Being a Spirit-Filled Church

Okay, good morning. If you are new to Watermark, my name is Kevin. I'm one of the leaders here.

It's great to see you and to be with you this morning.

Now, if you're new, you might not know, but the last four weeks we've been working through the latter part of 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14.

And the reason is because this is possibly the New Testament's most concise teaching on the spiritual gifts,

what the Bible has to say about spiritual gifts.

And the reason we've been doing that is because as a church we want to grow in both our understanding, our theology,

but also our practice, our usage of spiritual gifts.

But we want to be a church that's governed by God's Word.

We want to be controlled by what God says, not by culture or what any people say.

So we've been looking at the Scriptures, right?

But there is a challenge.

And the challenge is that although 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 has a lot to say about spiritual gifts,

it's actually, spiritual gifts is a very small part of the entire Bible's teaching

about the work and the ministry of and the person of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, when we think of what does it mean to be a Spirit-filled church,

a Spirit-dependent church, a church that's walking in step with the Spirit,

living by the Spirit, dependent of the Spirit,

being transformed and renewed by the person and the ministry of the Holy Spirit,

spiritual gifts, such as what we've been talking about,

is a very small percentage of that, maybe less than 10% of the Bible's teaching.

And so the question remains, well, we want to be a Spirit-dependent church,

a church that's filled with God's Spirit and walking and dependent on Him.

What does that mean in its totality?

And so this morning, what I want us to do is to close off this kind of mini-series

by looking at a lot more of the Bible's teaching.

What does it look like when a church or a group of people, an individual,

encounters God, the Holy Spirit, in a profound and wonderful way?

And so that's what we're going to look at today.

And we're going to do that by looking at Acts chapter 1 and 2.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And so I'm going to pray for us, and then Alan and Kat are going to come read God's Word.

Let me pray for us, and then we'll dive in.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, wonderful Spirit of God,

we come before you this morning because we want you to speak to us.

Lord, as Alan and Kat read your Word to us, won't you speak to us?

Let these words go deep in our heart.

May we see something of who you are and who we are in you.

May we see what it means to be a church that is wholly dependent on you

and filled with you and walking with you.

And God wants you to call us to become the kind of church that you want us to be.

So Spirit of God, I ask you, come and speak to us through your Word.

In your wonderful and gracious name, amen.

Let's listen to the reading of God's Word.

Today's scripture reading comes from Acts chapter 1 to 2.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

You can follow along on the screen your Bibles or the bulletin.

So when they had come together, they asked him,

Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them,

It is not for you to know times or season that the Father has fixed by his own authority,

but you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria

and to the end of the earth.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, when they were all together in one place,

and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind,

and it filled the entire house where they were sitting,

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

and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them.

Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,

let this be known to you and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk as you suppose,

since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

And in the last days it shall be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord

shall be saved.

Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God

with mighty works and wonders,

and signs that God did through him in your midst.

As you yourself know,

this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,

you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, losing the pangs of death,

because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

This Jesus raised up, and of that we are all witnesses,

being therefore exalted on the right hand of God.

And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit,

he has poured out this,

that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens,

but he himself says,

The Lord said to my Lord,

Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain

that God has made him both Lord and Christ,

this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now when they heard this,

they were cut to the heart

and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,

Brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them,

Repent and be baptized,

every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ,

for the forgiveness of your sins,

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is for you and for your children

and for all who are far off,

everyone whom the Lord our God calls himself.

And with many other words he bore witness

and continued to exhort them,

saying,

Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

So those who received his word were baptized

and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching

and the fellowship,

to the breaking of bread and the prayers,

and all came upon every soul,

and many wonders and signs were being done

through the apostles.

And all who believed were together

and had all things in common,

and they were selling their possessions and belongings

and distributing the proceeds to all

as any had need.

And day by day,

attending the temple together

and breaking bread in their homes,

they received their food

with glad and generous hearts,

praising God and having favor

with all the people.

And the Lord added to the number,

day by day,

those who were being saved.

This is the word of God.

Okay, thank you, Ellen and Kat.

Many years ago,

I was in a conversation with somebody

and he made a comment

about a certain church,

or denomination,

type of churches,

a group of churches,

and his comment was this.

He said,

those churches are so dead

that the Holy Spirit probably falls asleep

when he walks through the door.

And I remember being taken aback

by the comment for two reasons.

The first one is,

it came across as quite opinionated,

quite arrogant,

as if to say,

the Holy Spirit loves out kinds of churches,

but those churches he doesn't.

