Rock Life! Walk on the Rock! - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. It is good to be in the house

this morning and worshiping God, isn't it? Can

you give him a praise right now? Just a hand

clap of praise. He's worthy. I loved hearing

the worship this morning. It was like a reverb

kind of thing. I could hear you singing this

way and I could hear them singing that way. And

all of it is to glorify the King. We come in

this house to worship God. That's what we're

here for. It's not about me. It's not about you.

It's him, right? And we lift up his name. And,

man, thank you for engaging in worship this morning.

Thank you for praising him. And one of the things

that took place this morning, I was kind of walking

around. Sometimes I park in the back there and

shake hands and, you know, try to work out into

the square. And someone came up to me this morning.

I think Matt. I don't know where Matt's at this

morning. But he came up, shook my hand, and said,

rock life. I was like, yes. Awesome, man. I love

it. I love it. Rock life. I have loved preaching

this message series. Just kind of started it

just a few weeks back. And I love talking about

rock life. Life on the rock, Jesus. And I thought

it would be appropriate this morning just to

start off with some verses right out of Scripture

that talk about living on the rock. Psalms 18

.1 says this. I will love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock. Say the rock. and my fortress

and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom

I trust. Psalms 18 .2, the very next verse says,

the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield

and the horn of my salvation. my stronghold.

Matthew 7 24 says, everyone then who hears these

words of mine and does them, I will be like a

wise man who built his house on the rock. And

the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds

blew, and beat on that house, and it did not

fall because it was founded on the rock. First

Corinthians 10 4 says, and they and all drank

the same spiritual drink, for they drank from

the spiritual rock that followed them, and the

rock was Christ. It's Jesus. Amen? Amen. Come

on, give him a hand again. He's worthy. Our rock

is not something to be climbed. It's not something

to be conquered, traversed, or even repelled

upon. Our rock is someone who we anchor our life

in and upon. Our rock is Jesus. He is the foundation.

He is the fortress. He is the hope. He is the

shield, right? He is my stronghold that surrounds

me. Psalms 91 .1, he who dwells in his secret

place of the most high. This is not on the God's

Rebecca Scramble for the slides. It's not on

there. But he who dwells in his secret place

of the most high shall abide under the shadow

of the Almighty. The rock, right? This is life

on the rock. He's my provision. He is my hope.

He is my escape out of the time of trouble. He

is my deliverance. The rock, Jesus. We should

get excited about that. You have, and I love

it. It's awesome. It's on the rock, Christ Jesus,

where I receive power and I give power away.

It's on the rock. On the rock, Jesus, I receive

power. and it's where I give power away. In Acts

Acts 1:4

chapter 1, verse 4, Jesus begins to speak a prophetic

word to his disciples, and he's telling them

that in the very near future, this newly formed

church that's going to develop in Jerusalem,

the first church, right, will receive power that's

meant for them not only to receive, but to give

away. Acts 1 verse 4 says this, and being assembled

Acts 1:4

together with them, he commanded them not to

depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise

of the Father, which he said, you have heard

from me. For John truly baptized you with water,

but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit

not many days from now. Therefore, when they

had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord,

will you at this time restore the kingdom to

Israel? And he said to them, it's not for you

to know the times or the seasons which the Father

has put in his own authority, but you shall receive

what? Power. When the Holy Spirit has come upon

you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end

of the earth. Jesus told his disciples, when

I leave, Holy Spirit will show up. and you're

going to receive power. He said, when I leave,

I'm going to send someone back that is just as

powerful as I am. I'm going to send the one.

His name is Holy Spirit. That's what he said.

And you're going to receive power. There is something

absolutely spectacular. That happens when we

receive the gift of salvation, when we receive

Christ and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives.

When guilt and shame, right, and regret and all

those things are washed away by the blood of

Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit moves in, comes

to dwell inside of us, the power of God begins

to become my shield. It becomes my fortress.

It becomes the horn of my salvation. That's what

Scripture says. He becomes my deliverer. comes

my refuge, my stronghold in the time of attack.

