Spirit Empowered Life and Ministry

Well if you would take your Bible turn to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18. I know we read 1 Corinthians 2 verses 1 to 5 in our Scripture reading, but we'll get to Corinthians about halfway through the message. So just have your Bible marked there and we'll get there here in just a moment. Now for four weeks we have been examining what I'm calling our Grace Life Wheel. That is the handout that I have been asking you to keep up with and hold on to. I know I've said this a time or two.

My goal has been that you would have a copy of the Grace Life Wheel in your Bible, maybe in your place of study so that it is something you're very, very familiar with. Of course this is a very simple diagram, but it illustrates the basic structure and the function of our church. But this is very important in that it helps us see how our church is structured, what we do, and why we do what we do. Now this morning as we wrap these things up, we're going to really look at how we do what we do. And this is extremely important.

I could have left this off, but I think that we would be missing a vital, vital truth and truths that we desperately need here. Now we've learned that at the center of church life is the preaching of God's Word by a God called, competent and confirmed pastor. And what I mean by using those words is this. The pastor must be called of God, competent for the work, and confirmed by the work and the church, as well as other elders and church leaders. And the preaching of God's Word is for the purpose of sanctifying the saints and for the salvation of those that God has put among us.

And we have seen that flowing out of and from the preaching of God's Word come three vital works. We can say it like this, three vital ministries. Every member of the church ministering in and through small groups, the ministry of small groups, personalized local church center missions that begins at home and then goes across the street, in our town, and even around the world, as our Lord gives us opportunity. And then home life discipleship, which is our responsibility as parents to make disciples in our homes.

Now I would encourage you church, if you've not gotten all of those messages, if you've missed, maybe go back and get those messages that you missed, maybe get my notes because all of this does go together. Now if you look at your Grace Life wheel, you will see that we've really not gotten too deep into the outside of the illustration, which is the church being enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit for the Word. Now I know I've touched on this all along. I've read this scripture off and on through these messages, but we've really not gotten too deep here.

So this morning I want us to see that we all have a great need, both on a personal level and on a corporate level. Simply we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit personally, and we need to be a Spirit-filled people in a church. And we need this so as to be empowered, so as to be enabled for the work that we see here. Now that leads me to the title of the message. I'm calling this Spirit-Empowered Life and Ministry. This is all about Spirit-Empowered Life and Ministry. Now in our message this morning, we're going to look at three things.

First, the Spirit-filled life, and then second, the Spirit-filled ministry, and then third, I will conclude by making some application and helping us see the results of these things. So number one, I want us to look at the Spirit-filled life, the Spirit-filled life. This is where I want us to go to Ephesians, and this is just one verse. Ephesians 5, verse 18. Paul is writing to the Ephesian church. We know that because we studied Ephesians extensively. And what does he say?

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." Now before we get into the verse, and how this applies to us in our desire to do what we see here in the Grace Life Wheel, we need to go over some basics. First and foremost, we must understand who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is not a thing. The Holy Spirit is not an influence. The Holy Spirit is not some kind of a force for good. I'll make a little confession to you here. I've never watched Star Wars. Immediately some of you tuned me out. I've never watched Star Wars. If it had John Wayne in it, I probably would watch it.

But I think Star Wars, there's like a force for good. Isn't that right? Yeah, you got the dark side and all that good stuff. See, I'm treading in waters I've never been in. But what I'm trying to show you is this. The Holy Spirit is not some kind of a force for good. The Holy Spirit is not a thing or an influence. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune God. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is the Holy Spirit of God. God. Listen to Wayne Grudem's definition here. And I'm just quoting, "God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And each person is fully God and there is one God." But then next, we need to understand what happens when we come to saving faith in Christ. More specifically, we need to understand how we relate to the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit relates to us as believers when we come to faith. Simply when we come to saving faith, certain things happen. Now this is not an exhaustive list, but I'm going to mention three. First, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. John 14, verses 15-18, there in those verses, Jesus promised His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans.

He promised that He would not leave them and that He would give them the Holy Spirit who was with them and who would be in them. And Paul says in Romans 8-9 that if anyone does not have the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, well that person does not belong to Christ. Simply the one who does not have the Spirit is not a born-again Christian because all true Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. And then second, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1, verses 13-14, those verses tell us that when a person comes to saving faith they are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

That means that when one is born again the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell with the believer. And as a result the Spirit seals them, secures them, and preserves the believer in Christ. Simply the one who savingly believes in Christ is sealed and secure. And verse 14, Ephesians 1 even tells us that the Spirit is given by God as His pledge of the believer's future eternal inheritance in Heaven. But then third, we are anointed by the Spirit. Now this can be confusing and this may even scare some of you because of the abuse of that kind of language, anointed by the Spirit.

