God - Fairytale or Fact? — Shane Idleman

God: Fairytale or Fact?

The message this morning is God. Fairytale or fact? Is God a fairytale or is it a fact? And what I just started a week or so ago is a series called Theology on Fire. Now you know what theology is, right?

It's the study of God and it can be it can actually be very boring if it's in an academic setting where the professor's not filled with the spirit and the students are bored to death and it's just another class.

But I believe that theology can be very interesting can actually keep us on the edge of our seats if it's on fire. Theology on fire. Talking about God with the power of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts about His nature, His character.

And I'll just tell you honestly this whole week it's been tough because I don't know maybe my thinking is wrong. I'm trying not to do this too much because on one hand we want to look at ourselves and create an image of God but when I talk about God and when I'm presenting God it reminds me of a little ant in my backyard trying to tell the ants about me and my house and my family.

The magnitude of God, the weight of God the character of God, the nature of God and I'm just going to come up here and talk about this incredible eternal God. It weighs on me in the sense that I want to do it justice.

I want to be careful because I don't think we can just come up here and flippantly talk about the creator of the universe. It's a very heavy weight unless you've felt it before you might not know what I'm talking about but it's a responsibility that you feel trying to represent God in the right light.

That's why I've been praying this all week is that he would show us who he is, his nature. Obviously I can't even scratch the surface. There are big thick books a thousand pages that do it justice. There's a sermon series we could do for three months but I'm going to try to do it in 30 minutes on this area of God, fairytale or fact.

My goal is to spark a hunger in you to read books on God on creation, on redemption. Last week we talked about the Bible truth or tolerance? Is it true or do we just tolerate it? Is everything really?

Shane, do you really believe that? Or can we bend some things? So listen to that message that will get you up to speed. And I've just got a few quick points on God, fairytale or fact. I'm going to look to the Bible alone on these number one in theology there's a whole section written about God in creation and God creating things.

God’s Eternity and the Creator of Creation

And the question often comes up especially from kids, right? Two of mine have asked so far. I'm waiting for the other two. Dad, who created God? Well, nobody that doesn't make sense. He's a spirit and those who worship him worship him in spirit and truth.

God has always been. Well, how can you be always been? Is there a time back then? And it's like it's hard to fully explain that. But we do know this a creation cannot create itself. So God cannot be a creation because who created God?

So our finite minds cannot fully grasp how God has been forever in the past forever in the future. He doesn't live in the parameters of time. And it's eternal omnipresent being that is everywhere very very interesting concept.

But we know that creation cannot create itself. So God, that answers that question. We don't have to look at philosophy and different things. We just know that God has been eternal. The second point is this the fact that we see amazing creation all around us points to a creator right?

I mean, who's gonna walk into this church and say I bet all these pews just set up the way they set up. We know that somebody did that how much more ought we look at creation from God's perspective? I'm gonna read Genesis 2 chapter 2 verse 7.

I don't know if we have it on the screen on this one, it's the amplified version if you don't know what version of the Bible is best, listen to last week's message but this is an amplified version, it says then the Lord God formed that is He created the body of man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being, an individual complete in body and spirit, so we have this image of creation where God actually took the dust of the earth.

Many would say, and I agree, that it was like clay, clay in the hands of a potter so that the moisture, the clay there's this clay and God began to form man and He breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living nephesh, it's a Hebrew word meaning a living soul, a living being a living person now just that in and of itself, you'd say okay, well either you believe it or you don't, right?

I mean, that's what most people would say, but I actually like to take it a step further if that is true, if the Bible's true wouldn't we think to find within us some of the same ingredients, I guess if you will, that are in the earth.

I mean, if we're made from that wouldn't it be interesting to find out if what's in us is also in the soil? Well, I've got an article for you, I think we handed it out from Answers in Genesis the earth's crust contains most of the minerals nutrients that our body requires, oxygen is the most abundant element in both the human body and the earth's crust.

The human body is made up almost entirely of 13 elements, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 96 of our body's mass the other 4 of the body weight is composed almost entirely of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium iron, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and iodine.

