God has not left us helpless as we travel this life. There is a power available for us that transcends all we see and know. It's greater than any earthly circumstance or human frailty. This power works in the believer. transforming him into a little Christ. That's the ultimate goal of the Christian life, isn't it? To be like Jesus. And this power transforms us to be like Christ and empowers us to live like him. But how can we who are so sinful, like our sinful parents, be conformed to the likeness of our Heavenly Father? It's through this power. How could rugged and unlearned fishermen such as Peter, James and John become great apostles that would change the world? It's through this power. And the same power is available to you and me today. I've said it so often through this study this year on the Holy Spirit. that the modern church has a form of godliness but often denies the power. And the saddest thing of all is that most Christians are content to live without this power. We're content to go to church and read a little scripture and go to work and make a little money and take some vacations and just plod through life without this power. If I told you that there was a million dollars somewhere hidden in this building and the first one to find it could have it, you'd tear this place apart. But yet God comes to you and says, I have spiritual power that will change you and the world around you. Hmm. And we yawn and look at our watch and think, well, I hope this isn't a long sermon. I got some shows on the DVR I want to watch, that Netflix show I want to catch up on. I got some work I need to do before the day starts. It really is a condemnation on this age. God has a spiritual power available to us. Where does this power come from? This power comes from the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual engine of all spiritual activity. God gave us the Holy Spirit and he's working in us and through us to accomplish more than we had ever hoped or dreamed. And yet, as we've said so often, the Holy Ghost is often ignored, quenched and grieved. And some Christians live as if they don't even know there is a Holy Ghost. But we do. We know there's a Holy Spirit and we know there's a power available to us. And in this message this evening, I want us to investigate the scriptures and find out how to obtain the fullness of the Spirit and this transformative power. We know it's through the Holy Ghost. But how do we attain that? How do we begin to experience this supernatural power in our lives? I'm not talking about speaking in tongues. I'm not talking about seeing the future and having words of knowledge and visions and dreams. I'm talking about the spiritual power in the word of God, evidences of the Holy Spirit we talked about recently, but how do we get this power? Let me say, first of all, as I've said a few times during this study, I don't offer myself as the model of one who's attained the fullness of God's power. I am woefully deficient. I fail far too often. I'm too often filled with self. I'm too unwilling to sacrifice and I'm too stubborn at times. But I have had glimpses. I've had times where God's fullness has changed me. I know what it's like to see God work through me in ways that I knew were not me. And it's been a goal of my life all these years. I've been on a journey in the pursuit of God's power and fullness since I was 17 years old. I ought to be further along, I ought to be further down the road, I ought to be a better Christian, I ought to be a better pastor, preacher, husband. But it's only by the grace of God I am what I am. Without him, you think I'm bad now, you ought to see me without him. I'd be on death row. No, not that bad. But I would certainly be a different man. As a young Christian, I heard of sermons that moved cities. I read the biographies of spirit filled men that shook nations. Charles Spurgeon that as a young man became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, 4,000 people would gather Sunday morning and another 4,000 people would come back on Sunday night to hear him preach every single week. For 40 years, his sermons were on the front page of newspapers worldwide as he shook two continents for God and his message of the gospel went throughout the world. I've read of D.L. Moody and his testimony. He had a few young women that used to tell him, Mr. Moody, I'm praying for you. Mr. Moody, I'm praying for you." And he would get offended and say, why are you praying for me? Pray for the homeless, pray for the lost. They'd say, Mr. Moody, we're praying for you to have God's power. He says, I see people saved every time I preach. And he was really pretty offended about it. But over time, he came under conviction. And the story goes on to say, as he was walking down Wall Street one day, the desperate need of God's power came upon him. He had to find a room to pray. And for the first time in his life, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and with power. And his own testimony was, I would preach the same sermons and used to I would have 12 saved and now I would have 120. I would use the same methods and I would have a few saved and now it was hundreds. And he would say it was all because of the Holy Spirit. Jack Isles told the story many times of his begging to be filled with power laying on the grave of his dead father who he believed went to hell. He didn't have enough power to win his own dad to the Lord. He spent the rest of his life begging for the power to win other people's dads to the Lord. I heard these stories and I began to say, I want that. I need that. I don't want to be just Paul Chapman. I don't want to be the Paul Chapman who grew up in the country and just get a job at the cord factory or get a job doing some little thing. wake up 80 