Turn in your Bibles to Zechariah chapter number 4. Zechariah chapter number 4. So find the book of Malachi. That is the last book of the Old Testament. Take a sharp left and you will find Zechariah. Zechariah chapter number 4. We have been talking about empowered living. We have learned that God wants us to have power for life. That you and I cannot live the Christian life, we cannot be who we need to be, we cannot accomplish that that God wants us to accomplish apart from a supernatural power at work in our lives. And we understand that to be the third Person of the Divine Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God. We've understood who He is, we've understood our relationship to Him, His purpose and working in our lives, and the position He's to have in our lives. He's not just to be present in our heart, He's to be present over our heart. That means He's to be in control. I'm to be yielded to Him. And we're going to talk about and understand what all that means here as we work our way through these passages. But Zechariah chapter 4 tonight, as we talk about the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Notice what the Bible said in Zechariah 4 verse 1, And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me as a man that is awakened out of his sleep. This is Zechariah the prophet. And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick, all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it. and His seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof. So you've got a lampstand, golden lampstand, and on top of that is a bowl, okay? It's a fuel bowl. It's a place that the oil would go to fuel the lamps that will burn. This is not a wick lamp, alright? Not a candle in the sense of a wax and a wick going up through it. No, this is a lampstand, an oil lampstand, a menorah, if you please. And you've got this bowl on top. You have the seven lampstands of the menorah. You have pipes coming out of the bowl into each one of the lampstands. So it's feeding them with fuel for the light. Notice if you would, verse 3. And two olive trees because that was the fuel. It was olive oil. and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? And the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. And he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord, undeservable. So the vision that Zacharias sees has now become a word, a message from God to the governor of the nation of Israel that has returned from the captivity. This is the word of the Lord, and as Reuben will say, not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." And so he's saying to him, listen Zerubbabel, you need the supply of the Holy Spirit to be and do what God wants you to do in your day. Now listen, we're going to go fast forward several millennia, and we're going to come, well actually about two and a half, and we're going to come to where we are today, and just as Zerubbabel needed the Spirit of God in his day, and the supply of the Spirit in his day, friend, listen, you and I need him tonight. Amen? Now notice if you would reason, I believe many Christians fail to live the abundant life. Why? They never really possess their possessions. They never reach higher ground in their spiritual lives and know what it is to live the victorious Christian life. The reason they're defeated, they're barren, there's no joy. And the reason is they're a victim rather than a victor. They are attempting to live the Christian life in their own strength, their own ability, their own power. And I'm just here to tell you the Christian life isn't just difficult, friend, it's impossible to live on your own. You and I do not have the capacity to be what God wants us to be and do that that God wants us to do on our own. And that's why He's given to us His Holy Spirit. And you and I are to live, live in His power, His strength, His might, His ability. So empowered living, listen to me, is Spirit-filled living. It's living daily, daily, not just on Sunday, not just when I'm working with Calvary Clubs or Teen Elevate or teaching a Sunday school class or going to the jail, which will be cranking back up in the near future. I've talked to the sheriff here recently, And things are beginning to move there and open up to where hopefully our jail ministry teams will be going back into the Soaks County Jail on Tuesday nights, Thursday nights, and reaching people there, whether it be our care outreach, whatever it is that God gives you to do. Hey, it might be your job, your relationship to your spouse, being a parent, whatever it is. Listen, we need the Holy Spirit. We need God's power in empowered living. is spirit-filled living. Now, let's look at Zechariah 4 in detail. So often people are more concerned with the prophetic implications. They want to know about these two olive trees and what they stand for, and all this, that, and the other. And I believe there's a very simple understanding that actually, rather than trying to spend all of our time in the prophetic implication, it's understanding its practical application and importance, not only in Zerubbabel's life, but mine and your life tonight. So Zechariah chapter 4, you have the prophet Zechariah. and he's given a powerful vision. It relates to the building and the restoration of the temple of God and the worship of God in Israel. Now understand, 70 years they've been in captivity. They've been in Babylon. They've been under actually now two empires because now Persia has come on the scene. They've defeated the Babylonians. Cyrus the Great is now in power and he's allowed the peoples