Hey everybody, welcome to Valley Creek. Come on. We're so glad that you're here with us today. Hey, if this is your first time with us or you are newer here, I just want to tell you we have been praying for you. We have been praying that God would bring people just like you to this church for this time in this season. People who say, "I want to be a disciple of Jesus." People who say, "I want to be a part of a movement of hope for the city and beyond." People who want to create a future that doesn't currently exist. People who want to discover who they are, who God is, and what they were created to do, whether for the first time, or at a whole ‘nother level. So, welcome. We're glad you're here. And we've been in this season as a church of fueling the fire. Since January, we've been in this season where we're talking about fueling, tending, stewarding the fire of God amongst us – the fire of His presence – the presence, the purity, the power of God. God is a consuming fire and He is looking for those who will submit and surrender their lives to Him that He might consume people with radiant faces, burning hearts, and holy lives.

And we only have two weeks left of fueling the fire. Since January, it is May. We only have two weeks left and then we will start our 60 days of Summer series – 60 days of enjoying God and the life He's giving you. That's what we're going to do this summer. And so with two weeks left – talked about this for five months – here's the question: How's your fire? Like today, right now, how's your fire? Have you fueled it? Have you tended it? Have you stewarded it? Is your fire hotter and brighter and more vibrant than it was at the beginning of this year? Is your face becoming more radiant? Is your heart burning ever brighter? Is your life becoming ever more holy and powerful? Like, like how's your fire? Is it brighter than it was at the beginning of this year? And if not, why? What have you had to do this year that was more important than fueling your fire? If you go back with me to the beginning of this year, we said that we're in a time and a place as a church where we have to get the fire of God amongst us burning bright, hot, and radiant to create the future that is in front of us. And we said there's this divine stirring and there's this insatiable hunger and God's at work. So, we want to align our lives with Him and and we want to acknowledge that it is a sacred fire. So we want to treat it as if it is sacred and there's this sense of being captured and captivated and consumed by the life of God. So my question for you is how is your fire?

How's your fire? Five months of your life has gone by that you can never get back. So is it brighter? Is it hotter? Is it more radiant? And if not, why? I have this burden, this conviction, this this unction, this this weight, this gravity like, like this matters and it's right here. It's like the thing that the Lord keeps just saying to me that just keeps sensing is like the fire of God is not somewhere. It's like, it's like right here. It's like so, it's like so close.

You want the presence of God, it's it's it's right it's right here. You want more of the fire of God? It it it's it's right here. You want a holy and powerful life, it's not way out. It's it's it's it's right here. It's why Jesus says, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The fire of God is at at hand. It's it's within reach. Like, like everything that you want in God, the life you want in God is it's it's it's right it's it's right here. So, what do I need to do? I need to repent. I need to rearrange. I need to consider carefully. I need to do some things different. I need to add some fuel. I, I just I just need to reach out and take a hold of that which Jesus says is right here for me. This matters. Oh, Valley Creek, this matters. And this is what we're praying for. And this is what we're interceding for. And this is what we're obeying for. This is what we're following for. And this is what we're calling out for. And this is what we're crying out for. And this is what we're giving for is because we want the fire of God here and now. In fact, our theme verse that we've been looking at all year is just simply, “The fire on the altar must be kept burning. It must not go out. Every morning, the priest,” which is you, “must add firewood and arrange the offering on the fire. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously. It must not go out.” You are responsible for the fire that God has entrusted you with, and you need to arrange your entire life so it does not go out.

In fact, the New Testament version of this just simply says, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire.” The Spirit is burning. So, don't put it out. Don't quench it. Don't extinguish it. Don't ignore it. If, if this was the command of your life was basically to make sure your fire never went out, like if you had a candle or a torch in your hand and your job was to make sure it never went out, how would you live? The answer is very carefully. You would not run because you wouldn't want it to blow out. And there's some places you wouldn't go because you wouldn't want it to go out. And there's other places you would go because you knew it had the environment and the atmosphere to make it burn. And there's some people you would never go around cuz you know they would put it out. And there's other people you would always stay around cuz you know they've got a fire, too. And together you can keep the thing burning.

