February 22nd, 2015

I've got my eye out this morning for middle school and high school students and those who served the adults.

We've had a great retreat from what I heard on Friday and Saturday.

Thank you for everyone who served there, Billy, Ben, worship team, those adults who went and were kind of keeping things between the curbs, so to speak.

Thank you so much.

It sounded like a great 30 hours together.

All right.

If you'd open up your Bibles, Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 through 21.

Ephesians 5:18–21

And as you're turning there, I want to ask you a question.

What happens when drunk people drive cars?

What happens?

Usually bad things happen.

I'm not sure if you've ever been pulled over before or you've seen someone pulled over before or know of someone who's been pulled over before for a DUI or OWI.

Usually what happens is a concerned police officer sees a car being driven erratically.

And so the police officer out of concern will pull the car over and then they'll have that driver go through some field tests to see if that driver's judgment is impaired.

Listening for slurred speech, balance, coordination.

Typically, the police officer will administer the breathalyzer.

And what the breathalyzer measures is the amount of alcohol in someone's breath.

And so if the alcohol level is over .08, that driver is legally intoxicated and therefore can be arrested and charged with a DUI or a, in Wisconsin, an OWI, operating while intoxicated.

Why do police officers enforce these laws?

Well, typically when drunk people drive cars, people get hurt.

People die.

It's dangerous and destructive.

We all know that drinking alcohol to excess impairs a person's judgment on the road.

They lose control.

But let's forget about the road for a second.

How about life?

What is the effect of drunkenness on a person's self-worth?

Or a person's relationship with other people that they love?

Or a person's effectiveness in the workplace?

Or a person's decision-making ability?

Drunkenness impairs a person's ability to live their life.

It's just not limited to driving.

If you're like me, your family has stories.

Family members who were drunks and made messes of their lives.

My family has suffered its share of heartache due to the abuse of alcohol.

Why is there alcohol abuse?

The problem is not alcohol.

The problem is what sinners do with alcohol.

Many people use alcohol as an escape.

A way to cope with the harshness of life.

To check out.

You know, booze is a relatively cheap way to medicate your life.

And what people don't realize is that when they begin to turn to the bottle for deliverance,

it's just a matter of time before their deliverer becomes their captor.

Instead of freedom, they become ensnared by a really confusing mix.

It's a cycle of despair.

It's nasty to be in that cycle.

It's nasty to be in a relationship who's in that cycle.

It's a hard place to be.

Drunkenness is a serious problem.

And it does serious damage.

And what we're going to read in our text today is that Christians,

we are not to live our lives under the intoxicating influence of alcohol.

That's a no-go.

In fact, Christians are commanded in the passage that we're going to see today

to live under the influence of something else.

Someone else.

The Holy Spirit.

Christians are not to be impaired by alcohol,

but empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The Christian life is empowered by the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ.

A life lived by the power of the Holy Spirit,

filled by the Spirit, is a life pleasing to Christ.

Do you want to live for Christ?

You must be filled by the Spirit.

Only one life.

Which will soon be passed.

Only what's done for Christ will last.

And how do you do that?

You've got to be filled by the Spirit.

So what does that mean?

What does it mean to be filled by the Spirit?

Let's look at Ephesians 5.

18-21

Let me read that for us now.

And as I read, I want you to be seeing something.

There are two different lifestyles.

That Paul brings out here.

The drunken life and the Spirit-empowered life.

They have some similarities,

but they are very different.

Let me read this passage.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

We don't use that word too much in our everyday speech.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.

Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Two ways to live.

Two ways to live here.

The drunken life and the Spirit-empowered life.

A life filled and continually filled by the Spirit of God.

We're going to see some similarities here.

Between these two lives, there is an influential agent.

In the drunken life, it's vino, wine.

In the Spirit-empowered life, it's the Spirit of God.

There's another thing we're going to see.

The goal.

In the drunken life, the goal that's prohibited here is drunkenness.

