Empowered | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Church, how you guys doing?

You guys doing good?

That's what I like to hear.

That's what I like to hear.

Before I jump into today's message, I do want to um go ahead and dismiss our middle and high school students.

If you if you came here and you're a middle high school student, we want to dismiss you.

We have our leaders in the back.

We have a special service that is just uh for you.

And so we would love to invite you to go ahead and step into that space with our leaders, but we're excited about what we believe God is going to do.

Can we put our hands together and welcome everyone that's joining us online?

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

We're so glad that you guys are here with us as well.

Whether you're you're you're traveling and you're from the Orlando area, maybe just checking us out on our podcast, however you found us, we want to thank you so much for coming uh to worship with us and joining us today.

And if you are um in the Orlando area, we want to invite you to come and worship with us, man.

We would think it would not be the same um without you.

Um I'm pumped for um our series that we're kicking off today.

If you have your Bible, I have a couple of passages of scripture I want to read to us today.

The the first one is gonna be found in the Gospel of John chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

The Gospel of John uh chapter 16 is where we're going to start as we're kicking off our new series on the Holy Spirit.

Um come on, jasmine's excited about it.

Jasmine's excited about it.

Let's go.

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

It's gonna be, uh I believe it's gonna be a very powerful series.

So today is really going to be um foundational.

I'm gonna hit on a a lot of things and and and quote some scriptures and things like that, but then we're gonna spend the rest of the weeks just unpacking it, going in a little bit more depth as to what it is it means to be activated and engaging the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean for us practically um in our lives?

Looking at what uh the Gospel of John says, starting here at verse number seven, I want to read this to us.

It says this these are the words of Jesus as he's preparing to go to the cross.

He says, However, I'm telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable, which is also to say, good, it is expedient, it is advantageous for you that I go away.

The disciples didn't want Jesus to leave naturally, but Jesus is saying, No, it's actually a good idea that I go away.

Because if I don't go away, the comforter, the counselor, the helper, the advocate, the intercessor, the strengthener, the standby will not come to you, which means to be in close fellowship with you.

But if I do go away, I will send him to you to be in close fellowship with you.

Jesus is talking to his disciples, and naturally they don't want him to go.

They don't want him to go into heaven, they don't want to shift into the next phase of what ministry is supposed to look like.

And so he's telling them, he's giving them a pep talk and saying, No, actually, it's a good idea that I'm going away, because if I don't go away, bro, you're you're gonna miss out on what this next phase of empowerment really does indeed look like.

He says, if I don't go, then I can't send you the advocate, I can't send you the intercessor.

That that word in Greek translates to to peraklatos.

Somebody say paraklatos.

Say it again with your chest.

Peraklatos.

Come on, y'all gonna walk out of here knowing a little bit of Greek.

Y'all can show off at work this week.

Okay, paraklatos, it's it's two words that are put together in the Greek.

Klatos means called to.

Put them together.

What it means is one who was called alongside to comfort, to help.

It's really powerful that Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as paraklatos, saying that he is called to come alongside believers and to help, to comfort, to empower all of us.

Jesus is talking to the disciples and saying that you're gonna need this for what you are ultimately called to do.

I've come to this conclusion in my life.

I believe that God is too big for us to define, but I do believe he can be described.

Because definitions place boundaries around things, and a lot of times our definitions determine what it can be and what it can't be.

And if I could be honest, the reason why there's such bad theology out there is because we've defined God and we don't have room for anything else.

But when we look at scripture, we don't often see a definition, but we see a lot of descriptions.

And we see descriptions of who God is, we see characteristics of who God is, and for the most part, when we look at who God is and we and we look at these dynamics and the way that he expresses himself, we're familiar with the phrases and the personalities that are that are presented to us.

We're familiar with the idea of the father.

That is that is something that we can relate to in our finite understanding.

We can wrap our minds around what a father is, even a flawed one.

So we are like, okay, I get father.

We understand son, we understand Jesus.

We we just celebrated the empty tomb just last week.

We understand that that Jesus came, he he died and removed the barrier of sin, and and now we are able to have unbroken fellowship with God.

We get that.

But when we get to the Holy Spirit, the the personality, the expression of God in that dynamic, that is where it gets a little bit interesting.

