Filled With The Spirit Series

Filled with the Spirit

I love the story Tony Evans tells

about a man who went to buy a refrigerator

he bought the most incredible refrigerator you could imagine

it had all the bells and whistles, and then some,

it’s the top of the line.

The store delivers the new refrigerator to the man’s home

he fills it with all his food,

and he’s so excited to have this great new refrigerator.

The next morning he goes into the kitchen to make breakfast,

only to find that

the milk is spoiled,

the ice cream is running out of the bottom of the freezer compartment,

and the vegetables are changing color.

The refrigerator is not working.

So the man calls the store to give them a piece of mind.

The man at the store says,

"I don’t understand what's wrong.

Open the door and see if the light comes on"

He opens the door;

No light.

"Put your ear up close to the refrigerator and see if you can hear the hum of the motor"

No hum.

Then the man says,

"There’s a cord at the back of your refrigerator.

Check and see if it’s plugged in".

The man looks, and sure enough, it’s not plugged in,

so he comes back to the phone

and tells the guy, no its not plugged in.

The man at the store says,

Well, sir, in order for your refrigerator to work,

you have to plug it it.

The man got highly upset, and said,

That’s ridiculous.

For the kind of money I paid for this refrigerator,

that shouldn’t matter.

This thing should work anyway"

Now all of us would say,

well of course you’ve got to plug the thing in.

That’s obvious.

You see, refrigerators are dependent things

and no matter how much you pay for it,

even though it has all the parts needed to run,

it won’t run, without an invisible power source

called electricity.

Unless you plug in that cord,

the food is gonna spoil.

Our spiritual lives will not run

without being plugged in,

to the Holy Spirit’s power.

When we start to follow Christ,,

God gives us everything we need

to run our spiritual lives,

but we have to plug into the power of the Holy Spirit

or we won’t have become what we want to be,

and what God wants us to be.

We’l be like that dead refrigerator,

that makes everything spoil.

Last week we started our Supernatural Journey…

Today we’re looking at, the Holy Spirit,

And we’re going to talk about

why we should be filled with the Spirit,

how to be filled with the Spirit,

and finally, how will that help you, today,

to live your life at work or at home.

what's the practical benefit to you

of being filled with the spirit.

You've probably heard me talk about how

Christianity is not just a religion,

it’s a relationship.

We can have a personal relationship with God.

Well, what really makes our relationship with God personal is,

when we become a Christian

the Holy Spirit comes to live within us.

You can't get any more personal then that.

I think about my relationship with my wife, Kathy.

We have a personal relationship,

In fact, I usually kiss Kathy when I get home from work.

Now, sometimes when I arrive home,

I’m stressed out or distracted by other things,

so there’s not always a whole lot of passion in that kiss,

but its still appropriate for me to kiss her,

whether I feel a whole lot at the moment or not,

and its appropriate for her to kiss me,

whether she feels anything in that moment or not.

But in my relationship with Kathy,

if I hugged and kissed her,

but never felt anything at all,

would that be a problem?

If I got Kathy a Valentine Card, and wrote in it,

“Kathy, when I look into your beautiful blue eyes,

the only thing I am aware of

is a complete deadness in my feelings.

a lack of any emotion or passion,

My heart is icy cold.

But, I do logically and intellectually love you

based on the truth that you are my wife

and that's what I'm supposed to do.

So, will you be my Valentine,

even though I have no emotional feelings for you at all,

Would that make Kathy’s heart go pitter-patter

and make her thrilled to be married to me.

No, I don’t think so.

If that’s how I felt,

all of us would agree there was something

terribly wrong with our relationship?

Well, there’s something terribly wrong

with the relationship

that many Christians have with God.

Now, of course,

we don’t have to continually feel passionate

about our relationship with God,

it’s not based on feeling.

but if you never feel close and intimate with God,