More Than Repentance: The Missing Key to a Spirit-Filled Life

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
and then COVID and then all the things and then I kind of was okay with doing church at home uh watching it online and sitting in bed and we didn't have to leave and you know breakfast was long and slow and it was great um Lindsay actually likes people uh and convinced me that it was good to come to the church

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
We came to Peninsula mostly because of the youth and the children's program we had friends that were here and they just could not say enough amazing things about the program so we decided to check it out and after a few weeks we both realized this was it this was our home that we had been missing for so long

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
and at the time we didn't have a youth group kid but we knew we were going to and so we wanted to make sure that we were you know kind of setting them up to be in this amazing youth group that we heard lots about from friends and neighbors so we got plugged in pretty quickly to kind of everything you were doing preschool and elementary and we were ready with the youth and i was working with the youth and teaching adult sunday school we felt more like this is a home church than we had in a really long time
[00:01:07] and as the kids are involved in all ages of ministries here it's just been really good to make connections with people some of us more than others and that's okay but it feels like this is the church that we call home

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I think for our kids, the Awanis program, the youth group, the children's ministry has been huge.
[00:01:30] They've come home learning Bible verses.
[00:01:32] Just having adults pouring into them that aren't us, sometimes that they listen to better than us, has been really, really awesome.
[00:01:39] And knowing that they're all grounded in Christ and follow the same values that we have is awesome.
[00:01:45] And I think
[00:01:46] Having Daniel preaching straight from the Word every week, you know, just what the Bible says, what Scripture says, without watering it down, without, you know, trying to conform to culture of today's society, I think has been such a nice thing.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I think for me, I get to teach with the youth group.
[00:02:04] This year I have the 10th grade boys over teach Sunday morning connect group, and that forces me to be in the text.
[00:02:11] And so I feel like I grow more because I have to be able to share it to somebody else.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Obviously we're considering expanding and that's super exciting and as somebody that has worked both in preschool and children's ministry and youth and have been displaced from the video venue I'm super excited about the expanded space that we're going to have.
[00:02:32] We had I think Katrina said over 50 kindergarteners move up from preschool to elementary school and it has been
[00:02:39] Awesome and chaotic, to say the least, trying to fit us all into different spaces.
[00:02:46] So I'm really excited about going back to having dedicated ministry space for the different things.
[00:02:52] But I just love the church's heart for not only reaching our community and our church, but their heart for supporting other churches, for planting new churches, for sending missionaries and that.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
The church is saturated and that's good.
[00:03:09] The building's being used seven days a week and all the spaces are being used.
[00:03:13] Looking for this big new space to be able to all be in together again, you know, kind of all as a corporate worship, but also the ministries and events that happen during the week in the evenings or the preschool and just being able to give more space to more people.
[00:03:27] But just the more we get to be a beacon in the community, the better.
[00:03:31] And I think this new venue is going to be just another kind of bright light in Mooresville.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We're the author who said we love our church.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Well, good morning.
[00:06:43] So glad to see you here today as we get ready to worship.
[00:06:46] We're going into Acts chapter 19 today.
[00:06:48] We're going to be talking about walking in the Spirit and why sometimes we miss the mark on walking in the Spirit.
[00:06:55] Excited about where the message is taking us today.
[00:06:57] I hope you are as well.
[00:06:58] Before we do that, though, we're actually going to join together in worshiping through song.
[00:07:02] And I pray that that hits you in a way that sets your heart in tune for worship.
[00:07:07] The words that we'll hear from God's word in Acts chapter 19 today.
[00:07:11] But so glad you're here.
[00:07:12] And if I don't get a chance to say it to you today or this week, Happy Thanksgiving.
[00:07:18] It is that season.
[00:07:19] No, you're supposed to say Happy Thanksgiving back.
[00:07:22] I thought, oh no, the sermon's going to be long and drawn out.
[00:07:25] I've already put them to sleep and I'm just saying good morning.
[00:07:29] So glad that you're here today.
[00:07:30] Before we get started in worshiping and song, let's all stand together in prayer as we are greeted by the Spirit because we know that the worship that we do is for Him and by Him.
[00:07:41] Pray together now.
[00:07:42] Father, we thank you so much for your love that greets us, that walks with us.
[00:07:46] You're a God that never sleeps and never slumbers.
[00:07:48] And when we wake up in the morning and walk out the door, we're walking with you.
[00:07:53] So help us to know that.
[00:07:55] Encourage us in that.
[00:07:55] And now as we begin to sing, help us to know that we're singing in you and for you.
[00:08:00] Be glorified for what you hear coming from our hearts today.
[00:08:04] First in Jesus' name we pray.
[00:08:06] Amen.

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
I was lost but he brought me in all his love for me, all his love for me.
[00:08:41] I am set free, though it's free indeed I'm a child of God, yes I am And at last He has ransomed me with His grace
[00:09:06] I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me
[00:09:42] and the Child of God, Messiah.
[00:10:09] I am chosen, not forsaken.
[00:10:10] I am who You say I am.
[00:10:10] Who are for me, not against me.
[00:10:11] I am who You say I am.
[00:10:11] I am chosen, not forsaken.
[00:10:21] Let us pray.
[00:10:51] I'm a child of God, yes I am In my Father's house there's a place for me I'm a child of God, yes I am
[00:11:28] I am chosen, not forsaken I am who you say I am You are for me, not against me
[00:11:49] I am who you say I am I am chosen, not forsaken I am who you say I am You are for me, not against me I am who you say I am I am chosen, not forsaken
[00:12:19] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[00:13:19] of God, the Son of God.
[00:13:54] The voice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary He declares His work is finished He has spoken His hope to me Though the sun had ceased its shining
[00:14:16] Though the water of healing's lost Christ has tried and over-evened It was finished upon
[00:15:33] Once I prayed upon it, fear once had a hold on me, but the Son who died to save us rose and we would be free indeed.
[00:15:59] God the Son who died to save us Rose that we would be free indeed Yes He rose that we would be free indeed Free from every plan of darkness Free to live in peace
[00:16:30] The death is dead and Christ is risen It was finished upon that cross Onward to eternal glory To my Savior and my God I rejoice in Jesus' victory
[00:16:56] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:17:04] Amen.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Let's sing out.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Let's sing to Jesus.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
All my world's for sure
[00:17:54] I've got nothing new How could I express All my gratitude I could sing these songs As I often do But every word will stay
[00:18:23] So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah And I know it's not much, I'm nothing else fit for a king
[00:18:52] Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah I've got one response I've got just one move With my arms stretched wide
[00:19:29] Praise you again and again All that I have is a Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I've nothing else fit for a king
[00:19:52] All right church, come on.
[00:20:13] So come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your soul Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs Get up and praise the Lord Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your soul

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
You've got an eye inside of those lungs Get up and praise the Lord Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy when you lift up your soul You've got an eye inside of those lungs Get up and praise the Lord
[00:21:27] All that I have is Hallelujah, Hallelujah And I know it's not much, I've nothing else to call

