Hope : Step One
Notes
Transcript
Hope for a Weary World in which we Live Today!
Hope for a Weary World in which we Live Today!
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
What Is the Answer?
What Is the Answer?
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Education Is not the Answer
Education Is not the Answer
Activism Is not the Answer
Activism Is not the Answer
Phariseeism Is not the Answer
Phariseeism Is not the Answer
A Spirit-filled Church Is the Answer
A Spirit-filled Church Is the Answer
What Does It Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit?
What Does It Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit?
Now, having said that, let me say that there are some misconceptions about what a Spirit-filled church is. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
Continuous Control by the Spirit
Continuous Control by the Spirit
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
“Be filled.” We are to keep a moment-by-moment account.
To be filled with the Spirit means to be continually, moment-by-moment, day-by-day-by-day, being filled with the Spirit.
Subjection to the Spirit
Subjection to the Spirit
34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
A. Proud Self
A. Proud Self
And so proud self wants the Spirit for his glory. He wants to be superior to the lesser brethren. And he wants everybody to say, “There goes a Spirit-filled man.” And God’s Spirit is not going to fill him. He wants the Spirit to be in subjection to him.
B. Lazy Self
B. Lazy Self
And lazy self thinks, “Boy, you know, if I could get filled with the Spirit, I wouldn’t have to fight any more battles; I could just coast on into glory.” Well, friend, if you think that, you don’t understand what the Spirit-filled life is. When the Israelites came out of Egypt and through the wilderness and into Canaan, it is a picture of an unsaved man coming out of the world of sin, through the wilderness of carnality, and into the blessings of the deeper Spirit-filled life. Egypt is a picture of the world, the wilderness is a picture of the carnal Christian, and Canaan is a picture of the Spirit-filled life.
And I want to tell you it was not until those Israelites got into Canaan that they really got into warfare. Did you know that? In the wilderness, they just had a few skirmishes. And the carnal Christian doesn’t have many battles with the devil. It’s the Spirit-filled Christian that has battles with the devil. But it was after Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost at His baptism that the Bible says that He met Satan head on. Don’t you realize that? When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil opens the doors of hell to blast us. And when the Israelites got into Canaan, it was in Canaan that the Israelites came into conflict with the Canaanite demon-worshippers.
C. Ambitious Self
C. Ambitious Self
18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Possession by a Person
Possession by a Person
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Now, notice: Not be filled by the Spirit, but be filled with the Spirit.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
The Holy Spirit Has a Mind
The Holy Spirit Has a Mind
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
The Holy Spirit Has Emotions
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit Has a Will
2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.