Replay | Wind with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online, go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

Last week we launched into a new series as you heard there for the month of February,

Empowered.

And for this entire month we'll be discussing how the Holy Spirit, His life, presence, and

power of course that comes from God is available to us each and every day.

Last week we answered the question, who is the Holy Spirit?

If you missed that talk I would encourage you to go to our YouTube channel, like it,

and be sure to listen into it because we answered that question very clearly.

We learned the Holy Spirit was a person who wants an intimate relationship with us each

and every day.

Now two of the terms that we discussed, one from the Hebrew ruach and the other from Greek

nouma, speak to the Holy Spirit being a breath or a wind.

And this morning we're going to continue our discussion on the Holy Spirit by looking at

how we are daily filled with the Spirit.

Now oftentimes word cannot express this filling of the Spirit and I would like to give you

a visual example of what a life filled with the Spirit may look like.

Let's watch.

Right?

Now for many of us when we see that you're like there's no way, there's no way I'm going

to strap myself to that kite and allow the wind to lead me out of control.

Not knowing where I'm going to come down, not knowing where I'm going.

See that individual was simply harnessing the power of the wind and he was having a

enjoyable time, you saw the look on his face, doing it.

Well dare I say that is the same as we live a life filled with the Spirit.

So let's open this morning in prayer.

I want to invite you even if you're at home to sit, palms up, allow your arms just to

rest on your legs and I want to invite us all to take three deep breaths.

Let's just breathe in God's Spirit.

Now let's all say these words together.

Holy Spirit come.

We invite you to fill me now in Jesus name.

Amen.

So today we're going to be focusing on one verse.

A verse that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 says this.

Ephesians 5:18

Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life.

Instead, everyone say instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

See Paul wrote these words in a letter to the church of Ephesus, this church he happened

to plant several years before.

The city of Ephesus had roughly 300,000 residents.

It was located in what is now modern day Turkey.

Ephesus was a seaport town right on the water.

Its primary source of income was trade.

So there was constantly people and goods moving in and out of the city.

We learned that Paul loved this city, particularly because he lived there for three years.

He loved the people and he loved the people so much that he felt like God called him to

plan a church in that city.

See he felt that these people were hungry for the things of the spirit.

They were hungry for God.

And Paul knew this because Ephesus had a giant statue of the Greek god Artemis.

Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and people would come from all over the region to simply

visit the statue and to worship.

Now this statue actually still exists and is known as one of the seven wonders of the

world.

There was also another statue in Ephesus, a statue of the god Dionysus.

And Dionysus was the god of wine.

So I want you to realize when Paul made this statement to the people, do not get drunk

on wine, these people could directly relate to those words.

See, for the people of Ephesus, it was real to them because the way they worshiped this

god was by having a huge party where everyone simply got drunk on wine.

See, the Ephesians believed that they would experience their god's presence by losing

control of themselves and alcohol.

The god would inhabit them as they lost control of themselves.

So drinking and becoming drunk was actually worship to them if you will.

So for Paul to say, don't get drunk, it will ruin your life, this was directly challenging

their original belief systems when it came to god.

Now the word used to ruin your life was the Greek word, asotia, and it was defined as

extreme indulgence in sensuality, excessive and extravagant squandery.

Now this is actually the same word used to describe the prodigal son that Jesus taught

us.

It's a squandery of time, of resources, of energy, of money.

And see, we have to pay attention to why Paul wrote this correlation between getting drunk

and being filled with the spirit.

And it wasn't just Paul that connected these two.

In Acts chapter 2, the disciples were actually accused of being drunk in the early morning

Acts 2 · chapter mention

after they were filled with the spirit.

Now why would god include this in the bible?

This correlation between being drunk and being filled with spirit.

Well that leads us to our first thought this morning, you see, god desires that we pursue

him more.

God desires that we pursue him more.

See, when a person drinks excessively and becomes drunk, simply stated they lose control

of themselves.

They begin to act very differently.

They may begin to slur their words, say stupid things.

Some people become very loving when drunk, while others want to fight and become violent.

Hey look, some of you unfortunately have experienced and seen how alcohol can destroy homes and

families.

And I want to say this morning, I am sorry that you went through that.