In the Spirit-empowered life, the goal is to be filled.

Filled with something amazing.

I can't wait to show you.

And the last thing we're going to see is similarities.

The results.

The result of the drunken life is this word that we read in our English version.

Debauchery.

The debauched life.

And over in the Spirit-empowered life,

we're going to see the result is a life devoted to Christ.

And it looks a certain way.

You want to live for Christ?

You must be filled by His Spirit.

So now, let's turn to this first lifestyle.

Lifestyle number one.

The drunken life.

We're going to look at the drunken life first.

We're going to look at the influential agent, goal, result.

And then we're going to turn to the lifestyle.

The Spirit-empowered life.

And we'll look at the influential agent.

We'll look at the goal.

We'll look at the results.

And Lord willing, we'll be compelled.

Lifestyle one.

We'll look at the truth.

We'll look at the truth.

We'll look at the truth.

We'll look at the truth.

We'll look at the truth.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

The influential agent that Paul's talking about is wine.

Do not get drunk with wine.

Now, back in the first century, wine would have been a common feature at every meal.

It's part of the culture.

It would be like a gallon of milk in your refrigerator right now.

But they didn't have refrigerators back there.

They had no way to keep cool their goat milk.

And the first century did not have carbonated beverages either.

There was not a Coke machine in the Agora in Ephesus keeping a Coke icy cold for you.

Wine was a very common, ordinary beverage of the day.

And it could be preserved.

So it was very common.

Here's what I'm getting at.

In the New Testament, God does not forbid, He does not prohibit the drinking of wine.

Wine is not in and of itself dirty in God's eyes.

Think of John chapter 2, Jesus at the wedding of Cana.

John 2 · chapter mention

He made water into wine.

The cup at the last supper was not filled with Welch's grape juice.

It was filled with wine.

In 1 Timothy 5.23, Paul writes Timothy,

Timothy, would you drink some wine to help your stomach a little bit?

In Mark 7, and this is the clincher,

Jesus pronounces all food clean, including wine.

Why?

Because it's not what you eat or drink that makes you dirty in God's eyes.

It's what comes out of your heart that makes you dirty in God's eyes.

Our problem is not what comes in us.

It's our problem what's already in us and comes out of us.

Sinful hearts.

Wine's not the problem.

The problem resides in our hearts.

So Paul's not forbidding wine here.

He's forbidding the sinful use of wine here.

Getting drunk with wine.

Or any other alcoholic beverage for that matter.

And so the influential agent here is Paul kind of looks at wine,

but we realize that the problem is much more deeper than wine.

It's our hearts.

And then he goes and talks about the goal,

that which is forbidden.

The command is do not get drunk with wine.

Your Bible has quite a bit to say about drunkenness.

And Christians must not get drunk.

And the question becomes why not?

Why not get drunk?

Well, I've got three reasons for you.

The last one I find to be the most compelling.

Here's number one.

Getting drunk leads to a loss of self-control.

And God doesn't want his people losing control of themselves.

Rather, God wants his people growing in self-control.

It is a fruit of the Spirit.

God doesn't want something other than himself directing the lives of his people.

Controlling the lives of his people.

And so the reason, number one, Christians shouldn't get drunk is a loss of self-control.

And God wants to do the very opposite in us.

He wants us to grow in self-control.

The second reason why Christians shouldn't get drunk is getting drunk leads to the impairing of your judgment.

Brawling.

Beer goggling.

Boasting.

Did you know that in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1,

a person is disqualified from being an elder or a deacon in the church

if they are a drunkard or addicted to much wine?

It evidences not only just a lack of self-control,

but it also reveals impaired judgment.

God doesn't want people with impaired judgment leading his church.

It's a recipe for disaster.

God wants us to be sober-minded.

God wants us to be sober-minded.

The last reason, and I find the most compelling,

why we should not get drunk is this.