If this was your job, how would you live? Maybe very differently from how you live today. Because can I tell you what I think happens to a lot of us? I think a lot of us come in here and we gather and by the time we leave our fire is burning and then by lunchtime, by dinner time, by Monday morning, by Wednesday afternoon, we've completely forgotten about the fire, dropped it on the ground, and it has completely gone out. And then we come back here next Sunday or the Sunday after or three Sundays or six Sundays later and we walk in and it takes us till about the third song to remember that there is a fire of God that is available for my life and we kind of remember and we pull it up and and it's back on until we go to lunch until we go home until Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon and then we forget about it all over again and we live in this cycle, cycle and that's why it feels like our fire never gets brighter and hotter and why why it feels like there's never this coal base that grows and it's why no one ever says I have a radiant face or a burning heart or a holy and a powerful life cuz my fire is alive for about 45 minutes once a week.

How different would would your life be if this was the whole point? Keep the fire burning. Do not let it go out. Rearrange. Oh, not the fire. Rearrange my life. Don't go over there cuz over there it's going to go out. Okay. Oh, add some firewood. Okay. Add some add add some fuel. Nope. Those people. Nope. Not you. Nope. Nope. Nope. You. Oh, please help me. Really simple. Really silly analogy. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.” You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus paid a very high price to take the fire of God that burned on the altar made by human hands to the altar of the human heart, resurrected by the hands of God. And now that fire burns within you. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. Holy, righteous, pure, blameless, set apart, beautiful, glorious, majestic, profound, Spirit, divine, supernatural, kingdom, life, the Holy Spirit – the purity and the power of God lives in you. You're the temple of the Holy Spirit. What is a temple? It is a sacred place. It is a divine place. It is a gateway between two worlds, between heaven and earth. You are now the the people of heaven living in this earth. And there is this sacred fire that burns within you. And people come to a sacred temple. They come to meet with God. They come to hear His voice. They come for healing and forgiveness and wisdom and destiny and and understanding and revelation and insight. That is who you are with this fire that burns within you. This sacred, divine, completely different reality carrying the nature of Jesus. “Do you not know?” Paul says to the Corinthians, a bunch of people who knew and forgot, who had a fire and kind of let it go out. “Do you not know?”

I actually think most of us do know. We just don't live like it. So I think we would say, "Yeah, yeah.” Okay. If your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then then what are you looking at and what are you listening to and what are you saying and where are you going and what are you touching and where are your feet taking you and what are you allowing to touch you? Is it sacred? Is it divine? Is it making you a great dwelling place for God? Because you are the now the dwelling place of God. God wants to abide, to habitate, to live out there right here.

So here's the question: Are you a good host? Are you a good host for the fire of God? Like does God feel welcome and wanted in your life? That's a great question, isn't it? You're like, I don't like that question. I, I know because I don't think we actually want to think about that question. Does God feel well hosted in my life? Have you ever been to an environment with a great host? Oh, it's amazing. They are so prepared and they are so thoughtful and they have studied their guests so well that they know what their guests like and what their guests don't like. And they arrange everything in the house. They clean everything. They get rid of all the junk. It smells good. They create ambiance and candles and little lights and and this atmosphere that's profound and they bring this incredible spread of all of your favorite things. And they're there and they welcome you in and they serve you and they're present and they're focused and they laugh at your jokes and they listen to your stories and they make you feel like you're the only person in their house and they don't ever want you to leave. They want you to stay as late as possible. That's a good host.

Now, have you ever been around a bad host? They don't prepare at all. And they know nothing about their guest. And the house is dirty and nothing's been arranged. And they have no environment or atmosphere. And the house smells. And they offer you like a half-leftover bag of chips. And while you're there, they're very distracted. Their face is grumpy and they kind of follow you around and clean everything as you're touching it and put it back together. And they make you feel like, can you just get out of here? How does God feel being hosted by you?

I mean, if you look at Scripture and you look at people who had a heart for God, they hosted God so well. You look at Abraham when God meets with Abraham. Abraham wants to go. God, stay. Let me go and prepare a meal for you. God doesn't need Abraham's meal. Abraham just like, "I don't know what else to do. I just want to host You so You'll stay here longer." Abraham goes up or Moses goes up on the mountain to meet with God 40 days without food or water. And he says, "God, don't send us from here. Like, we'd rather be in the desert with You than in the promised land without You. We just want to host You. We don't really care where we are as long as You're here."