But the other reason was,

I actually had family members

that were part of that denomination.

And I remember hearing stories

at that time

of God really moving powerfully

in those churches

and changing people's lives

and bringing people to saving faith.

And so the comment struck me as,

not only opinionated,

but just not true.

But it raises the question,

what does it look like

for a church to be filled of the Spirit?

What does the Spirit-filled church look like?

Well, in order to do that,

we're gonna look at Acts,

chapter one and two.

And you'll remember

how the book of Acts starts off.

Jesus tells his apostles,

his disciples,

to wait in Jerusalem

until the promise of the Holy Spirit

is given to them.

This was a promise

that the prophets in the Old Testament

had spoken about.

And John the Baptist,

the final of the Old Testament prophets,

in a sense says,

I baptize you with water,

but there will come one after me

who will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit.

And so Jesus says,

wait and pray

for that day to happen.

And so the disciples do.

They wait and they pray

for 10 whole days.

We've got prayer meeting this Thursday.

It won't go on for 10 days,

I promise you.

But that's what they do.

For 10 days they're praying

and eventually on the day of Pentecost,

God delivers on his promise

and he pours out his Spirit

in a most powerful and amazing way.

And on that day,

the New Testament church is born.

So what does the New Testament church look like?

What does the Spirit-filled church look like?

Well, I want us just to think

about a couple of things.

And the first one is this.

The first mark,

the Spirit's presence and power

upon a church or an individual

is a profound sense of awe

and reverence for the majesty of God.

A profound sense of awe.

When God's Spirit comes upon us,

there's a profound sense of awe and majesty.

We see this throughout the book of Acts

and throughout the Bible,

that when God's people,

either an individual or a church,

encounters the living God,

the first response is not light-hearted laughter

or kind of soppy emotionalism.

It's a profound sense of awe

and arrestation,

a profound sense of being in the presence

of one infinitely mightier

and more majestic

and categorically different

from anything we had ever experienced

or seen or witnessed before.

And it's like God's presence arrests us.

I don't know if you've ever had an experience like this

in another setting.

Maybe you are,

I was thinking about if you're walking on the mountain,

the peak,

or you're hiking maybe at night

and you hear a rustle in the bushes, right?

And you freeze.

Or maybe you see a snake,

you know,

on the side of the path.

And the first thing is you freeze, right?

Even if you don't want to,

you're just frozen with fright.

When God's Spirit comes upon a people,

a person,

there's a sense that it arrests us.

We don't just go on with life as normal.

There's no arresting that takes place

in almost fear and dread

in light of the awesomeness

and the majesty

of whose presence we are.

I think we see something of that

in Acts chapter 2 here

Acts 2 · chapter mention

when the Spirit is poured out on the disciples

and Peter is filled with the Spirit.

He stands up and he preaches the gospel.

He tells them about Jesus.

And look what it says.

Look at verse 37.

It says,

Now when they heard his words,

they were cut to the heart.

That means they were seized.

They were taken a hold of.

And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,

Brothers, what must we do?

It's like they don't just go on with life.

Nobody goes to the coffee station afterwards

and says,

Nice sermon, pastor.

Good job today.

They cry out,

Tell us what we must do.

Something's got to change.

How do we get saved

in light of what you've told us?

And Peter says,

Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And look at verse 43.

It says,

And awe came upon every soul.

This deep reverence.

This life had changed

because they'd encountered the living God.

You know,

Ray Ortlund tells this story.

Ray Ortlund's one of my heroes.

And he tells this story

when he was a teenager.

His dad was a pastor.

And sometimes he'd be in church

and his dad would be preaching.

And it was a pretty conservative,

respectable church in North America.

And he says,

Sometimes during his dad's sermon,

the middle of the sermon,

there'd be such a profound sense

of God's majesty in the room

that respectable, honorable,

suit and tie wearing members

of the congregation

would gently get up from their seats

and walk down the aisle

to the front of the hall

and before the piano

would just get down on their knees

and weep.

The weep in the presence of majesty

as the eyes were opened

to see who God is.

I think the closest thing

that I've ever come to this

was actually just a few weeks ago.

I don't know if you remember,

four or five weeks ago,

we were looking at Isaiah chapter six

and I'd been meditating on it

the whole week

and my heart was full

of this passage

of the majesty

and the glory of God.

And afterwards,

Alan led us in a song,

that song,

Holy Forever.

And as we were singing this song,

I was standing over here

and I was filled

with such a sense

of the sheer glory

and majesty of God

that there's almost a sense

I was afraid of my life.