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Father, we just praise you this morning.
[00:22:27] We give you our praise, our hallelujahs, and we thank you, God, for this day, for letting us be here together.
[00:22:32] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:22:34] You may be seated.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Well, good morning.
[00:23:19] Thank you for singing out.
[00:23:20] What an amazing worship time.
[00:23:23] Thank you, worship team, for leading us in the way you do as you worship here on stage, and we join with you in that, worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
[00:23:32] And yes, I do have a lamp sitting here, and we'll talk about that in just a moment.
[00:23:38] I had a thief one time steal all my lamps, and somebody said, didn't that make you angry?
[00:23:41] And I said, well, actually, I was delighted.
[00:23:45] But...
[00:23:47] Before we get started, I want to recommend a book for you.
[00:23:53] You may have some questions after we talk today through the text.
[00:23:56] And this book I would recommend to you.
[00:23:58] This book is actually written about another book.
[00:24:00] This book is written about a book that was written back in 1650 by an old English pastor named John Owen who wrote in old English style.
[00:24:12] So this book actually puts it in today's English style.
[00:24:15] And the title of it is Friendship with God.
[00:24:17] We have a couple of copies on hand here at the Resource Center if you're interested in that.
[00:24:22] Just wanted to recommend you that because I know that today when we talk you're probably going to have a few more questions about walking in the Spirit.
[00:24:29] And so I want to recommend that for you.
[00:24:32] And then my email is always available.
[00:24:35] My door is always open if you want to talk more about what we talk about today.
[00:24:38] So I'm excited of where we're going.
[00:24:40] Today we're talking about walking in the Spirit and why so many miss the mark.
[00:24:46] And so I want us to kind of lean into it a little bit in Acts 19 verses 1 through 22.
[00:24:50] It's a big chunk that we're going to talk about.
[00:24:53] And I'm going to hit kind of the four things that happen in this account.
[00:24:58] We're going to hit those and talk through those and how it relates to what we're talking about today.
[00:25:04] But have you ever wondered why many Christians today feel spiritually stuck?
[00:25:11] They claim Christianity, but you can just see it in their life.
[00:25:16] Maybe you even sense it.
[00:25:17] You just feel spiritually stuck.
[00:25:20] Many people, they read their Bibles, they attend church, they do the right things, they want to change, they want to grow, they want to be faithful.
[00:25:30] And yet, inside they feel powerless, exhausted, dry, and frustrated.
[00:25:40] You hear it in their conversations.
[00:25:42] They say things like this, I've tried everything.
[00:25:46] Something still feels off.
[00:25:50] Why don't I feel close to God?
[00:25:53] Why can't I get victory over this?
[00:25:57] We know we hear this in other people, but I would say that from time to time in my own life, I have said those things.
[00:26:05] You may be saying those things right now in your walk with the Lord too, wondering what's going on.
[00:26:10] And here's the truth we rarely say out loud.
[00:26:14] You cannot live the Christian life without the Spirit of Christ.
[00:26:20] And many people are trying to.
[00:26:25] We have here a floor lamp.
[00:26:28] It looks like a floor lamp.
[00:26:30] It stands like a floor lamp.
[00:26:31] It has a lamp shade.
[00:26:33] It has a bulb.
[00:26:37] Would you call this a lamp?
[00:26:39] I would call this a lamp.
[00:26:48] If people were being honest with themselves, many would say what the men in Acts 19 said.
[00:26:55] We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
[00:26:59] Maybe not in words, but in experience.
[00:27:05] Acts 19 is a mirror for us today.
[00:27:08] It reveals why so many sincere believers feel spiritually frustrated.
[00:27:16] And so I hope today's message will impact you not only today, but you will carry it with you.
[00:27:22] Because this is a truth that I struggle with in people's lives when they come to me with problems.
[00:27:27] And when I want to talk about the spiritual matters, they want to talk about the problem.
[00:27:33] And I want to point people and say, we'll get to the problem, but first let's talk about where you are with the Lord.
[00:27:41] Are you walking in the Spirit?
[00:27:43] And listen, we're not talking about getting more of the Spirit.
[00:27:48] When you ask Christ in your heart and you commit your life to Christ, the full Spirit is given to you.
[00:27:54] So this is not about us getting more Spirit, it's about the Spirit getting more of us.
[00:28:01] So that's where we're going today in Acts 19 verses 1 through 22.
[00:28:09] Join in with me and read silently as I read out loud.
[00:28:12] And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.
[00:28:19] There he found some disciples and he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
[00:28:26] And they said,
[00:28:28] No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
[00:28:31] If you look back at the original text, you see the way the words are lined up that there is a frustration in them.
[00:28:38] They're like, what?
[00:28:39] We didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit.
[00:28:44] And he said, into what then were you baptized?
[00:28:49] They said, into John's baptism.
[00:28:51] Remember John the Baptist?
[00:28:52] His reach went a lot further than I had ever expected.
[00:28:57] His disciples were spreading the word of repentance and Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance telling the people to believe in the one who came who was to come after him that is Jesus that's a powerful phrase right there underline that is Jesus and then underline it again and then circle it and put a line to it with a big star
[00:29:25] This is the key right here.
[00:29:29] So let's pause here for just a moment before we read down through the rest of the text.
[00:29:32] Paul says something incredibly important.
[00:29:34] John's ministry was good, but it was not enough.
[00:29:38] John's ministry was God-ordained.
[00:29:41] It was powerful, it was awakening, and it was prophetic.
[00:29:46] But it was preparation, not transformation.
[00:29:52] John could call people to repentance but he could not bring anyone into regeneration.
[00:30:01] John could clean the outside but he could not change the inside.
[00:30:05] John could point toward Jesus but he could not unite anyone to Jesus.
[00:30:12] And this is exactly where many Christians still live today.
[00:30:15] Paul says John offered a baptism of repentance, a desire to start fresh, a turn from sin, to get life together.
[00:30:24] But repentance alone cannot save.
[00:30:27] Repentance prepares.
[00:30:29] Jesus saves.
[00:30:33] Repentance turns you from sin.
[00:30:35] Jesus fills you with His Spirit.
[00:30:38] Are you walking in the Spirit?
[00:30:40] Are you aware that you are walking in the Spirit?
[00:30:45] Repentance opens the door and Jesus walks through it.
[00:30:51] Paul continues telling people to believe in the one who was to come after him.
[00:30:56] John wasn't calling people to moral reform or self-improvement, religious duty, or a try-harder lifestyle.
[00:31:06] He was calling them to anticipation.
[00:31:10] Expectation, turning away from sin in order to turn toward someone.
[00:31:16] Then Paul finishes with the most important phrase, that is Jesus.
[00:31:21] And this is the missing piece.
[00:31:24] That is the answer to their spiritual frustration.
[00:31:28] These 12 men had repentance, they had sincerity, they had conviction,
[00:31:35] They had the spiritual background, but they did not have Jesus.
[00:31:40] They did not have the Spirit.
[00:31:42] They had been awakened, but they had not been reborn.
[00:31:47] They were moral, but they had not been transformed.
[00:31:52] And this is where many claiming to follow Christ today quietly live.
[00:32:01] People who try harder.
[00:32:04] People who feel bad about sin, making promises, pursuing fresh starts, but never step into the life Jesus actually gives.
[00:32:16] And the result is exhaustion, frustration, dryness, powerlessness.
[00:32:22] Because repentance without Jesus leads to exhaustion.
[00:32:25] Repentance with Jesus leads to transformation in the Spirit.
[00:32:31] You might put it this way.
[00:32:33] John was the preview, Jesus is the movie.
[00:32:39] John prepared the way and Jesus is the way.
[00:32:46] Our life does not change until our repentance leads us to Jesus and Jesus fills us with the Spirit.
[00:32:55] Have you stopped short?
[00:32:58] Have you stopped short of what it means to follow Christ?
[00:33:03] So here's what Luke is showing us.
[00:33:05] These men weren't rebellious.
[00:33:06] They weren't cold.
[00:33:08] They weren't running from God.
[00:33:10] They were sincere but incomplete.
[00:33:13] They were religious but not regenerated.
[00:33:16] They were repentant but not filled.
[00:33:19] And they were awakened but not alive.
[00:33:21] They had turned from sin but not to Jesus.
[00:33:27] And they had the beginnings of faith but not the fullness of the Spirit.
[00:33:32] So many claiming Christianity feel spiritually stuck because they're living in repentance without renewal, conviction without transformation, activity without power and proximity to truth without surrender to Christ.
[00:33:51] This is why Paul asked them, and he's asking us the most important diagnostic question that we can ask ourselves about walking with the Lord.
[00:34:00] Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
[00:34:06] Here's what he's not asking.
[00:34:08] He's not asking, did you grow up in church?
[00:34:13] Did you pray a prayer once?
[00:34:16] Did you get emotional at camp?
[00:34:20] Did you turn over a new moral leaf?
[00:34:23] But he's asking, are you walking in the Spirit?
[00:34:29] So let's continue.
[00:34:32] He tells them, it's Jesus.
[00:34:36] And here's what they say, on hearing this,
[00:34:39] They were baptized in the name of the Lord, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
[00:34:48] Let me just say a couple things that's going on there.
[00:34:51] Paul laying his hands on them was not a magic touch.
[00:34:54] It was a physical thing that he did to show a change.
[00:34:57] We're going to talk about that at the end of the message.
[00:34:59] And then the prophesying and the speaking in tongues seem to happen every time the gospel was received and the Spirit showed up in new areas.
[00:35:11] You read it throughout the text.
[00:35:13] So I would anticipate that there's a chance that that even happens today.
[00:35:16] An unreached people group.
[00:35:18] Here's the gospel.
[00:35:19] They give their life for Christ.
[00:35:21] They're filled with the Spirit.
[00:35:22] There's going to be change.
[00:35:25] There's just going to be change.
[00:35:27] You don't receive Christ in the fullness of the Spirit and continue like you were.
[00:35:33] You're reborn.
[00:35:34] You're new.
[00:35:34] There's something different going on.
[00:35:35] Verse 7, There were about twelve men in all, and he entered the synagogue, and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
[00:35:45] But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief,
[00:35:49] Speaking evil of the way.
[00:35:53] Now what he's talking about there is obviously the gospel of Christ, but when Luke's saying the way, he's taking us on a journey saying that there is repentance, there's realizing who Jesus is, there's receiving Jesus and being filled with the Spirit.
[00:36:06] That's the way.
[00:36:07] That's what he's talking about.
[00:36:08] They were speaking evil of the way before the congregation.
[00:36:12] He withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
[00:36:18] This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
[00:36:26] That's an amen moment right there because we're impacted today because of this.
[00:36:31] And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.
[00:36:34] If you want to kind of understand this section underlying at the beginning of that verse, and God was doing.
[00:36:41] That's key to understand what's happening here.
[00:36:44] So that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
[00:36:54] What's happening there?
[00:36:56] Well, you're living in an area that believed in sorcery, you're living in an area that believed in witchcraft,
[00:37:01] You're living in an area that believed in incantations and so God was showing through the simple things that it wasn't the item but there's something behind that item that was driving it.
[00:37:16] And so God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had
[00:37:22] The phrase there literally means God was working not the ordinary kinds of powers through the hands of Paul.
[00:37:33] That's literally how you translate that.
[00:37:36] And Luke is intentional to show us that it's not ritual magic, it's a new method of healing.
[00:37:42] But God's mercy displayed through the simple means.
[00:37:46] The handkerchiefs didn't heal, by the way.
[00:37:50] God did.
[00:37:52] But he chose to show that the Spirit works through surrendered vessels, not the sacred objects.
[00:37:58] What touched Paul carried healing only because Paul himself was touched by God.
[00:38:07] Can I just interject something here?
[00:38:09] This same Spirit that Paul had is the same Spirit that we get.
[00:38:17] Look at verse 13.
[00:38:18] Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to evoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.
[00:38:32] Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this, but the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize.
[00:38:46] But who are you?
[00:38:51] Could you imagine?
[00:38:53] And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
[00:39:03] And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
[00:39:13] Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging
[00:39:18] The Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
[00:39:37] Now after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
[00:39:49] And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Orestes, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
[00:39:59] What an incredible read, but I want to pull back a little bit.
[00:40:04] and look at what's happening here.
[00:40:06] Acts 19 isn't just telling us what happened, it's inviting us to examine what's happening for us today.
[00:40:13] There are several connections to this passage that we just read.
[00:40:16] The book of Acts wasn't necessarily written to be a teaching on doctrine, but there are things that happen here that cause us to question some doctrinal things.
[00:40:26] So Luke places four moments side by side in Acts 19.
[00:40:31] Number one,
