FED-UP, FILLED-UP, FIRED UP
Acts 4:7-31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: TEA PARTY FOR DAD
1. A mother had gone shopping and left dad in charge of their 2½ year-old daughter. Someone had given her a little tea cup set as a gift.
2. Daddy was in the living room watching TV, when his little girl brought him a cup of tea, which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, Mommy came home.
3. He told her about the father-daughter tea party and with raised eyebrows she said, “Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?”
B. TEXT
7 [The Sanhedrin] had Peter and John brought before them ...to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders... 10 know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. 31 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. Acts 4:7-12-13,18-20,23-24,31
C. THESIS
1. We are going to see 3 things about the early church; first they got fed-up with the world, then they got filled-up with the Spirit, and then they got fired-up to witness.
2. The title of this message is “FED-UP, FILLED-UP, FIRED-UP.”
I. FIRST, YOU MUST GET FED-UP!
A. FED-UP WITH THE WORLD
1. The first reason those disciples went to the Upper room is because they were fed up with the world! Everyone say, “Fed up with the world.”
2. 1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” You’ll never find a man who loves this world who really loves God.
3. I’m fed up with the world, a world often hostile to God and His church. A world that loves darkness and hates the light. I’m fed up with the world!
4. The Govt, the media, the education system, and now even corporations are promoting immorality and twisted thinking. This country is like a great ship that is leaning – first one way, conservative – and then leaning back the other way – liberalism. Finally – in 2024 – it appears our ship is “righting itself,” straightening out.
a. Many institutions are now throwing off DEI, CRT, and the promotion of transgenderism.
b. Louisiana passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in every school classroom.
c. People are turning against “soft-on-crime” prosecutions.
d. People are openly talking about relationship with Jesus, our nation needing revival, and praying at political conventions.
5. But there’s a lot still to do: people still think more of trees and blue whales than unborn babies; and a record number of Christians suffered violent attacks in the last year*. More of our missionaries have been deported from Muslim countries this year than ever before. 2ndly...
B. I’M FED-UP WITH DEAD RELIGION
1. Many churches have cratered to our wicked culture and this year a number of well-known Christian pastors have had to step down due to scandal.
2. John the Baptist was, in his day, fed up with religion. In Mt. 3:7 he called religious people of his day ‘vipers’ or ‘Snakes!’ Jesus called them “white-washed walls.”
3. A man can be religious ... and not know God. A woman can be religious ... and not be born-again. A man can be religious ... and not be moral. The Early Christians – they couldn’t go back to the Temple – back to a dry lecture or a ritual!
4. They had heard the Master speak! They had experienced the presence of Jesus! How could they go back to some calf being sacrificed? They had seen the glorified Christ – when you meet Him, you’ll never be the same. They were fed-up with RELIGION!
C. WE MUST GET FED-UP WITH OURSELVES
1. Are you fed up with that secret sin that no one knows about? Are you fed up with the compromise? Are you fed up with leading a double life?
2. Peter became fed up with his denials. Thomas became fed up with his doubting. James & John became fed up with their judgmentalism. The rest got fed up with their fear. You’ve got to get fed up with yourself!
3. When you get SICK OF THIS WORLD (FED-UP), and want no more of it, then you can finally open yourself to be FILLED-UP WITH GOD!
II. IT’S TIME TO GET FILLED-UP!
A GETTING ALL OF THE SPIRIT YOU CAN
1. In Acts 4:24,31 when the early church cried out to God in desperation, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit! That’s what we need today!
2. When Elisha was directing the widow how to free her sons in 2 Kgs. 4:3, he counseled her to borrow vessels, “not a few.” Alternate translations are: CEB “Get as many empty containers as possible.” EASY “Make sure that you get a lot of them.” LEB “Collect as many empty containers as you can!” NET, NIRV “Get as many as you can.”
3. He knew that for deliverance to come, we shouldn’t go for the minimum, but for the maximum! Are we trying to get as much of the anointing as we can? Are we trying to be filled with the Holy Spirit as much as possible?
B. IT MUST BE MILKED EVERY DAY
1. A man who’d been raised in the city bought a farm and several milk cows. He went to the feed store one day & complained that his best cow had gone dry.
2. “Are you feeding her right?" asked the store owner. "I’m feeding her what you’ve been selling me," said the man. "Are you milking her every day?" "Just about. If I need six or eight ounces of milk for breakfast, I go out and get it - I just let her save it up."
