“I bet you’d agree that a group of talented, charismatic leaders can draw a crowd. Find the right creative team, musicians, and speakers, and you can grow any church. The fact is that

without making a conscious choice to depend on the Holy Spirit, we can do a lot. But, I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power.”

Francis Chan – “Forgotten God

“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would stop, and everyone would know the difference.”

A. W. Tozer

1. Rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

Joy is not something we work on; Joy is something that we live in.

2. Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

“Our Lord meant by saying we ought always to pray, that we ought to be always in the spirit of prayer, always ready to pray. Like the old knights, always in the warfare, not always on their horses dashing into battle, but always wearing their weapons where they could readily reach them.”

“I always feel it well just to put a few words of prayer between everything I do.”

Charles Spurgeon

“The greatest tragedy in life is the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.”

Mark Batterson – “Circle Maker”

3. Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

4. Do not despise prophecies (1 Thess. 5:20)

5:21-22 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

“Remember that what is spoken in any prophecy today is not the word of God, but is simply a human being reporting in merely human words something which God has brought to mind.”

Dr. Wayne Grudem

1. The Fruit Test

2. The Truth Test

1. Ask God to fill you and lead you by his Spirit every day.

2. Keep a Journal.

3. Go for it!