The Filling of the Holy Spirit | Brad Straarup

I'm so expectant for today because I feel like the word that I have for you guys today, everyone in this room needs.

In fact, the word that I have for today, I feel like this entire valley needs it.

I need it more than anything else because I believe that if there's one message that God has called us to share here at Spurred, here in Arizona, it's the message that I'm gonna talk about here today.

And I believe that there are people in this room today, and you're experiencing some things in your life, and your life feels incredibly dry.

Then maybe there's some areas in your marriage that feels dry.

There's areas in your life that can feel dry, there's areas in your job that can feel dry, there's areas in your family that can feel dry.

Some of you are overcoming an addiction, and you feel like sometimes it gets the better of you.

Others of you, you're struggling with a thought pattern in your life that you feel like you got victory over, but for some reason it feels like it is just kicking your tail.

Well, there's others of you who are here and you feel like this wave of depression has come over you.

And it feels like it follows you around and you're saying, Man, I just need the breath of God to come into this place.

Let me just say, I think I need this more than ever before.

I need the power of God more than ever before.

I need the power of God in my family, I need the power of God in my life, I need the power of God in my family.

And let me just say this: you need it too.

Every single one of us, you need it too.

If we're gonna do what God is calling us to do here in the valley, we are gonna need the power of God because I know me and I'm not good enough.

And I know you, and you're not good enough.

What we need more than anything is the Holy Spirit's presence.

And I feel like sometimes we can come into a place and we can be white-knuckling things.

Like I'm just trying to do this in my own power, but there's a scripture that actually talks about this in Zechariah 4 verse 6, and it says this is the word of the Lord.

Zechariah 4:6

The things I'm gonna do, it's gonna happen not by might, and that's human might.

Some of us were trying to do this thing by ourselves.

He says, No, it's not gonna happen by might, it's not gonna happen by power, it's gonna happen by my spirit.

He says, It's gonna happen by my spirit, says the Lord, and that's an interesting word.

We talked about it last night.

The word for spirit there is ruach, say ruach.

If it sounds like you got some popcorn in your throat, you are saying it right.

Ruach.

And the definition for that word, get this it means wind, breath, and spirit.

And for us, it is three words, but in the Hebrew mind it is one word.

Okay, I want you to catch this because the air that exists in this room, the breath that is moving in your lungs, and the spirit of God that is moving, the Bible uses the same word, and it's this word, ruach.

And why is it one idea in the Hebrew mind?

Because it means the same thing, it means this it's something invisible that makes us alive.

The wind we can't see it, but it makes us alive.

Breath we can't see it, but it makes us alive.

We can't always see the Holy Spirit, but he makes us alive, and that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is wind, and it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is there.

Every time the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament, with that word ruach, there's a modifier attached to it.

Ruach Hakudesh, the Spirit of Holiness, Ruach Yahweh, the Spirit of the Lord, Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God.

We need his spirit more than anything else.

And let me just say that you need the ruach for your next breath, you need the ruach in your family, you need the ruach in the life, you need the Holy Spirit, and some of you are wondering why you feel dead, why your marriage feels dead, why your life feels dead, why things around you feel dead.

Let me just say, you need breath, you need the Holy Spirit more than anything else, and it's gonna happen not by might, not by power, but by his spirit.

So I feel like today the topic that God has given me is one of the most important topics I think that I can share with you today.

Because what I want to talk about is I want to talk about being filled with the spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit.

I want to talk about filled with the spirit.

I want to answer some questions.

What does it mean to be filled with the spirit?

And who is this for and how does that happen?

And if I'm filled with the spirit, does that mean I need to speak in tongues?

Because I know some of you are freaked out about that.

You're like, Brad, is that is that what it means I have to speak in tongues?

And why should I care about it?

Leave me to say you should care about it because it is the enabling power that we need to do everything that God has called us to do.

So is that okay?

Can we talk about being filled with the spirit today?

Amazing.

Lord God, I want to thank you for who you are.

Lord Jesus, we worship you, we praise you, Holy Spirit.

We give you this room and we pray that you can do what only you can do in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said.

Come on, all God's people said amen and amen.

We're talking about being filled with the Spirit.