But when one is converted to Christ, 1 John chapter 2 verse 27 tells us that the Holy Spirit anoints that believer with an anointing of an abiding presence of the Spirit in them. This is simply another way of saying that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the believer. In 1 John 2, 27 and John chapter 14 and John chapter 16, all of those Scriptures tell us that this anointing or this indwelling is for certain particular purposes. 1 John 2, 27 says that this anointing is for the purpose of teaching the believer. And in John 14 and John 16 we see that this anointing or this indwelling is for the Spirit to be the believer's helper.

Also, He is the Spirit of truth who guides the believer into all truth and He teaches the believer all things and He brings those things into remembrance. Simply this anointing is a special gifting of the Spirit for the purpose of helping the believer, counseling the believer, guiding the believer, teaching and even correcting the believer. Now, what is my point here? I want us all to understand that when we come to saving faith, the Holy Spirit comes into us, into our very beings. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and live in us. And He anoints us for the purpose of teaching us.

He becomes our helper, He becomes our guide, He becomes our teacher, He becomes our counselor, and He guides us into truth even convicting us of sin. Now, my question for you is this. Do you possess the Holy Spirit in this way? I've not been exhaustive here. You could go study John 14, John 16, other passages that tell us what the Spirit does in us. But my question for you is this. Do you possess the Spirit of God? Is the Holy Spirit in you functioning the way we've looked at? And I've explained. But another question, why is this important? Why not for the sake of time? Why don't I just jump right into verse 18?

You see, if we're going to see and understand and embrace the Spirit-filled life, then we must see and understand that we possess the Spirit. We must understand that He dwells in us and He works in us. Otherwise, if we do not have the Spirit, we are not born again. You see, basic fundamental information here is key. Now, let's get into the verse. I've already read it. And I want us to see two things out of verse 18. First, the setting, and then second, the actual command. It's easy to see in the verse. So first, the setting. That's at the beginning of verse 18. Now, the setting of this command was really their pagan past.

Many of these believers in the Ephesian church had come out of paganism where alcohol was a major part of their sinful lives. And Paul was pointing out that they had been filled with, they had been controlled by alcohol, and other sins that were all tied to the abuse of alcohol and their pagan way of life. Simply, drunkenness was a part of their past. And paganism and worshiping pagan gods, that was a part of their past as well. They worshiped many pagan gods, and drunkenness and all sorts of sexual immorality was at the center of all of that paganism.

History and scholars tell us that they even had a god of wine, a god of winemaking, and a god of agriculture and fertility. We could get a lot deeper there. So Paul was pointing out, and he was pointing to their pagan past and how they were controlled by, how they were filled with drunkenness, which represented how they were controlled and filled with all sorts of sin, all types of sinfulness. And he says, "Do not be controlled by drunkenness and all of that sin and sinfulness." Now right here, I want to ask a couple of probing questions. Are you controlled by, are you filled by your old life? Now let me differentiate.

There are people that profess to come to faith in Christ, but they don't genuinely come to faith in Christ, and they still are controlled by and filled by their past way of life. See, their past way of life has not become past. It's easy to do that in the American church, especially in the South. And so my question for you is this, have you professed Christ, but yet there's been no heart change? So therefore, you've really been controlled and filled with nothing but sin and sinfulness. Maybe you've just put on a religious facade. But yet there is another side to this, and that is Christians can have some of their old life hanging on.

And my question for you is this, have you truly come to faith in Christ? Have you been born again, but there are certain parts of your old life that are still hanging on, they're still lingering. You're allowing that, and it grieves you and haunts you, the Spirit convicts you, and you know it's wrong. If that's the case, you need to deal with that. We'll talk about that a little more here in a moment. But then second, the command. We see this at the second part of verse 18. Now, we already know that we as believers, we possess the Spirit. He lives in us, and He works in us. And we know that He has sealed us for forever.

But here we see something entirely, completely different. So a question, what is the Spirit that Paul's talking about? You will notice that our English translations say Spirit. They don't say Holy Spirit. So who is this? Here Paul is speaking of the Holy Spirit, not the Spirit of a man or the human spirit. That's why the word Spirit in your English Bible is capitalized. But another question, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Now to understand what Paul is saying here, we must understand the language.

