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,
and you never feel any passion for God,
that indicates a problem,
that isn’t really a relationship.
U.S. News & World Report
did a survey.
Those who call themselves Christians in the U.S. were asked,
"In general, how often would you say you have experienced God's presence or a spiritual force that felt very close to you?"
The results were:
Never: 10 percent
Once or twice: 17 percent
Several times: 23 percent
Many times: 49 percent
Now these were all people
who consider themselves Christians,
yet over half,
have little or no experience
of any closeness or intimacy with God,
in other words,
there’s not really a personal relationship there at all.
The reason behind that,
is that almost certainly,
those Christians have never plugged into
the power of the Holy Spirit.
And by the way, if those statistical results apply to this church,
that would tell you that possibly half of you sitting here today,
fall into that category.
Now John the Baptist predicted
that Jesus would send us the Holy Spirit.
Matt 3:11 John says,
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Well what does it mean, practically
to be baptized with the Holy Spirit?
or other places in the Bible it calls it being filled with the spirit,
same thing.
Baptism in water means to be immersed in water,
and Baptism with the Holy Spirit means
to be immersed,
or under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
or controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Next question:
How does that happen,
How are you baptized or filled with the Spirit?
How do you get plugged in to God’s power.
Different parts of the church today
spend a lot of time arguing
about the timing
of when someone gets plugged in.
Depending on what kind of church background you come from,
you may have heard one of two things.
If you’re from a Baptist/Methodist/Presbyterian/Church of Christ
or that type of background,
you were taught that
you get plugged into the power of the Holy Spirit at conversion,
and that there is no second experience, or filling,
after that point.
But if you’re from a Pentecostal or charismatic denomination,
you were taught that
you get plugged into the power source after conversion
through a second experience called
a baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit.
And of course both groups could line up their favorite Bible texts
to prove exactly when it is
that you get plugged into the power of the Spirit,
and they’ll fight and argue about it all day long.
You know the truth.
I don’t really care when somebody gets plugged in
to the power of the spirit,
just so long as they get plugged in.
To my Baptist friend who says,
“I received the power of the Spirit at my conversion,”
I’d say, that’s great.
but I would simply ask,
“Have you gotten all of the power of the Spirit
that you need for your life?”
and is the power of the Holy Spirit
readily apparent and visible in your life?
And to my Pentecostal friend who says,
I had a second experience,
when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit,
I’d say, that’s great…
But I’d ask them,
Are you still using that power,
is it still changing your life
so that you’re living a life of joy and peace and love,
or was it a one-time experience
that now has little impact on your life?
Let me use an example.
Say you’re homeless,
living in a shelter,
can’t afford to get your own apartment,
or a car,
no money at all,
you’re living in poverty,
but then one day your rich uncle dies
and leaves you a million bucks in a bank account,
and the bank sent you the check book for the account.
You are so excited, what a great gift.
A few weeks later one of your relatives stops by
to visit you and rejoice with you,
but he finds that you’re still living at the homeless shelter.
He says,
what in the world is wrong with you?
You’re a millionaire now,
and you’re still living in the shelter, still in poverty.
What is up with that?
You say,
well, I know that I’ve got all that money in the account,
but I never figured out how to write a check.
For those of you who’ve been filled with the spirit,
Have you been writing checks on your account,
Are you using the power
and gifts
and benefits of the Spirit,
or are you still living life in spiritual poverty?
Theoretically you know that
the money is there in your account.
But are you spending it?
Are you living in the power of the Holy Spirit?
Some of my Pentecostal friends can describe
exactly when they got baptized in the Holy Spirit
and for most of them
they’d say that includes the experience of speaking in tongues,
But getting plugged into the power of the Holy Spirit
is about a lot more than just
what Paul calls the least important gift.
So my question is,
does your life demonstrate
the power of the Holy Spirit in every area?
You see,
The timing of when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit
is not the key.
The issue is not,
“is this a first experience, a second experience,
or an 18th experience?”
Who cares about that?
The issue is,
are you living each day,
in the power of the Holy Spirit?”
is it working in your life
and blessing your life,
right now today and every day.
Now, there’s 2 misconceptions people have
about being filled with the Spirit.
The 1rst misconception is that,
if I'm a Christian, I'm already filled with the spirit.
That’s partially true.
If you're a Christian,
the Holy Spirit does live in you,
But that doesn't necessarily mean you're filled with the Spirit.
Eph 5:18-20
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Paul is telling Christians here,
don't get drunk,
but be filled with the Spirit.
Why does he have to tell these Christians,
to be filled with the Spirit?
Because they’re not.
There's a lot of Christians
who have the Holy Spirit living in them,
they’re believers,
but they don't allow the Holy Spirit
to fill them,
so that they're controlled,
and empowered,
and guided by the Holy Spirit.
So how are you filled with the Spirit?
The Bible says its very simple.
You ask God.
Luke 11:11-13 Jesus says
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Now if you look at the New Testament example,
you notice it was often a separate experience
from when they were saved.
but I don't believe it always is.
Some people can be completely filled with the Holy Spirit
when they're saved.