Filled with the Spirit.

If you have your Bibles, I wonder if you can go to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15.

Ephesians 5:15

Paul is talking about what it is to be filled with the Spirit, and he says this in verse 15, so be careful how you live.

Period.

Man, that is good all by itself.

Be careful how you live.

He says, Do not live like fools, but live like those who are wise, making the most of every opportunity, because these the days are evil.

He says, Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

Don't be drunk on wine, which will ruin your life.

Instead, be filled, there's our word, be filled with the Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourself, and making music to the Lord in your hearts, and give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians is this incredible book that was written by the Apostle Paul, and he is writing to people that do not understand the God of Israel.

He is writing to a Gentile nation.

Gentile means people that aren't born Jewish, so people like us.

And he's trying to explain to them who the Holy Spirit is.

He's trying to explain to them who God is because they have no concept about who God is.

So when he is trying to describe who the Holy Spirit is, he says this when the Holy Spirit is in you, when you are filled with the Spirit, there should be evidence that you're filled with the Spirit.

There should be something different about you because you are filled with the Spirit.

So he's looking for a metaphor to describe what this is like.

And the metaphor that he uses is alcohol.

And you're like, Paul, like what are you thinking?

Like, why would you use alcohol when you're trying to talk about the Holy Spirit?

And then I got it, it's because the Ephesians are heathens, and they have no idea, the rumors I guess they have no idea this concept of God.

So what he's doing is he's reaching for something that they would understand.

And he's saying, No, no, no, you need to understand this because what happens with alcohol is that if you drink a bottle of alcohol, it doesn't matter how much willpower you have.

When you drink a bottle of alcohol, it changes the way you think, it changes the way you act, it changes the way you speak.

So when he's looking for this metaphor to describe the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who hovered over the waters of the deep in Genesis 2 when God created the heavens and the earth.

The Holy Spirit who empowered Samson to kill a thousand Philistines with a Jobo.

The Holy Spirit who transported Philip, when he's describing it, he says this because when you are filled with the Spirit, just like alcohol, when you are filled with the Spirit, it should change the way you act, it should change the way you speak, it should change the way that you walk.

It is impossible to be filled with the spirit and not be completely different.

So he says, What you need to do is you need to be filled.

Turn to your neighbor, say, be filled.

He says, be filled with the spirit, be filled with the spirit.

And that word is so short, be filled, but it's so important, and we have to understand what it means.

I want to show you a couple of observations just about that word.

Be filled.

Here's the first thing that word is an imperative.

Y'all like Brad, why are you taking me back to English class?

I don't like that.

I do not come to church because I want to go to English class.

No, no, no, hang hang with me.

We'll dust off the cobwebs.

I didn't like English either.

This is what an imperative means.

It is a command, not a suggestion.

Being filled is a command, not a suggestion.

The same way the Bible says thou shalt not commit adultery.

The same way it says thou shalt not bear false witness, the same way it says thou shalt not envy, the same way that it creates a command, it creates this command which is this be filled.

It is an imperative, in other words, it is not based on personal preference.

It isn't a preference.

If we aren't filled, it's not a preference.

What it is is it's disobedience.

It is an imperative, second observation, it is plural, it is second person plural.

He's basically saying, All y'all be filled.

All y'all.

Question, are you a y'all?

You're a y'all.

And if you're a y'all, he's saying you have to be filled.

This is not a personality thing, this is not a denomination thing.

This is not for the people who lift up their hands in worship.

No, he's saying, all y'all be filled.

Every single one of you be filled with the spirit of God.

The third observation is this it is present, continuous, which means this.

It's saying keep on being filled.

Being filled with the spirit is not a one-time badge you're gonna wear.

It is not something that happens at a conference or something that happens at a worship night.

He says, No, there is a continual filling of the Holy Spirit that needs to be present in your life.

And the fourth observation is this it's passive.

Okay, we're going back to English.

Y'all know an active verb.

An active verb is when you do the action, a passive verb is when you receive the action.

There is nothing that you can do to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit comes and he fills you.

All we can do is position ourselves to be filled.

It is a passive verb, which leads me to my first point, which is this the Holy Spirit is received, not achieved.

