Galatians 5:25, "If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit". Father, this morning we thank you for your word and your presence in this place. Lord, may we decrease and may you increase. May your spirit fill us this morning, in Jesus name, amen.
Everything in the life of a believer is affected by the Holy Spirit. When we are saved he comes to dwell inside of us and he comes to do his work through us. The personal presence and the power of that Holy Spirit is central to living a life that is pleasing to God. When you were saved you realized just how dependent you are on the Lord Jesus everyday. That spirit that dwells in us is our everything, he guides us in all that we do. The truth is that without his help we are incapable of living a life that is pleasing to God. It is absolutely impossible. How many have tried on your own strength to please the Lord and fell short?
God, in his word, he understood that the instructions he gave us and the life that he desires us to have is absolutely impossible to do in our own strength. That's why he gave us the Holy Spirit and that's why he is so important. The Bible repeatedly speaks of being spirit led, of bearing the fruit of the spirit, of keeping in step with the spirit and of us sowing to the spirit. Everything that we do in life is intertwined with what the Holy Spirit does inside of us and what he does through us. The truth is when many of us begin to think of being filled with the Holy Spirit we think of that time when we were drawn to being baptized in the Holy Spirit, like what took place on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were baptized with fire from on high and they began to speak with other languages as the spirit gave them utterance. But this was only the beginning of what God wanted to do in and through the life of the believer.
I am thankful that I am filled with the spirit of God. How many are thankful for that gift of the Holy Spirit to speak in other tongues, to have that prayer language to speak to God? It is vital in the life of a believer but it's only the beginning. Speaking in tongues is not a condition of salvation and isn't even the end all of what we do in our spiritual life; It is only the beginning. The power to witness is awesome. The miracles of signs and wonders are powerful and follow the life of the believer. Just in the last 2 weeks we have seen healings happen in our own church in the lives of people that we know that is absolute proof of God's power at work. But the real miracle of the spirit filled life is what happens on a daily basis in the life of a believer. There are many people confused when they come to church and they see some people speaking in tongues on Sunday and then the rest of the week they don't see much fruit coming out of their life. The rest of what you do with your life whether you are flowing in the gifts of the spirit or not are even more important.
Being filled with the spirit is an observable and measurable reality. It is not a mystical experience. It is something that you can see in the life of a believer. It is God's life being lived through us and his spirit empowering us to live the life that he called us to walk according to his word. Being spirit filled isn't just about a confession. It isn't subjective, like it's up to someone's opinion as to whether they've been filled or not. The truth is those who are filled with the Holy Spirit of God are people whom you can watch their life and see that God is living in them and see God working through them.
When Barnabas was living and then when he dies he had this testimony. In Acts 18:24 it says, "For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith". It was something you could see in Barnabas' life. He was a man who was not only walking in faith but he was full of the Holy Ghost. You could see it in his life by the way he lived, by the way he talked and by the way he did things. It was observable and it influenced people around him.
When the disciples went to pick out the first seven deacons who were to help serve the church in the ministry of the Lord, they were the ones who were going to help in doing much of the ministry. Acts 6:3, "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom". You could tell from their life that they had the spirit of God in them and that God was living through them. Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit have a life that is observable by others. That's a wonderful truth to know. You can know whether someone is filled with the Holy Spirit or not because you can see it by the way that they live their life. They not only have the testimony that they are people who are wise, who are good at business and have a respectability but they have an observable quality that they are filled with the Holy Spirit.
We should be able to see the evidence that testifies to the spirit filled life in the character of an individual. Those who are filled with the spirit regularly make better decisions because the choices they make are led by the spirit. Those that are filled with the spirit have an attitude with God that reflects the change that God has made in their life. As a matter of fact a spirit filled person has a better relationship in their marriage and with those around them because they have been transformed by the spirit of God in them. Their ability to respond in godly ways have been improved because no longer are they relying on their own ability and their own wisdom to make the decisions and to relate with others.
Those with a spirit filled life have a conduct that is unselfish, a life that measures up to the word of God. We don't walk around all day speaking in tongues and prophesying. We are not always laying hands on others and seeing people healed all the time. There's a lot more to life than all of that great stuff. There is so much living that has to be done. Every time we take a breath, every decision we make, every word that we speak and every person we touch is influenced by the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us and there is evidence of that spirit filled life.
Being filled with the spirit is a choice. It is something that the believer chooses to allow to happen in their life, that they want to be filled by God. Ephesians 5:18, "Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation or debauchery but be filled with the spirit". I want you to notice that both of these commands about the spirit filled life are choices. They are also under our control. You can choose to be drunk and you can choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact this verse speaks of a continual action, be filled and keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. How many know that whenever you're around friends or people you know who decide they are going to get drunk and go out and party, you can make a continual choice to go out and live a life that is pleasing to God.
Every day I make a choice. Am I going to be filled with the Holy Spirit or will I not? The word filled is used like wind filling a sail on a boat or like being filled with joy or sorrow. It becomes a consuming thing. It actually begins to take control of everything that's there. It begins to fill that sail so the boat can go or that life can be filled with joy or that person with the life of the spirit of God. It speaks of allowing the Spirit of God to throughly saturate and influence every part of your life. That's a wonderful choice to make.
