Filling and Leading | Spirit of Jesus | 3.8.26

Welcome to the Journey Christian Church podcast.

This week's episode is the second entry in the Spirit of Jesus sermon series.

It's called Filling and Leading.

Sometimes when things don't go the way we plan, God has another plan.

Thank you guys for singing along with us.

It was just so beautiful to hear you sing.

Jeremy for filling in.

And I'm sure that Matt intentionally put those gremlins in so that uh so that it'll be like, well, when I'm here, there's no problem.

So but I'm really glad that you're here worshiping with us as I continue this series on the spirit of Jesus.

The way that Jesus interacted with the Holy Spirit during his ministry and his life is instructive to the way the Holy Spirit wants to work in us and in our lives as well.

And the way that Jesus walked with the Holy Spirit, that is how we are to walk with the Holy Spirit too.

And it's exciting.

And it's comforting that we are not left alone, that we don't have to make decisions all on our own and do everything on our own.

But we have the counselor who's with us, the comforter who is with us to guide us and lead us every step of the way.

It's just amazing.

So the other day I saw in my neighborhood there was a lady walking two dogs, and one dog was way out in front of her, that was, you know, choking herself, trying to get away, and the other dog was way behind, dragging its feet, and she was like stretched out on a rack.

And I thought it would be a whole lot more enjoyable for all three of them if they just walked together.

And I think sometimes that is how our walk with the Holy Spirit is.

Sometimes we run way out ahead of the Holy Spirit.

And sometimes he is trying to lead us somewhere and we're dragging our feet and we're trying not to go where he wants us to go.

And so the command from Galatians chapter 5 is this.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Galatians 5, 25 says, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Learning to walk with the Spirit of God.

And we can learn how to walk with the Spirit of God by studying how did Jesus walk by the Spirit of God?

What did He do?

How did He follow God?

Today, specifically, we are going to look at how the Holy Spirit filled Jesus and how the Holy Spirit led Jesus with the understanding that the Holy Spirit wants to fill us and lead us in the same ways.

Pray with me, please.

Father in heaven, we are so thankful for your grace and your goodness to us.

We are thankful, Lord, that your Spirit lives in us to guide us and lead us.

And I pray, Lord, that you would give us wisdom that we might be able to keep in step with the Spirit, not running ahead, not falling behind, but we are just right behind him, keeping in step, following in his footsteps, the path that he has paved for us, that we would follow in that way.

And Father, I pray that as we study the life of Jesus, we will see Jesus as our example.

Jesus was showing us how to live by the Spirit, not by the flesh.

How to rely on the Spirit, not on our own understanding.

Thank you, Lord, for your great love for us and giving us your spirit.

Instruct us today, Father.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Number one.

The Holy Spirit filled Jesus to proclaim the good news.

Now, the idea about being filled with the Holy Spirit is confusing to some.

How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

There's a lot of debate over being filled with the Holy Spirit and what that means.

And so anytime I come to a subject, a topic from the Scripture where there are a lot of different teachings on that topic, I go back to the Bible and I look for every place in the Bible that it talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and I write down what follows, what happens, the verses before and the verse after.

What is the context?

And try to figure out what is God saying.

Because he commands us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

How is that a command that we can obey?

We don't have control over the Spirit, right?

If we're commanded to do it, then it must be something that we can do.

And so, as I've studied and looked into what does the Bible say?

One thing I've discovered is that almost every single time that the Bible says somebody was filled with the Holy Spirit, they immediately right after spoke.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit to speak spiritual, healing, encouraging, life-giving words.

And here are the examples from Scripture.

Matthew chapter 22, verse 43 says, King David spoke by the Spirit.

Matthew 22:43

Luke 41, or excuse me, Luke chapter 1, verses 41 through 42 says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed in a loud voice a blessing over Mary.

Luke 1:41–42

Luke 167 says Zechariah was filled by the Holy Spirit and prophesied at the birth of his son John the Baptist.

Acts 2.4 says the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, specifically other languages, so that they could preach the first gospel sermon in the language of everyone who was present that day.

There were about 12 language groups present that day, and lo and behold, we had about 12 apostles.

And it says, a lot of people miss this, it says, Peter spoke, got up to speak with the other apostles.

And so they were proclaiming the gospel for the first time in the new covenant in languages that everybody could understand.

In Acts chapter 4, verse 8, back up a little bit.

Acts 4:8

Acts 4 and 8 says Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke to the Sanhedrin.

Next.

Acts 4.31 says the persecuted church was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke boldly about Jesus.

Acts 7.55 says Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke about seeing heaven opened up right as he died.

