The Power of Heavenly Living

Many times Christians say, I want to find God's will for my life. Dr. Tony Evans says the search for God's specific will for your life begins with being filled by the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit enables you to understand what the will of the Lord is. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.

Tony Evans. You can't pour out what hasn't previously been poured in. Today, Dr. Evans explains what it means to be filled with the Spirit and how that filling transforms our attitudes, relationships, and worship. Let's join him in Ephesians chapter 5 for a practical look at the power behind a life that points others to God.

Now, let me first of all talk about the importance of the filling of the Holy Spirit. The importance. Why? He has said in the previous verses, verse 15, therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil.

So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. He tells us it is possible to waste time, to lose opportunity, because the nature of the times in which we live are evil. And if we do not live our lives wisely, evil will dominate them. And if evil will dominate them, we will not be wise, but unwise. not making appropriate decisions, but making what he calls foolish decisions in verse 17.

And we will wind up with a wasted life. There's probably not a person in this room who cannot look back over some portion of their life with regret. If I could live it over again, if I could do it over again, I wouldn't have lost those times, made those decisions.

Well, the Bible says that the reason, verse 18, why the filling of the Spirit is necessary is because of verses 15 through 17, and that is. Time is short and days are evil.

So, we don't have time to waste time. We must maximize our opportunity.

Well, how do you maximize your opportunity? If you're under the control of the Holy Spirit, He knows the opportunities, He knows the best choices to make, when to make those choices, how to make those choices, where to make those choices, and the net result of it is. Verse 17, you will understand what the will of the Lord is.

Now the beauty of this is that this means that you do not have to find God's will for your life. Many times Christians say, I want to find God's will for my life. No, what you want is to be filled with the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit enables you to understand what the will of the Lord is. So the will of the Lord will work through the filling of the Spirit in order to take you to the wise choices in life.

The filling of the Spirit. Is always observable. It is an observable thing. For example, in Acts chapter six. When they had to pick leaders for the local church.

And they went about picking leaders. Verse 3: But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit. He says, go out and select leaders who are full of the Spirit.

Well, if I'm going to go and select a full of the Spirit leader, that means that's an observable quality. It's not invisible quality. Fullness of the Spirit is observable. It works itself out in decision making. It works itself out in conduct.

It works itself out in how we function. It is a very visible quality. That leads to a second point. And that is the nature of. Spirit filling.

What does it mean? to be filled with the Spirit. That can sound very amorphous. What does it mean? Well, let's look at verse 18.

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. When a person is drunk, he comes under the control of whatever. alcoholic beverage He is, she is drinking. The issue is control. What happens is that The influence of the alcohol dominates the brain.

so that it produces a transformation in the character. Alcohol takes over the brain, character transformed.

Something else dominates you and has taken over the governing influence of your life. You can't walk like you used to walk. Because You are now being controlled. Be not drunk with wine. He uses the opposite extreme to illustrate the positive point.

He uses the negative, B naught, to illustrate the positive, B.

So you have to understand that.

Now, this is not a sermon on drunkenness, but there are a lot of passages in the Bible that talk about it. Let me just say a word about it. Turn to Proverbs. Chapter 23. The book of Proverbs.

Chapter 23. Verse 20. Be not With heavy drinkers of wine, verse 21. For the heavy drinker and glutton will come to poverty, verse 29. Who has woe?

Who has sorrow? Who has contention? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

Those who linger long over wine, who go to taste mixed wine. And the first one is you linger over wine. Then you mix it. When it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly, and the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper, your eyes. will see strange things.

And your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea. Uh Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. They struck me, but I did not become ill. They beat me, but I did not know it.

When shall I awake? I will seek another drink. Classic description of a drunkard, a person who imbibes to the point of loss of. Control. He says, don't do that.

God. Talks about condemnation of the drunkard, Isaiah 5, 11. Talks about that. Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 11: to separate yourself from drunkards who profess to be Christians, have no fellowship with them. Why was and why is drinking so important?

People want liquor to do. what God has given the Holy Ghost to do. Hello. See, that's why a lot of times people don't want to drink alone. Why do people go to a bar?

They can buy that stuff and drink it at home. Why do they go to a bar? but they go to a bar to fellowship as they drink. Yeah. BAS.

are pseudo-churches. It's where you go, and there's always somebody preaching at you, sitting on a stool. You know, it's where you go to enter into an environment of fellowship while you drink. But people want to drown their sorrows away. You know, they want to be placed in another realm to not have to deal with things.

They want to be able to be knocked out of the consciousness of the struggles of day-to-day living. God says you don't have to get drunk to do that. You don't have to get drunk to go to another realm. There's another way to get to another realm and it's a better realm than the one you're trying to leave. Not a worse realm.

You see, in pagan religion, wine and alcohol and liquor was very important in order to cast you into another zone. in another world. He then makes the contrast to filling of the spirit.

Now, this is very important. I don't mean this irreverently, but I need to say it to make the point. God does want you intoxicated. God does want you drunk but not with wine. He wants you full of the Holy Spirit.

