In Philippians chapter 1 in your Bibles tonight, that's our jumping off place, as we're doing a little more of a topical message over these next few weeks on empowered living. God wants to empower your life. He wants to empower my life. And we've learned that a supernatural life demands a supernatural power. The Pates cannot even imagine going to the Ivory Coast of West Africa reach people with the gospel, plant churches, disciple converts in their own strength, their own power, their own ability. They can't do that. But they can in the power of the Holy Spirit. But can I tell you this? It's no different teaching a Sunday school class, no different being the kind of wife or husband that you want to be, the parent you want to be. See, we think the only time we need the Holy Spirit is when we're doing something spiritual. Well, can I help us understand that the Christian life is a spiritual life? Everything we do is in a spiritual realm. You say, well, wait a minute, I've got to go to work tomorrow, and there's nothing spiritual about that. Oh, amazed how the Bible addresses the work life of a Christian and the testimony life. As a matter of fact, preparing the message for Joseph this coming week, and I was impressed on something, that your greatest life's work may not be the position you hold. Did you know that? As a matter of fact, your lasting work may not be something on a worldly of accomplishment like even building a bridge or a skyscraper or something of those magnitudes. It might just have been a simple tract that you handed out that somebody came to Christ and you were obedient to him, and that's going to last forever. Isn't that amazing? Those are the kind of dreams we ought to have. And it's amazing how a small dream impacted a nation. And here when you think about the pace, Joseph had a small dream as a young teenage boy, and God's going to change a nation as a result of it. He's going to preserve a nation as a result of it. God's going to take a couple here that have a dream. And you know what their heart's desire is? God's going to change a nation. That's what their heart's desire. That ought to be our desire here in America. Did you know that? A dream of just living for God, making a difference for Him. But you and I cannot do that apart from the power source that God has given to us in the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God. Now it would help if I got where you're at in the Bible, alright? Philippians chapter 1, look at verse number 19. He said, For I know, I'm certain of something, that this, now you remember he's in prison, Paul is, he's unsure of the outcome, He knows that it's far better for Him to remain here. He said, it's better to be with Christ, but it's more needful, that's what I'm trying to say, for me to remain here with you. And He said, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation, my deliverance, through your prayer. Our prayers make a difference. They do. Paul said, through your prayer. Your prayer is powerful. It makes a difference. And watch this, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. You and I will never be the Christian that God desired us to be. apart from being connected to the power source of the Holy Spirit. Now, do you realize that He can live in me, but yet I'm not connected to Him in power? That's true. We're going to learn that tonight. And I need to understand who the power source is. and what the power source in my life is as a Christian. And the Bible talks about furnishing that which is lacking. What you and I can't do, God does do and can do, or can do and does do through the indwelling Holy Spirit and His empowerment, His enablement of our lives. And we look, first of all, that if we're going to know the power source, if we're going to experience what I'm going to call empowered living, that we need to recognize His person. We need to understand and know who the Holy Spirit is and how He relates to me as a child of God. What is His office work? His work in my life during this present age of grace. And so we talked about how that He's God. He's the third person of the Trinity. He's co-equal with both the Father and the Son. And that there is absolutely no nature difference within the persons of the Godhead. The Lord Jesus is omnipotent. Holy Spirit, omnipotent. God the Father, omniscient. The Holy Spirit, omniscient. What one is, the other is. And we find that their nature, there's the great three in one, but yet their office work, what they perform is different. They have different responsibilities or what they do. Even responsibility isn't the word. Office work is the best word. What their particular Office work is what they do in our lives as the third person of the Trinity. And we've realized that the Holy Spirit, alright, and that's recognized as person number two, realizes His presence during this dispensation of grace, permanently indwells every child of God. That means if you're saved tonight, you have the Holy Spirit. I don't have to feel Him. Listen, the night I got saved, I didn't know the Holy Spirit came into me. I didn't feel it. I feel Him, so to speak. I didn't