And if we understand the language, the construction of the language, and the meaning of the actual word filled, really what God expects all comes together. It will be easy to see. But first, this is a command to be filled, and it is a present passive command. Now this means that this command has within it an ongoing work, which means this verse can read, "Keep on being filled, and stay filled with the Spirit." The Amplified captures this by saying, "Ever be filled." So this is not a one-time filling in the past. This is a filling for today. This is a filling for tomorrow. This is a filling for our future in Christ Jesus.

And then second, this is a command to be filled, and it is a passive voice command. Well that means that this filling cannot come from within or from one's self or even from another person, which means this verse can read, "Let yourselves keep on being filled, and stay filled with the Spirit." So this is not a one-time filling, and this is not something that comes from self or self-effort or even from another person. But then third, this is a command to be filled, and it is an imperative command. This means that this is not a suggestion. This is a command that God expects to be obeyed, and this is for all believers now.

This means that this verse can be translated, "I command all of you who are believers, let yourselves keep on being filled, and stay filled with the Holy Spirit of God." So this is not a one-time filling, and this is not something that comes from self or from another or from our efforts, but this is certainly a command and it is expected to be obeyed. But another question, what is this word filled? Does this mean that we fall out on the floor and speak in tongues like we see with our charismatic friends? I was driving yesterday to some of our family property to do a little bit of work.

I don't know if y'all realize it, but counseling and therapy for me is on a tractor and a butch hog. That's my relief, or one of the things I like to do for relief. Well, I was passing by a particular church that's into these kind of things, and they have this big flashing sign, and it's all about this kind of behavior, you know, falling out into the floor and speaking in tongues. Is that what this word filled means? This word filled has several meanings. It had several uses and meanings in their day. This word filled spoke of the wind filling the sail of a ship so that the ship could sail on the sea, and its sails were filled with the wind.

This word also spoke of something being saturated or soaked. For meat to be preserved in their day, it was saturated or permeated with salt. This word was also used to speak of being in total control, like when someone is filled with anger or rage or hatred or some other kind of emotion. So now that we see the meaning of the command and the meaning of the word, we can easily see what God through Paul is commanding here. When a believer is filled with the Spirit, there is a sense in which they are filled so that they are guided in the life every day.

When a believer is filled with the Spirit, there is a sense in which the entire life is saturated, even permeated with the Spirit of God. When a believer is filled with the Spirit, there is a sense in which they are controlled by the Spirit. Now, some of you remember this teaching from back when we went through our study through Ephesians. We studied these verses extensively, and came up with my own amplified paraphrase version of what Paul was saying here. And I tweaked it this week, so I guess I've taken a little bit of a liberty. Listen to what I think God is saying through Paul.

And He's commanding us, all of you who are believers, all of you who are Grace Life Church, let yourselves be filled with the Spirit, and let yourselves keep on being filled with the Spirit. Let the Spirit so fill you that He may steer you and guide you every day of your life, that He may saturate your entire life, your entire being, that He may totally control all of you in every area of your life, all of the days of your life ahead. But another question, how is this to take place? I mean, do we just get zapped? How is this to take place? The believer cannot feel themselves. The believer cannot be filled by another.

Well, how does this happen? First, we are to surrender to this work. You see, now that you know what the Bible says and what God expects, you surrender to this work. We are to see the command. We are to see God's expectation here, and we are to surrender to this feeling. And if we do not, we must see that we are rejecting the person and the work of the Spirit in our life. So I'm challenging you to take what you see here, what I've taught you here, and to study these things, and to go to your prayer closet between you and your Lord, and you surrender to this work. You basically say, "Lord, now I see what you expect.

Now I surrender to the work." Second, we repent of sin because sin grieves the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 4.30. And in Ephesians 4.25-29, Paul lists the sins and the types of sins that grieve the Spirit. So a part of my challenge is this. You take what you know here and what I've taught you, and you surrender to the work, and you go before the Lord day in and day out, as long as it takes, and you examine your life. You pray. You examine yourself according to the Word of God, and you let the Spirit of God work in you, and you examine to see if there is sin in you. And when God reveals that there is sin in you, you repent. You repent.

