Is the Lord Really With You? — Shane Idleman

The Lord’s Presence and the Danger of Defeat

Acts 11 .21, and the hand of the Lord was with them. And the hand of the Lord was with them. So the question this morning is, is the Lord really with you? Is the Lord really with you? And it's important because Joshua was defeated when the Lord wasn't with him.

Samson was overcome when the Lord wasn't with him. And Saul lost the kingdom when the Lord wasn't with him. We can look out through most of the Old Testament. And what I'm talking about that I should probably clarify, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit was given to a person for a work.

And then that person would disobey and the Holy Spirit could be taken, believe it or not. And God's Spirit would come upon and God's Spirit would withdraw. But as believers, thank God that doesn't happen.

Quenching and Grieving the Holy Spirit

What we do, though, instead is something just as debilitating. We quench and we grieve the Spirit to such a degree that we no longer feel that presence and that power in our lives. We no longer feel that intimacy with God.

And like Samson, he knew not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. He got up to defeat the Philistine army, and he was defeated. And the Bible says, the King James says, he wist not. He knew not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him.

Old Testament, yes. Come to the New Testament, though. Many of us, we know not that we have quenched and grieved the Spirit. We sometimes go through the motions, and we quench and grieve the Spirit. And I was actually concerned, I fought God Friday, Saturday, and a little bit this morning on this sermon.

Because it sounds like sometimes, you know, we're playing that same old record, right? Just saying the same old thing, the same old thing. And it was this morning, some of us have been praying next door since 6, 6 .30 this morning.

Praying for your marriages, praying for this church, praying for prodigals. And as one of the guys, Phil, was praying, he prayed that, Lord, that this wouldn't be just saying the same thing. And repeating itself.

And a broken record. That's what the terms I'm looking for. A broken record. And it so hit me that I was just taken back how God is faithful. When we want confirmation, when we want things. And he was praying, God, this is not a broken record.

This is what you've called us to do. This is what the church needs to be. And it just confirmed so much in my own heart that I was able to come up in the first service. And speak boldly to what I believe that God is calling us to do.

Is the Lord really with you? Here's why this is important. No one influences you more than you. Did you catch that? Nobody influences you more than you. No one deceives us more than we deceive ourselves.

Our defense attorney works overtime putting us in the best light. You say, I don't have a defense attorney. Yeah, you do. Guess where he lives? Right here. He puts me in the best light. We have excuses, reasons, and justifications for everything.

So it's time to expose that defense attorney. What do you say? Because he will continue to convict and convict. No, that's not wrong. No. And he'll defend you. When Christ is our advocate, Christ is our defense.

And that defense attorney of the flesh needs to be exposed. And what I wanted to do, it's not going to be a long sermon per se. But we need to go back to the basics. And as we're in Acts 11, I want to go back to Acts 1, Acts 2, Acts 3.

Because when the Bible says, And the hand of the Lord was upon them. The hand of the Lord was upon the entire church from its conception. The church was conceived in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I want to go back to that beginning time.

And what did we talk about months and months ago to know that the Lord is really upon us? And here's why it's so important to go back to the basics. Here's a good analogy. 1961. Do some of you remember that year?

No? Yes? I don't. I wasn't born. Some of you remember that year. I remember the Green Bay Packers lost. July 1961. Green Bay Packers had lost the season before the championship. And they're at training camp.

And Vince Lombardi walks on the field. 38 players. And he said, Gentlemen, this is a football. He went back to the basics. The basics. The basics means the initial foundation of success. They ended up winning that year.

But they went back to the basics. And sometimes the church, we need to go back to the basics. To see is the Lord truly upon us? And I want the Lord to be upon me. I'm sure many of you are saying that.

We want the Lord to be upon us. So let's go back to the basics. The first thing we learned in the book of Acts is they gave themselves fully to the work of God. They gave themselves fully to the work of God.

Surrendering to God’s Work Through Service

Here's what happens when we don't give ourselves to serving others or doing things. We become stagnant. We become like the dead sea. Everything's coming in, but nothing's going out. Are you involved somewhere?

Are you moving? Are you active? Are you doing something? You have to be involved in something. As you give grace, grace is given to you. As you serve God, God begins to bless and to honor you. It's a spiritual principle.

As I fully commit my life to the Lord. Shane, I've got a job. Yeah, I know. I've got kids. I know. I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking about fully serving God. Lord, how do you want to use me?

