What Are You Full Of? | Pastor Shane Idleman

The title this morning is What Are You Full Of? What Are You Full Of? And the key verse that I'm really springboarding off of is Acts 11.24. He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit. The third Person of the Trinity. Make sure if you get a chance to listen to Luke's message last Sunday on the Person of the Trinity. That's what as a Christian we believe. We believe that God is one. God is one, but He reveals Himself in three Persons of the Trinity. If you try to delve too much into that, your brain will explode. We know that God is one. We don't worship three different gods. There's one God. But He chose to reveal Himself in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And they each have different roles actually. It's pretty incredible as you look into it. So when it comes to being full of the Holy Spirit, it's a good reminder that this is so important because He's a regulator. The Holy Spirit is an umpire in our heart. Do you know you have an umpire in your heart?

He's an alarm clock. I think we have these bullet points up there, Luis. I think so. I don't know. I might not have sent those. But it's a good reminder. Oh, it's in your notes actually that you have in front of you. I hope that you got from the greeters because it will remind you throughout the week that He's an umpire of your soul. He's an alarm clock. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Do you ever get those beeps? This engine light you do not want to ignore. He's a helper. He's a comforter. And His leading can be subtle or dramatic and life-changing. And so, on the topic of what are you full of, my mom used to tell me, I remember even when I was younger, Shane, whatever you're full of will spill out when it gets hit. A vessel, when it's hit, what's inside spills out. And so, a lot of civil unrest is what we're seeing in our country. And what's flowing out is what has been deposited in. And this topic is so important.

I do want to clarify some misunderstandings about this topic of being full of the Spirit. And again, we're in Acts 11. It seems like maybe I'm talking about the Holy Spirit quite a bit because that's where Acts has us. Pretty much every chapter is on the power of the Holy Spirit and being full of the Holy Spirit. But number one, being full doesn't always mean being nice. I know I need to clarify that. Because the definition of nice actually means being agreeable. Passive, agreeable, pleasing. So, sometimes all the Holy Spirit has you doing the opposite. Ruffling some feathers. Saying some hard things. Being bold for your faith. And so if it's always about being nice, think of Mr. Rogers. That's definitely not always the case. Because if being nice causes you to be silent when God wants you to speak up, the reverse effect will happen and you'll quench the Spirit of God. And I don't want to give you permission to be mean today. That's not the takeaway.

But sometimes, and I get this pushback too if I talk about anything that's going on in our nation. Minneapolis, oh, you shouldn't say anything. Just be nice. But the church has a voice too, you know? We're called to be bold. We're called to tell people the truth. And so, you can't focus on always being nice. We see that Jesus would cry out. John the Baptist would cry out. The prophets would cry out because it involved pleading and there's urgency. And it often wasn't what the people wanted to hear. Can you imagine if I came here, my goal this morning was to be nice? Now, in one sense, it's to be nice in my attitude, understanding, quick to listen, slow to speak, but also the words we say aren't always agreeable to everybody. And so, that is the first misunderstanding is full doesn't always mean that we are nice. Look at 2 Chronicles 2420. It says when the Spirit came upon Zechariah,

He declared, why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you. And guess what? was killed for those words. And I believe, if my memory serves me correct, this is the same Zechariah that Jesus said that this blood will be required upon you on this generation because of killing all the way back from Abel to this righteous man, Zechariah, who you killed between the porch and the altar. Jesus condemned their activity. But being full of the Holy Spirit, it's hard to explain because the fruit is there, right? Love and joy and peace, and you want to be nice, but also you have something inside of you that's a little bold. It's a little bold, and you're trying to find that, Lord, help me balance. That's why I often say, I don't know if I've ever preached a 60-minute perfect sermon. Come on, guys. Every word I've said, every nuance, every gesture, every voice fluctuation, everything was just perfect. No, God works with fallen people. My attitude might get in there a little bit.

Come on, you know. It's a hard challenge because we're constantly being challenged by not having the fruit of the Spirit, and our pride gets in there, and it's difficult. Jesus and John the Baptist were definitely not always nice, were they? Jesus and John the Baptist weren't always nice. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, told the sorcerer, you son of the devil? You enemy of all righteousness? Wouldn't you like to go up to some people that are doing some things and say that? But he's being truthful. The sorcerer is harassing them, harassing them. He stood around and said, you son of the devil. There's a boldness there. And it comes with that time with the Lord. Again, I'm not telling you to be mean. I'm not telling you to be mean, but we do have permission to be bold. We have permission to be bold. Bold for truth, but it must be balanced with brokenness because what's inside comes out. What's inside will come out. So where we find ourselves then is Acts 11. I read verse 24,