And actually,

I was standing over here

and I kept on taking

a step further back

and another step back

and I kept on walking back

until I bumped into the chairs.

There's kind of a sense of,

I didn't want to get too close.

I kind of was aware

of my brokenness

and my depravity

and God's majesty

and I thought,

if I'm not careful,

I don't know if I'm going to get

out of this room alive.

There's such a sense

of the awe,

the transcendence,

the glory of God.

And that's what happens

when God's people

encounter the Spirit of God.

There's not a frivolity to it.

There's a transcendence,

a power,

a reverence

to the majesty

and the glory of God.

And we see this again

in Revelation, right?

John encounters God

and he falls down

as though dead.

Seeing God,

he's astounded

by his majesty.

What does the

Spirit-filled church look like?

Yes, there's joy.

Yes, there's contentment.

Yes, there's peace.

But there's a profound sense

of awe and reverence

in the sheer majesty

and glory of God.

But then,

and that leads us

to the second thing.

The second distinction

of the Spirit-filled church

is deep repentance.

Look at our passage here.

Look at verse 37

and onwards.

Look what happens here.

Jeremy spoke about this

a few minutes ago.

It says,

when they heard this

they were cut to the hearts

and they said to Peter

and the apostles,

brothers,

what shall we do?

In other words,

what must we do to be saved?

And Peter said to them,

repent and be baptized

every one of you

in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ

for the forgiveness

of your sins.

You will receive the gift

of the Holy Spirit

for the promise

is for you

and for your children,

for all who are far off,

everyone whom the Lord

our God calls.

And with many words

he bore witness

and continued to exhort them,

saying save yourselves

from this crooked generation.

And so those who received

his word were baptized.

Friends,

when God moves upon a church,

when God's spirit

moves upon a church,

there's always profound

and deep repentance.

Now,

if you're new to church

this morning,

that word repentance

may,

you may not be familiar with it.

And it may sound quite strange.

It may sound like

a very heavy word.

You may think

when the church talks

about repentance

we're talking about

shaming you

and guilt tripping you

and making you feel bad.

And you may feel like

I feel bad enough

about life as it is

and now I come to church

and you make me feel

even worse.

Thanks very much.

But actually,

that's not the point at all.

When the Bible

talks about repentance,

it's actually the opposite

of what we often think.

The Bible's call

to invitation

is always an invitation

to life,

to freedom,

to peace,

to life

in all this fullness.

in John Bunyan's book,

John Bunyan wrote a book

called The Pilgrim's Progress

about 400 years ago.

And in this book,

it's an analogy

of a man who goes

on this journey.

He comes to faith in Christ

and it's his spiritual journey

through life.

But in the beginning

of this book,

this man,

his name's Christian,

he has this profound

burden on his back.

It's this picture

of a backpack

or a rucksack

on your back

and he's got

this heavy burden

and he's trudging

through life

and it's heavy

and it's hard

and he can't get rid of it.

And at one point,

he comes to a cross

and at the cross,

this burden

gets released

from his back.

And he feels the sense

for the first time

in his life,

the sense of freedom,

the sense of lightness,

the sense of joy,

the sense of life.

As this burden

that he's been carrying

all his life

gets laid down.

And friends,

the Bible's invitation

to repentance

is an invitation

to turn from death

to life,

from darkness to light,

from carrying our guilt

and our shame

and our inadequacy

to laying that down

and experiencing

the freedom

and the joy

of knowing that Christ

has taken those things

on the cross for us.

Now that doesn't mean

that repentance

is always easy or simple.

Repentance is difficult

because it requires

we lay down our pride

and our ego.

It requires that

for a moment

we lose face before God

and say,

God, it is right.

I am a sinner

in need of grace.

God, I admit

that I have tried

to be my own God.

I've lived for my own glory

and it's gotten me nowhere.

And so at first,

repentance is hard.

It feels like

a part of your ego

needs to die

but it's always

an invitation

to life.

And Jesus said

that when the Spirit

of God comes,

He will come

and convict the world

of sin

and righteousness

and judgment

not in order to shame us

but to liberate us.

But before that happens,

the Spirit impresses upon us

a profound sense

of the ugliness of sin

in our lives

and the depth

and the extent of it.

You know,

this happened to me

a few years ago.

I think I've shared

this story with you before.

One of the prevailing sins

in my life

that I've often struggled with

and I know it doesn't sound

like a very big sin

but is a deep love

for people's approval

and affirmation.

