Be Filled With the Holy Ghost!

Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:15–20 AV

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

I. Be careful how you live.

a. Don’t live as fools.

b. Contrast of fool, a fool takes no consideration of their time, a fool takes no consideration of how they live their lives, a fool will reject wisdom and instruction, especially from the word of God.

Psalm 14:1 AV

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Proverbs 1:7 AV

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 10:18 AV

He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Proverbs 12:15 AV

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

Proverbs 14:16 AV

A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.

c. When you are wise, verse 10 of Eph 5:10 says:

Ephesians 5:10 AV

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Contrast of the wise person: a wise person will carefully determine what pleases the Lord. You will take time out to learn what pleases God and do all that you can to make sure God is happy with the way you live for Him. A fool, is only concerned with how they live to please themselves. Then when they die, they are like the rich man that set at the table who refused to give bread to Lazarus:

Luke 16:23 AV

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

II. Take advantage of your time.

a. Saints, we are leaving in evil times.

b. We need to make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.

c. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

Be reminded of the words of James as he writes:

James 4:14 AV

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Many of the people that are going to stand before God at the white-throne judgement are gonna be the ones who thought they had time. Thought they had time to do their thing and come to God on their own terms. Thought that they could live and do what they thought is right in their own eyes and still be saved. You don’t know when you will take your last breath. But while we have breath in our bodies, we need to take advantage of the time that God has so graciously given to us. Take advantage of this time and live for Him, take advantage of this time and serve Him.

We need to do all that we can do for the LORD while we have time! You don’t want to be the one that one day you look back over your life, and wish that you had did this for the Lord, wish that you had did that for the Lord.......NO.....YOU NEED TO DO IT NOW......WHILE YOU HAVE YOUR HEALTH, DO IT NOW WHILE YOU HAVE STRENGTH IN YOUR BODY.....DO IT NOW WHY YOU HAVE BREATH IN YOUR BODY!

III. Understand what God wants you to do.

a. Be spiritually intelligent. Comprehend fully the will of God and what God wants you to do in your life.

b. Understand, think about the desire of God, think about what is permissible to God, how you can please God.

c. Be wise and prudent in your behavior. First with self and also with others. Treat others right, do right by God, be just and fair, and honorable.

d. Seek to do what pleases God above that which pleases self.

IV. Be Filled with the Holy Ghost.

a. In order for you to do the will of God, you need to first be filled with the Holy Ghost.

b. Filled- to fill, or make full, to pervade with influence, to influence fully, to possess or be possessed fully,

c. Paul writes “be filled” he uses in the original language plural present imperative. Imperative is a command. What is the command, the command is “to be filled”.

d. Paul uses plural present imperative which means that this command is an ongoing command. Paul is telling his readers to “continually be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Which suggests to us more than just a one-time, one-shot infilling of the Holy Ghost! We need to continually be filled, we need to continually be renewed, we need to continually be full of the presence of God in our lives.So how do I become refilled? ANS: The same way you did when you got filled. It comes through prayer, it comes through communing with the Lord. You’re going to have to sacrifice some time, you’re going to have to put some things on the back burner, if there things in your life that doesn’t line up with God’s will, you’re going to have to be willing to let it go and die to them.

e. Paul writes this to those who would read his letter. Guess what, if you are here this morning and you read the letter....he’s talking to you too. We all need to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

f. Paul gives an example of one thing that a person can be filled with. You can be filled with wine, but Paul says it can ruin your life.

g. Wine isn’t the only thing you can be filled with. You can be filled with a lot of other substances and it can bring ruin to your life. You can be filled with canabis (weed), you can be filled with heroine, you can be filled with meth, opioids. Most people use these substances to make themselves feel good, to make themselves numb or to overcome deficiencies, or to have a good time.

h. But there is a better way......The Holy Ghost can make you high.......the Holy Ghost will take you higher with God. The Holy Ghost will give you joy, the Holy Ghost will give you peace of mind, the Holy Ghost can heal your hurts, the Holy Ghost can give you comfort, the Holy Ghost will put a praise on your lips, joy in your heart, dancing in your feet, clapping in your hands!

g. But then there are other things that we can be filled with too:

Jealousy

Envy

Wrath

Deceit

Lust

Hatred

We don’t need to be filled with those things, we need to be filled with the Holy Ghost and power!!!

We need to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

In order for service, in order to witness, in order to live right, in order to be used by God, we need to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

We have mistakenly thought that the infilling of the Holy Ghost was just a one time thing that happens after baptism. However, the early church experienced several in-fillings of the Holy Ghost.

The 120 were filled on the day of Pentecost.

The church was filled again after the Apostles faced threats and intimidation from the Sanhedrin.

Matter of fact, we see that any time they faced any kind of opposition, anytime they needed to be witnesses, or to represent God in the earth, they were “filled with the Holy Ghost”

It is your portion to be filled with the Holy Ghost! It is your inheritance to be filled with the Holy Ghost. You ought to want to be filled and FULL of the Holy Ghost:

Matthew 5:6 AV

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Why do I need to be filled?

When you are filled with the Holy Ghost it means that you belong to God. (scripture)

When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you are empowered to be witnesses for God.

When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you are fully influenced by the power of God. You are no longer influenced by your sinful nature, now you are pervaded to live holy and righteous.

When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, it produces obedience to God’s will, boldness in testimony, and Christ-like disposition in your temperament.

When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you have the seed of God present within you for the activation of spiritual gifts.

When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you receive the earnest of the Spirit which means downpayment. This means that you have receive a portion of what God has in store for you. A pledge, it means that you have receive a portion and a promise that you will receive the remainder of what has been given to you. It is a pledge of future blessedness.

V. Give glory and thanks to God.

a. Finally, after you are filled with the Holy Ghost, Paul encouraged the saints to speak to yourselves. That means to exercise the faculty of your speech. To speak, speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, among yourselves.

b. When you are full of the Holy Ghost, when you are filled with the Holy Ghost, it will put praises on your lips, and a song in your heart. Listen, even when you are going through something, the Holy Ghost will put a song in your heart:

I Know It Won’t Be This Way.

I’ll Make It Alright.....I’ll Make It Alright.

Joybells Keep Ringing In My Soul.

I’ve Got A Feeling Everything Gonna Be Alright.

c. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

d. Give thanks for everything. Give God glory in everything. In good and bad. I give him praise in the bad, because it’s going to work for my good! I can give him praise in the bad because I’m going