Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit by Whom You Were Sealed | Ephesians 4:30

What we want to look at this morning is the fact that God can be grieved. That's something really weighty. And I want to give it its due. I want to make sure that we really think about that as we approach this passage of Scripture. You know, there's so many things that we can say about God, but we have to preach the whole counsel of God. And some things, when we get to them, are so weighty that we have to really carry them carefully and have reverence in the presence of these words. So I wonder whether we can just open up our Bibles for a minute and turn to Ephesians chapter 4. And our passage to today is in verse 30 of Ephesians 4. You remember that Paul has been talking about putting off. Paul has been talking about putting on. He says, put off the old ways and put on the new ways because you're a new person, you're a new creation in Christ. And he's saying, put off the things that belong to your former way of life and put on the things that belong to your new way of life. And we've talked about a few things. We've talked about anger, we have talked about the way that we talk, haven't we? And today we're talking about verse 30. And it says this, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. A few years ago I heard. I was hearing some testimony from a man called Floyd McClung that might be a tongue twister for some of you. Man named Floyd McClung. He worked for. For Youth with a Mission, or YWAM, which is an organization that has ministry all over the world, trains young people to work in mission. And his particular calling was in Amsterdam. And I remember him telling this story of when he was based in Amsterdam. He was working amongst people that were bound in things like drug addiction and prostitution. There's a lot of that sort of thing that happens in Amsterdam. And he was working amongst people that were so broken. And he began to hear stories about some of the things that were happening. He began to see some of the abuse and some of the terrible things that were happening around him in that city as he worked amongst those people. And he was praying to God because he was so grieved by the things that he was seeing. The abuse, the sexual abuse, the bondage that people were in and the things that people were doing that really touched him. And grieved him. And so he prayed and he felt God said this to him. God said to him as he was praying, praying, imagine what you are seeing and how these things are grieving you in your spirit. And he said, imagine what I see behind closed doors where no one is looking. God sees everything. God sees it all. He sees everything that is happening around us. And God is grieving. Imagine as we look around the world today, I'm sure you can find things that grieve you in your spirit when you see them. And right now, the world is getting more and more grievous, isn't it? The things that are happening in the lives of people. We heard this morning about the violence and the persecution that is going on against people, believers in certain places that's been on the increase, conflict on the increase. There's abuse and there's scandals and there's things that come up. There's so many reasons for us to be grieved. But God sees it all. You know, many years ago, we didn't have as much media as we have now. And if you go back, even before my time, there was barely any information on what was happening on the other side of the world. You might hear it a few days later. If it was something really big, you'd hear it in the newspaper a few days later. And then as I was growing up, of course we had television news, we had camera crews here and there. You heard more. But now we've got the Internet and social media and all kinds of media. And right now we're constantly bombarded with everything that's happening in the world around us. It can be overwhelming. But God sees more. There are things that you don't see. Imagine how much you are seeing and imagine what God sees. And you know what the Bible tells us? It says in Psalm 7:11, God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day. I mean, that just. That just blows me away. Because when we think about God, you know, you think about God as being so mighty, so above, so awesome and so invincible. You think, how could God suffer? How could God experience grief? How could God experience indignation? The way we do is so high and yet God sees it all and he takes it all on. That's something that just blows me away about God, that God is able to suffer grief because of what he sees around us. He is a righteous judge, but he's not just, you know, a judge looking at the books of the law and saying, you know, here are the rules and working it all out. You know, you didn't comply with this law or that law or the other law, and dispassionately handing out judgment because, you know, when you go into court, a judge doesn't necessarily feel a great deal. You know, he deals with this every day of his life. You know, he'll send you down for life and then go for lunch, right? It just. But it says God is a righteous judge. In other words, he is not desensitized to what he's dealing with, what he's seeing around Him. He is personally touched and moved, and he experiences emotion, he experiences