He saw heaven opened up and the Father seated on the throne and the Son standing beside him.

Acts 13.9 says Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a curse over Elimus.

Elimas was a wicked man who was trying to lead the pro-council astray, and Paul spoke a curse over him, filled with the Holy Spirit.

And then Ephesians 5, 18 and 19, this is where we are commanded.

It says, be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

And so the conclusion is to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to ask for God to give you spiritual words to speak.

Because in the Bible, when people were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke.

And so you probably have experienced this.

I have.

And that is the difference between speaking by the Spirit and speaking by the flesh.

And you've probably experienced that as well.

I'm sure there have been times people have asked for advice and you know you had no idea what to say and didn't say much.

And then there have been other times where it just felt like, man, the words are just coming out.

And they say, that's exactly what I needed to hear.

That's the difference between being speaking by the flesh and speaking by the spirit.

We see this in the life of Jesus as well, this filling of the Spirit.

In Matthew 12, 18, speaking, uh quoting Isaiah, Jesus said, Here is my servant who I have chosen, the one I love in whom I delight.

I will put my spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

In Luke 4, 18 through 19, it says, again, quoting Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news of the poor.

He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

In John 6, 63, the teaching of Jesus is summed up by these words.

Jesus said, The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing.

The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Being filled by the Holy Spirit is different from being indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

The promise that we have in Scripture, that the Bible says this is a promise for all people of all generations.

Acts chapter 2, verse 38, it says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and your sins will be forgiven.

Acts 2:38

And it says this promise is for you, it's for your children, it's for all who are far off, all whom the Lord our God will call.

This is a promise for all people all time.

Anybody that comes to Jesus will be indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

But being filled by the Holy Spirit is different.

It is when the Holy Spirit fills our mouths with spiritual words to speak.

How can we do that more?

Well, the Proverbs says, lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him.

What that means is everything you do, everything you say, ask God to guide you.

Ask God when you're having a conversation with someone.

Well, this is a really, really good thing to ask for.

Lord, fill me with your spirit that I might speak spiritual truth, that spiritual truth that encourages, spiritual truth that strengthens, spiritual truth that draws my brothers and sisters in Christ closer to Jesus, and those who are outside, my speech might be seasoned, as it were, with salt, that I might make the most of every opportunity, as it says in the book of Colossians.

Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And then secondly, number two, the Holy Spirit led Jesus throughout his ministry.

Now, Jesus didn't get up every morning and say, I wonder what I'm gonna do today.

You know, I think I'll uh go make some religious leaders mad for breakfast, and then for lunch, I'll probably feed 5,000, and then tonight, after it gets dark, I cannot wait.

I'm gonna freak the disciples out.

I'm gonna walk on water to them in the middle of a storm, and I can't wait to see their faces.

It's not how he operated.

Bible teaches us he often got away by himself in lonely places in prayer.

And as he was praying to God, he was seeking God's direction.

He was seeking God's will.

What's the next step?

What do you want me to do next?

Where are you leading me next?

The walking on water took place after Jesus prayed on a mountain by himself all night long.

The choosing of the twelve disciples took place after Jesus prayed all night long.

He was constantly seeking God's leading and his guidance.

And God led him in a variety of ways.

A, the Holy Spirit sometimes leads us through trials.

It's incredible.

When Jesus was baptized, the Bible says, as soon as he came up out of the water, the Spirit descended on him like a dove.

And the first thing that the Holy Spirit does to Jesus is he takes him right to the devil.

Matthew chapter 4, verse 1.

Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

The Spirit led Jesus to be tempted.

This left a mark on Jesus.

He remembered this.

And in the most famous prayer that's ever been prayed, he referenced this event when he said, lead us not, let me hear you say it, into temptation.

Why do you say lead us not into temptation?

Because he'd experienced it and it was no fun.

It was no good.

And so why would the Holy Spirit do this?

Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into this trial where he met face to face with the devil?

There's an interesting parallel with Jesus being led into the wilderness for 40 days and the Israelites being led through the wilderness for 40 years.

And after the Israelites came out of the wilderness, Moses was preaching to them, and Moses told them, Here is why you were led through the wilderness.

And church, here is why we are led through the wilderness as well.

Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2, it says, Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these 40 years to do two things.

Deuteronomy 8:2

To humble you.

Now God already knows what's in our hearts.

A lot of times we don't.

And when we go through that testing, it all comes out.

Worst test of my life.

Wife gets cancer and passes away.

And one of the things I learned about myself in that testing is that there was a lot of anger bubbling under the surface that I hadn't dealt with.

And it was spilling out.

