Spiritually Empty

Today’s Party

Next Sunday

Toby

The Lord be with you.

But God holds us responsible for staying in the valley.

Sparky

Pastor Eric and transition

Michelle and Katherine and rest of my family

Graduates and family

Bill Collier / surgery

the lost

other churches

Almighty God who comes to us in wind and fire, may the doors of our hearts be open to let your Holy Spirit blow in and your love and grace flow out! As we offer up these gifts to you this morning, may they empower mission and ministries that spread across all your creation like wildfire. May our giving help your church to be born anew, not as bricks and mortar, but as hearts on fire to serve others and make disciples for Jesus Christ. In his holy name, we pray. Amen.

Revelation 2:1–6 NIV84

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

And also with you.

Revelations 2:1-6

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Spiritual disciplines do more than just keep us spiritually healthy, they provide the atmosphere for encounters with God’s Spirit that keeps us vibrant.

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This has been based on the passage from where Jesus explained why he came. I have come so that they…we…might have life and life to its fullest.

Today we are looking at the area of our lives that for the person who believes in Jesus is the anchor to everything else, our spiritual health.

Me:

we think we haven't moved…but in realty over time our digging got out of the vein of gospel blessing and got into religious behavior…religious behavior is exhausting.

But when we are spiritually empty, the solution isn’t to go elsewhere and dig…it’s to dig right where we are…to dig deep into the gospel.

dig deep into god’s word, prayer, fasting, fellowship, listening, worship, scripture, silence, praise, confession, loving others, helping others, telling others, dig deep

Digging deep sets the stage with an encounter

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Digging deep sets the stage with an encounter

provoke one another to love and good works...

persevere...

stand fast...

Good News for Those Trying Harder Introduction

There is good news, however. Trying harder was never God’s spiritual growth plan for us. God has given us an entirely different pathway into the life He desires for us to experience. This book is a description of that pathway. In many respects, it is a picture of my own journey—off a twenty-five-year-long treadmill of spiritual performance and into the transforming ocean of God’s purposes and presence. I invite you to join me in this journey.

Good News for Those Trying Harder 4-Learning to Hear

The fact that the Scriptures are brim full of hustlers, murderers,

cowards, adulterers, and mercenaries used to shock me.

Now it is a source of great comfort.

—Bono

Psalm 46:10 NIV84

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

In the beginning your Spirit moved over the face of the waters.

Isaiah 30:15 NIV84

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

Isaaiah 30:15

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

Me:

I am an optimist.

Half full....is a matter of perspective… but in reality it is half empty.... it’s only half. If you are really thirsty, it’s only half a glass. If you run across a group of thirsty travelers....it’s only half a glass.

You:

Have you found yourself going through the motions? Have you found yourself spending too much time in the valleys of the spiritual roller coaster?

That happens to us. We go through seasons where life is difficult. These difficulties aren’t always accidents or natural events. Often they are due to a combination of factors… third party events combined with the things we do or don’t do.

A problem at work comes during the same season that we are disengaged at church.

A medical crisis comes at a time when we are questioning.

A difficult relationship with friends

they all come at a time when we aren’t as engaged spiritually as we normally are.

Satisfied with a half full spiritual life?

we have been in a series of messages since Easter Running on Empty. Seeking to understand how the resurrection can fill us when we are running on empty. We have looked at various areas of life: mentally, Physically, Relationally, emotionally, vocationally, and financially

This has been based on the passage from where Jesus explained why he came. I have come so that they…we…might have life and life to its fullest.

Today we are looking at the area of our lives that for the person who believes in Jesus is the anchor to everything else, our spiritual health.

In fact today is Pentecost. The Sunday in the church when we remember the first Pentecost when the disciples were gathered in the upper room some 40 days after the resurrection when the Holy Spirit came like tongues of fire upon each one and they spoke in unknown tongues and all who were gathered heard the Good news in their own language.

The disciples had lost their rabbi and friend Jesus, yet they found themselves spiritually full, to the point that they went and faced prison, beatings, and death and yet they told the story of the good news.

Man would I have loved to have been there at that time.

They were spiritually full.

Sadly, we don’t stay full like that do we? We don’t experience the supernatural peace of God on an ongoing basis.

We get flashes of it, but for too many of us, it’s not an ongoing reality. Well, congratulations, you are not unique…this is the typical christian experience....but i’m not sure it should be.