really even know it happened. I just knew I was saved and forgiven and on my way to heaven and the burden was gone. I knew all of that. But it was later I learned that God not only gave me the gift of salvation, He gave me His gift of the Holy Spirit who now indwells me. and He indwells you. Our heart is His home. We're the temple, or the dwelling place of God on earth. And I need to recognize that. And so, it's not just God with me, it's God in me. That's what the Bible teaches. Now thirdly, I believe, and listen, there's probably going to be a little bit of a mistake in your outline in your handout tonight. That's my fault, not my assistant Miss Christian's, alright? And I'll tell you why. Remember last Wednesday night, I left and I was in immense pain with my back. Well, I forgot where I finished preaching. Alright? I remembered that today. Alright? So she probably went to Roman numeral number 3 and elevated all of that, but I don't think we dealt with number 2, did we? If I remember it correctly. Did we? I mean number three, excuse me. So number four was what I think is going to be real big in your notes tonight. And I think I forgot that I didn't preach on Roman numeral three. So why don't we go there and you can add some notes in and if we get there, we'll talk about Roman numeral number four tonight. Let's talk about maximize His position. If I'm going to know empowered living in my life, I'm going to have to recognize His person. I'm going to have to realize His presence. And then thirdly, I need to maximize His position in my life. That word maximize means to the fullest degree. It has the idea to increase to the fullest amount or the fullest extent. And that means that the Holy Spirit is to have first place in my life. And that's not just a trite say. Now, I'm to maximize His presence. That means that to the fullest extent, the Holy Spirit is to have His rightful position in my life. He's not just to be resident in my life. He's to be ruler over my life. He's not just to occupy a prominent place. He's to be in the place of preeminence. Christ is preeminent. As I give the Holy Spirit His proper place in my life. And listen, the Holy Spirit may be prominent, but we want Him to be preeminent. that we might make Christ preeminent in our lives. And the problem is, that's where the issue is, that oftentimes we're not maximizing or giving Him His rightful place. He lives in me. He indwells me. He's God in me, the hope of glory. But I'm not giving Him His proper place in my life. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 5. We're going to go back one book to chapter 5 tonight. We're going to find verse number 18, a very familiar portion of Scripture. Very familiar portion of Scripture. And be not drunk with wine, where is the excess? Let me just go on and say that there's enough Bible verses that not only should we not be drunk with wine, but we ought not even taste it. Can I just go ahead and go there tonight? I believe that will help everybody. Sad to say, I got an email this week, I couldn't believe it, and I guess they don't know I'm a pastor, but then I remembered they're pastors that they sip wine, unfortunately. and congregations and probably go further than that. And God said, don't even look on it. That's what He says. And so, be not drunk with wine. That's an admonition about drunkenness, but yet God's using it more. Here's an illustration. Alright? When a person is controlled by wine or an alcoholic intoxicating beverage, they're under its influence in their life and therefore it brings about excess in their life. Let me tell you why we don't need liquor to buy the drink. They might give you a thousand reasons why you should. I'm going to give you one reason why you shouldn't because God says it's wrong. That's good enough right there. Number two, let me tell you. For whatever good it might supposedly bring into a community, there are a thousand wrongs and bads that's going to come with it as well. For whatever revenue it might bring in, there's more revenue going to go out and clean up the mess of it. I'm just going to go ahead and say that because there's already pushes going on and has been in our community about that for some time. And if you're wondering about my position, I think I'm making it pretty clear tonight. We're going to take the next step and move on from there. That was just, you know, all sort of fill in to help us out tonight. And then we're in success, but being filled with the Spirit. That means I'm to be controlled by Him. That means just as maybe a person who's drunk with wine. They're under the influence of an intoxicating beverage. The alcohol is now controlling what they've done. They've yielded their body, their mental faculty. They've allowed this to control them. And as a result of that, the excess of what's going on in their life is the outflow of the influence of the alcohol and the drug that's went into them. And they're no longer in control of themselves. Something else is. Now let's flip that and understand. that when I am under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that means I'm yielding myself to