This morning, chapter number 14, the Gospel of John, chapter number 14. You know, when I think about men and women, they're different. We all understand that in other ways than just looks. And so they're different. They think that we think different and look at things differently. You know how men are. If something's not working, you know, we're trying to figure out why. Isn't that right? I mean, we're tearing it apart. We're looking and seeing, you know, because there's got to be something really bad wrong. If it's not, we're trying to tear it apart and figure out where something's messed up or torn up or whatever. You know, women are so simple sometimes in this regard. And your wife will walk up and say, well, honey, is it plugged in? I don't even know my pain. You know, I mean, it's just, the apparatus isn't working. You're trying to figure out what it is, and she wants to come in and bring up something like, is it plugged into the power source, you know? And usually you go to the end of the plug, and guess what? It's not plugged into the power source, and it fixes it, you know? And, you know, it's sort of embarrassing. You don't want to tell anybody about that, and I'm sure that there was actually something more wrong inside, but you fixed it, and then when you plugged in, it went working. Isn't that right? I mean, we got a safe face, fellas. You know, I believe much of the failure and the frustration in the Christian life can be traced to one central truth. You say, Preacher, what is it? It's called power failure. We lack the power to be and do what God wants us to be and do. I'm convinced of that. I hear people say this, well, I know that the Lord gives us life more abundant, but I'm not living abundantly. I know that the fruit of the Spirit is joy, but I'm not very joyful. I know, preacher, you tell me that I'm not fighting for victory but from victory, that victory is already mine, but preacher, I'm just going to be honest with you, I don't feel very victorious. in my life, and I believe that the reason for that is because of power failure. We are trying to live a Christian life in our own strength and our own power. We had a wonderful revival meeting. We saw people come to know Christ as Savior. Lives were changed. Altars were filled. The decisions were made. But you know what? One of the dangers of revival is that once we get into the momentum and we're on the mountaintop, and we begin to come off of the mountain that the blessings of revival and the joy and the victory and all of the decisions that's been made and all of the things we're going to be and how life's going to be different, it's not long that we get back into the routine of life and those things begin to fade, isn't it? And we lose the luster, we lose the power, we lose the joy of all of that. And I believe the reason is we're trying to live the Christian life in our own strength, our own power, and we lack the power in and of ourselves to live life successfully for God. You see, listen, the day God saved you, He gave you a supernatural Hey, the Bible calls it being born again or born from above. Friend, listen, every person has a physical birth. We're born one time spiritually into this world. But can I tell you, there is another birth every person needs to experience. It is a spiritual birth. It's the second birth. They need to be born again and saved by the grace of God. Amen? But listen, with that new birth comes a new kind of life, alright? It is a supernatural birth that leads to a supernatural life, and therefore a supernatural life demands a supernatural power, and God wants you to have power for life. God wants you to have power for life and for living life successfully for Him in your marriage, your family, out in the workplace, in the world. I'm just here to tell you, friend, this thing called Bible Christianity doesn't just work at church, friend, it works out there too. Amen? It works down at the schoolhouse, out on the job, down at the Little League ballpark. Hey, I'm telling you that we need power for life and God wants to empower your life. You see, I believe that before you can experience God's power in your life, you have to know the power source. And the power source for the Christian life is none other than the Holy Spirit of God. Because I believe that empowered living is Spirit-filled living. And success or failure in the Christian life has to do with our relationship to the Spirit of God. Now I want you to look in your Bibles, John chapter number 14. Look there if you would. You should have found your place by now. And I want you to look, if you would please, John chapter 14 and verse number 16. Notice here, the Lord is getting ready to go back to heaven and He's talking to His disciples. It's the eve of the crucifixion. He says, and I will pray the Father. He's interceding and He's praying to the Father in their behalf. He said, and I will pray the Father. He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever. Men, I'm going away. I'm going back to the Father. But I'm going to pray that God gives you another Comforter or somebody just like me, and He's not going to leave you. He's going to be with you forever. Now notice verse 17. Even – here's who He is – even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you – and watch these next words – and shall be in you." May I say, dear friend, that here we find the power source for successful Christian living. I believe there's a lot of confusion about what it means to be filled with the Spirit of God, of living life in the Spirit. And the truth is most Christians know very little concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit. George Whitefield said the Holy Spirit is the least known, least loved, least worshipped member of the Trinity. And today we want to learn and know the power source for empowered living. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the good spirit and the service, the music. Thank you for your word. Father, I thank you. for your son and his salvation. But Lord, I also right now want to thank you for the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit who indwells my heart, who's been my comforter, my guide, my helper, my strengthener, my enabler these many years. Lord, there's times that you've never left me. The Holy Spirit hasn't left me, but I sure have at times been disconnected from His power in my life. And I pray that this Sunday and next Sunday we'll learn something about being plugged in and, Lord, having His power at work in our lives and living spirit-filled lives as believers, that we might have power for life. And, Father, I'll thank You and praise You for what You do for us and in us and through us this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. God wants you to have power for life. Can I tell you, the Holy Spirit has everything you lack. He does. Can I tell you that He wants to empower us and enable us to live life successfully for Him. But before we can ever get plugged into the power source, we need to know the power source. We need to understand the work of the Holy Spirit, who He is and how He works in our lives. as the children of God. I believe that revival is not something that is abnormal, okay, in the Christian life. Now, we treat it that way because most of the time we don't live in power, we don't live in victory, we don't live in all the things that revival brings, okay? I believe that revival is normal Christian living. That's what revival is. It is a return to normal. Listen, to live without power and in defeat is abnormal in the Christian life. That's not normal. But now watch this. You and I, as believers, sometimes live so often in defeat, we live so often in frustration, that we believe that defeat and frustration and failure in the Christian life is the norm, when in reality, that's to be the abnormal, okay? That's to be the exception and not the rule. Because you and I are to live every day of our lives in the power of The Spirit, a living God. Amen? Hey, as a mother, you need the Spirit of God to be a godly mother. You say, Preacher, I need patience with my children. Do you know that the fruit of the Spirit is long-suffering? It's patience. You say, Preacher, I need kindness. I just need to work. I'm a grouch. Can I tell you the Holy Spirit's kind and His fruit is kindness in your life. Gentleness, meekness, temperance, love, joy. Everything you and I need in the Christian life, the Holy Spirit has. The problem is we're not letting Him turn the power loose in our lives. I want you to notice several thoughts this morning. Number one, I want you to understand something about His person. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is a person. Notice the Lord Jesus speaks of Him in terms of personality. He's not some impersonal force. He's not an influence. Notice the Bible says, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He, not an it, that He may abide with you forever. Hey, the Holy Spirit is not some force or some power emanating from God. Hey, the Holy Spirit has force. He has power. He has influence. But He is a person. And you and I need to know the Spirit of God, just like we know the Son of God and God the Father. We need to know Him. We need to understand who He is and how He works in our lives. And He's not an it, but a Him. He's not something, but someone. The Holy Spirit is just as much a person as God the Father and God the Son are persons. Matthew 28, 19, the Bible says that we are to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Not names plural, but names singular. It denotes unity and equality. It reminds us that there is one God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Spirit. He is the great three-in-one. a triune God, Isaiah, when Isaiah 6 through, he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he heard the seraphim crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. I believe he sang, holy is the Father, and holy is the Son, and holy is the Spirit. Listen, the Holy Spirit is co-equal and co-eternal and co-existent with both the Father and the Son. And He's not just a person, but I'm here to tell you He is a divine person. He is as much God as God the Son is and God the Father is. And let me tell you something, dear child of God, it will revolutionize your life when you understand today you got saved. God lives in you. He lives in you. You realize God goes everywhere I go? You say, I know, preacher, He's with us always. Oh, no, no, no, no. You need to change your thought pattern. He's not just with you. He is in you. He's in you. And you know what? Whether that threatens or thrills us determines how we live. You know, I can subject God to things that grieve Him, and we're going to talk about that in a minute, because we're going to talk about power failure in the Christian life. But He sees where I go. You say, Preacher, I know God's looking down from heaven. He sees everything. Oh no, friend, He's inside. That means when we're in that place, we'll not be guessing who's there inside of us. We're saved. God is. When we're watching or looking