What is a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church?

John 4:23

Good morning!

We have been in a sermon series called Why Church?

We have been attempting to answer basic questions like why do we have church?

What is the purpose?

What is church and are we doing it correctly?

Why don’t people want to go to church anymore?

Tough but essential questions that are meant to explain and unify our church on mission.

I appreciate the buy in and interest in this series that I have recieved from you on this topic. I appreciate Anthony last Sunday asking the question, Why prayer?

This Wednesday night is our launch of Youth Group with Lynnville Baptist and Josh is asking the students the question Why Youth Group?

Church, I don’t ever want to get caught in the mindset or routine of church as normal or what we have always done.

I don’t like unanswered questions and saying phrases that we don’t know the meaning of.

I believe the Lord is calling us to be deep church filled with deep Christians.

I mean deep in their relationship and activity in the church but I also mean deep in their live, deep in their intimacy with God, deep in their knowledge and understanding of who God is and the things of God.

I feel a call to go deeper. I feel like that is where the HS is calling us to.

So we must ask difficult questions and make sure that we are on the same page with some of the basic things that we say but maybe not fully understand. Or think we understand but we don’t really...

The title is,

What is a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church?

Being Spirit-led is one of our values as a church and its honestly the main value that drew us into Connection church. My family and I started attending CC about 6 years ago and its honestly the most Spirit-led church that I have ever been apart of in my life.

There is something about experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit with my brothers and sisters in Christ that can not be explained until you give yourself over to it.

I don’t know if you know this or not but we as a church staff and leadership consistently pray that when you walk into this church and when you walk out of the church that you know that you have been in the presence of our Almighty God.

We pray it and seek it constantly as leaders for the good of our church!

We often hear for you or from visitors, “I couldn’t stop crying in church today.” “There is just something different when you walk in the room.” “I don’t know why?”

Well, we know why? Because you have experienced the answer to our prayers. You have been in the manifestation of the presence of the all-power, holy God of the universe!

Can y’all agree? Do you know what I’m talking about?

We believe that according to John 4:23-24, the Father is seeking worshiper that worship Him is a balance of Spirit and truth.

John 4:23–24 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

He does not desire us to be worshippers that are all Spirit without the truth of His Word. And He doesn’t not desire us to be all Word without any of His Spirit!

There is a balance between the fire of the Holy Spirit and the bricks and morter of the Word of God.

A fire without a fire place will burn the house down.

A fire place without a fire is a cold, dark place that is not fulfilling its purpose.

We believe that our Father desires us to worship in the balance of both Spirit and truth. All Spirit and all truth.

I pray that you see the evidence of that in what we do here on Sunday mornings.

I can only really speak for myself, but I know that there are routines and prayers that we as a staff use to prepare our hearts and lives to lead you into that kind of service.

I know that some of leaders have that.

I have routines and prayers and processes that I go through in preparation to lead you here on a Sunday morning.

It starts throughout the week in prayer and study and sermon prep, but Saturday afternoon, I attempt to set aside time specifically in prayer. Praying over the message, my team, and our church members.

I spend time in confession and repentance. I ask the Lord to search me and try me. To see if there is any grievous ways within me.

I pray a pre-written prayer that someone at Wayne st sent to Pastor Eric called the Prayer for worthiness to preach the Gospel.

I’m up at 4am on Sunday morning to pray and finish up my notes and slides.

Not to be weird, but one of the last things I do before I leave the house is shower and pray. Its a washing and prayer preparation time. Surrendering all that I am to Him and His leadership that morning.

Look, I say all of that not to boast about myself but to illustrate that there is a process and preparation that leads to leading a church service that is led by the Spirit. Wes and Pastor Eric and myself can not lead a Spirit-led church unless we are being led by the Spirit.

Again, I’m not boasting. I am simply showing you that in order to be led by the Spirit, it takes intentionality, it takes surrender and discipline. I have learned a lot over the last two years with how to prepare to come to church on a Sunday morning and I KNOW that I am not done growing in this.

But there is a nagging question, bouncing around my head.

Is THIS a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church?

Is the preparation of the leadership for a church service on a Sunday morning, what it means to have a Spirit-led church?

I praying that you can feel the presence of God when you walk in the room and worship, Is that what it means to be a Spirit-filled church?

I do not believe that is the fullness of what it is meant to be!

Why not?

Because,

Church, YOU are the church!

YOU are the body of Christ!

YOU are the bride of Christ!

The church is not a “service”, it is a people!

Romans 12:4–5 ESV

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

The church is made up of many members, many parts, but together we make up one BODY, the body of Christ.

The church of Christ is a staff and group of volunteer leaders. Its YOU! Its all of us! Together.

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 (ESV)

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:11 (ESV)

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Each and everyone of you as members of the body of Christ have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit that are meant to be manifested for the common good. For the good of the rest of the body, not just yourself!

The body requires all of its members functioning as they are suppose to to be healthy.

If YOU are not being filled by the Spirit and led by the Spirit than the body of Christ then the body suffers!

We all want to experience the presence of God, and the filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives daily. We desire the peace that surpasses understanding, the depth of love the Father has for us, the warm embrace of the Comforter.

We desire to experience the fruit of the Spirit! We want the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

We desire to come into a church service led by Spirit-led leaders, singing Spirit-led worship songs and reading of the Word of God as long as its not too convicting.

We all want to be Spirit filled!

So, many of the body of Christ want to come to a church service for their weekly fill up from the overflow of the leadership and others and hope that it carries them throughout the week until next Sunday.