[00:40:32] The twelve disciples who needed the Spirit.
[00:40:36] The extraordinary miracles God worked through Paul.
[00:40:41] The sons of Sceva who tried to use Jesus' name without knowing Him.
[00:40:48] The new believers who were so transformed that they burned their books of magic.
[00:40:55] Luke does this to show the contrast between empty religion
[00:41:00] and Spirit-filled faith.
[00:41:03] Sincere people can have real gaps in their understanding.
[00:41:08] Superstitious people can try to manipulate spiritual power, but Spirit-filled disciples live in the fullness of Christ and display real change and real power.
[00:41:22] This is the challenge before us today to look at.
[00:41:26] John's baptism prepared people for repentance, but only Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection and the gift of the Spirit bring transformation.
[00:41:36] Have you been transformed today?
[00:41:37] Are you living a new life?
[00:41:40] Luke wants us to see that Christianity is not about knowing the right things or performing the right rituals.
[00:41:47] It is about being filled with the right Spirit, the Spirit of the living Christ.
[00:41:53] And this begs us to examine ourselves.
[00:41:55] We need to take a look at where we are.
[00:41:57] It challenged me as I was reading through this, and I saw the four accounts, and I saw that there was a difference between those who were filled with the Spirit and those who weren't.
[00:42:07] And then I started thinking about us today, who claim Christianity but walk around with an Eeyore attitude, an Eeyore mentality of, well, I guess God will bless me one day.
[00:42:20] Did that sound like Eeyore?
[00:42:23] It was close, wasn't it?
[00:42:25] Not that I'm a Winnie the Pooh fan or anything, but I just thought I'd try that.
[00:42:29] So what I want to do is I want to walk through several questions we can ask ourselves to see where we stand with Christ.
[00:42:39] Number one, have I actually received the Spirit?
[00:42:46] Have I actually received the Spirit?
[00:42:50] Look again at verse 2.
[00:42:51] We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
[00:42:56] These were religious men, moral men, spiritual men, but they did not have the Spirit.
[00:43:02] Listen, you can have spiritual memories, you can have a church background, you can have years of attendance, you can have moral intentions and not have the Spirit of Christ.
[00:43:14] This explains why so many feel spiritually numb and powerless today.
[00:43:19] Because godly spiritual life without the Spirit of Christ is impossible.
[00:43:29] This is not throwing down a hard word.
[00:43:32] This is clarity.
[00:43:35] You have felt powerless in your walk with Christ because you've understood what repentance is, but you didn't know about this component of inviting Christ into your life, the living Savior, to fill you with the Spirit.
[00:43:51] Are you living religious or are you living relationship?
[00:43:55] That's the difference.
[00:43:56] Number two, am I trying to live for God in my own strength?
[00:44:02] When we
[00:44:05] Went through the book of Mark not too long ago.
[00:44:08] We came to an account in which the disciples tried to cast out a demon.
[00:44:12] I don't know if you remember this.
[00:44:13] It's in Mark chapter 9.
[00:44:14] They tried to cast out a demon and they failed.
[00:44:19] And then they wanted to ask Jesus about it.
[00:44:20] So this is where we look at what it says in Mark 9 verse 28.
[00:44:24] And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out?
[00:44:30] And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
[00:44:36] What is he saying there?
[00:44:37] What's the meaning there?
[00:44:38] He's saying you acted without dependence on me.
[00:44:45] You tried on your own strength.
[00:44:49] You assumed ability without abiding.
[00:44:53] You forgot your power comes from My Spirit, not you.
[00:44:59] Many Christians today try harder, grind more, perform better, push more, but they never actually surrender.
[00:45:10] Do you know the first step of being a disciple of Christ is surrendering?
[00:45:15] Surrendering who you are.
[00:45:17] Surrendering your life.
[00:45:18] Surrendering your all.
[00:45:19] 100% saying, I am yours.
[00:45:25] Surrender.
[00:45:25] You can't do it on your own.
[00:45:27] You cannot accomplish spirit work in flesh power.
[00:45:39] Number three.
[00:45:41] Does my authority come from belonging?
[00:45:46] There's another account of many of Jesus' disciples who went out and they were able to cast out demons and they got excited about it.
[00:45:54] In fact, it's in Luke chapter 10 and this is what it says.
[00:45:59] The 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
[00:46:04] And Jesus immediately redirected them.
[00:46:09] He redirected them in this way.
[00:46:10] This is what he said in Luke 10, 20.
[00:46:12] Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
[00:46:20] Why is he throwing that curveball?
[00:46:22] Why is he throwing that twist?
[00:46:23] It's because he's saying your authority actually is coming from the identity that you have in me.
[00:46:32] Not your performance, not your gifting, not your charisma, not your knowledge, but because you belong to Jesus.
[00:46:41] This is why the Twelve in Acts 19 had no power.
[00:46:44] They had not yet believed in Jesus.
[00:46:48] They did not have the Spirit.
[00:46:51] Does my authority come from my belonging?
[00:46:58] Purchased, bought, surrendered.
[00:47:02] to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
[00:47:06] Number four, am I using Jesus' name without submitting to Jesus' Lordship?
[00:47:14] Now we come to this sobering part of the account for us in Acts 19, verses 13 through 17, where we see the sons of Sceva.
[00:47:24] They attempt to cast out a demon by saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.
[00:47:32] They tried to use a name that they did not obey.
[00:47:40] They were borrowing authority.
[00:47:42] They were borrowing faith.
[00:47:44] They were borrowing vocabulary.
[00:47:46] And the demon responds with this terrifying clarity, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?
[00:47:55] That is the sound that we get back of a Christian life without the Spirit.
[00:48:00] That is the sound of a name we speak but a Lord we do not surrender to.
[00:48:05] The demons do not fear a fake Christianity that does not live.
[00:48:12] They do not fear our use of a name we do not honor.
[00:48:18] They do not fear a Spirit we do not walk in.
[00:48:22] And this is a warning.
[00:48:25] But it's also an invitation.
[00:48:29] No more borrowed spirituality.
[00:48:32] No more living off of someone else's spiritual walk.
[00:48:36] So don't borrow the spirituality.
[00:48:38] Don't lean on your parents.
[00:48:39] Don't lean on a spouse.
[00:48:42] Don't lean on family.
[00:48:43] No more borrowed spirituality.
[00:48:46] No more second hand faith.
[00:48:48] No more using Jesus' name without surrendering to Jesus' Lordship in your life.
[00:48:57] Number five, am I grieving or quenching the Spirit?
[00:49:04] Acts 19 verses 18 through 19, you see that believers begin confessing their sins.
[00:49:11] They burn their idols.
[00:49:13] They surrender what held them captive.
[00:49:17] This right here, even though it doesn't use the word, this is revival.
[00:49:22] This is people coming before the Lord.
[00:49:23] It's an awakening.
[00:49:24] It's the Spirit at work in their hearts.
[00:49:29] Some Christians feel spiritually stuck not because God is absent, but because they refuse to surrender something that grieves Him.
[00:49:40] Listen, you cannot cling to what kills you and then blame God that you feel dead.
[00:49:54] The Spirit feels what we surrender.
[00:49:58] Not what we hide.
[00:50:04] So here's what we ask.
[00:50:06] Where am I in this story?
[00:50:12] Let's take the mirror and lift it to our own faces for just a moment.
[00:50:20] The 12 men, sincere but empty.
[00:50:28] The disciples in Mark 9, willing but prayerless.
[00:50:36] The disciples in Luke 10, effective because they belonged.
[00:50:44] Or the sons of Sceva, active but unauthorized.
[00:50:52] Where are you?
[00:50:54] Where is the Spirit calling you to surrender today?
[00:50:58] Where is He calling you to trust?
[00:51:00] Where is He calling you to finally walk in Him, not around Him?
[00:51:04] This moment in Acts 19 ends beautifully.
[00:51:09] They believe the Gospel, they receive the Spirit, and they step into fullness.
[00:51:19] This can happen today for you.
[00:51:23] I assess there's going to be three responses.
[00:51:27] To this particular topic today.
[00:51:32] One, some just need to be saved.
[00:51:38] You have never given your life to Christ.
[00:51:42] You're here because you are nodding nice towards someone that encouraged you to be here.
[00:51:50] But is it possible that God used to get you here today for the first time, you feel it right here?
[00:51:57] That emptiness suddenly has just become real to you.
[00:52:03] And suddenly all of the excuses that you've used to put off giving your life to Christ is starting to pale.
[00:52:10] It's starting to seem a little bit less than.
[00:52:13] And you're thinking, you know what?
[00:52:14] I never have given my life to Christ.
[00:52:17] You've had religion, but not regeneration.
[00:52:19] You've had repentance, but not Jesus.
[00:52:21] You've had conviction, but never been filled or changed with the Spirit.
[00:52:26] And today is the day of salvation, is what the Bible says.
[00:52:29] You realize it?
[00:52:30] Respond.
[00:52:34] Believe in Jesus and receive the Spirit.
[00:52:39] Are you someone today that just needs to be saved?
[00:52:47] Second type of thought process that can come out of this is some need to repent.
[00:52:54] There is something you know that's in your life that's grieving the Spirit.
[00:52:59] A sin, a habit, a secret, a compromise, or a bitterness, just to name a few.
[00:53:08] You need to lay it down.
[00:53:11] You need to burn it like in Acts 19.
[00:53:14] You need to give Jesus the thing that is killing your joy.
[00:53:19] And then the third type of people in here are some need to surrender.
[00:53:30] You've been living the Christian life in your own strength.
[00:53:34] You've been prayerless, dependent on yourself.
[00:53:42] Kudos for you.
[00:53:43] You're strong.
[00:53:45] You're brave, but without Christ you're missing it.
[00:53:50] Carrying burdens not meant for your own shoulders.
[00:53:54] And today, you need to say to the Holy Spirit, Fill me again, lead me, empower me, strengthen me.
[00:54:01] And here's why.
[00:54:03] Because the Spirit-filled life is not achieved, it's received.
[00:54:12] Listen, from the very beginning,
[00:54:16] God's desire has never been to distant Himself from followers.
[00:54:25] He doesn't want us to be religious observers.
[00:54:29] His heart has always been for relationships.
[00:54:35] He created us to know Him, to walk with Him, to live in His presence.
[00:54:42] Even when sin separated us, God pursued us.
[00:54:47] Through the cross of Jesus Christ, He removed every barrier between us and Himself.
[00:54:52] Not so we could carry a set of rules or a set of guidelines for us or a set of beliefs, but so we could be filled with the Spirit and live a life full of who He is.
[00:55:06] God does not want you operating on borrowed faith or spiritual effort.
[00:55:14] He wants you to experience His presence.
[00:55:17] His voice, His power, His love, and His leading in a personal relationship.
[00:55:27] The gospel is not merely the story of you being forgiven.
[00:55:32] It's the story of God making His home in us through the Spirit so that we can walk in Him every day.
[00:55:44] God is not asking
[00:55:47] For our performance, He is inviting us into His presence.
[00:56:18] Let's pray.
[00:56:35] Father, you want us to shine for you.
[00:56:41] There is no way on this earth we can do it without you.
[00:56:49] Jesus, there are people that understand things about the faith and following you, but have never surrendered their life to you, never given wholeheartedly to you, never chose to walk with you.
[00:57:03] It may be fear.
[00:57:04] It may be confusion.
[00:57:05] It may be pride.
[00:57:07] I don't know what it is.
[00:57:08] I love the fact that you can meet each soul in this room and in the video venue or listening online.
[00:57:14] You can meet each soul where they are because you know exactly what their struggle is.
[00:57:27] Father, we're supposed to be a different people walking in this world with a biblical worldview, not because we're great or because we've figured something out, but because we're filled with your Spirit through your Son, Jesus.
[00:57:40] We don't claim it enough.
[00:57:43] We get in its way.
[00:57:47] We forget that we're walking in your power and your authority.
[00:57:53] But then again, some have never experienced it because they've never given their life to you.
[00:58:05] So here's my ask, God.
[00:58:10] My ask is that you meet each person in this room right now.
[00:58:16] That your spirit comes face to face with each of us.
[00:58:20] and you clearly show us where we are with you and in so doing give us the next steps because I know you love us right where we are and because of that love you refuse to leave us there help us to be responsive help us to take it serious
[00:58:51] and help us from this day forward to walk in and with you.
[00:58:57] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:59:00] Amen.
[00:59:02] Here's what I'm going to do.
[00:59:04] We don't do it often, but today I'm actually going to open the altar.
[00:59:10] We will claim the front of this room and the front of the video venue as an altar for those who need to do business with God today.
[00:59:23] But let me encourage you in this.
[00:59:24] If you've never given your life to Christ, I want you to do more than just come down and kneel.
[00:59:29] There will be pastors at the front of both rooms, and I want you to come to a pastor and you say, I need Christ today.
[00:59:38] So that that pastor can hear you pray the prayer of asking Jesus into your life.
[00:59:45] Why do we do that?
[00:59:46] Well, it's significant.
[00:59:47] It's a physical thing that we do that makes it more real to us.
[00:59:51] That's why Paul lays his hands on people to say we're laying hands.
[00:59:55] It's a physical thing that brings us into the spiritual thought process.
[01:00:02] If you need to surrender,
[01:00:04] If you need to confess things to the Lord, you need to burn things at the altar, today's the day to do that and you need to do it right down here on your knees.
[01:00:12] If you need to give your life to Christ, today's the day to do that and you come forward and you find me or Pastor Mark that'll be right over here and you say, I need Jesus.
[01:00:28] This little light of ours
[01:00:32] will not shine if we're not plugged in.
[01:00:38] So as we sing together, if God tells you to move, you move.
[01:00:44] Let's all stand.