The Holy Spirit is received, not achieved.

People are like, How do I fill myself?

You cannot fill yourself.

You can only position yourself to be filled.

In other words, you cannot strive for this, which eliminates pride.

You can't strive for this.

You can only position yourself.

Many of us, before we get saved, we're like this bottle.

Okay?

Now many of you will look at this bottle and you'll say, This bottle is empty.

You agree?

Okay, this bottle is not empty, this bottle is actually full.

Like what?

It's full of air.

And so often we don't realize that it's full because it's carrying something it wasn't meant to carry.

It is living below its potential, it's living below its calling.

Because it's carrying something it wasn't supposed to carry.

We are like this bottle before we come and we meet God because so many of us were actually full of something.

Some of you, you might be filled with shame.

Some of you might be filled with worry.

Some of you, you might be filled with anxiety.

And what Paul is saying is, we're filled with things, but what I want you to do is not top up with the Holy Spirit.

He's saying, I want you to trade what is in here for the Spirit.

It's not a top-up, it's a trade.

He wants you to be filled with the Spirit.

We need to be filled with the Spirit.

We need to get out of the stuff out of our lives that we can be filled with the Spirit.

And whenever the Bible talks about being filled with the Spirit, there are three words I need you to understand that you can get this concept of what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

Okay?

Not three experiences, three words.

Okay, three words.

A lot of times people talk about three experiences.

No, no, no.

We're gonna talk about three words that you can be filled with the spirit.

And the first word I need you to understand is the indwelling.

Say indwelling.

It's the indwelling of the spirit.

The indwelling of the spirit is this when you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes into you at conversion.

In other words, if you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit in you.

Can I get a good amen?

The Holy Spirit is in you.

You see this in the Bible.

I want to show you in scripture.

Go to John 20.

John 20.

Here's what happened, what's happening.

On Thursday is the Last Supper.

Jesus is about to go to the cross, and he says to his disciples, He says, I'm about to send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is gonna come and he's gonna empower you.

That night he is captured.

On Friday, he is crucified, he is in the tomb.

On Sunday, he rises from the dead, he appears to Mary Magdalene, who then goes to the disciples and says, That's for Jesus.

And then they're freaking out.

So that night they go and hide.

That's where we pick it up.

John 20, verse 19, it says this on the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leader.

John 20:19

So they're afraid.

Okay, they're like, I don't know what's going on.

People are saying Jesus has risen from the dead, like I don't get this.

And it says that Jesus came and stood among them, and he said, Peace be with you.

The reason he said that is because they were freaking out.

Like, imagine being in a room and all of a sudden Jesus is like, Hi, like, oh, this is happening, freaking out in the moment.

This is after he said this, he showed him his hands and his side, and the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

And Jesus said, Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I'm ascending you.

And it says this, and then he breathed on them.

And he said this, receive the Holy Spirit.

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Now there's a lot of debate about this moment, but many people believe that this was the moment that the disciples became New Testament Christians.

Because in that moment, what happens is they received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Some people say it's prophetic and it only happened 50 days later at Pentecost.

But in this moment, the Greek word is this, limbano.

It means to acquire, to obtain possession, to accept.

They received the Holy Spirit.

And when it says that he breathed on them, that is a very rare word.

That is the word mentioned in Genesis.

When God breathes into Adam, that is the word mentioned in Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones that we talked about last night, where the Holy Spirit comes and breathes on a nation, is dead.

And here's the same moment where Jesus is breathing on the disciples.

This is a picture of what God said was going to happen, because in Ezekiel 37 14, he says, I will put my spirit in you, and you will live.

In this moment, the Holy Spirit is coming into the disciples.

They are Christians, they are New Testament believers.

This is what John said was going to happen all the time.

And it happens to every single one of us.

Romans, it says this, Romans 10 verse 9, that if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

When you say Jesus is Lord, like they said here in this moment, you will be saved.

And what happens in that moment is you receive the Holy Spirit.

So here we have this empty bottle, which is you, filled with all of our stuff.

And what happens is we believe in Jesus, we accept Jesus.

And the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us.

Can y'all see that?

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So now you have the Holy Spirit in you.

