Holiness Can Equal Spiritual Power

In this message, “Holiness Can = Spiritual Power,” Pastor Shane Idleman unpacks the vital necessity of focusing on holiness and obedience, if we truly want to be used by God.

This is the Sunday service of Westside Christian Fellowship, so the video is an hour and 43 minutes long; the message starts around the 35-minute mark.

Shane Idleman is the founder and lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Southern California and the creator of the WCF Radio Network. His program, Regaining Lost Ground, points us back to God and reminds us that although times change, truth does not. His books, blogs, and sermons can all be found at ShaneIdleman.com.

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

00;36;59;07 – 00;37;30;08
The title of this morning is holiness can equal spiritual Power. Holiness can equal spiritual power. And I’ll let you know up front, like I always do, when this happens. But you might want to consider watching the first service this week, because there was so many rabbit trails, I won’t be able to remember even half of them. In so many different areas that I believe God wants to, really deal with us in and especially on this topic.

00;37;30;10 – 00;37;54;00
Holiness can equal spiritual power. But last week I wanted to get this information to you. Last week, I mentioned that I might do a series on sin in the camp. I’m sorry. Church discipline. And we can put up the slides there. One of the articles is sin in the camp how to handle church discipline. The other article is Five Keys to Restoration after successful church Discipline.

00;37;54;02 – 00;38;14;18
You can actually get those. As you’re leaving, we’ve got them. Or they or they passed them out to you today. And that will kind of give you more information on that topic, because last week God applied to church discipline, didn’t he? He, we read about him, actually taking the life of Ananias and Sapphira because they lied to God.

00;38;14;20 – 00;38;33;06
And if you wonder why he did that, well, you’re going to go back and listen to that one, too. You got a lot of listening to do this morning or this week. So the premise, though of this message is God is not death, but his hearing is selective. I can’t say it this way. God is not deaf, but his hearing is often selective.

00;38;33;12 – 00;38;50;29
What I mean by that is we know that God hears our prayers, right? However, there are often conditions that need to be met. In the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, God even said in the Old Testament, I won’t even hear your prayers. Because your sin has separated you from me. And the new Testament.

00;38;50;29 – 00;39;09;29
We know that, husbands. We’re not treating our wives correctly. It will hinder our prayer life. It says, actually, God will not hear our prayers. We also know that we, pray and sometimes we miss. It says your prayers are not answer because you miss. You hit a miss. It means you you want to spend it. The prayer, the answer to prayer on fleshly desires.

00;39;09;29 – 00;39;28;28
And so, on this topic though, is holiness is so important because, well, let’s put up the screen. Acts five, acts 512 through 13. And what I mean by holiness is, and what I try to do, I try to remember some of the rabbit trails in the first service. So it gets a little confusing, but let’s let’s just stay on point here.

00;39;29;00 – 00;39;53;23
Holiness is not something that’s weird. Have you ever seen those people that that, Do you think they’re kind of weird? Maybe they’re they’re wearing a robe or a special hat. So holiness is never an appearance. Although it can manifest itself in appearance. You’re going to look a little bit different. Modesty is going to be an issue when you’re when you’re following God and you’re focused on holiness.

00;39;53;25 – 00;40;14;16
But holiness just basically means you’re going to be set apart for God to use. And when you’re set apart for God to use, there are conditions that need to be met. We need to live a certain way, and we don’t live that way because of rules. We live that way because of our relationship with him. We want to we want to draw closer to God.

00;40;14;17 – 00;40;45;25
I’m assuming most of you do. That’s why you’re here. You want to draw closer to God. But we all know the war within. Right to nature’s beat. Within my breast. One is fowl. One is blessed. Whatever one I feed dominates. And. And there’s that. There’s the pull, the flesh. And it actually takes us away from that, that holiness we want to be pursuing and trying to get back on track and find that, that that holiness of God again and get our hearts right.

00;40;45;27 – 00;41;10;08
So in acts, we saw a whole bunch of things taking place. The believers were actually arrested. They saw miracles. And it picks up where we left off. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteem them highly.

00;41;10;10 – 00;41;36;08
So basically, many commentaries agree that true believers, true believers, were welcomed by the apostles and did not fear them. There was there was, why would they fear them? Well, if you were at church and two people died. You might be a little fearful as well. I mean, can you imagine that here if I’m preaching, last Sunday at, we decided to do what some churches do.

00;41;36;08 – 00;41;59;00
They give an offering up front, and they bring the offering. They lay it down. We we sold our house for such and such, and we’re giving it all. And God knew that wasn’t true. And he struck that person down dead. Might be a little bit of fear. We actually wouldn’t continue the service. Call the coroner. Sheriff’s department. What happened?

00;41;59;02 – 00;42;17;18
Wow. That was in like, we’re processing this all week. Maybe there’s more people next the following Sunday because they want to hear what happened. And then here we are the following Sunday. And the wife is here of the husband who died. Men just give a testimony. You know what? What happened? Like, how are you doing? How are you processing this?

00;42;17;18 – 00;42;40;02
And and, you know, we’re doing good. And, you sold the land. Yeah. We sold it for such and such, and they didn’t. She’s lying to. And then she goes down. Now, at this point, I think, I don’t know how many of you are returning, but probably probably not many of us are returning. I don’t know if I’m returning at this point.

00;42;40;05 – 00;42;59;13
So that’s why there was great fear in the church. And I believe maybe God allowed that obviously for a reason to to that, that that fear of the Lord in the place a holiness and the purity of the early church. And so that’s the the atmosphere that now they are they’re going around, they’re ministering to people. People are being healed.