How can I be used? Because when you start to give of yourself, God begins to bless you. That's not a selfish prayer. I like praying the prayer of Jabez. Have you ever heard of the prayer of Jabez? It's not a selfish prayer.

It's a very short prayer. Jabez said, Oh Lord, would you bless me? God, would you bless me and elongate, strengthen, or really enlarge my territory? God, bless me, enlarge my influence so I can influence others.

That your hand would be with me. That your hand would be with me and do not lead me into evil. So I don't cause pain. It's funny that name Jabez, I believe, means pain. Birth in pain. Born in pain. Because when God doesn't bless you, and he doesn't enlarge your influence.

I'm not talking about selfish influence. I'm talking about doing things. We've got one hospital home, two years ago, now six. That's what I'm talking about. God blessing and enlarging his influence. Because if God's not blessing you, what's the opposite of blessing?

Cursing. God blesses his people. If he's not blessing and you're serving and his hand's not upon you and he's not keeping you from evil, you will cause pain. You will be the person who causes pain in your home or around others.

If this aroma of Christ is not saturating your life. Think about it. Do you know, maybe it's me because I see a lot of emails and people now from all over, everywhere, the world actually, are emailing for advice.

And you would be shocked at the depravity that's going on. In the churches. Men causing pain. Women causing pain. Young adults causing pain. All because the Lord is not with them. They know not that the Spirit of the Lord has departed.

And this is supposed to be one of those types of messages where you hear a pin drop. I make no apologies. Here's a mistake we make. The defense attorney might already be working inside of you right now.

Shane just wants me to be perfect. Shane just wants me to be perfect. I don't want you to be perfect. I want you to fight. That's what I want you to do. I want you to fight. Who said the Christian life is for wimpy people who don't want to do anything?

Lazy and like Mike talked about, just gluttonous. It's all about me and all about us. I want you to fight. Sometimes you've got to prepare the soldier for battle. Sometimes you've got to motivate the troops.

This is a fight. This is warfare. The enemy of your soul is after you and he's after your children. He's after everything you have. No, he's not. Just read the book. The enemy goes about to kill, to steal, and to destroy.

So they gave themselves fully to the work of God. The next thing I want to encourage you to do, which I have to do from time to time myself, so I'm preaching to myself. Is that okay? Come down off of your high horse.

What does that mean? You've been around a while. You know exactly what that means, don't you? In the military, when they used to just have horses, when kings would ride horses, they would be up on their horses looking down.

Looking down on the people, this sense of superiority, this sense of arrogance. And God says, arrogance is a stench in my nostrils. Come down off that high horse. Prostrate yourself on the ground. It's okay in a prayer meeting.

Did you know to just get on your face before God? Even at home, to get on your face before God, it's a sign of humility and brokenness to prostrate yourself. Not walking around like, I don't need prayer.

I don't need this. I don't need God. You all do, but not me. Back to the basics. Get off your high horse. The sooner we admit that we all need Christ, the sooner we admit that there is pride inside all of us that needs to be crushed and exposed, the more we can heal and move forward.

That's very crucial. The self-righteous person lives in deception. God is not with them. In case that went through one ear and out the next, I'm going to say it again. The self-righteous person lives in deception.

The Lord is not with them. Think about this. How can God lift you up when he says, I will abase you if you don't humble yourself? Because we're like, God, exalt me. God, promote me. God, do this to me.

It's all about me. God says, I will not exalt the proud. I will exalt the humble. Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that in due time he will exalt you. But if you exalt yourself, he will abase you.

How can he teach you when it's the humble he teaches? See, so many people are frustrated. God, if you just teach me, show me, teach me. You don't want to learn. You're not humble and teachable. You've got to be teachable and humble.

We pray for wisdom, but pride brings disgrace. We want healing and deliverance, but the humble he heals. We want certain things, don't we? And it's okay to want certain things. But God says, if my people will humble themselves, if they'll humble themselves and pray and seek my face.

See, humility means everything. But this is why most people don't change is their defense attorney has won another case. Their defense attorney, your defense attorney is good, isn't he? Mine is the best.

Mine is the best. He wins another case, another case, another case. So be careful what voice you're listening to. Back to the basics involves fully surrendering and serving. And just one thing that's kind of on our hearts lately and it's sad for the church is we actually don't have enough helpers.

We don't have enough people to visit the hospital homes. We have to shut down children's ministry classes. We have a calendar of all these spaces to fill. Who can help in this area? Nobody. A church this size?

