Keep On Dancing

Keep on Dancing

Ephesians 5:17-18

17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Interject this about worldly dancing and Holy Ghost dancing. David said… 2 Sam 6:21 It was before the Lord!

Difference

Mt 14:6 But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

Tonight: Keep on Dancing

Paul has been talking about how we should walk in an evil world, so that the way we relate to those of the world would not be in such a way as to participate with them in darkness, but rather to let the Light of Christ manifest itself to them through us.

The ultimate purpose, of course, not being to bring condemnation on them, but in hopes that some will repent and believe the good news.

Now, he turns his attention to the church and begins to instruct us as to how we ought to be relating to one another as Christians, and he will tell us what condition must exist in order for us to do that.

1. First off, we must make

A DISTINCTION

Looking back first at the Old Testament, we know that the Spirit of God came upon some Old Testament characters for the accomplishment of a purpose. In those cases it was a temporary filling, and it was for the specific task at hand.

There are many examples in the Old Testament of the Spirit coming upon men or women in this way; for prophesying, for accomplishing tasks and so forth.

This is not what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5

After the day of Pentecost, when the Comforter had come and all believers were Baptized with the Holy Ghost we see them ministering to people, and there is visible evidence of those people receiving the Holy Spirit.

Just as HE made a difference in the believer’s life back then, HE still makes a difference today!

John 14:16-17

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Notice what I emphasized? HE The Holy Spirit is the 3rd PERSON of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit is not just an influence. So many seem to talk about being filled with the Spirit as if the Holy Spirit were some kind of liquid. They talk about having an ‘empty vessel’, an empty jug, and having the Spirit poured in. That is entirely wrong because it forgets that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is not a substance, not a liquid, and not a power like electricity.

We all tend to fall into this error. We even tend to refer to the Holy Spirit as ‘it’, forgetting that the Holy Spirit is the third Person in the blessed Holy Trinity.”

So with that in mind, that puts a new meaning into “Be Filled with the Spirit”

You remember Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

You know why he could go through that terrible stoning? Because he had the Holy Spirit within him.

NOTICE THIS: Acts 2:4 that we Pentecostals are so familiar with….

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Holy Ghost in Acts 2:4 and Spirit in Eph. 5:18 are from the same Greek word, pneuma

the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son

Therefore… being filled with the Spirit is more than just having a force within us, or an INFLUENCE.

It is having the HOLY SPIRIT living in and abiding in us.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

When Paul said “Be filled with the Spirit” he was saying… you must be holy in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit…

BECAUSE… 1 Corinthians 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.

But here is the thrust of my message tonight:

1. IN ACTS… the believers are to wait until they are endued with power from on high.