Guess where you find those exact same trace minerals and other minerals? In the soil so it's interesting I'm going to take a rabbit trail here back to fasting right, taking care of everyone, when you consume plants the food, right, potatoes, strawberries, when you consume that, the soil these minerals that has been growing and nurturing the plant then when we take that we consume it as our digestive tract actually that's what we do well I won't get into detail there, but the body takes the food you know what it does, and it pulls out the life-sustaining minerals, vitamins, electrolytes, different things, they call it phytochemicals these powerful plant things, in the soil, into the plant re-deposit it into us and that's life-sustaining food that's how God created us.

So when you don't consume life-sustaining food, what do you think you're going to see more of? Chronic illness, disease because we're not feeding the body what it needs, but interesting you see the same makeup 13 I think it was, elements in the soil are actually also in the human body, so see science confirms the Bible in many different aspects, I've asked atheist friends before to email me, where does the Bible miss it in regard to biology or science like where the Bible is like so far off it's embarrassing we just don't see that, science will confirm the Bible now this is so obvious that we have the same elements in us that are in the earth's crust it is so obvious that many people don't deny it.

Have you heard the word Carl Sagan a famous atheist he went on to say and so have many others before him. I heard it I think at the college when I debated the atheists and different people is that well Shane we came from stardust, because obviously we came from the same thing so how can you say that with a straight face like it just sprinkles down from the stars and here we are and it forms the DNA.

You don't even want to get into 3 point whatever billion letters involved in the DNA and the structure of life cellular activity, cell division all these things that just kind of happen from stardust falling and with a straight face, see they can't ignore the fact that this is a foundational truth and also I'm going to see I don't know if we have a picture of the stained glass window, Jason if you want to put that up I shared this at the college.

I wanted to share this with you as well today that is a picture of a stained glass window at St. Peter's Church in York. Okay let me see if I have this if it works this one I believe this is a stained glass window at the church in York.

Any idea what this is. That's a double helix of your DNA. That's your DNA that's in your body now to just say all that just happened. Obviously nobody is going to see that this stained window just happened.

How much more the complexity of the molecule of the DNA structure of a human creation screams creator. That's why the bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no God. It's foolish. It's utter foolishness to think we came from stardust to think that all this just happened.

And there is one person he was an atheist he is switching over. I think he is agnostic now because he realizes this. Okay let's just say we came from pre-mortal ooze. How did the body know to create a male and a female.

And how did the body know to then procreate and bring forth life. Conception, DNAs meet chromosomes meet and they form life. You know what he said. Well you got me there. No atheist has been able to figure that one out, it's impossible.

It's impossible. So we need to start giving God the glory due, the creator the magnificent creator. So you have to ask yourself fact or fairy tale. I mean you look at, have you ever studied the pollination by bees.

And what bees do. It's amazing. It's just absolutely amazing. So you have that from the sun to the moon to the human body to the DNA to the birth of a child that all screams creator. That's why Romans 1 20 says this, I think we have it up as well from the new King James.

For since, since the creation of the world God's attributes, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. So I am made. I can clearly see that there is a God even his eternal power and Godhead.

So that they are without excuse. Mankind is without excuse, so the next time somebody says to you, what about that little boy in the jungles that have never heard about Jesus. They know, they are without excuse, all of us.

Because right here, we see his invisible attributes. What are those attributes. Shane, well logic unity, consistency beauty, purpose, you see the handwriting of a creator all over all of creation. It's there not only that, Romans 2 says that our own conscience bears witness of God.

It says something like this, the Gentiles, even when they don't do the law or do the law, not even knowing what the law is it's actually been written in their heart it's in their heart to do the things that their conscience either excuses them of or doesn't excuse them of.

They know it's written in their heart, in their DNA that there is a creator. So let's talk about this for a minute we see a cataclysmic event occurred where things died rapidly, right. I'm talking about creation, now God says the flood creation of man, you can see that there is, most will admit this yes, something happened a massive something happened where there's just fossils laid millions and millions just laid down, something cataclysmic happened, well the Bible calls that a flood, why are there seashells found in the Himalayas.

Did you know that there are seashells found in the Himalaya mountains the Grand Canyon throughout the whole Grand Canyon. Actually the Grand Canyon's limestone layer contains tens of millions of fossils with nearly one in seven fossilized standing vertically.

You don't die vertically right, unless there's a massive flood that takes place recently too, you can find all this, there has been soft tissue found in the bones of dinosaurs. I don't know if soft tissue is going to stick around for millions and millions of years right, they're finding these things.