but we actually start in verse 19. So when the disciples were scattered after the persecution, I'm gonna get into some very interesting messages the next couple weeks, so make sure you're here on Sundays. I'll be talking about the persecution and what that involves. But after the disciples were scattered, there was a big persecution, and they were scattered. And then Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. That is really the key. The hand of the Lord was with them. The best way to produce fruit is to bury the right seed. So if you want the fruit of the Spirit to come out, the best way to get that fruit is to plant the right seed. Because what is inside will come out. What you're getting ready with now, today, in your devotional time,

your time with the Lord, you're planting those seeds. And that fruit will come out. Do you ever catch yourself and say, I'm so glad normally I would have done such-and-such in traffic? Normally, but you're like, man, I'm changing. There's the fruit that's been planted. But be encouraged, sometimes bad fruit grows up. You gotta cut that out. Cut that fruit out and get back on track. So we're also full of the Spirit when we obey God's Word His way, and we step out in faith to spread the truth. God will fill you. That's what we see here. The Lord blessed His work because He stepped out, He obeyed God. He stepped out in faith to spread the truth. That's one way to know and rely on God to fill you when you're doing things for Him. You go into a difficult situation, for example, with our hospital homes. You go to visit somebody and you're like, okay, Lord, I'm just gonna step out in faith because I know this is Your will. And as a result of that, the filling of the Holy Spirit follows. But it's often when we don't do something that God wants us to do,

and we quench and grieve the Spirit of God. And often it's because we retract. It's much easier not to be bold than it is to be bold. And then Acts continues, "...then the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. And when he came, he saw the grace of God, and he was glad and he was encouraged. And so what he did, he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord." So again, to be full of the Spirit. He was truly happy for the success of others. You don't see that very often these days. He heard the good news that God was moving and he was so excited for them. What happens when we hear good news? That God is moving in somebody else's life and not my life? We kind of attack them. We go into attack mode. And then also, full and encouragement to others. He was an encouragement to others even when you have to say hard things. What are you full of? Well, a deep, unwavering, sincere commitment

to follow God fills you. So that's a great way to be full. Truly happy for the success of others. There's a joy in your heart. There's not jealousy and contention and bitterness and putting them down. There's a true joy for them. And if there's not, you just repent. Lord, help my heart. Help my heart. I'm coveting where I think the grass will be greener. Have you ever noticed the grass is green is where you water it? I don't know, just saying. And He was an encouragement to others. Even when He had to say hard things, He was an encouragement to others. And that's an incredible way to get full of the Spirit. Because we encourage others. You build them up. You strengthen them, but also you shoot them straight. About what maybe they might be hurting their marriage or hurting their kids or hurting their walk with the Lord. And there's a deep, unwavering, sincere commitment to follow God. And that fills you. That always fills you. When it's unwavering,

it's a sincere commitment to follow God. What flows out? Well, here's what flowed out. For He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the church. Now, it's important to know, you cannot be a good man or woman absent of being full of the Spirit. The Bible's pretty clear that there are none that are really good, no, not one. And that's hard for some people. But I know this good person. But when it's compared to God's standard, we quickly see that nobody even comes close to measuring up. And that word there I put up for you in the Greek, it means inherently good. It's a person who's virtuous. They are righteous. It signifies moral excellence. And there's generosity. And so that's a byproduct of being full of the Holy Spirit. There's a goodness about them because they reflect the fruit of the Spirit. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year, they assembled with the church

and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. So it was kind of a term of mockery at first, but they began to own the badge like little Christ followers. All those Christians, Christ followers. And that's when the name stuck. Here you go. If you ever wanted to know where that came from. And in those days, prophets, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. So I don't want to go into a lot of detail because I have many times in the last couple months, but there were giftings of the Holy Spirit that some believe don't happen anymore. And I'm not going to get out the whole debate, but this type of person was an apostle was somebody who would be sent and plant a church. And then evangelists would be like a Stephen, right? Evangelizing. Greg Laurie just did that recently in California at an event. Right? And they're Billy Graham's and they're evangelizing. And then you'd have the pastor teacher who would, that's kind of where their wheelhouse is. But then the Bible talks about there were prophets and it's now it's got this weird. kind of nuanced to it. People avoid the term. I'm not going to sit here and name names,