3. The feed store owner shook his head. He said, “Cows don’t work that way. With cow’s milk, you must take all that there is, or you will eventually have nothing.”
4. It’s the same with the Holy Spirit; you don’t just take what you need to get by, but you must receive all God wants to give you every day. Only then will you have enough for the challenges you will face. Get all God wants to give you; He knows best!
5. “GET AS MUCH OF THE ANOINTING AS YOU CAN! ONCE YOU’RE FED-UP, AND FILLED-UP, THEN YOU NEED TO GET FIRED-UP!
III. IT’S TIME TO GET FIRED-UP!
A. THEY BECAME WITNESSES
1. Acts 4:31 says, “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.” When you get filled-up & fired-up, you can’t help but SPEAK-UP His words. You want to tell everybody!
2. Jeremiah TRIED NOT to talk about God, but he found that because he was filled with the Spirit, he couldn’t help it; “But if I say, “I will not mention His Word or speak anymore in His name,” His Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” Jer. 20:9 NIV.
3. Paul too knew this feeling. He told the Corinthians, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” Rom. 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
B. ILLUS.: WE NEED BOLDNESS AS SPOKES- PERSONS FOR GOD
1. The Lord Jesus told Peter he wouldn’t catch fish anymore, but men, in some areas of the country, Christians wear little gold fishhooks on their shirt pockets. It gives them an opportunity to witness when asked why they wear it.
2. One Christian man was wearing his little golden fishhook and a boy delivering newspapers asked him, "Mister, do you belong to a fishing club?" "Yes, I do," said the Christian. The boy asked, "Do you ever catch any big ones?" "I have caught 250 pounders," replied the man.
3. "Go on!" said the boy incredulously. "Yes, I have; but to tell you the truth, I’d rather catch a small fish than a big one," he exclaimed. "No!" said the boy. "Yes, about your size." The little boy looked down at himself as if he were thinking, "I am not so small."
4. Then the Christian told him that he was a “fisher of men,” seeking to win souls, and that if he would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ he would be saved. The newsboy took him at his word and came to Christ.
5. This man used a gold fishhook to catch souls with. What are you using? It’s time for the church to get FIRED-UP! It’s time to trade-in that noodle of a backbone we’ve got for a backbone like a sawlog!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: “JULIO WAS FED UP!”
1. Julio is a young lay evangelist working in Peru. Peru was a place of spiritual strongholds. Drug cartels/ terrorist groups had taken over parts of Peru, closing police stations and running things by their own rules. They threatened Christians, “You must stop preaching. If you don’t obey us, you will pay with your blood.”
2. But Julio got fed up with their interference. He ignored the threats and continued his usual rounds, preaching in the small mountain churches and encouraging the believers. Again the terrorists warned Julio, & again he disregarded the threats against his life.
3. Outraged, the terrorists said, “You disobeyed us. Now we will make an example of you.” A few days later, they kidnapped Julio and took him to the center of a large town, in the big, open town square.
4. A crowd gathered to witness the execution. Julio was tied to a chair and sticks of dynamite were tied to his arms and legs. The terrorists wanted to put fear into the hearts of Christians and perhaps close the churches.
5. The fuses were lit and moved closer to the dynamite. To the terrorists’ surprise, Julio began singing praises to God. Some Christians in the crowd joined in.
6. Suddenly there was a loud boom! The dynamite exploded! Clouds of smoke filled the air. The terrorists shouted in triumph! But when the smoke cleared, there sat Julio unharmed and he again began singing praises to God! The terrorists were so overcome by fear that they ran away, but all the Christians shouted, “It’s a miracle!”
7. Julio continued his ministry in spite of persecution and many thousands have turned to the Lord. Jesus is our strength in times of weakness! [Published in August, 1990, Mountain Movers Mag.]
8. We need to get Fed-Up, Filled-Up, and Fired-Up!
B. THE CALL
1. Many veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.
2. "A wise man once said that when we appear before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, He will look at us very carefully and ask, “Where are your scars?” If we respond we have no scars, He will then reproach us and say, “Why? Was there nothing worth fighting for?”
3. How many of you want to engage in the Kingdom struggle more fervently? Raise your hands.
4. How many of you have a stronghold you want to overcome? Raise your hands.
5. How many of you want to surrendered to Jesus yet, but you want today to be the day you do? PRAYER.
* “Christians faced record level of violent attacks in 2023, Open Doors warns” Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Wednesday, January 17, 2024
[This is a rewrite of Eli Gautreaux’s message on 2-15-98]