That's that's where whole denominations have been divided and split, all based on how do we interpret, how do we engage, how do we connect with the Holy Spirit?

Why why is that the entity that becomes the thing that causes so much division?

Could it be because we have a very spiritual, real enemy that knows that if we can have confusion around this, we won't have empowerment in our lives.

That if we can make this the topic of debate, and if we can begin to distance ourselves from this, that we can actually distance ourselves from God's power.

Jesus is talking with his disciples, and he's preparing them for this mission field that they have to go on, but he's telling them that they need his spirit in order to do it.

Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20 says this, and Jesus came near and said to them, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Matthew 28:18–20

Go therefore and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded.

And remember, I am always with you until the end of the age.

Jesus is shifting their paradigm and saying, like, hey, everything comes through me.

I'm gonna always be with you.

I have all power and authority, and now I'm delegating that authority to you.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna tran, I want you to do what you've seen me do.

But here's the thing he continues his thought in Acts chapter 1, verse number 8.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

He's saying, This great commission, this assignment that I've given you to live this life of holiness and to have impact, you can't do that until you have the spirit.

So at verse number eight, it says this but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

Somebody say power.

Somebody say power.

He said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to all the ends of the earth.

Jesus is essentially saying, You can't do what I'm calling you to do if you have not been empowered by my spirit.

It is impossible for you to have impact if you don't have power.

It is impossible for you to have influence if you don't have my power.

It is impossible for you to live a life that is honoring to me if you have not been empowered.

Today, the the foundational thought that I want to share with us as we delve into who the Holy Spirit is and who he is in our lives, I believe that we can walk away from here with us with a scratched surface of understanding what it means for us.

And if you're taking notes, I want you to write this message title down Empowered.

We're empowered.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness.

I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and I thank you for your presence.

God, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you.

I pray that you give us open ears to hear you and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us today.

We give you this space.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

You know, family, I I remember back when I was in um college the the first time around.

Um I remember having to do like studies and research on leadership and and culture.

And and it's one of those things that you just that you have to do, you have to write these assignments.

And so the assignment was to study a very influential leader and how their leadership was able to change an industry or to affect or influence culture.

So I began to kind of research and say, okay, what leader um kind of fits the bill?

Because I know for me, whenever I have certain assignments, it has to be something that I'm interested in, otherwise it's just I'm going to disconnect from it.

So I began to research, and so I came across this guy named Horse Schultze.

And so he's a he's a really big influential guy in the hospitality industry.

And so I was like, okay, let me immerse myself and this guy who was able to change the hospitality industry through his leadership.

I got his book called Excellence Wins, and I began to kind of immerse myself, and it was then I was exposed to the environment where he was kind of like notable for having the most influence in, was at the Ritz Carlton.

So I said, if I'm really gonna do the assignment well, I feel like I need to be in the environment where he had the biggest impact.

I I just I feel like it's a mission from the Lord for me to go and spend a couple of days at the Ritz Cartlton.

This is my mission field, and every one of us has to carry our cross somewhere.

So I say, okay, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go to the Ritz Carton, spend a couple of days there, just kind of see what the vibe is like.

So I get there and I hear all the rumors and the stories about just how kind everyone is, how they treat you, and how it's amazing.

It's like just a uh like an ongoing Disney film intro.

Like everybody's just singing, everyone's happy.

So I Megan and I get there, um, and and we we are introduced to some people, and then from that moment forward, it's it's up.

The people are treating us amazing.

So the first day I was kind of like impressed.

But just the way that my mind works, I start to kind of get into my engineering thought process, like, okay, where's the dent in the armor?

I gotta find the one person who's upset that day.

So I'm in the elevator talking to people, and like, man, like it's been a long day, huh?

Like, no, but I'm glad to be here.

I'm like, yeah, I didn't I know that, but like I'm testing people, I'm bumping into people, and they're like, excuse me, it was my fault, and they still didn't want us.

Like, I'm just trying my best to try to figure out where the dent in the armor is.

But people are genuinely happy and doing everything they can do to make sure that our stay is good.

Well, well, Megan and I we had dinner reservations with some friends, and and so they gave us this valet ticket and they said, Hey, when you're ready to leave, like just notify us about 10 minutes before you're about to depart, um, and then we'll have your car waiting for you.

