Series: Empty
Message Title: Empty the Trash
Well, believe it or not, Easter/Resurrection Sunday is
just 2 weeks away. This year our theme is “Empty”.
The message on Easter Sunday will be built around
the thought that it took an empty cross and an empty
tomb to fill an empty life!
I trust that you’ve been praying over these upcoming
services, that you’ve already invited or are planning
to invite some unchurched friends/family, and you
are planning to serve on a team (sit one serve one).
Because Easter is not just about us; it’s about the
lost.
To that end, before I go any further, let’s just stop
right now and pray!
As I thought about the theme of Empty for Easter, I
began sensing a push in my spirit to do a series called
Empty.
Today I want to kick off the series with a message
entitled, “Empty the Trash!”
2 | Page
How many of you know that from time to time,
usually several times a week, you have to take out
the garbage.
Either because it is overflowing and you cannot cram
another thing in it, or maybe because you just got a
whiff of something (probably leftover food scraps) and
decided this cannot stay in the house a minute longer.
For me, that moment when I hear Carol say, “Can you
take out the trash?” often happens at the most
inopportune time, like right when I’ve just sat down
on the couch, kicked my shoes off, and gotten
comfortable. But convenient or not, the trash has to
go. And then we put in a new trash bag so it is ready
to be filled up again.
We are still emphasizing that this is the Year of the
Holy Spirit. And one of the promises of Christ is that
we are to be “Filled” with the Holy Spirit!
Here’s what I know… if we are going to be Filled with
the Holy Spirit, we are going to first have to empty
ourselves of all the “stuff”… all the “garbage”… all
3 | Page
the trash in our lives that is taking up our time, filling
our hearts, controlling our minds – the stuff of life
that is unrighteous, ungodly, unspiritual
– stuff that, if we are to be honest with ourselves…
stinks!
The Bible talks about putting on the “new man”
[Eph 4:24 KJV] 24 And that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness.
But before you can put on the new man you have to
put off the old man.. you have to “empty the trash”
In fact 2 verses before Paul tells the Ephesians to put
on the new man, he says
[Eph 4:22 KJV] 22 … put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts;
I want you to understand what Paul is saying to us:
It’s not enough to just add Jesus into your life – not
enough to simply put on the new man – not enough to
think we can just be filled with the Spirit…
4 | Page
No, as necessary as it is to put on the new man and be
filled with the Spirit, it is absolutely necessary to put
off the old man “which is corrupt”. We have to get
rid of the trash.
Christians are to live godly lives. To be godly simply
means to have a love for God that causes us to live a
life pleasing to Him. In 1 Peter 1:15-16, God
commands us to live Holy lives. “Holy” means “set
apart, different”, not stained by the garbage of the
world.
[1Pe 1:15-16 NLT] 15 But now you must be holy in
everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
16 For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I
am holy."
This is the Biblical concept of “Sanctification”! It is a
washing, a cleansing, a separation from that which is
unholy so that we can be filled with that which is
holy. (Not legalism… not rules… not just changing our
outer look… but a heart change that results from
falling in love with Jesus.)
Unfortunately there are a lot of folks today who think
all we need to do is try to add Jesus into the mess of
our lives without getting rid of the mess.
5 | Page
We want to think that as long as we come to church
and pray and read our Bibles and give a little in the
offering bucket it’s OK that our lives are like an
overflowing trash can. We’ll just spray a little
spiritual “Fabreze” on it and cover up the foul odor.
Some of you may remember this commercial:
Play this video cutting it at 0:22 with “Hello?!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj34uz1Kjuc
Hello??? You may fool some people but you can’t fool
God… and…
God is saying, don’t try to cover it up and hide it.
Get rid of it. Take out the Trash! And make room for
more of God!
I believe that God is wanting to pour out His Spirit at
SpiritLife Church. I believe He wants to pour out His
Spirit in your life. But we need to ask ourselves if
there is room in our lives to be filled with the spirit,
or if we are full of stuff that is hindering the move of
God in our midst.
It’s so easy for our lives to get filled up with stuff,
and its almost like it happened so slowly and
6 | Page
gradually that we didn’t even recognize it. I mean,
last week we were on fire for God and all was well,
and then somehow, almost like “while we weren’t
looking” the enemy snuck in overnight and sowed all
this bad seed in our lives.
