Men Full of the Spirit

Father’s Day 2.0

Men, Happy Father’s Day. I know it was last week, but I needed to finish the message from the week before, so I’m giving you your Father’s Day Message today.

Hey Think about it, if you can talk your kids into taking you out again, that’s a deal. Right?

So Happy Father’s day again, and let’s turn to Acts chapter 6.

I want to speak to you a message this morning, again to our men, but women, the principles that I share with the men today, would apply to ladies as well.

I want to speak a message entitled, “Men Full of the Spirit”

I believe that Jesus is looking fro men who he can empower to become leaders in their homes, community and church to affect the world with God’s Glory.

Acts 6:1–7 NKJV

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

The Church Experiencing Growing Pains!

The Church was growing. In fact it was on fire.

Remember, our last two weeks of messages. The Holy Spirit had just been given to the Church, Jesus has just baptized them in His power, and they are moving.

They are sharing the gospel with signs and wonders.

They are taking authority over demonic forces and sickness

They are seeing people converted at an amazing rate. 3,000, 5,000 all in a day

They are seeing the captives released, the addicted set free, and people turning their lives over to Jesus Christ.

And they are growing!

How many know with growth come growing pains.

And this is where this spirit filled church finds itself.

They are ministering to the broken all around them.

And apparently they have a food bank. They are feeding and taking care of the widows.

Great thing to do right? Have you ever noticed that even in great things, there can be problems?

Here comes the problem.

The Hellenists or the Greek Speaking Jews are mad because somehow, their widows are being overlooked in the distribution.

Is it happening on purpose? Probably not.

But it’s happening. And how many know that the enemy wants to divide the church.

Well here it is. A way that He has been working for a very long time in the church. Right from the beginning as we see here.

Culture and racial differences and division.

Hey, Our widows aren’t getting what yours are.

You see a growing church needs growing leadership.

We see that in this booming church, and we even see it in a church about our size.

In fact, a church can only grow to a size based on how many leaders there are to oversee it.

But here is the other side of that.

We cannot just have leaders to have leaders. We must have leaders who can lead.

This was not a situation in the church that you could just throw any one into.

This was a situation where you needed leaders who could give Godly direction and lead people through what the enemy was up to here.

How many can see that this could have been the end of the church.

Racial discrimination kills churches. It’s one of the enemy’s favorite weapons.

And from these scriptures, I think we see the kind of leaders that we are and must be looking for.

Verse 3

Seek From Among You Seven Men Who Are Full of the Holy Spirit!

Men who are Full of the Holy Spirit. That’s Who God expects us to speak out.

My brothers, today, we must seek to be men, Husband, Father’s and Brothers who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Why? BECAUSE...

Men Full of the Holy Spirit are Men of Good Reputation!

1 Timothy 3:7 NKJV

7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

In 1 Timothy Paul lays out the guidelines for the overseers of the church or the bishop.

He talks about what they homelife should be like. He speaks about their heart and personality.

Those are all inner things. How he leads the church.

But here in verse 7 we see that he must also be careful about how those outside of the church see him.

He must have a good testimony lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

A great way to maintain a good reputation or testimony with those in the world is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in life.

The flesh will always get you into trouble. the Holy Spirit will lead you around or through the trouble.

He will tell you when to say something and when not to speak out

He will remind you about where you are at and what you might not want to get involved in.

In my funeral services, I always remind those gathered that each of us preach our own funerals by the way we lived life while we were alive.

We want the pastor to say good things about us.

We want to be remembered for good things.

What are we doing now to make sure that such memories are available.

The Holy Spirit in you will help make that happen.

The Holy Spirit will lead us in who to be seen with and who to stay away from. How many know, we all can’t make those right decisions about our circle of friends.

But it will come back against you if you don’t.

A good reputation will serve someone well, in the world around us.

It will open up the door to minister to people and tell them about Christ.

It will make us a person that people want to be around.

a good reputation ministers in peoples lives, even when we aren’t there.

My brothers, what is your reputation today?

What are your co-workers or boss’ saying about you?

What does your spouse think of you?

How about your children? What do they say of their father when you aren’t around?

Why is that important? Because if we are claiming to be followers of Christ, than our reputation should be one that brings glory to God in every situation.

How will people expect you to take certain news?

Can they trust you with personal things, either information or tangible items?

If not, seek God’s Spirit. Turn those areas over to Him and allow him to put new words in peoples mouths about who you are and why.

We must seek to be men full of the Holy Spirit BECAUSE...

Men Full of the Holy Spirit are Men full of Wisdom!

Leadership in the church must be full of Wisdom.

It was evident in this situation here. These men were going to have to have great wisdom to handle this situation and see the church go forward

It wasn’t going to be the wisdom of men either.

They needed to hear the wisdom of God.