Really? And there's a passion there. I'm not angry. I'm not trying to. But I'm telling you that if more people were giving of themselves and surrendering, these problems would not exist. Back to the basics in that area as well.

Unity in the Church and the Poison of Bitterness

Number three, they could not be conquered because they were united. The early church could not be conquered because they were united. The enemy is going to do something he's going to do more than anything else.

Yes, draw us away with worldliness. Draw us away with the lust of the flesh. All these things. But he wants to divide the church. He wants to divide believers, doesn't he? You see it in your own marriage.

Right? Does the enemy want you guys all united or divided? A divided kingdom cannot stand. Even the demonic realm is united. Have you ever thought about that? They're not fighting each other. They're fighting you.

They're legion. That's a military term. Of unity. Of walking in order. I got this from Sermon Index. I believe K .P. O 'Hannon said it. Talking about churches. Being poisoned by negative talk. One person in a church or ministry is dissatisfied, bitter, critical, and unwilling to change.

He or she starts to talk negatively and poison others. The atmosphere of love among the brothers and sisters is replaced by disunity, anger, and hardness of heart towards each other and the Lord. Listen, that is so powerful.

I might just pass that out to everybody. Because here's where he's coming in. Right now, it's working already. You name it. From whatever you want to name, you name it. The enemy's coming in here. Negative talk.

One person or multitude of people. They're dissatisfied. They're bitter. They're critical. And they're unwilling to change. That's a bad combination. Then they start to talk negatively and poison others.

Soon, the atmosphere of love among the brothers and sisters is replaced by disunity, anger, and hardness of heart towards each other and the Lord. Do you ever just come to church and there's a hardness of heart?

Just a disunity? Just an atmosphere of bitterness? Where does that come from? So you have to focus on unity. I think our new motto is going to be this. Are you stirring the pot or mending the wound? What are you doing?

So anytime you catch somebody going like this, that's all you have to ask them. I made it easy for you. Are you? Actually, you don't even have to talk. Just go, I'm not cabbage patching. You guys remember that dance?

I'm going to lighten it up a little bit here. I'm not even going to try that, so don't even ask. My brother does it good. I just remembered he does it good. They're stirring that pot. You know those pot stirrers?

Just stirring that pot. They're not mending the wound. See, there's a time to convict. There's a time to challenge. There's a time to expose. There's a time to rebuke. We got it. It happens often. But that should not be our heart.

The heart should... We should not be the... See, I made it easy for you guys, right? If you hear it going on, just do this. Are we stirring or are we mending that wound? That wound. Are we mending it?

Helping? Coming alongside? Because you can find fault in everything. Everything, right? Can't we? Be careful. I don't know if I want to walk down this trail much longer. It's just funny because I've been to...

When I've spoke at churches and before I could... Lord, help me. I'm being critical here. And they would come to Westside and be critical of things I would be... I'd see in their church. And so we can see things.

We don't do it that way. We don't do that. I mean, worship is a big thing. People complain and get critical about worship a lot. And they have to remember that the old hymns used to be the new hymns. When a hymn was written in 1756, that was a new hymn.

And that God sometimes does new things. But I would go to... I spoke at a Baptist church, a 150-year-old Baptist church in Montana. I said, next time, invite me back when you can go fishing those rivers.

Fly fishing, right? In those Montana rivers. But it was winter. It was cold. It was not fun. But it was 150-years-old bricks and this wonderful tradition. But I didn't know any of the songs and the hymnals and things.

See, neither is right or wrong. Neither is right or wrong. If the heart's right, but its preference comes in, and then I can develop a critical spirit. Oh, Lord, it's not going to be moving here. Oh, gosh, this is going to be a hard sermon.

Oh, man. And you can feel it, but then they come here and go, you guys are too emotional. What is wrong with you guys? You can't turn down the volume of a drum set. That's illegal. A guitar? That's not of God.

Satan was a worship leader. And we see how we just kind of, you know, critical? I'm going to close that can of worms real quick, because this is not going in a good direction. But these are the things that can bring in bitterness.

I still get teased about not wearing a suit and tie. From people I know, pastors that wear a suit and tie, they preach in Los Angeles and different things, they tease the attire. You know, kind of jokingly, but there's a little bit of truth in every joke, right?

Like, you know, this critical nature. See, it comes naturally to be critical. Doesn't it? It comes natural to be critical. So this is an area if you want unity, you've got to work for it. You've got to fight for it.