at that, if you're watching or looking at something that you shouldn't be on television or on the internet, guess who's inside of you? Guess who's there? God is. God's inside of us. That's why He'd say, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. Peter said to Ananias, he said, why is Satan's feline heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. You see, for him to lie to the Holy Ghost was to lie to God, because the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. And we need to always remember the Holy Spirit of God is a person who lives within us. And you'll find His nature, His names throughout the Word of God. But remember, God is in you. Because that brings us number two to His presence. His presence. The Holy Spirit is present in the life of every Christian. Look if you went down at verse number 17, alright? He said, Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, say it with me, church, and shall be, here we go, in you. He's in you. There are only two kinds of people on planet earth. You say, now wait a minute, Preacher, there's all kinds of different races of people. There's only two kinds of people. There are those who have the Holy Spirit, and those who don't. That's it. Only two kinds of people. You either have the Holy Spirit, or you don't have the Holy Spirit. If you are saved today... Listen, Romans 8 and 9 says, Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You ever heard somebody say, you know, I'm saved, but I've got to get the Holy Spirit. And there's churches that teach that you get saved, but receiving the Holy Spirit is a whole separate experience. You know, you get saved today, but then they have this service or whatever where you're there begging and pleading and asking God and wanting and doing whatever to get the Holy Spirit. Now, there's two problems with that. Now, watch this. Either this person is genuinely saved and confused, because the Bible says if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he's not of His, or he's not saved. Because either you have the Holy Spirit or you don't have the Holy Spirit, and if you're saved, you have the Spirit. He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. Now, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit dwelt with men. That's why the Lord is talking about a change that's getting ready to take place. In the Old Testament, and you need to understand that John 14 is still, economy-wise, under the Old Testament. We've not actually moved into New Testament living yet. That doesn't take place until after the cross. Alright? So, in the Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit would dwell with men. That means He would come upon them. He would empower them. But He did not indwell them. All right? And so you're going to find that he would come upon Samson. He came upon David. That's why David would pray in Psalm 51, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. That's not a prayer that we ought to pray today. Listen, when I sin as a Christian, the Holy Spirit doesn't leave me. I don't need to pray, God, don't take your Holy Spirit, because He's already promised He's going to be with me forever. So we find the Holy Spirit came first to indwell believers in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost. And from that moment forward, when a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit comes into them. That means the moment – listen to me, you Christian – maybe you've only been saved for just weeks, maybe months, maybe a short period of time. The moment you said yes to Jesus Christ, the moment that you trusted Him as Savior, friend, the power source came to live inside of you. Hey, we've got a built-in, supernatural, spiritually charged power grid inside of us. You find where I'm coming from? We have His power in us because we have the Person of Power, the Holy Spirit. And so the moment you trusted Him, He came in. You received Him. He indwelt you. He took up residence in your heart. You're sitting here saying, Preacher, I've been saved for years. I know that. But you know what? We've got new Christians sitting here having been saved for years and they don't know that. And you know what the sad part is? We've been saved for years and we take for granted we've gotten over that. And that's the danger. It's old hat and we've lost sight of the fact that God lives inside us and we're living defeated and we're living mediocre Christian lives when God said, hey, there is a power source inside of you for you to live above mediocrity and a life of victory in the Christian life. That's what He's saying. Let me just look at a couple of passages real quick together. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Would you turn there? I was praying, I said, Lord, you know, one of the toughest, some of the toughest preaching you do is right after revival meeting, because you feel there's nothing left to preach. In a week, the evangelist takes you pretty much from Genesis to Revelation. We did that in one service on Wednesday night just about, dealing with the prophecy message. And so you're asking yourself, where do we go from here? And I got to thinking, Lord, what is the message that would help our people carry on revival, and it comes back to having the power source, understanding His presence and His power in our lives? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3, find verse number 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth where, church? In you. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter number 6. Let's look at this passage. Verse number 19. Paul's incredulous. You know, he's just dealt with a whole passage on spiritual purity and living pure as believers. And I'll tell you something, we live in one of the most impure societies in our day. Did you know that? We do. I mean, friend, listen, there is wickedness. You can't drive down 52 without having to turn your head at billboards. It's everywhere. On television. I mean, you can't even hardly watch an advertisement anymore. You know, you can't. I mean, it's just everywhere. Just immorality and impurity and temptation on every hand. But you know what? Do you know the disciples lived in a society like that? They lived in a vile and wicked society. And you know what? Paul begins to say, hey, you can live pure in an impure world. That's what he's saying. And we can. And notice what he says, verse 19. He's incredulous. They don't understand this. What? What? No, you're not. Do you not understand that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own? Now listen, Christian, out beside that word temple, put holy of holies. Holy of holies. Do you realize that your heart is the holy of holies? In the Old Testament, there was a tabernacle, and later there was a temple. And you would go through a door, all right? And as you go in that door, you would enter into a compartment called the Holy Place. And that's where the priests ministered, okay? But there was a veil that hung there. It was a very thick veil. And it separated the Holy Place, which is a larger place, from a cubicle. All right? It was four square, it was a cubicle, and behind that veil was an ark with a lid on top of it called Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat. And right there was the throne of God on earth. And that veil, that room, the Holy of Holies, every Jew understood that was the dwelling place of God on earth. And they came there to meet with God. Now watch this, all right? When Jesus died and rose again and said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, God changed the dwelling place. No longer is the dwelling place inside of that compartment called the Holy of Holies. The dwelling place, the Holy of Holies became your heart. It became your body. By the way, that's why we ought to live pure. Wouldn't you think that that sanctuary would be a pure and a holy place? Sure we would. So therefore, wouldn't you think that the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in our day ought to be a clean and holy place? Now watch this, alright? We talk about coming to church and meeting with God, don't we? Sure. And that's what we want to do. But understand something. The reason we can meet with God on Monday as good as we can on Sunday is because He comes with us. So when I come, God comes. Listen, young people. It's not that God's hanging around in church all week waiting on us to get back. He's not hovering around somewhere in the baptistry waiting on everybody to gather and come back here to meet with Him. No, no. When we come, guess what? He comes with us. Because He's inside of us. When you go, guess who goes with you? God. Because He's in you. And therefore, He enables you and empowers you. Now, receiving the Holy Spirit is not some kind of second blessing you get when you get saved, like salvation is the first blessing and then sometime later you get the Holy Spirit, you get a second blessing. No, when you get saved you get the total package. Aren't you glad that God didn't just limit it to two blessings, I mean to one blessing? Aren't you glad that we get blessed again and again and again and again as children of God? He doesn't limit us just to. Christian, your body is the dwelling place of God on earth. 2 Timothy 1.14, that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. And that word dwell means to occupy or live in a house. You are the house the Holy Spirit lives in. God lives inside of you in the person of the Holy Spirit and never lose sight of that truth. I want you to look at another passage with me. Turn to Ephesians chapter number 3. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter number 3. Ephesians chapter 3, find if you would please verse number 17. Notice what the Bible says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. that you, being rooted and ground in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ as passage of knowledge." Now, I want you to understand verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts. You say, now wait a minute, preacher. I thought you told me that He already dwelt in my heart through the person of the Holy Spirit. He does. Alright? But this word dwells a different word. It doesn't mean just to occupy. It doesn't mean just to be resident. It means to be at home. That's what it means. Right out beside that word dwell, be at home. All right, now let me give you an illustration, okay? All right, how many of us, is everybody with me this morning? How many of us would say, all right, as we're here, that you're at home on the first night of vacation in a motel room? How many of you are at home? I don't know about you, but I don't sleep good, my back hurts. You know, it's not home, right? And you know what? You're glad to be away from home, but you know what? It's not home. You know why? It's a motel room. You toss, you turn, you get up, your back hurts the next morning, you never really get comfortable. You know what I'm saying? And stuff like that. Guess what? Sometimes our heart is like a motel room for the Holy Spirit. He's not at