God's power at work in my life happens in so

many incredible ways in my spirit. Holy Spirit

coming to live within me. He delivers me. About

two days ago, actually exactly two days ago,

Our family had an experience that we've never

had before. One of my daughters is in, and her

husband, Brad and Jen are in with the girls,

and they came, my two granddaughters. And we

all decided to go on a hike to one of my favorite

places. And Alyssa and the three other grandchildren

went along. And we all decided we're going to

go up to this place called Pole Steeple. Anybody

know what I'm talking about? Yeah, Pole Steeple.

One of my favorite places to go and hike. And

we all got together. It was around lunchtime.

We're going to go up. We're going to take the

kids. We're going to hike up. And if you've been

there, it's kind of about a one -mile traverse

up through. It's uphill all the way, right? about

pole steeples, if you move through the mountain

to get up to it, it's this beautiful stack of

massive boulders on the top of this mountain

range. And if you get on the top, you can get

up and you can see out over Laurel Lake. You

can see the valley below. It is breathtaking

up there. And we decide we're going up. We've

been there many times before, previously. And

I love going there because honestly, I've been

up there multiple times and I've sat and looked

over God's creation and God has spoken to my

spirit. The Holy Spirit has breathed into me

something and given me a word. for something.

So it's kind of a sacred place, but we had a

completely different experience this time. How

many know things can change? Amen. This time

we went up, and we were getting close, and I've

been up there before, and I've on occasion seen

a snake up there, right, at different times because

of the rocks. They come out and sun on there

once in a while. And years past, I've gone up

there, and once I saw a rattlesnake years ago

up there, and I kind of played the tough guy.

I was like, okay, all you families stay back.

I'm going up first. Right? Actually, I'm the

oldest, and if somebody gets bit and dies, I'm

the oldest. It's okay. I go see Jesus first.

But I said, I'm going to go up first, so I'll

just look for snakes in case just, you know,

it was a warm day, in case anything's going on.

And I started to go, and my grandson and my son

-in -law were right behind me. Brad, they're

right behind me, a few steps back. And I stepped

right over top of a rattlesnake. Walked right

over it. Never saw it. Yep, I'm here to protect,

all right? My grandson immediately spotted this

thing. You know, he's like, and he's like, stop,

everybody stop. And, you know, we, of course,

traversed everybody around them and said, go

around this way. And we went up, and as we were

going up, somebody was coming right off the top,

said, hey, we saw a snake over on the other side,

on the far side. And we're like, well, that's

good, because we're going on this side. And we

got up there, and we were going to take pictures

and selfies, because that's what you do up there.

We're going to look over God's creation, talk

about Jesus a little bit to the kids. You know,

just like, look what God's created. Do all the

things when you're up there. Snack, that's one

of our favorite things to do, is stop and eat

a snack. So we sit down on the rocks, and there's

like this crevice behind me. And I look inside

the rock, and guess what's there? A snake. A

rattlesnake. Things, plans changed immediately.

You were like, let's get out of here. Like, scoop

up the kids. We're getting out of here. This

is snake number three, all right? One we heard

about, two we've seen. And we start, and all

together, we end up seeing six snakes. Five were

rattlesnakes. One black snake that was in the

bunks. And Brad actually stopped somebody that

was on the way up. A little kid just about stepped

on a rattler on the way up. We got out of Dodge.

And thank God, it's true as I'm saying it, I

prayed before we went up that hill, and I believe

it was God's protecting hand on us. He's my deliverer.

Amen? Amen. It's true, even when you're on the

rock. The enemy can move in. He can slither in

when you're on the rock. We were on the rock,

but the enemy was all around us. We started seeing

the snakes coming in, right? And we look for

that. Life on the rock is powerful. At times,

you're going to be on the rock, and it's going

to be dreams and visions and words like I've

gotten up on that rock. At times, you're going

to be up there, and you're going to be breathtaking

all that God's done. And then there's going to

be other times you're on the rock, and the enemy's

moving in. He's sliding all around you, even

though you're on the rock, Jesus. And one of

the unique attributes of Holy Spirit coming into

our lives when Jesus left and he sent him back

is that the Holy Spirit gives us power, right?

We receive power and we give out power. It's

powerful on the rock. It's a flow in and a flow

out kind of thing, right? Holy Spirit empowerment

was never meant to be a one -way thing where

I just take it all in and it never goes out.