But the timing is not the critical question, because…
The 2nd misconception is that
Once you've been filled or baptized by the Holy Spirit,
you stay filled.
That’s not necessarily true either.
When I'm filled with the Spirit,
I'm controlled and influenced by the holy spirit
in all I do.
But I can take back control.
I can decide not to do
what the Holy Spirit wants.
So that means, after we've been filled,
then it becomes a process of
allowing the Spirit to remain in control of our lives,
and letting him continue to empower us.
In Acts chapter 2
on the day of Pentecost,
The bible tells us that
Peter and 120 other Christians,
were filled with the spirit.
That was the first time they were filled.
but then several other times, later on,
the bible says they were filled again.
One example:
Acts 4:31 (talking about Peter, John, and other disciples)
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
So Peter and the other disciples were filled again.
This happened a number of times
after the initial baptism on the day of Pentecost.
What this tells us is that,
being filled with the spirit
is not a “once for all time” thing.
There is a first experience
of being filled, or baptized,
but then continuous times of filling afterwards.
BILLY GRAHAM wrote a book called The Holy Spirit.
Let me read you what he says.
Anyone who is not filled with the spirit is a defective Christian. Paul’s command “Be filled with the Spirit” is binding on all of us Christians, everywhere, in every age. There are no exceptions.
…The command to be filled with the spirit, actually means to be continuously filled. We are not filled once for all, like a bucket. Instead we are to be filled constantly. It might be translated, Be filled, and keep on being filled.
Well then, how are we filled with the Spirit?
Obviously you have to ask,
But there’s more to it than that,
There’s some attitudes
that are important
to being filled with the spirit.
The first attitude that’s important,
to be filled with the Spirit
is TOTAL DEPENDENCE
Listen to what Charles Stanley writes:
"The Spirit-filled life begins
WHEN?
once we are absolutely and thoroughly convinced that we can do nothing apart from the strength of the Holy Spirit…
a realization that we are absolutely helpless and hopeless apart from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit…
So the First attitude is total dependence.
The Second attitude necessary,
to be filled with the Spirit
is TOTAL SURRENDER.
To be filled with the Spirit
really means that
we are controlled by the Spirit,
and in order to be controlled by the Spirit,
we have to surrender everything to him.
You just won’t be filled with the Spirit.
until you come to the place where
you’re willing to put
all of your life under His control.
Now, what does the Holy Spirit do for us?
He does many things in our lives,
but I want to focus on 3 of the most important things.
First,
The Holy Spirit Will Guide Me.
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
This guidance can look like a lot of things.
Sometimes the guidance involves
where to go and what to do.
We see this in Acts 16:6
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
So they’re travelling around,
and somebody says, hey lets go over to Asia,
but the Holy Spirit says,
No, that’s a bad idea,
you don’t want to go there right now.
So they keep travelling,
later they get to the border of Bithynia,
and the Holy Spirit says,
you don’t want to go there either,
something bad is gonna happen if you go there.
Sometimes the guidance is a specific action.
Acts 8:29
The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
Philip probably had no idea
why he was supposed to go stand by this chariot,
but he just did it.
Sometimes the guidance is wisdom
in how to speak.
Acts 6:9-10
(They) began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Sometimes, as you’re speaking,
the spirit will give you exactly the right words,
and later you’ll say,
wow, where did that come from?
So the Holy Spirit Guides us
in many different ways.
Now, think about in your life,
wouldn’t it be great
if when you’re making financial decisions,
you were full of the Spirit,
and he was telling you, no don’t invest in that,
or don’t buy that car, it won’t last,
get that one over there instead,
or do that,
Or when you’re at work,
the holy spirit is guiding you,
helping you succeed at what you do.
or when you’re making decisions for your kids,
the holy spirit is showing you
the wise decisions to make.
Wouldn’t that be great?
That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit does,
when you allow him to fill you.
[Susan Hull testimony]
The Holy Spirit will Guide me,
The Holy Spirit Will Encourage Me.
John 16:6-8 NLT (Jesus says)
It is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Comforter won't come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
The word comforter there,
is actually the Greek word Paraclete
and it doesn’t really have an English equivalent.
Its sometimes translated Comforter,
sometimes Encourager,
or Advocate.
or sometimes simply friend.
But the idea is that,
no matter what your day is like,
No matter how stressed out you are,
no matter how many problems,
no matter if your boss is acting like a jerk,
or the kids are screaming,
or you can’t pay the bill that just showed up,
or your back is killing you,
no matter what,
you have a comforter and encourager
with you all the time
who can help you deal with anything
that comes along in your day.
That’s one of the primary jobs of the Holy Spirit.
I don’t know about you,
but sometimes when I get up in the morning,
I’m already stressed out
before I even get a cup of coffee,
just from thinking about the day ahead,
and all the stuff I have to get done.
So I need some encouragement.
And the Holy Spirit does that by reminding me, that
he’s in control, even though I’m not,
he’s got enough power, though I don’t,
He’ll make it work out, though I can’t,
He’ll take care of things,
that are just beyond me.
He says, you can trust me,
don’t worry about it, Ken,
I’m in control, I can handle it.
