I'm Running on Empty

Summary

Change Church Podcast: "I'm Running on Empty"

Host: Pastor Dharius Daniels
Date: May 25, 2026

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Episode Overview

This Pentecost Sunday message from Pastor Dharius Daniels dives into the reality of running on empty—spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Drawing from Matthew 4:10-11 and Israel’s wilderness experience, Pastor Dharius explores how depletion is not just a human weakness but a strategy the enemy uses to undermine God’s purpose for our lives. He emphasizes the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, urging listeners to acknowledge exhaustion and receive the Spirit's restoration.

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Key Topics and Insights

The Holy Spirit: More Than Rebirth, A Source of Renewal

• Pentecost and the Holy Spirit (00:35):
  The episode centers on the presence of the Holy Spirit, particularly His role not only in spiritual rebirth and sanctification but as an ongoing source of renewal when we’re depleted.

  "I want us to be open to the comprehensive contribution that the Holy Spirit wants to make in all of our lives...not just a rebirth and a refilling, but a renewal." (01:35–01:49)

• Spiritual Depletion as Warfare (03:01):
  The message demystifies ‘spiritual warfare,’ redefining it from demonic spectacle to the enemy’s subtle tactic of wearing believers down through depletion.

  "Spiritual warfare...can be the enemy's attempt to undermine God's deepest desires for your life. One of the weapons of his warfare isn't just demons, it's depletion." (07:16–07:31)

The Reality of Depletion and Transition

• Seasons of Depletion (07:16–08:41):
  Pastor Dharius connects with those feeling burnt out:

  "Everybody is using you as an asset and therefore you have become a liability to yourself. I'm helping everybody but who is helping me?" (08:41–09:27)

• It’s Not Just You (11:20):
  Using Jesus’ time in the wilderness as an example, the Pastor reassures listeners that even the victorious can feel worn out:

  "I want you to take a walk with me to the Gospel of Matthew. There is another individual...who knows what it feels like to win and be worn down...Jesus." (11:20–11:49)

The Metaphor of the Wilderness

• Wilderness as Metaphor (12:58):
  The wilderness represents life's transitional, preparatory, and separating seasons:

  "A wilderness season can be what's called a transition season....where you're not where you were, but you're not where you're going." (13:23–13:54)

• God’s Desire vs the Enemy’s Tactics (14:46):
  God uses wilderness to develop trust and preparation; the enemy aims to create cynicism and destruction.

  "He can't have it. You think I'm gonna go through all of this and let the devil get what he wants out of this?...I'm gonna get something out of this." (15:47–16:59)

• Divine Preparation in Delay (20:33):

  "Preparation requires delay. It is you good enough here, but you're not developed enough there...This desert is for your development." (20:33–21:43)

• Separation by Appetite, Not Evil (22:09):

  "The separation isn't always about evil. The separation sometimes is about appetite." (22:09–22:58)

Codependency, Leadership, and Unhealthy Attachments

• Israel’s Dependency and the Golden Calf (24:45):
  The people’s trauma and codependence on Moses prevented them from embracing God’s leadership.

  "They've developed this degree of codependence on you because you're the safest thing they felt since Pharaoh...So they create this calf because they had unconsciously become codependent on Moses. And Moses is not God." (24:45–26:47)

• The Cost of Unhealthy Leadership Attachments (28:50):
  Moses’ reluctance to allow God’s separation led to his own loss of destiny.

  "Because he didn't allow God to orchestrate the separation, it led to the accumulation of agitation." (28:50–29:27)

Winning Can Wear You Out

• Jesus’ Victory and Need for Restoration (31:31):
  Even after passing every test, Jesus needed angelic refreshment:

  "Because even when you win, winning will wear you down." (31:31–31:40)

• Preparation for Greater Assignment (32:09):

  "The restoration isn't just for his formation. It's for his function. It's for his assignment." (32:09–33:25)

The Renewing Ministry of the Holy Spirit

• Beyond Rebirth—Ongoing Renewal (35:25):
  The Spirit’s role is more than initial salvation; He continually renews us during life’s imbalances.

  "The Holy Spirit not only orchestrates rebirth, he orchestrates renewal. That when I'm running on empty, ... the Holy Spirit is like a tag team wrestler standing outside the corner watching life beat us up, saying, I wish you just tagged me in because I have a renewing ministry." (35:25–36:32)

• Dependence on God, Not Self (38:31–39:55):
  Human limitations are opportunities to lean on the inexhaustible resource of God.

