What it Means to be Spirit-Filled

0:03 Is it bad if I stand out here? It shouldn't be bad, right? The rain's bad. I just feel like I want to be with you. Like, that's lame, under a covered thing. I want to get wet with you. This morning when I woke up, I really wanted it to be sunny.

0:24 And God wanted it to rain. And He won again. and I was thinking about that. I was like, God, just keep the rain away. Keep the rain away. And God says, no, I want it to rain. Right? I mean, obviously. This is his will. This is his desire. And then I get here and I start worshiping in the rain and going, God, I like this more. Isn't that the way life goes sometimes? We're like, God, give me this, give me this, give me this. He says, no. and give you something else and you go, oh, I like this more. and I think about how often like we come to worship and we want it a certain way right and this is such a good reminder that it's not about us you know even when I got over to Hooli's going okay we're gonna do it here outside and you know Brian Kusinoki was there he says well basically said, I know the Niners are still playing today out in the rain, and people will still show up, and we're going to go worship God.

1:39 You know? I was like, wow. It just changed my whole attitude, just him saying that. And I've said that before. I go, man, you ever heard of the Green Bay Packers? Man, it is so hard to get tickets to a Green Bay Packer game when it's 20 below and it's a blizzard. Why? because people are fanatic about them. And the ones that aren't will just stay at home and watch it on TV. You know? And I thought, God, what do you want today? He wanted a bunch of people in the rain worshiping Him. Saying, you're so worth it. It's so good. Some of the trials in our life, some of the most difficult times end up, you look back in life and go, thank you. I'm so grateful that I went through that trial. I'm so grateful it was difficult. But it's so hard in the flesh not to want a sunny day every day. And want every day to be, you know, 70 degrees.

2:37 The sun's beating on our faces just right. Not too hot. Not too cold. But what if God is more honored by this? And says, I like watching this. This is really cool. Maybe he likes the way the water beads up on my head as I sing. You know? And he just likes it. I like it. Now that I'm here, I'm going, this is really, really cool being here with you guys and just worshiping our Savior. You think about everything he's done for us. Man, think about everything he's done for us. It's so good. It's so easy to focus on what's wrong, you know? It's so easy to focus on the rain and go, gosh, I'm getting wet. and not looking around and going, man, I'm worshiping with a hundred crazy people in the rain who believe Jesus is worth it.

3:32 You know, it's so easy to look at the little things that are off and not go, God, you rescued all of us. So many of us that were destined, just like Mary of this life of misery, and you brought us to yourself, and now we're here celebrating you. We're going to be celebrating you forever. And yet we can lose sight of that so fast and be disappointed in something. And that's exactly what Satan wants us to do. He would love for us to stop giving him thanks. Satan would love for us to just take a break from our worship. He does this every day, right? He tries to get your mind on other things that you don't worship. He wants you to get focused on it. He was doing that to me all morning. just trying to get my mind on other things so that I would not sing to him. So I would not worship him for the cross.

4:28 He was trying to get me to think about lesser things. And this mind is so powerful, isn't it? It's like you can kick out demonic thoughts in a second or you can just sit and dwell on them and bask in them and feel sorry for yourself and start, you know, telling your pity party to other people and bringing them down and everything. It's like this mind. It's like one second you can have an evil thought and you can take it captive. You can look at a person wrong, either with anger or lust, and boom, you can sit there and dwell on it, or you can kick it out and go, no, I'm going to worship right now. I'm going to sing right now. I'm going to worship right now because I am not unaware of the enemy's schemes. I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to break up this worship. this song that's in my heart this melody that's going on that's why in Ephesians 5 that we just read this is the passage I feel like the Lord wants us to look at today Ephesians 5 actually real quickly I read this when we're reading 1 Thessalonians in chapter 5 verse 12 it says this we ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