Typical standard valet stuff.

So I notify them, we we end up getting down there a little bit late.

I'm not gonna tell you why, but it wasn't because of me.

Um so we get down there about 15 minutes after I made the initial call.

We get down to the front stand, the gentleman says, Hey, can I help you?

I'm like, Yeah, I called for my car about 15 minutes ago.

Um, and he's like, and and it's not out here?

And I mean, he's like, he's like concerned.

He's like, and and you don't see it?

I'm like, no, it's it's not here yet, it's okay.

So he's like really like flustered, but he's still trying to maintain his poison.

I'm like, oh, there's a first dent in the armor.

Like, let's see how this thing is gonna, this guy's gonna have a meltdown.

But but he doesn't.

They they they send us on our way, and and we go off, we have an amazing meal, but when we come back, that same guy is waiting for us.

Like in the same spot that we left in.

Like, I'm like, did he not move for the two hours we were going?

Like, he's standing in the exact same spot.

We pull up, he's like, Mr.

and Mrs.

Pittman, we're so glad that you're back.

I'm like, yes, glad we're back too.

He said, Hey, um, I I took the liberty of looking at your schedule, and I noticed that tomorrow you're scheduled uh to go to the spa for a 60-minute massage.

Just because of the inconvenience of what you had to go through by waiting those extra five minutes, we went ahead and upgraded you to the 90-minute massage on us.

I said, What else is wrong with this place?

What else can I complain about?

I'm looking for everything I can, man.

Like I tripped over something, like, hey guys, what are you gonna give me for that?

Like, I was blown away at how much they went out of their way to ensure that they repaired issues that were so minute in scope, but they're trying to cultivate a culture of excellence.

So as I began to really try to understand how do we get to this place, I began to look back at the leadership model.

And and the leadership model is one that is simple, but is so profound.

He truly believes that in order to have a culture that can truly have impact, the people have to be empowered.

So, what he's done is he's authorized every single employee to make a decision up to$2,000 to resolve any issue.

Every employee.

You work in a kitchen, you have$2,000 authorizations for every situation you face.

You work at valet, you have$2,000 for every situation that you face.

So now I understand why there's such buy-in in the community is because the people feel empowered because they've been authorized and designated to represent the culture and make a difference in every environment they go into.

They don't even have to check with management because they've been fully empowered.

Imagine that for a moment.

Working at a place where you truly felt empowered to make decisions, released and authorized.

As surface level as that is, I want us to look back at what Jesus does when he's considering what we are called to do.

Jesus is calling us to live a life of kingdom impact.

Jesus is calling us to live a life that has substantial impact in the world and beyond that.

But he also understands that the only way that you could truly represent the king is if you have been, if you've been authorized in the context of the kingdom.

It is impossible, in fact, it is impossible for us to truly be people that can demonstrate the kingdom if we have not been empowered by the king.

So when Jesus is speaking with his disciples and he's telling them, man, you guys have a massive assignment that's in front of you, but you can't do this if I don't actively authorize and empower you.

So how does God empower us?

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God.

In fact, the Holy Spirit is God's empowering presence.

What does it mean to be empowered by the presence of God?

It means that it is God that gives us the strength, the guidance, and support so that we can do what he's called us to do.

When we're empowered by the Spirit, it means that we are activated and released to live our lives in a way that brings glory to God.

That is the function of the Holy Spirit is to come alongside us and to activate us, to release us, to authorize us, to empower us to make a difference in the environments that God has called us to go into.

Imagine every time someone asked us to pray for them, we had to go and check with management.

Imagine if every time we had to solve a problem in our families, we had to go and check with management.

God said, I'm giving you my spirit so that management lives on the inside of you so that you can function with the power and authority and represent me and everywhere that you're called to go.

You can't have impact if you have not been empowered.

The disciples are giving these instructions to go out and make a difference in the community that God calls them to go into.

But he says, You can't do this if you don't have my spirit.

See, the Holy Spirit is an essential part of our faith.

We don't believe that he's an entity to be ignored.

We believe he's God's presence that is meant to be engaged.