home. He's not comfortable. Does that make sense? He's not at home. You know what? When I get home, Nathaniel, I don't know how you are, but when I get home, I know you've been having to do some traveling, and you hate it too. And when you get home, there's something about when you lay down in your bed. You sit down in your easy chair. Listen, have you ever noticed that whoever makes hospital and motel furniture doesn't understand anything about comfort? How many of you would agree with me on that? I don't know anything about it. I hope we don't have anybody here that designs that. I don't want to hurt your feelings. But it's not comfortable, okay? It's just not. Alright? But you get home and you're in your chair. Boy, it hugs you. How many of you like your chair to hug you? I like my chair to hug me when I say that. I like my wife to hug me when I get home. And I like for my chair to hug me when I get home. OK? I like for my bed to hug me. OK? I do. I want it to hug me. I want to be at home. OK? Let me tell you something. Listen to me. Young person, adult, the Holy Spirit wants to be at home in your heart. He wants to be comfortable there. And there are things that make Him uncomfortable. It's not the furnishings of the heart. That's what's in there with him. Which brings me to the third point I want to give you this morning, and that's his position in your life. The Holy Spirit is to have first place in your life. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Would you turn to Ephesians chapter 5? He's not just to be resident in your life. He's to be present over your life. He's not just to occupy a prominent place. He's the preeminent place. You see, the Holy Spirit may not always have the preeminent position in your life that He ought to have, and that's where the problem comes in. There's where we have power failure. That's where the power grid goes out, so to speak, in our lives. Notice what He says, Ephesians 5, 18, And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess. I'll be preaching, not this Wednesday night, but Lord willing, next Wednesday night on alcohol in the Bible. I'm going to talk about this thing. A lot of folks say, well, it's okay to drink as long as you don't get drunk. Notice what Ephesians, be not drunk with wine. It didn't say you couldn't drink it, it just said don't get drunk with it. I'm going to talk to you about it. Does the Bible really teach total lack? I'm going to talk about that on Wednesday nights from tonight. And so you ought to be there in our wise up to alcohol as we're going to be preaching out of Proverbs. And that's just a commercial, okay? We're going to get back to the passage now. And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now, every one of us know this verse. Let me ask you a question. Do you live this verse? See, there's a difference. Spirit-filled living is a matter of being in control. The word filled here is not the idea of filling up a glass. It's not like, okay, I've got a third of a glass of Pepsi or I drink Diet Pepsi, caffeine-free. So, a third of a glass. or a quarter of a glass, or a half a glass, or two-thirds of a glass, or all the way full, or you know, when it sort of fizzes and can go all the way over the top and everything. That's not the idea of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, that word filled means to be controlled by. Just like a person who is drunk with wine, that's the contrast of the comparison here, just as the person who is drunk with wine, I'll talk more about this in the next message, It is controlled by that. It affects his speech. It affects his eyesight. It affects his equilibrium. It affects everything, his emotions and everything about him, just as alcohol controls a person when they're drunk with it. So God said, I want you to be controlled by the Spirit of God. Isn't it interesting in Acts chapter number 2? when the disciples received the Holy Spirit and were filled with the Holy Ghost, that they were accused by the world around them as being drunk with wine. That didn't mean as being crazy. It didn't mean they were being foolish. It didn't mean any of that. But their life was so under the control of God, they recognized that something else was in control of them. Let me tell you what, somebody, listen to me, this is the crux of the message. You want revival to continue in your life? You want to have victory rather than failure? You want to know God's best for your life? You want to be the person that God wants you to be? Here's the question. Who's in control? Because somebody is in control of your life right now, either you or God. And there's no in between. So who's in control? It's not, do you have all of the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have all of you? Are you right now filled with the Holy Spirit? So often we'll ask this question, I'll say, are you right now filled with the Holy Spirit? And probably what comes to our mind is, I hope I am, I think I am, I'd like to be, I want to be. But you know what the normal Christian life is? Yes, I am right now filled with the Spirit of God. So I ask you the question, are you right now filled? I didn't ask if you had Him, because if you're saved, you already got Him. The question is, are you filled by Him? Are you controlled by Him? Is He at home in your heart? Are you experiencing the victory and the power that only He can give because the Spirit of God is in charge in your life? Let me tell you something, it's not a feeling. It's not that I wake up in the morning and the Holy Spirit