In fact Jesus tells a parable about that…
[Mat 13:24-25 NLT] 24 Here is another story Jesus
told: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who
planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the
workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds
among the wheat, then slipped away.
In the OT, we read an interesting story about
Abraham’s son, Isaac.
[Gen 26:12-18 NLT] 12 When Isaac planted his crops that
year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he
planted, for the LORD blessed him. 13 He became a very
rich man, and his wealth continued to grow. 14 He acquired
so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and
servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. 15 So
the Philistines filled up all of Isaac's wells with dirt. These
were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his
father, Abraham. 16 Finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to
leave the country. "Go somewhere else," he said, "for you
have become too powerful for us." 17 So Isaac moved away
7 | Page
to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled
down. 18 He reopened the wells his father had dug, which
the Philistines had filled in after Abraham's death. Isaac
also restored the names Abraham had given them.
I want you to understand some spiritual truths that
apply to us today.
3 main characters in this story:
1. Abraham, Isaac’s father, had dug wells. Wells
that represented life, because without water
there is no life.
2. The Philistine’s/enemy – out of jealousy – filled
in the wells. You have an enemy. We have an
enemy. And given the opportunity, out of
jealousy, He wants to cut off the flow of the
Spirit of God in your life – he wants to fill your
spiritual well with all kinds of “dirt”.
3. Isaac – redug the wells – Emptied the wells - He
took out all the trash so that they could be filled
with life-giving water again.
Church, I truly believe that corporately, there are
spiritual wells here at SpiritLife that have been dug
by our forefathers. But through the passing of time
some of those wells have been filled in and forgotten.
8 | Page
But God is calling us to redig the wells – to take out
the trash – to reopen the wells of revival and healing
and the supernatural. To pick up the mantle of
those who have gone before us.
But something else:
[Gen 26:19 NLT] 19 Isaac's servants also dug in the
Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water.
I don’t believe we are simply to redig old wells, I
believe we are to dig some new wells – to discover
new wells of fresh water that our forefathers may
have never drunk from – to experience moves of the
Holy Spirit they never saw – to see manifestations of
the power of God they never experienced.
But in order to do so, we have to empty ourselves, dig
deep, and invite the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower
us like never before.
As I bring this message to a close this morning, I want
to ask you to do a serious inventory of your life. Ask
yourself, “Do I need to take out the trash?” Is there
something/anything in my life that is unrighteous,
9 | Page
unholy, displeasing to God, sinful - attitudes, actions,
habits that have filled up the well of my life and
cutting off the flow of God’s Spirit?
In CR circles we talk about taking a ‘fearless moral
inventory’.
I’m asking you to take a “fearless moral inventory”
today and throw out the trash.
HERE ARE THREE AREAS OF LIFE THAT CAN BE
FILLED WITH TRASH:
1. OUR THOUGHTS.
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if
anything is excellent or praiseworthy—thing about
such things” (NIV). What we see, hear, and think will
come out in our actions. Impure actions begin with
impure thoughts.
2. OUR SPEECH.
Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, “You brood of vipers, how
can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the
overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (NIV). What
we talk about is a reflection of our heart. A
10 | Page
Christian’s speech should be noticeably different from
that of other people. And I’m not just talking about
cursing; but what about “negative confessions”,
gossip, criticism and judging…
3. OUR ACTIONS.
[Gal 5:19-23 NLT] 19 When you follow the desires of your
sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality,
impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility,
quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition,
dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties,
and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have
before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit
the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this
kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-
control. There is no law against these things!
(Fruit of the Spirit, but also the works of the flesh)
We are reminded that what we do with our bodies and
how we behave is a clear indication of our walk with
God. Many people worship the gods of sex, alcohol, or
drugs, which all have their root in selfish desires. God
has commanded us to respect our bodies in a way that
pleases Him and that will glorify Him.
Conclusion: Musicians Come
11 | Page
Prayer
Invitation: 2 things:
1. Salvation
2. Bring out the Trash Can.
If there is anyone here who knows there is some
“garbage in your life” (addiction, attitude,
unforgiveness, lifestyle, character flaws…anger,
fear… whatever it is), we are asking you to come
to the altar and write it down on a piece of
paper. Then we want you to pray over that
thing… wad it up… and throw it in this trash
can… and then, together, we are going to pray
over everything in the trash can… and then we
are going to “empty the trash”!
