Be Filled With The Spirit

Mark: Who's glad to be here today? Good, me too. Well, ⁓ Christy and I got away to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this past week. So special, know, Proverbs says, ⁓ he who finds a wife finds a good thing. And I got to tell you, man, I found a good one. I found a good one and I'm thankful for it. But I want to jump right in today to share what the Lord has given me to share with you today. I want to talk about the Spirit-empowered life. the Holy Spirit empowered life. We've been talking about new creation life since Easter, how when we're born again, that we quite literally leave an old life and we're actually born into a new life. Pastor Diego really hit on that a couple of weeks ago. If anyone is in Christ, remember, new creation. It's a proclamation over who you are, new creation. We're no longer who we once were. We leave an old life. and we're made new. How many are thankful that we aren't who we were? I'm not who I was. And so today I want to talk about the Holy Spirit. That should make you smile. Talk about the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit and how the new creation life is empowered by the very presence of God, the Holy Spirit. Apart from Him, just say this, apart from the Holy Spirit, the Christian life isn't just difficult. It's impossible. It's actually impossible. You can't do it. You cannot live it out without Him. Tell you this, if you haven't figured this out yet, willpower won't do it. Behavior modification won't do it. Trying harder will not do it. The realities of the new life only come through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit at work in you and through your life. It was the Holy Spirit who came after you when you were unsaved. He convicted you of your sin. He opened your eyes that you could see Jesus. How many know that until your eyes are opened, you can't see him. And when you believed, he actually came in and lived inside of you in that moment. Ephesians 1 says this, says, he sealed you actually, he marked you, and he is the guarantee. of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. How many are thankful for the Spirit of God? I am. He lives in every single believer because you're the temple of the Holy Spirit. That means this, when you show up, He shows up because He's in you. very same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is actually alive in you if you are a believer. And he not only saves us and he not only keeps us, but he empowers us to live the new creation life. And I've been praying, God, wake us up to this. Wake us up to the one who is inside of us. Wake us up to the realities of this new creation life. Wake us up that we don't do it on our own. Wake us up to the fact that we have the power of heaven living inside of us. breathing inside of us, active inside of us, awakening us, causing us to actually be able to live in the fullness of life. It's so good. So good. After his death and resurrection, ⁓ Jesus didn't say, you know, hey guys, I saved you. Good luck. Hope you can figure it out. See you in eternity. It's not what he said. No, he gave the promise of his presence. the Holy Spirit. In fact, the night before his death, in John 14, the night before his death, Jesus was with the disciples. ⁓ John 13 through John 17 is what we call the upper room discourse. And it's this extensive time of teaching that Jesus had with his disciples just before he would go to the cross. And he said this, I want us to look at John chapter 14, starting with verse 16. Jesus says this. He says, I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells within you and will be in you. Now, do you see what? One of the things that Jesus is pointing out here, do you see that the Spirit is not an it? The Spirit is not an it, but a person. How do we know this? Because Jesus says four times here, He, He, He, He will. He's not just some sort of energy force out there somewhere. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is a person. Verse 25, he says this, but the helper, the helper, other translations say the advocate. The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he get this, will teach you all things. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Turn to somebody and tell them you have a helper. You have a helper. You have a helper. Now, many of us have have worked through this passage before, but I want us just to remind us that this Greek word here for helper, for advocate is this Greek word, parakletos. And it's a compound word of two Greek words, para and kaleo. And the first part, para, means this, to come alongside very close. To come alongside very close. And then the second part is the kaleo, and it means this, to beckon or to call. It's to summons, even to confront. So there's this gentle side and there's this more in your face side. Do you have friends like that? Right? I think the best friends are the friends like that, that can actually be comforting, that can also tell you the truth. This is who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit does both. He comes alongside us with help. How many thankful for help? He comes alongside with comfort and with strength, but he also confronts us with the truth. He comforts us and he corrects us. He's the one who convicts us when we sin, but he's also the one who reminds us who we are when our hearts condemn