 Good afternoon, Pastor David. Hey, John. Welcome everybody to a random moment with Pastor David unfiltered Just as you guys know on Tuesdays we cover current events on Thursdays we care cover sometimes it's things from the message you taught From the Wednesday evening service and this is where I want to go today I want to thank you guys for tuning in last night And you even put a little title on this specific point that you were making your referencing Doing work without the power of the Holy Spirit and this is what you've quoted quote People do great things without the power of the Holy Spirit and you message that you call that running on empty Which is a cool song from Jackson Brown But you said something that it was a great concern. Yeah, is this truly a great concern? I would believe so. I believe that there are quite a number of of people who attend church who are are trying to do works for God in their own flesh and Are failing to actually understand how the power of the Holy Spirit has been available made available to us by the Lord and that To do something for the Lord that is going to last requires that it be in his will and by his power and So when we begin to market the church or we begin to look at the church as just an organization and So we go out and we hire people who are experts at various things you go out and find the best Children's Minister you can get you hire professional Guitar players worship leaders and all of that professional you You look for somebody to handle your Children's Ministry who's got you know their degree in and In child education and all there's nothing wrong with any of that but sometimes It can be wrong When we think that by bringing in these trained people that that's the same as bringing in people who are an Anointed to do those things because you can be trained to do quite a number of things You know that and I know that there are quite a number of quote-unquote counselors who counsel without the wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit, but they've been trained They got their masters. They got their doctorates and They've been trained and they've gone through the variety of things that you need to do in order to be regarded as an accredited accredited Professional counselor, but that doesn't mean that they necessarily are giving wisdom from above Very often is it's not and so yeah last night I was sharing that it's easy for us to run on empty and I was sharing how that I was coming down from from big Big Bear Lake here in California and as I was coasting I had put the The transmission in neutral and just coasted and I coasted quite a way because those of those who are familiar with The road that takes you up into and down from from Big Bear know that it's got an incline And so you can actually go for a few miles, you know And that's what I did and I was sharing how that I put it back into gear put my foot down on the gas pedal and There was no gas in the in the vehicle. So I was traveling at 60 55 miles an hour But I was traveling on empty and there's a lot of people That are traveling in their quote-unquote spiritual life, but they're running on empty and so yeah The emphasis last night was that that we walk in the spirit that we ask God to fill us with his spirit You know that we might exercise gifts and talents that he gives to us and not simply natural talents But spiritual talents that he gives to us and that there are a number of people I believe sitting in churches on midweeks or during the You know the Sunday morning service who who aren't even born again who are convinced that they themselves are Saved because they're in church or they try to be good and and they're trying to basically earn their way into heaven And I was sharing that in the 50s that there were those who lived moral lives that even people today in our year Don't match, you know in the 50s you could leave your your keys in your in your car You could leave the doors unlocked windows unlocked and Pagans in the 50s lived more moral lives than than many Christians or professing Christians in In our day, you know the atheists have I was reading a statistic on divorce and atheists had a lower divorce rate than evangelical Christians and and You know that these things ought not to be so and so I was sharing with the church yesterday Last night how that we need to be careful that we don't run on empty We need the power of the spirit and pastor, you know as as as Christians as you're you know much mentioning running on empty There's there's no such thing as being half full of the spirit or Being we're either filled with the Holy Spirit or not Well, we need to you know scripture speaks very often book of acts I think especially makes it clear but also in Ephesians and other places speaks concerning the filling of the Holy Spirit and the walking in the spirit and You know, there is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that we have received and Yet there is the fillings of the Holy Spirit And so there's an awareness that we ought to be relying on God in his Holy Spirit and there are times when we'll say Lord I I I'm asking for you to just just to fill me now, you know, and you can see that There's a phrase you'll see in scripture and Peter filled with the Spirit spoken and all and so Paul Paul said be not drunken be not drunk with wine but he said but be filled with the Holy Spirit and That is a call to a continuous action that the Holy Spirit be continually filling us And so what we asked for on a daily basis, and I mentioned that to our people last night I said, you know wake up in the morning and say father. I just need your your power today You know and make that a continual prayer and and very often I will be asking I asked the Lord Lord Just fill me especially when I'm Sharing or when I'm maybe doing one-on-one ministry And somebody's sharing with me the situation now I will be saying father I need your wisdom and I certainly need your direction and and empowerment by your spirit