In Acts 2, the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled, when gathered in the upper room we read, starting at verse 1, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” As Pentecostals, we believe they spoke in tongues as Paul spoke of in Romans 8:26, 27 where it tells us, “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. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”
There is much debate as to what took place and if what took place is still applicable today. I know God is the same yesterday, today and will be the same forever so what He did in times past He can do today and in the future. The point of the message is to look at what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit as a believer and to make sure we are living a Spirit-Filled life.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and filled believers. Prior to this event, the Holy Spirit filled some believers with power to perform specific tasks, but never was available to all who believed. Jesus told His followers He was going to leave them, speaking of His crucifixion and ascension. He told them went He left, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit would come upon them, that they would never be alone. The Holy Spirit does this today for all that call upon the name of the Lord, enduing us with the power we need to live in a lost and dying world.
When the Holy Spirit came, Acts 2:13 records the reaction of some in the crowd when it says, “Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’”
People who are drunk have a tendency to babble on. Peter responded to their comments in Acts 2:15 stating, “These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only nine in the morning!” The bars are not open. Peter went on in verses 16 and following telling them to what they were witnessing, “ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
What the church needs today is to once again belly up to Joel’s bar and take a deep drink of the Holy Spirit. We are going to do that when we conclude the message as we ask the Holy Spirit to intoxicate us with more of God and His Spirit so we can live out our lives in victory.
So, what then is the Spirit Filled Believer to be like?
1. He or she is intoxicated with God. It is not what is on the label that matters as much as what is inside the bottle. You can label yourself a Christian but if you are not intoxicated with God you are just another label. Ephesians 5:18 instructs us, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
Here is what I don’t want us to do. Get lost in the first part of the verse and focus in on should a Christian drink or not drink. The passage says not to get drunk on wine. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will guide you in the right direction concerning to drink or not to drink. If anything, the Bible gives a clear teaching on not being drunk.
Proverbs 23:20,21 teaches us, “ Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, 21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”
Proverbs 23:29-35 says of the drunken, “29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? 30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. 31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! 32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. 34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. 35 “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” Not the kind of condition we want to get into, beaten but deadened by drink, living from bottle to bottle.
The prophet Isaiah said, “11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. 12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.” (Isaiah 5:11-12)
Peter said, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” (1 Peter 4:3)
Our base point is therefore, not to be drunk. Instead, live a life filled with the Holy Spirit. How does one do this? Be close to the source. Know God so God can get inside of you. The Holy Spirit fills our lives at our invitation to Him; He does not overpower His way into our life.
Paul said, don’t be drunk on wine; be intoxicated with the Holy Spirit. He further instructs in the Spirit filled life by saying a Spirit filled believer…
2. Has a Heart of Music.
Verse 19, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,” Why do we sing in church? Verse 19. The psalms in the Old Testament were set to music and believers sang them aloud. If you are going to speak to one another, you have to do it aloud or with sign language. Hymns are praises composed by Christians. It is more than the songs found in the hymnal. Spiritual songs are spontaneous, Spirit inspired praise.
Worship has become one of the more controversial issues within the church. Singing Traditional hymns verses contemporary music. When Paul wrote this passage, the Holy Spirit gave him insight into this issue it seems, for Paul says traditional is the right way to do worship, sing with psalms and hymns. So everyone who sides on the singing of traditional music, you are right. Then Paul said for those of you who want something contemporary, you are right. So contemporary worship lovers, you are right since we are to sing spiritual songs as well. The point is, neither is wrong, it is a matter of preference, and God’s preference is for both. Before you tear down someone who is into one style or another, keep this passage in mind; speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It is all a matter of the heart and the heart of worship is Jesus Christ.
Do you need a live band to worship? No. You can stick in a tape, sing with I worship, or you don’t even need musical instruments, you can sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs just with your own voice. God sees the heart of worship, which flows from your inner being making melody. You don’t have to be a talented singer, you don’t even have to carry a tune. When we worship together here on Sunday morning, can I encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to minister through you as you sing with a heart after God and not be concerned about what the person next to you is thinking. If they are into worship, they will be lost in abandonment to the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, and not concerned about what you sound like they will be connecting with God from their own heart.