It's just everywhere you look it screams creator. You have to actually go out of your way and force things. You ever heard that saying, putting a round thing into a square peg it's not working but that's what we do when we go around forcing evolution, forcing this concept that there's no God into a square peg, yeah it'll fit if you grab a sledgehammer, right but it's going to break everything else and see I told you it would fit.

They're so adamant about it fitting that they don't care that it really doesn't fit. They have to force it. You have to have a wild imagination to think there's no God, don't you that wild imagination and how did the universe start.

How did gravity hmm light, well and you start imagining these things. I said this a few years ago but it was I don't remember which one but just amazing mind, I don't know if it's Hitchens or Dawkins or any of those atheists but when he was pressed on this he said well maybe we were delivered here on the back of crystals by aliens who created the aliens.

I mean where does it just it's absurd but the human heart is so depraved and is it enmity at war with God that they will do anything to remove him, that's where this comes from, the fool says in his heart there is no God, obviously someone created all of this that's why there's no excuse that's why there's no excuse, it's clear that there is something out there greater than me and you and there's no excuse God's eternal power it mentions here, God's eternal power is evident, did you know that nothing, now nothing is being created out of nothing when God spoke that same energy, that same matter is just recycled.

You're not seeing new things being created out of nothing, when he spoke it, it was done, you just see the recycling of energy and of matter, we can't create something out of nothing, the sheer mass of the universe illustrates his eternal power, have you ever went on and looked at pictures from outer space and you know there's some that say you are here, this little like you can't even see the earth and this big solar, I mean the Milky Way and it's like wow that's amazing it's like oh that's not even one billionth of the universe, I mean that's just a speck of the complete mass of the universe.

I mean it gives you a headache. That's the God we worship, that's the God we look to, that will change your perspective when you start to pray, won't it. Oh God this problem is too big. I don't know what you're going to do, well I hung Saturn I handled Neptune.

I keep them from not colliding. I have the gravitational force just right for you that should demand worship, oh my God and then he wants to have a relationship. I mean this just blows my mind so let me just answer a few questions here on this concept of creation.

Biblical Creationism and the Age of the Earth

It's only one aspect of theology people ask me often, you know Shane what are you in regard to whether it's the age of the earth or theistic evolution and God allowed evolution different things, it's very simple.

I'm a biblical creationist. A biblical creationist well what does that mean, I'm glad you asked for one, let me just start here and again I'll just tell you up front that there are great men of God divided on this great women of God divided on this but personally I can't stretch the six days of Genesis into millions and billions of years.

Personally I've tried I don't know I've looked at the Hebrew. I've looked at the word yom, y-o-m and the day, is it really a day. Personally I can't make that connection and it's ironic people drop off books, read this, read this, read this.

I don't want to read books, I want to read the book because you will go wrong reading books. So let's read it, Genesis 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. Now let me just, this is in my notes, I just thought of it now between verse 1 and verse 2 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. Some people who think that there have been billions and billions of years call this the gap theory God created, but then it could have been millions and millions of years before he moved forward into creation.

But just reading it, I don't know if I get that so the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. So we have this darkness and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, let there be light something science still cannot understand. Ask PhDs in molecular biology, that might have to do more with the body, but in physics and different things ask them to explain light.

Well it bounces off certain things and particles. No, explain light. We still can't explain light. But he spoke and light came into existence and God saw the light that it was good and that's where we have this idea that light represents Christ.

Light represents redemption and purity and wholeness, what does darkness represent? The demonic side. Do your kids want to go out and play at night? Or when the sun's out? We have this internal alarm clock in our own system that we know God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness, so there was a division God called the light day and the darkness he called night, so the evening and the morning were the first day.

So personally, I can't see that word day which is yom in the Hebrew and it can mean a long period of time, but just the context and a normal reading of this supports, again in my opinion, there was the first day.

Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the water again, people are debated on this there's debates on this, but a good book is Henry Morris, the Genesis account if you have that, he goes into a whole section on this about how the earth could have had a canopy and it divided the waters and different things, the bottom line I'm trying to get to is verse 8 so God divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above, and it was so, and God called the firmament heaven, and so the evening and the morning were the second day so that's what I mean by biblical creationist, and I would encourage you to be one as well, because people say, no, no, no, but watch this video.