grief as he looks at what is happening around him in the world. It says in Isaiah 63:10, talking about the children of Israel who were God's own people, called to himself. And it says they rebelled and grieved. His Holy Spirit, Spirit. Therefore he turned himself or turned and himself fought against them. He became their enemy. Remember that in Genesis 5, God looked down at the world that he had created and he saw that that world was full of chaos and evil. And it says that he was grieved. God is a God who experiences grief over the sins of the world, over the brokenness of people, over injustice, over all that is going on. God is not dispassionate or distant. He is involved with this world. And he has to see it all, every single part of it. He has to see. He is grieved. I looked up the word grieved in the Greek, and it means exactly that. To be in distress, to mourn, to grieve. Why? Why is God grieving? God is grieving because he created a perfect world. A world that was meant to be filled with life, filled with joy, filled with a creation that knew what it was to have life and rejoiced in what God had created and looked to him and worship him and celebrate him. His desire was that he would create a world full of life, full of human beings. He said, fill the earth and subdue it. Full of humanity, rejoicing in God and a creation that was full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That was his creation that he loved. It doesn't say that he just started the process. You know, when you look at it biologically, you can get this idea that God just started the process and you're somewhere on that chain of events that God set in motion. But no, it says that he personally superintended your creation and your birth. It says he knit you together in your mother's womb. Now, I don't know how all that works between metaphysics and biology and everything else. I just know that my Bible tells me about the this God who loves me so much that he knit me together in my mother's womb. He looked at the grand scale of creation, right down to the minor details of creation, to the details of your creation, to the details of the creation of an ant. He is intimately involved with his creation. He created. He loved his creation. He looked down and he said, it is good. Have you ever put time into something just to see someone destroy it, Just to see someone come along and pollute it and mess it up? But God doesn't just look at his creation. Like rosemary makes amazing cakes. But it's not just a cake that God made, right? It's not just a painting that God made. It's more than that. It's the creation of life. How do you feel when you. Maybe you have a child or you have children and that child goes astray or that child does something terrible? It grieves. God grieves. And I don't know how else to put this, but there is a grieving in the heart of God for what is happening in the world. And those of us that know him ought to know what it is to grieve as well. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. When God is grieved, there are signs. When God is grieved, there are things that happen in the world. As we look around, the Bible tells us this. It says in the Book of Judges, it tells us God said to them, go and cry out. Actually, it's not Judges, but it's in the Proverbs. He tells them, go and cry out to the gods you have chosen and let them save you. And then in Proverbs 1:29, it says, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, and they would have none of my counsel, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way. What does this have to do with the grief of God? When God begins to grieve, things begin to happen. Because it gets to a place, we use the example of a child. It gets to a place where you have to allow your child to make their choice, to experience the consequences of their actions. And sometimes they're quite bad. Sometimes those consequences can be terrible. Sometimes those consequences can lead even to jail time. Sometimes those consequences can lead to arrest. Sometimes those consequences can affect their reputation and their prospects in life. But the only way is to let them hit rock bottom. And there comes a time in the grief of God where he is so pained over what is happening. But the only course of action is for God to say to a human being, your will be done. And in that moment, things begin to happen. People begin to experience what life is like under the gods that they have chosen, what life is like living in the consequences of the choices that they have made. When God's grief gets to a certain point where there's no more than he can do, he has a peace. He has cried out, it says, wisdom cries out on the street corner. He has cried out. He has sent messengers. He has given us his word. And yet the world continues on the way it is. And God is grieved. And he begins reluctantly, with a broken heart to allow things to take their course, that people might be shaken, that people might come back to him in due course. And right now, I think we are living in this nation. And not just this nation, but certainly many of the Western nations across Europe, across America and other places. We are living in a time of shaking. It started several years ago when we were talking about COVID just before COVID when we were. Some of us were