00;42;59;18 – 00;43;23;22
And it says the believers were increasingly added to the church, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches. The at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. That’s a powerful move of God’s Spirit. But we see here that God grew a ministry, not a church per se.

00;43;23;24 – 00;43;45;12
The majority of ministry takes place outside of the church, not inside of the church. Okay? We need to be aware of that. What am I? What’s my job, according to the New Testament, is to equip the saints the to fulfill the ministry. So it’s actually the job is to get, you know, on track here, to get fired up, to get, God’s word in our hearts.

00;43;45;17 – 00;44;11;27
And then we go out and we do the ministry of God, do the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Also, a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits. And they were all killed. The concept of a healing service. We kind of see this from this text. Now there are pros and cons.

00;44;11;27 – 00;44;33;21
How many of you have seen, weird healing services on TV? Maybe you’ve been to them? The the concept is we’re going to gather people and we’re going to pray for healing. So at the surface, it’s not a bad idea as far as if we said, hey, next Sunday we’re going to, you know, later in the afternoon.

00;44;33;21 – 00;44;53;00
We just want we want to pray for those who are sick. We’re going to have worship on. And we just want to see what God wants to do. But when you make it into a circus and when it becomes, led by charlatans and things like that, it’s it gives Christianity a really bad name. So, that’s what the verse.

00;44;53;00 – 00;45;15;12
So a lot of these ministries will use that. You know, we’re just, just following the Bible. Well, your character also has to follow the Bible. And why do you ask for money? They never ask for money. There’s, there’s, there’s, there wasn’t that connection there. And so I would just encourage you to be really careful in that area. Now this is an interesting topic because we’re talking about healing.

00;45;15;15 – 00;45;44;10
We’re talking about holiness. And we see in the early church here, man, there’s people just the shadow of of Paul or the handkerchief or we every why don’t we see this anymore? Why don’t we see this very much? Have you, have you had that question before? Well, let me tell you just upfront, I don’t know exactly why, but I do know what the Bible teaches.

00;45;44;12 – 00;46;10;29
And we’re just going to focus on Scripture, and we can glean some insights that will probably tell us why we don’t see this in the church now, like they did in the early church. And of course, we all have opinions and this and that. But the bottom line is scriptural Scripture supports the miraculous work of God still among us, but obviously we don’t see the same types of results, and there might be a reason for that.

00;46;10;29 – 00;46;36;24
So let’s unpack that. This for a minute. Number one, number one, there was definitely something unique at that time in church history. I, I recognize this, a lot of other people recognize this. There was definitely a time, a significant time in church history. The Bible even says that signs and wonders followed them to authenticate the gospel.

00;46;37;07 – 00;46;57;03
And there are a group of people, it’s called cessation ism who believe that the gifts have ceased. The supernatural gifts, the Holy Spirit have ceased. And that’s what a lot of their argument is, that the early church needed it and, it confirmed the word of God. And they’ve got some good points, but I think we still need that today.

00;46;57;05 – 00;47;21;28
I don’t know, last time I checked, we still want the power of God in our lives. And so but I do also recognize it clearly. We don’t see this today. Now, there might be churches. I’ve heard of them. Maybe you have to on out in the mission field, in the, in the, in the African desert. A lot of these places will probably never hear of because it’s not highlighted and there’s not, you know, Facebook on there and videos, things like that.

00;47;22;00 – 00;47;48;07
But where God is moving in profound and powerful ways, there are, there are. But we just I mean, if we’re just being honest. Correct. We just like, we’re okay. Where is that today? So number one, there was clearly definitely, without doubt, something unique happening at that time of church history. Number two is why we might not see this today is the church was full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit.

00;47;48;09 – 00;48;12;08
The closer you walk with God, the more you’ll be able to discern his will. And Stephen, full of faith and full of power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Those go together. How many of us can truly say, I am full of faith? I am full that the power of the Holy Spirit. I’ve been praying and fasting and living a life for God.

00;48;12;08 – 00;48;40;07
I’m set apart for him, and I’m feeling that that fire of God. Most of us would say, and Shane, full of, well, I’m in front of my name. That might not be the first service I use. Oh, God, because I don’t know any August and oh God, full of bitterness and resentment and doubt, did great wonders that that doesn’t work.

00;48;40;10 – 00;49;05;23
Or oh, God. Questioning unbelief kind of living lukewarm. There’s there’s none of that. It’s it’s the people who do the most for God are people who are full of faith and full of power. And it’s not about following a checklist. It’s about a surrendered heart. It’s not about obeying leads, but a heartfelt pursuit. After God. Everything hinges on this fact.

00;49;05;23 – 00;49;31;06
When our pursuit is no longer a priority and our passions have turned into pride, we lose power. We lose spiritual power. So number one, yes, there was definitely a unique time in church history. But number two are we are we full of faith and of the Holy Spirit? Because, see, the closer you draw to God, the more of him you’ll be, you know, the more he’ll use you it.

00;49;31;08 – 00;50;10;17
If we can’t be distant and lukewarm from God and expect to do a lot of great things on God’s behalf. Number three, we don’t rely on God nearly as much as the early church. Could that be playing a role as well? I don’t think they could count on Medicare or Medicaid or doctor’s prescriptions or 401 K or their bank, their retirement, or, you know, I just go through it and and there was no plan B, God, you heal my child or we are lost.

00;50;10;20 – 00;50;33;07
And as much as I love, of course, modern medicine and, you know, this whole movement make America Healthy again and things like that. We begin to trust too much on Big Pharma, not big God. And we’ve we don’t need God to move as profoundly, as powerfully. There’s a chance we might not see that as much. We don’t rely on God merely as much as the early church.

