Game Plan | Part 10

And what can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. See what can wash, what can wash away my sin, nothing, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away, my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. I can't watch away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, it's all about life It's never about, it's never been a time to serve you

Oh, right, it's a gift that's free to give it It's about, it's all about life You said you wouldn't want to be holy In righteous, you're a fight It's about, it's all about life You said it by the one of you who heard you Don't give it to you tonight Just a fight I'm ready to live in Let me tell you It's all about life Somebody shout, "How they love your state?" "Hallelujah to clap!" "Hallelujah!" "I know it was!" "I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "See, hallelujah!" "Hallelujah!" "Hallelujah!" "That's it!" "I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!"

"Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" "Good I know it was the blood!" (Music) You holy, holy Jesus! You worthy, worthy Jesus! Go ahead, just in your own words, would you just begin to offer your worship to him? Go ahead, just in your own words right now. Without song without a medal, just give your praise. Hallelujah! (Music) A thousand generations, falling down on worship to sing the song of ages to the land. (Music) And all gone before us. And all who will believe will sing the song of ages to the land. In the end, come on, don't go ahead and say it.

(Music) Lift your voice. Let it lift your voice. Sing a holy. (Music) That's it. (Music) Would you say it? And have you been forgiven? And have you been redeemed? Sing the song forever through the land. If you walk, can you walk in freedom? Oh, sing the song, sing. Sing the song forever through the land. In the ages to the land. Shout it out, sing. All the needs. All the needs. All the needs. All the needs. All the needs. All the needs. All the needs. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Sing a song forever through the land. To the king of kings. To the holy. You will always be. That's it.

Sing. All the needs forever through the land. Would you make it the rhythm? That your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Shout it. (Music) Go ahead. Would you say, all through us. Everything. Everything. Everything falls before the name of Jesus. Go ahead. Have a little more within your sight. Go ahead. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] With one voice, that's it. Declaring, lift your voice, lift your voice. If you believe that today, shout it. Sing, holy forever. Oh, somebody needs to sing it again. Sing, hear people sing. That's it, sing it. [Music] With the King of Kings, holy. You will always be holy forever. King of Kings, King of Kings, King of Kings, Lord of Kings, shout it, sing it out. Holy, you will always be holy forever. You will always be holy forever. Stand in game plan. I'm in the final teaching of game plan. Can you believe this? The final teaching. I hope you've enjoyed it. Be sure to listen all of it. But remember, we started this. We kicked this series off with Jake Bates from the Detroit Lions. No pun intended, but we kicked off with him. And then we got the teaching about get your head in the game. You got to get your head in the game. And what I've told people is, people who aren't in the game, you can't get your head in the game without God in your heart. If God's not in your heart and he's not working on you, you'll never get in the game. You'll let everybody else take all the hits on the field.

And you'll let them sit in the grandstand tell us how bad the pastor, I mean the quarterback did. Or I wish the church would be more like Jesus, but you're doing nothing. All right, I'll be here next week. Amen, no. But then we talked about training, the basic fundamentals of the Word of God and how so many believers forget the fundamentals. Go back and listen to that. We talked about injured being on the injured list when you're wounded, when you hurt, how to restore. We talked about endurance on how to finish the complete game and to stay in the game. And then we talked about the enemy's blitz on how to see how Satan will come into your life. These are all messages that you need, friends. Then we talked about the away game that we don't stay in the stadium here at the home team at 2,144th Street. We get out there and we take Jesus to people who need it. Oh, don't let me preach this by myself today, man. And then what I really loved is I loved the teaching last Sunday, Pastor Kerry brought up the final whistle, the final whistle. And I'm going to kind of piggyback on that text just a little bit. So I want you just to hear this message and at the end of the service, I want to do something special for all of you today. So stay tuned. Those of you watching online, stay with us all the way through. But I want us to start with our main overarching text. I want you to go to Philippians chapter 3 verse 10. Everybody turn there if you don't have a Bible with you or an E Bible. In fact, why don't we all read it out loud together? Because in the game, and it's not really a game, it is life. This is the goal for you and me. It was what Apostle Paul's goal was. This is the goal, and we're gonna state that goal. Are you ready? Let's join together. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. That is the goal. I want to keep pressing, I want to know him because all my life exists around him,