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit
the paraclete,
Comforter or Encourager.
Why does Jesus use that title for Him?
Simple.
Its because as human beings,
that is one of our primary needs.
We all need someone to be with us
no matter what,
to comfort us when we’re down,
and encourage us,
It doesn’t matter if you live in a family
with 18 people,
there are times when you feel alone,
when you feel like
nobody understands what you’re going through.
So Jesus says:
I’m going to send this Comforter to you.
so you’ll never be alone.
He’ll always be with you to encourage you.
Maybe for some of you,
Valentines day isn’t actually a very happy holiday.
Maybe it just reminds you,
that you aren’t very satisfied by the romance in your life,
maybe so far, life has kind of
left you short in that area.
But whether for that reason, or another,
there will probably be a time this week
when you’ll be sad about something.
Maybe over a small thing,
or maybe a big thing.
Maybe you’ll be sitting in a hospital room with someone,
Or maybe you’ve lost a job,
or your marriage is suffering,
or somebody you love is suffering,
or you’re dealing with a hurt or an addiction.
But then out of nowhere, this week,
I believe a word is going to come to you,
assuring you that you are not alone.
Maybe that word will come from a Scripture you read,
or from a friend
or something in a book,
or just a thought that comes to you.
But the source
will really be the Holy Spirit.
Because that’s one of his primary jobs,
to be our encourager.
The Holy Spirit guides me,
and encourages me,
The Holy Spirit Will Empower Me.
In 1963 the Navy was testing a new submarine
called the Thresher,
it was one of the first nuclear submarines,
and it was a big improvement on previous versions,
because it had heavy steel armor plate,
so it could dive deeper than any submarine had before.
Unfortunately, on a test run,
an electrical short in the engine caused
the nuclear engine to shut down,
and it couldn’t get back to the surface.
It sank deeper and deeper into the ocean.
The pressure became immense.
The heavy steel bulkheads finally buckled;
the Thresher was crushed with 129 people inside.
The Navy searched for the Thresher
with a research craft
lowered into the ocean on a cable.
They found the Thresher at a depth of 8,400 feet:
one and a half miles down.
crushed like an egg shell.
because the pressure at that depth is—
3,600 pounds per square inch.
What was surprising to the searchers
was that they saw fish at that great depth.
And these fish didn’t have inches of steel to protect them.
They had normal skin,
a fraction of an inch thick.
How come these fish aren’t crushed under all that pressure?
They have a secret.
Their secret is that they have the same pressure inside
as they have on the outside.
As they go deeper
they simply equalize the pressure.
Let me tell you,
That is the key to a joy-filled Christian life.
You see,
We all live under enormous pressure.
We have financial pressure,
job and career pressure,
fears about our health,
and our family,
and our future,
we have peer pressure,
and time pressure,
and pressure from our boss,
and our kids who want things,
there’s enormous pressure out there,
that wants to crush us,
and steal the joy from our lives.
But we can equalize the pressure,
by simply inviting the Holy Spirit inside us,
to fill us.
1 John 4:4 NLT
You have already won a victory… because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
When the Holy Spirit fills us,
he equalizes the pressure,
and gives us power to face
anything that comes along.
Acts 1:8 (Jesus)
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
What kind of power?
well, I could spend months
just teaching about the different areas
that that Holy Spirit gives us power.
For example, scripture tells us
the Holy Spirit can help me
control what I think about.
If I have a problem controlling thoughts,
of fear, lust,
envy, revenge,
bitterness…
The Holy Spirit gives me power over those thoughts.
The Holy Spirit also gives me power
to live a holy life.
The spirit also gives us power for ministry,
so that we can do things,
we wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do.
He gives us different kinds of spiritual gifts,
so that we can bless others and minister to others.
He gives us power to do the supernatural,
like when we pray for others to be healed,
He gives us the power
to share the good news with others,
about what Christ has done for us.
He gives us power in every area of life.
But most of all,
he gives us the power to change,
and to live the kind of life
we really want and hope for.
Now lets make this practical.
This week there will be times
that you will be tempted to give up on something
that God has been asking you to do,
But I want you to remember this.
The Holy Spirit is in you,
And if you allow him to fill you,
He will give you the energy you need.
He will give you the strength you need.
When that time comes this week,
you simply need to turn to him
and ask.
There will be times this week
when you’ll be tempted to do something you know is sin,
and you’ll be given strength to do the right thing.
There will be times this week,
when you’re at work,
or in your neighborhood
or in your home,
and somebody needs help,
and you’ll find yourself saying,
I can do that for you.
I can help you,
Because the Spirit gives you the energy.
What we are talking about
is not trying harder in your own power,
and working harder, to do good things,
but rather its about walking with the Spirit
who is right there with you all the time.
and simply asking Him for His help.
Instead of trying harder,
this week just say:
God, I’m tempted. I’m tired.
I need your energy, and your strength,
so Holy Spirit, since you’re living in me,
give me the strength and energy I need.
Guide me, Encourage me, empower me.
Because Holy Spirit you have the power I need.
Lets stand for prayer:
