Sermon Central
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The Operations Of The Holy Spirit Series
Contributed by Joseph Ondu on Apr 3, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: It is a continual process. Being filled with the Spirit happens as you continually choose to live under his influence daily.
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
To conclude about the Holy Spirit in our lives, I like to remind us of the central point of this topic. That point is the “infilling of the Spirit.” You can know all the doctrines of the Holy Spirit, but until you are practically filled with the Holy Spirit, your knowledge is of no actual value to you. It is like knowing everything about driving a car but cannot drive a car. Except our knowledge is translated to practical experience, our knowledge does not profit us.
As I pointed out in the beginning, the Holy does not come into our lives so that we can jump, shout, shake/jerk, speak in tongues of an angel, prophesy, and perform miraculous acts. Yes, all the above are legitimate operations of the Holy Spirit. But, if our lives are not transformed to be more like Jesus in our character of love, something is woefully wrong with our experience. The Holy Spirit residing within a believer is to empower him to love and live like Jesus. Our lives become totally submitted to the will of God instead of our own will. We gain victory over the deeds and lust of the flesh. We become a vessel of honor to the glory of God. We are no longer preoccupied with pleasing people, but rather with the Lord.
We are no longer dominated by our sinful and selfish human nature. Everything we do is now characterized by our desire to glorify God and not man. We become prepared to die if that is the only option available for us to glorify the LORD. This is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It does not mean I have more of the Spirit, it means the Spirit has more of me. And this does not happen all at once any more than you get drunk all at once. It is a continual process. Being filled with the Spirit happens as you continually choose to live under his influence daily. As no one gets drunk instantaneously, but sip by sip, this is how we get filled with the HOLY SPIRIT gradually as we yield to Him daily.
Remain blessed and be continually filled(controlled) by the Holy Spirit.