6:02 Be at peace among yourselves. You know, this Thanksgiving, as I was thinking about that verse, it says, we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. As I was just thanking God this Thanksgiving, I just thought about our pastors, your pastors, and what they do on a weekly basis, on a daily basis. And they would never read this verse to you, you know, and say, hey, esteem me, love me. but I thought you know when you get the chance we live in a time where everyone is so arrogant and opinionated and they just come believing that they know better everyone knows better and it is so hard in this day and age to lead I'm cool with it because I've been doing it for a while but I know a lot of these pastors that are new aren't used to a lot of the criticism and it's just it's just very hard to lead I mean who leads well right now you know it's just we live in that type of culture but God wanted the church to be different and he says you know what we ask you respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and it and it might they're even the ones that admonish you okay he's saying respect love these people who actually confront you and tell you what's wrong with your life that's a weird thing but that's what the church is is when someone's honest with you he says actually be grateful for that and esteem them very highly in love I just gotta ask you are you doing that with your pastors just esteeming them highly in love because of their work and he says be at peace

8:07 this is one of the ways that Satan is after our church is he loves division and he loves gossip and he loves when people speak against leadership. And the Bible says, no, let's do the opposite. We know his schemes. Let's fight. Let's love. You know, let's pursue this. But the passage I wanted us to look at today was in Ephesians 5, one that I think you guys are all pretty familiar with.

8:38 Starting in verse 15, he says, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. so the first thing he's saying is be careful how you're living you know how a lot of times you wake up and you just start living right you just wake up and you do the same thing right you get up you know i i try to when i remember like the first words out of my mouth i try to just say holy holy holy is the lord god almighty who was and is and is to come because i think about how those angels have been doing that all night while i was sleeping and i just want to join with them because it helps remind me that this is not about me.

9:59 Okay, they all encircle the throne, and they're not thinking, oh, I'm tired today, I'm this, I'm that. They just, they're looking at the throne, and I need to do that. I need to wake up and first thing out of my mouth, just like those angels day and night going, it's not about me, it's about you. Being holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, is, is to come. You've always been, I've been here 50 years. You've been around forever. You know, billions, trillions, forever and ever and ever. Eternity passed. You'll always be. I've been here 50 years. Who am I? I'm nothing. You are holy, holy, holy, holy. I try to start that way. You know, when I wake up, it's like, boom. Okay. You know, even right from my bed, on my knees. Holy, holy, holy. It's the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Maybe even say it a few times. And then I go brush my teeth.

10:52 You know? And then I walk out to my prayer room. and I get in the presence of God. I read the scripture for the day and I start praying. I just try to get my mind in the right place that it's not about me, you know, but then it's sometimes it starts getting away from me. You know, I start making a little coffee, you know, start eating, start, you know, just doing whatever comes to mind. And what the Bible says is be careful how you walk. Like, be careful. Don't just wake up and walk. Don't just live. Don't just do your thing. Be careful. Think through each day. Think through each movement. Making the most, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Man, this verse has been stuck in my head since we read it.

11:46 Making the most. Making the best use of the time. Making the best use of the time. What is the best use of the time right now? Make the best use of the time. What's the best use of your afternoon?

12:08 What's the best use of tonight? See, we don't think like this. This isn't normal. We just start doing things, and then days start to run together, don't they? And weeks start to run together, and you're like, what did I even do this week? Have I been eating since Thursday night? You know, and just sitting around, like, have I made the best use of the time? Why? Because the days are evil. That word evil is the same word that is used for Satan. It means adversary. There's an enemy. It's like the days are like they're coming against you. You know, can you believe that it's Christmas again? You know, it's just, it's not like when you were kids. Someone told me years ago, they said, when you're five years old, it feels like life is going five miles an hour.

13:04 Right? And it just seems like it's going to be forever until we get to Christmas again. Then you hit 50 and you're moving. You know? And every year will get faster and faster and faster until they just start coming at you and you're going, man, I am at the tail end of things right now. Man, I was visiting a friend in the hospital, you know, who just had a stomach ache last week. Goes in the hospital and they said it's leukemia. You know, I mean, it's crazy. It's just insanity. It just happens. And I'm going, man, you just see this more and more with people younger than you. and you go, man, these days, it's so fragile, and I want to make the best use of my time. Have you been doing this?