I am sorry that you experienced that and it is my prayer that god will free you from any

sort of pain you may have experienced in that issue.

And see, god is challenging us with these words in how we worship.

See, he desires that we pursue him first over the desires of the world.

And we see that when we go into verses 15 to 18.

It says be careful how you live.

Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise.

Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.

Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the lord wants you to do.

And then that's when he references being drunk.

Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life.

Instead be filled with the spirit.

So Paul is challenging us.

Instead of yielding to our appetites, to our cravings, to temporary pleasures, submit to

his spirit and seek what is best for your life.

See, the spirit desires an intimate relationship with you and me.

And maybe you're here this morning and you're stuck.

Maybe you've walked through the doors and there's some form of addiction in your life.

It could be drugs or alcohol, but it doesn't have to be.

So many people easily relate that.

But it could be excessive spending or uncontrolled shopping just for more stuff.

It could be overeating.

It could be overindulgence.

Listen, all of those things simply leave a person empty, hopeless, and wanting more.

God desires that we worship him more, which leads us to our next thought.

See, God generously supplies his spirit every single day.

Ephesians 5, 18, don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life.

Instead be filled, everyone say filled, with the Holy Spirit.

Now the word filled comes from the Greek word plareo and it means to be filled or become

generously supplied with.

Now this word can describe the concept of a wind filling the sails of a ship as it carries

it over the seas.

And we have to realize by that definition to be filled with the Spirit is to allow God

to guide us, to lead us through life.

Last week we used that example that our bodies, if you will, picture them as a sailboat and

God's Spirit leading us through life.

The word filled also speaks of something that should be ongoing or continuous and it's actually

a command.

So you could translate it, be being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Be being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Just like you have to put very expensive gas in your car, we are called to be filled with

the Spirit.

Now this can become confusing to people, especially Christians, because the Bible teaches us that

when we, when you and I begin a relationship with Jesus, it teaches that we're filled with

the Spirit.

So people immediately reference, well if God filled me with his Spirit when I believed,

why do I need to be filled again, Chris?

Let's answer that.

When we believed God, God took residence in our hearts.

He took residence in our spirit.

He filled his spirit in to ours.

However, throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts, we can read where the

early church was filled again and again.

In fact, some biblical scholars reference the book about the establishment and growth

of the church instead of the Acts of the Apostles, they actually reference it the Acts of the

Holy Spirit.

See, look at Acts 431.

After this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then they preach the word of God with boldness.

See, so we have this indwelling spirit, which is a one time happening on the day of salvation.

And then we have this every day filling of the Spirit.

Simply meaning when we're going through our everyday lives, when we're going to work,

when we're going to school, especially when we're going to Walmart, God fill me with your

Spirit.

Because it's very important for us.

I said earlier that be filled was a verb or action and it is, but it's actually a passive

verb.

And you say, Chris, what's a passive verb?

Which simply means we don't do this on our own.

We can't be filled with God's Spirit in our own strength.

We can't be filled with God's Spirit by doing certain things.

It has to come from God.

It has to come from above.

Now remember the Holy Spirit, the ruach, the numah, if you will, is the wind or breath

of God.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to continue by just looking at three characteristics of

the wind, which leads us to our third thought.

See, the Holy Spirit isn't seen, He's experienced.

The Holy Spirit isn't seen, He is experienced.

So what I've done this morning into our house of miracles, I used to do this quite a bit

back on Bauer Avenue.

I brought some object lessons with me.

Okay.

Remember I'm an educational, elementary education degree.

I'm a teacher and I believe that object lessons best encourage us to understand the Spirit.

So is it okay if I use those this morning?

Okay.

So I have here the Toro Super Leaf Blower.

Okay.

And I can turn this on and off and nothing's happening.

But when I connect to the power, something happens.

Right?

And we all know what that is, don't we?

As soon as I find the power, I'm not able to see the power this morning.

So I'm looking for the power and I think I see it now and I do.

So we have power.

Kathy, see that?

Oh, it's not.

Oh, there's nothing going on there.

Oh, it's blowing there now.

What happened when I plugged the power source in?

You got filled.

Now, Kathy didn't necessarily see the wind.