  "Depletion is... intended to create a degree of dependence on an inexhaustible source and supply found in God and not in you." (36:32–38:31)
  "He's a renewer." (39:55)

• Danger of Hyper-Independence and Affirmed Exhaustion (41:09):

  "They've been talking about how much I carry, and I assume I'm supposed to carry this. And God's like, I told you to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." (41:09–41:35)

Practical Steps Toward Renewal

• Threefold Path: Acknowledge, Ask, Accept (around 41:40):

  1. Acknowledge your depletion and over-reliance on self.
  2. Ask for the Spirit’s renewing ministry.
  3. Accept the help and strength He offers.

• Insightful Moment:
  The wounds of depletion often become personality traits we assume are 'just who we are.' True renewal lets God reparent us and restore childlike dependence.

  "Those wounds have shown up not in the form of pain, but they've shown up in the form of personality traits. And you've carried those personality traits so long, you've now attached them to your identity." (41:48–42:50)

• Application to Real Life:

  "You're not tired with the kind of fatigue that a nap can fix. You need the renewing ministry of the Holy Spirit." (around 43:00)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "One of the weapons of his warfare isn't just demons, it's depletion." (07:31)
• "I won, but it wore me down." (09:27–11:09)
• "He can't have it!" Congregation’s affirmation about not letting the enemy have victory in transition. (15:47–17:00)
• "Preparation requires delay." (20:33)
• "Even when you win, winning will wear you down." (31:31)
• "The Holy Spirit not only orchestrates rebirth, he orchestrates renewal." (35:28)
• "The Holy Spirit is like a tag team wrestler ... saying, I wish you just tagged me in because I have a renewing ministry." (36:32)
• "Depletion is a... revelation of your human limitations, and it is intended to create a degree of dependence on an inexhaustible source and supply found in God and not in you." (36:32–38:31)
• "You expect to carry all of this as a human, without help." (40:30)
• "I told you, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." (41:35)

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Important Timestamps

• Pentecost and introduction to Holy Spirit’s role: 00:35–01:49
• Redefining spiritual warfare/depletion: 03:01–07:31
• Honest reflection on being worn out even after winning: 09:27–11:09
• Jesus in the wilderness overview: 11:20–13:13
• Transition, preparation, and separation explained: 13:23–24:23
• Codependency and leadership trauma: 24:45–28:45
• Even Jesus needed ministering after victory: 31:31
• Practical steps for renewal & prayer: 41:09–end

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Closing Prayer (44:03–end)

Pastor Dharius leads the church in a heartfelt prayer, inviting the Holy Spirit to renew and restore all those who are depleted, reminding them that it’s okay to ask for help and to rest in God’s supernatural strength for every responsibility and transition ahead.

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Summary Takeaway

Whether you’re leading, serving, or simply enduring a season of intense transition, depletion is inevitable. But spiritual renewal is available. The Holy Spirit is not just an initiator of your faith journey but your lifelong source of strength. Pastor Dharius’s message is clear: acknowledge where you are, ask for renewal, and accept the Spirit’s restorative work—because the journey is long and you’re only at "chapter four." Let God refill your empty tank.

Transcript

[Lead Pastor]

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for not just

[Worship Leader]

coming on the day of Pentecost. Thank you for continuing to come and to being with us right now. We welcome you in this place and thank you for being among us. Receive this offering of worship and thanksgiving. We offer it in Jesus name.

[Lead Pastor]

Amen.

[Worship Leader]

Clap your hands, 12:30. So incredibly honored to be in God's house today. And as we celebrate as a church family a significant day on the Christian liturgical calendar known as Pentecost. And we celebrate the outpouring, the coming, the dispensing, the releasing of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And we're in a series here called Humanology. And I want to have a conversation about him, the Holy Spirit. Every human needs him, can't be fully human as God intended, without him. And I think there is a as he has worked among us even in this worship gathering, in ways that we don't know about. There is a specific way I want to remind some of you of and that he wants to work. And I want to introduce some of

[Lead Pastor]

you to

[Worship Leader]

as a church family, I want us to be open to the comprehensive contribution that the Holy Spirit wants to make in all of our lives. And that is not just a rebirth and a refilling, but a renewal. And so In Matthew, chapter 4, verses 10 through 11, I want to have a conversation. I want to use verses 10 and 11 as a launcher pad to leap into a conversation that I want to have relatively quickly. I actually want to lead us to a prayer. There's something I think the Holy Spirit wants to do for those of us that need it. And we all need him. But we need him in different ways, in different seasons. But it's my sense that there's a significant portion of us in this place and online that need this kind of work. And some of us need it immediately. The Bible says in verse 10, Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan. For is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him Only. And verse 11 says, Then the devil left him and angels came and attended to him. I want to use this text to

[Lead Pastor]

teach this topic today. I'm running on empty.