And I know that sounds

very trite and small

but it's an idol

in my life

that trips me up

and gets me

into so much trouble.

I find myself

doing all sorts

of dumb things

that I shouldn't do

and I don't want to do

because I'm scared

to say no to people

and I don't want

to disappoint people.

And what I find

is that for me,

one of the prevailing sins

is that people's approval

and people's affirmation

and people liking me

has this controlling grip

on my life.

And actually,

often I find

it's more important to me

than the person

of Jesus Christ.

And if I'm honest,

that sometimes I love

what people think of me

more than I love Christ.

And I'm meant

to be a pastor, right?

And what that means

is I've got this idol

that I bow down to

and worship

and adore

called approval of man,

love for man.

And one day,

a few years ago,

I was grappling

with this

and praying for this

and I went for a prayer walk

and I said,

God, you've got to change

this in my life.

I hate this thing.

It feels like it controls me

and I can't get rid of it.

God, please come

and change me.

And I was deeply

convicted of it.

And as I was going

on this prayer walk,

I saw in my mind's eye

a picture of like

a chalice or an urn.

It was a dark picture

and out of this chalice,

snakes were coming

out of it.

And in my mind's eye,

I saw this is this idol

that I bow down

and I worship.

And I give reverence

and awe

to this disgusting

snake infested idol

in my life

called the approval of man

and the fear of man.

And this disgusting urn

is actually more precious,

more beautiful to my heart

than Jesus Christ.

And as I went

on this prayer walk,

I said,

God,

you've got to change me.

I hate what this thing

is doing to me.

Lord,

and for the first time

in my life,

what I had thought was

just being a wise pastor,

just caring for people.

Actually,

I saw the depravity

and the ugliness of it.

And God convicted me

of this need

to repent.

And as I cried out to God

and said,

God,

you've got to not only

forgive me,

but you need to save me

and change me.

I felt like God

turned my life around.

And He did that.

He really delivered me

of that.

Maybe some of you

have seen that.

I'm not as nice

as maybe I used to be.

But I didn't,

I wasn't nice

because I really loved you.

I just was nice

because I loved myself.

And I loved what people

thought about me.

Friends,

that's what God's Spirit does.

He brings us to a place

of seeing the ugliness

of sin

and the repulsiveness

of our idols.

So we turn

from death to life.

And we saw this

in Isaiah 6

a few weeks ago, right?

Isaiah sees the majesty

and the glory of God.

God opens his eyes

to see God.

And the first thing

he says is,

God,

you've got to save

those people.

No, that's not what He says.

He says,

woe is me.

I am lost.

I'm ruined.

I'm undone.

I've seen the glory

of the Lord.

And my lips are unclean

and I live amongst

the people of unclean lips.

God's Spirit,

when He comes upon us,

friends,

what does it mean

to be a spiritual church?

It means we'll see

the things in our life

that for years

have been hidden

to our hearts.

And things that we've excused

and said,

oh, I'm just a good

steward of money,

we'll actually see,

no, we're just greedy.

And as we say,

oh, we just care

for this person.

We're just talking

to everyone in our CG

to see how we can love them.

We'll see,

actually,

that's just gossip.

And we'll see

the depravity

of the sin in our lives.

Sorry,

I didn't mean this

to be this heavy.

I just kind of apologize.

When God's Spirit

comes upon us,

we see God

and we see ourselves.

But here's the third thing,

friends,

when God's Spirit

comes upon our church,

upon a group of people,

it's not only

a profound sense

of awe

and deep repentance,

but an overwhelming assurance

of God's profound,

undeserved love

and kindness

and mercy

and grace.

Listen to how

Martin Lloyd-Jones

describes it.

He says,

when God's Spirit

comes upon somebody,

they are given

a clear view

of the love of God

and of the Lord Jesus Christ

and especially

of His death

upon the cross.

At last,

they see it.

Oh,

they'd always believed it

theoretically,

but it'd never become

true for them,

truly become real for them.

They'd honestly believed it,

yes,

but they never felt

its power.

They'd never known

what it was to be melted

by the love of God,

to be broken by it.

They'd never known

what it was to weep,

yes,

with a sense of unworthiness,

but then with love

and joy,

as they realized

that in an individual

and personal way,

the Son of God

loved them

and has given Himself

for them,

and peace comes

into our hearts,

and joy enters

into them,

and we are lost

in love

and praise

for God the Father

and God the Son

and God the Holy Spirit.

Friends,

this is what God's Spirit does.

He assures us

of God's unceasing love

and acceptance,

which leads to profound

confidence

and a conviction.