00;50;33;10 – 00;51;03;29
It was their faith and their trust. There was no plan B, although the Bible says believers can do the same. Works is Jesus. Nobody walks even close to his spiritual authority. Now we’re going to get controversial for a minute. You ready? Can you guys handle it? John 1412. This is Jesus talking. He says, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also.

00;51;04;01 – 00;51;27;24
And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. So you have two choices. Number one, you go to the drawer and grab the scissors and cut that out of your Bible because it doesn’t apply anymore. How many of you are to do that? I don’t know, those are the few here.

00;51;27;27 – 00;51;34;07
I’d be a little dangerous, wouldn’t it? So what is he talking about?

00;51;34;09 – 00;52;04;05
Jesus said it. So the bottom line is, everything I’ve been talking about leads to this. So you won’t do a person. The Christians don’t do greater works in the sense of Jesus raised one from the dead. Let me try three. It’s all going to be greater. The word is actually it means scope. So because of millions of believers throughout all different we can think about wherever Jesus was is where the healing took place.

00;52;04;08 – 00;52;30;26
I mean, he’d often, you know, praying somebody be healed. That was miles away. But it was it was in that local centralized area. But now with believers, the works are larger in scope. But another key word here, because I go to my father and greater works that he will do because I go to my father.

00;52;30;29 – 00;52;52;01
Let me break it down real quick, even though I did think a few months ago the Holy Spirit was not yet given to the church. So the the disciples, they would follow Jesus around, they would learn from him. But the Holy Spirit was not yet given to the church. Isn’t that amazing? And so Jesus actually said, I must leave.

00;52;52;04 – 00;53;13;12
It’s better for you that I leave because the Holy Spirit can then come. So Jesus with the Holy Spirit wasn’t going to come until Jesus was glorified. So that’s why we read before that they were waiting in upper room and the Holy Spirit came upon the upper prayer. That prayer meeting in the upper room, he came upon them.

00;53;13;15 – 00;53;41;05
And what was the result? The fire of the spirit, the works of the spirit. Now see when when somebody, let’s say they pray for healing or let’s say they see the miraculous and things, it’s it’s not the person doing it. It’s they’re not doing anything. It’s God working through the person. I choose to use that vessel that is humble and pliable and teachable.

00;53;41;05 – 00;54;04;03
And they’re focused on me, their holiness. They’re pursuing me. I’m choosing to use that vessel, that person, to do my good works. God could just say it. And the person’s healed. He wouldn’t need anybody. But he chooses to use people to accomplish his mission. And so that verse we believe, many of us believe that it is still valid for us today.

00;54;04;03 – 00;54;27;04
But again, why do we not see this greater works to the scope we think we could? Well, Mark six five is interesting. Now this is Jesus again. Now he could do no mighty works there, except that he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, and he marvel because of their unbelief. Now, isn’t this incredible scripture?

00;54;27;07 – 00;54;56;13
He goes into a town and he can’t. He does it heal many people. Now, I personally believe you know it. He. It’s not that Jesus could not do it. The other translations say, he would not, because of their unbelief. Although the Bible says, I’m sorry, in this case, Jesus desire to heal, but he also allowed the faith of others to play a role.

00;54;56;15 – 00;55;08;25
McLaren Bible commentator said it was not morally possible that Jesus should forces benefits upon unwilling recipients.

00;55;08;28 – 00;55;32;19
So we see here that faith and belief play a huge role in what Jesus did here on earth, and what he is still doing. Other translations say that he did not. He did not do many works that good works there. It’s not that he could not. So having faith is often the rule, but there are exceptions. So faith is so important.

00;55;32;22 – 00;56;00;02
But there are exceptions to that as well. What is faith? Faith is belief plus trust. Faith is belief plus trust. And Jesus, as we know, was the sinless son. Perfect harmony. Whereas our harmony is broken, marred, and often out of tune. Okay, here’s why Jesus could do these wonderful works. Do you know what Jesus actually said was something very important?

00;56;00;05 – 00;56;24;12
He said that I hear what my father wants me to do, and I do his will. He didn’t do his own will. He goes, I do what pleases the father. I follow the father’s will. That’s how I am able to discern these things. So he had perfect harmony with the father, whereas our harmony is broken and marred and often out of tune.

00;56;24;14 – 00;56;48;17
Anybody want me to hop on these keyboards? No. So a lot of times know we’re praying for for sickness or we’re zealous and we know we believe in God. But maybe it’s not God’s timing. Maybe it’s not God’s will. And of course, faith. Unbelief could play a role. Sometimes we just don’t know because we’re not in tune with God perfectly.

00;56;48;19 – 00;57;10;03
Does that make sense? Where Jesus was, he was perfectly in tune with the father. But our harmony it’s I explained, the first service, one of the rabbit trials. Again, I want to encourage you. Go listen up. First service. Tons of extra information. In there. Then. Then this message. But, it’s like men, you know, running your car on one engine.

00;57;10;05 – 00;57;38;29
I’m sorry for an engine. One cylinder. Which, you know, you probably can’t go on one cylinder, can you? But that’s how many Christians are. I’m on one cylinder. I’m on two cylinder. And we’re not going anywhere because we’ve we’ve we’ve we’ve drifted or we’re not walking closely with the Lord. And again, God uses imperfect people. Amen. That’s why I’m up here.

00;57;39;02 – 00;58;05;00
Or number four, they were obedient. They were obedient. And their their life was marked by prayer, their mark, their life was marked by fasting as well as obedience, which meant that their flesh was in submission more than in defiance. So when these these the early church again, their life was marked by prayer and fasting and obedience. And so as a result, they’re filled with the spirit.