Church, DO NOT be content with a taste of the Spirit once a week that flows from the stage!

YOU WERE MEANT FOR MORE THAN THAT!

Do you not know that YOU, YOU! are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells within you?!

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

You, church, each of you have a responsibility to the body of Christ to live by the Spirit and also keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25 ESV

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

What if, church, each of the members of the body of Christ were to find routines or spiritual habits and establish disciplines in your lives to prepare yourself to come to church already filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit?

What would a Sunday morning look like if every member of the body, not just a handful of leaders and prayer warriors, spent time in prayer and confession and repentance before you even walked through those door on a Sunday morning?

What if, each of us prepared our hearts and minds before we left the house on Sunday mornings?

What if each of us were to come to church with the JFK mindset? Asking not what our church is going to do for me this morning, but what does the Spirit of God desire me to contribute to the body of Christ this morning?

What gifts does the Spirit desire ME to manifest for the common good?

See, I believe that a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled church, is a church that is not just outpouring from the stage of the Spirit but the body of Christ, each member of the body Spirit filled and led.

Do not fall into the trap of believing that Spirit is simply an external force that acts upon you from someone else’s gifting!

YOU, if you are in Christ, have access to the exact same Spirit that Jennifer, Maggie, Bryson and I have access to!

There is nothing special about those who lead. There is not special relationship. There is no special connection to the Spirit. I don’t have a better Bible than you do or even a higher education that you do! I don’t have God’s phone number!

YOU have access to the same Spirit! Don’t let satan lie to you that there is a difference between those who stand up here and you in those seats!

But it takes intentionality, it takes surrender, it takes a willingness to sacrifice. It takes intentionality!

The issue is that most of us want the filling of the Spirit but not the leading of the Spirit.

(pause)

We desire the benefits of the filling of the Holy Spirit as our comforter, as our peace, as the one who fills us with joy unspeakable. We desire to be filled with His fruit!

But we do not desire to allow Him to lead us.

We desire Him to free us from anxiety and fear but we don’t want to surrender leadership of the situation to Him!

We desire Him to be our reminder of peace with God and to be our Comforter after we have sinned but we do not desire Him to lead us in the moment of temptation to avoid sin!

We desire to come to church on a Sunday morning to wash away the stress of the week, to experience Spirit-led worship, to cry and cast our burdens at the foot of the cross,

But we have no desire to allow Him to lead us and guide us and tell us not to do that thing while telling us to do this thing.

Look, all I’m saying is that the Spirit is not a buffet, that you get to pick and chose what attributes of Him you want and what you don’t want.

He is God. THE God.

Close your eyes for a minute.

Now, I want you to imagine seeing the Red Sea split in two for the Israelites to cross through.

I want you to imagine what it looks like for a mountain to be on fire, surrounded by clouds and lightening that shakes the ground!

I want you to imagine Jesus walking on water or healing sick people, or feeding 5000 people.

I want you to imagine the cross of our Saviour and the empty tomb!

I want you imagine seeing Him lifted up to the clouds and seated at the right hand of the Father!

I want you to imagine Pentacost, where fire fell on the followers of Jesus and they were given gift of the Spirit for the common good!

Church, look at me, you, have access to the SAME Spirit of the living God… There is no different God, no different Jesus, no different Holy Spirit.

Ephesians tells us that Jesus tore down the wall of hostility and made ONE MAN IN THE PLACE OF TWO!

YOU ARE NOW ONE WITH JESUS CHRIST!

And you BOTH through ONE SPIRIT, have access to the Father!

Church, can we get that through our heads????

Everything that we read in Scripture is true and available to you, right now!

You and I can walk into a church service together, walking in the SAME Spirit, the SAME filling, under the SAME leadership!

We all have access to the SAME Spirit.

What would that church looks like?

I love our Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church services, but I don’t think we have reached THAT level of Spirit-filling and leading.

But can you image if we did… What a Sunday we could have!!

But, the question remains...

is THAT a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church?

A group of people coming together after preparing at home to have that kind of Sunday morning service?

Again, I do not think that is the fullness of the meaning?

Church, we are not the church only on Sunday mornings.

We are not meant to only experience the presence of God once a week.

We are not meant to receive a weekly filling then depart and wait until next Sunday.

We are not meant to only step into our spiritual gifts and callings once a week.

The body of Christ is the body of Christ from not until eternity. But let’s start with Monday through Saturday!

What if, and this is the point of conviction for me, what if we were to not only put disciplines and emphasis and prayer in preparation for just Sunday morning?

What if we put that kind of focus and preparation into every day of the week?

What if you experienced the presence of God daily?

What if you were filled with the peace, comfort, and fruit of the Spirit, daily?

What if you surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit, not just on Sunday but every day you wake up?

What if every day we asked the Spirit to lead us to use our gifts for the common good Monday through Saturday?

Would that be the fullness of a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church?

I don’t meant to beat us up. I mean for us to be filled up!

Listen to these scriptures.

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 3:17–21 (ESV)

that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)

You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

Romans 8:6 ESV

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Church, I love you and this is the conviction point for me.

If the only time in your week that you experience the filling or leading of the Spirit is on a Sunday morning, then you are experiencing 1/7th of what you are meant to experience.

A Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church is more that 1/7th full of the Spirit.

Let’s be more than 1/7th Christians.

Let’s pray.

Pray the challenge.

To start with preparing for Sunday morning like a member of the body coming to contribute instead of just receive.

To pray, confess and repent, daily and weekly before Sunday.

To see the fullness of what Christ meant the church to look like accomplished at Connection Church.