Him. I'm submitting myself to His control. Guess what? Then His fruit, His ability, who He is, will flow out of my life. I'm no longer in control. Now God the Holy Spirit is in control. Did you notice God gives two commands? Don't be drunk with wine. Be filled with the Spirit. God didn't suggest it. It's not optional in the Christian life. It's just as much a sin not to be filled with the Holy Spirit as to be drunk with an intoxicating beverage. So the question, this matter of being filled and being Spirit-filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit, we need to recognize that it's not how much I have of Him, but how much He has of me. And that's the question that I need to ask. So what does that look like? How do I arrive there in the Scriptures? And I can give you an outline. We can go to a lot of different places, but I believe the Scriptures are pretty clear. There are about three areas or avenues that I need to really pay attention to if I'm going to seek and to know the Spirit's control and influence. He's going to have free course to work and empower and enable my life as my divine comforter. And the first of all is this word, filled, being filled with the Spirit. So number one, probably took out of your notes, so let's add it back in. Number one, yield to the Spirit of God. Yield to the Spirit of God. Now, what does that mean, preacher, when you yield? That's the idea of allowing control, of relinquishing control. of my life to the Holy Spirit. I'm no longer in control. I'm saying, God, You're not my co-pilot, You're my pilot. I'm taking my hands off the steering wheel of my life. You're in control of the steering wheel of my life. Good prayer every day of our lives ought to be something like this. God, I want to yield the body that belongs to You back to You today. I want to yield my thought life to You, my mind. I want to yield my hands, my feet. God, order my steps. Help me to follow the shepherd. You always lead me in right paths. Lord, I want to yield my lips to You today. Set a watch at the door of my lips. Help me to hold my tongue while the wicked's before me. Help me to avoid harsh, hateful speech. Help me to use words, Lord, that edify and build up, doesn't tear down. I'm yielding myself part by part by part to the Spirit of God. It doesn't take a long time. And you know what? There's times that I've said, Lord, I want to be yielded to You, and sometimes I don't even understand what it means. Lord, help me to be in that area of what I should be when I don't even fully grasp and understand all of it. I don't know that any of us are as full of yield as we should be, but we ought to always be maximizing it, shouldn't we? And so I need to relinquish. I need to surrender. It's an idea of submission to the Spirit's control. Ephesians 5.18 Be not drunk with wine, where it is excess, but be filled, be controlled, be influenced by, be directed by, be yielded to the Spirit of God. Let me give you a second one. It's also right here in the book of Ephesians. And I'm going to get to this again to talk about what the Spirit's ministry in this area actually is in our life. But there's a little avenue of it I want to deal with. Number two, don't grieve the Spirit. Look at Ephesians 4, verse 30. Could we go there real quickly? It's actually mentioned two times in Ephesians about the Holy Spirit being our seal. But notice, I want to deal with grieving Him. Notice the Bible said, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Preacher, how do I grieve the Holy Spirit to have undealt with sin in my life and disobedience? It's simple. It's not hard. It's really not. It means to keep short accounts with God. If I'm yielded, then I have a desire for obedience. I want to be obedient to the Lord. I want to walk in the light, Lord, as You're in the light, that my fellowship with You and with Your Son through the Holy Spirit. So there's a sense of a desired obedience to God. I want to do that that God wants me to do. I don't want to do that that God doesn't want me to do. And when I do disobey, I'm going to keep a short account with God. I'm going to immediately confess that so that I don't grieve the Spirit of God. That grieve is a love word. You can't grieve someone that doesn't love you. That means that God wants more for me than I want for myself. The word grieve means to cause pain. Do you realize that we can cause the Holy Spirit pain? We can grieve Him. We can pain Him. You know, maybe we need to start our days by asking God to help us not to grieve or to pain the Holy Spirit and to avoid that which does grieve or cause Him pain. One of the ways that we can be assured that the Spirit of God feels, I've seen, I don't think there's a magic formula. I don't think it's one of these things where I have to walk through about 50-11 hoops to get to the filling of the Holy Spirit. I don't have to reach a certain level of spirituality. As a matter of fact, without His filling, I'll never be a spiritual Christian. No. It's just a matter of being yielded to and not grieving the Spirit who lives within me by leaving sin undealt with in my life, such as unconfessed sin that