[01:01:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
[01:01:18] He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time.
[01:01:28] Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
[01:01:38] And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough And I trust in God, my Savior, the One
[01:01:56] Who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God my Savior
[01:02:22] He will never fail And perfect submission And all is at rest I know the author of tomorrow Has ordered my steps
[01:02:50] So this is my story and this is my song I'm praising my risen King and Savior all the day long And I trust in God, my Savior, the one
[01:03:24] He will never fail and I trust in God my Savior the one who will never fail He will never fail
[01:03:56] I trust you Perfect submission All is at rest
[01:04:21] I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps So this is my story And this is my song I'm praising my risen King and Savior all the day long
[01:04:51] And I trust in God, my Savior, the one Who will never fail He will never fail And I trust in God, my Savior, the one
[01:05:29] I will trust you God
[01:06:30] I trust in God my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail trust I trust in God my Savior the one who will never
[01:07:05] What an incredible time of worship.

[01:07:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen?
[01:07:19] Praise the Lord.
[01:07:20] Praise the Lord.
[01:07:21] Just wanted to remind everyone that this evening, beginning at 5 o'clock, we're going to have our annual Thanksgiving parade.
[01:07:33] You're leading, right?
[01:07:34] Yeah, okay.
[01:07:36] Thanksgiving meal, now that I've got your attention, okay, we just do ask that you come and you just bring your family, but we also, too, want to make one more special ask, and that's that you bring a dessert.
[01:07:47] And in that dessert, you want to make sure that it's chocolate, okay?
[01:07:50] That's just a personal request.
[01:07:53] But all seriousness, do bring a dessert and make sure that it is in a container that we can just throw away whenever everything is over tonight.
[01:08:00] Kind of making everything to clean up as far as that's concerned, making that easy.
[01:08:03] But if it needs cutting, make sure you cut them in big pieces.
[01:08:07] That's another ask, okay?
[01:08:10] Now that I've totally botched that announcement, I'm pretty sure you're not going to forget it.
[01:08:14] But as always, we want to close our service quoting God's Word as we walk out this door.
[01:08:19] So follow along with me, say this along with me in Galatians chapter 5 beginning in verse number 25.
[01:08:25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
[01:08:32] We are sent.

[01:29:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
And we wanted to talk about our time at Peninsula.
[01:29:51] So we've been coming here for about five years.
[01:29:56] I remember it as we came just pre-COVID and then COVID and then all the things and then I kind of was okay with doing church at home and watching it online and sitting in bed and we didn't have to leave and you know breakfast was long and slow and it was great.
[01:30:14] Lindsay actually likes people and convinced me that it was good to come to the church.

[01:30:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
We came to Peninsula mostly because of the youth and the children's program.
[01:30:26] We had friends that were here and they just could not say enough amazing things about the program.
[01:30:31] So we decided to check it out and after a few weeks we both realized this was it.
[01:30:35] This was our home that we had been missing for so long.

[01:30:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
and at the time we didn't have a youth group kid but we knew we were going to and so we wanted to make sure that we were you know kind of setting them up to be in this amazing youth group that we heard lots about from friends and neighbors so we got plugged in pretty quickly to kind of everything you were doing preschool and elementary and we were ready with the youth and i was working with the youth and teaching adult sunday school we felt more like this is a home church than we had in a really long time
[01:31:07] and as the kids are involved in all ages of ministries here it's just been really good to make connections with people some of us more than others and that's okay but it feels like this is the church that we call home

[01:31:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I think for our kids, the Awanis program, the youth group, the children's ministry has been huge.
[01:31:30] They've come home learning Bible verses, just having adults pouring into them that aren't us, sometimes that they listen to better than us.
[01:31:37] It has been really, really awesome, and knowing that they're all grounded in Christ and follow the same values that we have is awesome.
[01:31:45] And I think
[01:31:46] Having Daniel preaching straight from the Word every week, you know, just what the Bible says, what Scripture says, without watering it down, without, you know, trying to conform to culture of today's society, I think has been such a nice thing.

