We’re concluding a series this morning that we’ve called “Running on Empty.”  I’ve often used car and driving analogies in the past few weeks and I want to wrap up by talking about stopping to refuel.  We know that gas prices have spiked slightly over the past few weeks but it is still quite lower than the $3.50-$4.00 a gallon we were paying a little over a year ago.   

How much does it cost you to refuel?  Of course, it basically depends upon the size of your gas tank.  It costs me about $32.00 to fill up my Honda.  When Rachel and I were first married, I drove a Volkswagen bug.  I could basically fill that car up with the cost of two gallons of today’s gas.  I remember my mom talking about paying ten cents for coal to heat her childhood home in Philadelphia.  We all have different refueling stories. 

And gas stations have changed over the years.  I remember the gas station operator near my childhood home who had a Phillips 66 logo on his uniform shirt pocket and he would raise the hood of my mom’s car to check fluids, washed the windshield and even checked tire pressure.  All the while, gas was going into the tank at 22 cents a gallon.  Today’s gas stations have supermarkets inside them and ATM machines.  Drink machines and the QT has great coffee…even gourmet type coffee.  I’ve seen flat screen TVs by the pumps and a water park.  Well, it’s really only a car wash, but your preschool kids may not know the difference.   

I was using my ATM card at the pump recently and I’ve had some problems with the magnetic strip on it.  It didn’t want to work.  After a few “insert card” and “remove quickly” tries, the sign said, “See Attendant Inside.”  I hate that!  When it does work it asks me questions like debit or credit?  Do you want a car wash?  What is your zip code?  Is that your real hair?  Refueling can be a hassle. 

In the spiritual realm, folks, if you want to have a vibrant relationship with God and if you want to draw close to Him, you have to learn to be full of Him.  The Apostle Paul had a prayer and a challenge for the church of Ephesus that we read in our call to worship a little while ago.  He prayed that “you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  (Eph. 3:19)  The word “filled” in Greek is a continuous verb and means “being filled.”  It is not a one-time filling but it is constant refueling.   

How come?  Because we have a constant need.  If I am not filled on a regular basis I begin to fill empty.  And when that happens, the people close to me notice it.  My emptiness affects others. I display a number of symptoms when I begin to run on empty.  Let me list some of them for you, because they may be evident in your life when your spiritual gas gauge is running low. 

• I’m selfish with my time.

• I’m impatient, particularly when I’m driving, and everyone else is an idiot.

• My judgment is distorted and I don’t make good decisions.

• I lack compassion for others. 

• I begin to think that I deserve certain things when I’m running on empty.

• I’m short with people—particularly with short people.

• I’m more cynical and critical.

• I’m insecure.  I begin to look to others to fill up what only God can fill up.

That is what it looks like when I’m running on empty.  Do you know what it looks like to be empty?  On the flipside, do you know what it looks like to be full?  Or have you been running on fumes for so long that you’ve forgotten what fullness tastes like?  I want us to look at how to NOT run on empty.  Let’s look at three specific Scripture passages.  Before we look at HOW, let’s first look at WHY.  If the Why doesn’t make sense to you the How is not going to really help you.   

Why do I need to be refueled on a daily basis?

1. Because emptiness is not working for me.  Let’s review a verse that we looked at on during our 3-week series called “Crossroads” back in early summer.   Jer. 6:16 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads & look, & ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; & walk in it, & find rest for your souls.’”  Try meditating on this verse.  You ask where the good path is.  Then you walk in it and you will find rest for your soul.  You’re at a crossroads.  As we talked about busyness last Sunday, some of you had a gnawing sense that you don’t want to keep going at the pace you’ve been going. 

 Busyness has a steep price tag.  It cripples relationships.  It fills our calendars but fractures our families.  Busyness props up our image but it really shrinks or heart.  It feeds our ego but it starves our soul.  We should take this advice from Jeremiah and find the good way, walk in it and get rest for our souls.  That is what we all need.  If you remember last week’s theme, it was:  Busy isn’t better.  Choosing better is better.  Something has to change because emptiness is not working. 

2. Because I have a soul that wants to be filled.

In reality we generally pay a lot of attention to our bodies and we give some thought to our minds, but we generally give very little thought to our souls.  When our bodies are empty, we know how to fill them up.  We eat.  When our minds are empty, we can fill them through study or reading or we can watch Oprah and she can tell us everything we need to know.  NOT!  But we are basically always filling our mind with something—it could be good things or bad things. 