and when I get to know him, I know he experienced the mighty power, the resurrection that raises his back with bodies that will never perish, and never die, eternal bodies. But he says, I want to know that mighty power to take on the enemy now, so that I can carry out the life of Jesus Christ that others can be influenced by it. That's the goal. So Paul is looking at this, and he's coming toward the ends of his life. And so I want to go back to that passage, and we're gonna finish the series with Second Timothy chapter four, verse six. And I want you to look at something, and I want to hone in on a particular piece of what he said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So here's what he's saying, he's coming to the end of his life. He says, for I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is near. So let me just tell you this, unless the rapture of the church takes place, and you are taken away with it, your chances of dying is 100%, the last time I checked the statistics. 100%. And you need to think about the end of the game while you're in the middle of the game.

I sat with our staff during our Imagine 3.16 this year, the emphasis was revival. And I said, I don't know why I've done this, and I believe it's just simply the Holy Spirit. Every decision we make for this church, I don't make it for what just will happen that week, or the next month. I make the decisions back when I started, of what will this look like 20 years from now, five years now, who will this impact, on what generations will be lost or found, because of what we do as a church? And I don't know why, but I believe that's the Holy Spirit. When you get close to the Lord, you think about the end in the middle, not at the end. I believe in deathbed conversions, but I'm gonna tell you, you're wasting your life if you're waiting till the end to get it right with Jesus Christ, and to make an impact for him. So he says, I didn't mean to get the one through that, was blamed the Holy Spirit. He said, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now, there is in store for me the crowd of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will award me on that day. You see, well, that's great for Paul, he's not finished. And not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. You're in line, right behind the apostle Paul. Because I wanna know him.

And I'm gonna pour my life out like a drink offering when he appears. How am you looking forward to the appearing of Jesus Christ? And you wish you would happen before the end of this service. Amen, me too, me too. I wanna take the exit signs off above the doors. I wanna put them on the ceiling. I'm ready to get out of here, amen. But Paul starts talking about, I don't wanna pour myself out like a drink offering. And when I look at that in game plan, this is what I feel like he would say to us, in game plan, when you've done your life and you're doing your life, leave it all on the field. Don't have anything left over, leave it all out there. Because when Paul says I'm already being poured out like a drink offering, he is saying, I left everything on the field. Already, I'm leaving it on the field. So the big question is, is not how you start. The big question is, is how will you finish as you've encountered Jesus Christ? And Paul's writing this, remember Paul's writing this and he's coming to his life. He knows he's gonna be executed here before too long. He knows this. So let me tell you, he's not writing this in comfort at the Shadyaker's retirement village. Okay, that's not where he is.

He's in a prison and he's writing this and he says, I'm coming to the end of my life and he said, I'm here in prison and he's looking back at how he's already poured himself out like a drink offering. He's looking back at it. And as he was looking back, he doesn't say, He's not saying, I wish I'd have kept more for retirement. Somebody's saying, he's not saying, I wish I wouldn't have sacrificed so much and gave so much way to help people out, help the kingdom of God. He's not saying that already, he's not saying that. He says, I'm already being poured. I said, I'm not waiting until my deathbed to finally fix my will so I can finally do something. So maybe I'll get in and God said, good job. He said, I have been already been doing this and I'm looking back and I have no regrets whatsoever. I have left it on the field every day of my life. I'm leaving it on the field because I've already been poured out like a drink offering. How may you not want, don't want to start then, you want to start now, saying, I'm gonna leave it at all on the field. So I only have two points this morning. Good, no amen. I just checking. Y'all are good, you're used to Pastor Sam, okay. So here's the first thing that God speak to you.

When I listen to the Apostle Paul, he says, I'm being poured out like a drink offering. So God's word to you and the Pastor Sam is this. Pour out your cup. Pour it out. Pour out your cup. Can we just say those words, come on, ready, join me. Pour out your cup. And if you can just take the word cup and turn it to your life. Pour out your life. Well, I'm only 16, pour out your life. Well, I'm 96 and I'm on an oxygen shake, pour out your life, pour it out, pour out your life. And Paul's looking at us and he's reflecting and he uses these terms. I've already been poured out like a drink offering. So what does that mean, a drink offering? He is reflecting on an Old Testament sacrifice practice that preceded and poured out, showed this was pointing to Jesus Christ. He goes back to it. So he's talking about an Old Testament sacrifice. So here's what would happen in the Old Testament when they would sacrifice animals looking forward to what Jesus Christ, his blood would be shed. There were certain sacrifices that they would take and then they would have what was called a drink offering. And they would take this and they would pour it out