to go back to the land. See, Nebuchadnezzar's plan was a deportation. His way of controlling his kingdom was to take people from one location, their homeland, and transplant them in another land so that he could control them. Well Cyrus, he had a different view, a different way of leading his kingdom. And God, I believe, was behind this providentially. And so he said Cyrus was his servant even though he was a pagan king. He did God's sovereign will. and God's sovereign plan. Do you know God can use even wicked people to accomplish His purposes? That's how sovereign He is. They don't even know Him. But yet God can use designs and desires and decisions they make and bring great good out of them. That's what He's going to do with Cyrus. And so now the Jews are back in the land and Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zerubbabel's the governor. Joshua the high priest. And they're restoring the temple. They're rebuilding the temple that had been destroyed 70 years before. But by the time that we reach Zechariah's prophecy, we find that the work was hard, the opposition was fierce, and these two leaders are discouraged, they're downtrodden. How in the world are we ever going to get the temple built? How are we going to see the worship of Jehovah restored? And so God, through Zechariah, reminds these two spiritual leaders that God's work, His work, cannot be accomplished in their own power. They needed a power outside of themselves that a supernatural task demanded a supernatural power. And so we come back to the candlestick, the lampstand. this menorah that required oil to burn to give off its light. It's a golden lampstand, seven branches or lights, and this golden bowl on top of it to fuel that lampstand. And from that bowl were seven pipes that would go to the different lampstands, those seven lampstands in this one candlestick or lampstand, this menorah, so to speak. And then on either side of the golden bowl were two olive trees. And what those olive trees pictured was an endless supply of fuel for those lamps, just as the fuel in those trees, the olive oil, would go into the bowl, flow through the pipes, and then it would be burnt in the lamps so that the light would shine forth and empower that menorah with an endless supply. Therefore God was going to provide Zerubbabel and Joshua, the leaders of Israel, with an endless supply of power to accomplish His purpose. And so we find, look if you would, in verse number 6, Then He answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word, this vision that I have shared with you, of the endless supply of strength. It's not their strength. It's My strength. He said, this is the word of the Lord and His ruble saying, not by might, not by power. It's not going to be by your might. It's not going to be by your power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So here the oil, now watch this, is an emblem or symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. It's impressing upon Zerubbabel that the temple could not be completed. It wouldn't be accomplished. The work wouldn't be done in his own power, his own might, but only through the endless supply of the Holy Spirit's enablement in his life. Now I want you to look at another verse. Look at verse number 7. Alright? Who art thou, O great mountain? Would you write beside that great mountain, ministry, obstacles, or better yet, how about life obstacles? You ever face any obstacles in life? Do you ever do that? Sure you do. I bet you had some today, didn't you? Things standing in our way. And here's how Zerubbabel and Joshua were viewing the work of God that was in disrepair, and the temple that needed to be rebuilt, and their own weakness in getting it accomplished. And it was like a great mountain standing in their way. And it was blocking the work and hindering the work of God. And notice he says, who art thou, O great mountain? It might have been the mountain of discouragement. It might have been the mountain of opposition. It might have been the mountain of brokenness. It might have been the mountain of disrupted relationships. I don't know what all the mountains were, but God did, and Zerubbabel and Joshua did, and I don't know all the mountains in your life, but God does. And notice what he says. He said, who art thou, O great mountain? God's saying, listen, who art thou, O great mountain? Hey, mountain, you're nothing compared to me. Can I tell you, whatever problem, obstacle, mountains in our life, it's nothing compared to our great God tonight. Too often we're looking at God through our mountains, and we've got a great big mountain and a little God, and we need to start seeing God through our mountain through God, and we'll have a great big God and a real little mountain. You realize that? God will suddenly become bigger than the mountain. It's all in your perspective. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. It'll be like you never even existed, mountain. Isn't that amazing? And He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, Grace unto it. And that headstone is actually the capstone. There were two important stones in every building in that day, alright? Stone architecture. There was what was called the cornerstone. That's the first stone lake. That gave the direction and set the tone and direction and all of that connected the building together and the foundation. And so they laid the cornerstone. You're going to see that Jesus is going to be compared to a chief cornerstone. By the way, can I tell you, your life needs the cornerstone. But He's not just the cornerstone. He's the capstone. He's the beginning of our life. And by the way, He ought to be the ending of our life. On either end. Amen? And so we find here He's talking about the cornerstone's already been laid. But now He's talking about the headstone. Guess who laid the cornerstone? Zerubbabel. Guess who God says is going to lay the first stone of the building? Guess who God says is going to lay the last stone of the building? Zerubbabel. That's what he said. He said, "...and he shall bring forth the headstone, the capstone thereof with shouting." Hey, you're going to praise me. You're going to shout, and you're going to rejoice, and you're going to cry grace, grace into it. Hey, these mountainous obstacles are going to be removed. The headstone, the capstone of the building will be laid by Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel, what you started! I'm going to enable you to finish. I'm here to tell you, dear child of God, listen to me now. What God starts in your life, He can finish. Amen? Aren't you glad for that? By the way, can I just tell you, just like Zerubbabel needed the endless power of the Spirit in his life to achieve and be what God wanted him to be, you and I are no different tonight. You and I will never achieve and be what God wants us to be in our lives apart from the endless supply of the Spirit of God in our lives. So the question comes, what is the Spirit's filling and how do you have it? How do you experience it in your life? You see, the Spirit's empowering or enablement is essential to successful Christian living. And you cannot have the Spirit's power, that endless supply of power, apart from His filling in your individual life. I can't be filled for you. You can't be filled for me. Every one of us need to be filled with the Spirit of God. And the key to understanding the Spirit-filled life is found in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18. So let's go to our New Testament and go back to a verse that we looked at in the very beginning of our study in chapter number 5. Could we do that? Ephesians 5 and verse 18. You say, well, preacher, I can quote it by heart. That's wonderful. I think that's a good thing. But you know what? It's not quoting the Bible that makes the difference. It's living the Bible that makes the difference. It's not the hearer, but the doer that's blessed of God. That's what God says. And you come to verse number 18, and the Bible said, look there, "...and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess." And we could preach all night on that first part, but that's not our topic. It's actually the second part, "...but be filled with the Spirit." Well preacher, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit of God? How in the world can I know that I have this endless supply of the Spirit's power? And is this obtainable for me? Is it something that I can truly... I mean, I'm just an ordinary, everyday, average Christian. And by the way, can I tell you, we're all ordinary, average Christians, but yet we're great saints of God. Do you get that? God doesn't have favorites. He might have intimates, but He doesn't have favorites. Every one of us is as close to God as we want to be. Does that make sense to you? And so the Spirit's filling is not just for a select few. It's for every Christian. It's for you. It's for me tonight. But we need to understand what it is. And I just want to define the word tonight. And we'll come back next week and we'll look at the particulars of it, okay? First of all, when you think of that word filled, alright, where the Bible says, but be filled with the Spirit. Let me give you three pictures. Real quickly tonight, we're going to go home. Three pictures that I believe aptly describes this idea of being filled. First of all, alright, is wind filling the sails of a ship. You see, back before you had powered ships with coal-powered, diesel fuel, now nuclear energy, they had wind power. And they had great sails, and sometimes ships would set motionless in the oceans. Because there was no wind, there was no breeze, and then the moment the wind blew, they would set the sail and it would catch the breeze, the wind, and it would fill the shells of that ship, and it would move it along across the ocean, and it would empower. The wind would be the unseen force, the unseen power that moved that ship along. through the water. Do you know that wind is an emblem of the Holy Spirit? It sure is. Jot down in your Bibles. You don't have to turn there. Jot down in your Bibles John chapter 3. It's the passage on the new birth where Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about being born again. And Nicodemus having a hard time understanding it. And Jesus said in verse number 7, Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. He went on to say, The wind bloweth where it listeth, wherever it desires, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So you can hear it, you can see its effects, But you can't see the wind itself. It's an unseen force. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. And so now he's talking about wind being a picture of the Holy Spirit. And He's the unseen power in the life of a Christian, the Holy Spirit is, that enables us to be what God commands us to be and to do what God has called us to do. And listen to this. We dare not move along. in God's will in our own energy, but in the energy of the Holy Spirit. And God has promised, and just like those two olive trees, they're planted beside that golden bowl that fueled the menorah lamp, just as there was an endless supply of fuel. So friend, listen, God is saying, you and I have an endless supply of power. It's called the power of the Holy Spirit, who is God in us. Galatians 5.16, jot that down in your notes if it's not there. This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Well, that's an amazing verse. Amazing verse. A lot of times we're spending all of our time trying not to sin. Have you ever noticed the harder you try not to do something, the more you wind up doing things? I got some illustrations with that and little things that we could do, but I won't do that tonight. That's a negative. See, all the time we're working on the negative. Not, not, not. God didn't start with the negative. He started with the positive. He said, walk in the Spirit and you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So when I'm walking in the Spirit, when I'm turned toward God, when I'm being filled and moved with the Holy Spirit, guess what's happening? I'm being turned away from my sin. I'm not fulfilling the desires of my own sinful flesh. Now that word walk has to do with all of life. All of life is to be lived in step with the Holy Spirit. And that walk will imply progress. Well, unless you're on a treadmill. You follow me? But we're not talking about treadmills. We're talking about journeying through life. And the idea here is that when you're walking, you're making progress, you're going from where you are to where you want to be. And now watch this. As you and I as Christians submit ourselves to the Spirit's control, His power, His enablement in our lives, He moves us, He propels us in our spiritual lives. So watch this. Step by step by step, the Spirit moves us along from where we are to where God desires for us to be. And so it's a progress. You ought to be moving forward in your Christian life. One lady said, if you're coasting, you're just going downhill. There's no growth in grace. Listen to me. There's no growth in grace. There's no spiritual maturity apart from the Spirit's filling in your life. So it has the idea of wind filling the sails of a ship. It empowers the ship. And the Holy Spirit, the supply of His Spirit empowers us in the Christian life as we journey with Him to take us from where we are to where God wants us to be in spiritual growth and maturity. And not just accomplishment. See, we think of what we do. God's more interested in what we are. That's what He's interested in. It's the idea of salt that is influencing and permeating meat to flavor and to preserve it. Okay? And so being filled with the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit flavors and preserves the Christian's life so that everything we do, everything we think, everything we say reflects the divine presence of the Lord Jesus in our lives. Listen, when we're filled full of God, people will see God in us. That's where it's at. You know what that flavoring is? It's called the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, meekness, kindness, temperance. Against such the Bible said there is no law. That nine-fold cluster of fruit that needs to be in all of our lives. Were you joyful today? Did you love the way God wanted you to love? Did you have His peace in your heart during this time? Did you respond in kindness and meekness? Was there a gentleness about you? How about temperance and spiritual discipline in your life? What about long-suffering or was you short-tempered today? You see, when the Holy Spirit's in our life, He'll flavor us with that that's good and godly. And the Bible said against that there is no law. God doesn't need to write a law for people who are living in the power of the Spirit of God. They're going to automatically fulfill the will of God and the desires of God for their life. Let me give you one more and I'm done tonight. It's the idea of absolute control. Wind filling the sails of a ship, energizing, moving, empowering, permeating meat to flavor and preserve it. The Holy Spirit wants to flavor our lives so that the fragrance of Jesus is sensed in us, that people see Him. And then thirdly, the idea of absolute control, Ephesians 5.18. Listen, if you ask me right now, preacher, does the Holy Spirit have absolute control? I want Him to. Listen, there's probably areas of my life right now that He doesn't have control over, but I sure want Him to. Do you realize the whole of the Christian life is bringing our lives on a daily basis more and more and more under the control of the Holy Spirit by bowing to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? He's going to use an analogy in Ephesians 5.18. He says, where it is excess. And so here, being drunk with wine, while God is telling us not to do that, and there's a sharp command there that God said, don't be drunk with wine. Actually, He's making a comparison. It's an illustration. It's an analogy of being filled with the Spirit. You see, a person who's drunk with wine is under the influence and the control of the alcohol. They're dominated by what they have drunk. The alcohol is now in control. It may slur their words, impair their vision, affect their equilibrium and stability to the point that we would look at that person as they walk along and they can't even walk a straight line, and they can't control their equilibrium, and they're slurring their words, and they're loud, and they're boisterous, and they're red-eyed, and everything about them, and they don't even have time to know what they're saying. And we'd say, that person's drunk! They're controlled by alcohol! That's what we'd say. God said, just like that person is controlled by their alcohol, I