but there's names out there now this week that are just ridiculous stuff coming out about these so-called prophets. Many of you will not know what I'm talking about, so I don't want to get into the weeds there. But really what it is, the gift is when God supernaturally, I think Wayne Grudem's definition in his book on systematic theology is when God supernaturally, spontaneously brings something to mind that wasn't otherwise known beforehand. That's the simple definition. And so, somebody who's humble, they're broken. See, let me just tell you something. I don't follow these well-named so-called prophets. I want to hear from the 80-year-old woman who has a gift of the prophetic who's been through a hard season. Let her speak into my life. I don't want to follow these clowns or these gimmicks or these names. No, no, no, God might have used you years ago, but now you need to humble yourself. Humble yourself and follow God again. Seek Him with all of your heart. And so God would use somebody. He would give them this prophetic gifting where God would bring something

spontaneously to their mind, and guess what? It's not to build up their ministry or to collect money. That's again where they miss it. It's to either convict people or to help them. We can look at examples throughout the Bible. That was to convict or to help. So there were people that God used, no names, no big ministry, no 100,000 followers on Instagram, YouTube channels not monetized, and God would use them to help the church. So, prophets came from Jerusalem, and one of them named Agabus stood up and showed, here's the key, showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. So God shows this person, he's got a track record because he also will read where he told Paul, when you go to Jerusalem, be prepared because they're going to bind you up and they're going to imprison you. And I believe, Paul said, I don't care, I'm still going. He could go back on that and say, oh, I was prepared for this. And so what the church actually did

is they took an offering, they collected, they used this information, and then they sent that money to the churches who would need it because of the famine. That's how the gifts work. Because when you say, well, all we need is the Bible, well, if all they had was the Bible, how would they figure that out? For example, let's say, hey, God gave somebody a deep prophetic type of legitimate word, I should clarify that, that some churches are going to be in need. You can't just find that in Scripture. That's what people don't understand. It's not above Scripture. It doesn't supersede Scripture. We don't follow it instead of Scripture. It's a help meet. It's a helper. The Holy Spirit is helping us in our journey. Now, I will be honest with you, that's a difficult gift because many times, we don't know if it's, you know, we're not supposed to be gullible. And just every little thing people say, you have to test the spirits. You have to gauge it with their personal character. I mean, there's a lot of things to it. And I would say over the years, you know, when people say things that,

you know, a lot of times, again, just being honest from my own opinion, I don't think they're trying to do harm in false prophets. I think they're just excited, right? And they say things, I believe God showed me this. And that's why you have to be careful. Are you sure it's God? Or is it just a good idea? I've had, right, so people have told me things. And I love her heart. I know she, like eight months ago, I had this vision or dream or something that you were with TPASA and you were evangelizing, right, exactly what Greg Loury just did. But okay, that's nice. But is that God or is that you? That's a good idea. Maybe that sounds good. But it doesn't mean that's God doing it. And I can go over other things. You know, that's why I'm just leery. I'm careful. We've seen the abuses in many churches. And it's probably one of the gifts that can be the most easily abused. Because if you try to fake healing, I can prove you wrong, just go get an MRI. ultrasound let's let's let's flush this out but when you say God told you well there we go who am I to say that who am I to question God and how are you how do you really know so it's a very interesting gift that as a church we

believe obviously God still does that because I can give you other situations where it's it's as clear as day that God was putting something on somebody's heart what we've also seen is I believe God will give somebody something again it's usually the little old lady this person that God you it's not some big name prop because then the bigger you get the lower you got to go and the bigger you get in your own eyes the less God will use you and he'll pick out the people that the least likely that that's how it should work it's never to elevate somebody and that's why I've got concerns of some of these profit this profit that it's like guys take the title out just just say you know you don't need profit and Apostle on your business card just get that just that's ridiculous it's it's ridiculous and you miss it you miss a lot of things so be quiet shut your mouth for a season spend some time with God you don't need to get a prophet prophetic word every ten minutes or do you know those people go to churches what's the Lord saying what's all do you have word for me do yeah Jesus Christ has a word for you once you bury your face in the Gospels for the next three months that's how you get a word from the Lord and then as you're doing that if God wants to boom hit you with something then that gift can come alive and I'm only saying this because I've seen this gift hurt a lot of people and that's what's in the news right now some of the charismatic circles with what they're going through and how they could they allow this guy to to do certain things and say certain things and people sold there's their life savings and they moved and they married people they shouldn't have you never let a word like that dictate those decisions if anybody told me I'd say okay thank you I'll check with God you never let a person tell you what you should be doing back in the 70s they called it shepherding movement remember that had some good things at first but then you couldn't buy a car unless you went to your shepherd and they you couldn't marry unless they went and come this is getting ridiculous and so that's why it's such a hard topic because I love don't I love that God would work like this but I have to say I've seen a lot more not abuses but where people are just just wrong just completely wrong

