EMPTY YOUR BUCKET
PAUL DUKE
Ephesians Chapter 5 and Galatians Chapter 5
Before I begin. I want to tell you about a two special guests we have here today. My mom and dad came to visit. Now just to let you know. My parents are the ones you all can blame for my nuttiness. See, my mom was my English teacher. My dad was my principal. Which, you know, is bad enough. But also, my dad was my preacher. So you ask, “Why am I so warped?” They are the reasons. =-)
Now before I begin, I want to warn you. This is an in your face, no holds barred sermon. I want to challenge you. I want to make you feel a little uncomfortable. But I also want you to listen. Not just with your ears. But with your heart. I ask that you honestly open your heart for the next 20 minutes and listen.
I want to begin with a quick prayer.
PRAY
Have you ever driven you car so far on a single tank of gas that you eventually ran out of gas? I am thinking of a few names right now that I could see that happening to. I know you all like when I get up here and tell stories on my self. So let me tell you of a time when I ran of out gas. Now I am talking literally. Not spiritually, not metaphorically. I really ran out of gas. Now, in my defense. It was not my fault. It was Kyle Hilgendorf’s fault. Last year we took you all on a trip to a camp near Cincinnati. Now Kyle had to take a business trip that next week. And since I drove my truck to help with taking a bunch of supplies, he asked me to just take him to the Cincinnati airport when we left. No biggie. It was a bit out of the way, but I also had to go and pick up my boy from my parents.
So I drop Kyle off, no problem. I am on my way to pick up Caleb. Now I really don’t know where I am going. I have not gone to their house from Cincinnati. So I am in some rural towns and areas. Don’t know if you have ever seen the movie, “Deliverance”, but this area reminded me of it. I am thinking, I am going to die here. I noticed that my tank was about ¼ full. So I have plenty of gas to get me atleast 75 miles. Well, I am on some country road for about 3 miles and look down and notice my gas needle has disappeared. And then it gets worse.
My truck dies. I am able to turn into some farm house. So I go up to the front door to see about bumming some gas. No one is home. Now what do I do?
Being the shy person I am I head toward the farmer’s barn. I opened the door and there it is. A gas can. I tell God thanks and grab it. But it is empty. But there in the corner is another one. It is full. So I grab it and head to my truck. I put about a gallon in. Put the can back and put a couple of bucks under it. Luckily, that gallon got me to a gas station where I could fill up my truck. I now know my truck takes just over 20 gallons to completely fill it up.
Why did I tell you that story? To laugh at myself? Yes. But to show you in order for me to get a complete fill up, I had to have a completely empty tank.
READ Ephesians 5:15-21
We have a dishwasher at home. Dishwashers are an amazing item. You put your dirty, cruddy dishes in, push a button, wait twenty minutes and wholla, clean dishes. There is only one problem with dishwashers. You have to unload them. You can only put so many dishes in there before it gets so full you can’t put any more in there. We need to empty the clean dishes. Because it is wrong to have the clean dishes in the washer, right?
I am convinced that in a lot of churches and youth groups today that people are filled with the wrong stuff. The Bible says that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It says to not be drunk with wine. But be filled with the Holy Spirit. In our test, it says be careful how you live. Not as unwise men but as wise men. Making the most of your time because the days are evil. Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. I am convinced that there are people who walk as unwise people in the church. There are people today who do not make the most of their time because the days are spent being selfish. The Bible says to make the most of your days. And when God put these words in our text, He was saying this to us. It is very important how you spend your time doing what God wants you to do. He has given us two things to do. Number 1 is that we are to worship, praise Him and number 2 is that we need to tell others about Him.
You may be saying, “Paul, if I spent most of my time doing that, I would not have time to work, do things I need to, go to school, play sports, do choir, have a part time job, and all the other day to day jobs I have.” But the Bible says to make the most of our days. It is so important that others see Jesus living in us and through us in our actions at work, school, play, raising our family, and treating others. All those are reflections of how Jesus is part of our life.
We need to be making the most of our days. We need to be telling others about Jesus. We need to be telling our friends about Jesus. We need to be letting people see what Jesus has done for us. We need to make the most of our days.
And then he says too not be foolish, but understand what the will of God is. I have met a lot of foolish people in my time here on earth. God would probably look at me and say that I am foolish sometimes also. Some of you might say that as well too. We are all foolish sometimes.
