Pour Your Spirit Out

This evening we continue our emphasis on the Holy Spirit.

The next several weeks, we will be talking about who the Spirit is and what He wants to do in our lives.

This may seem like a review… or a series on something we already know. After all, we are a Pentecostal Church! We believe in the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit!

Yet, across the nation, we are seeing less and less dependency upon the Holy Spirit. We are seeing a shift away from the power we need to complete the mission God has given us.

The goal of this evening is not to beat up on current trends… the goal is to remind us that we need the Spirit of God in our lives every single day.

We know that God’s Spirit is here and is available to all believers!

The question is: are we living life by the Spirit, or life by something else.

There is no substitute for the presence of God in our lives. This is why the work that Jesus did for us… the door that He opened for us… is so significant!

The Spirit has been given… that we might receive Him. The Spirit is being poured out… and I believe God is going to pour out His Spirit on us this evening in our prayer time!

God promised us that in these last days, His Spirit would indeed be poured out.

Acts 2:17–21 NIV

17 “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

There is no questioning that we are living in the last days. There is no questioning that God is in fact pouring out His Spirit. The question is… is there room enough in our lives for us to receive Him?

Before we get in these altars I want to ask a simple question: How much room do you give God and His Spirit in your life?

If you stop and look back on this last week, how much time, how much space did you give the Holy Spirit to work within you?

We know the story behind the text we just read.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit came upon those in the upper room.

People heard what took place.

Peter addressed the crowd and reminded them of this prophecy from Joel 2.

But before all of this happened… something else took place that led up to all of this. Those in the upper room… were willing to wait upon the Lord.

I am sure that the people were eager to tell the world about all that had happened! They were the first ones to testify of His resurrection! But before they could go, before they could leave Jerusalem, they would first have to wait… specifically for the promised Holy Spirit.

In the aftermath of His resurrection and ascension, the followers of Christ were told to wait for the power that was coming.

The mission Jesus had given them… to go and make disciples… could not be accomplished without this coming power. Jesus said to wait… so that’s what they did.

We are not told exactly what they did with all that time… we know that Matthias was chosen to replace Judas as one of the 12 disciples, but what could have been going on between the Moment Jesus said wait… and the moment God poured out His Spirit?

I believe… hearts were made ready. I believe… faith was on the rise. I believe… as they had witnessed Jesus rise up to heaven, they were anticipating God’s Spirit coming down to His people! Ultimately, they were obedient to Jesus’ instruction and faithful in their time of waiting.

Today, we know that the power of the Holy Spirit is available. We know His Spirit is being poured out and our prayer tonight is simple: Lord, pour Your Spirit out!

But is out faith on the rise? Do we anticipate a move of the Holy Spirit in our lives or are our lives so already full of other things that we have no room for the Spirit to Work?

I often fear we overlook the importance of… waiting as the disciples were instructed to wait. And tonight, I want to look at a couple of key advantages that come as we choose to wait on God for what He has.

One: Waiting Helps Renew Focus

Have you ever had to stop and regroup? Have you ever had to take a break or to reevaluate to gain proper focus?

We have a lot going on in our lives! Too much if we are truly honest… yet we keep the pace. We dig deep and hit the track running.

Some days seem like there’s not hardly room enough to breathe… but somehow we get it done.

And somehow in all of this craziness, we are supposed to hear the voice of the Lord. Somehow we are supposed t make room for His Spirit in our already overfull lives.

Waiting means we unplug… it means we silence the noise, silence the phones, get away from the screens, forget about the schedules… and focus in on what is most important.

We fill our days and lives with so much busyness and work. I hope we never forget we serve a God that wants to fill us with His Spirit and power.

The way of the world will exhaust you. The way of the world will leave you weary and drained.

Although we do not live of the world, we live in the world… and some days it is all we can do to keep up! So this idea of waiting… trying to find even more time in our day… just seems so out of touch. And that’s what the enemy wants us to believe.

Satan wants you to lose focus. He wants you to dig deep instead of call out. He wants you to wear out and to run on empty. God wants to fill you to the brim. God is not the author of confusion, He is the giver of purpose and direction.

When we wait, our focus is renewed. Our direction is made clear again. Our Spirit is tuned back in to His voice. And we are led to clear out the clutter that is making our lives too cluttered.

How does that happen exactly?

Two: Waiting Moves Us to Surrender

Consider this: in order for the disciples to obey the instruction given to them, they had to surrender whatever plans, thoughts, agendas, etc, they may have had to accommodate the wait.

Too often, it is our faith that gets surrendered to other things. Too often it is our walk with God that gets placed on hold for the demands of our schedules.

God has a move in store for our lives. He is NOT going to move when it works best for us… He is going to move according to His plan and timing.

And here’s another thing to keep in mind… God will not wait on you to move. God is going to move… with or without you.

His desire is for us to be a part of what He is doing! His desire is for us to come into alignment with His plan.

We risk missing what God has in store when we place other things in front of our worship and fellowship with Him.

The disciples did not argue with Jesus’ instruction, they simply obeyed… they surrendered themselves to His will.

Surrender means to cease resistance.

We claim we want more of God but our lives often prove otherwise. We resist Him when we place self in front of serving.

But when we wait… when we stop and hear from the Lord, it causes us to push the hold button on everything else and to surrender that moment… all that we are… to Him.

Prayer and Worship

So this evening, I have two prayer points for us to lift up as we wait upon the Lord.

As we come into the altar, I pray that our faith will be on the rise. I pray you will come anticipating a move of the Lord.

In last days, God said He WILL pour out His Spirit… get ready for the Lord to pour His Spirit out!

And as we prepare to hear from Him, will you join me in lifting up these two prayer points?

God, as we wait, will you help me to focus on You? Will you help me to place all busyness and routine aside? Will you help me to press in?

God, as we wait, I fully surrender myself to Your will and Your presence. I will not resist your move… I will commit to Your move. Clear out the clutter in me that I might follow You more closely.