What did she do?

She felt it.

And all of you saw her hair blowing.

So you realized there was something happening there.

True or false?

Thank you.

It's very true.

Now I have a water pitcher here.

If you're in the front row, I'm sorry.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just making them nervous.

And remember, I just referred to when we give our lives to Jesus, God what?

He puts His Spirit in us.

Right?

So this is representing us and we gave our life to Jesus.

We got filled with His Spirit.

He is residing in us.

But as you read the book of Acts, you constantly see the disciples, the followers of Jesus

being what?

Filled.

And when we get filled, it overflows.

See, it's that constant filling that allows us to then overflow.

And then who do we overflow into?

Our friends, our coworkers, our family, our extended family, the community.

They get a piece of the Spirit coming out of us.

Look at John 14, 15 through 18.

If you love me, obey my commandments.

And I'll ask the Father and He will give you another advocate, which means helper, who

will never leave you.

He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth.

The world cannot receive Him because it isn't looking for Him and doesn't recognize Him.

But you know Him because He lives with you now and later will be in you.

No, I will not abandon you as orphans.

I will come to you.

So what these verses tell us is this.

Friends, we have to recognize and make room for the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We have to recognize and make room for the Holy Spirit in this church.

See, I've had conversations with different pastors through this whole COVID thing.

And we're calling each other and people are asking me how it's going.

They ask me questions like how did you build a building in the middle of COVID?

Like what were you doing?

What were you thinking?

How did it all come together?

And then you opened while it was still happening.

Like what is going on there, Chris?

You know what I say to them?

We're just following God.

But like I can't explain why God had us build a building in the middle of COVID.

I can't explain it.

I can't explain why our giving or income went up in the middle of COVID when typically everyone's

went down.

Right?

I can't explain that we opened these doors two weeks before Easter last year and we had

our first baptism on Good Friday.

We had our Good Friday baptism, which is coming up again.

And then we had three others after that.

And just last year alone, we had 51 baptisms.

Right?

Yeah, that's right.

That's an incredible amount.

And listen, that's not even adding in our New Year's Day baptism when 19 other people

got baptized, which brings us currently, we haven't even been in this place a year yet.

We're already at 70 baptisms.

That's 70 lives changed and now following Jesus.

And I'm believing that God's going to, when we have this Good Friday baptism coming up,

we're going to have over 100 in a year.

Right?

Let me just simply say, that's not anything I'm doing.

That's God.

Friends, that's the Holy Spirit breathing and moving in people's lives.

Okay?

And we see that in Acts chapter two, verses one through four and 13.

On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place.

Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it

filled the house where they were sitting just like he's filling this room.

Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled in each of them.

And everyone present was filled with the Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the

Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

But others in the crowd ridiculed them, verse 13 saying, ah, they're just drunk.

That's, oh.

See, there's that correlation again.

People are seeing something different.

They're like, whoa, this isn't normal.

It's very early in the morning.

These people are strange and acting weird and they didn't quite get it.

Just like Jesus said about the Spirit, right?

Those outside of the faith are going to be hesitant to what they're seeing.

That's why they asked, are they drunk?

However, the scriptures are very clear that all of them were filled with the Spirit.

Now hear me out.

It wasn't just a few of God's favorites, right?

God has no favorites.

In fact, we are all His favorites.

So on the day of Pentecost, 120 men and women, everyone say women, were in the upper room

in Jerusalem and they were all filled, say filled, with the Spirit.

See, it was no coincidence.

It wasn't chance.

It wasn't a lottery that they played.

Each of the 120 received and all were filled.

See, their gender was not in consideration.

Neither was their age or race or status in life.

Now think about this.

Someone, it could have been an angel, I have no idea, in heaven must have counted the heads

since one flame landed on each of them.

So I'm here to say this morning, if you have a head, God has a flame for you.

Right now, you are counted in those numbers and you will receive power.

Which leads us to our next thought.

See the Holy Spirit is unpredictable.

John 3, 8, the wind blows wherever it wants.

Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going,

so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit.

See here's the reality, here's the truth for many of us.

One of the big reasons people are hesitant to the Holy Spirit is we can't control the

Holy Spirit.

We can't control the working of the Holy Spirit.