[01:32:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I think for me, I get to teach with the youth group.
[01:32:04] This year I have the 10th grade boys, or teach a Sunday morning connect group, and that forces me to be in the text.
[01:32:11] And so I feel like I grow more because I have to be able to share it to somebody else.

[01:32:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Obviously we're considering expanding and that's super exciting and as somebody that has worked both in preschool and children's ministry and youth and have been displaced from the video venue I'm super excited about the expanded space that we're going to have.
[01:32:32] We had I think Katrina said over 50 kindergarteners move up from preschool to elementary school and it has been
[01:32:39] Awesome and chaotic, to say the least, trying to fit us all into different spaces.
[01:32:46] So I'm really excited about going back to having dedicated ministry space for the different things.
[01:32:52] But I just love the church's heart for not only reaching our community and our church, but their heart for supporting other churches, for planting new churches, for sending missionaries, and that.

[01:33:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
The church is saturated and that's good.
[01:33:09] The building's being used seven days a week and all the spaces are being used.
[01:33:13] Looking for this big new space to be able to all be in together again, kind of all as a corporate worship, but also the ministries and events that happen during the week in the evenings or the preschool and just being able to give more space to more people.
[01:33:27] But just the more we get to be a beacon in the community, the better.
[01:33:31] And I think this new venue is going to be just another kind of bright light in Mooresville.

[01:33:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We're the Auburners and we love our church.

[01:36:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Well, good morning to everyone.
[01:36:41] Hope you're having a great morning.
[01:36:43] I know that I am.
[01:36:44] It's been great to walk through the hallways and to rub elbows with people and say hello and smile.
[01:36:49] And the numerous times that I heard Happy Thanksgiving.
[01:36:51] Can you believe that Thanksgiving is here?
[01:36:53] Well, time-wise you're probably struggling, but weather-wise you're probably struggling with that fact too.
[01:36:58] But anyway, Happy Thanksgiving if I don't get a chance to tell you before it happens.
[01:37:02] Today we're going into Acts 19 and we're talking about walking in the Spirit.
[01:37:08] More so, we're talking about walking in the Spirit and why people miss the mark on what that means.
[01:37:13] Why we don't walk in the power of who the Spirit is.
[01:37:15] So glad that you're here today.
[01:37:17] I know that you are going to worship in song because we know that worship is by the Spirit and through the Spirit and with the Spirit and as we sing our songs I pray that it'll be my prayer here in just a moment that we actually sing from the heart and that God is glorified and honored in our worship here today.
[01:37:35] So in both rooms if you would stand and let me lead us in prayer and then we will
[01:37:40] Start our time in worship here this morning.
[01:37:43] Let's pray together.
[01:37:43] Father, we thank you so much for your grace and mercy that greets us here today.
[01:37:48] You are a God that never sleeps and never slumbers.
[01:37:50] You hold us at night while we're sleeping.
[01:37:52] You greet us in the morning when we wake up.
[01:37:54] And we pray that our hearts would be able to worship you today in truth and in spirit.
[01:37:59] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:38:01] Amen.

[01:38:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
We remind that the highest King would welcome me I was lost but He brought me in His love for me For His love for me
[01:38:35] The sun sets free Oh it's free indeed I'm a child of God Yes I am And at last He has ransomed me
[01:38:56] Jesus raised from the dead I was a slave to sin Jesus died for me Yes, He died for me Through the sun sets to me All is free indeed I'm a child of God
[01:39:30] There's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am I am frozen, not forsaken, I am who you say I am You are for me, not against me
[01:39:59] I am who you say I am I am chosen not forsaken I am who you say I am You are for me not against me I am who you say I am
[01:40:27] Holy Spirit in me, I'm a child of God, yes I am.
[01:40:44] In my Father's house there's a
[01:40:59] There's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes I am.
[01:41:33] I am who you say I am You are for me, not against me I am who you say I am I am chosen, not forsaken I am who you say I am You are for me, not against me
[01:42:06] Prophesy, Prophecy, Prophecy, Prophecy, Prophecy,
[01:42:33] Whatever you say I am

[01:43:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Oh I love the place
[01:43:54] of Calvary.
[01:43:57] He declares His work is finished.
[01:44:01] He has spoken this hope to me.

[01:44:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Though the sun has ceased its shining, though the war of years is lost, Christ hath triumphed over evil.
[01:44:33] The curse, it has been broken Jesus paid the price for me
[01:44:56] In Jesus' righteousness there is no more guilt to carry It was finished upon death
[01:45:27] Death was once my great abode Fear once had a hold on me But the Son who died to save us Rose that we would be free indeed
[01:45:53] Friends was once my great opponent Fear once had a hold on me But the Son who died to save me
[01:46:19] God is free to live and free to love Death is dead and Christ is risen It was finished upon that cross Onward to eternal glory To my Savior
[01:46:45] Rejoice in Jesus' victory It was finished upon that day

[01:47:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
So we continue to worship.
[01:47:28] Let's just show Jesus our gratitude.
[01:47:31] Let's just give Him everything we've got.
[01:47:32] Let's just worship Him.
[01:47:41] Church, sing out.

[01:47:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
All my words for sure I've got nothing new How could I
[01:47:56] All my gratitude I could sing these songs
[01:48:07] As I often do Every song must end But you never do So I'll grow up my hands I'll praise you again and again
[01:48:29] All that I have is a Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I've nothing else been for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah
[01:49:03] I've got one response I've got just one move With my arms stretched wide I will worship you So I throw up my hands I'll praise you again and again Cause all that I have
[01:49:35] Hallelujah and I know it's not much I'm nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah
[01:50:07] Sing out!
[01:50:08] Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs Get up and praise the Lord Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song
[01:50:33] You've got a lion inside of those numbers Get up and praise the Lord Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your soul You've got a lion inside of those numbers Get up and praise the Lord

[01:51:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
All that I have is a heart in you, a heart in you And I know it's not much, I've nothing else before you Except for a heart sincere

[01:52:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Lord, as we continue in worship, God, may you get all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor for us in Jesus' name.
[01:52:32] Amen.
[01:52:32] You may be seated.