years from now, if God gave me life, and be like, what would I do with my life? I need to define the will of God for my life. And God called me to preach, and I thought, well, if I'm going to be a preacher, then I want to do it right. I want to have the right Bible. I want to have the right message. I want to have the right spirit. I don't want to get up and preach the Bible, and not have anybody listen, and not have anybody change. One of the great fears of my life is to be a powerless preacher that I just get up and preach week after week and people come and leave and they're saying come and leave week after week, month after month, year after year, they come and leave and we're all just the same. Because God never moves. I told someone recently who's a newer family. And I said, you know, people don't come to our church very long unless they decide to surrender to God. Because you come to a church like ours, you're either going to say, I want to do what God wants or you're going to eventually leave because our goal is conviction every week. Conviction. We ought to be more like Jesus. We ought to win more people to Christ. We ought to be different. We ought to be better husbands and better wives and better fathers and better mothers and better sons and better daughters, better men, better women. And some people don't want that. I want to go to a place where they can get puffed up and caressed and have their ears tickled. But dear friend, we don't need that. We need the spirit of God to move. And at times he does comfort and at times he does help. But many times he helps us by pointing out what needs to change. Brother Howell's funeral, I spent all night in the auditorium. praying for God's power and blessing. Every preacher I can find who I believe is filled with the Holy Spirit, I will ask them to this day, I will ask them to lay their hands on me and pray that God would fill me with his spirit and his power. Just this past summer, we were at a meeting, Brother Johnny Pope was there, spirit-filled man of God, been preaching for a long time. I went up to him after the service and just like I would have as a 17 year old boy, and I did as a 17 year old boy, asked Lee Roberson, would you lay your hands on me? God's called me to preach. Would you lay your hands on me and ask God to fill me with his power and use me? And he did. And just as a 17-year-old boy last year, I went up to Johnny Pope at the end of a service. I said, will you lay your hands on me and pray for God to fill me with his power and spirit and use me to help people for God's glory? And we knelt down there right in front of God and everybody. He laid his hands on me and prayed for God to fill me. For over 25 years, I've been asking this of God. And again, I don't I don't lift myself up. I ought to be much further along. The point of this is not to lift myself up. The point of this is to say, I'm asking you tonight, if you're not on this path, if you're not on this journey, whether you're seven or 70, we need to spend each day seeking the fullness of everything God has to offer. And that is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And his power. We could talk of spirit-filled men who made a difference in the world all night, but I ask you a question. Do you have a hunger for God's power? You thirst to be filled with the Spirit, or are you just content where you are? My prayer tonight is that we won't be content that we'd notice and realize, maybe for the first times in our lives, there's something I don't have, there's something available to me that God wants me to have, and I might need to reach out for it, I might need to seek and knock, but I will find it by His grace. Let me lay a little bit of a foundation. I'll give you eight things tonight in the pursuit of power. First of all, let's talk about what is spiritual power. There are two main Greek words translated power in the Old Testament. The first word for power is the word exousia. It means authority. Authority is a type of power. Consider this illustration. An 80,000 pound cement truck is driving down the highway at 65 miles an hour. There aren't many vehicles on the road that have enough power to make that full cement truck stop. But now picture on the side of the road, 185-pound state trooper walks out into the middle of the road. And he gets in front of that 80,000-pound cement truck and does this and begins motioning over to the side. And like magic, this 80,000-pound truck begins to slow down and pulls over. It's not that the state trooper had more power, but the state trooper did have more authority. the authority of the entire state. And boy, that's a whole other message for you and I to realize that God has given us authority, that we have the opportunity to walk in the authority of God and His Word in this life. Fathers have authority from God. Mothers have authority from God. Husbands have authority from God. Parents have authority from God. Preachers have authority from God. Employers have authority from God. We ought to learn to walk in our authority. But that's not the main power we're talking about tonight. The second main word for power found in the scripture is the Greek word dunamis. It means force or miraculous power. It's similar to the word dynamite. It means explosive power. Let's go back to our illustration. The state trooper had authority over the 80,000 pound truck, but now imagine if this state trooper walks over to a boulder at the side of the road and tells it to move. The boulder's not going anywhere. Why? Because the state trooper had authority over the truck, but not over the boulder. It takes raw power to move that boulder, but imagine now the, State trooper pulls out a stick of dynamite and puts it under the boulder. Now it's not a question of