00;58;05;00 – 00;58;27;10
And when you fill up the spirit, you get the direction, the sensing from the spirit, where else? But if we’re giving it to the flesh, the flesh is in defiance against God. The flesh is leading us away from God. There’s no spiritual power there. We lack that spiritual power because we do not have that that holiness focus in our lives.

00;58;27;12 – 00;58;53;13
They were obedient. The prayer reaches heaven only when those who pray are obedient to the Word of God. Did you catch our prayer reaches heaven only when those who pray are obedient to the Word of God. Prayer from the lips of disobedient people is like steam from a tea kettle. It perishes before it reaches the ceiling. Now, as a pastor, this topic is challenging.

00;58;53;13 – 00;59;15;05
In this way, we don’t want people to leave here feeling beat up and discouraged. And oh woe is me who can ever who can ever live up to, these, you know, I’m just I blew it last night, or I’m. I’m not walking alone. And we can we can beat ourselves up. And that’s not good. That’s not biblical.

00;59;15;05 – 00;59;33;25
But on the other hand, we have to encourage people to to get back up and to keep fighting. We have to let them know. The Scripture says that we should make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its laws. It says run the other direction from it. It’s actually says walk not in the flesh, the walk in the spirit, so you don’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

00;59;33;29 – 01;00;00;16
So we have this healthy tension that is often going on within our our heart. And so to discount that would be to really, let people down and knowing the truth because there should be a conviction there, there should be a conviction there about obeying God. So here’s top here’s the top four holiness killers. Are you ready for these?

01;00;00;18 – 01;00;27;00
Remember, if you want that that deep, close relationship with the Lord, it requires a seeking him and persevering and pressing in number one disobedience, number one disobedience, harboring besetting sin, harboring it like a ship is harbored. It’s parked at the at the at the harbor there. It’s it’s it’s it’s it’s going to stay there. And we, we allow this besetting sin.

01;00;27;00 – 01;00;56;10
We are in disobedience. And that’s why in Isaiah God said, your sins have separated you from your God, and it’s hid my face from you, so that I can not hear. Disobedience always detours us. Number two fleshly ambition, fleshly ambition. Not your will, Lord, be done, but my. Anybody ever said that fleshly ambition, it will kill holiness. It will kill discerning God’s will.

01;00;56;14 – 01;01;03;01
Because all. I want to pray for healing. Let’s take a selfie.

01;01;03;03 – 01;01;26;14
I went out with the missionary team or the mission of the homeless team. Let’s take a selfie. And if we have. If we have the wrong heart, the wrong ambition, the ungodly promotion and things like that, it will quench and grieve the spirit of God. It kills holiness. And again, holiness is a standard by which God wants us to pursue him.

01;01;26;16 – 01;01;56;27
And number three, unrepentant arrogance. Anybody ever struggle with that unrepentant arrogance? God will not fill a vessel that’s already full. God will not fill a vessel that’s already full. Prideful people rarely experience the miraculous, pride filled people rarely experience the miraculous because they’re full of pride. Oh God, when God doesn’t do that today, the early church needed that.

01;01;56;27 – 01;02;17;13
We don’t need that today. Or these people I see on YouTube or wherever on TV. That’s ridiculous. You’ve heard me say before, the strait is a gun barrel theologically, but they’re just as empty. Could it be that if you don’t think God’s going to move, he might not?

01;02;17;15 – 01;02;44;21
This is not rocket science. Unrepentant arrogance. Number four lukewarm living. Lukewarm living. I’ve mentioned that the the, lesson from the fig tree. We all know the story where Jesus went and he saw the fig tree and it was green. He said, I’m hungry, I’m going to have a fig. And there was no figs on it. And he cursed the green tree, the green through green leaves.

01;02;44;23 – 01;03;11;18
And that’s the problem with lukewarm living, is it’s impossible to be on fire for God if you’re bathing in lukewarm water, it’s impossible to be on fire for God. If you’re bathing in lukewarm water. Why is that so important? Because holiness. And again, you’re not perfect. Amen. Nobody hears perfect. But there’s. But you’re. But your heart’s on fire for God.

01;03;11;18 – 01;03;34;12
And you’re pursuing God, and you’re getting back up on track, and you’re you’re falling forward. And. And he’s your pursuit. That’s that’s that’s that’s that’s holiness. You’re pursuing holiness. But lukewarm living is when you know what? I just give up. I give myself to the lust of the flesh. I’m being led more by this than I am by seeking God in this holiness.

01;03;34;14 – 01;03;55;07
How many of you would be in big trouble if you just let the flesh lead you all day? Oh, only a few. Come on, let’s be honest now. Well, for me, I probably wouldn’t be here because I’d still be sleeping in. And then I go get a large venti coffee and be all fired up and stop by and get some Krispy Kreme donuts.

01;03;55;07 – 01;04;14;01
Just, just probably 3 or 4 with the big thing of milk and like, oh, I feel so sluggish. I couldn’t preach very well. And then I have to go take a nap. And the second service, let’s just cancel it. Let’s have them watch a first service on YouTube. But that then I’m leaving here. I’m thinking about Panda Express.

01;04;14;04 – 01;04;35;06
Oh, I can’t wait to get a big compound chicken along with it now burger. And then maybe a milkshake too. And like, oh, this is so good. And then we’re going to take all this home and just flop up my feet on the couch and put on Netflix for a couple hours. And then now I want some chocolate ice cream and I want to drive and get it.

01;04;35;06 – 01;05;02;00
So I send my wife to go get it right. And I won’t prepare for next week’s sermon. Why would Wednesday night forget it? But. But if we give ourselves up to the flesh, that’s what it does. And the more we give up to the more we give into the flesh, the more leads us away from God. And we get into the spot where now I’m lukewarm.