[01:53:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Thank you.
[01:53:15] Thank you for singing out.
[01:53:17] It always blesses my heart when we can join together in corporate worship.
[01:53:20] Thank you, worship team, for leading us in the way you do.
[01:53:22] What a joy.
[01:53:24] Today we're coming out of Acts 19.
[01:53:26] Before we do, I want to kind of recommend a book for you to read.
[01:53:30] It's a fairly easy read.
[01:53:32] You may have some questions about the Holy Spirit and how the Trinity works after today.
[01:53:37] And I just want to recommend this book to you.
[01:53:40] I think we have a couple copies in the Resource Center.
[01:53:42] It's titled Friendship with God.
[01:53:44] It is written by Mike McKinley.
[01:53:48] What he's done is he has gone and he has read a book called Communion with God.
[01:53:53] that was written in 1650 in Old English style by John Owen, which is almost an impossible read for me.
[01:54:03] But he has taken that and he's put it in here in simple form for me to be able to read on a nice fifth grade level.
[01:54:08] And I'm like, yes, I love it.
[01:54:10] Anyway, I want to recommend that book to you because today you may have some questions about the Trinity, about how the Spirit plays into that, and it's handled well in that book.
[01:54:17] So I wanted to offer that to you as well.
[01:54:20] And yes, I do have a lamp on the stage, and we're going to talk about that in just a few moments as we tie it in to the message.
[01:54:27] Had a guy one time...
[01:54:29] I break into my house and steal all my lamps and somebody said, I bet you're angry about that.
[01:54:32] And I said, actually I'm delighted.
[01:54:39] Anybody want to write that one down?
[01:54:41] I'll repeat it for you later if you need me to.
[01:54:45] Today we're coming out of Acts 19 and I want to kind of set this up before we dive into it.
[01:54:50] I want to ask the question about walking in the Spirit.
[01:54:53] Have you ever wondered why so many Christians today feel spiritually stuck?
[01:55:00] Like, spiritually dry.
[01:55:04] Like, God's not moving.
[01:55:05] They read their Bibles, they attend church, they do the right things, they say the right things, they want to change, they want to grow, they want to be faithful, but inside they're powerless, exhausted, dry, and frustrated.
[01:55:22] I know we've heard people say things before that makes us think of that, like, I've tried everything.
[01:55:28] Something still feels off.
[01:55:31] Why don't I feel close to God?
[01:55:32] Why can't I get victory over this?
[01:55:35] And you've heard people say that, and I would kind of say that probably we've all said those things from time to time.
[01:55:41] And maybe, maybe that's where you are today.
[01:55:48] Maybe you're thinking this faith in Christ thing is not what you thought it was going to be because it's just seeming to miss for you.
[01:55:58] And so we're going to talk through that.
[01:56:00] We're going to walk through the text today.
[01:56:02] But here's a truth that we rarely say out loud.
[01:56:05] Not that we're trying to avoid it.
[01:56:07] It's just not talked about.
[01:56:08] It's this.
[01:56:09] You cannot live the Christian life without the Spirit of Christ.
[01:56:13] And many people are trying to.
[01:56:20] We have here a floor lamp.
[01:56:24] It stands like a lamp.
[01:56:26] It looks like a lamp.
[01:56:28] Ooh, the lampshade's bent.
[01:56:34] There we go.
[01:56:36] It has a lampshade.
[01:56:39] You would call this a lamp, would you not?
[01:56:42] Does this look like a lamp to you?
[01:56:44] So if I said, what is that?
[01:56:45] You would say, it's a... Alright.
[01:56:53] Heard the click.
[01:56:58] If people were to be honest, many would say what the men said in Acts 19.
[01:57:05] We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
[01:57:09] Not in words maybe, but definitely in experience.
[01:57:15] Acts 19 is a mirror for us today.
[01:57:18] It reveals why so many sincere believers feel spiritually frustrated.
[01:57:25] And I hope today's message will not only impact today as we listen to it and as we walk through it, but it'll walk with us this week and into the future.
[01:57:35] Because so many people struggle with what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
[01:57:41] But what we're going to see today is it's not about getting more of the Spirit.
[01:57:46] It's about the Spirit getting more of us.
[01:57:50] And so that's where we're going to land in Acts 19 verses 1 through 22.
[01:57:56] You follow along with me as I read out loud.
[01:57:59] And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.
[01:58:07] There he found some disciples, and he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
[01:58:16] And they said, and I want you to catch this because if you look at the original text and the way all of the paratives and imperatives, all those kind of things go together,
[01:58:25] There's a sense of frustration in what they're saying.
[01:58:28] No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
[01:58:34] And he said, into what then were you baptized?
[01:58:39] They said, into John's baptism.
[01:58:43] Isn't it shocking that we're hearing more of just how far the reach of John the Baptist's message of repentance had gone?
[01:58:51] We thought that John the Baptist was just a guy that appeared in the Gospels and once Jesus hit the scene, but he was so influential that his disciples were even spreading out and spreading his word on beyond.
[01:59:05] They said, into John's baptism, and Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Christ.
[01:59:16] Jesus.
[01:59:17] That last phrase, that is Jesus, here's what I want you to do.
[01:59:20] I want you to underline it once.
[01:59:22] I want you to underline it a second time.
[01:59:24] I want you to circle it.
[01:59:25] I want you to take out your highlighter and highlight it.
[01:59:27] I want you to draw a line to it and a star because that is key.
[01:59:34] That's the key to where we're talking about today.
[01:59:36] So I want to pause for just a second and talk about John the Baptist before we continue on to read
[01:59:42] Paul says something incredibly important that I don't want us to miss.
[01:59:46] Number one, John's ministry was good, but it was not enough.
[01:59:53] You ever feel that way about your walk with Christ?
[01:59:56] It's good, but it's just really not enough.
[02:00:00] There's a reason behind that.
[02:00:03] John the Baptist's ministry was God-ordained, it was powerful, it was awakening, it was prophetic, but it was preparation, not transformation.
[02:00:15] John could call people to repentance, but he could not bring anyone into regeneration.
[02:00:27] John could clean the outside, but he could not change the inside.
[02:00:30] He could point toward Jesus, but he could not unite anyone to Jesus.
[02:00:36] And this is exactly where many people claiming Christianity still live today.
[02:00:42] Paul says John offered a baptism of repentance.
[02:00:45] That's a desire to start fresh.
[02:00:48] That's a desire to turn from sin, to get life together.
[02:00:52] But repentance alone cannot save.
[02:00:56] Repentance turns you from sin, Jesus fills you with the Spirit.
[02:01:08] You know the verse, oh I stand at the door and knock, if anyone open?
[02:01:16] Well repentance opens the door and Jesus walks through.
[02:01:24] I wonder how many people have gone to that repentance moment and opened the door of their heart but never really fully surrendered, never really fully opened their heart to invite Jesus in and to take over.
[02:01:36] And then Paul continues telling people to believe in the one who was to come after him.
[02:01:41] John wasn't calling people to moral reform.
[02:01:45] He wasn't calling them to self-improvement or religious duty.
[02:01:49] A try-harder life.
[02:01:50] He was calling them to anticipation or expectation and turning away from sin in order to turn toward someone.
[02:02:00] Then Paul finishes with the most important phrase, that is Jesus.
[02:02:07] This is the missing piece in many people's lives.
[02:02:10] That is the answer to their spiritual frustration.
[02:02:13] Think about it.
[02:02:15] These 12 men, they had repentance.
[02:02:19] They had sincerity, they had conviction, and they had a spiritual background.
[02:02:27] But they did not have Jesus.
[02:02:32] They did not have the Spirit.
[02:02:33] They had been awakened, but they had not been reborn.
[02:02:39] They were moral, most likely, they were not transformed though, and this is where many
[02:02:47] Claiming to follow Christ today quietly live.
[02:02:53] They try harder.
[02:02:56] They feel bad about sin.
[02:02:58] They make promises.
[02:03:01] They pursue fresh starts, but they never step into the life Jesus actually gives.
[02:03:09] And the result is exhaustion, frustration, dryness, powerlessness.
[02:03:18] And because repentance without Jesus, we need to understand, is going to lead ultimately to exhaustion with the whole faith thing.
[02:03:29] Repentance with Jesus leads to transformation by the Spirit.
[02:03:34] You could put it this way, John was the preview and Jesus is the movie.
[02:03:41] John was pointing the way to the person who was the way and Jesus is the way.
[02:03:47] That's what all of Scripture points to.
[02:03:50] Jesus being the way.
[02:03:53] Our life does not change until our repentance leads us to Jesus and Jesus fills us with the Spirit.
[02:04:00] And so here's what Luke is showing us.
[02:04:02] These men weren't rebellious.
[02:04:03] They weren't cold.
[02:04:05] They weren't running from God.
[02:04:09] I would say that they were sincere but incomplete.
[02:04:14] Religious.
[02:04:15] but not regenerated, repentant but not filled, awakened but not alive.
[02:04:24] They had turned from sin but not to Jesus.
[02:04:30] They had the beginnings of faith and not the fullness of the Spirit.
[02:04:37] So many claiming Christianity feel spiritually stuck because they're living in repentance without renewal.
[02:04:46] Conviction without transformation.
[02:04:51] Activity without power and proximity to the truth without surrender to Christ.
[02:04:59] This is why Paul asked them and why Paul is asking us the most important diagnostic question that we can ever ask ourselves.
[02:05:09] Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
[02:05:15] Did you grow up in church?
[02:05:18] Not did you pray a prayer once?
[02:05:21] Not did you go to church camp?
[02:05:23] Not did you turn over a new moral leaf?
[02:05:26] But are you walking in the Spirit?
[02:05:30] That's the testimony of someone who's been transformed in Christ.
[02:05:36] And so many people who struggle today say, I've done the repentance thing, I've prayed the prayer, but they never have fully surrendered their heart to Christ and invited Him in and allowed the Spirit to take hold and to lead.
[02:05:50] So many people who claim Christianity are walking powerless because they've never surrendered completely to who He is.
[02:05:57] So let's go on.
[02:06:00] Verse 5.
[02:06:02] This is their response.
[02:06:03] On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
[02:06:14] Paul's there for just a moment.
[02:06:16] There was no magic in Paul's hands other than the fact that he was giving them a physical sign so that they could be spiritually changed.
[02:06:24] That, by the way, is what many churches do, which we will offer today, when you physically move and come to the altar.
[02:06:33] It's a physical move to say something spiritual.
[02:06:36] That's what Paul's doing when he places his hands on them.
[02:06:39] The prophesying and speaking in tongues apparently is the mode of operation when the Holy Spirit moves in people's lives who've never heard the gospel before.
[02:06:49] I would entertain the fact that it probably happens even to this day when you reach an unreached people group with the gospel and suddenly they're filled with the Holy Spirit.
[02:06:58] They are going to change.
[02:07:03] We should have been changed when we prayed a prayer to invite Jesus into our hearts.
[02:07:15] There were about twelve men in all, and he entered the synagogue, and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
[02:07:23] But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, that's an interesting way to put it.
[02:07:35] He wasn't saying they were speaking evil about Jesus.
[02:07:38] They were speaking evil about the true gospel from Genesis to Revelation.
[02:07:43] The fact that God created, that we fell, that we're sinful, that before God we cannot come into His presence, that Jesus came and He walked on earth and He died on our behalf and He rose again and defeated death and now He sends His Spirit to walk in us.
[02:07:58] That's the way.
[02:07:59] It's a total package thing.
[02:08:02] And they were speaking evil of the way before the congregation.
[02:08:05] He withdrew from them and took the disciples with Him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
[02:08:11] This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
[02:08:19] That's a moment of thanksgiving right there because that impacts us today.
[02:08:25] The fact that the Jews and the Greeks in the Asia area were hearing the gospel.
[02:08:30] And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
[02:08:47] Let me make sure we understand what's happening here before we pull things out and run away with the whole idea of what we think we can do here.
[02:08:57] The key to this is God.
[02:09:00] was working.
[02:09:01] And if you translate this literally, then it's translated like this.
[02:09:05] The phrase literally reads like this.
[02:09:07] God was working not the ordinary kinds of powers through the hands of Paul.
[02:09:16] That's really what's being said there.
[02:09:19] And Luke is intentional to show us that it's not some kind of ritual magic.
[02:09:24] It's a new method of healing.
[02:09:27] You've got to keep in mind in context
[02:09:29] This is a particular place where witchcraft and sorcery was practiced all the time.
[02:09:38] And so I believe God was allowing this to be shown so it would grab people's attention, because you're going to see what is said here in just a moment.
[02:09:47] But God was showing mercy, His mercy displayed through simple means.
[02:09:51] And the handkerchiefs didn't heal, God did.