Previously,

you're timid

and you're shy

and suddenly,

you're now,

you're insecure

and full of self-doubt

and you encounter

God's Spirit

and His love

invades your heart

and it changes

and it transforms you.

And surely,

that's what we see

in Acts chapter 1

Acts 1 · chapter mention

and 2 here,

right?

Remember,

just six weeks before,

the Apostle Peter,

Jesus is busy on trial,

Peter's watching him

on trial,

a servant girl

comes to him

and says,

aren't you one

of His disciples?

And he says,

no, no, no,

I don't know the man.

She says,

I'm sure I saw you

with him.

He says,

I've never met the man.

I swear in my life,

I don't know

what you're talking about.

And six weeks later,

this same Peter

is standing in front

of the high priests

and the rulers

and authorities,

the very guys

that just crucified Jesus

and saying,

you need to repent.

Christ is Lord.

You crucified him

and you're in trouble.

What's happened to Peter?

The Spirit of God

has come upon him

and being filled

with the power of God

but the love

and the confidence

that He is God's Son

changes him

and transforms him

into a different person.

Friends,

my dear friends,

do you know

the love of God

like this?

Personally,

deeply,

individually,

not just theoretically,

not just doctrinally

or intellectually,

do you know

that Christ

went to the cross

for you

because of His love

for you?

That's what

the Spirit of God does.

He takes what's written

in our heads

and He writes it

on our hearts

in a way

that changes us.

And the Bible,

the Acts,

the way the Spirit

comes upon the church

is described

as the outpouring

of the Spirit.

God pours His Spirit

on the church.

Look at verse 17.

It says,

In the last days

it shall be,

God declares

that He will pour out

His Spirit

upon all flesh.

Verse 18,

I think He says

the same thing.

Let me just get

in my Bible here.

Verse 18,

Even on my male servants,

my female servants,

in those days

I will pour out

my Spirit.

Verse 33,

This Spirit

He has poured out

upon us,

says Peter.

Well,

there's another place

in the New Testament

where God talks

about the pouring

out of the Holy Spirit.

Romans chapter 5,

Romans 5 · chapter mention

He says this,

We rejoice

in our sufferings

knowing that suffering

produces endurance.

Endurance produces character.

Character produces hope.

And hope does not disappoint us.

Which,

that's an interesting phrase.

I think hope

often disappoints us.

You hope for a promotion

at work

and you don't get it,

it's disappointing.

You hope for a relationship

to work out

that doesn't work out.

That's the problem with hope.

It often disappoints us,

isn't it?

Paul says here,

the kind of hope

that God,

the Holy Spirit

pours into our hearts

doesn't disappoint us.

Why?

Because God's love

has been poured

into our hearts.

When God's Spirit

is poured upon us,

His love

is poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit

that changes

and transforms us.

God takes the truth

of the gospel

and He writes them

in our hearts

in a personal way.

And what this means

is that God takes

insecure people

and He makes them secure.

He takes anxious people

and He makes them

remarkably calm.

He takes hopeless people

and He gives us

sudden new vision

and purpose

and hope again.

And conflict ceases.

Grace abounds.

Forgiveness

and reconciliation

becomes common

and normative.

You have a conflict

with someone in church

and God's Spirit

is poured into our hearts

and the love of God

is poured into our hearts

and rather than me

coming to Claire

and pointing out

it's all her fault

and saying it's all your fault,

suddenly I come to her

and say, hey I'm so sorry.

Actually I see now

what I've done.

And she says, no, no,

actually it's not your fault,

it's my fault.

And the love of God

transforms us

and changes us.

The Holy Spirit

writes the love of God

personally into our hearts.

And of course

this inpouring

of soul anchoring

love and assurance

and security

generates an unusual

outpouring

of love and tenderness

and softness

in our hearts

towards others.

Suddenly we're no longer

living for ourselves

and our own plans.

We live for others.

And God's love for us

means we start

to love others.

And look what happens

here in Acts.

Look at the end

of chapter 2

verse 44.

It says,

And all who believed

were together

and all things in common

they were selling

their positions

and belongings

and distributing

the proceeds

to all as any had need.

And day by day

attending the temple

together

breaking bread

in their homes

they received their food

with glad and sincere

and generous hearts

praising God

and having favor

with all people.

We see the same thing

in chapter 4.

The full number

of those who believed

were one heart

and one soul

and nobody said

that any of his possessions

belonged to him

or were his own

but they had everything

in common.

Friends,

the love of God.

