Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, September 9th. The Holy Spirit lives within every believer in Jesus. Let's continue the series to gain a clear understanding of how to align your life to walk in the power of God's Spirit. Are you experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Or is your life very easily explained?
In your energy, in your strength, your knowledge, your wisdom. In your skill and your ability and your talent. Your life is being lived out. Is what you're accomplishing in life. what you are able to do, or is it the result?
Of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Well, these are good questions that you and I need to ask ourselves because sometimes a person can't tell whether. It's what they're doing or what God is doing in their life. Yeah.
So I want us to look at this whole idea of the pursuit. Of the power of the Holy Spirit, the pursuit of the spiritual power.
Now, And today, in churches, we hear all this talk oftentimes about the power. Let's get the power. What for? To make me feel good, that's not the purpose of it. What for?
So I can boast of being one of God's chosen servants. That's not biblical. The power of the Holy Spirit is equally available to every single child of God. Don't get personalities mixed up. With what God promises in His Word.
Because God's promise of the Holy Spirit power is to every single believer. And you see, if our motivation If our motivation is, for example, if I came out here on Sunday morning and I'd ask the Holy Spirit to fill me afresh and anew and to demonstrate His awesome power so I could preach better.
So you would be impressed. I'm here to tell you, God would have nothing to do with that. Because that's not the purpose. The purpose is real simple. The only biblical motivation for asking God to fill us with the Holy Spirit.
It is to live the life that He's called us to live and to achieve or to accomplish or to do those things that God wills that we do.
So it is what? It is for victorious living and effective service. And God is so willing. He's willing to release his power within you as a believer in your office where you work. In your home where you live, among your friends as you socialize the power of God.
Should be the normal. Listen, when he says, out of our innermost beings shall flow rivers of living water, that should be the norm for us, not the exception. And yet? If I'm not willing to attempt anything for God that's beyond my human capacity or capability, why should God release any power, any energy? in divine power.
He's not going to, and as I've said it before, and I've said it again. And again and again. As you read these scriptures, and we could go through all of them again. Every Single time we see the Holy Spirit coming. The Holy Spirit demonstrating anything, it always has to do with serving God.
It always has to do with getting the gospel out. And you see, He has given to all of us the same great commission. As you go. Make disciples of all nations. What does it mean by that?
Went unto Christ and then teach him what you know about the word of God. And he says, All authority has been given to me. You go, I'm going with you. How is he going with us? By the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Listen. Don't B satisfied with less than finding out what your potential is. Why drift through life and just go through life doing your thing when the Spirit of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, living and abiding within you? is willing to demonstrate What God can do with your mind and your spirit and your heart and your body. You don't know that you'll never discover that.
As long as you're satisfied just getting by in the Christian life. And some of you are young. You've got 30, 40, 50, 60 years ahead of you. What's your goal in life? Just to make a living, get along, do your thing?
Have security? Let me ask you a question. Do you have enough spiritual curiosity? Within your heart. enough real, genuine, godly desire to find out God What could you do with me?
What will you do with me? Don't project on God what he can't do. Don't tell them, well, you know, well, you know, I just had a bad start. Things just not going my way, or I married the wrong person, or I did this, or I lost that, and never had the breaks. All of that is the devil's junk.
You know what God wants? He just wants you to step out and say, Lord, here I am. Here's all of me. What can you do with one man or one woman totally committed to you? in whom the Spirit of God is demonstrating his awesome power.
And you can't answer that question. But let me ask you a question. Don't you have enough itch? On the inside to want to find out. Is there not enough something on the inside of you that is not willing to be satisfied with what you know about God?
You say, well, I've messed up my life. Have you messed it up so badly that God can't fix it? No. No, no, no. He's looking for men and women through whom he can demonstrate his supernatural, indescribable, indefinable Inexplainable power.
You see, the reason some of you drift is because you're caught up in all kinds of stuff. That's sapping the power of God out of your life. That is dividing your mind. draining your energy. And you're excusing it, rebelling against God, defending yourself.