01;05;02;00 – 01;05;23;20
I’ve lost the fire. I lost the desire for God. And that was always a challenge. Even in the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah said, how long will you waver between two opinions? How long will you waver between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. But if bel be God, follow him. And the people answered him. Not a word, Joshua, I’d say choose to stay home.

01;05;23;20 – 01;05;54;21
You will serve as for me in my house. So we’re going to serve the Lord. There is that there’s that constant struggle. Paul would would talk about, the flesh and at war with the spirit and, and making that, that, that break away from being just full of the world. And although we wouldn’t say choose today who you serve, you know, God or or Bell we’d say God or or this world because that’s why Jesus said that when he talked about this topic.

01;05;54;21 – 01;06;15;05
You cannot serve two masters. You either love the one you hate the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God in the world. So we look and we see that it’s hard to walk in New Testament power if we didn’t live like the New Testament believers.

01;06;15;08 – 01;06;36;28
That lukewarm living. So if we break these all down, disobedience is are we harboring besetting sin? Is they’re wrong desires wrong ambitions? Are you building a ministry for your own gain or for what you want? Unrepentant arrogance. This prideful, pride filled again, I don’t really need God. I’ll come now and then, but I don’t really need God. He’s more of a hobby.

01;06;36;28 – 01;07;07;04
Not my lord. And then lukewarm. Living. It’s hard to be on fire for God when you’re bathing in lukewarm water. So I want to present a few questions for you to think about. Closing questions. Are you open to God doing more in your life? Are you open to God doing more in your life? Because if we’re not careful, pride and unbelief can make us miss the blessing.

01;07;07;06 – 01;07;27;19
Pride and unbelief can make us miss a blessing. Do you truly fear God? Do you truly fear God? Do you know? That’s why many people don’t get serious about God. They don’t really fear him. And I met you at the first service to, Do you remember that guy named James Jim Baker? His wife had all the makeup, and they went.

01;07;27;21 – 01;07;56;02
He went to jail. And, John Bavaro was interviewing him, and he said, Jim, what happened? You said you weren’t even a Christian. He goes, oh, no, I love I love God as love. Jesus. I just didn’t fear him. That fear keeps everything in check. Tozer said, I love Jesus because he’s my Savior, but I fear him because he’s my judge.

01;07;56;04 – 01;08;21;02
They both keep you on the right path because you love God. You want to be holy. You want your life to look different. You want to be filled with the spirit, but you also fear him. So you live differently because we don’t fear him. We just think he’s a cosmic ball of love that you ever had, that doting grandfather that would just give you whatever you want, go to the in-laws house.

01;08;21;04 – 01;08;41;01
Give the kids all the chocolate and things and and we have this view sometimes of God. Is this this just just, Well, he loves me. And the grace of me. They can do whatever I want to do. But we’ve got to get that fear of the Lord back into our hearts. Get that fear back. If you were if you fear God, you would repent.

01;08;41;04 – 01;09;10;16
Those who fear God keep a short account of sin in their life. They repent. Are you pursuing holiness? Are you truly pursuing holiness? Power flowed out of them because holiness flowed into them. Again, holiness is not some weird word. And and you got to, you know, follow this checklist. It’s a pursuit of God. And as you’re pursuing God, you remove things from your life that are hindering the pursuit.

01;09;10;19 – 01;09;36;01
I mean, I could stay here and throw out a long list of things, if you like, but I think we pretty much know what hinders our walk with the Lord. I’m just guessing. I don’t think there’s anybody here, especially adults. Like, you know what? I’m not sure I, I, I can’t think of anything really. We know as a believer because it’s a constant struggle, the struggle, the tension.

01;09;36;01 – 01;10;01;09
We feel of the flesh drawing us away. And it’s not that you’re perfect and whatever carved into the flesh in weeks. And now God’s going to use me. He honors the pursuit. I’ve seen him use people once they get back up and track and they fall forward, and God begins to use them again and again and again because they’re pursuing him.

01;10;01;11 – 01;10;23;02
If you seek me, you will find me it. No Scripture says, you know what? You need to live perfectly for about 30 days. And then after that, I’ll begin to really listen. The good news is, many of you can change. Yet this morning.

01;10;23;05 – 01;11;05;19
And different cultures need different sermons. I mean, you this sermon probably wouldn’t wouldn’t be needed in Syria right now. They would need an encouraging word as they’re being slaughtered. But in America, our blessings have become our downfall. And we saw this all throughout the Old Testament. Did you know a lot of the prophet Isaiah? Jeremiah, for example, they wrote their books when Israel was a very prosperous, they would come out of Egypt and and then they would go back into bondage because they would follow after other gods, and then God would raise up a judge, deliver them.

01;11;05;20 – 01;11;33;24
Then they go back into bondage because of lukewarm living, God would raise up another judge. And finally Samuel. Then after Samuel, the kings would start, and then the prophets would write in that setting that God has blessed us with abundance, but now our abundance has caused us to become apathetic. And it is it’s hard to start that fire up, but you have to do it because, the fire for God will eventually dwindle that fire.

01;11;33;24 – 01;11;55;10
Your heart will eventually dwindle if it’s not being kindled and you’re not throwing kerosene on it, for lack of a better phrase there. How do you throw kerosene on it? Well, not physical kerosene, but there’s a there’s there’s the prayer and the fasting and worshiping and getting in his word and getting in fellowship. And and you start to remove those things that are hindering you.

01;11;55;12 – 01;12;16;20
And that leads to the next question. The Spirit of God was upon them. Is he upon you? Brief break in the Holy Spirit. We’ve talked about this before. The Holy Spirit comes alongside of believers or people, but then he’s in the believer. When you repent and believe the Holy Spirit is in you, isn’t that cool? But guess what?