Everyday that you get up I want you to kind of imagine this. You went to sleep and kind of folded up the sail to rest. Then the next day you decide you want to go, "Holy Spirit, come fill me. Come let your life absolutely influence me". Then all of a sudden like that wind that came on the day of Pentecost, that same wind comes into the life of the believer and begins to inflate their life so they can go in the direction of the Lord. Notice how being filled with the Spirit is being contrasted with being drunk. Being drunk is when alcohol becomes the consuming factor in your life and it begins to control and consume you. It affects your speech, your vision and the way you walk and the way you relate with other people. Alcohol can really have an effect on your life.
I was listening to a Christian comedian the other day and before he was saved he was an alcoholic. He said, "God has set me free and filled me with his life. One day I knew that I had to turn around. I was sitting parked on the side of the road, the car wasn't even moving and I got arrested for drunk driving. He was over on the passenger side trying to start the glove compartment. He had his key in there and couldn't figure out why the car wouldn't start. The police officer came over and asked, "What's the problem?" He said, "Someone moved the steering wheel and the gas pedal, I have no idea what's going on". The police officer said, "You need to be off the road". How many know that Jesus saves? Amen. God got a hold of his life and he was absolutely changed and now when he begins to share his comedy he also talks about how God delivered him out of many things.
The truth is just like being drunk is really an obvious thing, so is being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can tell when someone is drunk. You can tell when someone is filled with Holy Spirit. It changes the way they talk. I've seen people who used to stutter and when they get up to preach the word or to share the gospel with people, all of a sudden that stuttering is gone. The Holy Spirit begins to work through them. I've seen people who are shy and when they begin to live their life for God the Lord begins to fill them in such a way so that shyness goes away and God begins to minister through their life. I've seen people on every occasion when they make a choice to live for God, something comes over them that changes the way they think and the way they live because they have saturated themselves and allowed the Holy Spirit to have control. It's a beautiful thing and it's very obvious. It's wonderful when you see people filled with the Holy Spirit.
One of the evidences of a spirit filled life is that you have a life that is marked by great love for people. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 13, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I have become as sounding brass or a clanging symbol. Though I have the gift of prophesy and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned but have not love it profits me nothing".
I love that song we sang today, "Hosanna". "Break my heart for what breaks yours. Lord, all I have is yours". That spirit filled life has surrendered everything to God. Lord, help me love like you love people. When we go into the inner city today and begin to minister in Riviera Beach, our job is to simply love people to Jesus. Jesus died for them, he loves them and cares for them. That's the purpose of evangelism. It doesn't matter that you can speak in tongues or give everything you have to the poor or anything that you do for God. If you don't have the love of God then all of that amounts to absolutely nothing.
I've been in church before when we've heard someone speak in tongues and give a word in the spirit and then after church they were really mean to a person in the hallway. They came across as real spiritual but their life didn't have that fruit of God's love inside of them. I want to mess with your theology for just a minute. Do you realize that you can speak with other tongues and be unloving? Right things must be done in the right way. The Bible says that all of those things done in the spirit are like a clanging symbol if we don't have love. How many have ever had a kid with a drumset that didn't know what they were doing? That sound of a drum unless it's done right is really annoying and really loud. You might be someone who says they have the gifts of the spirit and knows Christ as Savior but unless your life is lived with love then all people hear are clanging symbols.
The truth is this, we know the difference when someone is loving and when someone is doing it to just be noticed. A life that is lived by the spirit of God, even when the gifts are being ministered, love like Christ loves. They are someone who would lay down their life as God would lay it down. Whether they are correcting, instructing or helping someone, it is done with such a care for people. The Bible says that they are always respectful, always caring and it is evident when you see someone who loves like that. How many can think of someone in your life whom you know is so full of the spirit of God that even when they are being tough with you they know you can tell that God cares for them. That's evidence of a spirit filled life.
Those who have evidence of a spirit filled life do not live a life to the flesh. When the Bible speaks of the flesh it means a life that is directed by self for self. Galatians 5:16 says, "I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh". Galatians 5:19 says, "Now the works of the flesh are obvious". You don't have to guess whether someone is living for God or not, you can see it. Why is this so important? Because God says to be filled with the spirit. How many of you are tired of living for self anyway and that God has something bigger and better for us to live for, to live for him? After you get done gratifying yourself and doing everything that self loves, your self still isn't happy. But if you wind up doing things for God and serving God and you are filled with the spirit of God, even if your flesh isn't happy, your spirit is alive. Your life is being lived with adventure and power that you never knew you could have.
Those who are filled with the spirit are filled with the power of God to not do and not live in unrighteous ways. Galatians 5:19-21 says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, ludeness, sorcery, hatred, contentions, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelry and the like, of which I tell you beforehand just as I told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God". Those who live in the spirit don't do those things. When their flesh is drawn to those things, the spirit of God begins to fill them like that sail and they get away from those things.