authority, it's a question of power. And the word most often used for the power of God in the Bible is this word dunamis. It's this word power. God wants to give us explosive power. God wants to supernaturally empower our words, our actions, our efforts to make an eternal difference in this life and the next. And we must learn to walk in both authority and power to fulfill God's plan. So as we're talking about this idea of power, let me just lay a groundwork. I've got far too many verses to give you in the short time we have, but let me just make a few introductory statements that we've mentioned already throughout the year. Power belongs to God. Matthew 6, 13 says, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Power belongs unto God. The Bible says in Matthew 28, verse 18, that Christ has all power and he is willing to share it with his followers. The Bible says, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. Jesus said, I have all power in heaven and earth, and I want you to go in my power. I will give you my power to take my message into my sinful creation to see souls saved. The power belongs to God, Christ has power, but he's willing to share it with his followers. Christ gave power to his disciples. Luke 9, 1, then he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. The apostles served Christ with great power, Acts 4.33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. We say, why don't we see things like the book of Acts? Why don't we see multitudes saved? Why don't we see these great miracles happen? Because we don't have the great power. But it's available. We learn that spiritual power cannot be bought with money. In Acts chapter eight, verses 18 and 19, a man named Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given. He offered them money, saying, give me also this power, that whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. Boy, they rebuked him sharply. See, dear friend, there are no shortcuts to spiritual power. It must be earned through the biblical formula. Christ warned His disciples not to attempt His spiritual work in the power of the flesh. We read in Luke 24, verse 49, He said, Oh, dear friend, we should never attempt anything in God's name without power. We should never preach or pray or usher, or play, or sing, or teach, or go soul winning, or anything without the supernatural power of God, without asking God for His supernatural power. God fills believers with this power, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. We are called by the power of God, Ephesians 3, 7. We are strengthened by God's glorious power to accomplish His work, Colossians 1, 10 and 11, 2 Thessalonians 1, 11, 2 Timothy 1, 7. Some professors have a form of godliness but deny its true power or warn not to follow their example. 2 Timothy 3, 5. But where does this power originate? We've said it already, this power, the source of this spiritual power is the Holy Ghost. To be filled with the Holy Ghost is to be filled with power, and to be filled with power is to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Acts 1.8, but ye shall receive power when after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Acts 10.38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good. Micah 3.8, but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. Romans 5.13, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15.19, through many signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2.4, my speech and my preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. See, dear friend, if we're in the pursuit of power and we're in a pursuit of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we find out it's one and the same. To be full of the Holy Ghost is to be full of power and to be full of power is to be full of the Holy Ghost. Now, how do we receive this power? I went to the Bible to find the answers. I want to give you eight things tonight. In the short time we have left, eight things in the pursuit of power. Now remember, we're talking about fullness of the Holy Ghost and the power of God. They're one in the same. I want us to turn to the scriptures. I'm going to give you these eight things and then show you a practical way on how you can begin praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit Number one. In the pursuit of power, number one, seeking turned to Isaiah, Chapter 44. Isaiah, Chapter 44. The first step in the pursuit of power is seeking God's power. Seeking the fullness of the spirit. Isaiah chapter 44 in verse three says, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. Water in the Bible is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Who does God give water to? The thirsty. Who does God fill with the Holy Spirit? The thirsty. He said, and floods upon the dry ground. What makes ground dry? The absence of water. And folks, one of the first things you need to do in the pursuit of God's power is to realize you're without it. Is to realize you need it. I know what it's like to witness to somebody and have them laugh and mock. And I know what it's like to witness to somebody and watch them bow their heads and pray and trust Jesus. I know what it's like to preach and have people yawn and not pay attention. I know what it's like to preach and have someone's heart because the Holy Spirit's working in their life. But dear friend, we've gotta realize we need God's Spirit. We have to realize we're without it. Hey, are you dry tonight? I mean, are you dry? Sometimes I go to the Lord and I'm a little bit worn out or I'm a little bit on edge and I'm feeling like I just need something more. I'll go to him and say, Lord, I'm dry. I need some water. I need some fresh oil. I need more of that spirit. I need more of that power, not more in amount, but I need