01;12;16;20 – 01;12;41;10
If we’re quenching and grieving the spirit, he’s not really upon you. Because the Bible talks about quenching the spirit, grieving the spirit. And I could have titled this message how much of God do you want? Because the Holy Spirit also comes upon a believer, and it’s a good reminder that you have all the spirit, Holy Spirit, you you have all the Holy Spirit.

01;12;41;10 – 01;12;59;16
You don’t have to get more of the Holy Spirit. But does he have all of you? That’s really where the rubber meets the road. That’s what this whole topic is about. Many Christians have the spirit, but they’re quenching and grieving the spirit. They don’t want to fully surrender because the enemy plant seeds of of doubt into their heart and into their mind.

01;12;59;18 – 01;13;17;14
Oh, you don’t want to become a holy roller. You’re not gonna have any more fun. You don’t want to give up that, do you? You don’t want to really pursue God that much. That’s kind of boring. Don’t you want to live on the edge? And. And he begins to paint a picture that’s not accurate. And so it does beg.

01;13;17;14 – 01;13;42;08
The question, is the Holy Spirit upon you? Well, how do I know a couple quick things from Scripture? Is the Word of God in your heart like a burning fire? Shut up in your bones. You’re weary of holding it back, but you can’t. But again, be encouraged. Do I feel that all the time? No way. Sometimes I feel like the fire’s out.

01;13;42;11 – 01;14;01;25
Fire’s faded. But what do you do when a normal fire goes out? You fuel it. So you fuel that fire. Despite how you feel. God, the words not burning anymore. Let me get back in your word. Let me read, let me worship. Let me, let me. I’m. You know, I’m just going to miss dinner. I’m here is breakfast or whatever.

01;14;01;28 – 01;14;37;24
And that you remove that that that appetite for a greater appetite to seek God and that becomes a passion for you. And the spirit came upon them. Is is is. Well, let’s take another test while we’re at it. This one, Jesus said, I’m assuming if you believe on him, some of you have not. But if you have, Jesus said, if you believe on me, in me, as the Scripture say, that’s key to as the Scripture say out of your one translation says, innermost being.

01;14;37;26 – 01;15;07;03
Another translation says, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. So it could be me, but begs the question, where’s where’s all this living water at? I sure don’t see. I see a lot of grumpy people. I see a lot of people with an attitude. I see a lot of bored people. I see a lot of bitter people.

01;15;07;06 – 01;15;28;10
You got to get that chip off your shoulder. You’ve got to. You’ve got to. You’ve got to. Whatever’s clogging that, that fountain is got to be removed. I mean, can we be honest this morning? Do you see a lot of rivers of living water? Do you see people so excited to be at church in the worshiping? And they’re just I just get God’s love.

01;15;28;10 – 01;15;36;01
And no, we don’t see we see a lot of rigidness a lot of.

01;15;38;11 – 01;15;44;01
Gosh, that was a long worship set.

01;15;44;03 – 01;15;59;29
Yeah, I hear what he’s saying, but he doesn’t know my struggle. He doesn’t know what I’ve went through, what I’ve had to endure. And you get an attitude. About me. Another good sermon. Don’t give that to a God.

01;16;00;04 – 01;16;26;02
But, guys, I’m just. I’m just being completely honest. I know this topic might not. Somebody might not want to come back. But I’m committed to tell you the truth. And the truth is, you can have as much of God as you want. You walk in during the Holy Spirit. He’s not hindering you. I know this doesn’t apply to everybody, but when I read these verses, I was cut to my heart many years ago.

01;16;26;05 – 01;16;46;29
Can I? What about if I went around and said, hey, where is the rivers of living water flowing out of you? I don’t think so. I don’t think so. A lot of times when I see you look like you just drank a bunch of prune juice, you’re upset at California, you’re upset at the government, you’re upset at your ex-spouse.

01;16;46;29 – 01;16;59;23
You’re upset at this. You’re upset that financial situation. You’re this, oh, woe is me in my workplace, in my employment. And this my spouse doesn’t recognize doesn’t respect me. My it’s like.

01;16;59;25 – 01;17;14;00
No wonder the rivers of living water aren’t flowing out. Shouldn’t we be the most thankful people on planet Earth? I mean, should we?

01;17;14;03 – 01;17;32;04
And so that’s how you know that’s. And again, do I walk around rivers of living water? Absolutely not. But I’m gonna pull that plug out. I’m gonna pull out what blocks it as often as possible. I’m going to get here, I’m going to worship God. And then by the time I get up here in the sermons and Wednesdays, you can feel my rivers.

01;17;32;04 – 01;17;50;03
I’m right. Archie. Sometimes after Sunday, I’m ready. I don’t care who I run into at the grocery store. I’m going to witness. May I come? And then? And then come Monday, you go to the store. I’m like, just give me in and out, get me in. And I don’t want to see. I don’t want to talk to. Yeah, whatever.

01;17;50;05 – 01;18;13;02
What happened? The flesh won the battle over a course of time. And that’s why the Bible. I don’t know how many of you are aware this when Paul talks about be being filled with the spirit and we could break down the whole order, that sentence and the verb tense, and it’s basically saying be being filled with the spirit.

01;18;13;04 – 01;18;40;23
There are subsequent feelings of the Holy Spirit. So come Wednesday, I’m going to need a subsequent filling of the Holy Spirit come next Sunday. Lord knows I’m gonna need a subsequent filling of the Holy Spirit come Monday. Tomorrow you get up batteries dead flat tire. This issue comes up and all the flesh comes out. Do you know when you’re struck?