prophesying and saying, there's a shaking coming. And then Covid came, and people kind of settled down after that. But I want to tell you that the shaking hasn't stopped. God is still shaking the nations. Because you see wholesale, the Western nations especially have turned away from the living God. We have thrown away our heritage. We're no longer walking with the Lord. Look at how difficult it is to speak up in the name of Jesus, even in this nation right now, without counter attack, without pushback, because there's an abandonment of God. And God has cried out on the streets. And now God is grieved. And we see the evidence of it. Look at Romans 1:18. This is Paul speaking. He says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. There's a truth in there, which is that every human being has in them some knowledge deep down about the reality of a creator God. But they suppress it unconsciously, subconsciously, because most human beings want to be free from God so that they can live any way that they want and be the masters of their own destiny. But he says they the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Of who? Of men who by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. And then in verse 28, it says, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness and evil, covetous, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that all who practice such things deserve to die. The wages of sin is death, right? They not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. And of all these things, he says the wrath of God is being revealed in them. In other words, he's not saying because of these things the wrath of God has appeared, but he's saying that all these things you are seeing are a manifestation of the wrath of of God. It's the other way around. When men abandon God, the wrath of God appears when he abandons them to their own choices and the consequences. And so you see ever increasing unrighteousness, ever increasing evil. That is a manifestation. Some of the things that we can't openly discuss sometimes some of those hot potato topics that we can't touch nowadays as Christians are a manifestation of the wrath of God. They appear because God is grieved. Do you find that heavy for a Sunday morning? And yet we've got to preach the whole counsel of God. It can't always be the other stuff. Sometimes we have to say we are living in a world where God is looking around and God is grieved. Why do you think he sent his son? He didn't send his son because everything was good. And he said, I'm going to send my son just to say, well done, keep on going. But he sent his son because there was something that was wrong, something that needed to be dealt with. It must the heart of man. And he was grieved. And that was the only response. And yet when even that has been ignored and sidelined and rejected, what happens? God looks once more at what is happening in the world right now. And he is grieved. But he says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. That's a wonderful thing to be sealed for the day of redemption, to be made God's property. That's what the seal is. You put a seal on something that belongs to you. So everyone looks and says, this is sealed with the seal of of brother so. And so this is his. This belongs to him. He says, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. And so you belong to God. So don't grieve the Holy Spirit. You see everything that we've been talking about right now in this room this morning has been the grief that God feels as he looks out at the world today and he sees the people that are instigating war, or the people that are fighting one another, or the people that are committing acts of atrocity, or the people that are persecuting others, or the people that are committing terrible acts against children or whatever it is. He looks at all of that in the world and he has grieved. But here is the thing. The church is a group of people that was chosen and lifted out of all that. And God put his seal of ownership upon them and said, you are mine and I am yours. How much worse when the people that God has called to be the solution to the problem that is causing grief in the heart of God. How much worse when his own people, his own church, those that he has sealed with his precious Holy Spirit, would grieve the Spirit of God. We are the ones that are supposed to be the antidote, filled with the Holy Spirit. How could we grieve the heart of God? And I think sometimes we are blind to that. I remember many years ago, I was a young boy. I couldn't have been more than six or seven, but I remember it very clearly. I was angry with my mom. I was so angry with my mom. I can't remember what I was angry about. But I decided to teach her a lesson and I hid and pretended I'd left the house. My mom became frantic. I thought this was a very good lesson for her. I was unmoved. She was out of the house, frantic, looking for me. As she walked out of the house, she saw an accident with a car. And immediately she thought something, the worst had happened. I was unmoved in that moment in my hiding place. I just knew she was learning now. But in the midst of all of that, after seeing that car, after frantically looking for me and coming back, she sat me down. Angry, yes, but looked in my eyes and I saw her