[Worship Leader]

Come on, 12:30, let's clap our hands in anticipation of what God's gonna do. I'm running all empty.

[Lead Pastor]

There's a term that is often floated around frequently in congregations and Christian communities that have what we would call a continuationist, a charismatic or a Pentecostal leaning or bends that phrase.

[Worship Leader]

That term, although it is not explicitly

[Lead Pastor]

stated in Scripture, it is blatantly supported by Scripture.

[Worship Leader]

It's A term called spiritual warfare. And this term, like, evokes a number of different emotions. Some people automatically assume extremism, hyper emotionalism, exorcisms.

[Lead Pastor]

And although that may be some people's

[Worship Leader]

response to spiritual warfare, it may be some people's interpretation of spiritual warfare. It is not the essence of spiritual

[Lead Pastor]

warfare as we see it described in Scripture. Spiritual warfare can be summarized as the enemy's attempt to undermine God's deepest desires for your life. That's not what I want. Media, bring it down. I said I'm off script. Today spiritual warfare can be seen or described as the enemy's attempt to undermine God's deepest desires for your life. I need you to know God, who design you, has some desires for you. I'm going to say that one more time. The God who designed you, not accidentally, not haphazardly, but strategically and intentionally. We can say this with confidence because in Jeremiah 1, he tells Jeremiah, before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you. This is intelligent design, seen not just in the creation of the world, but in the creation of people. Watch what he says. I form you. Your parents made you, but I form you. The only thing your parents had control over is engaging in the act to conceive you. They didn't even have control over conception, but what you turned out like. Your strengths and your capabilities and your talents and your temperament and your personality. They made you, but I formed you. Therefore, there are aspects of your existence that may not make sense to you now, but if you keep walking with me and growing with me and becoming who I called and created you to be, you will see that even some of the slightest details that you have

[Congregant/Participant]

been dismissing have been intentionally placed in

[Lead Pastor]

the ecosystem of your existence by me.

[Congregant/Participant]

Because I gave you some things that

[Lead Pastor]

you're going to use later.

[Congregant/Participant]

And I hadn't told you why you're going to use them later, or how you're going to use them later, but you're going to step into a season where I help you make sense out

[Lead Pastor]

of who you actually are. God has some deep desires and, and, and spiritual warfare, if we could just simplify it, is the enemy's multifaceted attempts to undermine whatever that desire is he has. God has desires for you. Meaning, watch this. What he wants to do in you, the kind of person he wants you to become and desires in terms of what he wants to do through you. And that is the contribution that, that he wants you to make. And so spiritual warfare, simplified isn't just exorcisms, extreme emotionalism, Spiritual warfare simplified can be the enemy's attempt to undermine God's deepest desires for our life. You following me? I said you following me? Therefore, if his avenues for undermining

[Worship Leader]

God's

[Lead Pastor]

deepest desires for our life are multifaceted and not singular, then I feel comfortable in making this statement that is an anchor axiom for what I'm about to share with you today, and that is now media, let's go back. And that is spiritual warfare is not just the enemy's attempt to take us down, it is also his attempt to, to wear us out. In other words, one of the weapons of his warfare isn't just demons, it's depletion. Because he knows we are more prone to dysfunction and self destructive behavior when we're depleted. So he will at times intentionally orchestrate or exploit experiences that we go through for the purpose of sapping and siphoning from us the energy we need to be who God's called us to be and to do what God has called us to do. And I want to know, am I ever. Am I talking to anyone who knows what it feels, feels like to walk through a season where you're depleted, where you're worn down, where you're worn out,

[Congregant/Participant]

but your responsibility is so great and so significant you can't even afford to acknowledge your depletion. So since you don't have the luxury of being depleted, you have to learn how to function in the midst of depletion. Because everybody is using you as an asset and therefore you have become a liability to yourself. I'm helping everybody but who is helping me?

