Studio RC - Spirit-Led #8 - Experience the Holy Spirt (Part #1) - Max IngramStudio RC - Spirit-Led #8 - Experience the Holy Spirt (Part #1) - Max Ingram
Studio RC
Pastor Max Ingram talks about experiencing the Holy Spirit as real power for recovery, using the story of Pentecost to show God’s presence with ordinary people. The episode encourages making room for the Spirit through staying, waiting and listening, rather than chasing dramatic spiritual experiences.
19:20•18 Aug 2026
Spirit-Led Sobriety: Making Room for the Holy Spirit
Episode Overview
- Recovery is portrayed as requiring more than willpower, meetings and knowledge; a greater spiritual power is needed.
- People are encouraged to stop trying to manufacture spiritual experiences and instead become available to the Holy Spirit.
- Acts 2 is used to show how God’s presence rests on each person, not just religious leaders or the most spiritual.
- Max stresses that constant distraction can block awareness of the Spirit, urging stay, wait and listen as core practices.
- Spiritual growth is framed as daily surrender rather than chasing dramatic or emotional moments.
“You can't experience the Spirit if you're never spiritually present.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This Studio RC episode sits right at that intersection of recovery and faith, asking a big question: "How do I experience the Holy Spirit?" Pastor Max Ingram, who openly introduces himself with, "My name is Max and I am an alcoholic," talks honestly about why willpower, meetings and knowledge alone eventually hit a ceiling.
The focus here is the idea that recovery was never meant to run purely on human strength. Max explains that "we don't manufacture an experience of the Holy Spirit. We make ourselves available to the Spirit who's already at work." Instead of chasing dramatic spiritual moments, he urges people in recovery to slow down and become spiritually present: stay, wait, listen.
Using Acts 2 and the story of Pentecost, Max walks through the dramatic imagery of wind and fire, carefully noting that Luke says "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind" and "what seemed to be tongues of fire". The emphasis isn’t on spectacle, but on the deeply personal shift that happens when "a tongue, as of fire, came to rest on each of them".
That word "each" matters: God’s presence is portrayed as resting on ordinary people, not just religious superstars. For anyone juggling meetings, chaos, phones and constant noise, Max’s challenge hits close to home: "You can't experience the Spirit if you're never spiritually present." He connects this to recovery, suggesting that without the Spirit, "recovery becomes behaviour management" and faith turns into sheer moral effort.
The tone is warm, practical and grounded in Scripture, aimed at people in recovery who are curious about how their spiritual life might bring real power to their sobriety. It’s part one of a two-part conversation, ending with a simple invitation: don’t chase the fire, make room for the Spirit. Could becoming just a bit more present be the next step in your recovery journey?
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