The Validating Work of the Holy Spirit

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Let's pray together.

Lord, when we sing great great hymns of the faith, modern courses that remind us what you said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest ethical teaching in the history of humanity.

You said, whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.

See, that's where that's where the water meets the road.

That's where the rubber meets the road, God.

That's where we get down to how we live.

If we just hear these words and we go out and we eat lunch and forget about it, it doesn't mean anything.

But if we hear these words and put them into practice, you said, Jesus, we're like a man or a woman, a person who dug down deep and built their their house on the rock.

But if we just hear these words and it's just a suggestion, it's just one man's opinion on this buffet of opinions in America.

And we just go on with our life as normal.

We're like a person who built their house on the sand.

And when the storms come and they're gonna come, doesn't mean God's not good.

It just means we live in a fallen world and the storm is going to come.

The person who built their house on the sand, it's gonna be demolished.

And so, Lord, this is why we open the Bible every time we gather, because we want to dig down deep.

We want to understand who you are and who we are as a reflection of who you are.

So, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scriptures today.

It's not just words on a page, it's not just a book written by a bunch of men, it is the breathed-out word of God.

So it has capacity and consequence in our lives.

Remind us of that today.

Teach us something, Holy Spirit.

We ask for this in Jesus' name when everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You're gonna have a see if you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

If you're visiting today, we're preaching through the book of Acts.

It's right after the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Acts is basically the Acts of the Apostles.

It kind of explains how the church got started and how Christianity began to spread.

And this morning, I want to talk to you this morning about the validating work of the Holy Spirit, uh, which sounds kind of nerdy and religious, but stay with me.

The validating work of the Holy Spirit.

Uh, Acts chapter 8, I'll start reading in verse 14.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Now, this is Christianity has begun to move.

Up to this point, it's been kind of centered in this city called Jerusalem that we've heard of even today.

It's considered the most religious city in the world, I mean the world, even today.

And so back then it was the hub, it was the center, and a lot of the Jews of the day they kind of felt like, hey, this is our gig.

We kind of own God.

He lives here in Jerusalem.

We got this is great.

And God Himself comes along and says, No, this is not what it's about.

It's too small a thing for me just to be your God.

I want to be God of the nations, all people, all ethne, all people groups.

There's nobody that's not included in this that this invitation doesn't go out to.

And so what we're gonna read today is it begins to go out, and as it begins to go out, some knuckleheads try to get in on it.

Amen?

And and here's the thing about the Holy Spirit, and I say the Holy Spirit, there's God the Father, there's the Son, and there's the Holy Spirit.

There's three in one.

Uh there's unity.

God never leaves his people as orphans, so we always have his presence.

When Jesus ascends back into heaven, the Holy Spirit comes.

So we are never without the presence of God in our lives, okay?

And so things are beginning to spread and move out.

And we got some people come along and they try to capitalize on Christianity and just kind of play the game for their benefit, but not God's.

This is what happens in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

I'll start reading verse 14.

It says this.

Now, when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of hands, the people, excuse me, through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.

And Simon answered, Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

Now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Now, this is one of those sections in the Bible that you read and you kind of go, Okay, some guy named Simon, who is that?

Uh, if you haven't been here the past couple of weeks, Simon showed up uh earlier.

Simon was kind of a magician.

He was kind of like David Blaine, street magician.

He would do great things, and people thought he was great.

Until a man named Philip came to some Samaritan, the Samaritan village, there's Jews and there's Samaritans, and they hated each other.

Last week we talked about how I showed you how they've had a thousand years of hostility.

And I'll show you again this morning, which is why what happens here in the verse, in the first part, especially verses 14 to 17, happens like it does.

Uh, because the Jews and Samaritans hate each other, did not talk.

Simon was a man that was very popular among the Samaritans.

He they thought he had the power of God on him.

Until a man named Philip, just an ordinary guy, uh, shows up and begins to tell people about Christianity and share the gospel with them.

And then they look at Philip and they go, you know what, bro, we believe you.

We want to follow this Christ.

And they get baptized just like Jenna did back here, which is an identification.

It's kind of like a wedding ring.

I put this ring on on January the 9th, 1993, okay?

I didn't wear one before then.

Okay.

Now, there's certain days when I get ready to leave the house.

If I can't find my wedding ring, I'll say to my wife, I don't want to give all the women false hope.

I gotta find that ring.

And my wife says the same thing every time.