Drunkenness is a characteristic of those who are living in darkness.

If Christians are getting drunk, it makes for a very confusing witness.

Getting drunk is part of a lifestyle of those who are darkened in their understanding

and separated from the life of God because of the hardness of their heart.

Getting drunk is a part of the old way of living.

When God changed us, He delivered us,

and He delivered us out of an old way of living,

the former manner of life.

Drunkenness, getting drunk, was part of that.

It's called us out of it.

In Ephesians 5.11, we read that we're not to participate in the unfruitful works of darkness anymore,

but rather expose them.

Drunkenness would fall under an unfruitful work of darkness.

There's nothing good that comes out of it.

By the grace of God, He's called us out of this lifestyle.

Drunkenness is inconsistent with walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which we've been called.

In other words, God is calling us to be habitually sober.

And it sets us apart as Christians.

1 Thessalonians 5.4-8, Paul is making a case.

Jesus is coming back.

And so he's saying, hey, don't live in darkness.

You're not darkness anymore.

Don't get drunk in darkness.

That's what you used to be.

So you know the light now.

So be sober.

It's a very sharp contrast between the two.

It's safe to say that drunkenness is an unwise way of living.

Ephesians 5.15.

It's not making the most of the time.

Ephesians 5.16.

It's not understanding the eternal will of God to unite all things in Christ.

Ephesians 5.17.

Getting drunk is a big waste of time.

With a devastating result.

Which the Apostle calls debauchery.

So we've looked at the agent.

We've looked at the goal.

It's forbidden.

Don't get drunk.

And now let's look at the result.

The Apostle says, don't get drunk with wine.

That's debauchery.

Let me paint you two pictures.

I want to help you see a biblical example of the debauched life.

And then I want to provide for you a picture of the result of the debauched life.

Do you remember the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15?

Remember that?

Jesus is just a brilliant teacher.

The greatest of all teachers.

And so he comes up with this parable to teach about God's heart for the lost.

And in that story, in that parable, there are two sons.

And the younger son, in a stunning act of arrogance, do you remember what he does?

He demands of his father, hey, give me my inheritance.

It was audacious.

You know what he's saying?

Dad, I wish you were dead.

Give me what's coming.

His dad gives him his portion.

And that younger son, in this parable, journeys to a far country.

In verse 13, we read this.

Remember this?

And there he squandered his property in reckless living.

Reckless living.

That word translated reckless in Luke 15 is a form of the word translated debauchery in Ephesians 5.18.

Reckless living.

Careless living.

Living without caring about consequences.

A life of drunkenness is a life of recklessness.

Hey, there may be some initial excitement, but you always bottom.

You always bottom out.

And that's where I want to help you see a picture of what it looks like to bottom out.

When I was in high school, which was just ten years ago, if you're wondering.

When I was in high school, a close friend of mine had a Jeep, and so did I.

And one day we set out to have some fun together.

And we found a massive mud bog.

We put our jeeps in four-wheel drive, and we drove through that mud bog over and over again.

Four-wheel drive engaged, engines roaring, mud flying.

We were laughing and enjoying ourselves.

It was wonderful.

But in our recklessness, we didn't see what was happening.

Every time we drove through the mud bog, we were deepening ruts.

And eventually, my friend bottomed out.

The ruts were so deep, the bottom of his Jeep got stuck in the mud, and his wheels were just spinning.

No traction.

Our carelessness had blinded us to what was actually happening.

We were digging ourselves into a hole.

And we couldn't get ourselves out.

It's a picture of what debauchery leads to.

Careless, reckless life, engine roaring, mud flying, a lot of laughter.

It's just a matter of time before you bottom out.

And you find yourself stuck.

Your wheels are spinning.

You're going nowhere.

Anybody relate with that?

That's where drunkenness leads.

Stuck, wheels spinning, going nowhere.

That's where pornography leads.

Getting stuck, wheels spinning, going nowhere.