Because if we think about what the Holy Spirit represents and the different theological camps that exist, we either can put the Holy Spirit in the bucket of an impersonal force that exists that is not meant to be engaged.

Basically, it's Star Wars, and may the force be with you.

He's there, you have a couple of Jedi knights that can engage it, but for the most of us, the Holy Spirit is just everywhere.

He's in everything, but he's not meant to be engaged.

Similar to like Obi-Wan Kenobi talking in Taluk.

The whole the the force is everywhere.

He's in everything, he breathes in everything, but you can't fully engage it unless you have special training.

Or you can find yourself on the other side where you recognize that the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of God that is meant for us to engage.

Francis Chan says in his book, The Forgotten God, we cannot for we cannot afford to miss out on what the Holy Spirit wants to do in and through us.

If we really want to see the power of the Holy Spirit displayed in our lives, we must be willing to get uncomfortable.

And I am convinced that we are not experiencing the fullness of God's power because we not have surrendered to his spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the empowering presence of God, and throughout scripture we see varying names used to describe him.

Names such as Ruach, which is the breath of God, the very life energy of God, the pneuma, the wind of God, the breath of God, the spirit of God, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of life, the spirit of Jesus, the spirit of grace.

These are just a this is just a surface level of the different phrases that are used to define and describe the empowering presence of God.

But it's with that understanding when we begin to look at scripture and we we revisit some of the most prolific stories in the Bible, you will find that these were not done by perfect people.

These were not done by strategies, these were not done by people who figured everything out, that these were done by people that were empowered by God's presence.

When we look at Genesis chapter 1, verse number 2, the Bible describes how the earth was without form and void and that darkness was upon the face of the waters.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

But it says, But the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

The Spirit of God was hovering.

What that means is that word hovering means moving gently.

See, many of us have been introduced to a Holy Spirit that doesn't move gently.

Many of us have been introduced to a spirit that seems to be a bully, that's aggressive, and maybe that has caused us to put walls up when we begin to think about the Holy Spirit.

But when we're first introduced to him in the very second line of the Bible, the Bible describes him as gently moving things in order.

What is the chaos that's in your life?

Maybe God just wants to gently begin to move it in order.

The Holy Spirit is life-giving.

He's not called to take away life to make us feel down and dispressed about ourselves.

I remember when I was younger that they would weaponize the Holy Spirit, where they would say, like, hey man, there's gonna be a prophet in town, and bro, he can call you out.

He'll look out into the stands and he'll begin to look at people and he'll be like, Oh, I know what you did last summer.

And like, so I don't even want to go to church.

I know where I was at on Saturday night.

Because the Holy Spirit just seemed to be this this entity that was just looking to have this gotcha thing that tears you down and make you feel embarrassed and calling out the sin in your life.

But scripture doesn't define him that way.

Scripture defines him as gentle and it shows that he is life-giving.

What the Bible shows us in Genesis chapter 2, verse number 7, it says that Adam has been created, but he's laying there inanimate.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

But it says then the Spirit of God came and breathed on him.

Ruach put the breath of life in him, and then Adam became a living being that was now capable of reproducing what God has placed on the inside of him.

He didn't exhale, he didn't take it away from him, but he put life in him.

The Holy Spirit is life-giving, which is why he's defined as the breath of God.

He's not trying to take your breath away.

The Holy Spirit is life-giving.

When we look at when we look at the life of David, we recognize that it's the Holy Spirit that anointed him to do what he was called to do.

And in 1 Samuel chapter 16, the Bible says that David was anointed to become king.

1 Samuel 16 · chapter mention

And what it says after he's anointed, it says, and then the Holy Spirit came upon him from that moment forward.

From that moment forward, I want you guys to check out what happened from that moment forward.

After David was anointed by the Holy Spirit, the very next chapter is when he faced Goliath.

See, a lot of times when we read that story of David and Goliath, we think that this is a man who's confident.

We think that this is a man who lived in a wilderness and that he has some skills and that he can hold his hands really well.

No, he was a regular small boy who was empowered by the Holy Spirit to defeat the giants in his life.

We're thinking that we need strategy to defeat our giants.

We're thinking that we need to have logic to defeat our giants.

No, you don't.

You just need God's spirit.