Oh, you make restitution if you need to make restitution, but you examine and let the Spirit of God examine you in the surrender so as to deal with sin. And then third, we are to repent of empty, self-energized religion and religious works. That is because those things are sin as well, and those things grieve and quench the Spirit of God, 1 Thessalonians 5.19 tells us. And so my challenge for you here is this. A part of this process even die to your religion and your religious efforts because all of that comes from pride. All of that comes from self.

And those of us who are raised in the church, and we're good Baptists, and we're good at church life, look, we're good at fleshly religion. As a matter of fact, that is a killer of the work of the Spirit in our life. But think about it. How does what I've taught you, how does this apply to our study of how our church is structured and what we do? How can we come to Sunday morning worship?

How can we come to Wednesday night services and be impacted by the Word of God as it is preached unless we are filled with the Spirit, unless we are guided by the Spirit, unless our lives are saturated with the Spirit of God and we are controlled by the Spirit. You see how it all comes together? And look, church, we're learning in small groups about expository listening and what it means to be expository listeners. But we must see that the only way we can be good expository listeners is if we are personally filled by the Spirit and controlled by the Spirit.

So when you come in here next week and we resume our study in Hebrews, you need to come fill with the Spirit, control by the Spirit, so as to receive the Word of God. When you come Wednesday night as we wrap up our study through the seven churches in the book of Revelation, you need to come fill with the Spirit, control by the Spirit, so as to receive the Word of God. What do we learn about the preaching of the Word? It's the Word that sanctifies us. And if we're not Spirit-filled, we cannot receive it as we should.

And if we are Spirit-filled and we are Spirit-controlled, when the Word of God is taught and we receive it, we can receive a full work of the Spirit accordingly. How can we minister to individuals in our small groups if we're not filled with the Spirit, guided by the Spirit, in living Spirit-saturated lives? I think about what we're doing in small groups. One of the things we do is meet individual needs. You see, folks, if we're not filled with the Spirit, we fill with self, and we won't recognize the needs around us. We won't see a brother or a sister that has a need.

But when we're guided by the Spirit, that need is right there in front of us. We're prompted, we're grieved, we're burdened, and then God gives us the ability that we don't have to meet the need in front of us. How can we personally engage in local church-centered missions to take the message of salvation in Christ across the street? And even around the world, if we are not guided by the Spirit, living a Holy Spirit-saturated life, here very soon, I'm going to mention a couple of anchored-in-truth missions opportunities whereby you may get on an airplane and fly to a foreign land and go somewhere new and engage in gospel work.

How can you go across the street or even across the ocean and share the gospel, minister to the saints, and impact the lost if you're not Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered, Spirit-guided? When Mom's in Dad's? If you're not Spirit-filled and controlled in your home, life discipleship, then your efforts to evangelize your children and disciple them will be energized by self and religion. And look, listen to your pastor. You would be better off being loose in your discipleship of your children and be Spirit-filled than be rigid, Johnny on the spot, and it'd be full of self.

Because look, if you're rigid and you do everything just right, but you're not Spirit-filled, itself is empty religion, and that will exasperate your children. So we must be personally Spirit-filled. But then number two, this is what I'm calling the Spirit-filled ministry. This is where we will turn over to Corinthians and look at what I'm calling the Spirit-filled ministry. Now we're going to look at these verses back and forth, so just keep your Bible turned here. Let's read the verses. Remember Paul's writing back to the Corinthian church. These are things they should know, should have known.

"And I, when I came to you brothers, that could read brothers are sisters, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Now we are familiar with these verses because I've read them and I've referenced them several times throughout this small series.

But at this point I want to go a little deeper here, and to do that I want to look at some background and then get into the passages. So first the background. Now if we look into the book of Acts we can see the account of when Paul went to Corinth and this took place while he was on his second missionary journey. After Paul had obeyed the Macedonian call that is seen in Acts 16, he went into Macedonia and then he went to Philippi and then he came on down south to the west to Thessalonica and then further south to the west to Tubera and to Athens and then he ended up in Corinth. And Acts 18 records what took place when Paul was in Corinth.

And when we look at how much time Paul spent in Corinth as compared to other places, we will see that Paul stayed in Corinth quite a long time and this was all by God's design. In Acts 18 verses 9-11, "The Lord spoke to Paul telling him not to be afraid that he was with him. He even told Paul that he had many people in the city," that's Corinth, "so Paul stayed there some 18 months with great ministry success." And if we break down what we see in Paul's ministry in Corinth that's seen in Acts 18, and we compare that to what we see in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, we see some similarities.