14:01 Thinking through, look at your life and go, man, have I made the best use of my time? Not that you get sad about, oh, I'm 30 already, and look at my life, or I'm 40. It's not about that. It's just saying, okay, what's left? We can all play that game. I'm going, man, how many years do I have of energy and sanity left where I could actually do something? It's like, God, it's like that time ticking. I was going to have you guys play a game where the time's ticking and that panic mode because the days are evil. Because you can see the timer winding down 30, 29, 20. You ever play like Scattergories? I was going to do a big Scattergories thing where you hear that buzzer. Hurry, hurry, hurry. What starts with a J? You know, you're just writing boom, boom, boom, boom. Like that's a way that we should be living life in a sense. And I believe what Satan tries to do to me is to get me to stop living with a sense of urgency. And just live life.

15:00 And just kind of, eh, another day. Let me just go for it. Rather than being wise with my time, making the best use of my time, understanding what the will of the Lord is. And then he goes on and he says, And don't get drunk with wine, for that's debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. man before i started hanging out in the bay view i used to hang out in the tl and man it's like everyone i knew out there was just trying to numb their mind somehow it's like i just want to end my life in this sro i don't want to think about anything i just want to be on something as often as i can so i don't have to deal with anything very much like the story we heard from Mary.

15:58 It's like, I just want to end my life before I'm 20 because I just don't want to deal with this anymore. And it's tempting, right? Sometimes when things aren't going the way you think they should, you just go, man, I just don't even want to think. And maybe you don't numb your mind with alcohol, but maybe you do it with Netflix, and you just go, I don't even want to think. I just want to stare at a screen because I don't want to deal with all this stuff. I don't want to make best use of my time. I just want to pass the time. Remember that phrase? Just passing time. And you just do it. And he says, don't get drunk. Don't cloud up that mind. It's going to lead you to this wasteful life. He says, instead, you have the opportunity to be filled with the Spirit of God. Okay?

16:57 Yeah, you can do that. You can fill your mind with other things. You can just veg out, stare at a screen. Or you could be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And what's interesting to me about this passage is he describes what it would look like if you were filled with the Spirit of God. Some of you may say, I'm Spirit-filled, I'm Spirit-filled because of this, this, this. What does the Bible say that is what a Spirit-filled person looks like? It says, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. he has this uh command here of of being filled with the spirit and then he names four things there's four participles saying look this is what a spirit-filled person looks like and the first thing he says is you address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that means when you get together you don't just talk about you you talk about him like the first thing out of your mouth is man god has been so good man i wrote this song for him i wrote this this hymn for him i wrote this poem about him i just want to tell you what i've been thinking about god what i've been learning about god how do you address people you know what's the first thing out of your mouth because you're a spirit-filled people you're not a me-filled person you're a spirit-filled person man i love when i get together with some of you like the first thing you want to tell me is something that God taught you, something you read that morning, something about him. You want to tell me a story about what he just did. Do you know people like that in your life? You know, where it's like the first thing, like you hear them and then boom, it's like, ah, you just lifted me up. Man, wasn't it great when you heard Vanessa share it? Didn't it just like,

19:05 man, that just lifts your spirits. And then, then you hear from Mary, it's like, boom, that's so awesome that just lifts my spirits because they're talking about what god just did is that the way people feel when they leave you going wow man they just lifted my spirits they just got my eyes off of my stuff and told me how great god was that's what a spirit-filled person does they get your mind praising god they address you the first thing they say is not nice You know, first thing they think of is not your physical appearance. The first thing they talk about is not their own problem. The first thing they tell you is, man, God is so good. I can't believe. Man, Thanksgiving is just insane. Sometimes I just look at life and go, what in the world?

19:59 I could be so many places right now. I could be such a mess right now. But God is so good. You know, but what does Satan want to do? He doesn't want you addressing each other that way. He's trying to get in your head. He doesn't like spirit-filled people. You address one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

20:27 Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Do you do this? Do you throughout the day? Just, is there always a song in your head? You know, when you're just driving. Is there just like an ongoing, aren't those the greatest days? You know what I mean? Like those days when you're just driving and you're just in this zone where you're like, you're a good, good father. It's who you are. That's who you are That's who you are And I'm loved by you That's who I am That's who I am That's who I am You're just Nothing's gonna break this song up I'm just gonna keep on singing from my heart God worthy Is the Lamb who was slain Holy, holy is He Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