The love of God.

Do you know it?

Have you experienced it?

Friends,

are you secure

in the love of God?

Or do you say,

yes,

I know Jesus died for me

because he loves me

but you're wracked

with guilt

and insecurity

and fear

and shame.

This is what God does

when the Holy Spirit

poured out in our church

and in our lives

and in our hearts.

The love of the Lord Jesus

becomes real

and perceptible

and perceivable

to our hearts.

It shapes the way

we respond to situations

and storms

and challenges.

Is it evident

and visible

to those who are closest to you?

The love of God

to our hearts.

Well,

the Spirit of God

knowing does that.

He does,

fourthly,

empowers us

for bold evangelism

and witness.

Look at what happens here.

Look at the quote.

Peter here,

when he stands up

and the Spirit comes upon him,

he quotes from Joel chapter 2

Joel 2 · chapter mention

and he says,

Joel in the Old Testament

promised this is what

was going to happen.

And so look at what

Joel says,

verse 17.

He says,

In the last days

it shall be,

declares God,

that I will pour out

my Spirit in all flesh.

On your sons

and your daughters

they shall prophesy.

Okay,

that's an important word.

Young men shall see visions.

Old men will dream dreams.

Even on my male servants

and female servants,

in those days

I will pour out my Spirit

and they shall prophesy.

What does Joel mean

when he means this?

Well,

I don't think Joel

simply means that

in small group

or community group

everyone's going to have

a word of knowledge

or a prophecy for one another.

Okay,

it might mean that,

of course.

God gives us spiritual gifts.

We spoke about that last week.

Paul says,

don't despise prophecy.

Don't despise speaking tongues.

That's fine.

But when Joel says that

men and women,

young men,

old men,

young women,

old women,

employees,

employees,

servants and bosses,

everyone will prophesy.

The word prophecy means

will proclaim

the excellency

and the awesomeness of God.

They will preach the gospel.

They will go into their workplaces.

They will go into their sports fields.

They'll go into

their social clubs.

They'll tell colleagues

and family members

and neighbors and friends,

this is who God is.

When God's spirit comes upon us,

all people,

rich,

poor,

young,

old,

educated,

uneducated,

will be so filled

with God's spirit and power

that they won't be able

to help themselves

as they speak about Jesus.

And that's what we see in Acts,

right?

In Acts chapter 5,

Acts 5 · chapter mention

the apostles are called in

and they threatened,

hey,

don't tell anyone about Jesus

otherwise we will arrest you

and beat you up.

And they do beat them

and they send them out

and what do they do?

And so every day

in the temple

and from house to house,

they did not cease

teaching everyone

about Jesus Christ.

Acts chapter 4,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

with great power,

the apostles were giving testimony

to the resurrection

of the Lord Jesus

and grace was upon them.

Acts chapter 8,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Philip opened his mouth

and beginning with the scriptures,

he told them the good news

about Jesus.

They throw them in jail

and what do they do?

They tell the jailers

about Jesus.

They release them from jail

and they go into the marketplace

and they tell people

about Jesus.

They enjoy the favor of man

and they tell them

about Jesus.

They threatened

and beaten

and accused

and they tell people

about Jesus.

In each and every circumstance,

they cannot help themselves

but tell people

that Christ is Lord

and they preach the gospel

to one another

and that's why

the book of Acts

is called the book of Acts.

It means the act

of the disciples

but it actually should be

the acts of the Holy Spirit

empowering the disciples

to proclaim the gospel.

Friends,

what does a spirit-filled church

look like?

It means we so love God

and love others

that we cannot keep

this good news to ourselves

and we find ways

and opportunities

and we overflow

with the wonder

of who Christ is

that he died on the cross

as we were saying earlier,

for sinners like me

and we tell people

about Christ.

What does a spirit-filled church

look like?

Lastly,

the spirit-filled church

looks like an insatiable love

and delight

and treasuring

of Jesus Christ.

When you read

the book of Acts

and the rest

of the New Testament,

what we see again

and again and again

is that the work

of the Spirit

is to make the church

more focused

and in love

with the person

of Jesus Christ.

The irony is

the spirit-filled church

is not focused

on the Holy Spirit.

The spirit-filled church

is empowered

by the Spirit

to worship

and glory

Christ

and God the Father.

In John chapter 15,

John 15 · chapter mention

Jesus says this,

he says,

when the Spirit comes,

he will bear witness

about me.

Now,

the Holy Spirit

is like this giant spotlight

that shines

and says,

look at Christ,

see Christ,

see what he's done

on the cross,

see how glorious he is,

see his majesty

but see his humility.

