EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE: Positioning Ourselves For Spirit-Filling Through the Word of God

Memorial Drive 3/24/19 EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE: Positioning Ourselves For Spirit-Filling Through the Word of God Various Texts Once saved, nothing is quite as important as the present work of the Spirit of God in your life! “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be STRENGTHENED WITH POWER THROUGH HIS SPIRIT IN THE INNER MAN, SO THAT Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and THAT YOU, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, THAT YOU may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:14-19) Positioning ourselves to experience the “fullness” of God’s Spirit is critically important! … THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD IN OUR LIVES • GOD IS A GOD OF POWER Psalm 62:11 Power belongs to God! 2 Chronicles 20:5-6 Power and might are in God’s hand! Jeremiah 32:17 You made everything by Your great power! Job 36 22 God is exalted in His power! • GOD’S POWER IS FREQUENTLY EXPRESSED THROUGH/BY WORD Psalm 1:3 Let there be light! And there was light! Lamentations 2:17 He has accomplished His word! Isaiah 55:11 His word will not return to Him empty! Hebrews 1:3 He upholds all things by the word of His power Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not my word like fire? Like a hammer that shatters rock?” • THE WORD OF GOD HAS POWER TO GIVE BIRTH TO NEW LIFE I Peter 1:23 You have been born again … through the word of God! James 1:18 He brought us forth by the word of truth! When it comes to sharing the good news , remember that God does the work through His word! • THE WORD OF GOD HAS POWER TO CONVICT OF SIN I Thessalonians 1:5 The gospel came IN WORD, IN POWER and IN THE SPIRIT If we are ever to experience the “fullness” of God’s Spirit, it will follow genuine conviction of sin through the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God! • THE WORD OF GOD HAS POWER TO CLEANSE Ephesians 5:25-26 Christ cleansed His church by washing with the Word! Galatians 5:17 We need this because our “flesh” is “in opposition” to the Spirit • THE WORD OF GOD HAS POWER TO BUILD UP AND COMPLETE US Acts 20:20, 27, 32 Paul commended believers TO GOD and TO GOD’S WORD so that they could be built up in the faith until it was completed If we neglect the word of God we neglect the state of our salvation and the condition of our souls neither of which will position us to experience the fullness of God’s Spirit! • THE WORD OF GOD HAS POWER TO PRODUCE FAITH As we’ve seen already, it can produce faith for salvation! ◦ It Can Also Produce Faith To Prevail In Prayer Mark 11:24 Pray, ask, BELIEVE, and you will receive! This instruction ISN’T about working hard to gin up your faith so you can get what you want! This will take us right back to James 4 and “praying” to “spend on our pleasures.” I John 5:14-15 Ask according to His will, He hears! When we know that He hears, we also know that He will answer our requests! ◦ It Can Produce the Faith That Brings Victory Over the World, the Flesh, and the Devil I John 5:4 and Romans 10:17 Faith gives us victory over the world and faith comes by hearing the Word of God! John 6:63 God’s words to us are spirit and life! Flesh profits nothing! I Jn 2:14 You have overcome the evil one because the Word abides in you! ◦ There Is A Close Connection Between God’s Word and Faith Galatians 3:2 We received the Spirit by HEARING with FAITH Galatians 3:5 The Spirit works miracles by our HEARING with FAITH Rom. 10:17 Faith comes by HEARING and hearing by the WORD of God ◦ There Is A Close Connection Between Faith and The Work of God’s Spirit Acts 6:5, 11:24 Stephen and Barnabas were both full of the Spirit and faith 2 Thess. 2:3 Our salvation and sanctification come by the Spirit and faith Galatians 5:5 Between salvation and completion, we live through the Spirit by faith Life in the interim – life between the time of our salvation and the time of the completion of our salvation – is a SPIRIT EMPOWERED, FAITH ENGERGIZED life! And that life is only experienced as we are a “People of the Book!” There is no way we can cooperate with God and position ourselves to experience God’s work of “filling us with the Spirit” without regularly investing ourselves in God’s Word! God’s COMMAND to His followers: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you!” (Col. 3:16)