He wants you to become tall. Totally consumed. With the Spirit, so that guess what? You come under the influence. Same principle, only it's now applied to a different reality.

The spirit, not the spirits. Make sure you leave that ass off of there. I'm gonna go out here saying Pastor said, I can get drunk in the spirits. No, you can get drunk in the spirit. What does this mean?

I want to make four observations about This phrase, filled with the spirit. First of all, it is a command. It is imperative. It is not a statement, nor is it a request. It is a demand.

You can make it without it. Be fair. Be filled. Not, it would be nice if you got filled. B Phil.

This is a non-negotiable reality. You are not to ignore it. Second thing I want to say. is that it is in the plural. In the Greek, it is in the plural.

So what that means is this is not A special experience for special people. This applies to everybody. All Christians are to be filled.

So it is something that is commanded for every individual under the sound of my voice, not negotiable, be filled. Thirdly, it is in the present tense. Your past filling yesterday can't help you today. It is a continuous reality. It is a continuous reality.

Just like A husband and wife can't depend on what happened five years ago in their relationship to make them happy today. That's got to be new today.

So it is, this filling must occur for today. Today. You cannot rest on yesterday's success or yesterday's. Filling. Dr.

Evans will unpack how this filling works and what it looks like when the Spirit is truly in control when he returns with the second part of today's lesson in just a moment. First, though, I want to let you know that the lesson we're hearing today is part of an insightful faith-building series from Dr. Evans called Ordinary Holy, Finding God in the Mundane. This complete two-volume 16-part collection walks you through the book of Ephesians, showing how God's power and purpose aren't limited to the big dramatic moments of life, but can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary. We'd love to send a complete series of full-length messages to you as our way of saying thanks when you make a contribution to help support the ministry of the alternative.

And for a limited time, we'll also include Tony's book, Kingdom Living, a practical guide to growing your faith and living out your identity in Christ every single day. This special double offer will Only be available for a few more days now, so be sure to visit us at tonyevans.org to request your copy of Ordinary Holy and Kingdom Living. You'll find details of the offer right on our homepage. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and let a member of our resource team help you out. I'll repeat that contact information for you after part 2 of today's message.

Here's Tony again, picking up in Ephesians chapter 5. Fourthly. It is Passive. B filled.

Something else is filling you.

Now, let me try to help you. and made to understand this concept. When you are filled with the Spirit, let's assume for the sake of discussion, everybody under my voice is filled with the Spirit right now. Let's just assume that. You can pretty much equate this to driving up to your local gas station and getting and telling the attendant to fill.

the tank. When that attendant fills the tank, He will give you that fuel that you need to go. The problem occurs, however. When you Get up and go. and use the filling that you have.

Yeah. The filling that you have that you're using. You're also losing. If I open it? If everybody in this room right now is filled with the Spirit.

At the benediction. On your way out the door. You will begin to use up your filling.

Now, what uses up your feeling?

Well, I'll tell you a number of things use up your feeling. People use up your feeling. Tell the truth, shame the devil. Am I telling the truth? People begin to drain from you.

Okay. The feeling that you at least think that you have.

So people can do it. Let me tell you what else can do it. Circumstances can do it. Circumstances can drain out this sense of spiritual positioning that you feel that you have, this sort of fullness of God. Another thing that can drain us spiritually is sin.

Sin can seep away our spiritual energy. That is why refilling is needed. regularly. The nature of this feeling is that instead of being controlled by alcohol or for that matter, anything else, be controlled by the fullness of the Spirit, the Spirit dominating, controlling you. It's an ongoing thing.

That's why the Bible relates to it in Galatians 5: walking. Whenever you walk, you do a number of things. First of all, it's progressive. You don't take one step and say you walked. You took a step.

Walking means continuous, okay? Walking also means you're going somewhere. If you're walking in circles, we need to have a meeting. Yeah. Walking assumes that you're going somewhere.

So, walking is continuous, too. Walking means you're going somewhere. And thirdly, walking means dependency because you're putting all your weight on your leg.

So, you're resting on your weight on your leg.

So, it's continuous, it's dependent. And you're going somewhere.

Now that leads to the means of filling. Let's say you understand, okay, Pastor, it's important.

Now I understand the Holy Spirit takes control of my life. How do I get that to happen? What do I do to become filled since he's the one who does it? He does it. But if you're in the environment of it, then you're in the environment where he will, in fact, Do it.

Let's look at verse 19. Through 21. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing, make a melody in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Verses 19 through 21 gives you the four things that you must do in order to stay in a continuous state of a full spiritual tank. What are the four things?

Number one. Speaking. He says, speaking to one another. To put it another way, we must give and receive spiritual input. on a regular basis to stay full.

Many of us don't know it. But our fullness is being drained by our lack of spiritual input. Both in giving and receiving. Speaking to one another.