Or or how about David who wants to build a temple for God? God doesn't need David's little temple, but David wanted to host the presence of God so desperately that he's like, "God, I will give everything I have to build this place so there will be a dwelling place for You among the people."

Then you get into the New Testament and you watch the hosting of Jesus and you watch as He goes to the Last Supper in the Upper Room with his disciples and and man, they were terrible hosts. None of them in their pride and their arrogance wanted to wash His feet. So the one who was supposed to be the guest had to become the host and He had to go and wash their feet. Or we see Mary and Martha and they go to, Jesus goes to their house and Martha's making this meal and she's scurrying around and she's angry and she's frustrated, she's worried, distracted and she starts yelling at Jesus. If you're the host, you don't yell at the guest. All while Mary is sitting at His feet listening to everything He has to say. Or how about when Jesus is invited by Simon the Pharisee over for dinner? And He shows up and He goes there and in walks this sinful woman and she takes her alabaster jar and she breaks it and she washes Jesus' feet with her tears and her hair and her perfume. She makes the entire atmosphere change. And the Pharisee, the one who is supposed to be the host, is disgusted by this whole experience. And Jesus says, "Simon, you see this woman?" He says, "I came to your house, bro. We're not in her house. We're in your house. And I walked in here and you didn't give me any water for my feet, but she hasn't stopped washing my feet with her tears. And you didn't give me a kiss on the cheek, but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet. And you didn't give me any oil for my head. And she has broken everything she had of worth and changed this atmosphere because he who has been forgiven much loves much.”

And what I love about that story with that woman is she became a great host even though it wasn't her home. You know what that means? You can be a great host of God even if it's not your home. You can host God in your work, in your school, in the in the place that you reside, in the places that you got to go, in these dark, awful, evil, vile environments that you find yourself in. You can still be a great host when you live with the mindset of I'm the host and He's the guest. That's a great question. Did you come here today as a guest or as a host? Are you a guest or are you a host? Are you a good host? Am I a good host? Are we a good host?

Because not only are you the temple of the Holy Spirit and the dwelling place of God, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are the dwelling place of God. “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you, too, are being built together as a people to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” So here's the question: Are we a good host for the presence of God? Valley Creek Church, are we the host? And is He the guest? Well, if we're the host, the host always arrives before the guest. You know what that means? If I'm going to be a good host, I'm going to come early and I'm going to be prepared and I'm going to have studied my guest and I'm going to know what He likes.

And you know what my guest likes? My guest loves relationships. He says I love Him by loving others. So, I come early and I build meaningful relationships and connect with people. And the guest that I'm hosting loves worship. He inhabits the praises of His people. So I worship with everything I got from the moment I walk in. Whether I like the songs or don't, whether I had a long week or not, whether we fought on the way here or not, I'm still going to worship because He is the guest and I am the host. And, and I'm going to pray and I'm going to pray out loud. Why? Because my, my guest wants to actually hear from me – wants me to pay attention to Him and acknowledge Him. And then I'm going to listen to His Word and His voice because I want to show Him that He matters the most to me. And I'm listening to His voice. And then I want to be generous and I want to give Him something because all good hosts always give something to their guests. And I'm not going to rush out of here. I want to linger because I never want this to end because I get to host the God of the universe.

So are we good hosts? This is what matters. This is where we're trying to go as a church. Everything we do, everything we rearrange, it's like a buzzword for us. Rearrange as a church is designed to be great hosts for the God of the universe. You're like, I don't like two minutes of kindness. Too bad. You're the host. And when we host people, we remind our kids it's not about you. It's about the guests. And the guest loves two minutes of kindness. And the guest loves extended worship.

And the guest loves the Word of God. Are you the guest or are you the host? I would just submit to you that most American Christianity is about being the guest. But at some point in time when you wake up to the reality that you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, you are no longer the guest. You are the host. Now your life gets rearranged to make the guest feel welcomed and wanted and loved and valued. That's just such a great question. Did you come in here to get to consume something or to be consumed? To get something or to give something? To be a guest or to be a host? Like I almost don't want to say anything else after this. I just want to say like, “Have a great week. Keep your fire burning and think about this.” I have too many other important things that I want to say though. But I do want you to think about this that we can become such a dwelling place for God that the fire gets so hot that anything that is ungodly, unhealthy, or impure can't even stay in the room. Let me show you. Let me show you this.