In Matthew 28-19, Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Well Acts 18 verse 1 tells us that Paul went to the nations by going to Corinth. And while he was in Corinth the text says, "Many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized," that's verse 8. He stayed a year and six months teaching the Word of God to them. That's seen in Acts 18-11.

And in Matthew 28 verse 20, Jesus said, "And behold, I am with you always." Well in Acts 18-10, Jesus told Paul, "For I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you." So if we study what Paul did in Corinth, that's seen in Acts 18, it would seem that he used the Great Commission as like his marching orders, maybe like a template, maybe like instructions so as to do what he was going to do in his ministry in the city. Well that's because he did. Now notice church, this is going to seem pretty surface, but it's much deeper. The Bible kind of fits together. It all kind of goes together.

You see, it really seems like Paul read the Great Commission and he just used the Great Commission as a pattern for his ministry when he went to Corinth. That's because he did. And look church, we do not have to invent the ministry. We don't have to reinvent what the church is supposed to do. We don't. All we have to do is see what God's Word says we should do and copy that. All we have to do is read the Scripture and do what we see. No, but a question comes along, and this is a question so many churches can't answer accurately.

If we're going through the Scripture, if we're going through the Scripture and the Lord shows us that we're doing church wrong, will we correct that? Will we? And another thing, I want us to see that if we do the work of the church according to the Scripture, it will work. It's not a crapshoot. It's not like trying to win the lottery. It's not like trying to get lucky for Jesus. If we do it according to what God's Word says, it will work. It worked in Corinth. It worked for Paul. But all he was doing was plagiarizing the Great Commission.

Now at this point, I want us to see that in our verses, Paul reminded the Corinthians of his philosophy of ministry while he was with him. Paul reminded them of what he did and why he did what he did. Now at this point, I want us to see that Paul reminded them of three things. First, he reminded them of his personal approach to ministry. His personal approach to ministry. Luke, back at verses 1 and 2.

"And I, when I came to you brothers, sisters, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with high or lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Now here Paul contrasted himself to the pagan philosophers and teachers of their day who depended on their personal wisdom and their eloquence in speech to gain and to train their followers. And scholars tell us that Corinth was full of these worldly philosophers and teachers.

If we look back into Acts chapter 17, when Paul was in Athens, we will see that Paul shared the gospel and the truth of God's word with many philosophers and teachers there in the city. Verse 18 tells us that he shared with some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who took him later to the Arigapagus, which was a type of court, well-known court, but it was a well-known place where philosophers and teachers of the day met to discuss and to debate and to lecture about common ideas, new ideas, and even religion. But notice what Paul says here in Corinthians. He reminds the Corinthians that he did not come to them in superior or high speech.

He did not come to them with human words of wisdom as he proclaimed the gospel and the Word of God to them. In other words, when he came to them preaching the gospel and the Word of God, he did not use a style whereby he used lofty speech and great words of wisdom. So how did he come? Verse 2. In verse 2, he said that his personal and ministerial approach was to know nothing among them but Christ and Christ crucified. And get this, if Paul had come to them with superior high words and using human wisdom as he proclaimed the gospel and the Word of God, he would have been exalting self instead of Christ.

And look, church, I'm really speaking to Grace Life Church and those who are in areas of ministry. I don't care if we're taking out the trash or preaching in this pulpit. It doesn't matter if we're helping with VBS and crafts or sharing the gospel and the halls with a visitor in our church. We must die to self and decide to know nothing in the Word but Christ and Christ crucified. Now especially those who preach, we must die to self and know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. Oh, especially those who lead in small groups. We must die to self, know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified.

Oh, especially those who teach our college and our teenagers and those who teach our children. We must die to self, know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. And especially those who help in leading with music. Starting with Brother Keith on down, they are to die to self, know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. Have you figured it out? If we take out the trash, if we preach, if we organize vacation Bible school or go on a mission trip around the world, we are to die to self, know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. Why would it be any different for us than Paul? Second, he reminded them of his personal attitude in ministry.

We see this in verse 3 and 4. Go back and look at it with me. He says, "And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power." Now here Paul was reminding them that although he was an apostle uniquely chosen and called by God, his attitude was that of a servant. Now if we turn over to chapter 4 verse 1, we see that Paul referred to himself as a servant. And in the original, the word that he used here spoke of the lowest of lowest of servants. It was a word that was commonly used as the lowest of rower in a slave ship.