I don't want to watch a video, I want to read the book read this book I want to read this book now granted we get extra resources to further our study, right you're going to read someone like Hugh Ross, who believes it's millions and billions and billions of years old, you'll read someone like John MacArthur, who's young earth, and you see they both present decent, I mean, MacArthur's side I respect 100 more but you read the other side, and you're like, well that's interesting I mean, okay, that could work if you move some things around and kind of make some assumptions I guess if you assume that, if that scripture in Job you think applies to that I guess I could see where you're coming from but we can't go by articles books, there's people that tell me Shane, you've got to read this you know, he makes a good point that Adam and Eve weren't really historical figures, it was more of an analogy, check this out.

I don't want to check this out what's the Bible say? We can gleam a lot from the history the historical account and I'm fine to go in front of God someday, in heaven, and say you know what, this read just like it was an actual day, my bad I mean, that's how I read it that's how, no translation but see, here's what happens time to step on some toes we can be so embarrassed about our faith that we grab onto an evolutionary concept and try to have evolution fit and billions of years fit with secular society so we don't look foolish.

That's where it comes from in all honesty most people don't want to look foolish to the scientific world so they'll, oh sure yeah, billions, I agree, I agree but have you thought there might be a creator I mean, he might have allowed evolution.

There's pastors that don't like me very much but they believe in theistic evolution in this valley that God allowed evolution from premortal ooze, right the first cell, and he allowed things to happen and it's because we want to be so recognized by the secular society we want the PhDs in evolution if that's even a PhD, can I get it in evolution, I don't know, but we want them to respect us as Christians well the world's never going to respect us as Christians, we're not checking our brains at the door, it makes perfect sense, when God spoke things into existence did the world, was the earth first soft and subtle like a little baby you know, the rocks were nice and round and very soft like a newborn baby and then after billions of years they became jagged and hard, and see, we can see the age of the earth, or how do you know when God said, that's when he created, that's how old it looked as I've said many times before, when God said, Adam breathe in you the breath of life, you became a living being, was he a little one month old, right out of the womb there was no womb, sucking his thumb you know, and he grew up, or was Adam, look like a 30 year old man, when he was 3 seconds old I mean, you have to ask yourself these questions, so of course, things look old, well Shane, the earth looks old yeah, when God said, BAM and the universe expanded, it's still expanding they say and he created, I mean this we can't even put a number on this massive upheaval of matter, BAM yeah, it's going to look probably old, it's going to look rugged, when mountains explode and when when the deep waters were, the flood were broken up and the earth, a cataclysmic event happened, it will age things very quickly, so there's no problem taking the biblical account and looking at what we see today in the world and also the way we measure things can be flawed see, maybe it's just me, but I think we put too much emphasis into science, and things, even though I love it, I study it I've got books on it, but that can't supersede the Bible right, back when they used to think that bloodletting was okay, where you would you know, I think it was cut open and let all your blood drain out so the disease would go out and, or take cat dung or cow dung and whiskers of a cat and put it on your sore what's the latest, oh, 100 years ago smoking was very good for you and encouraged I mean, so see, you can't, you got to be careful who you trust in here, now we look to science, I love science, I love medical studies, I love to see how the body works, but does it line up with scripture here's why I have concerns the ways we measure something can be flawed for example, the speed of light, no one understands it, carbon dating the rate at which the universe is accelerating, many times people are just guessing, and they're often they're guesses, I mean, I would read somebody, they're like, the universe is 34 billion years old, somebody says 17 billion, well, you guys are off 17 billion years.

Where do you get your numbers from? And it's from these things this is how they do it, they measure the speed of light carbon dating, and the rate at which the universe is accelerating, but we have to be careful here, because radiometric dating let me say this about it we don't know how much radioactivity was in a rock when it was first formed.

Additionally, there may be instances of very young rocks being dated very old, for example, recently in a volcano a rock was taken from a volcano in Alaska, it was 100 years old, but was dated 5 .5 million years old.