My friend, listen. The Spirit of God is willing to do in your life the most fascinating work. But if you won't let him, he won't force you to do it. The only proper motivation for this power of the Spirit of God in our life. Is holy living?
and effective service for God. People who want power. That's not it. You see, the truth is we shouldn't be seeking power. We should be seeking the Lord Jesus Christ.
and to do His will and to follow Him. And in the process of doing so, claiming what is ours, what is that? The authority. and the divine energy and strength and all that goes with that. Word power.
claiming that is the dynamic of our life. We don't have any idea what he's willing to do. But I want to ask you again: are you doing anything that requires supernatural power? Here's what I want you to see. Please hear me.
Don't Tell God. What you cannot do. Don't tell him what you cannot do. Just find out what he can do.
So I'm over the hill, I'm 70 years of age. Over the hill, whose hill? God doesn't have any heels. Listen. Where in the Bible does it say, after a certain age, less power, less strength, less energy from the Spirit of God?
Nowhere. My friend, God is unchanging. You know what that means? That means whether you are 17 or 80 years of age, the power of God is the same in the life of any man or woman who is willing for God to have His way. But it troubles me when I see people who are just willing to float.
When God is willing to do so much. When I think about a young fellow here, sixteen, seventeen years of age. Listening to this sermon. And asking himself the question: I'm 16. Let's say I live to be 76, I got 60 years to live for God.
What's my potential? Wow. 60 years to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and find out what God will do. I know what the rest of you are saying. You're saying, well, it leaves me out past 16.
Let me tell you something, friend. God can do more in a man's life starting at 70. If he only has five years totally committed to Jesus Christ, then anybody else can do with 60 years in their own strength and energy. It isn't time. It's commitment.
And that's where the rubber hits the road and it keeps skidding all over the place. We're not willing to pay the price. You look in the scripture and you think, oh boy, I wish I lived in those days. No, you don't. I could name a whole list of things that you and I enjoy today, they never even thought about.
because they never even were in the minds of men. But are you satisfied just Doing what you're doing. Is the big problem that you don't have the faith to believe that God can do it through you?
Now, here's what I want you to see. Do you realize that when you say Well, I know God could do that through most folks, but not me. Do you realize that is a confession of horrible pride? What you're saying is, I'm an exception. That's not humility, that's pride.
Well, I know God could do it through it. He could probably do it to some other folks, but you see, my case is different. I want to tell you, my friend, every case is different. Amen? We all came from different backgrounds and situations and circumstances.
Everybody's case is different. God made us on difficult cases. That's no problem with him. That's why he's omnipotent. to take care of all the bad cases.
the big problems. and the little ones and the mediocre ones. You want the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? You want to find out what God will really do? Oh, you just want to drift through life.
End up one of these days saying, Well, you know, I've sort of made it, I've done the best I could. There's not a verse in the Bible that says I'm to do the best I can. Not one single one. I'm not to do the best I can. Listen.
Listen to this man, Paul. Turn, if you will, to 2. Corinthians. Chapter three Chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians verse 4, listen. And such confidence we have.
Through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves. But our adequacy is from God. Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter of the law. He didn't do the best he could.
That was never in his mind. Listen to what he says. Writing to the Corinthians and reminding them of the spirit in which he came to preach to them, he said. In chapter 2, verse 1: When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech. or of wisdom Proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
He said, That's not the way I came. He said, First of all, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, My message was singular. And he says, You will know the spirit in which I came. Verse 3.
I was with you in weakness. And in fear, And trembling, but oh, listen to the rest of that passage. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom. I wasn't trying to do it my own strength, but in what demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power. That your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
He said, I didn't come to you as a personality. I didn't come to you as an intellectual. I didn't come to you as a man of great wisdom. Opposition? He said, I came in weakness, fear, and trembling, singular message.
Jesus Christ crucified. And he said, my goal was real simple. I just wanted you to see a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power, not the wisdom of men. Inadequacy. Right, not bad at all.
It's part of the key.
Now, what are the requirements? For allowing the Holy Spirit. You remember what Jesus said? He said, Let everyone come to me who thirsts. Let him that thirsts come to me, he said.