What David does after that is that David then becomes this amazing worship leader.

The scripture says that every now and then that a spirit would come and disturb Saul.

So he would call David in to come and just play worship music to create an atmosphere of peace.

It wasn't because he was that gifted.

It wasn't because he went to Juilliard, it was because the Holy Spirit was on every note that he sang.

It was because the Holy Spirit was in everything that he did.

When it was, was a man who was yielded to the Holy Spirit and had the ability to radically change the atmosphere.

The Holy Spirit is the empowering presence of God, so much so that even when David made his mistake and sinned against God with Bathsheba, that his biggest concern was not losing his kingdom.

His biggest concern was not losing his influence.

Psalm 51 tells us what David's biggest concern was.

He says, Do not banish me from your presence or take away your holy spirit.

David knew you could take my throne, but as long as I got God, I'm good.

You could take my position, but as long as I got God, I know that I am good.

David knew that without the Spirit of God, that he was not able to walk this life out.

Let's look at the person of Samson.

A lot of times we'll see depictions of Samson in Bible movies of this big buff dude who drinks a lot of protein shakes and and is and doesn't need anybody to spot him at the gym.

No.

If that was what he looked like, then it wouldn't have been extraordinary for him to have such strong strength.

The reason why it was so profound that Samson was able to do what he did was because the Holy Spirit was on his life.

This is why they constantly try to figure out strategies on how we can tie this man down because it doesn't make sense that he has this much strength.

But what Judges 14, 6 tells us is that the Holy Spirit came on him in a mighty way that allowed him to defeat the enemy and bring the people out of bondage.

That means that when he was being tied down, the Holy Spirit strengthened him to bring him freedom.

That every time Delilah had tried to come against him with the Philistines, it was the Holy Spirit that would come on him, that would allow him to walk in true freedom.

What am I trying to say?

Some of us are tied down by some things, and we're trying to use our logic and our strategy to get out of it.

But if we can begin to have the mentality like Samson, where the Bible says that Samson would begin to shake himself, the Holy Spirit will come upon him, and then he would begin to establish freedom.

What I want us to recognize is that the Holy Spirit is the empowering presence of God.

When we look at the prophets in scripture, specifically looking at Isaiah, this is the man that was trusted to be able to prophesy and foresee the Messiah more than any other person in history.

But think about this.

The Israelites were dealing with oppression.

That the Israelites were going through a period of time where they had lost all sight of hope.

But even while they were in the middle of a hopeless situation, because the Spirit of God was on Isaiah, he could still see the Messiah.

So somebody missed it.

He was in the middle of a hopeless situation, but the Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to him even in hopelessness.

Let me say that one more time.

He was in a situation where he didn't have clarity, where the people seemed as if there was no hope for the future, but the Holy Spirit came upon him and he was still able to see Jesus, so much so that Jesus quoted Isaiah when he started his ministry by saying, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to preach the gospel, the good news, and to bring healing and restoration.

Isaiah saw this before he experienced it because of the Holy Spirit.

When we're in relationship with the Holy Spirit, he reveals things to us even in the midst of our darkest moments.

The Holy Spirit can reveal light to us.

How else can we explain how we can be still filled with hope even in hopeless situations?

How else can we explain how we can still have light even when we're in the midst of darkness?

It's because of the Holy Spirit that is empowering us and giving us the vision.

Moses, this is a man who was uneducated in the ways of the kingdom of God.

He was raised in the pagan environment.

He leaves and flees from that.

He has an encounter with God.

He is empowered by the Spirit of God, and then he's able to lead over a million Jews into freedom.

He had a stutter.

How did he do it?

Because he had the Spirit of God on the inside of him.

It wasn't about his skill set.

He then was able to model it in such a way that the Spirit of God began to rub off on the people around him.

And when God had given them an assignment to build him a tabernacle so that they can dwell amongst his people, these men were not learned men.

They didn't have the skill sets to build an ornate, very detailed oriented tabernacle.

Why were they able to do it?

Because the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

There are so many of us that God is opening doors for us to walk into, and we're thinking to ourselves, I'm not experienced enough.

I don't have a degree in that.

I don't have enough understanding on that.

Exactly.

Because if you had those things, you wouldn't need God.

