriage. They're in addiction recovery. And they finally say, okay, Lord, I'm surrendering what I should have did years ago. and this fresh filling of the Holy Spirit now comes upon them. So it wasn't a second work they were waiting for. He was waiting for you to fully surrender. Now let me address the negative Nellies up front. I'm not talking about, now I'm perfect. Now I'm perfect. You guys just need to catch up. Receiving this mighty downpour of the Spirit has nothing to do with perfection, but direction. Lord, I'm now surrendering everything. My finances, my career, my marriage. Oh God, wretched man, that I am this filth. I don't like these lusts. I'm not a perfect person, but the more I'm going down, the more I'll be filth. And I hear it from people, I've made so many mistakes, I can't, you know, my life's challenging right now. You can surrender. And many things are stumbling blocks. For women, sometimes it's their looks, or their attire, or their dress, or this, and for men, it's their, you know, for me, a few years, I wanted to be cool with my friends. Because you know, come on, we talk one way here, But when we get to work on Monday, we're a tough guy. We're a tough guy. Tom, you know, you've known Tom a long time. I go to church on Sunday, worshiping, but on Monday, I got my red man skull, hop on that excavator, talk to my labor, que es tu problema? Come on, get to work. I might drop some curse words. Right? I've got to be cool here, man. And then come the weekend, oh, God, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Then come Monday, I'm back to tough guy again. People have got to see me. Shana, I heard you went to church. Oh, I go sometimes. I'll go into a bar with them, but not with church. But see, I'm a believer. I truly love the Lord. So what's the problem? Because I love my old life just as much. So surrendering is giving up that old life. Thomas Goodwin is a Puritan. He said, in the sealing of the Holy Spirit, it results from full assurance of faith, but also He did not equate the sealing with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It's been said that He had some kind of strong experience that solidified His view. So aren't our views sometimes skewed by our experience? Many people who embrace Calvinism see how God intervened and saved them. Many people who embrace free will see how they had to make a choice. And they had to repent. And we argue against each other. Same thing with here. People are like, you get all the Holy Spirit right at conversion. You're full. Yeah, but what about the guy who wasn't full for five years later? So they're going to believe that you have to seek something extra. You see how experience can play a role in Scripture, in interpreting Scripture. It's not a permanent state. I wish it was. Don't you? Let's be honest. How many of you feel so much better when you leave church on Sunday? Oh, only that many? Okay, well. Wow, I better recheck my calling. You know what I'm talking about. Right? You feel so much better. And then don't you wish you could just stay there? What happens? What happens? It's that desperate need to be filled continually. It's not a permanent state, but a powerful experience that can be repeated. And Lloyd-Jones also said it's a key component of revival. It's just existing versus a powerful experience with God. Many equate it with being weird, not bold. bizarre, not broken, and outlandish, not focused. And as I reminded you before, I think I got the quote from Lloyd-Jones, we are to interpret our experiences in the light of Scripture, not the other way around. So whenever we have experiences, and that's what keeps a church grounded, even this church grounded for 15 years, we don't just say, oh, if it's odd, it's God. Hey, if it's odd, it's God. Look at those odd things, it must be God. No, you interpret based on Scripture. For example, oh, that person, they're weeping, and maybe they're in the prayer room, or they're at home, I don't know, they're weeping, and God gives them this gift of tongues, and it's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, that must be of Satan. What's Scripture say? And there are YouTube channels out there who say that. It's of the devil. It's of the devil. Now, can New Age do some of these things and can other cults speak in gibberish and start to repeat them? Of course. Anytime God is doing something, the enemy will offer a counterfeit. That shouldn't surprise us. It absolutely should not surprise us. So I'm gonna end here shortly. Four types of people. What camp do you fall into? There are those who've experienced a genuine baptism after conversion, and for those who don't like that word, a powerful filling of the Holy Spirit. They've experienced that after conversion. Or there's some who experience it at conversion, like I just said. Or, number three, this is where the majority of the church is at, they have never experienced anything profound and life-changing. Now, I do want to be careful here, because