The Holy Spirit

bears witness

about Christ

in our hearts

and then in chapter 16,

he says this amazing thing.

I think we've got

on the slide,

he says this,

when the Spirit

of truth comes,

he will guide you

in all truth,

okay,

so the Holy Spirit

comes and fills our hearts

and he guides us

into truth.

What truth

does he guide us into?

Does he tell us

the truth about,

you know,

equals MC squared

and AI

and technology

and how life works?

No,

the truth

that he reveals

to our hearts

is that Christ

is worthy

of our worship.

He will glorify me.

The great J.I. Packer

said this little verse,

John 16 verse 14

John 16:14

is the most important verse

in the entire Bible

in helping us

to understand

the work

and the ministry

of the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit

comes upon our hearts,

he fills us

with a sense

of the all-sufficiency,

the all-satisfying

wonder of Jesus,

that Christ

is glorious

and wonderful

and enough for us.

John Piper says

his passion,

the passion

of the Holy Spirit

is to make much

of Jesus

in our hearts,

in our lives,

in our churches.

He sent into the world

to open the eyes

of our hearts

that we might see

the magnificence

of Christ

and glory in him

and glorify him.

Friends,

this is what we see

in Acts

in the New Testament.

That everywhere we go,

the Spirit-filled church,

they cannot help themselves

but worship

and glorify

and treasure

and delight

in Jesus Christ,

praising him.

And in the marketplace

and in the temple

and in their homes

and on the way,

they're opening the Scriptures

and they're showing people

Jesus is wonderful,

Jesus is sufficient,

Jesus is enough.

Friends,

if you're a Christian

this morning,

I want to ask you,

is that true of you?

Is your heart

full of Jesus?

Is your heart

delighting

in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is your relationship

with Christ

one of delight

and treasuring Jesus

above all things?

Friends,

if you're anything

like me,

I know it's not true

of me all the time.

Other things

grab my attention.

Other things

become more important

to me.

I get distracted

by things like

saving money

for the future.

Distracted by kids

and education

and career progression.

We get distracted

by house renovations

and exams

or studies

or relationships.

And Jesus

becomes smaller

in our hearts

and these things

become bigger

in our hearts.

And one of the goals,

one of the roles

of the Holy Spirit

is to so invade

our hearts.

We need the Spirit

of the living God

to break into our hearts

and make Christ

big in our hearts

and our own kingdom

small again.

And so I want

to ask you,

what's your relationship

with the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is Christ big

in our hearts?

Or do we just pay

lip service

and go on

with our lives?

Dear friends,

this is what

the Spirit-filled church

looks like.

Spiritual gifts

such as prophecy,

speaking tongues,

a word of knowledge,

a spiritual revelation.

Yes, we need them.

Wonderful.

God, may we have

more of them.

Absolutely.

Signs and wonders,

miraculous healings,

I'm all for that.

But oh dear friends,

can't you see

how much more

the Spirit of God

wants to do

in us in the church?

Let's not settle

for a few prophecies

here and then

and say we are

a Spirit-filled church.

No friends,

let's get on our knees.

Let's humble ourselves

before God.

Let's cry out

to the living God

and ask for Him

to pour out His Spirit

upon us

in power

and majesty

and in awe.

Martin Lord Jones again,

let me close with this.

He explains

what the Spirit-empowered

church looks like

and he says this.

I think I've got

a quote up there.

He says,

Do we know anything

about this,

my dear friends?

Do we believe

in God coming

and doing these things

not only that we cannot do

but that we cannot control,

cannot explain?

I ask you,

do you long to know

such things,

to see such things

happening again

in our day?

Are you praying

for such things?

This is what God can do.

This is what God has done.

Let us together decide

to implore Him,

to plead with Him

to do this again.

Not that we may have

the experience

or the excitement

but that His mighty hand

might be known

and His great name

may be glorified

and magnified

among all people.

Friends,

next week is our church retreat

and we're going to be

talking about these things

a little bit more.

Oscar's going to be

speaking on this theme

more as well.

Some of you might know

I'm going on sabbatical

the week after the retreat

and so I won't see you

for a while.

If you're not at the retreat,

I'll see you again

in 2025.

But while I'm on sabbatical,

I am not just going

to be on holiday

and I'm not just going

to be watching Netflix

and sipping pina coladas

by the swimming pool.

What am I going

to be doing on sabbatical?

I'm going to be praying

and studying God's Word

and seeking God

for this.