tears and her sorrow and her grief. And in that moment, all of my vengeance, all of my self righteousness as a six year old child melted away in the face of her grief. And I think some of us might need to look in the face of God and see the grief in his eyes. And so that we would actually be moved by our spiritual adultery, by the fact that we carry so little regard for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. By the fact that on a Friday night someone can take the blood of Jesus and put it away in the drawer so that they can go and do whatever it is they're going to do. So that we commit so little of our heart and our passion after him and his kingdom. We have so little regard because we have never looked in the face of God and see the grief that he feels when the precious blood of his son Jesus is trampled underfoot, when we are living lies for ourselves, for our own selfish ambition, for our own selfish gain. And I know this is not one of those great uplifting hallelujah sermons this morning, church, but I want to tell you that there's something serious going on in this world right now. I've read several people and I've shared it with you, Pete. Greg, who is a very lead figure in this nation in prayer. He started something years ago called 247 prayer, spreading prayer up and down the nation. A highly respected figure. Not a crazy wacky prophet, but a man of God who is very much respected. And as he was praying, praying on his knees to God, God said to him, prepare the church for war. Now, you can interpret that however you like. We'll work out the details. Whether that means that Russia is going to be knocking on our door, or whether that means a spiritual attack, or whether that means some kind of domestic terrorism or rioting on the streets. I don't know what that means. I just know that the situation in the spirit and therefore in the natural is serious and that we as Christians have to make a decision. Are we on a cruise or are we in an army? Are we a people who are called to stand up and fight the forces of wickedness? Or are we people that have signed up for Sunday entertainment program or some kind of encouragement that, you know, just keep doing what you're doing, you know, you're, I don't know, some kind of, some kind of motivational talk that we're going to be great and we're going to do amazing business things and we're going to, we're going to own a Tesla and we're going to do this or do that. Now, it's fine. We can buy things, we can be blessed with things, but God has called us, signed us up to be an army on its knees. And yet I don't know what your life is like, but I know as I look across many churches and many Christians that I believe that there is a problem of prayerlessness. How many, how many today are on their knees praying, God, give us souls Give us souls, Lord. How many prayers are prayed for breakthrough and enrichment and business success? And look, we should always bring our work and whatever we're doing before God. But how many hours of prayer are invested in saying, God, save people from hell. God, bring people out of darkness. God, bring people into the light of Christ. God, save them. Save their souls, Save them from what faces them in eternity. Because God has called us to be an army on our knees nowadays. It troubles me now. Many people are on shift work and Sunday is, you know, up and down because people, you know, someone has a night shift or a day shift or whatever they have that interferes. But even if you take that out of the picture, I am disturbed by how little we are. Many people feel that being amongst God's people is a priority. How often someone will just be out of the picture long enough to assuage their. You know, long enough that they don't feel too guilty and then come back. I thank God that right now we've done a. We're looking at the coming year and the coming eight years. I mentioned it earlier how we're going to impact the city and this area of Essex with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I thank God that as we look across our church, there's a core of around 30%. That's actually quite a high figure. There's a core of around 30% of people who are consistent, who are attending, who are serving, who are giving, who are committed, who are. Who are invested. I thank God for that 30%, but it troubles me. It troubles me because every man, woman and child that has come to Jesus has come to a cross where blood was shed so that they might be part of God's living church, God's living army. And so Paul says to the Ephesians, don't grieve him. Don't grieve him. Don't grieve him. Ephesians 1:13. It says in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. You have something. You have something, an inheritance that is so much more than anything else. You have in the natural. You have an inheritance. You are a child of God, and he has called you to be somebody of influence in the world. He's put some treasure in you and he's sealed you so that wherever you go, the devil and the angels and anyone else in the Spirit can see that upon you. Is something like a seal that says you are a child of God, you are an ambassador of Christ. You have something in you that God has put there. In 2 Corinthians 1:22 he says God has put his seal on us and has given us his spirit in our heart as a