Antonio The Garbage Man.
Antonio’s huge truck would arrive, backing up with that horrific big truck back up sound. Ding ding ding ding! He would jump out and start pounding on the door, shouting over the unbelievably loud truck,
"Garbage Man, Garbage man, Garbage man is here!"
Well, no kidding, a side from the incredibly loud volume– we could smell the truck before it came around the corner.
Antonio would not stop shouting and pounding until we opened the door. “It’s Antonio – I am here to get your garbage” Ok. Please take it.
He did this twice a week for ten years. “It’s Antonio – I am here to get your garbage”
It didn’t matter how often we would tell him, "You don’t have to tell us you’re taking the garbage, we know you’re taking the garbage." Or "feel free to come and go without checking in". We even checked with his boss, “no he doesn’t have to tell you he is taking the garbage”. We told him, “Please, don’t tell us anymore.”
It didn’t matter. Twice a week we would hear: “It’s Antonio – I am here to get your garbage”
Antonio was to satisfied to just go about and do his job. He wanted everyone to know who he was and what he was doing. He was thrilled to be taking our garbage.
Likewise, we should not be satisfied with our Christian lives as they are. We should be at a place were we want, everyone to know who we are and what we are doing.
The Holy Spirit fell upon them, baptized with the Holy Spirit, they received the Holy Spirit, Endued with power from on high.
All these and more, are ways in which Scripture points to the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. At times
either the meaning has not been clear or non biblical meanings have been attached to these phrases. Perhaps causing some confusion in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
We saw last week that the Spirit regenerates us, in other words it is through the power Holy Spirit that we become Christians. We also saw that the Spirit sanctifies us. In other words the Spirit works within us to change our character. (we’ll look at this more today) And we also saw that the Spirit empowers us. This is known as the filling of the Holy Spirit. This filling is an impartation of power. It is not a one time occurrence but can happen over and over again.
This morning we’ll look at the act of the Holy Spirit in empowering us.
What we will see is that the Holy Spirit comes upon us and the Holy Spirit is within us.
Upon and Within
I have an outline if you would like to follow along. Though we have a main Scripture today. We will be referring to several Scriptures today so we can more fully understand the act of the Spirit upon us, and within us.
The Spirit Upon For Power.
The New Testament consistently uses the image of the Spirit Upon someone. As we look at these verses you will notice the reference of the Spirit on and upon, this is the same meaning from the same root word.
Jesus
Matt. 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
John 1:32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.….
The Holy Spirit worked with Jesus, giving him power for ministry
All Christians.
Luke 24:49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 2:17 “‘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.
This is not only for Christians found in the Bible, but is assumed to be without time limit - which means for both you and I.
As Experienced by Christians in the Early Church.
Acts 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
In the old Testament the occurrence of the Holy Spirit coming upon is quite frequent. We only have time to deal with the NT today. In all the given instances the Holy Spirit comes upon the people of God to empower them, not for spiritual regeneration but for empowerment for ministry.
Let’s stop there with the Spirit upon and let’s understand the Spirit within first.
The Spirit Within For Character Change.
Last week we saw tat the Spirit comes upon us for regeneration
But he also comes upon us for Sanctification
1Cor. 6:19 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;
Rom. 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
John 14:17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
This is, as we spoke of last week. The spiritual fruit that ones bears
as God changes our character from who we are – to what he wants us to be. So we have the Internal work of the Holy Spirit and the External work of the Holy Spirit.
Internal – to change our character and bear spiritual fruit.
External – to give us power for ministry.
What about when the Bible speaks of being filled with the Holy Spirit?
If you look at your sermon outline, you will see the Greek word pletho
And the Greek words pleroo and pleres. These are words, when translated into the English mean filled. But we need to look to the original text to have a greater understanding of being filled with the Holy Spirit
Pletho (plh/qw) = Filled, charged, loaded, stuffed, moved. Short Term Action - Results in action. It can be used for other things than the Holy Spirit. When used so it is used for temporary filling. We filled the jar with water. We filled the boat with fish, our boat isn’t always filled with fish though some friends may lead us to believe this. No it is a temporary thing. The same when it is used to refer to the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!
Acts 4:31 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 13:9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?
In each of these instances, the people in question are already Christians, they are regenerated, in the process of being sanctified and here they are being filled with power for ministry. The Holy Spirit comes upon them in a special way and they are able to do what they could not do on their own. It is supernatural. How could all of these people in the Bible do these things? Speak the right words, have such wonderful insightb e so bold in the face of danger? By the filling of the Holy Spirit.
In the OT.
We see this same thing happening to men and women who though they are not Christians, though they do not have the Holy Spirit within the Spirit comes upon them in power. Temporarily. So for us, we can have the Holy Spirit come upon us, on us, fill us, on a short time basis for powerful ministry over and over again. Think this next time you fill your car up with gas, you are filling it so it will act with power...Well, some of us have cars that will never have power. Any pinto owners? But you are filling the car for power. Yet it needs to be refilled again and again.
Now let’s look at the word for being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Pleroo, Pleres (plh/r/w, plh/rhß) = Filled, in terms of saturation. Long Term Sanctification - Describes a state of being. These two forms of the word filled mean saturated. If you let a doughnut sit long enough, and break it open you will see it is saturated with Grease and you will not eat one for at least a week.
Acts 6:3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
Acts 6:5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; …
Acts 11:24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
The Spirit is there, permenant, a state of being.
So this is what we have: The Holy Spirit comes upon us at conversion and regenerates us. Then He Sanctifies us – changing our Character. His Spirit saturates us - We are in the state of being – A Christian. But more importantly and this is what w tend to miss is that the Spirit comes upon us in power.
Dr Loder. He had a bad car wreck. we wakes up and finds himself under the car, unable to move. He is being slowly crushed. His wife, who would make me look heavy….she prayed and was able to lift the car off of him.
She was temporarily given power by the Holy Spirit.
The Implications of Parallel Filling In Our Lives.
What we want in our lives is both the permanent and the temporary. If you are a Christian you already have the Holy Spirit – always with you, so you are half way there. But we want both in or lives a parallel working of the modes of the Spirit. If we have this, not only will you find your spiritual life very rewarding, but you will also never doubt your salvation. Because when you see the awesome power of God in your life. Your only response is to believe deeper
We have looked at many different Scriptures this morning. Usually I don’t do that so much
But let us end with looking again at our Scripture for the day from acts 10
This will lead us into next week
34 Then Peter began to speak:
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism
35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
God does not show favoritism with the blessing of his Holy Spirit. No matter who you are God’s powerful spirit is waiting to fall upon you.
Next Week: Manifestations of the Holy Spirit