alongside the altar. They poured out at the altar. They poured out. Here's something about when you pour it out. The moment you poured out and it leaves your life, it leaves your cup, once it's poured out, you can never put what you poured out back in. There are some times that I've given, I remember when I first started giving offerings bigger than I've ever given in my life. I remember the first time I did it. I remember we did it, Brenda. It was sitting right up here when God spoke to us and God told me to sell our second car. But Brenda hated that car anyway. The Lord said, I want you to sell that car because the church was doing something here and I distinctly got impression, sell your car and give it to this. During that time, it was back in 90, 90-something. Give it away. I leaned over to Brenda and said, she goes, that bear's witness with me, I don't like that car. (audience laughing) She didn't like, she said, she wants me to, it was a two-door and two-car seats. Moms, you already hate the car now already, okay. So she just wanted to get rid of the car, but I said, but Lord told us to give this away,

I'll never forget it. I will never forget it. He said, just release it, let it go. Pour it out, pour it out. And after I sold that car and I had that check and I put it in the pastor Benson's hand back then, you said, that must have been a joy to give him that check. No, I went home with givers remorse. (audience laughing) 'Cause I knew what I could've done with that money. I don't ever forget it, but it started a ministry that I'm just gonna tell you, it was just amazing. We were able to affect thousands of people through it because of that, that started that. But here's what Paul's doing. He says, I poured out, I can't take it back. And this is what Paul is saying. He says, I've already been poured out like this at the altar. And here's what he's saying. I am completely being poured out. I have completely sold out to God. I've given him everything and I can't take it back. And he says, I look back at what I poured out. He says, here's what I've discovered. That was an act of worship at the Old Testament. And every time I pour something out, it is an act of worship before God. So other people may have said, you've wasted your life, you're in prison. But he says, oh, this is not wasted.

This is worship. Can I take every time I thought, how can I pour this out? How can I let go of this? I'm going to tell you, when you get done, act of worship and having no he inhabits the praise of his people, the adoration of his people. There's something that comes in when you pour it out. So a life poured out for God is never a wasted life. It is a life of worship. It is not wasted. And look what Paul poured out. He gave everything to God. Look what he poured out. He poured out his education. He was an intellect. He poured out his reputation when other people wanted to kill him and didn't want anything to do with him. He poured out his comfort. So he's sitting there in the jail cell instead of being there, there are sunny valley acres with the rest of his friends. He poured out his finances. He poured out his future. He poured out his life. He poured it all out. And here's what Paul was saying. He said, "This is not wasted. This is worship. And here's what I can tell you. Is Jesus poured everything out for me on the cross for my salvation and my eternity with him? I am not about to do the same. I'm not about to hold back. I'm going to pour out all of my life because he poured out all of his." And here's what I've discovered about people who are always pouring out and asking God, "How do I pour out my cup? How do I pour out my life?" Here's what I've discovered. When you pour out your life for Christ, you have peace in your life. When I see people walk in absolute peace, you will usually find someone who's always pouring out to Jesus Christ. Absolute peace about everything. They're kids that are backslidden, they're health, they're money, the future, the government, the nations of the world. If they are pouring out Jesus Christ, they're the most peaceful people. Doesn't mean they're not concerned, but they are the most peaceful people. Let me show you this. Paul is facing execution, everybody. He's going to be martyred by a judgment and a sentence by Nero himself, a sadistic killer that hated Christians. And he's going to have the Apostle Paul executed. And look at Paul's language in this. I want you to look at his language. Look at this. I love this. He's not saying my life is being taken by the government. Does he? He's not whining. Is he? Look what's happening. This guy's going to get his head cut off, young man. He's going to be executed. He's going to be beheaded. And he looks at this and he

