Sermon – “Created to Be Filled ~ With Life”

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19 I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 20 “Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, You who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save. 21 Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me. 22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not sub-ject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

This morning. Want to share that. This past week I heard a song on the radio as the first time I heard it and it just was really I’m moving song Move my heart and it actually brought tears to my eyes and I bought a thought of it soon enough I requested to have the the You Tube version of a played on the screen maybe it will do due next week but it’s a song by Natalie Grant called more than anything and in that song the song is I mean a distilled goes with our praise and worship songs that we would want Jesus more than anything in a song she says Lord help me to want the healer more than healing help me to want the savior more than the saving help me to want the giver more than the giving and that really brings it to life done and that’s its home you know we all when we first come to lower worlds probably seeking the saved because we knew we were lost so we wanted to be saved we wanted to be spared that return separation from God We wanted to live life eternal with him but we must get to the point where we want the savior more than the saving is him that we seek it’s him that we want Jesus help me to want you more than anything I guess I don’t need to preach now on Anyway my sermon this morning a title created to be filled with life we are created to be filled with life and his creation was created to be filled with life that’s what God These are just what he wanted to do create all things to be created with life so we’re going to go all the way back to the very beginning Genesis chapter one verses one through four and then I will also be reading from Isaiah. Genesis one in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters then God said Let there be light and there was light and God saw that the light that it was good and God divided the light in the darkness and I don’t need to go on God spoke all things into existence he spoke life because it was void it was without life and God spoke life you know the rest of the story God created the the beast the field he create a man and he gave them life in Isaiah Chapter forty five I would say of forty five eighteen through twenty two for thus says the Lord who created the Heavens Who is God who formed the earth and made it who has a stablished it who did not create it in vain who formed it to be inhabited Rip-Off there see God created the earth to be inhabited he wanted the earth to be filled with life he says I am the Lord and there is no other I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth I did not say to the seed of Jacob see me in vain I the Lord speak righteousness I declare things that are right for as it is impossible for God to sin it is impossible for God to lie so he declares things that are right that are righteous assemble yourselves income drawn near together you who have escaped from the nations they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their carved images and prayed to a god that cannot save tell and bring forth your case yes let them take counsel together who has declared from this from ancient times who has told it from that time have not od the Lord and there is no other God besides may a just God and a Savior there is none besides me look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other. There is no other that we can look to and be saved there is no other that we can look to and find fulfillment other than the one true God they man let’s pray Heavenly Father we give you praise and glory we thank you for your word we thank you Father for life the life that we did that we have we know is a gift from you and Father help us to never take it for granted but God to give you praise for it every day and your most poorly help us to extend your life to others God help us to be a blessing to others help us to bless others with the knowledge that you are the giver of life and you want to have a relationship with us Father may your presence be here today may you fill us or God fill us with your spirit your peace in your love for your glory in Jesus’ name amen the Scriptures make it very clear that God did not create the earth that it would be void void means to be unoccupied it means to be without visible matter the Greek meaning of the void is having no legal or binding force it’s not all it’s not effectual to Bonnie parties or to convey or support a right it is not sufficient to produce effect so void is empty but God did not intend the earth nor us to be that way he intended us to be filled with light he intended the earth to be teeming with life he did not intend that we would be empty he wanted our lives to be full God wants our allies to be full of life he wants our lives to be full of meaning he wants our lives to be full of hope he wants our lives to be full of blessing he wants our lives to be full of dreams our dreams for the future our dreams of what he’s going to do for the church and for his people he wants our lives to be full in fulfilled Romans fifteen three it says Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit but that sink in for just a moment that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit If God intends that we be filled with hope joy and peace what may cause us to feel empty what sometimes causes our lives to feel empty and void void of love void of hope that maybe things like sorrow maybe things like loneliness it could be things like heart it could be anger it could be resentfulness hate bitterness darkness all these things. Will only lead to making a still empty and void I’m going to have a visual demonstration here this morning so I’ve asked one of my lovely assistants to come and help me where is she. You can just come stand right here while you do look pretty because that’s easy for you to write this cup it’s empty isn’t it this cup is void of anything is it not there’s nothing Look I’m a poor head nothing happens right because this cup is empty and void sometimes our lives could be represented by this at the end void nothing in there the the emptiness could also be the darkness it could be the loneliness it could be the bitterness that we harbor it could be many things so we want to do something we want to get rid of the emptiness in this cup right because it’s not good to be empty it’s not good to be lonely so I want us to concentrate real hard and you need to help me construct real hard let’s just get rid of that emptiness can he might want to close your eyes and concentrate on just for a few seconds is the emptiness still there the emptiness is still there like right right how do we get rid of this emptiness how can we get rid of the emptiness we have to fill it don’t we simply have to fill it with this pure fresh clean water that’s how we get rid of the emptiness that’s how we get