1. Too Complicated
Several years back, when having a computer was a fairly new experience for most people... a lot of folks got flustered over little things:
* One customer called in to customer service department to complain that he kept getting an "Access Denied" message every time he tried to get into a certain area of his computer. It turned out he was typing his password in all capital letters. So, the Technical Support man said: "OK, let's try once more, but use lower case letters." After a pause, the customer replied: "But, I only have capital letters on my keyboard."
* Another time, a technician with Compaq computers received a call from a man complaining that his computer wouldn't read the files from his old diskettes(show picture of diskette). After trouble-shooting for things like exposure to magnets and heat failure to diagnose the problem, it was found that the customer labeled the diskettes then rolled them into a typewriter to type information on the labels. Diskettes don't like to be rolled into anything.
* Then there was the customer who called Dell Computers to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen (show picture of monitor) and hitting the "send" key.
Whenever we're exposed to something new in our lives -- like computers - we often find ourselves being overwhelmed and intimidated. We may think that - whatever it is -- it's just too complicated for us to do... so we just don't do it.
2. The Holy Spirit falls into that category -- He is mysterious; complex; easy to overlook but part of our experience as believers in Jesus
3. In fact, the HS is so important to us that He is given as a gift to each believer -- Acts 2.38
a. Pentecost is a harvest celebration and a reminder of Sinai
b. Acts 2 marks a change of address for God -- from the ornate, beautiful temple to fragile clay vessels.
I. We Have a Choice of Filling
A fisherman returned to shore with a giant marlin that was bigger and heavier than he was. On the way to the cleaning shed, he ran into a second fisherman who had a stringer with a dozen baby fish. The second fisherman looked at the marlin, turned to the first fisherman and said, "Only caught one, eh?"
Some people love fishing. Some love it so much that they fish year round if they can. I know a guy back in Missouri who lives near the Lake of the Ozarks in central MO. Every January 1st he goes fishing at that lake even if he has to break ice to put his boat in the lake. If it's not fishing, it could be any number of things.
Most people are filled with something in life: some desires, some strong interests or hobbies, etc. Nearly everyone loves something and with some, it may not be good.
A. We Can Be Filled with Wickedness -- Romans 1.28-32
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Jerry Sandusky, assistant coach at Penn State, received Assistant Coach of the Year awards in 1986 and 1999. On November 2011, he was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period.
B. We Can Be Filled with Complacency -- Joshua 24.15
C. We Can Be Filled with the Spirit of God -- Ephesians 5.15-21
1. HS comes to us in our new birth -- Acts 2.38 (Jesus' baptism/Adam and breath of life)
2. HS fills us daily
a. By prayer -- Luke 11.13
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
b. Through Study
Word and Spirit
The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. 2 Samuel 23:2
There are some things that always go together: a person and her shadow, two sides of a coin, the blades of scissors--and the Spirit of God and the Word of God. It is the Word of God that establishes God's will in the earth, and it is the Spirit of God that enables, illumines, and empowers that Word.
For instance, when God spoke the world into existence, the Spirit was there (Genesis 1:2b). When early Christians were "filled with the Holy Spirit . . . they spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31). Words of wisdom and knowledge are given in the Church "through the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:8). And the "sword of the Spirit" is "the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). When the Bible exhorts Christians to "be transformed by the renewing of [their] mind," it means learning to think God's way instead of the world's way. It means to replace lies with truth. We do that by reading God's Word, which means the Spirit is the means of the transformation. It is the Spirit that gives understanding that leads to changed lives.
Don't neglect the daily reading and study of God's Word; don't fail to be filled with the Spirit. A day missed is transformation delayed.
The end for which God instructs the mind is that He might transform the life. Al Martin
c. With Power -- Romans 1.16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
Peter V. Deison, in his book The Priority of Knowing God, tells about Ramad, a man from India who was a member of a gang of robbers. On one occasion, while burglarizing a house Ramad noticed a small black book containing very thin pages... just right for making cigarettes. So he took it.
Each evening he tore out a page, rolled it around some tobacco and had a smoke. Noticing that the words on the pages were in his language, he began to read them before rolling his cigarettes.
One evening after reading a page, he was convicted of his own sinfulness and his need for God. And he became a Christian because of what he had read.