God:

Let’s look at the life of one Jewish man who too found himself in a low place and what he found. If you would turn in your bibles to Luke chapter 19 as we consider for a moment the life of Zacchaeus.

Luke 19:1–12 NIV84

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.

Luke 19:1–10 NIV84

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

This is all we know about this man Zacchaeus from tehe bible. But I believe it is enough to help us move from spiritually empty or half a tank to full and overflowing.

YOU:

Zacchaeus ran ahead...

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV84

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:13 The Message

“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else,

Zacchaeus understood what he had done wrong.

Isaiah 59:2 NIV84

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Psalm 51:1–4 NIV84

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Isaiah 1:18 NIV84

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV84

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

Zacchaeus later became the Bishop of the church in Cesearea.

2 Corinthians 13:5 The Message

Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

Romans 12:1–2 NIV84

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

When Zacchaeus gave his wealth away, he wasn’t paying a penalty. No this was an act of worship. It’s amazing when we express a change in thinking or a change in attitude, that a change in heart soon follows.

I’m not saying that you can speak your way to being spiritually alive, but I am saying that praise raises your spiritual temperature.

Psalm 68:4 NIV84

Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds— his name is the Lord— and rejoice before him.

SO the next time you just aren’t feeling it…praise. When you don’t feel connected to God, sing, rejoice, thank him. Praise him!

We:

John 10:10 NIV84

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Our tendency is to stop digging when we feel we are getting too deep…and that may be true, particularly when we are digging in places we aren’t meant to dig.

we think we haven't moved…but in realty over time our digging got out of the vein of gospel blessing and got into religious behavior…religious behavior is exhausting.

But when we are spiritually empty, the solution isn’t to go elsewhere and dig…it’s to dig right where we are…to dig deep into the gospel.

dig deep into god’s word, prayer, fasting, fellowship, listening, worship, scripture, silence, praise, confession, loving others, helping others, telling others, dig deep

Digging deep sets the stage with an encounter

provoke one another to love and good works...

persevere...

stand fast...

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 NIV84

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus gave his life so that you might live life to the fullest. DO you want that life? or are you satisfied with the best life you can manufacture?

I’ve tried to think whey many people don’t pursue a vibrant faith, why we often settle for half full or half empty lives. One reason is that often You may feel like God can’t do that with me…or God wouldn’t do that with me.

The fact that the Scriptures are brim full of hustlers, murderers, cowards, adulterers, and mercenaries used to shock me. Now it is a source of great comfort.

cowards, adulterers, and mercenaries used to shock me.

Now it is a source of great comfort.

—Bono

God wants to give himself to you, to fill you with Holy Spirit power so you don’t have to live life, but you get to live a full life.

Today we celebrate communion. If you want that life, you are welcome to share in this meal.

The Lord be with you.

The pastor may lower hands.

And also with you.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

We:

Lift up your hearts.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

The pastor may raise hands.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

At his baptism in the Jordan your Spirit descended upon him and declared him your beloved Son.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

With your Spirit upon him he turned away the temptations of sin.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you,

Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.

Father Almighty (almighty God ), creator of heaven and earth.

He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

In the beginning your Spirit moved over the face of the waters.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, baptizing us with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as on the Day of Pentecost.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread, or touch the bread, or lift the bread.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

Your Spirit came upon prophets and teachers, anointing them to speak your Word.

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Do this in remembrance of me."

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the cup, or touch the cup, or lift the cup.

When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

At his baptism in the Jordan your Spirit descended upon him and declared him your beloved Son.

The pastor may raise hands.

With your Spirit upon him he turned away the temptations of sin.

On the day you raised him from the dead he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread, and in the power of your Holy Spirit your Church has continued in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, baptizing us with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as on the Day of Pentecost.

The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread and cup.

The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread, or touch the bread, or lift the bread.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood and empowered by the gifts of the Spirit.

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

The pastor may raise hands.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, showing forth the fruit of the Spirit until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Do this in remembrance of me."

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God ), now and for ever.

The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the cup, or touch the cup, or lift the cup.

When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

Amen.

"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

On the day you raised him from the dead he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread, and in the power of your Holy Spirit your Church has continued in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood and empowered by the gifts of the Spirit.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, showing forth the fruit of the Spirit until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God ), now and for ever.

Amen.

With the confidence of the children of God, let us pray as Jesus taught:

Our father,...

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