[Lead Pastor]

So the enemy doesn't just weaponize demons, the enemy weaponizes depletion. And depletion is an inevitable reality for every human. It means that no matter how prudent you are and how prayerful you are and how perceptive you are, you will step into seasons that place a disproportionate demand on your supply of spiritual and emotional energy. And the next thing you know, Watch this. The next thing you know, you will find yourself in a season and in a situation, watch this. Where you won, but you still worn down. Am I talking to anybody that knows what it feels like to say I won, but it wore me down? I bounced back but it wore me down Pastor. I got the degree but it wore me down and I recovered from the breakup but it wore me down and I built back what they stole from me but it wore me down and

[Congregant/Participant]

I bounced back from my own missteps

[Lead Pastor]

but it wore me down Winning, but I'm Warned.

[Congregant/Participant]

Am I talking to anybody?

[Lead Pastor]

And so that you don't feel like this is an expression of weakness, or you don't feel like this is unique or germane to just you, I want you to take a walk with me to the Gospel of Matthew because there is another individual that is presented to us in Matthew 4 who knows what it feels like to win and be worn down. Yeah. If you'll go with me to the

[Congregant/Participant]

Gospel of Matthew, you'll see Matthew offers

[Lead Pastor]

us some insight and some exposure into an experience that an individual had where he won, but he was wore down right here in the text. Matthew 4, verse number one says these words, this is the man. I'm talking about Jesus. Jesus. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It didn't say, then Jesus was led by the devil. It says, then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It didn't say the devil was leading, the spirit was leading. And Jesus wasn't led to the devil,

[Congregant/Participant]

he was led to the wilderness. Cuz that's where the devil likes to meet you at. Did you hear what I just said? I said the devil likes to meet

[Lead Pastor]

you in the wilderness. Pastor. What do you mean he likes to meet me in the wilderness? Well, the wilderness in the Old and in the New Testament is a metaphor for certain types of seasons we go through in our lives. That's what the wilderness can represent.

[Congregant/Participant]

Am I making sense? Yeah. You see, you'll see the wilderness showing

[Lead Pastor]

up in the Old Testament with Israel

[Congregant/Participant]

coming out of Egypt, and you see

[Lead Pastor]

the wilderness showing up here in the

[Congregant/Participant]

New Testament with Jesus.

[Lead Pastor]

And the wilderness is a metaphor for certain kinds of seasons we may go through in our life. So a wilderness season can be what's called a transition season. Because in the Old Testament, when Israel came out of Egypt, out of Egypt, they didn't immediately go into Canaan. They went into what was called the wilderness. So the wilderness represents this transitional space where you're not where you were, but

[Congregant/Participant]

you're not where you're going.

[Lead Pastor]

Come on.

[Congregant/Participant]

Things are not as bad as they

[Lead Pastor]

used to be, but they're not as good as they're going to be. You know you're not going back there,

[Congregant/Participant]

But you're still trying to figure out

[Lead Pastor]

what here looks like.

[Congregant/Participant]

It's a season of conflicting emotions.

[Lead Pastor]

Watch this.

[Congregant/Participant]

Where you are cautious and optimistic at the same time.

[Lead Pastor]

I'm far enough out of Egypt to

[Congregant/Participant]

Be glad I'm out. But I'm close enough to it to still remember what it felt like. Am I talking to anybody that knows what it's like to be in transition?

[Lead Pastor]

It's when God disrupts what's familiar but

[Congregant/Participant]

doesn't fully disclose the future. So it's like God. I'm excited and I'm also anxious. I'm glad that you showed me something, but I'm waiting on you to show me a little bit more.

[Lead Pastor]

Season of transition Spirit will lead us into seasons of transition. To be tested by the devil. You missed it. The spirit leads into wilderness. And God and Satan want to use the wilderness two different ways. You determine who get to use it. But it's Pentecostal Sunday, so I'm gonna

[Congregant/Participant]

take about 13 seconds for my Pentecostal members to say this with some Pentecostal authority. He can't have it. You think I'm gonna go through all of this and let the devil get what he wants out of this? You think I'm gonna do all of this crying and let Satan have his way? I'm gonna get something out of this. He can't have it. He can't have it. He can't have it. I'm not doing all of this crying for nothing. He can't have it. I'm not doing all of this praying for nothing. He can't. Not fighting all of these negative emotions for nothing. It can't happen. Can't have it. Can't have it. I don't know all the answers. I don't know what's happening tomorrow. I just know I'm not going back to yesterday.