And recent articles, I can give you many of them one article is entitled this new rate new rate data supports a young world, by Russell Humphreys PhD, another one written by John Baumgartner PhD, carbon dating undercuts evolutions long ages another article by Russell Humphreys PhD, nuclear decay, evidence for a young world, so you have PhDs at both levels saying, no no no, we're off on these areas and others saying, no, it's billions and billions so we look at what the bible says and silence, it's called science daily, it said this about the speed of light, there's coming a theory, there's coming out a theory that challenges Einstein's physics, it could be soon put to the test the idea that speed of light could be variable and not consistent, so what they're using to measure the depth of the universe could be variable it's not necessarily consistent, I know these are big things, but suffice it to say that science in many areas proves a historical biblical account of creation so is it fairytale or fact?

The Evidence of Creation and the Reality of God

That's the question you have to ask yourself this morning, is it fact or fairytale? Are we worshipping the true and living God? And then another part of theology is the knowability of God, the knowability of God via a relationship, now imagine this the God who created all of this desires a relationship with us that to me is the most profound thing that we've read so far, Romans 1, Romans 121, because although they knew God although they knew God, how did they know Him?

They saw evidence for Him they did not glorify Him as God, but rejected I'm reading the Amplified again, they rejected the evidence, nor were they thankful, but they became futile which is unproductive in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened professing to be wise they became fools, so Romans 121 says this although they knew God, His evidence is clear, right?

I mean you can just walk outside, you understand that somebody did this, they did not glorify Him as creator they don't come out and go, my goodness there is a God, this is incredible. I glorify You, I worship You show me who You are, instead what do they do instead?

They reject the evidence they're not thankful they're haughty, they're arrogant and what happens? They become very unproductive in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts are darkened. See, when you open up to God, the light comes in God speaks, God wants a relationship but when you close Him off and you ignore Him, the darkness sets in, in our own hearts the light came into the world, but the darkness did not comprehend Him.

The darkness doesn't want to have anything to do with Jesus, that's why you can sing about Jesus, mention His name but if somebody comes in who's in darkness they hate that name, the same name you love and you're worshiping, they hate and they'll yell at you and let you know it, I've had speaking engagements where people have done that they yell and they leave.

What happened? I just said Jesus we talked about Jesus what happened? Because that darkness is penetrating their heart, but there is freedom if you look to Him this morning Luke 17 20 21, here's the relational aspect, when Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered this, the kingdom of God does not come with observation nor will they say see here or see there, for indeed the kingdom of God is within you, now this word kingdom is interesting because as we know the kingdom of God will come and that's where He's ruling and reigning under His subjects and He's in the position of authority, but this kingdom is something different, it's not a territory under the rule of a king it's royal power and it's actually dominion, so the kingdom of God is within you once a person believes in Christ has that relationship with God the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Spirit comes and resides in the person, He's not in their muscle and in their fibers, He's spirit, those who worship Him worship Him in spirit and truth but somehow that Holy Spirit comes in and dwells the believer.

So now the kingdom of God, His dominion, His authority, His power rests in the heart of the believer it's not going to be seen, Jesus said, it's within you, Christ in you, Colossians 1 .27 Christ in you, the hope of glory.

2 Corinthians 4 .7 we have this treasure in earthen vessels. What do we have? What's an earthen vessel? You are I hate to ruin your morning but you are, I am considered an earthen vessel, just a piece of broken clay that's it, but we have this treasure inside earthen vessel, it goes on to say that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us so what the Holy Spirit in us is what brings that value and that Spirit filled life.

Quenching the Holy Spirit

1 Thessalonians 5 .16 through 19, do not quench the Spirit now it's making sense, you believe you have the Holy Spirit residing in you, the kingdom of God, the dominion is within you and then Paul says, but don't quench that Spirit and I believe that's why many of you feel dead this morning, if you are Christians that's why you feel dead.

The Holy Spirit has been quenched and grieved instead of this all consuming fire that should be in us it's barely kindling it's barely flickering right, you ever move those coals around, oh there it is there it is, I thought the fire went out it's right there God says put newspaper on it put more wood in the fire which is worship, the word of God repentance, letting all bitterness.

Do you know we come in with judgmental critical hearts, that's one of the ways the enemy gets us most often we come in with judgmental critical, bitter, arrogant hearts and you don't think that quenches the Holy Spirit that quenches and grieves the Holy Spirit so we have this relationship, we can either fan the flames put more firewood on and be filled with the Spirit or continue to live day by day, week by week year by year, quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit we call it barely getting through, barely getting by, and I thought of it this morning during worship how how sad, maybe it's a wake up call for many of us here can you imagine living the majority of your Christian life with the Holy Spirit quenched and grieved.