us. So in other words, he's so close with us. He's in us and he's there to release the comfort and the encouragement that we need. And he's also there in the moments when our hearts are condemning us. And he's like, no, no, no, you're bought with a price by the blood of Jesus. You're not who you were. Come on, this is the way walk in it. He confronts and He comforts. Other translations call Him the counselor, call Him comforter, encourager, intercessor. What Jesus is saying here is He's saying the Holy Spirit is permanently called alongside every believer, not just near you, but very close in you and with you. Could we actually just take a minute? And can we lift our hands and just welcome the Holy Spirit? Just out loud, could you just do it? Just let's offer that prayer up. Holy Spirit, we just welcome you. We just invite you. I'm not gonna talk about you like you're not in the room. We just invite you to come right now. Come and just begin to speak like the voice of many waters. All over this place, we welcome you. We need you, come in your nearness, come and say the things that we need. We need to hear today. Say the things that I'm not even gonna say. We just welcome you. In Jesus' name we welcome you. Yeah. Amen. Amen. ⁓ He comes to guide us, He comes to teach us, He comes to strengthen us, He comes to comfort us, He comes to lead you. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. And guess what? He's not leaving. Because Jesus is not leaving. This is the promise, this is the word, we just read it, He will be with you forever. Guess what? He's going to be with you forever. Forever. Some of you think he left you, he didn't leave you. You might have left him, but he didn't leave you. Some of you have come in here today, you feel like you've done something, the impartable sin. I want to tell you, every person I meet that thinks they've done that, they haven't done it because they're concerned about it. That lie needs to break off of you today. He's not leaving, he'll be with you forever. And we just read it, he will teach you all things, all things. And bring to your remembrance all the words of Jesus. But I want you to consider this, that's a pretty powerful promise. He'll bring to your remembrance all the words of Jesus. But consider this, if there's no word in you, There's nothing for him to bring back to your mind. Okay? We can't expect supernatural recall while neglecting the Scriptures. Okay? Holy Spirit wants to work with the words of Jesus that he spoke to us. He was talking to the disciples, he talks to us, how do we get his words in us now? The Bible, from the front to the back. As this word goes in us, even if you don't understand it in a moment or recall it in a moment, he will cause us to recall what Jesus has said, the words of the Lord. If we constantly fill our minds with everything except the words of Jesus in the scripture, we shouldn't be surprised when our hearts feel spiritually weak. But he will open our eyes and he will give revelation into the word of God and he will teach us all things. You think chat GBT is great, Holy Spirit is greater. Right? You know, the other night we were with some friends and a little kid that was at our house, had an accident on one of our leather chairs. And it was quite an accident. It went ⁓ liquid everywhere. I won't go into more detail than that. And as this happened, know, our daughter's like, what do do? And a friend that was with us immediately grabbed his phone. and he put into Chat GPT and Chat gave us step-by-step instructions of what to do with that situation. I mean, it was quite amazing actually. We were like, okay, that's what we'll do. And guess what? It worked. It fixed it. It dealt with it. But church, some of us consult Chat GPT way more than we consult the Holy Spirit. Come on. We ask Google everything about everything. We research and we consume endless information, but do we stop long enough to ask, Holy Spirit, what are you saying? I'm thankful for technology. I'm not dissing it. I'm just saying that it's easy to depend on something other than the Lord. And I wonder sometimes if we're looking to this and we're looking to that and everything else and stop and just say, hey, he wants to teach you all things. The spirit of truth that has got way more truth than Google or chat GPT, we have a plumb line to heaven to hear the words of truth and life through the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. What does this mean? Holy Spirit will counsel you. He will counsel you. He will convict you. He will lead you. He will guide you. There are moments that we turn to other things for our answers. And it's like, wait a minute. Remember who lives inside of you. Remember he's there. He'll tenderly cause your heart to soften. He will tenderize your heart. He will cause your heart to burn for Jesus. Chet GPT can't do that. Google can't do that. And if we rely, I think, on technology or anything else more than we rely on the Holy Spirit, we're going to end up with a counterfeit. He is the living, breathing presence of God on the earth. And guess what he wants? He wants relationship. He wants relationship. wants us to talk with him. When you open scripture, he doesn't want you just to read scripture alone. The Spirit of God wants to illuminate the Word of God to you. I'll tell you what, you put yourself before the Word of God, you