Out of his being, out of his innermost being, shall flow rivers of living water, life-giving water. That's power. What are the requirements?
Well, there may be many, but I think we can put them in several things here. First of all, purity of heart. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If your heart's not pure, If you're holding anything between you and God, rebellion toward God, I don't care how beautiful it may appear to you, how good, how wonderful it may be, you know in your heart it ought not to be in your life. Get rid of it.
Here's what you have to ask. You see, part of our problem is we don't believe what God says. We believe that somehow we can hold on to sin and still have the blessings of God. No, we can't. Isn't it amazing that people will hurt And suffer and hurt and suffer and cause all kinds of pain and heartache and holding on to sin while all the time.
If they wouldn't let it go and repent of it, God will clean up the whole mess. Purity of heart. And supernatural power. are great companions. And you can't have the power.
without the purity of heart. Secondly, Obedient spirit. I didn't say just obey God, I said obedient spirit. I mean that it's our lifestyle to obey Him. I mean by that, Dad, simply this: that you could not do a greater service for your family.
Than for you and your wife to bend your young children's heart. taught obeying God very early in life.
so that it's their very lifestyle to obey him. But it takes time. Example Instruction. Explanation. Patience.
Love and devotion. And if you're too busy, For all that, you are too busy to train up your children the way that they should be trained. An obedient spirit means That it's my natural response to obey God. and it is an exception when I don't. If we want the power of the Holy Spirit, you see, the power of the Holy Spirit doesn't come in spurts.
The power of the Holy Spirit. He says, out of his innermost being shall flow. Not drip. Flow. Rivers, listen, not little creeks, rivers of living water, life-giving power.
An obedient spirit. That is, that you and I come to the place that we're willing to repent of anything and everything that God surfaces in our life in such a fashion that as best we know our heart, we can say, God, I. I am forgiven, I am clean, Lord, here's my life. Listen. Anything that keeps coming up.
If you don't deal with it, It's not going to work. Thirdly, a humble spirit. As purity and power are inseparable. Pride and power. Do not mix that spiritual power.
They won't mix. You can't have those two. You can't have pride and spiritual power. They never mix.
So you have to ask yourself the question, which do I want? And then number four. Involvement in ministry. Every single time that the power of the Holy Spirit is being expressed, these folks are in ministry doing something. Whether it is to you and your family, Or whether it's to somebody in your job, or whatever it might be.
He didn't say, in his innermost being shall rise up this well of water. He said, out of his innermost being shall flow out. Why? Because God's power is for the purpose of what? Of showering himself through us in somebody else's life.
That's what the Christian life is all about, giving ourselves away. It may be the one person. Or it may be to many people. But involvement is a key. Another key Another Requirement is persevering prayer.
And let me explain why. I didn't say just pray. Persevering prayer because As you and I pray. As it is our habit to come to Him, What does that do? That keeps our heart pure.
That keeps our spirit bent toward obedience. That keeps us humble before the Lord. And that keeps us finding His direction for involvement in ministry. You show me a prayerless man or woman, I'll show you a person who knows absolutely nothing about the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing.
As the power of the Holy Spirit. Released through a prayerless Christian. There's no such thing. Oh, there's personality and there's talent. And their gifts and their ability.
And there's prestige and reputation and all of that. But no, Holy Spirit power doesn't flow. live a prayerless life. And the last requirement's real simple. It is simply trusting him to do what he said.
God. I'm stepping out. By faith and and what you told me to do. And if you don't do it, God, I'm going to be an absolute failure. I'm going to trust you.
to enable me. Empower me. in this given situation. Look at that list. Puritive heart.
Are you willing? Spirit of obedience. Are you willing? Humility of attitude. Are you willing?
Involvement of in ministry. Are you willing? Persevering in prayer. Are you willing? And believing what he promised.
Are you willing? If you forget everything else, which I hope you won't. This is going to ring in your ears. What is My potential. For God.
If I gave him Everything. Thank you for listening to the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or in touch ministries, up by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