But just because the Holy Spirit is in you, it doesn't mean that you are filled with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is in you.

It's called the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

I want to show it to you in scripture.

A couple of scriptures that show you the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

The first is Romans 8, verse 9, and it says this the Spirit of God lives in you.

Romans 8:9

And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give you life to your mortal bodies.

Because the Spirit who is?

Y'all get the picture?

Y'all see it?

1 Corinthians 6.19.

Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in?

In you.

Second Timothy 1.14, God the good deposit that was trusted to you, guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

John 14, 17.

He is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth.

The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him.

But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

The Holy Spirit was with the disciples the same way he was with all the Old Testament prophets.

But this is saying there's coming a point, the Holy Spirit won't just be with you, he will be in you.

First John 3 24.

Those of us who obey God's commandments will remain in fellowship with him and he with them.

And we know he lives in us because the spirit he gave us lives in us.

I want you to understand the Bible doesn't use the word indwelling of the spirit, but it will often say he dwells with us, he is in us, he lives in us.

And there is never a question as to whether or not the Holy Spirit is in you.

If you are saved, every theologian will say that you have the indwelling of the Spirit.

Galatians 3 verse 2.

Galatians 3:2

Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law?

No.

You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.

So when we believe the message about Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit in a moment, and then the indwelling of the Spirit becomes an ongoing reality.

But just because you have the indwelling of the Spirit doesn't mean that you are filled with the Spirit, which leads me to the second word that I want you to understand, which is this baptism in the spirit.

Okay, now this is the one that people fight about.

Okay, this is the one that people like to argue about.

Baptism in the spirit.

With the indwelling of the spirit is the Holy Spirit coming in you, baptism of the spirit is the Holy Spirit coming upon you.

Coming upon you.

You see it all throughout the Bible.

The Bible talks about it, uses words like being clothed with the Spirit or the Spirit of God falling upon people.

And there's no debate that it happens, there's just debate when it happens.

Okay?

So there are some people that say, no, no, no.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit happens at salvation, it happens at conversion because you see that in Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

But also, sometimes it happens after conversion, which you see in Acts 8, 19, and also the disciples themselves.

And according to the letters, it actually happens at conversion.

So which one is it?

People are like, does it happen at conversion?

Does it happen after conversion?

People come up to me and they're like, Brad, which one is it?

And here's my answer.

Yes.

Does it happen before does it happen at?

Sure.

Does it happen after?

You have to have space in your theology because in the Bible it happens both ways.

And I think so often I see all of these theologians, and what they're doing is they're fighting about when it happens.

And I think so often I think about Jesus who even says that we need to come to him like a little kid, and sometimes we come to Jesus as an intellectual, and there comes a point where I need to say, Lord, I don't know.

It happens both ways in the Bible, whether it's at or after, I want it.

I want it.

If it happened at salvation, thank you for baptizing me in the spirit.

If it happens later, please baptize me in the spirit.

I want it.

I want it.

I just want what you have for me.

So back to our story, Jesus says this receive the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit.

That same story in Luke, a different gospel.

2449, it says this, I'm going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed.

There's that word.

Until you've been clothed from power on high.

That Greek word there, it means to dress or to put on.

So they've received the Holy Spirit, but there's coming a point where they're going to be clothed with him.

I'll show it to you in Acts 1.

If you're still in John, you can flip the page.

Acts 1, 1, it says this.

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach.

Until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

After his suffering, he presented himself on many occasions and gave many convicting proofs that he was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

We're reading about those moments right over here.

Verse 4, on one occasion, and it seems like it could be this occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you heard me speak about.

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word there is baptizo, and it means this to be submerged or to make fully wet.

So what he's saying is that when you receive the Holy Spirit, you now have the Holy Spirit in you.

It is the indwelling of the Spirit.

And then he says there comes a point where you get baptized, submerged, you get dipped into the Holy Spirit, which is this.

Baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Where the Holy Spirit now surrounds you.

He's part of every single part of you.

You're baptized, clothed in the Spirit.

I want to show it to you because I think that this is so incredibly powerful.

People need to understand that you are baptized in the Spirit, but not by the Spirit.

You are baptized in the Spirit.