I don't have the statistics but it was it was appalling, if not alarming the Southern Baptist convention, I think they took statistics of tens of thousands of their members and it was something like 97 or 98 have never spoken about Jesus to someone, led them to the Lord hold on, wait a minute did I just read that correctly?

But see that that's what happens, here's a sure sign you're quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit of God you don't want to talk to anybody about Jesus anymore, why? Because there's no longer a consuming fire the fire's been kindled it's been put out, there's been water thrown on it so how, can you imagine going our whole lives or let's say it was good a few years and then the rest, next 10, 20, 30 years we allow pride to come in right, knowledge puffs up, I know the Bible pretty good, I'm a Bible thumper, I can tell you off, pride comes in legalism, critical spirit, rigidness, and we live our whole life without being filled mightily with the Holy Spirit, talk about a wasted life, can you imagine that?

Going to church, going through the motions, Shane would you stop now? No I'm not going to stop, I'm about ready to turn on the gas right? We come to church and here's another statistic now I've shared it before, 30, 40 years ago, you know, people were at church now the new trend is like, they'll try to get church twice a month that's directly related to being filled with the Spirit often, now some people do it just out of commitment right?

I've been coming for so many years and I've got to go to church that's what good people do, that's not what I'm talking about, there should be a fire to want to experience God, there should be a fire to want to worship, I want to be in the services, if it's not there then it's been quenched in grief so what we do now is, yeah I think church is going to fit my schedule this week I think so, but now we look for anything that will take us away from it right?

Anything that will take us away away from it, birthday party for a third cousin I haven't seen in 22 years oh it's on Sunday, I guess I better go to that right? Got some sniffles this morning think I'll just sit in bed and watch a live stream but we look for things but when you're full of the Holy Spirit you have to get you have to get more of God this is a big rabbit trail so I'm hoping it's for somebody because you have that as a believer, if you're not a believer, then you don't have that, you're just in darkness you're upset at God, God says repent and believe, but if you're a believer and you've been quenching and grieving the Spirit God has so much more for you so much more for us to do, I wonder how much more we would do.

I mean let's be real how pathetic is it I'm talking about myself, I've been there you can go a whole month and you'll never mention Jesus to anybody, I lived my whole 20, throughout my whole 20 for a decade.

I would mark Christian on a form if I had to fill out something but it was embarrassing it's embarrassing to talk about, I'm not going to be a Jesus freak, I'm a macho guy. I was much bigger back then, right and we don't talk about that kind of stuff and then, hey are you Christian?

Yeah, I am, keep it down. Can we go outside and talk? Why? Because you've quenched and grieved the Spirit the very God who saved you. You don't want to talk about and I will tell you right now as a living witness, when you're full of the Holy Spirit you have to.

I mean, it's like you might as well try to hold back Niagara Falls. It's like you're just excited, you're bubbling over you see a single mom barely getting by. Can I help you, can I pay for that. Have you heard about Christ, what I did when I was little, where's this coming from.

It's the Holy Spirit, that's the problem in the church, we don't have enough Spirit filled believers, filled above capacity, wanting to do exploits for God and God says, I want that relationship with you 1 Thessalonians, do not quench the Spirit, Romans 15, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.

Are you lacking peace and joy so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Here's one good indication as well, if you have been quenching and grieving the Spirit of God, you are a believer but you've put water on the fire.

You will lack joy and peace. You will lack joy and peace. Church will become rigid, serving will become rigid, you'll start to pull people down instead of build them up, you'll start to have a critical negative spirit and it needs to be repented of.

By the way, I'm preaching to myself that can slip in you, that's not right. No, it's not right in you either. It can slip in, can it? The critical heart the negative heart. And we become filled with ourself and not the Holy Spirit.

Repentance, Faith, and the Indwelling Spirit

Repentance, faith and belief open the door to the kingdom within. So those hearing this later, YouTube different places, radio they need to know this. And maybe some of you in here, you have to repent of your sin, you have to put your faith and belief and trust in Christ and that kingdom can come within, that's why so many people when they finally repent and believe, they feel this burden has been lifted.