I think you'll be okay.

But I did not start wearing this.

So, see, people don't get baptized until they come to faith because it's an ordinance, but it's also a symbol.

It signifies that this person's in a relationship.

And so, okay, so we saw last week Simon, the magician, he got baptized.

He said, I believe, but I want to just kind of point out four things from the text that we just read, okay?

Number one is this this experience is not normative.

This experience, you said, What do you mean, this experience?

In the first three or four verses, let me read again, verse 14.

And when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who are the truly apostles that stayed back in Jerusalem.

They sent Peter and John who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

This is the part that's not normative.

Just stay with me.

And I think I'll build it, I believe I'll build a case from the Bible.

I want you to understand this.

For he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only, circle the Lord only, they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

End of story.

This is what's known.

A lot of people, some denominations, especially if you grew up Pentecostal, they have what's called the two-stage doctrine of salvation.

And the two-stage doctrine of salvation basically says you become a Christian, and then later you're baptized with the Holy Spirit.

I don't think that's what the Bible teaches.

Like I have a friend that he was drawn to a church like that.

They're very loving, very whatever.

He gets baptized, and while he's standing in the water, the guy goes, Okay, pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you.

And I and I'm just like, uh, this is because a lot of times people give God a bad name.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

And the people that give God a bad name, the worst, are preachers.

If you believe that, say amen.

Don't enjoy that so much.

Y'all are all looking at me kind of cockeyed, like, yeah, people like you, bro.

No, when I say a two-stage doctrine of salvation, it introduces an inconsistency into God's nature that does not exist.

Let me say that again.

This two-stage doctrine of salvation, it introduces an inconsistency in God's nature that does not exist.

What do I mean?

God does not regenerate you and then abandon you only to come back later and baptize you with Himself.

Now, I used a big word there, regenerate.

What do you mean?

Uh this is where this comes from in the Bible, in Ephesians chapter 2, the first five verses, the Bible kind of describes how we all are by nature, okay?

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

He says this, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all live once in the passions of our flesh, carried out the desires of the body and mind.

Remember when you lived in the passions of your flesh?

Anybody here ever go to a club?

Say amen.

I don't mean the country club, I mean that other kind of club where they serve Tangere.

Amen.

Somebody over there knows what tangrae is.

Yes, yeah, yeah.

See, that's when when you go there, you're just kind of like, and then you become a Christian and you try to go back, it's kind of hard to enjoy that.

See, me and my friends used to sneak into the club.

We were we were 17, they'd let us in.

They thought we were 21 because we were magnificent sinners.

And then I became a Christian, and my friends made me feel bad because I didn't want to hang with them, smoke weed, and party anymore.

And they said, just come to the club one more time.

And I walked in, and confetti's popping from the ceiling, and the dance floor is jumping up and down.

And two steps in the door, my first thought was, What am I doing here?

I'm not better than these people, I'm not above these people.

This just doesn't fit me anymore.

And I realized, and so I stayed about 30 minutes, and my friends like, Well, what's the deal, bro?

And I said, Dad, this just doesn't appeal to me anymore.

My desires had changed.

Oh, you think you're better than us?

No, I'm not better than you.

This just doesn't appeal to me anymore.

I don't want to pick up women and go home.

I just want to go home.

And so I turned around and walked to the nice gold doors with the big emblem on them, pushed the door open, and this voice inside of me said, Look back, because you'll never be back.

And I looked back, and all my friends had their drinks up on the dance floor and he jumped on, and I was just like, and I've never been back.

And I don't miss it.

I don't think, oh, I'm better than these people.

No.

Why?

Because my desires change.

But we all started off this way.

This is the way everyone was born.

He said that the spirit doesn't work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Now, people come to me like especially people go off to college, take a philosophy class, they come back and they go, I don't believe in God anymore.

I don't believe in Christianity.

I like you, but I don't even, I just tolerate you.

My parents, I come to church with my parents because it looks good, and blah, blah, blah.

I had this conversation a couple of years ago with a guy who deconstructed his faith uh here in our church.

And I just said, Hey, by the way, uh, I appreciate your intellect and how you took philosophy and you now you now read Frederick Nietzsche and all these pagan philosophers.

But here's the deal: you were born this way.

You didn't get smart and make this decision.

This is what everyone is born.

You're born spiritually dead.

So it's not like you you reach a level of mensah and all of a sudden I don't believe in God anymore.