aggrieves Him and not being comfortable with that which makes Him uncomfortable. When He puts His finger on it, deal with it. selfish living, of living for self and what pleases me, what's convenient for me. God, what is it that pleases You with my life? See, it's looking away from me to God. And as I seek to do that, I live pleasing to God and I live selflessly rather than selfishly, then I will not grieve the Holy Spirit because it's when you and I live in self, and selfishness, and I'm leaving for my pleasure rather than pleasing the God of heaven, that I grieve the Spirit of God that wants so much more for me than I can ever, ever, ever desire for myself. How about self-will or self-sufficiency? I'll have it my way is selfish living. I can do it my way or myself is self-sufficiency. I can do it on my own, God. Now, we don't say that. We never look at God and say, God, I don't need you or I can do it my way. But yet, we live that way. We wake up without the cognizant fact that I need the Spirit of God to help me to be the pastor I need to be, the husband I need to be, the person of the community I need to be. When I was working a job, being the right kind of person on that job that I can reflect the Lord to those that I work with. maybe as a parent reflecting the Lord to children. You see, we think the only time we need God is when we're doing something quote-unquote spiritual. May I remind us everything we do is spiritual. We're the children of God. I need God to help me in every area of my life. I am not self-sufficient. We are completely God-dependent. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. That means if I'm living in my own carnality, my own fleshliness, I'm going to grieve the Spirit of God, and God can't fill me, and God can't empower me, God can't enable me, and I'm not going to live empowered living. Matter of fact, I'll just be honest with you, I can tell the difference when I'm in control and when He's in control. What about you? I make a mess every time. There's a third area tonight, and I want us to look over at 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse number 19. And while you may be familiar with these passages, you may fully understand them, it's not a matter of knowing them, it's a matter of living them. That's the difference. That's why we need to be reminded. We can know a whole lot, but that doesn't mean we're obeying. That doesn't mean we're actually doing it. I know of a preacher that was involved in an immoral sin, and he was saying to a friend of his after he was caught, he said, you know, on my way to where I was meeting this woman, he said, I was quoting all the verses on adultery in the Bible, and I was even doing it in Greek. The guy said, what you need to be doing is turning your car around. See, you know it all, but that don't mean we're doing it. That don't mean we're living it. And the Word of God, even though we may go over some familiar passages, we may have heard it many, many times, we'll never get so familiar with it that it doesn't impact me and remind me of what I need to be. If I'm going to maximize this position, then I need to be yielded to Him. I don't need to be grieving Him. And let me give you a third thing. I must not quench Him. I must not quench Him. Do not quench the Holy Spirit. Look at I Thessalonians 5.19. It's a simple command. Quench not the Spirit. Now, if you know anything about where I'm from, western North Carolina, near the top of the mountains, let me tell you how they interpret that verse, okay? That if you don't shout, run the aisle, stand up and testify, then you quench the Spirit. Now listen, I'm not saying that there's not times that we ought to say amen, or maybe we should give a testimony and we quench the Spirit, but I don't think that's the heart and soul of that verse. I think there's a whole lot more than that. And I'm not saying that it's wrong for someone else to shout amen. I'm not saying that. Now, I am going to tell you this. If a person is drawing such attention to themselves, you can't even hear the Word of God, that ain't the Holy Spirit. You get mad at me, it doesn't matter. I'm just going to tell you the truth. God's never going to use an individual to take attention off of the Savior and put it on themselves. Never going to do that. Never will. I've been in meetings where you couldn't even hear the preacher. There's people in his face shouting at him. I'm thinking, man, I don't want you shouting at me. I'm trying to shout at you. Sit down and shut up. You're never going to get any help if you don't be quiet for a minute. I know this is going out. Somebody's probably hearing this. I'm probably going to get an email, but it'll be okay. That's why I have a delete button. And by the way, I'm not against having a spiritual service, by the way. I think there ought to be a freedom to worship in a church. I believe that. I don't have a problem with it as long as it's tasteful and it's done correctly. I don't have a problem with amens and somebody won't lift their hand. That doesn't bother me. As a matter of fact, I want to do it sometimes and I do. So I'm fine with