Filling Of The Holy Spirit Series

What Fills You Controls You

Hello, I’m pastor Greg of Calvary Reformed

Church and I’m here in one of the portage parks

Celery flats. It is a beautiful park; I chose this place with the fountain behind me because of the idea what we're going to look at today. Last week was Pentecost Sunday, the day in which the church celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit. Today and next week Sunday we're going to look at 10 or 11 different ideas of what the filling of the Holy Spirit actually looks like within our lives.

But before we get into it today, I’d like

to have a word of prayer, Father God as we come to You, we give You thanks for the fact that You gave Your Son who sent Your Spirit to and dwell within us for that we give you thanks Lord and we seek for the filling of the Spirit within our lives, so we can do that which you call us to do, in Your name we pray Amen.

Acts chapter 2 as we looked at last week

acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 detail the coming of the Holy Spirit and really today i want us to just look at one verse which is verse 4 of Acts 2. All of them the 120, were then filled with the Holy Spirit, they were filled they were filled up.”

We have behind us the fountain here at

celery flats, the fountain which goes all the time it fills up the pond. The idea of filling within our lives. The Greek word for filling is pimpalmi,p-i-m-p-l-e-m-i

which simply means to fill to make full--- to complete In the New Testament it's often used about Jesus as he talks about the wedding party being full--- the hall being full of people ---it talks about biblically about a sponge being full of water or a boat's being full of the disciples ---it describes the skins wine skins being filled with old or new wine ---so there's a literal aspect to it but there's also that figurative aspect to

it and that's the fact of being filled.

Acts 2 filled with the Holy Spirit ---and we need to realize this whole teaching is going to be about

whatever fills us controls us. So if you can remember anything out of today's teaching and next week's teaching it would be that whatever fills you controls you.

So what do we see the word filling means it means to wholly control or influence another person to wholly control or influence over another person. I find it amazing that we call alcohol ---sometimes stores will have outdoor sign saying wine and Spirits sold here ---why do they call them Spirits because

you drink too much it takes over your Spirit.

That which fills you controls you, we also got to realize that there's a time within our lives that other things can fill us --rage –hatred-- jealousy racism and today we're having within our society and pretty much ever since I’ve been alive I can remember the race riots back in the 60s and throughout all the years what's going on but for some people there is such hatred which fills them.

Such jealousy-- such animosity towards other people versus what the Holy Spirit calls us to

Have and versus what Jesus Christ --is that we

are called to have which is the filling to be controlled

by the Holy Spirit.

There's another idea of the filling within the Old Testament it comes from Habakkuk says that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God --it's the wonder and awe of God.

Friends the knowledge of God-- can you imagine today if all people understood that knowledge of God? If all people had that awe of God of Jesus Christ in their lives? We would truly know what it means to love God first and love our neighbors as ourselves--- if we truly knew that

awe that feeling of God's love within our lives.

Now there's something which i think is really interesting and that's the fact that

- in Bethlehem God was with us through Jesus as an infant

- at Calvary, at the cross God was for us saying i am for you i give my son for you

- we know at Pentecost, last week we celebrate Pentecost God …through the Holy Spirit comes to live within us.

And the apostle Paul says to us out of

Ephesians chapter five Ephesians chapter five, “do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery, instead be filled up… be wholly completely controlled by the Holy Spirit.”

i love the fact that if we kept reading in acts chapter 2 it would talk about the fact when the disciples went out and they started sharing when they started speaking in the tongues of the people