No, this is we we were all born spiritually dead.

So so far you've contributed nothing to your spiritual state of being.

You see, here's the problem bad theology gives lost people a confidence the Bible never does.

He goes, What do you mean?

I said, it's not like you got smart and outgrew Christianity.

This is who you've always been.

You've always been spiritually dead.

If your car battery's ever died, have you realized no matter how many times you turn the key over and how much gas you give it, it doesn't start?

Because the battery's dead.

And the Bible says in the same way that you're in my heart.

We are born with a dead battery in our heart.

But what God does is he doesn't jump the battery, he takes out, he takes out your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh.

He regenerates, gives you a new battery.

Here's what it says, verse 4.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses.

Look at me.

Before you go any further, look at me.

If you're sitting in this room right now and you think, dude, I think everything you say is kooky.

This is a waste of time.

I'm just here because friends invited me or whatever.

I want you to know that God loves you in the depth of your sin.

If you're sitting here right now, you think I'm living in sin right now, I'm having an affair, I'm embezzling money, I'm cheating at work.

I want to say to you, on the authority of God's word, God loves you even when you're dead in your trespasses.

Now, the next line is where we get the big word regeneration.

He says, But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved, made us alive.

See, Jesus didn't come to make bad people good, he came to make dead people alive.

This is why, this is the big word regeneration.

So this is why I say this experience is not normative in Acts chapter 8, where they they become Christians and they get baptized, but they don't get the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And I'll explain that in detail in just a minute.

But let me say this: what God begins at regeneration, he continues all the way through glorification.

That's when you go to heaven.

What do you mean?

The book of Romans says it like this in verse 29.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

The Bible says it like this in Philippians chapter 1, verse 6, it says, He who began a good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

Standing, I'm embarrassed to tell you the name of the club we used to go to, but it was called Tiffany's.

What are you laughing at, wife?

This is my wife down the front row, scoffing, what a loser you were.

Yes, I used to go to a club called Tiffany.

It was the it was the, I mean, it was the thing.

It was incredible.

I mean, it was the hottest girls went there, blah, blah, blah.

And now I think I drove by and I think it's a Chinese restaurant last time I saw it.

And I just thought, well, that went out of business.

But let me tell you this.

When I came to faith, the last time I went to the club and held the door, and something just said to look back, and I looked back, God knew I would stand on this stage.

Because he began a good work in me way back then, and he's gonna continue it.

Here's the great thing about being a Christian.

If you're not a Christian, here's what you're missing out on.

Somebody bigger and better than you is always working on you to make you more than you are right now.

That's the beauty of Christianity.

It's just not self-improvement and self-hatred and self-determination.

You see, you got to ask yourself this question: how do you go from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive apart from the Holy Spirit?

And does he regenerate you and then abandon you and then come back and baptize you?

How does that work?

You see, I think this is when I say this is not normative, this is what I'm saying.

This is there's a couple places in the book of Acts where this happens, but that's not normative for Christianity.

In some denominations, they use this text as a proof text for uh for a person becoming a Christian and then later receiving the Holy Spirit or being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And I would point to the use of the word only in verse 16.

Remember we're reading, I said circle the word only.

Uh, it's even more evidence that this is not normal.

Think of it like this: if before you left here, you're talking to friends in the lobby and you whipped out your phone and you got the Torchies app on there, which if you're a smart person, you do, and you just said, Hey, I'm gonna order some lunch, and you got three kids, two, or let's say two kids, two adults.

You're like, hey, we're gonna get six tacos and some queso.

Because you can't go to Torchies without getting queso.

Amen.

Now, some of you just decided where you're going to lunch, right there in that nanosecond.

You're welcome.

And so you put it in the app.

They said it'll be ready in 20 minutes.

Like, great.

I'm gonna sit here and gossip.

I mean, talk with my friends, get one more free cup of coffee.

You take the kids home, your husband swings by and grabs it because he's a man, he doesn't look in the bag, he just grabs the bag.

You get home, and your husband and your wife, you hand it to her, she opens it up and she goes, They only gave us the tacos.

Guess who's going back to torches?

Now, why does your wife say they only gave us the tacos?

Why didn't she say lunch is ready?

Because the expectation is there's something else in there.

The text in verse 16 says that hey, they've only been baptized, because the expectation is that something more should have happened.

This is why this is not normative, beloved.

You say, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay, how do you explain this?