that. It's just we don't want to draw attention to ourselves to where we take things away from what God wants to do in our lives. That doesn't necessarily equate spirituality. What does equate spirituality? I'm yielded to the Spirit of God. I'm not grieving. Sometimes it may be in that church, the quietest person in that church may be the most spiritual person in that church. It just may be. I'm just talking. You wade through all that yourself. Quench. means don't extinguish or don't put out what the Holy Spirit is seeking to do in your life. That means that I can literally put out or extinguish what God wants me to do. Let me tell you a more often way that we quench the Holy Spirit when we're maybe around a person and we feel a nudge in our heart to hand them a gospel tract and we do anything but hand them a gospel tract, I just quench the Holy Spirit. God nudges my heart to share His Son with an individual or invite them to church or to make a spiritual comment in their life. And I withhold that. You see, I believe the Holy Spirit's going to nudge me more often if you'll follow along with me. He's going to nudge me more often in areas of obedience to Him and what I should do on a daily basis rather than just what I do on Sunday. By the way, I'm fine with amens. I'm fine with all that. Listen, I'm good. I'm not trying to beat anybody up. I'm just trying to help us understand. That is not all that's in that verse. And we probably quench the Holy Spirit in so many more ways than just what we would do in a worship service at a church. We probably quench Him on Monday. when we fail to speak for the Savior, or we fail to be the person that God wants us to be, or He moves us to an area of ministry, or He moves us to do something for Him. Do you understand what I mean by the nudgings of the Holy Spirit? I mean, God doesn't speak it out loud, but I can remember, no doubt, there was a time in my life I was in the mountains of Pennsylvania. I was up there actually preaching. I was traveling with an evangelist, and I was doing the preaching, and we were doing a visitation-type work. That was more what it was. He had set up a series of churches to me be in, and that was before GPS. He's from Pennsylvania and we still got lost in those mountains, Brother Delp. We still did. Coal mining towns, they all look the same. All the houses are the same color. It's black. Coal dust. And I went in the church. I'll never forget. I went in the church. He's trying to find the church. And I was sitting in the car. He went in the gas station. Remember that's for GPS. Anybody remember that? He's still in the gas station. That's directions. And he went in. And there was a guy sitting there with a bicycle. And I was looking over my notes. And the Holy Spirit nudged my heart three times to go and talk to that guy. That was probably a divine appointment. And you know what I did? I sat there as a young Bible college student, a preacher in college, getting ready to go to a church and preach. And the Holy Spirit of God nudging my heart to talk to Him. I'm up there to learn soul winning. And I'm sitting in the car and I'm arguing with God that this guy, I don't know him. He doesn't know me. Lord, you know we're up north. They don't like southerners. Lord, this ain't going to be good. I don't know, but I give every reason why I shouldn't go and talk to that guy. None of them was good. And I left there, and the moment we pulled out of the parking lot, there was a conviction that settled on my heart like he may never have another opportunity here. And I tried to nudge you, and you missed it. You were disobedient. That, dear friend, is quenching the Spirit of God. Let me ask you a question. Are you living in an unquenched spirit? Am I being obedient to Him? That is quenching the Holy Spirit. Being yielded to Him, not grieving Him, and then not quenching Him. Listen, every day of our lives we ought to live in those three areas. If I'm going to be empowered, if I'm going to maximize the Spirit's position in my life, if He's going to be able to fulfill office work in my life and bring to pass that that He desires in my life, then what is going to have to happen? I'm going to have to be under His influence. I'm going to have to be under His control. I'm going to have to be submitted to Him and yielded to Him. And it's a cognizant thing. Lord, I'm yielding to You. I cannot. But Lord, I need You. You can. Lord, let Your Holy Spirit control me today. Help me to be yielded to Him. And then when I take control, confess it and give it back as quick as You can. And then, don't grieve Him. Have you grieved the Holy Spirit today by your words or your actions or your thoughts? Is there something the Holy Spirit is saying? You haven't dealt with this yet. You were angry today and you haven't dealt with that. You lost your temper today in your home. You haven't dealt with that. You mistreated your spouse today. You haven't dealt with that. That's grieving the Spirit of God. And then don't quench Him when He moves you, when the Spirit of God moves you to do that which is right as it's revealed in the Word of God. To be obedient to