Sleeping around leads to wheels, getting stuck, wheels spinning, going nowhere.

Vanity, love of money.

It all goes to the same spot.

The mire.

Getting stuck, wheels spinning, going nowhere.

I know that place.

It's miserable.

It's miserable.

My friend and I eventually realized that there was nothing we could do to rescue ourselves.

So we had to make a phone call to my friend's dad.

And oh man, he was not happy.

He sent a heavy duty tow truck down to our little mud patch.

And that truck pulled my friend's Jeep out of the mud.

Do you know what God was happy to do?

He was happy to send his son Jesus to pull the likes of me and you out of the mud of debauchery.

He pulled us out.

He pulled us out.

He pulled us out of the muddy mess of our own making.

And what God in Christ has done, alcohol can never do.

Only Christ can deliver.

Only Christ gives true freedom.

And so if you are in the mire of a debauched life, your only hope to get pulled out is Jesus.

That is who Jesus is.

He's a rescuer.

And Christians are those who've been rescued by Jesus.

Those who've been pulled out of the mire and saved by Jesus.

And now we steer clear of the mire.

We steer clear of the debauchery.

We know better.

We no longer come under the intoxicating influence of wine,

but rather we come under the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit.

So here's the command.

Here's what Paul is saying.

He's saying don't get drunk with wine.

It's a prohibition.

It's a negative command.

Don't do that.

And it's in the present tense, which means this.

You are to habitually not do that.

So if you are habitually drinking wine to get drunk, you must stop.

And if you haven't started, don't start.

It's not a lifestyle that we are to be a part of.

God has called us out of that.

And what he's called us to is a lifestyle so much better.

So much sweeter.

So much more satisfying.

Lifestyle number two.

The spirit-empowered life.

In lifestyle one, the drunken life, we saw that the agent was wine.

In the spirit-empowered life, we read that the Holy Spirit is the one who empowers us.

But be filled with the spirit, the Holy Spirit.

As your pastor, I just want to keep on reminding you of something.

The Holy Spirit is not an it.

The Holy Spirit is a who.

He.

He indwells us.

The Holy Spirit is not a who.

Not an it, but a who.

And he's not any ordinary who.

He is a fully divine who.

He is the third person of the Trinity.

And God the Holy Spirit is looking to exercise his presence and his power for a particular purpose in the life of a Christian.

Here's what that purpose is.

Jesus speaks of it in John 16, 14.

Four words.

Jesus saying.

This is red ink.

He will glorify me.

Jesus talking about when the Holy Spirit is sent.

Jesus saying when he comes, he will glorify me.

He's going to spotlight me.

He is going to spotlight me.

He's going to make much of me.

J.I. Packer.

He is like this warrior Christian stud of a guy.

He's written a lot of books.

He's a godly man.

Exercised a lot of influence on the evangelical church.

Well, he tells a story.

He was in Vancouver.

And he was slated to preach at a church on this passage.

John 16, 14.

He will glorify me.

And he's walking up to that church.

And evening has fallen.

And so it's dark.

And Mr. Packer had yet to have an opening illustration.

So he's like wondering, where am I going to start?

And as he's walking up to this building,

he becomes immediately aware of the cross on the side of this building.

And he has his opening illustration.

Because the only way that he could see the cross

was because of the spotlight in the front yard of the church.

It was illuminating the cross.

And there he had an illustration for his opening for this sermon.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to draw our gaze

to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is seeking to illuminate,

to make much of, to spotlight Jesus.

He will glorify me.

The Holy Spirit ministers to God's people in a variety of ways.

And what they all have in common is this.

He's looking to spotlight Christ in us and through us.

And so when we read of the sealing of the Spirit in Ephesians 1.13,

in Ephesians 4.30,

the Spirit marks us as belonging to Christ.

When we read of the indwelling of God's Spirit in Ephesians 2.22,

that we, the people of God, are the new temple of God,

and God dwells in us by His Spirit.