It was always intended to be an in, right, kind

of power, and then an out and release. The spiritual

electrons that God sends through, right, to you

as a vessel is not for you to store up like a

battery. God never called you to be taken in

and taken in and just thrown up in your spirit

and never given out, right? Or just consume it

and never do anything about the Holy Spirit in

your life. We were always meant to be plugged

into God's power source, but not to be left just

on the charger. How many know that if you don't

put the battery in the drill, the drill doesn't

do anything? If you don't put the battery in

the mixer, you can't mix anything. If you don't

put it in the weed whacker, you can't whack anything.

It's not going to happen. Holy Spirit is power

in and power out for life. It really is. His

power extended through my hands and my mouth,

right, and my feet and what I'm doing. Life Rock

is inhaling Holy Spirit and exhaling His power.

Inhaling His power and exhaling it. Say inhale.

And exhale. And if you don't, if it becomes this

one -way thing where we're always looking for

Holy Spirit just to move and pour into our life,

what happens is that you begin to get bloated

spiritually. I don't know if you knew that could

happen. You start to get engorged spiritually.

We start to get overstuffed spiritually. It's

kind of like a pond when the water flows in and

there's no outlet. to take place, right? The

Holy Spirit comes in, fills you up, fills you

up, fills you up. How many know what happens

in a pond when the water comes in and there's

nowhere to go out? It stagnates. Things begin,

like algae begins to grow in that thing. It starts

to get smelly. And sometimes when I talk with

people, not always, but sometimes when I'm talking

with people and they sit down and they're kind

of in this miserable, stinky place. I don't know

if you've ever been there. Sometimes I sit down

across the table and they start telling me about

this miserable, stinky place that they're in.

And it could be for all kinds of reasons. But

sometimes as I begin a discussion with them,

I find out they're spiritually bloated. They've

been taking it in. They've been taking God's

word in. They've been taking God's presence in.

Holy Spirit's been doing all this stuff in their

life because they're telling me about it. And

I'm like, awesome, what are you doing? And they're

like, well, what do you mean? And I'm like, what

are you doing? What do you mean? It's an in and

out. You can't take it all in and not let it

go out. You'll explode spiritually, amen? It's

kind of like eating a Thanksgiving meal. What

happens if you eat too much at a Thanksgiving

meal? Oh, it's all good stuff coming in. Amen?

But you're on the couch bloated later. Right?

Just kind of moaning and groaning. It's an in

and out. And the funny thing is when I have a

conversation like that with someone, so many

times they're looking for the next thing to take

in. They're like, man, if I get one more word,

it's going to be the right thing. If I just read

the right scripture, it's going to be awesome.

If I can just get to one more revival that's

taking place somewhere, and I know, man, that's

going to be it. And I'm like, no, you don't have

an inflow problem. You've got an outflow problem.

God moves when we start working and using the

power that God's put in us. There's this flow

that takes place. And I know this because it's

happened so many times to me personally. So many

times I'll get jammed up and unsettled and stinky,

right? And I'm like, man. And it's when I start

to let out that God begins to move. He begins

to speak. I say it all the time. There's no reason

to steer a parked car. Amen? If you're just sitting

there idling, there is no reason that God needs

to steer a parked car. The Holy Spirit is receiving

power and giving power away in your life. In

the book of Acts, we just read about it, the

120 who met in an upper room, and they were waiting

on the Holy Spirit. They were waiting on the

promise of God to come, and it baptized all of

them. It said they poured out into the streets,

and immediately they gave out. They started telling

about the wonderful works of God. to do it in

the tongues of the people that were in the city.

They spoke in tongues. They poured out. It was

in and out. Say in and out. All right, all right.

So awesome. Okay, pastor, well, how does that

work exactly? What does that look like? How does

that work in my world? You know, what in Scripture

tells us? What's this look like? Well, Paul writing

into the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

12, you can go ahead and begin to flip there.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul addresses exactly

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

what this looks like in your life. He really

does. And Paul spells this out at the church

of Corinth for a reason, because the church of

Corinth was kind of messed up. They had power

coming in, but they were messing it all up with

power going out. They were not getting this right.

