Emptying Self to Embrace God's Empowering Spirit

"Emptying yourself of yourself to be filled with God and I'm assuming most of you here would love to be filled with God's Spirit overflowing or joy and peace and contentment suffering are flowing out of you but that requires something to be emptied inside of you for example how much more water can I pour in here not much and that's what many of us have a lot of self in us self will self righteousness self exaltation all about self and the the spirit of God that wants to fill us and overflow in our lives is there's not room for that because of our self will." [00:00:24]

"Every believer has the Holy Spirit, the question though that I often throw out there every six months or so is but does the Holy Spirit have all of you? You have all of the Holy Spirit I believe it conversion that you will ever need but does the Holy Spirit have all of you there's there's a surrendering that takes place there's a submission that takes place and as we empty ourselves can you imagine if pastors would come up here and say well I just spent a couple hours on this wonderful website that had all the sermons already done." [00:03:36]

"Empowered by the Spirit now as a Christian if you truly believe and you've repented of your sin and you know Jesus Christ the gift that you are given is the Holy Spirit so every believer has the Holy Spirit the question though that I often throw out there every six months or so is but does the Holy Spirit have all of you? You have all of the Holy Spirit I believe it conversion that you will ever need but does the Holy Spirit have all of you there's there's a surrendering that takes place there's a submission that takes place and as we empty ourselves." [00:03:36]

"True empowerment comes through humility, not self-exaltation. As we humble ourselves, God can work through us in powerful ways. This humility allows us to be bold in our faith, standing for truth and being a voice in a world that often opposes God's ways. And if you're wondering why are so many churches not opening I can guarantee those pastors are not spending a lot of time with God on their knees with their Bible open praying and worshiping and saying God fill me with your spirit because if so they will come out of that prayer closet like Superman and say we've got to do something we're not being pushed around by the state anymore." [00:06:39]

"Knowledge begins to puff you up, and ah look what I know oh you're so great look at look at what he knows he's so spiritual he can quote the whole book of James yes I can look and that knowledge begins to puff you up and there's not any more humility and you will lose that spiritual power is it interesting Jesus rebuked the church in Revelation believers chapter 3 he said I see your works I see what you're doing but you've left your first a hard heart has crept in and that's why I use the word modern day Pharisee because we can become critical and judgmental and God calls us back to that place of humility and brokenness." [00:09:48]

"God will allow certain weaknesses in our lives to keep us humble can you imagine if we mastered everything I haven't struggled with that in 20 years I'm sorry for all of you I don't struggle with this I don't do this I don't do this I don't I've mastered everything and you begin to become conceited God says touches that area see that weakness see that weakness and that weakness is not given to you so you're so you live in defeat and succumb to it it's given often or allowed so you realize God I am weak I can't overcome this I'm just a frail man and I need your help so in your weakness then you are strong." [00:18:37]

"Spiritual discipline spiritual power talking about the spirit's power is like a bank account what's being deposited eventually can be withdrawn it's also like spiritual powers like a generator we almost had to do that this morning do you know we had no power until 8 30 this morning cutting it close lord but I had perfect peace I'm driving here saying lord if you want us to be live and microphone you'll do it if not I'm fine with it and there's just peace trusting in God but it's like a generator what is plugged into that generator what's being plugged into your life what's being deposited into your life because all of us are simply a product of what's been going in correct what's been going in our heart what's been going in our mind what have we been absorbing what have we been conformed to would be what have we been transformed by what have we been reading what have we been accepting what have we been doing how we've been living all of that that's being deposited is going to be how we live what's being withdrawn from our spiritual bank accounts." [00:27:39]

"The word of God implants God's truth to be empowered by the spirit you have to allow that truth to penetrate your heart do you know when I step up here on Sunday mornings when pastor Abram steps up all we're doing is preaching from the outflow of what was deposited into our heart by the truth if we come up just give opinions or what I think it'll be a spiritually dead church the the the the word of God implants God's truth all of his truth by the way not just the nice feely things that feel good do you know there's so many churches that just I'm just going to focus on the good things I'm just going to focus on the candy that's why they call it candy coating or making things taste good but you have to allow all of the truth all of the truth to come into your heart and then give that out to the people and then you have to have a spiritual discipline in your life of prayer prayer strengthens you and it fortifies you so to be empowered by the spirit what you're doing sometimes I say God we want to pull down heaven there's a connection that takes place with prayer." [00:28:39]