But God has the ability of using people who don't have skill sets but has his presence to do things that people with logic could never accomplish and do.

It's the empowering presence of God.

When God gives you a task, he also gives you his spirit.

The Bible also tells us the Holy Spirit is the one who transforms us.

That we hear in the in the book of Ezekiel, who is also dealing with Babylonian captivity and they're dealing with oppression.

And the Bible says it's because of their rebellion and their hard-headedness that they were not walking in freedom.

But it was also there that God says, But I'm going to transform your heart.

How?

With my spirit.

I'm going to put my spirit on the inside of you and it's going to transform you.

It's going to do a new thing on the inside of you.

How?

It's because of his spirit, not because of their own will, but because of the spirit of God.

This takes full expression when we get to the next chapter in Ezekiel chapter 37.

Ezekiel 37 · chapter mention

It's one of my favorite narratives in scripture where it tells a story of Ezekiel in a valley of dry bones.

You can go and read it in its entirety.

Let me give you the Cliff Notes version of it.

God leads Ezekiel into this environment where there's scattered bones that looks as if there was a massive army that had gotten killed and their bodies were left to decay there, dead and rotting, and they were there.

And God leads Ezekiel there and he asks him a question Son of man, can these bones live?

He responds and says, Lord, only you know.

So God says, Yes, I want you to speak to the bones and tell them to come together.

So Ezekiel does exactly what God tells him to do.

He he declares the word of the Lord, and the Bible says that there's a mighty sound, and then the bones begin to come together.

And then what happens next is the bones are strengthened by the sinews or the muscle, and then the skin comes on it.

So now we're looking at this body that was once scattered about.

It's come together because the word of the Lord was declared.

That's strategy.

The identity was there because God's word had given them an essence of who they were.

But what the Bible says next is but they were not alive because the breath of God was not in them.

What that means is they were coming to church.

They were reading God's word, they were declaring God's word.

They had strategy, they had strength, they even had identity.

But the Bible says they couldn't do what they were called to do because the breath of God was not in them.

What happens next is he says, Well, prophesy and allow the wind or the ruach of God to come inside of it.

And when the Holy Spirit breathes on it, then they became a mighty large army.

Some of us are relying on our strategy, we're relying on our tactics, and we're wondering why we're not empowered to do what we're supposed to do.

Have you asked God to breathe on your plans?

Have you asked God to breathe on your family?

Have you asked God to breathe on that situation?

What scripture reveals to us is that when we invite the Holy Spirit in, that the best strategy are now empowered and enacted because of God's empowering presence.

We look in Mary.

How in the world do you think she was able to raise Jesus?

My kids ain't Jesus, and it was hard.

Nowhere near Jesus.

So imagine for a moment you're given this assignment that the Spirit of God tells you you are going to be responsible for carrying the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

You're going to give birth to him, you're going to raise him, and then you're going to have to release him and watch him die.

How do you do this?

Luke 1 tells us because the Holy Spirit was upon her.

The Holy Spirit was on her.

And what the Bible tells us, because the Holy Spirit was on her, she knew how to love Jesus.

She knew how to serve Jesus.

She knew how to worship him, but also how to lead him.

Yes, lead him.

Because y'all remember that moment?

I like to, I think it's beautiful, where Jesus is at the at the party at the at the whole like wedding ceremony, and they run out of wine.

And so Jesus is there with his boys, they there turning up, they're chilling.

And then Mary comes up and said, Jesus, they ran out of wine.

He's like, yo, why are you telling me that?

I'm here with my boys, man.

I ain't got nothing to do with that.

They should have planned differently.

And Jesus, like, and Mary's like, nah, you need to get involved, Jesus.

Whatever he tells y'all to do, do it.

Watch this.

Jesus was not ready to go into full-time ministry, but his mom, who was filled with the Spirit, said, Yes, you are.

She said, Jesus, the time is now because the right time to do the right thing is right now.

And what did Jesus do?

He submitted to his mom.

Some of us are so overwhelmed at the idea of becoming parents, and we're wondering, how can we do it in a society that is so broken?

We're trying to figure out how to lead our families in all the chaos and stuff around us.

We do the same thing that Mary did.

We rely on the Holy Spirit.