more of his influence, more of his working. And the first step to being filled with the Holy Spirit is to seek it. We must know that it's available and decide that we want it. But God does not give his power cheaply or easily. You must thirst for it. You must ask for it. You must seek it. You must sense your own dryness and have a thirst that says, Oh, God, I need to be filled with you. I need your power. I need your presence in my life. Are you thirsty for God's spirit? Do you long to know his presence and power? Or are you content without it? Are you willing to pay the price for spiritual strength? How about tonight we just all say, you know what, I need that. I need that. Listen, the world's getting crazier, folks. I recommend to every Christian under the sound of my voice here or listening on watching online or listening later. Do not attempt to live through the last days in the power of your flesh. Never in the history of the United States of America have God's people needed more of God's power. And yet the average Christian just plays the days away content. To be dry. As long as we're entertained. As long as we're not too hungry, not too sick. Long as we're comfortable. Comfortable people. Usually don't get filled with the Holy Ghost. Because you need to realize that even if surrounded by comfort and the blessings of America. I need more of God. Number one seeking number two. Surrender. Ephesians 5.18 says, And be not drunk with wine, where in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Of course, spiritual power begins with the fullness of the Spirit. But the next step to be filled with the Spirit is to surrender. Do you know enough of the Bible to know that stubbornness won't get you anywhere with God? Self-willed rebellion won't get you anywhere with God. Matter of fact, if you're God's child, all it'll get you is a big spanking. What pleases God is humility. And surrender. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God under in subjection, humility is surrendering and humbling ourselves under the authority of God. We must surrender. Andrew Murray, which I love his writings on humility and the fullness of the spirit and prayer. Andrew Murray said being filled with the spirit is simply this. Having my whole nature yielded to his power. When the whole soul is yielded to the Holy Spirit, God himself will fill it. See, spirit fullness begins with the yielding and emptying a pouring out of oneself. You can't fill a glass with water if it's already filled with motor oil. And we are a vessel, but unfortunately, our vessel is filled with the motor oil of the flesh. It's toxic, it's dirty. But in order to have our vessel filled with the Holy Spirit, we must pour out our motor oil. We must cleanse the vessel. And then we go to God empty and dry in surrender and humility. And we say, God, I'm empty. I need you to fill me. And as we are empty of ourselves, the Holy Spirit of God will fill us with him. We must yield ourselves completely to God. We must confess every sin. Declare every iniquity. Seek and destroy anything between you and your God. Why do you think David so many times searched me, O God? Try my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. Because David was humbling himself before God. He said, God, I don't want to be filled with me. I want to be filled with you. I don't want to do what I want to do. I want to do what you want to do. And every day you wake up, that flesh rears its ugly head, you have to reject the flesh and beat him down and say, I don't want to be filled with you, dirty flesh. I don't want to live in sin and bondage today. I want to empty myself so God will fill me. And every day you empty yourself and offer yourself as an empty vessel to the Holy Spirit and he will fill you. Surrender your life, give him your heart. Promise him your future. Is there anything you wouldn't do for God? When's the last time you went to God? In full sincerity, and you say, God, it may even scare me to say this, maybe I've never said it to you before, maybe I've said it a million times, but there is nothing you could ask of me that I wouldn't do. I'll do anything you want. Because I'm yours. Boy, in that place of full surrender. The Holy Spirit rushes in. Aren't you tired of trying to do it your way? You say, well, at least if I do it my way, I'm free. No, you're a slave. You're a slave to sin. Aren't you tired of doing it your way? Aren't you tired of failing the pain and the suffering? Surrender to God. Only then can you be filled with the spirit and power. I said, number one, seek. Number two, surrender. Number three, supplication. Look at Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. Supplication. It's another word for prayer, but I like it because the word supplication means more than prayer. It has the idea of being supple, being moldable, being flexible. It had the idea of supplication is humble prayer. Prayer in submission. Luke chapter 11, verse 13 in this graduate level sermon on prayer. Look what the Lord says, Luke 11, verse 13. If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the who? Holy Spirit to them that what? Ask Him. Oh, you say, oh, preacher, this isn't for the Christian. Well, wait a minute. Did you get the Holy Spirit by asking God for Him? You didn't have to say, God, give me the Holy Spirit. No, you got the Holy Spirit as a benefit of your salvation. And I believe what the Lord here is saying, going all the way back to the Old Testament, there is a prayer element in the power of God. There is a prayer element in the fullness of the Spirit. We pray for God to use us. We pray for God to fill us. We pray to God for his power. Before every sermon, God, fill me with your power. God, work mightily through your word. Empower your word in the lives