And guess what friends, we like controlling our lives.

Can I get an amen?

We like everything.

Our schedules, our work, our days, our finances, our friends in our neat little boxes.

And we don't like them being messed with.

True or false?

I want very many truths but it's true.

You see the Holy Spirit tends to blow through those boxes and blows those papers everywhere

and on some occasions knocks those boxes down.

And you want to know why?

Because when we have everything in order and when we are in control we don't need God and

we get real comfortable.

But see the Holy Spirit is unpredictable.

Just like that video we watched in the opening.

It's going to blow us and take us places we never even imagined.

Now hear me out, I've had so many conversations over the years where people have shared with

me.

Every person that fills out a connection card for the first time whether online or a hard

copy I reach out to them the following week and I ask them what was your experience like.

So I reach out to every single person and constantly I hear, well Chris I just experienced

something different at HCV.

There was just something different there.

I was singing those songs and I didn't even know the words.

I didn't even like the music but I began to cry.

And I don't know why I was even crying because I wasn't even sad.

Chris while you were sharing it was as if God was speaking right to me like you were

watching in this video of my life this week and I realized through your words that God

was real and God was inviting me to something more, to change.

See an experience with God is not something we initiate or control.

It's something we invite God to do.

And this morning you all already did it.

We just have to make room for the Spirit to move and He is unpredictable.

Very unpredictable.

Listen I've been doing this for a long time.

And I know when a person makes room for the Holy Spirit their life is supernaturally

changed.

Whether it be an addiction, a marriage, a job, a healing in their body, joy in their

life, their life is changed.

But it's a choice to make room for the Spirit.

I mean look at Philip in Acts 8, this is amazing I love it.

The Holy Spirit said to Philip go over and walk along beside the carriage.

Now notice what it says, Philip ran over.

And he said well why did he run?

The Holy Spirit told him to walk because Philip was excited to be what?

To be used by the Spirit.

He ran over, heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah and Philip asked, do you understand

what you're reading?

And he ended up leading that individual into a relationship with Jesus.

And see that can be our life if we allow ourselves to be following an unpredictable God.

The Holy Spirit provided him an opportunity and daily we're going to be given these opportunities

when we're led by the Spirit.

But hang on, right?

That ride can get real crazy.

Which leads us to our next thought.

See the Holy Spirit is powerful.

I mean wind is powerful, right?

It can generate electricity, it can sail a ship, a tornado or hurricane can destroy entire

towns.

Wind is powerful.

And I believe many of you are going through something right now.

Maybe God brought you here today just to hear this.

Human strength, your own power, your decision making, your finances is not going to get

you through it.

What you need is the power of God.

There's a difficulty that you're currently going through or facing that's staring you

in the face almost like a mountain and I'm here to let you know you're not alone.

That God is inviting you to connect with this power and we learn that the Holy Spirit then

comes alongside of us so that we don't have to go through this thing called life all by

ourself.

Acts 1, 5 and 8.

John baptized with water but in just a few days you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses

telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends

of the earth.

Now I want you all to hear this.

It doesn't say you might receive.

It doesn't say well some of you will receive.

It says you will receive.

And I want to encourage you, look I stand on this verse.

I believe that God is sending our community of faith into the tri-state area not in our

own strength but with His power so that it's flowing out of us to release hope and change

to many.

And I believe that because without the Holy Spirit we're just another church hoping to

pay our bills.

Without the Holy Spirit we're just another church hoping to pay our bills.

Without the Holy Spirit we're just hoping one new person walks through our doors.

Without the Holy Spirit church becomes a box that needs checked and the songs that we sing

just become words, not change, life change.

Listen, I'm just being honest with all of you.

I don't want that for our community of faith.

I don't want that.

But it can happen if we're not giving space for the Holy Spirit to move and change us.

If we simply become religious and go through the motions Sunday after Sunday we can find

ourselves trapped in simply what is not God's best for our lives.

And that leads us to our action steps being filled with the Spirit.

See the cool thing about Paul, he challenges us to be filled with the Spirit and then he

gives us these practical steps to living them out every day in the next verse.

It's amazing.

He says be filled and he says this is how you do it and the first is this.