Here's how I explain this because the long-standing hostility between the Jews and Samaritans, the confirmation that true conversion, that God, who's the gospel includes our hated enemies, and that this has to be validated.

It is so abnormal.

Somebody has to vouch for it.

And by the way, this is the pattern we see in the next chapter when in chapter nine, when a guy named Saul, who hates Christians and persecutes the church, comes to faith.

And the the the Christian, the church of the day was like, we don't want that guy around us.

He kills people, he puts people in prison.

And somebody had to vouch for the fact that, hey, this guy really has been converted.

Or earlier this year, we had a little spiritual awakening breakout at Asbury uh college up in Kentucky.

Remember that?

50,000 people descended on this little town of about 9,000 people.

Why?

It was so abnormal.

Somebody had to vouch for it.

It spread to my daughter's college.

And we were there when it happened to be going on.

And so we just went and said that thing and walked away.

And they said, Well, I said, I don't know that I'd call this spiritual awakening or revival.

I did I think a lot of people like to sing a lot, but it's easy.

You you're not standing in judgment of it.

It's just kind of like, here, this is so abnormal that God turns to your hated enemies.

It says, You're included.

The gospel transcends race, uh uh sex, uh, social, economic status, all of this.

It involves all people.

And so Peter and John, they go down, they lay hands on them as a token of fellowship and solidarity with the church in Jerusalem, not as a means which subsequent Christians received the Holy Spirit.

This is more about validating God's work among the Samaritans.

Now, remember, I said to you that there was a thousand years of hatred.

You don't understand how bad these people hated each other and why somebody from Jerusalem's got to go down and vouch for the fact that you know what?

Not only is this happening, not only is this valid, but this is a great thing.

You want to understand how deep-seated it was?

I'll just read you one more passage.

This is from Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

This is early in the life and ministry of Jesus.

It says, when the days drew near, verse 51, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.

But the people did not receive him.

Why?

Because his face was set towards Jerusalem.

Now, these are a Samaritan town.

They're like, Hey, Jesus is getting ready to go to Jerusalem, die on the cross, ascend back into heaven.

And the Samaritans said, Hey, dude, you ain't got time for us.

We're not gonna help you.

Get out of here.

Watch what happens.

This is hatred.

But the people did not receive him because his face was set towards Jerusalem.

Verse 54.

And when his disciples, James and John, John is one of the people right here in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Same guy.

When James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Don't you wish you had that power?

I'm at Sam's the other day.

And by the way, when you go to Sam's to get gas, there's arrows on the ground that tell you you pull in this way.

Don't be the moron that comes the other way.

Oh, the line's shorter.

The line's shorter that way because it's the wrong way.

And I was thinking about this passage, and I just thought, oh, if I had the power to call the empire.

Roasted.

And the guy got out like, what's the big deal?

And I just pointed the arrow.

I didn't say anything, but I gestured more dramatically.

Yeah, and the Holy Spirit's like, yeah, you couldn't be trusted with fire.

Do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

But he turned to rebuke them, they went on to another village.

This is how deep-seated the hatred was.

So imagine when word gets out, oh, by the way, God includes the Samaritans, what he's doing.

God's not just a God of religious people, he's a God of people that have a hard heart and think, man, I've sinned so much.

There is no way God would ever want a relationship with me.

And the gospel comes along, and the Holy Spirit comes along and says, Yes, that's just the people Jesus came for.

He didn't come for people that are healthy, he came for people that are sick.

So if you're sick today, there's a God in this world that came for you.

So the first thing we see in the text is this experience with the Holy Spirit is not normative.

When you become a Christian, you become a Christian because the Holy Spirit regenerates your heart.

And what he begins, he continues, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30 says that you've been sealed by the Spirit to the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30

There's no getting out, so you better learn to enjoy it.

And the way you enjoy it is you find a church that has the courage to teach you the Bible and trust your priesthood.

Doesn't try to manage you, but tries to equip you.

Here's the second thing we see in the text what you do with your money is an indication of where your heart is.

Watch what Simon does.

Verse 18.

Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through laying on the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I laid my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said to him, You and your money can both go to hell.

That's a literal translation from the Greek, by the way.

Now look at me.

Now don't pile on, like, oh yeah, get them, Pastor.

Talk about people got money.

Everyone in this room got money.

Okay?

I see your trucks backed up out here in the parking lot.