He belongs.

He's in us.

We belong to Him.

We belong to Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12.13,

we read about the baptizing of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit baptizes believers into the body of Christ.

Individual believers into the corporate body of Christ.

Unites them to the body of Jesus.

And these examples I just gave you,

each of them,

they're examples of a one-time event

in which the Holy Spirit brings about

at the moment of our conversion.

And so we can put a past tense on Him.

We were sealed by the Spirit.

We were indwelt by the Spirit.

We were baptized by the Spirit

into the body all at the moment of our conversion.

It's done.

It's all to spotlight Christ.

And here in Ephesians 5.18,

we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.

This is an ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers.

It's not a one-time event.

It is an ongoing ministry.

And what the Holy Spirit is going to do

is He's going to fill us in such a way

that Christ is exalted.

That Christ is glorified in us.

Before I camp out on that word fill,

to be filled,

I need to clarify a particular phrase here.

When we read in our English versions,

be filled with the Holy Spirit,

one is left thinking this,

I'm empty and I need the Holy Spirit to fill me.

And so the idea that we come across

from our English version is a sense of

I need a new kind of fill me upping

of the Holy Spirit.

He needs to come into me in a fullness of way.

Here's the deal.

That English rendering

is not accurate enough.

The best way to translate that

from Greek to English is this way.

Be filled by the Spirit.

This is what Paul's saying.

The Holy Spirit is actively seeking

to fill us with something.

And that which he's seeking to fill us with

goes unstated in Ephesians 5.18.

But the Holy Spirit is seeking to

fill us with something.

Something amazing.

It's important that we get this

because it's going to form our expectations.

We've talked about the agent,

the Holy Spirit.

He's seeking to fill us with something.

Which leads us to the goal now.

What does he want to fill us with?

In Ephesians, when Paul uses that word fill,

it's spoken of as a controlling presence.

What is the Holy Spirit seeking to fill us with?

Something that is going to be

a controlling presence in our lives.

And you know what?

It's not wine.

It's something else.

Would you turn your Bibles to Ephesians 3,

Ephesians 3:14–19

verses 14-19?

Paul isn't explicit in 5.18

of what he wants to fill us with,

the Spirit to fill us with.

And 3.14-19, it becomes more clear.

So let me just set this up.

The Ephesians were losing heart

because the Apostle Paul was suffering for them.

They're feeling bad.

And so in Ephesians 3, verses 14-19,

Ephesians 3:14–19

Paul prays for them.

Paul prays for a strengthening of their hearts

so that they don't lose heart.

And the way he goes about it

is very instructive for us

when understanding what does it mean

to be filled by the Spirit.

So let me just walk you through this.

In verse 16, Paul prays

that God would put strength

into these Ephesians,

into these Christians.

And do you see the agency?

Do you see who he is asking God to send

to strengthen them?

That they would be strengthened with power

through the Holy Spirit.

And so God, so Paul is saying,

God, would you strengthen these Christians

through the Holy Spirit?

Would you strengthen their inner beings?

Would you fill them with something?

And then in verse 17, we read what?

He asked God to fill them with.

Do you see that there?

3.18?

Excuse me, 3.17?

He may grant you to be strengthened with power

through His Spirit in your inner being

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts

through faith.

Do you see what he's saying?

That the Holy Spirit is going to empower

these Christians by mediating

the presence of Christ in their hearts.

The Spirit of God is going to continually

fill Christians with the presence of Christ.

That's what we're getting at

in Ephesians 5.18.

God is going to fill us by His Spirit

with the presence of Jesus.

We see that played out in verse 19 in chapter 3.

And to know the love of Christ

that surpasses knowledge,

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

He follows logic.

He's praying for these Christians.

They are needing strength.

He prays that the Spirit would strengthen them

by causing Christ to dwell in their hearts afresh

and fill them with the fullness of God.

