Being Filled with the Spirit

Story about Running low on gas coming home from Lancaster to Mansfield.

- Amy warned me. Gas Gauge warned me…we ran out. Matt came and saved us.

Point: Warning signs are everywhere when your fuel tank is low and we need to listen to them in order to avoid trouble.

Our Spiritual life is much the same.

How many of you in the past week, by show of hands have used the following words in everyday conversation to describe how your feeling?

Tired, drained, spent, overwhelmed, too busy, exhausted, worn out, burned out…

well it looks like your in good company.

Matthew 11:28-30 the Message (SLIDE)

Matthew 11:28–30 NIV

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase here brings home the point…that we get tired, and worn out, burned out on trying to do things in our own power, especially religion (man’s attempt to please God)

But I want to ask you, are you turning to Him. Are you coming to him?

I feel like there can be a few barriers on the road of life that keep us from turning to Jesus, running to Jesus.

3 Roadblocks that keep us running on “E”

(and this list is not exhaustive, these are just 3 major ones)

Towing too much (exceeded our towing capacity) (Slide)

weighted down with too much baggage.

Trying to pull too much (kids, appointments, school, work, cleaning, laundry, friends, extended family, church family, bible studies, and the list goes on and on. You have overloaded your trailer and now your killing your gas mileage and draining your tank way too fast.

Each of us have our own GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) and when you overload yourselves, it drains you quickly and puts much more wear and tear on yourself.

Out of alignment (Slide)

Story of this weekend, driving the Rogue (Amy said, it is so hard to keep it on the right path, it keeps wanting to pull me off the road)

Pretension (pretending to be someone you are not)

Putting up a mask and wearing that around

Acting like we have it all together when in reality most of us don’t, and that’s ok, but we need to be honest about our situation because trying to act like we do is like driving a car that is in desperate need of an alignment.

Soon you will find yourself worn out, and beat down, running on “E”

Miles exceed MPG (Slide)

Simply put, your not stopping enough to refuel. To Gas up.

If I can just get to Mansfield… If I can just make it to Sunday.

And when we do these things, we are bound to run out of gas and get ourselves into a sticky situation. TROUBLE, LOW FUEL!

When we are tired, when we are weary, that is when we really fall into the flesh and Satan knows this. He knows to attack us when our flesh is weak, and you wonder why you turn to the same old patterns…

God gives us warning lights in our spiritual life, and we need to listen to them or we could easily find ourselves in trouble.

Ephesians 5:8–20 NIV

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave himself for us as a sacrifice so that we can live in holiness, separate ourselves, we are not like that anymore.

vs8- you were once in the darkness and now you are light.

3 Steps to Filling Up.

Wake Up- See the Warning Sign

v 14- Wake up sleeper

v 17- Do not be foolish (understand the warning signs, understand what God wants you to do)

v 18- Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (squandering, wasting, excessive indulgence in)

God is saying, Don’t turn to those things…

But why do we turn to those things, why do people drink to get drunk?

To relax

To let loose

To Fellowship

To Escape

They are going to something that is a cheap imitation of what God’s design is for them.

In my past I have been to enough parties and bars to realize that one of the major ways to relax and let go is to sing.

That is why karaoke goes over so well once you are two sheets to the wind and have enough liquid courage.

That’s why there are t-shirts with the slogan…I’m not drunk enough for that…

But people think they need the alcohol to exude their behavior to let go.

Now I’m not saying that having a drink or two every now and then is a bad thing, what I am saying though is that God says He has a better way for you! A better way to refuel and relax, to enjoy life and find true peace.

Be filled with the Spirit (slide)

We all leak, we were all given the Spirit at our salvation but Paul’s argument here is that you can have more. Continually have more

Ephesians 1:13–14 NIV

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Acts 8:14-17 The disciples were actively pursuing their mission to be Holy Spirit empowered witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea and now they are in Samaria and people are getting baptized and following Jesus…Things are popping :)

Acts 8:14–17 NIV

14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

We pick up the Story in Verse 14.

They had only been baptized and now the apostles lay hands on them to be filled with the Spirit.

Be filled (continuous, present tense verb) - It’s not just a once and done. You can continually come to the well of Living Water.

There is not a formula in the Bible set out to get filled, except that once you know about it, you can expect it to happen.

Acts 2:38, Peter says “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”

You don’t have to have the elder’s lay hands and pray for you to be filled, but sometimes that is how God does it.

You can simply pray yourself and ask God to fill you with His Spirit, to experience that joy and peace that surpasses all understanding. But just like most things when it comes to our Spiritual life, God does require us to take a step of faith.

But on the day to day life that we all live it, is it possible to experience a daily filling? A life marked by the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit living in our soul to the point where we are filled with joy?

Paul’s final encouragement is this:

Sing and Make Music (Slide)

The natural outpouring of having the Spirit of God filling you up is that your heart is filled with joy, and peace. To the point where you can sing to the lord a joyous song.

“When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon my heart, I will dance like David danced.”

There is a freedom that comes from being filled with the Spirit…

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Do you want freedom? Do you want joy? Do you want peace?

It is available by the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

May he fill you with joy, peace AS YOU TRUST IN HIM.

SO THAT

You can Overflow with Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

INVITATION: LUKE 11:9-13

Luke 11:9–13 NIV

9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”