But I think in these few verses, we are to be careful how we walk, we are to make the most of our days, and we are to live not as unwise, but as wise men. As wise women. Wise students, wise adults.
The only way we can do that is to be what verse 18 says: “Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.” The only way you can make the most of your time and day is to be filled with the Spirit of God. The only way you can walk as a wise man is to be filled with the Spirit of God. The only way you can understand what the will of God is, is to be filled with the Spirit of God. I don’t have all the answers for knowing the Spirit of God. But I do know what today’s scripture says. I know you can’t be filled until you empty your container.
Now let me share with you what verse 18 really means. The first part of that I think we all need to understand. It says to not be drunk with wine. That includes champagne, beer, mixed drinks, and wine coolers. I believe that it is a sin to be drunk. The Bible is very clear on that. We do not need to get drunk. Let me ask you this question. When a person is drunk, what are they controlled by? They are controlled by the alcohol. The next part of the verse says to be filled with the spirit of God. It simply means that we are to be controlled by the spirit of God.
As alcohol controls people, when they get so drunk they don’t understand what they are doing, they do things they can’t even begin to realize what they are doing -- so it is to be with God’s Holy Spirit living inside of us. If you are a born again child of God, the Holy Spirit living inside of you must, should, always control you. Once that happens you will be doing what God has called you to do. You will be able to make the most of your days. Stop listening to your friends and even yourself. Start listening to the voice of God.
However, there is problem. Most people aren’t filled with the spirit. Most people aren’t controlled by the spirit of God. Let’s look at Galatians 5 if you would.
READ GALATIANS 5:16 – 26
This simply states that you are to be filled with the Spirit of God and walk with the Spirit of God and when you do so, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
There are a lot of Christians who say they are born again children of God, say they are Spirit led, and yet you can look at their lives and see the things that are going on in their lives and can tell that they are so far from the Holy Spirit. They are not being controlled by the Spirit.
I want to share with you three things from this passage.
Empty yourself
First, you must empty yourself. I have an illustration I want to use.
GET PITCHER WITH PAPER IN IT
This is a normal pitcher. But it is full. This pitcher represents a lot of your lives and my life. You and I have everything in our lives that we can imagine. But before we can be filled with and controlled by the Spirit of God, we must empty ourselves so God can begin to use us in certain areas.
Some of you may be sitting out there saying, “Paul, I empty myself, I’m doing alright. Sure there are a few small things, but they don’t hurt anyone.” Well, let me show you some small things.
DRUNKENESS – That can keep you from being filled with the spirit of God.
MURDER – Everyone might be saying, “I haven’t killed anyone.” Know what?
We murder people everyday with our words, deeds, thoughts.
STEALING – Not just objects. Time from God. Time from family. (GUILTY)
ANGER – I am not saying it is a sin to get angry. But do you dwell on it? How
do you deal with it?
JEALOSY – We harbor these feelings in our hearts.
BAD ATTITUDE – There may be some people today who came in here with a
bad attitude. And they’ll leave with a bad attitude. And then say
I don’t know why I went to Extreme today, I didn’t get anything from it.
PRIDE – Can keep you from doing what God wants you to do.
GOSSIPING – Did you hear what so and so did?
LYING – God said in Revelations that liars won’t get into heaven.
DISOBEDIANCE – To God, parents.
ADULTRY –
WORRY – Matt 6:34 – Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
HATRED –
LUST –
FEAR –
UNFORGIVENESS – It can eat you up
Some of you maybe saying, “Know what? He didn’t put mine out there.” Guess what, you just thought about it. God just put it on your heart. So therefore, you thought about it and that is the one keeping you from being totally filled with the Spirit of God.
Now I have an empty vessel. God can fill me up. Now I can put all of God in here. (PITCHER) In here. (HEART) God can now use me. We must have a complete surrender to the Lord. I believe that if you want to be controlled by the Spirit of God, if you want to quit running on empty, and start running on full, you need to pull into the gas station and fill up on Jesus Christ. You may be saved. You can be saved and know that you are going to heaven. But you will not know the completeness He has in store for you. So you need to be filled and controlled by the Spirit of God.
Thirst to want it
Number two. You have to have a great thirst. Have you ever wanted just a drink of water? Like when it is 110 degrees on a hot summer day, 120 percent humidity, you just got done mowing three acres with a push mower because you broke the riding lawn mower. Been there. And you need something to drink.