the Lord and to let Him move me where He wants me to go and not to put out and quench what He wants to do in my life. Not just on Sunday, but every day of my life. Every day. And when I do that, guess what I'm doing? I'm maximizing the Holy Spirit in my life. And you know what? I'm not going to feel... Listen, I promise you. I believe I promise you. If it doesn't work, we'll let Brother Roger know and he'll change the outlet out, okay? But I promise if you go to one of the outlets in this building and you stick your finger in it, you're going to get a jolt. How many would agree with that? It's going to give you more than you give it. Would that be safe to say? That'd be safe. Whenever I'm yielded to the Holy Spirit, living in an ungrieved, unquenched spirit, I'm not going to feel some kind of jolt from heaven and feel this empowerment. No, a preacher... I hate to even call his name because people... I can't believe you listen to him or whatever. I tell you what, I was listening to Dr. Adrian Rogers preach one time. A great preacher. I may not agree with Southern Baptist Convention, but he's a great preacher. He's in heaven now. I was listening to one of his messages. By the way, I still listen to his messages. I love to hear him preach. And he was talking about this very subject. He used this phrase being supernaturally natural. The Holy Spirit's not going to change how you talk. He's going to change what you say, but He's not going to put you in a holy way of speaking. You know, you're talking one way about, you know, here's how you fix that machine, and then you go talk to them. Now brother, could I invite you to my church? The Holy Spirit's not going to do that. He's going to make you supernaturally natural. You're not even necessarily always going to know that He's empowering you until that moment that you look back on it and think, man, I didn't do that on my own. God give me the courage to hand out that track. And maybe you just need to start leaving it for the waitress. Maybe that's the start with a good tip. And if you don't believe a good tip, put another church's track out, okay? Not ours. And I can give you a couple suggestions, but I'm just kidding. But anyway. Not ours. But anyway. I hope I didn't grieve the Holy Spirit right then. But what I'm saying is listen to Him. Let Him direct your steps. Let Him nudge your life. And every day let's seek to live yielded and not grieving Him and not quenching Him. And I'm going to tell you, you know what's happening? By default, because that's how God's designed it, the Holy Spirit's going to fill me. I don't even necessarily have to ask. Now I think it's not wrong to ask God. I normally do. God help me to be fillable today. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit today. But yet it's more than just a prayer. It's actually a state of obedience. I believe prayer can be involved. But it's a state of obedience. Something has to follow that. of following these principles of Scripture. And when I do, I'm maximizing the Holy Spirit's place in my life. And He enables me to be the spiritual person I need to be whether it's in my home, whether it's out in the community, whether it's on the job, or whether it's here on Sunday where I'm being lifted into the heavenlies. And I'm just going to tell you, Fred, there are some times that I require there's a song going. I'm about ready to go run up and down the aisle. And I'm excited about it. It's blessing my heart. Now I don't because I'll get tired and I've got to preach a little bit later on. But I'm just saying that I like that going into the heavenlies. And I tell you about every Sunday, it's like that and I love it. I tell somebody, if you can't preach behind our music here, you're in trouble. There's nothing in you. You're in trouble. One preacher told me, he said, man, he said, that's great. He said, I can't wait to get up there and preach. I said, I get to do that every Sunday. Man, I appreciate the people in our music ministry at our church and the spiritual nature in which they do it and the sweetness of it. I love it. Not a performance. Just a heart love for God. And it sets the table and prepares our hearts. And I'm so thankful for everybody involved in that. Makes what I do easier because everybody's already ready for the preaching. But it's more than that. It's on Monday when I don't want to get out of bed. And I really don't want to go to work. And I really don't want to face the day. And I really don't... That's when I need the Holy Spirit the most. Because God wants me to be a good Christian that day, not just on Sunday. Wouldn't we agree with that? I'm going to ask you a question tonight and I'm going to close and give the invitation. Are you maximizing the Holy Spirit's place in your life? Are you living in the power of an ungrieved, unquenched spirit? Those are questions I need to ask myself on a regular basis. And if not, I'm in disobedience to the Lord. And I'm not connected to the power source like I need to be connected as a Christian. And guess what? You're not either. And it needs to be fixed if I'm going to live a supernatural Christian life. Amen?