We're sort of excited about that. We're like, "Yeah, you know, some unholy things are good. The cat can stay. It's just a little bit of mold.” There's a great story in the Old Testament. Saul is the appointed king of Israel. He's demonically oppressed. David is the next generation anointed king of Israel, the one who is up and coming. And Saul is mad because of this demonic oppression in his life. And he wants to kill David. So he sends his men after him. And here's what it says, “Word came to Saul that David is at Ramah; so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied. Saul was told about it, and he sent more men and they prophesied, too. Saul sent men a third time and they also prophesied. Finally, he himself left for Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all day and all night.”

Here's what I want you to understand: There were a group of prophets who hosted the presence of God so powerfully that the fire of God was so bright amongst them that when other people got into their atmosphere, the fire of God was so contagious it jumped out of their life, hit their life and turned them in a completely different direction. Three times Saul sends evil men to kill David, the next generation appointed person of God. And three times the dwelling place of God among a group of people was so powerful that, that fire burned out everything that was unholy, unhealthy, ungodly and actually created repentance – turned them in a different direction, caused them to prophesy, to start speaking out the very narratives of God all the way to the point where Saul finally says, “Fine, I'll do it myself.” And he goes and the fire of God is so powerful that that demonic influence on his life was redirected, turned around. He took off his robes, which is a picture of confession and repentance and pride. He comes to the end of himself and the next generation was safe and protected and secure because there was a prophetic kingdom culture among a people – a prophetic kingdom culture.

Prophetic – hearing the voice of God and speaking it out. The presence of God was what dwelt among them. The kingdom – they wanted to see His kingdom come and His will be done. They were submitted and surrendered. And culture – they were in such unity that there was nothing that come come against them. That's what we're trying to create here. This is what we're trying to build here. The kind of fire amongst a people that is so bright and so vibrant that when unholy, ungodly, demonic things want to come into your life or your children or this church, there is no room for it cuz the fire is so hot, it burns it out.

Like, do you realize you can get a fire so hot that you can throw anything on in it and it'll burn it off? Tires and metal and garbage. You're like, "That stuff doesn't burn." Oh, it does if the fire's hot enough. I think one of the great problems for the average American Christian is our fire is not hot enough and therefore sin and the flesh and the world come into our life and stay because our fire isn't hot enough to burn it out. I think this is the great problem with the average American church. The dwelling place of God has not been cultivated. So, the fire among the people is not hot enough. So gossip and division and offense and slander can all come in and make a home cuz the fire is not hot enough to burn it out.

Hey parents, you want to protect your children from the things of the world? Build a fire so hot in your home that when the things of the world try to come, it burns it out. Hey, Valley Creek, you excited about the next generation? Then build the kind of dwelling place that makes the fire of God so hot that there is no hiding places for the kingdom of darkness amongst us because it gets burned out the minute it gets into our atmosphere and creates deep repentance and genuine cut to the heart. And this contagious. I'm turning away and going toward. You realize if there was not a company of prophets, if there was not a people who cultivated a, cultivated a dwelling place of God, if there was not a people that cared about the fire of God, David would be dead. The one in whom Jesus was going to come from. And maybe your person or your people don't physically die, but they certainly spiritually die when we don't create a fire hot enough.

In fact, you remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right? They refuse to bow down. They're bound up. They're thrown into this fire. And Nebuchadnezzar says, "I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." Three go in. Jesus is in the furnace with them. He is the consuming fire. And the fire is so hot that they become unbound and unharmed. It burned off everything in their life that held them back. Here's what I want to say to some of you: Stop trying to get rid of your anxiety. Stop trying to get rid of your depression. Stop trying to get rid of your addiction. Stop trying to get rid of your spirit of fear. Stop trying to get rid of that sin pattern in your life. Stop trying to get rid of that and instead get in the fire. Get in the fire. Fuel the fire. Cultivate the fire. Tend the fire. Make the fire your focus. The more you focus on your anxiety, the bigger it gets. The more you focus on the fire, the more you will be unbound and unharmed. The more you focus on your fear, your fear is just going to get larger. The more you focus on cultivating a fire, you will become unbound and unharmed. The more you focus on all of the temptation and the struggle, and I keep failing, and I keep doing it over and over again, and I'm such a worthless. Stop. Stop. Fuel the fire. Tend the fire. Steward the fire. Rearrange your life. Put fuel on the on the altar. And you will find yourself unbound and unharmed in Jesus’ name because you got in the fire. And He is a consuming God. He is a consuming God. And so He will not only consume you, He will consume everything that binds you.