open the Word of God and you begin to read and you say, Holy Spirit, speak to me. I want to tell you, he will speak to you. You're coming to this worship service on Sunday morning. Don't ever come in here not with a heart that's actually open and responding to the Lord and saying, Holy Spirit, speak to me today. I don't know what that preacher is going to preach, but I know you're going to preach to me. Right? Like you come into worship. I'll tell you what, when you come in with that heart of Holy Spirit, I'm in relationship with you as I worship. Would you just begin to speak to me? Would you begin to call me up? Would you begin to show me what you want to show me? He will do that. When you're driving down the road, Holy Spirit wants to talk with you. Okay, this is good. A chapters later, John 16, seven, Jesus says this in that same setting with the disciples. He says, I tell you the truth. He says, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, Jesus says, the helper will not come to you. said, but if I go, I will send him to you. Verse 13, when the spirit of truth comes, He will guide you," he says it again, "'into all the truth, all the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare it to you, the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.'" It's pretty profound, isn't it? This is the one that lives inside of us. This is the presence. of the Lord. Here's what we know about the Holy Spirit from what we just read. He always glorifies Jesus. He's always glorifying Jesus. He's always pointing to Jesus. He's always revealing Jesus. That's his whole thing to reveal Jesus. He's the spirit of truth. He always guides us into truth. Holy Spirit will never lead you off course. He always leads us into truth. It's the Holy Spirit that warns you about people that you shouldn't be in a relationship with. I wanna say that again. Holy Spirit will warn you about people you should not be in a relationship with. Holy Spirit will warn you about danger that is ahead, but we have to learn to tune our ear to His voice. Because I'll tell you what. I don't know if you're like this, but if you go and you're telling somebody really good advice, have you ever done this before? You give them good advice, listen to me, listen to me, and after 10 times they never do a thing with what you say, I'm not talking to you anymore. Now I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit will stop talking to you, but you will not hear him if you continue to say, I don't wanna listen to what you're saying. And the Holy Spirit, I'm convinced of this, that you know that moment where you have that like, ugh, something's off? That's the Holy Spirit. Like, something's off. I don't know what's off, but something's off. Okay, Holy Spirit, what is that? Talk to me. Share with me. But sometimes we ignore that because we just want what we think we want. He's like, hold on, I got something better for you. I think this is good preaching, I don't know. It's the Holy Spirit that'll warn you don't go down that path. Don't go down that path. Don't do that business deal. Don't take that job. Don't partner with that thing. It's the Holy Spirit who convicts you when you're believing lies. Because He will illuminate truth. This is what He does. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. That's what Jesus said, right? Think about it like this. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Let's think about this. I don't know if this is totally legal, but I'm going to say it like this. You shall know the truth, the truth, you shall know the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit shall set you free. Why? Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Okay. Do see this connection? This is There's freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is. There's freedom from bondage. I want to tell you this. There's freedom from shame in the Holy Spirit. There's freedom from torment. There's freedom from addiction, from oppressive thoughts that we've just kind of recognized as part of normal in our life. I want to tell you the Holy Spirit says, no, that's not normal. I want you free from those things. Some people have settled to live with bondage and internal torment as though it is normal Christianity. And I'm telling you, the Holy Spirit wants to rise up and say, no, enough is enough. Get out of that person. Get out of that person's mind. Get out of that person's heart. I'm here to tell you today that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We need the Holy Spirit. Confusion cannot remain where the Holy Spirit rules and reigns. It can't because He's the Spirit of truth and truth and confusion do not go together. If you're in a place of deep confusion, I wanna tell you, you gotta come back to truth and the truth is through the Spirit of God. He will lead you, He will guide you, He will speak to you. say like this, the Holy Spirit is not just a doctrine to believe. I think that often we sort of approach Him like that. It's the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I want to tell you, He is the very real and accessible presence and power of Jesus Christ for His people. The Holy Spirit is far more than a charismatic excitement. He is the source of power to live the new life, and He is here today. He's in this place. You you look at the early church in the book of Acts and you