Pour Your Spirit Out Part 2

This evening, I want to give a brief message on something that is critically important to the success of our ministry team.

First off, let me take a moment to express my deep appreciation to all who keep our ministries in motion! We cannot do what we do without you!

The hours and days you spend in preparation, prayer, study, and presentation have made a difference in ways you cannot possibly imagine. Your investment in others today, has and will continue to make an impact in those same lives in the days and years ahead.

You might touch the heart of a child, who might later have children of their own. What you have poured into that child may have an impact on generations to come.

We have no idea what lies ahead in the lives of those God has entrusted us to disciple. Only God knows what is to come. However, because of your faithfulness, those under our ministry care are receiving the Word, they are a part of the church family, and they have growing relationships with the Lord!

Thank you for your invaluable investment!

This evening I want to ask this team a specific question: As you are pouring into others… are you making time to allow God to pour into you?

I do not ask this question because I have observed negative behavior, attitudes, or anything like that. I ask because in our busyness, it can be easy to forget about the importance of allowing God to fill us again, as we are actively investing in others.

IF… we find ourselves pouring into others without making time to be poured into as well, it can lead to something very serious… and spiritually threatening. That danger is… burnout.

Burnout is often caused by trying to lead… on empty.

What I mean by empty is nothing left in the tank. You’re running on fumes. The gauge has bottomed out, the warning lights are on… and instead of pulling over to refuel, you try to keep going.

The problem with this is inevitable. The question is not if you will breakdown and burnout… the question is when will it happen. You can only go so far… you can only do so much… you can only dig so deep before you can’t go any further.

Burnout is extremely dangerous. Burnout not only leads to weariness and fatigue… it often leads to abandonment. It leads to a person walking away from a ministry with no desire to go back.

The most common cause of burnout I have seen in the lives of others is the attempt to lead or to go on empty. I have heard people, in their burned out state, blame others for their current spiritual condition but in all reality, the only person that has control of this is… you.

No one can control how much you give verses how much you are receiving. No one can force you to be poured into as you are pouring into others.

We MUST make time in our lives to be refreshed. We MUST make time in our lives to be renewed. And this renewal is something that can only come from God.

Vacations are great! But God did not command that we take a vacation, He commanded that we remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. He commanded that we rest and spend time in His presence.

So my prayer for us this evening and our main text is found in Romans 15:13

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God does not want ANYONE burning out. God wants you ministering from a position of joy and peace. He wants you OVERFLOWING… say that word with me… OVERFLOWING with confident hope through the POWER of the Holy Spirit.

What Leading on Empty Looks Like

We may have an understanding of what leading on empty feels like, but I want us to see what it looks like.

Water illustration.

I want us to imagine that this glass of water… is you. The glass is you… the willing vessel to serve the Lord… and the water within is the renewing presence or Spirit of God.

These smaller cups represent those God has entrusted you with to disciple… or the service God has given you to perform.

Each time you interact in that calling, you pour a little bit out… you invest in others.

And maybe along the way you stop for a quick snack (spend a quick moment in prayer or listen to some worship music during your commute) but it’s not really a meal.

Ministry continues, you’re able to maintain, but you can sense you’re getting a little low.

And now, your glass is empty. You are still going but your attitude isn’t right. You feel irritated, frustrated, complacent, a bit stand offish, you feel annoyed at what you used to love doing, people are more on your nerve than in your heart.

And the longer you try to lead this way… the worse the condition becomes until… crash. The vessel is broken. You are done. Not only are you done with the calling, but you are no longer willing to receive anything from God.

I want you to see where the problem with this situation began.

It didn’t begin when the glass was 3/4 full, half full, or even 1/4 full. It didn’t begin when there were only a few drops left or when nothing was left. It began… when the glass was completely full.

Look at our min text again. Romans 15:13

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I pray that God will do what? FILL YOU COMPLETELY. God wants to FILL YOU for YOU. I don’t want to live and operate with a partial filling from God, I want to live and operate on a complete filling from God!

The moment our glass begins to empty is when the trouble begins. God wants to FILL you and we should desire to remain FULL of His Spirit!

Look at the text again… It is only when we are filled through our trust in Him that we will what? OVERFLOW WITH CONFIDENT HOPE through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God wants to fill you to overflowing… and it is THROUGH this overflowing that we minister to others. We must learn to lead out of the OVERFLOW… say that word with me again… OVERFLOW. We must learn to lead out of the overflow of what God is pouring into us!

When was the last time you allowed God… to fill you to overflowing? When was the last time you can honestly say that when asked how you were doing, your response was, “I am overflowing with the goodness of God?”

An absence of this reality is not because God has stopped pouring His Spirit out. This absence is caused by our misplace trust.

When we go without ceasing, push without stopping, minister without refueling, we are not placing our trust in God, we are placing our trust where? In ourselves.

We know we are limited and we know how to push those limits! God never asked us to minister on empty, He wants to fill us to overflowing!

Place Your Trust in Him

As the early church was coming into existence, one the first commands given to them by Jesus was a command of…trust.

BEFORE Jesus released His disciples to go… He first told them to wait and be filled. We see this instruction in Acts 1:4-5

Acts 1:4–5 NIV

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The disciples had already received the infilling of the Spirit - we see this happen in John 20:22. Now they were to wait to receive the Baptism in the Spirit which would empower their witness.

They had to trust Jesus and wait! They had to obey in order to be filled! And we immediately see God’s power at work the moment the disciples were baptized by the Spirit! Acts 2:41 records that about 3,000 people came to know the Lord!

The power of God was overflowing in the lives of the disciples and God’s Spirit was on the move!

Listen church, there is no ministry program creative enough, no schedule revised enough, no worship lineup designed enough, or no message polished enough that can ever do what the Spirit of God can do!

Our trust and dependence cannot be place in programs, curriculum, and note sheets. These are great tools and resources… but they are not alive. It is GOD’S SPIRIT that brings life to our ministries… and to you… our ministers!

Trusting in God must be more than a spoken statement, it must be accompanied with intentional and purposeful action.

We display our trust in Him as we make time to read His Word.

We display our trust in Him as we make time to pray.

We display our trust in Him as we make time to worship.

We display our trust in Him as we make time to sit… as well as serve.

We display our trust in Him as we make the choice to lead from the overflow… not from the reserves.

Do You Need to Be Refreshed?

I want to ask you a very serious question… how are you doing tonight?

Do you feel like you are leading from the overflow, or are you inching dangerously close… to burnout?

Before you respond I want you to hear my heart: There is NO SHAME in admitting that you are running on low. I have been there. I have had to stop and reset. I have been in that place before and I pray I never allow myself to get there again.

If you are feeling tired, overwhelmed, maybe even spiritually dry… God wants to fill you again. But you have to trust Him. You have to trust His Spirit.

Tonight, if you are feeling the weight, if you are slipping into the frustration instead of experiencing His joy and peace, I want to invite you to be renewed by His presence.

I’m going to ask you… to stand. This is NOT to shame you or to guilt you… that IS NOT the intent of this moment. I want you to stand so we can come along side you and pray with you.

Ministry is a costly thing… but it should never cost you His peace.

Ministry is a costly thing… but it should never cost you His joy.

Ministry is a costly thing… but it should never cost you the relationship you have with Jesus.

Jesus gave it ALL… but He NEVER lost sight of the Father. He never walked away from the mission.

As we continue to give of ourselves, may we never lose sight of God and may we never allow ourselves to run dry.

Similar to David in Psalm 23:5… God wants to anoint you tonight. God wants to fill your cup… to overflowing. Will you allow God to do that in you? Will you receive what God wants to pour into your life tonight?