[02:09:54] But he chose to show us that the Spirit works through surrendered vessels, not sacred objects.
[02:10:00] What's my point?
[02:10:02] What touched Paul carried healing only because Paul himself was touched by God.
[02:10:11] That's what's going on there.
[02:10:13] That's the power of the Spirit.
[02:10:15] And that's what many of us miss.
[02:10:16] Can I just say this?
[02:10:19] If you miss everything else I say, understand this.
[02:10:24] Marinate on this for the week.
[02:10:27] The exact same spirit that Paul had when he gave his life to Christ is the exact same spirit that we have when we give our life to Christ.
[02:10:44] Verse 13.
[02:10:45] Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to evoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.
[02:11:00] Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this, but the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?
[02:11:14] That had to be chilling.
[02:11:17] And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
[02:11:29] And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks.
[02:11:34] And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
[02:11:40] Also many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices.
[02:11:49] And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.
[02:11:56] And they counted the value of them to be found.
[02:11:59] It came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
[02:12:02] So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
[02:12:06] Now after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
[02:12:20] And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Orestes, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
[02:12:31] Acts 19 isn't just telling us what happened.
[02:12:38] It's inviting us to examine ourselves as to what's happening now.
[02:12:45] There are several connections to this passage that we've just read today.
[02:12:48] The book of Acts wasn't written necessarily as a strong teaching on doctrine.
[02:12:54] However, it does cause us to raise questions about some doctrine.
[02:12:59] And Luke, here in this particular text that we read today, he takes four moments and places them side by side
[02:13:07] Number one, the twelve disciples who needed the Spirit.
[02:13:12] Number two, the extraordinary miracles God worked through Paul.
[02:13:16] Number three, the sons of Sceva who tried to use Jesus' name without knowing Him.
[02:13:23] And number four, the new believers who were so transformed that they burned their books of magic.
[02:13:29] Four moments there that he brings together side by side and what Luke is doing here is he's showing us the contrast between empty religion and Spirit-filled faith.
[02:13:44] Sincere people, church sincere people can have gaps.
[02:13:50] in their understanding.
[02:13:52] Superstitious people can try to manipulate spiritual power, but Spirit-filled disciples live in the fullness of Christ and display real change.
[02:14:05] That's why you hear me say, are you the same today that you were last Sunday, spiritually speaking?
[02:14:13] If you haven't grown some, you haven't changed some, you haven't reoriented your life in some way this week, or you haven't stood more firm or more boldly in some way, is there a gap in you understanding being filled with the Spirit?
[02:14:31] So John's baptism prepared people for repentance.
[02:14:35] But the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit brings transformation.
[02:14:45] Luke wants us to see that Christianity is not about knowing the right things or performing the right rituals.
[02:14:52] It's about being filled with the right Spirit, the Spirit of Christ living within us.
[02:15:00] So what does this do?
[02:15:01] This begs for us to examine ourselves.
[02:15:07] So I want to walk through several questions, kind of like a diagnostic questions that we can ask ourselves to see where we stand with Christ.
[02:15:19] And I'll trust the Spirit to do the rest.
[02:15:24] Number one, have I actually received the Spirit?
[02:15:33] In Luke 2 we see He says,
[02:15:35] They say, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
[02:15:39] These men were religious, they were moral, as best I can tell, spiritual men, but they did not have the Spirit.
[02:15:48] Listen, you can have spiritual memories, church background, years of attendance, moral intention, and not have the Spirit of Christ.
[02:16:00] This explains why so many feel spiritually numb or powerless.
[02:16:07] Because godly spiritual life without the Spirit of Christ is impossible.
[02:16:15] Let me say it again.
[02:16:16] Godly spiritual life without the Spirit of Christ is impossible.
[02:16:28] Have you ever given your life to Christ?
[02:16:34] Number two, am I trying to live for God on my own strength?
[02:16:41] Not too long ago as a church we went through the book of Mark.
[02:16:44] And we came into an account in the book of Mark where the disciples tried to cast out a demon and they failed.
[02:16:51] That's Mark chapter 9.
[02:16:52] You remember this account where they tried to cast out the demon but they failed?
[02:16:56] And the disciples wanted to ask Jesus what happened there.
[02:17:00] And this is what He said in Mark 9 starting at verse 28.
[02:17:03] And when He had entered the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast it out?
[02:17:09] And He said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything
[02:17:14] but Prayer.
[02:17:16] What is he saying there?
[02:17:17] The meaning of this is you acted without dependence on me.
[02:17:24] You tried on your own strength.
[02:17:27] You assumed ability without abiding.
[02:17:34] You forgot your power comes from My Spirit.
[02:17:38] And many Christians today try harder, grind more, perform more, push more, but never actually surrender in what it means to abide in Christ.
[02:17:50] That's an empty life, by the way.
[02:17:54] Hear me.
[02:17:57] That is an empty life.
[02:18:03] And it will cause burnout.
[02:18:05] Because here's the point.
[02:18:08] You cannot accomplish spirit work in flesh power.
[02:18:22] Number three.
[02:18:24] Does my authority come from belonging?
[02:18:29] We see another account where the disciples were sent out by Jesus and when they returned, this time they're excited.
[02:18:35] It's in Luke chapter 10.
[02:18:37] And they returned with joy.
[02:18:39] This is what it says.
[02:18:40] The 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
[02:18:45] And immediately Jesus redirects them.
[02:18:50] There's a reason behind it.
[02:18:51] This is what he says.
[02:18:52] Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
[02:19:02] Translation.
[02:19:05] Your authority comes from your identity in me.
[02:19:10] Not your performance, not your gifting, not your charisma, not your knowledge, but because you belong to Jesus.
[02:19:19] This is why the Twelve in Acts 19 had no power.
[02:19:24] They had not yet believed in Jesus.
[02:19:26] They did not have the Spirit.
[02:19:29] So the question is, does my authority come from belonging?
[02:19:37] Number four, am I using Jesus' name without submitting to Jesus' Lordship?
[02:19:46] Now we come to this kind of sobering part of the story, which we kind of want to chuckle at because it just comes across as a little bit humorous.
[02:19:54] But it's not a whole lot to chuckle at when you dive down and find out what's happening there.
[02:19:58] It's the sons of Sceva.
[02:20:00] They attempt to cast out demons by saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.
[02:20:09] They tried to use a name that they didn't even obey.
[02:20:16] It was borrowed authority, borrowed faith, borrowed vocabulary.
[02:20:22] And the demon responds with terrifying clarity, Jesus I know, Paul I recognize, but who are you?
[02:20:33] That who are you is the sound of a Christian life without the Spirit.
[02:20:41] It's the sound of the name we speak but a Lord we do not surrender to.
[02:20:49] The demons do not fear a fake Christianity that does not live.
[02:20:55] They do not fear the use of a name we do not honor.
[02:20:59] They do not fear a spirit we do not walk in.
[02:21:04] This is a warning, but it's also an invitation.
[02:21:13] No more borrowed spirituality.
[02:21:16] No more second-handed faith.
[02:21:20] No more using Jesus' name without surrendering to His Lordship.
[02:21:29] And then another question, number five.
[02:21:32] Am I grieving or quenching the Spirit?
[02:21:38] Acts 19 verses 18 through 19, believers begin confessing their sins.
[02:21:44] They burn their idols.
[02:21:46] at a $50,000 amount.
[02:21:53] They surrender what held them captive.
[02:21:58] And what you're seeing here, even though it's not using these words, is you're seeing revival.
[02:22:03] You're seeing the Spirit, the power of the Spirit moving in people and showing them where they've erred in their faith and they are doing something about it.
[02:22:14] They're awakened.
[02:22:15] The Spirit is at work.
[02:22:17] Some Christians feel spiritually stuck not because God is absent in their lives but because they have refused to surrender something that grieves Him.
[02:22:35] You cannot cling to what kills you and then blame God that you feel dead.
[02:22:47] The Spirit fills what we surrender, not what we hide.
[02:22:54] So here's the question.
[02:22:57] Where am I in this story?
[02:23:03] The twelve men who were sincere but empty?
[02:23:11] Are you sincere in your faith but you just feel empty?
[02:23:16] Maybe you're like the disciples in Mark 9, willing but prayerless, not abiding.
[02:23:26] Maybe the disciples in Luke 10, you're effective because you belong.
[02:23:34] Or maybe like the sons of Sceva, active but unauthorized.
[02:23:45] Where are you?
[02:23:49] Where is the Spirit calling you to surrender?
[02:23:51] Where is He calling you to trust?
[02:23:53] And where is He calling you to finally walk in Him, not around Him?
[02:23:59] This moment in Acts 19 ends beautifully.
[02:24:02] They believe the Gospel, they receive the Spirit, and they step into fullness.
[02:24:11] Listen, I know that we can't read this text, draw out the calling of what the Spirit is, and say the words that we should be experiencing the power of the Spirit in our lives without there being an outcome of three responses possible in what I just said.
[02:24:30] Number one, there are some in this room, possibly, who have never given their life to Christ.
[02:24:40] You simply need to be saved, to put it in church terms.
[02:24:49] You've heard the stories, you kind of know what's going on, you've seen other people do it, but you've never actually given your life to Christ.
[02:24:56] You've never said, I surrender all to you, Jesus.
[02:25:00] I realize that my sin has broken my relationship with God and that I have no way to get back to God no matter how good I am, what I can do, and I just need to give my life to Him.
[02:25:11] Today is the day of salvation, Scripture says.
[02:25:14] You don't put it off.
[02:25:15] You recognize it, you realize it, and you respond.
[02:25:21] If that's you, today is the day that you take care of business.
[02:25:28] Second type of response you could give is some need to repent.
[02:25:34] There is something you know is grieving the Spirit.
[02:25:38] A sin, a habit, a secret, a compromise, a bitterness.
[02:25:46] You need to lay it down.
[02:25:50] Burn it.
[02:25:53] The Spirit's calling you to do it and you know it.
[02:25:57] The question is, are we willing to get over our own selfish pride and acknowledge it in humility?
[02:26:03] That's what the Spirit's calling us to do.
[02:26:06] We walk transformed.
[02:26:08] We don't stay stuck in the mire and the yuck.
[02:26:12] We move forward in Christ.
[02:26:15] Give Jesus the thing that is killing your joy.
[02:26:19] Claim out of boldness and belonging if you are a child of the King
[02:26:25] Claim that and give it to Him.
[02:26:31] Number three, third type of response that you could give here is some just need to surrender.
[02:26:36] You've been living the Christian life on your own strength.
[02:26:41] You kind of got that attitude like, I've got this.
[02:26:46] I'm just going to put it in plain North Carolinian language.
[02:26:53] Ain't nobody got it.
[02:26:59] We have to lean on the Spirit of Christ.
[02:27:03] The moment I think I've got it is the moment I trip and fall flat on my face every single time.
[02:27:11] So now I've learned that when I fall flat on my face, I go, oh, I thought I had it.
[02:27:16] Now I know where I need to go abide.
[02:27:21] Today you need to say to the Holy Spirit, fill me again, lead me, empower me.
[02:27:25] Because here's the thing, and I was trying to work our own thing.
[02:27:29] Having a Spirit-filled life is not achieved, it's received.
[02:27:36] It's not something to be achieved, it's something we receive.
[02:27:44] And walking with Christ is supposed to be a powerful thing that we do in life.
[02:27:49] Our very transformed lives of becoming a new creation, being reborn, is supposed to be a testimony to other people that draws them to it.
[02:27:58] But we're so default stuck in what we want to do and how we want to do it in our culture that we don't allow the Spirit to move in our lives and then we wonder where God is when problems happen.
[02:28:15] From the very beginning, God's desire has never been for distant followers or religious observers.
[02:28:26] His heart has always been for relationships.
[02:28:30] He created us to know Him, to walk with Him, to live in His presence.
[02:28:35] And even when sin separated us, God pursued us.
[02:28:39] And through the cross of Jesus Christ, He removed every barrier between us and Himself, not so that we could carry a set of beliefs, but so that we could be filled with the Spirit and live and walk in Him.
[02:28:56] God does not want us operating on borrowed faith or spiritual effort.
[02:29:03] He wants us to experience His presence
[02:29:07] His voice, His power, His love, and His leading in personal relationships.
[02:29:15] The gospel is not merely the story of you being forgiven.
[02:29:19] It's the story of God making His home in you through the Spirit so that we can walk with Him every day alert to His presence, alert to His guidance,
[02:29:34] Alert to who He is.
[02:29:36] God is not asking for our performance.
[02:29:38] He is inviting us into His presence.
[02:30:08] This text tells me examine to see if you're even plugged in.