Because it's not going to happen on its own. You actually have to take your thoughts captive. Have you ever read that anywhere? Oh, it's in your Bible. That's right. I know it's in your Bible. I'm just kidding.

But take your thoughts captive. No, you take them. See, here they go. Critical. No, you're coming back to jail. No, you're coming back to jail. You're coming back to jail. Right? You take your thoughts captive.

But when they start to take you captive, they take you to jail. Bitter. Angry. Resentful. Critical. Have you ever had all those things, man, when they're all going at once? I have. Just, oh, my day stinks.

Traffic stinks. Mad at everybody. Right? Because it's that critical, arrogant spirit that needs to be rebuked. And the defense attorney. Defense attorney. Shane, you're okay. You've had a hard day. Your honor.

He's preaching the truth. It's just truth. He's just passionate for you. That's right. So I can be bitter. I can be angry. I can be upset. You're right. Defense attorney, thank you for standing up for me.

See how that works? This is huge. This is, I would say, the major problem in churches. Apart from a lot of people aren't genuinely saved. Many more aren't genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit. The next thing is disunity.

That's where he'll work. He'll go in and disunite. Because when you have brothers and sisters praying together and protecting each other and building up and not pulling down, what's he going to do in that?

Because when we do these things, what you do is you open the door for the enemy. That's called a foothold. He puts his foot in between. Oh, thank you for opening the door. Thank you. A little wider. A little more critical.

A little more negative. The door opens wide and you walk right through. Then it becomes a stronghold in your life. Why am I so critical? Why am I so negative? Because it's the enemy and it's also our flesh.

You've got the world against you. All these things working in this area. Be careful here because you must discern the spirits. I think that's one of the gifts of the Spirit that is really overlooked today.

Discerning Spirits and Recognizing the Enemy

Discerning of spirits. Is that truly? I'm not saying... I'm talking, is it something truly of God or is it not of God? Discerning the spirits. It's actually not difficult. Corrie Ten Boom, who was held in concentration camp.

Have you heard of her? I hope you have. Read some of her books or autobiography or biography, I should say. I don't know if she wrote an autobiography. But she said it's a poor soldier indeed who doesn't even recognize the enemy.

It's a poor soldier indeed who doesn't even recognize the enemy. See, Satan doesn't always come as this dark, demonic figure. He sometimes comes as an angel of light. At least three or four people that I know right now, broken marriages because somebody decided to leave somebody for...

Not this. This angel of light. It appears so good. It looks so good. It felt so right. But they don't see the horror and the death and the destruction until later. Isn't it interesting how that works?

Satan plants thoughts focused on pride and bitterness, anger and lying. Here's where you have to be careful. Sometimes we trust our thoughts too much, even me. You say, where did that come from? Everything...

Don't ever say this. Everything must be of God. No, no. Everything that's coming here is not of God. The enemy moved David to number the children of Israel. The enemy put a lying, deceiving spirit in Ananias and Sapphira.

The enemy spoke to Judas Iscariot and entered him. The enemy plants thoughts. That's where the battle's at. So you have to be able to discern, is that of God or is that of the devil? Is that of righteousness or is that of ungodliness?

Is that of purity or is that demonic? Discerning who I'm listening to. James 3 .14, but if you have bitterness, envy...I'm sorry. I guess both of them apply, but it says bitter envy. Boy, that's a bad one.

Envy's already bad, but bitter envy, that's a one-two punch. And self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. So James is writing to believers. I think sometimes we think, oh boy, those unbelievers are really getting it from these guys.

No, the majority of the Pauline epistles were written to the church. Epistles to the church. To the church. James is saying, if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your heart, it's in this room.

I'll just tell you right now. It's in this room. Might not be in the balcony, but it's in this room, right? It's down here. The balcony's okay. Of course, I'm joking. There's bitter envy and self-seeking everywhere.

Do not boast and lie against the truth. What's he saying? As we're holding it in our heart and comforting it and saying, it's okay. It's who I am. You're boasting and lying against the truth. Expose that defense attorney.

He's not your friend. The Holy Spirit is your friend. The defense attorney is defending your flesh. Kick him out of the house. Debar him. Can they debar defense attorney? Yes, they can. I don't even know if that's the right word.

I'll look it up later. The wisdom does not this wisdom that we think we have if we're envious and self-seeking does not descend from above, but it is earthly, sensual and demonic. What do you think of when you think of that word sensual?

