Sermon Tone Analysis

A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon Conwell Divinity School, told of being out walking and looking across a field at a house.

There beside the house was what looked like a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps.

As Gordon watched, the man continued to pump at a tremendous rate; he seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing in the slightest, much less stopping.

Truly it was a remarkable sight, so Gordon started to walk toward it.

As he got closer, he could see it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man.

The arm that was pumping so rapidly was hinged at the elbow and the hand was wired to the pump handle.

The water was pouring forth, but not because the figure was pumping it.

You see, it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man!

When you see a man who is at work for God and producing results, recognize that it is the Holy Spirit working through him, not the man’s efforts that are giving results.

All he has to do—and all you have to do—is keep your hand on the handle.663

“To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with one who is already there, in our hearts.

Take up a sponge and while it is in your hand squeeze it.

In that condition, plunge it in water and submerge it, keeping it in there.

It is now in the water and the water is in it.

As you hold it in the water, you open your hand, and as you do so the water fills all the pores which you release in this way.

It is now filled with the water.

When we receive Christ we are born anew and put into that sphere where the Holy Spirit is operating and the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us!! (Romans 8:9)” (Roy Hession, Be Filled Now [Fort Washington, Penn.: Christian Lit., 1968], p. 12).664

A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon Conwell Divinity School, told of being out walking and looking across a field at a house.

There beside the house was what looked like a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps.

As Gordon watched, the man continued to pump at a tremendous rate; he seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing in the slightest, much less stopping.

Truly it was a remarkable sight, so Gordon started to walk toward it.

As he got closer, he could see it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man.

The arm that was pumping so rapidly was hinged at the elbow and the hand was wired to the pump handle.

The water was pouring forth, but not because the figure was pumping it.

You see, it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man!

When you see a man who is at work for God and producing results, recognize that it is the Holy Spirit working through him, not the man’s efforts that are giving results.

All he has to do—and all you have to do—is keep your hand on the handle.663

“To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with one who is already there, in our hearts.

Take up a sponge and while it is in your hand squeeze it.

In that condition, plunge it in water and submerge it, keeping it in there.

It is now in the water and the water is in it.

As you hold it in the water, you open your hand, and as you do so the water fills all the pores which you release in this way.

It is now filled with the water.

When we receive Christ we are born anew and put into that sphere where the Holy Spirit is operating and the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us!! (Romans 8:9)” (Roy Hession, Be Filled Now [Fort Washington, Penn.: Christian Lit., 1968], p. 12).664

A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon Conwell Divinity School, told of being out walking and looking across a field at a house.

There beside the house was what looked like a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps.

As Gordon watched, the man continued to pump at a tremendous rate; he seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing in the slightest, much less stopping.

A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon Conwell Divinity School, told of being out walking and looking across a field at a house.

There beside the house was what looked like a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps.

As Gordon watched, the man continued to pump at a tremendous rate; he seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing in the slightest, much less stopping.

Truly it was a remarkable sight, so Gordon started to walk toward it.

As he got closer, he could see it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man.

The arm that was pumping so rapidly was hinged at the elbow and the hand was wired to the pump handle.

The water was pouring forth, but not because the figure was pumping it.

You see, it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man!

When you see a man who is at work for God and producing results, recognize that it is the Holy Spirit working through him, not the man’s efforts that are giving results.

All he has to do—and all you have to do—is keep your hand on the handle.663

Truly it was a remarkable sight, so Gordon started to walk toward it.

As he got closer, he could see it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man.

The arm that was pumping so rapidly was hinged at the elbow and the hand was wired to the pump handle.

The water was pouring forth, but not because the figure was pumping it.

You see, it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man!

When you see a man who is at work for God and producing results, recognize that it is the Holy Spirit working through him, not the man’s efforts that are giving results.

All he has to do—and all you have to do—is keep your hand on the handle.663

“To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with one who is already there, in our hearts.

Take up a sponge and while it is in your hand squeeze it.

In that condition, plunge it in water and submerge it, keeping it in there.

It is now in the water and the water is in it.

As you hold it in the water, you open your hand, and as you do so the water fills all the pores which you release in this way.

It is now filled with the water.

When we receive Christ we are born anew and put into that sphere where the Holy Spirit is operating and the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us!! ()” (Roy Hession, Be Filled Now [Fort Washington, Penn.: Christian Lit., 1968], p. 12).664

“To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with one who is already there, in our hearts.

Take up a sponge and while it is in your hand squeeze it.

In that condition, plunge it in water and submerge it, keeping it in there.

It is now in the water and the water is in it.

As you hold it in the water, you open your hand, and as you do so the water fills all the pores which you release in this way.

It is now filled with the water.

When we receive Christ we are born anew and put into that sphere where the Holy Spirit is operating and the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us!! ()” (Roy Hession, Be Filled Now [Fort Washington, Penn.: Christian Lit., 1968], p. 12).664

Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 190.

I) The Holy Spirit assures believers of God’s Wisdom

See also

What is the wisdom of God?

The gospel

The leaders of the world do not understand the wisdom of God

⇒ Their eyes could not see the spiritual world.

⇒ Their ears could not hear the spiritual truth.

⇒ Their hearts could not conceive the spiritual truth, the glory of the things God has prepared for them that love Him.

⇒ Their eyes could not see the spiritual world.

⇒ Their ears could not hear the spiritual truth.

⇒ Their hearts could not conceive the spiritual truth, the glory of the things God has prepared for them that love Him.

Mystery of God

of the gospel

of the kingdom of Heaven

Believers resurrection

(NKJV)

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

of God’s Will

of the church and His universal love

II) The Holy Spirit assures makes God’s Wisdom known

of the gospel

of the kingdom of Heaven

Believers resurrection

Only the Holy Spirit knows God’s Wisdom

God’’s wisdom is revealed to the believer

(NKJV)

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

(NKJV)

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.