The Saturn V rocket — the most powerful thing man has ever built — produces 7.5 million pounds of thrust, burns a swimming pool of fuel every second, and travels at 25 times the speed of sound. And Jesus says the power available to every single believer makes that look like a drop in a bucket.

In this message from our series "Fullness," Pastor Ron opens Ephesians 5:18–21 and unpacks one of the most important commands in all of Scripture: be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Not Drunk, but Filled: The polarizing comparison Paul draws between a drunk person and a Spirit-filled person is striking. The drunk stumbles; the Spirit-filled has stable footing. The drunk says foolish things; the Spirit-filled speaks truth. The drunk masks pain with false joy; the Spirit-filled has deep-down joy even in the middle of difficulty.

What It Means to Be Filled: The Greek word pleuro means to be saturated, controlled by, and moved along — like salt rubbed into meat, like wind filling a sail. It's not a one-time event or a special second dose. It's a moment-by-moment choice to stop crowding God out and let Him dominate everything. God cannot fill hands that are already full.

The Fruit of Being Filled — Inward, Upward, Outward: Inwardly, songs of praise flow naturally — melody in the heart to the Lord. Upwardly, there is genuine thanksgiving in everything because the Spirit-filled believer knows oops is not in God's vocabulary. Outwardly, there is mutual submission — which sets up everything Paul is about to say about marriage and family.