[Lead Pastor]

That's.

[Congregant/Participant]

That's all I know.

[Lead Pastor]

He can't have it. Cuz the enemy wants to use cynicism, wants to use transition to create cynicism. God wants to use transition to create trust. And trust is what is what you need when God refuses to give you an explanation. When you have an explanation. You don't need trust. Trust is what you need when you got to trust. A reason that God refuses to give you. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It represents time of separation. It also represents a time of preparation. Preparation. Somebody say preparation. When we look at this in the Old Testament, we will see that when Israel gets in the wilderness, there are books of the Bible like Deuteronomy which is written to them. It is the retelling of the law to a generation in the wilderness in preparation for the promised land. So this is when. This is what's interesting about this. In the Old Testament, God is having conversations with them. And I need my Pentecostal members. Don't y' all tear this carpet up when I make this point.

[Congregant/Participant]

You can't. You can't guarantee that. Okay.

[Lead Pastor]

All right. It is when God starts having conversations that don't match your location.

[Congregant/Participant]

You Remember in Deuteronomy 8 when he

[Lead Pastor]

says, when you get wells, you didn't

[Congregant/Participant]

dig vineyards, you didn't plant houses, you didn't build. You shall remember the Lord your God. That's in Deuteronomy.

[Lead Pastor]

He's talking to them about that when they. In the wilderness, they don't have wells, they don't have vineyards, there are no houses.

[Congregant/Participant]

But he's talking to them about how

[Lead Pastor]

to handle what they don't even have

[Congregant/Participant]

yet before they get it, so that when they get it, they don't lose him. And some of you may be confused

[Lead Pastor]

because you feel like God's either having

[Congregant/Participant]

conversations or giving you aspirations that don't match your location. And you like God. How do I have the audacity to want this? And I can't even do that. Why am I dreaming about this when I need to be fixing that? That's because God will have Deuteronomy like conversations with you because he knows he can only get you to the next level, mind first. So he will get your mind there, and then he'll take your life there. And I need all my members now to say I'm on my way. Yeah. Cause God's been having some conversations with me and he's been giving me some aspirations that don't even make sense. I am too cautious to be dreaming this big. And I am too calculated to be thinking this illogical. God must be putting something in my heart because he wants to put it in my hands.

[Lead Pastor]

It's a season of preparation. And the devil wants to meet you in that season of preparation. Because preparation requires delay. It requires delay. Preparation requires delay. It is you good enough here, but you're not developed enough there. So I'm a delay. Even though you better at this than somebody who already there. But they got the grapes and they lost God, and I'm not going to

[Congregant/Participant]

let you do that. So even though I've gifted you in ways that I did not gift you them, I'm putting you on a timetable. I didn't put them on because there's a certain degree of accountability and stewardship I'm expecting from you. So I'm going to make sure that you don't get the grapes and lose to God. So we're going to slow walk. This.

[Lead Pastor]

This desert is for your development. And you don't see what needs to be developed yet. So I need to let you sit in the season long enough to show you, Moses, you still not through with your anger issues.

[Congregant/Participant]

I gotta let you stay here long

[Lead Pastor]

enough to it unearth some stuff in you. And then when you see what it unearths, you'll understand why I say, wait, are we okay? And the spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. God wants to use the transition to develop you. The devil wants to use it to destroy you. God wants to use the time of preparation to develop you. The devil wants to use it to destroy you. But the wilderness season can also represent a season of separation. Because in the Old Testament, everybody that went out of Egypt into the wilderness did not go into Canaan. There was separation. And the separation isn't always about evil. The separation sometimes is about appetite. Because the tension many of them were dealing with is that some people that came out of Egypt. Watch this. Were so glad to be out of Egypt that they were not willing to pay the price to go to Canaan. So it's not just about whether or not they're evil. It's about whether or not they have an appetite to keep progressing when your destiny requires you to do so.

[Congregant/Participant]

Y' all got a minute?

[Lead Pastor]

So if you, If. If you. If you read this narrative in the Old Testament, what you'll see is you'll see Moses having this unique conversation with God. When God informs Moses, he says, listen, I made these people. I have assessed these people's appetite accurately. You're trying to force them to go where they don't want to go. They want to be with you, but they don't want to go where I'm taking you. And they don't know the difference.