Those who are led by the spirit of God have a fruitful life, not an unfruitful life. It's completely different from the worldly life. When you give your life to Jesus and when you ask him to be your everything, when his spirit begins to fill you, the life of a spirit filled believer will look drastically different than those who don't have the spirit of God living inside of them.
Galatians 5:22-24 says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such there is no law and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires". That fruit of the spirit filled life is observable. How many know you can tell someone who is at peace? You can tell someone who has self control because when they get in traffic and someone really messes with them, that spirit filled life doesn't give them the one finger salute to tell them that they're number one. There's a difference in the spirit filled life and those who have it still have joy, peace and love. They still are kind and faithful.
Those who have the spirit filled life have this fruit and that fruit of the spirit isn't many different things like the works of the flesh. That fruit of the spirit is cingular. Those who are filled with the spirit have all of these things in them, it is that fruit of God inside of them. Though it may take a little while to grow when you are first saved, eventually the fruit is ripe enough that all those around can see the evidence of that fruit in your life. When you see someone with the spirit filled life you can observe peace, joy and faithfulness because it's all part of that.
Along with the command to be filled with the spirit are some other things that mark that great spirit filled life. Ephesians 5:18-21 says, "Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation but be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord".
Along with the fruit of the spirit, a life that is filled with God, is a life that is filled with joy. The Bible says that they sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord. Joy is a powerful witness instead of a life that is always crabby or cranky although sometimes we all do get cranky. But when the spirit of God begins to come in it takes over that life.
The Holy spirit gives us a boldness to witness openly but also a joy that speaks volumes to others. It's a life that's not marked by depression or discouragement but a joy even in times of hardship that reflects our confidence in God. When you see a believer where all of a sudden their finances go or there health goes or their relationships are having difficulty, you begin to see a life that proclaims the faithfulness of their Lord. Even though I'm going through this thing, I know that he's still faithful. Even though my flesh knows its discouraging, God is still giving me peace, even though my life isn't happening and unfolding the way that I desire it. Those with the spirit filled life begin to inspire others because there is a different way that they respond due to what God does inside of them. How many have known people like that and have been absolutely amazed by it? I remember one time when I saw that happening, I said, "God, I want that". He said, "It's really not that hard, be filled with the spirit".
Another thing that marks a spirit filled life is greatfulness and thankfulness. It's not a grumbling and complaining over every mistake and difficulty that happens but a life that is thankful for all things. How many in this room today know that God has blessed you? You can look around at the things that God has done and even when you go through the hard things and the things that you've already enjoyed before, there is a thankfulness for all that the Lord is, everything that he's blessed.
I remember talking with a brother who was going through one of the hardest times in his life financially. He had gone from being able to go out anytime he wanted to and eating at some of the finest restaurants to just having to eat at home. He said, "All I know is this, God has met every need I've ever had and although I'm not able to eat the finest food and do the finest things, he is still faithful to me". He was grateful for everything. How many know that God is good? There is something that marks the life of the believer that recognizes every blessing even in the small things.
I remember having been with people when we were at Real Life Children's Ranch, some of the Ranch folks come in quite regularly. I remember walking with Scott Frazier throughout the property. He said, "I remember when this property was just an old run down thing but here's what God did, here's the miracle how God provided just so we could get this tree into this position and here's what these people did to do it. We'd walk into another room and he said, "You see that piece of furniture there, this person donated it". I'd think that's not a big deal but he said we couldn't have done it without the help of God. Every little thing he remembered how God did the miracle, how God brought it through and what it took to get it. Prayer for that one child that just needed a touch from God and how each one began to influence their life and now their life is changed. How many can look back and remember all those little moments, all those little steps, all those things that you can be grateful for that God has done in your life? What a marvelous God we serve. You begin to see those who are filled with the spirit notice even the little things God is doing.
Lastly, the spirit filled life is marked by humble submission and attitude with others, not only with other believers but with all people, even difficult people. How many have had a few difficult people in your life? Those who have the spirit filled life love people and treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve. Even when they are disagreeing with other people they are not disagreeable. Their attitude reflects the life of God. Those filled with the spirit of God seek to serve other people regardless of who they are just like the spirit of Jesus. All around this church I could point out people who week after week come in and see a need, nothing too small. I've watched people that would come in and see that a toilet needs fixing and would get down and fix it. They were humble just to serve the Lord in ministry. Those right now who are in our nursery taking care of children are saying, "I'd love to be in the service today but God has called me to minister and that one life is going to come to the Lord".
Those with the spirit filled life have the same spirit of Jesus. When they see people in need they're not worried about that thing they're going to do as being beyond them or beneath them, they just seek to minister. If a jury were to look at your life, a jury of your peers, would they find enough evidence to convict you of a spirit filled life? Is it observable that you are filled with the spirit of God? One of the things that we are asking for in this place is for a great revival to sweep our church and our city. We're in the middle of July and we don't see many empty chairs. While most churches are decreasing in the summer, we had to add more seats this morning.
The things we're believing the Lord to do, the revival that we're asking God to send is not just so people would be saved but so we would have the same love of Christ and the same heart of God. Lord, come and change us so that we are more like you. Our hearts desire is to have that spirit filled life.