01;18;40;24 – 01;18;46;24
What’s what’s inside spills out?

01;18;46;27 – 01;19;11;09
And I only tell people this because I truly want, I believe, the second most important doctrine in all of Christian history and all the Bible apart from salvation, is the doctrine known as new metallurgy, the study of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit coming because that’s the life, that’s the that’s the game changer. We go from lukewarm don’t really want to anything to do with God.

01;19;11;09 – 01;19;30;28
Now, a powerful Christian witnessing evangelizing doesn’t mean war without. We have no problems because sometimes it brings more like say, shut up, be quiet. You know your friends or relatives, they don’t want to hear about Jesus. So sometimes it can bring more. Not only that, you have the onslaught of the enemy, but I think it’s important question asked this morning.

01;19;30;28 – 01;19;47;11
I want you to get snow so stirred, so upset at this question. You deal with it with God. Is the Holy Spirit truly upon you or being quenching and grieving the spirit?

01;19;47;13 – 01;20;10;23
Also, they preach Jesus and Him crucified. Signs were never the main thing. This is key because many times these what I call just weird ministries. It’s all about signs and wonders if it’s all about signs and wonders. You missed the guess. You missed. You missed the gift giver. It was never the Bible, was it? Let’s go seek signs.

01;20;10;23 – 01;20;22;09
This go seek wonders. It was always about let’s seek God and see what he wants to do. And most of these ministries. Why is there always a PayPal link?

01;20;22;11 – 01;20;33;10
Why is there a giving gift? Our ministry listening God’s in it. He’ll give he where God guides, he provides. If it’s his will, it’s his bill.

01;20;33;12 – 01;20;54;26
They I believe it’s the charlatans off and it’s just now. It doesn’t mean people can’t. Ministries can’t it let people know they’re there, you know. But the heart must be right. And they must preach Jesus at him, crucified. And then God will begin to do incredible things after that. I mean, the miracles we’ve seen here, people being delivered from alcoholism and healing from stage four cancer and different things.

01;20;54;26 – 01;21;17;10
It happens after a service, sometimes in a prayer room at the altar. We’ve had people call and say, I was dealing with this for years, this depression, this anxiety, and it lifted from the altar. It lifted this morning. What happened? We’re just preaching. Christ am crucified, encouraging people to worship. We’re not going. Okay, let’s let’s seek God. Let’s see.

01;21;17;12 – 01;21;30;04
Let’s seek gifts. Let’s see. Let’s only comfort for the miraculous. I think we should come to church with the spirit of expectation, expecting God to move.

01;21;30;06 – 01;21;51;06
A story I heard from an old commentary. This is so great. I think it’s commentary is probably 100 years old, but it talked about a king who told all of his subjects. He said, okay, on this one day on, March 30th. Okay, so I’m giving you two week notice. We have a guest speaker from Ireland next Sunday.

01;21;51;06 – 01;22;13;25
It’s coming all the way from Ireland. You want to be here? For sure, but let’s say March 30th, two weeks from now. And he said, okay, we’re going to open the fountains at the, in the square here, the city square. Bring your vessels. We’re going to I’m going to let the juice flow freely and all the expensive oil, you can have whatever you want.

01;22;13;27 – 01;22;23;16
He was surprised. Surprised to find the people would come with a little cup.

01;22;23;19 – 01;22;47;15
Others maybe had a gallon empty gallon milk carton. Yet there was a few who got their kids and a 55 gallon drum, and they brought this thing and they got full of their were filled with these things. And the moral is, the story again, is you have as much of God as you want.

01;22;47;18 – 01;23;07;14
This is not the problem is not a God. Is God saying, okay, this amount he’s saying, come and drink freely. Those who seek me will find me. The issue is never on God’s end of how much of God we want. It’s all show me one scripture that says it’s on God’s end that he’s going to withhold it from you.

01;23;07;14 – 01;23;29;09
But he’s no respecter of people. He’s respectable. He’s a respecter of principles. The principle of seeking him with all your heart, with all your strength. You have as much of God as you want a word in another way, as much as you pursue, worded another way, as much as you desire.

01;23;29;11 – 01;23;34;29
Here’s where it gets tricky.

01;23;35;01 – 01;23;51;13
Many, of course, many of us can say, Shane, I hear you and I know, but I’m having a hard time. I’m have a heart. I want all of him. But I’m really stuck. Well, first let me tell you. Welcome to the club.

01;23;51;16 – 01;24;15;12
It’s a pursuit that lasts a lifetime. There are ups and downs. There are valleys, and there are mountaintop experiences. I’ve experienced it many times. I’ve came here. I could not wait to get here. And there are times where I cannot wait to leave.

01;24;15;14 – 01;24;40;10
And God teaches us not to allow our emotions. With preachers it says be ready in season. That resistant. And that is not easy. Trust me, sometimes memorials are so hard because there’s no engagement. The whole audience, majority of the audience is like this.

01;24;40;12 – 01;24;44;27
Boy, if looks could kill.

01;24;44;29 – 01;24;55;01
And so you know what? I got to preach? What God puts on my heart regardless. And there’s other times where the environment is exciting. It’s a trait.

01;24;55;03 – 01;25;18;09
And I can still I feel like I’m right. I’m not excited to preach. And that can be a dead environment and I can’t wait. And it’s just I’ve learned you can’t trust the feelings many times. God will pull away the feelings to see. Will you still pursue me? We still follow me. And a very important lesson is the more I seek him, the more I find him.