guarantee. The good news this morning church is that we don't have to be a people who grieve the Holy Spirit because He has made us his own. He has given us his spirit. You know, the best way not to grieve the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be led by the Holy Spirit and to be obedient to the Holy Spirit and to let out what he's put in us. Because he has already put in us everything that is needed. Not to grieve him, but to bring him joy. He's put it in us. Ephesians 3:9 until 11. It talks about the plan of, of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church, the many fold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. We're in that book right now. We're in chapter four, that's chapter three. And we're talking about how we fulfill that, that God has a plan. Imagine God not only has a plan, but God has given you a part in that plan. He has sealed you, he has filled you and he wants to use you in that plan. That wisdom of God might be known, might be made known not only to the people of the earth, but to the people in the heavenly places, the beings in the heavenly places, to the angels, to the demons. We are on display. And God has put something in us. We are more than people who are just trying to make it through the day, just trying to make make it through the week. Just trying to deal with the home office, just trying to deal with our boss, just trying to pay the bills, just trying to put food on the table and hopefully God will help us. No, our calling is higher. Our calling is higher. We talked the other week about survival mode. Our calling is higher than survival mode. Our calling is to be ambassador, ambassadors of Christ. Our calling is to be a part of the body of Christ. And listen, I know that meetings aren't everything, but if you're not amongst God's people, how can you connect with God's people? If you're not meeting with God's people, how can you move with God's people. Because it said through the church, we live in such a narcissistic age. We read everything as I and me. God has called me to be this. God has called me to be that. No God has called his church. And it's as we lock together as the body of Christ comes together, that we are called as church. To be that force in the world for good. To be that force in the world that brings change. Not the government, not what is the new prime minister doing about it, but the church. The church should be pushing social services and other charities out of business because we're bringing the change. Because when I give a meal or I give a gift or I give a blessing or I help somebody, it comes with anointing. It comes with gospel imperatives. It comes with the love of Christ. You can't get that anywhere else. You know, you can go to the benefit office and you can get some benefit to help you. It doesn't come with the love of Christ. You can go to the hospital, you can be treated, but it doesn't come with the love of Christ. Unless one of you nurses, carers or doctors around here are there ministering as you work. But the church carries anointing. The church is there with a purpose. And it's not to grieve the Spirit of God. It's to fulfill God's eternal plan to bring change and transformation to this world. Galatians 5:16 says, Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires. And in verse 25 it says, if we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Church. I want to tell you we don't have to be a people that grieve the Spirit. I think sometimes we think to ourselves, this is all there is. Just getting through the day, just hoping that God will help me. Just hoping that God will provide. And when God doesn't seem to provide the way we want, we give him a little help. That's the beginning of grieving. The Holy Spirit is when we take matters so much into our own hands that we stray outside of the will of God. Hallelujah. So we lie, so we cut corners, so we give eye service. We don't have to grieve the Spirit of God because he has given us something better. He has given us something more. That we might be the people, we might be the church that reveals the wisdom of God to the world around us. We have a higher calling. Hallelujah. You know, he spoke. He spoke. Jesus spoke in the book of Revelation. You remember that? In the Book of Revelation. In chapter two from verse four, he says, I have this. He's speaking to who? Which church? I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. To whom is he speaking? The very people that we're talking to now. You have abandoned your first love. He wrote this letter, and by the time we got to the Book of Revelation, they were already grieving the Holy Spirit. And what does he say? He says that you have abandoned the love that you had at first. First remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. In other words, go back, you fell off. Now get yourself up and go back up there to where you were. Remember from where you have fallen. Repent and do the works that you did at first. Listen, sometimes we think that because we're all about grace, works mean nothing. Look at what he says here. He says, repent and do the. This was about love, right? Recapturing the love. But then he says, repent and do the works that you did at first. In other words, love leads you somewhere. The reason why I am a finely built