Are you with me on this? This is why this matters. This is why this matters. This is why in that famous passage in Galatians, Paul says, "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They're in conflict with each other. So that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh,” your life without God, “are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” You can walk according to the Spirit or the flesh. You can live according to the Spirit or the flesh. You can be led by the Spirit or the flesh, but you can't have both at the same time. Because if I want to be filled with the Spirit, I have to be emptied of the flesh.

Flesh is not you as this terrible, awful person. Flesh is simply your life without God. That's all the flesh is. It's your life without God. It’s the best you can do in your own effort, in your own strength, with your own ability. That is a pretty sad list of the best you can do on your own. Be pretty hard to be a good dad, a good husband, a good wife, a good mom, a good student, a good business owner, a good person if that's the best you can do on your own. But the fruit of the Spirit, but the fire of God can burn so hot and so bright that it burns out all those works of the flesh. Love can get so hot and so bright that it burns out hatred. And self-control can get so hot, so vibrant that it burns out fits of rage. And joy can get so hot and so vibrant that it burns out envy. The problem is is we don't tend the fire of God. And so the flesh rules and reigns because the fire within us isn't hot enough to consume the flesh that works against us.

Remember in the Old Testament, what would they do? They would take the animal's flesh and put it on a burning altar. They would burn the flesh. I mean, you got to think about the whole I mean, you should read the Old Testament. The entire thing has this whole semblance of sacrificial offering on an altar of fire. Why? Because fire burns flesh. You have to crucify your flesh. How do I crucify it? By submitting it to the fire of God. By fueling, tending, stewarding the fire of God so bright, so vibrant within me that it that there's no place. See, listen to this. You can't disciple a demon and you can't cast out the flesh. It's an old charismatic saying if you've ever heard it before. You can't disciple a demon and you can't cast out the flesh. You say, "What on earth is this dude talking about today?" What that means is if you're demonically influenced, we can't disciple that demon. We have to cast it out. But what a lot of us want is we want someone to cast out our flesh. Now, your flesh can't get casted out. It has to be discipled – submitted and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus – crucified, submitted to the fire of God and joyfully allow it to be burned out. Why? Because I want to be led. I want to stay in step with, I want to walk in the Spirit.

And here's what's amazing: What happens is the moment you put your faith in Jesus, the Spirit of God comes in you and He says, "I will put my Spirit in you to move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." In other words, the Spirit within you wants to follow God more than the flesh within you wants to follow the world. So at some point, you have to trust that deep inside of you, there is a greater motivation to live in the kingdom than there is to live in this world. This is a a mindset renewal. This is a repentance. This is a shift. We always, “It's so hard.” And it's so, actually it's not, actually it's not. If I become aware of what's inside of me, I'm the temple of the Holy Spirit. He wants to make this place holy and powerful.

Okay, it's kind of like a young man that falls in love with a beautiful woman. Did you ever see this happen? I mean, all of a sudden, this young man, he's like getting his haircut. He's brushing his teeth. He stops gaming. He cleans out his truck. He dresses a little better, maybe starts to go to the gym, whatever. The no one had to tell him to do any of those things. He fell in love. His entire motivation changed. When you fall in love, your entire motivation changes. And if there's no motivation in me to want to walk in the ways of God, then I have to ask, is the Spirit in me? Because the Spirit in me is leading me and saying, "Hey, this needs to be crucified. This needs to be burned. Hey, we need to rearrange here so we burn a little brighter, burn a little hotter, and I can free you from that anxiety or that depression or that trauma of your past. Stop talking about your trauma. Let's focus on the Spirit's fire. And my fire will, will heal that trauma. It's not just for you. It will heal it. How? You don't know how. You're not sure how. Why? Cuz he just starts to work. “We all with unveiled faces beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being,” say it with me, “transformed,” which means changed, “from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord into the image and likeness of Jesus.”