And in Corinth in Bible times was a very busy,

wealthy, cosmopolitan Roman capital. And it was

known for the trade that took place there. It

was culturally diverse there. But there was a

real reputation for loose morals. And just like

in the church today, the culture. began to filter

into the church at Corinth. And the first century

church in Corinth was this mix of the power of

God at work through spiritual gifts, but the

misuse of those gifts. And a whole bunch of sinful

things were filtering in on top of it. There

were arguments taking place. There was sexual

sin that was there. There was selfishness threaded

through all of what they were doing. Paul was

writing this letter, and he's saying, we got

to get this right. The inflow has got to be right,

and the outflow of the Holy Spirit in your life.

So he says this in 1 Corinthians 12 .1. He says,

now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers. Now,

you're going to notice a corrective tone in this.

As Paul writes to the church of Corinth, he's

kind of correcting them. He's kind of laying

it out like, hey, we got to get some things straight.

Anybody ever have a, I got to get you straight

conversation with anybody? How many had one this

morning with anybody? Tell me right now. Nobody.

All right. Paul would say this, 1 Corinthians

12 .1. He says, now concerning spiritual gifts,

brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

If you can get another translation, I don't want

you to be ignorant of this, right? You know that

when you were pagans, you were led astray to

mute idols. However, you were led. Therefore,

I want you to understand that no one speaking

in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed,

and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the

Holy Spirit. Paul addresses the Corinth church

with a corrective tone. He says, listen, Corinth,

spiritual gifts, I don't want you to be uninformed

how this is supposed to work. You remember when

you were pagans. You remember when you weren't

following God. You remember what your life was

like. He might have even rolled his eyes. I don't

know. Kind of like some of you parents do, right?

But he says, I want you to understand that no

one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus

is cursed and no one says Jesus is Lord except

the Holy Spirit. If Jesus is your Lord, Holy

Spirit will be active in your life, and it's

going to be a flow in and a flow out. Flow in

and flow out. This is life on the rock. This

is life on the rock. And after these few pointed

corrective phrases, Paul gets into it. He says

in verse 4, he says, varieties of gifts, but

the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service,

but the same Lord. And there are varieties of

activities, but it is the same God who empowers

them all in everyone. The power of God flowing

out of me will manifest in your gifts, it will

manifest in your service, and it will manifest

in your activities as you give out to others.

So when the Holy Spirit comes in and begins to

work in your life, it's going to flow out in

the form of gifts. I don't know if you know this

or not, but if you're saved and you're following

God, he gave you gifts. Some of it you were born

with. Some of it he manifests as you go along

as a Christian, but you got gifts. When you have

a gift in your hand, it is the gift to someone

else. You've got gifts. He also says you're going

to go serve. All through the word of God, we

serve. Jesus taught us this. So God's going to

show up. Holy Spirit's going to show up in your

gift giving. He's going to show up in your serving.

He's going to show up in your activity for God.

That's what it's going to look like. God flowing

out of me will manifest in those three ways.

And what happens with the Holy Spirit is, is

he begins to supercharge this. Because some of

you have talent without God. Some of you are

able to serve somebody else. Before you were

a Christian, you went and served somebody else.

You've had activity in your life, your entire

life. What is the difference with the Holy Spirit?

He supercharges it. There's this stark difference

between a life that is giving the gifts away

to somebody else, they're serving God, serving

somebody else through God, and there's activity

taking place in their life. One is going to kind

of come off very holy, and the other one's going

to come off very you. Right? And you can look

in Scripture, and I found out what the Word of

God says, what I look like a lot of times when

I'm giving my gifts, service, and it's all me.

Isaiah 64, 6, I think, describes it the best.

But we are all like an unclean thing, and all

our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all

fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the

wind, have taken us away. When I serve out of

my gifts and my service, you're hearing a lot

of my there, right? My service and my activities,

it's kind of not much more than filthy rags.

But when the Holy Spirit begins to flow out of

you, it turns into this holy thing. It changes.

It shifts. I remember years ago when I was in

youth ministry, and it was a lot of years ago,

but I remember specifically going to a conference,

a youth conference. It was a Winterfest in Ocean

City, Maryland. And I've been to a bunch of these

Winterfests and these conferences for youth,

and they get some great speakers in. They usually

draw really big -name speakers. amazing communicators

from all over the world. And they get these youth

communicators that come back in, you know, that

would come in. And then they would usually get

a band or two that would come in that's a Christian

band. And some of them were amazing. And I remember

this one particular Winterfest we went to, there

was this band that was kind of like on the top

40 of Christian music. Everybody knew who they

were. And when they came in and set up for the

concert, they had the lights, they had the fog

machines, they had all the gear, man. They had

it going on. It was stuff blinking and flashing.