man, as you see today, is because of the love of a good woman. But love will not feed my body. It is love expressed over a hot stove that made me the man I am today. Might be the love of a good fitness instructor that brings balance, but love expresses itself. And so when someone loves Jesus, you find them looking for every opportunity to be amongst God's people. When someone loves Jesus, you find them looking for every opportunity to worship. When someone loves Jesus, you find them looking for every opportunity to help people. When someone loves Jesus, you find them looking for every opportunity to speak of the love of Christ. And so, whilst it is grace and love and not works that saves us, when there is grace and love, we can see it. Your life expressed by your desire for God, by your desire for Christ, by your desire for the Word, by your desire to be amongst God's people, for your desire to share the truth, for your desire to worship him. Good News Church. All of that is available to you as a child of God by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. There are only two things we have to do to come out of grieving the Spirit of God. One is salvation. One is salvation. I'm not talking about that prayer you prayed. Sometimes I wonder if it's a good idea. We pray those prayers sometimes. Dear Lord Jesus, we know the formula. So we say, pray this. And then the preacher says, now you are born again. It's like someone. Anyone play Monopoly? Has anyone played Monopoly? What's the best Card you can get in Monopoly, get out of Jail Free card. Right, get out of Jail Free card. So whenever you end up in jail on that board, you just go, I've got to get out of Jail Free card. And we treat salvation that way. We pray the prayer, now you are born again. No, it's new creation. It's when somebody sees Jesus and they see, you know, something happens. I'm sorry. When you meet with Jesus, something happens. You see yourself as you are. Too many people came to salvation in the way of Nebuchadnezzar, told God about their glory and how God should lift them up and how God should make them this and how God should make them that. But there's something very humbling about seeing God, about experiencing God. It humbles you. It brings you to that place where you go, oh, God, I am a sinner. Away from me, like Peter did. We mentioned him earlier. And when that happens, you hear that word of salvation and you say, o God, who will save me? When Peter stood up and the day of Pentecost and he preached the gospel to that great crowd, what happened? They said, oh, God, what will we do? What shall we do? And Peter said, I'll tell you what you shall do. You shall repent and be baptized. Every one of you. Not pray this magic prayer, but repent and be baptized. Every one of you. Change your mind and change your life. Change the way you think about what your life is about. Change the way you think about what your destiny is. Face Jesus and follow him and say, jesus, I will follow you all the days of my life. Save me. And Jesus saved them and their life was going this way and now their life is going that way. That is the evidence of salvation. Not that God seems to answer one or two prayers. Not that you get scared or you have a big decision in life and God helps you. It says in the Bible that God causes the sun to shine on the righteous and the unrighteous. The help of God is not the salvation of God. I want to say that again. The help of God is not the salvation of God. It is not. God helps everyone. Everyone in this world, no matter what their religion, no matter what their circumstances, they can find something. They can say, God helped me, even if they don't believe in him right now. I can look back before I was saved and say, look at what happened there. God helped me. I can look back and say, I should have died, but God helped me. I needed something, but God help me. That's not salvation. That's a reason to be Saved. That's a reason to praise God. That's a reason to turn away from sin. Because the kindness of God leads to repentance. Hear that? The kindness of God leads to repentance. Not repentance leads to the kindness of God. But the kindness of God leads to repentance. That's salvation. When God so works on your heart that you turn to him and you say, I'm no longer going the way I was. My life is now going to conform to your plan. And your trajectory is different. Let me ask you this morning, is your trajectory different? Is your trajectory different? Because I fear every time I lead in church, every time I preach, I fear that there are people who have been so indoctrinated into the religion of Christianity that they've never found Jesus, never, never begun to follow Him. It's just all about power, prayers, blessings, and not curses, breakthroughs and miracles. And so thank God for that. But signs are signs. Hallelujah. Imagine if you were going to Bristol. I don't know why Bristol, but it's as good as any other place you might want to go. You get in your car, you get on the. On the. On the dual carriageway or the motorway, and you're driving to Bristol and you see a sign for Bristol. You park your car and say, I've arrived. No, a sign is not Bristol. A sign says, keep going and you'll get there. Right? Signs and wonders are not salvation. Healing is not salvation. A