So Paul did not depend on self, nor did he make much of self. If anything, he lowered himself. He lowered himself. He lowered himself. And he did not expect or allow the Corinthians to venerate or exalt him. He simply became nothing and was nothing among them so that Christ may become everything through him and to them. Because this was his attitude, he could truly say that when he was with him, his preaching power did not come from him, but his preaching power was a demonstration of the Holy Spirit of power working through him. But notice a detail here.

His attitude is clearly revealed in verse 3, but he quickly turned to his approach in ministry again in verse 4. Notice attitude and approach. Look back at verse 3 and 4. Here's his attitude. "And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling." See his attitude? "In my speech," here's his approach, "and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." So we see his attitude and his approach.

And look, Grace Life Church, especially those of you who serve, and especially those of you who serve teaching God's Word and leading in that capacity, you, we, all of us need this more than we know because it's not about us. It's not about our abilities. It's not about what we can bring to the table. It's not about our talent. It's not about how gifted we are. Our attitude and our approach must be that of a servant, the lowest of servants, so that in us and through us we may see a demonstration of the Spirit of God and of power working through us.

And we must understand that any self hinders, quenches, and grieves the Spirit, and it blocks the Spirit. Small group leader, what's your attitude here? Do you really feel like you've got something to offer? Small group leader, do you feel like, "Oh, I got something to bring to the table here." You need to die to that. If I feel like I've got something to offer, if I feel like I've got something to bring to the table, I need to die to that. Any man that stands behind this pulpit to preach the Word must die to that. Vacation Bible school worker?

Do you get excited when angels start asking you to serve because you think, "Oh, I got something to offer"? When I meet you in Anchor to Truth missions, do you feel like, "Oh, I've got something to offer"? Those of you who teach children, when you start looking at the schedule and you see when it's your turn, and you start looking at that material, do you start thinking, "Wait a minute, I've got something to offer"? If you do, you need to die to that. Paul had a lot to offer. He died to it all. He was an under-rower, as we should be. And then on the third, Paul reminded them of his personal aim in ministry, his personal aim in ministry.

We see this in one verse, the last verse, verse 5. Notice his aim, "So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Here Paul reminded them of his aim or his goal. Goal might fit better. Aim fits better if we're going to alliterate. And here we see that his aim and all that he did when he was in Corinth, it was very, very simple. He wanted them to put their trust and their faith in God and not in the man that God sent them or any other man.

He wanted their lives to be changed by the power of God, which was the power of God in the new birth and the power of God sanctifying them through the life and the power of God to ultimately give them eternal life. He did not want their lives changed by man's wisdom or man's abilities because man's wisdom and man's abilities cannot save them, cannot sanctify them nor give them eternal life. Many of you know that I just had a birthday. I really didn't appreciate the comments about being an old man. I just turned 55, one of the men rounded it up to 60. The Bible says what goes around comes around. I say that jokingly.

But I thought about it this morning. I've been in vocational ministry since 1996. The longer you live, the longer you start to see things. Now I'm not acting like I know it all, but what I'm showing you is this. Those of us who've lived a little longer, we've seen a few things. And I've seen so many through the years put their faith in a man or a movement. And because they put their faith in a man or a movement, their lives were not changed by the power of God. I can remember years ago, some of you will remember this, there was a big Christian movement called Promise Keepers. I'm not against Promise Keepers.

But that was a huge movement among men. And I watched a lot of men be pulled into that movement. And see, they weren't changed by the gospel and the power of the gospel, but they were just changed by the movement. And that change was temporary. You know, we're reformed in our doctrine, specifically in our soteriology. So that means that we have a Calvinist view of soteriology. And it's real popular today to be reformed, and these guys are very Calvinistic, and they want to ring those bells, and they want to beat those drums. But I've seen lots of people be pulled into reform doctrine and Calvinism, and they're all about the movement.

They've not been changed by the power of the gospel, you see? And as soon as they get tired of the movement, they'll just go on the way they lived before. But I've seen people be sucked into following men. Now, I'm not against these men, but you know, occasionally within the evangelical landscape, a powerful leader will come along. One today that's very, very well known is Paul Washer. I've seen people be so enamored by Paul Washer and others. They watch all their YouTube videos. They listen to all their sermons. They go and find them, and they go listen to them when they preach in conferences.