So here's what happens: The Holy Spirit comes into your life – the initial experience and the ongoing relationship, the deposit and the inheritance. I've been saved, but now I want to be filled and overflowing. And He starts using these things to shape me. “God's Word is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword.” Godly relationships. He who walks with the wise becomes wise. Trials do not con or consider it pure joy, my friends, when you face trials of many kinds. These are coming so you can be mature. Spiritual practices – training yourself to be godly – doing the things that Jesus did so we can. And then time – don't grow weary in doing what is good. At the proper time, we will reap a harvest.

So the Holy Spirit comes into your life and starts shaping and molding and forming you. Creates this fire that gets so bright and He uses these things to make you like Jesus. The only question is: is that what you want? It's not, “Does He work?” It's, “Do you want Him to work?” It's not, “Can He do it?” It's, “Do I want Him to do it?” It's not, “Can I be free of the flesh?” It's, “Do I want to be free of the flesh?” because I like my flesh and my flesh is loud and my flesh has needs and wants and desires and if I don't please my flesh it just, it doesn't go well. Yeah. So, do you want to be free of that? That's the real question. That's the real question. Because hear me. It's really hard to say you want to be full of the Spirit if you don't want to follow the Spirit. It's really hard to say you want to overflow with the Spirit if you don't want to obey the Spirit. It's really hard to say you want to be consumed by the Spirit if you don't want to commit to the Spirit.

I, I think this is the great problem for us is we say, "Yeah, sure. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit." But remember, He is a consuming fire, but He's not an indiscriminate burner. He's not a wildfire that's just burning every, no. He waits and looks for those who are submitted and surrendered, those who will go to the altar, those who will pick up their cross. This is why people who are filled and constantly refilled with the Spirit of God live a life of confession and repentance. Because what they're saying is whatever you're doing, wherever you're leading me, wherever you're asking me to go and to do and to say and to be, I will do that because I just want more of You. This is why Jesus says, "Whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with." Whatever you do with a little determines whether or not you can have much.

So, here's the great question. If you're like, "Yeah, this whole fire thing, fill the Spirit. I'd like that. I'd like to try that." Great. Here's the question. What was the last thing God asked you to do? Did you do it? And what's the next thing He's going to ask you to do? Are you going to do it? Because if the answer to those is no, don't be surprised that you're not filled to overflowing with the Spirit because He won't come upon you if you don't really want Him. He looks for a dwelling place, a resting place, an abiding place. He looks for someone that says, "I want to be a great host, Jesus. I don't always know how to do it, but I'm studying You and I'm preparing for You and I'm rearranging some things for You and You will You come.” And, and He'll come. And here's what's amazing. As He comes, He'll help you rearrange more. And as He comes again, He'll help you rearrange more. And every time He comes, He stays a little longer. He stays a little longer. And the conversation is a little deeper. And you change a little bit more until you wake up one day and your whole life is about protecting the fire of God that He has entrusted to you. You with me on this?

See, here's what I think happens. I think we grieve the Holy Spirit long before we quench Him. Do not grieve the Spirit and do not quench the Spirit. Do not grieve the Spirit. We grieve Him when we deny Him, when we disobey Him, when we don't. And He, it's like, and you know it. It's like that little prompting like, "Don't say that. Don't say that." Boom. You say it. Why? Because your flesh is hungry. Your flesh has needs. Your flesh has wants. Your flesh has opinions. And by golly, you're going to send it. Okay? Now, you shouldn't have said it, but now if you did, if you want to walk in the Spirit, now you own it. Hey, I just said that. And the Holy Spirit literally told me not to say that. So, I confess and repent to you that I'm so sorry that I just said that. And Holy Spirit, I confess and repent to you. Does this, does this make sense to you?