doesn't say my life is going to be taken. He doesn't say that. He says my life is already being poured out. Here's the difference. He's saying Nero may carry out his sentence, but what he doesn't know is I have already put my life on the altar. I am already dead to myself. I have already died to Christ. And here's what I've understood about people who already know they have died to self because they surrender to Jesus Christ. Here's what I know. You cannot threaten someone with death who is already dead. You can't threaten a dead woman, a dead man with death. You cannot threaten them. So this is why Paul, he's not cavalier. He's not trying to be just self-willing. He's not trying to be that. He's not trying to be cavalier at all. He genuinely was not afraid of Nero. He was not afraid of the government. He was not afraid of Nero. He was not afraid of a prison. He was not afraid of suffering. When he was suffering, he wasn't afraid of Satan himself. He wasn't even afraid of death. Why? Because he was ruled by peace. Because he had already died and had already been poured out over his life for Jesus Christ. So he never feared those things when they came. They were hard to walk through, but he never feared them. Never, never. So how do we know that? That's the reason why you hear him say stuff like Philippians 1-21 in the same book. Look what he says. For to me, he says to live is Christ and to die, you'll be doing me a favor. It's a game. You're not afraid because you already got peace because you've already died. That's why he says Galatians 2-20. He says, "I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ now lives inside of me." Can you understand what he's trying to say here? The closer you, the more you pour out of him, the less you are worried about your future. You still know he's with you in the suffering. You know he's already conquered death hell in the grave. You know he's taken care of all your financial needs because you have already died to him already being poured out like a drink offering. So here's the question to you and your pastor. Those you watch online, you cannot escape. Here's the question. What are you pouring your life into? Because everybody in this You are pouring your life out to something, someone you are pouring out. So everybody's pouring out out to something here, everybody's pouring out, everybody's pouring out, everybody's pouring out. So you get saved and Jesus fills you, I mean thank God He fills you with salvation and forgiveness just fills you up, fills you up, fills you up, fills you up, fills you up, fills you up,

fills you up. It's going to be a while but we'll get there. Everybody is pouring themselves out to something and I'm going to tell you if I had all the cups up here, it wouldn't be enough cups, it would not be enough cups. This is you, get saved so you start pouring out, pouring out to your family, pouring out to your ministry, I want to get involved, pouring out to money, a little more for money, career a little more for money, your career, you're pouring out, some more money, some more money, family, braces, they won't, they don't spend enough time with them, oops. And here's the thing about all these things you pour out to, once you think you've got this one all full, it's demanding more. You pour it out, we went on summer vacation, have you seen the credit card bill? But this one keeps asking for more. All of a sudden your teenager's in a crisis, all of a sudden your marriage has an issue and it's demanding more of you, still empty. My point is, is what are you pouring your life into? Your career, man, but I got to make more money, I got to keep your family happy, this will keep my family, we got to get them on the soccer team, got to get them on the hockey team, we got to get all these things going, we got to, but this was always going to demand more from you, always more, always more. These all empty, even ministry, I got to do this for church, I got to do this for people or anymore, people need this call, they need to have this dinner, they need to have this conversation, they have this council, everybody's draining the cups and sometimes people pour back into you a little bit, but all these are demanding something. My point is, is that the cup of your life, there's always a demand on it and whatever you put in it always empties out. You are the pitcher, that's you and you're hoping that the money will somehow pour back into you and so you got the car you wanted, you got the new house, took money, but when it pours back into you, it still doesn't last for you. You lose the joy of it, sometimes you can pour out to your family, you think, I just took them on a cruise, they should say thank you, nobody said thank you, it pours out.

So where does this person go to keep pouring into this? You got to have a source. Because I poured into the church of this ministry, does not mean that I demand I get it back from this church. See I've discovered you don't reap where you sow, you reap because you sow, not always wear you sow. And sometimes you do things for your family, yeah don't you know, don't you know they're 18, mom, dad, I need more, hey we just paid for the car, should you be a little more grateful? Sometimes you can pour into these things, they just don't pour back sometimes. You just do it because you're a mom and dad and you're called to take care of your family and your kids. You get involved in ministry. all of these here. You cannot expect them to be the ones to be your source. You have to go back to the source. If you're going to be poured out, you have to refill. And so many of us are going back to them because we bless them, but they're not blessing you back. You worked hard for money, but the money still didn't satisfy them. What's the problem? Too many pornities think thinking these things will pour back to you, but you have made them your source and you've made them your God. But God says there's only one place that you can fill yourself so you can heal for your others, and that is me, the source. See, now here's the deal. While I'm filling up this source, you're going, "Yep, that's the source. The hose. The hose is not the source." So you say, "Well, I gave to this church, and I gave money." You know, you think they treat me better. Problem is, is you're looking to us for that because you think we're the source. We're not the source. We might bless you back, and God might use us, but we are not the source. Yeah, I gave myself to the company this job for 15 years, and you think they treat me better. I mean, they're just cutting me off. Yeah, the problem is, is the reason you're wigging out is because you made them the source. They may have blessed you back a little bit, but they're not the source. How are we doing, everybody?