If you've been here a while, you remember the incident with the mop.

Um I uh took out all my anger on a mop, uh, one of the janitor's mops, and uh I came to him and said, uh I broke the mop.

And he said, You broke the mop?

I broke the mop.

And offered him offered him to pay for it.

Offered to pay for it for him.

Um, I took out my anger on um hospital billing departments.

Uh we had our air conditioner was going bad and they couldn't get it right, and I was really, really angry about that.

And and I just realized um I'm not handling this well and I'm trying to control things.

And um it it is uh I've just got this anger that I have to let go.

And what testing does, one of the things it does is it realizes that almost there's almost nothing that's actually in your control.

But God holds us in his hands, and he is able to do anything, and he can lead us through the wilderness.

And so sometimes the Lord leads us through the trial, and he intentionally leads us into the trial, and then B, sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to new ministry opportunities.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit takes us to something completely unexpected.

The example of Acts chapter 16, the Apostle Paul wants to take the gospel to Asia, and the Holy Spirit comes to him and says, I'm you're not supposed to go to Asia.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Either it's not time, we don't really understand fully why he didn't want him to take the gospel to Asia.

But he said, Right now, the people that are prepared are in Macedonia.

You need to go to Macedonia.

And so Paul takes the gospel to Macedonia.

And great Macedonian churches were planted there, the church of Philippi, the church of Thessalonica.

Great ministry was done there.

Did you know that you realize I talked about this last week that God very rarely does the same thing twice?

How many times did God uh cause people to march around a city and to shout and the walls fell down?

How many times did that happen?

One time.

How many times were the Israelites in battle and uh God caused the sun to stand still so that they could finish this battle?

One time.

How many times did God bring a prophet to a valley of dry bones, and then all of a sudden the bones start rattling and they come together and the knee bones connected to the, you know, and uh uh then the sinew start forming over the bones and the muscles start forming over the bones, and all of a sudden all these bones rise up as a vast, vast army in the valley of dry bones.

How many times did this happen?

Once it says in the book of Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 18.

Isaiah 43:18

Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.

See, I'm doing a new thing.

Now it springs up.

Do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

And do you see that, church?

Do you see that God's doing that right now?

That you know, how how long has the church said, man, why can't we get the younger generation interested in the faith?

And today, the younger generation is interested in the faith.

He's making springs shoot up in the wasteland, in the desert.

He's always doing something new.

And as a church, we need to be look on the lookout for what new thing God is doing.

But the natural response is something new is uh, I don't like that.

I don't think I want that.

It doesn't sound like that's not the way we used to do things, you know, and that's not the things that I remember.

And when I came to the faith, this is what we did, and I want things to be the way it was when I came to the faith, and this new thing, you know, I'm just not interested in this new thing.

I hate change.

I hate change.

I love a good rut.

You give me a good rut, and I can I can be in that rut for 40 years.

Um I love stability and uh I love the same.

I love things to be expected.

I like to know what to expect.

And that's not how God leads people.

He leads people out of the rut.

So back in the 70s, um, before my time, the church I was at before I moved down to Georgia was in southern Illinois, and and uh they had an interesting history.

Um back in the 60s and 70s, the church was aging and uh um it was not passing the torch very well.

Um and so there were a couple young guys in the church.

One was named uh Gene Willison and the other one was named Charles Cox.

Does that sound familiar?

When in 2021, when we talked about buying this property and found out it was on Charles Cox Drive, I thought, you know, maybe there's something to this, maybe we should do this.

So Gene Willison and Charles Cox got together and and decided, you know, how can how can we impact the youth in our community?

And they found a church that was doing it well.

And they went over to that church and they they asked, what are they doing?

And uh how how are they doing it?

And they found out they had a van ministry and they would drive all over the town and and pick up kids and bring them to the church.

And so Gene and Charles said, Why don't we try that?

And so they knew it was gonna be an expense.

The church didn't have a whole lot of money, and they were gonna have to buy a van, and they were gonna need a whole lot of volunteers to run this van ministry, and it would be a lot of work.

And so they got the congregation together and brought the idea before the congregation, and immediately they were just met with resistance.

And one person said, It's gonna be too much money, we can't afford it.

Another person said, You bring all those kids in, they're gonna stay in the carpet, and they're gonna they're gonna make a mess of everything and they're gonna write on the walls.

And another person said, if you bring a bunch of kids in without their parents supervising them, you are asking for trouble.

And finally, one guy said something that has echoed through the walls of that church.

People have brought us this comment for the last 60 years.

He said this.

He said, We don't need a whole bunch of riffraff running around in this church.