So yeah, I was encouraging the church because I believe that when the Revival that I went through and got saved in called the Jesus movement occurred It was a movement that was centered on the Present relationship we could have with the Spirit of God and a lot of people have I may be some listening now Have substituted activity in church, you know serving giving whatever Traveling on missions and they have substituted activity for a walk in the Spirit and so I See the lack of that, you know when you see people who are believers who are living in fear of Covid and not to say that we shouldn't have wisdom as it relates to that both you and I have had it I've had it twice. I do not Disregarded it is a serious and has been serious of course But to live in fear That is that is not something that that as a believer I should be yielding to wisdom. Yes fear. No Walk in wisdom. Yes walk in fear. No, you know, I ask the Lord, you know, give me a wisdom and a confidence To know you're with me, but Lord, let me not be shackled with the fear of Illness or the fear of death, you know in an in a an unwise way There are some in our church who have had lung transplants and and some who are you know, have Comorbidities that I certainly would never be one who says oh, don't Be concerned with your health. Of course, there are certain kinds of of concerns We have that should motivate us to protective action So I do for example put on a seat belt I do lock the doors of my house and even in my car Because I think there's wisdom in being aware that the world I live in is as perilous, you know We're living in evil days. Of course. We understand that But to be afraid Constantly to get angry at people because they're not wearing a mask when masks don't even work It's been demonstrated that you have to have a certain kind of Mask and the mask that people are wearing the cloth ones do not work And yet we see people putting on two masks or just the other day Somebody told my wife when she was walking into a store put on your masks, you know Yeah, these these Karen's they call them today, you know, we're trying to be the The health monitors for the world Those are people who walk in fear and so I think that we daily need to put on the armor of God We need to ask the Lord to fill us with his spirit and that's kind of what I was trying to share last night And you know just I know we have a few minutes left the way you tied it in last night uses an illustration that really It made made sense to me it made sense to a lot of people That when we're in Christ and we're walking in the spirit We're already victorious and you shared an illustration yesterday. Maybe if you would can you please? Yeah, I'll close with this story. It is a true story how we were watching the Super Bowl and You know, I'm a Rams fan, you know, I've my dad was a Rams fan my son's a Rams fan You know and so so I was watching the Super Bowl and I was very happy to see the Rams But we were losing in the last quarter or there were only Six and a half minutes or so to go and and we were down And so I was telling Marie who's really not interested anyway, but she happened to be sitting next to me I said, you know the Rams could pull it off, but I don't know that they will they're not moving the ball And we're I was kind of talking and I had put it on pause and so there's little over six minutes to go And as I put it on pause, I'm talking to Marie and my son Joseph had come in and and those kinds of things So I was interrupted, but you know you can you can take it off pause and watch the rest of the game And so as I'm there on pause the phone rings. It's my son David and I pick it up. I said hello, David He says Super Bowl champs dad and I said what he said yeah, we won Super Bowl Are you watching the game and I said well son, um, it's on pause. I said and right now we're losing I said so well no, I am watching the game, but yes, I have it on pause and it goes. I'm sorry dad I'm sorry dad. I said no, that's okay And and I'll kind of laugh with him and then I hung up the phone and I began to watch the game and Frankly knowing that they won it still didn't it's it didn't ring that they had because we weren't advancing the ball We were and I knew I was saying last night I knew that had I not been told we won that I would be going through, you know Attention over this but knowing that the game was already over and already won It gave me a peaceful confidence even a hope and I was sharing I said to the church You know what we can look like we are losing because the situations around us right now Seemed to scream that we are but we know the last chapter of the last book of the Bible and we know in Christ We're victorious and in the book of Ephesians Paul has already made that statement. He's already made it clear We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies We are already regarded by God as people who are victors because of us being in Jesus Christ And so yeah life is for for us it can be like in like a paused game With a conclusion that's already been settled and that gives us a confidence man walk. Yeah, because you can appear that you're losing But in fact no it's just part of the process to victory. That was that illustration was amazing. It worked for me Well pastor, thank you so much for sharing and giving us some insight on you know, we don't have to run on empty We have the Spirit freely for us and you can walk in the power. Yes. Yes And so thank you pastor for sharing with us church family want to remind you that we do have our services coming up at 830 and 1045 on Sunday Pastor you're taking us through the book of Mark and invite your friends and family. It'll be a great study March 2nd Mark your counters. We have a cutina's coming out to do our Wednesday evening service. It's gonna be great They're gonna need worship they're gonna do a message and that's a great opportunity to my friends Oh, absolutely. And so thank you guys for tuning in pastor. Thank you so much. God bless you guys