21:36 There's that unbroken melody. See, Satan wants you thinking other things. He hates the spirit-filled person. You can tell when you're spirit-filled because when you address people, you talk about how good God is. You can tell when you're spirit-filled because there's just melody going on in your heart. You know, I have a bunch of kids, for those who don't know. And so they just end up watching stupid kid videos, right? And don't you hate when those songs get stuck in your head? Door, door, door, the Explorer. And you're just like, man, and it's just like crazy things. And then, you know, and then the kids get older. and I remember, you know, Mercy and Rachel, he said, listen to Taylor Swift and okay, and then I started to, because you guys did.

22:34 And I'd be surfing and suddenly it's like, yeah, you're Tim McGraw. I hope, you know, and suddenly these songs and it's like, man, other songs, Satan's going to want these other songs in your head. and it's like no no no no kick it out kick it out you know have you been in a worshipful mode today did you wake up this morning just making melody to god yes okay i was thinking you know like this morning okay god i want to do whatever you want me to do what do you want me to do what do you want done here because we say that will be done on earth as it is in heaven and i'm just going god this isn't about me this morning i don't care you wanted to rain okay you wanted it to rain that's what you wanted what else do you want well how could this look more like heaven and the thing i kept hearing back i'm not saying an audible voice but i'll say this the thought that kept coming through my head is man it is so not about this one hour it's about the other 167 hours this week you know like are you living a spirit-filled life I mean, yes, it's important to come here, you know, addressing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It's important to come here and sing and make melody in your heart, but God doesn't want the song to end. That's the way it is in heaven. Okay? It's now let's all get geared up for that hour. He says, I want spirit-filled men and women who are singing from their heart and making this melody, and it's just not broken, and nothing breaks it. You can have the worst thing happening and you'll still have 10,000 reasons for your heart to just sing out to him.

24:24 Like that's, that's what the spirit filled person does. Like they address you with praises of God. They never stop singing. And then it says, uh, I love this. And I try to live this. he says giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ the third thing he says is man the spirit filled person is giving thanks to God for everything everything it's like God thank you for this rain it's like the Spirit-filled person sees the good in everything and can thank God for everything. Thank you for the rain. It reminds me of adversity. It reminds me that, you know what?

25:17 Not everything's going to be sunny. And actually, through the adversity, it can actually be better. I started thinking about different issues that I'm going through in life right now. I go, God, thank you for that. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. It says the Spirit-filled person gives thanks for everything. Everything. this Thanksgiving we got to learn to not just hey thank God because we're all healthy it's like hey God thank God thank you for this sickness because here's what I'm learning through it last week I stepped on a sea urchin and I've got all these spikes still in my foot and I've been trying to, you know, soak it in vinegar soaked it in pee, soaked it in salt water I've soaked it in everything, you know, that I read and it's still in there, you know and I just realized, you know what, God just wants me to thank him for whatever reason, it's like, you know what, thank you thank you that that's all it is thank you there's just a couple spikes in my foot thank you they'll eventually get out probably thank you that I can still walk it hurts but hey that's a lot better than others you know it's just God thank you I take my health for granted thank you for reminding me of that are you thanking God from the time you wake up till you go to bed at night think about this Wouldn't you love to hang out with someone like this?

26:49 You know, when they address you, it's just they tell you how good God is. And they just always got this singing melody in their heart. And they're just thankful for everything. They just don't bum you out. And then, you know, I've said this before, like, the most spirit-filled person I know on this earth is Johnny Erickson Tada. She, I've never met anyone so spirit-filled in my life. I just saw her two weeks ago and just, man, it's just, the moment I see that woman, I just light up. I can't help it. For those who don't know her story, she's been in a wheelchair, I believe, for 50 years now. 50 years as a paraplegic, a diving accident when she was like 15 years old.

