Be Filled By the Spirit | Ephesians 5:15-21 | Pastor Ben Nistor | May 25, 2025

I wonder if you've ever heard the

apherism that you

are the average of the five people you

spend the most time with. Have you ever

heard

that? What I'd like to do right now is

give you the chance to write down these

five people's

names. I'd like you to be honest and

say, who are the five

people that most influence me?

Doing this exercise will help

us, I think, get better insight into the

text this morning. Ephesians chapter 5

Ephesians 5:15–21

verse 15 to

21. If you think about that that

question of who are the people that

influence me and that apherism, you are

the average of the five people you spend

the most time

with. If that's true,

then I would be the average of Esther,

Noah, Sophia, Tabitha, and Pastor

Andrew. I think that's a pretty good

thing. I need to be more like them and

less like me. I think you would agree.

I'm sure.

One of the things that I ask whenever I

hear an

apherism like if it ain't broke don't

fix it. I ask is that a true general

statement? And so one of the things that

we see in the scientific world is that

there have been many studies done to

show that if you are with people and if

you are in an

environment where people are smoking or

they're obese or they are happy or they

are married, you'll tend to mimic your

environment And so one of the things

that we see in other studies is that

whatever I do, my behavior is largely

influenced by the people I'm around.

This is especially true in studies where

adolescents are heavily influenced by

their peer groups, the music they listen

to, the way they look. At one point last

year when I saw our youth together, I

noticed that all the guys had the same

haircut. And I had wondered where did

this haircut come

from? It was the influence and the

control of that peer

group. This is not just true for young

people though. In many older crowds,

people like to play bingo. Now I like to

play bingo with my kids. But there is

something to be said about even the

lives we live, the community, the

communities that we're a part of. So

there is certainly peer influence in

adolescent development but also in older

age. There are studies done that show

that you are influenced by the groups of

people that you spend time with when it

comes to economics and finance. You'll

tend to spend like the average consumer

because you spend time with the average

consumer.

We also see that there are also other

neurological studies done that show we

imitate people. We sometimes imitate

people very naturally without even

intending to

subconsciously. So there are studies

that show that yes you are influenced by

your peer groups. But an even more

important question for us this morning

is that is this question. Is it

biblical?

Is that apherism biblical that the

people you spend time with, the average,

you're the average of the five people

you spend the most time with, is it

biblical? And is it something that the

scriptures

teach? Proverbs 13:20 says, "Whoever

Proverbs 13:20

walks with the wise becomes wise, but

the companion of fools will suffer

harm." 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Do not be

1 Corinthians 15:33

deceived. Bad company ruins good

morals." Paul used an apherism from his

day to share with us a scriptural

reality. Moral and ethical decisions

that you and I make can be corrupted by

spending time with the wrong people. In

Psalm 1 and 2, we're told, "Blessed is

the man who walks not in the counsel of

the wicked, nor stands in the way of

sinners, nor sits in the seat of

scoffers." How is a man blessed then?

His counsel comes from being with the

Lord. Another proverbs, Proverb 20,

Proverbs 22:

24-2. Listen to what this says. Make no

friendship with a man given to anger,

nor go with a wrathful man, lest you

learn his ways and entangle yourself in

a

snare. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, "Do not

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

be unequally yolked with unbelievers.

For what partnership has righteousness

with

lawlessness? Hebrews chapter 10 tells us

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

that when we come together, the purpose

is to build a community where we stir up

one another for love and good works. So

this apherism, I believe, highlights

biblical truth that you are the average

of the five people you spend the most

time with. And what I hope to show you

this morning is that the number one

influence and control in your life as a

believer should not be your spouse or

your

children. It shouldn't be your best

friends. The number one influence in

your and my life should be the Holy

Spirit. So as we go, these men are going

to come to the front and they're going

to give you an outline if you don't have

one. Ephesians 5:15-21 is on your

Ephesians 5:15–21

outline. If you don't have one, raise

your hand and these men will give it to

you. But I want to show you from the

biblical text that there is a way to be

influenced by the world and and a way to

be influenced by the spirit. So let's

read Ephesians chapter 5 to

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

21. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15- 21.