They said, "Till death do us part, but they walked out on me, Pastor Sam. I just, and you can't get over. You can't move. You can't let God heal you." Why? Because sometimes you made your husband, your wife, your own children, your source. They can bless you back, but they're not the source, because each time they try to pour back to you, they're still emptying them out themselves. Bless me this morning, Pastor. I'll do my best, but I'm not your source. Your husband's not your source. Come on, look alive. I'm going to turn his bad boy on. Come on. How are you tracking with me? Look alive. So what the problem is, is Paul found something. The reason I can give up, the reason why my education, he said, I can call it dung, is not because I'm belittling education. I've come to the place that it's not God. My degree is not my God. The reason why he says, the reason why he can rejoice in a prison is because he knows it's not God. The pain is not God. The people are not God. The crowds are coming and not God, but some people make them God because it feeds them back, but they're not the source. The likes on Instagram are not the source. Your TikTok, it's not the source. It's not your identity. But when it depletes, you go empty and dry, wig out. But he says, get back to the source. Even the hose is not the source. The nozzle is not the source. The spigot it's attached to is not the source. So sometimes we say, we got to have that source. Well, that's not the source. See, because you can't see the source. You never see the source. So you don't think about him. You don't see him, but he's there. He's ministering to you, watching you, guiding you. You can't see the source, but there's a water tower that's forcing all this water, bringing all this water to us. And water tower is not even the source because what's happening is there are aquifers and there are wells, there are rivers, there are lakes. There's somebody that is the one that brings and provides that source that feeds it to the hose that can feed it in these. And sometimes they bled you back, but they're not your source. So Paul looks at it and he says, let me tell you what I've done. He said, I have emptied my cup so many times to other things. Even Demas has forsaken me. I poured into his leadership and you think he'd come here, but he said they're not my source. He said, Lord, if I pour out anything, whether it's money,

whether it's time, whether it's ministry to my family, my career, they're not the source. Really, you are. So everything I'm pouring out came from you in the first place. It's all yours. So all I'm pouring out is really what you put in me. So God, it's not even really me. It's Christ in me, the hope of glory who is my source. So that's what Paul did. Paul looked at an empty cup. He says, I'm already being poured out. And God has been my source. So all I'm doing is pouring out Christ other people. And he said, Jesus gave it all for me. So I'm going to give it all for him. Now let me just tell you this something. This is really interesting. So if that truly is the source and your job and your corporation and your post is not your source, then that means I'm not gonna go to my family to find the direction for my life. I'm going to go to the source and ask him because he's the only one that gives me the life. So I'm gonna ask him what he wants. But see, when he's not your source and your boyfriend or your girlfriend or the source, then you'll do whatever you have to do to keep them because they have become your God and they are now worshiped. And if you lose them, you think your life is wasted. But if you're listening to your source about how you ought to treat your dating relationship and not TikTok and not Instagram, source what do you want from me? Because that's how I'm gonna pour it out, where and when it needs to be poured out. So that's the way you'll do with your money too, sir. You'll do the exact same thing with your money and your time. You won't go, "Well, look at my bills.

"I love that you use the widow woman today." She said, "Wait a minute. "The reason why I can give two widows mites." She actually outgave everybody in the room. Was because you're the source. You tell me what you want me to do with it. You don't go to the culture or your bills. You don't go to the culture for your source. You go to him because he's the one that's filling you up to pour out in the first place. You go to the source for the direction of your life. (audience applauds) So what does that mean? That means that sometimes we only want the source when we need him, because our cup's empty. He says, "Every moment of your life, "my question to you and your pastors, "let's be honest, ask yourself, "what am I pouring my life into?" I like something A.W. Tozer said. He said this. He says, "We often treat Jesus "the way Saul treated David. "We want him to slay our giants, "seeing evil spirits away, "but we don't want him to be king. "When he's king, he's your source. "So you ask the king, "what do you want from me? "I just dropped them, I can go home, can I?"