God's empowering presence will help us to do what we're called to do.

Jesus was immersed in the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3, 16, when he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And then he was led into the wilderness to prepare him for ministry.

The disciples were given the Holy Spirit in John chapter 20, 22, when Jesus breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit.

John 20 · chapter mention

And then in the book of Acts, we see that the church received the Holy Spirit and allowed them to do what they're supposed to do.

The book of Acts is literally a bunch of activities of the Holy Spirit moving amongst regular people.

They proclaim the gospel with boldness because they have the Holy Spirit.

Paul begins to write to us about what does it mean to have the Holy Spirit in our lives on a day-to-day basis.

He tells us about the gifts of the Spirit.

He begins to help us to understand that when we have the Holy Spirit, we have discernment.

We have access to the ability to speak in other languages.

We have the ability to understand wisdom.

We have these things that God makes available to us to help build up the church and to strengthen us as believers.

That is not something to run away from.

But Paul is telling us you need these things to accomplish the mission that God has called you to do.

Can you imagine being a soldier, but you're not giving the things you need in order to be successful?

God is saying that you are in the middle of a spiritual war, and I need to give you these things so that you are equipped for the warfare that you're engaged in.

We are called to be empowered by the Spirit of God.

Paul even begins to explain how do we know that someone is in relationship with Jesus?

And we call that the fruit of the spirit or evidence that God is alive in someone's life.

Love, joy, peace, kindness, long suffering.

He says that if someone is in relationship with me, this is the evidence of it.

By their fruit you shall know them.

The fruit of what?

The fruit of the spirit.

You could tell when someone is in fellowship with God.

Have you ever been around somebody and had a conversation with them?

It's like, man, there's something about them.

They just have some joy on their life.

There's something about them that allows me to feel connected to them.

It's something about them that they're able to shift the atmosphere.

They have a positive outlook, they have a different perspective on things.

And then you dig a little bit deeper and you recognize it's because of their relationship with God that's the fruit of it.

It's the Holy Spirit that cultivates and allows that fruit to be evidence so that people can be drawn closer to God as a result of it.

See, all of us need the Holy Spirit.

Paul even tells us in Romans chapter 8 that in fact, without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to live a life of victory over sin.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

It's impossible.

He says that if we don't have the spirit, we walk in the flesh.

But when we walk in the spirit, we're able to walk in the newness of life, we're able to walk in victory.

I believe that a walk with God without the spirit is a walk that's vulnerable and displays the weakness of the flesh.

Every one of us needs to be empowered by the Spirit of God.

I I still recall when I got radically saved.

I was raised in a Christian context, but I remember when I got radically saved, I was sitting in the service like you guys are now, and I remember this moment where I just could not I could not help but to respond to the gospel message.

I came to the altar, I I cried my eyes out, I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and my life radically changed.

But if I can be real with you, I was about 20 years old at that time.

So I had lived 20 years as an expert in sin.

I spoke it fluently.

And so now I've had this radical encounter with the living God who's restoring me and redeeming me and letting me know that I'm loved and that I'm cared for.

But that didn't change the baggage and every bad decision I made when I left the church doors.

And so now I'm dealing with the residue of brokenness and the discard of pain and things that I've caused, and I'm trying to walk in the newness of life while still having the evidence of the old life that I used to live.

This is typically expressed when we see in scripture when God changes someone's name, it's a it's meant to reveal a transformation that takes place.

But I think one of the biggest challenges that can happen when we're transformed is when God is calling us one thing, but the world is still calling us something else.

See, when it says that he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Jacob was his carnal name, Israel was his redeemed name.

So when God had an encounter with him, he said, Today I'm calling you Israel because you've wrestled with God in one.

The biggest challenge for him was how do I keep walking out Israel when people are still calling me Jacob?

When we have an encounter with God, we begin to try to figure out how do I walk in what I'm called to be and not respond to who I used to be?

The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit reminds us that you are redeemed and you are loved.

But other people are saying, but no, don't forget you're Jacob, you're the one, but the Holy Spirit reminds us, but you are redeemed and you are loved.

But the people of the world will tell us what we used to do, but the Holy Spirit will remind us that you are redeemed and that you were loved, and you have to make a decision which spirit am I going to listen to?