Look you've got to give up control.

Ephesians 5 18 from the amplified version.

Do not get drunk with wine for that is wickedness, corruption, stupidity, but be filled with

the Holy Spirit and constantly guided by him.

See when we give up control, when we yield to God, then we are filled.

God I need you to blow in my life.

I'm giving you control of fill in the blank.

Does that make sense?

It's not the same for all of us.

God I'm giving up control of my marriage.

I'm giving up control of my relationships.

I'm giving up control of my finances.

I'm giving up control of my job.

I'm giving up control of my children.

I'm giving up control.

And it's not about you.

We have to realize when we give up control it's about others as well.

Remember our example?

Look yeah you gave your life to Jesus.

That's great.

You have a deposit.

You have a resident, he's residing in your life but nothing's happening.

But when you're constantly being filled, God control, I'm giving it up.

It just is an overflow of his spirit.

It's constantly encountering God and as we're encountering God we're giving it away to others.

For example for years we've been doing this Valentine, tomorrow's Valentine's Day right?

If you have a spouse look at her and say I love you.

That was horrible.

Are you not proud to be married?

Roger, look at her and say I love you.

Yeah Roger.

So we've been doing this flower giveaway in the Square of Hagerstown since we've been

here.

We give away flowers.

And tomorrow we're going to be in the Square of Hagerstown and Newsflash the Square of

Martinsburg all you West Virginia Mountaineer fans.

Go Terps.

To give away flowers.

Right and you say Chris why would I do that?

Because we are overflowing with his spirit.

See you don't realize what change you can bring to hand someone a flower and say hey

God loves you let us know if you need anything and that's all you say.

But that may lead to a prayer, that may lead to a healing, that may lead to someone giving

their life to Jesus right there in the Square.

Because you're being obedient.

So my point is I need ten people to go to Hagerstown, ten people to go to Martinsburg.

Do I have them in here?

I believe I do.

Go to the Welcome Hub and sign up.

Now other of you is thinking well Chris I have friends and they don't like church.

They believe if they come into a church the roof is going to burn down.

They just don't like church.

Ok listen you saw in the announcements invite them to a movie night.

They want something to do with their kids anyway.

Right?

Invite them to movie night this Friday night and then they roll in and they realize wow

this is cool this doesn't look like church.

This looks like a place where I can just hang out and be myself.

You know why do we do these things?

Because we want to give up control of the way to do church in order that other people

will be impacted by his spirit.

John 15 5.

I am the vine you are the branches.

Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit.

But apart from me you can do nothing.

I don't want to be a people who are doing nothing.

I don't want to be a people.

I don't want to be a church that is distracted and is comfortable.

I want to be a group of people that is giving away the Holy Spirit.

Leo Tolstoy said this.

Our whole life is taken up with preparations for living so that we never really live it

all.

Our whole life is taken up with preparations for living so that we never really live it

all.

I tell you this.

We all have our schedules in our boxes.

I mean think about it.

It all started in middle school.

When we were in middle school we couldn't wait to get to high school because it was

so much better.

It was freedom.

And when we were in high school we couldn't wait to get to college because our parents

don't know nothing.

They're controlling me.

But when I get to college it all changes.

And then you get to college and you find yourself miserable.

You realize your parents are right.

Then you got to focus on a career because you got to pay the bills of the college you

just went to.

So you're looking to this career and you're thinking I'm going to get this job.

It's going to bring in money.

I'm going to pay all my bills.

I'm going to be happy.

I'm going to be successful.

Then you get your career.

You hate your job.

You realize it sucks.

So you think about I can't wait till I retire.

Do I get my 401k?

Everything's going to be better.

We're constantly living to prepare to live instead of saying I got to live in the moment.

I got to live in the possibility of the moment.

This whole text is about living an abundant life every day and being filled with the Spirit

every day.

That's all it's about.

It's not about focusing on what's next.

It's not about the next stage in life.

It's not about the next event.

It's not about the next marker.

It's living in the moment.

Connecting to the Spirit every day and then releasing it into the lives of others.

But that only happens when we give up control.

God help us to give up control.

Which leads us to our next step.

Just speak life.

Ephesians 5 19 from the Amplified.

Speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Spoken words are either life or death.

When it comes to our co-workers we can empower them or we can beat them up.

When it comes to our very own children we can build them up or tear them down.

Our words have the power of life or death.

Our words can have power.

Our words can have anointing in life when we partner with the Holy Spirit.

So I want to constantly challenge you to invite the Holy Spirit into your mouth.

Especially those of you that struggle with foul language.

Have you ever thought about this?

God highlighted to me this the very earliest morning when I was preparing.

Listen to this.

A great way to take a barometer on our Holy Spirit tank.

And what I mean by that is remember your car when it's driving it needs gas.

And all of you are like me when the gas light comes on you think how many more miles can

I get?

Gas is really expensive.

I know I can get 30 more miles.

So I'm going to wait and hold off to the last second.

Listen a great barometer on your Holy Spirit tank is simply this.

The words coming out of your mouth.

If you find yourself constantly speaking negativity not just with your words but what you're typing

on social media.

Being judgmental with our words about others.

Arguing your opinion to the point of anger.

Guess what?

Your Holy Spirit tank is low and running on empty.

And you need to invite the Holy Spirit to refill you.

You need to pause and say Holy Spirit come fill me again.

Which leads us to our next step.

We've got to surrender control.

Speak life.

Number three.

Just sing out.

Ephesians 5 19 again from the Amplified.

Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Offering praise by singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.

Singing proves how much we trust God.

When we sing out it allows others to see and hear our hope.

Right whether in your house, in your car, put on some worship music and just start singing

out loud.

Like in the mornings.

Like you wake up you don't want to be up.

You got to make lunches if you got kids, if you got teenagers you got to make lunches,

you got to make breakfast you're going through the motions.

Listen.

Lexa play me some worship music.

Right?

Lexa.

Play fill me up.

Right?

And when the song starts playing as the Spirit was moving over the water Spirit come move

over us.

Just start singing out.

Guess what?

You're going to drive your teenagers nuts.

Because they don't want to be up.

They don't want to hear you singing.

You already got a bad voice but all of a sudden you're happy and singing.

And the Holy Spirit is going to be jabbing your teenagers right in the ribs because you're

singing out loud.

Does it help?

You're darn right it helps.

Listen to this.

Sojourner Truth was a black American abolitionist and women's right advocate and she said this,

life is a hard battle anyway.

If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom it makes it all

go easier.

I will not allow my life's light to be determined by the darkness around me.

Man isn't that truth?

Just this week man.

I don't remember what day it was.

It was Tuesday or Wednesday.

It was earlier in the week.

And I was just having one of those mornings.

I was feeling overwhelmed.

Right?

I felt like I was just struggling.

I was exhausted.

I didn't sleep well.

It was just one of those days.

Right?

A lot was happening in the church.

I was praying for people.

Just people struggling with things.

And I was just having one of those mornings.

So I'm taking my daughter to school.

I'm taking Lily to school.

And when we go to school I always make sure I put on some worship music.

And as I was driving to school I was feeling this way and the song Gratitude by Brandon

Lake just started playing.

Right?

And if you don't know the song, like literally the song came on and started playing and I

just couldn't help myself.

And I began to sing.

Come on my soul.

Don't you get shy on me.

Lift up your song.

Cause I've got a lion inside of these lungs.

Get up and praise the Lord.

Right?

That's it.

So I just started singing.

Right?

So I'm singing and then all of a sudden I'm crying.

And I'm like, why am I crying?

And then I began to realize that was the Holy Spirit coming alongside of me.

Does that make sense?

Coming alongside of me.

Now you in the second gathering get a little bonus because this just happened to me.

So during the first gathering I had a different set of earrings in.

And every time I turned my head like this, guess what happened?

They were clicking in the microphone and it was driving everybody crazy and it was stressing

me out.

Okay?

Cause I don't like clicking.

So I went home and I went home to change my earrings.

Alright?

So as I get home I walk through the door.

There's Bae, my beautiful white poodle to greet me.

And I sprint up the steps to the third floor because that's where our bedroom is and I

notice she doesn't follow me.

I get to the third floor, walk into our room and walk into the bathroom and I find that

she had decided to get into our trash.