Don't go there. Think about it from it. Sensual. Senses. The wisdom that's not from God is demonic, it's earthly, and it's sensual according to our senses. How I feel. I'm feeling this rage or this anger or this bitterness or this critical spirit.

It must be of God. No, it's sensual. It's not of God. Interesting thing. Have you ever thought about this? Fear. Do you know fear is gripping a lot of people? If you've ever struggled with it before, it's debilitating.

There were times in my life where anxiety attacks and it's like, I'm going to die. I'm just going to die. Get my house in order. You're like, where is this coming from? But the Bible says, I believe it's Timothy I should have wrote it down, that God does not give us a spirit of fear.

So what spirit is that that's bringing the fear? But of power and of love and of sound mind, and that word power is dunamis in the Greek language. Dynamite? Ever heard of dynamite? Dunamis. Dynamite. He gives us a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind.

That's the spirit of God. So you can boldly rebuke things I do. That's not of you, God. That's not of you. I fear raising three girls in Lancaster. Let's be honest. Hello! So do you! But that's not of God.

You can walk boldly into every season of life and say, because of God, He is on my side. No enemy in hell can defeat me because God's got my rear guard and my front guard. I've got the armor of God on me and He is going to see me through.

That's not the right spirit. And worried about raising a boy in Lancaster as well too. But right, let's be honest. Who are we fooling? Why do you think everybody's moving? Uh-oh. Let me clarify that.

Why do most people? I hate it here. I'm getting out of town. Is that biblical? Is that biblical? Be careful. Be careful. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's wisdom. But be very careful. That guidance sometimes is sensual.

What I'm feeling and God will lead us in certain areas that doesn't feel good to our flesh. But the wisdom that is from above. Here we go. Here's what God's wisdom is. The wisdom that is from above is first, pure, without blemish.

It's also peaceable. Oh man, take this test. Do you have the right wisdom? Are you peaceable? Are you gentle? Are you willing to yield? Convicted yet? Full of mercy. Full of good fruit. Full of good works.

Without partiality. Without hypocrisy. That is true Christianity. Willing to yield. Willing to yield. Do you have to get the last word in your home? Oh, it's quiet. Willing to yield. You know what yield is, right?

The stop sign? But what is that rule? Who's ever first is to your right goes next? I don't like that rule. It's like whoever, if you barely beat them, even by an inch I'm not willing to yield. You know, you get on the freeway, they better get over.

They better get over because I'm not going to yield. I'm not slowing down. I've got my speed control. Or if you're going... No, it's hard to yield. Don't leave me up here hanging. Say amen. Yes it is for everybody.

Okay, good. My goodness. The nine o 'clock was honest at least. Not willing to yield. I read this in a book for pastors a while back and I underlined it and found it again. This pastor said, I have never fully exercised the authority given to me in this position.

And that's pretty good. That's what we should be. Willing to yield. Not fully exercise our authority on anybody. Or in our home. Fathers could say this. I have not fully exercised the authority God has given me.

Or women in your home. Because there's a willingness to yield. See, it's hard. You're fighting the flesh every step of the way. I don't want to yield. Yes, I have to yield. I don't want to love, but I have to love.

I don't want to forgive, but I have to forgive. I don't want to show mercy, but I have to show mercy. So you take those thoughts captive. That's why the Bible says, you either take your thoughts captive or they'll take you captive.

They'll put you in prison. The everything, the battles here in the mind, that's why Paul said, finally brethren, whatever things are pure and honest and gentle and noble, meditate on these things. What you meditate on is what you become.

This happens all the time. I can see somebody where they're at spiritually and I can see, and what they're meditating on is no surprise. No surprise at all. Somebody who's in fear factor mode, they're fearing this, they're fearing North Korea and Russia and China all in the same day.

Then they're watching these conspiracy things, these guys that, what do they call it, where they live in shelters for a year and they're building bomb shelters and they've got enough food supply and our water's going bad.

If the aqueduct goes bad, I've got at least 10 years of this, and they're living in this mindset because that's what they're feeding their mind on. Or I can see somebody bound in lust. Guess what they're feeding their mind on?

Are they on Pure Flix watching the Corey Tamboon story or are they watching Fifty Shades of Filth? Think about though. Where? Back to the basics. Here's a football. Here's a Bible. Let's do that. Here's a Bible, folks.

Back to the basics. Back to the basics. See, if you could just get the church back to the basics of holiness and purity and prayer. Prayer. Oh my goodness, I sent out an email yesterday to 500 people.