(audience applauds) Pour out your cup, but you can't keep pouring in. Your pastor cannot keep pouring from an empty cup to you. I cannot. I cannot. That means if you're gonna pour out your life, you've gotta refill your life, you've gotta refill your cup. And here you go. How do I fill that cup, pastor? Really easy, it's been this whole series. First of all, you refilled by his precepts, everyone. His word, everybody say his word. Look what Psalm 119, David even said this in verse 25, he says, "I lie in the dust. "Revive me by your what, everyone." I told you my plans, and you answered. Now teach me your degrees. I've told you my brilliant ideas, Lord. Now I wanna go to the source. You tell me how I should treat this. Because I'm lying in the dust, but you can revive me by your word. See, the word doesn't just inform you. I'd hope you didn't come to be informed. You need to know that the word doesn't just inform you. It revives you when you're lying in the dust. I really wanna encourage some of you to do something. This Wednesday we're having the open house for the ministries, but there's one small group

that you may really wanna be interested in. And it's simply called this how to read your Bible, because a lot of believers don't know. They don't know the word of God. So we have a small group that's running every Wednesday. It's gonna run every Wednesday, and here are three things you're gonna learn on how to read the Bible. You're gonna learn how to listen through the word of God. You're gonna learn, and then you're gonna show how to live it out in your practical life. And every single week that's gonna be going to teach you how to listen to God's word, how do I learn what it's being said, and then how do I live it out? And this, actually, those three things are a three-year path. It's a three-year path. On just getting the word of God inside of you, how to study the Bible. You can sign up right now. I would get on because there's limited seating for it. So get right on, and you can jump in any time. So you say, next year, I wanna get on this. You can jump in any time on this path. But I want you to realize that you need the word to revive you, because your emotions, they can get depleted, and the word will revive you. Your perspective against distorted, but the Word of God will not distort you, it'll lead you in all truth.

Your mind can get absolutely exhausted, but the Word of God will not only revive you, how may you discover it will actually restore your life and put your broken pieces all back together again. That's what the Word of God does. I like what the old preacher said. He said, "A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't." You get restored by his precepts. You get restored by his people. You need to hang. You are not designed to play the game of loan. You were designed to finish with God's people right beside you. Look at Paul. I want you to look at the apostle Paul. Look at this guy. He's facing death. They're going to chop his head off. He tells young Timothy, the guy he's mentored, "Look what he says to him in the next verse of our text. Second Timothy chapter 4 verse 9, "Look what he says to this young preacher." He says, "Do your best to come to me quickly. Do your best to come to me quickly." This guy is the apostle, the great apostle Paul. Not afraid of death. He's a missionary. He's an apostle. He's a church planner. He wrote 25% of the New Testament that you read. He's a spiritual giant and this great spiritual giant admits to this young man, "You've got to get to me quickly. I need God's people around me because you refill my tank as well.

God uses you to refill me." That's why Hebrews tells us everybody and let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near church. I can't tell you enough. Young people. I can't tell you enough. More and more tied to the body of Christ than ever before and do it quickly. Some of you to come here for the first time, I tell everybody, "Give us at least one year of your life and then look back at your life after one year." His word and his people will actually revive and restore you. He will use it. You need to be with the church. I'm telling you. You need friends. You need a small group. I don't know how Brendan and I would have made it without God's people in this church. I don't know how we would have made it without you. Our lowest value, some of you don't even know you're brand new to the church. When our dardisara was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, one of our main worship leaders long past her drew up here and walking that journey, the lowest valley we've ever been, then watching her pass away, and then even after it, even even to this very day, you all have no idea. It was not just God's presence, but his people will help bring you refreshing water at times. They're not the source, but he sure uses those people to bring that water to you, amen? You need his people. The last thing I want to give you, those are so simple, his precepts. You need his people, but most of all, you need his presence because he is the source. That's why the psalmist said in Psalm 16, "In the presence of the Lord, there is what, everybody, fullness of joy, and at his right hand, pleasures forevermore."