He's not a thing or an it. He's a person. He's God inside of you. And so, so I grieve Him by denying Him. And when I grieve Him and deny Him, eventually I will quench Him and I will be left with soot and ash and chary flake uh flaky charcoal life. This is why stay with me. This is why it says do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit. Be filled and constantly be refilled. And what He's using in this analogy is wine. What does wine do? It influences you. Okay, ready? Water refreshes you. Wine influences you. So, for the last few weeks, we've been talking about different baptisms. Baptism in water refreshes you. Baptism in the Spirit influences you. Say, what does that mean? Have you ever watched somebody get water baptized? They get water baptized. They come up out of the water. Do you have you ever seen the joy on their face? You want to talk about refreshment? You want to talk about being cleansed? Like, they are washed clean. They come up to a new creation in Christ. They are refreshed. But it's amazing how if they don't continue to move on into life in the Spirit, time will go by and they will find themselves weary and beat down and overwhelmed. And then you hear people say things like this, "I need to rededicate my life. I need to get baptized again."

No, you need to be baptized in the Spirit so you can now move from being refreshed to being influenced. A lot of us want to live in an ongoing lifestyle. Just refresh me. Just refresh me. Just refresh me. Just refresh me. God says, "No, I've refreshed you. Now I want to influence you. I can only influence you, though, if you pour yourself out and allow me to pour in." And this is why Jesus says to the disciples, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about, for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire." He says, "Wait." He says, "Wait. You're not ready." I told you this last week and I just want to say it again. Wait. Because without the Spirit, you're not ready. You're not ready to be married if you're not full of the Spirit. And you're not ready to have children if you're not full of the Spirit. And you're not ready to go to college if you're not full of the Spirit. And you're not ready to start that business if you're not full of the Spirit.

He says, "Wait." And here's what we do. We rationalize. And we say things like this, “Well, I'm going to marry that person because they go to church.” Going to church doesn't mean they're full of the Spirit. We say, "I'm going to be business partners with this person because they're a good Christian." Being a good Christian, first of all, means nothing. Second of all, it doesn't mean they're filled with the Spirit. So, I don't know that I want to yoke my life into someone else who doesn't want to tend the fire of God cuz I'm trying to keep my fire burning. And you I don't, I don't trust you yet that you want to keep your fire burning. If we both want to keep our fire burning, we're going to keep it together. If you're kind of like do that, if you're that facade, that gas fireplace thing, we – nope. Oh, but I'll make a lot of money. Ah, my fire is worth a whole lot more to me than money is. The problem is is money is worth a whole lot more to most of us than the fire. So, yes, or or you know, but I'm single and I'm 35 and if I don't marry him, trust me, if he ain't got no fire, you don't want to marry him. Because you might have think singleness is hard. Being married to a fireless man is 10 times harder. 10 times harder. And many women know exactly the pain that I'm talking about. Wait. You will wait to the level you believe it's worth it.

Think about your life. You wait for things you think are worth it. You stop waiting at the DMV cuz it's no longer worth it. You're like, "Give me a ticket. This ain't worth it." You wait till the level you think it's worth it. And He says, "For the gift my Father promised." What is the greatest gift God ever gave you? Think about this. What is the greatest gift God has ever given you? Some of us would say my life. Some of us would say salvation. Some of us would

say my family. Greatest gift He ever gave you is Himself. The greatest gift He has ever given you is the gift of Himself. And it cost Jesus everything to give it to you. So He says, "Wait for it." What does it mean to wait for it? It means seek it, pursue it, passionately go after it. It doesn't mean apathetically sit back and wait for some mysterious feeling to happen in my life. It means no, I am waiting to be filled with the Spirit to move forward in my life. This is the most important thing I can figure out.

So I'm going to pray and I'm going to seek and I'm going to get around other people and all this stuff. And so what did they do? They waited and they were together and then you know the story. The wind came, the fire came, rested on them because they were prepared. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began, their life became completely different. And here's what I want you to see. Why? Why? 10 days of waiting. Why did the fire come? Because here's what they did. They were obedient. And fire falls on sacrifice. I can't overflow with the Spirit if I don't obey the Spirit. And it says they engaged the Word and prayed. The words I speak to you are Spirit, fire, and they are alive. All Scripture is God-breathed. Okay. So, the Word of God and prayer with God is literally spark and oxygen that will eventually ignite something in your life. And they were all together. Jesus says, "Where two or three are together, there I am." Also, they brought the coals of their life together and the fire of God fell.