But what do you do when your soul is empty?  I don’t think many people give much consideration to their soul.  A lot of folks we encounter on a daily basis don’t even know they have a soul.   

Your soul is the invisible part of you and it is the eternal part of you.  It is the part of you that connects with God.  And your soul is what makes you different form all of creation.  Your soul defines you.  That is why Jesus made such a big deal about it.  He wanted people to understand that your soul was more important than your stuff.  It’s more important than your activity or your career.   

Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world & forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?”  Some of you may be trying to gain the world or, at least your share of the world or you’re creating a little world of your own, but in doing so you are losing your soul. 

Picture a scale in your mind.  On one side of the scale you have all your material possessions.  It could be your house, car, your portfolio, your vacation home.  It’s the stuff you bought because you could.  The other side of the scale is your soul.  If I asked you which weighs more, your rational mind would deduce that all of the stuff we have weighs more.  But in God’s measuring system, Jesus says your stuff loses to your soul.  Your soul weighs more.  It’s a bigger deal.  It is your most valuable possession.  We often go through life trying to fill our homes and our bodies and our calendars and our bank accounts and we give little to no attention to our soul.  And our souls were designed to connect with God.  There is something more to life as we know it on this playground that we call earth.  There is something that draws us to a more spiritual place.  Please understand this.  We are not physical beings having a temporary spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings because of our soul.  Therefore, we are merely having a temporary physical experience.  Our souls cry out to be filled. 

3. Because filling my soul is an investment in eternity.

The Bible is pretty clear that our bodies are just containers.  I’m a little Old School and when I think of containers I think of Tupperware.  Think about it.  Your body is Tupperware.  We come in different sizes and shapes like Tupperware.  We like to go to parties like Tupperware.  And we feel a lot better when we’re burped.  Just like Tupperware.  We can attempt to modify our Tupperware.  You can go to a plastic surgeon and have your “wear” taken off and then you’re just “tupper.”  You can lose weight.  You can have an organ transplant but that doesn’t change your soul.  Your soul is what defines you. 

2 Cor. 5:6-7 “So we are always of good courage.  We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”   When I connect with God—when I make that refueling connection—I’m not only accessing power and guidance that I need for today, but I’m also making an investment for eternity where my real and final home will be.  Think about the stuff that you’re doing right now.  The stuff you are building and gathering and achieving…  None of these things are going to last.  But when you take time to fill your soul and you take time to connect your soul to God, you’re making an investment in eternity.  That is time well spent. 

We need to know the WHY before we can tackle the HOW.  Our enthusiasm may dip a bit when we get into the How.  How is this going to work in my life?  How do I actually do this?  How do I make soul filling a habit? 

Let me make this personal.  You may feel guilty this morning that you don’t feel that strong connection to God daily.  The number one reason people falter on the How part of this is they fail to have a daily time where they refuel with God.  Your guilt comes from comparison.  Folks compare what they have heard about other people’s reading the Bible.  They say, “I wish I read the Bible more… I wish I could pray longer…I wish I could have a good quiet time.”  This guilt comes from comparison.  Martin Luther, the great Reformer, once said, “My day is so busy that I get up at four a.m. and spend three hour with God before the day starts.” I heard that in Seminary and have spent a number of years feeling guilty over that statement.  When I was in Seminary, I didn’t even know there was a 4 a.m.  Or this Mother Teresa quote where she said, “Spend one hour a day in adoration of your Lord and never do anything that you know is wrong and you’ll be all right.”  That sounds simple but it so tough to do and we feel guilty because we know we’ll fall short.   

Martin Luther and Mother Teresa are known for their faith.  But if you’re like I am, you’re nothing like them.  You’re much closer to Mother Goose.  You’re not Mother Teresa.  You’re not Martin Luther.  You are you.  And you need to refuel in a way that is consistent with how you are wired.   

I want to challenge you to have a daily time where you are refueling with God.  You can make excuses but you know that those excuses aren’t coming from God.  As I like to say, they come from the pit and they smell like smoke.  