You've seen it?

If you flip your Bible over to Ephesians 4.13,

Paul is talking about the church.

He's talking about the gifts he's given to the church

for the building up of the body.

And we read in verse 13,

until we all attain to the unity of the faith

and the knowledge of the Son of God

to mature manhood.

What's mature manhood?

To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The fullness of Christ.

Fullness.

The Spirit of God is seeking to fill Christians

with the fullness of Christ.

Christ in us.

The hope of glory.

The Holy Spirit is going to empower

and influence our lives in such a way

that our lives will spotlight Jesus.

That's what He's looking to do.

That's how He's looking to fill us.

Fill us with Christ.

Mediate the presence of Jesus.

So we've talked about the Holy Spirit.

We've talked about the goal

to be filled with the fullness of Christ.

The fullness of God.

Now let me draw your attention to

the result of that.

When Jesus,

when this Holy Spirit, excuse me,

fills us with the presence of Christ,

things happen.

And we see things happening

in Ephesians 5, 19, 20, and 21.

There are four participles

that look like verbs.

And they're all helping us see

what the result of being filled by the Spirit

looks like.

In 19, we read,

addressing one another in psalms

and hymns and spiritual songs.

Singing and making melody to the Lord

in our hearts.

Thanking God for everything,

all the time,

in the name of our Lord Jesus,

and submitting to one another

out of reverence for Christ.

These four things

evidence the Spirit

filling us with the presence of Christ.

Did you notice Christ?

Did you notice Him?

Did you notice Him?

Did you notice how Jesus shows up?

In Ephesians 5, 19,

addressing one another

in psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs.

Presumably,

they're going to be about Jesus.

It becomes more clear

in the next one,

singing and making melody

to the Lord

with all your heart.

That reference to the Lord

is a reference to Jesus.

In verse 20,

giving thanks always

and for everything

to God the Father

in the name of

the Lord Jesus Christ.

21,

submitting to one another

out of reverence for Christ.

Do you see it?

The Holy Spirit

fills us with the presence of Christ.

Jesus is spotlighted.

And so here we have

in this passage

what it looks like

to live out

a corporate filling

of the Holy Spirit.

That we are to address

one another

in a certain way

with psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs.

This past week,

I got addressed this way.

Can I bring you into it?

I got a letter on Thursday

and I opened up the letter

and this is what I read.

Oh Lord my God,

when I in awesome wonder

consider all the worlds

thy hands have made.

I see the stars,

I hear the rolling thunder,

thy power

throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul,

my Savior God to thee,

how great thou art,

how great thou art.

And when I think of God,

his Son not sparing,

sent him to die,

I scarce can take it in.

And on the cross,

my burdens gladly bearing,

he bled and died

to take away my sin.

Do you know what I was

addressed with on Thursday?

A hymn.

This is how great thou art.

It was evidence

of a spirit filling

in a brother

who sent this to me.

I was so encouraged by it.

When the Spirit of God

fills us,

we address one another

a particular way.

When the Spirit of God

fills us,

we sing a certain way.

We sing with all of our hearts

to the Lord,

to Jesus.

When the Spirit of God

fills us,

we give thanks

for everything,

all the time,

to God our Father,

in the name of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

It is evidencing

a filling of the Spirit

in us.

The Spirit of God

filling us

with the presence

of Jesus,

resulting in the

spotlighting of Jesus.

When the Spirit of God

fills us,

we, like Christ,

humble ourselves

and submit to one another

and experience unity.

We see that played out

in Philippians 2.

We see it played out

in Ephesians 4.

But what I wanted you

to notice

was how it's all

aimed at Jesus.

It doesn't stop there.

If you start looking at

Paul's commands

to wives

in Ephesians 4.22,

if you look at

Paul's commands

to husband,

husband in Ephesians 4.25,

if you look at

Paul's commands

to children,

Ephesians 6.1,

if you look at

Paul's commands

to parents

in Ephesians 6.4,

slaves,

masters,

do you know

what it all ends up with?