And they're all wrapped up about the man, and they're wrapped up about the movement. And they haven't been changed by the power of the gospel. And although they're following a man who preaches the gospel, they're following the man. They're not changed by the power of the gospel. And what I'm trying to show you is this. If you come to Grace Life Church and you follow me, it's not going to change you. My desire is not that you follow me, it's not about me. My mom would get on to me because she was a public school teacher, but it ain't about me. What needs to happen is not that you follow me, but your life is changed by the power of the gospel.

It's not about a movement or a man. And look, small group leader, it's not about you either. Grace Life, what happens if your small group gets changed? Are you going to get mad? I don't know God's will. I mean, I might not live 20 years. I mean, the Lord could take me. If another pastor came, would you still stay? What I'm trying to show you is that many people will follow a movement and they'll follow a man, and they're not been changed by the power of the gospel. But here Paul was reminding them of his approach to ministry, his attitude in ministry, his aim and his goal. Look at verse 5 again.

"So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but what? But in the power of God." Now look folks, especially Grace Life Church, Paul has just described and exemplified the Spirit-filled ministry, right? And I want us to see, I want us to know, and I want us to accept the fact that if we adopt what we see here as our philosophy of ministry, our approach, our attitude, our aim, we will be enabled and empowered by the Spirit to do what we see here. And we will see a demonstration of the Spirit and of power saving lost sinners and sanctifying those who have become saints. I guess what I'm showing you is this.

If we do it God's way, it will work. It's not a crapshoot. It's not about getting lucky for the Lord. Now at this point I want to connect it to you. We've looked at the Spirit-filled life, personal life out of Ephesians 5.18 and the Spirit-filled ministry from Paul in 1 Corinthians 2. And this is easy. A Spirit-filled ministry comes out of a Spirit-filled life. Without a Spirit-filled life, then the Spirit-filled ministry is impossible. These are connected. You can't dissect them. And look church, you show me a pastor that does not have a Spirit-filled ministry and I will show you a pastor that doesn't have a Spirit-filled life.

And it's the same with the church. It's the same with every aspect of the church. It's the same with a greeting ministry team and a music ministry and a music ministry team. You cannot have a Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered ministry without Spirit-filled people. And right here I want to give you a challenge or two. As an individual believer, I challenge you to seek after the Spirit-filled life, to attain it, and to maintain it. Look, this is God's will for us, folks. This is not some pie in the sky way of Christian living. I challenge you to seek after the Spirit-filled life, attain the Spirit-filled life, and maintain the Spirit-filled life.

And as a church, collectively together, I challenge you, I challenge us to help one another here. Let's work hard to encourage one another. Let's work hard to be accountable to one another. Let's be bound together to help one another to seek after the Spirit-filled life, to attain the Spirit-filled life, and to maintain the Spirit-filled life. And as a church, I'm challenging you, us, me as well. Let's make sure that we see and seek after a Spirit-filled ministry and a Spirit-filled church, even if you're taking out the trash, even if you're teaching little boys, even if you're preaching.

Now, I want to close by calling your attention to the very outside of the Grace Life Wheel. It says, "A God-glorifying local church, a church God uses as a pattern for others." Listen, church, if we pour our lives into what we see here, and if we are living a Spirit-filled life, and we are engrossed in a Spirit-filled ministry, God will get glory out of our church. Think about it. If we do this right, God will get glory out of our church, out of you. I'll be honest with you. There's one thing I'm sick of. I'm tired of churches that don't glorify God. Now, look, a God-glorifying church has problems because the church is full of sinners.

But what I'm trying to show you is this, so many churches fight, split, argue, and the reputation of that church is that God-glorifying. I went through a very difficult church circumstance one time. It was very, very ungodly. They were ungodly men who were in charge doing ungodly things. And I'll never forget, a couple of years later, I was with a group of un-church men, and they began to explain what was happening in that church, and I had been in those meetings. I thought, "You weren't there. How did you know?" The reputation of that church was everywhere.

And I'm sick and tired of churches that fuss and fight and split and divide and fire and devour, and people run. They run from all that stuff. Lost sinners don't come to faith in Christ, and the saints aren't edified. I'm sick of it. God deserves, and God desires, a glorifying, a God-glorifying church in Brookhaven that should motivate us. Now, what about being a pattern for others? Well, that's God's business. He'll do that if he chooses to. What we should do is just obey him here, and if he wants to use us as a pattern and an example for others, that's his business. So, spirit-empowered life and ministry. Let's pray.