gives me a jolt and I jump out of bed and jump out to face the world. That's not what He's talking about. No, no, no, no. It's living a life of yieldingness to God so that He can work in me and through me His purpose. And I'm going to talk to you about two areas where you can have power. What will bring power? You know what? When this last ice storm came through, you know what everybody's praying for? Lord, if we're going to get something, let it be snow. Don't let it be freezing rain. You know why? Because nobody here wanted a power outage. How many of you had a power outage this last little ice go? Brother Badgett, out of everybody here, only one person had a power outage? Two? Two people? Three people? Had a power outage? Four? Alright, four, five, six? Okay. Five, six folks had a power outage, okay? Something cut the power line that stopped the flow of energy to where you were staying and you had a power outage. Now, I'm going to tell you something. Let me ask you a question. Do you have a power outage? Do you know that there are things that can cut the power source, so to speak, and bring power outage and power failure to our lives? You know, every time you're going down the road and you have road rage, you just had a power outage. You know, every time you spat with your wife, sir, ma'am, you spat with your husband, you had a power outage. You did. You had a power outage. Every time you responded wrong to life, you had a power outage. Does that make it more real? Let me give you two ways you can have power. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30. See, here's the key to perpetual revival. Ephesians chapter number 4 and look at verse 30. It should just be one block to the left and you're going to find verse 30, one chapter. Alright? And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed in the day of redemption. Grieving the Spirit of God will bring power failure in your life. That word grieve means to cause pain. It's a love word. Because you can't hurt or pain somebody that doesn't love you. You might make them mad, but you're not going to grieve them. Do you realize it's possible to live in such a way as to grieve the Holy Spirit or cause Him pain? Do you realize you can pain the heart of God? I'm going to be preaching a series of messages here real soon. I'm working on them right now and already laying them out. I'm going to be preaching on the faces of Jesus in the Scriptures. I want to talk about the different faces of Jesus and what people saw. And you know what? You're going to find one Christian saw a disappointed face. You know why? Because they pained the heart of God. And I wonder how many times that God wanted so much more for our lives and from our lives, but we disappointed Him. And we grieved the Spirit of God and we caused Him pain. And you know what? We need to live. When was the last time you started your day by asking God to help you not grieve the Holy Spirit? To avoid that which caused Him pain. I want to show you some things that will grieve the Spirit of God. Let me tell you something. Number one, sin. Sin will grieve. It will bring a power outage in your life quicker than anything else. Unconfessed sin grieves the Holy Spirit. Too often we're comfortable with that, which makes Him uncomfortable. And therefore, it grieves Him. When we allow sin to go undone within our lives, you know what? It grieves the Spirit of God. It brings about a power failure. And then we fail to be the person that God wants us to be. Now, here's what's interesting. Do you realize that sometimes sin can lay dormant in our lives and we don't even know it's there? I'll give you an illustration of this. I was asking the Lord to prepare my heart for revival meeting. On Friday before revival meeting, I was troubled in my spirit. I left my office, and I went to the conference room, and I think somebody was working in my office, working on the computers, and so I went into the conference room, and I just got along with God, and God reminded me of somebody that I had not forgiven from 15 years ago. I thought I'd forget. If you were asking me, preacher, do you have any unforgiveness in your life? I'd say, no. Is there anybody you're bitter at, preacher? No, I'm not bitter at anybody. And God brought two people to my mind from years ago where something had laid dormant in my heart. That's why the Bible calls it a root of bitterness. That means you can snap it off at the top, but there's a little something underneath the surface. And dear children of God, listen to me. Some of you, last Sunday, the Sunday before, you dealt with some areas of your life And if you're not careful, all you did was snap the top off of it at the top of the ground. That's why the Bible calls it a root of bitterness. We need the Holy Spirit to go in there deep and pull whatever's deep in there out so it doesn't come back. You follow where I'm coming from? You know how I knew that there was still some bitterness in my heart toward that person? Because every time their name was mentioned, there was something in me turned sour. If I'd seen them in Walmart, I'd probably go somewhere else where I wouldn't have to talk to them. But if you asked me was I bitter at him, I'd tell you no. The Holy Spirit was saying, you want revival, you want my power in your life, you want to be the man of God I want you to be, then you need to deal with this sin you've not dealt with. And Christian, I'm just asking you, is there anything that the Holy Spirit's been putting His finger on and you've not been dealing with it? Because if you do, you're going to have a power out in your life. Let me give you the second thing. I'm going to move quickly. Selfish living. Living for self and what pleases me and what's convenient for me. What makes me happy rather than what makes God happy and pleases Him in my life. Being self-sufficient. I can do it myself. You know, that's one of the biggest areas of the Christian life that we feel like we can go it alone and do it alone and we want to live independent. I'm going to tell you something, friend. We are so dependent on God. And when you can, God can't. But when you take your hand off and you say, God, I can't, you know what? God moves in and says, I can. It grieves Him. Let me give you the second thing and I'm done. Turn to one more passage. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Do you realize that these are basic truths of the Christian life that we will preach over and over and over and over again? You say, preacher, but it's so simple. I know it is. It's just like when my wife asked me, honey, is it plugged in? is the power cord plugged in. It's that simple. But yet how we often overlook the simple. The Christian life, folks, isn't complicated. It's just understanding its simplicity and then living in it. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Look at verse number 19. There is a command in the midst of all of this. He's going to say, Rejoice evermore, verse 16. Pray without ceasing, verse 17. Give thanks, verse number 18. Verse number 19, don't quench the Holy Spirit. Notice what he says, quench not, quench not the Spirit of God. That word quench is to put out or extinguish. That means the Holy Spirit is flaming up in your heart. He's going to do something in your life, and you put it out. You can literally quench, put out, or extinguish what God wants to do in your life. And you know what? Most of the time when we've heard this illustration, we'll say something like this, well, that has to do with somebody that God's moving them to lift their hand in service, or maybe say amen in service, or whatever, or say praise the Lord, hallelujah, and then they don't do it and they quench the Holy Spirit. Well, that may be part of it, but I don't believe that's the full intention of that passage. I believe that's when God says, I want you to go hand a track to that person that you've been working beside over the last two weeks and you haven't done it, and you feel that urge in your heart to hand them a track, and you're saying, no, you just quench what God wants to do in your life. That's quenching the Spirit of God. God begins to put in your heart, I need to sing in a choir, I need to get involved in a bus route, I need to go to prayer meeting, I need to do this. And we say, no, you just question God's working in your life. It can be simple things that God impresses upon our hearts to do and then we say, no. It can be as simple as giving an offering or giving to somebody in need. And God's burdened our heart about it and moves us to do something, and we know it's the impression of God upon our heart, and we say no. At that moment, we just extinguish what God wanted to do in our lives. You know what happens when we grieve the Holy Spirit, we quench the Holy Spirit? We experience power failure in our lives. Let me ask you a question. Do you have a power failure? Christian, you know what? More than likely, since Wednesday night, When we left the mountaintop on Wednesday night and went off, we've had a revival. Man, I'm telling you, if you're excited or go to a prayer advance and you come back, you're excited, you come off the mountain. I told Brother Vaughn the other day, we were having lunch together, and I said, Brother Vaughn, I want you to prepare a message on coming off the mountain. Because what? You can't live on the mountain. You know what happens? We'll say, Peter and James and John was on the mountain. We're going to talk about that. And there's a face of Jesus, by the way, in that passage we're going to talk about. And they said, Lord, it's good to be here. How many of you have been in service? Lord, it's good to be here. You're in the mountain. But you ever notice how you can get on the valley just as quick as you get out of the parking lot and somebody might even have been a church member pulled out in front of you or cut you off and suddenly you're mad again? Lose your temper. Say something. In your heart. And you know what? Immediately. Guess what? I just had some power outage. I just went into the valley. Christian, we need to understand the power source and know the power source. The Spirit of God is a person who is present in my life as a believer, who is there to empower me and give me powerful life so that I can be the person that God wants me to be and do what He wants me to do. But the key is, does He have control of my life? Is He in first place? Am I living life yielded to Him? Does He have control? Am I connected? I'm going to talk about this. Being connected to the power of the Holy Spirit. Am I connected? Am I plugged in? Am I in a place where He can release His power in my life to live a life successfully for Him? Am I filled with the Spirit of God? Or am I grieving Him because of sin and selfishness and self-sufficiency? Am I quenching Him because He's wanting me to do something and I'm saying no? Listen, the best thing you can do is live every day of your life in an ungrieved and unquenched Holy Spirit. That's the best thing. That is the key victory in the Christian life. Let's bow our heads in prayer.