This was Paul's secret, it was the presence of God, and I want you to see what he wrote these Ephesians, and we're going to pray for you in just a moment. How could he wrote these Ephesians? He said, "Don't be drunk with wine." Don't be drunk with wine, because this will ruin your life. Instead, what did he say? Be what everybody? Be filled with the Holy Spirit, the presence of God. Here's a way to usher that presence in, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and making music to the Lord in your heart. He's saying, "Here's what I'm telling you, new Christians in Ephesus. You've got to be filled to face the culture, to face the dirty diapers, to face the new school year. You've got to have the Holy Spirit. You've got to have it. Did you know what these people were in? Let me just give you. Do you think your culture's rough? You should have seen what he was walking to in Ephesus, these new Christians. That whole place was filled with nothing but worship to the goddess Diana. This was an epicenter for cults and occultic practices, Ephesus. This is where Paul walks into. These believers come to him. She was a fertility God, so sexual immorality was wheels off. Then they would tie it to another God called Dionysus, which was the God of Wine. They would mix those two together, the God of Wine, and they would get intoxicated. Actually, what was happened, it was a place of just letting go. To any kind. Everybody was a part of it, and it had no restraint. It was just letting go, and it was really,

it was demonic spirits that would fill the people and push the culture, and it was wheels off immorality. Wheels off, and he says, don't get drunk with that spirit you once knew. Get away from that spirit that's trying to get at you. Don't be filled with that spirit. Be filled with the presence of God, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you would read that in the Greek, it would be even more powerful, because the mood of that word be filled is an imperative mood, which means I'm not suggesting that you show up to church once a month. When you need just a little water. He says, it's a command. He says, I command you be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the only way you'll survive to pour out your life, so you can be riffled again to pour out to your family, to your career, to every part of it, and then you listen to God and how to pour it out. You gotta have that Holy Spirit power. He's saying, it is wrong. Let me ask you this, this is why I like to put it. How may you be wrong if I showed up this morning, and I could hardly walk, and I could hardly talk because your pastor was so stoned, because he got high before he got in your gut drunk. How may you think it would be wrong? How may you be embarrassed of your pastor?

How may you think it's wrong that I would come in your stoned and drunk? Please, everybody raise your hand and we gotta start a whole new series over. Okay, 'cause then I'm thinking, this crowd really doesn't have it. How may you think it would be wrong for me to come in here stoned drunk? Here's the word of that, let me flip it over. Then this was, this is what this means. Y'all ready for this? He says, Sam Reichl, with justice, it would be wrong for you to come in high and stoned into this place to minister these people. It would be equally wrong for you to step into this pulpit without the Holy Spirit and just pour into these people. (gentle music) That's what he's saying. So he's talking, not just to preachers, he's talking to the people of the culture. So he's saying to them, just as wrong as it would be for you to go high and be stoned in front of your kid drunk that you can't stand up, it is equally wrong for you to try to raise your child without the power of the Holy Spirit in your life every day. Just as wrong as it would be for you to go to work tomorrow, stoned in high and come staggering into your job, they would kick you and fire off just as wrong as that.

It's just as wrong for you to go to that job without the power of the Holy Spirit to make a business decision. Just as wrong as it would be for you to go to school onto the campus, stoned high and drunk that you could not even study. It is equally wrong for you to go under your campus without the power of the Holy Ghost. You must have the power of the Holy Spirit in your life to face the spirit of the world. That's what he's saying. (audience applauding) What he's saying, just as wrong as it's for you to go on your dates high and stoned and drunk so you don't have any, just like the Ephesians, no control when you do whatever you want your body. He said, is he equally wrong for you to date someone without the power in the filling of the Holy Spirit, ask in the source, fill me and show me how to disperse the water of my life even in this relationship. That's what he's saying. And then we also read it. You also gotta understand that it's not only in the imperative but this is in the present tense. And he's saying this is a continuing action. This is the way it would really read in the Greek. You ready for this? It would actually read be, being filled with the Holy Spirit, be, being filled. So it was, oh, one great day at camp.

I spoke in tongues and shondied the wallpaper off the wall or go into your conference for four glorious days, a fire conference and then coming back and saying, well, let's wait till next year and get refreshed. Those are great for refreshments. But he said, this is a continuous action in your life. Turn on that worship music. Read that scripture. Let the spirit fill your car in your home. Let it fill your spirit while you're driving on the car where you're walking through the neighbor. Let it filter, put your air pods in and just begin to let worship come out of you. Be, being filled. And that actually is a picture of a sail being set up, the word picture itself with wind hitting it and pushing you through the waves that crash against you. Catch the wind of the spirit every day. How about we get filled with the Holy Spirit today so that we can face anything when we go out those doors. (audience applauding) Thank you, Jesus. [MUSIC PLAYING]