Ephesians 5:15–21

Paul writes, "Look carefully then how

you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

making the best use of the time because

the days are evil. Therefore, do not be

foolish, but understand what the will of

the Lord is." and do not get drunk with

wine, for that is

debauchery, but be filled with the

spirit, addressing one another in psalms

and hymns and spiritual songs, singing

and making melody to the Lord with your

heart, giving thanks always and for

everything to God the Father in the name

of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to

one another out of reverence for Christ.

Well, we are in message seven of the

after resurrection series and what a

series it has been. I want to remind you

that in message one, Pastor Andrew

shared with us the amazing resurrection

in Luke 24, Jesus is raised from the

dead by the power of the spirit and

reveals beautiful truths to disciples on

the road to

Emmas. Well, in message two entitled

Poor Disciples Powerful Gospel, Jesus

was preparing his disciples for powerful

ministry, spiritfilled

ministry. And that was kind of the

larger group of disciples. Well, in

message three, Pastor Andrew zoomed in

on one of the disciples, on Peter. in

Peter's two charcoal fires, we saw in

the first one that

Peter failed in following the Lord like

we often

do. And instead of um rebuking and

condemning Peter, Jesus restored him in

the second charcoal fire. And Jesus

forgave Peter so that he would be

enabled for ministry to the church. In

message four, when we looked at the

resurrection and how that changed that

early group of

disciples, we saw that the spirit of God

himself would come. Jesus promised the

Holy Spirit will come to not just be

with the the disciples, but indwell

them, live inside of them, and empower

their ministry.

So Jesus forgave Peter but didn't give

him the Holy Spirit right

away. Jesus waited till after his

ascension to send the Holy Spirit. And

in Acts chapter 2, Peter is the first

Acts 2 · chapter mention

one to

proclaim a spiritfilled ministry for the

salvation of many. Well, last Sunday we

looked at the ordinary signs of the Holy

Spirit and what we should expect from

the Holy Spirit and how Jesus describes

these ordinary signs. Just because

they're ordinary doesn't mean they're

less than the extraordinary things God

did. By ordinary, I just mean they

should be a regular part of your

life. This past Wednesday, then we also

looked at Galatians and how Paul in the

letter of Galatians was not just talking

about law versus uh faith and works. And

he wasn't just talking about how the

Jewish people had uh become believers

and then fell back into the law. That's

not what he was only trying to correct.

Paul in the letter of to the Galatians

was trying to cor correct their

understanding of the Holy Spirit. He was

trying to show them that if you become a

believer, you don't have to go and obey

the law

anymore. Meaning that with the Holy

Spirit now, God is going to fill you

with his law. Just like Joel prophesied

and just like Ezekiel 37, God will write

his law in your hearts and he will fill

you with his fruit. And against that

fruit, there is no law. Nobody will ever

come to you say to you and say,"You know

what? You're being too loving. You need

to stop

that." Have you ever noticed

spiritfilled people in your life? You

You don't ever see that they're doing

things

wrong. How I wish that I could be a

spiritfilled

man. I I I long for that. You should

long for it, too. But spiritfilled

people, there is no law against them.

Why? Because the spirit rules in their

hearts and puts in their hearts the law

of Christ. And so they want to obey God.

They desire

God. Does that make the law useless? No.

The law still has its uses. It it

prevents evil from becoming totally and

utterly what it could be. And it

protects us as believers to remain

within the boundaries God has set. But

this third use of the law, the law of

God on our hearts, the law of the spirit

in us protects us from the inner battle

of our flesh. We saw that in Galatians,

the corrections concerning the spirit.

And so when you read the book of

Galatians, I hope you will read it now

with a greater appreciation for the work

of the spirit and how the spirit is

protecting me and you from becoming as

utterly depraved as we can be and

helping us to become righteous. Well,

today we're looking at being filled by

the spirit. That's the message today

that we want to look at. We we see a lot

of the ordinary signs of the Holy Spirit

in our church. I I shared that with you

last Sunday. But I also want to tell you

church family as an encouragement. I see

a lot of you being filled by the Holy

Spirit. And this is a good thing. We're

going to see what that means in a

moment. But let me just give you a

background of this letter. The Apostle

Paul wrote Ephesians while he was in

prison.