He is the element.

You see this all throughout the Gospels.

It's mentioned four times in the Gospels.

Anytime something's mentioned four times, we have to pay attention.

Matthew 3, verse 11, John is talking and he says this I baptize with or in water for those who repent of their sins and turn to God, but someone is coming who is greater than I am.

Matthew 3:11

Who is that?

Jesus.

And he says this that he will baptize you with or in the Holy Spirit and with fire.

So what's happening is John is saying, I'm gonna baptize you in water, but someone is coming who is greater than I am, and he will not baptize you in water, he will baptize you in the Spirit of God.

And that word, I love it, baptizo.

Okay, I love this.

The Holy Spirit is the element that we get bap we get baptized in.

That word, it was mentioned in 200 BC by a Greek poet and doctor named Nicander on a pickle recipe.

Baptizo.

Okay, get this.

He wrote on papyrus a pickle recipe, and this is what he wrote.

To make a pickle, first the vegetable must be dipped, that's the word bapto, into boiling water, and then it must be baptizoed, the same word.

Okay, it must be baptizoed.

Bapto is a short temporary dipping.

Baptizo is an immersion for such a long time that it produces a complete change in the vegetable.

In other words, it is a pickle, it is a cucumber, but it gets baptizoed and it becomes a cucumber.

When you are baptized in the Spirit, everything about you changes.

The Holy Spirit comes upon you, He surrounds you.

It's the same word used when you take a white cloth and you put it into red dye and you pull it out.

It got baptismed into it.

So you get this infilling of the Holy Spirit, and then what you get is you get baptized in the Spirit.

And the final thing is the filling of the Spirit.

The filling of the Spirit.

Now that we have been baptized in the Spirit.

Here's what it says: Acts 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Why do we need this power?

Because we have an assignment that God has called us to do.

Says this, Acts 2, verse 1.

Acts 2:1

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly, say suddenly, suddenly a sound of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the house.

And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

They were gathering and they're gathered in this place, and the indwelling of the Spirit comes in them, and they are baptized in the Spirit.

And then the Bible says that they are filled with the Spirit.

I want you to notice this.

Whenever you read the Bible, there is a pattern.

How many times do we receive the indwelling of the Spirit?

Once.

How many times do we receive the baptism in the Spirit?

Once.

How many times are we filled with the Spirit?

Multiple times.

Multiple times.

I'll show it to you in Scripture.

Acts 2, verse 4, it says this.

Acts 2:4

All of them were filled.

Acts 4, verse 8, it says, My man, Peter, he is filled again with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:8

Acts 4, 31, that exact same group.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then my man Paul in Acts 9, verse 17, he was filled with the Spirit.

Acts 9:17

And then again in 13, 9, then Saul, who is also called Paul, was filled with the Spirit.

And then he starts writing to Ephesians who have already been filled with the Spirit.

And then he says, This, Ephesians 5.18.

Do not get drunk on wine.

This was the key verse which leads to debauchery, but be continually filled with the spirit.

You see, because here's the challenge is that we can have the Holy Spirit in us.

We can be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but there's still a lot of us in this bottle.

And we've allowed the Holy Spirit to come to some parts of our lives, but not all parts of our lives.

We're like, you know what, Holy Spirit?

You can talk to me about my Bible reading.

You just can't talk to me about that thing that I watch.

I kind of like that.

You can talk to me about my prayer life, but do not talk to me about the way that I talk to my wife.

I like that.

So we say you can come into some parts of me, but you can't come into all parts of me.

So we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, but we haven't let him into every single part of us.

And when it says that you are filled with the Spirit, I am submerged in infinite Holy Spirit.

And what happens is I say, Holy Spirit.

That thing that I'm fighting by myself, can you come into that space?

Can you fill that space?

This arrogance that I'm struggling with, can you fill that space?

The doubt that exists in my mind.

I'm done by nuckling this thing.

And we're filled with the spirit.

The challenge is we can be filled with the spirit.

And we have moments when we're filled with the spirit.

I don't know if y'all have ever had this where you're trusting God and then God doesn't do what you want him to do.

And you're like, oh no.

I got that.