recognize that there is this chasm between what we see in them and oftentimes what we see in the modern church. And I think this is where the chasm is. They were utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Like all through Acts, I mean, there was an utter dependence upon the power of God. They didn't have chachi PT. They didn't have Google. They didn't have cell phones. They didn't have, you know, they didn't have all this stuff. They were just, it was just Holy Spirit. And I wonder with all the gifts that we have and all this stuff, if sometimes we rely on all this stuff instead of relying on the power of God. What we can do. I mean, they didn't have electricity. Think about it. But they had power. The Holy Spirit wasn't a theological concept to be argued. I'm not talking, I'm not saying that there isn't a place for intentional discourse about theological matters. There is, absolutely. But the third person of the Godhead was the presence of Jesus on the earth, and their lives and their very mission depended upon Him. It was Holy Spirit or nothing. And Paul said to the Corinthians, you you remember what he said. He said, my speech, he said in my message, weren't with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit, right? Do we have that scripture there? 1 Corinthians 2, 4, a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. He said, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now we live in a generation and we're all in that generation, every age that's alive on the earth right now that is drowning in information, but we are starving for transformation. People do not need another inspirational talk. We need an encounter with the living God. See information, it can educate you, but it's only the Holy Spirit that can actually transform you. And we've got a lot of talk, a lot of ideas, a lot of opinions, but man, church, we need the power, transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Paul understood this. If your faith is built on human wisdom, it's eventually gonna collapse. And we see this happening all over with deconstruction and all the things, but if it rests in the power of God, it will transform you from the inside out. From the inside our church, we need the Holy Spirit. I need Him. We need Him. And I'd like to suggest to you today that there is always more. That there is always, always more. I love the story of this pastor that I've shared a time or two over the years. But he tells of somebody coming up to him after one of his messages on being filled with the Spirit. And I can just sort of imagine this because I feel like something like this has happened to me before. But this person comes up to him after he preaches this message and he says, he says, I was baptized with the Spirit at conversion, so there's nothing more for me to seek because I've got it all. And this pastor's response to them was, you've got it all? Well, if you've got it all, I simply ask he said, why are you as you are? If you got it all, why are you so unlike the apostles? Why are you so unlike the New Testament Christians? Like, I don't know about you guys, but I don't have it all. But I want it all. I want us to be a church that comes with that posture that says, we don't have it all, but we want as much of God as we can have. We want as much of Him as we can have. See, you know what happens with religion and this is a danger for us in a city like ours. It's kind of a mecca of religion, but religion is wherever you get settled into a false complacency. Right? Like you get settled into like, this is that, you know? But do you know what attracts God? Humility. Humility attracts God. It attracts the resources of heaven. Hunger. attracts the resources of heaven. The cry, I need you. It attracts him. I've been following the Lord for 35 years. I mean, I've loved the Lord for at least 35 years, maybe more. And do know what I feel like? I feel like I'm just starting. I've been married for 25 years and I feel like I'm just starting to learn what it is to love my wife as Jesus loved the church. Like this is the posture we need to have. I don't have it all. I don't know it all. I didn't get it all. I want all that he has. This is what moves God. What moves God is someone who is not strong in their own strength, but is utterly dependent upon Him. Who from the depths of them cries out, I'm weak, I'm not strong, I need you. I need you. Does anybody feel that way today? I need you. I think it's why Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit. There's is the kingdom. of God, blessed are those who recognize their need, their need. Blessed are those who recognize, I've got the Spirit of God living in me. I'm powerful, but I need Him. And I need Him to rise up within me. John the Baptist, he said this about Jesus in Matthew chapter three, verse 11. He said, baptize you with water for repentance. He's talking about the people there that he was baptizing, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He, talking about Jesus, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Everybody say fire. Fire. All four gospels, they repeat that. Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. It's said like six times in scripture. How many know when something's repeated like six times, we should pay attention? After his death and his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and He says this to them in Luke 24. He gives them this promise. So He's reiterating now the teaching that He gave in that upper room discourse from that night before He was crucified. Now this is weeks later as He appeared to them after His death and resurrection. And He says this to them. He says, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. I'm sending you another words, but don't try and go out without the power. Now we've read that scripture many times. Probably many of us have read it since we were kids in Sunday school. I want to tell you, may this never be just another verse to us. May it be ⁓ a revelation and a reality in our lives. I think that's a word for us. Don't go without. power. Why? You'll dry up. You'll shrivel up. You'll get burned out. Because why? You can't live the new creation life without the power of the Holy Ghost. If you want to live for Him and you want to live for the kingdom of God, you have to have the power. Acts 1, Jesus tells the disciples again, verse 4, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. Verse 5, look at this, for John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So he's reiterating what John prophesied would happen, is about to happen. In verse 8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. in all of Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Church, Jesus gives power to the disciples for the same reason that Jesus gives power to us today. It's not just to feel good. Jesus gives power for witness. Okay, I want you to get this. He gives power for witness. The Holy Spirit empowers ordinary people in order to reveal Jesus everywhere you go. Did you know that when you leave here today, you're to reveal Jesus wherever you go? Your lifestyle, your words are to reveal Jesus. Your decisions that you make in business are to reveal Jesus. Your life choices get to reveal who He is. We think of witnessing as a track. These are the realities of the witness. The Holy Spirit doesn't merely empower preachers on platforms. Some of the greatest platforms that are represented in this room are in the classroom. Some of the greatest platforms represented right here in this room, all of you are in the operating rooms, are at the coffee shops, are at the construction sites. Are you following me? Like I want us to break out of the idea of all of this in this compartment of church alone or in your quiet time or in a prayer time. The kingdom of God wants to break out of us everywhere we go. Everywhere we go. For some of us, maybe the greatest platform that he wants to show up on is the family table. Or he just begins to show up. The business that you lead, the neighborhood that you live in, he comes upon ordinary people in ordinary places for kingdom purposes. This is what happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. So Jesus is prophesying what's going to happen and then it's coming. And you hear the word Pentecost and we often think about a denomination, Pentecostal, but Pentecost isn't about the birth of a denomination. It was the birth of a movement of the spirit-filled people that would turn the world upside down. Pentecost is not merely an event to remember or to admire. It's an invitation into a spirit-empowered life. Not just for the church in the first century, but the church in every generation that's ever been and every generation that will come. It is for us. I don't know that we need another Pentecost, we just need the reality of the one that took place. We need an awakening and an outpouring and a touch from heaven in a way that actually just we step into what's already been given to us. And what we see on the day of Pentecost is that it reveals the more of God, the more of Him that's available to us now that we so desperately need, whether we realize it or not. Believe it, what our culture, what our cities actually need is an encounter with a church. an encounter with a people, the people of God that have been baptized in the Holy Spirit with fire who are actually full of boldness, who are actually full of the power of God, Jesus likeness that walk with the authority to address the problems and the issues that are before us. I say it like this, we don't just need another church with religious services doing nice things. We need a church that's hungry for the things of God. filled with the Spirit of God, led by the Spirit of God. Acts 2 says they gathered together. Most of us have heard this many times. They gathered in that upper room, 120 of them. They're praying. They're waiting. Talk about no electricity. They didn't have any, so apparently they lit candles. They're hungry though. They're hungry. They wanted God. They were waiting on God. And it says there in verse two, it says, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Wouldn't you just love to have been there? It would have been also terrifying. and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you see that? All filled and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now you think about this. Here's these 120 people. Jesus has left them, died, was resurrected, ascended into heaven. And there they are. probably a bit disillusioned. What's going on? They don't have the scriptural understanding like we do today where we can, oh, that's what happened. They were living in it. And there they are. 120 ordinary people, not just Peter, not just the apostles, not