and it's sad I think people just get fired up or they have dreams and there is that you know I'll still remember there was a church I went to oh my goodness I don't know when this was 2001 to and this famous guy got up and said it was there was there a war with Iraq around that time two three some and he said if we go to war in Iraq America doesn't have enough body bags and so obviously false false false and what why he nobody calls him out and other things that are just so because what happens is they have the limelight they might have they might have hit it years ago they might have got something right but now they're the prophets such-and-such on Facebook and they got perfect and nine times out of ten it's like well it's so vague to darkness is coming over the United States in the coming months of no kidding no kidding if you're truly from God be specific and what's the point of it and again I believe God uses people in this in this area but we've got to be so careful because I've also seen people become unstable the stability is in the word and your obedience to it not in what are what such-and-such saying on the internet that and I again personally you know God may use somebody obviously in the past but they begin to build their ministry from it and then every impulse they get they think is from God and I started writing things down the last couple weeks this is the year of harvest this is a year of blessing this is a year of abundance well who are you talking to that's so vague and I'll tell you what that's not true for a lot of people you false prophets shut your mouth you can't just go this is a year of harvest folks everything's gonna be good this is a year of blessing for some people for sure but for others all hell might break loose they might get the diagnosis from their doctor they might go through financial difficulty so I I just hate this gift being abused. Because it's such a slap in the face to legitimate works of the Holy Spirit where He works through humble, broken, gentle people being used by God, sensitive to His leading,

not out there for their glory. Let me get a film in. Let's come film this deliverance. I'm going to pray for this deliverance right now. Watch this. And look, do we have enough people? Is it going live? I'm going to give this prophetic word. That's dangerous and damning. And it should be called out. You can know if the Spirit of God is working or not. And what is flamboyant. And it's just, guys, I'm not apologizing. I'm just saying, I'm sorry to keep beating this point up, but I'm not sorry. Because this is such a, people, it's ruined their lives. And I believe people will stay out of the word when they get a word from somebody else. So how it should work is you're going through life. You're following the Lord. And you need help with a certain issue or a certain thing. You're really struggling with this. And God might use somebody to put something in your mind. Hey, this is weird, but all throughout the service, I've been feeling this. I can't ignore it, and I just, I don't know. I don't know, I'm just going to share it with you. Because I can't, I don't know what to do with this. And you share it with the person, and they begin crying. That's exactly what I need to hear.

That's how it works. That's how it works. I don't want to go into a lot of details, because I don't have permission, but you know me. I ask for forgiveness and then permission, rather than permission. But it was, maybe I won't give dates and things like that, but somebody on our prayer team had this really strong desire to go into a different part of the church. Like, where are you going? You're supposed to be in the right part. And then the person there, the person there was praying, Lord, if you're real, bring somebody to me. Hello? Well, that's just coincidence. Oh, really? Yeah, that's a pretty good coincidence. That's just the devil. Oh, that's the devil, huh? That's how he works today. No, that kingdom would be divided. So see, that's how it's legitimate. And that's how it works. And usually, I would really encourage people not to say, God told me. Unless it's in His Word. Because I don't know how many of you have missed the God told me before. You thought God told you.

And you find out it wasn't God. I think we can have, there's a strong impression. I feel really, I mean, deeply about this. I feel that God wants me to, I've said that, I feel that God wants me to share this with you. Yeah, I don't know, take it to the Lord. I think that's just wise. So this person came, Agapus, and he showed, here's the thing, he showed by the Spirit, not himself. He showed by the Spirit. And here's what's hard, is we don't know, we don't have the checklist. Right, I wish it said he was showed by the Spirit. Here's how, 24 hours of full-on fasting. And then two hours of praying. And then he confessed all his sin. And then he went and worshiped for a while. And here's what you need to do for the Spirit to show you. But we don't have a checklist. But I do know this, the closer you get to Christ, the more sensitive you'll be to a true work of the Holy Spirit. And there'll be times as you pursue Him that you know you shouldn't say something. And the flesh wants you to say something. And you're like, oh, I'm so glad I spent time with God. Haven't you guys done that before?