My brothers, we can only have the wisdom of God through his Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God is what speaks to the Spirit of man. It’s how God communicates all things to us.

Job 32:8 NKJV

8 But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV

14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Therefore, the Spirit of God is what gives us all knowledge of God. It opens our minds up past the understandings of this world and gives us heavenly insight into the situations and circumstances of life all around us.

The Holy Spirit gives us God’s perspective. And His wisdom gives us the ability to solve the problems that are coming against us.

Dads, Why do we need this?

Have you ever noticed the world that we are living in? Especially if you have children that are growing up today. Imagine what they are getting bombarded with in school and in sports and all over the place.

The have friends with two moms or two dads

They have friends being raised by dads with 5 moms

Their humanity and purpose is being tested and questioned on a daily basis

They are being told to line up with things that aren’t right and shouldn’t be acceptable

How are you going to combat this society and this world in your home dad?

They need Godly answers. We just can’t give the standard pattern answer anymore.

We need the wisdom of God

We need the words of life to overcome the words of death

Husbands, how about the wisdom of God in that relationship? It will change everything.

In Ephesians, Paul tells us that we should love our wife as Christ loved the church

How do you do that men? Does anybody know how to do that outside of Christ and his strength in our lives.

Listen gentlemen, if you want a strong and healthy marriage, then start things right.

Don’t be shacking up with each other before the wedding

Stop having sex outside of marriage.

Stop listening to the ways of this world and get wisdom from God.

Yeah, but that’s old fashion pastor. It’s a whole different day.

yes, it is, but the Bible is still the same. It has not changed.

And the creator of this body gave us directions on how to get the most out of it, let’s stop doing whatever we want and follow it.

My brothers, men of God, you need to be full of the Holy Spirit, because you need wisdom.

We must seek to be men full of the Holy Spirit… BECAUSE...

Men Full of the Holy Spirit are Men Full of Faith!

Do you remember over the last two weeks that I told you that the Holy Spirit’s baptism is to bring us to Christ?

What is the Holy Spirit doing that important process of our lives?

He is convicting us of sin - those in OSL Level 1 would know that is the bad news

He is showing us the love that Christ had for us - that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That’s the good news or the gospel

And then He is creating in our hearts a measure of faith to believe that no matter how bad we think that we are, that what Jesus did was able to wash our sins away.

That we can trust him as our savior.

So at salvation, it is the Holy Spirit who has allowed us to know faith to trust in Christ.

And it will be the holy Spirit who after that acknowledgment of Christ as our savior, will continue to cause our faith to grow.

How does He do that?

He opens our eyes up to what God is really doing behind the scenes

He begins to pray through us for things that we might not normally be able to pray for

He gives us power to follow Jesus and do what He says

He gives us power to do what Jesus did

He gives us the ability to speak the good news to others and take a small part in them coming to know Christ as savior

And I can pretty much guarantee in this place today that if you are filled with the Holy Spirit in this place, than you are able to trust God for greater things than you were able to trust him for previously.

Right? Why? Because of what you have seen, and heard and lived through.

Well Pastor Ken, how do we live in faith in this world that constantly coming against our faith?

The same answer, through the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

The Holy Spirit is at work in us brothers.

He is keeping us and empowering us

He is giving us the ability to overcome such things.

He is making us men of good reputations

He is giving us the wisdom of heaven

He is filling us with faith

Why do I preach this today?

1st - to encourage my brothers.

To let you know that you can overcome those things which are tripping you up

To let you know that you can have these things that we just talked about

But it all comes by the infilling of the Holy spirit

So I want to encourage you all to believe for and live in what we all prayed for in this building last Sunday. And to expect it in your lives.

2ndly - I want to enlist you today.

You are sitting in a church that has growing pains.

Oh, we aren’t growing like I’d like to see, but we still have the pains.

And we need Men. We need spiritual leaders.

But first and foremost, they need to be men who are full of the Holy Spirit

We need men of good reputation. The community around us needs to see real Christian men. Not good talkers. But good livers.

WE need men of great wisdom. WE have children that are watching us. We have families and jobs. God wants to give you the ability to answer the tough questions of today. He wants to give you the ability to lead people through these things. And that’s everyone of us.

I had a situation within the last year, where I had to council a christian father on how to pray for his son who was going through a really tough situation.

This was no new believer. This was a person who told me that they were in ministry. That they ministered to others.

But he couldn’t minister to his son. He didn’t even know how to pray for him.

How many know that can’t be today? Not in the world that we live in.

WE need men who are full of faith. Men who can pray over people believing. Men who can get involved in situations around them with a faith for what God will do.

We need Men full of the Holy Spirit of God! Do we have any of those today? Do we have any who want to be that today?

Men Stand with me.

PRAY