So don't come in here, poor mouth, like, oh Pastor, I'm barely making it.

Child, please.

And don't misrepresent how good God's been to you, okay?

Like, I'm barely making it.

Come on, man.

It's okay to say, you know what, I'm doing better than I deserve.

That's church talk for I'm secretly really succeeding and feel a little bit guilty.

But let me say this when I say what you do with your money is an indication of where your heart is.

This is this is a statement about Simon.

This doesn't start, Christianity does not start with an expression of desire.

That's what Simon did earlier.

But but but but with a regeneration of your heart, which changes your nature, which informs your desires.

Let me say that again.

This doesn't start with an expression of desire.

No, no, no.

This starts with a regeneration of your heart, which changes your nature, which then informs your desires.

Notice that Simon does not want the Holy Spirit, he wants the power to control the Holy Spirit.

You should ask yourself, do you want a relationship with God, or do you just want the attention that might get you from a new group of people?

Because the Holy Spirit will not validate that life.

That person will go through life trying, it'll be hard.

The Bible won't make sense.

You won't have desire for the things you should have desire for, and you will consistently have desire for the things you shouldn't have desire for.

Simon doesn't want the Holy Spirit.

Again, he wants the power to control the Holy Spirit.

But here's the problem: no man controls the Holy Spirit.

Nobody does.

Not Peter and John, not the preacher.

Nobody controls the Holy Spirit.

What you do with your money is a reflection of where your heart is.

This is always the Bible teaches, Jesus himself taught this in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

He says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, or where thieves do not break in and steal.

Here's the line, verse 21.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

For your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

See, Simon's treasure was where his heart is.

It's an indication of where his heart is.

He pulls out some money and says, Hey, I gotta I've been having this passive revenue stream for years.

I got some built up over here.

Let me buy this.

And Peter says, Hey, you and your you and your money can both perish.

You can both go to hell.

Are you kidding me?

To this day, the desire to buy religious privilege is called simony because of what happens right here.

You say, Well, what's the thing?

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You should ask yourself today, what does the way I use my money say about my heart?

Say about my heart.

I when I was in my 20s, I was very critical.

I would come to church and I would always evaluate if it was good, I'd put money in the box.

If it wasn't good, I'd go, that didn't deserve that.

And finally I just realized one day I'm living in sin.

My heart began to change toward the church when I began to tithe.

I just began to say, you know what, guys, this tithe belongs to you.

This is yours, that's not mine.

I'm not gonna live in willful disobedience anymore.

Uh and every time something happens, like I was telling some buddies before church, uh, this weekend, I walked out.

I pulled in my drive, but my low pressure indicator came on in my truck, said one of my tires was low.

I got out and heard this.

I said, That ain't low, that's going down.

I look at and finally I realized it looked like a key.

I don't know how the key got in there, but one of y'all hammer a key in one of my tires, meet me in the parking lot.

Uh and I was like, oh my gosh.

And then I took it off to went to discount tire yesterday, got in there, and I said, Yeah, didn't you get this passion?

The guy said, Yeah, that's too close to the sidewall.

That's got to be replaced.

Did you get them here?

Because if you did, we can replace it for free.

I said, No, I didn't get them here.

He goes, Yeah, you need a new tire.

Have you bought a tire lately?

Let me just ask that.

If you haven't, start saving now.

He said, We got a range of them, and this one right here, it starts at$189.

I I I hearken back to when I used to drive a Ford Fiesta.

Them tires was$29.99.

But if you've got a Ford pickup, now by the way, I was driving back from that.

Now, my truck is 11 years old, my wife's van's about 10 years old.

So we're like, hey, you know what?

I was just thinking, you know, we we probably ought to do something about trading these vehicles and getting something, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And but but have you priced a car?

If you think tires are bad, have you priced a vehicle lately?

They're half as much as your house.

And I was just like, How much crack do you smoke?

What?

Never mind.

I'm driving back.

You know what that little voice in my head said?

You know what makes a great car payment is that tithe.

And I just chuckled.

Oh, my depravity is alive and well.

So here's why I just set up on my credit card.

What I give to the church every month, I just set up my credit card, I take it out of my hands.

Because left to me to decide every month.

Hmm, I don't think I would weasel out, but I got a little weasel in me.

Amen.

Anybody relate to that?

Some of y'all are like, uh, no, Pastor, I don't.

Okay.

I'll stand alone in my authenticity.