[02:30:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Let's pray.

[02:30:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Jesus, I know that when you said your burden is easy and your yoke is not difficult, that it wasn't telling me that I'm some strong individual that can tackle the world with manhood or knowledge.
[02:31:00] What you were saying was, I can face this world and walk with you because I'll be spirit-filled with you and that you will handle the junk.
[02:31:18] I know that many people can't shine a light for you because they don't have the light plugged into you because they've never given their life to you.
[02:31:24] I know that many people have things in their lives that's burdening them and weighing them down and they're carrying things on their shoulders they were never meant to carry on their shoulders.
[02:31:40] Help us to humbly admit who we are before you.
[02:31:48] Help us to lay at the altar of your feet.
[02:31:55] The things that weigh us down.
[02:32:00] And help us to have the courage and the honesty to express our need for you and to humbly and authentically invite you into our hearts.
[02:32:17] Spirit of God, move in our lives.
[02:32:21] In Jesus' name we pray.
[02:32:23] Amen.
[02:32:26] What I want to do this morning is something that we don't do often, but this particular text of Scripture calls for it.
[02:32:39] We've been challenged today to kind of self-examine where we are in our walk with the Lord, and are we walking in the Spirit?
[02:32:46] Have we sensed the Spirit?
[02:32:47] Do we care about walking in the Spirit?
[02:32:53] And just like Paul physically putting his hands on them to show that the physical touch was demonstrating a spiritual move, I'm going to open up in both rooms, this room here and in the video venue at the stage area, an altar time.
[02:33:16] Because I don't know about you, I don't read this text and walk away the same.
[02:33:22] It hits me, and I know that when I realize what's being said there, I personally had to do something about it.
[02:33:33] This text put me on my knees to pray to the Lord that His Spirit would be alive in me.
[02:33:46] And here's the thing, church, I didn't have to dig for what was blocking it.
[02:33:51] He told me immediately.
[02:33:57] So if you need to surrender, you need to burn things at the altar, this is not a judgment time where we look at people walking down and we go, oh, I wonder what... That's not what it's about.
[02:34:06] You deal with you and God and you let everybody else deal with them and God.
[02:34:11] We're going to open this altar.
[02:34:12] If you need to surrender things to the Lord, you come and you kneel and you pray and you surrender those things to the Lord.
[02:34:19] If you've never given your life to Christ, and today you're thinking, you know what, it's starting to connect the dots for me, and I realize that I need to actually give my life to Christ.
[02:34:28] I've never been saved, and today I want to do that.
[02:34:31] We have two pastors that will be here, three pastors, counting myself, but we have Pastor Nate here and Pastor Mark right here.
[02:34:37] Come and say to one of us, I need to get saved.
[02:34:41] Not that it has to go to a pastor, but we'll be comfortable to be able to ask you some questions and to let you pray a prayer that will invite Christ into your heart.
[02:34:52] So kind of two things.
[02:34:54] Surrender at the altar, confess at the altar, or ask to be saved.
[02:35:02] That's what we're called to today.
[02:35:05] So in both rooms, let's stand.
[02:35:08] If God's calling you to respond, you respond.

[02:35:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
[02:35:42] He's been my fourth man in the fire, time after time.
[02:35:52] Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
[02:36:01] and what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough I trust in God my Savior
[02:36:30] I trust in God, my Savior, the one Who will never fail He will never fail Perfect submission
[02:36:59] All is at rest I know the author of tomorrow Has ordered my steps So this is my story And this is my song
[02:37:24] Praising my risen King and Savior all the day long And I trust in God, my Savior, the one Who will never fail He will never fail
[02:37:54] I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
[02:38:09] He will never fail.
[02:38:33] I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
[02:38:49] He will never fail.
[02:38:53] And I trust in God, my Savior.
[02:39:04] He will never fail He will never fail

[02:39:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
What a wonderful time of worship.
[02:39:59] Amen?
[02:40:01] The Lord is good.
[02:40:02] I just wanted to make a quick reminder of tonight.
[02:40:06] Tonight at 5 o'clock from 5 to 7 is our Thanksgiving meal.
[02:40:09] We want to invite you to come.
[02:40:11] Please come bring your family.
[02:40:12] We would love to have you come.
[02:40:14] But if you're coming and you're just planning to come and just eat with us, that's great.
[02:40:20] But if you can possibly bring a dessert with you, that would be phenomenal.
[02:40:24] Chocolate is always better.
[02:40:27] But make sure that you put it in a container that we can easily throw away when the night is over.
[02:40:33] If you could also, too, maybe sort of put it in big chunks, especially the chocolate.
[02:40:37] Make sure they're big pieces.
[02:40:40] and we'll enjoy a great time of fellowship tonight thank you so very much for being here guests especially we're so glad you're here and as always when we end our service we are quoting god's word as we walk out of these doors into our mission field so this morning we're going to read out of galatians chapter 5 read along with me these words beginning in verse number 25 if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit

[02:41:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
We are sent.