just leaders. And fire rusted on each of them. And they were all filled, not just the apostles, all of them. 120. Everybody say all filled. They were all filled. Verse 12, large crowds gather. People are amazed. know, some people mocked them. They're drunk. Peter stands up and says, these people aren't drunk. It's only nine in the morning. What you're seeing happen is what the prophet Joel said was coming and it's here. And what's so wild is that the same Peter who once denied Jesus now boldly proclaims him. Why? because the Holy Spirit transforms people. That fire that rested upon Peter in the upper room, it actually did a powerful work. Baptism in the Spirit. I just want to be clear on this. It isn't just about, you know, getting emotional. Can I hear an amen on that? It isn't just about making services more lively. It's the prerequisite to being full of God. and doing what you could never do on your own without Him. The power of the Spirit enables you to do what you could actually never do. Holy Spirit takes shame-filled, wimpy people and turns them into lions. He And Peter's here and he preaches to this crowd with boldness. And it says this in verse 37. This was the fruit of his preaching. Now, when they heard this, it says that they were cut to the heart, cut to the heart. And they asked Peter, what shall we do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. Church, I want to say this is the message. Repent and be best be baptized. And that message hasn't changed. And here's what I say, we can't water it down. There's a generation right now that is walking in darkness, heading for disaster, but Jesus wants to rescue them. And the message is the same. Verse 38, repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And look what will happen. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off. This promise is for every believer without exception. How many thankful that it's not for a certain class of people, a certain super spiritual people, it's for everyone. And what it says is that that day about 3000 people made decisions to follow Jesus. And the church in that moment is baptized in the Holy Spirit and clothed with power. The baptism of the Holy Spirit isn't only for speaking in tongues. It's part of it. It's about the Holy Spirit resting upon believers in power. Power for witness, power to be holy, power for boldness, power for transformation. He is, Holy Spirit is the transforming power of the kingdom of God. Now you think about it. Think about it, the fruit of the Spirit, right? The fruit of what? The Spirit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. What is it? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Do you know when the self-control is the fruit of something, the Holy Spirit's involved? When you say no to that cookie, I'm not bringing cookies up again. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. Do you know how many people have given me cookies since that? I'm like, they missed the point of that message. Anyways, if you weren't there, I'm sorry. It's a long story. I can't get into it today. Those things are the fruit of His work in your life. Do know what that's called? That's called transformation. The kind of transformation that you actually cannot manufacture on your own. It's actually an inside job. It's an inside job that then begins to flow out. If you try and do it from the outside, it doesn't work. You might look like it's working. It doesn't. It's an inside job. Out of you flows the realities of Jesus so that wherever you go, He goes. Wherever you show up, Jesus shows up. Because the presence of Jesus is in you and with you. When you get squeezed, Jesus comes out. How many would just love it when you get squeezed that Jesus would come out instead of those other words? instead of that other stuff. You get squeezed, just Jesus comes out. That's the work of the Spirit of God. Power to be His witnesses. And it doesn't just touch us in here or only in here. It actually empowers us out there. Out there. I want to close with this. So whoever's coming can come and play. But Ephesians 5 18. It's one of my favorites. Paul says this, do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Can we just say be filled with the Spirit? Be filled with the Spirit. Don't get drunk with wine. How many know that Being drunk with wine. will lead you to bad places. I don't think he's only talking about wine here. I think he's talking about anything that would take the place of what the Holy Spirit's intended to take place, to fill. Don't get drunk with wine. Don't fill the ache of your life, the emptiness of your life with wine or whatever the vice might be, whether it's over drinking, whether it's over eating, whether it's over working. right, or numbing your life on media or substances instead of going to God. The call is don't get drunk on all that. Be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. You know, people often run to other things to medicate what only the presence of God can fill. I'm telling you, be filled with the Spirit. In the original language, it literally means keep being filled. Keep being filled. It's an endless See, religion, religion actually makes you want to make it about an encounter you had 10 or 20 years ago. If the last encounter you had with the Holy Spirit was 10 or 20 years ago, it's time for something new. Okay, ⁓ back when I