Uh, Simon thinks of the Holy Spirit in terms of power.

Now look at me.

We're about done.

You see, let me say amen.

Simon thinks about the Holy Spirit in terms of power, which is going to mean for me.

Hey, give me this power so whoever I lay my hands on, they can receive the Holy Spirit.

This will elevate me in the community.

People will be like, oh, David Blaine got some new tricks.

But here's the problem: uh, the Holy Spirit is so much more.

Let me just lift off some of the some of the ways the Holy Spirit functions in our life, like comfort, sanctification.

That's a big word that just means making us more and more like God and less and less like our old self.

Uh, revelation.

The Holy Spirit reveals things to you.

You just you wouldn't by nature know.

Empowerment.

It is power.

Gifting.

He helps you understand what your spiritual gift is: love, intercession.

The Bible says he intercedes.

That means he prays for you with groanings and utterings that are too deep for words.

Christianity, by nature, is relational.

It's not transactional.

And Simon tries to make it transactional.

Hey, I got some cash.

Give me this power.

And Peter says, Hey, bro, this is about a relationship, not a transaction.

Here's a third thing we see in the text.

The ordinances of the church cannot change you.

The ordinances of the church cannot change you.

Verse 21.

Peter says to him, You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart.

See again, the heart's on display.

Your heart may be forgiven you, for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.

And Simon answered, Pray for me, that the Lord, to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

Now, baptism is an ordinance of the church, and but simply undergoing that experience doesn't transform you.

It identifies you as one who've been transformed.

Again, think about the wedding ring.

Now I relate to this.

If you look up, uh, you say, Well, where is all this coming from?

Look up at verse 12.

We read this last week.

You say, What do you mean?

Uh Simon responds.

He professes to believe.

He even gets baptized.

Verse 12, he says, but when they believe, Philip, as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Even Simon himself believed.

And after he was baptized, he continued with Philip.

And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Now, again, Simon, when I say the ordinances of the church cannot change you.

Simon's been baptized.

That doesn't make you a Christian.

Jenna Strong is not a Christian because she got in the water today.

She came and got in the water today to signify the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus because her life testifies to the fact that the same thing has happened to her.

Again, it's an ordinance and it's a symbol.

It tells everybody I'm in a relationship.

Simon professed one thing.

I think he was curious, but he wasn't converted.

Now, before I get all heavy-handed on him, I relate to this because I became a Christian at 18.

I was generally converted.

Now, I was 16 and I worked for a man that was a very godly man, very man's man, honest, great businessman, very successful.

And he and his family cared a lot about me, especially his oldest son.

And so it's that summer.

His son's getting ready to go off to college.

I'm 16 and we're standing in church.

The dude would come pick me up for church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and everybody would go eat after church on Sunday night.

And he'd go, You got any money?

I'm like, What kind of question is that, bro?

And he's like, I'll buy your dinner.

And so we're standing in church one Sunday night.

I'm in the back back there just thinking, okay, we're going to the Dairy Queen, because in a town of 4,000 people, that's as good as it gets, okay?

There wasn't no torches back then.

There was the Dairy Queen.

And so he leans over to me while they're singing the invitational hymn, and he says, If you go down front, I'll buy your dinner.

I just stepped out and started walking.

Well, look at me.

I wasn't called, I was hungry.

And I got down there, and the preacher just said, Would you like to be saved?

And I said, Yeah, I'd like a belt buster and a big fry and a coke.

And that's exactly what happened.

Now listen to me, I'm not mocking it.

Some of you, this is you.

You went through the motions.

Your mom nudged you and said, Come on, we're going down.

And you're like, Okay, whatever.

And I got baptized.

Look at me.

If I would have died, I'd have gone straight to hell.

My heart wasn't changed.

My heart was still dead.

I didn't stop smoking weed.

I didn't stop partying.

I didn't do anything.

There was no change in me.

I felt bad.

My friend is so concerned about me.

I thought, at least I should go through this.

The ordinances of the church will not, cannot, and will not save you.

They don't make you Christian.

Okay?

You say, well, you may be thinking, okay, so what assurance is there for any of us?

Well, it depends on where you look for assurance.

Do you do you count on when you were baptized or how you currently live?

If you come to my office, I can show you.

I found it a couple months ago in an old Bible.

I wrote in the when I was generally converted.

I wrote in there, I realized July 5th, 1982, I realized tonight that I'm a sinner and I deserved hell.