And so in Ephesians 6:21-22, he wants

Ephesians 6:21–22

the Ephesians to know of his

circumstance. And he says, "I'm writing

to you with chains and I I I want these

chains to proclaim the gospel." And so

Paul used his platform, his temporary

stay in a prison to be faithful and

proclaim the gospel. Ephesians chapters

1:3, if you turn to Ephesians in your

Bibles, it's a short letter, has six

chapters. Chapters 1 to three focuses on

theology and doctrine. In chapter 1 and

two and three, you cover the whole wide

range of theology, who God is, what he

does as father, son, and spirit. You

also see in chapter 2 that our condition

apart from Christ is is not just

drowning in a pool. Friends, when we

read Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1-3,

Ephesians 2:1–3

we're not struggling for a lifeline on

the surface of a pool. Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2:1–3

2 verse 1-3 says we're at the bottom

dead. We're dead. That's the moral

condition of every human being apart

from Christ. But Ephesians 2 has great

news for us because we don't have to

remain dead. Ephesians 2 says we are

made alive by Christ. We have been given

the powerful, the resurrected Christ and

he makes us alive in Ephesians chapter

2:4. Well, then in Ephesians chapter uh

2:8, we see that salvation comes by

faith in Christ, not through works. It's

by grace alone. It's not of your doing

or my doing. It is a gift from God. Why

did God save us? To do the things that

he called us to do before the foundation

of the world. Ephesians chapter 2:10.

In Ephesians chapter 2:1, Paul switches

gears and he says, you know, salvation

is necessary not just for you

individually, but salvation, your

salvation, my salvation is necessary to

have a church that is peaceful and

united. If you show me a church where

there is no peace and where there is no

unity, we will wonder if there is

salvation.

An Ephesians 2 11-22 church is founded

upon the salvation that comes from

Ephesians chapter 2 vers

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

1-10. You can't have a united loving

godly church without

salvation. And so that's what Ephesians

2 tells us that Christ in his body bore

the wrath of God and broke down the

dividing walls of hostility and made two

distinct people groups into one. He did

that. It wasn't me or you. It wasn't our

cleverness. It was God. And I praise God

for that. There are so many people in

this church from so many different

backgrounds. And I praise God that the

thing we have in common as the principal

thing is Christ. He, the resurrected

one, is who we have in common. Well,

Ephesians chapter 1 and all the way to

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 3 focuses on theology and

doctrine. But Ephesians chapter 4 to 6

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

switches gears. So if you look at

chapter

4, Paul says in chapter 4:1, "I

therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge

you to walk in a manner worthy of the

calling to which you have been called."

That therefore in Ephesians 4:1 is in

Ephesians 4:1

light of everything I said about God and

who he is and salvation and how he

comes. In light of all of that, church

family, Paul writes, I'm now going to

urge you to walk in light of that truth.

And so Ephesians chapters 4-6 focuses on

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Christian

living. And if of course it's not just

Christian living. There's there's

beautiful doctrinal truths even in

Ephesians chapter 4 to six. In fact, you

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

can't unbind those two things. Christian

living is so intricately woven into our

understanding of who God is. As we'll

see

today, the Holy Spirit's work in my and

your life is so intricate and so

interwoven with our own spirits to the

point where Paul says in Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8, if you have the spirit, then you have

Christ and if you do not have the

spirit, then you do not know

Christ. So woven together is our spirit

with the spirit of God that to not have

him would be such a missing feature of

our Christian experience. And so in this

chapters, chapters 4 to 6, we see that.

So in Ephesians, Paul explains several

roles of the Holy Spirit. And I want to

just give these to you kind of rapid

fire. We're not going to spend too much

time on them, but in this letter, the

Holy Spirit does a number of things.