rid of the emptiness in our lives we have to fill it with the pure fresh word of God Now I want you you wouldn’t take a drink of that because it’s pure right she’s willing to take a drink of it just stay put don’t leave it we’re going to pour it out but we must fill our lives but I want to use this cup for a second demonstration and as you can see this is not very pretty or so sometimes. You know we may claim that we are a believer. And it we we love the Lord but once in a while you know well we might lie a little bit so we’re filling our lives with a little bit of a lie Oh but wait but wait I do go to church yeah I go to church that’s a little bit of good Ah but I get angry with my brother so that’s a little bit more of that you know simpleness they’re all white I listen to Christian music so a little bit of good goes in there so but I cheat on my taxes so there’s a little bit more that all but but but I give ties I give ties to the Lord so you know we’re mix and all yeah I’m a believer I do a lot of good things but would you take a drink of this please why I mean this water just like the other water you want a drink that one not because it’s dirty but we put some fresh and clean in there right didn’t we so it’s still it’s not bad it’s just a little bit of dirt OK this is our lives we can’t let a little bit of sin in a little bit of evil the world in and say well I’m going to mix it with a little bit of good because just as it was not pleasing on to her it does not please God when we try to fill that void in our lives with the things of the world we can’t let bitterness we can’t let anger will can’t it unforgiveness enter in but I thought I had enough water I do this more bottles but you know if I had a five gallon bucket of water and I just kept poor and the fresh in kept poor and the pure in it would eventually wash out all of the old and the dirty wouldn’t nobody wants to have that sin that dirt in our lives our friends our hearts in our minds or that cup we cannot continually fill them with a little bit of muddy water a little bit of the pure water a little bit of the muddy water we can’t do that we can’t fill our minds with evil and good at the same time and expect that to be pleasing and to God Can we if we want our lives to be pleasing on to God. We must fill it with the things of his word the things of his ways to live with him he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness he will wash away all of our sins and make them white as snow but we have a part in that we have to fill it with him with his words Lord help me to want you more than anything help me to want the healer more than healing help me to want the Savior more than the saving Romans eight five to eleven says for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit the things of the speared for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is in that the against God for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God a friend we just demonstrated that didn’t we if you’re in the flesh you cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God wells in you now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not his and if Christ is in you the body is dead because the sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness but at the spirit of him he raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit to dwells within you we had a very lengthy discussion Wednesday in a Bible study about the newness of life how do we walk in it how do we walk in the newness of life it was Romans six four it says Therefore we buried we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life and you know I really want to get into that I don’t know I can’t go to save after Sabbath that’s how we walk in the newness of life through the Holy Spirit dwells within us that is how we walk in it that’s how we are raised the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to wells within us now is how we as believers can walk in the spirit Paul is very clear language is very clear in Chapter eight if we set our minds on the things of the flesh we cannot please God Therefore we must set our minds on the things of the speared we focus not on the emptiness we focus not on the flesh instead we focus on the Holy Spirit filling our cups not with the muddy things not with the things of the world but with the pure in the fresh and the righteous things of God deal Moody was to have a campaign campaign and then when he was to go and preach a revival and an elderly pastor protested he said why do we need this Mr Moody Why do we need him to come all the way here to England he’s just an unaccompanied educated in experience and on and on and on he went Who does he think that he is anyway does he think that he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirt and a younger pastor stood up and protests and said no but the Holy Spirt has a monopoly on Moody kids you know that if you ever played a game Monopoly and how do you when you gain control of the most valuable property you get you get motels on where you gain control and that’s how you win a game you have a monopoly over the game you know I think back to probably twenty years ago C.S. sex there was three major railroads on the east eastern part of the United States C.S. X. whom I work for Norfolk and Southern and Conrail Conrail was a very large railroad also well C.S. X. was in the process of purchasing Conrail they were they wanted to purchase all the C.S. are all contrails lines shops and everything and they they were moving along at a pretty good pace trying to do this well Norfolk in southern crowd out well they’re going to have a monopoly they’re going to have a monopoly on the whole rail system on the East Coast. Because they’ll own the majority the tracks they’ll be able to force us out of business then they can charge whatever they want to the customers because they’re the only ones going to have the tracks right so that’s what a monopoly is praise the Lord that the government stepped in and said no you can’t do that we’re going to divide them up Norfolk and Southern got half and see a sex god half because we were informed after the fact that if that would have went through common chop would have been no more they’d like flat out photostat be but praise the Lord they were unable to have a monopoly and we still have a job so but the question is does the Holy Spirt have a monopoly on our lives are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to have more nobly on your life do you allow him freely to control your life yes what a monopoly is controlling power do you allow him to have monopoly if he does we will live a life that reflects the fruit of this monopoly on our lives so what war allows look like will delay sions five twenty two twenty five tells us but the fruit of the spirt is love joy peace longsuffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control again said there is no law and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the spared we will walk with that newness of life another passage in the New Testament says Whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him and also in Matthew six fourteen