[Congregant/Participant]

So they think they want to go

[Lead Pastor]

where I'm taking you, when actually they just want to be with you because you're better than Pharaoh.

[Congregant/Participant]

And if they knew you like I

[Lead Pastor]

know you, they would actually want to be with me.

[Congregant/Participant]

Am I making sense?

[Lead Pastor]

But they. They. They've developed this degree of.

[Congregant/Participant]

And I'm gonna show you this in a minute.

[Lead Pastor]

They developed this degree of codependence on you because you're the safest thing they felt since Pharaoh. I got Baba. You do not. How many of you have heard of the Golden Calf? Do you guys know why they create that Golden Calf? I'm going to show you why. I'm going to show you why they created the golden calf. I got Bible. Watch this. In Exodus, chapter 32, look at verse one. It says, when the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him. So Moses is on the mountain communing with God, but because he's been gone longer than what makes them comfortable, Because the only thing they've experienced is abusive leadership, their trauma now,

[Congregant/Participant]

because the only

[Lead Pastor]

leader they know is Pharaoh. So watch this. So are y' all okay?

[Congregant/Participant]

So the experiences they've had with authority

[Lead Pastor]

is exploitive and abusive. So now that becomes the lens through which they see another leader's actions. So now he's actually gone so he

[Congregant/Participant]

can come back to them and give

[Lead Pastor]

them something that they need. So he's gone to be an asset for them. But because they're interpreting his actions through the lens of exploited and abused individuals,

[Congregant/Participant]

they interpret his absence as abandonment. Are y' all hearing what I'm saying?

[Lead Pastor]

They're waiting because they've only been done wrong by Pharaoh. They can't wrap their head around somebody who actually loves them, who isn't going to use them. Are y' all okay? So they create this calf because they had unconsciously become codependent on Moses. And Moses is not God. Say, let us create something that's going to comfort us, because I feel like you're abandoning us. So what they really wanted was Moses, not Canaan. All right, y'. All. Okay. So sometimes God leads into the wilderness because he's got to orchestrate a separation. Not because there's evil, but because there's appetite. Because God told Moses, I got to raise up another generation that actually has an appetite. And Moses prays this prayer and asked God not to do so. And historically, when this is taught, we preach and teach, I think, appropriately, how God honored Moses, intercession. But if you stop there, you miss the richness of the narrative. Because after God said, okay, Moses, you said, you asked me to intervene and not to remove this generation, so I won't. But here's what I want you to see. They still not going. So here's the way I'm honoring your request. I'm delaying the inevitable. They don't want it. And you think if they had more time, they would want it. And you think if they had more exposure, they would want it. And if you think that if they had more teaching, they would want it.

[Congregant/Participant]

They don't Want it.

[Lead Pastor]

And so here's what happens. Moses doesn't allow God to orchestrate the separation. And because he didn't allow God to orchestrate the separation, it led to the accumulation of agitation. So when God tells Moses to speak to the rock, he doesn't speak to it. He strikes it twice. And God's like, now. That's why I tried to separate y'. All. Because now your impulsive actions has undermined your influence and credibility. You did not ma. You did not manage and model healthy leadership the way you need to in order to steward your influence with them. So now the same people that you missed it for are people who aren't going. And now you gonna miss it too. And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Because the wilderness also represents a season of temptation. It's when my anxiousness with the unfamiliar prompts me to engage in activity that is unwise, unhealthy, unbiblical, but makes me feel comfortable. And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. I took you through this Old Testament parallel because Israel in the Old Testament failed every test. They didn't manage to transition well. They didn't manage preparation well, they didn't manage separation well, and they didn't manage temptation well. Am I right about it? Jesus now goes into the wilderness 40 days. He passed every test. He managed transition well. Preparation.

[Congregant/Participant]

Are y' all following me?

[Lead Pastor]

Okay. And in verse 11, the text says something. It says, and the devil left him, and angels came and attended to him. I said all that to get us here. And I'm getting ready to pray. Why would angels need to come and attend to him when the devil left, Israel failed every test in the wilderness. He passed every test in the wilderness. Why does he need angels to come

[Congregant/Participant]

and attend to him when he won?

[Lead Pastor]

Because even when you win, winning will wear you down.