I was like, pretty much.

Yeah.

And I framed it and stuck it in my office.

It says, and I was scripturally baptized on July the 11th, 1982.

I got wet with a preacher two years earlier.

Now, you say, again, you may be thinking, oh man, what assurance is there for any of us?

Depends on where you look.

Uh, do you count on, hey, I was baptized, I was christened, I went to confirmation, some ordered to the church, or do you point to how you currently live?

Let me break it down this way.

I have friends in my life that are always holding me accountable.

And one of the questions they consistently ask me is, hey, how's marriage?

I've been married 30 years.

Now, by the way, some of you women last week when I said talking about how immorality is easy, and I motioned to my wife, and I said, This is hard.

I can't believe he said this is hard.

It is.

Shut up.

It is.

Now, it's not difficult.

If you're visiting today, my wife's easy to be married to.

But she's not impressed.

Does she respect me?

Absolutely.

But it's just, it's just, ah, okay.

Yes, yes.

But I got friends in my life that say, hey man, how's marriage?

You know what I never say?

Well, it was January the 9th, 1993, First Baptist Pensacola, beautiful downtown church.

It was, we had like eight or nine or ten groomsmen and bridesmaids, like the Republican National Convention coming down the aisle.

And then these big wooden doors closed and they chimed the hour.

Gong, gong.

And I was like, uh oh.

All my groomsmen were like, we're getting real up in here.

And then these big wooden doors opened, and I saw her, and I just burst into tears.

I was just like, the officiant looked at me and said, Oh my gosh.

I was like, I know, right?

I never say that.

Why?

That was my wedding day.

I got a married life to talk about.

You hear the difference?

Some of you, when you think about your Christianity, you want to point back to your wedding day.

Oh, I was christened.

What about you?

Do you have a married life with Jesus?

That says I've been in a covenant relationship with him, and I'm not perfect, but I'm changed and I am changing.

Here's the last thing the text tells us.

Even mature believers need to grow.

Look at verse 25.

Now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem.

Hear this next line: preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

The Holy Spirit never leaves you alone.

He's always at work in the true believer, making them more Christ-like, bearing more fruit of the Spirit through their lives.

Now, what do you mean, even mature believers need to grow?

I know some of you have been in church a long time, you got it all figured out.

You don't volunteer anymore because it's somebody else's time.

What page is that on?

Yeah, I'm talking to all you people have been Christians more than 10 years right now.

And that's a lot of you in here.

Here's the deal: the Holy Spirit, John goes from wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans because they don't treat Jesus right to now he's preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Why?

Because even mature believers need to keep growing.

Have you arrived in your faith that can you feel where you still need to grow?

Is there a race of people or a people group that your heart is not right towards?

These are the kind of things that the Holy Spirit leads you to consider.

And by the way, it's not always profound.

You know one of the last things the Holy Spirit convicted me of?

Some of you be like, Oh yeah, I've experienced that.

The Holy Spirit said to me a couple months ago, hey, you interrupt people too much.

And I was like, What are you talking about, Willis?

He's like on Sunday or Wednesday, people were talking, you just walk up and go, excuse me, blah, blah, blah, like you're more important than them.

Shut up.

And I was like, Well, that hurt my feelings.

You go, did the Holy Spirit really tell you?

Yes, he speaks to me in the living Bible translation, not the King James.

He didn't say, uh, verily, verily, Neil, you speaketh too much.

He says, Hey, bro, just stop interrupting people.

You're not that important or that urgent.

I want to be like my kids.

My wife taught my kids not to interrupt.

They would go up and they would put their hand on our hand.

I want to just go up and put my hand on people's hand now.

I'm waiting because the Holy Spirit has convicted me that I interrupt too much.

Go ahead and finish your conversation.

So if I put my hand on your hand, I'm not being inappropriate.

I'm just waiting to interject.

Now look at me.

The Holy Spirit is subtle and practical.

It's not always mystical.

No.

Sometimes it's very practical.

You mature believers, let me ask you this and we're done.

What's the last thing the Holy Spirit convicted you of?

Because don't be bothered when the Holy Spirit convicts you.

Look at me.

Be bothered when the Holy Spirit leaves you alone.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

There's no big bait and switch coming.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.

Some questions come up on the screen.

You can whip your phone out, take a picture.

Don't try to write them down.

We just we think the Bible is is it invites us to think, not just feel.