You know, it was very youthy. And the fog machine

was going. They had an incredible, they had a

sound system that would make you bounce right

off the seats. That's how, it was, you know,

and they're just boom, boom, boom. And they have

this concert. And I was like, okay. The next

night, the next night, stage is cleared. One

microphone standing out in the middle of the,

out of the middle of the stage. One guy walks

out. I didn't know who he was until that day.

Walks out. His name was Coffee Anderson. He walks

out. He's got blue jeans on, tennis shoes, a

white T -shirt. He has no band. He has no fog

machine. He has no lights. He has nothing. He

has his guitar. He spins his guitar around. He

didn't get one phrase out of his mouth. He strummed

a couple chords, and the power of God fell in

that place. That was the Holy Spirit in his gift.

I remember it. Every kid, every person in the

place, I don't even remember the name of the

other band. Can't even tell you who they were.

But the Holy Spirit came in, and it fell on teenagers.

It's the gift. It's what you're giving away.

Praise him if you'd come. And you might be asking,

well, pastor, how do I do this in rock life?

How do I live with Holy Spirit flowing in and

out of me on a regular basis? What, what's going

to cause that to take place? Is it, is it this

intentional act where I just like, okay, I got

to do it. I got to do it. I got to do it. I mean,

a lot of times we think that, right? Human will,

if we can just get ourselves, you know, if we

can just get ourselves pumped up enough, I'll

do this every single day. If I can even remember

to do it every single day, I'll do it every single

day. We get this in our heart. We get this in

our spirit. But Paul writes a different letter

to Galatians, to the church of Galatians. And

it says this in Galatians 5, 16. I say then,

walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill

the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against

the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,

and these are contrary to one another, so that

you do not have the things that you wish. But

if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under

the law. The only way to stay in a state of God

- Power, gifting, and service, and activity,

and the Holy Spirit flowing in and flowing out

is walking and letting the Holy Spirit lead you

as you walk. Amen? It's true. If the power of

God is going to be alive in me, I've got to walk

with the Holy Spirit. And you might ask, well,

what does that look like exactly? Because that

sounds great. That sounds awesome. That's, you

know, maybe good preaching out of God's Word.

But what does that look like? It looks like when

you walk with anyone else. If I'm going to walk

with somebody and they're leading me, how many

of you have ever walked with a guide of any kind?

Come on, it could be your mom or dad. You've

walked with somebody guiding you somewhere. You

didn't know where you were going, but they're

leading you. What do you do? You stay close to

that person. You walk up. Where they walk, you

walk. What they're speaking, you're listening

for. Every single day you're walking along. When

we walk with the Holy Spirit and we're in step

with him and he's leading us, the power of God

is working into our lives and will work out of

your life in everyday life. Whatever you're doing,

wherever you're at, whatever you're engaged in,

all of a sudden it changes. That gift that you

have, all of a sudden there's a different thing

that takes place. I hear it all the time when

I'm talking with individuals in the congregation

here, and they're like, man, Pastor, I got in

this conversation the other day. I didn't think

I'd get in this conversation with somebody. And

like the words just came. I don't even know where

they came from. I'm like, I do. That was the

Holy Spirit. You've been walking in step with

the Holy Spirit, and you got in a conversation

where somebody needed to hear something eternal,

and all of a sudden, God started speaking in

you and through you. It was Holy Spirit in and

Holy Spirit out. And that comes out of the overflow,

out of the abundance of walking with someone.

Because if not, you're going to walk in the flesh.

It's true. Have you ever met a Christian that

seemed more like a child of the devil than the

Most High? Right? They're engaged in some activity,

some gifting, some activity at the church. And

if you didn't know better, you're like, that's

a devil spawn right there. Right? And you think,

how can that happen? Because you watch them.

They go to church. You see them raising their

hands. They bring their Bibles. They love Jesus.