[Congregant/Participant]

And am I talking to anybody that has been through a season of transition lately? Am I talking to anybody that's been through a season of preparation lately? Am I talking to anybody that's been through a season of separation late lately? Am I talking to anybody that's been through a season of temptation lately? Even when you win, it'll wear you down.

[Lead Pastor]

Pastor, I won. But if you push me in the corner and ask me to be honest, I'm warned. Jesus was physically depleted, fasted 40 days, he's emotionally exhausted. He's spiritually battle worn, constantly resisting temptation. And the angels came. Minister to him. Watch this. Because chapter four, not the end of the story. Watch this. He hadn't even done public ministry yet. So the restoration isn't just for his formation. It's for his function. It's for his assignment. What if I told you the wilderness isn't even the work? It's what gets you ready for the work. You just in chapter four, you just.

[Congregant/Participant]

In chapter four,

[Lead Pastor]

somebody said, Lord. All right, So if Jesus had to be attended to because he was spiritually battle worn and emotionally depleted and physically depleted if he needed to be tended to, How are you carrying everything? You're carrying? And you don't have a 411 strategy? Here it is. I'm done here. I just want to pray. Here's what I saw. What Jesus needed is what we need because we're regularly going through seasons of transition, of preparation, separation, and temptation. But what the angels did for him, the Holy Spirit does for us. Am I making sense? So. So what I am pushing us toward is expanding our understanding of the contributions that the Holy Spirit actually wants to make to his people. Because very often the contribution of the Holy Spirit is limited to. Titus 1:5 talks about rebirth, and that is not incorrect. He does empower us to be. He does regenerate us.

[Congregant/Participant]

He does make us new creatures.

[Lead Pastor]

But Titus not only talks about the rebirth in terms of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Titus also talks about the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. He says the Holy Spirit not only orchestrates rebirth, he orchestrates renewal. That when I'm running on empty, which I will, because there will be seasons. That place disproportionate demands on me emotionally and spiritually and physically.

[Congregant/Participant]

Period.

[Lead Pastor]

Life is not linear. There is no equal distribution of pressure throughout the year.

[Congregant/Participant]

You might have three months and everything's going amazing, and then you'll have six months, and the whole body's like, wait a minute. This is six and three, not three and three.

[Lead Pastor]

And the Holy Spirit is like a tag team wrestler standing outside the corner watching life beat us up, saying, I wish you just. I wish you just tagged me in because I have a renewing ministry. I refill. I refuel you with what you need. When the disproportionate demands of life SAP the spiritual and the emotional energy and strength that you need to be who I'm calling you to be and do what I'm calling you to do. Because your assignment and your evolution requires energy. I'm gonna see if I can get some real people here. I am not at my best character wise. When I don't have. So you just. You just full of kindness when you're tired. Depletion is a revel, one of the revelations of your human limitations, and it is intended to create a degree of dependence on an inexhaustible source and supply found in God and not in you. He says, yes, you're going to get to the end of your rope

[Congregant/Participant]

so

[Lead Pastor]

that you know the end in the end. Yes, it's going to feel like you can't carry no more. You can't.

[Congregant/Participant]

Yes, it's going to feel like you can't do anymore. You can't.

[Lead Pastor]

But I can. And I will renew you and I will refill you, and I will replenish you, and I will dispense unto you the spiritual virtue that you need to carry you until the time of your next refill. And today, on this Pentecost Sunday, I didn't want to or I didn't feel led to just talk to us about how the Spirit will distribute gifts to us, how the Spirit will empower us. I wanted to reintroduce us to the renewing ministry of the Holy Spirit, who, when you feel depleted and done talking about done with a capital D, O, N, E. Three exclamation points.

[Congregant/Participant]

Anybody ever been done? If you don't think you are, you're deceived.

[Lead Pastor]

Because even some of the most influential

[Congregant/Participant]

biblical characters, like Jeremiah, said, I'm done. Is that what he says?

[Lead Pastor]

I'm done. But his word was within me like a burning fire, shut up in my bones. And he says, I grew weary of holding it back. He's a renewer. I said, he's a renewer. I said, he's a renewer. And some of you, you're carrying, you're in a season where they're disproportionate demands. Let's not act like this is not a lot. This is a lot. And so you expect to carry all

[Congregant/Participant]

of this as a human, As a human

[Lead Pastor]

without help. And he's like, I'm outside the ring. I just need you to. To tag me in. This requires you acknowledging you, acknowledging I've been over relying on my own strength. The things that people been bragging to me about, about me has actually become. Watch this.