You know, and then someone's mean to you and you want to be resentful, and the Bible says not to be resentful, and you're like, but it just feels good.

I should forgive them, but they should they should forgive me.

I should put no I'm not gonna say sorry first.

They need to say sorry first.

I ain't gonna do that.

Yeah, Holy Spirit, you can have some parts of me.

I just don't want you to have that part of me.

Oh, we have the indwelling.

We can be baptized in.

But we can grieve, reject, quarterize the Holy Spirit.

So he says, uh-uh.

Be filled.

And when I do this, what do I be filled?

The beautiful thing about being filled is some of you are like, this bottle is full.

But the crazy thing is as you grow with God, your capacity can grow, so you can get a bigger bottle and you can become more full.

And then as you grow with God, you can get another bottle and you can become more full.

This isn't weird, this isn't strange.

We are supposed to be filled with the spirit of God, which means every single part of us, and some of us, we have given him 95% of our life, but we haven't given him that final five percent of your life.

Here's my encouragement.

As Paul says, be filled, continually be filled with the spirit.

I don't just want the Holy Spirit in me.

I don't just want to be baptized in the Spirit, I want to be full of him.

I want my every word, my every action, the same way that if you take a sip of alcohol or you take a bottle of alcohol and it changes everything.

Holy Spirit, fill me, change everything inside of me, the way that I act, the way that I talk, the way that I pray, the way that I read my Bible, the way that I treat my wife, the way that I'm in my work, fill me.

Fill me, fill me.

We need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we need the baptism in the spirit, and then we need to be filled with the spirit.

Do not quench the spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19 says, Ephesians 4, 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit, whom you were sealed for the day of your redemption.

1 Thessalonians 5:19

How?

Get rid of bitterness and rage and anger and brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

What are we supposed to do?

Romans citizen, offer your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord.

What does that mean?

I'm offering every part of me, every part of me to the Lord.

Why?

That He can use me.

Second Timothy 2, 21.

If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use.

Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the master to use you for every good work.

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts.

Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.

Enjoy the companionship of those who call God on God with pure hearts.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

I want you to see this.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit brings his presence.

The baptism of the Spirit brings his power, but the filling of his spirit brings direction and control.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit saying, Can I get in?

Like, yeah, you can get in.

Baptism in the Spirit is the Holy Spirit surrounding the car.

Being filled with the Spirit is like, Can I get in the driver's seat?

Can I hear that thing?

That thing that you've been fighting for.

Will you hand it to me?

Will you hand it to me and see what I'm gonna do?

Will you trust me?

Will you trust me in your finance?

Would you trust me in that conversation?

We ought to be have the whisper in us.

And then be filled with this word in the final question.

Okay, okay.

I get it.

Does that mean I've got to speak in tongues?

Because I'm really afraid about the tongue thing.

The tongue thing kind of freaks me out.

You're like, okay, here's what I need, you don't know for everyone who's afraid of that.

A prayer language is a benefit to receive and not a bar to reach.

I'll say it again.

A prayer language is a benefit to receive and not a bar to reach.

You see it in the in the Bible.

There are times that they are filled with the Spirit and they speak in tongues, but there's also times that they are filled with the Spirit and they don't speak in tongues.

If someone has told you that the evidence of the Holy Spirit baptizing you is you speaking in tongues, let me just say this.

That is not in the Bible.

You do not have to speak in tongues for you to be baptized in the Spirit.

And I just know that there are some of you that have come from places where you felt like a second-class Christian because you haven't spoken in tongues.

And it was like the first class Christians go there, and all the sorry people can go there.

If that has happened to you, if you've had an experience, if someone said, Man, you're not leaving until you do this, you may never hear it from them.

Hear it from me.

I'm sorry.

Sorry.

And please don't let an experience like that keep you from everything that God has for you.

Speaking in tongues does not make me better than you.

It makes me better than me.

It makes me better than me.

I need it more than anything.

And for those of you who are like, I feel like people haven't been taught about this.

Yes, there's a gift of tongues.

We talked about that.

The gift of tongues.

Which needs interpretation.

My daughter Sunday comes up to me and she says, Ba ba ba ba.

And my wife says she wants a bottle.

And I'm like, how do you know that?