And so I'm gonna voice a prayer.

Somebody may sing something, may just play.

But this time is for you just to kind of take a moment, get a deep breath, and ask yourself, what I hear today, and what do I do about that?

Let me pray.

Holy Spirit, thank you that you're always at work, that God left his spirit here to continue the ministry of Jesus.

You're very practical.

You never leave us alone.

You're not a pest, you are a comfort.

And so, Holy Spirit, just brood over us while we think about things for a minute.

God, that's our prayer this morning.

We don't always know what you're doing, but we do know you're always at work.

Sometimes it's painful, it's like grapes getting crushed, but you're making new wine.

Somebody bigger and better than us is always at work in us, and that's one of the deepest comforts of being a Christian.

I'm not in this alone, trying to change my behavior, trying to modify things so I don't screw up so much.

The God of the universe lives inside of me by his spirit.

And he compels me, he propels me, he provokes me.

He says, speak up, and sometimes he says shut up, and everything in between.

That's why the Bible says that our body is the temple.

It's the building that God lives in, it's the temple of the Holy Spirit.

I pray for anyone that's ever had this experience today, God, that you would regenerate their head and heart.

Make them think differently and feel differently.

Make them open to things that they've always been closed to.

And finally, God, I pray for bad experiences that people have had with church.

You just wash that off of them in Jesus' name.

Lord, we love you.

We want the truth because the truth is what sets us free.

That's our desire, God.

Make it our experience.

We ask in Christ's name when everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome, okay?

If you're like, whew, this was one and done for me, bro.

That scared me to death.

Uh just hey, I can't make you, but know that you're always welcome.

However, if you're like, you know what, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be, you're always welcome.

Just come.

You say, Well, I don't believe you.

Just come and keep listening.

We believe that God speaks a language that you understand, and it's like this cup right here, okay?

There's about that much water in it.

But if I kept pouring water, it would eventually fill up and overflow.

That's how conversion happens.

This is like your heart.

Some of you, your heart's right here.

Some of you, it's almost full.

And eventually it'll overflow.

You'll find yourself having a desire for things you've never had a desire for.

That's relationship, not religion.

Okay?

Does that make sense?

All right.

I'll never I'll never try to jam you up.

I'll never put pressure on you.

You're free to come and go and kind of go.

You're free to come up to me afterwards and go, I think you're kind of crazy.

And I'll say, that's great.

Let me buy you lunch.

Tell me more.

All right?

We've always got things going on in the life of our church want you to know about.

So check out our video announcements this week.

Here's what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

If you're ready to make deep connections and become known and cared for by a group of people, join one of our community groups.

You can find them under our Connect section on Grandparkway.org.

There's groups for all walks of life, so don't let the worry of not fitting in stop you from signing up.

For all adults 60 and over, join us for Lunch Interconnect this Thursday, September 7th.

At Grand Parkway, we believe you are the most experienced people and that you are still in the game.

Come and invite friends.

Finally, October Outreach begins on October 3rd.

It offers four ways for us all to love our neighbors, which are National Night Out on October 3rd, Nary's Promise Tuesday Night Bible Study on October 17th, Oyster Creek Elementary Blue Jay Festival on October 27th, and an ESL Fellowship on October 31st.

We want you and your family to pick one and jump in on the movement.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

And despite my confusing emails earlier this week, uh the varsity is on Thursday, September the 7th.

Somebody wrote back and said, You said Tuesday.

I'm like, the devil's making me have a bad day, and you're helping him, okay?

Uh it is Thursday.

Uh, but today is the deadline.

Tonight at midnight is the deadline to restroom because we have to turn in our order to Lasagna House.

And so it's available to everyone 60 and over.

If you're 60 and your spouse isn't, they can get in on your on your 60, okay?

We meet uh in the building with the green roof right over there.

Uh actually, I take that back.

We're meeting in here because we've got a lot of things going on.

So we'll be in the new building at the varsity uh swanky uh this Thursday from 10:30 to 12.

Love for you to come join us.

You can restore online, all right?

Stand your feet.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

If you're comfortable, hold your hands out.

If you're not comfortable, hold your hands out.

Your God is so not ashamed of you, embarrassed of you, mad at you.

He is so not any of that, that when you come to faith, he comes to live inside of you.

Who wants us to be that close to you?

Know you that intimately, and forgive you that fully.

Depart now and think about these realities.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.