and fifteen it says For if you forgive men their trust passes your heavenly Father Waltzer forgive you but if you do not forgive men their trust passes neither will your father forgive you your trespasses. If we really want to walk and reflect his love if we want to walk and reflect his glory we must imitate Him we will walk in the power of the spirit we will walk in the newness of life and obvious only need to give us one example of how great that love is is a hollow natural cross he looked down from across it even speaking of the ones that nailed into that very cross and said Father forgive them for they know not what they do are we filled with the Spirit will more fill with the Speer will be able to forgive us he forgave only by the power and presence of that Spirit will we ever be able to live a life like that we can forgive that we can love like a love that we can please God you know before we became believers many years ago we used to listen to country music a lot both of us and I particularly I love country music and I am not condemning country music but I listen to it all the time I mean I listen to it while I was driving we often listen to it at home a lot of times we even had a Country Music Television show one thing on and just to watch the videos and while I was working years but it was built my first house always had a radio go on and I had a cassette you kids know what cassette is anybody used to you’re going to do no I didn’t think you’d even know but I had a cassette of Patsy Cline she had such a beautiful voice I love to listen her songs and so I just listen to it all the time and but God has put a new desire in my heart I’m not saying that that song that music is evil but he put a new desire my heart and I love the listen the music now that glorifies God delivers him up but while I was thinking of this out it had to be dispirited this. Brought my memory to this song and it’s a song called looking in all the wrong places and if you were to ask me who sang that song I couldn’t told in ten years so course I went to Google and looked it up so who knows who sang that song No Johnny Lee Johnny Lee now a couple of the saw a couple the lines a song goes like this now don’t worry I’m not going to sing it because if I did he draw my cough but as it goes like this I spent a lifetime looking for you playing a fool’s game looking for love in all the wrong places looking for love in all the wrong places. I think that’s the answer to why so many people feel empty today they feel unloved they feel angry and want to know one annoying have bitterness in their lives because they’ve spent too much time looking for love in all the wrong places so how true is that song spent too much lot time looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places you know there’s many children in the world today in our country today they’re looking for love and sadly many of them aren’t finding it it’s sad to say that they say statistics claim that one in seven kids between the ages of ten and eighteen will run away from home it’s estimated that there are one to three million kids that are homeless in the United States you know some will run away just for a short time some it might be for years someone might be they never come home the reasons why kids run away most run away because they feel unloved or on wanted at home for some it’s because of physical verbal emotional or sexual abuse for others it’s because either a parent or sibling is abusing alcohol or drugs or both and the children are overwhelmed by the negativism so they flee there are many reasons but the root cause is a simple void ins of love there’s an emptiness in their lives they are seeking love and they’re not finding it at home they should be able to find it at home if Asians three fourteen through one thousand nine hundred S. for this reason about my need to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he has and that he would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love. May be able to comprehend with all the saints What is the with and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes all passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God that our hearts would be filled filled with God filled with the love of God You know there are so many things out there in the world that try to draw us away try to entice us away from God You know there are so many attractive things that want to draw also way just a little taste just a little tease you know what I mean you know it could be that you’re on the computer and those dreadful pop up ads pop up you know they’re just constantly popping up on your computer Well it might be a scantly dressed person I didn’t say woman because guys too as a guy is kind of trying to draw you are you going to click or not add an open it up we’re going to close it out it could be that magazine that drawls us you know how often we heard that thing of a cartoon with the devil here in Louisville said here they’re trying to get your attention which one you going to give your attention to not that the devil off the shoulder and listen to the Lord may your mind in your heart be filled with that that’s when the victory comes when we focus not on the emptiness that we focus on the anger not when we focus on the bitterness that we’ve been Harben harbor in our lives but it’s when we focus on the Lord continually fill our minds in our hearts with HIS word with his love with his peace with him he’s equal I don’t know if I sent this one to to them with the information he’s E.Q. in is the English Standard Version thirty six verses twenty six through twenty seven do have it he says and I can say Thus saith the Lord because a lot of speaking to the prophet is equal so thus saith the Lord unto us today I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your own righteousness and from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. God will remove our heart of stone he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness one more scripture second Corinthians three verses sixteen to eighteen and this is the new living translations but whenever someone turns to the Lord the veil was taken away for the Lord is the spirit and wherever the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom so all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord and the Lord who is a spirt makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image so we can I’m not going to pour the dirty water back in a cup but if we continually keep or not water in he will make us more and more and more and more more like him are we fully surrendered to him are we allowing him to have a monopoly on our lives the Holy Spirit on speaking it for harboring bitterness please let it go lay it at the foot of the cross if you’re harboring Agger and if you’re watching today if you’re harbor in any They sayings that are of the flesh let them go give them to the Lord and allow him to fill you allow him to fill you with your whole with His Holy Spirit to cleanse you make you whole he will fill that void in our lives he will remove all those things of the world and fill him with his love with his mercy Amen.