people, let's say they surrender all. They give God all. And sometimes you can listen to a guy named Paul Washer give his testimony on this exact topic. He had to press into God like never before. It wasn't a one and done. It's like, God, I want this. He talks about going on the mountaintop, getting away, and yelling at God. So sometimes God will use that so we pursue Him even deeper. And I thank God for that. If it was a one and done, but sometimes there's a pursuit involved. Sometimes there's a breaking that's involved. All the verses I shared before won't bore you with them now, but you know them if you seek Me." Well, how do we know that means one day? Well, it's got to be. Again, in the Hebrew, it's got to be one hour. No more than a week. We don't know. and God's sovereignty. And just my opinion, I think it's because some people are ready. God wants to bless them. But other people, they need to press in for a while. How bad do you want it? You prayed for full surrender and a fresh feeling on Sunday, but you don't seem to want it on Monday. You've got to press in and say, God, I want to lay hold of You. Regardless, I've studied, like many of you, the most powerful prayer meetings, probably since the 1700s. Ireland, Welsh, revivals, even in New York, a guy named Jeremiah Lampert started this, there's like two or three of them, and it turned into thousands of people, and this revival of prayer that was happening. I've never read, Of course, there are some and there are exceptions, but most of the time that breakthrough came, it was after an extended period of time. How many journals of David Brainerd ministering among the Native American Indians, John Wesley, George Whitfield and the Holy Club, and all these people, it was like half past midnight and the Spirit of God came upon us. or after travailing for a few hours in the morning, the Spirit of God came upon us. Rarely will you see it in five minutes or ten minutes. And again, I'm not trying to put a time stamp because God can do something in a moment. But there is something about pressing in that has incredible rewards. So you've never really experienced anything profound and life-changing. If that's you this morning, I want to encourage you to pray for that. And say, God, I want that. I want the fullness of the Spirit. Why are we afraid of something that's biblical? Well, get offended if it causes you to repent. But a lot of people like biblically speaking, biblically speaking, what the Scripture says. Biblically speaking, you're supposed to be on fire for God. If you want to throw out a Bible, you're not supposed to be dead. A cemetery. Never lead anybody to the Lord. Don't talk about God too much. I'll see you again in two weeks. That's not biblical, historical Christianity, folks. And the dead group gets mad at me for talking about this. Oh, you get too anti-biblical or not biblical or the Holy Spirit. No, you're actually drifting from Scripture if you think it's about dead formalism. Church is not about going to church, we take communion, and we leave and we come back. That's good. But you actually take that fire of the Spirit out into our daily lives, into our homes. Or number four, the person is not saved. We cannot ignore this fact. We cannot ignore this fact. So I'll tell you about this word, the deeper life. Again, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones used it. The Puritans used it. I can take you back to very many theologians who said these things. What the deeper life is, it's a deep devotion to God and emphasis on experiencing His presence. That's what it is. How many of you heard of A.W. Tozer, Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson? All those types of people, they're focused on that deeper life. It's a deep devotion to God. What is it? It's a longing and a desire. It's seeking to go deeper. I'm not afraid of that term. Who doesn't want to go deeper with God? But the people who have never experienced this get offended. and they put up their walls. Fasting aids in the filling of the Spirit and it kills sin. Extended prayer, not formality. So many people have formality but not fire. Extended prayer deepens that desire. Lengthy worship fuels the empty tank. I don't care if you like the hymns or no hymns or music, but there should be lengthy worship that fuels that empty tank in your heart. Pursuit of God keeps the fire lit. And repentance and obedience are crucial. From Peter to Stephen and from Paul to Barnabas, there was a holy zeal and unparalleled boldness. And here's my contention, my argument against those who believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not valid today. It's not just the gifts. If that was it, I wouldn't be saying what I'm gonna say. It's not just the gifts. They're against the entire deeper life. I've never heard these people talk about a prayer and fasting meeting all night. I've never heard them talk about extended worship. They don't want people at the altar, that's for