Filling Our Tank With The Spirit"

“Filling Your Tank With The Spirit"

Did you ever run your vehicle close on fuel?

As you drove you watch the gauge and wonder how far will it go.

And the whole time your sweating it and hoping that you can make it to a station.

You suddenly start thinking about running out of gas and all the pitfalls that go with it.

And if you do run out as you are sitting there you keep asking yourself, “Why didn’t I stop and get gas earlier?”

Now it is much simpler today because of cell phones and fuel injections on cars.

Before cell phones you were left with 3 choices:

You have to walk to the nearest house and ask for help.

You had to go on a search for a pay phone.

You have to walk to the next station.

And once you had the gas and put it in the tank you had to save some to pour in the carburetor, which meant removing the breather.

Then you hoped it would start before it blew up.

But if you were lucky enough to make it to the filling station you were so relieved and when you got back in the car and starting driving you starting getting cocky and thinking to yourself, “I knew I could make it!”

Well people sometimes get just a little too cocky with their Christian life and their tank is running low.

If that is the case with you I am here to be your gauge and warn you that you better be filling up.

The first warning I will give you this morning is that I will step on some toes, I will probably offend a few, I make even make a few people mad.

But you what, that is just what God wants me to do. Not that He wants me to anger anyone, He just wants me to be their gauge and tell it like it is.

Pray before turning to God’s Word.

Ephesians 5:15-21

Now some preachers when they preach use the word you but I would rather say we because when I preach, it is aimed at me as much as it is at you.

Paul warns us here to be careful how we live. Are we living the way God expects us to.

Now notice I said expects and not wants.

If we look at the way we live as what God wants it makes it sound like God has given us a choice.

Yes we had the choice of living however we wanted before we accepted Christ but after we made that commitment that choice should have been forfeited.

Once we confessed Jesus as our Savior, and made the commitment to repent and we were buried with Him in baptism, it should have became what God expects and not what God wants.

When you want something, the want is no longer there after you get it.

You want a new car and after you buy it then you expect it to do what it is supposed to do.

Jesus wants us to accept Him and then after we do He expects us to work for Him.

But in reality are we doing so or just going through the motions?

If we are only a Christian on Sunday because we attend church then we are just going through the motions.

God expects us to be Christians everyday of the week, not just on Sunday.

But what about the times other than Sunday morning worship?

In the 10th chapter of Hebrews we are warned not to forsake the assembling of ourselves.

The writer of Hebrews isn’t just talking about Sunday worship.

If we have an event here at the church we are still getting together in the name of Jesus so why should we forsake that.

Illustration: An athlete’s desire is to participate in a contest and win that contest for him or her self or the team whichever the case may be. But in order for them to be effective in a contest they must practice. Without practice they don’t have much of a chance to win. So they spend countless hours practicing just for the contest. As Christians we need to spend as much time as we can meeting together for the purpose of glorifying Christ and not just on Sunday morning.

Paul then says in verse 16 to make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Folks Paul isn’t saying here to live it up because tomorrow may never come.

He is talking about making the most of every opportunity for God.

In other words living the way He expects.

Helping others, witnessing to others, giving to others, being a witness to others.

Once we become His those outside of Christ or not following Christ are the others and in order for us to win them to Christ they need to see that Christ is in us.