want you to be dominated by My Spirit. You see, in the same sense, a Christian who's filled with the Spirit will be under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit. By the way, do you know He'll control... watch this... He'll control our words. He'll control our equilibrium. Now, what do you mean? Does that mean He's going to help me walk straighter? No, no. What it means is He'll help your life be in balance. Equilibrium. So often our lives are out of kilter. Our priorities and our agendas are not matching God's priorities and agendas for our lives, and we're constantly juggling all of these things. And if God's prominent in your life, then guess what? He's just one of the balls, one of the things in life you're juggling. Oh, but listen, if He's the center of it all, that's a whole different ballgame. And suddenly my life comes into balance. Life comes into focus. My priorities are in alignment with the will of God for my life. It's this idea. Say it however you want to say it. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's all the same. The outcome's the same. God says it in so many different ways so that we can see it and understand it. But it's the idea of the Holy Spirit having such control in our lives that He controls the way we walk, where we walk, how we live, how we act, how we speak, what our spirit, our attitude is like. I mean, the Holy Spirit is controlling us so that the world sees Jesus in us. They see His fragrance. Friend, listen, there's nothing sweeter than a Christian that reflects the Savior. Can I tell you the question the Spirit's filling tonight and I'm done is not how much you have of the Holy Spirit. Can I ask you? Alright, here's the pop quiz. You ready for it? How much of the Holy Spirit do you have tonight? How much do you have? Well, theologically you have all of Him. I don't have part of my wife. I have all of her. You can't divide up a person. If you're saved tonight, you have all the Holy Spirit that you'll ever have. You do. You have all of Him. All of God is in you. Isn't that amazing? He's not coming piecemeal. I don't get part of the Holy Spirit and then get a little more later and a little more later. Oh no. The moment I got saved, I got the total package of the Holy Spirit. God Himself came to live inside of me. God Himself came to live inside of you. The question is not how much you have the Holy Spirit. Here's the real test. How much does the Holy Spirit have of you? Not how much do I have of Him. How much does He have of you? Are you wrestling with God tonight in areas of your life? Are you an unsurrendered Christian? And here's what you're going to learn. That the Christian life is all about surrender. It is. I'm bringing more and more and more and more of my life under the Spirit's control as the Holy Spirit puts His finger in areas of your life and say, you know what? Your attitude today is not under my control. What about that anger? Your words didn't reflect who I am. It's just a daily matter. As a matter of fact, we ought to be more yielded today or under His control today than we were yesterday. Tomorrow, we ought to be more under His control than we were the day before. And the Christian life is just a matter of surrender. It's a matter of growing in grace and bringing more and more and more of who I am under the influence and control of who He is. That's what it is. That's spiritual growth. It's letting the things in my life that displease the Lord out and putting into my life those things that do please the Lord. And the measure of surrender ought to become deeper and wider the longer we're saved. It should. You see, I'm just going to tell you tonight, you ought to be more surrendered tonight than you were when you first got saved. You ought to be more surrendered tonight than you were last year. I ought to be more surrendered tonight than I was last year or last week. As the Holy Spirit puts His finger on the areas of our lives, it's bringing more and more and more of who we are under the control of who He is so that I might have His power, His ability in my life. And see, here's the thing, okay? I don't see the Holy Spirit. I don't have to feel the Holy Spirit. I'm thankful when I feel things, don't you? But I'll always have to do that. No. I just need to be yielded. He's promised His power. He's promised His ability. He's promised to change me. I just need to bring my life under His control so He can change me. And I'm just going to say this tonight and I'm going to give you an invitation. You hold the key. You decide the success or failure of your Christian life. God will never force any of us to be surrendered. It's a voluntary choice of saying, God, I want to be surrendered. Sometimes it's as simple as saying, God, I'm willing. Now, Lord, let your will be done in my life. Are you willing tonight, whatever it looks like, whatever He's going to take you, are you willing to submit your life, your family, your future, yourself to depend on Him daily? As we do that, more and more of the Spirit's control and power and enablement becomes reality in our lives on a daily basis. Be filled with the Spirit. That's a command tonight. It's not optional. But it's up to us to obey the command to be a yielded Christian to our Heavenly Father that His Holy Spirit might fill us, that we might reflect more and more the character of the Lord Jesus to a world that desperately needs Him. I can't magnify the Lord without the power of the Spirit in me and neither can you. Let's determine to be God's people tonight. Amen. Let's know the Spirit's filling in our lives.