sure. See, it's not just about the gifts, what's happening is they don't have the overflow of the Holy Spirit in their life, so they don't want to go deeper on all these other issues. Guys, this does not take a rocket scientist to figure out. Does that make sense? So gifts are one thing, but also they don't want the deeper life. I've never heard these people talk much about prayer and fasting and worship, because they think you have all of God already, and you do, but does He have all of you? I hate to be repetitive, but that's the truth. Well, I'm going to have to bring it to an end even though I have three pages. I'd rather have too much than too little. I want to encourage some of you this morning with this statement. How many of you have heard of D.L. Moody? Did you know that for many years he was a Christian, but nobody heard about him? He'd had no fire in his messages. He was just a normal, everyday pastor. He was actually in it for building his name and all these things. Two ladies went to him and said, you need a baptism of the Holy Spirit. I would love to say this to a few individuals, but I'm too embarrassed, so pray for me. I'm not embarrassed, but I just don't want to ruffle feathers. And he was not happy. They said, you need the power of the Spirit for your ministry. He was not happy. Isn't that what happens so many times? Right, we have to internalize things for a little while, kind of chew on it. As soon as that offense wears off, we can be more receptive. But he admitted that they were right eventually. And you can read his account. I think he's walking down the streets of New York. And he realized that he was building the ministry of D.L. Moody. And when he repented of that, he said the Spirit of God was so strong on his life that he had to run into a place and just bow before God. because the Spirit was flooding over him. Joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable. It's a book I recommend to you by D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. Joy unspeakable. But he received that baptism of the Holy Spirit, that filling of the Holy Spirit, that unction of the Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call it. And then he goes on to write this years later about teachers, about Bible teachers. So those listening, are you a Bible teacher? those listening on radio, internet, whoever, are you a Bible teacher? Here's what he said, they are good teachers, they are wonderful teachers, and I'm so glad to have them here at his Bible college, but why will they not see that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is just the one touch that they themselves need? A man by the name of Dr. Hooten went a step further. The tragedy is that so many Bible teachers are technically correct, but spiritually powerless. Isn't that so true? And then I'm going to read a closing statement here. I know I said that five minutes ago, but I'm getting there. How many remember what a pump is? Ever see those at campgrounds? I remember you pump it, and what's it doing? That air, that pressure is pulling water up. pumping, I like those things, good clean water. And he said, haven't you seen many ministers in the pulpit just pumping and pumping and pumping? They stand in the pulpit and they talk and they talk and they talk and the people go to sleep and they can't arouse them. What is the trouble? The trouble is the living water is not there. They're pumping and pumping and pumping when there's no water in the well and you cannot get water out of a dry well. You have to get something in that well or you can't get anything out of the well. And that's why they said in Isaiah, I will pour water out upon him who is thirsty. They which do hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. Guys, there has to be a yearning, a desire. Pump the well. Pump that well. Get that living water out of your soul. And I ask this question a lot, but I beg the same statement today. Jesus said, if you believe out of your belly will flow dead water like Mona Lake. Why is there so much deadness in the church? Don't make me go around and tap you on the shoulder. Jesus said it, not me. Don't get mad at me. Why are you grumpy and upset all the time? Always me. What's that little guy's name? Eeyore. Eeyore. Oh, Winnie the Pooh. Was it Winnie the Pooh? Is that Eeyore? Yeah. I just can't think of the big old thing of honey. But it's like just always walking around, they have no fire, they have no zeal. Shane, you talk about being filled, but I know you have faults too. I see you do. Yeah, but you should see me unfilled. Oh, you would not want to see me unfilled. Oh my goodness, you complain now. You haven't seen nothing when the flesh is let loose. Where is the rivers of living water? Ask yourself right now internally. Balcony, you can too. Where's the rivers of living water? Where is it? I don't mean you have a bad day or a bad hour, who doesn't? But you repent and there's a fire, there's a zeal, there's an excitement. If