This is going

to be my prayer

for my own heart

and for you

and for us as a church

and for our great city

that we too

will be freshly

and mightily filled

anew

with the Holy Spirit

in a fresh

and powerful way.

that we will have

such a profound sense

of God's awe

and reverence

and fear

and holiness

and the glory of God

that it will turn

our worlds upside down.

That God,

whose Word really matters,

that we will live for Him.

That God,

the one whose opinion,

the only one whose opinion

really counts,

will so explode

in our hearts

that the other idols

of our life

will fall away

and become trivial

into our life

and we will live

in fear and trepidation

and awe and reverence

before the majesty

and the holiness of God.

I'm going to be praying

that we will be so filled

with the,

anew with the Holy Spirit

that we will repent deeply

of our pride

and our ego

and maybe the things

that we,

and starting with myself,

the things that

we've kept secret

for too long

will be brought

into the light.

That some of us

maybe for the very first time

will be honest

with ourselves

and honest with others.

That we will know

and experience

the freedom

and the joy

and the life

and the peace

of walking

in the light.

Friends,

I'm praying

that God will show me

deep idols in my heart

that they will be exposed

to me

and that I will repent

deeply of these idols.

That the,

the,

the web

and the roots

will be disentangled

from my heart

and that I will live

in freedom.

Friends,

I'm praying

that we as a church

will be so utterly astounded

by the radical,

radical love of God

that it will change

our lives.

That for many of us

that have been wracked

with shame

and guilt

our entire lives

that feel insecure

and are always afraid

of what people

or our parents

think of us

for the first time

will be anchored

and rooted

in the profound love

of God

that they'll be given

a security

to our hearts

and lives

we didn't think

was possible.

Friends,

I'm praying

that God's spirit

will come upon us

in a new

and wonderful way

that the love

of God into us

will flow through us

to others

and that we will be

unstoppable

in sharing the gospel

with others.

Friends,

I'm praying

that God

will pour his spirit

into our hearts

that we will treasure

Jesus Christ

above all things

that Christ

will be more precious

and glorious

and beautiful

and wonderful

and desirous to us

than anything else

in all the world

that we will be able

to walk away

from any other treasure

to hold on to Jesus.

This is who Christ is.

This is what the spirit

does in his church.

This is what God

wants to do in us

and so will you

join me in praying

that we will be truly

a spirit-filled church,

a God-dependent church.

Friends,

last thing before I close,

let me say this.

In John chapter 7,

John 7 · chapter mention

Jesus stands up

and he says this.

He says,

if anybody thirsts,

let him come to me

and drink.

Whoever believes in me,

as the scripture said,

out of his heart

will flow rivers

of living water.

And John says this,

he said,

about the Holy Spirit

who is not yet given.

Friends,

I want to ask you,

if you're not a follower

of Jesus this morning,

Jesus says that your heart

will always be dry.

It will always

be like a dry riverbed.

You will always be searching

for life and hope

in the things of this world

and they'll never satisfy.

And maybe they'll satisfy

for a week or a month

or a year,

but soon they'll fade away.

Jesus Christ says

that only as you come to him

will he fill your heart

to the life,

the life-giving power

of the living God,

the life that you were made for.

Friends,

where are you looking for life?

What are you hoping

and trusting in?

What are you giving yourself to?

It cannot satisfy.

It cannot save.

Jesus Christ can.

So why don't you come to him

and he says that as you do,

he will pour the Holy Spirit

into your heart

and he will do these things

for you.

Let's come to him now

and pray.

Father God,

wonderful Son,

Holy Spirit,

we need you.

Oh God,

we need you.

God,

we confess that our lives

are a poor reflection

of what we see

in the scriptures,

a poor reflection

of what we see

in the book of Acts.

And God,

so many things

in this world

distract us

and grab our attention

and grip our hearts

and you, God,

have become small.

Lord,

I pray

by a move

of your spirit,

won't you pour

your spirit upon us

in a fresh way?

Won't you come

and fill and flood

our hearts

that we will live

in awe

and majesty

and reverence

before you?

Won't you come

and fill our hearts

that God,

we will live

for you

and you alone.

God,

you know each

and every one of us.

You know

where we're at

this morning.

You know

the struggles

in our hearts.

You know

the anxieties

and the fears.

You know

the things

we're worried about.

The things we trust

and the things

that we find

so hard to let go

because for all our lives

we've held onto it.

Oh God,

won't you help us

this morning.

Spirit of God,

come and help us.

In your great name

I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.