And she's like, she wants a bottle.

And uh I get her water, and Sunday's like, no.

And I give her milk, and she's like, Yeah.

And uh see, Sunday speaks in tongues, and my wife has the interpretation of tongues.

Kidding, I'm kidding.

Don't laugh at that.

Don't laugh at that, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

There is a difference between a gift of tongues and the grace of tongues.

Okay, the gift needs to be interpreted.

A gift of tongues is something spoken to people from God, and it needs interpretation.

The grace of tongues is a prayer language that you speak to God, and it is for your edification.

A couple things I want to show you about this, and then we'll pray.

For those of you who have never been taught, it is biblical.

Speaking in tongues is biblical, despite what people say.

1 Corinthians 14 2, it says this for the one who speaks in tongues speaks not to men, but to God.

So everyone who says, No, no, no, speaking in tongues, they were just speaking a different language, it was a foreign language.

I want you to read that again.

Those who speak in a tongue do not speak to men, but they speak to God.

For no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit.

It is a mystery.

First Corinthians 14, 14.

For if I pray in a tongue, again, this is Paul speaking.

He says, My spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

So what should I do?

What is the conclusion?

I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding.

I will sing with the spirit, but I also will sing with my understanding.

And if you find yourself getting a little resistance, I haven't said anything, I've just read the Bible.

I haven't said anything yet.

I just read the Bible.

These aren't my words, they're Paul's.

Through the Holy Spirit through Paul.

And if there's resistance, there could be an experience that you're basing your theology on instead of basing it on the word of God.

And I just have to say that.

I love you enough to say that.

I will pray in the spirit, but I will also pray with my mind.

What does that look like for me?

Most of the time, when I'm praying, 50% is words that I understand, and 50% is words that I do not understand.

And I pray naturally with my mind, with my understanding, and then I don't know what to pray, and then I pray in the spirit, and then God gives me something, and then I pray with my mind, and then I run out, and then I pray with the spirit.

That is my prayer language.

That's how I pray.

Verse 16.

Otherwise, when you're praying, when you're praising God in the spirit, how can someone say, how can an inquirer say amen to your thanksgiving since they do not know what you're saying?

You are giving thanks well enough, but no one is edified.

And people are like, Yeah, but you think Paul spoke in tongues?

Like he's just talking.

No, no, no, no, no.

Verse 18.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

And people are like, I don't care, like, I just think you're not supposed to do that.

That shouldn't happen in church.

Great, verse 39.

And do not forbid speaking in tongues.

This is the Bible, and there are churches that are forbidden it.

I need you to understand that it's biblical.

The second thing I need you to understand is that it is a benefit.

It is a benefit.

1 Corinthians 14 4.

Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, and the one who prophesies edifies the church.

When you read the Bible in your own personal time, it edifies you.

When you read the Bible in a congregation, it edifies the church.

This is for your edification and for your building up.

Jude 20.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in the most holy faith and praising the Holy Spirit.

And my question is this why would you not want to be built up?

Why would you not want to be built up?

Final thing I'll say about tongues is this it is a choice.

First Corinthians 14 14.

He says, If I pray in a tongue, do you know what that means?

It means he can choose.

If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

So what shall I do?

I will.

Again, that is him making a decision.

He says, I will.

In other words, it is a choice.

You're not going to walk into fries one day.

And the Holy Spirit is just going to take over your body and you're going to grab the intercom and just start speaking to everyone in tongues.

It's not going to happen that way.

Everyone who's afraid that that's how it works, it doesn't happen that way.

It is a choice.

If it wasn't a choice, why would he give instructions on how to govern it if it's not a choice?

And like I said, if it's biblical, why wouldn't you?

I remember when I was a young teenager, I told you guys about the fact that I was homeschooled.

Like I was super quiet and weird.

People are like, you're still weird.

I'm like, praise God.

Super quiet.

Uh, could never speak in front of a small group.

Like it just was bad.

It was so bad.

And I remember coming to an event, a youth event, and um, we were all praying and just saying, Holy Spirit, can you fill me?

Can you feel me?

Can you fill me?

And I remember I was like, Lord, I want to receive my prayer language.