And it just so happened friends that there was a poopy diaper in that trash.

So I'm at home needing to change my earrings out, vomiting in my mouth because it smells

like poop right beside me.

There's turds on the floor smeared into the floor.

Roger you know what I did didn't you?

I kicked that, I did not do that.

I didn't kick her Dave, I promise.

I began to sing.

I did.

Listen, in that situation you either sing or that dog's going somewhere.

Man I was singing.

Holy Spirit you are welcome here as I'm putting earrings in and then I paused and cleaned

up poop and made my way back here to share with you.

Here's my point, listen seriously though, when we start singing that's how we fight

our battles.

See we come here on Sundays and we'll even sing our song, this is how I fight my battles.

And you guys know that song right?

And on a Sunday you'll be singing out loud and you'll be into it and you'll be tapping

your foot.

You'll be raising your arm but then when you're in the midst of the chaos you don't want to

sing.

But when we sing that's when we experience victory.

Amen?

Which leads us to our final step.

Just be thankful.

Remember that word filled comes from the Greek word pleiraou and it means generously supplied

with.

Jesus told his disciples he had to die so that we would receive what?

Something better.

He said I got to go die so that you receive something better.

See we need to be constantly thanking God that he generously supplied us with the ability

to live an abundant life.

And Paul even says that in Ephesians 520.

Always giving thanks to God.

Always giving thanks to God the Father for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

See we need to always be grateful.

We need to be thankful for this life that we've been given.

We need to be looking for opportunities to serve in a living God and to bring his hope

to others.

Now listen I've got a specific word for you this morning.

I was praying this week and as I was praying and in my quiet time I felt that God was going

to bring to this place people this morning that were going through the doldrums.

Even when I said that word you thought man that's me.

It could be the winter blues.

It could be a relationship you're in.

It could be a marriage that you're struggling with.

It could be your job.

It could be spiritual doldrums.

You might have a bad attitude with God.

It could be that you're just bored with life and you're just going through the motions.

Listen the doldrums, the little research is an actual place.

It's an actual place near the equator called the inner tropical convergence zone.

And it's in this zone where the wind literally stops.

And for ships at sea without motors you've got to remember this name was given when there

was only sailboats.

If they found themselves in this zone all movement literally stopped.

The waters became lifeless and the ships began to drift.

Soldiers named the place the doldrums because sometimes when they got in the doldrums it

meant death, that soldiers didn't get out alive because they ran out of food, ran out

of water.

And God wants to speak to that this morning.

Will you stand with me?

Come Holy Spirit.

Oh God you're so good.

We're just thankful for your living presence in this place this morning God.

We want to give you room.

We want to make room for you to move in our lives.

So if you connected with that, if you walked in here and you heard that doldrums and you're

like man that's me.

It doesn't matter what you're going through.

I'm going to pray for you right now in the name of Jesus I pray that you would release

that situation, that difficulty over to God.

Whatever it is, it's causing those doldrums.

Give it to Him now.

Say God I give it to you.

And now say Holy Spirit fill that space.

Yes.

See when we make room, that's when God moves.

When we make room, that's when God moves.

Now there was also a few other words I want to share with you that our prayer team was

praying for you this week and did you know that one out of every four adult living in

the United States struggle with some form of mental health issues.

It could be bipolarism, could be personal personality disorder, it could be depression,

post-traumatic stress.

And to go along with those mental health issues, we also received the word anxiety and being

overwhelmed.

Now there are specific needs that need prayed for individually.

And we're going to sing the song Holy Spirit literally.

And as we're singing out I want to invite you if you relate to those issues, there will

be people here on my right to pray for you.

And I'm believing that God's going to set you free.

I'm believing that God is going to set into motion your healing this morning.

So as we're singing I want to invite you if you connect with that to come to my right,

there will be people there to pray for you.

But I want to encourage all of you, if you need fill with the Holy Spirit what do we

need to do?

Sing out.

And listen, listen, if Chris can sing with the microphone on, you can sing without one

on.

You can sing loud and proud.

Because I'm believing as you sing loud and proud the Holy Spirit is going to overwhelm

you.

So if you can sing with the microphone on, you can sing without one on.