Spirit filled believers are intoxicated with God, they have a heart of worship, and third…
3. They live Thankfully.
Ephesians 5:20, “ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
How thankful are you? Many people are thankful when everything is going their way, but when things go south, their demeanor gets sour. We are to be thankful in all things. That means when it rains, we are thankful and when the sun comes out we find thanksgiving. I live in Seattle because I get to spend a lot of time being thankful for the rain.
One of the areas we have the most difficult time being thankful is in the home. There we take things for granted. When we develop a heart of thanksgiving in the home, it jumpstarts a thankful heart in the marketplace and in the neighborhood.
How do we find thankfulness in all things? Dr. Alexander Whyte of Edinburgh was famous for his pulpit prayers. He always found something to thank God for, even in bad times. One stormy morning a member of his congregation thought to himself, “The preacher will have nothing to thank God on a wretched morning like this.” But Whyte began his prayer, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”
Moody Monthly carried a story about a thankful person, George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland, now with the Lord, says: “My God, I have never thanked Thee for my “thorn!” I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my “thorn;” I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my “thorn.” Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.”
Anyone have a little work to do on your thankfulness? Max Lucado wrote in his book, On the Anvil “I hope you’re not on the anvil. (Unless you need to be, and if so, I hope you are.) Anvil time is not to be avoided; it’s to be experienced. Although the tunnel is dark, it does go through the mountain. Anvil time reminds us of who we are and who God is. We shouldn’t try to escape it. To escape it could be to escape God.
God sees our life from beginning to end. He may lead us through a storm at age thirty so we can endure a hurricane at age sixty. An instrument is useful only if it’s in the right shape. A dull ax or a bent screwdriver needs attention, and so do we. A good blacksmith keeps his tools in shape. So does God.
Should God place you on his anvil, be thankful. It means he thinks you’re still worth reshaping.”
Reality is, we are on the anvil more than we would wish. Max makes a great point for those difficult times, “be thankful. It means he things your still worth reshaping.”
Spirit filled believers are intoxicated with God, have a heart of music, live thankfully, and my final point, Spirit filled believers…
4. Serve one another.
Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence to God.”
There are probably believers you don’t like. It doesn’t matter. We submit to one another, we serve one another not because of what it does for us or how we personally feel, we do it because we love God and out of reverence to him we submit to one another.
When you look at someone because of their physical appearance, their social standing, or what they can or cannot do for you, you are looking through your own eyes. If you want a life transformation, ask the Holy Spirit to give you the eyes of Christ, you begin to see the world in a whole different way. You see people the way God sees people. Full of potential, full of ability, all which needs to be released and who knows, you might be the one person God chooses to use to release their potential.
If we looked at each believer the way Christ does, there would be no division, no church splits, no unnecessary turmoil. Sadly this isn’t always the case. If the world cannot find us serving one another in love, then why would they want to embrace the realities of Christ we proclaim with our lips, failing in our actions to demonstrate?
Next week we are going to look at how the Holy Spirit can help us to submit in a narrower way, with our mates as we look at the role of marriage in the life of believers.
I want to close with a challenge. A challenge to examine your life and see how you measure up. Quick quiz, you can score yourself, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best and 1 being in desperate need of a spiritual makeover, answer the following questions…
1. How intoxicated are you with God? 1-10
2. Do you have a heart of worship? 1-10, 1 being I like to watch others worship, complain about their worship, but not worship myself, 10 being I didn’t even notice anyone else around I was so caught up in worshiping God.
3. How thankful are you? 1, not at all and 10 being I am thankful for everything, I can find thanks in the good, the bad, and the ugly.
4. Do I serve others? 1 being, I am waiting for everyone else to serve me, 10 being I find ways to serve others in all things.
Are there some areas you need to work on? I want to invite you to the altar, to spend some time asking the Holy Spirit to renew you, to help you in those areas of need and to spend some time in thanksgiving to our Creator King.
Altar time.