And uh, I don't know about y'all, but I'm really cerebral.

And uh, if anything is not gonna happen to someone, it's not gonna happen for me.

Like, that's just who I am.

And I remember being at this youth conference and everyone speaking in tongues, like it was awesome, and then everyone left, and I was the only guy in the room because that's who I and I'm like, I just couldn't.

And I was like, Lord, I pray for the gift, may I receive the gift, and then you have to release the gift by faith.

And I had it here, but I couldn't get it past my mind.

Many of you have had that experience.

You say, Holy Spirit, give me my prayer language, fill me with your spirit, and you have it, you just won't speak.

Why?

Because it sounds like gibberish.

Again, your mind is unfruitful, you do not understand it.

It is an act of faith.

And I had a youth pastor who stayed with me, and he was like, I ain't leaving until you do, not until you speak, until you're ready.

And I tell you what, there came a point that I was able to overcome my mind and I was able to speak.

Y'all, I was ecstatic.

The next day I woke up, I had my quiet time, and I literally wrote my tongue in my journal because I was worried I was gonna forget it.

Okay, it doesn't work that way, but that's how young I was.

And let me just say that there was a there is a a markable difference between Brad before that moment and Brad after that moment.

Why?

It edified me.

Don't you want that?

And here's what I encourage you to do.

We wouldn't make it weird.

In your prayer time this week, in your Bible reading time, when you're driving in the car, listening to music, crank it up, and just say, Lord, may I receive the gift and speak.

Speak.

If you want to know more about that, we're starting freedom groups, and um, it's not the entire curriculum, but there's a part of that curriculum where we go deeper into explaining tongues.

And there's some groups that are already live that you can join, freedom groups that are live, and there's more that are coming.

But let me just say this: why wouldn't you want it?

So I promised you that I would spend a little bit of time talking about it, so I don't want to end the series without.

What are we to be?

We ought to be have the Holy Spirit in us, have the Holy Spirit around us, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And then for some of us, that's the next step that you can take.

Can I pray for you?

Lord God, I want to thank you for every single person that is here.

Holy Spirit, I thank you that you are in this room, and I pray that for every single one of us that you will fill us.

The parts of our lives that we haven't given over to you, Holy Spirit, may you fill.

We give them over to you.

We give over our lives to you.

There are people here today, and maybe you haven't given your life to Jesus.

You have wanted to or you've heard about it, but there's been some resistance.

Let me just say today's your day, today's your moment.

And if you're here and you haven't said yes to Jesus, you haven't given your life over to him, the Bible's simple, it says every single one of us, the gospel's simple, every single one of us has made mistakes, but God says his son Jesus, who came to this earth, died on a cross for your sins.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.

But Jesus took that death.

And all you have to do, the Bible says, if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So as you're praying, I just want you to pray this off to me.

Just say, Dear Jesus, I believe that you're the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

I believe you came to this earth, you died on a cross, and you were raised that I can have life.

I make you my Lord.

I make you my Savior.

In Jesus' name.

With every head bowed and eyes closed, if you pray that for the first time, I'm gonna ask you to do something bold.

Count of three, just when you lift up your hand.

Say, Brad, that's me.

We'd love to celebrate with you.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

If you pray that for the very first time, it's awesome.

Thank you.

That's awesome.

Hey church, do me a favor, put your hands together.

Come on, for everybody, who just said that.

We love you, church.

And if you just said yes to Jesus, let me tell you, that is the best decision that you could ever make.

But you do have a next step today.

We would love for you to text the keyword Jesus to 480-485-3405 because we want to send you an incredible resource we created called You Said Yes.

It's a 21-day devotional because you are not meant to walk this journey with Jesus alone.

So we would love for you to let us know that you just made that decision today.

And hey, if you call Spirit at home or you've been watching for some time, we would invite you to pray about two things.

One, we would want you to pray about inviting someone to watch with you.

Send this message to somebody.

You never know how much a simple share could change somebody's life.

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You never know how much your giving makes this possible, the reason you're watching right now.

And so we want to say thank you for the way that you give and pray about considering partnering with us financially.

Well, we love you, church, and we will see you right back here next week.

And remember that with God, there is more.