They'll say that. They'll confess that with their

mouth. And you tell yourself, well, that can't

be true. Like, this doesn't make any sense. And

you rub your eyes, and you're like, maybe it's

somebody else. Maybe they got a twin. Hey, that

must be their twin. But you see them get in the

same car they came in, right, to church. What

happened? What's going on there? They're living

in the flesh. The Word of God calls it carnal

Christianity. When we're not walking with the

Spirit, when the Spirit is not leading us, Thank

you for not looking at anybody, by the way. I

was watching you all, kept your head straight

forward. Right? We come off completely different.

And it's an amazing thing when we're walking

with the Spirit in the gifts, the service, and

the activity that you do, how God begins to move

in. And it's a little bit just like coffee energy.

I don't even know if I really saw coffee. I just

saw God. He just walked out, spun that guitar

around. First sentence out of his mouth, power

of God moved. Moved. He was walking. He was walking

before he ever came into the place. He was walking

with Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask you to stand.

We're getting ready to take communion. Jesus

paid an enormous price. Enormous price. He died

on a cross, bled, nails in his hands and feet,

so that you could have life, the word of God

says, and life abundantly. He paid the price

for sin in your life. Whether you realize that

or not, you might be hearing that for the first

time. Every bit of sin, every bit of rebellion

you've ever had against God, and you might think,

well, I've not really rebelled against God. We've

all were born into sin. We all were in rebellion

to God. And Jesus came and he became the supreme

sacrifice for our sin, the Lamb of God. And because

of that, we can come to faith in Christ. Word

of God says you just simply have to believe and

confess with your mouth. You believe in your

heart, you confess with your mouth. That's Romans

9 and 10, right? 9, 9 and 10. We confess with

our mouth, we believe in our hearts that he is

Lord and he is Savior and that he came as God's

son. to set us free. He paid an enormous price.

He bled and died. They put him in a tomb. Three

days later, he rose out of that tomb. He met

with his disciples, and he said, I'm going to

leave, but I'm sending back the Comforter. Rock

life is going to be you, right? Redeemed by me,

Jesus. Forgiven, saved, born again. by Jesus.

But when you walk on the rock, it's going to

be Holy Spirit who will be with you. My counterpart,

right? Part of the Godhead. So as you close your

eyes and you prepare your hearts, if you're in

the house and you don't know Jesus as Lord, one

of the things that can happen right now is that

you can know Him as Lord and Savior. You don't

have to sign anything. You don't even have to

walk up here to the front and talk to me. But

right where you are, you can begin to believe

that he is Lord and Savior, that he came and

died on a cross for you, and he wants to set

you free and make a commitment to follow him.

This isn't just a prayer. This is a commitment.

This is, I'm going to begin to follow God. I'm

going to begin to live life on the rock. So,

Father, I'll come before you right now, Lord.

There may be one in the house or maybe somebody

listening online, and they don't know you, but

they want to this morning. I ask that they pray

this prayer. Lord Jesus, forgive me for my sin,

for the thing that has separated me from you.

I ask that you would come into my life, wash

me clean of this sin. I ask that you would come

in and change my life, and I make a commitment

right now to follow you. I confess you as Lord

of my life. In Jesus' name, amen. If you keep

your heads bowed, if you prayed that prayer,

just raise your hand up and put it right back

down. I just want to know so I can talk with

you after gathering this morning. Thank you.

Now we're going to pray. Thank you, by the way.

Best move you'll ever make, man. Life on the

rock. Life on the rock. For the rest, those who

are redeemed, Holy Spirit flows in. Is He flowing

out? Are you allowing Him to use your gifts,

your activity? Are you serving in His power going

out in that manner in your life? That's what

the Word of God says. Paul addressed it at Corinth.

All those things are things that are given away

to somebody else. Is it a flow in and a flow

out? Because if not, you're going to stagnate.

If not, you're going to get spiritually bloated.

You're going to get miserable. You're going to

get miserable. Father, I thank you for those

in the house. Lord, who know you, and I thank

you, God, for their commitment to you. But Lord,

I pray we ask ourselves honestly, you've provided

Holy Spirit. Lord, you've even provided an opportunity

to be baptized in the Spirit. Flow in, but am

I flowing out? Is the power of God that comes

in being released out through me? I know there

are people here that have gifts and abilities.

and love to serve, and are so busy with so many

activities. Lord, empower them now, in Jesus'

name, and amen. If you look up at me. personally

affected by our ministry and you would like to

partner with us as we love God,