miracle, financial breakthrough is not salvation. Blessing, even blessing and not cursing is not salvation. Salvation is when you belong to him. Your decisions belong to Him. Your direction belongs to Him. Your possessions belong to Him. Your time belongs to Him. Your family belongs to Him. He is yours and you are His. You are saved. You are a child of God. Amen. Amen. Are you a child of God this morning? Or are you just a religious man or a religious woman? Does that sound harsh? There's nothing harsh about offering you life. There's nothing harsh about saying, if you're lost, come to Jesus. If all you have is religion, come to Jesus. Give your whole heart and your whole life to him. That's number one if you want to live outside of the place of grieving the heart of God. Because none of us want to grieve the heart of God. I remember looking my mother on the face that day and her looking at me with tears in her eyes and realizing something. I have grieved her. This situation has grieved her. Even though I was trying to punish her, I have grieved her. And I could see, see the grief on her face. I pray God, in Jesus name, God, I pray in the name of Jesus that somebody, just one person in this room would see the grief upon your heart, the grief upon your face, the tears in your eyes, the sorrow that you feel for the things that they are indulging in and the life of that they are living. And the direction and the selfishness and the selfish ambition and the bitterness and the unforgiveness and the anger and the things that they are indulging and allowing in their lives. I pray just one person in this room would look and see the sorrow on your face and realize, oh, God, save me. Save me from this. God, get me out of this. My Father, deliver me from my life of sin. Deliver me from my foolishness. Deliver me from my selfishness, God, and save me. And I know that if someone would see the grief on the face of God, that if they would see, that what would happen would be amazing. Because like the Father in the Prodigal Son, O God, you would come running to them. You would put a robe on their back. You would put a ring on their finger and you would say, my son was lost, but now he's found. My son was dead, but now he's alive. Let's celebrate. Salvation. Come out of the place of grieving and into the place of rejoicing the heart of God and all that he's going to do through you. The second thing we need after salvation is the infilling and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told the disciples, go nowhere. You wait at Jerusalem because not many days from now you will receive power to be my witnesses. And so they waited at Jerusalem. They were already children of God. They'd already given their heart to Jesus. They'd seen the resurrection. They understood the calling. But now they had to wait. Why? Because they needed that empowerment. And so they waited and they prayed. And suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind filled the place where they were standing to pray. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They saw tongues of fire. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. And that Peter, who had been hiding, that Peter who had been hiding away in the upper room, suddenly now he stood bold. He stood tall before the people. And even though he knew that he might be arrested and locked up, he preached that gospel to them. And the Bible says they were cut to the heart. Not because Peter had learned a new kind of eloquence, but because Peter had been empowered by the Holy Spirit. And God added 3,000 people to their number Church, let me ask you, are you truly born again and have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? If you're not saved and you realize right now, ask him, if you're not filled and you realize it right now, ask him. He said to his disciples, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask. Hallelujah. And Peter said, he gives his Holy Spirit to those that obey him. It's coming to the place of obedience. And the first step of obedience is Jesus, I belong to you. For them, it was baptism. Maybe you haven't been baptized, and that's one expression of it. Jesus, I'm going to be obedient to you. I belong to you. I'm going to walk with you. And it says, he will fill you. He will fill you. He said to his disciples, he's been with you. He's been with you. Hallelujah. Some of you, you know, the Holy Spirit's been with you. He says he's been with you, but now he's going to be in you. Can you imagine if the church just here in Colchester, around here, can you imagine if all those people who were living shallow, because you can live shallow. You can live shallow. You can read your Bible verse for the day and put it in the drawer and just get on with your life. God is just like your wingman. You know what I mean by that? He's just like your wingman. He's just there, you know, just like your bodyguard, you know, as you do, whatever it is you're doing, just make sure that the demons stay out of your lane. And you know that things happen the way they're supposed to. You can live shallow, but you can live surrendered. You can live surrendered. It's not an easy thing to live surrendered. It's not an easy thing at all. Because, you know, I don't know about you, but I want things my way. It's not an easy thing