I've just highlighted the verbs here for

you. The Holy Spirit seals believers

with God's stamp of salvation. If you

ever want to focus on the assurance of

of of your salvation, how do I know how

do I know that that the Holy Spirit has

saved me, that God has saved me? Don't

rely on yourself. Rely on the sealing of

the Holy Spirit. Just like you don't

rely on your senses when you drink from

the gallon of milk and it's stamped the

expiration

date, you should not rely on yourself

and your senses to figure out if you're

saved. You should trust that God has

sealed you for the day of redemption.

How do I know I'm saved? Because God

sealed

me. I'm certain of that. I'm not certain

of any of my senses. Sometimes I feel

saved, friends, and sometimes I don't.

But who is certain? Who is the anchor?

Who is the rock? The Holy Spirit of God.

He sealed me for the day of redemption.

You know, I could keep unpacking each of

these, but I'm each of these verbs, but

we're not going to do that. We're just

going to keep going. So, the Holy Spirit

seals us, but the Holy Spirit also

guarantees our

inheritance. The Holy Spirit facilitates

the transference of wisdom and

knowledge. Let me say that again. The

Holy Spirit guarantees and he

facilitates this knowledge that comes

from the mind of

God into my mind.

If I want to become more like God in

wisdom and in knowledge, the Holy Spirit

is the one who does the transfer. That's

we see in Ephesians chapter 1:1 17. The

Holy Spirit unites the

church. Notice this phrase in Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter

4. In Ephesians chapter 4 uh 2, we're

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

told that we should be eager to maintain

the unity of the spirit. Now, it would

be wrong to look at that phrase, church

family, be eager to maintain the unity

of the spirit as though the spirit

needed help to maintain unity. No,

that's not the point of the phrase. The

spirit has unity. It's you and I that

are the problem when it comes to

maintaining it. The spirit already is

united in every perfect way

imaginable, but you and I are not eager

sometimes to maintain that unity. And

so, he says, "Be eager to maintain the

unity of the spirit." The unity of the

spirit comes with a package deal. The

unity will never be broken. The spirit

cannot be ununited with

himself. But you and I can

be disunited from the spirit. So the the

spirit is what unites the church. We

must be eager to maintain that unity.

The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter

2:22 indwells

believers. The Holy Spirit reveals

mysteries. The Holy Spirit strengthens

believers.

In chapter 4 of Ephesians verse 30, the

Holy Spirit can be

grieved. So this shows us that the Holy

Spirit is a personal being. Not just a

force, not just a power, not just a

dynamic, but a personal being who can be

grieved by what you and I do. The Holy

Spirit fills believers like we saw in

Ephesians 5:18. The Holy Spirit pierces

Ephesians 5:18

with the truth. He is the sword of

truth.

And finally, the spirit leads believers

prayers to be God- centered. Do you ever

pray and you think back on your prayer

and you realize, "Wow, that was all

about me. That wasn't about

God." The Holy Spirit can help you pray

a God- centered prayer that's not about

you merely that is about his glory.

Where does that come from? Where does

that ability come from? Is that innate

in you and me? No. that that comes from

the spirit filling you and me to think

about God and not about

me. And I need that friends. We need

that as a

church. So what does it mean to be

filled with or by the spirit in verse 18

of our text? Well, in the immediate

context, I want you to to see the

negative and the positive command. And

when we we look at that, the phrase

filled with the spirit means to come

under the spirit's influence and

control. So that's what that means. What

does it mean to be filled with or by the

spirit? It means to be controlled and

influenced by the spirit. So where am I

getting this from? Well, it's from the

verse from verse 18. The negative

command, the negative command is not

like a bad command. Um it's it's a

command that has the word not in it. So

the command is this. Do not get drunk

with wine. So I've bolded that negative

u aspect, that negative command. Do not

get drunk with wine for that is

debauchery. What should we do instead?

Paul gives like he usually does a

negative command but then followed by a

positive command. So if you have a habit

of getting drunk with wine, the Bible

says stop it. Don't do that

anymore. Especially don't do that if you

want to be

spiritfilled. There's a competing

influence and control here when we drink

alcohol. And it it it ruins our

Christian living. It that's what he says

there. That is debauchery. Why should

you stop drinking alcohol and getting

drunk? That is debauchery. It's it's

debauchery. Does he say stop drinking

alcohol and and it's a a sin to drink?