everybody was filled with the rivers of living water, oh my goodness. Can you imagine a church service like that? It doesn't mean everybody's at the altar raising. I might be laying down. Come on, old saints, you know this song. I've got a river of life flowing out of me. Makes it lame to walk in the... I've got a dead, stagnant walk with the Lord. I haven't led anybody to Christ. If you're bored during worship, or worship at home, whatever, there's no zeal, there's no passion, Guys, don't you see that? That's what He's called me to do. He's called me to awaken the dead church. And it's going to upset some people. It's going to offend some people. I understand that. If the church is alive with God, expect the unexpected, shouldn't we? You guys just sat through an hour and 40-minute sermon. God is not boring. And I don't want to go long to go long because I can get real boring if I go too long. I understand it. But shouldn't we expect, like I'm expecting God to do something according to his word. And I hope it's okay. I hope she doesn't get mad at me. But that just made my month. When the girl came over, the prayer room, and she said, I'm a witch, and I want to do good things, not witch, but I don't want to get baptized and lose the power. I said, you've got to renounce all of that and repent. And I thought, ooh, there's going to be a manifest, like something's not going to go well. And she's ready and says, can I be baptized? I'm like, yeah. Like, Lord, what are you doing? And some of the people that you judge up at this altar, I talk to them and they come up a week later and say, Pastor, you don't know what happened. You don't know what happened. I've been delivered from child abuse. I forgive the abuser. I've been set free. Oh, I've been delivered from Jack and Jim this morning. What's Jack and Jim? 80 proof, let's just say that. Pornography has had me bound. But last Wednesday, oh my gosh, he took it. See that? That's the church of the living God we expect. I get a little frustrated when nothing happens. Just boring and dead. Sing some songs. Let's get through this. Let's hurry up and give a teaching and let's get out of here. I'm not sure, guys. I'm not sure that's our goal. The baptism of the Holy Spirit or the filling of the Holy Spirit doesn't make you better. Okay, I want to really get this point across. Especially to men. I can see it in some of your faces right now. You're not real happy with me. I'm not saying it makes you better. And I hate it, I don't like it, don't do. And people on social media, oh, this guy in California, he's a man of God, you need to follow him. I always respond, I'm a very broken man, please don't look to me. You move here, follow me around for a few weeks, you'll be moving back where you are. You know that, right? When people come in, oh, this guy, he must be, man, that's a true man of God. No, just come on, let's. It doesn't make, I never come up here and think, I'm better, I'm spiritual. It's like, guys, I'm so broken. You know, you look back on your life, had it not been for God. It doesn't elevate you higher, it brings you down lower. Those filled with flaws and defects and blemishes and imperfections. You should see those things when they're not filled. Because we all see those things, don't we? I know people more spiritual than me. They've got kind of an attitude there. I wouldn't have did that. They don't return emails. They don't read calls. Why'd they get angry? That's gossiping. We need a lot more grace. You try walking around, how many hours are you up a day? 18 hours a day? You try walking around, living life, and don't say the right thing, don't comment, don't snap back, and this whole time, hopefully your hormones are in check. Right, we just expect people like, but there has to be lots of grace because we're all on that journey. Whether it's a second work, a deeper work, or a fresh filling, a mighty move of the Spirit or unction, what is blocking that in your life? And guys, I don't want to rush through these. I think they're so important. Let's put these up and we'll try to conclude. What's blocking this mighty downpour of the Spirit in your life? For the Bible student, it's pride. Did you know the Word puffs you up? Oh, get rid of it. For the carnal, it's worldliness. And for the timid, it's fear. So you take it to the Lord. Pray, Lord, is there more for me? Is there more for me, Lord? Is there any hindrance in my life? You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything else. And as a final call to unbelievers, if you truly don't know God, you need to make that decision today. You need to make that decision today. I love what Joel says, if you think the locusts were loud, it will be muted by the Lord roaring from Zion, bringing judgment. Repent and believe today. Repent and believe today. Al Whittingill said, without the heartbeat of prayer, the body of Christ will resemble a corpse. The church is dying on her feet because she is not living on her knees.