When I gave my life to God, I had to make a decision on what spirit was I going to listen to.

Am I going to listen to what God says?

Am I going to respond to what the Holy Spirit says, or am I going to continue to listen to what the world says about me?

It's a journey that we continue to be on.

That journey is called the sanctification process, but the Holy Spirit reminds us every single day that even when we fall short, that even when we make mistakes, that the Bible says that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God.

How is that done?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

I had to walk through betrayal and had to forgive.

I couldn't do it in my own strengths because if I were to run a list down of rights and wrongs, there's no error in the way that I recount the events.

But the Holy Spirit says, because you were forgiven, you must forgive.

How do we do this?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

We have these moments where the Holy Spirit challenges us and reminds us that the same way that we needed redemption, we need to learn how to forgive other people.

We can't do that in our own strength.

Some of us are carrying grudges and we're trying to look at the list of what people need to do in order to earn our forgiveness, but the Holy Spirit reminds us that there is nothing that we did to deserve it.

So we were able to reciprocate it because of what was done for us.

The Holy Spirit is God's empowering presence.

Acts chapter 2, 38.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I want to close and we're going to go into worship in just a moment.

Peter is preaching when the Holy Spirit comes.

This is what we call the day of Pentecost, and we're going to celebrate that in a couple of weeks.

But he says, Repent and be baptized, each one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the revenue of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter's first message to the church was repent.

Be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit.

And let's do this thing.

Peter was carrying on the message that was presented to him when Jesus spoke to him on a mountain.

You will receive power.

You will be empowered by my spirit to do what you were called to do.

Our theme this year as a church is my life, God's way, our story collectively.

But I've concluded that it is impossible to live my life God's way if I don't have his spirit.

My life, God's way through his spirit.

My life, God's way with his spirit.

How?

Because his spirit empowers me to yield my life to doing things his way.

But when I don't have his spirit, it becomes my life, my way.

My life, my way.

But if I want to do things God's way, I need God's spirit in order for us to do it.

Let me pray for us.

Lord, I thank you.

I thank you for your presence.

I thank you for the gift of your spirit.

And Lord, I recognize that when we talk about the Holy Spirit, it can drum up all types of things in our minds and in our hearts.

It can drum up concerns.

We've seen some things that are done in the name of God that are not a reflection of who you truly are.

But God, it's in these moments that we redeem who the Holy Spirit is in our lives, recognizing that He is the empowering presence of God in our life, that He is Jesus everywhere.

It is what allows Jesus to be with us all the days of our life.

It allows us to be sanctified.

It allows us to walk in freedom.

He allows us to walk with authority.

He allows us to be empowered to represent the kingdom so that we can make a difference and impact in this world.

Lord, we we yield ourselves, we surrender ourselves with an expectation that we can experience transformation, with an expectation that we can experience freedom, with an expectation that we can be made whole, with an expectation that you can reveal things to us even in the midst of the darkest situations.

Lord, we submit ourselves to you and we ask for your spirit to have his way.

We're going to go back into worship for a few moments.

So let us all stand on our feet together as a community.

The question becomes now that I understand the Holy Spirit is a gift, now that I understand that the Holy Spirit is available, what do I do to cultivate it?

How do I engage it?

What is my responsibility in these moments?

It is quite simple, quite challenging, but also life-changing.

We engage him.

How do we engage the Holy Spirit?

I believe that when we engage God, that God engages us.

Draw near to God and he draws near to us.

That's what reading his word does.

That's what being in community does, and that's what worship does.

It allows us to draw near to God.

That is how we engage God.

So we're going to go back into worship and we're going to intensely create these moments for the rest of this series where we're going to hear about who he is, but we want to engage his presence so we can activate his power in our lives.

So this is a moment where we can engage God's presence and activate his power in our lives.

So while worship is going on, the altar is going to be open.

If you want to come and get along with God, if you want to go out into the aisles, whatever that next step looks like for you, let this be a moment that we engage the presence of God with an expectation that he is going to change everything in our lives.

Let's lift our hands, let's sing the songs, let's pray, but let's engage with a belief that when we engage the presence and power of God, that God is going to engage us.

Thanks again for listening.

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