and hearts of the hearers. Lord, show your power in the service. There is an element of supplication when it comes to the power of God, and here specifically in praying for the Holy Spirit. Now don't miss this, it's an important theological distinction. We're not praying to receive the Holy Spirit, he's already there. We're praying for the Holy Spirit to manifest himself in our lives. The Holy Spirit's been there ever since you were born again. But how many days has he been in control? How many moments has he, have you looked at your life and said, that wasn't me. That was the Holy Spirit. And so we pray and say, God, I wanna see you today. The world needs to see the Holy Spirit today, not me. My wife needs a spirit-filled Paul Chapman, not a fleshly Paul Chapman. Curtis Corner Baptist Church needs a spirit-filled pastor, not a fleshly pastor. And so we begin to pray, oh God, fill us with your spirit, give us your power. And the Bible says, just as a father knows how to give good gifts to his children, Your heavenly father shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him on this in this pursuit of power. We pray daily for the Holy Spirit to fill us. When I was a young man, I would write down on little orange pieces of paper, pray for power. Pray for power, and I'd put them in my room. I put them by the speedometer in my car. I put them by the mirror where I got dressed. Pray for power. Pray for power. And every day, God's people should pray. that they're empty of themselves and filled with Him and that God would manifest His supernatural power to us and the world around us. Beg Him repeatedly to manifest His power through you. Don't settle for a fleshly life. Cry out in desperation to be filled with the Spirit. I said, number one, seeking. Number two, surrender. Number three, supplication. Number four, Scripture. Look at Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, we're talking about the pursuit of power. Luke chapter 4, look at verse 32. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with what? power. So if you're in pursuit of power, you have to understand that this word, God's word is power. It's powerful. And the more of this you use in your life, the more power you will have with God and man. As we go on and study the Bible, we find out that the Spirit of God and the Word of God are inseparable. Romans 1.16 says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That means the more we speak the gospel, the more power we will have. The Bible goes on to remind us that the word of God and the Holy Spirit are linked to have more of one is to have more of the other. If I am filled with scripture, then I can be filled with the spirit. If I am filled with the spirit, then I will have the scripture. Acts 1044 says, whilst Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. The Holy Spirit and the word of God. Ephesians 617 and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Oh, do you see, dear friend, that the more of this book you have in you. Then the less of you and the more of him. As you study this list, you'll notice the things we talk about all the time. Well, you should pray every day. You should read your Bible every day, you should memorize scripture, you should surrender to God every day. But the scripture is linked. I'll say this, if you don't read the scripture, you don't have any hope of being filled with the spirit. You want to get filled with the Spirit? Start consuming this book. The first time I was ever filled with the Spirit, I'm not talking about speaking in tongues and all this stuff. I'm talking about I was in my bedroom, probably a 17-year-old boy. I'd gotten called to preach. I'd gotten right with God. I'd given God everything. I would spend so much time down in my room. I wouldn't watch TV. I wouldn't play games. I'd go down in my room in the evenings, and I'd spend time praying and reading the Bible. Studying the Bible and man one night the Bible got a hold of me. I had so much joy I couldn't hardly stand it. I was more filled with God in that moment than I'd ever been in my entire life. Man, I started preaching to the desk. I started preaching to my waterbed. My parents had gotten tired of the old-fashioned waterbeds where you touch it like the tsunami wave kind of goes. Well, they got tired of it and gave it to me. And I'm preaching to the waterbed. I'm preaching to the desk. I'm hooting and hollering and singing. I was more filled with God than I'd ever been in my entire life. But it's not just a power to enjoy, it's a power to use. Is it any wonder that I started seeing people saved as a 17-year-old boy? That I started getting opportunities to preach? That I started having a bigger influence in the youth group and in my family? Oh, the Holy Spirit changes things. But it's connected to the Scripture. Number four is the scripture, number five, step in pursuit of power, sanctification. Sanctification, look at Second Timothy. Second Timothy, chapter two. I'll give you these last ones more quickly. Second Timothy chapter two, some verses that changed my life as a young man. Verses 19 through 21. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Think about that. The very foundation of God is that I know who are mine. I know who's saved and who's not. and that my people depart from sin. People say, oh, that's separations, legalism. No, it's the very foundation of God. It's the seal by which people know that we're His. We'll go on and read in verse 20, but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, the contest speaking of sins, He shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meat for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. So how many of you have a set of dishes at home that's the good china or the good dishes? And those, my grandma had a set that they only came out whenever the company was over or for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We never really had that. They were all breakable, you know, to the children. But boy, you wouldn't just go in there and grab those vessels into honor, you'd grab the everyday cups, the everyday plates. But let me tell you, I don't care if it was one of the nice pieces of china or one of the everyday cups or plates, if you ever pull something out of the cupboard and you go to put some water in it and you look in it, it's like, ugh, what happened? Somebody missed this cleaning? The other day I went to get something out of the dishwasher and I knew it was clean, but the cup had gotten covered by a bowl or something, you know how it goes, and I went to pull it out, it's like, ugh, You don't just go and go ahead and fill it up and drink all that stuff. Now, you know what you do? You set it to the side and get a clean one or you clean it. See, the Bible compares all of us to vessels, some to honor, some to dishonor. But the thing is, we all need to be clean. If we want God to use us, we need to be clean. God's not going to pull us out of the cupboard to use us in some spiritual service and Boy, that chapman's got some sin in him there. Eh, it's all right. No. And dear friend, you and I must choose to live a separated life. If we want to be used of God, if we want to have the power of God, if we want to have the fullness of the Spirit, we must choose a clean life. What's the Holy Spirit's name? The Holy Spirit. That's not just his first name. It reminds us that he's holy. And the Holy Spirit will not fill a dirty vessel. So we must look in our lives and say, well, is there anything in my life, Lord, that's displeasing? Do you clean that up and then God can fill us? Another important fact, look at Proverbs chapter one. This is a verse I have to show you. Proverbs chapter one. Sometimes we have things in our life and the Holy Spirit will come in our life through a message or through just our daily walk, and the Holy Spirit will say, I don't like that, clean that up or get that out. Start that, stop that. Proverbs chapter one gives two scenarios, one where you listen and one where you don't. But look at Proverbs chapter one, verse 23. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. Here's the thought. We're filled with the spirit or we're seeking the spirit of God. We're in tune to the voice of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit through the course of our day says, don't do that. If we listen and respond to the correction. He gives us more of his spirit, more of his wisdom. If we don't listen, then we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit, and we begin to lose out on His benefits in us. One of the best things a Christian can do is be quick to respond to the reproof of the Holy Spirit. Do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that. Yes, sir, and obey. I'll give you these last ones quickly. Matthew 17, 21, how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Number six path in pursuit of power is starvation. I wanted an S here to complete my outline, but it's fitting. Starvation speaks of fasting. Fasting is important step starving yourself from the normal pleasures of life Sets us apart from this world and allows us to be in tune with the spiritual Sometimes we don't understand how much just this daily living Interferes between us and the Lord, but I'll tell you what you miss a meal skip a meal You'll start to feel how strongly that of a hold that has over you don't eat for a day You're feeling it Don't go to sleep at night and pray. Don't eat. You begin to feel the weakness of this flesh very, very quickly. And then you begin to separate and you can see, wow, my flesh is so weak. And it becomes clear what is flesh and what is spirit. And as we fast and pray, When we fast, we chastise the flesh and we become less and less filled with our flesh. We begin to tame our fleshly desires as we tell ourselves no, and then the Holy Spirit can move in as we are more and more yielded unto him. There's no substitute for prayer and fasting in the pursuit of power and the fullness of the Holy Ghost. Number seven, suffering. Look at Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. There is suffering in the path to power because life is full of suffering. Look, chapter four. Verse one, and Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by who? The spirit into the wilderness. So this was an appointment made by God. Jesus had to be tested. Satan promised Jesus a lot of things, but if you notice one thing that Satan promised, the Lord was a shortcut to power. Look at verse six. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee in the glory of them for that is delivered unto me to whomsoever I will, I give it. So when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, their dominion was passed from them or stolen from them. And it's upon Satan for a while. And at this moment, he is the god of this world. He does have some authority in this world. But of course, ultimate authority is with God. And the devil said, I will give you this limited authority if you'll bow yourself to me. But the Lord, of course, already had all power. He just had to wait in God's time. Satan always comes and promises us shortcuts. But there is no shortcut to God's power and blessing. Look at verse 14. And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee. See, so what happened? Jesus went through testing and temptation. He was promised a shortcut to power, but he said, no, I'm going to obey God to use the scripture. And he returned out of that testing with more power. In verse one, he had power being full of the Holy Ghost. After testing, he had more