Man, I put a post up there about what's going on with ice and stuff, and a couple of minutes, I'm like, why did I do that? Now, I have some strong opinions. I'm sure most of you know what they are. And most of you hear it because you agree with them. But I'm trying to like, what's me? And what's the Spirit? And it's, guys, it is hard. It's hard, because I want to tell people just like you do. Don't you? I mean, it's challenging. Because I want to say, don't resist authority. It's not that hard. Don't try to hit people with your car. Here I go again, my goodness, I'm trying. No, but every time I do that, I get people, I'm not following you anymore. I'm not coming to your church anymore. You know what? I don't care. I have to speak the truth in love. I have to speak the truth in love. While I'm on the rabbit trail. Let's keep going. Why is there none of this under Obama or Biden? Because the government supported them, the local government. You have paid agitators in these areas

and governors who do not want to help this administration. So guys, we got to wake up and pull our head out of the sand and stop drinking Kool-Aid. It's just, that's just the truth. If you go and you say, I'm armed and you're gonna fight policemen. Hello, guys, hello. We have lost our mind. And then there's people who support that. It's ridiculous. The spirit of the living God has shown me, hopefully, that I can say that during this sermon. We're gonna find out later when I drive home. But see, there's a thing where the church, see, many churches were quiet during COVID. Now they woke up because they know there's an agenda and that church is supposed to, I'm not supposed to shut my mouth, honey. I'm not supposed to be quiet and intimidated by the left or the right. I'm not supposed to be intimidated by those groups. You should hear what I said to, I just spoke at the Republican National Committee in Santa Barbara on Thursday. And I told them the red, white, and blue isn't gonna save us. Only the crimson blood of Jesus Christ is gonna save us. You say the hard things. I said, pride is destroying us. Pride is destroying us.

Get off your high horse and humble yourself before Almighty God. There's no political party that's gonna save us. We need to seek God like never before and pray, oh God, rend the heavens and come down and visit your people. Again, you tell people the truth. I don't care what party you are, but there is absolute truth given to governed men. And we should speak the truth with clarity from a biblical perspective. All right. I was not planning on going there. But I was praying about it because I'm so sick of this misinformation. I am so sick of this misinformation. And the twisting of Scripture. There are pastors with the rainbow flag behind them saying that what happened in that church, Don Lemon, right, all those guys, go into a church service like here, and they disrupt it. That's just like Jesus going into the temple and flipping over those tables. No, it's not. It's not even close. That's out of context. This is a spiritual battle. What are you full of? What are we full of in our nation?

Now, granted, when it comes to this issue, should we be sensitive? Should we be concerned? Absolutely. But even that lady who did get killed when she tried to hit somebody, did you ever hear her dad on CNN? He said she shouldn't have been there. She has the wrong spirit guiding her. He was a solid believer. And see, that's speaking the truth. How hard would that be? I can't even imagine it. But the pulpits aren't supposed to stay in your little box. We're supposed to preach the truth in all areas of society. And here's what happens. People, when they say I'm political, they don't care if I'm talking about their political view. They love, oh shit, oh that's, yes. Oh, go for it. But as soon as you challenge your political view, that's when you're too political. I've seen it over the years. It's not about that. It's about the Gospel affecting. The Gospel doesn't have anything to say about what's going on?

Are you kidding me? Absolutely, it's the silent churches that allowed Hitler to do what he wanted to do. Let's just go louder on the drums as we hear those trains going behind us taking people to the concentration camps. Guys, I made a deal with God years ago. I'm not building a big church. I'm building people. And we will speak the truth and love even if it upsets some people that don't understand. Led by the Spirit is about pursuing a relationship with God. Led by the Spirit is about pursuing a relationship with God. You know, maybe I wasn't gonna go there, but maybe I should. When it comes to these type of issues I just spoke about for the last five minutes, this is not something where I just come up here and I react, right? That's wrong. This is coming from a reservoir up at 2.30 this morning. I'm just saying, praying and worshiping, Lord, use me. What do you want me to say? Broken before Him, humble. And then from that reservoir of time with Him,

that's where this comes out. So if you're upset at this boldness, I don't know what to tell you. The more time I spend with Him, the bolder I become. That's what I've become. And the less time I spend with Him, the less time I spend with Him, the more I don't want to offend the other side. Because we have to speak the truth when you're full of the Spirit. You cannot stand by and watch lies, lies being perpetrated and influencing the next generation. So on this issue of prophecy, again, it's God supernaturally giving a burden to someone to either help someone else, help themselves maybe, or to convict someone or even themselves. But we must handle prophecy like you handle dynamite. Very carefully. So what can we do with this topic of prophecy? What about the Lord told him? Now, I love this that Agabus, he stood up and here's what he said, he was showed by the Spirit. So we don't know. He didn't say, thus saith the Lord. So we don't know what he said.

