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
who were in the temple and sharing about Jesus, and the people said, are you guys drunk have you had too much to drink already ---it's only nine o'clock
in the morning you're not drinking already. And they
said no we are not filled with alcohol--we are filled we are totally sold out –we are controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Friends that which fills us is that which controls us. That which we allow to fill us is that which controls us and as the Holy Spirit lives within us the Holy Spirit brings life-changing behaviors life changing results within our lives. And you realize that it is a controlled by consent…. I’m not a puppet of God. God does not say, oh Greg i want you to jump--- i want you to do this-- i want you to do that
and that he has me a puppet on a string, ----controlling by consent i say lord please may your Spirit come and totally indwell within me and i give you my life. It's a controlling by consent.
There's five short points i want to bring up today. The first one is maybe you can recall when Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, john chapter 3 and he says to Jesus, “what do i need to do?” and Jesus says--- “you must be born again.”
Friends the first aspect of being filled by the Holy Spirit is to realize that we are dead in our sin, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God there is none of us that are righteous. I heard some politicians recently talk about that yeah 85 90
of Americans are good people… no I’m sorry, we are all sinners and we can only be saved by grace for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And Jesus says that the only way that we can be
saved --the only way we can move from death to life is through the power of the holy Spirit… the infilling of the Holy Spirit …as the Spirit takes over our lives.
We are told in Titus chapter 3, “Jesus saves us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal of the holy Spirit in our lives.” My life becomes brand new, I am reborn when I accepted Christ within my life ….that's the first aspect of Holy Spirit indwelling in my life in your life. We were once dead but now we are alive in Christ.
The second aspect deals with inheritance, now like a lot of us we have had parents that maybe have passed things on to us or grandparents or uncles and aunts that have passed things on to us.
and is it's wonderful to get an inheritance, we're able to do things that we maybe couldn't do otherwise within our lives with the inheritance---- but the indwelling of the Holy Spirit confirms to us that
we belong to Jesus ---into God and that we are heirs
in the kingdom of God. Is not that amazing, i am an heir in the kingdom of God. I am written in the will of the inheritance of the king of kings and the lord of
lords.
The book of romans chapter 8 verse
15 says this we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out daddy father I’ve been adopted by Yahweh God and the Spirit the Holy Spirit bears
witness that i am a child that you can be a child of God and if we are a child of God then we are
heirs --heirs with God and we are joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. Friends, to be filled by the
Holy Spirit means number one that we move from death to life---number two that we gain in the
Inheritance of eternal life but also it means
we now have love true love. When Jesus says love the lord your God with your heart soul mind and strength love your neighbor as yourself we can truly not know what love is until we give our life to Jesus Christ, until the Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in us,
the Holy Spirit pours his love into our lives-- we are told in Romans chapter 5 verse 5, suffering produces –perseverance-- perseverance character
character hope --hope does not disappoint us. And why do these things not disappoint us friends? It's because God has poured out his love poured out--- not just the fountain with flowing water but poured out with a fire truck of water rushing down towards us or Niagara falls, as the falls of the water are rushing down towards us, we have God's love through the holy Spirit being poured out on us in our hearts. That amazing, that love that God had for us by sending his son Jesus to give us eternal life is that same love that the Holy Spirit puts into us--
so, we can put our hands out to others and during these trying times friends that is what we are called to do put our hands out to our neighbors. And again, lest i need to remind you anyone we meet is our neighbor.
The fourth point is simply that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit brings us into the family of God, Christ’s universal church. Paul says in Corinthians for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one
Body, friends when we become a Christian when
the Holy Spirit comes down and resides within us, we become part of that body of Christ. And it's important for us to find a local body to worship with to grow with to be part of, and yet if you attend a catholic church, a Methodist church an episcopal church a, baptist church, a non-denominational church, a reformed church in America, like I’m a pastor of ---if that church confesses Jesus Christ as lord and savior believes in God the father and the filling of the Holy Spirit, also confesses the apostles creed and that Christ is the only way to salvation ----friends we are together, around the world and we may worship in different ways --different styles or forms of worship ---the method can change but the message can never change. Salvation through Christ alone the, indwelling of the Holy Spirit is we are part of this larger body.
I've done this a few times when i used to travel more, you know you sit on an airplane and people say well what company do you work for, who do you work for what's your job. I have said a few times
That I work for the largest company in the World and i get people look at me they are like ---what the largest company in the world? Well what is it’s what company can that be ---when i say the body of Christ
the church the largest body of people around the world worshiping together, the filling of the Holy Spirit says we are one with each other around the world.
And the last point is that the indwelling of the Spirit gives Spiritual gifts to each of us. Paul says in first Corinthians that the one Spirit, that Holy Spirit will distribute to gifts---Spiritual gifts for the body of Christ, and we need to realize that the giving of the Spiritual gifts within our lives it's not for self-fulfillment, but the gifts that the Spirits given to
Me --- given to you are given for twofold,
- one worship of God Jesus Christ,
- and to the building up of the body of Christ which also means reaching out and drawing others into that body who are not in the body the family.
The gifts that God's given to us through the holy Spirit are to be used to glorify God, to build up his body of believers and to reach out and draw
others into new life.
If you have accepted Christ as your lord and savior, the Holy Spirit desires to indwell within you
And what fills you is what controls you. Friends we got to give up our rage, our jealousies our anger, our racism, our pettiness our fighting and to be controlled by the Holy Spirit --for loving God first loving our neighbors as we love
Ourselves.
We cannot fill ourselves; it is got to come through the holy Spirit and the evidence of the Spirit's filling is that
- though we were dead in sin we are now alive in Christ
- we have the inheritance ---we are co-heirs with Christ
- and that love that the Holy Spirit pours out into our lives is also given to others \
- we are part of the universal body of Christ
- and the gifts that he gives to us…the Spiritual gifts are used to worship and praise and to build up the church and draw other people in.
Friends as Paul says in Ephesians 5, we started with this passage, “do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery--- instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
May your life--- may your heart--- may your soul be filled with the Holy Spirit, the name of the father son the Holy Spirit Amen.
Family and friends, may the lord bless you and keep you, may he lift up his grace upon you may he grant you grace and peace, may you open up your heart and consent to be controlled by the Holy Spirit for that which fills you controls you Amen.