No. No. He doesn't say it's a sin to

drink alcohol. He just says to stop

getting drunk with wine, which is the

sin. That's the problem with the

Christian living. It's debauchery. It

It's unbecoming of a believer. So what's

the positive positive command then? Be

filled with the spirit. Be filled with

the spirit. And so that is not

debauchery. To be filled with the spirit

is normal. It's part of the process of

being a Christian. When a person is

drunk with wine, they are being

controlled and influenced by that wine

toward reckless

living. When a person is filled with

with the spirit, however, they are being

controlled and influenced by the spirit

toward righteous living.

It's the opposite of

debauchery. A natural question should

come into your mind at this

point. A natural question should come

into our minds. Is the filling of the

Holy Spirit the same as the indwelling

of the Holy

Spirit? And this is an important

question for you and I. We should not be

confused about this, brothers and

sisters. Let me let me explain to you

what Ephesians teaches about the

indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the

first bullet point there, you see that

the Holy Spirit indwells every believer

at the time of salvation. And it's not

just part of the spirit. It's the

entirety of the spirit. The entirety of

the spirit comes to live inside of you

and me. That's what we're told in

Ephesians 2:22. We're told in him, in

Ephesians 2:22

Christ, you also are being built

together into a dwelling place for God

by the spirit. So, you are the dwelling

place for God. Your body, my body. In

Romans 8:9, we're told that you, meaning

Romans 8:9

believers, are not in the flesh, but in

the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God

dwells in you. Anyone who does not have

the spirit of Christ, does not belong to

him. So, I would be cautious to say,

brother and sister, that you don't have

the indwelling Holy Spirit. If you're a

believer, you do have the indwelling

spirit. In fact, the Bible says if you

say that you don't have the indwelling

spirit and you act like it, then you

might not. Romans 8 and9 is very clear

that whoever has the spirit of God

belongs to Christ. And so brothers and

sisters, I want to encourage you to say

we are Baptistbelieving, Holy Spirit

indwelling

Christians. That's what we are. Baptists

believe in the indwelling of the Holy

Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12 says, "We

1 Corinthians 2:12

have received not the spirit of the

world, but the spirit who's from God."

So, we've received the spirit. You get

the point that the scriptures tell us

that the spirit of God dwells in

us. Besides this, besides the clear

biblical teaching, Paul would not

command believers to be indwelled. This

is on your page two there, the second

bullet, the first bullet point on the

top of the page. Paul would not command

believers to be indwelled with the Holy

Spirit since now, why would he not

command it? Because the indwelling of

the Holy Spirit is God's act alone and

it's a gift from God. It's not what you

and I can conjure

up. And it comes at the time of a

believer's

salvation. Besides that, the verb itself

to be filled in our text in Ephesians

Ephesians 5:18

5:18 is a present imperative verb. It

would not make sense for believers to

constantly be indwelled with the Holy

Spirit. It would not make sense for Paul

to continue to command that.

That present imperative verb comes down

to the responsibility of the believer

and it's an ongoing action to result in

the habit of continual

spiritfilling. There's a habit that

needs to be formed here and Paul's

trying to teach these Ephesians

believers that being spiritfilled is a

habit. So to be filled with or by the

spirit has to do with each believer's

responsibility to live like they are

indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That's the

key. Being filled by the spirit means

you're going to live like you are

indwelt by the spirit. And that's a

constant

habit. Similarly to how we show the

fruit of our salvation, we're not we're

not saying we're saved by works, but we

have to show works as as Christians.

Why? Because faith true faith is always

accompanied by good

works. If you don't have works, you're

proving that you do not have true faith.

Similarly, if you do not continue to

grow in being filled with the spirit,

you may not have the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit in your

life. So, how do we become filled with

the spirit? Well, believers must

constantly surrender their will,

pleasures, thoughts, attitudes, and

emotions to God. This is a a daily

yielding. Jesus said something very

similar, didn't he? Take up your cross

and follow

me. Put to death that which is fleshly

in you. This is a surrendering, a daily

surrendering of our emotions, of our

pleasures, of our thoughts, of our

attitudes. Well, then what happens?