to live surrendered. But imagine if the whole church, not just our church, but all here in Colchester, imagine. Imagine if Christians would surrender to the will and the purpose of God. Imagine if they couldn't help but talk about Jesus. Hallelujah. Some of you, we know your hobbies. We know the things you love. You can't help it. We know everything. Because, you know, when I'm excited about something, I don't know about you, but I can't help it. It's just I have to talk about it right Imagine if the whole church was that way. There was that excitement about Jesus, about what he's doing. Imagine if every man, woman and child was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Imagine someone standing here today and saying, my name is. I don't know, Betty. And I've decided to follow Jesus. And I've come to this church because I was standing at Colchester railway station one morning and I was feeling sick. And there was someone who looked at me and saw I was feeling sick. And they said to me, you know what? I know this Jesus and would you mind if I just pray for you? And something happened. And now I realize that God is real. And here I am standing and go declaring my love for Jesus. I was at work. I was at work and somebody. I saw that somebody was so kind and so good, you know, Everyone else was mistreating me, but this person treated me different. And I said to myself, what is it? And as I began to talk to them, they told me about their lovely Jesus. And I said, I've got to know more. Why don't I come to your church on Sunday? And they come and they discovered Jesus. What if the whole church was up making a difference in the world? What if the whole church was uncompromising, refusing to lie, refusing to cheat, refusing to cut corners? What if the whole church was living that way? What if the whole church had a song to sing and a gospel to preach? Imagine the impact on this city. Imagine the impact. Impact on Essex. Because I tell you, I have this idea in my heart that is just stirring me up of shaking the whole of Essex with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it takes every man, every woman and every child. But it wouldn't be to the grief of God. It would be to his joy. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed, with whom you were made his child, with whom you were made his servant. But rather, let's make him rejoice as we grow up into the things of God and are filled with the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Can we all stand up on our feet right now? Because we're gonna pray. We're gonna pray, we're gonna cry out to God. And I want you to ask God, somebody, something. I'm not going to pray a special prayer, but I want you to do business with God right now. If you're not walking with Jesus, if you haven't given your life to him, I'm going to challenge you right now. I want you to do business with God and speak to him. If you've not received the power of the Holy Spirit. It says he will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask. Will you ask him right now? Let's do business with God. Hallelujah. Let me see you talking to God, guys. Let me see you talking to God. Talk to your Savior. Talk to your God. Tell him God, I need to be filled with your spirit. Tell him God, I'm sorry for the way that I've been walking. Tell him God, I don't want to grieve you, but I want to put rejoicing in your heart. Tell him God, help me to be all that you've called me to be. Tell him God, thank you for sealing me with your Holy Spirit and making me your own. Tell him God, I want to be a new person from today. I'm going to put on this new robe. I'm going to take on this new mantle. I'm going to stand under this new anointing. I'm going to be the child of God that you called me to be. Father, in Jesus name, I want to pray for everyone in this room right now. Father, in the name of Jesus. I want to pray for those that don't know you. That Father, they will give their lives to you right now. I want to pray for those that are watching online. If you're watching online, today is the day for you to give your life to Jesus. I pray, Father, that no one in this room will leave this place today without giving their lives to you, without becoming a follower of yours. And Father, I pray in the name of Jesus for those in this room who have yet to experience the infilling and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Oh God, in Jesus name, if you have the Holy Spirit, I want to ask you right now, would you just begin to speak out in the other tongue that God has given you. And let's pray that the people around us who are not filled with the Holy Spirit will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Will you just speak out in an unknown tongue? Speak out in the spiritual language so that those around you might be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, in the name of the Lord, Father, we pray. Oh God, in Jesus name, in Jesus name. Fill your people, my father. Empower your people, my Father. In the mighty name of. Of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, you have sealed us. You have made us your own. Raise us up a mighty army. The people of God. To take the enemy's ground. To bring salvation to the masses. To the multitude around us who don't yet know you. Father, we praise you.