So, if you want to wait, what do you do? You obey everything you know He's asked you to do and then some. And you engage the Word and prayer with all of your heart and you get around other people who have a fire and you say, "I am just getting by you. I don't even care if we're friends. I just need some of what you got so I can be radiant and burning and holy and powerful." You with me on this? See, last thing. Here's what I think happens for a lot of us. I think this is kind of how we live our life: chaotic, stormy, busy, overwhelmed. There's a lot going on in here. And so when we're told to wait, it's really uncomfortable because I'm really comfortable at living like this.

And here's what's interesting. If the orange is the fire of God within me, when I live like this, it looks like I got a lot of fire, doesn't it? Look at how high the fire of God is in my life. Oh, I'm not full, but I'm pretty darn close to the top. I mean, I think I can get it almost all the way up there. But the moment I stop, I realize very quickly how little of God I have and how much of me I have. So, I think if we're really honest, chaos, storms, busyness, stress, anxiety, got to go here, do there, this vacation, that sport, this thing, do that, build this, get this, fix that. It's like we enjoy and thrive subconsciously on the chaos of our life because it makes us feel like God is way up here. Because what happens when it's like this? We end up with those little those those little sad little silly prayers or the little Instagram verses or the we Christian thing online and we liked it. It's life of God, right? Maybe if we stopped, we would realize how little of God there is and how much of me there is. And so maybe most of this spring was just to get us to stop.

Where's yours? And it might be so stormy you have no idea. So maybe you need to stop and say, "Lord, I think there's too much of me in my life. Too much flesh, too much sin, too much pride, too much world. And I don't even care what the measurement is. There's just not enough of You. So I choose to open myself and say, "Will You help me pour me out and will You pour You in?" Because I want to be a dwelling place for You. And I want to be a great host of the God of the universe. And my gosh, I want a fire that is so pure and so powerful. It changes everything about me and my life and my family and my future. Oh, Holy Spirit, I want more of You. And so I choose today to open myself and I take a step of faith this week to just obey. That's why I just feel like the Lord just obey the last thing He asked you to do. Whatever that was, like it was to forgive somebody, then do it. It was to say I'm sorry to somebody, then do it. It was to start giving, then do it. It was to get in a circle, then do it. Like circle semester is almost over. It doesn't matter. Obey. Like I, who cares? You're like, it's too, who cares? Who cares if it's one time?

How much of God do you want? We've rationalized the heck our flesh, your flesh is so rational, winsome, and convincing. You are the most charming person in your life. Your flesh will charm you. Crucify it. I don't care how embarrassing, humbling. I don't care if I'm like Saul and I'm laying on the ground naked. I'm prophesying in alignment with the kingdom of God. May that be so. Strip off everything in me that is of this world. I do not want to have this much of God. I want to be filled to overflowing by the Spirit of the Living God as the dwelling place.

So just close your eyes with me. Here's just the question. What does God want to say to you? We say all the time, Holy, what does the Holy Spirit want to say to you? Holy Spirit, would You speak? I don't think there is some magic answer left to be said. I just think the Holy Spirit's at work. And with kindness and gentleness and graciousness, He is acting as your counselor, your comforter, your guide, and your teacher right now. And He will show you how to build a beautiful fire that will burn bright and hot that will leave no room left for the things of this world. Maybe this week you keep praying that prayer? Holy Spirit, fill me every day. And maybe this week you take a step of action and obey whatever He has said to you, whatever He is saying to you, whatever He wants to say to you. Maybe you pick up the reading plan and read and you spend some time praying? Why? Because I want the spark and the oxygen for the fire to burn. And maybe you get around some people who have burning coals? Two or three are gathered there. He is also. So that you might burn, too. How much do you want it? And how hot is your fire?

Holy Spirit, we want to be a great dwelling place for You in this church. We will rearrange anything and everything You ask us to to make this a better place for You. We will get rid of anything that offends You. We will remove anything that bothers You. We will go and get anything that delights You. We say this is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of God. And we want You to be the great guest of not only our lives but our church and our gatherings and our daily reality. Come Holy Spirit and fill us afresh. Fill us to overflowing, less of us and more of You. May our flesh be crucified and may the Spirit and fire flow in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.