The Place of His Presence
I was having a conversation with a woman I worked with. She was sitting at her desk reading the paper • • and she was going, going on and on about how horrible the world is, talking about sin and immorality and kind of wringing her hands over injustices and all this kind of stuff. • • And the longer she talked about it, I just thought, you know, I get the feeling that she'd be happier if the rest of the world just weren't even here, if sinners didn't even exist. • • So I let her talk on for a few minutes, • • • and then I said to her, you know, it makes you think that God must just hate the world. She said, oh, I know he does, uh, he hates the world. • • • • • And then I just looked at her • • and after a couple of seconds, the penny dropped • • and then her face fell. • • • • • God doesn't hate the world. God loves the world. • • He loves the world so much that he gave his Son to die for. • • • • He still loves the world, • • and he wants to love the world through you. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • That's why the Apostle Paul says in Romans twelve one, • • in view of God's mercy, offer your body as a living sacrifice. • • Now, why does the Bible say, offer your body? Is that something that can really be done? And why does God want your body anyway? Why doesn't he just say, have nice thoughts about God or good intentions, or just turn your heart? What is it about your body? Why is that so important? • • I think Paul answers that question in one Corinthians six, one nine and 20 when he says, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? • • You are not your own. Paul says you were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body. • • See, the Bible is saying that your body, your flesh and blood and bones is the temple of the Holy Spirit. A temple is where people meet God. • • And your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It's his dwelling place. You see, God doesn't live in buildings, he lives in his people. • • • Your body • • is the place of God's presence on the earth. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • You see, God uses people to touch people. • • When Jesus came to Earth, he didn't come as just some abstract theory or idea. • • He came in the flesh as a human being. • • And Jesus now fills us with the Holy Spirit and empowers us for ministry and for mission in the world. You see, God wants to partner with you to accomplish the purposes of heaven on earth. • • • There are people in the world who will never hear God's voice • • until they hear you speak the word of God to them. There are people in the world who will never see God s face • • until they see the love of Christ in your eyes. • • There are people in the world who will never feel the touch of God in their life until you reach out with mercy and compassion through your hands. God wants to use us to reach people. He wants to use your body to reach people for his purposes. • • • Now, you may think that's a wonderful idea, but how is that possible? • • • • I know me. I know my sins. I know the issues that I wrestle with. I know my habits and my thought patterns. I mean, how is it possible for God to really fill me with his Spirit and use me when I got all that stuff in my life? • • Don't I have to get all that stuff out of my life in order to be full of the Holy Spirit? • • • • It's a good question. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Well, I would answer that question this way. • • You can't get that stuff out of your life unless and until • • you're full of the Holy Spirit. • • • Jesus, uh, • said in John 15 five, apart from me, you can do nothing. • • • You know, if you look that word nothing up in your Greek lexicon and try to get back to the original meaning of the text, • • that word nothing literally means nothing. • • Apart from me, you can do nothing. • • But in Philippians 413, • • • the Bible gives us some of the most, um, comforting and hopeful words. • • When Paul writes, I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. • • • • • Uh, so the Bible says that you can do all things through Christ, but apart from Christ, you can do nothing. • • It's all or it's nothing. There is no in between. You have to have his strength. You see? He gives you strength to accomplish the tasks ahead of you. He gives you strength to influence the world around you. He gives you strength to endure the hardships and the trials of life, and he gives you strength to resist temptation, • • strength to accomplish, strength to influence, strength to endure, and strength to resist. You can do all things through Christ, who gives you strength. And he gives you strength through the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. You have to be full of the Spirit. Well, you say, well, what does that mean, to be full of the Spirit? • • Is that a once in a lifetime experience • • • and every now and then kind of experience? • • Well, I believe the Bible teaches it is a constant, ongoing experience. • • • • In Ephesians 518, Paul says, be filled with the Holy Spirit. What? He literally says there is be being filled with the Holy Spirit. He's talking about • • a constant, continual availability • • to a constant and continual infilling of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your life to be being filled. • • • • • Why don't you come into the kitchen with me? I want to show you what this looks like. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • You see, when you first gave your heart to Christ, • • you're like this glass, and you were filled with fresh, pure, clean water. Your life made new, a whole new start, • • • • • you're like a drink fit for the king, • • • • filled with his spirit. But then • • life happens, • • and you start putting stuff in here that really has no business being in here. Let me give you some ideas here. • • • Uh, I have some vinegar. This will be selfrighteousness. Now, um, the thing about selfrighteousness • • is it looks like the real thing, • • but it stinks, and you sure don't want to be drinking this stuff. • • Selfrighteousness says, • • I'm better than that person is, • • or I'm glad that I don't do those kinds of things that those people do. And we begin to become • • proud of our spiritual accomplishments. And the other thing about selfrighteousness is that we think it looks real, but everybody else can see it coming. • • • How about this one? I've got some hot sauce here. Or red sauce. This will be anger. • • Red, hot, burning anger. • • • • We're flying off the handle. Our kids or our spouse. We're blowing up the people at work. There's just anger brewing around inside all the time. We don't want it there. But, you know, it's an issue a lot of us deal with in our lives. We still wrestle with anger. • • • • • How about this one? • • • • • • • • This beer represents • • • dissipation. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, the verse I quoted a minute ago about being filled with a spirit, ephesians 518. • • Paul starts that verse out by saying, • • don't get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, • • but be filled with the spirit. Now, what does dissipation mean? Well, dissipation means to disintegrate, and, uh, it's the opposite of integrity. It means to scatter, to burn away a picture. That would be, um, the fog on an early morning. That's dissipating. It's being burned away by the sun. • • • • There's a lot of things that can bring dissipation to our lives. Like my wife often says, too much of anything is not good. Dissipation can come from too much ESPN. Sorry, guys. But I mean, think about it. How many people do you know who can quote every statistic about a sports team, but they don't know any verses from the Bible? Dissipation can come from, uh, to be fair, • uh, too many soap operas, too much daytime television. It can come from all kinds of things. It's not that those things are bad in themselves. It's just taken in too much. Wasting your time, wasting the resources of what God is working into your life, spending it on those things, squandering yourself away. And Paul says, look, don't fill your life up with that kind of stuff. Instead, • • • be being filled with the Holy Spirit. • • • • Here's another one. • • • • I have some, uh, brown mustard here. • • • This will represent selfishness, • • • • and it's really kind of gross looking. • • • The thing about selfishness like this mustard • • is that it taints everything that it touches. • • You ever had somebody do something nice for you for all the wrong reasons, and it just kind of ruined the experience? Well, that's what selfishness is like. Just always thinking of yourself first. • • • • • • • • • How about this one? • • • • • • Uh, here's some green sauce. This will be envy. • • Let me talk to you for a second about envy because it's a big deal with a lot of us. Envy and jealousy are not the same thing. Jealousy is this angry protection of what you already have. But envy means to hate somebody else for what they have. Envy says, • • • • how come her marriage is better than mine? What, does that guy have a better job than I have? I deserve his job. I should have that life, not that person. • • And the thing about envy is that • • • if you have envy in your heart, you can't be grateful for the things you have because you're always looking at what you don't have. • • • Or how about this one? • • • • • Got some lemon here. This will be bitterness. • • • • Bitterness usually comes from • • unforgiveness. • • We carry grudges. We pick up an offense so easily, and we refuse to let go. • • And so it starts to make us bitter in our hearts. • • And it's a very real issue. It can be so hard to let go of things real, authentic, deep wounds. And yet we're told we have to forgive. But if we don't forgive, • • it leads to bitterness in us. • • • • Got one more thing here. • • • • • • What about the • • really dark stuff? • • • • The websites, the movies? You have no business going to • • the dark. Thought patterns and habits it just can't seem to break free from. • • • • • But they're there, you know? We all have them. We all have the secret things in our life that we hate. We want them out of our life. We don't want to be that way. And we struggle with them. We love the Lord. But there's these issues, these things that we carry with us. • • See all this stuff in your life, • • • • • • and you get it all stirred up, • • • • • • and there you are, • • • • a man or woman of God • • • • filled with his spirit, • • • • • • ready to go out and do the work of the ministry. • • • • • • • • In a minute, • • I'm going to drink from this class. • • • But