01;25;18;12 – 01;25;44;22
And the breakthrough has often comes after that delayed gratification. In other words, you get up. I know you feel like this, but Lord, I’m going to. I’m going to seek you. And you. You fight against the flesh. You press in. An hour later, heaven opens because he’s a rewarder of those who seek him. Now, there’s a word there we’re missing.

01;25;44;24 – 01;26;02;15
He’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. They became day Lord. I don’t feel much, but I’m coming back Wednesday. I don’t feel much. I’m coming to the prayer meeting. I don’t care much. I don’t feel much. But I’m going to get in your work tomorrow morning. And the tomorrow morning gets here. Lord, this is challenging and and but I’m going to keep pressing you come Tuesday.

01;26;02;19 – 01;26;19;09
You got to know that there is a reward at the end of the struggle. And sometimes the greater the struggle, the greater the blessing. But also there’s a testing time. There’s a testing time where work like job, you’ve got to cry out. Have you ever been home? You’ve been here, Lord, though you slay me, yet will I trust you?

01;26;19;15 – 01;26;33;08
I don’t know if I’ll ever feel anything. I don’t know if I’ll ever be healed I don’t know. But God come hell or high water. You are my anchor. You are my rock. You are my fortress. You are my Alpha and my Omega. The beginning and end of my life. And you, you are my Sabbath. Rest in you.

01;26;33;08 – 01;26;54;03
I rest from my labors. You are. You go before me. You are my banner. You are my shield. You protect. You are the great Shepherd. You will lead me and know I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil because, Lord, you are with me. All of these things, all of the Psalms, all the Psalms we read, all the songs we talk about.

01;26;54;05 – 01;27;22;00
Do you know often they were written in distress. Paul wrote a lot of the Bible in jail and, you know, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it wasn’t three square meals and a TV and a relaxing the backs. You it’s. Nobody brought them anything. They would starve or freeze to death. Rats. Dirt locked up.

01;27;22;03 – 01;27;45;12
Yet the joy of the Lord is my strength. And so it tells us we can do it, especially in our culture today. I know I’m not minimizing what we’re going through, but come on now, let’s put this in perspective. I think they had a little harder 2000 years ago. I don’t know, I can’t go over there’s a little but let me put this, you know, let’s get this to 72 degrees.

01;27;45;14 – 01;28;04;11
There we go. There we go. No. In the winter. Let me do the carpet lighting. You can switch a light on. You don’t have to get a candle and put some oil in it. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. And.

01;28;04;13 – 01;28;20;26
Keeping your your things cold in the refrigerator. Guys. So much to be thankful about. So much to be thankful about. How much of God do you want. So the question is, is God a hobby or is he your Lord?

01;28;20;28 – 01;28;41;17
As I will continue to read the book of acts was a statement I want to just tell you about briefly. I’ll close with this. As we’re reading in the book of acts in the weeks to come, when God delivers them from jail, he tells them to go back to the temple and speak to the people. All the words of life, all the words of life.

01;28;41;19 – 01;29;03;16
So you need to know God’s Word is living. It’s powerful. It’s full of life. That’s our job, is to go and speak the words of life. And if somebody here doesn’t have that life, that spiritual life, I believe God wants you to repent and believe and experience the joy of the Lord’s. Get a song of thankfulness. Believer back in your heart.

01;29;03;18 – 01;29;27;23
Get that joy, get that joy. Get that song of thankfulness back in your heart. You know that song we sing sometimes so so faithful, so so good. Being thankful for what God is. And I have a feeling that as you become thankful, the Holy Spirit can come upon you again. Because you remove that bitterness, you remove that animosity, you remove that doubt, you remove that, that you’re going through it and you’re not happy about it.

01;29;27;25 – 01;29;33;16
But that prevents the work of the spirit in your heart.

01;29;33;18 – 01;29;56;22
And again, if you if you don’t truly know God today, you need to change that. The Bible doesn’t play games. God is real. Fear him and live. It says repent and believe that Jesus is his son and died for your sin, and you will be saved. Praise God! Let’s have the worship team come back up and we’re going to close in worship, and we’re actually going to also open the prayer room.

01;29;56;24 – 01;30;15;24
So, Ray, maybe you can grab them to the are they know we’re going to open the prayer room. So balcony. All you have to do is come down the, the stairs here and right into the prayer room. We’ve got prayer, team members who can pray with you. I would love to help you as I pray with you as well, but I don’t carry a special anointing for prayer.

01;30;15;24 – 01;30;28;25
Oh, if I can just get to Pastor Shane sometimes that doesn’t work because I have a lot of people to pray for me. You might want to go to somebody who can spend a little bit more time with you and talk with you and pray with you. So we’re going to open the prayer room also. The front is going to be open.

01;30;28;25 – 01;30;46;07
So if you feel like you have to just, you know, I need to I need to let this go. I need to let this bitterness go. I need to let this anger go. I do have an attitude. He called me out on my attitude. I need to let that go. Sin besetting sin, pride. And you feel like you feel like coming forward.

01;30;46;07 – 01;31;00;26
The front is going to be open as well, and the prayer will be open. So if you need prayer, you want to you’ve made that decision to follow Jesus. Let me know. Let one of the team members know. If you want to get baptized, let us know too. We’d love to baptize you, next Sunday. So let’s go ahead and stand.

01;31;00;26 – 01;31;28;16
As you’re standing, I’m going to close in prayer. Lord, I pray that this word would penetrate. Our hearts, but also encourage us strength in our walk in the Lord, but also convict us. Lord, we do want to fear you again. It’s not the fear that you are going to kill us versus mercilessly, but Lord, just a fear, a reverence or respect for you.

01;31;28;19 – 01;31;37;24
Lord, bring that back in this place again that we walk in fearing and honoring you. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.