He might have said, hey guys, I'm sensing this. We don't really know, but here's a good way to test it. Look at the moral consistency of the person. Look at the moral consistency of the person. He had a consistent track record. And if their character cannot match their calling, throw it in the trash. You look at the person saying, I have this on my heart. Are they close to the Lord? Is it exalting truth and Jesus? Is it wise? Hello? Hey, God really showed me this morning, I don't know, you need to leave that wife and go... Right? Hello? And some people are that gullible. I don't know, are you sure? I've been sensing that too. You've been sensing that because you've been drifting from your marriage. That's not the Lord, that's the devil. The devil is a liar. And Jesus tells the truth. And so we have to be careful and test is it a wise decision? Does it line up with Scripture? Somebody's saying, I don't know what to tell you,

it's been in my heart. What? Tell me. I think you should move out to Nashville by John. Really? Like, did He tell you Franklin? Right, a little like five acres. Is that what He told you? Right, that just doesn't make sense. That's not where God has me. So you don't move on these things because people tell you that. You have to use wisdom. Don't worry, there's no plans. I just thought of that. I'm trying to get John back here and not go out there. Does it line up with God's Word? See, here's the thing. The early church didn't have this advantage. We have the advantage over the early church. We have the Word of God. I don't know how they did it. Do you guys ever wonder how did they do it? They would all meet, they'd say, okay, it's, I don't know, it's pickier. Let's see, 70 A.D. No, Titus already conquered Jerusalem. Let's say it's 55 A.D. And they're just meeting. Has Paul written any letters by then? Dave, Donna, I don't know.

Okay, so let's read Paul's letter. Okay, that's great, great, great. Let's sing some psalms from the Psalms. Okay, great. What else should we do? I don't really know. Let's be led of the Spirit. We know there's fruit. Right? Love and joy. I mean, can you imagine? That would be challenging. I think we should do this. I think we should do that. I think God, like, and you just, you don't really have a gauge. And I think they did get the Word out pretty quickly. We don't know exactly, but I think Paul's letters probably went out pretty quickly. I think the Gospels, even though they weren't written for maybe a while, I think Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they were there. I think, was it Polycarp, who was a disciple of John? And so they knew what it was there. Talk about led of the Spirit. But here's the good thing, you have that inner alarm clock. You ever get those in the morning

when it's hard to get up? So Holy Spirit went, ehh, ehh, ehh, ehh, ehh. So one of the things I hated, hated driving heavy equipment is that backup alarm. Beep, beep, beep. It would warn me and others, get out of the way, because I can't see you. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. And here's the key. Is the person open to being tested? I've seen that, okay, let me, I don't know. Let me check that, let me pray about that for a while. Pastor, shh, there's no need to pray about this. God told me, oh, well, you know what? You just failed test number one. No, I'm being completely honest with you. They said, well, I don't know. This seems pretty urgent. I would just, I would listen to that and obey. You just, you lost me. You lost me on that because I'm actually supposed to test the spirits. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now, these people I would not call false prophets. I would say good people with good intentions,

but they get a little too carried away because God used them in the past. And I saw, there's people I would love. I love throughout my years of ministry. And man, God would use them spot on, but then they would be spot off. They would just completely miss it. I'm not gonna go into details in case you're ever watching this later, but it's like, guys, this is not good. I'll share one thing I think most of you have heard, but a couple of years ago, a friend of mine from the NFL spoke at the men's thing. And we actually had a, it hurt our relationship because he told one couple, he said, this time next year, you're gonna have a baby. Well, guess what? So what most churches do is like, okay, well, hope we never deal with that one. Sweeping under the rug, charismatic cover up. But we have to say, hey, I'm gonna call you on that in a year from now. It's in my calendar. And I haven't seen the couple since. So before you critique me and think I'm being too hard on this, you should wear our shoes for a season. Because the gift doesn't work. But here's the thing, I don't think it was trying to be a false prophet.

You just get excited. And that's why I'm like, Lord, if this is You, show me more. I need to know it's You. I know John's careful when he's up here sometimes. He'll even tell me, hey, Shane, if you need to correct me. He's told me that, how many times? If you need to correct me when you come up, I'm all for that. And so because that's the right character, right? And God will use people more profoundly than, and there's times too where I'll be preaching and I'll have this rabbit trail. Have you ever heard the rabbit trails? Like, what in the world? I have no clue where that came from. And then people in the prayer room think, oh, that rabbit trail was so helpful. I'm like, how was that helpful? Right, because it spoke to what they're going through. And they needed to hear that. And just something coming to me. Listen, some of you, if you're dating that person, you think you're gonna convert them, you will not. They will push you away from the Lord. That's not my notes. Where'd that come from? But it's true. May not necessarily be God, I might just thought of it, but it helps the person.

