Filled week 1. Getting Started
Filled week 1 – Getting Started
Key Text: Romans 8:9-12 and Ephesians 5:18
Intro
The problem of living after Pentecost is the idea that the Spirit dwells within us is not as spectacular as it should be.
It is just kind of part of being a Christian, and so because of this dulling of the wonder we limit our experience.
The truth is that we have the Spirit of the Living God dwelling within us; empowering us; and conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ.
This truly is a thought and a reality that should blow us away in every way!
So I wish to guide you through a four week study that we will be doing called “Filled” where we will look at the reality of the Spirit in the life of the believer.
In this series I want us to address the reality of the Holy Spirit in the life of believer. I want to encourage us to live by the power that God has given us in the gift of His Holy Spirit.
The issue, I guess, is that there are so many ideas of what and who the Holy Spirit is in terms of the church and the believer. And we don’t talk about it because we don’t want to end up like those crazies… you know the ones who are… crazy.
But the reality is that the New Testament is full of references to the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer, and more than that there is the command to be filled by the Spirit so our ignorance to and complacency to the Spirit is violating the command of Scripture and the teachings of the New Testament.
To start off this discussion I want to remind you that we serve a Supernatural God who accomplishing things in our lives by His power and His might!
I want to remind you church that we serve a God who desires to work in us by His power to accomplish His desires.
With saying that If you have your Bibles please turn with me to Romans 8:9-12.
While you are turning there; let’s get the discussion started do you possess the Spirit of God? Does He dwell within you in power right now; or do we have to do something in order for Him to be in us?
Many of us would answer ja maybe I need to seek Him more, or read my Bible more or trust more etc then God would fill my life and I could feel His Spirit more.
Well with that question in mind let’s read Romans 8:9-12 I want to start reading from verse 5:
5Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
The simple reality of this verse and what I want to emphasis is the simple Spiritual truth of verse 9. If you do not have the Spirit you don’t belong to Christ.
So as a Christian…
I have the Spirit
There is a reality that I need to make plain to you tonight without the Spirit of God there is no hope of us knowing Christ.
It is the Spirits work in our lives that makes us able to be moved into faith in Jesus Christ. Without the Spirit of God there is no conviction of Sin; no repentance and no acknowledgment of Christ as saviour.
Therefore if you have been saved you are filled with the Spirit.
In being saved the Spirit of God awakens us to the realities of who God is and convicts us and gives us His desires. That is why Scripture says we are a new creation.
This is why Paul spends verse 5-8 describing that unless you are alive by the Spirit you cannot please God; you have no capacity; no power to do that. But if you have the Spirit you are compelled by that Spirit and can fulfil the Spiritual call on your life and have the power to fulfil what God calls you to.
So many of us, even as Christian’s, who have received the Spirit of God try and live our lives by the power of our flesh.
What do I mean by this? Well we don’t live in a faith (Spirit) mind-set. Rather, we live in a “I’ll work it out” mind-set and God will be my backup if it doesn’t work out.
The Spirit does things that are contrary to the flesh and the flesh contrary to the Spirit. I’m guilty of this; as there are times where I am trusting God for something in my life; and in that same trust I am trying to work out how practically I am going to make the thing happen.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that it limits us to what is humanly possible and God often calls us to what is impossible.
If I could have planned to arrive where I am in my life right now; I would have never have got here. However through the supernatural empowering of God and His Spirit leading me I stand before in a place I could have never planned to be; because His Spirit led me.
Church; if you believe in Jesus and surrendered your life to Him you have the Spirit of God!
Which leads me to my next point. As a Christian…
I need the Spirit
In verse 12 Paul says:
12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
The Spirit enables me to live a life that honours God; and that call is impossible without the Spirit of God!
This verse always takes me back to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus takes His disciples aside and says; keep watch and be in prayer because the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Our flesh will always betray us. I cannot hope to please God if I am trying to do it in the flesh; in my human desires.
No I know my body is weak and prone to sinfulness (in fact the more I journey with God the more I am made keenly aware of this). So I need power to overcome my sinfulness; I need the power of God.
And what I have discovered is that I often dwell in a sinful pattern or thought in my life; because I am living fleshly in that. What do I mean by that; I am living in a way that that problem is my problem, and in fact I don’t actually trust God to help me with that problem. And when I am tempted with that problem I don’t run to him; I try and overcome it by myself!
The reality is that I need the Spirit in my life; I need the power of God to live in the things that God has called me to!
I need His help and His constant guidance and His hope and His strength if I am going to make it in the calling that He has on my life.
And that is the crux of this whole 4 week message; we must keep our selves filled!
The question is then;
How can I keep on being filled?
Ephesians 5:18 says;
18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Many have used this verse to say every day you must come to God and allow Him to fill you. The problem I have with this mentality is it means nothing to me. Do I just wait until I am ‘filled’ do I put myself in an empty state so that I may be filled?
The answer is no;
Paul is not commanding us to be filled with something we don’t possess. The word He uses in the Greek here is a command to keep yourself being filled; we often think that we must start our day full and then pour ourselves out and then we will be empty and then the next day we start again. And if you miss a day you are going to fail.
I just want you to grasp something for a second; you are being filled with the Spirit of God can you ever possibly exhaust that power? The same power that rose Christ from the dead; the Holy Spirit is the same power of God that was involved in the creation. Can your daily activity and living for Him exhaust Him?
It is a silly thought when we think of it in those terms.
So then what is Paul commanding us to do; the term is be kept being filled; the word for filled has the meaning of being lead along by; permeated by and dominated by.
In other words it is a surrender to His divine nature and a dependency on His guidance. To put it is take-away-able terms; to be filled is to live every moment in a state of dependency and surrender.
Do you trust the Spirit enough to allow Him to control you in every situation? Do you trust the Spirit enough to guide your conversations and words; do you trust the Spirit enough to give you power to do what you need to do for Him in your days?
Do you believe that the Spirit’s power in your life is powerful enough to help you overcome what you are going through? Let me ask you in another way; do you think God is too small or too weak to help you in your situations?
It is an act of faith and dependency!
We church are called to live in faith and dependency upon our God! This is effectively what it means to be filled by His Spirit!
Church the message is simple you possess the power of the living God within you! You have access to the same power that rose Christ from the dead; you have the same empowering that He had to do His ministry; the same power that Samson had for His incredible strength that the prophets had when they spoke the oracles of God. This same Spirit dwells in us!
You have it right now; you don’t have to conjure it up; you don’t have to passively wait for Him to move; you rather have to simply submit to His leading!
Trust in His guidance; trust in His leading; trust in His ability and power and He is there for you He is with you! There is nothing more that we need.
So Church the next time you feel powerless or like God’s Spirit has abandoned you; remind yourself of the Scriptural truth that if you are saved you have the Spirit!
If you have the Spirit you have the power of God!
So church stop living in the flesh; stop living unfilled lives!
Live in the reality of who you are; a Child of God saved by the grace of Christ; empowered by God’s Spirit!
Let’s get started church in this journey and live by the Spirit of God!
[PRAY]