Just like you have a thirst for water, you need a similar thirst for God. I think that if you are here today and want to be controlled by the Spirit of God, if you want to be what God wants you to be – Not only do you need to realize that you need it, you also must have a thirst to want it.
When was the last time you had a thirst to be controlled by the Spirit of God? When was the last time you had a thirst to read the Bible? When was the last time you had a thirst to spend time with God in prayer? When was the last time you really wanted God to do something great in you life?
So many people just go through the motions of Christianity. They come in and say, “Oh well, I went to church today.” Then they leave saying they did their good deed for the week. I pleased the people, I pleased the preacher, and I pleased God because I showed up. I threw some money in the plate.
When was the last time you really thirsted for God? When was the last time you really had a hunger for it? Most people treat God the way I treat lima beans. I hate those things. I don’t like to look at them, smell them, or even have them on my plate. I remember as a kid, my mom would say that if I did not eat my beans I would get no dessert.
I don’t want that stuff. I don’t have a hunger for it. I don’t have a thirst for it. And most people treat God like lima beans. They want Him as far away from them as possible.
How do you get filled back up
How do you get filled back up? How do you let Jesus control you? First of all, you have to be born again. The Bible says that Jesus died on a cross for us. He died on that cross, he took upon himself the sins of the world. He took your sins and my sins on that cross with him. And he died there for our sins. He was put into a tomb and three days later He was raised from the dead. And then a short time later, he ascended up to heaven.
The Bible says in Romans 10:9, “If you confess Jesus is Lord with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Then in verse 13 it says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” If we are saved, we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
Once you are born again, the spirit of God begins to live inside of you. Then you are filled with the spirit. To be filled with the spirit of God does not mean that you have to go through a process to get it. Once you are saved, you are given the Holy Spirit. Once you are saved, you got it!
But I am convinced that there are people today who have let some of it just leak out. Their bucket has a hole in it. First of all you need to realize that you need Jesus today. If you are here today and you do not have Christ in your heart, you need to realize that you need him today. Not next Sunday. Not Wednesday. Today! If you are a Christian and you want to be filled back up with the Spirit, you need to realize that you need to be filled back up tonight. Plug that hole! Plug it today! Not next Sunday. Not next Wednesday. Today!
Do you know what the worst thing is for an alcoholic? To admit that he is an alcoholic. He doesn’t think that he’s an alcoholic until he can actually say the words, “I am an alcoholic.” My dad’s dad, who I never met, was an alcoholic. He never admitted that he was an alcoholic. He died an alcoholic.
You know what’s wrong with a lot of us today? We can’t admit to ourselves that we are not controlled by the Spirit of God. We want everyone to think that were little Miss Perfect or Mr. Perfect. We put on our smiling faces and we put on our Sunday clothes and we come into church and we want everyone to think our lives are perfect and we are right where we need to be with God.
Well, let me ask you. How do your live, act, and behave Monday through Saturday? Are you living like the world lives? Can people tell if you are a Christian? God needs to be the center in your life. You need to be filled with his spirit, and not by the things of the world.
The only way you can do that is to say to God, “God, I have some of those things in my life. I want to empty myself right now of those things. I want to make you the Lord of my life. I want you to use me.” If you ask Him to change you and you mean it, then He will.
Does that mean that tomorrow I will be rid of all those things? Probably not. But it means that tomorrow morning when I wake up, I need to get rid of them again. Tell Jesus that you need help. And He will.
As we close, I want to offer an invitation to you all. Use it for a variety of reasons. First, if you feel the Lord pulling you and moving inside you, and you need to accept Christ, it is a time to tell God that you are His. It is also used as a time to get things right with God.
First, if you’re ready to accept Jesus, then definitely come up here. Secondly, you see these pieces of paper that have sins that distance yourself from God? Come up to the altar and ask God to empty your heart of them. You don’t have to kneel in front of your specific roadblock. But let the healing begin. Maybe something has been going on in your life and you are ready to empty yourself. Or maybe something happened during spring break and you need to empty yourself. Or maybe you have been harboring certain thoughts and grudges and you are ready to turn it over to God. Pour it out! Grab a friend or someone beside you. There will be leaders here to pray with you.
Let’s empty ourselves so we can get filled up with God.