[Congregant/Participant]

A liability to me because I've started believing what they've been affirming when some of the stuff they've been affirming is

[Lead Pastor]

something God wanted me to adjust.

[Congregant/Participant]

They've been talking about how much I carry, and I assume I'm supposed to carry this. And God's like, I told you to

[Lead Pastor]

catch people saying, you so strong. And. And God's like I never intended for you to be. I told you, be strong in the Lord

[Congregant/Participant]

and in the power of his might.

[Lead Pastor]

Tell you to put all of that on you. And the Holy Spirit wants to renew this a lot. Some of you, in a season, you trying to make life decisions this a lot. And you're depleted. And it's got you showing up in ways you're going to regret. Oh, gosh, I wish I had to. You're gonna look back on this season. There's a day coming you're gonna wish you managed this time differently. I know we don't talk like this in church anymore, but there's a day coming where you're gonna wish you squeezed everything out of these moments that you could. You can't keep trying to do this by yourself. Jesus spent three years discipling and teaching his mentees. Three years and three years. After three years with him, he said, still, don't you do a thing until you get power from on high. Because you're going to have three years worth of notes that you will not be able to put into practice. Because I'm giving you my person to redeem you. I'm giving you my principles to give you revelation. But you're going to need the comforter, the paraclete. You're going to need the Holy Spirit to actually put into practice what I am sharing with you. You need him, and so he saved you. He's filled you. But are you allowing him to regularly renew you? Lord, I acknowledge I'm not God. I'm tired of being the strong friend. And I ask regularly for you to renew me. What if your daily bread see some of you, you're not in a season where your daily bread is broken bread. You have food. So what is your daily bread is what you lack in the season you're in. So for some of you, you're in a season where your daily bread is, Lord, I need strength. Everybody, I'm done. Acknowledge, ask and accept. I really need to do a series on spiritual warfare without talking about any demon casting out. Because that's not. That's not 99% of people's problems. And I know some of us in Pentecostal Circus, like everything's a demon. No, some of this is wounds that God, that in the enemy has orchestrated in a season of your life. And those wounds, watch this. Those wounds have shown up not in the form of pain, but they've shown up in the form of personality traits. And you've carried those personality traits so long, you've now attached them to your identity. And you don't even know. His work is embedded in a personality he's created for you that you've accepted as your own so he don't have to keep whooping you. You whoop yourself. And so some of us have dealt with such little support and such little help. Not only do you know how to receive, not only do you struggle to receive it from humans, you don't know how to receive it from God. So a childlike helpless dependency is something you can't even relate to because sociologically, in your background, you never had a chance to be one. So when the Bible says enter the kingdom like a child, you can't relate because you didn't get to be one. But for some of you who raised children, you know, You know what it means to watch somebody want to do something for themselves and can't. And you're longing to help them. The Holy Spirit is longing to help you. So on this Pentecost Sunday, I'mma pray. No dancing today. We walking different cuz some of you are tired. And you're not tired with the kind of fatigue that a nap can fix. You need the renewing ministry of the Holy Spirit. Look at Pastor. You did it. You won. You survived, you recovered, you built it, you did good, but it's wearing on you. You won, but you warn. But he's got to renew you because you're still just in chapter four. It's work to do. He was a. You won't make sweeping statements like you need to stop being so hyper independent. She had to raise her mom. I said it right. Why are you so independent? She raised her mom. Her mom didn't raise her. She had to be the adult when she was a child. If she wasn't independent, she wouldn't survive. Now you've got to give the Holy Spirit time to re parent her. And to show her how to actually be a daughter of God. Because she didn't get to be a daughter of her mama. Let me stop. Y' all ready to go? Father, I lift up your people. Exhaustion, depletion, disappointment, discouragement, fatigue. You said if we wait on you, you would renew our strength. So Holy Spirit, would you do that? Would you do for us what the angels did for Jesus? I lift every person up to you now. I do this in Jesus name. Strength for today, strength for tomorrow. Strength for the days and the weeks to come. Strength to endure the sickness. Strength to care for the parent. Strength to build the thing you've called them to build. Strength to repair what's broken. Strength to make the change. Strength to resist and fight the temptation. Holy Spirit, renew and restore. Do it today, do it tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen. See you next week.