Well, then the spirit fills us with

God's will, pleasures, thoughts,

attitudes, and emotions through the word

of God. The spirit then fills us with

what is right emotion, what is right

attitude, what is right

thought. And he does that through the

word. He shows you and me how to grieve

with hope. He shows you and me how to

face trials with hope. He shows us how

to

love

biblically. You can think of it like

this. And there are many commentators

who observe

this. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit

allows the believer to have all of the

Holy Spirit. That's what God's gift is

to me and you. He He comes to live

inside of us. And so I want to ask you,

friend, do you have the Holy Spirit?

Have you received God's gift through

faith in Jesus Christ? And if you

haven't, listen, what I'm about to say

about what the spirit the Holy Spirit

does in in the lives of believers can be

yours. You don't have to live a life of

perpetual struggle over whatever

addiction or whatever problem or

whatever attitude issue you have. You

don't you can be free from that. You can

be freed from the thoughts, the

emotions, the attitudes that entangle

you. You can be free from losing it. You

can be free from all sorts of

immorality. You can be free and I'm

going to show you how to be free from

it. The the text is going to show us how

to be free from that. But you can have

that and you can have it very easily if

you say in your heart right now that

Jesus Christ is Lord and you want to

surrender your entire life to him by

faith. You can have that. Listen

friends, time is too

short. Time is too short. Do not wait to

be indwelt with the Holy Spirit. You can

have it today. You can come to him in

faith. Well, for the believer, the

indwelling of the Holy Spirit allows the

believer to have all of the Holy Spirit.

But the filling by the Holy Spirit, and

I want you to listen carefully, the

filling by the Holy Spirit allows the

spirit to have all of the

believer. If you are a Christian, you

have the Holy Spirit of God in you. The

same spirit that raised Jesus Christ

from the dead is surging with dynamic

power and personal affection through

you. You can be sure of that.

But the question for us is, does the

Holy Spirit have all of

you? One of the results of being filled

by the Holy Spirit is clear in this

text. And I want to talk about that.

What are the results of being filled

with the Holy Spirit? And there's six of

them in this text. In verse 15, we see

that walking wisely and carefully is

part of what it means to be filled by

the Holy Spirit. You see that in verse

15. Look carefully then how you walk not

as unwise but as wise and so that

ability to walk as wise doesn't come

from Plato or Aristotle. It comes from

the Holy Spirit bearing witness with

your spirit to think the mind to have

the mind of God to have the wisdom of

God. Another result of being filled by

the Holy Spirit is making the best use

of time. In verse 16, how should you

walk? You should walk by making the best

use of the time because the days are

evil. The Holy Spirit is what reveals to

me and you that the days are

evil. The Holy Spirit is what empowers

me and you. His filling is what empowers

me and you to make the best use of the

time. The third thing that we see in

verse 17 is that the Holy Spirit helps

me and you understand the will of the

Lord.

How many Christians go through their

life sadly confused about the will of

God because they have not taken this

filling of the Holy Spirit to make

themselves belong to the Holy Spirit.

And in verse 17, you can have the

certainty of what the will of the Lord

is in your

life. You can have it. You can be filled

with it this morning. You can know what

the will of God is for your life.

In verse 19, we're shown the beautiful

results of being filled by the spirit.

Includes addressing one another in

psalms and hymns and spiritual

songs. I addressed my seminar this

morning in songs, but they weren't

spiritual. And as I was doing it, I felt

dirty because the romantic songs that we

have on the radio today are so godless.

But we just

sang about the vast love of

God and I couldn't get through the three

verses that we sang, four verses that we

sang because of how beautiful the truths

were affecting my

heart. The radio ain't going to do that

for you, friends. What is it? 965 or I

don't even know what it is. It's not

going to do it for you. It's not going

to fill you to be spiritual.