before I do, I want to ask you a question. • • • • • • Does any of this look familiar to you? • • • • Do you have these kinds of things going on in your life? There could be other issues that I haven't even talked about. But are you familiar with this struggle? And you think, I know what I look like inside? • • I want to be full of God's spirit. I want to be living a life that's pleasing him. But I know this stuff that's going on. • • • I, uh, got to clean up my act. I got to get this stuff out of my life so that I can be full of God's spirit and he can do something great in my life. • • Well, but then here's the question. • • How am I going to get the Tabasco sauce out of here? How can I just get the anger out of this mix here? Or how can I get the vinegar out of this cocktail? How would I extract that from this? • • • Or how can I get everything else out of this class and just get back down to the beer? • • • • • • • • • The answer is you can't. • • • Remember, Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing, • • but you can do all things through Christ, who gives you strength. If you want your life to be clean, you've got to come back to your source, • • back to the source of power and cleansing that comes through the presence of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit in your life. • • Jesus said in John 738 that whoever believes in me, • • streams of living water • • will flow from within him. • • • So you come back to Your source and you say, lord, you said that if I believe in you, that streams of living water would flow from you. Well, Lord, I believe in you. And I'm confessing today that apart from You, I can't do this. I need to be filled with you today, lord, I'm presenting My body to you and I'm asking you, would you fill me again with Your Holy Spirit? Would you purify my heart and my life? Would you wash me clean once more? Lord, I need more of your spirit. I need more of Your presence, more of Your power in my life. • • Lord, I want to see the fruit of the Spirit in me. I need more love, more joy, more peace, more patience, • • more kindness. • • Lord, I need more gentleness and goodness. And the Lord you know that I need selfcontrol • • • • So I surrender myself to You, Lord, and I'm asking you today to fill me in a fresh way with Your Holy Spirit. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Now, I told you a minute ago I was going to drink out of this class • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • and you say, well, that's a really neat illustration, but • • what about the big stuff? • • What about those habits and thought patterns, addictions, the things that I just cannot seem to get over, the stuff I have carried with me and fought for years? What about that stuff? • • • • • You know, • • given time, • • • a continuous stream of water • • will erode any boulder • • • • • and it will reduce every rock to sand, • • • • • • • be being filled with the Holy Spirit. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • So what does that look like on a practical level? • • Is it really possible to offer your body to God? An act of worship? • • And if it is, what would that look like? How would you do that? • • • Well, uh, let me tell you what I like to do. I like to start my day off with a simple prayer of faith, a prayer of invitation, inviting the Lord to fill me again with the Holy Spirit in a fresh way. That's not a mountain size faith. It's just a mustard seed of faith, the same faith that I had when I first asked Jesus into my life. • • And I'm not talking about getting saved all over again. What I am talking about is a reconnection, reminding myself • • that apart from Christ, I can do nothing, • • but I can do all things through Christ. It gives me strength. • • So I open myself up with a prayer and I say, Lord, here I am today, and I'm asking you, would you fill me in a fresh way today with your Holy Spirit? Lord, would you renew the strength of your spirit in me so that I can accomplish the tasks I'm facing, that I can influence the world around me? Lord, would you give me strength to endure whatever tests and trials come my way? • • • Lord, would you give me strength to resist temptation today? • • • And then, Lord, I'm asking you, would you look through my eyes and tell me what you see? Lord, would you listen through my ears today? Tell me what you're hearing? And then, Lord, would you reach out through my hands and extend grace and mercy and compassion to the world around me? • • • • Lord, I know that you still love the world, • • and I'm asking you to love the world through me. • • • • It's just that simple. • • • • • Now, uh, let me make a suggestion to you. Tonight, when you're getting ready for bed, why don't you kick one of your shoes underneath your bed? And then tomorrow morning, when you're down on your knees looking for your shoe, • • I'll take a minute to give God what he's looking for. Say, Lord, here I am. Come and fill me in a fresh way today with your spirit. And then, Lord, help me to walk in a way. Worship I will give • • you all my, uh, worship, • • and I will give • • you all my pray. • • • • • You alone • • I long to worsen. HM. • • • You alone • • are worthy of my praise. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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