So It's give and take. People are putting into your life. you are putting into somebody else's life. Spiritual Reaffirmation, spiritual support, spiritual encouragement. There is an ongoing spiritual interface regularly in your life.

Many of us lose our filling because we go day after day with no spiritual input except when we come to church. And if the only spiritual input you either give or receive is when you come to church. You may be filled in church, but you'll be running on empty fairly quickly. All right? You watching TV all day.

What you don't know is that there has been a sucking of the spirit. Hello? There is a sucking of the spirit. There must be regular spiritual interface speaking to one another. There must be an ongoing taking and giving.

in your life to keep the pump on, so to speak. Secondly, singing. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Singing is A way of praising God. for who he is and what he has done.

In fact, even when he talks about speaking, he brings in the singing component. Psalms, I think, refers to singing scripture. Hymns refers to singing the spiritual principle, spiritual truth. And spiritual songs refer to testimonies of the Spirit's work in your life.

So whether it's spoken words speaking or whether it's spoken words spoken through song to one another. But this one, when he says singing, he's talking about now you making melody in your heart. to the Lord.

So the speaking is horizontal. But the singing here is vertical. where you are actually expressing in song to God. It is a verbal declaration. And Who God is and what he is about from the heart.

So speaking, singing. And then? Thirdly, Thanksgiving. Or to put it another way, gratitude rather than grumbling. Israel stopped seeing God work in their lives because they were always complaining.

God delivered them. through the Red Sea. You know how much water was in the Red Sea? Enough to drown Pharaoh and his army.

Soon as they get on the other side of where it sees, they complain that they have no water. They've just seen God open up water. And now they complain they don't have no water. He says in verse 20, always giving thanks. Recognize God's complete control over all aspects of your life.

1 Thessalonians 5, 13, give thanks in everything. That is, in every scenario of life, there is always, always, always something to give thanks for. Look at Job. He had a reason to complain, and yet in the midst of it, he said, I'm going to bless him anyhow. Thanksgiving is powerful.

Powerful.

So, Thanksgiving is to be a way of life always. We are to live our lives thankfully. Gratefully. There are three scenarios for Thanksgiving. Let me give you the three.

One. Because you have been blessed. In other words, you can reflect back on something God has done. Second, sphere of Thanksgiving. Is in hope.

of being blessed. This is anticipatory Thanksgiving. Mrs. Thank you. For what you are asking God to do, expecting God to do, and trusting God to do.

Thirdly, You give thanks for a victory in the midst of a battle. Give thanks. Our first question is, why?

Now that's a normal question. The natural human question. I am not saying don't ask that question. I'm saying give thanks. How did Job do it?

Job said in the middle of his trial, the Lord giveth. And the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name. of the Lord. He gave thanks.

And oh, what power Thanksgiving has when the little boy brought Jesus the loaves and the fishes. The Bible says Jesus gave thanks. You know what he did? Watch this church. He gave thanks for what he had.

Then he got more. See, our prayers, Lord, give me more. God's saying, but I never heard thank you for what you have. Lord. I want a bigger house, but have I heard thanks for the apartment?

You could be under a bridge. Have I heard thanks for that yet? And when you do, the Bible says God will give you peace. Philippians 4. Verse 6.

And finally, submission. Verse 21, be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. In other words, serve somebody else.

So let me conclude with what all these four mean. These are four ways of saying one thing. Develop a worshipful lifestyle. Don't just come to church to worship, live worship. Speak worship flee.

Sing worship flee. Give thanksgiving worship flee. Relate to brothers and sisters in a serving spirit worship flee. All of this boils down to worship. Worship keeps you in the presence of Christ and, like virtual reality, takes you to another realm.

It's all worship. Develop worship as a lifestyle. Worship when you get up in the morning. Worship when you're driving. Praise Him.

Sing. When you're talking to somebody on the phone, throw in a little praise word. Throw in something encouraging. Let them feed you something back. And just keep that environment of worship shaking.

Serve somebody else in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just keep this environment of worship hot. And when that environment of worship hot, the Holy Spirit just fills that atmosphere. When the people worship God at the temple, the Bible says, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. God fills worship, or to put it in the words of scripture, he inhabits the praises of his people.

When you develop a worshipful lifestyle, you will develop a transforming life because you will be full of God. and you will see heaven over. Dr. Tony Evans on the power of a worship-filled life.

Okay. Today's lesson comes from his complete sermon series entitled Ordinary Holy: Finding God in the Mundane. It's an in-depth 16-part look at the book of Ephesians that shows how God works powerfully through even the most ordinary parts of life. For a limited time, when you support the alternative, we'll send you the two-volume audio set as our thank you gift, along with Tony's encouraging book, Kingdom Living, full of practical ways to grow in your faith and live a life of greater purpose. This special offer will only be available for a few more days now, so visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 to make your request.

Again, that's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. A godly home doesn't happen by accident. It's built on mutual love and submission. On Monday, Dr. Evans explores how God's design for marriage reflects the relationship between Christ and the church and its ability to bring heaven into the home.

Be sure to join us.