Another result of being spiritfilled is

thankfulness. Giving thanks to God for

everything. This one is perhaps the most

personal to me. I I can tell when I'm

not being spiritfilled because I'm not

thankful. What causes a thankless heart

to well up in thanksgiving to God the

creator?

It's the Holy Spirit and his

filling. And then finally, one of the

beautiful natural results in a community

of being spiritfilled is submitting to

one another out of reverence for

Christ. I I'm so encouraged when we see

that Sheridan Hills. We submit to one

another in

love. I certainly see submission to our

pastoral leadership. I also see

submission uh to each other, brothers

and sisters submitting to one another

because of the truth. Who is doing that

work? It's the Holy Spirit filling our

church. Babies have a small capacity in

their lungs to be filled, which is why

babies need to develop and grow into

adult mature manhood.

And when you get to adult mature

manhood, your lungs have almost tripled

in size and you can fill your lungs with

more

air. Similarly, in a church our size,

there are believe baby believing

Christians who need to be filled with

the spirit and who must grow so that

their body and their minds and their

hearts are capable to receive more of

the filling, not less.

When we grow into mature manhood, we'll

be able to be filled more and more with

the spirit, which is what God's vision

is for Sheran Hills Baptist Church, to

make us larger to to grow us into mature

manhood so that we have the greater

capacity to be filled by the spirit.

Friends, I I long for being filled by

the spirit for our church and for

myself, for my marriage, for my

parenting.

One of the beautiful results

is in this passage. You see that we walk

wisely. We make best use of time. We

understand the will of the Lord. We

address one another in spiritual songs.

We give thanks. We submit. Don't you

long for that? Wouldn't your life be

simpler if you were filled with the

spirit? I didn't say

easier, but the results of being filled

by the spirit are far greater to me than

being filled by the

world. So, how can I ensure that I

experience the spirit's filling in my

life?

Well, there's five ways. And I think

you've heard this time and again from

our pulpit. But the first thing the

spirit does to help you be

filled is the spirit helps you and me

reflect on the fullness of Christ in

everything.

If we have a problem, church family, if

we have any struggles, brothers and

sisters, it's that we dwell too little

on the glory of Christ and too much on

the glory of

ourselves. What would it be like if we

absolutely became entranced by the the

outer working of Christ's glory in every

aspect of our lives, in our marriages,

in our parenting? If we did what God

said for us to do in every area of our

life, well, that requires reflection and

that

requires reflecting on the fullness of

Christ. Today, you have an opportunity

to reflect on the goodness of God toward

you and toward me and the Lord's supper.

How does God's salvation bless you and

bless me? Go read Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Go read Ephesians chapter 1 five times

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

this afternoon afternoon afternoon

afternoon and then text me and say that

did not fill me with the

spirit. You're not going to be able to.

Why? Because a a believer who has the

Holy Spirit of God indwelt by the spirit

of God once they read Ephesians 1, they

become filled with the spirit of God.

The spirit of God begins to control and

influence your life. You begin to show

thankfulness to God for what he's done

for you. Go do that. Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

1. Go read it five

times and test the Lord in this. See if

he will fill you. Number two, ask God to

fill you with his love. Practically ask

God to fill you with his love. Ephesians

chapter 3:18-19. Paul prays more than

the knowledge and more than theology

that they would have that the Ephesians

would have

love. Do you know what happened to the

church at

Ephesus? Sadly, over the course of its

history in Revelation, we're told that

the church at Ephesus lost its first

love. When Paul prayed for the Ephesians

to have love, he was praying for

something not just in their time, in

their lifetime, but now in eternity is

etched. And the fact that we know that

Ephesians lost their first love is a

warning to us not to lose our first

love. Well, how do we avoid losing our

first love? We avoid it by asking God to

fill

us. The third

thing that we can do to ensure that the

spirit's filling our

life is watch your

mouth. Of all the things that we could

do to grieve the spirit, this is listed

in Ephesians chapter 4

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

29. Let no corrupting talk come out of

your mouths, but only as is sufficient

and gives grace to those who hear. Do

not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who

sealed you for the day of

redemption. You want to grieve the Holy

Spirit of God, don't watch your mouth.

Let it run.