Riffraff, you know.

But then in the mythology of Red Brush Christian Church, there was one older lady who stood up at that meeting and she had never been able to have kids, and everybody assumed that she was going to join the opposition.

And she stood up and said this if just one of these kids give their lives to Jesus, it will be worth all the trouble.

And overwhelmingly, the church approved this min ministry.

And this church went from being an aging church that was failing to pass the torch to this very day, they are known far and wide as a church that invests in the youth.

They have raised up so many ministers, so many of the riffraff came in, actually went into ministry, which ministers are riffraff, you know, for the most part.

Kind of an unwieldy.

Yeah.

I didn't ask for encouragement.

And uh they they've produced so many Bible college students, so many people they're they're doing ministry all over the place, and so many souls have been saved.

I mean, this church, it is an amazing church.

I don't know, they're running six or seven hundred now, two miles outside of a town of 1,300, and they're impacting the kingdom.

Because there was a little old lady who understood Jesus.

And she said, I'm gonna keep in step with the spirit, even if everybody else is poo-pooing the ideas.

I'm just gonna keep in step with the spirit.

The spirit always wants to lead his people somewhere new.

Always somewhere new.

The church has to be open to whatever new thing God introduces.

See, sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to bloom where we're planted.

John the Baptist is so fascinating.

I don't know if you've ever really studied John the Baptist, but he was unique.

He had the Holy Spirit from the time he was born.

And there's only a couple people in the Bible that that that can be said about.

Samson was another one.

Uh the Bible says he would have the Holy Spirit from birth.

And so John the Baptist, he became this voice, and he he gained this great following because his messages, his sermons were very seeker sensitive.

And uh, you know, um all of the all of the people that were a little weak in their faith, he was just really gentle.

That's not John the Baptist.

That is not John the Baptist.

John the Baptist preached a harsh message and he was level setting.

The Lord is coming, so straighten up.

This was his message.

In John chapter 3, verse 7, John said to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized, now, if there were people coming out to be baptized, hundreds of people coming out to be baptized, I'd be like, praise the Lord, hallelujah! This is amazing what God is doing.

John 3:7

And John the Baptist says to these crowds of people coming out to be baptized, you brood of vipers! Who warns you to flee from the coming wrath?

He said, Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, out of these stones God can raise up children of Abraham.

You're the chosen people, so what?

Repent.

The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

And so, even though his message was rough, the people just kept coming and kept coming.

He was he was more famous than any anyone in his day, as far as a prophet of God.

And so the people would come to him and say, You know, John, you seem a little bit upset.

What can we do?

What needs to happen here?

Verse 10, what should we do then?

The crowd asked.

John answered, the man with two tunics should share with the one who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.

Tax collectors also came to be baptized teacher, they asked, What should we do?

Don't collect any more than you're required to, he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, and what should we do?

He replied, Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely.

Be content with your pay.

Now it's so interesting that these tax collectors and these soldiers came to John and says, What do you want us to do?

And John doesn't say, Stop being soldiers and stop being tax collectors.

John says, Be better tax collectors, be better soldiers.

And a lot of times, that's where God starts with us.

We think, man, if God would just take me from where I am and plant somewhere else, then I'll really be able to flourish.

And God's message is I'm not going to take you from where you are and plant you anywhere else until you flourish here.

If you can't flourish here, there's a real good chance you won't be able to flourish somewhere else.

Bloom where you are planted.

God has given you the small things that He has put you in charge of right now.

And Jesus said, if you're faithful with these small things, you will be put in charge of larger things.

But if we're not faithful with the small position we have in life right now, we shouldn't expect God's going to put us in a grander position.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit is just leading us to stick it out and bloom where we are planted.

There's a poem by John Oxenham that gets across the point that wherever we find ourselves right now, God has put us where we are right now for his glory and for his purposes.

And in the poem he says, Is your place a small place?

Tend it with care, he set you there.

Is your place a large place?

Guard it with care, he set you there.

Whatever your place it is, not yours alone, but his, who set you there.

Jesus has you where he wants you.

His desire is that you would be filled with the Holy Spirit in all the conversations you have right now.

That the Holy Spirit would fill you in every conversation.

And that he would speak his spiritual truth, his healing words, his encouraging words, his life-changing words through you.

And that you would allow the Holy Spirit to lead you, that you don't get up in the morning and say, Well, what are what I'm going to do today?

But instead it would be, Lord, I'll go where you want me to go, I'll do what you want me to do, I'll say what you want me to say.

Lead me in the path that you have for me, the good works that you've created for me to do in advance.

Show me what those are today.

Let's break it.