Seven show up. Yeah, let the conviction set in. Please. Seven. Don't worry. We're setting the stage. It's going to build and it's going to build. 730 next door in the morning. We have three services here.

Did you know that? 730, 911. 730 right next door. We're praying. It was incredible. It set the whole foundation for the day. We're not in a hurry. We're praying for your families and your marriages and prodigal sons.

We're praying for our nation. We're praying for our leaders. We're praying for the persecuted church. We're praying for us. Lord, break us. Break me this morning. Break me, God. I don't want to be this way forever.

God, you've got to move in this place. Your spirit has to descend upon the worship and the prayer time. God, you've got to be here. And you pull down heaven and you pray. See, a man or woman is whoever they are is who they are before God.

In their prayer closet that's who they are. The Spirit clearly says, 1 Timothy 4 .1, the right spirit. The Spirit clearly says that in the latter times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

It's not just false doctrine. See, it's not just our thoughts that come in. It's what we're being allowed, being taught by. Teaching. Being taught by demons. Doctrine of demons. And again, demonic is not just Ouija, the origin of evil, Blair Witch Project, and The Conjuring.

I looked up the top horror movies last year so I could relate. I have no clue. I don't want to know. I have no clue. I don't ever want to know. Those people, it drives me crazy. The horror films, they do something.

I just get my adrenaline going. No, you're feeding the wrong spirit. That's the wrong thing. You should not want to sit there for an hour and a half and be scared to death and have nightmares for a week and have little dolls walking around trying to get you.

That's wrong. Who thought of that? I mean, where does that come from? I mean, I just look at the covers. Just the covers. It's demonic. And we need to start calling things what they are. It's not healthy.

It's not my one little vice. It's where I stumble. I run to Chucky catching up people and cutting them with a chainsaw when I'm needing some entertainment. That should never entertain you. That should repulse you.

Because when a child of God is filled with light they hate the darkness. But when you're filled with darkness, you hate the light. Go home. Look at what do you like? What do you enjoy? Back to the basics.

This is the Bible. This is the basics. And I already mentioned this, but people of prayer, and I actually added militant prayer. And I want to clarify that because most people, oh yeah, I pray. No, I mean militant prayer.

And that's not a bad word. It just means aggressive. Aggressive prayer. Because that's the warfare. That's how you're calling down heaven and you're keeping Satan at bay. That's the warfare. See, we don't see it.

It's the hardest thing to do, so we discount it. But we need militant prayer. Here's a quote from Robert McShaney. A man is who he is on his knees before God and nothing more. A woman is who she is on her knees before God and nothing more.

I'm not devaluing anything, but I'm saying everything starts there. Your prayer life determines everything. A man who prays well lives well. When faith ceases to pray, faith ceases to live. A .W. Tozer said that.

I'm sorry, it was Ian Bounds. If you can read any book on prayer, if you're hungry right now, if you're hungry right now for prayer, get on Kindle. You can have it before the sermon's over. Wait till the sermon's over, actually.

Wait till the service is over. Go to bed thinking about prayer, not the next attack on our soil. Go to bed reading about prayer, not the filthy shades of whatever. Go to bed with God on your heart. That's how you wake up with God in the morning, God on your heart at night.

If I know I'm going to wake up at 3 this morning, 2 .55 exactly, because I would say, why can't I go back to sleep? To finish this sermon. And I was hungry for more of this because I went to bed with more of God at night reading on His nature and on His character and hungry for the things of God.

Don't think that I do this perfectly. Don't think I do this perfectly. There's men, Mike made a good point, Livingston, it's not Shane does this, you do it. We have a group of people, a group of guys, there's godly women here that can help in discipleship and lead in this area.

We've got people that want to lead, want to come alongside, but you have to reach out and say, I need help. I need help. I've fallen out of the boat. How do I get back up? But you know why we don't want to help?

Because the defense attorney, there he is again. There's that defense attorney. No, you don't need help. Don't expose me. Don't expose me. How dare you expose the defense attorney. Expose him. And pray, and have others pray for you.

The Holy Spirit’s Power Through Sacrifice and Surrender

And then finally, as everything happened that we just talked about, the Spirit fell upon them. The Spirit of God fell upon the church. And I wonder, how many people truly want this in their life? Do you truly want the Spirit of God to fall upon your life?

Because it will radically change your life. It will change your schedule. It will change your friends. It will change what you watch. It will change your whole outlook on life. It might even change your job.