power, and I submit this to you, that every time we endure temptation. And suffering. We earn the right to more of God's power, think of it from God's point of view, if I'm going to give you my power, I have to know you're not going to misuse it. If I have to give you my power, I have to know that you're not going to do great works for me and then get yourself in trouble. And then Satan's going to make you fall. We all know stories of men of God who were greatly used, who were spirit filled, that in a moment of temptation or perhaps a course of letting their guard down over time, they fell and became a great reason for the enemies of God to blaspheme. God says, before I give you my power, Dad, I need to know you're not going to lose your temper and use my power to hurt your children and your wife. Before I give you my power, sir, I have to know that you're not going to chase the next skirt that walks by or turn to that nasty website the next chance you get. Man, before I give you my power, I have to know that you're going to control this tongue because gossip's bad, but spirit-filled gossip is deadly. And those who are given a measure of God's spirit, it's a trust. And God says, I will give it to you. But I have to be able to trust you with it. So think about this the next time temptation comes, it'd be so easy to give in. So, you know, I want to go through this because I need more of God. I need more of God's power, more of God's blessing. So much we could say about that. Let me give you this last one. Service, the eighth step in the pursuit of power and the fullness of the spirit is service. What is a parent's first question when a child asks for money? What are you going to do with it? Dad, can I have 20 bucks? What are you going to do with it? I'll buy 20 bucks worth of Twizzlers. No. How about $20 worth of nerds at the dollar store? Uh, no. Can I have 20 bucks, Dad? What are you gonna do with it? I wanna put it on the offering plate for the missionary. Yes, you can have 20 bucks. I'm glad you didn't ask for 50 when you're pulling it out. See, it matters what they're gonna do with it. And I think when we are praying for power and we're praying for the Holy Spirit, the Lord's first question is, what are you gonna do with it? I wanna have power so I can be famous. I want to have power so I can have people think well of me. No. I want to have power so I can be mighty indeed. No, no, no, no. But God will always give his power for service. If you're going to use his power to serve him and bring him glory and accomplish his purposes, God is very generous with his power. If you're going to use it selfishly, he's very stingy with it. Think about this, a desire to honor God by fulfilling your role, father, mother, parent, child, church member, minister. God says, I'll give you my power for that. If you want to be like Jesus, I'll give you my power for that. Think about the spiritual service that God gives you power. I got verses for all these, but we won't take time to go over them. Preaching, 1 Corinthians 1.18, 1 Corinthians 2, 4, and 5. You wanna preach the word of God? God says, I'll give you my power. What about winning souls? Acts 1.8, Matthew 28, 18 through 20. You wanna win souls? You wanna tell people about Jesus? You wanna disciple people in my name? I'll give you my power. 1 Corinthians 1.24, you wanna strive to be like Christ? I'll give you my power. I'll give you my power for that. Don't make this mistake, Christian, when you say, I won't do this fill in the blank for God. What you're saying is, I don't want any more of your power. But every time you get out of your comfort zone, every time you stretch yourself, For the glory of God, you give God a reason to give you more strength and power. When's the last time you attempted something for God that needed a miracle? When's the last time you attempted something for God that if God didn't do it, you'd look like a fool? If God didn't come through, you'd just look like a fool. See, we don't want to get out in the the edge of the limb, but it's the edge of the limb where God says, I'll make up the difference. Whenever you say you can't. How about you say instead of saying, no, I can't. How about you say, yes, sir, you're going to have to make up the difference and then jump off the cliff and see if he can. Give you those wings as equals. Now let's get practical. I know I've gone a little bit long. Let me give you a thought here. And we'll be done. How do we get to this place of surrender this place of stillness this place of calmness. I went through a little bit of this on Wednesday. I want each one of you to put your Bibles down. Put your Bibles down. I want you to work on. Just kind of calming your heart, stealing your mind. The Bible says in Psalm 4610, be still and know that I am God. So that means that if we we know who God is most and best when we're still. I don't think that just means that that's not talking about activity with your hands. I think it's talking about your heart and mind. You have to learn how to calm your heart and mind. Shut off the noise so you can sense God. We talked about this a little bit whenever we, on Wednesday night we talked about how to discern the voice of God. But I want you to, now some of you are gonna appreciate this, some of you it's gonna go over your heads, it's not new age mumbo jumbo, it's just a way, a technique for you to calm your heart and get your mind in a place where you can really surrender and submit. So I want everybody to close your eyes. Close your eyes where you're at, kind of sit comfortably, and I want you to take in a deep breath. I want you to feel the air go deep into your lungs as your diaphragm expands, your stomach comes out, all that air comes in, then all the air comes back. I want us to do