It all points to Jesus.

These rules

for household living,

they're all

Spirit-filled.

Let me summarize

this command.

Be filled,

but be filled.

It looks a lot

different than

this other

living under the influence.

We're not to be

intoxicated by wine,

which leads to

debauchery.

We are to be

filled.

It's ongoing

command.

We're to be

regularly and

ongoingly coming

under the influence

of the Holy Spirit.

It's in the passive

tense.

Here's what that means.

We don't do

the filling.

We're the ones

being filled.

We're the ones

being acted upon.

We're the ones

in need.

We're the ones

who are dependent.

We're the ones

who need God

to work in us

on a daily basis

so that we can

live for Jesus.

So the question

that this kind of

boils down to

is,

how do you do that?

How are you

filled with the

Holy Spirit?

How does

that happen?

Well, there's

no formula

given here.

But what I can

point you to

is this.

This past week

I was reading

obviously about

this and preparing

and I came

across this

by one Bible

commentator.

I thought it was

really helpful

what it means

to be filled

by the Spirit.

With the

indwelling

of the Spirit

at the moment

of conversion

each Christian

has all

of the Spirit.

Nothing lacking.

But the command

to be filled

by the Spirit

enables the Spirit

to have all

of the believer.

In other words,

we are being

commanded

to continually

offer

ourselves

to God.

We're continually

being commanded

to, oh

Spirit of God,

come and fall

afresh on me

today.

Come empower

me.

Come strengthen

me.

Direct me

so that today

I can live

for Jesus.

We take our

cues from Paul

in Ephesians 3.

We pray to that.

Oh God,

strengthen me

with power

through your

Holy Spirit

in my inner

being that Christ

may dwell in my

heart by faith.

and we continually

ask,

we continually

ask,

we continually

ask because we

are dependent

on God.

Two ways to live.

The first is the

drunken life,

a life we've been

called out of,

lit,

results in

debauchery.

The second life,

where we live

now,

we're being

commanded to be

filled by the

Spirit.

O Spirit,

come fall

afresh upon me.

To what end?

That Christ

may dwell in me

with greater

fullness so that

I can live for

Him with

greater devotion.

Let me close

by asking you

to do something.

Imagine.

Each one of us,

the individuals

of Christ the King

Church,

on a daily

basis,

crying out to

God to pour

out His

Spirit so that

Christ would

dwell in our

hearts by faith,

that each of

us would be

filled in

increasing measure

with the

presence of

Jesus.

Could you

imagine all of

us doing that?

What would

happen?

This is the

stuff of

revival.

revival is when

God pours out

His Spirit on

His people in

an unusually

pronounced way.

And the result

is this.

Individual

saints and

local churches

get sanctified,

transformed more

and more into the

likeness of Christ

and holiness.

And as a result of

greater transformation,

our corporate light

is going to shine

with greater

intensity in the

city, exposing

the unfruitful

works of

darkness and

by God's grace,

awakening dead

sinners to

Christ.

Christ.

Would you pray

this?

Would you pray

this?

Would you ask

God to fill

you by His

Spirit so that

Christ may be

exalted in your

life?

And as we do

this together,

something's going

to happen.

What happens

when a drunk

drives cars?

Bad things

happen.

What happens

when Christians

are filled by

the Spirit?

Christ-exalting

things happen.

Let's pray.

God in Heaven,

would you do

just this?

Lord, we

recognize that

we are your

children and

we are in need.

God, we don't

have what it

takes in and of

ourselves to

live for Christ.

And so, Spirit

of God, would you

fall afresh upon

us?

And would you

give us the

strength?

Would you

direct us so

that Christ

may fill us

afresh?

Pray this in

Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

We elles

Womiyor

So where

should we

when we

sing

to

another

God

has

me

to

him

to