In James chapter 3, we're told the mouth

James 3 · chapter mention

is a powerful rudder. It influences and

controls

you. Well, how do we live as

spiritfilled Christians? We we must

watch our mouth. We must give grace to

those who

hear. Number four, let the word of

Christ dwell in you richly. In Ephesians

5, we see a whole list of things for

husbands and wives and then for children

and then for masters and slaves. And we

see uh that outer working. But that same

list is actually in Colossians chapter 3

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

as well. But instead of the command to

be filled by the spirit in Colossians,

Paul says, "Let the word of Christ dwell

in you richly." And he almost draws a

parallel to these two things. In other

words, letting the word of Christ dwell

in us richly is a way to be filled by

the Holy

Spirit. The the more word you have in

your heart, the more the spirit can have

you.

I was just talking to somebody about

this this week. The more we sew to the

flesh, the more flesh you'll get. The

more you sew to the spirit, the more you

cast seed and and and take his word and

memorize it and let it uh be

transplanted in your heart, the more

you're going to have of the spirit. And

the spirit will have influence on you.

The more of the word you take in. And

so, let the word of Christ, Sheridan

Hills, dwell among us.

Let our

singing, let our

preaching, let your life be reflected

and categorized by sc by scripture.

There are many of you in our church who

decorate your home with scripture

passages. That's a wonderful thing over

and against abstract art of like

somebody bending over with a pig next to

them. I don't know if any of you have

that in your house. I don't think so.

But I'd rather have scripture than

whatever I just

described. Abstract art won't help us be

indwelt with the word of Christ. But

having the word of God on your

walls, that'll help you and me remember

to let the word of Christ dwell in us

richly. And then finally, one of the

sure and fastest ways to quench the Holy

Spirit is to disobey God's prophetic

word. So, we must ensure that we

experience the spirit's filling by

obeying God's prophetic word. If 1

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 5

19, if you hear this word this morning

and go

away and you disobey, you're quenching

the spirit in your

life. Friends, this week, I want you to

ask yourself two questions. Will you ask

God first and foremost to influence and

control your life this week? That is,

will you ask God to fill you with his

spirit? What areas of your life need to

come under God's

control? Let me remind you of Romans

Romans 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 before we go into taking the

Lord's

supper. You could write this on your

outline.

Romans chapter 15 verse 13. Listen

Romans 15:13

listen

carefully. Just put put away whatever

you need to put

away. But listen carefully to Romans

Romans 15:13

15:13. We're talking about being filled

by the spirit. Listen to

this. May the God, this is my prayer for

Sheridan Hills, for myself. May the God

of hope fill you with all joy and peace

in

believing so that by the power of the

Holy Spirit you may abound, be filled

with

hope. Friends, Sheridan Hills Baptist

Church, the Holy Spirit is going to fill

this church. That's his plan for

Sheridan Hills Baptist Church. Let's

obey him and being filled by him.

Let's stand and

pray. Father, your spirit is something

we desire. Our church desires to be

filled by your

spirit. We desire to be influenced,

characterized by godliness.

We desire Lord to

experience

wisdom, to know your will for our

lives, to make the best use of time, to

address one another in psalms and hymns

and spiritual

songs, to give thanks in everything to

God the Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ, and to submit to one another. We

long for that. We desire that. And so

often we get in our own way.

No, more importantly, we get in the

spirit's

way. And so, Lord, I I pray that you

forgive us for quenching your spirit. I

pray that you'd forgive us for grieving

your

spirit. Perhaps even this week, we we've

failed to love like we ought

to, Lord. This week, we've perhaps

failed to submit like we ought to. This

week we've certainly used our mouths to

speak in corrupt

ways. And Lord, there are many other

things that your spirit

knows. Your spirit knows all of our

troubles. Your spirit knows all of our

troubles because your spirit lives in

us. We don't hide from you, Lord.

And so I pray that you would take what

is bad in us and fill us with what is

good for your glory, for the good of

this church, and for the good of the

salvation of our city, of our friends,

of our family members. Help us, Lord, to

be spiritfilled Christians. Help us to

obey

you in Jesus name. Amen.