that a couple times. I want you to count to four when the air is going in, and I want you to count to four as the air is going out, and I'll help you. And as you're doing this, I want you just to focus on your breath. I want you to focus the tension, feel the tension draining from your shoulders as you do this. So everybody breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4 really deep and then breathe out 1, 2, 3, 4. Now do it again. Breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4. Breathe out one, two, three, four. I want you to keep breathing, not as deeply, but just on purpose, kind of medium deep breaths. Science tells us that anytime we take three deep breaths like that, it actually changes our biochemistry in our body. Our body responds physically, and our mind and heart also respond as we begin to relax. As you're breathing purposefully, I want you to move your attention to your mind. I want you to take all that noise and craziness in your mind. I want you to picture the front of your forehead as if it were a movie screen and all of your thoughts just kind of racing by. Picture them as clouds in a blue sky. Each thought represents a cloud. I've got to take out the trash. I've got to do the laundry. I've got to do this for work tomorrow. Picture those thoughts going across the movie screen, but almost detached, where you're watching them go by, but you're not thinking about any one of them. And I want you to watch them go by slower and slower and slower. The noise in your mind begins to stop. Taking deep breaths, avoid the noise in your minds, begin to slow down. Your thoughts are moving more slowly. You could choose to grab on to any thought and think about it, but you're just letting them all pass by. I want you to keep breathing and now move your thoughts to your body. I want you to feel your arms and your legs and your feet. Clench your hands and tighten your muscles and then let them go. You're aware of your body. But then I want you to move. a little bit further into your soul. I want you to put your thoughts on your soul. Keep breathing. Your soul is where your thoughts, your will, and your emotions live. I want you to thank God that you can think and feel and know. Thank God for your soul. Thank him that it'll live forever. Now give God your soul. It already belongs to him if you say, but give it to him. Give him your thoughts. Give him your feelings. Give him your mind and your heart. Give him all your desires. Surrender your very soul to Christ. Ask him to fill you with the mind of Christ. Ask him to help you think like he thinks and feel like he feels. I want your mind to go even deeper inside of you and think about the spirit that's within you. This is your connection to God. You feel close to God here. God's not a million miles away. He's right here. Here in your spirit, you're free from the layers of noise in the world around you. In this place, you can sense God, you can hear him, you can know him. Now, inside of your spirit, I want you to think and put your mind one step deeper, because inside your spirit resides the Holy Spirit. You can sense his presence within you. You know he's there. He is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He's the fullness of God within you. He is all power and all wisdom there to assist you through this life now with your mind right here. With your mind thinking and focused on the Holy Spirit. I want you to yield to him. I want you to tell him you're sorry for hurting him. Tell him you're sorry for being stubborn and not listening. Ask him to forgive you for quenching him and grieving him. Tell him that you want him to be in control. Ask him to fill you. Ask him to fill each part of your mind, your heart, your soul, your spirit. Ask him to lead you and guide you. Tell him when he directs you or corrects you, you'll listen. You want him to be in control. You're taking your hands off the wheel. You're asking him. To take control. I'll take a deep breath. I want you to thank God for saving you. Thank God for giving you the gift of the Holy Spirit. and ask God to help you live in the fullness of the Spirit and the power. And I want you to look at me. For some of you, that may not have helped you at all. You're like, what in the world was that? That was weird. For some of you, you're like, that's probably closer than I've ever been to really sensing God in me. And for some of you, You might be like. Wow. That's what I need. I'm telling you, every day yielding to the Holy Spirit is more than just saying, Holy Spirit, fill me. Holy Spirit, fill me. And then you get up and go about your day. It's you striving to connect with God, you shutting down your mind and your heart, your will, your desires, seeking to connect with God and honestly and earnestly saying, I belong to you. I don't want to be in control. I don't want to be the boss. I want you to fill me. And you get up off your knees and live like he's in control. And I'll tell you what, it'll change you. If you're not there yet, then just start doing these things, start taking these steps. But every day, if you strive to do those things, you'll be amazed at what power is available to you. Father, thank you for the truth. I pray that you'd bless us. I know we took some extra time. I pray the people would feel that it was worth it and meaningful. I've been dragging my feet preaching this message all year because I feel so unworthy. But Lord, I set those things aside and I just trust you to. Use the word. To help someone here. Help us to start that journey, that path of dwelling in the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Let's stand as a piano plays. The altar is open. We won't tarry if you want to come to the altar. Move quickly. We'll give you a few minutes at the altar.