was here, this happened. Yes, that's an important thing to remember. You should tell that story, but it can't just be only about looking back. The command is be filled. The command is be continually filled. The disciples were filled on the day of Pentecost in Acts four, or in Acts two, but they were actually filled again in Acts four. It says they were praying again together. How many know that something happens when the church prays together? They were praying together and it says that when they prayed, the place where they were shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the word of God with boldness. I'd like to suggest to you today that this isn't a one-time filling, but a continual filling. And man, we need the church full of the Holy Spirit. We just do. They needed to be refilled. Why? Because they'd been pouring out. They'd hit opposition. They'd hit difficulty. Have you ever hit difficulty in your life? Have you ever hit opposition? I think it was A.W. Tozer, heard talking about this in a little sermon I heard of his, and he says, we leak. He said, we leak. The design is be filled, pour out, refill, pour out. Needing refilling isn't a sign of a problem, it's a sign that you're releasing the flow of heaven for your life. Regardless of the reason that you need to be filled again, church, the posture of saying, God, I need you today, fill me fresh. I'm telling you what, he loves to come and just invade that cry. He loves to just come and fill you. I'll tell you this, we cannot fill ourselves with the Spirit, only God can fill us. We can't control, we can't manipulate God to do it. But guess what? We do have a role in this command or we wouldn't be commanded. You get that? Be filled. It's a command. So what's our role? I think it's three parts. This is what I'm going to close with. the first is this, decide. Decide that you want to be filled. I'm going just ask you this right now. This is how I'm closing. Decide, decide that you want to be filled. You might be sitting there, maybe people here are saying, I don't want any of that. You don't have to take it. But I want to encourage you, make a decision. Lord, I need you. I need you to fill me. Second thing I say, confess. Anything that we might have in our lives that might be in the way of being filled. Do know that sometimes there things going on in our life that are actually a kink in the hose to a fresh filling. There are things, know, Peter says this in Acts 3, he was preaching again, he said, and turn, the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. There has to be a repenting, there has to be a turning. So we confess our sins, we confess things that have been in the way that say, hey, I don't want this to hold up the flow of God in my life. I don't want to quench the Holy Spirit. It might be something very small. It might be something that's very big. I don't know what it is, but I believe that if we want more of God, we have to make a decision. We have to confess. We have to repent in turn. And the third thing is this ask. Just ask. How many know we don't have to sit and strive for it? We can just ask. The father doesn't give stones when his children ask for bread. He doesn't give a serpent when his children ask for a fish. Jesus said that. said, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for Him? I think it's very simple. Decide, confess, and ask. Stand with me this morning. How many would say this? I'm hungry for more of God, or I want to be hungry for more of God? How many would lift your hand and be honest about that? Don't do it for me. Just, in fact, close your eyes and just lift your hands to heaven. If that's you, if you say, I am hungry for God. or I want to be hungry for God, I need hunger. And just for one moment, I want us to lift our voices right now, church. If you pray in tongues, you can pray in tongues right now. If you pray in English, pray in English. And we're just gonna invite him to come right now. Just ask him to make you hungry. Come on, church. Can we do it out loud together today? Come on, just lift up hunger. Just say, Jesus, I wanna be hungry. Maybe you're not hungry. Just say, I'm not hungry. I need you. ⁓ Just make that decision right now. Decide. Do you want to be filled? Just keep your hands lifted up right now. It's just a posture before the Lord, just saying, God, come. And right now, even if the Holy Spirit is revealing anything that you just need to repent of or get out of your life, just begin to bring that before God and turn from it. Turn from the ways of the world right now. Just confess it in your heart. Just quietly before the Lord. Just confess that thing. Turn from that thing. Anything that would quench the Holy Spirit, anything that would cause there to be a blockage of some sort that stands between you and him, just confess it. ⁓ The times of refreshing may come. We're just going to, again, one more time, just ask him. Just say, fill me fresh. Fill me fresh. Just keep your hands lifted. I want to ask ministry team to just sneak, sneak out of where you are, come to the front. We're going to pray for people, but just keep your hands lifted. Just this posture. Get up. We just welcome the heavens to open. Just be open over this place right now. Come on church, just let's break out of church mode right now and just welcome Him. We welcome you, Holy Spirit.

John 14 · chapter mention