And do not despise prophecies. Do not despise prophecies. But look at this in the middle. But test everything. I've had to tell people, listen, you missed that one, you missed the other one, don't tell me stuff anymore. You need to go spend some time with the Lord. Check into the school of God and let Him, it's hard, you know, we have to hold teaching on it, but you know when God is putting something on your heart to just, you know, there's a burden there. It lines up with Scripture and it's like, Lord, if this is You, let me, because this is not me, I don't wanna, and you wrestle with it. Sometimes it's spontaneous stuff. We just have to be very careful in this area, and I wish I could give you a checklist to leave with. So that's why we are open but cautious. They call it charismatic wearing a seatbelt. And maybe it's a good time to mention this. People say, oh, you're not one of those charismatic churches, are you? Actually, we don't go by those labels at all. We're a Bible-believing, very conservative, God-loving, God-fearing church. But when we open the Scriptures, pretty clear that the Holy Spirit is still, the word charismatic comes from the word charisma.

It just means bestowing spiritual gifts. That's what it means. So yes, we still believe that God is still, will move in those areas. And you actually, if you don't believe that, you have a much harder time proving that than we do based on Scripture. The Scripture you're defending. That's all, I'm just reading Scripture. That's what it says. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14. You get into the book of Acts, about 30 years of Christian history. The Holy Spirit's still doing His stuff. Then you get into the early church fathers and Polycarp and Irenaeus, Ignatius, still got some Holy Spirit power going. Now you read Augustine and how he believed in healings. You get into church history, the 1200s and the Reformers, and you see it's the same Spirit as in the book of Acts. But then you have weird people doing it for all of us. And so that's my rant on that topic. But what type of prophecy was he referring to in the verses I just quoted? It's a divine declaration or revelation from God.

And I think we should be open but cautious. God will put something... It's usually not turn left at the light. Should I go to the mall today? It's pivotal, life-changing things that are important that God will intervene and help us. How many of you know He helps those who are asking for help? Lord, I need a little help on this. I don't know what to do. Have you ever been there? You say, Lord, I do not know what to do. And sometimes He'll show you. Oh, there's so much peace in that. But guess what? There's times when He won't show you. And what do you have to do? You have to engage. First gear called faith. I'm going to sit in neutral until I get directions. No directions. Okay, well, I have to engage faith. I think this is the best decision. There's some open doors. What's best for our family. I think it will help us spiritually, or at least will maintain where we're at spiritually. And I'm just going to step out in faith. I'm trusting that You'll close the door or open the door.

Without faith, you can't please God. I don't think He's pleased with people just sitting in their bedroom waiting all the time for the right course. Because at some point, you've got to get up and say, Lord, I trust You. According to Your Word. And I think You will lead me and guide me. Then the disciples, each according to his ability. Here's the key. You guys ready? Oh, we're going to do a quick teaching on giving. Oh no, here the church goes again. No, not this church. We don't talk about it unless it's in the Bible. Unless it comes up. So each according to his ability, they determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So they heard from this man, Agapus, that there was going to be a need. They did a collection. And they sent it to the need. And that's very healthy. Sometimes we'll do that with the need we have here. And you guys are very faithful. But a couple things we need to point out. Giving should come from a cheerful heart.

You don't feel coerced or pressured. And each gave according to his ability. According to their ability. And I believe God measures a person who's $10 means just as much as somebody who can give a thousand easily. That's what Jesus made it clear. It's not about the amount. It's an issue of the heart. But the Bible also teaches that as believers, we give. That's what it teaches. And we give to where we're being fed. We pay the bills and the lights and things like that. But it has to come from a cheerful heart according to somebody's ability. That's why we don't pass plates. We don't ask for it. We just put out the box in the lobby for those who feel compelled to give. And we've never had problems since day one. People find the box. You don't have to force it. Have you ever been to those churches? Two offerings and a service? One offering worship. And then we're going to do another one. Alright, I know there's some of you out there you haven't given yet. Or we need that $1,000 seed this morning. And I want the $1,000 people to stand up.