Then Ramad turned himself in to the police. And, while in the prison, he led many others to the Savior. The Word of God became to Ramad "the power of God to salvation.
II. We Have Consequences to the HS' Filling
A. We Develop Boldness
1. NOT Arrogance or Rudeness
2. Bold proclamation of the gospel -- Acts 4.31
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
a. Sequence: Prayer-Filling of HS-Proclamation
b. Generally we fear speaking for God (Moses)
A survey was given to those attending training sessions for the Billy Graham crusade in Detroit. One question asked, "What is your greatest hindrance to witnessing?"
- 9 percent said they were too busy to remember to do it.
- 28 percent felt the lack of real information to share.
- 12 percent said their own lives were not speaking as they should. (they weren't living right) But by far the largest group was the 51 percent whose biggest problem was the fear of how the other person would react! None of us likes to be rejected, ridiculed, or regarded as an oddball. Fear is what keeps us from doing many things in life but it doesn't have to be that way.
c. Remember -- 2 Timothy 1.7-8
7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Basically, if God has changed your life... then you're going to want Him to change the lives of others you care for. The only way that is going to happen is if you bring people to the Healer who healed your soul.
A missionary physician in one of China's hospitals cured a man of cataracts. A few weeks later, 48 blind men came to him from one of China's far corners, each holding a rope held in the hand of the man who had been cured. He had led them in this way, walking in a chain 250 miles to the hospital, that they too might be healed.
B. We Display Joy
1. We are often attracted to an activity based on the reactions of others -- if they seem happy, we want to try it -- surfing; Golf
2. Our actions tell someone something
[The great 19th century British preacher, Charles Spurgeon once instructed a group of preaching students about how to speak on heaven and hell. He said that when they spoke of heaven they should smile and have a loving look on their faces. When they spoke on hell, their ordinary faces would do.
3. Filling of the HS -- Acts 13.52
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
C. We Demonstrate God's Ownership (Isaiah 1.3 -- Ox knows owner; donkey its master's crib)
1. HS sets us apart for God -- Romans 8.9; 1 John 4.13
2. HS is the seal of God's approval and down payment for eternity-- Ephesians 1.13-14
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Sealed: Permanent, Protected, Approved
Some people today still use a wax seal on personal correspondence. Red sealing wax is dripped onto the flap of an envelope and a seal is pressed into the wax, imprinting the author's initial or other personal symbol. An unbroken seal on a letter is a sign of permanence and protection of the contents.
Such a seal is visible and physical-- But every Christian has been given a seal that is invisible--a seal that is God's mark of permanence and protection for eternity: the seal of the Holy Spirit. In addition to permanence and protection, the seal (gift, presence) of the Holy Spirit affirms God's approval. Just as the Holy Spirit descended upon Cornelius's household to approve Peter's message to them (Acts 10:44-47), so the Spirit of God says to the Christian, "You are approved and beloved of God" (see 1 Thessalonians 2:4). If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit forever.
D. We Deny the Evil Inclination -- Romans 8.13
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
E. We Declare Ourselves to be the Temple of God -- 1 Corinthians 6.19
1. Holy Spirit Breath of Fresh Air
Environmental engineers call China one of the most smog-polluted nations on earth, with only 3 of its 74 largest cities meeting air quality standards. In Beijing, for example, the smog is so heavy that residents sometimes can't see the end of the block. Now the government is teaming up with innovators to bottle air from the distant Laojun Mountains and transport it to urban areas. Residents can now stop at breathing stations, don an air mask, and breathe the atmosphere of another land. China's president, Xi Jinping, has endorsed the idea, saying, "Air quality is now a deciding factor in people's perception of happiness."
In the Bible, the same Greek word is translated wind, breath, spirit, and Spirit--as in Holy Spirit. In a sense, the Holy Spirit is God's oxygen in the lungs of our soul. The atmosphere of our culture is toxic; but when we're filled with the Spirit, it's like getting an oxygen transfusion. It clears our thoughts, refreshes our hearts, and keeps us healthy.
The Spirit of God is the breath of God. In order to live spiritually, we need His breath--the Holy Spirit.
2. Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do. Hymnist Edwin Hatch