"Paul said therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses I will boast in my weaknesses isn't that interesting it just just yes I am not educated people would say to some of you and some of us I'm not educated I'm not this I'm weak in this area I'm I'm I stutter some people stuttering problems I do this I have learning disability or whatever I'm going to boast in my weakness because then God is even more glorified so you boast in that what God is is allowing in your life and you boasting is not prideful boasting it's it's yes these weaknesses are true but God is greater and I've found that people love transparency it's love transparency I mean you you look in at certain people on YouTube or you watch listen to them on radio and you think oh man I bet they I bet they've just rise to the top no they're just like you same problems same issues they just they just have a different calling a different gifting and that's what we talked about last night blessed are the poor in spirit the broken and humble in spirit so my point was and all of that long point is empowerment through the holy spirit through humility humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God." [00:25:50]

"Empowered by the spirit the power to do something or the power to make someone stronger and I know many of us want to live that victorious Christian life now please understand I'm not talking about you're going to be perfect there was something I believe in the in Methodist Methodist theology John Wesley some of them gravitate gravitated towards perfectionism perfectionism that at some point in your life you can be perfect now it's interesting because the t the scriptures teach that you do not have to sin that you can say no you can lead a victorious life but we also see all the scriptures that talk about oh wretched man than I am Paul said who will deliver me from this body of sin and death for with the mind I serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin and we see this depravity pulling us in the wrong direction and wanting and so I don't see perfectionism in the New Testament other than in the life of Jesus Christ where he is our model he is our example but there's a big difference between being defeated and staying defeated and being hit with the right hook and getting back up and fighting again that's the spirit-filled life you might have got me devil last week you might have got me a month ago you might have tried to take me out but by the spirit of God I'm going to be empowered the power to do something." [00:07:47]

"Finally, repentance is crucial for experiencing the fullness of the Spirit. Sin can block the flow of God's power in our lives, and we must be willing to repent and turn from anything that hinders our relationship with God. As we humble ourselves and seek God's presence, we can experience the Spirit's empowerment, leading us to live lives that glorify Him. So the great question this morning before we go to the second service are you resisting the holy spirit are you resisting the holy spirit this morning maybe there are certain areas I've been talking about the last 30 minutes that god has been convicting you of a certain areas you need to work on certain areas god wants you to give to him that's why I believe fasting is so important it's very difficult but it starves the flesh in order to hear clearly from god and get direction from god." [00:38:39]