Who are the $1,000 people in this room this morning? And just make it this big thing, and now they feel compelled. And now they have to give and that's not the way it should be done. So what are you full of? Revisiting that question again. When you fill a glass, you must first empty it. So if you want to be full of the Spirit, that's why I say this often, you have to empty yourself of self, of you. Me too. That's why I prayed before I came up, Lord, and for our team, we just empty ourself. of us. It's not about you. I mean, it's not about us. It's about you. We want to empty ourself. How can we be used of you? And again, you are full of what you put in. So if you want to be full of God's Spirit, and you are a leaky vessel like me, we leak, and so we have to stay underneath that fountain of living water, D.L. Moody would say, but the more you put in with the prayer and the worship and church services and things you put into your heart,

that's what you're going to be full of. And pride does block the fullness of the Spirit. Have you ever experienced that? Pride will block the fullness of the Spirit. I'm just going to share a verse with you, and then I'll wind it down. 2 Chronicles. Uzziah's fame spread far and wide. Check this guy out. He was used of God powerfully. Incredible king. For he was marvelously helped by the Lord until he became strong. It doesn't mean he went out and built a bench press. What does it mean? Strong in his heart. Pride. Look at what I did. Look at what I accomplished. Look at this. Oh man, this king is great. And when he was strong in his heart, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. Guys, you never win with pride. You might think you're doing good today. Let me tell you. Come talk to me next year. Let me tell you. Anybody go through life

and after it chews you up and spits you out, you come broken to the altar. Thank You, Lord. My goodness, how quick can I get here? Pride. Pride, pride, pride. Praise God's humility. God elevates the humble, but He resists. Did you know actually God will fight a Christian in this sense? He resists the proud. He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And I could stay here an hour, but I'll let God bring it to your heart. Is there anything maybe you're full of that you need to get rid of? Is there anything where you need to humble yourself? Maybe with a neighbor, or your spouse, or your kids. Somebody at work. I need to humble myself. I don't want to keep fighting God. What about surrendering your life to the Lord? Do you come once a month to church if it fits your schedule? You're not really following the Lord, seeking the Lord? All that can change today.

You humble yourself. A man by the name of David Zuclato said, God is not waiting at the finish line of self-improvement. He was waiting at the edge of surrender. Let's internalize that one more time. God is not waiting at the finish line of self-improvement. He's waiting at the edge of surrender. Guys, that's why I talk about this topic a lot because it's so important. We have so many new faces coming in. So many different things going on. And it sums up to full surrender. Because I can teach you all, let's go through Thessalonians. Let's go through the Pauline Epistles. Let's go through 1 Corinthians. Let's go through Galatians. We get some great teaching. But it falls on deaf ears without surrendering to it. Remember, the power in the Word of God, the power is found not in hearing it. Isn't that interesting? The Bible says don't be hearers of the Word. Be doers of the Word, or you'll live in deception. And so surrendering to the Word, so surrendering to Me is,

do you ever get cut by the Word? Like, mmm... Did anybody get cut this morning? And we get, oh, I've got to do that. And there's a choice we have to make that day. Do we humble ourselves? Maybe some of you, do you humble yourself and repair your marriage? Do you humble yourself and get rid of that stronghold? Do you humble yourself and say I need to stop being bitter and angry and backbiting and jealousy. And I need to let this go. I need to just humble myself before God. And that's why I love that song we sing sometimes, Jesus, lover of my soul. Jesus, lover of my soul. Let me never lose the wonder of Your presence. Let me never lose the wonder of Your presence. Maybe you're here this morning and you don't know who Jesus is. You've heard about Him, but you don't know Him. But let me tell you about a Savior who really saves. A King who always reigns and a crown that will never fade. The Bible's simple. It just says repent and believe. Repent in the Gospel and believe. It's so powerful. And I know the topic of hell comes up sometimes.

One of the words you can look up, it's called Sheol. Sheol. And it's an interesting word. It's the place of the forgotten. And that really stood out because hell will be a place of the forgotten. Can you imagine being there? And you're forgotten of God. You're forgotten. And I think that's what has a lot to do with the outer darkness and the punishment is just being void of God. And I don't want to test this area. Do not live your life with a question mark here. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, physically shall live again. So, two people this morning. Worship team, you can probably make your way up here. The Christian who needs to surrender everything, surrender pride, and get back on track with the Lord, do that this morning. And say, Lord, I want to be full of Your Spirit. Because what happens when we're not full of that? What are we full of? We're not full of the Spirit. We're full of the world. We're full of a lot of junk.

And that's why many of you, if you're struggling with anger all the time, anger, anybody dropping some bad words? Giving people the bird? Right, just, why is this coming out of me? Well, it's inside of you somehow. It's inside of you. What I've found, the more we submit to the working of the Spirit, the more it pushes that stuff out. And the less we deny the working of the Spirit and worship and prayer and those things, we feed on the world, that's what we're full of. Now, nobody's perfect. We're going to struggle with things. I want to make that clear. There's a big difference from slipping up every now and then to every other hour. And it boils down to what we're full of. Maybe there's a lot of pain. Do you know we lash out because of pain? We get upset at people because of pain. We're in a bad mood because of pain. We're full of pain. Full of pain. And that will not produce good, godly things either.