27:49 And yet, you can't spend 60 seconds with this woman without praise coming out of her mouth. Usually, if you're there for five minutes, she'll literally sing out loud. She can't contain it. she talks about you know what it's like 50 years of somebody having to pick you up out of bed clean you up shower you move you into your chair so that you can just maneuver it with your mouth a little bit maneuver it with your finger a little bit and yet there's no like poor me it's just God is so good God is so great just praising God and I just say Johnny you inspire me more than anyone literally I'm not exaggerating whatever you just and she goes well she goes Francis sometimes I just feel like I don't have a choice she goes I was on that hospital bed just trying to end it but I couldn't reach for a switch couldn't reach for a knife you know what that's like I have two choices to sink and spiral into this misery and try to find a way to kill myself or I've got to praise him nonstop.

29:06 And that's what I choose. And now she's sending like hundreds of thousands of wheelchairs around the world. If you've ever seen her paintings, she paints with her mouth so beautifully and does that. She's written way more books than I have. She's speaking everywhere, flying around the world, changing the world. thanking God. That's a spirit-filled person making the best use of every opportunity, making the best use of her mouth that can still praise and can still paint. The best use of, well, my mind still works, so maybe I can write. Man, I remember when, and she even had cancer at one point, and she had pneumonia, and she was in severe pain and it was that week that i got an encouragement letter from her from her i'm like what in the world are you kidding me i don't want to write encouragement letters when i have a spike in my foot you who are paralyzed in severe pain cancer pneumonia and you're going to write me a note of encouragement.

30:24 Okay. That's just supernatural. That's a spirit-filled person. And then the... It's interesting that... Okay, so those three participles make sense, okay? A spirit-filled person, you're addressing, you know, one another, some spiritual songs, you're singing, making melody in your heart to God, You're giving thanks, everything, you know, for Jesus and everything. But then it says submitting. The fourth one, the last one is submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. there's something about this submission and then he goes on and explains the role of the husband to the wife and then he explains the role of the parent to the kids and then the role of the masters to the servants and vice versa and explain look just because you're in a position of authority doesn't mean you should rule over them in an evil way but know that God is watching.

31:30 But nonetheless, you're the leader there. You're a dad. Don't exasperate your kid, but you got to teach your kid and raise them. You know, there's this submitting piece at the end of it that's really interesting. And I think that, man, when I think about how Satan would love to destroy churches, it's going to be through that area. Right now, no one likes that word submit.

32:03 And yet, even this morning, I was thanking God for it and going, God, I... I personally don't like to lead. There's a big part of me that's like, God, I would just love to submit for a while. You know, find me some good leaders and let me just not have to make any decisions and not be in charge.

32:34 I'm not complaining at all. oh, God, this is great, great, great. You know, like, I'm thanking you, thanking you, thanking you. But I'm also thankful for just that, the way he created things. I go, God, thank you that you lead. Thank you that I have a king. It's so good to be under your leadership.

32:58 And I've got all sorts of things spinning in my head right now. But just understand that's a real thing. I've talked to I've counseled people after services where they believe they're very spiritual and yet they're treating their wives like dirt I've counseled people that have asked for prayer as they leave their wife and kids and I'm like are you crazy God's not going to hear that prayer And I'm not going to pray that for you To bless this divorce bless you as you move on from your kids?

33:53 Or blessing kids and their rebellion towards their parents? It's like, no, that's not the way God designed this. And we just want to be a group of people that says, look, Lord, we love your design. we're actually going to follow leadership and humble ourselves when we disagree we're going to address people with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs keep this melody going thank God for the place that he's put us in life I just want to be that spirit filled person I think that's what he means when he says you're the light of the world I think we have those people in our lives those Johnny Erickson taught us that you just go gosh nothing will break her worship nothing will break her thanksgiving nothing keeps her from starting with a word of praise You know, as we move on towards communion and fellowship, I just want it to be a time where we practice the spirit-filled life.

35:19 We can try to do a bunch of other things, but if we're not spirit-filled people, who cares. And I never wanted church to be, let's muster up energy for an hour. But it was about 24-7, like everyone we come in contact with, you know, speaking them with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, sharing words of thanksgiving, and just really creating a family where there's unity. there's love for each other and that we all understand it's not about us but holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come God may our time of communion honor you may our time of fellowship honor you may the words of our mouths honor you may our pastors honor you may we respond well when they admonish us may we just do things in such a way