Every Day I Need to…

1.      Stop.  Stop your life for a period of time during the day.  It sounds easy but it’s not.  If you want your soul to be nurtured, you’ve got to stop.  You cannot refuel on the run.  You can’t drive past a service station and expect your car to get filled without stopping.  You have to stop your mind from the tasks and the “To Do” list.  You real busy folks may say, “O.K., Bratley, I’ve stopped.  Now what do I do?” 

2.      Be Quiet.  To be refueled, quiet or silence is the equivalent of air and water for the soul.  We’re in such a noisy world that silence may be deafening.  Most of us wake up to alarm noise.  We get into our cars and turn on more noise.  We’re around noise all day long and some of us go to bed and we can’t sleep so we put the television on timer or download some nature sounds to help us relax.  We are psycho!  We have conditioned ourselves to need noise. 

There are noise researchers and they have discovered that there are noises that get people to shop more and spend more.  (We should find out if that noise would work during the offertory each Sunday.)   

Let me give some radical advice that is going to tick some of you off.  In order for you to be quiet, you have to separate yourself from your phone.  In order to be quiet, turn it off.  Don’t wear your Blue Tooth ear thingy when you’re trying to be quiet.  You’re cruising through life with a little satellite dish hanging from your cranium.  When slavery was around, slaves had earrings that attached them to their masters.  Our phones are now the equivalent of that.  Your phone owns you. 

We need quiet so we can hear God and hear from God.  I Kings 19 the prophet Elijah had battled false prophets and won.  And after the victory, Elijah has a meltdown.  He runs off and hides and asks God where He is.  He’s having a major pity party and he’s in a cave.  Vs. 11-13 “And he (the Lord) said, ‘Go out & stand on the mount before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, & a great & strong wind tore the mountains & broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.  And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.  And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.  And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak & went out & stood at the entrance of the cave.”    That gentle whisper was God.  I wonder how many times in life I have missed God because I was around too much noise.  The challenge is to stop and be quiet. 

You may have your radio tuned to the Fish every day and listen to Christian music, but even that is noise.  You stop and you be quiet.   

3.      Make a Connection.  Our generation understands connection.  We’re always connected.  You may have been texting during worship this morning and answering emails.  That is how connected you are.  However, I want you to pause your outer connections so you can make an inner connection.  Connection is essential to getting filled up.  Jesus wants us to be filled.  Matt. 11:28, 29b (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary & burdened & I will give you rest…& you will find rest for your souls.”
There are several issues to address in making a connection with God:

·        When?  When am I going to stop and be quiet?  There are no rules for the When.  Jesus prayed in morning and Scripture records Him praying at night.   You can make your own schedule.  However, when you settle on a time, stick to it until it becomes a habit. 

·        Where?  For me, it needs to be quiet and away from my cell phone and email.  For many people, it helps to have a set quiet place. 

·        What?  What tools do you use to connect?  We’ve talked about this before, so I won’t elaborate.  I can’t tell you how to refuel your soul.  But you need to find the What because we’re all wired differently.   

Of course, one of the tools should be prayer.  Reading God’s Word is another.  You may get a spiral bound notebook and write out your prayers or make a prayer list.  When something you read in the Bible stands out to you, you could jot that down in the notebook.   

Sometimes my soul just needs quiet and I need to reflect.  Sometimes my soul needs encouragement and I need to search God’s Word for that.  Sometimes my soul needs help in understanding God’s Word so I need to go to a book or commentary to help me understand what I just read.  The point it, there’s a lot of different things you can do with the What.   

On the back of this insert, I compiled a list of ideas for your What part of connecting with God.  I’ve also added some good books and devotionals in addition to the ideas. 

I have also put a logo of a gas pump with your message notes.  Put it either in your Bible or in your quiet place as a visual reminder of what you are going to do.  You are going to be refueled. 

Again, in order to refuel you need to do three things.  Stop, Be Quiet, and Make a Connection.  Can you see yourself doing that?  Does that seem possible?  And practical?  Do you see yourself being filled up?  Can you imagine what it may be like to have your soul “topped off?”  Your life may be different.  Your pace may be different.  Your priorities may change.  The way you treat others may be different.  The way you feel about yourself may change.  You won’t be running on empty.  As the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesian Church:  He wanted them to “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  Can you see that for yourself? 

I can see that for you.  I can see that for Ingleside Church.  Will you stop, be quiet and make a connection?  Let’s pray.