FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT PART 1
ACTS 1:1-8
GROWING UP — I was taught at my home church that the miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost died out with the Last Apostle — No more signs — No more miracles — No more wonders
CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING THE LAST APOSTLE ALIVE ....
· People waiting outside his house, lined up around the block wanting the last miracle — they come in and he places his hand on them for a miracle & finally the Last Apostle Dies!
· BUT — GOD DIDN’T DIE
WHEN HE DIED!!!
·
FIRST OF ALL — The Apostle’s didn’t send the Power and Anointing & Blessings — God the Father DID thru Jesus Christ the Son — And Jesus Is Still ALIVE!!!
JESUS CHRIST is the one who sent the Holy zGhost as the vehicle of spiritual gifts, signs, wonders & miracles — not the Apostles — the ONE who sent the Holy Ghost is Still ALIVE!!!
SO — The Holy Ghost is Still For YOU Today!!!
Acts 1:8 (NIV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you ....
The Holy Ghost gives us POWER
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is NOT for a select group of people — but the “WHOSOEVER” never changed with Jesus Christ concerning the Holy Ghost — it is for “WHOSOEVER WILL” — just like salvation — all you have to do is Believe — Ask — Receive!!
Jesus taught this to his disciples ....
Luke 24:49 (Living)
“And now I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, just as my Father promised. Don’t begin telling others yet—stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
Acts 1:4-5 (Living)
In one of these meetings he told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in fulfillment of the Father’s promise, a matter he had previously discussed with them. John baptized you with water,” he reminded them, “but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a few days.”
JOHN 7:37-39
JESUS wants us to be “Filled With His Holy Spirit” -- it gives us “Streams of Living Water” flowing right out of us
IT IS TIME TO TAKE A DRINK --
EPHESIANS 5:18
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
EPHESIANS 5:18 (Living)
Don’t drink too much wine, for many evils lie along that path; be filled instead with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him.
SO -- what is the problem with a lot of people these days?
ILLUSTRATION
When was the last time you fed a baby oatmeal? Peaches or applesauce? Regardless of what you may be serving when your baby does not want to eat his or her entire body gets engaged in the struggle. The jaws become cast iron letting nothing enter the mouth. Any food that may miraculously make it past the lips is pushed out by an iron tongue.
Babies need to eat. Good nutrition is important for the growth and development of every infant. However, no matter how hard we may try, and regardless of how tasty the food may be, UNLESS THE BABY IS YIELDED AND WILLING TO EAT, WE CANNOT “FILL IT” WITH FOOD. When the same baby is hungry or thirsty and is crying out making its desire known, then it is much easier to “fill” the baby.
Similarly, the Holy Spirit does not force Himself to “FILL US.” In the same way that a baby needs to have a desire for food or drink to be willing to eat, we must also crave the presence of the Holy Sprit in our lives in order to be “filled with the Spirit.”
Jesus Offers Us “Streams Of Living Water -- But We Have To Be Thirsty Enough For Him In Order To Drink!!!!
God wants to “Fill Us” with His Spirit — the Holy Spirit — to give us Power — to be “Filled” — Simply means to be filled with God — because the Holy Spirit is God. God lives within you and me.
1 Cor. 6:19 (NIV)
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
You are the sacred dwelling place of the Holy Spirit! God is not just “out there somewhere;” God designed you and me to be His home on earth. God lives in you.
When we accept Christ as our savior, God takes up residence in our lives at that very moment. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives and makes an immediate transformation within us
Being filled with the Spirit is more than just God living within us!
God is ready and willing to fill us with His Holy Sprit, or to baptize us in the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
No where in the Bible does Jesus say that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was only for the disciples and the early church.
On the contrary Jesus said,
Mark 16:17 (NIV)
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
Jesus said that if we believe in Him — We can have the supernatural experience of speaking in an unknown language known as the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Peter, who spent 3 ½ years with Jesus and was among those in the upper room to first be filled with the Holy Spirit said,
Acts 2:39 (Living)
For Christ promised him to each one of you who has been called by the Lord our God, and to your children and even to those in distant lands!”
Peter said it was for everyone! Why would he say that if Jesus had told him otherwise? The Promise Of The Infilling Of The Holy Spirit Is For You And Me; It Is For Today!
Paul (not one of the original 12 disciples) considered out of the Gospel Age and now in the “New Church Age” — the dispensational Age we are now still within — tells US;
1 Cor. 14:18 (NIV)
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
1 Cor. 14:39 (Living)
So, my fellow believers, long to be prophets so that you can preach God’s message plainly; and never say it is wrong to “speak in tongues”;
WHY DO I NEED THE INFILLING OF THE HOLY GHOST?
[1] TO RECEIVE POWER TO BE A WITNESS OF JESUS CHRIST
Like a John Knox to cry out;
“Oh God, give me Scotland or I will die.”
And it is a well known fact that bloody Mary, the Queen of Scotland said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than she did all the armies of Scotland.
We need to cry out to God for the Souls of Humanity once again — and begin to reach out to save them from HELL!
[2] TO POSSESS A VITAL, EVEN MORE PERSONAL CONNECTION TO GOD
1 Cor. 14:2 (Living)
But if your gift is that of being able to “speak in tongues,” that is, to speak in languages you haven’t learned, you will be talking to God but not to others, since they won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be a secret.
[3] TO BE ABLE TO PRAY IN THE SPIRIT WHEN WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO PRAY
Romans 8:26 (NIV)
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
[4] TO BE ABLE TO BUILD OURSELVES UP
Jude 1:20 (KJV)
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Dr. Vance Havner (Well known Baptist revivalist) said;
We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion witin it of lives ignited by the Holy Spirit of God.