"Repentance has cleaned up the line of communication in my heart praise god I remember how many of you heard of dl moody okay a lot of people he's a famous Christian he was trying to do ministry in his own strength I want to build up dl moody's kingdom I want to build up my ministry I want to be known I want to be recognized and god humbled him and you realize that he was in it for the wrong reasons he surrendered everything said god I don't care if it's just me and you I want to follow you and the spirit of god came upon him that day and now we hear of deal moody and there's other stories in in books that I read where where women wanting the holy spirit wanting this holy spirit and there's little things like I remember one woman I can't remember her name but she was so concerned about her attire her dress and her hair and her her I guess he wore hats back then you know she had this hat she loved she was all about her looks and god kept convicting her that she's like no I'm holding aunt no no this is this is who and then finally she let that go and the spirit of god fell upon her life and she was changed and and you can call it a baptism the holy spirit you can call it the unction the filling whatever you want to call it that's not the point is the point is do you have it and once she removed that blockage the spirit of god moved in a powerful way there's other people once they've they've gotten rid of things that god was convicting them on the power the presence of the holy spirit is so real so I just want to leave you with that point is there something in your life that needs to be repented of is something blocking the power of god in your life well shane what is it you ask god from experience I'll just tell you from experience we usually know what it is because people notice it we have blind spots people don't right that see us it's probably been pointed out in our lives it's probably something we know we have an issue with we know we get we need to get rid of it but what do we do we deflect it well yeah but you right it'd be like saying shane you need to work on this with your wife with your marriage with morgan god yeah but her you don't know her okay okay once she gets fixed what what then then then you can talk to me you'll never know the filling and power of the spirit you'll never get that joy back that anointing back in your life unless you take it and you own it same thing happens with when pastors and preaching they want to come up and impress and they're a great speaker and they have a master's degree in this and a phd in this and and it's just this just this ambiance of arrogance they will never know the true spirit's power I remember there was a man samuel chadwick I think you can still get his book something about the fire of pentecost and on the back it says the pastor who threw all his sermons in the fire and received the fire of the holy spirit because he had all these polished sermons like this is great and this is the greek and the hebrew and this and and I'm just the people are gonna be so impressed by my preaching right and he just he just god was convicting he threw them all in the fire said god I just want you and now we hear of this person do you know the same thing would happen with all areas of ministry if somebody really wants if a worship leader really wants to be filled with the spirit of god and usher people into the presence and power of god they need to be very broke and very humble if it's about look at me look at my voice aren't I eloquent and don't I sound good and they'll miss you might have ability you might have ability and gifting but you won't have the fire of the spirit listen there's worship leaders so broken humble when you go in I remember this one couple I don't remember their name we went to a conference and just in their practicing I fell on my knees just walk you feel the the anointing is strong because it's not about them it's about god robert murray mcshaney he was in scotland in the I think the 1800s he died when he's only 29. but there would be lines waiting out the door and when people come into the sanctuary when he would come to the pulpit and begin he'd spent so much time with god hours in prayer hours of fasting that the spirit of god would descend in the he wouldn't even start yet and people began to weep that that's the anointing the tangible presence of god oh folks that's what we need show me your glory god I don't want to just play church I don't want to get the normal church I can just come up here and give a message based on my experience based on my knowledge of the bible oh shane's a motivational speaker that's great let's go have lunch but I want god to move in this place I want hearts to be ripped open and rent and convicted I want people to be challenged and and built up and strengthened you might even hear that shane I've been set free this morning this addiction I've been dealing with this healing I've been healed this morning why why can't god heal during worship why can't he heal during the preaching and proclaiming of his word that's actually if you want to know what genuine healing is in the bible it's not somebody running around throwing their coat on people blowing on them see some weird stuff on tv often you will see healing take place that during worship or during something god will put something on somebody's heart and there's a strong impression and they'll go and they'll pray for that person but why because they're exercising their faith and their gift of healing and they pray for that person god begins to heal because that that person was humble that vessel was being used they were open and god began to direct where he wants to heal you it's not just if these some of these people truly had a healing ministry why don't they go the hospital if the strength and power is in you and wherever you go there's healing and you're like a genie in a bottle and you can just heal on demand go to the hospital I believe in the gift of healing I believe that but god moves through people who are humble and submitted and broken during worship during times of prayer god will put it on their heart god will and god begins to heal through people who are open to that so we're not opposed to any of that what about prophetic words uh oh he's getting out there well it's just in the bible well paul said it so if you don't like it get some scissors and cut out first corinthians 12 13 14. that's what your scripture teaches the holy spirit gives words of wisdom words of knowledge he'll put something on somebody's heart who's humble and submitted and that person will feel that and say I don't know I don't know if it's me but god I feel god wants to tell you this and it will confirm because that's the holy spirit moving but shane we have the word isn't that enough yeah but sometimes I need a little encouragement to know I'm grounded and strengthened because I don't trust shane idleman I need some confirmation from god sometimes and and we're going to honor a a powerful woman of god marilyn enos we're having her service here on the seventh on a saturday I believe I'll never forget this morning this this day was october 2018. oh here we go two years ago and I'm back in there I had to I had to I had to deliver some hard things to the congregation I was struggling for about two days lord I can't do this I cannot do this I do not trust me is it am I just angry am I just hurt I'm not I can't do this and I'm back there it's early morning worship she's right here on the altar I believe and I see her she gets up walks around comes over tells me god wants you to not hold anything back what you need to say today you say it and she came back down like what is that oh shane that's just coincidence oh good for you you can believe that I don't see that's god working prophetically that's how the holy spirit works I remember david ravenhill also I've gave some of you example but we've seen a lot of new faces I'll give it again he was at a dinner where this missionary full of the spirit of god had this impression to share with another missionary had wanted to say this is so bizarre I can't even say it so for like an hour they didn't say anything they just ate dinner and it's like oh I just I have this burden I've got to just say this okay I know this is gonna weird but I'm just gonna say this and he told this girl she was about 22 he said god wants you to know that he hates also hates mommies and daddies and this girl started breaking down crying and weeping and come to find out her uncle used to sexually abuse her and say let's play mommies and daddies and that prophetic word set her free see that that's not clean is it that's not tidy oh god doesn't do that anymore well I don't believe that see that's what the gifts of the spirit before we have the word of god we love the word of god but we don't elevate the word of god before the holy spirit it confirms what the holy spirit works it confirms what the word of god says so I trust the word I just don't trust me I need sometimes I need the holy spirit to lead me to guide me to give me some confirmation I've prayed many times god give me confirmation I could share stories for the next couple hours see that's what the holy spirit life is it's in it's filled by the spirit led by the spirit guided by the spirit infused by the spirit empowered by the spirit the spirit-filled life so if something is blocking that that that work of the spirit I just want to ask you to repent this morning of that but I also want to encourage those who don't know who jesus is this morning you don't have the holy spirit in you the holy spirit's alongside I believe convicting drawing you you maybe go to church and maybe your parents are christians a spouse is a christian you listen to shane on the radio or other people you hear it but your heart is not engaged I want to encourage you this morning if that's you to repent the bible says repent repent it means change the way you see sin and you say god back to point number one I humble myself I need the cross do you know why it's so hard for people to say I need the cross I need christ he's my lord and my savior why can't they say that because of pride as I shared with you last night that pride cometh before a fall that word actually is destruction pride comes before destruction so people say how can a loving god send someone to hell he doesn't send them to hell their pride and their arrogance reject reject the gracious gift of god that's why it's on them not on" [00:53:20]